Could Ethel Le Neve Lie?

Crippen on third edit – rechecking data and adding detail, I returned to the contemporary newspaper cuttings from an old scrapbook and noticed a peculiarity. Crippen declared his wife’s death when he sent a telegram, 24th March, from Victoria Station to Clara Martinetti. It simply stated:
Belle died yesterday at six o’clock. Please phone to Annie. Shall be away a week. Peter.
(Clara knew Dr Crippen by the name Peter Crippen.)

But Lydia Rose (Ethel’s friend) stated that Ethel wrote to her about her marriage in early March:

Dear Lydia,
You will be very surprised to hear your old chum was quietly married last Saturday.
The letter went on to explain that they could not honeymoon until the Easter holiday and then they were going to Dieppe.
Lydia could have confused the dates. But her memory of timing was confirmed by Ethel’s sister, Adina, who said, “I was not altogether surprised when one Monday morning, early in March, I received a letter from Ethel :

Darling,
Just a brief note to tell you that we have gone and done it as the advertisement says. Consequently, I am feeling very happy.
The letter was addressed from Hilldrop Crescent. A little time afterwards the doctor and my sister went to Dieppe for the honeymoon.”

Ethel said she married on Saturday, which would make the probable ‘wedding’ date March 5th, and less likely, March 14th. Ethel also mentioned an advertisement – presumably a classified advertisement – or possibly a merchandising slogan. Could Ethel lie to the two people closest to her – her best friend and her sister? Perhaps she was an accomplished liar, or she did undergo a wedding ceremony – using a false name – and thereby lying to the registrar and the English authorities . . .
If Ethel wasn’t complicit in the subterfuge then Dr Crippen must have told his ‘true love’ a lie – several lies. Either way, the two fugitives told different stories resulting in Ethel apparently marrying Dr Crippen before his wife’s death. Or perhaps they already knew Dr Crippen’s wife was dead and buried – in the cellar – since February 1st. At least they hadn’t committed bigamy.
It seems rather a complicated ruse (and unnecessary) that Ethel extended to include her dressmaker. “In February she came with a large box, and said, ‘I want you to do a lot of work for me, because in six weeks time I am going to be married.’ There was one dress and quite a number of dress lengths; vieux rose, which I made into a costume; a glace silk, which I made into a Princess robe; and a mole-coloured shade, with a stripe, which I made up for her. She told me afterwards that she was married in the vieux rose.”

Ethel Le Neve and her strange invitations.

Ethel Le Neve sent her dressmaker, Miss Hargreaves, a letter enclosing a £1 postal order and asked her to call on Friday July 8th to deliver a coat her dressmaker was finishing.

 . . . We are going to Bournemouth or Eastbourne for a holiday.

Signed ‘Ethel Crippen’.

The dressmaker couldn’t keep the Friday appointment and arrived on Saturday. Of course, Ethel wasn’t at home. Nothing peculiar about that in isolation. On Friday, July 8th, Ethel requested Lydia Rose, her friend, visit her on Sunday 10th July but Lydia received a letter postmarked July 9th.

Dear Lydia Rose

Do not come up tomorrow.
Am not feeling well.
Am going away for a few days

Loving wishes,
Ethel.

Ethel Le Neve sent a postcard to her brother Sidney on the morning she disappeared with Dr Crippen
The card read:

Dear Sid

Please come up to night and stay over Sunday or come up early tomorrow morning to dinner.
Love to all,
Ethel.

Sid arrived at Hilldrop Crescent on Saturday July 8th as requested and the French maid, Valentine Le Coq, handed him a note:

 . . . I am very sorry, but I have been called away.
Love to all,
Ethel.

Ethel is purposely inviting people to call at ‘that’ weekend. Was this some plea for help, or perhaps a cynical demonstration of her innocence? If it were the latter then it means Ethel Le Neve was aware of some ‘peculiarity’ either in Crippen’s character or of the events of January 31st – March 1st.
Anyway, the upshot of these missives were that Walter Neave, Ethel’s father, visited 39, Hilldrop Crescent on Sunday, 10th July accompanied by William Long, Dr Crippen’s long-standing employee, and prior to Inspector’s revisit to 39, Hilldrop Crescent on July 11th. Walter claimed to be looking for two pictures he owned and with William Long searched, or at least, visited each room.

Crippen, Le Neve, Belle Elmore.

Newspaper clipping

Dr Crippen blamed

Ethel Le Neve, Walter Dew, Hawley Crippen

Newspaper clipping.

Ethel Le Neve as Ethel Allen.

Ethel Le Neve used the name Ethel Allen to travel to Canada. Journalists discovered her scheme and she didn't sail.

Ethel Le Neve's landlady

Mrs Emily (Emma) Jackson and witness at the Old Bailey.

H. H. Crippen's Otological Gazette

Ethel Le Neve

 called herself Miss Allen for a short time but did not sail to America.

Captain Kendall.

Scrapbook. Captain Kendall recognised Dr Crippen and Ethel Le Neve aboard Montrose.

Hyoscine bottle

Dr Crippen's drug of choice.

Dr Crippen.

A rare image of Walter Dew with the handcuffed Dr Crippen.

Dr James Munyon

Dr James Munyon. I had drawn his character as a fuddy-duddy who disliked Cora Crippen because of her boisterous, flirtatious, personality. It appears he had rather an eye for the ladies, and was particularly fond of actresses. Four times married and divorced three. He claimed he disliked her show-business manner. Did he? Or did she refuse his advances? Munyon's Homoeopathic Home Remedies.

Mrs Jackson witness at Ethel Le Neve's trial

Mrs Jackson, wife of Robert Castletine Jackson, and Ethel Le Neve’s landlady, at Constantine Road. She gave evidence at the Old Bailey.

