October 27, 2025 • 23 mins
Suspense was one of the most popular and successful radio series during it's run of over 900 episodes, spanning 1940-1962. Guest stars included Orson Welles, Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, Agnes Moorehead, Marlene Dietrich and Humphrey Bogart. The plots were mostly engaging crime dramas, science fiction and some horror - usually with a surprise ending.
Hope you enjoy this episode of Suspense! Find all our OTR radio stations and podcasts at theaterofthemind-otr.com - Audio Credit: The Old Time Radio Researchers Group. - All Podcasts @ Spreaker | Apple | YouTube | Spotify | Amazon | iHeart
Hope you enjoy this episode of Suspense! Find all our OTR radio stations and podcasts at theaterofthemind-otr.com - Audio Credit: The Old Time Radio Researchers Group. - All Podcasts @ Spreaker | Apple | YouTube | Spotify | Amazon | iHeart
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
And now a tale well calculated to keep you in.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Suspense.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Two brothers play a deadly game in a moment. Act
one of Murder is a Matter of Opinion, starring Film
Meter and William Lipton, based on a story by Jules
Archer and written especially for suspense by Ronald Dawson.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
The Lovely Crowd to they agree. Those who think young.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Say pepsi please.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
They picked the right one, the modern like one. Now
it's pepsi for those who think young. So go ahead
and pick the drink that lets you drink young as
you think. Yes, get the right one, the modern like one.
Now it's pepsi for those who think young.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
It wasn't surprising that my younger brother Brian and I
disagreed so violently on the question of capital punishment. We
chose opposite size on everything as a matter of habit.
Ever since Dad had sent him to join me at
the Tulane College of Law, we'd argued about murder.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
Murder is a matter of opinion, Frank, And that's all
just a matter of opinion.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I can't go along with you, Bryan. The law not
only distinctly defines murder, but furthermore, the law is designed
to protect the innocence of loney.
Speaker 5 (01:31):
I can point out quite a few cases where an
innocent man was condemned to death.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
No, sir, I just happened to believe the law is
right while you're wrong. Look, if you're so darned sure
that the law could be wrong, prove it.
Speaker 6 (01:42):
All right, I will.
Speaker 5 (01:43):
How Each year Tulane stage is a mock trial. Right
of course, the moot court board right now, they secretly
prepare a mock crime on the campus to try to
catch us by surprise, to give us some realistic experience
in criminal law procedure. Right right, Okay, this year, why
don't we spring a surprise on the book. It's just
you and I will stage our own private murder case.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Brian, why don't you do something about that coffee yours.
It's really beginning to worry me.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
You cough all night long. I'll take care of it,
say a doctor, one of these days, please do. Okay,
let's let's.
Speaker 6 (02:16):
Get back to our mock murder.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
I'll play the corpse and you'll be the murderer. But
after we stage the killing, I'll undertake your defense.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
At the trial. What will you prove?
Speaker 5 (02:24):
I'll prove to you and to the student jury that
even though every fact points to you as guilty of
first degree murder, even to the point of witnesses who saw.
Speaker 6 (02:30):
You kill me, you can still be absolutely innocent.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
You won't use any self defense gag, no insanity, plea
accidental manslaughter.
Speaker 5 (02:38):
Oh, a straight deliberate premeditated killing.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Oh kid, it's a nice stunt.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
If you can do it, it's a deal. Let's work out
the details to give us a little more incentive. I
bet Brian one hundred bucks that he couldn't win. And
we got busy and worked out the details hurst and
rehearsed until we were letter perfect, and then we began
(03:04):
to act out the drama for the benefit of the
student body.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
We're in the dormitory and it was.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
Crowded, and by what perverted logic, Frank, do you contend
that a mother who mercifully puts our idiot child out
of its misery is a murderer.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
No one has the right to take another's life.
Speaker 6 (03:20):
Don't quote the Bible to me. Think for yourself.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
If you did a little more reading of the Bible
and a little less boasting about what you know of the.
Speaker 6 (03:27):
Law, hoasting, you're the one who's always boasting. You're the
one who's never wrong.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Oh shut up, well you, Brian, you're just a punk kid.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
A punk kid, am I I'll show you who's a
kid or not.
Speaker 6 (03:36):
Hey, come on.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
You to cut it out on your own business. Yeah, Tom,
you keep at us. I'm not gonna let this little
louse get away with all this nothing of.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
His Hey, okay, brother dear, I'll get you for that.
The fight achieved our purpose. We had planted the idea
that Brian and I were on the outs. To make
it still more emphatic, we made it a point not
(04:04):
to speak to each other for several days.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
It was a pretty good act. Tom Penson, a mutual friend,
stopped him to see me.
Speaker 6 (04:12):
Frank I realized I have no right to say what
I have in mind. Well, then don't I have to,
I said, old friend Frank. I just can't understand where's
come over you and Brian.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
He's impossible.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
Do you know that young punk has a nerve to
question father's decisions? Can you imagine baby Brian questioning the
decisions of one of the most learned judges in the country.
Speaker 6 (04:32):
He's got an inquiring mind. He wants to explore the.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Law and inquiring mind my eye, He's got a colossal conceit,
and one of these days I'll knock it out of him.
Poor Tom Penson tried to make peace between us, but
Brian and I remained irreconcilable.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
And then came our next move.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Over the weekend, Brian discovered that his watch was missing.
He speculated loudly and bitterly, and pointed out how it
might have disappeared. I left the dormitory, slamming the door
behind me. Later that day, I was sitting with Tom
Penson and a few of the boys at the campus cafeteria.
Brian wandered in as per schedule, signaling his entrance with
that wrecking cough of his. Oh, gentlemen, just gaze away.
(05:20):
My poor deluded father expects Delane to transform into a lawyer.
