Latest / The Whistler | Old Time Radio / The Whistler - "Poison Is Quicker" (Old Time Radio, 1945)

Transcript

The Whistler - "Poison Is Quicker" (Old Time Radio, 1945) · The Whistler | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: December 3rd, 1945 brought listeners episode 184 of The Whistler
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: on the CBS Pacific Network. In post-blitz London, office worker
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Alfred Smithers faces a cramped domestic life with Gracie, his
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: sharp-tongued wife, and an eager reader of murder mysteries. A newspaper,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: an insurance policy, and the routines of the Smithers' home
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: begin to weigh heavily on Alfred.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: As he tries to keep his thoughts and his manner
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: under control. Hans Conrad is featured in this British-set story
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: written by Leslie Edgley from the Signal Oil Program. And
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: now we return to the original broadcast.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: The Signal Oil Program. The Whistler. That whistle is your
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: signal for the signal oil program, the whistler.
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: I am the whistler, and I know many things, for
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: I walk by night. I know many strange tales hidden
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: in the hearts of men and women who have stepped
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: into the shadows. Yes, I know the nameless terrors of
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: which they dare not speak.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: Yes, friends, it's time for the Signal Oil program, The Whistler.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: Rated by Independent Research, the most popular program on the
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: West Coast. Remember that every traffic signal remind you, with
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: new signal gasoline, you do go farther than ever. Look
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: for the familiar big yellow and black circle sign that
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: identifies those popular signal stations in seven western states from
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: Canada to Mexico. And now the whistler's strange story.
• 2:13
  Speaker 5: Poison is quicker.
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: Poison is quicker. Most men lead lives of quiet desperation,
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: said Thoreau. Quiet desperation. How well little Alfred Smithers, who
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: never read a word by Thoreau in all his life,
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: knew the meaning of that phrase. All the nagging dullness
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: of a humdrum existence and a tiresome wife. Yes, the
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: saucy little servant girl Alfred had married in London so
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: many years before had become a lazy, slovenly housewife whose
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: untidy little home had miraculously survived the Blitz. Now, with
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: the coming of peace, Gracie Smithers sat in her dingy
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: front parlor night after night reading murder mysteries and yawning
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: while Alfred gazed blankly at his daily express and wished
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: he were rid of her. Wished it with all his heart.
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: and did nothing about it.
• 3:23
  Speaker 6: Well, that's another one off me docket. The author didn't
• 3:28
  Speaker 6: play fair, though.
• 3:29
  Speaker 7: I still don't see how that little Watts's name could
• 3:32
  Speaker 7: have been the Crimson Hangman.
• 3:36
  Speaker 6: What you thinking about, Alfie?
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: Nothing.
• 3:39
  Speaker 7: Still waters run deep, you know. You don't just sit
• 3:42
  Speaker 7: there thinking about nothing. Only a perishing statue does that.
• 3:46
  Speaker 8: I was thinking about the days... What?
• 3:49
  Speaker 9: The days aren't so bad. At least I have something
• 3:52
  Speaker 9: to do with the office. At least I keep occupied.
• 3:56
  Speaker 6: What's the matter, Alfie? Getting the jitters?
• 3:58
  Speaker 8: Never mind.
• 4:00
  Speaker 7: Don't you like a happy little home all of a sudden?
• 4:02
  Speaker 8: If you must know the truth, Mrs. Smithers.
• 4:05
  Speaker 6: I say now, what's got your back up?
• 4:07
  Speaker 8: Oh, nothing.
• 4:08
  Speaker 6: Feeling sorry for yourself again, dearie?
• 4:11
  Speaker 9: Oh, shut up. Get back to your murder rubbish and
• 4:14
  Speaker 9: don't bother me.
• 4:15
  Speaker 6: Really, Alfred Smithers?
• 4:17
  Speaker 8: Read, can't you?
• 4:18
  Speaker 9: Let a man have a little peace and quiet.
• 4:21
  Speaker 6: There's nothing to read.
• 4:23
  Speaker 7: I was hoping you'd pick up some more thrillers for
• 4:25
  Speaker 7: me at the bargain shop tomorrow.
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: All right, all right.
• 4:28
  Speaker 8: What do you want me to get?
• 4:30
  Speaker 7: I wrote down the titles somewhere. Got them ready for you. Oh, yes,
• 4:34
  Speaker 7: here they are. Dearest Alfred.
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: What's that?
