The Anchor Hocking Glass Corporation brings you Crime Photographer. Hiya, Casey. Hi, Ethelbert. What's new? Did you read here what the President of the Columbia Broadcasting System says? He says one of these days we'll have radio sets so small you can wear them on your wrist. Well, that'll be wonderful. Yeah, you can always have a radio with you. Oh, man, that'll be wonderful. You seem quite excited about this new wristwatch radio, Tony. Well, why shouldn't I be? It's wonderful. Then every Thursday everybody will know the right time to hear me say, Anchor Hocking is the most famous name in glass. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is Tony Marvin. Every week at this time, the Anchor Hocking Glass Corporation of Lancaster, Ohio, and its more than 10,000 employees bring you another adventure of Casey, Crime Photographer, ace cameraman who covers the crime news of a great city, written by Alonzo Dean Cole. Our adventure for tonight, the piggy bank robbery. 8.15 in the morning, an elevator in the Towering Express building stops at an upper floor and discharges a sleepy-eyed Casey. Heavy-footed, he walks across the corridor and wearily opens a glass-handled door labeled Photography Department. Hi, Casey. Hello, Jim. Your car break down on the way here or have you simply decided to keep bankers hours? What do you mean? Hasn't anyone ever told you that we button pushers are supposed to punch the clock at 8 a.m. sharp when we're on morning shift? Oh, nuts to you. Okay, pal. I never can wake up in time for this morning trick. City desk been looking for me? No, but Bill Shapiro has. Well, what does Cubby want? He came in all excited this morning. Something very mysterious has happened to him. What happened to him? Well, sometime during the night... Ah, here he is. He'll tell you himself. Casey. Oh, Bill. I've been up the city room looking for you. I thought you might have gone there before coming here. You didn't tell the desk I hadn't shown up here, I hope. Certainly not. What do you think I am? Okay, I'm only kidding, pal. Jim tells me something happened to you last night. It was the darndest thing, Casey. Oh, shut up, Bill. Spit your story. You're not gonna yawn when you hear it. This is something right up your alley. At this time of day, my alley is strictly... Oh. Well, of course, if you don't want to be bothered. Oh, excuse me. I don't mean to be a sleepy lug, Bill. Naturally, I'm interested in whatever happened to you. Go ahead, shoot. Casey, you know, my wife and me have a 16-month-old kid. Uh-huh. Well, when I got up to come to work this morning, naturally, the first thing I do is to go into the living room to look at Julius where he sleeps. That's right. What do you think I see besides Julius? What? Someone's been in our living room during the night. They jimmied the door and searched the place. Well, they didn't hurt the kid, did they? They didn't even wake him. And we couldn't see that anything was missing at first. The wife's gold wristwatch was laying out in plain sight and so was 15 bucks. But the burglar hadn't touched him. What do you think was the one and only thing he took, Casey? Now, will you tell me? Little Julius' piggy bank. Piggy bank? What's dough in it? Not over a buck and small change. Your burglar was either a goof or some kid. Wait a minute. I've been around enough to know the kind of jobs house prowlers do, and our job was opened by an expert. Casey, I got an idea why that piggy bank was stolen. Huh? Why? Well, this was a brand new piggy bank because Julius busted his old one yesterday morning. So? You see, Julius likes his piggy bank like some kids like a certain doll. Uh-huh. He always wants it with him when the wife takes him out in his carriage. And sometimes people who stop to look at him drop a couple of pennies in it. Well, someone dropped something else in that bank of his. The one that he busted. What? Now, this is something I ain't told anybody else, Casey, because if there's a big story in it, you're the guy who can get it, and I want you to have it. Thanks. You've been awful nice to me since I've been working here. Well, you're not a hard guy to be nice to, Bill. Well, what did somebody drop in the kid's bank? This. That looks like a passkey. Uh-huh. Somebody who stopped to admire the kid must have stuck it in there. Now, I think it was some crook who had to get rid of it in a hurry, and last night he came to get it back. But he didn't know, of course, that the bank he took wasn't the same one. He put the key in. Well, your wife didn't remember anybody dropping the key in at all. No. What do you think, Casey? It's maybe just an old key to nothing at all that some chiseler dropped in the bank, like some guys drop slugs in the collection baskets at church. But it might be the key to a place where a stolen door was hit. Or jewels. If this was a key to a safety deposit box, I think you might have an idea, but it isn't. This is just an ordinary flat cylinder locked door key. My idea is all wet, huh? Well, it's pretty far-fetched, you know, Bill. Of course, you reported the