 suspense and the producer of radio's outstanding theatre of thrills the master of mystery and adventure William M. Robeson. Every year thousands of short stories roll out from a multitude of typewriters and march across the pages of our magazines and books toward well-deserved oblivion. Few are memorable few are still are classics. They pass the time and are forgotten even before the paper in which they are written is reduced to black and ash but occasionally a story is written that is a true classic an unforgettable tale. Listen to such a one now as Victor Jory stars in Ambrose Beers's weird and wonderful story of the Civil War an occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge a tale well-calculated to keep you in suspense and stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama looking down through the ties at the swift water 20 feet below the man's hands were behind his back the wrists bound with a cord a rope closely encircled his neck it was attached to a stout cross timber above his head and the slack fell to the level of his knees he watched a piece of dancing driftwood racing down the current beneath his feet he thought I could free my hands I might throw off this noose and dive into the creek if I swam underwater I would be safe from their bullets if my wind held out I could make the southern bank take to the woods and get away home Peyton Farquhar Alabama planter stood at the end of a plank the captain of the Union Army and a sergeant stood at the other end when they stepped aside the plank would tip upward and Peyton Farquhar confederate spy would slip between the ties to hang until dead above the muddy water of Owl Creek even in this far outpost of Sherman's March to the Sea the formalities of death are observed by men most familiar with him the captain's company is drawn stiffly at attention along the tracks on the northern side of the bridge the lieutenant stands stiffly on the bank of the stream the point of his beard saber scraping the gravel of the rope end Peyton Farquhar is being ushered into the confederate beyond with every Union amenity the captain steps aside now only the weight of the bulky sergeant counterbalances Peyton Farquhar at the end of his thin board they say this is the moment when all the past events of your life tumble into your memory but how could anyone know who has come back from the dead to tell us what dying is like I don't recall any childhood memories the past doesn't engulf me in this naked moment I'm only aware of what is here now those damn Yankees lined up on the bank the captain's tired eyes that turkey buzzard circling up there waiting for me and that noise that beat and drive and sound like a distant engine a pump the roll of thunder on a summer evening coming closer getting louder choking me it's your heart of course that you hear stepping up its cadence pounding under the forced draft of fear now you can see nothing remember nothing sense nothing but this strangling suffocating beat of your own heart throbbing its final protest you stand there erect the work is nearly on an end now the captain draws his sword flourishes it to a carry sings out a command the men on the bank smartly spread their legs thrust hands forward over their rifle barrels the sergeant on the end of the plank takes one step to the left the plank tips forward and Peyton Farquhar drops between the timbers of all creek bridge it takes longer to tell it as you drop down when you lose consciousness you was one already dead then you awaken sharply in pain to feel not to think just to feel the cutting pressure on your throat the agonies of pulsating fire shooting from your neck downward to feel the fullness the congestion the head bursting with suffocation distantly beyond outside of yourself you hear a splash remotely you sense cool wet green darkness the rope has broken you have fallen into the stream now thinking returns slowly you know for the moment you are safe from drowning because the rope around your neck tightly keeps the water from your lungs then I shall die of hanging at the bottom of a river and that's absurd if I can get my hands free gotta get my hands free come Peyton they can't lick you try again once more boy the ropes given again try once more the rope around your neck you must breathe when you come to the service you must breathe quickly for if they haven't hanged you and they fail to drown you can't let them shoot you loosen the rope around your neck you must get it loose deeply but above the ringing in your ear only on the rifles and as you rise toward the surface you meet shining bits of metal singularly flattened the distorted and spent bullets oscillating slowly downward past you one catches in your collar and it feels uncomfortably warm you snatch it out and this gray piece of Yankee lead reminds you of the gray uniform of the soldier who was responsible for your being here you recall that it was only night before last when the soldier had written up to the driveway as you and your wife sat under the Magnolia trees in the cool twilight evening sir good evening corporal I wonder if I might trouble you for a glass of water sir of course I'll disturb yourself Peyton I'll go fetching your most kind ma'am if you just indicate the well nonsense you just said a spell with my husband you look as if you could do with some rest yes ma'am reckon I could I'll be back in a jiffy thank you ma'am whose command are you with corporal Colonel Toliver sir 13th North Carolina we gets a little news down here how are things going at the front oh not good sir damn Yankees are getting ready for another advance they were a pair on the railroad