WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:12.000 And now, transcribe tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrill, 00:12.000 --> 00:13.000 Suspense. 00:13.000 --> 00:24.000 Tonight, we bring you a story of a man who returned home to find his people in the grip 00:24.000 --> 00:25.000 of a strange disease. 00:25.000 --> 00:26.000 We call it the Frightened City. 00:26.000 --> 00:46.600 So now, starring Mr. Harry Bartel, here is tonight's Suspense play, The Frightened City. 00:46.600 --> 00:49.000 Train pulled out of Easton at 1.20 in the afternoon. 00:49.000 --> 00:52.000 It pulled in three minutes earlier. 00:52.000 --> 00:55.000 It was a simple thing I had to do then. 00:55.000 --> 00:58.000 Watch it cross the bridge over the Wabash. 00:58.000 --> 01:00.000 Watch it grow smaller. 01:00.000 --> 01:03.000 And when it was out of sight, I was finally home. 01:03.000 --> 01:14.000 And home was pick up the barracks bag and walk up the small hill from the depot down 01:14.000 --> 01:17.000 into Main Street on an autumn afternoon. 01:17.000 --> 01:23.000 Turn left on Sycamore down three blocks where the houses are painted white and there's rockers 01:23.000 --> 01:30.000 on the porches and white elm trees of November color and the far off sound of a dog barking 01:30.000 --> 01:36.000 and smell of smoldering leaves and 595 Sycamore Street. 01:36.000 --> 01:42.000 Up the path, up the steps. 01:42.000 --> 01:44.000 Jane, Janey. 01:44.000 --> 01:46.000 Who is it? 01:46.000 --> 01:48.000 Janey, sis. 01:48.000 --> 01:52.000 Nick, Nick, Nick. 01:52.000 --> 01:54.000 Oh, Nicky, Nicky. 01:54.000 --> 01:56.000 How's the baby, sis? 01:56.000 --> 01:58.000 Oh, fine. 01:58.000 --> 02:00.000 He was teething, but he's all right now. 02:00.000 --> 02:01.000 Haven't seen him yet. 02:01.000 --> 02:02.000 Oh, he's beautiful. 02:02.000 --> 02:04.000 How's Janey? 02:04.000 --> 02:06.000 Well, how's Janey, sis? 02:06.000 --> 02:07.000 What? 02:07.000 --> 02:09.000 Janey, how is he? 02:09.000 --> 02:12.000 Your husband, my brother-in-law, Janey, how... 02:12.000 --> 02:15.000 What's the matter with you? 02:15.000 --> 02:17.000 Didn't you get my letter? 02:17.000 --> 02:19.000 I was aboard ship the last two weeks, so I... 02:19.000 --> 02:22.000 Johnny's dead. 02:22.000 --> 02:26.000 Johnny went walking one night and he's dead. 02:26.000 --> 02:30.000 One night Johnny said he was going to walk down to Main Street. 02:30.000 --> 02:33.000 Told me he wanted to stop in the police station. 02:33.000 --> 02:34.000 He had somebody tell it to the police. 02:34.000 --> 02:36.000 Janey, Janey, listen. 02:36.000 --> 02:38.000 He went out and he was walking along. 02:38.000 --> 02:39.000 Janey! 02:39.000 --> 02:43.000 Walking along. 02:43.000 --> 02:48.000 Oh, baby, baby. 02:48.000 --> 02:53.000 A car drove by and someone shot a gun at Johnny. 02:53.000 --> 02:55.000 And Johnny's dead. 02:55.000 --> 02:57.000 Who? 02:57.000 --> 03:01.000 Who shot Johnny, sis? 03:01.000 --> 03:04.000 Janey, I'm talking to you. Who shot Johnny? 03:04.000 --> 03:06.000 Janey! 03:06.000 --> 03:09.000 Nick, you've got a nephew. 03:09.000 --> 03:11.000 He's sleeping and he's my son. 03:11.000 --> 03:16.000 He's a good baby and I love him as much as a mother can love a child. 03:16.000 --> 03:18.000 Now I want to show you something. 