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Sherlock Holmes: Dr. Winthrop’s Notorious Carriage (EP0870) · Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas

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Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This
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is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, email it
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to me Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net, Follow us on Twitter at
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Slash Radio Detectives. Today's episode is brought to you by the financial support of
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our listeners. Thanks so much for your support, and here now is today's
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episode of Sherlock Holmes. This one is Doctor Winthrope's Notorious Carriage from New York
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City. The makers of clipper Craft clothes for men, and more than twelve
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the world's most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, starring John Stanley. This
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week's story the adventure of doctor Winthrop's notorious carried. Are you accusing your husband,
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missus Winthrop. My husband's lost his love for me, mister Holmes,
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he's betrayed me. I have no reason to defend him. I see lately
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he's been impossible. He behaves like a sadistic luelty. We better move quickly,
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Holmes, look into the so called excellent. Yes, Watson, but
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we must move cautiously if you our own lives. But this is an elusive
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look better and save money for doctor Watson who rode in Doctor Winthrop's notorious
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carriage. Well, mister Harris. This adventure with homes occurred in the early
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nineteen hundreds. It began backstage at one of London's most famous theaters. It
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was in the dressing room of Margaret Ashley, an exquisite and very popular young
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actress. Her performance for that evening had ended, and Margaret had a visitor,
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a doctor Charles Winthrop. I've made up my mind, Charles. I'm
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going to your wife. I'm going to see Elizabeth, are you Margaret?
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I should tell of it. I adore you that you and I have been
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sweethearts all these months. I shall going to give you your freedom. I
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think she will too. Well. It's very touching and very foolish. Oh
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why do you say that, my words, You've an appalling self centered mind,
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Margaret, Like many women, you believe it simply because you want something,
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you'll automatically get it. My wife would not be struck at all by
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the magic of our romance. To her, this would be a rather cheap,
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sordid business, an insult to her ego. Being a mature and poised
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woman should take this with an air of dignity and tolerance. But in her
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heart of hearts, I'm afraid she'd be furious. Will the letter be?
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Are you satisfied with these desperate, dangerous meetings. You're coming to my flat
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if and when you can find the time, if and when you can somehow
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lie to Elizabeth. It has been difficulties, but I'm sick of it.
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I shan't tolerate. We must face it, Margaret. We must do as
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best we can until you're tired of her, that you love me, that
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you see her only as a dowdy, bedraggled housewife, that your marriage was
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wrong to begin with. It's not the You want a less than an exercise
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and boredom. Now look, Margaret, I want you to control yourself,
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control myself, and Heaven's name why I want you? And I'm going to
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fight to keep you when a thing is wrong? Must you go on and
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on and on with it? I said, you will not tell Elstab Nothing
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on earth could stop me. I will. What do you mean you knew
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I was married, Margaret. You knew the terms of the bargain, you
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accepted them gladly. But we love each other, do we listen to me?
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You made a great romance out of this. I didn't. You wanted
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to believe I was in love with you, that I couldn't live without you,
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simply to please yourself, to cover up the truth? What truth?
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That this has all been just a lot for me. That I was attracted
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to you because you're very beautiful, and that's all, And that is all,
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Margaret. It begins and ends there. I don't think it does.
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Oh yes, It's taken years for me to become a reputable physician, Margaret.
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It's taken every ounce of strength, in every moment of time to achieve
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a position in my profession, end in society. I've a well ordered household,
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I've a decent, honest wife who who loves me. You're not going
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to place a bomb under that structure. Oh yes, I am, Charles.
