In this episode, we delve into the intriguing story of the Viking One mission to Mars, which was set to land on the red planet on July 4th, 1976. As the Viking One orbiter captures images from Mars, the possibility of discovering life on another planet is tantalizingly close. The episode explores the public's surprisingly nonchalant attitude towards this monumental mission, contrasting it with past fears and speculations about Martian life, as famously dramatized by Orson Welles in 1938. Renowned scientists like Dr. Carl Sagan weigh in on what Martian life might look like, suggesting that any organisms found would likely be very different from life on Earth.
We also explore the fictional tale of a murder investigation led by Detective Sergeant Digger Bowles and Detective Marion Trout. The story unfolds with the mysterious death of Saul Fender, initially thought to be a natural death but later revealed to be murder. As the detectives navigate through a web of potential suspects, including a quirky cast of characters from Fender's apartment building, they uncover the truth behind his death. The episode combines elements of science fiction with a classic whodunit mystery, keeping listeners on the edge of their seats as they await the final revelation.
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[00:00:01]
Unknown:
Newsbreak. Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio Network. If there is life on Mars, we may know it very soon. Viking one is now orbiting the red planet taking pictures. And while we're celebrating our bicentennial day on the July 4, if all goes well, the Viking one lander will make a landing on Mars and begin getting some answers. Considering the subject matter, we're being pretty blase about our mission to Mars. We didn't always take the subject of life there so lightly. More after
[00:00:29] Unknown:
this. Mercy's sakes, this repurduct gonna be late unless one of you cowboys can help me. Well, I was heading for a gig in my four wheel rig because I was running late getting down. Because with all of them folks on the boulevard, we weren't never gonna get across town. But when you got you in the middle of the sea fever, well, you got about a million friends. And you don't have to be no cotton figure than the sitting in the sweat in your hands.
[00:00:51] Unknown:
Join this in time for agenda friendly people. See if you're a rubber duck slip all in behind this 18 wheeler come off. Well, it could
[00:00:59] Unknown:
Well, I could've sat on that ramp till at least turn it brown because them cars was wall to wall, but I had me in Midland CP rigging them truckers all heard McCall. We had to slip in between them semis and never would've broke that line. But with a little help from the Midland convoy, a rubber duck was right on time. Ten four. Breeze on you, good buddy. You truck them safe now here.
[00:01:20] Unknown:
Joy. Joy.
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When you get a Midland CB, you get a convoy of blood to come off. FCC license required.
[00:01:30] Unknown:
It takes a lot to shake us up these days. Possibly while we're watching a parade or something on the July 4, our Mars lander, Viking one, will be taking pictures of Martians marching by. I I have to march slowly.
[00:01:42] Unknown:
The camera, it scans a line at a time, and it takes quite a while to make a single picture. So if they're creatures and they stand still for maybe five minutes,
[00:01:52] Unknown:
then we could see them. But if they move around, they'll end up as sort sort of a blur. Doctor Al Hibbs, the voice of Viking Mission Control in Pasadena. And what might Martian creatures look like? Doctor Carl Sagan can probably answer that question if anyone can. But he'll say that they won't look much like you and me. The one thing which seems most likely
[00:02:12] Unknown:
is that organisms on other planet will not closely resemble anything we know here. We will not find anybody that looks like us. There are very few scientists who think it's likely, but it's even possible that there are large organisms that walk around the planet and, are of some level of intelligence. There's nothing we know to exclude that. Ever since science began to speculate about the possibility of life on Mars, science fiction has pictured Martians as monsters.
[00:02:38] Unknown:
And one night, 10/30/1938 it was, Orson Welles scared everybody half to death with a radio drama about an invasion of Earth by Martians, and his Martian was an ugly fella. Alright. Thank you. The gentleman's been described. I'm like, I hardly force myself to keep looking at it.
[00:03:00] Unknown:
Ladies and gentlemen, I've just been handed a message. At least 40 people lie dead in a field east of the village of Grover's Mill, their bodies burned and distorted beyond all possible recognition.
[00:03:11] Unknown:
Wells' broadcast did not tell much about Martian nature, but it showed a great deal about human nature. People actually ran into the streets really believing it was a Martian invasion. At Grover's Mill, New Jersey, there are still some people who remember how the town reacted when in the plague Grover's Mill was the Martian landing site. Fear fear had a lot to do with it. How long you were gonna live after that? God only knew.
[00:03:34] Unknown:
Quite a few of them had taken off for the hills of Pennsylvania in their car, took their loved ones, their pets, left their doors, windows wide open, lights on and everything, and took off and went. And they felt like they in fools didn't come back.
[00:03:48] Unknown:
And now here we are less than forty years later about to land on Mars. And what would it do if we were to find out that there is life there? Doctor Carl Sagan.
[00:03:58] Unknown:
It would, in the minds of many people, make life a kind of cosmic commonplace and would greatly enhance the idea that there are not just innumerable worlds with living things on them, but innumerable worlds with living things on them, but innumerable worlds with technical civilizations with whom we might communicate.
[00:04:19] Unknown:
Well, we still do not know what Martians look like, but we may find out soon. However, we do know one thing. We do know that our Viking lander is a weird looking fellow with its camera eyes to take pictures and send them back to Earth, with its 10 foot long arm to dig and scoop in the ground to see if there are any microorganisms there. No question about it. If anything up there sees it, it may get to thinking it's one of us, and that we earthlings are a bit on the ugly side ourselves. Now this message. Hi, America. Hello. Looking for the heart of a great meal?
Hi. Then look for Mrs. Paul's Fish Fillets. Good food that goes with Nanaroni. Makes a good balance. What makes Mrs. Paul's Fish Fillets taste so good? We thought of you. Oh. And made them just like you would. Oh? Yep. We start with mild white fish, dip it in the crispiest of bread crumbs. We even include our creator sauce mix. That's great.
[00:05:15] Unknown:
Missus Ball Yes? You are the greatest.
[00:05:19] Unknown:
Well, we've eaten at many other IHOPs. But really, when it comes to breakfast, and I'll be honest, I think this is better than I can fix at home. Whether it's Glintzes or strawberry pancakes or ham and eggs or sausage and eggs, everything is absolutely excellent. And I don't have to do the dishes, and it makes me very happy not to have to do them.
[00:05:50] Unknown:
Newsbreak, Monday, Newsbreak, Monday, June 1976. Charles Osgood, CBS News.
[00:05:58] Unknown:
This is a NASA space note from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. About July 4, the first of two automated Viking spacecraft is to softly touch down on the surface of Mars. Among the wide range of service investigations will be the search for evidence of past or present life. While several instruments aboard the landers will assist and support the life search, three experiments in particular will look directly for living organisms in the soil. Most biologists agree that if life is to be found on the red planet, the soil is the best place to begin looking for it. A sample of the Mars soil will be scooped up and deposited into a miniature biological laboratory aboard the Viking lander.
The soil will be examined in three different ways in order to detect the presence of microorganisms. The existence or absence of life on the red planet could have profound effects on theories concerning the evolution of life right here on Earth. This has been a NASA Space Note.
[00:06:54] Unknown:
WFA,
[00:06:58] Unknown:
Dallas Fort Worth.
[00:07:02] Unknown:
The CBS Radio Mystery Theater presents Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. To my surprise, I discovered discovered that it was Lord Byron in his famous poem Don Juan who first said, for truth is always strange, stranger than fiction. Others, I'm sure, have said it in their own ways. Edmund Burke, the great British statesman and orator, have raised it, truth lags behind fiction. And Bob Ripley, the cartoonist, made a life work and a fortune out of this simple statement. The following story is fiction, but it is founded on a strange truth.
[00:08:05] Unknown:
That nice little lady, she couldn't commit a murder over a cat.
[00:08:12] Unknown:
Let me tell you something, detective Trout. Most murders are committed by otherwise nice people. And motive? Sometimes all it takes is a hot night or a sneeze or the wrong words put together. Don't you ever forget it, miss detective. Detective. The right time, the right place, the right circumstances, anyone can commit homicide. Our mystery drama, Checkmate, was written especially for the mystery theater by Ian Martin and stars Robert Dryden and Marian Haley. It is sponsored in part by Buick Motor Division. I'll be back shortly with act one.
[00:09:06] Unknown:
Well, sir, I see you're one of the many people who bought a new Buick Century. That's right. Boy, you wanna talk about roomy and comfortable. Just take a look in there. Go ahead. But you have, you have curtains hanging in your car. Yes. And wallpaper too. Well, why is that? Well, we like the Century so much, we decided to sell a house and, live in it. Oh, it doesn't that get just a little crowded? Oh, I suppose it might after a while, but, we we aren't home that much. Oh. You know, we got a little sky hawk up north. Buick, dedicated to the free spirit in just about everyone. Why is it everybody talks about air pollution, but nobody does anything about it? Are you kidding? We're doing something about it. We are? Sure. We're contributing to it. Oh. For example, burned any trash lately? Yeah. Well, that's a contribution. It is? Had your car tuned in the last year? No. There's another contribution. Alright. How about you? What do you contribute? Well, listen. Don't worry about me. I work for a power plant. So? I give it the office. Don't contribute to air pollution this year. We've already reached our quota. This reminder from your local lung association is a matter of life and breath.
[00:10:07] Unknown:
Electrical appliances are extremely useful time saving aids. But without proper precautions, they can be instruments of destruction. In fact, government statistics show that eighty percent of all electrical appliance accidents are due to carelessness. Underwriters Laboratories' Laboratories consumer safety expert, Janice Farr, says there's an easy way you can help avoid contributing to that 80%.
[00:10:31] Unknown:
That's right. I strongly recommend that you read and heed your appliance instruction booklets. Most booklets contain valuable safety tips, such as recommending that you unplug your portable appliance from the outlet when not in use, and that you not let the cord hang over the edge of a table or counter, or touch hot surfaces. And to be extra safe It's a good idea to keep your instruction booklets in a convenient place for quick and easy reference.
[00:10:57] Unknown:
Remember, the instruction booklet is there, so why not use it? This has been a public service announcement from Underwriters Laboratories and this station.
[00:11:17] Unknown:
Detective sergeant Digger Bowles of the fourth precinct is looking forward to his approaching retirement from the force. In his nearly thirty years in the police department, over twenty of them as a plainclothes detective, he's been happy and proud in his work. But, he's a man of habit, and change irritates him more and more. Most of all, this new breed of officers, he doesn't particularly appreciate it when they come in a form that is anathema to him in the hallowed precincts of the station house.
[00:11:58] Unknown:
A fourth precinct, detective Trautsch. I I believe murders. Hold it a minute. Who are you? So Address and phone number?
[00:12:15] Unknown:
8745.
[00:12:18] Unknown:
Wait. Was that a 5 or a 9? A 5. I didn't get that last. Please. How about how would it be? I can't. I can't. Mister Fender. Mister Fender, are you alright? Hello? Where you got that, detective? The big one, sergeant Foles. Homicide. Who's this? The guy on the phone. What guy? Who? Saul Bender. He just got murdered. Who got murdered? Saul Bender, the man on the phone.
[00:12:49] Unknown:
The victim called up to say he was being murdered. No.
[00:12:54] Unknown:
That he just had been. I got the address. We better go over there right away. Now where where where you mean he's still on the phone? He was. He isn't anymore. Here, listen. Hello?
[00:13:05] Unknown:
Hello? Mister Fender?
[00:13:09] Unknown:
Mister Fender? You see, he was talking, and then I heard him fall, but he said he'd been murdered.
