WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:18.440 It's time now for Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons. 00:18.440 --> 00:24.940 Presenting Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons, in our new Mr. Keen series, in which the kindly 00:24.940 --> 00:31.880 old investigator brings to us his most celebrated cases on Mondays through Fridays at this same 00:31.880 --> 00:32.880 time. 00:32.880 --> 00:46.120 Tonight, the Shrieking Prisoner Murder Case. 00:46.120 --> 00:50.200 Mr. Keen, the famous investigator and his partner, Mike Clancy, are looking into the 00:50.200 --> 00:56.280 strange murder of young Donald Travers, who was shot to death in a lonely house owned 00:56.280 --> 01:01.440 by his wife's two eccentric aunts, Martha and Amy Carson. 01:01.440 --> 01:07.400 Both Carson sisters are suspects in the case, for Amy is shriekingly insane, and Martha 01:07.400 --> 01:10.480 was determined that no one should find out about it. 01:10.480 --> 01:16.880 A third suspect is George Wheeler, whose engagement to Amy Carson was broken because of the victim's 01:16.880 --> 01:17.880 interference. 01:17.880 --> 01:26.520 But now, Mr. Keen and Mike have gone to investigate still another suspect, a handyman named Luther 01:26.520 --> 01:27.520 Praig. 01:27.520 --> 01:33.720 Meanwhile, in the Carson house, Martha tries to calm her insane sister, Amy. 01:33.720 --> 01:38.080 And inside the room in the attic, which has been Amy Carson's prison, we hear, 01:38.080 --> 01:39.080 Amy! 01:39.080 --> 01:44.760 You must be quiet. 01:44.760 --> 01:47.240 You know you can trust me, your own sister? 01:47.240 --> 01:52.520 Trust you, Martha, when you keep me locked up here like a prisoner? 01:52.520 --> 01:54.920 It's for your own good. 01:54.920 --> 02:01.000 I swore no one would take you to an insane asylum, and I'm keeping that promise. 02:01.000 --> 02:04.440 Who were those strange men who were here? 02:04.440 --> 02:09.640 That was Mr. Keen, the famous investigator and his partner, Mr. Clancy. 02:09.640 --> 02:10.640 Investigator? 02:10.640 --> 02:11.640 Yes. 02:11.640 --> 02:16.200 They're trying to find out who murdered our nephew, Donald Travers, here in our house 02:16.200 --> 02:17.520 last night. 02:17.520 --> 02:18.520 Oh. 02:18.520 --> 02:23.120 George Wheeler has taken them to Luther Praig's shack. 02:23.120 --> 02:27.360 They think Luther, our handyman, murdered Donald Travers. 02:27.360 --> 02:28.360 They do? 02:28.360 --> 02:29.360 But why? 02:29.360 --> 02:34.600 They think Luther killed him to rob him. 02:34.600 --> 02:37.960 And I've told them something else, Amy. 02:37.960 --> 02:44.160 I said George Wheeler could have murdered Donald because Donald said something that broke 02:44.160 --> 02:46.960 up your romance with George. 02:46.960 --> 02:48.960 My romance? 02:48.960 --> 02:53.360 Martha, you broke up my engagement to George. 02:53.360 --> 02:58.160 Donald Travers was the one who called George a fortune hunter, wasn't he? 02:58.160 --> 02:59.160 Yes. 02:59.160 --> 03:01.160 Donald did. 03:01.160 --> 03:04.520 And I could have killed him when he said it. 03:04.520 --> 03:09.440 Amy, don't say that in front of Mr. Keen. 03:09.440 --> 03:12.720 I think we've got him fooled now. 03:12.720 --> 03:16.160 So let's not spoil it. 03:16.160 --> 03:19.360 You're trying to fool Mr. Keen. 03:19.360 --> 03:20.360 Yes. 03:20.360 --> 03:24.520 He never would have come here if our niece Jane hadn't sent him. 03:24.520 --> 03:27.520 Jane Travers. 