And now, transcribe tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrill,
Suspense.
Tonight, we bring you a story of a man who returned home to find his people in the grip
of a strange disease.
We call it the Frightened City.
So now, starring Mr. Harry Bartel, here is tonight's Suspense play, The Frightened City.
Train pulled out of Easton at 1.20 in the afternoon.
It pulled in three minutes earlier.
It was a simple thing I had to do then.
Watch it cross the bridge over the Wabash.
Watch it grow smaller.
And when it was out of sight, I was finally home.
And home was pick up the barracks bag and walk up the small hill from the depot down
into Main Street on an autumn afternoon.
Turn left on Sycamore down three blocks where the houses are painted white and there's rockers
on the porches and white elm trees of November color and the far off sound of a dog barking
and smell of smoldering leaves and 595 Sycamore Street.
Up the path, up the steps.
Jane, Janey.
Who is it?
Janey, sis.
Nick, Nick, Nick.
Oh, Nicky, Nicky.
How's the baby, sis?
Oh, fine.
He was teething, but he's all right now.
Haven't seen him yet.
Oh, he's beautiful.
How's Janey?
Well, how's Janey, sis?
What?
Janey, how is he?
Your husband, my brother-in-law, Janey, how...
What's the matter with you?
Didn't you get my letter?
I was aboard ship the last two weeks, so I...
Johnny's dead.
Johnny went walking one night and he's dead.
One night Johnny said he was going to walk down to Main Street.
Told me he wanted to stop in the police station.
He had somebody tell it to the police.
Janey, Janey, listen.
He went out and he was walking along.
Janey!
Walking along.
Oh, baby, baby.
A car drove by and someone shot a gun at Johnny.
And Johnny's dead.
Who?
Who shot Johnny, sis?
Janey, I'm talking to you. Who shot Johnny?
Janey!
Nick, you've got a nephew.
He's sleeping and he's my son.
He's a good baby and I love him as much as a mother can love a child.
Now I want to show you something.
I've had it here in my apron and I've been wondering what to do about it.
I found it under my door about a week ago the day after Johnny was shot.
I'll read it to you.
Don't talk to strangers.
What happened to Daddy can happen to Sonny.
Give it to me.
My little boy is going to grow up.
He's going to play with other boys and laugh and cry when he scrapes his knee on the sidewalk and goes home...
Give me the note, Janey.
...and live a life.
No, no, no, Nicky.
These pieces get burned, get forgotten.
It gets forgotten like everything else that's happened.
Who did it, Janey?
You're back home.
Let everything be peaceful now.
Let's keep it that way.
Outside it was November.
The long, quiet avenue.
And the glimpse of the coat-sweated woman in her backyard.
Gathering in her wash.
Feeling it at the starch of cold autumn wind.
Walk to a cross street.
Then three blocks east.
Police headquarters.
Give a murdered man's name and yours.
Ask for the chief of police.
And in less than an hour be shown in to him.
Hello, Mr. Crawford. Have a seat.
You know I am here.
Yes, yeah, I do.
I just came from my sister.
She's scared.
She gets threatening notes and burns them up.
Why?
I don't know.
Who killed her husband?
I don't know.
Look, you. This happened to my sister.
Now it's happening to me.
A week ago a man walked down the street.
He was on his way to see you and he got murdered.
Easy, kid, easy.
I got some things to tell you.
Tell me.
Four people saw it happen to your brother-in-law.
That night one of them, a woman, was brutally beaten.
Tossed into a vacant lot.
A kid playing in the trash found her there.
Two days later another witness got a bomb thrown through his nice new house.
It almost killed his wife.
That's two.
The other two won't talk either.
Like your own sister won't talk.
I'm tired, Mr. Crawford.
I got lots of things to clear away.
I want their names and addresses.
They'll talk to you, huh?
They'll talk to me.
I want those names.
Tell the sergeant in the next office I said you could have them.
Mr. Crawford.
What?
Things have changed in this town.
It's different.
Hang around, you'll see.
Hello.
Evening.
Mr. Osborne.
I'm Mr. Osborne.
Something I can do for you.
They tell me down at your place of business that you'd be home.
It's about Johnny Stewart.
Do you mind if I sit down?
Not at all.
Johnny Stewart, huh?
Friend of yours?
He was married to my sister.
Your sister?
Oh, then you must be Nick.
Heard a lot about you from Johnny.
How you were soldiering in Korea.
Welcome home, Nick.
Johnny worked for you, didn't he?
Good accountant, nice guy, Johnny.
One of the best.
You were with him the night he was killed.
That's right.
I was with him.
You want to tell me about him?
Johnny was walking by my store just as I was closing up.
I told him to wait a minute.
I'd walk with him.
We walked.
We talked.
We got to a corner.
I told Johnny to wait for me while I went into the drug store to buy some cigarettes.
Just as I came out, a car turned the corner,
shot him down, drove away.
That's how it was.
What kind of a car?
I wouldn't know.
A sedan, convertible, old, new?
A week ago they put me through this.
