THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG The Life Story of John Lee ('Babbacombe Lee')

Softcover. No 5 in the Mellifont series. John Lee, a lad of 20, was a servant in the employment of Miss Keyes, at Babbacombe, in Devon. On an autumn night in 1884, the house was found to be on fire, and on a search being made, Miss Keyes was found dead with her throat cut and her head battered in. John Lee was the only man in the house, and the circumstantial evidence of his guilt was very strong : at least strong enough to compel a jury to bring him in guilty of murder. He was duly sentenced to death, and placed, manacled and blindfolded, on the scaffold for execution. The lever was pulled and the drop fell, but only about 2 inches and then stuck. Frantically the warders stamped on the sides of the drop to free it, but it was no good, and Lee had to be taken off while the mechanism was made good and tested. This was done, and he was again placed on the scaffold, with the same result. Three times he went through this ghastly ordeal with always the same result. Finally, his sentence commuted, Lee served 22yrs in prison, all the while protesting his innocence. Illus. 112pp. trade size softcover paper wraps. The sl. larger 1st edn. was published at 3d., the smaller reprint was published at 9d. With the usual browned pp., sl. damage to top r/h corner of fr. cover and top l/h corner of back cover (see images) o/w Vg. Scarce.