# The Big Story: Cord Around Her Neck (EP5042)

An episode of [The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio| Daily Mystery Dramas](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/335549005), 18 Aug 2026, 32 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pdrl.fm/997ffb/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74240959/gd5042.mp3

Today's Mystery:West Seattle Herald reporter Stuart Whitehouse gets an unexpected opportunity to scoop the city's larger newspapers when a woman is found murdered in her home. With his weekly paper's deadline rapidly approaching, Whitehouse follows a series of clues in hopes of identifying the killer—and getting the story into print first. Original Radio Broadcast: January 9, 1952 Originating from New York Cast: • Nat Polen as Stuart Whitehouse • Margaret Burlen • Helen Barron • Larry Haines • Bill Griffiths • Bert Callen • John Becker • Steve Edders • Michael O'Day Support the show monthly at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net Patreon Supporter of the Day: Brian, Patreon supporter since September 2022. 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 at http://survey.greatdetectives.net Give us a call at 208-991-4783 Follow us on Instagram at http://instagram.com/greatdetectives 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.
[0:34] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're
[0:37] Speaker 1: going to bring you this week's episode of The Big Story.
[0:41] Speaker 1: But first, I do want to encourage you, if you're
[0:44] Speaker 1: enjoying the podcast, to follow us using your favorite podcast software. Also,
[0:49] Speaker 1: I want to encourage you to check out our other podcast,
[0:52] Speaker 1: and today I'm highlighting the War. It's our World War
[0:55] Speaker 1: two podcast, which features more than two hundred and seventy
[1:00] Speaker 1: five episodes across a wide variety of different genres, telling
[1:05] Speaker 1: the story of war as told over old time radio.
[1:09] Speaker 1: Check it out at the wart Great Detectives dot net.
[1:12] Speaker 1: But now, from January ninth, nineteen fifty two, here is
[1:17] Speaker 1: the cord around her neck.
[1:21] Speaker 2: The Big Story.
[1:29] Speaker 3: George, George, are you awake?
[1:33] Speaker 4: Right's still on a witnesses filmers?
[1:35] Speaker 3: Oh what so? What?
[1:38] Speaker 5: I suppose you think it's all right for a lady
[1:39] Speaker 5: to entertain a gentleman in a home until three.
[1:41] Speaker 6: O'clock in the morning.
[1:42] Speaker 3: Oh, will you go to bed?
[1:53] Speaker 2: The Big Story Here is America. It sound and it's fury,
[1:58] Speaker 2: it's joy and.
[1:58] Speaker 7: It's sorrow, faithfully reported by the men and women of
[2:01] Speaker 7: the great American newspapers Seattle, Washington. The story doesn't actually happened,
[2:12] Speaker 7: the Stewart white House story as he lived.
[2:14] Speaker 8: It for you, Stuart white House of the West Seattle Herald.
[2:31] Speaker 8: Life can be frustrated, and most of the time it
[2:34] Speaker 8: is the reason.
[2:37] Speaker 3: Your paper is a weekly.
[2:39] Speaker 8: Every time you run into a good story, you have
[2:42] Speaker 8: to wait days, sometimes a full week before you can
[2:45] Speaker 8: print it. The big Seattle dailies carry it the next day,
[2:49] Speaker 8: and that kills your young and kills you inside. So
[2:55] Speaker 8: much for the background, and now for the beginning. It's
[2:58] Speaker 8: this cold January and you're stopping at the Boulevard Cafe
[3:02] Speaker 8: for two things. First a beer, and second for some
[3:06] Speaker 8: idol talk with Mike Mahoney, the bartender.
[3:12] Speaker 3: Mike. Who's lady at the other end of the bar.
[3:15] Speaker 9: The name's Fromer, Lorraine Fromer. Why she's pretty, Yeah, yeah,
[3:23] Speaker 9: she's got class. Comes in here almost every night, all alone,
[3:28] Speaker 9: has a few drinks, plays the same number on the
[3:30] Speaker 9: jukebox over and over.
[3:33] Speaker 3: You can see she's lonesome.
[3:35] Speaker 9: Eh yeah, don't.
[3:39] Speaker 3: Look at me, Mike. All I want is a beer,
[3:41] Speaker 3: a kind word, and I'm going right home. I haven't
[3:43] Speaker 3: got any ideas on the subject. You're the first guy
[3:46] Speaker 3: I met around here.
[3:47] Speaker 9: Hasn't every customer who comes into the joint tries the data?
[3:50] Speaker 6: Just sound as though you had a personal interest yourself.
[3:53] Speaker 3: Me, Are you kidding? I got a wife and a
[3:56] Speaker 3: family at home.
