THE CRIPPEN MURDER MYSTERY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 121, 31 August 1910, Page 6

THE CRIPPEN MURDER MYSTERY

GREAT LONDON Si N'SATION. WOMAN'S REMAINS DUG UP FROM A CELLAR. AN AUCKLANDER ASSOCIATED WITH CRIPPiEN. London, July 15. London is occupied with , a murder mystery. Late oil Wednesday night there were found in the c- liar of a house in Hilldrop Crescent, Hollo .vay, the remains of 'a woman, whicli the police 'believe to ibe those of Cora (.'ripper, an American music-hall singer, professionally known as Belle Ellemore. Scotland Yard issued next day a notice stating that Cora Crippen's husband, Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen, and a Miss Le [Neve, a typiste, are "wanted for murder and mutilation of a woman." Associated in a dental business with Dr. Crippen was a New Zealander, Mr. G. M. Rylance, of Auckland, hut the latte? states emphatically that there was no' partnership, and he 'knew nothing of Crippen's private affairs. The business was carried on in a large 'block of offices known as Albion House, s!)a New Oxford street. On doors 59 and GO, on one of the upper floors, appeared the inscription: "American Dental Specialists, H. H. Crippen, G. M. Rylance. Reception Room®. Please wa'lk in." (Mr. Rylance caused Crippen's name to be erased from the door yesterday. On the next door, No. 58, was the inscription: "Yale Tooth Specialists. Private." Mr. Rylance was at first reluctant to say anything to the reporters, but after some persuasion he said emphatically, "I am not, and never have 'been, a

partner of Mr. Crippen. I was only associated with him. I know no more a/bout his priyate (business than I know ' of yours. I do not even know what the takings were here. As long as I was paid, that was good enough for me. I have been associated with Mr. Crippen for about eighteen months. I met him first in London. I was anxious to put into operation here a scheme I bad in mind, and Crippen said he cou'ld do it for me. I understood that he ■ was a i skilful 'business man." I _"I practised as a dentist," he con--1 tinued, in reply to another question, ■ "for ten years in Auckland, New Zealand, before coming here. It was my intention ' to take the L.DaS. degree here, and ali though I came over with plenty of moi ne y I was anxious to have some occupation. So I took this up. But I want to I make it clear that there was no partner- ' ship between me ifnd Mr. Crippen. 1 have a New Zealand degree, but I have never called myself 'Dr' Rylance," A reporter pointed out that Crippen 1 was described as a dentist. "I never heard that he knew anything about dentistry," was'the reply. Mr. Ryland added that lie merely got Mr. Crippen to help with advertising and i other business. "I never knew of his | connection with the Dronet Institute," I lie said, "or I would have had nothing I to do with him; but I knew he had vari- | ous businesses, including a skin specia!- | ist's. in the neighborhood of Oxford Circus."

