 This is Conrad Nagel inviting you to stay tuned for the next half hour for one of radio's outstanding dramatic productions on Proudly We Hale Proudly We Hale, now another Proudly We Hale, one of radio's outstanding dramatic half hours transcribed coast to coast in cooperation with this station and presented by your army and your Air Force From Radio City, New York, here is your host and star on Proudly We Hale, the distinguished star of the theater, screen, radio, and television Conrad Nagel Thank you, Clarence. Thank heart. Hello everyone. Welcome again to Proudly We Hale. Conrad, I believe you said that this was one of the most frightening stories you've ever read. Indeed it is, Ken. It's a tale of terror. Well, these are the best words I can think of to describe it. The title of our play is The Trial and our first act curtain will rise in a few minutes after this very important message Air Force enlistments have been restricted for a long time, but they're open again now Go to your nearest United States Army and United States Air Force recruiting station and enlist in the United States Air Force today. And now with your star, Conrad Nagel, in the role of Roger Lewis, your army and your Air Force present the Proudly We Hale production, the Trial This is a story about two emotions. Anger and fear. How one developed the other and how one became the other. It concerns mainly Roger Lewis, a lawyer, and Leo Collier, a man he sent to prison for life. Now remember, darling. Drive carefully. Yes, sir. And you remember to take care of yourself. All right. Oh, Mary will come in to clean on Thursday. Tom will be around to take care of the lawn and things on Saturday. There's plenty of food in the icebox for you. Yes, dear. I know. Stop worrying, will you? And give your mother, my old battle axe, my best. Roger. I'll write you a letter, dear. I may even call you up if you're good. Oh, that'll be nice. I'll miss you. Miss you, too, sweetie. Be kind of lonely around this joint without you. Should I call her and tell her I can't come? Oh, you promised her, Paula. I lost 10 days. Don't worry. You know, I'm awfully busy anyway. I suppose you spend most of your time in the city. Yeah, good part of it. That's where I've got to get now. Well, we've got a beautiful day to drive, so take off, sweet. And I love you, darling. I'll miss you. I'll see you in 10 days, kiss. Couldn't I go tomorrow? You scat. Yes? Mr. Lewis, Captain O'Neill is on the phone. He'd like to speak to you. Nice, Miss Cole. Put him on. Hello, Ned. What do you know? Hi, Rog. How's the defender of truth and justice? Well, I can't complain, Sherlock. Yeah, listen, Rog, remember a guy named Leo Collier? Well, I should. About a year ago, wasn't it? He killed his brother, open and shut case. He got life. Yeah, he got a good memory. Well, there's no need to get worried, but I thought you ought to know. Collier and two other lads escaped from state prison about two hours ago. Why should that worry me, Ned? I just think you and your boys would do the worrying. Oh, we'll catch them soon enough, all right. But Collier swore he'd break out, and when he did, he'd get you. Why? Because I proved he was guilty of a crime that was obvious? Don't ask me, boy. Where are you staying now? Staying? Well, we stay at home. It might be a good idea if you and your wife moved into the city until we caught Collier. No point in taking any chances. Oh, don't be silly, Ned. My gosh, you don't think a man who just broke out of prison is going to be interested in tracking down the lawyer who sent him there. Look, he's going to be spending all these time trying to get away. Maybe true, but why take a chance with your wife? My wife is perfectly safe, Ned. She went to visit her mother. And I assure you, Collier, and all the criminals in the world wouldn't stand a chance against that woman. Too bad she didn't come to stay with you. Hey, you really want to frighten me? Now, look, Ned, go catch Collier and don't worry about me. If I need any help, I'll holler. Well, if you do. I hope I can hear you calling. Stop sounding so melodramatic. Look, if there's anything under the bed, I'll send up a red rocket. How about lunch sometime? Hey, who's that? It's me, Mr. Lewis. Oh, Tom. What are you doing here? It's kind of late to be working, isn't it? I thought you weren't coming till Saturday. It's going to blow tonight, Mr. Lewis. I thought I'd better get the lawn chairs in, a few things like that. I knew the wife was away and didn't know when you'd get back from the city. Well, that's a mighty thoughtful idea, Tom. It makes you think it's going to blow tonight. The sky looks clear. Oh, I can