November 28, 2025 • 43 mins
CBS Radio Mystery Theater was a noteworthy attempt to revive in American radio dramas like Inner Sanctum (1941-1952) and Suspense (1942-1962). Radio dramas were widely considered "dead" 12 years prior to this series. CBS Radio Mystery Theater, or simply Mystery Theater, was created by Inner Sanctum creator Himan Brown and ran on CBS from 1974-1982. The show, much like older radio dramas, was introduced by a host (E.G. Marshall in this program), who steers us through the creaking door to start the episode. Many voices from the golden age of radio were featured, including Richard Widmark, Bret Morrison, Agnes Moorehead and many more. Find more classic, old-time radio series at Theater of the Mind - OTR | Spreaker | Apple | YouTube
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Enjoy all six of our commercial-free internet radio stations at theaterofthemind-otr.com - Do you want to discover more of these classic, old-time radio series? Search "Theater of the Mind - OTR" on your favorite platform or visit Theater of the Mind - OTR | Apple | Spreaker | YouTube | Spotify | Amazon | iHeart
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
BBS Radio Mystery Theater presents, come in Welcome. I'm e. G.
(00:24):
Marshall with an out of the ordinary story, the kind
I enjoy most because its roots are buried in the past.
Sometimes centuries go by before a trait emerges to characterize
a person. The argument about environment and inheritance goes on endlessly.
One authority insists that how you live is more important
(00:48):
than who you are. I'm not qualified to take size,
but like most of you, I think that a person,
the essential person, is the result of both. Not equally perhaps,
but that's for you to decide. After you meet Gordon Davis,
a middle aged, well to do manager of an American
(01:09):
bank in Honolulu, I can't explain it, Chungley. The explanation
lies hidden in your mind. That is why you imagine
you saw that open grave. Our mystery drama, The Silent Witness,
(01:35):
was written especially for Mystery Theater by Roy Windsor and
stars Ralph Bell. It is sponsored in part by Buick
Motor Division and ex Lax. I'll be back shortly with
that one each of us came. Each of us is unique,
(02:02):
that's obvious, I suppose, But I have often thought about
how different one of us is from another within a family.
No two persons are alike. I'll even include twins in
one pair that I know. Susan is a dancer in
a Paris chorus line. Paula has entered a convent. How
do you explain that? Same early environment, same background, but
(02:25):
completely different in points of view, interests and goals. That's
why Gordon Davis is. But let's meet him in his
Honolulu home. Wilson, Yes, missus are there's his taxi right
on time. His name is Blessing, Tony Blessing right sound
you chaps sent out from New York. I hope he
(02:45):
works out on our first trainee. Wilson. There's open well
outside with him until you announced it's the wine children, Yes, sir,
and I sat had cocktail glasses and canafes on the forandoid.
Well show the young man in and bring him out.
I'll lifes to glasses. Good hen, mister Blessing, right this
(03:09):
ways out? Oh thank you, welcome to Honolulus Blessing play
sit down.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Oh thank you sir. Wow, the view is spectacular.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
It is lovely when you have a rum punch.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Rum punch will be fine, true.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Wilson, right away been in Hawaii before.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
No, No, this is my first visit.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Taught me a visit right.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
And the way I feel, Oh, thank you Wilson, the
way I feel already. I think I'd like to stay
here forever.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yes, I felt the same way when I was sent out,
and I've been here twenty seven years. Hawaii is a
paradise hamond, intoxicating in many ways.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I won't let Honolulu's magic lonely to sleep. For one thing,
I don't play golf. Besides, I'm engaged, and Jill has
joined me here in a few days. And if you
think i'll work out, Jill and I will get married
and live here.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Good marriage, i'm told, is a settling influence. I don't
know from experienced, because I'm just a pussy old bachelor.
Thank you, Wilson. We'll be right along after we close
the bank tomorrow. If you have nothing better to do,
I'll show you the city.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Oh, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
I'd like to do that, including our American cemetery.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Ooh, that sounds kind of grim.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It will graphically make my point about the danger of
succumbing to the charms of old Hawaii. One of your
predecessors is buried, then Oh, a fine young man named Murdoch,
very promising, but he succumbed to the allure of the island.
After six months, he drank himself to death. It's saddened
(04:48):
all of us.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
And you visit his grave from time to time, Oh.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yes, quite often. The cemetery is RESTful. His gravestone reminds
me that life is transit. After all, it is to
be in Lloyd, not abused. If you will remember that,
you can have a glorious life here.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Otherwise I understand. Don't be lured into over a dozen.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yes, exactly, guilty can be an opiate. Concentrate on your
work and remember murderch and let us go on into dinner.
Davis pump as usual, join me, ah, hello, tell me
(05:32):
anything special for lunch? Or hear the odd posts. You know,
the menu varies no more than our even climate. Monday
means squid riving, not the land. Child with me ten
persant weekend one days like another. My son and his
family paid us a visit. He's young, for he is distracting.
(05:54):
He's determined to become the first Chinese American baseball star.
I pray that it is soon. How old say it's
nine and Each time he visits us, he breaks the window.
It is a joy to say goodbye to him. And
you did, mister pressing array Hi yesterday.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Will you do?
Speaker 1 (06:17):
I hope so he's personable and intelligence. You'll meet him then.
If you agree with my judgment of him, I'll propose him.
The membership and the outpostle will gradually co sponsor him.
More and more. The club becomes a retreat for the elderly.
It needs no members. The continuity of life is our immortality.
(06:40):
A new generation succeeds ours or life stake me. Well,
I'm not quite ready to be placed on a shelf, Charley.
But do you not retire soon?
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (06:52):
I could retire now, but I'm only fifty seven. I'll
close my desk when i'm sixty, or arrest you open
another in Hong Kong. Yes, that might happen, but I
hope not. My roots are here in Honolulu. There is
nothing to compare with our lovely Hawaii A. You have
lost your ambition to eas charm. Yes, perhaps I cautioned
(07:14):
blessing last night. You still remember Murdoch, poor man. Yes,
Chinese know that indulgence like the hunger of a rovenous dog,
is never satisfied, and that excess is self destructive. Well
said John. Unlike Murdoch, you have lad an exemporary life.
(07:37):
I have known you almost since the day you were
arrived from New York. Yes, by ship. You have never
been back. I have no real tires there, changle one
sister of a disagreeable husband. If you should be transferred
to Hong Kong, you would be missing. Well, it may
not happen. If it does, sadly of course. And well,
(08:00):
Likena Lulu's a remarkable city. Perhaps that is where I'd
retire and not return here. Well, perhaps not. But you
just said that your roots are here. So are your memories,
my friend. Yes, and one of them is still green.
Is it regrettable to you, Davis, that you didn't marry her? No,
(08:25):
it would have been disastrous for you. Yes, the scandal
would have been ruinous today it is different. Back then
it would have cost me my position. And you try
to find Peith when you mesitate in the American cemetery?
Speaker 4 (08:41):
Is that not?
Speaker 1 (08:42):
So you go there often? I know I'm going there
this afternoon with blessing on the pretext of showing him
the grave of poor Murdogna. I want blessing to succeed.
Advice is not as effective as an example, which is
which is drawn from a gravestone? Or and what advice
do you draw from the gravestone of missus Dormley. A
(09:05):
man who is subservient to infatuation has lost his reason.
She was a married woman, Changley, and subsequently, like a
flower exposed to snow, she withered away and died. And
I chose to follow my career. I have never talked
about her except you. Changlin and Pressing told me that
(09:28):
he's engaged and that the young woman, Jill Ladly, he said,
will arrive in a few days. Then if he sees
the future here, they'll marry and settle down. Maybe that's
what reawakened my memory of the past. Do not dwell
on what you remember. The past is a a funeral
gone by. Ah it seems like yesterday. It was twenty
(09:53):
years ago, and her daughters are now grown women. I
recall that George Drummery took them back to the States.
