 The Equitable Life Assurance Society presents this is your FBI This is your FBI the official broadcast from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Presented transcribed as a public service by the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States and the Equitable Society's representative in your community Have you ever felt that some radio commercials waste your time? Treat you as if you didn't have too much sense if so we challenge you to listen to tonight's middle commercial From the Equitable Society about the Equitable Education Fund It gives you three interesting facts about the dollars and cents investment value of a college education for your children Then outlines a simple painless way to pay for those four years in college See if you don't agree that this is interesting and useful information intelligently presented Watch for this middle commercial from the Equitable Society due in about 14 minutes tonight's FBI file prisoner of war After too short a respite This nation is again engaged in war not withstanding every effort we made to avoid that conflict like the last war and most of the preceding ones the battlefield the place where bullets are flying is In another land far from these shores However distant we might find ourselves from the nearest enemy artillery though We are in a zone of danger For as wars are fought today. There is no such thing as a non-combatant Almost all of us in or out of uniform are permanently enlisted as we were during World War two There were those among us during that period though who while not wearing the uniform of the enemy Worked for an axis victory worked in our very midst and called themselves Americans tonight's file opens in the year 1944 in a large office located on the second story of a building on the Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin Behind a big desk sits a lean hard-faced man who looks up as a German soldier enters Approaches the desk salutes and standing at attention says Leutnant Wetzel melziter stelle Thank you, sir. I have you in a special uniform is directed to sit down and listen listen to the man who has sent for him Hey, Schleicher The name doesn't mean anything to you Maybe you never heard of him, but if you lived in New York Detroit Boston, Los Angeles or any one of a hundred other cities Here Schleicher knew something about you He knew for instance what was being manufactured in your town for during this part of World War two He had an important job in the Nazi machine. He was head of the German school for saboteurs The young Nazi in the field gray uniform of a German lieutenant is a combat veteran He has been given training for a new kind of war war when the enemy is not looking He may find this a little different from the war that he has just left no guns No tanks no planes, but his opportunity to kill will not be lessened And now lieutenant Albert Wetzel is being given an assignment by here Schleicher a strange assignment for a Nazi hero He is being told to go to the front in France to find the American troops and to surrender A few months later in a musty poorly lit ill Kent music store Located in a large city along the eastern seaboard of the United States an elderly gray haired man is tuning a violin He has just finished repairing a wheel man. Sorry. I'm late for mr. Ludlow. He called today bad news One of our men has been arrested Here in Brookfield you ought to take his place What are my instructions have you ever been to Madison a few times good You will go to the central hotel there your name will be Mary Fulton You'll get a room and wait for a message Mr. Ludlow no near Madison. There is a camp for German soldiers One of them will escape He will call you you are to bring him back here to the store This man who will call me what name will he be using his own name? Lieutenant Albert Wetzel So it was hard work, but at least now it sounds like a fiddle a Few days later at FBI headquarters in Washington DC Special agent Jim Taylor enters the office of agent Robert Denison a supervisor on the espionage desk Morning, mr. Denison. Oh, hello Taylor. I have a chair. Thank you How's your desk pretty swamp? Well split your cases between Fuller and Sawyer you're going on something that'll take you out of town for a while No, what's that our agents picked up a known Nazi sympathizer named Dahlhardt in Brookfield three days ago We'd rather have let him just remain at a surveillance, but he forced our hand. We had to arrest him. I see Dahlhardt was a courier for a ring headed by somebody named Ludlow Now in searching Dahlhardt's room one of the agents found an innocuous note under infrared It disclosed that Dahlhardt was supposed to meet an escaped prisoner of war and escort him somewhere for a meeting with somebody Who'd put him in touch with this Ludlow sounds like we better find out who this mr. Ludlow is well The first thing to do is to locate that prisoner. Do we know who he is or where he escaped from his name is Lieutenant Albert Wetzel Among the papers in Dahlhardt's room. There was a letter from the hotel central in Madison confirming a reservation. Oh There's a camp for German prisoners right near Madison But by the time I called to alert them Wetzel had already broken out. I see Taylor I want you to get down to that prison camp on the next plane Go ahead. Thank you. Things will matter. Hello, France Lieutenant Wetzel, this is Franz Bettendorf. Oh, it's quite me. I'm good in patrioten Kenslern. I bet and off Do you speak English? Yes, then you should not talk German here. Oh Sorry It's a pleasure to meet you