In doing a little investigation on Whitehead, I went to a McGill U. site and found this just below the material on the death of Houdini:
Did "Jack the Ripper" attend McGill University?
It is difficult to conclude whether a McGill-trained physician, Dr. Thomas Neill Cream, who was convicted and charged with murder, was, in actuality, the infamous nineteenth century serial killer "Jack the Ripper."
Here's a brief overview of Dr. Cream's career:
In 1872, Thomas Neill Cream enrolled at McGill University in the Faculty of Medicine. An average student, Cream, nevertheless, wrote his doctoral thesis on, curiously, the topic of chloroform, a poisonous substance in high doses. He earned his degree of Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery, and began to practice his profession.
In 1876 he married Flora Brooks, who died a year later from what one report called "a lingering illness." Dr. Cream continued to practice medicine and improve his skills, sometimes traveling abroad to better his education. But in his wake, he left behind him a trail of death, his victims (all female, mostly prostitutes) having succumbed to the deadly effects of chloroform. His killings, however, would soon come to an end. In 1891, while studying in England, Dr. Cream was arrested and charged with the murder of a London prostitute. He was sentenced to die by hanging, and in 1892 his execution was carried out.
Dr. Cream was a killer, without a doubt, with or without the "Jack the Ripper" association. But some researchers, most notably Donald Bell, believe that Dr. Cream and Jack the Ripper shared similar traits, similar criminal modus operandi, leading them to believe that Dr. Cream and "Jack the Ripper" were the same person.
Both chose prostitutes as victims;
Both wrote letters to authorities boasting about their evil deeds;
Both were very cruel, merciless;
their victims, as though intoxicated, nearly never cried out in fear.
From these similarities, Donald Bell is conviced that Jack the Ripper was in fact Dr. Thomas Neill Cream.
WIKI has quite a detailed report on him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Neill_CreamSorry for the side trip!
