Yours Truly Johnny Dollar Radio

Johnny Dollar - The Blood River Matter

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Duration:: 30m
Broadcast on:: 21 Jun 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

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We're offering an exclusive one-month free trial to our ad-free streaming platform, packed with over 500 audiobooks, meditation sounds, and engaging podcasts. No strings attached, just pure listening pleasure. Sign up today at SolgoodMedia.com and dive into a world of stories and sounds that inspire and relax. Don't miss out on this limited time offer. It's your gateway to unlimited audio enjoyment. That's SolgoodMedia.com. S-O-L-G-O-O-D-M-E-D-I-A.com. Your call to Black River is ready to watch the movie. Go ahead, please. Hello, Deputy Gray. Yeah, is this Mr. Gala? Yeah, right. I've been assigned to the Coburn shooting. I got you telegram. What do you mean? Well, I have to ask you a favor. I got a plane space to Parkinson and I understand there's a bus to a place called Divide, but I can't find any transportation into Blood River. There isn't any. I'll have to meet you in Parkinson's. Oh, good. I'm due to arrive at four tomorrow afternoon. Say, what about Coburn? Did he make a statement? No, he hadn't come to you. You won't want you better show some speed to Dark City. He may not last tomorrow. The makers of Brigley's Spearman chewing gum bring you Edmund O'Brien in another adventure of the man with the action-packed expense account. America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator. Yours truly Johnny Dallas. To make every day more enjoyable, treat yourself often to refreshing delicious rigley's Spearman chewing gum. Here's a treat you can enjoy indoors, outdoors at work or at play. The cool, long-lasting mint flavor refreshes you. The smooth, steady chewing helps keep you fresh and alert. Adds enjoyment to whatever you're doing. Brigley's Spearman chewing gum. Healthful, refreshing, delicious. Expense accounts submitted by Special Investigator Johnny Dallas to Tri-State Life and Casualty Company at Hartford, Connecticut. The following is an accounting of my expenditure during investigation of the Blood River Matter. Spence account item $140, transportation and interdexals between Hartford and Parkinson. I was paid at the airport and given a note that directed me to St. Paul's Hospital where I was met by Deputy Sheriff Tom Gray. I brought Coburn in here this morning. I found some blood into him, I guess. Nothing like a hospital out in Blood River. Any improvement? Yeah, I don't think so. Slugs from the '45, four of 'em. There's many of those left him where he was, moving him 40 miles, didn't do him no good. And what did this insurance company send you out for? Just a routine check and a policy hold to get shut up. They'd like to know why and by whom. How much insurance do you have? $50,000 worth. Oh, I didn't know that. Who does it go to? Frank Coburn, a son and Mary Coburn, a daughter. Oh. Do you have any leads, Sheriff? Leads? Oh, I got what the hired girl said. What was that? I didn't hear about it. She was a witness. She was in the kitchen that night. Man knocked on the door, asked for some grub old Coburn walked in, started to show him away. Man shot him down. Have you got him? Oh, not yet, but a posse is out, huh? We'll find it. Come on, operating rooms down this way. Not yet, Mary. Hello, Frank. I didn't know you two were here. Yeah, we came in as fast as we could. Now, this is dollar. He's from the applause insurance company back east. Miss Coburn, Frank. It was sent for you, dollar. The insurance company was notified of the shooting. They asked me to come out. Why? I don't think this is the time to talk about it. It's just the way they work, Frank. I like to look into things like this. Come on, dollar and here. Oh, Tom, wait. Can't we go into it? The doctor told us to wait here, but we've got a right to go into anybody here. Well, I guess you have, Mary, but the doctor probably thought it'd be easy for you this way. Yeah, if something went wrong, you know? Well, it isn't. I want to be with you. I have a right to be. All right, Mary, if that's the way you want. You too, Frank? I don't see how it'll do anybody any good, but I'll come. ♪ ♪ The sun, Frank, was a huge man, well over six feet in his high-heeled boots. But the figure on the operating table must