1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,000 And now, transcribe tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrill, 2 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Suspense. 3 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:24,000 Tonight, we bring you a story of a man who returned home to find his people in the grip 4 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:25,000 of a strange disease. 5 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:26,000 We call it the Frightened City. 6 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:46,600 So now, starring Mr. Harry Bartel, here is tonight's Suspense play, The Frightened City. 7 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:49,000 Train pulled out of Easton at 1.20 in the afternoon. 8 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,000 It pulled in three minutes earlier. 9 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,000 It was a simple thing I had to do then. 10 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,000 Watch it cross the bridge over the Wabash. 11 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:00,000 Watch it grow smaller. 12 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,000 And when it was out of sight, I was finally home. 13 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:14,000 And home was pick up the barracks bag and walk up the small hill from the depot down 14 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,000 into Main Street on an autumn afternoon. 15 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:23,000 Turn left on Sycamore down three blocks where the houses are painted white and there's rockers 16 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:30,000 on the porches and white elm trees of November color and the far off sound of a dog barking 17 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:36,000 and smell of smoldering leaves and 595 Sycamore Street. 18 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:42,000 Up the path, up the steps. 19 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,000 Jane, Janey. 20 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:46,000 Who is it? 21 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,000 Janey, sis. 22 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:52,000 Nick, Nick, Nick. 23 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:54,000 Oh, Nicky, Nicky. 24 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:56,000 How's the baby, sis? 25 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:58,000 Oh, fine. 26 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:00,000 He was teething, but he's all right now. 27 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:01,000 Haven't seen him yet. 28 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:02,000 Oh, he's beautiful. 29 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:04,000 How's Janey? 30 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:06,000 Well, how's Janey, sis? 31 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:07,000 What? 32 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:09,000 Janey, how is he? 33 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,000 Your husband, my brother-in-law, Janey, how... 34 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:15,000 What's the matter with you? 35 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,000 Didn't you get my letter? 36 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,000 I was aboard ship the last two weeks, so I... 37 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,000 Johnny's dead. 38 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:26,000 Johnny went walking one night and he's dead. 39 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:30,000 One night Johnny said he was going to walk down to Main Street. 40 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,000 Told me he wanted to stop in the police station. 41 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:34,000 He had somebody tell it to the police. 42 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,000 Janey, Janey, listen. 43 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:38,000 He went out and he was walking along. 44 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:39,000 Janey! 45 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:43,000 Walking along. 46 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:48,000 Oh, baby, baby. 47 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:53,000 A car drove by and someone shot a gun at Johnny. 48 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:55,000 And Johnny's dead. 49 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:57,000 Who? 50 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:01,000 Who shot Johnny, sis? 51 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,000 Janey, I'm talking to you. Who shot Johnny? 52 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,000 Janey! 53 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,000 Nick, you've got a nephew. 54 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:11,000 He's sleeping and he's my son. 55 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:16,000 He's a good baby and I love him as much as a mother can love a child. 56 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:18,000 Now I want to show you something. 57 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:22,000 I've had it here in my apron and I've been wondering what to do about it. 58 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:26,000 I found it under my door about a week ago the day after Johnny was shot. 59 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,000 I'll read it to you. 60 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,000 Don't talk to strangers. 61 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,000 What happened to Daddy can happen to Sonny. 62 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:35,000 Give it to me. 63 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,000 My little boy is going to grow up. 64 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:41,000 He's going to play with other boys and laugh and cry when he scrapes his knee on the sidewalk and goes home... 65 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:42,000 Give me the note, Janey. 66 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:43,000 ...and live a life. 67 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:45,000 No, no, no, Nicky. 68 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:47,000 These pieces get burned, get forgotten. 69 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:50,000 It gets forgotten like everything else that's happened. 70 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,000 Who did it, Janey? 71 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:54,000 You're back home. 72 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,000 Let everything be peaceful now. 73 00:03:57,000 --> 00:03:59,000 Let's keep it that way. 74 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:08,000 Outside it was November. 75 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:11,000 The long, quiet avenue. 76 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:14,000 And the glimpse of the coat-sweated woman in her backyard. 77 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:16,000 Gathering in her wash. 78 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:20,000 Feeling it at the starch of cold autumn wind. 79 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:22,000 Walk to a cross street. 