[3:58] Speaker 9: Anyway, I'm the bartender, a customed I know I've seen you, Mike, Yeah,
[4:05] Speaker 9: so a long Still, the impression.
[4:12] Speaker 8: Is there on an incident that lives a little and
[4:15] Speaker 8: dies something to forget, never follow But a few nights
[4:20] Speaker 8: later in the same bar.
[4:27] Speaker 4: You know what, Mike, what I think you're cute? Me
[4:33] Speaker 4: and I like cut have in some of the creeps
[4:35] Speaker 4: that come in here, or that husband of mine.
[4:38] Speaker 9: Oh, speaking of the guys who come in here, missus Stromer,
[4:42] Speaker 9: you want to be careful? Will you let buy your drink?
[4:45] Speaker 9: That's when of these characters have been taking you home.
[4:47] Speaker 9: I'm kind of weird.
[4:49] Speaker 4: What's the matter of Mike?
[4:50] Speaker 3: Jealous?
[4:51] Speaker 10: Me?
[4:52] Speaker 3: Jealous?
[4:53] Speaker 6: You kidding?
[4:55] Speaker 4: I wondered on it.
[4:56] Speaker 9: I wonder what I'm I'm just trying to be a
[4:59] Speaker 9: nice guy, just warning you that somebody's butterflies are dangerous.
[5:04] Speaker 4: Forget it, locking bar, give me another drink and stop
[5:07] Speaker 4: playing daddy. Little Lorraine can take care of herself. Mike, Yeah,
[5:25] Speaker 4: give me another drink.
[5:27] Speaker 3: Look, haven't you had enough?
[5:29] Speaker 4: I'll let you know daddy when I well? Look who's coming?
[5:34] Speaker 4: Little Howie to said the poor man's whodi are you?
[5:38] Speaker 3: Mike? Hello? Howie?
[5:40] Speaker 6: Are you Lora?
[5:41] Speaker 4: How's the amateur magician?
[5:43] Speaker 6: Amateur? Don't you kid yourself?
[5:46] Speaker 11: Sweetht I'm playing two benefits next week and I'm gonna.
[5:49] Speaker 3: Be great, So take great? You get me?
[5:51] Speaker 4: That's a lot. Why you couldn't pullow a rabbit out
[5:54] Speaker 4: of a rabbit?
[5:55] Speaker 2: Hotch?
[5:55] Speaker 11: Hey, let me tell you something I can do every
[5:58] Speaker 11: trick the pros can't see quin handkerchief, stop vanishing watches,
[6:01] Speaker 11: dice and crad gimers.
[6:02] Speaker 3: Why got a parallel? Mike?
[6:04] Speaker 6: Have you seen my latest cart trick?
[6:05] Speaker 3: I'm busy now? How I got customers to wait?
[6:10] Speaker 6: Lorraine?
[6:11] Speaker 4: Yeah?
[6:13] Speaker 6: Can I take you home tonight?
[6:15] Speaker 3: No away?
[6:16] Speaker 4: Little man?
[6:16] Speaker 6: Oh look, Lorraine? I think you swell? Why do you
[6:19] Speaker 6: give me the brush off every night?
[6:21] Speaker 10: You bore me?
[6:22] Speaker 4: Howie?
[6:22] Speaker 6: Will you let the other guys take your home?
[6:24] Speaker 3: There?
[6:25] Speaker 4: Man, Howie? Not two bit Casanova's like you? Not wanting
[6:29] Speaker 4: to disappear screwball.
[6:30] Speaker 6: And look baby, you can't talk to me like that.
[6:33] Speaker 3: Why are you?
[6:34] Speaker 12: Buddy?
[6:34] Speaker 6: Wait a minute, who are you? What are you shoving
[6:36] Speaker 6: in here?
[6:37] Speaker 3: For? This guy annoying you?
[6:38] Speaker 12: Lady?
[6:40] Speaker 3: Why?
[6:40] Speaker 4: Yeah? As a matter of fact, he.
[6:43] Speaker 12: Is beat it punk.
[6:44] Speaker 3: I'm gonna take your heads off.
[6:46] Speaker 12: Ran before I turn you inside out?
[6:48] Speaker 3: Go on, shovel.
[6:49] Speaker 12: Kaoka, mind if I sit down.
[6:54] Speaker 4: I don't mind.
[6:56] Speaker 12: Are you drinking?
[6:58] Speaker 4: Thanks?
[7:00] Speaker 12: What's your name, baby, Lorraine?
[7:05] Speaker 4: What's yours?
[7:06] Speaker 12: Smith? Fred Smith?
