 This is Peter Laurie opening the doors of the mystery playhouse Tonight we bring you a story featuring Mr. District Attorney A gruesome tale that begins outside a metropolitan hospital A large oil truck is parked above an underground oil tank Yes it, it begins as simple as that But it ends in murder and a finding of a charred belt bucket And human teeth inside the hospital furnace A fiery death Hey, Sid Yeah? Let's make this fast we can, eh? What do you think I'm doing? What you oiling there? Enough What's going on out there? What you doing, mister? Delivering oil Well, that's a break I didn't think we'd do to get a needle next week Uh, we just got a shipment in We thought you could probably use some here at the hospital I should say we can You, uh, new man with the oil company? Yeah, yeah How are you? I'm Nigerian Oh, say What kind of truck do you use? What do you mean? Don't look like one of your regular company trucks We use any kind of truck we can get these days, brother Who you talking to, Sid? Eh, Janitor guy Look, mister, you have any papers? Delivery papers I could look at Sure, sure There you are, brother I hate to act suspicious, mister But I've just been reading in the papers about them fuel oil hijackers What's that? Some fellas that's been draining oil out of the tanks of public buildings Making out like they would delivering the stuff No kidding Yeah Please have warned all of us to be sort of on the lookout for them I don't blame them Say, you're not the regular outfit that's been selling oil to us What makes you sit there? These papers here Something funny about them Yeah Yeah I think I'm going to have to ask you and your friend here to come inside Oh, bum Hey, what happened, Sid? I had to clip that janitor guy Now let's get this truck filled and get out of here quick Oh, brother Of all the dirty low down tricks I ever heard of What's the matter, Harrington? Yeah, what's wrong? Chief, I'm about to tell you of a new low in Teevery Yeah, you know these guys that have been hijacking fuel oil from the tanks of public buildings? Yes, yes Well, last night they took away just about all the oil in the tanks that heat the city hospital Hospital? Yeah How awful Yeah, the building was without heat for over 10 hours Well, they finally found some oil that they could use Oh, it certainly is a contemptible trick Yes, I should say so The same thieves who pulled the other jobs, I suppose Well, I think it was Chief Any clues? Yeah, we got one to work on What's that? An old janitor over at the hospital Robinson's name He caught the guys at work He got suspicious of them, so they slugged them Was he badly hurt, Harrington? No, no, they just knocked him out What did he have to say? Well, the main thing was that he got the license number of the truck Sure I gave it to the boys that had the license number They're sending out an alarm on it right now Oh, that's fine Could the old man give the only description of the thieves? Well, Chief, he only saw one of them and it was pretty dark But Robinson thinks he could recognize him again Not having any heat in that hospital for 10 hours Must have been terrible for the patient Must have been quite That's about the seventh job this crowd has gotten away with Yeah, I know Chief, where do you think they get rid of the oil? Well, it's pretty easy to dispose of these days There's some desperate shortage we have here I'm afraid some of our selfish citizens We're only too glad to buy it regardless of where it came from Even from a hospital? Yes, Mr. Smitter I'm sorry to say that too many people refuse to let any part of this war interfere with their own comfort And ain't that right? Right now I'm not as concerned with who's buying the oil as I am with who's stealing it Harrington, we must make every effort possible to find those men How'd you make out? Not bad, not bad How was it taken? Best yet You know, there's one thing about some of these dough-heavy characters They don't care what they spend just so long as the house is warm I wish we'd sold some to the landlord of this dump I've been freezing all day Yeah, room and house guys don't pay off like the rich guys Yeah Sit down, Sid Yeah What'd you do with the truck? I left it out on the country road You left it? Mm-hmm You mean for good? Yeah Well, what you want to do that for? We just about wore that one out, Artie You're crazy It was running just as good as... Oh, I ain't talking about the motor We've done too many jobs with it There should be a lot of people who know it by now You mean it's too hot? That's right Yeah, but this has been a nice touch, Sid We ain't giving up the touch, we're just changing trucks How do we get another one? Same way we get this one We heist it Oh Oh, Sid, did you see the good news in the paper? No, what? There's another cold spell on the way No kidding I guess we just live right, Artie Come on in, Harrington Okay What did you find out about the truck? Well, something, Chief Yes First, their truck was found on a road just outside of town Was abandoned there Let's see, anything else? Oh, yeah, I got that