 The Equitable Life Assurance Society presents this is your FBI. This is your FBI, an official broadcast from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, presented as a public service by the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States and the Equitable Society's representative in your community. Before opening tonight's file, it occurs to us that as you have listened to previous programs in this series, you may have wondered about the word society in the name Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. Why is it called a society you may have said to yourself? Why not accompany? Well, the answer is very simple. The Equitable Society is called a society because it is a society. It is a voluntary association of men and women who have joined together for security. It is a cooperative enterprise maintained solely for the benefit of its members and all its members receive the friendly service and personal attention that the word society implies. So when you next consider the purchase of life insurance, remember that by becoming an equitable society policy holder, you automatically become a member of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. Tonight's FBI file, The Cautious Killer. A crime of passion, such as killing in a rage of jealousy, is seldom committed by the hardened, cold-blooded professional criminal. It is more often the act of a normally law-abiding citizen, a store clerk or a banker or a doctor or a laborer, such as the coal miner in tonight's case from the files of your FBI. And because it is not a professional crime, its final solution may rest solely on getting a confession of guilt from the suspect. But many arduous step between the start of the hunt and victory for the hunter. In most any small coal mining town, a pretty young woman storms out in sharp and refreshing relief against the dinginess of the community and often she is the target for the idle gossip of the envious. In this particular mining village in Ohio, the pretty young woman was Mary Clifton, whose husband John always drank too much beer at the corner bar and sometimes got wind of too much gossip. Tonight, as usual, Mary has put supper in the warming oven while waiting for the sound of steps on the porch. Tonight, the steps are heavier than usual. Mary! I'm right here, John. Oh, supper ready? Yes. Let me have your dinner, pal, dear. I can take care of myself. And don't call me that. Call you what? Dear. Let me have your dinner, pal, dear. Supper's ready, dear. Wash up, dear. You know why I don't like the word? No. Because I know that's what you call him, too. Who are you talking about? You know who I'm talking about. He was here again today, wasn't he? Who do you mean? Jim Monroe. Yes, Jim was here. I knew it. He came to see you. Don't give me that. Everybody in town knows who he comes to see. John. He's in love with you. John, don't say that. Everybody in town is saying it. Now look, you've been drinking. That's what you always say when I start talking about you and him. Please. You don't like to hear me talk about it, do you? But you like it when he comes here to see you. Stop it, John. You like it when he holds you in his arms and kisses you. I can't stand it. But you can't stand him loving you, can't you? Can't you? Thank you, John. Thank you for slapping me. Help me get hold of myself so I can tell you something. Why? I'm leaving you. So I was right. Wait a minute. Let me talk. I married you. I loved you as much as any woman ever loved a man. But through the years, you've done everything possible to kill that love. And now that it's dead, things around me have begun to matter. All I can see is this, this dirt and this filth and this shabbiness. And I can't stand it anymore. Are you through? Yes, I am. Okay. Now let me tell you the real reason you want to leave. You want to go away with him. Think whatever you like, John. I'm leaving tonight. Oh, no, you're not leaving. You don't think I'm going to let you go away with him, do you? I said think whatever you like. Come back here. Take your hands off me. You ain't pulling any double-cross on me. John, let go of me. This kind of spoils your plans, don't it? This kind of messes everything up for you and Jim. He can have you all right when I'm done with you. Sure. Now he can have you any time he wants. Exactly two weeks after the brutal slaying of the miner's wife and the adjoining state of Pennsylvania agent and charge leads of the Pittsburgh office of the FBI has just received a call. Mr. Leeds, I'm Chief of Police Baxter from Larkin, Ohio. Oh, yes, yes, I've been expecting you. Sit down, won't you? Thanks, I will. I think I have a case for the FBI. Yes? Two weeks ago in Larkin, the house of a coal miner called John Clifton caught fire and burned to the ground. We found the charred body of Mary, the miner's wife on the floor of what had been the