Everything about Hawley Harvey Crippen totally explained
Hawley Harvey Crippen (
11 September1862 –
23 November,
1910), usually known as Dr. Crippen, was an
American physician hanged in
Pentonville Prison,
London,
England, on
23 November,
1910, for the
murder of his wife. He has gone down in history as the first
criminal to be captured with the aid of
wireless communication.
In 2007, some American researchers concluded that their
DNA tests cast doubt on his conviction, though this conclusion isn't shared by a majority of experts on the case.
Brief biography
Crippen was born in
Coldwater, Michigan, to Andresee Skinner and Myron Augustus Crippen. Crippen became a
homeopathic doctor and started working for a homeopathic
pharmaceutical company, Dr. Munyon's. His second wife was Cora Turner (stage name: 'Belle Elmore'), born Kunigunde Mackamotski to a
German mother and a
Polish-
Russian father. She was a would-be
music hall singer who openly had affairs. In 1900, Crippen and his spouse moved to
England. His U.S. medical qualification was insufficient to obtain a doctor's position in the
UK. After having changed multiple addresses in London, the couple finally moved to 39 Hilldrop Crescent, Camden Road,
Holloway, London, where they'd lodgers to compensate for Crippen's meager income.
Murder
After a party at their home on
January 31,
1910, Cora disappeared. Hawley Crippen told everyone she'd returned to the
United States, and later added that she'd died in
California and had been
cremated. Meanwhile, his lover, Ethel Le Neve (
1883 -
1967), moved into Hilldrop Crescent and began openly wearing Cora's clothes and jewellery. The
police were informed of Cora's disappearance by her friend, strongwoman Kate Williams, better known as
Vulcana. The house was searched but nothing was found, and Crippen was interviewed by Chief Inspector
Walter Dew. After the interview (and a quick search of the house) Dew was satisfied and had no doubts regarding the truth of his story. However, Crippen and Le Neve didn't know this and fled in panic to
Brussels where they spent the night at a hotel. The following day they went to
Antwerp and took the
Canadian Pacific liner SS
Montrose to
Canada.
Transatlantic arrest
Their disappearance led
Scotland Yard to perform another three searches of the house. During the fourth and final search, they found the remains of a human body, buried under the brick floor of the basement. Sir
Bernard Spilsbury found traces of
hyoscine, a calming
drug. The corpse had to be identified from a piece of skin from her
abdomen, because her
head,
limbs and
skeleton were never recovered. Crippen and le Neve fled across the
Atlantic on the
Montrose, with le Neve disguised as a boy. Captain
Henry George Kendall recognised the fugitives and, just before steaming out of range of the land-based transmitters, sent a wireless
telegram to the British authorities: "Have strong suspicions that Crippen London cellar murderer and accomplice are among saloon passengers. Mustache taken off growing beard. Accomplice dressed as boy. Manner and build undoubtedly a girl." Had Crippen travelled 3rd class he'd have probably escaped Kendall's notice. On board the
Montrose a wait of several days ensued because the ship was out of range of wireless communication. Dew boarded the faster
White Star liner, the
SS Laurentic, arriving in
Quebec, Canada ahead of Crippen, where he contacted the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
As the
Montrose entered the
St. Lawrence River, Chief Inspector
Walter Dew, disguised as a pilot, came aboard. At that time
Canada was a British
dominion, so Dew was a
Scotland Yard detective on duty in territory of the
British Empire. If Crippen, a U.S. citizen, had sailed to the
United States, even if he'd been recognised, an international arrest warrant followed by extradition proceedings would have been required to bring him to trial.
Kendall invited Crippen to meet the pilots as they came aboard. Dew removed his pilot's cap and said, "Good morning, Dr Crippen. Do you know me? I'm Chief Inspector Dew from Scotland Yard." After a pause, Crippen replied, "Thank God it's over. The suspense has been too great. I couldn't stand it any longer." He then held out his wrists for the
handcuffs. Crippen and le Neve were arrested on board the
Montrose on
July 31,
1910. Crippen was returned to England on board the
SS Megantic.
