 The DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware, makers of better things for better living through chemistry, presents the Cavalcade of America, tonight's star, Ray Maland. Tonight's story, The Devil's Staircase. The Devil's Staircase, starring Ray Maland as Herman Fresh. Maybe this will surprise you. It's been said that the best way to measure industrial civilization is by the amount of sulfuric acid it uses every year. And to get sulfuric acid you need sulfur. We in America in 1890 had to import our sulfur, 98% of it. Now this was serious. So serious that it brought me, a chemical engineer, to Lake Charles, Louisiana. And to a little hut on the edge of the bayou. It was dusk. I had the eerie feeling that I was in a lost world. It was like something from the prehistoric swamps. Cypress groves, Spanish moss. I expected to see a dinosaur rumbling through the marsh at any moment. I was afraid to break the silence. Yet I had come here for a purpose. Are you Pierre Bianco? I am Pierre, too. My name is Herman Fresh. And I'm looking for a guide. No, future man. No. A hunter? No, as a matter of fact, I'm a chemist. And I'm interested in some mining property. Mining property? Where? In the Bayou Choupique. The Bayou Choupique? You want me to take you to the Bayou Choupique? Yes. Monsieur, go back. Go back? Why, I've come over a thousand miles. Go back. Whatever it is you want to the Bayou Choupique, it is not worth wanting or having. Go back. Oh, but that's ridiculous. Listen to me, Monsieur. There is nothing at the Bayou Choupique but evil and death. Even the snakes, the alligators, the crawling things of the swamp will not go near it. Will you take me there? No. I'll pay you well. Not for money or gold. Anything will I take you to the Bayou Choupique. In primeval country, one expects to find a certain amount of superstitions, strange local taboos, a touch of the mysterious, the supernatural. But what I found in Lake Charles is more than I bargained for. Dear Biantou's attitude is obvious fear at the mere mention of the Bayou Choupique. I found again and again in every guide I approached. None of them, not one, would take me to the spot. It was the last day of our stay. My wife and I were in the dining room of our hotel and at the end more so, the owner came to our table. He will pardon me, Mr. Fresh. I normally do not intrude in the business of my guests, but I know that you have been unsuccessful in your attempt to find a guide to take you to the Bayou Choupique. It's the down the thing I've ever seen. You think I'm asking these people to take me to the end of the world? To these people it is the end of the world, the end of this world and the beginning of the next. Oh, I'm sick of that kind of talk. But have you ever heard of the Devil's Staircase, Mr. Fresh? The Devil's Staircase? No, no, that's a new one. It is in the Bayou Choupique. What is this Devil's Staircase, Mr. Marcel? What is it? How does one explain these things? It is her name? Now, look here, I'm not interested in any of these old maids' fables. I'm a chemist. I'm interested in sulfur. Sulfur? Yes, sulfur. Now, about ten years ago, a group of mining engineers prospecting for petroleum discovered a bed of brimstone, almost pure sulfur, five hundred feet below the Bayou Choupique. They tried to get to it because our country needs it, but they couldn't. Now, I've worked out a process that I think will get that sulfur out. The girls have tried, and do you know what happened to them? What did happen? Oh, an accident. One might call it an accident. That's all it was. They tried to sink a series of metal rings down to the sulfur deposit, Elizabeth, and they hit quicksands and the whole bottom of the digging filled with hydrogen-sulfide gas. Foremen died. Foremen? The whole idea was wrong. And when they died, so the story goes, a strange sound was heard coming from the pit. Laughter. As though, as though the devil himself was laughing. Oh, poppycock. The men who heard it, they were transfixed. It was the devil laughing from his holes of brimstone. It was just the gas escaping. You are a scientist, so you believe that? Our people are not scientists. They believe what they hear. Excuse me, please. The waiter with a special dessert. With my compliments. Put it down, are you? Yes, Mr. Specialty of the house, Madame Trash. We call it a Louisiana trapeze. Oh, yes, I've heard of it. Now, just let me pour a little creme de ment over the ice, like so. Let it sit down through the sherbet. There. And now you take this little straw and tip it up slowly. Mmm, delicious. What do you think, Mr. Trash? I think it's a remarkable coincidence. Coincidence? Yes, precisely the way I'm going to get that sulfur in the biochipik. Hey, hey, don't understand, look. It's a very simple idea. A sulfur frappe. I'm going to pipe superheated steam down to the sulfur deposits, melt them on the ground, and then pipe the liquid sulfur up to the surface. That does not sound possible. But it is possible. Just like your frappe. The melted sulfur will seep down through the porous limestone, just as that creme de ment seeps through the sherbet. Now, we think of pipe. Just