Speaker 6 (05:24):
Why where is it? Whereas what you know I've done?
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Well?
Speaker 6 (05:27):
What my watch?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Now? How should I know where you're watching?
Speaker 6 (05:29):
I want it back, and I want it back now.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Are you implying that I stole your lousy watch.
Speaker 6 (05:33):
I'm implying nothing. I'm saying you stole it. Hey, look,
fellas if you're going to start another fight, I'm getting
out of here. I don't want to stay right where
you are, Tom, I want a witness, and just what
that young punk is saying the last time, I want
my watch.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
If you weren't such a weak sister, i'd knock you
on your ear.
Speaker 6 (05:46):
Why you why? And don't get out of the way.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
Tom, You, mister Frank Jackson are going to give me
back my watch? I haven't got it, you ass Okay,
then your dirty lying feet.
Speaker 6 (05:56):
Hey, stop at you guys. Come on, Frank Bryan cutting out,
He'll kill each other.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
I'll get you for this, sweet dear brother, you'll pay
for this, baby, Brian. Well, that was the finish of
the build up, and it worked out exactly as Brian
and I had planned. The campus buzzed with gossip about
the feuding Jackson brothers. There was even a rumor current
(06:25):
that the Dean was going to send for both of us.
Brian and I had started that rumor.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Well.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
That night there was an affair on the campus which
neither of us attended. I slipt over to my study
and a few minutes later Brian came in.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Either public enemy number one by big boy.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Okay, Brian, I wish you'd take care of that cough, Yeah,
I will soon.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Well, my jaw is still sore. You bumb you. You didn't
have to hit me that hard.
Speaker 7 (06:52):
Sorry, Frank.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
I try to pull my punch, but I guess I'm
not very good.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
At that sort of thing. You sure no one saw
you coming here?
Speaker 8 (06:58):
No, no campus is deserted.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
Okay, Well, now we're about set for the final act.
The payoff takes place in the bookstore, right right, Okay,
Now I look at this.
Speaker 9 (07:12):
Oh good.
Speaker 6 (07:14):
You got the gun YEP.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Thirty two, loaded with blanks. I borrowed it from the Army.
They'll never miss it.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
Fine, And I've got a paper cup filled with ketchup.
I'll stick it under my shirty. When I fire, you'll
clasp your hand to your heart and.
Speaker 6 (07:25):
Squeeze out the red blood.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
And then you lie on the floor while I make
my escape.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
Right, and I'll lie on the floor for at least
five minutes to give you a chance to get away.
Don't forget You're to call the dean and tell him
about the hoax, and then have him set up the
mock trial.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Everything looks set tomorrow.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
Then the bookstore at twelve fifteen, Right, I'll come in
and start a fight.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Insult you, and you'll do the rest.
Speaker 6 (07:46):
Okay, one more thing.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
All those plans we worked out on paper, you're sure
you threw them all out?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Absolutely, I burn them.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
There'll be no clues around us show that the whole
thing's a hoax until after it happens.
Speaker 6 (07:58):
This is one time that wind, Frank.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Everything went smoothly. Brian entered the bookstore at twelve fifteen,
mingling with the noonday browsers. He was examining a book
off one of the shelves when I entered. All right,
you dirty little squid, Wait a minute, Frank. You couldn't
stop telling everyone that I'm a thief? Could You can't
put away that gun, not until.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
I use it on you.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Brian clapped his hand to his heart. The cats have
trickled out over his shirt on a convincing red stain.
With a slight groan, my brother slumped to the floor
on his face. Oh it was a beautiful job. Two
girls screamed and one student fainted. Everyone in the bookshops
that transfixed in horror. I wheeled and ran out, springing
back to my study and then chuckling to myself.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
I phoned the dean.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
He wasn't in, so I left word that I called
and asked if he'd call me back. I relaxed on
my bed, waiting for the Dean to call. I began
to speculate over Brian's possible defense. Please on my behalf
of the trial. He agreed to every detail of the
crime as we enacted it. How could he convince a
jury of law students that was anything but first degree murder?
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I hated to see Brian make an ass of himself publicly,
but it was his idea.
Speaker 6 (09:20):
Dear God, Frank, what's wrong?
Speaker 7 (09:22):
Tom?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
You're as white as a sheet.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
What did you do it for? How could you do
such a terrible thing?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
I just killed a little stinker because he had a
coming to him. That's all.
Speaker 6 (09:29):
You killed your own brother, and you're laughing at it.
He looked so funny lying there, but your own brother.
What difference does it make? Just a minute, Tom, that
must be the Dean. I'm expecting his call.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Hello, Jackson speaking, This is the Dean.
Speaker 8 (09:44):
Yes, sir, come to my office immediately.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yes, sir, beat it, Tom. That was the Dean. He
wants me to report to his office immediately.
Speaker 6 (09:52):
But Frank, look, you are in a lot of trouble.
Perhaps if you plead insanity.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Saturday my foot I planned it, Yes, sir, it was
premeditated murder. Happily I entered the Dean's office, as to
my surprise, there was a police.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Captain with him.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
While I thought in ry amusement, Brian and I had
forgotten that angle of it. We'd surprise the police too.
And from the dark look on the beefy face, I
gathered that the police department took a dim view of
the stunt.
Speaker 9 (10:29):
Oh, Jackson, come in, captain, this is Frank Jackson. He's
your man.
Speaker 7 (10:35):
You're Frank Jackson, Yes, sir, you're under arrest.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Looks like it was a pretty successful murder.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
What my brother's not really dead, Dean, You don't think so, no, sir,
you see Dean. Instead of waiting for the moot court
to stage a mock crime, Brian and I decided to
put on one of our own. We thought you wouldn't
mind because it was a very subtle legal point involved.
