 The signal oil program The whistler that whistle is your signal for the signal oil program The whistler I am the whistler and I know many things for I walk by night I know many strange tales hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows Yes, I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak Yes friends it's time for the signal oil program the whistler Rated by independent research the most popular West Coast program in gasoline, you know it takes extra quality to go farther and Signal is the famous go farther gasoline So look for the signal circle sign in yellow and black that identifies signal service stations from Canada to Mexico And now the whistler strange story weak sister Vertilda stood at the window looking apprehensively at the old burying ground at the foot of the hill a Little group of people from the village down the road stood in twos and threes around the open grave of Captain Ethan Haskell Vertilda always liked to stand at the window like this watching through the dingy lace curtain Yes today especially with Captain Ethan being laid away There was a strange Fascination in her timid little face a look of morbid curiosity in her pale blue eyes She didn't hear her older sister Amanda come up behind her Vertilda Mandy frightened me till the sterling pulled down that window. It's beginning to rain Landshakes you think after all these years you'd have enough sense to be careful Right Amanda now, I'm not going to be able to see the hearse when it comes Oh, if you ain't the limit Bertie you said you didn't want to go to Captain Ethan funeral. I like funeral But they always frighten me so when the body has lived 50 years overlooking a graveyard. It appears to me They ought to be used to it Yeah, let me look careful with the curtains. They'll see you we got a right to look out of our windows Hmm Look at that They'll get soaked to the skin all of them Just like Captain Ethan to be late for his own burial Talk about the day nonsense Bertie Look at the sheriff down there The doctor too they wasn't particularly friendly with the Captain Bertie What do you suppose they're doing down there at the burial, huh? Rolling up your collar ain't gonna keep off the rain duck. That's not what give me the chill sheriff Yeah, I know what you mean. Don't turn round Keep you back to the house. I can feel them watching us through that dining room window. They're like queer pair 30 years ago. I told him sheriff move out of that gloomy old house mix of people for it's too late Still might be hard to believe she'd poison a man duck If you'd stop this funeral nonsense, I'd had proof for you But now had to wait for any cask or to authorize the autopsy But with him being the brother of the deceased only live in relative funerals are wasted time anyway Recommend you don't fill in over the coffin Only going to have them to dig him up again. You don't suppose men they'll show up. Do you she's smart enough to know It will look queer. She doesn't show up Yes, me. I think she's fixing to come down right now Manderstern and what you're doing with that umbrella? You're not going out into the rain I'm going down to the burial ground Decided one of us ought to pay last respects to Ethan Haskell. You'll catch your desert cold Probably will look queer if I didn't go though The wonder his brother in it didn't come back to town today Seems you ought to be here for the very end. Maybe I didn't want to come likely I Never knew a haskell that wasn't a stubborn You're talking about the dead again, it's dead now and fake alive to listen to you Anybody would think we had to watch our tongues or our neighbors down there in the graveyard would rise up in their shrouds Man, I don't say such things Right I'm going now expect you want to lock yourself in I'm so frightened when you're gone. Oh sense to it of course you can watch from the window Be careful, Mander the rain Oh there comes the casket now pretty one with silver trim and I'm moving back to make way for it all Morning Amanda too I Wonder what they'd say if they knew she fed him those poison preserves I Wonder With the prologue of weak sister the signal oil company brings you another strange tale By the whistler Pardon me, mr. Miller. Oh Marvin to you beautiful Well, then pardon me Marvin But a few weeks ago you mentioned that the speedometer on a car can tell you the quality of the gasoline you're using That's right gorgeous. Well my speedometer shows how fast I'm going and how far I've gone But what I want you to tell me Marvin is how can my speedometer show the quality of the gasoline I'm using? Oh nothing would give me more pleasure sugar After all isn't it only logical that to get more mileage a gasoline must help your motor run more efficiently And you also know that signal is the famous go farther gasoline well net So putting two and two together the thing which makes the good mileage in today's signal gasoline possible is the extra Performance it gets from your motor. It's quicker starting It's faster pickup and