# The Big Story: Sixteen Year Old Misfit Kills Out of Fear (EP4912)

An episode of [The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio| Daily Mystery Dramas](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/335549005), 17 Feb 2026, 40 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pdrl.fm/997ffb/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/69953078/gd4912.mp3

Today's Mystery: Across the Indiana border, a sixteen-year-old Louisville kills four men in a failed bank robbery and its aftermath. Original Radio Broadcast: January 5, 1949 Originating in New York Starring James McCallion as Al Aronson, Bob SLoane, Santos Ortega, Martin Wolfson, Jackie Grimes, Grant Richards Support the show monthly at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net Patreon Supporter of the Day: Kelli, patreon supporter since February 2020. Support the show on a one-time basis at http://support.greatdetectives.net. Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715 Take the listener survey…http://survey.greatdetectives.net Give us a call 208-991-4783 Follow us on Instagram at http://instagram.com/greatdetectives Become one of our friends on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter@radiodetectives Join us again tomorrow for another detective drama from the Golden Age of Radio.

## Transcript

[0:28] Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
[0:35] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're
[0:39] Speaker 1: going to bring you this week's episode of The Big Story.
[0:43] Speaker 1: But first, I do want to encourage you. If you're
[0:46] Speaker 1: enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software.
[0:51] Speaker 1: And I want to encourage you to check out our
[0:53] Speaker 1: other podcast and today I'm highlighting the old time Radio
[0:57] Speaker 1: Snackwagon now back for it's sixth season, and we've got
[1:03] Speaker 1: some great episodes coming up across a wide variety of genres.
[1:08] Speaker 1: Check it out snackwagon dot net or wherever you get
[1:12] Speaker 1: your podcast from. But now, from January fast, nineteen forty nine,
[1:19] Speaker 1: here is the episode called sixteen year Old Misfit Kills
[1:25] Speaker 1: out of Fear.
[1:28] Speaker 2: Hell Mel Famous Cigarettes Present a Big Story.
[1:44] Speaker 3: Frankie, Frankie, where are you?
[1:50] Speaker 4: Never listen?
[1:52] Speaker 5: Never run when I want them, Frankie.
[1:58] Speaker 6: And shit again.
[2:00] Speaker 3: Someday he'll do something terrible.
[2:02] Speaker 5: I know it.
[2:04] Speaker 4: Get out.
[2:05] Speaker 6: Didn't you hear me?
[2:06] Speaker 3: Call you?
[2:07] Speaker 2: Get out of here?
[2:07] Speaker 6: Leave me alone? What are you doing now? What crazy thing?
[2:11] Speaker 6: What's in that box? I told you? Leave me alone?
[2:15] Speaker 3: You are to come in the shed again.
[2:16] Speaker 2: If you have to come sneaking in on me again,
[2:18] Speaker 2: if you ever ask me again what I'm doing, what's
[2:19] Speaker 2: in his box?
[2:21] Speaker 7: So help me. I'll brain you.
[2:23] Speaker 3: I'll take a hammer and I'll brain you to death.
[2:33] Speaker 4: The big story here is America.
[2:36] Speaker 2: It's sound and its fury, it's joy and at sorrow,
[2:40] Speaker 2: as faithfully reported by the men and women of the
[2:42] Speaker 2: great American newspapers eight line, Louisville, Kentucky. The story of
[2:50] Speaker 2: a boy, a misfit of sixteen, a frightened boy who
[2:54] Speaker 2: killed out of fear to reporter Al Aronson of the
[2:58] Speaker 2: Louisville Courier Journal or his excellent work in this case
[3:02] Speaker 2: goes the Pellmell Award for the big Story. Of all
[3:17] Speaker 2: America's leading cigarettes, only one is outstanding. Only one is outstanding.
[3:24] Speaker 2: It's the longer, finer cigarette hell Mell. Discover for yourself
[3:28] Speaker 2: why so many of your friends have changed to pell Mell.
[3:31] Speaker 2: Pellmell's greater length filters the smoke on the way to
[3:35] Speaker 2: your throat, filters the smoke and makes it mild.
[3:39] Speaker 4: That's important.
[3:40] Speaker 2: Yes, Pellmell's greater length of traditionally fine mellow tobaccos filters
[3:45] Speaker 2: the smoke on the way to your throat.
[3:47] Speaker 6: Filters the smoke and makes it mild.
[3:49] Speaker 2: Thus, Pellmell gives you a smoothness, mildness, and satisfaction no
[3:54] Speaker 2: other cigarette offers you. So enjoy the longer, finer cigarette
[3:58] Speaker 2: in the distinguished red package.
[4:00] Speaker 4: Hell Mail.
[4:01] Speaker 2: Hell Malls are good, good to look at, good to feel,
[4:06] Speaker 2: good to taste, and good to smoke. Hell Mel famous cigarettes,
[4:11] Speaker 2: outstanding and they are mild. Now The story as it
[4:28] Speaker 2: actually happened. Reporter Al Aronson's story as he lived it Louisville, Kentucky.
[4:42] Speaker 8: You didn't know about it, Al Aronson, reporter for the
[4:46] Speaker 8: Louisville Courier Journal. No one on the paper knew about it,
[4:50] Speaker 8: but it would electrify you and all of Louisville within
[4:55] Speaker 8: an hour. It happened, This frightening, pathetic thing to live
[5:00] Speaker 8: with you the rest of your life. It happened just
[5:04] Speaker 8: across the river from Louisville, in New Albany, Indiana, six
[5:09] Speaker 8: miles from where you sat enjoying your breakfast. It began
[5:14] Speaker 8: in the first Farmers Bank, corner of Eastern Maypole in
[5:18] Speaker 8: New Albany, Henry Easton. The bank teller said to Ernest Thornton,
[5:22] Speaker 8: the cashier. Hey, Ernie, look at that limousine just pulling up.
