Doctor Tim - The Mystery of the Second Alarm

Summary

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Podcast Summary:

Podcast: Harold's Old Time Radio
Episode: Doctor Tim – The Mystery of the Second Alarm
Air Date: May 9, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of Harold’s Old Time Radio revisits the golden age with “Doctor Tim: The Mystery of the Second Alarm.” Blending classic detective fiction with a medical twist, this story follows Dr. Tim as he becomes embroiled in a neighborhood mystery involving arson, a supposed hidden treasure, and false accusations. The episode explores themes of greed, reputation, and the dangers of panic, all wrapped in a dramatic, family-friendly narrative.

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Key Discussion Points & Plot Summary

1. Mrs. Miller's Concern and Dr. Tim's Principles

• [00:31–01:54] Mrs. Hugh A. Miller visits Dr. Tim, claiming her father-in-law is “not quite right.” She suspects he’s hiding a fortune and asks Dr. Tim to help her get him out of the house for a search.
  • Notable Quote:
    • Mrs. Miller: “I think he’s hiding a fortune … He never leaves it. And I’m sure he has thousands and thousands of dollars hidden in that room somewhere.” (01:10)
• Dr. Tim refuses to participate in anything outside the law:
  • Dr. Tim: “What you’re proposing is highly irregular, perhaps even criminal. I’ll forget what you’ve told me.” (01:54)

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2. Sandy and Jill Get in Trouble

• [01:54–02:58] Dr. Tim is interrupted as his friends, Sandy and Jill, are brought in by Officer Barton for playing with fire in a vacant lot. Mrs. Miller is quick to incriminate them, revealing her grudge.
  • Notable Moment: Mrs. Miller’s accusatory attitude hints she’s sowing seeds for later blame.
  • Notable Quote:
    • Dr. Tim on the children's character: “Jill and Sandy don’t ordinarily play with fire, and they aren’t problems for the neighborhood. I ought to know … they’ve given me some mighty valuable help in my cases.” (02:58)

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3. Teachable Medical Interlude: The Danger of Burns

• [03:36–05:08] Dr. Tim cares for Sandy’s burn and uses it as an opportunity to teach about the severity of burn injuries.
  • Notable Quote:
    • Dr. Tim: “Dressings in burn cases often have to be changed on an anesthetic like ether because the pain is so terrible. When you go through more months of operations where skin is taken from unburned parts of your body and grafted to the places where the fire is burned clear down into the muscles. Sometimes you wish you died.” (04:22)
    • Sandy: “Honest to death, Dr. Tim. We’ll never play with fire again.” (05:08)

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4. Fire and Chaos at the Millers'

• [05:25–09:00] As evening falls, a horrifying scene erupts: Dr. Tim witnesses an elderly man (Mr. Miller) emerge from his house, covered in flames. Sandy and Jill heroically help smother the fire.
  • Notable Action:
    • Dr. Tim and the kids quickly respond using a blanket and rolling the man in the dirt.
    • Dr. Tim reflects: “Why will people run when their clothes are on fire? To lie down and smother the flame is their only salvation.” (07:29)
  • Mrs. Miller is chaotically calling the fire department after the fact, suggesting suspicious timing.

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5. False Accusations and the Second Alarm

• [08:34–09:00] Mrs. Miller accuses Sandy and Jill of setting the fire, using their earlier mischief as “evidence.” They’re taken to the police station for questioning, despite Dr. Tim’s doubts.
  • Mrs. Miller: “It was those two kids right there. You know yourself, officer, that you caught them setting fires this morning. ... And I’ll testify in court that they did it.” (08:34)
  • Dr. Tim suspects foul play and hurries to search for evidence before it can be destroyed.

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6. Uncovering the True Culprit and the Value of Reputation

• [09:00–11:43] In Mr. Miller’s room, Dr. Tim finds a used fire extinguisher and evidence of kerosene, realizing the fire was set intentionally. He confirms a suspicious timeline by checking on the “first” (actually second) alarm call.
  • Dr. Tim explains that Mrs. Miller orchestrated the fire to scare her father-in-law into revealing his “treasure,” blamed the kids, and nearly succeeded due to their prior trouble.
  • Notable Quote:
    • Dr. Tim: “She almost got you convicted because of the fire this morning. Yeah, hung the wrap on us, by golly.” (12:03)

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7. The “Fortune” Exposed

• [12:16–13:20] The supposed treasure turns out to be worthless German marks collected post-WWI, mistaken for valuable currency by Mr. Miller.
  • Notable Quote:
    • Dr. Tim: “Not dollars, but mark, worthless inflated German marks of 30 years ago. Not worth the paper they were printed on. … For that he had almost lost his life.” (12:35)

