1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:19,000 Suspense. 2 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:37,000 This is the man in black, here again to introduce Columbia's program, Suspense. 3 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:44,000 Our star tonight is Mr. Sydney Greenstreet, one of Hollywood's most sensational newcomers in a number of years. 4 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:51,000 The famed fat man who lent his suspenseful talents to the Maltese Falcon across the Pacific. 5 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:59,000 As the Greenstreet is with us to create on the air, John Dixon Carr's celebrated detective, Dr. Gideon Fell. 6 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:06,000 The story called, The Hangman Won't Wait, is tonight's tale of suspense. 7 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:15,000 If you have been with us on these Tuesday nights, you will know that suspense is compounded of mystery and suspicion and dangerous adventure. 8 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:27,000 In this series, our tales calculated to intrigue you, stir your nerves, to offer you a precarious situation, and then withhold the solution until the last possible moment. 9 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:34,000 And so it is with The Hangman Won't Wait and Mr. Greenstreet's performance, we again hope to keep you in... 10 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:37,000 Suspense. 11 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:45,000 He comes striding towards us now, beaming like old King Cole. 12 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:53,000 You can probably hear him chuckle. If he wheezes a little, that's due to weighing more than 300 pounds. 13 00:01:54,000 --> 00:02:00,000 You notice the three chins in the bandit's mustache and the eyeglasses on the black ribbon. 14 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:05,000 He removes his hat with old school courtesy. Don't try to bow, Doctor. 15 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:11,000 He is Gideon Fell, Doctor of Philosophy and expert in crime, if he tells us something about the Barton case. 16 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:16,000 Sir, I have only one remark to make about the Barton case. Everybody was wrong. 17 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:18,000 I'm afraid we don't quite follow that. 18 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:23,000 The judge was wrong, the jury was wrong, the prosecution was wrong, the defense was wrong. 19 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:27,000 But Dr. Fell, you can't have a murder case in which everybody is wrong. 20 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,000 In my cases, sir, you can have practically anything. 21 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:32,000 Oh yes, that's true enough, but... 22 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:36,000 I want you to imagine yourself in the position of that girl, Helen Barton. 23 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:38,000 Well? 24 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:41,000 Imagine yourself waking up suddenly in the middle of the night. 25 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:46,000 You're terrified, but you don't know why. The room is cold and nearly dark. 26 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:50,000 All of a sudden you realize it's a room you've never seen before. 27 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,000 There's a queer smell like old stone and disinfectant. 28 00:02:54,000 --> 00:03:01,000 There's no sound except... 29 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:18,000 I...I...what is it? What was that? 30 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:21,000 Now, lean back in your bed, dearie. It's all right. 31 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:23,000 Yes, take it easy, miss. 32 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:26,000 I...I was dreaming. 33 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:32,000 You were having a nightmare, dearie. But it's all right now. Nothing's going to hurt you. 34 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:34,000 Not yet. 35 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:36,000 Be quiet, Anna. 36 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,000 All right, all right. Would you like us to turn on all the lights, miss? 37 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:41,000 Please, would you do that? 38 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:44,000 You see, I...I don't understand this. 39 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:48,000 Where am I and how did I get here? And who are you? 40 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,000 Well, don't start that all over again, please. 41 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:53,000 Start what all over again? 42 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,000 Saying you've lost your memory and don't even know what your name is. 43 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:02,000 Are you insane? Of course I know what my name is. I'm Helen Barton. 44 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:04,000 Ah. 45 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:10,000 But it's all I do know. Where am I? Why on earth is it so cold? 46 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:14,000 Well, that's not unusual, you know, for England in the middle of December. 47 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:17,000 Did you say December? 48 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:20,000 That's right, dearie. 18th of December. 