Thunderstruck

by Erik Larson

One afternoon Kendall spotted: Trial, 188.

  Have strong suspicions: Henry George Kendall Statement, 3. NA-MEPO 3/198; Jeffers, Bloody Business, 126; see photograph of Marconigram in Goodman, Crippen Files, 28.

  “MR. DEWHURST”

  “It was eight o’clock”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 37.

  “Read it to me”: Jeffers, Bloody Business, 126.

  “What do you think”: This and subsequent dialogue is from Dew, I Caught Crippen, 39.

  “It was a serious step”: Macnaghten, Days of My Years, 199.

  Moreover, the Murder Squad: Ibid., 229–31.

  Macnaghten worried: Ibid., 199.

  “Here is your authority, Dew”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 39.

  “That night could not fail”: Macnaghten, Days of My Years, 199.

  An officer with the Liverpool police: Telegram. Head Constable Leonard Dunne to Macnaghten, July 22, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.

  Only the ship’s captain: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 40.

  He was met: Telegram. Head Constable Leonard Dunne to Macnaghten, July 22, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.

  “It was hopeless”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 40.

  “I assumed an air”: Macnaghten, Days of My Years, 199–200.

  Macnaghten’s anxiety increased: Ibid., 200.

  New York police: Inspector John H. Russell, Police Department of the City of New York, to Macnaghten, July 22, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.

  A French rail guard: New York Times, July 20, 1910.

  A traveler on an English train: Charles Jones to Head Constable, Cardiff City Police, July 15, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.

  In Brussels a Scotland Yard detective: Central Officer’s Special Report: Re John Robinson and John Robinson Junior. July 24, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.

  The innkeeper’s wife: Daily Mail, July 27, 1910. Reproduced in Goodman, Crippen File, 35.

  AN INTERCEPTED SIGNAL

  “The doctor was as calm ”: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 53.

  She imagined the letter: Ibid., 54.

  “What is Inspector Dew doing”: MarconiCalling. Search Crippen. See, “Kendall’s Message Reaches Scotland Yard.”

  CAGE OF GLASS

  “It is believed that”: Daily Telegraph, July 25, 1910. Reproduced in Goodman, Crippen File, 28.

  The story consumed: Trial, xxxi.

  “At noon to-day”: Daily Mail, July 26, 1910. Reproduced in Goodman, Crippen File, 31.

  One article speculated: Daily Mail, July 25, 1910. Reproduced in Goodman, Crippen File, 29.

  “Mysterious voices”: Daily Mirror, July 27, 1910. Reproduced in Goodman, Crippen File, 33.

  A French newspaper: Quoted in Goodman, Crippen File, 37.

  “The people, who have a sure instinct”: Priestley, Edwardians, 200.

  “The King’s Poisoner”: Willcox, Detective-Physician, 324.

  He took the first steps: Trial, 68.

  “The remains”: Ibid., 66.

  He succeeded in locating: William Henry Willcox Statement, 58. Brief for the Prosecution, NA-DPP 1/13.

  At No. 46 Brecknock Road: Lena Lyons Statement, 133–35. Witness, NA DPP 1/13.

  Another neighbor, Franziska: Franziska Hachenberger Statement, 135A. Ibid.

  The most detailed report: Frederick Evans Statement, 136–38. Ibid.

  Crutchett tracked down: William Curtis Statement, 162–63. Ibid.

  On Wednesday, July 27: Cullen, Crippen, 135; Jeffers, Bloody Business, 126–27.

  “What the devil”: Jeffers, Bloody Business, 127.

  “Speaking for myself”: London Times, July 29, 1910.

  QUIVERING ETHER

  “Kindly wireless”: Cullen, Crippen, 135.

  “too good a thing to lose”: Trial, 187.

  “My dear,” he told her: This and subsequent dialogue come from Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 55–56.

  On Friday, July 29: Trial, 187–88.

  “There was something”: London Times, August 1, 1910.

  “The suspect fugitive”: Reproduced in Goodman, Crippen File, 37.

  “What a wonderful invention”: Trial, 188.

  THE ST. MARY’S CAT

  At St. Mary’s Hospital: Trial, 71; Willcox, Detective-Physician, 28; William Henry Willcox Statement, 58–65. Brief for the Prosecution, NA-DPP 1/13.

  “It is necessary”: Trial, 70.

  He found, for example: Willcox, Detective-Physician, 27.

  He knew of only: William Henry Willcox Statement, 60. Brief for the Prosecution, NA-DPP 1/13.

  When exposed to: Trial, 71.

  Adopted by a medical student: Willcox, Detective-Physician, 31.

  WHISPERS

  Jones proved himself: New York Times, July 30, 1910.

