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The Mistake of the Machine: Can a Machine Prove Guilt? | Father Brown · Father Brown | G. K. Chesterton Detective Stories

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: We present The Mistake of the Machine, adapted by John
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Scottney with Andrew Sachs as Father Brown.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Hey, what in tarnation? Where's my flashlight? Hey, who's there? Hey, you,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: come here, you, come here.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: Now, stop, stop. Stevie.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Leave me, please. Why, come here now. I got a gun.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: I don't mind using it. Don't shoot me. I didn't. Oh, Jesus. Well, well,
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: I just wonder where you're running from, friend. At this
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: time of night, too.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: That's it.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Now, slowly does it. Into the light of my flashlight here.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Let's have a look at you. Look, don't. Don't. Keep
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: your hands high. Say, you sure are one very unlucky
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Irishman to run into me this time of night. Who
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: the devil are you? The name's Greywood Usher. I'm governor
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: of the jail here. And I guess I got a
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: pretty fair idea who the devil you are, stranger. Come
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: on now, this way. And I strongly advise you don't
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: try anything funny.
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: Help yourself to sugar, John.
• 1:15
  Speaker 5: Oh, thank you, yes. Do you know, this is the
• 1:19
  Speaker 5: first proper cup of tea I've had since I arrived
• 1:22
  Speaker 5: in America.
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: Ah.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Mm.
• 1:27
  Speaker 5: Mm-hmm-hmm. Well, well, it's good to see you again, old friend.
• 1:34
  Speaker 5: Tell me, how does the life of a prison chaplain
• 1:37
  Speaker 5: suit you?
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: Well, not so bad, John, not so bad. Apart from
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: the difficulty in getting hold of decency. Yes, and the
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: governor's theories.
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: The governor's theories? How do you mean?
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: Oh, he's a decent enough body, sure enough. Fell in
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: the name of Greywood Usher. But he's all these ideas
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: about the Application of scientific method to the detection and
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: prevention of crime.
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: Oh.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: Yes. And the gadgets, huh?
• 2:04
  Speaker 5: The gadgets.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: See, he's got this place full of gadgets. All designed
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: to demonstrate these theories of his. I can tell you,
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: they make the good St. Thomas' ontological proof of God's
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: existence seem simple.
• 2:18
  Speaker 5: Yes, good old Aquinas. Uh. I wonder how many times
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: at the seminary we sat up half the night arguing
• 2:25
  Speaker 5: about him.
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: Yes. Setting the world and Mother Church to rights.
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: Ah, the Magrandes.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Amen.
• 2:33
  Speaker 5: That they were. How on earth did you know I
• 2:37
  Speaker 5: was in Chicago, Jim?
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: I read it in the Pink Press.
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: The Pink.
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: The terrible so-called society papers they have here. The famous
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: Father John Brown is visiting our city. Really? Yes, and
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: I thought to meself, Can that be the little stubby
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: English fella I knew all those years ago when we
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: were both studying for the priesthood?
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: Dear, oh, dear, all this fuss. It's terribly embarrassing.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: Not to worry. You've been eclipsed by another visitor from
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: over the water. Come to grace our fair city, as
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: they say here.
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: Seat yourself.
• 3:11
  Speaker 5: Good heavens. This paper really is pink. Last trick, Todd.
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: Last trick, Todd. Society's brightest widower is once again on
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: the freak dinner stunt.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: Freak dinner?
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Hmm.
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: This time it's a slum evening. What on earth is
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: all this about? It's a need, it's idea.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: They all go about in fancy dress. Last time, they
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: had to dress up as babies or nurses. I saw
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: them myself. His house, Pilgrim's Pond, he calls it. It's
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: just down the road from here. Now, this time, It's
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: a slum dinner. They all have to go as tramps,
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: down and outs and so forth. Oh, good heavens. But
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: that wasn't the part I meant.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: Here.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: Listen to this. Tonight, the hospitable Todd entertains Lord Falcon Roy,
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: a true-blooded British aristocrat fresh from England's Oak Grove.