[7:10] Speaker 3: What do you do me? Hmm?
[7:14] Speaker 12: I play beautiful music.
[7:16] Speaker 13: So you got any plans for the rest of the evening?
[7:19] Speaker 4: Nothing in particular.
[7:22] Speaker 12: Maybe I could take your home?
[7:24] Speaker 3: Maybe you Stewart White House of the West Seattle.
[7:35] Speaker 8: Herold learned later that the time was about midnight and
[7:40] Speaker 8: in a house on West Kenyon Street.
[7:43] Speaker 3: Margaret, what are you peeking through the curtains for? I
[7:47] Speaker 3: just saw Missus Promer come in next door with a gentleman.
[7:50] Speaker 5: Now I'm not one to snoop, George, but you'd just
[7:53] Speaker 5: like to know what all your neighbors you're doing.
[7:56] Speaker 3: Mind your tongue, George. I just happened to think it's
[7:59] Speaker 3: not right and a woman to entertain a gentleman in
[8:01] Speaker 3: the middle of the night. I don't figure to understand
[8:05] Speaker 3: you as long as well. Mister Poole, I'm sorry if
[8:10] Speaker 3: I've disturbed you. All right, we're still Who is this?
[8:14] Speaker 14: My name's Albert Canny. I'm just a friend of Missus Promer's.
[8:19] Speaker 14: I've been trying to get her on the phone and
[8:21] Speaker 14: there hasn't been any answer. I was worried maybe something
[8:24] Speaker 14: was wrong.
[8:25] Speaker 3: Nothing's wrong. She's been out there, so she just came
[8:28] Speaker 3: in with a gentleman. Oh man, Eh, that's right.
[8:33] Speaker 11: I see.
[8:34] Speaker 3: Well, thanks very much, mister Poole. Sorry I disturbed you night.
[8:38] Speaker 3: Good name.
[8:40] Speaker 4: Wonder it was that?
[8:41] Speaker 10: George?
[8:41] Speaker 3: No one you would be interested in?
[8:44] Speaker 10: And why don't you go to bed?
[8:45] Speaker 3: I want to get some.
[8:46] Speaker 10: Sleep, George, Georgie, Wait, what's matter?
[8:59] Speaker 4: What's the lights still on over Missus Romer?
[9:02] Speaker 3: Oh? So what?
[9:03] Speaker 10: So?
[9:03] Speaker 12: What?
[9:04] Speaker 3: I suppose you think it's all right for a lady
[9:06] Speaker 3: to entertain a gentleman in her home until three o'clock
[9:08] Speaker 3: in the morning for peachshake? Will you go to bed? George?
[9:14] Speaker 10: George?
[9:15] Speaker 3: That came the next door must be Missus Rower. Margaret,
[9:18] Speaker 3: I'm going over, don't you dear George Pool, don't you
[9:21] Speaker 3: dare leave? Me alone. You get on that phone and
[9:23] Speaker 3: call the police.
[9:31] Speaker 8: You're working late in the office to a white house.
[9:35] Speaker 8: The deadline for the Herald happens to be the next afternoon.
[9:39] Speaker 8: You'll clean up all the odds and dens. Finally, shortly
[9:43] Speaker 8: after three am, you get in your car and heading
[9:48] Speaker 8: for home, and almost automatically, you turn on the police
[9:53] Speaker 8: frequency on your special danceboard.
[9:56] Speaker 11: Radio, Car three two. Car three two proceed at once
[10:01] Speaker 11: to three nine three zero Kenyon Street three nine three
[10:06] Speaker 11: zero Kenyon Street disturbance reported by neighbor. Possible homicide. Lieutenant
[10:11] Speaker 11: Connor speaking will follow.
[10:17] Speaker 8: It's Lieutenant Jonas Cotter of West Seattle Homicide. Apparently he
[10:22] Speaker 8: took over the sergeant's chart at the police radio for
[10:24] Speaker 8: a few minutes. But the point is you happen to
[10:28] Speaker 8: be on Kenyon Street, very close to the address mentioned.
[10:33] Speaker 8: You step on the gas get there in one minute flat.
[10:41] Speaker 3: Hold on, mister, who are you? Name's white House, the Herald?
[10:44] Speaker 3: What's going on here?
[10:45] Speaker 8: Oh?
[10:45] Speaker 3: I don't know. My name's Paul. I lived next door,
[10:48] Speaker 3: heard the screen when I phoned the police. I was
[10:51] Speaker 3: out here waiting for them. When who lives in there?