03:27.520 --> 03:28.520 Donald's wife? 03:28.520 --> 03:32.080 Yeah, she's another one who's trying to interfere. 03:32.080 --> 03:36.240 They're all trying to send you away to an asylum, Amy. 03:36.240 --> 03:39.680 But they'll have to do it over my dead body. 03:39.680 --> 03:42.880 You're too smart for them, aren't you, Martha? 03:42.880 --> 03:45.760 I certainly am. 03:45.760 --> 03:48.800 And I'm not through with Mr. Keen yet. 03:48.800 --> 03:51.840 I've got a few other ways to confuse him, too. 03:51.840 --> 03:54.320 Now, you stay where you are, Amy. 03:54.320 --> 03:57.040 What are you doing, Martha? 03:57.040 --> 04:00.600 I can see Luther's shack through this window. 04:00.600 --> 04:04.240 Mr. Keen and his partner are walking towards it. 04:04.240 --> 04:06.440 George Wheeler is gone. 04:06.440 --> 04:07.560 I'm leaving now, Amy. 04:07.560 --> 04:09.360 Take me with you, Martha. 04:09.360 --> 04:11.400 Don't leave me alone in this room again. 04:11.400 --> 04:13.760 You've got to stay here, Amy. 04:13.760 --> 04:16.240 But don't be afraid. 04:16.240 --> 04:22.240 When I talk to Mr. Keen, I'll make certain he ends up in more of a muddle than ever. 04:22.240 --> 04:23.240 No! 04:23.240 --> 04:24.240 Don't shut me out! 04:24.240 --> 04:25.240 Be quiet! 04:25.240 --> 04:26.240 No! 04:26.240 --> 04:27.240 Don't lock me up! 04:27.240 --> 04:28.240 Don't! 04:28.240 --> 04:29.240 Open the door! 04:29.240 --> 04:30.240 Open the door! 04:30.240 --> 04:31.240 Open the door! 04:31.240 --> 04:32.240 Open the door! 04:32.240 --> 04:33.240 Open the door! 04:33.240 --> 04:34.240 Open the door! 04:34.240 --> 04:35.240 Open the door! 04:35.240 --> 04:36.240 Open the door! 04:36.240 --> 04:37.240 Open the door! 04:37.240 --> 04:38.240 Open the door! 04:38.240 --> 04:39.240 Open the door! 04:39.240 --> 04:40.240 Let me out! 04:40.240 --> 04:41.240 Let me out! 04:41.240 --> 04:55.400 Well, it's no use, Mr. Keen. 04:55.400 --> 04:58.040 The door to this shack of Luther Praegs is good and locked. 04:58.040 --> 05:00.080 I've worked on it now for half an hour. 05:00.080 --> 05:04.160 If we want to search this place, Mike, you'll have to find another way of getting in. 05:04.160 --> 05:06.360 I might be able to force a window. 05:06.360 --> 05:10.280 When George Wheeler found that watch that had been stolen from the murdered man, Donald 05:10.280 --> 05:13.880 Travers, this door must have been accidentally left locked. 05:13.880 --> 05:14.880 Mr. Keen! 05:14.880 --> 05:16.880 Boss, it's Martha Carson. 05:16.880 --> 05:17.880 Mr. Keen! 05:17.880 --> 05:20.240 My sister, Amy, she's escaped. 05:20.240 --> 05:22.000 She got out of that room, Miss Martha. 05:22.000 --> 05:26.080 She tied the bedsheets together and let herself down through the window. 05:26.080 --> 05:29.160 Since Preservus, now we've got a crazy woman running around loose. 05:29.160 --> 05:32.160 I'd better make a thorough search of the neighborhood for her, Mike. 05:32.160 --> 05:36.600 Meanwhile, you try to get into this shack of Luther Praegs somehow and search it. 05:36.600 --> 05:37.600 Right, Mr. Keen, sir. 05:37.600 --> 05:39.280 Now, come with me, Miss Martha. 05:39.280 --> 05:47.720 We'd better find your sister Amy before she has a chance to do anything violent. 