burglary to the cops, huh? Yeah. What'd they say? They said what you said, that only a goof or a kid would steal a baby's piggy bank and nothing else. Mm-hmm. But I didn't tell them about the key. You keep this key and think about it, Casey. I still got a notion there's a mystery in it and a story. Okay, Bill. I'll just stick it in my desk drawer and do some thinking about it. Yes, I will. When I wake up, if you don't mind, I'm gonna grab myself a nap. Sure. Oh, nuts. Photography department, Casey speaking. Oh, hello, Burke. Yeah, go ahead, shoot. City desk. What? Wharf Street under Pier 30. All right, I got it. Well, who's Manny Armstrong? Oh, sure. Yeah, yeah, I remember now. Listen, tell Annie Williams I'll meet her downstairs in the lobby. We'll get right down there. Goodbye. Well, what is it, Casey? That's the end of my nap. Manny Armstrong, the counterfeiter, has just been found murdered. Counterfeiter? Yeah, one of the smoothest, too. Nearly drove the treasure department nuts before they nailed him. That was around 10 years ago. I'd almost forgotten the guy's name. Where's my hat? There, on your head. What? Oh, thanks. Yeah, well, I'll see you later, Bill. Don't forget to think about that key, Casey. Key? What key? Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah, I'll think about it, kid. So long. Hey, Walter, go down cellar and bring up some more sweet vermouth. We only got one bottle left at the back of this wine. And bring up some more lemons. Yeah, and some... huh? When did you two blow away? Never mind them lemons, Walter. We just arrived. Oh, boy, do we feel beat up, too. You can say that again. We've stuck on an assignment for 12 solid hours, Ethelbert. What assignment, Miss Williams? The Manny Armstrong murder. I read about that in the evening papers. He's the old counterfeiter who was just freed from prison. Well, he didn't enjoy much freedom. He gets into this town yesterday morning after being sprung from the federal pen at Lewisburg, and this morning he's found dead under a barge pier. Beaten to death, the papers said. Not just beaten, Ethelbert. He was deliberately tortured. Yeah? Well, that side of the murder's off the record. The cops don't want it known yet, Ethelbert, so... Of course, I won't say anything. Any clues as to who done it, Casey, off the record? Well, only one. Yeah? Marks on his face and head indicate that the guy who beat him wore a heavy signet ring with a big sharp-cornered letter E on it. That sounds like a hot clue. Well, that's what made us stick with the case so many hours, but it hasn't led us anywhere so far. Thank goodness we'll get time off tomorrow for those extra hours, Casey. I'll use them all as sleeping. Me too, Manny. Hey, Ethelbert, have some coffee brought here to the bar for us. Will you pound it in the bell? Sure. Hey, Walter! Oh, Walter, have some coffee brought for Miss Williams and Casey. And take back them lemons. To get back to the subject, didn't Miss Manny Armstrong have some known enemies who might have... After the crook, he had very few enemies, pal. Anyway, the torture angle indicates that the killer was trying to make Armstrong cough up information. And the cops have another angle on that. The Treasury Department got a conviction against Armstrong ten years ago for making and passing five and ten dollar bills that were good enough to fool anyone but experts. They weren't able to find the plates he made them with. Those engraved plates would be worth plenty to another crook who wanted to go into the counterfeiting racket. So the killer may have tried to make Armstrong tell where they was hidden, huh? That's the idea. Do you think he did tell? It's doubtful if he was able to tell. Why? You see, during his last five years in prison, Armstrong was a very sick guy. He almost completely lost his memory. Prison doctors are convinced that Armstrong doesn't know where he hid those plates or recall much of anything else that he did before his sickness began. Which seems to explain why he was beaten to death, Ethelbert. He couldn't tell. Yeah, that's right. Say, where's that coffee? Hey, Walter, where's... Excuse me, there's the bar phone. Yeah, I can never get that coffee in the world. Luna Cafe, Ethelbert speaking. Yeah, yeah, just a minute. For you, Casey, your city desk. City desk? Oh, we're not on duty. Then we're not going to be. Give me that phone. Hello, Casey speaking. Oh, there's an assignment you think I'd like to cover, huh? After I just put in 12 hours on a job. What do you think I am, anyway? Wait a minute. Say that again. I'll go up there right away. Thanks a million. Thanks for handing this to me, boss. This guy's sick, Miss William. What is it, Casey? Bill Shapiro has just been taken to the hospital. He may die. Bill Shapiro? The cub photographer you like? That's right, yeah. He was in here just this morning telling me about his apartment being robbed of a piggy bank. Tonight, he's been almost beaten to death. His wife's badly hurt, too. But why? Come on, Annie, we're going to find out why. Say, tell me, did you ever take a magnificent