Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're
going to bring you this week's episode of Yours truly
Johnny Dollar. But first I want to encourage you. If
you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite
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Speaker 2: First.
Speaker 1: But now, from May the thirty first, nineteen fifty nine,
here is the Big h.
Speaker 3: Manor Johnny Deller.
Speaker 4: Hi there, Johnny, This is Helen.
Speaker 3: Dayner, Helen Dana.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 4: I live out here in Marrow Bay, California. I have
I see insurance with one of the companies you represent,
the Greater Southwest Insurance Company.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I do a lot of work for them.
Speaker 4: But also, Johnny, do you mind if I call you Johnny?
Speaker 5: Well, no, not at all.
Speaker 3: It's Dana or is it missus?
Speaker 6: It's miss or better still, just Helen.
Speaker 4: As I started to say, I not only have that insurance,
but Johnny, I never missed that radio program of yours
where you tell all about those exciting cases you solve.
Sometimes I just don't see how you do it.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 3: I hope you never find out about the ones I
miss out on.
Speaker 2: But now, Miss Danners, I don't think I've.
Speaker 4: Missed a single one of your programs. I'm your most
loyal listener and I think you're wonderful. Thanks, And that's
why I'm calling you instead of the police about this, right?
Speaker 3: Oh, yes, calling about what Johnny?
Speaker 4: If the police weren't able to nab them, isn't that
what you're saying, nab them?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Sure?
Speaker 4: But go on, well, Johnny, these terrible people might suspect
that I'm the one who told the police about.
Speaker 3: That what people, Miss Danner, and if that happened.
Speaker 4: But I guess you can just imagine what they might.
Speaker 2: Do to me.
Speaker 3: Who are these people you're talking about? And just what
is it they're up to? All right, Johnny, Now listen carefully, Yeah, yes,
Miss Tanner. Hello, hello, hello, hm, hm, oh, come on
now Downard, don't be a sucker for a yet.
Speaker 2: Hmm.
Speaker 3: I wonder Bob Bailey in the exciting adventures of the
Man with the action packed expense account. America's fabulous freelance
insurance investigator is truly Johnny Dollar. Oh act one of yours,
truly Johnny Dollar expense accounts of it A bispecial investigator,
Johnny Dollar to the great Your Southwest Insurance Company Home Office,
Los Angeles, California. Following has an account of expenses incurred
during my investigation of the Big h S Matter expense
A count out of one two seventy five long distance
telephone called to Hollywood eight two one two four.
Speaker 2: That is to say, the office of Royal J.
Speaker 3: Harkins contact man a Greater Southwest Insurance in Los Angeles.
It was late in the day, but luckily he was
still in his office.
Speaker 2: Nice to hear from you again, Johnny. What can I
do for you?
Speaker 3: Roy? I'm putting this call on expense account. Oh that
ain't all. If I could make connections down to New York. Well,
let's see, there's a plane leaving for the West Coast
a little after midnight, so I'd arrived in La early
in the.
Speaker 2: Morning coming out of here.
Speaker 3: Unless seventy's been pulling my leg, roy you have a
policy holder named Helen Daner is somewhere up.
Speaker 2: He certainly do. Well, now what's that mean. She's an
elderly woman of Spenser who lives up in the little
town of Morrow Bay. That's about two hundred miles north
of here, Johnny. She called his office early this afternoon.
She demanded, did your phone number there in hardware? And
well I didn't give it to her. Why not because
she wouldn't say why she wanted to get in touch
with fun, knowing how busy you always are, will But
just a few minutes ago I began to wonder about it. Yes, well,
after all, if she wanted to contact you about some insurance.
Speaker 3: Matter, Yeah, what did you call her back?
Speaker 2: Yeah, since we handle all her insurance, that is, I
tried to but I got no answer.
Speaker 3: Then, Roy, I'm going to grab that plane I was
talking about.
Speaker 2: Well, I wait, did you get to you? Did you
talk to her?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 2: And it has something to do with her insurance money.
