"An Innocent Man" joke

John Harrison was despondent. He'd been married for ten years and had nothing to show for it but twelve children; he and his wife were obviously compatible, but that was not enough.

He found it impossible to get by on a single job, so he'd taken two; now the long hours were beginning to affect his health. Slowly he trudged down the basement steps.

"I can't support my family," he said to himself, though he'd said the same thing many times to his wife as well. "I'm no good to them and no good to myself."

He picked up a piece of clothes line, made a noose, and placed it around his neck. "They'd be better off if I were dead," he said.

He climbed up on a box, tossed the loose end of the rope over a pipe and tied it securely to the top of the washing machine.

"If I were dead, they'd at least have the insurance," he said. "My sweet wife has given me everything, and I've had nothing to give her in return- nothing but twelve children to feed, and wash for, and clean up after and worry over.. . . "

He tightened the rope about his throat, shut his eyes and then his sweet wife dashed downstairs, crying out, "John! Don't do it. You're hanging an innocent man!"