Tom "Black Jack" Ketchum & The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang   The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, made famous by Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid, was originally led by Sam Ketchum, then later by his younger brother, Tom "Black Jack" Ketchum. The outlaws were sons of a physician in San Angelo, Texas, and had a brother, a wealthy cattle rancher, and a sister, a devout Baptist. Along with Hole-in-the-Wall in Wyoming and Robbers Roost in Utah, one of the gang's favorite hide-outs was the endless maze of canyons in the Raton Mountains, just south of Trinidad, Colorado. The tangle of sheer cliffs and dense forest provided ideal concealment and protection. The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang achieved its first notoriety in August, 1886, when they robbed a store and killed a man in Kingman, Arizona. From there, the violence escalated to robbing railroad trains, banks, stores, and stagecoaches and extended across the western territories. The Wells Fargo Express Company and Colorado and Southern Railroad set a $10,000 reward for Black Jack dead or alive, and Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming and Montana each offered an additional $5,000 for the leader or any of his men. In 1899, a gunfight occurred at Turkey Creek Canyon in Colfax County, New Mexico, between Sam Ketchum with a few gang members and the law. During the battle, Sheriff Ed Farr was killed, and his body was taken to Trinidad. Sam Ketchum escaped, but, severely wounded, was soon apprehended and taken to Cimarron where he was tried and convicted of the murder of Sheriff Farr. He later died of his wounds in the territorial penitentiary at Santa Fe. The following August, Black Jack Ketchum single-handedly held up the C & S Fast Flyer. Conductor Frank Harrington realized that he was about to be robbed for the third time. As he entered the engine, he discovered Black Jack threatening to kill the engineer and fireman. Just as the two train employees changed positions, Harrington raised his sawed off shot gun and riddled Black Jack's right arm. The outlaw was able to get off one quick shot, grazing Harrington, before he fell off the train and rolled down the grade. At the next station Harrington wired the sheriff's office of Trinidad. There, a posse assembled and set out to search for the wounded bandit. On August 17, 1899, a brakeman spotted a bleeding man lying on the prairie just 300 yards from the railroad grade. The railroad men loaded the wounded man on the train and rushed him to San Rafael Hospital in Trinidad. The surgeon informed the patient, who identified himself as George Stevens, that unless his arm was amputated, he would die. "Let death come," was the cool reply. Soon blood poisoning set in, and the doctor had to amputate the shattered arm. The patient refused anesthesia. "Go ahead, Doc," he said, unflinchingly, "chop her off." Afterward, Stevens told the surgeon he hoped he could do the same for him one day. While Stevens was the in the hospital, Sheriff Stewart of Carlsbad shot and captured McGinnis, another Hole-in-the-Wall desperado. In Trinidad, Sheriff Stewart identified George Stevens as Tom "Black Jack" Ketchum. Both prisoners were moved to the Santa Fe penitentiary. In the fall of 1899, Black Jack was tried, convicted, and sentenced to hang at Clayton, New Mexico. On April 25 1901, Ketchum, escorted by Sheriff Salome Garcia and ten guards, arrived in Clayton on the C & S Railroad. Black Jack was permitted to inspect the stockade and scaffold where he was scheduled to meet his demise. He requested that stockade be torn down "so the boys may see me hang." With his usual nerve and humor, he suggested the scaffold "looks good, but I think they ought to hang Conductor Harrington on it first, and if it works all right, they might try me." Contemptuously, he refused the administrations of a Catholic priest. "I'll die as I lived, Padre." Ketchum refused to repent, commenting that he wished they'd hurry so he would get to hell before dinner. "One nice thing about going to hell is I'll have two good arms after I get there." As Black Jack ate his last meal of fried chicken, a violinist and a guitarist played "Just as the Sun Went Down" - the prisoner's request, a humorous flirtation with death. On April 26, 1901, storm clouds darkened the sky. Dressed in a black suit, white shirt, and black tie, Black Jack boldly climbed up the scaffold. A relentless wind whipped around the corners of the jail. A fifteen-foot Manila hemp rope, made to order for the occasion at a cost of $20.80, danced in the wind. Slowly, a noose was tightened around the notorious killer's neck. The platform under his 193 pounds dropped abruptly. Black Jack's body, which had gained considerable weight during his lengthy imprisonment, jolted at the end of the twisted manila hemp with such force that the outlaw's head was completely severed. In tumultuous winds, a plain pine box weighted by Black Jack's body pitched in a wagon as it clambered and creaked up the hill to a Santa Fe cemetery. As the cargo neared the top, storm clouds glided across the horizon, revealing a radiant sun. Winds calmed to a serene whisper as the coffin was placed in the earth, and the western territories heaved a collective sigh of relief.