1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,100 In just a moment, Auto Light presents Suspense with Claude Rains and Vincent Price. 2 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:08,640 More coffee, Harlow? 3 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:15,260 Ah, I believe not, Hap. And I want to thank you and Mary for a marvelous meal, a delightful, delicious, de-lovely dinner. 4 00:00:15,460 --> 00:00:19,400 You're more than welcome, Harlow. Uh-oh, here comes Mary with that 5 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:24,480 who's gonna wash the dishes looking her eye. You better start talking about Auto Light Resistor spark plugs and fans. 6 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:27,360 Ah, yes, of course, Hap. Auto Light Resistor spark plugs. 7 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:33,400 Ah, as I was saying, right now, by Cornelius, is the time when all good men who know good things 8 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:39,380 will come to the aid of their cars with a set of brand new wide gap Auto Light Resistor spark plugs. 9 00:00:39,700 --> 00:00:47,600 Why, with their wide spark gap, those Auto Light Resistor spark plugs do things for a car your old narrow gap spark plugs just can't match. 10 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:51,560 Why, they're marvelous, they're magnificent. By Cornelius, they're matchless. 11 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:54,980 You're sparking, Harlow, but let's switch to Suspense. 12 00:00:54,980 --> 00:00:55,980 Suspense. 13 00:01:05,980 --> 00:01:06,980 Suspense. 14 00:01:12,980 --> 00:01:19,980 Auto Light and its 60,000 dealers and service stations bring you radio's outstanding theater of thrills. 15 00:01:19,980 --> 00:01:28,980 Starting tonight, Mr. Claude Rains and Mr. Vincent Price in Anton Leder's production of The Hands of Mr. Ottermore. 16 00:01:29,980 --> 00:01:33,980 A tale well calculated to keep you in. Suspense. 17 00:01:37,980 --> 00:01:43,980 Tell me, Sergeant. Yes. Why do you think the strangler killed the five times he did? 18 00:01:43,980 --> 00:01:47,980 Six times, Mr. Newspaper Man. Six? Yes. 19 00:01:47,980 --> 00:01:55,980 Well, I suppose you do know as much about the strangler as I do. How long have you been on the police force, Sergeant? 20 00:01:55,980 --> 00:02:00,980 This is my 15th year as a member of His Majesty's Metropolitan Police, Mr. Newspaper Man. 21 00:02:00,980 --> 00:02:06,980 For ten years I walked the beats of the Casper Street Station and for the past five years I've been a sergeant at that station. 22 00:02:06,980 --> 00:02:11,980 In fifteen years you learn a lot about many things, including murder. 23 00:02:11,980 --> 00:02:19,980 Oh, yes. Murder. It's a word and a deed which has fascinated more people than you and I could count. 24 00:02:20,980 --> 00:02:24,980 By all means, Sergeant, let's talk about murder. 25 00:02:29,980 --> 00:02:33,980 You'd think there'd be little murder in such a district, wouldn't you, Mr. Newspaper Man? 26 00:02:33,980 --> 00:02:36,980 Murder for a bit of Henning? Cup of tea? 27 00:02:36,980 --> 00:02:43,980 There'd be nothing there to take except lives. And it was there that the strangler came to practice his grim trade. 28 00:02:43,980 --> 00:02:48,980 Already it struck twice. Once on Lagos Street, once on Green Street. 29 00:02:48,980 --> 00:02:53,980 His strong, white hands reaching for an unexpected throat. 30 00:02:53,980 --> 00:03:01,980 Then he vanished into the darkness, leaving behind something that once had been a living, breathing human. 31 00:03:01,980 --> 00:03:03,980 What was his gain? 32 00:03:03,980 --> 00:03:06,980 Perhaps no more than the satisfaction of a job. Well done. 33 00:03:06,980 --> 00:03:09,980 Perhaps he felt he'd done some poor devil a favor. 34 00:03:09,980 --> 00:03:16,980 That a sympathetic force led him to his victims, the same as a cyclone picks one corner and misses another. 35 00:03:16,980 --> 00:03:21,980 I was thinking about that the night I first met you, Mr. Newspaper Man. 36 00:03:21,980 --> 00:03:27,980 I was walking down Malin Inn when I saw you, standing in the shadows. 37 00:03:27,980 --> 00:03:29,980 Good evening, officer. 38 00:03:29,980 --> 00:03:31,980 Stand where you are. Who are you? 39 00:03:31,980 --> 00:03:33,980 From the Daily Herald, officer. 