# The Big Story: Reporter Risks Life to Avenge a Friend's Murder (EP5047)

An episode of [The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio| Daily Mystery Dramas](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/335549005), 25 Aug 2026, 45 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pdrl.fm/997ffb/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74676621/gd5047.mp3

Today's Mystery: When a Butte service-station attendant disappears under mysterious circumstances, his lifelong friend, Helena Independent Record reporter Alan Copperthwaite, refuses to let the story fade away. Following a slender trail of clues across Montana, Copperthwaite risks his own safety in a deeply personal search for the truth. Original Radio Broadcast:March 19, 1952. Originating in New YorkCast: • Bill Lipton as Alan Copperthwaite • Jane Robbin • Joe DeSantis • Phil Sterling • Owen Jordan • Joe Helgesen • Jim Stevens • Bob Sloane as Narrator • Adapted by Abraham S. Ginnes • Original music composed and conducted by Vladimir Selinsky Support the show monthly at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net Patreon Supporter of the Day: Michael, Patreon supporter since May 2026. 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…http://survey.greatdetectives.net Give us a call 208-991-4783 Follow us on Instagram at http://instagram.com/greatdetectives Become one of our friends on Facebook. 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.
[0:36] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're
[0:40] Speaker 1: going to bring you this week's episode of The Bake Story.
[0:44] Speaker 1: But first i'd like to encourage you. If you're enjoying
[0:47] Speaker 1: the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software.
[0:52] Speaker 1: And I want to encourage you to check out our
[0:54] Speaker 1: other podcast and today I'm highlighting the great Adventurers of
[0:57] Speaker 1: old time radio at great adventure dot info, where each
[1:01] Speaker 1: week we post two series featuring great adventures from old
[1:07] Speaker 1: time radio. Currently we are featuring Tours and and counter Spy.
[1:12] Speaker 1: But now from Marks the nineteenth nineteen fifty two, here
[1:18] Speaker 1: is Reporter Risk Life to Advanaged Friends, Murder.
[1:25] Speaker 2: Hellmel Famous Cigarettes Presents the Big Story.
[1:38] Speaker 3: Get out of my way. You're running what let be chess?
[1:41] Speaker 4: Right straight back looking for someone Roy.
[1:45] Speaker 5: That's Big Lenny, the Hey Lenny, I adjest that didn't
[1:49] Speaker 5: see it?
[1:49] Speaker 4: Come in See Mike, stupid brother in law?
[1:53] Speaker 3: What's he done?
[1:54] Speaker 6: Rep I got a little.
[1:56] Speaker 5: For us way down in feud already and ripe and
[1:58] Speaker 5: that bunks hiding out on me.
[2:00] Speaker 3: I'd not yell aw punk one of these days if
[2:03] Speaker 3: you don't do like I say.
[2:04] Speaker 6: I put a bullet through his ears myself.
[2:14] Speaker 2: The big story here is America. It's sound and it's fury,
[2:19] Speaker 2: it's joy and it's sorrow. That's faithfully reported by the
[2:22] Speaker 2: men and women of the great American newspapers Helena, Montana
[2:29] Speaker 2: from the pages of the Independent Record. The story of
[2:32] Speaker 2: a reporter who gambled his own life to a Vanja
[2:36] Speaker 2: murder denied to Alan Copperthwait that the Helena, Montana Independent
[2:40] Speaker 2: Record for his big story goes the pell Mell five
[2:43] Speaker 2: hundred dollars Award Guard against Throat Scratch. Enjoyed it smooth, Yes,
[3:01] Speaker 2: smoke of pell Mell, Then discover how pell Mell's greater
[3:04] Speaker 2: length of fine tobaccos filters the smoke on the way
[3:07] Speaker 2: to your throat, filters the smoke and makes it mild.
[3:10] Speaker 7: Remember this, the further your cigarette filters the smoke through
[3:14] Speaker 7: fine tobaccos, the milder that smoke becomes.
[3:18] Speaker 2: At the first puff, hell Mel smoke is filtered further
[3:20] Speaker 2: through fine tobaccos than that of any other leading cigarette.
[3:24] Speaker 2: And what's more, after five puffs or ten or seventeen
[3:27] Speaker 2: by actual measure, Pell Mell's greater length of Traditionally, fine
[3:31] Speaker 2: tobaccos still travels the smoke further, filters the smoke and
[3:36] Speaker 2: makes it mild.
[3:37] Speaker 7: Thus Pell Mells fine mellow tobaccos give you a smoothness, mildness,
[3:42] Speaker 7: and satisfaction. No other cigarette offers you so smoke.
[3:46] Speaker 2: Pell Mell famous cigarettes, outstanding and they are mild. Helena Montana.
[3:58] Speaker 2: The story is that actually happened, Alan Copperthwaite, story as
[4:01] Speaker 2: he lived it.
[4:17] Speaker 5: Paul Rogers, twenty nine year old youth service station attendant,
[4:21] Speaker 5: was found missing from his post four point thirty this morning.
[4:24] Speaker 5: Sheriff Mark Duncan of Silberbo County responded to the alarm
[4:28] Speaker 5: of two men who drove up to the East End
[4:30] Speaker 5: station for guests and found the place unattendant. Approximately fifty
[4:34] Speaker 5: dollars in cash is missing from the register.
[4:38] Speaker 4: Oh that's how.
[4:40] Speaker 8: It began to you, Alan copperthwait State editor of the
[4:44] Speaker 8: Independent Record. But this little story which comes tapping off
[4:48] Speaker 8: the Associated Press teletype informing you that your lifelong friend
[4:53] Speaker 8: Paul Rodgers is missing your job, holds you your death
[5:00] Speaker 8: for an hour after the receipt of the first message,
[5:03] Speaker 8: but immediately afterwards you're in your car, racing the sixty
[5:06] Speaker 8: six miles from Hell, not to your hometown of Uth,
[5:10] Speaker 8: racing to find out what you can do to help.
[5:13] Speaker 8: Sheriff Mark Duncan, who finds you a friend. We got
[5:16] Speaker 8: there maybe four p forty four this morning.
[5:18] Speaker 9: Ellen, any signs of a fight, shirf.
[5:21] Speaker 3: No, none.
