1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,000 And now, tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. 2 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:20,880 Tonight, the story of how perhaps the smallest of items can be the cause of unbelievable 3 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:22,400 terror and hardship. 4 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:25,160 In this case, the lack of a little loose change. 5 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:33,400 So now with Harry Bartell as Clark, here is tonight's Suspense play, Chicken Feed. 6 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:42,280 All right, it was a silly thing to fight over, I admit it. 7 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:45,800 A nickel, a measly worthless nickel, Chicken Feed. 8 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:49,220 Junior asked for a nickel and I flipped it over to him and Mary said I shouldn't spoil 9 00:00:49,220 --> 00:00:50,220 the kid. 10 00:00:50,220 --> 00:00:52,960 It was time he learned the value of money and I said, great Scott, if I couldn't give 11 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:55,560 my own child a nickel without her jumping down my throat. 12 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:58,040 Oh, you know how those things get going. 13 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:01,680 You keep saying things you shouldn't and she lashes out with an answer and before you know 14 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:10,280 it, you've stormed out of the house and you're taking it out on the car. 15 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:12,680 Fifty miles cooled me down a little, but not much. 16 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:15,080 I automatically slowed up when I came to the sign. 17 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:17,800 You are now entering Lansing, California. 18 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:22,560 Go slow and see our town, go fast and see our jail. 19 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:25,760 Going through the quiet Sunday street gave me time to think of something besides the 20 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:28,600 biting words Mary and I had slugged at each other. 21 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:31,040 I pulled up at a little cafe next to the police station. 22 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:34,240 It had a whitewashed sign on the window. 23 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:37,400 Best cup of coffee in town for five cents. 24 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:38,400 I went in. 25 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:39,400 I resent that officer, Brady. 26 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:40,400 Too over easy, Sam, heavy on the pride. 27 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:41,400 What's yours, mister? 28 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:42,400 Coffee, please. 29 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:43,400 Coming up. 30 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:52,400 Here you are. 31 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:56,320 Thanks. 32 00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:58,400 Say Officer Brady, how's your star boarders? 33 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:00,400 Well, Phillip, they're coming for him in the morning. 34 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:02,400 Think you'll be able to hold him till then? 35 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:05,400 You got out of that Bennington jail like a paper bag. 36 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:06,400 Don't worry, sister. 37 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:07,600 Phillip won't get out of this one. 38 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:11,240 I listened to them with half an ear while I sipped my coffee. 39 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:15,280 There was a stack of the local papers nearby and I pulled one over to look at. 40 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:17,640 This Phillips was on the front page. 41 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:18,640 Bank robber. 42 00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:19,640 Killed a teller. 43 00:02:19,640 --> 00:02:22,640 He had a face I wouldn't want to run into. 44 00:02:22,640 --> 00:02:23,640 Close. 45 00:02:23,640 --> 00:02:26,440 After a while, the hot coffee made me feel better. 46 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:29,440 Maybe, maybe I'd been at fault as much as Mary. 47 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:32,720 She wasn't the only one who had a bad temper. 48 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:37,640 On a sudden impulse, I left my coffee and went over the phone on the far wall. 49 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:41,440 I heard the dial tone, then I fished in my pocket for change. 50 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:44,440 It was empty. 51 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:46,040 Say, Miss, could you change a dollar for me? 52 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:47,040 I want to use the phone. 53 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:48,040 Yes, sir. 54 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:49,040 Hmm. 55 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:52,040 What's the matter, Mister? 56 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:53,040 My wallet. 57 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:54,040 I seem to... 58 00:02:54,040 --> 00:03:00,640 Look, I'll be back in a minute. 59 00:03:00,640 --> 00:03:02,840 Mary wasn't the only one with a temper. 