[5:27] Speaker 7: It must be a half a block long. What a
[5:29] Speaker 7: car I meet here? Who is it?
[5:32] Speaker 4: Don't know? Must be a new depositor.
[5:34] Speaker 7: Every show for him, some star, and they come.
[5:39] Speaker 4: It's a kid, some rich man's son.
[5:41] Speaker 9: Probably.
[5:42] Speaker 7: Oh, oh, isn't Henry, hasn't Donny.
[5:45] Speaker 4: He's got a he's got a gun.
[5:47] Speaker 3: Mister Adams, mister Adams, mister Adams, shut up, stand still,
[5:52] Speaker 3: all your stand still?
[5:54] Speaker 6: Where's Adams?
[5:56] Speaker 3: Where's the president of the Spatch?
[5:57] Speaker 6: No?
[5:58] Speaker 4: Now?
[5:59] Speaker 3: What is this shoe?
[6:00] Speaker 4: They shut up?
[6:00] Speaker 3: Around? Are you Adams?
[6:03] Speaker 4: Yes, I'm mister Adams.
[6:05] Speaker 7: Went around and water to the vault.
[6:07] Speaker 3: You don't think you can, kid? You think I don't
[6:10] Speaker 3: mean it all right?
[6:13] Speaker 4: You refuse to go to the vault?
[6:14] Speaker 3: I do, and I the queen? Okay, who else refuses
[6:21] Speaker 3: to go to the vault?
[6:23] Speaker 4: Come on talk? Oh okay, you laid me there?
[6:30] Speaker 7: Should we rush him?
[6:31] Speaker 4: Kill us?
[6:31] Speaker 7: Even so? I think whispering, don't.
[6:40] Speaker 6: You chauffeur?
[6:42] Speaker 3: Go out in the car and stop the motor. Yes,
[6:44] Speaker 3: I can't take this place now so much noise.
[6:47] Speaker 4: You're gonna drive me where I want to go?
[6:48] Speaker 10: And I'm ready to come.
[6:49] Speaker 8: Back, holding the gun before him.
[6:55] Speaker 4: The kid.
[6:56] Speaker 8: One dead man thought he was a rich man's son.
[7:00] Speaker 8: Another dead man thought he could be rushed, and a
[7:02] Speaker 8: third dead man thought he could be urged. The kid,
[7:06] Speaker 8: he was sixteen, forced the liveried chauffeur into the sleek
[7:09] Speaker 8: limousine and drove away. And that was all anybody saw
[7:14] Speaker 8: her that morning. Three dead, a sixteen year old murderer escaped.
[7:24] Speaker 8: You get the story, you youthful, serious, and I for
[7:29] Speaker 8: every detail.
[7:30] Speaker 4: Al Arenson.
[7:31] Speaker 8: The first lead, twelve hours after the attempted robbery and
[7:35] Speaker 8: triple murder, came from a hospital bed in New Albany,
[7:38] Speaker 8: just across the river. A man was perhaps an hour
[7:42] Speaker 8: to live, A man with a hole through his chest
[7:45] Speaker 8: made by a forty five the liveried chauffeur George Murphy.
[7:52] Speaker 3: Now, don't raise your voice, George, I can hear you. Fine,
[7:56] Speaker 3: Thank you, misters. There's like I told you, sir. He
[8:02] Speaker 3: picked me up sitting in the car about nine thirty in.
[8:04] Speaker 9: The morning in Louisville.
[8:06] Speaker 10: What was yes, sir, I drive from mister Norton at
[8:09] Speaker 10: the Steel Plans, made me drive across the.
[8:12] Speaker 7: Bri but uh it bad George. No, it's not too bad, sir.
[8:20] Speaker 7: Made me drive up to the bank.
[8:22] Speaker 10: He knew that bank too, says, says, nobody'll be in
[8:25] Speaker 10: there now. I'll just to cats here, the teller and
[8:28] Speaker 10: the president.
[8:29] Speaker 4: He was right, wasn't he?
[8:30] Speaker 10: Yes, sir, that's right.
[8:32] Speaker 7: He got there, kept.
[8:33] Speaker 10: A gun on my side and made me go in
[8:36] Speaker 10: with him. He killed them three men, made me go
[8:39] Speaker 10: out and drive 'em away, misr. I tried to turn
[8:43] Speaker 10: 'em in. Uh, how do you mean, George? When I
[8:45] Speaker 10: uh tried to mix him up, turning corners and twist
[8:48] Speaker 10: and so on, and tried to pull him into the
[8:50] Speaker 10: police station. But well, he knew the town. Told me
[8:54] Speaker 10: turn down here, turn down the aim all the time
[8:57] Speaker 10: keeping him awake.
[8:59] Speaker 3: It's a now, Uh, I'm s I'm sorry.
[9:02] Speaker 7: I said take it easy too, Yes, sir.
[9:05] Speaker 10: We all the time he'd keep me from driving to
[9:07] Speaker 10: the police station New Alleys.
[9:09] Speaker 7: I I didn't have know myself, and it made me
[9:13] Speaker 7: go down near the river front.
[9:15] Speaker 10: Was a little blind outy. I never did see it before.
[9:17] Speaker 10: That's the way the way he done it to me.
