The Violent Life and Grisly Death of Wild West Outlaw and Train Robber “Black Jack” Ketchum

In the 1890s, outlaw “Black Jack” Ketchum and his brother Sam led a gang of train robbers throughout the American Southwest until their violent ways caught up with them

This article originally appeared on the true crime newsletter Tales From the Underworld. Subscribe for new and exclusive historical true crime content.

Depiction of outlaw Tom “Black Jack” Ketchum (Image generated via Midjourney)

For residents living in the small town of Clayton in Union County, New Mexico territory at the turn of the twentieth century, entertainment options were fairly limited. So, in the early spring of 1901, when news spread that notorious killer and train robber Tom “Black Jack” Ketchum was scheduled to be hanged in Clayton on April 26, 1901, the execution became a must-see for many of the townsfolk. Many of the stores closed that day, while the local saloons saw a steady increase in traffic.

Tickets were sold to view the hanging, and people from neighboring towns came to see what turned out to be the first and only execution to take place in Union County, New Mexico. How it was that Ketchum came to find himself awaiting…