• 4:39
  Speaker 6: Oh, don't get the wind up, lovey. It's only a
• 4:41
  Speaker 6: book title.
• 4:43
  Speaker 8: Doesn't sound much like a murder mystery to me.
• 4:45
  Speaker 6: Perhaps it isn't.
• 4:46
  Speaker 7: I thought I'd like to see the Alfred in real life,
• 4:49
  Speaker 7: if he's anything like Alfred in the book.
• 4:51
  Speaker 8: Very amusing.
• 4:52
  Speaker 7: The others are all thrillers, though. Death is my bridegroom.
• 4:57
  Speaker 7: There gives you the creeps, don't it? Nobody loves me.
• 5:00
  Speaker 7: That's a murder that looks like suicide.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 5:03
  Speaker 7: This way out, a spine-chilling cat-and-mouse game, the catalogue says.
• 5:08
  Speaker 5: I could hang.
• 5:09
  Speaker 6: Don't know that one.
• 5:10
  Speaker 7: And the last one? Poison is quicker.
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: Rubbish.
• 5:15
  Speaker 8: Nothing but tribe.
• 5:16
  Speaker 6: Alfred Smithers, you're a snob.
• 5:18
  Speaker 7: Everybody reads murder novels.
• 5:19
  Speaker 8: I don't.
• 5:20
  Speaker 6: Oh, you've always thought yourself better than anybody else. Especially
• 5:24
  Speaker 6: better than me. I've never been good enough for you.
• 5:27
  Speaker 8: That's for you to say, my dear.
• 5:29
  Speaker 6: That's a fine thing to say to your wife.
• 5:31
  Speaker 8: Oh, give me a list, Gracie. I'll pick the books
• 5:34
  Speaker 8: up tomorrow.
• 5:35
  Speaker 6: Well, okie doke. Here's the list. Be sure and get
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: Poisoners quicker. It's all about somebody murdered for insurance.
• 5:44
  Speaker 7: Start really, some of the catalogue says.
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: Cheap trash.
• 5:51
  Speaker 9: Dearest Alfred, death is my bridegroom. Nobody loves me. This
• 5:58
  Speaker 9: way out. I could hang. But poison is quicker. Dearest Alfred...
• 6:11
  Speaker 9: Death is my bridegroom. Nobody loves me. This way out,
• 6:17
  Speaker 9: I could hang. But poison is quicker.
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: Alfred, I.
• 6:24
  Speaker 6: What's the matter? Why are you shaking so?
• 6:27
  Speaker 8: I don't know. I'm about to call the chills.
• 6:30
  Speaker 6: I don't know.
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: Almost like a note to you, isn't it, Alfred? The
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: barely coherent elliptical style of a suicide note. If Gracie
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: were dead and that note were found beside her body,
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: you try not to think of it. Why, it's monstrous.
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: You're thinking of murder. You want to be rid of her,
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: but not that way. Still, if you simply left her,
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: you'd have no money. And Gracie does have insurance. But
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: poison is quicker, she said.
• 7:07
  Speaker 6: Poison.
• 7:08
  Speaker 5: Poison.
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: That arsenic powder you used in the garden. The thoughts
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: in your mind all that night and all the next day.
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: It's coming out now from its hiding place deep inside you.
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: And then when you return home that evening, it happens.
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: The little push that makes you a murderer.
• 7:26
  Speaker 6: Well, where are they?
• 7:28
  Speaker 5: Where's what?
• 7:29
  Speaker 6: My books, dearie. You said you'd bring them home with you.
• 7:31
  Speaker 8: Oh, I'm sorry, Gracie. I forgot all about them.
• 7:33
  Speaker 6: You forgot?
• 7:34
  Speaker 8: Yes, Gracie. Oh, the things on me mind.
• 7:36
  Speaker 7: Oh, the things on your mind. Such an important little man,
• 7:39
  Speaker 7: aren't we, Alfie? Can't keep a promise to your own wife.
• 7:42
  Speaker 8: I couldn't, Alfie. Gracie, they slipped me mine.
• 7:45
  Speaker 6: Like fun they did. You done it deliberate.
• 7:47
  Speaker 5: I know you did.
• 7:48
  Speaker 8: Gracie, don't raise your voice.
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: It's vulgar.
