A train bandit met a gruesome demise during a botched hanging that resulted in his decapitation and blood spurting from his neck.
Thomas Edward Ketchum, hailing from Texas, gained notoriety as a member of the infamous ‘Hole-in-the-Wall’ gang in the late 19th Century in the United States. His criminal activities attracted the attention of law enforcement across several states, leading to his capture following a failed train robbery in 1899 near Folsom, New Mexico.
After sustaining severe injuries during the robbery, including the amputation of his right arm due to being shot by the train’s conductor, Ketchum faced trial in Clayton, where he was found guilty of attempted train robbery and sentenced to death by hanging.
On the morning of April 26, 1901, a large crowd gathered in Clayton for what was anticipated as a significant public spectacle. Stores shuttered, saloons opened early, and vendors sold souvenir dolls of Ketchum on a hanging stick.
However, behind the scenes, inexperienced executioners had made a critical error. The rope, tested with a 200-pound sandbag the previous night and left in place, behaved like rigid wire when the trapdoor was released.
The combination of the overly long rope, Ketchum’s weight gain in jail, and the imbalance caused by his amputated arm led to a farcical and horrifying execution.
During the execution that afternoon, Ketchum was dropped through the trapdoor, resulting in his head being completely severed from his body. Only the black hood prevented it from rolling away, necessitating the executioners to reattach it to his corpse for public burial.
Describing the scene, Sheriff Salome Garcia remarked: “Everyone present held their breath as his head was seen severed from his body by the fall. His body landed on its feet, swayed, fell, and then blood spurted from his severed neck, as if to shame the ground it poured on. The head rolled aside, and the released rope bounced high before falling back to the scaffold.”
Reportedly, Ketchum’s final words were: “Dig my grave deep, boys. Let her go, boys.”
The aftermath of the hanging became notorious, with photographs and postcards circulating of the decapitated body, titled “Body of Black Jack after the hanging showing head snapped off.” Ketchum remains a striking example of a failed execution in the United States.
Prior to his demise, Ketchum and his gang, including his brother Sam, conducted a train robbery at Twin Mountain, New Mexico, where Sam was fatally wounded during a shootout with the police.
Ketchum’s last solo robbery attempt ended disastrously on August 16, 1899, when he tried to rob a train near Folsom but failed due to miscalculations, leading to his arrest and subsequent trial.
Despite his infamy, Ketchum’s remains were relocated in the 1930s from the original Boothill site to the current Clayton Cemetery, where visitors are still captivated by the macabre tale.