# Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Shankar Diamond Matter (EP4935)

An episode of [The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio| Daily Mystery Dramas](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/335549005), 20 Mar 2026, 31 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pdrl.fm/997ffb/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/70690215/gd4935.mp3

Today's Mystery: An eccentric elderly woman has Johnny guard her while she's wearing a valuable necklace to a party. Original Radio Broadcast Date: February 15, 1959 Originating from Hollywood Starring: Bob Bailey as Johnny Dollar; Lillian Buyeff; Jack Edwards; Barney Phillips; Forrest Lewis; Eric Snowden When making your travel plans, remember http://johnnydollarair.com Become one of our Patreon Supporters at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net Thank you to our Patreon Supporter of the Day: Scott, Patreon supporter since June 2016. Take the listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.net Give us a call at 208-991-4783 Follow us on Twitter @radiodetectives Join us again tomorrow for another detective drama from the Golden Age of Radio.

## Transcript

[0:28] Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from
[0:34] Speaker 1: Boise Ataho. This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment,
[0:39] Speaker 1: we're going to bring you this week's episode of Yours
[0:44] Speaker 1: Truly Johnny Dowler. But first I do want to encourage you.
[0:48] Speaker 1: If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your
[0:51] Speaker 1: favorite podcast software and our listener support and appreciation campaign continues.
[0:57] Speaker 1: You can become one of our ongoing page owned supporters
[1:01] Speaker 1: for his little last two dollars per month at Patreon
[1:04] Speaker 1: dot Great Detectives dot nah, and helped choose our summer series.
[1:10] Speaker 1: But now from February fifteenth, nineteen fifty nine, here is
[1:15] Speaker 1: the shan Car Domin Matter.
[1:19] Speaker 2: From Hollywood. It's time now for Johnny Dollar.
[1:26] Speaker 3: Hi, Johnny, this is Steve Kilmer Providential Life and Cashley Steve.
[1:30] Speaker 2: It's been a couple of years.
[1:31] Speaker 3: Yeah, I know. Listen, Johnny, how'd you like to attend
[1:34] Speaker 3: a wedding?
[1:35] Speaker 4: Well?
[1:35] Speaker 2: Why not? As long as it is mine?
[1:37] Speaker 3: Yeah, I know what you mean.
[1:38] Speaker 2: Oh you're a bachelor too.
[1:39] Speaker 3: Huh, Well I would be if it weren't for a wife,
[1:41] Speaker 3: for kids and a couple of grandchildren.
[1:43] Speaker 2: Whoop, Johnny, do you buy any chance.
[1:45] Speaker 3: Remember Martha Mayfield Merriman, the.
[1:48] Speaker 5: Old gal down in New York, Alan's Consolidated Tyrann Rubber Company.
[1:51] Speaker 3: Yeah, and a half a dozen other companies.
[1:53] Speaker 2: Well, sure, one of my old sweethearts.
[1:55] Speaker 5: Don't you remember back in fifty seven when I played
[1:57] Speaker 5: up that false report of her dead.
[1:58] Speaker 3: I thought she rigged out herself in order to make
[2:00] Speaker 3: a killing in the stock market.
[2:01] Speaker 5: Well, of course she did. But Steve, she must be
[2:04] Speaker 5: seventy three or four years old. Seventy four, Well, don't
[2:07] Speaker 5: tell me she's getting married again.
[2:09] Speaker 3: No, it's her son, Edgar. Oh, but she insists that
[2:12] Speaker 3: you'll be among those president at the ceremony.
[2:14] Speaker 2: Well, now that's kind of funny. I wonder why, Yeah,
[2:17] Speaker 2: so do I.
[2:18] Speaker 3: And I wonder why she'd have me call you unless
[2:20] Speaker 3: she anticipates trouble of some kind.
[2:23] Speaker 5: Johnny, Okay, Steve, I'll run on down there, Bob Bailey.
[2:35] Speaker 5: In the Exciting Adventures of the Man with the Action
[2:38] Speaker 5: Packed Expense Account, America's Fabulous freelance Insurance Investigator, Yours truly,
[2:43] Speaker 5: Johnny Dollar and no act one off, Yours truly Johnny Dollar.
[3:04] Speaker 5: Expense account submitted by special Investigator Johnny Dollar to the
[3:08] Speaker 5: Providential Life and Casually Insurance Company Home office, Hartford, Connecticut.
[3:12] Speaker 2: Following is an.
[3:12] Speaker 5: Acout of expenses incurred during my investigation of the Shang
[3:15] Speaker 5: Car Diamond Matter expense account out of one seven eighty
[3:23] Speaker 5: train to New York at a cab to the Brownstone
[3:24] Speaker 5: House on Sutton Place.
[3:26] Speaker 2: Martha Mayfield Merriment.
[3:28] Speaker 5: Who looks more like somebody's cute little grandmother than the
[3:30] Speaker 5: clever stock market operator, but who thinks and sounds.
[3:33] Speaker 2: Like, well, judge for yourself.
[3:35] Speaker 6: Can you dig that, Johnny that's proud of mine is
[3:37] Speaker 6: finally taking a leap to.
[3:39] Speaker 7: Sucond Well, after all, Martha Day, how about you? Johnny?