[9:20] Speaker 10: Said to me, you might keep your mouth shut, but
[9:24] Speaker 10: I'm making sure. And then he shot you, Yes, sir,
[9:29] Speaker 10: It stuck a gun right next to my chest and
[9:31] Speaker 10: pull a trigger.
[9:33] Speaker 7: Had a smile on his face.
[9:35] Speaker 10: See he was mean, messed, a bad mean no more
[9:39] Speaker 10: on sixteen real mean?
[9:41] Speaker 4: What uh?
[9:42] Speaker 7: What did he look like?
[9:43] Speaker 6: Well?
[9:43] Speaker 10: A big fella six one six two, only sixteen or seventeen,
[9:48] Speaker 10: the most pimples on his face, and a foul tongue, sir,
[9:53] Speaker 10: I tell you, a foul cuss his own mother.
[9:56] Speaker 3: Ever seen him before?
[9:57] Speaker 7: N no, sir.
[9:59] Speaker 10: But but the way he knew them streets, knew how
[10:02] Speaker 10: to turn, knew the bank. He must must be a
[10:06] Speaker 10: local boy, I figure.
[10:07] Speaker 3: But Georgie, maybe George, George.
[10:16] Speaker 8: You take the theory given to you by the heroic
[10:19] Speaker 8: negro chauffeur who tried to steer the car to the
[10:22] Speaker 8: police station. You take his idea that this was a
[10:25] Speaker 8: local boy and there are no other clues to the cops.
[10:29] Speaker 8: Lieutenant Edmunds listens, lights up a cigar, But.
[10:32] Speaker 7: He's chewing a local boy. Couldn't be. Couldn't be.
[10:35] Speaker 3: But but he knew the town from the chauffe's description, he
[10:37] Speaker 3: knew it as well as you.
[10:38] Speaker 7: I know every hold him in this town, every one
[10:41] Speaker 7: of them. Killer isn't here. There's nine kids, maybe ten
[10:44] Speaker 7: who fit that description and checked everyone. They didn't do it.
[10:46] Speaker 2: But if you'd heard the chauffeur, Lieutenant, if you'd heard,
[10:48] Speaker 2: if you're a bride reporter, answer me this.
[10:51] Speaker 7: He wants to do a hole up in the wall.
[10:52] Speaker 2: Why does he go over the bridge to Louis Bill,
[10:54] Speaker 2: get the car, forced the chauffer all the way back
[10:56] Speaker 2: here and then do the hold up?
[10:57] Speaker 7: Does that make sense? No, but it's stuck nothing. That
[11:01] Speaker 7: was a local New Albany boy.
[11:02] Speaker 2: It had happened in the kop and halfway up for sentencing,
[11:05] Speaker 2: wry something news.
[11:13] Speaker 8: Lieutenant Edmunds knows New Albany knows it's hoodlums, it's racketeers.
[11:18] Speaker 4: Knows what he's talking about.
[11:20] Speaker 8: But you aral aronson and stubborn and a man with
[11:23] Speaker 8: an eye for facts. You don't easily shake the sight
[11:26] Speaker 8: of the dead Chauffeur George Murphy from your mind or
[11:30] Speaker 8: his words. So you start looking in dives and pool
[11:37] Speaker 8: rooms and the sordid places, having no others that young
[11:41] Speaker 8: hoodlums gather.
[11:43] Speaker 9: But always I never heard of nobody look like that.
[11:46] Speaker 8: Pimples Always the wise guy grinned a gag and the
[11:50] Speaker 8: shaking of the head.
[11:52] Speaker 4: And then.
[11:55] Speaker 7: I thought, as a.
[11:56] Speaker 4: Kid who knew the term that well, must.
[11:58] Speaker 8: Have lived here, maybe move move. That's it lived here
[12:02] Speaker 8: and moved. You go to the movers in town. There
[12:05] Speaker 8: are six. The first four I know nothing about it.
[12:07] Speaker 8: The description means nothing, but the.
[12:10] Speaker 2: Fifth A mean kid, dark haired, pimples, real low down,
[12:14] Speaker 2: mean kid.
[12:15] Speaker 4: That's the one.
[12:16] Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, I moved him to Louisville. Him and his
[12:19] Speaker 8: own man what was his name, I'll.
[12:21] Speaker 4: Never forget him.
[12:22] Speaker 2: Said he'd helped me with a crate, big crate, kind
[12:25] Speaker 2: of a piano crate, but no piano in it. When
[12:27] Speaker 2: I had it up, he let it well, he let
[12:29] Speaker 2: go his end. He busted my leg. I could have
[12:31] Speaker 2: killed him. But his own man was there. What was
[12:33] Speaker 2: the name Jensen or Henson something like that. Benson Benson, Yeah,
[12:38] Speaker 2: Frankie Benson, a real mean little rat with a foul mouth,
[12:42] Speaker 2: an all American punk.
[12:50] Speaker 9: You find the home of the mean, foul mouthed.
[12:52] Speaker 8: Kid in Louisville, a CD two room shack, kitchen and bedroom,
[12:57] Speaker 8: a little shed in the back or attired beat an
[13:00] Speaker 8: old man listens to you, and.
[13:02] Speaker 5: Before you're half through, it's him. Don't say no more.
[13:06] Speaker 5: It's him. Four men killed, you.
[13:09] Speaker 3: Said, that's right, mister Benson. Sooner or later it had
[13:12] Speaker 3: to be.
[13:14] Speaker 5: Now it happened a son, a man slaves a whole
[13:18] Speaker 5: life for a boy.
[13:19] Speaker 6: His mother died eight years ago. I never married again.
