transcript
Speaker 1:
[00:28] Barton Yarborough Week continues here, as we bring you another encore presentation featuring Barton Yarborough. Please note that all offers and information in this episode are not valid unless currently reflected on our Great Detectives of Old Time Radio website at greatdetectives.net. But here is another program featuring Barton Yarborough. Welcome to The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, email it to me, box13 at greatdetectives.net. Follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives and become one of our friends on Facebook, facebook.com/radiodetectives. Remember, as you make your travel plans through the holidays and over into the new year to check out johnnydollarair.com, johnnydollarair.com is a Priceline affiliate, so you get all of the benefits of going through priceline.com, but part of your purchase price goes to support The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio at no additional cost to you. So remember, when making your travel plans, check johnnydollarair.com. Well, now it's time for today's episode of Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, the original air date, February 10th, 1950, and this one is the SS Malay Tradership.
Speaker 2:
[02:03] I'm now for Edmond O'Brien as Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. Edmond O'Brien and another of the adventures of the man with an action-packed expense account, America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator, Johnny Dollar.
Speaker 3:
[02:38] Expense Account. Submitted by Special Investigator Johnny Dollar, to Home Office, Intercontinental Marine Insurance Company, Hartford, Connecticut. The following is an accounting of my expenditures during my assignment aboard the SS. Melee Trader, the ship with no port of call. Expense Account, Item 1, $80. Transportation from Hartford to Savannah, Georgia, where after pausing only to grow a beer and deck myself out in Siemens gobs, I proceeded to the local hiring hall of the Siemens Union.
Speaker 4:
[03:21] The C-2 scanners of the Panamanian Line bound for Rio de Janeiro leave tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. They call it for one vagabond, one gallagoy, one carpenter and two AB.
Speaker 2:
[03:32] You take that one for me, you won't understand. Yes, yes, okay. All right, we'll put the call right through, right away.
Speaker 3:
[03:40] Tim, what is it? The name is Dollars. I'm signing on the melee trader. Ordinary seaman, special permit.
Speaker 2:
[03:47] Special, huh?
Speaker 5:
[03:48] Well, let me see now.
Speaker 2:
[03:50] Oh, yeah, yeah, here it is. Insurance, Dick, huh? Well, I'm glad to cooperate, Dollars.
Speaker 3:
[03:55] Thanks. Where do I find the shift?
Speaker 2:
[03:57] Pier 8. The directions will all be here on your assignment, Slip. What could it be? A hot cargo?
Speaker 3:
[04:04] Well, maybe. When I find out, you can read about it in the papers.
Speaker 2:
[04:07] Okay, so you're not talking. That's your business. Here's your slip.
Speaker 3:
[04:27] My new home when I found it looked neither pretentious, comfortable, or even seaworthy. She was a rusty old Liberty ship that probably had a war record, but hadn't had a coat of paint in months. Her winches, fallen ass, were busy feeding heavy, rattan-covered bales into her gaping holes.
Speaker 2:
[05:02] Yeah, what's your business?
Speaker 3:
[05:05] I'm signing on. Where do I find the chief officer? You found him.
Speaker 2:
[05:08] I'm all set. Let me see you for a bit.
Speaker 3:
[05:19] Yeah. Okay, okay, darling.
Speaker 2:
[05:22] You're on the 48 watch, quarters of 3A.
Speaker 3:
[05:26] Just past the galley, then half-starved, said.
Speaker 2:
[05:28] Cut up, you had to sign later. Right.
Speaker 3:
[05:37] So far, the spy story methods seem to be working. I was aboard the ship as a seaman, and a few seconds later, I was shaking hands with a man who shared my quarters, Al Rhoda, on a salary for four years as Intercontinental's Marine Investigator. Hi, Adam.
Speaker 5:
[05:58] Hey, it's been a long time. How are you?
Speaker 3:
[06:00] I'm fine, fine. It's good to be working at Caisley again. Hey, uh, is it all right to talk in here?
Speaker 5:
[06:06] Yeah, yeah, but let's keep it down. I've been on this tub since it left Singapore, and nobody's on to me yet. But play it cagey on deck. How much did they tell you in jolly old Hartford?