03:18.000 --> 03:22.000 I've had it here in my apron and I've been wondering what to do about it. 03:22.000 --> 03:26.000 I found it under my door about a week ago the day after Johnny was shot. 03:26.000 --> 03:29.000 I'll read it to you. 03:29.000 --> 03:31.000 Don't talk to strangers. 03:31.000 --> 03:34.000 What happened to Daddy can happen to Sonny. 03:34.000 --> 03:35.000 Give it to me. 03:35.000 --> 03:37.000 My little boy is going to grow up. 03:37.000 --> 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... 03:41.000 --> 03:42.000 Give me the note, Janey. 03:42.000 --> 03:43.000 ...and live a life. 03:43.000 --> 03:45.000 No, no, no, Nicky. 03:45.000 --> 03:47.000 These pieces get burned, get forgotten. 03:47.000 --> 03:50.000 It gets forgotten like everything else that's happened. 03:50.000 --> 03:52.000 Who did it, Janey? 03:52.000 --> 03:54.000 You're back home. 03:54.000 --> 03:57.000 Let everything be peaceful now. 03:57.000 --> 03:59.000 Let's keep it that way. 04:06.000 --> 04:08.000 Outside it was November. 04:08.000 --> 04:11.000 The long, quiet avenue. 04:11.000 --> 04:14.000 And the glimpse of the coat-sweated woman in her backyard. 04:14.000 --> 04:16.000 Gathering in her wash. 04:16.000 --> 04:20.000 Feeling it at the starch of cold autumn wind. 04:20.000 --> 04:22.000 Walk to a cross street. 04:22.000 --> 04:24.000 Then three blocks east. 04:24.000 --> 04:26.000 Police headquarters. 04:26.000 --> 04:29.000 Give a murdered man's name and yours. 04:29.000 --> 04:31.000 Ask for the chief of police. 04:31.000 --> 04:35.000 And in less than an hour be shown in to him. 04:35.000 --> 04:38.000 Hello, Mr. Crawford. Have a seat. 04:38.000 --> 04:40.000 You know I am here. 04:40.000 --> 04:42.000 Yes, yeah, I do. 04:42.000 --> 04:45.000 I just came from my sister. 04:45.000 --> 04:47.000 She's scared. 04:47.000 --> 04:50.000 She gets threatening notes and burns them up. 04:50.000 --> 04:51.000 Why? 04:51.000 --> 04:52.000 I don't know. 04:52.000 --> 04:53.000 Who killed her husband? 04:53.000 --> 04:55.000 I don't know. 04:55.000 --> 04:57.000 Look, you. This happened to my sister. 04:57.000 --> 04:58.000 Now it's happening to me. 04:58.000 --> 05:00.000 A week ago a man walked down the street. 05:00.000 --> 05:02.000 He was on his way to see you and he got murdered. 05:02.000 --> 05:03.000 Easy, kid, easy. 05:03.000 --> 05:05.000 I got some things to tell you. 05:05.000 --> 05:06.000 Tell me. 05:06.000 --> 05:08.000 Four people saw it happen to your brother-in-law. 05:08.000 --> 05:11.000 That night one of them, a woman, was brutally beaten. 05:11.000 --> 05:13.000 Tossed into a vacant lot. 05:13.000 --> 05:16.000 A kid playing in the trash found her there. 05:16.000 --> 05:20.000 Two days later another witness got a bomb thrown through his nice new house. 05:20.000 --> 05:22.000 It almost killed his wife. 05:22.000 --> 05:24.000 That's two. 05:24.000 --> 05:26.000 The other two won't talk either. 05:26.000 --> 05:29.000 Like your own sister won't talk. 05:29.000 --> 05:31.000 I'm tired, Mr. Crawford. 05:31.000 --> 05:33.000 I got lots of things to clear away. 05:33.000 --> 05:35.000 I want their names and addresses. 05:35.000 --> 05:36.000 They'll talk to you, huh? 05:36.000 --> 05:38.000 They'll talk to me. 05:38.000 --> 05:40.000 I want those names. 