1 00:00:28,359 --> 00:00:35,240 Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This 2 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:39,880 is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, email it 3 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:46,719 to me Box thirteen at Greatdetectives dot net. Follow us on Twitter at Radio 4 00:00:46,799 --> 00:00:53,880 Detectives, and check us out on Instagram, Instagram dot com slash Great Detectives. 5 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:59,679 If you're enjoying this podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software. 6 00:01:00,079 --> 00:01:03,760 When making your travel plans, remember Johnny Dollar Air dot com. Johnny 7 00:01:03,799 --> 00:01:07,799 Dollar air dot Com is a price line affiliate, so part of your purchase 8 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:14,239 price will benefit the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio at no additional cost to 9 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:18,480 you. So remember when making your travel plans, check Johnny Dollar Air dot 10 00:01:18,519 --> 00:01:23,480 Com first. Well, now it is time for the conclusion of this week's 11 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:29,000 Yours to lead Johnny Dollar Cereal the original air at eights July eleventh, twelfth, 12 00:01:29,079 --> 00:01:34,400 and thirteenth, nineteen fifty six, and it's the Shady Lane Manor Episodes 13 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:48,519 three, four and five from Hollywood. It's time now for Johnny Dollar, 14 00:01:49,239 --> 00:01:53,719 Mister Dollar. Where this is Jet Bamler. Oh hi Yah, Constable Reckon, 15 00:01:53,799 --> 00:01:57,319 I got the wrong number. I was calling Shady Lane Cafe. You've 16 00:01:57,319 --> 00:02:00,879 got it. I'm sitting right here at the count if. Well, where's 17 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:05,680 Millie, missus Dollar. She's busy crying at the moments. I'm waiting for 18 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:08,120 her to get through and hoping she'll confess to murder. Now, you hadn't 19 00:02:08,159 --> 00:02:12,280 order gone and made her cry that way. Millie is a fine girl. 20 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:15,400 That's the trouble with this whole case. According to you, everybody in this 21 00:02:15,479 --> 00:02:19,199 township is fine people, all of them. Ellen Bates was a fine woman 22 00:02:19,199 --> 00:02:22,759 too, and now she's dead, and one of these fine people killed her. 23 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:24,599 I'm going to find out which one, mister Bramler, and I'm going 24 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:36,759 to tag him for it. With your helper without it tonight and every weekday 25 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:39,199 night, Bob Bailey. In the Transcribed Adventures of the Man with the Action 26 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:45,919 Pact, expenser cout America's Fabulous Freelance Insurance Investigator, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. 27 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:02,159 From Special Investigator Johnny Location, Shady Lane, Vermont to the home office 28 00:03:02,159 --> 00:03:08,039 Star Mutual Insurance Company, Hartford, Connecticut. Assignment the Shady Lane Matter expense 29 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:15,800 account continued. Item seven A dollar and forty cents one potrow special at the 30 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:20,039 Shady Lane Cafe while waitress Milly Wells dried her tears and repaired her face. 31 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:23,840 I thought over what she'd said, what I'd taken for a confession, and 32 00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:28,080 tried to fit it in with the other facts in the case. What few 33 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:32,000 facts there were. A young farm wife, a semi invalid named Ellen Bates, 34 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:35,400 had been shot to death while sitting at the front window of her house. 35 00:03:36,159 --> 00:03:38,280 The weapon was an old fashioned squirrel rifle, a type of gun on 36 00:03:38,439 --> 00:03:43,759 by half the people in the township. Ellen Bates had no known enemies. 37 00:03:44,439 --> 00:03:47,280 Her husband, beneficiary of a ten thousand dollars insurance policy on his wife's life, 38 00:03:47,599 --> 00:03:52,960 had been accused by a spiteful neighbor of carrying on with pretty waitress Milly 39 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:55,759 Wells. It's a line, mister Dollar. Anyone who says Ben and I 40 00:03:55,800 --> 00:04:00,000 were seeing each other, even thought of such a thing before his wife's death, 41 00:04:00,159 --> 00:04:01,479 is a mean, vicious line. Ah, I take it easy. 42 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:04,280 I'll take it easy. There's no point in getting yourself all worked up and 43 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:09,520 starting to cry again. Ben's a fine man, straight and decent, and 44 00:04:09,599 --> 00:04:13,199 it makes me boiled. I have some low sneaking gossip try to smear his 45 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:15,920 reputation without reason. It reflects on your reputation a little too. Really, 46 00:04:16,079 --> 00:04:19,399 I don't care about me. I told you what I've been through. I'm 47 00:04:19,519 --> 00:04:24,839 used to it. Do you ever get used to something like that? No? 48 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:29,160 No, not really. A murder charge isn't an easy thing to forget. 49 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:32,839 Dream about it. Nights prison, the courtroom, the trial, of 50 00:04:32,839 --> 00:04:35,879 the things they said about you. But you were acquitted. Finally, I 51 00:04:35,959 --> 00:04:41,879 was acquitted and I was innocent. Just being tried for murder brands a person 52 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:46,240 for life. What worthy details of the case. First, let me tell 53 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:48,920 you about Ben. You haven't met him yet, mister Dowler. You don't 54 00:04:48,959 --> 00:04:53,879 know him, and I know the line you're thinking along. It's the way 55 00:04:53,959 --> 00:04:59,560 things point, Melli. Then things point wrong, that's all. Maybe go 56 00:04:59,639 --> 00:05:03,240 on. Well, he's been coming in here for the last six months, 57 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:08,680 not often, just every once in a while, just to eat. Does 58 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:12,240 Ben no use stood trial on a murder church? He does now. He 59 00:05:12,319 --> 00:05:15,879 didn't before. Before his wife was killed. We just made conversation, that's 60 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:21,000 all. And since her death there's been no carrying on. Some people choose 61 00:05:21,079 --> 00:05:26,879 to think one day, Ben said Millie, when when this mess is all 62 00:05:26,959 --> 00:05:30,800 settled, I'd like very much to see more of you, that's all. 63 00:05:30,439 --> 00:05:36,560 That's all. And that's enough, because I love him. About the trial, 64 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:44,240 Molly, it was four years ago in Chicago. I was working for 65 00:05:44,279 --> 00:05:49,079 a family on the West Side as a nursemaid governess. They were wonderful what 66 00:05:49,199 --> 00:05:57,720 happened. The wife died suddenly under strange circumstances. It could have been an 67 00:05:57,759 --> 00:06:02,319 accident, or it might have been poison. I thought you already knew about 68 00:06:02,319 --> 00:06:05,120 it. That's why I blurted it out that way. Oh, I'd have 69 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:09,399 found out anyway, sooner or later. Yes, I know. It was 70 00:06:09,439 --> 00:06:13,639 in all the headlines, the same things that they'll be saying about me here. 71 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:16,240 What do you mean, I was accused of murdering the wife because I 72 00:06:16,319 --> 00:06:21,519 was in love with a husband. I left the shady Lane cafe, and 73 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:26,399 the tortured girl, whose secret close hidden for four frightened years, was now 74 00:06:26,439 --> 00:06:30,319 the property of a stranger. It was late now, and the town square 75 00:06:30,439 --> 00:06:35,079 was dark and deserted. A stark white moon was climbing the eastern sky, 76 00:06:35,399 --> 00:06:39,600 and the soft summer night's breath stirred in the leafy tops of the maples, 77 00:06:40,319 --> 00:06:45,920 whispering other secrets, secrets the villagers dared not stay abroad and listen to them. 78 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:50,560 A fantasy sure, pure and simple. Uh, maybe it was a 79 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:56,040 bad slice of podlist. Anyway, the dim light burning in the office of 80 00:06:56,079 --> 00:07:01,240 Constable Jed Bramler brought me back to harsh reality. Put up the chair. 