# The Big Story: Blind Date with Murder (EP4907)

An episode of [The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio| Daily Mystery Dramas](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/335549005), 10 Feb 2026, 36 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pdrl.fm/997ffb/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/69778991/gd4907.mp3

Today's Mystery: A Pittsburgh reporter is forced to cancel a date and finds himself covering a multiple murder. Original Radio Broadcast: September 22, 1948 Originating from New York Starring: James McCallion; Bob Sloane; Larry Haines; Ruth Shafer; Rita Ascot; Joan Alexander; Bill Smith; Mandel Kramer Support the show monthly at https://patreon.greatdetectives.netPatreon Supporter of the Day: Daniel, Patreon supporter since October 2023. 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 Boise, Idaho.
[0:34] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're
[0:38] Speaker 1: going to bring you this week's episode of The Big Story.
[0:41] Speaker 1: But first, I do want to encourage you. If you're
[0:43] Speaker 1: enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software.
[0:49] Speaker 1: I do want to promote our other podcast, and today
[0:52] Speaker 1: I'm highlighting the Old Time Radio Snackwagon at snackwagon dot net.
[0:57] Speaker 1: We will be launching into a brain new Old Time
[1:01] Speaker 1: Radio snack Wagons season starting on next Monday, and we're
[1:07] Speaker 1: going to bring you an exciting mix of comedy, drama, news,
[1:12] Speaker 1: and all sorts of little bits of old time radio,
[1:15] Speaker 1: either self contained programs or excerpts of longer programs. These
[1:22] Speaker 1: are great little bite sized paste of old time radio
[1:26] Speaker 1: that are great to listen to on short trips or
[1:29] Speaker 1: going in the store to get something real quick. You
[1:32] Speaker 1: can check these out at snackwagon dot net or wherever
[1:35] Speaker 1: you get your podcasts from. But now, from September the
[1:40] Speaker 1: twenty second, nineteen forty eight, here is Blind Date with Murder.
[1:51] Speaker 2: It's long ago. It's also now radio's mystery theater. Like
[1:58] Speaker 2: O Betty's Rule that gets tastier by the years. The
[2:02] Speaker 2: radio mysteries of the thirties, forties, and fifties, although resting
[2:07] Speaker 2: in the dusty archives, are still fresh and vibrant. Let's
[2:12] Speaker 2: sit back now as the listener did so many yesterdays ago,
[2:17] Speaker 2: and try to figure out who'd done it. A big story.
[2:49] Speaker 2: Here is America. It's sound in its fury, it's joy,
[2:53] Speaker 2: and it's sorrow, as basically recorded by the men and
[2:56] Speaker 2: women of the great American newspapers. Now the story as
[3:11] Speaker 2: it actually happened, Harry Goodinsky's story as he lived it. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
[3:27] Speaker 2: You are Harry Kolinski of the Pittsburgh Post Caazette, and
[3:32] Speaker 2: here it is your night off, and what a night,
[3:35] Speaker 2: What a night. As you leave the city room, you
[3:38] Speaker 2: look out the window and there's a pull a Lie
[3:41] Speaker 2: moon pending the smokestacks with Airerie gold and a warm
[3:45] Speaker 2: and sensuous breeze heading in through the window. And somehow,
[3:50] Speaker 2: the next thing you know, you're on the phone. You
[3:53] Speaker 2: make a date with a certain blonde nurse at Braddock
[3:56] Speaker 2: General Hospital, and a couple of hours later you're waiting
[3:59] Speaker 2: for your date near the hospital switchboard when.
[4:04] Speaker 3: Brad at General Hospital.
[4:06] Speaker 4: Who, yes, sir, he's here.
[4:08] Speaker 3: My moment for I think it's your evidence to walk.
[4:13] Speaker 2: Thanks Mary, Hello Harry, Bill Alice, I've got an assignment
[4:16] Speaker 2: for you. Oh this is my night off, Bill, I've
[4:19] Speaker 2: got a date.
[4:19] Speaker 4: Look, I'm shorthanded and you're in Brennick. Just got an
[4:22] Speaker 4: anonymous phone tip. There's been some shooting across the river
[4:24] Speaker 4: in Duquine.
[4:25] Speaker 2: I get over there at a wind check, but very.
[4:34] Speaker 1: So.
[4:35] Speaker 2: You stand up your beautiful blonde and start to move
[4:39] Speaker 2: as you drive across the ranking bridge, turn left and
[4:42] Speaker 2: climb the winding hillside that the cane. You curse your craft,
[4:46] Speaker 2: the Post Gazette, and three times over you're editor Bill Walsh.
[4:51] Speaker 2: You roll into a dark and dingy section of Ducane
[4:55] Speaker 2: and suddenly you see a man walking along a deserted street.
[4:59] Speaker 2: You can't his face in the darkness. Did you figure
[5:02] Speaker 2: you'll ask him if he's heard anything about the shooting?
[5:10] Speaker 4: Uh?
[5:10] Speaker 3: Hey, mister, what is it?
[5:13] Speaker 2: What do you want? I only wanted to ask it
[5:15] Speaker 2: out of him.
[5:15] Speaker 5: Kurt.
[5:16] Speaker 2: We get out of that car.
