Doctor Crippen: The Infamous London Cellar Murder of 1910 (37 page)

8
. Lieck,
Bow Street World
, pp. 59–60.

9
. Felstead,
op
.
cit
., p. 116.

10
. Humphreys,
Criminal Days
, p. 113.

11
.
Ibid
., p. 106.

12
. Oddie,
op
.
cit
., p. 13.

13
. Yates,
op
.
cit
., p. 246.

14
.
Ibid
., p. 255.

15
.
Ibid
., p. 254.

16
.
Ibid
., pp. 242–5. Mercer concluded the hair found with the remains had been torn out when Crippen dragged Cora downstairs.

17
. Oddie,
op
.
cit
., p. 80. Unfortunately for Oddie’s theory the post-mortem revealed the heart ‘was in a good state of preservation and showed no sign of disease’.

18
.
Ibid
., p. 81.

19
. Yates,
op
.
cit
., p. 262.

20
. Humphreys,
A Book of Trials
, p. 59.

21
.
Ibid
.

22
. Humphreys,
Criminal Days
, p. 82.

23
. Humphreys,
A Book of Trials
, p. 55.

24
.
Ibid
.

25
. Bowker,
op
.
cit
., p. 24.

26
.
Daily Mirror
, 5 February 1914.

27
.
Ibid
.

28
.
The Times
, 4 December 1939.

11. Rex v. Crippen Part Two: The Trial

1
.
The American Law School Review
, 1920, p. 557.

2
. Felstead,
op
.
cit
., p. 88.

3
. Constantine-Quinn,
Doctor Crippen
, p. 45. When interviewed, Miller’s wife said her husband and Cora were ‘merely friends’ and there ‘was nothing in their relationship which was not perfectly proper’. (
Chicago Sunday Tribune
, 23 October 1910)

4
.
Pall Mall Gazette
, 19 October 1910.

5
.
The Lancet
, 28 December 1935.

6
. Yates,
op
.
cit
., p. 259.

7
. Dew,
op
.
cit
., p. 65.

8
. Browne and Tullett,
op
.
cit
., p. 51. Much is made of Spilsbury’s appearance at Crippen’s trial by some authors. However, Pepper and Willcox were hugely experienced and respected, and their evidence would have been just as influential, if not more so.

9
.
Ibid
., pp. 38–9.

10
.
British Medical Journal
, 19 July 1941.

11
. De Villiers,
My Memories
, pp. 74–5.

12
.
Daily Mirror
, 2 March 1914.

13
.
The People
, 23 April 1933.

14
.
Pall Mall Gazette
, 21 October 1910.

15
. Humphreys,
Criminal Days
, p. 109.

16
. Dew,
op
.
cit
., p. 69.

17
.
Ibid
., p. 73.

18
. Bixley,
Guilty and the Innocent
, pp. 49–50.

19
. Yates,
op. cit.
, p. 246.

12. Rex v. Crippen Part Three: The Verdict

1
.
Sunday Express
, 27 February 1927.

2
. De Villiers,
op
.
cit
., pp. 75–6.

3
. Yates,
op
.
cit
., p. 258. Mercer stated that Crippen had obtained two sacks of lime (
Ibid
., p. 243).

4
.
Ibid
.

5
. Alverstone,
op
.
cit
., p. 276.

6
. Bowker,
op
.
cit
., p. 24.

7
. Meaney,
op
.
cit
., p. 57.

8
.
Daily Mail
, 20 July 1910.

9
. Oddie,
op
.
cit
., p. 81.

10
. Macnaghten,
op
.
cit
., p. 201.

11
.
Thomson’s Weekly News
, 9 October 1920.

12
.
World’s Pictorial News
, 4 October 1925.

13. Rex v. Le Neve

1
. Yates,
op
.
cit
., p. 261.

2
. Felstead,
op
.
cit
., p. 117.

3
.
Dictionary of National Biography
.

4
. Oddie,
op
.
cit
., p. 43.