05:40.000 --> 05:45.000 Tell the sergeant in the next office I said you could have them. 05:45.000 --> 05:47.000 Mr. Crawford. 05:47.000 --> 05:48.000 What? 05:48.000 --> 05:50.000 Things have changed in this town. 05:50.000 --> 05:51.000 It's different. 05:51.000 --> 06:10.000 Hang around, you'll see. 06:10.000 --> 06:11.000 Hello. 06:11.000 --> 06:12.000 Evening. 06:12.000 --> 06:13.000 Mr. Osborne. 06:13.000 --> 06:15.000 I'm Mr. Osborne. 06:15.000 --> 06:16.000 Something I can do for you. 06:16.000 --> 06:20.000 They tell me down at your place of business that you'd be home. 06:20.000 --> 06:22.000 It's about Johnny Stewart. 06:22.000 --> 06:23.000 Do you mind if I sit down? 06:23.000 --> 06:25.000 Not at all. 06:25.000 --> 06:27.000 Johnny Stewart, huh? 06:27.000 --> 06:29.000 Friend of yours? 06:29.000 --> 06:31.000 He was married to my sister. 06:31.000 --> 06:32.000 Your sister? 06:32.000 --> 06:34.000 Oh, then you must be Nick. 06:34.000 --> 06:36.000 Heard a lot about you from Johnny. 06:36.000 --> 06:38.000 How you were soldiering in Korea. 06:38.000 --> 06:40.000 Welcome home, Nick. 06:40.000 --> 06:42.000 Johnny worked for you, didn't he? 06:42.000 --> 06:44.000 Good accountant, nice guy, Johnny. 06:44.000 --> 06:46.000 One of the best. 06:46.000 --> 06:49.000 You were with him the night he was killed. 06:49.000 --> 06:50.000 That's right. 06:50.000 --> 06:52.000 I was with him. 06:52.000 --> 06:54.000 You want to tell me about him? 06:54.000 --> 06:59.000 Johnny was walking by my store just as I was closing up. 06:59.000 --> 07:00.000 I told him to wait a minute. 07:00.000 --> 07:02.000 I'd walk with him. 07:02.000 --> 07:03.000 We walked. 07:03.000 --> 07:05.000 We talked. 07:05.000 --> 07:06.000 We got to a corner. 07:06.000 --> 07:11.000 I told Johnny to wait for me while I went into the drug store to buy some cigarettes. 07:11.000 --> 07:15.000 Just as I came out, a car turned the corner, 07:15.000 --> 07:19.000 shot him down, drove away. 07:19.000 --> 07:20.000 That's how it was. 07:20.000 --> 07:21.000 What kind of a car? 07:21.000 --> 07:23.000 I wouldn't know. 07:23.000 --> 07:25.000 A sedan, convertible, old, new? 07:25.000 --> 07:27.000 A week ago they put me through this. 07:27.000 --> 07:29.000 I didn't know then. 07:29.000 --> 07:31.000 I don't know now. 07:31.000 --> 07:32.000 He worked for you. 07:32.000 --> 07:33.000 He was your friend. 07:33.000 --> 07:36.000 You knew all about him and me and his wife. 07:36.000 --> 07:39.000 Nick, I like it here on my porch swing. 07:39.000 --> 07:42.000 It reminds me I'm alive. 07:42.000 --> 07:45.000 Don't spoil it for me, Nick. 07:53.000 --> 07:57.000 Mrs. Mason, you were sitting right here at your window and you saw it happen. 07:57.000 --> 07:59.000 You saw Johnny killed. 07:59.000 --> 08:01.000 I didn't see it. 08:01.000 --> 08:02.000 What kind of a car? 08:02.000 --> 08:04.000 Just tell me that. 08:04.000 --> 08:06.000 Nothing. 08:06.000 --> 08:09.000 The men who beat you up, could you identify them? 08:09.000 --> 08:13.000 They were weeds and dirty old thin cans. 08:13.000 --> 08:15.000 Please. 08:15.000 --> 08:23.000 And they threw me down, kicked me, my throat. 08:23.000 --> 08:24.000 Go away. 08:24.000 --> 08:27.000 What are you doing in my house? 08:34.000 --> 08:35.000 You listen to me, Nick. 08:35.000 --> 08:37.000 I can remember when Johnny Stewart was a kid 08:37.000 --> 08:40.000 and he stole a penny candy from me right here in the same drug store. 