Latest / Old Time Mystery Radio | Old Time Radio / Suspense - "The Mystery of Marie Roget" (1953)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: In 19th century Paris, the body of Marie Roget is
- 0:04Speaker 1: recovered from the Seine, and the prefect of police turns
- 0:07Speaker 1: to amateur detective C. Auguste Dupin. Conflicting accounts of the
- 0:13Speaker 1: young woman's disappearance send Dupin to the evidence and the
- 0:16Speaker 1: testimony surrounding her last known movements. From CBS on December 14th, 1953,
- 0:24Speaker 1: this is Suspense, episode 530, The Mystery of Marie Roget,
- 0:30Speaker 1: adapted by E. Jack Newman from Edgar Allan Poe's Dupin's Story.
- 0:35Speaker 1: Cornell Wilde stars as Dupin, with John Danner as the
- 0:39Speaker 1: police prefect. And now, the original broadcast.
- 0:50Speaker 2: Autolite and its 98,000 dealers bring you Mr. Cornel Wild
- 0:54Speaker 2: in tonight's presentation of... Suspense. Tonight, Autolite combines fact and fiction.
- 1:07Speaker 2: The fact, the murder of Mary Cecilia Rogers in New
- 1:10Speaker 2: York City. The fiction, Edgar Allan Poe's solution of that crime,
- 1:15Speaker 2: which he called The Mystery of Marie Roget. Our star, Mr.
- 1:20Speaker 2: Cornel Wilde. You seen any engines around, Harlow? Engines, Sheriff?
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- 2:30Speaker 2: Mary Cecilia Rogers was murdered in the vicinity of New
- 2:33Speaker 2: York City in the summer of 1842. It was still
- 2:36Speaker 2: an unsolved crime in November when The Mystery of Marie
- 2:40Speaker 2: Roget was published. The author, Edgar Allan Poe. It paralleled
- 2:46Speaker 2: in every essential detail the murder of Mary Rogers. Poe
- 2:51Speaker 2: wrote it far from the scene of the atrocity, with
- 2:53Speaker 2: only the newspaper reports of the day. Nevertheless... The subsequent
- 2:58Speaker 2: confession connected with the murder of Mary Rogers confirmed not
- 3:02Speaker 2: only the killer named by Poe, but all the chief
- 3:05Speaker 2: details by which he arrived at his identification. And now,
- 3:11Speaker 2: Autolite presents transcribed Edgar Allan Poe's Mystery of Marie Roget,
- 3:16Speaker 2: starring Mr. Cornel Wilde, hoping once again to keep you
- 3:20Speaker 2: in suspense.
- 3:29Speaker 3: Good evening. My name is Dupin. I should like to
- 3:33Speaker 3: extend an invitation. Regard first a certain event which truly
- 3:39Speaker 3: occurred in New York City on a warm summer night
- 3:42Speaker 3: in 1842. Secondly, I invite you to employ your imagination
- 3:48Speaker 3: and displace that same event intact with all of the
- 3:51Speaker 3: essential facts to a cobbled old world Paris on an
- 3:55Speaker 3: identical warm and fragrant summer night in the same year Lastly,
- 4:01Speaker 3: and most interesting, I should like to invite you to
- 4:04Speaker 3: attend that event. It is a murder.
- 4:07Speaker 2: Ah!
- 4:28Speaker 3: The general design and mental character of the atrocity, indeed,
- 4:32Speaker 3: the first knowledge of its occurrence, came to my attention
- 4:35Speaker 3: on Wednesday night, the 25th day of June. Who is
- 4:45Speaker 3: the prefect of police?
- 4:46Speaker 2: I am, monsieur. Dupin?
- 4:50Speaker 3: Yes, monsieur.
- 4:51Speaker 2: Oh, thank you for coming, monsieur. I wasn't certain my
- 4:53Speaker 2: messenger would find you. This way, monsieur. Please. Andre, the
- 5:02Speaker 2: lantern for Monsieur Dupin.
- 5:07Speaker 3: She died harshly. Yes, yes.
- 5:09Speaker 2: Beaten, choked, drowned. Yes, yes, quite harshly.
