The suave serial killer
QUESTION Was the Lambeth Poisoner suspected of being Jack the Ripper?
DR THOMAS NEILL CREAM, aka the Lambeth Poisoner, was a Scottish-Canadian physician convicted in 1892 of murdering four London prostitutes and trying to kill another.
On the surface, he appears a good candidate to be Jack the Ripper: not only was he a serial killer of prostitutes, he had the archetypal appearance of a Victorian villain, complete with top hat, silk cape and twirly moustache.
However, he had a cast-iron alibi: he was in an Illinois prison at the time of the Ripper murders, 1888 to 1891.
Criminal psychologists also point out that his choice of murder weapon was poison, while Jack the Ripper had a predilection for gruesome mutilations.
Cream was born in Glasgow in May 27, 1850, and raised in Wolfe’s Cove, Quebec City, Canada, where his father was a wealthy lumber merchant.
He graduated with honours from McGill Medical School in 1876. His doctoral thesis was on chloroform, a drug that enamoured him throughout his long career as an abortionist and murderer.
While he was a student, Cream began a relationship with Flora Elizabeth Brooks, the daughter of a hotel owner. When she discovered she was pregnant, Cream performed an abortion that almost killed her. Flora’s father forced them to marry at gunpoint.
Cream fled to Britain to study surgery at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. However, he failed the entrance requirements so took a job as an obstetrics clerk. Meanwhile, Flora died in suspicious circumstances. It is thought Cream may have sent her a batch of ‘healing’ pills containing poison.
He was accepted by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Edinburgh and licensed in midwifery. In 1878, he returned to Canada and set up a practice in London, Ontario, where he was implicated in the chloroform murder of Kate Gardener following a botched abortion. He was not charged owing to insufficient evidence.
He moved to Chicago in the U.S. where he offered terminations to prostitutes. In 1880, Mary Ann Faulkner died under his ministrations, but he again escaped prosecution through lack of evidence.
Cream marketed his own antipregnancy pills and one patient, Ellen Stack, died of strychnine poisoning.
In 1881, he was convicted of poisoning Daniel Stott, a patient whose wife he had seduced. He received a life sentence, but ended up serving only a ten-year prison term in Illinois State Penitentiary.
On his release in 1891, he moved back to Britain. He lodged at 103 Lambeth Palace Road, South-East London, where he resumed his deadly career.
He murdered at least four prostitutes: Ellen Dosworth, Matilda Clover, Emma Shrivell and Alice Marsh.
In July 1892, Cream was arrested and charged with the four murders, an attempted murder and several counts of extortion. At his trial in October, the jury deliberated for fewer than 12 minutes before finding him guilty of all charges.
He was sentenced to death and hanged on November 15, 1892. The hangman, James Billington, later said Cream’s last words were ‘I am Jack the . . .’.
No one could corroborate this claim and it is widely believed Billington only said this so he could claim he’d hanged the infamous Jack the Ripper.
Jared Whiteman, Altrincham, Cheshire.
QUESTION Why does single malt cost more and taste better than blended whisky?
LONG maturation times and superior ingredients mean single malts typically cost more and have a flavour advantage over grain whiskies. Malt whisky is made from malted barley and distilled in a traditional pot still.
Blended whiskies, which make up 90 per cent of sales, are blends of single malts and so-called grain whiskies made on an industrial scale in a column still.
Pot stills look like giant copper kettles. The pot refers to the large, spherical main chamber from which a swan neck protrudes like a spout.
Column stills, made of copper and steel, contain multiple chambers stacked on top of each other, sometimes reaching several storeys high.
Pot stills are run on a batch by batch basis, while column stills can be operated continuously. The small batch method typically requires a maturation period of ten to 12 years in wooden casks. Once mature, the whisky maker blends several casks to create a unique flavour.
Instead of malted barley, column stills use cheaper grains, such as corn, wheat, rye and unmalted barley. The whisky produced is less complex and ready to drink much sooner than single malts.
Arran Locke, Stirling.
QUESTION Just before decimalisation, what was the oldest coin that was still legal tender?
FURTHER to the earlier answer, the half- crown was withdrawn from circulation at the end of 1969 in preparation for the 1971 decimalisation.
The 6d remained in circulation because it was such a popular coin, but proved to be useless in a decimal system. It was demonetised in 1980.
While the 1816 coins were technically legal tender, they were rarely used. Sterling silver pre-1920 coins had virtually disappeared from circulation by the 1960s because of the high value of the precious metal.
Pre-1947 half-silver coins disappeared in the early part of 1974 when the silver price increased.
Shillings circulating as 5ps were withdrawn in 1990 when the coin was reduced in size. However, there was a trade in the old shilling for some years. It was the same size as the one deutschmark piece and the unscrupulous had discovered this coin fitted German slot machines!
John Auld, Bishop’s Stortford, Herts.