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The Whistler - "Seven Steps to Murder - East Coast" (Old Time Radio, 1947) · The Whistler | Old Time Radio

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: This East Coast broadcast of The Whistler. On February 12, 1947,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: CBS presented episode number four, Seven Steps to Murder, sponsored
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: by the Household Finance Corporation. In New York's theater and
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: newspaper circles, drama critic Archer Atkins gives playwright and syndicated
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: columnist Everett Clayton's new play, A Harsh Review. Clayton responds
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: with a literary practical joke, and an old acquaintance becomes
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: a contest of pride, reputation, and revenge. We now take
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: you back to the original broadcast.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: The Whistler.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: Presented by the United States Air Forces in Europe. I...
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: I'm the whistler, and I know many things, for I
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: walk by night. I know many strange tales hidden in
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: the hearts of men and women who have stepped into
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: the shadows. Yes, I know the nameless terrors of which
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: they dare not speak.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Tonight transcribed is the whistler's strange story, Seven Steps to Murder.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: The Atkins-Clayton affair was unusual for two reasons. In the
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: first place, of course, it involved a pair of famous
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: newspaper men. Archer Atkins, the dean of New York drama critics,
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: and Everett Clayton.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: The syndicated columnist. But more than that, it was interesting
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: in its structure.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: Yes, there were seven distinct steps between an apparently cordial
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: relationship and a murder. The opening night of Clayton's first
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: play at a whirlwind was step number one. Atkins had attended,
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: of course, with the rest of the critics. And shortly
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: after the final curtain, had walked across the street to
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: the offices of the New York Globe with Murchison, his editor,
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: to meet the newspaper's deadline.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: Everett Clayton's new play, The Whirlwind, opened last night at
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: the Brighton Theatre with Diana Brooks and Paul.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Strand in the leading role. Finish it, Atkins? Oh, much
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: of it.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: I want to see what you did to Clayton's play.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: I thought it was great. Oh, did you? Here's what
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: I thought.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: Everett Clayton's new play, The Whirlwind, is dullness itself. utterly
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: lacking in originality, imagination, or even ordinary playability. The death
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: rattle was audible before the first act was five minutes old.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: Lester Atkins, you can't.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: Why can't I? You grew up together. You came from
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Texas together. You even engaged to his sister. He's your
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: best friend. Art knows no friendship. You're a liar.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: You're jealous because Clayton's invading the drama, your sacred territory.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: Well, if that's true, you should fire me. Too bad
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: I'm too influential, huh?
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: No.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: One of these days you'll stick your neck out too
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: far and I'll chop it off.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: Your review of Everett Clayton's play was step number two.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: The next day you see Clayton in the coffee shop
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: of the Stratford Club where both of you live. He
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: walks over to your booth, his face tense in expression,
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: the paper folded in his pocket.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Well, Everett, good to see you. Sit down, please. Thank you. Waiter. Yes, sir. Coffee, please. Yes, sir. Two.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: No coffee for me. Milk. Yes, sir. Your stomach again?
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: Getting worse, I'm afraid. But that's not why I came,
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: is it, Archer? I suppose not.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: That review, Archer. Nice of you. You're not a playwright, Everett. You, uh...
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: You at least saw the play, I presume. Of course.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: An author spends a year writing a play, and that's
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: the consideration he gets.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: Any of your money in it? Everything I've got. Oh,
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: too bad. Why didn't you consult me before? Let me
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: read it.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: Because I knew what I'd get. Sarcasm, smart quacks, not
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: one bit of constructive criticism. There is a small item
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: you've forgotten.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Talent.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: No one has yet succeeded in drawing milk from an elephant.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: Charity, you should have said so.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: Do you want me to go over it scene by
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: scene and show you how bad it is?
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: No, because you couldn't. That's the trouble, you know.
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: The people don't decide what's good or bad anymore.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: They wait for the critics to tell them. Well, thanks
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: to you, I know my play is dead, Atkins. But
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: I also know you're a fake. You've been phony all
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: your life.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: If the rover boys in Switzerland had Edgar Allan Poe's
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: name on it, you'd call it grief.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: Oh, easy, old boy. You're getting carried away. You picked
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: on the wrong guy, Archer.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: I've got 20 million readers, too, and before this thing's over,
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: I'm going to make you look like the village idiot.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: Just do me a favor, Atkins. Check my column tomorrow.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: It'll interest you. And now, back to The Whistler.
