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In this thrilling episode of CBS Radio Mystery Theater, we delve into the tumultuous times of the Great Depression, exploring the life of Reb Harrison Kendall, a man who lives by his wits. As the nation grapples with economic despair, Reb navigates his own challenges, balancing between his con-man instincts and a rare moment of moral reckoning. The episode paints a vivid picture of a bygone era, where the struggle for survival often led individuals to desperate measures.
Reb's journey is marked by encounters with colorful characters, including a trusting woman named Sarah Summers and a skeptical sheriff. As Reb attempts to con his way through life, he is faced with a moral dilemma that could change his fate forever. With a gripping narrative and a touch of irony, "This Breed is Doomed" explores themes of honesty, survival, and the thin line between right and wrong. Join us as we unravel the mystery and suspense of Reb's life in this captivating drama.
(01:04) Introduction to the Great Depression
(03:13) Reb Harrison Kendall's Scheme
(06:10) On the Run from the Law
(11:10) A Con Man's Dilemma
(17:37) The Consequences of Deception
(32:21) A Desperate Escape
(36:47) A Moment of Decision
(40:23) The Inevitable Outcome
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Unknown:
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Welcome, I'm EG Marshall On 10/24/1929 an earthquake rocked the foundations of Wall Street and by October 29 of the same year $30,000,000,000 of the American economy vanished into thin air. The great depression had begun, and everyone in the country was affected by the national sickness, with the exception of a few. To take one prime example, Reb Harrison Kendall, a man who was impervious to success or disaster, but hung somewhere in between since he lived solely on his wit.
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The name is Reb Harrison Kendall. What's that you say? An ordained minister? Now that I never claimed to be. A natural mistake due to my name. It is spelled rib with a b. The common mistake people make about me just as they refer to me as doctor. I carry no degree, simply a wide scientific background. It's simply an impression I create. I am only what I am, the last perhaps of a dying breed.
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Our mystery drama, This Breed is Doomed, was written especially for the mystery theater by Ian Martin and stars Howard Da Silva. It is sponsored in part by XLAX and Buick Motor Division. I'll be back shortly with act one. One of the most depressing things about the Great Depression was the extra burden of the seventeenth amendment known as the Volstead Act. Because the law made the selling of liquor illegal, the
[00:03:35] Unknown:
his
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for the law. However, as befitted a man who lived by his wits, he had his own way of subverting it.
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Labeling. Labeling. Open up the key. You me. You me My dear boy, my auditory faculties are excellent. There's no need to shout. Reverend, we got to get the hell out. The feds have no doubt they're still and they're on the way. Government agents. And we're just beginning to distill. Well, we'll leave the shine to them. We got to get out. Leaving them all that precious mountain dew, not in your tin type, my friend. I'm telling you, we hang around. We're gonna end up in the pokey. Reverend, you promised me if I stuck with you, I wouldn't get into no trouble. Have I ever gone back on my word?
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I deplore the inconvenience, but come on, Youby. Let's scram. I left Lizzie on Old Logging Road. We can make her getaway thataway. Blended, give me a moment, Ollie, and I shall join you. It ain't gonna pay to hang around. I have no intention of leaving this beautiful brew, two federal agents who deny a man the right to make a, if not totally honest, at least an honorable living. Do you have to talk so much? A point well taken, Ubi. No further talk, Only action. Here. You carry the drum and we'll unroll it as we go. Oh, well, what's the wire for? Isn't a wire. It's a fuse. Keep unrolling.
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Well, I I don't understand.
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Ours not the reason why. Ours but to do or die or at least do. Here we are at the car and I see the fuse is completely unrolled. You have a match here, Bae? Why, sure. Here you are. I thank you kindly. You gonna blow up the steel? The fortunes of war. Now we better get in the car and move on for safer climbs. What are you stopping for? Just for a moment here on the ridge to say a long farewell. Well, not so so long perhaps, but farewell just the same. I'm loathe to leave North Carolina. It's always been a favorite resting place for me, but I think under the circumstances we had better heed Horace Greeley's sage advice.
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What was that?
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Go west, young man. Go west. Wanna paraphrase? If things get too hot in the kitchen, the wise man gets the hell out.
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Reverend, where we headed for? Who knows?
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Where Faith or the Dame with a corny copia may direct us?
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What then?
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Lady Luck, my friend. The bountiful and the beautiful. For For the present, let us abandon ourselves to the lure of the open road, the summons to high adventure,
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the challenge of the unknown. Well, just forgetting the unknown, reverend. We got enough known challenges to knock us for a loop. Such as? We're practically out of gas and this old model t is out of style. She's on her last legs. When Lizzie fails to stand the test of time, then maybe I will despair.
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But there's life in the old girl yet. Oh, ye of little faith, onward and ever upward, in the bright lexicon of the youthful heart, there is no such word as fail. No such word as fail.
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I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Harrison. I I honestly am, but it just wouldn't work for us. But, Sarah, I mean,
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everyone has always known about us. They expect us to be married. You can't you can't back out on me. You don't want marriage, Rib.
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It would tie you down. You don't wanna share and settle here in Hiram's Corners with me and have babies and love and a long, slow, lovely future. Oh, I I don't mean to say you're selfish except well, that's that's plain what you are. You don't want to adjust yourself to living. You want it to make it adjust itself to you. That's the longest speech I ever heard you make. Oh, well, you don't know how many hours I've agonized practiced to make it to you. But why? Because you don't really wanna marry me. That isn't true. You don't want to marry anyone really until you've proved yourself out. But I I can't wait for that.
So I'm marrying Ben Hall.
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You mean you love him better than you do me? Oh, I I love him
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different is all I can say, but I do love you. I always have. And if anytime anytime at all I can help you, please please ask me to.
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Any way I can. I will. I will. I will. I will. I will. I will. I will. I will. I will. I will. I will.
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Sarah.
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Sarah. Reverend. Hey. Hey, Reverend. What? You alright?
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Why?
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We're just you were you were kinda mumbling in your sleep.
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Just count it as a passing dream.
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Where are we? Well, according to a sign we just passed coming into town called Adamsville. Population, 8,800.
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Excellent.
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How much stock do we have? Oh, one full case and a few out of a broken
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one. I I don't know how many. I shall have to be at my very best to build ourselves a stake. Do you have any money, Hubby? Oh, sir. I got, I got 2 doll dollars and change. Oh, you're somewhat more well endowed than I. We're going to definitely have to make a score in Hattonsville, spite of my laps in grammar in the split infinitive.
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Reverend, could I say something?
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I should hope between us. We can always be frank. Unless there ever, it's
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just I've had it. I ain't in your league. I never have been. But you and me and I guess the whole country are are whipping dead horses. We ain't going nowhere like we are. So so I want to cut out on my own.
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You desert
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a sinking ship? There's no sir. It's just that I can't take this kind of life. I can always go home and go on the breadline. I wouldn't be much worse off and at least I wouldn't have no sheriff or the police on my tail.
[00:10:13] Unknown:
My boy, if you must go home, you need a small stake.
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You ain't kidding. We're running out of gas to take us where we're trying to go. Where? Adamsville will
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if we make it. We must trust in the Lord and my pension for good luck to see that we do. It may be the last roll of the dice you'll be. Well, it's gonna be for me. But you will stick with me till we build a small stake. Yes, sir. I will. But I don't know if old Lizzie here will.
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It isn't only just gas. She's playing war out. If she quits on us, why that's that's it. Now what? Well, far as I'm concerned
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famous writer named mine that a famous writer named Dickens made famous, I echo Macawber and say, something will turn up. How far is it into the center of town? Oh, by the mile or so. Well, all we need to do is somehow transport our precious remedy to a ready spot where we can draw a crowd, and once more we reckon business. Not me. I cannot operate without you. In the name of old friendship, you must assist me. Me. Well,
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alright. But but just this once.
[00:11:48] Unknown:
Between ourselves, let me admit it without qualification. I'm a con man as my father before me and his father before him. A distinguished tradition in its way to live by one's wits and the gift of gab. In some ways, I am glad that I will not pass along my talent if you indeed may consider it a talent. The one woman I desired, Sarah, did not desire me. As I say, perhaps just as well. I am not, I suppose, a family man. It is dubious that I would have made any kind of a husband. Not that I find relationships with people difficult. To the contrary, just give me a crowd and I can bring them under my spell.
