 Mr. District Attorney, starring David Bryan, Mr. District Attorney, champion of the people, defender of truth, guardian of our fundamental rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And it shall be my duty as district attorney not only to prosecute to the limit of the law all persons accused of crimes perpetrated within this county, but to defend with equal vigor the rights and privileges of all its citizens. This is David Bryan. In a moment we'll bring you another case from the files of Mr. District Attorney, but first a word from our sponsor. And now here is our star, David Bryan as Paul Garrett, Mr. District Attorney. Through a district attorney, a county is like a reservoir. The level isn't always the same. People move in, people move away. The people, the bad people. The bad ones make trouble. This case started in a trailer parked in an empty field on the outskirts of town. Howdy Joe. Howdy Russ. Ain't you going to ask me? Yes, sure. Come on in. What's on your mind, Russ? Joe, I figured that two weeks is long enough for old friends to be mad at each other, especially friends that grew up together back home. I come to ask you to shake hands. You know now that you're here, I can't figure just what we've been mad about. Ain't nobody I'd rather shake hands with than you, Russ. You're my boy. But we ain't never going to talk politics again. You've got a deal. I was just about to fix me some grub. Why don't you stay and eat? Oh, thanks, but Ella's expecting me back at the motor court. You heard from her? Yeah. She's on her way back from Dallas this morning. Her sister must be better than. Must be. Margette stayed with her a while longer, and I'm mighty close. Ella'd like to have you and Marge over for dinner when she gets back. Ella's been beefing at me ever since you and me filled out. She'll be here tomorrow. Well, good deal. And how about tomorrow night? We'd be proud to come. Well, Ella'll be tickled. Well, I guess I'd better be getting along with the old pay envelope. So long, Joe. So long, Russ. Thanks for coming. Oh, uh, by the way, you ain't seen your brother-in-law, have you? Oh, no, no, not for a couple of days. Why, uh, he owe you money, too? Well, you know Orville. He owes half the guys out of the plant. If he could wire an instrument panel the way he can borrow money, they'd make him a lead man. I'll make good whatever you... No, nothing doing. You ain't responsible for his debts. Good night, Joe. Good night, Russ. Oh, just a second. Did you forget something? Oh, it's you, Orville. Who'd you expect? Russ was just here. I thought it was him coming back. I know he was here. I've been sitting out back long enough, waiting for him to leave. He could have come in. Russ don't bite, unless you got a reason for ducking him. Well, he don't like me. Reckon that's your fault, Orville. Oh, sure. Everything's my fault. How come you're standing up for him? I thought you and him was on the out. Not anymore. Besides, it's none of your business. What'd you come for, Orville? Well, Joe, I... I need some help. I got my check cashed, and I... I guess I didn't notice it till I was almost to the room and house, but I got a hole in my pocket. You see? I lost my pay. Do I look like a half-wit to you? Joe, I swear... The last time you came with that store, you said your pocket was picked. And the time before that, you said you got stuck with a loan you signed for somebody. It was the truth, Joe. Honest. Stop using the word honest, Orville. Doesn't sound right coming from you. If your money's gone, you lost it in a pay night crap game at Holland's. I haven't been to your Holland's in weeks. Oh, Joe, you gotta help me. My wife will buck like a maverick under a brandonine if I don't bring some money home. You and Cesar got some side money. I know you have. Yes, and this time, we're gonna keep it. Joe, I need money. I ain't leaving here without it. We're family. Family? Faddle out that means to you. There's nothing here for you, Orville. You better try someplace else. I said I wasn't leaving without the money. Reckon you'll be here a long time, then, Orville, so you'll have to excuse me. I'm fixing my supper. I ain't gonna ask you again, Joe. Glad to hear. You're just gonna keep ignoring me, huh? Like I wasn't even here. No, that's right. Maybe I can make you pay a little attention with this frying pan. Orville, put that down. No, I'm gonna remind you I'm still here. Like this. I wasn't leaving. I told you, Joe. I warned you. Refusing help to your own kin. I'll take it myself. You ain't gonna be needing it anymore. I've kept the whole field blocked off, Chief. Nobody's been near the trailer except Prager's wife and me and the lab crew. Oh, good, Hankin. Prager, the dead man's name? Yeah, that's right. Joe Prager, aircraft worker. His wife was in Dallas, Texas, visiting a sick relative. Found the body when she got back this morning. Mm-hmm. Where is she now? She's sitting over there in my car. I tried to get her to go over to one of the motels on the highway, but she won't. She's in, you know, not even kind of a daze. No shock. That's to be expected. I wonder why they parked their trailer