November 23, 2025 • 44 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
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
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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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
BBS Radio Mystery Theater Presents.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Come in Welcome. I'm E. G. Marshall.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Life is eternal, and love is immortal, and death is
only a horizon. And the horizon is nothing save the
limit of our sight, the limit of our site. It
has nothing to do with the limit of our perception.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Therefore, it is not the vision of our eyes that
illuminates what lies beyond the horizon. Sometime around six this evening,
you hire a cab. I don't remember inspecting, but the
driver remembers you. It ords you to doctor Bexler addressed.
You deny it. No, I can't deny it. Now Why
(01:05):
have you come here, inspector to tell you that doctor
Bexler is dead? He was murdered, murdered by whom I'm
not sure, but I can tell you that you're the
best suspect we have.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Our mystery drama Wine, Women and Murder was written especially
for the Mystery Theater by Sam Dan and stars Robert Bryden.
It is sponsored in part by Buick Motor Division and
arm Allergy Relief Medicine.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
I'll be back shortly with that one.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Are there as men many stars in the sky, as
there are grains of sand on the beach. And does
it matter. It does to some people, proving that any knowledge,
no matter how esoteric, is meaningful to somebody, sometime somewhere, somehow. Well,
(02:22):
no matter what it is, you want to find out,
if there's ever been a book published on it, Elias Breckinridge.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Would know all about it.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Good morning, mister Breckinridge.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Oh, good morning, miss Bexler.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
I came in because of the sign on your door.
All the sign, Well, it says we'll be closed for holiday. Yes,
but I'm not aware of any holiday. There's no national
one that I know of, even though they've been scrambled
about in the most confusing fashion.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
If that's true, well it's my holiday. I shall be
away for a week. Oh you mean it nis no,
my dear miss Bexler. A vacation implies a period of
freedom from toil. I do not consider my bookshop as
an enslaver, of.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Course, trust you to put the situation in its true perspective.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I am our route to Germany, all.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
The way from California to Germany, the city of Colonne,
or Cologne, as we might say. Oh, is there some purpose,
some reason for choosing Cologne?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Of course, I'm a member of the International Colerge Society Coage.
The poet Samuel Taylor Colorge, of.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Course, the ancient mariner.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
The best known, but perhaps the least of his achievements.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Wasn't he English?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
So yes, most certainly, quite essentially Englishman.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Then it would seem to me that.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
The society should meet in England. Precisely, it requires no
great imagination or originality to honor an English poet in England.
Done it?
Speaker 4 (03:58):
But why need to honor him in Germany?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Because of the Rhine, the rhine, the river, Oh, tell
me of Misspecsla. What is the most serious problem facing
society today?
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Promiscuity?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Ecology?
Speaker 4 (04:16):
The reasonable people may differ.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Coleridge was the first of the major poets to be
truly concerned with the population of the environment.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Is that a fact?
Speaker 2 (04:26):
On a trip to Germany he could hardly wait to
see the beautiful Rhine of song and story. It almost
broke his heart. Yes, on close examination, it was nothing
but a poisoned and polluted river. He therefore wrote the
famous poem Cologne, the theme of which is the river Rhine.
(04:52):
It is well known, does wash the city of Cologne.
But tell me nymphs what power divine shall henceforth us
the river Rhine beautiful? Yes, he is one of the
great Romantic poets. He is dead almost a century and
a half, and yet he speaks of to day.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
You must admit the Romantic poets we all promiscuous.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
And so we meet to honor one who was not
only a great poet but also a pioneer environmentalist.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
I dare say it is not enough for.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
A poet to write beautifully. His words must also be meaningful.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
I'm sure of it. Well, you said you were going
to Cologne, and by the shiest of coincidences, I have
some business in, of all places, Cologne.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Oh do you Indeed?
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Yes, I have a cousin in Cologne, a doctor Carl
Heinz Bexler. He teaches at the university. Oh indeed, yes,
his specialty is molecular genetics. Is that a fact that
we have an uncle who died?
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Oh I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
He was ninety five Walliam So in Cincinnati, where he
left us a house We agreed to sell it.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I see, you.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
See, we must get the deed to my cousin somehow.
And well I was thinking, oh no, no, it would
be an imposition.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
What would well, since you.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Are going to Cologne, I should be happy to would you?
You see, the males can be so undetendable, but it
would be too much trouble.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
No, no trouble at all.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
You could place the deed in his hand.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
And he could sign where.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
That's all he has to do, and then I can
read it back. I can't help feelings that I'm in posed.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Oh no, no, if you're sure, I insist. I keep saying,
what a pity we have so few opportunities to be
helpful to one another. What I mean is that we
take so few opportunities.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
You're quite sure, my.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Dear miss Bexler, I insist, My dear Miss Spexler. I
write to inform you that I have arrived here in
Cologne after a most uneventful journey. I have seen the
river Rhine, and unfortunately mister Coleridge was all too truthful.
(07:17):
I'm about to post this letter to you, and then
leave my hotel to visit your cousin and tend to
your little affair. I have telephoned. I am expected sincerely,
Liars Breckinridge TAXI are you free? Who is free? In
(07:37):
this world? This is comforting to know that German cab
drivers are as philosophical as American ones. And you ha American?
Or you're out for some fun. I hope he has it.
You take me to seventy one Schiller Strata. Yea, you
won't find much fun there. No, don't know. That is
(07:57):
where the teachers are at the universe, that's where they live. Ah,
then I have the right address. Not for fun, for
real fun. I could take your turn now. I suppose
it all depends on how you define fun. For me.
Fun means ladies present. Oh, I shall be with some
ladies latey this evening. I misjudged you're American. We have
(08:21):
several female members of the Poetry Society. I was right
the first time. But if you should change your mind
later on, ask at the taxicab line for Willy Willie Kellner.
Very well, I remember. No, somehow I do not think
you is mister Perkins, Professor Bexler. Yes, please come here,
(08:58):
thank you, thank you, I who should thank you? Please
visit glass of wine never during the day. I've made
it a rule.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
We have a saying here in Cologne.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Lies were meant to be spoken, rules were meant to
be broken. Yes, well, it sounds better in German, and
I have a most excellent vintage. Oh well, a little,
I've been looking forward to your fine ride wines. Or
(09:34):
this is important from California, Ordeler. You may have heard
of it. I prefer it to our own that please
don't tell anyone, no, certainly not prose it that you're
very good als. Well, so you're a professor of molecular genetics,
(09:57):
I have said on I am a bookseller. Now that
I think of it, I happen to have in my
shop the definitive work in your field. Indeed, not that
there's much demand for it. It's by doctor Harrison Peterson.
You wear it all. Suddenly I must say that I
find his book hard going. Do you know doctor Harrison Peterson?
(10:22):
I imagine you would, Oh yes, yes, I field is so
small that we are the best of colleagues. Tell me,
how well do you know my cousin mat Well, she
comes into the shop now and then buy a book.
Wonderful woman, so kind, so concerned with humanity, so sincere
(10:43):
saying that woman, and so I used her to perform
this kindly act. Most people would not have bothered. Yes,
it could be a more cooperative world, I suppose let
us have a dream to that more cooperative world. Oh no, no,
thank you, no more for me. One has to set limits.
(11:06):
If no one broke limits, what would happen to progress? Huh.
You have a point that the Courage Society banquet begins
early this evening, and I must not keep you. But
now you know the way, you must come again. Perhaps
you could explain doctor Harrison Peterson's book rightly until next time.
