Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we
are going to bring you our four thousand, six hundred
and fiftieth episode special. But first, if you are enjoying
the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software.
I stumbled across today's episode while looking for less damon
extras to feature on the Patreon site for the Great Detectives,
but listening to it, it really felt close enough to
a typical detective story that we should feature it on
the podcast. I will say that there are some audio issues.
I'm aware of them, but they're relatively minors. There are
a few portions where you can kind of faintly hear
another program playing in the background. But this is the
best available copy we have at the moment now here.
From February twenty first, nineteen six day is the episode
of suspense Crank.
Speaker 2: Letter, another tale well calculated to keep you in.
Speaker 3: Suspense.
Speaker 4: Have you ever received a letter threatening your life? And
if you did, what did you do about it? Well,
let's find out what doctor Fraser did. As we listened
to Crank Letter, written for Suspense by water Black.
Speaker 5: M doctor Fraser speaking doctor Paul Eaman over homicide.
Speaker 4: Oh you believe in telepathy?
Speaker 6: Lieutenant?
Speaker 7: Well, I was just about to pick up the phone
to call you.
Speaker 4: Oh, I guess the department must have modified you.
Speaker 6: Huh notified me about what.
Speaker 3: Are you gonna be? Physical checkup? Is that what you meant?
Speaker 6: No?
Speaker 7: No, you see, I got a letter and I wanted
to talk to you about it. Could I drop in
later today?
Speaker 6: Well?
Speaker 4: Sure if you want again, and wait until I come
buy my checkup, save your trip.
Speaker 7: Well, I guess it can wait. Uh, let me see.
Can you come in at at four today?
Speaker 3: Yes I can.
Speaker 7: I'll see you then, doctor old Lieutenant Yes, Now the
outer door will be locked, so just call out and
I'll let you in. You can put your shirt back
on now, lieutenant.
Speaker 4: Okay, Well what's the verdict?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 7: You're your sound as a pre war dollar follow. If
I were you, i'd take off a couple of paws
around the middle, and.
Speaker 4: I keep telling myself I will, But when it comes
to my wife's cooking, I got all the will power
of a jelly feet. All right, doc, Now it's your turn.
You mentioned the letter, Yes, yes, here read it? You
quite are all alike murderers. Honest, people aren't safe from
butchers like you. If the law won't punish you, I
will be avenger. Now she went to a lot of trouble,
didn't She got out all the letters in the magazine,
and she reads like a woman could be a man.
Of course, I suppose you handle this, haven't you?
Speaker 7: You mean fingerprints? But yes, I guess so. I didn't
know what it was, of course. Well it doesn't matter, Doc,
She probably wore gloves.
Speaker 4: I wouldn't worry too much about it. You wouldn't worry
about it. No, no, it's not addressed to you. No, no, no,
take it easy. I only meant. We get hundreds of
poison pen stuff like this every year. Ninety nine percent
of them turned out to be crank letters, and the
other one percent, Lieutenant, what do they turn out to be?
You know of anyone who might have a grudge against you? Doctor, No,
there's no reason at all for anyone to hate you.
That right, Well, there's no rational reason. No, I said,
no reason at all. Well it's.
Speaker 7: Well, it isn't really a reason. Let me be the judge. Huh,
all right, it happened last week. I was performing an
operation and an elderly patient in his seventies. His heart
failed on the table. Everything possible was done for him,
but it wasn't any use.
Speaker 2: He died.
Speaker 7: Anyway, It's been on my mind. I feel terrible about it. Guilty, No, No,
why should I feel guilty? It happens sometimes, no reason.
Just asking d'artin the man who died?
Speaker 4: What was his name? Gilbert Joseph Gilbert? Any relatives he
lived with? A son?
Speaker 8: Name?
Speaker 4: Well, I don't, I'll wait a minute. I probably haven't
on his records.
Speaker 7: Yeah, here it is if Frederick Gilbert two ten South
Oak Lane.