- 5:15Speaker 3: She was beautiful, Monsieur.
- 5:17Speaker 2: Once, perhaps, yes.
- 5:18Speaker 3: Still, Mademoiselle what? In life she had a name, in
- 5:23Speaker 3: death she must also have a name.
- 5:26Speaker 2: Any of you? I have asked, monsieur, but none of
- 5:28Speaker 2: them know her. But her clothes and jewels say she
- 5:31Speaker 2: was known, Dupin. Good clothes, torn and disordered in her
- 5:35Speaker 2: terrible struggle, but good. And the jewelry, not expensive, but tasteful.
- 5:40Speaker 2: This woman, in my opinion, Dupin, was known.
- 5:43Speaker 3: And loved, monsieur the prefect.
- 5:45Speaker 2: No doubt. Dupin, Dupin, this is why I sent for you.
- 5:50Speaker 2: I've been through these things before. The newspapers will write stories.
- 5:55Speaker 2: The reporters will make conjecture. Although there is no name
- 5:58Speaker 2: for her now, there will eventually be a name. And then, monsieur,
- 6:02Speaker 2: I will be called upon to produce her assassins. There
- 6:05Speaker 2: is so little to go on. The eyes of the
- 6:07Speaker 2: public will be upon me. And my honor is at stake.
- 6:10Speaker 3: And my honor too, monsieur, if I am involved in
- 6:13Speaker 3: the investigation.
- 6:14Speaker 2: Dupin, listen. There is a fund at the prefecture, a
- 6:19Speaker 2: sizable fund which I am authorized to use when circumstances arise.
- 6:24Speaker 2: For your services, I am willing to make a direct
- 6:27Speaker 2: and liberal proposition. Dupin, you will help me find the
- 6:33Speaker 2: answer to this woman's death?
- 6:36Speaker 3: I cannot refuse.
- 6:47Speaker 2: No form about the mouth, as in the case of
- 6:49Speaker 2: the merely drowned, monsieur. Here, bruises, impressions of fingers. It
- 6:57Speaker 2: was a sanguration by hand and by this cord, monsieur. Yes.
- 7:03Speaker 3: Doctor?
- 7:04Speaker 2: Yes, Dupin?
- 7:06Speaker 3: An ingenious knot in that cord, don't you think? This
- 7:10Speaker 3: is a slip knot, a sailor's knot.
- 7:13Speaker 2: Sailor's knot. She was found in water. Why did she die, monsieur?
- 7:20Speaker 3: For her beauty, perhaps. For her love. Her hate. It
- 7:25Speaker 3: was Sunday.
- 7:27Speaker 2: Observe, doctor.
- 7:28Speaker 3: There are no marks to prove she was waited and
- 7:31Speaker 3: then shaken loose. Yes, she quit life on Sunday. Murdered
- 7:36Speaker 3: in the dark. Thrown into the river.
- 7:39Speaker 2: Unwaited. Monday.
- 7:42Speaker 3: Tuesday, she remained as a corpse will on the bottom.
- 7:45Speaker 3: And then on the third day, tonight, as a corpse will,
- 7:48Speaker 3: she rose. And the fishermen saw her.
- 7:50Speaker 2: It is the way of corpses violently made, sir.
- 7:53Speaker 3: Not only violent, but quick. Near the riverbank somewhere. For
- 7:58Speaker 3: what assassins could carry a burden like this long undiscovered, hmm?
- 8:02Speaker 2: From a dark bridge, perhaps. No, no.
- 8:05Speaker 3: Too much light and people. There had to be a boat, doctor.
- 8:08Speaker 3: If she was dropped from a bridge or pushed in
- 8:11Speaker 3: from the shore, the current might press her aside to
- 8:13Speaker 3: be caught in the vegetation of the shallow water. She
- 8:16Speaker 3: was murdered on the bank and then taken out to
- 8:19Speaker 3: her grave in a boat. And there had to be
- 8:21Speaker 3: a man who knew how to handle a boat in
- 8:23Speaker 3: the tricky current.