[5:22] Speaker 10: There was a half eaten sandwich, a container of coffee,
[5:25] Speaker 10: and an offended oil drum.
[5:27] Speaker 9: Cash register keys show any prints?
[5:29] Speaker 6: Oh, badly smudged.
[5:32] Speaker 9: What's your next step?
[5:34] Speaker 3: The police radio.
[5:34] Speaker 10: Cars giving out with the description of Paul. Right now,
[5:37] Speaker 10: there's maybe thirty men big room next door.
[5:40] Speaker 8: I got to talk to you, set among the solemn
[5:48] Speaker 8: men and boys in the big room, waiting for the
[5:51] Speaker 8: sheriff to see you. Know, it would be out of place,
[5:54] Speaker 8: Alan Coppathwaite, but if you had the opportunity, you'd like
[5:59] Speaker 8: to shake the hand and of each one of these
[6:01] Speaker 8: people and thank them, because these are volunteers, many of
[6:06] Speaker 8: them who had never even met your friend Paul Rodgers,
[6:09] Speaker 8: who knew nothing of his honesty, his sense of humor, kindness,
[6:14] Speaker 8: and yet they were all here in the early hours
[6:17] Speaker 8: of the morning.
[6:19] Speaker 10: All right, quiet quiet, everybody?
[6:21] Speaker 4: How quiet?
[6:21] Speaker 10: Weeks quiet. It looks bad. Almost three hours now since
[6:27] Speaker 10: Rogers disappeared. My deputies will break you up in the
[6:31] Speaker 10: searching party. Some of you will take the town, some
[6:35] Speaker 10: of the side roads near town, some of it be abandoned. Mind,
[6:39] Speaker 10: I want every inch of ground gone over.
[6:49] Speaker 8: Within an hour after the men and boys at bomb
[6:52] Speaker 8: ba Gays and left the County building, the work begins.
[6:57] Speaker 8: Every abandoned building in and around built has opened and search.
[7:02] Speaker 8: The bushes along every side road are carefully examined. For
[7:07] Speaker 8: God down there, abandoned minds are gone through, sometimes at
[7:14] Speaker 8: the peril of a volunteer's life.
[7:17] Speaker 4: One day, two.
[7:18] Speaker 8: Days, three, four days, four days and nights of endless search.
[7:24] Speaker 8: Nothing absolutely nothing has turned up as to the whereabouts
[7:29] Speaker 8: of your friends or Roger.
[7:43] Speaker 9: Running a fever shir if you were to stick to
[7:44] Speaker 9: your office on a night like.
[7:46] Speaker 6: This, I like cando, there's a search going up.
[7:52] Speaker 10: I got the reward of to eleven and fifty dollars.
[7:55] Speaker 6: Now do you think he's dead?
[7:57] Speaker 3: By now?
[7:59] Speaker 6: He's been missing four days?
[8:02] Speaker 9: What can I do?
[8:04] Speaker 4: You and I, who were up a blind alley had
[8:06] Speaker 4: a standsuit.
[8:08] Speaker 10: But whoever took Paul away, he mustn't know that whoever
[8:11] Speaker 10: took Paul away mustn't get a minute's rest.
[8:14] Speaker 3: That's what you can do.
[8:18] Speaker 4: It doesn't seem like much, but that's what you do.
[8:21] Speaker 4: In the next few days.
[8:24] Speaker 5: Police officers today intensified their search into the mysterious disappearance
[8:29] Speaker 5: of Paul Rogers. Today, Sheriff Mark Duncan announced that he
[8:35] Speaker 5: had extended the police dragonet to every border of the state. Today,
[8:43] Speaker 5: authorities announced if they anticipate in early solution to the
[8:46] Speaker 5: mysterious disappearance of Paul Rodgers.
[8:49] Speaker 8: Day after day, you've found it out out on Copyway.
[8:53] Speaker 8: Stoffie'd dressing dozands of times as a reporter. Stuff you'd
[8:56] Speaker 8: read thousands of times as an editor and never leave.
[9:01] Speaker 8: But you had no way of knowing at this point
[9:04] Speaker 8: the effect you were having.
[9:05] Speaker 4: Two hundred and thirty four miles away in the city.
[9:08] Speaker 8: Of billing On, a thin faced little man named Roy's stolder.
[9:15] Speaker 9: Lenny, have a drink with me, Lenny, what for?
[9:19] Speaker 11: I want to talk with you before Chester comes in.
[9:21] Speaker 12: Anything you got to say, you can say it to
[9:23] Speaker 12: me in front of your brother in law.
[9:26] Speaker 13: You don't understand, Lenny, I got a proposition for you.
[9:29] Speaker 13: Like what you're a gambler. Take a chance with me.
[9:34] Speaker 13: Don what on eleven hundred and fifty dollars?
[9:37] Speaker 3: What are you talking about?
[9:38] Speaker 13: Don't tell me, Lenny, you know the job. Me and
[9:41] Speaker 13: Chester prolled down in Butte. I didn't want to money.
[9:45] Speaker 13: I didn't want to, but he made me do it just.
[9:47] Speaker 11: Because I married his sister.
[9:48] Speaker 3: He thinks he owns mean which Nevilin? What do you
[9:50] Speaker 3: got in that rotten little mind of yours.
[9:52] Speaker 13: I got to get away. I got to get away
[9:53] Speaker 13: from here. I need money. They got a reward out
[9:56] Speaker 13: eleven hundred and fifty dollars. Turn them in money, chester In,
[10:01] Speaker 13: get the money. Just give me enough to get away
[10:02] Speaker 13: from Billings. He'll never know who turned them in, You snake,
[10:05] Speaker 13: you dirty little snake.
[10:07] Speaker 3: I'm like, call me money, you call me why you
[10:09] Speaker 3: have a tool? Chester? Ny? Kill you? But he's going crazy.
[10:12] Speaker 11: You don't understand. He's making me fool jobs here killing
[10:15] Speaker 11: for him in prod daylight.
[10:16] Speaker 3: We'll get caught.
[10:17] Speaker 13: He go crazy to work money so I can get away.
[10:22] Speaker 3: Well, I turn on Chester. I'd sooner see you dead. Honey?
[10:36] Speaker 3: Are you home?