60 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:06,840 I'd stormed out of the house without changing the contents of my pockets to the suit I was 61 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:07,840 wearing. 62 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:08,840 I didn't have a dime on me, not a nickel. 63 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:11,840 I rummaged in the glove compartment. 64 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:16,440 Mary sometimes left a coin purse, but this time, naturally, it wasn't there. 65 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:18,440 What seems to be the trouble, Mister? 66 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:22,840 Oh, officer, I seem to have come off without my money. 67 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:23,840 Embarrassing. 68 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:24,840 Yeah. 69 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:26,840 I didn't realize it until I tried to phone. 70 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:27,840 Where's your driver's license? 71 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:30,840 It's in my wallet in San Francisco. 72 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:32,840 Got any other identification? 73 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:35,840 Well, the registration slip on the car. 74 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:36,840 That's the car. 75 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:37,840 What about you? 76 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:38,840 Look, officer, I'm Ralph Clark. 77 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:39,840 Clark and Jacobs in the Hatfield building. 78 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:40,840 We're attorneys. 79 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:45,840 Kind of far from home to be without any dough, aren't you? 80 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,840 Well, I came out of the house without changing the stuff into this suit. 81 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:49,840 You know how that happens. 82 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:52,840 How do you happen to have the keys to the car? 83 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:55,840 I don't take them out when it's in the garage. 84 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:56,840 Say, you don't think... 85 00:03:56,840 --> 00:03:58,840 Where you had it for? 86 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:02,840 I know it sounds funny, but nowhere, really. 87 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:05,840 You see, I had a fight with my wife and I just batted out of the house to cool off. 88 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:07,840 I'll tell you what, Mr. Clark. 89 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:10,840 Suppose we just mosey over to the station. 90 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:11,840 Station? 91 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:12,840 Say, what is it? 92 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:13,840 Nothing. 93 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:14,840 Nothing at all. 94 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:16,840 Just next door and you can call your wife from there. 95 00:04:16,840 --> 00:04:18,840 I don't see why that's necessary. 96 00:04:18,840 --> 00:04:20,840 If you just lend me the money, I could call here and reverse the charges. 97 00:04:20,840 --> 00:04:21,840 We'll go. 98 00:04:21,840 --> 00:04:23,840 You can leave the car here. 99 00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:24,840 I'll take that key. 100 00:04:24,840 --> 00:04:25,840 Now, look here, officer. 101 00:04:25,840 --> 00:04:26,840 I don't get... 102 00:04:26,840 --> 00:04:27,840 Move. 103 00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:32,840 Come on, move. 104 00:04:32,840 --> 00:04:35,840 Hi, Jim. 105 00:04:35,840 --> 00:04:40,840 What do you got this time? 106 00:04:40,840 --> 00:04:42,840 Tell you better after he makes a call. 107 00:04:42,840 --> 00:04:44,840 Give me the phone, will you, Rod? 108 00:04:44,840 --> 00:04:45,840 It's out of order. 109 00:04:45,840 --> 00:04:46,840 Went there half an hour ago. 110 00:04:46,840 --> 00:04:47,840 Yeah? 111 00:04:47,840 --> 00:04:48,840 I reported it. 112 00:04:48,840 --> 00:04:50,840 They said they can't have a man here before tomorrow. 113 00:04:50,840 --> 00:04:53,840 Well, did you tell them this is a police station, for Pete's sake? 114 00:04:53,840 --> 00:04:54,840 Sure, I told them. 115 00:04:54,840 --> 00:04:55,840 Not bad, though. 116 00:04:55,840 --> 00:04:56,840 We get incoming calls. 117 00:04:56,840 --> 00:04:58,840 We've still got the nickel snatcher over there. 118 00:04:58,840 --> 00:05:01,840 Here's the pay for them, Mr. Clark. 119 00:05:01,840 --> 00:05:02,840 You can make your call from there. 120 00:05:02,840 --> 00:05:04,840 I don't have any money, remember? 121 00:05:04,840 --> 00:05:05,840 Oh. 122 00:05:05,840 --> 00:05:07,840 Okay, here's the nickel. 123 00:05:07,840 --> 00:05:08,840 A nickel? 124 00:05:08,840 --> 00:05:10,840 That's all it takes in this town. 125 00:05:10,840 --> 00:05:12,840 Jerk water, please. 126 00:05:12,840 --> 00:05:14,840 Let me speak to your wife when you get it. 127 00:05:14,840 --> 00:05:16,840 This is gonna sound fine, just fine. 128 00:05:16,840 --> 00:05:18,840 She'll think I've really tied one on. 129 00:05:18,840 --> 00:05:21,840 Operator. 130 00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:23,840 Operator, I want to call San Francisco. 131 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:26,840 Fillmore 60098. 132 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:28,840 And reverse the charges, please. 133 00:05:28,840 --> 00:05:29,840 Thank you. 134 00:05:29,840 --> 00:05:30,840 Your number, please. 