WEBVTT - Horrific Murderer and Half-Hearted Blackmailer: Meet Dr. Cream 0:00:02.240 --> 0:00:06.559 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:13.640 with iHeartRadio. 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:17.800 Thomas Neil Cream graduated with honors on March thirty first, 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:21.759 eighteen seventy six, from Montreal's McGill Medical School. The address 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:24.640 given to his class that day was titled the Evils 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:29.080 of Malpractice in the Medical Profession. A little bit of 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:32.880 evil foreshadowing, you might say. His thesis had been about 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:37.000 the effects of chloroform A lot more foreshadowing, as he 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:40.120 would soon demonstrate just how devastating he could be with 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:45.239 toxic compounds. Sixteen years later, a mob of onlookers attended 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:49.920 his execution for murder and extortion outside Newgate Prison in London. 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:53.400 So let's meet the good doctor. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:54.520 Mariach Marky. 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:58.920 And I'm Holly Frye. Thomas Neil Cream was born on 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:02.520 May twenty seventh, eighteen fifty, the eldest of eight children 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:06.280 to William and Mary Cream in Glasgow, Scotland. The family 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:09.920 left Scotland for Canada when Thomas was just four years old, 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:12.840 and his father became the manager of a shipbuilding and 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:17.039 lumber firm located in Wolf's Cove near Quebec City, and 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:21.640 the family prospered. His father had grown a very successful business, 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:25.039 and Thomas had become accustomed to a wealthy lifestyle that 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:29.440 included flashy clothing and jewelry and touring about in fancy 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:33.399 horse drawn carriages. When he attended McGill, he gained a 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:37.760 reputation among his fellow students as being extravagant, wild, and 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:43.319 a little bit sleazy. Through photographs and written descriptions of him, 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:47.040 we know that Thomas looked a lot like what you 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:51.760 might consider an archetypal villain of Victorian era. He wore 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:54.640 a top hat and a black silk cape, and he 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:57.880 had a big mustache that was perfect for twirling. 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:03.640 Thomas killed his first, well his first proven victims in 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:08.120 the United States. Additional victims were in England, others in Canada, 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:11.600 maybe in Scotland. But we're not here to talk about 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:15.720 the murderer Thomas Neil Cream. We're here to talk about 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:21.360 his other criminal offense, extortion and blackmail. Thomas was ultimately 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:24.720 undone when he attempted to frame and blackmail other people 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:25.800 for his murders. 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:30.919 Not long after his graduation from medical school, Thomas met 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:33.680 a woman named Flora Brooks, who was the daughter of 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:39.119 a prosperous hotel owner in Waterloo, Quebec. When Flora became pregnant, 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:42.920 Thomas terminated her pregnancy, but that did not go well. 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:46.919 Flora fell ill, and after learning what had transpired, her 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:50.720 father tracked down Thomas, forced him back to Waterloo and 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:55.640 then also forced him, allegedly at gunpoint, to marry Flora. 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:58.840 But the day after the two were married, Thomas left. 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:00.000 He moved to London. 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:05.440 Thomas's story takes place during the Industrial Revolution, which spanned 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:09.960 from about seventeen sixty to eighteen forty, a period responsible 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:13.040 for an increase in the standard of living, an increase 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:17.600 in population, and the emergence of the capitalist economy. And 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:21.560 we mentioned this specifically because in England there was an 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:24.160 increase in the demand for doctors to care for those 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:28.480 living in poverty. Some reports state Thomas planned to study 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:32.400 surgery at Saint Thomas's Hospital, but failed their entrance requirements. 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:35.960 He was though accepted by the Royal College of Physicians 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:39.520 and Surgeons in Edinburgh. In late eighteen seventy eight, he 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:42.840 returned to Canada, where he set up his practice in London, Ontario. 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:46.120 He quickly became known as the guide to see a 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:50.400 terminated pregnancy in a legal act. At that time in Ontario, 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:53.800 he spent his free time carousing and courting women. 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:58.280 Meanwhile, back in Quebec, in eighteen seventy seven, his wife 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:02.560 Flora contracted broncos and she died of what appeared to 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:07.240 be consumption. Today we would call that tuberculosis. Her doctor, however, 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:10.040 later stated that he couldn't help but wonder if her 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:13.480 death had been linked to pills that Thomas had sent her, 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:16.160 and he admitted that he had always considered that her 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:20.159 death may have involved foul play. That, of course, though, 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:22.120 was his opinion in the hindsight. 