From the December 9, 1883 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“Mobeetie (Texas) Panhandle–Jim Kelly, cow puncher, of Greer County, has been here for a few days. He is funning himself up a lot, and his contorting smile is frequent.”
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Tags: Jim Kelly
Phineas Gage wasn’t a medical man, but he did a great deal to enrich America’s knowledge of brain science and psychology.
In 1848, the Vermont railroad construction foreman somehow survived an explosion in which a long, 13-pound iron rod passed completely through his head. His left frontal lobe destroyed, Gage was “no longer Gage,” and was now prone to streaks of stubbornness, profanity and impatience that were not previously native to him. It strongly suggested to scientists that different parts of the human brain governed different functions. The marked change in his personality and his odd but formidable notoriety made him the most famous freak in an America for a time, and Gage was even a featured performer at Barnum’s American Museum in New York. He lived a dozen more years following his accident, dying in San Francisco after a series of convulsions. From his case study the 1868 Bulletin of the Massachusetts Medical Society:
“He has no pain in the head, but says he has a queer feeling (in his head) which he is not able to describe. His contractors, who regarded him as the most efficient and capable foreman in their employ previous to his injury, considered the change in his mind so marked that they could not give him his place again. The equilibrium or balance, so to speak, between his intellectual faculties and animal propensities, seems to have been destroyed. He is fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity (which was not previously his custom), manifesting but little deference for his fellows, impatient of restraint of advice when it conflicts with his desires, at times pertinaciously obstinate, yet capricious and vacillating, devising many plans of future operation, which are no sooner arranged than they are abandoned in turn for others appearing more feasible… Previous to his injury, although untrained in the schools, he possessed a well-balanced mind, and was looked upon by those who knew him as a shrewd, smart business man, very energetic and persistent in executing all his plans of operation. In this regard, his mind was radically changed, so decidedly that his friends and acquaintances said he was ‘no longer Gage.'”
Tags: Phineas Gage
From the May 3, 1891 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“A week ago, George Wahl, a farmer at Queens, was arrested for threatening to kill his wife. He had broken nearly all the furniture in the house. Wahl was believed to be insane. He wanted to get rid of his wife, he said, that he might marry his daughter, and if his daughter would not marry him he would kill her, too. Drs. P.M. Wood and P.K. Moynen examined Wahl several times and pronounced him perfectly sane.”
Tags: Dr. P.K. Moynen, Dr. P.M. Wood, George Wahl
If you lived in the 19th century and your nickname was “Three-Fingered Jack,” you were most likely a huge a-hole and wanted for more than just disturbing the peace. Numerous bandits went by that handle and things got ugly for those who crossed paths with them–and, ultimately, for the criminals themselves. A trio of short Brooklyn Daily Eagle pieces follow about various Three Finger Jacks.
••••••••••
“Three Fingered Jack Wanted” (April 10, 1889): “Police Superintendent Campbell received the following uniquely worded missive from an Indiana sheriff to-day:
‘I want Three Fingered Jack, described as follows: Height, five feet nine inches; weight, 235 pounds; complexion medium, smooth face, brown hair, blocky build, upper teeth white (look like artificial), lips little thick, third finger on one hand off at or near knuckle joint, little finger of same hand bent. He wore stiff black hat, dark suit and overcoat. He is a sport in hard luck, and talks all kind of games. Has been in the prize ring. Is wanted for false pretenses and swindling. Arrest him and wire me.’
George W. Reed
Sheriff La Porte County, La Porte, Ind.”
••••••••••
“Train Robber Found Dying” (Feb 17, 1900): “Tombstone, Ariz.–One of the train robbers who held up the train at Fairbanks Thursday night has been found in a dying condition at Sycamore Springs, nine miles from Tombstone. The robber’s name is John Dunlap, alias Three Fingered Jack. He was brought from Colorado a few months ago on a requisition to answer a charge of highway robbery, but the District Attorney dismissed the case. Dunlap’s three accomplices are being pursued by a sheriff’s posse. The trail leads in the direction of the Cochise stronghold in the Dragoon Mountains. The wounded robber received in the abdomen the full of charge of a shotgun fired by the Wells-Fargo messenger. An ambulance left this place to bring the wounded man to town.”
