WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:13.000 And now, tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. 00:13.000 --> 00:20.880 Tonight, the story of how perhaps the smallest of items can be the cause of unbelievable 00:20.880 --> 00:22.400 terror and hardship. 00:22.400 --> 00:25.160 In this case, the lack of a little loose change. 00:25.160 --> 00:33.400 So now with Harry Bartell as Clark, here is tonight's Suspense play, Chicken Feed. 00:33.400 --> 00:42.280 All right, it was a silly thing to fight over, I admit it. 00:42.280 --> 00:45.800 A nickel, a measly worthless nickel, Chicken Feed. 00:45.800 --> 00:49.220 Junior asked for a nickel and I flipped it over to him and Mary said I shouldn't spoil 00:49.220 --> 00:50.220 the kid. 00:50.220 --> 00:52.960 It was time he learned the value of money and I said, great Scott, if I couldn't give 00:52.960 --> 00:55.560 my own child a nickel without her jumping down my throat. 00:55.560 --> 00:58.040 Oh, you know how those things get going. 00:58.040 --> 01:01.680 You keep saying things you shouldn't and she lashes out with an answer and before you know 01:01.680 --> 01:10.280 it, you've stormed out of the house and you're taking it out on the car. 01:10.280 --> 01:12.680 Fifty miles cooled me down a little, but not much. 01:12.680 --> 01:15.080 I automatically slowed up when I came to the sign. 01:15.080 --> 01:17.800 You are now entering Lansing, California. 01:17.800 --> 01:22.560 Go slow and see our town, go fast and see our jail. 01:22.560 --> 01:25.760 Going through the quiet Sunday street gave me time to think of something besides the 01:25.760 --> 01:28.600 biting words Mary and I had slugged at each other. 01:28.600 --> 01:31.040 I pulled up at a little cafe next to the police station. 01:31.040 --> 01:34.240 It had a whitewashed sign on the window. 01:34.240 --> 01:37.400 Best cup of coffee in town for five cents. 01:37.400 --> 01:38.400 I went in. 01:38.400 --> 01:39.400 I resent that officer, Brady. 01:39.400 --> 01:40.400 Too over easy, Sam, heavy on the pride. 01:40.400 --> 01:41.400 What's yours, mister? 01:41.400 --> 01:42.400 Coffee, please. 01:42.400 --> 01:43.400 Coming up. 01:43.400 --> 01:52.400 Here you are. 01:52.400 --> 01:56.320 Thanks. 01:56.320 --> 01:58.400 Say Officer Brady, how's your star boarders? 01:58.400 --> 02:00.400 Well, Phillip, they're coming for him in the morning. 02:00.400 --> 02:02.400 Think you'll be able to hold him till then? 02:02.400 --> 02:05.400 You got out of that Bennington jail like a paper bag. 02:05.400 --> 02:06.400 Don't worry, sister. 02:06.400 --> 02:07.600 Phillip won't get out of this one. 02:07.600 --> 02:11.240 I listened to them with half an ear while I sipped my coffee. 02:11.240 --> 02:15.280 There was a stack of the local papers nearby and I pulled one over to look at. 02:15.280 --> 02:17.640 This Phillips was on the front page. 02:17.640 --> 02:18.640 Bank robber. 02:18.640 --> 02:19.640 Killed a teller. 02:19.640 --> 02:22.640 He had a face I wouldn't want to run into. 02:22.640 --> 02:23.640 Close. 02:23.640 --> 02:26.440 After a while, the hot coffee made me feel better. 02:26.440 --> 02:29.440 Maybe, maybe I'd been at fault as much as Mary. 02:29.440 --> 02:32.720 She wasn't the only one who had a bad temper. 02:32.720 --> 02:37.640 On a sudden impulse, I left my coffee and went over the phone on the far wall. 02:37.640 --> 02:41.440 I heard the dial tone, then I fished in my pocket for change. 02:41.440 --> 02:44.440 It was empty. 02:44.440 --> 02:46.040 Say, Miss, could you change a dollar for me? 02:46.040 --> 02:47.040 I want to use the phone. 02:47.040 --> 02:48.040 Yes, sir. 02:48.040 --> 02:49.040 Hmm. 02:49.040 --> 02:52.040 What's the matter, Mister? 02:52.040 --> 02:53.040 My wallet. 