The Devil's Laughter

John Marriott boasted to his jailers, the executioner and anyone else who would listen that before the first attempted execution he was frightened out of his wits. But when the hood was put over his head, he saw how he would die, and it would not be on the gallows.

Un hombre malvado es condenado a muerte, pero como la soga del patíbulo se rompe, le es concedida la libertad, ya que no se puede "ejecutar a un hombre dos veces". Lejos de arrepentirse, vuelve a las andadas hasta que terminará mal por casualidad.