Harry Cording

After an enigmatic, self-described pathologist rents the attic room of a Victorian house, his landlady begins to suspect her lodger is Jack the Ripper. London, 1888: on the night of the third Jack the Ripper killing, soft-spoken Mr. Slade, a research pathologist, takes lodgings with the Harleys, including a gloomy attic room for "experiments." Mrs. Harley finds Slade odd and increasingly suspects the worst; her niece Lily (star of a decidedly Parisian stage revue) finds him interesting and increasingly attractive. Is Lily in danger, or are her aunt's suspicions merely a red herring? —Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu> With Jack the Ripper killing women in the Whitechapel district of London, people are on edge. Enter the mysterious Mr. Slade who arrives at the home of Helen and William Harley looking to rent rooms. Slade is a strange man. He is a respected pathologist and researcher at a major hospital but very much keeps to himself. He also happens to out of the house every time the Ripper strikes. Mrs. Harley becomes convinced that Slade is the Ripper but with tensions mounting across the city, the evidence is anything but clear. —garykmcd In 1888, all of England is horrified by the gruesome murders of streetwalkers in the Whitechapel district of London. One night, even though three thousand policeman are patrolling the area, the killer, dubbed "Jack the Ripper," claims his fourth victim. That same night, William Harley (Rhys Williams), an unsuccessful businessman, and his wife Helen (Frances Bavier) are surprised by a visit from Mr. Slade (Jack Palance), who is interested in their rooms for rent. Slade expresses dismay at the parlor's drawings of old-time actresses, but is interested in the attic, which he says will be useful for experiments. Explaining that he is a pathologist who keeps irregular hours, the soft-spoken Slade offers Helen a month's rent in advance. Helen, curious about Slade's aversion to actresses, tells him that her actress niece, Lily Bonner (Constance Smith), is about to open in London after a successful run in Paris. On the night of Lily's opening, the Harleys' maid, Daisy (Tita Phillips), is hesitant to attend, as she does not want to walk home alone, despite the presence of an additional thousand policeman to the area. Slade then meets the beautiful Lily, who is intrigued by the shy, lonely lodger. Later, as Lily prepares in her dressing room, she is visited by faded actress Annie Rowley (Lilian Bond), who admits that she now works in a brothel. Although Lily wants to help Annie, she disappears, and Lily goes onstage, where her revealing dances are welcomed with applause. After the show, Lily is visited by Scotland Yard inspector Paul Warwick (Byron Palmer), who informs her that Annie has become the Ripper's latest victim. The police believe they have a lead, however, as a man wearing an ulster and carrying a small black bag was seen near Annie's body. The following morning, Warwick visits the Harley home to see Lily, with whom he has become infatuated. When he is introduced to Slade, however, Warwick takes an instant dislike to him, and Slade returns his antipathy, for both men are jealous of the other's interest in Lily. Warwick expounds his theory that the Ripper is left-handed and is a maniac who kills at random, but Slade replies that he will never catch the Ripper, as he is only doing what he has to because of who he is. Soon after, Helen becomes uneasy when she discovers that Slade has burned a small black bag, although William shows her that he has hidden a similar bag of his own because any man carrying such a bag is under suspicion. The following day, Slade has tea with the flirtatious Lily, who kisses him, much to his surprise and delight. Slade turns away, however, when she inquires about his dislike of actresses. Slade then reveals that his mother was an actress and that her extraordinary beauty hid "the wretched heart of a Jezebel," and that after she left his father for a younger man, he died a drunkard. Slade relates that his mother eventually became an alcoholic streetwalker and died on the streets of Whitechapel, and Lily is surprised by the depth of his conflicting feelings for her. Their discussion is interrupted by Warwick, who invites Lily to tour Scotland Yard's Black Museum, which contains artifacts of notorious killers. Slade accompanies them and is disgusted by Warwick's attitude toward the artifacts, which he proudly regards as trophies. Warwick theorizes that the Ripper has broken his pattern of