  THE INSPECTOR ARRIVES

  He was appalled: Walter Dew Report, August 2, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.

  On shore Dew: Ibid.; Dew, I Caught Crippen, 41. The Marconi station at Father Point offered an example of the costs and problems that accumulated as Marconi expanded his ship-to-shore empire. The Father Point station began operation on December 22, 1906, and almost immediately things began going awry, as recorded in the station’s log. Pipes froze. Engines failed. One entry reads, “Pump pipe thawed out by removing suction chamber and thrusting a red hot iron pipe down the other.”

  The record for 1907 is full of similar interruptions. Engines broke down. Signals grew weak and spontaneous disruptions denoted by the letter X became commonplace. “Xs fierce,” the operator wrote one night. And again, “Xs bad all pm.” Weather bedeviled the station. The cruelest month was April 1908, a model of meteorological perversity.

  The entry for Saturday, April 4, reads: “Hurricane from West…”

  For Thursday, April 9: “Hurricane from East…”

  See Log Book of Father Point, Quebec, 1906–1914. Archives Canada, MG 28 III 72 Vol. 81.

  “The lighthouse foghorn”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 41.

  “Now I don’t pretend”: Ibid., 42.

  He called all the reporters: Ibid., 42; Walter Dew Report, August 2, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.

  Even the home secretary: Central Officer’s Special Report, July 30, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.

  They learned, for example: John William Stonehouse Statement, 143–44. Winess, NA-DPP 1/13.

  Later the clerk called: Central Officer’s Special Report, August 1, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.

  A BOAT IN THE MIST

  “The last night was dreary”: Priestley, Edwardians, 199.

  “I don’t think I will”: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 56.

  Inside the lining: Walter Dew Statement, 75. Brief for the Prosecution, NA DPP 1/13.

  The ship’s surgeon: New York Times, August 1, 1910.

  As a precaution: Priestley, Edwardians, 199.

  TREACHEROUS WATERS

  Dew realized: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 42–43.

  Kendall led the party: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 44; Priestley, Edwardians, 199.

  “During my long career”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 43.

  Crippen, he wrote, “had been caught”: Ibid., 44.

  “I am Chief Inspector Dew”: Ibid., 44.

  EPILOGUE: INTO THE ETHER

  THE TABLE OF DROPS

  “If the fatal dose”: Trial, 69.

  Investigators made another: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 62.

  Dew’s manner was so paternal: Le Neve, Ethel Le Neve, 60.

  “He mystified me”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 56–57.

  At the Quebec prison: C. L. Gauvrea to Superintendent, Scotland Yard, December 9, 1959. Black Museum, NA-MEPO 3/3154.

  Dew kept Crippen: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 57.

  “I don’t know how things may go”: Ibid., 54.

  “I had to be present”: Ibid., 55.

  Four thousand people: Willcox, Detective-Physician, 28.

  The spectators included: Jeffers, Bloody Business, 129.

  On the stand Spilsbury: Browne and Tullett, Scotland Yard, 53–54.

  At this point a soup plate: Trial, xxxii; Jeffers, Bloody Business, 128.

  Muir aske
d: Trial, 94.

  A warder took his money: Memorandum, W. Middleton to Governor of Pentonville Prison, October 25, 1910. NA-PCOM 8/30.

  The fact of his incarceration: Memorandum HM Prison Brixton, September 19, 1910. NA-PCOM 8/30.

  “It is comfort”: Ellis, 316. During Crippen’s incarceration, an old man applied to be hanged in his place, arguing that his own life was not worth as much as that of a doctor. The offer was declined. Browne, Travers Humphreys, 78.

  Ellis was known to be: Memorandum to Commissioners, March 11, 1914. Execuion Record, Execution of Josiah Davies, March 10, 1914. NA PCOM 8/213. One notorious series of executions conducted by a hangman named Berry had demonstrated the worth of attending carefully to the physics of the process. He tried three times to hang a convicted killer named John Lee, and three times failed, prompting a judge to commute Lee’s sentence to life. Chastened, Berry resolved to correct his mistake by adding a little extra distance to the drop for future executions. His next subject was a killer named Robert Goodale. The noose tore Goodale’s head off. A year later, while trying to hang a murderer named David Roberts, he allowed too little distance. Roberts struggled in midair until prison authorities killed him by other means. See Browne, Rise, 180.

  “Character of prisoner’s neck”: Execution Record, Execution of Hawley Harvey Crippen, November 23, 1910. NA-PCOM 8/30.

  The prison warder: Inventory, Crippen’s Clothing, August 21, 1911. NA PCOM 8/30.

