Unknown Broadcast | Six Horror Stories of Guilt, Poison, and the Pendulum - Weekly Spooky: Horror Stories & Scary Tales

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Well, my dear, so good to see you back. Oh
what's that. Well, I'm sure we can find a way too.
Unwind a bit. After all, the holidays are for joy
and cheer. I suppose I should get this fire burning

(00:32):
bright and hot. It is the winter, after all, so
cold it could chill you to the bone. Oh, where
are my manners? Here's a cup of hot tea to enjoy.
I know how much you like it. Now, don't you
worry one bit. Put your feet up in my favorite chair.

(00:56):
I know right now everything seems are everything feels like
a see of troubles.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
I'm now mystery there, brought to you in part by
True Value Hardware, your store of first choice.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Come in.

Speaker 4 (01:35):
Welcome, I'm e. G. Marshall.

Speaker 5 (01:39):
Welcome to the sound of suspense. Welcome to the fear
you can hear. Welcome to the world of terrifying imagination.
The subject of the story you're about to hear is murder,
but the subject is also time. We've all heard of

(01:59):
killing time, but have you heard about using time to kill?
You will in the next few minutes, when mister Owen
Layton himself tells you his most ingenious scheme for getting
rich quick by means of sudden death.

Speaker 4 (02:15):
Owen, for heaven's sake, what are you doing here?

Speaker 6 (02:19):
You're supposed to be in powering chalk.

Speaker 4 (02:21):
Harrias, and I seem to have done exactly that. By
the way, I met your charming dance Indreka, although I'm
quite sure he didn't see me, But I don't understand
how could you possibly have returned home so soon? I
was in a terrible hurry to see you, darling. I
simply couldn't wait to see you, and dude bid.

Speaker 5 (02:53):
Our mystery drama Sea of Troubles was written especially for
the mystery theater by Henry Schlesser and stars got Scotworth.
Our spine Tingler begins across the sea in the delightful

(03:17):
city of Paris. They say that you can sit at
a sidewalk cafe in one of these streets, and sooner
or later meet everyone you've ever known. Well, now we're
going to introduce you.

Speaker 4 (03:29):
To someone who you don't know, but whose acquaintance you
will enjoy.

Speaker 7 (03:33):
Me.

Speaker 5 (03:35):
His name is Owen Layton, and he prefers to tell
you his unusual story in his own words.

Speaker 4 (03:43):
I arrived at Paris at ten o'clock that morning, but
I didn't leave my hotel room until well after four.
I knew my brother Gerald's habits only do well. He'd
probably be sleeping until noon, so I knew where he
would be at four pm. Of course, at Patrick's cafe
with the Montparna's. Everyone loved Gerald at Patrick's because he

(04:04):
was famous for always paying his bills with my money.
Of course, was a missi bojoule. I chose a table
well to the side, but my appearance still attracted considerable attention.
And why not with my rumpled English tweeds, a long
gray beard in the style of Ulysses as grant a
pair of crutches to keep my monstrously bandaged foots off

(04:25):
the Parisian as folk, I must have been quite a
sight you guys. Pound knows you will play them as.

Speaker 6 (04:34):
Well what he had no one for the love of pay.

Speaker 4 (04:38):
Hello, Gerald, I'm glad you were able to recognize me
under all his hair and bandages. What's the matter with
your foot? I never mind about bad Give me a
look at you. I haven't seen my kid brother in
over a year. You know something, you look more French.

Speaker 5 (04:54):
Than every Come on, now let's hear about that foot.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
Open the beard what did you grow? Well, that's hrubbery.
Well I got the idea.

Speaker 4 (05:01):
From you the last time I was in Paris.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
This thing, this is nothing compared to you, Alison.

Speaker 5 (05:07):
The last time I saw a beard like that, it
was on.

Speaker 4 (05:09):
A fifty dollars bill. I guess you got a little
out of hand. I think you trending it as a
matter of fact, more like your style.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
I'll introduce you to my barber.

Speaker 4 (05:19):
May do me a favorite? Gerald finished this paranol for me.
I shouldn't be drinking with my foot.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
Well, what's your foot get.

Speaker 4 (05:26):
To do with it? It's the gout you remember I
wrote you about it a few months ago. I had
the tactics before I sailed to Europe. Well, how's your
painting coming along?

Speaker 8 (05:34):
You sold anything you have any I sold my watch.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
As if you didn't know.

Speaker 4 (05:39):
Yes, I know you came to Paris to starve in
the garrets. But you look pretty well fed to me. Oh,
speaking of that, I was Harriet. So speaking of which,
the money I sent you or being well fed? You
know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (05:54):
How is she still the same?

Speaker 4 (05:56):
No, she's more of the same. She's richer than ever,
and she's fatter than ever. You also meaner than ever.

Speaker 3 (06:03):
Well, she couldn't be to me.

Speaker 4 (06:05):
Now she lets you grow that beard.

Speaker 8 (06:08):
He still don't see why you wanted to grow it.

Speaker 4 (06:11):
You always made this fun of mine, and I have
my reason, Gerald. It was part of my plan. Plan
what plan? Why could kill my mean fat wife? Of course,
so this is your Garrett. They're pretty luxurious for a

(06:32):
starving artist.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
Isn't it not bad?

Speaker 4 (06:35):
And all those canvases, some even have paint on them.
But don't tell me you're really working.

Speaker 5 (06:41):
Oh and I know you're no saint, but I don't
think you're wicked enough to do what you said strangle
har it.

Speaker 4 (06:50):
No, Gerald, I'm wicked enough, just not foolish enough. My
wife's money will be precious little good to me in prison.
Don't tell me you've got.

Speaker 5 (07:00):
Some kind of a fool proof scheme, owen, because there
is no such things. And no matter how clever you are,
there's always someone cleverer.

Speaker 4 (07:09):
In the detective novels raps, that's the time before I
kick you with my gouty foot. I've got five tons
of bandage there. It makes quite a weapon.

Speaker 5 (07:19):
I don't understand what you meant about gout.

Speaker 4 (07:22):
It's the very cornerstone of my plans. I have established
a medical history of the disease. If questions arise later,
question yeah, about the bandages, Owen.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
I have never seen you like this.

Speaker 9 (07:36):
You're really talking wildly.

Speaker 5 (07:38):
I always crutches and being always crazy, talking about killing people.

Speaker 4 (07:41):
What's not crazy at all. It's a beautiful, rational scheme
and one.

Speaker 3 (07:46):
That you will be eager to see succeed.

Speaker 4 (07:50):
Ohen, what's happened between you and Harriet? I nothing sudden.
It's been a gradual change, perhaps the inevitable result of
advancing years. You know, I was considerably younger than Harriet's
when we married. Now it seems I am not young enough.
How wait, are you cutting me off? Are you going

(08:10):
to stop sending me money? Nothing of the can. As
long as my income can support it, you can continue
to develop your artistic talent. And the question is how
long will my income continue. It's been ten years since
I married Harriet. The difference between our ages is suddenly
not so great. Harriet is discovering that there are younger

(08:31):
men in the world. In fact, there's one particular one
she's fond of. You're joking. He's a dancing instructor. As
a matter of fact, she met him when I had
my first attack of gouts. They couldn't move for a month. Well,
Harriet indulged yourself in non domestic pleasures, right dancing?

Speaker 3 (08:50):
What to talk about killing her?

Speaker 4 (08:51):
Yailing her carefully, gerud with due regard to the risks involved.

Speaker 3 (08:58):
Actually I thought of the answer when I was lad
on my back.

Speaker 4 (09:01):
I had plenty of time to think then about what
a unique phenomenon of the modern age, the magnificent paradox
of transy travel. Traveling a ship makes it journey in
some five days, Jeff, plane takes only a few hours.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
But you hate planes.

Speaker 6 (09:20):
You've never been on a plane in your line, That's right.

Speaker 4 (09:23):
They terrify me. Well, what does all this have to
do with gilling Harry's everything? For you and I, brother
are going to put that trends atlantic paradox to use.
We're going to prove that the difference between a ship
and a plane is a lovely way to commit murder.

(09:48):
It was almost two weeks later that Gerald and I
have stood on the dark at Lahab and looked at
the trim lines of the Empress. She wasn't exactly the
largest red of the lying at Acker, but to get
a sanity. She was certainly oblivious. That was fine with me.
More excitement on the pier, the less noticeable Gerald and

(10:08):
I were as we made our way toward a deck.
Our progress was slow, since I never really managed to
use those crutches. Finally we made our way to stateroom G,
and then the door finally shut behind it. I collapsed
on the bunk. I looked at my younger brother's face

(10:29):
and felt considerably better. Poor Gerald, his complexion was so
pale white against his reddish beard, now fuller by two
barbleous weeks. Relaxed, Gerald, I had your confidence one. So
let's take care of the passports first, and then we
can call the Stewart.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
All right here they are good.

Speaker 4 (10:52):
Now we have to do with infinite patience, I said
about the delicate task of removing the small photographs from
both passports. I was as precise as a jeweler, and
I squeezed blue from a tiny tube and replaced them,
one bearded face substituted for the other one. Yes, my

(11:12):
brother and I look quite a bit alike, despite the
six year difference in our age. Owen, are you sure
nobody will notice?

Speaker 3 (11:20):
Now you're not supposed to tap over these paths born as.

Speaker 4 (11:23):
That's true, and I understand it's also a crime to
kill someone. Nevertheless, that's exactly what I plan to do. Now,
let's ring for the stewart. The man who words ad
our ring was a perfect delight, an aging pumpany with
a thin crest of white hair, the mouth of a pixie,

(11:45):
and the squirtty eyes of a myopic. The latter, of course,
was going to be a blessing. Everything all right, was
delight and yes, everything's just fine. Your name mister Porkins. Hey, yes,
that's me to Porkins, it's your chirvy Hawkins. I'm afraid
I'm going to be something of a burden to you
on this voyage. As you see, i'm an invalid. Oh yes,

(12:07):
your poor foot share exactly my poor foot. As a result,
I'm going to be forced to take all my meals
in here, so you'll have to arrange matters with the
dining steward. I trust that can be arranged.

Speaker 7 (12:19):
Oh yes, sir, don't you worry none about that time,
Nor will.

Speaker 4 (12:24):
I be spending any time on deck. The least bit
of role is extremely painful for me, so I remain
in my state room until we reach Port Hark. What
a pity share. It's all right, it's all right. I've
got a great deal of business to take care of
between here and New York, and I have enough paperwork
to keep me busy. So if you'll just bring me

(12:45):
my meals and keep me from being disturbed, you'll be
doing your job handsomely. All right, understood?

Speaker 3 (12:52):
Oh understood, Richard.

Speaker 4 (12:53):
I see you later then, mister Porkin, Oh, yes, sure,
we were lucky. He sees how your cooperative geezeer has.
But be careful. Always keep your door locked so he
can never enter without knocking. And every time he brings
you that tray, make sure that you're either dozing or

(13:15):
buried in papers. You understand, understood. Well, when I think about,
well she's going to do in New York while I'm
on board the ship, I oh, and I'm going to
do in New York is going to be a pleasure.
But you're so cold, blunted about it.

Speaker 3 (13:29):
You are going to kill a human being.

Speaker 4 (13:31):
Oh, I never said that. I said I was going
to kill Harriet.

Speaker 5 (13:42):
Poor Harriet, where she is in her lavish New York townhouse,
thinking about nothing but her dancing lessons. While aboard the
SS Empress, two men are plotting her demise. Of course,
we're not yet certain how Owen Leyton plan to get
away with murder. Even if he does fly to New

(14:03):
York and his brother sails in his place.

Speaker 3 (14:07):
We'll simply have to wait until I continue shortly with
that too. Now let's return to the stateroom G on
a deck of the Empress.

Speaker 4 (14:32):
It's almost failing time.

Speaker 5 (14:35):
The first all Visitors Ashore warning has been sounded on
all levels of the great ship, but in Stateroom G.
Of course, the warning has a special significance because now
the visitor has become the passenger, and the passenger has.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
Become the visitor. But let mister Owen Layton speak for himself.

Speaker 4 (15:01):
Listen to me, Generald, listen very careful for Pete's sake.
Oh and we've been over this a hundred times. I'm
seeing it for the last time. You must do exactly
what I've said, exactly. The smallest variation can cause total disaster.
I promise you I won't move from the stateroom.

Speaker 3 (15:22):
I'll be a good little rabbit in my case.

Speaker 4 (15:25):
Yes, that's exactly what worries me. Your rabbit like tendencies.
Don't expect me to enjoy it.

Speaker 5 (15:32):
Well, I think of all those cute little funnies strolling
around in the.

Speaker 4 (15:34):
Bank, or just forget they're there, I understand. Let me
get this bandage off my foot. Oh, and don't forget
the sixth night. You'll manage, all right, we'll be atty funoughly, yes,
neither would it been any fun to fill gas tanks
and hoboken. Not as much fun as living on the
Left Bank with those Parisian beauties of yours. All right,

(15:57):
all right, I know we don't forget who's really doing
the hard work, Junior, including that plane trip tonight. Ooh,
I mean that's the worst part of it all. Listen,
how high did those buddy things fly?

Speaker 10 (16:13):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (16:13):
Thirty thousand feet? I think bird's preposterous. Bad The bandages off, now,
let's get them on you. By the time the next
tall ashore sounded, the transformation had been made. The bandages
were on my brother's foot, and the crutches were lying
snugly beside his book, and I was all set to leave.

(16:37):
With Gerald's gray tweed coat belted around me, with Gerald's
hat on my head, I strolled to the visitor's gangplank
and left the ss Empress to its business. In a way,

(16:59):
it was fortunate that I dreaded air travel so much.
I thought of being carried a offf some thirty thousand
feet inside the monstrous machine part at the Gate seven
on Olive Field was completely engrossing. For this reason, I
overcame and he nervousness I might have had upon confronting
the immigration authority. The official merely glanced at the photograph

(17:21):
and my passport book, snapped it shut briskly and handed
it back. Mister Gerald Robin Layton was on his way
back home. I don't recall much about the flight. I
remember about ten minutes of sheer terror when we took
off on what seemed like a ridiculously short runway. I
know there were several more hours of alternating freight numbness

(17:44):
and drowsiness, helped by liberal amounts of alcohol. And then
there was that agonizing half hour following the captain's announcement
of our approach ingto Kennedy in the National Airport, and
wonder of wonders, I was safe. The only one in
danger was my wife. It was midnight in New York,

(18:09):
and I climbed into a taxi and gave the driver
on destination Grand Central Station. In the terminal, I deposited
my single piece of luggage in a public locker and
took still another taxi to the street where Harriet and
I had spent the last four years of our marriage.
The brownstone was an imposing building from the exterior, but
Harriet's money had made it possible to stoop out the

(18:33):
interior and transform it into a duplex of cunningly modern design.
I had spent several happy hours in this house, about
seven or eighth I think it was one twenty in
the morning by the time I arrived, and the traffic
had gone from the quiet streets of Sutton Place. The
dreet was empty. The shades of the building's opposite had

(18:56):
all been drawn against the night, and I felt certain
that no one's me quietly and said the key into
the lock of the front door. I went quietly upstairs
in the bedroom. It was empty, but that was no surprise.
It was Saturday night, because they would be. I was
in Paris. Therefore, Harriet was on the town, probably in

(19:19):
the company of her dance instructor friend. In a way,
I was glad that she was running through to form.
It helped me feel justified in taking the drastic.

Speaker 9 (19:27):
Course that I was about to take.

Speaker 4 (19:30):
About twenty minutes later, I heard the front door opening again.

Speaker 7 (19:39):
Oh my seat.

Speaker 9 (19:43):
Danced, my little sissies up.

Speaker 4 (19:44):
The night you stare you.

Speaker 3 (19:47):
That's what you're paying me for, missus Lee, that's what
you think love?

Speaker 4 (19:53):
Speaking of stop it? You mean I don't even get
a yish good night tomorrow night? Maybe right now?

Speaker 9 (20:04):
I just want to go to sleep.

Speaker 4 (20:06):
And I thought you looked a bit preoccupied tonight.

Speaker 9 (20:09):
Is anything wrong?

Speaker 4 (20:11):
No, unless you count a cable from my husband. Well,
he's still embarrassed me.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
He sailed on the Empress to be here in another
five days. That's too bad, and he can stay tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (20:25):
All right, count of the eyes your night time and
said good night, And then Harriet started up the stairs.
I picked up the pretty blue vase that adorn her
dressing table and placed it behind my back. Hello, Harriet,
and said, what are.

Speaker 11 (20:47):
You doing here?

Speaker 2 (20:48):
You're supposed to be in paril.

Speaker 4 (20:50):
I thought i'd surprise you, darling. So I think they're
done exactly that.

Speaker 12 (20:54):
But your cable you said you were taking the Empress.

Speaker 13 (20:58):
She won't arrivee a day I.

Speaker 4 (21:00):
Changed my mind about taking me ship. I flew and said,
you you.

Speaker 9 (21:05):
Were never inside a plane in your life.

Speaker 4 (21:07):
Well, there's always the first time, isn't for everything? But
why when you're you're so terrified of flying? Because I
was in a hurry, darlings, I simply couldn't wait to
see you and do this. It was a shame about

(21:27):
the bay you s had cost the small fortune. Really
distasteful part came now, as you may have gathered, I'm
a manifestidious taste, but when you have five days to lose,
you can't afford the nine of these. I knew it
would be easier to lose myself in the region of
the city where the lower depths are at their lowest.
Started my britty suits, my Italian loafers, and my continental manners.

(21:51):
In an old pair of flax and heavy wool shirt,
I made my way to the Bowery. My first act
was to join a shambling silent line a vagrance outside
the clothing Relief agency, and I emerged with a costume
superiod or anything I could have invented. The mart eaton sweater,
a double wrested jacket with a shredded lining and a

(22:13):
thousand unhirnable creases. And then I bought a bottle of
so turned for ninety eight cents, and readed a bed
in a hotel called Miller's for seventy five cents a night,
and then the next day in a steam filled diner
with a coffee taste that I got a septic. I

(22:33):
picked up a month stained newspaper from the dirty tile floor.
There on the second page was a night in which
gave me an appetite even in that place it said
woman found murdered in east Side brown Stone. With a
smaller headline beneath it was even more delicious. It read

(22:54):
dancing teacher held as suspect. It wasn't something I planned
or expected, but well why not?

Speaker 14 (23:03):
Why not?

Speaker 4 (23:06):
I think i'd a said all that coffee? And then
the five days were over. It wasn't very far from
the Miller Hotel to the docks. The first glimpse I
had of the empress beautiful bow on horizon thrilled me
in a way I had never known before. But I

(23:27):
couldn't stand hiout an admirers. I had things to do.
I made my way as unobtrusively as possible. In fact
the Grand Central Terminal. I removed my luggage from the locker,
and then in the washroom I shaved and changed into
clean clothes. Then I went down to Peer sixteen to
greet the arriving Empress. I knew that Gerald would be

(23:51):
among the lats of the passengers to appear, But then
there he was, wearing my green plasktop coat with a
collar full around his throat. I'm wearing my humber hanging
low over his eyes. And he was using my crutches too,
not very well, but with his foot so heavily bandaged,
he still made a convincing cripple. Owen, owen over here.

Speaker 8 (24:12):
You know, for a minute, I didn't think you didn't
think you'd make it?

Speaker 7 (24:14):
Well?

Speaker 4 (24:14):
Well I was it? How did everything go?

Speaker 3 (24:17):
Fine?

Speaker 4 (24:17):
Fine?

Speaker 7 (24:17):
Look?

Speaker 3 (24:17):
Where can I get rid of these crutches?

Speaker 4 (24:19):
I still never mind the crutches? But if I obscured
mister Pawkins, did you see him before you left the ship?

Speaker 7 (24:26):
No?

Speaker 4 (24:26):
No, I managed to avoid you.

Speaker 3 (24:27):
I didn't even tipping either.

Speaker 4 (24:28):
Just as you said, good, I'll get into that car.
We can do your car. It's a rental car to
get any sign so we can switch clothes.

Speaker 3 (24:37):
A rental car.

Speaker 4 (24:39):
Well, I wasn't taking the chance. I read it it
in your name, Junior. Don't worry about it. You really
thought of everything, Owen. I have to give you credit,
or just give me my clothes and that bandage and fast,
and so we made the switch as before. By the
time I stepped out of the resid automobile, I was
dressed in the hamburg and the green plaid coat, and

(25:00):
the bandagers were back where he had originated. In fact,
the crutches seemed like old friends. As I hobbled back
to the entrance of pair at sixteen, I spotted the
ship's petty officer emerging from the passenger exits.

Speaker 15 (25:12):
We'll find me there, Yes, sir, What can I do
for it?

Speaker 9 (25:16):
What it is?

Speaker 4 (25:16):
It's rather embarrassing.

Speaker 7 (25:17):
You see.

Speaker 4 (25:18):
There's a steward that I meant to take care of
before I left my stateroom. He was very kind to me,
me Parkins. He's an old fellow, very nice. I hated
to miss him when I left, or somehow I did,
and all the exactly Yes, old mister Parkins was born
than pleased. When I handed them for two fifty dollars bills,

(25:41):
they were actually tears in his eyes.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
Oh this is most generous, most generously.

