Now, Auto Light and its 60,000 dealers and service stations present Suspense.
Tonight, Auto Light brings you Mr. Joseph Cotton in The Day I Died, a suspense play
produced and directed by Anton M. Leader.
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And now Auto Light presents Mr. Joseph Cotton in the tale well calculated to keep you in
suspense.
Good morning, Leslie.
Good morning.
Why is that window open?
It's getting stuff in here.
I told you to keep it closed.
You might be seen from the street.
I haven't gone anywhere near it.
No one can...
Don't argue with me, Wells.
Keep that window closed and the shade down.
Now, just a minute.
I'll give the orders around here.
You're still my wife, Leslie, and this is still my house.
You're forgetting something, aren't you, Wells?
I'm not your wife.
I'm your widow.
And it's been my house ever since the day you died.
I had no comeback.
I did what Leslie told me because, well, she was right.
A dead man can't put up much of an argument.
He has no authority, not even with his wife.
Things had been different once.
I had money, power, and there was nobody in the world who would have presumed to tell
Wells Galloway what to do.
But that was before a certain evening in July up at Lake Latimer.
That was before Rad Tuttle, my law partner, paid me a visit at my cabin up there.
In other words, that was before the day I died.
I was alone.
I'd gone to the cabin to be alone, to try to figure things out.
The money was gone by that time.
I'd thrown it away, hundreds of thousands of dollars in good living and gambling.
And in a sense, Leslie was gone too.
Oh, she was still my wife, but the man she loved was Norman Vale.
And I knew it, and she knew I knew it, and she didn't much care.
So this time I'd come up to the cabin without my rifle because I wasn't planning to do
any hunting.
But I brought along a revolver for reasons I didn't admit to myself.
And I left it lying on the table in the living room.
I was staring at it that evening when I heard the cab from the village stopped down on the
highway.
It was still a little light, and I saw a shock of flaming red hair on the path between the
trees.
And I knew my partner was going to honor me with his presence.
I thought I knew why too, and I wasn't wrong.
I couldn't believe my eyes, Wells.
I still can't believe it.
I came all the way up here just to hear you say it isn't true.
You wasted your time, Rad.
It is true.
But good Lord, man, we were appointed trustees of that estate.
Taking those bonds was a criminal act.
Why did you do such a thing?
I needed the money.
Well, I hope you're ready to pay it back before the ears get wind of it.
I'm not.
I haven't got a cent.
Then what are you going to do?
I don't know yet.
You certainly don't expect me to...
Is that what you're thinking, Wells?
It is, isn't it?
Well, I'll be hanged if I'll do it.
I'm not going to take a beating to cover up for you.
You cash those bonds and you'll make them good.
Or go away, will you, Rad?
What?
I said go away.
I don't care what you do about those bonds.
I've got more important things to worry about.
Like your wife, Wells?
Well, don't expect any pity from me there either.
I'm not asking you for anything.
You're responsible for losing Leslie.
No man could treat a woman the way you've treated Leslie and get away with it.
You made a slave of her.
You practically locked her up in your house.
I think you'd better go away, Rad.
I'll go when I get the money to buy back those bonds.
Not before...
Oh, for the love of...
Here, here's my ring, here's my watch.
Take them.
They ought to be worth something.
Take them and get out.
I'll take them, Wells, but it's not enough.
It's all I've got, I tell you.
Now leave me alone.
All right.
But when I leave here, I'm going to the police.
Police?
Yes.
If you think I'm going to suffer for your mistakes, you're wrong.
I'm going to bring charges against you before the Prescott Heirs start prosecuting the firm.
Why, you dirty...
That was another mistake, Wells.
I won't take that either.
He was stronger than I.
His blow caught me on the chin and I was staggering across the room.
I was hushed against the mandrel of the fireplace.
Kerosene lamp had been burning there, toppled off and fell on the floor, but I hardly noticed
it.
My eyes were on something else.
On that revolver that lay on the table by the window.
I don't remember picking it up.
I only remember how it felt in my hand.
Wells!
No, Wells, put it down.
Wells!
The first shot dropped red to the floor.
But I kept on firing because I couldn't stop.
This was power again, the power to kill, and I loved it.
But not for long.
With the last bullet, the spell was broken and then was when the fear came.
I'd never known fear before.
I wasn't prepared to deal with it.
It took hold of me and shook me until I was trembling from head to foot.
It brought the sweat popping out of every pore.
It wouldn't let me approach the body, not even to reclaim my ring and watch.
It carried me out of the cabin and sent me stumbling into the darkening woods.
