Yours Truly Johnny Dollar Radio

Johnny Dollar - The Douglas Taylor Matter

https://www.solgoodmedia.com - Listen to hundreds of audiobooks, thousands of short stories, and ambient sounds all ad free! Relive the excitement of Yours Truly Johnny Dollar Radio, where each episode revisits the classic tales of Johnny Dollar, the iconic freelance insurance investigator. Discover how Johnny unravels mysteries and battles crimes primarily through sharp wit and keen perception. This series is a treasure trove for enthusiasts of vintage radio dramas and detective mysteries.

Duration:: 31m
Broadcast on:: 07 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

(bell ringing) - Hello, it's me, your oil change light. That last mechanic took three hours. Would you trust him again? - Silence your oil change ziety at Valvoline Instant Oil Change, where we change your oil in about 15 minutes. - This is the story of the one. As a maintenance engineer, he hears things differently. To the untrained ear, everything on his shop floor might sound fine, but he can hear gears grinding, or a belt slipping. So he steps in to fix the problem at hand before it gets out of hand. And he knows Granger's got the right product he needs to get the job done, which is music to his ears. Call clickgranger.com or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. - From Hollywood, it's time now for Edmond O'Brien as. Johnny Dollar. - This is Lieutenant Reed down at homicide. - Oh, morning, Lieutenant. - Did you hire a private detective named Douglas Taylor? - Yeah, I did, why? - He was found dead this morning. - Dead? - Yeah. - Shot to dead. I want you to come down and answer a few questions. (upbeat music) - Edmond O'Brien, and another adventure of the man with the action-packed expense account, America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator. - Yours truly Johnny Dollar. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Expense account submitted by a special investigator, Johnny Dollar, to the Home Office Great Eastern Insurance Company, Hartford. I don't know how much responsibility you'll want to take for these expenses, but I hope you realize that a large share of them were incurred in an effort to protect the company. The following is an accounting of expenditures during my investigation of the Douglas Taylor matter. (upbeat music) - Expense account item one, $1.20 a cab fare from my apartment to Hartford police headquarters. Homicide division. - Yes, sir. - My name is Dollar, Lieutenant Reese. - Oh yeah, second door of the east way. Let's go right in. - Thanks. Lieutenant Reese. - Yes. - You dollar? - That's right. - Thanks for coming down. - Well, I can't say it's a pleasure, Lieutenant. Sorry to hear about Taylor. - What happened? - We don't know yet. - What did it happen? - We aren't sure of that either. He was found out by the freight yards, but chances are he was shot someplace else and dumped there. - How did you happen to land on me? - His wife came down to identify him this morning. She told us he was working for you. - Well, I might as well get this off my chest now, Lieutenant. You won't like it any better if I say that. I can't answer any questions about what Taylor and I were working on. Not now. - Why not? - Because it'll wreck a case that could be worth about a half million dollars if you start nosing it with looking for a motive. - I hate to see you turn on cooperative so early in the game dollar. - They can't help it. There are usually plenty of motives around when it's a private detective. Got plenty of other places to start. - We like to have them all. - I don't like this. - I don't eat it, Lieutenant. - But I'm stuck with some confidences I want to stand by. I can tell you this. I don't see how my case could have anything to do with his dying. There are two men suspected of insurance fraud. I was following one, Taylor the other. I don't think they knew we were tailing. - All right, darling. I guess I can understand the spot you're on. - I'll talk it over with the people that hired me. I can't open it up until they give me the word. - How long had you known him? - Oh, about two years, I guess. Not well, but it was a good, careful worker. And I hired him when I needed somebody. - Did he talk to you about any trouble? - No, he never said a word. - How well do you know his wife? - I've had it twice, that's all. Both times she came with Taylor when I had a check fund. She seemed like that kind of a wife. - That's as well as you knew him, man. - That's it, I'm sorry. - Yeah, it brings us back to that half million you mentioned, doesn't it? That's enough to hold you on, you know? - I knew that