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Will Purvis

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Will Purvis {1872-1938} was a member of the White Caps, a group with foundations similar to the Ku Klux Klan. He was convicted of the murder of Will Buckley in 1894 and always maintained his innocence. He scornfully told the jury he would "live longer than the lot of them". He was sentenced to death by hanging, but survived because the noose loosened around his neck. He was imprisoned, pardoned and eventually released. Nineteen years later another man confessed to the crime. Will Purvis died in 1938, three days after the last juror had died.