 And now another proudly we hail, one of radio's outstanding dramatic half-hours starring Lee Tracy and presented transcribed by your army and your airport. From Radio City, New York, here is your star and host on proudly we hail, the distinguished Broadway stage, screen and radio star, Lee Tracy. Thank you, Kenneth Banghart and hello everyone. Welcome again to proudly we hail. I understand our play takes us to New England, Lee. That's right, Ken. St. Albans, Vermont in 1864. And it's a story that I think will make for very pleasant listening. We meet some very wonderful people with a fast moving story to boot. After your important message, Ken, we're ready to begin. It's a message to the men and women of America. Serve your country at a time when you're needed most. Go and see the recruiting sergeant on duty at the Army and Air Force recruiting station in your neighborhood. Find out about the many openings and the many opportunities for advancement in the United States Army. Volunteer now. And now with your star Lee Tracy in the role of Sam Tobin, your army and your Air Force presents the proudly we hail production of Raid North. I don't know about you, but I remember being taught in school that Gettysburg was the northernmost point the Confederate Army reached during the Civil War. But if you'd lived in St. Albans, Vermont back in 1864, you might not have agreed. At a quarter to four on a beautiful afternoon in October, you wouldn't have agreed at all. Well, the best man to tell you about it would be Sam Tobin. He was editor of the St. Albans daily messenger when it happened. And all that ruckus you just heard was the sound of the biggest story of Sam's life breaking right under his nose. Yeah, that's just what it was. Made my ears ring for a week. I guess to start this story right though, we got to go back a bit and south a bit. We got to go back to June of that year and we'll go south to Richmond, Virginia. Lieutenant Bennett, young reportant, sir. Eddie, Lieutenant, draw up a chair and make yourself comfortable. Thank you, sir. I won't keep a guest any longer as to why I sent for you. I know all about your escape from the Yankee prison at Camp Douglas. My congratulations. Thank you, sir. They tell me you've been saying that this prison and others you were in are fully guarded. But if you determine men, mass escape might be stayed. I had such a plan in mind, sir. Our agents in Canada seem to think your idea has merit. If enough men escaped into Canada, well, I think you can guess how they might be used. I reckon I can, Mr. Settler. Read this over, Lieutenant, and see how it suits you. Lieutenant Bennett H. Young is hereby authorized to organize for special service, a company not to exceed 20 men in number. From those who belong to the service and are at this time beyond the Confederate state. He will report... But, sir, does this mean... Exactly, Lieutenant. You will leave it once the Montreal. Upon arriving, you will recruit your company. You'll have plenty of men to pick from, but be sure you choose well. The main job will be to organize attacks and uprisings in such prison camps as you think will be easiest to crack. You'll be given a list of our people to contact in Canada. They'll aid you in every way they can. Well, young man, how does it strike? Why? Why, sir, I just don't think it'd be polite to give the rebel yell in here. Well, that's how it all started. Lieutenant Ben Young, he was 21 years old, took a trip to Canada. There he found plenty of escaped skinsmen from which to recruit his company. Ben picked his troop with care. Mostly they were ex-cavarymen. Some, like Ben, and third with Morgan. All of them were young, cool-headed. He gets rare in the go. They were quite a bunch of boys. I'm not for a ride, Ben. There's some woods up ahead a little way. We'll just mount there. That's where we meet the guys. I reckon. In these ways, we'd better meet them there. You still think we're at minor league now? Too many in on this deep aside from us. That's the word back to Walkmounds. Trooper, walk him out. You take charge. I'll have a look up the road. Wait a minute. Go over there. Get in that line. I'm sure enough this won't both be in line. Come this way, too. Let's just mosey off to the side of the road here. Men, gently horses, real quiet. Somebody walk. Here's that way. Now, who'd want to be walking on these blocks on a dark night? I'll just find that out. Stay here. Come on, girl. Well, now I declare that ain't Mr. Meacham. You young fool. What do you want to do, scare the life out of a man? I beg your pardon, Mr. Meacham. Just didn't seem right to see a man walking down his lonely road late at night all lit up with a lantern. Weren't you going to meet us in those woods? You can take your lucky stares and meet you tall. The Yankees knew all about it. You'd have crossed the border right into a trap. Well, I do declare. But thank you kindly for your trouble, Mr. Meacham. So they know? They know all right, young. Somebody spilled it. I didn't want to wait in the woods and take a chance on. You wouldn't miss me? Sure enough. All right. Guess the only thing we can do now is go home to bed. Tomorrow we'll think of something else. You've heard that line, the