Crippen, Doctor

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Crippen, Doctor familiar name for Hawley Harvey Crippen (1862–1910), American-born British murderer, who having poisoned his wife and concealed her body at their London home, sailed to Canada with his former secretary. His arrest on board ship was achieved through the intervention of radio-telegraphy, the first case of its use in apprehending a criminal. Crippen was later hanged, and his name is used allusively as the type of a notorious murderer.