Speaker 1: Speaking from London, the Black Museum, a repository tep Yes.
Speaker 1: Here in the grim Stone structure on the Thames which
Speaker 1: houses Scotland Yard, is a warehouse, a farmer side where
Speaker 1: everyday objects, a dictionaries, stenographer's notebook, a clothes hanger, all
Speaker 1: are touched by murder. Here's a post guard. It's a
Speaker 1: familiar object, slightly soiled in its passage through the mails.
Speaker 1: Usual cancelation over the stamp, no ordary a dress twenty
Speaker 1: nine Saint Paul's Road, London. The message yes on the
Speaker 1: message side of drawing rather well done. The rising sun
Speaker 1: rather a conventional representation, isn't it? Argent? Yes, h conventional,
Speaker 1: still a rather unconventional matter. Murders as it is unconventional
Speaker 1: in his ardent, I've often wondered why they owe so
Speaker 1: many executions at sunrise? Why they end lives at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the day. Anyway, that poster and today with
Speaker 1: a rising sun on it can be seen among the
Speaker 1: other exhibits in the Black Museum.
Speaker 2: From the annals of the Criminal Investigation Department of the
Speaker 2: London Police, we bring you the dramatic stories of the
Speaker 2: crimes recorded by the objects in Scotland Yard's Gallery of Death,
Speaker 2: the Black Museum. In just a moment you will hear
Speaker 2: the Black Museum starring awesome wells now the Black Museum
Speaker 2: starring awesome wells.
Speaker 1: Uh. Here we are in the Black Museum, Scotland Yards
Speaker 1: Museum of Murder. Yes, here lies death is a variety
Speaker 1: of form, swift or slow, mercifuler crool death this year
Speaker 1: laid out, remembered in detail, and perhaps waiting to strike
Speaker 1: again as a typewriter. This is an incident, is that, yes?
Speaker 1: Worthy of the Black Museum. Definitely the criminal care, the
Speaker 1: vicious planning that went into its use till a person
Speaker 1: who received the letters written on this machine in desperation
Speaker 1: took her own life. As a Triald's toy, tiny mental airplane.
Speaker 1: It's rusty in places, propeller doesn't turn anymore, but there
Speaker 1: were fingerprints on this. They placed a killer at the
Speaker 1: scene of the crime for which he was hanged. Ah.
Speaker 1: Here we are as a postguards. The post guard with
Speaker 1: its drawing of a rising sun. It's clear at once
Speaker 1: that a skilled hand drew this turny picture. In this case,
Speaker 1: many things were clear almost at once, and conclusions were drawn. However, that,
Speaker 1: of course is the story, the story which begins for
Speaker 1: us as Alfie Vine and his elderly mother turned into
Speaker 1: the entrance of twenty nine Saint Paul's Road, London. Healthy.
Speaker 3: I refuse to go as tet fur then till you've
Speaker 3: told me what this is all about.
Speaker 1: I'm surprising you, mums. Oh you've come all this way.
Speaker 1: You're gonna spoil it all now.
Speaker 3: I'm not set froot and this house until you stop
Speaker 3: all this mystery.
Speaker 1: Om mums, Well this is where I've got my rooms.
Speaker 3: You're living here or twenty nine ports?
Speaker 1: You know the address? Well, the dirty my place is
Speaker 1: all right, it's only the outside and it's key Elfie.
Speaker 3: You've not wanted to show me this before.
Speaker 1: I want to show you the girl who was waiting upstairs, Hofing.
Speaker 1: You haven't gone and got married, not yet, ma'am's, but
Speaker 1: we're planning, so I want you to meet her.
Speaker 3: Oh, right, are going?
Speaker 1: They went in, the shabby young man, the rusty, black clad,
Speaker 1: gray haired woman. They climbed the stairs one flight, only
Speaker 1: only one, but enough for missus Vine to see the
Speaker 1: scabby walls, a dirty stair rail, and untidy hall. Halfid
Speaker 1: placed his key in the lock and turned it and
Speaker 1: opened the door. Light from the window revealed a single
Speaker 1: room and washed in bed had raised the scream cause
Speaker 1: a young lady on the bed clad in the remnants
Speaker 1: of a nightgown. The gown, the sheets, the pillow were bloodstained.
Speaker 1: Why wouldn't they be? The young lady's hand had been
Speaker 1: severed from her body. His mother had given her to
Speaker 1: the care of a neighbor. Alf here find some of
Speaker 1: the police. Shortly thereafter he faced Inspector Wood and Sergeant
Speaker 1: Cross of the CID Scotland. Yearn Tombya's mind that this
Speaker 1: Elice Cortland was once we say more than a fiance
Speaker 1: to you. We was married. I didn't want my mother
Speaker 1: to think we've gone and done it without our knowing,
Speaker 1: so we planned to do it over again after mum's better.