135 00:05:30,840 --> 00:05:33,840 This is 460. 136 00:05:33,840 --> 00:05:49,840 I have a collect call from Lansing, California, for Fillmore 60098. 137 00:05:49,840 --> 00:05:50,840 Will you accept it? 138 00:05:50,840 --> 00:05:51,840 Lansing? 139 00:05:51,840 --> 00:05:53,840 Well, I don't know... 140 00:05:53,840 --> 00:05:54,840 It's me, Mary. 141 00:05:54,840 --> 00:05:55,840 Take the call. 142 00:05:55,840 --> 00:05:56,840 Oh, it's you, isn't it? 143 00:05:56,840 --> 00:05:58,840 What do you think you're doing, 50 million? 144 00:05:58,840 --> 00:05:59,840 Will you accept the call, madam? 145 00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:00,840 I should say no. 146 00:06:00,840 --> 00:06:02,840 With a very high dear. 147 00:06:02,840 --> 00:06:03,840 Mary, wait. 148 00:06:03,840 --> 00:06:04,840 Hey! 149 00:06:04,840 --> 00:06:05,840 I'm sorry. 150 00:06:05,840 --> 00:06:06,840 The party will not accept the call. 151 00:06:06,840 --> 00:06:07,840 Look, operator, get her back, will you? 152 00:06:07,840 --> 00:06:08,840 This is important. 153 00:06:08,840 --> 00:06:09,840 I'll ring them again. 154 00:06:09,840 --> 00:06:10,840 Swell at the sweetheart. 155 00:06:10,840 --> 00:06:21,840 She's there, the little... 156 00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:23,840 Why didn't she pick up that phone? 157 00:06:23,840 --> 00:06:25,840 Your party doesn't answer. 158 00:06:25,840 --> 00:06:26,840 Oh. 159 00:06:26,840 --> 00:06:27,840 No soap, huh? 160 00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:28,840 Hey, they kept our nickel. 161 00:06:28,840 --> 00:06:30,840 Let me have another one, will you? 162 00:06:30,840 --> 00:06:31,840 I'll get hold of my partner. 163 00:06:31,840 --> 00:06:32,840 He'll identify. 164 00:06:32,840 --> 00:06:34,840 Look, we've wasted enough time. 165 00:06:34,840 --> 00:06:36,840 Come on in here. 166 00:06:36,840 --> 00:06:38,840 You're locking me up, right? 167 00:06:38,840 --> 00:06:39,840 What's the big idea? 168 00:06:39,840 --> 00:06:40,840 I'm holding you on suspicion. 169 00:06:40,840 --> 00:06:42,840 Suspicion of what? 170 00:06:42,840 --> 00:06:44,840 Defrauding the cafe, for one thing. 171 00:06:44,840 --> 00:06:46,840 And I want to check that car. 172 00:06:46,840 --> 00:06:47,840 You think I stole it? 173 00:06:47,840 --> 00:06:48,840 It's been done. 174 00:06:48,840 --> 00:06:50,840 Oh, now wait if you let me fall... 175 00:06:50,840 --> 00:06:52,840 You're entitled to one call, you've had it. 176 00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:53,840 Now look here, officer. 177 00:06:53,840 --> 00:06:54,840 Inside. 178 00:06:54,840 --> 00:06:55,840 Jail. 179 00:06:55,840 --> 00:06:59,840 Jail all on account of a measly nickel, a lousy, stinking nickel. 180 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:00,840 I... 181 00:07:00,840 --> 00:07:07,840 You mean you ain't even got a nickel? 182 00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:09,840 No. 183 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:12,840 You see, gee, that's too bad, ain't it, Pete? 184 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:14,840 Sure is. 185 00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:15,840 Wish we could help you out. 186 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:17,840 Maybe we can. 187 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:18,840 Have you got a nickel? 188 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:19,840 Sure. 189 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:20,840 I've got three of them. 190 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:21,840 Will you lend me one? 191 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:22,840 Just one. 192 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:23,840 What's it worth to you, chum? 193 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:24,840 I'll send you ten dollars. 194 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:26,840 Pie in the sky. 195 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:27,840 Hey, my wrist watch. 196 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:29,840 What's the matter with it? 197 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:30,840 Nothing. 198 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:31,840 Nothing's the matter with it. 199 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:32,840 It's worth fifty dollars. 200 00:07:32,840 --> 00:07:33,840 Here, you fool, look at it. 201 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:36,840 It's yours for five cents for one measly nickel. 202 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:37,840 What can you lose? 203 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:38,840 Is it hot? 204 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:39,840 You mean stolen? 205 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:40,840 Of course not. 206 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:43,840 What are you offering it for a nickel for? 207 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:45,840 I want to get out of this filthy place. 208 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:47,840 Oh, so you don't like our company, is that it? 209 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:49,840 No, ain't that just too bad. 210 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:52,840 What do you think of that, Mr. Phillips? 211 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:53,840 You don't like it. 212 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:56,840 Have you got any nickels, Mr. Phillips? 213 00:07:56,840 --> 00:08:00,840 I followed his glance. 214 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:05,840 For the first time I saw deep in the gloom of a locked cubicle the face that I'd seen on the front page of the newspaper. 215 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:08,840 The face I'd said I wouldn't want to run into. 216 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:09,840 Close. 