40 00:03:33,980 --> 00:03:36,980 Oh, Newspaper Man, eh? What are you doing here? 41 00:03:36,980 --> 00:03:40,980 Looking for a story. Are you expecting to catch the strangler, officer? 42 00:03:40,980 --> 00:03:43,980 What would you know about the strangler, Mr. Newspaper Man? 43 00:03:43,980 --> 00:03:48,980 Only that he likes your district and that you have no idea who he is. 44 00:03:48,980 --> 00:03:53,980 That's right. He could be anybody who was about in this district at night. 45 00:03:53,980 --> 00:03:55,980 Perhaps even a newspaper man. 46 00:03:55,980 --> 00:03:59,980 You suspect that I might be making my news before I write? 47 00:03:59,980 --> 00:04:05,980 And I shall keep that in mind for dull days. Good night, sir. 48 00:04:05,980 --> 00:04:07,980 All right. 49 00:04:07,980 --> 00:04:12,980 I watched you, Mr. Newspaper Man, as you walked away. 50 00:04:12,980 --> 00:04:15,980 Watched and thought of the force that moved the strangler. 51 00:04:15,980 --> 00:04:21,980 About the same time, that force, whatever it was, brought the strangler to Mr. Weibrauch, 52 00:04:21,980 --> 00:04:28,980 an honest worker whom I've seen so many times, I can tell you nearly exactly how he spent his last 53 00:04:28,980 --> 00:04:33,980 few minutes on earth. I know the very sound of his footsteps. 54 00:04:33,980 --> 00:04:36,980 Almost his every thought. 55 00:04:36,980 --> 00:04:42,980 And I can hear the footsteps of the man who followed him. 56 00:04:42,980 --> 00:04:46,980 It was six o'clock of an evening and Mr. Weibrauch was going home from work. 57 00:04:46,980 --> 00:04:50,980 He stepped off the tram at High Street and Malin Inn and walked slowly, 58 00:04:50,980 --> 00:04:54,980 wondering if his missus would have herring or haddock for his tea. 59 00:04:54,980 --> 00:04:58,980 It was a wretched night and he could taste the fog in his throat, 60 00:04:58,980 --> 00:05:01,980 feel the dampness through the soles of his shoes. 61 00:05:01,980 --> 00:05:06,980 He turned down Legos Street and the footsteps behind turned with him. 62 00:05:06,980 --> 00:05:14,980 And so, one behind the other, the two men walked through Legos and turned into Loyal Lane. 63 00:05:14,980 --> 00:05:22,980 Any man other than Mr. Weibrauch might have heard some warning in the footsteps that followed him, 64 00:05:22,980 --> 00:05:36,980 something that said, beware, beware, beware. 65 00:05:36,980 --> 00:05:42,980 No, the foot of a killer falls just as quietly as the foot of any other worker. 66 00:05:42,980 --> 00:05:48,980 But those footfalls were bearing a pair of hands to Mr. Weibrauch 67 00:05:48,980 --> 00:05:52,980 and there is something in hands. 68 00:05:52,980 --> 00:05:55,980 Behind him, even then, those hands were flexing themselves, 69 00:05:55,980 --> 00:05:59,980 feeling the strength run down through the strong fingers. 70 00:05:59,980 --> 00:06:02,980 Mr. Weibrauch was almost home. 71 00:06:02,980 --> 00:06:06,980 He turned down Casper Street, plodding along through the dim light. 72 00:06:06,980 --> 00:06:09,980 Small dog barked at the figures. 73 00:06:09,980 --> 00:06:13,980 Voices drifted out from the shabby houses but Mr. Weibrauch paid no attention to them 74 00:06:13,980 --> 00:06:16,980 or to the steps which followed him. 75 00:06:16,980 --> 00:06:21,980 The head of Mr. Weibrauch was his own house and he walked a little faster. 76 00:06:21,980 --> 00:06:27,980 Maybe it looked like he was going to get away but the man behind only smiled 77 00:06:27,980 --> 00:06:29,980 and followed at the same pace. 78 00:06:29,980 --> 00:06:35,980 Mr. Weibrauch turned in at his own gate and opened the door. 79 00:06:35,980 --> 00:06:38,980 He stepped inside. 80 00:06:38,980 --> 00:06:39,980 Is that you, Harry? 81 00:06:39,980 --> 00:06:42,980 Yes. What's for tea, Flossie? 82 00:06:42,980 --> 00:06:45,980 Harry, you're lucky to be getting that. 83 00:06:45,980 --> 00:06:49,980 How do I know before I've opened the door? 84 00:06:49,980 --> 00:06:53,980 If it's a collector, he can just nip off. 85 00:06:53,980 --> 00:06:55,980 Well, what... 86 00:06:57,980 --> 00:06:59,980 Harry! 87 00:07:07,980 --> 00:07:13,980 And that is how Mr. and Mrs. Weibrauch became the third and fourth 88 00:07:13,980 --> 00:07:18,980 but not the last victims of the strangling horror. 89 00:07:29,980 --> 00:07:35,980 For suspense, Auto Light is bringing you Mr. Claude Rains and Mr. Vincent Price 90 00:07:35,980 --> 00:07:43,980 in Radio's outstanding theatre of thrills, Suspense. 