Auto Light and its 96,000 dealers present Suspense.
Tonight, Auto Light brings you a story of desperation and terror, Another Man's Poison,
starring Mr. Charles Boyer.
I am Claude Bourget.
Regardless of what you've read about me in the papers, money means nothing more and nothing
less to me than it does to any other man of moderate income.
You must realize that.
You must know that I only wanted to give my family every comfort and advantage I could.
At least I think that's the reason I hesitated several months ago.
At least I hope it's the reason.
Because there it was.
Wouldn't you have looked at it?
Wouldn't you have opened it up?
A package wrapped in brown paper and tied with a heavy cord.
Wouldn't you have opened it?
And then all I knew was that I had to get home with it.
Quickly.
Alice!
Claude!
What?
Claude!
What's the matter?
What happened?
Look.
Look at this.
Look at it.
There must be thousands of dollars in this bundle.
Seventy-five, perhaps a hundred thousand.
But where?
How?
I stopped, you know, the way I stop.
I stop for a white flowers for the office.
The way I do sometimes.
It was there.
It must have been there for months.
Call the police.
You can tell it was there for months by the faded bills and...
Police?
Why the police?
Because it isn't ours.
Someone lost it.
I don't know.
What if I do?
Isn't there money?
Let anyone with a good enough story come along.
Anyone and they would turn it over to him.
They wouldn't be out anything.
Claude, you have to turn it over to the police.
How could we explain it?
We'll move away, go to the Pacific coast or something.
This is our home.
The children have their friends here.
Our friends.
Yes, you're right.
Fine.
Just allow me one thing.
Let me protect our interest.
Isn't that reasonable?
To protect our rights?
How do you mean?
Well, I'll go and see Dom Haskell.
All right.
But how can a lawyer help?
What for?
You said all right.
You said you would let me look after our interest in this.
And then you'll give it to the police.
I'll do the right thing.
You know that, Alice.
Now give me a statue.
A small one.
When I found that money, I had looked around quickly.
Like a fugitive.
Like I had done something wrong.
Why?
I don't know.
Just know it was more cash than I had ever seen at one time.
$98,000 is a lot of money.
Especially to a man who is 46 years old and hasn't made more than $7,000 a year.
A man who is scrimmed and saved like any other man who loves his family.
That's why I had to know my rights and responsibilities for my family.
Dom Haskell told me it would take 12 months to get the money.
12 months?
Well, Claude, either you keep the money in your possession or turn it over to the police.
Either one.
But with either one, you have to give an affidavit to the police within three days.
And at the end of a year?
The law says it's yours if no one presents valid proof to the contrary.
Hey, mister, who is to say it's valid?
Who is to say that the proof is strong enough?
The police, if you turn the whole thing over to them.
Don't I have a voice in this?
Don't I have any rights?
Oh, it's your choice, Claude.
Now look, possession is nine-tenths of the law.
That's what the book says.
I don't have to give the police the money as long as I tell them, is that it?
Is that what you want me to do?
You're asking me to tell you exactly what you should do.
Well, Claude, I can't.
Now both ways are legal.
Both ways are right.
What would you do?
If I'd found the money?
Yes, if you had to decide.
I'm asking you as a friend.
If you had to decide between keeping it or turning it over to the police.
Well, I don't know.
No one could know if it's worth the risk.
No one but the man who actually had to make such a decision.
If it's worth the risk, what did he mean?
What risk?
I had a feeling he meant something evil.
I didn't want to hear it.
He had given me legal advice. That was all I wanted.
I didn't want to hear about risks.
I have taken risks for much less, much less.
But I am a believer in law, doing everything by the law.
You learn that in real estate business.
That it is best to do everything by the law.
Anything else, Mr. Bourget?
Well, I think that's all, Lieutenant.
Get all of it, Joe.
That one part Mr. Bourget mentioned, the money.
I didn't quite get where he was keeping it.
Clarify that, Mr. Bourget?
Just keeping it.
You know what you're letting yourself in for?
Now look, I came here voluntarily, Lieutenant.
I came to the police of my own free will.
Oh, I said you didn't.
But you imply things I do not like.
It's not me.
I'm sure you're straight because I know you a little.
But there are strangers who won't believe you actually found 98,000.
There aren't many who do that.
But it doesn't take many.
Never has.
You attempt to frighten me.
Why, I don't know.
I don't understand.
I'm trying to protect you.
From nothing.
From nothing at all.
This will be in the papers, every paper in the country.
I expect it to.
There is no other way the owner can be found.
I want everyone to know.
And everyone will.
Every grifter and fast con man.
Every boiler room spiel artist.
Now, is there anything illegal in my keeping the money?
No.
Well, then you have my number, Lieutenant.
And I'll refer any legitimate claim to you for investigation.