have towered over him during better days. I learned later that Max Colburn was more than a man. He was already a legend in the tip of the intersection. But here, under the intense glare of the battery of all the lights, and under the probing instruments of the surgeon, Colburn was a great deal less than a man. Through the concealing sheets, you could realize the disintegration of his body, and his massive hit, skimmed now bloodless and drawn, had already taken on the aspects of a skull. I knew he'd never make a deathbed statement, but we stood there and waited two hours for him to die. ♪ ♪ Man's owners jot down the time, please, and notify the car now. ♪ ♪ Now, Mary, don't do that. It won't do no good. Good job. What'd I do? What'd I do? You'll be all right, Mary. Frank, take her out of here, will you? Come on, Mary. Nothing anybody can do now. ♪ ♪ Could have been me, Doc. I'd never brought him in. Oh, boom. I'd have made it in Blood River. I'm sorry, Gray. He had to be both. No facility to stall out there. It's your business, I guess. It was point blank range. Multiple punctures of the stomach, single puncture of the right lung. He had to be moved. How do you do? Johnny Dollar, Doc. Oh, I'm out of sight. Dr. Fulton. Yeah, it's a dollar representing my insurance company. How'd you do? I'm sorry. I couldn't save him, Doc. Did you get everything you could? Yeah. Who was it that shot him, you know? Not yet. I hope you'll find him. Max Coburn was a fine man. Yeah, best. What are you going to do now, darling? Go to Blood River. I'm still not satisfied about this thing. I'll put you up in my place. There's no hotel. Thanks. I'd appreciate it. Well, nice to meet you, darling. Too bad it couldn't have been under better circumstances. She'd never have brought him in. He probably knew what he was doing. You think he shouldn't have been brought in? Why'd you let him? You're supposed to be the sheriff out here. There's nothing I could do to stop him, right? No, there didn't seem to be anything you could do before to stop it either. Oh, now calm down, Frank. Howdy don't pay you to run around with my sister. You've been spending half the time on your job that you do with her. This wouldn't have happened. That's enough, Frank. Now, shut up. If Mary don't know, it's mostly your fault, I'm going to tell her. He's a hot-headed buzzer. Yeah, I know this. Can we make it to Blood River tonight? Yeah, we make it all right. Look, darling, I want to tell you something. It's a funny little place, only about 300 people in a day. I'm not going to like you but men. They don't like strangers. I'm used to that. Okay, as long as I told you. My jeep is out in the back of the parking lot. It was only 40 miles to the village of Blood River that took us until 930 to get there. And long before then, I had begun to feel the place. It was at the foot of a range of mountains that rose shearly from a narrow, choked valley. And it was the mountains that gave the feeling of oppression. In the moonlight, they seemed to be leaning over to village, ready to destroy it at any moment. Gray had comfortable quarters in his cabin office. I slept fairly well. And the next morning, he drove me out to the village to the Colburne Ranch. Right away, only 400 acres an hour of Colburne used to own the whole valley. There's open range up in the hills, eh? This is the best pattern in the race in the whole... Would you get away, Duke? That's all dangerous. Get good to you, I guess. He's the old man's dog. He had all something wrong with you, don't know what. That's right, ain't it, Duke boy? Yeah, now go away, go away. Go away, go away. Well, come on, we'll go up to the house. Hard girl, be in the kitchen, that's right. Oh, cut it off, Duke. He's all right, now shut up, will you? He don't see many people dressed like you. He's got nothing on me. I don't see many dogs like him. Millie, it's Tom Gray. I don't want to talk about him no more, Tom. I told you. What a so happy. There's a man from back east, he wants to talk to you. Why? You tell him what I say. I did, Millie, but he wants to hear it from you. See, it all happening again. That's why I don't want to talk about it. But I will if I got to. Thanks, Millie, I'll make it as short as I can. Go on, Duke, stay outside, boy. Go on, go on. Well, that's where it happened, dollar. He's lying right there, this way with his head on the table. Two of the slugs hit