9781422284032

Lingering doubt about the guilt of the accused features strongly in three of these famous trials—those of Dr. Sheppard, Bruno Hauptmann, and Sacco and Vanzetti. In fact, feelings about the treatment of Sacco and Vanzetti, and the politics this involved, led to rioting all around the world. News of the latest scientific methods also helps draw attention. The science of ballistics played a part in the case of Sacco and Vanzetti, and typewriter forensics was used with Leopold and Loeb. New technology, combined with an exciting transatlantic chase, ensured that the trial of Dr. Crippen, known as the “cellar murderer,” would become one of the most famous ever. Dr. Crippen: the Cellar Murderer Early in 1910, the British Music Hall Guild was surprised to receive a letter from Cora Crippen. In this letter, Mrs. Crippen resigned from her membership and stated that she was leaving for the United States to take care of a sick relative. Shortly afterward, her husband, Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen, told her friends that his wife was seriously ill with pneumonia.

This illustration depicts the arrest of Dr. Crippen by Canadian police on his arrival at Quebec, Canada, as he attempts to alight undetected from the SS Montrose. The “boy” on the left in the sailor cap is his mistress, Ethel le Neve.

12

FAMOUS TRIALS