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8. Lesson: What to Do in Case of Fire

• [13:20–13:44] Dr. Tim closes by reiterating the most basic safety advice: Don’t panic and run if your clothes catch fire—lie down, roll, or wrap yourself in something to smother the flames.
  • Notable Quote:
    • Dr. Tim: “Don’t get panicky. Don’t run even toward water. Just lie down and roll. Or wrap yourself in something to smother the fire. I’ll bet Sandy and Jill never forget it.” (13:30)

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Notable Quotes and Moments (with Timestamps)

• Mrs. Miller: “I’m sure he has thousands and thousands of dollars hidden in that room somewhere.” (01:17)
• Dr. Tim (on burns): “It can mean months in the hospital, infections so bad to look at it would make you sick of your stomach.” (04:05)
• Dr. Tim: “To lie down and smother the flame is their only salvation.” (07:29)
• Mrs. Miller (accusing): “It was those two kids right there. … I’ll testify in court that they did it.” (08:34)
• Dr. Tim: “She almost got you convicted because of the fire this morning. Yeah, hung the wrap on us, by golly.” (12:03)
• Dr. Tim (on the treasure): “Not dollars, but mark, worthless inflated German marks of 30 years ago.” (12:35)

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:10 — Mrs. Miller's request and suspicions
• 02:23 — Officer brings in Sandy and Jill
• 03:36-05:08 — Dr. Tim’s medical lesson about burns
• 06:00-07:30 — Mr. Miller is set aflame; rescue efforts
• 08:34 — Mrs. Miller accuses the children
• 09:45 — Dr. Tim investigates the scene
• 11:19 — Dr. Tim clears Sandy and Jill at the police station
• 12:17 — The worthless treasure revealed
• 13:20 — Fire safety lesson

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Episode Tone & Style

• The story is delivered in a classic radio drama style—serious yet instructional, with vivid descriptions and moral undertones. Dr. Tim serves as the voice of reason and justice, guiding listeners through both the physical and ethical dangers posed by fire (and false accusations).
• The dialogue is brisk, the action taut, and the teaching moments clear—designed for both entertainment and education typical of mid-20th-century family radio.

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Takeaways

• False accusations can stick if reputation is dubious—even unjustly.
• Greed and paranoia can drive individuals to dangerous actions.
• Fire safety is paramount—never run, always smother flames.
• Sometimes, highly-valued secrets are worth far less than we imagine.

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“This is Dr. Tim, Detective, saying so long until next week at this same time, when Sandy, Jill and I will bring you by transcription the mystery of the dog that did and didn’t.” (13:44)

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

This is Dr. Tim, detective, to bring you by transcription, the mystery of the second alarm. Well, the first caller who knocked on the door to my laboratory and consulting room one morning a few weeks ago was a woman in her early 30s who gave her name as.

[C]

I'm Mrs. Hugh A. Miller, doctor, and I live in the next house, just beyond the vacant lot.

[B]

Won't you sit down, Mrs. Miller?

[C]

Yes, thank you. I've been told that you're both a doctor only detective.

[B]

Yes, you might call it that, but I don't, as a rule, take private cases. What is your problem?

[C]

Well, I have every reason to believe that my husband's father, who lives with us, is, well, not quite right, if you know what I mean. And in the next place, I think he's hiding a fortune.

[B]

I'm afraid I don't quite see what.

[C]

I thought you might examine him, you know, put him away somewhere for a little while.

[B]

But that's a matter for a psychiatrist. You'd have to get his consent or else sell out papers in a legal.

[C]

Oh, no, no, no. That's just what I don't want to do. There mustn't be any publicity. You see, what I want is to get him out of the house long enough to make a thorough search of his room. He never leaves it. And I'm sure he has thousands and thousands of dollars hidden in that room somewhere. I've almost caught him several times, but he's too. Well, too crafty.

[B]

Mrs. Miller, what you're proposing is highly irregular, perhaps even criminal. I'll forget what you've told me. Just at that moment there was a disturbance in the hall outside. I recognized the voices of my two friends, Sandy and Jill, and a third I'd never heard before. Jill is my landlady's daughter and Sandy's a palavers. I opened the door and into the room they walked, with a policeman grasping each one firmly by the arm. You the doctor? Yes. These kids say they're friends of yours.

[C]

I just got this. Tim. We didn't mean any harm.

[B]

We're just having some fun. Gosh, how old will you know them letting fire weeds in the lot next door. They was. And if I hadn't been walking along on the way home.

[C]

He says he had it better than j.

[B]

Now, hold on a moment. Most he did. Officer, I think we both realize how serious setting fires can be. Burn the whole neighborhood down. Playing with messes, they will. Well, we didn't mean it. However, I can vouch for them. If you're.