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:26.839 About a year after establishing his new practice in Ontario, 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:30.200 the body of a woman named Kate Gardiner was discovered 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:33.200 in an outhouse located behind his office building, with a 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:37.760 bottle of chloroform next to her body. Authorities were suspicious 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:41.479 about the circumstances of Kate's death, after all, there was 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:45.320 a bottle of chloroform sitting with her, and they soon 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:48.600 discovered that she had visited Thomas's office on more than 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:52.520 one occasion seeking to end a pregnancy. But when questioned, 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:56.080 the doctor insisted that he had refused her in his 0:04:56.279 --> 0:05:01.120 estimation her death must have been a suicide. Jury disagreed 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:04.960 with his assessment and ruled that Gardner died from chloroform 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:10.279 administered by some person unknown. Thomas was not charged with 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:14.200 her murder. However, suspicions against him grew so strong that 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:18.440 both his practice and his reputation were ruined. He relocated 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:21.400 to the United States. Thomas set up a medical practice 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:24.040 on Chicago's West Side, in a district known for its 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:27.719 high percentage of sex workers and its poverty stricken neighborhoods. 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:31.320 Soon word got around to those in the neighborhood and 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:34.120 to local police that he was the guide to see 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:37.880 to terminate a pregnancy, also illegal in the United States 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:38.680 at that time. 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:41.720 We're going to take a break for a word from 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:44.520 our sponsors here, and when we're back we will talk 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:55.159 about Thomas's arrest and time spent at the Illinois State Penitentiary. 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.039 Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about the people who 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:07.760 died under Thomas's care. 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:12.760 In August of eighteen eighty, a woman named Julia Faulkner 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:15.720 whose name may have been Mary Anne. That's a little 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:19.640 bit unclear anyway, she had been under Thomas's care, and 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:24.400 she died under mysterious circumstances. This time he was arrested 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:27.200 on charges of murder, but due to lack of evidence, 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:31.080 he was not convicted. In December of that same year, 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:34.839 another of his patients, Ellen Stack, died after she took 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:38.479 medicine that was prescribed by Thomas. It was about a 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:42.640 month after Ellen's death when Thomas started to engage in 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:46.760 blackmail and extortion. This was his first go round, and 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:50.120 in it he attempted to blackmail the pharmacist who had 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:55.360 compounded Stack's prescription by sending him threatening letters. The pharmacist 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:59.080 complained to the police, but no charges were ever brought forth. 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:01.080 Nothing can of this whole thing. 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:05.880 It was eighteen eighty one when authorities finally had enough 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:09.120 evidence to arrest and try Thomas. They charged him with 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:13.840 the murder of a Chicago man named Daniel Stott. Daniel's wife, Julia, 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:16.880 had been regularly picking up pills from Thomas, who had 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:20.320 been marketing them as a remedy for epilepsy. She and 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:24.280 Thomas began an affair, but when Daniel grew suspicious of them, 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:27.560 Thomas coerced Julia into having her husband take out a 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:31.760 life insurance policy on himself, and then he sent her 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:35.240 home with strych nine laced pills instead of his epilepsy remedy. 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:40.200 Stott died on June fourteenth, eighteen eighty one, within minutes 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:43.800 of taking those pills, but his death was ultimately considered 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:47.480 to be from complications of an epileptic seizure, and again 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:51.520 Thomas picked up his pen. He sent a blackmail letter 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:55.120 to the coroner accusing the pharmacist who compounded Stott's pills 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:58.040 of being responsible for the death, and he demanded five 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:01.720 thousand dollars for his silence. He also threatened to collect 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:05.600 money on Julia's behalf. When the coroner ignored the letter, 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:08.800 Thomas went to the district attorney to request the body 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:13.040 being zoomed. Upon further examination, it was found there was 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:16.520 enough strychnine in Stott's stomach to kill three people. 