And that is true the Romans would hang a person on anything
But from what I have read from the early Church fathers these first to third century Christians they refer to the cross or the sign of the cross rather than the sign of a stake.
Highly unlikely that the historical usage of a stake was not widely attested to or adopted in the early Church if that was the case.
The JW argument of worshipping the cross as an idol means that people would pray to the cross and not Jesus. Simplistic argumentation and no historical evidence that the cross was worshipped in the early church over Jesus.
In fact wooden poles or carved stakes were very closely related to Pagan worship in the bible so not the best thought out argument by the JW.
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the carved images of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.
There is an interesting study of the bronze serpent in the bible but alas I have to head off and maybe latter if I have time get back to the topic.
