 The Equitable Life Assurance Society presents, This Is Your FBI. This Is Your FBI, the official broadcast adapted 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. Of more than four and a quarter million members of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, many thousands are those who have seen the advantages of the Independent Sixties Plan. Independent Sixties? Just what does that mean? It's an Equitable Society Plan for self-reliant people who wish to enjoy financial independence on reaching the age of sixty. Does that describe you? Then you want to listen carefully in about fourteen minutes when I give full details on the Independent Sixties Plan offered by the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. Tonight's FBI file, The Honeymoon Homicide. Almost a hundred years ago in a speech at Springfield, Illinois, a tall, gone figure of a man, a man who was soon to become the sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln said, I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free. In a few short years a war was being fought to decide that question. A war in which almost five hundred thousand Americans became casualties. Now, not quite a century later, a very similar question plagues the minds of some people, of people whose chosen profession is law enforcement. As of this date, there are in the files at FBI headquarters in Washington the fingerprints of more than eight million people with arrest records. In 1938, those same files contained entries on only half that many people. Thus, in a dozen years, the increase has been an even hundred percent. The question plaguing the minds of serious law enforcement officers throughout the nation today again concerns slavery and freedom. Or to them, it is a question whether this nation can long endure if the criminal population continues to rise at that rate. This is not to say that our freedom is currently endangered and teetering in the balance, for that is not the case. However, it is imperative that something be done before crime does become that greater menace. Before the current crime wave and gulfs is all. Tonight's file opens in the chapel of a funeral home located in the large Midwestern city. A short middle-aged woman dressed in black, her head bowed in grief, stands at the door receiving the sympathies of the departing mourners. She leans on a man who is comforting her. Easy, Clara. Poor Elbert. Poor Elbert. Poor Elbert. Mrs. Turner. Yes. I might be sorry about your troubles. Thank you. It's a terrible shame. And on your honeymoon too. Come on, Clara, put yourself together. No, is there anything I can do? No, no, thank you. I don't think we've met. I'm Mrs. Turner's brother. Oh, come on. How do you do? All the arrangements have been made. Oh, I see. Well, I'll leave you with your sorrows. I'm so sorry, so sorry. Only one more person left, Clara. Yes, Stuart. He's coming up the aisle. It was Elbert's best friend. Try to hold it in. Keep you, but if you need me, please call. I will. You mustn't, Clara. Don't do this to me. Elbert wouldn't have wanted you. Often we've all left, Clara. Have they? We better go too. If we miss the nine o'clock train, you'll never make that appointment tomorrow with your next husband. The next day at the local FBI field office, Special Agent Jim Taylor approaches the desk of Agent Dave Brewster. Morning, Dave. Hi, Jim. We were assigned to work together on something that came in this morning. We got to locate a woman whose name we don't know and whose identity we're not too sure of. Sounds like a new quiz game. The last name this woman used that we know about was Clara Jackson. What's the crime? Well, while there's Clara Jackson and her husband around the honeymoon, he suspected that he was getting small doses of poison in his coffee. It's a novel wedding present. Our old Jackson went to a hospital, had himself examined, and he was right. Doctors just barely saved his life. I see. That was about a month and a half ago, and when he recovered, he gave the police all the details. And the woman had gone by that time. Yeah, naturally. Well, how come we're in on the case? The police in Jackson's home town discovered that she was headed here with the money and valuables that she had stolen. Uh-huh. Their lead was confirmed last night when Jackson's gold watch was found there in a 6th Avenue pawn shop. And you say we don't have a good description on this woman. Not yet, but we may soon. The wedding pictures that she took with Jackson are on their way, and as soon as they're here, we'll start doing