An Extraordinary Story.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 7, 25 June 1887, Page 4

An Extraordinary Story.

A rumour of a most extraordinary and sensational character (says a London Correspondent), which, if true, would seriously shake public confidence m sentencas pronounced on circumstantial evidence, is being whispered about amongst the clerks at the Home Office, Some vears ago a young man (a butler named Lee) was sentenced to death for murdering his mistress and benefactress, an elderly maiden lady residing at Babbicombe, near Torquay. The case attracted a lot of attention at the time. The lad had all through stuck firmly to his innocence. On the scaffold there was a ghastly and shocking scene. Three times the hangman tried to do his dnty and three times the rope broke, till at length the sheriff refused to allow the execution to proceed. In accordance with precedent in such cases the capital sentence was then commuted, and Lee went to •‘living death” at Dartmoor. Mark the sequel I It is now said that some months ago one of Lee’s fellow servants the girl who, at the trial, was suspected of having an illicit lover—confessed to the crime on her deathbed, and satisfied the authorities of Lee's entire innocence. The unfortunate young man was subsequently released, and pensioned for life at 30s a week, but not till he had given an undertaking to the prison chaplain not to reveal the truth. The Home Office justify their extraordinary action in the matter on the ground that if the facts were known circumstantial evidence in capital cases would practically become a dead letter, and that is most undesirable, as in 99 cases out of 100, conclusions deduced therefrom are correct.