kitchen. What about the husband? Well, he was drinking at a bar when the fire alarm was turned in. He ran to the fire and he tried to get his wife out, but the fireman stopped him. Where's the crime angle, Chief? Mr. Leeds, I don't think Mary Clifton died in that fire. I've got a suspicion that she was murdered before the fire, murdered by her husband. Yes, but you just said that when the fire broke out, he ran to the house. I know, I know. I haven't got enough material evidence to back up my suspicions or I'd have him extradited. Extradited? Yes, that's why I came here. John Clifton left Larkin, Ohio, a week after it happened. We traced him to Ridgewood, Pennsylvania, and he's working there in the coal mines. Chief, if you haven't enough evidence, I don't see where we fit in the case. We can back into the murder. You see, Clifton was jealous of a man named Monroe. He tried to extort money from Monroe on the grounds that he was carrying on with his wife. I see. Now, let me give you the whole background on this fellow Clifton. Here's the reason why I think that... Do you want to see me, Mr. Leeds? Yes, come in, Jeff. Thanks. Did you finish reading up on the Clifton case? Yes, I just finished. According to our vocation-advocation file, you've spent some time around coal mines, Jeff. That's right. I spent a couple of summers in the mines when I was studying engineering. And I think you're our candidate to contact Mr. Clifton. Good. You'll have to work alongside him without him suspecting your plan. I see. Have you any opinions on the case? Yes. The neighbors said they heard an explosion and saw a flash of flame in the kitchen. Mary Clifton cooked on a gas stove. That's right. And if her husband did it, he could have opened the gas jet in the oven, attached the slow fuse like the user will blow out in the mines, lit the fuse, going out the back door and reached the bar before the explosion. That sounds reasonable. As for how he actually killed his wife, the neighbors heard no pistol shot. And even a half-chart body should have showed some trace of a stab wound, which hers didn't. I know. The body, it would have shown no trace of finger marks if he choked her. That's how I think he did it. If he did it. And I'm ready to start right now for Ridgewood to find out. I've already telephoned the superintendent of the mine. You'll be working with Clifton starting tomorrow. Right. What are you drinking, fella? Beer. New here, ain't you? Yeah. Just came in this afternoon. Signed up yet? Yes. Start tomorrow. Here you are. Thanks. I'm supposed to work with a cutter named Clifton. You know him? Yeah. Yeah, I know him all right. What's he like? Well, you can size him up for yourself. He's coming in now. Oh. Give me a boil and I'll make it, Sam. Okay. Your name Clifton? Yeah, what about it? My name's Jefferson. Come on, shove it out, Sam. I said my name's Jefferson. Yeah, I heard you. I thought maybe you might like to know who's working with you. What do you mean? I'll be loading in your room starting tomorrow. What's the matter with the two working there now? What? I'm a switch and shift. Yeah? Yeah. You don't look like any miner than me. Give me another one, Sam. Right. That was too bad about your wife, Clifton. I just heard about it this afternoon. Never mind about that. You don't mind a guy saying he's sorry. I mind anything you say. You act like I'm accusing you of something. What do you mean? Well, nothing in particular. All right. Drink your beer and shut up. Okay. There you are, Sam. Thanks. I had Jefferson. Yeah? I get this. You're working with me. Okay, I can't do anything about that. But from the time we get in that cage tomorrow and start down the shaft until we quit and come out, don't bother me with talk. Understand? Let's get in the cage and get down to midnight. Okay, let's go. Since we're first down, we must be working the same level. That's right. You knew? Yeah. Just come on. Name's Jefferson. I'm Hinton. What drift you're working? I don't know yet. I'm working with Clifton over there. Oh, that's number three. You're working in a small head. Tight fit and dead end, huh? Yeah. Jefferson. Yeah? I asked you something. I thought we weren't talking, Clifton. Where do you come from? Still don't think I'm a minor. I said where did you come from? Carter Mine in Kentucky. Oh, soft stuff, huh? Trying to do a tripping. What do you mean? Carter's hard, same as here. That pass me okay? All right, come on. Let us out. This is our train head, Jefferson. Come on. Okay. Low seam, you better bend down. All right. Okay, let's go. That's the idea of stopping. Groundfall blocking the track ahead. Well, you can't prop up a roof with a toothpick. I can't expect it to hold. Well, you can get around the fall on foot all right. All right, all right. All right, you go back on the train, Hinton. Get a crew to come clean this stuff out. Put in some rail props