American Historical Ephemera and Photography Featuring the Civil War and American Militaria Collection of Bruce B. Hermann

5 3/8 x 3 3/8 in. real photo postcards captioned in the negative, "The Hanging of 'Black Jack' the Outlaw," and "Body of 'Black Jack' after the Hanging Showing Head snapped off." Each with surface soiling, some toning, and wear to edges and corners. "The Hanging" card bears adhesive and black paper residue spots and likely modern pencil inscriptions on verso. One image shows men standing around Ketchum as the noose is prepared to be placed around his neck; the other shows men posing with the body of the executed Ketchum. 

Thomas Edward "Black Jack" Ketchum was born in Texas in 1863. He and his older brother Sam worked as cowboys around New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas by about the 1890s. After a while, the brothers took to robbing trains and occasionally stores and post offices. Over their criminal career they rode with members of the "Wild Bunch," "Kid" Curry, members of the "Hole in the Wall Gang," and virtually every other contemporary outlaw.

After Sam's death, "Black Jack" attempted a lone robbery, getting shot in the process. He was thrown off the train and unable to escape due to weakness from pain and loss of blood. He essentially surrendered to the next train. Ketchum was tried and sentenced to hang. 

After a number of delays, he was finally led to the scaffold 26 April 1901. A miscalculation by an inexperienced hangman severed Black Jack's head in the drop. He became the only person hanged for train robbery (later deemed unconstitutional); the only person hanged in Union County, NM; and one of only a couple of criminals decapitated in the US during a judicial hanging.