[C]

One moment, officer, I'd like to say that it isn't the first time they've been in trouble for setting fires. Oh, I knew, all right. After all, I've lived on the other side of that lot for several years, and I can tell you I looked

[B]

at Mrs. Miller in amazement, and I should have been able to see right then what she was getting at. But I didn't. Jill and Sandy don't ordinarily play with fire, and they aren't problems for the neighborhood. I ought to know because we've been friends a long time, and they've given me some mighty valuable help in my cases. Anyway, within a few minutes, Officer Barton had turned them over to my care with a warning. Mrs. Miller had left after glaring at me with a look of hatred. And Sandy, Jill and I were alone. From their looks, they were sorry kids, and I could tell they were expecting to really catch it this time. There they stood, silent and scared. Finally,

[C]

you, Dr. Tim. We're dope.

[B]

Bigger dopes than you realize. Maybe next to your hand, Sandy. Oh, it's nothing. Just burned it a little. Jill, hand me the sterile bandages.

[C]

Okay, thanks.

[B]

Ow. Hold still until I get a dressing on that burn.

[C]

But aren't you gonna put grease or something on it?

[B]

I am not. First I'm going to clean the hand thoroughly to prevent any infection. Ointments and greasy medicines many times are the best means of spreading infection in burns. Of course, if it's a very severe burn, certain infection stopping drugs are necessary. Fine. It works. I could say at this point, young man, it serves you right. Now hold still a moment. If you're lucky, ever see a human body with really bad burns on it? The kind you might have had if your clothes had caught on fire in that bacon lot? No, not a pretty sight. It can mean months in the hospital, infections so bad to look at it would make you sick of your stomach. Dressings in burn cases often have to be changed on an anesthetic like ether because the pain is so terrible. When you go through more months of operations where skin is taken from unburned parts of your body and grafted to the places where the fire is burned clear down into the muscles. Sometimes you wish you died. Be scarred forever. Yes, doctors today can save the lives of people who have lost 70% of the skin in their bodies with penicillin, with blood transfusions and blood fractions and with modern hospital care. But believe me, it's the most horrible pain in the world. Well, that's Andy Burns dress. I look at it again tomorrow. Above all, don't break those blisters. Okay, Dr. Tim.

[C]

Honest to death, Dr. Tim. We'll never play with fire again.

[B]

About a half hour later, Sandy and Jill had gone to think over what I'd told them, I hope. And before settling down to some chemical tests I was making in connection with a murder case, I happened to glance out of the window. Mrs. Hugh Miller, whom I'd almost forgotten in the excitement, was walking towards her house with a bundle. Under her arm was a rather sizable package in somewhat odd shape. And I didn't think much about it at the time. Instead, as I worked with my laboratory apparatus I pondered upon the fantastic story of old Mr. Miller, her father in law and the mysterious treasure he was supposed to have hidden in his room. I talked to him a few times, as neighbors will the summer before I put him down in my mental notebook as perfectly harmless but a little queer. When the First World War had ended back in 1918, he'd been with the army of occupation in Germany for a while. He had a pension, he told me, and had decided a year or so ago to come live with his son and daughter in law. That was all I knew, except that his health was none too good, that he rarely left his room these days and hadn't been out of the house since fall. But where Mrs. Hugh Miller had gotten hold of the idea that her father in law was hiding a crazier I couldn't imagine. I wish now I'd taken the trouble to think things through, even talk to the old man. It might have saved a lot of suffering. It was just getting dark when I finished my lab test and glanced out of the window that faced the Miller house. I rubbed my eyes and looked twice, for at that moment there burst out of the Miller's back door an apparition wrapped in flame. If it hadn't been but a dreadful scream that burst on it, I would never recognize that flaming torch as a human being. In one bound I was out of my door, over the fence and running toward the Millers. Sandy and Jill were in front of me. From which direction they came I didn't know. Still, the flame covered creature ran around in circles. I shouted, sandy.

[C]

Jill. Stop him.

[B]

Stop him.

[C]

Don't let him run.

[B]

Grab a blanket off that clothesline and wrap him up in it.

[C]

Okay, Dr. Jim.

[B]

Before I could reach the middle yard, Sandy and Jill had both made flying tackles of the flaming figure and were rolling him over and over in the dirt, smothering out the flame with a blanket. In a moment I joined them. The thing for that's the only way to describe it now, was still except for a moaning sound that came out of his burned and agonized face. Oh Lord, I thought, why will people run when their clothes are on fire? To lie down and smother the flame is their only salvation. I was giving the man, for it was old Mr. Miller first aid when his daughter in law came shouting out the door. Gosh, I'll bet she hasn't even called a fire department.