02:53.040 --> 02:54.040 I seem to... 02:54.040 --> 03:00.640 Look, I'll be back in a minute. 03:00.640 --> 03:02.840 Mary wasn't the only one with a temper. 03:02.840 --> 03:06.840 I'd stormed out of the house without changing the contents of my pockets to the suit I was 03:06.840 --> 03:07.840 wearing. 03:07.840 --> 03:08.840 I didn't have a dime on me, not a nickel. 03:08.840 --> 03:11.840 I rummaged in the glove compartment. 03:11.840 --> 03:16.440 Mary sometimes left a coin purse, but this time, naturally, it wasn't there. 03:16.440 --> 03:18.440 What seems to be the trouble, Mister? 03:18.440 --> 03:22.840 Oh, officer, I seem to have come off without my money. 03:22.840 --> 03:23.840 Embarrassing. 03:23.840 --> 03:24.840 Yeah. 03:24.840 --> 03:26.840 I didn't realize it until I tried to phone. 03:26.840 --> 03:27.840 Where's your driver's license? 03:27.840 --> 03:30.840 It's in my wallet in San Francisco. 03:30.840 --> 03:32.840 Got any other identification? 03:32.840 --> 03:35.840 Well, the registration slip on the car. 03:35.840 --> 03:36.840 That's the car. 03:36.840 --> 03:37.840 What about you? 03:37.840 --> 03:38.840 Look, officer, I'm Ralph Clark. 03:38.840 --> 03:39.840 Clark and Jacobs in the Hatfield building. 03:39.840 --> 03:40.840 We're attorneys. 03:40.840 --> 03:45.840 Kind of far from home to be without any dough, aren't you? 03:45.840 --> 03:48.840 Well, I came out of the house without changing the stuff into this suit. 03:48.840 --> 03:49.840 You know how that happens. 03:49.840 --> 03:52.840 How do you happen to have the keys to the car? 03:52.840 --> 03:55.840 I don't take them out when it's in the garage. 03:55.840 --> 03:56.840 Say, you don't think... 03:56.840 --> 03:58.840 Where you had it for? 03:58.840 --> 04:02.840 I know it sounds funny, but nowhere, really. 04:02.840 --> 04:05.840 You see, I had a fight with my wife and I just batted out of the house to cool off. 04:05.840 --> 04:07.840 I'll tell you what, Mr. Clark. 04:07.840 --> 04:10.840 Suppose we just mosey over to the station. 04:10.840 --> 04:11.840 Station? 04:11.840 --> 04:12.840 Say, what is it? 04:12.840 --> 04:13.840 Nothing. 04:13.840 --> 04:14.840 Nothing at all. 04:14.840 --> 04:16.840 Just next door and you can call your wife from there. 04:16.840 --> 04:18.840 I don't see why that's necessary. 04:18.840 --> 04:20.840 If you just lend me the money, I could call here and reverse the charges. 04:20.840 --> 04:21.840 We'll go. 04:21.840 --> 04:23.840 You can leave the car here. 04:23.840 --> 04:24.840 I'll take that key. 04:24.840 --> 04:25.840 Now, look here, officer. 04:25.840 --> 04:26.840 I don't get... 04:26.840 --> 04:27.840 Move. 04:27.840 --> 04:32.840 Come on, move. 04:32.840 --> 04:35.840 Hi, Jim. 04:35.840 --> 04:40.840 What do you got this time? 04:40.840 --> 04:42.840 Tell you better after he makes a call. 04:42.840 --> 04:44.840 Give me the phone, will you, Rod? 04:44.840 --> 04:45.840 It's out of order. 04:45.840 --> 04:46.840 Went there half an hour ago. 04:46.840 --> 04:47.840 Yeah? 04:47.840 --> 04:48.840 I reported it. 04:48.840 --> 04:50.840 They said they can't have a man here before tomorrow. 04:50.840 --> 04:53.840 Well, did you tell them this is a police station, for Pete's sake? 04:53.840 --> 04:54.840 Sure, I told them. 04:54.840 --> 04:55.840 Not bad, though. 04:55.840 --> 04:56.840 We get incoming calls. 04:56.840 --> 04:58.840 We've still got the nickel snatcher over there. 04:58.840 --> 05:01.840 Here's the pay for them, Mr. Clark. 05:01.840 --> 05:02.840 You can make your call from there. 05:02.840 --> 05:04.840 I don't have any money, remember? 05:04.840 --> 05:05.840 Oh. 05:05.840 --> 05:07.840 Okay, here's the nickel. 05:07.840 --> 05:08.840 A nickel? 