1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000 The Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California presents... 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:08,000 Suspense! 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:25,000 Tonight, Roma Wines bring you Mr. Joseph Cotton, as star of The Earth is Made of Glass, a suspense 4 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:30,000 play produced, edited and directed for Roma Wines by William Spear. 5 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:35,000 Suspense! 6 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:42,000 Radio's outstanding theater of thrills is presented for your enjoyment by Roma Wines. 7 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:46,000 That's R-O-M-A, Roma Wines. 8 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:50,000 Those excellent California wines that can add so much pleasantness to the way you live, 9 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:56,000 to your happiness and entertaining guests, to your enjoyment of everyday meals. 10 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:03,000 Yes, right now a glass full would be very pleasant, as Roma Wines bring you Mr. Joseph Cotton 11 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:05,000 in a remarkable tale of... 12 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:07,000 Suspense! 13 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:13,000 Good morning, Dr. West. 14 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:14,000 Good morning, Miss Adams. 15 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:16,000 Well, there's one bed vacant this morning. 16 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:20,000 I see that 4.36, Mr. Steele died, 4 a.m. 17 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,000 Yes, I was there. Coronary thrombosis. 18 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:26,000 You're not terribly concerned, Dr. West? 19 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:28,000 Why should I be especially concerned? 20 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:31,000 Well, the day nurse, Miss Rosenberg, said that you and Mr. Steele... 21 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:33,000 You girls gossip too much. 22 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:34,000 Yes, doctor. 23 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:37,000 But I understand there's no family. What am I going to do with Mr. Steele's things? 24 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:38,000 What things? 25 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:42,000 Well, his overcoat, this parcel was in it, this book. 26 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:46,000 He said it was his journal and he told Miss Rosenberg you would have it. 27 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,000 He said it had important scientific data and... 28 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:50,000 Well, give it here. 29 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:51,000 Yes, doctor. 30 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,000 Journal of Richard Thomas Steele. 31 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:57,000 Important scientific data, I'll bet. 32 00:01:57,000 --> 00:01:59,000 I still can't figure out what was eating that guy. 33 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:02,000 What he had to say to me that was so darned important. 34 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:05,000 Why do people want to keep diaries? 35 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:08,000 July 26th, not a fruitful day. 36 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:11,000 The weather this morning was heavy, sticky. 37 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:14,000 Lord knows what crazy stuff he's written here. 38 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,000 July 26th, not a fruitful day. 39 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,000 The weather this morning was heavy, sticky. 40 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:31,000 I stayed indoors with the blinds drawn, spent three and a half hours arranging and cataloguing a shipment of books. 41 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:38,000 And I must say I gloated over my new volume of bacon, gold leaf, uncut, 1836, a treasure. 42 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:42,000 In the afternoon I ventured out to play chess with Eliot. 43 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:45,000 He's an uninspired player and a worse conversationalist. 44 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:53,000 I'm appalled that a man of Eliot's pretensions still wallows in 18th and 19th century thought patterns, twaddle in sentimentality. 45 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:57,000 He's totally unaware of the potentialities of modern science. 46 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:03,000 It was so apparent to me when we got into that argument over Ralph Waldo Emerson. 47 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:07,000 I was thumbing through a volume he had of Emerson's essays, a cheap reprint at that. 48 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:11,000 I was annoyed by a paragraph in the essay called compensation. 49 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:14,000 I must have snorted because Eliot fairly leaped at me. 50 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:18,000 Certainly I think there's compensation for everything. 51 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:21,000 Kid for tat, measure for measure, love for love. 52 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:25,000 Do you contend, Eliot, that no matter what a man does it comes back to him? 53 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:27,000 One way or another, yes, yes it does. 54 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:29,000 Then if I do good I get good back? 55 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,000 Yes, I believe that, Richard. 56 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:33,000 And if I commit a crime I'm of necessity punished? 57 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,000 Well, it depends what you mean by punishment. 58 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:39,000 I mean that I will suffer somehow for the evil I do. 59 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:40,000 Isn't that what Emerson says? 60 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:42,000 I want to know what you believe. 61 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:43,000 Well, I believe what he says. 62 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:44,000 Well, I'll read what he says. 63 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:47,000 Discount the poetry, old man, he used lush language. 64 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:52,000 Emerson says, commit a crime and the earth is made of glass. 