Speaker 1: Fed up with the everyday grind, tired out by the
Speaker 1: dull routine, want to get away from it all.
Speaker 2: We offer you escape, escape designed to free you from
Speaker 2: the four walls of today, for a half hour of
Speaker 2: high adventure.
Speaker 1: You are speeding through the English countryside, the fast express
Speaker 1: train rocking beneath your feet, and you know that somewhere
Speaker 1: in the dark ahead of you, a band of men
Speaker 1: are plodding the destruction of the train, are planning the
Speaker 1: moment of your death.
Speaker 2: Today we escape to England at the turn of the
Speaker 2: century and the story of a complete train and that
Speaker 2: vanished from the face of the earth. As Sir Arthur
Speaker 2: Conan Doyle told it in his Fascinating Tale, the last special.
Speaker 3: Twenty years with Scotland Yard had brought me into contact
Speaker 3: with many weird and unusual events in human affairs, but
Speaker 3: none more strength than the occurrences which began on the
Speaker 3: afternoon of June third, eighteen ninety in the railway station
Speaker 3: at Liverpool.
Speaker 4: On no case before.
Speaker 3: Had I ever felt myself so helpless, groping blindly as
Speaker 3: it were, for an unseen adversary, not being certain of
Speaker 3: the nature of the crime, not even knowing, in fact,
Speaker 3: if it were a crime. Suffice to say that, along
Speaker 3: a short stretch of railway line in western England, I
Speaker 3: learned what is truly meant by terror of the unknown.
Speaker 3: At four o'clock of the afternoon in question, having completed
Speaker 3: a rather minor investigation which had brought me to Liverpool,
Speaker 3: I was sitting in the waiting room of the railway station,
Speaker 3: reading and waiting for the six o'clock train for London,
Speaker 3: entirely unaware at that moment of a rather ordinary conversation
Speaker 3: that was taking place in the office of mister James Bland,
Speaker 3: the station master, a few yards away.
Speaker 5: I'm very happy to know you, mister Carrotle, and you
Speaker 5: mister Gomez, and now if I might learn the nature of.
Speaker 6: Your wishes simply this, mister Bland, my companion and I
Speaker 6: have arrived on the Schemer from Central America, which ducked
Speaker 6: less than an hour ago. It is of the utmost
Speaker 6: importance that we reach London as quickly as possible in
Speaker 6: order to arrange passage across the channel to France.
Speaker 4: I see it.
Speaker 5: Well, it's unfortunate you missed the three o'clock train, mister Carrottle. However,
Speaker 5: they'll be limited leaving at six that will put you
Speaker 5: in London. That is not soon enough, mister Blend.
Speaker 6: I cannot stress too highly the importance of my reaching
Speaker 6: Paris at the earliest possible moment.
Speaker 5: I can understand that. But there simply isn't any other
Speaker 5: training quite so. Quite so, I am informed, however, that
Speaker 5: it is possible to charter a special train upon occasion,
Speaker 5: a special. Yes, it's possible, rather expensive, though the.
Speaker 6: Cost is not important, mister Blend. How soon can the
Speaker 6: arrangements be made?
Speaker 5: Well, mister Hood, do we have an engine available?
Speaker 1: Sir?
Speaker 7: Number two forty seven is on the north siding under
Speaker 7: emergency steam.
Speaker 5: Good, very well, mister Carrotle.
Speaker 4: It's four oh eight.
Speaker 5: Now we can roll a special out of here at
Speaker 5: four thirty. The charge is fifty five.
Speaker 6: Pounds Gomez, you will pay mister Blend fifty five pounds.
Speaker 5: Who is on the stand by, kroomised Hood.
Speaker 7: Let's say John Slater's engineer, Macpherson god Smith Farman.
Speaker 5: Call him at once, help them carry two standard coaches
Speaker 5: behind the engine, and telegraph the station master at Saint
Speaker 5: Helens to hold the local onsiding there until the special
Speaker 5: goes through. Make sure the line is clear as far
Speaker 5: as Manchester. Sir, I'll send for a porter to take
Speaker 5: care of your briefcase. Mister carrottle seems to be rather heavy,
Speaker 5: thank you.
Speaker 6: No, I prefer to keep it with me if you
Speaker 6: don't mind.