• 7:51
  Speaker 6: Oh, so now I'm vulgar, am I? Well, if I'm
• 7:53
  Speaker 6: not good enough to do things for, I'm not good
• 7:55
  Speaker 6: enough to do things for you. You can make your
• 7:57
  Speaker 6: own tea and toast tonight.
• 7:58
  Speaker 5: Don't shout at me, Gricey.
• 8:00
  Speaker 6: Don't scream. Oh, don't, don't, don't. I'm sick and tired
• 8:03
  Speaker 6: of getting the frosty eye from you, dearie. You're not
• 8:06
  Speaker 6: so high and mighty. Just a miserable little clerk in
• 8:09
  Speaker 6: a dirty little office.
• 8:10
  Speaker 8: That'll do.
• 8:11
  Speaker 6: Oh, just a second, you heinous.
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: Gricey!
• 8:14
  Speaker 8: Don't. You'll only upset yourself. I'll make tea for the
• 8:19
  Speaker 8: both of us.
• 8:19
  Speaker 7: You'll make none for me. That wishy-washy weak stuff you'll
• 8:22
  Speaker 7: prove yourself.
• 8:24
  Speaker 6: I'll make me own.
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 8:25
  Speaker 8: But once I'll do it your way.
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: Eh?
• 8:27
  Speaker 9: Tonight I'll make it the way you want it, Gryson.
• 8:30
  Speaker 9: Just as strong as you like.
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: With the prologue of tonight's story, Poison is Quicker, Signal
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: Oil Company is bringing you another strange story by The Whistler. Inflation.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: You hear that word all around you these days. But
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: in the midst of higher and higher prices and dollars
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: that buy less and less, it's gratifying to find a
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: product that actually offers more quality than ever before in history,
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: but still sells at its pre-war price. Yet that's just
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: what you get in new Signal Gasoline. Of course, improvement
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: isn't new to Signal Gasoline. Since that day 14 years
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: ago when Signal Oil Company introduced the first guaranteed anti-knock
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: gasoline at no extra price, Signal Gasoline has been constantly
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: improved to give you the benefit of every latest development
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: in the automotive and petroleum industry. But today's signal gasoline,
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: in which the atoms in gasoline molecules have actually been
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: rearranged to create amazing new power, is so superior to
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: pre-war gasolines, it's really a completely new type super fuel.
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: To discover what thrilling performance there's still left in your car,
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: try just one tankful of new signal gasoline. When you
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: step on the accelerator, you'll know why signal products, although
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: still young in years, have grown and grown in popularity.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Until today, those friendlies stations displaying signals, yellow and black
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: circle sign, now serve seven western states from Canada to Mexico.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: And now, back to the whistler. But poison is quicker.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: Strange what a book title can do to a man,
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: isn't it, Alfred? Who would think it could be the
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: stepping-off place to murder? And yet Gracie's dead now, the
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: victim of arsenic poisoning. And you are already playing a
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: new role, the part of.
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: A shocked husband, the little man who seems so dazed
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: and bewildered. It's only four hours after you made Gracie
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: such a nice cup of tea, and.
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: Now she's dead.
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: And Police Sergeant Jellaby is questioning you. You're thankful you're
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: still in the safety of your own home. You might
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: lose your head if you were in the hostile atmosphere
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: of a police station.
• 11:09
  Speaker 10: Are you sure you can't think of any reason why
• 11:11
  Speaker 10: your wife would wish to take her own life, Mr. Smithers?
• 11:14
  Speaker 8: Not right now, Sergeant.
• 11:15
  Speaker 9: I just can't think now.
• 11:17
  Speaker 10: I'm sure you understand we must get to the bottom
• 11:19
  Speaker 10: of this unfortunate affair.
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: Of course, of course. Now, about the question of motive, then.
• 11:25
  Speaker 8: Well, the books. Might have been the books.
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: Books?
• 11:29
  Speaker 9: But it's such a tiny thing.
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: You'd better tell me about it, Mr. Smithers.
• 11:33
  Speaker 9: Well, my wife is very fond of reading. Last night
• 11:37
  Speaker 9: she asked me to pick up some novels for her
• 11:39
  Speaker 9: in the city today. I was so busy, though, I
• 11:41
  Speaker 9: forgot all about them. She was rather upset when I
• 11:45
  Speaker 9: come home without them.
• 11:47
  Speaker 5: Upset enough to kill herself, Mr. Smithers?
• 11:50
  Speaker 9: Oh, good heavens, no. At least I didn't think so then.
• 11:54
  Speaker 5: You quarreled about it?