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Now that you've told me how you really feel, I'll give you a
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taste of my vengeance. I'll wreck your home, in your life, and
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I don't think for one moment that I can. You'll do nothing of the
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sort. And you know why? Do you know why you won't say a
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word to my wife? Go on tell me, because if you do,
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I'll kill you. He'll never do that. You could never get away with
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it. You underestimate me, Margaret. I haven't an ordinary mind. I've
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a way, a wonderful way. Remember that, and remember if you go
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to Elizabeth, I'll murder you. Believe me, Miss Ashley. Shall I
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call a cab for you? Miss, Yes, Peter, he might be
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a bit difficult, Miss, awfully late, you're the last to believe in
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this year. I wanted to avoid the crowd that's always here at the stage
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door. Peter, I'm exhausted. I couldn't possibly write an autograph a smile
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at anyone. Your gentleman caller hasn't been here in a few days, aiming
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no, he hasn't answer your part. Gentlemen, pares shutting. He miss
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those tips of his art. You cab, Peter, please, I hear
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a carriage coming now, Miss. Perhaps she's a cab and you'll be having
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a talk with a bobby. He will ripping down the alley at that street.
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Look at miss, he's starting atcher, he's got a gun. Stop
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come back here. You stop. Stop, he's killed her. He's cute,
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Elizabeth. I must speak to you, Yes, Charles dear, it's
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about this item in the newspaper. One of your patients in trouble read that.
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Please. Oh yes, yes, I heard about that terrible accident.
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And Margaret Ashley was such a lovely young actress. It was a horrible premature
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of death. Boy, Elizabeth Darling, I don't know how to tell you
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this, but I must te what's you to try to understand? Understand what,
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Charles Darling? You seem so distraught? What's wrong with you? Well,
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there'll be an investigation. The police will be after the driver of that
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carriage, the man who locked her down and then drove off. Yes,
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of course they will, and I hope they'll find them too insane brutal to
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drive so carelessly. Well, the police suspect that it wasn't an accident.
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The doorman's testify that the driver of the carriage seemed to go deliberately out of
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its way to hit her. Oh, child, They suspect murder. Yes,
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yes, they'll property deeply. The most intimate details of Margaret Ashley's life
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will be exposed to public. Hue and so, Elizabeth, before you find
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out some other way, I must tell you. Tell me what, dear,
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I knew Margaret Ashley. Oh, yes, it wasn't a passing acquaintance.
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I was seeing her regularly. I visited her flat whenever I had the
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chance. She was in love with me. Oh you were sweethearts? Child?
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Is that it? Yes? I I've no excuse. It's it's just
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just some mysterious element in the chemistry of her marriage that does that to a
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man. I'm prepared to do whatever you say, Elizabeth, my child.
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It's quite hard for me to say anything at all. It's very difficult for
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me to face it. Dear. I'm so sorry, Elizabeth, terribly sorry.
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Have you any idea who might have killed her? I know, Charles,
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Yes, Charles, did you kill Margaret Ashley? Of course not.
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How could you think such a thing? Child, Don't lie. Don't try
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to live with a lie like that. You you've told me some of the
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story. Please tell me the rest. I've got to know, Charles,
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Please, please? Did you kill her? Did you drive the carriage that
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awful life? No? I did not. I did not listen to me.
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I might try to forgive an escapade of yours, but I couldn't forgive
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murder. Now you must tell me you've gold me. They're out of your
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mind accusing me you did kill her. I can sense it in your eyes.
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Your hands are trembling. I've never seen an expression on your face like
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that before. I get hold of yourself. Say her again? Is that
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clear? If you ever say that again, you won't live to say another
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word. I had to tell you my story, mister Holmes. I quite
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understand, Missus Winthrop. My husband has lost his love for me. He's
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betrayed me. I have no reason to defend and lately he's been impossible.
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He behaves like a sadistic lunatic. Why haven't you told the police, Missus
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Winton, Because doctor Watson, I have no formal charge to make. I
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can't prove a thing. It's it's just my instinct. I feel that he
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killed that poor girl, and I will not harbor a killer. I need
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your help, mister Holmes. Well, the circumstances of the accident, Missus
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Wintrop, make it almost impossible to poor wilful homicide. Where does your husband
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say he was on the evening of Margaret Ashley's death, He'd had a call
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an emergency quite far out of town. He claims that he left the carriage
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at home and took a cab. He was too tired to himself. He
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claims that when he reached the address given him, there was no such place,
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so he came home. It's very flimsy. Did you give you the
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name of the patient who had called him on this wild goose? Chase Perkins,
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Missus Thomas Perkins. I did some investigating on my own. I telephoned
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every Thomas Perkins in the directory. None of them ever heard of doctor Winthrop.