some legwork. Hi, hi. Greetings, Clara. Oh, George. Why, what's the matter? You're tracking mud all over the floor. I just washed it. Oh, that's a nice touch, Clara. Keep it in. Listen, Mr. Dillon is on his way. Who? The man I've been writing to for you. You know, your next husband. Oh. Oh, yes. Have you seen him? No, no, but I talked to him on the phone and told him where the cottage was. Well, gracious. I'd better get these flowers arranged and go in and take off this apron. No, no, no, leave it on. With company coming? Clara, you're perfect just the way you are. Gosh, I look terrible. Clara, if I had invented you, I couldn't have done a better job. Oh, sure. Rosy cheeks, your hair tied in a bun, a flowered house dress and an apron that's been used. You're everything a man in the Lonely Hearts Club dreams about. You look like fried chicken and hot biscuits. Oh, do I have to be something fattening? Ha-ha. Your weight, darling, is part of your charm, your personality. Oh, that must be Dillon. Well, I'm going out the back door. Go ahead, let him in. Hello. Hello. Hello. Mr. Dillon? Yes. Hello. Come right in. Thank you. Oh, yeah. I'm Mrs. Franklin. I'm pleased to meet you. Like Christ. Oh, you'll have to excuse the appearance, Mr. Dillon. Brother and I only moved in yesterday and there's so much to do. Oh, of course. Is it right here? Thank you. Well, you write nice letters. Oh, yes. You belong to the club very long. Oh, about six months. You're my first pen friend. Mrs. Franklin. Yes. Do you... Well, I mean, I hope you don't mind me asking on such short acquaintance, but asking what? Do you like bingo? Oh, heaven, yes. My large has a bingo party every month. Really? Oh, I must tell you what happened last time I played. What? Well, you know those little pieces of corn you put on the numbers? Well, we were all playing. Far of us girls at a little table and we all had a lot of numbers covered. And all of a sudden, well, I sneezed and blew all the corn on the floor. Will you go with me tomorrow night? I've got something on that Jackson file. Do you remember those wedding pictures that I was expecting? They came and I had copies printed up. The place distributed them to all the neighborhood stores and then this morning we got a call from the supermarket over on Third Avenue. This woman was one of the customers, called herself Mrs. Turner. Get in the address. Not yet. The SAC sent Ira Williams down to City Hall to check all marriages in the last six weeks. Well, I've got something too, Jim. Oh, Jackson's belongings turned up in several pawn shops here and in every case, the pointing had been done by a man. Oh, I'm having a composite picture made of him. I'll get a date. Special Agent Taylor speaking. Yeah, Ira? You have? Who? Yeah, I see. Any address? Yeah. Yeah, Ira. Yeah, thanks very much. Williams down to City Hall. Can you find the marriage license? Yes. The victim this time was named Albert Turner. Ira tried to contact Turner to warn him that it was too late. Turner's dead day. Woman's already moved out. Well, let's call a call and have that body exoned. We may have a murder case on our hands. That's another SAC. Me either. Let's go sit down. All right. Watch this. Watch this, Mr. Whippelman. Was he quiet? Well, let's go. It was time too soon, and he swung into the fiddle player. Well, here's a good place to rest. Oh, yes. Oh, my. Nice to sit down again. I must say, Arthur, you keep a body going. Oh, Claire. Come on, Mina. Come on, Mina. I haven't caught my breath all week. Where's that bingo game and then the boat ride? Yes, it has been a wonderful week. You know, Claire, you've made me seem young again. Me? Why, Arthur, you're the youngest person I know. If I am, I have you to thank. When you came along, I never realized how lonely I've been. I mean it. I know how fond you are of your brother. What about you? Well, I kind of wish. Oh, I'm not very good at this kind of thing. Claire, when George goes on the road again, would you, I mean, could you, Claire, will you marry me? Bless you, big old heart, of course I will. A report just came in from the lab. On the turn of killing? Yes. The cause of death was poisoning. Nice business. Oh, according to the porn brokers, that composite picture we had done on the man was a good light now. Did you check it at police headquarters? Yeah, her picture too. Couldn't get anything. Did you send pictures to Washington? Yeah. I then should have gotten them this morning. Arthur spread copies around town. Where? Well, I went to the rail, plane, and bus terminals. None of the