Speaker 5: Certainly, whatever you wish. Now, if you leave here at
Speaker 5: four thirty, you should be a Manchester at quarter to six.
Speaker 5: The station master there will clear you onto London, and
Speaker 5: I trust you'll have a very pleasant journey.
Speaker 3: As I say, I was not aware of these events
Speaker 3: until a while later, and would have placed no significance
Speaker 3: on them. In any case, at four thirty one, the
Speaker 3: special train with its two passengers and three crew members
Speaker 3: pulled out of Liverpool Station and headed to Manchester, and
Speaker 3: at ten minutes to six I was summoned to the
Speaker 3: office with mister James Bland, the station master.
Speaker 5: And so that seems to be it very likely. I
Speaker 5: have no real reason at all to be worried, Inspect Collins,
Speaker 5: But since I saw you below there in the station,
Speaker 5: I thought it was call you when.
Speaker 3: I'm happy if you have any help, mister Bland, as
Speaker 3: I understand it, your special train is running behind schedule.
Speaker 5: Is that incredibly behind the schedule? C nearly half an
Speaker 5: hour overdue at Manchester. Right now we've wired them to
Speaker 5: check and report back.
Speaker 3: It isn't exactly unheard of for it trained to run slow,
Speaker 3: mister Bland.
Speaker 5: It is unless there's some reason, and I can't think
Speaker 5: of one. In this case, the special had clear track
Speaker 5: all the way. It passed through Saint Helens at four
Speaker 5: fifty two, right on time, they wireless, and then fifteen
Speaker 5: minutes later released the local to follow along behind it
Speaker 5: into Mantuster.
Speaker 3: You mentioned something about mister Cattle having a companion.
Speaker 5: I believe, yes, a great bulking brute named Gomeres. He
Speaker 5: didn't that for a word while they were here. Seemed
Speaker 5: to be a sort of bodyguard. Carotil himself was small
Speaker 5: and stooped, with a swathe complexion, possibly a Latin America.
Speaker 3: And you got the impression that he was carrying something
Speaker 3: rather valuable in his briefcase.
Speaker 5: Yes, he wouldn't let it out of his hands, and
Speaker 5: he seemed to be in great fear of something, though
Speaker 5: I haven't any idea of what it may have heard.
Speaker 4: What about this second chapter is more typically.
Speaker 5: English, about forty years old. Seemed very anxious to reach
Speaker 5: his sick wife in London.
Speaker 7: Yes, Manchester on the wire. Now, mister Blair, good, what
Speaker 7: do they watch the moment? Eh, well, here's a message.
Speaker 7: Assume change in your original plan. Local from Saint Helens arrived.
Speaker 7: Manchester reports no sign special train.
Speaker 5: Oh but that's impossible. Saint Helens reported the special through
Speaker 5: ahead of the local.
Speaker 3: Is there a branch line between Saint Helens and Manchister
Speaker 3: mister Bland, No, not.
Speaker 5: Even a double track. There's only a single track mainline
Speaker 5: straight through sidings of course at the local stations for
Speaker 5: loading purposes. But mister Hood, so check every local operator
Speaker 5: from Saint Helen's arm. We've got to get to the
Speaker 5: bottom of this. I can't understand it, Inspector Collins, A
Speaker 5: locomotive and two coaches can't simply well, it's utterly impossible.
Speaker 5: It can't have just disappeared.
Speaker 3: In a few moments, the answers began coming in over
Speaker 3: the wire. The first was from Saint.
Speaker 7: Helen's repeating our previous message. A special train pasture of
Speaker 7: four fifty two local departed fifteen minutes later than from
Speaker 7: Collins Green Special Pasture five o'clock, followed by a local
Speaker 7: train seventeen.
Speaker 4: Minutes later, and then Earl's Time.
Speaker 7: Special Pastyre five oh six, followed by a local eighteen
Speaker 7: minutes later, Newton Special past year five twelve local train
Speaker 7: seventeen minutes later at Kenyon Junction, Special through here at
Speaker 7: five twenty local pass nineteen minutes later, and then Button
Speaker 7: Muss Local through five fifty three now special train past
Speaker 7: here today.