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Did your husband mention this supposed patient who vanished? Not a word.
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But mister Holmes, you must find the evidence quickly. He knows I suspect
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him, and I'm afraid of what he might do. I shall move as
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quickly as possible. Missus Winthrop, Come, Watson. We shall speak first
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with Peter, the doorman, the witness to the accident. I'm ready host.
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We shall move very cautiously, Watson, if we value our own lives.
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But this is an allusive murderer of great talent, a talent for slaughter
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Avenue, Doctor Watson. Doctor Watson, you and mister Holmes, who are
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racing to speak with Peter the dormant backstage of the theater where Margaret Ashley died.
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There's mister Harris for the enchanting. Margaret was killed by a passing carriage
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that night. Holmes and I, student of Dark Twisted Valley at the stage
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door, under a pale moon, talking with the door. You say,
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Peter, you had a glimpse of the driver of that carriage, Yes,
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mister Jlms, I did. He was wearing an eye at in the cave.
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The cave was purple. I could see it flying in the wind.
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Did you see his face? Now? It was too dark? And he
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paused like fury. Did you recognize the carriage? At first? I didn't
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you mean that? You remember it? Now? We're in and waved up
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to Watson. He looked to me like, well, it isn't very discreet
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of me, But seeing as this is so serious a matter, it looked
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to me like a carriage of a certain gentleman. What often comes to see
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miss Ashley? You see, Holst, You know the gentleman, Peter.
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No, I'm sorry, doctor, you never told me his name. And
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whenever he stepped out of the carriage, he was carrying all kids for miss
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Ashley. And he yelled him up in front of his face, you see.
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And he yelled the cape up too, a purple keep sometimes, mister
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Wilms. Yeah, he didn't want anyone to recognize him. I guess it
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must have been one of those romances what you read about in the papers.
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You know. Maybe he was a cabinet minister or someone mckimuck who was in
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love with miss Ashley. Yes, quite, would you know the gentleman were
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you to see him? Not by his face, mister makes it even more
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difficult at home, more than you would imagine, Watson. Even if the
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doorman here did recognize our men, that wouldn't prove the accident was deliberate.
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Peter. After the accident, did you notice anything curious about the body,
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or the street, or any of the other circumstances. I found a flower
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fell out of the carriage. An all kids, well again an indication of
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our men. I say, it's him, all right, he say,
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I don't like to send a man to the gallows just on my space.
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No, no, no, thank you, Peter. You've been rather helpful
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well to nahows every forest in the district. Watson, we have the rope.
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We must now draw the noose tighter and tighter. That's the door to
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doctor Winthrop's household. Let's just keep an eye on it. Miss Winthrop said
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he'd be leaving about this hour. Once he's gone, we can speak to
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her, look at the house and search for clue. But we must have
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in out of the way. First. Homes at florist, he recognized the
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photograph of doctor Winthrop said he always bought flowers there, but he wasn't there
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the night of Margaret Ashler's death. You seem very impressed. Homes confounded.
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Why look, look, Watson, there he goes he's leaving his wife.