[00:13:15] Unknown:
I don't know, Trout. My feet are killing me. I just hope this isn't somebody's idea of a joke. Alright. Come on. Let's go see. Why don't you use the siren? Because I ain't no show off. Besides, it makes too much noise. Disturbs people, including me. Yes. But it's important to get there. We'll get there. Fast. Just as fast. Well, how do you know? Because I've been driving this city just this way For twenty
[00:13:54] Unknown:
five years, and it's always been been good enough.
[00:13:58] Unknown:
Smart, what do you know? You're just beginning. You think this is a game? No. I don't. I'm just enthusiastic
[00:14:05] Unknown:
about my job, and I'd like to be good at it. Just like. Don't enthuse. You don't like me, do you, Digger? Did I say that? Well, you don't have to. You think I'm just a wet behind the ears young tongue. Don't tell me what I think, detective Trout. Well, then you tell me. I think
[00:14:28] Unknown:
I know you're a dame.
[00:14:30] Unknown:
That's all. And dames don't have any place in your thinking? Not on a force.
[00:14:35] Unknown:
Well, not in homicide anyway.
[00:14:38] Unknown:
Why? Women get killed too. Yeah. That's right.
[00:14:43] Unknown:
So maybe it's just lucky we're at the scene of the crime that's already been committed. Alright. Come on. Let's go play cop. Now just let me get this straight, miss, yes. Apfova. Oh, yeah. Did you say you're out walking your dog? Cat. Cat. Yeah. Cat. Walking a cat. Sure.
[00:15:12] Unknown:
He likes his evening stroll, Marston. What do you think? He looks like a dog, that cat?
[00:15:19] Unknown:
You see a leash. You figure a dog at the other end. And you're a detective. Maybe I'm too busy looking at that weapon in your other hand.
[00:15:28] Unknown:
What's that for? This neighborhood. A person isn't safe even if it's still light. Nobody bothers me no more since I stuck a couple of them with this. What is it? It's a hat pin.
[00:15:40] Unknown:
Madam, that's a dangerous weapon.
[00:15:43] Unknown:
Do you have to tell me? Missus
[00:15:45] Unknown:
Apfelbaum,
[00:15:47] Unknown:
how come when we got here, you were with the dead man? He was the super. I I had a complaint. And you usually just walk right into his apartment to complain? Listen, miss Cop. Usually, I can't even get him to answer the bell, but all the things need fixing. Plumbing, heat, the cockroaches, and yesterday, even the toilets wouldn't flush. You don't like, mister Fender? Anybody doesn't like cats. Can't be any good. God forgive me for saying that and the poor man dead. He was dead dead when you came in. Just like you see him. What time was this? Oh, I guess, a few minutes after nine. I I got a watch, but I I couldn't see without my glasses. How did you get in, missus Applebaum? Well, I just turned the handle and the door opened. So anyone coulda got in, I guess, if they had the new key.
What new key? To the outside door where we got a new lock. Burglar proof, it's supposed to be.
[00:16:43] Unknown:
I'd still like to see the day. How many people have keys to the outside lot? Oh, just the people in the building. Unless they had copies made.
[00:16:52] Unknown:
First off, you can't. You gotta send to the company. And second, we all just got them this morning. Who's all? I mean, who else is in the building? Oh, well, you see, there's that drither person on the First Floor back, me, Second Floor front, and miss Dimby, second back, and the doctor on Third Floor back. The doctor? Oh, that's what we all call mister Porter. Oh, Oh, is he smart? He plays chess with eight, ten people at a time and wins from the mall. Get right in the window there at at Boardwalk And 50 Second Street. He he does what? Yeah. I know where she means. It's an amusement palace. Pinball machines, skeetball,
[00:17:30] Unknown:
student gallery, and Professor Porter, the human chess machine. You pay to play it. Mhmm.
[00:17:37] Unknown:
Missus Appelbaum. Yes, honey. There are six apartments in this building. Who occupies the other two? Well, the the First Floor front is mister Kelly with the birds. He had to go back in the hospital again, so I'm caring for them.
[00:17:53] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. But what about the sixth one? Oh, that that's mister Brilliantine.
[00:17:58] Unknown:
Brilliantine? You know him? Lance Brilliantine. He he's an actor person. What does he do? Hair commercials? Oh, no. No. No. He's with the children's theater now. They they do fairy stories. He just flew up to Boston, and he's looking to sublet. He has the whole Top Floor through. That's nice. A little nest in the treetops.
[00:18:18] Unknown:
Well, thanks, missus Eppelbaum. You've gone up to your apartment. And stick around. We might wanna question you again.
[00:18:25] Unknown:
I'm not going anywhere. But what about poor miss defender? He ain't going anywhere either. Yeah. But shouldn't he have a doctor?
[00:18:35] Unknown:
The only one he'll need is a medical examiner. How he died, that's up to the ME. Now you run along. Oh, yes. Yes. Of course, sergeant. Hey. Hey. What's that thing? My hat's been don't worry. I know how to handle this,
[00:18:49] Unknown:
come along, boss. Just don't look at mister Bender like that. Yes. I know you didn't like him because he was so nasty to you,
[00:19:10] Unknown:
What murder? All we know is we got a guy who's dead. Oh, but he said on the phone. Who said? You don't even know if it was Fender's voice, Jerry, or if it was that he was telling the truth. Now, look, let's wait till we have a case before we get all head up. Yes, Dicker. But if he wasn't murdered, then how could Maybe he had a stroke or a heart attack. Maybe he was some kind of a nut. Hey. Hey. Detective Trout, don't touch that body till the doc checks him out. You wanna do something? Here. What? Chalk. Draw a picture of the way he's laying, and lets you and me take a look, see if anything else is disturbed besides the late mister Fenton.
Okay. Detective Trotts, start her up. Where are we going? Back to the precinct.
[00:20:03] Unknown:
What about the homicide?
[00:20:04] Unknown:
Well, a guy died. That's all. Of what? Doc says a brain hemorrhage. But what caused it? He doesn't know. At least till an autopsy, probably
[00:20:14] Unknown:
natural causes. I don't believe it. The man said on the telephone
[00:20:18] Unknown:
Look. Do me a favor, Louisa. Leave it lay. We got nothing to go on. No evidence forcible entry. No evidence of robbery. Look at all the dough he had in the desk drawer. We could have checked out the other people in the house. I did that. Nobody home. Or at least not answering their bell. Alright. Come on. Come on. Now let's move it.
[00:20:38] Unknown:
You could tell by his face. What? His face. Mister Fender's face. His eyes wide open like they were accusing whoever it was. I wonder how he was killed.
[00:20:53] Unknown:
Maybe somebody said boo to him too loud and frightened him to death. It isn't funny. No. Now what is funny is a rookie detective who can't forget she's a woman and has to get big big romantic notions of first case as murder one instead of some poor old geezer scared to death of dying but having to do it anyway. Now come on. Let's not go looking for trouble, detective. You're gonna find out plenty of it gets gets handed to us for free.
[00:21:23] Unknown:
I'm sorry, sergeant.
[00:21:27] Unknown:
Aw. Don't mind me, kid. Doesn't matter how many times you look at one. I still don't like to see no one
[00:21:36] Unknown:
dead. Did did the doctor say anything about the mark on his eyelids?
[00:21:42] Unknown:
What? What mark on what? His eyes were open.
[00:21:48] Unknown:
How could you see a mark on the lid? It was creepy. The way he was staring, and I tried to close his eyes. I just started to pull down the right eyelid, then you wouldn't let me touch him, and there was a little mark there. What kind of mark? Oh, just a little red mark like, well, maybe somebody something bit him. I don't know. He jabbed a pencil by mistake or or I don't know. Something sharp. Maybe like, you know, when you get a penicillin shot from the doctor. Alright. Take the next left, Trout, and hit that gas pedal.
[00:22:19] Unknown:
And turn on the siren too. Where are we going? The hospital. I wanna have a talk with that doctor fast. Needle,
[00:22:25] Unknown:
But you wait. You're you're not thinking of missus Applebaum's hat pin. What else? Oh, that nice little lady for what? A quarrel about heat or the plumbing or a a cat? Let me tell you something, detective.
[00:22:40] Unknown:
Most murders are committed by nice people who just flip a screw suddenly and go berserk. Sometimes all it takes is a hot night or a sneeze or the wrong words put together. No, sir. I mean, miss detective, the right time, the right place, the right circumstances,
[00:22:59] Unknown:
anyone can commit homicide. So you do think this is a homicide after all? I don't know, Trout.
[00:23:06] Unknown:
Well, let the doctor tell us that. The unmarked car hurtles through the city streets, traffic clearing for its wailing siren. In the passenger seat, sergeant Digger Bowles is no longer relaxed, but sits forward as though driving himself. Beside him, detective Marion Trout is tense and more than a little scared at the reaction to what her observant eyes have seen. I shall return shortly with act two.
[00:24:00] Unknown:
With the home canning season coming up, remember this. The Mira Matic aluminum pressure canner lets you can all kinds of food safely. And the Mira Matic pressure canner is the only one that comes in seven sizes from two and a half to 22 quart. One is right for your family. And only the Mira Matic pressure canner has an unbreakable one piece control with three pressure settings. So the you use for canning is also a versatile pressure cooker. Use it year round to make tasty meals in one third the time of conventional methods. A cooker canner to get ready for for a better taste of life.
[00:24:36] Unknown:
Mira medic helps you do it right. Wheels are ever real. Shining spokes are
[00:24:57] Unknown:
Last year, over 15,000,000 new bicycles were sold in The United States, and over 70,000,000 are now in use. Studies show that the leading causes of bicycle accidents are loss of control, mechanical and structural problems, and the entanglement of foreign objects in the wheels. So make sure your bicycle meets the new safety standard.
[00:25:35] Unknown:
For more information, ride bicycles, Washington DC Two Zero Two Zero Seven, The US Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[00:25:53] Unknown:
For many of us, death, the inevitable last right, is a feast or sorrowing already arranged. But for countless others, it is the accident which was never expected, and there is nothing tidy about closing the house of life. Saul Fender, who was he? What was he? Who is left to mourn him? And most of all, how did he come to die? While Sergeant Digger Bowles and detective Marion Trout wait at the hospital for the ME's report, some of this is resolved.
[00:26:31] Unknown:
Where have you been, sergeant?
[00:26:33] Unknown:
In your autopsy room waiting for results. Nothing yet.
[00:26:37] Unknown:
What'd you dig up? Not sketchy. Just a sort of outline. Go ahead for me. Okay. Saul Bender was 67. No relatives, retired on Social Security. He got the basement apartment in return for servicing the building. His wife died a few years ago, and after that, I gather he didn't care too much about anything. He kind of died with her. Did he gamble? No sign of it. Other women? No. Come on. He was a sad little man all alone. He kept to himself, minded his own business, and like the old story, never did anyone no harm.
[00:27:14] Unknown:
Maybe. Alright. The deceased is on the autopsy table. I got nothing to say. Alright. I'll take it. I said I'd be at this extension. Hello? Yeah. This is detective sergeant Bowles. Who's this? Oh, doctor Baker. Yeah. Uh-huh. Yes. I see. Okay. I'll take it from here. So? So score one for youth and an eagle eye. You got the makings of a detective. Maybe I was lucky I had you alone. Uh-huh. The mark on his eyelids? Yeah. Somebody shoved something really skinny and sharp right through his eye socket and into his brain. That's what caused the hemorrhage and his death. So it was murder. That's about the size of that. You got your case after all. No. I have.
[00:28:12] Unknown:
I'm not sure I wanted that nice little old lady. Missus Appelbaum? Yes.
[00:28:19] Unknown:
We still got to build something that'll hold up in court.