Speaker 3:
[06:18] Well, they gave me just the basic situation that, uh, that Intercontinental insured a bunch of crude rubber from British melee before the devaluation of the British pound sterling. Half of it, I understand, burned in a warehouse in Singapore.
Speaker 5:
[06:29] I bet to the tune of over a hundred thousand insurance bucks. I flew out there. Signs of arson, but no proof. I followed the other half of the crop here to Savannah.
Speaker 3:
[06:41] Hey, uh, this company that owns it, Lely Traders, kind of an outfit, is it?
Speaker 5:
[06:45] They are angels. Been up against British customs a few times. Never nailed. They own their ships, and the branch here, headed by a Mr. Peeler, imports basic commodities, like the rubber and minerals. Well, the point is that since this crude was insured before the British pound dropped, they can bring in more loot destroying it than they can selling it.
Speaker 3:
[07:07] Yeah, I guess that's a loop. And I take it the policy covers until they do sell, huh?
Speaker 5:
[07:12] That's it. I thought we were getting rid of it here. They packed it away in their warehouse, but then three days ago, they started loading it aboard again. That's why you were sent down.
Speaker 3:
[07:24] What's the matter, Al? Don't you think the company trusts you?
Speaker 5:
[07:29] I guess they figure I need help. And they're right. Where do you think we're bound, Johnny?
Speaker 3:
[07:34] Well, my papers at Corpus Christi.
Speaker 5:
[07:36] The scuttlebutt is that Corpus is just a stop that we clear there for Mexico, Veracruz, where arson investigation isn't what it could be. After that operation in Singapore, what else would they do?
Speaker 3:
[07:48] Hold it, hold it.
Speaker 2:
[07:52] Taylor, you in there?
Speaker 3:
[07:54] Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[07:55] Hall staff. Chip's article is in the company office corner of the warehouse. Go ashore and sign them.
Speaker 3:
[08:01] Yeah, okay, right away. Uh, sir?
Speaker 5:
[08:05] Nice try, Taylor. Oh, and if you'll take a word of fatherly advice.
Speaker 3:
[08:11] Well, practically anything you say, go ahead.
Speaker 5:
[08:13] But, uh, that girl in the office, the Malayan half-calf, she's the boss's daughter. Ah, my.
Speaker 3:
[08:21] Ah, my. Is that for appreciation or is it her name? Both.
Speaker 5:
[08:26] But save your dreams. The chief, our friend Hall staff, is as possessive as he's big. And you know something? I don't blame him.
Speaker 3:
[08:47] I didn't blame Horsethat either, after I saw Armai. You could tell she had enough occidental know-how to be proud of what the Orientals did to her look. Armai indeed.
Speaker 6:
[09:01] Good afternoon.
Speaker 3:
[09:02] Hello. I'm here to sign the article.
Speaker 6:
[09:05] On the mail they traded. Oh, what, please, is your name?
Speaker 3:
[09:08] Dollar, Johnny Dollar.
Speaker 6:
[09:10] Dollar? Are you a very thrifty man, Mr. Dollar?
Speaker 3:
[09:14] Well, hardly. My name is usually the only one I have to my name.
Speaker 6:
[09:18] Your thing is right here. I wish I were sailing with you.
Speaker 3:
[09:23] What? What did you say?
Speaker 6:
[09:25] That I wish I were sailing with you. I have begged with my father. But he will not let me go with him.
Speaker 3:
[09:33] Oh. Your father's gone with us, huh? I didn't know that.
Speaker 6:
[09:36] I will beg some more. Once again, please, your name right here. You have nice hands, Mr. Dollar.
Speaker 3:
[09:46] Nice hands? Now, why did you say that?
Speaker 6:
[09:49] I see so many hands here on my desk. So I noticed them. Some are big and lumpy. Some are short.
Speaker 4:
[09:57] Some are dirty.
Speaker 6:
[09:59] In the storage department, some are clean from dish washing, but all wrinkly.
Speaker 3:
[10:04] I see. Well, I'd rather get back to the ship. Thanks.
Speaker 6:
[10:07] Thank you. We hope that conditions during your voyage will meet with your approval and that you will accept employment with melee traders again.
Speaker 3:
[11:03] The next afternoon, the cargo had all been brought aboard. The ship was made ready for sea. How'd you make out, Al?
