Suspense.
Old Reprieve, starring Mr. John Garfield.
This morning my lawyer, Mr. Gurley, said he was trying to get me a reprieve, so I looked
it up in a dictionary I got.
It says reprieve to suspend temporarily the execution of a sentence upon and relief for
secession from pain or ill.
Well, the first part I guess Mr. Gurley can get.
He knows all the rules.
But the second part, secession of pain, that's up to me.
Maybe when I've spilled it all out, put it out on a table where I can look at it, why
I'm here, about the kid, about Laurie, maybe then will come secession of pain.
I don't know.
Anyway, I can try.
Okay, name?
Steve Hanwell.
My old lady had to name me something, so I guess she read the name Steven on a book,
she could read, which I doubt.
Age 34, health?
Excellent.
But wait up, you don't want to sell me insurance, because tonight I'm state prisoner eight
oh four eight three, registered in cell 77 of the state penitentiary.
That's the death cell.
I'm in for murder.
I was always the bright boy, but right now, I don't know, I'm mixed up, but good.
They're not about being here, not about murder.
Well, the pen is my home away from home kind of.
And murder in my social set, well, murder is as common as chickenpox in PS 137.
No, it's that last year of honest toil that threw me for a loss, because I wasn't mixed
up at all the night Murph and Joe and I blew out of Chicago.
That was a minor inconvenience right in line with the way I've always lived.
Let's see it was nearly two years ago, Murph and Joe and I and the boys had knocked off
a payroll, a good clean job, except for a couple of guys getting hurt fatally.
And the Murph was tipped off that one of the boys, he didn't know who had squealed to the
cops.
So Murph knew we were hot and he came up to my room on Madison Street.
I'm leaving town Steve tonight.
It's an idea, so am I.
Yeah, yeah, we better blow you and me and Joe.
And the rest of the boys?
Look, I can't take care of everybody, Steve, you know how it is.
Sure I know, you'll take care of the ones that can't, you can't get along without, that
do you're thinking for you.
Oh, it ain't that Steve.
Cut it.
Well, okay, so we got around 20 grand.
Twenty three.
Yeah, yeah, sure, yeah, twenty three.
Well, with that dough, we can go to Florida.
Yeah, yeah, lie down there all winter till the heat's off.
You think that's a bright idea, don't you Murph?
Well, sure, why not?
Yeah, we take a nice big shiny suite in the Paradise Hotel, pick up some dolls.
Yeah, that's right.
Well, that's just what we're not going to do.
What, what do you mean?
We're not going to travel first class, spread dough around places like the Paradise accompanied
by any dolls.
And why not?
The dough's marked, bird brain.
The serial numbers have been written down and we'll be looking for that kind of dough
in places where dough changes places, places like the Paradise.
Oh, we could go to some other place like a Roman house in St. Pete.
Yeah, and we could be smart if we put our minds to it.
Yeah, like what?
Like putting that package of dough out of circulation in a safety deposit box.
You know that's all the dough we got.
Sure, so we can get along without it for the time being.
It's worth a little discomfort to beat a murder app.
Okay, okay, say you're right, but we still have to leave town.
We'll leave Murph, and this is how.
I figured I'll never look for you where there isn't a stall shower, so we'll fool them.
We'll ride the rails.
You can play the nine of hearts, Joe.
Huh?
Where?
Oh yeah, yeah, I was going to.
You were.
You never saw her, huh?
What a guy.
Outsmart himself in solitaire.
Hey, it's cold in this box car, Steve.
Yeah, just pick up a phone, Murph.
Tell the management.
They'll give you more heat.
All right, all right.
I just said it was cold.
At a time like this, be glad it's cold.
Uh-uh, Joe.
Mustn't cheat.
I wasn't cheating.
Oh, new game.
You slip the card under when you can't play it, huh?
So what if I'm cheating?
It's my skin in it.
You're absolutely right.
Well, I wonder how many of the boys have been picked up.
I couldn't take care of everybody, Steve.
None of them have been picked up.
Why should they be?
Oh boy, there's that three I've been looking for.