••••••••••
“An Outlaw Killed in Bed” (December 4, 1895): “Perry, Oklahoma Territory–Jack Phineas, alias Three Fingered Jack, one of the most noted outlaws in Oklahoma, was killed while in bed with his wife near Kildare, Monday night, by some unknown person. He was a member of the famous Dalton Gang, and during his eventful career has probably committed every crime on the calendar. About 9 o’clock Monday night some one crept to the room and cut the throat of the outlaw from ear to ear. The murderer evidently knew the direct spot where Phineas lay, as his wife was not awakened until the deed was done. Whether he had an old grudge against Phineas or what is not known.”
Tags: Dalton Gang, George W. Reed, Jack Phineas, John Dunlap, Police Superintendent Campbel, Three-Fingered Jack
From the August 23, 1853 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“On Saturday, a peacock attacked the infant daughter of John Kreutzer, of Summit Township, Pa., with such fury that he pecked out one of her eyes, and wounded the other before he was driven off. The child had a glass of milk, which, it appears, the bird wanted.”
Tags: John Kreutzer
From the August 9, 1898 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“A horse took an apple yesterday from the fruit stand of Frank Cosleato, an Italian fruit peddler, 55 years old, of 143 Union Street. The peddler was much incensed and pulled out a knife and cut the horse in the nose, causing the animal considerable pain.”
Tags: Frank Cosleato
From the June 5, 1897 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“Eva Churchill, 3 years of age, a daughter of James Churchill, a Canarsie bayman, died yesterday afternoon at her house on Rockaway Avenue, near Avenue L, Canarsie Grove, from shock and convulsions caused by fright at the snoring of a drunken man.”
Tags: Eva Churchill, James Churchill
"We are awfully hungry; can't you give us a bit of something to eat?"
If you were going to be thrown into the clink in 1882, you could do a lot worse than the Butler Street Station House, where you were apparently given an unlimited number of pies to gorge yourself on. From an article in the January 27, 1882 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“‘Do you want something to write?’ asked Captain Leavey of a reporter, as he entered the Butler Street Station House this morning.
‘Yes,’ was the reply.
‘Well,’ said the captain, ‘we had a rare pair of lodgers here last night. They gave the names of John M. Clark and William Collins, and said they came from Hempstead. Before being shown upstairs one of them said to me: ‘Captain, we are awfully hungry; can’t you give us a bit of something to eat?’ They looked just the sort of fellows that could have relished some broiled crow, and so I said to them: ‘How hungry are you?’ The elder of the two smacked his lips and said he felt as though he could swallow a house and lot, so I sent around the corner to an adjoining bakery for some pie.
Half a dozen pies were set before them and they disappeared like snow before a blazing sun. Six more were produced and still they were not satisfied. I asked them if they intended to eat up the bakery, and the only reply received was to the effect that the people in Hempstead were all great eaters. So, I sent out for another half dozen, and they went the way of the rest in just as short a time. Then they said they had enough and retired for the night.
‘I tell you,’ said the captain, in conclusion, ‘I would not like to take a contract to feed the folks in Hempstead.'”
A story of a Texas bullfight exhibition gone horribly wrong, from the March 9, 1900 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“Austin, Tex.–A desperate riot, which came near resulting in the lynching of several bull fighters, took place at San Luis Potosi, Mex. The affair is described as follows in a letter which reached here today:
The bull fight of Sunday afternoon under the leadership of Jose Marrero of Havana, with seven assistants proved a failure. Five arrogant and valiant bulls had been promised. The first bull led out put up a little show of resistance and was killed, but none of the others would fight at all. The spectators began to hiss and groan and throw oranges, lemons and stones into the ring. Finally the disappointed assemblage tossed the chairs, benches and hand-railings into the ring and then set fire to the pile. This stopped the performance. But even this exhibition of ire did not satisfy the belligerents, who laid violent hands on the bull fighters and were in the act of lynching them when the police interfered.”
Tags: Jose Marrero
"The nose, eyes and ears will be hermetically sealed with wax."