the wall there. Hey, see the marks? It was he lying face up. That's right. One over backwards. Shot from about here, I'd say. Is that right, Millie? I don't know. I went in this room when I saw they was going to be trouble. How much did you see? I told Tom. It was after supper and I was clean enough. A stranger come to the door and said he was hungry. I yelled to Mr. Colburn, I have to ask him about things. And he started right away to run him out. I said a lot of strangers. I never heard him act that way before. Did it sound like he knew this stranger? It couldn't tell. He started cussing at him and I run in the sitting room and held my hands over my ears till shooting then I screamed. According to the description, you gave Sheriff Gray. The man was short, stuck in, stuck in, heavy eyebrows. How can you remember anything else about him? I can remember one thing more. He was wearing some kind of a coat and a newspaper in one pocket. Would you recognize him again if you saw him? Oh yes, I'll never forget him. We haven't you caught him, Tom? We'll get him. Do you see him after you heard the shot? No. I run back in here and saw Mr. Colburn, then I run outside screaming. Randy come out of the bunkhouse. I didn't see the man. That's Randy Drew. He didn't see the stranger coming or going. Colburn's son and daughter. Where were they? They wasn't here. I don't know where Ms. Colburn was, but Mr. Colburn wasn't home yet from riding the fence. Millie. What? You telling the truth? Yeah. You weren't protecting anybody? Of course I ain't protecting anybody. Why should I do anything like that? Who would it be? I only asked Millie. That's all I want to hear, Sheriff. Good enough. Thanks for the help, Millie. It looks like it's going to storm. How old is she, huh? About 20, I guess. There's a little work she could be in the track of girls. He's peculiar. She grew up outside, but never quite dead inside. How does she and Frankie get along? Pretty good, I guess. What are you driving at? In terms of that stranger story sounds just a little too pat. Hold on. -What? -I take it. That's the bunkhouse? -Yeah, that's it. I don't know if it's somebody killed Coburn and it can get across all this open yard before anyone ran out to check on the shooting. I don't know. I guess shooting out here don't mean what it does, where you come from. Folks here do a lot of shooting. Millie said she screamed. It's pretty dark here, too. Mountains cut off a sun about four o'clock. Maybe so. I told you we found a gun in the ditch near here. She said she had a newspaper in his pocket. The gun was wrapped in one when we found it. Who's this? Huh? It looks like Charlie Baxter. That is. He was in the pocket. Why would he steam in that horse about? Oh. It's a man of Baxter. -What? -What? -What? We got the killer. -What? -The prime of a silver scar. -Oh, well, good. Where is he now? -Bring him to your place. It's Elmer Bryce. -He came back? -He better get in there. -Right. Now you stay here and bring Millie in. She'll have to identify music truck. -Okay. -Let's get on back to town, dollar. -Who's Elmer Bryce? -I used to be a hand here. Just clunky. Kept the rain string watered. -Oh, no, man, Coburn, darn near Killen. -When was this? -Oh, two years ago. You know, in 35 years of ranching, Elmer Bryce was the first hand the old man ever had to fire. Folks around here, around him, right out of the country. The thunderstorms swept in for the mountains and began to drench the valley during the trip back to the village. A group of maybe a dozen curious were huddled in slickers outside Grey's office waiting for a look at the prisoner. He arrived by car, went through the formalities of arrest. A few minutes later, Holburn's hired girl walked into the office and tasted it. -That's him. He's the one. -You swear on a Bible, Millie? -Yes, I could never forget him. -Okay. You can go on back to the ranch. Thanks for coming in. -I'm glad they caught you. -Oh, man. -When they kill you, maybe I can sleep without seeing it happen all over again. -That's enough, Millie. -All right. -Hey, Elmer, wait. -Well, Bryce, you're under arrest. Anything else I'll be used against? -I didn't kill him. -You and I being at the ranch? -I was at the ranch, but I didn't kill him. -Well, what did you do? -I was hungry. I thought I could get something to eat. He owes it to me. I can't get work no place because he talked about me so