49 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:23,000 You're fooling me. You're playing a trick on me. 50 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,000 My head feels queer and I want to start crying, but I won't. 51 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,000 It's not December. It's the end of August. I was going up to see Philip. 52 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:32,000 Oh, that's it. I was going up to see Philip. 53 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:34,000 Philip? 54 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:35,000 Philip Gale, the man I'm going to marry. 55 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,000 Be quiet, Anna. And don't turn on these lights yet. 56 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:40,000 She's air than a sun. She's... 57 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:41,000 Anna! 58 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,000 I'm going to be half shaken all over. And so help me, she don't know where she is. 59 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:49,000 Listen, dearie, I'm going to sit down on the bed beside you. 60 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:55,000 Now take my hand. Olden. Tight. 61 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,000 What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that? 62 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,000 This is Maidhurst's prison, miss. 63 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:06,000 Steady, dearie. 64 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:13,000 I'm still dreaming. I must be. You can't mean I'm in prison. 65 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,000 Now look, dearie, I'm afraid it's worse than that. 66 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:19,000 Worse than that? 67 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:22,000 Look over there. You see where there's a little bit of fire in the grate? 68 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:24,000 Well... 69 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:27,000 And paper on the wall and pictures and a carpet on the floor. 70 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:30,000 Why don't you come out straight and tell her? 71 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,000 They're going to hang you in the morning, miss. 72 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,000 This is the condemned cell. 73 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:54,000 In sudden shock, the prison clock smote on the shivering air. 74 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,000 But I won't quote that any further. 75 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,000 I have too vivid a memory of sitting up that night with Colonel Andrews, the governor of the prison. 76 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,000 Over here you'd call him the warden. 77 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:21,000 There's a little office with a lamp shade, tilted so that I could see his face. 78 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:25,000 And he said, I hate executions. Loathe them. 79 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:28,000 Can't even sleep the night before. 80 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,000 If you hadn't offered to come here and save my life... 81 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:35,000 This is a strange place, sir, to talk of saving your life. 82 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:38,000 No, it's no good being sentimental about the thing. That's the law. 83 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:40,000 I didn't make it. 84 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:43,000 But I gather you're not exactly happy about this case. 85 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:45,000 I'm not. That's a fact. 86 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:48,000 Mind you, there's no doubt whatever about the girl's guilt. 87 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:50,000 I'm gratified to hear it. 88 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:54,000 But if only she confess. Most of them do, you know. 89 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:56,000 They confess to you? 90 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:59,000 To me or to the hangman? Not often to the chaplain. 91 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,000 Because they think he'll threaten them with the hereafter. 92 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:05,000 But when Kirkwood goes in with the strap to bind their arm, he says to them... 93 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:11,000 I don't like to think I'm doing something that would be on my conscience. 94 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,000 So if you'd care to tell me... 95 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:18,000 Quite a sensitive fellow, your hangman. 96 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:20,000 No, look, here, I'm serious. 97 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:22,000 So am I. 98 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,000 Sometimes I wish I had any job in the world but mine. 99 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:30,000 If only the girl would confess. If she just said, I'm sorry. 100 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:34,000 If she confessed. If she just stopped this nonsense about not remembering. 101 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:36,000 Not remembering what? 102 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:40,000 Not remembering how, well, not remembering how she shot Philip Gale. 103 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:42,000 Not remembering anything, even her own name. 104 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:45,000 Total amnesia, covering a crime. 