old janitor, Robinson Coming over to look at pictures I thought maybe he could dig out a suspect for us I'm glad to hear he's coming over Because I have some news for you, too Yeah, what's that? Pratt over at the parole board called here a little while ago He had heard about the alarm we sent out On the license number of that truck Yeah And it seems that he has a weekly visit The man who's on parole named Sid Sheldon Sheldon? Yeah Sheldon? Hey, I know that guy, Chief And a mean little punk he is, too Yes Well, yesterday morning, Sheldon made his weekly call to the parole office The board wasn't satisfied with the story he told them about his activities So when he left, they detailed the man to follow him Do you see? He trailed him for a couple of blocks And then Sheldon climbed into a truck An oil truck What? The man wasn't able to follow the truck But he didn't get the license number Yeah? Yes And that license number was the same as the one we're looking for Oh, what a break! Yes I asked Miss Miller to get me Sheldon's picture If he is our man, the old man from the hospital may be able to identify him Excuse me, Chief Yes, Miss Miller Here's that picture you wanted of Sid Sheldon Oh, yes, yes, thank you And there's a Mr. Robinson outside to see you Oh, okay, that's the hospital janitor, Chief I'll send him right in Yes, sir Won't you come in, sir? Thank you, Miss Well, hello, Dad Mr. Robinson Hello, Mr. Harrington This is the district attorney Oh How do you do, sir? How are you, Mr. Robinson? Miss Miller, you'd better stay in here I want you to take down this conversation Yes, sir Here, you aren't sitting right down here, Mr. Robinson Thank you There you are We've picked up another lead on this case Since Harrington spoke to you, sir We have one definite suspect in mind His man named Sid Sheldon This is his photograph right here Oh, thank you Wait, wait, I'll get my glasses Here, take your time, Pop There we are Yes, fine Well, does he look familiar to you? Well, yes Good I really couldn't be positive, though Oh, why not? Well, it was quite dark when I saw him And my eyes ain't so very good But there is a general resemblance Oh, yes Yes, there is If I could hear him talking It would be better I always remember a voice Well, I think we can take care of that all right Sure, we can Harrington send out word to have this man picked up Read me the last part again, Addy Sure It's in the front page of tonight's paper The license number on the truck that Sheldon entered When leaving the parole board earlier in the day Definitely checks with the one That hijacked the hospital fuel oil That's great That 30 janitor punk is the one who messed this up What are you going to do, Sid? I don't know, I don't know I'm just trying to think Yeah? Let me see Let me imagine Yeah If I was to have an alibi, Addy I could break that parole guy's story down They see me getting the truck in the morning But that don't prove I was in it that night Yeah, but the janitor's a tough rat He's seen us do the job Yeah, that's right How can you square that one? I think I know a way we can figure out Yeah? Come on, Addy We're going over that hospital This is that door the janitor come on This leads into the cellar, huh? Yeah What's in there? Just a hole Come on Right Right up the head here Yeah Hey, wait a minute Huh? Here's the old guy now See him? He's sitting in that chair with his back to us Yeah Anybody else in there? I don't see nobody That's cool Right Hey, pop Yeah? Who's that? You got company Wait a minute You sound like that fella I am that fella What are you doing here? We come to have a little talk with you You've been shooting your mouth off too much, pop Sure, we come here to tell you that it'll lay off What do you mean lay off? I mean you ain't never seen him before in your life Especially around no oil truck Now listen You do the listening We can shut you up real good You're not scaring me Not yet we're not, no But we ain't even started yet Now listen You let me up out of this chair No, let go of me Stay there, I said Let me go You'll turn Now maybe you keep quiet Hey, you're playing it kind of hard, sir No, it serves him right He ain't movin' nothing So he get knocked out Hey, pop Hey Hey, we got this to even be, will ya? Sid Huh? Think the old bum's dead What do you mean? He ain't breathin' Come here Look for yourself I think you're right, Artie This ain't good This is a murder rap, Sid Never been into that before Let's get out of here Are you crazy? We gotta get rid of him first Yeah? How about putting the old buzzard in that box, maybe Oh, no good What's that big thing over there? What? That coal furnace like Don't have no coal furnace here They burn oil, remember? Yeah It says incinerator on it What's that mean? Incinerator Yeah Hey, that's where they burn up the trash Maybe you found something, Artie Huh? Sure Sure, that's just a spot for him He never get found there Give me a hand with him Sure You know, this is real nice of us First we make the hospital coal Then we use the old bum to make it warm again Okay, Artie I'll open the