killing every five or six days, and that the compulsion to kill must be building within him. Angered by Warwick's professed expertise about the Ripper, Slade predicts that he will strike that night. A few hours later, Irish immigrant Mary Lenihan (Lisa Daniels) is murdered, and soon after, Lily awakens at home and finds Slade burning his ulster. Although the stains on his coat look like blood, Slade asserts that he is burning the ulster to prevent contamination due to a bungled experiment. The next morning, a nervous Helen wants to alert the police about Slade's strange activities, but William refuses to listen and assures Slade that he is welcome to stay. Slade then tells Lily that he will be attending her show that evening, although he jealously notes that Warwick will also be coming. Meanwhile, Warwick, suspicious of Slade, confirms that he is a pathologist at the University Hospital, and later that night, arrives at the Harley home to escort Lily to the theater. Before Lily comes downstairs, William reluctantly apprises Warwick of Slade's eccentricities, and the inspector searches Slade's room, in the hopes of obtaining a fingerprint to compare with one found at the latest crime scene. Lily is outraged when she finds Warwick snooping through Slade's belongings and stealing a portrait of his mother, and berates him. At the theater, Slade grows increasingly distraught by the lascivious stares Lily's dancing draws, while at Scotland Yard, Warwick is frustrated in his efforts to match Slade's fingerprints to those of the Ripper. Warwick's sergeant, Bates (Harry Cording), cracks the case, however, when he recognizes the portrait of Slade's mother as Anne Lawrence, the Ripper's first victim. Rushing to the theater, Warwick and his men search for Slade, who is with Lily in her dressing room. Slade begs Lily to go away with him, far from the stares of other men, but the nervous Lily states that she would never give up acting, despite her fondness for him. In anguish, Slade states that he must cut out the evil from her beauty and holds a knife to Lily's throat. Lily gasps that Slade cannot hurt her because he loves her, and as Warwick and his men pound on the door, Slade drops his knife and escapes through the window. After a long chase through the streets of Whitechapel, Warwick reaches the River Thames, into which Slade has disappeared. Although Warwick searches for the killer, it becomes apparent that he has drowned, and the inspector surmises that the river is not as deep and dark as where Slade is going.

Dartmoor Prison where a prisoner is making music boxes, another prisoner approaches him making a proposition to tell what he knows, distrusting the fellow, a comment is made where the man will take his chances, having less than two and a half years before his release. There is no telling who might be on the inside working for Scotland Yard. John Davidson (Cyril Delavanti), a convicted thief in Dartmoor prison embeds code revealing the hidden location of extremely valuable stolen Bank of England currency printing plates in the melody notes of three music boxes that he crafts to be sold at auction. Each box plays a subtly different version of "The Swagman". At the auction each is purchased by a different buyer. Julian Emery (Edmund Breon), William Kilgour (Harry Allen) and a woman who runs a small curio shop and comes often to the auction house to pick up Knick Knacks. After the auction is over, a man Colonel Cavanaugh (Frederick Worlock) comes, says he was delayed and pays 5 pounds just to get the info on the buyers of the musical boxes. Colonel works for Hilda Courtney (Patricia Morison). Dr. Watson's (Nigel Bruce) friend Julian Emery, a music box collector, pays him and Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) a visit and tells them of an attempted burglary in his house the previous night of a plain cheap box (similar to the one he bought at auction) while leaving other much more valuable ones. Holmes and Watson ask to see and are shown Emery's collection. Emery comments that he has a box in his collection, which he bought just the day before, which resembles the one that was stolen. After they leave, Emery welcomes a female acquaintance, Hilda Courtney, who tries unsuccessfully to buy the auctioned box. when he declines, a male friend of Courtney's Hamid (Harry Cording) who has sneaked in, murders Emery. Courtney admonishes him for entering, killing Julian, and tells him to get out. They both leave with the box in her possession. The chauffeur is named Hamid, working