# Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Gruesome Spectacles Matter (EP4900)

An episode of [The Great Detectives Present Yours Truly Johnny Dollar (Old Time Radio)](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/430244417), 30 Jan 2026, 34 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pdrl.fm/47a49c/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/69647487/gd4900.mp3

Today's Mystery: Johnny is called to investigate the death of an insured man in a car accident that quickly turns out to be murder. Original Radio Broadcast Date: September 28, 1958 Originating from Hollywood Starring: Bob Bailey as Johnny Dollar; Virginia Gregg; Harry Bartell; Junius Matthews; Joseph Kearns When making your travel plans, remember http://johnnydollarair.com Become one of our Patreon Supporters at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net Thank you to our Patreon Supporter of the Day: Beverly, Patreon supporter since March 2020. Take the listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.net Give us a call at 208-991-4783 Follow us on Twitter @radiodetectives

## Transcript

[0:28] Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Orlando, Florida.
[0:36] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're
[0:39] Speaker 1: going to bring you this week's episode of Yours truly
[0:43] Speaker 1: Johnny Dollar. But first I do want to encourage you.
[0:46] Speaker 1: If you are enjoying the podcast, please follow us using
[0:50] Speaker 1: your favorite podcast software. Also, when you're making your travel plans,
[0:55] Speaker 1: remember Johnny Dollar air dot com. Johnny Dollar air dot
[0:59] Speaker 1: com is a Pricelan affiliate, so part of your purchase
[1:02] Speaker 1: price supports the great detectives of Old Time Radio at
[1:06] Speaker 1: no additional costs to you. Again, when you're making your
[1:09] Speaker 1: travel plans, remember Johnny Dollar air dot com. First now
[1:14] Speaker 1: from September the twenty eighth of nineteen fifty eight. Here
[1:19] Speaker 1: is the gruesome spectacle.
[1:21] Speaker 2: Manner from Hollywood. It's time now for.
[1:31] Speaker 3: Johnny Dollar.
[1:32] Speaker 4: Johnny This at Barrett at Tri State Life and Casualty
[1:35] Speaker 4: in New York.
[1:35] Speaker 3: Oh, hi, Ed, how are you a little sick at
[1:38] Speaker 3: the moment? Oh, it's a minute.
[1:40] Speaker 4: I was planning to go up to the fishing lodge
[1:42] Speaker 4: of a friend of mine over the weekend.
[1:44] Speaker 3: Tommy Hoggrave, Oh, but now you've had to call it off,
[1:47] Speaker 3: and brother, I know exactly how you feel.
[1:49] Speaker 5: Oh Johnny, I don't think you do.
[1:51] Speaker 3: Look, yeah, I'm a fisherman myself, and when something in
[1:53] Speaker 3: it fizz, we're going What was that?
[1:56] Speaker 4: I just received word that Tommy had a car accident
[1:59] Speaker 4: up there, car rolled over on him.
[2:01] Speaker 5: He was killed instantly.
[2:03] Speaker 3: Oh I'm sorry, Ed.
[2:05] Speaker 5: Yeah.
[2:06] Speaker 4: And company policy being what it is, since he carried
[2:10] Speaker 4: seventy thousand insurance double indemnity, since there was an accident involved, well,
[2:16] Speaker 4: I got to order the usual investigation.
[2:18] Speaker 3: Yeah, sure, I see who's the beneficiary? His wife Mary?
[2:22] Speaker 3: They get along all right.
[2:25] Speaker 4: No, as a matter of fact, that nah nah, Look Johnny,
[2:28] Speaker 4: don't get any crazy ideas.
[2:30] Speaker 5: Just go on up there and help her all your cats?
[2:32] Speaker 3: Oh sure sure?
[2:33] Speaker 5: Where ed place is called Shadow Hill, near the little.
[2:36] Speaker 3: Town of Bethel, New York.
[2:38] Speaker 5: Yeah, I've been Sullivan County. The police department is a man.
[2:41] Speaker 3: Named Skinner Police. If everything's okay, it.
[2:45] Speaker 5: Was Skinner who called me, that's all.
[2:47] Speaker 3: Oh Oh yeah, okay, Ed, I'm on my way, and
[2:51] Speaker 3: if I dig up anything.
[2:52] Speaker 5: Johnny, I assure you that everything's all right about this one.
[2:55] Speaker 3: Oh sure, sure.
[2:57] Speaker 5: You say that as though you don't believe it.
[3:00] Speaker 3: My suspicious wine showing I guess forget it.
[3:04] Speaker 2: HM Bob Bailey in The Exciting Adventures of a Man
[3:15] Speaker 2: with the Action packed Expense a cod America's Fabulous free
[3:19] Speaker 2: Lance Insurance Investigator.
[3:20] Speaker 3: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. Expense account submitted by special Investigator
[3:39] Speaker 3: Johnny Dollar to the Tri State Life and Casually Insurance Company,
[3:43] Speaker 3: New York, New York. Following is an account of expenses
[3:46] Speaker 3: incurred during my investigation of the Gruesome Spectacle Matter expense
[3:52] Speaker 3: account Item one six twenty fair and Incidental's Hartford to
[3:55] Speaker 3: New York item two fifty bucks to posit on a
[3:58] Speaker 3: rental car north across the George Washington Bridge, then picked
[4:02] Speaker 3: up Highway seventeen through Goshen with its famous racetrack, through
[4:05] Speaker 3: the summer resort town of Bonaicello, then past White Lake,
[4:08] Speaker 3: a good fishing spot, to the little town of Bethel.
