James Arcene

{{Short description|Native American executed in 1885}} {{Use American English|date=January 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox criminal | name = James Arcene | image_name = | image_size = | image_caption = | birth_date = c. 1862 | birth_place = Cherokee Nation | death_date = June 18, 1885 (aged 23) | death_place = Fort Smith, Arkansas, U.S. | conviction = First degree murder | conviction_penalty = Death | conviction_status = Executed by hanging | known_for = Youngest person sentenced to death in the United States | escaped = 1872–1884 }} '''James Arcene''' ({{Circa|1862}} – June 18, 1885) was a Cherokee Nation member and the youngest person sentenced to death in the United States.<ref name="streib">Streib, Victor L. [https://books.google.com/books?id=3mdHAAAAMAAJ ''Death Penalty for Juveniles''.] Indiana University Press, 1987. p. 72.</ref> Arcene was hanged by the U.S. federal government in Fort Smith, Arkansas, for his role in a robbery and murder committed thirteen years earlier, when he was about 10 years old.<ref name="scott">Scott, Charles L., MD. [http://www.jaapl.org/cgi/content/full/33/4/547 "''Roper v. Simmons'': Can Juvenile Offenders be Executed?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928174305/http://www.jaapl.org/cgi/content/full/33/4/547 |date=2011-09-28 }} ''Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law''. 33:4:547-552 (2005).</ref>

The state alleged that 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, and caught up with him about two miles outside of the fort. The state claimed that, with robbery as a motive, one of the two shot Feigel six times before crushing his skull with a rock, and that Arcene and Parchmeal then took a pair of boots and some money off of Feigel's corpse. Arcene was arrested, but escaped and eluded capture until he was apprehended in 1884. During this time, Parchmeal, who was a suspect, but was initially not charged, enlisted as a private in Company C of the Second Indian Home Guard, Kansas Infantry.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=William Parchmeal (Execution of) |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/william-parchmeal-19022/ |access-date=2025-12-13 |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |language=en-US}}</ref>

Arcene was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for the murder of Feigel. He was executed at the age of 23 in 1885.<ref name="streib" /> Arcene and Parchmeal were apprehended by Deputy Marshal Andrews. "Hanging Judge" Isaac C. Parker presided over the executions, which were held at Fort Smith.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=James Arcene (1862?–1885) |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/james-arcene-5093/ |access-date=2025-12-13 |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |language=en-US}}</ref>

Arcene claimed that he had committed the killing under duress. Arcene stated that day he was living in a house in Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation, with other Cherokees playing cards. Parchmeal came to the residence and asked Arcene to walk with him. He stated that he and Parchmeal were walking through a prairie and into the road when Parchmeal saw a man, William Feigel, and said to Arcene, "That is the man; shoot him," after which Arcene shot Feigel. Parchmeal then dragged Feigel's body out of the road and took his boots and the 25 cents in his pocket. Arcene said that he did not know why Parchmeal wanted Feigel dead, and did not know it was wrong due to his age. While Parchmeal originally blamed Arcene, he accepted full guilt shortly before his execution, and stated through an interpreter that he was "ready to die". Both Arcene and Parchmeal were hanged on June 26, 1885.<ref>New York Times, "[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1885/06/27/103024963.html?pageNumber=2 Hanged on the Gallows]". ''The New York Times''. June 27, 1885. Accessed June 29, 2011.</ref>

Arcene's case is frequently brought up in discussions of the death penalty for children, and to a lesser degree in discussions of the unfair treatment Native Americans received from the United States government.<ref name="scott"/><ref>[http://www.amnestyusa.org/askamnesty/dp200311_4.html "Questions on the Death Penalty."] Amnesty International USA has alleged that the jury's decision to execute Arcene for a crime committed at such a young age was racially motivated. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121022304/http://www.amnestyusa.org/askamnesty/dp200311_4.html |date=2008-11-21 }} ''Ask Amnesty''. AmnestyUSA.org. November 4, 2003.</ref><ref>James, Joy. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Tn_BF2ggwAUC ''States of Confinement: Policing, Detention and Prisons''.] Macmillan, 2000. {{ISBN|0-312-21777-3}}. p. 23.</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

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