Speaker 4 (25:47):
You took very good care of me, Parkins. I know
I was a usace.

Speaker 5 (25:51):
Oh no, sir, you were't never what I aren't even
so you should.

Speaker 4 (25:55):
Well there you brought me all my meals and so forth,
didn't you.

Speaker 14 (25:58):
Well.

Speaker 5 (25:58):
I was glad to do it like that, to be
a service, and I hope you'll be back on the
Empress with the shooter.

Speaker 4 (26:03):
Games tend to be Parkins, Yes, you can be sure
of that. As soon as I knew that mister Pawkins
was remembered properly and that he remembered me properly, I
knew that everything was going to be just trying. I
told my younger brother to drive his new car to
the village, find himself a small apartment in Lailo, and

(26:26):
I took a taxi to my home. I knew there
would be a company waiting for me.

Speaker 3 (26:31):
Mister Layton, Yes, I'm Old Layton.

Speaker 4 (26:34):
Who are you? Name?

Speaker 5 (26:35):
Is Litis firing?

Speaker 4 (26:36):
Mister late New York Police Department. Police wants the matter?
My husband robbed or something.

Speaker 5 (26:41):
I'm sorry we couldn't meet you at the ship. We
knew you were coming back today, but we thought it
would be easier to meet you here and.

Speaker 4 (26:48):
Uh break the news to here. What news? What are
you talking about?

Speaker 3 (26:53):
Bad news? I'm afraid maybe we uh.

Speaker 4 (26:57):
We better go inside. Yes, him, of course I knew
exactly what the bad news was going to be. Now,
all they had to do was to keep from laughing
up loud.

Speaker 3 (27:17):
We seem to have been witnessed to the perfect murder.

Speaker 5 (27:21):
Owen Leyton can't be blamed for the murder of his wife,
and for the most natural reason in the world, Owen
Layton wasn't in New York when his wife was murdered.

Speaker 3 (27:32):
Owen was on the high seas.

Speaker 5 (27:35):
Just ask mister Porkins or anyone else aboard the SS Empress.
But before we congratulate mister Layton on his cleverness, Owen

(27:56):
Layton is a happy man today.

Speaker 3 (27:59):
Despite the fact that he is all alone in the
reconverted brownstone on Ston Place.

Speaker 5 (28:04):
The smile never seems to leave his face, even as
he hobbles towards the front door to answer the insistent chimes.
His bandaged foot and crutches don't seem to bother him
in the least. In fact, one has the impression that,
despite the tragic loss of his wife.

Speaker 3 (28:21):
Mister Layton, even mister Lighton.

Speaker 4 (28:25):
Oh hey, oh it's all right, I hope, Yes, the gouge.

Speaker 5 (28:28):
You were a bit too broken up about that terrible
thing that happened to your wife.

Speaker 4 (28:33):
So I'm sure you don't blame me, Lieutenant, to the
great shock. Here, let me take your raincoat rating outside
of it.

Speaker 3 (28:39):
Yeah, frankly, it was my decision not to.

Speaker 5 (28:44):
Send a radiogram to the ship about your wife's death.
I mean, it didn't seem right to break.

Speaker 4 (28:50):
The news to you that way, but I was very
considered of you, Lieutenant.

Speaker 3 (28:53):
We knew you were aboard the Empress because of your cable.

Speaker 4 (28:55):
Yes, but you were right not to tell me when
I was aboard. It would have been very helpless feeling
knowing that there was nothing I could do about it.

Speaker 3 (29:06):
That's what I thought too.

Speaker 5 (29:08):
At any rate, I suppose you've had some time to
well think about what may have happened.

Speaker 4 (29:14):
No, old Lieutenant, the truth is, I still don't understand
that man who killed her. What was his name again,
Douglas Denton started his real names. He called himself that
at the.

Speaker 5 (29:27):
Dancing school, but he was born Bernard you Bank, I
uh I take it you didn't know, mister Denton.

Speaker 4 (29:34):
Oh no, I never met the man before in my life.
And why would you want to kill my poor Harry.

Speaker 5 (29:39):
Well, actually he's still denying that he did.

Speaker 4 (29:42):
How can he from what I read in the newspaper,
Well you need to call him attended. Well, no, not
quite that good.

Speaker 5 (29:51):
And we knew that he'd been uh well, he and
your wife had been seeing each other during your visits abroad,
and that they'd seen each other that Saturday night she
was kid. In fact, he was seen in the vicinity
of your house by several witnesses, not more than ten
minutes from the time when we estimated that she was
budging to death.

Speaker 4 (30:11):
I'm sorry, that's a little too graphic, I know, is
all right, Lieutenant. I want to know that details, I
really do. But I want detail we.

Speaker 5 (30:20):
Don't know is why he would have done such a thing.
I mean, frankly, we have, mister Dent. In fact, that
there rather small time, you.

Speaker 4 (30:27):
Know, giggle. I'm sorry to tell you that too. So
it's all right. I'm sure Harriet wasn't to blame. I'm
sure that that man just did whatever Gigglows did and
made a fool of her. But if your wife do
that sort of thing often, I don't know. I suppose
he's made a few mistakes.

Speaker 3 (30:46):
Which was handled well.

Speaker 4 (30:48):
Now if you could be more specific, you know, Lieutenant,
I'm sorry. I want Harriet's killer punished to tesn't folly,
but not at the expense of scandalizing my wife.

Speaker 5 (30:59):
I'm afraid that's it. Can't a little be easy to avoid.
We know she was having an affair with mister Danley.

Speaker 3 (31:04):
He's as meted that himself.

Speaker 5 (31:06):
But I don't give money reason to break a vase
over her head.

Speaker 4 (31:08):
Yes, un as she had decided to end the affair,
of course. Wow, it's one possible theory. Of course, didn't
you say you found my cabled her by not coming
home on the Empress. Yeah, that's right. Harriet didn't know
I expected to return from Europe so soon. Perhaps when
she informed her jig her friend with the dent and

(31:29):
he got angry. Yeah, that's possible too, So he might
have just she acted impulsively. Yes, Lieutenant, I'm sure it
happened just that way. They quarreled in your bedroom very well,
in our bedroom. Yes, they quarreled and he picked up
the vase. He struck her somehow. I can't believe it

(31:50):
was cold blooded or premeditated. No matter what the man is, Lieutenant,
I hope the law isn't too harsh with him. I'll
tell you what wasn't easy. There was a waiting. I
had to wait for the outcome of two legal actions,

(32:12):
the verdicts of both the criminal.

Speaker 3 (32:14):
And the probate courts.

Speaker 4 (32:16):
But I had every confidence that human interests and doctice
would be done. And then one night, a little more
than two weeks after my return, Hello, oh, eat Hila,
I beg your pardon.

Speaker 6 (32:36):
I feel terrible. I'm not telling you for this, but
I just found out.

Speaker 16 (32:39):
What happened through the whole thing in the paper that issue.

Speaker 13 (32:43):
Oh must be in a state.

Speaker 4 (32:45):
Are you sure you're calling the right number?

Speaker 6 (32:48):
Of course I am, at least that's the number in
the terrible book eight one five five five five five.

Speaker 4 (32:55):
Well you certainly have the right number, my but that
I believe you have the wrong Bogy stop it.

Speaker 13 (33:01):
You'll be godly oenly with the directory.

Speaker 4 (33:04):
Oh that doesn't mean very much.

Speaker 17 (33:06):
See what is this?

Speaker 7 (33:07):
What are you trying to do?

Speaker 4 (33:09):
I'm simply trying to find out who you are and
why you think you know me.

Speaker 6 (33:14):
Wait a minute, is there someone there with you?

Speaker 18 (33:16):
Is that what all the dog talks about?

Speaker 4 (33:18):
No, I'm alone.

Speaker 13 (33:19):
Wouldn't want me a big cat.

Speaker 6 (33:24):
I told you not to try any of the board
romance stuff on me.

Speaker 11 (33:27):
I won't stand for it.

Speaker 4 (33:29):
Did you say shipboard romance? You hurt me?

Speaker 6 (33:33):
I warned you that I wasn't interested in the friendly
little kid of the gang playing kind of stuff.

Speaker 4 (33:39):
Listen, if you're you're not talking about it. The ship
you mean isn't the Empress?

Speaker 13 (33:45):
Of course, it's the Empress.

Speaker 4 (33:47):
Share owed you idiot what you see? So you mean?
I'm just sorry, so mixed up about things right now?

Speaker 19 (33:56):
You can't be so upset that you forget about me.

Speaker 6 (34:00):
Right from the way you talked about your wife, she didn't.

Speaker 4 (34:02):
Mean a thing to you, ook, Sheila. I can't talk
anymore right now.

Speaker 6 (34:07):
You're not brushing me off easily.

Speaker 4 (34:09):
Oh when I warn you, I'm not trying to brush
you off. It's just that I'm having visitors, Sheila, important
people of business.

Speaker 16 (34:16):
Right tomorrow, Man, tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (34:19):
I'm not sure I can make it tomorrow either. I
may have to go out of town. There are things
to settle regarding my wife's state.

Speaker 6 (34:26):
There are things to sit all right between us.

Speaker 4 (34:32):
Oh God, dear god, he's ruined everything everything, picking up,
pick up my phone. You're miserable, Garrel, it's your brother,

(34:54):
Oh high, never better, never better.

Speaker 6 (35:00):
You're farewell well.

Speaker 4 (35:02):
Why shouldn't that be well? I just had a lovely
chest with a no doubt charming young lady. Her name
is Sheila.

Speaker 9 (35:09):
Isn't that a lovely name?

Speaker 4 (35:11):
Sheila?

Speaker 14 (35:12):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (35:13):
Is that name familiar to you?

Speaker 11 (35:14):
Oh?

Speaker 6 (35:14):
No, before you say anything, when you listen to me.

Speaker 4 (35:17):
Yes, that's why I'm calling to listen to you, to
see if there's anything you can say, anything at all,
to will mitigate my intention of coming right over there
and sprangling you.

Speaker 20 (35:25):
You've got to understand how and why, Owen, I was a.

Speaker 6 (35:28):
Prisoner in that state room.

Speaker 3 (35:29):
Virtual prisoner, Yes, and that was the idea.

Speaker 4 (35:32):
I told you never to leave that room, never do
so much as poke your ugly head out of the door.

Speaker 6 (35:38):
It's easy enough for the first stage, yer, old, and
for almost twenty four hours to that.

Speaker 4 (35:42):
How many other women did you take up with?

Speaker 7 (35:44):
Owen?

Speaker 6 (35:45):
She was the only one of thebsolutely, the only one
I had anything to do with.

Speaker 4 (35:49):
If I know you, you had plenty to do with her.

Speaker 6 (35:52):
Oh, I couldn't live like a hermit for Pete's sake.

Speaker 4 (35:54):
I can't believe what I'm hearing. I can't.

Speaker 3 (35:57):
You knew how important it was convince her that you.

Speaker 4 (36:00):
Were me when I did that?

Speaker 6 (36:01):
Oh, I told her I was you.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
Hey, that was clever.

Speaker 6 (36:05):
I don't know she thinks I am you.

Speaker 20 (36:07):
Oh No, look the fat that he telephoned you.

Speaker 21 (36:09):
And doesn't that prove it?

Speaker 13 (36:10):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (36:10):
Yes, said proves it completely, Owen.

Speaker 6 (36:13):
Oh, it was really going crazy in that tiny roof.

Speaker 9 (36:16):
I took just one little stroll on deck one night.

Speaker 4 (36:20):
And met Sheila.

Speaker 6 (36:21):
I swear, I swear that I never know she tried
to get in touch.

Speaker 4 (36:24):
With this Your girlfriend. Sheila is in New York right now.
She's demanding to see me for you me. What I
mean is she's she's read about Harriet's death. She knows
that you, she knows that I. But she knows that
Owen lateness free and unencumbered and will soon be very,
very rich. I am planning to hear that own, haven't

(36:47):
your friend? Sheila isn't going to give up that easily.
She's going to track me down. She's going to try
to renew her this shipboard romance. And do you know
what will happen when she does?

Speaker 7 (36:58):
What?

Speaker 4 (36:58):
Think about it, Gerald, She's going to take one look
at me and I'll be cooked, roasted, fried. She'll know
I wasn't aboard the Empress. She'll know that she spent
all that glorious week with another man. And how long
do you suppose it'll take for her to put two
and two together on?

Speaker 7 (37:17):
Couldn't you put her off?

Speaker 6 (37:19):
Couldn't you leave her feet? Well, if he should leave town, if.

Speaker 7 (37:22):
You could get away.

Speaker 4 (37:23):
That the only thing that's occurred to me too. If
I left it.

Speaker 6 (37:27):
Once, you could always go back to Paris. You always
send it your favor. Today, then give what I saw
in the papers that the Empress is sailing again tomorrow
for Lahar.

Speaker 4 (37:45):
For the first time in my life, I wasn't looking
forward to a sea voyage, and I knew that my
idiotic younger brother had been no other choice. In the
minute I was off the phone with him, I was
on again, this time to my very obliging travel agent,
who told me that passage aboard the Empress was indeed possible. So,
for the first time in my shipboard travels, I couldn't

(38:06):
get a state room, couldn't even do better than b Deck. Well,
it was an indignity I was forced to accept.

Speaker 9 (38:14):
Me for this time.

Speaker 4 (38:16):
My cabin steward wasn't an amiable gentleman like mister Parkins,
but a gruff, uncommunicative type who made no promises of
devoted service. Right then, I wouldn't require much service. For
one thing, I no longer needed my bandages and trudges.
So as far as the world is concerned, my troublesome
gout was healed.

Speaker 8 (38:36):
Oh me, yeah, shoot the gentleman who sailed with us
a couple of weeks ago, that Paulkins Chap.

Speaker 4 (38:44):
Oh oh, yes, that's right. You were the officer who
helped me find the steward. If everything worked out all
right there, Yes, everything went fine. Unfortunately I couldn't get
such good accommodations to this trip. It's ashamed, sir.

Speaker 8 (38:57):
But then I don't think we'll have as easy a
crossing of this time. Why not all a bit of
rough weather ahead?

Speaker 4 (39:02):
They say, oh, fine, that's all I need. But rough
weather ahead or not, that's for that afternoon. The Empress
pulled slowly away from the pier, and I admit that.
I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. That evening I
was taking for dinner when someone knocked on my door.

(39:25):
Oh who who is it? That must be unfriendly neighborhood steward. Yeah, hello,
Oh I'm sorry. Oh was this something you wanted?

Speaker 14 (39:37):
Miss Well?

Speaker 3 (39:37):
I had made a mistake.

Speaker 13 (39:38):
I thought this was mister Layton's Kevin.

Speaker 4 (39:41):
What it is? I'm mister Layton.

Speaker 9 (39:42):
Oh but you're not mister Owen Layton.

Speaker 4 (39:44):
And that's the party I was looking for it, But
I am Owen Layton.

Speaker 12 (39:49):
Well that's an interesting coincidence. I mean, two people would
have the same names and even look a little bit alike.

Speaker 13 (39:58):
Oh.

Speaker 16 (40:00):
Well, the Owen Layton I mean is quite a bit younger.

Speaker 4 (40:04):
I don't know what in the world you're talking about.

Speaker 12 (40:06):
I saw your name on the passenger list. But the man,
I mean, well, a bunch of height and Hi's beers
like yours.

Speaker 4 (40:14):
But he's well, he's not you, right, And who are you?

Speaker 3 (40:19):
My name is Sheila, Sheila Roy Sheila.

Speaker 16 (40:22):
I met Owen Layton two weeks ago, right on the ship.

Speaker 12 (40:26):
And now suddenly there's another Owen Layton going the other way.

Speaker 9 (40:31):
That.

Speaker 3 (40:32):
Oh, there's something very fishy going on.

Speaker 4 (40:34):
Here your mistake, and I swear your mistake.

Speaker 12 (40:36):
I'm mister whatever your name is.

Speaker 16 (40:37):
I don't know what this is all about.

Speaker 12 (40:39):
I don't know why there are two Owen Layton's going
back and forth on the ship.

Speaker 4 (40:43):
Well, well, but's so strange about that. I mean, so,
why are you going back and forth me?

Speaker 12 (40:49):
Because I have to, because it's my job.

Speaker 4 (40:52):
I'm a social director. I mean, you worked on the Embers,
that's right.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
Right now, I'm gonna work.

Speaker 12 (41:00):
I'm finding out what.

Speaker 11 (41:00):
This is all about.

Speaker 14 (41:06):
Oh.

Speaker 4 (41:06):
I stood rooted to the cabin floor, listening to the
melancholy sound of his ship's whistled, warning the seas ahead
that we were on our way, heading straight for troubled waters.
As you have heard, Owen.

Speaker 5 (41:26):
Leyton's perfect murder had the customary imperfection. But at least
he'll be able to enjoy one last ocean voyage before
the authorities send him up the river. Isn't it nice
to see justice triumph? Beg your pardon to hear justice triumph.

(41:56):
We hope you enjoyed tonight's voyage, Dan Acle and Ian Martin,
My production was under the direction of Himaun.

Speaker 4 (42:06):
This is E. J.

Speaker 5 (42:06):
Marshall inviting you to rip a mystery theater for I'm
sure in the macabre.

Speaker 3 (42:12):
Until next time, pleasant dream, Oh, my.

Speaker 1 (42:56):
Dear, no worries. I'll make up enough pot right now.
It'll steep and then warm you right up. Everything is
certainly as good as it could hope to be.

Speaker 7 (43:12):
Well.

Speaker 1 (43:13):
I suppose we'll find some more jolly old cheer, or
would it be jolly old fear? Oh, here you go,
a hot cup of tea on a cold winter's night,
just for you, So warm, so good, and not.

Speaker 22 (43:39):
Poison Tired of the everyday routine, ever dream of a
life of romantic adventure, want to get away from it all?

Speaker 20 (43:51):
We offer you.

Speaker 15 (43:54):
Escape, Escape designed to free you the four walls of
today for a half hour of high adventure. Escape brought
to you by your Richfield Gasoline dealer and the Richfield
Oil Corporation of New York. Marketers of Richfield Gasolines with Xilen,

(44:15):
rich Loeup, All Weather motor Oil and other famous petroleum products.
Look for the Richfield Eagle on the cream and blue pumps.

Speaker 23 (44:34):
Tonight we escape to India and the story of a
man trapped in his bed by a crate the most deadly,
poisonous snake in the world, as Raoul Dahl tells it
in his terrifying story Poison.

Speaker 9 (44:58):
Listen.

Speaker 10 (44:59):
It's an awful good story. But to get the points,
you got to understand about two things. What kind of
a guy Harry Pope was and what kind of a
snake a crate is? First, the crate you spell it kriait.

Speaker 9 (45:12):
They're in India.

Speaker 10 (45:13):
The crates are little snakes, sometimes not more than three
or four inches long.

Speaker 9 (45:17):
You have to look real careful if you're going to
see one at all.

Speaker 10 (45:19):
Really almost like a worm, except that it's the most
poisonous snake in the world.

Speaker 9 (45:24):
It can bite faster than a bumblebee.

Speaker 10 (45:26):
And when it does, you go off like a firecracker,
swell up like a hot water bottle, and then fly
the angels. Crate, tiny little snake. Now about Harry, Harry Pope,
funny guy. He had it in for anybody who wasn't American,
who didn't speak his language. He called him foreigners, and
he called him that army word guk. Didn't matter if

(45:49):
they were French, Italian or Japanese. Gook foreigner, he'd say,
it's kind of buggy. On the subject, funny guy, Well,
Harry and me. We got sent out to Bombay in
this construction job, and that's where the trouble started. You see,
except for the two of us, the crew was made
up of local boys, Hindus and Moslems, four of them.
Harry was like a cat and a room full of

(46:10):
dogs had his back up every minute. After a month
or so, it began to wear him out. So his
appetite wasn't right. He was smoking three and four packs
a day and he wasn't getting asleep. I used to
try to straighten him out, used to tell him he
was wrong.

Speaker 9 (46:24):
There's no use talking, I said, Harry. They're all good boys.
Why don't you take it easy?

Speaker 7 (46:28):
Wood are?

Speaker 24 (46:28):
You and I are good friends. But a lot of
things you just don't understand. You ought to take it easy, Harry.
They're all human beings, just like you and me. The
goots were they foreign us. Look it, Think about it
this way. How'd you like your sister to marry one?

Speaker 9 (46:41):
I haven't got a sister, And anyway, you've asked me
that before. Yeah, you see, you want to make the
effort to understand.

Speaker 10 (46:52):
Well, that's how it was with Harry, and you know
about the create Now about what happened was June, the
last year was hot in Stay, even though.

Speaker 9 (47:00):
The sun was down. I was putting on a clean
shirt to go out.

Speaker 25 (47:06):
Oh man, I'm really beat tonight.

Speaker 7 (47:10):
What's of you, Woodie?

Speaker 9 (47:12):
What's the clean shirt for going out?

Speaker 20 (47:14):
What do you got day?