05:08.840 --> 05:10.840 That's all it takes in this town. 05:10.840 --> 05:12.840 Jerk water, please. 05:12.840 --> 05:14.840 Let me speak to your wife when you get it. 05:14.840 --> 05:16.840 This is gonna sound fine, just fine. 05:16.840 --> 05:18.840 She'll think I've really tied one on. 05:18.840 --> 05:21.840 Operator. 05:21.840 --> 05:23.840 Operator, I want to call San Francisco. 05:23.840 --> 05:26.840 Fillmore 60098. 05:26.840 --> 05:28.840 And reverse the charges, please. 05:28.840 --> 05:29.840 Thank you. 05:29.840 --> 05:30.840 Your number, please. 05:30.840 --> 05:33.840 This is 460. 05:33.840 --> 05:49.840 I have a collect call from Lansing, California, for Fillmore 60098. 05:49.840 --> 05:50.840 Will you accept it? 05:50.840 --> 05:51.840 Lansing? 05:51.840 --> 05:53.840 Well, I don't know... 05:53.840 --> 05:54.840 It's me, Mary. 05:54.840 --> 05:55.840 Take the call. 05:55.840 --> 05:56.840 Oh, it's you, isn't it? 05:56.840 --> 05:58.840 What do you think you're doing, 50 million? 05:58.840 --> 05:59.840 Will you accept the call, madam? 05:59.840 --> 06:00.840 I should say no. 06:00.840 --> 06:02.840 With a very high dear. 06:02.840 --> 06:03.840 Mary, wait. 06:03.840 --> 06:04.840 Hey! 06:04.840 --> 06:05.840 I'm sorry. 06:05.840 --> 06:06.840 The party will not accept the call. 06:06.840 --> 06:07.840 Look, operator, get her back, will you? 06:07.840 --> 06:08.840 This is important. 06:08.840 --> 06:09.840 I'll ring them again. 06:09.840 --> 06:10.840 Swell at the sweetheart. 06:10.840 --> 06:21.840 She's there, the little... 06:21.840 --> 06:23.840 Why didn't she pick up that phone? 06:23.840 --> 06:25.840 Your party doesn't answer. 06:25.840 --> 06:26.840 Oh. 06:26.840 --> 06:27.840 No soap, huh? 06:27.840 --> 06:28.840 Hey, they kept our nickel. 06:28.840 --> 06:30.840 Let me have another one, will you? 06:30.840 --> 06:31.840 I'll get hold of my partner. 06:31.840 --> 06:32.840 He'll identify. 06:32.840 --> 06:34.840 Look, we've wasted enough time. 06:34.840 --> 06:36.840 Come on in here. 06:36.840 --> 06:38.840 You're locking me up, right? 06:38.840 --> 06:39.840 What's the big idea? 06:39.840 --> 06:40.840 I'm holding you on suspicion. 06:40.840 --> 06:42.840 Suspicion of what? 06:42.840 --> 06:44.840 Defrauding the cafe, for one thing. 06:44.840 --> 06:46.840 And I want to check that car. 06:46.840 --> 06:47.840 You think I stole it? 06:47.840 --> 06:48.840 It's been done. 06:48.840 --> 06:50.840 Oh, now wait if you let me fall... 06:50.840 --> 06:52.840 You're entitled to one call, you've had it. 06:52.840 --> 06:53.840 Now look here, officer. 06:53.840 --> 06:54.840 Inside. 06:54.840 --> 06:55.840 Jail. 06:55.840 --> 06:59.840 Jail all on account of a measly nickel, a lousy, stinking nickel. 06:59.840 --> 07:00.840 I... 07:00.840 --> 07:07.840 You mean you ain't even got a nickel? 07:07.840 --> 07:09.840 No. 07:09.840 --> 07:12.840 You see, gee, that's too bad, ain't it, Pete? 07:12.840 --> 07:14.840 Sure is. 07:14.840 --> 07:15.840 Wish we could help you out. 07:15.840 --> 07:17.840 Maybe we can. 07:17.840 --> 07:18.840 Have you got a nickel? 07:18.840 --> 07:19.840 Sure. 07:19.840 --> 07:20.840 I've got three of them. 07:20.840 --> 07:21.840 Will you lend me one? 07:21.840 --> 07:22.840 Just one. 07:22.840 --> 07:23.840 What's it worth to you, chum? 07:23.840 --> 07:24.840 I'll send you ten dollars. 07:24.840 --> 07:26.840 Pie in the sky. 07:26.840 --> 07:27.840 Hey, my wrist watch. 07:27.840 --> 07:29.840 What's the matter with it? 07:29.840 --> 07:30.840 Nothing. 07:30.840 --> 07:31.840 Nothing's the matter with it. 07:31.840 --> 07:32.840 It's worth fifty dollars. 07:32.840 --> 07:33.840 Here, you fool, look at it. 07:33.840 --> 07:36.840 It's yours for five cents for one measly nickel. 