[3:42] Speaker 2: How about what about me?
[3:44] Speaker 4: You know?
[3:44] Speaker 7: Marriage?
[3:45] Speaker 2: Well, uh, let's change the something.
[3:48] Speaker 7: Huh turn me down?
[3:50] Speaker 6: Well, then I'll just have to wait a couple of
[3:52] Speaker 6: years and try again. Or has that Betty Loui's been
[3:55] Speaker 6: making time with you behind my back?
[3:56] Speaker 2: Oh do you know, Betty?
[3:58] Speaker 6: No, but I heard the broadcast in that case where
[4:00] Speaker 6: she kept you from getting knocked off by that gangster
[4:02] Speaker 6: that to curly Water.
[4:04] Speaker 2: Yeah, Martha, she saved my life.
[4:05] Speaker 6: And then didn't have sense enough to get her hooks
[4:07] Speaker 6: in you. Johnny the dames nowadays are really slipping. Just
[4:11] Speaker 6: don't you forget, though, that I've got to lead on
[4:13] Speaker 6: all of them, because I've already.
[4:15] Speaker 2: Proposed to you, Martha, you are a dog.
[4:17] Speaker 7: Sure I am. And if I was a couple of
[4:19] Speaker 7: years younger, Johnny, I'd run you ragged.
[4:21] Speaker 5: What do you mean if you were a couple of
[4:22] Speaker 5: years younger? Have you forgotten that night on the top
[4:25] Speaker 5: after I had ou other case for.
[4:26] Speaker 8: You to day?
[4:27] Speaker 7: We really had a ball, didn't we.
[4:29] Speaker 2: Boy nearly a week to recover.
[4:31] Speaker 8: Well, they we'll just have to do it again after
[4:33] Speaker 8: this wedding's over with. Speaking of which, I would you
[4:36] Speaker 8: like a little snort?
[4:37] Speaker 6: Lock it?
[4:38] Speaker 2: Well, don't you think maybe better?
[4:40] Speaker 7: Of course you would locking locking?
[4:43] Speaker 6: You call mother buying things, snooping around outside the door,
[4:47] Speaker 6: trying to find out what Johnny Dollar's doing here?
[4:50] Speaker 2: Certainly not, of course you were.
[4:52] Speaker 6: Now bring us a couple of drinks Scotch on the rocks, okay, Johnny, sure,
[4:55] Speaker 6: honeything up to it, larking? Oh, and crack the wall
[4:59] Speaker 6: safe and bring me the ring, the ring, very good, madam,
[5:03] Speaker 6: No good, Old Larkin. He's leaving me, you know, and
[5:06] Speaker 6: I'm really going to miss him.
[5:08] Speaker 5: Whatever, Martha Larkin has the combination to your wall, say,
[5:12] Speaker 5: why not?
[5:13] Speaker 8: What would he ever do with the junk I keep
[5:14] Speaker 8: stashed away in it?
[5:16] Speaker 2: Or what kind of hunt?
[5:18] Speaker 8: Some odds and nands, necklaces and brooches and rings, mostly
[5:22] Speaker 8: a couple of bracelets.
[5:23] Speaker 7: And what's the ring Shanka diamond?
[5:26] Speaker 2: What isn't that the one I've read about?
[5:29] Speaker 5: Probably the one supposed to be the opposite of the
[5:31] Speaker 5: Hope diamond that's supposed to have good luck charm about it? No,
[5:35] Speaker 5: why the thing's worth close to a midion, isn't it?
[5:37] Speaker 7: That's what the insurance company says.
[5:39] Speaker 2: And you planned the word when your son Edgar gets married.
[5:42] Speaker 8: Oh well, it's silly superstition, I suppose, but maybe it'll
[5:46] Speaker 8: bring him and marry Luanne good luck in their marriage.
[5:49] Speaker 8: Mary Luanne Melanie Beaufort exemon culpepper.
[5:53] Speaker 2: Sounds like something out of Gone with the Wind.
[5:55] Speaker 6: The most gorgeous viol in Greensboro, North Carolina, Sir, is
[5:59] Speaker 6: that the wedding to be let the old family plantation
[6:02] Speaker 6: right outside of town. You're going to escort me to
[6:04] Speaker 6: the wedding and the bang up reception afterward. I understand
[6:08] Speaker 6: those seven folks really know how to throw a wingding.
[6:10] Speaker 5: Hey tell me, Martha, do you expect somebody to make
[6:13] Speaker 5: a try for that time?
[6:14] Speaker 8: And well, sure, I always do. Some of the top
[6:16] Speaker 8: jewel thieves in the country have tried to snatch that rock.
[6:19] Speaker 2: Hu who else knows that you've called me in?
[6:23] Speaker 7: Not a soul?
[6:24] Speaker 2: Let's keep it that way.
[6:26] Speaker 7: I'm with you, okay.
[6:27] Speaker 5: Then I'll run on back to hertfend and get some
[6:29] Speaker 5: clothes for the occasion.
[6:31] Speaker 6: Johnny with you entails and me in a set of
[6:33] Speaker 6: threads that balanced. I go sacked me a couple of
[6:35] Speaker 6: g's for we're gonna knock them dead.
[6:38] Speaker 5: Then I'll come back here. We'll pick up the diamond
[6:40] Speaker 5: and go down the Greensboro together.
