 In just a moment suspense starring Charles Lawton Hi dad working kind of late on your bicycle, aren't you? Yeah, the old bike hasn't been getting going just right Boy did I puff up second Street this morning? Just like the car Billy till I had that new auto light stay full battery put in Well, my boy, you just keep at it I'm going in coast along with auto light batteries spark plugs and ignition systems on the suspense show dad if you want to listen to The auto light show you'd better stay out here in the garage with me. Why mom's got her bridge club in tonight. What? Why she dug on well knows I want to hear Charles Lawton by all the drinks my stay full battery doesn't need I take it easy dad Here comes Charles Lawton suspense Auto light and at 60,000 dealers and service stations bring you Radio's outstanding theater of thrills starring tonight. Mr. Charles Lawton in Anton leaders production of An honest man a tale well calculated to keep you in Suspense Couldn't sleep I lay in bed that night listening to the stillness and loneliness of the empty house and tried to bring my mother back to me Freddy my son. I Must leave you now. I know that you will miss me, but you needn't For you are strong. I Shall not be worried about you. I Have taught you well Taught me you well For the first time the meaning of those words became clear to me The tears dried in my eyes my jaws clenched That was the woman my mother to whom I'd been closer than anyone else in the world Indeed, I'd been close to no one but my mother in all my 44 years And after the tears a flood of memories passed before my eyes and after the memories came the realization That I was glad My mother was dead And I was glad All the next day of the store I worked in a sort of a haze of happiness and well-being Dora smiled at me once or twice, but we were both very busy during the rush hour Mr. Kelsey came in to help out as he always did and about a quarter to ten He said what I realized that I'd been hoping to hear all day You got your days receipts totaled yet Freddy. I'm just finishing them now, Mr. Kelsey And I think I'll knock off and you get through just put the money in the safe and lock it I won't go to the bank the lab to know. Yes, Mr. Kelsey both close up whenever you're through what you're doing Yes, Mr. Kelsey Uh $123.14 Chick Mr. Kelsey sure trusts you, don't he? He should after 26 years 26 years You've been working here that long sounds like a long time when you said he doesn't seem that way to me Well, I guess it's quitting time Oh boy are my feet tired 26 years You're gonna put out the lights you want me to oh, I'll do that. Okay. Well, I'm leaving so long Um, miss uh Dora May I ask you something? For sure. What is it? Well Oh, isn't it a beautiful night? Are you sure that door is locked? Oh, yes I was just wondering I was wondering If you'd mind if I walked home with you. It's a little out of my way. We're sure why not Oh, but said don't you have to get home to your mother? Oh Gee freddy. I'm sorry. That's all right Must have been a terrible blow to you. Yes, it was and you taken care of her all that time 26 years But you mustn't think that that was a hardship. You see I owe everything in the world to my mother Everything that I am or ever will be. Oh, I know what you mean I always say a person's mother. Miss Dora, I've never told this to anyone Say I've been meaning to ask you the way you always call me miss Dora and I mean the way you talk. It's so refined Really? I bet you had a real good education once, didn't you? No, not formally But you see my mother was a governess and she always tried to give me the same advantages As she would the children under her care My mother was a highly educated woman. Well, I knew it must be something like that Anyway, you don't have to call me miss Dora. I mean seeing we're kind of old friends Say what was it you was going to tell me before? Oh, that was something about my mother Something she taught me. I'll never forget it as long as I live You happen to remind me of it when you remarked how mr. Kelsey trusted me Well, what was it? Well, it was just before my 11th birthday There was a motion picture that I wanted to see very badly It was something about cowboys, I think but my mother said we couldn't afford it And so I I took ten cents from her purse and she found it out What she said was she Whipped me was the only time she ever did and until I could hardly walk She said I'd done the worst thing that anyone could ever do that I had been dishonest I was A thief You dishonest oh, that's a laugh. I never know anybody more honest in all my life. Well, look at the way mr. Kelsey Yes, but only because of what my mother taught me. I've been grateful to her all my life for that. I always