Now, Roma Wines, R-O-M-A, made in California for enjoyment throughout the world.
Roma Wines presents Suspense.
Tonight, Roma Wines bring you Mr. Alan Hale, a star of The Leading Citizen of Pratt County,
a suspense play produced, edited and directed for Roma Wines by William Spear.
Suspense, Radio's outstanding theater of thrills, is presented for your enjoyment by Roma Wines.
That's R-O-M-A, Roma Wines.
Those excellent California wines that can add so much pleasantness to the way you live,
to your happiness and entertaining guests, to your enjoyment of everyday meals.
Yes, right now a glass full would be very pleasant, as Roma Wines bring you Alan Hale,
in a remarkable tale of Suspense.
I'm an old man now, and I'm afraid I'm not a very good old man.
In fact, by every conceivable standard, I am a thoroughly bad old man.
Not that such a thing is known or even suspected in Pratt County, to the contrary.
Here it is the universal and unshakable opinion that I combine the wisdom of Solomon
with the virtues of the Twelve Apostles.
But since I now have every reason to believe that I must shortly shuffle off this mortal coil,
both honor and what I freely confess to be a perverted sense of humor,
impel me to expose this pleasant notion for the outrageous fraud that it is.
And so it happens that I hereby leave to my heirs and assigns this true account
of how I became the leading citizen of Pratt County.
It was some 20 years ago that I first found myself driving through this part of the country
with an associate of mine, after the completion of a fairly successful operation on the west coast,
which necessitated our speedy trip east.
We had been driving along the banks of a lovely stream across a grassy plateau
known in some western states as a park, and were heading toward a lush and fertile valley
of farmland that could be seen some miles below.
But for some unaccountable reason, the intervening area was the hottest, the dustiest,
the most desolate and altogether poisonous strip of country it has ever been my misfortune to encounter.
And right in the middle of this desert was a, I use the word loosely, a town.
And it was right on the outskirts of this town that my partner at last forced me to divulge certain unfortunate facts
that were destined to alter the entire direction of my life.
Why, you crook, you dirty lousy old crook.
No, Harry, how was I to know the horse would lose?
You knew that half the dough was mine, didn't you? You knew that much.
But I thought I was doing you a favor, Harry. I had the most positive assurances that that horse...
Our whole take lost. Six months' work. Every dime we made on that oil stock racket.
And now you tell me. Now. A thousand miles from civilization in the middle of a dust ball somewhere.
Oh, I'm sorry, Harry. I'm truly sorry.
And I give you my solemn promise that such a thing will never happen again. Why, that horse...
You bet your life it won't, because you and me are through. As of now. Through. Finished. Washed up.
Oh. Now, now, now, wait a minute, Harry. Let's not be hasty.
You heard me. Out.
Just a moment. By what right do you presume...
By this right.
Oh. Oh.
And here's your suitcase. And I wish you all the tough luck in the world. Goodbye.
Oh. Oh.
Oh.
Gracious. What happened? Are you all right?
Oh.
Oh, here. Help me with the mop.
Yes, of course.
Help with the... Why, that poor fellow's about all in.
We've got to take him inside. He ought to lay down for a spell.
Brush him off here.
Say, can you make him scream?
Well, yes. Yes. Thank you. You're very kind.
Oh, that's all right. It's a pleasure.
Oh, you're the first stranger to stop off here in Pratsville since about...
...1929.
You able to walk all right?
Yes. Yes. Thank you.
Oh, my gracious. What in the world ever happened?
Oh, young scoundrel. Hitchhiker.
Picked him up a few miles back and the next thing I knew, he assaulted me.
Took my money and made off with my car.
Well, I can tell you. Come on into the house.
Yes.
Well, yes. You see, it's not that I care about the money and the car is heavily insured.
Of course, it's the inconvenience.
I suppose that I shall have to stay over somewhere until my agent can send me funds.
Now, don't you give it another thought.
