As John Lee was being led from his cell in Exeter Prison on the morning of 23 February 1885, he had approximately two minutes left to live. He was making the condemned man’s walk to the gallows having been convicted of the murder of the woman he worked for, Emma Ann Keyse, a wealthy widow who had been discovered with her throat cut and her head battered. Lee had protested his innocence but his criminal record, obvious hatred of his employer and a lack of alibi had sealed his fate. As his jailers led him to the scaffold, his arms were strapped behind his back, a white hood placed over his head and a noose secured around his neck. His executioner asked if he had any last words or confession to make and when John Lee replied, ‘No, drop away,’ the Sheriff of Exeter gave the order to proceed.