as I do with a straw. And siphon the sulfur out, like this. Delicious. It is a strange idea. But a very good idea, and I'm going to prove it works. And if nobody here will take me to the biochipik, I'll find someone somewhere who will. The following fall and winter, the challenge of the biochipik boiled inside me. By the following spring, I had mapped out a course of action. I made up my mind that the next time I went to Lake Charles, I'd go armed with more than mere curiosity. So the spring of 1891 found me in New York at the offices of the American sulfur company, owners of the property on the biochipik. I, uh, I knew you by reputation even before your letter arrived, Mr. Frash. Sit down, sir. Sit down. Thank you, Mr. Hewitt. What did you think of my letter? My partners and I found it interesting. Good, good. Uh, may I ask you a question, Mr. Frash? Certainly. This process you mentioned in your letter, melting underground sulfur by pumping down superheated water and siphoning the liquid sulfur to the surface. Have you, uh, have you tested it? Tested it? Yes. Do you any evidence that it will work? No, sir, I don't. But look, this isn't a process that can be tested at the laboratory, Mr. Hewitt. There's only one way to test it, and that's by drilling and pumping on the spot. Expensive. Yes, I realize that. Mr. Frash, my partners and I in the American sulfur company have already lost $350,000 trying to get it to sulfur on the biochipik. Four men have given up their lives. We feel our decision to close the books on this enterprise is justified. But, Mr. Hewitt, while that sulfur stays underground, it'll never be justified. Every industrial process in this country uses sulfur. Bleaches for linens, in the manufacturing of paper, paint, sty, steel, everything. The industrial growth of the United States is bottlenecked because we are dependent on an element we have to get from other countries. You call that justification? Hmm. What do you propose? You own the property. I own the process. Let's combine our interests. I see. On what basis? $50.50. Ah, just a moment, Mr. Frash. Our sulfur property is known to exist. Your process is entirely unproven. Those you think it might be fairer to put it this way. You have a locked door. I have the key. That puts us in even terms. You're very persuasive. Well, I've lined up the best drilling team in the country and I've got the finest equipment ordered. You were pretty sure I would agree, weren't you? Well, I knew you were as keenly aware as I was of the need to get that sulfur. That made me sure. All right. Then it's a deal. Yes. I'm sure I can get my part as a consent. Fine. I'll leave for Louisiana at once. Oh, by the way, you mentioned in your letter that you had some difficulty finding a man to guide you to our property. That's right. I can understand that. However, look up the trapper down there named Jacques Tognette. Jacques Tognette. Yes. Tell him that you're a friend of Abram Hewitt. And you'll be sure to get to the bayou, Jacques Tognette. How else would I do it, Monsieur Frosch? Well, no one else, but Mr. Hewitt. You know him well, Jacques? You know him well? Monsieur, sometimes for weeks, together we would sell for the bayous in my payroll. We would hunt and fish, but most of the time we would drift along and talk of this swamp, what it is and how it came to be. He understood this swamp. It's people. Yes, sir. It's a strange place. Yes, Monsieur. It is. It has its own angels and its own devils. It has a black heart and a way of whispering into a man's ear until he is bewitched. There. There is the place, just ahead. But we know we. It's funny. It's so quiet suddenly. It is a dead place. Even the birds will not go near it. They know. How long has it been since anyone's been here? It has been four years since the man died. Four years. Listen, I hear someone's on that island, the devil. The voice of the devil? Don't turn around. What do you want, Jacques? We're not going back. We're coming into land. We're not going back. You hear me? We're not going back. It is the voice of the devil. The devil be hanged since when did the devil use a shotgun? Keep on that paddle. We're going right into the landing to make us the better things for better living through chemistry. And now a word from Bill Hamilton. It was a happy day for America when artists and designers showed us how color could brighten our lives. Since then, many things from our clothes to our automobiles have been fresher and gear for color. Take a simple ordinary thing like a paper bag or box. Many stores nowadays wrap your purchases in distinctive colored papers. They have found that gay attractive wrappings do much to please old customers and attract new ones. To give these fresh, bright colors to wrapping papers, bags, and paperboard boxes, the DuPont Company has developed hundreds of special dyes that are DuPont better things for better living through chemistry. Right on Cavalcade of America, Ray Malan is starring as Herman Fresh in The Devil's Staircase. One hundred feet below the marshland of the Bayou Choupique in the Cajun country of Louisiana, they are tremendous deposit of brimstone. Almost one