I have no wish to divert your attention from the delights of affair we are all attending, but I sound one note of warning to those who wish to listen. It needs no medicine man to tell all of you intelligent people listening to me that the basis of every man and woman's existence depends on the arterial and venous systems created by the great engineer to carry to the innermost limits of our bodies the life stream, that which we term the blood. When this is choked off or polluted, all of us are common prey for every one of man's dread diseases. So I come to offer you paracuraria.
This magic elixir captured in the bottle I hold in my hand why do I say magic? Let me cite my own example. This crystal liquid brought me back from the very threshold of death. Oh, I understand. Four years ago, a massive and deadly infection held my wasted body in its irreversible thrall. My medical colleagues had given me up for loss. Then one day in my laboratory, experimenting with that magic extract from a rare South African plant, I stumbled by the mercy of God on the greatest boon to mankind
[00:13:54] Unknown:
since the discovery of bread.
[00:13:58] Unknown:
What is it, sir? What is it? It's it's remember, you know, you're gonna be to pass through, please. If you please. Thank you. Excuse me, madam. Sir, let me through. The man needs me, please. Something. My dear, sir, what seems to be the trouble? Hey. It's,
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an arterial contraspasm. Chronic condition is beyond medical help. It oh, there's nothing you can do As one with the physician's background, will you permit me to try? Oh, what's the use? No doctor has been able to. This is oh, this is not my my first attack. I just wonder only each time which
[00:14:43] Unknown:
which could be my last. Not this one. If I have anything to say about it. I should talk to you. May I suggest you drink this? What is it? A panacea developed by myself. Oh, how could it help me? How could it hurt? Try it.
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Oh, that band around my chest. It's like a vice choking my life away. Alright. Alright. Let let me try.
[00:15:14] Unknown:
Here, a little more. The vice about your chest is loosening? Yeah.
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Look at that. Yeah. I can bring it easier.
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Truly. Of course. Inevitable.
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You see that that stuff you gave me to drink. Hey. How can I get some of that? Well, a limited amount is available.
[00:15:41] Unknown:
It is, of course, a new and highly scarce drug as yet still waiting to be marketed. But in your case, I should say in your need, pray, let me offer you a bottle as a gift. Oh, no. No. No. I won't pay. I I can afford it. Oh, I can let you have a bottle for $3. A good deal less than most wonder drug you have. Alright. Break it up. Break it up. Let's get moving here. Come on. What seems to be the trouble, officer? You are,
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brother. Come on. Let's all get moving. This position just saved my life. Forget it, Chill. Don't give me any malarkey. You think I don't know a con game when I see one? A con game? Hurt me? Okay. Now move. If you insist Hey. Now wait a minute. Where's your partner gone? I haven't the slightest idea what you mean by that. And I have no intention of remaining here and being insulted. Oh, no. Not you. You don't sneak out. You're under arrest. Arrest? What on earth for? I'll figure that one out at the station house right now. We'll call it disturbing the peace. I warn you officer. You are obstructing the march of science. And I'll warn you buster that I am instructing you you in the science of marching. Now move. A series of minor incidents mounting to a minor climax,
[00:16:57] Unknown:
the process of life. And yet, which one of us knows or can suspect how the smallest happenstance one of us knows or can suspect how the smallest happenstance may shape the pattern of our fate? Who could suspect that a train of events has been set in motion which could lead to Reb's violent death. Surely a punishment that scarcely fits the crime, but that, of course, will have to wait till I return with act two. Hard times, those depression years, and no American who lived through them will ever forget them. Selling pencils or apples was little solution since the competition was so thick, a man couldn't find a corner to himself.
Defeat was the norm. Men simply gave up hoping or trying, except as irrepressible an individual as a red Kendall who could manage the loss of anything, face Liberty Capital, but who was never at a loss for words.
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And neither this good officer nor yourself, sergeant, seems to recognize that I am not philanderer, but
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Samaritan. My mission in life is to land turn it up, Mac. I'm drowning already. Why Why is it, Cooperman, every time I'm on the desk, I collect all the cons, coupes, drifters, and deadbeat? I resent the tenor of your remarks, sergeant. Will you button up, Buster, before I book you? You cannot book me. I stand on my right under the Fourth Amendment as a private citizen. All you are is a public menace. I'd drop you right in the pokey if it wasn't standing room only already. On what charge, pray? Well, vagrancy would do for openers. Vagrancy?
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You know you ain't got a red cent to your name. A temporary embarrassment. My cash reserve happens at the moment to be tied up in my inventory. Had you given me the opportunity to distribute my Panasonic You mean to belt the public. I dislike that word built. Would you prefer milk? My dear sergeant, you totally misunderstand my motives. Believe me,
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altruism is my middle name. And I pride myself on it. My ability to cover will you? I got the Lumbaga to begin with and it's killing me. He's all I need to finish me off. Okay, Bunco. Let's float.
[00:19:24] Unknown:
If you insist, but may I suggest as a man well versed in the Hippocratesian art The what? The mysteries of Galen, Metchnikoff, and their great brothers, the art of healing, the practice of a physician. May I suggest that I could ease your problem? You will ease my problem by buttoning that lip and taking a powder. If you were to take one bottle of my miraculous para curaria instead, it could dispel your miseries by the magic of modern science. For a nominal price of $3, you could throw off the galling yoke of unnecessary pain, and you could walk out of here and fight. Will you run him outside and point him for the city
[00:20:03] Unknown:
limits? As for you, doctor, reverend, Indian chief, or whatever you wanna call yourself, if you're not out of my town within a half an hour, I will clap you in a can. But without funds, how can I travel? That's your problem. But half an hour If you walk as fast as you talk, you'll make it. It's a small town. And take the sugar water or whatever it is with you and the rest of your junk. Take the wait a minute. What's this?
[00:20:35] Unknown:
A pocket bible. My daily reading. It will behoove you, good sergeant, to peruse its lamb and pages and allow its and allow its heavenly message to start the deep wellspring of a milk of human kindness flowing through your veins. Brother, all I got in my veins is blood and you're bringing it right to the boy. Oh, no. Come on. Yes, sergeant. Come on. Move it, doc. Or or whatever you are. The title may be essentially a courtesy one, but I can say as a medical missionary, I am profoundly sorry for your superior, officer Cooperman. Sure. Sure.
I'll tell him when he's in a better mood.
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That stuff you got in the bottles there, is that any good for bunions?
[00:21:15] Unknown:
My dear boy, the pedis, as the ancient Romans referred to it, the foot, is at the root of all the problems of Homo sapiens. Who? The technical term we use for man himself. You see, he never was intended to walk erect. As a result, improper circulation of the blood through the nether limbs creates in its train a a whole family of disease, phlebitis, arthritis, jurisprudence, and the, bunions, but expand the arteries, free the blood to bring its nourishment to the affected part as my parakeria does. And pain, pain becomes only a word, not a cross we have to bear.
I'll tell you what. There's a bus at the next corner.
[00:22:00] Unknown:
Give me one of your bottles there and you can ride out of town.
[00:22:04] Unknown:
By all means. You're a wise man. You you may have the one I hold in my hand here. Okay. That'll be $3 please. You kidding? I'll give you a dime for the bus and help you on with your stuff. A dime? Look,
[00:22:19] Unknown:
officer. Why not take the whole case and A dime for one bottle. That's a deal. Take it or leave it. I'll take it. I'll also give you some advice. Free. I'm always receptive to suggestion. When you get to the end of the lines, you'll see Mary's Diner. It's where all the truckies stop. Maybe you can pick up a hitch out of town. Here. Here's your carton.
[00:22:42] Unknown:
You sure you wouldn't like to make a bulk deal or not? Get it. Okay, driver. Call it out of here. So be it. And as Buddha himself would have said,
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What does that mean? Roughly translated,
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it's always darkest before the dawn. Brave words, my egotistical friend. But will they buy a brave new world? Is this the end of the line? Oh, Sarah. Sarah, why didn't I listen to you so long ago? Why didn't I settle for Hiram's corners and peace and security?
