Thunderstruck - Erik Larson [181]
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 asked: 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