An Illinois mind reader planned in 1893 to have himself buried alive where he would remain while a crop grew above him. He would then emerge unscathed. There are easier ways to kill yourself. From an article in the August 7th edition in that year’s Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“Hillsboro, Ill.–The mind reader, A.J. Seymour, is generally known in Illinois and his proposed attempt to be buried and remain in the ground while a crop of barley is grown on his grave creates interest in this state. Dr. E.C. Dunn of Rockford has been selected by Seymour as manager. Dr. Dunn says: ‘There is no question that this feat can be performed. I have seen it performed successfully three times in India, at Allahabad, Delhi and Benares. For several days Seymour will be fed upon a diet of fat and heat producing food. He will then throw himself into a cataleptic state. Their lungs will be filled with pure air to their fullest capacity and the tongue placed back and partially down the throat in such a manner as to completely close the aperture to the lungs. The nose, eyes and ears will be hermetically sealed with wax. After parafine has been spread over the entire body, to close the pores, it will be ready for burial. The body will be put in an extra large casket. This will be placed inside another and both will be perforated, in order that if any poisonous gases exude from the body they may make their escape and be absorbed by the soil. The interment is to be made in a clay soil.'”
Tags: A.J. Seymour, Dr. E.C. Dunn
From the September 29, 1900 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“Flushing, L.I.–Ferdinand Dohn started to sneeze yesterday morning soon after he arose, about 6 o’clock, and he continued to sneeze until 8 o’clock last night, when he burst a blood vessel in the neck and was removed to the Flushing hospital.
The physicians there say that it is one of the most remarkable cases they have had to deal with.”
Tags: Ferdinand Dohn
"The patient is first laid down and the surgeon with a small razor cuts a triangular piece of skin from the forehead."
I knew that people were getting cosmetic surgery in the 1800s, but I didn’t know that actual noses were being created from human flesh. From the July 22, 1888 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, an article originally published in the London Standard:
“They are discussing artificial noses in Vienna, it seems, and the savants take credit for a grand advance of science in this age over the immemorial methods of the East. Probably enough, their congratulations are justified; but we should have more faith if they showed better acquaintance with the methods they condemn. It is not the fact that Oriental surgeons take a strip of flesh from some other person’s body and make of it a new nose for their patient. That is a European practice of late date, and if Viennese authorities disapprove it they must quarrel with their confreres. The Eastern practice is ‘immemorial’ indeed, and for so many ages it has been used with success that neither operators nor sufferers are likely to change it. That practice is absolutely the same which the professors assert to be a modern triumph. Mr. Baden Powell, in his great work upon the arts and manufactures of the Punjab, describes it: ‘The patient is first laid down and the surgeon with a small razor cuts a triangular piece of skin from the forehead, which he dexterously twists just at the juncture of the nose with the brow so as to bring the right side of the skin to the front, etc., exactly as our scientific people do. It is a process hereditary in certain families of the Kangra district, where it was likely this art was exercised before Vienna was heard of.”
Tags: Robert Baden-Powell
From the May 23, 1873 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“Andrew Brady, of Flatbush, was knocked down and run over yesterday, by a manure wagon, owned by C.C. Cowenhoven, of Canarsie, and the wheels crushed the ribs on his right side, injuring him badly. He was found lying on the Flatbush road by Roundsman Penfold and Officer Murphy of the Twelfth Precinct Police who conveyed him to the hospital.”
Tags: Andrew Brady, C.C. Cowenhoven, Officer Murphy, Roundsman Penfold
From the September 28, 1850 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“The Bordeaux papers contain the details of the death of Lieut. Gale, the aeronaut. He ascended upon the back of a pony, and at a short distance from the city, made a successful descent. The pony was detached and, while he was in the act of exhausting the remaining gas, his anchor gave way, and the balloon, being relieved of its chief weight, rose suddenly. A tree, by which the anchor held, snapped, and the shock upset the car. The lieutenant clung to the ropes, and in this state was carried a mile and a quarter, when he dropped, either with the balloon, or before it fell. His dead body, with all the limbs broken, was found in a wood. He has left a wife and eight children. He was engaged for twelve nights, at £90 each, free of expense. It is said that the Prefect of the Police intends to prohibit all balloon ascents out of the usual mode of performance.”
Tags: Lieut. Gale
"Finally the whale swam away dragging the two boats away with him."
Perhaps an 1890s sailor was truly swallowed alive by a whale and lived to tell about it, or perhaps, more likely, the editors from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle had truly swallowed lots of alcohol. From that newspaper’s July 12, 1891 edition:
“The whaling vessel Star of the East arrived here yesterday, after a cruise of the two years and a half in the South Atlantic waters. She had on board a man who is a veritable Jonah, having existed in a whale’s belly thirty-six hours.
The man’s statement is vouched for by the captain and crew of the vessel, and today he is an object of great curiosity among the sailors. The man’s name is James Bartley and he hails from New Bedford, where he was born thirty-eight years ago. He had made two voyages from this port on the Star of the East, and notwithstanding his exciting experience during his last trip he says that he will ship for another voyage as soon as an opportunity to do so offers itself.
