Das Tagebuch Collins (1915)

The engineer Fred Collin is found dead one day. He leaves a handwritten message on a note for his friend Peter Thomson, saying that important information about his death can be found in his diary. The investigation in Collin’s apartment is underway when a young woman appears at the scene, claiming to be a distant relative of the deceased. Taking advantage of a moment of police inattention, she steals the diary lying on the desk. The investigation into Collin’s death turns up strong grounds for suspicion against Thomson, who is consequently placed in pretrial detention. When his fiancée, Ellen Wolter, visits him, he insists that he is innocent and earnestly asks her to leave no stone unturned in trying to find the diary. Ellen Wolter goes to Fred Collin’s apartment and discovers a woman’s glove with a distinctive scent of perfume. She learns that the perfume was specially made for Princess Metschersky. Ellen disguises herself as a maid and goes to the princess’s residence to return the leather glove. She claims to have found it right outside the princely villa. The princess takes quite a liking to this “maid” and hires her in that very position. Ellen, who has a maid of her own, tells her to stay near the new workplace—the villa—and watch from outside for anything that might happen. The maid sees the princess meet with a man and follows the two of them when they go to a tavern called “The Red Rooster.” Ellen’s maid tells her mistress what she has seen, whereupon Ellen disguises herself as a flower seller and goes to the “Red Rooster” to investigate who the mysterious man might be. She succeeds in finding out his name: a certain Peppio Pastia. A little later, the princess—who is clearly the thief of Collin’s diary—is seen sitting in the family chapel and reading Collin’s notes. Then she kisses his photograph. Ellen has slipped into the chapel unnoticed and watches the princess. After Princess Metschersky leaves the chapel and locks it from the outside, Ellen grabs the diary that has been hidden there and escapes from the chapel by jumping out of a window. She takes the evidence home and reads the entries. The writing does indeed prove her fiancé’s innocence. Armed with this discovery, she goes to the courthouse, where Thomson’s trial is currently in progress. The trial takes a sensational turn. The hearing is adjourned so that both Princess Metschersky and the mysterious Peppio Pastia can be questioned. Collin’s diary is then read aloud in court: In a port city, Fred Collin once met the dancer Carmen Sorgatha and her jealous boyfriend, Pedro. Fred soon fell in love with the fiery Spanish woman, who returned his feelings. But the passionate young woman was also extremely possessive: she wanted to tie Fred to her at all costs and threatened him with a dagger. It all became too much for him, and he left as quickly as he could. Two years later, Collin saw the temperamental woman again, performing as a dancer. Carmen had spotted him too and invited him to have dinner with her after the show. She told him she wanted him back, but he would have none of it. Carmen then threatened to marry a rich prince and make Fred’s life a living hell from then on. And, indeed, the woman began taking revenge on him. She planted an incriminating document in his apartment and informed the authorities, causing Fred Collin to be deported to Siberia. After a long period of suffering, however, he managed to escape and returned to his friends. Unfortunately, he ran into Carmen again, and she had by no means yet satisfied her thirst for revenge. He caught her dripping poison into his teacup and snatched the vial from her. After that, Carmen stabbed his fiancée Claire to death. Unable to go on living without her, Fred Collin swallowed the poison from Carmen’s vial, which he had kept with him. This conclusively establishes Peter Thomson’s innocence. When Carmen, alias Princess Metschersky, and her accomplice Peppio are now to be arrested, the she-devil swallows what remains of her poison supply, thereby escaping earthly justice.