Auto Light and its 96,000 dealers bring you Mr. Joseph Cotton in tonight's presentation
of Suspense.
Tonight Auto Light presents the story of a man who craved power, position, and money
and destroyed himself accomplishing it, a tale we call A Watery Grave, starring Mr.
Joseph Cotton.
Oh, Mr. Wilcox.
Why it's Oscar Auto.
You're looking way below par.
I feel that way too.
Well, let Dr. Wilcox have a look.
Uh-huh. Well, Oscar, I'd say you're suffering from a case of worn out spark plugs.
Let's visit the nearest Auto Light spark plug dealer.
He and his exclusive Auto Light plug check indicator will quickly show if I'm right.
And suppose you are.
Well, if that exclusive Auto Light plug check indicator shows that your spark plugs are
worn out or wrong for your style of driving, the Auto Light spark plug dealer will install
a bright brisk set of ignition engineered Auto Light spark plugs to give you smoother
performance, quick starts, and gas savings.
Okay, let's go.
But how do I find the location of the nearest Auto Light spark plug dealer?
Why, that's easy.
We'll call Western Union, buy number, and ask for operator 25.
She'll gladly tell us his location.
Let's go, Oscar, because from bumper to tail light, you're always right with Auto Light.
And now with A Watery Grave and the performance of Mr. Joseph Cotton, Auto Light hopes once
again to keep you in suspense.
How did it happen when everything was so good?
How did it get destroyed in five short hours?
How did I start to die?
In our city, a district attorney is an important man.
Our city is an important city in the nation.
Therefore, I am important as its district attorney.
The logic of law, the deductive reasoning that leads to everything.
It was only reasonable that such powerful interest should have come to me.
I had a case against McNeely which could have destroyed him.
What is it, Mr. McNeely?
I'm not in the habit of making these calls myself, Mr. Kelley.
It's obvious, but then you're not in this position very often either.
It's a daring thing you've done.
Only a question of getting a sufficiently strong case against you.
I've broken other district attorneys for attempting it.
They never had the evidence I do.
I don't think you'd want to try breaking me.
I can send you to prison for life.
You're right.
And yet, where I can't destroy you, I can prevent you from advancing, getting to a greater
position, a more prominent position in political life.
What does that mean?
It means it is no longer a question of can you be bought, but how much you want.
I've waited a long time for this moment to be able to bargain with you.
I respect your strength and perception.
It's worth a great deal to me, Mr. Kelley.
That is the matter of my chief witness.
If I don't prosecute you, he'll go to the state district attorney, perhaps to the federal
government.
That is part of what you will give me in exchange for the wealth you're going to receive.
Who is your chief witness?
I can guarantee you he'll not testify.
I would rather give myself my own guarantee on that matter.
It would mean his death, wouldn't it?
Mr. Kelley, all of us, any of us, even the most noble of persons, must look the other
way sometimes.
It's easy for you to say that.
It's easy for you to do.
To look the other way becomes the easiest thing in the world after a while.
All you have to know is why you're doing it and what you have to gain.
How does one look the other way?
How does one achieve the facility for turning around at precisely the right moment?
A trip to Europe.
My wife has always wanted to go to Europe.
She likes things like that.
His name?
Trip to Europe is something that is dreamed of, spoken of it often.
His name?
Bartell.
Ah, yes.
My good, trusted friend, Bartell.
Thank you, Mr. Kelley.
Who was Bartell, a man from the streets who had muscled his way into life?
Who was Bartell?
Circumstance had made him a witness to McNeely's worst plans.
Destiny had placed him in a position of value to the district attorney's office.
This valueless man, Bartell, happenstance and coincidence had made him the keeper of
dark secrets and illegal events which could have smashed an empire, an empire I was now
partnered to merely because I told them a name and looked the other way.
The first night out I waited on deck after dinner, waited for Betty to come out and we
would go to the main saloon.
Oh, it felt good to know your way in the world, to know when to look the other way.
Sometimes you only have to do it once if you plan right and Betty could have everything,
a bigger house, another servant in the house, up, up, moving up, so secure I didn't even
hear his footsteps approaching.
