BLACK JACK
Graham County
Arizona Republican Newspaper
April 29, 1897

Word reached here today that Black Jack was killed in a fight near 
Clifton instead of Sid Moore as reported.

May 1, 1897

Marshal W.K. Meade is in receipt of a telegram dated at Clifton,
A.T. which reads as follows: Black Jack killed by our posse 
yesterday.  Signed Ben Clark, deputy sheriff Graham County.  
This ends the career of the leader of one of the most desperate 
gangs of outlaws which have infested the terriroy of Arizona and 
New Mexico.  The depredations of this notorious gang of outlaws 
are well nown to the poeple thorughout the two territories.  U.S. 
Marshall Hall of New Mexico assisted by local officers has been 
continually on the trail of the gang since their origin.  Ben 
Clark and his posse yesterday encountered the gang near Clifton, 
Graham County, and in the fight which followed Jack is said to 
have met his death.

May 22, 1897

A telegram from Tucson says that the report that Black Jack was 
killed east of Clifton some time ago is an error.  The men killed 
was identified as Tom Ketchum. The latest report is that Black 
Jack is still at his work with eighteen men of the same calibre 
as imself.  They are said to be camped in the neighborhood of 
Ruch's Well in Cochise County.  a posse under U.S. Deputy Marshall 
Ezekels is in pursuit.

August 24, 1897

Ex Duputy U.S. Marshal al Ezekiels spent Sunday in town.  Speaking 
of the late depredations in New Mexico of Black Jack's gang and the 
growing belief that the famous outlaw is still alive, Mr. Ezekiels 
says that he has no doubt of his death. He is absolutely sure that 
the bandit called Tom Ketchum, killed in the fight near Clifton 
last spring, was the notorious leader of the most desperate gang 
of bandits that ever overran the territory.

Mr. Ezekiels' pusuit of the band began after the holdup of the 
International Bank at Nogales last summer. He continued the 
chase for several months through Cochise County and northern 
Sonora and collected more evidence regarding the members of 
the gang than any other man.  A part of this evidence which he 
showed a Republican reporter, is convincing that the outlaw is 
dead. All that Mr. Ezekiels learned he gathered from cowboys 
who knew Black Jack and had worked with him on the range.

He carried with him a pocketbook on which was written in ink the 
names, Bob Howell, Jessie Finkley and P.K. Elitz.  Elitz by the 
way is the man who was arrested and sent back to prison in 
Sonora for assisting the bandits while they wre in hiding in 
the mountains south of the line. Black Jack also carried a 
lead pencil fancifully painted in checks. He wore a broad 
gold ring bearing the initial "B" set in black enamel surrounded 
by five small diamonds.  Mr. Ezekiels' note book contains 
drawings of the pocketobok and pencil made from descriptions 
furnished him long befoe the fight at Clifton.  Among other 
information regarding the outlaw was that his boots had been 
manufactured in Kansas.  When the robber Tom Ketchum was 
killed near Clifton, such a pocketobok as has been described 
was in his pocket. There was also a very short lead pincil 
but it was marked as the one described.  There was no ring 
on his finger, but there was a broad white mark on a finger 
showing that a ring had recently been removed.  The boots of 
the dead outlaw bore the mark of M. Hires, Olathe, Kan.  
Wells Fargo and Co. are so thoroughly satisfied from this 
evidence that the reward offered for the death of the latter 
will be paid.  

Mr. Ezekiels does not believe though, that Black Jack's name was 
Tom Ketchum. He has reason to believe that it was Bob Christian 
and that he, Jesse Williams and another member of the gang came 
to this territory from the Indian national.  Williams as he was 
known on the Cochise County ranges has succeeded to the leadership 
of the band.  His real name is believed o be George Musgrave 
and he is said to possess the bravery of Black Jack without 
his recklessness so that he is regarded as a more dangerous 
character.  The gang originally had six members of which two 
have been killed.  Cole Young who died in an attempt to hold up  
Sante Fe train east of Albuquerque last Fall and Black Jack.

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