Dean Jobb - The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream: The Hunt for a Victorian Era Serial Killer

T HOMAS N EILL C REAM IN 1874, WHEN HE WAS A MEDICAL STUDENT AT M C G ILL U NIVERSITY IN M ONTREAL (M C C ORD M USEUM I-99949)

For Kerry

When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals.

He has nerve and he has knowledge.

S HERLOCK H OLMES, IN A RTHUR C ONAN D OYLE , T HE A DVENTURE OF THE S PECKLED B AND , 1892

Dr. Thomas Neill Cream must surely be the greatest monster of iniquity the century has seen.

N EWS OF THE W ORLD (L ONDON ), O CTOBER 23, 1892

T HE L AMBETH P OISONER

• Thomas Neill Cream, doctor, abortionist, blackmailer, serial killer

K NOWN AND S USPECTED V ICTIMS

• Flora Eliza Brooks, Creams wife, Waterloo, QC
• Matilda Clover, London, England
• Ellen Donworth, London, England
• Mary Anne Matilda Faulkner, Chicago
• Catharine Hutchinson Gardner, London, ON
• Alice Marsh, London, England
• Sarah Alice Montgomery, Chicago
• Emma Shrivell, London, England
• Ellen Stack, Chicago
• Daniel Stott, Garden Prairie, IL

T ARGETS OF A TTEMPTED OR S USPECTED P OISONINGS

• Violet Beverly, London, England
• Louisa Harvey, also known as Louisa Harris, London, England
• Matilda Nadeau, Quebec City
• Louisa Mary Read, mother of Creams sister-in-law, Jessie Read, Quebec City
• Emily Turner, London, England

T HE C REAM F AMILY

• Daniel Cream, brother; husband of Jessie Read
• Mary Cream, sister
• Mary Elder Cream, mother
• William Cream, father; timber merchant in Quebec City
• Elizabeth Harbeson, stepmother

P OLICE I NVESTIGATORS

Chicago

• John Rehm, sergeant
• Edward Steele, lieutenant

Belvidere, IL

• Albert T. Ames, sheriff of Boone County

London, England

• Robert Anderson, assistant commissioner, Metropolitan Police (Scotland Yard)
• James Brannan, superintendent, L Division (Lambeth)
• Colin Chisholm, chief inspector, L Division
• George Comley, constable, L Division
• George Harvey, inspector, L Division
• Frederick Smith Jarvis, inspector, Metropolitan Police
• George Lowe, inspector, L Division
• Melville Macnaghten, chief constable, Metropolitan Police
• Patrick McIntyre, sergeant, Metropolitan Police
• John Mulvany, chief inspector, L Division
• John Bennett Tunbridge, inspector, Metropolitan Police
• Alfred Ward, sergeant, L Division

C ORONERS AND F ORENSIC I NVESTIGATORS

London, ON

• Dr. John R. Flock, coroner
• Dr. James Niven, physician

Chicago

• Dr. Theodore Bluthardt, Cook County physician
• Dr. Walter Haines, professor of chemistry and toxicology, Rush Medical College
• Canute Matson, Cook County coroner
• Major W. E. Waite, Cook County deputy coroner

Belvidere, IL

• Dr. Frank Whitman, Boone County coroner

London, England

• A. Braxton Hicks, coroner for mid-Surrey
• Dr. Thomas Kelloch, house physician, St. Thomas Hospital
• Dr. Thomas Stevenson, chemist and Home Office analyst
• George Percival Wyatt, coroner for the counties of London and Surrey
• Dr. Cuthbert Wyman, house physician, St. Thomas Hospital

K EY W ITNESSES

Canada

• Lyman Brooks, hotel owner and father of Flora Brooks, Waterloo, QC
• John Cantle, salesman, Toronto
• Robert Caswell, prison chaplain, Toronto
• Robert Gardner, brother of Catharine Gardner
• David Lindsay, archdeacon and rector of St. Lukes Anglican Church, Waterloo, QC
• Sarah Long, hotel maid, London, ON
• John McCulloch, salesman, Toronto
• Dr. Cornelius Phelan, Waterloo, QC
• Dr. Herbert Reddy, Creams McGill Medical School classmate, Montreal
• William Sellar, salesman, Montreal
• Leon Vohl, chief of police, Quebec City

United States

• George Harvey, president, G. F. Harvey Company, drug manufacturer, Saratoga Springs, NY
• Martin Kingman, salesman for G. F. Harvey Company
• Joseph Martin, target of obscene postcards, Chicago
• Robert McClaughry, warden, Illinois State Penitentiary, Joliet; later, chief of police, Chicago
• Mary McClellan, Creams landlady and mother of his fiance, Lena, Chicago
• Frank Murray, superintendent, Pinkertons National Detective Agency, Chicago
• Julia Stott, wife of Daniel Stott; Creams mistress and co-accused, Garden Prairie

England

• Francis Coppin, physicians assistant, London
• Robert Graham, doctor, London
• John Haynes, ships engineer and former British government agent, London
• Elizabeth Masters, London
• Elizabeth May, London
• Emma Phillips, Matilda Clovers landlady, London
• Lucy Rose, Emma Phillipss maid, London
• Laura Sabbatini, Creams fiance; dressmaker, Berkhamsted
• Emily Sleaper, daughter of Creams landlady, London
• Charlotte Vogt, landlady of Alice Marsh and Emma Shrivell, London

T ARGETS OF B LACKMAIL T HREATS

• Dr. William Broadbent, physician, London, England
• Dr. Joseph Harper, physician, Barnstaple, England
• Walter J. Harper, Joseph Harpers son; medical student, St. Thomas Hospital, London, England
• Frank Pyatt, druggist, Chicago
• James Rayner, druggist, Chicago
• Countess Mabel Russell, wife of Earl Russell, London, England
• William Frederick Danvers Smith, bookseller and member of Parliament, London, England

P ROSECUTORS

• Amos Coon, lawyer, Belvidere, IL
• Reuben Coon, states attorney, Belvidere, IL
• Charles Fuller, lawyer and state senator, Belvidere, IL
• George Ingham, Cook County assistant states attorney, Chicago
• Sir Charles Russell, attorney general, London, England

C REAMS L AWYERS

• Gerald Geoghegan, barrister, London, England
• John Jennison, Chicago
• Daniel Munn, Chicago
• Alfred Trude, Chicago
• Henry Warburton, barrister, London, England
• John Waters, lawyer, London, England
• Omar Wright, Belvidere, IL

J UDGES AND M AGISTRATES

• Sir John Bridge, magistrate, London, England
• Joseph Eaton Gary, circuit court, Chicago
• Sir Henry Hawkins, High Court of Justice, London, England
• Horace Smith, magistrate, London, England

K EY F IGURES IN C REAMS C LEMENCY A PPEAL

• Shelby Moore Cullom, US senator from Illinois
• Thomas Davidson, executor of William Creams will and family friend, Quebec City
• John Dunn, vice consul, British consulate, Chicago
• Joseph Fifer, governor of Illinois
• Richard Oglesby, governor of Illinois
• Frances Willard, president, Womans Christian Temperance Union

This is the true story of a serial killer who preyed on women in London, Chicago, and Canada more than a century ago. None of the dialogue, scenes, or details have been invented or embellished. Every word enclosed in quotation marks is drawn from a court or police file; a newspaper report, memoir, or historical study; or a letter or other document preserved in an archive or museum. Wording and spellings within quotations have been preserved, uncorrected, so the past can speak directly to the present.

{J OLIET , I LLINOIS J ULY 1891}