will be. Oh, yeah, I know what you mean Well, they say honesty is the best policy and I guess it is all right Now you take tom bass about him. Well, I wouldn't exactly say he's dishonest but He's sure having a lot more fun than you or me But dora, I'm I'm sure you'll agree that there are more important things in life than just having fun Oh, sure, of course. I didn't mean it like that and what I mean to say is you you couldn't admire A fellow like this bass. Could you tom bass? Oh, I should say not I think he's so smart with his wisecracks and his cheap jokes. I wouldn't give him the time of day Is there anyone that that is to say Any man You do admire. Yeah, not me Oh I admire you, of course, you'll heli for sure, but if you mean Do I go out steady with anyone? uh-uh Have you ever thought of the kind of man that you would go steady with My dream man Oh sure But you just don't find them growing on trees Not that kind What kind of oh when I say dream man, don't get me wrong. I don't go for those glamour boys. I've been around enough to know better than that You just give me a nice easygoing fellow with a steady job That sounds like a description of me And a little money put away in the bank. That's the kind of fellow I want. Did you say money? Well, sure a fella's never going to get very far if he doesn't have a little late aside for a rainy day Oh, yes, isn't that right? Yes, I suppose that is right, but How much money do you think such a fellow ought to have? Oh Thousand dollars, you know just something for kind of a little nest egg. Oh, yes. Yes. Yes, of course. Yes Well, here's where I live Thanks for the walk dora. Yeah If you were to find such a man Who a man with a steady job and money in the bank Oh him, I mean, I mean would you would you consider I mean would you uh what I want? Oh, how I get it Well, sure if I thought I could make him happy. Oh, I know you would why not? well Till death do us part Well, it was strange that she should have said that when death had parted me only a few brief hours before the From the only woman in my life my mother And now so soon after there was another woman, but if she was there that that thousand dollars That stood in the way with all the expense of the funeral still to be met I knew that it would take me at least two years to accumulate such a sum And dora was a warm and attractive girl I couldn't expect her to wait that long and wouldn't be fair. So by By the next morning my first fond hope returned to black despair I hardly noticed tom bass when he sauntered into the store. Hi, honey. What are you on the through? Oh, hello there. Let me say for any boy. I beg your pardon. What's the matter? You in love or something? Say remember that horse I told you about last week horse. You remember revelation I told you to get down on him at eight to one. Oh, yes. Well, what did I tell you? Well to tell you the truth, I have had a number of things in my mind lately He won jump he won just like I told you would Now ain't you sorry you didn't get a couple of bucks down on him? Oh, yes. Yes, but really I don't know very much about horse racing never too late to learn Say, give me a hot pastrami on rye. Will you mustard? Yeah Little lettuce. No skip that you wanted to go. I'll eat it here Say, how come a guy like you ever learned to make such good sandwiches for the best in town or kidding My mother taught me that effect My mother taught me everything I know Yeah Say must be good to feel like that about your old lady. I haven't seen mine for 10 years. There you are. Thanks Is your mother dead? No, I just took a powder when I was a kid I couldn't stand it around there anymore. You couldn't stand it around your own mother. Yeah All she ever did was yep. Yep. Yep. Why didn't I do this? Why didn't I do that? Finally one day I told her what she could do when I beat it But how could she get along without you? What did she do? I don't know same old thing. I guess waking the laundry Say yeah, look Freddie Pay her for the sandwich tomorrow. Okay. All I got is a 50. Well, if you won't forget I did have to remind you last time, you know, I have to take it out of my own pocket You're a good guy ready Say in fact, you know what? I think I'm gonna let you in on something Freddie listen I got a tip. So hot. It's burning the seat of my pants Avalanche in the third at santa rosa today strictly a drugstore job They're gonna give him the needle. I got it from his trainer myself in person Avalanche can't anymore lose that race than I can sing high C You know what the odds are 100 to 1 100 to 1 100 to 1's what I said Do you mean to tell me that if someone would have 10 dollars on this horse they'd win back a thousand You ain't just bird calling and you put a tenner on that