- 8:25Speaker 2: Who is there? It is I, the prefect. I have
- 8:28Speaker 2: someone who thinks he may know her.
- 8:32Speaker 3: Come in, monsieur.
- 8:33Speaker 2: Ahead of me, please. With your permission, Doctor, Monsieur Dupin.
- 8:41Speaker 2: Monsieur Beauvais, Monsieur.
- 8:43Speaker 3: How do you do?
- 8:43Speaker 2: Monsieur Beauvais has been searching since Monday for news of
- 8:46Speaker 2: a Marie Roget. Mademoiselle Roget is an employee of Monsieur Beauvais. Correct, Monsieur?
- 8:51Speaker 3: Correct.
- 8:52Speaker 2: I am a parfumeur.
- 8:54Speaker 5: I called on her mother, Madame Roget, Monday when Mary
- 8:56Speaker 5: did not appear at my shop. Madame informed me that
- 8:58Speaker 5: Mary had left Sunday morning to visit her aunt at
- 9:01Speaker 5: Rue des Drômes.
- 9:02Speaker 2: She has not yet returned.
- 9:03Speaker 3: I see. And what else? I cannot say, Monsieur.
- 9:06Speaker 5: So far, I have ascertained that she never arrived at
- 9:08Speaker 5: Rue des Drones. And, indeed, no one has seen her
- 9:11Speaker 5: since Sunday. Can you describe Marie Roget?
- 9:14Speaker 3: But, of course, dark hair, almost black, dark eyes, tall, young, vibrant.
- 9:20Speaker 2: A woman, monsieur, of great promise.
- 9:21Speaker 5: Jacques Saint-Eustache, the last to see her, mentioned to me
- 9:24Speaker 5: that mademoiselle wore a frock of fine muslin, deep blue.
- 9:28Speaker 3: I knew it well. A bonnet to match.
- 9:29Speaker 2: Goes with it.
- 9:30Speaker 3: Who is Jacques Saint-Eustache, Bovet?
- 9:33Speaker 5: Monsieur Saint-Eustache is the accepted tutor of Marie Roget. He
- 9:36Speaker 5: lodges and takes meals at the pension kept by Madame Roget.
- 9:40Speaker 5: He was to have gone for his betrothed at dusk
- 9:42Speaker 5: Sunday and to have escorted her home. In the afternoon
- 9:45Speaker 5: it rained heavily, and supposing that she would remain at
- 9:47Speaker 5: her aunt's, he did not think it necessary to keep
- 9:50Speaker 5: his promise. She has stayed there under similar circumstances. And
- 9:54Speaker 5: where is Jacques Saint-Austache at this moment?
- 9:56Speaker 2: Searching and anxious as I am for Marie-Roger.
- 10:00Speaker 3: It is three days since Sunday. Four days, really, but
- 10:03Speaker 3: three that Marie-Roger has been considered missing. Your search is tardy.
- 10:08Speaker 3: I know, monsieur.
- 10:09Speaker 2: Well?
- 10:11Speaker 3: I am at your mercy. She has disappeared twice.
- 10:15Speaker 2: Ah.
- 10:15Speaker 5: The first time she disappeared was about three years ago.
- 10:18Speaker 5: Her mother, her friends were unable to account for her disappearance.
- 10:21Speaker 5: I was distracted with anxiety and terror. Did you notify
- 10:24Speaker 5: the police?
- 10:25Speaker 3: In that case, immediately, monsieur.
- 10:27Speaker 5: But suddenly, Mary reappeared one fine morning after being absent
- 10:31Speaker 5: a week. She was in good health and, well, with
- 10:34Speaker 5: somewhat a saddened air. She explained she had spent the
- 10:37Speaker 5: missing week with her relative in the country. Madame Roger,
- 10:40Speaker 5: who was and still is infirm, recalled this to be
- 10:44Speaker 5: a fact.
- 10:45Speaker 3: And the matter was forgotten.
- 10:46Speaker 2: Until now.
- 10:47Speaker 3: So you did not call the police the second time
- 10:49Speaker 3: she disappeared? What has happened once can happen again. What
- 10:54Speaker 3: did happen that week she was awake? I do not know.