(11:31):
Oh oh, I really forgot the deed. The deed. Oh yes,
of course the deed. I have it right here in
this handler ware. Thank you again, Hey boy, can reach
Please visit again soon? Goodbye? Oh, better off, sat Well,
(11:53):
aren't you going to sign the deed? Of course I
thought if you signed it now, I could take it
with me. This is a legal document, and I make
it a never to be broken rule never to sign
any legal document until my attorney has read it. Ah,
(12:14):
you may say to yourself, this is a simple small
matter of the d to a house, and my dearest
cousin Maud is a woman of the utmost directed to it. Yeah,
I understand, Professor Wexler. I hope I do not impress
you as an overlay suspicious type hair Brod certainly not.
(12:35):
We are saying here in Cologne. Make positive before you
sign what is yours? And what is my? I understand
it sounds better in German, and essay, well once again,
I'll will again. Professor Wexler labor hair.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
Praca do ta koomba. Karl estately pass down the decree
of the secret river and to Kevinson, Hello, did I
leave the lights on?
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Where I left? Ef? I can reach fat right, I
beg your pardon? Who are you? A name is Cedric Schmidt.
What are you doing in my room? I'm with the
Criminal Investigation Section of the German Federated Republic. Oh well,
what has this got to do with me? Some five
hours ago, at approximately six pm, you engaged a taxi
(13:36):
driven by a Billy Kromel. I'm I'm not sure I remember,
but he remembers you an American gentleman.
Speaker 6 (13:44):
He picked up in front of this hotel.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Oh yes, yes, yes, of course, he says.
Speaker 6 (13:49):
He drove in to number seventy one Shilistrasse, to the
home of a doctor Carl Hank Specksler.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Do you deny it?
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Deny it? Could I deny it? Why would I deny it?
Speaker 4 (14:04):
What is it you want.
Speaker 6 (14:05):
I have come here to tell you that doctor Carl
Heinz Specksler is dead.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Murdered. It's impossible. Unfortunately, it's true. Murdered when by who?
When sometime around sixth this evening, by whom? By you?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Well, let's see, we were with him during that visit
to doctor Carl Heinz Specksler's home. We didn't see or
hear Elias Breckinridge kill the professor. However, we were not
with him when he went to the meeting of the
College Society.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
We only had his word for that.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Have we been wrong.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
About meek, mild mannered Elias Breckinridge.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
One thing is sure. To be accused of murder when
your a stranger and alone in a foreign country is
hardly the happiest situations. I'll return shortly with that too.
(15:19):
The good Samaritan had compassion, as we are told. However,
helping one's neighbor can turn out to be a risky
business in the end, and it's no one's fault, really,
It's just the way things are. Somehow, So many of
us so often suffer our greatest losses when we're engaged
(15:40):
in someone else's business.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
A case in point, mister Elias Breckinridge, Her Breckleridge, why
am I being kept here in jail? Are you ready
to be reasonable, her Breckinridge about what you insist on making.
These foolish deniers confessed that you killed doctor Wexler, but
(16:05):
I didn't. Why did you visit doctor Bexler? I told
you to deliver a document, what sort of document? Indeed
to a house in Cincinnati where the city in America
located on the Ohio River. And I brought it to
him and left it there. You left this deed with
(16:28):
doctor Bexlller, Yes, and then I said goodbye and went
on to the bank. If you left this deed with
doctor Wexler, what do you mean? If if you left
it there, where is it? Where is it? That is
my question? At about six pm you visited doctor Wexler.
(16:49):
At about that time he was murdered, stabbed to death.
Oh no, no, no, no, I could never say you
left the document where none was found, Therefore none was left.
Therefore you lied about the deed in some you visited
him for another purpose to murder him. But why would
I want a murder, doctor Beckham, That is the question
(17:11):
you must answer. We have enough proof to go to
trial in a court of love, you mean, and to
be tried for murder. The only mystery is the motive?
Why af I can rich? Why help you? You can't
(17:32):
plade me? Hi, I'm an American citizen. Hid the man
to see me? American ambassador? The ambassador himself would who
who is the ease? He's just the servant of the
American people, of whom I happen to be.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
What mister Elias Breckinridge?
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Yes, well, who are you?
Speaker 4 (18:08):
I'm from the American Consulate. You my name is Victoria Shakespeare.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
You you don't look like a consul.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
I'm not.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
I have a long way to go. I'm only the
third assistant secretary.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I see. I'm not important enough to marry a visit
from the consul himself.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
He's visy negotiating a twenty million dollar trade treaty.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
What's more important? Justice for a human being? Our money?
Speaker 7 (18:37):
Now?
Speaker 4 (18:38):
What do you think I can do for you?
Speaker 2 (18:41):
You mean to say that I'm in danger of being hanged,
and the best my country can do for me is
to send a third assistant secretarist.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
You are in no danger of being hanged.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Oh well, then you are going to do something about it.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Because there is no death penalty in this country, you
will probably get life second. I may be a third assistant,
but I have prospects of becoming a first assistant. Will
you must do something what we've been presented with the
facts in the case. Tell me why did you kill him?
Speaker 2 (19:17):
But I told now let's see you Sits a nightmare.
I find myself in prison, accused of murder that I
did not commit.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
I am abandoned by my country, who still haven't answered
the question why did you kill him?
Speaker 2 (19:35):
I did all right? You refuse to help me.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
You insist you went there to deliver a deed, but
no deed or document was found.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Someone took it. Who who ever murdered Doctor Bexler? But
you murdered Dr Bexler and miss Shakespeare. If please leave me,
I it's foolish enough to believe that my country would
stand behind me. Lioness Breckinridge bookseller? Who does he think
(20:09):
he is? Are you quite finished with me?
Speaker 4 (20:14):
I have to make a report now. You claim you
came here to attend an international poetry conference, and I
can prove it. A customer of yours back home, a
Miss Maud Bexler asked you to deliver a document to
a cousin of hers here in Cologne, a doctor Carl
Heins Bexeler, who teachers at the university.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yes, that's true.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
You claim you visited doctor Bexler, briefly left the document
with him and went on to your meeting.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
That's exactly what happened.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Thank you, mister Breckinridge.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
And now that you've got that information, what are you
going to do with it? Why?
Speaker 4 (20:49):
Pilot, of course, mister Breckinridge. Pilot, Ah, mister Breckenridge, what.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Are you doing here again, Miss Shakespeare?
Speaker 4 (21:06):
The Consulate has assigned me to your case, which means what,
which means I have begun an investigation.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
It's about time I have been. Why don't you start
at the beginning, Start with miss Maud Bexler, who asked
me to deliver the deed.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
I have already done that. You've already, yes, mister Breckenridge.
I telephoned the chief of police back in the States
to get a deposition from miss Maude Bexler.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Well, now now we're getting somewhere.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
The transcript was sent here by plane and it arrived
this morning.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Now there, miss Shakespeare. This should get us off to
the proper start. It will prove that Miss Maud Bexler
asked me to bring the deed to doctor Carl Heinzbxler.
It will prove me, on the shadow of the doubt,
that I am speaking the truth.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Would you care to read the transcript?
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Oh? It is necessary, I'm sure it will be informed.
I know what it says.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
Do you here now? Why don't you look through it?