105 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:47,000 Sir, you frighten me. 106 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:52,000 You mean to say that a woman suffering from loss of memory can be tried and sentenced to death? 107 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:55,000 No. Not if she really has lost her memory. 108 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:57,000 Well, then... 109 00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:59,000 Her defense was a fake. Are you quite sure of that? 110 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:06,000 Naturally. The judge would never have allowed it to come to trial if he hadn't been convinced that she was shaming. 111 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:12,000 Even then, she might have got off of the life sentence or even with manslaughter, if it hadn't been for the nature of the crime. 112 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:14,000 She didn't cut anybody up, I hope. 113 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:20,000 No, but it was almost as bad. She shot a man who had raised his hands and begged for mercy. 114 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:23,000 That completely damned her in the eyes of the jury. 115 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:25,000 And yet... 116 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:26,000 You have doubts. 117 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:31,000 I tell you, I haven't any doubts. And in any case, it's none of my business. 118 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:33,000 How has she acted since she's been here? 119 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:41,000 Oh, a model prisoner. But I wish she'd stop this business of seeming to be in a daze. It's getting on my nerves. 120 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:44,000 I'd rather think the prison itself would get on my nerves. 121 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:49,000 I looked into your execution shed once and I don't want to look again. 122 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:52,000 You'll get used to it after a while. Helen Barton won't. 123 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:57,000 Tell me about a nice girl, too. I knew her grandfather. 124 00:08:58,000 --> 00:08:58,000 You live near here? 125 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:05,000 Yes. Born and bred in Meadhurst. She got mixed up with a farrow-going swine named Philip Gale. 126 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:12,000 Crazy about him. Wouldn't hear a word against him. Then he threw her over for a woman with money. 127 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:13,000 I see. 128 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:17,000 He had a bungalow on White Rose Hill. She went up there one Sunday afternoon. 129 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:18,000 Alone? 130 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:25,000 Yes. Herbert Gale, Philip's brother, heard them screaming at each other. He ran in to see what was wrong. 131 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:32,000 Philip was trying to chase the girl out. She grabbed a.32 revolver out of the table drawer and told Philip to put up his hands. 132 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:37,000 That scared him and he did put up his hands. Then she shot him dead. 133 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:38,000 And afterwards? 134 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:41,000 Afterwards she couldn't remember. 135 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:45,000 Didn't remember anything? 136 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:51,000 No. Pretended she didn't even recognize her own family. She said, Who is Philip Gale? 137 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,000 And you hang her tomorrow morning? 138 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:56,500 Yes. 139 00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:59,000 Without ever hearing her side of the case? 140 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:01,000 Confound it, man. There's no doubt about the evidence. 141 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:02,500 Are you sure? 142 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:09,000 She killed Philip Gale. Gale's brother Herbert saw her do it. This hypocrisy about not remembering. 143 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:12,000 Emotional shock could do just that, you know. 144 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:19,000 She wasn't so emotionally shocked that it disturbed her aim. She drilled him clean through the heart at 15 feet. 145 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:26,000 The bullet entered in a dead straight line through coat, waistcoat, shirt and heart. You could have run a pencil through the holes. 146 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:32,000 Now don't sit there puffing out your cheeks and waving a cigar at me. I'm only... 147 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:38,000 Tell me, Colonel Andrews, aren't you talking to convince yourself? 148 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:43,000 No. Suppose that girl is telling the truth. Suppose she has lost her memory. 149 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:44,500 Yeah. 150 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:52,000 All right. You don't believe that. Suppose it. And suppose in some black eye just before the hangman comes that her memory returns. 