best laid plans the mice and men go off the straight. And that's just what happened with Ben's first plan. It was a mild little undertaking. He and his boys were fixin' to attack Johnson's Island in Sandusky Bay, Ohio. There was a big prisoner-a-war camp there. Ben figured he'd start things off with a bang. It'd make mighty interest in readin' in any newspaper north or south of the Mason-Dixon line. Five thousand Confederate prisoners escaped safely into Canada. Set free by daring rebel raider and his fans. Oh, what a story. That's what I mean. Might've worked, too, only someone had talked. The whole scheme was known. No doubt about it. Ben and his boys just missed walkin' right into a blue hornet smith. Of course, after that, all prisoner-a-war camps done a hundred miles to Canadian border were put on the alert. Kinda put a kink in Ben's whole idea, but didn't stop him for long. Not Lieutenant Ben Young, late of Morgan's cavalry. What's to stop us from bein' raiders? What are we gonna raid? Boy, didn't they teach you how to use your head in South Carolina. We just raised blue perfect get out in all of the Yankee cities and towns we can find along this here border. If we do a good enough job, maybe the Yankees will think we got some kind of an army up here and they'll send some of the troops. More troops we can get them to send, the better for General Lee. You know, I think you've got an idea there. I not only got the idea, I got our first stop in place all picked out. It's just 14 miles below the border. Well, right here. St. Albans, Vermont. St. Albans, Vermont. I remember it was Saturday, October the 15th. When I first set eyes on Ben Young, was a fine Indian summer day. Mountains and the hills all bright with color. I was sittin' outside the messenger doing a little of Whitland, thinking about a piece I was gonna write. When I looked up to see four young fellows come walkin' down the street toward me. They were well-dressed, they're carrying heavy coats. There was somethin' handsome and a little wild about all four of them. But the one in the lead looked and walked like a leader. Sir, but could you direct us to the American house? Sure, son. Right down Main Street here. You can't miss it. Thank you, Conrad. From up north? Yes, Montreal. Came down to do a little buyin'. I'm Sam Tobin, editor of this here paper. I can help you boys at all. Just, uh, call on me. Well, that's right. Neighborly are you, Mr. Tobin, but I think we can take care of ourselves. Thank you again. Not at all. All right, Sam. Well, if it's not General Grant's right hand man himself, George is good to see you. But when did you get home? Last night. You're lookin' fine, Sam. Never better. Pull up a stick and whittle a while. Captain now, aren't you? Look mighty classy in that uniform. How long you home for? Three weeks. Say, Sam, uh, who are those fellas I saw you talking to as I came across the green? Well, I don't know. Down from Montreal. Nice lookin' boys. Why? Nothing. Just seemed strained to see such young fellas not wearin' a uniform. The war is a long way from here, George. That's what I said. That's what I thought. I didn't know that that night eight more young men arrived from Montreal, checked in separately at the American House, for that on Sunday, four or five other travelers arrived and took lodgings at a boarding house, not far from the center of town. It wasn't until Sunday that I found out that there was a young man who had to leave the house. It wasn't until Sunday evening services at the congregational church that I noticed so many new faces and again met Ben Young. Evening, Mrs. Fuller. Evening, Cyrus. Hello there, Mary. Hello, Sam. Isn't it a lovely night? It's a nice night for sparking, hey? Where's Martin? Oh, Sam, on Sunday? You don't think the Lord said there was any law against sparking on Sunday? You stop it. You make me blush. A pretty girl like you. Hey there, young fella. Good evening, sir. Mr. Tobin, isn't it? That's right. I thought I saw you in church. I saw a lot of faces I'd never seen before. Say, I can't very well introduce you to Mary Rutledge, lest I know your name. The way you two are looking at one another appears like you might like to meet. Or formerly, that is. Sam, you're just awful. I beg your pardon. My name is Bennett Young. Most people call me Bennett. Bennett Young, huh? Oh, well, Bennett, this is Mary. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Rutledge. How do you do, Mr. Young? Well, now that you two have met, I'm sure you won't need me for anything more. So I'll just say good night. I have to say a few words to the Reverend anyway. That's good, Sam. Tell your mother I'll be over to dinner one night soon. Good night, Mary, uh, Ben. Good night, sir. Good night. I left them there in front of the church surrounded by the rest of the congregation. After I'd had a few words with the Reverend, I started on down the road toward home. Hadn't gone but a few steps when George Conger joined me. Going to have a late fall, Sam. Can I quote you? Captain Conger, the first Vermont cavalry, says, we're going to have a late fall. Sam, uh, did you notice all the young fellows there tonight? Yep. All from out of town. Straight to you as odd? No, not