[5:17] Speaker 4: Pet your hands, okay, I step closerbody so I can
[5:23] Speaker 4: see you.
[5:24] Speaker 5: I don't know what is this all about?
[5:26] Speaker 4: Moriarity, Patroman, Fred Moriarity that you yeah, fine, sweat you
[5:33] Speaker 4: gave me too. Here I am a reporter being held
[5:36] Speaker 4: up by Kaine's only night cor Yeah, and the guy
[5:39] Speaker 4: that called a friendly copsky, I didn't know it was you.
[5:42] Speaker 4: The matter with you, Moriarity? What are you still trigger
[5:44] Speaker 4: happy about? Well, there's a hoodlum.
[5:46] Speaker 5: Here in town.
[5:47] Speaker 4: He's threatened to get me the cook cutting for me.
[5:49] Speaker 6: Hold.
[5:50] Speaker 4: Name's Leicester, Steve Lester.
[5:52] Speaker 2: Hey, wait a minute, we got a tip of there
[5:53] Speaker 2: was some shooting here and Docainne you known thing about it?
[5:55] Speaker 4: Friend, No, haven't heard anything.
[5:58] Speaker 2: I want to jump in the car and I have
[5:59] Speaker 2: a look around.
[5:59] Speaker 4: No, no, no, you go ahead. I've got some business
[6:02] Speaker 4: to take care of.
[6:19] Speaker 2: My name is Kadinsky, I report up post. Is what's happening?
[6:22] Speaker 4: Oh?
[6:22] Speaker 2: We heard some shots and not house shots? Yeah, two
[6:25] Speaker 2: of them.
[6:25] Speaker 1: You see.
[6:26] Speaker 2: I live next door. Name is Baker. But anyway, my
[6:28] Speaker 2: little girl Marilyn and I heard two shots?
[6:31] Speaker 4: Or what happened?
[6:31] Speaker 3: Who got shot?
[6:32] Speaker 4: Oh?
[6:32] Speaker 2: I don't know. Nobody's going into the house to look.
[6:36] Speaker 2: But don't look at me like that, mister. I ain't
[6:38] Speaker 2: taking no chances. What this town needs is more policemen.
[6:41] Speaker 4: The killer may still be in there, and they say
[6:43] Speaker 4: people may be dead in there, dying, needing help, and
[6:45] Speaker 4: you're waiting. Who lived here with.
[6:47] Speaker 2: Her named Agatha Norton. You walk up to the front door,
[7:00] Speaker 2: Angey Baker follows. You know, the goose flesh jumps out
[7:05] Speaker 2: all over you. Your blood chilledren like jelly. Get scared.
[7:11] Speaker 2: You're plenty scared. Maybe Baker's right, maybe the killer is
[7:15] Speaker 2: still in there. To go ahead, you rub your sweaty
[7:20] Speaker 2: palm and your new suit and open the door. Yeah,
[7:26] Speaker 2: there's no sound, nothing. You both go ahead.
[7:36] Speaker 4: Mh what is the Baker?
[7:40] Speaker 2: I just stepped on something.
[7:43] Speaker 4: Switch on a light?
[7:46] Speaker 2: M good lord the widow Missus Norton?
[7:53] Speaker 4: Yeah, better bull through the head?
[7:58] Speaker 2: There are two shots.
[8:00] Speaker 4: What's that from there?
[8:02] Speaker 2: That's the kitchen.
[8:03] Speaker 4: Let's go.
[8:09] Speaker 7: Oh lo the Boddy slug.
[8:13] Speaker 4: Through the head? I Baker? Yeah, I pull yourself together, Baker?
[8:19] Speaker 2: Who is it? Missus Norton's son John?
[8:23] Speaker 4: See m sweet mess I beg a listener.
[8:28] Speaker 7: I want you to do something for me.
[8:30] Speaker 4: Was the nearest fall down at the grocery store.
[8:32] Speaker 2: It's about a block from here.
[8:33] Speaker 4: All right down there. When the post is that the
[8:36] Speaker 4: cinema photographer. I'mna call it just attorney's office and sent
[8:38] Speaker 4: a man out here and I got that.
[8:40] Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess that's my daughter, Marilyn.
[8:44] Speaker 3: She he told me you're you're the man from the newspaper.
[8:48] Speaker 3: I got something to tell you? Did I another shot?
[8:52] Speaker 3: I think it came from mister Lester's house, Dave Lester?
[8:55] Speaker 4: Yeah, Marlon, have a car outside.
[8:57] Speaker 2: Will you show me where mister Lester lives?
[9:00] Speaker 4: If you look, I don't worry, Bacon, I won't take
[9:02] Speaker 4: it right up to the house. You'll go ahead and
[9:04] Speaker 4: make that phone call.
[9:05] Speaker 2: Come on, ma oh is excited? You drive down Urban
[9:15] Speaker 2: Street and you figure Mariarty and this Steve Lester went
[9:19] Speaker 2: gunning for each other and one of them got up.
[9:22] Speaker 2: But who Meanwhile, this kid besides you, with a curly
[9:25] Speaker 2: golden hair and the white blue eyes, chatters about of
[9:30] Speaker 2: all things, the movies.
[9:33] Speaker 7: Oh, I love them.
