Latest / Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas / Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Eleven O’Clock Matter (EP1567)

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Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Eleven O’Clock Matter (EP1567) · Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas

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Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Kalispell, Montana. This
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is your host, Adam Graham. Yes, this episode is being recorded during
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a trip to Kalispell, which by the time you're listening to it will have
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occurred of the previous week. If you do have a comment, send it
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to me Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net, follow us on Twitter at
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Radio Detectives, and become one of our friends on Facebook Facebook dot COM's Radio
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Detectives. Well, before we do get started, I want to encourage you
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as you're making your travel plans, remember the name Johnny Dollar Air dot com
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is your first search for hotels, rental cars, airline tickets, and even
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more. Johnny Dollar air dot Com is a price line affiliate, so you
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get all the benefits of going through priceline, including being able to choose from
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great published specials or naming your own price, but part of your purchase price
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goes to support the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio at no additional cost to
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you. So when you're making your travel plans, remember Johnny Dollar Air dot
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com. Well, now it's time for today's episode of Yours Truly Johnny Dollar,
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the original air date January the nineteenth of nineteen fifty eight, and the
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title is the eleven o'clock Matter from Hollywood. It's time now for Johnny Dollar
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at mccrack and Johnny Universe. Lookouts. If you're a Hi pat, what's
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on your mind? Ever heard of a B and C? Well? Yeah,
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back in the first grade. Look, I'm not talking about the alphabet.
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I'm talking about an advertising agency. Oh what about it? The A
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stands for Appleton. Alfred Appleton, fifty five years old. Eastern Trust has
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his life insured for one hundred thousand dollars, so it's in your idiot stops
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paying off at the age of sixty five, and we'd like to see him
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collected. Looks like somebody else has different ideas. What do you mean do
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you think somebody's trying to kill him? I see you want me to run
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down to New York and talk to him. He's up at his weekend place
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now, but one hundred miles up the coast, overlooking the sea at Skeleton
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Point. You can talk to him there. Skeleton Point. Now, that's
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a cheerful name, I know, Johnny, make sure it stays just a
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name. Bailey and the exciting Adventures of the Man with the Act Impact expense
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account America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator. It was truly Johnny Dollar, no Act
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one of yours. Truly Johnny Dollar. Expense account submitted by special Investigator Johnny
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Dollar the Eastern Trust and Insurance Company, Hartford, Connecticut. Following is an
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acount of expenses encourage during my investigation of the eleven o'clock matter expense account out
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of one eight dollars forty cents gas and minage on my card to Skeleton Point
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through a drenching rainstorm. The Appleton home, perched ti on a cliff at
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the edge of the sea. Was an old weatherbeating affair, but right now
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it looked mighty good to yes, is this mister Appleton's house? This is
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the Gregory house. Oh, I'm sorry, mister Appleton only leases this house.
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Oh I see well, is he at home? I believe he's expecting
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me. You're mister Dollar. Yes, I'm missus Gregory the house keeper.
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Come in. Missus Gregory had a strong, determined face and dark, metallic
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piercing eyes. She dipped my coat and pointed to a door across the afy
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hall. I was conscious of her eyes following me as I entered the library
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to find two men seated in front of an open fire. Yes, sir,
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I'm that Appleton is my attorney. Grand Hillman. Oh, mister Donan,
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little damp mister Hillman. Oh are here? Donald? The fire right
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out? Oh? Thanks? Feels good and slightly warmer than the welcome the
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housekeeper gave you. I'm answered, Miss Gregory. Well, she did seem
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a little raserved. She's a widow Holmes his house, but I love the
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place, so anyway, I'm glad you came. I understand there's been some
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sort of attempt on your life, mister Appleton. Well, mister Appleton has
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the seed several crank notes lately. We've got it right to take what precautions
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we could have. You notified the police, mister Hullman. No, no,
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I veatoed the idea. Johnny Oh, why, mister Appleton. I
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didn't want that kind of publicity Right now. My advertising agency is right in
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the middle of landing of fat new account. Your agency is a B and
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C. That's right, Who are being c? She is nobody? M
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Tom Baker and I liked the idea of ABC, but we didn't have any
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other partners, So C just stands for a company. All this. Tom
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Baker is your only partner. He was, there's some question as to whether
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he still is. I don't follow you. Oh, I don't think there's
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any need to go into that now. I guess you're right, Grant anyway,
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don't I would want to accuse Tom of anything until I've got a chance
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to go over the books this weekend? Ell, did I use someone at
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the door a moment? This is Johnny Dollar, Laura, mister Dollar,
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my wife? Oh, I see, how do you do me to Dollar?