[13:22] Speaker 7: Who'd marry me?
[13:24] Speaker 4: And this?
[13:25] Speaker 6: I knew it. I knew it. It had to happen.
[13:28] Speaker 5: Has he been around since? When did he do it? Tuesday?
[13:33] Speaker 5: Today's Thursday? Yesterday he disappeared? No, No, Thursday today, he
[13:40] Speaker 5: disappeared today. Excuse me if I'm a little mixed up
[13:45] Speaker 5: on the days. Of course, you've no idea where he
[13:47] Speaker 5: went away. That's all he said. Away except the note.
[13:53] Speaker 5: Now it comes to me, the note.
[13:55] Speaker 6: What it meant?
[13:55] Speaker 3: What note, mister Bencer, He left me a note?
[13:57] Speaker 5: I'll get it. If I tell you, you won't believe me.
[14:00] Speaker 5: Step inside into here.
[14:02] Speaker 8: Here is the only other room, the bedroom. He opens
[14:07] Speaker 8: a closet where rags hang in one decent suit of clothes,
[14:12] Speaker 8: and in a pocket he finds a piece of crumpled paper,
[14:15] Speaker 8: cheap note paper with lines in it, and in childish
[14:19] Speaker 8: handwriting is a note.
[14:21] Speaker 6: Read it, Read it, you wouldn't believe it.
[14:23] Speaker 4: Otherwise, this is his writing, his stop me, stop me
[14:31] Speaker 4: please before I do it again.
[14:34] Speaker 6: That was after he murdered them four men.
[14:38] Speaker 7: Ah, it's awful.
[14:40] Speaker 5: Mister. Do you do you think you can find him?
[14:43] Speaker 5: Do you think you can stop.
[14:45] Speaker 4: Him before he does it again?
[14:48] Speaker 6: Before he does it again?
[14:50] Speaker 4: I can try.
[14:53] Speaker 3: We've got to him, mister Benson Wheat, we just got.
[14:58] Speaker 2: To We'll be back in just a moment with tonight's
[15:12] Speaker 2: big story. Hell Mell famous cigarettes outstanding and they are
[15:30] Speaker 2: mild or pell Mells greater length filters the smoke on
[15:34] Speaker 2: the way to your throat, filters the smoke and makes
[15:37] Speaker 2: it mild.
[15:38] Speaker 4: That's important.
[15:39] Speaker 2: Yes, Heellmells greater length of traditionally fine mellow tobaccos filters
[15:44] Speaker 2: the smoke on the way to your throat, filters the
[15:48] Speaker 2: smoke and makes it mild. Your eyes can see pell
[15:51] Speaker 2: Mell's greater length, Yes, your eyes can see the difference.
[15:56] Speaker 2: Your throat can tell you what it means. Hell Mells
[15:59] Speaker 2: greater length of traditionally fine mellow tobaccos means a longer.
[16:03] Speaker 4: Natural filter to screen and cool the smoke.
[16:07] Speaker 2: Thus, pell Mell gives you a smoothness, mildness, and satisfaction.
[16:12] Speaker 4: No other cigarette offers you.
[16:14] Speaker 2: Enjoy the longer, finer cigarette in the distinguished red package.
[16:19] Speaker 2: Hell Mell pell Mells are good, good to look at,
[16:23] Speaker 2: good to feel, good to taste, and good to smoke.
[16:27] Speaker 2: Remember pell Mell's greater length of fine Tobaccos filters the
[16:31] Speaker 2: smoke on the weight of your throat, filters the smoke
[16:35] Speaker 2: and makes it mild. Pell Mell Famous cigarettes, outstanding, and
[16:40] Speaker 2: they are mild. This is Si Harris returning you to
[16:56] Speaker 2: your narrator and reporter Al Aaronson's story as he lived
[17:00] Speaker 2: and wrote it.
[17:02] Speaker 8: It's only a few minutes since the father admitted that
[17:05] Speaker 8: his son is a murderer to you, Al Arenson, reporter
[17:09] Speaker 8: for the Louisville Courier Journal. Just a short time since
[17:13] Speaker 8: the father showed you the fear in his heart and
[17:16] Speaker 8: the terror and desperation in his son's a boy of
[17:21] Speaker 8: sixteen who feared he'd kill and kill again unless he
[17:26] Speaker 8: was stopped. He set now in the bare kitchen on
[17:33] Speaker 8: a rickety chair, and listen to the history of this boy,
[17:37] Speaker 8: this mean, foul mouthed boy, waiting for a clue that
[17:41] Speaker 8: might tell you where to find him.
[17:43] Speaker 5: He was bad since he was ten. A week after
[17:47] Speaker 5: his birthday, he stole a knife and tried to cut
[17:49] Speaker 5: one of his friend's fingers off. I stopped him. Why
[17:54] Speaker 5: did he do it? A lot of reasons. He was bad,
[17:58] Speaker 5: his mother was dead. I saw him only a few
[18:01] Speaker 5: hours a week. I worked the only work I could
[18:04] Speaker 5: get out of town. He lived like a like a
[18:08] Speaker 5: wild animal, in the streets and the gutters.
[18:11] Speaker 4: Don't blame yourself with de Benson.
[18:12] Speaker 5: Blame blame. I don't blame anyone. I tell you only
[18:16] Speaker 5: the facts. He stole twice. He was caught twice a
[18:23] Speaker 5: year in reform school each time. And how'd he come out?
[18:27] Speaker 5: Of course, you know about reform schools.
[18:30] Speaker 6: If he was.
[18:31] Speaker 5: Wild before he went in. When he came out, he
[18:33] Speaker 5: was sly, a fox, a wolf waiting for his chance.
