 This is Orson Welles speaking from London the Black Museum here in the grim stone structure on the Thames which houses carton yard is a warehouse of homicide a warehouse where everyday objects a tallow candle for example a mounted cat and a hand iron all all are touched by murder a bedsheet it's a familiar object see them every night except on rare occasions when you're roughing it linen is the usual material sometimes they're made of silk this one is linen it bears the imprint of the steamship Bengal Tower may I make a big bet Ms. Parsons I certainly stood as we're on our way aren't we yes miss that's the last we'll see of Cape Town I'll just change your sheets miss thank you fresh ones for the first night out today that bedsheet can be seen in the black museum of the criminal investigation department of the London police we bring you the dramatic stories of the crimes recorded by the objects in Scotland Yards Gallery of Death the black museum black museum Scotland Yards very special very particular museum of murder if you're a student of criminology a student with some imagination I don't think you'll be alone here in the black museum each small card meant solely to identify crime and criminal will bring to life for you a sinister ghost you walk here attended simultaneously by killer and killed I has a long-necked chemist flask is meant to hold life-giving medicine but somebody intervened there was acid in this flask a few pellets dropped in dissolved the flask was smoky with lethal paper sleeping man died here's a bicycle made for fun but notice the wheels the crumpled spokes crushed tires a girl rode this bike down hill and the wire was stretched across the roadway we are the sheets a common everyday bedsheet stamped in one corner SS Bengal Tower that's a luxury liner on the route between Cape Town and Southampton it's a nice ship and a voyage to enjoy particularly when you're young and homeward bound Natalie Parsons was young and homeward bound and very lovely the first night out there were two gentlemen friends to dance attendance thank you much past I you make even a lieutenant's life a pleasure why lieutenant I thought the Navy was the life for a young man with a venture in his so that's just the legend but all legends come to an end just like the dancing tonight Mr. Morrow holding the four-star table all alone it's been nice to him lieutenant I hear he knows the captain of our ship the dancing was over in the main cellar the orchestra retired for the night high above the brilliantly illuminated decks on the dim vinegar lighted bridge captain Booth had his own thoughts as he paced away as much all right full passenger list decent crew engines in good shape ship all squared away topside below that's the worry and the fascination of us you never know no captain we never know do you you never know but such thoughts are ridiculous look at the three people at that table near the bar in the first-class lounge this minute the Parsons girl actress and passenger list says the naval lieutenant what is his name Jeff Hennessy that's it and no all Morrow past middle age but quite distinguished heavy stockhold in the line which owns your Bengal tower nice people having a fine time and this gentleman concludes our performance for this evening but it's early yet Mr. Parsons well I'm not used to the sea air lieutenant I'm tired so I'm going to bed and thank you both for a lovely first night at sea may I see you to your captain hold on I claim that privilege you dance with her all evening son now it's my turn don't fight gentlemen we're not the first night out anyway I think we'll exceed a nurse wish tonight Jeff he has some basis to his claim you know I surrender there's plenty of time Southampton and plenty of time for fun and enjoyment and even playing at love it's the great ship knives through the tropic seas northward homeward bound so Noel Morrow walks Natalie Parsons to a cabin and returns to the bar for a nightcap was lieutenant Jeff Hennessy to Natalie a nice girl I'll drink to that a fine talent I hear yes I saw in the plane Johannesburg three cornered moon very amusing so I never heard of it still I'm glad I heard of Natalie Parsons nice girl good-looking Joe it's all of that and more well he has to a pleasant point it's too gentlemen converse over whiskey and soda and then repair to their respective quarters fall asleep 2 a.m. four belts on the bridge the watch is changing first officer reporting relieving sir thank you mr. besides we're making 15 knots course 348 or quite below thank you sir I took a little bit of checking before I came topside watch when they're reading their station sir and stewards and stewards is turning so very well mr. take over carry on North North East roughly is the course ship moves on the captain goes to his cabin first officer foresight in the quartermaster stand to on the bridge all quiet below on v-deck the watchman makes his rounds that's a funny one B-24 ringing for steward and stewardess both we'll have a look what does that man is something wrong sir nothing's wrong with both your buzzers are ringing sir fear steward and steward is both there must be a mistake everything here is fine the watchman is puzzled he goes back the buzzers have stopped he checks the cabin list B-24 miss Natalie Parsons he hesitates back to the cabin or up to the bridge was it a mistake he chose the bridge what is it p-24 the ladies cabin single occupied mr. foresight is it now buzzers was ringing I answered a man came to the door all I did see of him with his trouser leg and shoe black both of them well strange things gonna happen on shipboard on a cruise like this you know you just go on with your rounds and fill out your report when you go off watch yes sir very well sir in a few moments I'll go below and check want to make sure me be a B-24 at five bell higher sir thank you sir strange things do happen on shipboard even without tropic seas and avoid shown quite strange things five bells I passed to first officer foresight's with watchman Petrie his elbow knocked discreetly on the door to B-24 