80 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:24,000 Then three blocks east. 81 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,000 Police headquarters. 82 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:29,000 Give a murdered man's name and yours. 83 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:31,000 Ask for the chief of police. 84 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:35,000 And in less than an hour be shown in to him. 85 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,000 Hello, Mr. Crawford. Have a seat. 86 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:40,000 You know I am here. 87 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:42,000 Yes, yeah, I do. 88 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,000 I just came from my sister. 89 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:47,000 She's scared. 90 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:50,000 She gets threatening notes and burns them up. 91 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:51,000 Why? 92 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:52,000 I don't know. 93 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:53,000 Who killed her husband? 94 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,000 I don't know. 95 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:57,000 Look, you. This happened to my sister. 96 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:58,000 Now it's happening to me. 97 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,000 A week ago a man walked down the street. 98 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,000 He was on his way to see you and he got murdered. 99 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:03,000 Easy, kid, easy. 100 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:05,000 I got some things to tell you. 101 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:06,000 Tell me. 102 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,000 Four people saw it happen to your brother-in-law. 103 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:11,000 That night one of them, a woman, was brutally beaten. 104 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:13,000 Tossed into a vacant lot. 105 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:16,000 A kid playing in the trash found her there. 106 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:20,000 Two days later another witness got a bomb thrown through his nice new house. 107 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:22,000 It almost killed his wife. 108 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:24,000 That's two. 109 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:26,000 The other two won't talk either. 110 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:29,000 Like your own sister won't talk. 111 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:31,000 I'm tired, Mr. Crawford. 112 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:33,000 I got lots of things to clear away. 113 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:35,000 I want their names and addresses. 114 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:36,000 They'll talk to you, huh? 115 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:38,000 They'll talk to me. 116 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:40,000 I want those names. 117 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:45,000 Tell the sergeant in the next office I said you could have them. 118 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:47,000 Mr. Crawford. 119 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:48,000 What? 120 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,000 Things have changed in this town. 121 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:51,000 It's different. 122 00:05:51,000 --> 00:06:10,000 Hang around, you'll see. 123 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:11,000 Hello. 124 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:12,000 Evening. 125 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:13,000 Mr. Osborne. 126 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:15,000 I'm Mr. Osborne. 127 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:16,000 Something I can do for you. 128 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:20,000 They tell me down at your place of business that you'd be home. 129 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,000 It's about Johnny Stewart. 130 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:23,000 Do you mind if I sit down? 131 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:25,000 Not at all. 132 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:27,000 Johnny Stewart, huh? 133 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:29,000 Friend of yours? 134 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,000 He was married to my sister. 135 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:32,000 Your sister? 136 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:34,000 Oh, then you must be Nick. 137 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:36,000 Heard a lot about you from Johnny. 138 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:38,000 How you were soldiering in Korea. 139 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:40,000 Welcome home, Nick. 140 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:42,000 Johnny worked for you, didn't he? 141 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:44,000 Good accountant, nice guy, Johnny. 142 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:46,000 One of the best. 143 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:49,000 You were with him the night he was killed. 144 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:50,000 That's right. 145 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:52,000 I was with him. 146 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:54,000 You want to tell me about him? 147 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:59,000 Johnny was walking by my store just as I was closing up. 148 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:00,000 I told him to wait a minute. 149 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,000 I'd walk with him. 150 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:03,000 We walked. 151 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:05,000 We talked. 152 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:06,000 We got to a corner. 153 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:11,000 I told Johnny to wait for me while I went into the drug store to buy some cigarettes. 154 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:15,000 Just as I came out, a car turned the corner, 155 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:19,000 shot him down, drove away. 156 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:20,000 That's how it was. 157 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:21,000 What kind of a car? 158 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,000 I wouldn't know. 159 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,000 A sedan, convertible, old, new? 160 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:27,000 A week ago they put me through this. 161 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:29,000 I didn't know then. 162 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:31,000 I don't know now. 163 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:32,000 He worked for you. 164 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:33,000 He was your friend. 