And now, a tale well calculated to keep you in...
...suspense.
A man walks in the fog, and a woman dies.
Terror grips the city and the police are helpless,
for the murders are without pattern and apparently without motive.
Listen now to Act One of The Man in the Fog,
starring Robert Dryden and Ethel Everett,
written especially for suspense by Joseph Cochran.
It's horrible. Think of it, Ben.
Three, now four, ripped with a knife and left in the gutter.
Oh, don't take on so many.
A live one minute, a clawing corpse the next.
Why don't the police do something?
I don't know why. Why don't they?
They're at their wit's end, is why.
They do think it's a working man, though.
Why? But that's like them,
to blame a poor working man for anything that happens.
It's as the killings always happen on weekends,
so they guess the one who's doing it is working, the other dies.
If they're so smart, why don't they catch him?
Well, they don't really know.
Anyhow, they're doubling the night force on weekends until he's caught.
Maybe he's too smart to get caught.
They're asking everyone to help.
And the newspaper's offering a reward. It's right here.
This piper will pie 500 pounds to any person who offers a clue
which leads to the arrest and conviction of the monster
who holds the city in terror and...
Monster? That's what they're calling a poor working man.
What I could do with 500 pounds,
I'd get a new oil cloth for the table and paint the kitchen,
maybe a new sink, and then...
Well, you ain't got it, so stop thinking of all the things you'd spend it for.
Supposing we could give the police an idea which would lead them to this killer.
Where would you get an idea?
You don't know anything about this sort of thing.
I didn't get it from you. Of that you can be sure.
All right. What's this idea?
Why should I tell you when all you ever did was to make fun of me
when I tried to win a little money for us?
No, them puzzle contests.
You spent a lot of time and never won a thing.
This is different.
What's your idea?
I'm not sure I'm going to tell you.
It ain't right to keep things from your husband.
You keep things from me.
What things?
You don't tell me where you go on Saturdays and Sundays.
Can't a man take a walk without his wife say so?
Now, you tell me or I'll...
You used to shout at me.
I was going to tell you all along,
but you turned up your nose at the idea of getting some money.
Here. Look at this map.
Now, it's a map of the city. What about it?
See them four crosses?
Yes.
Well, each one marks a spot where a woman was killed.
And when you connect them up, it makes an almost perfect square.
Anybody can make a square like that.
Put that map flap on the table and I'll show you something.
All right. Now it's on the table. Now what?
Well, here's where my idea comes in.
Whoever's doing the killing lives inside that square.
Oh, my sweet, there's over a million people living inside that square.
But the killer goes in a different direction each time.
How do you know that?
Well, it just stands to reason he's not going to kill a woman in front of his own house.
He's going to go in a different direction,
so as not to have two happen in the same place.
Suppose he does live inside the square.
I want the police to know whether...
Wait a minute. That's where the rest of my idea comes in.
I take a ruler and I draw two diagonal lines connecting the opposite corners, like this.
What's that for?
He most likely lives close to where them two lines cross.
Ah, I can't make out any names on this map.
Now, let's see. This line comes along and it cross...
Ben.
What's the matter?
The lines.
And the lines cross right here in our own block.
Maybe it's someone we pass on the street every day.
Oh, Christ.
I say, what are you doing here?
Come on, dearie, get up.
This is no place to be sleeping.
Come on, get up.
Here, I'll give you a hand.
Mother in heaven.
Ben.
Ben, it's happened again right here in our own block.
What are the lights on for?
Just like all the others, dead and lying in the gutter.
Turn off them lights. They cost money.
I'm scared. Didn't you hear me?
Your wife's been here all alone, dying with fear.
Don't you know there's been a murder almost on our doorstep?
Oh, quit screeching. I know it.
You do? Well, how do you know if...
No, police are all over the place.
They stopped me coming home and wanted to know who I was and what I was doing.
Why are you running the water this time of morning?
As you see, I'm washing my hands.
Seems to me you could wash up at the factory.
