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The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio| Daily Mystery Dramas
Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Hapless Hunter Matter (EP4651)
00:29:11
Today's Mystery: Johnny goes to New York state to investigate the death of an insured with a $500,000 who was shot and killed by a drunk hunting guide while on a trip with an insurance beneficiary. Original Radio Broadcast Date: December 8, 1957...
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- [00:28]
Host
Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio. In a moment, we're going to bring you this week's episode of yours truly, Johnny Dollar. But first, if you are enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software and our listener support and appreciation campaign continues. You can become one of our ongoing Patreon supporters for as little as $2 per month by going to patreon grab great detectives dot net. Well, now, from December 8, 1957, here is the hapless Hunter Matter.
- [01:08]
Johnny Dollar
And Johnny Holland. Johnny Tri Mutual Insurance Limited. Oh, sure, Jerry, how are you? The name Curtis Randall mean anything to you? The banker here in Hartford? That's the one. He's also one of our big policyholders. At least he was. Oh, what's happened to him? Day before yesterday, he and a friend of his fellow named Byron Peters, they went deer hunting over near Kingman, New York. And they hired some old character in the neighborhood to act as guides. Randall and Peters didn't know it, but the old goat was an alcoholic. So what happened? The end of the day's hunt, they raised Kane with Curly because he hadn't found them a deer. Curly? The name of the guide, huh? Yeah. They had a big argument. Curly ran amok. He picked up his 30. 30 killed Randall, then killed himself. Too bad. But what's to investigate? Well, it's really just routine company policy on anything over 500,000. 500? Wow. Who's Randall's beneficiary? His honey companion, Peters. Peters? No wonder you want me to investigate Johnny. Only this one looks too easy, Johnny. I'll be right over. Bob Bailey in the exciting adventures of the man with the action packed expense account, America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator, yours truly, Johnny Dollar. And now, act one of yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Expense accounts submitted by special investigator Johnny Dol to the Tri Mutual Insurance Co. Ltd. Hartford, CT. Following is an account of expenses incurred during my investigation of the hapless Hunter Matter expense account, item one, 95 cents for a taxi across town to try Mutual in the office of Jerry Holland. As they opened the door, he met me halfway. Hey, what was the idea of hanging up on me? Johnny, when I tried to call you back, you'd left. Well, sure. I figured if this thing only happened a day or so ago, the faster I could get working on it, the better. Well, I'll go along with you on that, but where's this man Peter? In the hospital. Because if anybody should be suspect, he's short after all, as a beneficiary. What did you say? I tried to tell you on the phone, only you hung up. Byron Peters is in the hospital. Where? Over in Kingman, New York. Why? Because he was shot up too by that drunken guide when he tried to prevent him from killing Randall. Ah, then Curly kill himself. Yeah. You know, if you'd stop going off half cocked, you might get somewhere in this case. If it really is a case. Sorry, I. I guess I jumped to a conclusion before I did. Half a million is still a lot of money. Sure it is, if you need it. And Byron Peters doesn't. Well, according to the local police chief who called me, it was in Byron Peters brand new El Dorado that they drove over to Kingman. It was Peters who arranged for the guide service. It was he who supplied the guns and equipment.
- [04:15]
Host
Yeah.