- 10:57Speaker 2: I do not honestly know.
- 10:58Speaker 3: But you doubt the story of visiting a relative? I
- 11:02Speaker 3: will not say. Show him what we have, Doctor.
- 11:05Speaker 2: If you will kindly step over here, Monsieur Beauvais. Thank you. Now, Mr. Beauvais,
- 11:12Speaker 2: if you please. Do you know this woman, monsieur? It
- 11:17Speaker 2: is her.
- 11:18Speaker 3: It is Marie-Rosie.
- 11:19Speaker 2: It is her. Why does Beauvais cry, Dupin? The girl
- 11:22Speaker 2: only worked for him. He has not told us all.
- 11:36Speaker 2: He is suspect, Dupin, and I will have a word
- 11:39Speaker 2: with him, huh? Say. But, Dupin, why does he weep
- 11:42Speaker 2: for a shop girl, a grisette who has promised to another?
- 11:45Speaker 3: He weeps for youth and beauty.
- 12:03Speaker 6: Yes, monsieur?
- 12:05Speaker 3: I am Dupin, Madame Roger. May I come in?
- 12:08Speaker 2: Oh, come.
- 12:09Speaker 6: Come.
- 12:12Speaker 2: No, no.
- 12:12Speaker 3: Please sit, madame. I understand you are not well. I.
- 12:18Speaker 6: I have been invalid ten years now.
- 12:22Speaker 3: I will not consume a great deal of time. May
- 12:25Speaker 3: I ask, did your daughter often visit relatives in other
- 12:29Speaker 3: distant parts of the city?
- 12:31Speaker 2: Often.
- 12:32Speaker 3: And stay overnight?
- 12:33Speaker 2: Often?
- 12:34Speaker 3: With your approval, madame.
- 12:36Speaker 6: She was and has been free of me since her
- 12:40Speaker 6: 16th year.
- 12:42Speaker 3: That is a very frank answer, madame.
- 12:46Speaker 6: I can tell you nothing of what has happened to her.
- 12:50Speaker 6: She leaves me on a morning with no enemies.
- 12:53Speaker 2: I know of.
- 12:54Speaker 3: And do you know of her friends?
- 12:57Speaker 6: Ah, I understand the intention of your remark. You refer
- 13:02Speaker 6: to those besides Jacques No, I know of none I.
- 13:08Speaker 3: Understand that Jacques Saint-Eustache keeps rooms here That is true.
- 13:12Speaker 6: Yes, but he is no longer here He left once
- 13:17Speaker 6: he was informed of Marie's death Well, I do not know.
- 13:22Speaker 3: But surely he understood that we would be bide to
- 13:24Speaker 3: question him He.
- 13:25Speaker 6: Was beside himself with grief I cannot blame him I
- 13:31Speaker 6: see Oh, I have been of no assistance where I
- 13:36Speaker 6: would like to be. And yet, I knew something that morning.
- 13:43Speaker 6: I knew she would not come back to her mama again.
- 13:50Speaker 3: You knew she would not be back, madame? Did she
- 13:53Speaker 3: take clothes, bid a longer goodbye? How did you know?
- 13:56Speaker 2: I knew.
- 13:57Speaker 3: I knew, monsieur.
- 14:01Speaker 2: Death was very close to her that day.
- 14:05Speaker 3: If you knew this, madame, why did you allow her
- 14:07Speaker 3: to venture out?
- 14:09Speaker 2: I stop her? No, no.
- 14:14Speaker 6: If it is not met, death will arrange a meeting.
- 14:19Speaker 6: If the meeting had been here, death might have visited me, too.
- 14:26Speaker 6: And I am yet afraid to die.
- 14:46Speaker 2: Autolite is bringing you Mr. Cornel Wilde in Edgar Allan
- 14:49Speaker 2: Poe's The Mystery of Marie Roget. Tonight's presentation in radio's
- 14:55Speaker 2: outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. I got him, Harlow. An Indian, Sheriff? Nope.