[10:39] Speaker 9: It's funny he called me to come home, but.
[10:42] Speaker 3: She ain't here.
[10:43] Speaker 6: Hello, Roy, What are you doing here? Your wife's my sister.
[10:50] Speaker 6: What did you forget?
[10:52] Speaker 3: What do you want? Chester?
[10:53] Speaker 6: Get im brother in law? Your knees are nothing.
[10:56] Speaker 11: I don't like it when you make fun of me
[10:57] Speaker 11: like this.
[10:58] Speaker 3: I don't like her, but always think you're gonna do
[11:02] Speaker 3: something to me.
[11:03] Speaker 6: Why should I want to hurt you?
[11:04] Speaker 3: Right? I don't know.
[11:05] Speaker 5: I don't know what I can tell, but even up
[11:08] Speaker 5: to that, I should want to hurt you?
[11:10] Speaker 7: Right?
[11:10] Speaker 3: I didn't say I was up to anything. I didn't
[11:12] Speaker 3: say that at all.
[11:13] Speaker 6: What kind of proposition when you're making money over it?
[11:15] Speaker 14: Mo?
[11:16] Speaker 6: Petersn't position.
[11:19] Speaker 13: I don't even know what you're talking about.
[11:22] Speaker 3: The rotten little retort light of me? Don't have a
[11:25] Speaker 3: light of me. You're hurting me.
[11:27] Speaker 6: Bob Peterson said that tul you had your horns blocked
[11:29] Speaker 6: together earlier to night. Didn't urt place?
[11:31] Speaker 3: You're cooking up?
[11:33] Speaker 11: Let me let me spell.
[11:34] Speaker 3: Here's anything.
[11:36] Speaker 11: What would I be talking about with Lenny that could
[11:37] Speaker 11: hurt you?
[11:39] Speaker 3: Lenny's a friend of yours? That camera direct.
[11:46] Speaker 15: What what did Lenny tell you?
[11:50] Speaker 6: He said you were just complaining as usual about me.
[11:55] Speaker 3: Yeah, I told you that's all it was, Chester And
[12:00] Speaker 3: he told you.
[12:00] Speaker 6: The truth, and I'm not taking any chances, and you're
[12:02] Speaker 6: blowing your top. We're leaving town.
[12:07] Speaker 15: Where are we going this time?
[12:10] Speaker 6: Oh? Fine, God, when we get there.
[12:18] Speaker 3: Copprithweight all them? We need you.
[12:21] Speaker 9: What's happened? Sheriff may have been more.
[12:34] Speaker 10: We found him in a gravel bit three miles out
[12:36] Speaker 10: of town. How how long do you? And he must
[12:40] Speaker 10: have been killed only a few hours after they kidnapped him.
[12:44] Speaker 10: They two bullets in his back, one through his right eye.
[12:49] Speaker 10: They must have let him out of their car, told
[12:51] Speaker 10: him to run for his life. One of them plugged
[12:54] Speaker 10: him in the back, and the other finished him off.
[12:57] Speaker 10: Two bullets in his back through his eyes are different killers.
[13:10] Speaker 8: So he was dead, Your best friend, Paul Rogers, His
[13:16] Speaker 8: laughter was dead, his honesty was dead. Life with his
[13:21] Speaker 8: girl was dead, murdered, and you i'man compensated stay edited
[13:27] Speaker 8: with your paper a chain to your death, leading local
[13:31] Speaker 8: items about picnic church festivals, about poulfee shows, about the
[13:37] Speaker 8: sale of ranch aid and Mandy, and all the time
[13:41] Speaker 8: your mind strained to break free from your debt, so
[13:44] Speaker 8: much so that it takes a little while before the
[13:46] Speaker 8: flood of items off the teletype from Fillings, Montana begins to.
[13:50] Speaker 4: Catch your eyes.
[13:52] Speaker 5: Last night, too, one identified gunman rubbed a Hamburger stand
[13:57] Speaker 5: on the south side of Billings. Late this afternoon, too,
[14:04] Speaker 5: unidentified gunman still an automobile owned by mister and missus
[14:07] Speaker 5: Frank Belson.
[14:09] Speaker 9: First locking the couple in the trunk of the.
[14:11] Speaker 5: Car and releasing them three miles south of the city.
[14:17] Speaker 5: After this morning's hold up of the main Street service
[14:19] Speaker 5: station by two mats gunmen, Billings police announced their belief.
[14:23] Speaker 11: That the city is in the grip of a two
[14:25] Speaker 11: man crime waves.
[14:30] Speaker 8: A two man crime waves were too The sheriff was
[14:35] Speaker 8: looking for them and Built and hallman. Could they actually
[14:38] Speaker 8: be two hundred and thirty four miles Hawaiian Billings?
[14:41] Speaker 3: Why not?
[14:43] Speaker 4: Why not?
[14:44] Speaker 5: Molly give me the boss, Harry, this is Al. I'd
[14:48] Speaker 5: like to come in and talk with you about my vacation. Yeah,
[14:51] Speaker 5: I know it's not due to October, but I'd like
[14:52] Speaker 5: to have it now.
[14:54] Speaker 3: Why.
[14:56] Speaker 5: I think I've got some friends I'd like to see
[14:58] Speaker 5: in Billings.
[15:08] Speaker 16: Guard against throat.
[15:09] Speaker 6: Scratch, enjoy the smooth walking.
[15:17] Speaker 7: Man, Yes, smoke of pell Mell, and discover how pell
[15:21] Speaker 7: Mell's greater length of fine Tobaccos filters the smoke on
[15:25] Speaker 7: the weight of your throat, filters the smoke and makes
[15:28] Speaker 7: it mild.
[15:29] Speaker 2: At the first puff, pell Mell smoke is filtered further
[15:32] Speaker 2: than that of any other leading cigarette. And what's more,
[15:35] Speaker 2: after five puffs or ten or seventeen by actual measure,
[15:40] Speaker 2: pell Mell's greater length of traditionally fine Tobaccos still travels
[15:44] Speaker 2: the smoke further, filters the smoke and makes it mild.
[15:47] Speaker 7: Thus pell Mells fine mellow Tobaccos give you a smoothness, mildness,
[15:52] Speaker 7: and satisfaction no other cigarette offers you God against troat scratch.