Dr Crippen in court

Why isn't he wearing his glasses?

Belle Elmore's diary

sold for, or rather was estimated to sell for, £50. Where is it now?

Advertisement: April, 1913.

Dear boss and Saucy Jack

A simple method of confirming whether handwriting is by one person is to place a transparent grid over the two comparison samples.
Dear Boss and Saucy Jack documents. As can be seen, they are almost identical.

Dr Crippen's Coldwater childhood home.

Hawley Harvey Crippen flees London

Dr Crippen's pocket watch

A gilt pocket-watch, which Dr Crippen gave to his mistress, Ethel Le Neve, whose husband, Stanley Smith, wore until his death.

Hangman's training instruction

Memorandum of Instructions for carrying out the details of an Execution

1. The trap doors shall be stained a dark colour and their outer edges shall be defined by a white line three inches broad painted round the edge of the pit outside the traps.

2. On the day preceding an execution the apparatus for the execution shall be tested in the following manner under the supervision of the Works Officer, the Governor being present:-

The working of the scaffold will first be tested without any weight. Then a bag of sand of the same weight as the culprit will be attached to the rope and so adjusted as to allow the bag a drop equal to, or rather more than, that which the culprit should receive, so that the rope may be stretched with a force of about 1,000 foot-pounds. The working of the apparatus under these conditions will then be tested. The bag must be of the approved pattern, with a thick and well-padded neck, so as to prevent any injury to the rope and leather. As the gutta-percha round the thimble of the execution ropes hardens in cold weather, care should be taken to have it warmed and manipulated immediately before the bag is tested.

3. After the completion of this testing the scaffold and all the appliances will be locked up, and the key kept by the Governor or other responsible officer until the morning of the execution; but the bag of sand should remain suspended all the night preceding the execution, so as to take the stretch out of the rope.

4. The executioner and any persons appointed to assist in the operation should make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the working of the apparatus.

5. In order to prevent accidents during the preliminary tests and procedure the lever will be fixed by a safety-pin, and the Works or other Prison Officer charged with the care of the apparatus prior to the execution will be responsible that the pin is properly in position. The responsibility for withdrawing the pin at the execution will rest on the executioner.

6. Death by hanging ought to result from dislocation of the neck. The length of the drop will be determined in accordance with the attached “Table of Drops.”

7. The required length of drop is regulated as follows:

(a) At the end of the rope which forms the noose the executioner should see that 13 inches from the centre of the ring are marked off by a line painted round the rope; this is to be a fixed quantity, which, with the stretching of this portion of the rope and the lengthening of the neck and body of the culprit, will represent the average depth of the head and circumference of the neck after constriction.

(b) About two hours before the execution the bag of sand will be raised out of the pit and be allowed another drop so as to completely stretch the rope. Then while the bag of sand is still suspended, the executioner will measure off from the painted line on the rope the required length of drop, and will make a chalk mark on the rope at the end of this length. A piece of copper wire fastened to the chain will now be stretched down the rope till it reaches the chalk mark, and will be cut off there so that the cut end of the copper wire shall terminate at the upper end of the [page break in the facsimile] measured length of drop. The bag of sand will be then raised from the pit, and disconnected from the rope. The chain will now be so adjusted at the bracket that the lower end of the copper wire shall reach the same level from the floor of the scaffold as the height of the prisoner. The known height of the prisoner can be readily measured on the scaffold by a graduated rule of six foot long. When the chain has been raised to the proper height, the cotter must be securely fixed through the bracket and chain. The executioner will now make a chalk mark on the floor of the scaffold, in a plumb line with the chain, where the prisoner should stand.

(c) These details will be carried out as soon as possible after 6 a.m. so as to allow the rope time to regain a portion of its elasticity before the execution, and, if possible, the gutta-percha on the rope should again be warmed.

8. The copper wire will now be detached, and after allowing sufficient amount of rope for the easy adjustment of the noose, the slack of the rope should be fastened to the chain above the level of the head of the culprit with a pack-thread. The pack-thread should be just strong enough to support the rope without breaking.

9. When all the preparations are completed the scaffold should remain in the charge of a responsible officer while the executioner goes to the pinioning room.

10. The pinioning apparatus will be applied in some room or place as close as practicable to the scaffold. When the culprit is pinioned and his neck is bared he will be at once conducted to the scaffold.

11. On reaching the scaffold the procedure will be as follows:–

(1) The executioner will:-

(i) Place the culprit exactly under the part of the beam to which the rope is attached.

(ii) Put on the white linen cap.

(iii) Put on the rope round the neck quite tightly (with the cap between the rope and the neck), the metal eye being directed forwards, and placed in front of the angle of the lower jaw, so that with the constriction of the neck it may come underneath the chin. The noose should be kept tight by means of a stiff leather washer, or an india-rubber washer, or a wedge.

(2) While the executioner is carrying out the procedure in paragraph (1) the assistant executioner will:-

(i) Strap the culprit's legs tightly.

(ii) Step back beyond the white safety line so as to be well clear of the trap doors.

(iii) Give an agreed visual signal to the executioner to show that he is clear.

(3) On receipt of the signal from his assistant the executioner will:-

(i) Withdraw the safety pin.

(ii) Pull the lever which lets down the trap doors.

12. The culprit should hang one hour, and then the body will be carefully raised from the pit. The rope will be removed from the neck, and also the straps from the body. In laying out the body for the inquest, the head will be raised three inches by placing a small piece of wood under it.

Ethel Neave

A distraction. Several newspaper reports state that Ethel Le Neve had a child in 1909. I know Ethel was in England at the date of Harvey Crippen's execution, November 23rd, 1910, but when did she sail to New York?

Update: No. Can't be Ethel.

