Ketchum

The Execution of ‘Black Jack’ Ketchum Didn’t Go as Planned The haunting photo was taken on April 26, 1901. It captures one of the most infamous moments in Wild West history. This is Tom “Black Jack” Ketchum standing on the gallows in Clayton, New Mexico Territory. Ketchum was a feared train robber and outlaw. He had spent years on the run. A botched solo train heist led to his capture. This resulted in a death sentence. His execution would be the first—and only—hanging ever carried out in Union County. It was also the last hanging of the Old West for attempted train robbery. But the day didn’t unfold as planned. The local executioners, unfamiliar with the grim mechanics of a hanging, used a rope that was far too long. When the trapdoor fell, the drop was too severe—resulting in a shocking accident that instantly decapitated Ketchum. One newspaper reported: When the body dropped through the trap the half-inch rope severed the head as cleanly as if a knife had cut it. The body pitched forward with blood spurting from the headless trunk. The head remained in the black sack and flew down into the pit. SOME MEN GROANED. 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 its right side, with the blood issuing in an intermittent stream from the severed neck as the heart kept on with its mechanical beating. Then with cries of consternation the officers rushed down from the scaffold and lifted the body from the ground. It was only then apparent exactly what happened. The drop of the body was seven feet and the noose was made so it slipped easily. Ketchum was a heavy man, and the weight of the body, with the easy-running noose, caused the rope to cut the head cleanly off. Dr. Slack pronounced life extinct a little over five minutes from the time the body dropped through the trap. It is stated too much of a drop was given for so heavy a man. What was meant to be a final act of frontier justice turned into a chilling moment. It was unforgettable and left the gathered crowd stunned. The photos stand as stark reminders of the rough and often improvised nature of justice in the Old West. Tom Ketchum’s outlaw days ended on that scaffold. Yet, the story of his final moments continues to echo through history. It is fascinating, unsettling, and impossible to forget.