Speaker 3: So I'm flying out there right at your company's expense,
not just a minute, unless, of course, you'd rather pay
off her insurance to some beneficiary. Honey, then just be
sure to have a rental car waiting for me when
I pull into the airport. It them two one sixty
two eighty five plane fair the big mainliner, took off
from New York's International Airport, probably at twelve thirty am.
At six thirty Pacific time. I stepped off the plane
at La International Dollar this way, Oh, hi, roy I
didn't exactly expect you to be here in person this
early in the morning.
Speaker 2: I got around the car ready and waiting for you
out at the curve.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Good, But listen, you still haven't told me what.
Speaker 3: This is all about, because I'm not too sure myself.
But you sounded over the phone as though something's happened
to the old lady.
Speaker 2: It's Helen Dana.
Speaker 3: I mean, that's exactly the way I'm meant to sound.
And since I still haven't been able to get her
on the telephone, Well, what what's happened to her?
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 3: This is my car, that's right. I'll start making some sense,
will you. I wish I could. Well, do you actually
know that something's happened to mis Dana?
Speaker 4: Nope?
Speaker 3: But if it hasn't, I've got to do everything I
can to prevent it, Donnie, prevent what Royal? I only
wish I knew Doney Doney. Thanks to an excellent highway
and light traffic, I made good time through Santa Monica,
then Santa Barbara, even past the famous Pismo Beach. It
was just afternoon when I pulled in Tomorrow Bay. When
I stopped for gad SIS item three four twenty, I
looked up Miss Helen Daner's address in the local phone book.
It turned out to be a modest little frame house
about half a mile south of Marrow Rock, on the
landward side of the bay. It had some nice, well
kept flower beds in front, and at the bank I
could see a small, rather decredit dock that stuck out
into the bay. A brand new, expensive automobile was parked
on the street in front of the place, hardly the
kind of carrie you'd expect the sweet old lady to
be driving along. Well, there was only one way to
find out. Yeah, miss Helen Danner.
Speaker 7: No, I'm Bessy Diner, Helen's sister.
Speaker 3: And who are you, young man, Johnny Dollar? I'm from Hartford, Connecticut.
Speaker 2: Is your sister?
Speaker 6: Yes, I've heard Helen speak of you. You're a new
friend of hers, aren't you.
Speaker 3: Well, yes, I guess, won't you come in. Well is
she here, miss Danner?
Speaker 7: You ought to be back from the mat any minute.
Speaker 3: The market.
Speaker 7: She hasn't done it at all.
Speaker 6: Well, you know that's why I've come to deliver this
sort of take care of her.
Speaker 3: I see it.
Speaker 6: But I did think it was all right to let
her walk down to the market this morning.
Speaker 7: Would you like to come in and wait for it?
Speaker 3: Sure, market, mister Danner.
Speaker 7: Wait, the first one down the street. Now do you
see it? That little supermarket just two blocks away?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I said, so, if you'd like to come
in and no, thanks, I'll pick her up there.
Speaker 6: Well, but mister Dalla, thank you very much, mister Dalla.
Speaker 3: There was something very funny here, but I wasn't sure
just what, or maybe I'd just fallen for some gag
on the part of a fan on my radio program.
I wanted to see her favorite heroin person. In any event,
there was once your way to find out for miss
Helen Danner herself and if she was still at the market.
But as it turned out, I got that well known
kick in the face. Why, of course, I know, miss
Helen nor well sair. Then when you please point her
out to me.
Speaker 2: Miss Helen, Miss Helen Danner.
Speaker 3: That's right, But she isn't, dear sir all, then perhaps
she went to some other store.
Speaker 2: No, certainly not, sir.
Speaker 3: What We deliver everything that she orders to her little
house up the street.
Speaker 2: Well that still doesn't fru when she Miss Helen hasn't.
Speaker 3: Been out of that house for weeks, hasn't bludged? You're
you're sure of that?
