Eva Dugan Lost Her Head, 1930
Black Jack Ketchum was the only person ever hanged in Union County, New Mexico. He was also the only person who suffered capital punishment for the offence of "felonious assault upon a railway train" in the State of New Mexico.
Later, the law was found to be unconstitutional, but way too late for Black Jack. According to the annals of American Jurisprudence at the time, he was the only criminal decapitated during a judicial hanging in the U.S.
..'However, the town of Clayton had no experience in hanging a man and there was a debate concerning the length of rope. The night before the scheduled hanging, the rope was tested by attaching a 200-pound sandbag to the noose and dropping it through the trap. Finally, at 1:13 p.m. Thomas "Black Jack" Ketchum was taken to the scaffold. While they were adjusting the hood, Ketchum stated, "Hurry up boys, get this over with." Finally, Sheriff Garcia took two blows with a hatchet, cutting the rope and Tom fell through the trap".
"Unfortunately, the inexperienced hangmen had forgotten about the sandbag they had used to test the rope and the weight of it caused the rope to be as rigid as wire. When Black Jack fell through the drop, he was immediately decapitated. The black hood pinned to his shirt was the only thing that kept his head from rolling away. A few minutes later the doctor pronounced him dead, then sewed his head to his torso prior to the burial at the Clayton's Boothill at 2:30 P.M. In the 1930's his body was moved to the new cemetery in Clayton, where it remains today."
Black Jack Ketchum - Outlaw Train Robber - Page 2
It was on Feb 21 1930 at the Pinal County, Arizona prison when a repeat of that historic event would be acted out upon Eva Dugan, a former cabaret performer from Alaska. Aged 52, Dugan was the first woman executed in Arizona.
She had gone to work as a housekeeper for Rancher Andrew J. Mathis in January 1927 and apparently was fired after only a couple of weeks. Shortly thereafter, Mathis disappeared along with his Dodge coupe and other personal possessions. Neighbors reported having been offered for salesome of Mathis' belongings by Eva, but she seemed to have disappeared when sought. She was shortly found living in White Plains NY,working at a hospital. She was traced there when alert postal authorities intercepted a card she mailed to her father.
On March 4, 1927 she was returned to Arizona. She was tried on charges of car theft, found guilty and sentenced to prison. Nine months later, a tourist camping at the Mathis ranch uncovered a shallow grave. The decomposing body was identified as that of Andrew J. Mathis. Eva Dugan was charged with murder.
She was quickly convicted and sentenced to hang. Supporters worked hard for two years to gain a pardon from the Governor while she exhausted her appeals. She sold press interviews for a dollar apiece, but it was all to no avail.
"The grizzled former frontierswoman — she followed the Klondike gold rush in her youth — took her fate nonchalantly.
“Wal, I’ll die with my boots on, an’ in full health,” she scolded her jurors. “An’ that’s more’n most of you old coots’ll be able to boast on.”
ExecutedToday.com » 1930: Eva Dugan, her head jerked clean off
She did die, boots or not, when the rope pulled tight and she plunged through the trap door, hit the end of the rope with a bouncing jolt, and her head snapped off and rolled into a corner.
Seventy five persons, including five women, watched
the execution. Five of them fainted. Allegedly, It was the first time women witnessed an execution in Arizona.
[/QUOTE]
Later, the law was found to be unconstitutional, but way too late for Black Jack. According to the annals of American Jurisprudence at the time, he was the only criminal decapitated during a judicial hanging in the U.S.
..'However, the town of Clayton had no experience in hanging a man and there was a debate concerning the length of rope. The night before the scheduled hanging, the rope was tested by attaching a 200-pound sandbag to the noose and dropping it through the trap. Finally, at 1:13 p.m. Thomas "Black Jack" Ketchum was taken to the scaffold. While they were adjusting the hood, Ketchum stated, "Hurry up boys, get this over with." Finally, Sheriff Garcia took two blows with a hatchet, cutting the rope and Tom fell through the trap".
"Unfortunately, the inexperienced hangmen had forgotten about the sandbag they had used to test the rope and the weight of it caused the rope to be as rigid as wire. When Black Jack fell through the drop, he was immediately decapitated. The black hood pinned to his shirt was the only thing that kept his head from rolling away. A few minutes later the doctor pronounced him dead, then sewed his head to his torso prior to the burial at the Clayton's Boothill at 2:30 P.M. In the 1930's his body was moved to the new cemetery in Clayton, where it remains today."
Black Jack Ketchum - Outlaw Train Robber - Page 2
It was on Feb 21 1930 at the Pinal County, Arizona prison when a repeat of that historic event would be acted out upon Eva Dugan, a former cabaret performer from Alaska. Aged 52, Dugan was the first woman executed in Arizona.
She had gone to work as a housekeeper for Rancher Andrew J. Mathis in January 1927 and apparently was fired after only a couple of weeks. Shortly thereafter, Mathis disappeared along with his Dodge coupe and other personal possessions. Neighbors reported having been offered for salesome of Mathis' belongings by Eva, but she seemed to have disappeared when sought. She was shortly found living in White Plains NY,working at a hospital. She was traced there when alert postal authorities intercepted a card she mailed to her father.
On March 4, 1927 she was returned to Arizona. She was tried on charges of car theft, found guilty and sentenced to prison. Nine months later, a tourist camping at the Mathis ranch uncovered a shallow grave. The decomposing body was identified as that of Andrew J. Mathis. Eva Dugan was charged with murder.
She was quickly convicted and sentenced to hang. Supporters worked hard for two years to gain a pardon from the Governor while she exhausted her appeals. She sold press interviews for a dollar apiece, but it was all to no avail.
"The grizzled former frontierswoman — she followed the Klondike gold rush in her youth — took her fate nonchalantly.
“Wal, I’ll die with my boots on, an’ in full health,” she scolded her jurors. “An’ that’s more’n most of you old coots’ll be able to boast on.”
ExecutedToday.com » 1930: Eva Dugan, her head jerked clean off
She did die, boots or not, when the rope pulled tight and she plunged through the trap door, hit the end of the rope with a bouncing jolt, and her head snapped off and rolled into a corner.
Seventy five persons, including five women, watched
the execution. Five of them fainted. Allegedly, It was the first time women witnessed an execution in Arizona.
[/QUOTE]
Total Comments 1
Comments
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No freaking way!! How often were the reports of something like that?Posted May 23rd, 2012 at 10:04 PM by okamido
