“What’s
your poison?” Of course, we’d all assume that when someone asked us, it would
be our favorite drink (of course, I’d say cranberry vodka, but that’s beside
the point). This time, when Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen asked his wife, Belle
Elmore, he wasn’t kidding around. She had no choice in the matter, the night of
January 31, 1910. Belle’s fate granted her last dying wish of being hacked up,
decapitated and skinned by her adorning husband. Not really. It seems as Dr.
Crippen got sloppy and butchered his own plans, having to quickly devise
another option to dispose of the body and creating a safe alibi.
Belle
Elmore (real name Corinne ‘Cora’ Mackamotzki) was a locally famous singer, and
Crippen was a scam of a doctor. The two were married on September 1, 1892. The
two did not live happily ever after, that’s for sure. Crippen worked at the
Drouet Institute for the Deaf, where he met Ethel le Neve, a typist for the
institution. Crippen couldn’t keep it in his pants, and had quite the love
affair with Ethel, obviously behind Belle’s back, for five years. Well, there
is only one thing left to do! No, not a divorce! Are you out of you mad? Murder is the only answer! What a novel idea! Because Crippen was a
doctor, he worked in hospitals and drug companies, where he discovered the
magical usage of hyoscine hydrobromide. He acquired the drug, and slipped it
into Belle’s drink during the dinner party with the Crippens’ friends, the
Martinettis. Crippen concocted a master plan that would make the Martinettis
think that Belle was feeling sick before they left, so that when she did
finally kick the bucket, they would have first handedly witnessed her illness before her "unexpected" death. Belle
would then have “died” of some sickness, and Crippen’s hands would be clean.
Except, it blew up in his face, therefore Crippen had to dispose of the body somehow,
so he buried the flesh of the cadaver into the coal cellar floor. Somewhere, he
disposed of her head and bones, which probably ended up as ashes in the fire
place.
Let’s
take a step back and examine what Crippen thought would have happened if he had
given a stronger dosage of the hyoscine to his beloved wife. Hyoscine is a
natural chemical, with a medical nomenclature of scopolamine, which comes from
the plant genus Scopolia (Emsley,
2008, p.24). This chemical is considered an alkaloid.* In its purest form, this
chemical is a water-soluble liquid which means it can be crystallized as hydrobromide,
transposing it into a solid form, made for ingestion through swallowing by pill
form (Emsley, 2008, p.24-25). In this form, the chemical is safer to ingest
because of the added positive charge (cation) at the nitrogen atom (Emsley,
2008, p.29). At the quaternary nitrogen, a butyl group may be added to shield
the central nervous system from harm due to its newly found inability to pass
the blood-brain barrier (Emsley, 2008, p.30).
 |
| Hyoscine butylbromide |
Hyoscine is a
molecular compound that can exist in two forms which are mirror images of each
other. This conceptualizes the term chirality.
Chirality means “handedness,” therefore the molecular forms are not
super-imposable. To understand this idea better, stick out your hands and look
at them. They are mirror images of each other. Now place them on top of each
other. You see that the digits do not line up, no matter how hard you try. This
gives leeway to the chemical because it produces two different forms, and can
have two completely different chemical effects because these isomers are not
the same molecule, though they appear to be. In a medical case concerning
hyoscine, it was reported that a substitution of hyoscine hydrobromide for
hyoscine butylbromide. Hyoscine hydrobromide is a tertiary amine compound that
does in fact pass the blood-brain barrier, whereas hyoscine butylbromide, a quaternary
amine compound, does not (Sassenbroeck et al., 2005). Such an overdose of
hyoscine hydrobromide caused damage to patient’s central nervous system and
killed them (Sassenbroeck et al., 2005). No wonder why it is so easy to mix up
the correct medicine with the wrong one, look at the names of these chemicals.
It is strongly advised that if you are not well-versed in chemistry, just stay
away from anything you cannot pronounce and for your own sake, don’t touch
anything, or try to feed it to someone. Thank you. On a different note, this
proves how carefully a scientist must be when working with a chemical that has
isomers because one simple slip up may cost someone his or her life.
Inside
the human body, there lies a vital molecule. This molecule is acetylcholine (ACh).
It is considered a messenger molecule which stimulates voluntary and
involuntary muscles, secretion glands and a variety of brain functions (Emsley,
2008, p.27). Where hyoscine fits into all this is its role as an
anticholinergic drug because it counteracts the effects of ACh when the level
is too high for the body to properly function. Hyoscine as multiple medicinal
uses due to its number of physiological effects on the human body. It greatly
effects the central nervous system and the brain which induces an ecstatic
feeling all throughout the body, and a lack of inhibition with a side of mental
confusion, depending on the severity of the dosage (Emsley, 2008, p.24). It can
also promote relaxation of the stomach and intestines, making it a helpful drug
for those who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome. It also may onset memory
loss, delusions, hallucinations and other psychological-altering effects
(Emsley, 2008, p.28-29). People with IBS probably just take it to forget that
they have such a pain-in-the-butt issue, or to psychedelically trip to make the
experience more fun. Who knows.
Crippen
used hyoscine in hopes that the known symptoms it caused would be enough to
kill her. He bought five grains of the drug, though only a quarter of one grain
is strong enough to kill (Paine, 2006). Though for some reason unknown, his
murderous intention of posing a natural death deviated far from his
expectations. Crippen’s story was out, and suspicion rose quickly. His scheme
crumbled right in front of his eyes. His attempted escape with Ethel was a dead
giveaway, and a search of the house further verified suspicions. He went on
trial and was found guilty in 27 minutes (Paine, 2006). He was hanged on
November 23, 1910 (Paine, 2006). I think this story not only proves how complex
chemistry really is, but how important it is to make sure you use the right
dosage of a drug if you want to murder your wife…the first time.
*Alkaloid: Any of a class
of nitrogenous organic compounds of plant origin that have pronounced
physiological actions on humans
Resources
Emsley, J. (2008). Molecules of Murder. United Kingdom: The Royal Society of
Chemistry.
Paine, D.F.
(2006). Hyoscine and old lace: The trial of hawley harvey crippen. Tenesee Bar Journal. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=ee0b0bab-75f7-48c4-bf49-cfc99585150e%40sessionmgr12&vid=2&hid=106
Van
Sassenbroeck, D. K., Hemelsoet, D. R., Vanwalleghem, P., Verstraete, A. G.,
Santens, P., Monsieurs, K. G., & Buylaert, W. A. (2005). Three cases of
substitution errors leading to hyoscine hydrobromide overdose. Clinical Toxicology (15563650), 43(7),
861-865. doi:10.1080/15563650500357560.
Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=a5078dcf-88fa-40d8-a0ff-4ec4375ad326%40sessionmgr104&vid=2&hid=24.
No comments:
Post a Comment