incinerator door Don't understand it, Chief That Sheldon guy should have been an easy pick-up I'm afraid that newspaper store I drove him undercover Shouldn't have printed that Until we'd found our suspect I know I think you'd better send out a statewide alarm In case he's gotten out of town Right, Chief Chief Yes, ma'am Believe it or not There's a Mr. Sheldon outside to see you, huh? Huh? Not Sid, Sheldon That's right Well, what do you know? Well, I'll make him send him in Yes, sir Well, I don't get this one, Chief Confess, I don't either This is Sid Sheldon Yeah So I see Hi, Gents Sheldon, I suppose you know we've been looking for you Yeah, that's where I dropped in I want to see what it was all about You know what it's all about No I don't get it Well, let me enlighten you then You must have read in the papers that we have pretty conclusive evidence that you and a confederate were responsible for that oil hijacking job at the hospital Yeah, yeah, I read about that Did you get the wrong cookie, dear? No, I don't think we have You see, we've taken particular care with our investigation because we were most anxious to get our hands on the thief who'd be low enough to deprive a hospital of its heating facilities and times like these I don't blame you for feeling that way But I didn't do it We got witnesses who say different Not the parole board No, we got them stronger than that Well, try them out We will Harrington, go over to the hospital and get that old man back here as fast as you can Yep, excuse me, Chief Yes, come in, Harrington Where's the old man? I think we've run into a little trouble there What do you mean? I couldn't find Mr. Robinson And didn't he come to work? No, he didn't I don't know what to do I don't know what to do I don't know what to do I don't know what to do I don't know what to do Well, you'll find Mr. Robinson And didn't he come to work? Nope, he was three hours overdue when I left You must have found out where he lived Oh, sure, Chief, I went there He hadn't been home all night Did you check on his working hours? Yeah, sure He usually comes in at four in the afternoon and leaves at midnight Well, this doesn't sound so good No Did you find out anything about where he might have been going last night? From the man who relieved him He wasn't there when the relief man showed up Well, didn't the relief man report that? You see, Chief, it seems Robinson used to do that quite a bit. Leave early, I mean. So the relief man didn't pay any attention to that. And no one actually saw him leave. No, nobody. Yeah, what did you do with Sheldon, Chief? Oh, when you were delayed, I had him taken over to the city jail. Good. Did you book him for the hijacking? No, no. We needed more evidence for that. I held him for violation of parole. That'll keep him safely locked up till we can prove our other charge. Yeah, that may be a little tough now, Chief, with the old man missing. Yes. What do you suppose could have happened to him? I'm not sure, but I have my suspicions. Yeah, what do you mean? Doesn't it seem a little odd to you that Sheldon would just walk in and give himself up as he did, knowing we had practically an airtight case against him? Hey, hey, I never thought of that. If Sheldon is our man, his only reason for doing it couldn't be because he felt safe. Sure that the old man wouldn't testify. And that means you think Sheldon took care of the old boy. In some fashion, yes. And you're probably right, Chief. Yeah, how can we prove it? My finding, Mr. Robinson. And that can be a very large order. Well, at least we know where to start looking. Sure, at the hospital. And I think we ought to get over there right now. Oh, Chief. Yes, I'm right here, Harry. All right. Well, well, I talked to a lot of people upstairs in the hospital. Nobody seemed to know anything about the old guy. Now, did you find anything down here? Yes. Yeah, what is it? Something that just about proved to me that the old man didn't leave the hospital. No kidding. I'm looking around now for further evidence, grimmer evidence. Hey, do you think he was knocked off? What would be your guess? Uh-uh. Well, where have you looked so far? Several of the little rooms back there. They're storerooms, most of them. No sign of anything, huh? No. Well, suppose we cased this one up. Yes, I think it would matter. Not an awful lot of places he could be hidden in here? No, no, they're not. Nothing in this box? I'll try this closet here. All right. Anything there? No. Well, there's only this storage bin left. That's stark empty, Chief. Yes, I see. Well, what do we do now? We looked at everything in here. Yes, with just one exception. What's that? This incinerator here. Holy cat, Chief. You don't think he was stuffed in there? I hope not. But it shouldn't be investigated. Yeah. Hey, not with that fire going in there. The herrings in this incinerator is fired by oil. Have it turned off, and as soon as it's cool, we'll see what's inside. Well, the sides of this incinerator feel pretty cool now, Chief. Yes. Where's your flashlight? I got it right here. I'll