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Inner Sanctum, is a popular old-time radio program that aired from January 7, 1941, to October 5, 1952. It was created by producer Himan Brown and was based on the imprint given to the mystery novels of Simon & Schuster.
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00:05Lipson Tee and Lipson Soup presents Inner Sanctum Mysteries.
00:25Good evening, friends of the Inner Sanctum.
00:29This is Raymond, your host at the squeaking door.
00:32Come in, won't you?
00:34Well, you're shivering.
00:36Cold?
00:37Oh.
00:39Well, don't let it throw you.
00:41Just remember that many are cold, but few are frozen.
00:49Well, our story to be different tonight is about murder.
00:53Murder and a clock.
00:55So, if you've got a little time to kill, let's do it now, huh?
01:00Why, Mr. Raymond, nobody can really kill time.
01:03Well, maybe not.
01:04Did you ever hear of an alarmed clock?
01:07Mr. Raymond, someday you're going to choke on one of those puns.
01:11And won't that be nice, Mary?
01:12Then you can revive me with guess what, Lipson Tee.
01:15Oh, dear.
01:16Must this go on week after week?
01:18Why must I talk to the only person in the world who doesn't know the proper uses of Lipson Tee?
01:24Oh, don't say that.
01:25It isn't used to revive people, at least not in the way you mean it.
01:29Of course, lots of folks do find that Lipson's makes the day seem brighter.
01:33Yes, it sort of helps them through their housework to sit down now and then between meals,
01:38as well as at dinner and supper, and enjoy a cup of Lipson Tee.
01:42And the reason why Lipson's is so satisfying is because of that one little word, brisk.
01:49B-R-I-S-K.
01:51Tea experts say that Lipson's has a brisk flavor, which means that it always tastes tangy and bracing.
01:58It's never flat or wishy-washy.
02:00So folks, ask for Lipson Tee at your grocers.
02:03You just don't know how good tea can be till you've tried Lipson.
02:08Yes, and when you leave the grocer's, step next door to the clockmaker's shop and ask him,
02:12for the Judas Clock.
02:15If he doesn't have it on hand, just ask him to give you the works.
02:21Yes, the title of tonight's story is The Judas Clock.
02:26It's an original radio play by that old clock watcher, Christopher Mayo.
02:31Our star is Barry Kroger, who plays the role of Sebastian Packer.
02:42I'm a clockmaker.
02:44I carry on the profession my father taught me in London.
02:48I like clocks.
02:50All that is but one.
02:53For thirty years, I've looked for a certain clock and a certain man.
02:57The clock is known to collectors as the Judas Clock.
03:02The man I swore to kill when, as a boy of fourteen,
03:07I closed my father's glazing eyes and wiped the froth of blood from his lips.
03:14Last night, I found the Judas Clock.
03:20Tonight, I may have found the man.
03:27I'm told you're an expert clock repairman, Mr. Rose.
03:31Back home, madam.
03:32Yes, I suppose I am.
03:33Well, I have a clock.
03:35Rather, my husband has.
03:36And it hasn't run for years.
03:38Would you have a look at it?
03:39Well, can't you bring it in?
03:41Oh, heavens no.
03:42It weighs five hundred pounds.
03:44One of those huge marble things.
03:46Italian Renaissance, I'd say.
03:48A marble?
03:49Italian.
03:50Well, can you describe it further?
03:53Well, it's rather unusual.
03:55Black marble.
03:56Heavily carved with biblical characters.
04:00The ivory face has a beautifully etched scene on it.
04:03But it's a gruesome one.
04:04Gruesome?
04:06What kind of a scene?
04:08It's a picture of a man hanging from a tree.
04:11Judas!
04:12His face is positively ghastly.
04:14The Judas Clock.
04:18I knew without seeing it why the clock wouldn't run.
04:21It had been built in Italy for a prince of the House of Savoy in 1598.
04:26He conceived the idea when he discovered that his family's treasures included the thirty pieces of silver of Judas Iscariot.
04:35The clock was made to run only when the thirty silver coins of Judas were in place in the clock's
04:42hollow weights.
04:44Fifteen in each weight.