I spent the night there, wandering blindly through the blackness.
In my hand, I still carried the gun.
Long before dawn, I began to wonder why I hadn't saved one shell, just one.
For if my life had reached dead end a few hours ago, then what would you call this?
Where did I go now?
Now that I was wanted for murder.
It was daylight when I came out of the woods.
There was a truck rumbling toward me.
Desperate men take desperate chances.
Give me a lift to the city.
Why, sure, mister.
Hop in.
He'd heard about me.
Wells Galloway was wanted for murder.
I knew that right away.
I knew it from the way he looked me over, but it didn't matter.
Nothing mattered.
This really was dead end.
I guess you're OK, mister.
Shut the door.
What do you mean OK?
Well, I thought maybe you're the guy I heard about back at Lake Latimer.
What guy?
Well, there was a murder back there last night.
One fellow shot another one in the cabin, then burned the cabin down.
Burned it down?
Sure.
Right to the ground.
Couldn't even have identified the body.
Only they found a ring and a watch on it.
I figured you might be the killer, but he's a redhead.
Poor name Tuttle.
Guy Kill was his law partner.
Big shot with a fancy moniker.
Something like, uh, oh, Wells Galloway.
For suspense, Auto Light is bringing you Mr. Joseph Cotton in Radio's outstanding Theater
of Thrills Suspense.
Hello there, Harlow.
I hear you're going to speak at the Fourth of July picnic.
I sure am, Hap, and by happy coincidence, I just happen to have a copy of my speech
right here.
Uh-oh.
Anyway, on this glorious occasion, it behooves us all to think about that dandy, dynamic,
dependable Auto Light stay full battery that needs water only three times a year, normal
car use.
On this historic occasion, my friends, let's look at facts.
An Auto Light stay full battery practically eliminates one of the major causes of battery
failure.
And in addition, it's protected by fiberglass insulation for stronger life and longer life.
My, my.
Think, my friends, longer life.
In recent tests conducted according to the Society of Automotive Engineers life cycle
standards, Auto Light stay full batteries gave 70%, yes, 70% longer average life than
batteries without stay full features.
It's inspired, Harlow.
So remember these words that will go ringing down the corridors of time.
An Auto Light stay full battery needs water only three times a year in normal car use.
And at this point, Hap, I take a long cold drink of water.
Why?
Because I'm thirsty.
Why not an Auto Light stay full battery?
And at this point, suspense.
And now, Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage, Joseph Cotton as Wells Galloway
in The Day I Died.
A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
So the day I killed my partner turned out as far as the law was concerned to be the
day I died.
It was my body the police had decided that was lying back there in the charred ruins
of my cabin on Lake Latimer.
It was Red Tuttle, not Wells Galloway who was wanted for murder.
The truck driver dropped me on the outskirts of the next city.
I went into a barbecue joint, sat down at the counter and pieced the story together.
The kerosene lamp I'd knocked off the mantle.
That was what had started the fire.
It was the ring and the watch I'd given Red that enabled the police to identify the body
that had been burned beyond recognition to identify it as me, Wells Galloway.
That much was clear.
But what wasn't clear was what to do about it.
What's the next step after you've been pronounced dead?
Well, here's the eggs, fella.
Nice day, eh?
Yeah.
Yes, sir.
Beautiful day.
And today it's great to be alive.
He made me see the point, the man by an account of the point I'd been missing.
It was great to be alive, especially if everybody thought you were dead, especially if the life
you'd been living had reached an impasse and you were broke and your wife was in love with
another man and you were wanted by the police and you're only hopefully in a chance to start
over, to start from scratch.
That's what they were giving me, handing it to me on a silver platter, a fresh start,
a clean slate.
I was dead.
Now I could begin living again.
Well, now let's see.
Oranges, two eggs, bacon, coffee.
That'll be 80 cents, please.
82 with tax.
But that was another point the counter man made me see.
Subtract 82 cents from $50 and you get $49.18.
Not much to start a new life on, not when you're used to big money.
And big money was the only thing that would make a new life worth living.
Little capital was all I needed, but where do you borrow capital when you can't show
your face?
Who'll then money to a corpse?
In the circles where Wells Galloway had moved, friends were not to be trusted.
And as for my wife, as for Leslie...
Leslie.
Yes, Leslie.
Yes, that was it.
The Wells Galloway brain was beginning to click again.
It kept on clicking, keeping pace with the click of the train wheels that carried me
back to the city where the late Wells Galloway had lived.
It was night when I got there.
I was halfway up the walk when the front door opened.
I hardly had time to slip behind a lilac bush before Leslie stepped out on the porch.