81 00:07:01,439 --> 00:07:09,279 Okay, thanks that the girl stopped crying yet, sniffling a little maybe, 82 00:07:09,639 --> 00:07:14,360 but she's practically stopped for the time being, at least mean something by that. 83 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:15,759 You know what I mean by it? Yeah, reckon. You must 84 00:07:15,759 --> 00:07:19,279 have found out about her past, so to speak. You knew about it, 85 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:23,000 Yeah, since the day she came to town, stopped in to see 86 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:25,360 me, told me all about it. Well, you were keeping it pretty 87 00:07:25,399 --> 00:07:28,399 quiet, weren't you. It was told in confident, mister Dollar. All 88 00:07:28,519 --> 00:07:30,759 right, but this is a murder case. They don't have no bear in. 89 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:32,839 Milly ain't involved. Would you mind if I had a chance to decide 90 00:07:32,879 --> 00:07:35,800 that once in a while, I didn't know you'd be interested. Don't you 91 00:07:36,079 --> 00:07:41,199 realize that Millie Wells may be the reason for the killing? Still beating the 92 00:07:41,279 --> 00:07:44,000 dead horse? Hey, I think that horse is coming to life. Mister 93 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:46,560 Bramler, you do the way things stand right now? Or prosecuting attorney could 94 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:50,959 go into court with a pretty strong case. The charge first degree murder accused 95 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:56,680 your friend Ben Bates. You ain't met Ben yet, mister Dolla. No, 96 00:07:56,680 --> 00:07:58,839 No, I haven't met him. But the fact's thatt up. It's 97 00:07:58,879 --> 00:08:03,000 an old, old story. It's downright PASSI an invalid wife, a pretty 98 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:05,120 girl, a rundown farm that doesn't look as though it's made a provident years, 99 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:09,560 a ten thousand dollars life insurance policy dangling like a carrots. Yeah, 100 00:08:09,759 --> 00:08:13,399 fact is, it's even worse a picture if you were mind to look at 101 00:08:13,439 --> 00:08:16,000 it that way. Ah, that farm of Bends ain't only run down, 102 00:08:16,199 --> 00:08:22,240 it's mortgage to the hilt. Oh, Ben needed money for evans operations. 103 00:08:22,439 --> 00:08:24,319 She'd had three in the last year and a half. He tried every way 104 00:08:24,399 --> 00:08:28,480 he knew how to. The banks wouldn't touch it. Well. In that 105 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:31,559 case, Martin Preeny's next door neighbor come through and helped him out. Seventy 106 00:08:31,559 --> 00:08:35,519 five hundred dollars. Is the farm worth that much? Nope, wouldn't bring 107 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:39,240 forty five hundred if it was sold tomorrow. That's what I mean. Then 108 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:43,799 feels pretty obligated. And the ten thousand dollars from that policy on his wife 109 00:08:43,799 --> 00:08:48,519 would have taken the pressure off all the way around. Plus leave him free 110 00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:52,279 to marry Millie Wells. All right, all right, I know it adds 111 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:56,120 up that way. And been studying over this thing for a month now, 112 00:08:56,399 --> 00:09:01,320 trying to figure out some other way of explaining it, hoping that somebody would 113 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:03,919 show their hand, Yes, make a move some kind, and nothing's happened. 114 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:09,639 Huh No, whoever done it is just setting tight waiting might be a 115 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:11,200 good thing to you. Come along, my jar. Things loose a little. 116 00:09:11,759 --> 00:09:16,799 Yeah, Well, whether I'm right or wrong, one thing we've got, 117 00:09:16,799 --> 00:09:20,600 the jar looses that gun. That's a fact, all right. Can't 118 00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:22,639 make much of a case against nobody without that gun, you said, Nearly 119 00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:26,440 everybody in the township own one of those old fashioned squirrel rifles, the type 120 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:31,240 Ellen was killed with. That's right. What about her husband's bent on one? 121 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:35,960 Nope, nothing but a shotgun. Yes, I saw it when we 122 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:39,799 were out there this afternoon, hanging over the mantle. But at the same 123 00:09:39,919 --> 00:09:45,720 time I noticed something else. What do you mean? That shotgun was resting 124 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:48,480 on a pair of hooks set into the bricks above the fireplace, But the 125 00:09:48,519 --> 00:09:52,200 hooks hadn't been put there for that particular gun, and they were too far 126 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:58,039 apart. What are you getting at mister Doller. I think those hooks would 127 00:09:58,039 --> 00:10:03,440 fit a squirrel rifle. Fine, Ben ain't one to lie. He told 128 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:07,840 me he didn't have a rifle. But that's something else I've been steadying about. 129 00:10:07,879 --> 00:10:11,240 What do you mean? I kind of half remember seeing the squirrel going 130 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:20,159 hanging over that mantle. In years gone by, Expencer count out of eight 131 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:24,240 three dollars car expense for another trip out to the Baits farm, a late 132 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:28,200 night trip this time, and the last one I hoped. Constable Bramler had 133 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:31,279 suggested that my being in the case might help stir things up good. I 134 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:33,480 was all for it, and not just stir things up, but wind them 135 00:10:33,559 --> 00:10:39,720 up tonight. Maybe if we caught Ben Bates at home, lights on inside, 136 00:10:39,919 --> 00:10:48,639 you must we hear something. Oh even in jedd Man like you to 137 00:10:48,679 --> 00:10:52,360 meet mister Johnny Dollar. It's a dollar. You fellows are out late, 138 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:56,559 little I reckon mind? If we come inside Ben, Oh sure, Sorry, 139 00:10:56,639 --> 00:11:01,039 JEDDA didn't think that's going back through to the kitchen. That's about the 140 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:05,159 only room I use since well anymore. I mean, set yourselves down there 141 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:09,519 at the table. I'll get some lemonade if there's any ice left. Oh, 142 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:11,159 lemonade left would suit me, fine, don't go. No trouble for 143 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:15,159 us, Ben, Oh, no trouble at all. Got it already made. 144 00:11:15,559 --> 00:11:20,000 Just have to chip the little ice into it. I reckon, you'll 145 00:11:20,279 --> 00:11:22,840 kind of have to bear with me. I'm not much used to having callers 146 00:11:22,879 --> 00:11:30,039 come around since Allan, It's all right, Ben, here we are. 147 00:11:31,639 --> 00:11:33,759 Hey, you fellow's got some business