Speaker 10 (47:15):
No, I thought i'd stop off a doctor Ganderbys. He
promised he'd show me the photos he made down on
the leper column. Gandab, Yeah, these photos are supposed to
be pretty interesting. Step, how about Hary? Would you like
to come along, Gandaby. He's a hindoo, a gook foreigner.
I don't want to spend no evening with a gook. Shoot,
not old Harry. So I went off to the doctors

(47:41):
and Harry went to bed with the detective's story. I
had a very interesting evening. Later, Old Harry was plenty
sorry that he stayed home. I didn't leave the doctors
until around midnight, and when I drove back through the
Sleeping city it was very quiet and dark. I thought
about the pictures of the lepers I had seen. I

(48:02):
remember thinking, I hope Harry is awaking because I'd like
to tell him about those pictures.

Speaker 9 (48:10):
And when I got home, I was glad to see
the light in his room was still burning.

Speaker 7 (48:15):
Harry you up.

Speaker 9 (48:18):
I didn't get an answer, probably fell asleep reading.

Speaker 7 (48:23):
Harry you awake?

Speaker 14 (48:24):
Harry?

Speaker 13 (48:26):
Would he stop?

Speaker 26 (48:28):
Harry boy? What's the matter?

Speaker 9 (48:30):
Kish?

Speaker 25 (48:31):
Stop with it?

Speaker 10 (48:33):
Take off your shoes or I couldn't tell what was
the matter, but I knew he was serious whatever it
was about, so I did what he wanted. He was
in bed under his netting with a reading light on
his book on the floor. He lay quite still, and
the sheet came halfway up his chest. He was wearing

(48:53):
those corny pajamas of his with the big checks all
over him, and the pajamas were soaked in the sweat
that was rolling off his face. He laid like a corpse,
flat on his back, with his hands lying dead on
the bed. His hands, even the backs of 'em, were sweating.
His eyes looked like he was watching. Somebody saw his
leg off.

Speaker 27 (49:10):
Wo he it's a matter of boy.

Speaker 25 (49:11):
Said crepe, creep?

Speaker 14 (49:17):
Where from here? With six?

Speaker 9 (49:19):
Where where's the crape?

Speaker 13 (49:21):
And he.

Speaker 27 (49:23):
Under the netting?

Speaker 25 (49:24):
No, under the sheet?

Speaker 9 (49:28):
Where did bite you?

Speaker 25 (49:29):
It hasn't yet.

Speaker 9 (49:32):
Where under the sheet?

Speaker 25 (49:34):
Right on my bed?

Speaker 27 (49:35):
Holy sun, you.

Speaker 25 (49:37):
Canna wake it up? If you don't cut out there, Yellow.

Speaker 9 (49:41):
How did it get in there?

Speaker 25 (49:42):
I don't know. Come up under the net. I guess
it's been in the bed all day.

Speaker 9 (49:49):
Is it a big one?

Speaker 28 (49:50):
No, create don't have to be big. Looked about three
or four inches. Come along my side.

Speaker 25 (49:58):
I didn't move, went under the sheet, one of them fools,
one of the breaks of my belly.

Speaker 9 (50:05):
How long ago did it come?

Speaker 25 (50:07):
Ours? Hours and hours and days and weeks. I've been
waiting a year for you to get home.

Speaker 9 (50:13):
Must be sleeping in there.

Speaker 25 (50:14):
Huh, yeah, I think you do.

Speaker 9 (50:17):
Is I now listen, Harry? Maybe it'll wake up and
go away, go home or something.

Speaker 14 (50:21):
Huh.

Speaker 25 (50:21):
I can't wait. I've been lying here scared. I moved
suddenly wake it up?

Speaker 9 (50:25):
Yeah, you're scared a little bite.

Speaker 25 (50:27):
I've been lying here scared to death of cough.

Speaker 9 (50:29):
Right, don't you worry about a thing, Harry.

Speaker 25 (50:31):
I know just what to do where you're going? Would
he don't leave me?

Speaker 9 (50:35):
The thing was to be ready to cauterize the bite
right away. I'd heard about one method.

Speaker 10 (50:39):
I went out to the kitchen and I got a
whole fist full of those big kitchen matches, and I
took them back to the bedroom, arranged them all with
their heads together, held them like you to hold a torch.

Speaker 9 (50:47):
What do you can do?

Speaker 10 (50:48):
What are the matches for? I listen, Harry, here's how
it goes. These will carter ice see so we count three,
flip back the sheet and you jump out of bed
and no you follow me?

Speaker 9 (50:55):
No, no, listen, Harry. If the great bite you, I
strike the bundle and press it against the spot and
it burns out the poisons.

Speaker 28 (51:00):
He well, the matches, get away from me, your bubblehead
of No, Harry, I'm on tra listen with the taking
matches and bright ads and get the heck out of here.

Speaker 25 (51:08):
Call the doctor, the doctor.

Speaker 27 (51:10):
I never thought of that. I get to Okay, Harry,
who do you want?

Speaker 9 (51:13):
Ganderby?

Speaker 25 (51:14):
Or foresythe full size things are bad in love without you.
Gotta bring my gook in here.

Speaker 10 (51:24):
I dug through the telephone book and I found doctor
Matson be for size number, and I dial it.

Speaker 20 (51:38):
This is the residence called the doctor side.

Speaker 9 (51:42):
Please, yeah, let.

Speaker 27 (51:43):
Me speak to the doctor.

Speaker 9 (51:44):
It's very urgent.

Speaker 20 (51:45):
Who is calling? Please?

Speaker 9 (51:47):
Arthur Woods?

Speaker 14 (51:48):
Who Woods?

Speaker 9 (51:50):
Arthur Woods?

Speaker 26 (51:51):
Spell please Woods? W oh oh oh, you have already said,
oh I have already written.

Speaker 20 (52:03):
Oh, have the kindness to give me the next letter.

Speaker 8 (52:06):
Please.

Speaker 9 (52:07):
Oh it's oh after oh please, my name is Woods.

Speaker 26 (52:12):
Spill please w oh oh d w o oh aha
d s Woods.

Speaker 7 (52:23):
Woods Woods, mister Wood.

Speaker 9 (52:26):
That's right, that's just right now. Let me speak to
the doctor.

Speaker 26 (52:29):
Please, sorry, doctor notting, call tomorrow.

Speaker 10 (52:35):
Across the room, Harry lay very still sweating, trying to
keep every muscle relaxed. His face was beginning to twitch
a little. I was scared if that twitch should spread.
I called the doctor's house again.

Speaker 20 (52:50):
Please, I do not understand.

Speaker 10 (52:53):
Look, I said, if you don't tell me where the
doctor is, I'm gonna come over there and pull your
arms off and then I'm gonna take you by the
next doctor at the club.

Speaker 20 (52:59):
Please?

Speaker 7 (53:00):
What club?

Speaker 20 (53:01):
The country club?

Speaker 7 (53:02):
Bring?

Speaker 20 (53:03):
Six seven three.

Speaker 10 (53:09):
Harry lay very still fighting the twitches, trying to keep
from jumping out of his skin, while I waited for
the bartender at the club to locate doctor forsythe After about.

Speaker 9 (53:19):
Five minutes and nothing, I got this.

Speaker 10 (53:22):
Well, listen, doctor, you gotta get over here right away.
This is Arthur Woods and my partner. He's got a
snake in the bed with him.

Speaker 20 (53:29):
Doctor, would you remind your appreci as old boy.

Speaker 9 (53:34):
I said, snake. He's got a snake in the bed
with him.

Speaker 20 (53:39):
I say, who is his? He says, Captain smile speaking.

Speaker 9 (53:42):
Please, doctor, you gotta get over here right away.

Speaker 26 (53:44):
It's urgent spies you can you don't fool me up.

Speaker 14 (53:49):
Doctor.

Speaker 9 (53:53):
Listen, is this doctor Forsyth speaking?

Speaker 20 (53:56):
Of course he's goin hawk.

Speaker 9 (53:58):
Well, let me speak to the doctor.

Speaker 26 (53:59):
Please's your cardo fellow?

Speaker 25 (54:01):
Why not?

Speaker 20 (54:02):
Why he's jolly red palstang as you.

Speaker 26 (54:04):
Know, passed outcrow.

Speaker 27 (54:10):
Yeah, listen, Harry, you gotta forget all this prejudice stuff.
Gander buys your only chance. No, no, he's like goog
he went to Oxford.

Speaker 14 (54:24):
Harry.

Speaker 27 (54:24):
He's like it's him or the Undertaker. He said, I'm
gonna call him Harry.

Speaker 25 (54:29):
All right, go ahead call it. But he's a gook.

Speaker 9 (54:36):
I called him when I mentioned create.

Speaker 10 (54:38):
He was quiet for a good ten seconds, and then
he said he'd be right over, and he was within
five minutes. He was wearing felt slippers, and he moved
silently into the bedroom. He was carrying his black satchel.
And when I saw the lamplight glinting softly in his
steel rimmed spectacles, saw his wise, gentle eyes, his bald
brown head.

Speaker 9 (54:59):
I thought to myself, right, he looks just like my heart.

Speaker 10 (55:02):
M Again, he looked silently at Harry and smiled encouragingly.
Harry looked at him, looked at me, looked away.

Speaker 9 (55:13):
Now, first we must very carefully remove the netting from
about the bed. Mister Pope, I want you to pay
no attention to us. You are to concentrate on being
very quiet, on letting the little snake sleep. It is
a very little snake and it's very tired. You must
tell yourself this, and you must believe it is necessary

(55:36):
for it to sleep. Yeah, yeah, mister Woods, help me
lift the netting getty slowly? Eh, good, good?

Speaker 25 (55:49):
What are you going to do for me?

Speaker 9 (55:50):
Sh think about the little snake?

Speaker 25 (55:53):
What do you think I'm thinking about? What are you
going to do for me?

Speaker 9 (55:57):
The snake? It is here. It's one of those falls
over his abdomen.

Speaker 25 (56:04):
Doctor, Now we all know where they'll shh.

Speaker 9 (56:09):
Pretend you are the mother of the little snake. You
are keeping it warm. It is sleepy.

Speaker 25 (56:16):
That is good, just so as it don't wake up
and walk breakfast you joke.

Speaker 9 (56:21):
That is good.

Speaker 25 (56:22):
I wish I was back home in the good old USA.

Speaker 9 (56:26):
Then what are you going to do? Doctor? I have
a serum here he was injected into the blood of
mister Pope. Then, as he put it, the little snake
made breakfast to his heart's content, without harm to without
harm to Mamma.

Speaker 27 (56:44):
His hands were brown and slender and astonishingly deft.

Speaker 10 (56:48):
He poked the hypodermic into a capsule of thick, yellowish
stuff the serum, and then, with infinite carry, drew the
plunges slowly and steadily upward. The glistening chamber filled. He
withdrew the needle, laid the hypodermic down, and then with
all the gentleness in the world, he began to fold back.
Harry's sleeve was as though he were folding rare old lace.

(57:09):
He instant sleeve carefully under and up Harry's arm until
the vein came into view.

Speaker 9 (57:15):
I'm going to fasten the torn kit on your arm now,
if we'll be just above the elbow, Do not move
your arm, do not tweet your muscle.

Speaker 10 (57:25):
Gently, Gently, he tightened the rubber tourniquet, and Harry's arm
began to flush dark. The vein began to swell blue
and tight. Harry kept his eyes on the ceiling.

Speaker 9 (57:35):
Now, I'm going to insert the needle in the vein.
You must not react by that, I mean you must
not tinge your abdominal muscles. Believe me, mister Pope, this
will not hurt.

Speaker 10 (57:49):
Very carefully, he placed the syringe almost flat against the arm,
slid the needle in sideways through the skin and into
the blue vein. Slid it slowly, but so firmly that
it went in smooth, smooth as a knife going into
a cheese dark.

Speaker 9 (58:05):
Ssh.

Speaker 25 (58:06):
You're good, aren't you duck?

Speaker 9 (58:08):
You must believe that.

Speaker 25 (58:10):
Yeah, I gotta let me die.

Speaker 14 (58:11):
Are you duck?

Speaker 9 (58:12):
I am your friend. You must believe that.

Speaker 14 (58:14):
Are you duck?

Speaker 25 (58:15):
You won't let me die?

Speaker 9 (58:16):
No, No, I will not let you die. Now be
still and think about that all the care in the world.

Speaker 10 (58:24):
As he had pushed the needle into the vein, Now
he pressed the plunger down, pressed the serum, threw the
needle and into Harry Pope's body. I watched Harry. His
eyes were on the wise, gentle face of doctor Ganderby.
His eyes wanted desperately to believe what Ganderby had told him.
Now the hypodermic was empty, and slowly it was withdrawn,

(58:46):
and then slowly the deft, graceful little hands loosened the
rubber tourniquet, and then Ganderby looked up, met Harry's eyes
and smiled. Harry tried to smile back, but the smile
jumped and twitched and died.

Speaker 25 (59:00):
You got taken care of me, on doc, Yes.

Speaker 9 (59:03):
My son. Now you must be still while the serum
is pumped through your body. Be very still, and be
very assured. I am your friend. The serum will save you.
You would escape.

Speaker 10 (59:16):
Harm, he beckoned to me, and I followed him out
of the room and out onto the dark porch.

Speaker 9 (59:23):
The air was heavy and hot.

Speaker 10 (59:25):
Ganderby stared out at the blackness, drummed his fingers softly
on the railing.

Speaker 9 (59:30):
Nor your friend is engraved danger.

Speaker 10 (59:34):
Yeah, but the serum you gave him. The serum I
gave him the serum. But it isn't any good.

Speaker 9 (59:44):
It is the finest known to medical science, and it
is worthless.

Speaker 15 (59:59):
The most of its science is something strange and mysterious.
We think of magic medicines and supersonic planes. But here's
a scientific achievement that's as real as your car and
as near as your rich Field dealer, it's xilene, one
of the highest anonok gasoline components ever discovered by scientific research.
And silene can benefit you today because every gallon of

(01:00:22):
Richfield gasoline now contains xilene. Xilene to give your car
that smooth, knockless power that eats up the miles. Xilene
for that swift, eager response you need in traffic. Furthermore,
there's a rich Field gasoline to fit your motor. Your
rich Field Dealer offers two great rich Field gasolines, both
with xilene. Get Richfield highatane at regular price for the

(01:00:45):
average motor, or Richfield Ethyl ethyl at its best for
top results in highest compression motors. Get Richfield Gasoline tomorrow.
Stop where you see the Richfield Eagle on the cream
and blue pumps.

Speaker 7 (01:01:00):
Ah, we return you to escape.

Speaker 10 (01:01:06):
So there it was Harry Pope, the man who had
been an enemy of anyone and everyone who didn't come
from his country or speak his language, was now halfway
through death's door, and his only hope laying a doctor
ganderby of another race, another creed, another country, and another color.
Now for the first time in his life, Harry admit
a gesture of friendship toward a person of another race

(01:01:27):
first time, and it seemed to me the last.

Speaker 9 (01:01:30):
No, my friend, the serum is worth us. What can
we do?

Speaker 10 (01:01:34):
Then the snake is bound awake. Sooner or later Harry'll move,
he won't be able to help himself, and the snake
will strike.

Speaker 9 (01:01:39):
We must think. Look, I'll shoot it.

Speaker 10 (01:01:42):
I can hold a gun low and flat so that
even if I hit Harriet won't be a penetrating wound.
I'll blow the snake sheet and all clear the bed.

Speaker 9 (01:01:47):
Huh, but you don't even know which of the many
folds increases in that cheach is the harbor of the snake. Yeah,
you might shoot the air, you would, No, certain he
wake the snake there, No, we can't do that. I
think I think I have a solution, mister Woods. Yeah
we will. We will anesthetize this snake. Yes, we will

(01:02:12):
use nitis oxide, but we sir, oh, chloroform, I think
the last chloroform. Yes, we put the snake out right
while he's lying on. Harry is at the ONEA. That
is it, mister Woods. Now, if you will please drive
quickly down to my house, my boy will show you
where I keep my supplies. The chloroform is in a

(01:02:33):
bottle with an orange Laibe orange label. Yes, bring it
back as quickly as you can, I will say with
mister Pope, and try to keep him assured. He seems
to like you. We all like the doctor when we
are sick. I drove it as fast as I could.

Speaker 10 (01:02:51):
The houseboy at the doctors thought I was a madman
at first, but then he decided in my favor showed
me where the stuff was. I found the bottle where
the orange label, smelled it to make sure, and then
took off to the house.

Speaker 9 (01:03:01):
I used the car up the driveway and tiptoed into
the bedroom.

Speaker 25 (01:03:04):
My friend doctor.

Speaker 7 (01:03:07):
By Paul.

Speaker 9 (01:03:08):
Yes, I am your friend, and I am not going
to let any harm come to you.

Speaker 25 (01:03:13):
Uhh, here's Willy, he's my friend too, Doc.

Speaker 27 (01:03:17):
Here's the stuff, doctor Worthy.

Speaker 25 (01:03:21):
I've been an awful dope on my life, you know that, Willie.

Speaker 27 (01:03:24):
It's okay, Harry, You're gonna be okay from.

Speaker 14 (01:03:27):
Now on the dock.

Speaker 28 (01:03:28):
Here my friend here. I didn't like him when he
first come into the room. Why because he wasn't an
American even an Englishman.

Speaker 25 (01:03:41):
What do you know about that? Huh, he's my friend.

Speaker 9 (01:03:46):
It's okay, Harry, You're gonna be okay now.

Speaker 25 (01:03:48):
Boy, I've been a PRIs dope, mister.

Speaker 9 (01:03:50):
Would you would have to help me right?

Speaker 10 (01:03:56):
He pulled a prescription pad out of his case toward
the cardboard back backing off, and twisted it into a
neat little funnel.

Speaker 9 (01:04:02):
He laid this on the edge of the bed.

Speaker 10 (01:04:04):
Then he took the piece of hollow rubber tubing which
had been used as a tourniquet, and he began to
slide it into the sheet. It went in where the
sheet ended across Harry's chest, and he slid it down.
He slid it slowly, so slowly that although I was
watching it, I didn't see it move. Ours seemed to
crawl by. The tube, benched invisibly on and down, down

(01:04:26):
and down, past the unseen buttons of his jacket, passed
the unseen cord to his trousers.

Speaker 9 (01:04:31):
Then it stopped.

Speaker 10 (01:04:33):
Ganderby had sent it by a route which did not
cross any of the creases in the sheet. It was
being very careful not to prod the snake with it.
He was sweating too, now, sweating and biting his lip
with his teeth. Funny. I remember now one was gold.
I remember staring at it while he instant tube.

Speaker 9 (01:04:48):
Now the funnel I fitted into the end of the tube,
and already, mister Poope, this is going to be very cold.
The evaporation of the chloroform will cause a sharp lowering
of the temperature. You must be prepared for this. It
will take rather a long time. Another factor for which
you must prepare yourself. The snake is a reptile, and

(01:05:08):
reptiles do not react quickly to the anesthetics which are
intended for the use of warm blooded animals. And bear
these things in mind. Are you ready?

Speaker 25 (01:05:18):
Sure?

Speaker 14 (01:05:21):
En?

Speaker 10 (01:05:22):
He opened the bottle and began to drip the stuff
into the funnel, slowly, very slowly. Drop by drop, the
clear liquid entered the tube and traveled a long dark
route to Harry Pope's stomach, where the crate lay sleeping.
Drop by drop, A pale, swirling vapor hung over the funnel.
Down there on the sheet where the tube bended, a
wet gray patch began to spread the chloroform, spreading and evaporating,

(01:05:43):
spreading and evaporating.

Speaker 9 (01:05:44):
The room began to rig of it, and I remembered.

Speaker 10 (01:05:47):
Other places and other times, hospitals, operations, the death of
loved ones, smell of chloroform.

Speaker 9 (01:05:53):
Harry began to twitch now his nose. He seemed to
be in agony.

Speaker 7 (01:05:57):
What Harry, what is it?

Speaker 14 (01:06:00):
Think up?

Speaker 25 (01:06:02):
Sneeze?

Speaker 9 (01:06:03):
Don't do it boy, hang on, Harry, don't. Ganderby looked
at Harry's face.

Speaker 10 (01:06:09):
He reached up, pressed his knuckle against some nerve on
Harry's upper lip, and the agon eyes looked vanished.

Speaker 27 (01:06:15):
The relentless dripping of the chloroform continued. Harry was getting cold.

Speaker 10 (01:06:19):
I could see goose flesh along his arms, across the
top of his chest where the jacket was opened.

Speaker 27 (01:06:24):
Danderby looked at this and stopped pouring.

Speaker 9 (01:06:26):
This is nothing. I think our little friends should be
thoroughly unconscious. Now, mister Pope, you must remain very still.
We are going to remove the sheet.

Speaker 25 (01:06:36):
Now then it's seeing you, said doctor.