07:36.840 --> 07:37.840 What can you lose? 07:37.840 --> 07:38.840 Is it hot? 07:38.840 --> 07:39.840 You mean stolen? 07:39.840 --> 07:40.840 Of course not. 07:40.840 --> 07:43.840 What are you offering it for a nickel for? 07:43.840 --> 07:45.840 I want to get out of this filthy place. 07:45.840 --> 07:47.840 Oh, so you don't like our company, is that it? 07:47.840 --> 07:49.840 No, ain't that just too bad. 07:49.840 --> 07:52.840 What do you think of that, Mr. Phillips? 07:52.840 --> 07:53.840 You don't like it. 07:53.840 --> 07:56.840 Have you got any nickels, Mr. Phillips? 07:56.840 --> 08:00.840 I followed his glance. 08:00.840 --> 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. 08:05.840 --> 08:08.840 The face I'd said I wouldn't want to run into. 08:08.840 --> 08:09.840 Close. 08:09.840 --> 08:12.840 Well, it was close, and I was glad there were bars between us. 08:12.840 --> 08:14.840 Mr. Phillips here, he's a big shot. 08:14.840 --> 08:17.840 Robbed four banks and broke out of two jails. 08:17.840 --> 08:18.840 Killed a man, too. 08:18.840 --> 08:20.840 Sure, we're just fags. 08:20.840 --> 08:23.840 But Mr. Phillips, he's going to the hot seat. 08:23.840 --> 08:27.840 They're coming to get him and take him back to Utah and burn him. 08:27.840 --> 08:29.840 Ain't that right, Mr. Phillips? 08:29.840 --> 08:32.840 Mr. Phillips don't want to talk about it. 08:32.840 --> 08:35.840 Mr. Phillips don't want to talk about nothing. 08:35.840 --> 08:37.840 Mr. Phillips ain't very sociable. 08:37.840 --> 08:39.840 Just like this. 08:39.840 --> 08:41.840 Now, look, fellas, I want to get out of this jail. 08:41.840 --> 08:43.840 Here, take the watch and give me that nickel, huh? 08:43.840 --> 08:45.840 Tell you what, I'll match you for it. 08:45.840 --> 08:46.840 Match me? 08:46.840 --> 08:48.840 Yeah, nickel against the watch. 08:48.840 --> 08:51.840 Well, take it or leave it. 08:51.840 --> 08:52.840 All right. 08:52.840 --> 08:53.840 Leave Pete Ho the watch. 08:53.840 --> 08:54.840 I'll flip the nickel on the floor. 08:54.840 --> 08:55.840 You call. 08:55.840 --> 08:57.840 Heads. 08:57.840 --> 08:58.840 Tails. 08:58.840 --> 08:59.840 I win. 08:59.840 --> 09:00.840 Hey, wait a minute. 09:00.840 --> 09:01.840 Get your foot off it. 09:01.840 --> 09:02.840 How do you know it's tails? 09:02.840 --> 09:03.840 It's tails, ain't it, Pete? 09:03.840 --> 09:04.840 Sure, it's tails. 09:04.840 --> 09:05.840 Here's the watch, then. 09:05.840 --> 09:06.840 What is this? 09:06.840 --> 09:07.840 Watch this, brother. 09:07.840 --> 09:09.840 Well, you're not going to get away with this. 09:09.840 --> 09:11.840 Get out of here. 09:11.840 --> 09:13.840 Get out. 09:13.840 --> 09:14.840 Ow. 09:14.840 --> 09:19.840 Don't kick me. 09:19.840 --> 09:21.840 Hey, what's going on in there? 09:21.840 --> 09:23.840 Officer, there ain't nothing. 09:23.840 --> 09:26.840 This new guy is acting up as all. 09:26.840 --> 09:28.840 Quiet down in there. 09:28.840 --> 09:31.840 Get up. 09:31.840 --> 09:34.840 I can't. 09:34.840 --> 09:36.840 You're trying to get us in trouble, huh? 09:36.840 --> 09:37.840 No. 09:37.840 --> 09:39.840 Look, fellas, for heaven's sake. 09:39.840 --> 09:40.840 Shut up. 09:40.840 --> 09:41.840 Okay. 09:41.840 --> 09:42.840 Kangaroo. 09:42.840 --> 09:46.840 I'll be the judge and you'll be the prosecutor, huh? 09:46.840 --> 09:47.840 Yeah. 09:47.840 --> 09:49.840 Maybe Mr. Phillips will be defense attorney. 09:49.840 --> 09:51.840 You want him, Mr. Phillips? 09:51.840 --> 09:53.840 He don't want him. 09:53.840 --> 09:56.840 If he doesn't know at the bar, stand up. 09:56.840 --> 09:58.840 I don't stand up. 09:58.840 --> 09:59.840 Now, cut it out. 09:59.840 --> 10:01.840 I... 10:01.840 --> 10:03.840 All right, counselor. 10:03.840 --> 10:05.840 What's the prisoner charged with? 10:05.840 --> 10:08.840 Your Honor, this man is a desperate criminal. 