The strange story told by him is, in substance, as follows:
Last February the Star of the East was in the vicinity of the Falkland Islands searching for whales, which were very scarce. One morning the lookout sighted a whale about three miles away on the starboard quarter. Two boats were manned and put chase to the prey.
In a short time one of the boats was near enough to enable the harpooner to send a spear into the whale, which proved to be an exceedingly large one. With the shaft in his side the animal sounded and then sped away, dragging the boat after him with terrible speed. He swam straight away about five miles, when he turned and came back almost directly toward the spot where he had been harpooned. The second boat waited for him, and when but a short distance away from him he arose to the surface. As soon as his back showed above the surface of the water the harpooner in the second boat drove another spear into him. The pain apparently crazed the whale, for it thrashed about fearfully, and it was feared the boat would be swamped and the crews drowned. Finally the whale swam away dragging the two boats away with him. He went about three miles and sounded or sank, and his whereabouts could not be exactly told. The lines attached to the harpoons were slack and the harpooners began to slowly draw them in and coil them in the tubs. As soon as they were tautened the whale arose to the surface and beat about his tail in the maddest fashion. The boats attempted to get beyond the reach of the animal, which was apparently in its death agonies, and one of them succeeded, but the other was less fortunate. The whale struck it with his nose and upset it. The men were thrown itno the water and before the crew of the other boat could pick them up one man was drowned and James Bartley had disappeared.
When the whale had become quiet from exhaustion the waters were searched for Bartley, but he could not be found, and under the impression that he had been struck by the whale’s tail and sunk to the bottom, the survivors rowed back to the ship. The whale was dead and in a few hours the great body was lying by the ship’s side and the men were busy with axes and spades cutting through the flesh to secure the fat. They worked all day and a part of the night. They resumed operations the next forenoon, and were soon down to the stomach, which was to be hoisted to the deck. The workmen were startled while laboring to clear it and to fasten the chain about it to discover something doubled up in it that gave spasmodic signs of life.
"He was placed in the captain’s quarters, where he remained two weeks a raving lunatic."
The vast pouch was hoisted to the deck and cut open, and inside was found the missing sailor doubled up and unconscious. He was laid out on the deck and treated to a bath of sea water, which soon revived him, but his mind was not clear and he was placed in the captain’s quarters, where he remained two weeks a raving lunatic. He was carefully treated by the captain and officers of the ship and he finally began to get possession of his senses. At the end of the third week he had entirely recovered from the shock and resumed his duties. The skin on the face and hands of Bartley has never recovered its natural appearance. It is yellow and wrinkled and looks like old parchment. The health of the man does not seem to have been affected by his terrible experience; he is in splendid spirits and apparently fully enjoys all the blessings of life that come his way.”
Tags: James Bartley
From the July 27, 1902 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“Alfred Londo, who until last Tuesday was an orderly in the insane pavilion at Bellevue Hospital, and who eloped with and married Winnie Brennan, an attendant in the female department of the insane pavilion, last night attempted suicide in a cell in the East Twenty-Second Street police station, Manhattan. Previously he had declared in the street that he was tired of married life and wanted to die and had assaulted a policeman in an attempt to get the latter’s revolver. After it was all over Londo was lodged in the prison ward at Bellevue charged with having attempted suicide.
‘Let me die,’ he said. ‘No more married life for me. I’ve had enough.'”
Tags: Alfred Londo, Winnie Brennan
Gold seekers traverse Chilkoot Pass, 1898.
The 1890s was the setting for a North American gold rush second only in fame to the ’49ers of San Francisco. Thousands of hopefuls made their way to the Klondike region in the Yukon with eyes as wide as nuggets, hoping for strikes, but the price was high, as violence and desperation abounded and privations were severe. Making matters worse was an apparent monopoly on food importation to the rugged terrain by a handful of ill-managed concerns. From an account in the July 23, 1897 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“Great Falls, Mont.–Frank Moss, an old time miner in this section, who four years ago, was one of a party of Americans to first visit the Klondike country, returned today and tells a story of horrors and starvation seldom equaled even in modern novels. He describes Klondike as a placer camp seven miles long and thirteen miles wide, located in a sink, walled in by boulders of rock 3,000 feet high. Gold, he says, abounds but no ordinary man can stand the hardships of the uncivilized region.