roast, steaming hot from the oven, and put it on a platter? Suddenly, bingo, the platter cracks. Well, that simply can't happen with jadeite, the amazing new dinnerware developed by Anchor Hocking. You see, jadeite is as heatproof as the fire king oven glass you use for baking, and yet it has the delicate beauty of rare old Chinese porcelain. And jadeite prices are incredibly low. For example, a cup and saucer in open stock cost only 15 cents. And a complete 35-piece jadeite dinner service for six costs less than $5. So ask for beautiful jade green jadeite dinnerware at chain stores, department stores, hardware stores, and all other stores selling chinaware and glass. Remember the name jadeite, spelled J-A-D-E-I-T-E. Jadeite, the newest triumph of Anchor Hocking. The most famous name in class. Since you're on the job here, Logan, I guess it means Shapiro is a homicide case. Unfortunately, it doesn't, Casey. I just got word from the hospital that your friend's going to be okay. Oh, yeah? I'm so glad, Captain. Me too. How about his wife and his baby? The baby wasn't hurt at all. Mrs. Shapiro has hit in the head and KO'd, but right now she's suffering from nothing worse than shock and hysteria. She's been taken to the hospital, too. What happened in this apartment? Well, Mrs. Shapiro said that about half past six, just as she and her husband were about to have dinner, she answered a knock at the door, and when she opened it, saw a man there. Well, that's the last she remembered. The man knocked her unconscious then? Yeah. And when she regained consciousness, she found her husband lying on the kitchen floor, dead, she thought. So I got a homicide report when she phoned headquarters. Was she able to describe the guy who hit her? No, he worked too fast, and her husband won't be able to tell us anything for at least a week. Of course, she told you about the burglary here last night. Yeah. Oh, you know about that piggy bank thing, eh? Yeah, Bill told me this morning. Think there's any connection there? I've been trying to figure one, Casey, but the parts don't fit. Anyone who prowls an apartment and steals nothing but a kid's penny bank isn't the sort of crook who comes back later and nearly kills a guy. That's the way it seems to me, too. But I have found a connection with something else that's red hot. Yeah? What? Now, strictly off the record, whoever beat up Shapiro wore a signet ring with a big sharp initial E. Casey! You found the same marks on Bill as you found on Manny Armstrong? And the beating Shapiro got was like the one Armstrong took. Blows to the head and face. Only Shapiro lived through it. Yeah, but... What connection can Bill Shapiro, just a cop reporter, have with Armstrong? That's what I want to ask you with Casey, Miss Williams. You especially, pal. You know Shapiro. Well, he couldn't have any connection with Armstrong. He was only a kid when Armstrong went to jail ten years ago. Now, wait a minute. What did Mrs. Shapiro tell you about that piggy bank robbery? Only that the bank was stolen. Did she mention anything about a key? Key? What key? Maybe the key to the Shapiro-Armstrong connection. Pal, I'm going back to the office. Where can I reach you in half an hour? Hey, what is it? Yeah, that's what I'd like to know. I got a notion. Or rather, Bill Shapiro had one that may pay off. I don't want to talk about it until I do some thinking that I promised Bill I'd do before. Maybe you know what you're talking about. I don't. Where can I reach you in half an hour? I'll be back at headquarters. All right, I'll phone you there. Come on, let's get to the office, Annie. Okay, but Lady in the Dark had nothing on me. There's a lot of light in you on the way, Annie. Come on. I tossed it in a drawer on my desk this morning. Here it is. It's just an ordinary flat pass key. Maybe it isn't ordinary. Wait a minute. Let's try this magnifying glass. Why? I got a hunch. Well, through the magnifying glass, it's still an ordinary flat pass key. Look at the other side. Still nothing out of the ordinary. No. Oh, there goes the hunch. I guess so. That's... You see, Armstrong was an engraver, and I figured he might have engraved something on his key so fine it couldn't be seen with the naked eye. Something maybe about the location of those counterfeit plates that he hid away before his memory went haywire. Well, I'm used to being wrong. He gave Captain Logan a big buildup about this. You better tell him to forget it. Yeah. Wait a minute. Now what now? I just noticed something different about this key Bill Shapiro gave me. This isn't a key turned out by one of the big lock companies. This is a duplicate. So what? Well, locksmiths who make duplicate keys often stamp their names on the blanks they use, but I've never known of one of them who stamps on the original number, Annie. This key I got from Bill Shapiro has a name and an identifying number on it. Ludwig Marius. And the number is 12138. Hey, wait a minute. That isn't a true identification number. Manufacturers use serial letters to avoid running their numbers up into the