out this way tonight. The fact is, 148 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:37,360 Ben, we come out here to talk to you. Mister Dollars, 149 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:41,440 an insurance investigator. He's here to find out who killed Eln. I see 150 00:11:41,919 --> 00:11:46,759 you got any ideas yet, mister Dollar. I've I've kind of got an 151 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:50,639 idea. You might have done it, Ben, I wouldn't have harmed a 152 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:56,320 hair of Ellen's head. I could be wrong. Mister Dollar has been checking 153 00:11:56,360 --> 00:12:00,360 around Ben, talking to people here and there, Preenies, Millie way else. 154 00:12:00,799 --> 00:12:03,679 What's Mellie got to do with it? Nothing? Maybe? Or she 155 00:12:03,799 --> 00:12:07,799 might be part of the motive. I didn't even make her acquaintance hardly before 156 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:09,840 the last week or two. What about missus Preeney. You've known her longer, 157 00:12:09,919 --> 00:12:13,000 haven't you. Yes, she was a good friend of Ellen's. Why 158 00:12:13,759 --> 00:12:18,360 she thinks you killed your wife? She wrote an anonymous letter about it to 159 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:20,120 the insurance because the woman's crazy. I knew she never liked me for some 160 00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:24,480 reason, but I sure wouldn't figure her to go that far. Ben. 161 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:28,320 Whatever happened that squirrel rifle you had around the house? Why the week before 162 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:33,960 Ellen died? Somebody? Yes, Ben, No, I didn't lie to 163 00:12:33,039 --> 00:12:37,600 you, jed not Actually when I told you I didn't have a rifle like 164 00:12:37,679 --> 00:12:41,919 that, I didn't not then, and you didn't ask me if I had 165 00:12:41,039 --> 00:12:45,000 had one. What happened to the rifle? It was stole the week before 166 00:12:45,039 --> 00:12:48,879 Ellen was killed. I haven't seen it since. No, that's the truth, 167 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:52,600 mister Dolla. You didn't report it being stolen. Ellen asked me not 168 00:12:52,759 --> 00:12:54,440 to. She figured she knew who took it, and she wanted to give 169 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:58,200 them a chance to make good, you know how she was. But after 170 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:01,679 she'd been shot by that same kind of rifle, you still didn't report it, 171 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:07,279 report afterward that the gun had been took before. Who might have taken 172 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:11,159 it? Then? I tried to think, wasn't nobody came here that week 173 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:15,559 except missus Preeney and Grody Hawkins. Brody Hawkins, that's the hired hand we 174 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:18,039 met here this afternoon, Miss Dollar. Yeah, I know the one who 175 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,960 was a dead shot with a gun. Yeah. No, Brody wouldn't kill 176 00:13:20,039 --> 00:13:24,039 nobody. He's a little touched baby, but he's good hearted and gentle. 177 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:26,080 Is he another one of your pets? Constable? Don't you care whether the 178 00:13:26,159 --> 00:13:31,639 killer is identified? Kind of a funny question to ask a murder victim's uncle, 179 00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:41,799 uncle, mister Bramler was Ellen Bates your niece. Herod didn't think to 180 00:13:41,879 --> 00:13:46,639 mention it, mister Dollar, just figured you knew, I guess, And 181 00:13:46,759 --> 00:14:11,240 anyhow, you don't have no bearing Johnny Dollar. Hello, Hello, Hello, 182 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:18,879 Hello, Sorry to scare off your collar, Ben. You always answer 183 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:22,000 other people's phones, mister Dollar. Yeah, when it's right at my elbow, 184 00:14:22,279 --> 00:14:24,559 and when I want to find out who's calling at this time and night? 185 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:28,559 Did you find out? I think so? I know of only one 186 00:14:28,639 --> 00:14:31,519 person in the township who'd probably hang up when they heard my voice. And 187 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:35,440 who you reckon? That'd be mister do Millie Wells, Jed who else? 188 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:37,840 I think you'd better leave Milly out of this, if you don't mind. 189 00:14:37,879 --> 00:14:39,759 I can understand your concern, Ben, but I'm afraid I can't go along 190 00:14:39,799 --> 00:14:43,600 with it. Your wife has been murdered. Gossip around town says you and 191 00:14:43,679 --> 00:14:48,519 Milli have been interested in each other, and Millie stood trial four years ago 192 00:14:48,600 --> 00:15:07,080 on a charge of murder. Added up Ben added up from special investigator Johnny 193 00:15:07,120 --> 00:15:11,480 Dollar, location Shady Lane, Vermont to the home office Star Mutual Insurance Company, 194 00:15:11,519 --> 00:15:22,679 Hartford, Connecticut. Assignment the Shady Lane matter expense account continued. It 195 00:15:22,799 --> 00:15:26,480 was a messy case, hard to move around in a small community, and 196 00:15:26,559 --> 00:15:30,279 everybody in it was a neighbor or friend of everybody else, except, of 197 00:15:30,360 --> 00:15:35,039 course, the unknown person who'd murdered Ellen, Ben bates invalid wife. But 198 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:39,480 the ties were close. Ellen had turned out was the niece of Constable Jed 199 00:15:39,519 --> 00:15:43,759 Bramler and Sarah Prini next door neighbor had accused Ben of carrying on with waitress 200 00:15:43,879 --> 00:15:48,320 Millie Wells, who was a good friend of Constable Bramler, and Sarah Priney's 201 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:52,480 husband had helped Ben out of a jam by loaning him seventy five hundred dollars 202 00:15:52,519 --> 00:15:56,960 on a worthless farm. Yeah, it was sticky and tight and uncomfortable. 203 00:15:56,399 --> 00:16:00,440 Touch one domino, and you moved all of them. But the key of 204 00:16:00,519 --> 00:16:03,840 the game, I was still convinced was Ben Bates himself. H you're wrong, 205 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:07,200 mister Dolla. I've known Ben here for more years than I care to 206 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:12,159 think about. Murdered just ain't in his nature, mister Bramler. I think 207 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:15,559 you're just too close to this case to keep her perspective on it. I 208 00:16:15,759 --> 00:16:19,240 know these people and you don't. Well, that's exactly the point. Ben 209 00:16:19,399 --> 00:16:22,000 is your friend. He was married to your niece, so you just can't 210 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:26,360 imagine him committing a murder. It ain't in his nature. Oh, I've 211 00:16:26,399 --> 00:16:29,039 never seen a killer yet without at least a few friends who were certain that 212 00:16:29,159 --> 00:16:30,360 murder wasn't in his nature. Now listen to me, both of you. 213 00:16:32,039 --> 00:16:33,799 There's not a question of my nature. It's a question of fact, and 214 00:16:33,879 --> 00:16:37,320 the fact is a plain and simple one. I didn't kill Ellen, mister 215 00:16:37,399 --> 00:16:40,919 Dolla. A lot of things say different Ben, And there's nothing at all 216 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:44,559 between me and Milly. If Ellen had lived, i'd never spoken to her 217 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:48,120 as it is. I've only asked her if I could see her sometimes once 218 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:51,559 this thing is all settled, when you're together. At least that's about what 219 00:16:51,679 --> 00:16:53,519 she told me. We're together because it's the truth, mister Dolla, or 220 00:16:53,559 --> 00:16:57,320 because you've already talked it over one fault. I haven't got his lion, 221 00:16:57,440 --> 00:17:02,600 not even about your rifle being stolen. Oh well, it wasn't no actual 222 