unlocked is it careless so it seems sir swing your torch in here Petrie hi sir nobody here cabins empty all right Petrie make a report I'll into this on the log we'll let it go at that girls will be girls Petrie I trust you haven't forgotten that discreet fellow that first officer but then he's had plenty of cruise experience he noted the matter in the log after all he had left the bridge for a few moments and that was all that happens is one of the duties of the first officers to call the roll at boat drill you know how that goes the bells clang all over the ship the passengers joke as they reach for life bells dusty with disuse and scrambled the boat deck at the station's noted on their cabin doors and after a bit the first officer comes around and checks the role yes I know answer to your names please ladies and gentlemen this is a boat station for cabins B-18 to B-45 all passengers and crew assigned here will answer mr. Ainswell yeah Alan Bert yes sir miss Lawrence yeah mr. Leary Nancy medals yes sir Major Morton yeah miss Parsons miss Parsons miss Parsons first officer reported to captain bulls captain bulls thought it might be courteous if miss Parsons were under the weather to pay her courtesy call captain not empty strange status status yes sir you wanted me captain I do you see miss Parsons this morning no sir I haven't it's a little queer rather how so she wasn't a boat drill either sir night things are missing laid them out last night did you yes sir pretty things too just right for her but not a sign of them this morning and stains all over the sheet how's that where here sir sort of red and a few black ones sir streaks like you see just a moment and at times when I'm glad first-class cabins have telephones this is the captain speaking I want Dr. Stout in B-24 at once thank you you don't think something's happened do you sir she's such a nice girl that's what everyone says funny goings on in here last night watchman's report along notice anything else peculiar here this morning stewardess well well yes sir when the first I came in to straighten up first off I noticed the portal sir swing open it was all by itself I fastened it before anything sir yes that's right you go for me captain yes doctor take a look at the stains on that sheet will you right all right sure as you can go but stay on call yes sir I'll be right outside and send in the watchman yes well doctor these are probably lipstick the other red spots they look like blood I'm afraid I'll tell better after I've run a test the black mark speak me not a very pleasant prospect blood on the sheet and an open porthole watchman Peter again oh yes don't go doctor and now see here between this man you reported speaking to last night did you see his face sorry sir I didn't only his trouser in one shoe like I told Mr. Forsyth I see it's too bad what about his voice it was muffled sir by the door but he didn't have well a kind of accent what kind medical Welsh scots Irish if anything it was scotch all right dismissed thank you sir well doctor I don't like the looks of it I'd seal this cabin and notify owners if I were you I'll do that and more this is the captain give me the bridge watch officer please hello mr. Madsen captain Booth here I want a complete search of the ship at once for a passenger Natalie Parsons crows nest a block hole and put the ship about mr. we're going back on a sea search as well calculate our position at four bells this morning I'll be topside directly we're not gonna find her alive you know doctor but we've got to have a look I know this girl went through that port hole alive the sharks have got to buy now she went through dead we have a murderer aboard as I said before not a very pleasant prospect doctor sergeant looks a pleasant an empty cabin an open port hole and blood on the sheet and I'd remind you that that sheet today can be seen in the black museum you gentlemen have anything to add have you gentlemen in South Hampton the criminal investigation department did have a few items to add all right Hobson what's the report on this Parsons girl well exactly what she said she was inspector actress mm-hmm apparently quite well accepted in Joe Berg plenty of men at the stage door so to speak age 25 never a touch a scandal two points yes she was in the army intelligence during the war had languages good actress quite a help possibly in secret service nowadays no I call the special branch on that positively no she's back in civil life completely well that's a possible theory down the drain yes sir well you had two points sergeant yes sir the other is she said she left Joe Berg for a theater job here well it's no sign of it sir no manager in England has signed her though were some of them knew the name we'll keep after that oh how about the passenger and crew list anyone familiar now not a criminal record in the lot and we've checked all 368 of them all right Sergeant well keep after that set a job angle meanwhile I'll let the technicians and the harbor police will be going aboard that ship before the pilot takes her over a ship with a seal cabin drew nearer to home somehow the festive quality of a voyage home was missing tension settled over the Bengal Tower from the bridge to the boiler room at long long last the anchor dropped into Southampton water the passengers gathered to watch for the pilot boat that's no pilot boat is it healthy police launch I expected as much funny you dance with a girl you know of eight ten hours out of your life she stays with you it happens son she was a lovely thing don't fall in love with a ghost wind up rather lonely or no thanks now remember that quite a few of them coming aboard yes we're in for a going over apparently the captain spoke to the passengers and crew of the public address system ladies and gentlemen as you know representatives of the Southampton police have come aboard to proceed with the necessary inquiry into the tragic disappearance of one of our fellow passengers until this inquiry has run its course it'll be necessary to lie off and not to proceed ashore your cooperation will be