in an empty field and plenty of trailer camps around town. Yeah. Save money, I guess. You know how some of those migratories are. Come to the cities and save all they can. Then you go back to the home state and buy a piece of land. Mm-hmm. There was a gasoline lab in the trailer for light. What do they do for water? Well, there was a well out back. It used to be a farmhouse here some time ago. It must have been moved. Part of the foundation is still there. I guess they had enough to get by. You want to walk out to the road? I can have one of the cars radio for a pickup on the body. OK. Who's that coming up the trail? Hm? One of the boys from the squad? He's not in uniform. Hey, you. Stay right where you are. Don't come any further. I told them not to let anybody come into this field. Well, he didn't get too far, however he is. Who are you, fella? Who told you you could come in here? Didn't you see those police cars out on the road? They said it was all right. I come to help my sister. Who's your sister? Marge. Joe Prager's wife. He was my brother-in-law. That's why the cops let me through. How about it, chief? All right. Your sister's sitting in one of those cars over there. I guess it'll help to have somebody with her. Thanks. Oh, just a second. Yeah? Got an aircraft ID button on your shirt? That's right. Oh, Bill James. Oh, that's a good picture of you. Yeah. Did your brother-in-law work in the same plant? Yeah, not the same department, though. How'd you find out he was killed? Well, the cops down by the road told me. Wasn't the aircraft plant working today? Yeah, sure it is. You want a swing shift? No, a day shift. Plant is on the other side of town. How did you get out here now? It's my lunch hour. I got a lift over this way. Just about take your whole hour. More if you don't catch your ride going right back, right away. You make a habit of hitchhiking out here on your lunch hour? No, of course I don't. Anything else you want to know? Yes. When did you see your brother-in-law last? I don't know. Three, maybe four days ago. Not yesterday? No. Not even at work? It's a big place. We didn't even work in the same building. What time did you quit yesterday, Orville? Five o'clock. Then what did you do between six and eight o'clock? And who was with you while you did it? Well, I cashed my check at Holland's. It's a place over near the plant. And then I... Then what? Did you come out here? Yes. What? I said yes. Yes, I come out here. I told you before if you'd asked me the right way. Why did you say you hadn't seen Joe Prager in three or four days if you saw him last night? I didn't see him last night. Now listen, you just told us... I told you I'd come out here, but I didn't see Joe. Why not? If you didn't answer your knock, the trailer door wasn't locked, and you're a relative. I didn't even knock. I changed my mind about going in because there was a car park outside. Not Joe's own car, another car. He had company. I recognized the car. It belongs to Russ Newcomb. And I didn't want to go in while he was there because I didn't want to get mixed up in no argument. Who is Russ Newcomb? And why did you expect an argument? Russ is a welder out the plant. Him and Joe had been friends, but he got teed off at each other a couple of weeks ago. He hadn't been talking. And why would Newcomb be visiting here? Why don't you ask Newcomb that? Now, are you going to let me go to my sister, or ain't you? Chief? Let him go. All right, Orville, go ahead. Yeah, it looks like this one might crack easy, Chief. Yes. I want to contact Miss Miller and get the lab crew back here. No, why? Lots of tire tracks in this field. Oh, Prager's own car, probably. Yes, but there should be a set from Newcomb's car, too, if he drove in. When we get the cart with him, I want to be able to prove it. First squad cars pulled in off the road here. We can use their radio phone. What unit is this? Let me see this number. Ah, there. 414. Thanks. 414 to Central. Central to 414. Go ahead, 414. This is Mr. Garrett. Give me a telephone hookup to my office, please. Stand by. The journey's off. Mr. Garrett, Miss Miller? Yes, sir. I want a Moulin's crew from the lab to come back on this trailer case. Have them take castings of all unusual tire tracks that seem to be recent. Recent, yes, sir. I'll contact you again in a few minutes as Harrington and I drive in. Meanwhile, call the Braddock aircraft plant. Get the home address of Russ Newcomb. Russ Newcomb. Yes, he may be working. If he is, have the plant security put a watch on him until I get there. But tell him not to let him know he's being watched unless he tries to leave. And if he does try? Then they can take him into custody pending my arrival to make a formal charge of murder. This is David Bryan. Before we continue with Mr. District Attorney in the case of the frying pan murder, here is an important message I'd like you to hear. And now back to David Bryan, starring as Paul Garrett. Mr. District Attorney. An aircraft worker had been murdered in his isolated trailer home. His brother-in-law had disclosed that there was bad blood between the victim and another worker at the