10:08.840 --> 10:10.840 He's charged with breaking into jail, 10:10.840 --> 10:12.840 insulting his fellow boarders, 10:12.840 --> 10:15.840 poor sportsmanship, and fight. 10:15.840 --> 10:17.840 A very dangerous character, Your Honor. 10:17.840 --> 10:21.840 Yeah, guilty on all counts. 10:21.840 --> 10:23.840 Prisoner, have you anything to say 10:23.840 --> 10:26.840 before I pronounce sentence? 10:26.840 --> 10:27.840 No? 10:27.840 --> 10:29.840 Okay. 10:29.840 --> 10:32.840 I fine you five cents. 10:32.840 --> 10:33.840 Hand it over. 10:33.840 --> 10:35.840 You know I haven't got it. 10:35.840 --> 10:37.840 Can't pay, huh? 10:37.840 --> 10:41.840 Well, then, you can work it out. 10:41.840 --> 10:44.840 Rate it one cent a day. 10:44.840 --> 10:47.840 Your first job will be to shine the court shoes. 10:47.840 --> 10:49.840 Shine your own shoes. 10:49.840 --> 10:52.840 Oh, so it's gonna be like that, huh? 10:52.840 --> 10:54.840 Hold him slim. 10:58.840 --> 10:59.840 Officer! 10:59.840 --> 11:01.840 Officer! 11:03.840 --> 11:05.840 The pack's down in there. 11:08.840 --> 11:10.840 All right. 11:10.840 --> 11:12.840 Now get on them shoes. 11:17.840 --> 11:20.840 The next hours were unadulterated agony. 11:20.840 --> 11:23.840 It was unbelievable the filthy and human jobs 11:23.840 --> 11:25.840 they could think up for me to do. 11:25.840 --> 11:27.840 And with every move I made, 11:27.840 --> 11:29.840 I could feel the glittering steely eyes of Phillips, 11:29.840 --> 11:32.840 the silent man in the locked cage next to me, 11:32.840 --> 11:35.840 following me, weighing me. 11:35.840 --> 11:38.840 Then he winked at me and nodded his head as old as Sigel. 11:38.840 --> 11:41.840 And then his two huge arms came through the bars 11:41.840 --> 11:43.840 and thrust me reeling across the cell, 11:43.840 --> 11:46.840 and I fell and hit my head. 11:46.840 --> 11:50.840 And that's all I remember. 12:02.840 --> 12:04.840 You are listening to Chicken Feed, 12:04.840 --> 12:06.840 tonight's presentation in radio's 12:06.840 --> 12:16.840 outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. 12:18.840 --> 12:20.840 Every Thursday night on Night Watch, 12:20.840 --> 12:22.840 a CBS radio police recorder goes right along 12:22.840 --> 12:25.840 in the prowl car with actual police. 12:25.840 --> 12:27.840 There's nothing added to the truth, 12:27.840 --> 12:29.840 nothing subtracted from it, 12:29.840 --> 12:31.840 when Night Watch tells its stories. 12:31.840 --> 12:34.840 Don't miss it later tonight on most of these stations. 12:34.840 --> 12:37.840 And now we bring back to our Hollywood soundstage 12:37.840 --> 12:39.840 Harry Bartel as Clark, 12:39.840 --> 12:42.840 in tonight's production of Chicken Feed, 12:42.840 --> 12:48.840 a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. 12:59.840 --> 13:01.840 I don't know what time it was, 13:01.840 --> 13:03.840 two or three in the morning, 13:03.840 --> 13:06.840 and I felt a stealthy touch on my shoulder. 13:06.840 --> 13:09.840 I opened my eyes, I was still on the stone floor, 13:09.840 --> 13:11.840 and Phillips was bending over me, 13:11.840 --> 13:13.840 holding a revolver. 13:13.840 --> 13:15.840 You fool, you want to wake them punks? 13:15.840 --> 13:17.840 Get up quick. 13:17.840 --> 13:19.840 I glanced quickly at Phillips cell. 13:19.840 --> 13:21.840 It was open and so was the door to mine. 13:21.840 --> 13:23.840 We walked to the front desk. 13:23.840 --> 13:26.840 There bound and gagged securely Sergeant Ross Claredance. 13:26.840 --> 13:29.840 Eh, which is the key to your car? 13:29.840 --> 13:31.840 This one. 13:31.840 --> 13:33.840 Take it and let's move. 13:39.840 --> 13:41.840 Where's the car? 13:41.840 --> 13:42.840 Over there. 