217 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:12,840 Well, it was close, and I was glad there were bars between us. 218 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:14,840 Mr. Phillips here, he's a big shot. 219 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:17,840 Robbed four banks and broke out of two jails. 220 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:18,840 Killed a man, too. 221 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:20,840 Sure, we're just fags. 222 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:23,840 But Mr. Phillips, he's going to the hot seat. 223 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:27,840 They're coming to get him and take him back to Utah and burn him. 224 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:29,840 Ain't that right, Mr. Phillips? 225 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:32,840 Mr. Phillips don't want to talk about it. 226 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:35,840 Mr. Phillips don't want to talk about nothing. 227 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:37,840 Mr. Phillips ain't very sociable. 228 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:39,840 Just like this. 229 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:41,840 Now, look, fellas, I want to get out of this jail. 230 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:43,840 Here, take the watch and give me that nickel, huh? 231 00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:45,840 Tell you what, I'll match you for it. 232 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:46,840 Match me? 233 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:48,840 Yeah, nickel against the watch. 234 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:51,840 Well, take it or leave it. 235 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:52,840 All right. 236 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:53,840 Leave Pete Ho the watch. 237 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:54,840 I'll flip the nickel on the floor. 238 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:55,840 You call. 239 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:57,840 Heads. 240 00:08:57,840 --> 00:08:58,840 Tails. 241 00:08:58,840 --> 00:08:59,840 I win. 242 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:00,840 Hey, wait a minute. 243 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:01,840 Get your foot off it. 244 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:02,840 How do you know it's tails? 245 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:03,840 It's tails, ain't it, Pete? 246 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:04,840 Sure, it's tails. 247 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:05,840 Here's the watch, then. 248 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:06,840 What is this? 249 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:07,840 Watch this, brother. 250 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:09,840 Well, you're not going to get away with this. 251 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:11,840 Get out of here. 252 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:13,840 Get out. 253 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:14,840 Ow. 254 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:19,840 Don't kick me. 255 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:21,840 Hey, what's going on in there? 256 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:23,840 Officer, there ain't nothing. 257 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:26,840 This new guy is acting up as all. 258 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:28,840 Quiet down in there. 259 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:31,840 Get up. 260 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:34,840 I can't. 261 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:36,840 You're trying to get us in trouble, huh? 262 00:09:36,840 --> 00:09:37,840 No. 263 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:39,840 Look, fellas, for heaven's sake. 264 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:40,840 Shut up. 265 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:41,840 Okay. 266 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:42,840 Kangaroo. 267 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:46,840 I'll be the judge and you'll be the prosecutor, huh? 268 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:47,840 Yeah. 269 00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:49,840 Maybe Mr. Phillips will be defense attorney. 270 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:51,840 You want him, Mr. Phillips? 271 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:53,840 He don't want him. 272 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:56,840 If he doesn't know at the bar, stand up. 273 00:09:56,840 --> 00:09:58,840 I don't stand up. 274 00:09:58,840 --> 00:09:59,840 Now, cut it out. 275 00:09:59,840 --> 00:10:01,840 I... 276 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:03,840 All right, counselor. 277 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:05,840 What's the prisoner charged with? 278 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:08,840 Your Honor, this man is a desperate criminal. 279 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:10,840 He's charged with breaking into jail, 280 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:12,840 insulting his fellow boarders, 281 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,840 poor sportsmanship, and fight. 282 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:17,840 A very dangerous character, Your Honor. 283 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:21,840 Yeah, guilty on all counts. 