[00:23:31] Unknown:
Because it wouldn't have worked, Rev. You are always what your real name is, a rebel. You couldn't stay in one place. You had to be on the go to move on out.
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I wouldn't if you had married me. Oh, yes. You would.
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And then how sorry we both would have been. Don't you ever miss me as I do you? Of course, I do in one corner of my heart. I still pray for you, and I will always be there to help you if I can. Then help me now
[00:24:02] Unknown:
in my darkest hour. I cannot
[00:24:05] Unknown:
help you now. Not yet. First, you have to help yourself. Help yourself. Help yourself. Help yourself and help yourself and help
[00:24:16] Unknown:
yourself. All my life, I've been a confidence man. My wits against the suckers. But I have fallen upon evil times. With all my talent, talent, my ready wit, my gift for gab, my basic acumen, I have been dealt out of the game. Even my one companion has deserted me with what little stake we had. Oh, you be. You be. How sharper than a serpent's tooth is bass ingratitude? Oh, where's the effect? But what here? Where do I go from here? Excuse
[00:24:50] Unknown:
me. But is is this seat taken?
[00:24:53] Unknown:
Beg pardon? No. My profound apologies, madam. Pray allow me to move my portmanteau.
[00:25:00] Unknown:
Sorry to bother you, but the bus is crowded with no other seat.
[00:25:05] Unknown:
My shame that I should not have been ready to come to your assistance. Would you prefer to sit by the window?
[00:25:11] Unknown:
Well, how far are you going? To the end of the line. Then I'll be getting off before you. So why don't I sit on the aisle?
[00:25:21] Unknown:
As you prefer. My bag is out of the way. Would you like me to put yours on the rack? No need. It can just sit here between us.
[00:25:31] Unknown:
Oh.
[00:25:32] Unknown:
What is it?
[00:25:33] Unknown:
I almost sat on your book. Oh, dear me. The holy bible. My constant companion. I I think think it was open.
[00:25:42] Unknown:
Have I lost your place? If you had, I could find it again with my eyes closed.
[00:25:49] Unknown:
Such a comfort, the Bible. You know it well.
[00:25:53] Unknown:
I should hope so. It is the core of my life.
[00:25:57] Unknown:
Where were you reading?
[00:25:58] Unknown:
The first epistle of Paul chapter 13. I never tire of those words.
[00:26:03] Unknown:
When I was a child, I spake as a child. I thought as a child. I understood
[00:26:10] Unknown:
as a child. But when I was a man, I put away childish things. And now there abideth these three, faith, hope, and charity.
[00:26:22] Unknown:
Are you a minister?
[00:26:25] Unknown:
A missionary to be more exact on a sad and most difficult assignment. Oh,
[00:26:33] Unknown:
may I ask what?
[00:26:35] Unknown:
May I first inquire your name?
[00:26:37] Unknown:
Sarah Summers. Sarah? It's quite a common name.
[00:26:42] Unknown:
Not in my life. It's, but that's past history. May I ask your name? For forgive me. Kendall, ma'am.
[00:26:51] Unknown:
Reb Harrison Kendall. There. I just knew you were a reverend. Is there any way I can help?
[00:27:00] Unknown:
Oh, I, I doubt it.
[00:27:03] Unknown:
Well, I certainly don't mean to pry, but I'd like to know about this, difficult assignment of yours.
[00:27:12] Unknown:
I truly believe you would, and it might afford me some relief. Sometimes, rooted as so many are in financial obligations and the need to fight to bring the money to the deserving, the afflicted, and the dead.
[00:27:44] Unknown:
And the rebel government burned out your whole mission in hospital.
[00:27:49] Unknown:
Savagely and regrettably, yes. But there remains this one bright hope. With a change in government, it can be reestablished. But to do so will take funds, a great deal of money.
[00:28:03] Unknown:
You make me feel so guilty.
[00:28:05] Unknown:
You? I make you feel guilty?
[00:28:08] Unknown:
How? Because would you believe it? Right at this moment, I'm carrying a thousand dollars in my purse. Good heavens. Before? It's the last of my savings. The rumors are so scary. Many people think that even banks may close with this depression. So my husband and I determined we were gonna make the last down payment on our house so that at least that was free and
[00:28:34] Unknown:
clear. A thousand dollars? Don't.
[00:28:38] Unknown:
Don't what? Don't don't say it that way. You make me feel so ashamed. All that money just for the two of us when so many others are starving.
[00:28:47] Unknown:
But but every dollar in your bag, you deserve.
[00:28:51] Unknown:
Surely, we could spare some for a deserving cause. Oh, I wouldn't touch a penny. Oh, I'll take that as a sign that someone thinks you do. I want to contribute to your valiant cause. No need. There is no pressure. No. I want to and I must. Will you accept $20 towards your crusade? $20? Don't try to stop me. I want you to have it. Now I I want no thanks. My duty and my stuff is coming. Oh, dear. All this rain. I've got to put my pocketbook away and gather all my packages. Allow me to help, please. Thanks. Now here's the money. If you'll just hold my pocketbook while I gather my shopping bag. A pleasure.
[00:29:37] Unknown:
Missus Summers,
[00:29:38] Unknown:
where can I write to thank you? 15 Pleasant Drive right here in town. Hold it, driver. I'm getting off.
[00:29:47] Unknown:
Here's your pocketbook. Thank you.
[00:29:50] Unknown:
You're sure you have everything? Yes. Thanks to you. So glad. Because I only have a second to dump everything at home and rush away to bring my husband back from the hospital. Oh, you've been so much help, and all my hopes go with you and your good fight. Yes. I'm coming, driver.
[00:30:07] Unknown:
I wish I could have done more. You have done far more than you dream. Goodbye, missus Summers. A nice old lady. The perfect mark. I have taken her for $20. Not much, but some getaway money. At least get me to the next town. Only one thing clouds my new dawning horizon of optimism. I'm a con man, an opportunist, a grifter. But one thing I've never done openly before, I've never stolen. I've never By the window, pressing against my side, in my hand where I've lifted it, is a wallet containing the last of a lifetime saving.
$1,000 less 20 freely given. Given time, I could have conjured out of the total without a moment's hesitation. But to steal it, that's something else again. Can I do that or perhaps more important do I think I can get away with
[00:31:21] Unknown:
it?
[00:31:23] Unknown:
Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive Sir Walter Scott is the author, I thought, but as it transpires in our story, the quote might well have been red candles. The complications are only beginning, and the irony of a special justice is still to catch up with him when I return with the conclusion of this tale and act three. A driving, blinding storm has broken, making the roads all but impassable. A wallet with nearly a thousand dollars is burning a hole in his inside pocket. And burning a deeper hole is the terror and the knowledge that he has made the mistake of committing for the first time in his life a crime rather than a misdemeanor
[00:32:22] Unknown:
I am desperate. How long can it be before mrs. Summers discovers her money is gone? And what way out of this miserable town is available to me? There is no train. The last bus is gone. I have no car. I can't ever make it on foot in a storm like this. I have my second Sarah to thank for my stake. But where is my first Sarah whom I can always reach in my mind in desperation? I rub at the steam inside the window of the men's room and suddenly my luck is in again. Right outside my window, a heavy trailer truck pulls to a stop. Even in a driving rain, I can read the legend along its side, Ferry Trucking Company, and the slogan, Leave it to the good ferry to deliver.
An abominable conceit, but, an omen of escape. Big rig, one driver, plenty of room for a passenger. With luck, I'm going to get away with it after all. Black coffee, please. Easy on the sugar and a slice of apple pie.
[00:33:37] Unknown:
Foul weather out, Hey. Can you say that again, Mac? Are you the driver with an interesting slogan? Any cracks about that, Mac? You bought yourself a knuckle sandwich. Oh, no offense, man. Forget it. No offense. Just got a sore head tonight. I got a whole right through to the coast. I got no relief. And how am I gonna stay awake? I'm lucky I don't tokel somewhere along the line. You mean you could use a companion? You can handle a rig? No.
[00:34:03] Unknown:
But I can talk a blue streak. I keep you awake if you want. A hitch, Well, there's no other transportation available.
