 was ability at solving crime as unequaled in the history of detective fiction. Nick Carter, master detective. Tonight's curious adventure. Nine hours to live. For Nick Carter and the death house mystery. Nine hours from now at the stroke of midnight, Johnny Waldron, the blonde-faced killer convicted of the murder of Mrs. Cornelius, feeling will go to the chair. Just 30 minutes ago, the condemned man made a last request. But Johnny Waldron did not ask for a sumptuous last meal in the tradition of the condemned. Nor did he ask to see his nearest and dearest relative, his wife Laura. No, Johnny Waldron's request was for something much more dramatic. He has to see the great detective Nick Carter. Now, just what this last-minute conference means is anybody's guess. Perhaps a reprieve for Waldron, perhaps a clue as to what happened to the fielding jewels, which up to now have not even been found. At any rate, the master detective Nick Carter has consented to talk with Waldron and is probably at this very moment entering death house row. Keep tuned to the station for further dramatic developments. This is number one. We moved into number one this morning. It sees us a shorter ways to walk to the chair from number one. You all ready to go? Yeah, the barber was in and shaved his head and legs about an hour ago. How are you taking them? No, there ain't been a peep out of them. Do you want nothing to eat? Do you want a chaplain? Nothing at all. One of the requests he's made is to see you. Funny time to ask to see a detective, huh? If you don't mind my asking, Mr. Carter, what made a big shot like you decide to see him? Well, maybe I'm curious to know what's in his mind. Or maybe I'm just a softy about a fellow who's gonna die in a few hours. I don't believe that you got any sympathy for a criminal. Not you. Not when a man's a killer. Well, here we are. Here's your company, Waldron. You got five minutes. All right, well, Johnny. Oh, so you did come. Gosh, I was afraid you wouldn't. Well, I must admit, I was surprised when the warden called me and said you wanted to see me. Yeah, I imagine you were. Gee, it was sure nice of you to come. Let's skip the formalities, Johnny. Time's too short for chitchat. Come to the point. What's in your mind? Mr. Carter, you think I'm guilty, don't you? Well, didn't follow your case too closely. But you had a fair trial. You were found guilty. What did you have me believe? I'd like to have you believe that I'm innocent. Pretty late in the game to convince anybody of that, Johnny. Oh, I'm not looking for a last-minute reprieve. That isn't what I asked you to come out here for. Well, I got word a little while ago that the governor refused my last request for a reprieve. I just made up my mind that I'd only be kidding myself if I hoped any longer. Why did you want to see me, Johnny? Mr. Carter, I know I haven't got a chance. I'm going to be gone in just a few hours now. But I could go a lot easier if I thought that maybe someday the war would know the truth. They'd know that Johnny Waldron was innocent. Johnny, if I thought you were innocent, I'd start the wheels turning right now to get your reprieve. Oh, wait. Let me finish, Mr. Carter. I know you don't believe me. Nobody does. I guess I couldn't expect you to believe me after the way things went at the trial. But sitting here in death row waiting, the idea came to me that maybe Nick Carter would show him someday. Of course I'd be gone, but, well, you see, there's Laura, my wife. She's going to keep on living, and it'll be hard for her. I suppose she believes you're innocent. Oh, she's stuck by me swell. She's a wonderful woman, and I don't want the world to look on her as the widow of a murderer. Mr. Carter, all I'm asking is that, that after I'm gone, in your spare time, will you try to prove that they executed the wrong man? Just for my wife's sake. Johnny, if you're innocent, who do you think did rob the fielding safe and kill Mrs. Fielding? I don't know, Mr. Carter. What? There's nobody you even suspect? Well, the only one that... No. No, I'm not going to accuse somebody I'm not sure of. I've only got a few more hours to live, and I don't want... You don't want me to do anything for you, Johnny. You better tell me everything you can about this. No. No. You'll find him for yourself once you start looking. Well, I've got to