04:46And the coins had been in my possession since the day of my father's death.
04:53Somewhere inside me that clock still beats its deep-throated song.
04:58And I have but to close my eyes to hear again my father's voice.
05:03It's an evil clock, son.
05:06As evil is Satan himself.
05:09And it's cursed.
05:12There is a legend that every man who has owned it has died a violent and bloody death.
05:20Well, Mr. Packer, can you fix it?
05:22Oh, I'm sorry.
05:23I was daydreaming.
05:25Well, yes.
05:26Does Mr.
05:28Arnold.
05:29Arnold.
05:29Does Mr. Arnold know that you're having the clock repaired?
05:32No.
05:33We've only been married a few weeks and I'd like to have it working when he comes back to town
05:37tomorrow.
05:37Thought of a surprise.
05:38Yes, I see.
05:40I'll be there in half an hour, Mrs. Arnold.
05:48So last night, I went to the Arnold house and found the Judas clock again.
05:54I started to work.
05:57Fog horns from the East River sounded much as I remembered they did in London.
06:01And suddenly, I was back there on a fateful day about a fortnight after the clock had been uncrated by
06:08my father.
06:09I was in the shop when the man from Scotland Yard stepped in.
06:13He walked straight to the clock and stared at him.
06:17Good afternoon, sir.
06:19Does the clock interest you?
06:20Very much.
06:21When did you acquire it?
06:22A cousin bought it at an auction in Italy.
06:25And I'm displaying it for sale and consignment.
06:28My name's Pettibone, Scotland Yard.
06:30I've been looking for this clock for a month.
06:32It was stolen in Italy.
06:34Stolen?
06:34Yes, Mr. Packer.
06:36And worse, murder was done.
06:38Afraid you're involved in a bit of something here.
06:41Murder?
06:42I'm taking possession of the clock in the name of the crown.
06:45I shall never forget the look of horror on the detective's face a moment later.
06:50He laid his hand on the clock's carving and it froze there while his face drained white and his eyes
06:57bulged.
06:57He opened and closed his mouth soundlessly and crumpled to the floor with his hands to his throat.
07:07He was still and twisted and very dead.
07:15Mr. Pettibone had died of a heart attack the moment he took possession of the clock.
07:20I helped Father drag him into the stock room.
07:23Father wanted time to think.
07:24So I went to my room.
07:26I dozed off only to wait hours later at the sound of angry voices.
07:31Well, Cousin Andrew, you've done me a fine turn, haven't you?
07:34I've told you I didn't mean to kill the old girl.
07:36It was an accident.
07:37Don't talk so loud.
07:38Boy, we'll hear us.
07:39You killed her as soon as you learned that she'd made out a will in your favor.
07:42Then when you thought it was safe, you saw all her furnishings and sent the clock to me to sell.
07:46Very well, I did.
07:47And you're in it to the ears.
07:48I'll go to the police.
07:50And how will you explain poor, stiff Mr. Pettibone lying in your stock room all this while?
07:55I...
07:56Besides, Timothy, there's nothing to fear now Pettibone's gone.
08:00He was the only one who suspected me.
08:03Now, you're the only one who knows.
08:05I'll create this cursed black monster tomorrow and you leave with it.
08:08And will you also create Mr. Pettibone?
08:10I...
08:11I have a plan.
08:12Here.
08:13Sit down in this chair.
08:15Right here.
08:16I'll show you how we can solve the whole thing.
08:19My young heart beat with a wild dread as I listened.
08:23I could only see Cousin Andy's back.
08:25But I could see Father seated dejectedly in the chair near the Judas clock.
08:30His head in his hands.
08:33It was midnight.
08:34All the clocks in the shop began striking the hour.
08:38And louder than all the rest was the chime of the evil clock.
08:42If only then I had known I might have done something.
08:46But the slow strokes beat out.
08:49Eight.
08:50Nine.
08:52Ten.
08:54Eleven.
08:57Twelve.
08:59And before my horrified eyes, the heavy marble piece leaned slowly from the wall and crashed across my father's back.
09:09Cousin Andy stood facing my father as the clock crushed his frail form and choked him.