Bourget.
Yes?
98,000 will buy a lot of things.
But one of them isn't a new neck.
I hate Lieutenant Gaston.
He hasn't done anything to me, but I hated him.
He had made me afraid.
No, he had made me realize I was afraid.
Why do we hate people who make us realize we are afraid?
But the months passed and nothing happened.
Just torrents of lies and hysterical claims.
A few threats.
Some I turned over to Gaston.
Nothing, nothing at all.
Claude.
What?
The phone.
No, what time is it?
Almost dawn.
Claude, don't answer it.
Oh, please, Claude.
Who's called?
Yes?
Mr. Claude Bourget?
Yes?
Kansas City calling.
Here's your party.
In the city?
Bourget?
Who is this?
That's not important right now.
I won't speak unless you identify yourself.
You don't have to.
I'll do the talking.
That's better.
Now, if it is about the money, the police investigate all...
Shut up.
And listen.
I will not be talked to like that.
What was it, dear?
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
Another one of those fanatics.
Come to bed, Claude.
Claude, come to bed.
I'm sorry, sir.
Your party was disconnected.
Go ahead, please.
I'll make it simple and clear.
Until I see you, don't spend any of that money.
Don't recognize anybody's claim to it.
Don't contact the police.
It'll be easier for you.
A lot easier if you follow my instructions.
No, no, listen.
Listen.
Hey, come back.
What is it?
Claude, come to bed.
Nothing, Elise.
Nothing.
Now, what would you do if you had found something valuable
and the crook wanted it?
What would you do if a threatening call came in the middle of the night?
That's when it's worst.
In the middle of the night.
If the sun were shining, the worst would not have been so frightening.
And then do you know what you do?
What I did.
I watched each crab listen for its car, waited for its sigh of the wind.
And as time passed, yes, a month, a whole month,
I knew the man was waiting, watching, watching and waiting,
waiting for the safe time to come to me.
I became so tense.
I even jumped when the mailman walked into my office abruptly.
Oh, well, well.
Oh, it's you.
And you keep coming.
There must be about 20 letters in this bag.
Any more?
No.
Funny, you'd think after all these months there'd be somebody to claim it.
Really?
Well, look at these letters.
All of them, all the same.
Lying, cheating, blackmail.
Not one legitimate claim.
Not one.
Not even one?
What?
Claude, you've lived here how long?
15 years?
18?
18 years in this community.
That's right.
And most people like you.
But you know, a few of them get whacked up sometimes.
Sometimes they'll let a guy who talks like they do take their silverware.
But an honest guy with an accent can't be honest because he has an accent.
You know what I mean?
Yes.
Well, if he has $98,000.
Especially if he's got $98,000.
They say if you were playing straight, somebody would have come along with a legitimate claim.
I have been honest.
By the law.
Honest by the law.
I know, I know.
Only say all these letters.
Hundreds of letters.
And I won't read any more of those.
Tell them that.
See?
Into the wastebasket.
Tell them!
I knew I shouldn't have shouted at him.
I knew it.
He was a friend.
But even friends became a burden while I waited.
I lost interest in my work.
Didn't pay attention to it.
I began driving around the town looking for something.
For someone.
For the man phoned.
I know it sounds crazy because I didn't even know what he looked like.
Yet, I thought maybe something somehow would give him away.
All the while knowing nothing would.
That's why my friends were becoming a burden.
That's why I was hard to talk to them.
Hard to talk to anybody.
Oh, I don't care what the reason is, Claude.
You can't treat friends like that.
People would just stop inviting us to part.
I was getting on my nerves.
The past weeks everybody does.
Everybody.
All right, all right.
Go inside.
I'll get the paper.
Bourget.
Who is it?
My name is Kronick.
I hope you followed my instructions.
Now, if you have a legitimate claim, why are you sneaking around?
Keep your voice down.
You're frightened, Bourget.
That's good.
Of you?
Now, just tell me what you want.
The money.
You'll never get it.
It's in the bank.
Then you'll take it out.
You'll never make me.
I think you'll want to.
Now, listen fast, Bourget.
A year and a half ago there was a big upstate payroll job.
The money is mine.
Four hundred thousand.
Half of it's been found.
Only half.
Three men pull that job off.
One's in South America.
No, no, it belongs to me.
And one's in jail.
The third one, nobody saw him.
So he could be anybody.
No.
Me, you, anybody.
Leave me alone.
And that one guy in jail, they wanted him to talk for a long time.
He's ready to now.
He's ready to say Claude Bourget was number three.
That Claude Bourget killed the payroll guard.
That Claude Bourget is responsible.
I don't believe you.
I don't believe a word you say.
He sent a letter to the police in this town.
I'm known here.
I'm respected.