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: Oh, say, how can they use that?
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: Go on, go on. Read the rest of it yourself.
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: Let me see. Lord Falkenroy is said to have been
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: in the States in his youth. Fashion rumours a maybe
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: reason for his return... Fashion rumours a maybe reason for
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: his return in the person of last trick's only child,
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: Miss Etta Todd, who comes into a fortune of $ 12 million.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: Yes, and they call themselves Republicans. And what do you
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: make of it, John?
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: I think the journalist who wrote it should be put
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: on a charge of murder.
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: What?
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: For murdering the English language.
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: Oh, come in, please.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Father O'Connor.
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: Oh, Governor.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: I didn't know you had company here.
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: Yes, come in. We were just talking about something, weren't we?
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: Sit down. Ah, thank you.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: Governor, this is an old friend of mine from England,
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: Father Brown.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: Ah, Father... Say, uh... Are you the Father Brown, the
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: noted criminologist?
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: Well, I don't know, am I?
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: Well, didn't I read about you?
• 5:15
  Speaker 5: Oh, in the pink newspapers.
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: Oh, dear, yes.
• 5:18
  Speaker 5: I rather fear you may have done.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Oh, Father Brown, let me shake you by the hand.
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: Oh, yes.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Usher's the name. Gravewood Usher. It's an honor to have
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: you in my jail.
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: If you can spare the time, I'd sure like to
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: discuss a few matters of mutual interest with you. But
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: right now, I've got some pretty urgent business with Father
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: O'Connor here. Now, Father, this is important. In your visits
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: to the Sequa convict settlement, did you ever come across
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: one Oscar Ryan? Now, you must know him. He's an
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: Irish Catholic.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: Oscar Ryan?
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: No.
• 5:51
  Speaker 6: What?
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: I don't think so. Oscar Ryan? It does sound.
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: No.
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: Sorry, no.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Now, that is a pity. I was hoping you might
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: be able to identify him. After all, he is a Catholic.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: You sure you don't know him?
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: I'm sure I've come across the name somewhere, though.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: Why, you sure have. It's right there in that newspaper
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: you got in your hand. There, you see? Convict Escapes
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: from Sequa. That's a convict settlement, Father Brown, about 30
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: miles from here.
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: Now, I see.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: Apparently, this fella, Oscar Ryan, overpowered the warder on the
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: north wall and took his gun and jumped down. They
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: only had one guy on patrol on account it's so
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: steep and dangerous there.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: Didn't they find a note or something?
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Well, they sure did. Here, it's in the paper. The
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: warder was found bound and gagged. Beside him was a
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: note reading, I've taken the gun, but will use it
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: only for self-defense.
• 6:43
  Speaker 5: I mean no.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: Harm to any man but one. I'm keeping the bullet
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: for Pilgrim's Pond.
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: Pilgrim's Pond, Jim? Isn't that where the.
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: Yes, it is.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Anyway, boys, have I got news for you.
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: Jack Hill, he's the governor of secrecy. He's sure going
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: to eat dirt when he hears what I've got to
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: tell him. He sure is.
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: And what's that, Mr.
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: Archer?
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Why, don't you see? I got him. I got him.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: I got Oscar Ryan and Cell 25. I got the
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: guy that bust out of his jail. Locked up safe
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: in mine. I was out walking. Like the walk in
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: the evening gives me time to think. That's when I
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: get my best ideas. Anyway, I saw this figure. Reckon
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: I know an escaped convict when I see one after
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: all these years.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: How, Governor?
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: The obviously stolen, rough, ill-fitting clothes. The furtive, frightened manner
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: when I turn my flashlight on him. That becomes second nature.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: You should know that. Didn't recognize him when I first
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: saw him, though. Then I realized it had to be Ryan. Why? Well,
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: first there was the Irish accent. Ryan is Irish.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: But there are plenty of Irish in these parts, Governor.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: I'm glad it wasn't me you saw.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Ah, but he was also in the environs of Pilgrim's Pond.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: It wasn't a quarter of a mile behind him. And
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: that's the place Ryan said he was making for in
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: his note.
