November 8, 2017 | 2 Comments Hawley Harvey Crippen was a small, mild mannered man. At just 5 feet 4 inches in height, of slight build and bespectacled, perhaps the only noticeable feature of this otherwise unremarkable man, was his large walrus moustache. His wife, on the other hand, was an extremely noticeable individual. Cora Crippen was an unsuccessful music hall singer, who liked to have a good time. Of stout build, heavy drinking and promiscuous, Cora dominated her husband, and humiliated him with a string of adulterous relationships. Cuckolded and brow beaten, the lot of Hawley Harvey Crippen was not a happy one! Cora Crippen Dr Crippen, as he preferred to be known, was born in Coldwater, Michigan, in the United States in 1862. He obtained qualifications in homeopathic medicine, and began a practice in New York City, where he met and married his second wife, Cora in 1894. In 1897 the couple moved to London, England, despite the fact that Crippen’s qualifications were insufficient to permit him to practice as a medical doctor in the United Kingdom. Nevertheless, he continued to use the prefix Dr, whilst actually working as a dispenser of medicines. In 1899 he became the manager of an institution for the treatment of the deaf, where in about 1903, he met a young typist by the name of Ethel Le Neve; but more of her shortly. Hawley Harvey Crippen Despite the move to England, Cora’s music hall career, under the stage name of Belle Elmore, remained in the doldrums, and so it was on Dr Crippen’s modest income that the couple were mostly reliant. In 1905 the husband and wife took up residence at 39 Hilldrop Crescent, Camden Road, in the London suburb of Holloway, where, in order to supplement Crippen’s meagre earnings, they took in lodgers. It was upon returning home one day, that Crippen discovered his wife in flagrante with one of them. 39 Hilldrop Crescent Mild mannered he may have been, but this latest act of adultery caused Crippen to look elsewhere for solace, and so it was that in about 1908, he began a relationship with Ethel, the typist he had met some five years earlier. The dysfunctional marriage stumbled on for a couple more years, until things came to a head following a party at 39 Hilldrop Crescent, on 31st January 1910. The following day, Dr Crippen announced that his wife had decided to return to the United States for an extended holiday, later adding that she had sadly passed away whilst there, and had been cremated in California. In the meantime, Crippen had moved Ethel into Hilldrop Crescent, and she was even seen wearing clothing and jewellery belonging to Cora. Friends of Cora grew suspicious, and asked the police to investigate. The house was duly searched, and Crippen interviewed by Chief Inspector Walter Dew of Scotland Yard. Nothing untoward was uncovered by the search, and Crippen admitted to Dew that he had made up the story about Cora being dead, claiming that she had actually left him and gone to America with a lover. His fabrication, he maintained, was due to the shame he felt at his wife’s immoral behaviour. The Chief Inspector was quite happy with Crippen’s explanation, and planned to take no further action in the case. However, the intervention of the police appears to have panicked Crippen, as the following day both he and Ethel took flight. They travelled firstly to Belgium, from where they boarded an ocean liner called the SS Montrose, bound for Canada. Naturally, Dew’s suspicions were raised by Crippen’s sudden disappearance, and as a result he decided to carry out a more detailed search at Hilldrop Crescent. Upon lifting the brick floor of the basement, the pungent odour of rotting flesh immediately filled the room, and the police uncovered a human torso, minus head, limbs, and sexual organs. The torso was identified by a pathologist as belonging to Cora Crippen, due to the presence of a scar, that corresponded with an operation she had undergone. Unsurprisingly, the murder investigation, as it now was, became a media sensation, and the hunt to track down Crippen and Ethel was on. Meanwhile, Henry George Kendall, Captain of the SS Montrose, had had his attention drawn to the unusual behaviour of two of his passengers. A Mr Robinson, travelling with his teenage son, was seen to be acting in an overly affectionate manner towards the boy, giving the pair the appearance of a courting couple. Alerted to the hunt for the fugitives, Kendall immediately saw through their flimsy disguise. As the ship was still just within wireless range of the United Kingdom, he alerted the British authorities of their presence on his ship, by way of a telegram. Chief Inspector Dew wasted no time, and quickly boarded the SS Laurentic, a faster liner than the Montrose, sailing from Liverpool, England to Quebec, Canada. The story was now headline news around the world, with sexual impropriety, a gruesome murder, lovers fleeing in disguise, and a race across the Atlantic, this one seemingly had it all! Newspapers carried daily updates on the progress of the Laurentic against the Montrose. Crippen and Ethel had become infamous overnight, and they were just about the only ones who didn’t know it! To the undoubted relief of the Chief Inspector, the Laurentic arrived in Quebec ahead of the Montrose, and Dew quickly notified the Canadian authorities of his intention to apprehend the wanted duo. As soon as the Montrose entered the St Lawrence River, the British bobby boarded the ship, disguised as a river pilot. Dr Crippen and Ethel Le Neve were arrested on 31st July 1910, and brought back to England to face trial for the murder of Cora Crippen. The case thus became the first time that fugitives had been apprehended by use of the wireless telegraph. Dr Crippen and Ethel Le Neve at a Remand Hearing Throughout his trial, Crippen maintained that his wife had merely left him, and gone to live in the United States with her lover. He further contended that, as they had only lived at 39 Hilldrop Crescent since 1905, the remains discovered must have been placed under the cellar floor by a previous occupant. He showed little emotion during the proceedings, and expressed concern only for the reputation of Ethel. The jury were not convinced by his story, and took just 27 minutes to find him guilty of murder. Hawley Harvey Crippen was executed at Pentonville Prison, London, at 9am on 23rd November 1910. He was 48 years old. The charge against Ethel Le Neve was merely that of being an accessory after the fact, and she was duly acquitted. In accordance with his wishes, a photograph of Ethel was buried with him. Intriguingly, however, that is not the end of this sad story. For those who like a twist in the tale, this one finishes up in a positive knot! In October 2007, it was announced that a sample of DNA extracted from the scar tissue that had been used to identify the torso in 1910, had been repeatedly tested against samples obtained from grandnieces of Cora Crippen. Not only did they not match, but the presence of a Y chromosome in the sample from the deceased, indicated that the remains were not even that of a woman! So, if the body in the basement was not that of Cora, who was the mutilated victim? And what of Cora? Did Dr Crippen really murder his wife? If so, what did he do with her? Or, is it possible that he was telling the truth after all? Oh dear! Sources: http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/execution-dr-crippen http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10802059 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawley_Harvey_Crippen