 Adventures by Morse. Carlson E. Morse presents Dead Men Proud, featuring Captain Friday. If you like high adventure, come with me. If you like the stealth of intrigue, come with me. If you like blood and thunder, come with me. If there is a terror more deadly than fear of the unseen, the unknown, it is that of facing a horror your senses tell cannot exist, and yet which you can very plainly see. And that's what is happening in the coast village of Holman, where twice the dead body of Doc Sims was seen to prowl, and two other bodies had risen from their resting places in a little morgue to carry on strange and sinister antics. It was on the second occasion of Doc Sims prowling that there occurred an incident deadly in its intent, weirdly desperate. On the morning following the first night of mystery and terror, Captain Friday had taken Martin Stanley and Dr. Jamie Croft with him to Doc Sims' house in search of clues. He left Gail Stanley, Carmela Ruiz and her cousin Andres at his cottage. Dr. Croft had gone to the morgue to check on the bodies, and the Captain and Stanley had proceeded to the Sims' house. They went to Doc Sims' study to examine his private papers and look for his will, but instead they found a handkerchief belonging to the girl Carmela. Evidently, she had been there before them. They discovered a wall safe and were in the act of opening it when for the third time the body of Doc Sims appeared. It entered the study, shot Martin Stanley, and attacked Captain Friday. When Dr. Croft arrived from the morgue, he found two inert figures huddled on the floor. Captain, Captain Friday. Don't break your neck, Doc Sims. Here, let go of my throat. Get hold of yourself, Captain. Come out of it, man. You will bang me over the head. Oh, are you Dr. Croft? Dr. Croft, did you see him? Did you see him? See whom? Doc Sims, at least his body. Why? Why, no. I did. Shot young Stanley and then got me. How Stanley? Is he dead? Don't worry about Stanley. The bullet just grazed his head. But see here, Captain. Do you mean to tell me you saw Doc Sims walking again? I did, and there's no argument this time. Hmm. His body was gone from the morgue, all right. Oh, what a head I've got. Dr. Croft, look. Look at the safe. It's been opened. I see it has. I don't get it. Opening his own safe and stealing his own will. I wish Doc Sims had make up his mind whether he's dead or not. Captain Friday, are you certain it was Doc Sims? If it wasn't, it was his identical quill. Why? I picked up this handkerchief when I came into the room. It belongs to Carmel Ruiz, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, it was here when we came in. Which indicates that she has been here. That looks bad for Carmel. Oh, nuts. But this is her handkerchief. Well, I can't help it. A kid like her couldn't get mixed up in this. She's just out of a convent. Doesn't know what it's all about. Oh, you know all about that, but it doesn't get rid of the fact that someone dropped Carmel's handkerchief here. Yeah. See here. How about Andres? He's in love with his cousin. Might have been carrying a handkerchief. Uh-oh. Stanley's coming around. Close call, my boy. Better look after him, Doctor. I'm gonna have a look at the safe. Better wait. Your knees will buckle if you get to your feet too quickly. Couldn't feel any worse. Here, give me a hand. Oh, my head. I told you. The guy must have swung from the floor. There. Head's clearing up a little. Righto, I'll see about Stanley. And Doc Sims sure made a mess of his papers. Looks like a whirlwind hit the safe. Queer? A dead man should suddenly desire to rifle his own safe. Yeah, especially when his rightful heir was about to put his hands on the wheel. It's a queer business all around. Now, now, now. Stanley, my boy. Now, now, take it easy. As far as I've been able to find, there's no indication around the house that Doc Sims anticipated either a natural or violent death last night. Captain, Captain. Can you give me a hand here? Stanley's being difficult. Yeah, okay, Doc. No, no. Here, here. Here. Stanley, Stanley. Grab his legs, Captain. Putting up a battle, huh? All right. Juiced up a ligerant. No, take it easy. If we can hold him down for a few moments, he'll come out of it all right. I've got his leg. Let go of me. Let go of me. I don't care if you are my uncle. Oh. You can hold him long enough for me to get a glass of water. That should bring him out of it. He'll go to it. I've got him. All right. But watch out. Won't take for the moment. Easy now, Stanley. You're going to be all right. I know not to step on it. I've got him, but that's about all. All right now. Hold him. I'll give him a dash of cold water in the face. There. That'll take care of him. You can let go now. I don't mind informing you that most of that water went down my neck. I'm sorry. He's a regular tiger. Look at the scratches on my face. A little iodine will take care of it. You'll have to handle your patient yourself