Thomas Neill Cream - Capture

Capture

The motivation for the series of poisonings has never really been settled. It has generally been assumed that Cream was a sadist who enjoyed the thought of the agonies of his victims (even if he was not physically present to witness these). However, Cream was always greedy: from the start of the series of crimes Cream wrote blackmail notes to prominent people; and the poisoning of his one known male victim, Daniel Stott, was in the hopes that Stott's wealthy widow would now share the deceased's estate with him.

Only three of these are known, but there may have been others who were approached. First was Frederick Smith the son of the former First Lord of the Admiralty and member of the House of Commons William Henry Smith. Fred Smith had just been elected to the seat in the House of Commons his father had held for decades, and he received a letter accusing him of poisoning Ellen Donworth. There was a demand for the hiring of an "attorney" in order to prevent Smith being ruined by release of the evidence. Smith sent the letter to Scotland Yard. Next Mabel, Countess Russell, in the middle of a messy series of civil actions against the Earl Russell that would culminate in a controversial divorce in 1900, received a letter that her estranged husband was responsible for the poisoning and evidence of this could be purchased. This was a variant on the normal blackmail notes, for if it had been true the Countess would have been overjoyed to have had such information in her hands. She claimed she showed the letter to her solicitor Sir George Henry Lewis but after he returned it she lost it. There may be a chance she actually met Cream and had to return the letter to him, but nothing came of his "evidence" against the Earl. Finally Cream wrote a note to the noted physician Dr. (later Sir) William Broadbent. The note accused Broadbent of poisoning Matilda Clover. Broadbent sent his letter to Scotland Yard.

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 quickly realised 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 detailed 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 13 July 1892, Cream was charged with murdering Matilda Clover. From the start he insisted he was only Dr. Thomas Neill, not Dr. Thomas Neill Cream, and the newspapers usually referred to him as Dr. Neill in their coverage of the proceedings. 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 15 November, Dr Thomas Neill Cream was hanged on the gallows at Newgate Prison by James Billington. As was customary with all executed criminals, his body was buried the same day in an unmarked grave within the prison walls.