millions. This key has no letters on it. Well, what do you think? Well, this 12138 must be a code of some kind. And the name... Wait a minute. Let me look at this phone book. Yeah. Armstrong spent most of his life in this town. He was arrested here. He must have hidden those plates here. Marius is an uncommon name. Let's see. There's only one listed in the book, Annie. And he's listed as Edward Marius, DDS. He's a dentist, not a locksmith. But the name on the key isn't Edward Marius. It's Ludwig Marius. I know, I know. The name's so unusual. They must be relatives. Annie, that signet ring. Some people put their first initial on jewelry instead of their last, and Edward begins with an E. Well, so does Emily and Ethel and Erman true. I know, I know. All right, anyway, let's take this key to Logan instead of phoning him. You'll get a code expert in who will give us the loadout. Okay. All right, come on. I'll open the door. Okay. Oh, how... Excuse me, lady. I was just about to go in when this gentleman decided to let you and himself out. There's nobody in the photography department now, Mr. Guys are all out on assignment. Now I can see the place is empty, which saves me trouble, Katie. He's got a gun. What is this? Step back into that empty room both of you, and quick. Go on, Annie. Yeah, okay. Now give me the key. What key? The key I've been hearing you talk about from the outside this door. Hand it over. No. Don't hit him, look out! That's been done, now you sit... No! And just to make sure you stay quiet... I'd put you both out for keeps if it wasn't too dangerous here. Thanks for the key, fella. So long. Oh, I can tell you about the guy Logan is, he was big as an ox. Yeah, and he was dark and swarthy. Well, you can identify his picture if it's in our criminal files, can't you? I doubt it. You know, so do I. His hat was pulled down over his eyes and his overcoat collar was turned up. I can tell you this about him, though, he throws a punch like a mule throws a kick. I'm still groggy. I don't feel so good either. You're both lucky you got off as easy as you did. Have you looked in a mirror since you came to and phoned for me, Casey? Yeah. It's a cut on my jaw that looks like an E. Yeah. Before this muscle man finished with Shapiro, he obviously made him tell that the key had been given to you. Sure. So he hung around outside the office here until he saw me come in, then he listened at the door. It was all set when Ann and I started out. Was he set? Say, Casey, go over your theory of this key business again. I want it straight. Well, now we know that the key connects everything that's happened. Armstrong must have known this guy with the E ring wanted it. It was after it. It must have been so close that Armstrong had to act fast. He saw a baby on the street sitting in a carriage playing with a piggy bank. So he stopped, mired the kid, you know, dropped the key in the bank. All the time he was conning the mother into telling him her name and where she lived. He meant to get back the key after he shook the E ring guy, but he couldn't shake him, and E ring put the pressure on him under that pier until he spilled the words. That's it. E ring goes to Shapiro's after he kills Armstrong, gets the piggy bank, finds the key isn't inside, then goes back to Shapiro's and tortures Bill into telling him that I have it. You and Miss Williams say you can't remember all the die stamping you found in that key. Only the name. Ludwig Marius. In both cases, I think that the number started with 1-2-1, but we can't recall the rest. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Now that my so-called brain is clearing a bit, I think that name is the gimmick of this thing, Logan. And I don't think it's a code because Armstrong could never remember a code. The figures and letters stamped on it mean just what they say. Well, then what we do remember is no help. There's no Ludwig Marius listed, only Edward Marius. My hunch says that he's the works, Logan. I want to meet that guy, and he's not going to slip any more fast punches over when I do. Casey will play your hunch. Let's call on Edward Marius. The maid said you people wish to see me. I'm Edward Marius. You? This isn't the guy who socked me, Logan. That man was twice his size. Pardon me, but I don't understand. Well, Mr. Marius, I'm Captain Logan of the police. Police? This is Miss Williams and Mr. Casey of the Morning Express. I'm the police. I'm the police. I'm the police. I'm the police. I'm the police. I'm the police. I'm the police. I'm Mr. Casey of the Morning Express. I'm happy to meet you, but I have no business with the newspapers or the police. I'm merely a practicing dentist. Mr. Marius, you're the only person of your name listed in the phone book or the city directory. I'm the only Marius in this city that I know of. Have you ever heard of a Ludwig Marius? Heard of him? Ludwig Marius was my father. Your father? He died ten years ago. He died? Yes. Tell us something about your father, Mr. Marius. What, for instance? What he did, who he worked for, his associations. He worked