The Big Story

The "Deadline Murder" was only five years before this episode of The Big Story. The other episodes so far went back many more years.

The newspaper clippings...

And now the real-life happenings...

Thanks to you both
Best regards
Art

Another partial show.....such a tease!!

Big Story 48-06-30 (066) PART1ONLY HateBetweenBrother&Sister [StLouisGlobeDemocrat AlbertBHendry]

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

We have only part 1 of this episode, which does not have a true title on its script cover. The file title comes from a phrase used in its introduction. The script is all the more important when you don't have the conclusion of the story, and it's at this link for the next few days... [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

We've struck out here in the attempts to find the original event for this episode. It seems our reporter, Albert B. Hendry, drifted from job to job in the St. Louis area, doing some newspaper work, some public relations work, and other jobs involving writing. The St. Louis Globe-Democrat is not in any of the online data base services. He was not employed in the newspaper business at the time the story ran on the program, so there was no reason to give it a little extra hype in editorial copy. I could find out about his divorce, the party that the newspaper had when he re-married, but not about the assignment that got him $500 from The Big Story! (In case you were wondering, that's US$5,300 today)

Here are the news clippings for the episode...

Thanks Greybelt & Bojim1

Best regards

Art

Another partial show Big Story 48-07-07 (067) PART2ONLY Woman Was a Witch [Tulsa Tribune, George Cleveland} Bullette]

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

THIS IS A REVISED POSTING
We originally thought we were thwarted by a defunct newspaper that's not in any online archives and a reporter who had an erratic employment history in and out of the newspaper industry. At the time of the broadcast, he was working in a corporate publications department. A little more searching found the case... with no mention in the original stories of our hero reporter.

This is a partial episode, so here is the link to the script to catch up with the opening of the program. The link expires in a few days...  https://we.tl/t-7rcpB9gQvU

Episode newspaper clippings...



Finally, after originally posting that we could not find anything, a break in the research! This was the clipping that did it by specifying the year or the story... and that helped focus the searches...


Here are the news stories; some of them are a little blurry but there is enough repetition in some of them to pick up the important details.


There is a Halloween attraction modeled after the "Hex House" -- the original house is gone.
This website for the attraction has details about the history
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

greybelt wrote:Today's episode is Manhunt in Manhattan from early in 1948. ...
SEVEN doubling actors! And five seemed like a lot the other day!

I'm no expert on this series, but I vaguely recall reading their 1950 Christmas script ("Holiday with Murder," I think) and noting that everybody (except maybe the narrator) doubled. Nine actors playing eighteen characters. Usually you see that kind of thing in the hour-long dramatic series like Mercury Theatre or Lux, et cetera.

By the way, I'm still following the Suspense thread.

We return with a full episode today!!

Big Story 48-07-21 (069) The Lottery [Keeler McCartney, Atlanta Constitution]

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

When this program and the one featuring Dorothy Kilgallen were found in the 1970s, they brought The Big Story episodes to around six or seven episodes... so this was a really big deal for OTRdom.

And speaking of big deals, you can just put some money down and win big in the Atlanta version of what are generally referred to as the numbers rackets.

First, a look at the newspaper clippings...


And now the story's background...

It appears that McCartney would be at the Constitution for the rest of his career. He passed away in 1994 at age 79, meaning that he was around 33 years old at the time of the recognition by The Big Story. His writings and correspondence are at Emory University [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] From what I can tell they have not been indexed so there is no indication of any The Big Story items there... until someone goes and looks!

Big Story 49-01-05 (091) 16YrOldMisfitKillsOutOfFear [AlAaronson LouisvilleCourierJournal] UPGRADE

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

News clippings

It's clear that our hero reporter became a highly regarded newspaper editor and executive

Aronson would retire in 1951, about three years after The Big Story broadcast -- but the story they dramatized was from very early in his career, in 1909, when a failed daytime bank robbery led to the deaths of four people in New Albany, IN...

