Tom Ketchum’s hanging went wrong.
April 26, 1901. Outlaw Tom Ketchum is hanged in Clayton, NM for the crime of train robbery. He was Incorrectly referred to as “Black Jack,” which was the moniker of Will “Black Jack” Christian.
In August 1899, Ketchum tried to single-handedly hold up a train near Folsom, NM. He was shot and captured. Train robbery was a capital offense in the territory, and Ketchum was the only person executed under that statute.
But his hanging went wrong, too. The executioners were novices and failed to adjust the weights correctly. Ketchum was decapitated.
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