# The Big Story: The Lottery (EP4902)

An episode of [The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio| Daily Mystery Dramas](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/335549005), 3 Feb 2026, 39 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pdrl.fm/997ffb/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/69756853/gd4902.mp3

Today’s Mystery:A reporter goes undercover to get the dope on an Atlanta numbers racket. Original Radio Broadcast: July 21, 1948 Originating from New York Starring: George Petrie; James Van Dyk; James Monks; Mercedes McCambridge; Ted De Corsia; John Sylvester Support the show monthly at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net Patreon Supporter of the Day: splinator, Patreon supporter since September 2020. Support the show on a one-time basis at http://support.greatdetectives.net. Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715 Take the listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.net Give us a call at 208-991-4783 Follow us on Instagram at http://instagram.com/greatdetectives 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
[0:35] Speaker 1: boy Seadaho. This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment,
[0:40] Speaker 1: we're going to bring you this week's episode of The
[0:43] Speaker 1: Big Story. But first I do want to let you
[0:46] Speaker 1: know about our other podcast, and this week I am
[0:48] Speaker 1: promoting the Great Adventurers of Old Time Radio, bringing you
[0:54] Speaker 1: two great adventure stories from the Golden Age of radio.
[0:59] Speaker 1: We are currently playing Tarzan and this Saturday will begin
[1:03] Speaker 1: to play Counterspot. You can subscribe to the podcast at
[1:07] Speaker 1: Great Adventures dot info or just search for us wherever
[1:12] Speaker 1: you download your podcast from. But now, from July twenty first,
[1:18] Speaker 1: nineteen forty eight, here is The Big Story episode the Lottery.
[1:27] Speaker 2: The Big Story.
[1:35] Speaker 3: You're sure everything is all right, Tonny?
[1:37] Speaker 4: Sure and sure.
[1:39] Speaker 5: We phoned that reporter and told him there was a
[1:41] Speaker 5: story waiting for him here.
[1:43] Speaker 6: So hey, what is it? There?
[1:46] Speaker 7: He is?
[1:46] Speaker 4: Now, that's the reporter.
[1:49] Speaker 8: Waiting until he comes closer. Wait until he turns into
[1:52] Speaker 8: the walk. You don't want to miss him, miss him.
[1:57] Speaker 5: When I get through unloading this ride, that report is
[2:00] Speaker 5: gonna look like a Swiss cheese.
[2:12] Speaker 2: The Big Story here is America. It's sound and its fury,
[2:17] Speaker 2: its joy, and its sorrow, as faithfully reported by the
[2:20] Speaker 2: men and women of the great American newspapers. Atlanta, Georgia,
[2:27] Speaker 2: from the pages of the Atlantic Constitution. The authentic story
[2:31] Speaker 2: of a reporter who set out to clean up a
[2:33] Speaker 2: lottery by gambling with his life Tonight to Queler McCartney
[2:38] Speaker 2: of the Atlanta Constitution, goes the Pellmell Award for the
[2:42] Speaker 2: big story and now the story as it actually happened.
[2:55] Speaker 2: Keuyler McCartney, story as he lived it, Atlanta, Georgia.
[3:11] Speaker 9: You are Keela McCartney, police reporter for the Atlanta Constitution.
[3:17] Speaker 6: You're young, conscientious, and hot.
[3:21] Speaker 9: You stand in your city editor's office, listening to his
[3:24] Speaker 9: dry voice briefing you on new assignment. You wish you
[3:27] Speaker 9: could dive head first into a glass of beer. When
[3:31] Speaker 9: the voice stops, you melt out of the office to
[3:34] Speaker 9: your own desk, your half hearted notes clinging damply to
[3:38] Speaker 9: your fingers.
[3:41] Speaker 10: Hi, you mac hot enough for you.
[3:44] Speaker 11: If one more guy asked if it's hot enough for me,
[3:46] Speaker 11: I'm gonna pop him one.
[3:48] Speaker 12: Yeah, it's hot enough for me. It's hot enough for
[3:50] Speaker 12: a TOMUALI. Hey, what's the matter with you?
[3:51] Speaker 3: Editor?
[3:52] Speaker 11: Tasha a lousy assignment. Mac, He says, get this, Mac,
[3:58] Speaker 11: I want you to see what you can do about
[3:59] Speaker 11: cleaning up the lottery racket in town.
[4:02] Speaker 12: Eighteen million dollars a year.
[4:03] Speaker 11: Those racketers are making enough to buy plenty of Tommy
[4:06] Speaker 11: guns to bump off any reporter who's dope enough to
[4:08] Speaker 11: stick his nose into that set up? How do they
[4:10] Speaker 11: operate the thing? I lay a bet on the third, fourth,
[4:13] Speaker 11: and fifth digits of the daily bond total in the paper.
[4:16] Speaker 11: Pays off four hundred and fifty to one, but the
[4:19] Speaker 11: odds are a thousand to one against you. How do
[4:22] Speaker 11: you find out about a lottery anyhow? Place a bet
[4:26] Speaker 11: fella down the street from me. Joe Sampson, He gambles
[4:28] Speaker 11: a lot of it. Ask him he should be able
[4:31] Speaker 11: to make contact for you.
[4:33] Speaker 10: Okay, what can I lose?
[4:34] Speaker 11: Nothing but a buck?
[4:35] Speaker 13: Well?
[4:36] Speaker 12: Who knows you might even make a killing?
[4:54] Speaker 1: Hey?
[4:55] Speaker 7: Is anybody home?
[4:56] Speaker 12: Oh?
[4:56] Speaker 4: I'm not ti?
[4:58] Speaker 10: Oh didn't see it?
[5:02] Speaker 11: You're missus Samson.
[5:03] Speaker 14: That's right.
[5:04] Speaker 10: You picked a pretty rugged day for waiting, didn't you.