So positive all was going well I didn't even think of caution, so certain of success, everything
for Betty.
I was so pleased.
You're the only man I ever trusted.
Ah, Bartell.
The only man and a D.A. besides.
Ah, and you can still trust me.
Even after you said my name?
I'm getting rid of McNeely for you.
Are you?
You turned state's evidence.
If you didn't believe I could get rid of McNeely, you wouldn't have dared turn state's
evidence.
I believed you, I trusted you.
Let's stop the game.
Why did I ever think I could trust you?
Now tell me, you're a smart man, you went to college.
Of course it was to your advantage because if the law could get rid of McNeely for you,
that was better.
And safer.
So don't have any illusions about trusting me.
You never did, you needed me, that's different.
And you needed me, we needed each other, we still do, nothing's different.
Act, you're under bond, Bartell.
You're leaving the country without permission.
McNeely gave me permission, he had me shot at and I was wounded.
See my shoulder?
Fat on this side, fat from bandages.
You don't have a passport.
I don't need that either, I have money.
How'd you get aboard?
Oh, it's simple.
Easy to stay hidden for a day, a second and third day, that's something else.
I can fix it so you won't be let off, so you'll be sent right back.
Mr. Callan, I can put you in prison if I'm sent back.
A word would prevail against yours in any court of law.
Maybe against my word alone, but not McNeely's hired gunsel.
Both are words against yours.
You have him?
Some of my men do, yeah, he's safe at home.
Oh, I could discredit your testimony.
Ah, then why argue?
I have nothing to do with you.
You've got no choice, Mr. Callan.
Warning you, Bartel.
Well, what do you do, kill me?
You're not the kind who thinks like that.
You kill by law the legal way.
And I'll find a way by law.
Once I'm in Europe, they have different laws.
All right.
I'm a realist, Bartel.
So?
I only take calculated risks.
What's your price?
I have more money than you do, Callan, you couldn't buy me.
Then what do you want?
But you have more prestige than I do.
You're liked.
You know your way around the talkers.
Well, talk me off this ship.
Impossible.
Find a way.
You'll be discovered before we dock.
Not if you put me up in your cabin.
Bartel, wherever I'm involved, I'll listen and meet a man half way.
But me, me alone, not my wife.
If you involve my wife, I won't do a thing for you.
Not if my wife's involved in any way, not a thing.
I'm in a squeeze, Callan.
I'm finished unless you help me get into Europe.
But you'll be finished with me.
I've got enough power for that.
I'll find a way.
All right, I'll go with you.
No.
Meet me here in one hour.
I walked away calm.
I made a point of walking away confident, but my stomach felt sick.
Maybe I thought of trying to kill him then and didn't know it.
I'd been raised to respect human life.
I'd been educated to be decent, to forgive.
But Bartel wasn't human.
He was a beast.
And is there anything in the ethic which says we cannot protect our lives when attacked?
Bartel was destroying me, pulling me carefully, built world down about me.
A world Betty must know nothing about, a world I had built to protect Betty.
Law school to ward politics, to assistant district attorney.
So long lay up, the hardest minds to fight, the most realistic men to please.
Only the toughest stay with it.
Only the toughest and shrewdest get to my position because my position leads to the highest offices
if you're smart, if you look the other way.
Maybe I knew I wanted to kill him then.
The sea was calm.
The ship wasn't pitching.
Yet my stomach was sick.
Half an hour was gone and still no plan.
Where to go?
Who to turn to?
What to ask?
Nothing anywhere.
My mind posed questions for which there were no answers.
Would I lose all I owned in the world?
Problems for which there were no solutions.
If I lost everything, would Betty go too?
Were the two things inseparable, my success and Betty?
I'll be ready in a minute.
Robert, is that you?
Who is it?
Oh, Robert, you didn't answer.
There.
Drink helps.
Helps what?
You go to the dining saloon yourself.
I'll be along soon.
Do you mind if I ask what's wrong?
I can handle it.
Yes, of course.
I'll be in the dining saloon.
Wait a minute.
Come back.
All right.
What is it?
You were going to leave, weren't you?