What are you talking about, Oh, If you'll allow us
to hold a mock trial, I think the case would
(11:03):
be extremely interesting to the student body. My brother wants
to undertake my defense to prove that what is apparently
a first degree murder is really nothing of the sort.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Gord Lord, what would you cooperate sir by holding a
trial and calling all the witnesses who are in the bookstore?
Speaker 9 (11:17):
A trial will be held, all right, and all the
witnesses in the bookstore will be called to testify against you,
Only it won't be a mock trial at all, but
a real one in criminal court.
Speaker 7 (11:28):
What, Frank Jackson, I arrest you for the murder of
your brother Brian.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
Okay, okay, Captain, you can stop kidding now. I know
you're trying to fool me the way we fooled you.
Speaker 9 (11:42):
Do you mean to say that you don't think you
killed your brother?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Of course not. The bullets were blanks?
Speaker 7 (11:47):
Were they pretty deadly blanks? Jackson?
Speaker 9 (11:51):
Deadly enough to kill your brother five seconds after you
fired them.
Speaker 6 (11:55):
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
It was a nightmare.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
I'd wake up, I told myself, and Brian would be
sleeping beside me in the dormitory. Then I forced myself
to look up and the barred window was still there.
Uncontrollable chill shook me. This was a jail, and I
was not dreaming. I was on trial for my life.
(12:23):
The Dean phoned my father, who came rushing to my aid.
He was led into myself, Frank, Frank, Dad, this is
awful for you.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Brian gone and me here, so we've got to fight.
I guess you're right, Dad.
Speaker 10 (12:40):
Did you get me a lawyer, Yes, the best lawyer
in the state, Peter J.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Cheney.
Speaker 10 (12:44):
You'll be here shortly that.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
I just can't believe it. It's too incredible. And Brian
were so close.
Speaker 7 (12:50):
Frank, how did it happen?
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I don't know. Those bullets were blanks.
Speaker 10 (12:54):
I tested them the day I got them, and they
can be only one answer. Someone replaced the blanks and
your gun with real bullets.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
But who why?
Speaker 4 (13:02):
No one knew about our planet stage of my crime
but Brian and me. I didn't even have any real
bullets in my possession. There wasn't even the possibility of
a mistake. Oh, Brian certainly never would have done it.
He knew full well the gun was going to be
fired at him.
Speaker 10 (13:16):
And who why?
Speaker 2 (13:19):
I just can't figure it that. It's driving me mad.
Speaker 7 (13:22):
I think hard, Frank.
Speaker 10 (13:23):
Isn't there anybody, one, single person who knew about or
suspected the hoax?
Speaker 4 (13:28):
No, there isn't not a living soul can testify that
Brian and I were playing a game. The only voice
that could prove it belongs to my dead brother. And
on the other hand, everyone on campus can testify that
we had bitter quarrels. None of them knows that the
quarrels were faked. And at least twelve witnesses saw me
shoot my own brother down, saw me murder Brian in
(13:51):
cold blood.
Speaker 11 (14:00):
If this is a clear cut case of first degree
murder in one of us worst forms fractricide, I haven't
a scrap of evidence with which to defend you. In fact,
any story I might present would be ridiculed.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
What can we do, mister Cheney?
Speaker 7 (14:14):
You will have to plead insanity.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
I won't. I can't judge Jackson.
Speaker 11 (14:18):
You know we couldn't win your son's acquittal on the
strength of the boy's absolutely unsupported story.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Well, I must, but it is true.
Speaker 11 (14:26):
I tell you, I believe you. Otherwise I wouldn't defend you.
But we don't even have an explanation of why there
were real.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Bullets in that gun. Dear God, I wish I knew Son.
Speaker 11 (14:36):
A jury might credit a plea of insanity a nervous
breakdown resulting from overwork. With good character witnesses for you,
you might have a chance.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Dad.
Speaker 10 (14:48):
What should I do, Frank, I have no right to
dissuade you from choosing the legal course which has the
best chance of saving your life. I can only say
that I believe in telling the truth.
Speaker 8 (15:03):
In fact, it's all you.
Speaker 10 (15:04):
Can do if you honestly believe in the justice of
the law and trust it.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I do, dead, I do. I'll stick to the truth.
I don't like it, Frank, That's the way it has
to be, Frank.
Speaker 11 (15:15):
I'm a criminal lawyer, and I know jury's and I
tell you, my boy, there isn't any jury in the
world that would swallow your story.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
How right, how bitterly right, mister Cheney was. No jury
would swallow my story. The parade of witnesses called by
the state.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Was crushingly incriminating.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
And then before I realized that Tom Penson was sworn
in on the stand to testify against me.
Speaker 9 (15:43):
Now, mister Penson, you were acquainted with the late Brian Jackson.
Speaker 6 (15:48):
I was, and you know the defendant, Yes, sir?
Speaker 9 (15:52):
Would you say that as brothers they were very close
and fond of each other.
Speaker 6 (15:56):
They were at least until a little over a month ago.
Speaker 9 (16:00):
Do you mean that something came between them?
Speaker 6 (16:03):
I suppose so, but I don't know what.
Speaker 9 (16:05):
Very well, mister Penson, were you present in the cafeteria
on the afternoon of December tenth.
Speaker 6 (16:12):
Yes, sir, I was having a cup of coffee with
the defendant, Frank Jackson.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
What happened?
Speaker 6 (16:18):
Brian came in and Frank insulted him?
Speaker 7 (16:21):
What do you mean?
Speaker 8 (16:21):
He insulted him?
Speaker 6 (16:23):
Well, Frank said, take a look at what my father
expects Tulane to transform into a lawyer. He meant, of
course his brother Brian, Yes, sir, and he said it's
aloud that everyone in the cafeteria must have heard it.
Speaker 7 (16:35):
I see then what happened?