[6:41] Speaker 7: I know.
[6:42] Speaker 8: We'll take one of my company planes, just the two
[6:44] Speaker 8: of us, Johnny with maybe a case of champagne on board.
[6:47] Speaker 2: How about that, Marta, We will have us a ball
[6:53] Speaker 2: wedding now. And if I have that much, get up
[6:59] Speaker 2: and go when I'm hurry. Well, I hope you'll live forever.
[7:02] Speaker 5: Yeah, the trip to Greensborough sounded like it would really
[7:04] Speaker 5: be a ball. Just before I left her lack and
[7:07] Speaker 5: brought in the Shang Cahard diamond, all thirty four carrots
[7:10] Speaker 5: of her flawless, perfect, beautiful, And it suddenly occurred to
[7:15] Speaker 5: me that somebody who wanted that stone, wanted that really bad,
[7:20] Speaker 5: might not hesitate to kill for it.
[7:32] Speaker 2: BacT two of yours, truly Johnny Dollar in.
[7:34] Speaker 6: A moment, and now for another episode in the life
[7:37] Speaker 6: of Sergeant Donald's Dellwether, my.
[7:40] Speaker 9: Husband, that's what I call a good dinner.
[7:53] Speaker 2: Oh that was delicious.
[7:54] Speaker 7: Well, I'm glad to hear that, dear Mark coffee.
[7:57] Speaker 2: Uh yes, thank you.
[8:04] Speaker 7: Now tell me all about your safety class. Did the
[8:06] Speaker 7: boys enjoy your speech?
[8:07] Speaker 2: Oh yeah, he sure did, thanks to you.
[8:09] Speaker 10: I did quite well, my lieutenant complimented me afterward. Were good, Yeah,
[8:13] Speaker 10: but that the same lieutenant threw me a curve too.
[8:16] Speaker 2: How did well?
[8:17] Speaker 10: After I gave my talk, he asked the man if
[8:19] Speaker 10: there were any questions.
[8:21] Speaker 2: Well, I did it. So one of the guys stood
[8:22] Speaker 2: up and said, said, look.
[8:25] Speaker 10: Sorge, you claim they were over ninety five thousand deaths
[8:28] Speaker 10: and over nine and a half million people entered in
[8:30] Speaker 10: accidents in the US last year. It looks to me
[8:33] Speaker 10: like all those safety campaigns and slogans are doing no
[8:36] Speaker 10: good at all.
[8:38] Speaker 2: Hot a answer. I didn't. I couldn't think of an answer.
[8:41] Speaker 10: I got out of it by saying I'd have more
[8:43] Speaker 10: facts and figures at the next meeting.
[8:45] Speaker 7: All right, let's see now. Oh yeah, here it is now.
[8:50] Speaker 8: First, Sergeant Bellwether, you start off by telling the boys
[8:53] Speaker 8: that since nineteen hundred and thirteen, the accidental death rate
[8:57] Speaker 8: had been reduced thirty five percent, or, in other words,
[9:01] Speaker 8: if there hadn't been campaigns and safety measures put into
[9:04] Speaker 8: effect to reduce accidents, almost a million more people would
[9:08] Speaker 8: have been killed in the last forty six years.
[9:11] Speaker 7: It certainly is.
[9:12] Speaker 8: I'm reading it right out of the National Safety Council
[9:14] Speaker 8: record book. Oh and another thing, accidents in.
[9:17] Speaker 7: The farming areas are much higher than in the city.
[9:21] Speaker 7: But do you know why.
[9:22] Speaker 8: Why Because in rural areas there are fewer policemen enforcing
[9:26] Speaker 8: safety laws and less traffic signs and signals to guide
[9:29] Speaker 8: the motorists. You know, many more cars travel the city streets,
[9:33] Speaker 8: and yet the per capita rate of accident is much
[9:36] Speaker 8: higher in the rural areas.
[9:39] Speaker 7: Of course, the reason is obvious.
[9:40] Speaker 8: In the city, more safety measures are instituted and obeyed.
[9:45] Speaker 10: Really, you are wonderful, and that's a good logical answer.
[9:49] Speaker 2: I don't know what i'd do with that.
[9:50] Speaker 7: Oh, that's my Donald, that's my doll.
[10:06] Speaker 8: No.
[10:07] Speaker 5: Act two of yours, truly Johnny Dollar and the shan
[10:09] Speaker 5: Car Diamond matters expense account ADAM two sixteen fifty the
[10:15] Speaker 5: trip to Hartford for my formal clothes and back to
[10:18] Speaker 5: New York in the home of Martha Mayfield Merryman. By
[10:21] Speaker 5: the time I arrived, she was packed for the trip
[10:22] Speaker 5: to Greensboro, North Carolina and the wedding of her son Ager.
[10:25] Speaker 5: Ruschel fur drove us to the airport and then, much
[10:27] Speaker 5: to my surprise, took over as pilot of the huge
[10:29] Speaker 5: private two engine plane that was waiting for us.
[10:32] Speaker 2: Within a few minutes we were.
[10:33] Speaker 5: Airborne and on our way, and in my pocket was
[10:35] Speaker 5: the ring, the shang Car diamond.
