Clayton in Union County, New Mexico — The American Mountains (Southwest)

Thomas Edward "Black Jack" Ketchum

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 9, 2025

1. Thomas Edward "Black Jack" Ketchum Marker

Inscription.
Against this wall Thomas Edward "Black Jack" Ketchum swung into eternity April 26, 1901

Desperado
Train Robber
“A good cowboy that went wrong”

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Law Enforcement. A significant historical date for this entry is April 26, 1901.

Location. 36° 26.946′ N, 103° 11.265′ W. Marker is in Clayton, New Mexico, in Union County. It is on South 2nd Avenue close to Adams Street, on the left when traveling south. The marker is mounted on the northwest corner of the Union County Sheriff's Office. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 113 Adams Street, Clayton NM 88415, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Eastern New Mexico.

It is also in the American Southwest,

in the Mountain West,

on the Great Plains,

on the Southern Plains,

on the High Plains,

and on the Santa Fe Trail Corridor.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Rocky Mountains,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain,

the Comanchería,

the Dust Bowl,

and the Republic of Texas.

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Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within one mile of this marker, measured as the crow flies: The Luna Theatre Complex (approx. 0.2 miles away); Eklund Hotel (approx. ¼ mile away); Herzstein's Store (approx. 0.3 miles away); First Methodist Episcopal Church North (approx. 0.3 miles away); Black Jack Ketchum (approx. ¾ mile away); Clayton Dinosaur Trackway (approx. ¾ mile away); Santa Fe Trail (approx. 1.1 miles away); The Santa Fe Trail / Who Traveled The Trail? (approx. 1.1 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Clayton.

Also see . . . Thomas Edward Ketchum (Wikipedia).

Excerpt: Thomas Edward “Black Jack” Ketchum worked as a cowboy in the Pecos River Valley of New Mexico, where by 1894, his older brother, Sam Ketchum, had joined him. Black Jack and a group of others were named as the robbers of an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway train that was en route to Deming, New Mexico Territory, in 1892 with a large payroll aboard.
Thomas Ketchum joined other outlaws of the Hole in the Wall Gang and continued a life of crime, focusing on train robberies, although when not robbing trains
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 9, 2025

2. Thomas Edward "Black Jack" Ketchum Marker
The marker is mounted at the northwest [right] corner of the Union County Sheriff’s Office.
they worked for several ranches in New Mexico and Texas. Several other notable outlaws operated out of Hole In The Wall, which was a hideout for numerous outlaw gangs which operated separately.
On August 16, 1899, Tom Ketchum, supposedly knowing nothing of the July 11 hold-up which ended in the death of his brother Sam, single-handedly attempted to rob the same train again at the same place and in the same way that he and Sam and others had robbed it just a few weeks earlier. The train conductor, Frank Harrington, saw Tom approaching the moving train. He recognized him, grabbed a shotgun, and shot Tom in the arm, knocking him off his horse. The train continued, and the next day a posse came out and found Tom beside the tracks, badly wounded. He was transported to medical facilities at Trinidad, Colorado, and his right arm had to be amputated. He was nursed back to health and then sent to Clayton, New Mexico Territory, for trial. At the trial, Ketchum was convicted of attempted train robbery and sentenced to death. He was the only person ever hanged in Union County, New Mexico Territory (now Union County, New Mexico).
Ketchum was executed
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 9, 2025

3. Union County Sheriff’s Office
The marker is at the far-right edge of the building.
by hanging in Clayton on April 26, 1901, but no one in the town had any experience with the procedure. The combination of too long a rope, Ketchum's significant weight gain while in jail, and the mass imbalance due to the amputation of his arm caused him to be decapitated when he fell through the trap door.

(Submitted on November 18, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)

Credits. This page was last revised on November 18, 2025. It was originally submitted on November 18, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 161 times since then and 90 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on November 18, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.