Speaker 6 (16:37):
Brian accused Frank of stealing his watch.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Was that the end of that quarrel?
Speaker 6 (16:42):
No, Frank denied that he had to watch, and Brian
struck him. You saw that blow struck? I did, yes, sir,
mister Penson.
Speaker 9 (16:50):
Were you present when the defendant fired the shots that
killed his brother?
Speaker 6 (16:53):
I was where did that take place in the bookshop?
What were your reactions? I could hardly believe my eyes.
I kept hoping it was some kind of a joke
go on. I rushed over to Frank's room.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Did you say anything to him?
Speaker 6 (17:09):
I did. I asked him why he did it and
how he could have done such a terrible thing.
Speaker 7 (17:14):
What did he say?
Speaker 6 (17:16):
He said, I killed the little stinker because he had
it coming to him.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Every word spoken by every witness condemned me. To them,
I was a murderer.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
As the testimony was piling up the evidence against me,
I kept remembering the last serious thing Brian said to me.
Speaker 8 (17:40):
This is one time that I win.
Speaker 7 (17:42):
Frank.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Ironically enough, it was beginning to look because if this
time Brian would win. Listening to all the testimony, I
began to doubt my own sanity. My story began to
sound foolish and incredible to my own ears. But it
was all I had to offering my own defense, no proof,
no witnesses. The entire courtroom, I knew, was convinced of
(18:07):
my guilt, beyond the shadow of a doubt. Suddenly I
was aware that the prosecutor was questioning, I.
Speaker 9 (18:14):
Repeat, what happened to the black bullets you claimed you had?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I told you before, I don't know.
Speaker 9 (18:19):
Again, I asked you if all of this was just
a host as you stated, and if the whole thing
was kept an absolute secret by you and the deceased,
who could have known and who could have changed those bullets?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (18:31):
I don't know.
Speaker 9 (18:32):
There are too many things you don't know, mister Jackson.
I would say that you don't even know how alive.
Speaker 6 (18:37):
I'm not lying.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
It's the truth. It's the truth.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
I help me God, I didn't kill my brother.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
I didn't kill him.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
Some curious form of mass hypnotism, I almost began to
share the belief that I was guilty. Perhaps I really
had been temporarily insane. Perhaps I had wilfully, deliberately murdered
Bryan in cold blood. My brain was whirling and my
hands were clammy When I rose to face the jury,
they had been out for less than an hour. I
(19:08):
couldn't believe that I was going to listen to words
that would legally terminate my life. The jury found me guilty,
is charged, I screamed.
Speaker 6 (19:18):
No, that can't be it.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
It's all a mistake, and awful mistake. My story's true,
every one of it.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
This is murdered.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
You're murdering in innocent man.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
I was sentenced to die on the fourth of March.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
That gave me some time to think about the amazing thing,
the unbelievable thing that had happened to me, some time
to explore my soul in memory. I was innocent and
I had told the truth. But Brian was dead and
I was found guilty of his murder, and only he
could have proved my innocence. His words came back to
(19:58):
me a hundred times a day.
Speaker 8 (20:00):
This is one time I'll win, Frank.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
I began to remember the arguments Brian and I had
on capital punishment and murder, and the prophetic irony of
his contention that under our laws an innocent man could
be convicted of murder and be legally murdered by the state.
Three days after my sentence of impronounce, the door of
my cell was unlocked. The prison guard came in and
told me the warden wanted to see me. I lurched
(20:25):
along beside the guard down the long corridor and through
a panel door. Inside the room were my father, mister Cheney,
and another man I didn't recognize.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
The warden spoke first.
Speaker 9 (20:36):
Jackson, this is mister Bixton, an notary public. He's come
here with an amazing story that I want him to
tell you in front of your father and your lawyer.
Speaker 7 (20:45):
All right, mister Bixon.
Speaker 12 (20:46):
Ah, Well, you see, three days before your brother was murdered,
before he died, he came to me and wrote out
a statement, which she made me witness without reading. It
was sealed in an envelope in my presence, and I
kept it in my safe.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Please go on.
Speaker 7 (21:06):
Your brother said you were going.
Speaker 12 (21:08):
To be tried for a crime, and that if you
were convicted, I was to hand this envelope to the
warden three days after your sentence, and I have acted
upon his instructions. The warden has read the letter and
wants me to give it to you.
Speaker 7 (21:25):
Here it is.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
To whom it may concern.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
This is an open letter to my brother Frank, who
will probably need it.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Dear Frank, I hope you will forgive me for.
Speaker 8 (21:38):
What I did to you.
Speaker 13 (21:40):
It was I, Brian Jackson, who replaced the blacks in
your gun with real bullets. If you recall you kept
urging me to see a doctor because of my cough.
I did see a doctor, but never told you were dead.
That he had given me only a year to live
at most.
Speaker 8 (21:57):
I couldn't stand a lingering death like that, Frank.
Speaker 13 (21:59):
So from the very beginning when we planned the hoax,
I had suicide in mind.
Speaker 8 (22:06):
That is what it practically was. But I wanted to
prove to you for once that you were wrong.
Speaker 13 (22:13):
I wanted to show you that you, a perfectly innocent man,
could be convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Death under our draw system of law.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
This letter will of course bring in your freedom. But
if my hand had not risen from the grave, so
to speak, the law would have hanged you. Now, do
you admit that murder, even the clearest murder, is purely
a matter of opinion?
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Sauspense you've been listening to Murderer is a Matter of Opinion,
starring Phil Meader and William Lipton and and for Suspense
by Ronald Dawson, based on the story by Jules Archer.
Suspence is produced and directed by Brunos Erano junior music
(23:11):
supervision by Ethel Huber. Also featured in Tonight's Story, where
Ronald Liss as Tom Penson, Bernard Lenro as Judge Jackson,
Maurice Tarplum as the prosecutor. Ivor Francis says mister Cheney.
