 Adventures by Morse. Carlton E. Morse presents The City of the Dead, featuring Captain Friday. If you like big adventure, come with me. If you like stealth and intrigue, come with me. If you like blood and thunder, come with me. But first, our sponsor. The City of the Dead. Midnight in October. A night when almost anything is labelled to happen, and much already has. Old Joshua Friday, mayor of the City of the Dead, otherwise known as the caretaker of the Old Cemetery, no longer in use, had just been mysteriously shot. The shooting took place when Mayor Friday pulled a bellrope in the little church ruins at the lower end of the City of the Dead. Old Dr. Tuner and the mayor had been led to the abandoned ruins in their search for the phantom toll of a church bell. They found no bell. Just a bellrope. And when the mayor pulled it, he was shot. And now back in the mayor's cottage at the other end of the City of the Dead. Earlier in the evening, Dr. Tuner and the mayor had locked up young Jimmy Parker and the girl Phyllis Carroll, who had stopped there for aid when their parked car had been stolen from them by gunmen. But that was nine o'clock. It's midnight now, and Dr. Tuner had carried the unconscious body of his friend from the old church back to the caretaker's cottage. Is he dead? Of course not. Do you think I'd lug a dead body to a cemetery at midnight? How badly has he hurt? Oh, I reckon it's just a scalp wound. Oh, shot him. I wish I knew him, Miss Carroll. I reckon I'll do a bit of telephoning. But you told us you didn't have a phone. Did I now? You most certainly did. Yeah, yes, that's just one of those things. But look here. Now, Parker, keep your shirt on. Just sit still and listen while I take care of things. Oh, so that's where you keep your phone? Yep. Long distance, please. Long distance? Listen, Central, will you get me Skyline 2020? Who was it you're calling? You know in good time. But hello? Hello, Captain Friday's office? Yeah, well, it's Captain Friday in. Good. Hello, Captain? Say, this is Dr. Tuner. Yeah, Dr. Tuner. No, nothing much. Say, I'm down with your father in the city of the dead. Yeah. Now, listen, Captain, something's happened to the mayor. No, no, it's not his heart. He's been shot. No, he ain't going to die just to clip on the head. Yeah, I'd tell you if it was serious. But look here, boy, there's something wrong down here. Something wrong, I say. Yeah. Could you come down for a week? Yeah, keep your mouth shut and come down. Good. That's a ticket. Be sure you don't talk. Yeah. Goodbye. Has Mayor Friday got a son? Yeah, Captain Friday, private investigator. Owns his own agency up in the city. And he's coming down here? He is, and he'll want to talk to you, too. When is he coming down? A couple hours. But why can't we call the city? Not until you talk to the Captain. Dr. Tuner, what on earth is that on your back? My back? Yes, there's a footprint on your coat. You don't say. You know, take my coat off. What kind of a thing made that? Hmm, the same thing that scratched my face. Jiminy crickets for the footprint. Did someone knock you down and walk on you? Looks like it. Who ever heard of a barefooted man running around at midnight in a cemetery? Did he scratch you with his hands? No, with his claws. A man with claws? Well, look at this footprint. It's a human foot, all right, and if those aren't claws, at the end of his toes. Ooh. Well, did you see him? I did not. I felt him plenty, though. Yeah, did he shoot the Mayor? Well, I reckon the story he'll keep until the Captain gets here. Oh, man. Hello. That's the Mayor. No. No, I do not. Good sign, though. Oh, I want to get away from this place. Doctor, how long are you going to keep us here? Well, it depends, Miss Carol. It depends. Would you rather spend your time here or up at the city in jail? Jail? What kind of talk's that? What have we done to be sent to jail? That remains to be seen. We'll just sit right here and wait. Oh, dear. Here he is. That'll be him. Hello, Doc. Hi, Captain Friday. You made a great trip. One of the traffic boys brought me down on his motorcycle. How's dad? Just as I told you, not in the slightest danger. Still unconscious, though. This is Miss Phyllis Carroll and James Fracker. How do you do? Company, eh? Well, in a way, maybe. Not company? What then? Oh, here. Supposing you sit down and hear the whole story. There's a deuce of a lot of nonsense going on out here. Fire away, but first you're sure the old man's okay. Yes, the wound is hardly a scratch. That's crazy, huh? Okay. Go ahead with your story. Well, in the first place, there have been indications of marauders in the city of the dead