[9:34] Speaker 3: I could go all the time and see and your
[9:35] Speaker 3: mother would give me the money.
[9:37] Speaker 4: Where's the house the.
[9:38] Speaker 2: Shop came from Marland?
[9:39] Speaker 3: Oh, it's down that dirt road, the red house. See.
[9:43] Speaker 2: Yeah, you stay right here, don't leave this car in
[9:47] Speaker 2: s Oh, yes, sir.
[9:49] Speaker 4: And if I don't come back a little while. You
[9:51] Speaker 4: run and get someone to come over here.
[9:52] Speaker 7: All right, I will.
[9:54] Speaker 3: Why isn't this thrilling? Just like the movies, isn't it?
[10:04] Speaker 2: You're creeping into the house expecting to find another corpse.
[10:08] Speaker 2: You do, he isn't patrol on, Moriarty, So it must
[10:13] Speaker 2: be Steve Lester. Get out of there in a hurry.
[10:16] Speaker 2: Drop your movie, mad little friend, and look for a
[10:18] Speaker 2: nearby phone. You find it in the empty police station
[10:21] Speaker 2: in u Kyne City Hall. And just as you're about
[10:24] Speaker 2: to call the office, who's that?
[10:27] Speaker 4: Who's there? Oh it's you, Moriarty.
[10:32] Speaker 2: Been looking all over for you.
[10:34] Speaker 4: I'm just gonna call my office, but not well but
[10:37] Speaker 4: down a phone, I.
[10:38] Speaker 3: Said, all right, Moriarity, what are you?
[10:44] Speaker 4: What are you putting a gun on me for? At
[10:46] Speaker 4: that desklam?
[10:48] Speaker 3: Put the light you?
[10:48] Speaker 2: Hey? You want me to plant you head off to you?
[10:52] Speaker 4: I did it before, you know. I did it three times.
[10:55] Speaker 4: I gonna kill it three times over so much? One more?
[10:58] Speaker 4: What tific is anake? Now wait a minute, Moriarity, you
[11:04] Speaker 4: mean you kill missus Norton and her son too?
[11:08] Speaker 3: Yeah?
[11:09] Speaker 4: But why maybe Steve Lester was a hoodlum, But the
[11:12] Speaker 4: Nortons weren't criminal. I had my personal raise, and sy
[11:16] Speaker 4: I had it coming to him. The whole riting place,
[11:17] Speaker 4: I had it coming. I'm gonna tell you why.
[11:23] Speaker 5: Yeah, are you and me?
[11:25] Speaker 4: You're gonna sit here in the dark, and I'm gonna
[11:26] Speaker 4: tell you why. I gotta tell it to somebody. You
[11:29] Speaker 4: gotta get it off my chest. You're a report. Are
[11:32] Speaker 4: like a good story? Then a good one? I mean,
[11:37] Speaker 4: there happens to be a hitch in this story, Katinsky,
[11:41] Speaker 4: what's that?
[11:43] Speaker 2: You'll never live to print it?
[12:01] Speaker 3: You?
[12:01] Speaker 2: Harry Kodinski of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette started the evening
[12:05] Speaker 2: on a date with the blonde. But now you're sitting
[12:09] Speaker 2: in the darkness of the deserted Duquine Police station opposite
[12:13] Speaker 2: a killer, and you're scared and the dark. His eyes
[12:19] Speaker 2: watched you with a fixed, glassy stare of a cat
[12:22] Speaker 2: and glow with a glaze of madness. You listened to
[12:26] Speaker 2: Patrolman Moriarty, and the words gushot crazily tumbled one after
[12:31] Speaker 2: the other. But the shadowy gun in his hand never waivers.
[12:35] Speaker 4: You know what they call me, Katinsky. You know what
[12:38] Speaker 4: they call me here? And the tailor call me Moriarity,
[12:40] Speaker 4: the friendly cop. Everybody likes me all right. When I
[12:45] Speaker 4: was a rookie, a young cop, just started out and
[12:48] Speaker 4: married my wife, Lula, there was this other man who
[12:51] Speaker 4: wanted a beautiful girl in the prettiest the picture he wanted.
[12:56] Speaker 4: His name is Whalen, Paul William. He owns a barn
[13:00] Speaker 4: on mine treet you hear me, Kazinski, Paul will and
[13:06] Speaker 4: wonder that I am married. And one day last week,
[13:10] Speaker 4: when I was off duty, I stopped in at Whaling's
[13:12] Speaker 4: bar and grill.
[13:18] Speaker 5: Lola red, Well, hello, Maria, what are you doing here?
[13:22] Speaker 2: Lolad?
[13:23] Speaker 4: How are you doing back here with him in this boat?
[13:25] Speaker 2: Held?
[13:26] Speaker 7: Well, what's wrong with that? What's wrong with that?
[13:31] Speaker 4: Well?
[13:31] Speaker 7: You stop tearing at me as if I were a
[13:32] Speaker 7: common criminal. Can I come in for a glass of
[13:35] Speaker 7: beer if I want to? And if I meet Paul
[13:38] Speaker 7: whale in here and we have a friendly glass of beer,
[13:40] Speaker 7: is anything wrong with that?
[13:42] Speaker 3: Well?