• 11:55
  Speaker 9: Oh, no, we never quarreled. She was upset, as I said,
• 11:59
  Speaker 9: and it disturbed me.
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: In what way?
• 12:03
  Speaker 9: I felt rather guilty about failing her, so... While she
• 12:06
  Speaker 9: was making our tea.
• 12:07
  Speaker 8: Your.
• 12:08
  Speaker 10: Wife made tea after your little incident?
• 12:11
  Speaker 5: Oh, yes.
• 12:11
  Speaker 9: She always done that. She said, I made such horrible tea.
• 12:15
  Speaker 9: Our neighbours can tell you that.
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: Who are they?
• 12:18
  Speaker 8: Well, there's Mrs.
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: Applegate next door.
• 12:20
  Speaker 8: She's a widow.
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: And then there's Henry Small across the road. I see.
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: Go on, Mr.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Smithers.
• 12:26
  Speaker 5: You said you felt guilty.
• 12:28
  Speaker 8: Oh, yes, yes. So I did.
• 12:30
  Speaker 9: So while she was making the tea, I decided to
• 12:33
  Speaker 9: surprise her. Make up for what I'd forgotten to do, like,
• 12:37
  Speaker 9: you know.
• 12:38
  Speaker 5: In what way?
• 12:40
  Speaker 9: Well, I remembered the rental library on McQueen's Road might
• 12:43
  Speaker 9: still be open, so I thought I'd better take a
• 12:45
  Speaker 9: quick walk over there and pick up a few novels
• 12:48
  Speaker 9: for her. I left the house without a word. Wanted
• 12:51
  Speaker 9: to surprise her, like, see?
• 12:53
  Speaker 10: Mm-hmm.
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: How long were you gone?
• 12:56
  Speaker 9: I left at half past six, eh? It was foggy,
• 12:59
  Speaker 9: you know, just this time of year. So I was
• 13:02
  Speaker 9: longer than I'd bargained for.
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: Over half an hour I was. And these are the
• 13:07
  Speaker 5: books you got her? That's it. Embers of Desire and
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: Love in the Desert.
• 13:11
  Speaker 9: Sort of thing most women like to read.
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: Did your wife read this sort of thing as a
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: general rule?
• 13:18
  Speaker 9: I don't know. I never much thought about the books
• 13:21
  Speaker 9: she read. What books did she ask you to get
• 13:24
  Speaker 9: for her in the city?
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: Books? Yes, what titles? Oh, well.
• 13:28
  Speaker 9: I know it's absurd, Sergeant, but I simply can't remember.
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: Are you quite sure?
• 13:34
  Speaker 9: I just can't think of him. I mean, I forgot
• 13:37
  Speaker 9: about him in the first place, and now I'm so
• 13:40
  Speaker 9: mixed up.
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: Perhaps he'll come to you later. Now about the note. Yes?
• 13:44
  Speaker 9: Doesn't it strike you as rather odd? I don't think
• 13:47
  Speaker 9: I know what you mean, Sergeant.
• 13:49
  Speaker 10: Well, it isn't coherent for one thing, and she didn't
• 13:51
  Speaker 10: sign her name to it for another.
• 13:53
  Speaker 8: I thought of that.
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: My wife.
• 13:56
  Speaker 9: She must have been under great mental strain when she
• 13:58
  Speaker 9: wrote it.
• 13:58
  Speaker 5: Oh, I can see that.
• 14:00
  Speaker 10: Decided to take her life on a sudden impulse, eh?
• 14:03
  Speaker 10: Must have thought you'd left the house in a fit
• 14:05
  Speaker 10: of anger, then hurried about the business of writing the
• 14:07
  Speaker 10: note and putting the arsenic in her tea.
• 14:09
  Speaker 8: It's a terrible thing to think about, ain't it, Sarge?
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 14:14
  Speaker 10: Arsenic poisoning's not the most pleasant of deaths. Since you
• 14:17
  Speaker 10: weren't here to prevent it, perhaps it's just as well
• 14:20
  Speaker 10: you didn't get home until.
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: until it was all over. Yes. It's... Is that all, Sergeant? Yes.
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: You'll be notified when to appear for the inquest, Mr. Smithers.
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: I'll see you then. Good night.
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: And so you've gotten away with murder, Alfred.
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: Or have you?
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: Is Sergeant Jellyby as stolid and blind as he seems?