[10:52] Speaker 3: A woman named Fromer. You haven't been in the house yet,
[10:55] Speaker 3: you know. No, Okay, what are we waiting for. Let's
[10:57] Speaker 3: go in. Oh look, mister, there may be a killer
[11:00] Speaker 3: in there. Yeah, there may be. There's only one way
[11:04] Speaker 3: to find out. Let's go. You'll know here.
[11:08] Speaker 12: But that's for a change.
[11:10] Speaker 3: Is a story a story?
[11:12] Speaker 8: You've actually got a chance to score a beat on
[11:15] Speaker 8: your deadlines the next afternoon. Maybe you can break it
[11:18] Speaker 8: before the big Seattle dailies. Anyway, you and George Pool
[11:24] Speaker 8: climbing through a window. You stand there for a moment listening.
[11:31] Speaker 3: You hear anything cool? Oh, other thing?
[11:35] Speaker 6: Okay, turn on the lights.
[11:39] Speaker 3: It's listen here. What's the next room parlor? Let's go.
[11:53] Speaker 3: Oh look, it's missus Fromer and she's been.
[12:03] Speaker 6: Good.
[12:03] Speaker 8: Lord U Stewart White House of the West Seattle Herald
[12:20] Speaker 8: and the neighbor, George Pool stare down at the body
[12:23] Speaker 8: lying on the floor.
[12:25] Speaker 12: It's the same aurven haired beauty you saw.
[12:27] Speaker 8: In the Boulevard cafe, the woman Mike the bartender had
[12:31] Speaker 8: pointed out as Lorraine. And around her neck is a
[12:36] Speaker 8: cord wound so tight that it's embedded.
[12:40] Speaker 3: In the flesh.
[12:42] Speaker 8: A strong, thin, very peculiar looking cord Lieutenant Jonas cut
[12:47] Speaker 8: Her and a squad arrived, and a few minutes later.
[12:51] Speaker 11: Ever see a strangling cord like this, Jonas, Oh, I
[12:54] Speaker 11: can't say that. I have ste look at it. It's
[12:57] Speaker 11: smooth and waxed and tight weave, with flecks of red
[13:01] Speaker 11: woven into its fibers. There's something about this special cord
[13:05] Speaker 11: that bothers even I just can't put my.
[13:07] Speaker 3: Finger on it.
[13:08] Speaker 11: I don't know much about the cord, Stew, but I'll
[13:09] Speaker 11: tell you this much. This particular killer or a size
[13:12] Speaker 11: nine shoe.
[13:13] Speaker 3: How do you know that?
[13:13] Speaker 11: I found a spot print them on outside the house?
[13:16] Speaker 11: Did a rough measure? I see? Join us listen. If
[13:20] Speaker 11: we can find the man whose shoe fits that print
[13:22] Speaker 11: by two pm, I've got a chance to get a
[13:23] Speaker 11: beat on every daily in Seattle. I'll take it easy, Stew.
[13:26] Speaker 11: What do you want miracles? Well, let's uh look up
[13:29] Speaker 11: this man who made the call at midnight, This Albert Knig.
[13:45] Speaker 15: This is a shock to me, A great shock, you see, Lieutenant,
[13:49] Speaker 15: I've known Lorraine a long time.
[13:52] Speaker 3: You might say I'm a friend of the family.
[13:54] Speaker 11: I see what about their phone call in the middle
[13:57] Speaker 11: of the night, Cane, Why did you make it.
[14:00] Speaker 15: Oh that well. You see, ever since her marriage broke up,
[14:04] Speaker 15: Lorraine's been nervous, distraught and lonely. I got in the
[14:09] Speaker 15: habit of phoning every night just to see if she
[14:12] Speaker 15: was all right. But now that I think of it,
[14:16] Speaker 15: now that you think of what, well, after mister Poole
[14:20] Speaker 15: told me Lorrain had come home with a gentleman friend,
[14:23] Speaker 15: I was disturbed. Well, anyway, on an impulse, I drove
[14:27] Speaker 15: over to her house. I guess it must have been
[14:29] Speaker 15: about twelve thirty. When I got there, the lights were on,
[14:33] Speaker 15: but the shades drawn. I went up to the door.
[14:43] Speaker 3: Who is it? Who's there? It's I, Albert. What do
[14:47] Speaker 3: you want Lorrain? I've been worried about you. Are you
[14:50] Speaker 3: all right? Sure, I'm all right. Let me in for
[14:52] Speaker 3: a moment.
[14:53] Speaker 15: Go away.
[14:54] Speaker 3: Is anyone else in there with you? Then? Why won't
[14:56] Speaker 3: you let me in? Please go away, Albert, Please let
[14:58] Speaker 3: me alone.
[15:00] Speaker 4: Ask any more questions, just go away.