much. Nobody will hire me. I don't know where he talks. What's my fault, that quote talk? He kept pulling and roped jam. Coburn, he told people I was crazy. I did it for fun. -Hey, Bryce. -What happened at the ranch? -Well, I asked this girl for something to eat. She called Mr. Coburn. He come and cussed me out and told me to get off his land. Then I left. -Well, he says, "When he cussed you out, you killed him." -I don't care what she says. -What kind of a gun do you kill? -I ain't got no gun and you can't prove what killed him. Of course, it never did. -Into us, babe. We want Elmer Price. -Why did you go to his ranch instead of some other? -I called you because he owes me something. Why don't you tell the truth so we can get on with this? -I didn't kill him. -You hated him? -I hated him. I hated a lot of people. -This is not him. -Who is it? -What? -Let me come in. -Just kill him. -Oh, I killed him. -You got it fast, Grey. It must be near to 100 out there now. They sent me in to say they wanted Bryce. -Well, they can't have him. -You know how they feel about old man Colwin? They want his killer for themselves. -I didn't kill him. Nobody can prove I did. -I have to come in and have him, Grey. -I think you've waited long enough, Sheriff. You better get this man into a car and get out of here. -All right. Come on. Right on your feet. How to give you to him. -I don't care what you... -Give me a hand, darling. Sure. That's where we move the better. Open the door, Baxter. Start out. We'll be right behind you. -All right. Let me go. Move, Bryce. Give me a hand, Bryce. Now, go home, folks. -There's a man. You go home. -I failed. You know better. You left in the car and home. Where are you? Get away, right out. -You don't need no help. -I don't need no help. -I don't need no help. -Man, I nearly lost my... I got the... -Use your hands if we do it, sir. -I got the hands of my friends and my husband. -Oh, no. -Oh, no. -There was no stopping there. I caught a last glimpse of Bryce's faces. I went down into the mud of the street. Then there was nothing but hundreds of thrashing legs carrying the mob and their victim to a waiting truck. Blood River was in the process of living up to its name. To make every day more enjoyable, treat yourself often to refreshing, delicious, wriggly, spearmint chewing gum. The lively, full-bodied real meat flavor cools your mouth, moistens your throat, freshens your taste, and the chewing itself gives you a little lift, helps you keep going at your best. So for real chewing enjoyment, that's refreshing and long-lasting, always keep wriggly, spearmint chewing gum handy. Healthful, delicious, wriggly, spearmint gum will make every day more enjoyable. -And now with our star, Edmund O'Brien, we return you to the second act of Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. Deputy Sheriff Gray had fared worse than I, a boot heel at Stunden. So it was 15 minutes before we got underway in the Jeep. We found Elma Bryce on the road to the Coburn Ranch, hanging from a bridge. We took his body back to the Sheriff's office in the now silent village. You gotta understand how they felt about Coburn before you can begin to understand their actions. I'll never understand, I've never been part of a mob. And either if I, either if they, but this is something special. The old man is gonna break up the rest of his land and parcel it out, and he's done it before. He was loyal to the blood river folk, meant they could have the land of their own. They could never afford it except the way he sold it. You're on a bad spot, aren't you? What are you gonna do about this, aren't you? I'd like to go back the last hour and a half. That's what I'd like to do about it. Shoulda kept Bryce out of the blood river, but I didn't know. These people are my friends. I don't have to go into Parkinson's, the name as many of them as I saw. That's what you paid for wearing a badge, you know? So how does it break? Is there anything I can do? I think I better strap on a gun for the first time since I got this job. See there on the desk to recede I made out when I took Bryce's personal things. I better have that, is it there? Yeah, it's here. Sheriff? What? What's this? Who signed this? Charlie Maxwell. He signed 'cause Bryce couldn't write. That's his ex just above. He couldn't write. No, he wasn't much of a brain, you saw that. He couldn't write his own name, but he