284 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:23,840 Prisoner, have you anything to say 285 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:26,840 before I pronounce sentence? 286 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:27,840 No? 287 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:29,840 Okay. 288 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:32,840 I fine you five cents. 289 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:33,840 Hand it over. 290 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:35,840 You know I haven't got it. 291 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:37,840 Can't pay, huh? 292 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:41,840 Well, then, you can work it out. 293 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:44,840 Rate it one cent a day. 294 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:47,840 Your first job will be to shine the court shoes. 295 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:49,840 Shine your own shoes. 296 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:52,840 Oh, so it's gonna be like that, huh? 297 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:54,840 Hold him slim. 298 00:10:58,840 --> 00:10:59,840 Officer! 299 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:01,840 Officer! 300 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:05,840 The pack's down in there. 301 00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:10,840 All right. 302 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:12,840 Now get on them shoes. 303 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:20,840 The next hours were unadulterated agony. 304 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:23,840 It was unbelievable the filthy and human jobs 305 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:25,840 they could think up for me to do. 306 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:27,840 And with every move I made, 307 00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:29,840 I could feel the glittering steely eyes of Phillips, 308 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:32,840 the silent man in the locked cage next to me, 309 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:35,840 following me, weighing me. 310 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:38,840 Then he winked at me and nodded his head as old as Sigel. 311 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:41,840 And then his two huge arms came through the bars 312 00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:43,840 and thrust me reeling across the cell, 313 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:46,840 and I fell and hit my head. 314 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:50,840 And that's all I remember. 315 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:04,840 You are listening to Chicken Feed, 316 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:06,840 tonight's presentation in radio's 317 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:16,840 outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. 318 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:20,840 Every Thursday night on Night Watch, 319 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:22,840 a CBS radio police recorder goes right along 320 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:25,840 in the prowl car with actual police. 321 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:27,840 There's nothing added to the truth, 322 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:29,840 nothing subtracted from it, 323 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:31,840 when Night Watch tells its stories. 324 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:34,840 Don't miss it later tonight on most of these stations. 325 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:37,840 And now we bring back to our Hollywood soundstage 326 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:39,840 Harry Bartel as Clark, 327 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:42,840 in tonight's production of Chicken Feed, 328 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:48,840 a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. 329 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:01,840 I don't know what time it was, 330 00:13:01,840 --> 00:13:03,840 two or three in the morning, 331 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:06,840 and I felt a stealthy touch on my shoulder. 332 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:09,840 I opened my eyes, I was still on the stone floor, 333 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:11,840 and Phillips was bending over me, 334 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:13,840 holding a revolver. 335 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:15,840 You fool, you want to wake them punks? 336 00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:17,840 Get up quick. 337 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:19,840 I glanced quickly at Phillips cell. 338 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:21,840 It was open and so was the door to mine. 339 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:23,840 We walked to the front desk. 340 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:26,840 There bound and gagged securely Sergeant Ross Claredance. 341 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:29,840 Eh, which is the key to your car? 342 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:31,840 This one. 343 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:33,840 Take it and let's move. 344 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:41,840 Where's the car? 345 00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:42,840 Over there. 346 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:44,840 You drive. 