ticket sellers recognized them, but I had them posted to pictures and all the employees' locker rooms. Tim, I wonder what made them start using poison. I tell them those previous marriages, all she did was to take off with a husband's money. Oh, I got it. Special Agent Taylor speaking. Yes, that's right. You have? When? He's quite sure. Yes, that's fine. Yes, thank you very much. Hey, the locker room picture's just paid off. How? A Pullman porter recognized both of them. Did he know where they went? Yeah, they were on the Blue Diamond Flyer about 10 days ago, and they got off at Capital City. Clean up your desk, Dave. We'll get an OK and fly to Capital City tonight. It was a wonderful wedding, Arthur. Yes, it was. You think it's all right for us to sneak out this week? Oh, heaven, yes. Arthur, help me get this right out of my hair. You two didn't think you were going to sneak away without saying goodbye to brother George. Did you? Mercy, no. We wouldn't think of it. You made a beautiful couple. Thank you. Say, George, if you'll help your sister get this rice out of her hair, I'll see if the car is ready. All right, old boy. Don't let her run away. Arthur, what a thing to say. You know, George, I've become very fond of him. Well, that's nice. I think a wife should always be fond of her husband. You're making fun of me. Now, look, Clara, you know you'll get this way every time you marry somebody. But this isn't like the others. I want to stay married to Arthur. Uh-uh. Please, George. Look, I got a new bottle of the treatment. It takes a couple of weeks to do its work. Have fun with him for that long. But I do. We're ready to leave, Clara. She'll be right there, Arthur. All right. Now, here's the bottle, dear. Start giving it to him tomorrow. You will return in just a minute to tonight's exciting case from the official files of your FBI. Now, a quick interview with Mr. Joseph Clark, a 63-year-old member of the Equitable Life Insurance Society. When he was 39, Mr. Clark started an Equitable Independent 60s plan. Today, his plan has all paid up. He's retired from business to enjoy the free freedoms that go with an Equitable Independent 60s plan. First, freedom from money worries and job worries, financial independence. I've got four married children, Mr. Keating. But I'll never be a drain on them. Every month, right on the dot, there's a check from the Equitable Society in my mailbox. Second, with an Independent 60s plan, you're free to live anywhere you choose. My wife and I bought us a little place in North Carolina. Nice climate. Nice neighbors. Third, freedom to do the things you've always wanted to do. Just for the fun of it, we started our own little tourist camp. We've got three cabins in room for six trailers. Places paid for itself already. Mr. Clark, whenever I hear a man talk like that, I ask myself, why doesn't everybody in America have an Equitable Independent 60s plan? Guess they make the same mistake I did years ago. They think you have to have a lot of money to afford one. How did you learn the truth? From my Equitable Society representative. It's a fact. You don't have to earn big money to begin an Equitable Independent 60s plan. Ask your Equitable Representative to explain why you probably have a big head start towards Independent 60s because of social security and life insurance already owned. Often only a small amount of additional insurance is all that's required. A few dollars a week did it for me. Friends, why not take a leap from Mr. Clark's book? Why not own your Equitable Society representative without delay or send a postcard care of this station to the Equitable Society? That's E-Q-I-T-A-B-L-E. The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. And now back to the FBI file, The Honeymoon Homicide. Possibly a good many of you now listening to this case from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation are wondering how it happens that two criminals like the ones you are meeting tonight can remain free for any length of time. There are numerous answers to that question. As you have heard, many previous victims of this pair of swindlers were not murdered but merely cheated. The pride of those victims who survived is the most basic reason for the freedom of these criminals, just as it is the reason behind the liberty of almost every swindler. The average victim of any racket, afraid to be known as a person whose judgment has been found wanting, will elix his own wounds and keeps the knowledge of his loss to himself. By doing that, he comforts his vanity, but he also