You can stay right here with us just as long as you have a mind to.
You can have this very room, Sonny's room.
Well, Sonny will be coming home any day now, though, Ma.
Then he can have the spare room. Sonny's our boy.
He's up at State University. See?
Here's his picture with the swimming team.
He's captain of it.
He's the captain.
And here he is with the lacrosse team.
Yes, yes. Well, believe me, I am deeply grateful for your hospitality,
but I'm afraid the air here wouldn't agree with my constitution, heart, you know.
Now, don't you worry none about the air.
Of course, it is a little hot and dusty this time of the year, but it won't hurt you none.
Other times of year, it's different, eh?
Mm-hmm.
The rainy season. It gets real muddy there.
Yeah, well, I see how it would.
Well, there's a funny thing about this town, though.
I do say that when it was first settled, it was one of the prettiest little places you could find in the whole state.
Of course, that was a long time ago.
Oh, yeah. It must have been.
You, uh, you come down through the park, didn't you?
Well, of course you did.
You notice that fine-looking river flowing alongside the road?
Yeah.
Well, sir, that river used to flow right through the center of town.
You can still see where it did.
And then about, oh, 89 years ago, there was a tremble or something way up the mountains,
and a big hole opened up in the ground, and that river just dropped plum out of sight right on the edge of the park.
Is that...?
Yeah. She'd come out of the ground and get knocked clear down the valley about ten miles away.
That's why it's a dry apiece.
Well, well, you don't say.
Yeah, yeah.
A few years back, there was talk about the WPA closing up that hole so the river would run right through the town again.
Oh, I tell you, folks here got pretty excited about it, even after putting up half the money.
And they raised it, too, they did.
They did, eh?
Yes.
They raised the money?
That's right.
Oh, there's folks around here that got money all right when they got a mind to let loose of it.
Oh, I see.
And would it be too much to ask how much they raised?
Oh, come to pretty near $50,000 as the town share of it.
But then some fella come up from Washington and look things over, and he said,
we closed up the hole, let it dry up the valley down below and ruin all the farmers down there.
So then, of course, we just had to give up the whole idea.
Well, now, that is interesting.
Most interesting, Mr....
Neff. Woodrow Neff.
Of course, this is Mrs. Neff.
A great pleasure, Mr. Neff. Mrs. Neff.
Thank you.
My name is Witherspoon. Alonzo P. Witherspoon.
Professor Witherspoon.
A professor? My weight of sunny heels, we got a real professor in the house.
Yes. As I say, Mr. Neff, this is most interesting, particularly interesting to me,
as it happens that I am a professor of geology, and in that capacity,
I serve as technical advisor to Senator Cotton of the Committee of National Parks and Monuments
and Subterranean Waterways. You've heard of Senator Cotton?
Oh, why, sure, sure.
Well, say, maybe you've already heard of this river, Vars. Green River, it's called.
Precisely what I was coming to, Mr. Neff.
As you were speaking, I began to remember the discussions we had had in committee.
It was some years ago, wasn't it?
1936, wasn't it, Pa?
The summer of 1936 was when the flutter came out here.
Exactly, and I remember telling Senator Cotton at the time that we must look into the whole project again,
when the sedimentary substrata had been given time to settle.
Then, of course, it was forgotten in the press of other matters.
You know how those things are in Washington.
And now, by the merest chance, I am given the perfect opportunity of examining Green River for myself.
Oh, it's an ill wind that blows nobody good, eh, Mr. Neff?
Well, say, now you will have to stay with this a while.
Yes, yes, Mr. Neff, I think I must. I really think I must.
For Suspense, Roma Wines are bringing you as star Alan Hale in The Leading Citizen of Pratt County,
a radio play by Robert Richards.
Roma Wines' presentation tonight in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Between the acts of Suspense, this is Truman Bradley for Roma Wines.
One of the best-natured men I know has a knack for enjoying life's leisure moments.