[13:43] Speaker 4: It's there. Let's go home, Lorla, No, no, I won't
[13:47] Speaker 4: you will you hear me, Loly?
[13:49] Speaker 2: You will you go home with me?
[13:50] Speaker 5: And you'll go No, Wait a minute, Fred, take it
[13:53] Speaker 5: easy now, I'll have a drink with us.
[13:57] Speaker 4: You know what you can do with your drink whaleing.
[13:59] Speaker 6: Come on, lorda, let's go.
[14:08] Speaker 4: What would you have done, Kodersky? Or would you have
[14:10] Speaker 4: done your own wife? Sitting in a dark bullets and
[14:12] Speaker 4: a beer joint with another guy? Wouldn't you have been suspicious?
[14:16] Speaker 4: Wouldn't you well answer me? Don't sit there and say nothing.
[14:19] Speaker 4: Wouldn't you have done what I did?
[14:20] Speaker 2: Sure?
[14:20] Speaker 4: Sure, Marie any man, you're right there, because if you
[14:26] Speaker 4: didn't say that, I'd have shot you dead with this gun.
[14:31] Speaker 4: Anyway long? And then I got home and we had
[14:35] Speaker 4: a fight.
[14:36] Speaker 7: Said will you stop it? Will you stop asking me
[14:38] Speaker 7: questions about Paul?
[14:39] Speaker 4: How long have you been saying I'm behind my back?
[14:42] Speaker 7: Told you I have not been seeing him. I just
[14:44] Speaker 7: went in for a beer and I saw Paul and
[14:46] Speaker 7: we talked a while over nothing in particular. And that's
[14:49] Speaker 7: what happened, is it? That's what happened, And that's all
[14:52] Speaker 7: that happened. Don't you understand? Can't you get it through
[14:55] Speaker 7: your stupid suspicious heads?
[14:58] Speaker 4: What more can I say?
[14:59] Speaker 7: What more of you want?
[15:00] Speaker 4: Truth?
[15:01] Speaker 7: Bred heaven?
[15:02] Speaker 4: You would like to get rid of me, You would
[15:05] Speaker 4: like to take up with Paul Wallen just because I
[15:07] Speaker 4: don't know.
[15:09] Speaker 7: I don't know.
[15:10] Speaker 3: I give up.
[15:11] Speaker 7: I married you for a better off, for worse than
[15:13] Speaker 7: I got worse. Fred Moriarty, the friendly cop, Fred Moriarty,
[15:19] Speaker 7: the stupid cop.
[15:22] Speaker 4: Oh, it's just an i'secrit.
[15:23] Speaker 7: You don't talk to me anymore if you feel that way.
[15:27] Speaker 7: If you think I do, time, you go ahead and
[15:29] Speaker 7: think it. I don't care anymore.
[15:31] Speaker 3: I just can't take it anymore.
[15:33] Speaker 7: I can't talk about it anymore.
[15:37] Speaker 4: I'm tired.
[15:37] Speaker 2: I'm going to bed, Flora.
[15:47] Speaker 4: I love the it's crazy about it. I thought terrible, terrible,
[15:51] Speaker 4: all broken up. You know what I mean. I'll do
[15:54] Speaker 4: You're sure, Fred, Sure, I know how you must have felt. Yeah, funny,
[16:02] Speaker 4: everything's so funny inside my head. You know, it goes around.
[16:09] Speaker 4: And anyway. When I left Lola had to go out
[16:17] Speaker 4: on duty. I put on my uniform and walked out
[16:20] Speaker 4: of the house. I met a neighbor of.
[16:23] Speaker 5: Mine, Agathon.
[16:26] Speaker 4: Yeah, gossiping Norton, he called it in my neighborhood.
[16:29] Speaker 3: Oh, mister Moriarity, I don't know what how to tell you.
[16:31] Speaker 3: I don't know what got to tell you, seeing as
[16:33] Speaker 3: you're always a nice and friend like. All I can say,
[16:36] Speaker 3: is it a shame and a disgrace. I down'trite shame
[16:39] Speaker 3: and disgrace that such a thing has to happened to
[16:40] Speaker 3: a nice man like you.
[16:42] Speaker 4: Just a minute, missus, you're going a little too fast
[16:44] Speaker 4: for me. Know what are you talking about.
[16:45] Speaker 3: That's the way it always is. That's the way it
[16:47] Speaker 3: always happens. My husband is the last one to know.
[16:50] Speaker 3: And if my duty is a decent woman to tell you, well,
[16:53] Speaker 3: tell me what your wife, Lola, and this other man,
[16:56] Speaker 3: Paul Whalen, that's what he's been coming your.
[16:58] Speaker 4: Home while you're on you, You lie, your snake tongue
[17:03] Speaker 4: chattering fish wife.
[17:04] Speaker 3: You love?
[17:04] Speaker 6: I do do I?
[17:05] Speaker 3: Well, we'll see about that. I happen to know.
[17:07] Speaker 4: It's the truth.
[17:07] Speaker 3: Paul Whaler's green car has been out in front of
[17:10] Speaker 3: your house while you're going to wait, and it'll be
[17:12] Speaker 3: there tomorrow night. He's been seeing your wife right under
[17:14] Speaker 3: your nose. And you call me names because I said
[17:17] Speaker 3: to right, that's what I get for trying to do
[17:19] Speaker 3: you a favor. Moorty, My goodness, you look awful scary.