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- 16:08Speaker 2: And now, Autolite brings back to our Hollywood soundstage Mr.
- 16:12Speaker 2: Cornel Wilde in Elliot Lewis's production of Edgar Allan Poe's
- 16:17Speaker 2: The Mystery of Marie Roget. A tale well calculated to
- 16:21Speaker 2: keep you in suspense. Dupin, again.
- 16:33Speaker 3: You will recall the event we have been attending in Paris.
- 16:37Speaker 3: I invite you now to keep in mind the solemn
- 16:40Speaker 3: fact that Marie Roget died violently. That her lover, Jacques Saint-Eustache,
- 16:47Speaker 3: is missing. Where she died, who administered her death, for
- 16:52Speaker 3: what reason, remain to be known. Attend at this point
- 16:58Speaker 3: another event, if you will, which was arranged by that
- 17:02Speaker 3: zealous and righteous man, the Prefect of Police.
- 17:07Speaker 2: Thank you for coming, Dupin.
- 17:10Speaker 3: You have located the lover, Saint-Eustache?
- 17:12Speaker 2: Saint-Eustache? No, he's unimportant, I assure you. Somewhere right now
- 17:18Speaker 2: he drinks and tries to forget. But what I have
- 17:22Speaker 2: here is important, most important. Madame Dulac, if you please.
- 17:29Speaker 2: Good evening, gentlemen. Good evening. This is Madame Dulac. She
- 17:33Speaker 2: has something of interest to tell you. And I have
- 17:38Speaker 2: something of interest to show you. Good evening, madame.
- 17:41Speaker 5: I have maintained this tavern many years, right here, close
- 17:45Speaker 5: to the bank of the river.
- 17:46Speaker 7: Oh, no, no.
- 17:47Speaker 3: No fear with me, madame. I have no authority to
- 17:50Speaker 3: do anything but respect your person and your thoughts.
- 17:53Speaker 2: Oh.
- 17:54Speaker 3: And what is this information?
- 17:56Speaker 2: I saw a young woman here some days. Monsieur said
- 17:59Speaker 2: it was Marie Roget. It was. Definitely.
- 18:02Speaker 3: Just a moment. Sunday, madame?
- 18:05Speaker 2: Yes. Mid-afternoon, later perhaps. Where? Right here in my tavern.
- 18:10Speaker 2: She arrived accompanied by a young man of dark, swarthy complexion.
- 18:14Speaker 2: The two remained here for some time. On their departure,
- 18:18Speaker 2: they took the road through some thick woods that way.
- 18:20Speaker 2: Toward the river, Dupin. And this is a secluded neighborhood.
- 18:25Speaker 2: Go on, madame, go on.
- 18:27Speaker 5: Soon after they left, a gang of miscreants made their
- 18:30Speaker 5: appearance at my place of business.
- 18:32Speaker 2: They behaved boisterously.
- 18:34Speaker 5: They ate and.
- 18:35Speaker 2: Drank without payment. Then left and followed the route of
- 18:39Speaker 2: the young girl and the young man that same way.
- 18:42Speaker 3: I see.
- 18:42Speaker 2: About dusk. The same gang reappeared and we crossed the
- 18:47Speaker 2: river in great haste. I see.
- 18:49Speaker 3: And you are certain it was Marie Roget?
- 18:52Speaker 2: Never fear. My men spoke with an unknown driver, a
- 18:55Speaker 2: man named Valence, who knew Marie Roget. He claims he
- 18:59Speaker 2: saw her cross the Seine on the Sunday afternoon in
- 19:02Speaker 2: question with the swarthy man who fits the exact description
- 19:06Speaker 2: of Madame.
- 19:07Speaker 3: And what else, monsieur?
- 19:10Speaker 2: I will show you. Come.
- 19:20Speaker 3: I followed him through the back of the tavern into
- 19:22Speaker 3: the thick woods which lined the Seine at that point.
- 19:26Speaker 3: He stopped when we had come to a close thicket
- 19:29Speaker 3: within which were three or four large stones forming a
- 19:33Speaker 3: kind of seat with a back and footstool.