[15:03] Speaker 3: And that's what happened, gentlemen, that's precisely what happened. That's
[15:08] Speaker 3: very interesting.
[15:09] Speaker 11: Very tell me something, knig Yes, lieutenant, what say shoe
[15:15] Speaker 11: do you wear?
[15:17] Speaker 3: Size nine?
[15:19] Speaker 6: Why?
[15:24] Speaker 8: Jonas Cutter calls in his experts the match a cast
[15:27] Speaker 8: of Knig's shoe against the print found in the mud.
[15:30] Speaker 8: But now the clock shows eleven and it's three hours
[15:34] Speaker 8: the deadline. You still White House and the West Seattle
[15:37] Speaker 8: Herald can't wait. You have a lead in your own mind,
[15:40] Speaker 8: a starting point. You go to the Boulevard Cafe and
[15:44] Speaker 8: see the bartender, Mike mahoney.
[15:47] Speaker 3: Well, what do you know? What do you know?
[15:52] Speaker 6: I am?
[15:53] Speaker 3: I wonder who did it? I thought you might have
[15:55] Speaker 3: some idea?
[15:56] Speaker 9: Yeah, why should I have any? Mike, listen, was Lorraine
[16:00] Speaker 9: Fromer in here last night? Yes, as a matter of fact.
[16:03] Speaker 3: She was with whom? Huh, some big gorilla you know
[16:06] Speaker 3: his name? I wouldn't know. It was a real Maine
[16:09] Speaker 3: crumb on if I ever saw one. Look was there
[16:11] Speaker 3: anyone else in here who might know him? Well?
[16:13] Speaker 9: Uh yeah, yeah, screwball named Howie Dessal, And I'm your
[16:18] Speaker 9: magician who hangs around here. This big gorilla tossed how
[16:21] Speaker 9: he around a little? And or maybe how I could
[16:24] Speaker 9: tell you more?
[16:24] Speaker 3: Where can I find this?
[16:25] Speaker 9: Howid dessal stick around for a half hour? Usually comes
[16:28] Speaker 9: in about then for a pick me up?
[16:40] Speaker 11: You say, this gorilla took Lorraine home, Howie, oh where
[16:43] Speaker 11: else they went out together?
[16:46] Speaker 16: This is what she got. The fuck him. He was
[16:50] Speaker 16: a big guy. She couldn't have had a chance. Get
[16:53] Speaker 16: his name Smith. I heard him say, fred Smith Smith.
[16:58] Speaker 16: Sounds like a phony phone. I'll say it was Howie listened.
[17:03] Speaker 16: I'll try to remember. Did he say anything else that
[17:06] Speaker 16: might give me a hint as to who he was?
[17:08] Speaker 6: Well, all he said was that he'd played beautiful music. Well,
[17:15] Speaker 6: that's a funny thing to say it.
[17:25] Speaker 8: That could mean anything, a wise crack, an idiom.
[17:28] Speaker 3: But just on a hunch, you call the.
[17:31] Speaker 8: Musicians, junior, and there is a Fred Smith, a banjo player.
[17:37] Speaker 14: You don't know.
[17:38] Speaker 3: Much about music.
[17:39] Speaker 8: You suddenly think of that thin chord wound around Lorraine
[17:43] Speaker 8: from his neck. You drop in to see this Fred
[17:46] Speaker 8: Smith at his apartment.
[17:48] Speaker 12: Sure, sure, I took her home. So what I don't
[17:51] Speaker 12: know a thing about any murder? White house.
[17:53] Speaker 3: What's time you leave her?
[17:55] Speaker 12: About one o'clock? You're sure I told you one o'clock.
[18:00] Speaker 3: Where'd you go after that? Well?
[18:02] Speaker 12: Something after hours? Joined in the Koma. We had a
[18:05] Speaker 12: jam session there. I didn't leave till five am. And
[18:07] Speaker 12: I can prove it.
[18:09] Speaker 11: Tell me one thing Smith, Yeah, what kind of strings
[18:12] Speaker 11: do you use on a banjo?
[18:14] Speaker 3: Why? I'm just curious.
[18:18] Speaker 12: You steal naturally.
[18:20] Speaker 3: Take a look for yourself. You'll take a look. Every
[18:26] Speaker 3: string is steal. You take another look.
[18:30] Speaker 8: Let's time at his feet at least size eleven, maybe twelve.
[18:35] Speaker 8: Now you look at your watch, one hour the deadline,
[18:38] Speaker 8: and you see that dream of a big feet on
[18:40] Speaker 8: the dailies grow very dim and deep.
[18:44] Speaker 3: And so back to headquarters.
