It's time now for Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons.
Presenting Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons, in our new Mr. Keen series, in which the kindly
old investigator brings to us his most celebrated cases on Mondays through Fridays at this same
time.
Tonight, the Shrieking Prisoner Murder Case.
Mr. Keen, the famous investigator and his partner, Mike Clancy, are looking into the
strange murder of young Donald Travers, who was shot to death in a lonely house owned
by his wife's two eccentric aunts, Martha and Amy Carson.
Both Carson sisters are suspects in the case, for Amy is shriekingly insane, and Martha
was determined that no one should find out about it.
A third suspect is George Wheeler, whose engagement to Amy Carson was broken because of the victim's
interference.
But now, Mr. Keen and Mike have gone to investigate still another suspect, a handyman named Luther
Praig.
Meanwhile, in the Carson house, Martha tries to calm her insane sister, Amy.
And inside the room in the attic, which has been Amy Carson's prison, we hear,
Amy!
You must be quiet.
You know you can trust me, your own sister?
Trust you, Martha, when you keep me locked up here like a prisoner?
It's for your own good.
I swore no one would take you to an insane asylum, and I'm keeping that promise.
Who were those strange men who were here?
That was Mr. Keen, the famous investigator and his partner, Mr. Clancy.
Investigator?
Yes.
They're trying to find out who murdered our nephew, Donald Travers, here in our house
last night.
Oh.
George Wheeler has taken them to Luther Praig's shack.
They think Luther, our handyman, murdered Donald Travers.
They do?
But why?
They think Luther killed him to rob him.
And I've told them something else, Amy.
I said George Wheeler could have murdered Donald because Donald said something that broke
up your romance with George.
My romance?
Martha, you broke up my engagement to George.
Donald Travers was the one who called George a fortune hunter, wasn't he?
Yes.
Donald did.
And I could have killed him when he said it.
Amy, don't say that in front of Mr. Keen.
I think we've got him fooled now.
So let's not spoil it.
You're trying to fool Mr. Keen.
Yes.
He never would have come here if our niece Jane hadn't sent him.
Jane Travers.
Donald's wife?
Yeah, she's another one who's trying to interfere.
They're all trying to send you away to an asylum, Amy.
But they'll have to do it over my dead body.
You're too smart for them, aren't you, Martha?
I certainly am.
And I'm not through with Mr. Keen yet.
I've got a few other ways to confuse him, too.
Now, you stay where you are, Amy.
What are you doing, Martha?
I can see Luther's shack through this window.
Mr. Keen and his partner are walking towards it.
George Wheeler is gone.
I'm leaving now, Amy.
Take me with you, Martha.
Don't leave me alone in this room again.
You've got to stay here, Amy.
But don't be afraid.
When I talk to Mr. Keen, I'll make certain he ends up in more of a muddle than ever.
No!
Don't shut me out!
Be quiet!
No!
Don't lock me up!
Don't!
Open the door!
Let me out!
Well, it's no use, Mr. Keen.
The door to this shack of Luther Praegs is good and locked.
I've worked on it now for half an hour.
If we want to search this place, Mike, you'll have to find another way of getting in.
I might be able to force a window.
When George Wheeler found that watch that had been stolen from the murdered man, Donald
Travers, this door must have been accidentally left locked.
Mr. Keen!
Boss, it's Martha Carson.
Mr. Keen!
My sister, Amy, she's escaped.
She got out of that room, Miss Martha.
She tied the bedsheets together and let herself down through the window.
Since Preservus, now we've got a crazy woman running around loose.
I'd better make a thorough search of the neighborhood for her, Mike.
Meanwhile, you try to get into this shack of Luther Praegs somehow and search it.
Right, Mr. Keen, sir.
Now, come with me, Miss Martha.
We'd better find your sister Amy before she has a chance to do anything violent.
We've gone over the neighborhood pretty thoroughly, Miss Martha, but we found no sign of your
sister Amy.
It's getting dark, Mr. Keen.
It was foolish of you not to turn your sister over to the health authorities the moment
you knew she was insane, Miss Martha.
I realize that now, but I couldn't bear to let her go.
She is all I have, Mr. Keen.
We've lived in this house for 20 years, ever since our parents died.
How long ago did you decide to shut yourself off from the rest of the world?
Oh, 10 years or more, Mr. Keen.
It happened when I was disappointed in love.
I was going to marry someone, but he jilted me.
And so you couldn't stand the idea of your sister Amy marrying either a short time ago?
It was Donald Travers who broke up her engagement to George Wheeler when he said George was
a fortune hunter.
That's what caused Amy's mind to crack.
And it could have caused her to murder Donald Travers.
No, that's not true, Mr. Keen.
After all, I had something to do with that broken engagement, too.
I loved Amy too much to let her marry that scoundrel.
And did you love her so much you would have committed murder to keep someone like Donald
Travers from finding out about Amy's insanity and sending her to an asylum?
That's ridiculous.
You can't prove a thing like that, Mr. Keen.
Miss Martha, what kind of an income do you have?
How do you get money to live?