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: And what about the gun? The gun?
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: Didn't he also say in the note that he was
• 8:20
  Speaker 5: keeping a bullet for Pilgrim's Pond? I'm sure a bullet
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: isn't half so useful without a gun.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: Well, we found no gun on him. Luckily for me,
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: I reckon, he must have got rid of it for
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: some reason.
• 8:32
  Speaker 5: Or perhaps it had fulfilled its purpose.
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: Well, I don't know.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: Well, say, I'd better go and tell old man Todd
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: the heat's off. You gentlemen feel like strolling over to
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: Pilgrim's Pond with me?
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: I'm afraid I have things to do, Governor.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Ah.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: Father Brown, I'd greatly appreciate your company and conversation.
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: Yes, I'd like a breather there. I find prison slightly enclosed.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: As I said, Father Brown, Ayrton Todd is quite character.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: He's one of those millionaires who rose on stepping stone.
• 9:09
  Speaker 5: Oh, yes, of our dead selves to higher things, perhaps.
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, that's it.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: You know, You English don't do justice to the climbing
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: and aspiring power of our more remarkable citizens. Now, you
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: see a good-looking gray-haired man in evening dress, and you
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: don't realize that ten years ago he might have been
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: in a tenement or in jail. Todd's like that. He
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: made his pile pretty fast with the automobile craze. Ten
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: years ago, he was nothing. You see, I looked him
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: up in our records. I'm proud of our record system.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: I invented it myself.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Oh.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Yes, and I got the jackpot. Seems his little daughter, Etta,
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: had a childhood sweetheart, an Irish laborer. And when old
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: man Todd got rich, he threw this idea... Irish fella
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: out on his ear. Now, you know what his name was?
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: Uh, no.
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: No, I can't say that I do.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: Ryan O'Shea. Remind you of anything, Ryan O'Shea?
• 10:12
  Speaker 5: Well, it sounds rather like Oscar Ryan reversed.
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: Father Brown, I can see your reputation's deserved. Now, it
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: all makes sense, you see. O'Shea, or Ryan, goes to
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: the bad. He's jailed for five years. In jail, he
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: reads all about this English lord and his little Etta,
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: his childhood sweetheart.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: I see.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: Anyway, here we are. This is Pilgrim's Pond. I'll ring
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: the bell. Now, he gets all riled up and decides
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: to bust out of jail so as to gun for
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Iart and Todd, who he believes has ruined his life.
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: I see.
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: Good evening, sir.
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: That it is.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: I'm Governor Usher from the penitentiary.
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: I'd like to speak to Mr. Todd. I'm afraid Mr.
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: Todd is out, sir. Out? I thought he was having
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: a party. One of the guests has gone missing, sir.
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: Lord Falkenroy.
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: Mr.
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: Todd and the other guests are out trying to find him. Well,
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: I'll be. Lord Falkenroy.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: Is Miss Etta about?
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: I believe I saw Miss Etta and a companion getting
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: into her motor car. Ah. It seems you have just
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: missed her.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: I expect she's helping in the search.
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: No doubt, sir. Well, when Mr.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Todd gets back, you just tell him not to worry,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: because I've caught Oscar Ryan. That's me personally, Governor Usher.
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: I will convey that message to him, Mr. Usher. What
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: a fool I've been, Father Brown.
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: Oh, surely not, Mr.
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: Usher.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: I stupidly thought it was Todd that Ryan was gunning for,
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: and I was wrong.
• 11:49
  Speaker 5: Ah.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Nope.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: Ryan was after his rival, the Lord Falkenroy, and he
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: got him. The English Lord Falkenroy, who he learned, was
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: sweet on his little Etta Todd. That's why he threw
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: the gun away. He'd slain his rival.
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: Oh?
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: It was a.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Crime of jealousy, a crime passionale. After he'd shot Falkenroy,
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: he'd no further use for the gun and threw the
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: body in the pond, Pilgrim's Pond itself. It's a pretty
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: deep pond, that is.