We wonder what became of them. Wasn't one of them
named Jill? Yes, Chuangley, the older girl was named Jill.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
It's very attractive, mister Davis, neat and well kept.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Thank you, tony, if I may, certainly, sir, and I'll
not drop this, no need for it. At the bank,
I'm mister Davis. But away from it, my name is Gordon,
all right, sure, yes, I'm proud of this cemetery. Proud.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Well, that's an unusual word, oh yes.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
But appropriate. As you can see, it's an a valuable
part of the city. But twenty years ago and the
temple was made to relocate it. But I fought the developer,
and with the prestige of the bank behind me, I won.
So here and still in peace rest the bones of
the missionaries long dead, and many members of our American.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Colony, meaning those born in the States.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yes, of course, because all of us here we are
our Americans, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
And this is the final resting place of Willard Murder. Yes,
why wasn't his body sent back to his home.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Because among his few papers was a request that he'd
be buried in Hanover Ruins. Ah. I see, he was
well liked, and we gave him quite an elaborate funeral.
His family bought the graves.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Done, and he died from over indulgence.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
He lived beyond his means remember that and remember what
it had? Huh? Now who has died? Pardon fair? It's
a new grave it is, But don't you see that
hole in the ground? What else could it be? And
(11:53):
as a grave digger, I must find out who died?
Great grave digger? What did the well?
Speaker 2 (12:04):
I must need glasses or is he seeing things?
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Good evening, missus Lewis I trust you ahead of pleasant day? Sir?
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Who died?
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Wilson? What American has died? If I know I've done
sir him? No, no, no no. I walked, mister Blessing
through the cemetery half an hour ago, and two men
were digging a grave. I must find out who died?
On May I fixed with a robin swizzles up. Yes, Wilson,
I can't understand it. I make some inquiries. Wilson phoned
the newspapers in the graveyard manager, although he's probably gone
(12:44):
home for the night. The or drink, Sir, I thank
you by the miser mister Blessing telephone shortly before you returned. Ah,
what for did he say to UH to enquire how
you were? How I am well? You could see I
am Why would he inquire about how I am well?
He hoped that the tour around the city hadn't tire
(13:06):
to it, and also to thank you, Well, that's odd.
I'm in the best of health. Are you concealing something, Wilson, Sir,
there's a peculiar expression on your face. Well, I'm sorry, sir.
If you'll excuse me, I'll make those telephone calls. Yes,
please do How strange? How strange? Indeed, does Tony Blessing
(13:38):
need glasses or has mister davis mind played a trick
on him? Almost one hundred years ago, Oscar Wilde wrote
that imagination is the result of heredity. It is simply
concentrated race experience. There's that word heredity again. I mentioned
it earlier, and Oscar wild supports importance in the makeup
(14:01):
of a man. His imagination also an illusion. We'll find
out when I return with that too. The mind plays
tricks on us. From what Tony Blessing said about mister
(14:25):
Davis seeing things, it would seem that he saw something
that wasn't fair, but an open grave. According to definition
and hallucination is the perception of objects with no reality.
Is that what happened to Gordon Davis? It's the next mornings?
Can I serve breakfast now or would you first leave
(14:47):
us the luxA lou he's here untill I reached him
Mary this morning and he said he'd look in on
his way to the cemetery. Paul, that's very thoughtful of him. Yes,
ask him to come in and bring another cup, please,
he might like a cup of coffee. Have very what's on?
He will see you, allow, mister Luke. All right, will
(15:10):
you have a cup of coffee?
Speaker 4 (15:11):
Oh? Sure, thanks sir, that's.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
What we'll go right in, mister Okay, good morning, mister Luke,
calm morning, sit down, you will have some coffee.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
Oh yes, sir, Wilson asked me.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
And did he tell you why I wanted the top
of you?
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Oh something about a new grave? Is that right, sir?
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yes, you know my interest in the American cemetery.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
Oh yes, sir, all of us do we keep it
real nice thanks to you. Nothing's run down and we
place fresh flowers on that one grave every week.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Yes, it always looks well cared for, and I wanted
kept that way.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
I understand, mister Davis.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Your coffee, mister Luke.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Oh thank you about that new grave, mister David.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Mister blessing, he's my new assistant at the bank. Blessing
and I strolled through the cemetery yesterday afternoon and two
men were digging a grave. I spoke to them, but
they spoke only Chinese, so we could not communicate.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Where was this.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
It's about one hundred feet in the gravel path and
close to the plot marked Willoughby, the one with the
sunted birds on top of the upright slam.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
I know it, and two Chinese were digging a first
grave there.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I pointed it out the Blessing and went over to it.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
Mister Blessing saw it too. Do you question what we saw,
mister Luke, Well begging your pardon, sir, yes they do.
Why because the last grave we dug there was for
old mister Appleton, and that was over a month ago.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
You must be mistaken, mister Luke. I saw a newly
dug grave, and I spoke to the two Chinese grave diggers.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Well, sir, I won't question what you think you saw,
but I never heard of these Chinese gravediggers, and I
swear to you, in the entire cemetery were there there
isn't a newly dug grave.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Good morning, mister Davis.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Come in, Johnny, please sit down. We have to have
a talk.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
That sounds ominous. If it's about the request that loan
for the beach club.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
No, no, no, no, it's nothing to do with business.
Where do you think I went after breakfast?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Well, I have no idea to.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
The cemetery with mister Luke, the manager. Oh remember the
newly dug grave we saw? Yes, yes, of course, sir,
there isn't one. Why did you pretend that you'd also
seen it?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Well? Well, I didn't wanna embarrass you, sir.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
It's a very strange experience. How would you explain it?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
I I can't. I mean a doctor, a psychiatrist might
be able to. I've heard of persons hallucinating. Of course,
drug addicts have hallucinations. But you look in good health.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Mister Davis, I am. And why would I experience and hallucination?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Well, I don't suppose it's an uncommon experience.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Uh. By the way, would you have lunch with me today? Yes?
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
I want to introduce you to the Outpost. It's a
very nice private club, inexpensive. The food's quite good. You
might just want to become a member sometime alright, And
I want to introduce you to Chung me Yung. He's
about my best friend, and he's a very good customer
at the bank. Perhaps the legendary wisdom of the East
can explain that hallucination of mine. The Chinese do not
(19:10):
think that hallucination is abnormal. If a person will meditate,
he can discover the cause of an illusion. But what
could have caused me to see an open grave? Preoccupation
with the death? My friend? You are a constant frequenter
(19:31):
of the cemetery. If you make it sound more, but
I find rest and peace there. If you will meditate
to discover why you saw that open grave, you will
learn the reason you may know it. Now turn away
from it. Let it sink to the very bottom of
your mind. That's what I intend to do, charmly. Perhaps
(19:55):
I should take a few weeks off. Who's a change
of scene? Like rain after drug? The fishes a man's mine.
You will go to Hong Kong. Yes, I'll take a
steam and pay a visit to old Morrison. Tony can
carry on for me.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
Here, Jill, Jill, oh, let me look at you.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
May I say, fabulous?
Speaker 1 (20:25):
You better?
Speaker 4 (20:27):
How do you like my hotewl?
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Don't you love it. I never want to leave it.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
How is the flood time?
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Will you marry me? I?
Speaker 6 (20:37):
I only bought a one white.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Ticket, okay? Tic at church.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
I'm settling into the job at the bank, and I
like mister.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Davis very much.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Hey, hey, let's get married tonight.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
No, I'm not well.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Then you won't have to check into the hotel too much.
