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AmusantTranscription
00:00Moment, I have to write a sentence at the end.
00:24Yes, please.
00:34Hello?
00:35Yes?
00:36Am I talking to Mr. Hedge?
00:38Mr. Hutchinson Hedge from the Daily New Yorker?
00:41Yes, and who are you?
00:44Oh, of course you forgive me. Henley is my name. Weldon Henley. Do you remember me?
00:50Oh yes, I remember you.
00:52I remember him. From the good old days, when I was still a free employee at the Elegant World and wrote the column Klatsch mit Hutch.
01:02You already know who with whom, where, when, how long.
01:05And during my incredibly exhausting research on midnight parties and the like, I was more often encountered with Mr. Weldon Henley.
01:14I can't say that he left me an indelible impression, but I noticed him.
01:22A quick young man who spent more money than was good for him and drank more whiskey than he could tolerate.
01:30Young companion, tennis player, joker and, because a person of today also has to have a contemporary hobby, amateur photographer.
01:40Later, when I became a court reporter at the Daily New Yorker, I lost sight of Henley.
01:45We were never thick friends anyway.
01:48And now, after a good three years, he contacted me again.
01:53What did he want from me?
01:56What I want from you? That's not so easy to explain.
02:00Yes, yes, maybe you should try it anyway.
02:03Yes. So...
02:05Yes?
02:07You have a lot to do with crimes, don't you?
02:09You always write these articles about robbers and murderers.
02:12That's right, old friend.
02:14What's going on?
02:16I don't know...
02:17There's a story behind it.
02:19Don't pull yourself together, man. Unpack.
02:21No, no, no, that's not how it works.
02:23You have to promise me that nothing of what I tell you will be in the newspaper.
02:27I think you're a gentleman.
02:29Even if you're a journalist.
02:31Thank you very much.
02:32Oh, I'm sorry. That's not what I meant.
02:34Yes, all right.
02:35So...
02:36Will you give me your word?
02:38Yes, if I have to.
02:40Please do.
02:41I'll keep quiet like the proverbial grave.
02:44So...
02:45And...
02:46What do you have on your mind now?
02:48Yes...
02:49Yes?
02:50In short...
02:52I have reason to believe that I should be murdered.
02:55I don't know what you're talking about.
02:57Yes.
02:58Have you already been to the police?
03:00Police?
03:01No, not at all.
03:03The thing is...
03:05How should I put it?
03:07A little strange.
03:09I'm not quite sure...
03:11Oh, well, as you wish.
03:13It's your funeral, so hopefully not.
03:16But I still don't know what I can do for you.
03:20Yes.
03:21Yes?
03:22Yes, I thought...
03:23Yes, I thought...
03:24Do you know this professor?
03:26I mean the private detective who solves the difficult murder cases.
03:29If you mean Professor Van Dusen.
03:31Yes.
03:32Yes, I know him.
03:33Quite well, actually.
03:34By the way, let me give you some good advice, Mr. Lee.
03:37Never call him private detective.
03:39Professor Dr. Dr. Dr. Van Dusen.
03:42The machine of thought has great value in the name of amateur criminologist.
03:46Isn't that the same?
03:47I wouldn't say so.
03:49Besides, Professor Van Dusen only takes on particularly interesting and complicated cases.
03:53Exactly.
03:54That's why I turn to you, Hedge.
03:57Would you introduce me to Van Dusen?
04:01I don't know.
04:02Please do.
04:03Kindly.
04:04I can try to get an interview.
04:05As I am, I said yes.
04:07And thus set, without knowing it, a chain of events in motion,
04:11which should develop into one of the strangest and most unclear cases in the professor's course.
04:17To the mysterious case of the Red Thread, as he himself later called it.
04:23For my part, I prefer the title, Murder at Gaslight.
04:27That sounds more like a pun.
04:29And on puns I understand myself exceptionally better than Van Dusen.
04:33But that aside.
04:35I sat down, as promised, in contact with the professor,
04:39made an appointment for a visit with him for this evening,
04:43and arrived on time at 8 o'clock with him,
04:46with Mr. Weldon Henley, in a tow rope.
04:49So they made an attack on her life.
04:52One?
04:53Three attacks, Professor Van Dusen.
04:55Someone tried to kill me three times.
04:57Three times?
04:59Interesting.
05:01That shows a certain tenacity of the unknown perpetrator, when and...
05:05And of his bad luck.
05:07Excuse me.
05:11When and where did these attacks take place, Mr. Henley?
05:16In the last two weeks, Professor.
05:18In my apartment.
05:19In your apartment, I see.
05:21And where is your apartment?
05:24Park Avenue, in the so-called Dronenhaus.
05:27Do you know it?
05:29Of course we knew the Dronenhaus.
05:31A hyper-modern five-story apartment block,
05:34in the best neighborhood of the city,
05:36divided into apartments,
05:38which offered young couples and single men with high expectations
05:41for a reasonable rental price,
05:43a highly luxurious facility.
05:46The same heavenly peace,
05:48as well as all the comfort of our young 20th century.
05:51Central heating, elevator, gas light or electric lighting,
05:55as you like.
05:57That's how it was in the brochure.
06:00And here lived Mr. Weldon Henley,
06:03in a small, modest apartment for young couples.
06:07Of five rooms, as he said.
06:10Well, I use one room as a darkroom, by the way.
06:13For my photographic works, which I devote a part of my time to.
06:16Oh, that's interesting.
06:19Oh, yes, of course.
06:34Ah, yes. And?
06:48Otherwise I would have died for sure.
06:51Yes, that was the first time.
06:54So, the flame was extinguished, the gas was streaming out.
06:57And when did it happen?
06:59Exactly 14 days ago.
07:03On June 17th, 1902.
07:06I find it difficult, Mr. Henley,
07:08to see a deliberate murder in the incident.
07:11A sudden draft of air,
07:13or a temporary reduction of the gas pressure,
07:16which caused the flame to extinguish and the gas to stream out.
07:19A coincidence, Mr. Henley.
07:21Unpleasant for you.
07:23Perhaps even dangerous.
07:25But hardly a deliberate murder.
07:27A coincidence.
07:29Yes, I thought so at first, Professor.
07:31But then, two days later, exactly the same thing happened.
07:34And then, he said to us, Henley,
07:37he became restless.
07:39And the restlessness became a concern
07:42when he, last night, for the third time,
07:45became the victim of the gaslight attack.
07:48Again, the flame of the night lighting was mysteriously extinguished.
07:52Again, poisonous gas streamed into the room.
07:55And only the fact that he was called by a friend late at night,
07:59saved Henley from safety.