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FACTFILE
Cream's case is a complex one with him going back and
forwards across the Atlantic, There are many
unsubstantiated rumours about him. We try to unravel the
facts.
Born in Glasgow, he spent
his early years in Canada.
1876 He came to
London to study medicine at St Thomas's Hospital,
he had already studied medicine in Canada.
Before leaving Canada, he
had been forced to marry at gunpoint the girl he had got
pregnant. He attempted an abortion on Flora Brooks, but
she later died, allegedly of consumption, but Cream was
always the main suspect, but, he was now across the
Atlantic in England.
1878, Qualified to
to be a surgeon in Edinburgh
August 1879, Creams
mistress, Kate Gardener was found dead in an alleyway
behind his office. She was heavily pregnant, and had
been poisoned by
chloroform..
Cream was accused of the murder of Kate and that of the
baby, he fled to the United States.
1880, Cream opened
up a practice in Chicago, close to a red light district,
he offered cheap abortions to prostitutes. One of whom,
Mary Faulkner, died, but there was not enough evidence
to charge Cream.
December 1880,
Another death, Ms Stack died, Cream attempted to
blackmail a chemist who had made up the prescription.
12th June
1881, Mr
Daniel Slott died of
strychnine
poisoning, after Cream had supplied him with epilepsy
medicine. Slott was the husband of Cream's mistress.
Stott’s
gravestone inscription reads, “Daniel Stott Died June
12, 1881 Aged 61 Years Poisoned By His Wife & Cream”
14th July 1881, Cream was arrested, and
charged with murder, after again attempting to blackmail
a chemist. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in
Chicago's Joliet Prison.
1891, He was
released after it is alleged, his family blackmailed the
authorities.
October 1891, Cream
set sail for London. Setting up a practice in poverty
stricken Lambeth.
13th October 1891,
Cream met 19 year old prostitute, Ellen Donworth for a
drink, the next day she was very ill, then on :-
16th October 1891,
Ms Donworth died of strychnine
poisoning.
During the inquest Cream
wrote to the coroner offering to name the murderer in
return for a £300,000 reward.
20th October 1891,
Cream again met a prostitute for a drink, this time it
was with 27 year old Matilda Clover, she died the
next morning.
11th April
1882, Cream met 2 prostitutes, 21 year old
Alice Marsh, and 18 year old Emma Shrivell. He
talked his way into their flat and offered them
bottles of Guinness. He had left by the time the
poison he had put in the bottles took effect,
both women died in agony from
strychnine poisoning.
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Creams big mistake and
ultimate downfall was his greed, he tried to blackmail
just about everyone he came across.
In the end he came
unstuck when he wrote to police accusing two respectable
London doctors of murdering several women, including the
case of Matilda Clover. Police investigated and quickly
cleared the 2 doctors, but their attention was now on
Cream.
Police quickly realised
that the letter writer was who the press were calling
"The Lambeth Poisoner".
Cream met a New York
policeman who was on holiday in London, Cream gave him a
tour of the "Lambeth Poisoners" victims houses, when the
man repeated the story to a London policeman, Cream had
virtually sealed his own fate.
The London police put
Cream under surveillance, where they learnt about his
habit of visiting prostitutes. they also contacted the
Chicago police, they learnt of his conviction for murder
by poison.
13th July 1892,
Cream was charged with the murder of Matilda Clover, he
protested his innocence, saying he was Thomas Neil Cream
not the convicted Neil Cream.
When police searched his
home they found seven bottles of strychnine and
equipment for making pills.
17th October 1892,
The trial starts and lasts 4 days, The jury took
12 minutes to find Cream guilty of murder and he is
sentenced to death.
15th November 1892,
Cream was hanged at Newgate Prison by James Billington.
Cream is probably most famous for having
allegedly confessed to being
Jack The Ripper . With the
noose around his neck on the scaffold at Newgate on 15th November 1892
cream yelled out " I Am Jack " as the hangman, James Billington threw the bolt.
This is
not possible, Cream's detention in the state prison in Illinois
USA for the murder of Daniel Stott by poisoning, proves beyond doubt
that he could not have been in the east end of London at the time of
the Ripper murders.
Jack the Ripper may have had Some
medical training, but, Cream was quite a proficient surgeon, having
studied medicine in Canada, Scotland and at St. Thomas's Hospital in
London.
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