Die Botschaft des Jean Battista (1917)

In the case before him, entitled “The Message of Jean Battista,” Jenkins has no murder—or any other crime—to solve. Instead, he is given the admittedly difficult task of proving how a banker committed suicide. If he fails to prove it, the young man secretly engaged to the dead man’s daughter may have to languish in prison for a murder he did not commit. Of course, Joe Jenkins succeeds at everything, and so he establishes the following: many years ago, Jean Battista, a poor peddler, served time in Sing Sing with the banker. The peddler has now learned of the young couple’s romantic troubles and wants to help. He goes to see his former companion. But the banker has lost his entire fortune and sees his only salvation in a wealthy son-in-law. He has already found one, but the prospective son-in-law accidentally witnesses the conversation between the two men and calls off the engagement. What else can the father do but end his life, so that at least his daughter can receive the large sum for which his life is insured? His suicide must therefore be staged to look like murder, since the insurance company will not pay out in the event of suicide. Joe Jenkins reconstructs the exceptionally ingenious deed and, in doing so, brings the lovers together.