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: He certainly didn't seem too sympathetic. Was that merely his
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: official manner, or does he suspect you? And was your
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: trip to the rental library after you'd watched Gracie die
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: as clever an alibi as you thought? You had to
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: lie about the type of novel Gracie read. You deliberately
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: brought home those trashy love stories to ward off any
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: questions about the suicide note. But if Henry Small or
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: Molly Applegate should remember that Gracie read mystery novels... Ah,
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: you made a mistake there, Alfred. But it's too late
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: to rectify it now. All you can do is attend
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: the inquest with Molly Applegate and Henry Small on either side.
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: A nasty business, this elf. It'll soon be over, though.
• 15:34
  Speaker 8: I hope so, Henry.
• 15:35
  Speaker 6: You'd think that the coroner's jury could have made up
• 15:38
  Speaker 6: their minds by now. Can't see why they're taking so
• 15:41
  Speaker 6: long about it.
• 15:41
  Speaker 8: Well, it really isn't so long, Mrs.
• 15:43
  Speaker 5: Applegate.
• 15:43
  Speaker 8: They've only been gone a few minutes.
• 15:45
  Speaker 6: An harrowing ordeal for you, that's what it is. I
• 15:48
  Speaker 6: don't see how you could be so cool up there
• 15:50
  Speaker 6: on the witness stand.
• 15:51
  Speaker 9: A man can't reveal his grief in public, Mrs.
• 15:54
  Speaker 8: Applegate.
• 15:54
  Speaker 5: That he can't. You've done yourself proud, Al. Me, now.
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: The few questions the coroner asked me, they had me
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: shaking like a leaf.
• 16:02
  Speaker 6: Pretty silly if you ask me.
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: How you mean, Molly?
• 16:05
  Speaker 6: The few questions he put to you. Didn't really need
• 16:07
  Speaker 6: to call you as a witness. Same goes for me,
• 16:10
  Speaker 6: as far as that goes. I'm sure I could have
• 16:12
  Speaker 6: told a sight more if I'd been asked.
• 16:14
  Speaker 8: Just what do you mean by that, Mrs. Applegate?
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: They're coming back. The jury's coming out. Mrs.
• 16:21
  Speaker 8: Applegate, I'd like to know what you.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: Shh.
• 16:22
  Speaker 6: Now, here. Here's the coroner.
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: Members of the jury, have you reached a verdict? We have.
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: How find you the case of the deceased Grace Smithers?
• 16:34
  Speaker 10: In the light of the evidence disclosed, we find the
• 16:37
  Speaker 10: deceased Grace Smithers is suicide while of temporarily unsound mind.
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: Well, that's it, Elf. There it is.
• 16:44
  Speaker 6: My, yes. Nothing to worry about now.
• 16:47
  Speaker 8: What do you mean? Nothing to worry about?
• 16:49
  Speaker 6: Well, really, Mr.
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: Smithers.
• 16:50
  Speaker 8: Well, what do you mean by it?
• 16:52
  Speaker 6: Nothing to make you bite me head off, I'm sure.
• 16:54
  Speaker 6: Only that it's official now.
• 16:56
  Speaker 8: Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs.
• 16:57
  Speaker 9: Evergate.
• 16:58
  Speaker 8: I'm not quite meself, you know.
• 17:00
  Speaker 6: Well, I didn't mean to snap at you meself.
• 17:03
  Speaker 8: You're right, of course.
• 17:05
  Speaker 9: I haven't anything to worry about now. Nothing at all.
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: Nothing to worry about, Alfred. That why is fear so
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: clammy and cold inside you? You've always been afraid of
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: so many things. And now you've actually killed Gracie. You're
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: afraid you'll be found out. That's the greatest fear you've
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: ever known. Murder was so easy, but that was only
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: the beginning. What about Molly Applegate? What more could she
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: have told if she'd been asked? The question haunts you
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: all during the funeral and through the next day and
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: the day after when the insurance man calls at the house.
• 17:57
  Speaker 5: Just one more question for our files, Mr. Smithers.
• 18:00
  Speaker 9: I don't see why I have to answer any more questions.
• 18:03
  Speaker 9: You can get all your information from the police records.
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: It's a formality we have to follow, Mr.
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: Smithers.
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: My company's not in business for its health, you understand.
• 18:11
  Speaker 9: But surely I told you everything you want to know.
• 18:14
  Speaker 9: Just one more thing. What really made your wife take
• 18:18
  Speaker 9: her own life? That's in the evidence of the inquest.