Speaker 10 (01:06:40):
Mister Woods, you take the other side. We will have
to do this ever so carefully. We each took a
side of the hymn. I watched Ganderby and did everything
that he did. Harry's arms were still flat on the bed,
pointing toward his feet. We hinched the sheet under and
free of these was rough because we had to do

(01:07:01):
it without disturbing the main area of the sheet. When
it was free of his arms, we began to raise it, slowly,
gathering the material in our hands as we progressed ever
so slowly down Harry's chest. We reached the end of
his jacket. No sign of the snake. My hands were
beginning to shake. Ganderby paused while I turned my head

(01:07:22):
away for air. The odor of chloroform was stifling. And
then we went on, slowly, thread by thread, raising the
sheet and easing it away down past the cord of
his pajamas, and down and down, and still no sign
of the snake. I'd stopped looking for it by now
I was concentrating on keeping my arms from shaking. And
then quite suddenly we were done. Ganderby dropped the sheet

(01:07:47):
on the floor. Harry lay on his back, not moving,
but watching us with wide terrorized eyes. Ganderby splindied it
both sides of Harry at his legs.

Speaker 14 (01:07:58):
Where is it?

Speaker 9 (01:08:00):
It is not as you suppose on the outside of
your pajama pens. It must be up one of the lakes, Harry.

Speaker 7 (01:08:13):
No, No, I don't see it. Kick those tatters of
thought or remains of his pain. No, nothing the under
the pin.

Speaker 9 (01:08:33):
Y're not me, Harry, Harry, not your feet. No, there's nothing,
mister pope. Are you Are you quite certain you saw
a snake? Sometimes when we are very tired, we find
our auto suggestive faculties run a bit out of hair.
Are you calling me alive?

Speaker 7 (01:08:50):
Why?

Speaker 13 (01:08:50):
No?

Speaker 9 (01:08:50):
No, I merely say that the auto suggestion.

Speaker 7 (01:08:54):
Are you telling me I'm a liar?

Speaker 14 (01:08:55):
Harry?

Speaker 7 (01:08:56):
Why are you losy little quack call me a liar?

Speaker 21 (01:09:00):
Your steak, a little hindo witch doctor with your fancy pants.
Tell Harry come in here sticking me for your cheap
no good medice?

Speaker 7 (01:09:07):
Go boy, that freezing cold up.

Speaker 20 (01:09:10):
Let me take it easy.

Speaker 10 (01:09:11):
Harry's your friend, my friend, that little hunk of farm
trash my friend.

Speaker 20 (01:09:19):
Where I come from, where youse guys live?

Speaker 9 (01:09:21):
Cake You like him for bus boys, You make a mistake.
You are wrong.

Speaker 20 (01:09:24):
Bus boys for waiters for nothing.

Speaker 7 (01:09:27):
You're a fauner.

Speaker 29 (01:09:29):
You're a goat, You're a nothing.

Speaker 14 (01:09:32):
To beat you to a bloody pop.

Speaker 21 (01:09:33):
You and your chloroform, you, you and your stump of
a friendship and Mama snake, and I must make out
like I.

Speaker 29 (01:09:41):
Like you I'll just spwitch your hand wide open, your.

Speaker 5 (01:09:46):
Go, your go car, go you go.

Speaker 10 (01:09:55):
Please, doctor forgive him. He's been und a great strain.
He doesn't mean it a great strain. Yes, he needs
a good holiday. Good night, mister Woods.

Speaker 9 (01:10:18):
That's all.

Speaker 10 (01:10:20):
I couldn't tell this if old Harry was still alive,
Poor old Harry. He didn't die in India. He died
in Chicago in the loop, got run over by a
taxi cab. The driver was third generation Irish, a real
hundred percent white American. Maybe that means something. I don't know,

(01:10:42):
poor old Harry.

Speaker 15 (01:10:53):
Believe it or not, but the very life of your
car depends on oil. Without oil, your motor would grind
itself to pieces in a matter of minutes. That's why
you need an oil that stands up under every driving condition.
That's why you need Richlube all weather motor oil. Richlub
is refined one hundred percent from the finest Pennsylvania crude
oil ever discovered. That's your guarantee that Richlub won't burn

(01:11:17):
up even under the terrific heat of hard summer driving.
Its tough, long lasting oil film is your faithful watchdog.
It protects your motor every mile you drive. You can
depend on it. Moreover, Richlub motor oil combat carbon and
other harmful deposits by its special cleansing action. It cleans
as it lubricates your motor. Keep your motor young, keep

(01:11:40):
your motor clean. See your rich Field gasoline dealer tomorrow
ask him to change your oil to Richlube All Weather
Motor Oil. Escape is produced and directed by William and
Robson and Tonight has presented Poison by Roll dal and
adapted for radio by James Poe Richard and Tonight's cast
where Jack Webb's Bill Conrad as Harry, Jane Novella is Gandabay,

(01:12:02):
and Charlie Long is the houseboy. Special music arranged and
played by ivand Admirers. Next week, at this time, the
Richfield Oil Corporation of New York can invite you to
escape with an exciting story of evil and violence in
the deadly swamps of New Guinea. As Jewels Archer tells
it in Too Came Back. Goodbye then until the same
time next week, when once again we offer you escape.

(01:12:24):
Tom Hanland, speaking over CBS the Columbia Broadcasting System.

Speaker 1 (01:12:42):
Don't allow the cold to get to you. My dear,
winter is still very early on, and I think you'll
be just fine.

Speaker 14 (01:12:54):
What's that?

Speaker 1 (01:12:55):
Well, I suppose winter never dies, does last.

Speaker 9 (01:13:02):
But what does.

Speaker 17 (01:13:04):
I mean?

Speaker 1 (01:13:06):
In the broad scheme of things, nothing can last forever,
except perhaps for nothing itself. A total absence could, in theory,
exist forever. But now I'm getting far too in the weeds.

(01:13:27):
If it's cold, put on a blanket, or if you're serious,
Escapes by Death.

Speaker 9 (01:13:40):
That sal book.

Speaker 18 (01:13:52):
Once again, the keeper of the book is ready to open,
the ponderous volume in which has recorded all the secrets
and mysteries of mankind through the ages, all the strange
and mystifying stories of the past, the present, and the future.

(01:15:46):
Keeper of the book, what tale will you tell us
this time?

Speaker 29 (01:15:50):
What tales shall I tell you?

Speaker 30 (01:15:53):
I have tales here of every kind, tales of murder,
tales of madness, of deeds and events strange beyond all belief.

Speaker 9 (01:16:04):
Eh let me see.

Speaker 30 (01:16:10):
Yes, here's a tale for her, A strange and terrible
story of two old ladies and how they tried to
escape from their doom. I call the story escape by Death.
My story begins in a big, shabby old house in

(01:16:34):
the country, fully a mile from any other habitation in
a large ground floor room which is both their bedroom
and sitting room. Martha and Louise Abbot listen to the
wind howl outside. Louise is an invalid confined to a wheelchair. Martha,

(01:16:54):
though able to walk, can only hobble a few steps
at a time, so that to them, the lonely house
is almost like a prisoner.

Speaker 31 (01:17:06):
Oh, listen to that, win, Louise. Oh, I do hate
living out in the country like this. We're so isolated
from everybody who is math.

Speaker 32 (01:17:14):
It was so much nicer when we lived in our
own house in the village.

Speaker 31 (01:17:19):
Even if Roger and Hester are our nephew and niece,
we should never have looked them persuade us to move
out here with them. What is it, Toby Queenie our
mother's darlings hungry? Even Toby and Queeny don't like living here?

Speaker 32 (01:17:35):
Is they do seem unhappy? Queenie hasn't been eating, will.

Speaker 31 (01:17:41):
Louise, It's very foolish for us to stay here with
Roger and Hester. I think I hear Hester coming now.
We'll tell her right away that we want to go
back to our old home here.

Speaker 33 (01:17:52):
I have at last had Louise Martha.

Speaker 29 (01:17:54):
I've rod your teeth and some cake.

Speaker 32 (01:17:56):
I just made this afternoon. Thank you.

Speaker 34 (01:17:59):
Dear Daily sent little for you. George Gibson just delivered it.
I haven't even opened it yet.

Speaker 29 (01:18:04):
Thank you.

Speaker 31 (01:18:05):
Roger, Louis and I have been talking things over. That
was very kind of you to invite us to live
here with you, but we were much happier living in
the village.

Speaker 34 (01:18:15):
We want to go back, but an Martha, it's much
better for you here, really it is.

Speaker 29 (01:18:20):
Of course, you're just homesick, both of you.

Speaker 34 (01:18:23):
You'll get over it pretty soon. You love the country
as much as we do.

Speaker 7 (01:18:27):
Now.

Speaker 33 (01:18:27):
We don't want to hear another word about your leaving us,
but we couldn't be happy thinking of you alone and
help us in the village.

Speaker 29 (01:18:34):
Come along, Roger, let them drink their tea, all right,
both later.

Speaker 32 (01:18:39):
I do wish they'd let us go back.

Speaker 29 (01:18:41):
There's no reason why we shouldn't, do.

Speaker 35 (01:18:44):
You Remember the teas we used to give Marry Thompson
came over every afternoon.

Speaker 14 (01:18:50):
It was so nice.

Speaker 29 (01:18:51):
There's no reason we can't move back and get those
teas again.

Speaker 31 (01:18:55):
We won't be alone a helpless either, and all the
money father leftists weak and of a dozen servants.

Speaker 29 (01:19:02):
Louise, we are going back. I've made up my mind.

Speaker 32 (01:19:05):
Oh, my son, I'm so glad.

Speaker 29 (01:19:08):
Listen to Tony and Queene. They're glad we're going back
to aren't you you? Bet old darling?

Speaker 32 (01:19:15):
Hoy understand your mother. They know we're not going to
stay here much longer, of course they do.

Speaker 31 (01:19:24):
Well, now that's settled. Let's see what's in the sentinel.
M AT's see now.

Speaker 35 (01:19:32):
Oh, Matha, let's look at the obituary notices.

Speaker 29 (01:19:36):
Fast, Just what I was turning to Louise, and here
we are.

Speaker 32 (01:19:42):
Did anyone we know die?

Speaker 29 (01:19:44):
Now?

Speaker 1 (01:19:45):
Let me see? Ah?

Speaker 29 (01:19:47):
Yes, y you remember Amos Wilson, don't you? He died
two days ago?

Speaker 35 (01:19:54):
Poor Amos.

Speaker 29 (01:19:55):
He was about your age, wasn't he?

Speaker 32 (01:19:57):
Martha?

Speaker 29 (01:19:58):
Certainly not. He was a good deal of Oh, math
look at this.

Speaker 35 (01:20:03):
Why it says that Mary Thompson is entering the County
Home for the Infirm.

Speaker 36 (01:20:09):
The poor house. Oh don't know, he can't be. You
can read it for yourself. Oh, that dreadful place. I'd
rather be dead than in that home.

Speaker 29 (01:20:20):
Of poor Mary.

Speaker 7 (01:20:21):
Martha.

Speaker 35 (01:20:22):
After we moved back to the village, can't we have
Mary come to live.

Speaker 29 (01:20:25):
With us, Yes, of course, why going to the poor
house would be the death of her? No, no, it
can't be what can't be read what.

Speaker 32 (01:20:35):
It says there in the real estate column.

Speaker 35 (01:20:37):
The old Abbit Mansion, owned by the missus Martha and
Louise Abbot, has been put up for sale by their nephew.

Speaker 32 (01:20:46):
Roger Clark.

Speaker 31 (01:20:47):
What why it must be a mist We never told
Roger to sell our house, Roger, Roger?

Speaker 32 (01:20:54):
Now, mother, we mustn't get excited.

Speaker 31 (01:20:56):
But why should he want to sell our house and
permit it? Yes, Roger, what's this in the sentinel about
our house being up for sale?

Speaker 4 (01:21:05):
Oh?

Speaker 34 (01:21:06):
Is it in the sentinel?

Speaker 13 (01:21:08):
Oh?

Speaker 9 (01:21:08):
I'm so sorry.

Speaker 35 (01:21:09):
It is a mistake, isn't it, Roger?

Speaker 37 (01:21:11):
Well, no, Aunt Louise, since the house isn't being used,
I thought it'd be a good idea to sell it.

Speaker 31 (01:21:18):
But you had no right to put the house up
for sale without telling me.

Speaker 37 (01:21:21):
Now, don't get yourself excited, Anne Martha, you don't want
the household.

Speaker 34 (01:21:24):
I'll remove it from the market.

Speaker 32 (01:21:25):
You must, Roger, we couldn't live if the house was sold.

Speaker 34 (01:21:29):
All right, All right, now, I'll take care of everything.
Don't you worry. Everything's going to be all right.

Speaker 31 (01:21:34):
I don't like it, Louise. I don't like it at all.
Why should he try to sell it without telling us?

Speaker 11 (01:21:39):
He does?

Speaker 32 (01:21:40):
Seem strange, Louise.

Speaker 31 (01:21:42):
We must get in touch with Judge Morris at once.
He's the administrator of father's estate. He'll take care of
everything for us the way we want it. I didn't
like the look in Roger's eyes just now. I've always
been suspicious of Roger, and if you want my opinion,
he and Hester are up to something.

Speaker 29 (01:22:11):
Is Mother's beautiful queene hungry?

Speaker 31 (01:22:14):
Well, here's a nice piece of meat from the lovely
supper Hester just brought us.

Speaker 32 (01:22:20):
Oh, Queenie is hungry.

Speaker 15 (01:22:22):
Mother.

Speaker 35 (01:22:23):
She's got her appetite back since she learned we intend
going back to the village.

Speaker 29 (01:22:27):
Yes, she has. But where's Tokey? I don't see him
around any place?

Speaker 32 (01:22:31):
Probably in the kitchen. Martha, when are you going to
speak to Roger and Hester again about our leaving?

Speaker 31 (01:22:38):
And I'm waiting until we can get in touch with
Judge Morris. He'll come get us, whether Roger wants us
to go or not. There's been something very strange about
Roger's manner ever since we told him yesterday.

Speaker 29 (01:22:50):
We didn't think to stay, Martha.

Speaker 35 (01:22:53):
Look, queen is here, that meets You gave her his
name as sick Queenie.

Speaker 29 (01:22:58):
Oh, what's the matter with mother, darling?

Speaker 16 (01:23:00):
Mother?

Speaker 32 (01:23:01):
There's something terribly wrong with her?

Speaker 13 (01:23:03):
Queenie?

Speaker 17 (01:23:04):
What is it?

Speaker 29 (01:23:05):
Oh, Louise, what can we do?

Speaker 32 (01:23:07):
Can you give us the water?

Speaker 16 (01:23:08):
Maybe that her help? Matha? She's fallen down.

Speaker 29 (01:23:14):
She's dead, Louise. Queenie is dead, but she is. She
was perfectly all right until I gave her that meat.

Speaker 32 (01:23:25):
She was so she just bolted to do math She
must have chooked it.

Speaker 29 (01:23:31):
She just choked, did she? I'm not so sure.

Speaker 16 (01:23:35):
What do you mean?

Speaker 29 (01:23:37):
What else could it have been? She acted more as
if she were poisoned, poisoned. This, I'm sure of it.

Speaker 31 (01:23:44):
The meat was poisoned. That's why Queeney died. God, how
is that possible?

Speaker 29 (01:23:49):
It was poisoned because that meat was meant for.

Speaker 13 (01:23:52):
Us, Matha.

Speaker 31 (01:23:54):
You you don't mean that Roger in hestereus? Louise, Oh,
I see it now. That's why they brought us out here.
Why they won't let us leave. They're planning to kill us.
They're after our money.

Speaker 32 (01:24:07):
Martha, what are we going to do?

Speaker 31 (01:24:09):
We've got to get in touch with Judge Morris right away.
You'll say that, good Martha, how can we the telephone?

Speaker 36 (01:24:15):
It's upstairs in Hester's room, and neither of us conclined stairs.

Speaker 31 (01:24:19):
I know that we've got to figure another waiter reach him, Louise,
our lives depend upon it.

Speaker 9 (01:24:34):
All that night the.

Speaker 30 (01:24:35):
Two old ladies tear in their hearts, tossed and turned
in an effort to think of a way of escape
from the horrible trap in which they found themselves. In
the morning, they thought they had discovered how to do it.
When George Gibson, the rural mail carrier, came by, Louise
called to him and gave him a frantic message to

(01:24:55):
Judge Morris, which he promised to deliver. However, a few
minutes later, encountering Roger, their nephew, George Gibson told him
what had happened, and Roger managed to persuade him not
to deliver the message. Then Roger hurried home to consult
with Hester.

Speaker 33 (01:25:14):
Roger, you say that while Marth was out here in
the kitchen with me, Louise was giving George Gibson a method.

Speaker 32 (01:25:19):
For Judge Morris.

Speaker 37 (01:25:20):
Yes, and she seems so excited that George stopped me
on the road to tell me about it.

Speaker 7 (01:25:25):
Hester.

Speaker 34 (01:25:25):
I'm afraid they suspect.

Speaker 32 (01:25:27):
Oh no, no, they mustn't.

Speaker 37 (01:25:28):
We mustn't let them, I should say not. After all
the trouble we've gone to, we would ruin everything. We've
got to quiet their suspicion. Somehow, we've got to make
them like it here so they'd be perfectly content to
stay with us until they die.

Speaker 30 (01:27:58):
And now to return to the story of escape by
death as it is written in the Sealed Book. For
twenty four hours, Martha and Louise have waited in trembling
impatience for George Gibson to bring words that Judge Morris
has received their friendic appeal for help.

Speaker 32 (01:28:18):
Oh Martha, where can George be?

Speaker 35 (01:28:21):
He's more than an only.

Speaker 31 (01:28:23):
He's probably just been delayed. Maybe the car broke down.
He'll be here soon.

Speaker 32 (01:28:28):
Yes, here he comes. Now he's turning up the trial. Oh, Martha,
I was so worried.

Speaker 29 (01:28:34):
I told you he wouldn't fail us.

Speaker 32 (01:28:36):
There's Roger taking the mail from him.

Speaker 35 (01:28:39):
Suppose Roger doesn't let him see us, he.

Speaker 32 (01:28:41):
Might always What is it, Martha?

Speaker 13 (01:28:44):
What's wrong?

Speaker 31 (01:28:44):
That isn't George Gibson delivering the mail. Not George Gibson. No,
that's a much younger man. Now he's leaving. Roger's coming
back in the house.

Speaker 29 (01:28:53):
Martha.

Speaker 35 (01:28:53):
Where do you suppose Georgie.

Speaker 13 (01:28:55):
I don't know.

Speaker 29 (01:28:56):
I don't understand. Perhaps he's sick to disher.

Speaker 34 (01:29:00):
Hello on Martha and Louise. Here's a magazine that came
in the mail. I thought you might like to see it.

Speaker 32 (01:29:06):
Thank you, Roger.

Speaker 29 (01:29:07):
Why didn't George Gibson deliver the mail today?

Speaker 7 (01:29:10):
Oh?

Speaker 34 (01:29:11):
You saw that there was a new driver.

Speaker 37 (01:29:14):
Well, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but
yesterday afternoon, poor George was killed.

Speaker 6 (01:29:20):
Killed.

Speaker 34 (01:29:20):
No, he had a bad accident as he was returning
to the village.

Speaker 29 (01:29:25):
An accident.

Speaker 34 (01:29:26):
Yes, I'd rather not talk about it anymore. Now it'll
just upset you. Hesse'll bring you some sopper soon.

Speaker 31 (01:29:32):
Poor George let me to Judge Morris. Didn't get our message?
Oh ma't you see, Louise, that wasn't any accident. George
was killed to keep him from going to Judge Morris. Marfa,
you you can't mean with Roger and Hess.

Speaker 29 (01:29:46):
Yes, Louise, they'll stop at nothing to get our money.
But what are we going to do?

Speaker 38 (01:29:52):
We can't get a message to anyone, and they're poisoning
our food. We haven't eaten a thing since poor queen
He died. I can't go on throwing the food away,
or we'll starve.

Speaker 29 (01:30:03):
There's only one thing to do. Toby must sample our food.
You mean to see if it's poisonous.

Speaker 31 (01:30:11):
It's dreadful having to risk put Toby's life, but it's
the only thing we can do. You are Toby a
nice piece of meat for mother's darling, Martha.

Speaker 35 (01:30:30):
I get so frightened every time I see Toby eating something.

Speaker 32 (01:30:34):
I keep remembering Queenie, the dreadful wishing to.

Speaker 31 (01:30:38):
Now Now, Louise, we mustn't think of that here, Toby, dear,
why are you feeding Toby?

Speaker 34 (01:30:44):
He gets plenty to eat in the kitchen. He'll die
of overeating if you are Carol.

Speaker 29 (01:30:49):
I've always sped Toby for my own plate.

Speaker 34 (01:30:51):
He expects it, an, Martha. If you feed that meat
to the cat, there won't be enough for you.

Speaker 29 (01:30:56):
And if you're to get well, you need all that food.

Speaker 33 (01:31:00):
I don't want you feeding Toby anymore of it here.

Speaker 37 (01:31:02):
Toby, come on, boy, come on, come on, come on,
come on out the kitchen and Martin Luisy to supper.

Speaker 13 (01:31:16):
Here.

Speaker 33 (01:31:17):
You aren't, Mother, Louise.

Speaker 13 (01:31:18):
I've got your lunch. Doesn't it look good?

Speaker 35 (01:31:21):
Yes, sister, it's very.

Speaker 29 (01:31:22):
Nice here Toby. Esther, have you seen Toby?