None of them have been picked up, huh?
Who's protecting them, Joe, your fairy godmother?
Why would the cops pick them up?
They know it was Murph who used the gun.
Huh?
Uh, I mean, uh, I mean, they probably guessed Murph was Trigger Man.
Why, you dirty...
Shut up, Murph.
What else did the cops probably guess, Joe?
Well, how would I know, Steve?
Well, honest, I only thought that maybe...
Talk, Joe.
What else did they guess about me?
Oh, nothing about you, Steve.
Honest, they...
Spill it.
They knew Murph was Trigger Man and that...
You squealing, dirty rat.
And that he took the dough and no one else.
Honest, Steve, I didn't tell them anyone else who was on the job.
I thought if they picked up Murph, then you and me could...
Hey, Steve, stop Murph.
Get back, Mike.
Let him finish.
Go on, finish.
I didn't squeal on you, Steve.
You gotta believe me.
Steve, you gotta...
Steve, stop Murph.
Don't let him do it.
Steve, no!
That was Murph being trigger happy.
Joe went down sort of slow and quiet like the movies you see of a parish who's settling
on the ground.
I think he twitched a little.
I looked out and saw the train was slowing up and that we were coming into a freight
yard, not 50 feet across the tracks.
I could see a couple of guys heading our way who looked like railroad dicks.
I thought fast like always, Murph was hot, very hot, and being very shy on brains.
If they picked him up, he'd lead them to the payroll door like a homing pigeon inside a
24 hours too.
And I hadn't anything pinned on me for a few years.
If anyone took the rap, it would have to be me.
If I ever wanted to smell my share of that 23 game, and this was a rap I thought I could
beat.
Unlucky, well, I thought for a year or so for manslaughter, claiming self-defense.
Lucky, I blocked my way out of it altogether.
I talked fast to Murph.
When the boxcar stopped opposite those dicks, I had Murph's gun in my hand.
How many of you guys in there?
Three, mister.
Well, pile up, boys.
It's the end of the...
Hey.
What's the matter, Whitey?
One of those guys has a gun.
What are you doing with that gun, brother?
I don't know.
And what's wrong with the other guy?
He shot him.
I was over there at the other end minding my own business, and those two guys were yelling
at each other, and he...
Okay, okay.
Drop that gun, mister.
I'm coming in.
Is he dead?
Dead as a macro.
All right, mister.
Tell me about it.
I don't know what happened.
It was his gun, and it just went off.
Yeah?
Did you see it?
You over there.
I didn't see nothing.
I was down at this end of the car minding my own business.
They'd been yelling at each other for hours.
I didn't pay any attention to them.
I didn't see anything.
All right.
What about my Carbonara Corn
All right, Dreamy, no matter what you remember,
the rap is murder.
I've been in worse spots.
The charge was murder, first degree.
But I knew I could get that cut down.
The best thing was that they turned Murph loose
without checking on him, and Joe was unidentified.
I dreamed up a name I said I knew just as well as the rap.
And I was a little bit worried.
I thought I'd be able to get him out of the way.
But I was right.
Joe was unidentified. I dreamed up a name I said I knew Joe by.
He read something or other.
And it went down all right.
So then I settled down for what might be an extended vacation,
a vacation that would earn me half of 23 grand.
Only one thing bothered me.
It seems the town we picked to kill Joe in was going through one of those,
you know, reform spasms, and the papers were really lathered up about it.
And my case was made to order for them.
A crime they could get wholly about without stepping on any local toes.
While I was waiting trial, they fried me but good, and I burned about it.
So that's why I didn't exactly clap hands when they told me a reporter was coming in to see me.
And I didn't shout hallelujah either when I saw it was a doll.
Sharp looking, all right, but still just a doll.
Uh, hello.
Hiya, chick.
You're Steve Hanbel?
Yeah.
I'm Laurie Ware of the News Press.
Uh-huh.
I'd like to get your story.
Look, sister, your job is writing.
If you can't do it alone, you shouldn't have had the job.
I mean your side of the story.
