The True Story of the Man They Couldn’t Hang
Anxiety on the scaffold
In 1884, the Glen was a spacious two-storey villa, that stood just back from a stretch of beach in Babbacombe, a small fishing village, north of Torquay in Devon. A verandah on the front of the building faced the sea, offering the viewer a contrast between calming vista and stormy spectacle.
The owner of the villa was one Emma Anne Whitehead Keyse. a 68-year-old spinster who lived at the Glen with two servants, sisters Eliza and Jane Neck. These dedicated domestics were of a similar age to their mistress, and had been in her employ some forty years. Also abiding under the thatched roof of the Glen were a young cook named Elizabeth Harris, and her half brother, 20-year-old John Lee, who was employed as gardener and general servant.
While a household made up mainly of elderly women; firm friends seeing out their days to the sound of birdsong and the gentle lapping of waves, may appear quaint, the Glen’s location made it far from idyllic. The Torquay Times from November 1884 described the villa thus:
‘The spot is a weird and lonely one in the winter, and especially unsuitable for the living-place of an aged and solitary female. The approach to it is such that no vehicles can be got near it, and the occupant has to mount a very rough and steep hill in order…