when I told you. It's up to you. - Beat it. - If you ever need some help from us, I hope I'm on hand to turn you down. (dramatic music) - I didn't need to see him to know that Lieutenant Reese had put a plane clothesman on me as soon as I left the building because I would have done the same in his place. So I went back to my apartment and phoned the news to the company. - I hope you've done the right thing, Johnny. - I think you have. - Well, I can always change it, Mr. Nibley, but I know one thing, if I stay on the arson case, the police are gonna get on it and mess it up. - Yes, I suppose our problem is nothing to them. Are you positive there's no connection with Taylor's death? - Well, not positive, but fairly sure. Anyway, I think I'd better drop it for a while. If you'll put a couple of men on it, all we have to know is if either one contacts a professional firefighter, if and when that happens, I have all the rest of the evidence we'll need. - All right, I guess that's the way to handle it. Or what about Taylor's wife? Did you know anything about the case? - I don't think so. Lieutenant Reese would have found out from it. But I'll have to go see her. I'll find out. - All right, Johnny. I want to thank you for this. You can be sure the company appreciates it. I feel awful about what happened. - Yeah, so do I. I hired him. (dramatic music) - It's all right, Mr. Dollar. I'm glad you came over. That spoke obvious to Wolfen. Sit down. Thank you, Mr. Taylor. Well, there's no way for me to say what I feel about it. - Of course there is. - I do want to clear your mind and my conscience on one thing though. Doug wasn't killed because he was working for me. I'm sure of that. - Wouldn't have made any difference if he had been. Doug was 40 last month. He was 21 when I married him in New York. He was on the force there for 12 years before we opened his office here. I've been waiting for this to happen all these years. Can you understand that? - I think so. - I tried not to think of it, but not a day pass that I didn't. Now that it's happened, I... It's like so many things are supposed to be. The anticipation was so bad. Well, I thought that another detective might understand. - I think I do. - Mrs. Taylor, did Doug talk his cases over with you? - No, not for a long time. - You knew he was working for me. - Yes, he mentioned it, but that's all. He liked to agree to you. - He didn't speak of any trouble or the chance of any? - No. I suppose it's my fault that he didn't. He knew I worried too much as it was and he never told me anything. - Do you know if there would be any specific reason for his being killed? - I mean, outside of his work. - What do you mean? - Well, it'll sound like a rotten thing to ask, but was there anyone else in his life? - You mean a woman? - Yeah. - I don't think so. There was, I didn't know about it. - You don't sound quite sure. - I'm not. I did suspect him. One of the things that kept gnawing at me all those years, but I never found out anything. - I hope you're telling me everything, Mrs. Taylor. - I am. That's the way it was being married to him. I was alone so much I... Oh, I know I thought about things too much, but I couldn't help but... - Yeah. - Who were some of his friends, Mrs. Taylor? I don't remember that he ever mentioned any to me. - Oh, we had a few friends here in the neighborhood. And there's the man who was his partner for a while, Henry Voner. - Never heard of him, where is he? - He's the house detective at the Hotel Mallard. - How close were they? - Well, they were good friends. They hunted and staked, oh. - Have the policeman here? - No, I'd... Do I have to talk to them? - I don't think it would be wise to try not to. Do you want me to let him in? - No. No, I'll let him in. - Hello, Mrs. Taylor. Do you feel up to answering some questions now? - Yes. Yes, I'm alright. - Thanks. - I'll try not to take any more. - Lieutenant Reese. - Got everything taken care of? - What does that mean? - Did you get her story rehearsed? - Climb off, Lieutenant. I don't play that way. - What's this man doing here, Mrs. Taylor? - What? My husband was working for Mr. Dollar when he was killed, so he came to see me. - Has he been asking you questions? - Yes. - What kind? - Look, Lieutenant. - $9. - What kind of questions, Mrs. Taylor? - About Doug being killed. - Did he tell you how to answer police questions? - No, I never came up. - Dollar, how much information on this insurance case did Taylor have in his office? - For a reason for him to have any. Why? - The office had been torn to pieces by the time we got to it this morning. All or part of the motive was there and somebody came back after it. You'd better clear yourself of this mess, Dollar, or I'm going to see to it that you'll put right out of business. (upbeat music) - I had to wait until seven that evening before I could get to Henry Vanna, the hotel detective, Mrs. Taylor, had spoken of. He was the slight dark type of a hairline mustache and too much after shave powder. The kind of house dick that usually causes the feminine guests the kind of trouble they're paid to stop. - Yeah, I had a little deal cooked up this afternoon. The kind where you don't leave a form of the week and be reached if you're taller than me. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, what a doll. Hey, what's behind us? Doug Taylor, Miss, anyway, I haven't read any papers. Hasn't broken yet. His wife told me you and Doug were good friends. - Oh, yeah, yeah. We used to be partners for a while. We used to get out of town once in a while. - Hunting and fishing? - Yeah, that was the pitch. - When did you see him last? - Let's get out of the lobby and go on the office, John. - It seems to me, last time I saw Doug was around a middle of last week, he stopped by here on the way home. Was he on a case? I don't remember him saying. You know, I was one of those things I asked him I was going, he said the same old stuff. - He got killed over one of his cases? - Looks like his office was broken into. Somebody after one of his reports or something, the police say, yeah, yeah. Seems to me it was awful, fed up the last few minutes we got together. Couple of times, he mentioned there was gonna be a change. He was gonna go back to New York and Florida or out west someplace. - Where there without his wife? - Without, I think she's a creep. You know, jealous, all that stuff. The poor guy had a sneak, the money to spend all we got together. - What about the money for this change you mentioned? - I don't have any idea. Never followed it up because I thought he was just dreaming. Hey, uh, who's paying you for this, not his wife? - Nobody. I'm trying to clear myself with the police. They think I'm holding out information on him. - Oh, how come? - He was working with me when he was killed. My major think his wife might have hired me. I was wondering if she hired you before for the family. Say, um, just for the four laws of me, do you think she'd be capable of killing him? - Oh, yeah. - One of those fits it was. - I really think she's a little off. - Sure. - If she got windy was really leaving, if she figured he had some dull hidden in the office, that's what I meant, sure, it could all fit. Maybe you got some. He owned a card in me. Please say the body was driven to the freight yard. - The earth was stan. You might have some. - Well, I'll go see. Thanks for the time, Bonnie. (dramatic music) - It was dark by the time I got across town again and back to the Taylor duplex. I happened to look up at their second floor apartment and I saw a light switch on behind a drawn shade in one of their rooms. If I hadn't done that, a number of things that I would not have taken place. (dramatic music) - Ms. Taylor, Ms. Taylor, it's Johnny Dallard. Come on, I know you're in there, let me in. - All right. - Hey, hey, what's this? - Come in here, I'll kill you. - I don't, don't get close to me. - Move right across the room. - Where's Mrs. Taylor? - She's in the bedroom. Maybe she's dead, I don't know, I hit her. She wouldn't be quiet and I hit her with a gun. And I'll kill you too, if I have to. I don't care how many anymore. - Why'd you kill Taylor? - Kelly was too filthy to stay alive, too dirty right in the living. Don't you try to follow me, or I'll kill you too, and I mean it. Nothing means anything anymore. - What are you fighting? What'd you come after? - Don't you try to follow me? - Hey, come here. (gun fires) - Hey, come here. - I had no intention of stepping out into the hall right then. He was young and obviously out of his head from fear. I hoped the shots he fired would alert the plain clothesman that I thought was still sticking to me, but he wasn't there. If I tried to lose him, it probably would have taken a week. But as I learned later, a split second set of circumstances caused him to miss me when I left the hotel. And Douglas Taylor's killer simply disappeared in the night. We will return you to yours, Julie Johnny Donner, in just a moment. Two more great shows, Climb aboard your CBS radio bandwagon tomorrow night. Eve Arden, as wise cracking our Miss Brooks, returns to dear old Madison High. And the Edgar Bergen, Charlie McCarthy's show, resumes its pot shot at your sense of humor. Listen for our Miss Brooks starring Eve Arden and Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy back in business on most of these stations tomorrow night. Now with our star, Edmond O'Brien, we bring you the second act of yours, Julie Johnny Donner. - Mrs. Taylor had been knocked unconscious but hadn't been seriously harmed. My phone Lieutenant Reese argued some tenons since they're going back to their dinners and then did what I could for him. - No, he was crazy, he was crazy, he said he killed me. - Yeah, it's all right, it's all right. - When I came, he came at me, I knew he was gonna kill me, I knew it, I knew that was the last thing I'd ever see. Jesus Christ, this is a gun gun. - Take it easy, Mr. Taylor, take it easy, he's gone and you're all right now. - Oh, I can't explain, I knew I was dying. - I'm not trying to hang on and I couldn't. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Can you drink some more of this? - Yeah, how do I? - You saw him, didn't you? - Yeah, yeah, I saw him. - What was he? - Hadn't you ever seen him before? - No, never, it was crazy. He told me that he killed Doug and he killed me too. - What else did he say? - I couldn't understand something about Doug's rule and I just wish to kill him again. Then I screamed and he came again. - What he said mean anything to you? - No, I didn't understand any of us. I wanted to ask you why he came here. - He was looking for something for the place to pieces. Must be the same one that broke in a dog's office. - I don't understand any of you. (laughing) - No, I was a little scared. He was gonna kill me! - Please, please. - Come on, try to relax, get hold of yourself. Police are on their way and they'll want to talk to you. I'll wait for them in the living room. - You didn't think he was going to wait in the hall all night, did you? Why didn't you go out after him? One of your men has been tailing me since morning. I thought he'd be outside and that the two shots would wake him up. - Where was he? - How hard did you make yourself to follow? - I didn't give him any trouble. A boy scout could have stayed on me. - Then Parker is probably following the boy. How long did you have to study him? - Less than a minute but I think I can give you a fair description. - Let's have it. - Well, he's about five, nine between 17 and 20 years old, I'd say, a fair complexion, small features, brown wavy hair, brown eyes, very white teeth, and what looked like a mole above his right eyebrow. - No other marks? - Not that I saw. He's wearing a ring on his left hand. I couldn't see it too well, but it could have been a class ring. - How about clothes? - Well, no hat, white shirt without tie, it was open. Flannel slacks, brown tweed jacket and brown wingtip shoes. His grows a well-cut, looked expensive. - What kind of gun? - Revolve Smith and Weston 38 with a black rubber hand grip. - You're sure of all this? - 'Cause I'm sure. - You think I'm making it up? - I can't forget you're holding out a half million dollar motive on me. - You'll feel better if you do. You talk to witnesses that heard the shots, didn't you? - You could have fired them. - With what, I'm not carrying a gun. - You could have got rid of one. - Go look for it, Lieutenant, then you can stop making an ass of yourself. - Watch it, dollar. - You're doing a pretty good job of needling me. If you'll stop riding a badge for a little while, we can get together and make some sense. - Go ahead. - Doesn't it seem obvious that Taylor had something on this kid, something big enough to be as motive? There must be a record of it. The kid missed it at the office or he wouldn't have come here and I'm sure he didn't take anything out of the apartment. So it must be around someplace. - If you're all through, go sit down someplace. What's the matter with it? - It's nothing, that's all. We've gone through every file that was in Taylor's office and we went through this apartment. There's nothing hot enough for a killing, nothing. - Then why did the kid show up here? - I'll work on that when I'm convinced he did. None of the witnesses saw him, you know, nobody did. Nobody but you and your friend, the widow in there. (dramatic music) It turned out to be a long night. Looking back at it now, I can see how the Lieutenant felt justified in pushing around somebody who wouldn't cooperate. Well, that night it was tough, including a paraffin test that he called inconclusive because I could have been wearing a glove when I fired the two shots and then gotten rid of it. But finally at about 1.15 in the morning, he got tired of it and he let me go home. (dramatic music) I didn't leave my apartment the next day except to go out after the extra additions that called me the