have some kind of evidence to go on it. I don't have any. Cards with stacks are well against me, but go see Laura. She's never stopped working for me. Maybe she knows more by now. Look here. That's the case. Why haven't you had a lawyer working for you right up to the last minute? Lawyers. I never had that kind of dough. Oh, a couple of shysters came around thinking maybe I had the fielding jewels tucked away someplace. When they found out they weren't going to get it cut, they faded pretty fast. Even if you decided to do anything for me, Mr. Carter, I wouldn't be able to pay you for your trouble. You'd have to do it just as a favor to a dying man. You don't know where the jewels are? I know, Mr. Carter. How could I know? I didn't do that job. Look, you go see Laura. She'll tell you whatever she can. All right. Time's up, Mr. Carter. All right, Gary. Well, Johnny, I look into your case. I don't suppose you believe me. I bet he's been telling you an innocent man is being sent to the chair, huh? He tells that to everybody. Had it ever occurred to you, Gar, that he might be telling the truth? Why, so long, Johnny. Good luck. Oh, thanks for coming, Mr. Carter. And thanks for whatever you can do for me, sir. I'd very much like to know what happened to those fielding jewels. Huh? Oh, oh, oh, yes. Well, maybe they'll turn up while you're investigating. Think so? I wonder. Say, Gar, how long is it until I... Eight hours, Johnny. Just eight hours more. Oh, Patsy, this is Nick. Oh, Nick, thank heaven you're cold. This place is a madhouse. The office is filled with reporters. The newspaper and broadcasting companies have been telephoning. The district attorney has been trying to reach you. Well, what's the trouble? They want to know if you're going to try to get a reprieve for Johnny Waldron. The DA said he'd stick around his office all evening. And he's contacted the governor, and he'll be on tap ready. Reprieve? Oh, great heaven. I just talked to the fellow. I don't have any evidence. None whatsoever. What's the matter with the DA? Well, when Nick Carter goes to work on a case, even at the zero hour, something usually pops. I'll tell him to hang on to the hats a while. And you, Patsy, go up to the courthouse and get a transcript from the Walden trial. Dig up what you can out of our files about Waldron. I'm heading back from State Prison right away. Meet you in front of the office. All right, Nick, but we're going to have to work fast. They throw the switch in exactly seven hours and 40 minutes. Really hired as a chauffeur. It was brought out of the trial that he ingratiated himself with the old lady every chance he got. Oh? You know, Mrs. Fielding was an invalid. Waldron used to carry her up and down stairs and waited on her and all that sort of thing. He was inside the house a great deal. Then, um, let's see now. Oh, the gun was traced to Mrs. Fielding's stepson, Tom Fielding. But the prints on the gun were Waldron's. Her stepson lived there with her? Yes, just the two of them. Waldron and all the other servants slept out and reported for work in the mornings at eight. When was the body found? On a Thursday night at 10 o'clock, the library of the house. Tom Fielding came home from his club and found her. The safe was open and the jewels and money gone. Of course, any of the servants, as well as Tom Fielding, might have known the combination of the safe. Mrs. Fielding often opened it in front of all of them. The defense hearted on that at the trial, but Waldron's prints on the gun and his alibi, being so flimsy, cooked his goose. I see. I see. How did Waldron strike you, Nick? Guilty? It's the evidence that tells the tale in any case, Betsy. We could find the party who has the missing Fielding jewels. It would look pretty grim for that party. I said it wouldn't look good, that's sure. Oh, Nick, look at the time. Oh, 5.50. In six hours and ten minutes, an innocent man may be electrocuted. Oh, no, Betsy. No innocent man will be electrocuted for a crime he didn't do, while my name's Nick Carter. And here's her first stop, Betsy, in his old tenement house. Laura Waldron lives here. Nice to come to see me, especially today. Mrs. Waldron, this is my assistant, Betsy Bourne. How do you do, Mrs. Bourne? Hello, Mrs. Waldron. Won't you two sit down? Here, let me dust the chair. Oh, no, no, downed. It's perfectly