 And now, tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrills. Suspense. We bring you a story of a postmaster and his desperate search for an unwelcome package. We call it, fragile contents death. So now, starring Victor Perrin, here is tonight's suspense play, fragile contents death. All it took was a phone call. Until it came that morning, everything at the post office was the same as it had always been. I was just another postmaster, 40 years old, with a postal problems of some 80,000 people to look after. All it took was that call to make things a nightmare. As I said, the day was just a day. I remember I was making up my mind to get busy on the stuff piled on my desk. It was 9.15. Hmm. Good morning, Mr. Jordan. Good morning, Hartley. This is going to send for you. Don't tell me all this heat is for me. That's right. Didn't anybody weed it out? It's been weeded, Mr. Jordan. Well, if I must, I must. Even a parcel, I see. Yeah, yeah, it's marked personal. From Paxton and Brown, something earlier, Broadway. Oh, I remember. The lawn sprinkler I ordered for the wife. I should have had it sent to the house. Put it over there, would you? I'll take it along when I go home. Here? That's fine. Post office, this is Jordan. Jordan. That postmaster, Jordan. That's right. What can I do for you? Plenty. You gotta bomb some place in the mail down there. Is this a joke? Listen carefully. This is no joke. A guy I know sent another guy a bomb, a time bomb. It'll be delivered here in town. It was supposed to be set to go off at seven tonight, but it ain't. He forgot to change the timer before he shifted. It's set for 2.30 this afternoon, five hours from now. I don't like that. Maybe some poor guy like a mailman will get it instead of the guy you supposed to. That's why I'm telling you about it. You gotta find it and stop it. And one other thing, too. It's fixed, so it'll go off when you open the package. You've got all that. Sure, I got it. But how do I recognize this bomb? Who's it addressed to? I ain't telling who sent it. I don't care about who sent it. Who gets it? Who gets the bomb? Hello? Hello? Hartley. Yes, sir? You probably heard enough of that to know what's going on. Something about a bomb in the mail? Yeah. Now listen carefully. I'm only gonna tell you once. Get out of here on the double. I want the assistant superintendent of mails and the dispatcher. Stuart and Fox. Get him in here as quick as you can. You got that? Yes, sir. Operator. This is Jordan. How many inspectors are in today? Do you know? Just a moment, Mr. Jordan. Mr. Williams is in. Mr. Jackson left word he'll be out in Lincoln County until tomorrow. Mr. Thompson entered the hospital this morning to have his appendix out. Well, ring Ed Williams for me, please. Tell him to get over to my office right away. It's urgent. Yes, sir. Oh, Fox. Come here. Sit down. Yes, sir. Is something wrong? Plenty. Bomb in the mail. You know much about it. I'll tell you later. Williams and Stuart are in on this, too. Man, are we ever in for a busy day? Hartley said there was a hurry up calling. I think we close that door on my face, Joe. Come on in, Ed. Close the door. Sit down, both of you. Now sit down and listen. Uh-oh. No raises this year. I've been waiting for him to spring it on. Button it up, Joe. Here's what we do have staring us in the face. I just told Fox a minute ago there's a bomb in the mail someplace. Oh, well, that's right. A few minutes ago, I got a phone call. I don't know who it was. All I got were these facts. It's now 9.30. Between now and 2.30, we've got to find a time bomb, which was mailed to somebody here in town. Somebody? Don't have any name at all? He didn't get around to that. Either he wouldn't tell me or he was cut off. I'm hoping... Mr. Slender, hope I know. I'm hoping you'll call back, but we can't count on it. How do we know this isn't a leg pull, Doug? We don't. But we can't afford to take chances with somebody's life. Would you? No. What kind of a package? We don't know. Any kind. Oh, it's great. That spreads your field out something terrific, Stuart. How? Well, you not only have your truck packages, you have carrier packages, too. Carrier wouldn't have that big a package. Still, with the powerful explosives we have nowadays and the small wiring circuits possible, why not? Yeah. I'll give you another one. How about a newspaper roll? That's big enough, isn't it? Carriers handle them, don't they? That's right. Here's what I think. If that thing was mailed early this