[00:34:11] Unknown:
You're in on, one condition. What? Think you can talk for twelve hours straight? Brother, you have picked the one man who was absolutely guaranteed to. So I'll take a chance. You bought a ride. You got five minutes while I gas up and check out the rig. And let me warn you, you're gonna have to hold your hat. We're gonna be rolling because I got time to make up. I'll miss. You can cancel a pie. I won't have time for it.
[00:34:39] Unknown:
The die is cast and I start my new career. From con man to thief in one easy move. And how easy it can be to make this score.
[00:34:50] Unknown:
Just five minutes more and I'll be away clean. What's to stop these? Oh, there you are. Just the man I've been looking for. Officer Kupperman. I'm sure glad you didn't get away.
[00:35:01] Unknown:
I guess I never expected to, really. I wanna make a little deal with you. A deal?
[00:35:07] Unknown:
I don't know what it is you got in them there bottles of yours, but it sure fixed up my bunions. So you need a steak to get out of town. I want some long term relief. That case of bottles you got I'll offer you $10 for the lot.
[00:35:22] Unknown:
You you gotta be kidding.
[00:35:24] Unknown:
That's all you want? It's all I got. All I can afford.
[00:35:28] Unknown:
All you want is my elixir? What else? Just so it fixes up them bunions of mine. It will, my son. It will. Take them with my blessing and believe in the mighty curative powers of parakeraria.
[00:35:43] Unknown:
Maybe I'm a sucker, but this way we both get something out of it. Me, a cure, you a steak. What do we got to lose?
[00:35:55] Unknown:
My kind of Mark. The bottles contain water, a sugar substitute, and a reasonable amount of alcohol. Between that and the moving power of words, I sucker him into believing that relief for his aching feet is a cure. I feel the warm glow as I finger his $10 in my hands and think of a thousand others in my inside pocket. But thinking of my ill gotten, inside pocket but thinking of my ill gotten money my conscience troubles me I have committed an unpardonable sin I have 30 honest dollars by my standard 10 come from officer Kaufman and 20 from mister Summers. Honest well, let's say 30 I don't need to feel uneasy about.
The other 900 maybe. Now that's a different matter. They will put me on the land for the rest of my life. Are they worth it? This is the moment of decision and I have few moments left. Where do I seek help to make up my mind?
[00:36:57] Unknown:
Don't do it, Rip. Return that money. How can I? A man of your accomplishments? There's a way and you will find
[00:37:10] Unknown:
it. Must I?
[00:37:16] Unknown:
Okay, Matt. Ready to roll. You want a ride? Let's go.
[00:37:20] Unknown:
I, I, I changed my mind. You and the good fairy will have to roll without me whilst I make a delivery of my
[00:37:35] Unknown:
own. Yes? Missus Summers? Why, it's the Reverend Kendall. Oh, but what are you doing here? Throwing myself on your mercy. Well, I wouldn't want you to do that in all this rain. Oh, please come in. Thank you. What do you mean throw yourself on my mercy? Don't you know? No. But you can explain as soon as you take off that wet coat and come warm by the fire. How did you find me? Ah, well, you remember you mentioned your address for me to write to you? That's right. Of course I did. Now give me that wet coat and let me hang it up and and I'll get my husband.
I I thought he was just back from the hospital. Oh, that's where he works as security guard. I'd like you to meet the sheriff.
[00:38:24] Unknown:
The sheriff? Oh, retired, of course. But we still use the old title. Oh, you you look a little strange. What what what's wrong, reverend? Why? Nothing except I, I just discovered didn't you know there was a thief on the bus we were on? Discovered didn't you know there was a thief on the bus we were on? No.
[00:38:41] Unknown:
Yes. Well, thank heaven I kept my purse safe right there just as I brought it from the bank. But but you. Oh, poor reverend Kendall. You were robbed.
[00:38:54] Unknown:
Every cent I had. Ah. I've wired my church, of course, but I had to have an address for them to send me the money, so I took the liberty of giving them yours.
[00:39:02] Unknown:
In a strange town, it was the only place I could think of. But I'm delighted you did. And of course, you'll stay here till your money comes. Now you just dry off at the fire and I'll hang out your coat and get my husband and a nice cup of hot tea.
[00:39:21] Unknown:
A dear little old lady. Just what my own Sarah that I lost might have become with the passing years. Naive and trusting. Her pocketbook still resting beside the phone. This is your lucky day, Rev. Take the wallet and return it. Just as if you'd never been tempted.
[00:39:43] Unknown:
Alright, Misty.
[00:39:45] Unknown:
Just hold it right there.
[00:39:47] Unknown:
You drop that wallet and get your hands up over your head. No. No. No. No. Just to let it, who Sheriff Summers. I got a gun on you, my dear sheriff. You just keep your hands up. Billy, you know, ever since sir told me about meeting you on the bus, I had a hunch you were up to no good. You weren't satisfied with just 20. You had to have it all. My dear sir, you completely misunderstand my motive. No. No. I don't. You're under
[00:40:22] Unknown:
arrest. Okay, Grifton. Chow time. I should have known you would end up a guest of the city. Sergeant,
[00:40:30] Unknown:
will no one listen to me? I wasn't taking up the classic one myself. Who says honesty pays? I'm not up the classic one myself.
[00:40:46] Unknown:
Who says honesty pays? Well, you ought to give it a whirl just once.
[00:40:53] Unknown:
I did. Look where it got me.
[00:40:56] Unknown:
I'm sorry, miss.
[00:40:58] Unknown:
You ought to be. Are you sure? You promised to help me.
[00:41:03] Unknown:
Wait until you're certain it's a promise I didn't keep. Oh, I do say.
[00:41:10] Unknown:
Nothing. I was just talking to myself.
[00:41:13] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. I know how you feel. I get the same way myself. I gotta put up with guys like Kupperman who ought to be here serving you supper instead of Kupperman. Where the hell have you been? Multiple accident on the highway. Big trailer job jackknacked at the devil's elbow. Driver was killed. Crushed like a walnut. Yeah. Anyone else in that truck? Nope. Good thing too. We'd had another death. It yeah. What's the rev doing here? And, well, he he tried to heist a thousand bucks from Sheriff Summer's wife. Can you figure a sucker play like that? Now we gotta jail them. It might not be a bad bargain.
That would have been a ferry truck that crashed. Why you named it. One time the good ferry didn't deliver. That may be the point of view.
[00:42:04] Unknown:
What's the most I can get for whatever crime I committed? Ninety days in jail? Six months? A suspended sentence? But if I carried it through and try to get away with it, I'd have ended up a mangled corpse in a jack don't know myself or even which Sarah. Just this. Barnum said there's one sucker born every minute. I'm the one that's lucky even to be alive.
[00:42:45] Unknown:
Harrison Kendall received a six month suspended sentence, and history doesn't record what happened to him after that, perhaps just as well. He was one of a vanishing breed, and one can suppose that time itself caught up with him just as surely as events the medicine man and the con man have vanished from our civilization as extinct in today's corporate living as the bison almost became I'll be back shortly Since obviously I will get some flack for my last statement perhaps I should define The spieler, the bunko artist are in a sense a vanishing breed.
It can be argued that in all communication fields, in the political arena, they are as alive as ever with one difference. Of our country. Individuals of our country. Individuals, a breed of men that a plastic society seems determined to wipe out. Our cast included Howard DaSilva, Brianna Rayburn, Ian Martin, and Gilbert Mack. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. This is E. G. Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until next time. Pleasants, dreams.
[00:45:01] Unknown:
Gearheads know that some projects need so many parts, it feels like you need a whole storage unit just to store them. That's what eBay Motors 122,000,000 parts are for. Think of it as your virtual parts garage. They've always got the right fitment at the right prices. Use the eBay Motors app or visit ebaymotors.com. Let's ride.
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[00:00:16] Unknown:
Gearheads know that some projects need so many parts, it feels like you need a whole storage unit just to store them. That's what eBay Motors 122,000,000 parts are for. Think of it as your virtual parts garage. They've always got the right fitment at the right prices. Use the eBay Motors app or visit ebaymotors.com. Let's ride.