[17:30] Speaker 3: What's the matter?
[17:32] Speaker 4: I was only saying, you look awful, scaryol Marylyn, Oh,
[17:36] Speaker 4: mister moriorty.
[17:39] Speaker 3: Gosh, what are you picking on me for? I didn't
[17:42] Speaker 3: do anything?
[17:47] Speaker 2: You, Harry Kodinski, are sitting here in danger of your life.
[17:52] Speaker 2: The killer is sitting in the dark just opposite you.
[17:55] Speaker 2: His hands are jittery on the gun, and he's promised
[17:59] Speaker 2: to kill your after his story is over. But for
[18:02] Speaker 2: the moment, you almost forget your danger. The story he unfolds,
[18:07] Speaker 2: grips you, hypnotizes you. Now you lean on every word.
[18:12] Speaker 4: I got it right between the eyes, just like that,
[18:14] Speaker 4: you see, can.
[18:16] Speaker 5: I guess?
[18:17] Speaker 4: I was walking around in a kind of haig and
[18:20] Speaker 4: all of a sudden I ran into this hood on
[18:22] Speaker 4: this Steve Lester on the corner. He laughed right in
[18:25] Speaker 4: my face.
[18:26] Speaker 5: And said, tell me your wife spent two times and
[18:29] Speaker 5: you're fletfully while you're pretty. Go ahead, go ahead call
[18:34] Speaker 5: me names. But it's the truth, sucker, even if you
[18:37] Speaker 5: don't know it yet.
[18:38] Speaker 4: It's a lie. Hey, let's tart to rotten line?
[18:40] Speaker 3: Is it not the way I heard it?
[18:42] Speaker 5: It's the McCoy. While you're out pinning the beat here
[18:45] Speaker 5: this guy, Paul Whalen, is it home, your home making
[18:48] Speaker 5: beautiful music with your of a love and wife?
[18:50] Speaker 4: If you pick him out, shut your hair, let me
[18:52] Speaker 4: keep your mouth shot.
[18:53] Speaker 5: I got it wide open right now, Mory already, and
[18:56] Speaker 5: I'm going to keep it white open. You stuck a
[18:59] Speaker 5: knife and meet me to the pin, and now I'm
[19:01] Speaker 5: going to stick a knife for you only. I'm going
[19:03] Speaker 5: to turn this knife around and around. I'm gonna spilish
[19:06] Speaker 5: everyone I meet. And when I get through the whole tone,
[19:09] Speaker 5: he's gonna know a bunnet. So long, sucker.
[19:19] Speaker 4: I guess I went a little crazy after that. Kotisk
[19:22] Speaker 4: I walked right off my beat and went into Paul
[19:24] Speaker 4: Whaler's place. I wanted to see if he was there
[19:26] Speaker 4: and wear had been last night. I wanted to make sure.
[19:29] Speaker 4: I sat down in the corner booths waiting and watching.
[19:33] Speaker 4: I didn't see Paul Whaling around. Then I saw a
[19:36] Speaker 4: man come in, sit down at the bar and start
[19:40] Speaker 4: to talk to bert.
[19:42] Speaker 2: A bart Oh frank Off in the night. Paul, he's
[19:47] Speaker 2: in the back room waiting for suckers like me again. Yeah,
[19:50] Speaker 2: you gotta throw.
[19:50] Speaker 4: A poker, card shopping ready to go.
[19:53] Speaker 2: I didn't think you'd come back up and look at
[19:54] Speaker 2: youtob last night. Remind me I got a headache every
[19:58] Speaker 2: time I think of it. I come in last night
[20:02] Speaker 2: just for a beer. The next thing I know, I'm
[20:04] Speaker 2: playing poker with Paul. I play all night, and what happened?
[20:08] Speaker 2: I loves fifty bucks. Hey you played poker all night
[20:11] Speaker 2: with Paul will Fire. Yeah, yeah, Moriarty. But it was
[20:16] Speaker 2: just a friendly little game, right.
[20:18] Speaker 4: Yeah, ready, shore, Paul's in the back room.
[20:21] Speaker 2: Sure, I'm sure.
[20:22] Speaker 4: What's the matter with you?
[20:23] Speaker 2: Fred?
[20:24] Speaker 4: What's eating you?
[20:24] Speaker 2: If you don't believe me, look in the back room,
[20:26] Speaker 2: chief yourself.
[20:32] Speaker 4: Well, hello, Moriarty, just getting up a friendly little poker game.
[20:39] Speaker 2: Drop a chair with tenant.
[20:41] Speaker 5: I'll give you a hand.
[20:47] Speaker 4: I know it was all lies. I knew what a
[20:51] Speaker 4: fool i'd been. Paul Willan hadn't been at my house
[20:54] Speaker 4: last night. He wasn't there and night. Yeah, I'd made
[20:57] Speaker 4: a fool of myself. I'd said some things to Lola,
[21:01] Speaker 4: and I couldn't wait till I get home. When I
[21:04] Speaker 4: got home, she was gone, My wife was gone, gone
[21:07] Speaker 4: and left me, left the note that she was sick
[21:09] Speaker 4: and tired, she was fed up through with me. And
[21:13] Speaker 4: then and I thought.