exactly. Why? Who was that you were introducing to Mary Rutledge? Oh, a nice boy named Bennett Young from Montreal. What's on your mind, George? I don't rightly know. Just struck me as a might unusual to see 20 strangers in the congregation. Ha, ha. So that's how you spend your time in church. Counting all the new faces. Everything clear to you, boys? Steve, what about the horses? All the horse-fights we need at the livers table there. Good. Now, this here little coutillion we're all going to give has got to go nice and smooth, like. It's going to start at 3.30 tomorrow afternoon, shop. Each one of you has got a job to do. We don't want to hurt no one if we don't have to. Bianches, these folks have been downright hospitable. And we just wouldn't want them to think we weren't grateful. So don't kill nobody unless they insist on it, huh? Now, if we had some drinking liquor, we could have a toast to General Lee, the Confederacy, and success to us. Instead, we'll break up this little confab and get some sleep. I got a feeling tomorrow is going to be a right busy day. Our star, Lee Tracy, will return for the second act in just a moment. But first, I have a message for all the young men listening to this program. If you're physically fit, you can enlist in the United States Army and join the good company of American soldiers who are doing a man-sized job in our armed forces. These men need you. They need you to stand beside them to help defend the principles that are so dear to every American. Visit your nearest Army and Air Force Recruiting Station now and find out for yourself. You, yes, you, can help. You are listening to Proudly We Hail. And now for the second act here is your star, Lee Tracy, as Sam Tobin in Raid North. Maybe you should know that when Ben Young and his boys came to town, St. Albans was a busy trading center. We had three banks, good many stores, and businesses, too. We were a prosperous and thriving little city, just made to order for what Ben wanted. It was exactly half past three in the afternoon that his raiding parties struck simultaneously, all over town. It was as beautiful a piece of timing and coordination as you'd ever want to see. At the First National Bank, Albert Sal's, the cashier, and old General John Nathan were all alone. General was 80 and deaf and deeply engrossed in the Springfield Republican, when three men wearing heavy, great coats entered the bank. We're Confederate soldiers. Put up your hands and be quiet. Hey, you what? You heard me, Rick, Billy, into the vault. You, you can't be, you're thieves. Tell me. Quiet. All right, boys. Seems to me you're rather rude in your behavior, whoever you are. Why now, sir? I think that's downright insulting you to say that. Hey, what's hey? Can I get that revolver out of my nose, you young whelp? All right, you two, out the door and over the green. Just remember, we're not killers and we're not robbers. This money is for the Confederacy. Now, Mark. Some kind of story took place at the Franklin County Bank. Only the boys who held that one up took all the money out of the vault and locked the cashier and the customer in it. And at William and E.D. Fuller's livery stable. All right, bring all the horses out. Grab what saddles you can, man. Quick, now. Hey, hey, hey, hey, you put them horses back. What in Chinese do you think you're doing? Put back them horses, I say. Why, sir, I don't care. I'm so. You don't own these horses, do you? This is my livery stable. What are you doing with those guns? Now, you get out of here. Mr. Mann, you get out of here before I just blow a horn. I'll show you. Can I shoot him steam? Oh, Jim, remember what Ben said. You men ready? Hey, Steve, look at that. Here comes that fellow with a gun again. I'll teach you to steal horses. Why, the con turn, no good gal darn hunk of pig iron. It's empty. Oh, old E.D. He cursed that empty gun till his dying day. About that time, I looked out the messenger's window and saw a big crowd gathering on the green. They were being herded there by a bunch of men on horseback. So me, not knowing enough to mind my own business, I strolled over to see what was going on. Mr. Tobin, come right over and join the party. Is that a gun you're pointing at me, Ben? I don't have my glasses on. I'm afraid so, Mr. Tobin. A Confederate gun. Well, now I'll be. Suppose you just join the others here and act real nice and quiet like I'd hate to shoot a man as polite as you. I'm sure you would, Ben. Now listen, we ain't going to hurt a soul if you don't give us leave. We're Confederate soldiers just paying you all a social call. Hey, Ben. Here comes the Yankee soldier. Make sure he's not on. Get him over here on the green. I'll round up the other boys and we'll get moving. Now, don't try nothing, Captain. You don't want to spoil that pretty blue uniform. Well, George. I should do more in church than count the number of strangers. I should figure out what they're doing here. Guess we're a little late for that. I'm going to make a run for it, Sam. There aren't many of them and they can't watch us all. I'll head for the American House. No, I wouldn't, George. Lots of people here might get hurt, including yourself. I have to take that chance. Here I go. George Conger