08:40.000 --> 08:44.000 And he grew up to be shot down right on this corner, right outside this store. 08:44.000 --> 08:46.000 What happened that night, Mr. Nolan? 08:46.000 --> 08:48.000 Nick, I built up a nice business here. 08:48.000 --> 08:49.000 20 years. 08:49.000 --> 08:50.000 What did you see? 08:50.000 --> 08:53.000 Nicky, Nicky, it was me had to scrub his blood off the sidewalk. 08:53.000 --> 08:55.000 What did you see? 08:55.000 --> 08:56.000 Nothing. 08:56.000 --> 09:07.000 That's what I saw Nick, nothing. 09:07.000 --> 09:08.000 Hi. 09:08.000 --> 09:09.000 Hello there. 09:09.000 --> 09:11.000 You're Tom Rockston, aren't you? 09:11.000 --> 09:12.000 That's right. 09:12.000 --> 09:13.000 I'm Nick Crawford. 09:13.000 --> 09:15.000 Glad to know you. 09:15.000 --> 09:19.000 Johnny Stewart was my brother-in-law. 09:19.000 --> 09:21.000 Oh, really? 09:21.000 --> 09:26.000 I understand your wife was almost killed when they tossed a bomb into your house. 09:26.000 --> 09:28.000 That's right, here's what was out back. 09:28.000 --> 09:29.000 Lucky. 09:29.000 --> 09:33.000 That bomb was because you were a witness to a murder, wasn't it? 09:33.000 --> 09:34.000 House looks okay now. 09:34.000 --> 09:36.000 I got nice neighbors. 09:36.000 --> 09:37.000 Help me. 09:37.000 --> 09:38.000 We fixed it up ourselves. 09:38.000 --> 09:41.000 We'll kill Johnny. 09:41.000 --> 09:44.000 You're scared to death, aren't you? 09:44.000 --> 09:46.000 I got a pretty good house here, mister. 09:46.000 --> 09:49.000 A tract house, GI loan. 09:49.000 --> 09:53.000 Once I had a nice uniform just like you. 09:53.000 --> 09:56.000 Now what I've got is a wonderful wife. 09:56.000 --> 10:00.000 Anybody asks me, I'll say Hazel's a wonderful wife and I love her. 10:00.000 --> 10:03.000 Like I said, scared. 10:03.000 --> 10:06.000 Right now, mostly are you. 10:06.000 --> 10:12.000 Whatever you're carrying around with you, I don't want to rub off on me or Hazel. 10:12.000 --> 10:16.000 So I'll tell you something. 10:16.000 --> 10:25.000 Leave me alone. 10:25.000 --> 10:28.000 When I went outside, it was evening in Easton. 10:28.000 --> 10:34.000 The air was chill and the dew was turning to light frost on the lawns. 10:34.000 --> 10:38.000 I walked for a while and I noticed a thing. 10:38.000 --> 10:42.000 The people on the streets, they all had the same disease. 10:42.000 --> 10:46.000 Their stares, their looks over the shoulder at me. 10:46.000 --> 10:51.000 The whispers, the turning aside to let me pass. 10:51.000 --> 10:57.000 The word had gotten around that Johnny Stewart's brother-in-law was back in town and was asking questions. 10:57.000 --> 11:02.000 Was being pointed out, walked away from. 11:02.000 --> 11:05.000 I'd come home. 11:05.000 --> 11:24.000 And I'd come home to a frightened city. 11:24.000 --> 11:27.000 You are listening to The Frightened City. 11:27.000 --> 11:33.000 Tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. 11:33.000 --> 11:56.000 And now we bring back to our Hollywood soundstage, Mr. Harry Bartel, starring in tonight's production, 11:56.000 --> 12:16.000 The Frightened City, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. 12:16.000 --> 12:21.000 The next morning in Easton, clear, bright. 