09:14He made pitiful little sounds, his eyes begging for life.
09:18And the murderer just stood to his back to me.
09:22What?
09:23You hungry sinners, you diehard.
09:26Cousin Andy ran from the shop crying for help.
09:29He would claim an accident.
09:30I raced into the shop.
09:32My father was dead.
09:35I choked back my tears.
09:37And I closed the poor, staring eyes.
09:40I took the coins of Judas from the weights of the clock and ran from the shop.
09:44The blood-stained pieces jangling merrily in my pocket.
09:56Armed with the notion that the coins were of value, and the definite notion that I must eat,
10:01I approached one of the many dingy little curio shops in the Limehouse District.
10:06I stepped through the fog toward a shop where a dim light burned in the rear.
10:12Every inch of wall and the ceiling was hung with curio's, old armor, swords, and shields.
10:21I would have run out, but a weazened, apish man barked at me from the rear.
10:26Hey, what do you want?
10:27I have something to sell.
10:30What do you got?
10:31I have the 30 pieces of silver that belong to Judas Iscariot.
10:35I'll twist this scrawny neck off you.
10:36Pulling me leg, eh?
10:37Oh, no, sir.
10:38I'm not pulling your leg, sir.
10:39Here they are.
10:41Oh, I mean.
10:43Silver right on earth.
10:44Where'd you cop them?
10:45Oh, I didn't steal them, sir.
10:47They belong to my father.
10:49Ha, ha.
10:50A likely tale, then.
10:52Will you buy them?
10:53Buy them, he says.
10:56Buy them.
10:58Get out of here before I cause a bobby, you scant.
11:00Get out.
11:01Oh, no, give me my coins.
11:02Get out right to my butt and fetch you a sound one.
11:04The ugly brute came toward me.
11:06He held my coins clutched in a tight, hairy fist.
11:08Before I could move, it struck me.
11:13And I hit the wall with a clatter.
11:15And then it happened again.
11:19For the second time that night, the curse of the Judas clock struck.
11:22As I hit the wall, my eye caught a metallic glint above and a heavy object dropped from the ceiling.
11:28The man was about to strike me again when the object struck his head.
11:32And he remained a part of him.
11:37He fell.
11:38His skull split in two by a hangman's axe.
11:49I clamped my mouth on a cry and pried the man's fist open.
11:54The fresh blood made it hard.
11:57But I recovered the coins.
11:59I stumbled in panic through the shop and out into the night.
12:04And the fog of London never swallowed a more frightened and lonely boy.
12:18That nasty fog swallowing a little boy.
12:22That reminds me of a little nursery rhyme.
12:25Hickory dickory dock, the mouse ran up the clock.
12:29The clock struck two.
12:31Look out, it might strike you.
12:34Heavens, I'm glad I don't own that terrible clock.
12:36Oh, don't say that, Mary.
12:38Just think if you had the Judas clock, then time wouldn't hang, Evelyn.
12:42You know it would fall on you.
12:44Well, if it did fall and you rescued me, wouldn't that make you a time saver?
12:49Well, split my sides with an axe that Mary didn't make with a joke.
12:53Well, a very little one, Mr. Raymond.
12:55That's true.
12:56But seriously, I do have something to say about a time saver.
12:59And I'm thinking about Lipton tea.
13:02You know, Lipton's is such a handy beverage.
13:04It takes a little time to prepare.
13:06And it's always so welcome.
13:09Yes, its famous brisk flavor makes it enjoyable, not just at your own mealtimes, but between meals.
13:16And whenever folks drop in for a visit.
13:17That's why it's a good idea to buy Lipton's in the larger, more economical-sized packages.
13:23That's right.
13:23The larger packages are much thriftier.
13:26So you see, it's wise to keep on hand a really good supply of that brisk-flavored Lipton tea.
13:32Oh, sure, it'll come in handy to warm up the chills you get from these inner sanctum stories.
13:37And, brother, you're going to shiver plenty with Barry Kroger as Sebastian Packer as this story goes on about the
13:46Judas clock.
13:50I hadn't touched those horrible coins of Judas Iscariot since the day the storekeeper was killed.