Speaker 5: I tell you it's absolutely unprecedented, Inspector Collins, an entire
Speaker 5: train and five human beings vanishing from an open track
Speaker 5: between two local stations only eight miles apart. It's impossible.
Speaker 3: It's the only thing to the contrary being the fact
Speaker 3: that it has apparently happened. But I can't understand, mister Bland.
Speaker 3: I think you'd better make arrangements to get us out
Speaker 3: to Kenyon Junction as quickly as possible. Within ten minutes,
Speaker 3: we were in a coach behind the Goods Entine, moving
Speaker 3: full throttle on the main line east out of Miller
Speaker 3: of Liverpool. Since the missing Special had been reported safely
Speaker 3: through Kenyon Junction, there was no need for concern with
Speaker 3: the country this side of that station. While the coach
Speaker 3: rattled and banged along the miles, we spent the time
Speaker 3: pouring over a large scale map about eight mile stretch
Speaker 3: between the junction and Barton must.
Speaker 5: As you can see for yourself on the map, Inspector Collins,
Speaker 5: it's rather open country through there, low rolling hills, mostly
Speaker 5: with quite a lot of coal mining and one steel mill.
Speaker 5: No towns or villages near the railway line.
Speaker 3: Yes, so I see, mister Blanders. What about these spur
Speaker 3: tracks that join the main line. There must be a
Speaker 3: dozen or more of them, fourteen to be exact Asn't
Speaker 3: it possible the special could have been switched onto one
Speaker 3: of those spurs.
Speaker 5: Well, yes, and no. Eight of them can be eliminated immediately.
Speaker 5: Besides being narrow gauge tracks, they are also much too
Speaker 5: flimsy to bear the weight of a standard locomotive. Furthermore,
Speaker 5: they end at loading bins adjacent to the main line.
Speaker 5: There they're not actually connected to it.
Speaker 3: I see, well, that still leave six are the all
Speaker 3: standard gauge.
Speaker 5: Yes, but three of them Oho six can be eliminated too,
Speaker 5: since they've been abandoned for years. The mines they were
Speaker 5: built for are no longer operated. The Red Gauntlet, Despond
Speaker 5: and hats Ease Collieries.
Speaker 3: Yes, but abandoned or not if the tracks are still
Speaker 3: there couldn't they be used?
Speaker 4: Though? No, they could not.
Speaker 5: When service to the three mines was discontinued years ago,
Speaker 5: the switches along the several hundred yards of track adjacent
Speaker 5: to the main line were removed to prevent accidents.
Speaker 4: And that settles that. But we still have three lines.
Speaker 5: Left, yes, and all in operation. They served the Big
Speaker 5: ben and Perseverance Collieries and the Calmstock Iron work.
Speaker 3: Good that there's the probable area of our investigation.
Speaker 5: Probable inspector, I failed to see anything probable about a
Speaker 5: train scheduled from Manchester turning up in a dead end siding.
Speaker 3: Well for many years now, mister Bland, I've been approaching
Speaker 3: problems of this sort with a certain theory of logic.
Speaker 3: Once both the obvious and the impossible are eliminated, and
Speaker 3: we seem agree on those, then the solution must lie
Speaker 3: in the realm of the improbable, no matter how fantastic
Speaker 3: it may at first see.
Speaker 5: I can't believe why wouldn't the train crew report yet?
Speaker 5: What about mister Carrotll's anxiety to get to London?
Speaker 4: Why would quit? We're slowing down, aren't we?
Speaker 3: Let's write SA we're pulling into Kenyon junction. This is
Speaker 3: the last station to report seeing the last special. Very well, gentlemen,
Speaker 3: this is where we start to work. We stopped in
Speaker 3: the junction only long enough to rig asceatelene spot lanterns
Speaker 3: at either side of the coach, directed in such fashion
Speaker 3: as to light up the roadbed and embankment along both
Speaker 3: sides of the track, and then we pupped slowly out
Speaker 3: onto the main line and headed towards Barton Moss, eight
Speaker 3: miles away. The first mile of those eight dropped behind
Speaker 3: us and brought no significant discovery, and we moved.
Speaker 4: On through the second mile.
Speaker 3: Save for the flood of light from our lanterns and
Speaker 3: the dull red glow from the fire box of the.