[18:47] Speaker 11: What about Albert Kanig Jonas he said he wore a
[18:49] Speaker 11: size nine shoes. There we took a cast of his foot,
[18:52] Speaker 11: only it doesn't match that foot point in the mud.
[18:56] Speaker 11: What about Lorraine from his husband? I checked on him, stue,
[18:58] Speaker 11: he's a falling of a logging camp of lakes. He's
[19:00] Speaker 11: got an airtight alibi. Yesterday it was pay day. He
[19:02] Speaker 11: played cards half the night.
[19:04] Speaker 3: We've got this piece of fancy chord.
[19:06] Speaker 11: So I still don't figure what it would be used
[19:09] Speaker 11: for the laps checking it out. Maybe maybe it's a
[19:12] Speaker 11: special wrapping chord. You know they kind of using department stores.
[19:16] Speaker 11: It could be, but I doubt it, or why soor
[19:18] Speaker 11: why but I've got an hour to kill before deadline.
[19:22] Speaker 11: I might as well try one of the big stores.
[19:23] Speaker 11: And check it, mister Lennox. You buy all the wrapping supplies, paper,
[19:36] Speaker 11: cord and so forth for the store.
[19:37] Speaker 3: Don't you.
[19:38] Speaker 6: Yes, that's right, mister white House.
[19:39] Speaker 3: Have you ever seen any string like this?
[19:42] Speaker 6: No? No, I can't say that I have.
[19:45] Speaker 3: And one thing sure is not wrapping cord.
[19:47] Speaker 5: Hey, wait a minute, Come to think of it, I
[19:51] Speaker 5: have seen a twist like this. Aware I recall our
[19:54] Speaker 5: novelties by showing it to me. He thought I'd be
[19:57] Speaker 5: interested in a new kind of cord. Yeah, yeah, but
[19:59] Speaker 5: coord loongs to a special kind.
[20:01] Speaker 3: Of yo yo yo yo.
[20:04] Speaker 5: Yes, that's right, a special kind rigged up for magicians
[20:07] Speaker 5: to do certain tragicians.
[20:10] Speaker 3: Mister Lennox, what time is it?
[20:11] Speaker 5: It's exactly one thirty.
[20:18] Speaker 8: I raised to a phone booth, called Mike Mahoney at
[20:21] Speaker 8: the Boulevard Cafe. Get Howie de Sal's address. After that,
[20:25] Speaker 8: you called Jonas commrad at headquarters. And now you've got
[20:28] Speaker 8: twenty minutes before the Herald goes the press. Ten minutes later,
[20:32] Speaker 8: you're on Howie de Salve's rooming house.
[20:34] Speaker 6: Well, have you found this Fritz Smith yet? White House?
[20:37] Speaker 11: Yeah, yeah, we found him, Howe. Only we're sure he
[20:40] Speaker 11: isn't the killer.
[20:42] Speaker 6: Well, if he ain't, who is we don't know yet?
[20:47] Speaker 3: What is this?
[20:48] Speaker 6: Why did you come up to see me all of
[20:50] Speaker 6: a sudden?
[20:52] Speaker 3: Well, I'll tell you what.
[20:52] Speaker 11: Howie, When Mike Mahaney told me you were a magician,
[20:55] Speaker 11: I got an idea.
[20:56] Speaker 6: What kind of idea?
[20:57] Speaker 11: Well, I figured I'm running a special feature in the
[21:00] Speaker 11: on magicians. I get some dope on it and take
[21:02] Speaker 11: your picture and you'd be in for a little publicity.
[21:05] Speaker 6: Hey, hey, that's a great idea.
[21:08] Speaker 3: Me, it's a great sal in the hera. Oh I
[21:12] Speaker 3: liked that. Well, what do you want to know? Well,
[21:17] Speaker 3: I don't know. Props maybe what do you use for
[21:21] Speaker 3: your routine? Oh?
[21:22] Speaker 6: I got them all right here in the closet. Here,
[21:24] Speaker 6: I'll show you.
[21:25] Speaker 11: And I got silk effects for nots, ties and flourishes,
[21:28] Speaker 11: ten different kinds of magic card decks, rubber, lemons and eggs, sponge,
[21:31] Speaker 11: golf balls, feather flowers, I got them all.
[21:33] Speaker 3: Do a yoyo trick?
[21:34] Speaker 6: Oh you're kidding. Sure, let me show you. I got
[21:36] Speaker 6: one right here on the shelf. You say, now, we'll just.
[21:40] Speaker 11: Yeah, what do you know that there's no string?
[21:48] Speaker 3: That's too bad? Howie? Yeah, maybe this one will fit.
