Episode 2 of 2
Failed Execution at Exeter
- When
- 23 February 1885
- Where
- Exeter Prison
Three hanging attempts on John Babbacombe Lee failed at Exeter Prison on 23 February 1885 due to a trapdoor malfunction.
Despite prior testing by executioner James Berry, the scaffold trapdoor failed to open during three attempts. Berry's memoirs describe adjustments between attempts, though he cites only two in some records. The failure led to the commutation of Lee's sentence.
Sources
- John Babbacombe Lee Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-01
- HM Prison Exeter Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-30
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.