How John Babbacombe Lee Cheated the Hangman. Three Times.

John Babbacombe Lee was a bad boy, of that there was no doubt. By the time he was twenty he had seen service in the Royal Navy, but also had an extensive criminal record, mostly for thievery. When he was twenty-one, he got in serious trouble indeed.

He had taken employment on the staff of Emma Keyse, a former lady-in-waiting of Queen Victoria. Not long afterwards, the good lady had been found stabbed to death. There were no witnesses, no fingerprints, and no knife to be found. Nevertheless, John was the only male staff member, he had a criminal record, and he had an unexplained cut on his arm. This was enough for the jury, and John Baddacombe Lee was sentenced to hang, notwithstanding his protestations of innocence.

On February 23, 1885 at Exeter Prison, John was led to the gallows, the noose slipped around his neck, the blindfold placed over his head, and the trap door lever pulled. But nothing happened. The door was not sprung, John stood there quietly while the trap door was examined. As everything appeared to be in order, the lever was pulled the second time, and again the door did not fall away.

Now the trap door was subjected to the most thorough examination, and when everything was deemed to be working, the lever was pulled for the third time. And still John stood, alive and well, albeit with a bag over his head.

On hearing of this, the Home Secretary ordered that Lee’s sentence be varied to one of lifetime imprisonment, for which Lee was undoubtedly grateful. That said, still protesting his innocence, Lee continued to petition the Home Secretary’s office and twenty-two years later was released from prison. He lived a further thirty-eight years, making a living speaking about his experience.

I’ve never had the hangman’s noose around my neck, but I’ve lived through more than one experience which could easily have gone wrong. And if you’ve been on this planet any length of time and left the house most mornings, you can probably say the same. Whether just avoiding an oncoming truck or having a ladder give way, most of us have been seconds from our own obituaries.

This is why every morning is a fresh start, a new beginning. All the “stuff” that preceded yesterday wouldn’t mean much if today were the last day of your life, so it should have equally little weight if today is the first day of your future. Failures, shame, disappointments, rejections, betrayals– none of these things would have mattered if that dump truck had been one second closer, so why should they matter if you survived?

Carpe diem!