 A victim of robbers is arrested. A fisherman catches a $5 bill. The tune of one of the greatest of American national songs is also used by 13 other countries. Can you imagine that? Yes, that's right. There's a Lindsay McCarrie bringing you one more in this series of broadcasts in which you hear strange facts and odd news stories from the past. We'll be back with you in just a moment or two with the first item, so be with us then, won't you? Thank you. Not only can happen, it did happen. In Omaha, Nebraska on the 14th of December in the year 1903. Late that night, the Reverend Edward Matthews walked toward his home along a lonely street. Suddenly, from the shadows of a building, two dark figures approached him. All right, mister. Come up. What did you say? He told you to put your hands up, mister. We want your money. Oh, so this is a hold-up, is it? Well, then... Hey, you can't do that. We've got to go. You hold me up, will you? Now, while I have my two good fists, you won't... Hey! Hey! Here, here, what's going on? Hey, that's a cop. Come on. Rod Williams. He owns a Rod Williams. Hey, catch those men. Come on. Just a minute, you. They're fighting on the street. Come on, they're getting away. I said just a minute. I ask you what the idea is of... Let go of my arm! Hey, I'm an officer of the law. You can't do this. I said, let go of me. And the Reverend Matthews soon found himself reposing in the Omaha jail charged with resisting an officer. The next morning, a representative of the YMCA appeared in court. I'd like to arrange for the bail of the Reverend Edward Matthews, Your Honor. Yes, that could be arranged all right. You know him. Oh, very well, sir. He's a fine, upright man, Your Honor. Very peace-loving. Didn't appear so last night from the officers' report. Well, I believe I can explain that, sir. You see, Mr. Matthews didn't understand that the plain clothesman was an officer. And he didn't understand what he was saying. You see, Mr. Matthews is very deaf. Deaf? Oh, I understand. Very well, you may arrange for bail and when the case comes up, the charges will be dismissed. Next case. Yes, because of his deafness, the Reverend Edward Matthews, despite the fact that he has successfully beaten off two Negro thugs, was arrested for resisting an officer. Can you imagine that? Do you think Friday the 13th is really an unlucky day? Well, here's a story I found that certainly seems to substantiate that ancient superstition. It comes from the town of Bridgeport, California, and it happened in the year 1911. J. J. D. Miller was known by his friends to have been operating a mine near that town. From about the 5th of October to the 1st of the next month, no one saw him. At last, some of the other miners decided to investigate and what they found was the stark evidence of sheer melodramatic tragedy. At the bottom of a slightly inclined 15-foot mine shaft was Miller's body, standing upright, pinned in by a mass of rock which had fallen from the wall of the shaft. In his wallet, they discovered an old assay certificate, proving the existence of gold in Miller's mine and on the reverse side, an eight-day diary scribbled in Miller's handwriting. October 6th, Franka Peregrine, Sweetwater. If help does not come, send this message to M. C. Miller, wife, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and wire what to do with the body. J. J. D. Miller. This occurred Friday morning, October 6th. It is now Saturday noon. No help yet. Why did this come Sunday night? It's cold and long. God help me. I forgive Mother. It is noon. Why did Dick forget? A drink of cold water could taste good. In getting weak Tuesday night, the end is near. Don't see how Dick can forget me. When is tonight? Guess tonight will be the last. No hope is near. High day, noon. No hope. That was all. And J. J. D. Miller met his tragic death as the Noonday's son on the meridian, shone down that lonely shaft and lighted his last moments of life on this earth. That autumn day in 1911, Friday, the 13th. Speaking of luck, we have another story with an entirely different sort of ending. On May 12th, 1929, Frank Gilbert, chef of one of the hotels in Edgewater Park, Mississippi, said to an assistant... Say, Joe, you take care of things here for a while. I'm going down to the gulf and do a little fishing. Okay, Frank, what are you going to get? Mackerel, a hope. Well, so long. And good luck. Good luck, huh? Well, let's see what kind of luck Chef Gilbert did have that day. After he had cast in his line, he waited for some time and then... Hey, this must be a big one. Yes, sir, a big one. Or a hunk of seaweed. You got something, stranger? Yep, I think so. Yeah, say, he is a big one. What in the heck's that? What? What? That there thing sticking out of his gill. What? What? Say, it's a five dollar... Yes, sir, protruding from the fish's gill was a five dollar Federal Reserve note. Can you imagine that? When George VI of England and his gracious consort, Queen Elizabeth, paid a recent formal state visit to the President of France, to their amazement, the citizens of the French capital burst into the British National Anthem, singing it with almost perfect English diction. This was indeed a surprise because if a Frenchman were to sing the English words, pronouncing them in French, they would sound like this. Good serve, a gracious king. Long live a noble king. Good serve, the king. Sounding victorious, happy and glorious. Long terrain over us. Good serve, the king. So how were these Parisians able to sing those words in almost perfect English? Well, the Paris newspapers had sponsored this gesture and had published a version of the anthem in phoneticized French. The word God was spelled G-O-D-D. Save was spelled S-A-I-V-E. The word hour appeared as A-O-U-R. Gracious was G-R-E-C-I-E-U-S-S. And the word king, K-I-M-N-G. And so on to the end of the verse. Can you imagine that? Save the King is used as a national song by more than 13 other countries. It's true, among them are Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the United States, and these separate component parts of the German Reich, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg, Mecklenburg, Hamburg, and Weimar, the capital of the Republic of Turingia. As a matter of fact, the tune is claimed as having originated in many of these localities so that today no one can prove from whence it first came. The British national anthem, almost as it is known today, was first heard at the Tavern in Cornhill in 1740, sung by Henry Kerry with the title God Save Great George, Our King. Back and forth across the continent of Europe flew the melody until, in the year 1832, Samuel Francis Smith, a young Boston theological student, was approached by the noted composer, organist and choir leader, Lowell Mason. Mr. Smith, you have, I believe, a thorough knowledge of the German language. I have, sir. Well, Mr. William C. Woodbridge, the famous New York educator, has just returned from Germany, where he found that the German children are thoroughly trained in a basic knowledge of music. He wishes to inaugurate a study of singing in the New York schools, and so he brought back some of the German music books. Will you, Mr. Smith, undertake to translate some of these songs into English? Well, I certainly, it shall be an honor, sir. Then in February of 1832, young Samuel Francis Smith, and glancing through these German song books, came upon one melody to which patriotic words had been written. Said Smith later, I was instantly inspired to write a patriotic hymn of my own. Seizing a scrap of waste paper, words stood upon it substantially as they are sung today. I did not know at the time that the tune was the British God Save the King. Smith sent the words and music to Lowell Mason, who presented the song at a children's celebration of American Independence Day in the Park Street Church, Boston, Massachusetts, July 4th, 1832. And so it was that after more than 200 years of wandering over Europe, being adopted by more than 13 countries, this melody came to rest upon American shores known as My Country Tis of Thee. My Country Tis of Thee Vincent McCarrie giving you over into the capable care of your own announcer and saying goodbye now.