Speaker 2 (22:08):
A transcriptive deposition given by miss small tech Slats Detective
Lieutenant Frank Fremont of the Los Angeles Police on April seventeenth. Well,
Miss Bexley, are you acquainted with mister Elias Breckinridge.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
Brecking Ridge, I didn't mean to see.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Are you saying you do not know mister Elias Breakridge?
Speaker 4 (22:32):
No, I don't.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Are you saying that you have never been Breakinridge's bookstore?
Speaker 5 (22:36):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Oh, yes, yes, I had been there.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Did Miss Breakridge tell you he was going to Cologne
to attend a meeting of the Cole Ridge Society.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
No, I never engaged in any sort of personal conversation.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Miss Bexley. Did you give Miss break Ridge a deed
to a house you inherited? From an uncle in Cincinnati
to deliver to a cousin.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
In Cologne, Lieutenant Fremont. First, I have no uncle in
Cincinnati or anywhere else for that matter. Therefore he could
not leave me the deed of the house. And since
I have no cousin in Cologne, I would have no
reason to ask mister Breckinridge to deliver the non existent
deed for a non existent house to a non existent cousin.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Miss Bexley, do you have any idea why mister Breckinridge
should have told such a story.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
Well, obviously he's a promiscuous person. She's lying.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
The woman is lying.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Why should she lie? Mister Breckinridge. Is it true that
you lose money on your bookshop?
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Who told you?
Speaker 4 (23:41):
We've been checking some of your friends and acquaintances. You
told them the bookshop does not make a profit.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Oh well, you can't make money if you want to
carry books many people won't read.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Well, then why I carry them?
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Because they're good books, deserving books.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Who subsidizes your shop, mister Breckinridge? Who makes good the loss?
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Who? Woof?
Speaker 4 (24:08):
I do? But where do you get the money?
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I like to have a small income left to me
by my mother.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
Mister Breckinridge, isn't it true that your bookshop is a front?
Speaker 2 (24:22):
A front for what? Why don't you tell me, Miss Shakespeare,
I have not entertained.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
Are you a hired assassin?
Speaker 2 (24:31):
How can you make such an accusation?
Speaker 5 (24:33):
Then?
Speaker 4 (24:33):
What other reason would you have for killing doctor Bexler Bexler?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Can you see I was right? Mart Bexler denies having
a cousin in Cologne, but there was a carl Heinz
Bexler living here.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Name is not an unusual one.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Miss Shakespeare. Please, someone must listen to me. I am
listening to you. Someone must believe me.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
That's another story.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
I did not murder doctor Bexeler.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
I'm afraid that attitude. I don't get you very far.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
I see now how unfit I am for modern life?
Speaker 4 (25:08):
What brings me son?
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Suddenly the smooth and even tenor of my existence is disturbed.
I am, without warning, flung into a hazardous situation, and
I don't know how to cope with it.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
Mister Breckinridge, I am suggesting.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
I am a man of far flung interests. I have
enough information to fill Enormanic, but I know nothing that
is of any use to me in this hour of
my need.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
I would personally like to be of assistance. That's very
kind of you, as long as there is some hope
of your innocence. I am assigned to you, but I
am in if you go to trial, I am reassigned
to another project. I will have to figure freight rates
for the trade deal. It's a most boring task.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I can understand that.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
How can we prove your innocence?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Let us accept your word that you did not kill
Doctor Bexler. Describe that visit.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
I've done this at least a hundred times. I arrived
at the house. It was just about six, he admitted me.
Was he alone? I think so. There were no signs
of anyone else. And we had a glass of wine.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Yes, and we checked what about who?
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Just bright conversation about what. I don't remember.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
You came into the house. The first thing that happened.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
He offered me a glass of wine.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
The first thing you talked about it was the wine.
What did you say about the wine?
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Well, he remarked that it was California here in the
Rhine country. Yes, a white wine called Cordillera. I'd never
heard of it either, did I then, but bo more
small talk on what subject, his particular subject, molecular genetics,
that I happen to remark that in my bookshop I
(27:19):
carried the definitive work in the field. Yes, I oh,
I made a mistake, a mistake. How could I possibly
make such a mistake? I never do.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
What are you talking about, mister Breckenridge.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Now I know I didn't kill doctor Bexler. Now I
can prove it.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
If a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, what is
a great deal?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Our friend, Elias.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Breckenridge has come to this Rnish city of Cologne to
enjoy poetry. Instead, he has spent most of his time
in prison.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Well, there's nothing strange about that. After all, some of
the world's greatest poetry was written behind bars. We'll see
if we can get him out of there and act three.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars
a cage. That's a fine poetic sentiment, but it does
strain the limits of poetic license. Stone walls and iron
bars make the toughest and strongest cages ever made.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Two. They cannot confine the spirit, but they do a
great job of holding in the body. Yes, it's a
great philosophy for philosophers, but small comfort for the rest
of us.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
You say you can prove you didn't kill doctor Maxler.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Yes, certainly. How the man who opened the door and
admitted me to the house, the man who offered me
the grass of wine, the man who chatted with me,
and finally the man who took the deed from me.
He was not doctor Carl Heinzpexler. He wasn't is he?
I happened to mention that I sold the definitive work
(29:27):
in his field, molecular genetics, and I said it was
by doctor Harrison Peterson, and he said he and doctor
Harrison Peterson were the best of colleague. Well, I never, never,
never do this. Oh, the author of the studies in
molecular genetics is not doctor Harrison Peterson. It isn't. No,
(29:50):
it's doctor Peterman Harrington.
Speaker 4 (29:53):
Well, who's doctor Harrison Peterson.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Who He's the author of gradation in the Southern Sanskrit diale.
It's a completely different field. Why did I get the
two mixed up? Surely if it were the real doctor Bexler,
he would have known the difference. Wait, yes, I am
accused of killing doctor Bexler. What did he look like. Fortunately,
(30:25):
he's still being held here. This place makes me nervous.
Speaker 4 (30:30):
Why tell me more, Sancy, thank you for your cooperation in.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Doctor Smith, I have a slide open. Number thirty two
is if doctor Carr hangs Bexler well breckon Rich Uh.
Speaker 7 (30:52):
No, no, he's not doctor Bexler, but he is is
not the doctor Bexler I spoke to.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
What didn't that man look like.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
As completely different from this one as you could imagine.
This one is dark, the other was fair. This one
his long hair, the other was half bald.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
Inspector Schmidt, in light of this new development, could we
release mister blackenrig from custody?
Speaker 2 (31:28):
So far have nothing tangible. We will be responsible for him, Oh,
Inspector Schmidt. I must be given the opportunity to prove
my innocence. Now there are two things. First, the man
who posed as doctor Bexler about fifty ten inches, around
fifty five years old, light complexion, half bald. Does this
(31:53):
description seem familiar.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
I'm sure the Inspector would work on him.
Speaker 8 (31:56):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
The second cordillera it's a white wine. Have you ever
heard of it? No, it's from California. Then I would
have no reason to hear them, is it sold here
in the city?
Speaker 4 (32:11):
Well, why are you so anxious to know about that wine?
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Am I free to go? You released the custody of
your counculate?
Speaker 1 (32:20):
He means me.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
But why did you want to come back here to
doctor Bexler's place to look at this wine bottle? What
fascinates you about that wine?
Speaker 2 (32:36):
It's a very small winery in the Naca Valley. I'm
sure they don't export.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
But what's the difference.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
How did this bottle get here? Someone had to bring
it from America? When do they deliver the mail?
