 The Equitable Life Assurance Society presents This Is Your FBI This Is Your FBI The official broadcast from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation presented as a public service by the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States and the Equitable Society's representative in your community Fathers and Mothers of America Upon the training you give your children today depends the future of America Our system of free enterprise, personal liberty and democracy cannot exist without educated and enlightened citizens In about 14 minutes, our sponsor, the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States will have some helpful suggestions for parents If you wish to equip your children to take advantage of all the opportunities the future offers don't miss this important message Tonight's FBI file, the Curious Coin Collector As August 14, 1945 crept onto the pages of history, the White House announced that the shooting in World War II had come to an end a victorious end that saw America and her allies triumph over tyranny Once again, this nation had managed to protect its basic liberties A wise prophet once said that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty For liberty, freedom and democracy are not prizes that are won by a people and put on a shelf No people ever win permanent possession of these prizes For liberty, freedom and democracy are given only to those who first fight to win them and then keep fighting to protect them Tonight's file opens in a photographic studio located in a shabby frame house in one of the poorer sections of a large Midwestern city The proprietor of this establishment, one author Belton is just greeting a newly arrived customer Good afternoon, what can I do for you? You are the proprietor? Yes Mr. Arthur Belton? That's right Good, are you interested in some photographs? What do you charge for yourself? Yes, four for ten dollars, a dozen for twenty five You have your choice Mr. Belton, I'm quite satisfied with your rates I'd like to leave a deposit A deposit of a penny I'm sorry Mr. What do you mean? I'm not taking those anymore But I was totally told wrong I'm mailing out these copies of that wedding yesterday, does each member of the family Oh, excuse me, I didn't realize you were busy All right, Erna, he's just leaving You are sending me away? Yes Wait a minute, what is this Arthur, who is this man? He called you a treacherous swine Just a minute, let me see the coin Did you bring this here? Yes Arthur, you were turning him away? I asked you to keep out of this. Oh, no. The war is over That has nothing to do with our friendship for those who carry this coin What is your name? Spangler Are you in trouble? Yes Erna, I bid you welcome Mr. Spangler Some ten days after the arrival of the mysterious visitor at the photographic shop The whereabouts of this same man became a matter of great interest to special agent Jim Taylor at the local field office of the FBI Oh, Jim? Oh, hello, Ross Boss tells me I've been assigned to the case you're working on Well, good How far have you gotten with it? You're right in at the beginning That's fine In fact, here's exhibit A right here That's blue denim shirt Well, I'd say the first thing we should do is have it laundered, eh? I don't think all the laundering in the world would erase this P.W. on the back Oh, where'd the shirt come from? It was found in an empty freight car out in the yards When? Just this morning How about the owner? Car's been standing idle for ten days It came in from the west That gives him a pretty good start, eh? Yes, but we've got one break I know who this P.W. is How'd you find out? This laundry mark here on the shirt I checked it in our circulars on missing prisoners of war Oh, I see He's Lieutenant Carl Spangler, former member of the Africa Corps Escaped from a California prison camp some fifteen days ago Here's the circulars, eh? Thanks It's a very complete description Yeah, he shouldn't be hard to identify If he's still here, don't forget our lead is ten days old You mean he might have been just passing through? That's it, Ross Oh, this is Exhibit B That crumpled piece of paper? It was found in the pocket of the shirt Any writing on it? Nothing visible, but look at these creases here It appears to have been wrapped around a small coin of some sort Yeah I'm asking the laboratory to check with a parallel light beam for indented marks To see if the coin left an impression on the paper That's it Then we start looking in a city of three million people For one man who has probably already left town Good morning, Anna Good morning, Carl Did you sleep well? Very well, thank you Sit down, your breakfast is all ready You are spoiling me, Anna Here's your orange juice Oh, fine Where's your dear husband up front in the studio? No, he went out Poor Arthur Why do you say that? Well, I would judge by his attitude these past ten days That he's not very happy about my being here Does that bother you? Not in the least My only concern is you What do you mean? How you feel about me Will you have your toast dry or buttered? Dry, please Here you are And your coffee Thank you, my dear Excellent coffee I'm glad Arthur always says it's too strong I have an