Bob Dryden is the Captain and Lawson Serby as the Dean.
Listen again next week when we return with Soul to Satan,
(23:32):
written by Joseph Cochran, another tale well calculated to keep
you in.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Suspense.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Expanded CBS News every hour on the our weekdays presents
the most complete network news coverage. This is the CBS
Radio network.
And now a tale well calculated to keep you in.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Suspense.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Two brothers play a deadly game in a moment. Act
one of Murder is a Matter of Opinion, starring Film
Meter and William Lipton, based on a story by Jules
Archer and written especially for suspense by Ronald Dawson.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
The Lovely Crowd to they agree. Those who think young.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Say pepsi please.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
They picked the right one, the modern like one. Now
it's pepsi for those who think young. So go ahead
and pick the drink that lets you drink young as
you think. Yes, get the right one, the modern like one.
Now it's pepsi for those who think young.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
It wasn't surprising that my younger brother Brian and I
disagreed so violently on the question of capital punishment. We
chose opposite size on everything as a matter of habit.
Ever since Dad had sent him to join me at
the Tulane College of Law, we'd argued about murder.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
Murder is a matter of opinion, Frank, And that's all
just a matter of opinion.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I can't go along with you, Bryan. The law not
only distinctly defines murder, but furthermore, the law is designed
to protect the innocence of loney.
Speaker 5 (01:31):
I can point out quite a few cases where an
innocent man was condemned to death.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
No, sir, I just happened to believe the law is
right while you're wrong. Look, if you're so darned sure
that the law could be wrong, prove it.
Speaker 6 (01:42):
All right, I will.
Speaker 5 (01:43):
How Each year Tulane stage is a mock trial. Right
of course, the moot court board right now, they secretly
prepare a mock crime on the campus to try to
catch us by surprise, to give us some realistic experience
in criminal law procedure. Right right, Okay, this year, why
don't we spring a surprise on the book. It's just
you and I will stage our own private murder case.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Brian, why don't you do something about that coffee yours.
It's really beginning to worry me.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
You cough all night long. I'll take care of it,
say a doctor, one of these days, please do. Okay,
let's let's.
Speaker 6 (02:16):
Get back to our mock murder.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
I'll play the corpse and you'll be the murderer. But
after we stage the killing, I'll undertake your defense.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
At the trial. What will you prove?
Speaker 5 (02:24):
I'll prove to you and to the student jury that
even though every fact points to you as guilty of
first degree murder, even to the point of witnesses who saw.
Speaker 6 (02:30):
You kill me, you can still be absolutely innocent.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
You won't use any self defense gag, no insanity, plea
accidental manslaughter.
Speaker 5 (02:38):
Oh, a straight deliberate premeditated killing.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Oh kid, it's a nice stunt.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
If you can do it, it's a deal. Let's work out
the details to give us a little more incentive. I
bet Brian one hundred bucks that he couldn't win. And
we got busy and worked out the details hurst and
rehearsed until we were letter perfect, and then we began
(03:04):
to act out the drama for the benefit of the
student body.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
We're in the dormitory and it was.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
Crowded, and by what perverted logic, Frank, do you contend
that a mother who mercifully puts our idiot child out
of its misery is a murderer.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
No one has the right to take another's life.
Speaker 6 (03:20):
Don't quote the Bible to me. Think for yourself.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
If you did a little more reading of the Bible
and a little less boasting about what you know of the.
Speaker 6 (03:27):
Law, hoasting, you're the one who's always boasting. You're the
one who's never wrong.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Oh shut up, well you, Brian, you're just a punk kid.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
A punk kid, am I I'll show you who's a
kid or not.
Speaker 6 (03:36):
Hey, come on.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
You to cut it out on your own business. Yeah, Tom,
you keep at us. I'm not gonna let this little
louse get away with all this nothing of.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
His Hey, okay, brother dear, I'll get you for that.
The fight achieved our purpose. We had planted the idea
that Brian and I were on the outs. To make
it still more emphatic, we made it a point not
(04:04):
to speak to each other for several days.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
It was a pretty good act. Tom Penson, a mutual friend,
stopped him to see me.
Speaker 6 (04:12):
Frank I realized I have no right to say what
I have in mind. Well, then don't I have to,
I said, old friend Frank. I just can't understand where's
come over you and Brian.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
He's impossible.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
Do you know that young punk has a nerve to
question father's decisions? Can you imagine baby Brian questioning the
decisions of one of the most learned judges in the country.
Speaker 6 (04:32):
He's got an inquiring mind. He wants to explore the.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Law and inquiring mind my eye, He's got a colossal conceit,
and one of these days I'll knock it out of him.
Poor Tom Penson tried to make peace between us, but
Brian and I remained irreconcilable.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
And then came our next move.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Over the weekend, Brian discovered that his watch was missing.
He speculated loudly and bitterly, and pointed out how it
might have disappeared. I left the dormitory, slamming the door
behind me. Later that day, I was sitting with Tom
Penson and a few of the boys at the campus cafeteria.
Brian wandered in as per schedule, signaling his entrance with
that wrecking cough of his. Oh, gentlemen, just gaze away.
(05:20):
My poor deluded father expects Delane to transform into a lawyer.
Speaker 6 (05:24):
Why where is it? Whereas what you know I've done?
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Well?
Speaker 6 (05:27):
What my watch?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Now? How should I know where you're watching?
Speaker 6 (05:29):
I want it back, and I want it back now.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Are you implying that I stole your lousy watch.
Speaker 6 (05:33):
I'm implying nothing. I'm saying you stole it. Hey, look,
fellas if you're going to start another fight, I'm getting
out of here. I don't want to stay right where
you are, Tom, I want a witness, and just what
that young punk is saying the last time, I want
my watch.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
If you weren't such a weak sister, i'd knock you
on your ear.