Speaker 5:
[11:41] Well, nothing new. Scuttlebutt is still Veracruz, but there's something screwy about it, Johnny. You develop a nose after you've snooped as many ships as I have. There's something wrong aboard.
Speaker 3:
[11:53] What? Besides my seamanship? The old man?
Speaker 4:
[11:57] Yeah, a lot of little things.
Speaker 5:
[12:00] Of course, we're on for Florida Straits, the readings on the ballast gauges. Of course, the displacement ratio changes with different oceans and water temperatures.
Speaker 3:
[12:09] Look, Al, that's all Greek to me, ballast gauges, displacement ratio. Just what are these things that are bothering you?
Speaker 5:
[12:15] Well, I don't know, just big things that... Look, come out on the foredeck with me, will you? Yeah, sure. Probably just this overactive nose of mine, but... I want to get a look in one of these holes. Now, there's a hand standing, look, Al. And if you'll go up there and keep his attention, I'll slip into the escape hatch of number two. All I'll need is about ten minutes. I'll meet you in the cabin.
Speaker 3:
[12:53] I made small talk with the lookout for ten minutes, then started back towards the cabin. Suddenly, I heard a scuffle behind me. Hey, Al, is that you? Then I heard someone running, and I started after the disappearing figure. But I didn't get very far.
Speaker 2:
[13:32] Mr. Peeler?
Speaker 6:
[13:33] Yes, yes, yes. One moment.
Speaker 2:
[13:37] What is this?
Speaker 3:
[13:41] There's been a killing down on deck.
Speaker 6:
[13:43] What is? What do you say? Killing?
Speaker 3:
[13:45] My watchmate, Al Rhoda.
Speaker 6:
[13:47] But this I will not believe.
Speaker 2:
[13:49] The captain or Mr. Halstaff, where are they?
Speaker 6:
[13:54] Why do you come to me?
Speaker 3:
[13:55] Because, because I think a request from you is in order. I think Sparks ought to radio the Coast Guard the sooner the better.
Speaker 2:
[14:00] But the killing on my ship, to believe it's from you, no, no, I do not.
Speaker 6:
[14:08] What is that?
Speaker 3:
[14:11] Man overboard, Mr. Peeler. A murder has just been turned into an accident.
Speaker 2:
[14:31] In just a moment, we return to the second act of Johnny Dollar. But first, Kitty Callan will join Vaughan Monroe's caravan along most of these same CBS stations this Saturday night. And on the CBS Gene Autry Show, the King of the Cowboys will bring you Ramona, When the Bloom is on the Sage, and many another Western favorite. The Vaughan Monroe Caravan and the Gene Autry Show are heard every Saturday night. Hear them tomorrow night in an hour of Top Pop and Sagebrush Symphony. Now with our star, Edmond O'Brien, we return to the second act of Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. Mr. Horseshoe, Mr. Horseshoe, please come here, Mr. Horseshoe. Yes, sir.
Speaker 6:
[15:33] Mr. Horseshoe, there has been trouble?
Speaker 2:
[15:36] Yes, sir. One of the crew fell overboard, sir. Then talk with this young man.
Speaker 6:
[15:42] He speaks of killing.
Speaker 2:
[15:44] Killing? Oh, it's you, Dollar.
Speaker 3:
[15:47] What's this gup about killing? Al Roeder, he was stabbed in the back of the neck at a small knife.
Speaker 2:
[15:53] This man is either drunk or crazy, Mr. Beeler.
Speaker 6:
[15:55] Yes, Mr. Denise.
Speaker 2:
[15:57] I just stepped out on deck to check the running lights before I turned in.
Speaker 3:
[16:01] Saw the man leaning over the rail.
Speaker 2:
[16:03] He was sick. The ship rolled and he went over.
Speaker 3:
[16:05] That would do away. I guess that was a life jacket I stumbled over, huh? What are you doing about the man overboard?
Speaker 2:
[16:11] I'll thank you to remember your place on this ship.
Speaker 3:
[16:13] I do, but I also remember Al Roeder.
Speaker 2:
[16:16] Doing what's prescribed by maritime law. I'm changing my course to circle and search the area.