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: Yes, Archer.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: Although you didn't know it at the time, the case
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: that was soon to become famous as the Atkins-Clayton affair
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: fell neatly into seven parts. Seven Steps to Murder.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: Clayton's play, of course, was the first step.
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: And the scathing review that appeared in the Globe the
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: next day over your signature.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: Was the second.
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: But when you arrive at your office the next day, Murchison,
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: the editor, is sitting on your desk waiting for you.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: The afternoon edition of The Ledger in His Hand. Hello, Murchison.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: Did you read Clayton's column? I did not. Lead paragraph. Listen. Listen.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: I am now reconciled to the fact that my play,
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: The Whirlwind, will close in a matter of days as
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: a result of the efforts of a group of critics
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: headed by Archer Atkins. As a matter of fact, Atkins
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: is not equipped to set himself up as a critic
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: or even a writer. He has no conception of literature, dramatic, poetic,
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: or otherwise.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: And I intend to prove it. Well, amusing, but not very.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: You started all of this, Atkins. I think you should apologize.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: I'm going to be quite busy, Murchison. I'm sure there
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: are a few obituaries that require your keen intelligence.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: I hope Clayton gives you a sock and a jaw.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: That's step number three, Archie.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: The public challenge that went out to 20 million readers.
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: You decide it's ridiculous, of course, and forget about it.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: The play lasts five days and closes. Then one evening,
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: some weeks later, Barbara Ross, the fashion editor on the ledger, walks.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: Up to you in the lobby and taps you on
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: the shoulder.
• 7:41
  Speaker 5: Archer, darling.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Good evening, my dear.
• 7:45
  Speaker 5: Archer, I found something I thought you'd want to glance at.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: Why, did Clayton put me in print again?
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: Nothing like that.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Somebody handed me this book of poetry. Of course.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: It was printed privately, only 50 copies.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: Let me see it. 14 by Jafar Ahmed. What's it about?
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: Well, I think it's lovely.
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: It's written by an immigrant boy about.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: His love for a little girl. Oh, no, thank you.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: Oh, but I.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: Poetry, darling, is as much a part.
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: Of adolescence as a first shave. And just about as important.
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: But it's really quite good. The boy seems to have
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: an excellent sense of meter and a good deal of insight, too. Archer,
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: you know so much more about poetry than anyone else
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: I know.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: All right, dear. I'll look it over. Step number four,
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: the book of poetry. Nothing to it, of course, is there, Archer?
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: But you take it home and toss it on the nightstand.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: And just before you decide to turn out the light,
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: you pick it up and glance at.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: The first page.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: You from the start.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: There's something about the poems that haunts you, almost as
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: if you've read them before. Memory, things you've forgotten completely
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: spring to life.
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: Yes, this boy has managed to capture something out of
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: every man's youth, something that gets under your skin and
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: stays there. You finish the book, get out of bed hurriedly,
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: and sit down at your typewriter. You can't wait until tomorrow,
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: can you, Archer? You've got to get it on paper now.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: Although the poems are immature, there's something great.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: And universal about this work.
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: The volume has been printed privately, but in my opinion,
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: it would be a wise investment for any publisher to
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: issue it in quantity. 14 by Jafar Ahmed should never
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: be forgotten.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: That ought to do it. It'll be on the best service.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: list in a month.
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: In the morning, you hand your article to a copy boy, unaware,
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: of course, that you've just completed step number five. Although
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: you don't know it, the minute you turn in.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: That review, you move nearer to murder than you've ever
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: been in your life.
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: It's just 24 hours later when the same boy.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Number six. Here's your copy of the letter, mister.
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: No, no, no.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: Around time we'll have this break. Oh, here we are.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: Three months ago, I promised to reveal Archer Atkins, the
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: so-called dean of literary critics.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: As a phony.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: Today, I call attention to the rave he's been giving
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: the book of poems called Fourteen. Supposedly written by a
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: 14-year-old Iranian lad. The fact is, gentle readers, I... Wrote 14.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: What a shocking A, aren't you? Oh, hold on.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: I just, I didn't see.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: That's all right. You needn't hide that.