Speaker 6 (20:54):
No, I'm going to spend my first night in Honolulu
in bed.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Alone, okay, And I'll find myself some cute little Native girl.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
Just you try it, my sweet and I'll provide a
simple burial for you in the American Cemetery.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Is there anything more? Mister Davis? A glass of brandy
to shore you of a good night's sleep. Sir, you're
very kind, Wilson. Have you spoken again with a tony blessing? Ah? No, sir,
the two of you were worried about me. Why don't
you remember I asked about that peculiar expression on your face. Yes, sir,
you did worry us. And mister Luke, Yes, sir, mister Luke,
(21:36):
you should have seen his eyes when I said I'd
seen that open grave. Well, there is no open grave, Wilson.
I had then hallucination not uncommon, I'm told, and no
cause for anxiety as well. I'm very glad sir. He's
a mine in a way, a very unsettling experience. Well,
the good night's rest and you'll re like you tomorrow morning,
(21:57):
I hope, sir. And Wilson, I'm going on a trip
for a few weeks. Oh, yes, sir, to Hong Kong
to visit mister Morrison at our branch there Parlo. Holiday
sounds like a fight, I Joe, and uh, why don't
you close up shop and take a vacation of your own? Eh?
I thank you, sir. Well, good night, Wilson. It's early
on now, but I don't want to be disturbed. If
(22:19):
anyone telephone, just say that I'm away, Yes, sir, good nights.
Observe it in the morning as usual. Eleven sharp, good night. Ah,
that feels good. Hong Kong where we plan? What the devil?
Speaker 6 (22:44):
Thank you for the flowers?
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Gordon, Oh fellow, I must be out of my head.
Speaker 7 (22:54):
You're not Gordon. I've tried many nights to speak with you.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Haven't you felt that I fought against thinking about you, Helen?
Speaker 7 (23:07):
Why good?
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Because it's futile. You died twenty years ago and I
could be lying next to you. No right, no, no, no,
no no no, it's impossible.
Speaker 7 (23:20):
Has your career been worth it?
Speaker 6 (23:22):
Good? What do you see when you sit on your
veranda night after night and look over the city with
its lights winking like fireflies.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
I have never forgotten you, and I placed flowers on
your grave every week.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
I loved you very deeply.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Then, why when your husband left you did you take
up with one dissolute after another. You became an unfit
mother and loss your children to him.
Speaker 7 (23:55):
Why because you disclaimed me and I love only you,
you became common, vulgar, drunken. I wanted to forget and
to do. If you had spoken one.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Kind word to me, the resulting scandal would have ruined me.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Helen. You should have left the island with George. Instead,
you chose to stay here and to die. I am
contempt now.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I've never stopped loving you.
Speaker 7 (24:30):
I need you still.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
That's an absurd thing to say. I'm I'm sorry about
the past that I don't regret the decision I made
all those years ago. Yesterday I had an hallucination, and
tonight a visitation by by what a ghost? Or are
(24:55):
you in my mind. I'm leaving Hawaii as soon as
I've made my arrangements.
Speaker 7 (25:02):
I know.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
There is one thing you don't know, and I don't
intend to have you find it out.
Speaker 7 (25:10):
I know what that is, too. Good. Good night, my dear,
good night.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Oh oh, oh good lord, Oh good lord, what a nightmare.
I'm covered with perspiration, Helen, I've lost touch with the
remedy I'm possessed.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
An old proverb holds that a guilty conscience needs no accuser.
When you close your eyes at night to go to sleep,
comes awake. Here is mister Gordon Davis, beset by a
decision he made years ago to sacrifice love for a
banking career, which has been highly successful, but what he
(26:12):
did to Helen Drumley still haunts him. Our return shortly
with Act three. Let's not fool ourselves. That small inner
voice that each of us has within him speaks the truth.
(26:36):
If the voice is positive, so are we. If, however,
the voice incessantly reminds you of sin against another, it
can without question affect your well being. That's why in
prayer we ask for forgiveness and hope that it will
be granted the next morning. Tony raps on, mister Davis.
Speaker 6 (26:57):
Door, Thank Tony, really very correct.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Good morning, mister Davis, Good morning. I want you to
meet my wife to be, Jill Trumple Jill Gordon Davis.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Why well, welcome to Hanolumo.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
Mister you.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Brought my old office. Please sit down. Thank you, and
congratulations to you both.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Thank you. We're getting married on Saturday in the church
where Jill was christened.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
How very nice.
Speaker 6 (27:34):
I was born in Honolulu, mister Davis, So even though
I've not been back here since I was four, I
am a command a native born.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Oh yes, of course. And your your your parents.
Speaker 7 (27:46):
They're both dead.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
I'm sorry to say.
Speaker 6 (27:48):
My mother's buried in the American Cemetery. My father died
last year. They were divorced long ago. My sister and
I got the impression that well, that there was another man.
My mother was a beautiful woman. I've got to track
down that little mystery.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Ah. Yes, sir, well, I wish both of you happiness.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
May I ask a favorite, mister Davis, would you consider
being my best man at the wedding.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
I uh, I'd like nothing better, but uh I'm leaving
Friday on the steamer for Hong Kong.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
A course I remember. Well, well, thank you. I'll get
back to my desk.
Speaker 6 (28:28):
And I'm going to hunt for a place for us
to live. Goodbye, mister Davis.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Oh yes, yes, sir, goodbye, my friend. Distressed lines your face?
Are you ill? No, Chungley, what sank to the bottom
of the ocean has come to the surface. A young
(28:52):
woman Tony has brought over to marry is Jill Drumley
did daughter? Oh it, it's a hideous coincidence or your
long arm of fate. And last night I had a
nightmare or saw a ghost. Helen Drumley appeared and spoke
to me. I'm on the verge of collapse, Changley. Drummery
(29:18):
did defy you. No, No, Drumley never talked to his
daughters about Honolulu. What happened here. She knows nothing about
her mother and me, But but she will all acquaintances.
Perhaps she will find out. Yet nothing ever was proved.
Drummery's accusations were suspicions, and your friends were unsuspecting. We
(29:42):
were very circumspect. Yes, you loved her, I still do,
But Drumley would not divorce her, or you would have
married her. I don't know my position is yes to
the bank, and she loved you. Yes, the man has
(30:03):
the choice of beginning of love, but not of ending.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
There were men in her life after me.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Chang Ley, you say that to ease your conscience, My friend,
the situation is intolerable. How can I face Tony every
working day?
Speaker 4 (30:20):
It's an impossible situation.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
I'll go away for good. Where will you go? I
don't know. I'll take earlier retirement. Your bressing qualified to
replace you except for experience. Yes, I will miss you,
Gordon Davis. Faith you said fate is precious.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
What is written is written, Davis, and I start to
you the other day, but I didn't read the name
on the gravestone. Helen Rumley born April ninth, nineteen eighteen
died December first, nineteen fifty seven, only thirty seven.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Jill, I'm tragic.
Speaker 6 (31:09):
Year I was four. My father took us back to
the United States.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
We sit on this bench for a while, Tony, hum
of course, lovely flowers aren't there.
Speaker 6 (31:20):
You know what else I did today while you slaved away?
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Oh, besides visiting the church and meeting the minister and
finding a flat work.
Speaker 6 (31:28):
I visited the public library and I read back issues
of the newspaper from nineteen fifty right up to mother's obituary. Oh,
why not to find a clue to the person who
broke my mother's heart? I see, and guess what I
found on a society gossip column intimating that my parents
were about to split because of an attractive and successful
(31:51):
young banker. Ooh like me, don't joke, I'm serious. Who
could that young.
Speaker 7 (31:57):
Banker have been?
Speaker 6 (31:59):
Can you guess?
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Oh? Good, haven't they?
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Hello and just rolling through?
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Are you?
Speaker 4 (32:06):
No?
Speaker 1 (32:07):
Not exactly?
Speaker 6 (32:08):
My My mother is buried here. Oh you're the daughter,
miss Yes, I'm Jill Drumley.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
Who are you? Oh, luke, I'm the manager of the cemetery,
Who've been here for years?