Speaker 4: Give a meet him?
Speaker 6: Yes?
Speaker 7: What's he like? He's big and burly. He he won. Well,
it was after his father died. He threatened to hit me.
He had to be restrained by some hospital attendants. Mm hm,
you think he wrote this letter? Nope, I think it's
just what I said. It was a crank letter. Beating
you up sounds more like his type. I'm pretty sure
it'll turn out to be destinied the crank.
Speaker 4: Yeah, excuse me, lieutenant, But there's a doctor. Donald Fraser
outside says he has to see. Is it's important? Okay?
Send him in Evans. Yes, sir, you can go on
in and go, Okay, thank you. I'm sorry to bother you, lieutenant,
but it's not bothered at all.
Speaker 9: Doc.
Speaker 4: What's on your mind? This pay of the morning mail?
We'll go on read it all right? All right? Why
don't you sit down and relax it? Relax I'm too nervous.
If you must know, I'll suit yourself. You killed him,
You and I know it, even if nobody else does.
Your turn is next?
Speaker 10: Well?
Speaker 4: Is that all you can say? Cheap grade of paper
and no signature? You killed him? Do you think this
refers to that patient of yours? What else can I think?
Speaker 6: Look?
Speaker 7: I'm not I'm not normally a very excitable person, lieutenant,
but this has got me scain, Yes, scared?
Speaker 4: Can you understand that?
Speaker 7: Or don't?
Speaker 4: Police will ever get scared? Sure? We do often send
evans in. And what am I supposed to do?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 4: Walk out of here and go about my business? Is
that it?
Speaker 7: I'm scared, Neeman, I'm scared sick? Now does that penetrate?
I want protection? And don't give me any more of
this crank letter routine. Neither this thing is genuine. I
can feel it.
Speaker 4: I think you're right, don look, why don't you sit down.
Speaker 7: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to blow up at you.
All right, I forget it.
Speaker 4: Let's go one in Evans. This is doctor Fraser don
this is the detective Evans. How do you do? Evans?
You're off desk duties it now until further notice. You're
a sign of the doctor. You'll pick him up every
morning when he leaves his apartment. You'll go out on
calls with him, accompany him to the hospital. It works,
you got it, yes, sir? And every night you take
him back home and wait until he locks his door. Yes, sir,
What am I supposed to be looking for? Lieutenant guess
is as good as mine. Just make sure that doctor
stays healthy. Yes, sir, you are taking this seriously, aren't you, Paul?
I am donald real serious.
Speaker 2: In just a moment, we will return for the second
act of suspense.
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Today we was at the hospital from two thirty five
to seven to fifteen. Then we went to eat, went
to a movie. Not a bad will neither Lieutenant to
one of the palace you've seen it. Never mind that no, Sir,
I got back to the apartment at eleven o eight.
I checked it out like always, he locked the door
behind me. I picked him up again at eight ten
this morning, and i'd just come from his office office
door locked. Oh yes, sir, I make sure of that,
he says. Some of his patients complain about it, but
he locks it in. Nothing out of the way, No, sir,
liturner name and it's Don Fraser.
Speaker 3: Paul.
Speaker 4: I got another one, another letter, read it.
Speaker 3: You haven't got much more time, murderer. You know how
to kill? How well will you die? You've got to
do something, Paul.
Speaker 4: I'll take it easy with doing our best, Doc. This
just came in the mail. Well, I call it on
my desk when I got to the office. I'll be
there in five minutes. Dock, come on, happens.
Speaker 6: Let's go.
Speaker 4: All right, doctor, and now let's see what we've got
her out of door wasn't tampered with. Neither were the
windows or the catchers. The building superintendent has been in
the cleaning woman without so she wasn't even here last night.
Now you're absolutely certain the door was locked when you
left last night and locked when you got here this morning.
