Dr. Crippen (Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen)
Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen
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Dr. Crippen was in love with his secretary, but was committed to a wife he hated. He killed her, and escaped oversea with his secretary.
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The 30th of March, a woman named Louise Smythson came to Scotland, and reported that her best friend, Cora Crippen, was missing, and hadn’t been seen the last two month. She’d traveled to U.S.A but never let anyone know. A letter had been send to Music Hall Ladies Guild were Cora was a member. The letter explained she wanted to stop her membership, because of sickness in her family. A month later her husband told everyone that she got pneumonia, and that she was critical. Later he send a telegram where he told Louise that Cora had died. She didn’t understand, because Cora had told her, her family lived in New York, but her husband explained that she died in California.
At that time her husband, Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen, had moved in with his girlfriend, who also was his secretary. Louise alarmed the police again, but they calmed her down, and sad there was nothing they could do.
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Later on detective Walter Dew still decided to pay Dr.Crippen a visit in London. Dew though he was very friendly, and Crippen admitted his affair with Le Neve, and told him that Cora had been unhappy for a while. A week after Dew went back to talk with Crippen, but only found an empty house, and found out that Crippen hadn’t showed up for work. They searched everything, including the coal cellar, in were they discovered parts of a human body. Whether the flesh was from Cora or not, Crippen was now a suspect of murderer. Later on the identified it as Cora and they discovered that she had been poisoned, with enough poison to kill of 20 people.
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Crippen was an only child and his family was very rich and religious. He passed medical school in Ohio, and then married a girl named Charlotte Bell. She died soon after of a brain tumor. Before that she gave birth to a son, they called Otto. He came to live with his grandparents. 6 month after Crippen meat Cora, and they got married.
In 1897 they moved to London, where Crippen had been offered a job as a doctor.
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Cora wanted to be an opera singer, and she started as a performer under the name Bell Elmore, which led to her membership in the Music Hall.
She failed as a performer, and her contract wasn’t resigned. Cora blamed her husband for the failure even though he always did his best to please her. At that time Cora started an affair with a man named Bruce Miller.
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In 1902 Crippen met Le Neve. She was only 19 at the time, and lived with her parents in London. She got the job as his secretary.
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Cora was very dominating in her marriage with Crippen. At the same time Cora was sleeping with Bruce, she was very jealous at Le Neve working with Crippen. In 1909 Le Neve got pregnant, which made her think Crippen would leave his wife, but that same year she lost the baby.
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January 1910 Crippen killed Cora by poisoning her. Crippen and Le Neve decided to escape, and that Le Neve should travel dressed as a young man, so they cut of her long black hair. Then they met at Chancery Lane, and then drove to Liverpool Street Station, from where they took the train to Harwich. From there they sailed to Rotterdam, where both of them changed their looks as much as possible. They continued to Bruxelle, where they stayed at a hotel. The 20th of July they got on board on a ferry, transporting them to Quebec. They traveled as John Philo Robinson, and his son John Robinson. The ship was called Montrone.
When they were introduced to the captain, Kendall, he was suspicious. He thought there was something weird about the young man. He saw a picture in the news paper, of Le Neve and Crippen, and fast as he could, send a telegram to detective Dew.
Dew received the telegram and decided to go to Quebec. He had to get there before the ferry transporting Crippen and Le Neve.
In Quebec they were met by Walter Dew, and a crowed of people all screaming murderer.
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The trial started shortly after. Crippens defense was named Arthur Newton. He was a bad lawyer who didn’t do much for Crippen in court.
Crippen also kept claiming that the body found in his coal chamber, wasn’t Cora. Nobody knew for sure why he kept telling this lie, but probably to protect Le Neve.
Crippen was convicted for 3rd degree murder, and was hung November 23.
Le Neve was claimed not-guilty, and went to Toronto, were she became a secretary. She died in 1967, 84 years old.
crippen
Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen
cora
Cora Crippen, also known as Belle
LeNeve
Ethel LeNeve, Crippens partner in crime, lover and secratary!