151 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:54,000 Don't talk rubbish. 152 00:10:55,000 --> 00:11:00,000 I've lived long enough to know that mental suffering is the cruelest form of suffering on this earth. 153 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:07,000 Imagine yourself in that position. Come out of a daze into what you thought was a safe and pleasant world. 154 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:16,000 You don't know where you are. You don't know what's happened. You only know that when the clock strikes eight, they're going to take you out and... 155 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:22,000 Eh... Did you hear that? 156 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:23,500 Yes. 157 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:26,000 Are you thinking what I'm thinking? 158 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:27,500 Yes. 159 00:11:27,500 --> 00:11:29,500 It isn't possible. 160 00:11:29,500 --> 00:11:31,500 Very much fear it is. 161 00:11:31,500 --> 00:11:34,500 Sometimes, you know, we have to use drugs. 162 00:11:34,500 --> 00:11:35,500 Drugs? 163 00:11:35,500 --> 00:11:44,500 Yes. We take them to the execution shed. It's only a short distance and we try to get it over in a matter of seconds, but sometimes they can't walk. 164 00:11:45,500 --> 00:11:46,500 Yes? What is it? 165 00:11:47,500 --> 00:11:51,500 Big pardon, sir, but I thought I'd better get you, or the doctor, or the chaplain, or both. 166 00:11:51,500 --> 00:11:54,500 What's the matter with you men? You're as white as a ghost. 167 00:11:54,500 --> 00:12:00,500 I can't help that, sir. I've been a warder at this place for a matter of fifteen years, but I never knew anything like this. 168 00:12:00,500 --> 00:12:04,500 It's the upstairs room, I suppose, Miss Barton? 169 00:12:04,500 --> 00:12:05,500 Yes, sir. 170 00:12:05,500 --> 00:12:06,500 Aesthetical? 171 00:12:06,500 --> 00:12:09,500 Yes, sir. She says... Well, she says she remembers now. 172 00:12:09,500 --> 00:12:10,500 I see. 173 00:12:10,500 --> 00:12:15,500 She's carrying on something awful, sir, but that ain't all. She claims she never done it. 174 00:12:15,500 --> 00:12:16,500 What's that? 175 00:12:16,500 --> 00:12:18,500 She claims she never killed Mr. Gale at all. 176 00:12:18,500 --> 00:12:19,500 Never killed? 177 00:12:19,500 --> 00:12:21,500 That's all, Harris. You may go. 178 00:12:21,500 --> 00:12:22,500 Yes, sir. 179 00:12:22,500 --> 00:12:23,500 Any other disturbances in the building? 180 00:12:23,500 --> 00:12:25,500 Well, sir, they're a bit restless and a-wing. 181 00:12:25,500 --> 00:12:26,500 That's usual. 182 00:12:26,500 --> 00:12:31,500 Yes, sir. And there's a bloke outside the prison, I mean, who keeps angin' about in front of the main gate. 183 00:12:31,500 --> 00:12:35,500 You can see him by the streetlamp. First he'll take a few little quick steps back and forth, 184 00:12:35,500 --> 00:12:40,500 then he'll run and stick his face against the bars of the gate, then he'll go back to pacing again. 185 00:12:40,500 --> 00:12:43,500 Fair guide me the creeps he did even before this other thing. 186 00:12:43,500 --> 00:12:45,500 You don't happen to know who he is? 187 00:12:45,500 --> 00:12:49,500 It's the other Mr. Gale, sir. Herbert Gale. I envy art to chase him away. 188 00:12:49,500 --> 00:12:52,500 All right, Harris, go ahead. And be along in a minute. 189 00:12:52,500 --> 00:12:53,500 Yes, sir. 190 00:12:53,500 --> 00:12:56,500 So the girl claims to be innocent. You heard that, eh? 191 00:12:56,500 --> 00:12:58,500 Yes, I heard it. 192 00:12:58,500 --> 00:12:59,500 What do you mean to do? 193 00:12:59,500 --> 00:13:03,500 I'll see the girl, of course. But it won't affect the issue. 194 00:13:03,500 --> 00:13:05,500 Not even if she does happen to be innocent. 195 00:13:05,500 --> 00:13:09,500 Fairly in the name of heaven, try to understand my position. 196 00:13:09,500 --> 00:13:11,500 Believe me, I do understand it. 197 00:13:11,500 --> 00:13:15,500 The jury convicted this girl of murder. Her appeal was dismissed. 198 00:13:15,500 --> 00:13:19,500 The Home Secretary has refused to intervene on behalf of the King. 199 00:13:19,500 --> 00:13:22,500 You couldn't do anything even if you wanted to. 200 00:13:22,500 --> 00:13:25,500 You couldn't even appeal to the Home Secretary without new evidence. 201 00:13:25,500 --> 00:13:27,500 Exactly. And it's too late for new evidence. 202 00:13:27,500 --> 00:13:29,500 Because you can't just accept the word of Helen Button. 203 00:13:29,500 --> 00:13:32,500 All the same, I'm dreading this interview. 204 00:13:32,500 --> 00:13:38,500 It's against regulations, but I wish you'd come along with me. 205 00:13:38,500 --> 00:13:39,500 Oh, if there only... 206 00:13:39,500 --> 00:13:41,500 Oh, there isn't. 207 00:13:41,500 --> 00:13:46,500 Where's the whiskey? I think a little stimulant. 208 00:13:46,500 --> 00:13:48,500 She will need the stimulant. 209 00:13:48,500 --> 00:13:49,500 It's a cold night. 210 00:13:49,500 --> 00:14:18,500 It'll be cold to get where she's going. 211 00:14:19,500 --> 00:14:26,500 I didn't do it. I tell you, I didn't do it. 212 00:14:26,500 --> 00:14:27,500 Daddy, Miss. 213 00:14:27,500 --> 00:14:29,500 It's all right, dearie. 214 00:14:29,500 --> 00:14:32,500 The governor and the big star gentlemen believe you didn't do it. 215 00:14:32,500 --> 00:14:34,500 Oh, no, they don't. You needn't try to fool me. 216 00:14:34,500 --> 00:14:36,500 Look at them over there on the corner, whispering. 217 00:14:36,500 --> 00:14:42,500 I heard that. You said, fell she's lying, but I'm not lying. I'm not. 218 00:14:42,500 --> 00:14:44,500 Miss, you've got to pull yourself together. 219 00:14:44,500 --> 00:14:46,500 And have a nice breakfast. 220 00:14:46,500 --> 00:14:49,500 What would you like for breakfast?