James Arcene (c. 1862 – June 18, 1885) was the youngest person sentenced to death, who was subsequently executed for the crime,Streib, Victor L
''Death Penalty for Juveniles''.
Indiana University Press, 1987. p. 72. in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Arcene, a

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

, was

hanged Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

by the

U.S. federal government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, execut ...

Fort Smith, Arkansas Fort Smith is the List of municipalities in Arkansas, third-most populous city in Arkansas, United States, and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County, Arkansas, Sebastian County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the pop ...

, for his role in a robbery and murder committed thirteen years earlier, when he was 10 years old.Scott, Charles L., MD
"''Roper v. Simmons'': Can Juvenile Offenders be Executed?"
''Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law''. 33:4:547-552 (2005). Arcene and a Cherokee man named William Parchmeal noticed William Feigel, a Swedish national, making a purchase in a store. They followed Feigel when he left, heading for

Fort Gibson Fort Gibson is a historic military site next to the modern city of Fort Gibson, in Muskogee County Oklahoma. It guarded the American frontier in Indian Territory from 1824 to 1888. When it was constructed, the fort was farther west than any ot ...

, and caught up with him about two miles outside of the fort. With robbery as a motive, one of the two shot Feigel six times before crushing his skull with a rock. Arcene and Parchmeal then took a pair of boots and some money off of Feigel's corpse. Arcene was arrested, tried by jury, and convicted for the robbery and murder of Feigel. He then escaped and eluded capture until he was apprehended and executed at the age of 23. He and Parchmeal were caught by Deputy Marshal Andrews after the case had been cold for more than ten years. "Hanging Judge"

Isaac C. Parker Isaac Charles Parker (October 15, 1838 – November 17, 1896), also known as "Hanging Judge" Parker, was an American politician and jurist. He served as a United States representative (congressman) in two separate districts subsequently from M ...

presided over the executions, which were held at Fort Smith. It is difficult to verify James Arcene's age with complete certainty because there are few surviving census records for Indian Territory in the 1870s and 1880s. Primary documents confirm that, after he was captured, James Arcene claimed to have been a child in 1872 when the crime was committed. He did not revise that statement when it became clear that that status would not help him in sentencing. Arcene's case is frequently brought up in discussions of the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

for children, and to a lesser degree in discussions of the unfair treatment

Native Americans Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

received from the United States government.James, Joy
''States of Confinement: Policing, Detention and Prisons''.
Macmillan, 2000. . p. 23.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arcene, James 1860s births 1885 deaths Minors convicted of murder Cherokee Nation people (1794–1907) American people executed for murder American escapees 19th-century executions by the United States Place of birth missing Escapees from United States federal government detention Male juvenile murderers Juvenile murderers People convicted of murder by the United States federal government People executed by the United States federal government by hanging 19th-century executions of American people Juvenile offenders executed by the United States 19th-century Native American people Executed Native American people

See also

References