[18:38] Speaker 5: Small boys he tortured, tied them up. Things he saw
[18:41] Speaker 5: in the movies he did to them like the Indians,
[18:44] Speaker 5: and in some of the magazines he read where he
[18:47] Speaker 5: got him.
[18:48] Speaker 6: I don't know.
[18:48] Speaker 3: I know what happens to kids sometimes kids.
[18:52] Speaker 5: He was bigger than me, four inches bigger, weighed a
[18:55] Speaker 5: hundred and seventy pounds. If I asked him to come
[18:59] Speaker 5: into the house, to work. Maybe I raised my voice.
[19:02] Speaker 5: He hit me many times. He knocked me down at
[19:07] Speaker 5: night at night.
[19:11] Speaker 4: I don't understand.
[19:12] Speaker 5: No one i'd understand. At night he slept with a gun,
[19:17] Speaker 5: a gun of forty five. I saw it once, a
[19:23] Speaker 5: gun under his pillar. We gotta find him, to stop him,
[19:27] Speaker 5: to to.
[19:29] Speaker 6: Take care of him.
[19:30] Speaker 3: Mister Benson. You you say he just disappeared the day
[19:33] Speaker 3: after the killing.
[19:33] Speaker 6: This the boxer. I didn't tell you about the box,
[19:37] Speaker 6: that's right, the day after the killings.
[19:39] Speaker 7: What box? I don't know.
[19:41] Speaker 5: Maybe it ain't important. It was to him. He said
[19:44] Speaker 5: he'd bring me once. If I ain't the fear it,
[19:46] Speaker 5: he would have too. He he got a piano crate somewheres,
[19:51] Speaker 5: brought it into the shed. This is when we lived
[19:54] Speaker 5: in New Albany, before we moved and fixed it up.
[19:58] Speaker 6: He called it camping out. You know.
[20:01] Speaker 5: He'd get in the box and spend a whole day there,
[20:05] Speaker 5: never come out, even eating there.
[20:08] Speaker 6: Maybe he's just a child's game. I don't know.
[20:10] Speaker 3: Maybe lots of kids do things like that. Why did
[20:13] Speaker 3: you mention the box, mister Benson.
[20:15] Speaker 5: Because they day before he disappeared. The only thing he
[20:18] Speaker 5: said to me, This was after he killed those men.
[20:23] Speaker 5: He said, I'm leaving money for the box. Ship it
[20:25] Speaker 5: to Knoxville. Knoxville. Where he got the money from, I
[20:29] Speaker 5: don't know he he never worked a day in his life.
[20:31] Speaker 3: I didn't give it to him. Where in Knoxville General Delivery?
[20:36] Speaker 5: I remember because he said, here's the money, go right
[20:39] Speaker 5: down the address. Remember it General Delivery, Knoxville. And you
[20:44] Speaker 5: send it, shouldn't I have no? I don't want to
[20:48] Speaker 5: ask me.
[20:48] Speaker 3: I said it, yes to see but a railway expression. Yeah,
[20:54] Speaker 3: have you got the receipt? Yes, give it to me.
[20:56] Speaker 3: What just maybe nothing? But give it to me. You
[21:07] Speaker 3: check the neighborhood. No one saw Frankie leave town. That's
[21:11] Speaker 3: said he got to the police, to Lieutenant Edmunds. So
[21:15] Speaker 3: once before I told you your theory was cracked. Say
[21:18] Speaker 3: that again, Aarons, and I don't think my hearing's that bad.
[21:21] Speaker 3: I said, this kid sent a packing crate out of
[21:24] Speaker 3: turn to General Delivery in Knoxville, and I want to.
[21:26] Speaker 4: Investigate that crate.
[21:28] Speaker 7: What are you trying to prove nothing?
[21:29] Speaker 3: I want your cooperation to find out where that crate
[21:31] Speaker 3: is and see what's inside of it.
[21:33] Speaker 7: Is that going to tell us where little Frankie is admired.
[21:36] Speaker 6: What did he do?
[21:37] Speaker 2: Leave an old inside and say you will find me
[21:38] Speaker 2: at the wall of the story in New York.
[21:40] Speaker 3: I don't know what we'll find from what his father said.
[21:42] Speaker 3: This kid's been bad.
[21:43] Speaker 4: A long time.
[21:44] Speaker 7: His kid's been bad since he was born.
[21:46] Speaker 3: Look, let's fight about it. All I want is in
[21:48] Speaker 3: order to stop the crate examined it.
[21:50] Speaker 7: Not I play hunches long shots. I'm scrowey, but not
[21:53] Speaker 7: this scrowy.
[21:55] Speaker 3: Uh who found out where Frankie lived?
[21:58] Speaker 7: Okay?
[22:00] Speaker 3: Who said he couldn't possibly be a local boy?
[22:03] Speaker 7: Okay? Maybe I am. That's screwy. Hennessy got the railway
[22:09] Speaker 7: express on the phone. I want to place a quiet
[22:12] Speaker 7: shipton Knoxville.
[22:22] Speaker 2: That's the warehouse, lieutenant, that big one, Yes, sir, warehouse three,
[22:26] Speaker 2: the krits and sexual d want me to go in
[22:29] Speaker 2: with you?
[22:30] Speaker 7: What for the checkered crepe. I'm a big boy, Yeah, sir,
[22:33] Speaker 7: Lieutenant got.
[22:34] Speaker 2: A flashlight once a matter of no lights in that ouse,
[22:36] Speaker 2: the lieutenant dowly a warehouse.
