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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