morning, it's either out there in the parcel post bin or at one of the substations. If it was mailed last night, it's probably on one of the trucks right now. Or else it's been delivered. Or else it's been delivered, yes. A lot of stuff's off the trucks for now. That complicates it. But let's do what we can as fast as we can. Fox, you round up all of the special delivery cars, send them out after those trucks and get all the packages back here. We'll go over them after they get here. Okay. Try to get the drivers to remember what's been delivered and where. Skip the insurance deliveries. This won't be insured. Get as much back as you can. But what if they can't remember everything? You'll need that to me. But do this, too. Call the substations. Get all their stuff in here. All right. Anything else? Not now. All right. I'm on my way. Stuart, you'll go through our own stuff in the back. Let's see. Delivery from New York Central's number three hasn't come over from the station yet, has it? No. It makes it a little better. Get everything we've got together in one place and keep it there. Keep the out-of-town packages out of it. Just add the stuff from the substations and the trucks as it comes in. And the pickup trucks, of course. What? Some of the drop boxes out in the suburbs are for letters and parcels, both. We'd get some packages coming in on the pickups from those boxes. They've forgotten that. Well, the trucks should be in by 11. We might as well go ahead with everything else until I get here. Just so we get them as soon as they come in. I'll leave that to you. Well, if we're going to do all this, I'd better get on it. I know you're standing around here any longer than necessary. No, no. Go ahead. You want me to check the factors, right? I don't have to tell you your business, Ed. I know your record as an inspector is A1. Well, fill me in a little more. Would you, Doug? Okay, shoot. Well, this is a time bomb. That's what he said. We have less than five hours now. Yeah, I got that. Well, what else about it? Would it be safe to open? No, no. It'll go off if you open it. He said so. Oh, rougher and rougher. I'm going to get help, Doug. All you want. Use your phone. Help yourself. Thanks. Operator. Outside line. Thank you. State Police Company A, Sergeant Rock speaking. Oh, Rocky. This is Ed Williams, post office. This is Jesse Unity. Yeah. You want him? No, don't call him. No time. Tell him to come on over here right away, would you? Sure. What do you want with explosive experts? You got a bomb? Maybe. Keep it under your hat. You know me. Another thing, Rocky. You guys got the fluoroscope just now? Oh, a touchy one, huh? No, we loaned it to Company A up in Fulman. I could use it. That's for sure. That's only about 100 miles. I'll call them up and get them to fly it in. Probably get it to, you know, about an hour or a little over. Oh, good. And you'll tell Jesse. Yeah, we'll do. Now to work, Doug. Same here, boy. Yeah, how about those carriers? About 100 of them out there. 94. Well, can you do it? Can you hit them all? I don't know. All I can do is try. Bet you're thinking the same thing I am. Remembering the same case. Bowling Green, Kentucky. Yeah. That poor devil of a carrier. It's alive, but barely. That's one reason I want to find this bomb before our luck runs out. I wonder if I'm going to see that. But it doesn't run out. I hope you're right, Ed. I sure hope you're right. You are listening to Fragile Content's Death. Tonight's presentation in Radio's Outstanding. Theater of Thrills. Suspense. For you, the choice between living an ethical life or that of a fugitive from the law may be an easy one to make. But for the young parolee in tomorrow night's drama on the FBI in peace and war, the choice is more difficult. His old criminal friends want to involve him in an easy money scheme. When he comes to the turning point, that moment at which he must decide between staying straight or going back to a life of crime, the temptation is most intense. For drama that packs a human-interest punch don't miss the turning point tomorrow night when the FBI in peace and war is on the air over most of these same stations. And now we bring back to our Hollywood soundstage Mr. Victor Perrin, starring into tonight's production, Fragile Content's Death. A tale well-calculated to keep you in... Suspense. They were all on it now. Williams, Fox, Stewart, and all the others we could trust to keep a cool head. The lid was on every place possible. To the average man buying his 3-cent