tell, Mr. Lewis. It's going to blow hard. Well, I'll take your word for it, Tom, and thanks. I'm glad to be blind. Night, Mr. Lewis. Good night, Tom. Hmm? Hey, what, what, what? Oh, for the love of Pete. You might know. Hey, it's three o'clock. Oh, Tom wasn't kidding. Weren't I closed everything and locked it? You stay shut and let it... Oh, hey, one of the pains is broken, too. That's some wind. Locked themselves. That's right, Lewis. Well, you won't turn on the light again. Coyote! Even in the dark, you know me, don't you, Lewis? You'll forgive my little prank. I thought it might upset you. So that meeting me would upset you even more. I see that I've gained the desired effect. Well, I don't know what you have in mind, Coyote. If you've got any sense at all, you give yourself up. That's a rather ridiculous statement on the face of it. Do you know why I'm here? Yeah, I can guess. You want to kill me for doing my duty? Duty, pal! You're now in the courtroom now. You did your duty all right. You saw to it that I was doomed to the life of a caged animal. You saw to it that I was buried alive in a tomb of gray rock and iron bars. What do you know of the days and nights, the endless days and nights without hope and without future? You should have thought of that before you killed your brother. Listen, I killed my brother because if anyone needed killing, he did. But you and no one else cared about that. All you were interested in was to see that your precious laws were upheld. What happens to be my job? I don't make the laws, Collier. A cold-blooded killer, you called me. You were very eloquent. What did you know of Ben? He was twisted and evil and he killed things all his horrible life. Well, not the way I did directly with a gun. He was too smart. Oh, that's right. You were twisted, Collier. You hated him because he was successful and you weren't. You hated him because he married the woman you wanted. You hated him because he was the man you could never be. Shut your face! What do you expect to gain by this? Two things. I'll have them both. Revenge and freedom. And you'll get neither. We'll see, Mr. Lawyer. I'll wager, I'll change your mind on first score soon enough. Why don't you kill a judge in the jury as well? I'll settle for you. Well, I suppose two murders on your conscience is no worse than one. Not a bit. But who said I was going to kill you? No, I'm not going to kill you. You're going to kill yourself when I'm through with you. You see, Lewis, I was lying out there in the bushes when your wife left. I know that Mary comes on Thursday and Tarma on Saturday and I know we've got ten days and nights ahead of us. You've forgotten I have a job. You know, my office is going to wonder what's happened to me. Oh, no, they're not. Because you're calling them in the morning. You're going to tell them your wife isn't well and you'll be out of town. You're going to tell Mary the same thing. It won't be necessary for her to come and clean as for Tarma, he can mow the lawn all he likes. He won't bother us. The police will trace you here. This is the last place they'll trace me. Things are going to work out very nicely and I guarantee you when the ten days are over I've made you suffer what I've suffered in a year. You'll be very happy to die, Mr. Lewis. Lewis, Davis and Platt, Ms. Brown speaking. Hello. Hello, Ms. Brown, it's Mr. Lewis. Yes, sir, good morning. Ms. Brown, I won't be in. My wife called us and she's not feeling well. I'm going up to Sear. I probably won't be back for ten days. Oh, I'm sorry, sir. I hope it's nothing serious. No, nothing serious, thanks. Well, I think I'd better go. If anything important comes up, should I call you there? Mr. Lewis. No, no, that won't be necessary. I think I'll make it a kind of a vacation. Yes, sir. I hope your wife will be feeling better. Thank you, Ms. Brown. I'm sure she will. Goodbye. Goodbye. Very convincing. Not quite up to your best courtroom style, but not bad considering. You know, your face doesn't look very good. After you've picked yourself up, we'll call Mary. But, Mr. Lewis, the house will need cleaning. You can leave a key on the back porch and then when you come home, the house will be nice and clean. No, no, no, that won't be necessary. We'll call you when we get back, Mary. Oh, you'll get in the dog house for sure, Mr. Lewis. Well, I'll have to take that chance. Goodbye, Mary. The dog house. That's a good one. You know, I'm hungry. After I've had some breakfast, we're going to have a workout. And I'm going to use you for a punching bag. And then we're going to have a talk. I'm going to tell you what it's like to be in a real dog house. Come on. And stay on your