Speaker 1: Where were you last night?
Speaker 4: Time?
Speaker 1: Working? Oh? You can check on the postal clerk night
Speaker 1: shift where Charing Cross substation? Check that, Sergeant sir, Of
Speaker 1: course you work Night's a lot, fine, it's a split schedule,
Speaker 1: Inspector two or three times sometimes more a week. You
Speaker 1: don't think I'd done Alison, do you. We're not thinking anything.
Speaker 4: Yet, not until we find out from the lab exactly
Speaker 4: when she.
Speaker 1: Died, poor Elie. She did you know much of her life?
Speaker 1: Nothing to depend on Jube. She met me? What did
Speaker 1: she do at night while you were working? I never asked.
Speaker 1: We trusted each other, we did, I see, Sergeant, I
Speaker 1: want the neighborhood expect to a skeptical You could hear
Speaker 1: it in his voice. The story was hard to say
Speaker 1: the least became a trifle more art one search and
Speaker 1: cross reported. Then you were all right every bar in
Speaker 1: the district, but not as Alice fine In most places.
Speaker 1: She was Daisy Cumminspector understood. Came as no surprise therefore,
Speaker 1: and a frightened little man, a mighty shore ship's cook
Speaker 1: on leave, turned up with the Yes, Sir, I knew Daisy,
Speaker 1: but I wasn't with a Wednesday night, no, sir. Not.
Speaker 1: Then when did you see her last? That was Tuesday night, Inspector,
Speaker 1: and before that Monday and Sunday, do sir. We had dates,
Speaker 1: Daisy and me whenever I was ashore, always had a
Speaker 1: few drinks together at the Orc, at the Rising Sun,
Speaker 1: places like that along Saint Paul's Road. But not Wednesday night, no, sir,
Speaker 1: Not the night she got herself killed. No, sir, why not?
Speaker 1: She had a date with somebody else I saw on, Sir,
Speaker 1: in the rising sun, I saw them. Were you jealous? No, Sir,
Speaker 1: I was with Daisy's friend, Marty Good. Look at you?
Speaker 1: Can you describe the men Daisy he was with? Why
Speaker 1: to look at him? I I believe I could? Could
Speaker 1: you pick him out of a group? What might sir?
Speaker 1: I'd try for you, Inspector, I'd really try. Apparently, stepped
Speaker 1: forward is about to be made in the case. The
Speaker 1: ship's cook gives his description. Not very big, slim, like
Speaker 1: too shabby, but in a chenteo kind of way, about
Speaker 1: thirty years old, always totally loud, with a pencil kind
Speaker 1: of fella. Can always pick up a chat a description,
Speaker 1: not much to go on, but a starts again. The
Speaker 1: canvases covered the area, and now the various barmaids and
Speaker 1: tavern keepers remembered a man like that, remembered seeing a
Speaker 1: man like that with Daisy alias Alice, the girl who
Speaker 1: literally lost her head. However, they went off further traces
Speaker 1: of the man in question. Inspector Wood and Sergeant Cross
Speaker 1: went back to the bedroom in Saint Paul's Road. Alright,
Speaker 1: Sartant with a fine toothcomb the whole room down to
Speaker 1: the base ports and behind them if necessary. The detectives
Speaker 1: took the toddred room of parts. The bed was dismantled,
Speaker 1: the window case run rolled, the washing cannon's piping sleep
Speaker 1: explored the bureau's investigate. The drawers were pulled out their contents.
Speaker 1: Tourist on the bed. Hello, here's something, Inspector, a postcard
Speaker 1: I see purst mark the day before. Where was it
Speaker 1: caught in the back of his drawer between the bank
Speaker 1: board and the bottom? Interesting? What do you make of
Speaker 1: that drawing, Sutant? It looks like the old jab Flagg
Speaker 1: to me, I don't know of any Japanese eating place
Speaker 1: near here, Inspector in Dacy, meet me at age fifteen
Speaker 1: at the whatever the picture means? It's a rising sun,
Speaker 1: isn't it? Artan? And there is a rising sun? Well
Speaker 1: that show fellows who are on Wednesday night.
Speaker 4: M rather well drawn, almost a skilled hand an artist,
Speaker 4: maybe maybe possibly the killer as well.
Speaker 1: Right back to work, Shartan. There may be a few
Speaker 1: more little messages like this. They found two more, hitting
Speaker 1: in the recesses of the back of the bureau. That
Speaker 1: was all.