I don't understand.
You'd have left me.
You saw I was troubled, very troubled, and I wanted to talk to you, but you made me ask
you.
Oh, please, don't get angry, Robert.
Please don't argue.
You always make me ask you for your attention, always, ever since we've been married.
Not always, Robert.
Not ever since we were married.
Most of the time.
You changed.
You got quiet.
You never wanted to talk about things I was doing.
You never accepted my suggestion.
You didn't understand the legal profession, the workings of law.
That's why I stopped giving suggestions.
It wasn't suggestions I wanted.
It was encouragement to have you believe in me.
But you never did.
The more I gave you, the more I tried to give you, the less you seemed to care.
Oh, please, stop.
You think all these things come out of the sky?
Do you think they were given to me?
I had to fight for them, to fight to get things for you.
I never asked for them.
Oh, but you took them.
You never refused them.
You never said, no, I don't want a lot of clothes.
No, I don't want a fur coat.
You never said no.
Stop shouting.
Stop.
Shout.
Everything.
For you.
But you give nothing in return.
No love or affection or like, not even liking.
Why didn't you ask for a divorce?
I'll give you a divorce.
Easy.
Simple.
Is that what you want?
Oh, I can't stand anymore.
Dear, you're not going to leave now.
My arm.
You know why you want to divorce me?
You know why you won't?
Because of these comforts.
That's all you want.
You'd lose them.
You'd lose them overnight.
Why do you do this to me?
I've paid for everything in my life, for everything.
Everything you have.
Only now it's time for you to pay too.
To kill a man is the easiest thing in the world to do.
To kill a man who would take your wife from you.
I know the logic.
I know it's wrong.
Bartel wasn't taking my wife from me, but he was taking position and wealth and those
things kept my wife to me, I thought.
I knew.
Bartel had to be destroyed and she would have to be partner to it.
That way she'd never leave.
That way I'd achieve everything.
That's why I told her the story as if I'd memorized it.
As if it was the only thing I'd ever thought about.
As if Bartel's death was the last obstacle in our life.
No, Robert.
Please, don't, Robert.
You'll distract him up there on the deck.
At the dark place on the deck.
Don't ask me.
Don't make me part of this.
Together we plan it.
Together we need him.
Together.
Come on, Betty, the hour's up.
The hour's up.
Radio Light is bringing you Mr. Joseph Carton in A Watery Grave, tonight's production in
radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Wow, I feel great now.
Now, thanks to your Auto Light spark plug dealer and his exclusive plug check indicator, Oscar.
And those new ignition engineered Auto Light spark plugs.
They're right at home in my ignition system.
That's because Auto Light spark plugs are designed by the same Auto Light engineers
who design the coil, distributor, and all the other important parts of complete ignition
systems used as original equipment on many leading makes of our finest cars, trucks, and
tractors.
What Auto Light spark plugs did I get, Mr. Wilcox?
The new Auto Light resistor type, Oscar.
They give double life, greater gas savings, and quicker starts as compared to spark plugs
without a built in resistor.
And the Auto Light resistor spark plug is only one of a complete line of ignition engineered
Auto Light spark plugs designed for every use.
So friends, take a tip from me and see your Auto Light spark plug dealer.
Let him check your spark plugs, and remember, from bumper to tail light, you're always right
with Auto Light.
And now, Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood sound stage, Mr. Joseph Cotton, in Elliot
Lewis's production of A Watery Grave, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
How did I start to die then at that moment?
As we walked along the deck, did I start to die then because I knew I would kill Bartell?
Does one die a little if one plans to kill a human being and die more when one does it?
And to compound it, Your Honor, funny to think, Your Honor, funny to think that way now.
To compound it by knowing your wife hates you more than anything in the world because
she's terrified, infuriated by her hate, but pleased with her terror.
How can she hate me so?
In so short a time, I gave her everything.
I tried to be something important for her and rich for her and kill for her.
As we walked along the deck, I had no real idea how I would kill Bartell, no exact idea,
but it had to be done.
I held that his arm tightly as we approached the dark part of the deck near the railing,
the place where Bartell was, not actually a railing, an entrance for a ramp with only
a chain across it.