13:42.840 --> 13:44.840 You drive. 13:49.840 --> 13:51.840 Well, we made it. 13:53.840 --> 13:56.840 Them hick bulls, they panic me. 13:56.840 --> 13:59.840 Guy could spring that crack with a hairpin. 13:59.840 --> 14:02.840 You nearly done a fine job of louching things up. 14:02.840 --> 14:04.840 What happened to you getting thrown in a can 14:04.840 --> 14:06.840 in the middle of the day? 14:06.840 --> 14:08.840 They picked me up on suspicion. 14:08.840 --> 14:11.840 Well, it wasn't supposed to be till midnight tonight. 14:11.840 --> 14:12.840 What? 14:12.840 --> 14:16.840 And all that phony kid stuff about the nickel. 14:16.840 --> 14:17.840 The nickel? 14:17.840 --> 14:18.840 Yeah. 14:18.840 --> 14:21.840 All you had to do was slip me the word that Jerry Nickel sent you. 14:21.840 --> 14:29.840 Served you right the way them lusher's treated you. 14:29.840 --> 14:31.840 Jerry Nichols. 14:31.840 --> 14:33.840 Nichols. 14:33.840 --> 14:35.840 He thought I was an accomplice 14:35.840 --> 14:38.840 sent by a partner to help him break jail. 14:38.840 --> 14:41.840 And all my screams about a nickel had been nothing but a signal to him. 14:41.840 --> 14:43.840 A signal that I came from Jerry Nichols. 14:43.840 --> 14:45.840 Jerry got the hideout set up? 14:45.840 --> 14:46.840 Uh, yeah. 14:46.840 --> 14:48.840 Where is it? 14:48.840 --> 14:49.840 The hideout? 14:49.840 --> 14:50.840 The hideout. 14:50.840 --> 14:52.840 We're going to Jerry's place first, right? 14:52.840 --> 14:54.840 Then what? 14:54.840 --> 14:57.840 Well, I'll take you to Jerry's, 14:57.840 --> 14:59.840 and then he'll take over from there. 14:59.840 --> 15:00.840 How far is it to Jerry's? 15:00.840 --> 15:01.840 Well, it... 15:01.840 --> 15:03.840 Hey, look behind you. 15:03.840 --> 15:04.840 What's the matter? 15:04.840 --> 15:05.840 There's a car following us without lights. 15:05.840 --> 15:06.840 Where? I don't see... 15:06.840 --> 15:09.840 What the... 15:09.840 --> 15:12.840 Say, what's the big idea? You trying to cross me? 15:12.840 --> 15:14.840 Go ahead, get it started. 15:18.840 --> 15:19.840 It's flooded. 15:19.840 --> 15:21.840 I'm getting up. Let car pass. 15:21.840 --> 15:23.840 You make for the other side, and no tricks. 15:23.840 --> 15:25.840 Just to make sure I'll take this key. 15:25.840 --> 15:27.840 Remember, no tricks. 15:31.840 --> 15:33.840 I had made myself a chance when I took it. 15:33.840 --> 15:36.840 I slipped out of the car on the other side and ran. 15:36.840 --> 15:39.840 Across the field until I could run no more. 15:39.840 --> 15:42.840 After an interminable two miles, I found a road. 15:42.840 --> 15:45.840 And after a while, a dark shape loomed up before me. 15:45.840 --> 15:46.840 A gas station. 15:46.840 --> 15:49.840 And through the glass, I could make out the outline of a telephone. 15:49.840 --> 15:51.840 I tried the door. 15:51.840 --> 15:54.840 It was locked, of course, but I found a tire iron and sprang the latch. 15:56.840 --> 15:59.840 I ran to the phone and almost threw myself on it. 15:59.840 --> 16:01.840 Before I saw it, it was a payphone. 16:01.840 --> 16:03.840 In a rage, I shook the black box. 16:03.840 --> 16:06.840 There must be some money in this room. 16:06.840 --> 16:09.840 My eyes focused on a battered desk. 16:09.840 --> 16:16.840 There was some change in it. I took a nickel. 16:20.840 --> 16:21.840 Number, please. 16:21.840 --> 16:25.840 Kept me San Francisco. Sutter 15994. 16:25.840 --> 16:29.840 Thank you. There may be a slight delay, sir. 16:29.840 --> 16:31.840 I'll hold on. But hurry, operator. It's important. 16:31.840 --> 16:33.840 One moment, please. 16:35.840 --> 16:36.840 I waited. 