12:21.000 --> 12:26.000 Look out the window of an upstairs room where you've slept in an almost forgotten bed. 12:26.000 --> 12:30.000 In the glint of sunlight is autumn leaves wet with melting frost. 12:30.000 --> 12:32.000 Nikki, you up? 12:32.000 --> 12:35.000 Yeah, come on in. 12:35.000 --> 12:36.000 Hi. 12:36.000 --> 12:37.000 Hi. 12:37.000 --> 12:38.000 You sleep good? 12:38.000 --> 12:40.000 Yeah. 12:40.000 --> 12:42.000 I heard the kid bawling a little while ago. 12:42.000 --> 12:43.000 Woke me up. 12:43.000 --> 12:45.000 Sit down, honey. 12:45.000 --> 12:46.000 He was hungry. 12:46.000 --> 12:48.000 It's all right now. 12:48.000 --> 12:49.000 Nikki. 12:49.000 --> 12:50.000 What? 12:50.000 --> 12:53.000 You got home real late last night. 12:53.000 --> 12:58.000 I waited up a long time, and I got tired and went to sleep. 12:58.000 --> 13:01.000 My brother's first night home in three years. 13:01.000 --> 13:05.000 You think you could have managed to get home early enough for us to talk? 13:05.000 --> 13:07.000 What do we talk about, Jane? 13:07.000 --> 13:09.000 Oh, you. 13:09.000 --> 13:11.000 What's happened to you in three years? 13:11.000 --> 13:17.000 But Johnny, dead Johnny, murdered Johnny, your husband, the man you had the kid with, that we don't talk about. 13:17.000 --> 13:18.000 Shut up, Nikki. 13:18.000 --> 13:19.000 Janey. 13:19.000 --> 13:20.000 Shut up. 13:20.000 --> 13:21.000 You're going to yell me into keeping quiet? 13:21.000 --> 13:23.000 I told you I don't want my baby killed. 13:23.000 --> 13:24.000 Johnny was enough. 13:24.000 --> 13:26.000 You hate me for wanting to know why Johnny's dead. 13:26.000 --> 13:27.000 You hate me for that, Janey? 13:27.000 --> 13:28.000 My baby gets hurt. 13:28.000 --> 13:30.000 I'll hate you to your grave. 13:30.000 --> 13:32.000 You got lots of new things in the house, Jane. 13:32.000 --> 13:33.000 New furniture, new carpets. 13:33.000 --> 13:35.000 Looks nice, looks expensive. 13:35.000 --> 13:36.000 You coming down for breakfast? 13:36.000 --> 13:38.000 How much did Johnny make working as accountant for Osmond? 13:38.000 --> 13:39.000 50, 60 a week? 13:39.000 --> 13:40.000 How much? 13:40.000 --> 13:41.000 Nick, leave me alone. 13:41.000 --> 13:44.000 New sofa, big green leather chair, new carpet. 13:44.000 --> 13:45.000 That costs a lot of money. 13:45.000 --> 13:46.000 How'd you get them, Jane? 13:46.000 --> 13:47.000 Is Thornman playing? 13:47.000 --> 13:48.000 Somebody give you a birthday present? 13:48.000 --> 13:49.000 How'd you do it, Jane? 13:49.000 --> 13:50.000 You got a home hobby? 13:50.000 --> 13:52.000 You take telephone subscriptions for ladies' magazines? 13:52.000 --> 13:53.000 Or did Johnny do it? 13:53.000 --> 13:54.000 Is that it? 13:54.000 --> 13:55.000 How? 13:55.000 --> 13:56.000 Did he steal? 13:56.000 --> 13:57.000 Did he rob? 13:57.000 --> 13:58.000 Did he kill? 13:58.000 --> 13:59.000 Tell me. 13:59.000 --> 14:02.000 Ask Osmond. 14:02.000 --> 14:04.000 Osmond. 14:04.000 --> 14:06.000 Ask him what? 14:06.000 --> 14:08.000 How we suddenly became rich. 14:08.000 --> 14:12.000 How Johnny left a bank account with $30,000 in it. 14:12.000 --> 14:13.000 What are you talking about? 14:13.000 --> 14:15.000 Well, you said you walked the town last night. 