lieutenant. Did you have a good trip? It was satisfactory. Have you eaten? Yes at the airport Bettendorf, I know I was brought here to work. Am I to get an assignment from you? Mr. Ludlow has a job for you. Who's mr. Ludlow the man we take orders from. Oh There is a barge on the river here of the captain's name is Proser. You will see him What's the job? Mr. Ludlow has given captain Proser instructions for you. How do I find this barge? Wilma will take you there tomorrow night Major Carter. That's right. My name is Taylor special agent of the FBI You're my credential, sir. Oh, yes. I was expecting you. You want information on that escape prisoner? Yes, sir That's right. Let me find the file. Let's see now Lieutenant Wetzel Here we are Are you familiar with how he escaped? No, sir. I'm not well. He made a nighttime getaway Blow a hole in the stockade fence just big enough to crawl through. Oh, I should have made a little noise Unfortunately, it didn't why in some way Wetzel got hold of smokeless powder muffled Charge. Wow. What have you got on the records on him? He's highly intelligent spoke excellent English He was also demolition expert which accounts for a skillful getaway. I'll have a copy this file made up for you Yes, thanks a lot. I'm going into Madison sir and check the hotel there. I'll be back for his file Oh, mr. Taylor. Yes, I've gathered together as many of the hotel personnel as I could they're in my office Thanks very much Did you show them that picture that I gave you? Yes, I did but none of them seemed to recognize him Thank you All right folks all right This is mr. Taylor. He's a member of the FBI and he'd like to talk to you Go ahead sir. Thank you. I Understand you've all seen the picture that I asked your manager to show you and I also learned that none of you could identify him Is that correct? Well, this man is a prisoner of war. He escaped from the POW camp 20 miles north of here That's possible that he might still be in this vicinity There will be copies of his picture distributed to you and other people here in town I'm going to ask for the cooperation of you and your neighbors to help locate him as soon as possible Wait a minute. Is this the bodge? Yes Captain Proser who's there? Wilma come aboard Captain Proser This is Lieutenant Wetzel who else would you be bringing a boyfriend nice to meet you nice to meet you too Let's go in the cabin some schnapps. No, thanks not for me Captain I must take one to celebrate. It's not every day. I have a visitor especially such a visitor Little schnapps is good on a night like this. Did mr. Ludlow call you here. What's my job? I don't know yet. You have some old clothes. That's what I'm wearing. I'll get you something Mr. Ludlow wants you to live here on the barge Frans got me six cases of rags for you to work with I'll need some other things I will make up a list. I'll get them for you I have to know what kind of a job it is so I can prepare the right kind of package I deliver food to ships before they sail We will put your packages in crates just like the crates of food. Oh Mr. Ludlow doesn't know yet. Just what ship he wants blown up, but by the time you're ready He'll tell us No Taylor come on in thanks I'd like to report to you sir on that prisoner of war case. Oh fine. Let's have it last to determining how wetzel escaped from the prison camp I went to the hotel in Madison. I checked with all employees showed them his picture. Mm-hmm none of them had seen him I then got a list of every guest who'd registered at the hotel from the time of doll hearts arrest who were the day after wetzel's escape Good did that get you anything? Yes, sir. It did there were 62 names and addresses and I verified 61 of them One remaining turned out to be a fictitious name and address have belonged to a woman anything further on her. No, not yet, sir Taylor This case may be the most important one in the office. No When the director found out lieutenant wetzel was a demolitions expert he called a meeting He's got a theory about this whole thing. What's that sir? The Nazis tried to land aid saboteurs here in 1942. It didn't work Last month they sent a sub all the way across the Atlantic to get two men out of the coast of Maine that expedition failed to yeah Now those are pretty desperate measures The director feels the Germans are going to those lengths only because they have no trained saboteurs already in this country But wetzel didn't come in by sir. Mr. Denison. No Army intelligence reports on his capture show wetzel surrendered west of Bastogne At the time of his capture. He was eight miles from the nearest German troops Ah Now the director thinks wetzel might have been sent to the front to surrender to the Americans So he'd be brought to a prison camp in this country and then escape Then there's no telling how much he can slow up the whole war effort. That's right He's probably at work right now. So wherever he is. We've got to find him We will return in just a moment to tonight's exciting case from the official files of your FBI Now a special message from the equitable life insurance society to fathers and mothers of young children We're going to ask you to take out your crystal ball for a moment and look into the future It's the year 1960 or 65 and that youngster of yours comes to you and says hey dad Shake your son by the hand. I just got word. I've passed all my college entrance exams when he starts out for college Your young hopeful will have three good reasons for feeling that he owns the world First college men and women earn more money. No fooling dad a commentator