- 19:36Speaker 2: Note, Dupin, a white petticoat here, here a silk scarf, parasol, gloves...
- 19:45Speaker 2: pocket handkerchief. Inspector handkerchief, Dupin.
- 19:48Speaker 3: Thank you.
- 19:49Speaker 2: You note the name Marie Roget embroidered there? Yes, yes.
- 19:54Speaker 3: So this is the place she met her death.
- 19:57Speaker 2: Well, of course it is. I have found it. Look, look,
- 20:00Speaker 2: the earth is trampled where she struggled. And over here,
- 20:03Speaker 2: the bush is still broken. Every evidence of a terrible struggle.
- 20:10Speaker 2: And here, the fence has been taken down and the
- 20:12Speaker 2: ground shows that some heavy burden was dragged along it
- 20:15Speaker 2: toward the river. Well, come, come, look for yourself. Ah,
- 20:21Speaker 2: what say you now?
- 20:23Speaker 3: I am wondering.
- 20:25Speaker 2: Wonder? Well, we have facts now, sir, important facts. Do
- 20:29Speaker 2: you recall a strip of one of the unfortunate girls'
- 20:32Speaker 2: petticoats had been tied about her mouth, probably to prevent
- 20:34Speaker 2: her screams? I do. This was done by fellows who
- 20:38Speaker 2: had no pocket handkerchiefs. Miscreants, Dupin! Miscreants! Such as those
- 20:44Speaker 2: who visited Madame Dulac's tavern and later went the same
- 20:47Speaker 2: way as Marie Roget and her companion. There are many
- 20:50Speaker 2: such gangs about here. All we have to do is
- 20:54Speaker 2: locate them. And I know how to do that.
- 21:05Speaker 3: That night, the shrill cries of the Paris newsboys proclaimed
- 21:09Speaker 3: the prefect's resolve. He offered a reward of 20,000 francs
- 21:15Speaker 3: and a full pardon for any king's evidence. It was
- 21:18Speaker 3: an accepted conclusion that Marie-Roger had been waylaid and slain
- 21:23Speaker 3: by a gang of miscreants in the vicinity of Madame
- 21:27Speaker 3: Dulac's tavern.
- 21:29Speaker 2: Ah, well... Are you defeated, Monsieur Dupin, now that I
- 21:35Speaker 2: have solved the mystery of Marie Roget?
- 21:38Speaker 3: No, Monsieur.
- 21:40Speaker 2: I have doubled the reward. Soon one of the miscreants
- 21:42Speaker 2: will come forward, then you'll see. Forty thousand francs should
- 21:46Speaker 2: be temptation enough.
- 21:47Speaker 3: Twenty thousand was temptation enough. No one will come forward, Monsieur.
- 21:53Speaker 3: A gang such as is hoped for would be composed
- 21:57Speaker 3: of men who have never seen more than a hundred
- 21:59Speaker 3: francs at one time. Twenty thousand would bring all of them. If,
- 22:05Speaker 3: if they had any knowledge of Marie Roget's murder.
- 22:08Speaker 2: Oh, they're just waiting. You know that. Waiting?
- 22:11Speaker 3: When each is in jeopardy because of the other?
- 22:15Speaker 2: We shall see, Dupin. Wait.
- 22:17Speaker 3: It was one man. Huh? A man who dragged the
- 22:22Speaker 3: body of Mademoiselle to the river's edge. A gang, even
- 22:26Speaker 3: two men, could have carried it. A gang would have
- 22:30Speaker 3: lifted it over the fence easily instead of taking a
- 22:34Speaker 3: fence down as it was taken down. One man labored hard.
- 22:40Speaker 2: My conjecture is as good as yours. Are you talking
- 22:43Speaker 2: of Saint-Eustache? No. No. He is quite unguilty.
- 22:48Speaker 3: Monsieur, allow me to point out that the newspapers, the police,
- 22:53Speaker 3: all have identified themselves with what apparently happened. We must
- 22:57Speaker 3: consider what did not happen. First, a gang did not
- 23:03Speaker 3: set upon her and murder her. Secondly, Marie Roget had
- 23:06Speaker 3: no intention of visiting her aunt at Rue des Drômes
- 23:09Speaker 3: when she left her mother in love last Sunday morning.