[21:17] Speaker 2: They did it.
[21:19] Speaker 4: They ruined my life, stole Lola from me, And then
[21:24] Speaker 4: and things in my head started.
[21:26] Speaker 2: To spin around and around.
[21:29] Speaker 4: All I wanted to do was kill, kill, So I
[21:33] Speaker 4: went to the window Norton's house. First. She was in
[21:36] Speaker 4: the living room nitting, and I walked right in and hello,
[21:41] Speaker 4: Missus Norton. You know what you've done, Missus Norton, with
[21:45] Speaker 4: your lying tone, You've ruined my life.
[21:49] Speaker 2: Lola has left me.
[21:50] Speaker 4: She's left me because of you and your gossiping and
[21:53] Speaker 4: your folky lives. Right, I'm gonna stop that tongue of
[21:58] Speaker 4: the oars from waggon anymore, Missus Norton, and I'm gonna.
[22:00] Speaker 2: Stop it for a long time.
[22:01] Speaker 4: You'll never lie in flander and gossip again. After that,
[22:11] Speaker 4: I ran through the kitchen, you see, Kotinski, I ran
[22:13] Speaker 4: through the kitchen. I wanted to get to Steve's house,
[22:16] Speaker 4: but just then Missus Norton's son John came through the
[22:20] Speaker 4: kitchen door and Moriarti, what are you doing with that gun?
[22:24] Speaker 3: Moriarni? No.
[22:28] Speaker 4: I didn't really want to kill a boy, but he
[22:30] Speaker 4: was a witness. What can I do? After that, Kodinsky,
[22:34] Speaker 4: I started out to get Steve Lester. That's when I
[22:37] Speaker 4: met you. You didn't know that, Titcher, No, no, of
[22:41] Speaker 4: course you didn't know. I would have told you my
[22:43] Speaker 4: story then, Yeah, yeah, I would, But my work wasn'tana
[22:48] Speaker 4: had long? I jed I was till Steve Lester I
[22:53] Speaker 4: walked into his house. He looked at me, scared like
[22:56] Speaker 4: a rabb in his mouth hanging open bread. You're gone
[23:00] Speaker 4: where I just sent missus Norton Steve right now? That's
[23:07] Speaker 4: all Kodinsky. I came back here to the police station.
[23:13] Speaker 1: I don't know why.
[23:14] Speaker 2: I guess I didn't know.
[23:15] Speaker 4: What else to do, where to go. I wouldn't you,
[23:18] Speaker 4: wouldn't you, Kodinsky? You'd have killed them all, wouldn't you?
[23:21] Speaker 4: The way they gossiped about me, The things they said,
[23:24] Speaker 4: they stole all of I mean, the reason my wife
[23:27] Speaker 4: left me me, the friendly cop Fred Moriarty Me, what's.
[23:34] Speaker 2: That police cause? Moriarty? Police, Yes, but.
[23:45] Speaker 4: The chair. But they'll take you there. I seen the chair.
[23:50] Speaker 4: I've seen it with my own eyes.
[23:52] Speaker 2: Kotinsky is terrible.
[23:53] Speaker 4: Terrible, Kinsky. Here's my going. I give up to you. Katinsky.
[23:59] Speaker 4: You know my story right in the paper. Tell him
[24:01] Speaker 4: how I've been robbed. And she had to tell him
[24:02] Speaker 4: how I was always a friendly cup. You know, I
[24:03] Speaker 4: never haunt any one in my life with blue children
[24:05] Speaker 4: across the street and smile at everybody. Be done. Tell
[24:08] Speaker 4: them me.
[24:21] Speaker 2: They come in, the police, from the keys poet and
[24:24] Speaker 2: the das men. You tell your story quickly, and they
[24:28] Speaker 2: handcuff Fred Moriarty walk him out, And there waiting on
[24:33] Speaker 2: the sidewalk in front the little Marilyn Baker.
[24:38] Speaker 3: Hello, mister Moriorty gosh, I heard them talking all about
[24:42] Speaker 3: what you did. He they've got your handcuffs and everything.
[24:46] Speaker 2: You'd better run along home, Marylyn.
[24:48] Speaker 3: All right, mister Kinsky, I will. But honest, mister Moriarty,
[24:53] Speaker 3: I didn't mean to get you into trouble or anything.
[24:55] Speaker 3: I just made up that story.
[24:58] Speaker 4: I told him, Missus Norton, what story?
[25:02] Speaker 3: What about mister Wyman coming to your house when you
[25:04] Speaker 3: were away and all?
[25:07] Speaker 2: You made it all?
[25:08] Speaker 6: Huh?
[25:10] Speaker 4: I told it to missus Norton.
[25:11] Speaker 3: Oh gosh, yes, but it was just a little fib.
[25:15] Speaker 3: I didn't mean any harm by it, honest.
[25:17] Speaker 4: I didn't.
[25:19] Speaker 5: Why did you do it?
[25:20] Speaker 4: Why didn't you tell Missus Norton that lie? Why?