16:36.840 --> 16:40.840 Far down the road, the headlights of a car juggled over the rise and aimed toward me. 16:40.840 --> 16:45.840 I hung up the receiver, closed the cash drawer, snapped the lock on the door. 16:45.840 --> 16:47.840 Then I crouched beneath the desk. 16:56.840 --> 16:58.840 Open up! Hey! 16:58.840 --> 17:01.840 I've tried to wake that geezer before. He sleeps like a dead man. 17:01.840 --> 17:02.840 Hey, Gary! 17:02.840 --> 17:06.840 All right, all right. I'm coming. 17:07.840 --> 17:08.840 Who is it? 17:08.840 --> 17:11.840 Randy and Ross. Open up. 17:14.840 --> 17:17.840 Well, you're a fine bunch of cops running out of gas in the middle of the night. 17:17.840 --> 17:20.840 Hey, come on in. It's chilly with the door open. 17:20.840 --> 17:22.840 Phillips broke jail. 17:22.840 --> 17:24.840 What? Well, you don't tell me. 17:24.840 --> 17:25.840 Hey, how'd he do that? 17:25.840 --> 17:27.840 Well, there was two of them. He had an accomplice. Said he was a lawyer. 17:27.840 --> 17:32.840 He found their car abandoned on the road back at Ferris' Hopfield. Ran out of gas. 17:32.840 --> 17:34.840 He can't be far away. 17:34.840 --> 17:39.840 There was a big reward for Phillips after he broke jail at Bennington, wasn't there? 17:39.840 --> 17:40.840 Yeah. A thousand dollars. 17:40.840 --> 17:44.840 Hey, you know him, don't you? You were in the Bennington Polk when he did that break. 17:44.840 --> 17:49.840 Yeah. Yeah, we was roommates for a night. I was pretty scared. 17:49.840 --> 17:50.840 How'd he do it, the break? 17:50.840 --> 17:55.840 Well, I don't know. I was sleeping it off. A thousand dollar reward, huh? 17:55.840 --> 18:00.840 Don't you go getting any ideas now. That Phillips is a killer, and so is his partner most likely. 18:00.840 --> 18:07.840 Well, I ain't exactly helpless myself. Got me a nice little fella in my side here. 18:07.840 --> 18:09.840 You take my advice, chum, and put the gun away. 18:09.840 --> 18:12.840 Now show up here, you talk soft, and let us do the capture. 18:12.840 --> 18:14.840 Sure, sure. I'll play safe. 18:14.840 --> 18:17.840 Well, we'll be going. Just wanted to alert you, Jerry. 18:17.840 --> 18:27.840 Yeah, well, thanks. So long, boys. 18:27.840 --> 18:30.840 All right, you, come out from under that desk. 18:30.840 --> 18:31.840 Mr. 18:31.840 --> 18:40.840 Come on out, I say. This gun's mighty nervous. 18:40.840 --> 18:42.840 And get your hands up and stand over there. 18:42.840 --> 18:43.840 Look, mister, I... 18:43.840 --> 18:45.840 I'll do the talking. Who are you? 18:45.840 --> 18:47.840 You've got to believe me, I'm not a criminal, I'm a lawyer. 18:47.840 --> 18:51.840 Oh, yeah, you must be that other one. Hey, keep them hands up. 18:51.840 --> 18:52.840 Now where's Phillips? 18:52.840 --> 18:56.840 I left him in the car. Now that's another thing. You can get the reward. 18:56.840 --> 18:58.840 I know who he's going to meet, and they're going to a hideout. 18:58.840 --> 19:00.840 I see, yeah. Who's he going to meet? 19:00.840 --> 19:05.840 Somebody named Jerry Nichols. There. Now if you'll let me get to that phone, I can clear everything up. 19:05.840 --> 19:07.840 No, you don't. You stay right where you are. 19:07.840 --> 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. 19:12.840 --> 19:15.840 You don't believe me? 19:15.840 --> 19:16.840 Yeah, I believe you all right. 19:16.840 --> 19:19.840 Then what? Answer it yourself, you'll see. 19:19.840 --> 19:21.840 Not on your life, mister, will you think I'm out of my mind? 19:21.840 --> 19:25.840 But you've got to answer it, Jerry. You don't know what I went through to place that call. 19:25.840 --> 19:27.840 You can't just stand there... 19:28.840 --> 19:32.840 Jerry. You're Jerry Nichols. 19:32.840 --> 19:35.840 Yep, that's right. So you see it... 19:36.840 --> 19:38.840 Jerry! Jerry! 