stamp, it was business as usual. We didn't even let the majority of the help know it. But often one of our fairly isolated corners, a pile of packages, was growing. I looked at the clock, 10, 20. Just about an hour gone. Four hours left. Oh, Stu. How are things going? Who knows? Well, this can be expected in a thing like this, I suppose. Better wipe off that sweat before somebody tumbles that the day isn't that hot. Thanks. Huh. Are any of them wise yet? Don't think so. They'll probably get out. Things have a way. Yeah, that they do. How are you standing at yourself? Well, I... You worried? Not very happy. None of us are. I keep thinking, what if I get hold of the thing... Ever been in an explosion? No. Well, you weren't in the service now. Ever seen an explosion, been close to one? Yeah, I... Well, I came by once just after a gasoline truck tangled in the pole and took off. It was a pretty bad sight. See... Would... Would you like to take the day off? Oh, I wouldn't take it. Nobody'd blame you. I wouldn't. I promise you. I can't do that, Doug. What if I did and the thing got by and I could have prevented it? I'm nervous, maybe. I don't like the setup, maybe. But I'm not chicken. I'm staying with it. I figured you would, Joe. They say every soldier figures the next bullet isn't going to get him. That's the way I'm figuring myself on this deal. Good idea. The only thing we have to worry about, Joe, where is this one aimed? 11.30. Two hours gone. I went back to the mail room. Hello, Doug. How's it going? Well, we have all this over here so far. A lot of work. Any leads, Ed? Not yet. Not even anything suspicious. Well... How can you tell? I can't tell, really. Sometimes there's something about the handwriting or the printing of the... I guess you just feel it sometimes. I don't know. I don't get anything like that in this stuff. Not even a fake return address. Not a one and a lot. None of the locals, anyway, would check them all. Pluriscoping yet? Well, the plane said they phoned me a few minutes ago. It's on the way over. I'll be here any minute. Well... Mr. Jordan, telephone. Okay, what line? On 8. Thank you. I'll get it. This is Jordan. Mr. Jordan, this is Malloy and Truck 15. Yes, Malloy. I got the word about getting back these packages. Everything's practically okay. Only this. My second delivery. I left one off at this place, 1724 Lime Street. I go back there a while ago and nobody's home. Well, they were there when you left the package? Yeah. That bald-headed guy took it as I remember. Well, check the neighbors. I already have, Mr. Jordan. Nobody knows for sure where they went. There's some talk about them leaving for Washington this morning, but I can't pin it down. They drove anyway. Car's gone. Garage is empty. Well, that's using your head, Malloy. At least we have something to shoot at. Do you remember the name? No, I don't. But that fat guy sure looked like a crook. Had them for one the minute I laid out... What's that? Well, Miller came driving out and caught me and said you were hunting a package of stolen goods in the mail. Maybe he shot off his mouth too much, huh? Wasn't I supposed to know? Uh, no, no, Malloy. It's all right. I forgot that he knew what we were after. Well, you say you've got everything else. Yeah. Uh, be right in if you say so. You do that. Check. Foxy. Yeah. Look up 1724 Lime Street and get the name. Anything else? Get that name and get on to it. The state police to intercept them if possible. Those people received a package this morning. They may have left town for Washington. They're probably driving. With luck, they may not have opened that parcel yet. It's a real long shot, sir. Going on a trip, carrying in an open package. Oh, I doubt it. It's against common sense, but we have to try. You try, Foxy. 12 o'clock, lunchtime. I ordinarily eat at Bailey's. But not today. We had sandwiches and coffee brought in. The coffee was welcome, but we didn't seem to be very hungry. Alone in my office sipping coffee, all I could think about was the time was half gone. This is Jordan. Darling, haven't you forgotten something? Oh, hello, dear. Forgotten something? I'm down at Bailey's waiting for you. I've been here 25 minutes. We're lunching together today, remember? Oh, yes. Well, look, Alice, I'm afraid I'm going to have to stand you up. Something's come up. Well, you'll be sorry. There's the best-looking man sitting in here all by himself. The tall, rugged iron gray type. You know how I go for those. He'd probably be very glad