Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen lived with his wife Kunigunde Mackamotski in an elegant house at Hilldrop Crescent 39 in London. He was a man who did not arouse suspicion or anxiety – low, gentle, polite. He came from the United States and specialized in ear and eye diseases. From there he moved to London, where he worked in a pharmaceutical company.
His wife known more as Cora Turner than under his real name and surname, was a colorful theater figure. Her artistic nickname is Belle Elmore – reminds The Guardian. Their marriage, however, was far from ideal. Cora was feminine, extravagant, surrounded by admirers. Crippen – quiet, dominated, betrayed. But he also had a secretary, Ethel Le Neve, who in time became his lover.
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Last Monday Cory
It all started on Monday, January 31, 1910. At the Crippene house, a party took place, after which the woman disappeared without a trace. The doctor explained his wife's absence that she had to go to the USA and died of pneumonia in Los Angeles. Cory's friends accepted this information and did not even suspect that her husband could lie to them. Until.
Doubts began to arise when the young secretary of Hawley lived in the Crippene house – Ethel, who willingly wore clothes and jewelry of the late doctor. Then it began to roar with rumors, and in the house at Hilldrop Crescent 39 the police appeared. Inspector Walter Dew took care of the alleged death of Crippen's wife.
The doctor calmly accepted a policeman and convincingly spoke about the illness, death and cremation of his wife in California. A few days later, the trace of him and his lover disappeared. In their absence, the house was searched. In his basement, the torso wrapped in men's pajama was discovered. There was no head, legs and spine – we read on the website Wielka History.
The first such message in history
Pathologist Bernard Spilsbury, who studied the remains found, detected traces of a strong alkaloid – hyoscyna. Everything pointed to the brutal murder.
Crippen and Ethel were already on the “Montrose” ship on their way to Canada. They sailed away from the Belgian Antwerp under the name Robinson as a father and son – says History Press. The disguise of the mistress was convincing, but the captain of the ship – Kendall began to suspect that the “father” and “son” were the fugitive lovers, who had already become loud in the media at that time.
He sent a message by Telegraph to London. This was the first case in history when a wireless telegraph was used to capture a criminal.
Instant process and Stryczek
After receiving this information, the DEW inspector got on the faster ship “Laurentic” and reached the port of Quebec before “Montrose”. Canadian police were waiting for him. When Dr. Crippen and his lover came down from the Dew deck from behind and said only one sentence: “Dr. Crippen, I am an inspector from London. You are arrested.”
The process was rapid. Evidence, i.e. remains, poison and pajamas, was enough to give a jury to issue a sentence in just 27 minutes. They decided that Dr. Crippen was guilty and should be condemned to death.
The verdict was carried out by hanging on November 23, 1910 in the Pentonville prison. Ethel Le Neve was acquitted and although the scandal clung to her for his whole life, she died calmly in 1967.
Or maybe he was innocent?
Less than 100 years after the issuing and execution of the judgment, in 2007 scientists from Michigan State University undermined the unambiguity of Crippen's guilt. DNA tests revealed that the remains found in the Crippens basement most likely did not belong to Cory. DNA did not agree with the material taken from its relatives. So there was a doubt whether Hawley actually murdered his wife.
One of the theories that arose after this information says that Crippen led illegal abortions, and a woman whose corpse was found in the basement is his patient who died as a result of complications. According to another thesis, the outdoor corpses were in the basement before Crippen introduced itself there. It is also possible that DNA test samples have been contaminated.