65 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:58,000 Commit a crime and it seems as if a coat of snow fell on the ground such as reveals in the woods 66 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:02,000 the tracks of every potterage and fox and squirrel and mole. 67 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,000 You cannot recall the spoken word. 68 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,000 You cannot wipe out the foot track. 69 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:10,000 You cannot draw up the ladder so as to leave no inlet or clue. 70 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:14,000 Some damning circumstance always transpires. 71 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:20,000 The laws and substance of nature, water, snow, wind, gravitation, become penalties to the thief. 72 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:22,000 Well, Eliot? 73 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:25,000 Beautiful, isn't it? You read very well. 74 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:28,000 Don't try to turn me off, Eliot. We're discussing his theory. 75 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:31,000 I don't see how there can be any argument. We know... 76 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:34,000 We know a good deal more than Emerson, you old fellow, 77 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:37,000 especially about the laws and substances of nature. 78 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:42,000 We've tested the substances, learned control over the laws, the scientific method, Eliot. 79 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:48,000 It cancels out every word your friend Emerson wrote, let's say, in compensation. 80 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:50,000 The scientific method. 81 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:55,000 I'd like to see it applied to some situations in nature, to human nature. 82 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:58,000 All right, say you commit a murder. 83 00:04:58,000 --> 00:04:59,000 I'd better very well say I do. 84 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:04,000 Well, if you aren't caught by the police, and that can be managed by an intelligent man, 85 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:09,000 you still won't escape. Call it your conscience. That's what Emerson means. 86 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,000 But say I commit a laboratory murder. 87 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:19,000 What kind of a murder is that? 88 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,000 Let me put it this way. When the police catch a murderer, 89 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:27,000 they have found a connection between the murderer and his victim, motive and clues, right? 90 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:30,000 And when a murderer is caught by his conscience, 91 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:34,000 it is still because he is connected with his victim through his emotions. 92 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:35,000 I agree so far. 93 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:40,000 Well, how is a murderer caught if he is in no way connected with his victim? 94 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:41,000 Well, that's not possible. 95 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:47,000 I don't know. There could be a pure abstract murder, a murder occurring in almost a vacuum, 96 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:57,000 a murder in which the only connection between the two participants is the unadulterated act of killing. 97 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:06,000 July 28th. The weather continues warm, humidity high. 98 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:10,000 Today I roamed around my library, read a little, thought a great deal. 99 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:15,000 It's odd that I should keep referring back to my conversation with Elliot. 100 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:18,000 Abstract murder, a laboratory murder. 101 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:21,000 I jotted down one or two theoretical points today. 102 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:26,000 It will be an amusing project in such hot weather. 103 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:43,000 July 29th. What utter nonsense to think as I have of a laboratory experiment carried out in writing on paper. 104 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:45,000 It's a contradiction in terms. 105 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:49,000 The core of the scientific method is to prove theory in life. 106 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:53,000 So let us prove the possibility of a pure murder. 107 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:58,000 It must be someone met in an emotional and material vacuum, 108 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:04,000 someone with whom I have no connection, someone whom I have no possible reason to kill. 109 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:09,000 The preparations for such a murder are of necessity, classically simple. 110 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:12,000 This afternoon I bought my equipment. 111 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,000 Gloves, sir? What kind of gloves? 112 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:15,000 Oh, any kind of gloves. 113 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:18,000 But what do you want them for? Driving? Gardening? 114 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:20,000 I want gloves I can use for anything. 115 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:22,000 Well, we call these utility gloves. 116 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:23,000 Yes, those will be excellent. Thank you. 117 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:24,000 What size, sir? 118 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:25,000 Any size, medium. 119 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:26,000 Well, now, these look just about... 120 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:30,000 No, no, no, I don't want to try them on. I'll take them as they are. Just wrap them up. 121 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:33,000 Yes, sir. Just as you say. 122 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:39,000 You know, I'm very fond of a genuine old-fashioned hardware store, Mr. Jeremy. Like yours? 123 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:43,000 Yes, a lot of people tell me that, Mr. Steele. Yes. 124 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:45,000 Anything special you're looking for? 125 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:47,000 I don't know. I suppose I'm just browsing. 126 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:48,000 Yes, sir. 127 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,000 Oh, what are those? Ice picks? 128 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,000 Yes, sir. And pre-war metal, too. You want one? 129 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:56,000 No, no, I have one. My, quite a selection. 