does something else. He ensures the fact that what was stolen will never be returned. In addition, the selfish silence allows the criminal to continue on his way to swindle still other people. If that were all, it would be bad enough. But by remaining quiet, the victim does something even worse. It is a truism in law enforcement circles that one crime should it remain unpunished, inevitably leads to another. And as they continue, their seriousness increases until finally it reaches the only possible climax. Murder. The night's file continues in a small anti-rumor police headquarters in Capitol City. If I just spoke to Washington about the pictures we sent him, the man's name is George Mercer, the woman is his sister. They had records on them. Yeah. They were arrested together some years ago on a transatlantic liner. What for? The old badger game. And his sister used the name of Clara then. That's the name she used when she married Jackson and Turner too. Yeah. I think we can assume that she'll stay with it. Well, Dave, let's lay out a plan of action. Okay. Now, the previous pattern has been to pawn the belongings of each husband. So I think our first visit should be to all pawnshops. Oh, I had another thought coming over here, one that we haven't touched yet. Lonely Hearts Club. Yeah, that'd be a good source for it. I'll tell you what, Dave. Why don't you see if you can get a list of Lonely Hearts Clubs here in Capitol City and start checking them? I'll cover the pawnshops and we'll meet back here. It's pretty. Isn't it? What's the name of it, Clara? Mercy Arthur, I don't know. Who can that be? I'll find out. Oh, hello, hello. Well, bless my soul. Who is it? Come in and surprise her. Hello, Clara. George. I hope you don't mind me dropping by this way. Oh, my God. Let me take you back. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You're a sight for sore eyes. Isn't he? How long are you in town for? Oh, just for a few days. Well, I'll run back and ready to spare you. No, no, no, let me do that. Nonsense, Clara. He's your brother. You sit here and chat with him. I'll do the fixing. Oh, that's mighty nice of you, Arthur. Thanks. Oh, bother at all. I like having you with us. Thank you. You look awfully healthy, Clara. Doesn't he? Poor man. He has trouble putting on any weight, but I've been making... Nobody will take him for a man whose coffee's being spiked. Are you giving it to him? George, you haven't been in the house a minute in your talking business. Clara, dear, I asked you a question. Just tell me, are you spiking his coffee? Yes or no? Well, no. Why not? Well, I just can't. I wouldn't feel right poisoning Arthur. Oh, look, dear, this isn't a question of how you feel. It's something that has to be done if we're going to get to Quincy. Quincy? What are we going there for? Why to meet your next husband, of course. I've just been up there picking him out. Now, I bought some new stuff that works real quick. We put it in his coffee tonight, and by morning, you'll be back again in the widow business. Dave, I almost made connections with Mercer. Where? One of the porn shops. He just pawned some of the late Mr. Turner's belongings, including his valise, which could give us a lead. The valise? Yeah, there was a baggage stub on my handle. Some numerals on it, so I called the railroad. They said it could be a car number, and they're checking on it now. Jim, if you remember, he pawned one husband's stuff the day before the next husband was poisoned. Now, if he follows a pattern, that couldn't mean they're just about ready to leave. And just about to poison another victim. Oh, did you get a name at the Lonely Hearts Clubs? Well, I contacted all of them. They're checking that membership now. Special Agent Taylor speaking. Yes, Mr. Anderson? You have? There was, huh? Yes, right away, and thank you very much. That was the railroad, Dave. Pullman car number 1847 came in yesterday as part of the Golden Nugget. Those numbers that were on the baggage stub? Yes, the Golden Nugget's an extra fare train, and they list the passengers' names. Dave, I'm going to go over there and find out who occupied that car. I've got that list, Dave. Mercer's name isn't on it. Let's see. There you are. 20 names, and not one of them close to Mercer's. None of them even start with the letter R. No. One thing we could do now, check every hotel, see whether any of these 20 names registered yesterday. If they did, we'll go up with a picture and find out if it's Mercer's. Jim, is Mercer staying at this hotel? He was. The clerk identified him