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N0KFQ > TODAY 23.02.08 08:31l 38 Lines 1790 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Feb 23
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To : TODAY@ALLUS
February 23, 1885
A remarkable reprieve for a man sent to the gallows
On this day in 1885, a 19-year-old man named John Lee is sent to
the gallows in Exeter, England, for the murder of Ellen Keyse, a
rich older woman for whom he had worked. Although he insisted he
was innocent, Lee had been convicted and sentenced to death by
hanging. However, after the noose was put around his neck and the
lever that would release the floor beneath his feet was pulled,
something malfunctioned and Lee was not dropped. Strangely, the
equipment had been tested and found to be in working order. In
facts, weights used in a test run plunged to the ground as
expected. The hanging was attempted two more times, but when Lee
stood on the trap door, and the lever was pulled, nothing
happened. He was then sent back to prison. On November 15, 1884,
Keyse, who had been a maid to Queen Victoria, was found dead in a
pantry next to Lee's room. Her head was severely battered and her
throat cut. There was no direct evidence of Lee's guilt; the case
was made solely on circumstantial evidence. The alleged motive
was Lee's resentment at Keyse's mean treatment.
The authorities, mystified at the gallows' inexplicable
malfunction, decided to ascribe it to an act of God. Lee was
removed from death row, his sentence commuted, and he spent the
next 22 years in prison. After he was released, he emigrated to
America. The cause of Lee's remarkable reprieve was never
discovered.
Condemned prisoners no longer have a chance at such reprieves.
Even when there are mishaps in carrying out an execution (in one
case, an executioner failed to properly find a vein for a lethal
injection), authorities follow through until the prisoner has
been put to death.
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