plant. And that he had seen them together on the night of the killing. Harrington and I drove out to the plant. And the man we were after was on the job. He was pointed out by the plant security guard. Stop for a minute. Come down from the wing, will you? Are you all right? Watch him, Harrington. Don't worry. What can I do for you? District Attorney's office. This is the DA, Mr. Garrett. My name's Harrington. Oh, police stuff, huh? That's right, Newcomb. Let's go into the washroom there where we can talk. What's up? You fellas find the woman who owned that purse? Purse? What purse? What are you talking about? Well, that's why you're here, ain't it? I found a woman's purse on the street about two months ago. I turned it into the police. Well, we know nothing about that, Mr. Newcomb. It has nothing to do with our call. Oh. Well, what do you want to see me about? Do you know Joe Prager? Well, sure. Joe's my best friend. Joe ain't in any kind of trouble, is he? When did you see him last? Only last night. Remember what time? Well, I reckon it was about 7 o'clock. You go out to his trailer to see him? That's right. You say he was your best friend? Yeah. Other people say you weren't on speaking terms for the last couple of weeks. Well, we weren't until last night. We got in a dumb political argument one day during lunch here. Both got hot and we should have. But you passed that up last night, huh? Yeah, that's right. That's why I went out to see Joe, to bury the hatchet. You sure you mean hatchet, not frying pan? Look, you fellas are asking me something, but you ain't telling me nothing. You, uh, you talked politics with Prager again last night? No, we just patched up our beef. I asked him to bring his wife over to supper with us tonight. And then I left. That's all. And Prager was still alive when you left? What do you mean? Was he still a... still alive? Are you telling me that Joe was dead? Don't you know, mister? He was beaten to death last night with an iron frying pan. Joe? Joe Prager? Did you see anybody else at the trailer? No. No, we were alone. Just the two of us. Nukem, the law requires me to warn you that anything you say from this point on can be used against you. Used against me for what? Are you talking like I'm under arrest? You are under arrest for the murder of Joe Prager. But you're wrong! Take these all! What do you do to me? What did you do to Prager? Get moving, mister. You take him in, Harrington. I'll be back at the office by the time you have him booked. Where are you going? Down to the morgue. The body will be in by now, and I still haven't spoken to Prager's wife. Told me. I didn't argue with it. But I didn't think it would ever be as bad as... Is your husband having trouble with anybody other than Russ Nukem? Did he seem worried? Trouble about anything? We were saving money. We went for a down payment on a house and a piece of land back home in Texas. So Joe could be his own man someday. Working for that kept him happy. Now I'll be using money. I'm sorry, Mrs. Prager. Why did Russ do a thing like this to him? I don't know. I've never been able to understand why men do a lot of things they do to each other. I'll be in the next room for a while, if you need me. Chief. Harrington, you booked Nukem so quickly? I changed him over to Charlie Rand. Thought you might need me. What's the stuff on the table? Personal effects, the lab boys removed from Prager's clothing. There's a couple of things you ought to see. Like what? This bank book for one was in Prager's chef pocket. Hmm. $930. All deposits the same. $80 each. Made every Friday, the day after payday. Well, he won't make any deposits today. No, but yesterday was payday. But Prager's pay was an honor. No cash at all? Just what you see there. Less than a dollar in change. He might have kept the money someplace in the trailer. Uh-uh. Not a dime. When you turned Nukem over to Rand for booking, did Nukem have any money on him? About $5, that's all. He's had since last night to hide the money, though, chief. All we've got to do is find out where he hid it, and we've got a double motive for the killing. The bad blood for the argument they had. And robbery. The robbery makes me wonder if we've got any motive at all. So far as Nukem is concerned. Well, what makes you say that? Remember what Nukem said when we picked him up at the plant about finding a woman's purse and turning it over to the police? Yeah, yeah. I want to find out if he actually did. And if there was any money in the purse. What's the connection? A man who finds money in the street and turns it over to the police is in libel to commit murder in the commission of a robbery. I'll call Miss Miller and have her check the police lost and found while we're on the way in. Well, while she's at it, I'll have her check with somebody else. Who? Nukem's Butcher. Nukem's Butcher? That's right, Harington. Nukem said they were expecting the Prager's over for dinner tonight. I wanted to find out what kind of meat Mrs. Nukem intended to serve. Hello, Mr. Garrett. The Nukem's patronized a butcher shop on Emerson near Longacre Boulevard. What about the order? Mrs. Nukem ordered