as a guest named Blanc. That was one of the names on the railroad. That's right. Unfortunately, he checked out an hour ago. Is his room been cleaned yet? No, they're holding it for us, Dave. Let's go in and take a look. Nothing in this bureau, Jim? I may have something. What? It's a letter, Dave. A lonely hard sweater. Who's it addressed to? A Mrs. Franklin. Dave, if this is Clara, we've still got a chance. Oh, that was intimate. Oh, boy. Arthur, I think Clara's become even a better cook since you married you. You hear that, Clara? Yeah. And George thinks your cooking's even better since our marriage. Oh. George, you being here with us calls for some kind of celebration. And I know just what it'll be. Yes. I got some cigars a couple of weeks ago. I'm saving them for a time like this. Is that energy? There is the stuff in the coffee. Yes. But I'm not going to give it to him. Don't be foolish. You can't make me, George. Oh, yes, I can. How? Would you like Arthur to find out about the boats we used to work? Oh. Or about the men you've been married to? George. Mr. Jackson and Mr. Turner maybe? Oh, happens, no. Then you'd better do it, or I'll tell him everything. You try one of these cigars, George. Oh, thanks, thanks. Well. How about a little coffee, Claire? Oh. All right. Here, George. Oh, none for me, thanks. No, give it to Arthur. Oh. Here, Arthur. Thanks. A little Scribbin cream maybe? No, I'll drink it plain. Oh. I'll get it. Hello, Claire. Huh? There's Mercer, Jim. Yeah, I see. Claire, who is it? Pardon me, sir. Are you this woman's husband? Yes. And maybe we got here in time. We're special agents of the FBI. We're taking these two down to headquarters. George Mercer and his sister, Claire, were turned over to local authorities and tried in a state court on a charge of murder. Both were convicted and sentenced to be executed. When Special Agent Taylor found the lonely hearts letter in the hotel room George Mercer had rented, he realized it was then possible to trace the wanted woman, possible even without the help of any of the clubs. A painstaking search of records at the marriage bureau revealed that a Mrs. Clara Franklin, the name and the salutation of the letter Taylor found, had obtained a license to wed one Arthur Dillon. His address was also listed on the application, a fact which, as you have seen, was responsible for saving his life. Analysis of the coffee in the cup before Dillon revealed enough poison to kill a dozen men and to kill them quickly. Thus the arrest directly saved one life and indirectly probably saved many more. The experience of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in cases like this among others is proof that one cannot be too cautious in meeting strangers. It does not follow as an automatic thing, but it is possible that remembering this file may one day save your life. In that event, the men of your FBI will once again have done their job and done it well. Their job of protecting the lives and property of you, the American people. Let's quickly review the freed freedoms you can assure for yourself with an equitable independent 60s plan. First, freedom from money worries and job worries after your 60th birthday. Real financial independence. Second, freedom to live where you choose. Third, freedom to do the things you've always wanted to do. That's the good life you can look forward to with an independent 60s plan. Don't say you can't afford it until you talk to your equitable society representative. Or write care of this station to the Equitable Life Assurance Society. Next week, we will dramatize another case from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A story of the FBI's relentless efforts to prove a man's innocence. It's subject. Extortion. It's title. The campus, shakedown. The incidents used in tonight's Equitable Life Assurance Society's broadcasts 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 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 Stacey Howells. Others in the cast were V. Benadera at Herb Butterfield, Walter Catlett, Herb Rawlinson, and Paul Theodore. This is your FBI is a very 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, where the Equitable Life Assurance Society will bring you another thrilling transcribe story from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The campus, shakedown. On this is your FBI. The adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, fun for the whole family, follow immediately over most of these ABC stations. Stay tuned. This is ABC, the American Broadcasting Company.