00:17:02,759 --> 00:17:06,480 lie. When Jedeair asked me if I had a squirrel gun, I said 223 00:17:06,559 --> 00:17:08,759 no, And like I told you, I didn't, then it had already 224 00:17:08,799 --> 00:17:12,920 been stolen. Suppose he'd asked you if you had a squirrel rifle, I 225 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:17,920 reckon I'd have had to fess up to it. Well we'll never know, 226 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:22,400 of course, for sure. But one thing is sure. After your wife 227 00:17:22,519 --> 00:17:25,440 was shot and killed by a gun of that same type, you still didn't 228 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:29,200 report to the constable here that yours had been taken. Well, I explained 229 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:32,599 it to you. How would it looked if I'd have told him after Ellen 230 00:17:32,759 --> 00:17:34,519 was shot that my old squirrel gun had been stole before, and you didn't 231 00:17:34,519 --> 00:17:37,480 report the theft when it happened because Ellen asked you not to. Was that 232 00:17:37,599 --> 00:17:41,559 the story? She thought she knew who took it, She wanted a chance 233 00:17:41,599 --> 00:17:44,880 to get it back without causing them trouble. And of course she's not here 234 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:47,759 now to bank you up on that. It's the truth. She was like 235 00:17:47,839 --> 00:17:49,920 that, jed here, I'll tell you, kind hearted and tolerant with people. 236 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:52,839 Yeah, he was that, all right. It's a fact. If 237 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:56,440 either Missus Preeney or Grody Hawkins took it, and they're the only ones that 238 00:17:56,559 --> 00:18:00,599 was here that week, then she was aiming to talk to whichever one it 239 00:18:00,759 --> 00:18:03,559 was and get it back without bringing the lawyer. Only she never had the 240 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:08,440 chance to she was killed. Yeah, yeah, and that gun figures in 241 00:18:08,519 --> 00:18:11,680 it somehow, it's bound to. Look, we've got to find it, 242 00:18:11,759 --> 00:18:15,720 mister Bramler, right takes him do it, then we better get at it 243 00:18:15,079 --> 00:18:18,720 tonight. Tonight. We got things stirred up. Now, let's keep them 244 00:18:18,759 --> 00:18:22,519 stirred up, all right, Ben, you claim you're not guilty of this, 245 00:18:22,759 --> 00:18:25,920 It ain't a claim, it's a fact. Then who would you say 246 00:18:26,039 --> 00:18:30,200 is the most likely suspect? Ellen didn't have a single enemy in this world. 247 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:33,160 As far as I know, there ain't a person in this township that 248 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:37,559 had a reason to kill her except you for the money. You mean for 249 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:41,240 that life insurance policy. It's worth ten thousand dollars. And I'm that kind 250 00:18:41,359 --> 00:18:45,359 You think a man who'd murder his own wife just to get his hands on 251 00:18:45,599 --> 00:18:51,759 ten thousand dollars, Ben, I don't know, but there's one thing he 252 00:18:51,799 --> 00:18:59,559 can count on I'm gonna find out. Constable Bramler and I left been alone 253 00:18:59,599 --> 00:19:03,960 and farmhouse drove back into town. The moon was higher now and the countryside 254 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:07,400 was dappled in black and silver, and it too was empty and silence. 255 00:19:08,119 --> 00:19:11,880 We alone moved and made noise as we rattled down the winding dirt road through 256 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:17,880 the flint rock valleys between the sleeping elms and maples. Logic still pointed at 257 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:22,359 Ben Bates, but I'd begun to doubt logic A little Rambler was right. 258 00:19:22,039 --> 00:19:26,559 Murder didn't seem to be in Ben's nature, and I wasn't sure now whether 259 00:19:26,599 --> 00:19:30,200 he sat there in his silent house alone with guilt or alone with grief. 260 00:19:33,559 --> 00:19:36,680 Rody lives back at the feed store there. What do you mean back of 261 00:19:36,759 --> 00:19:38,720 it? Eh? Kind of be shocked there on the back corner of the 262 00:19:38,799 --> 00:19:41,680 lot. They let him live in it and returned for keeping an eye on 263 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:45,759 the store at night. Yeah, quite a choice for a night watch when 264 00:19:45,759 --> 00:19:48,160 a kid who's been up several times for petty theft. Mm hmm, I 265 00:19:48,279 --> 00:19:52,279 reckon it does seem a bit odd. Yeah, let's go see if he's 266 00:19:52,319 --> 00:19:57,359 there. You know, folks around here use a person according to his nature. 267 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,599 Rody is pretty really biable. It's something he's made responsib before. And 268 00:20:02,799 --> 00:20:06,279 why do you think he might have stolen that squirrel rifle from Ben Bates's place? 269 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:08,880 He was working for Ben, wasn't he but just as a hired hand. 270 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:14,599 He wasn't hired specially not to steal. But here he is. Now 271 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:18,400 that's a fine point of ethics. Most points of ethics, is that way. 272 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:22,799 Recongrody just does henre things sometimes. Hope people will notice him, take 273 00:20:22,839 --> 00:20:26,200 an interest in him. He's a little simple minded, but he ain't a 274 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:29,880 bad kid at heart. Is anybody bad in your book? Mister Bramley? 275 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:33,960 Whoever killed el In Bates is watch step now? It's pretty doc back here. 276 00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:38,359 Yeah, I hope nobody has dug a hole here someplace. A't likely 277 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:42,160 now, I think the door is here, to the corner somewhere. Try 278 00:20:42,279 --> 00:20:49,160 to collect rightly. It's been a while. You are right, Bruce, 279 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:53,119 machines are now? Who in the sam Hill put all these boxes in front 280 00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:56,559 of the door. You stop right there, don't you move. He's got 281 00:20:56,599 --> 00:20:59,640 a rifle on us, all right, don't try nothing, miss Dollar. 282 00:20:59,799 --> 00:21:02,440 Like I told you, he's a dead shot. What's you whispering about that. 283 00:21:03,079 --> 00:21:04,759 Never you mind, Grody, you just put that gun down. I'll 284 00:21:04,759 --> 00:21:07,759 put it up, don't you now? Let me give a flass flight. 285 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:12,440 It's Jed Brody, Constable Bramler, mister dollars with me. You stand still, 286 00:21:12,559 --> 00:21:17,240 I get a light on you. Then we'll see I got it. 287 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:22,720 Yes, didn't you recognize my boys? Never can't tell people might try something 288 00:21:22,839 --> 00:21:26,680 funny, try to break in something like that. Well, now that you 289 00:21:26,799 --> 00:21:30,880 know who we are, Brody, how about having a look at that gun 290 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:36,200 you're holding on us? Well, I don't know. I guess if Constable 291 00:21:36,279 --> 00:21:38,759 Bramler says it's all right, it's all right, grode. Let him look 292 00:21:38,799 --> 00:21:48,400 at the gun? All right? Then here? Thanks mind holding the flashlight 293 00:21:48,519 --> 00:21:55,480 here? All right? Well, at least this isn't the one. It's 294 00:21:55,640 --> 00:22:00,160 twenty two? What he fellas up to? Anyhow, Grody? What did 295 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:04,359 you do that squirrel rifle you took from over Ben Bates's mantle? Well, 296 00:22:04,559 --> 00:22:10,640 Brody, I don't know what you're talking about. You don't anybody says I've 297 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:12,519 done that is lying? Ah Nah, don't get excited, Brody. You 298 00:22:12,559 --> 00:22:15,839 do want to wake up this whole town While we're walking across there. Where 299 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:27,200 are we going, constable over to the city jail? Quiet night, not 300 00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:32,319 even the mocking bird singing out there. I wish that bird back in the 301 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:36,720 cell would do some singing. He will always gets to bother in him. 302 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:40,720 After he's in for a while. Thirty minutes hasn't bothered that much. He'll 303 00:22:40,839 --> 00:22:45,359 talk pretty soon, provided, of course, he has anything to talk about. 