14:15.000 --> 14:16.000 Didn't you see what's happened to it? 14:16.000 --> 14:17.000 See what? 14:17.000 --> 14:22.000 People walking into back rooms, shops with no customers, open late. 14:22.000 --> 14:27.000 People walking into back rooms, card rooms, dice tables, numbers. 14:27.000 --> 14:29.000 And Johnny was part of it? 14:29.000 --> 14:31.000 Johnny worked for Osmond. 14:31.000 --> 14:35.000 And he got sick of it and was on his way to tell the cop. 14:35.000 --> 14:38.000 Doesn't matter. 14:38.000 --> 14:43.000 If you tell anybody what I said, I'll swear you're lying. 14:43.000 --> 14:47.000 That's what I'll do, Nick. 14:59.000 --> 15:00.000 Hi, Nick. 15:00.000 --> 15:02.000 What are you doing? 15:02.000 --> 15:03.000 Hey. 15:03.000 --> 15:05.000 Hey, what's the matter with you, Nick? 15:05.000 --> 15:06.000 I want you to look at me, Osmond. 15:06.000 --> 15:09.000 And I want you to say to yourself, here's a man who's angry. 15:09.000 --> 15:12.000 Say to yourself, here's a man who might reach across the desk and kill me. 15:12.000 --> 15:14.000 He hasn't made up his mind yet. 15:14.000 --> 15:16.000 On your feet, Osmond. 15:16.000 --> 15:18.000 On your feet! 15:18.000 --> 15:20.000 Why'd you kill Johnny? 15:20.000 --> 15:21.000 You crazy? 15:21.000 --> 15:22.000 Talk to me. 15:22.000 --> 15:23.000 Talk. Tell me why you killed Johnny. 15:23.000 --> 15:26.000 I was walking with him, son. Walking with him. How could I? 15:26.000 --> 15:28.000 How could you set him up as a pigeon? It's real simple. 15:28.000 --> 15:31.000 You walk with him and go into a drug store and wait until he's killed. 15:31.000 --> 15:34.000 Now you know how. Now tell me why. 15:34.000 --> 15:37.000 Been talking to your sister, son? 15:37.000 --> 15:39.000 Osmond, you send your boys down to see my sister. 15:39.000 --> 15:41.000 They might live through what'll happen to them, but I doubt it. 15:41.000 --> 15:43.000 Tough boy, soldier boy. 15:43.000 --> 15:45.000 Now here's what else, Osmond. 15:45.000 --> 15:47.000 This town suddenly stinks. 15:47.000 --> 15:50.000 Dice rooms, card rooms, numbers and everything that goes with it. 15:50.000 --> 15:53.000 My brother-in-law gets a shiny garbage disposal and a new grand piano. 15:53.000 --> 15:55.000 Real fine rugs and a large bank account. 15:55.000 --> 15:57.000 On how much a week? 15:57.000 --> 16:00.000 Seventy-five? Accountants make about that, don't they? 16:00.000 --> 16:02.000 We could start you at about three hundred. 16:02.000 --> 16:04.000 A peaceful life, Mr. Osmond, to a guy who's talking. 16:04.000 --> 16:05.000 Five hundred. 16:05.000 --> 16:07.000 For what, Mr. Osmond? 16:07.000 --> 16:09.000 That's the word for just now. 16:09.000 --> 16:12.000 I could kill you, Mr. Osmond. Just think about it. 16:12.000 --> 16:13.000 With me. 16:13.000 --> 16:15.000 Now here we are in this room. 16:15.000 --> 16:20.000 You, the man who's got the whole town of Easton so scared that nobody has a friend anymore. 16:20.000 --> 16:24.000 Takes a powerful man to frighten almost twenty thousand people, but you did it. 16:24.000 --> 16:28.000 Anything happens to me, Nicky boy, you'd get one block from here. 16:28.000 --> 16:30.000 Let's think about that too, huh? 16:30.000 --> 16:32.000 That's what I was coming to. 16:32.000 --> 16:36.000 Then there's me in this room and you're afraid of me. 16:36.000 --> 16:39.000 That makes me pretty big too, but I'm not going to kill you. 16:39.000 --> 16:42.000 Because this is my town and it used to be a pretty good town. 16:42.000 --> 16:46.000 The uniform and the flag and the fist, that's all you need. 16:46.000 --> 16:47.000 And there's law. 16:47.000 --> 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. 