Speaker 4: Engine, the night was as black as pitch.
Speaker 3: Now and again the ugly shape of a loading bin
Speaker 3: for one of the narrow gauge feeder lines would loom
Speaker 3: out of the darkness ahead of us and float past
Speaker 3: ghost slip for a moment in our lights, and then
Speaker 3: desirable way behind us into the blackness.
Speaker 4: But on the roadbed, the.
Speaker 3: Rails themselves remained unmarred, undisturbed, and offered not the slightest
Speaker 3: clue to explain a disappearance that grew more mysterious by
Speaker 3: the minute. We completed the second while and moved on,
Speaker 3: and then suddenly, what is it, inspector, what do you see?
Speaker 4: I stop the engine at once, mister hood.
Speaker 5: Aes, sir, what is it, inspector?
Speaker 4: I think I've seen something.
Speaker 5: I don't see a thing.
Speaker 4: Let's just stop them. Thanks.
Speaker 3: There in the edge of the bushes. We'll need a
Speaker 3: hand light.
Speaker 4: Hey, are so good? All right? Come on now, let's
Speaker 4: have a.
Speaker 5: Look by heaven there there is something, right enough, say.
Speaker 4: Well, it looks like a man. I'm there.
Speaker 3: Oh, it's more likely the body of a man from
Speaker 3: the position he's in. Well, now, then let's turn you
Speaker 3: over and have a glimpse of your face.
Speaker 5: H what, inspector, why this is John Slater? H?
Speaker 4: And who is John Slater?
Speaker 5: He was the engineer on the special Well.
Speaker 3: He's dead the next broken indeed, I'll venture a quick
Speaker 3: guess it was caused by a fall from the cab
Speaker 3: of his engine traveling rather fast at the time. I'd say,
Speaker 3: you can see where he rolled through the bushes for
Speaker 3: some little distance there. But then what happened to the
Speaker 3: locomotive inspector afterward?
Speaker 5: On me?
Speaker 3: That still remains to be seen, mister Hood. It can
Speaker 3: be fairly certain of one thing, though a special must
Speaker 3: have come at least this far out of the junction.
Speaker 3: Otherwise it's pretty difficult to account for the engineer's body
Speaker 3: being here.
Speaker 5: No more difficult, surely than it is to account for
Speaker 5: any of this. This whole thing is incredible impossible.
Speaker 3: Well, we still have our improbabilities, mister Bland. Those three
Speaker 3: connected spur lines are ahead of us yet, and the
Speaker 3: chances are one of them is going to supply some
Speaker 3: kind of an answer. By midnight I had completed a
Speaker 3: thorough check of the three lines. The first one, to
Speaker 3: the big Ben Colliery, ran a mile and a half
Speaker 3: back into the hills and ended against the face of
Speaker 3: a huge pile of coal, not large enough, however, to
Speaker 3: cover a locomotive and two coaches.
Speaker 4: I made certain of that.
Speaker 3: The line of the Perseverance Colliery was hardly more than
Speaker 3: a half mile long. It had been blocked all day,
Speaker 3: and it was still blocked by a string of loaded orchys,
Speaker 3: and ended beyond them against the.
Speaker 4: Open rock face of a quarry.
Speaker 3: The last line, running to the Carnstock Iron works, was
Speaker 3: a double track and had been left open all day. However,
Speaker 3: a sleepy superintendent informed me that over two hundred repair
Speaker 3: men had been busy on the road bed until well
Speaker 3: after dusk, and it was impossible to imagine a non
Speaker 3: scheduled train passing through such a horror of witnesses unnoticed.
Speaker 3: Oh shortly after midnight, dog tired, we walked into Barton
Speaker 3: must station, still without the slightest explanation of the mystery.
Speaker 3: I want to send a wire through the sk upland yard. Yes, sir, yeah,
Speaker 3: I am prepared to postpone further investigation mistignation until daylight.
Speaker 4: Yes, sir, sign it Collins. They can to get that
Speaker 4: up right away, right away, So.
Speaker 3: Peaceful English countryside in a dead engine.
Speaker 5: Driving you're speaking of me, sir.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, no, it is strange, though strange, sir. In
Speaker 3: broad daylight, a forty ton locomotive with two carriages and
Speaker 3: four passengers has vanished from the face of the earth.