idea that many things are too strong for Arthur How did you two ever get together? He was a friend of my father's He came to meetings at our house before the war Political meetings? Yes Arthur was very active for our cause Why did he turn me away? My friend in the prison camp who gave me the penny And told me to present it here Said he could be trusted That was true Why did he change? Because he wasn't being paid any longer We lost the war Remember? Tell me, Anna Why do you stay on with him? I don't know Do you love him? No Then why? Please, come Come here No I said come here What is it? I think that there was a very good reason For you not leaving Arthur You did not know it, of course But you've been waiting for me Carl And now that I have... Is that you, Arthur? Yes, sir Good morning, Carl Good morning I've just been talking about you With who? A mutual friend Arthur, what is this? I don't be alarmed, my dear I've been to visit Max Sebring Who is he? A former member of our organization here I told him you were staying with us He used to arrange shelter and transportation For people like you He still does, Anna He's going to take charge of Carl What do you mean? I regret to say that he's leaving here What? Max is transporting him to a farm Some hundred miles upstate Just a minute I believe I have something to say about where I go I'm afraid you haven't You understand an order, Carl This is an order from Max I thought you'd left the organization I have I only contacted Max as a favor to you How kind So, Carl, you will be at the corner Of 12th and Main Street at 830 tonight Max will pick you up in his car Ross, here's the latest flash An exhibit B Piece of paper? That's it Was it loaded with invisible writing? No Not a trace of any How about the coin angle? It was wrapped around one all right Foreign coin? Oh, an Indian head penny What? Why would anyone want to keep a penny wrapped up? So he wouldn't spend it Oh, wait a minute Oh, no, I mean it, Ross I think that Indian head was of great value to him As a rare coin? Oh, as an open sesame I don't get it Well, I may be way off base on this one But do you remember back before the war When we had our hands full of the boys from the bundle? Yeah Well, the key men in that setup Had various means of identifying themselves Sometimes they used an old coin Do you remember now? Yeah, of course Well, our escape PW could be using that same system And it's being sheltered by one of the old bundit? Could be, yes Oh, excuse me Taylor speaking Mr. Taylor, the girl at your switchboard Told me I should talk to you Who is this place? That doesn't matter I understand you're the FBI man Who was looking for an escaped German prisoner of war Yes, that's right If you wish to pick him up He'll be at the corner of 12th and Main Street At 830 tonight Goodbye Oh, wait a minute Hello? Hello? He hung up Well, what was that all about? An anonymous tip One where we could pick up our PW Really? The informer said that he'd be at the corner Of 12th and Main Street at 830 tonight You think it's a good tip? I don't know We'll follow up on it anyway Meantime, let's dig through the files And get a list of the ex-leaders of the Bund Are you all dressed? Yeah, it's on you It's too tall It looks fine Has Erna come back yet? No I wanted to say goodbye to her She'll be here before you go We still have almost an hour This place I'm being sent to What's it like? It's a beautiful farm You'll enjoy it very much Who lives there? An old couple I know of them Charming people I'd rather be here You're a soldier, Carl I said before, you must obey orders I know Who's that? Me Erna We're in here, dear Carl was afraid you wouldn't return in time What delayed you? I went calling Really? On whom? Max Sebring Erna I spoke to his wife She told me that Max has been out of town For two weeks Why? Why, that can't be I just saw him this morning He's in California His wife spoke to him on the phone Out there an hour ago Well, that's impossible This is the man who was supposed to have ordered me away Yes, Carl Well, I don't understand I do You're being thrown to the wolves Now, see here Father, you didn't speak to Max or anyone else You just wanted Carl out of here That's a lie Then suppose you give us the truth I have He probably has the FBI or the police on that corner Right now, waiting to pick you up I tell you, Max is in town Then call him on the phone Go ahead, call him I... No Then this was a trick? Yes I knew it Oh, look, Erna, I had to do it I didn't want any part of him in the first place I was through with everything he stood for And then I have to watch you day after day Waiting on him, catering to him, falling over him Knowing you were falling in love with him Right under my nose, I... I had to do it But you didn't get away with it He's still getting out of here I'm calling the FBI Oh, no, you're not Well, darling I guess I'll stay We will return in just a moment to tonight's FBI file Now, three questions and answers on the value of education First question How much better chance is a college-trained man or woman to become a leader in business, the professions or the arts than the individual who doesn't go to college? Are the odds 2 to 1, 5 to 1, 10 to 1? Taking who's