He was with her, the man she loved, Norman Vale.
You think I'm callous, don't you, Norman?
You think I'm too hard.
No, of course not, darling.
If you weren't happy with him, naturally you can't be too broken up over his death.
Happy?
I was miserable with him.
You know how he treated me?
I wasn't his wife, I was his prisoner.
I hated him, Norman, and I'm not broken up.
I'm glad he's dead.
I shut her hand out my spine when I hurt her, but that must have been because the night was
getting cool, for after all, this was just what I was counting on.
My plan wouldn't work if she weren't glad I was dead.
I waited till Norman Vale's car pulled away, then I waited five minutes longer.
And finally, I climbed the front steps, put my key in the lock and let myself in.
Who is that?
Who's out there?
Who is...
Hello, Leslie.
Wells!
There had been a time when she would have fainted.
She didn't faint now, but she turned very white, and I noticed when she poured herself
a half tumble of bourbon that her hand was trembling.
Still she managed after one long swallow to say rather evenly, almost casually.
Let's have it, Wells.
I'm sure it's a fascinating story.
So I told her, as I talked, I had a queer feeling that she was a stranger.
Something had happened to her since I saw her last, whether it was Norman Vale or whether
it was the fact that she thought I was dead.
Whatever it was, she was a different person, a stronger one and braver and harder.
What do you want, Wells?
Accept my condolences, Leslie.
It's a tough break.
Not at all.
I'm tickled pink.
I'm sure.
Did you think I would be?
No.
Did you have any illusions I'd be heartbroken when they called and told me that you were
dead?
None.
You know what I did?
A jig.
It's the first time I ever danced in this house.
You should have done that often.
Things might have been better between us.
I couldn't find anything to dance about.
Well, why did you come back?
What are you after?
Three guesses.
Knowing you, I only need one.
How much?
Twenty-five thousand.
What makes you think you'll get it?
I think you could use twenty-five thousand yourself.
Maybe you'd better explain.
Simple enough.
I'm worth fifty thousand dollars, Dad.
The insurance is payable in one lump sum to you.
It should be coming through in another week or so.
And you're suggesting an even split?
Exactly.
I take my house and disappear.
As far as you and the rest of the world are concerned, I'm dead and I stay dead.
You have twenty-five thousand and you're free to marry Norman Vale.
I see.
Well.
Must have occurred to you I'd prefer to keep the whole fifty.
If you could.
And why couldn't I?
Suppose I turn you in.
And you're electrocuted for killing Red Tuttle.
I still collect, but there's no split.
And if I'm not electrocuted, if I get life imprisonment?
There would be that risk.
Too big a risk, Leslie.
I didn't plan Red's death.
There was nothing premeditated about it.
I killed him in anger.
The state doesn't give the death penalty for that.
If you can prove it.
I think I could.
I'd live a long time in prison, Leslie.
I wouldn't like that.
So?
I'm thinking.
You'd stay here in the house till the insurance company pays off.
Is it safer?
Is there any place?
Safer?
You'd have to stay hidden.
Of course.
You couldn't step out the door.
Not very often.
Not at all.
You'd be practically a prisoner in your own home.
If we could do it, it'd be worth it.
Would it?
Yes.
I guess it would.
All right, Wells.
I mean.
I mean all right.
It's a deal.
She was smiling when she said it, but after all, why should she be?
Oh, why shouldn't she smile?
Things had turned out well enough for her, considering the fact that I wasn't actually
dead.
This was the next best thing.
Naturally, she smiled.
Her reasons for smiling were perfectly obvious, weren't they?
She went upstairs afterward, and when she came down, she was still smiling.
I thought you must be tired after all you've been through, Wells.
I made your bed.
Thanks, Leslie.
Guest room?
No, not the guest room.
Well, if I'm going to stay hidden, that's the most isolated room in the house.
Not quite the most.
You're forgetting the attic.
The attic?
The whole army caught up there, you'll use that.
It's hotter than blazes in the attic.
It's only for a week or so.
You said yourself it was worth it.
Oh, I didn't mean...
No, but I did.
Don't you want to go up now, Wells?
That was when I started to catch on.
Hadn't occurred to me that she would relish the idea of keeping me as confined as possible.
I was abused as I climbed the stairs.
Let her have a fun, I thought.
It wouldn't be so bad.
Two days in the attic, well, that wouldn't kill me.
The light up there was dim and she must have walked very quietly because I didn't know
she had followed me up the stairs.
I didn't know it until I opened the door to the attic room.
And then just behind me, she said...
Go on in, Wells.