130 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:59,000 Screwdrivers and... Oh, there's something I want. 131 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:00,000 Oh, a knife? 132 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,000 One of those. 133 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:06,000 Well, to be fair with you now, those are pretty poor knives. 134 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:07,000 Doesn't matter. 135 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,000 Well, just no darn good as far as I can see. 136 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,000 The best possible recommendation, Mr. Jeremy. I'll take it. 137 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:26,000 A meaningless knife, all-purpose gloves, knife and gloves new, factory-made, 138 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:32,000 uncontaminated by human association, smelling only of the harsh, impersonal machines which turn them out. 139 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:36,000 My first safeguards against the intrusion of emotion. 140 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:40,000 In a laboratory, this procedure would be called controls. 141 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:44,000 To complete the controls, who would it be? 142 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:47,000 I must never see his or her face. 143 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:52,000 I must never know his or her name, age, occupation, thoughts or desires. 144 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:58,000 I must come into contact with this victim as casually as though we were blown together by the wind. 145 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:06,000 There can be no selection, no volition on my part, except the elementary volition necessary to raise my arm to kill. 146 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:18,000 July 30. The exact record of what has occurred. 147 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:21,000 I must write it down now while it is fresh in my mind. 148 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:24,000 I will be absolutely precise and objective. 149 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:29,000 Very well. Tonight, at some undetermined hour after dinner, 150 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:34,000 I left my house on 74th Street with a new gloves and knife in my right-hand coat pocket. 151 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:39,000 The only external circumstance I noted was that the air was hot, heavy and still. 152 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:45,000 After all, everyone is affected equally by weather, so my consciousness of it was no limitation on my experiment. 153 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:50,000 I walked an undetermined number of blocks, taking care to observe no street signs or landmarks. 154 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:54,000 I observed only one thing, that there were many people on the street. 155 00:09:54,000 --> 00:10:00,000 In fact, I became aware only vaguely that I was pushing through a rather dense crowd, 156 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:05,000 but I deafened myself completely to any specific words or conversation. 157 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:13,000 And although I imagined there was traffic passing in the street, 158 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:17,000 I successfully blotted out all sound except for a dull roar. 159 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:20,000 It seemed to me that the ominous heat had increased. 160 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,000 The stillness of the air was the most palpable. 161 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:27,000 Perhaps it brought me sooner to the final resolution of my plan. 162 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:32,000 But when I found my progress through the crowd blocked by what I can only describe as a human, 163 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:36,000 I raised my knife and drove it into the back with all my force. 164 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:38,000 I can't stand it! I can't! 165 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:46,000 I continued walking without haste, pausing only a fraction of a second to hear. 166 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:49,000 He's fallen! Get back! Give him air! Give him air! 167 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:55,000 To hear those few words, he's fallen. Give him air. 168 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:58,000 He needed no air, I knew that. 169 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:04,000 And thus, I heard confirm my unqualified belief 170 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:16,000 that I had taken without any possible consequence to myself a human being's life. 171 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:31,000 For suspense, Roma Wines are bringing you as star Mr. Joseph Cotton 172 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:34,000 in The Earth is Made of Glass by Sylvia Richards. 173 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:40,000 Roma Wines presentation tonight in radio's outstanding theatre of thrills, Suspense. 174 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:54,000 Between the acts of suspense, this is Truman Bradley for Roma Wines. 175 00:11:54,000 --> 00:12:01,000 First call to my dinners, says Miss Elsa Maxwell, is Roma California Sherry. 176 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:05,000 For this delicious wine is a perfect beginning to a good meal. 177 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:08,000 In fact, this famous hostess goes on to say, 178 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:15,000 Roma Sherry is an ideal wine because you can enjoy it any time of day or night. 179 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:18,000 Gold and amber with a rich nut-like taste. 180 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:24,000 Glorious Roma Sherry is at its most delightful best served cool. 181 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:30,000 Roma Sherry, like all the famous Roma wines, is made from carefully selected grapes 182 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:32,000 from California's choicest vineyards. 183 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:36,000 Grapes gathered at the peak of their flavor goodness 184 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:40,000 when every grape is hanging firm and full on the vine. 185 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:43,000 Then quickly but gently pressed. 186 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:48,000 Finally, by a process as slow and as old as time, 187 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:53,000 brought to delicious liquid perfection by Roma's skilled vintners. 