[00:00:34] Unknown:
Okay. So we have the car payment, the rent, utilities, and the repair bill. What should we do? I know. I'm going to cashnetusa.com. I can apply in minutes, get an instant decision, and if approved, we could have the money in our account as soon as the same business day. When you need money fast, be the hero. Go to cashnetusa.com to apply for the money you need now. The exact timing as to when your loan funds will be available will be determined by your banking institution. CBS radio mystery theater presents Come in
[00:01:27] Unknown:
Welcome, I'm EG Marshall On 10/24/1929 an earthquake rocked the foundations of Wall Street and by October 29 of the same year $30,000,000,000 of the American economy vanished into thin air. The great depression had begun, and everyone in the country was affected by the national sickness, with the exception of a few. To take one prime example, Reb Harrison Kendall, a man who was impervious to success or disaster, but hung somewhere in between since he lived solely on his wit.
[00:02:08] Unknown:
The name is Reb Harrison Kendall. What's that you say? An ordained minister? Now that I never claimed to be. A natural mistake due to my name. It is spelled rib with a b. The common mistake people make about me just as they refer to me as doctor. I carry no degree, simply a wide scientific background. It's simply an impression I create. I am only what I am, the last perhaps of a dying breed.
[00:02:48] Unknown:
Our mystery drama, This Breed is Doomed, was written especially for the mystery theater by Ian Martin and stars Howard Da Silva. It is sponsored in part by XLAX and Buick Motor Division. I'll be back shortly with act one. One of the most depressing things about the Great Depression was the extra burden of the seventeenth amendment known as the Volstead Act. Because the law made the selling of liquor illegal, the
[00:03:35] Unknown:
his
[00:03:37] Unknown:
for the law. However, as befitted a man who lived by his wits, he had his own way of subverting it.
[00:03:47] Unknown:
Labeling. Labeling. Open up the key. You me. You me My dear boy, my auditory faculties are excellent. There's no need to shout. Reverend, we got to get the hell out. The feds have no doubt they're still and they're on the way. Government agents. And we're just beginning to distill. Well, we'll leave the shine to them. We got to get out. Leaving them all that precious mountain dew, not in your tin type, my friend. I'm telling you, we hang around. We're gonna end up in the pokey. Reverend, you promised me if I stuck with you, I wouldn't get into no trouble. Have I ever gone back on my word?
[00:04:22] Unknown:
I deplore the inconvenience, but come on, Youby. Let's scram. I left Lizzie on Old Logging Road. We can make her getaway thataway. Blended, give me a moment, Ollie, and I shall join you. It ain't gonna pay to hang around. I have no intention of leaving this beautiful brew, two federal agents who deny a man the right to make a, if not totally honest, at least an honorable living. Do you have to talk so much? A point well taken, Ubi. No further talk, Only action. Here. You carry the drum and we'll unroll it as we go. Oh, well, what's the wire for? Isn't a wire. It's a fuse. Keep unrolling.
[00:04:58] Unknown:
Well, I I don't understand.
[00:05:00] Unknown:
Ours not the reason why. Ours but to do or die or at least do. Here we are at the car and I see the fuse is completely unrolled. You have a match here, Bae? Why, sure. Here you are. I thank you kindly. You gonna blow up the steel? The fortunes of war. Now we better get in the car and move on for safer climbs. What are you stopping for? Just for a moment here on the ridge to say a long farewell. Well, not so so long perhaps, but farewell just the same. I'm loathe to leave North Carolina. It's always been a favorite resting place for me, but I think under the circumstances we had better heed Horace Greeley's sage advice.
[00:05:55] Unknown:
What was that?
[00:05:56] Unknown:
Go west, young man. Go west. Wanna paraphrase? If things get too hot in the kitchen, the wise man gets the hell out.
[00:06:10] Unknown:
Reverend, where we headed for? Who knows?
[00:06:14] Unknown:
Where Faith or the Dame with a corny copia may direct us?
[00:06:18] Unknown:
What then?
[00:06:19] Unknown:
Lady Luck, my friend. The bountiful and the beautiful. For For the present, let us abandon ourselves to the lure of the open road, the summons to high adventure,
[00:06:30] Unknown:
the challenge of the unknown. Well, just forgetting the unknown, reverend. We got enough known challenges to knock us for a loop. Such as? We're practically out of gas and this old model t is out of style. She's on her last legs. When Lizzie fails to stand the test of time, then maybe I will despair.
[00:06:49] Unknown:
But there's life in the old girl yet. Oh, ye of little faith, onward and ever upward, in the bright lexicon of the youthful heart, there is no such word as fail. No such word as fail.
[00:07:07] Unknown:
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Harrison. I I honestly am, but it just wouldn't work for us. But, Sarah, I mean,
[00:07:14] Unknown:
everyone has always known about us. They expect us to be married. You can't you can't back out on me. You don't want marriage, Rib.
[00:07:23] Unknown:
It would tie you down. You don't wanna share and settle here in Hiram's Corners with me and have babies and love and a long, slow, lovely future. Oh, I I don't mean to say you're selfish except well, that's that's plain what you are. You don't want to adjust yourself to living. You want it to make it adjust itself to you. That's the longest speech I ever heard you make. Oh, well, you don't know how many hours I've agonized practiced to make it to you. But why? Because you don't really wanna marry me. That isn't true. You don't want to marry anyone really until you've proved yourself out. But I I can't wait for that.
So I'm marrying Ben Hall.
[00:08:14] Unknown:
You mean you love him better than you do me? Oh, I I love him
[00:08:18] Unknown:
different is all I can say, but I do love you. I always have. And if anytime anytime at all I can help you, please please ask me to.
[00:08:34] Unknown:
Any way I can. I will. I will. I will. I will. I will. I will. I will. I will. I will. I will. I will.
[00:08:41] Unknown:
Sarah.
[00:08:43] Unknown:
Sarah. Reverend. Hey. Hey, Reverend. What? You alright?
[00:08:50] Unknown:
Why?
[00:08:51] Unknown:
We're just you were you were kinda mumbling in your sleep.
[00:08:55] Unknown:
Just count it as a passing dream.
[00:08:57] Unknown:
Where are we? Well, according to a sign we just passed coming into town called Adamsville. Population, 8,800.
[00:09:08] Unknown:
Excellent.
[00:09:09] Unknown:
How much stock do we have? Oh, one full case and a few out of a broken
[00:09:14] Unknown:
one. I I don't know how many. I shall have to be at my very best to build ourselves a stake. Do you have any money, Hubby? Oh, sir. I got, I got 2 doll dollars and change. Oh, you're somewhat more well endowed than I. We're going to definitely have to make a score in Hattonsville, spite of my laps in grammar in the split infinitive.
[00:09:33] Unknown:
Reverend, could I say something?
[00:09:36] Unknown:
I should hope between us. We can always be frank. Unless there ever, it's
[00:09:42] Unknown:
just I've had it. I ain't in your league. I never have been. But you and me and I guess the whole country are are whipping dead horses. We ain't going nowhere like we are. So so I want to cut out on my own.
[00:09:57] Unknown:
You desert
[00:09:59] Unknown:
a sinking ship? There's no sir. It's just that I can't take this kind of life. I can always go home and go on the breadline. I wouldn't be much worse off and at least I wouldn't have no sheriff or the police on my tail.
[00:10:13] Unknown:
My boy, if you must go home, you need a small stake.
[00:10:19] Unknown:
You ain't kidding. We're running out of gas to take us where we're trying to go. Where? Adamsville will
[00:10:26] Unknown:
if we make it. We must trust in the Lord and my pension for good luck to see that we do. It may be the last roll of the dice you'll be. Well, it's gonna be for me. But you will stick with me till we build a small stake. Yes, sir. I will. But I don't know if old Lizzie here will.
[00:10:44] Unknown:
It isn't only just gas. She's playing war out. If she quits on us, why that's that's it. Now what? Well, far as I'm concerned
[00:11:11] Unknown:
famous writer named mine that a famous writer named Dickens made famous, I echo Macawber and say, something will turn up. How far is it into the center of town? Oh, by the mile or so. Well, all we need to do is somehow transport our precious remedy to a ready spot where we can draw a crowd, and once more we reckon business. Not me. I cannot operate without you. In the name of old friendship, you must assist me. Me. Well,
[00:11:42] Unknown:
alright. But but just this once.