private investigator whose position and importance in regard to the case is not clear at the moment. At nine that night I was at home again and the door buzzer sounded. (dramatic music) I thought it was a delivery boy bringing some liquor I'd ordered. Hey, you're fast. - Go on, get back inside. - What do you want to get? - Go on, back up, I'll kill you. You know I will, don't you? - You look crazy enough, too. But it'd be stupid, you'd never get out of this apartment building. What's the matter with you anyway? What do you want? - You were in with Douglas Taylor, weren't you? - What do you mean? - He told us about you. - When did he tell you? - That he brought somebody else in for protection. He said we'd never find out who it was but I did find out, didn't I? - Pretty mixed up about something, aren't you? - Oh, don't lie to me. If you'd only stop when he told us you were gone or none of this would have happened but you didn't, he kept coming back. We told him to have to stop some way, we couldn't pay anymore, we got nothing left. - Now wait a minute. - Now you wait. - No, he had a fire on me and I gotta have it. And if you don't give it to me, I'll kill you. We've gotta have it. - I haven't got it. - Ah, that's what he said and it didn't do any good. I killed him anyway. Won't do you any good to lie now. - I'm not lying. - Yes you are. - No doing any good, don't you know that? - You're way wrong, now listen to me. - No, I won't. - You told me that you killed Taylor because he lied, didn't you? - Yes, I do. - And I believe you. I believe that you'd kill anybody who you thought was lying to you. - And I will. - I know you would. Now listen, since I know that, since I know that if I had a choice of telling you the truth and saving my life, or lying when I knew you'd kill me, wouldn't I tell you the truth? - Well, if I had your fire or whatever it is, wouldn't I give it to you to save my life? - All right, then give it to me. - I don't have it. I don't have anything of yours. I don't know who you are. I don't know your name. All I know is that you're wrong. You're mixed up, confused. You think I'm someone I'm not. - Oh, Taylor told me about you. - What did he say to make you so sure that he meant me? - You came to his apartment. You were the only one, and you were in the paper. - If I was mixed up in anything with Taylor, I wouldn't have come to the apartment. I would have stayed as far away as I could. - Don't you see how wrong you are? - You've got everything wrong. - But you're knowing a lot of people know him. I hired him once in a while at Seoul. I don't know what you're talking about. You can believe that. - Well, well, I gotta go. - Where? You don't know where to go. - Oh, I shouldn't have come if I'd been able to think I wouldn't have come. But I don't think anymore. I just do things. My life's all winding up, and it goes faster and faster, and I can't stop it. - And Douglas Taylor did all this thing? - Oh, no, not all of it, part of it, I did myself. - I don't know anything about it or about you. I feel sorry for you. You're driving yourself crazy, aren't you? - I did what I had to do. - Why don't you sit down and... - What's it, who's that? Don't look for the answer to. - I don't know, it's just a boy who actually brings some liquor inside the door. - Come on. Please, they're coming in. - No, it isn't the police. - He just put the liquor down against the door. - See? Now he's gone. - I don't believe you. - Why would the police come here? - Because they're looking for him. - Not in my apartment. You can believe that. See? There's nobody there anymore. The police would be breaking in by now. - Thank you. - Yeah, it was a delivery boy. - Sure, it was. You got nothing to be afraid of, isn't it? - I don't think any more. - You're a nervous wreck. You know why? - Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. - Because you're fighting something you know you can never beat him. - I've been doing that all right. - Don't you know you'd be a hundred times better off if you gave yourself up the Taylor's killing? - No, no, I can't do that. - Why not? - I can't, I gotta get away. - You'll never get away from this. - Then I'll die. - Taylor was bla... Why do they have any? - How'd you know that? - There'd be a lot of it these days. Be as bad off as you think of you. - This isn't even important anymore. - Gold. - What is important like this, huh? A family? - What makes you think I... - Because it sticks out all over you. A father with a fur color on his overcoat and a mother who belongs to every civic club in town. - All right, and a sister engaged to a lawyer. That's why I can't give myself up and