i He got to know Crippen when he (Mr. | Rylance) went to Albion House in Dei cember, 1908. Crippen was already there. 'Mrs. Crippen was connected with the Music Hall Ladies' Guild, which had an office three doors away from the dental chambers, and she was a frequent visitor at the Guild office. "I knew nothing- of •the Crippeixs' private life," said Mr. Rylance. , "He was a "quiet, plausible little man. I knew his wife, who seemed a nice woman." He added: "This has just knocked me over. The first I.saw of it ! was in the paper on my way to 'business • this morning." He was the mildest of i men, and one would never have suspected anything of that kind. He was very genial aiul plausible." , MBS. CRIPPEN DISAPPEARS. ! Mrs. Crippen was lion, treasurer of the 1 Music IJaM Ladies' Guild, and held this ) positifm till February 2nd last,, when she ; isndduTily disappeared.. SText day there arrived at the offices of the' Guild a letter (undated) which was apparently in the !.< handwriting of Belle Elmore. It was written on green' notepaper, and ran as j follows: j Dear Friends, —Please forgive me a hasty letter and any inconvenience I \ may have caused you; but I have just had news of illness of a near relative, and with only a few hours' notice I am obliged to 2ro to California. In tke course of a few months I hope to see you again, and in thie- meantime wish ,j the Guild every success, and ask my ,j good friends and pals to accept my sin|j cere and lovinlg wishes for their own j personal welfare. Belseve me, yours | faithfully, Belle Ellmore. 1 * The writing was very much like that j of Belle Elmore, but the woman's friends ' did not fail to notice that the name as j signed had two Ts," whereas she al ways i signed it with one "1." There was noi thing else, however, which could give j them any further cause for suspicion, and I the matter was not placed in the hands j of the police. Crippen, whose offices were in the same I building as those of the Guild, was ques- | tioned, and he said his wife had gone i to California on business on the steamer ! La Touraina, of the General TramsAtlantic Company. Mrs. Crippen's friends decided t'o make, a few enquiries, and at once discovered that the artist had not travelled by this boat. There was nothing tangible, howsever, on which they could take any i action, and at the beginning of March , Crippen said he had received intelligence from America that she was seriously ill ' with pneumonia, and a little later an- : nounced that she was dead, and had ' been cremated near San Francisco, and that the ashes were on the way to him. , On March 26th there appeared in the. Era —the theatrical newspaper—the following announcement among the deaths: Elmore.—March 23rd, in California, ILS.A., Mass Belle Elmore (Mrs. H. H. Crippea),

The dead woman's friends communicated with her relatives in California, and tilie ,replies received satisfied them that Belle Elmore had never arrived in America. SUSPICION AROUSED. In the meantime their suspicions had ibeen aroused by tlie fact that Crippen was going about a great deal with his French typewriter, a woman named JLe Neve, who was wearing Belle Elmore's rings and jewellery. It then leaked outi that the typewriter was living with Crippen at Hiildrop Crescent. W lien questioned Crippen declared that he had married her. The friends then came to the conclusion that the police ought to be informed, and on June 30th a lady and gentleman friend of Belle Elmore's went to New Scotland Yard and gave information as to her mysterious disappearance. Every possible enquiry 7 was made, and not ibeinig (Satisfied as to Mrs. Crippen's death, Inspector Drew interviewed Crippen, who then admitted that all his former stories were incorrect and explained that he had a quarrel with his wife, who had gone away, saying that she would never see him again. FINDING THE BODY.

Entirely unsatisfied with Crippen's tale the Inspector decided to overhaul thehouse in Hilldrop Crescent. For a time the police could find nothing, tout on examining the cellar Inspector Drew noticed that :the brick flooring looked as though it had been reset, and that the bricks in some parts of the cellar moved more easily than in others.! It was decided to dig the whole cellar up, and the Inspector and his detectives had not been working long when they found in the middle of the cellar, about a foot under the soil, what was evidently a portion of a human body. It became quite clear, too, that a quantity of quicklime had been used, and more digging disclosed the mutilated remains of a woman. j It was evident that attempts had been made by the murderer to dismember the body, and the quicklime had worked in such a way as to make it almost unrecognisable. That the poor woman ha 3 been brutally murdered there was not the least doubt, and the police have little doubt that the remains are those of Belle Elmore.

THE FRENCH TYPISTE. I ' . Miss Ethel Clare Le Neve, who has dis- , appeared with Crippen, was liis typiste for years. Although she has a French name, it ia said that she was iborn in England, and speaks English as a native. I The strange fact is vouched for 'by Miss -May, secretary to the Music Hall, Artists' Guild, that'at the annual dinner] of the Music Hall Railway Associations,' | held on February -28 th, Mr. Crippen appeared with his typiste, and that she was | wearing a,handsome sealskin coat similar' to the one Mrs. Crippen used to wear. 1 . The police have in their possession a | statement made by Miss Le Neve at the, .time that Mr. Crippen was interviewed by them. Both, statements were then rega/rded as satisfactory. The police state that Crippen for some years represented Munyon's Remedies in London, and had been connected with the notorious Dronet, Institute. He had at one time passed by the name of Franckel. (Readers have learned by the cable news that Crippen and the girl \rere ar-1 rested on arrival in Canada, and werej sent back to England in charge of De-tective-Inspector Drew). .