[25:23] Speaker 3: My goodness, I didn't mean anything, mister Moriarty. I just
[25:27] Speaker 3: wanted fifty cents to see that new scary picture of
[25:29] Speaker 3: the strand so I told missus Norton, I tell her
[25:33] Speaker 3: secret of she gave me fifty cents to go to
[25:35] Speaker 3: the movies, and she did. I guess maybe I shouldn't
[25:40] Speaker 3: have told that fib, but I did want to go
[25:42] Speaker 3: to the movies. So you see, I just love scary pictures.
[25:49] Speaker 2: Now me read you that telegram from Harry Godenskia the
[25:57] Speaker 2: Pittsburgh Post Casette completely broken. Killer and Tonight's Big Story
[26:02] Speaker 2: was unable to repeat his confession to police, so I
[26:05] Speaker 2: filled in the details for him. At the many tests
[26:08] Speaker 2: to determine his sanity, he was found guilty and sentenced
[26:11] Speaker 2: the electric chair the State Penitentiary at Bellefont. Following my
[26:15] Speaker 2: Big Story to the end, I was appointed Deputy Sheriff
[26:18] Speaker 2: and Lord handcuffed the killer on his trip at the deathhouse.
[26:31] Speaker 2: And that's Mystery Theater. Every week we'll reach into the
[26:38] Speaker 2: dusty file, brush it off, and present her still up
[26:42] Speaker 2: to date Repliger Babba, who done it of yesterday? This
[27:15] Speaker 2: is the American Forces Radio and Television circuits.
[27:48] Speaker 1: Welcome back. I should know that this is one of
[27:52] Speaker 1: the more recent additions to the Big Story circulating episodes
[28:00] Speaker 1: This was from the collection of Jerry Hindiga's He shared
[28:04] Speaker 1: it about four years ago online. The sort of intro
[28:08] Speaker 1: to the episode the Mystery Theater I was expecting when
[28:11] Speaker 1: I saw Mystery Theater on the label that we were
[28:14] Speaker 1: gonna get, you know, the sort of Howard Duff Peter
[28:18] Speaker 1: Lori thing. Had not heard this before, likely from the
[28:23] Speaker 1: seventies or eighties and a part of the American Forces Network,
[28:29] Speaker 1: as they were playing programs that they had in their
[28:34] Speaker 1: archives and reflecting that old time radio remained popular during
[28:39] Speaker 1: that era. Now I should go ahead and share our
[28:42] Speaker 1: cast list, and this is one where everybody doubled quite literally.
[28:47] Speaker 1: The announcer as well. Bob Sloan appeared in this, and
[28:53] Speaker 1: then you have James McAllion who played or in Trapid,
[29:00] Speaker 1: Mister Kodinski, Larry Haynes, Ruth Shafer, Rita Ascot, Joan, Alexander,
[29:07] Speaker 1: Bill Smith, and Mandel Kramer. Of course, the episode does
[29:13] Speaker 1: have a powerful message about why one shouldn't gossip, although
[29:19] Speaker 1: even within the context of the episode, putting the onus
[29:25] Speaker 1: on the gossipers as the cause of the detectives or
[29:33] Speaker 1: the friendly officers problem is a bit problematic because he
[29:41] Speaker 1: clearly had some issues going on, and the same thing
[29:45] Speaker 1: can kind of be read in between the lines about
[29:49] Speaker 1: his wife leaving. This wasn't just sort of out of
[29:53] Speaker 1: the blue, one off moment. Now the actual story is
[29:57] Speaker 1: a bit more grim than what we got on the
[30:01] Speaker 1: radio version. This took place in December nineteen thirty six.
[30:06] Speaker 1: And again I here a quote from doctor Joe Webb,
[30:11] Speaker 1: a seventy three year old policeman in Ducane was accused
[30:17] Speaker 1: of molesting a ten year old girl. He got so
[30:20] Speaker 1: angry about this that he went and killed all of
[30:27] Speaker 1: the witnesses who were testifying against him, with a total
[30:33] Speaker 1: of two men and three women, while also apparently attempting
[30:39] Speaker 1: to kill the father of the girl as well as
[30:44] Speaker 1: the girl's brother. And he was the oldest person electrocuted
[30:50] Speaker 1: in Pennsylvania. And the name of the officer was Martin Sullivan.
[30:55] Speaker 1: And this is probably the case that so far is
[30:58] Speaker 1: the further from the actual facts. And we have a
[31:04] Speaker 1: couple comments on Spotify regarding the deadline murder mechanic sixty
[31:09] Speaker 1: six rights not a sympathetic victim and doctor who done it,
[31:14] Speaker 1: says Adam Graham, newspaperman. The cop is going to enter
[31:18] Speaker 1: a room. He tells you to hold his gun to
[31:20] Speaker 1: cover him.
[31:21] Speaker 4: What do you do?
