1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:14,080 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:17,479 Speaker 1: a show that proves there's more than one way to 4 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:22,279 Speaker 1: make history on gay bluesier and in this episode, we're 5 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:26,479 Speaker 1: talking about the inexplicable case of a criminal who escaped 6 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:38,040 Speaker 1: deaf simply because killing him proved harder than expected. The 7 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:46,479 Speaker 1: day was February eight. Prison authorities and Exeter, England, tried 8 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:51,560 Speaker 1: and failed to hang a prisoner. The man they couldn't hang, 9 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:55,520 Speaker 1: as he soon became known, was nineteen year old John 10 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: Henry George Lee. He had been sentenced to die for 11 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:04,360 Speaker 1: the order of Emma Keys, his older employer. The evidence 12 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:08,200 Speaker 1: against Lee was purely circumstantial, but it was enough to 13 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:12,400 Speaker 1: get him convicted and sentenced to be hanged. In the end, 14 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:16,040 Speaker 1: his life would be spared for an equally flimsy reason. 15 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:22,399 Speaker 1: Lee's supposed victim was Miss Emma Ann Whitehead Keys, an 16 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:26,680 Speaker 1: elderly woman from a formerly wealthy family. She never married 17 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:30,120 Speaker 1: and lived alone in her family's house known as the Glen, 18 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 1: and the small beach community of Babacomb Bay. As a teenager, 19 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: John Lee worked as a servant at the Glen alongside 20 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:43,760 Speaker 1: his half sister, a cook named Elizabeth Harris. He left 21 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 1: the estate in eighteen seventy nine to join the navy. 22 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 1: He was later discharged for an injury and returned to 23 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:53,760 Speaker 1: the seaside town of Torquay, where he found work as 24 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: a footman. In eighteen eighty three, Lee was convicted of 25 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:01,919 Speaker 1: stealing from his new employer and sentenced to Horrord labor 26 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:06,240 Speaker 1: at nearby Exeter Prison. He was released the following year, 27 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: at which point he returned to the Glen and resumed 28 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 1: his old post as Emma Keys footman. In the early 29 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:18,400 Speaker 1: morning of November fifteenth, eighteen eighty four, Keys was found 30 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:22,240 Speaker 1: dead in a pantry right next to Lee's bedroom. The 31 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:26,560 Speaker 1: murderer had overpowered Emma, cut her throat and tried to 32 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: burn her body, Though police responded to the fire before 33 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:34,079 Speaker 1: the corpse had been consumed. John Lee was quickly named 34 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:37,240 Speaker 1: the one and only suspect, as he was believed to 35 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: be the only man in the house at the time. 36 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:43,639 Speaker 1: The only other people at home besides Emma herself were 37 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:47,920 Speaker 1: her servants Jane and Eliza Neck, and her cook, John's 38 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: half sister, Elizabeth Harris. None of the female staff members 39 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:56,760 Speaker 1: were deemed capable of brutalizing their employer, so the blame 40 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: fell squarely on John Lee. He made pained his innocence 41 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: all through the trial, telling the judge quote the reason 42 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: I am so calm as that I trust in the 43 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:11,400 Speaker 1: Lord and he knows I am innocent. The process of 44 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:14,840 Speaker 1: elimination may have pointed to Lee as the murderer, but 45 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:17,920 Speaker 1: there was no direct evidence. He was found with a 46 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 1: cut on his arm that he couldn't explain, but that 47 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:23,320 Speaker 1: was the closest thing to proof of guilt that the 48 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:28,240 Speaker 1: prosecution could manage. Disturbingly, though, that was enough to convince 49 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: the judge. On the morning of the hanging, James Barry, 50 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: the executioner at the prison and Exeter, tested the trap 51 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 1: door on the gallows or scaffold with a series of weights. 52 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: He tried the equipment multiple times, and on each occasion 53 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 1: the floor of the scaffold opened perfectly. However, when the 54 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 1: grim moment finally came, when the noose was fastened around 55 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:57,840 Speaker 1: Lee's neck and the gallows lever was pulled, nothing happened. 56 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:02,440 Speaker 1: The floor beneath his feet didn't fall away, so Lee 57 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: never dropped. The executioner tried to hang Lee again and again, 58 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:11,760 Speaker 1: but all three times the trap door failed to spring. 59 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:15,640 Speaker 1: At that point, they stopped trying to hang him and 60 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:18,279 Speaker 1: just sent him back to prison until they figured out 61 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:22,599 Speaker 1: what to do next. The authorities were baffled. An inspection 62 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:25,680 Speaker 1: of the gallows revealed the mechanism was in working order. 63 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:31,240 Speaker 1: The reason for its mysterious malfunction was never discovered, not 64 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:35,160 Speaker 1: that you'd hear John Lee complaining about it. He immediately 65 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 1: started telling everyone who would listen that his reprieve had 66 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:41,440 Speaker 1: been an act of God, proof that he had told 67 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:45,279 Speaker 1: the truth about his innocence. That idea quickly caught on 68 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:48,880 Speaker 1: with the public, and not long after Lee's death, sentence 69 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:53,120 Speaker 1: was commuted to life in prison. The man responsible for 70 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: scrapping the execution was British Home Secretary Sir William Harcourt. 