Trial and execution
Crippen and le Neve were
tried separately at the London
assizes, held at the Central Criminal Court,
Old Bailey, London E.C. After just 27 minutes of deliberations, the jury found Crippen guilty of
murder and he was
hanged by
John Ellis in November at
Pentonville Prison,
London. Ethel le Neve was
acquitted.
Crippen's trial revealed the meticulous manner in which the body had been disposed of. After death, Cora Crippen's bones and limbs were professionally removed, and burned in the kitchen stove. Her organs were dissolved in acid in the bathtub, and her head was placed in a handbag and thrown overboard during a day trip to
Dieppe, France.
The pathologist Sir
Bernard Spilsbury couldn't identify the body, nor even tell whether it was male or female. However, he found a piece of skin with an abdominal scar consistent with Cora's medical history.
Throughout the proceedings and at his sentencing, Crippen showed no
remorse, only concern for his lover's reputation. At his request, her photograph was placed in his coffin and buried with him.
Although Crippen's grave in the prison grounds isn't marked by a stone, tradition has it that soon after his burial a rose bush was planted over it.
Question of doubt
There remains some dispute over whether Dr Crippen did, in fact, murder his wife. One theory, which was first propounded by
Edward Marshall Hall (who had initially been engaged to lead Crippen's defence, although he later gave up the brief), was that Crippen was using
hyoscine on his wife as a sexual depressant but accidentally gave her an
overdose and then panicked when she died. In 1981, Hugh Rhys Rankin claimed to have met Ethel le Neve in 1930 in
Australia. On that occasion, she's said to have told him that Crippen murdered his wife because she'd
syphilis.
Raymond Chandler, the novelist, commented that it seemed unbelievable that Crippen would successfully dispose of his wife's limbs and head, and then, rather stupidly, bury her torso under the cellar floor of his home. The history of Old Bailey trials does however reveal many remarkable and fantastic mistakes made by otherwise intelligent murderers made to their detriment and police officers the world over will confirm that those who have the least reason to want to be noticed are the very ones who draw attention to themselves through unusual or exaggerated behaviour.
Dornford Yates, the novelist, who was involved with the trial as a junior barrister, records that Crippen put the remains in lime so that they'd be destroyed, but failed to realise that while dry quicklime destroys, if water is added it becomes
slaked lime and preserves. Yates used this fact in the plot of his novel
The House That Berry Built and told the story of the trial from his viewpoint in his memoirs
As Berry and I Were Saying.
New evidence
In
October 2007,
Michigan State University forensic scientist David Foran claimed that
mitochondrial DNA evidence conclusively showed that the body found beneath the cellar floor in Crippen's home wasn't actually Cora Crippen. This research was based on
genealogical identification of three matrilineal relatives of Cora Crippen (great-nieces, tracked down by genealogist Beth Wills), whose mitochondrial DNA
haplotype was compared with DNA extracted from a slide taken from the torso in Crippen's cellar. This has raised new questions about Crippen's guilt and the actual identity of the body found in the cellar. One theory is that Crippen may have been carrying out illegal
abortions, and it may be that one of his patients died and he disposed of the body in the way he was accused of disposing of his wife.
It is also possible that the DNA samples were tainted or inaccurate in some way, or that the alleged relatives were not actually related. There was strong evidence presented at the trial that seemed to prove that the body was, in fact, that of his wife.
Dr. Foran's colleague, John Trestrail, claims that it would have been unusual for a poisoner to dismember and hide the corpse because he'd have wanted a death certificate certifying natural causes. Of course there are other examples of murderers who poisoned victims and then dismembered the bodies, such as
Belle Gunness. Furthermore, the new DNA tests don't in any way affect the fact that the body, regardless of whether it was Crippen's wife or not, was, in fact, poisoned and dismembered. On the basis of this new evidence, Crippen's relative, Patrick Crippen, has asked for Crippen's remains to be exhumed and buried in the family plot. His lawyer is
Giovanni di Stefano.
In popular culture
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