When Moss left here four years ago he was a sturdy fellow over six feet tall. From hardships and privation he is a cripple for life and badly broken in health. In three years, he says, he saw over 2,000 graves, made in the Klondike basin, a large majority dying from starvation. The steamship companies bring in all food and allow no private importation. Consequently it is not uncommon to go for weeks with but a scant supply and for days entirely without food. The gold brought in last week to Seattle, Moss says, does not represent the findings of individual shippers, but a large proportion was confiscated from the effects of those 2,000 miners who fell prey to the hardships. At the death of a man possessed of dust, his body was buried without a coffin and the dust divided among those who cared for him.
The richest strike, Moss says, has been made by a 21 year old boy named George Hornblower of Indianapolis. In the heart of a barren waste, known as Boulder Field, he found a nugget for which the Transportation Company gave him $5,700. He located his claim at the find and in four months has taken out over $1,000,000. The richest section, Moss says, is yet undeveloped. It is 100 miles from Klondike and known as the Black Hole of Calcutta. It is inhabited by ex-convicts of Bohemia and murders and riots take the place of law and order. A few months ago Klondike organized a justice committee and its laws prevail there now. With the great crowds preparing to go to the scene now, Moss says hunger and suffering will be great. Moss returns with $6,000 in dust and leaves tomorrow for his old home in Dubuque, Ia., where he will spend the balance of his years.”
Paying for provisions with gold dust, 1899.
Tags: Frank Moss, George Hornblower
From the May 6, 1888 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“Cincinnati, Oh.–George Hummel, a baker living at 104 Mound Street, made desperate by financial difficulties, shot himself through the body last night in his bedroom. After a surgeon had dressed his wounds, a Newfoundland dog pushed his way into the bedroom and mounted guard over his master. No one dared enter until this morning, when Mrs. Hummel made the venture. The dog sprang upon her and lacerated her arm. A police officer was called in and he shot the dog. Mr. Hummel’s wound is dangerous.”
Tags: George Hummel, Mrs. Hummel
"The liver strikingly resembles the liver of a camel or a seal."
In a ranking of the best pathologists in the history of the world, Dr. William Moser would not be near the top of the list. From the July 18, 1898 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“Some of the medical profession in this borough are at present discussing the subject of an interesting human liver recently come upon by Dr. William Moser, pathologist of St. Catharine’s and St. Mary’s Hospitals in the course of an autopsy on a middle aged male adult. Dr. Moser has presented the liver to the Brooklyn Medical Society and it is now preserved and on view at the society’s rooms.
Dr. Moser, who, on account of his abilities, possesses the respect of his fellows in the profession, made the statement to an Eagle reporter this morning that the discovery was one of the strongest pieces of corroborative evidence in support of Darwin’s theory of evolution recently discovered.
He said: ‘The specimen to which I have drawn the attention of the profession demonstrates a human liver analogous to that of a camel or a seal from the fact that it consists of numerous lobes like theirs. In fact, I am convinced that we have in it a specimen of atavism, or a reversion to a remote ancestral type or to our own next of kin, the orangutan or the ape. In this instance the liver strikingly resembles the liver of a camel or a seal, and going a step backward, furnishes strong evidence in support of Darwin’s theory of evolution.'”
Tags: Dr. William Moser
"Fitzsimmons."
From the April 13, 1897 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“Fitzsimmons, the lobster weighing 31 pounds, which has been one of the attractions of the aquarium, New York, died during the night.”
Tags: Fitzsimmons
A young girl with dreams of being a trick rider was arrested after running away from home and following a circus from town to town. A report from the August 25, 1894 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“Lizzie Finck, the pretty 14 year old girl who was arrested on Thursday at Patchogue for following the circus will be given over to the custody of her parents tonight. Lizzie was identified as the daughter of John Finck, formerly of Brooklyn but now of Mount Vernon, N.Y. The circus manager, who caused the arrest of the girl, says she was noticed to be a regular attendant of the show at both afternoon and evening exhibitions in every town the circus had visited for a week past. As the girl invariably appeared in a different costume every day, the circus people were greatly puzzled and hesitated about causing her arrest.
It was not until she appeared at Sag Harbor on Wednesday that the manager decided to have her taken into custody should she follow them further. The next day she was promptly on hand for the street parade at Patchogue and among the fist to purchase tickets for the afternoon exhibition.
