Thomas Neill Cream: The Lambeth Poisoner
Notman Photographic ArchivesSerial killer Thomas Neill Cream is one of the Jack the Ripper suspects due to the testimony of his executioner.
Who was he?
Thomas Neill Cream was born in Scotland in 1850. When he was a child, he and his family moved to Canada, where he spent most of his early life.
In 1872, Cream decided to study medicine at McGill University in Montreal. Though it may have initially seemed like the future doctor had a bright career ahead of him, it would soon be plagued with scandal — and murder.
Offering illegal abortions in Ontario, Cream ran into trouble with the police in 1879 when one of his patients, Kate Gardener, was found dead in an outhouse behind his building. A bottle of chloroform was nearby.
Cream denied giving Gardener chloroform, but an examination of the woman’s body later found that she had indeed died from the effects of the powerful anesthetic. Cream then promptly fled for the United States.
In the U.S., Cream opened a new abortion clinic in Chicago. There, many more of his patients died, but since many of them were prostitutes, their deaths were not thoroughly investigated by authorities.
But then, Cream embarked on an affair with a married woman, Julia Stott, and collaborated with her to poison her husband. After the murder, Stott ended up flipping on Cream, and he was given a life sentence.
However, Cream managed to secure an early release by 1891, likely thanks to help from his brother. Cream then traveled to England, where he settled in the Lambeth area of London.
In Lambeth, Cream continued his crimes by killing four prostitutes in less than a year, poisoning them with strychnine. He then sent various letters accusing others of committing the crimes in an extortion scheme, but accidentally revealed enough information about the killer that it was clear that the letter writer was the real “Lambeth Poisoner.”
Police soon tracked him down and arrested him, and he was hanged for those four murders on November 15, 1892.
Why is he one of the Jack the Ripper suspects?
Most of the evidence for Cream being the Ripper comes from the account of his executioner, James Billington, who said that Cream’s last words before he was hanged were, “I am Jack —”
This (incomplete) statement was seemingly proof to Billington that Jack the Ripper and the Lambeth Poisoner were one and the same. So had Jack the Ripper’s real identity been uncovered?
While no one else present at the execution could substantiate Billington’s claim, it’s unclear why he would lie about something like that.
In addition, Cream was also a known serial killer who attacked mostly women and seemed to target prostitutes in particular.
Does the case against him hold up?
No.
Cream was reportedly locked up in an Illinois prison at the time of Jack the Ripper’s murder spree in 1888.
While proponents of the Cream theory have posited that he may have left the prison before his official release or used a look-alike to serve the rest of his term in his place, none of these ideas are substantiated by any contemporary documents.
And apart from the alleged confession Cream made before he was executed, any evidence that’d tie him to the Ripper murders would be circumstantial.
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