The Last Man Hanged for Train Robbery, the Execution of Tom Ketchum,In 1899 the murderer, thief, and

The Last Man Hanged for Train Robbery, the Execution of Tom Ketchum,In 1899 the murderer, thief, and Hole In the Wall gangster Tom “Black Jack” Ketchum attempted to single handidly rob train in New Mexico Territory.  The holdup went badly however, when the train conductor blew off his arm with a shotgun.  Despite causing no harm to the passengers or stealing anything, Ketchum was sentenced to death as  “felonious assault upon a railway train” was considered a capital crime in New Mexico Territory.After languishing in jail for over a year Ketchum mounted the gallows on April 26th, 1901.  The rope was strung around his neck and a cover was placed over his head.  According to newspapers his last words were “I’ll be in Hell before you start breakfast boys. Let er rip!”  The hanging of Black Jack Ketchum should have been no different than any of the other hangings in the Old West.   However when the hangman pulled the lever and the floor dropped out from under Ketchum’s feet, something happened that would make Ketchum’s hanging the most unique of all others.Hanging during the 1800’s was not just done willy nilly, there was a science to the killing method that all hangmen of the day used.  Believe it or not at that time executioners wanted the death of the condemned to be as painless and easy as possible.  Hangmen used a formula to determine the length of the rope and height of the drop based on the person’s weight and stature.  The goal was for the condemned’s weight to sever the C1 and C2 vertebrae, causing a painless and instantaneous death.  If the rope was too short the condemned would dangle from the gallows until the noose strangled him to death.  A rope that was too long would cause decapitation as the extra momentum of the falling prisoner would cause the head to be yanked from the body.Ketchum was weighed a year before his execution.  This weight was used by the hangman, however he gained a lot of weight after eating heartily while sitting idly in jail.  By the day of his hanging Ketchum’s weight was significantly more than when he was initially weighed.When the hangman pulled the lever Ketchum dropped seven feet and his head was snapped clean off his body, spraying blood on witnesses who were closest to the gallows.  According to the Oakland Tribune,“Some men groaned and others turned away, unable to endure the sight. For a few seconds the body was allowed to lie there half-doubled up on its right side, with blood issuing in an intermittent stream from the severed neck as the heart kept on with its mechanical beating. Then with cries of consternation the officers rushed down from the scaffold and lifted the body from the ground. It was only then apparent exactly what happened.“Ketchum’s head and decapitated body was posed for pictures (above), the photos of which would be used for postcards.  His head was sewn back onto his body for viewing and later buried.  "Headless” Tom Ketchum would be the only person ever hanged in Union County, NM and the last person hanged for train robbery in the United States. -- source link

More pics about