347 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:51,840 Well, we made it. 348 00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:56,840 Them hick bulls, they panic me. 349 00:13:56,840 --> 00:13:59,840 Guy could spring that crack with a hairpin. 350 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:02,840 You nearly done a fine job of louching things up. 351 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:04,840 What happened to you getting thrown in a can 352 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:06,840 in the middle of the day? 353 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:08,840 They picked me up on suspicion. 354 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:11,840 Well, it wasn't supposed to be till midnight tonight. 355 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:12,840 What? 356 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:16,840 And all that phony kid stuff about the nickel. 357 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:17,840 The nickel? 358 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:18,840 Yeah. 359 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:21,840 All you had to do was slip me the word that Jerry Nickel sent you. 360 00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:29,840 Served you right the way them lusher's treated you. 361 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:31,840 Jerry Nichols. 362 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:33,840 Nichols. 363 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:35,840 He thought I was an accomplice 364 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:38,840 sent by a partner to help him break jail. 365 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:41,840 And all my screams about a nickel had been nothing but a signal to him. 366 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:43,840 A signal that I came from Jerry Nichols. 367 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:45,840 Jerry got the hideout set up? 368 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:46,840 Uh, yeah. 369 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:48,840 Where is it? 370 00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:49,840 The hideout? 371 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:50,840 The hideout. 372 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:52,840 We're going to Jerry's place first, right? 373 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:54,840 Then what? 374 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:57,840 Well, I'll take you to Jerry's, 375 00:14:57,840 --> 00:14:59,840 and then he'll take over from there. 376 00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:00,840 How far is it to Jerry's? 377 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:01,840 Well, it... 378 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:03,840 Hey, look behind you. 379 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:04,840 What's the matter? 380 00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:05,840 There's a car following us without lights. 381 00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:06,840 Where? I don't see... 382 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:09,840 What the... 383 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:12,840 Say, what's the big idea? You trying to cross me? 384 00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:14,840 Go ahead, get it started. 385 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:19,840 It's flooded. 386 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:21,840 I'm getting up. Let car pass. 387 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:23,840 You make for the other side, and no tricks. 388 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:25,840 Just to make sure I'll take this key. 389 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:27,840 Remember, no tricks. 390 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:33,840 I had made myself a chance when I took it. 391 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:36,840 I slipped out of the car on the other side and ran. 392 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:39,840 Across the field until I could run no more. 393 00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:42,840 After an interminable two miles, I found a road. 394 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:45,840 And after a while, a dark shape loomed up before me. 395 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:46,840 A gas station. 396 00:15:46,840 --> 00:15:49,840 And through the glass, I could make out the outline of a telephone. 397 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:51,840 I tried the door. 398 00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:54,840 It was locked, of course, but I found a tire iron and sprang the latch. 399 00:15:56,840 --> 00:15:59,840 I ran to the phone and almost threw myself on it. 400 00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:01,840 Before I saw it, it was a payphone. 401 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:03,840 In a rage, I shook the black box. 402 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:06,840 There must be some money in this room. 403 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:09,840 My eyes focused on a battered desk. 404 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:16,840 There was some change in it. I took a nickel. 405 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:21,840 Number, please. 406 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:25,840 Kept me San Francisco. Sutter 15994. 407 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:29,840 Thank you. There may be a slight delay, sir. 408 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:31,840 I'll hold on. But hurry, operator. It's important. 409 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:33,840 One moment, please. 410 00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:36,840 I waited. 