Speaker 4 (32:53):
Or about two o'clock?
Speaker 2 (32:55):
It's just about an hour from now.
Speaker 7 (32:57):
Let's wait.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Hard. May we talk to you for a moment? Are
you the new people in his house? For doctor Mexler?
Speaker 8 (33:09):
Not even cold in his grave, and already the places
oriented where his life must go?
Speaker 2 (33:16):
One doctor beslat Did he get a great deal of mail? No?
Did he get much mail from America? America? Huh?
Speaker 8 (33:29):
Very Sometimes I would ask him for the stamps for
my sister's little boy.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Yes we did. Did he get any packages from America?
Or fercucious or your shoes? Maybe once a month? Some
markers of wine? Why are you sure oh, sometimes he
will offer me a glass wine that came from a
bottle like this.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
Oh, you, it's not bad.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Who phoned American Vine? Thank you, thank you very much, sir.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
You wanted to see us misspector Schmidt.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Yes, sir Prisidan, I have good news for her. Breckinridge,
the tall man who was posing as doctor Bexler. Yes,
his name is Heinrich Mohler. He was a hardened criminal.
He's dead dead. He was shot while robbing oare house
in Stuttgart. Before he died, he confessed to the murder
(34:37):
of doctor Bexler, and this deed was found in his clothes.
Is this the document who delivered to the doctor? Well,
of course it was in an envelope and I didn't
read it, but it seems to be a deed to
a house in Cincinnati.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
Now this proves you were telling the truth.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Then, and it's all over. There's poor doctor Bexler is dead.
Well what should I do with indeed?
Speaker 4 (35:07):
I suggest to return it to miss Bexler when you
return to Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Yes, of course I'll do that. I'm sorry that was misunderstanding.
Where it isn't every day when is accused of murderizable.
Speaker 4 (35:24):
You are no longer in my custody, mister Breckenridge.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
That's a pity. You have to go back to calculating
freight rates. All swell, it ends well. As a poet said,
although it sounds better than German. I would like to
(35:49):
make a transatlantic call. Please, yes, yes, do Miss Maude
Bexler in Los Angeles, California. Hey, yes, yes, hello, Yes,
this is mister Bregery. She's not do you know where
(36:14):
she can be reached? Oh? She's a route to Germany?
Where to Cologne?
Speaker 4 (36:33):
Help them in, mister brecken merchandi, come in, Thank.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
You, small world. Indeed, what brings you here?
Speaker 4 (36:47):
A very sad event? As you may know, my cousin,
my only relative, was murdered.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
I flew here for the funeral her most pious respects.
I have here the deed you asked me to deliver.
Speaker 4 (37:05):
Oh, I thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
That's your property.
Speaker 4 (37:07):
You've been most helpful to me, mister breckamitt.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
I wish I could say that you've been most helpful
to me, Miss Besi.
Speaker 4 (37:12):
Why whatever do you mean?
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Why did you tell the police you didn't give me
that document to deliver to your cousin. Oh that yes?
That well?
Speaker 4 (37:20):
You see? You see, I'm absolutely terrified of the police,
are you. Yes, Once you're involved, it brings nothing but
notoriety and scandal. It's best to keep clear.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Such what did you stop to think? Where that would
leave me?
Speaker 4 (37:33):
Well, I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
I was being accused of murder.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
When the police officer called that morning. I was so
surprised and frightened that I lost my head. You must
believe me. I would have made it all straight later on.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Is that of that?
Speaker 4 (37:49):
You see? There's no harm done, You're free. It all ended,
well has it ended? Poor Carl? His murderer has confessed,
and what I understand the case is closed?
Speaker 2 (38:03):
Not quite?
Speaker 4 (38:05):
Why is there anything else?
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Let's see, we have miss Maude Bexler in Los Angeles, California.
We have had her cousin, doctor Carl Bexler, in Cologne,
West Germany. Miss Bexler is a spy, so is her cousin.
Miss Bexler purchases US military secrets and sends them to
(38:31):
doctor Bexler, who in turn sells them here in Europe.
Speaker 4 (38:36):
That's a lie.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Most are sent in wine bottles, or should I say
on wine bottles. Needed is a bottle with a great
deal of white on a label. Cordillera answers that requirement.
A simple invisible ink is used lemon juice or any
strong concentration of a setic actet.
Speaker 4 (38:57):
So I must ask you to lead.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
When you discover that I was leading for Europe, you
made up the story of the dead uncle so that
you could give me the deed to deliver. But on
the back was an important message in invisible ink at
a lie. But someone over here must have discovered what
doctor Bexler was doing, perhaps tried to blackmail him or whatever.
(39:21):
At any rate, he killed Bexler just before I arrived,
and he posed as Bexler.
Speaker 4 (39:26):
One word of this is the truth.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Do you know what's on the back of that dead
miss Bexler? In invisible the fire little heat to it,
and you will read the specifications for the electronic range
finder for the latest.
Speaker 4 (39:42):
Was enough, mister Breckenridge.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Well, now that's a pistol and I know how to
use it. Do you expect to get away with anything?
Speaker 4 (39:54):
Yes, it was self defense. You were slightly mad, anyhow accent.
You came here to kill me for lying about that deed.
What could I do? I had to defend myself. Now
I shall start to scream and then I'll fire.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
Help, help, he's going to kill Do not shoot, Miss
Becheler all as well? We have him, We have him.
Speaker 4 (40:18):
He's crazy, a mad Manly why he wanted to kill me?
Speaker 2 (40:22):
That's a lie. If that's a lie, enough out of you.
You're under rest.
Speaker 4 (40:34):
Well, you certainly full things up.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
That woman tried to kill me. She's a spy.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
We know she's a spy. You know we've been feeding
her the wrong information for years. Doctor Bexler has been
selling it. I suppose it caught up with him. A
professional assassin was hired to take care of him just
as you arrived.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
They knew you about her all along.
Speaker 4 (40:59):
We had to get you out from under. Why did
you have to try to solve it? Miss Bexler is
very valuable to us as a source of misinformation for
the enemy. Now she'll have to leave all of her
contacts on the West coast and move somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
Or I could move somewhere else, really where. I could
open a bookstore here in Cologne.
Speaker 4 (41:32):
I understand it takes years to build up a trade.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
I understand it takes years to become a first secretary
at the Consulate.
Speaker 4 (41:42):
It's not so bad waiting if you have company.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Who says we don't give you happy endings. Here's a
story that ended happily for all of the principles, Breckinridge
and Victoria Shakespeare. Of course, certainly for maud Wexler, who
is continuing her career as an enemy spy but working.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Unconsciously for our side. I shall return with another happy
thought in just a few moments. Today the emphasis is
on ecology the environment, clean air, pure water, as it
(42:33):
should be. But there is another ecology, the ecology of
the spirit, the ecology of thought. There is so much
emphasis given to the quality of life. How about a
little concentration on the quality of the mind. We have
exercises for the mind seven times each week right here.
(42:54):
Our cast included.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Robert Dryden, Carol t i Tell, Bob.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
Caliban, and William Griffiths.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown Radio.