Speaker 5: Why? Of course I'm why?
Speaker 2: What's the matter, sir? No?
Speaker 3: Act two of yours truly, Johnny Duller and the big
age matter? If all Miss Helen Tayner, who telephoned me
in Hartford asked me to come out here tomorrow Bay
in California. If miss Danner hadn't budged from her little
house in weeks? Why had her sister told me she
was at the market? Could all this somehow? Time with
the people, the terrible people she tried to tell me
about on the telephone. I jumped into my car and
drove back to the little home on the baby.
Speaker 7: Oh, mister Dowell, that's right now.
Speaker 3: Where is Helen Daner?
Speaker 7: Oh sister came back while you were gone.
Speaker 3: Came back without my singer and a listen. I was
the manager of that market, said he she hasn't been
out of this house for weeks.
Speaker 6: What oh, you must have gone to the supermarket or
or else, and just because she isn't shopping there, and.
Speaker 7: Come in.
Speaker 6: I think she'll be terribly disappointed if you don't. You see,
she's told me all about you now.
Speaker 3: In a couple of minutes.
Speaker 7: I was away from here an insurance investigator. I think
it's awfully thrilling. But now come in and see her.
I think she's been kind of expecting you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and if you'd like to know what I think,
miss good Law. In the middle of the tiny living
room was a heavy open armchair. Sitting in a tied
down to it. It was a sweet looking, gray haired lady
of maybe seventy or seventy five. Her handkerchief was lashed
tightly across her mouth, and the eyes behind her old
fashioned steel rim glasses were filled with tears and a
look of utter despair. I swung around her so called
sister and was struck by two things she seemed to
have suddenly lost about twenty years. Her face wore an
unpleasant smirk, and in her right hand was a thirty
eight aimed at me.
Speaker 6: Don't move, mister Dalla gun is not only loaded, but cocked,
and it has a hair trigger. Then perfectly still because
it'll be right in the middle of your back. So well,
I take away your gun all right now, sit over
there in that chair against the wall.
Speaker 7: You'd better do as I say, mister, Dolla.
Speaker 6: Now we may have to wait a little while, so
get one thing straight, any move, any tricks, and I
pull this trigger.
Speaker 3: Mind telling me what we're waiting for. You'll see, and
why you've tied her up that way? That is, Helen, Dana,
isn't it.
Speaker 7: Why wat's the matter? Honey?
Speaker 6: Getting a little short of breath with that gag in
your mouth? Then why don't I take it out for you?
Speaker 3: No, Dolla, not a single move, just crossing my legs.
Speaker 7: Sure here now, honey, I want you to conk out
on it.
Speaker 6: After all, you may be of some use before we're
through with this caper there.
Speaker 8: Johnny, Johnny, I don't know what.
Speaker 7: There's terrible people. They sneaked in while I was poling you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Helen, I guess that, Tony.
Speaker 4: We hadn't come, but I thought I.
Speaker 8: Thought maybe they're smugglers, Johnny, of the worst possible.
Speaker 6: You tell him, honey, they have to kill time while
we're waiting for Pete and Dollar.
Speaker 8: Okay, okay, they're smuggling in narcotics heroine the way down
in Mexico.
Speaker 3: Oh, pretty smart picking a spot as far up the
coast as this.
Speaker 8: This man Pete asked if he could use my dog.
He said it was to tie up his boat at
night when he came in from fishing.
Speaker 3: How did you get on to them, Helen?
Speaker 8: They saw I turned my lights up so early every night.
They thought I was asleep that I wouldn't notice he
wasn't taking fish off his boat. But little cans of
of heroine Carona. Then Bessie here can look so sweet
when she wants to.
Speaker 6: Wear Helen, I thought I was pretty sweet.
Speaker 7: He would meet him with her car.
Speaker 3: Don't you know what's her on?
Speaker 8: Because they told me they'd use it on me if
I don't, if I don't behave myself.