greatly appreciated now I'm sure you realize that all which can be done is being done to place your shore as soon as possible thank you I wish them luck how I wish them on B-deck inspector Rice took over from a greatly relieved captain bulls no time was wasted set up a lab in the ship's pharmacy and get at those stains compare them with the girl's lipstick and get the blood type and find out what's in those black markings yes sir I'll strip the bed and go through her things top to bottom now I want to talk to the watchman the stewardess and from what you say captain the man in here that night had a scots accent that's correct well how many scotsman aboard have you checked that we have twenty six inspector 18 passengers eight in the crew oh very good sir you have been thorough now you I take it are the watch they work quickly but they work thoroughly the watchman and the stewardess has reasserted their statements the captain was one addition oh yes I cleaned the cabin thoroughly wiped everything that was too bad no chance now for fingerprints in the improvised laboratory in the ship's pharmacy they did better of the lipstick stains match the lipstick in her luggage exactly sir the blood type on that spotted sheet type oh sir the girls army record gives the same type meanwhile information arrived from ashore she had a job waiting for her inspector at the abbey theater in Dublin sir and then the police cameras came up with a long awaited answer the black streaks on the sheet sir lamp black wax and petroleum oil that shoe polish but there's a trace of silver polish mixed in sir now we've got something Hobson yes sir but what well who gets silver polish on his boots aboard ship sergeant well it's a weird combination sir a ship steward Hobson a steward with a scots accent now let's see the captain shall we I'll cooperate in any way I can inspector but even if it is one of my men there's not a thing to tie any of them to the incident well sir I have an idea we can let the passengers ashore now but hold the crew then you invite the police detail and the ship's officers to luncheon set up four tables well apart waited on by the four stewards you say are scots born at the end of the meal thank you steward I will have some more coffee now as I was saying gentlemen it's practically over that one fingerprint on the glass of the porthole will hang the man no question about it they always forget something make at least one silly mistake there'll be a ship's mechanic from our harbor three support all right young fella you can stop polishing that porthole cover now what's the meaning of this I'm doing my job there's no fingerprint on the glass you fell for the inspectors plan I'll have to take you in charge will full murder on suspicion and I must warn you anything you say maybe take them down they smoke him out alright but he refused to give in without a struggle it was interesting to watch his mind work as they questioned your Alan Bert I am your first trip aboard the Bengal Tower around trick went out in her this is the return like the ladies do you seem to like me ever had any trouble with one before no never what do you mean before your forearms Bert and your neck all scratched no dame ever scratch me where did you get them then ships cat I tried to pet her she let me have it it weren't washed but no cat's claws ever scratched like that ships doctor will certify to that and those scratches aren't old enough to have happened at all all right then it was a woman a stewardess which one I'm not saying she'd lose her job nonsense who you're protecting Bert nobody stop it Bert you're only making it hard of yourself you were on duty for that cabin among others she rang from the watchman's story the buzzer was stuck but you didn't realize it until he knocked on the door and spoke to you you went to be 24 forced you way in attack the girl and when she resisted you killed her and pushed her through that portal wasn't that the way it was Bert I'll never attack nobody we say you did there's blood on the sheet her blood we'll find it on your clothes too I'll never attacked her we had a date after she ditched the two jokers she was dancing and drinking with be careful what you say Bert it's all being taken down and maybe used in evidence I'm telling the truth I didn't kill her I was waiting in the cabin like she said when she came in she changed her mind or something she tried to push me out I don't take that from no woman I grabbed her she fell against me she was forming at the mouth in a in a sort of fit she collapsed I put her on the bed tried to give her artificial respiration that's how the black girl on the sheet maybe probably go on that when that full p3 came to the door I lost my head she looked dead I I didn't know what I locked the door I couldn't find no heartbeat nothing I figured p3 would report to the bridge I picked her up and pushed her out of the port hole why did you decide to tell this tale that because you'd pin it on me anyway I know coppers so better than have used cook it up you got it my way I didn't kill nobody here I didn't kill nobody Stanley Burch had told his story not a very good story for their in contradiction was the testimony and evidence including that bloodstain bedsheet but you can see today in the black museum Stuart birch was a ladies man there was no doubt about that after the evidence was in the jury had little doubt either they convicted mr. birch a first-degree murder despite his protestations and despite the fact that for the first time in 200 years a jury had been given a homicide case without a corpus delicti this was a major aspect of the case very interesting when I think and further just after the conviction the House of Commons suspended the death penalty in England as for Stuart birch you'll find him spending the rest of his natural life in Dartmoor prison and as with the spotted bedsheet it remains in its custom in place in Scotland yard the black museum and now until we meet next time the same place I tell you another story about the black museum and remain as always obedient for yours