Dr Crippen’s salad bowl

Had events worked out a little differently Margate might have been the scene of Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen’s well remembered murder of his wife, for which he was hanged after the first arrest ever made through wireless.
So thought Mrs Sarah Forster in the 1930s, of 27 Addiscombe Road, former proprietress of a Marine Terrace boarding house where Crippen’s wife stayed in the early years of the century.
In the 1930s Mrs Foster donated a cut glass bowl to Margate Museum (bet the people in charge have no idea today and I wonder if it is still there?!). It was used by the notorious doctor to mix a salad for his wife.Crippen’s wife, Cora, was an actress and under her professional name Belle Elmore, came to Margate in October 1904 to play in “East Lynne” at The Hippodrome in Cecil Square, (then known as The Grand Theatre). During the run of the show she stayed at Mrs Fosters boarding house at 28 Marine Terrace (Now Wetherspoons) and was visited at the weekend by her husband.
They went for walks and Dr Crippen bought her some ice cream. Later she was taken ill and Dr Crippen remarked to Mrs Foster that she was always ready to make a fuss over the least little pain. He added that she would have more heart attacks.
Belle Elmore’s condition became worse and during the night, after Dr Crippen had returned to London, Dr Sawyer was summoned. Cora was suffering from poisoning and he thought it must have been from fish. But she had had no fish, so the ice cream may have been to blame.
Dr Crippen was not suspected of any responsibility in the matter.
Dr Crippen visited his wife several times while illness compelled her to remain at Margate. He asked Mrs Foster for a punch bowl in which to mix a special salad, which he always made his wife when she had a heart attack. There was no punch bowl at the house, so he went out to buy one.
But Margate traders had no demand for punch bowls, so a cut glass bowl was purchased.

Mrs Foster saw him produce bottles and watched while he mixed the ingredients of the salad.
Six years later Dr Crippen was accused of killing his wife by poisoning and hid the remains under the cellar floor at Cora’s London residence.
Was he trying to poison her at Margate?

Page from Margate history

Dr Crippen's business card.

Sandy McNabb outside 39 Hilldrop Crescent.

Sandy McNabb, Edwardian comedian, bought 39 Hilldrop Crescent for £100 and opened the house, for a short period, as a tourist exhibition.

Hawley Harvey Crippen

Scrapbook entry.

Hawley Harvey Crippen and Dorothea Helen Puente.

 In 2007 a campaign began to exonerate Hawley Harvey Crippen of the murder of his wife, Cora Crippen, aka Belle Elmore.
John Trestrail, a toxicologist led the research into Dr Crippen, poisoners rarely inflict external damage on their victims. "A poisoner wants the death to appear natural so he can get a death certificate. This is the only case I know of where the victim was dismembered. It doesn't make sense." In my database of 1,100 poisoning cases, this is the only one which involves dismemberment," said Mr Trestrail, who heads the regional poison centre in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Perhaps John Trestail should have looked at the Dorothea Puente case.

On November 11, 1988, police unearth a corpse buried in the lawn of 59-year-old Dorothea Puente’s home in Sacramento, California. Puente operated a residential home for elderly people, and an investigation led to the discovery of six more bodies buried on her property.
One of the victims found buried in Dorothea Puente's yard was mutilated in order to conceal its identity; its head, hands and lower legs were gone. A forensic worker finally identified the body as that of Betty Palmer, one of Puente's boarders. Her missing parts were never found, despite all of the searches of the house and yard conducted by the police. After Betty Palmer was buried in the backyard, Puente created a fake ID that had her face, but Palmer's name and information on it. She used this to collect Palmer's benefits. Puente was a diagnosed schizophrenic who had already been in trouble with the law. She had previously served prison time for check forgery, as well as drugging and robbing people she met in bars. After her release, she opened a boarding house for elderly people. In 1986, social worker Peggy Nickerson sent 19 clients to Puente’s home. When some of the residents mysteriously disappeared, Nickerson grew suspicious. Puente’s neighbours, who reported the smell of rotting flesh emanating from her vicinity, validated Nickerson’s concern. Although all the buried bodies were found to contain traces of the sedative Flurazepam, the coroner was unable to identify an exact cause of death. Still, during a trial that lasted five months and included 3,100 exhibits, prosecutors were able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Puente had murdered her boarders, most likely to collect their Social Security cheques. Though she was formally charged with nine counts of murder and convicted on three, authorities suspected that Puente might have been responsible for as many as 25 deaths. She died on March 27, 2011 at age 82 from natural causes at a California women’s prison facility in Chowchilla.
The question is why would Dorothea poison then mutilate the bodies? Crippen and Puente have two things in common, slightness of build, and a desire to capitalise on the deaths of their subject/subjects.
Both killers feared the victim overwhelming them in their fight for life. Dorothea persisted cashing her victims' cheques and Hawley continued using his wife's jewels to finance his lifestyle – after all, he was her next of kin. What was hers, was his.

Cora Crippen's friends search boats.

Inspector Walter Dew follows Dr Crippen

from the tug 'Queen' to the 'Megantic'.

Add caption

Ethel Le Neve

An unusual photograph.

Dr Crippen's and Ethel Le Neve's dentures

Before restorative dental care was available, the only treatment for dental pain was extraction. Unfortunately there were no suitable materials or techniques available for the fabrication of satisfactory dentures. The problem was the lack of a durable and affordable denture base material (porcelain denture teeth were already developed). Swaged gold, and carved ivory were used but were expensive and only affordable to the rich.