[C]

I'll call him.

[B]

But Ms. Miller went running back into the house as Jill told me later and was telephoning when Jill came panning up to her. By this time the whole neighborhood was gathering around the house and it seemed like hardly a moment after I turned again to the suffering figure lying on the grass and. But the fire engines came charging up followed by an ambulance, the squad car and all the rescue apparatus. The fire was quickly put out. It was only after the old man had been put into the ambulance that I had a chance to notice what was going on. The first thing I heard was Mrs. Miller shout name did it.

[C]

It was those two kids right there. You know yourself, officer, that you caught them setting fires this morning.

[B]

But how do you know they did?

[C]

I saw them running around the corner of the house just after I noticed the lady. And I'll testify in court that they did it.

[B]

Well, you two kids, I don't know whether you're guilty or not, but I'll have to take you down to the station for questioning. A few minutes later the officer had left with Sandy and Jill. Both of them had thrown me anguished looks but were bravely holding back their tears. I could have done something, I suppose, but there wasn't time. I had to get into that house as quickly as possible. I was beginning to put two and two together and I was certain that what I would discover would solve a part of the mystery. At least I knew who had set that fire and why. Whispering a few words into the ear of the fire chief, I saw him nod and lead the way into the Miller House while Mrs. Miller was still talking excitedly with the neighbors. I hoped Mrs. Miller wouldn't see us go in or she might destroy the very evidence to prove my case. It was at the door to the old man's room I found the first thing I was looking for. A home fire extinguisher. Empty. The rug and the bed clothes were burned and the room was filled with smoke. But aside from this, there was little evidence of the fire. On my hands and knees, I sniffed at the floor. There was an odor of kerosene. Thank you. But recognizable. One more thing remained to do. I lifted the phone, dialed a number, waited until there was an answer, and asked one question. Hello? Dr. Tim speaking. Yes. Will you give me the exact time of the first telephone call to report the fire at 1216 East Beaumont Place? No, no, not the second. The first thing I did after finding out about those calls was to call the doctor at the hospital. The old man had a chance to live thanks to the prompt way in which Sandy and Jill handled the emergency and modern hospital care and medical advances. He had been treated with a new technique discovered during the war, the use of pressurized Vaseline. Blood transfusions, blood fractions, all the miracles of modern science were being used. Then I hopped into my car and went down to the police station. Two scared kids faced me. Dr. Kim, what are you doing? Oh, no, you didn't, kids. And I'm sorry I had to let things go as far as this. The real criminal's been arrested. And Officer Barton says to tell you he never really believed you set that fire in the first place. But he had to question you because of what Mrs. Miller said.

[C]

Well, he treated his swell, but he did do it.

[B]

Yeah, that's what I want to know. Well, it was a person who called upon me this morning, and I'm afraid she got the idea of how to scare an old man into disclosing the hiding place for his money. When Officer Barton brought you into the office for starting fires in the vacant lot, you mean Mrs. Miller? I do. I should have known when I saw her walk past my window with a fire extinguisher wrapped up. But still, I should have known.

[C]

But tell you what happened.

[B]

Well, she meant just to scare the old man so he'd grab his money out of the hiding place and run. Everything went fine, except Mrs. Miller was too smart. She called the fire department first and then started the fire. I thought the trucks got there too quickly after the first alarm, which was really the second. Gee, I bet you put the fire out with the Extinguisher or almost out. So it really wouldn't burn the house down. Exactly. And then blamed you two kids. Which shows the importance of a good reputation. She almost got you convicted because of the fire this morning. Yeah, Hung the wrap on us, by golly.

[C]

What about the treasure?

[B]

Well, I guess we won't know the answer until old Mr. Miller can talk. There's no trace of it. Sure there was. I've got it right here in my pocket. The old man was clutching it in his hand when he ran out of the house. Sandy handed me the remains of some charred banknotes. In one corner of each was printed a figure. 1,005,050,000. Not dollars, but mark worthless inflated German marks of 30 years ago. Not worth the paper they were printed on. You think the old man had picked them up while he was in the army of occupation in Germany and had thought for years they'd be worth something. That he'd become a millionaire and for that he had almost lost his life. That and one other reason. When Mrs. Miller's plan had miscarried and she set him on fire too, he should have remembered the most elementary thing in the world. And that's don't get panicky. Don't run even toward water. Just lie down and roll. Or wrap yourself in something to smother the fire. I'll bet Sandy and Jill never forget it. This is Dr. Tim detective. Staying so long until next week at this same time when Sandy, Jill and I will bring you by transcription the mystery of the Dog that Did and didn't.

[D]

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[B]

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[E]

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[B]

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