Speaker 3:
[16:20] Yeah, how about the Coast Guard?
Speaker 2:
[16:21] They'll be notified in due time. I'll either go to your quarters or get forward with the rest of the crew and look for this guy you're so worried about.
Speaker 3:
[16:30] Where are you going? The radio room. Even I know the Coast Guard gets first bids.
Speaker 2:
[16:35] You listen to me, darling. I'll have you up before a commission board and you'll never ship again if you don't obey my orders. And the boilers. You better get to your lifeboat station, Mr. Peele.
Speaker 3:
[17:05] And feeling that big seagoing box of steel plates and bolts shuddering up my feet, painted sweat on my forehead, and big sticky flashes of real fear on my soul. This would be getting dead the hard way. But finally, the quivering of the ship came to a stop, calming down my own vibrations with its faded. And next to them, besides the open hatch, I found something that Hallstaff hadn't realized he'd lost or hadn't had time to look for. His penknife, the pearl shell handle with an anchor on Boston's shoulder. I pulled back the top further, moved a few of the sectional hatch colors and got a look into the holes. There was enough light to see the cargo and enough smoke curled out to tell me the explosion had not been in the boiler. Yeah, I had a fine case, except it was going down under my feet, and I'd end up with everything but proof. It was shortly after dawn when the melee trader finally settled by the bow and went into her final plunge. Everybody in the lightbulb turned and watched her go, the water quieted over her. The only traces left were the hatch colors I'd pulled loose.
Speaker 2:
[19:06] Here's the placement.
Speaker 7:
[19:08] That will be $2.80.
Speaker 3:
[19:12] Yeah, I'll keep it.
Speaker 2:
[19:13] All right, thank you.
Speaker 3:
[19:29] Page one and three, line 22, ship's articles, you remember? Dollar.
Speaker 4:
[19:35] Oh, yes.
Speaker 6:
[19:37] But this newspaper, it's you missing from shipwreck.
Speaker 3:
[19:41] Yeah, a guy would have to be stupid or dead to be lost on a sinking like that. Everything was too convenient. Plenty of time to get to both of them. Only four miles from shore.
Speaker 6:
[19:51] The paper says it's...
Speaker 3:
[19:52] Yeah, they reported me missing because I didn't take time to report myself among the living. You see, I couldn't wait to get back to Savannah, get back to you and the king size scheme cooked up in this office. Now, I'm not promising anything, but a quick sign statement might help you. I'll write it and you sign it. Oh, come on, stop it. Look, use the old sex pitch. Try to tell me that it'll be worth my while, but don't try to sell me innocent.
Speaker 6:
[20:23] Darling, you think I know about something? Please, tell me what it is.
Speaker 3:
[20:29] Look, if you're bluffing, you can quit. I know that explosion on the ship was staged. Now, the next step is to try to collect the insurance on the rubber that was lost. That's the step I'm supposed to start. Here, here's my ID.
Speaker 6:
[20:45] I do not understand. You are a police?
Speaker 3:
[20:49] Yeah, in a way. In a way, I'm the police. And the real ones aren't far behind me.
Speaker 6:
[20:54] And you do not lie to me.
Speaker 3:
[20:56] Look, I wouldn't have any reason to.
Speaker 6:
[21:02] I knew nothing of all. I, too, do not lie.
Speaker 3:
[21:06] Why did you think your father was taking this trip?
Speaker 6:
[21:09] I did not question. You told me he had business in Corpus Christi.
Speaker 3:
[21:13] Well, then, Hallstaff lied to you. The newspapers will tell you why your father took the trip. Here, look at this. Importer and fleet owner narrowly escaped death and explosion aboard his own ship. Now, who'd think of scuttling with the aged owner taking the risk himself, huh?
Speaker 6:
[21:28] Mr. Starlet, it's very difficult when in a few minutes two men you love become suddenly criminals. I am only daughter. I not question my father. If he did this thing, he did it with reason. Now, what would you have me to do?
Speaker 3:
[21:50] Well, first stop looking at me as if I started it all. I'm sorry. Honestly, I am. There were air photographs of the huge oil flicks the sinking ship had left on the surface. The only reminder now that the hatch colors had drifted away. The lack of wreckage was mentioned in the stories, and I remembered Al Roeder worrying about balance and displacement. I looked up the number of a local chemist and I made a phone call.