I was with a lieutenant. It was locked, all right,
Yet there was the letter right on your desk. How
did it get there? What was paul? I? I should
have mentioned this before, but I didn't think it was important.
But I lost my key ring last month. Now it
was only missing two days and then somebody returned it
through the mail. It had my name on it. Now
it ain't that just Jim Peachee Dan Well, I'm sorry.
I didn't think it meant anything. Heavan's collar station. I
want that man Gilbert brought in. Let's find out about
Gilbert once and for all. You have to keep that
light shining in my eyes. We don't have to, but
we're going to. We like to see who we're talking to,
even when they're as ugly as you. I'd like to
get you out behind that badge bust. And he used
to say that anytime at all. All right, Gilbert, let's
go back over that story of yours. You gave my
man the slip after retailor home last night? Where'd you go?
I told you tell him again? I went bowling. You
always leave by the back door when you go bolding
and think I'm a kid of something. I knew you
had a tale on me. Am. I supposed to write
him a letter if I feel like going on.
Speaker 3: Why not?
Speaker 4: You've been writing doctor Fraser letter.
Speaker 3: I ain't writing nobody nothing.
Speaker 4: How many times I have to tell you turn off
the light you heard me and get that clock out
of here. It's making me jumpy. Yes, sir, that's pretty
rough about your dad. Gilbert's dying on the operating table
like that. Of course, who's to say whose faull it was.
Accidents will happen. So my old man had the constitution
of a Knox. It was no accident that killed him.
You think Fraser did it on purpose? I thought that
Fraser be You really want to know what I think?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I do. My old man was a clinic patient. No,
do slap him on the table, cut him open if
he lives, okay, if he dies too bad? Well, like
I said, I don't blame you for wanting to get
back at Fraser.
Speaker 6: I do.
Speaker 4: You're oh boy, Gilbert, you got the motive and you've
got the opportunity. We got witnesses who heard you swear
to get even with fraise. That's so a guy says
lots of things that don't mean any time up to
the jury. Gilbert, you only got one chance. That's the
cup of play.
Speaker 3: I never wrote no letters. Where have you had that?
Speaker 4: Topic? A keys you'll find up sooner or later anyway
with Neman.
Speaker 3: This is my last warning, Lieutenant Fraser, haven't got much
time left.
Speaker 4: Who's this?
Speaker 3: You're his friend? Tell him to make his peace with God.
Speaker 4: If you can't wait a minute, comedy, put a trace
in this core. If you've got anything against doctor Fraser,
why don't you come on in. We'll talk it over.
Speaker 3: Give him my message, Lieutenant Hello.
Speaker 7: Hello, Like, I just don't get it. I was so
sure Gilbert was the one. You're in good company, Doc,
so too.
Speaker 4: I never did. He was just the only pigeon inside.
Speaker 2: Doc.
Speaker 4: Tell me this town you were born and where you
grew up. What's the name of it, Haydenville? Maybe the
answers back there? But I left after high school. I
never went back. I told you that. I know. I
know what about your family. My father's dead, my mother
lives with my aunt out in California. Nobody else, brothers, sisters,
cause nobody else. How come you never went back there?
Speaker 7: I had no reason too. I'd made new friends in
college and later in mid school. There weren't any close
ties at home?
Speaker 4: All right, don, how about college medical school?
Speaker 7: No, no, nothing there either. I not that I was
the most popular guy or anything like it. But I've well,
I've never gone around making enemies.
Speaker 4: I wouldn't call a letter writer a boosom perall exactly, Hey, Lieutenant,
maybe it's a patient.
Speaker 7: Maybe one of them's kind of cracked. None of my
patients has any reason to wish.
Speaker 4: Me harm, oh Man Gilbert conked out on the operating table.
Was there anybody else?
Speaker 7: I'm not in the habit of either killing or wounding
my patients, Evans. Now you can check my records if
you like. Okay, Doc, just asking. Let's go, Evans. I'll
pick you up at the usual times if I'm still around.
