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Ratcliff rode his horse into the Fairplay and turned himself into the custody of Deputy Sheriff James A. Link.<ref name=transcript/> Because of tensions stemming from the case in Fairplay, Ratcliff was tried in Buena Vista in Chaffee County.<ref>"Ratcliff Found Guilty: The Jury Returned a Verdict Saturday Night," ''The Colorado Springs Gazette,'' July 27, 1895, p. 1.</ref> Eleven defense witnesses testified for Ratcliff, including his son.<ref name=transcript/>

Ratcliff rode his horse into the Fairplay and turned himself into the custody of Deputy Sheriff James A. Link.<ref name=transcript/> Because of tensions stemming from the case in Fairplay, Ratcliff was tried in Buena Vista in Chaffee County.<ref>"Ratcliff Found Guilty: The Jury Returned a Verdict Saturday Night," ''The Colorado Springs Gazette,'' July 27, 1895, p. 1.</ref> Eleven defense witnesses testified for Ratcliff, including his son.<ref name=transcript/>

Ratcliff was found guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced to death by hanging. The original execution date was August 1895. However, according to the trial transcript, his attorney Vinton Garrett Holliday (1843-1909), a Republican judge in Fairplay,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11105872|title=Judge Vinton Garrett Holliday|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=October 22., 2020}}</ref> sought a re-trial on the grounds that the jury had been given erroneous instructions. A second trial was held in January 1896, insane. Ratcliff was hence hanged at the Colorado State Penitentiary at Cañon City.<ref name=vandusen/> Ratcliff was hanged by a weight-and-pulley system that jerked the convicted criminal upwards and instantly broke his neck. Therefore, Ratcliff did not strangle slowly while hanging on a rope in what is known as the drop gallows system.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ccpl.lib.co.us/history_old/prisons/CapitalPunishment.html|author=Diana Andersen|title=Capital Punishment|publisher=ccpl.lib.co.us|accessdate=January 28, 2014}}</ref>

Ratcliff was found guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced to death by hanging. The original execution date was August 1895. However, according to the trial transcript, his attorney Vinton Garrett Holliday (1843-1909), a Republican judge in Fairplay,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11105872|title=Judge Vinton Garrett Holliday|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=October 22., 2020}}</ref> sought a re-trial on the grounds that the jury had been given erroneous instructions. A second trial was held in January 1896, insane. Ratcliff was hence hanged at the Colorado State Penitentiary at Cañon City.<ref name=vandusen/> Ratcliff was hanged by a weight-and-pulley system that jerked the convicted criminal upwards and instantly broke his neck. Therefore, Ratcliff did not strangle slowly while hanging on a rope in what is known as the drop gallows system.<ref>Diana Andersen, "Capital Punishment," ccpl.lib.co.us, accessed January 28, 2014}}</ref>

Among inmates at the time Ratcliff was in the Colorado penitentiary awaiting trial and execution, were Anton Anton Woode (1882-1950), who at the age of twelve in 1893, was the youngest person in the nation confined to a state institution, convicted of murder and theft,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ccpl.lib.co.us/History_Old/Prisons/WoodeAnton.htmlauthor=Diana Andersen|title=Anton Woode|publisher=ccpl.lib.co.us|accessdate=January 31, 2014}}</ref> and Alfred Packer, who served nineteen years of a 41-year sentence for killing and cannibalizing five men on a prospecting expedition from [[Utah]] into Colorado.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ccpl.lib.co.us/history_old/prisons/packeralfred.html|author=Diana Andersen|title=Alfred Packer|publisher=ccpl.lib.co.us|accessdate=January 31, 2014}}</ref>

Among inmates at the time Ratcliff was in the Colorado penitentiary awaiting trial and execution, were Anton Anton Woode (1882-1950), who at the age of twelve in 1893, was the youngest person in the nation confined to a state institution, convicted of murder and theft,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ccpl.lib.co.us/History_Old/Prisons/WoodeAnton.htmlauthor=Diana Andersen|title=Anton Woode|publisher=ccpl.lib.co.us|accessdate=January 31, 2014}}</ref> and Alfred Packer, who served nineteen years of a 41-year sentence for killing and cannibalizing five men on a prospecting expedition from [[Utah]] into Colorado.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ccpl.lib.co.us/history_old/prisons/packeralfred.html|author=Diana Andersen|title=Alfred Packer|publisher=ccpl.lib.co.us|accessdate=January 31, 2014}}</ref>