I didn't know then.
I don't know now.
He worked for you.
He was your friend.
You knew all about him and me and his wife.
Nick, I like it here on my porch swing.
It reminds me I'm alive.
Don't spoil it for me, Nick.
Mrs. Mason, you were sitting right here at your window and you saw it happen.
You saw Johnny killed.
I didn't see it.
What kind of a car?
Just tell me that.
Nothing.
The men who beat you up, could you identify them?
They were weeds and dirty old thin cans.
Please.
And they threw me down, kicked me, my throat.
Go away.
What are you doing in my house?
You listen to me, Nick.
I can remember when Johnny Stewart was a kid
and he stole a penny candy from me right here in the same drug store.
And he grew up to be shot down right on this corner, right outside this store.
What happened that night, Mr. Nolan?
Nick, I built up a nice business here.
20 years.
What did you see?
Nicky, Nicky, it was me had to scrub his blood off the sidewalk.
What did you see?
Nothing.
That's what I saw Nick, nothing.
Hi.
Hello there.
You're Tom Rockston, aren't you?
That's right.
I'm Nick Crawford.
Glad to know you.
Johnny Stewart was my brother-in-law.
Oh, really?
I understand your wife was almost killed when they tossed a bomb into your house.
That's right, here's what was out back.
Lucky.
That bomb was because you were a witness to a murder, wasn't it?
House looks okay now.
I got nice neighbors.
Help me.
We fixed it up ourselves.
We'll kill Johnny.
You're scared to death, aren't you?
I got a pretty good house here, mister.
A tract house, GI loan.
Once I had a nice uniform just like you.
Now what I've got is a wonderful wife.
Anybody asks me, I'll say Hazel's a wonderful wife and I love her.
Like I said, scared.
Right now, mostly are you.
Whatever you're carrying around with you, I don't want to rub off on me or Hazel.
So I'll tell you something.
Leave me alone.
When I went outside, it was evening in Easton.
The air was chill and the dew was turning to light frost on the lawns.
I walked for a while and I noticed a thing.
The people on the streets, they all had the same disease.
Their stares, their looks over the shoulder at me.
The whispers, the turning aside to let me pass.
The word had gotten around that Johnny Stewart's brother-in-law was back in town and was asking questions.
Was being pointed out, walked away from.
I'd come home.
And I'd come home to a frightened city.
You are listening to The Frightened City.
Tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
And now we bring back to our Hollywood soundstage, Mr. Harry Bartel, starring in tonight's production,
The Frightened City, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
The next morning in Easton, clear, bright.
Look out the window of an upstairs room where you've slept in an almost forgotten bed.
In the glint of sunlight is autumn leaves wet with melting frost.
Nikki, you up?
Yeah, come on in.
Hi.
You sleep good?
Yeah.
I heard the kid bawling a little while ago.
Woke me up.
Sit down, honey.
He was hungry.
It's all right now.
Nikki.
What?
You got home real late last night.
I waited up a long time, and I got tired and went to sleep.
My brother's first night home in three years.
You think you could have managed to get home early enough for us to talk?
What do we talk about, Jane?
Oh, you.
What's happened to you in three years?
But Johnny, dead Johnny, murdered Johnny, your husband, the man you had the kid with, that we don't talk about.
Shut up, Nikki.
Janey.
Shut up.
You're going to yell me into keeping quiet?
I told you I don't want my baby killed.
Johnny was enough.
You hate me for wanting to know why Johnny's dead.
You hate me for that, Janey?
My baby gets hurt.
I'll hate you to your grave.
You got lots of new things in the house, Jane.
New furniture, new carpets.
Looks nice, looks expensive.
You coming down for breakfast?
How much did Johnny make working as accountant for Osmond?
50, 60 a week?
How much?
Nick, leave me alone.
New sofa, big green leather chair, new carpet.
That costs a lot of money.
How'd you get them, Jane?
Is Thornman playing?
Somebody give you a birthday present?
How'd you do it, Jane?
You got a home hobby?
You take telephone subscriptions for ladies' magazines?
Or did Johnny do it?
Is that it?
How?
Did he steal?
Did he rob?
Did he kill?
Tell me.
Ask Osmond.
Osmond.
Ask him what?
How we suddenly became rich.
How Johnny left a bank account with $30,000 in it.
What are you talking about?
Well, you said you walked the town last night.
Didn't you see what's happened to it?
See what?
People walking into back rooms, shops with no customers, open late.
People walking into back rooms, card rooms, dice tables, numbers.
And Johnny was part of it?
Johnny worked for Osmond.
And he got sick of it and was on his way to tell the cop.
Doesn't matter.
If you tell anybody what I said, I'll swear you're lying.
That's what I'll do, Nick.
Hi, Nick.
What are you doing?
Hey.
Hey, what's the matter with you, Nick?
I want you to look at me, Osmond.
And I want you to say to yourself, here's a man who's angry.
Say to yourself, here's a man who might reach across the desk and kill me.
He hasn't made up his mind yet.