[22:38] Speaker 4: I got a flash Lieutenant.
[22:40] Speaker 7: Prepared for anything? Yeah, yes, sir, Lieutenant in Section D
[22:56] Speaker 7: must be down there. Yeah you see all right?
[23:01] Speaker 3: What the devil you're whispering about.
[23:03] Speaker 7: I don't know what are you whispering for?
[23:04] Speaker 3: Shut up?
[23:06] Speaker 7: I'm sorry. You know, this crazy idea of yours is
[23:08] Speaker 7: getting I know me too. Wait a minute, there it is.
[23:13] Speaker 7: I think.
[23:14] Speaker 4: Let's see.
[23:15] Speaker 7: Oh here's the address.
[23:16] Speaker 3: Yeah, General Delivery Knox. So same hand, right hand ready,
[23:20] Speaker 3: same as on the note.
[23:21] Speaker 4: I told you about the note.
[23:23] Speaker 7: Ye. But now let's let's look a little. Stop whispering. Look,
[23:31] Speaker 7: why holds about.
[23:32] Speaker 3: Six eight holes in the top, same on the side
[23:34] Speaker 3: on this side too, So why I think the rare holes?
[23:38] Speaker 3: What are you talking about?
[23:39] Speaker 4: He's inside the kid, I tell you, he's in that box.
[23:42] Speaker 7: You're nuts.
[23:43] Speaker 3: Watch brought a candle. I'm gonna light it and while
[23:45] Speaker 3: it's burning, it'll go inside the box.
[23:48] Speaker 4: What for?
[23:49] Speaker 7: Don't slide of chet back up a little? That's it.
[23:55] Speaker 4: You're in that box.
[23:56] Speaker 7: You're crazy.
[23:57] Speaker 4: Kid. Come out.
[23:59] Speaker 7: You're in that cat on the side of the box.
[24:03] Speaker 2: Do you hear me?
[24:05] Speaker 7: Listen? Take up your inside that box like the candle.
[24:15] Speaker 7: Watch hot, you know?
[24:17] Speaker 3: Okay, I hate to do this, but I'm gonna wiggle
[24:20] Speaker 3: it around.
[24:23] Speaker 4: It's like your thirty cowers. I got a gun, so
[24:26] Speaker 4: help me if you don't leave me alone, I.
[24:27] Speaker 7: Said, come out, I've got a chance.
[24:29] Speaker 4: Watch it. Stay way.
[24:31] Speaker 7: What are you doing?
[24:32] Speaker 3: The only thing we can do. I'm gonna roll the
[24:34] Speaker 3: crate over. Watch up ill, okay, together.
[24:38] Speaker 4: Now roll it. Never get me your love?
[24:41] Speaker 8: You not what?
[24:41] Speaker 9: Never but never. It's a long time.
[24:51] Speaker 8: And after three more turns of the crate there's silence inside,
[24:55] Speaker 8: no more shots, no more despairing threats. And then you,
[25:00] Speaker 8: oh and the lieutenant open it up and out comes
[25:02] Speaker 8: the mean, foul mouthed boy of sixteen, who did all
[25:07] Speaker 8: these things, these unspeakable things, robbery, sawt brutality, taught his
[25:14] Speaker 8: father murder. He comes out and asks two questions, Can.
[25:21] Speaker 6: You tell me why I did it? Can you?
[25:26] Speaker 7: Can you help me? Mister? Can you?
[25:30] Speaker 8: And then he collapses. And in the end, after the arrest,
[25:35] Speaker 8: after the confession, you and his beaten aged father examined
[25:41] Speaker 8: the box his camping out place, and you find.
[25:45] Speaker 5: Look like a pullman compartment. He fixed it with a bed.
[25:53] Speaker 5: You could sleep here at day two days.
[25:57] Speaker 3: He had containers under the seat. It's one there's water
[26:00] Speaker 3: and this is for food. The lantern look, wisdom, the
[26:07] Speaker 3: lantern I see and matches and what a proof case,
[26:11] Speaker 3: a knife for more guns. He had quite an arsenal.
[26:16] Speaker 5: The magazines, look at all the magazines.
[26:21] Speaker 8: And then something that brings your heart, that touches everything
[26:25] Speaker 8: and colors it.
[26:27] Speaker 3: Dense look black hat, black shirt, black pants, and mask
[26:35] Speaker 3: to wear over his eyes, and false black whiskers.
[26:51] Speaker 8: You write the story, al Arenson. The case is finished,
[26:55] Speaker 8: the killer found. But when you're done, the biggest story
[26:59] Speaker 8: is left on, written unsaid.
[27:02] Speaker 7: Whose fault, Who's to blame?
[27:05] Speaker 8: How does it happen in this year of our Lord
[27:07] Speaker 8: nineteen forty nine, that a boy of sixteen could murder
[27:11] Speaker 8: four men, ship himself to Knoxville, and carry with him
[27:17] Speaker 8: an arsenal, loaded guns, and a mask of false whiskers.
[27:38] Speaker 2: In just a moment, we'll read you a telegram from
[27:40] Speaker 2: mal Aronson of the Louisville Courier Journal with a final
[27:43] Speaker 2: outcome of tonight's big story. Of all America's leader cigarettes,
[28:00] Speaker 2: only one is outstanding. Only one is outstanding. It's the longer,
[28:06] Speaker 2: finer cigarette in the distinguished red package hell mail or
[28:10] Speaker 2: Pellmell's greater length of traditionally fine mellow tobaccos filters the
[28:15] Speaker 2: smoke on the way to your.