all right. Since Johnny's been away, I haven't been as good a housekeeper as I used to be. I'm no heart for it anymore. Mrs. Waldron, I came to see you because... I know. You went to see my husband. I heard on the radio. Yes, that's right. But it's too late to get Johnny off, isn't it? Besides, we don't have any money to pay a famous detective. Mrs. Waldron, the only thing Nick Carter ever asks is that justice be done. Now, Mrs. Waldron, tell me about Johnny. His habits, what he likes, what he doesn't like. Johnny's good, Mr. Carter. You see, I know he's innocent. But have you proof, Mrs. Waldron? Proof? No. Just my heart tells me he wouldn't kill anybody. But more than that, I know because he was with me at the time the police say she was killed. A prosecution or his alibi to shred me? Yes, a wife's testimony doesn't count for much in court. Oh, yet how thankful I am that he was with me that night. But I know he's innocent. You understand what I mean, don't you, Miss Born? You understand when I say the world can stand against your man if you know he's right and couldn't prove you. Mrs. Waldron, isn't there any way at all it can be proved that your husband was home with you that night? No. No. You don't think of providing alibis for staying in your own home? It isn't much, I know, but it's ours. Tom Fielding is offered to help me. Now Johnny's going to be... Tom Fielding? You mean the stepson of the woman your husband's convicted of murdering? Yes. In what way is he offered to help you? Money. He knows Johnny isn't a murderer. His testimony in court didn't follow that line, Mrs. Waldron. Of course not. Mr. Fielding had himself to protect. That's right, and he... Fielding was under suspicion. Just this afternoon, he called me again. And where's the jewels I said to him? If my Johnny did it, where's the jewels and the money? Would I be begging for work if Johnny had done it? You're working now, Mrs. Waldron? Day work. Scrubbing up places where they don't ask too many questions. Oh, but I'd mop the streets of this town from one end to the other every day. Johnny didn't have to die. Oh, don't, Mrs. Waldron. Don't cry, please. Please don't cry. You have to excuse me. Just a... I can't stand a finger. I can't stand a finger. I'm counting them minutes and seconds now. Only a few more hours. Johnny will be gone. Mrs. Waldron. I'd like to ask you another question. No, right. Maybe Nick can save your husband yet, you know. Oh, if he only could. There isn't time left for me to chase down every witness and question them. Tell me, Mrs. Waldron. Whom do you suspect of robbing and murdering your husband's late employer? Who? Oh, Mr. Carter. I have no proof against anyone. I didn't ask if you knew who murdered Mrs. Fielding. I only said, whom do you suspect? But I have no right to suspect him. Right? What do you mean? He's been so kind and offered to help. Tom Fielding. That's who you think did it. Oh, I never dared think it out loud before. He was a stepson, you know, but she loved him like her own. Oh, they had their quarrels. Oh, they would shut money back. I'm not saying he did it only. Only what? You talk to him, Mr. Carter. All right, I will. We'll go right over to the Fielding house now. Oh, but you won't find him at home at this hour, Mr. Carter. He's always at the club at this time. I know for when Johnny used to drive for him. That's the old hunt club, isn't it? Yes. Come on, Patsy, let's hurry. Time's precious. Goodbye, and thank you. I'll be right here waiting and praying you find the guilty man in time to save Johnny. Didn't you think Mrs. Walden's story made sense? Well, it did, and it didn't. But, Nick, doesn't it seem a bit odd for Tom Fielding to offer her money? Yes. If that's true. Well, then her story does make sense. Patsy, it's not what Mrs. Walden said that's bothering me. Something else. Something else? Well, what is it, Nick? I wish I knew. But there's something... something that doesn't fit into the picture. In the back of my mind somewhere, but I can't quite get the key to it. And if you ask me, Tom Fielding is the one who could straighten out a lot of things. And he's the man we're going to tackle right now. Well, this hunt club's pretty swaggy, isn't it? Good evening, sir. Can I park your car for you? Fancy place. Still has dormant importance. Oh, I beg your pardon, Miss. A lady's all