13:56By now, I half believed the legend that death followed them.
13:59I began to feel that the only way I could escape their curse was to find the Judas clock and
14:05put the coins back in its weights where they belonged.
14:09One day, as I read the notices in the Times, my heart skipped a beat.
14:14It said, auction of clocks.
14:18A choking place, auction room, Saturday at seven.
14:21Rare items, one of them fine Italian Renaissance piece of black marble.
14:26So, rare treat for collectors come early.
14:31Interested in something, young man?
14:33Oh, why, yes, well, that is nothing in particular.
14:36Just looking at these splendid pieces, I thought I might stay for the auction.
14:41Look at that.
14:42Auction won't start for a bit yet.
14:44I sauntered toward the black clock.
14:46My hand had scooped all the coins from my pocket.
14:49I would have to work fast and noiselessly.
14:52My sweating fingers began to unscrew the small cover on one of the weights.
14:56I would soon have the coins put back to the fort.
15:00Look!
15:00What have you got in your hand there?
15:01Let's have a look.
15:02No, no, nothing.
15:02Nothing at all.
15:03I was just examining.
15:04Examining my foot?
15:05You've got a flock of coins there.
15:06You must have taken them from somewhere in the clock.
15:08Oh, yes.
15:09No, no.
15:10Give them to me.
15:11Sometimes, when things happen quickly, the mind retains details that would otherwise escape notice.
15:17As the man and I struggled, I dropped the clock's weight.
15:22It hit a short, round bit of metal directly below it.
15:25The man had a vice-like grip on my clenched hand.
15:28Be lost it, little wretch.
15:29No.
15:30I'll wrench your handle for you.
15:32I heard a whirring sound within the clock, and before my horrified eyes, the supporting
15:36panel at the front of the clock's base slowly lifted on hinges.
15:39The clock was off balance and began to fall forward.
15:42I screamed a warning.
15:43Look out!
15:49The auction man was dead, mashed to a pulp of bone and blood beneath the clock, as my
15:56father had been.
15:58I ran to the door and out into the street.
16:01I was right back where I'd started.
16:05Only now I knew that my father had been murdered by Cousin Andy.
16:19I walked for miles, trying to pull myself together.
16:23I wandered aimlessly.
16:24Oh, so I thought.
16:26But fate had traced my path before me, because I was startled to find myself staring into the
16:32shop window of a rare coin dealer named Megaroid.
16:36I walked into the shop.
16:38Mr. Megaroid was a nice little man.
16:41He smiled a bit quizzically at my firm belief that I possessed the betrayal coins of Judas.
16:47I poured them onto his counter.
16:48Oh, I see.
16:50You could be right, you know.
16:52Well, these are the right era.
16:54I see.
16:55Suppose they are.
16:56Let me put a glass to them.
16:57Mr. Megaroid, would they be worth a great deal, even if they weren't the...
17:00Well, let me see.
17:01Let me see.
17:04Yes, gracious.
17:05Yes, they should be worth a great deal as collector's items alone.
17:08Well, Mr. Megaroid, I...
17:10I feel that there's something I should tell you about these pieces.
17:14They...
17:14Yes.
17:16Oh, it's not important.
17:17Oh, well, now, just a moment.
17:19I have a catalogue on this here in my show window.
17:21I'll fidget just a chiffy.
17:23The coins lay on the counter.
17:25I watched Mr. Megaroid run down the aisle.
17:27As he approached the display window, his foot caught in an electric wire which lay across the floor.
17:31The lights went out and I saw him pitch forward and...
17:33Mr. Megaroid!
17:35Mr. Megaroid!
17:43The streetlight peered through the broken plate glass.
17:46And played across a grotesquely sprawled form in the show window.
17:51I needed no more light than there was to see what had happened.
17:55The upper half of the heavy plate had broken and dropped flat against the solid lower half.
18:02There was no need to ask how he was.
18:05No guillotine could have done the neater job.
18:08Mr. Megaroid had no head.
18:13No else the death can own the coins of Judas.
18:28Tonight, I shall find out if Mr. Arnold is Cousin Andrew.