[00:28:23] Unknown:
Where do we start?
[00:28:26] Unknown:
It's after midnight. I'll have the house staked out tonight just in case. We start early in the morning. Okay, Trout. Here we are. Scene of the crime. Everybody out.
[00:28:43] Unknown:
Okay. Where do we start, sergeant? We're gonna face missus Applebaum first? Nope.
[00:28:50] Unknown:
We'll check out all the other suspects. The patrol car found in there all home. But first, we'll have a look at Fender's apartment. What for? That's what we're gonna be looking to find out.
[00:29:06] Unknown:
You find anything here in the bedroom, detective? No, sergeant.
[00:29:09] Unknown:
You find out anything. Yeah. A couple of things. I counted that money, $295. A lot of cash to have hanging around. Does it make some people feel secure?
[00:29:21] Unknown:
I mean, like to have cash on hand. Yeah.
[00:29:25] Unknown:
Two bank books, over 1,200 and one 10,000 in the other.
[00:29:30] Unknown:
What's in the cigar box?
[00:29:32] Unknown:
Have a look. Smell.
[00:29:36] Unknown:
Mhmm. Glass.
[00:29:37] Unknown:
I don't
[00:29:38] Unknown:
one. Good stuff. Well, you think he was a dealer. Grass, money, they go together, don't they? Oh, not necessarily.
[00:29:48] Unknown:
The entries in the big bank book are all years old. The money's been there since the year one just gathering interest. Oh, and the new bank book. Chicken feed. A buyer? Maybe. Not a seller. But I got a notion where this grass came from. Where? Yeah. This his rent book. A character named Dreyse. You remember missus Eppelbaum called him a person? The First Floor back. Yeah. Check. He was always behind in his rent, it seems. Sometimes the old boy carried him for two, two, three months. Why?
[00:30:22] Unknown:
He was the supplier, or is that jumping to conclusions?
[00:30:26] Unknown:
That ain't jumping. That's just plain heading up two and two. Tell you what, let's you and me go pay a visit Mister Dreiser? Mister Dreiser? Open up, police. Hey, man. What goes with all the loud jive? I mean, like, you're breaking my head. Hey, mister Dreiser. Oh, I am the one. Detective Sergeant Bowles. He's my sidekick, detective Trout. Real nice. Solid. The mom and of popper. What can old slats do for you? I'd like to ask you a few questions, mister Dreiser. We come in? Well, sure. Come on in. I'm clean. Just a little
[00:31:11] Unknown:
stretched out. You know what I mean?
[00:31:13] Unknown:
I got some coffee moving. You use some for what else you? We haven't gotten anything that I'll assist. Then you're lucky. You got it made, mommas and papas. Slat's here. He's just cutting it. I mean, like jazzed. Excuse me. Stoned.
[00:31:29] Unknown:
To the gills. On something a lot stronger than grass. You know
[00:31:32] Unknown:
Stoned.
[00:31:33] Unknown:
To the gills.
[00:31:35] Unknown:
On something a lot stronger than grass. You know it. I stay one side up and be ready for anything.
[00:31:39] Unknown:
I guess you know what happened here last night, mister Dreiser.
[00:31:43] Unknown:
Oh, man. Is that hot? Last night? Uh-huh. To the superintendent. You know he's dead.
[00:31:52] Unknown:
He's what? Dead. How? Well, we're trying to find out.
[00:31:58] Unknown:
Well, don't look at me, man. I wasn't even here last night. Where were you? Well, now that's no question for a doll to ask. I mean, you gotta protect your own doll, right? Mrs. Slattery, you're trying to say you were with a woman.
[00:32:12] Unknown:
Crazy. You named it. You wanna give us a name? Why? Fender didn't just die. Someone killed him. Oh, wow. You're you're not looking at me. You were behind in your rent. Well, I was, but I paid up last night. What time? Well, Well, just like before seven on my way out. Didn't show in his rent book. There was cash on the line, $295. There. I got his receipt right here. It's a receipt. Alright. But for what? Well, I don't think you. What was passing between you two besides grass? Any hard stuff? Hard stuff? What are you talking about, man? Junk? Yeah. Are you buying from Fender?
I'm no user. Well, what do you do? Push it? Sister, lay back. No call to come on so hard. I'm clean. Where were you last night around 09:00? Well, like I said, wouldn't
[00:33:12] Unknown:
with my old woman. What's What's your name?
[00:33:15] Unknown:
No. I wouldn't wanna get her mixed up in that. Hey. What are you doing, Forrest? Get out of that drawer. Hold it. No. You hold it. Don't you touch nothing of mine. There's one little item in here I wouldn't think of touching except to pick it up with my handkerchief. Do you mind if I borrow your ice pick? What do you want it for? I wanna take it down to the morgue and see if it fits the hole above Saul Fender's eye where somebody drove something real sharp like this right into his brain. What? That's the way he died around 09:00 last night.
Now you still wanna clam up about where you were then? Man, I cheat broadcasting. I couldn't have been here. How come? Because I was in Mount Pleasant then, 50 miles from here. Prove it. Come on. What kind of a rouse is this? Surely he's gonna make me take no fall for some murder rap. No. Let's look at it this way, punk. Now now don't tell me you haven't done time. I dig deep enough, I'll tie you into junk peddling. So the old man found out, was gonna throw you out or turn you over to the cops, and you were on a trip and used this on it. No. No. I didn't. This ain't no ordinary ice pick. It's sharp as a needle.
And what do you need it for? An electric refrigerator. This is a weapon, and you know it. Okay. Okay. I ain't standing still for being railroaded on no murder act. I take a bar it's gonna be for one to five, not a whole bundle. There's a pump jockey in Mount Pleasant who'll remember me and get me off the hook. Why is that? Because I hit his gas station last night. At 09:00, he was backing off from that ice pick 50 miles from here. Okay. Put your wrist behind your back. That's it. How come you you had to pick on me for handing Fender his ticket? Well, you seem the only one who might have a motive. You kidding? What about all the others? Well, what about? Well, like old professor Porter up there. Him and Fender used to be search grade buddies. But last night, just as I was cutting out, he he come on like a like a sore boil about something. When I left here, there was some kind of a brine again going on. That was before seven. So how do you know where he was at nine? Well, check it out. And all lonely hearts dimby.
There's a babe who's so hot for anything in pants, she even made a few passes at Fender. And, man, when he brushed her off, she was running to total them. And how about mother apple bomb? I mean, like, she may look like Whistler's old lady, but there's one tough little cookie. Her and that heck in hers. What would she have against mister Fender? Babes, he hated cats. I mean, like, they turned them off all the way. And anybody don't like her means your old tat is murked right off her books. Let me tell you. Okay. Okay. That's it.
Move. We'll check them all out. Don't worry.
[00:36:24] Unknown:
Oh, too bad it couldn't have been him. Hey there, babes.
[00:36:28] Unknown:
Cool it. Now you cool it. You're lucky you're just a two bit crook. It just may save your life. So I'll run the stone head back to the precinct while you check out miss Dimby. You think he can handle it? Well, a dried up sex star, four dish, would be sex kitten, I'll be a lot safer than you would. You can have it.
[00:36:55] Unknown:
I'll take the professor as soon as I get back, then we'll compare notes. I hope it turns out to be one of them. Why? Well, I like the old missus Applebaum. I don't want it to be her.
[00:37:06] Unknown:
Listen, detective. First thing you gotta learn in this job is don't form any attachments. And the second is don't kid yourself there's any romance, and forget all about the books, the movies, and the TV shows. The way it is in real life, 99 chances out of a hundred, the perpetrator is the obvious one. Which means
[00:37:29] Unknown:
missus Appelbaum. Which means missus Appelbaum.
[00:37:40] Unknown:
It will have to be a very large or unexpected miracle to get missus Apfelbaum off the hook as detective Marion Trout is due to find out when both her other suspects turn up with airtight alibis. And yet, but that will have to remain till I return shortly with the third act. Pickup a pickup. Pick it up and take it home. Pickups,
[00:38:05] Unknown:
a rotary powered air conditioner from Fetters. Just as powerful as ordinary units, but lighter and smaller. So you can take it home and put it in the window,
[00:38:13] Unknown:
close the sash and plug it in, move it to the bedroom, take it on vacation. One little pickup, one little pickup, one little Fetters maybe all you need.
[00:38:26] Unknown:
Pick up a pickup at your Fetters dealer today.
[00:38:30] Unknown:
Here we are talking with one of the thousands and thousands of people who bought a Buick this year. This is a Skylark. Right? That's right. Pretty, Indeed it is. You wanna sit in it? I'll let you for a buck and a quarter. Do you charge to let people sit in your Skylark? Oh, this is a very nice car. Look, I figure when work gets out, people will be lined up for blocks. Hey. You wanna honk the horn? Give me a dime. Listen, sir. Fewer dealers let people do this for free. They do? Yeah. Well, I think they're missing a good bet. Buick, dedicated to the free spirit in just about everyone.
[00:39:00] Unknown:
Somewhere a teenage girl in the school for the retarded doesn't remember what her parents look like. And somewhere a great grandmother in
[00:39:16] Unknown:
new
[00:39:19] Unknown:
about a new public service program called Voiceogram. The heart of the program is an exchange of tape recorded messages between the patients and their families and friends. Actor Cliff Robertson and Harold Russell, chairman of the president's committee for the handicapped and myself are lending their support on a nationwide basis. But to make it work, we need sympathetic volunteers who will visit patients and talk to them while their words are taped for their loved ones to hear and and respond. Just give a little bit of your time and a lot of caring and just write the voice o gram. Box 127, Koskoff, Connecticut 06807.
[00:40:09] Unknown:
Right at this moment, Marion Trout is almost regretting her transfer to the detective bureau. As a uniformed policewoman, she has faced death before, but then it was impersonal, not something she had to become involved in. A murder investigation, she is finding, is different. Now she herself is committed to hunting down a murderer that might be a bright, attractive old lady to whom she has taken a liking. But in spite of sergeant Bowles' conviction, she doesn't have to face that yet. For the moment, her quarry is miss Dimby.
[00:40:50] Unknown:
Who is it? Sorry to bother you, miss Dimby. I'm a police officer. Oh, dear. Oh, dear me. You you don't look like a police officer. Well, I should've said detective. My shield and identification. Oh, I I don't know what to say. You haven't heard about your super superintendent. Oh, you you mean about his heart attack? Mhmm. Oh, yes. So so sad. So sudden. It was a terrible shock. I felt so guilty about my my feeling of relief for the moment before I oh, well, perhaps you should come in. Thank you. He is such a a dreadful, dreadful shock. What did you mean feeling of relief?
Oh, I never should have mentioned it. It's it's just that it's so difficult for a a young single girl to to be in a house that's practically infested by men. Mhmm. One gets a little tired of, you know, being pestered, particularly the older men. Although mister Fender was very sweet, but he was persistent. Oh, well, one must speak well of the dead. Won't you step into my parlor? No. Thank you, miss Demby. Oh, please sit down. Oh, you you don't mind if I go on with my knitting, do you? No. Not at all. Well, I, I have so many beaux, you know, men in my life.
So many favors to return, and I I am not well-to-do, so I I knit them scarves or or gloves. Did you know that mister Fender was murdered? Murdered? But but how? Well, he was stabbed in the eye. Something very sharp was driven into his brain. How dreadful? What what what sort of thing? Well, something like a skewer or an icepick or a knitting needle. Miss Dimby, where were you last night between 08:30 and 09:30? Oh, why I I I I was at a moving picture show. Ah, well, what did you see? Oh, why it oh, it was lovely. So so artistic and and cultural. The, that exquisite production by the great Spanish director, Michael Lugano, La Paloma.
