Throughout History there have been many notorious criminals who have been executed.
After the Second World War for example scores of war criminals were executed for their roles
in atrocities, but even during the Medieval and Tudor times there were criminals killed
for a variety of crimes.
Some were even killed for theft which today would be considered rather minor at times,
but in America there was a cowboy who became notorious for his crimes and also the fact
robbed a train.
The life of Thomas Edward Ketchum who was also known as Black Jack was incredibly interesting,
but after his capture he was sentenced to death but his execution did not go well, and
it was botched with the train robber losing his head on the noose.
But what is the story of this?
Join us today as we look at the botched execution of Black Jack Ketchum, remember to support
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Tom Ketchum was born in San Saba County in Texas in October 1863.
In 1890 he left Texas following being involved in a crime, and he then moved to the Pecos
River of New Mexico where he worked as a cowboy.
A few years later his brother Sam joined him, and they worked on different ranches.
On their cattle drives they knew the land around them well including the settlers and
the local ranchers.
But they were involved in a gang and this gang became involved in a number of crimes,
but they also learned that an Aitchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Train was en route to
Deming, New Mexico in 1892 and on board was a large payroll which would be worth a fortune.
It was said that the Gang including Black Jack robbed the train outside of Nutt at a
water station around 32kms north of Deming.
They stopped the train, and at gunpoint held it up before they made off with around $20,000
which was a huge amount of money.
During the chaos, the conductor on board managed to sneak away and he telegraphed for help,
but by the time help arrived the hang were well hidden in a safe house, and Black Jack
then evaded capture going to Arizona and the $20,000 stolen was never found.
He was well known in the area as he with his gang would do business with other outlaws
of the day, and they supplied them with beef and horses working with the other criminals
in the area.
Another crime linked to Tom Ketchum was the murder of a neighbour named John N Powers
in Tom Green County in Texas on the 12th December 1895.
It’s believed others were accused originally of the killing, but Tom would later admit
he took part in the murder and was paid to do it.
But after this, he and his brother Sam left Texas and hit the outlaw trail, but then the
Ketchum Gang grew, and they were well known in many of the dancehalls and saloons in northeast
New Mexico.
The men of the gang were considered well mannered and respectful.
They had the best horses, and flashed money around and claimed to be cowboys and many
women in different towns were infatuated by their manners and money.
It’s believed that in February 1896, Tom Ketchum was involved in the disappearance
and murders of Albert Jennings Fountain and his son, with Albert being an American attorney.
The gang continued their crime spree, and Black Jack robbed many other stories including
a post office.
On the evening of the 12th June 1896, the gang rode into Liberty and purchased supplies.
A thunderstorm began, and they were invited to take shelter inside of a store.
But the next morning, the store owner found that the shop and post office had been robbed,
and then he gathered a group of men and hit the outlaw trail.
Four men took the outlaws by surprise and a shootout began, and later the store owner
Levi Herzstein was killed in this.
It was said Blackjack Ketchum then emptied his rifle into the bodies of the two he had
killed, but following this Tom Ketchum joined other outlaws of the Hole in the Wall Gang.
There were many other famous members of this group for example Butch Cassidy and the Sundance
Kid, and whilst part of the gang he continued his life of crime.
He focussed on train robberies, but also robbed several ranches in Texas and New Mexico.
They also killed many lawmen, and during this time Ketchum was mistaken for another outlaw,
and this is how he gained his nickname BlackJack.
Train robberies were committed by the group, and the first occurred at Twin Mountain on
the 3rd September 1897.
But then they hit another train on the 11th July 1899.
Following this the gang members headed for the mountains, and they were tracked by a
Sheriff and some other men, who followed them and engaged them in a gun battle.
Sam, Tom’s brother was wounded but the hang escaped.
Sam Ketchum’s wounds slowed down the escape, and they only made it a short distance from
where the shootout took place.
Some of the gang members were cornered and some were killed in a gun battle, but sam
managed to escape.
He was found a few days laster, and was then imprisoned and he died of the gunshot wounds.
But blackjack was unaware of the hold up which resulted in the death of his brother, and
on the 16th August 1899 he tried to single-handedly rob the same train at the same place, in exactly
the same way that his brother and the others had.
But the train conductor recognised him, and he grabbed a shotgun and shot Tom in the arm,
and he was knocked off his horse.
The train continued and the next day he was found badly wounded by the tracks and was
taken to hospital.
His right arm had to be amputated and he was nursed back to health before he was brought
to trial.
Tom Black Jack Ketchum was accused of attempted train robbery and a court quickly found him
guilty and he was sentenced to death.
He would be executed by hanging, and was the only person even hanged in Union County New
Mexico, and was the only person who suffered execution for the offence of ‘felonious
assault upon a railway train,’ but his execution did not go well.
Black Jack was to be executed by hanging in Clayton, but there was a problem there as
nobody inside of the town had any experience as an executioner of in conducting executions
by hanging.
With this, a gallows with a scaffold where it stood on and also a trapdoor was created
and was there to take the life of Tom Ketchum.
His execution had been delayed a number of times as the local lawmen had heard rumours
that his old gang was going to break him out of prison, and then a decision was made for
the hanging to take place on the 26th April 1901 at 8am.
The hanging was a big attraction and stores closed and saloons remained open for people
who wanted a drink before the execution.
People came from all over the area to see the execution and local lawmen were selling
tickets as well as dolls with tom hanging on a stick.
But the night before the scheduled hanging, the rope was tested by attaching a 200lb sandbag
to the noose and dropping it through.
At 1:13pm, Thomas Black Jack Ketchum was taken to the scaffold and then whilst the officials
and the executioner were with him on the scaffold he said to them, ‘Hurry up boys, get this
over with.’
A black cap was placed over his head, and then Sheriff Garcia then with a hatchet cut
the rope, and tom fell through the trapdoor.
However when they tested the rope, the weight caused the rope to be as rigid as wire.
With this, as Black Jack fell through the drop, he was beheaded and the only thing that
stopped his head rolling away was the black hood pinned to his shirt.
He was then declared dead, and his head was sewn back on to his torso before he was buried.
Tom Black Jack Ketchum was one of the most notorious outlaws operating in the Wild West,
and he along with his gang terrorised ranch owners, store owners and train drivers.
He was a bold man who new no limit to his crimes, and he was a skilled criminal.
But at the age of 37 he was executed as he bit off more than he could chew with trying
to hold up and rob a train on his own, in the same ways that others had.
But his execution went terribly wrong, and was incredibly bloody.
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