304 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:49,000 I know that boy inside out, whether he's told that gun or not, 305 00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:55,680 he's lying about something. Eh. And I'm gonna have to buy some 306 00:22:55,799 --> 00:23:00,039 oil one of these days, Doug Guncherry even gets on my nerves. I 307 00:23:00,079 --> 00:23:03,880 don't think anything gets on your nerves, mister brownwain Well. The country up 308 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:07,880 here has that kind of influence. I reckon these hills were older than man. 309 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:11,640 They've seen a lot of things come and go. It's the kind of 310 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:15,759 quiet person down if he stays here long enough. I doubt if this place 311 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:18,160 is as quiet as it looks. I think there are things under the surface, 312 00:23:18,319 --> 00:23:21,799 like flint rocks in a field, and sooner or later they worked at 313 00:23:21,799 --> 00:23:26,799 the top and break off a plowshare. Yeah, it happened sometimes. Isn't 314 00:23:26,839 --> 00:23:30,000 there anyone you can think of who might have hated her? Even slightly if 315 00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:34,240 Dollar. If I was to say honestly who I thought was the best like 316 00:23:34,359 --> 00:23:38,799 person in this whole township, I would have to name my niece Ellen Bates. 317 00:23:40,279 --> 00:23:42,240 And yet somebody put a bullet through her head and fired at it from 318 00:23:42,279 --> 00:23:47,559 the brush without even any warning. It's a fact there had to be a 319 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:52,799 lot of hate behind that bullet, or a lot of greed. Same old 320 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:56,839 tune. Eh Ben killed her for the insurance. I keep coming back to 321 00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:00,480 it because nothing else makes any sense, and neither does that. He owed 322 00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:03,680 that mortgage to Martin Preney and the farm wasn't worth it. Martin wasn't pressing 323 00:24:03,759 --> 00:24:07,960 him for maybe not. But if I tagged Ben Wright, he still felt 324 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:11,920 the obligation, the sense of pressure. Ten thousand dollars must have looked pretty 325 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:15,240 big to him, not that big, mister Dollar. Then there's Millie Wells, 326 00:24:15,319 --> 00:24:18,720 pretty as a picture and in love with him, and an invalid wife 327 00:24:18,759 --> 00:24:25,279 at home, pigeons starting to chirp and let him think I ain't coming right 328 00:24:25,279 --> 00:24:27,519 away. He gets more anxious, saved time in the long run. A 329 00:24:27,559 --> 00:24:33,279 matter of understanding his nature, something like that, What about your nature? 330 00:24:33,319 --> 00:24:38,960 Mister Browner always was kind to my mother and your niece too, Meaning, 331 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:45,759 how did you and Ellen get along? Fine? Just fine? I reckon, 332 00:24:45,839 --> 00:24:55,920 he must be ready to talk. It's true, I was lying about 333 00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:57,960 it. I stole that gun, all right, but I ain't got it 334 00:24:59,039 --> 00:25:02,640 now. Where is it? Really? I sold it to mister Martin Preeney 335 00:25:02,839 --> 00:25:04,960 to hang in his house. Martin Preeney, Yeah, I can't figure Martin 336 00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:08,079 paying money for something to hang in the house. He's too tight fisted. 337 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:11,400 He give me four dollars for it about three weeks ago. That would be 338 00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:15,480 after Ellen was shot and you took the gun the week before the murderer. 339 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:19,160 Are you saying that I shot Miss Baits? That gun was in your possession 340 00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:22,039 at the time, Brody. Oh, she was the best friend I ever 341 00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:26,799 had, the only one in this town that ever treated me like somebody. 342 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:30,240 I wouldn't ever done nothing to hurt Miss Babs. You had that gun, 343 00:25:30,319 --> 00:25:33,000 the same kind she was killed with. Oh, that gun ain't been fired 344 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:36,920 in years? What why? Mister bas never did use it even got rested 345 00:25:36,920 --> 00:26:00,359 inside the barrel, Brody, For your sake, I hope it has Johnny 346 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:04,799 Dollar, Good morning, mister Dollar. I do hope I didn't wake you 347 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:10,160 up. I was already of Missus Preeney, Missus pretty how did you know 348 00:26:10,319 --> 00:26:12,400 I recognized your voice? What can I do for you? Well, I 349 00:26:14,519 --> 00:26:18,240 know you'll think me terribly forward, but I have to see you, mister 350 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:21,480 Dollar, right away. All right, I'm in Rome twenty two. Come 351 00:26:21,519 --> 00:26:26,319 on up. Oh good heavens, I couldn't possibly do that. After all, 352 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:30,359 you're a man and you're a woman, Missus Preeney. I'm sure you 353 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:33,759 haven't come into town this morning to play foot sea, So let's both relax 354 00:26:33,839 --> 00:26:36,599 and forget about the fact that this is a small town, mister Dollar. 355 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:38,880 And you know how people talk here, Yeah, I know. And what 356 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:42,640 are they talking about this morning? Well, the murder, I suppose. 357 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:48,240 And mister Dollar, I've got to see you right away. I've done a 358 00:26:48,400 --> 00:27:07,839 horrible thing and I'm ready to confess. From Special Investigator Johnny Dollar. Location 359 00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:11,960 Shady Lane, Vermont to the home office Star Mutual Insurance Company, Hartford, 360 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:22,359 Connecticut, Assignment the Shady Lane matter. Expense account continued, Item ten fifty 361 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:26,640 five cents A cup of coffee for myself and a pot of tea for missus 362 00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:30,200 Sarah Preeney. She considered the hotel lunch room an innocent enough place, and 363 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:34,039 I met her there five minutes after she phoned my room. It was missus 364 00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:37,640 Preeney who brought me into the case by writing the anonymous letter to the insurance 365 00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:41,440 company. Ellen Bates, a farm wife with no known enemies, had been 366 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:45,920 shot to death. Missus Preeney, her best friend, had implied in a 367 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:48,559 letter that Ellen's own husband, Ben was guilty, and I was inclined to 368 00:27:48,599 --> 00:27:52,559 agree with her. Ben was the beneficiary of Ellen's ten thousand dollars life insurance 369 00:27:52,559 --> 00:27:56,920 policy. There seemed to be no other motive unless Missus Preeney was