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Missus Appleton? Dollar the crank let as Alice's been getting up in my
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room. I'll bring him down. Okay, mister Helen, you will stay
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overnight? If this was won't to Johnny? Now? Haven't you imposed on
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mister Dollar enough? Dear? Perhaps he has business back in the city.
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Nonsense and left storm out there? Oh, I'll this is Gregory, make
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a room for him. Well would you not drink mister Dollar? No?
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No thanks, Missus Appleton. You seem rather surprised when you saw me here.
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Who did I almost as though you were expecting someone else, someone else.
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I know, I wasn't expecting anyone in particular. Well, perhaps I
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just wait, hold it, what's the matter? Flash of lightning and someone
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outside that window? Oh no, you must be wrong, they're right here.
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I grabbed my coat and went out into the storm. Because of the
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parlor, sure, but also because of Laura Appleton, because she'd been staring
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at that same window, shaking her head quickly as though warning someone. But
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outside of the downpour in the mud, I could see no one, no
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flockmants. Finally, I went back inside the phone in the entry hall.
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They call the local police, but the phone was dead. Maybe the storm
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had knocked down the lines. Yeah, or maybe someone just wanted to make
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sure we'd have a nice cozy weekend undisturbed. And my hunch was it might
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be too cozy for comfort. Act too of yours, truly, Johnny Dollar
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in a moment, and now for another episode in the life of Sergeant Donald
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Bellweather my husband There, how much further is it? I don't know about
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a hundred miles. We're not getting sleepier, You don't know. You just
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close your eyes, hunting and take another nap. We'll be home, so
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kidding? Will you stay awaken? Yeah? I still be rest, would
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tell m y the other work from where sleep you're doing? S sleep?
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Don't be enough of that? You went nothing nothing? Right? Then it's
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all right. I guess I'm getting a little sleepy. It's all who stop
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a while, take a little nap? Who to do? So? What
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if we do get home later than you plan? At least we'll arrive in
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good health. Yeah, it's all right. About eighteen hundred American drivers lose
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their lives each year because they fall asleep at the wheel. No, I'm
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just not gonna make it eighteen hundred and one. We caught five look off
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the highway. We're way off the road. Ad. Let's you take a
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nap for about an hour. I'll be refreshed and you'll be on our way
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again, right, sir, I'm not gonna make it eighteen hundred and one.
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You'd I could have make it eighteen hundred and two either, that's n
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donald, that's my doll, and no act too of yours, truly.
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Johnny Dollar and the eleven o'clock matter, you were see anybody outside, mister
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Dollar and that rain, Mister Helman, I couldn't see ten feet in front
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of me. Can you describe the face you saw at the window. Well,
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it was more of a silhouette. I couldn't even tell if it was
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a man or a woman. You were sure you did see someone, Johnny,
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Yes, reasonably sure, mister Rappleton. Come in. Your partner is
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here, mister Rappleton, Tom Baker, Hello, Well, I thought i'd
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surprise you. I'd tried to call you earlier but your phone was out.
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Well, this is a surprise. Oh I'd like you to meet Johnny Dollar
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doll. Hi. Tom, you're soaking wet. My car hit a big
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puddle about half a mile down the road and quit on me. I had
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to walk the rest away. Did you just now get here, mister Baker?