got it in shape almost our Creek Bridge and they got an outpost there once they can run trains beyond the bridge there's nothing to stop between here and Atlanta then why hasn't the bridge been destroyed the military couldn't get near it sir a civilian might our Creek Bridge that's not for for me is it less than 20 miles you say they have an outpost there on which side to the side nothing on this side but a couple of pickets half mile out on the railroad and a single Sentinel at this end of the bridge and that bridge is important sure is what if it were destroyed hold up the Yankees for several weeks well suppose a man a civilian like myself should elude the picket post and get the better of the Sentinel what could he accomplish well I was there a week ago but just before we had to pull out there's a heap of driftwood come down in last winter's flood caught on the trestle at this end looked mighty dry and tinder it to me I see a fella with enough gumption might get through and set fire to it or to burn like to yes it should cause a fella to have to have plenty of gumption the Union commanders promised to hang in a civilian caught fooling around the railroad oh I thank you kindly ma'am right out of the spring cool and nice and here's a packet of cornbread I thought you might be hungry mighty grateful ma'am it's ladies like you to keeps us out together and fighting these days what a pretty compliment well reckon I better hit the leather a lot of riding ahead of me tonight good luck to your corporal and thank you for the information you'd be taking a chance sir but you couldn't do a greater service for your country now remember that corporal goodbye corporal goodbye Peyton what was he talking about what my dear with a corporal what do you mean by service to your country and and taking a chance oh nothing Peyton tell me it was nothing really my dear Peyton Farquhar if you're fixing to take any chances for our country I want to know about it now you just speak your piece there's nothing to say except in them I should be going away for a day or two on a little trip is it dangerous Peyton not very you'll be back yes my dear I promise you I'll be back break the surface of our quick for a second time now you are much further downstream further away from the Union soldiers on the bridge reloading their guns the ramrods flashing in the morning sun that captain will make the same mistake again he'll order them to fire at will and heaven help me I can't dodge them all another more terrible sound cannon they've trained cannon on you close next time they use a charge of grape rifles and grape covering the water from bank to bank I'm done for then then something seems to grab you in your world round and round spinning like a waterlog top you're caught in a vortex of whirlpool the water the banks the distant bridge the soldiers become indistinct blurs and again you're helpless you feel dizzy and sick to your stomach just as you felt last night when you crept up the bank towards the lone sentinel of the south end of the bridge and discovered the sentinel was not alone there he is well mr. Peyton Farquhar we've been expecting you how'd you know my we got ways look here I'm a civilian I was save your breath and thank you maker we didn't shoot you in the back we don't do things like that up north you'll get a trial everything fair and square bring along men the whirlpool spins faster and faster a sharp piece of driftwood tears at your coast the churning brown water chokes you you know there is nothing you can do as you have known it last night when they shoved you into a tent near the bridge to face the infantry captain with a tired eyes here he is sir right on schedule good work sergeant this the man lieutenant that's him why you you're the corporal who stopped him our plantation last night that is right mr. Farquhar but not of the 13th North Carolina volunteers mr. Farquhar this is lieutenant salt and stall intelligence officer 5th Massachusetts you trapped me you deliberately led me into a trap I'm a civilian a planter and also a southern patriot caught in the act of sabotage you can't prove it we don't have to this is the most despicable the most it proves once more that honor is a stranger in the north please I'm too tired to listen to a recital of the code of the southern gentleman mr. Farquhar I'm afraid the distinction between your ethics and my lack of them would escape me this evening but why have you done this why have you deliberately trapped me it's so much easier to eliminate civilian resistance by luring it into the open you fell for the date too bad now look here it is my constitutional right which constitution the constitution of the United States of America or Jeff Davis's remember your manners sir I demand a trial you've just had it post a guard over him sergeant yes we'll hang him in the morning in just a moment we continue with suspense in mid-December we're planning to present a program of the big news of 1956 this year though we want you to help choose which news events our ace reporters will recreate for you we want your opinion on what you consider to be the top 10 news stories of the year start thinking back on the international scene there were conflicts in the Middle East Poland and Hungary as well as the controversy over Secretary of State Dulles's statement that we were at the brink of war here at home president Eisenhower won a decisive victory at the polls but lost Congress to the Democrats pick your top 10 then send your choices to the big news in care of CBS News 485 Madison Avenue New York 22 that's the big news in care of CBS News 485 Madison Avenue New York 