Speaker 6 (05:46):
Why you why? And don't get out of the way.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
Tom, You, mister Frank Jackson are going to give me
back my watch? I haven't got it, you ass Okay,
then your dirty lying feet.
Speaker 6 (05:56):
Hey, stop at you guys. Come on, Frank Bryan cutting out,
He'll kill each other.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
I'll get you for this, sweet dear brother, you'll pay
for this, baby, Brian. Well, that was the finish of
the build up, and it worked out exactly as Brian
and I had planned. The campus buzzed with gossip about
the feuding Jackson brothers. There was even a rumor current
(06:25):
that the Dean was going to send for both of us.
Brian and I had started that rumor.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Well.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
That night there was an affair on the campus which
neither of us attended. I slipt over to my study
and a few minutes later Brian came in.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Either public enemy number one by big boy.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Okay, Brian, I wish you'd take care of that cough, Yeah,
I will soon.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Well, my jaw is still sore. You bumb you. You didn't
have to hit me that hard.
Speaker 7 (06:52):
Sorry, Frank.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
I try to pull my punch, but I guess I'm
not very good.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
At that sort of thing. You sure no one saw
you coming here?
Speaker 8 (06:58):
No, no campus is deserted.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
Okay, Well, now we're about set for the final act.
The payoff takes place in the bookstore, right right, Okay,
Now I look at this.
Speaker 9 (07:12):
Oh good.
Speaker 6 (07:14):
You got the gun YEP.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Thirty two, loaded with blanks. I borrowed it from the Army.
They'll never miss it.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
Fine, And I've got a paper cup filled with ketchup.
I'll stick it under my shirty. When I fire, you'll
clasp your hand to your heart and.
Speaker 6 (07:25):
Squeeze out the red blood.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
And then you lie on the floor while I make
my escape.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
Right, and I'll lie on the floor for at least
five minutes to give you a chance to get away.
Don't forget You're to call the dean and tell him
about the hoax, and then have him set up the
mock trial.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Everything looks set tomorrow.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
Then the bookstore at twelve fifteen, Right, I'll come in
and start a fight.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Insult you, and you'll do the rest.
Speaker 6 (07:46):
Okay, one more thing.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
All those plans we worked out on paper, you're sure
you threw them all out?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Absolutely, I burn them.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
There'll be no clues around us show that the whole
thing's a hoax until after it happens.
Speaker 6 (07:58):
This is one time that wind, Frank.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Everything went smoothly. Brian entered the bookstore at twelve fifteen,
mingling with the noonday browsers. He was examining a book
off one of the shelves when I entered. All right,
you dirty little squid, Wait a minute, Frank. You couldn't
stop telling everyone that I'm a thief? Could You can't
put away that gun, not until.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
I use it on you.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Brian clapped his hand to his heart. The cats have
trickled out over his shirt on a convincing red stain.
With a slight groan, my brother slumped to the floor
on his face. Oh it was a beautiful job. Two
girls screamed and one student fainted. Everyone in the bookshops
that transfixed in horror. I wheeled and ran out, springing
back to my study and then chuckling to myself.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
I phoned the dean.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
He wasn't in, so I left word that I called
and asked if he'd call me back. I relaxed on
my bed, waiting for the Dean to call. I began
to speculate over Brian's possible defense. Please on my behalf
of the trial. He agreed to every detail of the
crime as we enacted it. How could he convince a
jury of law students that was anything but first degree murder?
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I hated to see Brian make an ass of himself publicly,
but it was his idea.
Speaker 6 (09:20):
Dear God, Frank, what's wrong?
Speaker 7 (09:22):
Tom?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
You're as white as a sheet.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
What did you do it for? How could you do
such a terrible thing?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
I just killed a little stinker because he had a
coming to him. That's all.
Speaker 6 (09:29):
You killed your own brother, and you're laughing at it.
He looked so funny lying there, but your own brother.
What difference does it make? Just a minute, Tom, that
must be the Dean. I'm expecting his call.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Hello, Jackson speaking, This is the Dean.
Speaker 8 (09:44):
Yes, sir, come to my office immediately.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yes, sir, beat it, Tom. That was the Dean. He
wants me to report to his office immediately.
Speaker 6 (09:52):
But Frank, look, you are in a lot of trouble.
Perhaps if you plead insanity.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
Saturday my foot I planned it, Yes, sir, it was
premeditated murder. Happily I entered the Dean's office, as to
my surprise, there was a police.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Captain with him.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
While I thought in ry amusement, Brian and I had
forgotten that angle of it. We'd surprise the police too.
And from the dark look on the beefy face, I
gathered that the police department took a dim view of
the stunt.
Speaker 9 (10:29):
Oh, Jackson, come in, captain, this is Frank Jackson. He's
your man.
Speaker 7 (10:35):
You're Frank Jackson, Yes, sir, you're under arrest.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Looks like it was a pretty successful murder.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
What my brother's not really dead, Dean, You don't think so, no, sir,
you see Dean. Instead of waiting for the moot court
to stage a mock crime, Brian and I decided to
put on one of our own. We thought you wouldn't
mind because it was a very subtle legal point involved.
What are you talking about, Oh, If you'll allow us
to hold a mock trial, I think the case would
(11:03):
be extremely interesting to the student body. My brother wants
to undertake my defense to prove that what is apparently
a first degree murder is really nothing of the sort.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Gord Lord, what would you cooperate sir by holding a
trial and calling all the witnesses who are in the bookstore?
Speaker 9 (11:17):
A trial will be held, all right, and all the
witnesses in the bookstore will be called to testify against you,
Only it won't be a mock trial at all, but
a real one in criminal court.
