Doctor Crippen
| Hawley Harvey Crippen | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
September 11, 1862 Coldwater, Michigan, United States |
| Died | November 23, 1910 (aged 48) Pentonville Prison, London, England |
| Residence | Camden, London |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Homeopath |
| Known for | First suspect to be captured with the aid of wireless telegraphy |
| Criminal charge | Murder |
| Criminal penalty | Death by hanging |
| Criminal status | Executed |
| Killings | |
| Victims | Cora Henrietta Crippen née Turner |
| Date | c. January 31, 1910 |
|
Date apprehended
|
July 31, 1910 |
Hawley Harvey Crippen (September 11, 1862 – November 23, 1910), usually known as Dr Crippen, was an American homeopath, ear and eye specialist and medicine dispenser. He was hanged in Pentonville Prison in London for the murder of his wife Cora Henrietta Crippen, and was the first suspect to be captured with the aid of wireless telegraphy.
In 2007, DNA evidence questioned the identification of the body found in Crippen's cellar that was supposed to be Crippen's wife. This evidence suggested that the remains discovered in his cellar were, in fact, those of a male person. These conclusions are disputed.
Crippen was born in Coldwater, Michigan, to Andresse Skinner (died 1909) and Myron Augustus Crippen (1827–1910), a merchant. Crippen studied first at the University of Michigan Homeopathic Medical School and graduated from the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College in 1884. Crippen's first wife, Charlotte, died of a stroke in 1892, and Crippen entrusted his parents, living in California, with the care of his two-year-old son, Hawley Otto.
Having qualified as a homeopath, Crippen started to practise in New York, where in 1894 he married his second wife, Corrine "Cora" Turner (stage name: Belle Elmore), born Kunigunde Mackamotski to a German mother and a Polish-Russian father. She was a would-be music hall singer who openly had affairs. In 1894 Crippen started working for Dr Munyon's, a homeopathic pharmaceutical company. In 1897, Crippen and his wife moved to England. His US medical qualifications were not sufficient to allow him to practise as a doctor in the UK. As Crippen continued working as a distributor of patent medicines, Cora socialised with a number of variety players of the time, including Lil Hawthorne of The Hawthorne Sisters and Lil's husband/manager John Nash.
Crippen was sacked by Munyon's in 1899 for spending too much time managing his wife's stage career. He became manager of Drouet's Institution for the Deaf, where he met Ethel Le Neve, a young typist, around 1903. After living at various addresses in London, the Crippens finally moved in 1905 to 39 Hilldrop Crescent, Camden Road, Holloway, London, where they took in lodgers to augment Crippen's meagre income. Cora cuckolded Crippen with one of these lodgers, and in turn Crippen took Le Neve as his mistress in 1908.
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