Speaker 4: It's a thousand to one shots aren't. But we'll try
Speaker 4: publishing these in the papers. Someone may recognize the handwriting
Speaker 4: or the sketches. More likely the sketches, and someone did.
Speaker 5: M Hello, Larry, this is May May. That's wonderful, is it?
Speaker 1: Larry? Then?
Speaker 6: Why hadn't I heard from you in weeks art? We
Speaker 6: had a quadl Peari. I thought a certain beautiful mom
Speaker 6: was pretty well through with a certain artist. I should be,
Speaker 6: But you're not, Larry. Have you seen today's newspapers?
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 3: It's quite simple. A girl you'd been sending postcards to
Speaker 3: was murdered Wednesday night.
Speaker 1: Oh how do know? I send her cards?
Speaker 3: They're in the paper with drawings. I know your style,
Speaker 3: even in the PA.
Speaker 1: I shall be flattered.
Speaker 3: I guess I'm not nearly The police want to know
Speaker 3: who sent those cards?
Speaker 1: Hey, Will you believe me when I tell you I
Speaker 1: never kill anyone? I believe you. I know you know?
Speaker 6: For all times sake? Will you help me? I'm in trouble, May?
Speaker 6: Will you want trouble? What do you want me to do?
Speaker 6: Anyone asks? Will you anyone at all? Will you say?
Speaker 6: We were together from ten thirty on on Wednesday night
Speaker 6: for her long so then you went to earth Court
Speaker 6: when I went to King's Cross? Well were you with her?
Speaker 6: Does it matter me?
Speaker 1: No? Not anymore?
Speaker 7: I suppose cry to remember. May please n thirty earth Court,
Speaker 7: King's Cross. May Heston artist Martter once upon a time
Speaker 7: in love with artist named Larry and now asked to
Speaker 7: provide an alibi. In fact, he asked to provide an
Speaker 7: alibi which might never be needed.
Speaker 1: May Haster lived with what she knew for a day
Speaker 1: or so, and then half reluctantly, her feet and her
Speaker 1: conscience took her to an office in the old building
Speaker 1: on the Thames. I understand your position, Miss Hester. I'm
Speaker 1: grateful you came to see me.
Speaker 3: I I don't believe he child to inspect her.
Speaker 1: But as long as you're looking for him.
Speaker 3: You won't be looking for the right person, will you.
Speaker 4: That's one way of saying it. R Ms Christler, Yes, inspected.
Speaker 4: I think you'd better give me his name it it's
Speaker 4: very Duncan you know where he lives at present?
Speaker 1: May Hester knew she gave Inspector Wood an address on
Speaker 1: London's western edge. She left the environs of Scotland yard
Speaker 1: so did Inspector Wood Company, with sergeant course, mister Duncan.
Speaker 4: Yes, I'm Duncan, I'm Inspector Woods id uh micro dentils.
Speaker 4: This is our cross. Will you come in, gentlemen, No,
Speaker 4: thank you. I'm afraid mister Duncan. We have to ask
Speaker 4: you to come out with us. We need to ask
Speaker 4: you a few questions and it'll be more convenient down
Speaker 4: at the yard.
Speaker 1: Or today the post guard the little picture of the
Speaker 1: rising Sun on it is part of the exhibits the
Speaker 1: Black Museum.
Speaker 8: In just a moment we will continue with the Black
Speaker 8: Museum starring Awesome Wells. And now we continue with the
Speaker 8: Black Museum Starring Awesome Wells. Larry Duncan was held on
Speaker 8: suspicion of murder. The inspector was convinced of his guilt.
Speaker 8: Duncan protested his innocence. The family called in a famous defender,
Speaker 8: but despite the presence in the case of Sir John Gripp,
Speaker 8: Scotland Yard charged Larry Duncan with the murder of Alice
Speaker 8: Vine alias Daisy Cummins, and preparations for the trial went forward.
Speaker 8: Sir John conferred with Larry, how are you my boy?
Speaker 1: Hally will sir that does my prison pallace show as yet,
Speaker 1: not yet. I like your confidence, Harry. I didn't kill
Speaker 1: a woman, sir, However, you were seeing with her that
Speaker 1: night a man I say that I believe who had
Speaker 1: been with her the three nights.
Speaker 9: Previous, saw you both together in the writing.
Speaker 1: Jun That's that's why I asked May to say we've
Speaker 1: been together after ten thirty that night.
Speaker 9: Well, they have another witness, a tram conductor who states
Speaker 9: he saw you leave that house at five in the morning.
Speaker 9: He couldn't to see me. I take your word, but
Speaker 9: will a jury after that false alibi. I'll have to
Speaker 9: take my chances on that.
