Paris museum is the site of state's last hanging

PARIS — The replica of a gallows, standing next to the Logan County "Old Jail" Museum, qualifies as a landmark in the history of crime and punishment in Arkansas.

The structure marks the site of the last legal hanging in the state, on July 15, 1914, after which the electric chair was used for executions until the change to lethal injections in 1990. The story of the hanging is the centerpiece of the museum, which houses a potpourri of vintage objects evoking the county's past.

The hanged man, 23-year-old Arthur Tillman, had been convicted of killing his girlfriend, throwing her body down a well and covering it with stones. The conviction came at a second trial after a hung jury in the first, and Tillman swore throughout that he was innocent.

Opened in 1903 as the fourth Logan County jail and closed in 1971, the museum building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Of architectural interest is its design as a duplex.

Visitors see that one side contains four rooms on the ground floor and two more in the basement. The jailer and his family lived in this section, which also contained his office. Prisoners were housed in the second section, which did not give direct access to the jailer's quarters. Entry came only through a separate outside door.

Like most county museums in Arkansas, the Logan County facility has been operated mainly by volunteers since it opened in 1973. A kitchen from the days before modern appliances serves as a reminder that preparing meals back then could take hours of a housewife's time each day.

Exhibits give details on the 1914 hanging. Additional information from the Central Arkansas Library System Encyclopedia of Arkansas can help prepare visitors on the circumstances of that day 105 years ago:

"A large crowd of people gathered in Paris for the hanging. The sheriff had his men under instructions to shoot anyone who might get close to the jail because of rumors that Tillman would be rescued by an armed party.

"One rumor, reported in the Arkansas Gazette, was that Tillman's father had purchased a high-powered rifle and ammunition, not to rescue his son but to assassinate him in order to spare him the ordeal of hanging.

"Talking with reporters and with local clergy prior to the hanging, Tillman continued to proclaim his innocence, accusing a relative of the dead woman of being the guilty party. Later reports have also raised questions about Tillman's guilt."

He was the sympathetic subject of a 1990 stage play, Marked Tree, written by Arkansas native and actor Coby Goss. A much shorter and homespun performance can be staged at the jail for groups with enough advance notice. The museum promises "a re-enactment hanging at the gallows complete with a prisoner, sheriff and many more dressed in period costumes."

Style on 10/22/2019