165 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:36,000 You knew all about him and me and his wife. 166 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:39,000 Nick, I like it here on my porch swing. 167 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:42,000 It reminds me I'm alive. 168 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,000 Don't spoil it for me, Nick. 169 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:57,000 Mrs. Mason, you were sitting right here at your window and you saw it happen. 170 00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:59,000 You saw Johnny killed. 171 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:01,000 I didn't see it. 172 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:02,000 What kind of a car? 173 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:04,000 Just tell me that. 174 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:06,000 Nothing. 175 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,000 The men who beat you up, could you identify them? 176 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:13,000 They were weeds and dirty old thin cans. 177 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:15,000 Please. 178 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:23,000 And they threw me down, kicked me, my throat. 179 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:24,000 Go away. 180 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:27,000 What are you doing in my house? 181 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:35,000 You listen to me, Nick. 182 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:37,000 I can remember when Johnny Stewart was a kid 183 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,000 and he stole a penny candy from me right here in the same drug store. 184 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:44,000 And he grew up to be shot down right on this corner, right outside this store. 185 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:46,000 What happened that night, Mr. Nolan? 186 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:48,000 Nick, I built up a nice business here. 187 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:49,000 20 years. 188 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:50,000 What did you see? 189 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:53,000 Nicky, Nicky, it was me had to scrub his blood off the sidewalk. 190 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:55,000 What did you see? 191 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:56,000 Nothing. 192 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:07,000 That's what I saw Nick, nothing. 193 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:08,000 Hi. 194 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:09,000 Hello there. 195 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:11,000 You're Tom Rockston, aren't you? 196 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:12,000 That's right. 197 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:13,000 I'm Nick Crawford. 198 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:15,000 Glad to know you. 199 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:19,000 Johnny Stewart was my brother-in-law. 200 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:21,000 Oh, really? 201 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:26,000 I understand your wife was almost killed when they tossed a bomb into your house. 202 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:28,000 That's right, here's what was out back. 203 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:29,000 Lucky. 204 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:33,000 That bomb was because you were a witness to a murder, wasn't it? 205 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:34,000 House looks okay now. 206 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:36,000 I got nice neighbors. 207 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:37,000 Help me. 208 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:38,000 We fixed it up ourselves. 209 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:41,000 We'll kill Johnny. 210 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:44,000 You're scared to death, aren't you? 211 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:46,000 I got a pretty good house here, mister. 212 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:49,000 A tract house, GI loan. 213 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:53,000 Once I had a nice uniform just like you. 214 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:56,000 Now what I've got is a wonderful wife. 215 00:09:56,000 --> 00:10:00,000 Anybody asks me, I'll say Hazel's a wonderful wife and I love her. 216 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:03,000 Like I said, scared. 217 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:06,000 Right now, mostly are you. 218 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:12,000 Whatever you're carrying around with you, I don't want to rub off on me or Hazel. 219 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:16,000 So I'll tell you something. 220 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:25,000 Leave me alone. 221 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:28,000 When I went outside, it was evening in Easton. 222 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:34,000 The air was chill and the dew was turning to light frost on the lawns. 223 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:38,000 I walked for a while and I noticed a thing. 224 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:42,000 The people on the streets, they all had the same disease. 225 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:46,000 Their stares, their looks over the shoulder at me. 226 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:51,000 The whispers, the turning aside to let me pass. 227 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:57,000 The word had gotten around that Johnny Stewart's brother-in-law was back in town and was asking questions. 228 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:02,000 Was being pointed out, walked away from. 229 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:05,000 I'd come home. 230 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:24,000 And I'd come home to a frightened city. 231 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,000 You are listening to The Frightened City. 232 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:33,000 Tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. 233 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:56,000 And now we bring back to our Hollywood soundstage, Mr. Harry Bartel, starring in tonight's production, 234 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:16,000 The Frightened City, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. 235 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:21,000 The next morning in Easton, clear, bright. 236 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:26,000 Look out the window of an upstairs room where you've slept in an almost forgotten bed. 237 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:30,000 In the glint of sunlight is autumn leaves wet with melting frost. 