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:22.600 Although he pointed a finger at the pharmacist, it was 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:26.440 Thomas who was arrested. He was a suspicious character in 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:29.800 the death, and then Julia told authorities that she suspected 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:33.920 he had tampered with her husband's medicine. Thomas was charged 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:36.920 with and found guilty of murder in the second degree, 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:39.560 and he was sentenced to life at the Illinois State 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:43.520 Penitentiary and Juliet. He didn't serve a life sentence, though 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:47.000 not even close. He was released in June of eighteen 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:51.559 ninety one when Governor Joseph Pfeiffer commuted the sentence. Though 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:55.040 there isn't really much, if any evidence, it is assumed 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:58.800 that the governor was bribed and possibly by Thomas's family. 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:03.960 Returned to Canada very briefly to collect an inheritance of 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:08.120 sixteen thousand dollars from his father's death. Then he returned 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:11.360 to England, where he moved to Lambeth Palace Road, in 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:13.520 an impoverished neighborhood of South London. 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:18.920 Thomas began referring to himself as Thomas Neil minus the Cream. 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:22.840 At this time. Almost all reports about him state he 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:27.040 was addicted to morphine and possibly cocaine, and possibly other 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:31.000 drugs too. In the first seven months in the Lambeth district, 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:35.960 he poisoned at least four sex workers, including Matilda Clover, Ellen, 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:41.040 Nellie Donworth, Alice Marsh and Emma Shrivel. A fifth victim 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:45.880 named Louise Harvey, had luckily and wisely decided against swallowing 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:48.440 the strych nine laced pills the good doctor had offered 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:52.199 to her. Her spidy sense of sorts kicked in and 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.559 it saved her life. She later testified against him in court. 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:59.520 Reynolds's newspaper reported the exchange between Louise and Thomas went 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:03.080 as so quote. He took two pills out of his 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:07.000 waistcoat pocket. They were wrapped in tissue paper and were long, 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:11.360 rather narrower at one end than the other. It was dark, 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:14.400 but they seemed to be of light color. He asked 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:18.120 her to swallow them one by one and not bite them. 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:21.480 He put them into her right hand. She pretended to 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:24.640 take them and passed them into her left hand. He 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:26.800 then asked her to show her right hand, and she 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:29.840 showed him it was empty. He then asked to see 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:31.640 the left hand in which the pills were, and she 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:32.400 threw them away. 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:37.600 Thomas worked by befriending his victims, and then he would 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:41.000 offer them medications, supposedly to clear up something like a 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:44.600 rash or another vague ailment or complaint they had. But 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:48.760 his remedies were laced with strychnine. It's highly likely that 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:52.000 he would have avoided detection. Except he could not stop 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:56.240 scratching the itch. He decided to accuse his neighbor of 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:59.720 two murders. And here's where he really begins to use 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:04.120 a distortion along with his killings. Using a false name 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:07.920 of Malone, he wrote a letter to a prominent English neurologist, 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:11.600 doctor William Broadbent, claiming to have evidence of the doctor's 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:15.840 involvement in Matilda Clover's death, and he demanded twenty five 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:21.160 thousand pounds to keep that information to himself. Doctor Broadbent 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:25.120 contacted Scotland Yard, who then waited for the mystery blackmailer 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:28.920 to collect the money. No one ever showed up. But 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:34.000 Thomas had unwittingly incriminated himself in that letter to Broadbent 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:36.600 because he had referred to the death of Matilda Clover 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:40.760 as a murder, despite it having been recorded as death 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:44.920 due to her excessive alcohol abuse. He had revealed knowledge 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:47.600 that only the killer could have known, and in that 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:51.280 instant Scotland Yard knew the person the press had nicknamed 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:54.960 the Lambeth poisoner was linked to the recent rash of 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:56.120 blackmail letters. 0:11:56.800 --> 0:11:59.640 Thomas also wrote to the coroner offering to name the 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:02.880 murder of Nellie Donworth in return for a three hundred 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:08.080 thousand pound payout. He also attempted to blackmail a WFD Smith, 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:11.880 owner of W. H. Smith Books, accusing him of Donworth's 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:14.439 murder and demanding money to keep quiet about it. 