91 00:07:46,980 --> 00:07:51,980 Say, Ham, let me tell you about a foolish fellow who got the outside of his car 92 00:07:51,980 --> 00:07:55,980 all dolled up with doodads, trinkets, voxtails and whatnots. 93 00:07:55,980 --> 00:07:58,980 And then by Cornelius he comes chug-a-lugging up the avenue 94 00:07:58,980 --> 00:08:04,980 with misfiring spark plugs and his engine sounding like a stut-stut-stuttering teapot. 95 00:08:04,980 --> 00:08:07,980 Hey, friend, I yelled at him, why don't you switch to a set of those 96 00:08:07,980 --> 00:08:10,980 smooth-firing Auto Light Resistor spark plugs 97 00:08:10,980 --> 00:08:12,980 and make that bus of yours sound as fancy as it looks. 98 00:08:12,980 --> 00:08:14,980 And what did he answer? 99 00:08:14,980 --> 00:08:16,980 This guy said to me, plugs is plugs. 100 00:08:16,980 --> 00:08:20,980 Well, Auto Light Resistor spark plugs, I corrected him, are different. 101 00:08:20,980 --> 00:08:24,980 They've got a 10,000 ohm resistor, ignition engineered right into the spark plug 102 00:08:24,980 --> 00:08:29,980 that permits the Auto Light Resistor spark plug to maintain a much wider spark gap setting. 103 00:08:29,980 --> 00:08:33,980 This extra wide gap, friend, lets your car idle smoother, 104 00:08:33,980 --> 00:08:36,980 gives you better luck with lean gas mixtures, actually saves gas. 105 00:08:36,980 --> 00:08:40,980 What's more, Auto Light Resistor spark plugs cut down spark plug interference 106 00:08:40,980 --> 00:08:43,980 with radio and television reception. Pipe that. 107 00:08:43,980 --> 00:08:44,980 Badge telling him. 108 00:08:44,980 --> 00:08:47,980 Wow, he says, can you back up all that sales talk? 109 00:08:47,980 --> 00:08:52,980 Ah, listen, pal, I told him, these are just a few fine and fancy facts. 110 00:08:52,980 --> 00:08:55,980 And what's more, those wide gap Auto Light Resistor spark plugs 111 00:08:55,980 --> 00:08:58,980 are one of over 400 automotive, aviation and marine products 112 00:08:58,980 --> 00:09:02,980 world famous for their Auto Light engineered dependability. 113 00:09:02,980 --> 00:09:06,980 Then one, Hono, I'll tell you the rest after suspense happens. 114 00:09:06,980 --> 00:09:10,980 And now, Auto Light brings back to a Hollywood sound stage, 115 00:09:10,980 --> 00:09:17,980 Mr. Claude Rains and Mr. Vincent Price, in the hands of Mr. Ottermole, 116 00:09:17,980 --> 00:09:22,980 a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. 117 00:09:24,980 --> 00:09:28,980 Sergeant, did you ever stop to wonder at the pranks of fate? 118 00:09:28,980 --> 00:09:33,980 Mr. Weibrauch died at the one moment when there was no one around to witness his death. 119 00:09:33,980 --> 00:09:34,980 That's true. 120 00:09:34,980 --> 00:09:38,980 A few minutes earlier, perhaps a few minutes later, there were people on the street. 121 00:09:38,980 --> 00:09:44,980 Think how different it might have been if you had arrived there earlier than you did. 122 00:09:44,980 --> 00:09:47,980 Perhaps, Mr. Newspaper Man, but I'd finished my evening tea 123 00:09:47,980 --> 00:09:49,980 and was walking through Casper Street to the station. 124 00:09:49,980 --> 00:09:52,980 Mr. Weibrauch was still lying on the door of his house, 125 00:09:52,980 --> 00:09:55,980 his wife on the floor a little beyond him. 126 00:09:55,980 --> 00:09:58,980 Both were dead. 127 00:09:58,980 --> 00:10:01,980 I blew my whistle, and the constable came on the run. 128 00:10:01,980 --> 00:10:04,980 He searched the house, then talked to the neighbors on either side. 129 00:10:04,980 --> 00:10:07,980 Nobody had heard anything except Mrs. Weibrauch's scream, 130 00:10:07,980 --> 00:10:09,980 and they thought that was just a family fight. 131 00:10:09,980 --> 00:10:13,980 There was no sign of anything, but brutal murder. 132 00:10:13,980 --> 00:10:18,980 While we waited for the ambulance, I suddenly remembered something. 133 00:10:18,980 --> 00:10:19,980 Smithers? 134 00:10:19,980 --> 00:10:20,980 Yes, sir? 135 00:10:20,980 --> 00:10:22,980 Just before I found them, I saw you standing at the end of the lane. 136 00:10:22,980 --> 00:10:24,980 What were you up to there? 137 00:10:24,980 --> 00:10:27,980 I thought I saw a suspicious character mucking about there, sir, 138 00:10:27,980 --> 00:10:28,980 and I was keeping an eye on him. 139 00:10:28,980 --> 00:10:30,980 Suspicious character? Be blasted. 