411 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:40,840 Far down the road, the headlights of a car juggled over the rise and aimed toward me. 412 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:45,840 I hung up the receiver, closed the cash drawer, snapped the lock on the door. 413 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:47,840 Then I crouched beneath the desk. 414 00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:58,840 Open up! Hey! 415 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:01,840 I've tried to wake that geezer before. He sleeps like a dead man. 416 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:02,840 Hey, Gary! 417 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:06,840 All right, all right. I'm coming. 418 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:08,840 Who is it? 419 00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:11,840 Randy and Ross. Open up. 420 00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:17,840 Well, you're a fine bunch of cops running out of gas in the middle of the night. 421 00:17:17,840 --> 00:17:20,840 Hey, come on in. It's chilly with the door open. 422 00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:22,840 Phillips broke jail. 423 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:24,840 What? Well, you don't tell me. 424 00:17:24,840 --> 00:17:25,840 Hey, how'd he do that? 425 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:27,840 Well, there was two of them. He had an accomplice. Said he was a lawyer. 426 00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:32,840 He found their car abandoned on the road back at Ferris' Hopfield. Ran out of gas. 427 00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:34,840 He can't be far away. 428 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:39,840 There was a big reward for Phillips after he broke jail at Bennington, wasn't there? 429 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:40,840 Yeah. A thousand dollars. 430 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:44,840 Hey, you know him, don't you? You were in the Bennington Polk when he did that break. 431 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:49,840 Yeah. Yeah, we was roommates for a night. I was pretty scared. 432 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:50,840 How'd he do it, the break? 433 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:55,840 Well, I don't know. I was sleeping it off. A thousand dollar reward, huh? 434 00:17:55,840 --> 00:18:00,840 Don't you go getting any ideas now. That Phillips is a killer, and so is his partner most likely. 435 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:07,840 Well, I ain't exactly helpless myself. Got me a nice little fella in my side here. 436 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:09,840 You take my advice, chum, and put the gun away. 437 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:12,840 Now show up here, you talk soft, and let us do the capture. 438 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:14,840 Sure, sure. I'll play safe. 439 00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:17,840 Well, we'll be going. Just wanted to alert you, Jerry. 440 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:27,840 Yeah, well, thanks. So long, boys. 441 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:30,840 All right, you, come out from under that desk. 442 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:31,840 Mr. 443 00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:40,840 Come on out, I say. This gun's mighty nervous. 444 00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:42,840 And get your hands up and stand over there. 445 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:43,840 Look, mister, I... 446 00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:45,840 I'll do the talking. Who are you? 447 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:47,840 You've got to believe me, I'm not a criminal, I'm a lawyer. 448 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:51,840 Oh, yeah, you must be that other one. Hey, keep them hands up. 449 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:52,840 Now where's Phillips? 450 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:56,840 I left him in the car. Now that's another thing. You can get the reward. 451 00:18:56,840 --> 00:18:58,840 I know who he's going to meet, and they're going to a hideout. 452 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:00,840 I see, yeah. Who's he going to meet? 453 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:05,840 Somebody named Jerry Nichols. There. Now if you'll let me get to that phone, I can clear everything up. 454 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:07,840 No, you don't. You stay right where you are. 455 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:12,840 But that's my partner, my law partner in San Francisco. I only broke in here so I could phone him. He'll identify me. 456 00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:15,840 You don't believe me? 457 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:16,840 Yeah, I believe you all right. 458 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:19,840 Then what? Answer it yourself, you'll see. 459 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:21,840 Not on your life, mister, will you think I'm out of my mind? 460 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:25,840 But you've got to answer it, Jerry. You don't know what I went through to place that call. 461 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:27,840 You can't just stand there... 462 00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:32,840 Jerry. You're Jerry Nichols. 463 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:35,840 Yep, that's right. So you see it... 464 00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:38,840 Jerry! Jerry! 