[00:11:48] Unknown:
Between ourselves, let me admit it without qualification. I'm a con man as my father before me and his father before him. A distinguished tradition in its way to live by one's wits and the gift of gab. In some ways, I am glad that I will not pass along my talent if you indeed may consider it a talent. The one woman I desired, Sarah, did not desire me. As I say, perhaps just as well. I am not, I suppose, a family man. It is dubious that I would have made any kind of a husband. Not that I find relationships with people difficult. To the contrary, just give me a crowd and I can bring them under my spell.
I have no wish to divert your attention from the delights of affair we are all attending, but I sound one note of warning to those who wish to listen. It needs no medicine man to tell all of you intelligent people listening to me that the basis of every man and woman's existence depends on the arterial and venous systems created by the great engineer to carry to the innermost limits of our bodies the life stream, that which we term the blood. When this is choked off or polluted, all of us are common prey for every one of man's dread diseases. So I come to offer you paracuraria.
This magic elixir captured in the bottle I hold in my hand why do I say magic? Let me cite my own example. This crystal liquid brought me back from the very threshold of death. Oh, I understand. Four years ago, a massive and deadly infection held my wasted body in its irreversible thrall. My medical colleagues had given me up for loss. Then one day in my laboratory, experimenting with that magic extract from a rare South African plant, I stumbled by the mercy of God on the greatest boon to mankind
[00:13:54] Unknown:
since the discovery of bread.
[00:13:58] Unknown:
What is it, sir? What is it? It's it's remember, you know, you're gonna be to pass through, please. If you please. Thank you. Excuse me, madam. Sir, let me through. The man needs me, please. Something. My dear, sir, what seems to be the trouble? Hey. It's,
[00:14:15] Unknown:
an arterial contraspasm. Chronic condition is beyond medical help. It oh, there's nothing you can do As one with the physician's background, will you permit me to try? Oh, what's the use? No doctor has been able to. This is oh, this is not my my first attack. I just wonder only each time which
[00:14:43] Unknown:
which could be my last. Not this one. If I have anything to say about it. I should talk to you. May I suggest you drink this? What is it? A panacea developed by myself. Oh, how could it help me? How could it hurt? Try it.
[00:14:59] Unknown:
Oh, that band around my chest. It's like a vice choking my life away. Alright. Alright. Let let me try.
[00:15:14] Unknown:
Here, a little more. The vice about your chest is loosening? Yeah.
[00:15:24] Unknown:
Look at that. Yeah. I can bring it easier.
[00:15:30] Unknown:
Truly. Of course. Inevitable.
[00:15:34] Unknown:
You see that that stuff you gave me to drink. Hey. How can I get some of that? Well, a limited amount is available.
[00:15:41] Unknown:
It is, of course, a new and highly scarce drug as yet still waiting to be marketed. But in your case, I should say in your need, pray, let me offer you a bottle as a gift. Oh, no. No. No. I won't pay. I I can afford it. Oh, I can let you have a bottle for $3. A good deal less than most wonder drug you have. Alright. Break it up. Break it up. Let's get moving here. Come on. What seems to be the trouble, officer? You are,
[00:16:08] Unknown:
brother. Come on. Let's all get moving. This position just saved my life. Forget it, Chill. Don't give me any malarkey. You think I don't know a con game when I see one? A con game? Hurt me? Okay. Now move. If you insist Hey. Now wait a minute. Where's your partner gone? I haven't the slightest idea what you mean by that. And I have no intention of remaining here and being insulted. Oh, no. Not you. You don't sneak out. You're under arrest. Arrest? What on earth for? I'll figure that one out at the station house right now. We'll call it disturbing the peace. I warn you officer. You are obstructing the march of science. And I'll warn you buster that I am instructing you you in the science of marching. Now move. A series of minor incidents mounting to a minor climax,
[00:16:57] Unknown:
the process of life. And yet, which one of us knows or can suspect how the smallest happenstance one of us knows or can suspect how the smallest happenstance may shape the pattern of our fate? Who could suspect that a train of events has been set in motion which could lead to Reb's violent death. Surely a punishment that scarcely fits the crime, but that, of course, will have to wait till I return with act two. Hard times, those depression years, and no American who lived through them will ever forget them. Selling pencils or apples was little solution since the competition was so thick, a man couldn't find a corner to himself.
Defeat was the norm. Men simply gave up hoping or trying, except as irrepressible an individual as a red Kendall who could manage the loss of anything, face Liberty Capital, but who was never at a loss for words.
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And neither this good officer nor yourself, sergeant, seems to recognize that I am not philanderer, but
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Samaritan. My mission in life is to land turn it up, Mac. I'm drowning already. Why Why is it, Cooperman, every time I'm on the desk, I collect all the cons, coupes, drifters, and deadbeat? I resent the tenor of your remarks, sergeant. Will you button up, Buster, before I book you? You cannot book me. I stand on my right under the Fourth Amendment as a private citizen. All you are is a public menace. I'd drop you right in the pokey if it wasn't standing room only already. On what charge, pray? Well, vagrancy would do for openers. Vagrancy?
[00:18:51] Unknown:
You know you ain't got a red cent to your name. A temporary embarrassment. My cash reserve happens at the moment to be tied up in my inventory. Had you given me the opportunity to distribute my Panasonic You mean to belt the public. I dislike that word built. Would you prefer milk? My dear sergeant, you totally misunderstand my motives. Believe me,
[00:19:11] Unknown:
altruism is my middle name. And I pride myself on it. My ability to cover will you? I got the Lumbaga to begin with and it's killing me. He's all I need to finish me off. Okay, Bunco. Let's float.
[00:19:24] Unknown:
If you insist, but may I suggest as a man well versed in the Hippocratesian art The what? The mysteries of Galen, Metchnikoff, and their great brothers, the art of healing, the practice of a physician. May I suggest that I could ease your problem? You will ease my problem by buttoning that lip and taking a powder. If you were to take one bottle of my miraculous para curaria instead, it could dispel your miseries by the magic of modern science. For a nominal price of $3, you could throw off the galling yoke of unnecessary pain, and you could walk out of here and fight. Will you run him outside and point him for the city
[00:20:03] Unknown:
limits? As for you, doctor, reverend, Indian chief, or whatever you wanna call yourself, if you're not out of my town within a half an hour, I will clap you in a can. But without funds, how can I travel? That's your problem. But half an hour If you walk as fast as you talk, you'll make it. It's a small town. And take the sugar water or whatever it is with you and the rest of your junk. Take the wait a minute. What's this?
[00:20:35] Unknown:
A pocket bible. My daily reading. It will behoove you, good sergeant, to peruse its lamb and pages and allow its and allow its heavenly message to start the deep wellspring of a milk of human kindness flowing through your veins. Brother, all I got in my veins is blood and you're bringing it right to the boy. Oh, no. Come on. Yes, sergeant. Come on. Move it, doc. Or or whatever you are. The title may be essentially a courtesy one, but I can say as a medical missionary, I am profoundly sorry for your superior, officer Cooperman. Sure. Sure.
I'll tell him when he's in a better mood.
[00:21:11] Unknown:
That stuff you got in the bottles there, is that any good for bunions?
[00:21:15] Unknown:
My dear boy, the pedis, as the ancient Romans referred to it, the foot, is at the root of all the problems of Homo sapiens. Who? The technical term we use for man himself. You see, he never was intended to walk erect. As a result, improper circulation of the blood through the nether limbs creates in its train a a whole family of disease, phlebitis, arthritis, jurisprudence, and the, bunions, but expand the arteries, free the blood to bring its nourishment to the affected part as my parakeria does. And pain, pain becomes only a word, not a cross we have to bear.
I'll tell you what. There's a bus at the next corner.
[00:22:00] Unknown:
Give me one of your bottles there and you can ride out of town.
[00:22:04] Unknown:
By all means. You're a wise man. You you may have the one I hold in my hand here. Okay. That'll be $3 please. You kidding? I'll give you a dime for the bus and help you on with your stuff. A dime? Look,
[00:22:19] Unknown:
officer. Why not take the whole case and A dime for one bottle. That's a deal. Take it or leave it. I'll take it. I'll also give you some advice. Free. I'm always receptive to suggestion. When you get to the end of the lines, you'll see Mary's Diner. It's where all the truckies stop. Maybe you can pick up a hitch out of town. Here. Here's your carton.