140 00:10:30,980 --> 00:10:33,980 You don't want to look for suspicious characters, you want to look for murderers. 141 00:10:33,980 --> 00:10:35,980 Yes, sir. Think we'll get him, sir? 142 00:10:35,980 --> 00:10:38,980 Well, just between you and me, Smithers, I have my doubts. 143 00:10:38,980 --> 00:10:42,980 With a man who kills to get a few bobs, you know he's going to keep on, 144 00:10:42,980 --> 00:10:45,980 because as soon as he's broke, he'll slosh another one. 145 00:10:45,980 --> 00:10:49,980 But a man like this, you don't know when he'll strike again. 146 00:10:49,980 --> 00:10:54,980 Or he'll feel strike again. 147 00:10:58,980 --> 00:11:01,980 Back at the station, the newspaper men were waiting for the story, 148 00:11:01,980 --> 00:11:05,980 having centered it the way dogs will smell out the fresh track of a fox. 149 00:11:05,980 --> 00:11:10,980 There was one newspaper man at all with shoulders and arms that looked more like a coal heaver 150 00:11:10,980 --> 00:11:15,980 than a journalist who kept asking about clues as though he wanted to solve the case himself. 151 00:11:15,980 --> 00:11:19,980 That was you, Mr. Newspaper Man. 152 00:11:19,980 --> 00:11:24,980 Or maybe you just wanted to find out how much we knew. 153 00:11:24,980 --> 00:11:27,980 After the newspaper men left, I was in my office, 154 00:11:27,980 --> 00:11:30,980 finishing up my report when there was a knock on the door. 155 00:11:30,980 --> 00:11:32,980 Who's there? 156 00:11:32,980 --> 00:11:34,980 Do you mind if I come in, Sergeant? 157 00:11:34,980 --> 00:11:36,980 Oh, it's you. 158 00:11:36,980 --> 00:11:40,980 Yes, I thought of a few more questions I'd like to ask you. 159 00:11:40,980 --> 00:11:43,980 It seems to me you are around all the time. 160 00:11:43,980 --> 00:11:44,980 So? 161 00:11:44,980 --> 00:11:46,980 Yes. And now you want to ask more questions. 162 00:11:46,980 --> 00:11:50,980 I'm afraid we can't give out any more information than you already have. 163 00:11:50,980 --> 00:11:52,980 Half a minute, Sergeant. 164 00:11:52,980 --> 00:11:56,980 All the papers are going to do a regular story on the strangling monster. 165 00:11:56,980 --> 00:12:00,980 I thought I'd like to do something different, more of a mood piece. 166 00:12:00,980 --> 00:12:02,980 Now, you look like an intelligent man, Sergeant. 167 00:12:02,980 --> 00:12:03,980 Thanks. 168 00:12:03,980 --> 00:12:05,980 I thought you might help. 169 00:12:05,980 --> 00:12:08,980 Well, maybe I can, maybe I can't. What do you want to know? 170 00:12:08,980 --> 00:12:11,980 What sort of a man do you think the killer is? 171 00:12:11,980 --> 00:12:15,980 Do you think he's a monster who can slip through the night without being seen? 172 00:12:15,980 --> 00:12:21,980 No, no, I think he's probably a very ordinary man. 173 00:12:21,980 --> 00:12:24,980 Everyone, even our own constables, is looking for the monster 174 00:12:24,980 --> 00:12:26,980 instead of the man standing next to them. 175 00:12:26,980 --> 00:12:31,980 No, this man can move about and no one sees him because he's an ordinary man 176 00:12:31,980 --> 00:12:33,980 and it's ordinary for him to be around. 177 00:12:33,980 --> 00:12:36,980 He might be a boot black, the man who makes deliveries, 178 00:12:36,980 --> 00:12:40,980 or even a policeman or a journalist. 179 00:12:40,980 --> 00:12:42,980 Why do you say that? 180 00:12:42,980 --> 00:12:46,980 I don't think I meant anything personal, Mr. Newspaper Man. 181 00:12:46,980 --> 00:12:49,980 I meant that he's merely someone you look at 182 00:12:49,980 --> 00:12:52,980 and never think that maybe he might strangle someone. 183 00:12:52,980 --> 00:12:55,980 Your theory is very interesting, Sergeant. 184 00:12:55,980 --> 00:12:58,980 And do you also think that you'll catch him? 185 00:12:58,980 --> 00:13:02,980 Well, if he's caught, short of actually catching him in the act, 186 00:13:02,980 --> 00:13:04,980 it'll be because of only one thing. 187 00:13:04,980 --> 00:13:05,980 Oh, and that is? 188 00:13:05,980 --> 00:13:06,980 Curiosity. 189 00:13:06,980 --> 00:13:07,980 Curiosity? 190 00:13:07,980 --> 00:13:11,980 Yes, he'll be nabbed if his curiosity is too great, 191 00:13:11,980 --> 00:13:15,980 if he wonders how near others are to him, 192 00:13:15,980 --> 00:13:18,980 if he has to ask questions, 193 00:13:18,980 --> 00:13:24,980 and then returns to ask still more questions. 