[4:11] Speaker 3: It really isn't much more than a crossroad. It's a
[4:14] Speaker 3: couple of filling stations, a general store and post office
[4:16] Speaker 3: in Emmer's Hotel where I parked my bags. Shadow Hill, however,
[4:20] Speaker 3: turned out to be a beautiful summer lode, sitting high
[4:23] Speaker 3: above the edge of a nearby private lake. From the highway,
[4:26] Speaker 3: I could see the narrow, winding road that led from
[4:28] Speaker 3: the lodge down to the lake shore. I could also
[4:31] Speaker 3: see the spot where a car had apparently taken a
[4:33] Speaker 3: corner too quickly, skid it and rolled over to where
[4:35] Speaker 3: it lay on its side. Then, shortly after pulling off
[4:38] Speaker 3: the highway, I could see something else, another car, just
[4:41] Speaker 3: short of where the accident had occurred. It was half
[4:44] Speaker 3: hidden in a clump of trees that bordered the road,
[4:46] Speaker 3: and as I slowly pulled up to it, a man
[4:48] Speaker 3: suddenly jumped out and leveled an old thirty thirty rifle
[4:51] Speaker 3: at me.
[4:51] Speaker 6: Stop right there, don't come any cruiser.
[4:55] Speaker 3: Oh well now just a minuemister, Why.
[4:59] Speaker 6: Corn here?
[5:02] Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess you'd call me. It's stranger.
[5:04] Speaker 6: Maybe you were just stranger. I'm looking for. Get out
[5:07] Speaker 6: of that car with your hands up over your head.
[5:10] Speaker 6: Don't try no front of it.
[5:12] Speaker 3: Hey, what is this a hold up? Like?
[5:13] Speaker 6: I tell you to be quick about it?
[5:16] Speaker 3: Okay, whatever you say, I like, can't seem to the store,
[5:23] Speaker 3: doesn't seem to want.
[5:23] Speaker 6: To trying to pull some trick on that door.
[5:27] Speaker 3: Well it stuck.
[5:28] Speaker 6: I just here, I'll do it. Got it.
[5:33] Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll take the gun, all right, all right, up
[5:41] Speaker 3: on your feet, just turn around, go on, go on,
[5:45] Speaker 3: turn around. You just look a here shot you just
[5:48] Speaker 3: take it easy, oh man, and remember I have the gun. Now.
[5:51] Speaker 6: I'll lock you up for this. That's what I'll do,
[5:53] Speaker 6: you know what? Yes, sure, interfering with the law this way.
[5:58] Speaker 3: The lawn you that's right?
[6:00] Speaker 6: Gee, here's my badge.
[6:03] Speaker 3: See okay, then look, mister Skinner.
[6:07] Speaker 6: You look hey, I do know my name?
[6:10] Speaker 3: You are mister Skinner, an't you?
[6:11] Speaker 6: Well?
[6:12] Speaker 3: Sure I am.
[6:12] Speaker 6: I'm as Skinner only it's Chief Skinner to you, police,
[6:16] Speaker 6: Chief Skinner. And if you think you're going to get
[6:18] Speaker 6: away with this, what's your idea?
[6:22] Speaker 3: Chief? It looks like you're just the man I came
[6:24] Speaker 3: to see only maybe you'd better have your gun back here.
[6:30] Speaker 6: All right? All right, now you just put your hands
[6:34] Speaker 6: up and say, now's the dog gone, minige.
[6:38] Speaker 3: Who are you? Johnny Dollar?
[6:40] Speaker 6: Johnny Dolla?
[6:42] Speaker 3: What you said? That's right, Johnny Dollar. I'm an insurance investigator.
[6:48] Speaker 6: Praise be the bitch. I might have known him, someone
[6:52] Speaker 6: like you. The way you outsmarted me banging the car
[6:55] Speaker 6: door against me head way.
[6:57] Speaker 3: I'm sorry about that.
[6:58] Speaker 6: Johnny, I'm I'm I'm real proud to meet you. And
[7:02] Speaker 6: believe me, Sean, I'm I'm just mighty glad you were here.
[7:07] Speaker 3: Oh why do you say that?
[7:10] Speaker 6: Just you look here, Johnny, over the edge of this road.
[7:14] Speaker 6: Look you see it down there?
[7:16] Speaker 7: That car?
[7:18] Speaker 3: Is that the car in which mister Thomas Hargrave was killed.
[7:21] Speaker 6: Well, you know about it.
[7:22] Speaker 3: That's what I came here to investigate it.
[7:24] Speaker 6: All right? Then? Now you listen here to me, Johnny. Well,
[7:28] Speaker 6: I'm the one the telephone down to mister Hargrave's insurance
[7:31] Speaker 6: company down to New York. So I did it as
[7:33] Speaker 6: a favorite to marry. Yeah, she's wife on account of
[7:37] Speaker 6: she was so broke up and all. Never did like her,
[7:39] Speaker 6: but she was well, she was pretty upset, considerate. And
[7:44] Speaker 6: I told the insurance company just what I told everybody
[7:48] Speaker 6: else that Tommy Hargrave took this turn in the road
[7:52] Speaker 6: too fast.
[7:53] Speaker 3: You see the turn right above here, Yeah, that's a
[7:57] Speaker 3: sharp one.
[7:58] Speaker 6: Well, he took this turn too fast and skid it
[8:01] Speaker 6: off the side, and the car went over and pinned
[8:05] Speaker 6: him underneath it. And the well, all right, now, Johnny,
[8:11] Speaker 6: I just come over here from old Doc wakons it
[8:14] Speaker 6: was down to Doc and I took Tommy's body yesterday,
[8:17] Speaker 6: just after it happened. And you know why I come
[8:20] Speaker 6: back here?