Mystery Theater were sponsored in part by True Value Hardware Stores.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
This is e. G.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
Marshall inviting you to return to our Mystery Theater for
another adventure in the macabre.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
Until next time, Pleasant dreams,
BBS Radio Mystery Theater Presents.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Come in Welcome. I'm E. G. Marshall.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Life is eternal, and love is immortal, and death is
only a horizon. And the horizon is nothing save the
limit of our sight, the limit of our site. It
has nothing to do with the limit of our perception.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Therefore, it is not the vision of our eyes that
illuminates what lies beyond the horizon. Sometime around six this evening,
you hire a cab. I don't remember inspecting, but the
driver remembers you. It ords you to doctor Bexler addressed.
You deny it. No, I can't deny it. Now Why
(01:05):
have you come here, inspector to tell you that doctor
Bexler is dead? He was murdered, murdered by whom I'm
not sure, but I can tell you that you're the
best suspect we have.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Our mystery drama Wine, Women and Murder was written especially
for the Mystery Theater by Sam Dan and stars Robert Bryden.
It is sponsored in part by Buick Motor Division and
arm Allergy Relief Medicine.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
I'll be back shortly with that one.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Are there as men many stars in the sky, as
there are grains of sand on the beach. And does
it matter. It does to some people, proving that any knowledge,
no matter how esoteric, is meaningful to somebody, sometime somewhere, somehow. Well,
(02:22):
no matter what it is, you want to find out,
if there's ever been a book published on it, Elias Breckinridge.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Would know all about it.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Good morning, mister Breckinridge.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Oh, good morning, miss Bexler.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
I came in because of the sign on your door.
All the sign, Well, it says we'll be closed for holiday. Yes,
but I'm not aware of any holiday. There's no national
one that I know of, even though they've been scrambled
about in the most confusing fashion.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
If that's true, well it's my holiday. I shall be
away for a week. Oh you mean it nis no,
my dear miss Bexler. A vacation implies a period of
freedom from toil. I do not consider my bookshop as
an enslaver, of.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Course, trust you to put the situation in its true perspective.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
I am our route to Germany, all.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
The way from California to Germany, the city of Colonne,
or Cologne, as we might say. Oh, is there some purpose,
some reason for choosing Cologne?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Of course, I'm a member of the International Colerge Society Coage.
The poet Samuel Taylor Colorge, of.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Course, the ancient mariner.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
The best known, but perhaps the least of his achievements.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Wasn't he English?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
So yes, most certainly, quite essentially Englishman.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Then it would seem to me that.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
The society should meet in England. Precisely, it requires no
great imagination or originality to honor an English poet in England.
Done it?
Speaker 4 (03:58):
But why need to honor him in Germany?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Because of the Rhine, the rhine, the river, Oh, tell
me of Misspecsla. What is the most serious problem facing
society today?
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Promiscuity?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Ecology?
Speaker 4 (04:16):
The reasonable people may differ.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Coleridge was the first of the major poets to be
truly concerned with the population of the environment.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Is that a fact?
Speaker 2 (04:26):
On a trip to Germany he could hardly wait to
see the beautiful Rhine of song and story. It almost
broke his heart. Yes, on close examination, it was nothing
but a poisoned and polluted river. He therefore wrote the
famous poem Cologne, the theme of which is the river Rhine.
(04:52):
It is well known, does wash the city of Cologne.
But tell me nymphs what power divine shall henceforth us
the river Rhine beautiful? Yes, he is one of the
great Romantic poets. He is dead almost a century and
a half, and yet he speaks of to day.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
You must admit the Romantic poets we all promiscuous.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
And so we meet to honor one who was not
only a great poet but also a pioneer environmentalist.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
I dare say it is not enough for.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
A poet to write beautifully. His words must also be meaningful.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
I'm sure of it. Well, you said you were going
to Cologne, and by the shiest of coincidences, I have
some business in, of all places, Cologne.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Oh do you Indeed?
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Yes, I have a cousin in Cologne, a doctor Carl
Heinz Bexler. He teaches at the university. Oh indeed, yes,
his specialty is molecular genetics. Is that a fact that
we have an uncle who died?
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Oh I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
He was ninety five Walliam So in Cincinnati, where he
left us a house We agreed to sell it.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
I see, you.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
See, we must get the deed to my cousin somehow.
And well I was thinking, oh no, no, it would
be an imposition.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
What would well, since you.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Are going to Cologne, I should be happy to would you?
You see, the males can be so undetendable, but it
would be too much trouble.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
No, no trouble at all.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
You could place the deed in his hand.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
And he could sign where.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
That's all he has to do, and then I can
read it back. I can't help feelings that I'm in posed.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Oh no, no, if you're sure, I insist. I keep saying,
what a pity we have so few opportunities to be
helpful to one another. What I mean is that we
take so few opportunities.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
You're quite sure, my.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Dear miss Bexler, I insist, My dear Miss Spexler. I
write to inform you that I have arrived here in
Cologne after a most uneventful journey. I have seen the
river Rhine, and unfortunately mister Coleridge was all too truthful.
(07:17):
I'm about to post this letter to you, and then
leave my hotel to visit your cousin and tend to
your little affair. I have telephoned. I am expected sincerely,
Liars Breckinridge TAXI are you free? Who is free? In
(07:37):
this world? This is comforting to know that German cab
drivers are as philosophical as American ones. And you ha American?
Or you're out for some fun. I hope he has it.
You take me to seventy one Schiller Strata. Yea, you
won't find much fun there. No, don't know. That is
(07:57):
where the teachers are at the universe, that's where they live. Ah,
then I have the right address. Not for fun, for
real fun. I could take your turn now. I suppose
it all depends on how you define fun. For me.
Fun means ladies present. Oh, I shall be with some
ladies latey this evening. I misjudged you're American. We have
(08:21):
several female members of the Poetry Society. I was right
the first time. But if you should change your mind
later on, ask at the taxicab line for Willy Willie Kellner.
Very well, I remember. No, somehow I do not think
you is mister Perkins, Professor Bexler. Yes, please come here,
(08:58):
thank you, thank you, I who should thank you? Please
visit glass of wine never during the day. I've made
it a rule.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
We have a saying here in Cologne.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Lies were meant to be spoken, rules were meant to
be broken. Yes, well, it sounds better in German, and
I have a most excellent vintage. Oh well, a little,
I've been looking forward to your fine ride wines. Or
(09:34):
this is important from California, Ordeler. You may have heard
of it. I prefer it to our own that please
don't tell anyone, no, certainly not prose it that you're
very good als. Well, so you're a professor of molecular genetics,
(09:57):
I have said on I am a bookseller. Now that
I think of it, I happen to have in my
shop the definitive work in your field. Indeed, not that
there's much demand for it. It's by doctor Harrison Peterson.
You wear it all. Suddenly I must say that I
find his book hard going. Do you know doctor Harrison Peterson?
(10:22):
I imagine you would, Oh yes, yes, I field is so
small that we are the best of colleagues. Tell me,
how well do you know my cousin mat Well, she
comes into the shop now and then buy a book.
Wonderful woman, so kind, so concerned with humanity, so sincere
(10:43):
saying that woman, and so I used her to perform
this kindly act. Most people would not have bothered. Yes,
it could be a more cooperative world, I suppose let
us have a dream to that more cooperative world. Oh no, no,
thank you, no more for me. One has to set limits.
(11:06):
If no one broke limits, what would happen to progress? Huh.
You have a point that the Courage Society banquet begins
early this evening, and I must not keep you. But
now you know the way, you must come again. Perhaps
you could explain doctor Harrison Peterson's book rightly until next time.