The complaint was made to Justice Hegeman, to whom the prisoner made a garbled confession. She declares she intends to be a circus rider and that the present interference with her plans will not in any way change her ideas. The girl’s father was telegraphed for.”
Tags: John Finck, Justice Hegeman, Lizzie Finck
From the November 14, 1895 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“Dallas, Tex.–C.B. Howard, late of California, who recently came to Dallas from Hot Springs, killed himself here by taking poison in a cup of coffee. He had spent all his money, except some small change, on a protracted spree at Fort Worth, and when he returned to Dallas his wife declined to live with him longer. He then drank the poison in a restaurant, walked into a saloon and drank down two big glasses of whisky, saying: ‘I am going to die and shall go off well-loaded.'”
Tags: C.B. Howard
The colorful 19th-century Gravesend clan known as the Moreys loved horses–especially with salad and a baked potato. From an article in the January 13, 1895 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“The eccentricities of the Morey family, which for the past ten years have kept the town of Gravesend guessing what was to come next, have given the place another shock of such an entirely different nature from any of the former performances that even the old residents shake their heads and declare themselves beaten. A complaint was made at the police headquarters yesterday that a horse belonging to the Moreys had died and was lying in the yard. An officer was sent over and upon entering the yard found, to his amazement, that the horse had been partially skinned and cut up. When he arrived on the spot, Lena Morey, the 16 year old daughter of Elizabeth Morey, was just finishing the work of skinning the dead horse. Portions of the carcass–the best parts–had been cut out and placed in a tub, awaiting the process of pickling, which would keep it for the future use of the family, while the portions considered poor for eating were being fed to the dogs and the pigs owned by the family.
Mrs. Morey told the policeman that she had a right to do as she pleased with her own, that there was a great deal worse meat eaten every day than horse meat and that she did not propose to starve while she could get anything as good. As to the hide, she said she proposed to make strong leather bags of it.
In spite of her vehement protests and threats, the officer seized upon all of the carcass in sight, as well as the hide, and all was sent to Barren Island for cremation, while the board of health was notified.”
Tags: Elizabeth Morey, Lena Morey
From the December 31, 1900 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
“Albany–Governor Roosevelt today pardoned Annie Walden, who is serving a life sentence in Auburn Prison for the murder of her husband, James Walden, a horse jockey, whom she shot and killed at the door of the house of a woman who had come between her husband and herself.
The murder took place in September, 1891, and Mrs. Walden has been in prison ever since. Her pardon was requested by Mrs. Beekman de Puyster, a State Charities Commissioner, and other prominent women.
Governor Roosevelt has given a great deal of attention to the case and believes that the circumstances attending the crime warrant executive clemency.”
Tags: Annie Walden, James Walden, Mrs. Beekman de Puyster, Theodore Roosevelt
This grisly classic photograph shows the aftermath of the hanging of murderer and train robber Thomas “Black Jack” Ketchum, a botched operation that left him headless and spectators stained with blood. According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Ketchum had, in 1899, single-handedly robbed a train of the Colorado and Southern Railway in Folsom, New Mexico. During the holdup he was wounded by a bullet fired by a crew member and had to have his right arm amputated as a result. He was subsequently captured and marched, shackled, to the gallows. A report in the April 27, 1901 San Francisco Chronicle in the wake of the execution in Clayton, New Mexico:
“Thomas E. Ketchum, alias ‘Black Jack,’ the notorious outlaw, who terrorized the people of the Southwest for the past fifteen years, was hanged here this afternoon for the last of his many crimes. His head was severed from the body by the rope as if by a guillotine. The headless trunk pitched forward toward the spectators and blood spurted upon those nearest the scaffold. The execution took place inside a stockade built for the occasion. The inclosure was crowded, 150 spectators having been admitted.
When Ketchum mounted the platform at 1:17 o’clock his face was very pale, but his eyes swept over the crowd coldly and boldly. A priest stood at his side as the rope was put around his neck. The condemned man had consented to this at the last moment. Ketchum declined to make a speech before the noose was put around his neck. He merely muttered ‘Good-by,’ then said ‘Please dig my grave very deep,’ and finally ‘All right; hurry up.’ His legs trembled, but he kept his nerve.
When the body dropped through the trap the half-inch rope severed the head as cleanly as if a knife had cut it. The body pitched forward, with blood spurting from the headless trunk. The head remained in the black sack and flew down into the pit. 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 the 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.”