[8:20] Speaker 3: Well I can think of one good reason from something
[8:23] Speaker 3: you just told me. Yeah, from what I can see
[8:24] Speaker 3: the car down there.
[8:25] Speaker 6: Yeah, well it was because I suddenly started thinking, how
[8:29] Speaker 6: could a man who knows his road so well ever
[8:32] Speaker 6: make a mistake of Hey, what were you.
[8:36] Speaker 7: Going to say?
[8:37] Speaker 6: What?
[8:37] Speaker 3: Chief? That car was coming down the road down from
[8:40] Speaker 3: the lodge, wasn't it right? That means he made a
[8:42] Speaker 3: left hand turn right here?
[8:44] Speaker 6: Correct, the car went off the road, fell on his
[8:47] Speaker 6: side and lean right where you landed, right where you
[8:50] Speaker 6: see it, right on top of Tommy.
[8:52] Speaker 3: How that car is sit then, that's right? And even
[8:55] Speaker 3: from here I can see that the windows are all
[8:57] Speaker 3: closed except for the one next to the driver's seat.
[8:59] Speaker 6: Correct.
[9:00] Speaker 3: But now, and it's obvious it didn't roll completely over, no,
[9:03] Speaker 3: shut It just flipped over on its side and slid
[9:06] Speaker 3: down there. And yet you say that Tommy Hargrave's body
[9:09] Speaker 3: was under it.
[9:09] Speaker 6: That's right under the right side of the car where
[9:11] Speaker 6: we practically handed.
[9:14] Speaker 3: Hey, can you tell me how he could have fallen
[9:18] Speaker 3: under that side of the car? Windows closed.
[9:22] Speaker 6: Johnny.
[9:23] Speaker 2: Yeah, Tommy was murdered, that's what.
[9:27] Speaker 6: And the car pushed over on him to make it
[9:30] Speaker 6: look like an exegon. And Johnny, you proved it.
[9:33] Speaker 3: A couple of other things. You've got approved, Chief, Hey,
[9:36] Speaker 3: like what who murdered him? And why?
[9:43] Speaker 2: Fact? Two of yours truly Johnny Dollar in a moment.
[9:47] Speaker 8: Our flag now numbers fifty stars, and behind each star
[9:51] Speaker 8: there stands yet another flag representing one of the fifty states.
[9:56] Speaker 8: Rhode Island State flag is white with an anchor. First
[9:59] Speaker 8: used as a colony symbol in sixteen forty seven. The
[10:03] Speaker 8: motto hope was added in sixteen sixty four when the
[10:06] Speaker 8: government was organized under a charter from King Charles the Second.
[10:10] Speaker 8: A circle of thirteen gold stars were added for the
[10:13] Speaker 8: original thirteen colonies. This is the flag of a unique
[10:17] Speaker 8: colony in state which carried out a most noble experiment
[10:21] Speaker 8: in freedom. The Royal Charter of sixteen sixty three reads
[10:25] Speaker 8: to hold forth a lively experiment that a most flourishing
[10:29] Speaker 8: state may stand and best be maintained with full liberty
[10:32] Speaker 8: and religious concernments. Rhode Island State flag, the flag of
[10:37] Speaker 8: the thirteenth state to enter the Union, was adopted on
[10:40] Speaker 8: May nineteenth, eighteen ninety seven.
[10:43] Speaker 2: And now Act two of yours, truly Johnny Dollar and
[10:46] Speaker 2: the gruesome spectacle matter.
[10:57] Speaker 3: All right, Chief, tell me this when and how to
[11:00] Speaker 3: you learn of this so called accident that killed Tommy Hargrave.
[11:04] Speaker 1: What it was like this journey.
[11:06] Speaker 6: I was sitting down at bobin Ernie's when they run
[11:10] Speaker 6: that mobile gas station down the highway you pass on
[11:13] Speaker 6: the way.
[11:13] Speaker 3: Oh, go on, Well, we were just.
[11:15] Speaker 6: Sitting there talking about the Hamburtoonian and all the what
[11:18] Speaker 6: do you mean the Hamiltonian You know, the bigger harness
[11:21] Speaker 6: racer run down the Gooshen every year. Oh yeah, boy,
[11:25] Speaker 6: it's world famous, bigger than the Kentucky Jersey.
[11:28] Speaker 3: Yes.
[11:28] Speaker 6: And we was talking about how much money Barnie Marshall
[11:33] Speaker 6: has made taking bets on those races.
[11:35] Speaker 9: And well, Chief, you mean you have a bookie here
[11:41] Speaker 9: in Bethel, Jack, and that you, as chief of police,
[11:44] Speaker 9: condone such goings on when not we all I'm surprised
[11:49] Speaker 9: that you.
[11:49] Speaker 6: Oh well, it's just a little short of harmless betting
[11:53] Speaker 6: at all. Sure, every man's entire to.
[11:56] Speaker 3: A little where you know, how ky, Yeah, now let's
[12:00] Speaker 3: get back with the subject.
[12:01] Speaker 6: Yeah, sure, Wit like I say, we were sitting there
[12:06] Speaker 6: talking and we seen Mary Hargrave driving by on her
[12:09] Speaker 6: way back from New York where she'd gone to do
[12:12] Speaker 6: some shopping.
[12:12] Speaker 3: That gay she wasn't here when it happened.
[12:14] Speaker 6: Well, no, sure she couldn't be.
