[1] 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.

The gang supposedly robbed the train just outside Nutt, New Mexico Territory, a water station twenty miles (32 km) north of Deming.

Black Jack and his gang would often visit the ranch of Herb Bassett, near Brown's Park, Colorado, who was known to have done business with several outlaws of the day, having supplied them with beef and fresh horses.

Outlaw "Bronco Bill" Walters, later noted for the legend of his "hidden loot" near Solomonville, Arizona, is also believed to have begun riding with the gang at this time.

However, information at the Sutton Historical Society in Texas, says that Will Carver and Sam Ketchum were the ones actually accused of killing Powers in Knickerbocker.

Fearing the law, they closed their joint saloon and gambling venture in San Angelo, and hit the outlaw trail.

He lay in a semiconscious state as Black Jack Ketchum emptied his rifle into the bodies of Levi Herzstein and Hermenejildo Gallegos.

Morris was the father of Albert Herzstein, who became one of the founders of Big 3 Industries in Houston, and is the man who helped the museum in Clayton to become a reality years later.

Reno of the Colorado & Southern Railroad, and five deputies found their trail and tracked them into Turkey Creek Canyon near Cimarron, New Mexico.

[2] Sam Ketchum's wounds slowed the intended escape, and they made it only a short distance from the initial shootout.

Sam Ketchum escaped, but was found a few days later by Special Agent Reno at the home of a rancher, where he was arrested.

He was also the only person who suffered capital punishment for the offense of "felonious assault upon a railway train" in New Mexico Territory (which did not become a state until 1912).

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 trapdoor.

"[6] An account of the event from Sheriff Salome Garcia detailed the scene:[7] He walked firmly up the steps, saying as he went up, "Dig my grave deep, boys."

Everyone within or without the stockade held their breath, and their hearts gave a great bound of horror when it was seen that his head had been severed from his body by the fall.

The head rolled aside and the rope, released, bounded high and fell with a thud upon the scaffold from whence it came.A popular postcard was made showing the body.

Western actor Jack Elam portrayed Ketchum in an episode of the 1954–55 syndicated television series Stories of the Century.

Rhodes Reason played Ketchum in a 1959 episode of the American Western television series Frontier Doctor.