[15:58] Speaker 7: Enjoy the smooth smoking of fine Tobaccos, smoke of pell Mell.
[16:03] Speaker 2: Wherever you go today, you notice how many people have
[16:05] Speaker 2: changed to pell Mell, the longer, finer cigarette in the
[16:09] Speaker 2: distinguished red package. Enoth pell Mell famous cigarette outstanding.
[16:21] Speaker 7: And they are mild. This is Ci Harris returning you
[16:35] Speaker 7: to your narrator and the big story of Alan Copprithwait
[16:38] Speaker 7: as he lived it and wrote it.
[16:40] Speaker 8: Now at last year, pray Alan Copperthwait. Pray from your desk,
[16:45] Speaker 8: free to do legwork, free to submerge yourself in the
[16:48] Speaker 8: cheap Saloons and fair Pallas and Billing skid Row. If
[16:53] Speaker 8: Billing's two man crime wave was being called off by
[16:55] Speaker 8: the same man who killed your friend Paul Rodgers, you'd
[16:59] Speaker 8: get on that trail soon enough. In the city the
[17:02] Speaker 8: size of Billings or the population of only thirty thousand,
[17:06] Speaker 8: with an underworld, his population was less.
[17:08] Speaker 4: Than one thousand.
[17:10] Speaker 6: The ydds were with you.
[17:18] Speaker 8: The silver Dollar, the Pink Lady, the ranch house, Eagles Head,
[17:22] Speaker 8: the dance hall, Paradise. You go through them all night
[17:26] Speaker 8: after night, and your eyes and ears and senses are
[17:30] Speaker 8: as keen as any hunters ever were, which your time
[17:34] Speaker 8: is beginning to run out. You realize that very quickly
[17:38] Speaker 8: one night, I have.
[17:39] Speaker 3: Another beer, no more for you, mischief. Why not move on? Mischief?
[17:45] Speaker 1: What for?
[17:46] Speaker 3: I said, move on?
[17:47] Speaker 5: Makes my customers nervous, to every guy sitting around nursing
[17:50] Speaker 5: his beard, just being quiet, Move on, mischief.
[17:59] Speaker 8: So you move on on, wearily, your senses reeling with
[18:02] Speaker 8: the strain and effort of watching and waiting and listening.
[18:06] Speaker 8: And when you head for the door to leave at
[18:08] Speaker 8: mar Peterson's Bar and Grill, a little incident occurs, which
[18:13] Speaker 8: means nothing to you with the moment, why.
[18:17] Speaker 11: Don't shore look for your gone Sorry, mister, I was
[18:20] Speaker 11: just going out.
[18:20] Speaker 3: I didn't see it come in.
[18:21] Speaker 11: You had to break your skinny neck for you, I said,
[18:24] Speaker 11: I was sorry.
[18:24] Speaker 3: I lead it.
[18:28] Speaker 8: If you hadn't been so tired, you wouldn't have taken
[18:31] Speaker 8: your one hundred and thirty five pounds against the hulk
[18:34] Speaker 8: of the bitter angry man, who towed.
[18:37] Speaker 6: At least a foot over you.
[18:39] Speaker 8: So you head away from mar Peterson without realizing that
[18:43] Speaker 8: the big man would threaten to break your skinny neck.
[18:47] Speaker 8: Was at that very moment taking a step which before
[18:51] Speaker 8: long might mean your light.
[18:54] Speaker 4: I'm not learning you any money learning well.
[18:56] Speaker 3: You got you. I'm going to fix so fixed you
[18:58] Speaker 3: like I shouldn't have done it. I will shot some craps.
[19:01] Speaker 3: I'm six hundred and thirty dollars into him.
[19:03] Speaker 11: I can't do nothing for you.
[19:05] Speaker 3: You got to everybody knows you'll learn money. I'll pay
[19:07] Speaker 3: you your regular rates.
[19:08] Speaker 7: Sare I lend money, but you got nothing to put
[19:10] Speaker 7: up for it, So you ain't getting money.
[19:12] Speaker 3: Well, you don't understand. I can't fool around with him.
[19:14] Speaker 3: I promise him the money.
[19:17] Speaker 4: Well, it't like is no more than half your side.
[19:19] Speaker 11: What's the big guy like you scared of?
[19:21] Speaker 3: I'm scared because the bigger you are the easier to
[19:24] Speaker 3: mark for a bullet. Well, lend me the money, will
[19:27] Speaker 3: you now?
[19:33] Speaker 8: The following night, more desperate now because your face is
[19:36] Speaker 8: becoming familiar, you stop the routine all over again, Alan.
[19:40] Speaker 6: Compared with the silver dollars, A.
[19:43] Speaker 8: Pink lady, a ranch out eagle's head, a dance tall paradise.
[19:49] Speaker 8: By midnight, you're back again at mar Peterson's bar and
[19:52] Speaker 8: grill to your left. At the bar, just a little
[19:57] Speaker 8: man with a face a fine and splat. Despite his size.
[20:03] Speaker 8: There's something about him which tells you that he's afraid
[20:06] Speaker 8: of nothing. You get your proof soon enough from the
[20:10] Speaker 8: giant of a man who ran into you the night before,
[20:13] Speaker 8: comes into the bar and walks meekly up to the
[20:15] Speaker 8: little man near you. You're strained to catch every word
[20:20] Speaker 8: of their conversation.
[20:22] Speaker 3: Where's my money?
[20:23] Speaker 5: I'll get it for you, I when sue it's not
[20:26] Speaker 5: soon enough, when tomorrow from who?
[20:29] Speaker 3: From who? You heard me from? The from Peterson?
[20:32] Speaker 11: You're lying? You won't lend you a stand, but I'll
[20:34] Speaker 11: get it for you when I should.
[20:36] Speaker 3: I get it for you. Hold, I get it? How
[20:39] Speaker 3: that's my it's fine too? How more than a grid?
[20:42] Speaker 3: It's might for the ass? I should more than a
[20:44] Speaker 3: gred it's might for the ass. Eleven and fifty dollars?
[20:48] Speaker 8: If you want to know, crazy jukebox? Who turned on
[20:53] Speaker 8: the jukebox? Now you can't hear a thing. They're just
[20:57] Speaker 8: talking the giant of a man and his little charm
[21:00] Speaker 8: Mentor you're positive you heard him right?