- [04:15]
Johnny Dollar
Okay. Okay, Jerry. I'll take your word for it. What hospital is he in? Over there. Angel of Mercy. It's the only one. Any other information I ought to have? None that I can give you. As I told you, this is just routine because of the money involved. Company policy. Of course. For your report, you might try to find out if this old Curly Summers, the guy, had any reason to have it in for Randall. Randall known before, huh? I thought you said Peters arranged for the guy. I guess I did. But. Now, John, let me have Peter's home address, will you? And Randall's? Sure, why not? And I hope you don't think. Did you know Randall well? Yes. Was he a drinking man? One martini before Danny, that's all. Why? How about Peters? I don't know. What difference would it make? Oh, just wondered. Now kid me, Johnny, you've got something of your sweet. Why, Jerry. Now what is it? You know something about these people that I don't? Not a thing, so help me. But 500,000 is a lot of money. And I tell you that if you suspect Byron Peters, you're crazy. Did I say I still suspect? But the way you've been talking, did I? Well, no. Well, I do. Sure. With so little to go on, I had no reason at all to suspect Peter except for a hunch. But hunches have paid off for me more than once. Expense Account, Item 2, 38 0. A tank full of gas with a drive across Route 6 to the New York state line. There I picked up 9W, then 212to Kingman. I found the angel of Mercy Hospital on the way into town. The chief resident physician of Dr. Matthews was completely cooperative and of no help whatsoever. Quite pointless to see him at the moment, Mr. Dollop. Oh, what do you mean, doctor? Mr. Peters is sleeping under sedation. Oh, I'm afraid the ordeal with the police left him quite exhausted. The police have already seen and questioned him. Yes, and they had no business questioning him so long in view of his condition. Shock, you know. Tell me something. Do they suspect that he killed Mr. Randall too, then wounded himself for an alibi? You mean that you do? Yeah. Do they? Oh, my boy, you must be joking. Of course not. Ah, why not? Whether you realize it or not, and you will, if I permit you to see Mr. Peters, see the manner in which he was wounded, see the extent of his wound. Now, realize what? Oh, my boy, I asked you a question. Doctor, you will realize how impossible it would have been for him to shoot himself in that fashion. How narrowly he himself escaped death at the hands of that rum crazed guide. You're sure, Doctor? Of course I'm sure. And so are the police. Well, where does that leave me, if I may say so, with egg on your face. Act two of yours truly, Johnny Dollar. In a moment. And now, act two of yours truly, Johnny Dollar and the hapless hunter Matter. A hunting guide had run amok near the little town of Kingman, New York, and according to report, was responsible for the death by shooting of wealthy banker Curtis Randall, for the wounding of Randall's companion, Byron Peters. But Peters is beneficiary of Randall's half million dollar insurance policy. So naturally the old bugger suspicion began to gnaw away at the back of my brain. Until, that is, I saw Peters, his wounds, the X rays and finally talk with Captain McManus at the local police headquarters. Well, sure, we Talked to Peters, Mr. Dollar, but only to find out exactly what happened when old Curly went off his rocker and started spraying lead with his hunting rifle, then shot himself. Then my suspicion that Peters might have done the shooting. Didn't you see how Mr. Peters was hit by that 30. 30. Now look, he saw Curly pull the rifle on Mr. Randall and shoot him down. Yeah, yeah. So he lunged at Curly like this. Curly whirled around, pulled the trigger. Yeah, well, the X rays I saw, sure. Well, then you know when Peters lunged at him, the bullet creased his head from the top, went right through the muscles in the back of his left shoulder and landed in the floor. So it's pretty obvious that Peters couldn't have shot himself. It's impossible. He would have had to have arms five or six feet long to shoot himself on the top of the head at that angle. Hey, when did you first learn about this whole thing, Captain? When Mr. Peters came to, he phoned me from up in Curly's cabin where it happened. I went up there right away and Curly and Randall were dead. Peters was still lying next to the fireplace where he'd fallen. But if he was able to phone you. He pulled the phone over to him by the cord. Still had a good right hand, you know. Oh, I see. Where were Randall and Curly? Randall by the front door with a bullet in the back of his head. Curly lay between him. Just how much do you know about this Curly character? Now that's the part I don't understand why he did it. I heard he was an alcoholic. Sure, he was the town drunk in a harmless sort of a way. Except when he'd go off on a rampage and get into a fight or two. But never during hunting season. Uh huh. Well what did he do? Odd jobs of any kind? Most anything. People had always refused to pay him until the job was done. To make sure he'd stay sober, huh? Well, at least reasonably sober. And just as soon as he got paid, he'd buy a lot of cheap whiskey and hole up in his cabin. That's where the murder occurred. Except. Yeah, except during hunting season. Then he'd never touch it. He was a good guide, Mr. Dollar. Made a lot of