and let the dust out. Right. Come on, Jefferson. Okay. Can't take the dust? I don't complain it. A few more yards, we'll be in the head and you can straighten up. Okay. This is our happy home and we don't make money standing still. You don't mean you're going to start cutting before they wet down? Why not? There's cloud of dust. Suppose you hit gas. Some dust ain't combustible. Well, do you know this kind isn't? I hit some gas the other day and it does cloud up and have them. Well, maybe it wasn't an inflammable gas. Oh, a book, my man. Just cautious. Time is money. I'm going to start cutting. It's a fire dam. Let's get out of here. We'll never make it before it hits the dust. I said let's get out of here. As you will learn from tonight's case, which will reopen in just a moment, training, the right kind of training, has plenty to do with security. This week at the Equitable Society, I learned something about training. The president of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, Thomas I. Parkinson told me about it. Do you know he said that the FBI operates a school for law enforcement officers called the FBI National Academy? Policemen from all over the country attend its classes in modern crime detection and advanced police work of all kinds. Down there recently, I was astonished to find how closely this FBI school parallels our own Equitable Society schools and training courses and for the same purposes too. Protection and security. Yes, representatives of the Equitable Society are always going to school. Classes run steadily at the Equitable Society and special courses of instruction are given to Equitable Society representatives throughout the country as field training instructors constantly bring new information to Equitable Fieldmen everywhere. That's why the Equitable Society representative in your community is so well-versed in the things that are closely tied in with life insurance. Things like trustee shifts, tax problems, mortgages, partnership agreements. And let me tell you that because many factors such as taxes are constantly changing, Equitable Society representatives must be progressive, must be forward-looking so we can always say that this week and every week for more than 86 years the Equitable Society has been building security for you, your home, and your country. And now, back to the FBI file, The Cautious Killer. The courage of Special Agent Jefferson of your FBI in risking the danger of a coal mine explosion taking out his duty as a law enforcement officer. That kind of courage was not peculiar to him. Rather, it is exemplary the courage of all law enforcement officers who daily risk their lives in the performance of their sworn and sacred duty. The protection of the lives and property of you, the American citizen. At the first sound of the distress signal at the Ridgewood Mine, Lieutenant Miller and Agent and Charge Leads of the FBI rushed to the shaft head. Miller personally took charge of the rescue party which is now making its way deep into the scene where the explosion occurred. Make there's any possible chance that they're alive, Mr. Miller? Well, if they are alive, Mr. Leads, they're sealed up in a small head and that's pretty bad. Even if the force of the explosion knocked out the gas fire before it burned up what oxygen was in the head, well, there couldn't be too much left for them to breathe. Here's where the fall begins, Mr. Miller. All right, men. Wet it down. How far is it to where they are? Oh, I should say about 20 or 25 feet. And that's many a ton of coal. How long would it take to reach the head? If they're alive, we can't wait that long. We'll clear out about half and then try to drive an air shaft through before we go any farther. I see. All right, that's enough, men. Now dig it away and keep it wet as you go. And I don't need to tell you to work fast. I don't know. Listen. Yeah? You okay? I think so. I must have passed out for a minute. You got any room over there? Not much. Jefferson, I wonder how bad all for you. I don't know. That depends on how much fell between here and the main shaft. I know, I know. At least the explosion snuffed out the fire. You still got a little stuff to breathe. Talking burns it up faster. I mean, why don't I shut up? Yeah. Hey, Clifton. What is it? It's just... It's just one trouble with us keeping quiet. It starts a fella thinking on a spot like this. You don't know if you'll come out of it or not. Well... Well, what? Well, you start thinking of all the bad things you did. You know what I mean? No. You mean you never did anything you're sorry for? Well, keep quiet, will you? No, I just asked you. Janet. Janet. I keep quiet. Let's both keep quiet. And think. Haven't the men dug through halfway yet, Mr. Miller? No, we've only made about ten feet. But it's been a couple of hours now. Yes, I know, I know, but we're not getting through as fast