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: It is?
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: Yes, it is.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Never mind. I got a trick or two up my
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: sleeve still, Reverend. Let's get back. There's one or two
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: things I'd like to show you at the pen. Might
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: well interest a famous criminologist like yourself.
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: Did you ever see.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: A psychometric detector put into practice?
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: A what?
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: It's a pulsometer strapped to a man's wrist. It measures
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: the heartbeats.
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: Good heavens, why?
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: Well, the variations in pulse rate tell me if he's lying.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: What?
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: How? I reckon you English don't cotton to the march
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: of science in these matters. I intend using the machine
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: on Oscar Ryan, and in my opinion, the machine can't lie.
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: No machine can lie, Mr. Usher, nor can it tell
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: the truth. But how does your machine work?
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Well, I simply read a list of words to the
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: subject and ask him in each case to reply with
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: the first word that comes into his head. The machine
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: records variations in his pulse. Now, the trick is to
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: introduce some word connected with something quite different, yet in
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: a list in which it occurs quite naturally.
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: Oh, I see.
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: I think I do.
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: If he's agitated by the word, his pulse will jump?
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: I'll prove to you it works. Now, here's Ryan's cell.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: I posted a warder outside.
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: I thought your system made that unnecessary.
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: Well, this is a special case. McGurk, how's the prisoner
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: been behaving?
• 13:47
  Speaker 5: Not too badly, sir. He seems a bit resentful.
• 13:51
  Speaker 6: He keeps on demanding to make a telephone call.
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: A telephone call? Well, open up, will you?
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: Come on, Roy.
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: Come on, out you come. There's the governor to see you.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: All right. Look, I can't stick this much word.
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: If you want to.
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: Know all about.
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: Trust the governor, sir. Oh, very well. Sir, I.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: Sir!
• 14:15
  Speaker 6: Sir!
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: Sir!
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: I said quiet.
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: Now or you will be in trouble. You were saying, Ryan? Nothing.
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: What do you want to do with me?
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: Just a few simple tests. This way.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: Now, Ryan, I'm going to say some words to you
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: And I want you to reply with the first thing
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: that comes into your head.
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: Very well.
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: Bird. Brain. Oh. Robin.
• 14:58
  Speaker 7: Good fellow.
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: Owl.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: Waverly pen.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: What?
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: It's an advertisement on the railway. They come as a
• 15:06
  Speaker 5: boon and a blessing to men, the pickwick, the owl,
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: and the waverly pen.
• 15:09
  Speaker 6: Oh.
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: Wren.
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: Jenny.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Falcon.
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: What?
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: What did you say? Falcon, I said, Mr. Ryan.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: Falcon. As in falconery. Falconer.
• 15:25
  Speaker 5: Canary. Yellow.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: That'll do.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: And my telephone call.
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: McGurk.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: Sir.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: Take the prisoner to a telephone.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: Yes, sir.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: Oh, and McGurk, give me your notepad. Oh, yes.
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: Here it is.
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: Now look this up in the files and call me.
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: Ah, yes, I understand.
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: Come this way, you.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: Well, Father Brown, you saw the way that needle jumped
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: when I mentioned Falcon. And boy, did you see how
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: it bounded when I began to make an R afterwards,
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: like in Falcon Roy, the man he just killed. I
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: reckon that's a sight more conclusive than a whole lot
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: of gabble from unreliable human witnesses.
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: Well, yes, yes, that's just the trouble. Human beings are
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: so unreliable. Your reliable machine has to be worked by
• 16:25
  Speaker 5: an unreliable machine.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: What unreliable machine?
• 16:28
  Speaker 5: I mean man, the most unreliable machine I know of.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: Do you mean that I.
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: No, no, no, I don't want to be rude. And
• 16:35
  Speaker 5: I don't think you will consider man to be an
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: offensive or inaccurate description of yourself. You observed his manner,
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: the man you call Ryan, but who's to say he
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: did not observe yours?
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: What do you mean?
