THE CRIPPEN SENSATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 889, 8 September 1910, Page 4

THE CRIPPEN SENSATION.

London, September 6. Ciippen and Le Neve appeared at Bow Street again to-day, the latter being charged with being an accessory to the murder of Mrs Crippen alter the fact. Piosecuting counsel stated that Professor Pepper's examination of the remains discovered in the cellar of Cripj en’s house at Camden Road showed that there had been an operation. Dr. Wilcox’s examination c. the organs revealed the presence of large quantities of the poison called hyoxine. The lower part of the pyjamas, whereof the jacket was buried with the remains, was (omul in Crippen’s box. Witnesses proved that he pawned his wile’s jewellery the day alter the victim disappeared. The New Zealand Times’ London correspondent writing under date July 29th, sends some details concerning the above sensation : There has been a good deal of fiction intermingled with the truth in this week’s records of the pursuit of Crippen, One of the Sunday papers came out with a long and circumstantial account ol the identification of Crippen at sea. A steward had noticed that an eyebrow of one of the male passengers had slipped a little out of place, thus revealing the lact that it was false. This led him to observe the passenger and his boy companion, with the result that they w'ere identified as Crippen and Miss Le Neve. And it all happened on the s-s. Sardinian. It was quite a thrilling story. The only defect in it was that it was untrue. The suspects were not on board the Sardinian at all, but on the Montrose.

Later in the week another Loudon paper published a sensational and not very creditable story of the arrest of Crippeu in mid-ocean, and an alleged “confession” by Miss Le Neve. This story, which appears to have originated in Canada, and may have been published in good faith by the London paper, is now declared to be a fabrication from beginning to end. NINK DAYS IN BRUSSELS. The story of the anxious life of the hunted “father and son” during the nine days which preceded the sailing of the Montrose from Antwerp has been disclosed this week by the investigations of newspaper reporters. “Mr and Master Robinson” arrived in Brussels on July roth, the day alter the flight of Crippeu and Miss Le Neve from Loudon. They stayed at a small hotel in the Rue de Brabant, bringing with them a small suit-case only. They signed the book as follows ;—■ “ John Robinson, merchant, aged 55, born in Canada, living in Quebec, arrived from Vienna. “ Robinson, son of the above, no profession, aged 16, born in Canada, living in Quebec, arrived from Vienna.” The man wrote in a hand sloping backwards, which was evidently intended to disguise his writing. He was wearing a grey suit, the trousers of which were rather frayed at the bottom. The “ boy” had a dark brown check suit, a waistcoat and trousers, both of which were rather short, black stockings and laced shoes with grey canvas uppers. The man seemed to be in the fifties, and the “boy” seventeen or eighteen. But it was soon suspected that “ he” was a girl from the shape of “ his ” hands and body. They engaged a small room on the first floor, the landlady says, at 6s a day for both, with breakfast included. Miss Le Neve, if it were she, never spoke, and appeared distressed and embarrassed. Crippen said she was deaf, but nevertheless he spoke to her in English, and once or twice she said “Bonjour!” to the children. They breakfasted about zo o’clock, then took a little walk, and afterwards returned to their room, where they stayed till the evening. Then they would take a second stroll, and then go to bed. “OLD QUEBEC.” “After two days,” the landlady told the reporters, “ ray husband and I agreed that the 1 boy of sixteen ’ was a girl in disguise. ‘He’ wore girl’s shoes and had a girl’s figure. “ Did you not hear her speak ? ” “ No, she never spoke aloud once all the time we had her here. Her father explained that she was stone deaf, but he was stupid enough to carry on long whispered conversations with her. Now, we always thought deaf people had to be shouted at. “ Again, it seemed funny that she always had her hands in her pockets. At last one day they dined here, and we saw that her hands were beautiful and white, with well-kept nails—a woman’s hand quite obviously. We never saw her hair, for she always wore a rather large straw hat, which concealed it. We called her ‘ Titine,’ and nick-named him * Old Quebec,’ because he was always saying, ‘ My son is ill and must travel. We will go to Rotterdam and thance back to Quebec.’ “We noticed that he read our newspapeis eagerly, but jhe never gave them to his ‘ son ’ to read. He always retired to his room when some customer came in, or if he was surprised he spoke to the girl and took her to a dark corner or turned her face so that it was in the shadow. He was usually cool, but he appeared unexpectedly at times and rushed to his room. He never left the girl alone one minute. We thought him a professor who had eloped

with a girl pupil in disguise. ‘ ‘ After a few days lie became more cheerful and even tried to flirt with the maid. On Saturday, July 16th, the ‘boy’ bought some grey canvas shoes and a grey felt bat, which she wore with the rim turned down over the eyes. On Sunday night he said, ‘We leave to-morrow. lam very sorry.’ He paid for drinks for us all, and retired with his silent pale‘sou.’ On Monday morning, July ißth, after hearty handshakes, the two left us with a small valise.” The landlord struck the table with his fist, and said, “If only we had known it was Crippen ! To think I shook hands with him, and then think of the ,£250 reward ! I curse ‘ Old Quebec ’! ”