The Big Story
Back from the Dead
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In this episode of The Big Story, reporter Joseph Browne recounts the case of Franklin Robinson, a railroad worker and Army veteran from Jeanette, Pennsylvania. After his divorce from Frances Capone Robinson, Robinson remained angry over their separation and the arrangements for seeing their young son.
On December 6, 1947, Robinson shot and killed Frances. He fled to California after being indicted, but returned to Jeanette, where a witness spotted him near his parents’ home. Police arrested him on July 27, 1948. He was found guilty of second-degree murder that September; his guilty plea spared him the electric chair. The account also follows the uncertain later history of his son, who was raised by his maternal grandparents.
The episode presents a reported crime story rooted in a small Pennsylvania community, tracing the events through family testimony, police action, and the trial. Browne’s background as a Pittsburgh newspaper reporter gives the story a local perspective, while the program’s dramatic presentation turns a real case into a tense account of violence, pursuit, and its lasting effects on a family.
This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.