I have the key.
I'll lock the door.
Lock it?
Well, there's no need to lock it.
I don't agree with you.
The cleaning woman comes tomorrow.
Well, she won't come up here.
But you might be tempted to go down.
Why should I?
You'll get lonely, Wells.
You'll get bored and restless and terribly unhappy.
You'll begin to think you'll go crazy if you don't get out.
You'll be desperate for the sound of a human voice.
Believe me, I know.
Now, look here, Lesley.
Please go in, Wells.
All right, but there's no reason to take advantage of the spot I'm in.
What do you mean, dear?
I'm protecting you.
I'm carrying out our bog in the one you suggested.
Now go in and let me lock the door.
I wasn't amused anymore.
This wasn't funny.
This was a new experience, taking orders from my own wife.
And I couldn't say I liked it.
But what could I do?
One quick telephone call, one shout, even to the neighbors in the next house, and my
game was up.
I knew that, and she knew I knew it.
So the trump card was in her hand, and she was playing it.
She was playing it slowly and with pleasure.
She was playing it for all it was worth.
Good morning, darling.
Morning, morning.
It must be almost noon.
I'm starving.
Why didn't you come up?
I was busy.
Norman dropped over to see me.
You didn't tell him?
Of course not.
This is our little secret here.
Did you sleep well?
I didn't sleep at all.
Worried about something?
Sadly not.
It was hot up here, that's all.
What have I got to worry about?
Nothing that I know of.
Well, go and get me something to eat.
I'm dying of hunger.
Oh, I hope not, Wells.
I wouldn't want you to die of hunger.
And then I saw it.
I saw it all, the whole thing, the thing I should have seen before.
How could I have missed it?
She was going to kill me, and why not?
What was there to stop her?
Wasn't I dead already?
Who would ever miss me?
Who would know what she had done?
She could bury me in the back orchard.
She could burn me in the furnace.
She'd have the whole 50,000, and who would be the wiser?
Can't accuse a woman of killing a corpse.
Then on I paced.
The room was only eight feet square, but I walked for miles, and the sweat rolled down
my face and down my body, and the walls closed in, and I waited for her to return.
What do you want, Leslie?
Well, I thought you'd like to know.
I just came from your funeral.
Oh, they buried Red.
Mm-hmm.
It was a beautiful service.
I'm sorry you weren't there.
That was the evening of the second day.
She left my dinner on the table and didn't come back that night.
At least I didn't think she had come back, but when I awoke the next morning, I wasn't
sure.
Sometime toward dawn, a shadow had moved across my dream.
A lock had snapped, a door had opened.
Had it been a part of the dream itself, or had Leslie...
But why should she have come and gone like that?
What could she have wanted?
There was nothing of interest to her, nothing, nothing.
Except the revolver, the gun I'd emptied into Red Puddle's body.
It was in the pocket of my coat, and my coat was hung over the back of a chair.
I leaped from the bed and went for my coat, the right-hand pocket.
No, it was empty.
It must have been the left.
The left, the left was empty too.
The gun was gone.
Leslie had taken it.
And now, and now for the second time in my life, I knew fear.
I stumbled toward the door.
I began to pound frantically.
Leslie, Leslie, Leslie!
I heard her footsteps when she was just outside hissing at me.
Quiet, you fool!
Let me out of here.
I said be quiet.
Norman's downstairs.
He'll hear you.
I don't care who hears me.
Let me out!
Leslie, who is that?
Here he comes.
Will you be quiet?
Who's up there, Leslie?
It's no one, Norman.
It's nothing.
Really?
Don't lie to me.
I heard someone shouting.
There's somebody in that room.
Who is it, Leslie?
Leslie, answer me.
Who's in there?
It's...
My husband.
It's Wells.
So now he knew, too.
There was silence after she told him, and the sound of footsteps descending the stairs.
She was leading him away.
She was going to talk it over with him, tell him her plan, ask his help.
They were discussing it now, just how they would do it, just how they would dispose of
me afterward.
I staggered to the window.
She put a lock on it after the first time she'd found it open, and even if she hadn't,
what good would it do me?
Suppose I could climb down somehow.
Where was I to go?
The face of a dead man attracts attention on a public street.
An hour passed before I heard footsteps again.
Now I thought, now they would do it.
The key turned in the lock, but the door didn't open.
They were getting ready, checking the gun.
It was loaded now.
They would empty it into me as I had emptied it into Red Tuttle.
Now they were turning the knob.
They were coming in.
But it was only Leslie, and she had no gun, and Norman wasn't with her.
It's all right now, Wells.