to buy me a meal. You try him and see. I have confidence in you, sweetheart. Anything to save us a buck. Then you definitely aren't coming. I'm afraid not. I'll tell you all about it tonight. Some time remind me never to marry a busy executive again. Bye. Bye. What do you got, Foxy? Things in my mind, Doug. First, let me get this one off. The cops picked up the Morgans. The Morgans? Yeah, the couple who were driving to Washington found them in a service station on the edge of town. They got the package. Well, they'd already opened it. Nothing much in it except some fancy sports shirts from Morgan himself. Then they're on their way again? Yeah, with apologies. I understand they were scared silly, though. Morgan offered to show the cop the shirts. He even wanted to give them one. I'm afraid they were stolen goods. I'm glad that's cleaned up. Yeah, I'd say just had a call from the Woodmob branch. Go on. Say, you remember Spicer? Spicer? Yeah, a suspicion of robbing the males. What about him? Looks as though he hung one on himself this time. Well, as I say, this clerk out at Woodmob put a bunch of packages in the bins just before he quit last night. He remembered one for Dr. Turner. This Turner, it seems, collects magazine first edition. Sometimes he's aren't worth ensuring. Sometimes they are. But they're always worth something more than their original price. And this package looked like one of those. What about the carrier, Spicer? Well, it seems he blew in just as the place was about to close. Said he forgot a bag of his with some new shoes that he bought. He drifted through and then right out again. Nobody paid any attention at the time. And this morning Turner's package is gone. Is that it? Yes, sir. Stay off. Substitute's working. They're sure the package is gone. Well, Turner called to ask if it came in and they couldn't trace it. That's how they were sure it's missing. Well, I don't have to tell you the next move, do I? No, I already tried. Called his rooming house. He's not in. Didn't come in last night either. I call the police. I'd better do that, Foxy. Thanks. Even if he has the thing, he surely opened it by now. I think so myself, but we can't be sure. We can't take chances. I better call him. Operator? Get me the police station. Ed, any luck with this pile of stuff? Well, one that's uncertain. Trying to make up my mind. All right, sir. Let's see. Here. It's not very big. Wouldn't have to be. Addressed to Jack Gordon 128 Andrew Street. Is that anybody important? Never heard the name. If you ask me, it's a kid. What makes you think so? Return address. Columbia Foods Incorporated. Serial coupons. Fluoroscope indicates a watch inside. Let's put a stethoscope on it. Okay. Tick's all right. No question. Is it a dollar watch or is it it? A watch, probably. Probably. Let's play it safe. That's what I thought. Take it outside? Or narrowly, yes. But we couldn't detect anything that would trigger the thing, so we'll put it in the water bucket here. Did you put wedding agent in the water? Yeah. Those socks will be wrapping quicker and then throw anything else inside that much faster. That doesn't. Inside takes a little longer. Reminds me of the time I put in as an inspector. I hear you were pretty good, Doug. Just lucky. Getting the walkers? Lucky? Better have a look at your toy here. Easy. Easy. Looks as though we were right the first time, Doug. Here, have a pocket watch. Genuine hoppy. Keep it for a souvenir. That's one kid we all watch. Will the budget stand it? It'll strain it, but it won't break it. Hey, let's step out back. I need a cigarette. Good idea. You heard about this carrier, Spicer? Yeah, Foxy told me. Get him yet? The police haven't. Well, maybe the police haven't got him, but that's it. The clock's hands were still going around. 130. Just about one hour to go, and still, we hadn't found that bound. We hadn't found it. We hadn't found the missing carrier. All we had found was a new headache every few minutes. This is Jordan. Mr. Jordan, this is Maloy again. The driver, you know. Oh, yes, Maloy. Do you have something new? Well, sort of. You see, Mr. Jordan is like this. While I was eating lunch, I kept thinking, and all of a sudden, I remember this other package I delivered this morning out on Beach Avenue. So, I drive over here to see about it. I'm at the house now. Have you got the package? Have they opened it? No, it ain't open. Well, you better talk to this lady, Mr. Jordan. She won't listen to me. Here, Mr. Page, this is the postmaster