I'm known.
What judge would believe a man just happened to find ninety-eight thousand dollars in a
field?
Come now, Mr. Bourget.
What judge would believe that?
For years, I'm known here.
The man in jail can't say he made a mistake.
When I tell him to, good night, Bourget.
I'm known.
Auto Light is bringing you Mr. Charles Boyer with Irene Tedrow in another man's house.
Charles Boyer with Irene Tedrow in another man's poison.
Tonight's production in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
And now, Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage, Mr. Charles Boyer in Elliot Lewis's
production of another man's poison.
A tale well calculated to keep you in Suspense.
In just a few hours, overnight, everything had gone crazy.
Nothing was what it had been.
I couldn't make my wife understand why I couldn't go to the police, why it was different now.
I couldn't make her realize the terrible predicament we were in.
That the money was ours and Krainick, or anyone else, had a right to it.
But it wasn't time to plan, not a moment.
The letter came, I knew it had come.
I knew it the moment I saw the squad car pull up in front of my house to take me to police
headquarters.
I know it will straighten out, Mr. Bourget, I'm sure of it.
Well, it had better straighten out.
I've never heard of anything so preposterous.
You must realize this robbery was and is a great embarrassment to the police, Mr. Bourget.
Why should I be made to suffer for police inefficiency?
A criminal, a common thief, a convict, writes a letter, is his work better than mine?
I've been a respectable citizen.
We didn't choose to believe you, we want to believe you.
Well, then goodbye.
I have a lot of work to do.
You're making it tough for us to go along with you.
Are you accusing me?
It's a request, I'm asking you.
Just bring in the money, we'll check it.
Check the money?
Why would you check the money?
Some of the serial numbers in that stick up are registered.
You suspect me, that's it?
Just bring in the money.
There, Lieutenant, I hope this satisfies you.
Five bills, Bourget, I ask you for all of them.
Oh, five or five hundred, what difference does it make?
If they are registered, if you can tell you what you want to know.
These are the old bills, you're not being very cooperative.
Went with some new bills?
Well, just check the serial numbers.
I've had enough of this, this inquisition.
Okay.
Well, what is it?
They're not listed.
Ah, now let me alone.
Sit down.
What?
I said sit down.
You don't seem to realize your position, Bourget.
Don't try to intimidate me.
Where's the paper the money was wrapped in?
The paper?
Where is it?
I don't know.
Burns?
Maybe, how should I know?
Why?
Where should I know?
Why should I have kept it?
When you first found the money, you saw your attorney before you came to me today.
No, no, no, wait a minute.
Why'd you do that?
I don't have to tell you.
You don't have to, true.
But why don't you want to?
Well, it seemed like the right thing to do.
The mailman on your office roof was heard to say you threw away several letters unopened.
That's a lie.
I opened and I've had everyone, always, all of them.
Think hard.
All of them.
Well, yes, except one day, well, it was nothing.
It was this kind of idiotic talk which made me do it.
Why should a man in jail name you as one of the holdup men he pulled off a job with?
I want to talk to my lawyer.
Why?
It's my legal right.
It is.
And you didn't have to answer any of these questions.
I just wanted you to understand why it would help if you brought in all the money.
Well, all right, yes, all of it.
Because even more than a robbery is involved in this, there's a murder.
What?
The murder of the payroll guard.
You can go now, Mr. Berger.
I said you can go now.
Yes.
A feedback no one would keep, I also threw away.
As any man would see a lawyer first, I too saw one.
As any human being would have become angered, I tore up the letters.
But these all meant something else when Gaston put them together.
They meant I too must add them up and find the exact, the perfect answer.
It had to be perfect.
One misstep, one error, and my life, my business, everything would be gone.
It had to be perfect.
Call Tom Haskell.
You need a lawyer, Claude.
You must have a lawyer.
Oh, I went to him once.
Did he anticipate anything?
Did he tell me what to do?
Well, you need him now.
The money.
They registered any of the serial numbers of that money.
I'm through, I'm finished.
Well, maybe it is the...
It must be.
Everything fits together.
The robbery north of here, the amount of money, its age, Granick's story.
Give the money to the police.
Yes, yes, and if I do, Granick will not recall the letter.
But Claude, if the money isn't registered, there's nothing to fear if the money...
And if it is, what shall I do?
There must be something.
There has to be something.
But you're innocent, Claude.
Oh, yes, except that thousands of innocent men have gone to jail or been executed.
All innocent, all of them.
Oh, don't, Claude, don't say that.
They're circumstantial.
It's all circumstantial.
Most cases are money, the letter, or wrapping paper, and the serial numbers.
I don't even know what I was doing on the day of the robbery.
It was so long ago.
Why do you have to remember?
This is crazy.
You don't have to remember.
