Washington Executions of 1902

Two African American men, Tom Sims and Dee Noland, were hanged on July 25, 1902, at Washington (Hempstead County) for first-degree murder; they were two of six men executed on that same date in Arkansas.

On November 20, 1901, two Black women, Nancy Jeton and daughter Tabitha Jeton (sometimes called Betty or Bitha), were at their Spring Hill (Hempstead County) home when someone fired a shotgun load of buckshot through their door, killing them both.

Tom Sims (sometimes spelled Simms) and his cousin Elmore Williams were accused of shooting the women. Williams’s mother Tilda allegedly sent her son to kill Tabitha Jeton “because Tilda’s husband was intimate with her,” while paying her nephew Sims six dollars to assist in the crime. Sims claimed that Williams carried the shotgun that fired the fatal blast while he was armed with a rifle to finish the job if Williams missed. He said Nancy Jeton got in the way and was accidentally hit with the same shot that killed her daughter. The Arkansas Gazette wrote of Tom Sims that “he claims he did not shoot, but as Elmore’s father is well-to-do and has plenty of witnesses to prove an alibi, Tom’s neck will likely do the stretching.” Sims was subsequently convicted of first-degree murder in the case, while Williams went free.

Dee Noland (sometimes referred to as Nolin or Nolan) was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1901 death of his wife Annie near Wallaceburg (Hempstead County). The two had separated, after which she disappeared. When her body was found in a field, her husband was arrested but later freed, “as there was no evidence against him.” However, “conscience prompted him to confess the crime,” saying “they quarreled and he choked her with one hand and discovered when he let her go that she was dead.” He claimed the killing was accidental.

Both Dee Noland and Tom Sims were sentenced to hang on June 12, 1902, but the executions were delayed while they appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court. The court affirmed their convictions and that of James Kitts, convicted of first-degree murder in Desha County, on June 28, 1902. On July 17, Governor Jeff Davis set July 25 as the day for all three men to hang.

Sims and Noland, along with three other inmates, escaped from the Hempstead County jail in Washington on July 5 after beating their jailer, who shot Noland, “hitting him in the back.” The “town was aroused,” and all of the escapees were soon returned to custody.

Early in the morning of July 25, 1902, Sims and Noland were led to the gallows, with the Washington Telegraph noting that Noland “had recovered sufficiently to walk without assistance.” Speaking from the scaffold, Sims admitted that he alone had shot the Jeton women at the bidding of his aunt. Noland also confessed, adding “that he had cut his wife’s throat after choking her.”

The trap door was opened at 6:17 a.m., and the men fell. Noland’s neck was broken, and he “died practically without a struggle,” but Sims died “by strangulation.” Both were declared dead at 6:30 a.m., and their bodies were cut down, placed in coffins, and turned over to relatives. A Gazette correspondent wrote that “it was a quiet, orderly affair, only twenty-three persons being present.”

In addition to Kitts, Noland and Sims, three other men would also hang on July 25, 1902—Lathe Hembree in Howard County, Sy (or Cy) Tanner in St. Francis County, and Dave McWhorter in Crawford County.

For additional information:
“Date of Execution Fixed.” Arkansas Democrat, July 17, 1902, p. 8.

“Double Murder Near Red River.” Arkansas Gazette, November 27, 1901, p. 2.

“Jail Delivery.” Arkansas Democrat, July 5, 1902, p. 1.

“Noland and Simms.” Arkansas Democrat, July 7, 1902, p. 1.

“Six Murderers Die on Gallows.” Arkansas Gazette, July 26, 1902, p. 1.

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

“Supreme Court of Arkansas.” Arkansas Gazette, June 29, 1902, p. 2.

“Two Swing.” Washington Telegraph, July 31, 1902, p. 1.

“Two Women Killed.” Nashville News, November 27, 1901, p. 1.

Mark K. Christ
Central Arkansas Library System