Adam Hatz presents...
The Strange Doctor Weird.
Good evening.
Come in, won't you?
Why, what's the matter?
Surely you're not nervous.
Perhaps it will calm you if I tell you a story.
The story of a prodigal son's homecoming.
I call it, Murder Comes Home.
My story, Murder Comes Home, starts in a small house on the bank of a river just outside the city.
Mrs. Barnes, who was very feeble, lived there with her younger son Tom.
One evening after the doctor had paid her a visit, Tom stopped him as he was leaving.
Doctor, tell me the truth. How is she?
She's very weak, Tom. Unless we can persuade her to go to the hospital within a few days, I'm afraid I won't be able to save her.
I see. But you know how she is about not leaving this house until my brother Harry comes home again.
She hasn't seen him for ten years, has she?
No. She doesn't know that he's in the state penitentiary for life, for murder. It would kill her if she ever found out.
I see. Well, perhaps you can get her to agree to come to the hospital just for a few days.
Suppose you go in and see, huh? I'll wait downstairs.
All right, Doctor. I'll try.
Tom? Is that you?
Yes, Mother. Would you like me to close the window?
No, Tom. Leave it open. It's foggy out, isn't it?
Yes. You can hardly see your hand in front of your face.
I like to hear the river. I've heard it every day for thirty years.
For thirty years I've watched the cliffs on the riverbank coming closer and closer as the river eats them away.
Mother, I wanted to talk to you about that.
Yes?
It's safe here now. We're going to have to move out of this house soon.
Not till Harry comes back, Tom. He wouldn't know where to find me if we moved.
Yes, he would, Mother. Please listen to me. You could-
No, Tom. Not till Harry comes home. He is coming home soon. I know he is. I can feel it.
He'll be here soon, Tom. Then we can move after Harry gets here.
All right, Mother.
I can feel him getting closer and closer. It won't be long now, Tom. We must be ready for him.
Yes, of course. Good night, Mother.
It's no use, Doctor. She has a mind made up that Harry will be here any minute.
Well, that's rather-
Excuse me.
Certainly.
Hello? Yes, speaking.
Oh, hello, Sheriff.
What? He did?
Yes. Yes, I understand. Of course I will. Goodbye.
Doctor, that was Sheriff Goodright. He said Harry and a companion escaped from the penitentiary early this evening by killing a guard.
What?
Then they stopped the motorist and took his car. The sheriff thinks they may be heading this way.
Maybe that's why Mother felt Harry would be here soon.
Our cast returns in a moment with a final action in tonight's story of Doctor Weird.
Meantime, I'd like to ask good doctor one little question.
What question, young man?
Do you always think of horrible, terrifying things?
No. Only last evening I was out getting a breath of air.
Ah, you breathed.
Yes. And I saw some Adam hats. They were fine looking hats. I walked in, tried one on. And what do you think?
What?
I look just like a person.
Well, thank you, Doctor. Gentlemen, if Doctor Weird can look just like a human being by just putting on an Adam hat, think how much a smart Adam hat can do for a normal looking man.
Seriously, I hope you'll stroll by an Adam hat store yourself sometime soon.
The latest fall and winter line is in. You'll see a great variety of up-to-the-minute hats in every size, color, and style, including the Adam 5, made of fine fur felt and only $5.
You'll be proud to wear an Adam, and you'll be correct, too. Select your favorite at any price from $3.45 to $10.
There are thousands of Adam hat stores and authorized dealers from coast to coast. Now, here's that man again, Doctor Weird.
Now I'll finish my story, murder comes home. After the doctor left, Tom remained on guard with a loaded revolver. And just after midnight...
Hello, Tom.
So you did come here.
Where else would I go? Come on, Jake.
Okay.
No, you can't come in. It would kill Mother Duke.
Oh, yes. How is Mother?
Tom? Tom?
Isn't that her calling now?
Quiet. Yes, Mother?
Tom? Is that Harry?
Yes, Mother. It's Harry. Come to see you.
I knew you'd come, son.
I'll be up in a minute, Mother.
Well, Tom, aren't you going to ask us in?
Now that she knows you're here, I have no choice.