who in America as a measure of leadership the odds in favor of the college-trained man or woman are 87 to 1 Right now I know that thousands of listeners to this program are saying to themselves my children are going to have those 87 to 1 odds in their favor Well, if that's the way you feel then you'll certainly be interested in an equitable educational fund Same question What is an equitable educational fund? It is a life insurance plan that includes these important features The equitable educational fund makes sure that money for education will be ready when your child is ready If you die, the educational fund becomes fully established If you are totally or permanently disabled the educational fund continues to build up without any further payment Educational costs are spread out over many years instead of being concentrated in a few Last question How much will it cost to send your son or daughter to college? That question is answered in a memorandum recently prepared for equitable society representatives It tells the cost of tuition, board and lodging in 192 leading American colleges It summarizes the long-range opportunities open to educated men and women in 29 industries and professions such as architecture, dentistry, engineering, chemistry, life insurance, social service information that every parent should have Your nearest Equitable Society representative will be glad to show his copy to any sincerely interested parent Get in touch with him tomorrow or call the nearest Equitable Life Assurance Society office That's E-Q-U-I-T-A-B-L-E The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States And now, back to the FBI file The Curious Coin Collector The late Adolf Hitler once boasted that Americans were a soft, decadent people wholly unlike the Aryan Superman Well, there is a difference between an American and a Nazi because only a stubborn, one-track mind would refuse to admit that the Third Reich had gone down to defeat Would prefer to sit and wait for a new Hitler A new call to arms A new chance to aid the Fatherland There are still such Nazis all over the world and some of them, as proven by tonight's case from the files of your FBI are right here Right here in the United States Tonight's file continues FBI Special Agents Taylor and Dixon acting on the anonymous phone tip that the escaped prisoner of war they were seeking would turn up at the corner of 12th and Main Street at 8.30 that night arrived at this destination and patiently waited They watched the hands of a corner clock slide past 8.30 past 9 past 9.30 and creeped slowly up to 10 o'clock Ross, it looks like we've been handed one Yeah, I think we should wait any longer No, let's get back to the car Okay, this was somebody's idea of a joke, I suppose I don't think so Why not? Well, this case hasn't been publicized Very few people know that we're looking for Carl Spangler And how do you figure the call? Someone might just have been trying to turn him in and it didn't work out Oh, Ross, will you drive? Yeah, sure thing Back to the office? Yes, please Ross, where's that list of ex-bond members? Right here in my pocket There you are, thanks Those two names at the bottom are the only ones who still live here in town Sebring and Belton? That's right I don't remember either one of them I remember Belton all right What's the story on him? Native born American, Nazi sympathizer Very active with a bond before the war How about during the war? He was under surveillance I didn't get anything on him though I see These are the correct addresses on both of them? I believe so, Jim Well, it's too late to contact them tonight We'll get on this first thing in the morning How is he, Carl? He has regained consciousness That's good For a while I was frightened About what? Well, that you might have killed him I'm sure he'd appreciate your concern My only concern was the police Oh Is it safe to leave him alone in there? I haven't bound him, gagged I'm fine What do we do now? I don't know Obviously, we can't stay here Where do we go? Do you want to leave the country? To home? To Germany? Yes I should say not I'd much prefer to remain here You mean you've learned to like America? Not at all But if I were to settle down here Who knows Someday I might be very useful to the fatherland We both could be useful And I repeat Where do we go? What did you do before you went into the army? I was, I guess you'd call it a commercial artist Well, then we should go to a large city Preferably in the east Darling What would we use for money? Oh I don't know How much has your husband got? Four or five thousand But it's all in the bank in his name Checking account? Yes, but we can't touch it, Carl He signs the checks I think we might persuade him to sign one for us Carl Come, let's go see him Carl, he'll never consent to it Perhaps he'll have to Go ahead, Anna Thank you Good evening, Arthur And I wish to talk to you about something other important Shall I remove the gag? No, no, no, he can hear Arthur, we wish to go away We need money I understand you have several thousand in the bank We'd like you to write us a check for the full amount Carl, I tell you, he'll never do it Go and get his check for Gunnar I think by the time you return You'll