Hallie Rubenhold

Well, it's such an interesting story.

And it occurred just at this time in both the history of Britain and the United States, where everything was really sort of at this point of change.

And this whole case seems to reflect this, this sort of exciting moment, you know, just before the First World War, when people felt very positive about the future, about technology, about scientific discoveries, all of these things happening and rights for women and social change.

This crime and looking at this crime is a really good way of taking the temperature of what this era was about.

There's no doubt that Crippen murdered his wife.

Why would you ask that?

There was never any doubt that hung over it.

There was never any doubt.

A jury of his peers found him guilty in less than 30 minutes.

The evidence was overwhelming.

They found his pajama jacket wrapped around the remains in the grave site.

Actually, there was so much evidence.

I would suggest that anybody who ever said, oh, well, there's some doubt.

And I know the history behind this.

I know why people say, oh, well, there is some doubt.

This is because in 1920, Alexander Bell Filson Young wrote an introductory essay to the trial transcripts of the Crippen trial.

And he made Bell Elmore into this monster.

And he turned Crippen and Ethel into these kind of poor, pathetic characters and suggests that Crippen was driven to kill his wife because he was such a nice man and a nice man couldn't have done this.

Alexander Belfieldson Young was an extraordinary misogynist.

And stated before he even wrote this, and this was, I mean, in 1910, when they were fleeing on the Montrose, that no matter what Crippen and Ethel had done, their love was the most important thing and should be respected.