[21:03] Speaker 4: He said eleven.
[21:04] Speaker 8: Hundred and fifty dollars. Was it a coincidence? Or was
[21:08] Speaker 8: it the reward money he was talking about? Now they've
[21:11] Speaker 8: ended their conversation. The big man my call. When he
[21:15] Speaker 8: was getting ready to leave, he walks out. You may
[21:18] Speaker 8: never see him again. How could you make sure?
[21:21] Speaker 14: Ill in coop it?
[21:21] Speaker 6: Wait?
[21:22] Speaker 4: It was the reward money was talking about. What can
[21:24] Speaker 4: you say to him? You've got to say something. You've
[21:27] Speaker 4: got the chance of money.
[21:29] Speaker 3: What do you want? I've been looking for you? What
[21:32] Speaker 3: about about this kidnapping? Done you? What? What do you
[21:37] Speaker 3: know about it? You know plenty?
[21:39] Speaker 12: I ain't know what fellow wants a fellow for click?
[21:41] Speaker 12: He was top heavy from hell too much in his head.
[21:44] Speaker 12: Let's take a little warm miste.
[21:46] Speaker 11: Why don't we have a drink?
[21:48] Speaker 3: I want to take a little warp and this hurts
[21:50] Speaker 3: my arm. You've got I know. Let's take the little warp.
[21:58] Speaker 8: Outside, dark and cold and the street is deserted. Big
[22:04] Speaker 8: Lenny has a crushing grip on your arms. You'd made
[22:08] Speaker 8: contact with him, all right?
[22:10] Speaker 6: What now? What were you going to do now?
[22:14] Speaker 3: Mister?
[22:14] Speaker 11: If you know who pulled that job and pude, I
[22:16] Speaker 11: can get you the reward fast and quiet.
[22:17] Speaker 3: You're lion. You're a friend of Chestice. You lion, you'll
[22:20] Speaker 3: squeal on me.
[22:21] Speaker 12: You're a friend of Chestice'll get away from that sweet light.
[22:24] Speaker 11: Move get into that alley.
[22:31] Speaker 8: The night is cold, but the sweat is pouring down
[22:34] Speaker 8: Big Lenny's face. If you weren't thinking about your own
[22:37] Speaker 8: life at the moment, you'll be fascinated by the strange
[22:40] Speaker 8: mixture of fear and murder.
[22:43] Speaker 4: But is motivating this big man who has shoved you
[22:45] Speaker 4: up against a wall and a dark alley.
[22:48] Speaker 3: Tell me who puts you onto me?
[22:50] Speaker 11: Nobody? You gotta believe me. The shaf from Pute's a
[22:52] Speaker 11: personal friend of mine. I can get you the reward
[22:54] Speaker 11: easy and quiet.
[22:54] Speaker 3: I know you're on the level.
[22:56] Speaker 11: You need the money. I overheard you talking with that
[22:58] Speaker 11: little man at the bar. I think he'll knock you off.
[23:00] Speaker 11: I should come up with the money.
[23:01] Speaker 6: I don't need any advice.
[23:03] Speaker 3: How do I know you're on the level?
[23:05] Speaker 11: You just tell me who and where those two men are,
[23:07] Speaker 11: and I'll prove to you I'm on the level.
[23:08] Speaker 3: How do I know you? Another friend of Chest.
[23:10] Speaker 11: Look, he's the nearest phone. I'll put through a call
[23:13] Speaker 11: to Shirt and you can talk to him yourself and
[23:15] Speaker 11: tell him what you know.
[23:18] Speaker 12: I don't care about that punk Roy. That Chess is
[23:23] Speaker 12: a friend of mine. Paul Rogers was a friend of mine.
[23:28] Speaker 12: It ain't easy to turn in a friend. But I
[23:32] Speaker 12: need the money. It's my life for his, But I
[23:38] Speaker 12: need the money.
[23:40] Speaker 8: On his hand on your arm, grows limp and drops away.
[23:46] Speaker 8: He watches, miserable, sweating face as he struggles with himself,
[23:50] Speaker 8: the struggle of every man who has turned in a
[23:53] Speaker 8: friend for money. It's not a pleasant thing to watch
[23:57] Speaker 8: under other circumstances. That what a second it was at
[24:00] Speaker 8: what any decent human being? But now you'll watch every
[24:05] Speaker 8: move of his faith until you see your opportunity.
[24:08] Speaker 17: You've got no choice, Lenny, what do you mean you
[24:12] Speaker 17: know who pulled that job in butte? If you don't tell,
[24:14] Speaker 17: you can be picked up for obstructing justice. If the
[24:16] Speaker 17: little man inside that bar doesn't get your first.
[24:20] Speaker 9: Em Roy's schoovel and just the pitch did it that?
[24:26] Speaker 15: They can mute Right now. At the Farmer's Hotel, they
[24:37] Speaker 15: must be in their.
[24:38] Speaker 10: Sheriff unless the hotel clerk didn't see him go out.
[24:41] Speaker 10: You men don't crow it in like this spread out
[24:43] Speaker 10: in case they try to make a break. Clat Okay,
[24:46] Speaker 10: I'll try it again. Who's there, hotel clerk?
[24:54] Speaker 14: What do you want?
[24:55] Speaker 3: I want to talk to you about your bills? Sir?
[24:58] Speaker 3: What about your hand?
[25:00] Speaker 14: Chester?
[25:01] Speaker 3: J Long there he is asleep.
[25:03] Speaker 10: Get up off that bit about which one of you
[25:06] Speaker 10: is scobull, which one is pritchet?
[25:08] Speaker 3: Tetch him? He's set to pritchet. He made me do it.
[25:11] Speaker 3: No I won't.
[25:12] Speaker 1: I told you, I told you I can't.
[25:13] Speaker 11: He made you do. Watch the job here, duke who
[25:17] Speaker 11: told us a billy?
[25:18] Speaker 18: I'll tell you catch him out. I'm not afraid of him,
[25:21] Speaker 18: not anymore. I've got nothing to be afraid of anymore.