16:51.000 --> 16:53.000 Got proof, Nicky? How? 16:53.000 --> 16:55.000 About eight o'clock this evening I'm going to take a walk. 16:55.000 --> 16:57.000 I'm going to take the same walk that Johnny did. 16:57.000 --> 17:00.000 And I'm going into that drug store and make a phone call. 17:00.000 --> 17:02.000 A long distance call to St. Louis. 17:02.000 --> 17:04.000 To a newspaper guy I know. 17:04.000 --> 17:07.000 And then it's going to be in the papers about a frightened city. 17:07.000 --> 17:10.000 And reporters will come here and they'll find out. 17:10.000 --> 17:12.000 You getting real scared, Osborne? 17:12.000 --> 17:16.000 You mean it? About taking that walk tonight, Nick? 17:16.000 --> 17:17.000 I mean it. 17:17.000 --> 17:20.000 Maybe we'll bump into each other. 17:20.000 --> 17:21.000 We will. 17:29.000 --> 17:33.000 And on the way home stop at Lane's Sporting Goods Store. 17:33.000 --> 17:34.000 Buy a gun. 17:34.000 --> 17:36.000 Buy cartridges. 17:36.000 --> 17:38.000 And Mr. Lane is all business. 17:38.000 --> 17:40.000 No good evenings. 17:40.000 --> 17:42.000 No, how have you been, Nicky? 17:42.000 --> 17:45.000 Just ring it up on the cash register not looking at you. 17:45.000 --> 17:48.000 Walk quickly away from you when it was done. 17:48.000 --> 17:50.000 And the walk home. 17:50.000 --> 17:54.000 A small town held in November twilight. 17:54.000 --> 17:58.000 Inside the house, the room where the baby is. 17:58.000 --> 18:00.000 Play with him. 18:00.000 --> 18:02.000 And Jane comes in, takes him away from you. 18:02.000 --> 18:06.000 Tells you there's supper in the kitchen if you want it. 18:06.000 --> 18:08.000 And eat alone. 18:08.000 --> 18:11.000 Paper propped against water pitcher. 18:11.000 --> 18:13.000 Alone. 18:13.000 --> 18:17.000 From now on, everything alone. 18:17.000 --> 18:20.000 Glance at the kitchen clock. 18:20.000 --> 18:22.000 And it's time. 18:26.000 --> 18:27.000 You going out, Nick? 18:27.000 --> 18:28.000 Yeah. 18:28.000 --> 18:29.000 Where? 18:29.000 --> 18:30.000 Just for a walk. 18:30.000 --> 18:31.000 Will you be late? 18:31.000 --> 18:32.000 Maybe. 18:32.000 --> 18:34.000 Don't wait up for me. 18:50.000 --> 18:51.000 Something for you, Nick? 18:51.000 --> 18:52.000 Some change. 18:52.000 --> 18:53.000 I want to use your phone. 18:53.000 --> 19:01.000 Sure, Nick. 19:01.000 --> 19:03.000 Here, Nick. 19:03.000 --> 19:07.000 Thanks. 19:21.000 --> 19:22.000 Long distance. 19:22.000 --> 19:26.000 Long distance, what's the station to station charge to St. Louis? 19:26.000 --> 19:31.000 One moment, please. 19:31.000 --> 19:35.000 The charge is one dollar, twenty cents, including tax. 19:35.000 --> 19:37.000 What number do you wish, please? 19:37.000 --> 19:40.000 What number are you calling in St. Louis, please? 19:40.000 --> 19:41.000 Pick a number. 19:41.000 --> 19:42.000 I'm sorry, sir. 19:42.000 --> 19:43.000 Don't be sorry. 19:43.000 --> 19:45.000 Get anybody you want to talk to in St. Louis. 