Doctor Crippen: The Infamous London Cellar Murder of 1910 (35 page)

51. Scottish comedian Sandy McNab outside his new home, 39 Hilldrop Crescent. (Author’s collection)

52. An early edition of Ethel Le Neve’s memoirs. (Stewart P. Evans)

53. One of Ethel Le Neve’s newspaper memoirs. (
Thomson’s Weekly News
)

54. Ethel Le Neve in 1928. (
Thomson’s Weekly News
)

55. Donald Pleasence portrayed Crippen sympathetically in 1962, along with Samantha Eggar as Le Neve. (Author’s collection)

56. Crippen’s effigy saved from the 1925 flood at Madame Tussaud’s. (
Illustrated Police News
)

57. A hoax letter, purportedly from Cora Crippen. (The National Archives)

58. A genuine letter from Cora Crippen. (The National Archives)

59. Margaret Bondfield House, built on the site of 39 Hilldrop Crescent. (Author’s collection)

60. Inspector Walter Dew in retirement. (Author’s collection)

61. Walter Dew’s autobiography. (Author’s collection)

PRO – Public Record Office documents held at the National Archives.

1. The Case of the Missing Actress

1
. Unless otherwise stated the information contained in this book was obtained from PRO CRIM1/117, PRO DPP1/13, PRO HO144/1718/195492, PRO HO144/1719/195492, PRO MEPO3/198, PRO P/COM8/30, and Young,
The Trial of Hawley Harvey Crippen
.

2
. Dilnot,
Great Detectives
, p. 47.

3
.
The Sunday News
, 12 January 1930.

4
.
The Saturday Post
, 29 January 1916.

5
. Dew,
I Caught Crippen
, pp. 7–8.

6
.
Daily Express
, 2 January 1950.

7
.
Ibid
., 23 November 1926.

8
.
The Era
, 23 July 1910.

9
. Rose,
Red Plush and Greasepaint
, p. 29.

10
.
Weekly Dispatch
, 15 February 1920.

11
.
Ibid
.

12
.
Evening News
, 14 July 1910. This was possibly Michael Bernstein, who checked passenger lists on behalf of the Guild, although Guild secretary Melinda May thought that a solicitor’s wife named Mrs Osborn had employed a private detective.

13
. Buchanan-Taylor,
Shake the Bottle
, p. 93.

14
.
The Era
, 26 February 1910.

15
. Smythson had visited Scotland Yard on 31 March to ask how to find out where Cora’s death would be registered and she was directed to the American embassy. She also gave a statement conveying the Guild’s suspicions, but there was insufficient reason for the police to investigate (Wood,
Survivors’ Tales
, p. 271);
Daily Mail
, 18 July 1910.

16
.
Sotheby’s Sale Catalogue
, 24 February 1976. This letter was sold at auction in 1976.

17
. Wood,
op
.
cit
., p. 272.

18
. Dew,
op
.
cit
., p. 11.

2. The American Dentist

1
.
The Music Hall and Theatre Review
, 7 April 1910.

2
.
The Stage
, 7 April 1910.