carried a newspaper around with him? Why? Just to have it handy for wrapping guns? Or did he learn to read without learning to write? It's gonna be a strange kind of justice, Sheriff. If he was telling the truth in your village kill the innocent man, those that go free will live with that for the rest of their lives. I'll leave the jeep with you, I'll drive Maxwell's pick up in the Parkinson's. Thanks. There's some of my clothes and bootching wear. Better get out of them wet ones. And just take this advice, will you? Don't go throwing your weight around. It's gonna send them crazy. Be careful. I'll be back after supper. The single street was still silent and empty when I left the coal burn ranch. The mountains were closing in again. There should have been lights in the windows of the houses, but instead they were dark. And I could feel the eyes of the people who stood inside them, watching me pass. Finally, almost at the edge of town, I'm not of men stepped from a doorway and waved me. Where's Tom Gray? He went into Parkinson's. What for? To report the lynching. Lynching? You hear that, boys? He says somebody strung up the killer. I don't believe it. What I hear, he hung himself. Good written. Why are you trying this out on me? I'm not here to arrest you, I couldn't if I wanted to. What are you doing here? I'm still looking for Max Colburn's murderer. Bryce hung himself. He shouldn't have, because he wasn't guilty. Who says that? Sheriff Gray and I. It was nothing against your personal feelings and some circumstantial evidence. He's the one who done it, he even said so. Said what? That he went to the ranch first door. Why else would he do that? He was hungry. Now come on, get out of my way. Few people think the rest of the story will help your peace of mind anyhow try to get it for you. But Bryce was innocent. Take about that for the time being. Come on, move it then. I'm coming through. I'm gone, Ben. Come on, boys. He can't hurt us. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] All right, boy. All right. It's all right. Come on. All right. Sure. Sure. It's all right. Dap these clothes belong to a friend of yours. [LAUGHING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Who is it? Johnny Dall on this coburn. Oh. [MUSIC PLAYING] Oh, isn't it, Mary? It's Mr. Daller, Frank. Oh, yeah. [MUSIC PLAYING] Come on in, Daller. Thanks. [MUSIC PLAYING] We, uh, heard about Bryce. I'm sorry it went that way. Any man, I don't care what he is, has a right to a trial. Yeah. Lynching is one of man's least pleasant habits. This one especially, it looks like Bryce was innocent. No, he wasn't. Millie said he was the one. There could have been a lot of things wrong with her statement. She didn't see it happen. She only heard it. Somebody else could have taken advantage of Bryce's visit and done the shooting himself. I don't follow you. He did come out here. He admitted it, but I don't think he killed your father. He hated him. Mary stopped that. Sure he hated him. Everybody knew it. With that Millie statement, who would bother to look any further than poor, dim-witted Elma Bryce. Oh, Frank. Oh, Frank. Shut up, Mary. Go on in the other room. Wait a minute. What's the matter with her? She's upset. Frank, you killed him. Shut up. Oh, no! You'd like that to be true, wouldn't you? You said you would. You said you wouldn't. You killed him. I'm going to be sure I'm saying it. Don't try to stop me. She's off her head. Like everybody else in this blasted hole. Yeah? Why should she have said that? Because I lost my temper one night. Told old man he better blow his own brains out for I did it for him. Because he forgot how to think with him. When was that? A couple of weeks back. Maybe I was hot enough to mean it at the time, but I... Well, I cooled off. I wouldn't kill my own car. Well, that goes your sister, Frank. Sheriff Gray mentioned that he was going to sell the rest of his land. Was that the cause of the trouble? Yeah. He didn't care what happened to his kids. I told him of all the war talk. This was the time to hang on to it. Restock the herds and get ready to make some money. Ranch is yours now. That's right. Mine and Mary's. Why were you when your father was killed? I was riding fences up by Red Mill. Do you have any way to prove that, any witnesses? You don't run into anybody up that way. That's our land. Folks, stay off it. What about it, Frank? What about