money from the people who came up from New York City and Hartford and such. That's the part I don't understand. His hitting the bottle during the season. Well, did he ever have any trouble with his clients before? Oh, he belly ache about them being so rich when he was so poor, that sort of thing. But he'd have to get awfully drunk. I swear I don't understand it. Well look, Captain, I'd like to see the bodies of Mr. Randall and Curly. Are they still hereabouts? Still over at the coroner's office. Then let's go, huh? I wasn't quite sure what I was looking for. Maybe that's the reason I found it. At least found something that started that old suspicion bug going away again. Peter's back at the hospital had had a bad powder burn on his forehead next to where the bullet had creased him. Okay. He had said that Curly the guide pulled the trigger when he lunged at him. Randall there at the coroner's office had no powder burns. Okay. It was apparent that he had been shot from across the room. But Curly, who was supposed to have shot himself upward through the jaw also showed no sign of powder burn. Sure, the bullet hole indicated he could have shot himself by holding a gun at arm's length. A 30. 30 is fairly short. But no powder burn. I said nothing of this. The Chief McManus. Well, it pretty much bears out what Peters told me and I told you, doesn't it? Curly shot Randall, then Peterson. Suppose just for the sake of argument that Randall did the shooting first, that is. Well now, Mr. Dollard. Say, wait. Speaking of argument, Peter said that Randall and Curly had a pretty big one, you know, because Curly didn't find him any dare. That's when he started to get drunk and abusive. But as for Mr. Randall, on the other hand, suppose that Peters started the whole thing. Oh, now look, you know that doesn't make any sense. Then try to kill himself. Well, isn't that what you're saying Curly did? Sure, but that's different. No good old bum realized he'd gone too far. There was no other way out for him. But a man like Peters with money, everything he wants. Where is this cabin of Curly's? Quite a way. 10, 12 miles. How do I get there? Straight down Paris street to the Mobile gas station. You know where that is? Yeah, I saw it on my way in. Okay, you turn left there, go six miles, then take the first right hand road right up the side of Deer Mountain until you get there. Okay. Here. Here's the key to it. Oh, good. Thanks, Chief. I'll see you later. You want me to go along with you? No. According to you, this of mine is all wrong. I'm sure of it. Okay, then I'd better wing alone. From the outside, inside Curly's cabin was a shack, nothing more. And there were enough cheap whiskey bottles scattered around the yard to sink a battleship. Inside, however, it was pretty comfortably fixed up. And back into the kitchen sink I found a case of Prince Francis Scotch, nearly full. Had Curly suddenly changed his taste for the fetter? Or had somebody decided to bait him with it? By the dark stains on the floor, I could see where both Randall and Curly had fallen. Peters had gone down. There was also the rifle slug embedded in the floor. Then I noticed the angle at which that slug had ended, as though it had been fired from the ceiling, certainly from higher than any normal man could reach. And Curly was only 5 foot 2 or 3. Then I saw something else. A heavy cord hanging down from one of the rafters above where Peters had lain. It was frayed at the end, as though forcibly broken. Now, suppose something had hung a loaded rifle there by the trigger so the slightest pull would set it off. Had stood under it, holding the muzzle carefully next to his head to one side, just close enough to. Yeah. Hello, Mr. Dolly. Captain. Yeah. Listen, you may Be right. Oh, I still don't see how you can be. What do you mean? Look, I. I've got Dr. Matthews at the hospital here on this party line. You still there, Doc? Right here, Chief. Well, then you better tell Mr. Nolan. Well, it's about Mr. Peters. Yeah, he's left. Left? I thought you had him under sedation. I guess it didn't take hold the way I thought it would. What happened? Well, he woke up and asked me who it was that'd been here to see him while he was drowsy. Did you tell him who I was? Yes, and he seemed to drop off again, so I left him. A few minutes later, I heard his big fancy car pulling away. Doctor. I went back to his room and he was gone. Doctor. Listen, Dollar. Yeah, Chief. I don't know what it means any more than you do, but if I was you, I would get away from that isolated cabin. You see what I mean, Dollar? Sure, Chief. I'll leave right away. That was very smart, $. Byron Peters. That's right, Byron Peters. Act three of yours truly, Johnny Dollar. In a moment. And now, act three of yours truly, Johnny Dollar and the hapless hunter matter. Oh, you weren't as badly hurt by that bull it as you pretended. That's right, $. Does that help bear out your absurd suspicions about me? Not nearly so much as you're coming up here to this cabin, Peters. What's that supposed to mean? You rigged the whole thing pretty well, but not well enough. Why you wanted to get rid of Curtis Randall, I don't know. You're out of your mind. Randall was a friend of mine. You must have had some reason for killing him. Curly Summers murdered Curt. We had a big argument because he hadn't found us any game. The only reason