Number 2583: John Lee survived the gallows

Englishman John Lee, often called John “Babbacombe” Lee, was sentenced to death and met the hangman in 1885. The gallows trap door did not open, and after three attempts to hang the murderer, his sentence was changed to life imprisonment.

The version of John Lee, surviving execution as told in Crime Does Not Pay #26 (1943), has the basic story of Lee fairly straight, but the ending is fanciful. The problem is that Lee’s further fate, after prison is mostly unknown. Some say his fate brought him to the United States after deserting his family in England, the rotter! Lee is purported to have emigrated after deserting his wife and children. It makes for a good story, anyway, which makes it sound a lot like folklore.

Art by Dick Briefer.