194 00:13:24,980 --> 00:13:37,980 Music 195 00:13:37,980 --> 00:13:40,980 Later that evening, I went out into the district, 196 00:13:40,980 --> 00:13:42,980 visiting beat after beat. 197 00:13:42,980 --> 00:13:45,980 The presence of the killer, the straining horror was in the air. 198 00:13:45,980 --> 00:13:49,980 The entire district was given over not to panic for London never yields to that, 199 00:13:49,980 --> 00:13:51,980 but to fear of the unknown. 200 00:13:51,980 --> 00:13:56,980 And while the community still gasped over the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Weibrauch, 201 00:13:56,980 --> 00:13:59,980 while fear was moving into every tenement, 202 00:13:59,980 --> 00:14:02,980 the killer made his next move. 203 00:14:02,980 --> 00:14:05,980 Conscious of the horror caused by his hands 204 00:14:05,980 --> 00:14:09,980 and as hungry for more as any giddy girl at her first performance in the music hall, 205 00:14:09,980 --> 00:14:12,980 his hands reached out again. 206 00:14:12,980 --> 00:14:14,980 Music 207 00:14:14,980 --> 00:14:19,980 Well, I was cutting through Cleming Street 208 00:14:19,980 --> 00:14:22,980 when I saw you again, Mr. Newspaper Man. 209 00:14:22,980 --> 00:14:26,980 You slipped along the street, peering into alleys. 210 00:14:26,980 --> 00:14:28,980 Even then I had a hunch to stop you, 211 00:14:28,980 --> 00:14:32,980 and I felt I had no real reason to suspect you so. 212 00:14:32,980 --> 00:14:34,980 I walked on. 213 00:14:34,980 --> 00:14:36,980 Peterson and Joyner were patrolling Joynington Road. 214 00:14:36,980 --> 00:14:40,980 It was just 9.32 when I met Joyner near the middle of the street. 215 00:14:40,980 --> 00:14:42,980 I spoke to him and went on. 216 00:14:42,980 --> 00:14:46,980 At 9.33, I met Peterson coming back from the other end of the street. 217 00:14:46,980 --> 00:14:49,980 I answered his greeting and passed, 218 00:14:49,980 --> 00:14:52,980 intending to go to the end of the beat and cut over to Logan Passage. 219 00:14:52,980 --> 00:14:59,980 Then, during the few seconds that everyone's back was turned towards the spot where he stood, 220 00:14:59,980 --> 00:15:03,980 the killer struck again. 221 00:15:03,980 --> 00:15:07,980 Ah! 222 00:15:07,980 --> 00:15:10,980 Whistle 223 00:15:10,980 --> 00:15:11,980 Joyner, here. 224 00:15:11,980 --> 00:15:12,980 What the? 225 00:15:12,980 --> 00:15:14,980 Oh, heavens! It's Peterson! 226 00:15:14,980 --> 00:15:17,980 Yeah, it's Peterson, dead like the rest of them, strangled right under our noses. 227 00:15:17,980 --> 00:15:18,980 Where were you, Joyner? 228 00:15:18,980 --> 00:15:20,980 I'd just reached the end of my beat, Sergeant. 229 00:15:20,980 --> 00:15:22,980 I was already turning when I heard your whistle. 230 00:15:22,980 --> 00:15:24,980 I just passed him on my way to Logan. 231 00:15:24,980 --> 00:15:26,980 Then we were covering both ends of the street. 232 00:15:26,980 --> 00:15:29,980 He must have come from Minow Street or Cleming Street 233 00:15:29,980 --> 00:15:32,980 and gone back the same way before we could see him. 234 00:15:32,980 --> 00:15:34,980 It is dimly lit around here, sir. 235 00:15:34,980 --> 00:15:35,980 What's up, Constable? 236 00:15:35,980 --> 00:15:37,980 Stand where you are! 237 00:15:37,980 --> 00:15:39,980 Oh. 238 00:15:39,980 --> 00:15:42,980 It's you, Mr. Newspaper Man? 239 00:15:42,980 --> 00:15:45,980 Newspaper Man, yes. So he struck again. 240 00:15:45,980 --> 00:15:46,980 What happened, Sergeant? 241 00:15:46,980 --> 00:15:48,980 I've been checking the beats. 242 00:15:48,980 --> 00:15:52,980 I came up here, passing Joyner, and then Peterson here. 243 00:15:52,980 --> 00:15:56,980 I was at this end of the street, Joyner with that, with Peterson in between us, going towards Joyner. 244 00:15:56,980 --> 00:16:00,980 He cried out once and then was like this. 245 00:16:00,980 --> 00:16:02,980 We saw no one. 246 00:16:02,980 --> 00:16:04,980 Where were you when you heard my whistle? 247 00:16:04,980 --> 00:16:08,980 On Cleming Street, perhaps half a square down, and no one passed that way. 248 00:16:08,980 --> 00:16:10,980 That means that he must have come from Minow. 249 00:16:10,980 --> 00:16:11,980 Shall I ring in, sir? 250 00:16:11,980 --> 00:16:14,980 Yeah, go ahead, Joyner. 251 00:16:14,980 --> 00:16:17,980 Half a square down Cleming Street, were you? 252 00:16:17,980 --> 00:16:19,980 That's right. 