The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-04-27
HEAD TORN OFF
BUNGLING EXECUTION OF "BLACK
JACK A NOTED OUTLAW.
Drop Was Too Long and the Neck Was
Severed, the Body Falling to the
Ground Below the GaIIows.
HANGED FOR TRAIN ROBBERY
LONG THE LEADER OF BAND OF
NOTORIOUS DEsPERADOEs.
Supposed to Have Killed Many Men,
TWO "hen He
Held Up a Train Alone.
INNOCENT MEN CONVICTED
SAYS HE COMMITTED CRIMES FOR
WHICH OTHERS SUFFERED.
Wrote Letter to the President Ask
ing that Justice BE Done Men Who
Were WrOngfully Convicted.
Supposed to Have Killed Many Men,
and Tried to Kill Two when He
Held Up Train Alone.
INNOCENT MEN CONVICTED
SAYS HE COMMITTED CRIMES FOR
WHICH OTHERS SUFFERED.
Wrote Letter to the President Ask
ing that Justice BE Done Men Who
Were WrOngfuIly Convicted.

CLAYTON, n. NJ, April 26.-Thomas r.
Ketchum, alias BLACK Jack" the notorious
outlaw. who had terrorized the people of
the Southwest for the past fifteen years.
was hanged here this afternoon for train
robbery and his head was severed from the
body by the rope as if by a guillotine. The
headless trunk pitched forward toward the
spectators and blood spattered upon those
nearest the scaffold.
The execution took place inside a stock
ade built for the occasion. The inclosure
was crowded, $50 witnesses having been ad-
mitted. When Ketchum mounted the scat
fold at LIZ D. m. his face was pale, but he
showed no fear. priest stood at his side
as the rope being put around his neck.
The condemned man had consented to this
at the last moment. KetchlSn declined to
make speech. He muttered. Goodbye
and said. please dig my grave very Deep"
and the cap was drawn over his face
| shouted, Let her co. His legs trembled,
but his nerve did not fail.
| AT 1:2l p. m. the drop was sprung, the
body shot through the trap and the head
| was torn from the trunk by the tremendous
| jerk. The head remained in the sack and
| fell into the pit. The body dropped to the
| ground quiyering and bleeding. Some men
| groaned and others turned away unable to
| endure the sight. For a few seconds the
| body was allowed to lie there half doubled
| up on it's right side, with the blood issuing
| in an intermittent stream from the several
| arteries as the heart kept on with its me-
| chanical beating. Then the officers rushed
down the scaffold and lifted the body from
| the ground.
DR.. Slack pronounced life extinct in five
minutes from the time the body dropped
| through the trap. The result showed that
the drop of seven feet with the running
moose, was too great for so heavy man
as Ketchum, who weighed about 10
| pounds. Sheriff Salome Garcia superln-
| tended the execution, and himself let the
| trap drop.
| REVIEWED HIS LIFE.
| Ketchum spent the greater part of the
morning in reviewing his past life. during
| which time he displayed perfect self-con-
| troll. He cursed the railroad and express
| companies and the officers who were instru-
mental in his conviction, and the people of
| New Mexico in general and their laws He
| acknowledged that he planned and led his
| gang in many robberies accredited to him.
| including the robbery the Southern Pa
cific Railroad at Stems pass in 1897 and
| that the Colorado Southern near Fol-
| som in 1898. He said he knew who killed
young Herstein at Liberty. Tex, in 1896.
but would give no names. claiming the
| guilty persons were alive He also said
| that he knew who killed A. b. Powers in
Tom Green county. Texas. in 1896, and said
| that Bud 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 was still alive
and enjoying his liberty. But he was the
cause of my becoming 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 crimes / would never
get free. for | looked too much like him. 7
| thought If l was going TO be hanged for
another mans crimes l might as well have
some OF my own. The real Black Jack
got the name because he was very dark.
and on the Erie roundup in Arizona there
were two Jacks. They called him BLACK
Jack to distinguish him from the other. -
| Ketchum said that Frank Herington. the
| conductor who shot him. causing him to
lose his right arm, l.. G. Fort, the Wells
| Fargo attorney. and w. III. Reno the Colo
RADIO & Southern Railway detective who
! effected his capture. will be killed within a
year. Il smuggied letter out of the prIs-
on at Santa Fe." said he, "and those three
| men are marked
LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT.
Ketchum this morning sent letter 70
President Mckinley in which he said:
There are now three men in the Santa
| Fe penitentiary serving sentences for the
| robbery of the United States malls al
| STEMS pass. A. T. I'm 1897, viz. Leonard
| Albertson. Walter Huffman and Bill Water
man. and they are innocent of the crime
as an unborn babe. The names OF the men
who committed the crime are Dave Atkins
| VIII Karver, Sam Ketchum, Broncho Bill
and myself l have given 10 my attorney
in Clayton means by which articles taken
in said robbery may be found where we
hid them and also the names OF witnesses
who live in that vicinity who will testify
that myself and the gang were I'm tha,
neighborhood both Immediately before and
after the robbery. The fact that these men
are innocent and are suffering impels me 70
make this confession. While you cannot
| help me and while l realize that all ef-
forts 10 secure TO me Communication OF nv
sentence have signally failed. I wish 10 do
| this much I'm the interest of these innocen,
men who. as far as l know, never com.
mitted a crime in their lives. / make this
statement fully realizing that my end is
fast approaching and that / must very
soon meet my Maker
Thomas Ketchum, alias BLACK Jack -
was the most noted desperate OF the South
west Although he was credited with hav-
ing taken the lives of some of his fellow
beings. yet he finally paid the forfeit OF