 Shennley Laboratories, producer of Penisil and Shennley and Shennley Pharmaceuticals, presents the Yonkore Theatre. The Yonkore Theatre play tonight, The Prisoner of Shark Island. Our star is Zachary Scott. Shennley Laboratories presents another in a new series of great dramatic programs. Some of our stories are fact. The struggles and accomplishments of great men of medicine. Others are fiction. Stories of devotion to an ideal. Individual heroism or courage. By these programs, Shennley Laboratories would remind you that medical science and progress is not cold in personal research or pages of statistics, but a warm human story told in living terms. Whether it's the life of one of medicine's immortals or the everyday record of service rendered by your own position. The Prisoner of Shark Island, starring Zachary Scott as Dr. Sam Mudd, 1865, and at last it was over. Silent. Silent at last were the guns of Shiloh, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the wilderness. It was over, yes. But for the tall, ungainly man who sat one evening in a box at Ford's Theatre in Washington, it was not yet over. That is, not quite yet. The company was presenting our American cousin on the stage. And from time to time, the president in the box laughed at the night comedy. He laughed. And then, the laughter and the suffering, the anxiety and the pain were simply suddenly over. Mr. Lincoln has been shot. Yes, gentlemen. Dr. Sam Mudd. I'm Dr. Mudd. I got a patient here for you. His leg is broken. Let's get him inside. Oh, Blanche. Yes, Sam. What is it? Send for Buck right away. I might need some help. That'll be all, Buck. You're a fine medical orderly. Thank you, Moss Mudd. Thank you. How's that leg feel now, Mr? Better? Did you two gentlemen ride down from Washington on such a night? Well, we just happened to be... We came down from Baltimore. I'd certainly have liked to have been at the White House last Sunday when Ole asked the band to play Dixie. Maybe we were all wrong about Mr. Lincoln. Perhaps not. Well, I don't know. Looks like he might be the only salvation we Southerners can look for him in God's mercy. If only... I'm sorry, Doctor. We really must be on our way. With that recently splendid leg, my advice to you is to be... You've been very patient. Very considerate, especially at so late an hour. Things like that can't matter to a doctor. Day or night, anyone who's in trouble is entitled... Yes, yes. I understand. Take this for your trouble, sir. Well, thank you very much. And $50. You've earned it. Keep it. Well, but... Now, if you two men will give me a hand, we'll be on our way, Doctor. $50? Just for setting his leg? To surly, fellow. I never got to finish a single sentence with him. I wonder who we could have been. Oh, some wandering philanthropist thinking. Now, here's a pretty couple. Country doctor scratching for a living. His wife, pretty as a picture, tied down to a grubby medico. Guess I'll make him a present of $50. Oh, Sam, you fool. Maybe I should have been a lawyer then. I like it the way you are. I wonder who he was. Lieutenant Lovett, sir, United States Army. Is this Dr. Mudd's residence? Ganges. Bah. Aye, sir, and Colonel Jeremiah Milford-Dyer. Fourth Virginia Cavalry Confederate States Army. My respects, Colonel. Does Dr. Mudd live here? My son-in-law, sir. We should like to speak to him, if you don't mind. I do mind, but come in. Not you, Sergeant. Enough is too much. Wait out here, will you, Cooper? Yes, sir. I'll have a look about it. Come in, Yankee. Sam. Sam Mudd. There's a sort of a Yankee here to see you. Who is it, Dad? Decency forbids my uttering the foul word again in this house. All right, here I come. Well, now what seems to be the trouble, Dad? Oh, good morning, Lieutenant. Good morning, Doctor. What can I do for you? Dr. Mudd, are you acquainted with John Wilkes Booth? Well, yes, I've seen him on the stage in Washington. I leave actors to women. Doctor, would you recognize Booth if you saw him on the street? I don't know. I believe I would. Was he here last night? No, of course not. We're looking for two men who rode through this part of Maryland last night. One of them had a bad leg, probably broken from jumping from a box to the stage of Ford's Theater last night. Know anything about them? Well, there were two men here last night, yes. One of them did have a broken leg. That, sir, was John Wilkes Booth, whom you say you didn't recognize, although you've seen him before. Well, he kept hiding his face. Too conceited suffering, I presume. You presume? Well, he was in great pain. Lieutenant, love it. Lieutenant. Wipe your big Yankee feet, Yankee. What is it, Cooper? Lieutenant, I just found this boot and back at the house. Let me look at it. Just one boot, that's all. Just the one. Yes. But just one boot is enough. Dr. Mudd, it happens that the name of John Wilkes Booth appears in the lining of this boot. Indeed. Well, then it appears we were singularly honored last night after all. A curious sentiment, doctor, which will ring very badly in court. Court? Oh, now