Oh, it's nice of you to take an interest.
Please, I wish you'd listen to me.
Go pet your paper somewhere else.
Please.
Don't you understand English?
Look, I don't blame you for being suspicious of me.
You see, I know the papers haven't been fair to you.
I know they've been trying your case before it comes to trial.
So it happens every day.
And I feel sure there's more to this case than has been told.
I have a feeling that...
You've got to be careful of those feelings, baby.
I got a hunch you didn't do it.
That maybe you were framed.
So, uh, so what if I was?
I don't know how much I can do.
Except I know that if you have a story, I can get it printed.
And, uh, and that'll make the difference?
I don't know.
At least when it comes to picking your jury,
there'll be some people in this town who haven't made up their minds.
Oh, nothing in that.
Well?
Okay.
Okay, I'll tell you the real McCoy truth.
Oh, that's wonderful, Steve. I'll take it down.
Well, there isn't much to tell.
It was just what the papers call an innocent bystander.
I was asleep when it happened.
And how many men were in the boxcar?
Before I went in, I got to sleep.
There were about six or seven.
When the shots woke me up, I saw two guys jump off,
and we were moving pretty slow.
Then because the train was coming into the yard, you see.
But at the inquest, the police said you were holding the gun.
Sure, sure I was.
The cops yelled at me, and I saw I was holding it.
Someone had planted it on me while I was half asleep.
And the old boy in the corner there, you know, he said, he said, I'd done it.
Yeah, he said that you were fighting with the other.
Yeah, I know. I'd been fighting with Red.
I don't think he meant to frame me.
He just got me, you know, mixed up with one of the guys who scrammed.
That's it, Steve.
That's what, baby.
If you'd done it, you would have jumped off.
You wouldn't just stand there waiting to be arrested with a gun in your hand,
or you would have thrown the gun out.
Well, they'll claim I didn't have time, but it's an angle.
And I'll pound it, Steve. I'll get you a lawyer.
Yeah, yeah. I guess I'll need one.
You'll need all the help you can get.
What a doll.
Sold on me before she even got the pitch.
And what made my hand all aces was the girl could really write.
She had the news press giving me more space than the World Series.
Well, the other papers had to pick it up.
By the time the trial came up, I was local hero number one, an orphan child.
The whole town wanted to adopt me.
So no one, least of all of me, was much surprised when a jury filed back into the jury box with their decision.
Have the gentlemen of the jury reached a verdict?
We have, Your Honor.
Will you read the verdict?
We, the jury, find the defendant not guilty as charged.
Wait, I did!
Oh, Steve.
Well, your work, kitten.
What do they say? The pen is mightier than the sword.
Oh, I'm so happy I could help you, Steve.
Oh, you don't see me crying, honey.
Want to dance? Come on.
Sure, but...
Come on.
I want to talk first.
Have you got a home you're going to? Or a job?
Look, kid, you've been girl-scout enough today. Let's dance.
Please tell me, Steve. I'm worried about you.
I'm going to winter in California and summer in Maine.
You haven't any place to go.
See America first. That's my motto.
Steve, I don't want to butt in, but Harry Singles will give you a job.
Yeah? Doing what?
In the circulation department.
Ah, you're kidding.
I know it's a good job to start, but I know you could work up, Steve, and you'd like Harry.
Nine hours a day, five days a week, is that it?
Five and a half days.
Steve Hannibal punching a time clock.
Boy, I suppose I'd get a Social Security number and everything, huh?
Don't you have one?
Unemployment, security, income.
That's a lot of legality.
Legality?
Oh, skipper kitten. Let me think.
You know, I might just take a whirl at that job.
Oh, Steve, I think that's wonderful.
You know, it's not so much the job, but you and I have a lot of unfinished business, baby.
And we can't get it all done in one day.
Right now I want to dance. Come on, baby, let's go.
That was the old brain working again.
You see, I had countenance drifting, until it was safe to join up with Murph.
I didn't know where he'd be gone, but I figured I'd be able to find him when the heat was off.
And when Laurie said job, it was a kind of new angle.