In 1843, the American Charles Goodyear discovered how to make flexible rubber, named vulcanite, which he made from India rubber (caoutchouc). In 1851, his brother, Nelson, patented an improved manufacturing process to produce hard rubber. Vulcanite found instant use in the fabrication of denture bases world-wide and quickly replaced previously-used materials as it was cheaper. Ivory dentures cost 25 guineas (a year's wages for a housemaid). By comparison, a set of vulcanite dentures cost six guineas. By luck, vulcanite dentures also became available just after the introduction of anaesthesia. People who had preferred toothache to the pain of extraction were prepared to have their rotten teeth removed, creating a demand for the new vulcanite dentures. For the first time in history false teeth were no longer a luxury only the rich could afford and were available to the middle classes.
Vulcanite starts out as a soft, rubber-sulphur compound. It fits precisely to a model of a patient’s gums and palate. Porcelain teeth were added, and the three components, model, uncured vulcanite and teeth, were embedded in plaster and cured in a vulcanizing apparatus. The finished hard rubber denture was hard, durable, light and had an excellent fit. Vulcanite uppers were self retaining, with suction cups, making springs obsolete. Patients could smile, speak and eat without fear of slippage. The main disadvantage was that the material was dark-red colour. To obtain the pink colour, to resemble gum, weakened the vulcanite. To give it sufficient strength, a facing of pink was incorporated into a denture made of stronger rubber. A better aesthetic solution was achieved by using teeth with an attached section of pink porcelain gum.
In 1864 in the USA, the Goodyear Dental Vulcanite Company was founded and every dentist had to obtain an expensive licence to use the material and was charged a royalty for each denture made. Although many dentists bought licenses, the dental profession as a whole opposed the patent and licensure and protested. The Goodyear Company prosecuted non-compliant dentists in the USA. The struggle reached a climax when Goodyear's financial director, Josiah Bacon, was shot dead by Samual Chalfant, a dentist, in 1879.
The Goodyear patents ran for 25 years finally expiring in 1881 when dental vulcanite came into general use world-wide. In the UK in 1881, vulcanite dentures dropped in price to £5. Vulcanite dentures were the first functional, durable and affordable dentures, marking a great advance in dental treatment for the masses.
British Dental Association

Ethel Le Neve. Photographs taken between 2.00 pm and 4.00 pm on Saturday, 9th July, 1910.

Photographs of Ethel Le Neve, taken in 39, Hilldrop Crescent between 2.00 pm and 4.00 pm on Saturday, 9th July, 1910. I've often seen these portraits and the captions read 'aboard Montrose'. Looking more closely, it became obvious that these portraits were taken inside a room. There is an image, though faint, of a skirting board to Ethel Le Neve's left. Dr Crippen was fond of photography and owned a Kodak camera. I have no doubt these images were taken in Hilldrop Crescent. A souvenir of the beginning of their escapade. William Long entered the semi-detached house in the evening after he received a letter from Dr Crippen posted at 4.15 p.m.

William Long, Dr Crippen's employee:
Between 9.15 and 9.30 a.m. on July 9 of this year when I arrived he was there. I asked him if there was any trouble, and he said,  "Only a little scandal." He gave me a list of things to buy, and I bought the articles produced—a boy's brown tweed suit, a brown felt hat, two shirts, two collars, a tie, and a pair of boots—all for a boy. I took them to the back room on the third floor of the Yale Tooth Specialists, and prisoner told me to take them to another room of the company on the fourth floor, and I did so. I saw Miss Le Neve about 11 o'clock that morning. She was wearing a hat, but I could not describe it. I saw her for the last time that day at 11.30 a.m. and prisoner at 1 p.m.  I did not know that he was going to leave. On the evening of July 9 I got this letter from him; the time of posting is 4.15 p.m.:

'Dear Mr. Long, Will you do me the great favour of Winding up as best you can my household affairs. There is £12 10s. due to my landlord and the past quarter's rent, and there will be also this quarter's rent.  The total due to him is £25, in lieu of which he can seize the contents of the house. I cannot manage about the girl. She will have to get back to Paris. She should have sufficient saved from her wages to do this. After the girl leaves kindly send the keys with a note explaining to the landlord. Thanking you in anticipation of fulfilling my wishes, I am, with best wishes for your future success and happiness, your faithfully, H. H. Crippen.'
The letter enclosed a key, and with it I went the same evening to Hilldrop Crescent and took possession of the goods there.

Enhanced images showing a fireplace, skirting board and wallpaper.

Belle Elmore, blackleg.

In 1907 there was a strike of performers, musicians and stage-hands.

Some encouragement was given to popular artistes to break the strike with Marie Dainton, actress and mimic, being offered the carrot of a future engagement at the Holborn Empire and a motor-cab to make her journey easier. She replied ‘I can only be led by the Variety Artistes Federation.’ This performer is often credited with being a leading figure in the strike but in a letter to the London Daily News she writes ‘ I do not wish to be exploited as taking a prominent part in the strike—as statements have been made in one or two papers that make it appear as though I was taking special steps in the matter.‘ A week later the Daily News received another letter from Marie Dainton saying that although she would not accept engagements at the affected halls she was resigning from the Federation. She concludes ‘I have the greatest respect for the artistes of the music hall profession, but I refuse to be identified with the scene-shifters or stage employees.’

Some of the higher earning stars did not support the strike but Marie Lloyd was a enthusiastic spokesperson stating that ‘We can dictate our own terms. We are not fighting for ourselves, but for the poorer members of the profession, earning thirty shillings to three pounds a week. For this they have to do double turns, and now matinées have been added as well. These poor things have been compelled to submit to unfair terms of employment, and I mean to back up the Federation in whatever steps are taken.’ She was a regular on the picket line and when the unfortunate Belle Elmore crossed the line to perform Marie urged her companions not to stop her, saying she was such a bad performer she would empty the hall anyway.