Bartell, Bartell, this is my wife.
What did you decide?
I've been talking to her.
I've been explaining to her.
What did you decide?
Don't talk to me like that, Bartell.
Don't ever talk to me like that.
Do you put me in your stateroom?
Yes, yes, of course.
And guarantee to get me off the ship?
I couldn't guarantee.
Guarantees and things like this are impossible.
There are officials to get at, ship's officers, finding the right people.
You're good at putting in a fix, Mr. Callan.
You've been putting in fixes all the way from the slums up to the penthouses.
Ship shouldn't stop you.
Don't say things like that.
Why not?
Everybody knows how McNeely pays off and you're one of McNeely's boys now.
Anytime he wants to put his fingers in a dirty deal, he'll use your hands to do it.
Don't talk like that in front of my wife.
She'll get used to it.
McNeely doesn't care who knows about his dirty-handed men.
Shut up.
Shut up!
I lunged at him.
I didn't even reach for his gun he was carrying.
He didn't think I was capable of doing it.
His back was against the chain, his good arm flailing wildly over the chain, over and
into the water.
I didn't see him in the doctor's office.
I didn't know until I heard the scream.
Let go!
It was too late for Bartell to let go.
He had a grip on my wife's arm.
Before I could move, before I could do anything, it was insane.
She was pulled over the side too, over into the water.
I had to save her.
There was little I could do to save her would be to save Bartell, but I didn't hesitate.
I know that.
I'm sure of it.
I grabbed the nearest light preserver and hurled it over the side.
I could barely see them struggling in the water with the ship's propellers coming nearer.
And then I knew I would have to jump.
I would go over.
I could still finish Bartell and save Betty.
Still, I could have everything and it would be called an accident.
I went over the side.
Go over it.
Get the light preserver.
Lie flat.
Don't try to swim.
But watch.
From the propellers.
Help.
Robert, help.
Suddenly it was quiet.
Suddenly the terror was gone and I could see Betty staying afloat near the light preserver
and beyond that Bartell struggling with one good arm, struggling to get to the light preserver
first.
I forgot about Betty.
I forgot everything except that I had to get him before he took the light preserver.
You'll never get it.
Keep, keep back.
A gun.
I have a gun.
Nothing now.
Robert, Robert, don't.
Keep away from me.
Now.
Keep away.
Now Bartell.
Now try to talk.
Hands.
Now tell your story.
I'm telling you.
Tell it.
Over Like Water.
Under water.
No.
Tell it.
No No.
From the sea.
Tell your story.
Tell it.
in the sea.
You... you murdered him.
It was Bartell who us.
Takes a preservative and holds onto it.
Don't you understand it was Bartell who us?
I never knew you.
The ship will turn around and pick us up soon.
You must understand.
I never really knew you.
It takes something to kill a man.
Bartell was the killer.
A ruthless man, I know.
I was the one who forced him to turn state's evidence.
Something horrible in you.
Maybe that's why we've been growing apart.
Maybe I saw it but didn't recognize it.
I'd never seen it before.
You see it every day in the eyes of the people.
That's a lie.
Look at the murders.
Look at war.
Can't make people kill each other if they don't want to.
Could you?
How could you?
I'll never forget the look on his face
when he knew he was going to be drowned.
That you were going to do.
It's terrible.
Crying.
Crying for him.
Crying for a hoodlum.
A killer.
Crying for a gangster.
Yes.
Tears for him.
I don't deserve it.
Why should he be cried over?
Why him?
You never wept for me.
I weep for you too.
I don't need pity.
I don't need your pity.
I'm not giving you pity.
I'm trying to find a way to forgive you.
Here.
Hold on to the life preserver.
Don't touch me.
You'll drown if you let go.
Get away from me.
You'll claw at me.
Don't come near me.
You only want the life preserver.
All right. You want to believe it. It's true.
And I'll get it.
I claw you. I claw your eyes.
You'll never have a chance.
The water carried me faster.
You'll never catch up to me.
I'll...
I'll catch up.
Oh, Betty.