188 00:12:53,000 --> 00:13:00,000 Yes, all Roma wines are true wines, always unburyingly good, 189 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:03,000 bottled at Roma's own famed wineries. 190 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:08,000 Enjoy Roma wines regularly for only pennies a glass. 191 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:13,000 Remember, because of uniformly fine quality at reasonable cost, 192 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:18,000 more Americans enjoy Roma than any other wine. 193 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:20,000 Always ask for Roma. 194 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:24,000 R-O-M-A. Roma wines. 195 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:28,000 And now Roma wines bring back to our Hollywood soundstage 196 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:33,000 Joseph Cotton as Richard Thomas Steele in The Earth is Made of Glass. 197 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:38,000 A play well calculated to keep you in suspense. 198 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:57,000 August 1st. I was unable to write in my journal yesterday because of the excessive heat. 199 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:01,000 I suffered all day from a headache and a vibration in my ears. 200 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:05,000 I'm writing today only to have on record the final control in my experiment, 201 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:07,000 my laboratory murder. 202 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:10,000 To ensure complete ignorance of the identity of my victim, 203 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:13,000 I shall read no newspapers for a period of two or three weeks 204 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:16,000 and a whole conversation with anyone apt to be morbidly interested 205 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:19,000 in murders reported in the tabloid press. 206 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:21,000 Compensation. 207 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:23,000 Ta-tat, Mr. Emerson. 208 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:26,000 August 4th. The heat is unbearable. 209 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:30,000 All day I have felt that odd heavy vibration in my head. 210 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:32,000 Now also in my arms and body. 211 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:36,000 It is almost constant in a one, two, three rhythm. 212 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:39,000 And sometimes it is a sound as well as a vibration, 213 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:53,000 like the distant sound of the sea. 214 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:55,000 I must consult a doctor. 215 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:58,000 Last night I was kept awake by the throbbing in my head 216 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:01,000 and toward morning I was subjected to a new agony. 217 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:04,000 Very softly at first, but louder. 218 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:09,000 And louder like voices heard in delirium, 219 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:13,000 my head became filled with an almost hysterical babbling. 220 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:15,000 A passionata. 221 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:17,000 A passionata. 222 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:19,000 A passionata. 223 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:21,000 A passionata. 224 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:23,000 A passionata. 225 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:25,000 A passionata. 226 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:27,000 A passionata. 227 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:29,000 A passionata. 228 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:31,000 A passionata. 229 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:35,000 For an instant have the voices stopped or even paused. 230 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:39,000 And they seem to keep time with the reverberation of my heart. 231 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,000 A passionata. 232 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:43,000 A passionata. 233 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:45,000 A passionata. 234 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:47,000 A passionata. 235 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:49,000 A passionata. 236 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:53,000 August 8th. I have no need to consult a doctor. 237 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:56,000 Now I know the nature of my illness. 238 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:59,000 Last night I turned to music trying to drive the unspeakable 239 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:01,000 upper off of my brain. 240 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:05,000 When I put the records on the machine, the Frank Violin Sonata, 241 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:08,000 and settled back to hear the first flowing melody of the violin, 242 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:10,000 something happened. 243 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:15,000 The music swelled and changed and became the passionata. 244 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,000 Beethoven's passionata. 245 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:19,000 Oh, but that's fine. That's fine. 246 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:21,000 That's fine. That's fine. That's fine. 247 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:23,000 Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. 248 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:25,000 Then I knew I turned off the music. 249 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:28,000 The deadly cycle began once more and the sound and voices 250 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,000 of the fiends rose to a dreadful climax. 251 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,000 Passionata. 252 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:35,000 Passionata. 253 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:40,000 In spite of every precaution, my murder had not taken place in a vacuum. 254 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:43,000 My shield had been penetrated by those fragments of sound and speech 255 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:46,000 echoing in my ears. Speech about a concert. 256 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:49,000 Yes, I remembered how. 257 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:52,000 I read that Schnabel was to play an all Beethoven concert 258 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:54,000 in Carnegie Hall on July 30th. 259 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:58,000 And the clanging of bells, that was a trolley going by on 7th Avenue. 