Title: He Died at Twelve
Air date: July 10, 1938
Plot summary: Commissioner Weston and Lamont Cranston attend the execution of Nicholas Barratti, a notorious gangster. The execution seems to go off without a hitch, but Lamont can't help but notice the way the executioner leaned in to whisper something to Barratti, or how Barratti didn't seem to be scared at all as he claimed the scaffold.
Soon, a series of strange murders—five in five days, in fact—start attracting attention. The police as always are clueless, but Lamont has a hunch. A sixth murder confirms that Lamont's hunch is correct: the murdered men all served on the jury that convicted Nicholas Barratti. Clearly, someone is taking revenge for Barratti, but it can't actually be Barratti, because he's dead. Isn't he?
The Shadow approaches the judge who presided over the Barratti trial, who is being guarded round the clock by police after The Shadow alerted them to the Barratti connection. He tells the judge to dismiss the police and let the bad guys get him, and The Shadow will follow. The judge sends the cops home, a goon comes for the judge as The Shadow anticipated, and The Shadow follows goon and judge to the lair of Nicholas Barratti, who is very much alive.
Notes: Starting with this episode, Welles was doing double duty. This episode of The Shadow aired just one day before the premiere of Welles's own radio show, The Mercury Theatre on the Air.
Tropes:
- Counting Bullets: Apparently The Shadow recognizes the make of Barratti's gun, because after Barratti squeezes off six shots while failing to kill the judge (The Shadow grabbed Barratti's arm), The Shadow points out that he has only one bullet left.
- Driven to Suicide: The Shadow taunts Barratti into shooting himself, noting that Barratti has only one bullet left and then recounting in great detail how Barratti will be hanged for real this time.
- Extra! Extra! Read All About It!: Newspaper vendors hawk headlines about the five unsolved murders troubling the city.
- Faking the Dead: Nicholas Barratti escaped from prison via an elaborate fake hanging that involved the participation of both the prison doctor and the executioner.
- Inadvertent Entrance Cue: The judge thinks all the stories about The Shadow are nonsense and laughs at Commissioner Weston for believing "such rot as The Shadow." Naturally this is followed immediately by The Shadow, who has been there the whole time, introducing himself.
- The Man They Couldn't Hang: With the connivance of the executioner, the drop was a short one, so Barratti's neck wasn't snapped. And it just so happens that he has a very strong neck, being an ex-wrestler, and was able to avoid strangling until he was cut down.
- No Name Given: Oddly, despite being a major character in the second half of the episode, the Barratti trial judge is not named.
- Police Are Useless: As usual, the cops can't figure out an obvious clue—all the murder victims served on the same jury—and it's Lamont that has to make the connection.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The judge from the Barratti trial tears Commissioner Weston a new one, saying that it's inexcusable that the cops couldn't make the connection and that he, the judge, had to get a note from The Shadow for the truth to be known.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Barratti is bent on killing everybody connected with his murder convention, and has worked his way through half the jury before The Shadow stops him.
- Title Drop: Lamont mentions to Commissioner Weston that the execution is scheduled for 12, and Weston mutters that "He Died At Twelve" would be a good newspaper headline.