[5:06] Speaker 7: I sure did had enough for you.
[5:10] Speaker 12: Yeah it is.
[5:12] Speaker 11: I'm looking for mister Sampson's end. Well, No, I wanted
[5:16] Speaker 11: to ask him about placing a lottery.
[5:17] Speaker 7: Better get out of here.
[5:20] Speaker 10: Wait a minute, you don't understand.
[5:21] Speaker 7: I understand enough. You're a rider, aren't you.
[5:24] Speaker 10: Well sure, I'm a reporter.
[5:26] Speaker 7: A reporter. Yeah, Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were
[5:32] Speaker 7: one of those lottery writers that comes to see Joe
[5:34] Speaker 7: all the time.
[5:35] Speaker 10: What have you got against them?
[5:37] Speaker 7: I wish they were all dead.
[5:39] Speaker 10: Wait a minute, the lotteries against the law.
[5:41] Speaker 12: Sure, but what harm can I do?
[5:44] Speaker 7: You really want to know that?
[5:46] Speaker 10: For sure?
[5:48] Speaker 7: Come on up on the porch where it's cool. You
[5:50] Speaker 7: were glass a buttermilk, providing your head off anyhow, And
[5:54] Speaker 7: after that, I'd like to tell you a story.
[5:56] Speaker 10: All right, all right, it's a deal.
[6:10] Speaker 7: Maybe it's not much of a story, mister McCartney. It's
[6:13] Speaker 7: the kind of thing that probably happens to a lot
[6:15] Speaker 7: of people. The thing is, this time had happened to
[6:18] Speaker 7: Joe and me. We were married about a year then.
[6:21] Speaker 11: When missus Samson, I got a hand it to you.
[6:24] Speaker 11: I married the best looking gal in the state and
[6:25] Speaker 11: the best cook in the world. Now that I am
[6:29] Speaker 11: good after sour as a banker's disposition, Oh.
[6:33] Speaker 7: Say that reminds me. I put some money in our
[6:35] Speaker 7: bank today, our bank, the blue teapot on the kitchen counter.
[6:39] Speaker 7: I call it our bank.
[6:40] Speaker 6: Oh, the first National Samson.
[6:43] Speaker 7: I put in another three dollars, Joe.
[6:45] Speaker 6: Saving so you can be independently wealthy.
[6:47] Speaker 7: Sure you haven't forgotten, forgotten what the house out on
[6:51] Speaker 7: fifth Street, the white one with the blue shutters and
[6:53] Speaker 7: the peach tree in.
[6:54] Speaker 10: The yard, or what about it?
[6:55] Speaker 7: Oh, it's gonna be ours someday, that's what about it.
[6:58] Speaker 7: Just as soon as we can fill teapot with enough
[7:01] Speaker 7: three dollars to buy it.
[7:03] Speaker 6: You're sure thinking slow motion, Genny.
[7:05] Speaker 11: I'll figure out a way to make a pile of
[7:07] Speaker 11: dough fast, and we'll move into that house next year.
[7:09] Speaker 7: Oh no, Joe, No, If we just save a little
[7:12] Speaker 7: bit each week, we'll have it soon enough. Oh it's
[7:15] Speaker 7: better that way, Joe, honest.
[7:17] Speaker 11: Okay, honey, have it your way. You go ahead and
[7:19] Speaker 11: save the pennies and the teapot. But I'm going to
[7:21] Speaker 11: see if I can throw in the dollars. Hey, how
[7:24] Speaker 11: about another piece of that apple pie.
[7:37] Speaker 7: Joe's always like that, mister McCartney. Fast. He can't wait
[7:41] Speaker 7: for things. Well, I like planting those flowers in the yard.
[7:46] Speaker 7: Joe was swell about digging up the dirt for me,
[7:48] Speaker 7: but he doesn't like the waiting for the flowers to
[7:50] Speaker 7: come up. Anyhow, Joe brought me the three dollars I
[7:54] Speaker 7: asked for from his checker, be paiday, and I'd go
[7:56] Speaker 7: put it in the blue teapot he got so as
[7:59] Speaker 7: I'd wait for him on the porch steps every Friday. Hi, Baby,
[8:03] Speaker 7: give it to me. Give to the three dollars for
[8:05] Speaker 7: the teapot.
[8:06] Speaker 6: Look, honey, I haven't got.
[8:07] Speaker 7: It, You haven't got it.
[8:11] Speaker 12: But listen, Jeanie, did you ever hear the bug the lottery?
[8:14] Speaker 10: You know?
[8:14] Speaker 11: You bet on the numbers in the barn total each
[8:16] Speaker 11: day and if you win, they pay you four hundred
[8:17] Speaker 11: and fifty to one. While all we need is to
[8:19] Speaker 11: hit it right, just once, and we've got a down payment.
[8:21] Speaker 7: On the house.
[8:21] Speaker 10: June.
[8:22] Speaker 7: No, no, don't gamble. Give me the money and let
[8:26] Speaker 7: me put it away in the teapot.
[8:28] Speaker 11: Oh, come on, baby, be a sport. Just a few bucks,
[8:30] Speaker 11: that's all.
[8:32] Speaker 6: What harm can it do?
[8:41] Speaker 10: Jeannie?
[8:41] Speaker 6: What are you doing in here?
[8:42] Speaker 7: What are you doing?
[8:43] Speaker 10: Joe?
[8:44] Speaker 7: What do you want with that typot?
[8:46] Speaker 6: Look, honey, I got a specially lucky feeling you.
[8:48] Speaker 11: They see, I just want to borrow a couple of
[8:50] Speaker 11: bucks from the teapot for the bug. I'll put it
[8:52] Speaker 11: back tomorrow.
[9:00] Speaker 6: Look, Jeannie, how about sparing me a few bucks?
[9:01] Speaker 7: Huh the key pot, damn, Jill.
