Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-04-26
TRAIN R0BBER
BLACK JACK HANGS
Rope Broke, but His Head Was Jerked Off
Wrote Letter to President Saying
Certain Men Are Innocent.

Clayton, N, NJ, April 26.-Thomas Il.
ketchum, alias Black Jack" the
train robber, was hanged at 1921 p, m.
today. The rope broke, but his head
was terked of,
The execution took place inside a
stockade built for the occasion. The
enclosure was crowded, 100 spectators
having been admitted.
When Ketchum mounted the plat
form at III, his face was very pale
but his eye swept out over the crowd
coldly and boldly, as II he had no fear.
A priest stood at his side as the rope
was put around his neck, The con
demned man had consented to this az
the last moment
Ketchum declined to make speech
before the moose was put around his
neck He merely muttered, Good
bye" then said, Please dig my grave
very deep" and finally. IAN right. hur-
~ up" His legs trembled but he kept
his nerve.
When the body dropped through the
trap, the half-inch rope severed the
head as clearly as II knife had cut
1t. The body pitched forward with
blood squirting from the headless trunk.
The head remained In the black sack
and flew down into the pit.
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 zap on Its right
side. with the blood issuing In an in
termittent stream from the severed
neck as the heart kept on with It's
mechanical beating. Then with cries
Of CONSERVATION the officers rushed
down from the scafIold and lifted the
body from the ground II was only
then apparent exactly what happened
The drop of the body was seven feet
and the moose was made so II slipped
easily. Ketchum was a heavy man
and the weight OF the body with the
easy running moose caused the rope 90
cut the head clearly of Or. Slack
pronounced life extinct In little over
1--WE minutes from the time the hody
dropped through the trap. II Ia stated
too much of a drop was given for 80
heavy man, Sheriff salome Garcia
superlntended the execution, and him
self let the trap drop
Thomas H. Ketchum. alias "Black
Jack" was the most noted desperate
OF the southwest. Although he was
credited with having taken the lives OF
some of his fellow beings, yet he final
~ paid the forfeit with his own life
for an attempted train robbery in
which nobody was killed
This crime was committed near Fol-
som. New Mexico, August 49, 1899.
Single handed "Black Jack held up a
Colorado a Southern passenger train.
He ordered the engineer and fireman 10
uncouple the engine and leave the
train. The conductor and mail agent
opened fire on him which he promptly
returned. He received the contents OF
n double barreled shotgun In his right
arm, but quickly changing the rifle 10
his left shoulder, he succeeded In
woundIng both conductor and mail
agent. He then escaped In the dark
ness, but was captured the next day,
He was tried for assault upon a United
States mail agent and sentenced to ten
years IN the penltentlary Then In
September 1900. he was tried on the
more serious charge Of assault upon a
railroad train with Intent TO commit a
felony. He was also convicted on this
charge and was sentenced TO be hanged
I'm November last. The execution was
stayed until March by an appeal to the
territorial supreme court, which af-
frmed the finding Of the lower court
and In March a reprleye was granted
until April 20.
BLACK Jack" was said to have been