According to information with a copy of this image in the archives of the Ottenheimer Library at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the men standing here on the walls of the second Fort Smith around the gallows of the U.S. District Court are witnessing the execution of Cherokee Bill (aka Crawford Goldsby) on March 17, 1896. Photographs of the condemned at execution were prohibited by the court. This may be as close as the photographer could get to the gallows without drawing the attention and ire of court officials.