[9:03] Speaker 11: Yeah, yeah, I mean from the housekeeping money. Oh, Jill,
[9:06] Speaker 11: I got a hunch today on number four one nine.
[9:08] Speaker 11: I figure all I have to do.
[9:09] Speaker 6: Is lay ten bucks on.
[9:09] Speaker 11: That and I can clean up and get back all
[9:11] Speaker 11: my losings in one hit.
[9:18] Speaker 7: Jill, You've got to bring you a check home next week.
[9:21] Speaker 7: I can't pay the bills. You've got to stop gambling.
[9:24] Speaker 6: How can I stop?
[9:24] Speaker 11: I got to make up my losses, don't I? But
[9:27] Speaker 11: but there ain't no butts. I tell you, I got
[9:29] Speaker 11: to make no fast and there ain no faster wait.
[9:30] Speaker 6: Than the bug. Oh look, Jeanie, don't be mad at me.
[9:36] Speaker 6: I got a feeling, Honey. I'm gonna be lucky tomorrow.
[9:46] Speaker 7: I heard of people that couldn't stop drinking, mister McCartney,
[9:50] Speaker 7: men who kept on drinking even when it made them sick. Well,
[9:54] Speaker 7: that's how gambling is this, Jill. Now, something rotten, something
[9:58] Speaker 7: it can't get away from, even though it's like poison
[10:00] Speaker 7: any sick with it? Last night I sat across the
[10:04] Speaker 7: table in looking at it, watching him kind of sit
[10:08] Speaker 7: there and fall away in the little pieces, just looking
[10:11] Speaker 7: at him.
[10:12] Speaker 6: What's the devil you're looking at you? Well, quit it?
[10:18] Speaker 14: Sorry?
[10:18] Speaker 6: Sorry, you always have to be sorry.
[10:22] Speaker 7: Why don't you give it up? Joe?
[10:24] Speaker 6: What are you talking about?
[10:25] Speaker 7: The lottery? Give it up, Joe?
[10:27] Speaker 6: Why don't you give up picking on it?
[10:28] Speaker 7: I'm not kicking, Yes you are.
[10:30] Speaker 6: I don't bet because I want to.
[10:32] Speaker 11: I bet because I'd be a dope to stop now.
[10:34] Speaker 11: I've lost too much to quit now. When my numbers
[10:36] Speaker 11: going to come up?
[10:36] Speaker 7: You know it won't.
[10:37] Speaker 6: It's got to come up someday, doesn't it.
[10:38] Speaker 12: When it does, we'll be rich.
[10:40] Speaker 7: Rich. What do we want to be rich for? We
[10:41] Speaker 7: just want to save enough to put in our bank.
[10:43] Speaker 11: Sure, lousy nickels and pennies to put in the banks
[10:45] Speaker 11: that we can buy a house.
[10:46] Speaker 12: WIMMORREADI that's not true.
[10:48] Speaker 7: You know it is. And we had lots of money
[10:50] Speaker 7: in the bank before before.
[10:52] Speaker 11: What go ahead, say it before I robbed the bank
[10:55] Speaker 11: to gamble. That's what you were going to say, right, No,
[10:57] Speaker 11: before Joe rapped the bank before.
[10:59] Speaker 6: Joe swiped them money. I'm just think I robbed your
[11:01] Speaker 6: lousy bank.
[11:02] Speaker 12: That's all right, all right, I did.
[11:03] Speaker 11: I robbed the lousy, a little broken down teapot. I
[11:06] Speaker 11: swiped the money and I left it empty, lousy little
[11:08] Speaker 11: teapot with a lousy little broken handled all empty.
[11:10] Speaker 7: Look at it, all empty. And I don't care you hear.
[11:12] Speaker 12: Me, Genie, I don't care.
[11:14] Speaker 6: I don't care who about your lousy little teapot? Uh
[11:21] Speaker 6: huh m hm.
[11:27] Speaker 10: Hm.
[11:30] Speaker 15: Can't stop, Genie. It's like being drunk crazy every week
[11:35] Speaker 15: and I get my check. I say, this time, I'll
[11:37] Speaker 15: bring it home the genie. This time, I'll give it
[11:39] Speaker 15: all the genie. And that guy comes along with his lottery,
[11:42] Speaker 15: and I can't stop.
[11:44] Speaker 7: What are we gonna do? Honey?
[11:46] Speaker 16: I don't know, but Joe, I wish they were all dead,
[11:52] Speaker 16: so do I.
[12:02] Speaker 9: You? Keela McCartney, feel a slow burning anger starts deepen
[12:08] Speaker 9: your guts and rips its way after the lump in
[12:11] Speaker 9: your throat, just suddenly ashamed because you can still hear
[12:14] Speaker 9: yourself saying carelessly, lottery, what har I'm gonna do?
[12:18] Speaker 7: And now you know, can't anybody do anything to stop?
[12:22] Speaker 7: At mister McCartney.
[12:23] Speaker 9: I don't know.
[12:25] Speaker 11: I sure don't know what one guy with a typewriter
[12:27] Speaker 11: can do against thousands of guys with lottery sheets and
[12:29] Speaker 11: Tommy guns.
[12:30] Speaker 12: But well I'm gonna try.
[12:43] Speaker 2: We'll be back in just a moment with tonight's big story.
[12:55] Speaker 17: This is Sy Harris returning you to your narrator and
[12:58] Speaker 17: the big story of Keeler McCartney as he lived it
[13:02] Speaker 17: and wrote it.
[13:05] Speaker 10: You, Keela McCartney.
[13:07] Speaker 9: I'm mad hot and mad hot because the late summer
[13:12] Speaker 9: Georgia's son has made a furnace of Atlanta's streets mad
[13:16] Speaker 9: because a lottery called the Bug is wrecking the lives
[13:19] Speaker 9: of Atlanta's people.