for humanity. He was a clergyman. A clergyman? Yes. My father was minister of the Hillside Church around the corner. Anyone in the neighborhood can tell you about his association. Gentlemen, I'm proud to be able to say that my father, Ludwig Marius, was the most loved member of this community. What is this all about, please? Casey, you answer that. I guess we might as well be going, Ludwig. Wait. Your father died ten years ago, Mr. Marius? Yes. Logan, didn't Manny Armstrong live in this neighborhood just before his arrest? Yeah, Burnham Street, about six blocks from here. Mr. Marius, did your father die on January 21st? Why, yes. January 21st, 1938. That's it! What's it? Where was he buried, Mr. Marius? In Beechwood Cemetery, in our family plot. Thanks, I think I've got it now. You've got what? Sure I have, Manny. And Mr. Marius has helped me remember all the numbers stamped on that key. I said he'd be the works of this thing. Hey, will you tell us... Sure. We're going to Beechwood Cemetery from here. And watch! Casey, someone's coming. I see Logan. A man, among those tombstones. He, he looks like a ghost. Ghosts don't carry a pick and shovel, Annie. I don't think. Casey, he's a big man. He bet he is. He's the guy who socked us, I won't forget him. That's your Mr. E-ring. Are you sure? I am. That's the overcoat he had on, and the hat. Well, if you're both positive in your identification, I'll step out from behind this monument right now. No, no, no, you won't, pal. This is my party. Casey, come back here. He's twice as big as you are. Yeah, but I'm twice as mad. We'll join the crowd at the Blue Note in just a moment. 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These anchor glass jars and anchor caps protect soluble coffee perfectly against harmful moisture. They're easy to open, easy to measure from, and easy to reseal. Anchor glass jars and anchor caps are both products of anchor hawking. The most famous name in glass. The most famous name in glass. Oh, Ethelbert. I sure was proud of him. Yeah, but look at his face, Miss Williams. All those E's. Well, at least he tried. It's a good thing Captain Logan was there. You say them plates for making counterfeit five and ten dollar bills was really in that preacher's coffin, Casey? Yeah, that's where they were, Ethelbert. Mr. Ludwig Marius died at just the time the Dresd Treasury agents were about to close in on Manny Armstrong. So he made an apparently innocent visit to Marius' home where the minister was lying in his coffin. And while nobody was paying any attention, he shoved the plates under the body. Then he had that key made so he wouldn't forget where he put them. Oh no, not then. No, no. He made the key himself in prison about five years later. He realized he was beginning to lose his memory. And he passed it to his lawyer for safekeeping without giving the lawyer any hint that it was more than an ordinary key. The lawyer told you this? No, no. We got the dope from Mr. E. Ray. The real name is Ellis Eno. Eno was a convict in Lewisburg prison at the same time as Armstrong. And the old counterfeiter was delirious for a while and he spilled the story of the key to Eno, but he couldn't remember the name stamped on it or the number. What was the meaning of that number? It was the date, the date of Marius' death, 1-21-38, which translates pretty easily as January 21st, 1938. I see. I thought you would. Well, Eno got out of the pen before the old man did and waited. Armstrong saw Eno tailing him and after he got the key from his lawyer, suspected why he was being tailed, dropped the key in a little Julius Shapiro's toy bank and you know the rest. Best of all, Bill Shapiro is going to get the reward for finding those plates. Hmm. Casey, will you and Miss Williams have a cup of coffee on the house? Coffee? Yeah, I'll have Walter get it for you. No, no thanks pal. No coffee for us. We're going home. And get some sleep. Nothing's going to stop us this time either. Oh, excuse me, there's the bar. Annie, hey, that must be Bert with another assignment. Come on, let's get out of here. I'm with you, Casey Ross. Blue Note Cafe, Ethelbert speaking. No sir, they have went. Huh? Oh, I see. You just wanted to tell them that their pictures are in the February issue of Movie Star Parade magazine. Geez, wow. I'll tell them. Bye bye. Hmm. Crime photographer starring Stats Cotsworth as Casey is brought to you by the Anchor Hocking Glass Corporation. Makers of Fire King Oven Glass, Anchor Glass containers, Anchor caps and closures. All products of Anchor Hocking, the most famous name in glass. Crime Photographer is directed by John Dease and is based on a fictional character of Flash Gun Casey created by George Harman Cox. Original music is by Archie Blyer and the program features Miss Jan Miner as Anne and John Gibson as Ethelbert. Herman Chittison is the Blue Note pianist. This is Tony Marvin saying goodnight for the Anchor Hocking Glass Corporation of Lancaster, Ohio with offices in all principal cities of the United States and Canada. This is PBS The Columbia Broadcasting System.