[12:16] Speaker 3: You're sure, but like I told you, she was in
[12:18] Speaker 3: New York.
[12:19] Speaker 6: Anyhow, she drove on up here, So what did happened?
[12:23] Speaker 6: And drove right back to tell us at the gas station.
[12:25] Speaker 6: We came up here, Tommy's body out from under, took
[12:29] Speaker 6: it down to Doc Walton's office, and that.
[12:32] Speaker 3: Was how carefully have you inspected that car down there?
[12:35] Speaker 6: Well, that's what I was about to do when you
[12:37] Speaker 6: come all right, come on.
[12:39] Speaker 3: Let's just take a look at it.
[12:40] Speaker 6: Well sure, sure.
[12:42] Speaker 3: The only way of proving Mary Hargrave was actually in
[12:45] Speaker 3: New York.
[12:46] Speaker 6: Well, no, I guess not.
[12:50] Speaker 3: Hey, look here, Chief Jesus, still in the ignition, but
[12:55] Speaker 3: the ignitions turned off.
[12:57] Speaker 6: You're right, Johnny, you're right. This car I wasn't rid
[13:00] Speaker 6: over the side of the road.
[13:02] Speaker 3: He was pushing here. Let's see if we can get
[13:04] Speaker 3: this store.
[13:05] Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, I'll give you.
[13:09] Speaker 3: Let's see if some of this very good.
[13:12] Speaker 6: Well, what are you doing that handful of dust.
[13:13] Speaker 3: Well it's not very professional, but some of this fine
[13:16] Speaker 3: us start to bring out any fingerprints on the steering
[13:18] Speaker 3: Leona will be.
[13:21] Speaker 6: No prince there did I can see you.
[13:23] Speaker 3: Are you're right, Chief, This wheel has been carefully wiped off.
[13:26] Speaker 3: So whoever did it?
[13:28] Speaker 6: M hm huh?
[13:29] Speaker 3: What'd you find? Did Tommy Hargrave wear glasses? Spectacles?
[13:35] Speaker 6: Tommy no shirt?
[13:36] Speaker 3: What come on? Chief? The first thing I want is
[13:39] Speaker 3: to look at his body. At doctor Walton's just say then,
[13:42] Speaker 3: let's go well there.
[13:48] Speaker 10: As a matter of fact, it was I who suggested
[13:50] Speaker 10: to Amos to Chief Skinner, I should say that he
[13:53] Speaker 10: go back and have another look at.
[13:54] Speaker 3: That car, mister Dollar. Just fine, Doctor Walker.
[13:57] Speaker 10: Because a couple of things about this body made me
[14:00] Speaker 10: made me wonder. Look here the way the clothes are torn,
[14:04] Speaker 10: as though it had some kind of a struggle, scratches
[14:07] Speaker 10: and contusions.
[14:08] Speaker 3: On his hands. But more important here, yeah, here, at
[14:12] Speaker 3: the base of.
[14:12] Speaker 10: The skull, this mark up where that car is. There
[14:16] Speaker 10: are no rocks, no stones, no anything that could make
[14:18] Speaker 10: a mark like this. And there's another on the face
[14:22] Speaker 10: below the eye.
[14:24] Speaker 3: You know what that looks like to me? Doctor? What's
[14:26] Speaker 3: the mark from the butt of a thirty eight automatic,
[14:31] Speaker 3: And I've seen.
[14:31] Speaker 6: Plenty of them, I bet you, Johnny, you're right, And
[14:34] Speaker 6: that would indicate how Grave was murdered and the car
[14:37] Speaker 6: pushed over on him to make it look like Yeah. Sure,
[14:39] Speaker 6: And Johnny and me found a few other things around
[14:42] Speaker 6: that car that would indicate the same thing.
[14:44] Speaker 3: Doctor, I understand Tommy Hargrave did not wear glasses, not
[14:49] Speaker 3: that I know of. Of course, Mary, his wife, she
[14:51] Speaker 3: wears them, Yes, she does. Can't do without what kind well,
[14:56] Speaker 3: regular tortoiseshell, you know, something something like these. Maybe granted
[15:02] Speaker 3: one lens is smashed and part of the frame is broken,
[15:04] Speaker 3: but is this the kind she wore?
[15:06] Speaker 10: Yes, mister donnad say so, of course, a great many.
[15:10] Speaker 6: Surely you don't think his.
[15:11] Speaker 3: Own why they didn't get along too well? Did they?
[15:14] Speaker 6: Well? No, but after all, when any couple's been married
[15:17] Speaker 6: ten eleven.
[15:18] Speaker 3: Also, she just happens to be the beneficiary of his
[15:20] Speaker 3: sizeable insurance policy.
[15:22] Speaker 2: Good heavens, mister Donne.
[15:24] Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we'd better pay a little visit to
[15:26] Speaker 3: missus Mary Hargrave, Act.
[15:43] Speaker 2: Three of yours, truly, Johnny Dollar, in a moment many
[15:48] Speaker 2: times in the history of mankind. Nations have pooled their
[15:51] Speaker 2: forces to exert a greater strength against a common aggressor.
[15:56] Speaker 2: This happens not only in the face of a world war,
[15:59] Speaker 2: but the between such giant holocausts. As during the Boxer
[16:03] Speaker 2: Uprising in China in nineteen hundred six, nations combined their
[16:07] Speaker 2: forces to come to the aid of their citizens in
[16:11] Speaker 2: the thick of the fight, undotted by devastating enemy fire.