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.960 He then kind of went blackmail crazy. He claimed that 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:22.360 he had incriminating evidence against a Joseph Harper, who was 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:26.080 a local medical student. He sent an accusatory letter to 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:30.959 Harper's father, signed William H. Murray, demanding fifteen hundred pounds 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:35.200 to destroy alleged evidence against his son or he was 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:40.520 going to share his knowledge with the police. Harper refused. Then, 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:43.679 under different pseudonyms and once pretending to be a detective, 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:47.720 Thomas sent letters to the coroner implicating Harper and to 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:52.040 a Frederick Smith, demanding three thousand pounds to destroy supposed 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:55.120 evidence against both of them in the murders of the 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:58.800 four women. A similar letter was sent to Lord Russell, 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:04.160 a British Liberal Party politician. No blackmail money was ever collected. 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:07.559 We're going to take a break for word from our sponsors, 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:11.000 and when we return, we'll talk about Thomas's arrest and 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:15.000 sentencing and what he may or may not have said 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:16.360 on the day of his execution. 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:34.400 Welcome back to criminalia. Now let's talk about how Thomas 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:37.520 was finally caught and how he may or may not 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:40.840 have been Jack the Ripper. Yeah, stay tuned with us 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:41.400 on that one. 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:46.120 The poisonings were beginning to incite fear among the public, 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:50.520 and London's Daily News reported quote the police at Scotland 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:54.040 Yard are still pursuing their inquiries into the recent cases 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:56.760 of fatal poisoning of women in the neighborhood of Lambeth, 0:13:57.240 --> 0:14:00.559 with a view to establishing a connection between the suspected 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:04.440 person against whom the police hold a warrant. From the 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:07.520 accounts which the police have received from various quarters concerning 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:10.200 this individual, there is every reason to believe that the 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:13.640 opinion of the detectives is correct, that he is suffering 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:16.760 from a form of mental derangement which finds exercise and 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:19.880 a desire to take away life. There is no other 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:24.280 motive attributable to the cruel poisonings, and as the history 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:28.160 of the Whitechapel murders shows, the indulgence of this homicidal 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:31.680 tendency upon women and a defenseless position is not singular 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:35.800 to the Lambeth poisoner. The Whitechapel murders mentioned were those 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:40.080 committed by the notoriously unidentified serial killer known as Jack 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:40.600 the Ripper. 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:46.640 Now here's the thing about Thomas Neil Kream. He probably 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:49.720 could have continued his killing streak if he had just 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:54.160 stayed quiet about his activities. But he didn't. It seems 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:57.400 like he couldn't. He bragged about his detailed knowledge of 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:00.760 each killing. He even took former New York Least detective 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.960 John Haynes on a tour of the murder scenes in 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:08.000 the area. Haines became alarmed at the amount of detail 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:10.720 that Thomas knew, and he brought his concerns to the 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:15.120 attention of the police inspector. Thomas also gave a similar 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:18.040 tour to a mister McIntyre, who turned out to be 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:22.479 a police sergeant. But Thomas did not know that. McIntyre 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:26.600 began to surveil the doctor police constable. Comely we think 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:30.480 he was a constable. He was definitely law enforcement had 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:34.280 by chance seen a man who fit Thomas's description with 0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:36.760 two of the women on the nights of their deaths. 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:40.000 He too, started to keep a close eye on him. 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:44.600 And then, of course there were those letters Thomas wrote 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:47.320 his letters under false identities in an attempt to cast 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:52.760 suspicion on other people, innocent people and always doctors or bourgeois, 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:56.320 and to extort money from anyone who could have in 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:59.640 some way been a potential suspect in the murders of 0:15:59.680 --> 0:16:02.880 the four women in Lambeth. Think of these as I 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:04.960 know what you did, pay me not to talk kinds 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:08.640 of notes. It's the very definition of blackmail, no matter 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:12.680 that there was no truth in his accusations. Once his 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:17.000 letters drew attention from Scotland Yard, circumstances finally led to 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:20.840 his arrest. Thomas was charged with the extortion of two 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:22.600 London physicians. 