He's a hard worker on the job, but when he comes home,
he and his wife make a ritual of a quiet, companionable chat
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So tomorrow, insist on Roma, R-O-M-A, Roma wine.
Remember, more Americans enjoy Roma than any other wine.
And now, Roma wines bring back to our Hollywood sound stage, Alan Hale,
as Professor Alonzo P. Witherspoon in The Leading Citizen of Pratt County,
a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
And thus in Bonney-Prattville, I became a professor of astrology, geology,
and advisor to a senator whom I had never met,
and a Senate committee of which I was not even sure, existing.
Of course, at first I had no way of knowing whether this pitch, as we call it in the trade,
was merely good for the cashing of a modest check on one of my many non-existent accounts,
or whether it could be run up into something really big.
But as a firm believer in aiming always at the maximum objective, I made my plans accordingly.
And that night, with the aid of certain gadgets I never permit myself to be without,
I wrote myself a couple of checks on the Federal Treasury,
contrived some quite impressive looking business cards, and was ready to go to work.
And then, Sonny arrived.
That's right, Sonny, Professor Alonzo P. Witherspoon, and he's staying right here with us.
Come on, I'll introduce you to him.
A professor from Washington? Wow!
Ah, I knew at a glance that Sonny would be troublesome.
He was a student at the State University, and his education had progressed just sufficiently
to fill him with a lot of bright ideas, but not enough to acquaint him with the worldly advantages
of a good, sound, dishonest proposition. In other words, Sonny was smart and could not be had.
Gee, Professor, Pop tells me maybe you're going to put old Pratsville on the map.
Possibly, possibly. Certainly worth trying, eh, my boy?
You bet. You know, I've been thinking along those very same lines myself lately.
After all, what's Colorado Springs got, or Tucson, Arizona,
or any of those places that we haven't got right here in Pratsville?
We've got the altitude, the sunshine. All we need is water, and they can do terrific things with irrigation nowadays.
Precisely, my boy. Precisely what I've always told Senator Cotton.
And you really know Senator Cotton? I mean that well?
Oh, yes, yes, intimately. I might say that we're very close.
Gee, I was reading something about him just the other day.
But say, you're really sure something can be done without drying up the valley?
It would be terrible for those farmers down there if their water was cut off.
Sonny's got a girl down there. That's the reason he's so worried.
I guess the professor knows his business a little better than we do, Sonny.
Oh, sure, I know. Say, you must know Dr. Hawks, up at State U. He's a geologist too.
Ah, Hawks? Let me see.
Ah, you must know him. John Lyman Hawks.
Oh, of course, of course, John Lyman Hawks. Yes, yes.
Gee, I'll bet he'll be excited when he knows you're here.
He's supposed to be quite an authority on this part of the country, you know.
Yes, yes, but I wouldn't trouble Dr. Hawks about this just yet.
Not until we're a little more sure of our ground.
Well, sure, of course.
Oh, now, now, Sonny, press hasn't got all day to stand around here talking to you.
He's got to go down to the bank and see Henry Wing.
Oh, sure, but gee, I sure want to talk to you some more about all this, Professor.
This thing can be terrific.
Oh, it will be terrific, all right, my boy. You don't know the half of it.
You can see what I mean about Sonny.
Now, Henry Wank, on the other hand, was quite another proposition.
He was and still is the town's mayor, only banker, and chief real estate owner,
and the answer to a confidence man's prayer,
because he was always so busy thinking what a smart crook he was
that it never occurred to him that he might be dealing with someone
who was even smarter and crooketer.
Mr. Wank had larceny in his heart, and I knew we were going to do business.
Well, what's your proposition?
Well, well, it's always refreshing to meet a man with whom one can get right down to business.
All right, all right, let's get down to it.
Very well. You know, of course, Mr. Wank, that if this Green River project goes through,
and if we do run the river through town, real estate values here will skyrocket.
And when they do, somebody is going to make an awful lot of money.
Yeah, meaning mostly me, that's right.