(11:31):
Oh oh, I really forgot the deed. The deed. Oh yes,
of course the deed. I have it right here in
this handler ware. Thank you again, Hey boy, can reach
Please visit again soon? Goodbye? Oh, better off, sat Well,
(11:53):
aren't you going to sign the deed? Of course I
thought if you signed it now, I could take it
with me. This is a legal document, and I make
it a never to be broken rule never to sign
any legal document until my attorney has read it. Ah,
(12:14):
you may say to yourself, this is a simple small
matter of the d to a house, and my dearest
cousin Maud is a woman of the utmost directed to it. Yeah,
I understand, Professor Wexler. I hope I do not impress
you as an overlay suspicious type hair Brod certainly not.
(12:35):
We are saying here in Cologne. Make positive before you
sign what is yours? And what is my? I understand
it sounds better in German, and essay, well once again,
I'll will again. Professor Wexler labor hair.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
Praca do ta koomba. Karl estately pass down the decree
of the secret river and to Kevinson, Hello, did I
leave the lights on?
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Where I left? Ef? I can reach fat right, I
beg your pardon? Who are you? A name is Cedric Schmidt.
What are you doing in my room? I'm with the
Criminal Investigation Section of the German Federated Republic. Oh well,
what has this got to do with me? Some five
hours ago, at approximately six pm, you engaged a taxi
(13:36):
driven by a Billy Kromel. I'm I'm not sure I remember,
but he remembers you an American gentleman.
Speaker 6 (13:44):
He picked up in front of this hotel.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Oh yes, yes, yes, of course, he says.
Speaker 6 (13:49):
He drove in to number seventy one Shilistrasse, to the
home of a doctor Carl Hank Specksler.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Do you deny it?
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Deny it? Could I deny it? Why would I deny it?
Speaker 4 (14:04):
What is it you want.
Speaker 6 (14:05):
I have come here to tell you that doctor Carl
Heinz Specksler is dead.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Murdered. It's impossible. Unfortunately, it's true. Murdered when by who?
When sometime around sixth this evening, by whom? By you?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Well, let's see, we were with him during that visit
to doctor Carl Heinz Specksler's home. We didn't see or
hear Elias Breckinridge kill the professor. However, we were not
with him when he went to the meeting of the
College Society.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
We only had his word for that.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Have we been wrong.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
About meek, mild mannered Elias Breckinridge.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
One thing is sure. To be accused of murder when
your a stranger and alone in a foreign country is
hardly the happiest situations. I'll return shortly with that too.
(15:19):
The good Samaritan had compassion, as we are told. However,
helping one's neighbor can turn out to be a risky
business in the end, and it's no one's fault, really,
It's just the way things are. Somehow, So many of
us so often suffer our greatest losses when we're engaged
(15:40):
in someone else's business.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
A case in point, mister Elias Breckinridge, Her Breckleridge, why
am I being kept here in jail? Are you ready
to be reasonable, her Breckinridge about what you insist on making.
These foolish deniers confessed that you killed doctor Wexler, but
(16:05):
I didn't. Why did you visit doctor Bexler? I told
you to deliver a document, what sort of document? Indeed
to a house in Cincinnati where the city in America
located on the Ohio River. And I brought it to
him and left it there. You left this deed with
(16:28):
doctor Bexlller, Yes, and then I said goodbye and went
on to the bank. If you left this deed with
doctor Wexler, what do you mean? If if you left
it there, where is it? Where is it? That is
my question? At about six pm you visited doctor Wexler.
(16:49):
At about that time he was murdered, stabbed to death.
Oh no, no, no, no, I could never say you
left the document where none was found, Therefore none was left.
Therefore you lied about the deed in some you visited
him for another purpose to murder him. But why would
I want a murder, doctor Beckham, That is the question
(17:11):
you must answer. We have enough proof to go to
trial in a court of love, you mean, and to
be tried for murder. The only mystery is the motive?
Why af I can rich? Why help you? You can't
(17:32):
plade me? Hi, I'm an American citizen. Hid the man
to see me? American ambassador? The ambassador himself would who
who is the ease? He's just the servant of the
American people, of whom I happen to be.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
What mister Elias Breckinridge?
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Yes, well, who are you?
Speaker 4 (18:08):
I'm from the American Consulate. You my name is Victoria Shakespeare.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
You you don't look like a consul.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
I'm not.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
I have a long way to go. I'm only the
third assistant secretary.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I see. I'm not important enough to marry a visit
from the consul himself.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
He's visy negotiating a twenty million dollar trade treaty.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
What's more important? Justice for a human being? Our money?
Speaker 7 (18:37):
Now?
Speaker 4 (18:38):
What do you think I can do for you?
Speaker 2 (18:41):
You mean to say that I'm in danger of being hanged,
and the best my country can do for me is
to send a third assistant secretarist.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
You are in no danger of being hanged.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Oh well, then you are going to do something about it.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Because there is no death penalty in this country, you
will probably get life second. I may be a third assistant,
but I have prospects of becoming a first assistant. Will
you must do something what we've been presented with the
facts in the case. Tell me why did you kill him?
Speaker 2 (19:17):
But I told now let's see you Sits a nightmare.
I find myself in prison, accused of murder that I
did not commit.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
I am abandoned by my country, who still haven't answered
the question why did you kill him?
Speaker 2 (19:35):
I did all right? You refuse to help me.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
You insist you went there to deliver a deed, but
no deed or document was found.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Someone took it. Who who ever murdered Doctor Bexler? But
you murdered Dr Bexler and miss Shakespeare. If please leave me,
I it's foolish enough to believe that my country would
stand behind me. Lioness Breckinridge bookseller? Who does he think
(20:09):
he is? Are you quite finished with me?
Speaker 4 (20:14):
I have to make a report now. You claim you
came here to attend an international poetry conference, and I
can prove it. A customer of yours back home, a
Miss Maud Bexler asked you to deliver a document to
a cousin of hers here in Cologne, a doctor Carl
Heins Bexeler, who teachers at the university.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yes, that's true.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
You claim you visited doctor Bexler, briefly left the document
with him and went on to your meeting.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
That's exactly what happened.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Thank you, mister Breckinridge.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
And now that you've got that information, what are you
going to do with it? Why?
Speaker 4 (20:49):
Pilot, of course, mister Breckinridge. Pilot, Ah, mister Breckenridge, what.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Are you doing here again, Miss Shakespeare?
Speaker 4 (21:06):
The Consulate has assigned me to your case, which means what,
which means I have begun an investigation.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
It's about time I have been. Why don't you start
at the beginning, Start with miss Maud Bexler, who asked
me to deliver the deed.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
I have already done that. You've already, yes, mister Breckenridge.
I telephoned the chief of police back in the States
to get a deposition from miss Maude Bexler.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Well, now now we're getting somewhere.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
The transcript was sent here by plane and it arrived
this morning.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Now there, miss Shakespeare. This should get us off to
the proper start. It will prove that Miss Maud Bexler
asked me to bring the deed to doctor Carl Heinzbxler.
It will prove me, on the shadow of the doubt,
that I am speaking the truth.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Would you care to read the transcript?
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Oh? It is necessary, I'm sure it will be informed.
I know what it says.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
Do you here now? Why don't you look through it?
