A HORRID SCENE AT AN EXECUTION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 7223, 11 April 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

A HORRID SCENE AT AN EXECUTION.

Writing about the Baddacombe murder, the London correspondent of a contemporary says :—

An event almost unparalleled in criminal annals has brought to a conclusion the final scene in connection with this most horrid tragedy. It may be in the recollection of some of your readers that last winter a maiden lady named Keyse was tound one morning brutally murdered in her own dining room. Tbe Eor vants were awakened by rinding the house on Kre, and it was with some difficulty that the fhmes wero extinguished. It was evidently the intention of the murderer to destroy all traces of his crime by burning the premises and its contents to the ground, but in the interests of justice this was happily frustrated, or more lives besides that of the murdered woman may have been sacrificed.. Suspicion fell on John Lee, a young man of doubtful character, who bad been charitably taken in hand, with a view to reclamation, by the benevolent Mit-.s Keyso. It was proved that ho nourished a grudge against the old lady on account of the smallness of his wages, and a chain of circumstantial evidence brought the crime home to him. Accordingly, he was sentenced to death, and up to the day appointed for his execution exhibited a callouß and unropentant demeanour, and, it should be added, protesting his innocence. On the morn ing of the intended execution he wi.b led out to the gallows at Exeter Gaol and placed on tbo scaffold, uftor tho usual preliminaries had been gone through, the chaplain meanwhile reading a portion of the burial service. As soon as all was ready the bolt was withdrawn, but the trapdoor refused to act, although tho warders each put a foot on the drop, but without effect. With tho cap over hia face aud tbe.rope round his neck he was then led back to the house, and the officials meanwhile endeavoured to right matters by tawing a portion of the boards which wero supposed to have stuck through excessive rain on the previous day. Again tbe criminal was brought forward, and again tbs_ u,,.; n i ~.,-ioo was- mad, nadagain tho door failed to act. Once more he was removed, and fresh attempts were made to discover thn obstruction, When all was again put right the unhappy wretch was once more brought forward, but whereas he had previously shown an undaunted front, this third test was too much for fortitudo, and he bad to be assisted by the warders. Again, however, deßtiny seemed to be on his side, for the apparatus refusing to move foe a fourth time he was taken back to prison. Some time had now elapsed, and tbe convict bad sunk into a pitiable state. A conference therefore took place between the prison officials, and the Under-sberiS declined to proceed further without authority from tho Home Secretary, The details having been telegraphed to London, orders were received to suspend the further execution of the dread sentence, and ultimately, on consideration of the frightlul ordeal which tho prisoner had gone through, his sentence was commuted to penal servitude for lite, Though no sj mpatby exists for the criminal it is generally felt that no other course cuuld have been adopted with decency, but of course an inquiry will be held into such an extraordinary fiasco, as some gross neglect must have takon place. It is believed to have been due to an alteration reoantly made in the scaffold whereby when a weight was brought to bear on the lever it failed to act properly, whereas without any weight the door easily fell through. At any rate the scene was a horrid one, and the whole affair ia without precedent in the history of justice.