Speaker 1: I guess.
Speaker 9: Well, we'll see a little further investigation may bring a
Speaker 9: few more facts to light.
Speaker 1: Sir John Cripps proceeded toward a few more effects. We
Speaker 1: kept we learned very quiet. Now until the try itself
Speaker 1: did he reveal his strategy, the evidence he expected to produce.
Speaker 1: In fact, the first move came sometime after Inspector Wood
Speaker 1: and Sergeant Cross had placed the police case in the record.
Speaker 1: The tram conductor, one Charles Powers, was on the witness stand,
Speaker 1: and I was certain, mister Powers, that the prisoner in
Speaker 1: the dark is the man who saw leaving twenty nine
Speaker 1: some Palls Road that morning. I am an answer positive. Oh,
Speaker 1: mister boys walk, sir, he has a kind of a
Speaker 1: free swinging stride. Thank you. You may cross exactly tell you,
Speaker 1: mister Powers, let me refresh my memory. You have said
Speaker 1: the weather that tragic morning was Terrisley. Oh I did
Speaker 1: say so it was, thank you, And that you saw
Speaker 1: the man quite clearly by the light of a lamp
Speaker 1: boost Yes, sir, it's correct. And father, that you.
Speaker 9: Heard a church clock in the vicinity strike five, I did, myler.
Speaker 9: I offer him evidence as a rebuttal of this man's testimony,
Speaker 9: the reports DULIA tested of the electric light company servicing
Speaker 9: that district, which contains the record that the street lights
Speaker 9: were extinguished that morning at four thirty seven a m.
Speaker 9: This man could not have seen any one by the
Speaker 9: light of a street lamp. Make it say, and if
Speaker 9: it pleased the court, I have heard the Julia tested
Speaker 9: records of the London Weather Bureau not one drop of
Speaker 9: rain fell anywhere in London that morning.
Speaker 1: I thank for ever. Thank you, my lad A skill
Speaker 1: lawyer in actions A fine thing to watch, isn't it?
Speaker 1: There was a witness and important with is completely demolished,
Speaker 1: his facts called in question, and his responsibility to run
Speaker 1: the pieces the prosecution suffered from them. Naturally, they attempted
Speaker 1: to regain their loss with Marty Shaw, the ship's cook.
Speaker 1: In conclusion, mister Shaw, you identified.
Speaker 9: The prisoner as the man who was with the victim,
Speaker 9: the knight of the murder, I did, sir, Thank.
Speaker 1: You your witness.
Speaker 9: Mister Shaw, were you frightened when you heard of Miss
Speaker 9: cummings death?
Speaker 1: Now? Why should not? Why shouldn't you be?
Speaker 9: After all, mister Shaw, by your own testimony, you spent Sunday,
Speaker 9: Monday and Tuesday evenings with Miss Cummings. She was killed
Speaker 9: on Wednesdays, killed on Wednesday. Why shouldn't you have been frightened?
Speaker 9: You mean because I was the next man to the prisoner,
Speaker 9: next man to the murderer. Perhaps not next man to
Speaker 9: the prisoner might be or was to.
Speaker 1: Realize, didn't you that your position might turn out to
Speaker 1: be unpleasant? Yes, sir, I'll tussargai. Then you discuss the
Speaker 1: matter with another lady friend of the decease. What if
Speaker 1: jed nothing nothing at all, except perhaps that from this
Speaker 1: woman you obtained a detailed description of a certain friend
Speaker 1: of Miss Cummings, and from that description you picked up
Speaker 1: the prisoner at an.
Speaker 9: Identification for thee Well, mister Shaw, answer me. Speak up,
Speaker 9: mister Shaw. The judge and the jury want to hear
Speaker 9: your answer. So ry, yes, sir, I did that. Thank you,
Speaker 9: mister Shaw.
Speaker 1: That is all another witness is testimony discredited, his motives
Speaker 1: called in question the propriety of his identification. More than
Speaker 1: call in question, the courtroom crowd was making bets as
Speaker 1: it filed out. After the first day, the odds were
Speaker 1: swinging away from the prosecution and toward the young man
Speaker 1: who sat quietly in the prisoner's dark sketching. Sketching After all, right,
Speaker 1: Duncan was an artist. An artist wants to keep the
Speaker 1: record of his experiences, even on his life. Thanks and
Speaker 1: the balance. Next day a prosecution called may Hester. Miss Hester,
Speaker 1: how did you learn of this crime in the newspapers
Speaker 1: and how did you first connect the prisoner with it
Speaker 1: in your mind?
Speaker 3: Well, when I saw the postcard in the paper.