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Hi?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
I remember your mother?
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Beautiful woman. You look just like Miss Drumley.
Speaker 6 (32:29):
Thank your grave has been well kept.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
Oh. We take care, good care of the entire cemetery,
and we're well paid. Fight who mister Davis sees to that?
He's the American banker, just about the most prominent man
in the city, Gordon Davis. Yes, this cemetery is kind
of a hobby of his, if you know what I mean.
Speaker 6 (32:51):
Huh, I'm not sure.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
I do well to hear it's a little bit of
the United States. I mean, we're all Americans here, to
be sure, but this plot of land and man Americans
buried in it long before we became a state. Mister
Davis likes to see it.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Camp up is part of history.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
Well, it's about as much as I know. And the
beautiful flowers, Oh, I put them on Miss Dummley's grave
once a week.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Oh.
Speaker 6 (33:16):
And is that part of the perpetual care?
Speaker 4 (33:19):
Oh? No, Miss, they're provided by mister Davis.
Speaker 6 (33:22):
They are what do you know?
Speaker 4 (33:25):
Why or can't say that? I do?
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Well?
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Well, don't stay too long.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
I close the gates at five thirty, Gordon Davis, What.
Speaker 6 (33:40):
Are we going to do?
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Tony Saddan Wilson, I have bad news. I'm sorry to
hear it out. I'm going away for good. Don't leave me,
hey prominently, mister Davis. Well, but the way off Hong Kong.
(34:01):
Oh no, Wilson, not Hong Kong. And I'm going alone.
Oh it is a blowser, have I No, No, certainly not.
You've been invaluable, will may use. You've been with me
since nineteen fifty two. That is right, sir. Mister Blessing
is being married Saturday. Yes to a young woman newly
(34:26):
arrived from New York. Her name is Jill Drumley, who hids.
It's an unbearable situation. Yes, I can see that I
killed her mother, but hardly sad, isn't isn't that melodramatic?
Could not have married her vicot, She could not obtain
(34:48):
a divorce because I did not want to be named
in the suit and risk closing my position. I loved
her dearly Wilson. Why didn't I risk my position for
her happiness and mine?
Speaker 4 (35:02):
But I can't answer those questions, mister Davis.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
But I can because I love the bank. Can you
imagine anything more preposterous. I love the bank, the balance sheets,
the interest charges, the entire orderly, monstrous calculating business, and
(35:28):
my life reflects it. I'm nothing more than a cipher
oh and a fraud.
Speaker 8 (35:36):
But after mister Drumdey did divorce his wife, by then
I had rejected her, she changed my moment whether he
had passed, but she still haunts me.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I am very sorry, mister Davis. I would have completely talcardized.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
I hope that someplace you will find peace. Thank you,
don't worry about yourselves Wilson, I'll give you a yes.
Oh so that's too generous. Oh I can afford him.
Thank you for listening to me, my old friend. Now
I'll go up to bed and hope to sleep.
Speaker 6 (36:22):
He destroyed my father's marriage. I wish you were dead.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
What do you want me to do?
Speaker 1 (36:27):
John?
Speaker 6 (36:27):
Confront him and quit.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
You've the sense of reason. It's irrational to make accusations
without proved.
Speaker 6 (36:34):
What about those newspapers said?
Speaker 7 (36:36):
All right?
Speaker 6 (36:36):
What about the weekly flowers he places on her grave? Why,
out of all the persons buried there, would he select
my mother's grave.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
Oh, Davis, I may have loved your mother. I say
that he did, and she was a beautiful woman, and
many men may have loved her. Oh wait, don't do
the love now. Did your father have accuse Davis or
any other man of adultery?
Speaker 6 (36:59):
No, not that I know of.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Did your mother ever profess loving Davis or any other man?
Speaker 6 (37:04):
How would I know?
Speaker 2 (37:06):
You don't? You can't hate Davis just because of a rumor,
because of the flowers. He's a disciplined, meticulous kind of
man who might have adored your mother, but would never
would have thought of telling her so.
Speaker 6 (37:20):
But then, why did she die when she was only
thirty seven years old.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Tell me that, honey, I haven't the vegas and it's
so far in the past, can't you forget it?
Speaker 6 (37:30):
No, I have to find out why my mother died
of a broken heart.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
And who may I ask? Handed you that hackneyed old phrase?
Speaker 6 (37:37):
My father, that's all he'd ever say about my mother.
He said it sadly, as if in a way it
was partly his fault.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Well, mister Goo, you're up very early.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
Can I see mister Davis?
Speaker 1 (38:01):
When I don't wake him until seven, and that's not
for almost half an hour.
Speaker 4 (38:06):
I don't quite know what to do, Wilson.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
I like, what may I ask?
Speaker 4 (38:10):
Well, you know the other day what he saw in
the cemetery?
Speaker 1 (38:15):
No, the newly dug grave, and I says, I know
about it.
Speaker 4 (38:18):
There wasn't any grave as we know that, or grave diggers.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Well, what are you getting at, mister Luke?
Speaker 4 (38:25):
I I saw them.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
You you saw the grave diggers when certainly not this
morning and last night I.
Speaker 4 (38:37):
Was closing the gates and I saw them. I yelled
and went back toward them, and they vanished. Then I
went back to the path and I saw them again.
I couldn't sleep. So an hour ago, just about sunrise,
I went over to the cemetery and opened the gate
(38:58):
and there were no grave diggers. But guess what there was?
Speaker 8 (39:03):
I had rather not a newly doug grave.
Speaker 4 (39:08):
You Ecullision saw it, Sure I saw it. I didn't
imagine it.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Mister Davis did the other day.
Speaker 4 (39:17):
I know he did, but this time there was no
halloo who whatever. It's a grave and nobody's died, and
nobody's ordered.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Me to dig.
Speaker 4 (39:29):
Well, maybe mister Davis knows about it. That that's why
I came by.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Oil yourself a cup of coffee. I wake him up,
and that is how you found him with some ah. Yes,
mister Chudley fallen between his desk and his chair.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
And this is his letter of resignation. And do you
miss uh miss Jill Drummery.
Speaker 7 (39:56):
Yes, may I ask how you know?
Speaker 1 (39:58):
I know your mother in the resemblance is marked? What
did the doctor say, wasn't a massive sir will hembrid Sir,
the ambulance would be here shortly.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
I'm so sorry. I've only known him a short time,
but I respected him and I'd grown fond of him.
Speaker 4 (40:17):
He was my good friend.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
He had a prenomition of death.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
That hallucination about the new grave.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
It has been dog, mister Pressing, what mister Roope confirms it?
It was dog rost night.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
I've I don't understand who ordered a grave to be dug?
No one begging your pardon that that just doesn't make sense.
Speaker 6 (40:44):
It does to me, I'm convinced. Don't ask me why that.
Gordon Davis and my mother loved each other. He turned
away and she died of a broken heart. His conscience
killed him. He willed his burial.
Speaker 4 (41:02):
But who who.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
Dug the grave? It takes a couple of live men
with spades to dig a grave, Are you certain, mister Forcin.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Another phenomenon to be practical. Yes, to dig a grave
you need a man or two with tools for digging
a spade. So was mister Luke deluded? He swore that
he saw a newly dug grave. Why might he have
been deluded? Because mister Davis' troubled conscience forced itself into
(41:43):
the minds of others so that they too could foretell
his fate. And was the grave dug? For surely it
was there without any one being conscious of it. Well,
these are truly inscrutable questions. I'll have a further comment
when I turned shortly. In the simplest terms, conscience, whether
(42:17):
you heed it or not, is our guide.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
When we go.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Against its dictates, we begin to accumulate a mind filled
with already made decisions, which, throughout our lives are always
there to haunt us. As Thomas Brown wrote three hundred
years ago, there is another man within me that's angry
with me. It's conscience, of course, the silent witness. Our
(42:45):
cast included Ralph Bell, Marionceldy's, Lloyd Batista, and Earl Hammond.