Have you seen it? Oh, no. What theater? Oh, the the fine art. Oh, that beautiful little theater on the Southwest, corner of Broadwalk And 20 Fourth. Yes. That's the one. Yes. Well, then you could have been here anywhere near 09:00. Oh, heavens. No. Well, in that case, there's no need to ask you any more questions. No. No. No. No. Don't bother. I'll let myself out. Oh, well, you're sure that's quite, satisfactory. I'm sure, miss Dimby. You gave me just what I need.
[00:44:02] Unknown:
Sergeant. That professor slipped out on
[00:44:06] Unknown:
me. What is it? You don't have to look any further. I've got her. Who? The murderer. The Dimby Dame. She gave me an alibi that she was at a movie at the Fine Arts Theater at Boardwalk And 20 Fourth last night. I trapped her with the address and get this. She's admitting not. I don't follow. Listen. There's no Fine Arts Theater. That address is just a hole in the ground for a new building and knitting needles. A steel knitting needle. Wouldn't that be a perfect weapon for a sex starved old May to use against a guy who maybe turned her down? Oh, a police person?
Miss detective? Yes. Could I see you a moment, please?
[00:44:51] Unknown:
Go ahead. I'll go with you. Oh, Oh, I I'd rather see the lady alone, please. I think I'd better come along.
[00:44:58] Unknown:
Oh, dear. Well, alright. Come come in, please. I I I'm afraid I have a confession to make. Well, you see, sir, I lied to you earlier about being at the fine arts. You weren't at the movies? Oh, yes. I was at the movies, but not not at the one I said I was. Yes. Well, then where were you? Well, I it's really a matter of one might say morally outraged curiosity. I had gone to to see a perfectly dreadful and vile thing called the story of w.
[00:45:42] Unknown:
Oh, I can see why you might have wanted to keep that a secret. At the story of w, detective, this x rated is what you call your hardcore pornography.
[00:45:52] Unknown:
You've got to be kidding.
[00:45:54] Unknown:
But what's the difference? Didn't be what you saw
[00:45:57] Unknown:
unless you could prove you were there. Oh, I I can prove I was at the one. Oh, well, the the manager knows me. It's a little embarrassing going right up to the well, he he he lets me in quietly.
[00:46:14] Unknown:
And how long were you at this movie?
[00:46:17] Unknown:
From seven to 11:00. I I'm afraid I I sat through it twice.
[00:46:25] Unknown:
Glad you enjoyed
[00:46:29] Unknown:
needn't look down your nose at me. And instead of harassing me with your your police brutality, you should be after the real culprit. Yes. And who's that? The almighty professor. Oh, butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. Always the gentleman. You should have heard him and mister Pender going as in hammer and tongs as I did when I left for the, when I went out. And something else. What was that, ma'am? Well, the door was open as I passed, and I I saw him hit mister Pender over the head. With what, mister m? With his umbrella. But if you look at this umbrella, you can see he must have hit him pretty hard. Some of the ribs are broken. Well,
[00:47:15] Unknown:
first of all, we don't know it's his umbrella. She said she saw him throw it out this morning. She says. Anyway, so what? There was no mark on Fender's head. How can you hurt anyone with a light umbrella? And, anyways, the time is all wrong. Yeah. Well, maybe he came back. Well, here's the amusement center. That's what I intend to find out now. Hey. Excuse me. Professor Porter? Morning. You wanna play $1 a game unless you win, and then I pay you to take board number seven and choose white or black. Excuse me. I I don't wanna play. I wanna talk to you. My credentials.
Police, we can go over here by the wheat machine. It's the quietest place in the house. Very well, sergeant. You you have exactly one minute. I gather you were a friend to Saul Fender's.
[00:48:17] Unknown:
Saul? Yes. Yes. We played chess together and Hawaii.
[00:48:21] Unknown:
When was the last time you saw it? About 06:30 last night when I went home for dinner before I returned here. What time did you return to work? Well, sometime before seven. And you got home at 11:30? That's right. How did you Between those hours, you were sitting at your usual place in the window playing chess. Except for traveling to and from. What happened to Saul? He was murdered. What? What do you you you don't think I had anything to do with it? Not if you were here at 09:00. No. You're out of it if you're telling the truth. And don't worry.
I intend to make sure that's just what you're telling. Yeah? You sure? Yeah. Okay.
[00:49:19] Unknown:
Well,
[00:49:20] Unknown:
what did the lab say? No trace of blood on the hat pin. Well, that don't mean nothing. It could've been washed off.
[00:49:26] Unknown:
Then you're going to arrest her? I don't know.
[00:49:30] Unknown:
We got motive, opportunity, means, but ain't much of a case. No witnesses. No proof they quarreled.
[00:49:40] Unknown:
Yes. And yet we know professor Porter did.
[00:49:44] Unknown:
What's the difference? That was two hours earlier, and he What is it? I just thought of something. Who usually establishes the time of death?
[00:49:55] Unknown:
Well, the medical examiner or whatever doctor they send over. Only this time he didn't.
[00:50:00] Unknown:
We told him because of the phone call. But supposing by that time he was already dying and was only beginning to realize it. What are you talking about? I don't know. I'm gonna get doc Prouty at the hospital, and maybe he can explain it to me. What what are you It's alright, mister Porter. Come on in. We've been waiting for you. Who's
[00:50:34] Unknown:
you know that policeman who came to see me?
[00:50:36] Unknown:
Who is this woman?
[00:50:38] Unknown:
This is detective Trout. What you're doing here? Well, we want to ask you some questions.
[00:50:47] Unknown:
Yes. Missus Aprilboom is quite correct. I did quarrel with my poor friend, Saul. We had a terrible one. And you did hit him? I'm ashamed to say I did. I hit him overhead.
[00:51:01] Unknown:
With your umbrella?
[00:51:03] Unknown:
Yes. But the provocation was very great. I asked you to imagine. My life is not much, but I have my pride. I could have been one of the greats, a Spassky, a Bobby Fischer, but I was never given the chance. Instead, I work in a window playing with fools who have no hope of beating me, goggled at my idiots from the street as if I were in a cage at the zoo. But when Saul came to the house, he was lonely. He had no companions. I taught him to to play chess. I played with him to amuse him. I even showed him the unbeatable reply to Musio Gambit, a secret only I know.
And you know how he repaid me yesterday, knowing I was sick and not myself, when I had 10 games going, he came, he, the pupil to the master, had used my own trick to defeat me in the goldfish bowl.
[00:52:09] Unknown:
He shamed me in front of all the world. I was mad enough to kill him. I'm afraid that's just what you did. What? Is this the umbrella you hit him with?
[00:52:21] Unknown:
Would he yes. Yes. That's my umbrella. I threw it away because some of the ribs got broken. But that well, a a a little hit on the head from a light umbrella couldn't have killed him. If only it
[00:52:36] Unknown:
did. One of these broken ribs jabbed straight into the hollow of his eye and right into his brain. Oh, no. So my temper meant
[00:52:50] Unknown:
but wait a minute. You said he was alive at 09:00.
[00:52:53] Unknown:
We quarreled at least two hours before that. Sometimes it takes time for a man to die. The doctors tell us that the hemorrhage caused by the wound could easily have taken two hours to cause his final death. Good lord.
[00:53:12] Unknown:
I I suppose you're going to arrest me.
[00:53:16] Unknown:
The charge charge will be manslaughter,
[00:53:19] Unknown:
but we'll have to arrest you. But I don't care about the charge. I'm always sick to my soul that I I could have caused another human being's death. I think I shall have a a better judge and a punishment to fit the crime. Mister Porter, are you alright? No, my dear. I'm very far from alright. It's my heart. There are some pills in oh, no. Which pocket, sir? It it doesn't really matter. Better this way, the end game is played out. This time it's checkmate. And I'm the loser.
[00:54:16] Unknown:
Some time ago outside a New York bar, two men got into a fight. One of them lashed out at the other with an umbrella. After the fight was stopped, the man who had been hit by the umbrella continued on his night out, and it wasn't until he returned home some two hours later that he collapsed and died. Truth, as I said in the beginning, is stranger than fiction, except when it is borrowed to make a good story. I'll be back shortly.
[00:54:48] Unknown:
You may feel it's an embarrassing subject, but since one out of every three people suffers hemorrhoid symptoms at some time, you should know about preparation h. Preparation h gives prompt temporary relief from occasional pain and itch in many cases, but preparation h does more, actually helps shrink swelling of hemorrhoidal tissues caused by inflammation. With so many having the problem, it's comforting to know that Preparation h helps shrink swelling of hemorrhoidal tissues. Ointment or suppositories, use only as directed.
Fred, you're taking our gardening tools to the library? Right. Gets me in the mood. Gets you in the mood. Uh-huh. You see, dear, the library now has a lot of new services, and today I'm going to plan our garden. Mhmm. So you're taking our rake and shovel. Right. At the library, you can now attend a concert, see a puppet show, even borrow a classic film. Do they have belly dancing lessons at the library? How did you know? Maybe it's because you're wearing that jewel in your navel. Oh, yeah. The library. Come see what's new besides books. Put your shirt back on, Fred. I mean, the world's not ready for your tummy. A public service message from the American Library Association.
[00:55:51] Unknown:
Takes more than a clever chef's hat and apron to make a cookout a success. What's needed is the kind of start to finish know how supplied by the current Family Circle Magazine's guide to foolproof barbecuing. Gives you everything from how to gauge the temperature of your fire to how to smoke meats even without a cover. And the recipes are anything but run of the grill. Texas ribs, lamb kebab, orange peanut pork roast. For indoor cooking, family circle circles, the diversities of the American cuisine were the treasury of ethnic foods. Greek Greek spinach pie, African hot soup, Portuguese bread, to mention but a few. The July family circle cover features an embroidery of summer flowers for which directions are inside.
Incidentally, did you know that last month's issue contained more than $2.40 worth of national brand coupons? Added value from Family Circle, the world's largest selling woman's magazine. Just 39¢ at your supermarket checkout counter. This is Jack Sterling.
[00:57:01] Unknown:
I suppose the motives for the crime of homicide are countless. Some of them are as unspeakable and as far as just the crime itself. But the most macabre macabre and terrible thing about it is that by far the most of them are so small and unreasonable, except to the people involved. How few of the Maras neatly saw Van resolved, in the words of Genesis, Bryna Rayburn. The Reina Rayburn. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. This is EG Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre.
Until next time. Pleasant dream.
[00:58:28] Unknown:
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a new safety standard for bicycles. A bike with coaster brakes must be able to stop in 15 feet from a speed of 10 miles per hour. A 10 speed bike with hand brakes must be able to stop in 15 feet from a speed of 15 miles per hour. Brake performance is one of many safety rules.
[00:59:07] Unknown:
For more information, ride bicycles, Washington DC 20207. This message brought to you by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[00:59:14] Unknown:
For more than two years now, people have been trying to get you to slow down to 55 miles an hour, down to the speed limit. They've told you that slowing down will save millions of gallons of gasoline. They've told you that slowing down saves thousands of lives, and they've got the figures to prove it. I think those are pretty good reasons. Some of you obviously do too, because some of you have slowed down. But an awful lot of people for one reason or another haven't. They seem to think the 55 mile an hour speed limit is something they can take or leave. It isn't.
It's a law with tickets and fines and all the rest just like any other law, and I should know. I'm a police officer. From where I sit, there's just no way around it. The 55 mile an hour speed limit can do a lot of positive things, and it's my job to make sure it gets a chance to work. Not just because it's a good idea,
[01:00:08] Unknown:
but because it's the law. The public service of this station, the US Department of Transportation, and the Advertising Council. WFAA, Dallas, Fort Worth.