see here, Lieutenant, what's the meaning of all this? Last night our president was murdered in Ford's Theater in Washington. The president? Murdered. By this actor, Booth. Dr. Mudd, I arrest you for conspiracy in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Your attention, please. In a moment you nine officers of this court marshal will begin the trial of the several conspirators in the death of our great president. The people are aroused. The Federal Union is on the verge of national hysteria. Therefore, let not your judgment be swayed by any quibbling rules of evidence. Be hard. Be stern. For that is all that can save this country from riots. Marble, even a resumption of the war itself. Do you understand, gentlemen? And we may step inside and begin the trial, gentlemen. Consequence of the testimony given before this court marshal, we find the fifth defendant guilty of conspiracy. Jelfie. Oh, no! No, he's innocent! Order! Order in the court! Has the prisoner anything to say before sentence is pronounced? I do, sir. Then step forward, please. I have this to say. This is truly testimony which has been brought against me. Let me say an all-truth is correct. Yes, I am a Southerner. And I did serve in the Confederate Army. And I should have been as glad to serve the sick and dying of either army, for I am a doctor. And I love mankind and pity is suffering. I took an oath in medicine always to serve the sick, the halt, the wounded, and body, and in spirit. This I faithfully done. I sense no guilt in having helped a fellow creature, injured, and in pain. Was I a physician in the plot because it was John Wilkes Booth's misfortune to break his leg and need me? His court has named me guilty. So be it. But in the sight of the holy God I worship, I am innocent, and that's all. Uh, Samuel Mudd. Remain standing, please. Sentence will now be pronounced. This court-martial of the United States of America, finding the prisoner Samuel Mudd, guilty of conspiracy in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States, does sentence the prisoner to imprisonment on the government island of dry Tortugas, Florida, for life. In a moment, ladies and gentlemen, we will return to our play, Prisoner of Shark Island. At this time, we bring you a message of importance from Shanley Laboratories. Though centuries old, the practice of medicine is only within a comparatively recent period of years made its greatest strides in prolonging the life of man. It may well be that this fact is due to emphasis upon research. Research, which in recent times has yielded such life-saving drugs as penicillin, and the newer streptomycin. Among the firms whose research helped increase production of penicillin and allied products is Shanley Laboratories. In recent months, Shanley Laboratories is placed at the disposal of your position, such specialized products as penicillin tablets and trochies for administration of penicillin by mouth, penicillin ointment for local application, and a film ointment for treating certain infections of the eye. Even now, as you hear this program, the research scientists of Shanley Laboratories are working toward the end that your physician may have an ever-increasing number of healing, life-giving drugs at his command. There was the slavery and imprisonment of the ancient Roman galleys. There was the misery and pain of all Spanish prison ships. There was the Devil's Island of the French Penal System. But in 1865, America had its own Devil's Island, a fragment of earth cast out of hell, white and burning. The dry tortugas in the Gulf of Mexico, where imprisonment was slow-living death. Where Dr. Samuel Mudd of Maryland faced imprisonment for life. Luckily, life was short on the dry tortugas. Keep the line moving past my desk, O'Toole. Next. Next, William Dunger. Let's see. Dunger, murder and arson, life. Next. Otto Lairman. Lairman, desertion, 40 years. Next. Samuel A. Mudd. Mudd? Yes. Yes, I've been waiting for you, Dr. Mudd. Have you? Address me as Sergeant Rankin. Have you, Sergeant Rankin? That's better. Hey, the rest of you filthy hounds. Here, the man who killed Abe Lincoln. I did not kill Abraham Lincoln. I merely was... Shut up. Is it your custom, Sergeant Rankin, to strike helpless prisoners? Maybe you don't like our etiquette. Simply show me myself, that's all. Hunter, show the doctor to his sweet. If he finds the rats and lice not quite to his taste, show him his choice of other rats and lice. Review of all prisoners in the prison yard in one hour. Next. Prisoners to this moat surrounding the prison walls. 