[13:21] Speaker 10: The Bug.
[13:22] Speaker 9: You've written stories about it, and you know it's an ugly,
[13:25] Speaker 9: crawling thing that takes the dimes and the dollars of
[13:28] Speaker 9: Atlanta's poor. So you take your temper and your thirst
[13:34] Speaker 9: into a bar well, you know, the workers for the
[13:36] Speaker 9: Bug congregate. You walk out of the burning sun into
[13:40] Speaker 9: the dimness and the coolness, and you say one beer,
[13:44] Speaker 9: and then you wait. You wait while the eyes along
[13:49] Speaker 9: the bar study you, and the eyes from the table
[13:53] Speaker 9: study you. You wait, and you drink your beer and
[13:58] Speaker 9: you feel the eyes on you and then Hi, Hello,
[14:06] Speaker 9: hot enough for you?
[14:09] Speaker 10: You bet.
[14:11] Speaker 4: You know I ain't seen you before.
[14:14] Speaker 10: I'm no.
[14:16] Speaker 4: None of the boys they ain't seen you before.
[14:18] Speaker 10: Well, I'm no.
[14:21] Speaker 5: Right m h worked with Cloyd? Uh huh south side,
[14:28] Speaker 5: that's right. Cloyde don't operate on the south side.
[14:33] Speaker 10: He does.
[14:34] Speaker 5: Now, what do you mean he started this morning? You
[14:38] Speaker 5: mean he's gonna muscle in on Daniels. Figure it out yourself. Wow,
[14:43] Speaker 5: that's good news. Glad to hear it. They called me tinny.
[14:47] Speaker 5: Haven't been sure.
[14:48] Speaker 10: I'm read plays to meet you?
[14:50] Speaker 4: Then two beers?
[14:52] Speaker 6: Ready?
[14:53] Speaker 5: The reason I cased your first off?
[14:56] Speaker 4: I gotta be careful.
[14:57] Speaker 5: Sure the newspapers are getting hap Sure this gume I
[15:03] Speaker 5: got me in a constitution?
[15:05] Speaker 10: There is one prize, louse.
[15:09] Speaker 5: Sure it's gonna wake up someone and then find themselves dead.
[15:18] Speaker 10: Have another beer?
[15:19] Speaker 4: Tiny, sure, pals?
[15:20] Speaker 12: Sure I jamake God this week corected.
[15:23] Speaker 5: Two thousand and seven and eighty four hours.
[15:27] Speaker 4: You know something found? People are awful.
[15:30] Speaker 11: Sunders, congratulations mac Tho. Stories are yours on the bug
[15:41] Speaker 11: are beginning to pay off. The cops picked up three
[15:44] Speaker 11: lottery bosses again yesterday.
[15:45] Speaker 6: They're only the little guys.
[15:46] Speaker 10: Pete.
[15:46] Speaker 12: We have to get the big ones, the biggest one.
[15:48] Speaker 10: Well go to it.
[15:49] Speaker 12: Sure, proble is, I don't know who is.
[15:58] Speaker 14: Work Pound?
[15:58] Speaker 6: Suppose I do get take that one.
[16:00] Speaker 5: I'm at this lawyer the boy signed and get a
[16:03] Speaker 5: charge buried for years. Great guy, the voice I.
[16:09] Speaker 10: I never met a great guy never comes around here?
[16:13] Speaker 10: Does he?
[16:14] Speaker 4: The boss?
[16:15] Speaker 5: And a crumb joint like this, he'll be plenty, saying
[16:19] Speaker 5: Herbert as a gentleman.
[16:26] Speaker 6: The word is to take it slow.
[16:28] Speaker 3: Pound.
[16:28] Speaker 5: What's up this lousy reporter, this McCartney and the Constitution?
[16:33] Speaker 5: He's found out? Dan, Herbert's the boss. Dan says, we
[16:37] Speaker 5: got watch it down. What my cop just come into
[16:40] Speaker 5: the bar ahead.
[16:41] Speaker 10: In this way, Amen, A.
[16:44] Speaker 12: Just happened to catch tighter use of the window break
[16:46] Speaker 12: for me. Look, drop off this accident. Report for me
[16:49] Speaker 12: at the station, will.
[16:50] Speaker 10: You mac GATORI wife Smith, you know what it is.
[16:53] Speaker 12: And I'm like too, thanks a lot, mac.
[16:58] Speaker 4: Man.
[17:01] Speaker 5: I mean that.
[17:02] Speaker 10: I cos.
[17:05] Speaker 5: His keel and mcctney over at the Constitution they call
[17:11] Speaker 5: him back too. That's it, he knows. They all know.
[17:25] Speaker 9: A sudden, ugly silence falls over the bar, and all
[17:29] Speaker 9: those eyes turned towards you again, all those ugly chig
[17:33] Speaker 9: like eyes. You stand up, You put a hand into
[17:38] Speaker 9: your hip pocket, your back towards the door, slowly, slowly,
[17:46] Speaker 9: keeping a steady watch on Tiny in his pals. And
[17:55] Speaker 9: then you push open the bar door and.
[17:58] Speaker 4: You're outside in the street.
[18:00] Speaker 9: You start to run, take your hand out of your
[18:03] Speaker 9: hip pocket because you didn't have a gun anyway, you
[18:06] Speaker 9: just run.
[18:16] Speaker 3: Just how much do you think this McCartney person knows
[18:19] Speaker 3: about us, Tony?
[18:20] Speaker 5: Well, you know it is, mister Herbert. Some of the
[18:22] Speaker 5: boys ain't careful like me. Some of the boys get
[18:24] Speaker 5: a little liquored up, and they talk too much.
[18:26] Speaker 3: In other words, Tiny, it might be advisable to liquidate
[18:29] Speaker 3: this reporter.
[18:31] Speaker 5: Like you say, mister Helbert, liquidit.
