A QUEER STOKY.
A London correspondent of a oontemporary o»ye :— A rumour ot a most extraordinary and sensational character, whloh if true, would serlo&ely abake public confidence m Bontonoeß prononnood on oircumetantiil evidence, is being whispered about amongst the clerks at the Home Offioe. Some years ago a young man (a bntler named Lee) wa9 sentenced to death, for murdering his mistress and benefactress, an elderly maiden lady residing at Babbiooajbo, near Torquay. The case attracted a lot of attention at tho time, < and your readers will probably remember the faotn well I may remind them, however, that (ho lad hai all through a nek firmly to his lunooenoo. On the to ff >ld there was a ghastly and shocklug soeae. Thtee times the hangman tried to do his duty and tbree times the rope broke, till at length the sheriff refused 4o allow tho execution to proceed. \u accordance with : precedent m such cases, the capital sentence. waß then commuted, and Loo went to "living death" at Dartmoor. Mark the b< quel ! It Is now said that some mon'ha ago one of Lee'n fellow-servanto — the girl who, at the trial, was anapeotad of having an Illicit lover-— bonfeßß d to the crime on her deathbed, and aatit fi*od tho authorities of Lee'a entire, innooenon. The unfortunate young nnn was subsequently released und pensioned for life at 30a d week, but not till ho hud given a flolemn undertaking to the prison obaphtin not to reveal the trnth. The Home Ofhoe jastify their extraordinary aotlon m the matter on the ground that if the fao'-B wore koown circumstantial evidence In capital oases would prnotioa'ly become a diai letter, and tbat that is most undesirable, as m 09 c^sea out of 100;; conclusions deduoed therefrom are correct.
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Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1593, 25 June 1887, Page 3
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296A QUEER STOKY. Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1593, 25 June 1887, Page 3
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