beetle and you'll have 1 000 bucks in your hot little hand By tonight. Oh, I wish I could but I don't have 10 dollars or anywhere near it. I don't get paid until tomorrow See oh Out of five Here you are dora. Thanks. Hey freddy What's the matter? You can always lay your hand on a ten when you want it. Can't you I can how? Oh, oh, no, no, no, no, no, that's mr. Kelsey's money. Oh, not till tonight What mr. Kelsey don't know he's gonna hate him. Oh, hi. I couldn't do anything like that Okay, I'll be back. I'll think it over friend 1 000 skinneroos and that ain't horse feet 1 000 Skinneroos For suspense auto light is bringing you mr. Charles Lawton in radio's outstanding theater of thrills Suspends I don't know what's coming next, but this story's got me in the mood to expect anything Yeah, anything but invite a woman's bridge party in on thursday night still peeved at mom dad Well, I cheer up this car radio is operating hunky dory. Thanks to your new auto light stay full battery Besides mom's partner probably just trumped her ace So, uh, let's listen to frank martin the auto light announcer Yes, the new auto light stay full battery needs water only three times a year in normal car use This greater liquid reserve practically eliminates one of the major causes of battery failure Car owners tell us it's the greatest battery ever built the greatest battery ever built Money cannot buy a better battery for your car You know billy the boys over at the service station tell me that these auto light stay fulls are really setting up some long time between drinks records Yeah, dad, I guess it's like having a camel under your hood, huh? Better than that an auto light stay full only needs a drink three times a year in normal car use So friends see your friendly neighborhood auto light battery dealer and order the new auto light stay full battery for your car It needs water only three times a year in normal car use And there are the important advantages of extra plates and fiberglass insulation that means so much to long battery life And now Auto light brings back to a hollywood soundstage Mr. Charles Lawton as freddy in an honest man a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense Of course, I could think of nothing else all morning. My mind was in the world A thousand dollars with a thousand dollars. I could propose to Dora I could propose to her that very night at the same time Was the appalling thought of what I'd have to do. I would have to take ten dollars from the cash register Ten dollars, which was not mine. That would be stealing. I I would be a thief But as I thought I wondered Perhaps tom bass was right. It wouldn't be stealing if I put the money back and by tonight I'd have the thousand dollars. I could put it back But that was it that was the difference when I taken the money from mother that time I know prospect of replacing it but this way this this way it so the next time I went to the cash register to make change I slipped ten dollars out of the drawer and put it into my apron pocket After that I found I was perspiring and my hands trembled so that I nearly cut myself a dozen times working at my sandwich board And I saw tom bass coming through the door Tom Yeah, what's the matter the ten dollars the ten dollars Oh, oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah saying how you getting smart Give it to me. I'll place it on that. Tell me you sure you absolutely sure I tell you the nag is in at a walk. I got a few skins down on this one myself Don't forget all right, but when will I get the money six o'clock tonight the latest I'll bring it around myself. Give me the ten here. I don't you won't forget forget With a thousand bucks in my kick, how could I forget relax? You got nothing to worry about What was you and tom talking about just now? Oh, he was just telling me about some horse or other Well, you better be careful how you talk to him about horses. Why do you say that? Well, that's the way he makes his living ain't it? Since I should rather imagine it is Odora, yeah Would you care to that is when we're still work would you would you care to go somewhere with me this evening? Go where? Oh my freddy. Are you asking me for a date? Yes, I suppose I am oh freddy. That's real cute I might even take you up on it. You mean that you will you will go. I might I'll tell you at quitting time Why can't you tell me now? Oh something might come up. What could come out? I don't know what could come up Anything could come up One of us might drop dead A strange sense of humor Doras, but I get used to that, you know any way she had practically said yes to the date So I passed the rest of the afternoon busy with thoughts of the good fortune that was awaiting me At five mr. Kelsey