The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-01-29
PHYSICiAFS.

to the investigation of the whole ques-
ton of capital punishment.
Mr. Patterson declared that in Eng
land one innocent man is hanged every
three years.
Truly this is a shocking statement for
every sensitive and thoughtful mind to
reflect upon. But the facts are whether
4 Mr.. Patterson's statistics be assailable
or not men have died on the scaffold
both in Ireland and England, within the
past Is or 20 years, to the knowledge
Gof thousands now living, who were alb
solutaly innocent of the crime of MUIR
der for which they paid the awful pen
atty of the law.
Several cases might be cited did
space permit in proof of this assertion.
But perhaps, the brief recital of two
notable instances will be Of interest,
while affording justification for the
staggering statement Of Mr.. Patterson.
Early in the SOS there lived in Lon
don suburban villa a wealthy lady of
advanced years. She was unmarried and
the possessor of large wealth. In her
house she was foolish enough to keep
a great deal of valuable property
money, jewels, securities and so forth.
| This fact was well known to her SER
wants, butler and a cook. One even
ling at dinner the butler, or footman,
whose name was Lee, was noticed by
influence of liquor He was unable to
wait on table in a satisfactory man
ner and his employer losing patience
with the man. ordered him from the
room and discharged him. Lee was an
gered at this SUMMARY punishment, and
as he left the house he INDUCED in
threats about making his mistress
sorry for this" or words to that effect.
! Mex. day the lady of the house was
found in her bed strangled to death.
The detectives heard from the cook
the story Of Lees dismissal the night
before, his angry departure and the
i threats he INDUCED in. 1t did not take
the police long to find their man, and he
was locked up on the charge of TNlful
murder. OF course, he protested inno-
cence. But they all do that, and no
notice was taken of his protest
In due course of legal procedure, Lee
was tried by a judge and jury. The
evidence was purely circumstantiaI and
the cook was the principal witness for
the crown.
The man and his counsel worked hard
to convince the jury that he knew moth
! ing of the murder until he heard 1t
talked about in an ale house, just be-
fore the officers arrested him. But all
to no purpose. The verdict of guilty
was promptly arrived at, and Lee was
! Immediately sentenced to be hanged
within one calendar month from the
day of sentence.
Here in Massachusetts no such SEN
tence would be carried into effect The
prisoners counsel have numerous ave-
nueS of appeal open to them, and 1t
may be q year before the final judg-
ment is spoken by the courts. But the
British procedure allows no court OF
criminal appeal, and the only chance
for postponement of the death pen
atty or revising Of the sentence, lies
through petition to the crown for
royal clemency. The sovereign, OF
/ course, does not bother personally with
such petitions. Her prerogative is
delegated to the home secretary in En-
| gland, and the lord lieutenant in ire
| land. A 'recommendation for mercy"
signed by the judge and jury that tried
the condemned, usually prevails with
the executive, and the execution is
either postponed for further inquiry, or
the death sentence Is revoked and the
convict sent to penal servitude for
| life
| In Lees case, no appeal for mercy
was made. Ills case seemed to admit
of no doubt whatever, and the date
OF execution found the unfortunate man
unreprieved.
| Marwood, the executioner, put UP His
hideous apparatus in the prison yard,
| right the night before the hanging, and
everything seemed to the sheriff to be
| in ship-shape for the awful doings Of
| the morning.
| At o'clock, amid the solemn tolling
or the prison bell, Lee was led to the
scatfold, and to what appeared to the
unwilling onlookers, certain death. But
there happened something that no one
has ever been able to fathom since. and
| nobody probably ever will
| Marwood, at the proper moment
sprung the bolt, but the unsupported
trap failed to fall, even with the dead
weight OF the miserable wretch that
stood upon it,
| Twice Lee was taken from the scat
fold while Marwood worked at hia
bolts and hinges to see what was
wrong. He could see nothing amiss.
After the second failure to hang the
man, the chaplain protested in the
name of humanity against any more
bunging. The governor OF the ian
| telegraphed the facts to the home sec
rotary, and at once received q reply
to absolve Lee from the death penalty
and confine him for life
| Not many months afterward the
cook, on her death bed, confessed thar
she, and she only did the murder. to
get hold o. her employers money; thar
Lee was absolutely innocent of even
knowledge of the crime, but she fast
ened it upon HIM, knowing how easy
her scheme would work, in view os
Lee s dismssal in anger and his bitter
threat to get square with his mis-
tress.
Lee vas at once released and the
ecvernnle mt paid him a large amount
OF money as compensation.
The other case of miscarried Justice
was the famous execution (for it be-
came matter of parliamentary in
quiryl of Myles Joyce, for what viii
be known for all time in Irish judicial
annals as the Maamtrasna murder.
III rec men were sentenced to death
for that crime. The night before the
execution two Of them sent for the
sheriff Of Galway and made before him
a sworn statement that they were
guilty. OF the murder, and were salts
tied to suffer the penalty Of the law,
but they asserted solemnly that Myles
Joyce knew nothing Of the crime; and.
TO use their words, was as innocent
as the child unborn"
The sheriff was so impressed with
the statement that ne chartered a spe-
clal train to take him to Dublin to lay
the facts before Lord Spencer, the
then lord lieutenant, and in order that
there should be no delay, he arranged
to have the local telegraph office kept
open all night for the reception Of
his message to the governor Of the
prison.
The message came, early in the NOR
ming, and 1t read: 1.-THE lord lieutenant
decides the law must take It's course
An hour later, Marwocd (who was a
busy man those tinas) did his grim
duty. But the scene that took place
while this innocent man was led out
n hp ta~