[01:00:19] Unknown:
CBS News. Japanese police have arrested three executives of all Nippon Air Airways in connection with the Lockheed aircraft bribe scandal. I'm Mike Stanley reporting on the CBS radio network.
Newsbreak. Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio Network. If there is life on Mars, we may know it very soon. Viking one is now orbiting the red planet taking pictures. And while we're celebrating our bicentennial day on the July 4, if all goes well, the Viking one lander will make a landing on Mars and begin getting some answers. Considering the subject matter, we're being pretty blase about our mission to Mars. We didn't always take the subject of life there so lightly. More after
[00:00:29] Unknown:
this. Mercy's sakes, this repurduct gonna be late unless one of you cowboys can help me. Well, I was heading for a gig in my four wheel rig because I was running late getting down. Because with all of them folks on the boulevard, we weren't never gonna get across town. But when you got you in the middle of the sea fever, well, you got about a million friends. And you don't have to be no cotton figure than the sitting in the sweat in your hands.
[00:00:51] Unknown:
Join this in time for agenda friendly people. See if you're a rubber duck slip all in behind this 18 wheeler come off. Well, it could
[00:00:59] Unknown:
Well, I could've sat on that ramp till at least turn it brown because them cars was wall to wall, but I had me in Midland CP rigging them truckers all heard McCall. We had to slip in between them semis and never would've broke that line. But with a little help from the Midland convoy, a rubber duck was right on time. Ten four. Breeze on you, good buddy. You truck them safe now here.
[00:01:20] Unknown:
Joy. Joy.
[00:01:24] Unknown:
When you get a Midland CB, you get a convoy of blood to come off. FCC license required.
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It takes a lot to shake us up these days. Possibly while we're watching a parade or something on the July 4, our Mars lander, Viking one, will be taking pictures of Martians marching by. I I have to march slowly.
[00:01:42] Unknown:
The camera, it scans a line at a time, and it takes quite a while to make a single picture. So if they're creatures and they stand still for maybe five minutes,
[00:01:52] Unknown:
then we could see them. But if they move around, they'll end up as sort sort of a blur. Doctor Al Hibbs, the voice of Viking Mission Control in Pasadena. And what might Martian creatures look like? Doctor Carl Sagan can probably answer that question if anyone can. But he'll say that they won't look much like you and me. The one thing which seems most likely
[00:02:12] Unknown:
is that organisms on other planet will not closely resemble anything we know here. We will not find anybody that looks like us. There are very few scientists who think it's likely, but it's even possible that there are large organisms that walk around the planet and, are of some level of intelligence. There's nothing we know to exclude that. Ever since science began to speculate about the possibility of life on Mars, science fiction has pictured Martians as monsters.
[00:02:38] Unknown:
And one night, 10/30/1938 it was, Orson Welles scared everybody half to death with a radio drama about an invasion of Earth by Martians, and his Martian was an ugly fella. Alright. Thank you. The gentleman's been described. I'm like, I hardly force myself to keep looking at it.
[00:03:00] Unknown:
Ladies and gentlemen, I've just been handed a message. At least 40 people lie dead in a field east of the village of Grover's Mill, their bodies burned and distorted beyond all possible recognition.
[00:03:11] Unknown:
Wells' broadcast did not tell much about Martian nature, but it showed a great deal about human nature. People actually ran into the streets really believing it was a Martian invasion. At Grover's Mill, New Jersey, there are still some people who remember how the town reacted when in the plague Grover's Mill was the Martian landing site. Fear fear had a lot to do with it. How long you were gonna live after that? God only knew.
[00:03:34] Unknown:
Quite a few of them had taken off for the hills of Pennsylvania in their car, took their loved ones, their pets, left their doors, windows wide open, lights on and everything, and took off and went. And they felt like they in fools didn't come back.
[00:03:48] Unknown:
And now here we are less than forty years later about to land on Mars. And what would it do if we were to find out that there is life there? Doctor Carl Sagan.
[00:03:58] Unknown:
It would, in the minds of many people, make life a kind of cosmic commonplace and would greatly enhance the idea that there are not just innumerable worlds with living things on them, but innumerable worlds with living things on them, but innumerable worlds with technical civilizations with whom we might communicate.
[00:04:19] Unknown:
Well, we still do not know what Martians look like, but we may find out soon. However, we do know one thing. We do know that our Viking lander is a weird looking fellow with its camera eyes to take pictures and send them back to Earth, with its 10 foot long arm to dig and scoop in the ground to see if there are any microorganisms there. No question about it. If anything up there sees it, it may get to thinking it's one of us, and that we earthlings are a bit on the ugly side ourselves. Now this message. Hi, America. Hello. Looking for the heart of a great meal?
Hi. Then look for Mrs. Paul's Fish Fillets. Good food that goes with Nanaroni. Makes a good balance. What makes Mrs. Paul's Fish Fillets taste so good? We thought of you. Oh. And made them just like you would. Oh? Yep. We start with mild white fish, dip it in the crispiest of bread crumbs. We even include our creator sauce mix. That's great.
[00:05:15] Unknown:
Missus Ball Yes? You are the greatest.
[00:05:19] Unknown:
Well, we've eaten at many other IHOPs. But really, when it comes to breakfast, and I'll be honest, I think this is better than I can fix at home. Whether it's Glintzes or strawberry pancakes or ham and eggs or sausage and eggs, everything is absolutely excellent. And I don't have to do the dishes, and it makes me very happy not to have to do them.
[00:05:50] Unknown:
Newsbreak, Monday, Newsbreak, Monday, June 1976. Charles Osgood, CBS News.
[00:05:58] Unknown:
This is a NASA space note from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. About July 4, the first of two automated Viking spacecraft is to softly touch down on the surface of Mars. Among the wide range of service investigations will be the search for evidence of past or present life. While several instruments aboard the landers will assist and support the life search, three experiments in particular will look directly for living organisms in the soil. Most biologists agree that if life is to be found on the red planet, the soil is the best place to begin looking for it. A sample of the Mars soil will be scooped up and deposited into a miniature biological laboratory aboard the Viking lander.
The soil will be examined in three different ways in order to detect the presence of microorganisms. The existence or absence of life on the red planet could have profound effects on theories concerning the evolution of life right here on Earth. This has been a NASA Space Note.
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WFA,
[00:06:58] Unknown:
Dallas Fort Worth.
[00:07:02] Unknown:
The CBS Radio Mystery Theater presents Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. To my surprise, I discovered discovered that it was Lord Byron in his famous poem Don Juan who first said, for truth is always strange, stranger than fiction. Others, I'm sure, have said it in their own ways. Edmund Burke, the great British statesman and orator, have raised it, truth lags behind fiction. And Bob Ripley, the cartoonist, made a life work and a fortune out of this simple statement. The following story is fiction, but it is founded on a strange truth.
[00:08:05] Unknown:
That nice little lady, she couldn't commit a murder over a cat.
[00:08:12] Unknown:
Let me tell you something, detective Trout. Most murders are committed by otherwise nice people. And motive? Sometimes all it takes is a hot night or a sneeze or the wrong words put together. Don't you ever forget it, miss detective. Detective. The right time, the right place, the right circumstances, anyone can commit homicide. Our mystery drama, Checkmate, was written especially for the mystery theater by Ian Martin and stars Robert Dryden and Marian Haley. It is sponsored in part by Buick Motor Division. I'll be back shortly with act one.
[00:09:06] Unknown:
Well, sir, I see you're one of the many people who bought a new Buick Century. That's right. Boy, you wanna talk about roomy and comfortable. Just take a look in there. Go ahead. But you have, you have curtains hanging in your car. Yes. And wallpaper too. Well, why is that? Well, we like the Century so much, we decided to sell a house and, live in it. Oh, it doesn't that get just a little crowded? Oh, I suppose it might after a while, but, we we aren't home that much. Oh. You know, we got a little sky hawk up north. Buick, dedicated to the free spirit in just about everyone. Why is it everybody talks about air pollution, but nobody does anything about it? Are you kidding? We're doing something about it. We are? Sure. We're contributing to it. Oh. For example, burned any trash lately? Yeah. Well, that's a contribution. It is? Had your car tuned in the last year? No. There's another contribution. Alright. How about you? What do you contribute? Well, listen. Don't worry about me. I work for a power plant. So? I give it the office. Don't contribute to air pollution this year. We've already reached our quota. This reminder from your local lung association is a matter of life and breath.
[00:10:07] Unknown:
Electrical appliances are extremely useful time saving aids. But without proper precautions, they can be instruments of destruction. In fact, government statistics show that eighty percent of all electrical appliance accidents are due to carelessness. Underwriters Laboratories' Laboratories consumer safety expert, Janice Farr, says there's an easy way you can help avoid contributing to that 80%.
[00:10:31] Unknown:
That's right. I strongly recommend that you read and heed your appliance instruction booklets. Most booklets contain valuable safety tips, such as recommending that you unplug your portable appliance from the outlet when not in use, and that you not let the cord hang over the edge of a table or counter, or touch hot surfaces. And to be extra safe It's a good idea to keep your instruction booklets in a convenient place for quick and easy reference.
[00:10:57] Unknown:
Remember, the instruction booklet is there, so why not use it? This has been a public service announcement from Underwriters Laboratories and this station.
[00:11:17] Unknown:
Detective sergeant Digger Bowles of the fourth precinct is looking forward to his approaching retirement from the force. In his nearly thirty years in the police department, over twenty of them as a plainclothes detective, he's been happy and proud in his work. But, he's a man of habit, and change irritates him more and more. Most of all, this new breed of officers, he doesn't particularly appreciate it when they come in a form that is anathema to him in the hallowed precincts of the station house.
[00:11:58] Unknown:
A fourth precinct, detective Trautsch. I I believe murders. Hold it a minute. Who are you? So Address and phone number?
[00:12:15] Unknown:
8745.
[00:12:18] Unknown:
Wait. Was that a 5 or a 9? A 5. I didn't get that last. Please. How about how would it be? I can't. I can't. Mister Fender. Mister Fender, are you alright? Hello? Where you got that, detective? The big one, sergeant Foles. Homicide. Who's this? The guy on the phone. What guy? Who? Saul Bender. He just got murdered. Who got murdered? Saul Bender, the man on the phone.
[00:12:49] Unknown:
The victim called up to say he was being murdered. No.
[00:12:54] Unknown:
That he just had been. I got the address. We better go over there right away. Now where where where you mean he's still on the phone? He was. He isn't anymore. Here, listen. Hello?
[00:13:05] Unknown:
Hello? Mister Fender?
[00:13:09] Unknown:
Mister Fender? You see, he was talking, and then I heard him fall, but he said he'd been murdered.
[00:13:15] Unknown:
I don't know, Trout. My feet are killing me. I just hope this isn't somebody's idea of a joke. Alright. Come on. Let's go see. Why don't you use the siren? Because I ain't no show off. Besides, it makes too much noise. Disturbs people, including me. Yes. But it's important to get there. We'll get there. Fast. Just as fast. Well, how do you know? Because I've been driving this city just this way For twenty
[00:13:54] Unknown:
five years, and it's always been been good enough.
[00:13:58] Unknown:
Smart, what do you know? You're just beginning. You think this is a game? No. I don't. I'm just enthusiastic
[00:14:05] Unknown:
about my job, and I'd like to be good at it. Just like. Don't enthuse. You don't like me, do you, Digger? Did I say that? Well, you don't have to. You think I'm just a wet behind the ears young tongue. Don't tell me what I think, detective Trout. Well, then you tell me. I think
[00:14:28] Unknown:
I know you're a dame.