it got out of hand was because Curly was drunk. On what? On some of that expensive scotch I found in the kitchen. How should I know? Yes. Where did he get that? How should I know? Well, I do. You brought it here to help bolster your phony alibi. To indicate that Curly had it up here, had been hitting it. But you pulled a boo boo. Why don't you talk sense, Detectives? Are you trying to tell me Curly would ever have stuff like that? Look. Look at the old bottle scattered around outside, Chief. Rot got, that's all. What's more, he never touched a drop during hunting season. That's about as thin evidence as you could possibly dig up, $, and you know it. Peters, why did you come up here just now? Okay, I'll tell you that too. Lying There in the hospital, nursing your sore shoulder. You didn't plan on that injury, did you? I told the police. Oh, yeah, sure, you told the police. Lying there, you suddenly remember the one thing that could show how you cleverly wounded yourself after you killed Randall and Curly. That piece of cord up on the rafter where you hung Curly's gun up by the trigger. You aimed it carefully along the side of your head, then yanked on it to set it off. Dangerous, but a great alibi. I told the police, the doctor. Curly pulled that trigger when I lunged at him, struggled with him. Little Curly held that gun high enough so the bullet would crease your forehead from above. I was bent over, lunging at him. Then enter the floor from up here where this cord is hanging. You're. You're pretty smart, aren't you, Dollar? Curly was supposed to have committed suicide, huh? Yes, he must have, because I heard him shoot himself as I passed out. Oh, sure. The bullet entered his lower jaw, went up into his brain. That's right. That meant he had to hold that 30. 30 at arm's length. So the muzzle right next to his jaw. That's right where it would have left powder burn. But Peters, there were none. Because you shot him from across the room. The same as you did Randall. Yes, yes, the same as. I'll shoot you if you can. My right hand is still good, $. And so is the.38. You and your fool insurance company should have left things as they were. Chin up, $. Tell me one thing. Sorry, I haven't got time. When I left the hospital, I made sure I was seen heading for New York and a carefully set up alibi. You still won't get away with it. You know any more than you got away with killing Randall. I had until you came along. And I will when I've killed you. So if you have nothing more to say. One thing. Why did you kill Randall? You're trying to stall me. Why? All right, all right. Because I forced him to name me in his insurance. I was the only one who knew about some shady operations in his early business career. The old story, huh? That's right. Blackmail. That's why he's been paying me off, supporting me until recently. So you threatened to expose him? No. What would that get me financially? Then tell me this. I've got to get out of here. To New York. Just one thing more. I don't know why you're trying to stall me, but it's no use. So if you have any prayers, darling. Sure, sure. That Chief McManus standing there in the doorway will slug you before you pull that trigger. Oh no, not that old chestnut.
- [18:34]
Host
Why not?
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Johnny Dollar
Peter. What? You dog on a dollar. I thought I told you on the phone to get out of here. Expense account total including gas to get me Back to Hartford. $13.13. Sense remarks. Why? Why don't they ever learn? Yours truly, Johnny Dol. This is the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.
- [20:10]
Host
Welcome back. So we've got a key rule in the Johnstone, yours truly, Johnny Dollar Universe, and that is that police officers have super speed. Given the length of time it took Johnny to get from the hospital to the cabin, that's the only way that McManus would get there. I thought the killer scheme was clever enough in a convoluted way as it would probably fool local police. Not used to looking very deep into something that appears quite obvious on the surface. Although the idea he expected to get a $500,000 insurance payoff, but that he didn't expect insurance company to look into what happened seems a bit crazy. Johnny's hanging up and dashing over to the insurance agent's office at the start of the episode has no good in universe explanation. It comes down to a small writing fail of Jack Johnstone, who wrote this script. Not being able to come up with a good quick ending, Johnny might as well have said, okay, I'm sorry, I've got to come over now. The theme music is about to play. Given the agent's attitude that this was just a box checking exercise, it makes me wonder why he's calling Johnny in at all. I generally assume that whatever his fees, Johnny commands more than your average insurance investigator. If it's just a box checking exercise, without any real likelihood that this is going to turn out to be fraud, why not just call in a less expensive operative? Well, listener comments and feedback now and we start out on Facebook where Emmett writes regarding the episode the Hope to Die Matter. I thought this was a silly typical Jack Johnstone episode until the expectation at the end where we learn it's rather like a crime in the interest of the greater good. That doesn't make it any less unlikely, but hey, that's a Johnstone