253 00:16:19,980 --> 00:16:24,980 That's where you were more than five minutes ago when I passed, and you were coming this way. 254 00:16:24,980 --> 00:16:29,980 Well, I thought I saw something in one of the alleys and stopped to look closer. 255 00:16:29,980 --> 00:16:33,980 Oh, now come, Sergeant, let's not start suspecting each other. 256 00:16:33,980 --> 00:16:36,980 The mutual suspicion of this district is catching. 257 00:16:36,980 --> 00:16:40,980 Yeah. I suppose it is. 258 00:16:40,980 --> 00:16:42,980 Yes, of course. 259 00:16:42,980 --> 00:16:49,980 Still, there's a murderer who must be caught, Mr. Newspaper Man. 260 00:16:49,980 --> 00:17:00,980 The following day, I was back on duty early. 261 00:17:00,980 --> 00:17:06,980 You know, the sight of a uniformed sergeant somehow gave the people a bit more confidence than that of the constables. 262 00:17:06,980 --> 00:17:15,980 The bobbies are well enough in their way, but you know, your average Londoner likes to see more important officials around when things are a bit rough. 263 00:17:15,980 --> 00:17:25,980 The talk in the pubs and on the streets was all cut from the same cloth, and the pattern was fear. 264 00:17:25,980 --> 00:17:29,980 I say the straggler's some posh who's off his beam. 265 00:17:29,980 --> 00:17:35,980 Thinks as though he ain't squeezed dry enough, so he nips over, squeezes a little more, and pops back to the west end. 266 00:17:35,980 --> 00:17:42,980 Oh, you're balmy. He's a lag. Didn't he get a peeler last night, and don't that prove it? 267 00:17:42,980 --> 00:17:45,980 He's a bleeding jack the ripper. That's what he is. 268 00:17:45,980 --> 00:17:51,980 And he'll bloody well kill a lot of us without a single bloody flick to stop him. 269 00:17:51,980 --> 00:17:57,980 He got a bobby, didn't he? And the bobby's crawling all over the place and not wanting to lay a hand on him. 270 00:17:57,980 --> 00:18:06,980 And he was to stop him. That's what I want to know. 271 00:18:06,980 --> 00:18:21,980 I walked the streets, dropping a bit of cheer beyond there. Four or five times I saw you again, Mr. Newspaper Man, your dark face twisted with emotion as you listened to the talk. 272 00:18:21,980 --> 00:18:27,980 This, too, was queer for you were the only Newspaper Man I saw in the whole district. 273 00:18:27,980 --> 00:18:33,980 By nine o'clock I was in Riches Lane, an outer street, partly a stall market and partly cheap homes. 274 00:18:33,980 --> 00:18:38,980 On one side was the shattered wall of the railway yard. 275 00:18:38,980 --> 00:18:46,980 The wall of the railway yard put a shadow over the street so that even a garbage can looked like a man crouching. 276 00:18:46,980 --> 00:18:56,980 Farther down the street, the outline of the empty market stalls looked like a bunch of ghosts waiting for the man who would send them more ghosts. 277 00:18:56,980 --> 00:19:03,980 There was no one on the street, no one to witness that which was about to be. 278 00:19:03,980 --> 00:19:11,980 Then, suddenly, in the time between one footfall and another, the wall of silence was broken. 279 00:19:11,980 --> 00:19:17,980 Help! He's here! 280 00:19:17,980 --> 00:19:22,980 And then the lane came to life. It seemed like they were all released by that scream. 281 00:19:22,980 --> 00:19:29,980 All along the street, doors opened and people poured into the street, muttering as the stored-up anger began to overcome their fear. 282 00:19:29,980 --> 00:19:37,980 They milled around, uncertain which way to turn. Then, then the whistle pointed the direction to them. 283 00:19:37,980 --> 00:19:42,980 Gathering like dark clouds, they moved down on the cottage where I stood with the constables. 284 00:19:42,980 --> 00:19:48,980 The sight of so many of us made them feel that he would now be caught and that anger came up in answer to it. 285 00:19:48,980 --> 00:19:52,980 Well, go in and get him! What are you waiting for? 286 00:19:52,980 --> 00:19:56,980 He's through killing now. Go on and get him, you bloody felons. 287 00:19:56,980 --> 00:19:58,980 He ought to be strung up! 288 00:19:58,980 --> 00:20:02,980 Break it up, break it up. Move back, all of you. 289 00:20:02,980 --> 00:20:05,980 Join her. Get her out of the back and meet the constables there. 290 00:20:05,980 --> 00:20:12,980 Martin, Addison, take the house on the left. Jones, Edmonds, take the house on the right. Betts, you come with me. 291 00:20:12,980 --> 00:20:15,980 Save a piece of him for me, sergeants! 