[00:14:30] Unknown:
That's all. And dames don't have any place in your thinking? Not on a force.
[00:14:35] Unknown:
Well, not in homicide anyway.
[00:14:38] Unknown:
Why? Women get killed too. Yeah. That's right.
[00:14:43] Unknown:
So maybe it's just lucky we're at the scene of the crime that's already been committed. Alright. Come on. Let's go play cop. Now just let me get this straight, miss, yes. Apfova. Oh, yeah. Did you say you're out walking your dog? Cat. Cat. Yeah. Cat. Walking a cat. Sure.
[00:15:12] Unknown:
He likes his evening stroll, Marston. What do you think? He looks like a dog, that cat?
[00:15:19] Unknown:
You see a leash. You figure a dog at the other end. And you're a detective. Maybe I'm too busy looking at that weapon in your other hand.
[00:15:28] Unknown:
What's that for? This neighborhood. A person isn't safe even if it's still light. Nobody bothers me no more since I stuck a couple of them with this. What is it? It's a hat pin.
[00:15:40] Unknown:
Madam, that's a dangerous weapon.
[00:15:43] Unknown:
Do you have to tell me? Missus
[00:15:45] Unknown:
Apfelbaum,
[00:15:47] Unknown:
how come when we got here, you were with the dead man? He was the super. I I had a complaint. And you usually just walk right into his apartment to complain? Listen, miss Cop. Usually, I can't even get him to answer the bell, but all the things need fixing. Plumbing, heat, the cockroaches, and yesterday, even the toilets wouldn't flush. You don't like, mister Fender? Anybody doesn't like cats. Can't be any good. God forgive me for saying that and the poor man dead. He was dead dead when you came in. Just like you see him. What time was this? Oh, I guess, a few minutes after nine. I I got a watch, but I I couldn't see without my glasses. How did you get in, missus Applebaum? Well, I just turned the handle and the door opened. So anyone coulda got in, I guess, if they had the new key.
What new key? To the outside door where we got a new lock. Burglar proof, it's supposed to be.
[00:16:43] Unknown:
I'd still like to see the day. How many people have keys to the outside lot? Oh, just the people in the building. Unless they had copies made.
[00:16:52] Unknown:
First off, you can't. You gotta send to the company. And second, we all just got them this morning. Who's all? I mean, who else is in the building? Oh, well, you see, there's that drither person on the First Floor back, me, Second Floor front, and miss Dimby, second back, and the doctor on Third Floor back. The doctor? Oh, that's what we all call mister Porter. Oh, Oh, is he smart? He plays chess with eight, ten people at a time and wins from the mall. Get right in the window there at at Boardwalk And 50 Second Street. He he does what? Yeah. I know where she means. It's an amusement palace. Pinball machines, skeetball,
[00:17:30] Unknown:
student gallery, and Professor Porter, the human chess machine. You pay to play it. Mhmm.
[00:17:37] Unknown:
Missus Appelbaum. Yes, honey. There are six apartments in this building. Who occupies the other two? Well, the the First Floor front is mister Kelly with the birds. He had to go back in the hospital again, so I'm caring for them.
[00:17:53] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. But what about the sixth one? Oh, that that's mister Brilliantine.
[00:17:58] Unknown:
Brilliantine? You know him? Lance Brilliantine. He he's an actor person. What does he do? Hair commercials? Oh, no. No. No. He's with the children's theater now. They they do fairy stories. He just flew up to Boston, and he's looking to sublet. He has the whole Top Floor through. That's nice. A little nest in the treetops.
[00:18:18] Unknown:
Well, thanks, missus Eppelbaum. You've gone up to your apartment. And stick around. We might wanna question you again.
[00:18:25] Unknown:
I'm not going anywhere. But what about poor miss defender? He ain't going anywhere either. Yeah. But shouldn't he have a doctor?
[00:18:35] Unknown:
The only one he'll need is a medical examiner. How he died, that's up to the ME. Now you run along. Oh, yes. Yes. Of course, sergeant. Hey. Hey. What's that thing? My hat's been don't worry. I know how to handle this,
[00:18:49] Unknown:
come along, boss. Just don't look at mister Bender like that. Yes. I know you didn't like him because he was so nasty to you,
[00:19:10] Unknown:
What murder? All we know is we got a guy who's dead. Oh, but he said on the phone. Who said? You don't even know if it was Fender's voice, Jerry, or if it was that he was telling the truth. Now, look, let's wait till we have a case before we get all head up. Yes, Dicker. But if he wasn't murdered, then how could Maybe he had a stroke or a heart attack. Maybe he was some kind of a nut. Hey. Hey. Detective Trout, don't touch that body till the doc checks him out. You wanna do something? Here. What? Chalk. Draw a picture of the way he's laying, and lets you and me take a look, see if anything else is disturbed besides the late mister Fenton.
Okay. Detective Trotts, start her up. Where are we going? Back to the precinct.
[00:20:03] Unknown:
What about the homicide?
[00:20:04] Unknown:
Well, a guy died. That's all. Of what? Doc says a brain hemorrhage. But what caused it? He doesn't know. At least till an autopsy, probably
[00:20:14] Unknown:
natural causes. I don't believe it. The man said on the telephone
[00:20:18] Unknown:
Look. Do me a favor, Louisa. Leave it lay. We got nothing to go on. No evidence forcible entry. No evidence of robbery. Look at all the dough he had in the desk drawer. We could have checked out the other people in the house. I did that. Nobody home. Or at least not answering their bell. Alright. Come on. Come on. Now let's move it.
[00:20:38] Unknown:
You could tell by his face. What? His face. Mister Fender's face. His eyes wide open like they were accusing whoever it was. I wonder how he was killed.
[00:20:53] Unknown:
Maybe somebody said boo to him too loud and frightened him to death. It isn't funny. No. Now what is funny is a rookie detective who can't forget she's a woman and has to get big big romantic notions of first case as murder one instead of some poor old geezer scared to death of dying but having to do it anyway. Now come on. Let's not go looking for trouble, detective. You're gonna find out plenty of it gets gets handed to us for free.
[00:21:23] Unknown:
I'm sorry, sergeant.
[00:21:27] Unknown:
Aw. Don't mind me, kid. Doesn't matter how many times you look at one. I still don't like to see no one
[00:21:36] Unknown:
dead. Did did the doctor say anything about the mark on his eyelids?
[00:21:42] Unknown:
What? What mark on what? His eyes were open.
[00:21:48] Unknown:
How could you see a mark on the lid? It was creepy. The way he was staring, and I tried to close his eyes. I just started to pull down the right eyelid, then you wouldn't let me touch him, and there was a little mark there. What kind of mark? Oh, just a little red mark like, well, maybe somebody something bit him. I don't know. He jabbed a pencil by mistake or or I don't know. Something sharp. Maybe like, you know, when you get a penicillin shot from the doctor. Alright. Take the next left, Trout, and hit that gas pedal.
[00:22:19] Unknown:
And turn on the siren too. Where are we going? The hospital. I wanna have a talk with that doctor fast. Needle,
[00:22:25] Unknown:
But you wait. You're you're not thinking of missus Applebaum's hat pin. What else? Oh, that nice little lady for what? A quarrel about heat or the plumbing or a a cat? Let me tell you something, detective.
[00:22:40] Unknown:
Most murders are committed by nice people who just flip a screw suddenly and go berserk. Sometimes all it takes is a hot night or a sneeze or the wrong words put together. No, sir. I mean, miss detective, the right time, the right place, the right circumstances,
[00:22:59] Unknown:
anyone can commit homicide. So you do think this is a homicide after all? I don't know, Trout.
[00:23:06] Unknown:
Well, let the doctor tell us that. The unmarked car hurtles through the city streets, traffic clearing for its wailing siren. In the passenger seat, sergeant Digger Bowles is no longer relaxed, but sits forward as though driving himself. Beside him, detective Marion Trout is tense and more than a little scared at the reaction to what her observant eyes have seen. I shall return shortly with act two.
[00:24:00] Unknown:
With the home canning season coming up, remember this. The Mira Matic aluminum pressure canner lets you can all kinds of food safely. And the Mira Matic pressure canner is the only one that comes in seven sizes from two and a half to 22 quart. One is right for your family. And only the Mira Matic pressure canner has an unbreakable one piece control with three pressure settings. So the you use for canning is also a versatile pressure cooker. Use it year round to make tasty meals in one third the time of conventional methods. A cooker canner to get ready for for a better taste of life.
[00:24:36] Unknown:
Mira medic helps you do it right. Wheels are ever real. Shining spokes are
[00:24:57] Unknown:
Last year, over 15,000,000 new bicycles were sold in The United States, and over 70,000,000 are now in use. Studies show that the leading causes of bicycle accidents are loss of control, mechanical and structural problems, and the entanglement of foreign objects in the wheels. So make sure your bicycle meets the new safety standard.
[00:25:35] Unknown:
For more information, ride bicycles, Washington DC Two Zero Two Zero Seven, The US Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[00:25:53] Unknown:
For many of us, death, the inevitable last right, is a feast or sorrowing already arranged. But for countless others, it is the accident which was never expected, and there is nothing tidy about closing the house of life. Saul Fender, who was he? What was he? Who is left to mourn him? And most of all, how did he come to die? While Sergeant Digger Bowles and detective Marion Trout wait at the hospital for the ME's report, some of this is resolved.
[00:26:31] Unknown:
Where have you been, sergeant?
[00:26:33] Unknown:
In your autopsy room waiting for results. Nothing yet.
[00:26:37] Unknown:
What'd you dig up? Not sketchy. Just a sort of outline. Go ahead for me. Okay. Saul Bender was 67. No relatives, retired on Social Security. He got the basement apartment in return for servicing the building. His wife died a few years ago, and after that, I gather he didn't care too much about anything. He kind of died with her. Did he gamble? No sign of it. Other women? No. Come on. He was a sad little man all alone. He kept to himself, minded his own business, and like the old story, never did anyone no harm.
[00:27:14] Unknown:
Maybe. Alright. The deceased is on the autopsy table. I got nothing to say. Alright. I'll take it. I said I'd be at this extension. Hello? Yeah. This is detective sergeant Bowles. Who's this? Oh, doctor Baker. Yeah. Uh-huh. Yes. I see. Okay. I'll take it from here. So? So score one for youth and an eagle eye. You got the makings of a detective. Maybe I was lucky I had you alone. Uh-huh. The mark on his eyelids? Yeah. Somebody shoved something really skinny and sharp right through his eye socket and into his brain. That's what caused the hemorrhage and his death. So it was murder. That's about the size of that. You got your case after all. No. I have.
[00:28:12] Unknown:
I'm not sure I wanted that nice little old lady. Missus Appelbaum? Yes.
[00:28:19] Unknown:
We still got to build something that'll hold up in court.
[00:28:23] Unknown:
Where do we start?
[00:28:26] Unknown:
It's after midnight. I'll have the house staked out tonight just in case. We start early in the morning. Okay, Trout. Here we are. Scene of the crime. Everybody out.
[00:28:43] Unknown:
Okay. Where do we start, sergeant? We're gonna face missus Applebaum first? Nope.
[00:28:50] Unknown:
We'll check out all the other suspects. The patrol car found in there all home. But first, we'll have a look at Fender's apartment. What for? That's what we're gonna be looking to find out.
[00:29:06] Unknown:
You find anything here in the bedroom, detective? No, sergeant.
[00:29:09] Unknown:
You find out anything. Yeah. A couple of things. I counted that money, $295. A lot of cash to have hanging around. Does it make some people feel secure?