  Ellis continued to moonlight: Rochdale Folk, at manchesterhistory.net/ rochdale/ellis.htm

  An editor for: “To H. H. Crippen, Condemned Cell, Pentonville Gaol.” November 19, 1910. Newspaper Extracts, NA-HO /44/1719/ 195492.

  One theory: Hicks, Not Guilty, 83.

  “I never looked upon”: Humphreys, Criminal Days, 113.

  “Full justice has not yet been done”: Browne and Tullett, Scotland Yard, 58.

  “We carefully examined”: Central Officer’s Special Report: Murder of Cora Crippen. Information, September 1, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.

  “There is no bad smell: Central Officer’s Special Report: Special Enquiry at Railway Stations re Crippen, September 16, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.

  The Public Health Department: Alfred Edwin Harris, Medical Officer of Health, to Sir Melville Macnaghten, October 7, 1910. NA-MEPO 3/198.

  At precisely 3:15: Memorandum: “I beg to report the funeral cortege….” NA-MEPO, 3/198.

  “Dr. Crippen’s love”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 47.

  the Wee Hoose: Cullen, Crippen, 197.

  “the most intriguing murder mystery”: Dew, I Caught Crippen, 7.

  Just before two in the morning: Canada’s national archives contain a great trove of material on the Empress disaster. See in particular: Commission of Enquiry into Wreckage of Empress of Ireland, June 16, 1914. Archives Canada, RG 42 Vol. 351.

  As the Germans raced: Musk, Canadian Pacific, 74; Croall, Fourteen Minutes, 229–30.

  He joined the Royal Navy: Croall, Fourteen Minutes, 230.

  One mast remained: Musk, Canadian Pacific, 74.

  Alfred Hitchcock: Hitchcock, “Juicy Murders,” 23; Massie, Potawatomi Tears, 277; “Hitchcock’s Favorite Crime,” members.aol.com/vistavsion/ doctorcrippen.htm.

  What Hitchcock found particularly appealing about the Crippen saga was its subtlety. “The Crippen case was fraught with understatement, restraint, and characteristic British relish for drama,” he wrote. He called understatement “an occupational tradition of English police. With the most atrocious criminals, they never bluster up and say, ‘O.K.—we gotcha!’ They say: ‘I beg your pardon, but it seems that someone has been boiled in oil. We wondered if you’d mind answering a few questions about it….’” Hitchcock, “Juicy Murders,” 23.

  Crippen also proved a fascination: Gardiner and Walker, Raymond Chandler, 197–98.

  A play called Captured by Wireless: Coldwater Courier, April 12, 1912. Holbrook Heritage Room, Branch County District Library, Coldwater, Michigan.

  “A Sick Joke With Music”: Cullen, Crippen, 202–3.

  During World War II: A bomb also struck New Scotland Yard and destroyed several floors, including the police commissioner’s office. Happily, he was not in at the time. Browne, Rise, 360.

  THE MARRIAGE THAT NEVER WAS

  They waved: Marconi, My Father, 197–99.

  Since then no ship: “What is the economic value of the International Ice Patrol?” U.S. Coast Guard at www.uscg.mil/lantarea/iip/FAQ/Org6.shtml

  The companies agreed: Baker, History, 135; Aitken, Syntony, 284.

  As soon as the Marconi men left: Baker, History, 158–59. As war loomed, Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Secretary, looked out the window of his office and watched as the lamps in St. James’s Park were lit. As tears filled his eyes, he spoke one of the saddest sentences of history: “The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.” Tuchman, Guns, 122.

  Marconi’s station at Poldhu: Baker, History, 159.

  “Calls for assistance”: Marconi Co. of Canada Annual Report, Year-Ended January 31, 1915. File 191, 2–48. Annual Reports. Archives Canada, MG 28 III 72 Vol. 6.

  In 1917 a German submarine: Hancock, Wireless, 91. Marconi himself may have been a target of the Imperial German Navy. In April, 1915, Marconi booked passage on the Lusitania and sailed to New York to testify in a patent lawsuit his company had brought against a competitor. While he was there, German officials warned that if the Lusitania reentered English waters, it would be torpedoed. A rumor circulated that the Germans planned to capture Marconi. On May 7, a German submarine did indeed sink the Lusitania.

  Later that month, Marconi learned that Italy had entered the war. He was still in New York. He excused himself from the patent fight and sailed back to London aboard his old favorite, the St. Paul. He took the German threat against him seriously, however, and traveled incognito. From England he crossed to Italy, where he was put in charge of the Italian army’s wireless operations. Baker, History, 171.

  “The past had been dead”: Marconi, My Father, 232.