05:47.720 --> 05:59.520 We've gone over the neighborhood pretty thoroughly, Miss Martha, but we found no sign of your 05:59.520 --> 06:00.520 sister Amy. 06:00.520 --> 06:03.040 It's getting dark, Mr. Keen. 06:03.040 --> 06:07.640 It was foolish of you not to turn your sister over to the health authorities the moment 06:07.640 --> 06:09.880 you knew she was insane, Miss Martha. 06:09.880 --> 06:14.920 I realize that now, but I couldn't bear to let her go. 06:14.920 --> 06:17.920 She is all I have, Mr. Keen. 06:17.920 --> 06:22.640 We've lived in this house for 20 years, ever since our parents died. 06:22.640 --> 06:26.720 How long ago did you decide to shut yourself off from the rest of the world? 06:26.720 --> 06:30.480 Oh, 10 years or more, Mr. Keen. 06:30.480 --> 06:33.880 It happened when I was disappointed in love. 06:33.880 --> 06:38.320 I was going to marry someone, but he jilted me. 06:38.320 --> 06:43.680 And so you couldn't stand the idea of your sister Amy marrying either a short time ago? 06:43.680 --> 06:48.920 It was Donald Travers who broke up her engagement to George Wheeler when he said George was 06:48.920 --> 06:50.720 a fortune hunter. 06:50.720 --> 06:53.280 That's what caused Amy's mind to crack. 06:53.280 --> 06:55.760 And it could have caused her to murder Donald Travers. 06:55.760 --> 06:59.800 No, that's not true, Mr. Keen. 06:59.800 --> 07:04.680 After all, I had something to do with that broken engagement, too. 07:04.680 --> 07:09.240 I loved Amy too much to let her marry that scoundrel. 07:09.240 --> 07:14.200 And did you love her so much you would have committed murder to keep someone like Donald 07:14.200 --> 07:18.920 Travers from finding out about Amy's insanity and sending her to an asylum? 07:18.920 --> 07:20.380 That's ridiculous. 07:20.380 --> 07:23.040 You can't prove a thing like that, Mr. Keen. 07:23.040 --> 07:26.240 Miss Martha, what kind of an income do you have? 07:26.240 --> 07:29.040 How do you get money to live? 07:29.040 --> 07:33.200 I told you, Mr. Keen, we had a little money left to us by my father. 07:33.200 --> 07:34.760 May I ask how much? 07:34.760 --> 07:36.560 That happens to be my business. 07:36.560 --> 07:42.000 Well, I mean, it was enough to get by on through the years. 07:42.000 --> 07:44.520 And where do you keep this money, Miss Martha? 07:44.520 --> 07:48.280 Why are you asking me so many questions about my money, Mr. Keen? 07:48.280 --> 07:50.360 I don't like to talk about it. 07:50.360 --> 07:51.600 Is it in the bank? 07:51.600 --> 07:52.600 No. 07:52.600 --> 07:54.960 I have it in an even safer place. 07:54.960 --> 07:58.000 And that's all I'm going to tell you about my financial affairs. 07:58.000 --> 07:59.240 Oh, Mr. Keen. 07:59.240 --> 08:02.160 Oh, well, now here comes your partner, Mr. Clancy. 08:02.160 --> 08:03.160 Yes, Mike. 08:03.160 --> 08:08.840 Well, boss, I just had another tussle with Luther Praig, that axe-swinging handyman. 08:08.840 --> 08:12.120 This time I left him in his shack tied to a bedpost with handcuffs. 08:12.120 --> 08:14.520 Did he come in while you were searching his place, Mike? 08:14.520 --> 08:15.720 That he did, sir. 08:15.720 --> 08:18.160 And just as I found some very important evidence. 08:18.160 --> 08:19.160 What did you find, Mike? 08:19.160 --> 08:21.200 Well, first of all, I found this wallet. 08:21.200 --> 08:23.920 It's got the initials DT on it. 08:23.920 --> 08:25.920 Donald Travers, the man it meant. 