Some performers took advantage of the situation by appearing in the affected halls but it didn’t always turn out well for them. Evelyn Taylor was reported as appearing at eight of the picketed halls each night but found she was unable to find a cab to take her between halls. The drivers refused the job. The London Tram, Bus and Motor Workers Union resolved to support the strike in any way possible. The official artistes association in America, the White Rats, cabled that they were with the strikers ‘heart and soul’ and would do everything possible to help the cause. Financial support came from individuals and provincial branches of the Alliance and from a levy on the salaries of working members of the Alliance. There was a surge of performers calling to be enrolled as members of the Federation with two hundred names being taken before two o’clock on one day. Most of these had refused engagements in the affected halls. The Federation increased it’s membership to around five thousand.

Many London music halls were affected with picket lines, including well-known stars, dissuading the public from entering. Managers reduced prices and put on new and untried acts which played to small audiences who often left part way through. The Daily News reports that the new programme at the Canterbury Music Hall, Lambeth, was abandoned as the trainers couldn’t get a troupe of performing elephants to leave the stage. At other halls such as the Oxford the manager appeared on the stage to explain the situation and for the most part the audience were given their admission money back.
 into the limelight

Anaesthetics

Chloroform and Ether.

Dr Crippen's Canadian court case.

On the 7th July, Mr. Thomas Wasson, your Prosecutor, caused an information to be laid before the Police Magistrate of the city of Toronto, against one Dr. Crippen, for breach of the Medical Act. Upon the case coming on, the witnesses were unable to identify Dr. Crippen as being the man who had diagnosed their ailments and prescribed for them the Munyon Homoeopathic Home Remedies. Not being able to obtain sufficient evidence to warrant a conviction in that way, I, having the conduct of the prosecution, called Crippen to the witness stand, and obtained from him the information thiat he had then in his employ, as representing the Munyon Company, Dr. Clark.

Thomas Wasson, the detective of the College, proved the service of a copy of the charges on Dr. Clark. Mr. Wasson also stated that one Crippen, an American doctor who had been in charge of the Munyon establishment in or about July, 1896, had been prosecuted by him in the Police Court for the illegal practising of medicine, Crippen not being a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario ; that the charge was dismissed by the Magistrate because the defendant swore that he himself did not prescribe, but he had duly qualified medical men in the establishment, one of whom was the said Dr. Clark. That he paid a visit to the Munyon establishment and saw patients there.
D. H. Reid was the next witness. He said : I am an engineer ; I have been to the Munyon place of business ; I used some of Munyon's pills for la grippe and they seemed to do me a little good.

Their agent afterwards called on me and asked me to give him a testimonial, promising me if I would do so, that any time I wanted medicine, all I had to do was to cut the testimonial out of tlie paper and take it down to the office and I would get my medicine free. I afterwards cut the advertisement out and took it to the Munyon office, where I was told by the old gentleman in charge that they did not do business that way, and he would not give me any medicine without the money. In cross-examination the witness said that it was quite a while after the giving of the itestimonials that he went to get the medicine, probably two or three months, and that the man in the office was not the party who had promised him the free medicine.

In cross-examination the witness said that it was quite a while after the giving of the testimonials that he went to get the medicine, probably two or three months, and that the man in the office was not the party who had promised him the free medicine.

Ulrich Renaud, foreman in the Gendron Bicycle works, said : I went to No. 11, Albert Street, in June or July of 1896 in consequence of an advertisement I saw in the paper about Catarrh, with which I am troubled. The first time I went there was only one doctor, Dr. Crippen. The advertisement I saw said Munyon's was a sure cure for Catarrh. I made an arrangement with Dr. Crippen that I was to give $7 a month and he guaranteed a cure inside of two months. I paid the money in advance and continued the treatment regularly for two months. Dr. Clark treated me most of the time. I told Dr. Clark the last time I went that I was not cured, and that Dr. Crippen had guaranteed to cure me in two months.

He and the other doctor there had a talk together—I didn't hear what they said—and then Dr. Clark told me they wouldn't continue the treatment unless I paid one month more in advance. I told him I was getting worse instead of better, and I wouldn't pay any more money. I had already paid more than $18, The treatment I got from Dr. Clark was, there was a liquid injected through my nostrils down into my throat ; the treatment made my nose bleed every time, and it would sometimes continue bleeding for half an hour. They also sent a fume to my throat through my mouth ; it was not a liquid. The doctor said the cause of my nose bleeding was that the treatment was too strong and he would get something milder. My nose continued bleeding right along. That was about a month before I quit.

1 don't think the treatment became milder. I never signed a testimonial, but I saw one in the newspaper ; it was in the Telegram. I saw Dr. Crippen and told him about it, and that I never authorized him to use my name. Dr. Clark knew I had not been improved. The testimonials in the newspaper appeared under the ordinary Munyon heading. When I spoke to Dr. Crippen about the testimonials, he said, " When I asked you about how the medicine acted, you told me, all right.''
I had told him that the pains came and went ; that I might feel better to-day, but to-morrow they would be on again.
He said, " You may attribute this to the medicine."
I said, " I can't say, because I only took two or three pills out of the bottle.'
This was in the early part of the treatment. It was before I had made any statement as to being improved, that I saw this testimonial. The testimonial said that I had suffered very greatly with what the doctors called Sciatic Rheumatism, and that I tried several remedies but they did no good ; that I procured a sample bottle of Munyon's Rheumatism Cure, and to my great surprise the pain in my hip and limbs completely disappeared in three days, and that before 1 had used one-half,of the wonderful little pellets. That testimonial is a forgery. It is true 1 took the pellets, but it is not true about the effect of them. They did not do me any good. This testimonial was not true and I did not authorize it.
Under cross-examination by Mr. Lount, he said : I went there for treatment for Catarrh only. The only doctor I saw there was Dr, Crippen ; I made my arrangements with him. I didn't see Dr. Clark then at all.

