Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-04-27

The execution took place inside
stockade built for the occasion. One
hundred and fifty witnesses saw the ex-
ecution. When Ketchum mounted the
scaffold at LII p. m. his face was pale
but he showed no fear A priest stood
at his side and the rope was being ad-
justed. The condemned man had con-
sented to, spiritual attendance at the
last moment. Ketchum declined to
make a speech. He muttered GOOD
bye, then said: please dig my grave
over his face he shouted: Let her
go.
At 1:21 p. m the drop was sprung,
tie body shot through the trap and the
head was torn from the trunk by the
tremendous jerk. The head remained
n the sack and fell into the pit. The
body dropped to the ground quivering
and bleeding. Some men groaned and
others turned away unable to endure
the sight, For few seconds the body
was allowed to lie half doubled up on
its right side, with The blood pouring
in stream from the severed arteries,
as the heart kept up it's mechanical
beating. Then the officers rushed down
and lifted the body from the ground.
Life was pronounced extinct in five
1in1tpc from thn tiD,o tho
ped through the trap The result show
ed that the drop of seven feet with the
running moose was too great for so
heavy man as Ketchum, who weighed
ITO pounds. aSheriff Salome Garcia,
superintendent the execution and him
self sprung the trap.
Ketchum spent the greater part of
the morning in reviewing his past life,
during which time he displayed perfect
control of himself, frequently referring
to his momentarily expected death in
a violent manner. He cursed the rail-
road and express companies and the
officers who were instrumental in his
conviction, the people of New Mexico
in general, and their laws. He acknowl-
edged that he planned and led his gang
in many robberies accredited to him
including the robbery on the Southern
Pacific railroad at Stems Pass in 1897,
and that on the Colorado Southern near
Folsom in July, 1898. He said he knew
who killed young Herstein at Liberty,
Texas, in 1895. but would give no
Names claiming the guilty persons We're
alive. He also said thai hc lew "ND
killed A. B. Powers in Tom Green
county, Texas, in 1896, anu ,l.a. 80.
Upshaw, who was accused, had no
knowledge of that crime. Ketchum de-
clared that he was not the original
BLACK Jack" and said that outlaw Wa
still alive and enjoying his liberty
But he was the cause of my becom-
ing an outlaw" said Ketchum. Lee
Dow, the officer, saw Black Jack at
the Deer Creek tank affair. and in 1897
told me that if ] was ever tried for
Black Jacks crime l would never get
free, for | looked too much like him.
! thought if l was going to be hanged
for another mans crime, l might as
we'll have some of my own. The real
Black Jack got the name because he
was very dark, and on the Erie round
up in Arizona there were two Jacks.
They called him Black Jack to dis
tinguish him from the other
ketchum said that Frank Herington,
the conductor who shot him, causing
him to lose his right arm; L. c. Fort,
a Wells-Fargo attorney, and w. H.
Reno, the Colorado & Southedn detec-
tive, who effected his capture, will be
killed within a year. Il smuggled
letter out of the prison at Santa Fe,"
said he, land those three men are
marked"