What?
Everything is all right.
He won't tell.
How do you know?
He wanted to.
He wanted to go to the police.
I persuaded him not to, so don't worry.
Everything's quite all right.
Was it?
Then why did she say it like that, and why was she trembling?
Because she was afraid, afraid of what she and Norman Vale were planning to do, afraid
because the next time she came, he would be with her, and they'd kill me.
And I was alone again now.
Oh, what were they waiting for?
Let them come.
Let them come and get it over with.
I was tired of this room.
It was getting smaller every minute, smaller and hotter.
The heat was unbearable.
I could scarcely breathe.
Why, it was hotter than it had been 10 minutes ago.
It was like a furnace, just like a furnace.
I didn't know what it was at first, that sound.
I didn't know until I heard it again.
And then I knew there was no need even to look at the steam radiator in the corner.
They had built a fire, Leslie and Norman Vale, in the middle of the summer.
They had built a fire, and they had built it for me.
Now the sweat really poured.
Now the breath came hard.
No, not alive, I thought.
They wouldn't put me in alive.
Of course they would.
That's the safest way.
Gunshots could be heard, but you can't hear a man being stuffed into a furnace.
Of course they would.
No.
No, no, they wouldn't, because I wouldn't let them.
Maybe I had to die, but not that way.
No, no, no, not that way.
There was still the window.
There were still people on the street.
Help!
Help me, they're going to break me alive!
Help!
Help!
Something happened.
I blacked out.
And when I came to, I was lying on the army cot, the policeman, towered above.
He waited until my eyes could focus, and when he said it, he said it very quietly.
You're under arrest, Mr. Galloway, for the murder of your partner, Mr. Tuttle.
You fool!
You stupid fool!
She was standing in the doorway, and there was another policeman with her.
His arm was linked to hers.
I could almost smile at that, but Norman Vale, where was Norman Vale?
He wanted to kill me too.
He was as guilty as she.
The policeman must have seen the question in my eyes.
Your wife is under arrest too, Mr. Galloway, for the murder of Norman Vale.
The murder of...
Leslie, you killed him?
Of course I killed him.
Didn't I tell you he wanted to turn you in?
You think I'd let him rob me of all that money?
Oh, you fool!
You fool!
You!
If you'd only waited ten minutes, there wouldn't have been a trace of him left.
Thank you, Joseph Cotton, for a splendid performance.
Well, hello.
I guess that winds up suspense for this season.
It sure does, Hap, but we'll be back in the fall on September 1st.
In fact, same time, same stations.
And gosh, does that make me happy.
Oh, it does?
Yes, because then I'll have more opportunities to tell people about those dandy dependable
auto light stay full batteries that need water only three times a year in normal car use.
Well, folks, I think he likes you.
Yeah, just the way folks like auto light stay full batteries.
So friends, this is Harlow Wilcox.
And his pal Hap.
Saying so long for now and best wishes for a happy, trouble-free summer from auto light,
makers of more than 400 products for cars, trucks, airplanes, and boats.
Keep happy, folks.
And keep your car happy.
Have it checked regularly at your auto light dealers or by the dealer who services your
make of car.
There's one near you no matter where you're vacationing.
And be sure to ask for auto light original factory parts because they're engineered perfectly
to fit together perfectly and work together perfectly because they're a perfect team.
So so long for now.
And remember, you're always right with auto light.
And for this fourth of July weekend, remember this slogan, take care, don't take chances.
And now here again is Mr. Joseph Cotton.
I've always enjoyed appearing on Suspense and particularly so in tonight's unusual play.
As you know, this is the last Suspense broadcast for this season, but I'm looking forward,
and I'm sure you are, to its return to the air on September 1st when radio's outstanding
theater thrills will again bring you Hollywood's most famous stars in these gripping studies
in Suspense.
And Joseph Cotton appeared by arrangement with David O. Selznick, producer of Portrait
of Jenny.
Tonight's Suspense play was written by Ken Pettis and Lou Schofield with music composed
by Lucian Morrowek and conducted by Lud Bluskin.
The entire production was under the direction of Anton M. Leder.
In the coming weeks at this same time, be sure to hear Escape, a series of great stories
of high adventure by the world's outstanding authors.
Suspense brought to you by auto light on Thursday nights at this hour is taking its customary
summer holiday and returns to the air on Thursday, September 1st.
You can buy auto light staple batteries, auto light resistor spark plugs, auto light electrical
parts at your neighborhood auto light dealers.
Switch to auto light.
Good night.
This is CBS where 99 million people gather every week.
The Columbia Broadcasting System.