Well, what about it?
Well, now let me ask you something.
About these farmers in the valley, if their water were cut off, if they were inconvenienced...
They'd be more than inconvenienced. They'd be finished, and you know it.
Yes, but how much would you be concerned financially?
Well, I'd be sorry to see it happen, but financially it wouldn't worry me a bit.
I see.
The courier quoted you as saying that wouldn't happen, that we could have our river
and the farmers would get their water just the same.
Oh, you know how inaccurate the newspapers are, Mr. Wank.
No, then it would happen.
Mr. Wank, have you ever stopped to consider how much you personally would make if this did go through?
Well, I'd say it could run up to three or four million in time.
Well, you can sometimes get things done in Washington for...
Aha! I knew you had a proposition.
You realize, of course, Mr. Wank, that I'm an essential factor in this whole thing.
You just can't send anybody to Washington on a thing like this.
You have to have someone who is in on the inside, who enjoys the complete confidence of the... of the right people.
I know all about that. I just want to know how you get yours.
By the very simple expedient of becoming your partner, Mr. Wank, in a small way.
How small?
Well, I have here a government check for $2,500.
I suggest we form a little syndicate.
I think this check should entitle me to a modest share of, uh, say, five percent.
Then you figure the whole thing can be swung for, uh, $50,000?
Approximately. Can you raise the money?
Well, it's a lot, but I can get it.
Uh, we'd better put this in writing.
Oh, now really, Mr. Wank. One hardly puts things of, uh, this nature in writing.
Then how do I know you'll come through with your end?
Well, you have my check. I'll endorse it to you. You hold it.
Any investigation of how a man in my position happened to be giving you $2,500
would be seriously embarrassing for me.
Heh, heh. Yes, it sure would, at that.
One more thing, Mr. Wank.
You understand that all of this must be kept in the strictest confidence,
and all transactions will have to be in cash.
Don't you worry about what I understand.
I wasn't born yesterday, neither.
The technique is scarcely new, but almost invariably successful.
The victim is made to feel that he is the chief conspirator,
and his own dishonesty and greed accomplishes the rest.
So with Henry Wank.
Next afternoon, for the sake of appearances, Mr. Wank and I headed a small group
to look over once again the crucial spot where Green River dips into the earth
to begin its subterranean wanderings,
and once again I clambered down over the
mass of rocks through a little ledge some 20 feet above the water.
Now, look down there, Professor.
You see, it falls into that big pool down there,
and then it just disappears.
Ah, yes, yes. Excellent possibilities. Excellent.
There, there, you see, gentlemen?
The Professor figures to begin the concrete work just about here.
The trap was baited, set, and ready to be sprung.
All seem for the best in this best of all possible worlds.
Well, good evening, sunny lad.
Huh? Oh, hello, Professor.
What's the matter, my boy?
Do you have a spat with that young lady of yours?
No, nothing's the matter.
Well, how are things?
Well, things are definitely progressing,
and that reminds me I shall be leaving you soon,
within the next day or two.
What? You're leaving, Professor?
Oh, just for a short time.
Have to get things started in Washington, you know,
have a talk with Senator Cotton, and so on.
Well, but you will be coming back.
Oh, by all means.
Say, uh, Professor Witherspoon.
Yes, my boy?
Oh, look, I'm going down to see Jane Austerman
and her mother for a little while this evening,
saying you may not have another chance to meet them for a while.
Why don't you come along?
Well, uh...
Jane's a girl, but the Professor don't want to go
traipsing way down in the valley tonight, sonny.
Well, why not? He's never even seen the valley.
I think before he goes to Washington, he ought to see it.
I didn't want to go, of course,
but every instinct told me that there was something in the wind
and that I should.
Contrary to my expectation, however,
the evening was a quiet one, and indeed a most pleasant surprise.
Jane Austerman turned out to be a very charming little thing,
and her mother was a most attractive,
and in fact an altogether stunning woman.