30 feet deep, 75 feet across. Now watch closely, please. No tool. The cat. Yes, sir. Throw the cat into the drink, no tool. Yes, sir. Now watch closely, men. Notice those black fins streaking through the water, three, four, five, ten, a dozen. It's a race, which gets there first. Place your bets, gentlemen, and be glad you're not cats. Make your bets, boys, and... Hey, kitty. You see, men? Sharks. What's the matter, Dr. Mudd? Are you ill? All right, Mudd. He'll get over your squeamishness around here soon enough. Well, Dr. McIntyre... I'm very busy, please. Doctor, I also am a physician. I know that. I thought that as a doctor, you'd understand my obligation to help anyone in pain or in need if I could be of any help whatever. None whatever, Mudd. It would be of no use for me to swear to you in the honor of the profession we both honor and respect that I had no part whatever in the death of Miss Lincoln. It would be no use whatever, Mr. Mudd. I'm sorry. Doctor. Drop of water in this cell all day. Six months in this stinking hole. Do you want it to be my last? Guard, call it, did you hear me? Guard! Take it easy there, white man. Who's that? You get you what all right. Buck. Hush, Master Mudd. Hush up. Buck, how on earth did... This is Mudd and DeCunnell. How did you get to be a guard here? As much as you say. Buck, get down on that rotten island. So here I is. Got down on it. With DeCunnell's help. This is the first hope I've had since his nightmare started. I've done wrong you some soap. I suppose I do need it. Good for mosquitoes. You wipe it on your face at night. Yes, the mosquitoes here are frightful. You want to be careful with that soap. It scratches if you get down too far. Scratches. It's got a key to this cell door inside. Made out in an old spoon. A key? Hush, man, now listen to me. Go on. You know, Mr. Ewan, the northern lawyer who liked you and stood up for you? Yes. He said get you off of here and onto Key West and get your civil trial. You'd be free, man. How are they going to get me out of here to Key West in the new trial? How? They got a ship. Who has a ship? Mrs. Mudd and DeCunnell. They sold everything to hire a schooner with black sails. Don't be amazed you see it out onto water one of these fine days, Mudd. Got a wind and wave keeper of oceans. Guardian of seafarers. Grant them Godspeed and bless them. Amen. But a Georgia seafar. You got this vessel close-haul like this was a wind. This is no wind. Type on some sail. Let's ask them action. You hear me? Is that you, Buck? You're a kind of schooner standing a mile off-show. With black sails? They ain't lavender. Oh, I'm ready to go tonight. I've been ready for weeks. What about that moat with the sharks in it? What about the bridge over the moat? There's a guard on the bridge and sharks under the bridge. Yes, yes, I know that. I can arrange to be day guard on the bridge, Mudd. Oh, Buck, good boy, stout fella. I wouldn't want that to get back to the sharks, boss. Now listen, Buck, the guard on this tier of sails changes at one in the morning. At 1.15, I'll try to get across the prison yard and be on the bridge. You got the key to this cell door? Oh, yes, and it works too. I've tried it a hundred times. 1.15 on the bridge. Over to Moat Den. Oh, it's then or never, Buck. Then or never. Franken! How many times have I told you to Sergeant Franken? Mudd's gone. What's that? Mudd's escaped. Mudd's locked and him gone. Call out every available man and sound the alarm. Yes, sir. I want Sam Mudd back. Get her alive. Made it. Give me a hand on the wall. Yes, sir. Two years, boss. Officer on the bridge. Who'd you reckon was here? There's someone with a... Boss, Mudd, save yourself. Jump into Moat. Only chance you got. All right. Now! Here. What, boss? Nothing, a quotation. Dante's in fair now. The in fair. Sergeant Rankin. Yes, Dr. McIntyne? How long is O'Tool as this fever? Oh, he'll be all right. Nothing no doubt. Shamming. Shamming? You'd better break out the yellow flag of the fort. What? You know what? This man has yellow fever. Yellow fever? Yellow Jack? How many today, Dr. McIntyne? 15 dead. 27 new cases, commandant. How many to date, Dr. McIntyne? 238 dead. How does it look? Worse. You're very tired. I'm very tired. Can you continue? No, commandant. I can't continue, but I will. Orderly. Can't you see you're wasting your time on that man? He's dead. But Dr. McIntyne, only a moment ago. That was a moment ago, orderly. Doctor? Orderly. Yes. My...my compliments to the commandant and...and tell him I... Dr. McIntyne. Doctor! There's an epidemic of yellow fever raging above us. What's that to me? Can't reach Buck and me down in this forsaken rattle of a dungeon? I have 3,000 men up there. Those who aren't dead or dying are crazy with terror. We're trapped here, quarantined. A government's supply ship with medicines and doctors is offshore, but they don't dare move in. This is all nothing to me. I thought you might remember some phrases from an oath I believe you medical men take when you enter medicine. May I see in the patient a fellow creature in pain? Where's Dr. McIntyne? Down. Dangerously sick himself. I know how you feel, Dr. Mudd. And all I can promise for your help is perhaps a better sell. You're a doctor. One night, four years ago, I was a doctor. Man broke his leg. I mended it for which a government broke me. I'm still a doctor. Buck! Yes, Mass Mudd? We're going up into the open. How many today, Dr. Mudd? 14 dead, 33 new cases coming down. How does it look, Doctor? How does