Speaker 4: Okay, Doc, it's me up from at him. Hey Doc,
it's me Evans. Let's get going. I like some breakfast, doc.
Speaker 6: Hey Doc, it's not a lot. That's gars.
Speaker 11: Hey Doc.
Speaker 2: In just a moment, we will return for the concluding
act of suspense.
Speaker 12: Next time you refresh, enjoy a frosty ice cold Pepsicola
sociability Charlie. All right, how's this pepsi is light refreshes
without filling.
Speaker 4: You like to refresh. Have a pepsi right now.
Speaker 10: We'll offer it to everybody.
Speaker 12: Charlie, I will enjoy pepsi at the fountain. It's delicious
at home too. Have one at lunch or with a snack, Charlie,
at the beach, or at dinner. Wherever you go, wherever
you're thirsty, Pepsi is there.
Speaker 10: It's here too, in our b sociable, sound, Be sociable.
Speaker 11: Love sarge, keep popper, studiate with sunsi drinks like refreshing them.
Speaker 10: Stare, be sociable.
Speaker 12: Have a pepsie for the weekend. Have plenty of pepsi around.
Pick up an extra carton today. See k I'm sociable
with pepsi.
Speaker 10: Everyone is.
Speaker 4: How is he? Lieutenant doctor says, you live. Thank heavens
for that.
Speaker 6: You know something.
Speaker 4: Fraser must have opened that door himself, even with duplicate keys.
Nobody could open it from outside after he shot the bull.
Some sort of case as crazy as this. It's nice
to have one solid factor sink your teeth into crazy
as right. No sign of a struggle, not a mark
on him yet there he is, stretched out on the couch,
and every burner on the stove going full blast. Lieutenant,
I just thought of something. Whoever the guy is, he's
someone Fraser knows. You don't open the door in the
middle of the night to a stranger. No kidding, Well,
it's nothing like everything else we got. Go on back
to the station, Evans. But what about you. I'm going
to see Fraser as soon as they let me. Mm hm,
Doctor Fraser, don can you hear me? It's Neman. You're
going to be all right. Don you hear me? You're
going to be all right.
Speaker 13: He was lucky this time. He won't be again. What
I should have turned the guests on earlier?
Speaker 3: Doctor?
Speaker 6: Boys?
Speaker 4: What do you try next time? I use a gun?
That's the same. It was you on the phone, wasn't it, Doc?
It was me, Lieutenant?
Speaker 10: What what's going on?
Speaker 13: It's very simple. I called you, I wrote the letters.
I try to kill him, and I'll try again.
Speaker 6: Only the next time.
Speaker 4: It was you. Who are you?
Speaker 6: Donald Fraser?
Speaker 4: But Doc radio, okay.
Speaker 14: You're Donald Fraser. Where do you live? Ninety two Main Street, Haydenville, Haydenville.
Where do you work Mulholland's meat Market after school and
then all day Saturday?
Speaker 4: School? What grade you went?
Speaker 6: I'm a junior in high school?
Speaker 4: Why just routine? You you have plans to go to college.
Speaker 6: Sure, I'm going to be a doctor.
Speaker 4: Do you mind me asking why you're out to kill him?
Speaker 6: It's responsible for Jamie's death, so he has to pay
for it.
Speaker 4: Jamie my brother, he's.
Speaker 6: Too I mean, he was two years younger than me.
Speaker 4: How did he die?
Speaker 9: He drowned?
Speaker 2: Boy?
Speaker 6: I don't want to talk about it.
Speaker 4: I have to know, Donald, how did he die?
Speaker 13: He got cramps, he yelled. He could have been saved me.
I mean, he was too busy swimming to pay any attention.
By the time he around, it.
Speaker 8: Was too late.
Speaker 4: And you blame him for that.
Speaker 6: Yes, he's got to pay.
Speaker 4: Suppose it had been the other way around? Would you
blame Jamie?
