James Kitts (Execution of)

James Kitts was hanged on July 25, 1902, at Arkansas City (Desha County) for the first-degree murder of a gambler; he was one of six men executed on the same date in Arkansas.

On the morning of November 13, 1901, gambler James Johnson testified “in the mayor’s court of Arkansas City” against James Kitts, “a traveling ventriloquist and gambler,” for pulling a gun on a man, a crime for which Kitts was fined. Kitts got drunk later in the day and, around 9:00 p.m., went to Johnson’s “craps dive” and shot him to twice; Johnson “died instantly, shot through the heart.” Kitts fled to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he was captured thirteen days later and returned to Desha County for trial.

Judge Anthony B. Grace of Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) held court in Arkansas City in January 1902, and on three successive days, three Black men—Kitts, Lawrence Dunlap, and David Jobe—were all convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to hang on February 28.

Dunlap and Jobe went to the gallows on February 28, 1902, but Kitts was given a delay while he appealed his conviction to the Arkansas Supreme Court and was taken in the meantime to Little Rock (Pulaski County) “for safe keeping.” Justice Burrill Battle affirmed the sentence in June, and Kitts’s execution was set for July 25.

Twenty-five people were allowed into the enclosure holding the scaffold to witness the hanging, “but there were several hundred people on the outside craning their necks to get a possible view of the proceedings.” Kitts walked to the gallows “in a steady manner” and addressed the witnesses, saying that “he was prepared to die and would go to Heaven” and “that he was not sorry for what he had done, and would do the deed over again under similar circumstances.”

The trap door was opened at 1:45 p.m., and Kitts’s body was taken down eighteen minutes later.

In addition to Kitts, five other men would also hang on July 25, 1902—Lathe Hembree in Howard County, Sy Tanner in St. Francis County, Dee Noland and Tom Simms in Hempstead County, and Dave McWhorter in Crawford County.

For additional information:
“Double Hanging at Arkansas City.” Newport Weekly Independent, February 14, 1902, p. 7.

“From the Scaffold.” Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, February 16, 1902, p. 1.

“It’s a Record Breaker.” Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, January 24, 1902, p. 1.

“James Kitts Hanged.” Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, July 25, 1902, p. 1.

“Six Swing to Eternity in Arkansas Today to Expiate Foul Murder.” Arkansas Democrat, July 25, 1902, pp. 1, 3.

“Supreme Court.” Arkansas Democrat, June 28, 1902, p. 1.

“Two Condemned Men.” Arkansas Democrat, July 24, 1902, p. 5.

“Will Be Hangman’s Day.” Pine Bluff Daily Graphic, July 18, 1902, p. 1.

Mark K. Christ
Central Arkansas Library System