for the last three nights. Yeah. Footsteps on the gravel, footprints the next morning. Once the mayor was certain, he saw one down among the graves. Mm-hmm. And then tonight, well, we heard a scream that had raised the dead, and then someone ran by the house sobbing as though scared out of his wits. Mayor. Hmm, sounded so. The mayor slipped outside, and pretty soon he shouted to me to open the door, and he brought these two youngsters in. Well, well. And they swear they didn't make the noise. Did either of them look as though they'd been frightened? No, they're just nervous. They said they'd just been held up by two gunmen, and their car had taken away from them. Better and better. What next? Well, after they were held up and were walking toward the cottage here, they say this frightened man that the mayor and I heard ran past him. Did you get a good look at him? No, we got off the road and we heard he'd come. No. Too bad. And then they claimed to have come directly to the house here. They wanted to telephone the police in the city. And Dr. Tuna said there wasn't a phone in the house. What was that for, Doc? Well, let's pass over that for the moment. Uh-huh. Go on. Well, Mayor and I took it into our hands to detain these two young people. Locked them up? Well, yes, in a way. High-handed business. Well, how do we know but what their grave robbers do? Do you have a robber grave, Miss Carol? No, sir. You, Parker? Do I look like a grave robber? There you are, Doc. Looks like you and Dad pulled a boner. Well, then what happened? Well, we almost forgot about the phantom church bell. Don't tell me you got a ghost mixed up in this. Well, these youngsters came in with a story of hearing a bell ringing down at the other end of the city of the dead. Down in the old church? Yes, but the mayor said there wasn't any bell there. This is beginning to have possibility. Well, after we locked up these two, we went out to look around. Now it'd be a son of a gun if we didn't hear a bell. Well, Captain, your dad's sort of impetuous at times. Well, Captain, your dad's sort of impetuous at times. Thanks after his son. I bet you money he dragged you down to the old church. He did, first up in the balcony and then back to the old study behind the altar. Isn't that where that old fellow wants his name? Hanged himself? Yes, it is. Well, as we were creeping up on the room, the most ghastly ammonia ever laid here to came out of the study. Ah, the ghost. I was ready to come home by then, but the mayor insisted that we'd had something cornered and we ought to capture it. So he laid down on her stomachs and wiggled up to the study door. It was ducking the inside of a pirate's heart. And we were lying directly in front of the door and the mayor shoved it open. And I'll pop the ghost. And I was, it had been a ghost. Look how it ripped my face with his claws. Oh, that's how you got scratched up. It ran the full length of me, wailing fit to curl your hair. You don't say. It ran out of the building and the mayor and I jumped to our feet and your dad switched on his flashlight and the study was empty. Naturally. But there was a new bell rope hanging through the ceiling. The bell. And just what your dad thought. He gave the rope a yank and someone shot him. Huh? But did the bell ring? Right. It rang the rhino. I was a rattle. I didn't hear anything. I didn't wait. I grabbed the mayor up on my shoulder and didn't look back, but it got home. Amazing. Offhand, how do you think dad was shot? There are no windows in the study, as I remember. No, there ain't. And I'll swear there wasn't anyone in that room but us. Did anyone have shot from the door? No, it had swung shut. And besides, the mayor had his back to the door and he was shot from the front. Curious, sir. Curious. Tell me more about this animal that gave you the trunks in here. Look at that footprint on my coat. Does that look like animal to you? No. Barefoot man, what do you know? Look at those claws. I don't believe it, Doc. That footprint in his scratches is all to prove I'm on. Then I'm supposed to find a barefoot man with claws, a phantom church bell, a hysterical man not to mention two auto thieves. More than that, I'm supposed to find out why two law-abiding citizens, one of them my own father, have practically kidnapped a perfectly respectable boy and girl. I reckon you'll be just as well off not to look into that bank or very close. Oh, yeah, there was something else. You know the mayor's got a sort of a half-wit gardener working for him. Oh, let me think. Is he figuring on this, too? Well, we found his cap down among the tombstones as we were going down to the church. There it