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Now see as he's going down the street, she's waving goodbye to him from
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the doorway. Attractive blonde, isn't she? Why should he lose interest in
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her the circuit, the actress. Fascinating as that province may be, Watson,
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it is not within the bounds of my territory. Now come across the
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streets other side of her, I'll ring Holmes. Oh, mister Holmes,
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doctor Watson, he's just there. Will you return shortly? No, No,
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we've time. Come in well, lovely home, Missus Winthrop. It
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was doctor Watson until the shadow fell across it. But I've been living in
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this house with a man I know as a murderer. That is your husband's
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consulting room, Missus Wintroom. Oh, yes, yes, he does all
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his work down here. The drawing room and the bedrooms are upstairs. Yes,
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certainly, But mister Holmes, you must find the evidence. I can't
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stand it. I'm so afraid all the time. He's going to kill me
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too. You know. I saw him alone in his office last night.
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He didn't know that I could see him in the mirror. He'd a scalpel
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in his hand and he was fingering it side like then. There's another thing.
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The night before we took the underground to go to the theater, I
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was on the edge of the platform. I realized it just in time.
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He was standing directly close behind me, He could easily have pushed me in
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front of the train. Then there are poisons here in this cabinet. He
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opened the cabinet just before he left. He must have stood gazing at it
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for a full five minutes. He'd never done that before. Mister Hook,
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calmly, Missus Winthrop, calmly, Come along, Watson, which will search
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every inch of these quarters? By George Holse, we've gone through every room.
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No letters from miss Ashley, nothing at all. Are a scrap of
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evidence. Missus Winthrop, in which wardrobe does your husband keep his clothes?
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Oh here, mister Holmes, but you better hurry. This has taken a
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great deal of time. He maybe back soon looking for the outfity. While
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the night he drove the carriage hose hu, the purple cape trousers, couple
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breasted jacket to match, and on this shelf a high silk hatch. Well,
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please be careful. I never touch his things. If you suspect that
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anyone's been in his wardrobe, you'll have another one of his fits. I
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see. I believe this concludes the search. Missus Winthrop, Yes, but
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have you found anything? We'll discuss it downstairs. Then, we can step
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out of the back door. Should we risk missus Winthrop's life again for another
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month? Wouldn't you advise her to leave on some pretense until you have the
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facts that you want. I have the facts, Watson, facts which approved
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I killed Margaret Ashley, Doctor win Charles, I didn't hear you come in.
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I came into it quietly through the front door, Elizabeth. I heard
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voices upstairs. I kept therey still and waited for you, You steaming connivey
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harm you break my heart. I just want to keep you close to me,
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that's all. If you move, mister Holmes or doctor Watson, I'll
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take the scalpel I have in my other hand, and I'll drive it into
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my wife's back. Charles, please listen to me. It won't help to
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kill me. Mister Holmes will see that you die for it, because he
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knows now you send for him, didn't you? You wouldn't believe my story.
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I'd like to kill you slowly, Elizabeth. You should suffer a bit,
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need strokes of the scalpel to cause unbearable pain, but a slow death,
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the same slow death you've given me with your suspicion, your accusations,
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killing your wife now would accomplish nothing, Doctor Winthrop. It would to me.
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I don't care about the consequences. I said, killing your wife would
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not be necessary, Doctor Winthrop. His Majesty's hangman will do that. What
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I said, his Majesty's hangman will do that. I don't know what's mina.
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He dropped his scout to Watson, quickly pick it up. I have
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at hose I wanted to be sure you didn't pick it up, missus Winthrop,
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since you drove doctor Winthrop's notorious carriage, since you killed Margaret Ashley,
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I did, mister Holmes, that's preposterous, both at or Watson and guard
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it well. Yes, Elizabeth, my wife killed Margaret recisely. Doctor.
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When Watson and I visited the forest where you regularly purchased orchids for Margaret,
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he told us that you hadn't been in his shop on the night of her
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death. It struck me as odd. Perhaps you purchased the orchids elsewhere.
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Of course, hose A doesn't prove. Would Watson, the driver of the
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carriage, dropped an orchid on the cobblestone to the alley. The doorman told
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us that would a man stopped to purchase orchids for miss Ashleigh when he knew
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he wouldn't see her, but intended to run her down with a carriage.
