The man they could not hang

Good Morning. Here is the daily dose for the day.

Throughout history there have been many magical and mysterious men whose legends survive for ever. But the man we are going to see today is a mystery man from our very recent past. Just read on.

For the past 100 years, the myths surrounding John 'Babbacombe' Lee's story have taken on a life of their own. Lee, nicknamed The Man They Could Not Hang, came to prominence when he was convicted of murdering his employer, Emma Keyse, and setting fire to her Babbacombe home, called The Glen.

During his trial, the prosecution portrayed Lee as a depraved lunatic capable of smashing an old lady's head with an axe, then slashing her throat with a knife. The judge, in passing sentence of death, remarked how calm Lee's demeanour had been throughout the trial.

"In the days leading up to the date of execution, Lee read the Bible prodigiously and proclaimed his innocence. It is said he told the prison chaplain the real culprit was the lover of his half-sister, Elizabeth Harris, who was cook at The Glen and expecting a child which was later delivered out of wedlock in Newton Abbot Workhouse."

The prison governor's logbook states on the morning of the execution, as Lee approached the gallows trapdoor, he told two prison guards he had dreamt 'three times the bolt was drawn, and three times the bolt failed to act'.

Lee was a lonely figure on the gallows — but each time an attempt was made to open the trapdoor, it stuck. After each failed attempt the trapdoor was tested and it opened normally, but when Lee stood on it again the door would not open. Three times this happened, each with the same outcome.

The Home Secretary told Parliament he could not expect a man to 'twice face the pangs of imminent death'. Lee began a 23-year prison sentence in Exeter, and from that day the myths about his life spread across the world.

Some theories include:

1. Witchcraft and devilish incantations were often talked of when people tried to reason Lee's escape from death.

2. Other people told stories of how Lee's mother had visited the church graveyard near her home at Abbotskerswell, recited the Lord's Prayer backwards and summoned the Devil to save her son.

3. In 1905, the witchcraft theory gained credence from a surprising source — the Archdeacon of Westminster, Basil Wilberforce.

The editor of The Times, who poured scorn on the Home Secretary's decision to eventually reprieve Lee, said Lee's story would 'encourage foolish and superstitious people to believe, in spite of evidence as clear as noonday, that Lee was wrongfully convicted'.

After his release, Lee went to London, where he then eloped with a barmaid, abandoning his wife who was expecting their second child. He then seemingly disappeared without trace — having reportedly visited Australia, America and Canada — and Mike Holgate only recently discovered that Lee died in 1945.

Records show Lee died, aged 80, on March 19, 1945. The legend certainly did not die with Lee.


Source: thisissouthdevon.co.uk

Mohan Rao.

Make happy those who are near, and those who are far will come.
- Zen Proverb.