is. The mayor said he saw Lamy where at home from work last evening, and it looks to me like Lamy was back in the city of the dead last night. No, not Lamy. He's scared to death at this cemetery after dark. That's what your dad said, Captain. Now, that's the truth. I know Lamy. He wouldn't come near the place after sunset. Then explain the hat. Give me time, Doc. Give me time. I've been here a half hour yet. Look here, you two talk and talk. Aren't you going to let us call the city? What about it, Doc? Are you going to let our young friends depart in peace now? No, no, no. Here, Captain. Friday, we can't do that. I want to talk to you alone, first of all. All right, Doc, if you're ready to talk. Uh, you don't mind if Dr. Tuner and I adjourn to the kitchen for a little chat, do you? Come on, Doc. Now it's like this, kids. Dr. Tuner has thrown new light on this business. Uh, suppose you tell me, Mr. Parker, who you are. What you do? I'm a student at the University of California, Junior Year. Nice to see you. Living with your parents? No, I have a room in a small hotel. What hotel? In Britain. Would you be missed if you didn't show up for, say, a week? Why, I suppose so. Let me see. What about you, Miss Carol? I don't work anywhere. Live at home? With my mother. What's your address? The Brondell Apartments on Jackson Street. Any phone? Franklin 7076. But you aren't going to keep us here, are you? Tell me this, Mr. Parker. How did you happen to come down to the city of the dead tonight? Just driving. No ulterior motive. I mean, besides the moon and the girl. No? Well, look here, you two. You seem to have gotten yourselves into a mess. But no. Yes, wittingly or unwittingly. Now then you have a choice. Either you remain here for a week and submit to being locked up at night and having a guard at all other times, or else I'll have to take you back to the city and have you locked up. We haven't done anything. Ah, that's to be proven. I can't have the police hold you for investigation. Well, I don't understand it. I don't know what it's all about. You can't do this to us. Nevertheless, it's happening. Now then, what shall it be? I don't want to say. I want to go home. Well, that's impossible at the moment, Miss Gal. If you chose to stay here, I'll make it right with your mother. Likewise with your hotel party. Oh, Jimmy, I just... We could get out on bail. Not on a held for investigation charge, you couldn't. Believe me, I'd advise you to stay. Jail's a rotten place to spend time. Oh, yes. Please, let's stay here, Jimmy. All right. We'll stay. Good. I'll run up to the city in the morning. I'll probably get back tomorrow afternoon, about five. You're going to the city to check up on Jimmy and me? Is there any harm in that? No. No, I guess not. That's fine. You two wait here a minute. I want a word with Dr. Kuhl. Oh, Jimmy, darling, what have we got ourselves into? Well, get hold of yourself. I knew we shouldn't have come. I knew it all the time. Then the youngsters, Phyllis and Jimmy Parker, aren't so innocent of the night activities as they're pretending. What will Captain Friday have to report when he returns from the city? But first, our sponsor. Hello, Dr. Tudor. Back again. We're back in the city already. Quick trip, Captain Friday. Yeah, sitting pretty. Oh, hello, Miss Carol. I didn't see you in June. Did you see my mother? I did the first thing this morning when I got to the city. I left her not the least bit worried. But how did you explain it? Don't give me the thought. Just settle down and have a good time while you're here. How's the mayor, Doc? He came, too, just after you left this morning. His feelings were rotten. I gave him a mild powder. Still sleeping. Did you tell him you brought me down here? Yeah. What did he say? No, he growled a little bit, but he's really tickled. He was, huh? Oh, son of a gun. Say, Doc, what time are you going to give us some dinner? I won't in about an hour if Miss Carol here will give me a hand. Well, of course I will. Well, that'll give Parker and me a little time to look about. Would you like to come along with me, Parker? Sure. Good. We'll take a run down among the tombstone. See you later, Doc. It's been a long time since I had a good look at the city of the dead. Oh, that's all? Mm-hmm. Here, let's cut across this way. What are we going? I want to look over the ground where the mayor and Dr. Tuner picked up Lammy Fink's cap last night. Did Lammy show up for work this morning? I guess not. I heard the mayor and Dr. Tuner talking about it when the mayor came, too. Doc promised to go over to Lammy's cabin and see what was the matter. Did he go? I suppose that's