it? There's a lot stacked up against it. I know it. You can depend on my sister. You and anybody else would like to string me up for it. What about Millie? Was she in it with you? In it. Oh, wait. Don't get the wrong idea. I didn't kill my father. There's a lot stacked up against you. There are places to go. I don't like jails and courtrooms. I think I'll just fade until it blows over. That's not the way. You won't make it. You're going to stop me? I'm being paid to see this thing cleaned up. I'll have to try it. Get out of my way, dollar. You sit down until the sheriff gets you. Get away from the door. You're an outsider. It's none of your affair. I get out of the way. I said get out of the way. What's this to you? Stay where you are. You can't make me. Now, I don't want to have to kill you. Don't get up. Franky. What do you want, Millie? What are you doing with that gun? You've got to kill him, Franky. Get out of here. You've got to. From me. Why? Because I lied. I lied to everybody. What about you? About your paw. You're my bra. Didn't you kill him? Millie. Because I did. I've killed him for you. You told me that night you wished he was dead. You remember that night? I remember, Millie. And I told you I'd do anything for you. Remember that? Anything. Yeah, I remember. I lied. Now, my bra has came. But I stayed in the kitchen and heard everything he said. I knew he hated your paw and after he ran away, I thought about it. You're crazy, Millie. I waited for a while. When I knew nobody saw that man leave, I yelled to your paw again. And when he'd come in, I shot him. And that night I threw away the gun. What's the matter with you, Millie? You know what's the matter? Tonight you can't run off and leave me. You've got to have me. I can't help you. You've got to kill this man. I won't do it, Millie. Then you've got to take me away with you. I'm not going away now. I don't have to. I didn't have anything to do with it. This is the end for you and me. All right, Frankie. Hey, get down. Don't. Don't do it! Don't! Don't! Drop it! Get out of here! All right. All right. Yeah, I did it for him. No, I don't care what happens to me. As far as I was concerned, that was it. Frank Coburn lost a lot of blood, but not his life. And his sister still had to live the ranch with her ill-tempered brother. The higher who brought all this out was taken by the sheriff. When I left Blood River, the state had moved in to see what it could do about the lynching. But what that is, I don't know. The entire village was guilty of murder. And what could anybody do about that? All I know is that the original murder was not committed with the idea of insurance fraud. And in spite of the mess I got into, that's what I was hired to learn. Expense account item two, same as item one. Expense account total $740. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Remember friends, to make every day more enjoyable, treat yourself often to refreshing, delicious, wriggly, spearmint chewing gum. There's lots of cooling, real, mint flavor in every stick. And chewing, wriggly, spearmint helps keep you feeling fresh and alert. You feel better, work better, get more fun out of doing things. So indoors, outdoors, wherever you go, keep some helpful, refreshing, wriggly, spearmint chewing gum handy. To make every day more enjoyable, treat yourself often to delicious, wriggly, spearmint chewing gum. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar is brought to you by wriggly, spearmint gum, and stars Edmund O'Brien in the title role, written by Gill Dowd with music composed and conducted by Lee Steven. Edmund O'Brien could all be seen starring in the Columbia Pictures production, Colonel Evan Ocean Ryan, featured in tonight's cast, where Virginia Greg, Bill Conrad, Julius Matthews, Sammy Hill, Clayton Post, Tyler McVay, Dave Life and Howard Culver. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar is produced and directed by Jaime Dovais. The Makers of Briggly, Spearmint chewing gum, hope you've enjoyed tonight's story of Johnny Dollar, and that you're enjoying delicious, wriggly, spearmint chewing gum every day. We invite you to join us again next week at the same time, when, from Hollywood, Edmund O'Brien returns in another adventure of yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Bob Stevenson speaking, this is CVS, the Columbia Broadcasting System. Thanks, husband. [Music]