quieter higher anti-knock for after all it takes extra quality to go farther Oh, I see and the better the gasoline is the more mileage I guess right you are baby Which explains why so many drivers are switching to signal the famous go farther gasoline That clear my dear. Oh who could help being convinced by the great Marvin Miller brother And now as you always say Marvin back to the whistler It's the fascinating thing to watch isn't it Bertie this burial service for Captain Ethan there in the graveyard at the foot of the hill You hardly notice the wind and rain coming in the open window as you stand there Because your mind is somewhere else on The dinner a man to serve the three of you a few nights ago in this very house of The special peach preserves he served the captain of the telephone call in the middle of the night and The news that he had been found dead in the road where he'd fallen on his way home from the dinner and You can see her down there now Piously mourning the captain's passing Yeah That does make it more interesting The mourners finally dispersed the night settles over the graveyard You're alone a few minutes more and then Amanda return here. Take my umbrella. I want to make a telephone call You stayed so long Shall I light a fire Amanda a good idea seems as though this place is never really warm We should have sold it when father died What are you waiting for nothing man dad I know what you're after you just want to hear what I'm Operator will you please call the sheriff Luella anything the matter man? I haven't time to stand here gabbing Luella just ring Sheriff Harris and don't bother to listen in well. I never Always makes me feel better to say a thing straight out. No, you've beaten around the bush Sheriff Harris speaking yes, this is Amanda sterling. I want to put in a complaint about that grave digger Ed Parker What's wrong man day that grave still open out there? He didn't fill it in they filled in in due course man to nothing to worry about Guarantee you'll even ain't gonna climb out and go wandering around that isn't the point better Go pull your shades down and then mind your own business Well, if you think I pay taxes to listen to that kind of let me tell you Fred Harris if that grave ain't filled in tomorrow I'm going straight to the town council. Goodbye All the impudent man Is the grave really? Oh, yes, it's open I ought to go down and teach him a thing or two about manners. What did they say? Never mind never mind No, you threaten you too. Now where'd you put my umbrella there in the corner? Well, I'm not going to worry about it some folks like the sheriff always has something in pregnant to say Yeah Look what I tucked inside my umbrella the flower Lily yes, I Picked it up from the grave when the rest had gone Pretty isn't it? Any water in the bays and the mantel man. You've got to take it back now. I don't be silly But you must man did it belongs to the dead. Don't expect Ethan will come back for it To torture me you take a flower from a grave the dead will come to take it back You put it on the matlock. I won't stay in this house another minute What will happen Bertie work on yourself up that way with your heart the way it is Oh the silliest thing I ever heard of this superstition of yours All right Bertie, I'll take it back to the grave But just to show you there's nothing to be afraid of I'm going to take you with me You step the tiller Cruel of you to make me do this man nonsense. It's high time someone showed you how ridiculous it is to be afraid of such things Trattered storm body can't see 10 Put the flashlight on what do you think I've been trying to do it won't work Nothing to be afraid of Somebody's over there by the grave if you're going to start imagining things. I will There is someone over there It's coming for us now be quiet Bertie It doesn't look like him now get hold of yourself Don't you go fainting on me. Oh my goodness the flashlight flashlight if I could ah there we are Who's there who's there? Oh It's you Pretty pretty look it's only in it's pretty it's Captain Ethan's brother Pretty yeah, well, what's the matter who scared the life out of her? That's what talking around like a spook here Help me with a There we are My medicine now here you are dear lucky. I always carry it with me Was only in yes, yes only in it you gave her the fright of her life You know how she feels about these things Amanda Funny you'd bring her down to the graveyard at a time like this Almost as if you as if you were trying to scare her to death. Why that's nonsense and you know it Might be but it's a funny time for the two of you to be wandering around here, ain't it? I took this flower home from the services Bertie made me bring it back and What might you be doing here in a castle? I was taking a shortcut to your house thought I'd tell you the sheriff wants to see you Amanda And in case you're wondering there's no body over there in the grave post mortem, you know When does the sheriff want to see me right now Amanda right