• 18:21
  Speaker 9: It's available to you. My instructions are to get it
• 18:24
  Speaker 9: in your own words. You want your wife's insurance, don't you, Mr.
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: Smithers? No sense in going to pieces.
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: If I were in your shoes, you know what I'd do?
• 18:34
  Speaker 5: Take a trip.
• 18:35
  Speaker 8: If you was in my shoes.
• 18:37
  Speaker 9: Yes, do you good. Now, what about your wife? I
• 18:42
  Speaker 9: guess the war was too much for her. She finally
• 18:45
  Speaker 9: gave way after it was all over.
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: Sergeant Jellyby told me you said that.
• 18:50
  Speaker 8: Then you seen the police.
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: What part of my job, you know?
• 18:54
  Speaker 8: Is that... All you want?
• 18:56
  Speaker 5: I think so. The money will come through in due time, Mr. Smithers.
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: Good day.
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: Panic won't help you at all, Alfred.
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: Still, Mr.
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: Chatham, the insurance man, seemed much too suspicious, didn't he?
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: Why all the leading questions? If he were in your shoes,
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: he said, he'd go away. as if he knew that
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: was already in your mind. But that's your plan now,
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: isn't it? The moment you get your money, you'll go away,
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: start all over again in another town, maybe even another country.
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: You hold to that thought all the next day, and
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: then you stop at the corner pub on your way
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: home from the office and have a beer with your
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: friend Henry.
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: Well, here's to you, Alf. A long life and no slip-ups.
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: No slip-ups. Accidents. Hope nothing ever goes wrong for you. Cheerio. Cheerio. Ah,
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: that's a bit of all right what? Yes.
• 19:59
  Speaker 8: Yes, it is.
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: Ran into that insurance bloke this afternoon.
• 20:03
  Speaker 9: Chatham.
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: You did? Tells me you're thinking of going away.
• 20:07
  Speaker 8: What gave you that idea?
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: I don't know. Perhaps he didn't say that exactly. Said
• 20:12
  Speaker 5: he mentioned it to you. Where are you thinking of going, Elf? Well, I.
• 20:17
  Speaker 8: I haven't gotten.
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: Sir, to France is the spot this time of the year.
• 20:21
  Speaker 8: I haven't even thought about it, Henry.
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: Yes, speaking of France, by the way, I read across
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: a rum item in the paper last week.
• 20:28
  Speaker 6: Oh?
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: This French bloke's wife killed herself, see? Suicide. Plain as
• 20:34
  Speaker 5: the nose on your face. Bloke collects the insurance and
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: then skips off. Hops off to Paris and starts blowing
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: in his brass on riotous living, you might say. The
• 20:45
  Speaker 5: joint arms picked him up like that. Give his self away,
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: he did. He killed her his self. If he'd stayed
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: where he was, nobody'd have been any the wiser. Now,
• 20:57
  Speaker 5: the way I look at it, Elf... Elf... Where'd he go?
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: I say there, a pig.
• 21:04
  Speaker 6: You could be a friend, Mr. Small.
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: Well, he was here only a second ago. I was
• 21:09
  Speaker 5: just shinning, not looking at him especially, and he ups
• 21:12
  Speaker 5: and disappears.
• 21:13
  Speaker 6: He walked out while you was talking, Mr.
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: Small.
• 21:16
  Speaker 6: White as a sheet he was, just like he'd seen
• 21:19
  Speaker 6: a ghost.
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: It wasn't a ghost you'd seen, was it, Alfred? Merely
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: the folly of trying to go away. Henry Small's right.
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: People would immediately start to talk. Wait, though. Henry Small
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: never invited you to have a beer before. And why
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: did he tell you that story about the Frenchman? It's
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: very suspicious. As frightening as Molly Applegate's remarks at the inquest.
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: What was the information she could have given the coroner?
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: The question beats at your mind again as you walk
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: home from the pub, trying to hurry through the fog
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: that's come up.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 22:02
  Speaker 6: Smithers. Oh. I hope I didn't startle you, Mr. Smithers.
• 22:07
  Speaker 9: You did give me a bit of a tear, Mrs.
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: Applegate.
• 22:10
  Speaker 8: I didn't notice you waiting at the doorway.
• 22:12
  Speaker 6: Thought you'd be along about now. I've been waiting for you.