[16:15] Speaker 2: Chief Bosun John McCloy of the United States Naval Contingent
[16:19] Speaker 2: distinguished himself by meritorious conduct above and beyond the call
[16:23] Speaker 2: of duty. For his valorous action, he was awarded his
[16:27] Speaker 2: first Medal of Honor. But a man of action doesn't
[16:30] Speaker 2: get the job done because of possible awards. It is
[16:34] Speaker 2: the spirit of his code of conduct that guides him.
[16:37] Speaker 2: John McCloy was guided by that code again and again
[16:41] Speaker 2: in June nineteen fourteen during the Mexican Campaign, when the
[16:45] Speaker 2: government of the United States was put upon once more
[16:48] Speaker 2: to aid its persecuted citizens, Chief Bosun John McCloy was
[16:52] Speaker 2: constantly risking his life. Our landed troops were in danger
[16:56] Speaker 2: of being annihilated on the beach at Vera, Cruz When
[16:59] Speaker 2: McCloy voluntarily filled three picket launches with riflemen and led
[17:04] Speaker 2: them along the seafront to draw the enemy fire. Though
[17:07] Speaker 2: badly wounded, he remained at his post and gallantly directed
[17:10] Speaker 2: his part of the campaign. For this action, Chief Bosun
[17:15] Speaker 2: John McCloy was awarded a second Medal of Honor, but
[17:18] Speaker 2: he hadn't been concerned with medals. His only concern was
[17:22] Speaker 2: conducting himself as a man should, and that is according
[17:25] Speaker 2: to the Code of the American Fighting Man. Now Act
[17:30] Speaker 2: three of yours, truly, Johnny Dollar, and the gruesome spectacle matter,
[17:37] Speaker 2: the three of us, Doctor Walton, police Chief Famous Skinner
[17:40] Speaker 2: and I drove up to the lodge outside the little
[17:42] Speaker 2: town of Bethel, New York to see why missus Mary
[17:44] Speaker 2: Hargrave had killed her husband.
[17:46] Speaker 3: Made it look like a car accident, that is, if
[17:49] Speaker 3: she did it, and what little evidence we had pointed
[17:51] Speaker 3: right straight at her. The obvious fact the car had
[17:54] Speaker 3: been pushed over on him after he was killed, the
[17:57] Speaker 3: march showing he'd struggle for his life, had been struck
[17:59] Speaker 3: with the butt of a pistol, The fact he and
[18:01] Speaker 3: his wife hadn't got along too well, that she was
[18:04] Speaker 3: his beneficiary. And finally there were the glasses I found
[18:07] Speaker 3: in the car, my bitch.
[18:14] Speaker 6: I wonder if she found out you were here, Johnny
[18:16] Speaker 6: and through.
[18:17] Speaker 3: The cop isn't that her car in the urn? Yes,
[18:19] Speaker 3: mister dollar, tear is.
[18:22] Speaker 6: All right? Then if she is here, well, sure i'll
[18:25] Speaker 6: a rest her right on your spot.
[18:26] Speaker 3: No, no, let me handle this well, Johnny, I said,
[18:28] Speaker 3: please let me.
[18:29] Speaker 6: Yes, Oh, doctor Walton, chief Skinner, that's right. And this
[18:34] Speaker 6: yere is mister Johnny Dollar.
[18:36] Speaker 11: Oh yes, mister Dollar, mister Barrett. If the insurance company
[18:39] Speaker 11: phoned that you'd be here, won't you come in?
[18:42] Speaker 3: Surely? Thank you.
[18:44] Speaker 11: I'm sorry to have been so slow in answering the door,
[18:47] Speaker 11: but I seem to have mislaid a pair of my.
[18:49] Speaker 6: Glasses here that journey.
[18:50] Speaker 11: I'm blind as a bat without them. Won't you all
[18:53] Speaker 11: sit down?
[18:54] Speaker 3: Thank you? Yes, thank you.
[18:56] Speaker 11: I've been using an old pair of steel rims with
[18:58] Speaker 11: an old prescription that they look.
[18:59] Speaker 7: So ter.
[19:01] Speaker 3: When did you lose your glasses? Oh?
[19:03] Speaker 11: I I must have mislaid them a couple of days ago.
[19:07] Speaker 6: Ah.
[19:09] Speaker 11: Now what do you mean by that?
[19:10] Speaker 6: It's no very well?
[19:12] Speaker 7: What I mean?
[19:14] Speaker 3: You you don't seem terribly upset about your husband's death,
[19:19] Speaker 3: missus Hrgray, Why should.
[19:21] Speaker 11: I, mister Dollar, we haven't been exactly getting along for years.
[19:26] Speaker 11: All he seemed to care about was his fishing and
[19:28] Speaker 11: betting on the horses day after day. And I never
[19:31] Speaker 11: did care about spending every summer up in this dodgy
[19:34] Speaker 11: little town and all its dodgy people.
[19:36] Speaker 3: And oh, I didn't mean you, doctor Walton.
[19:41] Speaker 11: The first thing I'll do when I collect the insurance
[19:43] Speaker 11: is sell this place and go back to the city
[19:45] Speaker 11: where my friends are. I there's some excitement. And those
[19:52] Speaker 11: are those my glasses you have?
[19:53] Speaker 7: There?
[19:55] Speaker 2: Are they?
[19:56] Speaker 11: But they look like mine?
[19:59] Speaker 6: I mean, what happened to them? I'm sure they are hers? Journey?
[20:03] Speaker 3: No, no, Dollar, No, I don't think they are. Let
[20:06] Speaker 3: me have them. Please? Sure here, what's going on here, Journey?
[20:11] Speaker 6: We're just wished in time?