Speaker 32 (01:31:28):
No, Muther, I haven't.

Speaker 29 (01:31:29):
But where could he be?

Speaker 32 (01:31:31):
Toby's always on time for me. He's probably some place
around the house.

Speaker 29 (01:31:36):
Now eat your lunch before it gets call home off.
Where can he be?

Speaker 31 (01:31:40):
Toby will be along in a few minutes. We won't
touch a bit of this food until he's eaten some
of it.

Speaker 16 (01:31:45):
I do wish he were here.

Speaker 29 (01:31:47):
I'm so hungry, Louise. Don't touch a thing on that tray.
It isn't safe here.

Speaker 13 (01:31:53):
Toby.

Speaker 34 (01:32:07):
Good evening at Martha and that Louise?

Speaker 29 (01:32:09):
How are you good evening? Roger?

Speaker 16 (01:32:11):
I have sadly here for you too.

Speaker 32 (01:32:15):
Neither of you ate your lunch.

Speaker 34 (01:32:16):
What's wrong?

Speaker 32 (01:32:17):
We weren't hungry?

Speaker 14 (01:32:19):
Esther?

Speaker 29 (01:32:20):
Have you found Toby yet?

Speaker 35 (01:32:22):
No, I've looked everywhere for him, but he seems to
have disappeared.

Speaker 34 (01:32:26):
No, No, Now you mustn't worry. I'm sure he'll turn
up all.

Speaker 33 (01:32:29):
Martha, you and Aunt Louise can't afford to miss meals
in your state of health.

Speaker 34 (01:32:34):
Certainly not now we want you to eat everything that
Hester's brought you.

Speaker 29 (01:32:38):
You'll make us very unhappy if you don't.

Speaker 33 (01:32:41):
Now, please eat it.

Speaker 29 (01:32:41):
Well, it's hot.

Speaker 33 (01:32:42):
Come along, Roger, I'll.

Speaker 13 (01:32:43):
Get you yourself all right?

Speaker 39 (01:32:45):
There?

Speaker 31 (01:32:45):
Did you hear but she said about Toby, Louise, he's
very nonsense.

Speaker 29 (01:32:50):
They've killed him.

Speaker 31 (01:32:51):
I saw how angry they were last night when we
fed Toby from our plates. They've killed him so he
won't spoil their plans.

Speaker 29 (01:32:58):
Oh are we going to do?

Speaker 32 (01:33:01):
I'm so hungry that my head spins and I'm dizzy.

Speaker 29 (01:33:05):
I know, Louise, so am I?

Speaker 40 (01:33:07):
Oh?

Speaker 29 (01:33:07):
I hate them? I hate them.

Speaker 32 (01:33:09):
We're leaving them our money in our wheels. They'll get
it soon enough. Why must they kill us?

Speaker 29 (01:33:15):
Because they're nothing but common murderers.

Speaker 31 (01:33:17):
I distrusted Roger from the minute Hester first rock into
our house.

Speaker 29 (01:33:21):
Yes, it's his fault.

Speaker 35 (01:33:23):
He's changed Hester.

Speaker 32 (01:33:25):
She used to be such a sweet girl.

Speaker 31 (01:33:27):
There was only some way to get word to the village,
or to bring somebody here to help us. Louise, I
have an idea, What is it, Martha? There's one way
to bring people here?

Speaker 32 (01:33:40):
What Martha?

Speaker 31 (01:33:41):
If we were to set fire to the house, somebody
would be sure to see the flames.

Speaker 35 (01:33:46):
Yes, of course, and then the fire company would come home.

Speaker 29 (01:33:51):
Then we'd be able to tell them we'd be saved.

Speaker 38 (01:33:53):
Oh, but Martha Hester and Roger would put out the
fire before it could get.

Speaker 32 (01:33:58):
Big enough to be seen.

Speaker 29 (01:34:00):
Louise, I know a way we can prevent them from
putting out the fire. You do, Yes, we can.

Speaker 41 (01:34:05):
Save ourselves, Louise, We can save ourselves. Yeh, Toby, why
are you looking down the cellar stairs like that?

Speaker 29 (01:34:23):
Now you should be in.

Speaker 37 (01:34:24):
Your room, certainly should. It's drafty out here in the hall.
Now close the cellar door and go back to your room.

Speaker 31 (01:34:29):
But I heard Toby crying he's down in the cellar,
and I won't go to my room until I get him.

Speaker 33 (01:34:35):
Mark, Roger, just to put out in Martha's mind at ease,
why don't you go down the cellar and see if
Toby is there?

Speaker 34 (01:34:40):
All right?

Speaker 14 (01:34:41):
When?

Speaker 31 (01:34:42):
If you ask me, please help him. Look for Toby Hester.
You'll find him so much quicker if you both have fully.

Speaker 13 (01:34:50):
Oh, very well, But you go back to your rooms.

Speaker 35 (01:34:53):
You don't catch cold, Roger.

Speaker 13 (01:34:56):
You see.

Speaker 31 (01:34:58):
In the cellar, you'll see just how smart you are
trying to poison us. Uh, you won't stop us from escaping.
Now I'm just get Louise.

Speaker 29 (01:35:11):
Louise, Louise, it worked.

Speaker 32 (01:35:13):
You mean you were able to lock them in.

Speaker 31 (01:35:16):
The cellars, and with the door knocked they can't get down.

Speaker 32 (01:35:23):
They found out they're locked in her.

Speaker 29 (01:35:25):
Don't you worry about it, Louise. I'll take care of everything.

Speaker 36 (01:35:28):
What are you doing with that kerosene, lamplock pouring the
kerosene around the rooms?

Speaker 29 (01:35:33):
Who will burn better?

Speaker 13 (01:35:35):
Oh? Yeah?

Speaker 29 (01:35:36):
Are you ready to leave, Louise?

Speaker 31 (01:35:37):
Yes, Martin, listen, I'll strike the match and start the fire.

Speaker 35 (01:35:44):
How quickly it's starting to splay.

Speaker 29 (01:35:47):
We've got to leave.

Speaker 31 (01:35:49):
I'll push your wheelchair, Louise, and you try to help
by rolling the fiels.

Speaker 29 (01:35:54):
Mother, we're coming along.

Speaker 13 (01:35:58):
I stay.

Speaker 29 (01:36:00):
If Papa, I do hate to do this, Louise.

Speaker 31 (01:36:09):
You mustn't waste any pity on them, even if they
are our niece and nephew and nothing but common murderers.

Speaker 16 (01:36:15):
Yes, I suppose you're right.

Speaker 19 (01:36:17):
Now.

Speaker 31 (01:36:17):
I'll just open the front door and we'll be free. Now,
old aheels free. Just you eat more and we'll be safe. Yes, How,
we're far enough away from the house to be perfectly.

Speaker 32 (01:36:37):
Why the whole house is on fire.

Speaker 29 (01:36:41):
Do you think they can see it in the village
by no, I'm sure they do.

Speaker 31 (01:36:46):
Now, remember, Louise, when the fire company gets here, we
don't know what happened.

Speaker 29 (01:36:50):
To Roger and estor We've just managed to get out ourselves.

Speaker 31 (01:36:53):
Yes, if we told them what we were forced to
do to escape, we have to reveal that our own oh,
niice and nephew were poisonous murderess.

Speaker 29 (01:37:03):
They don't want to disgrace the family name.

Speaker 9 (01:37:06):
Louise.

Speaker 29 (01:37:06):
Oh no, Martha, of course, not.

Speaker 9 (01:37:13):
Knowing.

Speaker 29 (01:37:19):
And here comes the fire engine.

Speaker 32 (01:37:20):
Louise, you saved, We are saved.

Speaker 29 (01:37:33):
Good morning, Judge.

Speaker 42 (01:37:34):
Morris, Good morning, Miss Martha, missus Louise. I trust you
well after that terrible ordeal last night.

Speaker 35 (01:37:40):
Oh we're feeling much better.

Speaker 32 (01:37:42):
Thank you, Judge Morris.

Speaker 42 (01:37:43):
I know it'll be painful for you, but now that
your niece and never you are gone, we must plan
for your future.

Speaker 29 (01:37:49):
Oh, you don't have to bother, Judge.

Speaker 31 (01:37:51):
All we want to do is move back to our
old house, hire a few servants, and live as we
used to. And I was wondering if you could rang
to have Mary Thompson come live with us. I won't
hear of her going to that dreadful home for the infirm.
Why the poor house would be the.

Speaker 22 (01:38:08):
Death of her.

Speaker 32 (01:38:08):
Oh no, we can't let her go there.

Speaker 29 (01:38:11):
With all the money father leftist, there's no reason why
she should.

Speaker 42 (01:38:15):
Ladies, I'd hoped I'd never have to reveal the truth
to you, but now it appears I must the truth.

Speaker 29 (01:38:21):
I don't understand, Judge.

Speaker 14 (01:38:23):
Some weeks ago, the.

Speaker 42 (01:38:24):
Bonds and the trust fund your father left you became
utterly worthless what your never your niece were afraid the
shock of learning you are penniless would be too much
for you, so it was decided to keep the news
from you. That's why the three of us persuaded you
to move in with him. Your house here in the
village had to be sold to meet the debts of
the estate.

Speaker 29 (01:38:41):
But that can't be father left us so much, it's.

Speaker 14 (01:38:44):
All worthless now.

Speaker 42 (01:38:46):
Perhaps I should have told you this a month ago,
but your niece and never you wouldn't hear of it.
In spite of the fact that they had only Roger's
salary to live on. They were determined to prevent you
from ever learning of your misfortune.

Speaker 35 (01:38:56):
But the deaths of poor Queenie into George Gibson.

Speaker 42 (01:39:02):
George Gibson, Yes, I'm afraid I don't understand. Surely you
heard that he was killed, the tire blew out and
his car turned over.

Speaker 29 (01:39:11):
You mean he wasn't murdered?

Speaker 14 (01:39:13):
Certainly not.

Speaker 34 (01:39:14):
Oh are you feeling well?

Speaker 42 (01:39:16):
Has my new has been too much for you?

Speaker 11 (01:39:18):
Now?

Speaker 9 (01:39:18):
No?

Speaker 42 (01:39:20):
Well, now that your niece, have you a gone? There's
no one to support you. I'm afraid there's only one
thing left?

Speaker 29 (01:39:26):
One thing left?

Speaker 13 (01:39:28):
What's that?

Speaker 42 (01:39:29):
I'm sorry to say. Believe me, I am the County
Home for the Infirm, the poor house.

Speaker 30 (01:39:49):
And that is the tale of escape by death, as
it is written in the Sealed Book.

Speaker 29 (01:39:56):
Louise and Martha, because they.

Speaker 30 (01:39:58):
Could not believe that the deaths of their cat was
an accident, convinced themselves that they were in danger of
being killed, and in their frantic efforts to escape, ruthlessly
destroyed their only protectors. Strange other ways in which fate
plays tricks on mere mortels. The sound of the great

(01:40:23):
Gong tells me it's time to close the Sealed Book
once more.

Speaker 18 (01:40:27):
One moment, Keeper of the book, What story from the
Sealed Book will you tell us next time?

Speaker 30 (01:40:32):
Next time. What kind of a tale would you like,
a history of ghosts, of vampires, of ware wolves howling
in the night, A tale of dark plots and evil deeds,
of a strange fate overtaking the guilty.

Speaker 4 (01:40:50):
Let me see.

Speaker 34 (01:40:52):
I'll find one for you in just a moment.

Speaker 18 (01:42:39):
And now, Keeper of the book, have you found the
story that you'll tell next time?

Speaker 30 (01:42:44):
Yes, yes, I found one for you. It's the amazing
story of a woman's jealousy, so brief that it would
not let her lae quietly in her grieve, but made
her sec revenge even from behind the dark veil of
I call it its etch.

Speaker 18 (01:43:04):
Tomhouse, be sure to be with us next time to
hear another strange and mysterious story from lessial book. The
Sealed Book, written by Bob Arthur and David Cogan, is
produced and directed by Jack McGregor.

Speaker 1 (01:43:27):
Well make sure you blow on this before you take
a sip. I wouldn't want you to burn yourself, not
in weather like this. It be so ironic. It sure
is very cold for this time of year. But I
suppose in a way that's just festive. So I'll learn

(01:43:50):
to enjoy it, and I hope you do too. Times
like these remind me of very long ago, a time
to string lights, to make mary, and to never trust

(01:44:11):
a stranger.

Speaker 43 (01:44:13):
And now stay tuned for the program that has rated
tops in popularity for a longer period of time than
any other West Coast program in radio history, The Signal
Oil Program.

Speaker 14 (01:44:25):
The Whistler.

Speaker 21 (01:44:36):
UH five.

Speaker 3 (01:44:40):
Name SIG.

Speaker 43 (01:44:49):
Signal, the famous go Farther Gasoline invites you to sit
back and enjoy another strange story by the Whistler.

Speaker 17 (01:45:14):
I am the whistler, and I know many things. For
I walk by night.

Speaker 21 (01:45:19):
I know many strange tales hidden in the hearts of
men and women who have stepped into the shadows. Yes,
I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak.

Speaker 43 (01:45:33):
And now for the Signal Oil Company, the Whistler's strange story.
You can't trust a stranger.

Speaker 21 (01:45:55):
As you walk down the crowded corridor from the District
Attorney's office, you can feel the stairs and hear the whispers.
There's Frank Maloy. He's getting out, but not for long.
It's costing you ten thousand dollars to walk out that
front door. But it's worth it, isn't it, Frank, Because
you have a plan at least part of one. Yes,

(01:46:15):
you reach the front entrance, push open the heavy door,
and go out into the street. There at the curb,
you recognize the long yellow convertible and the attractive blonde
sitting inside. She slides over as you slip in behind
the wheel.

Speaker 29 (01:46:38):
In again, out again.

Speaker 44 (01:46:40):
Yeah, how was jail this time?

Speaker 45 (01:46:43):
When I read in the papers they're gonna put you
away for a long, long time after the small formality.

Speaker 7 (01:46:50):
Of a trial.

Speaker 14 (01:46:50):
Well, I don't believe everything you read. I'm not going
on trial.

Speaker 13 (01:46:54):
You are.

Speaker 14 (01:46:54):
No, I'm gonna be around long enough to give my chance.
You're gonna jump in exactly what I'm gonna do.

Speaker 29 (01:47:01):
You'll lose your ten thousand dollar.

Speaker 14 (01:47:02):
Bars, doesn't matter. I've got plenty, and it's put away
where I can get at it in a hurry.

Speaker 7 (01:47:06):
Where will you go?

Speaker 9 (01:47:08):
We we're going together, baby, I'm ready, Frank.

Speaker 14 (01:47:13):
I don't know how where we're going, but we're getting
out of the States. We can beat it to a
Vanna and then maybe South America. I'll get a divorce
and we're all set. I've got enough money to last
us the rest of our lives.

Speaker 45 (01:47:24):
This sounds wonderful, But how do you expect to get away.
The moment they miss you, they'll be watching for you everywhere.

Speaker 14 (01:47:29):
Yeah, I know Da wants to see me in a
couple of days. So whatever we're gonna do, we're gonna
have to move fast.

Speaker 45 (01:47:36):
We can't just take a plane or a train before
we start running. Frankly, we have to think of something,
some kind of plan. Yeah, I know, what about a
private plane and pilot. Let's find out about it right away.

Speaker 14 (01:47:46):
No, there's something else I've got to find out first.
What do you mean I'm going out to the ranch.
I'm gonna see my wife. You're going out to see Martha.
That's right, Why, Vivian, didn't you ever wonder how the
district attorney got hold of all my records and books
that I get. You think I sent them to them?

(01:48:08):
You think I wanted the smoothest gambling syne in the
state to come crashing down around my neck. Oh, but
somebody else did. It had to be somebody I trusted,
somebody close to me. I want to be sure it
wasn't Martha. And they have enough on me to put
me away for twenty years. I want to know where
they got it.

Speaker 13 (01:48:26):
What difference does it make?

Speaker 7 (01:48:27):
Now.

Speaker 21 (01:48:27):
All that matter is now is getting away.

Speaker 14 (01:48:29):
We'll get away, baby, don't worry. But first I want
to see Martha. I just want to know.

Speaker 21 (01:48:44):
As you drive through the city and across the Bay Bridge,
your thoughts dwell upon.

Speaker 17 (01:48:48):
Your wife, Martha, don't they.

Speaker 21 (01:48:49):
Frank you begin to think back, wondering just how much
Martha knew about you and your organization, Wondering if she
knew about Vivian or any of the others. Wondering if
it could have been Martha who brought everything crashing down,
sending you to jail.

Speaker 17 (01:49:05):
And there are other things to be thought of.

Speaker 21 (01:49:08):
How will you manage to get out of the country
before the district attorney knows you're gone? Chartered plane and
a private pilot might work. And you do have friends
in Florida who would help you and Vivian get out
of the country. After an hour of driving and thinking,
you're suddenly startled as Vivian pulls violently at your arm.

Speaker 14 (01:49:32):
Can I hit him?

Speaker 34 (01:49:33):
I don't know.

Speaker 29 (01:49:34):
He's lying by the side of the highway.

Speaker 14 (01:49:37):
Oh was he doing out the middle of the highway?

Speaker 29 (01:49:39):
Look, he's getting up.

Speaker 14 (01:49:40):
We better have a look at him. Come on, he
is getting up doesn't look like he's hurt too badly. Hey, hey,
you all right? I don't know, I think so. What
were you doing out the middle of the highway.

Speaker 7 (01:49:54):
I was trying to catch it ride.

Speaker 29 (01:49:55):
What does anything feel broken?

Speaker 14 (01:49:57):
No, no, I don't think so.

Speaker 39 (01:50:00):
I saw you coming right at me and I dove
for the side of the road.

Speaker 7 (01:50:03):
You didn't hit me.

Speaker 14 (01:50:04):
Oh, it's a relief. Looks like my trousers are finished.

Speaker 13 (01:50:08):
You're sure you're all wrong?

Speaker 39 (01:50:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, forget it. It's my own fault for
standing in the middle of the highway.

Speaker 14 (01:50:14):
Hey. What's your name? My name, yeah, Chuck. Why well, Chuck.
I feel kind of bad about this. I think the
least I can do is offer you a ride. Do
something about those trousers too. Forget it, forget it. It's
my fault. Wow, we can't leave you standing here. We're

(01:50:35):
going another ten miles. Okay, let me get my hat
out of the ditch.

Speaker 21 (01:50:41):
Thank you.

Speaker 29 (01:50:42):
You have to give him a lift.

Speaker 21 (01:50:43):
He admits it was his fault.

Speaker 13 (01:50:44):
Let's get out of here.

Speaker 14 (01:50:45):
To notice something, Vivian, something really interesting about that fellow.
What are you talking about? Look, he's just turned around.
Look at him, now, look at me. Notice anything. Frank say,
it looks not like me. Huh, same sign build even
as features. Yeah, if I worked it out right, I
could get away with it, get away with Just think

(01:51:07):
for them how much easier it would be for us
to get away if everybody thought.

Speaker 4 (01:51:12):
That I was dead.

Speaker 43 (01:51:28):
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(01:51:52):
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Your engine keeps its light new pepin power twice as long.
So if you're still using lazy, old fashioned oil that

(01:52:14):
merely lubricates, it's high time to make a change for
the better. Change oil. Next time at a signal service station.
Change to new, harder working, signaled Premium motor oil that
reduces engine ware fifty percent.

Speaker 46 (01:52:32):
Signal gasoline your goal, I'll cover the cacoline.

Speaker 21 (01:52:54):
Almost every piece of the plan seems to fit together,
doesn't it.

Speaker 17 (01:52:57):
Frank.

Speaker 21 (01:52:58):
If the police thought you were dead, you and Vivian
could take your time about getting out of the country.
You could go knowing they weren't watching for you. You'll
study the man whom you almost hit on the highway,
and already you're planning the last few hours of his life.

Speaker 14 (01:53:12):
I'd be real nice to him, Vivian and get him
to talk about himself. We have to find out as
much about him as we can. You just leave it
to me, Frank, Okay, I'll set check. Yeah, let's go
then huh.

Speaker 7 (01:53:33):
Some buggy. Yeah, always promised myself i'd have one of
these someday.

Speaker 39 (01:53:39):
Look at me. I don't even have bus fare. My
clothes are dirty and wrinkled, and I need a shave.
I look like a tramp. I don't blame people for
passing me by.

Speaker 7 (01:53:50):
Where were you headed, Jock? Los Angeles?

Speaker 39 (01:53:53):
I guess they tell me the Knights are bombing down there.
It makes a difference when you're sleep in parked cars.

Speaker 29 (01:53:58):
But don't you have any friends in Los Angeles?

Speaker 14 (01:54:01):
I don't have any friends anywhere. That's a pretty broad statement.
Check must have friends somewhere, maybe back home.

Speaker 34 (01:54:09):
I wouldn't know.

Speaker 39 (01:54:10):
I haven't been home in a long time. Been everywhere else, Australia, Africa, Brazil,
been working on freighters. Just got back to the States
last week.

Speaker 7 (01:54:21):
Just last week. Huh right, been gone nearly five years. Oh,
where is your home? I come from a place called Hyannas.
Never hear it.