permitted in the old hunt club. I'm sorry. Well, that's you, Art Patsy. I guess it does. You better wait for me here. Yes, I guess I'll have to. Oh, Nick. Hmm? It's 8.15. Only three hours and 45 minutes to go until midnight. Ring again, Nick. Fielding wasn't at his club, so he's got to be home here. Your womanly intuition isn't working right tonight, Patsy. Not a light in the whole house. I don't think anybody's home. No, Mr. Fielding, if you only knew how much time we've wasted looking for you. Well, Patsy, maybe we can uncover enough evidence without seeing Mr. Fielding face to face. What are you going to do? A little high-class lockpicking in the interest of Johnny Waldron and his wife, Laura. There we are. All right, come on in. Stay behind me. Gee, it's dark in here. Shut the door, and I'll use my flash. Where are we headed for? The library. Oh. That's the room Mr. Fielding was killed in, wasn't it? Mm-hmm. Let's see. In these old houses, the library is usually back this way, off the center hall. Come on. All right. You think there's anybody beside us in the house? I hope not. Ah, here we are. This is the door. This must be it. Mm-hmm. Yeah, this is the library. What are we looking for? All right, now I'm looking for Mrs. Fielding's safe. Safe? Mm-hmm. Safe. Oh, it's behind that portrait of her. That was in the testimony. Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Betsy. Oh, turn on that small lamp, will you? Take a glance at the papers in the desk while I open this safe. Say. Mrs. Fielding held her son and aired down while she was living. He's certainly making up for it now. Look at that wine cabinet. It's filled to the hell with pre-war stuff. Oh, and look at this black market stuff. Half a gold tip cigarette is going. Yes, thank you, I will. Betsy, shame on you. How'd you feel if Tom Fielding walked in here right now and caught you swiping his expensive cigarettes? Only one, Nick. And for that matter, how would you feel if Mr. Fielding saw you about to open his safe? You okay? Yes, I guess so. They shot through that window there. And the bullet went right in the side of the desk here. Well, we better get out of here, Nick. One minute, Betsy. Gotta see what's in this safe. It's almost open now. Well, who do you think shot at us, Mr. Fielding? Oh, Betsy, will you pick that bullet out of the desk? It'll be a handy piece of evidence. All right. Say, you're taking this attempt to murder us awful lightly, Nick. I don't think it was murder, Betsy. Not murder? No. You were standing by the wine cabinet, not four feet from the window. And I was a perfect target standing here. No, Betsy, I think you'll find somebody was just trying to scare us away. Oh. Well, I got the bullet out. Looks like a 32. Ah, there we are. Betsy. Yes? Look here. The missing jewels. Oh, Nick. Yes, right here in the safe. Oh, Nick, that's wonderful. Hey, Betsy, what are you doing? Oh, I'm getting the DA on the phone for you. You've got the evidence for Johnny Walden's reprieve. Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Oh, no, he wasn't guilty, Nick. Mrs. Walden was telling the truth. Betsy, put down that phone. Yes, Nick. Now get me police headquarters first. I want a general alarm sent out for Tom Fielding. But Johnny Walden. I still have two hours, Betsy. If Walden's innocent, I'll prove it in time to save him from the chair. Nick, why should you want to talk to Mrs. Walden again when you haven't asked for the reprieve? I'll make her feel worse. There's something about her that doesn't add up, Betsy. And I've got to know what it is before I go any further. This is her door, isn't it? Mm-hmm. Nick Cardi, you're thinking on this case is beyond me. Well, Betsy, it's hard to explain. When I don't know myself what the missing link is, how can I explain it to you? But you found the jewels. Tom Fielding had them in his safe. Well, it's obvious, Nick. He didn't get along with his stepmother, and he... Nick, what are you doing? Going to open Mrs. Walden's door. Oh, no, don't do that, Nick. I'm sure she's here. She's probably been crying and doesn't want to see anybody. Let me call her first. Mrs. Walden! Mrs. Walden! Sorry, Betsy. We haven't any time to waste. Now let's see. Where's the light switch? It's here by the door. She isn't here. So it seems. Nick, look here. There's a gold-tipped cigarette in this