On your feet, Osmond.
On your feet!
Why'd you kill Johnny?
You crazy?
Talk to me.
Talk. Tell me why you killed Johnny.
I was walking with him, son. Walking with him. How could I?
How could you set him up as a pigeon? It's real simple.
You walk with him and go into a drug store and wait until he's killed.
Now you know how. Now tell me why.
Been talking to your sister, son?
Osmond, you send your boys down to see my sister.
They might live through what'll happen to them, but I doubt it.
Tough boy, soldier boy.
Now here's what else, Osmond.
This town suddenly stinks.
Dice rooms, card rooms, numbers and everything that goes with it.
My brother-in-law gets a shiny garbage disposal and a new grand piano.
Real fine rugs and a large bank account.
On how much a week?
Seventy-five? Accountants make about that, don't they?
We could start you at about three hundred.
A peaceful life, Mr. Osmond, to a guy who's talking.
Five hundred.
For what, Mr. Osmond?
That's the word for just now.
I could kill you, Mr. Osmond. Just think about it.
With me.
Now here we are in this room.
You, the man who's got the whole town of Easton so scared that nobody has a friend anymore.
Takes a powerful man to frighten almost twenty thousand people, but you did it.
Anything happens to me, Nicky boy, you'd get one block from here.
Let's think about that too, huh?
That's what I was coming to.
Then there's me in this room and you're afraid of me.
That makes me pretty big too, but I'm not going to kill you.
Because this is my town and it used to be a pretty good town.
The uniform and the flag and the fist, that's all you need.
And there's law.
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.
Got proof, Nicky? How?
About eight o'clock this evening I'm going to take a walk.
I'm going to take the same walk that Johnny did.
And I'm going into that drug store and make a phone call.
A long distance call to St. Louis.
To a newspaper guy I know.
And then it's going to be in the papers about a frightened city.
And reporters will come here and they'll find out.
You getting real scared, Osborne?
You mean it? About taking that walk tonight, Nick?
I mean it.
Maybe we'll bump into each other.
We will.
And on the way home stop at Lane's Sporting Goods Store.
Buy a gun.
Buy cartridges.
And Mr. Lane is all business.
No good evenings.
No, how have you been, Nicky?
Just ring it up on the cash register not looking at you.
Walk quickly away from you when it was done.
And the walk home.
A small town held in November twilight.
Inside the house, the room where the baby is.
Play with him.
And Jane comes in, takes him away from you.
Tells you there's supper in the kitchen if you want it.
And eat alone.
Paper propped against water pitcher.
Alone.
From now on, everything alone.
Glance at the kitchen clock.
And it's time.
You going out, Nick?
Yeah.
Where?
Just for a walk.
Will you be late?
Maybe.
Don't wait up for me.
Something for you, Nick?
Some change.
I want to use your phone.
Sure, Nick.
Here, Nick.
Thanks.
Long distance.
Long distance, what's the station to station charge to St. Louis?
One moment, please.
The charge is one dollar, twenty cents, including tax.
What number do you wish, please?
What number are you calling in St. Louis, please?
Pick a number.
I'm sorry, sir.
Don't be sorry.
Get anybody you want to talk to in St. Louis.
Have a talk on me.
There's somebody I want to call in St. Louis, but I can't think of who it is.
I will give you information.
No, no.
Just talk to me.
I'm sorry, sir.
I can't do that.
Operator, I've got to talk into this phone for just a little while longer.
Just to let somebody think I'm not kidding, in case somebody's watching.
I don't understand, sir.
Would you like information, sir?
About what?
Do you wish to talk to St. Louis, sir?
You think I should?
I'll connect you with my superior.
No.
No, I got a number.
Get me Benton 64373 in St. Louis.
One moment, please.
Never mind, operator.
Somebody's just driven up.
He's waiting for me outside.
Cancel call.
Nick.
Sorry, soldier.
And just think, you could have died on a battlefield, not in your hometown.
Yes.
Oh.
We both went to the same hospital.
Osborne didn't die.
He lived.
Quite a long time.
Hospital, trial, confession, sentence.
Then it was spring in Eastern.
It was a good spring.
And you know how people are.
They react to the weather.
Hi, Nick.
Trees starting to bud already, you noticed?
They get friendly and they smile a lot like winter was a long time.
A dark time.
It was over.
Come on over to the house when you have a chance, Nick.
You do that, you hear?
Grass grows in springtime, but babies grow all the time.
Did you see him?
Did you see him, Nick?
He walked.
My son walked.
Sure, I saw him, sirs.
He's growing up.
That happens.
And you know what?
He's lucky.
He's got a good town to grow up in.
Suspense, in which Mr. Harry Bartel starred in tonight's
in tonight's presentation of The Frightened City.
The suspense is produced and transcribed by Anthony Ellis.
Tonight's script was written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin.
The music was composed by Renny Garagin and conducted by Wilbur Hatch.
Featured in the cast were Charlotte Lawrence, Lou Merrill, Herb Butterfield, Viviannis and Tom McKee.