Speaker 7 (11:28):
What, Frank Jackson, I arrest you for the murder of
your brother Brian.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
Okay, okay, Captain, you can stop kidding now. I know
you're trying to fool me the way we fooled you.
Speaker 9 (11:42):
Do you mean to say that you don't think you
killed your brother?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Of course not. The bullets were blanks?
Speaker 7 (11:47):
Were they pretty deadly blanks? Jackson?
Speaker 9 (11:51):
Deadly enough to kill your brother five seconds after you
fired them.
Speaker 6 (11:55):
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
It was a nightmare.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
I'd wake up, I told myself, and Brian would be
sleeping beside me in the dormitory. Then I forced myself
to look up and the barred window was still there.
Uncontrollable chill shook me. This was a jail, and I
was not dreaming. I was on trial for my life.
(12:23):
The Dean phoned my father, who came rushing to my aid.
He was led into myself, Frank, Frank, Dad, this is
awful for you.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Brian gone and me here, so we've got to fight.
I guess you're right, Dad.
Speaker 10 (12:40):
Did you get me a lawyer, Yes, the best lawyer
in the state, Peter J.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Cheney.
Speaker 10 (12:44):
You'll be here shortly that.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
I just can't believe it. It's too incredible. And Brian
were so close.
Speaker 7 (12:50):
Frank, how did it happen?
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I don't know. Those bullets were blanks.
Speaker 10 (12:54):
I tested them the day I got them, and they
can be only one answer. Someone replaced the blanks and
your gun with real bullets.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
But who why?
Speaker 4 (13:02):
No one knew about our planet stage of my crime
but Brian and me. I didn't even have any real
bullets in my possession. There wasn't even the possibility of
a mistake. Oh, Brian certainly never would have done it.
He knew full well the gun was going to be
fired at him.
Speaker 10 (13:16):
And who why?
Speaker 2 (13:19):
I just can't figure it that. It's driving me mad.
Speaker 7 (13:22):
I think hard, Frank.
Speaker 10 (13:23):
Isn't there anybody, one, single person who knew about or
suspected the hoax?
Speaker 4 (13:28):
No, there isn't not a living soul can testify that
Brian and I were playing a game. The only voice
that could prove it belongs to my dead brother. And
on the other hand, everyone on campus can testify that
we had bitter quarrels. None of them knows that the
quarrels were faked. And at least twelve witnesses saw me
shoot my own brother down, saw me murder Brian in
(13:51):
cold blood.
Speaker 11 (14:00):
If this is a clear cut case of first degree
murder in one of us worst forms fractricide, I haven't
a scrap of evidence with which to defend you. In fact,
any story I might present would be ridiculed.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
What can we do, mister Cheney?
Speaker 7 (14:14):
You will have to plead insanity.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
I won't. I can't judge Jackson.
Speaker 11 (14:18):
You know we couldn't win your son's acquittal on the
strength of the boy's absolutely unsupported story.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Well, I must, but it is true.
Speaker 11 (14:26):
I tell you, I believe you. Otherwise I wouldn't defend you.
But we don't even have an explanation of why there
were real.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Bullets in that gun. Dear God, I wish I knew Son.
Speaker 11 (14:36):
A jury might credit a plea of insanity a nervous
breakdown resulting from overwork. With good character witnesses for you,
you might have a chance.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Dad.
Speaker 10 (14:48):
What should I do, Frank, I have no right to
dissuade you from choosing the legal course which has the
best chance of saving your life. I can only say
that I believe in telling the truth.
Speaker 8 (15:03):
In fact, it's all you.
Speaker 10 (15:04):
Can do if you honestly believe in the justice of
the law and trust it.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I do, dead, I do. I'll stick to the truth.
I don't like it, Frank, That's the way it has
to be, Frank.
Speaker 11 (15:15):
I'm a criminal lawyer, and I know jury's and I
tell you, my boy, there isn't any jury in the
world that would swallow your story.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
How right, how bitterly right, mister Cheney was. No jury
would swallow my story. The parade of witnesses called by
the state.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Was crushingly incriminating.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
And then before I realized that Tom Penson was sworn
in on the stand to testify against me.
Speaker 9 (15:43):
Now, mister Penson, you were acquainted with the late Brian Jackson.
Speaker 6 (15:48):
I was, and you know the defendant, Yes, sir?
Speaker 9 (15:52):
Would you say that as brothers they were very close
and fond of each other.
Speaker 6 (15:56):
They were at least until a little over a month ago.
Speaker 9 (16:00):
Do you mean that something came between them?
Speaker 6 (16:03):
I suppose so, but I don't know what.
Speaker 9 (16:05):
Very well, mister Penson, were you present in the cafeteria
on the afternoon of December tenth.
Speaker 6 (16:12):
Yes, sir, I was having a cup of coffee with
the defendant, Frank Jackson.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
What happened?
Speaker 6 (16:18):
Brian came in and Frank insulted him?
Speaker 7 (16:21):
What do you mean?
Speaker 8 (16:21):
He insulted him?
Speaker 6 (16:23):
Well, Frank said, take a look at what my father
expects Tulane to transform into a lawyer. He meant, of
course his brother Brian, Yes, sir, and he said it's
aloud that everyone in the cafeteria must have heard it.
Speaker 7 (16:35):
I see then what happened?
Speaker 6 (16:37):
Brian accused Frank of stealing his watch.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Was that the end of that quarrel?
Speaker 6 (16:42):
No, Frank denied that he had to watch, and Brian
struck him. You saw that blow struck? I did, yes, sir,
mister Penson.
Speaker 9 (16:50):
Were you present when the defendant fired the shots that
killed his brother?
Speaker 6 (16:53):
I was where did that take place in the bookshop?
What were your reactions? I could hardly believe my eyes.