Speaker 7: Which is a lot better than you get Dollar.
Speaker 8: And besides Johnny, Johnny, Yeah, I found a little of
it that was spilled on the dock, and I remembered
how you described it once when you caught a man
bringing in the terrible stuff.
Speaker 6: Yeah, she's a real smart old biddy, except when she
phoned a U Dollar and we caught her at it.
We can handle her all right, with a little h
in her veins. We can even let the neighbors see
her now and then with me acting as her sister
taking care of her. Oh listen, here he comes now
from the dock, just relaxed.
Speaker 3: Dollar.
Speaker 5: Well, well, what.
Speaker 3: A charming little body, and this is nice work, Bessie Dollar. Huh,
that's right.
Speaker 7: You want to take care of him, Pete.
Speaker 3: So you made the mistake of coming out here. They
believe me, mister, it was a mistake.
Speaker 7: I said, Are you going to take care of him?
Speaker 5: Well, of course right away.
Speaker 3: We don't want him lying around here, which is to say, Dollar,
We're going to do something I haven't thought of since
the old days in Chicago. You and I are going
to take a little ride, Act three of yours, truly,
Johnny dollars take a little ride. Huh that's right, a
cargo style exactly, Dollar, Johnny, don't you see what means?
Speaker 4: He's going to tell? All right?
Speaker 7: All right, honey, just keep out of it. No, I
won't peach going to kill him right now? Shot not just.
Speaker 5: Said Bessie.
Speaker 3: Be sure you keep the gun on him.
Speaker 6: Worry, Pete, I had a silencer though, I'd get rid
of him here.
Speaker 3: And now I've occurred to you, Pete, that I made
I have left word with them that if I'm not hurt,
I don't try to be cute.
Speaker 2: Dollar. Sure it occurred to me.
Speaker 3: I dismissed it for the simple reason that you couldn't
possibly have had any reason to know what you were
getting into out here, So forget it.
Speaker 7: You're gonna do it.
Speaker 3: I Well, whatever it is, we'll have to wait laughter
dark and this one horse town closes up for the night. Well,
then what I've got to be sure the Dollar's body
won't be found until shut up, until we're through with
this operation.
Speaker 2: That means a weaker Wait.
Speaker 3: I got it up on Kyuka's Beach.
Speaker 7: Kyokus, a little town five or six.
Speaker 3: Miles north of here. There's a big pile of rocks,
a big cave in them. Nobody never think of looking
in the air so soon that just digging out a cigarette.
If you don't mind, no, sure, go ahead, But this
is one time the condemned man won't enjoy our hearty meal.
Speaker 2: Shout there anything.
Speaker 7: I just think I got you into the toes or
shut up, and I told you.
Speaker 3: And you tonish him off, Pete.
Speaker 5: Now we'll wait for dark and do it right.
Speaker 3: I guess he had really slugged me, because by the
time I fully came to it was night. I was
in the backseat of a car driving along the highway
beside the ocean. Pete was at the wheel. Beside him,
leaning over the back of the seat watching me was Bessie,
and the thirty eight in my hand was aimed straight
in my head. You're sure the old lady won't be
able to work herself lose messy.
Speaker 7: I'm sure we'd had any sense, Pete, we would have
brought her along on this ride too. It saved us
a lot of trouble late. Oh so you've woke up, dollar.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, just they put in that back seat and
funny business, I set any funny.
Speaker 3: Business, Just just trying to dig out a cigarette.
Speaker 6: Stay back in that seat.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah. She didn't take her eyes off me for
a second or the gun either. As clumsily as possible,
I struggled with a pack of cigarettes, rolling and squeezing
it and hoping the tobacco was funny dry. Then, having
apparently failed to pull out a cigarette. I turned the
pack upside down over my hand. Yeah, the fine tobacco
poured into it. I took a deep breath.
Speaker 7: The matter, Dolla, you need some help with her?
Speaker 2: No, no, my eyes, my eyes.