• 22:16
  Speaker 8: Waiting for me?
• 22:17
  Speaker 6: I know how it's been for you since Gracie passed on.
• 22:20
  Speaker 6: I thought perhaps you were tired of having your tea
• 22:23
  Speaker 6: alone by now.
• 22:23
  Speaker 5: Oh.
• 22:24
  Speaker 8: Well, I haven't thought about it much, Mrs.
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: Applegate.
• 22:27
  Speaker 6: As a widow, I know what it's like to be
• 22:29
  Speaker 6: lonely myself. I just got some lovely fish and chips
• 22:33
  Speaker 6: at the shop. And I left Tiana at home. So
• 22:37
  Speaker 6: she'd like to come in.
• 22:38
  Speaker 9: Well, really, I.
• 22:39
  Speaker 6: I thought we might have things to talk about.
• 22:42
  Speaker 8: Things to talk about?
• 22:44
  Speaker 6: I'm a woman what keeps her eyes open. I know
• 22:47
  Speaker 6: how things were with you and Gracie.
• 22:49
  Speaker 8: What do you mean?
• 22:50
  Speaker 6: Oh, in our mystery books.
• 22:52
  Speaker 8: Well, what about them?
• 22:53
  Speaker 6: Believe me, I understand.
• 22:54
  Speaker 8: Understand what? What is there to understand?
• 22:56
  Speaker 6: You can trust me not to breathe a word to anyone.
• 22:59
  Speaker 8: Mrs. Applegate, I'm sure I don't know what.
• 23:01
  Speaker 6: Alfred, you've known me long enough now to call me
• 23:03
  Speaker 6: by my right name. You can call me Molly if
• 23:05
  Speaker 6: you want to.
• 23:06
  Speaker 8: Oh, I'm sorry. I really must be getting on.
• 23:09
  Speaker 6: Oh, but our tea.
• 23:10
  Speaker 8: I don't want no tea. I'm not hungry, Mrs.
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: Applegate.
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: Good night.
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: What's happening to you, Alfred? Sergeant Jellaby, Henry Small, the
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: insurance man, Molly Applegate. They've all talked to one another
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: about you. Are they playing a cat and mouse game
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: with you? You've got to find out how much they know.
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: Ask Henry Small. Question him skillfully, cunningly, so that he
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: won't suspect anything. But get the truth from him.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: That's it.
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: Invite him to the house. He's late in arriving, though.
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: By the time he does get there, it's late afternoon
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: and fog is beginning to creep through.
• 23:51
  Speaker 9: The streets again. What did you want to see me about, Elf? Well, Henry,
• 23:57
  Speaker 9: I'd like to apologize about the other night at the pub,
• 24:00
  Speaker 9: you know.
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: Apologize? What for?
• 24:04
  Speaker 9: I suppose you thought it was odd of me, Joe.
• 24:08
  Speaker 9: I said, why are you looking out the window?
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: Oh, nothing, nothing. What's up, Elf?
• 24:13
  Speaker 8: I wanted to talk about something else, too.
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: What's that?
• 24:18
  Speaker 8: Well, I don't quite know how to say it.
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: Something troubling you, Alf?
• 24:24
  Speaker 8: Why do you say that?
• 24:25
  Speaker 5: Oh, sometimes to get it off your chest. Like I
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: was saying to Molly Applegate this morning... Why must you
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: keep looking out that window? What's that, Alf?
• 24:33
  Speaker 8: You expecting something?
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: Is that it? Is that why you was late? Here
• 24:36
  Speaker 5: he is. He's coming now.
• 24:37
  Speaker 8: Oh, who are you talking about?
• 24:39
  Speaker 5: Another minute and you wouldn't be able to see him
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: for the fog. Oh, is it? Here, let me see.
• 24:43
  Speaker 5: Them uniforms don't keep out the cold in weather like this. No, no,
• 24:46
  Speaker 5: he can't. What's up, Alf? He can't come here. He
• 24:50
  Speaker 5: can't come here. Look here, mate. Easy does it. Now, look, Alf.
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: Is anything the matter? He's at the door, Elf. You'd
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: better let him in. Elf, don't you hear him? You'd
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: better go to the door.
• 25:01
  Speaker 9: Elf!
• 25:03
  Speaker 5: Elf! Good heavens. Elf, what have you done? Here, let
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: me help you. You can let him in now, Henry.
• 25:17
  Speaker 5: You all thought you were so clever. But poison is quicker....