[28:17] Speaker 4: Throat filters the smoke and makes it mild.
[28:20] Speaker 2: Thus Pellmell gives you a smoothness, mildness, and satisfaction no
[28:25] Speaker 2: other cigarette offers you. So enjoy the longer, finer cigarette
[28:29] Speaker 2: in the distinguished red package. Hell Mail pell Mells are good,
[28:35] Speaker 2: good to look at, good to feel, good to taste,
[28:38] Speaker 2: and good to smoke. Hell Mell Famous cigarettes outstanding and
[28:44] Speaker 2: they are mild. Now we read you that telegram from
[28:53] Speaker 2: Al Arenson of the Louisville Courier Journal.
[28:56] Speaker 3: Further examination of crate used is hideout by killer in
[28:59] Speaker 3: Tonight's Big Store revealed that one side of it was
[29:02] Speaker 3: so hinged that it could be locked or open from
[29:04] Speaker 3: the inside. He had also provided straps to hold himself
[29:07] Speaker 3: and his provisions steady while in transit. News of his
[29:11] Speaker 3: capture so are our citizens of New Albany, Indiana. The
[29:14] Speaker 3: police were compelled to transfer him to Indiana Reformatory at Jeffersonville.
[29:18] Speaker 3: Tried for murder, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in
[29:21] Speaker 3: the state penitentiary. Thanks a lot for Tonight's Pellmell Award.
[29:25] Speaker 4: Thank you, mister Aronson.
[29:26] Speaker 2: The makers of Pellmell Famous Cigarettes are proud to have
[29:29] Speaker 2: named you the winner. Of the Pell Mell five hundred
[29:31] Speaker 2: dollars Award for Notable Service in the field of Journalism.
[29:34] Speaker 2: Listen again next week, same time, same station, when Pellmell
[29:38] Speaker 2: Famous Cigarettes will present another Big Story, A big story
[29:43] Speaker 2: from the front pages of the Jacksonville Journal Byline Lee Cully.
[29:48] Speaker 2: A big story about an abandoned school, a weird old man,
[29:52] Speaker 2: and the witch who walked in the night.
[30:09] Speaker 4: The Big Story is produced by Bernard J.
[30:11] Speaker 2: Proctor, with music by Vladimir Selenski. Tonight's program was written
[30:16] Speaker 2: by Arnold Pearl. Your narrator was Bob Sloan and James
[30:20] Speaker 2: McAllion played the part of Al Aronson. In order to
[30:23] Speaker 2: protect the names of people actually involved in Tonight's authentic
[30:28] Speaker 2: Big Story, the names of all characters and the dramatization
[30:31] Speaker 2: were changed, with the exception of the reporter, mister Aaronson.
[30:43] Speaker 2: This is Ernest Chapple speaking for the makers of Pall
[30:45] Speaker 2: Maw Famous Cigarettes.
[30:54] Speaker 3: This is NBC, the National Broadcasting Company.
[31:08] Speaker 1: Welcome back well. In this episode, in addition to mcallian,
[31:15] Speaker 1: we heard Martin Wolfson, Santos Ortega, who was really in
[31:21] Speaker 1: everything in New York Radio. Then you had Jackie Grimes
[31:27] Speaker 1: and Grant Richards to Joe Webb's Great Resource Story. The
[31:32] Speaker 1: Stories behind the Big Story actually has details on where
[31:38] Speaker 1: this story originated from, and it was actually from US
[31:45] Speaker 1: an incident that occurred in November of nineteen o nine
[31:51] Speaker 1: when there was a daytime robbery of the Merchant's National
[31:55] Speaker 1: Bank and four people were killed in the pross and
[32:01] Speaker 1: that is really the extent to which the story has
[32:05] Speaker 1: truth in it, and a chauffeur was among those killed
[32:09] Speaker 1: as well as bank employees. I often say The Big
[32:13] Speaker 1: Story is a true Ish crime series, and this episode
[32:18] Speaker 1: illustrates why there is a basic crime and circumstances that
[32:25] Speaker 1: are involved, but the embellishments really take it to being
[32:31] Speaker 1: very fictitious. Of course, there's the issue of narrative framing,
[32:37] Speaker 1: and we've talked about this in another episode, where the
[32:42] Speaker 1: way the case was presented was changed to tie into
[32:48] Speaker 1: a cultural narrative of the time about the problem of
[32:52] Speaker 1: juvenile delinquency. That ending question, how could this happen in
[32:57] Speaker 1: nineteen forty nine, Well it didn't. It happened in nineteen
[33:02] Speaker 1: o nine. There were two world wars and a depression
[33:09] Speaker 1: in between this story and this episode, and I don't
[33:15] Speaker 1: think that the episode really showed that he killed out
[33:19] Speaker 1: of fear or even much that he was a misfit,
[33:23] Speaker 1: But it was trying to go for the narrative. Of course,
[33:27] Speaker 1: out of context, it could be read, what is the
[33:30] Speaker 1: postal service in this country doing that people are shipping
[33:34] Speaker 1: themselves around in nineteen forty nine and able to carry
[33:39] Speaker 1: all of the stuff with them. That would be worse
[33:42] Speaker 1: because that was not actually part of the story of
[33:47] Speaker 1: the young killer Thomas Jefferson Hole where according to doctor
[33:56] Speaker 1: Joe Webb, that police caught him as he tried to
[34:00] Speaker 1: cross the Ohio River to the Kentucky side on a skiff.