about to 370 00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:02,160 confess one. She did mister Bella, who didn't do what that girl? 371 00:28:02,799 --> 00:28:06,200 She didn't want the teapot for two cents, I'd send it back and make 372 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:08,079 her do it right. Well, I'm a little pressed for time, Missus 373 00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:11,160 Proba, I'm not going to do it. Really. I just said that 374 00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:15,559 I wouldn't want to attract attention under the circumstance. You mean the fact that 375 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:19,200 I'm a man and you're a woman. And apparently the twain had an automy 376 00:28:19,279 --> 00:28:23,160 meeting in Shady Lane at least, well, people will talk, you know, 377 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:27,759 And I didn't want Martin to know why not. Well, then he'd 378 00:28:27,839 --> 00:28:33,920 want to know why. Of course i'd have to tell him. And well, 379 00:28:33,079 --> 00:28:36,039 well, as a matter of fact, Missus Breeney, i'd kind of 380 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:41,039 like to know why. Well, it's oh, this isn't easy for me 381 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:42,720 to say, you know, well, let's have a tryad In anyway, 382 00:28:44,519 --> 00:28:48,400 it's about that letter that I wrote to the insurance company that I didn't sign 383 00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:52,240 my name to. Yes, it was a terrible thing to do, just 384 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:57,079 terrible in what way? Why those things I said about Ben, mister Bates, 385 00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:00,880 I mean, insinuating he might have had something to do with Ellen's death, 386 00:29:02,079 --> 00:29:04,440 her murderer. I mean, you made some fairly definite statements, Missus 387 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:10,079 Preney. They weren't true, mister Dullah, But I'm telling you the truth 388 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:15,240 now. I know Ben didn't have anything to do with Ellen's death, Missus 389 00:29:15,279 --> 00:29:18,160 Preenney. There were some other things you implied to me too, you know, 390 00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:22,319 Yes, about him and aunt Millie Wells that works at the Shady Lane 391 00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:27,920 Cafe. I said they were carrying on before Ellen was killed. I made 392 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:33,799 that up just to hit out at him. Why. I don't know. 393 00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:42,200 Really, Ellen was wonderful and I just loved her. But sometimes i'd get 394 00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:47,640 to thinking that, not that my Martin isn't a fine man. You understand 395 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:52,039 steady, reliable. You know you've met him. Oh yes, i'd say 396 00:29:52,079 --> 00:29:53,839 your husband is quite steady and reliable. I didn't want you to think that 397 00:29:53,920 --> 00:30:00,880 I was saying anything against him. But life on a fane isn't easy for 398 00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:06,720 a woman at the best, mister Dolla. Sometimes she gets silly notions. 399 00:30:06,759 --> 00:30:14,720 I guess what sort of notions. Oh well, a woman's human. She 400 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:22,400 wants a little warmth understanding. That's all, nothing more. You understand what 401 00:30:22,519 --> 00:30:30,519 I'm saying, Yes, I think I do. But Ben beats well, 402 00:30:33,079 --> 00:30:38,559 he didn't even look at me, didn't see me. That's all I wanted, 403 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:45,839 just for him to look at me. But he didn't do it, 404 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:53,519 mister Dolla, not even once I left her sitting there in the stark, 405 00:30:53,599 --> 00:30:56,880 bare wooden booth in the lunch room, sipping her prim cup of cold tea 406 00:30:56,920 --> 00:31:00,559 and trying to hide a red faced confusion behind the shreds of decent dignity. 407 00:31:02,599 --> 00:31:06,960 Constable Bramler was right. Scratched the surface of shady lane anywhere, and you 408 00:31:07,039 --> 00:31:11,880 found a human passion just beneath the skin. Good morning, Constable, Yeah, 409 00:31:12,279 --> 00:31:15,839 Mary and mister dollar sleep well, So, so, how's Grody Hawkins 410 00:31:17,039 --> 00:31:21,240 seriously back Daddy sail? He admits stealing that squirrel gun from Ben Bates Metal 411 00:31:21,359 --> 00:31:23,279 the week before Elm was shot, and claims he sold it to Martin Priney 412 00:31:23,319 --> 00:31:26,680 the week after the murder. Yeah so, by his own admission, the 413 00:31:26,759 --> 00:31:30,839 gun was in Grody's possession the day of the killing, but Grody claims the 414 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:33,079 gun is rusty and hasn't been fired in years. Yeah, whether it's rusty 415 00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:36,799 or not, Rody didn't kill nobody. Have you been out to the Prene 416 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:38,559 farm yet to pick up the gun? Nope? Thingured you might like to 417 00:31:38,599 --> 00:31:42,160 do that yourself. You can use my car if you want to cost you 418 00:31:42,359 --> 00:31:45,880 another three dollars? Though, how did you make a living before I came 419 00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:51,680 along? Gorotn't easy traffic? Tickets mostly new Turnpike's going to stop all that 420 00:31:51,839 --> 00:31:56,119 though? Misses the town complete along with ben Bates farm. Huh, Yeah, 421 00:31:56,839 --> 00:31:59,920 to bad. He didn't stick to the original survey made that place. 422 00:32:00,039 --> 00:32:02,559 If he's worth something maybe, and I might have saved his wife's life. 423 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:07,759 Still beating that dead horse, eh oh. Ben Bates was up against the 424 00:32:07,839 --> 00:32:10,759 wall a worthless farm mortgage for seventy five hundred dollars to Martin Preeney, a 425 00:32:10,839 --> 00:32:15,000 strong sense of moral obligation to pay it off, an invalid wife who would 426 00:32:15,039 --> 00:32:20,200 never get well with a ten thousand dollars policy on her life, murder ad 427 00:32:20,319 --> 00:32:23,319 in Ben's nature? I've told you then, whose nature isn't in missus Preeney's. 428 00:32:23,359 --> 00:32:25,839 Maybe she came to see me at the hotel a little while ago, 429 00:32:27,119 --> 00:32:30,160 you don't say so. She wanted to explain why she lied about Ben eh 430 00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:35,559 reckon was because he wouldn't pay no attention to her? Who told you? 431 00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:38,799 Who figured it out? Beck and Martin ain't too easy a man for a 432 00:32:38,839 --> 00:32:44,119 woman to live with, too straight, lace, tight tisted, and Ben 433 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:47,079 right next door that way, fine looking young fella, her running in all 434 00:32:47,119 --> 00:32:51,400 the time, taking things to Ellen, bound to want to be noticed. 