stewing beef yesterday for tonight's dinner, but she called up this morning and changed the order to lamb chops, eight lamb chops. Is that a usual order? Eight chops? No, the butcher said she always ordered four at a time. But only for Sunday dinners. You figure anything from that, chief? Don't you? Eight chops instead of four? Two apiece. They must have been expecting the Prager's. The Prager was dead and she put that order in. Nukem might have told her to order them for a cover-up. That's a little too smart, Harington. Nukem didn't strike me as being that clever. That may be the lost and found report. I'll get it. District Attorney's Office. Yes, Pete. Let's have it. Do you find any sign of bloody clothing when they check Nukem's place? No, but they're still checking dry cleaners and laundries. Thanks, Pete. Bye. Turn in a purse, all right, Mr. Garrett. The fourth precinct, two months ago. There's no identification in it, and it still hasn't been claimed. Any money in it? $83. Nukem could have taken that and shoved it right in his pocket. Come on, Harington. Where to now? Back to Prager's trailer. No, no, chief. We've fine-combed the place and there's nothing we didn't see before. I see a deep hill and pointed tow marks on the ground there. A lot of them. Prager's chief. He wore western boots. Some regular shoe marks here. Not many. Hmm? Where? That ground leading toward the well. There might have been one of the lab boys coming back for a drink. I don't think so. Why? Yeah, and whoever it was set down here, back against the well with his feet stretched out, you can see where the edges of his heels were resting on the ground. Cigarette butt there, too. I want that lab crew back again. What for? To drag this well. For what? We've got the body and the murder weapon. I'm looking for clothing. Nukem or anybody in a car might have driven away from here in bloody clothes and changed it home. But it was somebody on foot. They'd have had to hitchhike or take public transportation. They wouldn't try it in bloody clothes. You're figuring on Orville? Orville said he came here at 7 o'clock after he cast his check at Holland's. Yeah, yeah. You know what goes on at Holland's on pay night? Backroom crap game in which Orville lost. How do you know? Because he left early. The women don't leave early. The other players make them stick to the end. Yeah. Yeah. They get sore at a winter who quits without giving a chance to get even. Let's get that crew out here. Fun kid in there. Stop your pushing. What's the idea? What's this all about? Hello, Orville. What's the idea pulling me away from the ball game? What do you want now? A few things rolled up in that bundle on the lab table that you might be able to identify them. What are they? Open it. Find out. We found them in the well behind Prager's trailer wrapped around a rock. Go ahead, Orville. Open it. Who's Are they? Joe's or Nukem's? We want you to tell us. Blood on them is Joe's, we know that. What's the matter, Orville? You look kind of sick. I'm just upset about Joe. That's all I... I was at the funeral home with my sister almost all night. Well, it's nice to relax at the ball game after such a rough night. All right, Orville, how about it? You ever seen these things before? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Who do they belong to? Well, I hate to say it, but they look like newcomers. Oh, that's funny. Yeah, it gives you fellas a real tight case against Newcomer now, don't it? It would if it weren't for the laundry mark on the shirt. A laundry mark? That's right, Orville. Your laundry mark. They can't be a laundry mark. They can't. Keep your hands off those things. Let me go! Let me go! Oh, my arm! Might as well troll the truth now, Orville. It'll be better all around. I didn't do it. I didn't. All right, Harrod. Let's take him into the detention cells. My wife. My wife always hounded me about money. I was screaming about how hard she worked. Always yelling about how she was ruining her hands scrubbing my work sheets. But she wasn't. She was sending him out to a laundry. A laundry, and I didn't know it. A laundry mark's the lazy killer, a killer! You're not going to kill anybody, Orville. Not anymore. Your killing days are over. Oh, Mulligan. Open it up. Inside. This is David Bryan again. I hope you've enjoyed this case from the file of Mr. District Attorney. I'll be back in just a moment after this message from our sponsor. Here's the star of Mr. District Attorney, David Bryan, with a word about the program you have just heard. Orville James was tried and convicted on a charge of murder in the first degree with a mandatory death sentence. The case was appealed in a new defense of temporary insanity was made. But both the psychiatrists and the appellate judges ruled that Orville James was sane. He was subsequently executed in the manner prescribed by law. During all his time in the death house, he was alone. He never had a visitor. Now this is David Bryan inviting you to join us when we present our next case based on the facts of crime from the file of Mr. District Attorney. Mr. District Attorney was originated by Phillips H. Lord.