have our name all over the papers. That's why I gotta find that file Taylor hadn't get rid of it and then get away. I've almost ruined the family now. Dad's been bled dry, keeping Taylor from turning my name in. Now, now they don't have to pay anymore. - What do they think about as being dead? - Well, he asked me and I told him I didn't do it. I think they believed me, that's all right. Anyway, it's better now than it has been for the last two years. - That long? - Yeah, two years. It started when Dad got a feeling about what I was doing. He hired Taylor to find out and when he finished his job, that's what he threw at us. Hey, wait a minute, where you going now? Wait a minute. - I'm gonna get a light if that's okay. I live here, you know? I gotta go, I don't know why I've talked like this. - You wanted someone to talk to. I'm not as sorry for you as I was because I think you're playing it stupid. - Well, I don't care what you think. I did what I had to do and I know what I gotta do now. - You ought to give yourself up and you know it. Now, I'm through talking sense. If you wanna blow it all up your way, go ahead. - I know what I have to do. - There's nothing you can do. - Now, look, I want you to come down to the ground floor with me. All right, we'll use the stairway. And you know that I'll kill you if I have to. - I've gathered that, yes. - Well, anytime you wanna leave. (orchestral music) - There are enough people on the sidewalk to stop him, but I didn't start anything because I knew that he would open up with his 38 without thinking about who might get hit. He had the fear crazed look in his eyes again as he left me just outside the entrance and started across the street. I realized what was gonna happen before he did. Either he had been spotted and followed by my building, it been staked out, and didn't make any difference. When the police officers saw us together, it was all they needed. - Hey you, stay where you are. - What do you want? - We're police, we wanna talk to you. - We're fine, ready to approach, hold it, hold it. - All right, Parker. (gun firing) - Myelin, stop him. (gun firing) (gun firing) (orchestral music) (orchestral music) - The family turned out to be the bardettes, the father a judge and so on. The son got at least one wish. He didn't live the stand trial for murder. As far as protecting his family, he'd done nothing. The whole story rocked hard for weeks following. Expense account item two, miscellaneous, $180. Expense account total, $181.20 remarks. For a number of reasons, I'm sorry, I had to drop the arson case for this interview, but somehow a half million dollar loss, which I couldn't have prevented anyway, doesn't seem as important as the destruction of an entire family, and I couldn't prevent that either. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. (orchestral music) Yours truly, Johnny Dollar stars Edmond O'Brien in the title role and is written by Gil Dowd with music by Wilbur Hatch. Edmond O'Brien will soon be seen starring in the Paramount Pictures Silver City. Featured in tonight's cast were Ray Hartman, Joseph Kerns, Edgar Barrier, Jeanette Nolan, and High Averbank. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar is produced and directed by Jaime Del Valle. (orchestral music) This is it cutting and binding you to join us next week at this time when Edmond O'Brien returns as. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. (orchestral music) Uncle Sam gave 36 million pounds of US farm surplus eggs and milk to save the Yugoslavs, but somebody had to pay the freight. Care undertook to raise it from the American people, and at five dollars and 35 cents for 300 pound package, the people gave. Three million Yugoslav mothers and children have already received the care, eggs, and milk, but with a month to go before winter closes down the program, one million remained to be reached. You can reach 100 with only five dollars and 35 cents. Mail it to your local care office, order careless anglers, or care, New York. (orchestral music) The Varmen Rosho is back from vacation. Varns, the moon maids, the moon men, Ziggy Talent, and there are singing guest stars. Will again be heard every Saturday beginning tonight. In fact, on most of these same CBS radio stations, Varn returns to action, takes place immediately following station identification. (orchestral music) And remember, the Frankly and Joe is your date with slick syncopation every Sunday afternoon on the CBS radio network. (orchestral music) (orchestral music) (orchestral music) (orchestral music) (orchestral music) - Hey there, listeners. 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