Well, I do, though.
That's what it's come to.
I must.
Well, then let's remember.
Let's try to remember.
Well, it was July.
Yes, that's what I was told.
The robbery was July of last year.
Well, we went away for the weekend.
Claude, remember that weekend we went away.
No, no, no, no, later.
Toward the end of the month, the last week in July.
The last week?
Yes.
The last week of July.
Yes.
We...
We, I don't remember.
Oh, I can't remember, Claude, I can't remember.
We have to.
Oh, Claude, don't.
Get, get, get rid of it.
We managed before.
We had what we wanted.
Get rid of it.
We had what we wanted.
We wanted to get rid of the money.
It's too late.
Don't you understand?
It's too late.
Oh, the newspapers.
What?
The newspapers.
The newspapers from that date.
The exact date.
Everything would be in them.
If I saw them...
Yes, you'd remember when you saw them.
You would.
I'll be back in an hour.
Now, don't answer the phone or the door until I get back.
I tell you, I tell you, you know when you are being hunted.
It wasn't Granick following me.
It was another pursuer.
A new one.
The police.
If I didn't know it, why did I glance over my shoulder when I entered the newspaper building?
I knew it and I saw him.
I went back to the fire room.
But as soon as I got there, I wanted to get out.
I felt something terrible would happen to me if I stayed.
I filled out a request slip and I saw...
Yes, I saw the girl.
Surreptitiously give it to the officer.
I waited like a stone image.
And finally, when the papers were given to me, I frantically searched them and found it.
As I found the paper and the date of the terrible information.
And then I had to get home.
Home.
I would be saved there.
Yes, home was a place to think, to figure things out, to save my life.
Are you sure, Claude?
Are you sure someone was following you?
I know, I've seen him before.
I know it was a detective.
I know you're too upset.
You think he was.
You imagine.
I tell you, the police are after me too.
No, Claude, they can't.
A year and a half.
They've waited a year and a half to get someone, anyone for that hold up.
Didn't seeing the papers help?
Certainly a lot.
You remember?
Do you remember?
What?
That week, the Laval farmland I went to see about.
I don't understand.
Upstate.
I had to go upstate that weekend.
Oh no.
Yes, of all weekends, that one.
I had to go upstate that one.
What can we do?
The money, the money, it's the only proof.
The only real proof.
They'll find it.
No they won't.
They'll never find it.
Give it to Kranick.
Give him the money.
Kranick?
But he's the only one of the three murderers who is alive and free.
Do you think he would let me live for 24 hours once he had the money?
Then burn it.
Burn it?
They'd never find it.
The proof, one way or the other, the proof would be gone.
Burn it?
A payroll guard was killed.
Come.
You have to.
Yes, of course.
Yes, I have to.
See with this, I'll get the money.
Strange, your cloth.
Don't open the door.
Kranick?
He's the killer.
Tell him I'm out.
Keep him away from the backyard.
Just a minute, please.
Hold it up.
Who's there?
He hasn't gone, Claudagon.
Don't burn it.
Put it out, you idiot.
It's gone, Kranick.
It's gone.
Out of my way.
Let go.
The gun.
I got it away from, it went off.
Beje, what the siffle did you...
Keep away, Lieutenant.
Keep away from me.
Put that gun down.
Doctor, give me.
Doctor.
This is Beje.
Call emergency.
Stay where you are, Alice.
The cloth.
If he dies, you'll have two murders on your Beje.
Kranick, listen.
You'll bleed to death.
Kranick, listen to me.
There won't be any doctor unless you tell them.
Tell them, Kranick.
Doctor.
Tell them, you idiot.
Tell them.
The frame.
The letter.
The frame up.
A doctor.
Please.
Go on.
I've seen Beje.
The letter.
It was a lie.
Thank you, Kranick.
Now, Alice.
Now, call a doctor.
Call a doctor.
Suspense presented by Auto Light.
Tonight's star, Mr. Charles Boyer.
Next week on Suspense, our star will be Mr. Jeff Chandler in Fresh Air, Sunshine, and
Murder.
Followed by Mr. Dick Powell in Overdrawn on Suspense.
Suspense is produced and directed by Elliot Lewis with music composed by Lucian Morrowek
and conducted by Lutte Gluskin.
Another Man's Poison was written for Suspense by Arthur Ross.
In tonight's story, Irene Tedrow was heard as Alice and Paul Fries as Kranick.
Featured in the cast were Herb Butterfield, Joseph Kearns, Trude Marson, and Russell Simpson.
All the other portions of this program were transcribed.
Charles Boyer may soon be seen starring in the Paramount picture, Rage of the Vulture.
And remember, next week on Suspense, Mr. Jeff Chandler in a tale we call Fresh Air, Sunshine,
and Murder.
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