Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-04-15
Suicide d Wednesdays John
Cream Of Augusta
By Shooting, While in a Room
At a Gardiner Hotel.
Mental Derangement the Cause.
Had Been in Hospital.

""AN'i e. SiCoii, % years Olu, OF lAu-
susta, committed suicide by shooting
himself through the head in his room
IN a Gardiner hotel at about 7.3O O'Clock
wednesday, morning. His body was not
discovered until shortly after 1 o'clock
IN the afternoon, when a chambermaid.
unable ~ gain access to the room. in
formed the clerk, who made the erue-
some discovery of Cream seated in a
chalr, clad In pantaloons and shirt.
with bullet hole from a 32-calibre re-
Volver passing from his right temple
to point behind the ear. Large quan-
titles of blood covered the clothing of
the dead man and the carpet of the
room Death was practically instanta-
neous, 1t Is believed, as there were no
evidences of any struggle Coroner
Frank e. Andrews was summoned. He
ordered the body placed in Preble e,
keene's undertaking rooms, awaiting
the decision of relatives of the deceased
as to funeral arrangements, an in
quest being deemed unnecessary.
Cream came to Gardiner sometime
Tuesday forenoon, or early in the af-
ternoon, having drawn from the Att
gusta Savings Bank the sum of $40,
1921 .43, as was shown by the bank book.
which was found on the person of the
dead man after his suicide He I ap-
peared at the Johnson House, Gardi-
ner. at about $50 O'Clock in the after
noon, registered, and was assigned a
ROOM He took supper at the hotel, and
nothing strange was noted about his
conduct
Wednesday morning, shortly after
O'Clock, chambermaid went to his
room and opened the bed, Cream mean
time pacing up and down in the corri-
dor. The bed was in a condition which
LED the chambermaid to believe that
Cream had slept on the outside of it
during the night
Hotel guests frequently take strange
notions, and the chambernaid did not
take particular notice of the fact that
the he'd had not been slept in, but re-
membered it afterwards in the light
of subsequent events.
She left the room at the suggestion
of Cream, who is alleged to have said
that he wanted to occupy the room for
few moments, after which she could
return and finish her work of putting
it in order. Although the door was tried
several times after that, it was found
to be locked and raps brought no re-
Spouse.
Finally, at about 1.15 p. NJ, upon
noting that the key was in the door
and that persistent rapping brought no
answer, the chambermaid became
alarmed and called Clerk John Hilbert,
VINO looked over the transom and dis
in ohai,, q
above described. his head tipped to one
side his right arr1Shanging down and
blood covering himself and the floor
City Marshal S. ~. Cults, several doc
tors and Coroner Frank e. Andrews
were summoned. The physicians said
that the man had been dead for several
hours
One of the chambermaids then re-
membered having heard a noise in the
room, like an explosion, followed by
the sound of something falling. but at
the time thought nothing of it. The
coroner viewed the body, after which
it was taken to the undertaking rooms
OF Preble & Kcene.
An examination showed that the bull
let had entered the right temple, had
gone directly through the head. and
had passed out at a point about half
an inch behind the ear. Cream must
have been holding his head with his
left hand, while he shot himself with
his right. as the bullet. after leaving
the head passed through the fiesl1y
part of his left upper arm. and dropped
out when his clothing was removed +
Each article of the dead mans cloth
ing was marked John F.. Cream, and
this was the spelling used by the de
ceased when he registered at the Fif6s
tel! 1T the bank book however, the
name is spelled "Creahan."
The cause of the rash act is believed
to have been mental arrangement.
Cream was committed to the Maine In
sane hospital at Augusta. April %, 1908,
ard at that time was 81 years of age.
He was released last October, and al
though not violent. was subjected to
close watching by his friends, it is I'M
derstood, the fear being entertained
that he might do himself harm. A
sister. Miss Kate Cream of Augusta,
and other relatives survive.