More Poe. I don't know much about early mystery stories but Poe may have invented the detective story as we now understand it. And as stated in the closing narration; A.Conan Doyle may have been indebted to Poe.
This episode accurately depicts the crime and the solution as written by Poe BUT some of the most significant clues are omitted. For some reason, there is almost nothing of the strange voice heard by persons during the murders - mistaken by various people as russian or spanish or german - each witness being totally unfamiliar with the language in question. The strange voice, seeming to speak no human language at all, seems a totally perfect thing to use in a radio drama. Of course CBSRMT added characters and their development took up time so there was less time to deal with the details of the crimes.
It's true the nature of the murderer is pretty improbable and the characteristics attributed to it are not wholly accurate (Did I hear the CBSRMT version refer to "black hairs"? I don't recall Poe making that mistake.) but it's still a memorable example of detective fiction with a grotesque turn.
I like the actors, and the characters added for the CBSRMT version are not unpleasant. Overall it's a good episode. 