made the American House safely. And by the time I'd gotten back here to the newspaper and was getting my win, things began to happen. George got hold of a gun and roused all the other people he could find to do like what. Around the green, revolvers shot guns, even some relics of the War of 1812 started potting at Ben and his boys. I saw Conger come around the corner of the American House and let go at Ben with the rifle. Ben shot that with his revolver. But thank goodness they didn't do anything but add to the conclusion just about the time the American House caught fire all of Ben's troops had reported to the green and saw was bullets singing around their ears from all directions. They gave their famous rebel yell and galloped north, out of town. These folks up here in Vermont still like to talk about. There was Ben and his men running for the safety of the Canadian border and right behind riding just as hard was George Conger leading a posse of slightly riled town folks. Not all the men in Ben's company rode good mounts and others were loaded down with the Yankee money they'd relieved the town of. As a result, it wasn't long before Ben realized they were being overtaken. They're gaining on us, Steve. Yeah, right now. See the bridge up ahead? We'll stop and set fire to it. We got time if we don't waste none. When George and his men reached Sheldon they didn't look twice at the bridge that Ben and his troops set fire to. They just tore on across it. By the time the Canadian border was a mile or so away they'd come within shooting range of each other. Ben and his raiders didn't stop at the immigration house on the border with the shots of their Yankee pursuers whining about their ears. They pounded into Canada. If the rebels hoped the border would stop George and his men, they were sadly mistaken. When Vermont folks get riled, they get real riled. My Steve, let's go through this trail here. Careful, Steve. That's a mountain. Look here, I'm George Conger, captain of the first Vermont cavalry. And I'm Lieutenant Bennett Young of the 13th Georgia Regiment, Confederate States Cavalry. And I'm Inspector Scotty Lawrence of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. How do you do, gentlemen? First, you'll both enjoy your stay here in Canada. What do you mean? I mean, gentlemen, but you two are to get to know each other pretty well. For you're both under arrest. It will be the guests of the Canadian government as internees for the duration. Yep, both of them interned for the duration. It was some story. Made us famous for a while. For the money, oh, we got that back. Only thing that wasn't interned. Of course, the newspapers in the north went wild, called for all out vengeance, you know. But I always kind of figured that was a harsh way of looking at a downright brilliant piece of mischief. After the war, I remember that even George broke down admitted it was right up to Green Mountain Standard. Well, that's about, oh, oh, oh, yeah. One more thing. While all the ruckus and shouting was going on in the newspapers, Ben wrote me a letter. Dear Mr. Tobin, I was sorry to have to leave in such a hurry without saying goodbye to you. As you may have heard, it's a little bit warm in Montreal, but Steven me and the boys find the jail here most accommodating. So does Captain Conga. Mr. Tobin, all of us read your newspaper, The Daily Messenger, during our pleasant stay at the American House in St. Albans. We like it so much. I'm enclosing $3 for a year's subscription. Just mail it to me, care of the Montreal jail. And would you please convey my warmest regards to Miss Rutledge? If I ever stop back your way, would you ask her if I might call and pay my respects? Again, excuse my manners and blame my actions on the bustling excitement which accompanied my business in your fair city. Kindest regards, Benedict Young Lieutenant CSA. Yep, he was quite a fella, that young man. Gave me my biggest story. We never forget him up St. Albans way. Our star Lee Tracy will return with a word about next week's program in just a moment. But first, I'd like to point out again that the armed forces of our nation are being expanded. They must be up to strength to defend the principles of freedom and justice. The United States Army needs the help of every young man and young woman in America who is physically fit for service in one of its many branches. Remember, when you put on the uniform of the United States Army, everyone knows you're serving your country at a time when you are needed most. Visit your nearest Army and Air Force Recruiting Station and list now. This has been another program on Proudly We Hail, presented in cooperation with this station by your Army and your Air Force. Proudly We Hail stars Lee Tracy. Supporting Mr. Tracy as Ben Young was bill lifted. Raid North was written by DeWitt Copp. The music was conducted by John Guarnier. Proudly We Hail is directed by Charles Wilkes. This is Kenneth Banghart speaking and here again is your star Lee Tracy. We hope you'll be with us again next week over the same station for another Proudly We Hail. Our story is titled, Forget Me Not, and it's a tale of a lost man, lost memory, a loyal friend, and a mysterious plot. Until then, goodbye.