I kept hoping it was some kind of a joke
go on. I rushed over to Frank's room.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Did you say anything to him?
Speaker 6 (17:09):
I did. I asked him why he did it and
how he could have done such a terrible thing.
Speaker 7 (17:14):
What did he say?
Speaker 6 (17:16):
He said, I killed the little stinker because he had
it coming to him.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Every word spoken by every witness condemned me. To them,
I was a murderer.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
As the testimony was piling up the evidence against me,
I kept remembering the last serious thing Brian said to me.
Speaker 8 (17:40):
This is one time that I win.
Speaker 7 (17:42):
Frank.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Ironically enough, it was beginning to look because if this
time Brian would win. Listening to all the testimony, I
began to doubt my own sanity. My story began to
sound foolish and incredible to my own ears. But it
was all I had to offering my own defense, no proof,
no witnesses. The entire courtroom, I knew, was convinced of
(18:07):
my guilt, beyond the shadow of a doubt. Suddenly I
was aware that the prosecutor was questioning, I.
Speaker 9 (18:14):
Repeat, what happened to the black bullets you claimed you had?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I told you before, I don't know.
Speaker 9 (18:19):
Again, I asked you if all of this was just
a host as you stated, and if the whole thing
was kept an absolute secret by you and the deceased,
who could have known and who could have changed those bullets?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (18:31):
I don't know.
Speaker 9 (18:32):
There are too many things you don't know, mister Jackson.
I would say that you don't even know how alive.
Speaker 6 (18:37):
I'm not lying.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
It's the truth. It's the truth.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
I help me God, I didn't kill my brother.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
I didn't kill him.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
Some curious form of mass hypnotism, I almost began to
share the belief that I was guilty. Perhaps I really
had been temporarily insane. Perhaps I had wilfully, deliberately murdered
Bryan in cold blood. My brain was whirling and my
hands were clammy When I rose to face the jury,
they had been out for less than an hour. I
(19:08):
couldn't believe that I was going to listen to words
that would legally terminate my life. The jury found me guilty,
is charged, I screamed.
Speaker 6 (19:18):
No, that can't be it.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
It's all a mistake, and awful mistake. My story's true,
every one of it.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
This is murdered.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
You're murdering in innocent man.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
I was sentenced to die on the fourth of March.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
That gave me some time to think about the amazing thing,
the unbelievable thing that had happened to me, some time
to explore my soul in memory. I was innocent and
I had told the truth. But Brian was dead and
I was found guilty of his murder, and only he
could have proved my innocence. His words came back to
(19:58):
me a hundred times a day.
Speaker 8 (20:00):
This is one time I'll win, Frank.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
I began to remember the arguments Brian and I had
on capital punishment and murder, and the prophetic irony of
his contention that under our laws an innocent man could
be convicted of murder and be legally murdered by the state.
Three days after my sentence of impronounce, the door of
my cell was unlocked. The prison guard came in and
told me the warden wanted to see me. I lurched
(20:25):
along beside the guard down the long corridor and through
a panel door. Inside the room were my father, mister Cheney,
and another man I didn't recognize.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
The warden spoke first.
Speaker 9 (20:36):
Jackson, this is mister Bixton, an notary public. He's come
here with an amazing story that I want him to
tell you in front of your father and your lawyer.
Speaker 7 (20:45):
All right, mister Bixon.
Speaker 12 (20:46):
Ah, Well, you see, three days before your brother was murdered,
before he died, he came to me and wrote out
a statement, which she made me witness without reading. It
was sealed in an envelope in my presence, and I
kept it in my safe.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Please go on.
Speaker 7 (21:06):
Your brother said you were going.
Speaker 12 (21:08):
To be tried for a crime, and that if you
were convicted, I was to hand this envelope to the
warden three days after your sentence, and I have acted
upon his instructions. The warden has read the letter and
wants me to give it to you.
Speaker 7 (21:25):
Here it is.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
To whom it may concern.
Speaker 4 (21:30):
This is an open letter to my brother Frank, who
will probably need it.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Dear Frank, I hope you will forgive me for.
Speaker 8 (21:38):
What I did to you.
Speaker 13 (21:40):
It was I, Brian Jackson, who replaced the blacks in
your gun with real bullets. If you recall you kept
urging me to see a doctor because of my cough.
I did see a doctor, but never told you were dead.
That he had given me only a year to live
at most.
Speaker 8 (21:57):
I couldn't stand a lingering death like that, Frank.
Speaker 13 (21:59):
So from the very beginning when we planned the hoax,
I had suicide in mind.
Speaker 8 (22:06):
That is what it practically was. But I wanted to
prove to you for once that you were wrong.
Speaker 13 (22:13):
I wanted to show you that you, a perfectly innocent man,
could be convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Death under our draw system of law.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
This letter will of course bring in your freedom. But
if my hand had not risen from the grave, so
to speak, the law would have hanged you. Now, do
you admit that murder, even the clearest murder, is purely
a matter of opinion?
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Sauspense you've been listening to Murderer is a Matter of Opinion,
starring Phil Meader and William Lipton and and for Suspense
by Ronald Dawson, based on the story by Jules Archer.
Suspence is produced and directed by Brunos Erano junior music
(23:11):
supervision by Ethel Huber. Also featured in Tonight's Story, where
Ronald Liss as Tom Penson, Bernard Lenro as Judge Jackson,
Maurice Tarplum as the prosecutor. Ivor Francis says mister Cheney.
Bob Dryden is the Captain and Lawson Serby as the Dean.
Listen again next week when we return with Soul to Satan,
(23:32):
written by Joseph Cochran, another tale well calculated to keep
you in.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Suspense.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Expanded CBS News every hour on the our weekdays presents
the most complete network news coverage. This is the CBS
Radio network.
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