435 00:32:51,759 --> 00:32:54,519 Yeah, it's the nature of a woman. What about Ellen, mister Bremler, 436 00:32:54,920 --> 00:33:00,240 she was your niece. What was her nature? Ain't so easy to 437 00:33:00,319 --> 00:33:05,880 figure your own kin, mister Dolla reckoned? Was just her nature to be 438 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:15,480 a victim? Kind of. I drove slowly through the early morning countryside, 439 00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:19,240 lush and green, still moist from the nightdo and not yet touched by the 440 00:33:19,279 --> 00:33:23,920 heat of day. Farm after farm, snug and smug and safe. But 441 00:33:24,039 --> 00:33:28,000 Ellen Bates, a woman who never harmed anyone in her life, had lived 442 00:33:28,039 --> 00:33:30,920 on such a farm, yet a bullet had crashed through the window and found 443 00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:35,839 her. I'd left the car parked in the yard and walked on up to 444 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:39,519 the porch. The door opened before I had a chance to Good morning, 445 00:33:39,599 --> 00:33:44,480 missus Bretney. You surprise me, mister Dolla. Is your husband at home? 446 00:33:44,799 --> 00:33:49,519 Yes, he's in there working on his account. I was just going 447 00:33:49,599 --> 00:33:52,720 to take some strawberry preserves to missus Thrasher up the road. She hasn't been 448 00:33:52,759 --> 00:33:57,519 feeling too well. Sorry to hear it. You're you're not going to say 449 00:33:57,519 --> 00:34:01,799 anything to Martin about well, you know what about I wouldn't think of it, 450 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:07,199 Missus Preeney, Thank you. I have to take these preserved to missus 451 00:34:07,239 --> 00:34:10,599 Thrasher. You just go right on in, mister Dollar. Yes, thanks, 452 00:34:15,199 --> 00:34:21,840 mister Preeney in here, come on in. Sorry to bother you this 453 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:24,880 early in the morning. Oh, mister Dollar, just finishing my accounts for 454 00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:29,039 the fiscal year. What can I do for you, sir? Well, 455 00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:34,119 unless I've been misinformed, you bought an old squirrel gun from Grody Hawkins a 456 00:34:34,159 --> 00:34:37,239 while back. That's right, it's hanging me over the fireplace quite a bug. 457 00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:40,519 And unless he stole did it someplace, as a matter of fact, 458 00:34:40,559 --> 00:34:45,440 he did from your neighbor, Ben Bates, then I'm out the price. 459 00:34:46,199 --> 00:34:49,800 Take it over to Ben this afternoon. Mind if I take a look at 460 00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:52,079 the gun, mister Peeney, I'm trying to check up on Grody's story. 461 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:57,360 No, no, go right ahead. I just finished this total while you're 462 00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:00,639 at it, then you would have time for a chat. He went back 463 00:35:00,679 --> 00:35:04,199 to the ledges on the table in front of him, and I reached up 464 00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:07,719 and took down the rifle down from its hooks above the mantle. Grodi had 465 00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:10,639 told the truth. There was rust in the barrel and breech. The gun 466 00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:15,159 hadn't been cleaned nor fired in a long time. The hooks over the fireplace 467 00:35:15,199 --> 00:35:20,920 were old and rusted too, They'd been there for years. And suddenly I 468 00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:27,760 knew find what you were after, mister Dolla. I found more than I 469 00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:32,159 was after. I found out who killed Alan Bates. Grody Hawkins. Oh 470 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:37,360 no, not Grody and not Ben Bates, even though he is named his 471 00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:42,760 beneficiary of that ten thousand dollars insurance policy. What do you mean it was 472 00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:45,119 somebody who stood to profit even more than Ben did from that ten thousand dollars 473 00:35:45,639 --> 00:35:52,920 who somebody who made a seventy five hundred dollars loan out of kindness that alone 474 00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:58,760 should have tipped me off, mister Preeney, As Jed Bramer says, it 475 00:35:58,960 --> 00:36:04,000 wasn't in your nature my nature. But of course it wasn't kindness. At 476 00:36:04,039 --> 00:36:07,360 the time, it was good business because a turnpike was planned that would make 477 00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:10,000 the farm worth double alone. But the road fell through. When you were 478 00:36:10,039 --> 00:36:15,440 stuck with a worthless farm unless Ben could get money to pay you. I 479 00:36:15,519 --> 00:36:20,159 imagine that's when you started thinking about murder. Are you accusing me of murdered? 480 00:36:20,159 --> 00:36:22,079 Mister Dolla? Those hooks over the mantle have been there a long time. 481 00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:27,880 Where's the rifle that hung there before you bought this one from Grody Hawkins? 482 00:36:29,119 --> 00:36:36,679 There might not have been one the neighbors will remember. Let me just 483 00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:43,039 put down this plane with total Yeah. I did a good year last year, 484 00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:46,199 very good. Yeah. I doubt it's going to be that good this 485 00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:53,639 year. Her he gets, mister Dolla, it's like farming take risks on 486 00:36:53,800 --> 00:37:00,199 drought, frost insects. Sometimes you make a mistake and lose. I knew 487 00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:05,440 i'd made a mistake the second I pulled that trigger. After that, it 488 00:37:05,559 --> 00:37:10,519 is just a amount of time. The gun is buried out behind the barn. 489 00:37:12,679 --> 00:37:21,320 I'll get my hat Adam twelve ninety four dollars and thirty five cents inc 490 00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:24,679 An nettles and shady Lane and transportation back to Hartford expense account total one hundred 491 00:37:24,679 --> 00:37:40,960 and eighty six dollars and sixty cents. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Now 492 00:37:42,119 --> 00:37:45,840 here's our star to tell you about next week's intriguing story next week. A 493 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:50,000 diamond, a huge one, the star of Cape Town, a piece of 494 00:37:50,079 --> 00:37:52,440 ice that should have been kept on ice? Join us, won't you? 495 00:37:53,199 --> 00:38:08,679 Yours truly, Johnny Dollar? Yours truly, Johnny Dollar, starring Bob Bailey, 496 00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:14,119 is transcribed in Hollywood. It is written by Les Crutchfield and produced and 497 00:38:14,199 --> 00:38:19,159 directed by Jack Johnstone. Heard in this week's cast were Jeanette Nolan, Chorus, 498 00:38:19,239 --> 00:38:22,559 Lewis Shirley Mitchell, will Right, Bert Holland and John Dayner. Musical 499 00:38:22,599 --> 00:38:28,360 supervision by A. Marigo Marino and Carl Fortina. Be sure to join us 500 00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:31,920 on Monday night, same time in station for another exciting story of Yours Truly, 501 00:38:32,119 --> 00:40:15,440 Johnny Dollar Roy Rowan speaking wh Welcome Back. Johnny kept Jeb Blamler on 502 00:40:15,599 --> 00:40:19,719 his suspect list to one agree or another all the way to the end of 503 00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:23,719 the story, which is impressive as there was never any reason to suspect him, 504 00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:29,840 as was the case with so many of the serials. This was adapted 505 00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:34,239 from a John lun episode, in this case, The Pawnee Corners Matter from 506 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:38,719 nineteen fifty four. We played that one on the podcast in September of last 507 00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:43,760 year, and I said at the time that the show that the episode's point 508 00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:49,280 about being able to discern who committed to the crime based on their nature had 509 00:40:49,480 --> 00:40:53,039 been undermined for me by listening to so many episodes of Tales of the Texas 510 00:40:53,159 --> 00:40:58,559 Rangers, which we were also playing at that time. There are only so 511 00:40:58,719 --> 00:41:04,159 many times you can listen into an episode where Jace Pearson has to patiently persuade 512 00:41:04,199 --> 00:41:07,559 a sheriff that the buddy they swore couldn't be the killer had committed the most 513 00:41:07,599 --> 00:41:15,760 brutal crime imaginable in their nature philosophy rings hollow because there's only a certain degree 514 00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:19,960 to which you can know people and what they are capable of, even in 515 00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:24,280 a small town. However, thinking