Oh, shut up.
Can't a man make himself clean without his wife yelling at him?
Who's yelling? It's you they can hear all over the house.
Yes, yes, yes.
Oh, Ross, mind me, there's no sense in shouting at each other.
I'm done in.
Give me some brandy.
Brandy? This time of the morning?
Get it, and don't give me any jaw.
Brandy? Now, you've got to have brandy when you get home.
The quiet, your tender nerves, I suppose.
Here.
Oh, well, you never know what's happened. It's me that needs it.
That's the stuff.
Oh, Mammy, you do do done in. You'd better take one.
Well, just a drop.
This time it didn't happen on a weekend.
No, it didn't.
So, maybe it ain't a working man after all.
I didn't say it was. It was the police's idea.
And what about your fancy idea of him going in a different direction each time?
Well, I don't know what to think now.
Maybe you ain't so smart after all.
Maybe you'd better tend to the housework and forget about rewards.
I'm going to bed.
Well, are you coming?
No, I'll be along in a minute.
What? I asked you the fancy one.
What's that?
You just got through washing your hands or don't you remember?
Now, I didn't.
Pauli.
Oh, yes, Mr. Britt.
Anything resembling a clue in those letters?
Oh, they're the usual stuff.
Six confessions, plenty of advice on how to catch him.
Yes. What's that one?
Oh, that's from a Mrs. Ben Cast.
She notices that if you connect the four murder locations, it forms a square.
A big help. Everyone, including the police, noticed that.
She's got the idea the killer must live where the two diagonals cross.
It's the date that made me put it aside.
Oh, let me see that.
Ah, mailed on the 24th. Night of the last murder.
Yes, and it took place within 100 feet where the lines cross on the map, sir.
Of course, it could be coincidence.
Hmm, could be, could be.
Well, we'll have to make a routine call on Mrs. Cast.
Are you the town keeper?
That's right.
What can I do for you?
My husband forgot his lunch.
Could you see it was sent in to him?
All right. What's his name?
Cast, Ben Cast. He works in the grinding shed.
He didn't check in tonight.
You mean he's not here?
There's his card. It's not punched.
But he left home at the regular time.
Maybe he's out with a blonde.
But Ben never misses work. He's never stayed away before. As...
He's pretty regular.
He missed work only once before this month.
Before tonight, I mean.
Once before? When was that?
Well, let's see.
Here it is. Wednesday the 24th.
The 24th?
Yes.
Wednesday. No. No, can't be. That was the night of the...
Here it is. That time clock doesn't lie.
Good Lord.
I see. What's the matter?
Nothing. I'm all right.
You don't look like it, Mrs. Cast. You better take the bus home.
You shouldn't be out alone in this fog...
with that fellow still at large.
I guess you know what I mean.
Ben, is that you?
Of course it's me.
Has it been another?
Don't pester me with questions. I'm done in.
I won't, Ben.
You're looking for the brandy. It's on the table.
Hello, Cast. I see you brought your lunch tonight.
I got to eat, don't I?
The other night when you forgot it, your wife brought it down.
That's the night you didn't check in.
She was here?
Yes.
You told her I didn't come to work?
What else could I tell her?
If you wanted me to cover for you, you should have let me know.
Well, good night, Mrs. Cast. Sorry to have bothered you...
but the police have to make a check of every letter...
and we do appreciate your desire to help catch this murderer.
Good night, sir.
Good night.
What do you think, sir?
She's a very frightened woman.
I just can't blame her.
First, a murder, a stone's throw away...
then the police drop in.
Yes, sir. Better run a check on her husband...
just to be on the safe side.
You know where he works and all that sort of thing.
Who's there?
Ben, what are you doing home?
Don't! Don't you hurt my arm.
A minute my back's turned, you call the police.
No, Ben, they came to ask me about the letter.
It don't mean a thing they said so.
They just have to check all the letters. They get dozens of them.
What did you tell them?
Nothing. Honest. There was nothing I could tell them.
They asked about me, didn't they?