hundred percent pure sulphur. I made up my mind to get to it, to test my idea of melting the stuff on the ground and then pumping it to the surface. Now, with Jacques Tonyette as my guide, we near the mysterious island called The Devil's Staircase. Wait a minute. Get back! What can it be? It can't be. Can't be what? What are you talking about? Before this, I know it. I swear I know it. Who is it? Michel Leclerc. Five years ago, he disappeared into the Bayou. We all say he is dead. Well, call to him. Oh, he will kill us. Say it back! Does he know you? Well, we are cousins. Stand up. Let him see you. Keep calling his name. He will kill us. He got to kill us with the first shot if you want to do. He didn't shoot the kill then. He won't shoot the kill now. Give me the paddle. Now, call to him. Call him. Michel. Eh? Get back! Get back! We just want to talk with you. Just want to see if you are all right. Keep it up. Keep it up. Michel. Eh? Pull down your gun. This is your old friend and cousin. Eh? Don't you recognize me, Michel? Jean-Toniette? Hold on. We headed for the beach. Don't run! Don't come on this land! Hold tight. Be careful, Jack. He doesn't matter if I had a hill-shooters. Don't come closer! You'll die! I am your cousin. Everyone who comes here first day. The killer says they must die. Got to get that gun. Hey. Hey, Michel. Look. Cigarros. Your old favorite kind. How long has it been since you smoked a cigar, eh? Eh? Here. Eh? Jack won. That's it. Move closer. Be careful. I am your cousin, no? Eh? You don't want to shoot me? Here. Here. It takes a cigar, and then we go back? You. You will go back? Oh, sure. There. Cigaro. Very good, eh? I will light it for you. I've got it. I got it. Gun. Good. Gun. My gun. Who are you? What do you want here? Hello, Michel. I'm a friend of Jack. You live here all alone? Yes. You live here all alone? Yes. You live here all alone? Yes. You live here all alone? Yes. You live here all alone? The devil is my son. Your son? He's the one who was killed in the devil's staircase. The devil was angry? So he took my son? Well, I'm sorry about your boy, but it wasn't the devil who killed him, Michel. It was an accident. It's the kind we won't let happen again. We're going to seal up the staircase. Seal it up forever. My boy, he's there. We're going to build a monument for him, Michel. A great monument right here on the bayoushu peak. Then all the people who will come will know that your son didn't die in vain. I examined the place thoroughly. It was satisfied. So we went to work. Within a month it will improve in a camp set up on the island. I had sent for Jake Hoffman, the best driller I knew. And soon the sound of our rotary drill broke the deadly silence of the bayoushu peak. Run down the 8-inch. How do things look, Jake? Well, we reached the camp rock over the sulfur bed with a 10-inch pipe last night. It sealed in tight. And I'm running down the 8-inch pipe now, but I'm worried, Mr. Frash. What about? The well? No, the man. They haven't much appetite for working on this island. It's all the tone yet can do to keep them on the job. And every night one or two just fade off into the swamp. Even when they're working, they keep looking back over their shoulders all the time, as if they expect old man Satan to creep up on them in a wear. They'll get over that. Where's the bottom, Mr. Hoffman? All right. Start the drill. Start turning. Doesn't sound like it's bugging down at all. Listen to that. There's something wrong with it. Cut off the drill. Cut it off. Cut off the drill. She's going to blow. Get up the rigging. Everyone up the rigging. Come on, kill her for me. Get back. Get back. Get a bucket of water. Quick. Don't do it, Mr. Frash. That gas is deadly. I'll be all right. I'll make it. Come on yet. Let's plan a rotary. We've got to get him out of there. He said he was turning. Come on, Frash. Let's get out of here. Let's get out. Tighten it. Tighten it. Come on now. You can see the devil's smoke. Come on. We've got to get you back to Lake Charles. Jake, listen. Yeah? We're going to teach her to the end of the drive pipe. That'll carry on the salt water and the gas. All right. And raise the drilling platform higher. Much higher. Now, don't worry about that. Shark, get your pier over ready. You'll have to get Mr. Frash back to Lake Charles right away. Weak. Right away. All right, Kindly. You've got to get back to Lake Charles to a doctor. Keep things going, Jake. Don't stop. No, no, I won't. I'll let Gevver is standing on his staircase. And if you listen, you can hear him. Always by my side. For a time it seemed that both my eyes were doomed. There was improvement. Little by little, my sight came back. At least the devil hadn't gotten my eyes. Sleeping gas? No. Open the blinds a little. It's so dark and dreary in here. The doctor says we've got to keep the blinds drawn. Your eyes are still too weak for sunrise. No, I said that last week and the week before. I still don't get impatient. But I am impatient. Everything I've planned and worked for is out in the Bayou Choupique. And look at me in bed, miles away. Well, there's one little consolation. Is there? Of course. It's a nice Christmas Eve. And we'll be able to spend it together. Christmas Eve. Hard to believe, isn't it? No snow, no carol singers in the streets. Who's that? Come in. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Only it's not going to be so merry for us. Why? What's happened? The man are quitting. Quitting? Yes. They've been on edge ever since your accident. And once they leave, nothing will ever get them back to the Bayou Choupique. Nothing. How far down are you? That's the pity of it. We're practically set to start shooting down water. The 8-inch pipe is in solid. The 6-inch bore is in. And the 3-inch pipe was set in place this morning. Jake, get back there. Get back. Stop the boiler's going. Get up a full head of steam. What's the good? Of all the men left. Not all, but the place will be as empty as a graveyard by tonight. No, it won't. You'll be there and so will I. You? I'm going back, Jake. And don't try to stop me. I'm going back and I'm going to corner that devil right in his staircase. All right, Jake. Stop the pump. All right. Take a little time before it begins to draw. Better sit down, Mr. Frash. You've been on your feet the last two hours. I'm all right. I made some coffee in this year. All right. Why didn't you go back with the others? Why should I go back? If the devil is after me, he will find me at home as quickly as he will find me here. Listen. She's catching. She's pumping up liquid. Open the outlet now. Why don't you? The devil's coming out. Give it time. Just give it a little more time. She's open full. If the devil is in his thick as him by the Lord Harry, tonight we put him to work. Two years later, the great sulfur wells of the American sulfur industry, using the improved process developed by Herman Frash, is producing hundreds of thousands of tons of this precious element every year. Today's sulfur is one of the cheapest chemicals available, and its uses are ever on the increase. America's underground storehouses of brimstone are yielding a record supply of the yellow mineral for today's miracles of science and industry and for the even greater miracles that lie ahead. The devil's staircase. And now Bill Hamilton speaking for the DuPont Company. The days are gone when you had to worry about crackers going stale before you used up the box. Today you can buy a large box that contains smaller, individually wrapped packages that stay fresh until you use them. Other perishable foods, like marshmallows, are packaged in this same convenient way. The way foods are packaged can be as important to you as the foods themselves. A wedge of cheese and cellophane is cleaner and fresher than one that is exposed to the air. The convenient packages and containers in which we buy things today, from milk to motor oil, from paint to deodorants, don't just happen. They are planned. The men and women of the packaging industry who design and manufacture them are opening their annual exposition today at Atlantic City, New Jersey. At this show, they review the newest developments of the year. This year, for instance, there are little paper bags coated with alofon which hold just enough dried milk to make one quart of liquid. There are individual packets of detergent for hotels so that a woman guest can wash out her lingerie and stockings. Hundreds of other interesting new ideas are on display. The best of these, after thorough testing, will reach you in the month to come, making your daily life just a little easier, just a little more convenient. The depart products at the packaging show are good friends of yours. Cellophane, for instance, which keeps your tobacco, your bakery goods, your pre-cut meats at their peak of perfection. Contributing to greater efficiency, attractiveness, and economy in packaging are other DuPont products. Polythene film, printing inks, adhesives, dyes, neoprene chemical rubber, cellulose bands, and paper bleaching chemicals. All of them DuPont better things for better living through chemistry. The DuPont Cavalcade will present the exciting Hollywood and Broadway star Nina Fosh. Our play, The Nurse Who Forgot Fear, is a story of a courageous Air Force nurse who faced death in Korean waters. Be sure to listen. Tonight's DuPont Cavalcade, The Devil's Staircase, was written by Irv Tunic. Original music was composed by Arden Cornwell, conducted by Donald Voorhees. The program was directed by John Zoller. We wish to thank the Freeport Self-accompany for its cooperation and technical assistance in preparing tonight's story. With Ray Maland, our Cavalcade cast included Grace Matthews as Elizabeth, Dan Akko as Tonyette, George Petrie as Hoffman, Louis van Ruten as Biautu, Guy Sorrell as Leclerc, Joseph Bellas-Skewitt and Maurice Ellis as the engineer. Ray Maland is currently starring with Joan Fontaine in the Paramount Picture, something to live for. This is Cy Harris speaking. Our Nina Fosh. The DuPont Cavalcade of America comes to you from the Belasco Theater in New York and is sponsored by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. There's a better thing for better living, through chemistry. This program is transcribed. Next, it's the Bob Hope Show. Stay tuned on NBC.