- 23:12Speaker 2: Dupin, if you have confident information, explain yourself.
- 23:16Speaker 3: I have the same information as you. Nothing else.
- 23:20Speaker 2: You said she had no intention of visiting her aunt
- 23:22Speaker 2: that day. Why do you say that?
- 23:25Speaker 3: Monsieur, consider what might have happened if her intended Jacques
- 23:29Speaker 3: Saint-Eustache had called for her at her aunt's and discovered
- 23:33Speaker 3: she was not there, that she had not been there
- 23:35Speaker 3: all day. He would have been chagrined, suspicious, angry. Saint-Eustache
- 23:40Speaker 3: would have been all these. Something for Marie Roget to
- 23:44Speaker 3: worry about when she returned home. But nothing to worry
- 23:48Speaker 3: about if Marie did not intend to return home.
- 23:52Speaker 2: A point to consider, perhaps. Go on.
- 23:56Speaker 3: Consider that she kept a rendezvous instead. This we know.
- 23:59Speaker 3: A rendezvous with a swarthy man. We have been told
- 24:03Speaker 3: that by two witnesses who saw him. Now, monsieur, I
- 24:07Speaker 3: ask you, as I have asked myself, did this swarthy
- 24:11Speaker 3: companion allow Marie to be slain before his eyes? Or
- 24:15Speaker 3: was he himself slain trying to help her? If so,
- 24:19Speaker 3: where is his body?
- 24:21Speaker 2: He left her before she was set upon, obviously.
- 24:24Speaker 3: Did he leave her alone in such a dark district?
- 24:26Speaker 2: They quarreled.
- 24:27Speaker 3: Indeed they did. Another question. Marie Roget's death is known
- 24:32Speaker 3: everywhere in France. Why has he not come forward to
- 24:36Speaker 3: help us clear up the mystery?
- 24:38Speaker 2: Many reasons. Perhaps he's married. He's left. He's uninformed.
- 24:44Speaker 3: He has a swarthy complexion. A sea complexion. A well-attested fact. Now,
- 24:51Speaker 3: accumulate that with the cord that was tied about her
- 24:54Speaker 3: neck in a sailor's knot.
- 24:55Speaker 2: Monsieur Dupin, I have not the.
- 24:58Speaker 3: And the need of a skilled boatman to handle a
- 25:02Speaker 3: boat on the river to dispose of the body.
- 25:04Speaker 2: But it could be anyone.
- 25:05Speaker 3: No, it could not.
- 25:07Speaker 2: What?
- 25:08Speaker 3: Marie Roget was a gay, not an abject girl. No
- 25:13Speaker 3: common seaman for her. An officer. A naval officer, monsieur.
- 25:17Speaker 3: Like the one who might have led her into a
- 25:19Speaker 3: false elopement the first time she disappeared. Three years passed.
- 25:25Speaker 3: The approved time for a French man of war to
- 25:27Speaker 3: consume encircling the globe. The officer returns, thinking of the
- 25:33Speaker 3: same coquette, Marie Roget. The same bargain. What he has
- 25:39Speaker 3: managed to do once, he can do again, hmm? Marie
- 25:43Speaker 3: meets him Sunday for this purpose. Then she thinks the
- 25:47Speaker 3: better of an elopement and refuses to accompany him. Santa's
- 25:50Speaker 3: stash has captured her love. Her former lover slays her
- 25:54Speaker 3: in quick anger. He drags a body to the river,
- 25:57Speaker 3: commandeers a boat.
- 25:59Speaker 2: Where do I find him?
- 26:00Speaker 3: On whatever ship has arrived from the world cruise. His name?
- 26:04Speaker 2: What is his name, Dupin?
- 26:05Speaker 3: Inquire for the name of the young officer who has
- 26:08Speaker 3: applied for leave to get married.
- 26:10Speaker 2: But there must be many such among a ship's complement
- 26:12Speaker 2: returning after a long cruise. Agreed.