script in the age of declining scripts. By the way, did anyone else notice when Johnny said Let George do it? Well, thanks so much. Appreciate the comment, Emmett. And I also want to acknowledge the Let George do it was actually noted by another listener, Alexis, commenting over on GoodPods. I think it's particularly likely they didn't do those sort of things that we would typically view as like deep cut, Easter eggs. Though I will say if anyone would put a deep cut Easter egg referencing a prior Bob Bailey series, Jack Johnstone would the phrase let George do it was the phrase let George do it was actually pretty common, but began to fade from public consciousness in the second half of the 20th century. The only reason I heard it as a kid was that I saw an episode of Davey and Goliath from 1972 where the episode essentially taught kids the concept of the phrase let George do it. And when it comes to caring for our neighbors, to actually take care of them ourselves, not just assume somebody else is going to do it. That episode aired in 1972 and in the 52 years since I'm not aware of a single media production. Nothing I've heard since then has referenced that saying at all. The Johnny dollar episode was 15 years before that, so it was starting to fade, but I think there was still a great public awareness of what the saying was and what it meant. And then I have a comment on YouTube, a listener writes, the only thing I know about.257 caliber is that those rifles are expensive. I would imagine so, given the small interest in the gun and the limited interest in ammunition. That has to be a fairly expensive weapon to own. And then over on Spotify, not when Comments Regarding I guess some of our conversation about telephones if you are ever in Georgia, we have the Rural Telephone Museum and it is. I did look that up. It is in Leslie, Georgia and it has telephones going back to replicas of the phones used by Alexander Graham Bell and also has a couple that were used in President Carter's presidential campaign in the 70s. It's in Leslie, Georgia, which is only 20 miles from Plains and looks like one of those great bits of Americana that would be so interesting to visit. Thanks so much for sharing about it. Then we have a comment from John who writes, how did the US win World War II? If sound quality in 1957 was still this bad? I trust the question is at least partially humorous and I'm tempted to be a smart aleck about it. But I will say that the audio did not sound as bad when this was transmitted in 1957. These are just the best quality recordings that we have available today, which as I've talked about in the past, particularly into some comments, I think most recently on Matthew Slade, you're just dealing with recordings that aren't first generation or lower quality. And it's unfortunate that there are some Johnny Dollar episodes where we don't have high quality recordings. And again, there are people working to have improved quality. But we play the best we can find and there are those sort of limitations. So I appreciate folks bearing with us. And by smart alecky, I meant something like, you should have heard the quality of the German radio detective programs. And finally, we have a comment from Dave regarding our Sam Spade Mr. Moto episode. My favorite show. Love every Sam Spade movie and radio episode. He was the mold. Every part Private Detective came from to infinity. Well, thank you so much. Appreciate your comment, David. And now it is time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day. And I want to go ahead and thank James. James has been one of our patreon supporters since July 2022, currently supporting the podcast at the detective Sergeant level of $7.14 or more per month. Thank you so much for your support. And that will actually do it for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast podcast software. And if you're enjoying the podcast on YouTube, be sure to like the video, subscribe to the channel, and mark the notification bell. We'll be back next Friday with another episode of yours truly, Johnny Dollar. But join us back here tomorrow for Dragnet, where what's it doing?
- [27:54]
Johnny Dollar
Well, it's just an airliner. Probably on its way into Burbank. You're not fooling me.
- [27:58]
Host
That's.
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Johnny Dollar
The plane's been by before. It's flying low, too. Yeah, I guess I didn't notice it. Well, what difference does it make? Probably watch. Flying back and forth. Maybe they're the police. They're trying to do something. They're trying to get their hands on me. Well, let's see. Yeah, might be their plane. It's a big one. Sure, sure. They're trying to do something. Coming right by here. Flying low. It's the same one I. I can see. Look. You see there on the wing? Yeah. What's that? The. The number right there on the wing? It's the same one that passed over.
- [28:38]
Host
A few minutes ago.
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Johnny Dollar
Will you get away from me? All right, Walter. Give me that. Give it to me.
- [28:47]
Host
I hope you'll be with us then. In the meantime, send your comments to Box 13 Great detectives. Follow us on Twitter at radiodetectives and check us out on Instagram. Instagram. Com. Great. Detectives from Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham, signing off.