feet. Time to wake up. Didn't you sleep well? Boy, you're a mess here. Sit up. I've been listening to the radio. You know where I was seen? In Philadelphia. A good place for me to be. The city of brotherly love. Connor, you won't get away with this. Now, what do you think I'm doing? Where's your law and justice now? Still believing them, Lewis? You can beat me to a pulp, but you can't change what I believe. Oh, no. Suppose I was to give you this gun. Would you shoot me or call a cop? Yeah. Give it to me and you'll find out. I'll give it to you, all right? Right in the kisser. The flesh is weak, but the spirit is strong, eh, Lewis? Listen, you poor fool. Your laws won't do you any good here. I'm the law. And every time you break one of my laws, I'll punish you. And I'll punish you until the laws you know become nothing. I'll teach you to become an animal. And the only laws you'll know will be fear and hate. I'll break you bit by bit, do you hear? Bit by bit. Did you think I'd let you get away that easily, you crazy fool? When you've picked yourself up down there, come back up here to bed. You need your sleep. Of Roger Lewis in the proudly-we-held production The Trial will return in just a moment for the second act. I have a message for the young men of America enlist in the United States Air Force. By doing this right now, when the Air Force is expanding, you have the opportunity to really get ahead. The Air Force needs specialists in radar, radio, weather, aircraft maintenance, and numerous other technical fields. Yes, the Air Force can train you for one of its many technical jobs. Go to the nearest army and Air Force recruiting station. Have a talk with the recruiting sergeant. Find out for yourself the advantages you can gain by enlisting in the Air Force now. You are listening to Proudly We Hail. And now with your star, Conrad Nagel, in the role of Roger Lewis, we present the second act of The Trial. Who's that? I... I don't know. Get in that closet. Come on, on your feet. Can't I? Get you in that closet. Guess what is it? Mr. Lewis, my name is Jeb. I'm on the school board here in town. My name isn't Lewis. Mr. Lewis is away. I'm living here until he and his wife return. Oh, I see. I beg your pardon. Can you tell me when he'll be back? Today's Saturday. He'll be back in five days. On Thursday. I see time has arrived to cut the lawn. You and I'll just go upstairs where we won't disturb them. Tonight we'll write your dear wife a letter, just like you promised. And as tomorrow Sunday, we'll call her up and see how she feels. Hi, darling. Oh, how nice of you to call. How are you? Roger, are you all right? You sound sick. Probably the connection. I'm fit as a fiddle. Are you working too hard? No. Sound like you've been drinking. Just sleepy, huh? How's your mother? Nothing wrong with her. Listen, you take care of yourself. Maybe I better come home tomorrow. No. Somebody at the door, honey. I gotta go. Take care of yourself. Roger, wait a minute. I gotta go. Bye, honey. Roger? What's the matter, Paula? I don't know. Sounded like he was half alone. When the cat's away. Don't be silly, mother. I think I better go home tomorrow. Oh, that's ridiculous. He's a big grown man. He can take care of himself. I don't care. I'm worried. I'm going home tomorrow. How do you feel about your precious laws now, Lewis? Would you still call the police if I gave you a gun? Or would you shoot me like I shot Ben? Well, you give me a gun. I'll show you. I said you'd change. I said you'd come to see it my way. I'm teaching you new laws, aren't I? You know, Carter, I learned how to use a bull whip when I was a kid to kill rattlesnakes. I had a bull whip, I'd show you. What would the court say to that? Taking the law under your own hands. I think you said that was the right of no man. You're not a man of convictions, although you're able to get lots of convictions. No, no, stay away from me. Not on your life. Now, you know fear, don't you? Well, you'll know it a lot better by the time I'm through with you. I promise you by the time I'm through with you, you'll be begging me on hands and knees. Paula, you're acting like a silly child. If you're so worried about him, call him up again. What's the point in leaving before you have to? You came down here to rest. All right, I'll call him. Imagine he'll be at the office now. Mother, your phone is ringing. Mother, your phone is out of order. Well, it doesn't mean the end of the world, dear. When we drive into town, we'll stop and tell them about it. After all, when you live out in the country like this, you have to expect all sorts of things to happen. Tell you, why don't you kill me and get