What happens
Earl French, a convict being transported by train to the penitentiary, is handcuffed to a detective who has been told to soften him up. A train wreck leaves French free but still shackled, and he flees with his fortune of $250,000 in stolen money. Alone and cuffed, he struggles to break the chain, depends on strangers for food and tools, and finds he cannot easily reach the money he hid. Suspense presents this tale of a handicapped man and the woman who holds the key to his freedom, starring Tony Barrett. The broadcast opens with the program's standard introduction for the series, Radio's Outstanding Theater of Thrills.
A train bound for the penitentiary, then the countryside and small towns after a train wreck, including a farm, a hardware store, a roadside diner and a highway.
Characters: Earl French, Gwen
Listen for: French's attempts to break his handcuffs and his dealings with the woman who holds the key.
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.