238 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:32,000 Nikki, you up? 239 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:35,000 Yeah, come on in. 240 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:36,000 Hi. 241 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:37,000 Hi. 242 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:38,000 You sleep good? 243 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:40,000 Yeah. 244 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:42,000 I heard the kid bawling a little while ago. 245 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:43,000 Woke me up. 246 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:45,000 Sit down, honey. 247 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:46,000 He was hungry. 248 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:48,000 It's all right now. 249 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:49,000 Nikki. 250 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:50,000 What? 251 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:53,000 You got home real late last night. 252 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:58,000 I waited up a long time, and I got tired and went to sleep. 253 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,000 My brother's first night home in three years. 254 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:05,000 You think you could have managed to get home early enough for us to talk? 255 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:07,000 What do we talk about, Jane? 256 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,000 Oh, you. 257 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:11,000 What's happened to you in three years? 258 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:17,000 But Johnny, dead Johnny, murdered Johnny, your husband, the man you had the kid with, that we don't talk about. 259 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:18,000 Shut up, Nikki. 260 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:19,000 Janey. 261 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:20,000 Shut up. 262 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:21,000 You're going to yell me into keeping quiet? 263 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:23,000 I told you I don't want my baby killed. 264 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:24,000 Johnny was enough. 265 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:26,000 You hate me for wanting to know why Johnny's dead. 266 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:27,000 You hate me for that, Janey? 267 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:28,000 My baby gets hurt. 268 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:30,000 I'll hate you to your grave. 269 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:32,000 You got lots of new things in the house, Jane. 270 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:33,000 New furniture, new carpets. 271 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:35,000 Looks nice, looks expensive. 272 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:36,000 You coming down for breakfast? 273 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:38,000 How much did Johnny make working as accountant for Osmond? 274 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:39,000 50, 60 a week? 275 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:40,000 How much? 276 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:41,000 Nick, leave me alone. 277 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:44,000 New sofa, big green leather chair, new carpet. 278 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:45,000 That costs a lot of money. 279 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:46,000 How'd you get them, Jane? 280 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:47,000 Is Thornman playing? 281 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:48,000 Somebody give you a birthday present? 282 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:49,000 How'd you do it, Jane? 283 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:50,000 You got a home hobby? 284 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:52,000 You take telephone subscriptions for ladies' magazines? 285 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:53,000 Or did Johnny do it? 286 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:54,000 Is that it? 287 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:55,000 How? 288 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:56,000 Did he steal? 289 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:57,000 Did he rob? 290 00:13:57,000 --> 00:13:58,000 Did he kill? 291 00:13:58,000 --> 00:13:59,000 Tell me. 292 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:02,000 Ask Osmond. 293 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:04,000 Osmond. 294 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:06,000 Ask him what? 295 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:08,000 How we suddenly became rich. 296 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:12,000 How Johnny left a bank account with $30,000 in it. 297 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:13,000 What are you talking about? 298 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,000 Well, you said you walked the town last night. 299 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:16,000 Didn't you see what's happened to it? 300 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:17,000 See what? 301 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:22,000 People walking into back rooms, shops with no customers, open late. 302 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:27,000 People walking into back rooms, card rooms, dice tables, numbers. 303 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,000 And Johnny was part of it? 304 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:31,000 Johnny worked for Osmond. 305 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:35,000 And he got sick of it and was on his way to tell the cop. 306 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:38,000 Doesn't matter. 307 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:43,000 If you tell anybody what I said, I'll swear you're lying. 308 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:47,000 That's what I'll do, Nick. 309 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:00,000 Hi, Nick. 310 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,000 What are you doing? 311 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:03,000 Hey. 312 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,000 Hey, what's the matter with you, Nick? 313 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:06,000 I want you to look at me, Osmond. 314 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:09,000 And I want you to say to yourself, here's a man who's angry. 315 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:12,000 Say to yourself, here's a man who might reach across the desk and kill me. 316 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:14,000 He hasn't made up his mind yet. 317 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:16,000 On your feet, Osmond. 318 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,000 On your feet! 319 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:20,000 Why'd you kill Johnny? 