[10:41] Speaker 7: Why are you looking so glum about, Johnny?
[10:44] Speaker 2: You Martha?
[10:45] Speaker 7: Oh, what are you talking about?
[10:46] Speaker 8: And I'm the one who ought to have this sour puss?
[10:48] Speaker 8: I propose to you, you turn me down, Artha.
[10:52] Speaker 2: I don't think you really level with me.
[10:54] Speaker 7: You think I wouldn't marry you? You're good looking? No,
[10:57] Speaker 7: I mean about this diamond now, Johnny, I don't did you.
[11:00] Speaker 5: Why has there been some real serious attempts to steal
[11:03] Speaker 5: it before or I would have been warned by the insurance.
[11:05] Speaker 7: Company, So they forgot to tell you, is it?
[11:09] Speaker 5: Or do you have reason to think that somebody's going
[11:11] Speaker 5: to try to get it now while you're away from
[11:13] Speaker 5: your usual police protection?
[11:16] Speaker 2: I thought so? Okay, Michael wol.
[11:20] Speaker 6: Did you get a look at my chauffeur, Johnny, the
[11:23] Speaker 6: laddie who's steering this creek?
[11:25] Speaker 2: I can hardly help it? Do you mean to say yes.
[11:29] Speaker 7: Yes, Johnny?
[11:30] Speaker 8: I think the only reason Eric ever took a job
[11:32] Speaker 8: with me was to get his hands on that diamond.
[11:34] Speaker 7: Eric Eric Melvin Chattony.
[11:38] Speaker 8: Yes, he's a distant cousin of lark In, my butler,
[11:41] Speaker 8: and Markin's leaving you shortly to.
[11:43] Speaker 7: Spend his last days in his beloved England.
[11:45] Speaker 2: Did Larkin recommend it to you?
[11:47] Speaker 9: Oh?
[11:47] Speaker 6: No, Actually he didn't even know much about Eric, in
[11:50] Speaker 6: spite of their being related.
[11:51] Speaker 2: How long has Locke been with oh, miss Eric?
[11:55] Speaker 7: Five or six months?
[11:57] Speaker 2: Michael? Why do you suspect him?
[11:59] Speaker 7: It will not to reasons.
[12:00] Speaker 6: In checking up on him after I hired him, I
[12:02] Speaker 6: found out that his old man, Byron chatt and he
[12:05] Speaker 6: is still serving time in English prisoner for he was
[12:08] Speaker 6: a jewel thief.
[12:10] Speaker 5: Sure, sure, I remember reading about him. He was a
[12:13] Speaker 5: real expert painstaking, a patient spent over three years working
[12:16] Speaker 5: on a plan to get hold of the crown jew.
[12:18] Speaker 6: That he didn't plan long enough, and that's when they
[12:20] Speaker 6: nabbed him. If some of the headshrinkers are right, if
[12:23] Speaker 6: crime is in Eric's blood.
[12:25] Speaker 2: Well what was your second reason?
[12:28] Speaker 6: About a week ago, I found Eric alone in the
[12:31] Speaker 6: study and I think he was casing the walls, ay,
[12:34] Speaker 6: but you're not sure. He had a dust cloth and
[12:36] Speaker 6: he started flicking it around and muttering something about giving
[12:39] Speaker 6: lark In a hand, which is highly unlikely me. No,
[12:43] Speaker 6: he just made it known that I was going to
[12:44] Speaker 6: take the diamond with me to the wedding, and I
[12:47] Speaker 6: sent for you.
[12:49] Speaker 7: But if he knows who I am, what my business,
[12:51] Speaker 7: I don't see how he.
[12:52] Speaker 6: Can wait, Johnny, Is there any way he could have
[12:58] Speaker 6: been hearing us up there in the pilot's.
[13:00] Speaker 2: No, I don't see them.
[13:02] Speaker 7: Yes, Eric, thank you, Eric, We'll be ready.
[13:10] Speaker 5: Well, Johnny, why the only time you will have this
[13:14] Speaker 5: diamond is at the wedding.
[13:15] Speaker 7: And the reception?
[13:16] Speaker 6: After all, it the only chance that old biddies will
[13:19] Speaker 6: have to show off our furs and.
[13:20] Speaker 5: Jewelry, Okay, in the reception. The rest of the time,
[13:23] Speaker 5: it'll be right here with me. But nobody's to know
[13:26] Speaker 5: that why they could be wrong, of course about Eric.
[13:32] Speaker 5: I mean, the fact remained that within a few hours
[13:35] Speaker 5: everybody in Greensboro knew about her being there with a
[13:37] Speaker 5: Shankhar diamond. The culpepper has made us comfortable in the
[13:40] Speaker 5: old mansion. The sweet they gave to Martha was big
[13:42] Speaker 5: enough to house a family of twelve. During the next
[13:45] Speaker 5: twenty four hours, the place was well, I call it
[13:48] Speaker 5: kind of dignified madhouse. What with all the preparations for
[13:51] Speaker 5: the wedding. There were house guests by the dozens. Some
[13:55] Speaker 5: were obviously very wealthy, but some had just as obviously
[13:59] Speaker 5: seen better day, and I couldn't help wondering if a
[14:02] Speaker 5: couple of them might have designs on that million dollar diamond.
