| Show ROPE FORA6U1LLOTINE Horrible Scene Occurs at the Execution of 1 Blackjack Ketchum at Clayton Clay-ton N jJ L Vhen Body Dropped ThrouglvTrap tl e Rope Severed the Head as Cleanly as If a Knife Had Cut lt HcadIess Trunk Pitches Forward For-ward Among Spectators Head Remained in the Black Sack Drop Was Seven Feet i Clayton N Mf April 26 Thomas E Kclchum alias Blade Jack the no toiloua outlaw who had terrorized the people of the Southwest for the past fifteen years was hanged here In a stockade in the presence of ICO pee I pie this nflornodn for the last of his many crimes an attempted troin rob bery in which nobody was 1dHed and his head was severed from the t body by the rope as If by n guillotine The headless trunk pitched forward toward the spectators and blood spurted upon those nearest the scaffold DIG MY GRAVK D1SEP When Kctcmim mounted tho platform plat-form tit 117 his face was very pale but his eye swept out over the crowd coldly and boldly ns 1C he had no fear A priest stood at his side as the rope was put around his neck The condemned con-demned man had conjSlmtcd to this at the last moment He declined to make I a speech before the noose was put around Ills neck but merely muttered I Goodbye then said Please dig my grave very deep and finally AH right hurry up Ills legs trembled but ho kept his nerve HORRIBLE SCENIS When the body dropped through the trip the halfInch rope severed his head as cleanly as if a knife had cut It The body pitched forward with blood spurting fiom the headless trunk The I head remained In the black aek Sand I Hew down into lie fit APPALLED AT SICTILT Some men groaned and others turned away unable to endure the sight For a few seconds the body was allowed 10 lie there half doubled up on Its night side with the blood Issuing In an Intermittent Inter-mittent stream from the severed neck as the heart kept on with Its mechanical mechani-cal beating Then with cries of consternation con-sternation the ofHcers rushed down from the scaffold and liflcd the body from the iound DROP WAS SEVJ3M IpEEX Jt t fras only then appaYent 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 easyrunning noose caused the lope to cut the head cleanly oil Dr Slack pronounced life extinct in a little over five minutes from the tIme the body dropped through the trap JL is sullen LOt mucn UL tv uiujj was given for so heavy a man Sheriff Salome Garcia superintended the execution exe-cution and himself let the trap drop CURSED THE PEOPLE Ketchum spent the greater portion of lie morning iii reviewing his past life He displayed perfect control frequently referring to his momentarily expected death in a Jocular manner He cursed the raillOal and express companies and their officers who were instrumental in his conviction and the people of New Mexico In general and their laws GUILTY OF MANY CRIMES Ho acknowledged that he planned and led a gahg in many robberies accredited ac-credited to him including the robbery of the Southern Pacific at Steens Pass In 1S97 and I that on the Colorado Southern nearFolsoln In July 1S9S He said he knew who killed young Hcrsteln at Liberty Tex In 1S95 but would give no names qlalmlng the guilty parties were alive 3le also said that he knew who killed A 13 Powers in Tom Green county Tpf m SSb and that Bud Upshow who js accused had no knowledge knowl-edge of that crime NOT ORIGINAL BLACK JACK Ketchum declared he was not the original Black Jack and bald that outlaw was still alive and enjoying his liberty Theio are a dozen men in fcotuhern Arizona said Ketchum who will swear that I and Black Jack are two different persons But he was the cause of any becoming an outlaw ides Dow the dfiicer saw Black Jack at the Doer Creek tank affair in ISftS He told me that If 1 was ever tried for Black Jacks crimes I would never get free for looked too much like him f thought if 1 wns going to be hanged for another mans crimes I might us well liave some of my own The real Black Jack got the name because he was very dark and on the ISrle roundup round-up in Arizona there were two Jacks They called him Clack Jack to know him from the other Pie held up the Nogalcs bank and Was In the Wachuoa Siding affair when the soldiers money was taken T1IHEE MARKED MEN Kctehum said that Frank llcrring ton the conductor who shot him causing caus-ing him to lose his light arm X C Fort the VeIlsFniKo attorney and W If Ri > no the tolorado Southein railroad detective who effected his capture cap-ture will he killed In a year T smuggled smug-gled a loiter out of the prison at Santa Fo said he and those three are marked men LETTER TO PRESIDENT Ketchum mulled the following letter to President McKinley this morning Clayton N M Apill 2uTo Ills I lv x iiiicinrv iruniuvin UL mo united SHUCK Washington D C Sir Being now nt tho town of Cluyton N M awaiting my execution Avhlch IH set for this day and realizing Ito Importance to thin llbcriy oC other men and the duty which I conceive to Incumbent upon myself standing In the presence of death where no huinun a hi can roach mo I deslre lo communicate to you by means of thin letter sonic farm which 1 deem would bo ot Interest to the nooplo throuch their President and perhaps per-haps bo the means of liberating Innocent men Thoro are now three men In Santa Fo penitentiary serving sentences for the robbery of thn United Slates mull sit Steins Pass Ariz In 1837 viz Leonard Albcrltton Wiilter Huffman and IUII AValcrman and they arc Innocent of Hit crime us an unborn bubo The name of the men who committed the crime arc Dave Alklna Kd Fullln Will furver Sm Ketchum Hroncho Bill and myself 1 have slvcn to my ullnrney In riiyton meitiB by which articles taken In saul robbery may be found where wo hid them und also tin mimes of wllnefwra who live In that vicinity who will testify thin t myself amid pmip were Irtsllint neishlwr > hoed belli Immediately before anil after the robbery J Tho fact that these men are Innocent and aro suffering Impels mo to make thin eonfcssloiY While you cannot help me nilel while I realize that all efforts to iiccairo to me ti commuintion of my acn tonco have signally foiled 1 wish to do thlK much In the Interest of theso Innocent Inno-cent men who so fnr as 1 1 know never committed a crime In their lives I make this statement fully realizIng that my end IB fast approaching and that I must very soon meet niy maker Very respectfully your servant T K KliTCIJUAt |