now? Well Bertie at least it's done the flower is back where it belongs You're shaking now and cold and your poor sick heart is thumping inside you as Amanda helps you up the hill to the house you glance occasionally at her at the pale determined face the worried look around the eyes She's wondering how much you know about that poison fruit, isn't she Bertie? She knows she's going to have trouble explaining it to the sheriff and you wish you could go with her in Instead of remaining home alone locked in the old house It should be quite a battle the sheriff is a very persistent man I'll get right to the point Amanda you and I grew up together in this town But this here's an official matter above personal feelings. Hope you understand go ahead sheriff Don't need to tell you how this town loves a scandal Mander There's nothing scandalous about us and Captain Ethan as far as I can see maybe not only duck thinks there's more Ethan's death than meets the eye for instance, what it was poison kill Captain Ethan Their kind of poison found in home can goods preserves for instance Ethan ate his last meal at your house Mander hit him on the way home Hello, we need to have a chair Thanks Sheriff. I'll stand no mender about the preserves About the preserves why Ethan always said he loved your spiced peaches Mander What if he did there's nothing wrong with my sliced peaches? I eat him a self all the time I'd consider the fever Mende if you let me have a jar of those spiced peaches for the ductane lays what? You're going to give her a chance like this Fred. I've got nothing to hide in a caskel Maybe not and then again what you mean in it And I can't forget that look on her face down in the graveyard when she thought I was Ethan I think they're wrong known her all my life. She wouldn't harm a fly. No Well, I think she killed my brother give me 30 seconds with that weak-kneed sister of hers Keep away from Bertie if you know what's good for you. Why Mander? Why? You're afraid she might spill something Is that it? She don't know anything about don't get riled Mander factory means Ethan died from poison and he ate his last meal with you now That can I have him mean some of the fruit spoiled that he accidentally got something on his plate or what? Or it might mean they got it on purpose in that case of course it'd be murder wouldn't it now I want you to go on home to dinner Mander and Come back with them spiced peaches for dr. Analyze there if you're You're not going to get Bertie into this shit She's such a frail thing. Huh weak heart. Sorry Mander if duck finds poison in them peaches I'm afraid we'll have to talk to her Now if you don't mind the nick. There's something I want to talk over with Mander in private Please come back and finish your supper getting cold And I've been rushed so today Here's some cake and you spiced peaches only enough out there for one helping you are dear I Rather have the cake commander You always were fond of spiced peaches, but yeah, I don't feel like tonight Just the cake when a how our bodies taste can change you didn't want them the night the captain was here either Please man, I just give me the cake You said you had to hurry back to the sheriff. What does he want to see you about nothing Bertie just a few formalities about Ethan I Think maybe you'd better have some peaches Good for you. You know and I don't want them. Please. I don't you want him Bertie. Why is something wrong? Eat those peaches Bertie right now Oh all right all right the children What you're going to do now nothing Nothing I can do I guess Sorry man. Sorry about what? You hate me don't you? You always have that's a clear thing to say, but it didn't matter all these years just hating me now. It's different You're afraid of me now That's why you go on Bertie That's why you just tried to To make me eat those peaches. I was just finding out how much you know about captain Ethan's death Bertie You know now don't you Yes, I know What you're going to do too late to do anything now I guess Uh Would you pass me the peaches Bertie and go on give them to me hurry up Here you are man Might swell eat him myself Bertie No use letting them go to waste now. You know They're mighty good Always was proud of my spice peaches You're too weak to get up from the table aren't you Bertie? That's why you sit there long after Amanda has left on her mysterious errand Still stunned by her bewildering decision to eat the fruit she knew was poisoned It's almost an hour now since she left and your heart is still pounding The whole thing the whole nightmarish day has been almost more than you could stand Amanda will die now just as captain Ethan did Somewhere out on the road an hour or so after finishing dinner At 9 30 the storm hits again harder than ever You stagger weekly into the hallway to lock the front door He's only been gone an hour now Yet there's a new feel to the loneliness of the quiet house It's terrible to be alone like this. Isn't it Bertie? You almost wish Amanda would come back somehow