Dr Thomas Neill Cream

 Good evening all and welcome to another instalment of Forgotten killers, tonight I will tell the fascinating tale of Dr Thomas Neill Cream.

Dr Thomas Neill Cream

Born in Glasgow UK on the 27th May 1850 cream was then raised on the outskirts of Quebec Canada after his family moved there in 1854. Cream had a normal upbringing with parents who loved him and at least one brother I know of, he wasn't a problem child or out of the ordinary in any way and when he grew up he attended McGill university in Montreal, he graduated with a MDCM degree in 1876 his thesis topic had been on chloroform. In 1878 aged 28 Cream travelled to the UK and did his post graduate training at St Thomas's hospital medical school London, he did well, the model student and finished his training a year later, he then moved on to Scotland where he gained further qualification as a physician and surgeon. In 1876 before travelling to Scotland Cream had married a British girl named Flora Brooks, Brooks became pregnant and Cream almost killed her whilst aborting the baby, Brooks died a year later in 1877 from apparent consumption but it is widely believed that Cream poisoned her.

After he buried his wife Cream moved back to Canada and In 1879 Kate Gardener who was allegedly in a relationship with Cream was found dead behind his office, she was pregnant and had died of chloroform poisoning. Cream claimed she had got pregnant by a locally successful business man who cream tried to get money from, but after police accused him of blackmail and murder Cream fled to America. Cream established a medical practice in the red light district of Chicago, he offered illegal abortions to the prostitutes who came to him he was investigated in 1880 after the death of a local prostitute Mary Anne Faulkner a woman cream had operated on but he escaped prosecution due to lack of evidence. A year later a woman named Alice died in her home of Strychnine poisoning after an abortion she lived only a block away from Creams practice but again lack of evidence meant police could not charge Cream with anything, Alice's murder was never solved but again it is believed she was another of Dr Creams victims. Later that same year a man named Daniel Stott died of Strychnine poisoning at home in Boone town Illinois after Cream treated him for an apparent epileptic fit, the coroner attributed his death to natural causes but Cream had written to the coroner blaming the pharmacist for Stott's death because of the wrong prescription of Strychnine, Cream had also tried to blackmail the pharmacist after convincing him he had given the wrong prescription, but he went to police and Cream along with Julia Stott (Daniels wife and creams lover) were arrested, Julia had been given the Strychnine by Cream and used it to kill her husband but after turning on him Julia testified against Cream saying he was to blame for the murder of her husband Daniel. the jury found Cream guilty and he was sentenced to life imprisonment in Joliet prison Illinois.

One night an unknown person erected a tombstone at Daniel Stott's grave, it read

'DANIEL STOTT

DIED JUNE 12TH 1881

AGED 61 YEARS

POISONED BY HIS WIFE AND DR CREAM'

Daniel Stott's gravestone

Cream was released after only 10 years in 1891, his brother had asked for lenience before bribing the authorities!

In 1887 Creams father had died and with the money he had from his inheritance Cream set sail for England again. He arrived in Liverpool on 1st October 1891 this was just after the ripper killings, he travelled to London and took lodgings at 103 Lambeth palace road, this area of London was riddled with poverty, crime and prostitution at the time and Cream could easily blend into the background.

On 13th October just 11 days after Cream had arrived in England a prostitute named Ellen 'Nellie' Donworth accepted a drink from Cream the next day she was severely ill and 3 days later she died, her cause of death was strychnine poisoning, during the inquest into Nellies death Cream wrote to the coroner offering to name the killer for a £300.000 reward, this was a huge sum of money back then, he also wrote to WFD Smith the owner of WH Smith accusing him of Nellies murder and demanding money for his silence, neither men paid and nothing came of the letters. On the 20th October Cream met with another prostitute, 27 year old Matilda Clover, she died the next morning but her death was put down to her alcoholism again for some reason Cream wrote a letter to a DR Broadbent accusing him of Matilda's murder and again demanded money for his silence, Broadbent sent the letter to Scotland yard.

The poverty stricken Lambeth Palace Road in London England

On the 2nd of April after a vacation to his homeland Canada Cream returned to London where he picked up where he had left off, he attempted to poison a woman named Lou Harvey, but Harvey had felt uncomfortable in Creams presence and after he had given her some pills that he had promised she pretended to take them and left, she threw them into the river Thames on her way home but had not gone to the police, on the 11th April Cream met 2 prostitutes Alice Mars, 21 and Emma Shrivell who was only 18, cream talked his way into the flat they shared and gave the girls a bottle of Guinness each he left shortly after they had finished their drinks and headed home. Both girls were found dead in their flat, the cause of death Strychnine poisoning, both girls and all the others would have died in agony.   

 while he had been away police from Scotland yard had been alerted to Cream through his letters of blackmail, they had quickly determined the blackmailed men had had nothing to do with the deaths of either women and they had also noted that the letter to Dr Broadbent had spoken of the murder of Matilda Clover whose cause of death had been recorded as Alcoholism no mention of murder. The police felt with this evidence they had found the serial killer known in London as the Lambeth poisoner. Cream was put under surveillance after he had given a tour of the victims homes to a travelling American police officer interested in the killings, the officer had mentioned this to a friend of his in Scotland yard who immediately contacted police in America and learned that their suspect had been convicted of murder by strychnine poisoning in 1881.

The posters which were pasted around London and in local Newspapers

Dr Thomas Neil Cream was arrested on 3rd June 1892 for the murder of Matilda Clover and formally charged on the 12th of June with the murders of Clover, Donworth, Marsh and Shrivell and the attempted murder of Harvey who had come forward after Creams initial arrest. Creams trial lasted for 5 days and after just 12 minutes deliberation the jury found him guilty on all counts, Cream was sentenced to death by hanging. 

On the 15th November 1892 Dr Neill (which he had asked to be addressed as after his arrest) was hung in the grounds of Newgate prison London and buried within the prison walls in an unmarked grave like many of  London's most infamous criminals. It was later claimed by the hangman that as he had opened the trapdoor Cream had shouted out 'I am Jack the' before the noose tightened around his neck but these claims are not true, police officers and officials who attended Creams execution stated he said no such thing and it was the hangman trying to gain his claim to fame by telling people he hung Jack the ripper, also Cream was in prison In Illinois at the time of the ripper killings but conspiracy theorist still claim he was the ripper and he had left America just after the killing of  Daniel Stott and the man who served 10 years was not Cream but a lookalike. I don't know about these claims but I find Creams story very interesting, what was his motive for murder? was he just evil or had something unknown happened in Creams past that had affected him mentally?  we will never know. Cream was charged with 5 murders in total but police in London, Canada and the USA believe his true victim count was much, much higher.

A depiction of Creams execution which ran in the local newspaper 

Well I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I've enjoyed researching and writing it, join me next week for more Forgotten Killers and as always please follow me on Instagram @forgottenkillersonig 

for daily serial killer facts and don't forget to follow my blog so you never miss one :)

keep safe.