The entire production was under the direction of Hymond Brown.
Radio Mystery Theory was sponsored in part by x Lax
and Buick Motor Division.
Speaker 4 (43:00):
This is E. G.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Marshall inviting you to return to our Mystery Theater for
another adventure in the macabre.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
Until next time, pleasant Dreams,
BBS Radio Mystery Theater presents, come in Welcome. I'm e. G.
(00:24):
Marshall with an out of the ordinary story, the kind
I enjoy most because its roots are buried in the past.
Sometimes centuries go by before a trait emerges to characterize
a person. The argument about environment and inheritance goes on endlessly.
One authority insists that how you live is more important
(00:48):
than who you are. I'm not qualified to take size,
but like most of you, I think that a person,
the essential person, is the result of both. Not equally perhaps,
but that's for you to decide. After you meet Gordon Davis,
a middle aged, well to do manager of an American
(01:09):
bank in Honolulu, I can't explain it, Chungley. The explanation
lies hidden in your mind. That is why you imagine
you saw that open grave. Our mystery drama, The Silent Witness,
(01:35):
was written especially for Mystery Theater by Roy Windsor and
stars Ralph Bell. It is sponsored in part by Buick
Motor Division and ex Lax. I'll be back shortly with
that one each of us came. Each of us is unique,
(02:02):
that's obvious, I suppose, But I have often thought about
how different one of us is from another within a family.
No two persons are alike. I'll even include twins in
one pair that I know. Susan is a dancer in
a Paris chorus line. Paula has entered a convent. How
do you explain that? Same early environment, same background, but
(02:25):
completely different in points of view, interests and goals. That's
why Gordon Davis is. But let's meet him in his
Honolulu home. Wilson, Yes, missus are there's his taxi right
on time. His name is Blessing, Tony Blessing right sound
you chaps sent out from New York. I hope he
(02:45):
works out on our first trainee. Wilson. There's open well
outside with him until you announced it's the wine children, Yes, sir,
and I sat had cocktail glasses and canafes on the forandoid.
Well show the young man in and bring him out.
I'll lifes to glasses. Good hen, mister Blessing, right this
(03:09):
ways out? Oh thank you, welcome to Honolulus Blessing play
sit down.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Oh thank you sir. Wow, the view is spectacular.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
It is lovely when you have a rum punch.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Rum punch will be fine, true.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Wilson, right away been in Hawaii before.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
No, No, this is my first visit.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Taught me a visit right.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
And the way I feel, Oh, thank you Wilson, the
way I feel already. I think I'd like to stay
here forever.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yes, I felt the same way when I was sent out,
and I've been here twenty seven years. Hawaii is a
paradise hamond, intoxicating in many ways.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I won't let Honolulu's magic lonely to sleep. For one thing,
I don't play golf. Besides, I'm engaged, and Jill has
joined me here in a few days. And if you
think i'll work out, Jill and I will get married
and live here.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Good marriage, i'm told, is a settling influence. I don't
know from experienced, because I'm just a pussy old bachelor.
Thank you, Wilson. We'll be right along after we close
the bank tomorrow. If you have nothing better to do,
I'll show you the city.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Oh, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
I'd like to do that, including our American cemetery.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Ooh, that sounds kind of grim.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It will graphically make my point about the danger of
succumbing to the charms of old Hawaii. One of your
predecessors is buried, then Oh, a fine young man named Murdoch,
very promising, but he succumbed to the allure of the island.
After six months, he drank himself to death. It's saddened
(04:48):
all of us.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
And you visit his grave from time to time, Oh.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yes, quite often. The cemetery is RESTful. His gravestone reminds
me that life is transit. After all, it is to
be in Lloyd, not abused. If you will remember that,
you can have a glorious life here.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Otherwise I understand. Don't be lured into over a dozen.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yes, exactly, guilty can be an opiate. Concentrate on your
work and remember murderch and let us go on into dinner.
Davis pump as usual, join me, ah, hello, tell me
(05:32):
anything special for lunch? Or hear the odd posts. You know,
the menu varies no more than our even climate. Monday
means squid riving, not the land. Child with me ten
persant weekend one days like another. My son and his
family paid us a visit. He's young, for he is distracting.
(05:54):
He's determined to become the first Chinese American baseball star.
I pray that it is soon. How old say it's
nine and Each time he visits us, he breaks the window.
It is a joy to say goodbye to him. And
you did, mister pressing array Hi yesterday.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Will you do?
Speaker 1 (06:17):
I hope so he's personable and intelligence. You'll meet him then.
If you agree with my judgment of him, I'll propose him.
The membership and the outpostle will gradually co sponsor him.
More and more. The club becomes a retreat for the elderly.
It needs no members. The continuity of life is our immortality.
(06:40):
A new generation succeeds ours or life stake me. Well,
I'm not quite ready to be placed on a shelf, Charley.
But do you not retire soon?
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (06:52):
I could retire now, but I'm only fifty seven. I'll
close my desk when i'm sixty, or arrest you open
another in Hong Kong. Yes, that might happen, but I
hope not. My roots are here in Honolulu. There is
nothing to compare with our lovely Hawaii A. You have
lost your ambition to eas charm. Yes, perhaps I cautioned
(07:14):
blessing last night. You still remember Murdoch, poor man. Yes,
Chinese know that indulgence like the hunger of a rovenous dog,
is never satisfied, and that excess is self destructive. Well
said John. Unlike Murdoch, you have lad an exemporary life.
(07:37):
I have known you almost since the day you were
arrived from New York. Yes, by ship. You have never
been back. I have no real tires there, changle one
sister of a disagreeable husband. If you should be transferred
to Hong Kong, you would be missing. Well, it may
not happen. If it does, sadly of course. And well,
(08:00):
Likena Lulu's a remarkable city. Perhaps that is where I'd
retire and not return here. Well, perhaps not. But you
just said that your roots are here. So are your memories,
my friend. Yes, and one of them is still green.
Is it regrettable to you, Davis, that you didn't marry her? No,
(08:25):
it would have been disastrous for you. Yes, the scandal
would have been ruinous today it is different. Back then
it would have cost me my position. And you try
to find Peith when you mesitate in the American cemetery?
Speaker 4 (08:41):
Is that not?
Speaker 1 (08:42):
So you go there often? I know I'm going there
this afternoon with blessing on the pretext of showing him
the grave of poor Murdogna. I want blessing to succeed.
Advice is not as effective as an example, which is
which is drawn from a gravestone? Or and what advice
do you draw from the gravestone of missus Dormley. A
(09:05):
man who is subservient to infatuation has lost his reason.
She was a married woman, Changley, and subsequently, like a
flower exposed to snow, she withered away and died. And
I chose to follow my career. I have never talked
about her except you. Changlin and Pressing told me that
(09:28):
he's engaged and that the young woman, Jill Ladly, he said,
will arrive in a few days. Then if he sees
the future here, they'll marry and settle down. Maybe that's
what reawakened my memory of the past. Do not dwell
on what you remember. The past is a a funeral
gone by. Ah it seems like yesterday. It was twenty
(09:53):
years ago, and her daughters are now grown women. I
recall that George Drummery took them back to the States.
We wonder what became of them. Wasn't one of them
named Jill? Yes, Chuangley, the older girl was named Jill.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
It's very attractive, mister Davis, neat and well kept.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Thank you, tony, if I may, certainly, sir, and I'll
not drop this, no need for it. At the bank,
I'm mister Davis. But away from it, my name is Gordon,
all right, sure, yes, I'm proud of this cemetery. Proud.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Well, that's an unusual word, oh yes.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
But appropriate. As you can see, it's an a valuable
part of the city. But twenty years ago and the
temple was made to relocate it. But I fought the developer,
and with the prestige of the bank behind me, I won.