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: The Whistler will return in just a moment with a
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: strange ending to tonight's story. Meantime, a word about a
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: sight that's becoming more and more common these cold mornings.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: Somebody trying to start his car, but no luck. The reason?
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: Another war-weary battery.
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: Has gone dead. So that this can't happen to your car,
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: I'd like to suggest that you take advantage of your
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: Signal Gasoline Dealer's complete battery service. At least every two weeks,
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: stop in to have him check the water level and
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: remove destructive corrosion from the terminals. If your battery seems
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: run down, your signal dealer has the latest equipment to
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: tell its exact condition, as well as to give you
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: a thorough recharge job. In the event that you need
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: a new battery, he has top-quality signal batteries, fully guaranteed
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: for long, trouble-free service. And I might add, signal dealers
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: also have America's finest spark plugs, Champion spark plugs. which
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: play such an important part in cold weather starting. So
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: stop in at your signal dealer soon. You'll find he's
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: much more than just a place to buy Signal's famous
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: Go-Farther gasoline and fine lubricants. For wherever you see Signal's
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: yellow and black circle sign, there you'll also find complete
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: Signal service and accessories to help your car run better,
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: look better, and last longer. And now, back to the whistler.
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: The Whistler.
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: Yes, Alfred, poison is quicker. Quick enough to kill you
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: while that uniformed figure still rang your doorbell. The cat
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: and mouse game is over. The moment you saw his
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: vague form coming up the walk through the fog... you
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: knew that giant paw was descending on you. The police
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: had come for you at last. So now you lie
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: dead in a huddled heap in your little kitchen... while
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: Molly Applegate, aroused by Henry Small's outcry, and Henry talked
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: to the newcomer about you.
• 27:35
  Speaker 6: Oh, it's terrible, terrible. How soon do you think the
• 27:38
  Speaker 6: police will get here?
• 27:39
  Speaker 5: Sergeant Jellaby ought to be here at any time now.
• 27:42
  Speaker 6: Not that he can do anything nobody can now.
• 27:44
  Speaker 5: What made him do it? Well, mate, the minute he
• 27:47
  Speaker 5: saw you, he makes a dash for the kitchen. By
• 27:49
  Speaker 5: the time I realized something was up, it was too late.
• 27:52
  Speaker 6: Oh, poor fellow. Seemed to go all to pieces after
• 27:55
  Speaker 6: his wife died.
• 27:56
  Speaker 5: I did what I could for him, too. Stood him
• 27:59
  Speaker 5: a drink the other night. Ran out on me while
• 28:01
  Speaker 5: I was telling him some yarn or the other.
• 28:04
  Speaker 6: I must say I was wrong about him.
• 28:06
  Speaker 5: Wrong?
• 28:06
  Speaker 6: Well, I feel proper ashamed of myself now, but I
• 28:09
  Speaker 6: got the idea she hadn't been a good wife to him.
• 28:12
  Speaker 6: I tried to tell him so.
• 28:14
  Speaker 5: Poor old chum. Ain't it funny how he jumped on
• 28:17
  Speaker 5: the edge the minute I spotted you coming up the walk?
• 28:20
  Speaker 5: Thought you might be bringing me a quid or two
• 28:22
  Speaker 5: on the football pool this week. Instead, you called on
• 28:25
  Speaker 5: a laugh. What gets me? Why does he do it
• 28:29
  Speaker 5: just when I'm ringing the bell?
• 28:31
  Speaker 6: What was it you had for him, Mr. Postman?
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: A special delivery letter, registered. From the insurance company. It's
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: the money from his poor wife's policy.
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: Next Monday at 9 o'clock, The Whistler will bring you
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: another strange tale. The Whistler is broadcast for your entertainment
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: by the marketers of Signal Gasoline and Motor Oil and
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: fine quality automotive accessories and by your neighborhood Signal dealer.
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: This program produced by George W. Allen with tonight's story
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: by Leslie Edgley, music by Wilbur Hatch, is transmitted to
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: our troops overseas by the Armed Forces Radio Service. That
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: whistle is your signal for the Signal Oil. program, The Whistler.
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: This is Marvin Miller speaking, reminding you to look for
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: those familiar yellow and black circle signs that identify those
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: popular signal oil stations in seven western states from Canada
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: to Mexico. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: We close with The Whistler. Poison is quicker. Follow The
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: Whistler for more classic broadcasts.