A notorious train robber, Thomas Edward Ketchum from Texas, met a gruesome fate during a botched hanging that resulted in his decapitation and blood spurting from his neck. Ketchum, a member of the ‘Hole-in-the-Wall’ gang in the late 19th Century, drew law enforcement attention across several states. Following a failed train robbery in 1899 near Folsom, New Mexico, where Ketchum was shot and had his right arm amputated, he was convicted of attempted train robbery and sentenced to death by hanging in Clayton.
The execution, scheduled on April 26, 1901, gathered a large crowd in Clayton, turning into a spectacle. However, due to errors by inexperienced executioners who left a sandbag on the rope, the hanging went awry. The combination of factors, including an overlong rope and Ketchum’s weight gain in jail, led to a horrific execution where Ketchum’s head was severed from his body. His head had to be sewn back on for public burial.
Sheriff Salome Garcia described the shocking scene, emphasizing the horror as Ketchum’s head separated from his body, causing blood to spurt forth. Ketchum’s last words, “Dig my grave deep, boys. Let her go boys,” lingered in the aftermath. The aftermath of the incident became notorious with photographs and postcards circulating, depicting the decapitated body of Ketchum, known as “Body of Black Jack after the hanging showing head snapped off.”
Despite his infamy, Ketchum’s body was relocated to Clayton Cemetery in the 1930s from the original Boothill site, attracting visitors intrigued by the morbid tale of his botched execution.