292 00:20:17,980 --> 00:20:25,980 Inside the cottage, a whole family lay dead, fallen around the supper table. 293 00:20:25,980 --> 00:20:34,980 One look at their necks showed us the strangest trademark again, but there was nothing in that cottage except death. 294 00:20:34,980 --> 00:20:40,980 One by one, the constables came back to report. Nothing. 295 00:20:40,980 --> 00:20:43,980 Once more, he had killed and slipped away. 296 00:20:43,980 --> 00:20:49,980 Again, I looked out at the crowd, now beginning to move back as they realized we were empty handed. 297 00:20:49,980 --> 00:20:55,980 Suddenly I saw in the front ranks your face again, the newspaper man who seemed to be everywhere I turned. 298 00:20:55,980 --> 00:20:59,980 There was a light in your face, a light that was almost happiness. 299 00:20:59,980 --> 00:21:09,980 And looking at you in that brief second, I was aware that there were two of us who now knew the identity of the murderer. 300 00:21:09,980 --> 00:21:15,980 But the crowd shifted back, began to lose themselves in the shadows, and you were gone before I could move. 301 00:21:15,980 --> 00:21:33,980 The strangler had struck again, and again we were empty handed as we waited for the ambulance. 302 00:21:33,980 --> 00:21:42,980 You may have been empty handed, sergeant, but I'm sure there were enough thoughts in your head to make up for the lack of something to put your hands on. 303 00:21:42,980 --> 00:21:44,980 Dark thoughts, perhaps. 304 00:21:44,980 --> 00:21:50,980 I did think, Mr. Newspaper Man, I tried to imagine what you were doing during the next hour. 305 00:21:50,980 --> 00:21:56,980 I thought perhaps that you went to the nearest pub and sat alone at the bar, attended by a frightened barmaid. 306 00:21:56,980 --> 00:22:05,980 I think you dismissed the strangling horror from your mind and thought only of the glass of stout and the sandwich, for even such men as you must rebuild their strength. 307 00:22:05,980 --> 00:22:11,980 I think you looked at the sandwich, noticing that it was skimpy as bar sandwiches usually are. 308 00:22:11,980 --> 00:22:23,980 Perhaps you may have thought idly of the inventor of the sandwich, the Earl of Sandwich, then of George IV, then of all the Georges, as any good Englishman might, and so to that George who wondered how the apple got into the apple dumpling. 309 00:22:23,980 --> 00:22:31,980 It was while thinking of that and how the ham got into the ham sandwich that your mind came back to the people who had been murdered. 310 00:22:31,980 --> 00:22:40,980 Maybe it was then that you thought of the simplest fact of all, that the murderer could escape by either running away or by standing still. 311 00:22:40,980 --> 00:22:45,980 It was then, I think, that you got up from the bar without finishing your sandwich. 312 00:22:45,980 --> 00:22:53,980 It was perhaps twenty minutes later that you walked down the street and met the man you were looking for. 313 00:22:54,980 --> 00:22:58,980 Well, seen anything of the murderer, Sergeant? 314 00:22:58,980 --> 00:23:01,980 Oh, it's you again. 315 00:23:01,980 --> 00:23:02,980 Yes. 316 00:23:02,980 --> 00:23:07,980 No, nor has anybody else, and I doubt if they ever will. 317 00:23:07,980 --> 00:23:13,980 No, I don't know. He's already struck fire five times. I've been thinking about it and I've got an idea. 318 00:23:13,980 --> 00:23:14,980 So? 319 00:23:14,980 --> 00:23:20,980 Yes, yes. Came to me all of a sudden, and I felt that we'd all been blind. It's been staring us in the face. 320 00:23:20,980 --> 00:23:24,980 Oh? Has it now? 321 00:23:24,980 --> 00:23:30,980 Well, if you're so sure, why not give us the benefit of it? 322 00:23:30,980 --> 00:23:32,980 I'm going to. 323 00:23:32,980 --> 00:23:41,980 Yes, yes, it seems quite simple now, but there's still one more point I don't quite understand. I mean the motive. 324 00:23:41,980 --> 00:23:53,980 Now, as man to man, tell me, Sergeant Otto Mole, just why did you kill those inoffensive people? 325 00:23:53,980 --> 00:24:05,980 Well, to tell the truth, Mr. Newspaper Man, I don't know, but I've got an idea, just like you. 326 00:24:05,980 --> 00:24:12,980 Everybody knows we can't control the workings of our mind. Ideas come into our heads without being asked. 