where he went. Anyway, Locke filled us and me up about noon and was away for a couple of hours. Yeah. Be careful where you walk and let me know if you find any footprints. Not that you're likely to find any on this graph. Captain Friday, what's it all about? Why are you keeping us here like this? Answer me one question, Parker, and perhaps I can answer both of yours. Well, I will if I can. What were you and Miss Carol actually doing here at the city of the dead last night? I told you. There you are. You won't play square with me. I can expect me to be on the up and up with you. But I tell you, it was just an accident that brought us here last night. Can I tell you? I think you're lying. Look, just because you're a private detective... Now, now, Parker, don't get nasty. You don't want to talk. It's all right with me. I'll find out for myself eventually. In the meantime, our relationship can be pleasant or strained. However you want it. You won't find anything out about me. You took the trouble to look me up while you were in town. I did take the trouble. Well, I found you just what you purported yourself to be. A junior at the University of California. Likewise, Miss Carol told the truth. Well, doesn't that satisfy you? Under ordinary conditions, I'd be willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. These are extraordinary circumstances. In what way? That remains to be seen. No, just a minute. Here we are. Dr. Tuner said they found a cap just a little to the left of old Lady Gregory's grave. I remember that would be right over there. You mean, you know, every one of these 10,000 graves by heart? Well, not all of them. I got a pretty good idea of the lay of the land here. You see, when I was a kid, this was my playground. I'm curious, childhood. Yeah, that's the grave of mine. Now then, we're going to do a little looking around. Exactly what do you expect to find? I don't know. Look here. If Lambie think was here among the graves after dark last night for some diabolical reason, and believe me, it would take the devil and the legion of his assistants to get him here. There must have been a reason for him leaving his cap behind. And you expect to find out what took him away in such a hurry that he didn't have time to stop for his cap? No, it would help. Say, don't you suppose the fellow that ran by us sobbing was Lambie, do you? I've been wondering if it couldn't have been, since I heard about this cap business. Sounds like something Lambie would do. Found anything? No, sir. You? Yep. Rather what I expected to find. Well, what was it? I don't see anything. You don't, huh? Come on, I've come to see. Let's get back to the cottage. The doctor will be having supper for us by the time we get in and cleaned up. But... What was it you saw, Captain Frye? You'll find out soon enough, Parker. Don't push me. I'm not much for going off before I'm primed and loaded. I promise you this much, however. This is going to be the biggest night this cemetery's had in a lot of years. Now that you've had your supper, Mayor, don't you think you'd better turn in? You look sort of peeking. Yeah, not on your life. I ain't going to spend much time in bed from now on, until I catch a fella that shot me. That's what I'm down here for, Dan. I'll catch my own gunman, young fella. Yeah, you probably will at that. Now that we're all gathered around in one big family, what do you say to a little intimate chat about what particular they kept them? Well, for instance, what about Lambie Fink? Nothing. What's that mean? Not yet. There was nothing about him. He wasn't home. You mean he's moved out? No, he just wasn't around. Clothes, food, and the likes were all there. That's something. Maybe Lambie was down in the city of the dead last night, after all. Yeah, I don't believe it. He's been down through old church yet, son. No, no, not yet, Mayor. The trip to the city took most of the day. Didn't have a look around the place where you folks picked up Lambie's cap, though. Find anything? I did. He did? What did you find, boy? Before I tell you, I want to ask Miss Carol a question. Do you mind, Miss Carol? Why, of course not. Good. What would you expect to find if you opened the grave? Why do you say that? Why do you look at me like that? Say, what are you trying to do? Suppose you keep that in this park. An asinine question if I ever heard one. Yeah. Perhaps you'd like to answer the question yourself. Well, sure. Off and I'd see a corpse. Not a half bad guess. Somebody evidently wasn't quite so certain. Look here, Cap. Well, what are you getting at? That's what I say. Somebody evidently wasn't quite certain just what one does keep in