Dr. Crippen told me the treatment would be eleven dollars a month, and guaranteed a cure inside of two months, I am sure he used the word  guarantee. That was not in writing. It was the first clay I went he said this. He did not make any examination of me. I told him the way I felt and how long I had it, that I had been troubled five or six years. I paid my money and took the treatment. I got an inhaler and some other instruments for the treatment. Dr. Crippen gave me only one treatment, the first treatment. I think Dr. Clark took me after.

There were other doctors there. I may have had one or two treatments from the other doctors but I know I had the biggest part of it from Dr. Clark ; that was towards the end. The money was paid to Dr. Crippen. I had no money dealings with Dr. Clark at all. Dr. Clark treated me as a gentleman. I can't say that I had Sciatic Rheumatism ; I had pain in my hips often. I described that to Crippen. I took the pills for the Sciatica. I told him about the pain in my hip and that the soreness was very great and made me quite lame. I did not say I had tried several remedies but they did me no good; I had never tried any remedies of any kind before for the Rheumatism except a hot bath. I wasn't any better after taking the pills. Dr. Clark used me like an ordinary doctor would. He examined me to find out what was the matter. He tried to learn my disease and ascertain a cure for it. He made a full examination by questioning me and to know my symptoms. I didn't find myself improved at the end of the two months. Dr. Clark did not give me a prescription to get medicine from some outside druggist; every time he gave me an order it was to get something from the girl outside.

Mr. Curran Morrison, Clerk of the Police Court, produced the record of the prosecution of Dr. Crippen.

Mr. Lount put Dr. Evans through a severe cross-examination and read several letters sent by Dr. Evans to Professor Munyon prior to the service of the notice of the investigation on Dr. Clark, which letters, Mr. Lount contended, showed a willingness on the part of the witness to aid the defence on certain conditions, which conditions, however, were not complied with, and Mr. Lount argued that this was the reason why he gave such strong testimony against the Munyon institution. Dr. Richard Hearn, a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, and a homoeopathic practitioner, characterized the conduct of the defendant as being infamous and disgraceful in a professional respect He looked upon the prescribing of homoeopathic remedies by a regular practitioner who was ignorant of homoeopathy and of the component parts of the particular medicines prescribed as unprofessional, and said that he regarded the publication of the alleged cures by homoeopathic treatment when they had been procured a homoeopathic treatment as misrepresentation.

This shows how fairly the committee has dealt with the defendant. Dr. Clark. This advertisement (Exhibit 9) appeared immediately after the Police Court prosecution of Dr. Crippen (News, July 8th, 1896) :

Family ties. On the trail of Cora Crippen

 Schmidt is a common German occupational surname derived from the German word 'Schmied' meaning 'blacksmith' and/or 'metalworker'. This surname is the German equivalent of 'Smith' in the English-speaking world.
Wolfe. A famous Anglo-Irish surname of Norman-French origins. variant forms Wolfes, Woolf, Woolfe, Woulf, Wulff, Woof, Wooff etc.
 TERESA HUNN , Newport, Rhode Island, America. I am known as Tessie, and am the younger sister of Belle Elmore, whose maiden name was Kunigunde Mackomatzki. She was known at home as Cora. Belle Elmore was my full sister. Our father, who married twice, was a Pole. Old Bailey statement.
Theresa doesn't say their mother was German. Apparently, Dr Crippen only discovered his wife's birth name after their marriage. "She told me her mother was German."
It isn't certain Cora's mother was German. We only know that Dr Crippen said, "Cora told me her mother was German."

1875 Census. 11 year old, Teresa Smith, sister-in-law, lives with Joseph and Mary and their 18 month-old daughter, Concordia. It is definitely written Smith and not Schmidt. Joe,age 24, is listed as a nail Smith and Mary, age 21, a dressmaker. Their surname is spelled, Mackinack. he is listed as an alien, from Prussia.
1882 Births. Mary is listed is listed, Mary Wolf.
1885 Census. Mary is listed, Mary Schmidt Marsenger.
1885 Births. Mary is listed, Schmidt Marsenger.
1893 Births. Mary is listed, Mary Smith Mesenger.

Presumably, Mary included her maiden name (Smith) after her marriage to Frederic Marsenger. The 1875 record also states Cora was 18 months old. Placing her birth at December 1873 or January 1874. It also informs us that Mary, born 1854-1855, had a younger sister, Theresa. Names tend to run in families.
I take a default position with Dr Crippen; he's a liar until proved otherwise. I don't believe Cora's mother was German, or of German parentage - Mary was born in New York. It's a hunch, but I think Mary was of Irish decent. (Scrub this. Seems Mary's parents were German. I've just found them in the 1870 census.) So much for my intuition. Mary was born in New York and their surname is Smith, but probably Anglicised -this would explain why used both spelling variants.

We do not have a definitive answer for what happened to Joseph 'Mackamotski,' although previous writings on the subject state that Joseph died 'when Cora was two'. This would make a date of death for Joseph of about 1875. Beth Erskine Wills 2007, genealogist to John Trestrail.

I found this entry before I read Beth's statement :

Joseph ...Arnecki
New York, New York City Municipal Deaths
Name     Joseph ...Arnecki
Event Type     Death
Event Date     19 Feb 1876
Event Place     Manhattan, New York, New York, United States
Residence Place     New York City, New York
Gender     Male
Age     26
Marital Status     Married
Race     Not Listed
Occupation     shoemaker
Birth Year (Estimated)     1850
Birthplace     Russ Poland
Burial Date     20 Feb 1876
Burial Place     Calvary, New York City, New York
Father's Birthplace     Russ Poland
Whether it is Cora's father, I don't know, but age and date of death fit. I found it interesting enough to file it in my research folder -especially as someone had a difficult job transcribing the surname. 

N.B Mary and Joe Mackinack lived at N Second Street, Brooklyn, Kings, N.Y., 1st June 1875.