I had to tell them I was married and that you worked night...
Did they ask you about Wednesday night?
No. No, they didn't ask.
What Wednesday?
Ben, please let go of my arm.
The night you brought my lunch to the factory...
the night you left the brandy out for me.
I knew you'd be tired after working hard all night.
It's good when you're tired.
Let me get your glass now.
Wednesday, you followed me.
You left the brandy.
You know, don't you?
I don't know anything, Ben.
I don't... I don't want to know.
You don't have to tell me where you go or what you do, Ben.
Ben, Ben, you're hurting me.
I'll never ask again.
You said I was a monster.
You want me to get caught so as you can get the money.
No, Ben, I don't want the money.
I tore the map up. It was a crazy idea.
Didn't mean anything. The men said so.
You put them on my trail.
They'll go to the factory. They'll ask questions.
They'll be after me like hound dogs...
sniffing and baying at my heels because of you.
All because of you.
Ben, please, please listen to me.
Put down the knife.
It's all up with me because of you.
But I'll finish you just like I finished all the others.
Ben, listen, Ben, you need me now more than you ever did.
Ben, Ben, Ben, I can help you.
I'm the only one who can help you.
Throw them off the scent.
You led them to me.
How are you going to lead them away?
You need someone to swear you was home all those nights you didn't go to work.
Don't you see, Ben, I'm the only one who can do that.
Suppose they ask where you were those nights.
I'll say I was at home.
But they won't believe you.
Not unless you have someone to back you up.
You've got to have an alibi.
Aliboi?
Someone who'll say you couldn't be near the place at time it happened.
You're not going to snitch on me?
I've been. Never. I'll never tell.
Please put away the knife.
Well, maybe I will.
Maybe I won't.
You've got to let me live.
Because without an alibi they'll hang you.
You'll say I was at home those nights?
I'll swear. I'll swear it.
Who else can do that for you?
Ben, you're tired.
Let me get you some brandy.
Yeah.
Brandy.
That's what I need.
Get it.
Well, here's the picture, Hawley.
For a time the murders took place on weekends.
Then they stopped but take place in the middle of the week.
And on Wednesday the 24th, Cask doesn't report for work.
First time in six years.
Two weeks later, Cask misses work again.
And there's another murder.
Yes, he's our man all right.
But proving it, it's another matter.
There hasn't been another since we questioned him.
Oh, he'll try again. It's only a matter of time.
Do you really think so, sir?
Oh, sure of it.
But assuming it is Cask, wouldn't he be a fool to try again?
Whoever it is, he can't help himself.
He'll try again and again until he's caught.
And all we can do is stand by and wait for it to happen again.
That's it. We know that it'll happen.
We know how it'll happen.
But we don't know when and we don't know where.
What does the weatherman say?
Heavy fog rolling in, sir.
Ain't it chilly enough without opening the window
and filling the room with a damp fog?
Thick, heavy fog.
I can't see the corner light.
Close the window.
I like the smell of cool, wet fog.
Then ain't it time you started for work?
Ben.
Eh? What did you say?
It's time you started for work.
I'm not going tonight.
Not going? What's come over you?
I don't like the factory and nights like this.
You'll stay in, Ben, won't you, if you don't go to work?
The walls press in on me.
I want to walk in the cool, wet fog.
It's all about one, but it doesn't press in.
It's a wall all round,
but it gives way as I walk into it.
No. Now stay home if you wish,
but don't go walking in the fog.
He'll call the factory and tell them I'm not coming in.
Ben, please, if I call them, will you promise not to?
Do as I say.
All right, I'll go phone. I'll be right back.
Hello? I'm calling for Ben Cast.
He's sick and he won't be in tonight.
No, no, not serious.
He'll be in tomorrow night.
Yes, yes, tomorrow.
Ben, I got the timekeeper.
Ben, why have you got your slicker on?
You promised me you'd never walk in the fog again.
There's someone out there calling me.
You're talking wild.
It's my mission.