[25:25] Speaker 18: I married his sister. That was my mistake. Anytime he
[25:29] Speaker 18: wanted me to do anything. He'd get her to go
[25:31] Speaker 18: to work on me if I knew it would this way,
[25:33] Speaker 18: and do it. No talk, I'll tell you everything you
[25:38] Speaker 18: want to know.
[25:44] Speaker 6: And he does.
[25:45] Speaker 8: The frightening story of the power one man can have
[25:48] Speaker 8: over another, power enough to get him to a greater
[25:52] Speaker 8: rum kill the o Alan compas Waite. That was to
[25:59] Speaker 8: be one final little ironing. It took place in Sheriff
[26:02] Speaker 8: Mark Duncan's office. But day Big Lenny Watson collected his
[26:06] Speaker 8: reward money even eleven forty eleven fifty, there's your money,
[26:15] Speaker 8: wanting all it?
[26:21] Speaker 9: Hey, I about a thank you, Lenny?
[26:23] Speaker 3: What for a reporter?
[26:26] Speaker 6: What did you ever do for me?
[26:41] Speaker 2: In just a moment, we'll read you a telegram from
[26:43] Speaker 2: Alan Copperthwaite of the Helena, Montana Independent Record with a
[26:46] Speaker 2: final outcome of tonight's big story.
[26:55] Speaker 16: Guards against broke scratch enjoyed us mooth, Yes.
[27:05] Speaker 2: Smoke a pell Mell. Then discover how hell Mell's greater
[27:09] Speaker 2: length of fine tobaccos filters the smoke on the way
[27:12] Speaker 2: to your throat, filters the smoke and makes it mild.
[27:15] Speaker 7: Remember this the further A puff of smoke is filtered
[27:18] Speaker 7: through fine tobaccos, the milder it becomes.
[27:22] Speaker 16: Guard against throat scratch.
[27:25] Speaker 3: Enjoyed the smooth smoke.
[27:33] Speaker 2: Pellmell Famous Cigarettes outstanding and they are mild. Now we
[27:45] Speaker 2: read you that telegram from Alan Copperthwaite of the Helena,
[27:47] Speaker 2: Montana Independent Record.
[27:49] Speaker 5: Murderers in tonight's Big Story were sentenced to life imprisonment
[27:52] Speaker 5: at Montana State Penitentiary at Deer.
[27:54] Speaker 6: Lodge, where they are this very day.
[27:57] Speaker 5: Although I could not bring my friend Paul Rodgers back
[28:00] Speaker 5: to life, I feel that in some small measure I
[28:03] Speaker 5: was able to prove my everlasting friendship for him. Many
[28:08] Speaker 5: thanks for the night's Pellmell Award.
[28:09] Speaker 2: Thank you, mister Kopathwaite. The makers of pell Mail Famous
[28:12] Speaker 2: Cigarettes are proud to present you the pell Mell five
[28:14] Speaker 2: hundred dollars Award for notable service in the field of journalism.
[28:18] Speaker 7: Listen again next week, same time, same station, when pell
[28:22] Speaker 7: Mell Famous Cigarettes will present another big story. A big
[28:26] Speaker 7: story from the front pages of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Democrat
[28:30] Speaker 7: Byeline Leo W. Sheridan. A big story about a reporter
[28:35] Speaker 7: who lived up to a lifelong promise made to a
[28:38] Speaker 7: loyal friend.
[28:43] Speaker 2: And remember every week you can see another different Big
[28:46] Speaker 2: Story on television, brought to you by the makers of
[28:48] Speaker 2: Pellmell Famous Cigarettes. The Big Story is produced by Bernard J. Proctor,
[29:05] Speaker 2: with original music composed and conducted by Vladimisselenski. Tonight's program
[29:10] Speaker 2: was adapted by Abrams Guinness from an actual story from
[29:13] Speaker 2: the front pages of the Helena, Montana Independent Record. Your narrator,
[29:17] Speaker 2: Bob Sloan Bill Lifton played the part of Allan Coppetways.
[29:22] Speaker 2: In order to protect the names of people actually involved
[29:25] Speaker 2: in Tonight's authentic Big Story, the names of all characters
[29:30] Speaker 2: in the dramatization were changed, with exception of a reporter,
[29:33] Speaker 2: mister Koppathway Ernest Chapel speaking for the makers of Pellmell
[29:44] Speaker 2: Famous Cigarettes.
[29:47] Speaker 3: Friends.
[29:47] Speaker 2: Sometime between March thirteenth and April thirteenth, letters and closing
[29:51] Speaker 2: Easter Seals will be sent to Americans in all states
[29:54] Speaker 2: and territories. When you receive the letter, we urge you
[29:58] Speaker 2: to buy Easter seals. For this money serves the needs
[30:02] Speaker 2: of crippled children of all ages, races, and creeds. Lend
[30:05] Speaker 2: a hand help cripple children. Buy the Easter seals. You'll receive.
[30:15] Speaker 7: Here's an important message from a National Tobacco Tax Research Council.
[30:20] Speaker 7: This fact finding organization calls to your attention the fact
[30:23] Speaker 7: that you smokers give nearly two billion dollars a year
[30:27] Speaker 7: to your government in cigarette taxes. Every time you buy cigarettes,
[30:32] Speaker 7: you give your federal government eight cents a pack, and
[30:35] Speaker 7: most of you give three or four cents more to
[30:38] Speaker 7: city and state governments. Now that adds up to better
[30:41] Speaker 7: than a fifty percent tax on every cigarette you smoke. Yes,
[30:47] Speaker 7: in buying cigarettes over half your packs, go for tax.
[30:58] Speaker 7: Tune in again next week, same time, same station for
[31:01] Speaker 7: another authentic big story.
[31:05] Speaker 6: Next, it's The Silent Men on NBC.
[31:16] Speaker 1: Welcome back. Well, let's go ahead and start with the
[31:20] Speaker 1: cast list, and we did get our lead of Bill
[31:23] Speaker 1: Lipton thanks to having a network version of this broadcast
[31:29] Speaker 1: for the first time in a while. But supporting mister
[31:33] Speaker 1: Lippin were Jane Robbin, Joe DeSantis, Phil Sterling Owen, Jordan,
[31:40] Speaker 1: Joe Helgeson, and Jim stevens Now. I'd like to talk
[31:44] Speaker 1: a little bit about the National Tobacco Research Council ad
[31:49] Speaker 1: that we included in this episode. It's different than the
[31:53] Speaker 1: typical cigarette ad, but it's an interesting historical item. Now
[31:58] Speaker 1: what throws me about it a bet is the lack
[32:02] Speaker 1: of what we call in podcasting, the cal to action.