Speaker 39 (01:54:31):
It's in Massachusetts, Cape Cod No, I never heard of it.
It's a fishing village.

Speaker 13 (01:54:35):
Oh.

Speaker 14 (01:54:36):
Still, it doesn't seem possible that a man doesn't have
any friends.

Speaker 21 (01:54:40):
Oh, you must have a girlfriend.

Speaker 14 (01:54:43):
Had a girl once in Hyanna's The name was Mami.

Speaker 7 (01:54:47):
Maybe it's a.

Speaker 14 (01:54:49):
Long time ago, when I was young and foolish.

Speaker 13 (01:54:52):
Whatever happened to Maymie, I wouldn't know.

Speaker 39 (01:54:56):
I wrote it for a while, but when I didn't
get any answer to my letters, they just forgot about Maybe, say, Chuck,
tell me what kind of work.

Speaker 14 (01:55:03):
Do you do.

Speaker 39 (01:55:04):
I'm one of those guys who can do anything until
you pin me down, and then it turns out I
can't do much of anything.

Speaker 14 (01:55:10):
Well, I'm sure you'll fit in somewhere someday. Just haven't
run into it yet.

Speaker 39 (01:55:15):
Maybe in the meantime, I like drifting around the world.
I don't talk it too much. I don't get the
chance to talk to people very often, especially about myself.

Speaker 7 (01:55:31):
Everybody likes to talk about themselves.

Speaker 14 (01:55:34):
What are you going to do when you get back
to La look for work? I guess I'm broke. Well,
if you really want a job, Chuck, maybe I can
do something for you. What do you mean, Well, do
you have a ten bar? No? I own a string
of bars throughout the valley. If you're willing to learn,
maybe I can put you to work as a bartender.

(01:55:56):
Me a bartender, A guy's on his feet a lot,
and that kind of work. You can make good money. Yeah, yeah,
I can believe that. But tell me something, why all
the interest in me?

Speaker 13 (01:56:12):
Oh? We might have run over you, maybe killed you.
I think the least Frank can do is try and
help you out a little.

Speaker 14 (01:56:19):
Do you do you think I could learn to tend bar?

Speaker 13 (01:56:22):
Oh?

Speaker 29 (01:56:23):
I'm sure you could, Jock.

Speaker 14 (01:56:25):
It's an interesting proposition, mister malloy. Just call me Frank.

Speaker 21 (01:56:30):
I'm Vivian Jack. Hi.

Speaker 34 (01:56:35):
How do you like that?

Speaker 39 (01:56:37):
Yesterday I was bumming around Today I'm going to be
a bartender.

Speaker 7 (01:56:42):
Who knows what will happen tomorrow?

Speaker 21 (01:56:51):
You know, don't you, Frank, You know exactly what's in
store for Chuck tomorrow. As a matter of fact, you
wonder if you'll even be alive tomorrow. Because now you're settlement.
He will do fine as a part of your plan.
No one knows about him. No one even knows where
he is. No one would miss him if.

Speaker 17 (01:57:08):
He disappeared, he assured you of that.

Speaker 21 (01:57:12):
As you turn off the main highway towards your small ranch,
you already have the first stages of the plan ready.

Speaker 7 (01:57:19):
You stop the car at the gate.

Speaker 14 (01:57:23):
I have to take care of some business here. Check.
You go with Vivian. She'll put you out for the afternoon.
Whatever you say, Boss, second of my apartment. Huh, here's
his key. I'll call you when as soon as I've
made the arrangements we were talking about.

Speaker 7 (01:57:35):
Will they take long?

Speaker 14 (01:57:37):
No, everything will be taken care of by the night tonight. Yeah,
and take good care of Check. Huh. Make him feel
at home.

Speaker 29 (01:57:44):
Now, but we'll be at your place.

Speaker 14 (01:57:46):
You call me, I'll call him. Well. I see you
late at night. Check your thing, mister molloy. Bye baby, fine.

Speaker 21 (01:58:01):
You watch them disappear down the road, Frank, and then
you turned toward the house. Everything seems peaceful and undisturbed,
and you realize how long it has been since you've
come out to the ranch. As you reach the steps
and put your hand to the door knocker, you wonder
if Martha will be surprised to see you.

Speaker 14 (01:58:22):
Hello, Frank, Hello Martha, I I've come to see you.

Speaker 7 (01:58:29):
Come in.

Speaker 14 (01:58:33):
You don't seem surprised to see me.

Speaker 9 (01:58:35):
I'm not.

Speaker 14 (01:58:36):
You were expecting me, yes, and you knew I was
out of jail.

Speaker 13 (01:58:42):
Sit down, Frank.

Speaker 29 (01:58:43):
Do you like a cup of coffee?

Speaker 14 (01:58:45):
No, nothing except Martha, I think you know turned me
into the district attorney. Who was it?

Speaker 29 (01:58:52):
Why I did? I did what I thought was right.

Speaker 13 (01:58:58):
You must have known, Frank, always trusted you.

Speaker 14 (01:59:01):
You were the one person I thought I didn't have
to worry about.

Speaker 7 (01:59:03):
That's it, exactly, Frank.

Speaker 11 (01:59:04):
You never worried about me. I don't think you even
thought about me. There was a time when I was
the most important thing in the world.

Speaker 14 (01:59:13):
Prison you belong.

Speaker 11 (01:59:13):
In prison, you become nothing more than a gangster, a hoodlum.
You're not the man I married fifteen years ago. Little
by little I watched you change. You began to make money,
lots of money, and along with your money, you gained power.
The more you got, the more you wanted, and anything
you couldn't have you destroyed.

Speaker 35 (01:59:31):
What did you expect to do?

Speaker 11 (01:59:33):
Own everything and everyone? Some days I had to stop
you for your own sake, and I did.

Speaker 15 (01:59:38):
It the only way I knew how.

Speaker 11 (01:59:41):
I cried for months because I knew the only way
to stop you was just to call the district attorney.

Speaker 29 (01:59:48):
I did what I thought was right.

Speaker 17 (01:59:56):
Now you know, Frank, you know who betrayed you, and
Wyatt was done.

Speaker 21 (02:00:00):
You begin to pace around the room, walking faster and faster,
pumping into things and knocking them over. And suddenly you
stop in front of the man. You see the clock,
and the feeling of rage subside. You realize that by
nine o'clock tonight, things will be all right, and Martha,
conscientious Martha will have a strange punishment, won't she, Frank,

(02:00:23):
You'll always believe she sends you to your death. After
a long silence, Martha throws a shawl over her shoulders
and walks outside.

Speaker 14 (02:01:06):
Hello, Frank, Vivian, everything all right? Yes, I've been listening
to the story of Chuck's life.

Speaker 13 (02:01:11):
Jimsy's girlfriend Mamie was quite a gal.

Speaker 45 (02:01:14):
How our boughtenders in the other room, practicing with your liquor.

Speaker 14 (02:01:17):
But now listen, Vivian, get one of my suits out
of the closet and give it to check. Have him
shower and shave and put the suit on. We're going
to a party, I understand. Tellom you're meeting me at
one of my places up at the lake. Leave my
apartment by eight thirty and drive up on skyline. Drive
to Mountain View Club. Now, don't stop anywhere. When you
get there, wait in the parking lot and back be

(02:01:38):
there by nine o'clock.

Speaker 20 (02:01:39):
Clear, clear and simple.

Speaker 45 (02:01:42):
What exactly are you planning, Frank?

Speaker 14 (02:01:45):
Like I said, a party? I see good. May sure
you've got it all.

Speaker 13 (02:01:50):
We'll see you at the party nine at nine?

Speaker 14 (02:02:05):
What are you doing out here, Martha? Listening to the cricket?

Speaker 13 (02:02:10):
It's a nice night.

Speaker 14 (02:02:11):
Yeah, Hm, who used to go riding on nights, likeness?

Speaker 21 (02:02:17):
You remember that?

Speaker 13 (02:02:18):
Of course, I'm surprised, Frank, are you.

Speaker 14 (02:02:23):
Well, here's another surprise for you, Martha. I'm not going
to do anything about the fact that you've turned against me. Oh,
matter of fact, when I leave here, I'm going for
a little ride, one we often used to take together
along Skyline Drive.

Speaker 13 (02:02:41):
Frank, what have you got on your mind?

Speaker 14 (02:02:45):
Just you, Martha. I'll be thinking of you.

Speaker 13 (02:02:50):
I'll get my coach.

Speaker 14 (02:02:51):
Oh no, no, Martha, wouldn't be right for you to
go anywhere with a with a hoodlum, a criminal. Goodbye, Martha. Remember,
I'll be thinking of you.

Speaker 21 (02:03:14):
The expression on her face, in her eyes that light you,
doesn't it, Frank, Martha is still in love with you
after all this time. And later, when your plan goes through,
she'll have something to think about, won't she Something that
will be her punishment. Yes, Martha, conscientious as she is,
will feel deeply when Chuck's body is finally found in

(02:03:36):
your car wearing your clothes at the bottom of the lake.
Martha will always believe you've killed yourself because she turned
you into the district attorney. And above all, she'll testify
that you were heading for the Skyline Drive. That part
will help eliminate the identification problem. High up on Skyline Drive,

(02:03:57):
you pull into the parking lot of the Darkened club
where you agreed to meet Vivian. A few minutes later,
the headlights of her car come into.

Speaker 14 (02:04:05):
View right on time?

Speaker 39 (02:04:10):
But oh, oh high mister molloy, didn't know you were
here yet. Say thanks for the suit.

Speaker 14 (02:04:16):
How do I look? Just fine? Check?

Speaker 29 (02:04:18):
Are we on time for the party?

Speaker 9 (02:04:19):
Frank?

Speaker 14 (02:04:19):
Oh, right on time? Oh say, Chuck, would you give
me a hand with some stuff in my car? It's
right over here, Vivian said, we were going to a party.
Is it in that place up there? No?

Speaker 39 (02:04:32):
Not there, I didn't think so. Giant looks closed down. Sure,
dark out here. What are we going to check this?

Speaker 14 (02:04:42):
Yeah, body's almost over a few check.

Speaker 13 (02:04:47):
What happened?

Speaker 14 (02:04:48):
I hit him? I'd be easy to handle this way.
We'll that door open so I can put him in
the car.

Speaker 21 (02:04:52):
Right, What are we going to do now?

Speaker 14 (02:04:55):
I'm stay here about five minutes and then drive up
the highway about one mile the road that sharp bend
around the lake. I'll be waiting. I'll be waiting there
off the highway. Link your lights as you're approach, and
I'll come out and wave it.

Speaker 13 (02:05:09):
I thought you were going to bring Martha with you.

Speaker 14 (02:05:12):
No, I've taken care of Martha another way.

Speaker 21 (02:05:25):
You drive out of the parking lot and in a
few minutes you reach the sharp curve in the highway,
pull over and stop where the edge drops off into
the deep end of the lake. And it only takes
seconds to drag Chuck's body to the front seat behind
the wheel. Carefully, you go through his pockets and remove everything,
then plant your belongings in his pockets. You put your

(02:05:46):
ring and watch on him, and everything is ready. You
push the clutch in, put the car in gear. As
you jump back away from the car, it jerks forward
and over the ledge to disappear in the deep black

(02:06:08):
water of the lake.

Speaker 14 (02:06:24):
Is it all over save for yourself by the time
they pull the car to the water to look like
Frank Molloy was drowned when his car skidded off the
road and crashed into the lake. That's hope. So the
weeks before they find the body and the water will
make positive identification pretty difficult, but they'll find it enough
there to think it's me. And Matho will help too. Yeah,

(02:06:51):
all we have to do is hide out until he's
found and we'll be free. VIVI, where do we go now? Well,
first we have to stop at a couple of places
down the valley pick up the money I put away.
That's a must. We'll drive on to Los Angeles where
we can hide out.

Speaker 13 (02:07:06):
Then we'll see whatever you say, Frank, Now, let's.

Speaker 14 (02:07:10):
Get out of here. You know it's funny your mother
tried to send me to jail. When she recognizes my clothes,
her story, more than anything, will help to set me free.

Speaker 43 (02:07:38):
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(02:07:58):
You see, today's signal helps your engine runs so efficiently.
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(02:08:20):
hills or in traffic. So you see, considering the number
of times a day you start your car, accelerate and
shift gears, even a little gasoline saved each time soon
adds up to a big saving. So they're in a nutshell. Friends,
is why motor is called signal the go farther gasoline.
Why not treat your car to a tankful tomorrow and

(02:08:42):
go farther with signal.

Speaker 46 (02:08:46):
Sign gasoline your car, We'll go the gasoline.

Speaker 14 (02:09:09):
One morning.

Speaker 21 (02:09:10):
Two months later, you open your eyes in a hotel
just outside the city of Los Angeles, don't you, Frank. Yes,
you've been here two months waiting for someone to find
the body of Chuck and identify him as you, the
missing Frank Malloy, and last night's paper carried the story
you've been waiting for, the story of your death. Now

(02:09:30):
it'll be safe to change your name and leave the
country with Vivian. Everything has gone perfectly, hasn't it, Frank.
You stretch out on the bed and your hand drops
down to touch this small handbag you've kept beside you,
the bag containing over a hundred thousand dollars. Suddenly you
sit up, realizing the bag is gone. You get up

(02:09:52):
and search the room frantically, but the money isn't there.

Speaker 14 (02:09:59):
Operator Operator, Yes, sir, would you connect me with room
three h three, Miss vian Ne Smith and hurry.

Speaker 21 (02:10:12):
I'm sorry, sir, but miss Smith checked out at the
hotel about an hour ago.

Speaker 14 (02:10:16):
What did she leave a message?

Speaker 22 (02:10:19):
Nothing, sir, good?

Speaker 9 (02:10:21):
Anything else?

Speaker 11 (02:10:23):
No?

Speaker 14 (02:10:24):
Nothing? Who's there? Vivian? Vivian, the bag with the that's
what you're looking for you.

Speaker 21 (02:10:39):
He's from the police department, do the police.

Speaker 29 (02:10:42):
Yes, he picked me up at the airport. After reading
the story in the paper last night. I thought it
was safe enough now to leave.

Speaker 13 (02:10:47):
Only it wasn't.

Speaker 14 (02:10:48):
She was taking your money and running out on you, molloy,
And why not.

Speaker 29 (02:10:52):
It would only be a matter of time before I
meant no more to him than master.

Speaker 21 (02:10:55):
Doesn't matter now, Frank.

Speaker 14 (02:10:57):
Sure doesn't. You see?

Speaker 39 (02:10:59):
The news paper story was just to get you out
in the open. Some fishermen did find a body in
the lake, but after all this time, it was a
little hard to identify. He was wearing your clothes, molloy,
and was in your car. Your wife thought it was you,
but I don't see how that could tell you something.

Speaker 13 (02:11:18):
Though.

Speaker 39 (02:11:19):
At the morgue we found out different. You see, Maloy,
it wasn't hard to figure out what you'd done when
we found a tattoo on the drown man's chest.

Speaker 14 (02:11:31):
Eh. The tattoo of a heart with the words Chuck
and Maimie.

Speaker 43 (02:11:56):
Featured in Tonight's story where Bill Foreman is the Whistler,
Gerald Moore, Betty lou Gerson, Shepherd MANCN, and Charlotte Lawrence.
The Whistler was produced and directed by George w Allen,
with story by Gus Bays, music by Wilbur Hatch, and
was transmitted overseas by the Armed Forces Radio Service. The
Whistler was entirely fictional, and all characters portrayed on the

(02:12:17):
Whistler are also fictional. Any similarity of names or resemblance
to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Remember to
tune in at this same time next Sunday when the
Signal Oil Company will bring you another strange story by
the Whistler. Marvin Miller, speaking for the Signal Oil Company.

Speaker 19 (02:12:48):
Side name.

Speaker 1 (02:13:00):
I do so hope that it snows, my dear.

Speaker 9 (02:13:05):
What's that?

Speaker 1 (02:13:06):
Well, I suppose I don't often have anywhere to be,
so I'm not worried about the roads or the walkways.

Speaker 14 (02:13:19):
No.

Speaker 1 (02:13:21):
In fact, I wouldn't really see the snow at all.
I know, I know I shouldn't be so melancholy, but
it is quite a fine line during this time of year,
from being holly and jolly to being the last days

(02:13:46):
of a condemned man.

Speaker 7 (02:13:57):
Out of the past phantoms of a world gone by,
speak again the immortal tale, the last day of a
condemned man. This is the voice of a man condemned,

(02:14:22):
condemned by the law of the state and by freaky circumstance.
I am, by all ordinary standards, a good citizen of France.
I have fought under Bonaparte, I have served my country,
married and fathered a child. But all those things come
to nothing the cell of the condemned. Hour by hour,

(02:14:45):
I await my pardon, but it.

Speaker 9 (02:14:47):
Will not come.

Speaker 7 (02:14:49):
I know that, for this is the working of a curse,
a curse placed upon my father to last through all
the generations of his line, for having a too well
a woman who has promised to another man. Each day,
the specters of those who have gone before me in
the cell accused me and passed before me to disappoint

(02:15:12):
all my.

Speaker 9 (02:15:13):
Hopes and to horrify me.

Speaker 7 (02:15:17):
They're here again, murderous thieves. All of the andre andre
are nerved. Sit down, my friend, control yourself. These things
are only pictures in your mind. Ah, they're real, Francois.
They are the homeless spirits of the condemned, murderers and
thieves who are in this celling years gone by. They've
come to haunt me, to welcome me among the condemned.

(02:15:37):
You know you've done nothing, really nothing that is a crime.
But everyone thinks I have my wife, my daughter. They've
accused me. Think of a Francois. They have accused me
of my own murders and of a crime against my
own family. Oh, Francois, I wouldn't even harm a hair
of their precious heads. And these ghosts are they know

(02:16:00):
of the curse, They know my release is impossible since
the state has condemned me, Francois, Francois, what if some
of them were as innocent as I am? Condemned and
executed on false evidence. Perhaps that's why they've come to
welcome me to the guillotine. But you have every reason

(02:16:22):
to hope for a pardon when the case is reviewed. Andre,
you know you're innocent. Forget these ghosts, Andre, when you're free,
they have vanished from your mind, from your side of
these bars. It is easy to say that you are
in prison only for being my companion. But in the
two inches of space between ourselves there is a world

(02:16:42):
of difference. Here on my side lie the spirits of
men condemned to death for crime, and on your side
are the spirits of those who have served their sentences
and gone again into the world of life. But you
may yet be pardoned. Andrea, those faces, the way they
looked at me, he looked at you. You saw their faces. Yes,

(02:17:04):
for the first time to day they set for my
my execution. I saw them. I carry their heads under
their arms, and the eyes of those heads looked at me.
They seemed to tell me certainly, that I soon would
be with them. All they are your imagination. You bring
on those images by thinking about those names scratched on

(02:17:26):
the wall of yourself, and the scratchings of those dead men. Yes,
they were all here here in this very cell, and they, Francois,
they were all killed by the guillotine, the guillotine that
they've constructed again in the courtyard out there for me.
But they were murderers and thieves. That's the difference.

Speaker 13 (02:17:45):
You are not.

Speaker 7 (02:17:46):
But they even they have accepted me among their number.
They know, I can tell by the way they looked
at me. But the guillotine won't be robbed, Francois, France. Wife,
she would only come if the child would repent. Then
they could not look at me. So she will Andre,

(02:18:08):
be certain of that child will come, and all will
be Pyna, Francois. Even I know that my hopes are
in vain at that dispart of the curse. But my
own wife and children will disown me in the hour
of danger and will not even know me. And it works, Francois,
The curse is working. You remember how it happened, Francois.

(02:18:33):
You were with me. Then we were walking along a
road toward a village. We were laughing and talking and
feeling happy in our new freedom. Heer, just think, Andre,
tomorrow will behold her Paris, our wives, everything we've been dreaming.

(02:18:54):
I have Only a few days ago, we were forgotten men,
prisoners of war, forgotten. The war was over and our
Napoleon was defeated. But we're still left to rock. That's
the price of defeat, Francois. But we have escaped from
those harras. This is friends. That should be enough, I suppose.
But think of home, Francois. Home after so long, perhaps

(02:19:18):
after so long Paris will not be the way you
will mention it. Perhaps it's changed, Paris never, Paris does
not change, not his home the heart of one who
loves you as well as Mile Lorrain, my wife, Lorraine
loves me. Ha had a stop for a moment in restaurant.

(02:19:41):
Tell me, aren't you anxious to get back to your
wife and your child? My wife is dead, Andre, we
never had a child. I'm sorry, Francois. I didn't know.
It's long past now. Andre. Thank you though for your sympathy.
But I do know that tomorrow or the next day,
when we do come to Paris, after this long journey,

(02:20:03):
you will feel happy.

Speaker 4 (02:20:04):
And I'm glad for you. Thank you, Ransell.