from now on, Doctor. I'm going to finish looking through these papers in the safe. I doubt if you'll find the will. I don't expect to, but you never can tell, though. Hello, Stanley. Feeling pretty rotten, eh? Rotten. Coming to all right, has he? He'll do. He should be taking back to the cottage. Yeah. Hello. There's something. Say, look at this, Doctor. A duplicate of a letter from Doc Sims to Andrew Waters. What's that? A letter? And what a letter? Anything to do with this situation? Has it. Just listen. Andrew Waters. This is to inform you that I, Dr. C.N. Sims, have discovered your real identity as well as enough of your background and history to make your presence in this community undesirable. Unless you are willing to come to such terms as I see fit to impose, I shall at once reveal your identity and turn you over to the proper authorities, which, of course, you'll realize means nothing less than the gallows. Phew. My word is, does that mean that my uncle had something on Andrew Waters? Had something. Looks to me like he had everything. This looks like the key to the whole situation. Who do you suppose Andrew Waters was, anyway? Nothing less than a hunted murderer, sounds like. Wonder if this note drove Waters to hang himself. I wonder. Do you think a man would hang himself to keep himself from being hanged by the state? Yes, but he didn't have to hang. Doc Sims offered him a way out, agreed to his terms, and he'd keep his mouth shut. Must have been pretty bad. Anyway, Walters preferred to die instead of coming to terms. Maybe. Anyway, we've got a clue to this business. Right now I want to get Walters' fingerprints and shoot them over to the city for a check with the police criminal files. How will you get them to the city? I'll get the grocery supply boat to take them over. It'll be in at noon. We've got to work fast now. I want to run over the rest of Doc Sims' house and then I want to go through Walter's place. I'd like to find this original letter. See here, Stanley, I think you can make it back to Captain Farley's cottage alone. How do you feel? Nausea. Naturally. Now the question is, would you rather drag yourself over to my place or lie down in the lounge here while Dr. Croft and I finish looking around? Me stay in this place along with a corpse sneaking around with a gun? OK, you run along back to the cottage then. Take it easy, fella. You'll feel better out in the fresh air. All right, but... But what? Just remember, if you find that well, it belongs to Gail and me. Now listen, Stanley, no one's trying to beat you out of your estate. At least not in this crowd. You'll get the well if we find it. Now run along. I feel rotten. Oh, by the way, Stanley, tell Andres that we're going to search his uncle's place in about ten minutes, and if he wants to be in on it, tell him to wait for us out in front. I'll tell him. Oh, and don't mention this letter. You don't need to worry. That clip on the side of the head took a lot of belligerence out of our young friend. That on the side of his dead uncle. Come along, Doctor. There's nothing more in here. Take a look upstairs and then shoot over to Andrew Walter's place. Dr. Sims must have been a queer sort of conjure and shut off from everyone. Sometimes he wouldn't be seen for days at a time. Here's the stairway. Beastly dark. There's a light here somewhere. Oh, here it is. Hold it, Doctor. Do you see what I see? My word. Again? Yeah. It's Doc Sims again. But see here, Captain, he's tone dead. Sprawled out on his face, just as we found him twice before. But Captain Friday, this man's dead. He's been dead for a good many hours now. It couldn't have been he who attached. Oh, yeah? I'm telling you, Doctor, dead or not, I recognize those clothes on that face. And they're the same. Now, let's turn them on his back. All right. You can see quite, quite plenty that this body couldn't walk. Yeah. I can see plenty. Hello. Now what? Look here. Paper stuffed in his coat pocket. Nonsense. Here. Here's the copy of the will and here's a sealed envelope. Sealed envelope? Yeah. Says, to whom it may concern in case of my death. Oh, see here, Captain. Looks like our dead friend here walked in, knocked us out and raided the safe hall. Got this far in making a getaway and collapsed. Oh, rubbish man. Okay, Doctor, then you explain it. I don't pretend to. What are you going to do with that will and the letter? Hang on to him until we get back to the cottage. I have a hunch that everybody's going to be interested in them. Undoubtedly. So, look here. I've got more than I expected already out of this place. I'll leave the rest until later. Anxious to get over to Walter's house, hmm? As a matter of fact, I am. Let's go. Oh, what about Doc Sim's body here? We'll put him on the lounge in the study and lock him in. Aren't you afraid he'd walk off again? I think I can take care of that. Oh. Well, not only lock him in, but we'll tie him down. I'll hold him. Now, come on. Come