[14:05] Speaker 5: I stayed as close to Martha as possible, and at
[14:07] Speaker 5: the same time kept a constant watch on Eric. The
[14:10] Speaker 5: police who'd been hired for the occasion appointed him as
[14:12] Speaker 5: a special guard. Don fools. They didn't know it, but
[14:15] Speaker 5: they were playing right into his hands. If that is
[14:19] Speaker 5: Martha's suspicions were right. Then late the following afternoon, the
[14:26] Speaker 5: wedding went off without a hitch. The blushing bride was beautiful,
[14:29] Speaker 5: and the bridegroom looked appropriately happy. After the ceremony, the
[14:32] Speaker 5: ladies all retired to predect themselves in their most fetching
[14:35] Speaker 5: gowns and furs and jewels, and finally, about eight pm,
[14:38] Speaker 5: the big reception.
[14:39] Speaker 2: Got under way.
[14:40] Speaker 5: There must have been a couple of hundred people in
[14:41] Speaker 5: that ballroom, and the champagne had bourbon flowed like water. Ah,
[14:45] Speaker 5: and I danced with some of the prettiest, most gorgeous
[14:47] Speaker 5: girls I've ever seen, right out of Charles of the Ritz.
[14:50] Speaker 5: Then it must have been well after midnight. I caught
[14:52] Speaker 5: a glimpse of a shadowy face outside one of the
[14:54] Speaker 5: big French windows. As I looked again, it disappeared, but
[14:57] Speaker 5: I was sure that it was Eric. Accuse myself from Martha,
[15:01] Speaker 5: with whom I'd been talking.
[15:02] Speaker 2: And well, that was a mistake.
[15:03] Speaker 5: As I reached the window, all the lights suddenly went out,
[15:05] Speaker 5: and behind me I heard a stream.
[15:07] Speaker 2: It was Martin, no question of it.
[15:10] Speaker 5: By the time I fought my way back through the
[15:12] Speaker 5: crowd where I had left to the lights came up again.
[15:14] Speaker 11: Yeah.
[15:15] Speaker 5: There she lay unconscious on the floor, the Shang card
[15:17] Speaker 5: diamond stripped from her finger.
[15:23] Speaker 2: Act three of yours, truly, Johnny Dollar.
[15:25] Speaker 12: In a moment, do you know who said absolute freedom
[15:29] Speaker 12: of the press to discuss public questions is a foundation
[15:33] Speaker 12: stone of American liberty. Those words were said by former
[15:38] Speaker 12: President Herbert Hoover. Mister Huber was well aware of the
[15:41] Speaker 12: important role that freedom of the press had played in
[15:44] Speaker 12: the creation and growth of the United States of America.
[15:47] Speaker 12: He realized that without freedom of the press, no democratic
[15:51] Speaker 12: form of government could exist. One of the first steps
[15:54] Speaker 12: in the path toward totalitarianism is the creation of a
[15:58] Speaker 12: controlled press. A free press hampers the work of a
[16:02] Speaker 12: potential dictator. When the press is free, the people of
[16:06] Speaker 12: a country are free. When the press is not free,
[16:11] Speaker 12: the people of a country are in danger of slavery.
[16:15] Speaker 12: Remember the words of Herbert Hoover. They are part of
[16:19] Speaker 12: your American heritage. Freedom of the press is a foundation
[16:24] Speaker 12: stone of American liberty.
[16:27] Speaker 2: No act free of yours, truly, Johnny Dollar.
[16:33] Speaker 5: Within a few minutes of the time, the lights had
[16:35] Speaker 5: gone out, and Martha had been robbed. We had her
[16:36] Speaker 5: upstairs in a suite of doctor in attendance. Fortunately she'd
[16:40] Speaker 5: only faded from shock and the pain of having the
[16:42] Speaker 5: shang Caar diamond forcibly strip from her finger.
[16:44] Speaker 2: I acted fast.
[16:46] Speaker 5: I had the special police hall Eric Chatterley in the Greensboro. Then,
[16:49] Speaker 5: after organizing a methodical search of the old mansion, I
[16:51] Speaker 5: checked around outside the window where I'd seen Eric's face,
[16:54] Speaker 5: and they are sure enough was the main fuse box
[16:56] Speaker 5: where the lights had been turned off. I checked back
[16:58] Speaker 5: with Martha to be sure she was open. Hey, then
[17:00] Speaker 5: borrowed a car and drove into Greensboro the police headquarters.
[17:04] Speaker 11: Yo, better give it some other reason to hold them on,
[17:06] Speaker 11: mister Dollard.
[17:07] Speaker 2: What do you mean, Chief?
[17:08] Speaker 11: My boys went over every stitch on them, but they've
[17:10] Speaker 11: found absolutely no sign of that diamond.
[17:13] Speaker 2: You're talking about. It's quarters there at the plantation.
[17:15] Speaker 11: Now, you know as well as I do, say, no
[17:17] Speaker 11: chance to hide anything except on his person. Hey, no, sir,
[17:21] Speaker 11: unless you can prove me wrong, we got no reason
[17:24] Speaker 11: to hold him.
[17:24] Speaker 2: Wait, where's the nearest hospital hospital?
