How do you feel about people convicted of a homicide when there isn’t a body? Ask this question and you will get many opinions. The obvious question becomes “Is the person truly deceased?” It seems unfathomable to think society executes innocent people for murder. Unfortunately, it happens. This week I will share an old story from England about three innocent people who were hanged for killing a man. 
William Harrison was a 70-year-old man who lived in Chipping Campden. He lived in a fire damaged estate in England with his wife. On August 16, 1660, William walked two miles to Charingworth to collect rent money. After failing to return home, Mrs. Harrison sent a servant named John Perry to find Mr. Harrison. Perry was in his 20s and spent much of his life working for the Harrison’s.
Neither Harrison nor Perry returned by morning. William’s son, Edward Harrison, went out to find the two men. He found Perry, who told Edward he couldn’t locate William. The men traveled to the village of Ebrington. They visited a woman who told the men Harrison left after collecting rent money from her. While returning to Chipping Campden, the men then met with a woman who found William Harrison’s hat, shirt and neckband. The torn neckband and shirt contained bloodstains. It appeared Harrison had met with foul play.
Upon returning to Chipping Camden, John Perry was suspected of being involved in Harrison’s disappearance. Authorities arrested and questioned Perry. He changed his story several times and suggested robbers had killed Harrison. Perry then confessed and admitted that his widowed mother Joan and his brother Richard murdered Harrison and disposed of his body. They did so to steal money from the Harrison family. Both Joan and Richard denied killing Harrison. The community also suspected Joan of practicing witchcraft. The three changed their pleas to guilty thinking they would receive mercy and avoid execution. They were wrong. The Perrys were found guilty of killing William Harrison and sentenced to death by hanging.
Authorities hanged Joan first. Richard then followed. John hanged last. His body was left to decay. Justice had been served. The evil greedy trio paid for killing William Harrison with their lives. But this wasn’t the end of the story. In 1662, a scraggly figure returned to Chipping Campden with a strange story. The man was William Harrison. After two years, he was now 72. Residents must have been shocked.
What happened to William Harrison during the past two years? It was a question needing answers. According to Harrison, three strangers abducted him, spirited him aboard a Turkish ship and then sold him into slavery somewhere in the Ottoman Empire.
Harrison claimed that after his master died, he returned to England a free man. He found some men in Spain who helped him return to England. The entire story seems unbelievable. For one, why would anyone abduct a feeble 70-year-old man for slave labor? Why not abduct a younger and stronger man? Also, Harrison claimed his abductors stabbed him in his side and leg with swords.
We are expected to believe that a wounded old man survived a vicious attack and a journey aboard a ship to a foreign country. Oddly, his wife committed suicide after his return. There was a rumor that Harrison had written her a letter during his two-year absence. Supposedly, she knew the Perrys were innocent and let them hang anyway. No one ever recovered this letter or could prove Harrison and his wife ever corresponded during his absence.
Did Mrs. Harrison kill herself out of guilt over the Perrys? Or did she kill herself to somehow protect her husband? It’s also a mystery why John Perry made up the story about his mother and brother killing Harrison. Why would he spin such a blatant tale? Was John Perry involved with Harrison’s plan? If so, it backfired. Today, historians wonder if Harrison was involved in some questionable activity. If William Harrison wasn’t abducted in 1660, what did he do from 1660 to 1662? It’s one of those mysteries that will remain unsolved. The only thing we know today is three innocent people were executed for allegedly murdering William Harrison.
Marc is a longtime resident of Clermont County and an avid reader. Contact him through his website at www.themarcabe.com or through Facebook: www.Facebook.com/themarcabe or his Twitter account @themarcabe. Marc also has a podcast called Catch my Killer where he interviews family members seeking justice for their murdered loved ones. You can listen at www.catchmykiller.com.