08:25.920 --> 08:27.120 That's right, boss. 08:27.120 --> 08:30.160 It's also got $200 in cash inside it. 08:30.160 --> 08:33.520 I found it in Luther's pocket when he came into his shack. 08:33.520 --> 08:35.480 What else did you discover there, Mike? 08:35.480 --> 08:36.480 This gun, sir. 08:36.480 --> 08:40.360 It's a.38 caliber job and one bullet is missing. 08:40.360 --> 08:41.960 That might be the murder weapon. 08:41.960 --> 08:44.240 Well, it was in Luther Praig's drawer. 08:44.240 --> 08:47.000 There you are, Mr. Keen. 08:47.000 --> 08:51.040 It looks as though you've solved the mystery of my nephew's murder. 08:51.040 --> 08:52.120 Does it, Miss Martha? 08:52.120 --> 08:55.320 Our handyman, Luther Praig killed Donald Travers. 08:55.320 --> 08:57.440 There's no question about it. 08:57.440 --> 09:01.920 He murdered Donald to steal that wallet and Donald's watch. 09:01.920 --> 09:04.920 The watch that George Wheeler found in Luther's room. 09:04.920 --> 09:08.440 The handyman admits he stole the watch and wallet, Mr. Keen. 09:08.440 --> 09:10.280 But he says he didn't kill the young fella. 09:10.280 --> 09:13.320 Then how does he explain having the watch and wallet, Mike? 09:13.320 --> 09:17.140 Well, Luther claims he heard the shot when Donald Travers was murdered. 09:17.140 --> 09:19.600 He says he was outside the Carson house at the time. 09:19.600 --> 09:24.520 And when Luther ran in, he found the body, but he didn't call the police himself. 09:24.520 --> 09:25.920 You mean he robbed the dead man? 09:25.920 --> 09:27.640 That's what he admits. 09:27.640 --> 09:32.040 He told me he figured the dead man couldn't use the money or the watch anymore, so he 09:32.040 --> 09:34.160 might as well make use of it himself. 09:34.160 --> 09:37.680 And what did Luther Praig say about the gun you found in his shack, Mike? 09:37.680 --> 09:40.720 Well, he said he never saw it before in his life, boss. 09:40.720 --> 09:43.360 And he swears he didn't murder Donald Travers. 09:43.360 --> 09:44.500 Mr. Keen. 09:44.500 --> 09:45.960 What is it, Miss Martha? 09:45.960 --> 09:52.360 I thought I saw a light flash in the cellar of our house through that low window behind 09:52.360 --> 09:53.360 you. 09:53.360 --> 09:54.360 She's right, boss. 09:54.360 --> 09:58.920 It was just now, like someone was shining a flashlight on and off for a second or two. 09:58.920 --> 10:00.760 How do we get into the cellar, Miss Martha? 10:00.760 --> 10:06.240 There's a door on the other side of the house, right around that corner. 10:06.240 --> 10:07.240 Please stay here. 10:07.240 --> 10:09.120 We'll investigate that light. 10:09.120 --> 10:12.120 Come with me, Mike. 10:12.120 --> 10:17.320 Well, here's the cellar door, Mr. Keen. 10:17.320 --> 10:18.320 Open it, please, Mike. 10:18.320 --> 10:22.920 Oh, there's a short flight of wooden steps leading downstairs. 10:22.920 --> 10:25.360 Replace your light down there. 10:25.360 --> 10:28.480 Careful, Mr. Keen. 10:28.480 --> 10:29.480 These steps are wet. 10:29.480 --> 10:35.280 Yes, there seems to be a small leak in the water pipe above us. 10:35.280 --> 10:39.760 Well, there's no one here in the cellar, Mr. Keen. 10:39.760 --> 10:44.080 Whoever it was flashing that light must have gotten away through that other door over there, 10:44.080 --> 10:45.080 leading up into the house. 