[17:27] Speaker 5: Yes, and Chief, I give you odds I can find
[17:30] Speaker 5: that diamond on Eric Chatterley. The X ray of Chatterley's
[17:34] Speaker 5: mid section took a few minutes, the development of the
[17:36] Speaker 5: film a few minutes. More careful examination of it only
[17:39] Speaker 5: a few seconds. Great, mister Dolly, you were right, sir,
[17:43] Speaker 5: yeah was I look for yourself. You must have taken
[17:46] Speaker 5: it out of the ring.
[17:47] Speaker 11: But the important thing, the diamond is sitting right there
[17:49] Speaker 11: in the middle of his stomach.
[17:50] Speaker 2: The outline of that stone is just as clear.
[17:52] Speaker 5: And that's just the trouble, chief troubles. Oh, that's the
[17:56] Speaker 5: stone that Eric tore off her finger. All right, so
[17:58] Speaker 5: go ahead hold on to him. But if that's it's Chief,
[18:01] Speaker 5: that's not the shang Car diamond.
[18:07] Speaker 2: All right, godnor all.
[18:08] Speaker 13: Right you caught me with already.
[18:09] Speaker 5: Goods on, miss, I'll take there for it, and it
[18:11] Speaker 5: won't be the first time.
[18:13] Speaker 7: But you got to admit it was pretty clever of me.
[18:15] Speaker 5: Clever when you couldn't tell the difference between the real
[18:19] Speaker 5: thing and it carefully made imitation.
[18:20] Speaker 2: Imitation. That's right, the stone that you swallowed.
[18:23] Speaker 13: No, he told me she had the real thing when
[18:26] Speaker 13: he got me the job with her, at least when
[18:29] Speaker 13: he wrote me I should come over from England and
[18:31] Speaker 13: applied for the.
[18:32] Speaker 2: Oh, Eric.
[18:35] Speaker 7: I've said enough.
[18:36] Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you have it that.
[18:47] Speaker 14: Eric had the combination of that wall safe, of course,
[18:50] Speaker 14: not as I too do the own well, of course
[18:54] Speaker 14: I am when you say page and I, Johnny, are
[18:58] Speaker 14: you kidding?
[18:59] Speaker 2: When's the last time you wore the Shank card?
[19:00] Speaker 6: Now it's the big charity ball last spring. If it
[19:04] Speaker 6: was the Shank car, not this imitation you're talking about.
[19:06] Speaker 5: I haven't had it cleaned a check by a jeweler, said, oh,
[19:09] Speaker 5: why should I? Then it probably wasn't the Shang car.
[19:12] Speaker 5: And you're sure you didn't know about this imitation?
[19:15] Speaker 7: Do you think I'd go around flashing a phony?
[19:17] Speaker 8: Now? Look here, Johnny, I love you dearly, but don't
[19:20] Speaker 8: you cool me with a line like that.
[19:21] Speaker 7: Don't rile me.
[19:22] Speaker 3: Boy.
[19:22] Speaker 2: Okay, honey, okay, keep your head on.
[19:24] Speaker 5: Just get ready for a quick trip back to New
[19:26] Speaker 5: York as soon as I can find as another flyboy.
[19:31] Speaker 2: During the flight back to New York, Martha asked a
[19:33] Speaker 2: lot of questions, but I.
[19:34] Speaker 5: Sidestepped all of them, promised her a real dramatic ending
[19:36] Speaker 5: of the case, and I kind of quietly prayed for
[19:38] Speaker 5: one myself. When we reached the old brown Stone House
[19:41] Speaker 5: on Sutton Place. We told lok In the butler about
[19:43] Speaker 5: the robbery, then, at my insistence, went upstairs to his
[19:46] Speaker 5: quarters on.
[19:46] Speaker 2: The fourth floor. Here you are so afraid. I don't understand.
[19:55] Speaker 8: You sure got me bugged too, Johnny, Why can I
[19:58] Speaker 8: see you're already packing for your back to dear Olie.
[20:01] Speaker 13: Yes, sir, during my four years of service with Madam,
[20:04] Speaker 13: I find that accumulated Carter.
[20:07] Speaker 2: I beg your pardon, sir. I'm going through every one
[20:10] Speaker 2: of these bags of yours.
[20:12] Speaker 8: Now, Johnny, even tear them apart to look for false bottom.
[20:15] Speaker 5: Compared, I'll do the same thing to your clothes, your
[20:18] Speaker 5: shoes if necessary, until I find the shank, Caard, diamond.
[20:22] Speaker 13: Mister dollar Murdam.
[20:24] Speaker 7: Now, Johnny, what's the gag?
[20:25] Speaker 5: Sometimes blood will tell? Isn't what that headshrinker said to you? Yes,
[20:31] Speaker 5: you were thinking only of Eric, of his relationship with
[20:34] Speaker 5: a notorious Byron Chapeli, the man who quietly patiently spent
[20:37] Speaker 5: years working on a plan to get hold of a
[20:38] Speaker 5: precious stone.
[20:40] Speaker 2: You forgot all about Larkin being related.
[20:42] Speaker 7: Now just a minute, dusted Larkin.