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Yes? Why mister Dollar thought he saw someone outside the window a few
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minutes ago. Oh no, I just now I got some extra close up
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in my room. I should pitch you, Tom. Let's get you change
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before you catch cold. Thank Glee. Look this Wayne is getting all of
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us down. Why don't we live a little huh Oh? How about going
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down to the beach house, building a fire, playing some records, having
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some drinks. Huh Yeah, it might be a good idea. Where's the
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beach house down near the bottom of the cliff with the beach. It's real
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nice, but in this weather. Oh there's a stairway being down. Yes,
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why don't we go down there. I'm getting the creeps just sitting around
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here like this. So we went down to the beach house. Lorrain had
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let up a little, but nobody seemed to feel much like a party.
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We just sat there in front of the fire, not saying much. Once
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or twice I thought I had detected Laura Appleton and Tom Baker exchanging quick glances,
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but I couldn't be sure at the intercom from the house else, Oh
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yeah, I'll get it. Yes, Oh yes, miss Gregory, you
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can go on to bed. We won't be needing you anymore tonight. You
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know that sounds like a good idea. It's almost to let them and I'm
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beaten, so you'll excuse me. Oh sure, sure, Well why don't
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we all could we have a talk now? Okay, Tom, if you
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insist, Laura, why don't you pictures another drink? How about Huma's dollar?
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And yeah, I'm with you, hellman, Let's go on up to
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the house. Well, I'm glad the rain is let up. Yeah,
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mister Hellman, I didn't come with you because I was tired. I wanted
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to talk to you. I thought as much earlier this evening. Applein said
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something about not wanting to accuse Baker of anything until he'd gone over the books
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this weekend. What did he mean? I'm not really sure, mister Dollon.
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All I know is the Owl seems to think he may have found some
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irregularities in the books that his advertising agency. Well, if there is anything
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wrong, i'd blame myself, partially, my soul. Well, I manage
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most of our's affairs, but the agents have been running so smoothly. Please,
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So I thought that, Well, I see that that's going to change
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right now. I didn't come up to go to bed either, And you're
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going to work on those books or to take me about an hour? Just
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about eleven? Now? Will you be up by midnight? Yeah? I'd
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like to know what you find out. Where is that light switching? Never
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could remember? Dollar? What is it? There's somebody else in here?
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Look out dollar dollar. I guess I was out only a few seconds because
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the clock was still striking when Hellman brought me to Are you all right now?
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Wow? Yeah, I guess so. I grabbed at him whoever he
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was, but he knocked me loose. By the time they got the lights
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on, he was gone. Lucky for you, we only stunned you momentarily.
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Oh, brother Hilman, did you see where he went? Well,
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he didn't leave by this front door here, I'm sure of that. Then
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he must be still in the house. We worked our way through the house
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room by room. Finally, ten minutes later we stood by an open window
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in a back round. Wow, here's our answer. He went out this
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window. Yeah, what's the matter, oh missus Greig, mister Dollar was
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attacked by a prol problem. That's terrible. Where's the intercoon of the beach
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shops? We'd better tell mister RAPPERTI right there on the wall this button here?
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Yeah, no answer, Come on, Helen, let's get down there.
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We piled it out of the house and along the path to the edge
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of the clips. Then we found her, Laura, standing at the top
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of the wooden stairway. One section of the rail and was broken away.
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We looked over the cliff. There was a party lying in the rocks down
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below. It was Al Appleton, Act three of yours, truly, Johnny
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Dollar. In a moment do you know who said democracy is based upon the
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conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people. Those words came from the
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American religious leader Harry Emerson Fosdick. From the earliest days of the United States
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of America, there has been the sentiment that the average person can achieve an
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important goal if he has given an environment in which he can develop his capabilities
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to the fullest extent, an environment in which the individual is given the rights
16:11
and privileges that he needs for development. It is the duty of every American
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to protect and stimulate this environment. Remember the words of Harry Emerson Fosdick.