[00:29:21] Unknown:
I mean, like to have cash on hand. Yeah.
[00:29:25] Unknown:
Two bank books, over 1,200 and one 10,000 in the other.
[00:29:30] Unknown:
What's in the cigar box?
[00:29:32] Unknown:
Have a look. Smell.
[00:29:36] Unknown:
Mhmm. Glass.
[00:29:37] Unknown:
I don't
[00:29:38] Unknown:
one. Good stuff. Well, you think he was a dealer. Grass, money, they go together, don't they? Oh, not necessarily.
[00:29:48] Unknown:
The entries in the big bank book are all years old. The money's been there since the year one just gathering interest. Oh, and the new bank book. Chicken feed. A buyer? Maybe. Not a seller. But I got a notion where this grass came from. Where? Yeah. This his rent book. A character named Dreyse. You remember missus Eppelbaum called him a person? The First Floor back. Yeah. Check. He was always behind in his rent, it seems. Sometimes the old boy carried him for two, two, three months. Why?
[00:30:22] Unknown:
He was the supplier, or is that jumping to conclusions?
[00:30:26] Unknown:
That ain't jumping. That's just plain heading up two and two. Tell you what, let's you and me go pay a visit Mister Dreiser? Mister Dreiser? Open up, police. Hey, man. What goes with all the loud jive? I mean, like, you're breaking my head. Hey, mister Dreiser. Oh, I am the one. Detective Sergeant Bowles. He's my sidekick, detective Trout. Real nice. Solid. The mom and of popper. What can old slats do for you? I'd like to ask you a few questions, mister Dreiser. We come in? Well, sure. Come on in. I'm clean. Just a little
[00:31:11] Unknown:
stretched out. You know what I mean?
[00:31:13] Unknown:
I got some coffee moving. You use some for what else you? We haven't gotten anything that I'll assist. Then you're lucky. You got it made, mommas and papas. Slat's here. He's just cutting it. I mean, like jazzed. Excuse me. Stoned.
[00:31:29] Unknown:
To the gills. On something a lot stronger than grass. You know
[00:31:32] Unknown:
Stoned.
[00:31:33] Unknown:
To the gills.
[00:31:35] Unknown:
On something a lot stronger than grass. You know it. I stay one side up and be ready for anything.
[00:31:39] Unknown:
I guess you know what happened here last night, mister Dreiser.
[00:31:43] Unknown:
Oh, man. Is that hot? Last night? Uh-huh. To the superintendent. You know he's dead.
[00:31:52] Unknown:
He's what? Dead. How? Well, we're trying to find out.
[00:31:58] Unknown:
Well, don't look at me, man. I wasn't even here last night. Where were you? Well, now that's no question for a doll to ask. I mean, you gotta protect your own doll, right? Mrs. Slattery, you're trying to say you were with a woman.
[00:32:12] Unknown:
Crazy. You named it. You wanna give us a name? Why? Fender didn't just die. Someone killed him. Oh, wow. You're you're not looking at me. You were behind in your rent. Well, I was, but I paid up last night. What time? Well, Well, just like before seven on my way out. Didn't show in his rent book. There was cash on the line, $295. There. I got his receipt right here. It's a receipt. Alright. But for what? Well, I don't think you. What was passing between you two besides grass? Any hard stuff? Hard stuff? What are you talking about, man? Junk? Yeah. Are you buying from Fender?
I'm no user. Well, what do you do? Push it? Sister, lay back. No call to come on so hard. I'm clean. Where were you last night around 09:00? Well, like I said, wouldn't
[00:33:12] Unknown:
with my old woman. What's What's your name?
[00:33:15] Unknown:
No. I wouldn't wanna get her mixed up in that. Hey. What are you doing, Forrest? Get out of that drawer. Hold it. No. You hold it. Don't you touch nothing of mine. There's one little item in here I wouldn't think of touching except to pick it up with my handkerchief. Do you mind if I borrow your ice pick? What do you want it for? I wanna take it down to the morgue and see if it fits the hole above Saul Fender's eye where somebody drove something real sharp like this right into his brain. What? That's the way he died around 09:00 last night.
Now you still wanna clam up about where you were then? Man, I cheat broadcasting. I couldn't have been here. How come? Because I was in Mount Pleasant then, 50 miles from here. Prove it. Come on. What kind of a rouse is this? Surely he's gonna make me take no fall for some murder rap. No. Let's look at it this way, punk. Now now don't tell me you haven't done time. I dig deep enough, I'll tie you into junk peddling. So the old man found out, was gonna throw you out or turn you over to the cops, and you were on a trip and used this on it. No. No. I didn't. This ain't no ordinary ice pick. It's sharp as a needle.
And what do you need it for? An electric refrigerator. This is a weapon, and you know it. Okay. Okay. I ain't standing still for being railroaded on no murder act. I take a bar it's gonna be for one to five, not a whole bundle. There's a pump jockey in Mount Pleasant who'll remember me and get me off the hook. Why is that? Because I hit his gas station last night. At 09:00, he was backing off from that ice pick 50 miles from here. Okay. Put your wrist behind your back. That's it. How come you you had to pick on me for handing Fender his ticket? Well, you seem the only one who might have a motive. You kidding? What about all the others? Well, what about? Well, like old professor Porter up there. Him and Fender used to be search grade buddies. But last night, just as I was cutting out, he he come on like a like a sore boil about something. When I left here, there was some kind of a brine again going on. That was before seven. So how do you know where he was at nine? Well, check it out. And all lonely hearts dimby.
There's a babe who's so hot for anything in pants, she even made a few passes at Fender. And, man, when he brushed her off, she was running to total them. And how about mother apple bomb? I mean, like, she may look like Whistler's old lady, but there's one tough little cookie. Her and that heck in hers. What would she have against mister Fender? Babes, he hated cats. I mean, like, they turned them off all the way. And anybody don't like her means your old tat is murked right off her books. Let me tell you. Okay. Okay. That's it.
Move. We'll check them all out. Don't worry.
[00:36:24] Unknown:
Oh, too bad it couldn't have been him. Hey there, babes.
[00:36:28] Unknown:
Cool it. Now you cool it. You're lucky you're just a two bit crook. It just may save your life. So I'll run the stone head back to the precinct while you check out miss Dimby. You think he can handle it? Well, a dried up sex star, four dish, would be sex kitten, I'll be a lot safer than you would. You can have it.
[00:36:55] Unknown:
I'll take the professor as soon as I get back, then we'll compare notes. I hope it turns out to be one of them. Why? Well, I like the old missus Applebaum. I don't want it to be her.
[00:37:06] Unknown:
Listen, detective. First thing you gotta learn in this job is don't form any attachments. And the second is don't kid yourself there's any romance, and forget all about the books, the movies, and the TV shows. The way it is in real life, 99 chances out of a hundred, the perpetrator is the obvious one. Which means
[00:37:29] Unknown:
missus Appelbaum. Which means missus Appelbaum.
[00:37:40] Unknown:
It will have to be a very large or unexpected miracle to get missus Apfelbaum off the hook as detective Marion Trout is due to find out when both her other suspects turn up with airtight alibis. And yet, but that will have to remain till I return shortly with the third act. Pickup a pickup. Pick it up and take it home. Pickups,
[00:38:05] Unknown:
a rotary powered air conditioner from Fetters. Just as powerful as ordinary units, but lighter and smaller. So you can take it home and put it in the window,
[00:38:13] Unknown:
close the sash and plug it in, move it to the bedroom, take it on vacation. One little pickup, one little pickup, one little Fetters maybe all you need.
[00:38:26] Unknown:
Pick up a pickup at your Fetters dealer today.
[00:38:30] Unknown:
Here we are talking with one of the thousands and thousands of people who bought a Buick this year. This is a Skylark. Right? That's right. Pretty, Indeed it is. You wanna sit in it? I'll let you for a buck and a quarter. Do you charge to let people sit in your Skylark? Oh, this is a very nice car. Look, I figure when work gets out, people will be lined up for blocks. Hey. You wanna honk the horn? Give me a dime. Listen, sir. Fewer dealers let people do this for free. They do? Yeah. Well, I think they're missing a good bet. Buick, dedicated to the free spirit in just about everyone.
[00:39:00] Unknown:
Somewhere a teenage girl in the school for the retarded doesn't remember what her parents look like. And somewhere a great grandmother in
[00:39:16] Unknown:
new
[00:39:19] Unknown:
about a new public service program called Voiceogram. The heart of the program is an exchange of tape recorded messages between the patients and their families and friends. Actor Cliff Robertson and Harold Russell, chairman of the president's committee for the handicapped and myself are lending their support on a nationwide basis. But to make it work, we need sympathetic volunteers who will visit patients and talk to them while their words are taped for their loved ones to hear and and respond. Just give a little bit of your time and a lot of caring and just write the voice o gram. Box 127, Koskoff, Connecticut 06807.
[00:40:09] Unknown:
Right at this moment, Marion Trout is almost regretting her transfer to the detective bureau. As a uniformed policewoman, she has faced death before, but then it was impersonal, not something she had to become involved in. A murder investigation, she is finding, is different. Now she herself is committed to hunting down a murderer that might be a bright, attractive old lady to whom she has taken a liking. But in spite of sergeant Bowles' conviction, she doesn't have to face that yet. For the moment, her quarry is miss Dimby.
[00:40:50] Unknown:
Who is it? Sorry to bother you, miss Dimby. I'm a police officer. Oh, dear. Oh, dear me. You you don't look like a police officer. Well, I should've said detective. My shield and identification. Oh, I I don't know what to say. You haven't heard about your super superintendent. Oh, you you mean about his heart attack? Mhmm. Oh, yes. So so sad. So sudden. It was a terrible shock. I felt so guilty about my my feeling of relief for the moment before I oh, well, perhaps you should come in. Thank you. He is such a a dreadful, dreadful shock. What did you mean feeling of relief?
Oh, I never should have mentioned it. It's it's just that it's so difficult for a a young single girl to to be in a house that's practically infested by men. Mhmm. One gets a little tired of, you know, being pestered, particularly the older men. Although mister Fender was very sweet, but he was persistent. Oh, well, one must speak well of the dead. Won't you step into my parlor? No. Thank you, miss Demby. Oh, please sit down. Oh, you you don't mind if I go on with my knitting, do you? No. Not at all. Well, I, I have so many beaux, you know, men in my life.
So many favors to return, and I I am not well-to-do, so I I knit them scarves or or gloves. Did you know that mister Fender was murdered? Murdered? But but how? Well, he was stabbed in the eye. Something very sharp was driven into his brain. How dreadful? What what what sort of thing? Well, something like a skewer or an icepick or a knitting needle. Miss Dimby, where were you last night between 08:30 and 09:30? Oh, why I I I I was at a moving picture show. Ah, well, what did you see? Oh, why it oh, it was lovely. So so artistic and and cultural. The, that exquisite production by the great Spanish director, Michael Lugano, La Paloma.
Have you seen it? Oh, no. What theater? Oh, the the fine art. Oh, that beautiful little theater on the Southwest, corner of Broadwalk And 20 Fourth. Yes. That's the one. Yes. Well, then you could have been here anywhere near 09:00. Oh, heavens. No. Well, in that case, there's no need to ask you any more questions. No. No. No. No. Don't bother. I'll let myself out. Oh, well, you're sure that's quite, satisfactory. I'm sure, miss Dimby. You gave me just what I need.