[20:45] Speaker 5: To the point of levitying him have the combination of
[20:47] Speaker 5: the safe where you kept the shank car so he
[20:49] Speaker 5: had an imitation, made a beauty out of a thing
[20:52] Speaker 5: they call stress. Yeah, it's a highly leathered glass that
[20:55] Speaker 5: only an expert can tell from a real diamond when
[20:57] Speaker 5: it's cut correctly.
[20:58] Speaker 2: That's what you've been wearing the last few times.
[21:00] Speaker 7: I just can't believe it.
[21:01] Speaker 5: But Blackin realized that sooner or later the fake would
[21:04] Speaker 5: be spotted, so he evolved another scheme. They have the
[21:07] Speaker 5: fake one stolen by his distant cousin, Eric, same blood.
[21:10] Speaker 5: Remember if Eric got away with it, okay, and Lacan
[21:13] Speaker 5: was clean, he could split with him later when Eric
[21:15] Speaker 5: got wise to the phony. If Eric was caught as
[21:18] Speaker 5: he was, Lacin's skirts would still be clean, right, Lacan.
[21:23] Speaker 13: Quite, sir, And you won't need to destroy my luggage.
[21:27] Speaker 13: I'll fetch you the diamond.
[21:29] Speaker 2: Yeah you may as well.
[21:31] Speaker 13: But I must say, if you hadn't discovered one, Eric
[21:34] Speaker 13: still was paced, I'd never have got on to you.
[21:36] Speaker 13: May I ask how you did it, sir? Sure the
[21:40] Speaker 13: x ray of your beloved cousin's belly. Will I realize
[21:43] Speaker 13: that that's how you located the stone.
[21:46] Speaker 2: It also told me it wasn't the real one.
[21:48] Speaker 7: Well, so help me Johnny, I don't dig you.
[21:50] Speaker 5: We'd never have seen the real one. What genuine diamonds
[21:54] Speaker 5: are completely transmit to X rays. So the diamonds safe
[22:03] Speaker 5: and sound, and Locking and his dearly beloved cousin are
[22:06] Speaker 5: in the clink. Martha was a bit upset over what
[22:08] Speaker 5: Locking had done, but well she'll get over it. Yeah,
[22:12] Speaker 5: And I sure hope I get over this headache. That
[22:14] Speaker 5: brawl she threw for me by way of celebration was
[22:16] Speaker 5: a dilly expensive got total, including incidentals and the trip
[22:20] Speaker 5: back to Hartfred call her fifty bucks. Yours truly, Johnny dull,
[22:57] Speaker 5: Yours truly Johnny Dollar, starring Bob Bailey, originates in Hollywood
[23:02] Speaker 5: and is written, produced and directed by Jack Johnston. Heard
[23:07] Speaker 5: in our cast were Lillian Baiath, Jack Edwards, Barney Phillips, Horace.
[23:11] Speaker 2: Lewis, and Eric Snowden.
[23:14] Speaker 5: Be sure to join us next week, same time and station,
[23:17] Speaker 5: or another exciting story of Yours truly, Johnny Dollar.
[23:35] Speaker 2: This is Dan coverly speaking.
[24:16] Speaker 5: Johnny Dollar has come to you through the worldwide facilities
[24:19] Speaker 5: of the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.
[24:36] Speaker 1: Welcome back. I enjoyed this one, I think particular mainly
[24:40] Speaker 1: because I enjoyed Martha, and she made the episode fun
[24:47] Speaker 1: to listen to. And again, when you are working with
[24:51] Speaker 1: interesting characters, you're you're planning to Jack Johnstone's strength as
[24:56] Speaker 1: a writer. Now more thought actually did appear. This wasn't
[25:03] Speaker 1: like an off air adventure being referenced in The Golden
[25:07] Speaker 1: Touch Matter, which aired on February seventeenth, nineteen fifty seven.
[25:14] Speaker 1: It is a last one of the three missing nineteen
[25:19] Speaker 1: fifty seven episodes, and I'd really enjoy listening to it,
[25:23] Speaker 1: And there were probably other nineteen fifty seven episodes that
[25:28] Speaker 1: were not as fun as that one. I know that
[25:31] Speaker 1: there's probably at least one lestener who would gladly trade
[25:35] Speaker 1: this for the Mingtoy Murphy matter. As to the solution
[25:40] Speaker 1: about the diamond in the stomach, it turns out that
[25:44] Speaker 1: is pretty plausible. Now for my research. It might be
[25:49] Speaker 1: a simplification to say that diamonds are invisible to X ray,
[25:55] Speaker 1: but they are pretty hard to spot, particularly smaller diamonds.
[26:00] Speaker 1: Now the shan Car diamond, maybe a very experienced and
[26:06] Speaker 1: talented X ray technician might be able to figure it out,
[26:10] Speaker 1: but it would still be very hard. Strass would be
[26:14] Speaker 1: more dense and therefore would show up clearly on the
[26:18] Speaker 1: X ray, and as Johnny described the results being clear,
[26:23] Speaker 1: that gives it away that it's paced. It is interesting
[26:27] Speaker 1: that this episode, for the first time, suggests that the
[26:34] Speaker 1: episodes on the radio are being played are recent cases
[26:40] Speaker 1: and apparently disclows every aspect of Johnny's personal life. It
[26:46] Speaker 1: makes you wonder why he hears so much about the
[26:48] Speaker 1: expense account, because Johnstone had better be paying him for
[26:53] Speaker 1: the level of access being provided here. Listener comments and
[26:59] Speaker 1: feed and we have some comments regarding the doting Dowager matter,
[27:04] Speaker 1: and we start on Spotify. Harrison rotts, this was a
[27:08] Speaker 1: decent enough episode, but it's kind of like the Dollar
[27:11] Speaker 1: episodes where it's resolved without him having to do anything.