So here and still in peace rest the bones of
the missionaries long dead, and many members of our American.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Colony, meaning those born in the States.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yes, of course, because all of us here we are
our Americans, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
And this is the final resting place of Willard Murder. Yes,
why wasn't his body sent back to his home.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Because among his few papers was a request that he'd
be buried in Hanover Ruins. Ah. I see, he was
well liked, and we gave him quite an elaborate funeral.
His family bought the graves.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Done, and he died from over indulgence.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
He lived beyond his means remember that and remember what
it had? Huh? Now who has died? Pardon fair? It's
a new grave it is, But don't you see that
hole in the ground? What else could it be? And
(11:53):
as a grave digger, I must find out who died?
Great grave digger? What did the well?
Speaker 2 (12:04):
I must need glasses or is he seeing things?
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Good evening, missus Lewis I trust you ahead of pleasant day? Sir?
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Who died?
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Wilson? What American has died? If I know I've done
sir him? No, no, no no. I walked, mister Blessing
through the cemetery half an hour ago, and two men
were digging a grave. I must find out who died?
On May I fixed with a robin swizzles up. Yes, Wilson,
I can't understand it. I make some inquiries. Wilson phoned
the newspapers in the graveyard manager, although he's probably gone
(12:44):
home for the night. The or drink, Sir, I thank
you by the miser mister Blessing telephone shortly before you returned. Ah,
what for did he say to UH to enquire how
you were? How I am well? You could see I
am Why would he inquire about how I am well?
He hoped that the tour around the city hadn't tire
(13:06):
to it, and also to thank you, Well, that's odd.
I'm in the best of health. Are you concealing something, Wilson, Sir,
there's a peculiar expression on your face. Well, I'm sorry, sir.
If you'll excuse me, I'll make those telephone calls. Yes,
please do How strange? How strange? Indeed, does Tony Blessing
(13:38):
need glasses or has mister davis mind played a trick
on him? Almost one hundred years ago, Oscar Wilde wrote
that imagination is the result of heredity. It is simply
concentrated race experience. There's that word heredity again. I mentioned
it earlier, and Oscar wild supports importance in the makeup
(14:01):
of a man. His imagination also an illusion. We'll find
out when I return with that too. The mind plays
tricks on us. From what Tony Blessing said about mister
(14:25):
Davis seeing things, it would seem that he saw something
that wasn't fair, but an open grave. According to definition
and hallucination is the perception of objects with no reality.
Is that what happened to Gordon Davis? It's the next mornings?
Can I serve breakfast now or would you first leave
(14:47):
us the luxA lou he's here untill I reached him
Mary this morning and he said he'd look in on
his way to the cemetery. Paul, that's very thoughtful of him. Yes,
ask him to come in and bring another cup, please,
he might like a cup of coffee. Have very what's on?
He will see you, allow, mister Luke. All right, will
(15:10):
you have a cup of coffee?
Speaker 4 (15:11):
Oh? Sure, thanks sir, that's.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
What we'll go right in, mister Okay, good morning, mister Luke,
calm morning, sit down, you will have some coffee.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
Oh yes, sir, Wilson asked me.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
And did he tell you why I wanted the top
of you?
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Oh something about a new grave? Is that right, sir?
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yes, you know my interest in the American cemetery.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
Oh yes, sir, all of us do we keep it
real nice thanks to you. Nothing's run down and we
place fresh flowers on that one grave every week.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Yes, it always looks well cared for, and I wanted
kept that way.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
I understand, mister Davis.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Your coffee, mister Luke.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Oh thank you about that new grave, mister David.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Mister blessing, he's my new assistant at the bank. Blessing
and I strolled through the cemetery yesterday afternoon and two
men were digging a grave. I spoke to them, but
they spoke only Chinese, so we could not communicate.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Where was this.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
It's about one hundred feet in the gravel path and
close to the plot marked Willoughby, the one with the
sunted birds on top of the upright slam.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
I know it, and two Chinese were digging a first
grave there.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
I pointed it out the Blessing and went over to it.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
Mister Blessing saw it too. Do you question what we saw,
mister Luke, Well begging your pardon, sir, yes they do.
Why because the last grave we dug there was for
old mister Appleton, and that was over a month ago.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
You must be mistaken, mister Luke. I saw a newly
dug grave, and I spoke to the two Chinese grave diggers.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Well, sir, I won't question what you think you saw,
but I never heard of these Chinese gravediggers, and I
swear to you, in the entire cemetery were there there
isn't a newly dug grave.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Good morning, mister Davis.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Come in, Johnny, please sit down. We have to have
a talk.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
That sounds ominous. If it's about the request that loan
for the beach club.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
No, no, no, no, it's nothing to do with business.
Where do you think I went after breakfast?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Well, I have no idea to.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
The cemetery with mister Luke, the manager. Oh remember the
newly dug grave we saw? Yes, yes, of course, sir,
there isn't one. Why did you pretend that you'd also
seen it?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Well? Well, I didn't wanna embarrass you, sir.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
It's a very strange experience. How would you explain it?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
I I can't. I mean a doctor, a psychiatrist might
be able to. I've heard of persons hallucinating. Of course,
drug addicts have hallucinations. But you look in good health.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Mister Davis, I am. And why would I experience and hallucination?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Well, I don't suppose it's an uncommon experience.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Uh. By the way, would you have lunch with me today? Yes?
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
I want to introduce you to the Outpost. It's a
very nice private club, inexpensive. The food's quite good. You
might just want to become a member sometime alright, And
I want to introduce you to Chung me Yung. He's
about my best friend, and he's a very good customer
at the bank. Perhaps the legendary wisdom of the East
can explain that hallucination of mine. The Chinese do not
(19:10):
think that hallucination is abnormal. If a person will meditate,
he can discover the cause of an illusion. But what
could have caused me to see an open grave? Preoccupation
with the death? My friend? You are a constant frequenter
(19:31):
of the cemetery. If you make it sound more, but
I find rest and peace there. If you will meditate
to discover why you saw that open grave, you will
learn the reason you may know it. Now turn away
from it. Let it sink to the very bottom of
your mind. That's what I intend to do, charmly. Perhaps
(19:55):
I should take a few weeks off. Who's a change
of scene? Like rain after drug? The fishes a man's mine.
You will go to Hong Kong. Yes, I'll take a
steam and pay a visit to old Morrison. Tony can
carry on for me.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
Here, Jill, Jill, oh, let me look at you.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
May I say, fabulous?
Speaker 1 (20:25):
You better?
Speaker 4 (20:27):
How do you like my hotewl?
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Don't you love it. I never want to leave it.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
How is the flood time?
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Will you marry me? I?
Speaker 6 (20:37):
I only bought a one white.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Ticket, okay? Tic at church.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
I'm settling into the job at the bank, and I
like mister.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Davis very much.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Hey, hey, let's get married tonight.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
No, I'm not well.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Then you won't have to check into the hotel too much.
Speaker 6 (20:54):
No, I'm going to spend my first night in Honolulu
in bed.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Alone, okay, And I'll find myself some cute little Native girl.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
Just you try it, my sweet and I'll provide a
simple burial for you in the American Cemetery.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
Is there anything more? Mister Davis? A glass of brandy
to shore you of a good night's sleep. Sir, you're
very kind, Wilson. Have you spoken again with a tony blessing? Ah? No, sir,
the two of you were worried about me. Why don't
you remember I asked about that peculiar expression on your face. Yes, sir,
you did worry us. And mister Luke, Yes, sir, mister Luke,
(21:36):
you should have seen his eyes when I said I'd
seen that open grave. Well, there is no open grave, Wilson.