Speaker 7:
[22:43] Hello?
Speaker 3:
[22:45] Listen, Doc, this may sound like a silly question, but it could be important. Does crude rubber float?
Speaker 2:
[22:50] Crude rubber?
Speaker 7:
[22:52] Do you mean perhaps latex?
Speaker 3:
[22:53] Yeah, whatever you call it. The way it comes into the country, wrapped in rattan, will it float?
Speaker 7:
[22:58] Oh, specific gravity. Wait, I think. It decreases as the temperature rises. You see, normally, specific gravity is a little less than that of water.
Speaker 3:
[23:12] It would float. In the hold of a sunken ship with a hatch partly open, it would force its way out and come to the surface. But it didn't.
Speaker 7:
[23:22] Thanks.
Speaker 3:
[23:25] Am I? How many warehouses does Melee Traders have here in Savannah? Here on the waterfront, huh? Was anything moved out of them last night after the ship left?
Speaker 6:
[23:38] No. Nothing was moved. Darling, what does this mean?
Speaker 3:
[23:43] Am I? I want you to wait here in the office for your father. When he comes, I want you to tell him that I'll be waiting for him in one of the warehouses and that I know the truth. Both were stacked high with imported goods, and I picked my way through everything from leechy nuts to ivory back scratches. In the second one, hidden behind a wall of carton Ceylon tea, I found what I was looking for. They were unlabeled wood crates. I opened one, and the resilient mass inside was crude rubber, still on dry land and still insured.
Speaker 2:
[24:39] All right, Dollar, hold it.
Speaker 3:
[24:41] Hold what, Horset? There's nothing left to hold. What do you mean by that? That for me, everything is finished, wound up. Time for the law. Unless you can make another switch with that rubber before they get here. You mean that rubber in the crate? Yeah.
Speaker 2:
[25:01] Been here for over a year.
Speaker 3:
[25:03] Ah, come on, let's not waste time. You and Peeler and I know there wasn't any rubber in number two holes. You saved it to sell after you got paid off for losing it. And I'll let the experts prove it.
Speaker 2:
[25:15] What experts?
Speaker 3:
[25:17] Oh, they got all kinds. You know, one group is going to nail you for murder. That's very funny. That's very funny. So is a penknife, a funny murder weapon. But I found one on the Maylake Traitor on the deck near number two holes.
Speaker 2:
[25:36] Well, you've got a penknife, huh?
Speaker 3:
[25:38] Yeah. With a pearl handle and a silver anchor on it. You know, I guess at least a hundred seamen would testify under oath that it's yours. I know I will. I only wish I could be fifteen people when you hit the courtroom. The jury, the prosecuting attorney, the star witness and the sentencing judge. Well, you won't see me in the courtroom. How do they execute down here, huh? Gallows, electric chair, gas chamber, what? Come on, tell me.
Speaker 2:
[26:02] Or do I have to look it up? They'll have to have more than they've got.
Speaker 3:
[26:07] They got plenty. All they have to do is match up the weapon with the wound.
Speaker 2:
[26:12] Look, Dollar, I don't scare easy. I could make a confession that it still wouldn't hold without a body.
Speaker 3:
[26:19] What do you mean without a body?
Speaker 2:
[26:21] They got to have a body.
Speaker 3:
[26:23] Anyone knows that. Y'all getting ahead of yourself, old man.
Speaker 7:
[26:27] Did I say they didn't have a body?
Speaker 3:
[26:29] Huh? You think those Coast Guard helicopter and blimp crews are blind?
Speaker 2:
[26:34] Keep going, Dollar.
Speaker 3:
[26:35] You think a guy who's been a marine investigator as long as Al Rotter had went around without figuring out how to do his job even after he was dead?
Speaker 2:
[26:41] What are you talking about?
Speaker 3:
[26:43] What do you think he wore around his middle? A money belt or a life belt that would keep him afloat?
Speaker 2:
[26:46] You're stupid, Old Man.
Speaker 3:
[26:51] Give me the knife, Dollar. It's not only a knife.
Speaker 2:
[26:54] It's exhibit A.