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: Some of our best people read Everett Clayton, including the
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: publishers of this paper.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: That's trash. Just trash.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: And lies, too, I suppose.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Why, Clayton never wrote 14. He hasn't got enough sense.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Seems to know a lot about it, Archer. Read on.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: He tells just how he did it. He had no
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: knowledge of poetry, he says.
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: Just threw together the luscious and most senseless adjectives he
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: could concoct.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: Had the whole mess printed up on the quiet. Ha, ha, ha.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: And you, the great Archer Atkins, praised it to the skies.
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: Why are you trying to tell me that you believe.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: This month as much as what a man's... A man's
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: got readers, Archer. Twenty million of them, so calm down.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: Don't tell me to calm down. As a matter of fact,
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: why don't you get out of here?
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: Let me at that typewriter.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: I'll teach Clayton his place. Not in a globe, you won't.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: And why not?
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: I talked to the publishers. They want your resignation by
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: the end of the month. From now on, I'm editing
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: your material... and I don't intend to have any libel
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: suits on my hands... Not even to save the great
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: name of Archer Atkins.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Good day. Well, for once I've had the last word. Well, Archer,
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: a turn you never expected.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: And it's even worse when you reach the stretcher club
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: and learn that you've suddenly been.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: Turned into a laughing stock. Watch it, old boy, how
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: could you? What was it now?
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: I still feel the music, the poignant expression of an
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: adolescent love.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: Ha, ha, ha!
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: Sweetly agonizing emotions, part of every man's youth. I'm not
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: about to slide with pain on your skull, my dear handman.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: Gentlemen, gentlemen, you hear?
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: The great Atkins is no longer capable of using his
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: cutting tongue.
• 13:07
  Speaker 5: He must now resort to a cane.
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: This thing has got you, hasn't it, Archer? And it
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: hurts deep, twisting inside you until finally the seventh step
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: begins to take shape.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: The seventh and final step. Murder. The frightening thought, isn't it, Archer? Frightening,
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: but very clear.
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: It's all there in your mind as you ride up
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: to your luxurious suite in the elevator.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Everett Clayton is a man of habit. One of them
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: forced upon him by his health. You know all about that, Archer.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: How each evening at seven, a waiter brings a large
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: glass of milk into his apartment.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: You smile as you let yourself into your rooms across
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: the hall. Tonight, that same waiter must bring you something
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: as well.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: Hello. Hello, coffee shop. This is Mr. Atkins. I wonder
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: if you'd send me up something, huh? Oh, I don't know.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: Something light. A chicken sandwich, perhaps.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Oh, no.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: No hurry.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: What's that? You have a waiter coming to Mr. Clayton's
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: rooms at seven? That's time enough, surely. Don't make a
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: special trip. Thank you. Waiter?
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: Yes, sir?
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: You have a sandwich and coffee for me?
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: Oh, yes, sir, but I was going to start first
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: at Mr.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: Clayton's. Yes, well, come in a moment. I'll set it
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: down there on the desk, will you? And I wonder
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: if you'd do something for me. I tried to unlock.
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: A suitcase a moment ago, but I couldn't seem to
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: turn the key.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: Would you have a look at it, please? Why, certainly, sir.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: Where is it? In the bedroom. Of course, if it's
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: too much trouble. Not at all, sir. I have handled
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: a lot of things.
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: You hesitate as the waiter starts to cross to the bedroom.
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: Then you turn quickly to the tray he set down
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: on your desk. Before he comes back, you empty the
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: contents of a.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: Small envelope into the milk intended for Creighton. You stir
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: it hastily and then return to your book.
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: Well, I got it open for you, sir. That lock
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: is sprung a little.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: Bit, though. Oh, well, I'll have to have it attended to.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: Here you go. Thanks for your trouble. Not at all, sir.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much. Thank you.
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: You settle back in your chair now, giving your waiter
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: time to deliver the glass.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: Of milk to Clayton. A few minutes later, you slip
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: out into the corridor and down the hall.
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: Stop outside of Clayton's door and listen.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: He's talking to someone on the telephone. Yes, yes, I
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: got your letter. Well, what did you expect me to do?