[00:44:02] Unknown:
Sergeant. That professor slipped out on
[00:44:06] Unknown:
me. What is it? You don't have to look any further. I've got her. Who? The murderer. The Dimby Dame. She gave me an alibi that she was at a movie at the Fine Arts Theater at Boardwalk And 20 Fourth last night. I trapped her with the address and get this. She's admitting not. I don't follow. Listen. There's no Fine Arts Theater. That address is just a hole in the ground for a new building and knitting needles. A steel knitting needle. Wouldn't that be a perfect weapon for a sex starved old May to use against a guy who maybe turned her down? Oh, a police person?
Miss detective? Yes. Could I see you a moment, please?
[00:44:51] Unknown:
Go ahead. I'll go with you. Oh, Oh, I I'd rather see the lady alone, please. I think I'd better come along.
[00:44:58] Unknown:
Oh, dear. Well, alright. Come come in, please. I I I'm afraid I have a confession to make. Well, you see, sir, I lied to you earlier about being at the fine arts. You weren't at the movies? Oh, yes. I was at the movies, but not not at the one I said I was. Yes. Well, then where were you? Well, I it's really a matter of one might say morally outraged curiosity. I had gone to to see a perfectly dreadful and vile thing called the story of w.
[00:45:42] Unknown:
Oh, I can see why you might have wanted to keep that a secret. At the story of w, detective, this x rated is what you call your hardcore pornography.
[00:45:52] Unknown:
You've got to be kidding.
[00:45:54] Unknown:
But what's the difference? Didn't be what you saw
[00:45:57] Unknown:
unless you could prove you were there. Oh, I I can prove I was at the one. Oh, well, the the manager knows me. It's a little embarrassing going right up to the well, he he he lets me in quietly.
[00:46:14] Unknown:
And how long were you at this movie?
[00:46:17] Unknown:
From seven to 11:00. I I'm afraid I I sat through it twice.
[00:46:25] Unknown:
Glad you enjoyed
[00:46:29] Unknown:
needn't look down your nose at me. And instead of harassing me with your your police brutality, you should be after the real culprit. Yes. And who's that? The almighty professor. Oh, butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. Always the gentleman. You should have heard him and mister Pender going as in hammer and tongs as I did when I left for the, when I went out. And something else. What was that, ma'am? Well, the door was open as I passed, and I I saw him hit mister Pender over the head. With what, mister m? With his umbrella. But if you look at this umbrella, you can see he must have hit him pretty hard. Some of the ribs are broken. Well,
[00:47:15] Unknown:
first of all, we don't know it's his umbrella. She said she saw him throw it out this morning. She says. Anyway, so what? There was no mark on Fender's head. How can you hurt anyone with a light umbrella? And, anyways, the time is all wrong. Yeah. Well, maybe he came back. Well, here's the amusement center. That's what I intend to find out now. Hey. Excuse me. Professor Porter? Morning. You wanna play $1 a game unless you win, and then I pay you to take board number seven and choose white or black. Excuse me. I I don't wanna play. I wanna talk to you. My credentials.
Police, we can go over here by the wheat machine. It's the quietest place in the house. Very well, sergeant. You you have exactly one minute. I gather you were a friend to Saul Fender's.
[00:48:17] Unknown:
Saul? Yes. Yes. We played chess together and Hawaii.
[00:48:21] Unknown:
When was the last time you saw it? About 06:30 last night when I went home for dinner before I returned here. What time did you return to work? Well, sometime before seven. And you got home at 11:30? That's right. How did you Between those hours, you were sitting at your usual place in the window playing chess. Except for traveling to and from. What happened to Saul? He was murdered. What? What do you you you don't think I had anything to do with it? Not if you were here at 09:00. No. You're out of it if you're telling the truth. And don't worry.
I intend to make sure that's just what you're telling. Yeah? You sure? Yeah. Okay.
[00:49:19] Unknown:
Well,
[00:49:20] Unknown:
what did the lab say? No trace of blood on the hat pin. Well, that don't mean nothing. It could've been washed off.
[00:49:26] Unknown:
Then you're going to arrest her? I don't know.
[00:49:30] Unknown:
We got motive, opportunity, means, but ain't much of a case. No witnesses. No proof they quarreled.
[00:49:40] Unknown:
Yes. And yet we know professor Porter did.
[00:49:44] Unknown:
What's the difference? That was two hours earlier, and he What is it? I just thought of something. Who usually establishes the time of death?
[00:49:55] Unknown:
Well, the medical examiner or whatever doctor they send over. Only this time he didn't.
[00:50:00] Unknown:
We told him because of the phone call. But supposing by that time he was already dying and was only beginning to realize it. What are you talking about? I don't know. I'm gonna get doc Prouty at the hospital, and maybe he can explain it to me. What what are you It's alright, mister Porter. Come on in. We've been waiting for you. Who's
[00:50:34] Unknown:
you know that policeman who came to see me?
[00:50:36] Unknown:
Who is this woman?
[00:50:38] Unknown:
This is detective Trout. What you're doing here? Well, we want to ask you some questions.
[00:50:47] Unknown:
Yes. Missus Aprilboom is quite correct. I did quarrel with my poor friend, Saul. We had a terrible one. And you did hit him? I'm ashamed to say I did. I hit him overhead.
[00:51:01] Unknown:
With your umbrella?
[00:51:03] Unknown:
Yes. But the provocation was very great. I asked you to imagine. My life is not much, but I have my pride. I could have been one of the greats, a Spassky, a Bobby Fischer, but I was never given the chance. Instead, I work in a window playing with fools who have no hope of beating me, goggled at my idiots from the street as if I were in a cage at the zoo. But when Saul came to the house, he was lonely. He had no companions. I taught him to to play chess. I played with him to amuse him. I even showed him the unbeatable reply to Musio Gambit, a secret only I know.
And you know how he repaid me yesterday, knowing I was sick and not myself, when I had 10 games going, he came, he, the pupil to the master, had used my own trick to defeat me in the goldfish bowl.
[00:52:09] Unknown:
He shamed me in front of all the world. I was mad enough to kill him. I'm afraid that's just what you did. What? Is this the umbrella you hit him with?
[00:52:21] Unknown:
Would he yes. Yes. That's my umbrella. I threw it away because some of the ribs got broken. But that well, a a a little hit on the head from a light umbrella couldn't have killed him. If only it
[00:52:36] Unknown:
did. One of these broken ribs jabbed straight into the hollow of his eye and right into his brain. Oh, no. So my temper meant
[00:52:50] Unknown:
but wait a minute. You said he was alive at 09:00.
[00:52:53] Unknown:
We quarreled at least two hours before that. Sometimes it takes time for a man to die. The doctors tell us that the hemorrhage caused by the wound could easily have taken two hours to cause his final death. Good lord.
[00:53:12] Unknown:
I I suppose you're going to arrest me.
[00:53:16] Unknown:
The charge charge will be manslaughter,
[00:53:19] Unknown:
but we'll have to arrest you. But I don't care about the charge. I'm always sick to my soul that I I could have caused another human being's death. I think I shall have a a better judge and a punishment to fit the crime. Mister Porter, are you alright? No, my dear. I'm very far from alright. It's my heart. There are some pills in oh, no. Which pocket, sir? It it doesn't really matter. Better this way, the end game is played out. This time it's checkmate. And I'm the loser.
[00:54:16] Unknown:
Some time ago outside a New York bar, two men got into a fight. One of them lashed out at the other with an umbrella. After the fight was stopped, the man who had been hit by the umbrella continued on his night out, and it wasn't until he returned home some two hours later that he collapsed and died. Truth, as I said in the beginning, is stranger than fiction, except when it is borrowed to make a good story. I'll be back shortly.
[00:54:48] Unknown:
You may feel it's an embarrassing subject, but since one out of every three people suffers hemorrhoid symptoms at some time, you should know about preparation h. Preparation h gives prompt temporary relief from occasional pain and itch in many cases, but preparation h does more, actually helps shrink swelling of hemorrhoidal tissues caused by inflammation. With so many having the problem, it's comforting to know that Preparation h helps shrink swelling of hemorrhoidal tissues. Ointment or suppositories, use only as directed.
Fred, you're taking our gardening tools to the library? Right. Gets me in the mood. Gets you in the mood. Uh-huh. You see, dear, the library now has a lot of new services, and today I'm going to plan our garden. Mhmm. So you're taking our rake and shovel. Right. At the library, you can now attend a concert, see a puppet show, even borrow a classic film. Do they have belly dancing lessons at the library? How did you know? Maybe it's because you're wearing that jewel in your navel. Oh, yeah. The library. Come see what's new besides books. Put your shirt back on, Fred. I mean, the world's not ready for your tummy. A public service message from the American Library Association.
[00:55:51] Unknown:
Takes more than a clever chef's hat and apron to make a cookout a success. What's needed is the kind of start to finish know how supplied by the current Family Circle Magazine's guide to foolproof barbecuing. Gives you everything from how to gauge the temperature of your fire to how to smoke meats even without a cover. And the recipes are anything but run of the grill. Texas ribs, lamb kebab, orange peanut pork roast. For indoor cooking, family circle circles, the diversities of the American cuisine were the treasury of ethnic foods. Greek Greek spinach pie, African hot soup, Portuguese bread, to mention but a few. The July family circle cover features an embroidery of summer flowers for which directions are inside.
Incidentally, did you know that last month's issue contained more than $2.40 worth of national brand coupons? Added value from Family Circle, the world's largest selling woman's magazine. Just 39¢ at your supermarket checkout counter. This is Jack Sterling.
[00:57:01] Unknown:
I suppose the motives for the crime of homicide are countless. Some of them are as unspeakable and as far as just the crime itself. But the most macabre macabre and terrible thing about it is that by far the most of them are so small and unreasonable, except to the people involved. How few of the Maras neatly saw Van resolved, in the words of Genesis, Bryna Rayburn. The Reina Rayburn. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. This is EG Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre.
Until next time. Pleasant dream.
[00:58:28] Unknown:
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a new safety standard for bicycles. A bike with coaster brakes must be able to stop in 15 feet from a speed of 10 miles per hour. A 10 speed bike with hand brakes must be able to stop in 15 feet from a speed of 15 miles per hour. Brake performance is one of many safety rules.
[00:59:07] Unknown:
For more information, ride bicycles, Washington DC 20207. This message brought to you by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[00:59:14] Unknown:
For more than two years now, people have been trying to get you to slow down to 55 miles an hour, down to the speed limit. They've told you that slowing down will save millions of gallons of gasoline. They've told you that slowing down saves thousands of lives, and they've got the figures to prove it. I think those are pretty good reasons. Some of you obviously do too, because some of you have slowed down. But an awful lot of people for one reason or another haven't. They seem to think the 55 mile an hour speed limit is something they can take or leave. It isn't.
It's a law with tickets and fines and all the rest just like any other law, and I should know. I'm a police officer. From where I sit, there's just no way around it. The 55 mile an hour speed limit can do a lot of positive things, and it's my job to make sure it gets a chance to work. Not just because it's a good idea,
[01:00:08] Unknown:
but because it's the law. The public service of this station, the US Department of Transportation, and the Advertising Council. WFAA, Dallas, Fort Worth.
[01:00:19] Unknown:
CBS News. Japanese police have arrested three executives of all Nippon Air Airways in connection with the Lockheed aircraft bribe scandal. I'm Mike Stanley reporting on the CBS radio network.
Introduction and Mars Mission
Viking Lander and Martian Life Speculation
Historical Perspectives on Martians
Impact of Discovering Life on Mars
NASA's Viking Mission Details
CBS Radio Mystery Theater: Introduction
Detective Story: The Murder of Saul Fender
Investigation and Suspects
Conclusion of the Murder Mystery
