The White Legion, March 20, 1938

Another Blue Coal sponsored episode opening with a commercial for the product. This is the last adventure for this season.

There's supposed to be a message from the Shadow at the end of the program.

The episode opens in some kind of office. Guys with masks on from the White Legion and are after someone named Mr. Devons. There's a kind of trial from the White Legion (who are obviously the KKK). They whip the guy and then they hang the guy.

Lamont meets with Margo and tells her about the Devons murder whose body has been found at sea. The White Legion are avengers of injustice, taking the law into their own hands. Apparently the papers are covering up everything. The assistant prosecutor's life has been threatened.

Lamont plans to go shopping with Margo. Later they are at the store. Some couple is talking about a trip south; it's the assistant district attorney, Alton. Men come up to the guy in the store and they are from the White Legion. The attorney tries to resist while the wife faints.

Margo takes care of the wife. Lamont helps pick up papers from the guy's briefcase. Some guy who claims he's from a newspaper offers to take the briefcase to the district attorney. Lamont talks to the guy. Lamont finds another paper on the floor, then the guy leaves.

Lamont is hanging on to some of the papers himself. A telegraph message is received. Mr. Clays gets a telegram on his editorial. The message from the Shadow and he says the guys editorial was almost convincing.

Then Clays and his other guy hear the voice of the Shadow. He says the White Legion is about to be exposed.

Then it's time for another commercial. This is the final Shadow broadcast of the winter series. They talk about the New England states using a lot of the coal. They've gotten lots of letters about the show.

Then it's back to the episode. Lamont and Margo are talking, and he is looking at some notes. He says Clays paper has been playing down what has been going on. He took a memo from Clays desk that may be a clue to where Alton is being held prisoner.

Lamont and Margo follow Clays car later that night. It's very foggy and they're going to a shack on the edge of a channel. Lamont sees three cars parked by the shack and a white-dressed figure.

There just happens to be a rowboat where the two of them are standing and Lamont plans to use that to approach the shack from behind. Margo is to warn the commissioner if he doesn't return by six in the morning.

In the shack, the assistant attorney is told to await the judgment of death. He hears the voice of the Shadow, telling him to keep his chin up. A bunch of men file into the shack and the meeting is started. They charge Alton with committing acts against the White Legion. The assistant attorney explains how the White Legion is tied in to the prosecution of a criminal.

He also says the White Legion is mixed up in a major state scandal. Alton is moved over a trap door to be hung. The legion members aren't afraid of the Shadow. The guy pulls the rope and Alton goes through the trap door, supposedly hung.

Later the Shadow calls the commissioner. He tells the commissioner to have men stationed at the entrances to the courtroom where the major criminal is due to be tried.

Then it's the court that is the next scene. The district attorney tries to continue the case after some kind of interruption. He asks the criminal if he was a member of the White Legion and the guy says he was not. He says that the criminal killed a politician under orders from the White Legion.

Then everyone hears the voice of the Shadow who says the criminal can neither read nor write. He says the leaders of the White Legion are in the courtroom and have taken over $10 million from the city treasury. The Shadow points out Clays as the leader of the group. Clays demands the Shadow present the evidence.

The assistant district attorney is really alive and he enters the room. The papers which are the evidence needed are in the hands of the commissioner, and he orders the arrest of Clays. He's handcuffed and charged with murder.

The six leaders and the all-high commander of the White Legion are to be named, and the all-high commander is the judge.

The assistant district attorney then pays a public tribute to the Shadow and people applaud. Know me only as the Shadow.

The final commercial for Blue Coal, and then the Shadow's message.

The part of Lamont Cranston has been played by Orson Welles. He says he's enjoyed doing the program, and he thanks the sponsors and the cast. He also thanks the listeners for their loyalty. Agnes Moorehead (Margo) suggests people phone their Blue Coal dealer and say how much they have enjoyed the Shadow radio program.

Return to main index page

Return to Shadow index page