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: All right, all right. I promise I'll see him about
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: a first thing tomorrow. Yes, yes, I promise. Goodbye.
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: You wait tensely after Clayton hangs up, hoping no one
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: will come along the hall and find you standing there.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: A moment's blank time.
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: What is he doing?
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: Is he ever going to pick up that glass?
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: And then.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: A moment later, you whip the door open, step inside
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: and lock it. A glance at Clayton's body sprawled on
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: the floor assures you that he's dead. Quickly, you cross
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: the room and sit down at his battered portable typewriter.
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: To my dear mother, comma, my sister, comma, and gentle readers, colon.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: It isn't often that the man... write his own obituary. Period.
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: Believe me, comma, this isn't easy, comma.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: But I've been ill for some ten years now.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: You type rapidly, Archer, because you know exactly what you
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: want Clayton's suicide note to say. It includes, above all else,
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: a confession, one in which the dead Everett Clayton will
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: admit to the world that he perpetrated a deliberate hoax
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: against you.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: His note tells how he lied in claiming.
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: To have written the verses in the book 14. How, actually,
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: he simply dug up a number of anonymous ballads and.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: Revised them a bit. You put it all down, Archer.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: Your way. But in Everett Clayton's style.
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: And then you add his well-known signature. Just the two
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: simple typewritten letters.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: E-C. Thanks, my dear Everett.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: We'll see tomorrow how your 20 million readers like this one.
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: The End.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: Back to The Whistler. Well, the seven steps have passed now, Archer.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: Every cretin is dead.
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: But more important than that, the suicide note in his
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: typewriter will put you back at the top of the heap.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: Murchison, the publishers, Hanley, and the whole literary world will
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: have to admit who has the right to wear the.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: Critics' crowns.
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: You don't seem at all surprised at the police calling
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: on you, Mr.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: Atkins. Oh, my dear Captain Foss, the moment the manager
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: of this club informed me.
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: Of Clayton's demise, I resigned myself to a round of
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: dull questions.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: Naturally.
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: You've known him all his life, grew up with him,
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: sweet on his sister at one time.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: Anything else you want to know?
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: I was an incubator baby, weighed three pounds, two and
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: one-third ounces.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: I'm surprised. you aren't more interested in the way Clayton died.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: I like to believe people, Captain.
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: When I'm told someone is dead, I assume he's dead.
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: Whether he was shot through the head with a cannon,
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: threw himself into mud, Vesuvius, or was clubbed to death.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: With the missing arm of Venus de Milo doesn't concern
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: me in the least. Poison is more to your liking,
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: isn't it? I don't know what you're trying to imply.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: Let's make it clear, then. How long did it take
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: you to write that note? Note, Captain?
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: The suicide note in Clayton's typewriter.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: Oh, do tell him first, no doubt.
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: It says Clayton never wrote those poems, that he stole
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: them from some anonymous ballad.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: Well, I insisted on that all the time. Wait till
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: I get hold of that, Ed. You wrote that note, Atkins.
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: You poisoned Clayton and ran the note off on his typewriter.
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: Nonsense. Who gave you that story? Some idiot from the ledger?
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: Take a look at these papers, Atkins. Ever seen them before?
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: They're yellow. They're very old, aren't they?
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: They're poems you wrote to Everett Clayton's sister when you
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: were 14.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: Over 40 years ago. What?
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: That book of poetry you reviewed was not written by
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: Jafar Ahmed or Everett Clayton, but by Archer Atkin.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: I've reviewed my own poetry. So it wasn't suicide, you say? Now,
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: wait a minute. He still did it. It was a
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: malicious trick. Now, listen, Captain. It wasn't suicide, Atkin. Ah.
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: Because Clayton's sister blew up when she read what he
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: did with those poems after she sent them to him.
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: She phoned him last night.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: He was talking to his sister.
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: She made him promise a public retraction. Clayton was going
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: to see you about it in the morning. Join us
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: again next week when once again the United States Air
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: Forces in Europe presents The Whistler. This is Air Force
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: Sergeant Don Cormier speaking.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: And so ends The Whistler, Seven Steps to Murder. Good night,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: and thank you for sharing this broadcast from radios past.