ashtray, the same kind we saw at Fielding's house. Let's have it. Hmm, no lipstick on it. Kind of pinched in here at the end. He's been here. I never would have believed it of him. Believed what? What if a man like Fielding would come to a place like this? A man like that wouldn't get his hands dirty putting them on the doorknob of a hovel like this. Say that again, Betsy. What? A man like Fielding wouldn't dirty his hands on the doorknob of a place like this. I got it. Betsy, you just gave me the key I've been looking for. Come on. We've got to get back to Fielding's laboratory or there'll be another murder. You know, Betsy, there are times when having a siren on this car comes in handy. And tonight's one of them. Hope we're in time. Do you think the police have picked Fielding up here? Do you think he beat his home? He's at home. I'll bet my bottom dollar on that. Nick, do you know what time it is? Stop worrying about the time and come on. I'm right with you. The place is still dark. There's a little light shining in the hallway. He's here all right. Why don't you step, Betsy? Don't worry about me. I slipped the latch in the front door when we left. Let's see if it's been bolder. No, it's still open. All right, come on. Where do you think he is? The library, probably. I hear someone, Nick. Yeah, they're both here. Mrs. Waterman's voice. Open the door in here. No, it's locked. I'll try to pick it up. I am hurrying. Oh, thank heaven you came. He was just going to shoot me. I got the gun away from him. Oh, thank you. You shot him. Yes, Mr. Carter. But it was self-defense. Anyone can see that. I'm so sorry for you, Mrs. Waterman. It was worth it. It was worth it. Now, Johnny will be saved. He won't have to die in the chair. Nick, you've only got seven minutes to call it. Seven minutes to 12. Hurry, Mr. Carter. Just a minute. Call me yourself, Mrs. Waldron. Here, have a cigarette. A cigarette? All right. May I light it for you? Thanks. Wait a minute till I get my cigarette holder out of my bag. So, you do use a cigarette holder. I thought so. Nick, the time is getting awfully short for your call to the DA. I'm not going to make that call. Why, Nick? Not going to make it. No, Mrs. Waldron. It was a nice frame-up you and your husband tried against Tom Fielding, but it didn't work. Frame-up? Yes, frame-up. You and Johnny staged this whole thing to get him a last-minute reprieve. It was pretty clever. But you made a couple of mistakes. For example, this gold-tipped cigarette that I found in your apartment tonight. What about it? When I found this button in your apartment, it all pinched in at the end from having it smoked in a holder. I knew you'd lied about not having seen Tom Fielding. These particular cigarettes are made to order for him. I didn't leave it there. I couldn't be sure of that till I found that you used a cigarette holder, and then I knew I was right. You did leave it here. Go on, prove it. Another thing. Patsy. Hmm? Take a look at Mrs. Waldron's hands. My hands? Why, they're beautiful. Beautifully manicuring. Exactly. Mrs. Waldron with hands like yours, you don't scrub floors for a living. That dingy apartment of yours is merely a front. Look out, Nick. Gun. Yes, and I know how to use this gun, too, and I'm going to. So sorry to hate you, Mrs. Waldron. Patsy. Yes? Take a look at Tom Fielding. See if you're still alive. Right, Nick. You haven't got anything on me. You can't get me for anything. He's still breathing, Nick. Good. Phone for an ambulance. Quick. Okay. But, Nick, can you prove this charge against Mrs. Waldron? Can you be positive so you know her husband's frame-feeling? Not yet, Patsy, but I've missed my reputation on it. But, Nick, as long as there's the slightest doubt about it, shouldn't you call the DA and give Johnny Waldron the benefit of the doubt? No, Patsy. As far as I'm concerned, there's no doubt whatsoever. I'm so sure I'll even risk Johnny's life on it. Nick Carter's office. Oh, yes, Lieutenant. Yes. Yes. It was. He is. Oh, I see. Well, thank you, Lieutenant. Yes, I'll tell Nick. Goodbye. Was that the report from police headquarters, Patsy? Yes, it was Lieutenant Riley. And you were right, Nick. That gun you took for Mrs. Waldron was registered in Johnny's name. And she lied about taking the gun away from Fielding and shooting him in self-defense. Fielding's fingerprints