it look? Looks like an extermination. How in heaven's sweet name can a doctor treat a thousand men without help, without supplies? I can't cure them with a cooling touch of my hand of a gibbering mouthfuls of Buck up, old man. You'll be all right, son. They can't buck up when they're dying, and they won't be all right unless we got supplies. I need help. I know, but that supply ship won't move in. Do I have any authority? You're in command now, Doctor. Good. I want a signal man who can wig-wag some sense and reason into those people on the ship. If that fails again, I want a gun crew who'll pound reason in turn. Dr. Mudd? You said I had full authority. Those are orders. Act. They're still not responding to our signal, Doctor. Very well. Corporal, send them this message. Unless we receive favorable response to our appeal for help, we will open fire at once. Send it. Ship full of medical supplies of half a dozen doctors, and the government of the United States won't let them land. And they want to. I'd want to, so do they. Doctor, look, they're breaking out sails. Yes, they're running for it. All right, men. Doctor, are you sure you want to do this? I've got to do this. Number two gun, ready? Ready. Put the first shot through a rigging, right? Right, sir. Ready. Ready. Fire. Good shot, but they're not turning. Number four gun, ready? Number four gun, ready, sir. This time, hit him. Right, sir. Ready. Ready. Fire. Again, fire. A white flag. They're turning in. Yes, yes. So am I. So am I. Grab him in, take him below. I'm afraid Dr. Mudd has got it now. Looks as if I live. It begins to look that way, Doctor. A lot of men on this island will live. Thanks to you. How does it look coming there? We've won. Good. Dr. Mudd, I have a letter here which I'd like you to read. I wrote it because I hear. The President of the United States. As commandant of the Military Prison of Dry Tortugas, Florida, I can testify that the final checking of the recent epidemic of yellow fever was the direct result of the extraordinary courage, skill and devotion of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd. On behalf of the entire population of this prison, I take this means of urging executive clemency for Dr. Mudd, for heroism far beyond and above the call of duty. It goes very truly. Sir, in consideration of the high service rendered our country by Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, this government would be remiss in its duty and humanity. Should it neglect to fulfill your request of clemency for Dr. Mudd and by executive order of the White House? Yes, I'm Mrs. Mudd. I have someone here who has been hurt. You mean he's been shot? That's hurt, ain't it? Yes, yes, of course, but wait. Sam? Oh, Sam? Yes, Blanche, who is it there? Will you come here, Sam, quickly? Yeah, tell him hurry, hurry. What seems to be the trouble now, huh? He's been shot. Oh, he has, has he? Well, come on in. Blanche sent for Buck right away. I may need some help. Here, sir, let me give you a hand. You've come to just the right man. The moment will bring back our star, Zachary Scott. But first, may we leave this thought with you? Shanley Laboratories, maker of penicillin Shanley, presents this program with a reminder that your doctor in his work of keeping you well has at his fingertips the whole world of science. The firms whose research scientists continually seek new aids to health are guided by the desire constantly to increase the number of valuable drugs with which your doctor fights disease. Shanley Laboratories is numbered among those firms whose resources of knowledge and skill are at your doctor's command. And now, ladies and gentlemen, the star of tonight's play, The Prisoner of Shark Island, Zachary Scott. To sum up the spirit of this Shanley Laboratories program, this simple and beautiful prayer of the physician written centuries ago by Maimonides seems to me to be apt and fitting. The eternal providence has appointed me to watch over the life and death of all thy creatures. May I always see in the patient a fellow creature in pain. Grant me strength and opportunity always to extend the domain of my craft. This is the prayer of the physician. Its age is old and yet today it's as new as the hope for a peaceful way of life for all the world. May we invite you to listen again next week at this same time when Shanley Laboratories presents Nurse Edith Cavill, starring Adalupino, a great star and a great story. Thank you and good night. The Prisoner of Shark Island was produced and directed by Bill Lawrence and was presented through the courtesy of 20th Century Fox, producers of the new Claudia and David, starring Dorothy McGuire and Robert Young. The adaptation was by Milton Geiger. Zachary Scott can soon be seen in the Warner Brothers picture, Stallion Road. This is Frank Graham speaking for Shanley Laboratories, producer of Penicillin Shanley and inviting you to listen next Tuesday at this same time when you will hear Adalupino in Nurse Edith Cavill. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.