- 26:15Speaker 3: But, Monsieur le Prefect, there is only one naval officer
- 26:19Speaker 3: who has returned to his ship without a bride.
- 26:22Speaker 2: Oh! André!
- 26:25Speaker 3: André!
- 26:26Speaker 2: Andre, we leave at once for the naval yards.
- 26:37Speaker 3: It has been an interesting evening. And now I issue
- 26:42Speaker 3: a last invitation, my friends. I invite you to retain
- 26:46Speaker 3: all that you have heard. And employ this time, instead
- 26:50Speaker 3: of your imagination, your sense of reality. For Marie Roget
- 26:55Speaker 3: of Paris... was truthfully Mary Rogers of New York. Let
- 26:59Speaker 3: your reality move you back to New York City on
- 27:03Speaker 3: a winter day some months after the event described. In
- 27:07Speaker 3: the darkening afternoon inside a gray stone building, I invite
- 27:12Speaker 3: you to attend another event I think you will find significant.
- 27:22Speaker 2: Ensign Robert Bryant Wilson.
- 27:28Speaker 7: You have been found guilty of the murder of Mary
- 27:32Speaker 7: Cecilia Rogers. It is the judgment of this court that
- 27:37Speaker 7: you be hanged by the neck until you are dead.
- 28:02Speaker 2: Suspense. Presented by Autolite. Tonight's star, Mr. Cornel Wild. This
- 28:08Speaker 2: is Harlow Wilcox speaking for Autolite, the world's largest independent
- 28:12Speaker 2: manufacturer of automotive electrical equipment. In 28 plants from coast
- 28:16Speaker 2: to coast, Autolite makes over 400 products for cars, trucks, tractors, planes, boats,
- 28:22Speaker 2: and industry. These products include bumpers, die castings, industrial thermometers,
- 28:27Speaker 2: and batteries, such as the famous Autolite Stay Full, ignition-engineered
- 28:32Speaker 2: Autolite spark plugs, both standard and resistor types, voltage regulators,
- 28:36Speaker 2: wire and battery cable, Autolite bullseye sealed beam units, and
- 28:41Speaker 2: Autolite original service parts for all Autolite electrical systems. Autolite
- 28:46Speaker 2: is proud to serve the greatest names in the industry. So,
- 28:50Speaker 2: from bumper to tail light, you're always right with Autolite.
- 29:02Speaker 2: Next week, one of the most terrifying half hours ever
- 29:05Speaker 2: presented on Suspense. A young couple and a mad woman.
- 29:09Speaker 2: And what happened to them on a country road? I'll
- 29:12Speaker 2: star Mr. Frank Lovejoy. That's next week on Suspense. Suspense
- 29:20Speaker 2: is transcribed and directed by Elliot Lewis, with music composed
- 29:24Speaker 2: by Lucian Morawick and conducted by Lud Gluskin. Edgar Allan
- 29:28Speaker 2: Poe's The Mystery of Marie Roget was adapted for Suspense
- 29:31Speaker 2: by E. Jack Newman. In tonight's cast, John Daner was
- 29:35Speaker 2: heard as the prefect of police. Others in the cast
- 29:38Speaker 2: were Lou Merrill, Jeanette Nolan, Paul McCartney, Winslow, William Johnstone,
- 29:42Speaker 2: and Edgar Barrier. And remember, next week, Mr. Frank Lovejoy
- 29:46Speaker 2: in On a Country Road.
- 29:53Speaker 4: You can buy Autolite stay-full batteries, Autolite original service parts,
- 29:57Speaker 4: and Autolite standard or resistor-type spark plugs at your neighborhood
- 30:00Speaker 4: Autolite dealers. Switch to Autolite.
- 30:02Speaker 2: Good night.
- 30:05Speaker 3: This is the CBS Radio Network.
- 30:22Speaker 1: Suspense has brought us The Mystery of Marie Roget. Good night,
- 30:26Speaker 1: and thank you for keeping Classic Radio Company. Follow Old
- 30:30Speaker 1: Time Mystery Radio for more classic mystery and detective broadcasts.