John Edward Nash (1863-1934) played the key role in bringing the concerns of Belle Elmore’s Music Hall friends to the attention of Frank Froest, Superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department at Scotland Yard, on 30 June 1910.
Without Nash’s initiative, the chances are that Crippen would have gotten away with it.
Nash had been born in London and, according to an Obituary in the New York Times (6 November 1934), he had been the original Orphan Boy in the Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera The Pirates of Penzance.
Also, as our Image shows, he had played Archibald Grosvenor in Patience, a part that called for a Lyric Baritone.
Nash then became a Stage Director and Lillian Russell was one of the legendary actresses whom he had directed.
In 1899, he married Lil Hawthorne (1877-1926) who had been born in Nashville, Illinois. Previously, from 1893 to 1898, Lil and her sisters, Lola and Nellie, had performed in America as ‘The Hawthorne Sisters’. Lil together with her husband and manager then came to England to pursue a solo career, which included playing in pantomime.
Thereafter, the Nashes spent time on both sides of the Atlantic and, in 1906, Lil became a founder member of the Music Hall Ladies’ Guild and she also became a friend of Belle Elmore.
Nash and Crippen
On 28 June 1910, having recently returned to England from America, Nash questioned Crippen about his dead wife’s remains but the answers he received were unsatisfactory. He therefore took the concerns of the Music Hall Ladies’ Guild to Frank Froest at Scotland Yard whereupon Froest tasked Chief Inspector Dew with investigating.
The Claim for Compensation
TNA file T1/1182 reveals that, after the case had been resolved and Justice had been done, John Nash and Lil Hawthorne had applied to The Treasury for compensation.
29, Park Mansions
Vauxhall Park
London S.W.Feb 13th 1911
Sir,
My wife (professionally known as Miss Lil Hawthorne) being one of the founders of the Music Hall Ladies Guild, became intimately acquainted with the Treasurer Miss Belle Elmore (Mrs Cora Crippen). Last February my wife was surprised to hear that Dr. Crippen, on behalf of his wife, had tendered her resignation from The Guild, and was leaving suddenly for America. Thinking it very strange my wife asked me to telegraph Mrs. Crippen that we would call that evening (Feb 5th) the idea being to try and persuade her to reconsider her resigning from The Guild. We arrived at Hilldrop Crescent in the evening and were surprised to find the house in darkness and no answer to my repeated knocks. We next heard that Mrs. Crippen had suddenly left for New York.
Feb 20th my wife and I were guests of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Martinnetti at The Music Hall Benevolent Institution Dinner which took place at The Criterion. We were all very much shocked to see Dr. Crippen come to the table with his typist Miss Le Neve, she wearing some of Mrs. Crippen’s diamonds. After watching their actions I became very suspicious about Mrs. Crippen’s sudden disappearance.
My wife, not feeling well on account of her nerves, her Doctor ordered a sea voyage. We sailed March 23rd for New York on a visit to her parents. While there we received a letter from Mrs. Martinnetti stating that ‘poor Belle was dead, and that the Doctor says she died in Los Angeles California’. I at once got into communication (through Mrs. Ginnett) with the Police authorities at Los Angeles. I received a letter from them stating that no such person had died there by that name. We sailed from New York June 15th. On the 28th my wife and I visited Dr Crippen at his office in Oxford Street to enquire about his wife’s death. His behaviour and his extraordinary answers to our questions convinced us that things were not what they should be. After excusing ourselves we hurried to Scotland Yard. Mr Froest not being there we made an appointment to meet him on the following Thursday. On that day we both made a statement which we signed.
On behalf of my wife, for whom I devote the whole of my time as Agent, and on my own behalf, I write to say that it has been suggested to me that we should ask you to give us your favourable consideration, and if you thought proper, to make us a grant or compensation for the time we devoted to and the services we rendered in the case.
We were of course naturally prompted to take the initiative and do what we did out of our personal regard for our old friend Belle Elmore and in the interest of Justice. In so doing however, we both sustained pecuniary loss through my wife’s failure to carry out three week’s engagements as the strain she went through and the anxiety she experienced attending the inquests which rendered her unfit to properly discharge her duties on the Variety stage. We placed ourselves entirely at the disposal of the Police, having made the return journey to town from Liverpool.
If you think our claim a meritorious one, we should be deeply grateful, and are Sir, apologising for bringing the matter to your notice.
Your Obedient Servants
(Signed)
John E. Nash
Lil Hawthorne
Quantification of Loss
Having received an encouraging response from The Treasury, Nash then quantified the loss that his wife had incurred.
The following engagements were lost owing to the appointments with the Police and the nervous strain resulting there from. There were several incidental expenses, but not having kept an account of them I cannot make a correct statement.
£25.00 The week of July 11th two engagements in London
£40.00 The week of Sept 19th an engagement in Stockton
£80.00 The week of Sept 26thth an engagement in Glasgow
Their Claim is Resolved
On 7th April 1911, The Treasury authorised the payment of £100 in respect of expenses incurred and loss sustained by Nash and his wife in connection with the case of Rex v. Crippen.
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