Shiner gazette. [volume] (Shiner, Tex.) 1893-current, 1901-05-01
HEAD JERKED OFF.
BLACK JACK, THE NOTORIOUS
DESPERATE, HANGED. g.
Armed Deputies Guarded the the Jail All
Night--Feared an Attempt ut Rescue.
Wrote a Letter to the President Exhon-
Grating Three Prisoners.

Clayton, N. NJ, April 27.-Thomas
e. Ketchum, alias BLACK Jack" the
train robber, was hanged at 1:21 p. m.
yesterday
The long drop broke the rope, but
his head was jerked from his body.
Twenty armed deputies were on
guard all night at the jail in antlcipa-
ton of an attempt to rescue Ketchum.
Hundreds of armed men, many of
them cowboys from the surrounding
country, were in town. but everything
was quiet. Sheriff Garcia decided to
hold the execution about l o'clock.
Ketchum received the ministration
of priest during the morning. He
ate hearty breakfast, took bath
and said he was ready to die at any
hour. At 1880 a. IN. he called for
music. A violin and guitar were sent
him.
Ketchum talked for over an hour
with visitors, cooler than any who
met him. He declared death prefera-
BILE to Imprisonment. Ketchum told
of robberes in which he was cornered,
but declared that he had never killed
man, and only shot three. He said
he was not BLACK Jack" and that
bandit Still lived. ketchum refused
to give names of friends still at large
Besides giving full account of the
STEMS Pass robbery, generating the
men who were convicted of that crime,
Ketchum said that Bud Upshaw was
innocent of the murder or A. P. Pew
ers in Texas, of which he is accused.
This killing, Ketchum said, was the
result of conspiracy to which he
was party.
Thomas Ketchum, alias BLACK
Jack" was tn most noted desperate
Of the Southwest. Although he was
credited with having taken the lives
of many fellow beings, yet he finally
paid the forfeit with his own life for
an attempted train robbery in which
nobody was killed This crime was
committed near Folsom N. NJ, Au-
gust 16, 1899. Single-handed BLACK
jack held up a Colorado aud South
ern passenger train. He ordered the
engineer and fireman to uncouple the
engine and leave the train. The con-
ductor and mail agent opened fire on
him, to which he. promptly responded.
He received the contents of double
barreled shotgun in his right arm, but
quickly changing the rife to his left
shoulder, he succeeded in wounding
both the conductor and the mail agent.
He then escaped in the darkness, but
was captured the next day. He was
tried for assault on a United States
mail agent and sentenced TO ten years
in the penitentiary. Then, in Septem-
Der, 1900, he was tried upon more
| serious charge of assault upon rail-
road train with intent to commit a
felony. He was also convicted on this
charge and sentenced to be hanged
in November last. The execution was
stayed until March by an appeal to
the Territorial supreme court, which
affirmed the finding of the lower court
and in March a reprleve was granted
until April 26. "Black Jack" was said
to have been the leader of band OF
outlaws who committed many train
robberies and other raids in Texas
New Mexico and Arizona. This band
has been scattered since his arrest
Seven or eight men have been killed
three are in jail and others have been
driven to the mountains.
Carloads of Berries.