24 Facts About Tom Ketchum

Thomas Edward Ketchum was an American cowboy who later became an outlaw.

Tom Ketchum was executed in 1901 for attempted train robbery.

Tom Ketchum left Texas in 1890, possibly after committing a crime.

Tom Ketchum worked as a cowboy in the Pecos River Valley of New Mexico, where by 1894, his older brother, Sam Ketchum, had joined him.

The second major crime attributed to Tom was the murder of a neighbor, John N "Jap" Powers, in Tom Green County, Texas, on December 12,1895.

However, information at the Sutton Historical Society in Texas, says that Will Carver and Sam Tom Ketchum were the ones actually accused of killing Powers in Knickerbocker.

Tom Ketchum landed on the ground with a blow that knocked the wind out of him.

Tom Ketchum lay in a semiconscious state as Black Jack Ketchum emptied his rifle into the bodies of Levi Herzstein and Hermenejildo Gallegos.

Tom and Sam Ketchum were never tried for the killings at the Plaza Largo arroyo, but Morris Herzstein reportedly was present to witness the hanging of Black Jack Ketchum in 1901.

Sam Tom Ketchum's wounds slowed the intended escape, and they made it only a short distance from the initial shootout.

Sam Tom Ketchum escaped, but was found a few days later by Special Agent Reno at the home of a rancher, where he was arrested.

Sam Tom Ketchum was taken to the Santa Fe Territorial Prison, where he died from his gunshot wounds.

Tom Ketchum was buried in the Odd Fellows rest Cemetery, now the Fairview Cemetery on Cerrillos Rd.

Tom Ketchum returned to Alma, New Mexico Territory and lived there for two years.

Tom Ketchum stayed with Louis and Walter Jones, who in 1904 had built a large merchandise store at Alma.

The train conductor, Frank Harrington, saw Tom Ketchum approaching the moving train.

Tom Ketchum recognized him, grabbed a shotgun, and shot Tom in the arm, knocking him off his horse.

Tom Ketchum was transported to medical facilities at Trinidad, Colorado, and his right arm had to be amputated.

Tom Ketchum was nursed back to health and then sent to Clayton, New Mexico Territory, for trial.

At the trial, Tom Ketchum was convicted of attempted train robbery and sentenced to death.

Tom Ketchum was the only person ever hanged in Union County, New Mexico Territory.

Tom Ketchum was the only person who suffered capital punishment for the offense of "felonious assault upon a railway train" in New Mexico Territory.

Tom Ketchum was executed by hanging in Clayton on April 26,1901, but no one in the town had any experience with the procedure.

Tom Ketchum's body alighted squarely upon its feet, stood for a moment, swayed and fell and then great streams of red, red blood spurted from his severed neck, as if to shame the very ground upon which it poured.