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:23.840 Though there were others. 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:27.720 When evidence including seven bottles of Strych nine, was found 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:31.080 at his lodging, he was subsequently arrested and charged with 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:34.160 the murders of four women and the attempted murder of 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:34.760 a fifth. 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:39.880 Thomas's trial took place at London's Central Criminal Court, known 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:42.520 as the Old Bailey, over the course of five days 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:47.000 in October of eighteen ninety two. The jury needed only 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:49.560 twelve minutes to find him guilty of the death of 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:53.760 Matilda Clover, and with that Justice Henry Hawkins, the presiding 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:57.760 judge sentenced the doctor to hang, telling the prisoner that 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:01.640 his deeds could quote be expied only by your death. 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:05.800 On November fifteenth, eighteen ninety two, Thomas was taken to 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:10.679 the gallows. A pretty sizable crowd had gathered. Reports estimate 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:13.919 anywhere between three hundred to five thousand people came to 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:17.840 the scene of the execution. It wasn't public, though public 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:22.000 hangings ended in London in eighteen sixty eight. The Toronto 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:25.520 Globe reported the next day, quote, probably no criminal was 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:28.960 ever executed in London who had a less pitying mob 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:30.240 awaiting his execution. 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:34.840 According to the Courier in argus, quote, the morning was 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:37.800 dull and wet. By order of the High Sheriff, no 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:41.399 pressmen were admitted to the scene of the execution. Neil 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:45.720 appeared half dazed, but he walked and assisted. After the executioner, 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:49.000 James Billington, drew from his pocket a white cap and 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:52.720 placed it over Neil's head. He pulled the lever. The 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:55.920 bolts supporting the drop were drawn, and Neil was launched 0:17:56.000 --> 0:18:01.520 into eternity. So as he fell, Thomas, allegedly, according to 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:05.679 only Billington, began to say something and it was something 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:10.040 that sounded like, quote, I am Jack, but he was 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:13.320 cut off as he fell to his death. Historians have 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:16.960 theorized that those last words, which Billington insisted were a 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:20.240 confession that he was Jack the Ripper, were probably nothing 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:22.560 more than an attempt to take credit for the murders 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:25.920 of a more famous killer. However, it is even more 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:29.320 likely that he never said anything at all. 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:33.200 While the Ripper theory is still holding today among some crowds, 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:36.560 most following the Ripper's story believed he couldn't have been 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:40.360 that infamous killer. As Thomas served his prison sentence from 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:44.280 eighteen eighty one to eighteen ninety one in Juliet, Illinois 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:47.879 in the United States, and all of Jack the Ripper's 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:51.119 murders were committed between August thirty first and November ninth, 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:54.760 eighteen eighty eight. And then there's this theory which we 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:58.560 felt we really did need to include in his biography. 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:02.560 Marshall Hall, the lawyer who defended Thomas, stated he believed 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:05.199 that the doctor had a double and that the two 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:08.159 used the same name and used each other's terms of 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:11.480 imprisonment as alibis for each other. I mean, it really 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:14.440 does seem everyone has a theory about Jack the Ripper 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:15.240 still today. 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:24.760 Oh yes, it has launched a thousand books. Would you 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:28.919 like to head out to the coercion concoction area? 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:31.520 I certainly would listen. 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:34.959 This may be very predictable, but I wanted to do 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:36.320 a creamy drink because of. 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:38.919 His name dark cream yep, and. 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:42.320 Because the pills that were mentioned were described as light colored. 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:44.399 So I wanted to make something that you drink and 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:46.119 you're like, oh, this tastes like a thing, and then 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:48.840 a second later you go, wait, does this have that 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:51.680 other thing in it? Which is exactly what happened when 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:55.480 I tested on my adorable guinea pig's mouth. This is 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:59.720 called Doctor Cream's Elixir. I almost called it criminal fanfic 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.000 because as he made up so much stuff about other people. 