19:45.000 --> 19:47.000 Have a talk on me. 19:47.000 --> 19:51.000 There's somebody I want to call in St. Louis, but I can't think of who it is. 19:51.000 --> 19:53.000 I will give you information. 19:53.000 --> 19:54.000 No, no. 19:54.000 --> 19:55.000 Just talk to me. 19:55.000 --> 19:56.000 I'm sorry, sir. 19:56.000 --> 19:57.000 I can't do that. 19:57.000 --> 20:01.000 Operator, I've got to talk into this phone for just a little while longer. 20:01.000 --> 20:05.000 Just to let somebody think I'm not kidding, in case somebody's watching. 20:05.000 --> 20:07.000 I don't understand, sir. 20:07.000 --> 20:08.000 Would you like information, sir? 20:08.000 --> 20:09.000 About what? 20:09.000 --> 20:12.000 Do you wish to talk to St. Louis, sir? 20:12.000 --> 20:14.000 You think I should? 20:14.000 --> 20:16.000 I'll connect you with my superior. 20:16.000 --> 20:17.000 No. 20:17.000 --> 20:18.000 No, I got a number. 20:18.000 --> 20:23.000 Get me Benton 64373 in St. Louis. 20:23.000 --> 20:25.000 One moment, please. 20:25.000 --> 20:27.000 Never mind, operator. 20:27.000 --> 20:29.000 Somebody's just driven up. 20:29.000 --> 20:31.000 He's waiting for me outside. 20:31.000 --> 20:32.000 Cancel call. 20:32.000 --> 20:42.000 Nick. 20:42.000 --> 20:57.000 Nick. 20:57.000 --> 21:02.000 Nick. 21:02.000 --> 21:04.000 Sorry, soldier. 21:04.000 --> 21:09.000 And just think, you could have died on a battlefield, not in your hometown. 21:09.000 --> 21:12.000 Yes. 21:12.000 --> 21:24.000 Oh. 21:24.000 --> 21:27.000 We both went to the same hospital. 21:27.000 --> 21:29.000 Osborne didn't die. 21:29.000 --> 21:30.000 He lived. 21:30.000 --> 21:32.000 Quite a long time. 21:32.000 --> 21:41.000 Hospital, trial, confession, sentence. 21:41.000 --> 21:44.000 Then it was spring in Eastern. 21:44.000 --> 21:45.000 It was a good spring. 21:45.000 --> 21:47.000 And you know how people are. 21:47.000 --> 21:48.000 They react to the weather. 21:48.000 --> 21:49.000 Hi, Nick. 21:49.000 --> 21:52.000 Trees starting to bud already, you noticed? 21:52.000 --> 21:57.000 They get friendly and they smile a lot like winter was a long time. 21:57.000 --> 21:59.000 A dark time. 21:59.000 --> 22:00.000 It was over. 22:00.000 --> 22:02.000 Come on over to the house when you have a chance, Nick. 22:02.000 --> 22:04.000 You do that, you hear? 22:04.000 --> 22:08.000 Grass grows in springtime, but babies grow all the time. 22:08.000 --> 22:09.000 Did you see him? 22:09.000 --> 22:11.000 Did you see him, Nick? 22:11.000 --> 22:12.000 He walked. 22:12.000 --> 22:14.000 My son walked. 22:14.000 --> 22:16.000 Sure, I saw him, sirs. 22:16.000 --> 22:17.000 He's growing up. 22:17.000 --> 22:18.000 That happens. 22:18.000 --> 22:19.000 And you know what? 22:19.000 --> 22:20.000 He's lucky. 22:20.000 --> 22:23.000 He's got a good town to grow up in. 22:23.000 --> 22:52.000 Suspense, in which Mr. Harry Bartel starred in tonight's 22:52.000 --> 22:55.000 in tonight's presentation of The Frightened City. 22:55.000 --> 23:01.000 The suspense is produced and transcribed by Anthony Ellis. 23:01.000 --> 23:04.000 Tonight's script was written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin. 23:04.000 --> 23:09.000 The music was composed by Renny Garagin and conducted by Wilbur Hatch. 23:09.000 --> 23:23.000 Featured in the cast were Charlotte Lawrence, Lou Merrill, Herb Butterfield, Viviannis and Tom McKee.