Just to stay here in the house with you until this awful night is over Take it easy Mustn't go too fast Hello Sheriff Harris Bertie Yes Sheriff pointing what happened to men More than an hour Sheriff Why did you want to see her about that poison fruit poison fruit there was no use Nothing Sheriff I Think you have to search the road for Amanda. Oh, nothing to get worried about a wrecking. She's probably no sheriff Please Go out and look for her right now. You worried I think Sheriff I Think Amanda is dead The whistler will return in just a moment with the strange ending of tonight's story Meantime in place of the usual message about signal gasoline My sponsor the signal oil company has asked me to take this time to talk with you about the community chest drive Frankly, I'm sure there's very little that needs saying the fighting war is over. Yes But the war against misery and sickness and juvenile delinquency must go on with ever greater force and That is where the community chest comes in Four out of ten people benefit through community chest services such as clinics hospitals maternity homes and day nurseries Children's aid boy and girls scouts campfire girls YMCA and YWCA Also aid to the handicapped homes for the agent the Salvation Army and many other worthy institutions too numerous to mention here and Who pays for all these services? Everyone who is fortunate enough to have a penny or a dime or a dollar to spare for those who are less fortunate And you know, there's a wonderful thing about money that you share in this way Money that you spend on yourself brings happiness to only one person But money that you share with the needy brings happiness to so many Including yourself Now back to the whistler So Amanda is dead Bertie at long last after 30 years living together Amanda is dead and you're free You leave the phone and walk slowly toward the cellar stairs. Yes, there are things to be done Bertie The doctor and the sheriff know about the poison preserves now and they'll be here soon You're sorry about Amanda in a way. It's too bad. She had to die by her own hand knowing it was coming It's too bad. She didn't die the night captain Ethan came for supper the night She graciously gave the captain her dish if preserved simply because she didn't want them While you sat across the table from them both Paralyzed with horror at the awful mistake unable to say anything Yes, Bertie, it's too bad Amanda didn't die and the night you planned to kill her Down into the cellar now. Yes Over to the preserve cabinet Bertie To the bottom shelf and the two jars of fruit you put a special mark on the day you found they were poisoned And now to the sink You smash the jars with a hammer and start to pour the fruit down the drain your hand slips A sharp piece of glass cuts deep into your wrist and a stream of blood rolls down your arm You drop everything in the sink and run up the steps to find a bandage The sight of the blood has made you weak and dizzy Remember the napkins the napkins on the dining room table quickly Bertie Then There's a tap on the window You raise your eyes and there's a cold icy feeling around your heart and darkness and then not even darkness Just nothing an emptiness and space Nothing we can do now Checked her. What is it doc? Right? Her heart probably gave out when Amanda walked up to that window. I had forgotten my key That was just like her to lock herself in that way Amanda at least she did your last kindness without meaning to of course. What's that doc? She cleared Manda of any implication in Ethan's death Birdie got that gash on a wrist while she was trying to get rid of the poisoned jars down in the cellar I I still can't believe she could have done it and no man It was just as hard for me Known how much she cared about her. There was only one way to convince you your sister Bertie was a murderous To show you she knew that fruit was poisoned all the time Even before she tried to give it to you the night kept me thin came for dinner She was right and uh, don't you see that's why we ask you to switch a good jar for the bad one Now turn the pantry and try her out on it. If you took it. She'd be innocent if you turned it down But it wasn't fair She must have thought I was trying to kill don't you see mandate wasn't for her sake. We did it was for you It was so weak so But it was the easy way Manda the easier way for her Let that whistle be your signal for the signal oil program the whistler each Monday at 9 Brought to you by the signal oil company who have asked me to remind you to get the most driving pleasure Drive at sensible speed be courteous and obey traffic regulation It may save a life possibly your own Featured in tonight's story where Martha Wentworth and Peggy Weber The whistler was produced by George W. Allen with story by Jack Kelsey Music by Wilbur hatch and was transmitted to our troops overseas by the armed forces radio service This is Marvin Miller speaking for the signal oil company. This is CBS the Columbia Broadcasting System