[20:12] Speaker 2: No no, no, no, wait, these can't be hers.
[20:15] Speaker 6: I should have really sure, gentlemen, Please.
[20:18] Speaker 10: I've seen your glasses Marry many times, very thick at
[20:21] Speaker 10: the edges, very thin in the center of the land. Well,
[20:23] Speaker 10: isn't this pair, this lens, the one that's still intact,
[20:26] Speaker 10: bears no resemblance to yours?
[20:28] Speaker 3: At all?
[20:29] Speaker 7: No?
[20:30] Speaker 3: No, not I'm gonna wait. Listen, missus Hargrave, will somebody
[20:34] Speaker 3: please tell me what listen? Will you you say your
[20:37] Speaker 3: husband was always playing the horses.
[20:39] Speaker 11: Yes, of course he was.
[20:40] Speaker 3: But do you mind telling me even while he was
[20:42] Speaker 3: up here?
[20:43] Speaker 11: Yes, all the time.
[20:44] Speaker 10: Mister Dolla, I don't see what you're driving at our
[20:46] Speaker 10: sure order.
[20:47] Speaker 3: Brother, this is probably the wildest tounch I've ever had.
[20:49] Speaker 3: Missus Hargrave. Did your husband owe a lot of money
[20:52] Speaker 3: on his bedding?
[20:53] Speaker 9: Oh?
[20:54] Speaker 11: A lot, I should say, not just the opposite. He's
[20:57] Speaker 11: been going around for nearly two weeks boasting about it's
[21:00] Speaker 11: a big killing he made if he ever collected.
[21:02] Speaker 3: Doctor. Let me have those glasses. Oh look here this
[21:05] Speaker 3: little mark inside the temple.
[21:06] Speaker 10: Oh that's the mark of the optometrist over in Monticello.
[21:10] Speaker 10: Here you see, say mark's in mind. Okay, I just
[21:14] Speaker 10: sit tight, the three of you. Oh no, mister Dolla, No,
[21:17] Speaker 10: you look here, and.
[21:18] Speaker 3: A must don't try arresting anybody while I'm gone. It
[21:21] Speaker 3: might make you look a little foolish when I get
[21:23] Speaker 3: back back from where I'll see you all later. Well
[21:34] Speaker 3: that's really just about all there is to this case. Oh, except,
[21:38] Speaker 3: of course, for the fact, the optometrist and Monticello had
[21:41] Speaker 3: no difficulty at all in matching the glasses I'd found
[21:43] Speaker 3: with the prescription of Yeah, if you guessed it, they
[21:47] Speaker 3: had belonged to the bookie Chief Skinner had told me
[21:50] Speaker 3: about Barney Marston. Of course, Barney wanted to put up
[21:53] Speaker 3: a fight when we faced him with the facts, but
[21:56] Speaker 3: then he couldn't seem to explain the various and sundry
[21:58] Speaker 3: bruises he was carrying around until we reminded him of
[22:01] Speaker 3: the fight he'd had with Tommy Hargrave. Yeah, he'd killed
[22:06] Speaker 3: him and pushed the car over on top of him.
[22:08] Speaker 3: The reason for it all simple. Tommy had won a
[22:11] Speaker 3: cool twenty five thousand dollars from him, had threatened to
[22:14] Speaker 3: put him out of business if he didn't pay, which
[22:17] Speaker 3: he couldn't. So Barney killed him and tried to fake
[22:20] Speaker 3: the accident. And you know something, I have a sneaking suspicion,
[22:24] Speaker 3: Chief Amos Skinner isn't going to stand for any book.
[22:27] Speaker 3: He's operating in Bethel, New York from here on out. Oh,
[22:31] Speaker 3: and Mary Hargrave found the glasses. She'd mislaid expense account
[22:35] Speaker 3: total including manage on the rental car and the trip
[22:37] Speaker 3: back to Hartford one hundred and forty eight dollars. Even yours, truly,
[22:42] Speaker 3: Johnny Dollar.
[22:55] Speaker 2: Our star will return in just a moment.
[22:59] Speaker 12: Our Plague numbers fifty stars, and behind each star there
[23:03] Speaker 12: stands yet another flag, representing one of the fifty states.
[23:07] Speaker 12: Kansas state flag is dark blue, and in the center
[23:10] Speaker 12: is the state's seal surmounted by a large sunflower, the
[23:14] Speaker 12: official state flower. The seal reflects the history of Kansas.
[23:19] Speaker 12: The train of ox wagons going west for most of
[23:22] Speaker 12: the great roads passed through Kansas and Indian is depicted
[23:25] Speaker 12: chasing a herd of buffalo, recalling the words of the
[23:28] Speaker 12: official state song, Oh give me a home where the
[23:31] Speaker 12: buffalo roam, For this truly was the home of the
[23:35] Speaker 12: Buffalo and Indian. The east is represented by a rising sun,
[23:40] Speaker 12: and the promise of future prosperity is indicated by the
[23:44] Speaker 12: steamboat on the river and the farmer plowing the field
[23:48] Speaker 12: above a mountain range are thirty four stars, for Kansas
[23:52] Speaker 12: was the thirty fourth state admitted to the Union. Overall
[23:55] Speaker 12: is the state motto ad Astra per Aspera to the
[23:59] Speaker 12: stars through difficulties. Kansas state flag the flag of the
[24:04] Speaker 12: thirty fourth state to enter the Union was adopted on
[24:07] Speaker 12: March twenty third, nineteen twenty seven.
