The man they could not hang
The man they could not hang! John ‘Babbacombe’ Lee famously dubbed ‘the man they could not hang’ was accused of the murder of Miss Emma Anne Whitehead Keyse. In the early hours of November 15 1884 in the hamlet of Babbacombe, Devon, Emma Keyse was discovered brutally murdered. Her throat was slit, she had three wounds to her head and the murderer had also attempted to burn the body. He was sentenced to be hanged at Exeter Prison on 23 February 1885. When John was about to be executed however, the noose was tied around his neck but when the executioner pulled the lever to remove the floor beneath him to hang him, it stayed up After three attempts at hanging, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He became popularly known as "the man they couldn't hang". John had been a servant at 'The Glen' (her home) since leaving school and was employed as a footman. John however was convicted of stealing from his employer and sentenced to 2 years in prison. John was re...