Don't be a fool. Come back.
Betty.
Come back. The ship will turn around.
The ship will save us.
Die, Robertson.
Die like you'd let anyone die for you.
Die for yourself.
I don't need the life preserver.
I can hold out until the ship turns around.
They're still going for the horizon.
The ship.
They'll turn around.
I'm the biggest sweet on the ship.
They'll miss us and turn around in a few minutes.
What makes you think you're so important?
What makes you think you'd be missed?
I...
I am important.
What makes you want to be so big?
So much?
Oh.
It was...
for you.
What I've struggled so hard to get.
Oh. For you.
For yourself.
Getting rich to please yourself, but you never enjoyed it either.
You would have left me if I'd stopped.
Stopped making so much.
I only wanted love.
Only wanted a family. Your love. Your children.
Only yours.
Oh. You mean that.
You do mean that.
It's too late.
Too late.
Oh, we can.
In time, we can forget.
How?
How can I forget? How can you?
Oh, you're right.
It was for me, and it wasn't for the money.
For the wealth. It was for power.
Not... not even that.
Oh, darling.
Darling.
Darling Betty.
Oh, my wonderful Betty.
Robert.
The ship is turning.
Hold on, Robert.
I can't.
And I'll come to you.
The life preserver, it can support both of us.
When did I start to die, Betty?
I'm dying now.
When did I start to die?
Don't. Don't talk like that.
Hold up, Robert.
When I knew I would kill Bartell.
It was sooner.
When I said I would look the other way.
Yes, Mr. McNeely.
You can kill Bartell.
I will look the other way.
Hold up, darling.
Yes, Mr. McNeely.
Only I started to die long before, years before,
maybe I've been killing myself all my life,
a slow way.
A subtle way.
Darling, please hold on a minute longer.
Only a minute.
I can.
My darling.
I love you.
Suspense presented by Auto Light.
Tonight's star, Mr. Joseph Cotton.
This is Harlow Wilcox speaking for Auto Light,
world's largest independent manufacturer
of automotive electrical equipment.
It is the world's largest
and most powerful
automotive equipment manufacturer.
It is a large-scale,
high-quality,
independent manufacturer of automotive electrical equipment.
Auto-Lite is proud to serve the greatest names in the industry.
And during these early months of 52, the Auto-Lite family joins in saluting the leading manufacturers
who install Auto-Lite products as original equipment.
Our Auto-Lite family is made up of the nearly 30,000 men and women in 28 great Auto-Lite
plants from coast to coast and in still other Auto-Lite plants in many foreign countries.
It also includes more than 18,000 people who have invested a portion of their savings in
Auto-Lite, as well as 96,000 Auto-Lite distributors and dealers in the United States and thousands
more in Canada and throughout the world.
Our Auto-Lite family will salute the leading truck manufacturers who use Auto-Lite products
on the next Auto-Lite Suspense Television program.
If you live in a television area, check the day and time of suspense on television so
that you'll be sure to see this program.
And remember, be with us next week for another thrilling Auto-Lite Suspense program on radio.
Next week, our star will be Mr. Frank Lovejoy in the recreation of an historical puzzle,
a radio dramatization of The Wreck of the Old Ninety-Seven, a story based on fact and
presented on Suspense.
Suspense is produced and directed by Elliot Lewis, with music composed by Lucian Morrowick
and conducted by Ludd Luskin.
A watery grave was written for Suspense by Arthur Ross.
In tonight's story, Mary Jane Kraft was heard as Betty, Stan Waxman as McNeely, and Joseph
Kearns as Bartel.
Joseph Cotton may soon be seen in the untamed, a Universal International picture co-starring
Shelley Winters.
And remember next week on Suspense, Mr. Frank Lovejoy in The Wreck of the Old Ninety-Seven.
Last July, the nation's worst flood in a decade smashed through Kansas and Missouri.
The Red Cross was on the job to relieve the suffering and shelter the homeless.
This was only one of 300 domestic disasters in which the Red Cross gave aid last year.
To carry on its vital work, the Red Cross needs your financial aid now.
Give generously.
This is the CBS Radio Network.