St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-02-24
A B0TCHED AFFAIR.
The Worst Affair That Ever Disgraced
an English Public
Execution.
Four Intellectual Attempts to Hang Man
and Then the Sheriff Gives up
the Job.
The Congo Conference Again in SESSION
With Perfect Unanimity
.... Prevailing.
A DISGRACEFUL SCENE.
John Lee Hanged Four Times

LONDON, Feb. 23.-One of the most
singular incidents ever connected with an
execution or attempted execution of mur-
derer happened to-day at Exeter, on the oc-
casion of the carrying out of the death SEN
tenee passed upon John Lee, recently con-
demned to be hanged for the murder OF Miss
Emma A. W. Keyse at Babbacombe, near
Torquay, on Nov. Is last. Three attempts
were made to execute Lee, but each attempt
was futile, the drop falling to work success
fully. The execution was consequently post
poned. twill be remembe that Lee,
who was an ex-convict, obtained employ
ment from Miss Keyse as valet by
means of forged letters and recon-
mendations. Lee wished to marry Miss
Keyse, who was an elderly lady of wealth.
She refused to wed him, whereupon Lee as
saulted her. The man murdered her and
set fire to the house to cover his crime The
flames were soon extinguished by the neigh
bors, and the murderer was shortly after
wards captured while hiding in the vicinity,
The details of the futile attempts to hang
Lee make the case the most horrible that
ever disgraced a gibbet in England. At first
Lee was perfectly firm and went to the scat
fold undaunted. When the first attempt to
hang him failed the prisoners spirits re-
mained un nbroken. He was led from under
the gallows and walked back to the cell with
firm step. When he was first placed upon
the trap he resigned himself completely but
firmly into the hands of his eXecutioners.
He stood motionless during the pre-
liminarv proceedings, and when the moose
was placed and the spring about to be touched
he made an apparent effort to adjust his
body 10 the expected drop so that death might
be as quick Us possible. When the cliqne of
| the spring sounded he drew a breath as if he
| felt he was taking his last.
When the murderer was made to realize
that the gibbet had not done its work and he
was not yet hanged he appeared to start as if
| from nightmare, but quickly recovered
himself. The machinery was then carefully
| overhaued and the woodwork found to be
wet and swollen so that the trap refused to
work. After being oiled and tried until it
was thought to be all right, the prisoner was
again brought forth, and the same scene as
| before was then enacted and once again was
| the wretched man led away and the trap a
second time examined and oiled, and
for second time it was pronounced
all right. A third time the pris-
oner StoOu upon tne lTap, anu tnlru Ilme
did the gibbet refuse to do its work. The strain
| and suspense now overtaxed Lee. He sank
down in swoon and had to be carried away
from the place. No words can give an ade-
quate idea of the painfulness of the scene.
A kind of overpowering dismay, like that of
| superstition, seemed to have got control Of
the shcriffs and the officers of the gallows,
who deserted, and no one made any more
attempts to put it in working order. The
man that was to have been hanged was limp
| and motionless and in the most pitiabe con-
dition lying in his prison cell, dazzled and
stupefed and physically exhausted. The
sheriff decided TO abandon his task. He
closed up the execution yard and went down
to the postofiice and telegraphed Sir William
Vernon Harcourt, home secretary, a full
history of the horrible failures to execute
Lee and asked for instructions what to do
ueYt