on the radio last night said that by the time a college Man retired. He's made $72,000 more than the guy who quits his education after high school second college men land the bigger job He also said that in the jobs paying ten thousand dollars a year 15 out of every 16 are held by college grads Just think the odds are 15 to 1 in favor of college third college men get more out of life They know their way around in art music and literature They gain culture they wouldn't trade for all the money in the world So fathers and mothers don't leave your family's education to luck Make it a 100% sure thing with an equitable education fund an equitable education fund What's that? It's the painless way to pay for your children's college education in this equitable society plan You start when your children are young Then each year you pay a sum of money that doesn't hurt an amount that scarcely makes it dent in your budget When your youngsters ready for college the money's all ready for him That's spreading the cost of education over 10 or 15 years instead of taking a beating in four right now Suppose the father dies or becomes totally disabled then no more payments are necessary the fund becomes fully Established when the youngster is ready for college. He gets the same education as if his dad had lived So don't delay a day longer Let your equitable society representative show you how little it costs to start an equitable education fund Or right care of this station to the equitable society that EQ you I TABLE the equitable life insurance Society of the United States And now back to the FBI file prisoner of war Since ancient days free nations have depended on the strength of their citizens to turn back any attack upon their liberties But also since time immemorial armies have always found in enemy countries a Minority of people who are ready to trade their patriotism to destroy their country from within To act the part of traitors Hiding under the veil of loyalty They are as dangerous probably more dangerous than the uniformed soldiers of the foreign powers they serve During the days leading up to World War two and in the early part of that conflict We saw outwardly strong countries disintegrate in a few days at the first signs of pressure from the Nazi warlords We also saw that these countries did not lose a fighting war Rather they were rotten from within Sold out by their own citizens for an immediate selfish gain and a new name was born for these people The fifth column Men and women like the people you are meeting in tonight's case where America's fifth column in World War two and they worked long And hard to secure victory for the Nazi cause for the Axis Fortunately loyal Americans were working even harder to bring victory to the allies Loyal Americans like those who wore uniforms and fought the battles Loyal Americans like the people who pledged part of their salaries for bonds Loyal Americans like the factory workers who turned out the weapons that protected our liberty Loyal Americans like the men of your FBI tonight's file continues at FBI headquarters in Washington, DC Denison, oh come in Taylor. Well the second trip to Madison paid off. What happened? I re-interviewed all the employees of the hotel I was lucky enough to get quite a few details on the woman with the fictitious name and address good Let's have well one of the bellboys who carried in her bags Recalled that she was wearing a heavy coat when she checked in means she probably came in from up north seems likely sir I also found out that while she was there she called the hotel doctor What for she was taking some pills and ran out of them He gave her a prescription so that she could get another supply. I see did you get a description of her? Well very sketchy. She's a small woman in her late 30s, but there's no distinct physical characteristics Oh, I also interviewed the phone operators One of them remembered the woman getting a call at five in the morning After which she asked the operator to send a boy up for her bags and she then checked out Did you contact transportation terminals? Yes, sir? I did no buses left there till 9 a.m.. No trains till after 10 But a plane coming through from Los Angeles stopped at Madison at 5 40 that morning and the airline record show that a man And woman got aboard sounds like she picked up lieutenant Wetzel. Yes, sir The plane was non-stop after leaving Madison where to forest city good you better go there I'll wire the office covering forest city and have someone meet you Hello, Tom hi Jim. Are you going on? No, I'm here to meet you. Hey, that's great. Got any baggage? Yeah, but I'll pick it up later. Okay. Come on. I got a car down this way Tom how much did Washington tell you in their wire? Oh story I got files ready at the office for you on every woman in town suspected of being an anti-sympathize. Why I doubt they'll be too much help though Oh, how come there are hundreds of them a lot of good description will be rough trying to come up with a right one I will have to do a cross-check job cross-check against one I've got a prescription this woman had duplicated Madison Tom Don't worry every doctor in this area and find out who's been ordered to take these pills Hello, Franz. Yes, this is Wilma. I've been waiting for your call Have you been back to the barge twice? Everything all right. Wetzel finished wiring the last you heard from mr. Ludlow. Yes, the crates are to be put aboard the ss gray stone Gray stone. It's at pier 35 He has information it is carrying some new kind of American weapons. Oh, you better go now