weren't on the gun anywhere, but hers were all over it. Did they check with the bulletin? You picked out of that desk. The one that was fired at us? Yes, and it came from the same gun. Fine. And what about Fielding, did Riley say? He's going to live. What's more, he regained consciousness long enough to make a statement. Good. Oh, Nick, that Mrs. Waldron was certainly clever. She was planning the jewels and Fielding's safe when he came in the room and caught her. So she... She held him at the point of her gun and knocked him out, bound his wrists and ankles, gagged him and hid him away in another room. Well, how did you know that? Very simple, Betsy. The marks we'd been tied were still in his wrists when I examined him. And also, there was a bump on his head. Nick, you're always holding out on me. And one other thing, what made you think Fielding's life would be in danger way back when we were in Mrs. Waldron's apartment the second time? Curious, huh? Well, Patsy, after you inspired remark about hands, she realized what it was about Mrs. Waldron that puzzled me. It was her hands. I knew that with hands like hers, she couldn't be earning her living scrubbing floors. Oh, I see. And if she were lying about that, it was very probable she was lying about everything. And the whole thing was a plot to make Fielding look guilty. But why should that make you suddenly afraid that something might be going to happen to Fielding? Betsy, if she and Johnny were so anxious to get Johnny a reprieve that they were willing to give up the jewels to make it look as if Fielding were really the guilty man, it was entirely possible that she might go further and kill Fielding to help Johnny Waldron. Well, but it was downright. It would look as if he were remorseful at having let Johnny take the blame. And she almost got away with it. But she didn't because Nick arrived in the nick of time. You're a wonderful detective, Mr. Carter. And so, ladies and gentlemen, at midnight last night, Johnny Waldron went to the electric chair to pay for the crime of having murdered Mrs. Cornelius Fielding. His dramatic last-minute attempt to get a reprieve failed, thanks to the quick action of that master detective, Nick Carter. In those few short hours that Carter was actually on the case, he found the missing jewels, uncovered a well-laid plot between Johnny and his wife to pin the murder on Tom Fielding and save Fielding's life. Tom Fielding and the entire community owe a debt of gratitude to Nick Carter. This has been another of the strange adventures of Nick Carter, master detective, which are brought to you regularly at this time by W.O.R. Mutual. Well, Nick, what happens in your next week's story? I want to tell you the story of the time that I quite accidentally stumbled onto a terrible crime, or to be more correct, I stumbled onto evidence that a terrible crime had been committed. That doesn't sound like a very unusual thing for you to do. Except for one little fact, Mr. Ripley. We didn't know where or when the crime had been committed. In spite of the fact that we heard the story of the murder from the victim's own lips. As a matter of fact, we even heard the murder committed. And we were powerless to do anything about it. If you're trying to make me curious about it, we are. You're certainly succeeding. Well, it's as unusual a tale as I've had the pleasure of telling in a long while, I assure you. So until next week, so long. So long, folks. And so long to you, Nick and Patsy. In the strange adventure you have just heard, Nick Carter was impersonated by Lon Clark, Patsy by Helen Chote. The story was written for Nick Carter by Barth Conray. Original music was played by Lou White. The entire production was under the direction of Jack McGregor. Next week at this same time, listen to another curious experience of Nick Carter entitled Records of Death. For Nick Carter and the mystery of the unclaimed box. This story is a copyrighted feature of Street and Smith publications incorporated. The return of Nick Carter is produced in the studios of W.O.R. and is broadcast over most of these stations every Saturday evening at 7 o'clock Eastern wartime. And don't forget that the adventures of Nick's adopted son, Chick Carter, are broadcast over most of these stations Mondays through Fridays at 5.30 p.m. Eastern wartime. This is Mutual.