Title: The Death Triangle
Air Date: December 12, 1937
Plot summary: In 1913, a prisoner on Devil's Island, betrayed in an attempt to escape, is punished with 100 lashes. As the lashing begins he swears revenge on those who betrayed him.
Cut forward to 1937. The radio broadcasts a bulletin announcing that The Shadow, wounded by a bullet, broke into the home of a Dr. James Evans and forced Evans at gunpoint to treat his wound. This is not true, and The Shadow contacts Dr. Evans to tell him this. Evans says that he reported the incident to the police in order to get The Shadow to contact him, so he could tell The Shadow his problem.
Evans was at one time a political prisoner on Devil's Island. He escaped along with three others: Jacques Corvet, Raymond Dubrille, and Pierre Martin. Unlike Evans who was a political prisoner, Corvet was a murderer. Someone betrayed him after the escape and Corvet was sent back to Devil's Island. Now Corvet has escaped again, and he has sworn to kill the other three men. Dr. Evans appeals to The Shadow for help, and since Evans is a pillar of the community who has done much to save sick children, The Shadow agrees.
Tropes:
- Dead All Along: Corvet's skeleton was found on an island a couple of years ago and it's actually Martin delivering the notes.
- Dead Person Impersonation: The ending reveals that Corvet died some time ago, and that the killer who shows up at Dr. Evans' house is actually Martin, who donned a wig.
- Distant Prologue: Opens with a scene set in 1913 in which Corvet is being flogged at Devil's Island, before jumping forward to 1937.
- Flashback: A flashback tells of the four men escaping from Devil's Island. Their water ran out, and Corvet, driven mad with thirst, accused the others of stealing his share and swore to kill them. He continued to do so even after they spotted land.
- Follow That Car: Lamont Cranston forgot to tell Margo Lane that the radio bulletin of The Shadow being wounded was bogus. So Margo jumps into a taxi and tells the driver to follow Dr. Evans's car to his home.
- Hellhole Prison: Devil's Island, a nightmarish place where men suffer and die. Four men escape from there, but at some point Corvet was recaptured.
- Mutual Kill: Dubrille shoots Corvet, but Corvet has another knife and he is able to throw it at Dubrille and kill him, before "Corvet" (actually Evans in disguise) dies.
- The Reveal: Jacques Corvet is long dead and it's actually Pierre Martin delivering the notes, to Dubrille because Dubrille betrayed him in 1913, and to Evans because Martin is jealous of Evans's success.
- Something Only They Would Say: The other three men believe the notes are authentic because they are accompanied by music boxes that play a particular tune, one that the escapees used to whistle to each other as a danger signal. The Shadow points out that this doesn't mean that Corvet sent the notes and that any of the four of them could.
- A Taste of the Lash: The episode begins with a man being flogged on Devil's Island for escaping, and blaming his friends for betraying him.
- We Interrupt This Program: The radio interrupts a music program to broadcast a bulletin, reporting that a Dr. James Evans reported that The Shadow came to him and forced Evans to treat a bullet wound, which will probably still be mortal. It's actually a ruse by Evans to get The Shadow to contact him.