And it was with genuine regret
that I found myself at last standing on their veranda
under a brilliant moon saying goodbye.
It's been grand, Professor.
I do hope you'll drop in on us again before you come back.
My dear lady, wild horses couldn't keep me away.
Oh, that's a promise, then. Good night.
Good night, my dear.
Well, what do you think, Professor?
They're charming people, my boy, charming people.
And isn't Mrs. Austerman nice?
Nice is hardly the word.
In fact, I'm quite smitten.
Yeah, it'd be terrible if anything was to happen to people like that.
I mean, this whole valley, they're all like that.
I mean, if anything was to happen to hurt them...
Why, Sonny, what have you got on your mind?
Oh, heck, I have something on my mind, Professor,
and I just thought if you could see these people,
like the Austermans, you'd understand better how I feel.
All right, all right, my boy, out with it. What is it?
Well, I just remembered today what it was I saw about Senator Cotton.
Senator Cotton?
Yeah, in Time magazine.
He's just been indicted for graft.
He's been indi... Senator Cotton? Indicted?
Yeah, some sort of land-grab scandal.
Why, why, I can't believe it. There must be some mistake.
No, it's true, all right.
Oh, that's it.
Oh, but surely, my boy, you don't think that I'm involved in anything like that.
Oh, no, of course I don't. I couldn't, but...
Well, don't you see, I thought he might be fooling you some way.
I see, I see.
If there was something wrong, if something did happen to all these people in the valley,
well, it'd be terrible.
Yeah, well, I'd better get off a telegram to Washington right away.
Oh, look, Professor, I've got a telegram here in my pocket.
You have?
To Dr. Hawks up at the university. I want him to come down here.
Oh.
Oh, it's not that I don't trust you, but, well, two heads are always better than one.
And if he says it's all right, then I'll know.
But you haven't sent this telegram yet.
Well, I was going to, but, well, I didn't think it'd be fair without telling you.
You do understand, don't you?
Of course, of course, my boy.
Boy, is that a weight off my mind.
But I think I have even a better idea. Look, why don't you and I, first thing tomorrow,
get in the car and drive up to the university and bring Dr. Hawks back for this?
That way we could explain the whole situation to him.
Gee, that is an idea. If you ask him, he'd be sure to come.
Ah, gee, Professor, you're sure a wonderful guy.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
And you won't even have to bother with that telegram. We'll just, ah, ah, tear it up.
I had grown quite fond of Sonny, but when it's a matter of fifty thousand dollars,
particularly to one of my advancing years, sentiment must yield to necessity.
And so when Sonny and I started out in the family car next morning, I had my plans prepared.
I also had the fifty thousand dollars in cash.
We ought to be there sometime this afternoon. It's only about three hundred miles.
Splendid, splendid. Well, look here.
We're right about to go past the place where Green River goes underground, aren't we?
Uh-huh.
Well, why don't we stop a moment? You know, there's a couple of things that you really ought to see for yourself
before we talk to Dr. Hawks. That's John Lyman Hawks, that is.
Well, all right.
I may, ah, I may be able to prove to you right here on this spot that the old professor's ideas
aren't quite so wild-eyed as you may suppose.
Ah, Professor, you know I don't think that.
Oh, just joking, my boy, just joking. Come along.
Now, careful climbing down over those rocks. They're a bit treacherous, you know.
Yeah, I'll be careful.
Well, there we are. Now, come out to this little ledge. You see, plenty of water here.
Perhaps, ah, perhaps we wouldn't need to divert at all.
Mm-hmm.
Now, notice the formation of this, this rock. Typical of the, ah, the Neo-Berstezene period
and, ah, a marked tendency to form vast caverns with underground springs.
Oh, you mean you've got some idea about there being caves under there?
Well, yes, that is in a way. Oh, that's exactly it.
Just step a little closer to the edge.
Shine your flashlight down there. I wouldn't be surprised if you could see the beginnings
of some quite extensive, carnivorous formations even here.