[00:22:42] Unknown:
You sure you wouldn't like to make a bulk deal or not? Get it. Okay, driver. Call it out of here. So be it. And as Buddha himself would have said,
[00:22:56] Unknown:
What does that mean? Roughly translated,
[00:22:59] Unknown:
it's always darkest before the dawn. Brave words, my egotistical friend. But will they buy a brave new world? Is this the end of the line? Oh, Sarah. Sarah, why didn't I listen to you so long ago? Why didn't I settle for Hiram's corners and peace and security?
[00:23:31] Unknown:
Because it wouldn't have worked, Rev. You are always what your real name is, a rebel. You couldn't stay in one place. You had to be on the go to move on out.
[00:23:43] Unknown:
I wouldn't if you had married me. Oh, yes. You would.
[00:23:46] Unknown:
And then how sorry we both would have been. Don't you ever miss me as I do you? Of course, I do in one corner of my heart. I still pray for you, and I will always be there to help you if I can. Then help me now
[00:24:02] Unknown:
in my darkest hour. I cannot
[00:24:05] Unknown:
help you now. Not yet. First, you have to help yourself. Help yourself. Help yourself. Help yourself and help yourself and help
[00:24:16] Unknown:
yourself. All my life, I've been a confidence man. My wits against the suckers. But I have fallen upon evil times. With all my talent, talent, my ready wit, my gift for gab, my basic acumen, I have been dealt out of the game. Even my one companion has deserted me with what little stake we had. Oh, you be. You be. How sharper than a serpent's tooth is bass ingratitude? Oh, where's the effect? But what here? Where do I go from here? Excuse
[00:24:50] Unknown:
me. But is is this seat taken?
[00:24:53] Unknown:
Beg pardon? No. My profound apologies, madam. Pray allow me to move my portmanteau.
[00:25:00] Unknown:
Sorry to bother you, but the bus is crowded with no other seat.
[00:25:05] Unknown:
My shame that I should not have been ready to come to your assistance. Would you prefer to sit by the window?
[00:25:11] Unknown:
Well, how far are you going? To the end of the line. Then I'll be getting off before you. So why don't I sit on the aisle?
[00:25:21] Unknown:
As you prefer. My bag is out of the way. Would you like me to put yours on the rack? No need. It can just sit here between us.
[00:25:31] Unknown:
Oh.
[00:25:32] Unknown:
What is it?
[00:25:33] Unknown:
I almost sat on your book. Oh, dear me. The holy bible. My constant companion. I I think think it was open.
[00:25:42] Unknown:
Have I lost your place? If you had, I could find it again with my eyes closed.
[00:25:49] Unknown:
Such a comfort, the Bible. You know it well.
[00:25:53] Unknown:
I should hope so. It is the core of my life.
[00:25:57] Unknown:
Where were you reading?
[00:25:58] Unknown:
The first epistle of Paul chapter 13. I never tire of those words.
[00:26:03] Unknown:
When I was a child, I spake as a child. I thought as a child. I understood
[00:26:10] Unknown:
as a child. But when I was a man, I put away childish things. And now there abideth these three, faith, hope, and charity.
[00:26:22] Unknown:
Are you a minister?
[00:26:25] Unknown:
A missionary to be more exact on a sad and most difficult assignment. Oh,
[00:26:33] Unknown:
may I ask what?
[00:26:35] Unknown:
May I first inquire your name?
[00:26:37] Unknown:
Sarah Summers. Sarah? It's quite a common name.
[00:26:42] Unknown:
Not in my life. It's, but that's past history. May I ask your name? For forgive me. Kendall, ma'am.
[00:26:51] Unknown:
Reb Harrison Kendall. There. I just knew you were a reverend. Is there any way I can help?
[00:27:00] Unknown:
Oh, I, I doubt it.
[00:27:03] Unknown:
Well, I certainly don't mean to pry, but I'd like to know about this, difficult assignment of yours.
[00:27:12] Unknown:
I truly believe you would, and it might afford me some relief. Sometimes, rooted as so many are in financial obligations and the need to fight to bring the money to the deserving, the afflicted, and the dead.
[00:27:44] Unknown:
And the rebel government burned out your whole mission in hospital.
[00:27:49] Unknown:
Savagely and regrettably, yes. But there remains this one bright hope. With a change in government, it can be reestablished. But to do so will take funds, a great deal of money.
[00:28:03] Unknown:
You make me feel so guilty.
[00:28:05] Unknown:
You? I make you feel guilty?
[00:28:08] Unknown:
How? Because would you believe it? Right at this moment, I'm carrying a thousand dollars in my purse. Good heavens. Before? It's the last of my savings. The rumors are so scary. Many people think that even banks may close with this depression. So my husband and I determined we were gonna make the last down payment on our house so that at least that was free and
[00:28:34] Unknown:
clear. A thousand dollars? Don't.
[00:28:38] Unknown:
Don't what? Don't don't say it that way. You make me feel so ashamed. All that money just for the two of us when so many others are starving.
[00:28:47] Unknown:
But but every dollar in your bag, you deserve.
[00:28:51] Unknown:
Surely, we could spare some for a deserving cause. Oh, I wouldn't touch a penny. Oh, I'll take that as a sign that someone thinks you do. I want to contribute to your valiant cause. No need. There is no pressure. No. I want to and I must. Will you accept $20 towards your crusade? $20? Don't try to stop me. I want you to have it. Now I I want no thanks. My duty and my stuff is coming. Oh, dear. All this rain. I've got to put my pocketbook away and gather all my packages. Allow me to help, please. Thanks. Now here's the money. If you'll just hold my pocketbook while I gather my shopping bag. A pleasure.
[00:29:37] Unknown:
Missus Summers,
[00:29:38] Unknown:
where can I write to thank you? 15 Pleasant Drive right here in town. Hold it, driver. I'm getting off.
[00:29:47] Unknown:
Here's your pocketbook. Thank you.
[00:29:50] Unknown:
You're sure you have everything? Yes. Thanks to you. So glad. Because I only have a second to dump everything at home and rush away to bring my husband back from the hospital. Oh, you've been so much help, and all my hopes go with you and your good fight. Yes. I'm coming, driver.
[00:30:07] Unknown:
I wish I could have done more. You have done far more than you dream. Goodbye, missus Summers. A nice old lady. The perfect mark. I have taken her for $20. Not much, but some getaway money. At least get me to the next town. Only one thing clouds my new dawning horizon of optimism. I'm a con man, an opportunist, a grifter. But one thing I've never done openly before, I've never stolen. I've never By the window, pressing against my side, in my hand where I've lifted it, is a wallet containing the last of a lifetime saving.
$1,000 less 20 freely given. Given time, I could have conjured out of the total without a moment's hesitation. But to steal it, that's something else again. Can I do that or perhaps more important do I think I can get away with
[00:31:21] Unknown:
it?
[00:31:23] Unknown:
Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive Sir Walter Scott is the author, I thought, but as it transpires in our story, the quote might well have been red candles. The complications are only beginning, and the irony of a special justice is still to catch up with him when I return with the conclusion of this tale and act three. A driving, blinding storm has broken, making the roads all but impassable. A wallet with nearly a thousand dollars is burning a hole in his inside pocket. And burning a deeper hole is the terror and the knowledge that he has made the mistake of committing for the first time in his life a crime rather than a misdemeanor
[00:32:22] Unknown:
I am desperate. How long can it be before mrs. Summers discovers her money is gone? And what way out of this miserable town is available to me? There is no train. The last bus is gone. I have no car. I can't ever make it on foot in a storm like this. I have my second Sarah to thank for my stake. But where is my first Sarah whom I can always reach in my mind in desperation? I rub at the steam inside the window of the men's room and suddenly my luck is in again. Right outside my window, a heavy trailer truck pulls to a stop. Even in a driving rain, I can read the legend along its side, Ferry Trucking Company, and the slogan, Leave it to the good ferry to deliver.
An abominable conceit, but, an omen of escape. Big rig, one driver, plenty of room for a passenger. With luck, I'm going to get away with it after all. Black coffee, please. Easy on the sugar and a slice of apple pie.