Speaker 2: In just a moment, we will return to escape. But first,
Speaker 2: ten great shows come to you every Sunday night on CBS,
Speaker 2: and right and bright in the middle is America's number
Speaker 2: one comedy, The Jack Benny Show. Tomorrow night, Jack will
Speaker 2: take his place on CBS All Star Night with the
Speaker 2: cast that's made the Jack Bennie Show. You are a
Speaker 2: welcome visitor in millions of American homes. Yes, Jack, Benny
Speaker 2: Amos and Andy, Helen Hayes, E Varden and all the
Speaker 2: other great stars come to you over most of these
Speaker 2: same stations in CBS's Ten Great Shows on Sunday Nights.
Speaker 2: And now with our star Ben Wright, we returned to
Speaker 2: the second act of Escape and the Lost Special.
Speaker 3: By the next morning, of course, the story was out
Speaker 3: and the daily papers went to work on it. But
Speaker 3: fortunately for Scotland Yard, the main attention of the press
Speaker 3: was directed at the moment toward the international scandal which
Speaker 3: had been brewing for a week or two among high
Speaker 3: financial circles in France. As it was, however, letters to
Speaker 3: the editor in the morning postscape has quite a rough
Speaker 3: god Oh, with all manner of crat scenes.
Speaker 8: To believe that the worthy operators of Scotland Yard have
Speaker 8: overlooked the one obvious explanations to the whereabout the missing train?
Speaker 8: May I ad as them that some two miles from
Speaker 8: Barton Moss, the railroad line crosses the West Branch Canal. Unquestionably,
Speaker 8: the special leapt from the bridge and lies now in
Speaker 8: the muddy.
Speaker 7: This her affair is obviously the work of some subversive organization,
Speaker 7: and until the culprits are brought in to face their
Speaker 7: just desserts, no man, woman or child in England can
Speaker 7: be considered safe.
Speaker 5: Now why advance.
Speaker 6: Sing the fulfillment of ancient prophecies. The forces of evil
Speaker 6: grow boulder and begin now to invade the earth openly.
Speaker 6: There is no doubt but what that strange man carat
Speaker 6: all was rarely the devil in disguise, And it.
Speaker 8: Is quite as action this morning is to gaze quickly
Speaker 8: across the city toward Westminster Abbey. Considering the recently demonstrated
Speaker 8: inefficiency of Scotland Yard and the Manchester Liverpool railway affair,
Speaker 8: it's quite possible the abbey may be spirited away some night.
Speaker 3: Soon a week passed, and then two weeks we scoured
Speaker 3: the whole western countryside, following up a relief, tracking down
Speaker 3: each rumor, and we got nowhere.
Speaker 4: Three weeks four.
Speaker 3: And then the press began to ignore the matter. Two
Speaker 3: months went by, nothing new. Three months and the activity
Speaker 3: of Scotland Yard in the matter had come to a standstille.
Speaker 3: The reason was simple enough, we had no idea what
Speaker 3: else to do, so the records were finally taken from
Speaker 3: the active file and barked. Case still open and unsolved.
Speaker 3: Even though I worked on other assignments, my mind kept
Speaker 3: turning continually back to the case of the lost special
Speaker 3: I tried to think of some avenue left untried, some
Speaker 3: path overlooked, and I could think of nothing. I reviewed
Speaker 3: all of the improbabilities I tested and disproved, and I
Speaker 3: tried to improper abilities. Suddenly a fallacy in my own
Speaker 3: logic began to dawn on me. Arbitrarily, I had called
Speaker 3: certain explanations impossible, and touched them only lightly in my investigation.
Speaker 3: And yet what could really be classed as impossible in
Speaker 3: a case which itself was utterly impossible? Back down to
Speaker 3: Barton Muss again, and then ten days of painstaking work.
Speaker 3: At the end of those ten days, I was certain
Speaker 3: that I'd found at least the essentials of the answer,
Speaker 3: and I was equally certain that I could never prove it.
