What happens
Chicago reporter McNeil investigates the 1932 killing of policeman John Bundy after a newspaper advertisement offers a five thousand dollar reward for the killers. He meets Frank Wiecheck's mother, who has scrubbed floors for eleven years to raise the money, and learns that her son was convicted on the testimony of a witness named Wanda Scutnik. McNeil pursues the case through police records and political pressure, aiming to secure a pardon before a special hearing. Jimmy Stewart stars in the role of McNeil in this Screen Directors Playhouse radio adaptation of the 1949 film, first broadcast on December 9, 1949, and directed by Henry Hathaway.
Chicago in 1932 and the years after, including Stateville prison and the Springfield pardon board hearing
Characters: McNeil, Brian Kelly, Frank Wiecheck, Wanda Scutnik, Tomek Zaleska, Mrs. Wiecheck, Burns, Palmer
Listen for: McNeil's search for Wanda Scutnik and the newspaper photograph that may show the date of Frank Wiecheck's arrest
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.