320 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:21,000 You crazy? 321 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:22,000 Talk to me. 322 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:23,000 Talk. Tell me why you killed Johnny. 323 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,000 I was walking with him, son. Walking with him. How could I? 324 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,000 How could you set him up as a pigeon? It's real simple. 325 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:31,000 You walk with him and go into a drug store and wait until he's killed. 326 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:34,000 Now you know how. Now tell me why. 327 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,000 Been talking to your sister, son? 328 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:39,000 Osmond, you send your boys down to see my sister. 329 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,000 They might live through what'll happen to them, but I doubt it. 330 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:43,000 Tough boy, soldier boy. 331 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:45,000 Now here's what else, Osmond. 332 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:47,000 This town suddenly stinks. 333 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:50,000 Dice rooms, card rooms, numbers and everything that goes with it. 334 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:53,000 My brother-in-law gets a shiny garbage disposal and a new grand piano. 335 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:55,000 Real fine rugs and a large bank account. 336 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,000 On how much a week? 337 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:00,000 Seventy-five? Accountants make about that, don't they? 338 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:02,000 We could start you at about three hundred. 339 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:04,000 A peaceful life, Mr. Osmond, to a guy who's talking. 340 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:05,000 Five hundred. 341 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:07,000 For what, Mr. Osmond? 342 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:09,000 That's the word for just now. 343 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:12,000 I could kill you, Mr. Osmond. Just think about it. 344 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:13,000 With me. 345 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:15,000 Now here we are in this room. 346 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:20,000 You, the man who's got the whole town of Easton so scared that nobody has a friend anymore. 347 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:24,000 Takes a powerful man to frighten almost twenty thousand people, but you did it. 348 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:28,000 Anything happens to me, Nicky boy, you'd get one block from here. 349 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:30,000 Let's think about that too, huh? 350 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:32,000 That's what I was coming to. 351 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:36,000 Then there's me in this room and you're afraid of me. 352 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,000 That makes me pretty big too, but I'm not going to kill you. 353 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:42,000 Because this is my town and it used to be a pretty good town. 354 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:46,000 The uniform and the flag and the fist, that's all you need. 355 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:47,000 And there's law. 356 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:51,000 And there's people who need to know what's happening here and I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do. 357 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:53,000 Got proof, Nicky? How? 358 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:55,000 About eight o'clock this evening I'm going to take a walk. 359 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:57,000 I'm going to take the same walk that Johnny did. 360 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:00,000 And I'm going into that drug store and make a phone call. 361 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,000 A long distance call to St. Louis. 362 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:04,000 To a newspaper guy I know. 363 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:07,000 And then it's going to be in the papers about a frightened city. 364 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:10,000 And reporters will come here and they'll find out. 365 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:12,000 You getting real scared, Osborne? 366 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:16,000 You mean it? About taking that walk tonight, Nick? 367 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:17,000 I mean it. 368 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,000 Maybe we'll bump into each other. 369 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:21,000 We will. 370 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:33,000 And on the way home stop at Lane's Sporting Goods Store. 371 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:34,000 Buy a gun. 372 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:36,000 Buy cartridges. 373 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,000 And Mr. Lane is all business. 374 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:40,000 No good evenings. 375 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,000 No, how have you been, Nicky? 376 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:45,000 Just ring it up on the cash register not looking at you. 377 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:48,000 Walk quickly away from you when it was done. 378 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:50,000 And the walk home. 379 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:54,000 A small town held in November twilight. 380 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:58,000 Inside the house, the room where the baby is. 381 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:00,000 Play with him. 382 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,000 And Jane comes in, takes him away from you. 383 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:06,000 Tells you there's supper in the kitchen if you want it. 384 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:08,000 And eat alone. 385 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:11,000 Paper propped against water pitcher. 386 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:13,000 Alone. 387 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:17,000 From now on, everything alone. 388 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:20,000 Glance at the kitchen clock. 389 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:22,000 And it's time. 390 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:27,000 You going out, Nick? 391 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:28,000 Yeah. 392 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:29,000 Where? 