There's a soul out there
begging to be released from the claws of the flesh
so as it can soar up to heaven.
Ben, Ben, don't.
Get out of my way.
Ben.
Mr. Britt, you've got to put him away.
He'll kill me if he knows I came to him.
Mrs. Cast, we can't use anything you've told us in court
because a wife cannot testify against her husband.
But he killed him, I know it.
And then again, he never actually confessed it to you.
All we've got here is that each time he missed work, there was a murder.
What are we going to do now?
Well, first I've got to get a confession out of him.
He'll never do that.
After I talked him out of killing because he needed an alibi,
he's become more sure of himself than ever.
Woman for his alibi.
Hmm.
Well, you wait, Mrs. Cast.
I've ordered him brought in.
You'll not let him see me, will you?
That depends.
Mr. Cast, on Wednesday the 24th,
there was a murder not far from your home.
Everybody knows that.
Yes, and on Wednesday the 24th,
you missed work for the first time in six years.
I didn't feel well, so I stayed home.
And two weeks later, there was another murder.
You missed work a second time in six years.
A man can get sick, can't he?
Two hours ago, a woman was killed.
And the third time in six years, you didn't report for work.
Where were you two hours ago, Mr. Cast?
I was at home.
And those other nights?
Where were you?
Home.
Well, I'm glad to hear that.
You understand, though, we can't just take your word for it.
Now, if there was someone who could testify for you,
you mean if I had an alibi?
Exactly.
Well, I have got an alibi.
My wife will swear I was home those nights.
But she's a woman, Mr. Cast.
She'll swear to it.
But you know how sneaky women are,
how they lie their heads off,
what traps they set for men.
Yes, I know.
Yes, they'll swear not to do something,
and a moment later, they'll do the opposite.
But maybe since she wouldn't...
But she's a woman, Mr. Cast.
Don't forget how greedy they are.
And there's a reward out for the killer.
Yes.
Maybe he wanted the reward.
Then I'm going to tell you something.
Just between you and me, understand?
I'm not to tell anybody else.
Right.
I hate women, too.
Oh, yes?
Those women who got the knife in the fog,
they all had it coming to them.
Yes, they had it coming to them.
Look, Ben, I, uh...
I want to show you something.
Now, who's that woman talking to my man?
Mamie.
And he's writing down what she says.
As I said, you can't depend on them.
Well, Mamie, she's...
she's my only boy.
What will I do?
She's the only one who can swear where I was those nights.
You can tell me, Ben, because I understand.
Now, tell me where you really were those nights.
Tell me how you walked in the cool, wet fog
that formed a blanket all around you.
Tell me how a dim figure of a woman
would come out of the fog,
how your hand would go to the knife.
The knife.
Ben?
The knife?
Yes.
You do understand things.
You do understand me.
My hand would go to the knife
all by itself.
It would take it.
I could hear a soul wailing
in the body of a woman,
begging to be freed from the claws of the flesh.
And then my hand would lift the knife,
and in a minute the soul would be free.
And then my head would stop hurting.
Suspend.
You've been listening to The Man in the Fog,
starring Robert Dryden and Ethel Everett,
and written especially for Suspense by Joseph Cochran.
Suspense is produced and directed by Bruno Zarratto Jr.,
music supervision by Ethel Huber,
also featured in tonight's story
where Mercer McCloud, Lawson Zerbe, and Guy Rett.
Listen again next week when we return with No Hiding Place,
written by William N. Robeson,
another tale well calculated to keep you in...
Suspense.
They sing too.
Carol Burnett and Richard Hayes weeknights on the CBS Radio Network.
Chevrolet spotlights the news.
Chevrolet, in behalf of your local authorized Chevrolet dealer,
who invites you to see the new 1962 Chevrolet's on Friday, September 29th,
brings you Alan Jackson with the latest news from the CBS Newsroom.
The President is conferring with his advisors in New York.
The Attorney General had a word on nuclear weapons.
The story's in a moment, after a word from Chevrolet.