[18:34] Speaker 3: We could figure out some way to entice them to
[18:35] Speaker 3: the Yellow House. Do you think we could entice McCartney
[18:38] Speaker 3: to the Yellow House?
[18:40] Speaker 5: Sure, I'll have Blaine call him with a phony story.
[18:43] Speaker 5: Just tell me when you want to, mister Helbert, Just
[18:45] Speaker 5: tell me when allo Samson leave me alone? Tiny, how
[19:00] Speaker 5: much you want to place on the back tonight, Joe.
[19:02] Speaker 11: Cut it out, Tiny, please cut it out. I'm taking
[19:04] Speaker 11: my check.
[19:05] Speaker 4: Home tonight, Jemmy. Sure, And how about that little house
[19:08] Speaker 4: you and the wife was planning.
[19:09] Speaker 11: I thought you guys were going to be stopped. That
[19:10] Speaker 11: guy on the paper, that killer McCartney. He'll get you,
[19:13] Speaker 11: guys a whole bunch.
[19:13] Speaker 10: Of hats at his secret show.
[19:16] Speaker 4: McCartney's through.
[19:17] Speaker 5: The boys at the Yellow House are going to take
[19:19] Speaker 5: care of him. Now, what'd you say? Fifteen bucks, Joe?
[19:23] Speaker 6: All right?
[19:23] Speaker 10: All right?
[19:23] Speaker 11: Fifteen bucks a number four, one night, and I hope
[19:25] Speaker 11: I never see you again as long as I.
[19:27] Speaker 5: Lit show Samson fifteen dollars and number four one minute.
[19:42] Speaker 5: Sure everything is all right, Tenney, Sure, I'm sure, mister
[19:46] Speaker 5: A glance telephone. McCartney told him there was some kind
[19:49] Speaker 5: of a story here, right, Hey, what is it? Just
[19:52] Speaker 5: turning the corner there, that's McCartney.
[19:54] Speaker 10: Wait until he turns into the wall. You don't want
[19:56] Speaker 10: them to.
[19:57] Speaker 4: Miss, yes, and I get through unloading it. Ride.
[20:00] Speaker 5: That reporter is gonna look like a.
[20:02] Speaker 8: Swiss cheese, I hope. So I'll wait, Dunny, wait until
[20:06] Speaker 8: he turns into the walk, just to look. A few steps, tiny,
[20:10] Speaker 8: just a couple of.
[20:11] Speaker 7: More steps, carny, mister McCartney, Jeane, what are you doing here?
[20:19] Speaker 7: I just called your office and they told me where
[20:20] Speaker 7: you're going. And Joe just just told me what the
[20:23] Speaker 7: writer said to him. What writer the one called tiny?
[20:25] Speaker 10: Tiny? What do he saying?
[20:27] Speaker 7: He said, the boys in the yellow house will take
[20:30] Speaker 7: care of you in the yellow hose.
[20:32] Speaker 12: Yeah?
[20:32] Speaker 7: Do you know what he meant?
[20:34] Speaker 10: Yellow house? Oh brings no bells?
[20:37] Speaker 7: Oh?
[20:38] Speaker 11: Well, thanks anyway, Gane, I'll go in here now and
[20:41] Speaker 11: cover this story, and maybe i'll check on the yellow
[20:43] Speaker 11: house business later.
[20:44] Speaker 7: All right, Oh, but take care of yourself.
[20:46] Speaker 12: Don't worry. I'll be.
[20:49] Speaker 10: Jean.
[20:49] Speaker 7: Yeah.
[20:51] Speaker 10: Do you see the number on this house right here?
[20:53] Speaker 8: Oh?
[20:53] Speaker 7: Says two twenty four?
[20:56] Speaker 11: In this dude, I just got an anonymous phone call
[20:59] Speaker 11: to cover a.
[20:59] Speaker 10: Story at number two two four?
[21:01] Speaker 7: What they could do?
[21:03] Speaker 12: You see what I mean? Number two two four? He's
[21:07] Speaker 12: a yellow house.
[21:15] Speaker 4: How can you sign that he beat it?
[21:17] Speaker 12: Well, turney, that's the second time.
[21:20] Speaker 2: You failed me.
[21:21] Speaker 4: I mean, mister Hulbert.
[21:22] Speaker 16: You.
[21:24] Speaker 10: I found out it was you who talked too much
[21:26] Speaker 10: and started.
[21:26] Speaker 3: All this difficulty, and now you've bungled an opportunity to
[21:29] Speaker 3: rectify your mistake. Tiny, much as I regret the necessity,
[21:35] Speaker 3: you are true.
[21:42] Speaker 9: You Keila McCartney know who's behind this plot to erase you,
[21:47] Speaker 9: Dan Herbert, and you know that he'll get you too
[21:50] Speaker 9: unless you get him first.
[21:52] Speaker 10: But how that's the question.
[21:54] Speaker 11: How how can you put a guy down if nobody
[21:56] Speaker 11: will squeal on him? Pete, what's with this Dan Hilbert character?
[21:59] Speaker 11: He made a solid gold just about. He treats his
[22:02] Speaker 11: writer as well, gives them big percentages of the take,
[22:04] Speaker 11: protect them when they get in trouble. All more trouble
[22:08] Speaker 11: if it's another anonymous tip. Hang up, Mac, it's too
[22:11] Speaker 11: hot to.
[22:12] Speaker 3: Go to a funeral.
[22:13] Speaker 10: McCartney speaking.
[22:14] Speaker 14: This the McCartney that's been writing them stories on the lottery.
[22:19] Speaker 10: Yeah, who's this nobody?
[22:21] Speaker 14: Look I used to be in the lottery business myself.
[22:24] Speaker 12: See what business you're now giving tips to reporters. Oh,
[22:29] Speaker 12: I don't want to hear this, McCartney.