  Marconi sold their house: According to Degna Marconi, the sale was devastating. Degna recalled one day walking past the house just as the move was under way. “The door of our old home stood open and I went into the front hall. Most of the furniture had been taken away, and in its place were crates covered with dust. In a corner a few books we had once loved had been dumped like so much trash. Lamps with broken shades and letters in my father’s handwriting littered the floor. Mother, too sad to attend to the home that was being destroyed, had left the packing to the servants.” Degna wrote this in 1962. “I still feel grief for myself, a child standing alone in that derelict house.” Marconi, My Father, 234.

  “I would like to wish”: Marconi, My Father, 252.

  “They only want”: Ibid., 269.

  “Young man”: Baker, History, 185.

  “What a world we live in”: Sir Henry Morris-Jones. “Diary of a visit to Canada and the U.S.A., 1926.” Archives Canada, MG40 M22 Microfilm Reel A-1610.

  “I admit that I am responsible”: Aitken, Syntony, 272.

  The climax of the day: Marconi, My Father, 294.

  As he aged, Marconi became aloof: Baker, History, 295.

  “Listen for a regularly repeated signal”: Isted, I, 54.

  “I am very sorry”: Indianapolis Times, July 20, 1937. Indiana State Library.

  Amelia Earhart: Ibid.

  That night the gloom: Ibid.

  “I was unobserved”: Marconi, My Father, 311

  FLEMING AND LODGE

  “a fighting fund”: Lodge to Preece, June 15, 1911. Baker Collection: Further Papers of Sir William Henry Preece. IEE-NAEST 021.

  “They are clearly infringing”: Ibid.

  “I agree with every word”: Baker, Preece, 304–5.

  “I am delighted to hear”: Preece to Lodge, October 24, 1911. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/86.

  “I love you”: Lodge, Raymond, 205.

  “Fat
her, tell mother”: Ibid., 207.

  “I recommend people”: Ibid., 342.

  The book became hugely popular: Lodge’s biographer, W. P. Jolly, put it nicely: “Seldom can a work of research and philosophy have been more opportunely published, when almost everyone in England was mourning the loss of some friend or relative.” Jolly, Lodge, 205.

  “It is quite clear”: Fleming to Lodge, August 29, 1937. UCL, Lodge Collection, 89/36.

  “Marconi was always determined”: Ibid.

  CODA

  VOYAGER

  For the second time: Cullen, Crippen, 191.

  After arriving in New York: Ibid., 199–201.

  ONE OF THE GREAT PRIVILEGES of hunting detail is the opportunity for travel to far-flung places that do not typically appear on the itineraries of tour companies. In Oxford, for example, I had the happy experience of being allowed to use the New Bodleian Library, which is only a billion years old and is not to be confused with the Old Bodleian Library. Gaining access required a bit of perseverance. Well in advance I had to fill out an application and find a “Recommender” to vouch for me. On arrival, I had to read aloud a declaration in which I swore “not to bring into the Library, or kindle therein, any fire or flame.” Grudgingly, I left my blowtorch at the desk. Michael Hughes, charged with curating the library’s recently acquired archive of Marconi papers, was kind enough to give me full access to the vast diary of George Kemp, even though technically the archive was closed pending completion of Hughes’s work.

  At the National Archives in Kew, just outside London, I entered writers’ heaven. After an hour or so of acquainting myself with the archives’ search and retrieval protocols and getting my “Reader’s Ticket”—actually a plastic card with a bar code—I received a trove of documents accumulated by detectives of the Metropolitan Police during their hunt for Crippen and Miss Le Neve, as well as stacks of depositions from the Department of Publication Prosecutions and a small but chilling collection of records from the Prison Commission, including the “Table of Drops,” which allowed me to calculate the precise distance that an Edwardian executioner would have insisted I fall in order to break my neck—four feet, eight inches. In all I collected over a thousand pages of statements, telegrams, memoranda, and reports that helped me reconstruct the hunt for Crippen and the chase that followed.

  One of my greatest pleasures was simply walking London streets where the characters who appear in this book also once walked, past squares, parks, and buildings that existed in their time. There is no place quite like Hyde Park on a warm spring evening as the gold light begins to fade, no view quite so compelling as the Victoria Embankment under a bruised autumn sky. As so often occurs, I experienced strange moments of resonance where the past seemed to reach out to me as if to offer reassurance that I was on the right path. On my first research trip to London, I arrived during a week of unexpectedly hot weather. My hotel had no air conditioning. After a couple of too-still nights, I moved to a different hotel a few blocks away, the very charming and blissfully cool Academy House. I discovered the next day that the window of my room afforded me a view of Store Street, one block long, the very street where Crippen and Belle had lived after Belle’s arrival in London and where for a time Ethel Le Neve kept a room.