Speaker 3:
[26:55] And the prosecution will want it.
Speaker 2:
[26:59] Give me the knife, Dollar. I'll kill you if I have to.
Speaker 3:
[27:05] You don't want to shoot me, Horsetail. How do you know I've got the knife with me? How do you know I haven't left it someplace with a note to the police?
Speaker 2:
[27:14] Stand still.
Speaker 3:
[27:17] Now get your hands off the side.
Speaker 2:
[27:21] Now hold on there.
Speaker 3:
[27:26] All right.
Speaker 2:
[27:27] Now keep your hands still. Now just turn around. And don't move.
Speaker 3:
[27:41] It was close to me, I used my feet. The first one landed on his shin. And the same evening, I fell forward on my hands and kicked out with both feet. I've turned into just that, an ordinary man. I turned Hallstaff over to the police along with the murder weapon and the results of my blood. They took it from there into a concession. Mr. Peeler was cleared of responsibility for Al Rhodes' murder, now being held on conspiracy to dethrone. I hope since the policy on the remaining cargo of rubber can now be canceled, Intercontinental is minimizing the monetary loss in Singapore. To you, the loss is a little more than $100,000 and an operative. I have lost a friend. Expense account, item two, $63. Getting my foot on a bar and my chin off my chest while waiting for a train to take me out of Savannah. Item three, $80, transportation Savannah to Huff. Item four, $10. Public stenographer who took the dictation on this expense account. Item five, entertainment, same public stenographer who spent the evening proving that socially, she didn't take dictation. Also, that she was no good at making me forget what I want so badly to forget, the fate of our older. Expense account total, give us this one is on me, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar.
Speaker 2:
[29:51] Yours Truly Johnny Dollar stars Edmond O'Brien in the title role and is written by Paul Dudley and Gil Dowd with music by Leith Stevens. Edmond O'Brien can currently be seen starring in Harry M. Popkin's United Artists Production, DOA. Featured in our cast were Lillian Bias, Barton Yarborough, William Conrad, Elliott Reed, and Robert Griffin. Yours Truly Johnny Dollar is produced and directed by Jaime del Valle. Join us again next week when Edmond O'Brien returns in another adventure of Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. The Case of the Oblivious Angels. A true story of manhunt in Tennessee and Georgia is to be dramatized on Gangbusters this Saturday night. The story will have narration by the chief of police who directed the successful search for the bandits. So for a half hour of real adventure as experienced by our forces combating crime, listen in this Saturday on most of these same CBS network stations to Gangbusters' story, The Case of the Oblivious Angels. This is Roy Rowan speaking. This is CBS, where Yours Truly Johnny Dollar meets adventure every Friday night. The Columbia Broadcasting System.
Speaker 1:
[32:04] Our commentary today is brought to you by storyhack.com. Storyhack is a pulp-inspired short fiction magazine featuring action and adventure stories in a wide variety of genres. You're listening to The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio. Welcome back. Well, an interesting note that they use the current currency situation as a key plot point. Also, somebody did a lot of research into nautical terms to give it a really authentic feel. This one definitely does feel more like what we will come to be listening to in the O'Brien era, though it's not quite there yet. But definitely moving in that direction and away from Russell style. Alright, well, listener comments and feedback now. Bill writes in, Hi Adam, most of the episodes of Yours Truly Johnny Dollar that I've heard have been from the Bob Bailey era forward. So I've enjoyed hearing these episodes from the Charles Russell era. I think Russell did a great job as Johnny and enjoyed hearing about his later career. I look forward to hearing Edmond O'Brien and John Lund and their take on the role. Thanks. Well, thank you so much for the comment, Bill, and I hope you're enjoying the start of the O'Brien era so far. Well, I do want to go ahead and thank our Patreon supporter of the day. And I want to thank Maggie. Maggie has been one of our Patreon supporters since January 2018, currently supporting us at the Shalmas level of $4 or more per month. And thank you so much for your support. Alright, well, that will do it for today. Join us back here tomorrow for Dragnet, and then we will be back next Friday with another episode of Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. In the meantime, send your comments to box13 at greatdetectives.net. Follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and become one of our friends on Facebook, facebook.com/radiodetectives. From Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham, signing off.