What happens
Assistant chief of police Wally Shane and Chief Scott Henderson of Deerwood City arrest a man stepping off the 2 a.m. train, who they believe is Lester Furman, wanted for murder in Philadelphia on a reward circular. Furman protests his innocence, is held in the jail, and is later found hanged in his cell. Chief Henderson, skeptical of the suicide, begins to question the circular's authenticity, the Philadelphia detective agency's account, and the dead man's wife, Ethel. The episode is the Suspense radio drama Two Sharp Knives, broadcast on December 22, 1942, with Stuart Irwin as guest star, adapted from a story by Dashiell Hammett.
Deerwood City, a small town, in the early hours of a winter morning in 1942, with the local jail, the undertaker's, and the railway station.
Characters: Scott Henderson, Wally Shane, Lester Furman, Ethel Furman, Molly, Kitty Crowder, George, Carl Reising
Listen for: The moment Chief Henderson notices the bruises on the dead man's head and his doubts about the circular and the agency's story.
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.