Yeah, yeah, I say, gee, maybe if there wasn't so much water, people could even go down there and explore.
Ha-ha. The rock was quite slippery.
And he was very near the edge when I slipped against him.
Ah!
I saw his flashlight bobbing for a moment in the dark pool below,
and then the current swept it on, and it was gone.
It was with a heavy heart, at all possible speed, that I headed for the Mexican border.
I was on the main highway, booming along and just coming out into the valley
when I saw the thing that spelled my doom.
For there, dead ahead were two police cars and a group of men standing in the middle of the road,
prominent among them, dripping wet and wildly waving his arms, was Sonny.
There he is! He's the one I was telling you about.
Yes, sir. Are you Professor Witherspoon?
Yes, yes.
Well, we've got a young fellow here who would like to talk to you.
Well, I haven't any time now to talk.
I know you've come down this way after what you said about the caves.
What caves? Charges.
When I slipped and fell in, gee, I was scared for a minute.
Well, when I...
You must have known it all the time, didn't you?
Known? Known what?
About the caves. And boy, what caves.
Yeah.
You know, I'm quite a swimmer, and I had my flashlight,
and I just went along with a car all the way down and came out the other end here.
And what I saw, boy, were you ever right.
Uh, uh, was I?
Look about your mammoth cave of Kentucky.
What?
Oh, gosh, once we've diverted some of the river out of there, boats could go all the way down.
That's what I was telling you before.
With Henry Wayne's money, we could put in lights and everything.
Big lights, yes.
People would come from all over the country.
Of course.
Honestly, they're one of the seven wonders of the world.
Yeah, we might find another one.
They're terrific. Well, gee whiz, aren't you excited?
Excited? My boy, I think I'm going to faint.
And so, if you have ever been in this part of the country,
you will surely have heard of the marvelous underground river of Pratt,
a source of endless delight to tourists and a very substantial revenue to our citizens
and our famous falls, Pratt Falls.
And now Pratt'sville not only enjoys the wonders of irrigation, but of innumerable hot dog stands,
motels, gambling casinos, and all the other adjuncts of those noisome communities known as resorts.
As for myself, I am the general manager of the caverns at a very handsome stipend
and have been living for many years in solid and respectable domesticity with the former widow Osterman.
What I have done is really nothing.
Really nothing.
It's no more than any public-spirited man would have done, but I must confess that,
call it vanity if you will, it is a source of enormous and constant enjoyment to me
whenever I am proudly pointed out to the admiring newcomers as the leading citizen of Pratt County.
Suspense!
Presented by Roma Wines, R-O-M-A. Made in California for enjoyment throughout the world.
Before we hear again from Alan Hale, the star of The Leading Citizen of Pratt County, tonight's Suspense Play,
this is Truman Bradley for Roma Wines.
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And for the bridal couple, Roma Champagne makes the perfect going away gift.
Friends, this is Alan Hale.
Well, it's been a real pleasure to appear on Suspense, a long time favorite of mine.
I'm sure you won't want to miss next Thursday's show when that fine actor, Mr. Robert Young,
will star in a suspense play about a man who wakes up one morning to find that he has lost track of several months
and that the room in which he finds himself is a cell in an insane asylum.
I know you'll be listening.
I will.
Thank you.
Alan Hale appeared to the courtesy of Warner Brothers, producers of Night and Day.
Next Thursday, same time, Roma Wines will bring you Robert Young as star of Suspense, Radio's outstanding theater of thrill.
Produced by William Spear for the Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California.
Here is a message from your government.
Millions of men, women and children in Europe and Asia today face starvation.
America, the best fed nation in the world, can relieve this crisis by making available to foreign purchases
increased amounts of wheat, rice, fats and oils.
You can help vitally.
Eat more of the plentiful foods.
Don't waste food.
Turn in all used fats.
And give in money or canned goods, but preferably in money, to your local emergency food collection.
This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.