on, give me your hand. You ready? All right. Up we go. All right. It's the third time I've had to play ambulance for this bird. It's going to be the last. Is this where you want him? Yeah. You're down now? Yeah. I saw a piece of cord around his... Oh, here it is. Tie his feet together and round underneath the lounge. I'll grab the other end, Doctor. Joe, Captain, you're not serious. You think not? Put a half hitch on the leg of the lounge. Let's see, my dear chap. You're losing your perspective. Yeah. I suppose you're politely telling me that I'll get the royal raspberries from the gang in the Hall of Justice over in the city if they saw me hog-tying a dead body. Well, it is rather ridiculous. In this case, it isn't. Doc Sim's is dead and he simply got a quit prowling around. I'm constable of Holman now, and I say it's against the law of what's right and decent for a dead man to go gallivanting around. Have fun and hold earnest, eh? Something like that, Doctor. Eh, eh. How's that? I've never seen a more thorough job of trusting. Okay, then let's get going. Is there a key in the door? Yes. Go ahead. Oh, it's through here. Go ahead, I'll lock up. The villagers ever got wind of this prowling of the dead business. There'd be one swell hullabaloo. Yeah, but what about the father of the murdered half-wit boy? Didn't you tell him that his son's body had disappeared from the morgue? No. I intimated that he'd feel a lot better if he didn't go to the morgue until it was necessary, and he took the hint. I see. There's another thing. We don't find the heart of a boy's body before the inquest tomorrow morning. It's going to be very embarrassing. In that case, it seems to me we'll have to give them the whole story. Yeah, which is what I don't want to do. Unless the village knows about what's going on, the easier it's going to be to work. Go ahead, Doctor. Let's get outside. My word, what a musty hoe. Didn't realize it until we got out in the fresh air. Just a minute while I like him. There, there. Now, Andrew Waters' place. It will be interesting. Man, why? Isn't it said that a man who hangs himself leaves his phantom self behind to stalk the death chamber? Captain Friday and Dr. Croft have tied the wandering body of duck sins to a lounge in the old Sims' house. After the dead body apparently had made a murder attempt on both the captain and the boy Stanley. Just now the two have locked up the house and with certain private papers from the Sims safe in his pocket, Captain Friday is leading the way to the second murder house, Andrew Waters' house, where last night he had hanged himself. I have a hunch you'll find plenty of answers to our questions in Walter's papers. Watch it, Captain. We seem to have Andres with us. Ah, Seniors. I thought he'd be along. Please, Seniors, if you go to my Uncle Andrew Walter's home, I wish to go with you, huh? All right, come along, Andres. Feeling better after your cat nap, huh? Ah, see. I am very much refreshed. The street's still empty. Mass meeting must still be in session. See, I go by town hall. Everybody very much excitement. Talk, talk. They're bad. Bad? See, everybody very much mad. I think it'd be very bad for a guilty man if they find him. Yeah? You don't mean those old Mossbacks have gotten themselves worked up for mob action? I do not know, Senor. It makes me afraid to hear them. What do you know about that, Doctor? As Coroner and Constable looks like we'll have our hands full. Andres, are you sure you're not overstating matters? Oh, no, Doctor. No, it is as I say. Here's Andrew Walter's place. Shouldn't have to spend much time here. Let's take a quick look, see, and then go back to the cottage and look over the spoils. Spoils? Yeah, the papers. All right, step in. Oh, by the way, Andres, young Stanley's all right, I suppose. No, no, he feels very bad. Carmell and Mr. Stanley's sister, they put him to bed on the lounge in the front room. He'll be well taken care of. Two solicitors, young women. There is no need for Carmell to bathe his head, I do not think. Bathing his head, eh? That irks you. Hi, Andres, come here. See, Senior Capitan, look here. You say you held a long conversation with Andrew Walter's last night just before you left to meet Carmell at the train. See, this is correct. Where were you? Here in this living room? This is it. What did you talk about? Well, he told me how very happy he was to have Carmell and me with him. He said how he had been very lonely in ten years he had been in this place by himself. Glad, huh? Didn't seem depressed or despondent. Oh, no, no, Senor, very happy. When I left, he said, well, bless you, my son. He said this, and then he said, if Carmell, he says as agreeable as you, we will be very happy household. Oh, those were his last words to you, huh? See. And then, when you'd left, he went upstairs and hanged himself. What'd he make of that, Dr. Croft? Well, doesn't make sense, Captain. He's a little goofy, all right. So, look