260 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:02,000 And I'd also heard and identified the roll and crash of summer thunder. 261 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:06,000 That was the sound which preceded and punctuated a woman's scream. 262 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:09,000 I can't stand it. I can't. He's falling. Get back. 263 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:11,000 Give him a ear. 264 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:13,000 What's the matter? 265 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:18,000 Well, it may be possible to drive all this away in time, 266 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:21,000 but the other thing which sets the rhythm for the rest, 267 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:24,000 the pulsing sound I hear, 268 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:28,000 when I drove that knife home into a human being's heart, 269 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:30,000 the vital rhythm of the heart, 270 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:35,000 the mighty leap and contraction of the heart's muscle on the blade of the knife 271 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:40,000 was transmitted back to me through my hand and remains indelibly recorded 272 00:17:40,000 --> 00:18:02,000 in the beat of my own blood. 273 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:05,000 August 11th. While I am still able to reason, 274 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:10,000 I must discover where I erred and act swiftly to correct my error. 275 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:13,000 There is no turning back. The death I caused is a fact. 276 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:15,000 I cannot banish it by wishing. 277 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,000 For each day I remember something more. 278 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:19,000 Today, the color of his hair. 279 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:23,000 Photographed between the black collar of his coat and his gray hat, I saw it. 280 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:25,000 Clipped, silky reddish. 281 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:30,000 And I had an insatiable desire to turn the head to see his face. 282 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:33,000 There is one course left to me. 283 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:36,000 I will reverse my plan. I will learn. 284 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:40,000 I will learn in every possible detail the person whom I killed. 285 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:43,000 Learn to know him. Construct a total portrait. 286 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:52,000 Then I will attempt to discard this portrait in its entirety. 287 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:54,000 I beg your pardon, Miss. I... 288 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:56,000 Where are the newspaper files? 289 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:58,000 I'll have to get them for you. What dates did you want to see? 290 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:00,000 The week of July 30th. 291 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:01,000 Which paper? 292 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:02,000 The times. I'll start with that. 293 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:03,000 Just a moment. 294 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:05,000 I want them for the whole week. 295 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:08,000 Yes, well, here are all the copies for July, bound. 296 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:10,000 And these loose ones are August so far. 297 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:11,000 Thank you. 298 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:13,000 They must not be taken out of the reading room. 299 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:15,000 The reading room is to your right. Do you need them long? 300 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:18,000 It may take me some time. I don't know. I'm doing some rather intensive research. 301 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:21,000 Return them to the desk when you're through. 302 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:27,000 I opened the bound volume near the end and immediately saw his picture, page one, center. 303 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:32,000 The photograph was blurred, but without reading a word, I recognized him because he matched his hair. 304 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:37,000 I mean, his face went with the back of his head, the one who I had seen. 305 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:45,000 The hair growing to a slight widow's peak, eyes widely spaced, gray or very light blue, mouth wide, young and strong. 306 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:50,000 Then I read the words above the picture. Young man slain in crowd. 307 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:54,000 That was all I read because at a moment, someone spoke to me. 308 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:57,000 Pardon me. When you're finished with that volume, may I look at it? 309 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,000 It was impossible. It couldn't be. 310 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:08,000 Standing at my shoulder, smiling. Young, apparently as alive as I, but it was. 311 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:11,000 He was there. He, my victim. 312 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:16,000 The face in the paper and his face were the same. I swear they were the same. 313 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:20,000 I'm sorry to bother you. The girl at the desk said you had the July volume at the time. 314 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:21,000 Yes, I was. 315 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:23,000 I'm sorry. Did I startle you? 316 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:27,000 Your picture, I... I'm looking at your picture. 317 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:32,000 My picture? What do you mean, in the paper? 318 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:34,000 I don't see any picture. 319 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:48,000 He's dead. I know he's dead. 320 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:53,000 I felt his heart leap like a fish on the point of my knife and quiver and die. 321 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:57,000 I saw him fall. I must believe that he is truly dead. 322 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:00,000 And the dead can either walk or speak. 