Thanks.
Oh, Tom, meet a pal of mine, Jake Padgett.
What is this, Harry? You said we'd be safe here. This mug meets us with a gun in his mouth.
Oh, don't worry about Tom. He'll warm up to us presently.
Now, you stay here and talk to him while I run upstairs and say hello to my dear old Mother.
Well, Mother was so glad to see me, Tom, that you really ought to put that gun away and ask us to stay a while.
Yes, Harry. Now you are going to stay until the sheriff gets here anyway.
Hey, you're not going to turn us in.
No.
No. I told Mother I couldn't stay, that I had a long journey to make.
But suppose tomorrow she learns that I've been arrested. Then what?
It would kill her. But I'll see to it that she doesn't find out.
And I'll see to it she does. If you turn me in, you'd kill your own Mother.
That won't be necessary if you'll just be reasonable. All we want is to hide here for 24 hours.
I...
Listen, a car just stopped outside.
Probably the sheriff. Well, Tom, make up your mind.
All right. Get in the closet there, both of you. I'll send the sheriff away.
That's more like it. Come on, Jake.
I'll wait for you.
Coming.
Oh, it's you, Sheriff.
Yeah, Tom. We're sure your brother's someplace in the neighborhood.
Thought we might have come here. Seen any sign of him?
No. Not yet, anyway.
You never know. Want me to leave a man with you, just in case?
No, no. I'll be all right. I have a gun.
All right. Okay. I'll be back later.
All right, Sheriff.
So long.
All right, he's gone. You can come out now.
Now, you're acting like a brother, Tom.
Yeah, that's more like it.
The sheriff said he'd be back later, though.
Well, in that case, suppose I just take the gun, then, Tom?
You can't!
Good luck, Harry.
Now, Tom, you just do as we agreed, and everything will be all right.
We can't get anyplace in this fog tonight. It's so thick you can't see a foot ahead of you.
But tomorrow night, they'll be off guard. We'll be able to get away.
Harry, listen.
Dogs.
They've brought up bloodhounds to track us with.
They're coming this way.
What do we do?
It's no use hiding. If the dogs track us here, they'll know we're inside someplace.
Yeah, that's right.
We'll wait for it.
If we can get two or three of them, we may have a chance to break through.
No, Harry, listen. I've got a better idea.
Oh, yeah? What is it?
My rowboat. You remember how we used to run the rapids when we were kids?
Yeah, I remember.
The boat's still there.
In this fog, you could float down the river 20 miles before morning.
Yeah. They'll never catch us that way.
I promise they won't.
You can go out the kitchen door and down the steps into the backyard.
Then follow the path to the river back.
Okay. Jake, get going through the kitchen there.
I got you. I'm on my way.
Now, Tom, I'll just take this coat of yours.
Harry!
I'm coming.
Hurry. I hear somebody outside.
Okay, home.
Get going, Harry.
I'm going.
They'll never catch me. Never.
Tom, over.
Tell them why I didn't get...
Well, man, what's the matter?
I had to do it.
I had to.
They'd have killed you.
What are you talking about, Tom?
Harry and Jake, they were here.
I told them how to escape through the kitchen and down the back step to the path that leads down to the river bank.
To my boat.
Well, they won't get away.
I'm going there.
Wait, Sheriff. Wait, nothing. Let go of my arm, Tom.
I'll get those two murdering rats.
Sheriff, wait. You don't understand.
Shine your flashlight down there at the foot of the steps.
Great glory.
Harry, any ground at the foot of those steps?
When they stepped off the last step, they had a sheer hundred foot drop to the river and the rocks down there.
Well, they escaped this time right enough from human law anyway.
Yes, Harry and Jake escaped all right.
Even if it was in a way they didn't quite expect.
And Mrs. Barnes at last agreed to move.
Just in time, too.
The house was nearly standing on the edge of a cliff.
And it was only a month or so before another slide carried the house away completely.
Do you live at the top of a cliff?
If you do, you...
Oh, you have to go now. Too bad.
But perhaps you'll drop in again soon.
I'm always home.
Just look for the house on the other side of the cemetery.
The house of Dr. Weird.