[00:33:37] Unknown:
Foul weather out, Hey. Can you say that again, Mac? Are you the driver with an interesting slogan? Any cracks about that, Mac? You bought yourself a knuckle sandwich. Oh, no offense, man. Forget it. No offense. Just got a sore head tonight. I got a whole right through to the coast. I got no relief. And how am I gonna stay awake? I'm lucky I don't tokel somewhere along the line. You mean you could use a companion? You can handle a rig? No.
[00:34:03] Unknown:
But I can talk a blue streak. I keep you awake if you want. A hitch, Well, there's no other transportation available.
[00:34:11] Unknown:
You're in on, one condition. What? Think you can talk for twelve hours straight? Brother, you have picked the one man who was absolutely guaranteed to. So I'll take a chance. You bought a ride. You got five minutes while I gas up and check out the rig. And let me warn you, you're gonna have to hold your hat. We're gonna be rolling because I got time to make up. I'll miss. You can cancel a pie. I won't have time for it.
[00:34:39] Unknown:
The die is cast and I start my new career. From con man to thief in one easy move. And how easy it can be to make this score.
[00:34:50] Unknown:
Just five minutes more and I'll be away clean. What's to stop these? Oh, there you are. Just the man I've been looking for. Officer Kupperman. I'm sure glad you didn't get away.
[00:35:01] Unknown:
I guess I never expected to, really. I wanna make a little deal with you. A deal?
[00:35:07] Unknown:
I don't know what it is you got in them there bottles of yours, but it sure fixed up my bunions. So you need a steak to get out of town. I want some long term relief. That case of bottles you got I'll offer you $10 for the lot.
[00:35:22] Unknown:
You you gotta be kidding.
[00:35:24] Unknown:
That's all you want? It's all I got. All I can afford.
[00:35:28] Unknown:
All you want is my elixir? What else? Just so it fixes up them bunions of mine. It will, my son. It will. Take them with my blessing and believe in the mighty curative powers of parakeraria.
[00:35:43] Unknown:
Maybe I'm a sucker, but this way we both get something out of it. Me, a cure, you a steak. What do we got to lose?
[00:35:55] Unknown:
My kind of Mark. The bottles contain water, a sugar substitute, and a reasonable amount of alcohol. Between that and the moving power of words, I sucker him into believing that relief for his aching feet is a cure. I feel the warm glow as I finger his $10 in my hands and think of a thousand others in my inside pocket. But thinking of my ill gotten, inside pocket but thinking of my ill gotten money my conscience troubles me I have committed an unpardonable sin I have 30 honest dollars by my standard 10 come from officer Kaufman and 20 from mister Summers. Honest well, let's say 30 I don't need to feel uneasy about.
The other 900 maybe. Now that's a different matter. They will put me on the land for the rest of my life. Are they worth it? This is the moment of decision and I have few moments left. Where do I seek help to make up my mind?
[00:36:57] Unknown:
Don't do it, Rip. Return that money. How can I? A man of your accomplishments? There's a way and you will find
[00:37:10] Unknown:
it. Must I?
[00:37:16] Unknown:
Okay, Matt. Ready to roll. You want a ride? Let's go.
[00:37:20] Unknown:
I, I, I changed my mind. You and the good fairy will have to roll without me whilst I make a delivery of my
[00:37:35] Unknown:
own. Yes? Missus Summers? Why, it's the Reverend Kendall. Oh, but what are you doing here? Throwing myself on your mercy. Well, I wouldn't want you to do that in all this rain. Oh, please come in. Thank you. What do you mean throw yourself on my mercy? Don't you know? No. But you can explain as soon as you take off that wet coat and come warm by the fire. How did you find me? Ah, well, you remember you mentioned your address for me to write to you? That's right. Of course I did. Now give me that wet coat and let me hang it up and and I'll get my husband.
I I thought he was just back from the hospital. Oh, that's where he works as security guard. I'd like you to meet the sheriff.
[00:38:24] Unknown:
The sheriff? Oh, retired, of course. But we still use the old title. Oh, you you look a little strange. What what what's wrong, reverend? Why? Nothing except I, I just discovered didn't you know there was a thief on the bus we were on? Discovered didn't you know there was a thief on the bus we were on? No.
[00:38:41] Unknown:
Yes. Well, thank heaven I kept my purse safe right there just as I brought it from the bank. But but you. Oh, poor reverend Kendall. You were robbed.
[00:38:54] Unknown:
Every cent I had. Ah. I've wired my church, of course, but I had to have an address for them to send me the money, so I took the liberty of giving them yours.
[00:39:02] Unknown:
In a strange town, it was the only place I could think of. But I'm delighted you did. And of course, you'll stay here till your money comes. Now you just dry off at the fire and I'll hang out your coat and get my husband and a nice cup of hot tea.
[00:39:21] Unknown:
A dear little old lady. Just what my own Sarah that I lost might have become with the passing years. Naive and trusting. Her pocketbook still resting beside the phone. This is your lucky day, Rev. Take the wallet and return it. Just as if you'd never been tempted.
[00:39:43] Unknown:
Alright, Misty.
[00:39:45] Unknown:
Just hold it right there.
[00:39:47] Unknown:
You drop that wallet and get your hands up over your head. No. No. No. No. Just to let it, who Sheriff Summers. I got a gun on you, my dear sheriff. You just keep your hands up. Billy, you know, ever since sir told me about meeting you on the bus, I had a hunch you were up to no good. You weren't satisfied with just 20. You had to have it all. My dear sir, you completely misunderstand my motive. No. No. I don't. You're under
[00:40:22] Unknown:
arrest. Okay, Grifton. Chow time. I should have known you would end up a guest of the city. Sergeant,
[00:40:30] Unknown:
will no one listen to me? I wasn't taking up the classic one myself. Who says honesty pays? I'm not up the classic one myself.
[00:40:46] Unknown:
Who says honesty pays? Well, you ought to give it a whirl just once.
[00:40:53] Unknown:
I did. Look where it got me.
[00:40:56] Unknown:
I'm sorry, miss.
[00:40:58] Unknown:
You ought to be. Are you sure? You promised to help me.
[00:41:03] Unknown:
Wait until you're certain it's a promise I didn't keep. Oh, I do say.
[00:41:10] Unknown:
Nothing. I was just talking to myself.
[00:41:13] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. I know how you feel. I get the same way myself. I gotta put up with guys like Kupperman who ought to be here serving you supper instead of Kupperman. Where the hell have you been? Multiple accident on the highway. Big trailer job jackknacked at the devil's elbow. Driver was killed. Crushed like a walnut. Yeah. Anyone else in that truck? Nope. Good thing too. We'd had another death. It yeah. What's the rev doing here? And, well, he he tried to heist a thousand bucks from Sheriff Summer's wife. Can you figure a sucker play like that? Now we gotta jail them. It might not be a bad bargain.
That would have been a ferry truck that crashed. Why you named it. One time the good ferry didn't deliver. That may be the point of view.
[00:42:04] Unknown:
What's the most I can get for whatever crime I committed? Ninety days in jail? Six months? A suspended sentence? But if I carried it through and try to get away with it, I'd have ended up a mangled corpse in a jack don't know myself or even which Sarah. Just this. Barnum said there's one sucker born every minute. I'm the one that's lucky even to be alive.
[00:42:45] Unknown:
Harrison Kendall received a six month suspended sentence, and history doesn't record what happened to him after that, perhaps just as well. He was one of a vanishing breed, and one can suppose that time itself caught up with him just as surely as events the medicine man and the con man have vanished from our civilization as extinct in today's corporate living as the bison almost became I'll be back shortly Since obviously I will get some flack for my last statement perhaps I should define The spieler, the bunko artist are in a sense a vanishing breed.
It can be argued that in all communication fields, in the political arena, they are as alive as ever with one difference. Of our country. Individuals of our country. Individuals, a breed of men that a plastic society seems determined to wipe out. Our cast included Howard DaSilva, Brianna Rayburn, Ian Martin, and Gilbert Mack. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. This is E. G. Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until next time. Pleasants, dreams.
[00:45:01] Unknown:
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