here, Andres, where does your uncle keep his private papers? In this desk here. He have a small iron-bound box. I don't know all about it, huh? Well, when I come, he show me his wheel, and then I see him open up this bottom drawer where he keep the box. You've seen his wheel, then? Oh, for sure, the man. What did it say? According to his wheel, he have give half of everything he had to Carmell, maybe two, three hundred thousand dollars in the bank, besides all this property of which there is maybe one thousand acres. Two or three hundred thousand dollars in the bank. You mean cash? He tell me he's afraid of investments. We'll see if we can find that wheel. You say it's the bottom drawer? See. Yeah, yeah. Here's the iron box, all right. It will lift right out. You see? Yeah. Yeah, it's got a combination lock on it. See, there is a little black book in the top drawer, the little drawer there. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, here it is. Yeah, the combination is in it. It is, huh? There's just a lot of junk in here. Oh, wait a minute. This might be it. Dr. Croft, try the lock as I read the numbers off. Yes. Begin at seven. Then to three. Three. Back to nine. Nine. All right now, clear back to one. And that's it. Yes, that's it. It's open. Not much in it. Oh, there it is in that heavy envelope. Yeah. Yes, yes, here's the wheel. I'm getting quite a collection of papers. But, senor, this wheel, this wheel, it belongs to Carmel and me. There's plenty of time to talk about that one. Listen. What you're saying? Somebody coming into the house. They say a murderer always returns to the scene of his crime. Why do you think it's the killer? But who else? At least we can surprise them. Nobody knows we're here. Oh, it's Gail Stanley. What's she doing here? You two wait here. Stanley, we're in here. I cousin Carmel is with her. What's going on? Come on in here. Are you too, Stanley? Captain Friday, we had to leave. The whole village is down at your cottage. Oh, it's a trouble. Carmel, what is it? Wait a minute, wait a minute now. My word, it can't be that bad. Oh, but it is, it is. Stanley, you do the talking, the rest of you keep quiet. Well, it was horrible. The first we knew, 20 or 30 people were in front of the cottage. They were yelling and throwing things. What's that, throwing things at my house? Yes, and when I went to the door, somebody threw something and hit me in the face. Well, I slammed the door as quickly as I could. My Joe, old fashioned mob, eh? Oh, and they called his names and kept yelling to bring out Andres. Well, they called for me? I'm a son of a gun. Yes, and then we ran to the back of the house and crawled out the bedroom window and got away without them seeing us. Jolly little party. Martin thought you'd be over here and that's why we came. What do they want Andres for? Maybe, maybe they think I kill all these people. They're going to just like those old Mossbacks. They get screwy ideas sometimes. Well, Captain, what are you going to do about it? Remember, you had yourself elected Constable this morning. Eh, I'm going to do plenty of crazy nitwits. I knew things would be popping, but I didn't expect anything like this. Looks like they got themselves pretty well steamed up at their own town meeting. Eh, a couple of big mouths probably got up and gave them fire and brimstone. Quite. Oh, see here, what are you up to? I'm going to go out and clean them up. Buckle my gun out in plain sight. That'll bring them down to earth like company. Okay, if you want to come along. Enjoy it immensely. Come on then. The rest of you stay here till we get back. Please, do you think it's safe? There's nothing to worry about. Stanley, you and Andres take care of the girls. Oh, Andres, everything's so off. Oh, please. Please, you must not be frightened. If there is danger, I will not let it hurt you. Martin, lie down please. You're so sick. Looks like we came to Holman for our own funerals instead of putting Dr. Sims in the ground. Oh, please, Martin, don't be so morbid. Find business getting shot out by my own uncle. Dead uncle at that. Oh, it's the most terrible thing I ever heard of. You don't think Captain Friday and Dr. Croft let anything happen to us, do you? What can they do? Didn't the thing that shot at me knock out Captain Friday? Well, me, I think the Captain will do plenty. Rod, he's in the same boat with the rest of us. But they have the whole village turned against us. We're not only fighting something we don't know about, but the village, too. But they're so brave, they'll fix everything. Oh, please, my cousin, you do not worry. Personally, I'm going to keep my eyes on those fellas. You know what they're planning to do, Gail? Martin, you shouldn't talk that way about them. Yeah, well, they're looking for Dr. Sims' will. Captain Friday said he was going to hang on to it, too, if he found it. Well, yes, my uncle's weird, too. I do not think he would do anything bad with