18:35If he is, I shall feel no remorse in killing him tonight.
18:40Because while working to repair the Judas clock last night,
18:44I discovered how my father's accidental death had been well-conceived, diabolic murder.
18:50When the right-hand weight reached the floor of the clock on the twelfth stroke of midnight,
18:56it tripped a trigger which collapsed the base of the clock and caused it to fall forward.
19:02But my father had tied on the twelfth stroke of midnight.
19:09Have you finished, Mr. Packer?
19:10Oh, no, Mrs. Arnold.
19:11I shall have to come back tomorrow night.
19:13What time do you expect, Mr. Arnold, tomorrow?
19:16About eleven, I say.
19:17Will you be finished by then?
19:18Well, I think so.
19:21I'll have to take these weights to the shop with me, though.
19:23Something has to be added to them.
19:24Well, of course, Mr. Packer.
19:26Mr. Arnold will be so surprised to see the clock running, won't he?
19:30You'll be very surprised, Mrs. Arnold.
19:43I've put the coins in their place within the weights.
19:47Not fifteen in each weight, but fifteen in one and ten in the other.
19:52The other five coins are in my pocket.
19:55In another pocket.
19:57I have a small thirty-eight, although I don't plan to use it.
20:04Eight o'clock.
20:06And I have a thirty-year-old date to keep.
20:11Good evening.
20:12Oh.
20:13Mr. Packer?
20:14Yes, but I'm closing now.
20:16I see you are.
20:17My name is Arnold.
20:19Just came in from Chicago.
20:21Sorry to spoil your little surprise.
20:23Or my wife's, rather.
20:25Well, you, uh, you surprised her instead.
20:28Yes.
20:29She had to confess.
20:30I wanted to go out, so she had to tell me about engaging you to repair the Judas' clock.
20:35You don't want it repaired?
20:37By all means, I insist.
20:38It's a splendid idea.
20:40But what I came for, really, was to tell you that you and I have much to talk about.
20:45Oh, do we?
20:46Yes.
20:46Yes.
20:47But look, close your place and bring along whatever you need to fix the clock, and we'll
20:52talk about it at my place.
20:53I'm all set.
20:53Let's go.
21:04Do you think you will have it fixed in time to strike midnight?
21:08Oh, yes.
21:08Yes, it will strike at midnight.
21:10Yes.
21:11Well, there we are, Mr. Arnold.
21:14Waits are in place.
21:15Let's see.
21:17Exactly ten minutes before midnight.
21:20Set the hands.
21:23And just a little shove on the pendulum, so, and the Judas' clock ticks again.
21:32It's an evil clock, son.
21:36Evil as Satan himself.
21:39The Judas' clock wakes from a thirty-year sleep.
21:43Hey, cousin Sebastian.
21:45Cousin?
21:45What?
21:46That's what I wanted to tell you.
21:47My wife told me your father owned this clock in London.
21:51Oh, I...
21:52Well, yes.
21:52I was your father's cousin.
21:55Your Sebastian Packard, the little boy who ran away that night.
21:58Cousin?
21:59Yes.
22:01I wonder how much you know of that horrible night when your father was killed.
22:05Well, I...
22:06I know the clock fell on father.
22:08I heard the sound from my room, and I...
22:10I'm so frightened.
22:12And on those rare steps in time to see them carry father away,
22:17he...
22:17was all covered up.
22:18So that was why I didn't find you in your room afterward.
22:22It happened so fast.
22:24We were sitting, talking.
22:26The clocks were striking twelve.
22:28Suddenly, the base of the clock seemed to cave in, and...
22:32I know.
22:33I bought the clock at an auction a few years later.
22:37And it all fixed.
22:39It's good and solid now.
22:41I saw to that.
22:44Yes, sir.
22:44Well, I suppose I'll run along now, Cousin Andy.
22:47Nonsense, nonsense.
22:49Let's make up for lost time and get acquainted.
22:52Well...
22:52Calm now.
22:53I have some fine old port from England here.
22:55I will.
22:56Sit down a while.
22:57No, no, no.
22:57Not that chair.
22:58No?