[24:10] Speaker 3: Now here's our star to tell you about next week
[24:13] Speaker 3: story next week, Well listen, I promise you the most
[24:16] Speaker 3: unusual case and some of the most unexpected people you
[24:20] Speaker 3: ever Well Johnny's won't you Yours truly Johnny Dollar?
[24:33] Speaker 2: Yours Truly Johnny Dollars, starring Bob Bailey, originates in Hollywood
[24:37] Speaker 2: and is written, produced and directed by Jack Johnstone. Heard
[24:41] Speaker 2: in our cast were Virginia, Greg Harry Bartel, Junius Matthews,
[24:45] Speaker 2: and Joe Kurns. Be sure to join us next week,
[24:48] Speaker 2: same time and station for another exciting story of Yours truly,
[24:53] Speaker 2: Johnny Dollar. This is Dan Coverly speaking. This is the
[25:27] Speaker 2: United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.
[25:39] Speaker 3: Welcome Back.
[25:40] Speaker 1: Well a decent episode. I think that the evidence is
[25:45] Speaker 1: really well laid out, and at least a good portion
[25:48] Speaker 1: of the story is spent at the crime scene and
[25:52] Speaker 1: really reasoning and dealing with the evidence. It's a good
[25:56] Speaker 1: basic story, though, of course, there are plenty of the
[25:59] Speaker 1: tees with Johnny Doller that can be a bit repetitive,
[26:04] Speaker 1: such as the insurance agent who calls Johnny in but
[26:10] Speaker 1: is determined that there is nothing wrong with the claim,
[26:14] Speaker 1: which is why they are hiring a very expensive, well
[26:18] Speaker 1: known freelance insurance investigator, because I guess, and of course
[26:23] Speaker 1: we have a moment of tension in peril where our
[26:26] Speaker 1: hero gets a chance to prove his worth, but that
[26:29] Speaker 1: it was totally unnecessary if the sheriff had just gone
[26:33] Speaker 1: ahead and identified himself rather than pointing a gun, expecting
[26:38] Speaker 1: that explanation to spy. And then you had Johnny hyping
[26:43] Speaker 1: the case with the dialogue that this is the wildest
[26:47] Speaker 1: hunch I ever had. Not really, not even in the
[26:51] Speaker 1: top twenty five. I don't think, I mean the idea
[26:55] Speaker 1: that wants you to establish the glasses. Weren't the wives
[26:59] Speaker 1: following up on the clue that the man was a gambler,
[27:02] Speaker 1: with the idea that he might have incurred the wrath
[27:07] Speaker 1: of a professional gambler just kind of common sense. So
[27:12] Speaker 1: maybe that was the mildest hunch you ever had. Now,
[27:15] Speaker 1: of course, lines like this might lead us to take
[27:19] Speaker 1: his next time tease with a bit of a shruck. Sure,
[27:24] Speaker 1: your most unusual case. We've heard that before, but we
[27:28] Speaker 1: actually do know about that story thanks to John Abbott.
[27:34] Speaker 1: The episode itself is missing, and we'll talk about it
[27:38] Speaker 1: and all the missing episodes in this sort of block
[27:42] Speaker 1: of programs. But John Abbott saw the script for it,
[27:47] Speaker 1: and the missing matter matter begins with Johnny getting a
[27:52] Speaker 1: call from Jack Johnstone about a missing script. Now, whether
[27:57] Speaker 1: this episode would qualify as the most unusual case, I
[28:02] Speaker 1: think it would be near the top. Oh, there are
[28:06] Speaker 1: many more details, and there's something about actually hearing the
[28:10] Speaker 1: script that will kind of determine how you rank it properly,
[28:16] Speaker 1: particularly when we now have the Glacier Ghost matter, with
[28:21] Speaker 1: Johnny dropping dynamite from a small plane onto a glacier
[28:27] Speaker 1: in hopes of dislodging the body. So that top spot
[28:31] Speaker 1: would take some work. But sometimes they hyperbole. Just it
[28:35] Speaker 1: does make it hard to really appreciate when the show
[28:39] Speaker 1: is doing something very, very different. It's some stuff that's
[28:43] Speaker 1: just relatively commonplace gets hopped up. Well, now we turn
[28:48] Speaker 1: to listener comments and feedback, and we had a lot
[28:51] Speaker 1: of comments regarding the Wayward Diamond Matter. We start out
[28:55] Speaker 1: over on Patreon where Emitt rights Truly, this has to
[28:59] Speaker 1: be one of the worst episodes. Jack Johnstone wrote, and
[29:03] Speaker 1: he wrote some Doozies, but hearing the five minute dialogue
[29:06] Speaker 1: between the two crooks explicit Lee explaining the details to
[29:13] Speaker 1: the point where I just wanted Johnny to burst in
[29:15] Speaker 1: and shut him up. That was too much. Over on Spotify,
[29:20] Speaker 1: Dawnton riots the worst Johnny Dollar episode ever, and that
[29:25] Speaker 1: includes the Mingtoy Murphy matter. It feels like Jack Johnstone
[29:30] Speaker 1: had extra material from the Malibu Mystery matter and wanted
[29:34] Speaker 1: a long runch. I'm going to go listen to a
[29:37] Speaker 1: Barry Craig episode to restore my faith in writers. To
[29:41] Speaker 1: be fair to john Stone, he did have a lot
[29:46] Speaker 1: on his plate with Johnny Doller, written, directed and produced
[29:50] Speaker 1: by Jack Johnstone. I don't think many of us have
[29:54] Speaker 1: an idea the amount of work that goes into writing
[30:00] Speaker 1: an entire script, you know, as director, arranging all the
[30:05] Speaker 1: casting and checking actor availability, getting studio space and everything
[30:12] Speaker 1: figured out. He's wearing a lot of hats, and whenever
[30:16] Speaker 1: you're doing that, you have to find ways to take shortcuts,
[30:20] Speaker 1: and sometimes you find out you took one short cut
[30:24] Speaker 1: too many, which may have been the case here. Harrison Wrotes.