Speaker 3: I could see only one bare chance, a desperate chance
Speaker 3: against long odds. I laid my plan before the Chief Inspector,
Speaker 3: and then Scotland Yard went into action. The London Times
Speaker 3: twenty one November eighteen ninety. Rumors are circulating that a
Speaker 3: man named Dalton, arriving in Liverpool and the steam of
Speaker 3: Vistulo tomorrow, may hold the key to the long Star
Speaker 3: Manchester Railway mystery. According to reliable sources, mister Dalton possesses
Speaker 3: recently discovered copies of the documents which were carried in
Speaker 3: the briefcase of the ill fated mister Caratol. It is
Speaker 3: further stated that Scotland Yard is arranging to meet mister
Speaker 3: Dalton at the Liverpool pier and rush him forthwith.
Speaker 4: To London.
Speaker 3: The next afternoon. Accompanied by mister Dalton, I walked into
Speaker 3: the office of mister James Bland station Master at Liverpool
Speaker 3: and charted a special train for London.
Speaker 5: We shall have the train ready for Osle even ten minutes,
Speaker 5: Inspector Collins.
Speaker 3: Oh good, I'm as anxious to get mister Dalton at
Speaker 3: his briefcase to London as quickly as possible.
Speaker 5: Yes, I saw the squib in yesterday's paper and I
Speaker 5: was afraid then you'd be wanting a special train arranged.
Speaker 5: I'm still worried about it. As a matter of fact.
Speaker 3: Oh, I hardly think there's any need to be. You've
Speaker 3: run a good many specials up to Manchester since that
Speaker 3: affair six months ago, and you've never lost another one, now,
Speaker 3: have you?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 5: But I'll confess I've shaken in my boots every time
Speaker 5: I've watched one of them pull out of here.
Speaker 1: I say, now you're going to have me jumping in
Speaker 1: my own shadow.
Speaker 3: Don't worry, mister Dalton. I'll have you in London before
Speaker 3: you know it and done the worst for the trip.
Speaker 5: Nevertheless, Inspector, you'll have to admit the situation today is
Speaker 5: very much like the one six months ago.
Speaker 4: Oh yes, in some ways.
Speaker 5: The mysterious stranger arriving by steamer from South America and
Speaker 5: in urgent haste to reach London. The carefully watched briefcase,
Speaker 5: which according to rumor, contains the very same sort of
Speaker 5: material mister Caratal was carrying.
Speaker 3: But there is one difference. Mister Dalton is being accompanied
Speaker 3: by an agent from Scotland.
Speaker 1: Yard.
Speaker 5: Yes, but mister Carroll also had a guard that Chap Gomez,
Speaker 5: and both of them disappeared.
Speaker 1: Oh come now, surely you don't think that anything so
Speaker 1: fantastic could possible.
Speaker 3: No, he's right, mister Dalton, it did happen once, and
Speaker 3: a number of the elements are similar. Well, mister Blant,
Speaker 3: I'll wire you as soon as we reached Manchester, how.
Speaker 5: The necessary, Inspector, I think I shall go along with you.
Speaker 5: What good?
Speaker 3: But if you're looking forward to excitement, I can't promise
Speaker 3: you no.
Speaker 5: It will probably be a very ordnate trip. But if
Speaker 5: I stayed here I'd be a nervous wreck for the
Speaker 5: time you reached Manchester.
Speaker 3: Well, then I'm along by all means, mister Dalton, and
Speaker 3: I will enjoy your company.
Speaker 4: You are trained to just pull up the platform, gentlemen.
Speaker 3: Good well, gentlemen. You can't keep the fates waiting. Huh,
Speaker 3: let's get aboard.
Speaker 5: Well, it's certainly been an uneventful journey so far.
Speaker 3: Why, I hardly expected anything to happen the side of
Speaker 3: Kenyon Junction, and it's right ahead of us.
Speaker 5: There, Inspector Collins, Do you mean you are expecting something
Speaker 5: to happen on the other side of it?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, that's the whole purpose of the trip.
Speaker 5: I don't believe I follow you.
Speaker 3: Yes, I imagine it is about time that you were
Speaker 3: brought in on this, mister Bland. I didn't want to
Speaker 3: take any chances by discussing it before. We were well
Speaker 3: along towards the danger area.
Speaker 1: We're passing through Kenyon Junction, Inspector.
Speaker 4: Mister Dalton.