22:58This one's a lot more comfortable.
23:02It's a funny thing.
23:04When you work with clocks, as long as I have, you'll get to philosophizing about time.
23:12That's all.
23:13How?
23:15Well, here I sit, by the big clock, just as my father sat thirty years ago.
23:25You know how many seconds ago that was, Cousin Andy?
23:29No.
23:30Do you?
23:31Well, 315,360,000 seconds in ten years.
23:38That'd be 9,460,000,800,000 seconds in thirty years.
23:47You've got quite a mechanical mind, Sebastian.
23:50Here.
23:51Try this port.
23:55Yes, to father.
24:04What's the matter, Cousin Andy?
24:07Are you ill?
24:08No.
24:09Your face is quite drawn and gray.
24:13Shut up.
24:27Well, Cousin Andy, it's late.
24:29I guess I best go.
24:31You know, you do look awfully sick.
24:33Oh, don't get up, old man.
24:34You're a sinner, I guess.
24:35Here, sit down and relax.
24:36Take my chair.
24:37It's the more comfortable.
24:38Why, you're shaking like a leaf.
24:40Now, just sit quietly.
24:42I'll see myself out.
24:43Thundering sinners.
24:45I...
24:45Good night, Cousin Andy.
24:50Oh, Sebastian.
24:53Oh, Sebastian.
24:54Get it off.
24:57It's back.
24:58It's never back.
25:00Oh.
25:02Oh.
25:03Poor Cousin Andy.
25:05You're choking to death.
25:08You die hard, too, don't you?
25:11It was just a matter of timing.
25:13I set the hand a minute fast, and the weight didn't touch your clever little spring device
25:17till just now, because it's lighter by five pieces of cursive Judas money.
25:29Rest easy, Father.
25:36And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple,
25:42and departed, and went, and hanged himself.
25:56Oh, now, listen.
26:05That's very sad.
26:08But a fine chime was had by all.
26:13Uh, anybody want to buy a large grandfather clock?
26:17I'm in the market for a sundial and sell.
26:20A sundial?
26:21My, they are old-timey.
26:23Mm-hmm.
26:23See, Mr. Raymond, if you're afraid of clocks that tick,
26:26why don't you try to get hold of one of those old Egyptian water clocks?
26:29Oh, Mary, now you're going to tell me that when tea time comes around,
26:33the water begins to boil in the clock?
26:34Well, that would be quite an invention.
26:36Mm-hmm.
26:37But no, Mr. Raymond, right now, I'm not going to talk about Lipton tea.
26:41Instead, I'm going to tell our listeners about an important job that lies ahead.
26:46A fight that's far from finished.
26:48Yes, the battle for Japan.
26:51Our government says that this specific war will be one of the most bitter and difficult in history.
26:56Never before has a nation fought so far away from its own shores.
27:01And to support this fight, we at home must work even harder at our home front activities.
27:07We must keep on buying more and more bonds.
27:10And we must hold on to them.
27:12And above all, we must stay on our war job until the job in the Pacific is over.
27:26Well, I'll leave you with a cheerful, timely moral.
27:30Well, that goes with tonight's story.
27:32No extra charge.
27:33Now, you can figure out how many seconds you've lived.
27:38All right, that's your pastime.
27:41But you can't figure out how many you've got left.
27:45If that's just, uh, sometimes.
27:47You know what I mean?
27:49Well, I'll see you in just 604,800 seconds from right now.
27:54Hmm?
27:55Well, that's next Tuesday night at nine o'clock, of course.
28:01By the way, this month's Inner Sanctum Mystery novel is The Lucky Stiff by Craig Rice.
28:07Well, now it's really time to close that there squeaking door until next Tuesday night
28:11when Lipton Tea and Lipton Soup bring you another Inner Sanctum Mystery,
28:16directed by Hyman Brown.
28:18So until then, good night.
28:22Pleasant dreams.
28:25Hmm?
28:26Hmm?
28:26Hmm?
28:26Hmm?
28:27Hmm?
28:29Hmm?
28:30Hmm?
28:31Hmm?
28:32Hmm?
28:33Hmm?
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