Something Malfunctioned

On November 15, 1884, a woman named Ellen Keyse was found dead in a pantry next to John Lee’s room. Ellen Keyse was a rich older woman for whom Lee had worked. Keyse’s murder was brutal. Her head was severely battered and her throat cut. There was no direct evidence of Lee’s guilt, and in fact, the case was made solely on circumstantial evidence. The alleged motive was Lee’s resentment at Keyse’s supposed mean treatment. Lee insisted he was innocent. He had been convicted and sentenced to death by hanging.

On February 23, 1885, Lee, who was just 19 years old is, was sent to the gallows in Exeter, England, for Keyse’s murder. It seemed that no matter how hard he had tried to prove his innocence, it was all for not, and his life was over. However, after the noose was placed around his neck, the lever that would release the floor beneath his feet was pulled, and something malfunctioned. Lee was not dropped, even though the equipment had been tested and found to be in working order. It was shocking!! The weights in the test plummeted to the ground as anticipated. Despite two additional attempts at hanging, Lee remained standing on the trap door when the lever was pulled, and it failed to open. Not sure what to make of the situation, the guards returned Lee to prison.

Since everything worked fine with weights, the authorities got a little nervous about the inexplicable malfunction, and they decided to attribute the whole thing to an act of God. Lee was removed from death row, his sentence commuted, and he spent the next 22 years in prison. Once he was released, Lee emigrated to America. They tested the gallows again and still found no cause for Lee’s remarkable reprieve. These days condemned prisoners don’t have a chance to receive such reprieves. No one is hanged anymore. Most people are executed by lethal injection. Even when there are mishaps in carrying out an execution, such as the case when an executioner failed to properly find a vein for a lethal injection, the authorities will try again, until the prisoner has been put to death.

Lee maintained his innocence until his death. Following his release, he appeared to capitalize on his fame, earning a living through lectures about his life and even becoming the subject of a silent film. The details of his life post-1916 are murky, with some speculation that multiple individuals later claimed to be him. It was once believed he died in a Tavistock workhouse during World War II. However, newer research suggests that he died in the United States as “James Lee” in 1945. The book “The Man They Could Not Hang” states that Lee’s gravestone was found at Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee in 2009.