[34:06] Speaker 1: So the whole idea of this crate is an invention
[34:11] Speaker 1: for the radio show. Now, I should say that even
[34:15] Speaker 1: though it didn't actually happen, it is plausible because people
[34:21] Speaker 1: did ship themselves around, and piano crates were huge, and
[34:27] Speaker 1: they were built from very sturdy wood, and so you
[34:31] Speaker 1: could kind of curl up in there, and nothing that
[34:38] Speaker 1: he did was impossible. It's a bit implausible that this
[34:42] Speaker 1: seventeen year old juvenile delinquent is going to have the
[34:48] Speaker 1: sort of mad carpentry skills, a mechanical genius, and also
[34:54] Speaker 1: a knowledge of how the freight companies work, and this
[34:58] Speaker 1: sort of like z then master sort of physical discipline
[35:03] Speaker 1: to stay still the whole time. That plus, just as
[35:09] Speaker 1: a practical matter, nobody saw him particular radio take, and
[35:16] Speaker 1: so he didn't need to go to all this trouble.
[35:21] Speaker 1: I mean, I guess if you'd already prepared the create
[35:24] Speaker 1: in advance as your escape plan, you wouldn't think about
[35:28] Speaker 1: whether it was necessary or not, or you think, you know,
[35:32] Speaker 1: I don't technically need to do it this way, but
[35:36] Speaker 1: I've already built out this really cool box with hinges
[35:41] Speaker 1: and secret compartments and secret and a full down bed,
[35:48] Speaker 1: and I've got the money for the shipping, and I've
[35:52] Speaker 1: just got to it. I mean, that is the best reason.
[35:57] Speaker 1: If I've been planning on making a secret escape in
[36:02] Speaker 1: a piano cright, then you gotta do it. It doesn't
[36:06] Speaker 1: matter if you don't need to, You've got to do
[36:08] Speaker 1: it now. One thing that's really interesting is that I
[36:15] Speaker 1: do have access to the performance scripts for each episode,
[36:21] Speaker 1: and this episode was had a couple of funny changes.
[36:24] Speaker 1: The funniest to me was that the original script as
[36:30] Speaker 1: type had him being shipped to a po box, which
[36:35] Speaker 1: just raises so many questions, well, listener comments and feedback now,
[36:41] Speaker 1: and we start on Patreon where Joel comments great cast,
[36:46] Speaker 1: and then Harrison like me for the follow up on
[36:51] Speaker 1: the previous episode and said the said regarding episode the
[36:58] Speaker 1: lottery the minute the cop otis mac, I knew I'd
[37:01] Speaker 1: heard that somewhere before, but couldn't recall where. Thanks for
[37:04] Speaker 1: mentioning Casey crime photographer, Otherwise it would have driven me
[37:08] Speaker 1: a bit crazy. And yeah, there are those cases where
[37:13] Speaker 1: you just hear a case and it sounds familiar, like
[37:16] Speaker 1: I've heard that before, and it sets me down a
[37:20] Speaker 1: rabbit hole trying to figure out where did I hear
[37:23] Speaker 1: that before? And if I don't solve it, yeah, it's
[37:28] Speaker 1: it's going to bother me. So appreciate your comment. And
[37:33] Speaker 1: then I have a comment over from YouTube where James
[37:38] Speaker 1: Rise's very interesting story and well acted well. Thanks so much, James.
[37:43] Speaker 1: And now it is time to thank or Patreon supporter
[37:47] Speaker 1: of the day, and I want to thank Jennifer, Patreon
[37:50] Speaker 1: supporter since November twenty nineteen, currently supporting the podcast at
[37:55] Speaker 1: the rookie level of two dollars more per month. Thanks
[37:58] Speaker 1: so much for your support, jenn and that will do
[38:01] Speaker 1: it for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow
[38:04] Speaker 1: us using your favorite podcast software, and be sure to
[38:09] Speaker 1: rate and review the podcast wherever you download it from.
[38:12] Speaker 1: We'll be back next Tuesday with another episode of the
[38:16] Speaker 1: Big Story. But join us back here tomorrow for Broadways
[38:19] Speaker 1: my beat where.
[38:20] Speaker 3: A nervous twitch, Danny to juggle things in my right hand.
[38:24] Speaker 4: Maybe I'll be remembered for it.
[38:26] Speaker 7: What have we got, doctor Sinsky?
[38:27] Speaker 11: The man lying there, They found him in his bed
[38:30] Speaker 11: last night, murdered these that murdered him, two.
[38:35] Speaker 7: Bullets, twenty two and a thirty two. Wouldn't you say so, doctor.
[38:42] Speaker 9: That I wouldn't know.
[38:43] Speaker 11: What I know is only one of these was needed
[38:46] Speaker 11: to kill him, either one. The man was wanted dead twice, Danny.
[38:51] Speaker 11: He was killed twice, two bullets, different size, twice dead.
[38:57] Speaker 7: You know who he was.
[39:00] Speaker 6: And they brought him to me last night.
[39:01] Speaker 11: There was a tag on him, a name Tom keeler
[39:04] Speaker 11: An addressed to Nixon Hotel.
[39:06] Speaker 4: Nothing else, no other words. Is living about? Why such things?
[39:10] Speaker 4: You're sure, doctor?
[39:12] Speaker 11: You're sure that each wound was a mortal wound, Danny,
[39:15] Speaker 11: each wound couldn't.
[39:17] Speaker 1: You'll be with us then in the meantime, sends your
[39:19] Speaker 1: comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot yet, follow
[39:25] Speaker 1: us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us out
[39:28] Speaker 1: on Instagram, Instagram dot com slash Great Detective from Boise Altohol.
[39:34] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham, signing off.

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