it. Well, you've got a lot more faith in him than I have. Martin, what in the world are you talking about? Captain Friday's an old timer here. Don't we have it? But I don't see what... There's a lot of money involved in this thing. What's to keep him from grabbing it off? I tell you, he's slick. Oh, don't be absurd. How could he? And even if there were no wills, the law would see that we got what was ours. Yeah? How do you know what ankles he may have? Well, I do not think so. I don't care what you think. Maybe funny the way he and this Croft guy took us in, keeping us where they have an eye on us, only telling us what they want us to know. You mustn't see that about Dr. Croft. I like him. I'd like to know something about him myself. Captain Friday say he is all right, that he's all I care, bunk. Oh, I don't know what to do. Besides, it seems to me, if you wish to not stay at the Senor's home, you do not need to. Why you don't go about your own business? Go out and get torn to pieces by that fool, Mom. Well, then, it seems to me, if you accept the Captain's protection, you should not say this sort of thing about him. Preaching, huh? If you wish to call it that. You make me sick. You stop talking about Andres like that. Pipe down, kid. Mom. This is enough. I do not care if you are hurt. You say one more little thing like this to my cousin. Oh, for the love of mine. And if you wish to speak with me in future, you're pleased to change the tone in your voice. I think you deserve that, Martin. Oh, please, we mustn't quarrel. Everything will be all right if we just keep... All right. Here we are. The war's over. They... They didn't hurt you. Do I look hurt? Where's Dr. Croft? I sent him over to Doc Sim's house to check on things. What right does he have over there? Uh-huh. What's the matter with you, Stanley? He's always irritable when he isn't feeling well. Oh, cut it out, Gail. I want to know what business Dr. Croft has in my uncle's house alone. Well, if you must know, we found Doc Sim's body sprawled on the stairs over there. Oh, Doc Sim could have seen it. Oh, no. Yeah. We locked it in the study. I asked him to drop in and see that it was all right before coming back. The... The body of my uncle? That's what I said. And was he dead? You never saw a deader body. But... But I saw him. I saw him. I saw him raise the gun and shoot me. Yeah? Well, you haven't got anything on me. Just the same, we found him stone dead. Please, things like that can happen in the convent. They taught us them a new... Yes, yes, I know. But see here, the moment we're in Andrew Walter's house, you're all to come upstairs. We'll take a look at the room where he hanged himself. Please, do I have to go? I'm afraid so, Carmel. Oh, no. Just for a moment. Just to point out the place where you first saw the body. Please, senor. I could do that. It'll be necessary for both of you to go. But not Martin and me. No, if you'd do it rather, wait in here alone. Oh, yes, please. Okay. Dr. Croft will be over any minute now. Found the body of that half-wit Hartley boy yet? Please, why did you have to say that? Just wonder. I'll cut it out, Stanley. You know Carmel's uneasy about visiting that room upstairs. Well, come on, let's get it over. Please close the door when you go out. The last time I was on these stairs... Oh, please, Carmel, you do not think about it. Just hang on to me, huh? But they're so dark. You coming? Yes, senor. We're almost behind you. I'd rather not go in. No, you will be brave for Andres, huh? All right. Right in here. Plenty of daylight in this room. Just the stairway in the halls that are dark. Please take me away from here. Well, then, the body was lying on the cot, wasn't Andres? Yes, senor. Uh-huh. But where is the cot? Well, we used it to carry the body to the morgue. Just where was the cot sitting when you saw it? Uh, over there against the wall, just to the left of this window. All right, Carmel? Yes. Yes, let's go away. Look out, Captain! Look out! Andres! I'm racing a shot! I've got him, Captain! I've got him! Come, Dr. Croft, I'm coming. Where are you, Dr. Croft? At the bottom of the stairs. I'm coming. Roll down. Roll all the way down the stairs with him. Get a light, man. Lying still. Must be knocked out. Here's my flash. Look here, Doctor. It's a rich, heartless, half-wit boy. Captain, you mean I rolled down those stairs with a dead man in my arms? The entire population of the Holman City morgue for some unaccountable reason appears to be rising up in arms against the living. First, Old Dark Sins, dead of natural causes. Then, an attack by Andrew Waters, dead by hanging. And now, finally, the heartly boy, shot through the heart, has invaded the haunts of living people, apparently in a direct attempt to commit murder. This is the weird and wonderful story of Dead Men Proul. Chapter 6, entitled Life History of Proulers, will come to you next week at the same hour. You are listening to Adventures by Morse.