Speaker 7 (02:20:06):
I'm glad for you because there's never been a better companion. Andre.
Through everything, we've never had trouble. You are, I believe,
the gentlest man I've ever met, And you, too, Francois,
have been a good companion. But a tired one night, perhaps,
but I suppose anyone's entitled to that after what we've
been through. But here my stomach's crying for food. I'll

(02:20:31):
go on into the village alone and see what I
can get. It's better anyway, you're better at getting people
to give us food than I am. Just think after tomorrow,
we'll never beg again. If you don't come back within
a short time, I'll follow you into the village and
help you. Should you have fore no trouble, There will
be no trouble. People don't mind giving the poor tired
soldiers like us. I'll be back, Francois.

Speaker 13 (02:20:52):
I'll meet you here, okay, yes, monsieur, Hello.

Speaker 7 (02:21:02):
Little one, What is it you want? If you'll open
the door a little wider, I can.

Speaker 47 (02:21:06):
Tell you there a little wider now, monsieur, is.

Speaker 7 (02:21:11):
Your mamma at home?

Speaker 30 (02:21:13):
She is busy.

Speaker 7 (02:21:14):
I am a soldier, little one. I only want to
ask you for some food.

Speaker 47 (02:21:18):
If you're a soldier, you need nothing. But you don't
look like a soldier in nose, dirty clothes. I don't
believe you.

Speaker 7 (02:21:25):
What is your name?

Speaker 13 (02:21:26):
Never mind? I don't like you.

Speaker 7 (02:21:28):
Go away, but I wouldn't hurt you.

Speaker 13 (02:21:31):
I don't care.

Speaker 47 (02:21:32):
Go away, go away.

Speaker 7 (02:21:33):
Somehow you you look? If you do, look like another
little girl, I know she'd be just about your age too.
Who Her name is Bernice, and she lives in Paris.

Speaker 47 (02:21:47):
I lived in Paris once.

Speaker 7 (02:21:49):
This little girl is still there. I am a father.
What's your name?

Speaker 47 (02:21:55):
Bernise?

Speaker 7 (02:21:56):
Oh you see you're very much like this other little girl.
How long have you been away from Paris?

Speaker 47 (02:22:02):
Only? Never mind? Go right away?

Speaker 7 (02:22:05):
But maybe you No, no, you couldn't be my little girl,
could you? Where is your papa?

Speaker 47 (02:22:15):
Papa's gone gone away for a long time. He died
in the war.

Speaker 7 (02:22:23):
I'm sorry, Bernice. Would you give me something to eat?

Speaker 47 (02:22:27):
No, I won't go to the market if you want
something to eat. They have food there, Bernise, Oh, bernus down, Yes, mamma.
Was there some one at the door, A nasty man
who said he was a soldier.

Speaker 13 (02:22:40):
A soldier.

Speaker 47 (02:22:42):
He didn't look like a soldier to me. He was
all dressed in awful old clothes.

Speaker 40 (02:22:46):
What did he want?

Speaker 47 (02:22:47):
He wanted something to eat. I sent him to the market.

Speaker 16 (02:22:50):
They are food there, Oh, Bunis.

Speaker 40 (02:22:53):
You shouldn't have done that. Oh well, it doesn't matter.
He will find something, Deniece. Is that the man going
off down the street there?

Speaker 47 (02:23:05):
Yes, he's.

Speaker 40 (02:23:09):
There's something about him.

Speaker 16 (02:23:12):
He's back.

Speaker 13 (02:23:12):
Perhaps that looks like your father.

Speaker 40 (02:23:16):
That's impossible, andres did we had the report from the
general himself.

Speaker 47 (02:23:23):
Papa was a hero. You said so mamma.

Speaker 40 (02:23:26):
Yes, but sometimes, darling, I wish we hadn't moved from
Paris quite so quickly after we heard Perhaps sometimes I
think there might be a chance that he'd come back. Ah,
but these aren't things for you to worry about, Darling.
I want you to run down to market and buy
a loaf of bread for lunch.

Speaker 13 (02:23:46):
We'll need it.

Speaker 40 (02:23:47):
Here's the money, and do.

Speaker 13 (02:23:48):
Be careful, darling.

Speaker 47 (02:23:49):
Yes, m I'll be right down, monsieur monsieur beaker, ma'am bread.
She likes him?

Speaker 7 (02:24:02):
Why, Bernice Jermaine, I thought your mamma was going away
to visit in leo Is.

Speaker 47 (02:24:09):
She hasn't left yet.

Speaker 4 (02:24:10):
How long?

Speaker 7 (02:24:11):
But did I hear you call this child Bernice Jernayne? Yes,
that is her name for nice Janaine. Then it is you.
You are, my little girl?

Speaker 47 (02:24:22):
Oh way, I don't know you.

Speaker 7 (02:24:23):
You shall leave the child alone. Can't you see that
you're frightening her?

Speaker 13 (02:24:26):
She is? She is my own away. I don't know.

Speaker 29 (02:24:29):
I don't like him, away, my child?

Speaker 7 (02:24:32):
Why would you not recognize me?

Speaker 13 (02:24:34):
Away? Why won't you go away?

Speaker 30 (02:24:36):
The child is right?

Speaker 7 (02:24:37):
Get out now, get out, leave her alone.

Speaker 46 (02:24:41):
Very well.

Speaker 7 (02:24:42):
I'll go goodbye, little one, Thank Heaven.

Speaker 47 (02:24:49):
He's gone.

Speaker 7 (02:24:50):
Men like that are no good good riddings. I will
get the bread that your mother likes. I will have
to get it from the oven in the back room.

Speaker 13 (02:25:00):
Pernie, go away.

Speaker 47 (02:25:02):
Did you hear what the baker said?

Speaker 7 (02:25:03):
But he is wrong?

Speaker 13 (02:25:05):
I am monsieur.

Speaker 47 (02:25:06):
Why would you not go? I tried to help you
when I.

Speaker 7 (02:25:09):
Struggle so a minute ago you tried to help me.

Speaker 47 (02:25:13):
I saw you steal that loaf of bread when I
came into the shop. My mother said that I should
have helped you before I made a fuss.

Speaker 7 (02:25:20):
You could get away my own daughter helping her father
to steal. Then you do recognize your father. My father
is dead, but your father is not dead. Child. Look here, venice,
Here on my sword, my name is engraved there.

Speaker 13 (02:25:40):
You kill d o way, oh way, don't hurt me.

Speaker 7 (02:25:48):
Oh you're the hell mother, monsieur, your.

Speaker 34 (02:25:56):
Lord, sir, monsieur, Hey, hey, hey, what is it?

Speaker 4 (02:26:04):
What goes on here?

Speaker 7 (02:26:04):
What did happened? Let me go? Let me go. I've
done nothing to kill me. You can't ask me with
that thord he hold there he got What did you
do nothing? Look at the sword you will find your answer.
The truth is they are engraved on the blade.

Speaker 14 (02:26:19):
Truth, get me the thot maker.

Speaker 7 (02:26:21):
Let me have a look at you here this h now,
let me see just tell me you tell me so?

Speaker 13 (02:26:28):
He's done it by my father.

Speaker 7 (02:26:30):
Andrage, your main officer in the army of Napoleon.

Speaker 34 (02:26:34):
Uh.

Speaker 14 (02:26:35):
Where did you come by this, monsieur telling?

Speaker 13 (02:26:37):
You tell me so?

Speaker 7 (02:26:38):
Hungry Francois hear my friend?

Speaker 9 (02:26:40):
Come here?

Speaker 20 (02:26:41):
What's going on?

Speaker 7 (02:26:42):
There are all these people here, this Chandra. Tell them
who I am, Francois I Heaven's sake, tell them who
I am? Asked a minute, who are you? I was
waiting in the fields for my friend to come back.
We're we're on our way to Paris, waiting in the field. Murderer,
Steve's that's what you are, roaming your out of the countryside,
blundering small villagers.

Speaker 14 (02:27:03):
Come with me? Have you.

Speaker 7 (02:27:06):
Hold office? In just a moment. That voice, that's the
voice of my wife from Lorraine. Oh you are mad
come along and it is my darling.

Speaker 40 (02:27:14):
What has happened?

Speaker 11 (02:27:15):
And then.

Speaker 7 (02:27:17):
With his daughter, he says, Madame, that he is your husband. Lorraine.
Don't you know me? Don't you know me?

Speaker 14 (02:27:26):
Lorraine?

Speaker 7 (02:27:28):
But my Andre these few years changed me so much Loraene, No.

Speaker 40 (02:27:35):
No, you are not my husband. My Andre died. My
Andre died years ago.

Speaker 7 (02:28:26):
My Andre died, My Andre died years ago. I heard
those words from the lips of my own life, and
I knew in that moment, as I now know, that
it was the working of the curse. They have set
four o'clock today is the hour of my end, for

(02:28:46):
that is the hour when the rabble can feed their
curiosity upon the spectacle. And I can only cling to
the shred of hope that the child or her mother
will come, will accept me as their own. Now it
will not happen. I thought for a moment at the
trial that the curse was broken.

Speaker 13 (02:29:13):
That man was at our door.

Speaker 40 (02:29:15):
He threatened my child. Then, from what she says, later,
when I came looking for at the market, I found
the scene I told you about.

Speaker 14 (02:29:25):
All, Madame. Thank you re East Domaine. Please take the
sund and East Jermaine. I remember a child that all
you say must be the truth. Tell us what happened
on that day in the market when you met this
man there, he tried to kill me with his sword.

(02:29:47):
Why did he do this, Beernise?

Speaker 47 (02:29:49):
He said he was my father, But my father is dead.
I know because Mamma said so. And he wanted to
show me his sword, he said. Then he swung it
at me, and.

Speaker 7 (02:30:03):
Is this theese?

Speaker 13 (02:30:05):
Yes?

Speaker 7 (02:30:05):
Did he take it out of its sheath?

Speaker 13 (02:30:07):
Oh?

Speaker 47 (02:30:07):
Yes, he said it had writing on it, but I
can't read, monsieur, so I don't know that is this?

Speaker 14 (02:30:14):
Is this the writing he showed you Benese Andre Germain,
officer in the army of Napoleon.

Speaker 16 (02:30:21):
And then then he.

Speaker 13 (02:30:22):
Swung it at me.

Speaker 47 (02:30:23):
Monsieur, I screamed, and he came after me.

Speaker 7 (02:30:28):
My own child sat there and accused me. But it
was not that which held my attention. It was the
look in the eyes of Lorraine, my wife. For a
moment it seemed that she recognized me. Then as the
attorney reached the final words of his charge, she looked
at me again. It's a stranger. It is my crimen

(02:30:50):
to find.

Speaker 14 (02:30:51):
Andre Jermaine gives me not only of attempting to murder
this child, but the murder of a fellow officer on
the field of battle. His companion runs fall Dia. You
must find kill they of aiding in the attempted christ.

Speaker 7 (02:31:06):
Monsieur, Yes, I don't know.

Speaker 40 (02:31:10):
Why you call me by my first name, monsieur. But
I did not wish to have you so seriously charged
your punishment for attempting to kill my child. Yes, I
wanted that, But the other charge no, for I know,
I know well that my Andre died honorably on the

(02:31:32):
field of battle.

Speaker 7 (02:31:33):
But the rain I am Andre. Don't you recognize me?
Don't you know me?

Speaker 40 (02:31:38):
I will do everything I can to have you acquitted
of the charge of his murder, monsieur, But Andre is dead.

Speaker 7 (02:31:50):
My cell was like a stone coffin my bed, only
a palet of damp straw in the room. I could
feel spirit of those who had gone before me. I
was separated from Francois by a thick wall, but there
was a small opening through which we could talk, and
so he could hear me that first time when the

(02:32:12):
processions appeared before my eyes. Francois, Francois, what is it? Andrea?

Speaker 13 (02:32:20):
What is it?

Speaker 7 (02:32:21):
These walls they're covered with names. Here is about two
eighteen fifteen, def whol eighteen eighteen, he killed his father,
Jean Martei eighteen twenty one, poisonous, And I am among
these thieves and murderers. Everyone who has been here in
this cell, they have come to welcome me.

Speaker 9 (02:32:42):
Andre, Andre, stopman become letting.

Speaker 7 (02:32:45):
Your imagination went away with you. But they were here,
Francois saw them in vague shapes, but they passed by me.
They came to welcome me, Francois. They know that I
am condemned. They accept me as one of them. But
you have done nothing, Andrea, remember that you have done nothing.
The pardon will come. It will come, But I know better.

(02:33:08):
I have waited this long time for a pardon. On
the machinery of state rolls slowly onward. The little document
that is my request for a pardon is tossed from
one place to another, and no one will pay it
any heed. That is the way of the state and
the way of the curse. Is that an hour left,

(02:33:30):
and after that I fear that another figure will join
that procession of shapes which comes across myself. And yes,
is there anything you wish in this last hour?

Speaker 19 (02:33:44):
No?

Speaker 14 (02:33:44):
Nothing.

Speaker 7 (02:33:45):
Men stand forward here, open your collar. M Madame Guillotine
will need some help. Eh, now you are ready. He
still be in sharply to talk with you. I'm not
to bother. I have nothing to say that is for
your own soul to say Andrejami, if you want to

(02:34:08):
take that last walk alone.

Speaker 4 (02:34:11):
Yours is the choice. And yes, why did you do that?

Speaker 7 (02:34:18):
Refuse to see the priest. Perhaps, Francois, Perhaps I still
have more hope than even you have for my release.
Even now, after the crowd of blood hungry watches have
started to gather them in the courtyard, I still have hope.
The child will come. Yes, Andre, she will come. What's

(02:34:41):
happening out there, Francois, I can't see. The window is
too high. Road is shouting in a group of fives.
Just drink, Francois, I'll shout when I go up those steps.

Speaker 47 (02:34:58):
I don't want to come here.

Speaker 13 (02:35:00):
You must.

Speaker 7 (02:35:01):
You must go quickly, Nnice, quickly, Pnie, Loren they've come.
If so is here, Madame, you may not stay long.

Speaker 13 (02:35:11):
I don't want to Memmo, go quickly, Bernice, go up
to the bars.

Speaker 7 (02:35:16):
Here, come along, Pernice, my child, Memma, yes, he looks
so different. It is dark in here, Lorene, Bernice, my
child says something the child thought, Monsieur. Bernice says something, Pernice, Lorraine, No.

Speaker 40 (02:35:41):
Memo, The child thought, Monsieur that perhaps she had been mistaken.

Speaker 7 (02:35:50):
You, Loreen, you must know me.

Speaker 17 (02:35:52):
No monsieur.

Speaker 40 (02:35:54):
Neither nice nor I was wrong. My husband died on
the battlefields. Yeah, my Andre is mourned as a hero
of France. No, monsieur, you couldn't possibly be that man.

Speaker 7 (02:36:18):
No, indeed, I am condemned. She knew me, but she
would not recognize me. But you are not guilty, Andre,
remember that. But they they do not believe that. Francois.
What is it, Andrea? They are coming again. They're coming back.

(02:36:38):
Oh no, no, they've gone, Andrea. They won't be back.
It's hopeless, and they will never go. They know that
I'll be with him, Andrea. The ghosts they condemned dead.
They are coming for me. Now, who look, Francois by here,
doctor poor Jean Martain Gasta one hundred dollars. They are

(02:37:05):
coming for me. Look look, Francois. They are here, all
of them. They carry their heads. The mouths are smiling.
The mouths are smiling at me. They are beckoning. They
want me me, Francois, Andre star star passing by me, Francois,

(02:37:28):
But each one beckons as he goes. Then then they
wait when they are passed. Look back, Francois. They are waiting.
It is another figure that they're waiting for Francois. Look

(02:37:51):
look he's coming now manewhi hah, it is me, Francois.
It is my figure coming, coming to join the others.

Speaker 9 (02:38:04):
It's time now, Andres I mean, yes.

Speaker 7 (02:38:09):
It's time. Now, it's time. I'm with them already. We
need to quit no longer. The kiss is finished. From

(02:38:35):
the time one pages of the past, we have brought
you the story the last day of a condemned man,
Bell Gaper all about.

Speaker 1 (02:39:10):
Well, I'm feeling a little better now. It is getting
very late, and that's kind of my thing, I suppose.
Or what's that? Well, thank you, I'm sure it'll all
be fine. Don't you worry. You worry too much. Leave

(02:39:32):
that to me. Just relax. One more bit of good fun.
Something scary and merry goes together, like peanut butter and jelly.
Or The Pit and the Pendulum.

Speaker 9 (02:40:08):
Suspense.

Speaker 19 (02:40:28):
This is your narrator, a man in black again, about
to introduce to night's Columbia program suspense. The story is
The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poele, the
adaptation by John Dixon Carr. Our guest is the distinguished
American actor mister Henry Hull, who plays the part of.

Speaker 9 (02:40:50):
A prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition.

Speaker 19 (02:40:53):
If you've been with us on these Tuesday nights, you
will know that suspense is compounded of mystery, suspicion, and
dangerous avenger to hold you in a vicarious situation and
withhold the solution until the last possible moment. And so
it is with the Pit and the Pendulum and mister
Hull's performance, we again hope to keep you in.

Speaker 9 (02:41:18):
Suspense. And now the Pit and the Pendulum.

Speaker 19 (02:41:38):
I was sick, sick unto death with that long agony.
And when at lengthy unbound me and I was permitted
to sit, I felt that my senses were leading me.
The sound of the inquisittorial voices seemed merged in one dreamy.

Speaker 9 (02:41:58):
Indeterminate hum. Yet for a while I saw how terrible
an exaggeration. I saw the.

Speaker 19 (02:42:05):
Soft and nearly imperceptible waving of the sabled drape breeze
on the walls of the room. I saw the flames
of the seven tall candles which burned on the tables.
I saw the lips of the black hooded judges, and
these lips appeared to.

Speaker 9 (02:42:21):
Me wite as paper, white, as horror. I saw them
rise with a deadly locution. I saw them fashion the
syllables of my name. Yeah, Delibray, captain Joor.

Speaker 48 (02:42:41):
Delbray, good father, gentlemen. Ye, my son, I am very
weak and infirm. I've been confined for many months in
a dungeon. I've been tormented.

Speaker 19 (02:42:52):
By nightmare, conscious one puss pray silence around Tonio. Even
even now, I I have a knowledge of where I
am or the human that is speaking.

Speaker 13 (02:43:03):
You are speaking to me, my son.

Speaker 19 (02:43:05):
I am Propella, Prior of the Dominicans of Segovia and
Grant Inquisitor of Spain.

Speaker 9 (02:43:12):
This is this is the court of the inquisition. He oh,
then God help me.

Speaker 13 (02:43:18):
He will help you, my son, if you trust him.

Speaker 19 (02:43:22):
I am a French officer, and it's true a story
in creature of the art being but a French officer.

Speaker 9 (02:43:28):
Nonetheless a prisoner of war. But what might you find me.

Speaker 3 (02:43:31):
In this court?

Speaker 13 (02:43:32):
Let the clerk read the charges against this prisoner. Gray silence.
When the clerk reached the church.

Speaker 9 (02:43:38):
And charges against the prisoner arts fallows in.

Speaker 49 (02:43:40):
Primis Jean Dalbray, a captain artillery in the Army of Bonapart,
so called emperor of.

Speaker 9 (02:43:45):
The prentice means my thing is the prisoner says, it
is no crime.

Speaker 13 (02:43:49):
Proceed it.

Speaker 49 (02:43:50):
Don't get on the bath day of September in the
year of our eighteen eight, said Jean Dalbray, and went
as person married the most noble lady Adonia Bite as well.

Speaker 7 (02:43:58):
There needs some water the moment you are, excellency both Antonio.

Speaker 13 (02:44:04):
Was any cheat employed to trap this girl into marriage
against a will?

Speaker 9 (02:44:10):
No, we have no actual evidence of any cheat.

Speaker 13 (02:44:13):
Was the girl of age?

Speaker 19 (02:44:15):
I believe, so wherever is the prisoner here this marriage
was a deplorable thing.

Speaker 14 (02:44:21):
If you like.

Speaker 13 (02:44:22):
Bonaparte himself is almost the gates of my grid. His
general Lesile Menic is our city of Toledo itself. But
lawful marriage, however regrettable, is no sin crime.

Speaker 19 (02:44:34):
There are other matters in the indictment. I think, then continue,
but give us nothing.

Speaker 49 (02:44:39):
It is not material item around the prows of October
eighteen eighth. But Sir rendal Bray, being in command of
a five gun battery of artillery, they direct the fire
of his guns against the Holy Church of Saint Martha
the Kinnerson Watch, and thereby his winning malice destroyed that utterly.

Speaker 13 (02:44:56):
Captain Dalbray is discharged.

Speaker 4 (02:45:00):
It is admitted.

Speaker 9 (02:45:01):
Good Father, here what I have to say. When church
blew up? I think, would you boast of be your opinion?

Speaker 13 (02:45:06):
Man?

Speaker 7 (02:45:06):
That blew up?

Speaker 9 (02:45:07):
Because it was stored with kegs of gunpowder for your army.

Speaker 7 (02:45:10):
I had a right to file on it.

Speaker 13 (02:45:12):
And that is all the defense you have to make.
I tell you I had every right to file on
it by military law.

Speaker 9 (02:45:18):
There was military law above God's law.

Speaker 4 (02:45:24):
I don't know.

Speaker 9 (02:45:25):
I did my duty, that's all. Long live the Emperor,
Captain mark what I say.

