while take a work vacation in miami beach and a heartless employer ( joseph cotten ) fire a long time associate over the phone and berate the poor fellow for display too much emotion and shed tear . after justify his decision to all within earshot and he far admonish the fired employee with this contemptible statement represent he should have learn to control his emotion . drive back to new york city and cotten be involve in a freak accident while pass by a georgia chain gang . smash into the prison guard and their vehicle and he be paralyzed and pin to his own steering wheel . he be literally leave for dead a the convict scramble to make their escape . for the rest of the episode and cotten conscious mind and thought be relay to the viewer a his horrific experience continue . even when the authority and emergency worker arrive at the scene and he be still mistake for a dead man . finally and after spend a terrify night alone in the morgue cover over with a white sheet and the coroner notice something that immediately tell him cotten be very much alive . he see tear run from the former heartless employer eye . at the conclusion and host hitchcock ( with tongue firmly plant in cheek ) wryly inform the audience of the the distinct possibility that cotten will fully recover from his injury and most likely reinstate the fired employee . you could say he have a life change experience . of special note to viewer be a quick glimpse of a very young aaron spell a an escape convict from the chain gang .