a grave. What do you mean? Somebody opened one down in the city of the dead last night. Opened a grave? Robbing a grave in my city by a tundra? Dad, dad, take it easy. You know anything about it, Miss Carol? Oh, no. No, of course not. Anything to say, Parker? Do I look like a grave robber? Besides, how do you know a grave was opened? So where the turf had been carefully cut about the edges and then replaced. Was old Ernie Morton's grave, Doc? Ernie Morton's grave, eh? Think of that, Mary. Think of anyone wanting to disturb poor old Ernie Morton's bones. I'll have somebody's hide for this. Thought we'd go down this evening and see whether the ghouls carried Ernie away with them. Here she is. Here's the grave. Yeah, this is the one, Mayor. Step off your coat, Parker. You and I are going in for a little heavy exercise. Time to help dig? That's the idea. See here, the sod's all loose. We'll lift it off first and then it can be replaced. Ah, the ghouls who did this knew their business. That's a neat job, eh, Dad? No, excuse me. Keep out of your way. Here's a neat job at that, eh, Mayor? Yeah, too neat. You take an expert to cut up the sod as perfectly as this and replace it in this manner. You know anyone who could do it besides yourself, then? Ernie Landscape Gardener could do it. Here, Parker, pile a sod like this so we can fit it back together and we'll get through. Could Lamy think do it? Lamy? Why, of course he could. Yeah. Oh, I thought. But look here, son. You can't make me believe Lamy'd come down here and open the grave himself. Hey, listen to that, Captain. Church bell, all right? Yeah. Coming from down towards the old church, too. Looks like I'm gonna have to take a run through the ruins tomorrow. Yeah, go through in your day time. No godly man would ever go in there at night. You, Mayor, and I know, don't you, Mayor? Yeah. I don't have for the heavy work, Parker. There's a shovel. You work at this end and I'll work at the head for a while. When we get down a foot or two, we'll have to work in relays. There won't be room for us both. Yeah. I'm not used to this sort of thing. You're not, huh? What about those blisters on your fingers and the palms of your hands? Blisters? Certainly. You don't suppose I'd overlook your hands, do you? Well, I didn't get them digging up bodies. Look to me as if they were made by a shovel. Suppose they were. Well, why don't they stop ringing that bell? Getting on your nerves? Yes, it is. What about those blisters? Well, I'm walking my way through college if you must know. So? I've got a job gardening. It feels a-lying. It'll only make it worse for you. I'm not lying. Here, rest a moment. Get your breath. You're making good headway. I'm about to put in a half already. Yeah, the dirt's still loose. Yeah, don't you want me to take a hand at shoveling? No, Doc. You'd creak under the weight of a shovel full of dirt. Thanks for nothing. You know, it's been 20 years since we laid Ernie away. Do you remember it, Mayor? Yeah. It was storming to beat the deuce. It wasn't anyone present except you and me and the two grave diggers and the fellow that drove the hers. Yeah, yeah. Doc, I remember. One of the grave diggers had to keep bailing out the grave until we could get Ernie into it. Did you help bury all of your patients, Dr. Ture? Every last one of them. Sort of a little courtesy, if you get what I mean. I saw them through life, saw them safely tucked away in the ground, and now I sort of watch over them while I sleep. Now go to it, Parker. If you got your breath, you take a shift down in the hole and then I'll follow you. Yeah, sure. But... But... Well? Well, suppose I dig into something and it'd be awful. Well, suppose you do. Sing out and we'll all come down and take a look. I don't like it. Good full moon tonight, man. I never stood around on one foot in the graveyard at night before. It does give a fellow the creeps, doesn't it? Getting a mullet grubble? Mm-hmm. You begin to see things. That's my soul. Did you hear that? That's it. That's it, son. What do you mean? It's the claw-footed man. Claw-footed man? I don't see anything. Yeah, over there. There's something white moving. It disappeared. Listen. Captain Friday. What is it? What's the matter, Parker? I dug up something ghastly. His dead arm is reaching up to me. You have just heard the second episode of The City of the Dead, written and produced by Carlton E. Morse. What was it that Jimmy Parker uncovered in the grave? What was the phantom at which Captain Friday shot? What will the old church ruins reveal by daylight? Come with us next week when you will hear the third episode entitled The Body That Walked Off.