[22:32] Speaker 5: A guy by the name of Dan her But has
[22:34] Speaker 5: seventy cases of whiskey stood in the garage over on
[22:38] Speaker 5: Melrose Avenue to see and he ain't got no permit for.
[22:41] Speaker 14: Him to see.
[22:43] Speaker 10: Yeah, I see guys.
[22:45] Speaker 14: With no permits for starr and whiskey can get arrested.
[22:49] Speaker 14: I suppose you take it from Namack.
[22:51] Speaker 11: Hey wait a minute, now, I get your voice tiny Hello, Hello,
[22:55] Speaker 11: tiny Hello tip Nope, hung up another chip from tiny
[23:02] Speaker 11: the writer I got mixed up with. Just recognize the voice.
[23:05] Speaker 11: You must have had a falling out with Herbert. You
[23:07] Speaker 11: just squeal on him. Some hot Herbert's got seventy cases
[23:12] Speaker 11: of whiskey and a garage on Melrose.
[23:15] Speaker 10: The coin of phrase. Is that hot enough for you?
[23:27] Speaker 9: It's hot enough for anyone, including the police. Dan Herbert
[23:31] Speaker 9: is arrested for storing whiskey without a permit. Then the
[23:34] Speaker 9: police begin their relentless questioning and finally secure the three
[23:38] Speaker 9: page confession, which wipes up what's left of the lottery
[23:41] Speaker 9: racket in Atlanta. And then one afternoon, you take a
[23:45] Speaker 9: stroll out to see your old friend the Sampsons.
[23:48] Speaker 12: Hi, Jeanie, he's still at the weeding.
[23:50] Speaker 7: Yeah place is a miss? Why somebody milk?
[23:52] Speaker 10: I could be persuaded. Joe home?
[23:54] Speaker 7: Oh not yet. He stopped by to get his paycheck.
[23:57] Speaker 7: I bought a new teapot today.
[23:59] Speaker 12: Well here's its chief depositor.
[24:01] Speaker 11: Now, Hi, Joe, I am not goodness see, oh baby
[24:04] Speaker 11: about to give it to me?
[24:07] Speaker 7: Three dollars for the bank.
[24:08] Speaker 10: Is that over?
[24:09] Speaker 6: Two?
[24:09] Speaker 7: Joe Samson?
[24:10] Speaker 11: I'll take it easy honey, I saw these flowers downtown
[24:13] Speaker 11: and I thought they'd well kind of brighten up the
[24:15] Speaker 11: place where those ones you planted take their own sweet
[24:17] Speaker 11: time blooming.
[24:18] Speaker 6: Oh Joe, you bigg And then well, I had.
[24:20] Speaker 11: To stop and get mac here a couple of cigars
[24:22] Speaker 11: to say thanks, didn't I?
[24:37] Speaker 2: In just a moment, we'll read you a telegram from
[24:39] Speaker 2: Keeler McCartney or the Atlanta Constitution with a final outcome
[24:42] Speaker 2: of Tonight's big story. Now we read you that telegram
[24:50] Speaker 2: from Keeler McCartney or the Atlanta Constitution.
[24:53] Speaker 11: Previously unable to get any evidence against lottery boss and
[24:56] Speaker 11: Tonight's Big Story, arresting him on a liquor charge was
[24:59] Speaker 11: the only way legally hold him. Once in custody, he
[25:02] Speaker 11: was persuaded to confess that he employed twelve hundred people
[25:05] Speaker 11: in Atlanta's seven million dollar lottery ring. A fifteen count
[25:09] Speaker 11: indictment was secured against him.
[25:11] Speaker 10: He was sentenced to six.
[25:12] Speaker 11: Years on the chain gang at Tatnall State Prison in Readsville.
[25:15] Speaker 10: My sincere appreciation for Tonight's Pellmell Award.
[25:18] Speaker 2: Thank you, mister McCartney. The makers of Pallmell famous cigarettes
[25:21] Speaker 2: are proud to have named you the winner of the
[25:23] Speaker 2: Pall Mall five hundred dollars Award for notable service in
[25:26] Speaker 2: the field of Journalism.
[25:27] Speaker 17: Listen again next week, same time, same station, when pell
[25:31] Speaker 17: Mell Famous Cigarettes will present another Big Story, A big
[25:35] Speaker 17: story from the front pages of the Los Angeles Herald
[25:38] Speaker 17: Express by line Pat Foley, A big story about a
[25:43] Speaker 17: meek little man with a mania for marriage and murder.
[26:01] Speaker 2: The Big Story is produced by Bernard J. Popter, with
[26:04] Speaker 2: music by Vladi miss Lensky. The night's program was written
[26:07] Speaker 2: by Gail Ingram. Your narrator was Bob Sloan and George
[26:11] Speaker 2: Petrie played the part of Keila McCartney. In order to
[26:14] Speaker 2: protect the names of people actually involved in tonight's authentic
[26:18] Speaker 2: big Story, the names of all characters and the dramatization
[26:21] Speaker 2: were changed, with the exception of the reporter, mister McCartney.
[26:34] Speaker 2: This is Ernest Chappell speaking for the makers of Palnel
[26:37] Speaker 2: Famous Cigarettes.
[26:42] Speaker 12: This is NBC, the National Broadcasting Company.
[26:53] Speaker 1: Welcome back. Well stored along with mister Petree in this
[26:58] Speaker 1: week's episode was James van Dock, Ted Decortia, James Monks,
[27:05] Speaker 1: Mercedes McCambridge and John Sylvester and actually, the majority of
[27:12] Speaker 1: the cast has started in at least one great detective series.