10:45.080 --> 10:46.080 Just a minute, Mike. 10:46.080 --> 10:49.280 There seem to be footprints here. 10:49.280 --> 10:53.440 The stairs were wet when the intruder came down, and there are three or four very clear 10:53.440 --> 10:55.800 footprints on the cement floor. 10:55.800 --> 10:59.800 Mike, shine your flashlight on the wall over there. 10:59.800 --> 11:00.800 What? 11:00.800 --> 11:05.040 Mr. Keen, a big chunk of cement's been taken out of the wall. 11:05.040 --> 11:08.560 It looks like there was some kind of a hiding place there. 11:08.560 --> 11:11.720 And Mike, here's a $50 bill on the floor. 11:11.720 --> 11:12.720 A $50 bill? 11:12.720 --> 11:15.080 What do you think it means, Mr. Keen? 11:15.080 --> 11:19.360 It may mean we are very close to the solution to this murder case. 11:19.360 --> 11:23.080 Let's look around a bit more. 11:23.080 --> 11:27.960 It is as quiet as a tomb down here. 11:27.960 --> 11:32.960 Surely it makes my skin creep when I think that Amy Carson, a madwoman, is running around 11:32.960 --> 11:33.960 loose. 11:33.960 --> 11:37.120 Flash your light on that hole in the wall once more, Mike. 11:37.120 --> 11:38.920 There you are, sir. 11:38.920 --> 11:41.200 The hole is lined with wood. 11:41.200 --> 11:45.200 Apparently, it was used to hide valuables. 11:45.200 --> 11:49.760 Martha Carson tried to avoid the topic of money every time I brought it up, Mike. 11:49.760 --> 11:53.280 Well, I think we'll know the truth when we tell her this wall's been tampered with, Mr. 11:53.280 --> 11:54.280 Keen. 11:54.280 --> 11:58.280 I'm sure we will. 11:58.280 --> 12:05.200 Mr. Keen, suppose them footprints on the stairs were made by that loony woman, Amy Carson. 12:05.200 --> 12:06.200 Look, boss. 12:06.200 --> 12:11.360 They lead right across the cellar floor and up those other stairs again. 12:11.360 --> 12:14.560 That second flight of stairs must lead into the house. 12:14.560 --> 12:18.600 Mike, I'm going to follow those footprints up there. 12:18.600 --> 12:22.160 Boss, remember crazy Amy Carson is dangerous. 12:22.160 --> 12:26.840 If she murdered Donald Travers, she wouldn't stop at trying to murder somebody else. 12:26.840 --> 12:29.000 She's a homicidal maniac. 12:29.000 --> 12:31.080 Homicidal maniac or not, Mike. 12:31.080 --> 12:34.560 I'm going up there now. 12:34.560 --> 12:53.560 Is Mr. Keen walking up into the arms of a homicidal maniac? 12:53.560 --> 12:59.840 Which of Mr. Keen's suspects murdered Donald Travers and why? 12:59.840 --> 13:05.880 For the solution to this startling mystery, be sure to listen tomorrow at this same time 13:05.880 --> 13:21.960 to Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons. 13:21.960 --> 13:28.400 A most unusual Western program is the many times cited CBS radio series called Gunsmoke. 13:28.400 --> 13:33.100 This half hour Saturday night adventure program recreates the authentic atmosphere of old 13:33.100 --> 13:36.420 Dodge City when the West was young and wild. 13:36.420 --> 13:40.280 In the character of United States Marshal Matt Dillon, you have become positive all 13:40.280 --> 13:45.520 the restless, uncertain men who did their best to fight the battle for law and order 13:45.520 --> 13:47.840 according to their own lights. 13:47.840 --> 13:53.040 Remember Gunsmoke is yours for thrills every Saturday night over most of these same stations. 13:53.040 --> 13:55.040 Your announcer, George Brian. 13:55.040 --> 13:58.840 Gun Busters go into action Saturday nights on the CBS radio network.