[27:15] Speaker 1: I'm probably a bit by since I'm currently listening to
[27:18] Speaker 1: the entire Dollar run and every episode seems to be
[27:21] Speaker 1: getting shot. I think that there's something to that. I
[27:26] Speaker 1: do think there in this one. There's at least the
[27:29] Speaker 1: point that we're going out to meet this unusual character
[27:34] Speaker 1: and things are going to be fine after he looks
[27:38] Speaker 1: around and just showing that hey, in some cases, he
[27:41] Speaker 1: just goes with it. It's not like those where I
[27:45] Speaker 1: don't like the ones where he does like an entire
[27:49] Speaker 1: involved investigation like the Mojavey red matter in the sequel,
[27:55] Speaker 1: and it's like, oh, he didn't actually achieve anything. I
[28:00] Speaker 1: thought this was a little different. ALVD doctor who who
[28:03] Speaker 1: done it was even more critical. This week's Johnny Dollar
[28:07] Speaker 1: was co written by Jack Johnstone, Frank and Ann Hummer
[28:11] Speaker 1: ouch Uh. Then we all have a comment from Allen
[28:15] Speaker 1: on Instagram though, who says this is one of my
[28:18] Speaker 1: favorite episodes just for the weirdness. So if you like
[28:22] Speaker 1: a weird departure every now and again, this is a
[28:25] Speaker 1: good episode for you. Now it's time to thank our
[28:29] Speaker 1: Patreon supporter of the day. Thank you to Scott, Patreon
[28:31] Speaker 1: supporter since June twenty sixteen, currently supporting the podcast at
[28:36] Speaker 1: the Master Detective level of fifteen dollars more per month.
[28:40] Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your support, Scott. That'll do it
[28:43] Speaker 1: for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us
[28:46] Speaker 1: using your favorite podcast software. And if you're enjoying the
[28:50] Speaker 1: podcast on YouTube, be sure to like the video, subscribe
[28:54] Speaker 1: to the channel, and mark the notification bell. We will
[28:58] Speaker 1: be back neck Friday with another episode of Johnny Dowler,
[29:02] Speaker 1: but join us back here tomorrow as we give way
[29:05] Speaker 1: to the great adventurers of old time radio and Counterspy where.
[29:10] Speaker 4: A very beautiful apartment. Oh, thank you, mister handing. Colonel.
[29:16] Speaker 4: I am here to make a very unusual request. You
[29:20] Speaker 4: knew Harold Blake personally? Yes, this is a suicide of
[29:26] Speaker 4: bona fide suicide, perfectly candid, Colonel Higgins, I don't know,
[29:31] Speaker 4: and that's why I come to you. I need the
[29:35] Speaker 4: aid of a citizen colonel who has a very important
[29:37] Speaker 4: governmental responsibility. You're forty eight, that's correct, A bachelor, a
[29:43] Speaker 4: confirmed one. You're a very handsome man. Oh come down,
[29:48] Speaker 4: very fascinating to women. Hold. Oh wait a minute now,
[29:51] Speaker 4: Oh that's a serious business, girlan as I understand it.
[29:55] Speaker 4: When there's being engaged in the Pacific Island, at the
[29:58] Speaker 4: very last minute, charts must be supplied to all freighters
[30:03] Speaker 4: so they'll know the little harbors where they'll have to
[30:05] Speaker 4: unload the supply. Yes, that's correct, and naturally months beforehands.
[30:09] Speaker 4: I have lists of such harbors so those charts can
[30:11] Speaker 4: be printed at the last minute. Huh. That's why I'm
[30:14] Speaker 4: so careful of making new acquaintances. I have her responsibility
[30:17] Speaker 4: on your colonel that's just why I've come to you.
[30:22] Speaker 4: Do you happen to know her, Miss adele Winston. No, no,
[30:27] Speaker 4: I've never happened to meet her after hiding, but she's
[30:29] Speaker 4: a very gorgeous woman anyway, she's usually surrounded by any
[30:33] Speaker 4: number of admirers. Well, I'm going to arrange for you
[30:37] Speaker 4: to meet her, Colonel, I'm going to ask you to
[30:39] Speaker 4: make yourself just as interesting to her as possible.
[30:42] Speaker 1: Oh.
[30:42] Speaker 4: In fact, I'm going to ask you to try and
[30:44] Speaker 4: make it even a constant attachment for a time. Oh no, Harting,
[30:48] Speaker 4: that's a little too well, not at all, colonel. Can
[30:53] Speaker 4: you could be the principal factor and possibly exposing one
[30:56] Speaker 4: of the most clever spies in this country today.
[30:59] Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then. In the meantime,
[31:01] Speaker 1: do send your comments to Box thirteen at Greatdetectives dot net,
[31:06] Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us
[31:10] Speaker 1: out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash Great Detectives from Boise, Idaho.
[31:16] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham signing off.

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