[27:17] Speaker 1: George Petrie, of course as Commissioner Bill Mason on Call
[27:22] Speaker 1: the Police, as John J. Malone in The Amazing Mister Malone,
[27:27] Speaker 1: Ted Decortia as Mike Hammer, Mercedes McCambridge as Martha Ellis
[27:34] Speaker 1: Bryant in Defense Attorney, and James Monks as both Mister
[27:40] Speaker 1: I Amoto and the Avenger. The Stories behind the Big
[27:45] Speaker 1: Story website essentially confirms the truth of the basic story
[27:52] Speaker 1: by mister McCartney, and I went ahead and took a
[27:54] Speaker 1: look through newspapers dot com at some of the original
[27:58] Speaker 1: stories in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and according to one
[28:04] Speaker 1: of McCartney's later stories, he did an article in nineteen
[28:11] Speaker 1: forty five which was kind of a victory lap article
[28:15] Speaker 1: in nineteen forty five pointing out that the racket had
[28:21] Speaker 1: dried up with the conviction of the leaders and a
[28:25] Speaker 1: lot of small fries. According to McCartney, the Bugget lottery
[28:32] Speaker 1: had involved up to in like its peak years, fifty
[28:39] Speaker 1: million dollars, which for a single metropolitan area. And keep
[28:45] Speaker 1: in mind that the racket had been in operation for
[28:49] Speaker 1: about twenty years, so it's hard to say, you know,
[28:54] Speaker 1: what would the fifty million dollars have been in today's
[28:57] Speaker 1: money without knowing the precise year, it was fifty million dollars,
[29:01] Speaker 1: but Fulton County during this period had somewhere between two
[29:06] Speaker 1: hundred and fifty thousand and four hundred thousand people, and
[29:11] Speaker 1: that would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars
[29:15] Speaker 1: in today's money. So this was a major racket that
[29:20] Speaker 1: the newspapers were really able to build towards, an effort
[29:25] Speaker 1: that ultimately dismantled them. Now, The Stories behind the Big
[29:29] Speaker 1: Story website notes that McCartney continued to work at the
[29:35] Speaker 1: paper until the nineteen seventies and passed away in nineteen
[29:40] Speaker 1: ninety four. And there is a box of his correspondence
[29:45] Speaker 1: at Emory University. And if anyone is curious whether there's
[29:50] Speaker 1: any correspondence about the Big Story, who can go to
[29:54] Speaker 1: Emory University. You have to give about a two day
[29:57] Speaker 1: advance notice and fall all their policies to view the collection.
[30:03] Speaker 1: The other thing that website notes is that the script
[30:07] Speaker 1: was written by Gail Ingram. She and her husband were
[30:12] Speaker 1: both radio writers, and her husband took this script and
[30:18] Speaker 1: rewrote it. In the casey crime photographer universe as the
[30:22] Speaker 1: story unlucky numbers in terms of plot. I had a
[30:26] Speaker 1: couple of thoughts on the episode. First of all, this
[30:29] Speaker 1: is the top of story that could not happen in
[30:32] Speaker 1: the information age, because if a criminal organization was mad
[30:36] Speaker 1: at a reporter, then most people of importance would know
[30:41] Speaker 1: exactly what he looked like. Though on this topic, I
[30:45] Speaker 1: think the most obviously fictionalized part of this is tiny.
[30:50] Speaker 1: Events in this story were much more recent than many
[30:53] Speaker 1: other episodes we've heard, and if you lightly fictionalized aspects
[30:59] Speaker 1: of how he got his information, it would probably have
[31:02] Speaker 1: put his informants at risk. So we just have one
[31:06] Speaker 1: guy who couldn't shut up and had just to tell
[31:11] Speaker 1: everybody about everything. Let me go ahead and tell this
[31:15] Speaker 1: one random gambler about our planned murder. Though I guess
[31:21] Speaker 1: in terms of having a big mouth, that one policeman
[31:25] Speaker 1: who ran in and blew McCartney's cover he deserves an entry,
[31:32] Speaker 1: although I think Tony's guess was a bit of a leap.
[31:35] Speaker 1: I mean, Mac was a very popular nickname for Scottish people,
[31:42] Speaker 1: and do you know how many people of Scottish heritage
[31:46] Speaker 1: are in the state of Georgia. But the association with
[31:49] Speaker 1: the police. Maybe the yellow house scene was one of
[31:53] Speaker 1: those things that they tried to make dramatic for radio,
[31:57] Speaker 1: but to me it just didn't work. Martney gets the
[32:01] Speaker 1: tip from Genie and then he sees the house and
[32:05] Speaker 1: McCartney says, Jean, do you see the number on this
[32:10] Speaker 1: house right here? She says it says to twenty four
[32:13] Speaker 1: on the stoop and he says, I just got an
[32:18] Speaker 1: anonymous phone call to cover a story at number two
[32:21] Speaker 1: two four, And then Jeane says, but what has that? Oh,
[32:26] Speaker 1: and with a guess, see what I mean? Two twenty
[32:30] Speaker 1: four is a yellow house. Now, in theory, this is
[32:34] Speaker 1: supposed to reveal to the audience that he stumbled on
[32:37] Speaker 1: to the yellow house and almost went into it. It's
[32:41] Speaker 1: a yellow house. But the problem is that we already
[32:46] Speaker 1: knew that that was already established where Dan Holbert and
[32:51] Speaker 1: Tony were talking. And if I heard that somebody was
[32:56] Speaker 1: going to be taken care of at a yellow house,
[32:59] Speaker 1: and I saw the walking towards a yellow house, I
[33:03] Speaker 1: would understand the implication of that. So that one part
[33:07] Speaker 1: was a bit awkward. Well, listener comments and feedback now,
[33:11] Speaker 1: and we have a couple of comments. We start with
[33:14] Speaker 1: Harrison over on Spotify writing regarding the episode Pillars of Society.
[33:22] Speaker 1: I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought the
[33:25] Speaker 1: hoops he had to jump through was a bit extreme.