[21:52] Speaker 6: Where did where did you get?
[21:54] Speaker 4: That?
[21:54] Speaker 11: Came from around Lorraine Fromer's neck, just where you left it, Howie.
[22:07] Speaker 8: The police come in and you turned Howe over the
[22:09] Speaker 8: Lieutenant Connor, and you phone in your story just to
[22:12] Speaker 8: make the addition score your beat.
[22:15] Speaker 3: And that's all that is.
[22:17] Speaker 8: That's your story except for what HOWI decile I had
[22:20] Speaker 8: to say later.
[22:22] Speaker 3: And she treated me like dirts. She made fun of
[22:26] Speaker 3: my magic. She was always going out with other guys,
[22:30] Speaker 3: but never with me. Anyway.
[22:33] Speaker 11: That after this big gorilla Smith took her home, I
[22:38] Speaker 11: had a few drinks and I guess I got pretty sore.
[22:42] Speaker 11: So you went to her house? Yes, yes, Lieutenant. I
[22:46] Speaker 11: waited till Smith left, and then I pushed my way in.
[22:49] Speaker 11: I tried to be real friendly, honest I did, but
[22:52] Speaker 11: she wouldn't have any part of me.
[22:54] Speaker 6: And then and this other guy came to.
[22:56] Speaker 11: The door and I squeezed her arm, and then they
[23:00] Speaker 11: to send them away. After that, well, after that, I
[23:05] Speaker 11: showed her all my tricks and everything, and I wanted
[23:08] Speaker 11: to show her that I was gonna be big, bigger
[23:11] Speaker 11: than Thirst and he'll kill her or Cardini some day.
[23:14] Speaker 11: I thought, maybe she'd be nicer to me, maybe even
[23:19] Speaker 11: liked me. I thought she'd think I was wonderful. Let
[23:25] Speaker 11: me take her home sometime. But she just sat there.
[23:32] Speaker 6: Getting smaller and smaller, her eyes bigger and bigger, and
[23:39] Speaker 6: kind of scared, like she thought I was crazy something
[23:44] Speaker 6: to me, one of the best crazy.
[23:47] Speaker 11: And all of a sudden she tried to make her
[23:49] Speaker 11: run for it, and I grabbed and she started to fight,
[23:51] Speaker 11: and I.
[23:52] Speaker 3: Guess I must have gone wild. Well what else can
[23:57] Speaker 3: I say? You know the rest?
[24:07] Speaker 7: How we read you that telegram from Stuart white House
[24:09] Speaker 7: of the West Seattle Herald.
[24:11] Speaker 3: Killer and Tonight's Big Story went to trial.
[24:13] Speaker 11: For murder, and Superior Court prosecutor asked only for a
[24:16] Speaker 11: first degree conviction, leaving decision of life and death to
[24:19] Speaker 11: the jury. Jury brought in verdict of second degree murder,
[24:22] Speaker 11: and killer was sentenced to serve twenty years in the
[24:24] Speaker 11: State Penitentiary at Walla, Walla.
[24:33] Speaker 8: In order to protect the names of people actually involved
[24:36] Speaker 8: in The Night's athetic Big Story, the names of all
[24:38] Speaker 8: characters in the dramdazation were changed.
[24:40] Speaker 2: With the exception of the newspaper reporter.
[25:27] Speaker 8: The Big Story has been a presentation of the United
[25:30] Speaker 8: States Armed Forces Radio.
[25:32] Speaker 1: Service, welcome back. Let me go ahead and go to
[26:53] Speaker 1: our cast list. Well, once again we have playing our
[26:58] Speaker 1: reporter hero this week pulling. Also in the cast Margaret Berlin,
[27:05] Speaker 1: b U r. Elien, Helen Baron, Larry Haynes, Bill Griffiths,
[27:10] Speaker 1: Bert Callen, John Becker, Steve Ethers, and Michael O'Day. And
[27:17] Speaker 1: once again, this is a story that the stories behind
[27:21] Speaker 1: the big story says that the story has been identified
[27:26] Speaker 1: and details will be added later. And this is probably
[27:29] Speaker 1: another case of this being a bit hard to locate
[27:36] Speaker 1: the exact words because of the source. Now, unlike in
[27:42] Speaker 1: other instances, like we had that small newspaper from out
[27:48] Speaker 1: in small town in Kansas, this one would be harder
[27:52] Speaker 1: to track down because of it being a smaller circulation
[27:57] Speaker 1: weekly in a large city, so less documented than the
[28:01] Speaker 1: major dailies would be. At the same time, they had
[28:06] Speaker 1: a very different job. The strength of a paper like
[28:11] Speaker 1: like the West Seattle Herald is its total dedication and
[28:16] Speaker 1: knowledge of the area that it covers, and that's what
[28:22] Speaker 1: was the key to its success. So you know, he
[28:25] Speaker 1: didn't need to beat them to it. But when everything
[28:29] Speaker 1: aligns for you to get the scoop with where the
[28:34] Speaker 1: murder happened and when it happened, and him being the
[28:38] Speaker 1: first person on the scene. Then by all mains it's
[28:42] Speaker 1: kind of a nice change of pace, but certainly not
[28:46] Speaker 1: required to do their job. I actually had a very
[28:49] Speaker 1: strong interest in weekly newspapers back when I was in
[28:54] Speaker 1: college a reporter who worked for the local daily paper.