open this door. All right. Yeah. Just look around from out here first. Mm-hmm. Come on, Harrington. This door is big enough. We can both look in. Right. Gladly, there's a small room inside than you'd think. Yes. Run your flashlight on the sides first. Right. Don't see a thing. You? No. No, there's no telling what may be in those ashes. I think I'd better climb in and take a real look around. Oh, wait a minute, Chief. I can do that for you. It's all right. I don't mind. Stand back there a minute. Right. I think I can squeeze through all right. Can I help? No, thanks. I can make it. What do you want? I should sign the light, Chief. You're right by my feet. We'll do the present. Right. If I can sit through some of this broken glass. Do you see anything? Not yet, but wait a minute. Mm-hmm. What's this? What, you find something? Yes. Badly blackened, but it looks like a melt-buckle. Hey. Wait a minute. Here's the remains of a watch case that was right beside a burn. Well, there were initials on the melt-buckle that they've put him badly distorted. How about the watch? On the outside of the scorch. See if I can open this case. Ah, there we are. Harrington, the old man's name was Robinson. Right, Chief. You know his first name? Yeah, Fred. Well, here are the initials. FR on the inside of the case and the watch. Hey, that's not so good. Let me see. I'm not sure, but I think that some of these references here is that Charred remains a bone. Oh, holy. Harrington, I think we found Mr. Robinson. That's awful, Chief. Yes. Now we've got to find his murderer. Yeah. Well, wouldn't that be Sheldon? I think so, yes. We'll have to prove it. That's right. And he's probably covered up good. He might have left a loophole. I'm playing a long chance that he did. Help me out of here, will you? Yeah, all right, Chief. Yeah, give me your hand. You want? Well, where do we go from here? Back to the office. After you call Miss Miller and tell her to have Sheldon brought over from the city jail. Right. And ask her to make sure that he wears his own shoes. Look, Copper, at least will you tell me why the DA took my shoes away with him? I haven't the slightest idea, Sheldon. Well, it's the screwiest thing I ever heard of. Harrington. Yes, Miss Miller? Do you suppose it would have anything to do with Mr. Robinson's body being found in that incinerator? No, no, no. Mr. Sheldon here doesn't know anything about that. You're absolutely right there, Copper. You can keep me here in your office from now on and he'll never stick me with that one. Of course it would have been pretty convenient for you to have him out of the way. I don't know nothing about it. You will, brother. You will. Oh, hi, Chief. Oh, Harrington. Bring back my shoes, DA. Oh, I'm afraid I didn't. Look, what's the idea, Copper? They're being held at the police laboratory as evidence. What kind of evidence? That you murdered old man Robinson. That's a lie. Did you find proof, Chief? Yes, Harrington. Enough proof to send Sheldon to the electric chair. Now here is your district attorney with the solution of tonight's case. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'm happy to say that with the evidence I uncovered I was able to convince the jury of the guilt of Sid Sheldon and he was executed in the state penitentiary for his shameful crime. Yeah, and, Chief, you might add that Sheldon's pal, Artie, was picked up and executed, too, after he confessed to his partner to murder. Yes, Harrington, and that took care of both of them. Chief, don't you think you ought to tell the folks just what the clue was that made you certain that Sheldon was the murderer? Well, it was something that I found in the basement of the hospital. It served two purposes. It told me that the old man was still in the building and it also led to Sheldon's downfall. Yeah, but why don't you tell what it was, Chief? That's what I was just going to, Harrington. Oh, yeah. It was the old man's eyeglasses. I found them on the floor near the incinerator. And when he was in my office, you'll remember, he said that his eyes were bad. So I knew that he wouldn't have gone out without his glasses. And how did the glasses lead to Sheldon's downfall, Chief? Well, one of the lenses was crushed. It appeared to have been stepped on. I played the chance that the murderer might still have some evidence of ground glass on the bottom of his shoe. When I took Sheldon's shoes from him, I found several particles of glass embedded in the rubber heel. The police and laboratory confirmed that fact for me that these particles matched the broken lens in Mr. Rowan's glasses. And faced with that evidence, Sheldon admitted his guilt. Yes, that was a case where fiction was so realistic, it strongly resembles truth, huh? Now I want to warn you about our next story, for it has not one murder, but three. And when Detective O'Malley hides under the sheets in a morgue, his sneeze invites his own death. Until next time, then, this is Peter Laurie, closing the doors of the mystery playhouse. Good night, sweetheart. This is the Armed Forces Radio Service.