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: If you could tell by his manner that the word
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: that might send him to the electrical chair had come,
• 16:55
  Speaker 5: why shouldn't he be able to tell from your manner
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: that you were about to speak that word?
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: I was cool as a cucumber.
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: Oh, yes.
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: Well, criminals can be as cool as cucumbers, too. Though not,
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: I think, this one. Yes, I'm sure you're fundamentally right.
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: He was frightened of something.
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: Well, I'm mightily glad to hear you agree with.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: Me about something, Father Brown.
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: Oh, that must be McGurk.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: Yes, McGurk?
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: Ah, good, good. That's fine.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: Mighty fine. We'll be right over.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: Uh....
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: I asked McGurk to check the files on Drugger Doyle.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: You recall the name the other prisoner called out when
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: he saw Ryan?
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: Yes, yes, Drugger Doyle. It seemed to produce a sort
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: of reticence in him.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it seems like McGurk's found something.
• 17:47
  Speaker 6: Doyle, William, Michael, origin unknown, Quarry, Ireland.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: There, you see? Hmm.
• 17:53
  Speaker 6: Nicknamed Drugger Doyle.
• 17:54
  Speaker 5: Yes, why was that, Mr McGurk? Well, it seems it.
• 17:57
  Speaker 6: Was to do with his modus operandi, Father. Apparently he
• 18:00
  Speaker 6: was a handsome, well-bred semen book.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: Well, that fits our man, anyhow.
• 18:04
  Speaker 6: Oh, that it does, sir. He used to make himself
• 18:07
  Speaker 6: agreeable to barmaids and shop girls, that sort of poor,
• 18:10
  Speaker 6: silly creature, and tricked them out of their money.
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: Oh, he was a species of grafter.
• 18:15
  Speaker 6: Sometimes, though, he went a great deal farther, and they
• 18:18
  Speaker 6: were found drugged. With cigarettes or chocolates. And all their property,
• 18:23
  Speaker 6: everything they had was missing.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: Hence the nickname.
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: Ah, yes, sir.
• 18:27
  Speaker 6: By then, though, he'd moved on to a bigger game.
• 18:30
  Speaker 6: The spoiled daughters of the rich. You know the sort.
• 18:34
  Speaker 6: Rich little darlings whose parents can't refuse them anything.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: Eric, I'll have none of your socialism here.
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: Sorry, sir, sorry.
• 18:43
  Speaker 6: Anyhow, he was sent down several times. Never got too
• 18:47
  Speaker 6: long a sentence. Then one day... He overdid the dose.
• 18:51
  Speaker 6: One of his victims was found dead, and Doyle disappeared
• 18:54
  Speaker 6: from Chicago.
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: What a mean, depraved creature this Doyle sounds.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: Sure does, Father.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: Well, with this against him, he'll be lucky to escape
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: the chair.
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: Even if we don't find Falcon.
• 19:06
  Speaker 6: Sir, sir, it says here that a character answering Doyle's
• 19:09
  Speaker 6: description later turned up in New York, suspected of defrauding
• 19:14
  Speaker 6: a wealthy widow out of over a million dollars.
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: What?
• 19:18
  Speaker 6: Then he disappeared. That was 1908, sir.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: Five years ago, just about the time Ryan was put away.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: I reckon my machine and my record system have just
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: about done for Ryan. Ryan equals Doyle equals the electric
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: hot seat.
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: What your methods have done for Mr. Ryan, whoever he
• 19:37
  Speaker 5: may be.
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: What?
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: Is save him from the electric chair.
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: Mr.
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: Usher, you've proved that Drugger Doyle, the wanted murderer, couldn't
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: possibly be your Mr.
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: Ryan.
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: How do you mean, Father?
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: Why, bless us all. because Oscar Ryan is unlikely to
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: be guilty of all these mean, cowardly acts.
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: Mr.
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: McGurk here. It tells us that drugger Doyle spent years
• 19:59
  Speaker 5: wheedling small sums out of needy young girls.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's right, sir.
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: And that he drugged and cheated and lied?
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes.
