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Auction: 19022 - Historical Documents, Postal History and Autographs
Lot: 2128

(x) Autographs
United States of America
Dr Hawley Crippen
1910 (16 June) notepaper of The Aural Remedies Coy. with Consultant Specialist H.H. Crippen of Craven House Kingsway. The typed letter asks the recipient if he had received the diagnostic letter sent three days previously and is signed "H H Crippen". The letter with vertical fold and light wrinkling, on the reverse is written, "the murderer"

Dr Crippen's wife, Cora or 'Belle Elmore', disappeared after the evening of 31st January 1910. At the time this letter was written Dr Crippen had recently returned from a five day trip to Dieppe with his lover, Ethyl le Neve. Scotland Yard searched his house in Hilldrop Crescent on 12 and 13 July when they discovered human remains under the cellar floor. The pair fled and on 20th July boarded the S.S. Montrose in Antwerp, heading for Quebec. They were recognised by the captain and were arrested in Quebec by Chief Inspector Dew of Scotland Yard. After the trial and appeal, Crippen was executed on 23rd November. Photo

Hawley Harvey Crippen (1862 – 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 1897, Crippen transferred to England with his wife, although 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.

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