Thomas Neill Cream
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Dr. Thomas Neill Cream (May 27, 1850 – November 16, 1892) was a Scottish-born serial killer, who claimed his first proven victims in the United States and the rest in England, and possibly others in Canada and Scotland. Cream, who poisoned his victims, was executed after his attempts to frame others for his crimes brought him to the attention of London police.
Unsubstantiated rumours suggested his last words as he was being hanged were a confession that he was Jack the Ripper — even though he was in jail at the time of the Ripper murders.
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[edit] Early life
Born in Glasgow, Cream was raised outside Quebec City, Canada, after his family moved there in 1854. He attended McGill University and went to study medicine in London in 1876; he had an added incentive for crossing the Atlantic, since he had just married a woman he had impregnated and almost killed whilst aborting the baby. The bride's family ended up having to force him to the church at gunpoint.
The honeymoon was only just over when Cream left in the night for England, leaving a note for his wife. He returned to Canada long enough for his wife to die of a mysterious illness, a death for which he would later be blamed. He went to Edinburgh to practice medicine, but when a woman with whom he was alleged to have had an affair was found dead, pregnant and poisoned by chloroform in an alleyway in August 1879, Cream fled to the United States.
[edit] Murder of Daniel Stott
Cream went to Chicago and set up a medical practice not far from the red-light district, offering illegal abortions to prostitutes. He was investigated after a woman he had allegedly operated on died, but he escaped prosecution through lack of evidence.
On July 14, 1881, Daniel Stott died of strychnine poisoning at his home in Boone County, Illinois. Cream was arrested, along with Mrs. Julia A. (Abbey) Stott, who had obtained poison from Cream to do away with her husband. Stott turned state's evidence to avoid jail, which left Cream to face a murder conviction on his own. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in Joliet Prison. One night unknown persons erected a tombstone at Mr. Stott's grave which read,
Daniel Stott Died June 12, 1881 Aged 61 Years POISONED BY HIS WIFE & DR. CREAM
Cream was released 10 years later after his brother pleaded for leniency, allegedly also bribing the authorities.
[edit] Gas-lit streets of London
Using money inherited from his recently deceased father, Cream sailed for England, arriving in Liverpool on October 1, 1891. He went to London and settled in Lambeth. Victorian London was the centre of the vast and wealthy British Empire, but places such as Lambeth were ridden with poverty, petty crime and prostitution.
On October 13 that year, Ellen "Nellie" Donworth, a 19-year-old prostitute, went out for a few drinks with Cream. She was severely ill the next day and died on October 16 from strychnine poisoning.
On October 20, Cream went on a "date" with a 27-year-old prostitute named Matilda Clover. She became ill and died the next morning; her death was at first linked to her alcoholism.
On April 2, 1892, after a vacation in Canada, Cream was back in London where he attempted to poison Lou Harvey (nee Louise Harris) who, being suspicious of him, pretended to swallow the pills he had given her. She secretly disposed of them by throwing them off a bridge into the Thames.
On April 11, Cream met two prostitutes, Alice Marsh, 21, and Emma Shrivell, 18, and talked his way into their flat where he offered them bottles of Guinness. Cream left before the strychnine he had added to the drinks took effect. Both women died in agony.
[edit] Capture
Cream's downfall came through an attempt to frame two respectable and innocent doctors. He wrote to the police accusing these fellow doctors of killing several women, including Matilda Clover. Not only did the police quickly determine the innocence of those accused, but they also realized that there was something significant within the accusations made by the anonymous letter-writer: He had referred to the murder of Matilda Clover. In fact, Clover's death had been noted as natural causes, related to her drinking. The police knew that the false accuser who had written the letter was the serial killer now referred to in the newspapers as the Lambeth Poisoner.
Not long afterwards, Cream met a policeman from New York City who was visiting London. The policeman had heard of the Lambeth Poisoner, and Cream gave him a brief tour of where the various victims had lived. The American lawman happened to mention it to a British policeman who found Cream's knowledge of the case suspicious.
The police at Scotland Yard put Cream under surveillance, soon discovering his habit of visiting prostitutes. They also contacted police in the United States and learned of their suspect's conviction for a murder by poison in 1881.
On July 13, 1892, Cream was charged with murdering Matilda Clover. His trial lasted from 17 to 21 October that year. He was convicted and sentenced to death.
Less than a month after his conviction, on November 16, Dr Thomas Neill Cream was hanged at Newgate Prison.
[edit] "I am Jack..."
After his execution, rumours started that his last words were "I am Jack..." This was interpreted as a reference to Jack the Ripper. The rumours, however, remain unsubstantiated. Police officials and others who attended the execution made no mention of it. Records show Cream was still in prison at the time of the canonical Ripper murders in 1888, but some writers have suggested that he could have bribed officials and left the prison before his official release or that he left a lookalike to serve the prison term in his place.
[edit] References
- Donald Rumbelow, The Complete Jack the Ripper
- Jenkins, Elizabeth: "Neill Cream, Poisoner." Readers Digest Association, Great Cases of Scotland Yard, Readers Digest, 1978
[edit] External links
- Works by or about Thomas Neill Cream in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