with the Colonel and Mrs. Courtney. The three of them are in the same vehicle as they drive off, Hilda telling the Colonel of the murder. Inspector Hopkins (Carl Harbord) is assigned to investigate Emery's murder, and he promptly calls Holmes. Holmes finds the music box missing from Emery's collection. At this murder Holmes becomes even more curious and learns to whom else the boxes were auctioned off from auctioneer Ebenezer Crabtree (Holmes Herbert). Crabtree also informs Holmes that the boxes came from Dartmoor Prison and that a man came an hour after the auction wanting the boxes, and that Crabtree gave the man the buyer's addresses. Holmes and Watson arrive at the house of the person who bought the second one, just as a strange maid (Courtney in disguise) is on her way "to go shopping". They later realize it was not a maid and instead is revealed to be Hilda in disguise. She locked a child in a closet in order to steal the box from the child. Holmes is able to buy the third box. Courtney and Hamid track the woman who runs the curio shop and find that Holmes reached to her earlier and purchased the 3rd musical box from her. Upon examination, Holmes discovers that its variant musical notes' numbers correlate to letters of the alphabet. Holmes also finds that the 3 musical boxes were made by the same man in Dartmoor prison, John Davidson, who was connected with the theft of the Bank of England currency printing plates. Scotland Yard fills him in on the stolen bank plates. The plates were stolen 2 years ago. Davidson hid the plates (for printing the 5-pound notes) before he was arrested. any leak of the plates being stolen would have resulted in devaluation of the pound, since public confidence in the currency would be shaken. Davidson never revealed the location of the plates. Holmes theorizes that the plates were not hidden properly, and hence Davidson wants his comrades to take possession of them before he is released 2 years hence. This is where the music boxes connect, but all three are needed to decode the message. Holmes deduces the tune of the boxes is the clue to the location of the plates, but exactly how to extract that information he thinks he will get closer learning more about the tune itself. He goes to an actor's pub where he finds Joe Cisto, to help him identify the song. Joe helps, now Holmes must decipher the variations of the song from the three boxes, one of which he has. Through his part of the message Holmes knows that the plates are in the possession of a Doctor whose first or last initial is "S". So, he instructs Scotland yard to question the 10,000 or so doctors in London who match this description. Back at home, the flat is found ransacked, and a cigarette with a distinct type of tobacco is the sole clue. Holmes tracks down the woman who bought the tobacco (it is a pure Egyptian blend and only 3 people in London buy it), Courtney. While confronting her, Holmes is ambushed by her accomplices, handcuffed, taken to a warehouse, hung by a rafter, and left with poison gas filling the room. While Holmes is narrowly escaping death as he had stolen the cuff keys from Colonel Cavanaugh during the transfer to the warehouse, Courtney steals the box from Watson. Watson is visited by Hilda Courtney on the rouse she is looking for Holmes's help, while she distracts Watson with a smoke bomb, she steals the box Watson inadvertently shows her by moving the biscuit jar before he went for the fire extinguisher. Holmes manages to make it back in one piece and while conversing, Watson offhandedly mentions a quote from Dr. Samuel Johnson. Thinking about this quote, Holmes makes a connection as to where the stolen plates may be hidden. Having stolen all the boxes and deciphered their message, Courtney and gang have joined a tour group at Dr. Samuel Johnson's house, now a museum, where they slipped away and found the plates hidden within a bookshelf. Courtney is stealing the plates when Holmes ambushes the group. Scotland Yard officers arrest them, and the plates are returned to the Bank.

Doctor Miller and his party head for Alaska in hopes that a newly discovered mineral from an ore mine will provide the vital element in his new defensive weapon. Their quest is hampered by a villainous interloper who wants the ore. Doctor Miller and his party head for Alaska in hopes that a newly discovered mineral from an ore mine will provide the vital element in his new defensive weapon. Their quest is hampered by a villainous interloper who wants the ore and the doctor's latest invention.