about it this time, I think that 516 00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:31,079 what Johnny did was a bit of a twist on Bramler's philosophy. In some 517 00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:37,599 ways, It's like the opposite point Bramler was taking a look around town and 518 00:41:37,719 --> 00:41:42,760 seeing potential suspects and saying the murder was not something that they were capable of. 519 00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:47,719 They weren't capable of doing something that bad. But Johnny took a look 520 00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:53,480 at an act of generosity or seeming generosity by Martin and said, you know, 521 00:41:54,239 --> 00:41:59,360 being that generous, that's not something that he would do. That's not 522 00:41:59,639 --> 00:42:05,119 in him his nature, and taken together with the other indications, Martin's the 523 00:42:05,199 --> 00:42:12,559 guy. The final scene was played really well, and I loved how cold, 524 00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:15,360 matter of fact Martin was about the whole thing, viewing it as a 525 00:42:15,599 --> 00:42:24,320 business decision and as a mistake, but in a really dispassionate business like way. 526 00:42:24,639 --> 00:42:31,559 I mean, before Johnny had accused him, he was pointing a suggestion 527 00:42:31,960 --> 00:42:37,800 at an escent teenage boy. That shows the sort of cold bloodedness of his 528 00:42:37,039 --> 00:42:42,519 approach. And it's not something that Braemler would like to think about. But 529 00:42:42,639 --> 00:42:45,760 it was totally in his nature and at the core of the whole case. 530 00:42:46,119 --> 00:42:52,519 One thing I remember about this episode is we actually moved it up a few 531 00:42:52,639 --> 00:42:59,280 weeks out of where it would normally play because Shirley Mitchell, who appeared in 532 00:42:59,360 --> 00:43:02,840 this past away at the age of ninety six, and I wanted to play 533 00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:07,440 something with her in it, kind of in honor of her. It's hard 534 00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:14,159 to believe that it's been that long since she passed. All right, well, 535 00:43:14,239 --> 00:43:20,760 listener comments and feedback now, and we have this from male Vox, 536 00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:25,920 you know over on podbean who rights regarding a serial episode of Johnny Doller, 537 00:43:27,039 --> 00:43:31,599 What a great run, and that's absolutely right. I think that one way, 538 00:43:32,199 --> 00:43:37,400 you know, to evaluate this whole air of the series is to look 539 00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:42,079 at it as a run, and I think you look at each story close 540 00:43:42,199 --> 00:43:47,559 enough, you're gonna find things that are off or weird in one way or 541 00:43:47,679 --> 00:43:57,039 another, But none of that really diminishes the series as this long, fifty 542 00:43:57,079 --> 00:44:00,519 eight week run of episodes, which is really incredible and I still think some 543 00:44:00,760 --> 00:44:07,320 of the best radio drama ever produced. It's incredible in so many ways, 544 00:44:07,559 --> 00:44:14,920 with just great acting from the top as well as a superb company of actors 545 00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:21,559 who play all these supporting roles and some pretty solid and interesting writing. And 546 00:44:21,719 --> 00:44:27,360 the pace at which this series was made is remarkable because you add it up 547 00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:34,320 and you're essentially putting out an hour per week every week without really any breaks 548 00:44:34,519 --> 00:44:40,079 other than or the national conventions. You consider how many series that we put 549 00:44:40,159 --> 00:44:45,599 out today, or that are put out I want to take any responsibility for 550 00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:50,360 them myself, but how many series that are put out where they will do 551 00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:55,559 thirteen episodes if that, in entire year. And there are benefits to doing 552 00:44:55,639 --> 00:45:01,599 it that way, obviously, but you have to respect the quality of this 553 00:45:01,880 --> 00:45:08,719 series given that they had to be doing things week after week and at this 554 00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:15,719 rate. Because one thing. While a lot of the older dramatic serials seem 555 00:45:15,800 --> 00:45:20,000 to drag on forever, you know, you might have a twenty five part 556 00:45:20,199 --> 00:45:23,719 story on something like the Adventures of Superman, and the reason you do that 557 00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:30,519 is you don't want to be coming up with a new scenario, a new 558 00:45:30,599 --> 00:45:37,719 set of characters every week. You want to tell a story that will last 559 00:45:37,920 --> 00:45:43,199 a good long while. And that definitely helps you to appreciate what they do 560 00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:49,239 on Johnny Dollar in essentially giving every week a new mystery and not just you 561 00:45:49,320 --> 00:45:52,519 know, the sort of half hour kind that happened for so many years, 562 00:45:52,639 --> 00:45:59,480 but really almost a feature length mystery every single week. Thank you so much 563 00:45:59,519 --> 00:46:04,800 for the comment, and then over on site called x Tina Wrights regarding the 564 00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:07,800 long shot matter, very good episode. Well, now it's time to thank 565 00:46:08,000 --> 00:46:12,519 our Patreon supporter of the day, and I want to go ahead and thank 566 00:46:12,719 --> 00:46:17,880 Boss. Bodi has been one of our Patreon supporters since April twenty nineteen, 567 00:46:19,039 --> 00:46:23,519 currently supporting the podcast at the Detective Sergeant level of seven dollars and fourteen cents 568 00:46:23,599 --> 00:46:27,840 or more per month. Thank you so much for your support, Boss, 569 00:46:28,079 --> 00:46:30,960 and that will do it for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please 570 00:46:31,079 --> 00:46:37,119 follow us using your favorite podcast software. If you're enjoying the podcast on YouTube, 571 00:46:37,199 --> 00:46:40,599 be sure to like the video, subscribe to the channel, and mark 572 00:46:40,639 --> 00:46:46,280 the notification bill. We will be back on Tuesday with another yours truly Johnny 573 00:46:46,320 --> 00:46:52,800 Dollar Cereal, but join us back here tomorrow for dragnantware. Fill me in. 574 00:46:52,920 --> 00:46:54,480 How did it have? Well? I took the girl out of business 575 00:46:54,519 --> 00:46:58,800 school. You had he called out a class order if father was sick, 576 00:46:58,840 --> 00:47:00,320 said he was a friend of the families. How about the teachers. What 577 00:47:00,480 --> 00:47:02,480 was their story? Said? The girl didn't want to go with a man 578 00:47:02,519 --> 00:47:06,239 at first, but he finally talked her into it, kept telling her father 579 00:47:06,440 --> 00:47:09,400 was dying. That's about as low as it come. Yeah. Did he 580 00:47:09,519 --> 00:47:13,559 use a car? Witnesses said it was a blue Sedan. They didn't get 581 00:47:13,559 --> 00:47:15,559 the license number of the make. Did they remember what the guy looked like? 582 00:47:15,840 --> 00:47:21,239 About five nine one sixty, brown suit, dark hair, m Nothn't 583 00:47:21,280 --> 00:47:24,119 that you know? He's a copy of the letter for usual Read it? 584 00:47:24,480 --> 00:47:31,039 Yeah, Yeah, I have your daughter, Judy. Get what's that thirty 585 00:47:31,079 --> 00:47:36,639 thousand, thirty thousand dollars quick? If you want her back alive, don't 586 00:47:36,719 --> 00:47:42,199 call police or I'll kill her. Contact you later? Signed it? What 587 00:47:42,519 --> 00:47:47,320 was it? The Wolf? I could think of a better name. Hope 588 00:47:47,360 --> 00:47:51,880 you'll be with us theaying in the meantime, do send your call mans to 589 00:47:52,199 --> 00:47:58,760 Box thirteen. Great Detectives dot nett, follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, 590 00:47:58,920 --> 00:48:02,599 and check us out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash Great 591 00:48:02,679 --> 00:48:07,800 Detectives from Boise Idahol. This is your host, Adam Graham's son and off