323 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:02,000 But today on Fifth Avenue... 324 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:06,000 Hello. What? 325 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:09,000 What's wrong? Are you ill? No. No, no, no, I'm all right. 326 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:14,000 You look like you were about to faint. You're still green. Are you sure that you're all right? 327 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:17,000 Because I live right near here. If you want to lie down... 328 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:18,000 No, no, no, please. 329 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:22,000 Well, it's up to you. I can't make you come. 330 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:25,000 But I don't like to see anyone suffer needlessly. 331 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:41,000 August 20th. He doesn't like to see anyone suffer. 332 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:46,000 Yet because of him, there is not one day, one hour when I am free from despair and fear. 333 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:52,000 Yes, I accept him now. The dead do walk and talk. At least one dead man does. 334 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:56,000 Inevitably. If I venture out of my house, he finds me. 335 00:21:56,000 --> 00:22:01,000 Today I started down the subway steps at 53rd Street after I'd looked to make sure he wasn't anywhere nearby. 336 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:05,000 But I'd gone only three or four steps and I felt my arm jostle and my turn... 337 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:09,000 Pardon. Oh. Oh, you again. 338 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:11,000 I'll bet you think I'm haunting you. 339 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:16,000 Jesus, what do you want? Look, I don't want anything. Let's just call it fate or something. 340 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,000 Why don't you let me alone? 341 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,000 I'd begun to think that maybe we were both to be spared this. 342 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,000 So, so, so had I. 343 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:26,000 If I were superstitious, I'd say we had some unfinished business. 344 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:30,000 Please, will you tell me something? Will you answer one question? 345 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:34,000 Do... do you believe in compensation? 346 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:37,000 You'll have to explain what you mean. 347 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:41,000 If someone does evil, if I have done evil, must I get evil back? 348 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:44,000 Well, say it again. 349 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:48,000 Do you believe in good for good, evil for evil? Look, look, what about killing? 350 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:51,000 Well, there's all sorts of killing. 351 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:56,000 But senseless killing. Killing with no reason. What is the compensation for that? 352 00:22:56,000 --> 00:23:00,000 You've asked a pretty complicated question of a pretty simple man. 353 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:04,000 The only thing that comes to my mind right off is what it says in the Bible. 354 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:06,000 An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 355 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:08,000 That's what you believe? 356 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:12,000 Why, yes, I believe that. Is that any help to you? 357 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:17,000 Yes. Oh, yes. Anything you say would help. 358 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:22,000 An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, like a man, 359 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:27,000 the price asked by the only one who can ask it. 360 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:30,000 What will you have, quoth God. 361 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:34,000 Pay for it in ten days, and you'll have a good life. 362 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:36,000 I believe that. 363 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:38,000 I believe that. 364 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,000 I believe that. 365 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:42,000 I believe that. 366 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,000 I believe that. 367 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:48,000 What will you have, quoth God. Pay for it and take it. 368 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:52,000 Well, I'll pay. 369 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:57,000 For I've learned that no event between two human beings can happen in a vacuum. 370 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:02,000 We're all enmeshed bound together through our blood in a pulsing net. 371 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:07,000 And if one of us does violence to another, he does violence to himself. 372 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:09,000 Very well. 373 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:13,000 This price I am glad to pay. 374 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:15,000 There is no other way. 375 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:35,000 Hello. Are you awake, Mr. Steele? 376 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:36,000 Where am I? 377 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:39,000 You're in Washington Hill Hospital. How do you feel? 378 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:43,000 I'm not well, but I have to die. 379 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,000 I don't want to keep you from me. 380 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:49,000 I have to. Did I bleed much? 381 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:50,000 Bleed? 382 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:52,000 From the knife. 383 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,000 You had a heart attack, Mr. Steele. 384 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:58,000 No, I tell you here. I stabbed myself here. 385 00:24:58,000 --> 00:24:59,000 Where is the doctor? 386 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:01,000 Lie down, Mr. Steele. The doctor will be here in a minute. 387 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:05,000 I have to make him understand. I promised to die. 388 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:07,000 You promised? Here's the doctor now. 389 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:10,000 Yes, but I... 390 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:12,000 You. 391 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:14,000 Of course, you. 392 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:16,000 Well, Mr. Steele... 