Showbiz, Dr Crippen.

'He finally cracked'

Mr Trestrail brought in Professor David Foran, director of forensic science at Michigan State University, who led DNA analysis on the scarred skin of the corpse used in the trial. It was demanding work over two years, retrieving tissue preserved in formaldehyde from the glass slide it was attached to with pine resin.
Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Crippen's house in north London has since been demolished

Mr Foran followed two lines of research and considers the results conclusive. First he isolated mitochondrial DNA, which remains unchanged throughout the generations down the female line. A genealogist found grandnieces of Cora Crippen who would have the same mitochondrial DNA as her, and repeated tests found they were not related to the body in the basement.

Then Mr Foran's team used new techniques to examine the nuclear DNA, and discovered a Y chromosome. Not only was the body not from Cora Crippen's family, it wasn't even a woman.

As Mr Trestrail sums it up, "This is the slide which Spilsbury [the expert witness at the trial] used to identify the body as Cora Crippen's. And this was the evidence on which Crippen was convicted. But the substance in the slide is not Cora Crippen. No question. I don't say Hawley Crippen is innocent, but he is no longer proven guilty."

Not everyone is convinced, however. John Boyne, whose book Crippen: A Novel of Murder, is to be reissued next year, says: "I think Crippen probably did kill his wife. His actions suggest guilt - his decision to flee the country and to dress Ethel LeNeve as his son rather than allow her to reveal her true identity on the ship as his lover. Cora made his life so miserable that I think he finally cracked."

    I have no interest in clearing Crippen's name. What I care about is being right
    Professor David Foran, Forensic scientist

Jonathan Menges, a writer and genealogist from San Diego, has written disputing Mr Foran's findings. Mr Menges claims the genealogy linking the living relatives to Cora Crippen is flawed - no birth certificate for her exists, for example, as they were rare in the US at the time - making the mitochondrial DNA tests irrelevant.

He criticises the proceedings for having too much of an eye for showbiz - the nuclear DNA findings were first revealed on a TV documentary - and points out that they have not yet been published or peer-reviewed. He says that Crippen's behaviour demonstrates his guilt, and that a group in Salt Lake City are investigating the mysterious disappearance there of Crippen's first wife. "There is no doubt that Crippen is guilty," he says.

Mr Foran responds that his work is to be published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences, that he is fully satisfied by the genealogy, and that the remains are indisputably male.

"I don't really care one way or the other whether the body was Cora Crippen's, I have no interest in clearing Crippen's name. What I care about is being right. We tested and tested and tested, and if I had any doubts whatsoever I would never have come out with it. The body is not Cora Crippen's."

Nevertheless, JP Crippen has failed to get the case reopened. The Criminal Cases Review Commission declined to refer it to the Court of Appeal, because he is too distant a relative to have sufficient interest.

But Mr Trestrail agrees with him that the campaign to clear his name should continue.

"It matters," he says. "Justice doesn't have a time limit."
BBC link.

Trial of Dr Crippen

Daily Mirror.

Dr Crippen

Capture and conviction newspaper cutting.

Crippen Horror

Still from video.

Dr Crippen in court

Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen. Scrapbook.

Published on Jun 5, 2017
Inspector Walter Dew discovered rotting boneless human remains in Dr Crippen’s cellar. Ethel Le Neve had an affair with Dr Crippen for several years but she literally stepped in his wife’s shoes when she began wearing the missing Cora Crippen’s clothes and jewellery. In the makeshift grave, besides the putrid flesh, the police found Cora’s Crippen’s hair, and a label from a pyjama jacket that limited the time of burial to within weeks of Cora Crippen’s disappearance.
After twenty-five minutes deliberation the jury found Dr Crippen guilty of his wife’s murder. John Ellis, executioner, hanged Hawley Harvey Crippen in Pentonville prison at 9.00 am on 23rd November 1910.

Belle Elmore

Dr Crippen's wife. I've found her on the stage before she arrived in England. It's a satisfying feeling when hours of research yields a result. And what this tells me about Dr Crippen? He's a liar. Definition of serial killer: Murdering three or people over a period of time.
Dr Crippen is a serial slayer.

Dr Crippen's execution.

Museum of Automata, Barcelona recreation of Dr Crippen's execution. The machine dates from 1921 and is fully operational.

Crowds outside the Old Bailey

wait to hear the jury's verdict on Dr Crippen.

Dr Crippen hanged

by John Ellis, Pentonville prison at 9.00 am on November 23rd, 1910.

Dr Forbes Winslow, the ‘great mental specialist’.

Scotland Yard received the following letter from Dr Forbes Winslow, the ‘great mental specialist’: That there is an epidemic for murdering children at the present time there is no possible doubt. The chief and important point appears to be how to arrest the murderer, or murderers, and stop what is shocking society. In my opinion, the perpetrator of such crimes is a dangerous homicidal lunatic now at large. I believe that he could be easily run to earth were the proper steps taken. I might remind you that when ‘Jack the Ripper’ was carrying on his murderous career I traced the man from London to his lodging and asked for some assistance from Scotland Yard to further aid me in arresting the man. This was declined, though I was told by the authorities that what I suggested was well worthy of consideration, and had permission as a private individual to carry into operation my plan of action. This I declined and stated that unless I received the assistance asked for I should publish my clue in the morning newspapers.
This I subsequently did, with the result that from that time to the present murders of the ripper type ceased to be committed. I have investigated this late affair (I allude to the Islington tragedy), have interviewed the fellow children and heard their contradictory accounts of some imaginary person who was stated to have been seen hanging about the school yard. I am of opinion that the real murderer was not the person who deposited the parcel. I also believe that by a little common sense out of the usual ‘red-tapism’, and regarding the murder of a different type, and therefore requiring different plans of investigation from ordinary crimes, that there would not be the least difficulty in capturing, without further delay, the actual murderer. On this, I have no intention or saying further in the matter. In trying to capture a murderous lunatic different plans must be adopted to those, which would be adopted in capturing an ordinary criminal.