19:38.840 --> 19:40.840 Hey, turn off that light. It's Phillips. 19:40.840 --> 19:42.840 You stand over there where he can't see you. Now go on. 19:42.840 --> 19:43.840 Jerry! 19:43.840 --> 19:45.840 Come on in, Phillips. 19:47.840 --> 19:49.840 Hey, ran out of gas and that... 19:49.840 --> 19:51.840 Oh, Jerry! 19:56.840 --> 20:00.840 Yep, dead or alive. I just made me a thousand dollars. 20:01.840 --> 20:02.840 You're worse than he is. 20:02.840 --> 20:10.840 Shut up. Maybe I can get a reward for you too. A small one. 20:11.840 --> 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. 20:18.840 --> 20:24.840 But somehow, strangely, it didn't stop me. I kept moving toward him. He backed away surprised. 20:24.840 --> 20:26.840 He was aiming for another shot when we grabbed him. 20:26.840 --> 20:28.840 Jerry! Jerry! 20:28.840 --> 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. 20:35.840 --> 20:39.840 As we thrashed around on the floor, I brought his hand up suddenly and smashed his own gun. 20:39.840 --> 20:40.840 Hit him! 20:40.840 --> 20:42.840 And he lay still. 20:44.840 --> 20:49.840 It was hard. He was alive. I got up gasping for breath. 20:49.840 --> 20:55.840 And then I realized that I was all right. Yet he'd shot me. Hit me. 20:55.840 --> 21:00.840 I should be lying there on the plank floor instead of that grotesque heap in the shapeless flannel nightgown. 21:00.840 --> 21:05.840 I felt my side where the bullet had struck. Brought my hand away. 21:05.840 --> 21:09.840 There was no blood on it. There should be blood. 21:09.840 --> 21:14.840 I dodged the spot again. Fingered the contour of something small and round. 21:14.840 --> 21:19.840 I pulled it out of my watch pocket. Battered where the slug had struck it. Bet almost double. 21:19.840 --> 21:26.840 Nickel. Nickel. On the twentieth part of a dot. 21:26.840 --> 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. 21:33.840 --> 21:41.840 To save his life. And I'd had it all the time. I'd had it all the time. 21:41.840 --> 21:44.840 I'd had it all the time. 21:44.840 --> 21:49.840 I'd had it all the time. 22:03.840 --> 22:04.840 Hello? 22:04.840 --> 22:08.840 I have your party now in San Francisco. Shall I connect you, sir? 22:08.840 --> 22:14.840 Yeah, but first, get the Lansing Police Station with you, operator. 22:14.840 --> 22:16.840 Lansing Police? 22:16.840 --> 22:23.840 Yeah. Shut up, Jerry. You're gonna live. I'm gonna be in court with you. 22:23.840 --> 22:38.840 Yeah, I wouldn't give a plug nickel for your chance. 22:38.840 --> 22:43.840 Suspense. In which Harry Bartel starred as Clark. 22:43.840 --> 22:47.840 Crime photographer is now heard Friday nights on CBS radio. 22:47.840 --> 22:52.840 Tomorrow, marking his move to the new night and time, Casey tackles a tough assignment. 22:52.840 --> 22:57.840 Confronting a corrupt political boss, a beautiful redhead, and the wayward son of a respected cop. 22:57.840 --> 23:01.840 In his efforts to crack a protection racket rooted in the city. 23:01.840 --> 23:06.840 Don't miss Crime Photographer in action tomorrow night against crime and criminals. 23:06.840 --> 23:10.840 Next week, the simple tale of a woman who finds herself accused of murder. 23:10.840 --> 23:15.840 And yet has no remembrance of either the act itself or the person she is said to have killed. 23:15.840 --> 23:18.840 We call it lost. 23:18.840 --> 23:36.840 That's next week on Suspense. 23:36.840 --> 23:43.840 Suspense is produced and directed by Norman MacDonald with music composed by Lucian Marloweck and conducted by Lud Bluskin. 23:43.840 --> 23:47.840 Chicken Feed was specially written for Suspense by Lawrence Goldman. 23:47.840 --> 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. 24:03.840 --> 24:18.840 Mary Clooney sings Thursday nights on the CBS Radio Network.