[30:27] Speaker 1: Did they reuse a Mister Chameleon script? It felt like
[30:30] Speaker 1: more felt more like that than a Johnny Dollar. Script
[30:35] Speaker 1: out Mechanics sixty six responds, saying that the Hummertz wrote chameleon.
[30:42] Speaker 1: No matter how bad a Johnny Dollar is, it couldn't
[30:45] Speaker 1: see to that level. Although I'll grant you this was bad.
[30:49] Speaker 1: And then I also got an email from Stuart who
[30:54] Speaker 1: wrote in This email refers to the Wayward Diamond matter
[30:58] Speaker 1: episode four eight nine zero, when the insurance adjuster mister
[31:02] Speaker 1: Hanley speaks to Johnny at the hotel after realizing there
[31:05] Speaker 1: may be a potential claim involving the fake jewels. Mister
[31:08] Speaker 1: Hanley remarks later, I suppose she decided to lose the fakes,
[31:12] Speaker 1: have them stolen, and then file an insurance claim. Johnny responds, yeah,
[31:16] Speaker 1: Missus Merrill is already concerned that Johnny dollars onto the scheme.
[31:20] Speaker 1: So if Missus Merrill does not file an insurance claim
[31:23] Speaker 1: on the fake diamonds, then the discussion regarding the jewels
[31:26] Speaker 1: is entirely moot. In that circumstance, there is no actionable
[31:30] Speaker 1: claim in therefore no case. Until a claim is formally submitted,
[31:35] Speaker 1: no insurance matter truly exists. I get the point. There's
[31:42] Speaker 1: no case where they where company could accuse her of
[31:49] Speaker 1: fraudulently filing a claim based on what they knew. But
[31:54] Speaker 1: the problem for the insurance company and for Johnny is
[31:58] Speaker 1: that the insurance company is on the hook for I
[32:03] Speaker 1: believe it was one hundred thousand dollars that the jewels
[32:05] Speaker 1: were insured for, and just because there's not fraud now
[32:12] Speaker 1: doesn't mean that there couldn't be some fraud later. The
[32:15] Speaker 1: insurance company has a liability and they need to know
[32:19] Speaker 1: where these jewels are that they are responsible to replace
[32:23] Speaker 1: if stolen. I think that from a due diligence perspective,
[32:27] Speaker 1: this was very merited. I have many criticisms of the
[32:31] Speaker 1: wayward diamond manner as I went into at the time,
[32:35] Speaker 1: but the fact that the case was investigated, that's all
[32:38] Speaker 1: one of them. But I do appreciate the comments.
[32:40] Speaker 3: Stewart.
[32:41] Speaker 1: All right, well, now it's time to thank our Patreon
[32:44] Speaker 1: supporter of the day, and I want to thank Beverly,
[32:46] Speaker 1: Patreon supporter since March twenty twenty, currently supporting the podcast
[32:50] Speaker 1: at the Shawmus level of four dollars or more per month.
[32:54] Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your support, Beverly, and that will
[32:56] Speaker 1: do it for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, Please
[32:59] Speaker 1: follow us using your favorite podcast software, and be sure
[33:03] Speaker 1: to rate and review the podcast wherever you download us from.
[33:07] Speaker 1: We will be back next Friday with another episode of
[33:11] Speaker 1: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. But join us back here tomorrow
[33:14] Speaker 1: as we give way to the great adventurers of old
[33:17] Speaker 1: time radio.
[33:18] Speaker 7: Where room we're in trouble with that's putting it mildly.
[33:21] Speaker 7: I found out about to get this. Thenis somewhere along
[33:24] Speaker 7: the line you took them off? I followed instructions of
[33:26] Speaker 7: the letters and how do the nuts just kidnapped utch
[33:27] Speaker 7: load of What are you talking about? I saw it
[33:29] Speaker 7: just this afternoon, Qweenland, And now she's disappeared from the hospital.
[33:33] Speaker 7: What have you been doing since your plain man that
[33:34] Speaker 7: I want every move came through customs? What did you
[33:37] Speaker 7: tell them?
[33:37] Speaker 3: Tell him?
[33:37] Speaker 7: I was to watch this and I think else. Oh,
[33:39] Speaker 7: I went for a cab. I didn't even let that
[33:41] Speaker 7: fellow take my pictures. Watch fellow in the building at
[33:43] Speaker 7: the airport souvenir photograph. He didn't look like the real article,
[33:46] Speaker 7: so I turned away. That's your mistake when you didn't
[33:49] Speaker 7: let him take a picture. They knew you had a reason,
[33:51] Speaker 7: so they cleared just that's how they knew. You told
[33:53] Speaker 7: Madam loader, that's why they grabbed it. That's why they
[33:55] Speaker 7: put the Dauphin woman on you. And I thought I
[33:57] Speaker 7: was being smart. I forget it, and I knew it.
[33:59] Speaker 7: Just oh my goodness. That well, there's something we can
[34:04] Speaker 7: do about it.
[34:05] Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then. In the meantime,
[34:08] Speaker 1: send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net,
[34:12] Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us
[34:15] Speaker 1: out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com slash Great Detectives From Orlando, Florida,
[34:21] Speaker 1: this is your host, Adam Graham signing off.

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