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They are part of your American heritage. The extraordinary possibilities of ordinary people are
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inherent in American democracy, and now act three of yours, truly. Johnny
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Dollar and the eleven o'clock matter. We stood on the stairway at the top
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of the cliff, looking down at Avalance's body in the rocks below. That
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is Himan and I did. Laura Appleton was in a state of shock and
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we couldn't get much sense out of it. We had missus Greggory take her
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back to the house. Than Himan and I get a flesh light and climbed
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down the rocks to Appleton's body dead, mister Collin the better not move buddy
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until the police get here. Yeah, let's see his wristwatch stopped at ten
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after eleven. It's eleven thirty now, right, And because the clock was
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just striking eleven when I got hit over the head in the entry hall.
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Yeah, because then we must have spent ten or fifteen minutes searching the house
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for that prober. Meantime, he or somebody else was shoving Apples and over
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the cliff somebody else. There were a couple of people with Appling down at
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the beach house, Laura and Tom Baker. I'd forgotten about Tom. Where
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is it right now? Hellman, that's a very good question. We went
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back to the house. The phone was working now, so I put in
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a call to the local sheriff's office, but all the units were out on
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call. They'd send somebody as soon as they could. I started for Laura
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Applin's room. Grant Hillman over took me in the hall. Dollar. I
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made a preliminary check of the agency records Apples and brought up here with him
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this weekend. Did you find a shortage? Yeah, possibly as much as
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fifty thousand dollars. I see, thanks helemn Yeah, I assing you later
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come in. Oh, mister dollar, I am feeling better now. I'm
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sorry to bother you with questions, Missus Appleton, but I'm afraid I have
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no choice. I understand. I want you to tell me exactly what happened.
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Well, I'll try. After you and Mary Human left the beach house,
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my husband and Tom Baker and I sat there a few minutes, and
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then Tom left. I see. Then a couple of minutes later, somebody
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in the house called my husband. I'm indocom so he left me. What
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time was that? A few minutes after eleven? I guess what happened?
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Then I sat there a few minutes longer than I Well, I just didn't
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feel like sitting there alone, so I started up the stairway. When I
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got to the top, I saw that the rail had been broken away.
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I looked over the edge. Okay, Missus Appler, why did Tom Baker
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come here this evening? I don't know. I think you do what you
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tried to warn him when I saw his face at the window earlier he'd see
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and the two of you kept exchanging glances all evening. I know you're wrong.
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Listen, Grant Hillman's in a position to know something about your husband's business
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affairs, isn't he. Well, of course what your husband suspected a shortage.
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Hillman confirmed it a few minutes ago after going over the records. Surely
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you don't think that Tom Baker Baker was your husband's partner. Maybe he came
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up here to try to square things with him? Was that it? No?
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All right, Tom did come up here to talk to my husband.
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What about I was going to ask for a divorce to marry Tom Baker.
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Oh, I know it sounds sordid now after what's happened, but it wasn't
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that way at all. Tom and I wanted everything in the open. We
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wanted to tell Al but I but I didn't realize that you and grand we're
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going to be here this weekend. That's why I tried to signal Tom not
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to come in. Go on down at the beach house. He wanted to
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talk to Al, but well, I guess he couldn't bring himself to it.
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That's why he went for a walk. And you haven't seen him since.
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No. Oh, mister Dollar, I know my story doesn't sound very
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convincing, but if you're trying to suggest that either Tom or I killed my
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husband. Yeah, Dollar, could I see you a minute? Oh sure,
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I'll talk with you later. Missus Appleton, what is it, Helman?
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Tom Baker just walked in baking. Yes, I thought he'd want to
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talk to her. I sure do. Look, Missus Hamplton claims somebody called
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her husband at the beach house on the intercom a few minutes after eleven.
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If so, that's what lured him up to the top of the stairway A
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few minutes after eleven, well, that's when you and I were searching the
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house. We ended up at the intercom last though, somebody could have had
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time to make that call. Can I wait a minute, Missus. Gregory
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was near that room when we got to it. Yeah, I know.