Speaker 2: Radio?
Speaker 4: You know how it is when you're swimming, you're having fun.
It's easy to forget about the guys with you.
Speaker 6: He shouldn't have forgotten.
Speaker 4: No, But he didn't forget deliberately, did he? No? Will
killing him bring Jamie back?
Speaker 6: What are you asking me so many questions for?
Speaker 4: Will it accomplish anything at all? Donald?
Speaker 6: Maybe it'll give me peace?
Speaker 4: Is that what you want most?
Speaker 6: Yes?
Speaker 4: Killing him will only make you feel worse, you'll be
a murderer. Then is that what you want?
Speaker 6: No, you want to be a doctor.
Speaker 4: That means saving lives, Donald, not taking them. Start with him,
give him back his life. That's the only way for
you to find peace. You you believe that the Bible
says judge not lest he be judged. I don't think
a guy like you could go through life with a
secret like that on his conscience.
Speaker 6: He just wants in peace.
Speaker 4: Then try it my weight downe.
Speaker 6: Forgive him.
Speaker 4: He suffered more than you'll ever know.
Speaker 10: How he know.
Speaker 4: I'm his friend. He's a very decent guy. I wish
you could know him as I do.
Speaker 6: What about Jamie?
Speaker 4: If he could, I think he'd say the same thing.
He doesn't blame him. It was an accident. Try it
my weight downe?
Speaker 10: Will you.
Speaker 4: Donald?
Speaker 9: I'll try, good boy, doc.
Speaker 4: Can you hear me?
Speaker 10: No?
Speaker 6: M Who who is?
Speaker 10: Who?
Speaker 6: Is it?
Speaker 10: Me?
Speaker 4: Paul Neeman? How do you feel?
Speaker 6: No?
Speaker 10: Well?
Speaker 6: Is that m?
Speaker 15: As Evans would say, Jim Peachey, dandy, what happened? You
had an accident? It's over and done with. You're going
to be okay.
Speaker 2: I it's.
Speaker 7: It's funny, Paul, But I feel I don't know quite
how to put it, Like a big burdens off my back.
It's crazy, isn't it? No, not at all sure it
is whatever happened to me. I know, I know it
was no accident. That letter write to try again.
Speaker 4: No, he won't duck because you see we've found him.
From now on, I don't think you'll have any more
trouble Suspense. You've been listening to crank letter written for
suspense by water Black in a moment the names of
our players. That a word about next week's story of
suspense out of tune.
Speaker 3: Because of irregularity.
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Speaker 4: Heard in tonight's story were Lyles Soudrau as Doctor Donald Fraser,
Les Damon as Lieutenant Neiman, Phil Meader as the young
Donald Fraser, and Larry Haynes as Fred Gilbert. Listen again
next week when we return with Lieutenant Langer's Last Collection
by George Bamber. Another tale well calculated to keep you
in s on CBS Radio.
Speaker 1: Welcome back. An interesting conclusion to the case, and I
like how the doctor's own guilt was driving this whole activity,
which was occurring on a subconscious level. And I thought
that Les Damon did a really good job in the
way that Paul reasoned with the doctor's younger self. It
was an interesting decision to have an entirely different actor
playing the younger self. It's justifiable from a realism perspective.
Although oftentimes director will try to get an actor to
just do a voice that's younger, there can actually be
a great deal of change from a teenager's voice to
how someone sounds as an adult man, and so having
a separate actor justifiable. And also think it avoids giving
the game away too soon because you might have been
at a point of suspecting the doctor was behind this,
but then you hear the voice and it's not the
exact same voice, so you're kind of like, Okay, what's
going on here. I will say that Paul's actions at
the very end are a bit silly, but true to
the way the era often dealt with mental health. Yeah,
he had a major dissociative event that led him to
see his own destruction and unwillingly commit suicide. But I'm
a fully licensed police lieutenant and by just being calm
I fixed it. No need for him to know what
was going on or to seek additional psychological assistance to
work through these issues. Best not for him even to
worry about it. This is a smart thing to do.