came in and shortly thereafter there was a rush of customers that took up all my attention So that it was with something of a staff that I looked at the clock and saw that it was nearly 6 30 But Tom had said six no later than six Estelle it was quite understandable that in a transaction of such magnitude He might have met with some unforeseeable delay So I tried to compose myself to remain calm and to wait but the minutes and then the hours passed By nine o'clock I was in such a state I could hardly conceal it And yet I had to I had to and then suddenly at 9 30. I saw him He was walking rather hurriedly I thought along the opposite side of the street and saw him caution to the wind I dashed from behind the counter and I thought Tom Tom Oh, hi, Freddie For a minute there, I didn't recognize you. I'm just sorry to trouble you this way But it was so late. I thought you might have forgotten. Uh, no, no, I didn't yet Did you have the money with you? Uh, look, uh, Freddie I've been meaning to come in all evening tell you about that, but uh, I didn't know how to say it Say what? That's getting so you can't trust nobody nowadays. Believe me kid. I feel as bad about this as you do That lion trainer he never done a thing to that horse to bum come in last I mean that we lasted my money's gone. Yeah Last I don't take it too hard kid You stick with me and I'll have that 10 back for your double and triple by the end of next week You know somebody wins somebody loses. You know take it easy now Mother Mother Help me I'm a thief I turn back to the store automatically but even now I could hardly grasp the full extent of the catastrophe which had overwhelmed me All I knew that tomorrow was paid in and I could only Prevent mr. Kelsey from finding out until then what happened to you I what was that mr. Kelsey? You look like you've seen a ghost or something You went charging out of here a couple of minutes ago. Oh, yes I thought I saw someone I knew someone I'd known as a child. Oh, yeah, that happens to me all the time I said well, it's pretty late. You can both beat it if you want to I'll check the receipts tonight myself Hey, what you're doing? I dropped a knife You want us to go? Yeah, you might as well. I'll be here late anyway. I'll close up. Well, that's sure don't make me mad Gee, I've been ready to drop for the last hour mr. Kelsey. I'd be glad to check the receipts for you You don't have to yeah, I know but I got an order to come in tomorrow I gotta go over the books for the last six months Seems I got some kind of beef with the tax people. Oh, come on Freddy. Let the boss do a little work for change Anyway, I thought you had other plans for tonight. Yes, I did but Uh, mr. Kelsey, I'd rather you let me do it really it wouldn't be any trouble. Well, if that's the way it is I'm leaving. Uh, shove me over that addon machine before you go. Will you dora? Yeah, sure Oh Night mr. Kelsey night Good night, mr. Mcwilliams What's the matter with her? You two been having trouble. Oh no Mr. Kelsey, I do not like to have you checking the receipts all by yourself. I don't like it either It's got to be done You run along now. See you tomorrow, but I don't want you to do it Look freddy. Thanks for trying to help but just leave me alone. Will you I got a lot of work to do tonight. No Stop it's like what's eaten you. I told you once Now I've always done it before it makes me feel that you don't trust me. You see Freddy what kind of way to talk is that? I've been trusting you for 26 years, haven't I? Why should I stop tonight all of a sudden? Mr. Kelsey Uh 1837 Hey, that's funny We're $10 short I knew what he would say next I knew that I had to stop him before he said that awful word $10 short Now how could Freddy What are you doing? Freddy I washed my hands most carefully at the sink and dried them on my apron And I bent over mr. Kelsey Oh rather Mr. Kelsey's body and and and I removed from his pocket The sum of $32 and 50 cents the exact amount that would be owing to me and salary on the following day of this sum I put 10 dollars in the cash register Then I left the store and went home. It was all right now. Everything was all right I was not a thief I was so exhausted, but I got home and just dropped and just dropped in my bed I must have fallen asleep that way because I was fully clothed when I was awake in some hours later Yes Whoa, who is it? Oh, yes Oh freddy. I'm so glad I found you. You gotta help me. You gotta do something. Well, of course my dear. What can I do? Freddy mr. Kelsey Mr. Kelsey is dead. Oh Yes, I'm sorry that had to happen dora. Believe me. I am How can you stand there and be so calm about it? Freddie, he was murdered and they got tom for it. They say he did it. They got him down at the police station right now Tom tom bass. Yes Tom said he was just going by the store and he saw the lights on and he went in and then he found mr. Kelsey there with a A knife in him and he didn't know what to do and just on the cup and the beat walked in And they arrested him right there But I can hardly believe a man like tom bass could have any good reason to kill mr. Kelsey That's what I said. That's what I've been telling the cops for the past hour. He may be a little shady I said he may have done some things that wasn't exactly right, but my boyfriend wouldn't commit murder. I said he wouldn't Your boyfriend. Yeah, I said Oh gee freddy. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yes, but you told me That there was not anyone. There wasn't honest. That's the truth. I just been out with him two three times I didn't know he meant anything. I didn't even think I liked him But when I saw him down there and I saw what they were doing to him Your boyfriend Oh Please Please don't be mad at me. I was half crazy. I didn't know who else to come to you gotta do something for him Dora, what? Do You Love him Yes, I do. I see I left her there and started for the police station tom bass meant nothing to me, of course It made less than nothing now But of course dora. That was something else again I didn't know exactly what I should do, but the sergeant helped me to make up my mind I Understand that you have a prisoner here Who is accused of killing one henry kelsey. That's right You his mouthpiece. Oh, no. No. No, I am I will at least say I was an employee of mr. Kels's for 26 years mac williams Frederick a la vicious mac williams. Yeah, we know about you We may want to ask you a few questions tomorrow But you got nothing to worry about we got our man. You have all the evidence you need Of course, we got all the evidence we need Or why would we be holding them? We caught him red-handed and he's got a record since he was 14 years old Dear dear dear. Damn me But supposing that I had positive evidence that the prisoner tom bass did not kill mr. Kelsy That's that better be good. I'm warning you Uh, tell me it would be uh Dishonest to withhold that information. Wouldn't it your dog on toton? It would I mean you see it would be like stealing wouldn't it? I mean it would be stealing it stealing another man's life What are you trying to kid somebody? No, no, no, I've never been more serious in my life. All right. If you know so much who did kill kelsy I did I'm afraid she'll have to wait a year for tom bass It seems the police frown on his method of making a living well as for me A great karma settled over me. Oh such a calm as I've never learned before in my life Soon I shall be joining mother She will smile when she sees me and I know that she'll be proud of me. She'll understand She'll understand that whatever faults I may have had I was not a thief Thank you charles lotton for an extraordinary performance. Mr. Lawton will return in just a moment Say, Billy charles lotton was certainly in the groove tonight. I'll say hey, dad. Here comes mom I just thought you two'd be out here puttering you and your bikes and batteries with charles lotton on the suspense program too Mary Did you listen to suspense? Of course I did. You're always talking about your auto light stay full battery So I thought I'd listen to suspense and get the real facts. Oh, what about the bridge club? Oh, they came early so we could all listen to charles lotton My guests are just leaving now. Well, dad, I guess we men can't win. What do we do now? Why finish your evening right gentlemen? Listen to the auto light announcer signing off So remember folks auto light stay full needs water only three times a year at normal car use That's another reason why everybody is switching to auto light stay full batteries Auto light means batteries stay full batteries Auto light means spark plugs ignition engineered spark plugs Auto light means ignition system the lifeline of your car Here again is mr. Charles lotton It has been a great pleasure to appear again on suspense And I'm certainly looking forward to listening next week when And southern comes to the microphone as a deceiving wife who learns a lesson the hard way It is a story titled Beware the quiet man and it's a gripping study in Suspense Charles lotton may currently be seen in paramounts the big clock Tonight suspense play was written by robert l richards with music composed by lucian morrowick and conducted by ludd gluskin The entire production was under the direction of anton in leaders Next thursday same time You will hear and southern in Beware the quiet man United states coast guard on the celebration of its 158th anniversary this week This is cbs the columbia broadcasting system