There are more articles about the incident in a PDF that is issued by the New Albany Library
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The incident was also written up as a short story that originally appeared in Smashing Detective Stories in 1951. The story is available at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and it helped narrow down which particular robbery this The Big Story episode was based on.

Big Story 49-01-26 (094) Liquidating Partnership (Jigsaw Crime) [Joseph Werges, Arkansas Gazette]

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

This was a tough one until a clip about the episode mentioned the underlying case.

Newspaper clippings...

It's always easier to find the underlying events when the home town paper trumpets its own reporter... the newspaper did it for multiple days, but only once identified the actual events...

Wirges was a beloved fixture at the newspaper, even being referred to locally as "Joe Gazette."

This case was in 1931, but he was so successful in his early career, they did an extended profile of him in 1936! (PDF) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

He retired in 1966, and the paper paid him tribute...

... and had a special feature about his exploits (PDF) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

... and was honored by the police.

And now the story...

Two drifters were traveling through Arkansas and one kills the other, but leaves no clues. When they finally figure some of it out, the murderer pleads self-defense... and then the case turns against him.

Big Story 49-03-09 (102) Respected Chemist Dead [Ike McAnally, Cleveland News] LQ HAS TIME TONE

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

This is a big story, literally, that captured the nation's attention for months. A missing chemist... and his affair with his secretary (and art model!)... befuddles the police and their families... and ends in tragedy with an interesting twist of distorted altruism...

But first, the episode clippings...

By the time this aired, reporter Ike McAnally had moved on to work at the NY Daily News years before and had a successful career there. Not much information could be found about him.

And now the story...

A popular and successful chemist, who specializes in water purification, is suddenly missing. Family and authorities fear foul play has taken him.


The St. Louis Post Dispatch of April 13, 1930 had a summary of the case (PDF)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

An upgrade of yesterday's show
Big Story 49-03-09 (102) Respected Chemist Dead [Ike McAnally, Cleveland News] UPGRADE

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

thanks

Big Story 49-06-08 (115) Bitterest Man On the Earth [JulianCHouseman, RichmondNewsLeader] UPGRADE


[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

"Bitterest Man in the World" -- you would be to if you were convicted of something you didn't do... but on top of that, they don't even think you... are you!

Not many newspaper clips here...

In 1932, Nellie Finny was murdered, but husband Albert Finny was not caught for many years, captured in New York, and convicted of killing his wife. "Albert" protests that he is John Henry Warren, all to deaf ears, and is sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Numerous people, including prisoners, start to believe Warren, and so does our hero reporter, Julian Hausemen.

Pressure starts to build for a new trial, and Hauseman even supplies an affidavit to the court in support of the cause. Warren asks for a new trial, and gets it, and is eventually freed! From reading through many newspapers tracking down this particular story, mistaken identity in the criminal system was very common. Today, with fingerprinting technologies and especially DNA testing, this tragedy is far less common than it was at this moment in history.

Here are some of the news stories ... look for our reporter's name!

The Poison Pen Murders [Tom Mercer, Cincinnati Inquirer] AFRS UPGRADE

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Poison Pen Murders

The show's newspaper clippings...

This one was pretty easy to find... and there's a lot of information. The killer evaded arrest for years, but an Italian immigrant who knew a jiu jitsu hold got him!

Big Story 49-10-12 (133) The Loneliest Man On Earth [Ray Sprigle, Pittsburgh Post] AFRS#14 FROM DISC

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Ray Sprigle was quite the reporter -- he even had himself admitted to a psychiatric facility to report on the conditions there, and with great peril investigated black markets in meat. He had been involved in other stories exonerating innocent persons, but this was the big one. In this case, it did not take forever to get Paul Boggs released... it took longer...

Here are the news clippings for the episode...

For this episode, the identification of the true-life incident was mentioned in the TV listing for this story when it was done in that medium.

Big Story 49-12-14 (142) Three Gold Coins Spell Death AFRS#22 [Nolan Bulloch, Tulsa Tribune] UPGRADE


[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]