on the line. Himself in person. Hello. This driver says you're the postmaster. Is that right? That's right. This is Douglas Jordan. I don't understand all this about the package which came from my husband. First, this man delivers it. Now, I want it back. But he's perfectly right, Mrs. Bates. We'd very much like to have that parcel. I don't see why. It has my husband's name on it. It's a correct address. I'm afraid I can't give it back until my husband has a chance to examine it. What did our driver tell you, Mrs. Bates? He had some story about stolen goods, but that doesn't make sense. Anyone would know that my husband would have... Someone may have confused him with another Bates. Have you thought of that? No. I hadn't, but I'm still sure that my husband should pass judgment on this. If I were to take the responsibility and I were wrong... Let me take the responsibility, Mrs. Bates. He might not see it that way. He might say I let myself be talked into something. Mrs. Bates, believe me. I'm sure your husband would be the first to thank us if he only knew. On my word of honor, we must have that package. Well, it's your responsibility, understand? Very, young man. But I don't think my husband will thank you. He doesn't like anyone connected with the government. None of you. For that, I'm sorry, Mrs. Bates, but thank you for giving us that parcel. But it wasn't what we were after. A box of advertising pencils, that was all. Then it was half an hour. I forced myself to stay in my office waiting for a call that they'd caught Spicer or that someone, somewhere had turned up something. Oh, Ed. Any luck? Not a bit. We've come everything, not a thing. They haven't caught up with Spicer yet. I think that's a false lead anyway. If he has a thing, he's open it by now. That leaves us nowhere. Yes, it does. Somebody's forgotten something. That must be it. Maybe. Could be all a hoax, you know. Smatter, don't you want it to be a hoax all this effort and nothing to show for it? Want to repeat the Walker business, catch a murderer through the mail? No, Ed. No, I just want to be sure. Well, by the way, he's out, you know. Who? Steve Walker, the brother. He's out of jail. Didn't you know? Well, boy, what are you looking so funny? Team Walker. He said he'd get me. Yes, or what? Where did I put it? Where's that lawn sprinkler? Lawn sprinkler. Now I know. Where'd that package come from? I've had it right here all day. Didn't even think about it. Came early this morning. Let's not think. Let's move. Give me that. Is there time? I think so. Better be. Get it under the fluoroscope. Look, that's it. Brother, that's it, all right. Do you have time to take it out to a safe place? No, sir. All we do is put it in the water bucket, take it into the alley, and pray. Okay. Here goes. Water gets through that wrapper. Doug, we'll give it an hour, just in case. Five minutes. 15. 30 minutes. 45. One hour. And then... Well, Doug, there it is. All in little pieces. Speak loud. Those pieces aren't you. I am it. I am. A pretty good collection of evidence. You can go after Steve Walker with this, Doug. Mr. Jordan, telephone. Coming. On four. This is Jordan. Well, I couldn't bear the thought of you plodding away down there. Now, maybe you'd like to hear the story about my lunch, and it was the most... Why, it better be good, honey. Well, you hear the one I've got for you. Suspense. In which Mr. Victor Perrin starred in tonight's presentation of fragile, contents death. Be sure to listen next week, when we again bring you another presentation of Radio's Outstanding, Theatre of Thrills. Suspense. Suspense is produced and directed in Hollywood by Anthony Ellis. Tonight's story was written by John F. Souter. The music was composed by Rene Garagank and conducted by Wilbur Hatch. Featured in the cast were Vivi Janus, Leonard Wineryb, Helen Clebe, Herbert Ellis, Ted Bliss, John Larch, Charles Seal, and Frank Gerstle. This Friday night, the CBS Radio Workshop takes you on an exciting excursion into the world of fantasy, as it recounts Antoine de Saint-Zupéry's delightful story of The Little Prince. A best-seller in America, as well as France, and a joy to readers of all ages, The Little Prince is sure to be one of your all-time dramatic favorites as you hear it this Friday night over most of these same stations on the CBS Radio Workshop. Stay tuned for five minutes of CBS News to be followed on most of these same stations by My Son Jeep. You'll hear America's favorite shows on the CBS Radio Network.