Speaker 3: There as a Scotland yard agent by the way, mister Bland,
Speaker 3: and all he's carrying, and that mysterious briefcase is half
Speaker 3: a dozen hams sandwich.
Speaker 5: I I think I should welcome some sort of explanation,
Speaker 5: Inspector Collin.
Speaker 3: Yes, uh, do you ever hear of the old trick
Speaker 3: an archer uses when he loses an arrow, he shoots
Speaker 3: another in the same general direction, follows it, and sometimes
Speaker 3: he finds both of them. Well, this train and all
Speaker 3: of us aboard it constitute the second arrow, mister Bland, Do.
Speaker 5: You mean you're expecting this train to vanish like the other?
Speaker 5: Why you're deliberately risking our life?
Speaker 4: Or the risk is not quite so great as you
Speaker 4: may imagine.
Speaker 5: But what makes you believe the attempt will be repeated?
Speaker 3: I've created, as nearly as possible, the same set of
Speaker 3: conditions that led to the first disappearance. If I'm right
Speaker 3: about the motivation, the party's concerned can hardly afford not
Speaker 3: to repeat what motivation I failed to see one. Well,
Speaker 3: it requires a bit of assuming, mister Bland, but the
Speaker 3: assumption seemed to fit the facts as well as the
Speaker 3: method used. Let's take some of those facts. Mister carrator
Speaker 3: is in a frantic hurry to reach Paris. His briefcase
Speaker 3: apparently contained something of great value. He was afraid an
Speaker 3: attempt to be made to prevent his reaching Paris.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 3: In Paris at that time, a huge financial scandal was brewing,
Speaker 3: which later came to nothing because of lack of evidence.
Speaker 3: The scandal involved illegal land operations in Central America, and
Speaker 3: mister Carratol had just arrived from Central America with his briefcase.
Speaker 3: Even and finally, it must require a good deal of
Speaker 3: money to bring about the disappearance of a locomotive and coaches,
Speaker 3: whereas ordinary criminals rarely have a good deal of money.
Speaker 4: Now do you follow me?
Speaker 5: Yes, yes, of course. If all that's true, then the
Speaker 5: idea was to eliminate Caratal completely along with his evidence.
Speaker 4: And that's exactly what was done. Inspector.
Speaker 1: We just passed the spot where John Slater's body was found.
Speaker 4: Then heads up, mister Dalton, It's only a few hundred yards.
Speaker 5: Now tell me this Inspector, have you also discovered how
Speaker 5: the thing was done?
Speaker 7: Oh?
Speaker 3: Yes, but I'm in the unfortunate position of not being
Speaker 3: able to prove it.
Speaker 5: And what do you think is going to prove if
Speaker 5: the same thing happens to us?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 3: That well, I forgot to mention that there are twenty
Speaker 3: agents of Scotland Yard concealed in the coach behind us,
Speaker 3: as specially selected armed with rifles, and are there for
Speaker 3: the express purpose of making sure the same thing does
Speaker 3: not happen to us.
Speaker 1: We're slowing down, Inspector Collins, Well, I think this is
Speaker 1: it slowing down?
Speaker 4: Why we're leaving the main line.
Speaker 5: But we can't leave the main line. There's no sighting here.
Speaker 3: Oh yes, there is, as the spur track to the
Speaker 3: heart Seas colored.
Speaker 5: But it's abandoned. There's no connection to the main line.
Speaker 5: The rails were taken away years ago.
Speaker 3: Ordinarily it would be right, mister Bland. But at the
Speaker 3: moment there's an excellent switch installed at the main line
Speaker 3: and also a very serviceable set of rails connecting it
Speaker 3: with the old track traveling over them. Now, as a
Speaker 3: matter of fact, you see anything, mister Dalton, Not, yes, sir,
Speaker 3: The train is being manned incidentally by Scotland Yard agents.
Speaker 3: I took the liberty of holding the regular crew and
Speaker 3: the coach behind us until we could find out which
Speaker 3: of them has been bought off, which scheduled to end
Speaker 3: up like John Slater.
Speaker 5: But I'm confessed.
Speaker 1: Look, men are coming out of the bushes behind us.
Speaker 1: You're already starting to pull up the rails.