[31:23] Speaker 1: I suggest that he may want to consider getting his
[31:26] Speaker 1: head examined. I am too clumsy and I just don't
[31:30] Speaker 1: have the nerves to imprompt to jump into a situation
[31:36] Speaker 1: and back up a cough. I will say that probably
[31:40] Speaker 1: to the degree that there is a certain element of
[31:45] Speaker 1: truth to the stories about newspaper reporters got to be
[31:51] Speaker 1: so closely involved in crimes. It's that a lot of
[31:55] Speaker 1: these people could, in theory, take care of themselves. It
[31:58] Speaker 1: would be the nature sure of the era. So it's
[32:02] Speaker 1: tough to imagine having a skill which you don't have
[32:07] Speaker 1: because you really don't need to have it. But if
[32:10] Speaker 1: I were to make it as a big city crime
[32:15] Speaker 1: reporter back then, I would have to be a somewhat
[32:19] Speaker 1: different person than I am today. Thanks so much for
[32:22] Speaker 1: the question. All right, well, now it's time to thank
[32:26] Speaker 1: our Patreon supporter of the day, and I want to
[32:28] Speaker 1: go ahead and think Daniel, Patreon supporter since October twenty
[32:32] Speaker 1: twenty three, currently supporting the podcast at the Master Detective
[32:37] Speaker 1: level of fifteen dollars or more per month. Thanks so
[32:40] Speaker 1: much for your support, Daniel, and that will do it
[32:43] Speaker 1: for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us
[32:47] Speaker 1: using your favorite podcast software, and be sure to rate
[32:51] Speaker 1: and review the podcast wherever you download it from. We'll
[32:55] Speaker 1: be back next Tuesday with another episode of The Big
[32:59] Speaker 1: Store Wry, but join us back here tomorrow for Broadways
[33:03] Speaker 1: My Beat Where.
[33:04] Speaker 6: First early bird out to catch a Wormhummester, Not me,
[33:07] Speaker 6: not for something I've done. I never do anything bad, you,
[33:10] Speaker 6: Edward Bishop, Oh, not me. Mister Bishop's my roomy, he
[33:13] Speaker 6: gone and done something naughty. Come in, mister and tell
[33:15] Speaker 6: me all about it. Where is he wh out frying
[33:19] Speaker 6: his nightly kettle of fish? I presume his bedding conslecting. No, huh? Oh,
[33:24] Speaker 6: why that hollow you see in the bedclotheses where I
[33:27] Speaker 6: tried it? I'm an experimenter. As long as he wasn't
[33:30] Speaker 6: in it. I thought my roomy's bed might be better
[33:32] Speaker 6: than my own.
[33:33] Speaker 2: It wasn't.
[33:34] Speaker 6: Mister Bishop's gone and done something naughty.
[33:36] Speaker 1: Huh do you know where he is?
[33:38] Speaker 6: I want to tell you something about mister Bishop, my roomy.
[33:40] Speaker 6: He's a tight lip man, rock face. I call him
[33:43] Speaker 6: when he ain't looking. That's because he never whispers a
[33:46] Speaker 6: secret to me. Or shares a coke. When I offer
[33:48] Speaker 6: am part of mine, he just lets me dab his
[33:50] Speaker 6: hanky with cologne sometimes when he's going out for a
[33:52] Speaker 6: heavy evening.
[33:53] Speaker 2: He had a lot of them evenings like that.
[33:55] Speaker 6: Well, for a man who has to shave twice a day,
[33:57] Speaker 6: he has more than his share.
[33:58] Speaker 5: You wouldn't know what I might.
[34:02] Speaker 6: But first you tell me what my roomy did to you.
[34:04] Speaker 2: Maybe you'd find it cozier down at headquarters.
[34:06] Speaker 6: Maybe that Japanese Kimona you were makes it work getting rough.
[34:09] Speaker 6: Hello there, mister, I'll tell you what I know. Then
[34:13] Speaker 6: you tell me what you know.
[34:14] Speaker 1: Huh.
[34:16] Speaker 6: My roomy's been squiring a lady by the name of
[34:18] Speaker 6: Anna Compton, you know her, or just to talk to
[34:21] Speaker 6: on the phone. A lovely voice haunts you.
[34:24] Speaker 2: Once you talked to her last, oh two or.
[34:26] Speaker 6: Three days ago. I'll tell you just how it was.
[34:29] Speaker 6: She kept calling here evenings, asking my roomy to call
[34:32] Speaker 6: her back. Just leave her name, Anna Compton. My roomy
[34:38] Speaker 6: squiring a married lady.
[34:39] Speaker 2: Bishop never shared anything with you, and still.
[34:41] Speaker 6: I'll tell you about that too. Her haunting voice made
[34:44] Speaker 6: me nervous. I told you I'm an experimenter. So one
[34:47] Speaker 6: day I sat down with the phone book and called
[34:50] Speaker 6: every compton there is. Then a man answered and said
[34:52] Speaker 6: his wife Anna wasn't home. Who was calling? Of course
[34:56] Speaker 6: I hung up, and you know her address in the
[34:58] Speaker 6: new Rochelle phone book for everyone eyes to see. Now
[35:02] Speaker 6: it's your turn. What did mister bishop do?
[35:05] Speaker 2: A woman was found murdered in his car?
[35:08] Speaker 6: My own mind, that's as naughty as you can get it.
[35:11] Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then. In the meantime,
[35:13] Speaker 1: do send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives
[35:17] Speaker 1: dot net. Follow us on Twitter Radio Detectives. Check us
[35:20] Speaker 1: out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash Great Detectives from Boise, Idaho.
[35:27] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham, sogn and off

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