5
. Humphreys,
Book of Trials
, p. 63.

6
. Birkenhead,
Famous Trials of History
, p. 295.

7
. Yates,
op
.
cit
., p. 261.

8
. Dew,
op
.
cit
., p. 80.

9
. Birkenhead,
Frederick Edwin Earl of Birkenhead
, p. 129.

10
. Birkenhead,
Famous Trials of History
, p. 300.

11
.
Ibid
.

12
.
Ibid
., p. 297.

13
. Dew,
op
.
cit
., p. 47.

14
.
Ibid
., p. 8.

14. Let the Law Take its Course

1
.
Sunday Express
, 6 January 1924.

2
. Oddie,
op
.
cit
., p. 79.

3
.
Daily Express
, 23 September 1930.

4
.
The Sketch
, 20 October 1910.

5
.
The Globe
, 5 November 1910.

6
.
Islington Daily Gazette
, 11 November 1910.

7
. The will was proved on 8 February 1911 and valued at £268 6
s
9
d
. Theresa Hunn’s solicitor handled Cora’s will that was proved on 11 March 1911 and valued at £175.

8
.
Sunday Times
, 13 November 1910.

9
. Churchill,
Young Statesman: Winston S Churchill 1901–1914
, p. 418. Churchill does not appear to have written anything about his involvement in the Crippen case, nor have his biographers. This seems a little odd as he was so closely involved with it, as was his best friend, F. E. Smith. It may be an indication that, despite its notoriety, the Crippen case was of little historical significance compared to other events in Churchill’s epic life. In a report to the King, written on 22 November 1910, Churchill wrote ‘no fewer than eight capital cases wh [
sic
] have descended from the summer assizes have been a great burden in the last few days…’ (Churchill,
Volume II Companion
, p. 1027).

10
.
Sunday Express
, 23 June 1935.

11
.
Daily Mail
, 7 November 1910.

12
.
The Umpire
, 13 November 1910.

13
.
Sunday Express
,
27 February 1921. A more sympathetic account of Mytton Davies’ feelings towards Crippen can be found in Cullen,
Crippen: The Mild Murderer
. Cullen spoke to Mytton Davies’ son Cynric, who recalled his father ‘found Crippen to be a very mild, inoffensive little man who never gave anyone any trouble. He believed that Crippen was covering up for the real culprit, and was going to his death on that person’s behalf.’ (p. 178).

14
.
The Leader
, 17 June 1930.

15
.
Thomson’s Weekly News
, 1 March 1919.

16
.
Ibid
., 19 May 1923. Mercia Somerset is sometimes confused with Isabella Somerset, the noted member of the temperance movement and estranged wife of Lord Henry Somerset. Crippen referred to her as ‘Lady Henry Somerset’ in a letter to Ethel Le Neve (Ellis,
Black Fame
, p. 309), but Isabella Somerset died in 1921 and could not have been Lady Mercia, who revealed her true identity and sold her memoirs in 1923.

17
.
Ibid
., 11 August 1928.

18
.
Ibid
., 26 May 1923.

19
.
Penny Illustrated Paper
, 26 November 1910. Nine of Crippen’s letters to Somerset were auctioned at Christie’s in 1990 (
South London Press
, 14 September 1990).

20
. Other letters are transcribed in Ellis,
Black Fame
, pp. 308–20.

21
.
Thomson’s Weekly News
, 22 January 1921.

15. The Execution

1
. Eddy,
Scarlet and Ermine
, p. 57.

2
.
Thomson’s Weekly News
, 15 January 1921.

3
.
Sunday Express
, 27 February 1921. His wish appears to have been granted. Filson Young said in the
Trial of Hawley Harvey Crippen
that Mytton-Davies agreed to the request. The book was published around February 1920 and contains an acknowledgement to ‘the Governor of Pentonville Prison’. Mytton-Davies held that post until November 1919. Le Neve also said her letters were buried with Crippen (
Thomson’s Weekly News
, 22 January 1921).