Dr Crippen and Belle Elmore

together at a social function.

Dr Crippen's House

39 Hilldrop Crescent.

Bertram Shaw's mother.

Emily shared her home with a man named Bertram Shaw and passed as his wife. Shortly after eleven o’clock on the morning of 12th September an elderly lady called at the house in St Paul’s Road. This was Mrs Shaw. She had travelled from the Midlands to visit her son who, she understood, had recently married. Mrs Stocks, the landlady, told her that her son’s wife was still in bed. They talked together in the hallway for about fifteen minutes until Bertram Shaw returned from work. He was employed as a dining-car attendant on the Midland Railway whose main lines ran to Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield. His hours of work enabled him to catch the seven-twenty a.m. train from Sheffield to St Pancras and to reach his home shortly before eleven-thirty.
After exchanging a few words with his mother and the landlady Shaw went to call Emily. Receiving no answer when he knocked at the door he tried to open it and found that it was locked. He went to the kitchen and borrowed a duplicate key from Mrs Stocks who followed him into the parlour. Evidence of an intruder was all over the room. Drawers had been ransacked and their contents strewn over the floor. The folding doors leading to the bedroom were also locked and the key was missing. Again Shaw knocked and, receiving no answer, broke into the room. The blankets were in a heap on the floor. The sheets covered something on the bed from which a pool of blood had trickled down on to the floor. The room was dimly lighted through half-opened shutters.
Shaw, thoroughly alarmed, rushed to the bed and dragged aside the sheets. To his horror he discovered the nude body of Emily Dimmock lying face downwards. Her throat had been cut from ear to ear. The Mammoth Book of Unsolved Crimes. Roger Wilkes.
 This is the first reference to Mrs Shaw. Bert's mother wasn't there. I suggest the reason the author used  Bert's mother was to add drama and to confirm that Emily Dimmock was a slapper, who didn't regularly perform domestic duties. She was hastily slaving over a hot copper only because she about to encounter her future mother-in-law.

And where did the name Robert Roberts come from? It's Thomas Percival Roberts. Names and stories are repeated from one article to another as if chiselled on granite.

Oi, wanna buy a tincture of Crippen's Compound?

Cures a person of every ill. Never again feel pain ... Ever.

Who killed Phyllis Dimmock?

Who killed Phyllis Dimmock? Given the circumstances of her life and subsequent death it seems most likely that Phyllis Dimmock was killed by one of many male acquaintances in a fit of jealous rage. The one person we can certainly exclude from consideration is her husband Bertram Shaw, since, as the police established back in 1907, he was in a railway dining car thundering through the countryside some distance from London at the time of his wife's death. The fact that the rooms at St Paul's Road had been ransacked, and that the victim's postcard collection was disarranged, leading to the obvious conclusion that the murderer was searching for something, and that something being most likely the postcard from Bruges that led the police to Robert Wood in the first place. This would limit the range of suspects to either Robert Wood himself (seeking to remove an incriminating piece of evidence) or, alternatively, someone else who knew of its existence and was seeking to divert the police's attention by laying a false trail, such as Robert Percival Roberts, his apparently secure alibi notwithstanding. Most commentators have this concluded that the most likely culprit was indeed Robert Wood, even if there appears to have been insufficient evidence to actually convict him of the crime.

 Robert Wood was bit of a cad and a liar, but that doesn't make him a murderer. Someone wanted  something from those albums, but there was another suspect who was away from town, and could well of sent, the postcard collecting, Emily Dimmock, a message that could accuse him of the crime if discovered.

Bernard Spilsbury

was a greatly respected pathologist, but does his reputation stand up to scrutiny?

Secondary syphilis

Primary syphilis occurs 10-90 days after contact with an infected individual. Lesions (chancres) begin as solitary, raised, firm, red papules, similar to a blister. Secondary syphilis usually occurs within 2-10 weeks after the primary chancre and is most florid 3-4 months after infection. A rash will appear on the feet, hands, neck and face.

Head exhibiting syphilis c.1900: Collection Family Coolen, Antwerp/Museum Dr Guislain, Ghent, Belgium. Museum proprietors argued that the more horrific exhibits included in their displays would help to limit the spread of infectious disease. The most graphic models were usually intended to communicate the dangers of sexually transmitted disease, showing faces and genitals that were ravaged by syphilis as warnings against promiscuous behaviour.

Just what we need

to send from our holiday destination - a Dr Crippen postcard.

Dr Crippen at large.

Atrocious murder in London

6th February 1904

 ATROCIOUS MURDER IN LONDON. At Fulham on Saturday Mr C. L. Drew opened an inquiry with reference to the death of

Elizabeth Craig, 25, domestic cook, late of Willoughby Road, Kingston-on-Thames, whose mutilated body was found in the Thames off Hurlingham, Fulham. The Coroner said the body was extensively mutilated.
Dr. Edward Seaton Pattison, divisional surgeon of police, deposed that the left leg, from three inches below the knee, was entirely missing, and the tissue torn. There was a fracture of the left thigh, and a double fracture of the left humerus. All the ribs were broken. There was a wound on the left side of the scalp, with a fracture of the outer plate of the skull, and a wound behind the left ear. The outer part of the arm and bone were missing -either sawn or chopped away. In the left groin was a wound 3in. in length, extending upward and outward towards the abdomen and deep into the thigh. The torn flesh was protruding. The front of the dress was entirely missing. The clothes must have been lifted before the cut could be made in the groin.

Hawley Harvey Crippen,

his glasses

Dr Crippen