it over with? Now you'd like that, wouldn't you? Now before I leave, you'll kill yourself. Never. I'll make you do it. Would you like a mirror? I hardly think you'd recognize yourself. You know anyone who'd be calling you? No, no, I don't. You remind me of a crab trying to scuttle away. Well then, we'll just let it ring and pretend we're not here. Fear now, don't you? You fear the sound of my footsteps. You fear my look, my words, my touch, don't you? You fear me as you've never feared anything in this world. You've become a creature of terror and hate. I've made you into what you tried to make me. But I was too strong, Lewis. I turned my hate into a sword and I broke down a prison wall with it so I could get you. You know what we're going to do, Lewis? We're going to have a trial. I'm going to be the judge, the jury and the plaintiff. Now, you're accused of breaking the law, my law. You've tried to crucify Kalia. That's a terrible thing, a horrible crime. How do you plead? I said how do you plead? Speak up or I'll get rough. No, no, I plead, I plead not guilty. Not guilty, eh? Well, Mr. Lawyer, get up on your feet and let's hear you plead your case. Let's hear you really plead. Be convincing. No, I can't. We'll see about that. You see this? I think he's really fainted. Well, there's always tomorrow. He'll be in bed of voice in the morning. Hey, he's gone to the kitchen. The kitchen, eh? They're going to find that whip, find that whip. Where? Think, think. In the hall closet. No, no attic. Up to the attic. Get there. Pull myself up to the benesure. When I must hurry, must hurry, he'll come back. One more flight. One more flight. There it is. They're on the wall. Not for me, I'll find you. Up here, Collier. Up here. Come up and get me. It's better without a light. Here I am, Collier. You gave me a scare. Thought you might have gotten away. You'd have been smarter if you tried. I'll have to punish you for this. You broke another one of my laws. What are you doing up there? Come up the stairs and find out. Remember, I have a gun. But I don't think I'll need it. Hugh, you want me to plead my case, Collier? All right, I'm ready. Well, sing out. Listen, listen to my voice. Listen to my voice and feel its lice. Said you'd kill me. Hugh won't do that now. He's up on the second floor. Watch him. I guess I didn't honor quite a lot enough, man. Grab him. More like yourself than when I saw your last. Yeah, it was quite a sight, wasn't I? Want to tell me about it? Oh, it'll keep. What about Collier? I don't think he's going to make it. Probably better that way. Yeah. Poor devil. You can feel pity after what he did to you. Well, yes. Yes, I can, Ed. Nothing else to feel. He wasn't responsible. He couldn't be blamed for a twisted mind. Oh, I suppose not. He sent you a message. Well, what is it? He said if we hadn't come, if your wife hadn't gotten suspicious and called, he would have won. No. No, no, he could never have won, no matter what he did to me. You know, you can break the law and you can break people. But you can never really destroy either. Star Conrad Nagel will return in just a moment with a word about next week's show. You Air Force veterans listening to our show, here's some good news for you. For you veterans with experience and special training are needed now. You can enlist with your old grade or better, skip basic training and be assigned initially to a nearby Air Force base. And this deal holds good for veterans of other branches of the service too. If they've had the kind of special training the Air Force needs, if you've had training and experience in such fields as radio, radar, maintenance, weather, armament, photography, and many others, you can build a fine future in our fast-growing Air Force. But why not get all the facts? Just stop at your nearest army and Air Force recruiting station and find out where you are needed in the world's greatest Air Force. Enlist now. This has been another program on Proudly We Hail, presented transcribed in cooperation with the station by the United States Army and the United States Air Force Recruiting Service. Proudly We Hail stars Conrad Nagel. Supporting Mr. Nagel in the role of Leo Collier was Joe DeSantis. The trial was written by Dewitt Cop. This program was produced under the supervision of Charles and Rogers Productions and directed by Charles Wilkes. This is Kenneth Banghart speaking, and here again is your host and star, Conrad Nagel. Well, friends, next week over this same station on Proudly We Hail, journey with us for an adventure story into the wilds of the jungle in South America. Our play is entitled In the Dead of the Night. Until then, goodbye.