[32:08] Speaker 1: And simply put, if I were to make an AD
[32:13] Speaker 1: for someone, there would be a call to action. You
[32:18] Speaker 1: may have heard ads I'd tell you to go you know,
[32:20] Speaker 1: I would say, you know, to take advantage of this offer,
[32:23] Speaker 1: go to this website and enter this code to get
[32:27] Speaker 1: a discount or something like that, that would be my
[32:31] Speaker 1: call to action. And if I instead just mentioned a
[32:34] Speaker 1: company and said they're a really great company. Anyway, let's
[32:37] Speaker 1: go ahead and get to the show, I would have
[32:40] Speaker 1: a not so happy sponsor. And older ads will generally
[32:44] Speaker 1: have that. Now, of course, there are some ads that
[32:47] Speaker 1: are more informational in nature. For example, if you listen
[32:51] Speaker 1: to episodes of another NBC program from the same era,
[32:56] Speaker 1: The Railroad Hour, one of my all time favorites. This
[33:00] Speaker 1: musical program brought to listeners by the American Railroad Association.
[33:07] Speaker 1: They would talk about the amount of taxes they paid
[33:11] Speaker 1: as a point illustrating their good citizenship. Were they doing
[33:17] Speaker 1: something like this, Well, it turns out that it was
[33:21] Speaker 1: not the case. The National Tobacco Research Council later Tobacco
[33:26] Speaker 1: Tax Council was an industry group packed high tobacco taxes
[33:34] Speaker 1: as unjust. Now, of course, the appropriate rate of taxation
[33:39] Speaker 1: for tobacco taxes is still a debated political subject, and
[33:45] Speaker 1: I'm not here to offer my opinion, but just highlighting
[33:49] Speaker 1: this effort, and whatever you think of the pros and
[33:51] Speaker 1: cons of the issue objectively, it is fair to say
[33:56] Speaker 1: that pollmout didn't take up the fight home this issue
[34:00] Speaker 1: for purely disinterested motives. As to the episode itself, I
[34:08] Speaker 1: can offer some insight on the geography and history, though
[34:12] Speaker 1: it's probably helpful to get the context of the story,
[34:18] Speaker 1: as the research shows on the stories behind the Big
[34:23] Speaker 1: Story website, and the story is mostly as it as
[34:31] Speaker 1: it happens. The man who was missing was George Kilmer,
[34:38] Speaker 1: and the two men who were involved in the robbery
[34:45] Speaker 1: were A Herald Golf and a Clyde Downe. And down
[34:52] Speaker 1: Golf actually cleared Downy of having any involvement in the murder,
[34:58] Speaker 1: and Downey got released in nineteen fifty four. Golf continued
[35:05] Speaker 1: to stay in prison and in nineteen fifty seven started
[35:08] Speaker 1: a prison riot. Not a whole lot of information can
[35:12] Speaker 1: be found on mister Cooper White it is they were
[35:17] Speaker 1: able to find a clip for the television version, and
[35:22] Speaker 1: it stated that he had the idea to investigate whether
[35:27] Speaker 1: the crimes Free was tied in to the killing. Now,
[35:32] Speaker 1: longtime listeners know that before I moved to Idaho in
[35:36] Speaker 1: two thousand and three, I spent many years of my
[35:39] Speaker 1: life living in Montana. I actually went to community college
[35:45] Speaker 1: there and took a Montana history course, so I can
[35:48] Speaker 1: offer a little bit of insight here on the geography
[35:53] Speaker 1: and situation of Montana at this time. The fact that
[36:01] Speaker 1: the suspects were two hundred miles away was something that
[36:07] Speaker 1: was emphasized, and certainly if this was being written in
[36:12] Speaker 1: New York, that's a lot of distance, but in Montana
[36:18] Speaker 1: that's actually normal by land area. Montana is one of
[36:25] Speaker 1: the largest states in the country, but historically it has
[36:31] Speaker 1: been relatively sparsely populated, with some relatively large pockets of
[36:38] Speaker 1: population and then a whole lot of places where hardly
[36:44] Speaker 1: anyone lives at all. I spent many of my teen
[36:48] Speaker 1: years in a small town with less than two thousand people,
[36:56] Speaker 1: and we were the largest center of population for about
[37:01] Speaker 1: sixty miles around. Though we're close to the Canadian border.
[37:04] Speaker 1: Maybe there was somewhere in Canada that was closer that
[37:08] Speaker 1: was a bit larger, but regardless, it had a very
[37:11] Speaker 1: small population, and certainly if you didn't want to commit
[37:19] Speaker 1: for your crimes in the same small town, travel makes
[37:24] Speaker 1: a lot of sense. In the population figure they cited
[37:29] Speaker 1: here for Billings is I think last I checked, about
[37:33] Speaker 1: thirty percent of the current population, and Billings is the
[37:37] Speaker 1: biggest city in the state. So none of these towns
[37:42] Speaker 1: were super big, so to spread them out totally makes sense.
[37:46] Speaker 1: You'd have to go to different areas. Now. The other
[37:49] Speaker 1: thing to understand about Montana in nineteen forty was its
[37:55] Speaker 1: economic situation, which I think a post war audience inteen
[38:00] Speaker 1: fifty two might not have totally grasped. Now, for most
[38:05] Speaker 1: of the country, you know, there was World War One,
[38:10] Speaker 1: and then after the flu epidemic that followed that, the
[38:17] Speaker 1: country went into the Roaring twenties in this era of prosperity,
[38:22] Speaker 1: and then it went into the Great Depression. In Montana,
[38:26] Speaker 1: particularly the eastern part of it, the Billings butked telling
[38:31] Speaker 1: on a little bit more central part of the state.