Speaker 3: You're seeing, mister Bland. In fifteen minutes you'll be right again.
Speaker 3: There'll be no connection between the hot seas siding and
Speaker 3: the main line.
Speaker 5: Yes, yes, I see now. By heaven, I never.
Speaker 3: Missed the planned It won't do any good to try
Speaker 3: to signal with that pocket handkerchief.
Speaker 5: I'm I'm afraid I don't quite understand you.
Speaker 3: Inspected, Then perhaps you'll understand the fact that you're under
Speaker 3: arrest for the murder of Caratol Gomes and John Slater.
Speaker 5: Why that's utterly ridiculous.
Speaker 3: Why have we stopped in order to permit it?
Speaker 4: Ah, here's your answer.
Speaker 3: I think the twenty agents of Scotland Yard should prove
Speaker 3: more than a match for your assistance.
Speaker 5: Your guesses are nothing less than preposterous, Inspector, what could
Speaker 5: I or anyone else gained by merely switching a train
Speaker 5: onto an abandoned siding. The other Special if you recall disappear.
Speaker 3: Ah, yes, yes, so it did, and straight ahead of
Speaker 3: us a mile and a half. If you recall, mister Bland,
Speaker 3: this spur ends at the heart Seas Mind Shaft, one
Speaker 3: of the largest inclined shots in this part of the country.
Speaker 3: According to the records, it used to be nine hundred
Speaker 3: feet deep, but upon investigating it last week I found
Speaker 3: it closed off by a tremendous cave in at four
Speaker 3: hundred feet. Now tell me, mister Bland, was the cave
Speaker 3: in caused by the explosion of the locomotives boiler when
Speaker 3: it struck the bottom, or did you dynamite the shaft
Speaker 3: after the train when you do it.
Speaker 5: You've no proof of any of this, and no evidence
Speaker 5: whatsoever against.
Speaker 3: Me your train crew in the coach behind us, of
Speaker 3: all signed statements, and I think we'll get a good
Speaker 3: deal more evidence from the men who being rounded up
Speaker 3: out there.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 5: I I have nothing further to say.
Speaker 3: There's nothing you can say, mister Bland. We've seen your
Speaker 3: bank account with those mysterious and heavy entries which had
Speaker 3: dated about the time the Special disappeared, which I am
Speaker 3: sure we shall be able to trace to certain French sources.
Speaker 3: We've succeeded in tracing down mac Pherson and Smith, a
Speaker 3: fireman and conductor you bribed to Vanish. Too bad you
Speaker 3: couldn't bribe Slater the engineer, because his death was most unfortunate.
Speaker 3: You see, his body furnished us with our first clue. Yes,
Speaker 3: mister Bland. Without Slater's body, we might really have thought
Speaker 3: that the Lost Special had disappeared into thin air.
Speaker 2: Escape is produced and directed by Norman MacDonell. To day
Speaker 2: we have presented the Lost Special by Conan Doyle, adapted
Speaker 2: for radio by Less Crutchfield, with editorial supervision by John
Speaker 2: Buncle starred as Inspector Collins was Ben Wright, and the
Speaker 2: featured players were Parley Bear, John Dayner, Edgar Barrier, Larry
Speaker 2: Dabkin and Paul Freeze. The special music was arranged and
Speaker 2: played by Ivan at Bars.
Speaker 1: Next week, you were aboard the Orient Express, rushing through
Speaker 1: the European night, bound for Constantinople, and in your compartment
Speaker 1: with you a gun pointed at your head. A small
Speaker 1: mysterious foreigner is a about to take your life.
Speaker 2: Next week we Escape with Graham Greene's exciting novel of
Speaker 2: intrigue Orient Express. Goodbye then, until this same time next week,
Speaker 2: when CBS again offers you escape for more adventures. Seek
Speaker 2: it out with two top CBS shows tonight, The Adventures
Speaker 2: of Philip Marlowe and Gangbusters, both regular Saturday features on
Speaker 2: most of the same CBS network stations. Be sure to
Speaker 2: hear them tonight. Now, stay tuned for five minutes of
Speaker 2: the latest news, to be followed by the Let's Pretend
Speaker 2: program over most of these same CBS stations. H This
Speaker 2: is Roy Rowan speaking for CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System