393 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:30,000 Just for a walk. 394 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:31,000 Will you be late? 395 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:32,000 Maybe. 396 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:34,000 Don't wait up for me. 397 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:51,000 Something for you, Nick? 398 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:52,000 Some change. 399 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:53,000 I want to use your phone. 400 00:18:53,000 --> 00:19:01,000 Sure, Nick. 401 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:03,000 Here, Nick. 402 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:07,000 Thanks. 403 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:22,000 Long distance. 404 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:26,000 Long distance, what's the station to station charge to St. Louis? 405 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:31,000 One moment, please. 406 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:35,000 The charge is one dollar, twenty cents, including tax. 407 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:37,000 What number do you wish, please? 408 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:40,000 What number are you calling in St. Louis, please? 409 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:41,000 Pick a number. 410 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:42,000 I'm sorry, sir. 411 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:43,000 Don't be sorry. 412 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:45,000 Get anybody you want to talk to in St. Louis. 413 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:47,000 Have a talk on me. 414 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:51,000 There's somebody I want to call in St. Louis, but I can't think of who it is. 415 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,000 I will give you information. 416 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:54,000 No, no. 417 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:55,000 Just talk to me. 418 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:56,000 I'm sorry, sir. 419 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:57,000 I can't do that. 420 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:01,000 Operator, I've got to talk into this phone for just a little while longer. 421 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:05,000 Just to let somebody think I'm not kidding, in case somebody's watching. 422 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:07,000 I don't understand, sir. 423 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:08,000 Would you like information, sir? 424 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:09,000 About what? 425 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:12,000 Do you wish to talk to St. Louis, sir? 426 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:14,000 You think I should? 427 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,000 I'll connect you with my superior. 428 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:17,000 No. 429 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:18,000 No, I got a number. 430 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:23,000 Get me Benton 64373 in St. Louis. 431 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:25,000 One moment, please. 432 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:27,000 Never mind, operator. 433 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:29,000 Somebody's just driven up. 434 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:31,000 He's waiting for me outside. 435 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:32,000 Cancel call. 436 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:42,000 Nick. 437 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:57,000 Nick. 438 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:02,000 Nick. 439 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:04,000 Sorry, soldier. 440 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:09,000 And just think, you could have died on a battlefield, not in your hometown. 441 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:12,000 Yes. 442 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:24,000 Oh. 443 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:27,000 We both went to the same hospital. 444 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:29,000 Osborne didn't die. 445 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:30,000 He lived. 446 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:32,000 Quite a long time. 447 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:41,000 Hospital, trial, confession, sentence. 448 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:44,000 Then it was spring in Eastern. 449 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:45,000 It was a good spring. 450 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:47,000 And you know how people are. 451 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:48,000 They react to the weather. 452 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:49,000 Hi, Nick. 453 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:52,000 Trees starting to bud already, you noticed? 454 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:57,000 They get friendly and they smile a lot like winter was a long time. 455 00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:59,000 A dark time. 456 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:00,000 It was over. 457 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,000 Come on over to the house when you have a chance, Nick. 458 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,000 You do that, you hear? 459 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:08,000 Grass grows in springtime, but babies grow all the time. 460 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:09,000 Did you see him? 461 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:11,000 Did you see him, Nick? 462 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:12,000 He walked. 463 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,000 My son walked. 464 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:16,000 Sure, I saw him, sirs. 465 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:17,000 He's growing up. 466 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:18,000 That happens. 467 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:19,000 And you know what? 468 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:20,000 He's lucky. 469 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,000 He's got a good town to grow up in. 470 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:52,000 Suspense, in which Mr. Harry Bartel starred in tonight's 471 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:55,000 in tonight's presentation of The Frightened City. 472 00:22:55,000 --> 00:23:01,000 The suspense is produced and transcribed by Anthony Ellis. 473 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:04,000 Tonight's script was written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin. 474 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:09,000 The music was composed by Renny Garagin and conducted by Wilbur Hatch. 475 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:23,000 Featured in the cast were Charlotte Lawrence, Lou Merrill, Herb Butterfield, Viviannis and Tom McKee.