Speaker 19 (02:45:34):
No man, however great is heresy, is ever condemned to
be burnt in the fire.

Speaker 3 (02:45:39):
Fire fire.

Speaker 9 (02:45:41):
The first we cant and acknowledge the error of his ways.
But for you, Jean d'arbray, there can be no mercy,
no pity, nor tonement. The only sentence of this court
can be.

Speaker 13 (02:45:56):
Yes. The secular a government after.

Speaker 19 (02:45:59):
Which we must release you, has devised two ways of punishment.

Speaker 9 (02:46:03):
In case it's such as yours. You hear the tolling
of the bell, I hear them.

Speaker 13 (02:46:09):
It is the possession of the contempt going to the
auto da face.

Speaker 19 (02:46:13):
Soon the yellow light of the flames will stream through
the windows and flicker on the floor, and seeing no
kat or motives into it manderbus domina. Most of those
condemned out of mercy will be stangled before they apparned.

Speaker 13 (02:46:31):
It cannot be so with you, Jean Delbray.

Speaker 19 (02:46:34):
You must die in one of two ways, either with
the direst a physical agony, a slow fire and green
wood iced bandages above the head and the heart, so
that the fire does not approach too quickly.

Speaker 13 (02:46:49):
Or else, Jean Delbray, you must die in a certain
other way.

Speaker 9 (02:46:56):
Pass your sentence and let me go. My Lord does
not permit me to tell you now what this other way.

Speaker 13 (02:47:05):
The sentence of discord.

Speaker 9 (02:47:07):
Therefore I had swooned.

Speaker 19 (02:47:15):
Yet still I would not say that all of consciousness
was lost in the deepest slumber. No in delirium, no
in a swoon, No in death, Oh, even in the grave, all.

Speaker 4 (02:47:28):
Is not lost.

Speaker 19 (02:47:29):
There are shadows of memory which tell us indistinctly of tall.

Speaker 9 (02:47:34):
Figures that lifted me and bore me in silence, down, down, still.

Speaker 19 (02:47:40):
Down, until the hideous dizziness oppressed me at that descent
into the earth, And as consciousness swam.

Speaker 9 (02:47:51):
Back to my wits darkness, the stone floor and darkness.
Oh beddress, my wife, Bedress. Did you.

Speaker 14 (02:48:08):
Was that you was born?

Speaker 9 (02:48:09):
Yes, you were here in the dungeons of the Inquisition.

Speaker 16 (02:48:13):
I am not really speaking through you, my poor gen.
I am only in your imagination.

Speaker 4 (02:48:18):
I'm mad.

Speaker 16 (02:48:19):
No, but your brain is fevered. You only think you hear.

Speaker 7 (02:48:23):
No, No, no, I do.

Speaker 9 (02:48:25):
I do hear you clearly, as clearly as I once heard.

Speaker 16 (02:48:27):
Give the little church near the april where we were there.

Speaker 9 (02:48:30):
Yes, yes, yes, I just tried that church, Beatrice. I
had to. It was my commanding officers order.

Speaker 16 (02:48:37):
Be comforted.

Speaker 13 (02:48:38):
There are those who can do.

Speaker 4 (02:48:40):
You won't leave me.

Speaker 16 (02:48:40):
As long as I am in your heart, I shall
be you.

Speaker 9 (02:48:44):
I was strong once. No, no I am, But once
I was reckless. Now I am afraid? Am I beardriss?
What are you going to do to me?

Speaker 16 (02:48:55):
I cannot tell. Remember, my voice comes only from your
own brain. Are you fetted?

Speaker 9 (02:49:02):
Fettered?

Speaker 13 (02:49:04):
No, They've not chained you to the wall.

Speaker 19 (02:49:07):
No. No, They've taken away in my uniform. They've given
me sandals in the robe of what feels like coarse search.

Speaker 48 (02:49:14):
But I am still free, free, take courage, free and
in the glass of the inquisition.

Speaker 19 (02:49:25):
Yes, it's completely dark, there's hardly any air. I bed
to get up, I read to stretch out my hand.
Supposed suppose they've buried me alive.

Speaker 16 (02:49:38):
Courage, can you stand up?

Speaker 4 (02:49:43):
I think so.

Speaker 13 (02:49:44):
Yes.

Speaker 16 (02:49:44):
Then walk, walk as far as you can, measure the
limit of the cell. If this is not a tool,
you're like Beatrice that always are you on your feet?

Speaker 14 (02:49:55):
Yes?

Speaker 50 (02:49:55):
Now now pray, pray for a poor devil, always meant well.
One piece, two, pace free four.

Speaker 9 (02:50:06):
You are very weak.

Speaker 16 (02:50:08):
Shun rest of moments?

Speaker 9 (02:50:10):
Where are now appear Chris in the flesh?

Speaker 13 (02:50:12):
I mean you know that.

Speaker 16 (02:50:13):
Sharn in the old house, by the olive girl, scorned
of my peet. Each morning I climb to the hilltop
and walk. Sometimes I think I hear gun greens grumble
in the hills, and long moving colors with the red
dust rising about gor go on. First come the heavy
cavalry and plume crested elders on their flanks, wheeling like hawks,

(02:50:36):
light whose hours in blue and scarlet, and behind them
in a glitter of bayonets as fast as light points
on the seas. Rank upon us, the long gray coats
and the tall their skin cats.

Speaker 9 (02:50:49):
The old god Hella grand army.

Speaker 13 (02:50:52):
It is only a vision, my dear ones. They do
not come, will they ever come? Beatrip?

Speaker 14 (02:51:02):
I cannot tell.

Speaker 9 (02:51:03):
Then, and I must face what has been prepared for me.

Speaker 16 (02:51:10):
Walk again, John, try keep your hand in front of
your rope.

Speaker 9 (02:51:15):
Rob impedes me, and the floor is treacherous with slime.
But I'll try four faces, fry six.

Speaker 4 (02:51:26):
Seven.

Speaker 13 (02:51:27):
It can't be a tomb.

Speaker 51 (02:51:30):
Lookout all right, I tell, I tell them as the
road row tripped me right.

Speaker 9 (02:51:42):
My hand is in front of me. It's lower than
my face.

Speaker 3 (02:51:46):
But I feel, I feel nothing nothing.

Speaker 9 (02:51:50):
John's a certain killer, And.

Speaker 4 (02:51:55):
I tell everybody. Edge of it.

Speaker 16 (02:51:58):
They would have made you walk into We.

Speaker 9 (02:52:00):
Cared the loose fragment of rock just inside the edge.
How if I can just wadge.

Speaker 52 (02:52:06):
Listen Waters there's something down there?

Speaker 9 (02:52:20):
Rassi me, rats, Yes, what's something else?

Speaker 4 (02:52:24):
I heard it?

Speaker 13 (02:52:25):
Move?

Speaker 16 (02:52:25):
Did I What is in the picture?

Speaker 9 (02:52:28):
I don't know what.

Speaker 19 (02:52:29):
You're saved, saved, saved from the inquisition. My torture has
been merely postponed.

Speaker 13 (02:52:57):
Us.

Speaker 9 (02:52:58):
A deep sleep fell upon me, sleep like that of death.
How long it lasted I know not. When I opened
my eyes once again, I could.

Speaker 19 (02:53:10):
See, yes, see my prison with large and loftiest walls
formed a massive iron place, bolted adjoined together a wild
sulfurous luster. I could not face its origin lit up
the dungeon and the circular pit, and the coogly daubed skeleton.
Figures painted and evil colors on the iron walls, skeleton

(02:53:32):
figures demon figuregoryle figures, the colors a little blurred and
from the effects of the death. It must approach you
slowly and force itself into your mind. It must talk
here like a tire, must bring you face to face
at last with the King of terrors. When I I

(02:53:58):
regained consciousness, I lay on my back and at full
length on a low framework. Would to this framework, I
was securely bounded by a long fastening resembling a surgical bandage.

Speaker 4 (02:54:14):
Bound.

Speaker 13 (02:54:15):
But why.

Speaker 9 (02:54:17):
Why why the bandage passed round and round my body,
leaving a liberty only my head in my left arm.

Speaker 19 (02:54:24):
With much exertion, I could suptire myself with food from
an earthen dish on the floor beside me.

Speaker 9 (02:54:30):
There's meat, highly seasoned, but there was no water.

Speaker 7 (02:54:40):
Beatrice, Beatrius, Where are you?

Speaker 13 (02:54:46):
You?

Speaker 19 (02:54:46):
Always sounds stronger, And I can see you now, I
can see you as clearly as I saw you months ago.
I wish it threw your bonnet and the parasol you
carried in summer, and.

Speaker 9 (02:54:58):
The high waisted blue dres You are.

Speaker 16 (02:55:00):
Weaker, my dear, and more fevert Why have I been asleep?

Speaker 9 (02:55:05):
Yes, they must have been here while I slept. They
have bound me?

Speaker 4 (02:55:11):
Why? Why?

Speaker 13 (02:55:13):
Why?

Speaker 4 (02:55:15):
Why?

Speaker 16 (02:55:15):
Stofle's voices stopped my tusure. I am not here, ei,
Why don't drive me away?

Speaker 9 (02:55:24):
Let's see Room thirty forty.

Speaker 4 (02:55:27):
What you see?

Speaker 16 (02:55:27):
I see painted on the ceiling figure of father time.
Anything else but father Time carries no sign. He carries
instead what looks like a gigantic pendulum from an ancient clock.

Speaker 9 (02:55:39):
About one thing, I swear, I'm in my rec senses.
I saw that pendulum move.

Speaker 16 (02:55:43):
Painting cannot move, yet, I swear.

Speaker 19 (02:55:45):
The pendulum did it swung a little back and thought,
just like a real pendulum.

Speaker 16 (02:55:51):
Try not to trouble your brain. Take care, take care
of what you're not looking at the pendulum. Now from
the pit, I see them swarming.

Speaker 49 (02:56:03):
Out in dozens.

Speaker 9 (02:56:04):
You can see their eyes glitter, one of them ranging
across the hem of your dress.

Speaker 16 (02:56:09):
They caught the scent of the meat in the dish.

Speaker 13 (02:56:11):
Besides, you're not getting car.

Speaker 16 (02:56:14):
Move your hand above the plate.

Speaker 7 (02:56:16):
John, where you going?

Speaker 9 (02:56:20):
I could hardly?

Speaker 16 (02:56:21):
You are sending me away, sending you away, my poor love,
you can't Beare to see the rats running about my bed?

Speaker 19 (02:56:37):
Yes, that's true, their cells swarming with vermin. There are others.
I had robbers. See here, I had rubbers.

Speaker 4 (02:56:48):
See you.

Speaker 9 (02:56:52):
Call me Captain Delbray, and in the spirit I am here.
Who are you.

Speaker 19 (02:57:00):
To recognize me? I am the second inquisitor, Bryantonio, whom
you've got unfair as your trial. But we were not unfair.
Administer the law, that is all.

Speaker 9 (02:57:13):
So I command you, oh, not until I have first
told you what you.

Speaker 19 (02:57:20):
Already get, which there are two forms of death such
as you. One death with its direst physical torture. We
are a death with its direst mental torture.

Speaker 9 (02:57:35):
And I have been condemned to the second. Your guess
is good.

Speaker 13 (02:57:42):
Listen, you're here.

Speaker 9 (02:57:45):
I think, yes, yes, I do, I hear something.

Speaker 19 (02:57:49):
Turn your eyes upwards. Look at the ceiling, dum hi.
The pendulum is descended only a potos.

Speaker 4 (02:57:58):
Yes, as you know, it is not really a pendulum.

Speaker 19 (02:58:03):
It's on the side with a Christmas formed of sharp
a razor, sharp steel, ponderous weight. Captain Dalbray, His movement
is slow now, but soon it will take on momentum.
It will swing wider and wider, thirty feet perhaps presently.

(02:58:26):
As it swings, you will hear it hiss, and with
each broad movement it will creep a trifle lower steals
directly abond.

Speaker 9 (02:58:37):
Me yes about the region of your heart. Right still,
and look up at it? How how long before?

Speaker 19 (02:58:48):
And we'd have no immediate fears. It will not be
too soon? How soon you'll con the name some answer us?

Speaker 9 (02:59:01):
Perhaps days is beginning to swing wider. I can't take
my eyes from it. It's gigar fascinates you. Okay, see
how it shines in that wildlight. And this says your
utmost refined to be cruel.

Speaker 19 (02:59:19):
The law, Captain Dalabery, is never cruel. And now still
in the spirit I leavil to your meditations. It shall
not be too soon minutes, hours, days, okay.

Speaker 13 (02:59:50):
Down.

Speaker 9 (02:59:51):
STEADI lay down. It crept days past.

Speaker 19 (02:59:56):
It might have been many days before it it swept
so close to just to fan me with a smallbid breath.

Speaker 9 (03:00:04):
Minutes ahs.

Speaker 4 (03:00:09):
Days.

Speaker 19 (03:00:11):
The order of the sharp steel forced itself into my nostrils,
the right.

Speaker 9 (03:00:18):
To the left, hard and wide.

Speaker 19 (03:00:23):
The shrieked of a damned spirit to my heart with
a stealthy pace, hot tiger.

Speaker 9 (03:00:33):
Down, certainly, relentiously down. I prayed, I really to Heaven.

Speaker 19 (03:00:44):
With my prayer of his more speedy descent, I grew
friendically mad and struggled to force myself.

Speaker 9 (03:00:49):
Up against that swinging, bittering death, A.

Speaker 19 (03:00:56):
Down, still, unceasfully still, in evidently down.

Speaker 9 (03:01:02):
The sharp steel flashed past with it, cree.

Speaker 49 (03:01:06):
Just we're just h We're just spin Where are you?

Speaker 13 (03:01:14):
John?

Speaker 9 (03:01:15):
I am here. There's a strange thing. I'm quite calm.
That is a strange thing.

Speaker 4 (03:01:28):
Even now I am not resigned.

Speaker 16 (03:01:30):
Is there a way out?

Speaker 9 (03:01:31):
How can I be ten twelve or more? Hibritions and
wild fray?

Speaker 19 (03:01:36):
The surge of my robe only light laces or water
in a delicate hand. There will be many sweeps before
it bites deep, though I can't escape it.

Speaker 16 (03:01:48):
You kept me away from you, John, You locked me
out of your plots. If I am here only in
your clots, why should I hear the reck that you
open your eyes and your eyes blaze?

Speaker 13 (03:02:00):
What is it?

Speaker 4 (03:02:01):
Clutch?

Speaker 9 (03:02:02):
Today?

Speaker 13 (03:02:03):
Still swan across the floor.

Speaker 16 (03:02:05):
And over the meat pack. They have taken nearly all
your position, and they have sharp well.

Speaker 9 (03:02:11):
The meat is oily and spiced.

Speaker 19 (03:02:13):
If I take what remains of it, scatter you can
let meat from the benches and hold.

Speaker 16 (03:02:17):
Me John track.

Speaker 9 (03:02:20):
My body are try it, I tell you, try, But
look this scatter as soon as I do. Try.

Speaker 16 (03:02:26):
But they are watching you. I can see their eyes.

Speaker 13 (03:02:30):
They're creeping back, and I sprained.

Speaker 9 (03:02:32):
With rats crawling across me. It can of flesh.

Speaker 16 (03:02:35):
One of them has leaped on the wooden freend. Another follows.
They're gnawing at the Bend't.

Speaker 9 (03:02:40):
Eight more sweeps the pendulum and.

Speaker 13 (03:02:44):
Get right, still shine.

Speaker 9 (03:02:49):
A dozen rats now is death?

Speaker 14 (03:02:51):
I wonder worse than this differ.

Speaker 16 (03:02:53):
A dozen sharp knives could do no better. The bandages
loosened to ribbons. Now if you move sideways, carefulness and
drop to the floor a.

Speaker 9 (03:03:02):
Bit as I can't my arms, my legs are numb.
There is no power.

Speaker 16 (03:03:07):
Feel afraid your robe. The minute more will be great
and time and with all.

Speaker 13 (03:03:12):
The f.

Speaker 9 (03:03:14):
And all my hate will I bear my enemies.

Speaker 13 (03:03:19):
The second rome.

Speaker 16 (03:03:22):
Free, mum. The pendulum stops. We are drawing it back
up through the.

Speaker 9 (03:03:31):
Roof each move I make. He watched, he never doubted.

Speaker 16 (03:03:38):
Yet with all they could do to you, they have
failed twice.

Speaker 9 (03:03:41):
They will not fail no more. Galling with the king
of terrors.

Speaker 16 (03:03:46):
What else can they do?

Speaker 9 (03:03:47):
I can't say. See see how the rat's know in
silence of that pendage to what food?

Speaker 7 (03:03:53):
I wonder?

Speaker 13 (03:03:54):
But you escape the pier I escaped tick once. Listen,
what do you hear?

Speaker 9 (03:04:01):
Grown wear? Its grinding as of metal?

Speaker 16 (03:04:05):
It was only the cock wheels of the pendulum.

Speaker 9 (03:04:07):
I think that bed. Why not?

Speaker 19 (03:04:09):
It seemed to come from behind those iron feted walls.
It seems to shake the dungeon as a mill wheel
might shake.

Speaker 16 (03:04:15):
It and stands up my pusson, get up, off your knees.

Speaker 9 (03:04:18):
I can't be as I can't improcure anymore.

Speaker 16 (03:04:21):
The paintings on the walls of this dungeon, the skeletons
and impose and devils, they seem different.

Speaker 9 (03:04:27):
They are different.

Speaker 19 (03:04:28):
The color sharpened and grew bright. The demon's eyes glare,
the skeleton hands out stretched.

Speaker 9 (03:04:34):
Don't you catch you with yet? The odor of heated iron,
heated iron. I have been much humbled, but I won't
I won't have you Samian tears.

Speaker 7 (03:04:48):
We'll all who.

Speaker 16 (03:04:48):
Use grow John in the name of Heavy.

Speaker 20 (03:04:54):
Name of Heaven go.

Speaker 19 (03:05:02):
A suffocating heat pervaded the prison, A deeper glow settled
in the painted eyes that glared at me. I could
draw no breath of air into my lungs against the
loom of that fiery destruction.

Speaker 9 (03:05:15):
The thought of the pit and its coolness come like
a soothing bomb. I staggered to the edge of the pit.
I looked into it.

Speaker 19 (03:05:24):
The enkindled walls and a roof lighted it for its depth. Yet,
for one wild moment, even then, I refused to believe
the horror of what I saw beneath me.

Speaker 9 (03:05:35):
Does the pit please you, Captain.

Speaker 26 (03:05:38):
Darbray, merciful God, anything but that?

Speaker 9 (03:05:43):
And how shall you avoid it?

Speaker 4 (03:05:45):
Look?

Speaker 19 (03:05:47):
The spungem has changed its shape, that is true. Ohs
are closing in which was formerly a square, and now.

Speaker 9 (03:05:57):
It is flattening. Slaw called the center to force me
into the pit.

Speaker 26 (03:06:04):
Of course, force you along with me again.

Speaker 19 (03:06:08):
Apparently you must be told, Captain Galbray, that you were
speaking old with your own sick fancy.

Speaker 9 (03:06:14):
I am not here at all.

Speaker 19 (03:06:17):
Farewell, and closer and closer through the red burning walls,
forcing me into the pit of the swiftness that left
me no time for thought.

Speaker 9 (03:06:28):
I shrank back, but the closing wall has me.

Speaker 19 (03:06:31):
Relentlessly onward at length for my seared and writhing body
that was no longer an inch of foothold.

Speaker 9 (03:06:38):
I feed one.

Speaker 16 (03:06:41):
I pattered on the edge of the pit.

Speaker 9 (03:06:51):
My revolved rushed back and outstretched arm caught my own.
But I was about to fall feet into the abyss.

Speaker 13 (03:06:58):
Because that's a general lesson.

Speaker 19 (03:07:00):
The French army had entered Tonedo, the inquisition was in
the hands of anities, and so closes Poe celebrated story

(03:07:37):
The Pit and the Pendulum, starring Henry Hoe. We invite
you to another adventure of suspense next Tuesday at the
same hour. Until then, this is the Man in Black saying.

Speaker 9 (03:07:52):
Good night.

Speaker 44 (03:07:57):
William Spear the producer, John Eat the director, Bernard Hermann
the composer conductor, and John Dixon Carr, the author are
collaborators on.

Speaker 7 (03:08:09):
This pen.

Speaker 44 (03:08:21):
This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.

Speaker 1 (03:08:35):
Well, my dear, I suppose it is very late time
for you to return home and for me to return
to Well, we'll discuss that later, but please do return
very soon. I'll be here same place, same time, always

(03:08:57):
with a smile and something warm and chilling. But now,
as you make your way home in the cold winter air,
as you trudge along in the street, across the way,
over the river, through the woods, well, do me one

(03:09:18):
small favor. As your eyes get heavy and your head
reaches your pillow and you blink, blink, blink away, take
one moment and be thankful for what you have. I'll
be seeing

Speaker 5 (03:10:00):
Five

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Unknown Broadcast | Six Horror Stories of Guilt, Poison, and the Pendulum

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Unknown Broadcast | Six Horror Stories of Guilt, Poison, and the Pendulum