393 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:18,000 I tried to tell her. 394 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:22,000 I tried to tell her that I have to die. 395 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:24,000 Call another doctor for this patient nurse. 396 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:25,000 But doctor... 397 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:30,000 You tell her. The earth is made of glass. 398 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:33,000 That if I don't die, you'll always find me. 399 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:34,000 I know that. 400 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:39,000 But tell her. Tell her the evil thing I have done, 401 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:41,000 so she'll let me die. 402 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:42,000 Dr. West has told me. 403 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,000 Emerson said it. 404 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:47,000 I carry a malignity in me. 405 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:53,000 When I die, I make square the eternal account. 406 00:25:53,000 --> 00:26:09,000 Make square the eternal account. 407 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:11,000 Well, Miss Adams, that's all there is. 408 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:14,000 The journal of Richard Thomas Steele. 409 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:17,000 Doctor, I don't remember reading of that murder. 410 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:18,000 Do you? 411 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,000 No. No, I don't. 412 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,000 Who was the man he met? 413 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,000 Who was it he thought he'd killed? 414 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:26,000 It was me. 415 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:28,000 You, Dr. West? 416 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:30,000 Just as he described it. 417 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,000 First in the library, and then the drug store, 418 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:36,000 near my home, on buses, in the park. 419 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:38,000 I couldn't imagine what was bothering him. 420 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:41,000 But who did he kill? Really? 421 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:43,000 I don't know. 422 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:45,000 But I have an idea. 423 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:47,000 Where's the package you found in his coat? 424 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:49,000 Right here. Shall I open it? 425 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,000 Yes, go on. 426 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:56,000 You see? 427 00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:58,000 The gloves. And the knife. 428 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:00,000 And they've never been used. 429 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,000 Then he never killed anyone. 430 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:06,000 No. Richard Steele never drove a knife into a living back. 431 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:11,000 But in his way, he killed. In his mind, he killed. 432 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:14,000 I guess old Emerson would say even for that kind of crime, 433 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:16,000 there's compensation. 434 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:18,000 Commit a crime? 435 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:21,000 And the earth is made of glass. 436 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,000 Roma wines have brought you Joseph Cotton, 437 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:43,000 as star of The Earth is Made of Glass. 438 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:45,000 Tonight's study in... 439 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:47,000 Suspense. 440 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:50,000 This is Truman Bradley for Roma Wines, 441 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:53,000 the sponsor of Suspense. 442 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:57,000 These days, says Miss Elsa Maxwell, world famous hostess, 443 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,000 more and more people serve only one dish for dinner, 444 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:03,000 with a salad and probably a sweet. 445 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:07,000 That's why I'm sure so many more people serve Roma wines, 446 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:11,000 because Roma wines add so much to a simple meal. 447 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:14,000 With a savory pot roast, for example, 448 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:18,000 I recommend glasses of good Roma California Burgundy, 449 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,000 served cool. 450 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:23,000 Now that's a good suggestion from Elsa Maxwell, 451 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:28,000 for Roma Burgundy is a handsome wine with a good warm heart. 452 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:34,000 Try it and discover how happily its tart piquancy goes with meats. 453 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,000 And if you enjoy cocktails before dinner, 454 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:41,000 you'll make better cocktails with Roma's full flavored Bermuth, 455 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:46,000 sweet or dry, made and bottled in the heart of California's famous vineyards, 456 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:49,000 yet surprisingly low priced. 457 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:52,000 Try Roma Bermuth soon, won't you? 458 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:56,000 We would like to thank Joseph Cotton for appearing in the place of Clifton Webb, 459 00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:00,000 whose illness prevented his being with us this evening. 460 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,000 Joseph Cotton appeared through the courtesy of David O. Selznick, 461 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:06,000 producer of Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound. 462 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:09,000 Next Thursday, you will hear George Murphy in... 463 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:13,000 Suspense, radio's outstanding theatre of thrills. 464 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:35,000 This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.