Speaker 2 (22:08):
A transcriptive deposition given by miss small tech Slats Detective
Lieutenant Frank Fremont of the Los Angeles Police on April seventeenth. Well,
Miss Bexley, are you acquainted with mister Elias Breckinridge.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
Brecking Ridge, I didn't mean to see.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Are you saying you do not know mister Elias Breakridge?
Speaker 4 (22:32):
No, I don't.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Are you saying that you have never been Breakinridge's bookstore?
Speaker 5 (22:36):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Oh, yes, yes, I had been there.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Did Miss Breakridge tell you he was going to Cologne
to attend a meeting of the Cole Ridge Society.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
No, I never engaged in any sort of personal conversation.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Miss Bexley. Did you give Miss break Ridge a deed
to a house you inherited? From an uncle in Cincinnati
to deliver to a cousin.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
In Cologne, Lieutenant Fremont. First, I have no uncle in
Cincinnati or anywhere else for that matter. Therefore he could
not leave me the deed of the house. And since
I have no cousin in Cologne, I would have no
reason to ask mister Breckinridge to deliver the non existent
deed for a non existent house to a non existent cousin.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Miss Bexley, do you have any idea why mister Breckinridge
should have told such a story.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
Well, obviously he's a promiscuous person. She's lying.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
The woman is lying.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Why should she lie? Mister Breckinridge. Is it true that
you lose money on your bookshop?
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Who told you?
Speaker 4 (23:41):
We've been checking some of your friends and acquaintances. You
told them the bookshop does not make a profit.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Oh well, you can't make money if you want to
carry books many people won't read.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Well, then why I carry them?
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Because they're good books, deserving books.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Who subsidizes your shop, mister Breckinridge? Who makes good the loss?
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Who? Woof?
Speaker 4 (24:08):
I do? But where do you get the money?
Speaker 2 (24:12):
I like to have a small income left to me
by my mother.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
Mister Breckinridge, isn't it true that your bookshop is a front?
Speaker 2 (24:22):
A front for what? Why don't you tell me, Miss Shakespeare,
I have not entertained.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
Are you a hired assassin?
Speaker 2 (24:31):
How can you make such an accusation?
Speaker 5 (24:33):
Then?
Speaker 4 (24:33):
What other reason would you have for killing doctor Bexler Bexler?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Can you see I was right? Mart Bexler denies having
a cousin in Cologne, but there was a carl Heinz
Bexler living here.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Name is not an unusual one.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Miss Shakespeare. Please, someone must listen to me. I am
listening to you. Someone must believe me.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
That's another story.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
I did not murder doctor Bexeler.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
I'm afraid that attitude. I don't get you very far.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
I see now how unfit I am for modern life?
Speaker 4 (25:08):
What brings me son?
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Suddenly the smooth and even tenor of my existence is disturbed.
I am, without warning, flung into a hazardous situation, and
I don't know how to cope with it.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
Mister Breckinridge, I am suggesting.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
I am a man of far flung interests. I have
enough information to fill Enormanic, but I know nothing that
is of any use to me in this hour of
my need.
Speaker 4 (25:43):
I would personally like to be of assistance. That's very
kind of you, as long as there is some hope
of your innocence. I am assigned to you, but I
am in if you go to trial, I am reassigned
to another project. I will have to figure freight rates
for the trade deal. It's a most boring task.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I can understand that.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
How can we prove your innocence?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Let us accept your word that you did not kill
Doctor Bexler. Describe that visit.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
I've done this at least a hundred times. I arrived
at the house. It was just about six, he admitted me.
Was he alone? I think so. There were no signs
of anyone else. And we had a glass of wine.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Yes, and we checked what about who?
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Just bright conversation about what. I don't remember.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
You came into the house. The first thing that happened.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
He offered me a glass of wine.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
The first thing you talked about it was the wine.
What did you say about the wine?
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Well, he remarked that it was California here in the
Rhine country. Yes, a white wine called Cordillera. I'd never
heard of it either, did I then, but bo more
small talk on what subject, his particular subject, molecular genetics,
that I happen to remark that in my bookshop I
(27:19):
carried the definitive work in the field. Yes, I oh,
I made a mistake, a mistake. How could I possibly
make such a mistake? I never do.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
What are you talking about, mister Breckenridge.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Now I know I didn't kill doctor Bexler. Now I
can prove it.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
If a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, what is
a great deal?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Our friend, Elias.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Breckenridge has come to this Rnish city of Cologne to
enjoy poetry. Instead, he has spent most of his time
in prison.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Well, there's nothing strange about that. After all, some of
the world's greatest poetry was written behind bars. We'll see
if we can get him out of there and act three.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars
a cage. That's a fine poetic sentiment, but it does
strain the limits of poetic license. Stone walls and iron
bars make the toughest and strongest cages ever made.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Two. They cannot confine the spirit, but they do a
great job of holding in the body. Yes, it's a
great philosophy for philosophers, but small comfort for the rest
of us.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
You say you can prove you didn't kill doctor Maxler.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Yes, certainly. How the man who opened the door and
admitted me to the house, the man who offered me
the grass of wine, the man who chatted with me,
and finally the man who took the deed from me.
He was not doctor Carl Heinzpexler. He wasn't is he?
I happened to mention that I sold the definitive work
(29:27):
in his field, molecular genetics, and I said it was
by doctor Harrison Peterson, and he said he and doctor
Harrison Peterson were the best of colleague. Well, I never, never,
never do this. Oh, the author of the studies in
molecular genetics is not doctor Harrison Peterson. It isn't. No,
(29:50):
it's doctor Peterman Harrington.
Speaker 4 (29:53):
Well, who's doctor Harrison Peterson.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Who He's the author of gradation in the Southern Sanskrit diale.
It's a completely different field. Why did I get the
two mixed up? Surely if it were the real doctor Bexler,
he would have known the difference. Wait, yes, I am
accused of killing doctor Bexler. What did he look like. Fortunately,
(30:25):
he's still being held here. This place makes me nervous.
Speaker 4 (30:30):
Why tell me more, Sancy, thank you for your cooperation in.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Doctor Smith, I have a slide open. Number thirty two
is if doctor Carr hangs Bexler well breckon Rich Uh.
Speaker 7 (30:52):
No, no, he's not doctor Bexler, but he is is
not the doctor Bexler I spoke to.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
What didn't that man look like.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
As completely different from this one as you could imagine.
This one is dark, the other was fair. This one
his long hair, the other was half bald.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
Inspector Schmidt, in light of this new development, could we
release mister blackenrig from custody?
Speaker 2 (31:28):
So far have nothing tangible. We will be responsible for him, Oh,
Inspector Schmidt. I must be given the opportunity to prove
my innocence. Now there are two things. First, the man
who posed as doctor Bexler about fifty ten inches, around
fifty five years old, light complexion, half bald. Does this
(31:53):
description seem familiar.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
I'm sure the Inspector would work on him.
Speaker 8 (31:56):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
The second cordillera it's a white wine. Have you ever
heard of it? No, it's from California. Then I would
have no reason to hear them, is it sold here
in the city?
Speaker 4 (32:11):
Well, why are you so anxious to know about that wine?
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Am I free to go? You released the custody of
your counculate?
Speaker 1 (32:20):
He means me.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
But why did you want to come back here to
doctor Bexler's place to look at this wine bottle? What
fascinates you about that wine?
Speaker 2 (32:36):
It's a very small winery in the Naca Valley. I'm
sure they don't export.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
But what's the difference.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
How did this bottle get here? Someone had to bring
it from America? When do they deliver the mail?