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: Is that the kind of man who would dare to
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: attack an armed warder, though unarmed himself?
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: Well.
• 20:11
  Speaker 5: Would he leap down from a high wall at considerable
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: risk to his life? Would a man whose whole life
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: is deception and lies leave a note to the police
• 20:19
  Speaker 5: telling them where to look for him?
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: You mean the message about Pilgrim's Pond?
• 20:24
  Speaker 5: Yes, yes. Doyle would only have said he was going
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: to Pilgrim's Pond if he had no intention of going
• 20:28
  Speaker 5: near the place. Saints alive, the two men's characters are
• 20:31
  Speaker 5: utterly different. Draga Doyle would never risk his life and
• 20:35
  Speaker 5: his freedom to carry out an act of vengeance.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: So the man I've got isn't Drug or do I?
• 20:41
  Speaker 5: No, that's not what I said. I said Oscar Ryan
• 20:46
  Speaker 5: isn't your man.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: Well, then, saving your cloth, Father, what in hell do
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: you mean?
• 20:51
  Speaker 5: You remember your prisoner made a telephone call? And unless
• 20:57
  Speaker 5: I'm very much mistaken, he's already got his response. Who
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: is it?
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: Come in.
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: It's only me, Governor.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: Father O'Connor, I'm extremely busy.
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: Well, now, I'm truly sorry, Governor, but there's someone here
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: who insists on seeing you.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: Yes, I do. Now, see here, you... Don't you talk
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: to Governor Rush like that. Father O'Connor, I fully appreciate
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: that as a priest, it is your duty to tend
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: to tramps and hobos or whatever kind of down-and-out this fellow.
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: Is, but.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: Are you, Usher, the idiot that came to my house?
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: What?
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: See here, Usher.
• 21:33
  Speaker 7: You leave go of my guest. Keep him here for
• 21:35
  Speaker 7: a split instant longer, and you'll feel pretty mean. I
• 21:39
  Speaker 7: reckon I'm not a man with no blow. Who is
• 21:41
  Speaker 7: this hobo?
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: Is the cosmos cracked or something?
• 21:44
  Speaker 7: Now, see here, Usher, I won't... Who the hell are you,
• 21:47
  Speaker 7: you bum?
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: The gentleman's name is Mr. Todd, Mr. Ireton Todd.
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: I fear you don't read the society papers properly, Mr.
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: Usher.
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: Remember, there's been a slum dinner at Pilgrim's Pond tonight,
• 22:00
  Speaker 5: and one of the guests disappeared. Mr. Todd is a
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: good host. He's come to collect his guest without even
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: pausing to take off his slum fancy dress.
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: Wait a minute.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: What guest do you mean?
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: Why, Lord Falconroy, of course.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Didn't my butler tell you? Lord Falconroy?
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: Mr.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: Todd, I apologize that I didn't recognize you, but I've
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: got to tell you that I'm sorry to say that
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: your guest, Lord Falconroy, is dead.
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: Dead?
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: The man's mad. See here, you.
• 22:36
  Speaker 7: Lord Falconroy telephoned me not ten minutes ago.
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: I think, Mr. Usher, that Lord Falconroy is not dead.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: I think I understand you, John. He is, in fact, gentlemen,
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: in cell number 25.
• 22:51
  Speaker 5: Thank you.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: Someone's making sense at last.
• 22:55
  Speaker 5: Cell 25.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: I'll go and collect him myself. Hold on there. Are
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: you saying that the man in rags I caught was
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: Lord Falconroy?
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: That's right.
• 23:06
  Speaker 5: Dressed in his fancy dress costume for the slum dinner.
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: You said your machine couldn't make a mistake, and in
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: one sense it didn't. But the other machine did. The
• 23:15
  Speaker 5: machine that worked it. You assumed that the man in
• 23:18
  Speaker 5: rags jumped at the name of Lord Falconroy because he
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: was Lord Falconroy's murderer. He jumped at the name because
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: he himself was Lord Falconroy.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: Then why the blazes didn't he say so?
