This week in 1901

“Goodbye. Please dig my grave very deep. Let her go!”

—Thomas E. “Black Jack” Ketchum, convicted of murder, hanging, New Mexico.
Executed April 26, 1901

Train robbery landed Ketchum in a stockade with a rope around his neck. He claimed that he wasn’t the real Black Jack. He did, however, boast that he had modeled his image on the real deal—who was still enjoying his freedom—and had committed crimes of his own. Ketchum claimed he’d hang for the crimes of both Black Jacks. He even wrote a letter to President McKinley, begging for mercy. Clemency did not come.