I could stay right here in town, pull down enough money to get by, and maybe even a little on the side.
It was the safest spot I could possibly be for the time being.
I went down to the newspaper office with Laurie the next morning and was hired.
First time in my life such a thing ever happened to me.
Harry Singles was a sharp guy for any racket, and working with him, I got so...I didn't mind.
Of course, the hours were very regular, all daytime, and I had to put on a clean shirt now and then.
But I always had that twenty-three grand to think about.
And the kid, Laurie, I couldn't have squired a better doll in Chicago, New York, or any place.
Only sometimes she made me nervous.
Let's not go out tonight, huh, Steve? Let's stay here in my place. I'll cook something.
I don't know. It doesn't seem right.
What doesn't seem right?
Seeing a doll with class and an apron. I can't get used to it.
You will eventually. After all, you're used to being a working man now.
Don't be too sure, baby.
Ah, Steve, you know you love it.
I don't know. Sometimes I get the itch to move on.
Forget the itch, Steve.
A rolling stone gathers no moss, you know.
Yeah, so they tell me. But I saw some moss once, and I still wonder,
what does a stone want with moss anyway?
["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
See what I mean?
Harry kept telling me how much I liked being a pillar of society,
so that sometimes I even began to wonder.
And then Harry started shoving razors at me and titles,
and boy, inside of no time, I was a district manager.
And I sat down and figured the dough angle, and it gave me a shock.
Because even if it was legal, I was making more dough week in and week out
than I had with Murph and the boys.
Well, the Chicago stick-up stayed hot, and I didn't hear from Murph,
so I let it all ride and kept working.
Along about then, the papers were in a lather again, all about reform.
The town was just crawling with rackets, and Laurie was working on the stories.
One night, Laurie was typing a story in a room,
and I was in the living room waiting for it to finish.
I'll be with you in a minute, Steve. One more paragraph.
And that's finished for tonight?
Yeah, finished for tonight. I've got something to show you. Come in here.
Okay, kitten, what is it? Buying hats again?
Uh-uh. It's a letter I got in the mail, right here on the desk.
Oh, the local wolves are moving in, huh?
Much more exciting.
Lay off or we'll measure you for a coffin.
You have 24 hours to quit your job.
First time I ever got anything like that. Want to read my answer?
Your answer?
Yeah, my article for tomorrow morning.
I've written all about the note and why it was sent to me.
Yeah? Well, what do you figure?
Well, there's an out-of-town mobster who's moved in on the local rackets,
and he's making a good thing of it.
I found out about him three days ago, and I've really tracked him down.
Who is he?
Well, here he goes with the name of Dude Ringler, but I knew that was an alias.
I finally find out that he's a former big-time operator from Chicago,
wanted there for a lot of things, including murder.
Yeah?
I'm going to print it in the paper,
and he'll be picked up just about the time the papers hit the street.
Oh, you're a total of cops, huh?
Not yet. I thought you could go down with me.
And what's the guy's name in Chicago?
I don't know all of it. He headed up a gang there. They call him Murph.
I got that rollercoaster feeling, only worse.
I still can't figure it.
She was only a half-baked doll moving into territory where anyone was likely to get clipped.
Why should I care?
But something funny happened to me, and she could see it.
Steve, what's the matter?
Well, you got to lay off, Laurie. You got to quit.
Because of that ridiculous nose?
Don't ask me why. Just quit.
Well, I certainly won't quit, don't you see? That's just what he wants me to do.
Okay, I'll tell you. I know Murph.
You know him?
Yeah, and he's trigger-happy. He's a rattlesnake in pants.
Well, then that's all the more reason, Steve White.
Now, listen to me. I don't know why I'm doing this.
I never missed figuring percentages before in my life, but I'm going to tell you something.
I'm going to tell you before I wise up.
What, Steve?
You remember when you got my true story when I was up for the murder rap?
Of course I remember.
Well, that was all a pipe dream, sweetheart. Something for the books.
You lied to me? You did kill Red?
His name wasn't Red. He was a slimy little punk from a mob that I ran with named Joe Tenelli.