22 and now we continue with Victor Jory in an occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense something tears at your face scratching and you realize the whirling has stopped you open your eyes you're lying on the southern bank of a stream out of sight of your enemies safe the gravel which has scratched your cheek now seems soft as new pick cotton the forest around you as a garden of luscious beauty reeking with heavy perfume of freedom even the whiz and rattle of the final charge of grapes screaming through the treetop seems a benediction from the battle canineer you leap to your feet and run into the woods south towards home your neck is swollen and throbbing with pain you carry it clocked toward your left shoulder as you push through the matted brush all morning you tear your way through the undergrowth your jacket isn't tattered your face crisscrossed with bloody scratches from the brambles every few moments you stop to listen for the sound of dogs but all you hear is the sleepy buzz of the forest and the blood throbbing through your heated brain brings another thought which is an insult no dogs you are not even a portent enough to the damn Yankees for dogs it is nearly noon now and for half an hour you've been plunging through a swamp waist deep and green ooze your neck hurts constantly your head throbs in your tongue is thick it tastes like brown Lindsay Woolsey nats swarm before your eyes catching your eyelids mosquitoes buzzing your ears drill deep in your hands and swollen neck you can't go on any longer you slow down you stop it you reach towards a palmeta root for support and it slithers from your grasp and slide softly into the water water moccasin fear finds you at last terror which stood in loop when you fled the executioner's bullets now embraces you with a clammy junction a water moccasin the deadly cotton moth now each branch and root seems to rise under your glance the swamp is undulating with certain death you plunge on through the dark stinking ooze on and on tripping stumbling never stopping for terror rides your back flogging you with a whiplash of fear what fit as a fiddle in jig time now you just drink this here you're up to your mouth for quack thank you thank you just throw yaza mouse for quack what are you doing here I live here you live where am I what happened well I was a pole in my dugout and coming home to the swamp with a mess of catfisher seeds you laying out here on bank in front of my cabin just right here I thought you were dead who me dead of course you thought Jethro dead you know he had consumption when you sold him you know he couldn't last long and he was learning his keep his wife and daughter carried on some at first but after a while they calmed down and the last you'd have heard Jethro was dead you thought I was dead mouse for quack just say you don't mean to tell me you don't know what then happened to me I'm free I'm free at last travels fast even in the middle of this backwood swamp this lonely black man has heard of a blink and straighterous emancipation proclamation yes I'm free and I spec pretty soon my woman and my little girl gonna come along and join me how is the mouse for quack is they well but yes yes indeed they're both fine your daughter's grown into a young beauty Mrs. Fork was brought into the kitchen began to train her for the house well well now what you think of that and my woman she's still saying pretty yes yes Jethro Sunday's a meeting time we can hear all the way up to the big house mmm that woman's voice it's pretty in the angels Jethro I I don't know how to say this but I was really sorry about having to sell you but there wasn't anything else I understand my spark why don't you paid no mind I don't forgive you long time ago you have was sure don't the Lord tell us to forgive those who trespasses against us and don't the Lord promise us we shall be free don't you worry none about it my wife they must have heard a razor back in the brush now take no hold look my wife there's a horse coming down the back why it's a soldier it's one of our soldiers carful looks like Jethro you've got to hide me how come I got to hide you must ask so many questions you insulin black my spark why forgets husband well then as no friend of mine please don't ask any questions just hide me and don't tell that soldier anything sure I reckon I can do that for old friend here you get on under this bitch here and I'll put the covers over the side yeah there you snuggle the chicken or rabbit's here remember don't tell him anything have you come this far just to be turned in by a world-gathering black who talks crazy if Jethro knew this gray-clad cock was really a union lieutenant he'd guarantee his freedom by turning you in even so he bears you a big enough grudge to turn you in anyway unless of course he's planning to dispose of you himself yes that's it that's why he talks so silly about the Lord and forgiveness he's going to do you in himself you can come on out now my spark why Lord I declare I don't understand none of this you says not to tell him use here he says not to tell you he been here what's this year all about my spark well nothing Jethro nothing I I owe this man some money I'm not ready to pay yet oh I see well I wouldn't know about that money something never bothered me like it bothers some what me and money's always been strange what you mean with that money never bothered me like it's bothered some what's he picking up that nice Jethro what are you gonna do with that knife hmm oh I was just fixing to slit up some of them catfish I got in the dugout look like you could do it a little food my spark why oh no