Speaker 4 (32:53):
Or about two o'clock?
Speaker 2 (32:55):
It's just about an hour from now.
Speaker 7 (32:57):
Let's wait.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Hard. May we talk to you for a moment? Are
you the new people in his house? For doctor Mexler?
Speaker 8 (33:09):
Not even cold in his grave, and already the places
oriented where his life must go?
Speaker 2 (33:16):
One doctor beslat Did he get a great deal of mail? No?
Did he get much mail from America? America? Huh?
Speaker 8 (33:29):
Very Sometimes I would ask him for the stamps for
my sister's little boy.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Yes we did. Did he get any packages from America?
Or fercucious or your shoes? Maybe once a month? Some
markers of wine? Why are you sure oh, sometimes he
will offer me a glass wine that came from a
bottle like this.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
Oh, you, it's not bad.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Who phoned American Vine? Thank you, thank you very much, sir.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
You wanted to see us misspector Schmidt.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Yes, sir Prisidan, I have good news for her. Breckinridge,
the tall man who was posing as doctor Bexler. Yes,
his name is Heinrich Mohler. He was a hardened criminal.
He's dead dead. He was shot while robbing oare house
in Stuttgart. Before he died, he confessed to the murder
(34:37):
of doctor Bexler, and this deed was found in his clothes.
Is this the document who delivered to the doctor? Well,
of course it was in an envelope and I didn't
read it, but it seems to be a deed to
a house in Cincinnati.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
Now this proves you were telling the truth.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Then, and it's all over. There's poor doctor Bexler is dead.
Well what should I do with indeed?
Speaker 4 (35:07):
I suggest to return it to miss Bexler when you
return to Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Yes, of course I'll do that. I'm sorry that was misunderstanding.
Where it isn't every day when is accused of murderizable.
Speaker 4 (35:24):
You are no longer in my custody, mister Breckenridge.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
That's a pity. You have to go back to calculating
freight rates. All swell, it ends well. As a poet said,
although it sounds better than German. I would like to
(35:49):
make a transatlantic call. Please, yes, yes, do Miss Maude
Bexler in Los Angeles, California. Hey, yes, yes, hello, Yes,
this is mister Bregery. She's not do you know where
(36:14):
she can be reached? Oh? She's a route to Germany?
Where to Cologne?
Speaker 4 (36:33):
Help them in, mister brecken merchandi, come in, Thank.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
You, small world. Indeed, what brings you here?
Speaker 4 (36:47):
A very sad event? As you may know, my cousin,
my only relative, was murdered.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
I flew here for the funeral her most pious respects.
I have here the deed you asked me to deliver.
Speaker 4 (37:05):
Oh, I thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
That's your property.
Speaker 4 (37:07):
You've been most helpful to me, mister breckamitt.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
I wish I could say that you've been most helpful
to me, Miss Besi.
Speaker 4 (37:12):
Why whatever do you mean?
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Why did you tell the police you didn't give me
that document to deliver to your cousin. Oh that yes?
That well?
Speaker 4 (37:20):
You see? You see, I'm absolutely terrified of the police,
are you. Yes, Once you're involved, it brings nothing but
notoriety and scandal. It's best to keep clear.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Such what did you stop to think? Where that would
leave me?
Speaker 4 (37:33):
Well, I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
I was being accused of murder.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
When the police officer called that morning. I was so
surprised and frightened that I lost my head. You must
believe me. I would have made it all straight later on.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Is that of that?
Speaker 4 (37:49):
You see? There's no harm done, You're free. It all ended,
well has it ended? Poor Carl? His murderer has confessed,
and what I understand the case is closed?
Speaker 2 (38:03):
Not quite?
Speaker 4 (38:05):
Why is there anything else?
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Let's see, we have miss Maude Bexler in Los Angeles, California.
We have had her cousin, doctor Carl Bexler, in Cologne,
West Germany. Miss Bexler is a spy, so is her cousin.
Miss Bexler purchases US military secrets and sends them to
(38:31):
doctor Bexler, who in turn sells them here in Europe.
Speaker 4 (38:36):
That's a lie.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Most are sent in wine bottles, or should I say
on wine bottles. Needed is a bottle with a great
deal of white on a label. Cordillera answers that requirement.
A simple invisible ink is used lemon juice or any
strong concentration of a setic actet.
Speaker 4 (38:57):
So I must ask you to lead.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
When you discover that I was leading for Europe, you
made up the story of the dead uncle so that
you could give me the deed to deliver. But on
the back was an important message in invisible ink at
a lie. But someone over here must have discovered what
doctor Bexler was doing, perhaps tried to blackmail him or whatever.
(39:21):
At any rate, he killed Bexler just before I arrived,
and he posed as Bexler.
Speaker 4 (39:26):
One word of this is the truth.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Do you know what's on the back of that dead
miss Bexler? In invisible the fire little heat to it,
and you will read the specifications for the electronic range
finder for the latest.
Speaker 4 (39:42):
Was enough, mister Breckenridge.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Well, now that's a pistol and I know how to
use it. Do you expect to get away with anything?
Speaker 4 (39:54):
Yes, it was self defense. You were slightly mad, anyhow accent.
You came here to kill me for lying about that deed.
What could I do? I had to defend myself. Now
I shall start to scream and then I'll fire.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
Help, help, he's going to kill Do not shoot, Miss
Becheler all as well? We have him, We have him.
Speaker 4 (40:18):
He's crazy, a mad Manly why he wanted to kill me?
Speaker 2 (40:22):
That's a lie. If that's a lie, enough out of you.
You're under rest.
Speaker 4 (40:34):
Well, you certainly full things up.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
That woman tried to kill me. She's a spy.
Speaker 4 (40:40):
We know she's a spy. You know we've been feeding
her the wrong information for years. Doctor Bexler has been
selling it. I suppose it caught up with him. A
professional assassin was hired to take care of him just
as you arrived.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
They knew you about her all along.
Speaker 4 (40:59):
We had to get you out from under. Why did
you have to try to solve it? Miss Bexler is
very valuable to us as a source of misinformation for
the enemy. Now she'll have to leave all of her
contacts on the West coast and move somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
Or I could move somewhere else, really where. I could
open a bookstore here in Cologne.
Speaker 4 (41:32):
I understand it takes years to build up a trade.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
I understand it takes years to become a first secretary
at the Consulate.
Speaker 4 (41:42):
It's not so bad waiting if you have company.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Who says we don't give you happy endings. Here's a
story that ended happily for all of the principles, Breckinridge
and Victoria Shakespeare. Of course, certainly for maud Wexler, who
is continuing her career as an enemy spy but working.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Unconsciously for our side. I shall return with another happy
thought in just a few moments. Today the emphasis is
on ecology the environment, clean air, pure water, as it
(42:33):
should be. But there is another ecology, the ecology of
the spirit, the ecology of thought. There is so much
emphasis given to the quality of life. How about a
little concentration on the quality of the mind. We have
exercises for the mind seven times each week right here.
(42:54):
Our cast included.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Robert Dryden, Carol t i Tell, Bob.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
Caliban, and William Griffiths.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown Radio.
Mystery Theater were sponsored in part by True Value Hardware Stores.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
This is e. G.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
Marshall inviting you to return to our Mystery Theater for
another adventure in the macabre.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
Until next time, Pleasant dreams,
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