Speaker 3: Oh, instinctively, she dropped the gun, put her hands.
Speaker 2: To her eyes.
Speaker 3: Now pull what tobacco does. With what little strength I had,
I picked up the gun and slammed it against the
side of pizza. Oh it was a commercial trucker driving
one of those big interstate trailer jobs who pulled off
the highway to give us a hand. Yes, somehow those
boys are always around when you need him.
Speaker 2: And he used his head when.
Speaker 3: He found my credentials in my pocket. He saw the
whole picture in a flash, so he hailed down the
first police car that came along and turned both Pete
and Bessie over to the Valentiner.
Speaker 1: Was her height.
Speaker 3: This spunky little ottle character was tickled pink to be
involved in the whole thing. Yeah, she just can't wait
to go to court and testify against those two expense
acount total including the trip back to Hartford four five
yours truly, Johnny Dollar, Oh, here is our star to
tell you about next week story next week. Well, so,
hell me, it's the wildest case I ever got messed
up with, Johnnys. Won't you Yours truly Johnny Dollar? Yours
Truly Johnny Dollar, starring Bob Bailey, originates in Hollywood and
has written, produced, and directed by Jack Johnstone. Heard in
our cast were Peggy Weber Virginia, Greg Martlett, Robinson, Joseph Kerns,
and Russell Thorson. Be sure to join us next week,
same time and station for another exciting story of Yours
Truly Johnny Dollar. This is Dan coverly speaking.
Speaker 1: Welcome back, and that route there there is why I
don't take direct phone calls. I mean, in this situation,
I would not survive because you see, I don't even smoke,
which was the whole reason Johnny was able to make
it out of there. As a general rule, it is
best if you are an emergency to contact the police,
even if you have a high opinion of your favorite
investigator with an action packed expense account who lives in
another state, or your favorite podcast host. Though I will
say in her defense that this is the Johnny Doller universe.
So and she lives in a small town. This means
that likely the local law enforcement is a single man
pushing sixty years old with little formal training, who balances
his work as the constable or chief of police with
running agast, publishing a monthly magazine, veterinary medicine, and a
taxid ermy practice. So maybe Johnny was able to give
her the quickest service possible all things considered, all right, Well,
listener comments and feedback now and we go to our
listener survey, where anders In Helsingborg, Sweden writes, Great Old
Time Radio. Well, thank you so much. Appreciate you taking
the time to leave a comment on our survey at
survey dot great Detectives dot net. Well, now it's time
to thank our Patreon supporter of the day, and I
want to go ahead and think Rick, Patreon supporter since
March of twenty twenty, currently supporting the podcast at the
Shawmus level of four dollars or more per month. Thanks
so much for your support, Rick, and that will do
it for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow
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We'll be back next Friday with another episode of Yours Truly,
Johnny ed Aller, But join us back here tomorrow as
we give way to the great adventurers of old time
radio and counterspy. Where is there?
Speaker 9: Yes, I'm the hotel fire inspector. Oh, come in good
to see if Peters any news on go. I got
this postcard today in the Southern Beauty Tourist Bureau, Memphis.
Guided tours of historic Southland see Monuments and Battlegrounds of
the War between the States special feature Visit the High
Mountain Caves. You'll notice that last one is circled in
reading the High Mountain Caves. I notice here, and the
schedule of tours is another circle of readink around the
date Thursday, five pm. Obviously that's when my next contact
with the spirings to be made. Look, I go, I'd
better join the group tool. I think that'll be too risky, Peters.
Those tourist groups aren't very large. Whoever the contact is
will take a good look at everybody. Well, how are
you to be recognized? My name is known to the ring.
I'll simply give it when I buy my ticket for
the tour. Then I'll just wait see what happens.
Speaker 1: Hope you'll be with us then in the meantime, send
your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net.
Follow us Radio Detectives, and check us out on Instagram, Instagram,
dot com, slash Great Detectives from Boise Aldohol. This is
your host, Adam graham Son and Off