no thank you Jethro I really got to be on my way I want to get home by sundown if I can sure wouldn't be no bother to cut up a couple of care no thank you old friend if you just tell me which way I should go to get home well I don't rightly know my spark why I reckon from the way the Sun's reclining that it'd be down the road that away quite a further piece down yes that this should be about right I've never been back you know never tried to go back since I've been free yes I know reckon it won't be long till my woman and my little one comes here to me of course if you get back my spark why if you seize them you tell him I'm here waiting for that Jethro I'll do that you get away from there fast the shells of the black road crunching under your muddy boots that grinning savage standing in the doorway of the shack the knife in his hands and each moment until the road bends and cuts off the cabin from your view your fury will come after you the knife poised to plunge in your back to pay you for the thrust you gave him when you sent him away to die but he's still standing grinning foolishly and waving as you turn the bend now you feel safe but only for a moment then you hear a sound the sound of a horse the corporal in grave in the Massachusetts fifth regulars he's coming back down the road searching for your hounding you coming to take you back to our creek bridge back to the rope that won't break under your weight you walk faster and faster and always the sound is there growing louder and louder in your runners fast you can down the shell road which stretches clear to the horizon between the green walls a scrubby pine how long have you been running down this endless road it's dark now is it night or has the blood trapped in your head by that suffocating rope at last burst into your congested eyeballs and blinded you will it next poor from your swollen and bruised neck into your brain stopping all sensation instantly bringing to a welcome men this day of agony and flight ridiculous fantasies of fatigue and fear you can see the darkness is the black of a sudden summer storm that lightning flash clearly shows the white road ahead in the black silhouettes of trees along the sides and since you are sure you can see the other senses return you hear the rumble of the thunder you feel that insupportable lake of your straining lungs the leaden weight of your tired feet and now the pattern of rain first washing the stinging sweat from your scratched and bitten face now pounding harder flowing down across your hatless head matting your hair slowing down your headlong gate to a dog trot another flash of lightning correctly overhead for an instant you see the soldiers of Al Creek bridge standing at the side of the road rifles leveled their eyes boring down the site aiming at your heart again you're running and the rain has turned to hail pellets as big as hominy grits feet down on you pound your swollen bruised neck hammer at your countless cuts again the lightning on the other side of the road the great crab corporal sits a stride his horse waiting for you no no you can't get me now no bowl of lightning strikes a tree ahead of you and then the white blinding light stands just roll black and grinning knife raised in the air no no just roll forgive me forgive me he's gone and now you see dangling for each tree along the road a noose swinging in the wind wherever you turn wherever you look a noose waiting for you a noose which wiggles like a watermarker son now you are standing on the green lawn of your plantation before the high-column entrance the storm is over the clouds of black and menacing all around the horizon but through a break overhead glorious sunlight streams down bathing your garden and your house in heavenly light you are home and now you hear a rustle of crinoline and down from the wide portico steps your beloved wife she walks across the lawn her arms outstretched for this moment you've endured the agonies of this day and where those agonies multiplied a thousand times there would be a small price for the venison of this breast the sanctuary of these arms the security of these lips you step forward to fold your wife in your embrace the rope stretched tight sang like a bow string Peyton Farquhar was dead his body with a broken neck swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of Owl Creek Bridge in which Victor Jory starred in an occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge adapted by William and Robeson from the classic story of Ambrose beers listen listen again next week when we return with Howard Duff in eyewitness a brutal tale of prison mutiny a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense supporting Mr. Jory in occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge where Larry Thor, Lou Merrow, Jack Cruton, Chet Stratton, Julie Bennett and Roy Glenn sound patterns by Tom Hanley and Bill James the orchestra was under the direction of Wilbur hatch there always seems to be a certain number of people who would rather use all their cunning to figure out a way to steal the Mona Lisa than do one lick of honest work these characters call for even more wit and cunning on the part of the police and federal agents if their schemes are to be foiled a CBS radio show that brings you a fascinating picture of this thrilling counterplay is that perennial favorite the FBI in peace and war heard every Sunday over most of these same stations enjoy another exciting drama of wit outmatching wit on the FBI in peace and war a little later in the day today stay tuned for five minutes of CBS news to be followed over most of these same stations by indictment