The Case of Dr Crippen Trivia Quiz

Answer: Michigan

Crippen was born on 11th September 1862, to Myron Augustine Crippen and Andresse Skinner Crippen; the family lived in the small town of Coldwater, where his father owned a dry goods store. The family were quite prosperous and by all accounts lived a good life

Answer: Cora Turner

Crippen had a son with Charlotte; she died of a stroke while pregnant with her second child. Otto, their son who was aged four at the time of his mother's death went to live with his grandparents. Crippen, then met 19 year old Cora Turner, a would-be opera singer. (Her real name was Kunigunde Mackamotzki, but she thought it would not be a good stage name and changed it to the simpler Cora Turner). Turner and Crippen married six weeks after meeting. Almost immediately the couple encountered money problems and Cora was forced to abandon her hopes of a professional career in opera and turned her sights to vaudeville.

Answer: 39 Hilldrop Crescent

Mrs Smythson reported to police that Crippen informed her that Cora had been taken ill in America and a week later died, an obituary notice for Cora had even been published in the theatrical newspaper "Era". The police had discovered remains of what they believed was a woman covered in lime in the cellar of the house.

The evidence against Crippen was overwhelming: a metal curler bearing dark brown hair dyed blonde, as was Cora's, was found and also the pyjama top in which the remains of the body were wrapped, bore a scar part matching one on Cora Crippen's remains; traces of hyoscine were also found in the remains. Whether or not it was the body of Cora Crippen, Chief Inspector Walter Dew, wanted to talk further with the mild mannered Dr Crippen and his mistress Ethel Le Neve, but the pair had already fled the UK, and a warrant for their arrest was issued.

Answer: Liverpool Street station

They went to Liverpool Street Station and caught the train to Harwich, from where they sailed on the night boat to Rotterdam in Holland. From Rotterdam they went to Brussels and stayed for ten days in the Hotel des Ardennes.

Answer: S.S Montrose

Crippen purchased tickets in the names of John Philo Robinson, Ethel dressed as a boy was under the name of Master John Robinson. Although they tried not to draw attention to themselves, Ethel did not make a convincing boy. When the couple mixed with other passengers, they attracted attention. Captain Henry Kendall, suspected Master John was not who he claimed to be and after lunching with the couple his suspicions was further aroused. Glancing through back copies of some old newspapers, he came across some photographs of Crippen and Le Neve. Captain Kendall was using new wireless telegraph technology and alerted police of Crippen's location. Walter Dew reached Canada before the S.S. Montrose and arrested the unsuspecting Crippen.

Answer: Drouet Institute

The company was responsible for an incredible scam, a massive fraud that sold a plaster which, it was said, if stuck behind the ear would cure deafness. The Drouet Institute spent vast sums on advertising which is an indication of how much money the scam was pulling in. Ethel Le Neve became Crippen's secretary in the Institute when her sister (who was Crippen's original secretary) left to get married; Ethel became Crippen's mistress around 1908.

Answer: S.S Laurentic

Dew made some inquiries and discovered he could sail aboard the White Star Liner Laurentic, and actually reach Quebec first. Dew went to his superior, Sir Melville Macnaghten, who give him permission to set sail in the pursuit of Crippen; it was a huge reputation-risking decision for both Dew and Macnaghten.

The press were certain to find out and criticism of Dew, Macnaghten and Scotland Yard would be harsh if Captain Kendall was wrong.

Answer: Pilot in a brass-buttoned jacket

He was dressed as a pilot in a brass-buttoned jacket and Crippen was still unaware that his fate so close at hand. Crippen had been caught on the threshold of freedom, only twelve hours more and he would have been safely in Quebec. Dew returned to London with Le Neve and Crippen on August 28th 1910.

Answer: She was acquitted

Four days after Crippen was put on trial and received the death sentence, Le Neve was brought before the court and found not guilty of any crime in connection with the murder and freed from custody. She booked a passage to New York under the name of Miss Allen and sailed on the morning of Crippen execution.

She returned to England a few years later where she met Stanley Smith and they married in January 1915. She never revealed her true identity to her husband or her children and died in 1967 of heart failure at the age of 84.

Answer: John Ellis

Over the years sympathy for Crippen has increased; he is now thought of as an abused husband. His marriage to Cora was far from ideal, she drank heavily and frequently displayed a violent temper and she never missed an opportunity to humiliate and belittle Crippen. Cora's lover William Ehrlich, later described life in the Crippen household, commenting particularly on how Cora never missed an opportunity to deride and berate her husband and how Crippen had displayed extraordinary self-control in not retaliating, either verbally or physically. Ethel Le Neve was acquitted she boarded the liner Majestic and sailed to New York, she returned to England under an assumed name and married, she died in Dulwich in 1967. Moreover, DNA tests have raised doubts about the human remains found at Crippen's house.

John Ellis was born on 4th October 1874; he had been a hangman (executioner) for just over twenty years when he took his own life in 1932. He executed Edith Thompson in 1923; her death had such an effect on Ellis he took to drinking heavily, after his first suicide attempt by shooting failed he landed himself in court because suicide was then a criminal offence, he was bound over to keep the peace for about a year instead of being jailed. However, after years of drinking and depression he finally succeeded in taking his life by cutting his own throat.