[29:00] Speaker 1: But it worked through for a weekly game and spoke
[29:04] Speaker 1: to my journalism class, and to me it felt like
[29:10] Speaker 1: weekly newspaper was the way to go with the more
[29:14] Speaker 1: predictable pace of life. You know, only one big deadline
[29:19] Speaker 1: a week and more of a routine. But the last
[29:24] Speaker 1: the whole weekly newspaper thing never worked out for me,
[29:27] Speaker 1: which is why I'm hosting this podcast all right. Well,
[29:31] Speaker 1: now it's time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day.
[29:34] Speaker 1: Thank you to Brian with a y Patreon supporter since
[29:39] Speaker 1: September twenty twenty two, currently supporting the podcast at the
[29:44] Speaker 1: rookie level of two dollars or more per month. Thanks
[29:47] Speaker 1: so much for your support, Brian, and that will do
[29:49] Speaker 1: it for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow
[29:53] Speaker 1: us using your favorite podcast software and be sure to
[29:57] Speaker 1: rate and review the podcast wherever you down load it from.
[30:01] Speaker 1: We will be back next Tuesday with another episode of
[30:04] Speaker 1: the Big Story. But join us back here tomorrow for Broadway.
[30:08] Speaker 1: It's my bait where.
[30:10] Speaker 6: Alice fail me?
[30:12] Speaker 2: No dead?
[30:13] Speaker 6: Okay?
[30:15] Speaker 3: Hell you two? Who are you? Police?
[30:22] Speaker 12: Police?
[30:23] Speaker 13: That gives you the right to walk in like this?
[30:26] Speaker 13: See me and Alice this way? Someone called in and
[30:29] Speaker 13: said her murder been committed. We figured that gave us
[30:32] Speaker 13: all right, we need someone called that's right. They said
[30:35] Speaker 13: a man was killed. I gave this address a man.
[30:38] Speaker 13: No man was killed here, not at this address. Only
[30:42] Speaker 13: my wife, only Alice her. You can let her go now,
[30:49] Speaker 13: he said, you could let her go. She's my wife.
[30:52] Speaker 8: This is Alice, my wife.
[30:53] Speaker 3: She needs me now.
[30:54] Speaker 13: Maybe she did once. Now there's not a thing you
[30:57] Speaker 13: can do for her. No, no, there isn't.
[31:03] Speaker 12: Is there?
[31:06] Speaker 13: Where were strangers in your town? You know, the complete
[31:11] Speaker 13: strangers just beginning to get acquainted with people.
[31:13] Speaker 10: What's your name?
[31:14] Speaker 13: Wouldn't mean anything to you, Bred Mayo never made a
[31:18] Speaker 13: lot of name for myself or Alice either.
[31:21] Speaker 12: Try to tell us what happened, mister Mayl, sure, sure,
[31:28] Speaker 12: go ahead.
[31:28] Speaker 13: Tell us she'd have to stay there on the floor
[31:31] Speaker 13: like that kind of lift her up and move her
[31:34] Speaker 13: someplace where she would. You were good to tell us
[31:36] Speaker 13: what happened, mister Mayo. Sure, we'd had our dinner. We
[31:41] Speaker 13: were sitting around listening to the radio, and what someone
[31:45] Speaker 13: rang our bell. Alice went to the door. Before she
[31:49] Speaker 13: had a chance to open it, there was a shot,
[31:51] Speaker 13: and the wooden door kind of tore open, and I
[31:54] Speaker 13: went to her. All she could say to me was Ernie, Ernie,
[32:01] Speaker 13: just like that, over and.
[32:02] Speaker 12: Over, Ernie.
[32:04] Speaker 1: If if you'll be with us then in the meantime, send
[32:06] Speaker 1: your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net,
[32:10] Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us
[32:14] Speaker 1: out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash Great Detectives from Boise, Idaho.
[32:20] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. Sign and off.

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