I had then hallucination not uncommon, I'm told, and no
cause for anxiety as well. I'm very glad sir. He's
a mine in a way, a very unsettling experience. Well,
the good night's rest and you'll re like you tomorrow morning,
(21:57):
I hope, sir. And Wilson, I'm going on a trip
for a few weeks. Oh, yes, sir, to Hong Kong
to visit mister Morrison at our branch there Parlo. Holiday
sounds like a fight, I Joe, and uh, why don't
you close up shop and take a vacation of your own? Eh?
I thank you, sir. Well, good night, Wilson. It's early
on now, but I don't want to be disturbed. If
(22:19):
anyone telephone, just say that I'm away, Yes, sir, good nights.
Observe it in the morning as usual. Eleven sharp, good night. Ah,
that feels good. Hong Kong where we plan? What the devil?
Speaker 6 (22:44):
Thank you for the flowers?
Speaker 1 (22:47):
Gordon, Oh fellow, I must be out of my head.
Speaker 7 (22:54):
You're not Gordon. I've tried many nights to speak with you.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Haven't you felt that I fought against thinking about you, Helen?
Speaker 7 (23:07):
Why good?
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Because it's futile. You died twenty years ago and I
could be lying next to you. No right, no, no, no,
no no no, it's impossible.
Speaker 7 (23:20):
Has your career been worth it?
Speaker 6 (23:22):
Good? What do you see when you sit on your
veranda night after night and look over the city with
its lights winking like fireflies.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
I have never forgotten you, and I placed flowers on
your grave every week.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
I loved you very deeply.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Then, why when your husband left you did you take
up with one dissolute after another. You became an unfit
mother and loss your children to him.
Speaker 7 (23:55):
Why because you disclaimed me and I love only you,
you became common, vulgar, drunken. I wanted to forget and
to do. If you had spoken one.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
Kind word to me, the resulting scandal would have ruined me.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Helen. You should have left the island with George. Instead,
you chose to stay here and to die. I am
contempt now.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I've never stopped loving you.
Speaker 7 (24:30):
I need you still.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
That's an absurd thing to say. I'm I'm sorry about
the past that I don't regret the decision I made
all those years ago. Yesterday I had an hallucination, and
tonight a visitation by by what a ghost? Or are
(24:55):
you in my mind. I'm leaving Hawaii as soon as
I've made my arrangements.
Speaker 7 (25:02):
I know.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
There is one thing you don't know, and I don't
intend to have you find it out.
Speaker 7 (25:10):
I know what that is, too. Good. Good night, my dear,
good night.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Oh oh, oh good lord, Oh good lord, what a nightmare.
I'm covered with perspiration, Helen, I've lost touch with the
remedy I'm possessed.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
An old proverb holds that a guilty conscience needs no accuser.
When you close your eyes at night to go to sleep,
comes awake. Here is mister Gordon Davis, beset by a
decision he made years ago to sacrifice love for a
banking career, which has been highly successful, but what he
(26:12):
did to Helen Drumley still haunts him. Our return shortly
with Act three. Let's not fool ourselves. That small inner
voice that each of us has within him speaks the truth.
(26:36):
If the voice is positive, so are we. If, however,
the voice incessantly reminds you of sin against another, it
can without question affect your well being. That's why in
prayer we ask for forgiveness and hope that it will
be granted the next morning. Tony raps on, mister Davis.
Speaker 6 (26:57):
Door, Thank Tony, really very correct.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Good morning, mister Davis, Good morning. I want you to
meet my wife to be, Jill Trumple Jill Gordon Davis.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Why well, welcome to Hanolumo.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
Mister you.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Brought my old office. Please sit down. Thank you, and
congratulations to you both.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Thank you. We're getting married on Saturday in the church
where Jill was christened.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
How very nice.
Speaker 6 (27:34):
I was born in Honolulu, mister Davis, So even though
I've not been back here since I was four, I
am a command a native born.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Oh yes, of course. And your your your parents.
Speaker 7 (27:46):
They're both dead.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
I'm sorry to say.
Speaker 6 (27:48):
My mother's buried in the American Cemetery. My father died
last year. They were divorced long ago. My sister and
I got the impression that well, that there was another man.
My mother was a beautiful woman. I've got to track
down that little mystery.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Ah. Yes, sir, well, I wish both of you happiness.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
May I ask a favorite, mister Davis, would you consider
being my best man at the wedding.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
I uh, I'd like nothing better, but uh I'm leaving
Friday on the steamer for Hong Kong.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
A course I remember. Well, well, thank you. I'll get
back to my desk.
Speaker 6 (28:28):
And I'm going to hunt for a place for us
to live. Goodbye, mister Davis.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Oh yes, yes, sir, goodbye, my friend. Distressed lines your face?
Are you ill? No, Chungley, what sank to the bottom
of the ocean has come to the surface. A young
(28:52):
woman Tony has brought over to marry is Jill Drumley
did daughter? Oh it, it's a hideous coincidence or your
long arm of fate. And last night I had a
nightmare or saw a ghost. Helen Drumley appeared and spoke
to me. I'm on the verge of collapse, Changley. Drummery
(29:18):
did defy you. No, No, Drumley never talked to his
daughters about Honolulu. What happened here. She knows nothing about
her mother and me, But but she will all acquaintances.
Perhaps she will find out. Yet nothing ever was proved.
Drummery's accusations were suspicions, and your friends were unsuspecting. We
(29:42):
were very circumspect. Yes, you loved her, I still do,
But Drumley would not divorce her, or you would have
married her. I don't know my position is yes to
the bank, and she loved you. Yes, the man has
(30:03):
the choice of beginning of love, but not of ending.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
There were men in her life after me.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Chang Ley, you say that to ease your conscience, My friend,
the situation is intolerable. How can I face Tony every
working day?
Speaker 4 (30:20):
It's an impossible situation.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
I'll go away for good. Where will you go? I
don't know. I'll take earlier retirement. Your bressing qualified to
replace you except for experience. Yes, I will miss you,
Gordon Davis. Faith you said fate is precious.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
What is written is written, Davis, and I start to
you the other day, but I didn't read the name
on the gravestone. Helen Rumley born April ninth, nineteen eighteen
died December first, nineteen fifty seven, only thirty seven.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Jill, I'm tragic.
Speaker 6 (31:09):
Year I was four. My father took us back to
the United States.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
We sit on this bench for a while, Tony, hum
of course, lovely flowers aren't there.
Speaker 6 (31:20):
You know what else I did today while you slaved away?
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Oh, besides visiting the church and meeting the minister and
finding a flat work.
Speaker 6 (31:28):
I visited the public library and I read back issues
of the newspaper from nineteen fifty right up to mother's obituary. Oh,
why not to find a clue to the person who
broke my mother's heart? I see, and guess what I
found on a society gossip column intimating that my parents
were about to split because of an attractive and successful
(31:51):
young banker. Ooh like me, don't joke, I'm serious. Who
could that young.
Speaker 7 (31:57):
Banker have been?
Speaker 6 (31:59):
Can you guess?
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Oh? Good, haven't they?
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Hello and just rolling through?
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Are you?
Speaker 4 (32:06):
No?
Speaker 1 (32:07):
Not exactly?
Speaker 6 (32:08):
My My mother is buried here. Oh you're the daughter,
miss Yes, I'm Jill Drumley.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
Who are you? Oh, luke, I'm the manager of the cemetery,
Who've been here for years?
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Hi?
Speaker 2 (32:23):
I remember your mother?
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Beautiful woman. You look just like Miss Drumley.
Speaker 6 (32:29):
Thank your grave has been well kept.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
Oh. We take care, good care of the entire cemetery,
and we're well paid. Fight who mister Davis sees to that?
He's the American banker, just about the most prominent man
in the city, Gordon Davis. Yes, this cemetery is kind
of a hobby of his, if you know what I mean.