I told you, Mr. Keen, we had a little money left to us by my father.
May I ask how much?
That happens to be my business.
Well, I mean, it was enough to get by on through the years.
And where do you keep this money, Miss Martha?
Why are you asking me so many questions about my money, Mr. Keen?
I don't like to talk about it.
Is it in the bank?
No.
I have it in an even safer place.
And that's all I'm going to tell you about my financial affairs.
Oh, Mr. Keen.
Oh, well, now here comes your partner, Mr. Clancy.
Yes, Mike.
Well, boss, I just had another tussle with Luther Praig, that axe-swinging handyman.
This time I left him in his shack tied to a bedpost with handcuffs.
Did he come in while you were searching his place, Mike?
That he did, sir.
And just as I found some very important evidence.
What did you find, Mike?
Well, first of all, I found this wallet.
It's got the initials DT on it.
Donald Travers, the man it meant.
That's right, boss.
It's also got $200 in cash inside it.
I found it in Luther's pocket when he came into his shack.
What else did you discover there, Mike?
This gun, sir.
It's a.38 caliber job and one bullet is missing.
That might be the murder weapon.
Well, it was in Luther Praig's drawer.
There you are, Mr. Keen.
It looks as though you've solved the mystery of my nephew's murder.
Does it, Miss Martha?
Our handyman, Luther Praig killed Donald Travers.
There's no question about it.
He murdered Donald to steal that wallet and Donald's watch.
The watch that George Wheeler found in Luther's room.
The handyman admits he stole the watch and wallet, Mr. Keen.
But he says he didn't kill the young fella.
Then how does he explain having the watch and wallet, Mike?
Well, Luther claims he heard the shot when Donald Travers was murdered.
He says he was outside the Carson house at the time.
And when Luther ran in, he found the body, but he didn't call the police himself.
You mean he robbed the dead man?
That's what he admits.
He told me he figured the dead man couldn't use the money or the watch anymore, so he
might as well make use of it himself.
And what did Luther Praig say about the gun you found in his shack, Mike?
Well, he said he never saw it before in his life, boss.
And he swears he didn't murder Donald Travers.
Mr. Keen.
What is it, Miss Martha?
I thought I saw a light flash in the cellar of our house through that low window behind
you.
She's right, boss.
It was just now, like someone was shining a flashlight on and off for a second or two.
How do we get into the cellar, Miss Martha?
There's a door on the other side of the house, right around that corner.
Please stay here.
We'll investigate that light.
Come with me, Mike.
Well, here's the cellar door, Mr. Keen.
Open it, please, Mike.
Oh, there's a short flight of wooden steps leading downstairs.
Replace your light down there.
Careful, Mr. Keen.
These steps are wet.
Yes, there seems to be a small leak in the water pipe above us.
Well, there's no one here in the cellar, Mr. Keen.
Whoever it was flashing that light must have gotten away through that other door over there,
leading up into the house.
Just a minute, Mike.
There seem to be footprints here.
The stairs were wet when the intruder came down, and there are three or four very clear
footprints on the cement floor.
Mike, shine your flashlight on the wall over there.
What?
Mr. Keen, a big chunk of cement's been taken out of the wall.
It looks like there was some kind of a hiding place there.
And Mike, here's a $50 bill on the floor.
A $50 bill?
What do you think it means, Mr. Keen?
It may mean we are very close to the solution to this murder case.
Let's look around a bit more.
It is as quiet as a tomb down here.
Surely it makes my skin creep when I think that Amy Carson, a madwoman, is running around
loose.
Flash your light on that hole in the wall once more, Mike.
There you are, sir.
The hole is lined with wood.
Apparently, it was used to hide valuables.
Martha Carson tried to avoid the topic of money every time I brought it up, Mike.
Well, I think we'll know the truth when we tell her this wall's been tampered with, Mr.
Keen.
I'm sure we will.
Mr. Keen, suppose them footprints on the stairs were made by that loony woman, Amy Carson.
Look, boss.
They lead right across the cellar floor and up those other stairs again.
That second flight of stairs must lead into the house.
Mike, I'm going to follow those footprints up there.
Boss, remember crazy Amy Carson is dangerous.
If she murdered Donald Travers, she wouldn't stop at trying to murder somebody else.
She's a homicidal maniac.
Homicidal maniac or not, Mike.
I'm going up there now.
Is Mr. Keen walking up into the arms of a homicidal maniac?
Which of Mr. Keen's suspects murdered Donald Travers and why?
For the solution to this startling mystery, be sure to listen tomorrow at this same time
to Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons.
A most unusual Western program is the many times cited CBS radio series called Gunsmoke.
This half hour Saturday night adventure program recreates the authentic atmosphere of old
Dodge City when the West was young and wild.
In the character of United States Marshal Matt Dillon, you have become positive all
the restless, uncertain men who did their best to fight the battle for law and order
according to their own lights.
Remember Gunsmoke is yours for thrills every Saturday night over most of these same stations.
Your announcer, George Brian.
Gun Busters go into action Saturday nights on the CBS radio network.