4
.
Thomson’s Weekly News
, 19 July 1924.

5
.
Ibid
.

6
.
Ibid
.

7
.
Sunday Dispatch
, 26 February 1956.

8
.
Empire News
, 24 April 1927.

9
.
Reynolds’s Weekly Newspaper
, 27 November 1910.

10
.
Thomson’s Weekly News
,
19 July 1924.

11
.
Empire News
, 10 March 1924.

12
. PRO HO324/1. Crippen would later be joined in the burial ground by other executed felons including Frederick Seddon, Roger Casement and Louis Voison. Casement’s corpse was exhumed in 1965 and returned to Eire. It was rumoured that Crippen’s remains had been sent by mistake as the initials on the worn headstones, ‘RC’ and ‘HC’, looked similar (
New Law Journal
, 30 May 1997).

13
. Smith,
Supper With the Crippens
, p. 2.

14
. Lane,
Edgar Wallace the Biography of a Phenomenon
, p. 237.

15
. Despite its huge print run that day, no copies appear to have survived.

16
.
The Leader
, 14 October 1930.

17
.
Thomson’s Weekly News
,
16 September 1922. Newton again made the claim the Crippen had confessed to murdering Cora in the
Sunday Express
,
6 January 1924.

16. Ethel

1
. Dilnot,
Adventures of a Newspaper Man
, p. 129.

2
. Kendall,
op
.
cit
., p. 185.

3
. Gibbs,
op
.
cit
., p. 75.

4
. Eddy,
op
.
cit
., p. 49.

5
.
Ibid
., pp. 57–8.

6
. Gibbs,
op
.
cit
., pp. 75–6.

7
.
Ibid
., pp. 76–7.

8
.
Thomson’s Weekly News
, 22 January 1921.

9
. Gibbs,
op
.
cit
., p. 77. J. P. Eddy wrote that whenever he subsequently met with Gibbs and spoke about Le Neve ‘it was to express our surprise and regret that we had lost all contact with her’ (
The Times
, 17 March 1962).

10
. Browne and Tullett,
op
.
cit
., p. 41.

11
. PRO T1/11335. In February 1910, Emily Jackson was told by Le Neve that ‘she had been up to the house helping the Dr search for a bankbook which was worth £200 and that they eventually found it’. It is unclear what they did with the money.

12
. Bloom,
The Mightier Sword
, p. 88.

13
.
Ibid
., p. 93. The
Daily Mail
(23 November 1910) reported that Ethel had sailed to New York on the day of Crippen’s execution under the name of Miss Allen.

14
.
Ibid
., p. 95.

15
.
Sunday Dispatch
, 20 June 1954.

16
. Bloom, p. 92.

17
.
Belle, or the Ballad of Dr Crippen
by Wolf Markowitz and Monty Norman was not a success and soon closed.

18
.
Sunday Dispatch
, 29 January 1961.

19
.
Guardian
, 12 July 1972.

20
.
Sunday Citizen
, 28 March 1965.

21
. Bloom,
op
.
cit
., p. 14.

22
.
News of the World
, 3 February 1952.

23
. Gilbert,
Doctor Crippen
, p. 118.

24
.
Daily Express
, 9 September 1950.

25
.
Thomson’s Weekly News
, 8 January 1921.

26
.
Ibid
., 9 October 1920.

27
.
Ibid
., 13 November 1920.

28
.
Ibid
., 16 October 1920.

29
.
Ibid
., 1 January 1921.

30
.
Ibid
., 8 January 1921.

31
.
Ibid
., 22 January 1921.

32
.
Ibid
., 29 January 1921.

33
.
Ibid
., 5 February 1921.

34
. Wood,
op
.
cit
., p. 282.

35
.
Thomson’s Weekly News
, 11 August 1928.

36
.
Ibid
., 12 February 1921.

37
.
Ibid
., 19 February 1921.

38
. I have been unable to locate any issues of this periodical. There is an advert for the Le Neve series in the
Hull Daily Mail
, 3 April 1922.