327 00:24:12,980 --> 00:24:18,980 But everybody's supposed to be able to control his body. Why? 328 00:24:18,980 --> 00:24:25,980 We get our minds from heaven knows where, from people who were dead years before we were born, some say. 329 00:24:25,980 --> 00:24:36,980 Maybe we get our bodies the same way. Our faces, our legs, our hands. They aren't completely ours. 330 00:24:36,980 --> 00:24:45,980 And couldn't ideas come into our bodies like ideas come into our minds? Couldn't ideas live in muscles as well as in a brain? 331 00:24:45,980 --> 00:24:58,980 Couldn't it be that parts of our bodies aren't really us? And couldn't ideas come into them all of a sudden like ideas come into my hands? 332 00:24:58,980 --> 00:25:26,980 You see, Mr. Newspaper Man, it was six. 333 00:25:26,980 --> 00:25:41,980 One other thing the Newspaper Man did while he was in that pub, he'd called his newspaper and told them his idea and said he was coming to meet me. 334 00:25:41,980 --> 00:25:53,980 And so, they're hanging me, killing me for something which my hands did. I had nothing to do with it. 335 00:25:53,980 --> 00:26:00,980 You can see that. But what hurts me the most is what the judge said when he sentenced me. 336 00:26:00,980 --> 00:26:06,980 It's not true. It's not true, I tell you. 337 00:26:06,980 --> 00:26:31,980 That if I lived, someday these hands, my hands, they say, might reach out for you. 338 00:26:31,980 --> 00:26:40,980 Thank you, Claude Rains and Vincent Price, for a splendid performance. Mr. Rains and Mr. Price will return in just a moment. 339 00:26:40,980 --> 00:26:42,980 Harrow, you were telling me... 340 00:26:42,980 --> 00:26:53,980 Oh, yes, yes. Well, Hap, the next time I saw this fancy fellow, his gadget-laden car was humming and purring up the street as smooth as the slippery glide of a slide trombone. 341 00:26:53,980 --> 00:27:02,980 I got my auto light resistor spark plugs, he yelled to me as he whirled by, and they're terrific. Well, by Cornelius, this fellow had the right dope. 342 00:27:02,980 --> 00:27:11,980 Because, friends, when you replace your old narrow gap spark plugs with the wide gap auto light resistor spark plugs, you can really tell the difference in your car. 343 00:27:11,980 --> 00:27:21,980 So if you don't already have a set of auto light resistor spark plugs, drive down tomorrow to your nearest auto light dealer and treat your car right. Switch to auto light. 344 00:27:21,980 --> 00:27:23,980 And, friends, remember to... 345 00:27:23,980 --> 00:27:37,980 Auto light means spark plugs. Ignition engineered resistor spark plugs. Auto light means batteries. Stay full, batteries. Auto light means ignition system. The lifeline of your car. 346 00:27:37,980 --> 00:27:47,980 And now here again is Mr. Claude Rains. 347 00:27:47,980 --> 00:27:58,980 The hands of Mr. Ottomol has always been one of my favorite mystery stories, and so it was a great pleasure to be able to play it on suspense. One of my favorite radio programs. What about you, Vincent? 348 00:27:58,980 --> 00:28:10,980 Well, I agree with you on both counts, Claude. And in addition, I found it refreshing to play the murder victim for a change instead of the murderer. By the way, Claude, what will we be hearing on suspense next week? 349 00:28:10,980 --> 00:28:21,980 A treat you won't want to miss. One of Hollywood's most glamorous stars, Miss Rosalind Russell, in a top story, The Sisters. Another gripping study in... 350 00:28:21,980 --> 00:28:24,980 Suspense! 351 00:28:24,980 --> 00:28:36,980 Claude Rains will soon be seen in the Paramount picture, The Sin of Abby Hunt. Vincent Price can currently be seen with Lana Turner, Gene Kelly, and June Allison in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Technicolor production, The Three Musketeers. 352 00:28:36,980 --> 00:28:50,980 Tonight's suspense play was the famous story by Thomas Burke, adapted for radio by Ken Crossen, with music composed by Lucian Morrowek and conducted by Lud Bluskin. The entire production was under the direction of Anton M. Lieder. 353 00:28:50,980 --> 00:29:09,980 In the coming weeks, Suspense will present such stars as James Cagney, Ronald Coleman, William Bendix, and others. Make it a point to listen each Thursday to Suspense, radio's outstanding theater of thrills. And next Thursday, same time, hear Rosalind Russell in The Sisters. 354 00:29:09,980 --> 00:29:24,980 This is the Auto Light Suspense Show. Turn in your scrap steel to your local scrap dealer. The more scrap, the more steel. Good night. Switch to Auto Light. 355 00:29:24,980 --> 00:29:39,980 This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.