May I help you, sir? Oh, yes. I'd like to see some of those 62...
I mean, 62 Chevrolet cars. I'm afraid you're a bit early, sir.
The new 62 Chevrolet's and Corvairs won't be shown to the public until September 29th.
Teb Center, 92nd? I mean, September 29th?
Yes, sir. That's the day we Chevrolet dealers unveil the 62 Chevrolet's, Corvairs, and the...
Could you show me a picture of what they look like?
Not until September 29th.
Oh, that's ridiculous. I mean, that's ridiculous.
Sorry, sir, but I'm afraid you'll just have to wait until Friday, September 29th.
Well, baby, I mean, maybe you could tell me something about them.
Well, the new 1962 Chevrolet's and Corvairs are absolutely beyond description.
And the totally new line of cars is... Yes?
Oh, I'm sorry, sir. You'll just have to wait until September 29th.
But waiting makes me no service.
I mean, I'm not a car dealer. I'm a car dealer.
But waiting makes me no service. I mean, so nervous. I mean, couldn't you...
Not until Friday, December, and then it whined. I mean, Friday, September 29th.
Are you trying to fake money me?
Two more names have been added to the meeting President Kennedy is having in New York this evening.
Arthur Dean, who headed our delegation at the disarmament talks,
and John McCloy, the president's advisor on disarmament.
We're called in to join Secretary Rusk and Ambassador Stevenson
in a preview of the speech the president will deliver to the U.N. General Assembly tomorrow.
He flew down from Cape Cod a little over an hour ago.
The Russians, in a memo to the U.N. on the eve of the opening of the new General Assembly session,
reasserted that they will unconditionally accept any Western proposals for control measures
if the West will first accept Premier Khrushchev's program for general and complete disarmament.
The president's brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, in a broadcast interview
said there is no question that the president would use nuclear weapons
if necessary to save the freedom of Berlin.
If we retreated Berlin, he said, we will never be able to stand up again.
Democratic Senator Mike Mansfield says there are some things in the Berlin crisis
which can be negotiated, things which don't affect the freedom of West Berlin
or the security of the free world.
And he said that de facto recognition of the East German communists might well be inevitable.
There have already been angry protests by some West Germans
at the idea of any form of recognition, but Mansfield pointed out
that the West Germans themselves already recognize East Germany in one form,
that is, more than $300 million worth of trade agreements every year.
The communists of Berlin are still having trouble keeping their reluctant citizens out of the West,
despite the new concrete wall, barbed wire, and other barricades along the city dividing line.
At least 20 East Berliners escaped to freedom during the day
by jumping out of windows, scrambling through barbed wire, and climbing over the wall.
And some made their way into the western side of town
by digging a tunnel through the wall of a stable on the border.
Three Air Force servicemen were killed in the crash of an Air Force transport plane
in Wilmington, North Carolina.
The plane had just taken off with newsmen and members of the skydiving parachute team
preparing to jump for an air show down below.
It stalled on takeoff and crashed on the edge of the field in full view of the spectators
and a TV audience watching over the local TV station.
Eleven other persons aboard the plane were injured.
Death came to a career diplomat at his home in New Jersey,
Sunder Wells, a former Under Secretary of State, died at the age of 68.
The exact cause of his death was not announced.
It was Wells who coined the phrase, good neighbor policy,
in describing our attitude toward the nations of Latin America.
Argentina's President Frondese is on his way to New York
where he'll meet with President Kennedy Tuesday morning,
and there are hints in Rio that Brazil's new President Goulart
will be pleased to accept an invitation to visit the President in Washington.
And so-called informed sources are suggesting that such an invitation
likely will be sent within the next few weeks.
That's the news. Now a word from Chevrolet.
This is Art Baker speaking for Chevrolet
in behalf of your local authorized Chevrolet dealer
who invites you to see the new 1962 Chevrolets coming Friday, September 29th.
Remember, Chevrolet brings you the news 12 times each weekend on CBS Radio.