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:05.200 And this is one where I really want you to 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:08.119 stick with me, because you might go this doesn't go together, 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:11.960 but I promise you it does something cool. We're gonna 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:15.520 start out with a half ounce of a simple syrup 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:17.760 or a vanilla syrup. I always like a vanilla for 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:22.800 something like this. Two tablespoons of egg white, and this 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:27.919 is where you're gonna be like holly, two ounces of 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:34.480 pumpkin creamer. Now, I literally bought a creamer from the 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:36.439 grocery store, like one of those that you put in 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:38.680 your coffee. If you want to be fancy and make 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:41.680 your own homemade pumpkin creamer, you can do that by 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:46.080 combining some pureade pumpkin and some heavy cream and a 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:47.920 little bit of sugar and whatnot. But I just bought 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:50.359 it off the shell. Food is great. Here's where again 0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:52.439 it's gonna get weirder. You're gonna add to this an 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:58.240 ounce of white rum and then an ounce of absinthe. 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:00.560 Now I know your brain is going does go together? 0:21:01.280 --> 0:21:01.960 It actually does? 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:04.919 What and then of course it had this moment. 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:09.480 Right yeah, licorice pumpkin. I'm telling you you're gonna shake 0:21:09.560 --> 0:21:12.240 this like the Dickens. Now, this isn't the case where, 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:14.639 you know, often when you have egg white in a drink, 0:21:14.680 --> 0:21:17.840 you want to give that a hard, dry shake on 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:20.639 its own without ice in it. You don't need to 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:23.320 do that here because it's not the star of the show. 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:26.520 You're not trying to like make it that beautiful frothy 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:29.359 top that sits on a cocktail. You're just giving a 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:31.440 little more body to the whole thing. So you don't 0:21:31.440 --> 0:21:33.439 have to do that step if you want to go crazy, 0:21:33.480 --> 0:21:35.280 but you don't have to. But you are gonna give 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:37.880 this a nice heavy shake. You're gonna strain it over 0:21:37.960 --> 0:21:41.399 fresh ice into like a rock's glass, and then it 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:45.399 looks like a yummy, delicious winter time creamy drink, and 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:48.440 it is. You can garnish it with pumpkin pie, spice 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:51.199 or whatever. But what's interesting is you sip it and 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:53.440 it all goes together. It doesn't fight with each other 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:56.360 at all, but the finish, you get that licorice note 0:21:56.400 --> 0:22:00.800 and go. Is there absent than this creamy? Which? There 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:03.360 are creamy drinks with absinth, right, there's a drink called 0:22:03.359 --> 0:22:06.040 an absence sweee, which we may have referenced on the 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:09.240 show before, which I love. But I just thought combining 0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:11.800 it with pumpkin would do something interesting. And it did 0:22:12.560 --> 0:22:15.880 nothing dangerous to you unless you're allergic to something in here, 0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:18.879 but it does it echoes that whole I thought I 0:22:18.960 --> 0:22:21.119 was getting medicine, and then it was something else. But 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:24.320 this one is a delightful surprise and not an evil one. 0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:26.520 If you would like to make the mocktail, obviously you 0:22:26.560 --> 0:22:28.800 can use your cream or your egg white and your syrup, 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:32.879 just as in lieu of white rum and absinthe. What 0:22:32.920 --> 0:22:37.080 I would do is either make an anis or a 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:40.520 licorice tea and use that in the two ounce amount. 0:22:40.720 --> 0:22:46.240 Or you can do like an anisset syrup and use 0:22:46.440 --> 0:22:48.320 a little like a half ounce of that and then 0:22:48.440 --> 0:22:51.600 do like a really softy like a camo meal or 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:53.879 something to fill it out. And then you're gonna have 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:59.000 a yummy doctor cream's elixir like patent medicine, but this 0:22:59.040 --> 0:23:02.520 one will not hurt you in any way. That is 0:23:03.080 --> 0:23:07.360 our yummy drink for the week. I drank it, and 0:23:07.400 --> 0:23:08.560 then I kept drinking it. 0:23:08.560 --> 0:23:09.760 And it was yummy. 0:23:10.200 --> 0:23:12.520 I really really liked this one. I was surprised because 0:23:12.520 --> 0:23:15.400 even I was like, am I about to really miss 0:23:15.480 --> 0:23:17.439 this up? Am I gonna have to make a totally 0:23:17.440 --> 0:23:23.800 different drink, And in fact came out great pumpkin creamer. Listen, 0:23:23.840 --> 0:23:26.120 if you want to start playing with creamers in your 0:23:26.240 --> 0:23:30.479 cream based drinks. If you don't mind the pre made stuff, 0:23:30.840 --> 0:23:33.280 the world is your oyster. They come in all the flavors. 0:23:33.320 --> 0:23:35.679 Now you can chocolate chip creamer if you want. You 0:23:35.680 --> 0:23:38.520 can get pepper mentally popular this time of year. Pumpkin 0:23:38.600 --> 0:23:41.080 pie is really popular this time of year. The sweet 0:23:41.119 --> 0:23:43.760 Italian cream I think would do some really yummy stuff 0:23:43.760 --> 0:23:47.680 and cocktails. Go forth and play. We are so thankful 0:23:47.720 --> 0:23:50.119 that you spent this time with us as we played 0:23:50.119 --> 0:23:52.719 around with history and talked about some grizzly things, but 0:23:52.760 --> 0:23:54.879 also had a yummy drink. We hope you join us 0:23:54.880 --> 0:23:58.000 again next week for more tales of criminals and some 0:23:58.080 --> 0:24:10.080 drinks inspired by them. Criminalia is a production of Shondaland 0:24:10.119 --> 0:24:14.800 Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, 0:24:15.080 --> 0:24:18.679 please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 0:24:18.760 --> 0:24:20.920 listen to your favorite shows.