Mob?
He wasn't killed by me. He was killed by the other guy who was in the car. He was killed by Murph.
I covered for Murph because he was hot.
Steve, then you...
Listen.
Steve, they want you for those jobs, too. They...
Well, shut up. I'm listening.
What? What is it, Steve?
I thought I heard someone in the other room with the door closed.
You're just imagining it, Steve.
Yeah, yeah, I guess I am. And this being a squealer takes my skin off.
Oh, Steve.
But you got the story, baby. Short and sweet. Now you can do what you want with it.
Quit your job and live, or turn me in, too.
What a doll. What a doll. She cried on the front of my shirt, and then she smiled.
And she called Harry Singles with me sitting there and told him she quit.
She told him she was getting married the next morning to me. And I played along.
Then I left her. After telling her to button her lip and keep the door locked,
I started to go find Murph to check on that 23 grand and put him wise so he'd lay low.
I could see that he still needed me to think for him.
But there was something wrong. Something very wrong.
I felt like I was kind of cracking up, so I let it ride until the morning.
I was climbing the stairs to pick up Laurie at nine.
I'm a duck, and for some reason I was feeling pretty good.
Open up, chick. It's me. Open.
Hello, Murph. You're still trigger happy, huh?
Hello, Steve. And you don't have to call me names.
You kind of hung up early, aren't you, Murph?
I was making a little call on your doll.
Yeah, I see you was.
She wasn't a bad-looking doll.
You didn't have to plug her. She quit her job.
Yeah, I didn't know about that. Well, she still knew too much.
She wasn't going to use it, Murph.
Maybe. You told her about Joe. You shouldn't have done that, Steve.
So it was you I heard here last night, huh?
No kidding. You really heard me?
Yeah, yeah. I heard the door close. And you heard me tell her?
Yeah. This work in legal's giving you bad habits, Steve, but I'll forgive it.
Come here. Come over here. Just look what she would have wrote.
Dude Ringler. Elias Murph. Elias, we don't know how many other names.
One in a half a dozen cities for murder, larceny, and kidnapping.
That wouldn't have looked good, Steve.
She wasn't going to use it.
No. Well, don't let it worry you.
Well, it's about time we picked up that 23...
Hey. Hey, what's up, Steve?
You shouldn't have put your gun down, Murph.
What's eating you?
You shouldn't have put it down.
Steve, you're nuts.
Because I'm going to drill you, Murph. I've always wanted to drill you.
And before I wise up, I'm going to do it.
That time the neighbors heard it. I didn't care. I kept pumping lead.
When they came in, I was standing over Murph holding the gun.
The same gun he'd used to kill a kid.
So the cops got me for both of them. Both of them.
And for Joe and the payroll job, too.
They really thought they hit the jackpot with me.
I didn't give them any argument. It wasn't any use.
But you see what I mean?
Why I'm mixed up?
I've always been a sharp guy. I could have beat the game.
Murph was right when he knocked off the kid. She did know too much.
Well, it's the way things work out in our set.
And why should I get the case of highs over a dog getting drilled?
I can't figure it out.
And well, now I'm trimming my fingernails waiting for Mr. Gurley to get a reprieve.
And I'm all mixed up about that, too.
Because in the dictionary, it's a word that's got two meanings.
And the way I feel, they don't mesh. They kind of cancel each other out.
To suspend temporarily the execution of sentence upon and relief or cessation of pain or ill.
Well, any time now.
Hello, Mr. Gurley.
Hello, Steve.
What's the good word?
Turn your color around, Mr. Gurley, if you're going to talk that way. Spill it.
It wasn't any of you, Steve. No reprieve. I'm sorry.
So I got till 6 a.m. No reprieve.
No reprieve. I wouldn't say that, Mr. Gurley.
I draw definition number two.
I get cessation of pain.
And so closes reprieve.
John Garfield, a star of tonight's study in Suspense.
Suspense is produced, edited, and directed by William Spear.
This is the Armed Forces Radio Service.
The Armed Forces Radio Service.