as I'd hoped. You think they could still be alive? If they were alive when we started, there's a chance. Just a chance. But I'm not gonna wait any longer. What do you mean? I'm gonna see if they can hear us. Clifton. Clifton. Jefferson. Clifton. Jefferson, can you hear us? Clifton. All right, men, bring up that shaft. All right. We're gonna try to drive through them right now. Come on, hurry up with the shaft. Coming up. All right now, start driving. And remember, if they're still alive, every second counts. Jefferson. Jefferson. I changed my mind. Let's talk. Thinking? Get a little rough? Just let's talk. Okay. Got that subject? Yeah. Getting out of here. How? You should be at a rescue party digging through to us. Yeah, that could take days. Yeah. All right. That ended that subject. Got another one? No. I'll throw one in. Why? Women. I'm not interested. Why? Just not interested. On account of your wife, Clifton? What do you mean? What happened to her? What are you talking about? Why did you do it, Clifton? To what? You thought she was in love with somebody else, didn't you? What are you talking about? You were insanely jealous, weren't you? I said what are you talking about? Why don't you get it off your conscience? I don't know what you mean. Your wife wasn't in love with Jim Monroe. It's a lie she was. You just thought she was. That's why you choked her to death. She said she was leaving. That's why you choked her to death. She was going away with a minor. That's why you choked her to death and set fire to the house. Yes, yes. You did kill her, didn't you? You did kill her, didn't you? Yes, I killed her. I killed her. What? They're coming through to us, Clifton. What? No, Clifton. This party of troubles are almost over. What do you mean? It's just like you said in the bar yesterday. I'm not a real minor. What? I work for the FBI. John Clifton was returned to Ohio where he was tried and convicted for the murder of his wife. Yes, the crime of passion is seldom a professional crime. And its final solution may rest solely on getting a confession of guilt from the suspect. And although many arduous and sometimes dangerous steps may lie between the crime and the confession, victory for the hunter over the hunted is inevitable. For there's always a limit to the capacity of the hunted to endure. Next week you'll hear a particularly exciting case from your FBI file before telling you about it a word about one of your neighbors. Just as you look to your FBI for national security, so to the equitable society you look for the financial security of life insurance. Yes, like the FBI agent, the equitable society representative in your community is a specialist on the subject of security. His job is to preserve home, to help keep children in school, and to make old age happiness and contentment. It's a good job and one that is one for him the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens who recognize his contribution to the security of you, your home, and your country. Next week we will bring you another colorful story from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation the corrupt city. The incidents used in tonight's Equitable Life Assurance Society's broadcast are taken from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. However, all names used are fictitious and any similarity thereof to the names of persons living or dead is accidental. Tonight the music was under the direction of Frederick Steiner, the author was Frank Ferries and your narrator was Dean Carlton. This is your FBI is a Jerry Divine production Now this is Carl Frank speaking for the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States and the Equitable Society's representative in your community and inviting you to tune in again next week at this same time for this is your FBI. Now I should like to read a statement from Mr. J. Edgar Hoover, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The observance of Boy Scout Week should command the attention of the entire nation. At a time when our country is suffering from the ravages of youthful crime the spirit of the Boy Scouts of America is doing much to influence the future thought not only of our nation but the world. During this period of readjustment there is a definite need for honor among men. The Boy Scouts theme for this year is Scouts of the World Building Together All of us might very well adopt this theme. If we do, I am sure the family of nations will enjoy peace instead of war. Truth instead of false ideologies. The keynote of scouting is good citizenship. A scout promises on his honor to do his duty to God his country and to help other people at all times. This is America at its best. Friday nights there are great programs on ABC. Next comes fun with Alan Young and his guest Rita Hayward. Don't miss this laugh packed show. This is ABC, The American Broadcasting Company.