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Conductor Frank Harrington, whose train
was being held up for the third time, had finally had it. He
took his shotgun to the baggage car and carefully opened the door,
pointing the gun at
Black Jack. However,
Tom
was too quick for him and shot at the conductor, just barely missing
Harrington. Harrington also shot at about the same time, hitting
Black Jack in the right elbow, almost severing the arm. Tom
fell backwards out of the train and down the bank. Harrington ordered
the engineer and fireman to get the train moving as fast as possible.
Resuming the run, the train stopped at
each station, reporting the would-be robbery and sending word for law
officers to look out for a badly wounded man near the scene of the
hold up.
Ketchum later reported, "I tried a dozen times to mount my horse
but was too weak to do it." Weary and dizzy from the pain, he
sat down to wait for the posse. Early the next morning as
the sun was coming up, a freight train heading from
Folsom passed by the robbery scene. A man was seen about 100 yards
from the train, waving his hat on the end of his gun, as a signal.
When the train was stopped and the conductor and brakeman approached,
Black Jack drew a gun on them. The conductor said, "We just came
to help you but if this is the way you feel, we will go and leave
you."
Black Jack responded, "No boys, I am all done, take me in." (In
other accounts, Sheriff Saturinino Pinard is credited with the
arrest).
Black Jack was carried to the train, placed in the caboose and
taken into
Folsom.
At first,
Black Jack stated that his name was George Stevens and that the
would-be robbery was his first attempt at a hold up and a mighty poor
one. He was taken on the first passenger train to Trinidad,
Colorado
and placed in San Rafael Hospital, where his arm was amputated. When he was able to travel, he was taken to
Santa Fe
for safekeeping. Later, he was transferred to Clayton,
New Mexico
for trial, where he pled innocent, but the judge found him guilty and
sentenced him to death by hanging.
The hanging was delayed several times
until lawmen heard rumors that the old gang was going to attempt to
free
Tom. Therefore, a decision was finally made and the hanging was scheduled
on April 26, 1901 at 8:00 a.m. The hanging was a big attraction with
stores closing and saloons remaining open, doing a brisk business. People came from all over the area to see the big event, where the
local lawmen were selling tickets to view the hanging, as well as
little dolls of
Tom
hanging on a stick.
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However, the town of Clayton had no experience in hanging a man and there
was a debate concerning the length of rope. The night before the
scheduled hanging, the rope was tested by attaching a 200-pound sandbag to
the noose and dropping it through the trap. Finally, at 1:13 p.m.
Thomas
"Black Jack" Ketchum was taken to the scaffold. While they were
adjusting the hood, Ketchum stated, "Hurry up boys, get this over with." Finally, Sheriff Garcia took two blows with a hatchet, cutting the rope
and Tom
fell through the trap.
Unfortunately, the inexperienced hangmen had forgotten about the sandbag
they had used to test the rope and the weight of it caused the rope to be
as rigid as wire. When
Black
Jack fell through the drop, he was immediately decapitated. The
black hood pinned to his shirt was the only thing that kept his head from
rolling away. A few minutes later the doctor pronounced him dead,
then sewed his head to his torso prior to the burial at the Clayton's Boothill at 2:30 P.M. In the 1930's his body was moved to the new
cemetery in Clayton, where it remains today.
Black
Jack Ketchum was the only person ever hanged in Union County,
New Mexico. He was also the only person who suffered capital punishment for the
offence of "felonious assault upon a railway train" in the State of
New Mexico. Later, the law was found to be unconstitutional, but way too late for
Thomas
Ketchum. According the annals of American Jurisprudence at the time, he was
the only criminal decapitated during a judicial hanging in the U.S. The only
other recorded example was in England in 1601. Later, the same thing
occurred at the hanging of one Eva
Dugan at the Pinal County,
Arizona
prison in 1930.
© Kathy Weiser/Legends
of America, updated August, 2008
Read
about the Ghost of Black Jack Ketchum Next Page
|
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Black
Jack Ketchum hanging postcard
This image available for
photographic prints and downloads
HERE!
|
Black
Jack Ketchum After Hanging -- This is a copy of a
postcard
that was actually sold after the hanging. Before
clicking to see a bigger picture, beware, this
is gruesome.
Click here to see a bigger picture.
Some say that Black Jack Ketchum's spirit still haunts an area in
Northeast New Mexico. Read the story of the notorious criminal's
lingering ghost. Click
HERE
to read more. |
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