71 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:02,599 Speaker 1: He explained his decision saying that quote, it would shock 72 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,400 Speaker 1: the feelings of anyone if a man had to pay 73 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:10,960 Speaker 1: the pangs of imminent death twice. It wasn't the soundest 74 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:14,360 Speaker 1: of reasons, especially since they had already tried to hang 75 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:18,840 Speaker 1: him three times. But one way or another, John Lee 76 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: had escaped the hangman's noose. Although he wasn't very keen 77 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:26,679 Speaker 1: on the alternative either, later describing his imprisonment as quote 78 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:31,920 Speaker 1: moving from one tomb to another. All told, John Lee 79 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:35,279 Speaker 1: went on to serve twenty two years in prison before 80 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:39,200 Speaker 1: being released in nineteen o seven on good behavior. There 81 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:41,840 Speaker 1: were all kinds of rumors about what he did with 82 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:45,480 Speaker 1: his second lease on life. One of the prevailing theories 83 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:48,640 Speaker 1: is that he moved to London, started a family, and 84 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:52,359 Speaker 1: cheated death again by surviving the German Blitz of the 85 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: early nineteen forties. The other popular theory is that John 86 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:00,640 Speaker 1: Lee abandoned his wife and two daughters and then moved 87 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:03,440 Speaker 1: abroad to start a new life under a different name. 88 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:08,600 Speaker 1: Some researchers even believe they've located his unmarked grave in 89 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:14,160 Speaker 1: of all places, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There are still many questions 90 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 1: about the life and death of John Lee, with the 91 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:21,240 Speaker 1: biggest being did he really murder Emma Keys and why 92 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:25,960 Speaker 1: did the gallows malfunction? Will likely never know either answer 93 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:29,480 Speaker 1: for certain, but if John wasn't the killer, there's at 94 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:34,120 Speaker 1: least one possibility for who was. Keys had a friend, 95 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:38,640 Speaker 1: an associate named Reginald Gwynn Templar, a young lawyer who 96 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:43,320 Speaker 1: often visited her at the Glen. Strangely, despite claiming a 97 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:47,039 Speaker 1: deep affection for the Keys family, Templar wrote to John 98 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:50,600 Speaker 1: Lee the morning after the murder and offered his services 99 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:54,520 Speaker 1: as a solicitor. It seems odd that a friend of 100 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:57,800 Speaker 1: the victim would be so eager to offer legal advice 101 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:02,040 Speaker 1: to her suspected killer. The timing of the letter also 102 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 1: suggests that Templar was among the first to hear of 103 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:08,760 Speaker 1: the murder, responding just a few hours after it took place, 104 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 1: though how he would have known of it so quickly 105 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:16,440 Speaker 1: is unclear. Templar did go on to represent Lee at trial, 106 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:19,720 Speaker 1: but he soon stepped down due to illness and was 107 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:24,239 Speaker 1: replaced by his brother. He never recovered from that illness either. 108 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:28,200 Speaker 1: He died the next year at a sanatorium in Surrey. 109 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:31,360 Speaker 1: He was just twenty nine years old, and the cause 110 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 1: of death was listed as quote general paralysis of the insane. 111 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:41,360 Speaker 1: There are reports that Templar raved about murder on his deathbed, 112 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:46,200 Speaker 1: but so far those are unsubstantiated. To be clear, there's 113 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: no real evidence that Templar killed Keys, but then again, 114 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:54,120 Speaker 1: that's also true of John Lee. Maybe it was one 115 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:58,000 Speaker 1: of the men, or both of them, or John's half sister, 116 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:02,040 Speaker 1: or some combination of the three. It's a murder case 117 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:04,920 Speaker 1: that's long gone cold, and at the center of it 118 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:10,200 Speaker 1: all is the man they could not hang. I'm Gabe 119 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:13,720 Speaker 1: Bluesier and hopefully you now know a little more about 120 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:17,880 Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. If you enjoyed the 121 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:20,600 Speaker 1: show and want to learn a little more about today's topic, 122 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:24,560 Speaker 1: you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at 123 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:29,000 Speaker 1: t d i HC Show. You can also rate and 124 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:31,880 Speaker 1: review the show on Apple Podcasts, or you can write 125 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:35,160 Speaker 1: to us directly at this Day at i heart media 126 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:38,920 Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show, 127 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:41,719 Speaker 1: and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here 128 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:54,839 Speaker 1: again tomorrow for another day in History classes. For more 129 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:57,400 Speaker 1: podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 130 00:08:57,440 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite show.