Speaker 1: The one with a drawing on it, it was Larry's, mister.
Speaker 3: Duncan's style, I recognized it.
Speaker 1: What did you do? I called him on the phone.
Speaker 1: What happened? He asked me? To give him an.
Speaker 10: Alibi, a false alabam. Yes, he wanted me to say
Speaker 10: that I've been with him that night, And what did
Speaker 10: you do? I agreed? Then I thought it over and
Speaker 10: I went.
Speaker 1: To the police anywhere, Thank yous Sin Sabbath, miss Hester.
Speaker 9: Why did you go to the police, Well, I was
Speaker 9: afraid of suppose had you been in love with mister Duncan?
Speaker 1: I'm that is? Yes? Uh huh? Was he in love
Speaker 1: with you? I thought? So? Have you ever heard of
Speaker 1: an emotion called jealousy? Miss Hester? He was over?
Speaker 5: Are there reason to be jealous?
Speaker 1: I submit, Miss Hester, that when you thought it over,
Speaker 1: when you realized that mister Duncan had apparently gone to
Speaker 1: this woman after his protestations to you that you were
Speaker 1: not afraid that you were jealous enough to want to revenge?
Speaker 1: He was not. So let's not you were afraid of
Speaker 1: what that this man might try to murder? You know,
Speaker 1: of course, not literally did mister Duncan could. Wasn't a sigh,
Speaker 1: Miss Hester? When mister Duncan asked you for the alibi,
Speaker 1: did you know the time of the murder? No? No,
Speaker 1: when did you learn of it?
Speaker 3: Here in the medical testimony, did the question of.
Speaker 1: The time of the death, end of your mind when
Speaker 1: you went to the police. No, no, of course not.
Speaker 1: I asked you again, Miss Hester. Can you say you
Speaker 1: were motivated only by fear and not by jealousy or revenge? Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: I was.
Speaker 3: Only afraid, afraid of what I was afraid that well
Speaker 3: evenly hadn't done it, and and I had.
Speaker 5: I'm getting to trouble myself.
Speaker 1: And you were willing to sacrifice the reputation, perhaps even
Speaker 1: the life of the man you loved because you were
Speaker 1: afraid to get into the objestion the lord irrelevant, incompetent
Speaker 1: and immitrrial. I withdraw the question. That is all, Miss Hester,
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Thereafter the prosecution rested their case,
Speaker 1: or what was left of it, so John call Arry
Speaker 1: Duncan as his first words for the defense testimony was short.
Speaker 1: I didn't pure. I left him at the rising sun
Speaker 1: that night around midnight. I kill Nor could the Crowns
Speaker 1: prosecutor shake his statement. Next and last witness of the
Speaker 1: defense one David Wallace, a ticket agent on a suburban railroad.
Speaker 1: Mister Wallace, what is your address twenty six Saint Paul's Road?
Speaker 1: What time did you leave your house. The morning after
Speaker 1: this killing, my regular time, sir, five minutes to five
Speaker 1: h Did you see anyone that morning? Yes, sir, a
Speaker 1: man going in the opposite direction. Only one man, only one, sir.
Speaker 1: Are you conscious that you have a rather free swinging stride?
Speaker 1: Who I do it on purpose? It's good for you.
Speaker 9: In the morning, with a permission at the court, I
Speaker 9: request a small demonstration. Who see stepped down a moment,
Speaker 9: mister Wallace, please I sir, No, then just telling up
Speaker 9: the collar of your coat. Ah, thank you? Put on
Speaker 9: your hat, will you thank you?
Speaker 1: Now? Will you walk please? In the mornings, just out
Speaker 1: briave deepon all please like this. It was unmistakable, the
Speaker 1: free swinging stride. It was established that there was a
Speaker 1: man on proper decent business walking in Saint Paul's road
Speaker 1: at five that morning. The prosecution had no cross examination
Speaker 1: for mister Wallace. The Crown summed up. Sir John sumed up.
Speaker 1: The judge's charge was brief and to the point. In
Speaker 1: cases such as this, if there is any reasonable doubt
Speaker 1: in your minds, gentlemen of the jury, it is incumbent
Speaker 1: on you to give the prisoner the benefit of that doubt.
Speaker 1: At eight thirty. The same evening, the jury filed back
Speaker 1: into the box. The clerk solemnly intoned the old question,
Speaker 1: have you reached a verdict? We have? Again, the clerk spoke,
Speaker 1: what is your verdict? We find the accused not guilty?
Speaker 1: Er he to day that postcard, whatever it may mean,
Speaker 1: with its rising sun, reposes in't a place of honor
Speaker 1: in the Black Museum.