We turn now to listener comments and feedback, and we
have a few comments regarding Matthew Slade over on YouTube.
A couple of people agreed with the one commenter who
said that he at first thought that Matthew Slade sounded
like Jack Webb twas interesting and then we got a
question here listener rights, does mister Slade have any holiday
themed episodes? The answer to that one is no. Now
there are two points about that. First is that Matthew
Slade started airing in July and finished up in November
of nineteen sixty four, so not really an opportunity for that.
In addition, the series was recorded with the idea of
syndication in mind, and when I grew up it really
you know, I watched a fair amount of first run
syndication and it was not a problem at all for
a show in first run syndication to have a Christmas episode.
But the way it worked during the Golden Age of
radio is that radio stations tended to buy syndicated programs
in chunks of thirteen or twenty six, and so for
the most part, syndicators chose to make the programs such
that they could be started and listened to at any
time of the year, because a station might buy a
package of programs and started in theory anytime. Now, there
are some exceptions. For example, Boston Blackie and Mystery as
My Hobby were largely syndicated, but they did have Christmas episodes. However,
there were more than two hundred episodes of Boston Blackie made,
and there were well over one hundred and thirty and
probably one hundred and fifty syndicated episodes of Mystery Is
My Hobby. Although one thing that Mystery Is My Hobby
was noted for is that it would have disc that
would actually be able to be used in different packages,
like a program might be number thirty seven and also
number seventy five, so if a station bought a one
to fifty two package or they bought a fifty three
to one on four package, it would have the same episode,
just a different number, you know, because of limited continuity.
But I think when we did Mystery Is Not My Hobby,
I explained it's a bit of a hard series to
trace its exact chronology for many reasons, but the point
being that Christmas episodes work easier in syndication if you've
got a lot of episodes to sell, and matthews Lad's case,
they only had thirteen episodes with Day of the Phoenix
broken up into three parts for syndication, so they really
couldn't do a holiday episode. So thanks so much, appreciate
the question. Now it is time for us to go
ahead and thank our Patreon supporter of the day, and
I want to go ahead and thank Keith. Keith Spend,
one of our Patreon supporters since February twenty seventeen, currently
supporting the podcast at the Shawmas level of four dollars
or more per month. Thanks so much for your support, Keith,
and that will actually do it for today. If you're
enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software.
Join us on Tuesday as we launch hot copy, But
be sure and listen tomorrow for the Adventures of the
Falcon with Least Damon.
Speaker 4: Where have any idea who might be happy? No, I'm
indulging any extracurricular activities. What you mean women?
Speaker 16: You take me for an idiot. I'm married to the
greatest little gal in the world. You owe anybody any money? No,
I'm the kind of pays his bills and always on
the dot. You sound too good to be true.
Speaker 4: Ah.
Speaker 16: The more I hear of this, the more I'm convinced
Corbett was right. Come again, will you tell it? You're
the most popular man in the class? Okay, if that's
the way you feel, we'll get somebody else. There are
other private detectives in New.
Speaker 4: York and better too. Come on, Steve, I'm sorry, Michel,
I forget. It's not your fault. Just say it's a
clash of personalities. You're coming, Steve. Yeah, it's a long
pallat me. See you bet give me a call before
you leave town. I will well. I hope you are satisfied.
Speaker 2: I am.
Speaker 4: I think wearing is gonna work out fine, so.
Speaker 9: Help me your nuts.
Speaker 4: Didn't you hear it?
Speaker 3: I know what he said.
Speaker 4: He thinks this is a publicity stunt.
Speaker 10: All he caught with the prologue.
Speaker 4: He'll play ball after the first.
Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then in the meantime.
Send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Actives dot net,
follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us
out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com slash Great Detectives from Boise, Idaho.
This is your host, Adam Graham signing off.