Speaker 6 (32:51):
Huh, I'm not sure.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
I do well to hear it's a little bit of
the United States. I mean, we're all Americans here, to
be sure, but this plot of land and man Americans
buried in it long before we became a state. Mister
Davis likes to see it.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Camp up is part of history.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
Well, it's about as much as I know. And the
beautiful flowers, Oh, I put them on Miss Dummley's grave
once a week.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Oh.
Speaker 6 (33:16):
And is that part of the perpetual care?
Speaker 4 (33:19):
Oh? No, Miss, they're provided by mister Davis.
Speaker 6 (33:22):
They are what do you know?
Speaker 4 (33:25):
Why or can't say that? I do?
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Well?
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Well, don't stay too long.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
I close the gates at five thirty, Gordon Davis, What.
Speaker 6 (33:40):
Are we going to do?
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Tony Saddan Wilson, I have bad news. I'm sorry to
hear it out. I'm going away for good. Don't leave me,
hey prominently, mister Davis. Well, but the way off Hong Kong.
(34:01):
Oh no, Wilson, not Hong Kong. And I'm going alone.
Oh it is a blowser, have I No, No, certainly not.
You've been invaluable, will may use. You've been with me
since nineteen fifty two. That is right, sir. Mister Blessing
is being married Saturday. Yes to a young woman newly
(34:26):
arrived from New York. Her name is Jill Drumley, who hids.
It's an unbearable situation. Yes, I can see that I
killed her mother, but hardly sad, isn't isn't that melodramatic?
Could not have married her vicot, She could not obtain
(34:48):
a divorce because I did not want to be named
in the suit and risk closing my position. I loved
her dearly Wilson. Why didn't I risk my position for
her happiness and mine?
Speaker 4 (35:02):
But I can't answer those questions, mister Davis.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
But I can because I love the bank. Can you
imagine anything more preposterous. I love the bank, the balance sheets,
the interest charges, the entire orderly, monstrous calculating business, and
(35:28):
my life reflects it. I'm nothing more than a cipher
oh and a fraud.
Speaker 8 (35:36):
But after mister Drumdey did divorce his wife, by then
I had rejected her, she changed my moment whether he
had passed, but she still haunts me.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I am very sorry, mister Davis. I would have completely talcardized.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
I hope that someplace you will find peace. Thank you,
don't worry about yourselves Wilson, I'll give you a yes.
Oh so that's too generous. Oh I can afford him.
Thank you for listening to me, my old friend. Now
I'll go up to bed and hope to sleep.
Speaker 6 (36:22):
He destroyed my father's marriage. I wish you were dead.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
What do you want me to do?
Speaker 1 (36:27):
John?
Speaker 6 (36:27):
Confront him and quit.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
You've the sense of reason. It's irrational to make accusations
without proved.
Speaker 6 (36:34):
What about those newspapers said?
Speaker 7 (36:36):
All right?
Speaker 6 (36:36):
What about the weekly flowers he places on her grave? Why,
out of all the persons buried there, would he select
my mother's grave.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
Oh, Davis, I may have loved your mother. I say
that he did, and she was a beautiful woman, and
many men may have loved her. Oh wait, don't do
the love now. Did your father have accuse Davis or
any other man of adultery?
Speaker 6 (36:59):
No, not that I know of.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Did your mother ever profess loving Davis or any other man?
Speaker 6 (37:04):
How would I know?
Speaker 2 (37:06):
You don't? You can't hate Davis just because of a rumor,
because of the flowers. He's a disciplined, meticulous kind of
man who might have adored your mother, but would never
would have thought of telling her so.
Speaker 6 (37:20):
But then, why did she die when she was only
thirty seven years old.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Tell me that, honey, I haven't the vegas and it's
so far in the past, can't you forget it?
Speaker 6 (37:30):
No, I have to find out why my mother died
of a broken heart.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
And who may I ask? Handed you that hackneyed old phrase?
Speaker 6 (37:37):
My father, that's all he'd ever say about my mother.
He said it sadly, as if in a way it
was partly his fault.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Well, mister Goo, you're up very early.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
Can I see mister Davis?
Speaker 1 (38:01):
When I don't wake him until seven, and that's not
for almost half an hour.
Speaker 4 (38:06):
I don't quite know what to do, Wilson.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
I like, what may I ask?
Speaker 4 (38:10):
Well, you know the other day what he saw in
the cemetery?
Speaker 1 (38:15):
No, the newly dug grave, and I says, I know
about it.
Speaker 4 (38:18):
There wasn't any grave as we know that, or grave diggers.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
Well, what are you getting at, mister Luke?
Speaker 4 (38:25):
I I saw them.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
You you saw the grave diggers when certainly not this
morning and last night I.
Speaker 4 (38:37):
Was closing the gates and I saw them. I yelled
and went back toward them, and they vanished. Then I
went back to the path and I saw them again.
I couldn't sleep. So an hour ago, just about sunrise,
I went over to the cemetery and opened the gate
(38:58):
and there were no grave diggers. But guess what there was?
Speaker 8 (39:03):
I had rather not a newly doug grave.
Speaker 4 (39:08):
You Ecullision saw it, Sure I saw it. I didn't
imagine it.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Mister Davis did the other day.
Speaker 4 (39:17):
I know he did, but this time there was no
halloo who whatever. It's a grave and nobody's died, and
nobody's ordered.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Me to dig.
Speaker 4 (39:29):
Well, maybe mister Davis knows about it. That that's why
I came by.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Oil yourself a cup of coffee. I wake him up,
and that is how you found him with some ah. Yes,
mister Chudley fallen between his desk and his chair.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
And this is his letter of resignation. And do you
miss uh miss Jill Drummery.
Speaker 7 (39:56):
Yes, may I ask how you know?
Speaker 1 (39:58):
I know your mother in the resemblance is marked? What
did the doctor say, wasn't a massive sir will hembrid Sir,
the ambulance would be here shortly.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
I'm so sorry. I've only known him a short time,
but I respected him and I'd grown fond of him.
Speaker 4 (40:17):
He was my good friend.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
He had a prenomition of death.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
That hallucination about the new grave.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
It has been dog, mister Pressing, what mister Roope confirms it?
It was dog rost night.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
I've I don't understand who ordered a grave to be dug?
No one begging your pardon that that just doesn't make sense.
Speaker 6 (40:44):
It does to me, I'm convinced. Don't ask me why that.
Gordon Davis and my mother loved each other. He turned
away and she died of a broken heart. His conscience
killed him. He willed his burial.
Speaker 4 (41:02):
But who who.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
Dug the grave? It takes a couple of live men
with spades to dig a grave, Are you certain, mister Forcin.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Another phenomenon to be practical. Yes, to dig a grave
you need a man or two with tools for digging
a spade. So was mister Luke deluded? He swore that
he saw a newly dug grave. Why might he have
been deluded? Because mister Davis' troubled conscience forced itself into
(41:43):
the minds of others so that they too could foretell
his fate. And was the grave dug? For surely it
was there without any one being conscious of it. Well,
these are truly inscrutable questions. I'll have a further comment
when I turned shortly. In the simplest terms, conscience, whether
(42:17):
you heed it or not, is our guide.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
When we go.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Against its dictates, we begin to accumulate a mind filled
with already made decisions, which, throughout our lives are always
there to haunt us. As Thomas Brown wrote three hundred
years ago, there is another man within me that's angry
with me. It's conscience, of course, the silent witness. Our
(42:45):
cast included Ralph Bell, Marionceldy's, Lloyd Batista, and Earl Hammond.
The entire production was under the direction of Hymond Brown.
Radio Mystery Theory was sponsored in part by x Lax
and Buick Motor Division.
Speaker 4 (43:00):
This is E. G.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Marshall inviting you to return to our Mystery Theater for
another adventure in the macabre.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
Until next time, pleasant Dreams,
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