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Why don't you question a Helman when I see what I can get out of
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Baker? Fifth time, Dollar, I didn't have anything to do with it.
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I went for a walk on the beach. I didn't even know Appleton
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was dead until grad Hillman told me a few minutes ago. I'm telling you
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the truth. Yeah, I'm afraid we'll have to let the police decide that.
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Baker Sheriff statione. Hello, Johnny Dollar at the Apple and Place.
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I'm still waiting for one of your units. Oh yeah, I was sorry,
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mister Dollar. He's got a lot of calls in the car of the
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stall. Well you're not the man I talked to when I called you.
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Oh no, that was Harris. He went off duty at one. He
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left me a message about your call, and we'll have somebody up there within
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fifteen minutes. Okay, thanks, that's funny, missus Gregory Deny making that
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call on the intercom. Dollar, Oh yeah, okay, what's the matter?
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Something that sergeant said over the phone. He went a minute, what
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time have you got? Ten minutes of one? Yeah, that's what my
22:00
watch says two, But according to the sergeant, it was after one.
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I checked the big clock in the ntry hall and the one in the living
22:10
room. They both agreed with my watch ten minutes of one. I slipped
22:15
outside and locked my car door. I looked at the clock on the dashboard.
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It read ten after one. When I felt a gun in my back,
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I realized I'd come up with the answer a little too late. It's
22:26
a petty dollar. I thought I had a fool proof idea, but I
22:29
hadn't figured on your locking the car, so it was you hit me over
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the head when the clock was striking eleven, who called up on them at
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the beach house, lowered him up the stairway and shoved him over, then
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came back and reset my watch and the clock so i'd hear it still chiming
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eleven. When you brought me two, I thought I'd only even out a
22:45
few seconds. Actually it was fifteen minutes. Yes, but you're the only
22:49
one who knows. Now, get in the car. We're leaving gun So
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I started to get in, then kicked at the car door behind me.
22:56
It swung and knocked Helming off the clocks. Before he could recover, I
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kneeled at all. By the time he came to, the Sheriff's patrol had
23:06
arrived, and hellman, you know, he wasn't one bit happy to see
23:11
them expense accunt at him two thirteen dollars even transportation back home. Total expenses
23:22
twenty one dollars forty cents, and a real bargain, if I do say
23:26
so myself, remarks Hillman's money was money, of course, It was he
23:30
who had taken the fifty thousand from apple Don's Agency, Yours Truly, Johnny
23:37
Dollars. Yours Truly Johnny Dollars, starring Bob Bailey, originates in Hollywood and
23:57
is produced and directed by by Jack Johnstone. Today's story was written by Robert
24:03
Wright. Heard in our cast for Eleanor Hartley Hollow Windflow, Larry Dobkin will
24:07
write, then write and Harry Bartell be sure to join us next week,
24:11
same time and station, or another exciting story of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollars.
24:18
This is Dan cubberly speaking. Johnny Dollar has come to you through the
25:27
worldwide facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service. Welcome back.
26:23
I love the atmospherics of this production. This is one where they didn't
26:30
really scamp on the sound effects and they have really just created the atmosphere so
26:37
beautifully. Also a very nice cast, including a lot of veterans such as
26:42
Harry Bartel, and a nice use of time that goes a little bit beyond
26:47
the broken Watch trick with the criminal trying to deceive Johnny as to the time
26:52
of death, making an ever important fatal mistake. Now we turn to listener
26:59
comments and feedback from Susan, who says, uh, thank you for your
27:03
post. I really appreciate them. Well, thank you so much, Susan.
27:07
Do appreciate you listening out there. That will actually do it for today.
27:11
We'll be back tomorrow with Dragnet, and then join us again next Friday
27:15
for another episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. In the meantime, send
27:21
your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net, follow us on Twitter
27:26
at Radio Detectives, and become one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot
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com Slash Radio Detectives. But for now, from Kallispell, Montana, this
27:37
is your host, Adam Graham signing off.