[38:35] Speaker 1: What had happened is that the state had had a
[38:40] Speaker 1: boom to homesteaders who came out to grow weak, and
[38:46] Speaker 1: a lot of people were promoting the homesteady movement. A
[38:50] Speaker 1: lot of people were encouraging it. But really, since white
[38:57] Speaker 1: men were new to this country, they did not understand
[39:02] Speaker 1: what they did not understand. And when you get a
[39:06] Speaker 1: drought in eastern Montana, it can last a long time
[39:12] Speaker 1: and the drought can be very deep. Long story short.
[39:16] Speaker 1: While the rest of the country was enjoying the good
[39:20] Speaker 1: times during the Roaring twenties, Montana farms were failing and
[39:25] Speaker 1: they were taking the banks out with them, the banks
[39:28] Speaker 1: that had loaned a lot of money to the farmers
[39:31] Speaker 1: when they couldn't. Hey, you saw Montana as the state
[39:36] Speaker 1: that had a net population outflow, and there are counties
[39:42] Speaker 1: in Montana that were established during this homesteady boom that
[39:48] Speaker 1: have never recovered their population one hundred years later. Then
[39:53] Speaker 1: the Great Depression hits in nineteen twenty nine. Then the
[39:58] Speaker 1: state gets another prolonged drought starting in nineteen thirty and
[40:04] Speaker 1: continuing through nineteen thirty six. So these characters in Montana
[40:11] Speaker 1: have gotten a double dose of the Great Depression. Now
[40:16] Speaker 1: where this ties directly into the story is into the
[40:19] Speaker 1: motive that Lenny had for turning informant to the police.
[40:26] Speaker 1: Now in this episode, it's a gambling dad to a
[40:30] Speaker 1: particularly vicious person. Now, while I will say that is
[40:38] Speaker 1: possible could have happened, it's not one of the key
[40:43] Speaker 1: details that's been confirmed.
[40:45] Speaker 14: And it seems.
[40:47] Speaker 1: Pausible and perhaps even likely that the real life counterpart
[40:52] Speaker 1: to Lenny probably had a severe economic need, which would
[40:57] Speaker 1: still be impacting the state even as things were easing
[41:02] Speaker 1: up a bit with both the Depression and the Second Draft.
[41:07] Speaker 1: The gambling motive is more traditional for crime story and
[41:11] Speaker 1: certainly a bit more relatable if you're listening to this
[41:17] Speaker 1: in a prosperous, suburban nineteen fifties home. Well, now it's
[41:22] Speaker 1: time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day, and
[41:26] Speaker 1: I want to thank Michael, Patreon supporter since May twenty
[41:30] Speaker 1: twenty six, currently supporting the podcast at the Shawmus level
[41:34] Speaker 1: of four dollars or more per month. Thanks so much
[41:37] Speaker 1: for your support, Michael, and that will do it for today.
[41:41] Speaker 1: If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your
[41:45] Speaker 1: favorite podcast software and be sure to rate and review
[41:48] Speaker 1: the podcast wherever you download it from. We'll be back
[41:52] Speaker 1: next Tuesday with another episode of the Big Story, but
[41:55] Speaker 1: join us back here tomorrow for Broadways my beat.
[41:59] Speaker 19: Where this man was found here in his living room
[42:01] Speaker 19: by a newsboy, Danny Kid.
[42:03] Speaker 14: I talked to door to this applotment open.
[42:05] Speaker 19: Uh left the money for the week's paper delivery on
[42:08] Speaker 19: that table right inside the door.
[42:10] Speaker 14: Kid would pick up the money, locked the door on
[42:11] Speaker 14: his way out. No money left today.
[42:14] Speaker 19: So the kid walked in a little way and so YE.
[42:20] Speaker 14: Shot up closer. That's like a thirty eight caliber. About
[42:25] Speaker 14: did about.
[42:25] Speaker 19: Two hours and by this time of shooting, around three o'clock.
[42:28] Speaker 14: You know who this man is? Sure a positive identification.
[42:32] Speaker 19: Name is Harry Moore, aged forty one, construction contractor, firm
[42:35] Speaker 19: of Moore and Nelson. No financial warriors, no known enemies. No,
[42:39] Speaker 19: that's a real good magavn. I'll just find out so soon.
[42:41] Speaker 19: His wife, she's in there, she see it happen. No,
[42:45] Speaker 19: she came in here a few minutes after I got here.
[42:47] Speaker 19: Let's talk to her, sure, Missus Moore, Missus Moore. So
[42:55] Speaker 19: this is Lieutenant Clover, Missus Moore. He'd like to speak
[42:58] Speaker 19: to you.
[42:58] Speaker 20: You kept them in here my bedroom.
[43:00] Speaker 14: I'd just like to ask you a few questions. It's all.
[43:03] Speaker 20: I feel very much better. Thank you, Thank you very much,
[43:08] Speaker 20: thank you.
[43:09] Speaker 6: Well.
[43:09] Speaker 19: Missus Moore was at a tea lunch and Danny she
[43:12] Speaker 19: told me where Missus Moore had six cocktails.
[43:15] Speaker 20: I think it was only five. I was going to
[43:18] Speaker 20: tell you because I don't want to lie to any
[43:20] Speaker 20: policeman in the world.
[43:21] Speaker 14: About your husband, Missus Moore.
[43:23] Speaker 20: Harry did this man told me Harry's going away and
[43:28] Speaker 20: never coming back. And I must be very brave about it.
[43:32] Speaker 14: Do you have any idea one day, if.
[43:34] Speaker 20: I'm very good, I'll see Harry again.
[43:37] Speaker 14: It's a kind of answers. I've been getting dannyed. She
[43:39] Speaker 14: doesn't look real drunk. You feel fine, how, missus Moore.
[43:42] Speaker 14: Head's not spinning, nothing like that.
[43:44] Speaker 20: Fine, clear headed. Oh I'm not drunk, if that's what
[43:50] Speaker 20: you mean, not at all. I know what's being drunks like. Yeah,
[43:57] Speaker 20: I do feel a little busy, and I know who
[44:03] Speaker 20: Harry's not with me anymore. Harry did, and I know it, and.
[44:09] Speaker 6: I know it.
[44:10] Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then in the meantime.
[44:13] Speaker 1: Send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net,
[44:17] Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us
[44:21] Speaker 1: out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com slash great detectives from Boyse, Idaho.
[44:27] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam graham Son and Off

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