be ready to sign Taylor speaking Morning, Jim, this is Ross Oh, good morning, Ross I was waiting for your call Are you ready to go calling on Belfin and Sebring? No, the boss has put me on another detail I'll be tied up on it for another couple of hours I see Ross, why don't you go ahead and interview them See what you can pick up, huh? Okay Who are you calling on first? Well, Sebring is the handiest Belfin is way up on North Main Street Well, if I finish here in time I'll try to meet you out there Anna Yes, Carl My time does the bank open Nine o'clock Don't you think you should be getting over there? It's almost set now I know, Carl, but I'd rather wait a while Why? I don't want to be the first customer They might get suspicious You said they know you're there Yes, but this is a very large check What are you looking for? The keys to the car You check the gas and oil when you go to the bank, huh? Yes, I told you I would Oh, here they are Tell me, Anna, does Arthur have a gun? Yes Where is it? In the dresser next to the bed Why? I think we should bring it along with us Just in case What's that? Someone's come into the studio What do we do? Go and get rid of them But we... What do I say? Yes Good morning Is Mr. Arthur Belton here? No, he isn't When will he be back? Well, I... I don't know Do you work here? I'm his wife Oh, I see My name is Dixon I'm a special agent of the FBI Here are my credentials Well? I'm looking for information Perhaps you can help me What sort of information? About a man named Spangler An escaped prisoner of war Yes We have reason to believe he's here in the city I wonder if he tried to contact your husband I wouldn't know You say you have no idea when he'll return? No Very well, then I guess I'll just have to wait Put up your call, Mr. FBI Well, looks like we've finally caught up with you, Spangler Yes I don't want to do you any good Go to the bank, Anna I'll take this gentleman back inside Introduce him to Arthur Hello there What do you want? Well, I've been ringing the doorbell here For the past five minutes I wanted to get into the studio We're closed for the day You work here, do you? Yes We're closed, I tell you I wanted to see Mr. Belton I'm a special agent of the FBI Oh? Well, there's already been one agent here to see him Oh? I'm Mrs. Belton My husband left here with the other agent I see How long ago was this? At least a half hour Thank you very much You're welcome Me, Ern Close the door quickly What's wrong? We've got to get out of here at once Did you get the money? Yes, but there was another FBI man waiting outside of the door when I came in Where is he now? I got rid of him How? I told him that the other agent had already been here with his husband away I see What did you do with the other one? He's in the bedroom without it Well then let's get out of here We'll use the back way, come on Very well Stand where you are Who is this? The FBI I had an idea you'd be here, Spangler Really? Yes Mrs. Belton told me my partner had left with her husband a half hour ago I didn't add up because his car is still parked two doors from this house Now where is my partner? In the bedroom Is he all right? Yes He'd better be Go on Superman, lead me to him Erna Belton was tried and convicted of harboring an escaped prisoner and sentenced to a term in the federal penitentiary Carl Spangler was returned to the custody of the United States Army Yes, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty And eternal vigilance might also be the motto of your FBI For the men who comprise the Federal Bureau of Investigation are forever at work protecting your security The wartime record of your FBI approached perfection for despite the constant work of enemy agents not one single piece of sabotage was ever committed within the confines of the United States That kind of vigilance is the type that was rewarded in tonight's case And that kind of alert watchfulness will continue to protect you, the American people so long as there is an FBI In just a moment, we'll tell you about next week's exciting case from the files of your FBI Again, let me remind you to check with your Equitable Society representative about the safest and wisest investment a parent can make for his children an equitable educational fund For obligation, he will also show you the Equitable Society's memorandum on the costs of higher education and some of the opportunities it opens Get in touch with your Equitable Society representative or call the nearest office of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States Next week, we will bring you another colorful story from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation The Sugar Swindler The incidents used in tonight's Equitable Life Assurance Society's broadcast 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 Your narrator was Dean Carlton This is your FBI is written and produced by Jerry Devine This is Milton Cross 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 this same time when the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States will bring you another thrilling story from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation The Sugar Swindler This is your FBI This is ABC Broadcasting Company