465 00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:40,840 Hey, turn off that light. It's Phillips. 466 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:42,840 You stand over there where he can't see you. Now go on. 467 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:43,840 Jerry! 468 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:45,840 Come on in, Phillips. 469 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:49,840 Hey, ran out of gas and that... 470 00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:51,840 Oh, Jerry! 471 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:00,840 Yep, dead or alive. I just made me a thousand dollars. 472 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:02,840 You're worse than he is. 473 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:10,840 Shut up. Maybe I can get a reward for you too. A small one. 474 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:18,840 I could feel the bullet landing my side just below the belt in the avenues of pain spread out like the cracks in a hammered window glass. 475 00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:24,840 But somehow, strangely, it didn't stop me. I kept moving toward him. He backed away surprised. 476 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:26,840 He was aiming for another shot when we grabbed him. 477 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:28,840 Jerry! Jerry! 478 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:35,840 I got the gun and he got my through. He fell backwards over the chair and I was on top of him. 479 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:39,840 As we thrashed around on the floor, I brought his hand up suddenly and smashed his own gun. 480 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:40,840 Hit him! 481 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:42,840 And he lay still. 482 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:49,840 It was hard. He was alive. I got up gasping for breath. 483 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:55,840 And then I realized that I was all right. Yet he'd shot me. Hit me. 484 00:20:55,840 --> 00:21:00,840 I should be lying there on the plank floor instead of that grotesque heap in the shapeless flannel nightgown. 485 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:05,840 I felt my side where the bullet had struck. Brought my hand away. 486 00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:09,840 There was no blood on it. There should be blood. 487 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:14,840 I dodged the spot again. Fingered the contour of something small and round. 488 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:19,840 I pulled it out of my watch pocket. Battered where the slug had struck it. Bet almost double. 489 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:26,840 Nickel. Nickel. On the twentieth part of a dot. 490 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:33,840 All a man needed to buy a cup of coffee. To make a phone call. To pay a fine in a kangaroo court. 491 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:41,840 To save his life. And I'd had it all the time. I'd had it all the time. 492 00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:44,840 I'd had it all the time. 493 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:49,840 I'd had it all the time. 494 00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:04,840 Hello? 495 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:08,840 I have your party now in San Francisco. Shall I connect you, sir? 496 00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:14,840 Yeah, but first, get the Lansing Police Station with you, operator. 497 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:16,840 Lansing Police? 498 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:23,840 Yeah. Shut up, Jerry. You're gonna live. I'm gonna be in court with you. 499 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:38,840 Yeah, I wouldn't give a plug nickel for your chance. 500 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:43,840 Suspense. In which Harry Bartel starred as Clark. 501 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:47,840 Crime photographer is now heard Friday nights on CBS radio. 502 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:52,840 Tomorrow, marking his move to the new night and time, Casey tackles a tough assignment. 503 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:57,840 Confronting a corrupt political boss, a beautiful redhead, and the wayward son of a respected cop. 504 00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:01,840 In his efforts to crack a protection racket rooted in the city. 505 00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:06,840 Don't miss Crime Photographer in action tomorrow night against crime and criminals. 506 00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:10,840 Next week, the simple tale of a woman who finds herself accused of murder. 507 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:15,840 And yet has no remembrance of either the act itself or the person she is said to have killed. 508 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:18,840 We call it lost. 509 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:36,840 That's next week on Suspense. 510 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:43,840 Suspense is produced and directed by Norman MacDonald with music composed by Lucian Marloweck and conducted by Lud Bluskin. 511 00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:47,840 Chicken Feed was specially written for Suspense by Lawrence Goldman. 512 00:23:47,840 --> 00:24:03,840 Featured in the cast were Clayton Post, Jack Crouchon, James Nusser, Vic Perrin, Edgar Barrier, Michael Anne Barrett, Larry Thor, and Eleanor Tannen. 513 00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:18,840 Mary Clooney sings Thursday nights on the CBS Radio Network.