Wilma and deliver the message the gray stone sales tonight Tom that cross-checking we did paid off. What names you come up with Wilma Ziegler. Wait a minute. I'll pull her file Here it is Hey from the size of this file. She's more than just a sympathizer. No Let's have a look at it. Yeah here Here's the report on her and on the places she goes to most frequently Occupation unemployed What I got in Madison sound she didn't dress like a person who's out of work Nazis must pay well. Yeah Well, let's go over those pictures there. All right These were taken at a beer garden over on Center Street. Yeah, it's one of their favorite hangouts Well, maybe we'll drop by there later and These were taken across the street from a music store named Betendorf's Wait a minute Tom, you know what date this picture was taken should be stamped on the back. Oh, yeah Yeah, here it is the 11th That's the same day she checked out of the hotel in Madison and from the rear this man that she's with could be Albert Wetzel. Well, I see if we have a picture of him coming out of the store Pardon me Tom. Yeah, dick. Did you pull the file on Wilma Ziegler? This is it. Why the SAC just got a tip She's mixed up in something big. You know what it is No, but the man from the music store is in on it and it's due to break real quick You ought to get warrants and pick up the both of them Are you friends of that and off that's right, we're special agents the FBI you're under arrest Here's the warrant telling your wife, but I have done before you do any talking We must tell you one thing anything you say now can be used against you in court I won't say anything then dick you and the other search this place, right? Taylor and I better keep looking for a lead on the Ziegler woman Betendorf won't talk Jim. I didn't think he wouldn't what have you got there paper. I found on his desk It's a delivery receipt for six crates of waste rags Tom they must be for Wetzel. No trace of him here. We find those rags. I think we find Wetzel I'm I located the right express company those crates were picked up from the music store last Monday They're marked powdered milk and delivered to peer nine nine. Yeah, that's the peer they use for loading barges Oh, who's barges everybody's let's get on there Hans has been arrested where this afternoon. Where's Wetzel in the cabin come here been arrested Changed our plans. I don't know of course. It doesn't mr.. Ludlow's orders were to put the crates on the gravestone But with France arrested it might involve us. We'll have to take that chance This is the tug that's towing you out. Yes Grace so that's right you captain process. I am All right barge time. She's one my Ziegler. That's Albert Wetzel. What is this? We're special agents the FBI you're all under arrest Lieutenant Albert Wetzel was returned to the prisoner of war camp from which he escaped Captain Herman Prosser Franz Bettendorf and Wilma Ziegler were tried and convicted in federal court and each sentence to serve 25 years in a federal penitentiary for failure to register as foreign agents Special agents Taylor and Horton located the barge carrying the explosives by getting a tug and cruising the river On board they found the six cases prepared by lieutenant Wetzel and Evidence which led not only to the arrest of the other members of the ring But which also proved that mr. Ludlow the head of the ring and Franz Bettendorf were one and the same person Thus another attempt at enemy directed sabotage during World War two came to nothing It is a matter of record that during the long years of this last war No enemy of this nation was able to direct a single successful piece of sabotage anywhere in the country The federal Bureau of Investigation is humbly hopeful that it can maintain that record and Continue to protect the lives the property and the freedom of the American people Our one last word to fathers and mothers of all the things you can do for your children There's no greater proof of your love for them than an equitable education fund They'll be grateful for it as long as they live Your boy or girl may only say a few words like thanks mom Thank you dad, but you know from the look in his eye and the ring in his voice that he'll never forget your foresight in Starting an equitable education fund right now make that wise resolution to see your equitable representative soon Next week we will dramatize another case from the files of the federal Bureau of Investigation File number two eight eight its subject bank robbery its title the phantom bandit The incidents used in tonight's equitable life for sure in society's broadcast are adapted from the files of the federal Bureau of Investigation However, all names used are fictitious and any similarity thereof to the names of places or persons living or dead is accidental Tonight the music was composed and conducted by Frederick Steiner The author was Jerry D. Lewis your narrator was William Woodson and special agent Taylor was played by Stacy Harris Others in the cast were Rudolph Anders, Polly Bear, Ralph Dumkey, Harold Dyer and fourth Ed Gargan, Peggy Weber, Roland Winters and Carlton Young This is your FBI is a Jerry divine production This is Larry Keating 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 the same time when the Equitable Life Assurance Society Will bring you another thrilling transcribe story from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation The Phantom Bandit on this is your FBI Stay tuned for the adventures of Ozzie and Harriet there's fun for the whole family when Ozzie and Harriet come your way next