Frank Cochran was a 19th century Old West Deputy US Marshal in the service of Judge

Judge

A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

 Isaac Parker

Isaac Parker

Isaac Charles Parker served as a U.S. District Judge presiding over the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas for 21 years and also one-time politician. He served in that capacity during the most dangerous time for law enforcement during the western expansion...

, known as the "Hanging Judge", operating out of Fort Smith, Arkansas

Fort Smith, Arkansas

Fort Smith is the second-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. With a population of 86,209 in 2010, it is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 298,592 residents which encompasses the Arkansas...

.

Biography

Little is known about Cochran's early life. He is thought to have possibly been born in either Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 or Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

, but in fact it is not known for certain from where he originated. Although by reputation he captured many outlaw

Outlaw

In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...

s of the day, he is less known than others serving during the same time period, such as Bill Tilghman

Bill Tilghman

William Matthew "Bill" Tilghman was a lawman in the American Old West.-Early life :Bill Tilghman was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, on July 4, 1854. He became a buffalo hunter at age 15 and claimed he killed over 1000 bison over his five years of activity...

, Heck Thomas

Heck Thomas

Henry Andrew "Heck" Thomas was a lawman on theAmerican frontier, most notably in Oklahoma.-Biography:Thomas was born in 1850 in Athens, Georgia, the youngest of five children of Lovick Pierce Thomas, I and Martha Fulwood Bedell.At the beginning of the American Civil War, at age 12, he accompanied...

, or Chris Madsen

Chris Madsen

Chris Madsen was a lawman of the Old West who is best known as being one of The Three Guardsmen, the name given to Madsen and two other Deputy US Marshals who were responsible for the apprehension and/or killing of several outlaws of that era...

. His best known arrest was the capture of Blue Duck

Blue Duck (outlaw)

Blue Duck, sometimes referred to as Bluford Duck, was an outlaw of the Old West, probably best known for a photograph taken of him around the mid-1880's, in which he posed with Belle Starr, a famous Old West female outlaw and prostitute....

 and his partner William Christie, after the two murder

Murder

Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

ed a farmer in the Cherokee Nation

Cherokee Nation

The Cherokee Nation is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It was established in the 20th century, and includes people descended from members of the old Cherokee Nation who relocated voluntarily from the Southeast to Indian Territory and Cherokees who...

. Cochran would later transfer to the Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Oklahoma City is the capital and the largest city in the state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's population, from the 2010 census, was 579,999, with a metro-area population of 1,252,987 . In 2010, the Oklahoma...

 office, where he would lead a posse

Posse comitatus (common law)

Posse comitatus or sheriff's posse is the common-law or statute law authority of a county sheriff or other law officer to conscript any able-bodied males to assist him in keeping the peace or to pursue and arrest a felon, similar to the concept of the "hue and cry"...

 in the pursuit and capture of the Al Jennings Gang. During an 1891 corruption

Political corruption

Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...

 trial

Trial

A trial is, in the most general sense, a test, usually a test to see whether something does or does not meet a given standard.It may refer to:*Trial , the presentation of information in a formal setting, usually a court...

in Fort Smith, Cochran saved the life of Government Special Agent to the Court W. F. Harn, when a defendants family member attempted to stab Harn.