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Definitely not, but you accused me exactly who else would have borrowed your husband's
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carriage In the bedroom you told that you never touched your husband's things, but
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you had, Missus Winthrop. You're guessing, mister Holmes, You're unable to
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prove one eye ot. Your husband's purple cape, identified by the doorman,
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was draped over his double breasted jacket. The jacket was neatly buttoned. You
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see it was button Missus Winthrop, to the left, not to the right,
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the way a woman wears such a jacket. Elizabeth, you are of
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blond, Missus Winthrop, and in the lining of your husband's high silk hat
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I noticed a long blond hairs. You called your husband that night, Missus
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Winthrop, to get him out of the house. You were the non existent
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Missus Thomas Perkins. You gave him a false address far on the outskirts of
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London. Then you put him into a cab, convincing him that he was
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too tired to drive himself. You put on his clothes, you took his
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carriage, you purchased orchids, you killed Margaret Ashley, being careful to make
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the cape very conspicuous, and to drop an orchid so that the doorman's testimony
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would indict Charles. You're quite right, mister Holmes. She was and satisfied
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with Margaret's death. She wanted to see me died too, to hangful a
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murder. Yes, she painted a vivid portrait of you as a murderer,
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Doctor Winthrop. Remember Watson, the underground, the medicine cabinet, all lies
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in Elizabeth Hugh. You knew all along about Marcus for months. Charles,
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it just took a bit of time to plan my vengeance on both. Have
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you. We'll call the aunt Watson, come and fetch a prisoner. Now,
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my dear Missus Winthrop, I observed you once, but proving this was
23:26
wilful homicide was almost impossible. I should have added, but nothing short of
23:33
genius could accomplish it. Well, doctor Watson, that was a very astonishing
23:48
development to find that Missus Winthrop had driven the doctor's carriage. Will have surprises?
23:53
Are your dish, mister Harris. Then use something to look forward to
23:56
in the adventure. I shall relate next week, and what do you call
24:00
that memoir? Doctor? Next week, mister Harris, I shall relate to
24:02
you the Adventure of the Curious Quitt. It concerns a bow legged man,
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a weird laugh, and a taste in silver. The makers of clipper Craft
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Clothes and more than twelve hundred stories from coast to coast have brought you another
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in the new series of broadcasts featuring the world's most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes.
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Our stories are based upon the character Sherlock Holmes, created by Sir Arthur
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to Sherlock Holmes in the Adventure of a Curious crypt This is Sy Harris speaking
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for clipper Crame Clothes. This is the mutual broadcasting system. Welcome back.
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Well, I often admit I kind of saw the solution pretty much within the
25:56
last five minutes before it came out, just because the amount of evidence against
26:03
the husband was getting suspiciously overwhelming and we weren't left with a whole lot of
26:08
other suspects. I also have to say, you know, we've heard this
26:12
plot several times where a murderer decides he's going to try he or in this
26:19
case, she decides they are going to try and dupe the detective and lay
26:26
out cleverly arranged a series of clues to lead the detective to accuse the wrong
26:33
person. This woman had to be insane to try that with Sherlock Holmes.
26:37
Okay, you want to try that with Barry Craig, maybe Philip Marlowe,
26:42
maybe Sherlock Holmes. Are you kidding? Hopefully has served as a lesson to
26:51
other criminals and murderers that this won't work with Sherlock Holmes. All right.
26:56
Well, we do turn to listener comments and feedback, and this one comes
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from iTunes. iTunes review from long Islander, who writes, I love these
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shows and the insights from Adam as a plus with television going downhill. It's
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great to sit back, relax and get lost in the world of radio.
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Well, thanks so much, appreciate you enjoining the show out there in Long
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Island, and that will actually do it for today. We will be back
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tomorrow with yours truly Johnny Dowler, and join us back here next Thursday for
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another episode of Sherlock Holmes. In the meanwhile, send your comments to Box
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thirteen at Great Detectives dot net, follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives,
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From Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham. Sign
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and off.