[33:29] Speaker 1: Thanks Harrison. And it should be said that a lot
[33:34] Speaker 1: of people were quite dissatisfied in real life with the
[33:39] Speaker 1: pace at which the case was addressed. I read through
[33:45] Speaker 1: letters to the editor where people were wondering, Okay, so
[33:50] Speaker 1: it's been since April of thirty seven that the governor's
[33:55] Speaker 1: chief advisor has recommended a pardon. Why is this taking
[34:00] Speaker 1: so long? And Governor Davy was an incumbentate administration had
[34:05] Speaker 1: a lot of problems. He got ousted in the primary
[34:09] Speaker 1: by a reform candidate. I don't think that the parting
[34:14] Speaker 1: issue was at the forefront, but there was a great
[34:18] Speaker 1: sense of idea that Governor's integrity was in question and
[34:25] Speaker 1: it would be a risk to his Democratic Party if
[34:30] Speaker 1: he were to be nominated. Although the reform candidate who
[34:34] Speaker 1: defeated Governor Davy also lost in the fall. Mechanics sixty
[34:39] Speaker 1: six rights seems like a young thief would start with
[34:44] Speaker 1: a candy store and progress to grand theft auto when
[34:47] Speaker 1: older not the other way around. Well, some people have
[34:51] Speaker 1: to be contrary. And then over on YouTube, regarding the
[34:55] Speaker 1: episode Manhunt in Manhattan, Betsy writes, good episode. Thank you.
[35:00] Speaker 1: The algorithm is making it harder to find you, but
[35:03] Speaker 1: I persevere.
[35:06] Speaker 10: Well.
[35:06] Speaker 1: I appreciate it, Betsy, and honestly, YouTube has been doing
[35:10] Speaker 1: some things. When I look at the stats, the click
[35:15] Speaker 1: through rates on my episodes posted on YouTube are about
[35:21] Speaker 1: the same as they were before. The problem is that
[35:25] Speaker 1: YouTube isn't serving them up to as many listeners, and
[35:29] Speaker 1: the algorithm often does strange things for inexplicable reasons, which
[35:35] Speaker 1: is why I always encourage people listening on YouTube to
[35:39] Speaker 1: like the video, subscribe to the channel, mark the notification bell,
[35:43] Speaker 1: because those are the sort of things that help our
[35:48] Speaker 1: content to be seen more on YouTube, and in the
[35:51] Speaker 1: case of marking the notification bell, it also ensures you
[35:56] Speaker 1: get notified when we drop a new episode. Now it's
[36:01] Speaker 1: time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day, and
[36:04] Speaker 1: I want to thank Splanator, Patreon supporter since September twenty twenty,
[36:10] Speaker 1: currently supporting the podcast at the Shawmus level of four
[36:16] Speaker 1: dollars or more per month. Thanks so much for your support.
[36:19] Speaker 1: Splanator and that will do it for today. If you're
[36:22] Speaker 1: enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software,
[36:28] Speaker 1: and be sure to rate and review the podcast wherever
[36:31] Speaker 1: you download it from. We'll be back next Tuesday with
[36:35] Speaker 1: another episode of the Big Story, but join us back
[36:38] Speaker 1: here tomorrow for Broadways my beat.
[36:40] Speaker 10: Where this lady dan is? She wanders in off the street.
[36:44] Speaker 10: Say she's looking for help, she's the police.
[36:47] Speaker 7: Please, I want to go home.
[36:49] Speaker 4: Take me home, someone, don't be frightened?
[36:52] Speaker 7: Will I hate it? Dougly and dirty? My love for
[36:55] Speaker 7: a woman?
[36:56] Speaker 13: When she all I wanted was to make friends. I
[37:00] Speaker 13: bought new things, paid their way. Why I shouldn't have
[37:05] Speaker 13: to pay the things back? Homeless?
[37:07] Speaker 4: Where is your home?
[37:08] Speaker 13: Miss They say that missus Pryce, go Elizabeth. She's a
[37:14] Speaker 13: deep one, more than meets the eye. You could light
[37:17] Speaker 13: marsh Hires with.
[37:19] Speaker 10: Where do they say that? Missus? Price?
[37:21] Speaker 12: In Vermont, in the village.
[37:24] Speaker 13: When I walk down main Street to shop for in provisions,
[37:28] Speaker 13: I hear their whispers so loud.
[37:31] Speaker 10: You'll be all right, lady.
[37:32] Speaker 5: You are now with Danny Clover's hands and for an
[37:34] Speaker 5: out of town a loss unhappy?
[37:37] Speaker 10: Please?
[37:38] Speaker 11: Please? That's tom Phill That my fir quickly, yours price?
[37:48] Speaker 4: Give me hold on so tight? That's please?
[37:55] Speaker 7: Yes, thank you?
[38:00] Speaker 4: What if she or anything?
[38:01] Speaker 10: Give it to a g? Oh sure?
[38:03] Speaker 12: Shall we missus price?
[38:04] Speaker 10: Kif cool?
[38:11] Speaker 6: Good books?
[38:14] Speaker 16: Appair?
[38:16] Speaker 4: Don't look like that.
[38:17] Speaker 12: There's nothing to be afraid of.
[38:20] Speaker 7: They have nofer these attacks.
[38:23] Speaker 11: They come, oh, missus price. Then she sends it, Shall
[38:29] Speaker 11: I go out with doctor Sisky?
[38:31] Speaker 12: Shall I? Well? Why what can I do?
[38:33] Speaker 7: Danny?
[38:34] Speaker 11: Tell me what?
[38:36] Speaker 10: Nothing?
[38:36] Speaker 4: You know nothing?
[38:38] Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then in the meantime,
[38:41] Speaker 1: send your comments to Box thirteen at Greatdetectives dot net,
[38:45] Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us
[38:49] Speaker 1: out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash Great Detectives from Boise, Idaho.
[38:57] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Grant, Shine and Off.

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