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: Perhaps he felt his flight and panic were hardly patrician.
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: Yes, yes, perhaps in his terror he was glad to
• 23:35
  Speaker 5: escape from the avenging arm of Oscar Ryan into the
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: comparative security of a prison cell. I suspect he was
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: just going to tell you who he really was when
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: that fellow in the other cell opposite saw him and
• 23:48
  Speaker 5: found another name for him.
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: You mean.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: Now, wait here... The man I caught really is Drugger Doyle?
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: Lord Falkenroy is Drugger Doyle?
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: It seems a strong possibility.
• 24:02
  Speaker 5: Yes, I think it is probable that Lord Falkenroy and
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: Drugger Doyle are one and the same.
• 24:07
  Speaker 7: Oh, I've no idea what you lunatics are talking about.
• 24:10
  Speaker 7: But I demand that you release my guest immediately.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: But.
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: No, Mr.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: Todd, I will not release Lord Falconroy. I'm holding him
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: pending investigation of a murder that occurred in... You got
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: the file there, McGurk?
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: Yes, sir, here.
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: In 1905 in the state of Illinois under his then
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: alias of Drugger Doyle.
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: You'll answer to this, Usher.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: I'm quite prepared to do.
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: That, Mr. Todd.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: Mr.
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: Todd, have you informed the police that your daughter is missing?
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: How the hell did.
• 24:45
  Speaker 7: No, sir, I have not. My daughter is a very
• 24:48
  Speaker 7: independent young lady. She frequently goes off without telling me.
• 24:52
  Speaker 7: She can look after herself.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: She'll be back tomorrow.
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: I see.
• 24:56
  Speaker 5: And were any of the guests at your slum dinner
• 24:59
  Speaker 5: dressed as convicts, may I ask?
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: Yes. It was my daughter's show.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: She had quite a few of her friends dressed like that. Look,
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: I've had enough.
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: Of this nonsense.
• 25:10
  Speaker 7: I'll be round to see Falcon Roy in the morning
• 25:12
  Speaker 7: with my lawyers.
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: Good night.
• 25:20
  Speaker 5: Well, I shall be quite surprised tomorrow if the pink
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: papers don't report something like astounding elopement of escaped convict
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: with heiress, her childhood sweetheart.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: Well, I'll be. I guess I'd arrange this whole freak
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: dinner just to cover her.
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: Getaway with Ryan.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: But....
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: Why did Ryan want to kill Falconroy?
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: Well, it's all in the foil, sir.
• 25:46
  Speaker 6: It seems before Todd got rich, Etta was one of
• 25:49
  Speaker 6: the poor girls that Doyle deceived.
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: And when Etta told Ryan who Falconroy was, he decided
• 25:56
  Speaker 5: to combine avenging her with their elopement. Why didn't he
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: kill him, John? Oh, I imagine Falconroy fled when Ryan
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: threatened him, and the lovers weren't prepared to jeopardize their
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: plans to elope by pursuing him. Love mattered more to
• 26:11
  Speaker 5: them than hatred, it would seem.
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: That is something.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: Imagine Lord High Falkenroy being a fake.
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: Oh, he's no fake.
• 26:21
  Speaker 6: What?
• 26:22
  Speaker 5: No, he's a perfectly genuine peer of the realm. Mr. Usher,
• 26:26
  Speaker 5: you don't do justice to the, what was it, a
• 26:29
  Speaker 5: climbing power of our more remarkable citizens. You see a
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: good-looking gray-haired man with a title, and you don't realize
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: that ten years ago... He might have been in jail.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: In The Mistake of the Machine by G.K. Chesterton, the
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: part of Father Brown was played by Andrew Sachs, O'Connor
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: by T.P. McKenna, McGurk by Billy Boyle, Usher by Don Fellows,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: The Prisoner by Brian Haynes, Todd by Ed Bishop, The
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Butler by Manning Wilson, and The Convict by Stuart Organ.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: The Mistake of the Machine was adapted by John Scottney
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: and the director from Bristol
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: Was Alec Reid.