Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar: The Further in Buffalo Matter (EP5100)

0:03 THE END.

0:28 Welcome to The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're going to bring you this week's episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. But first, I want to encourage you, if you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software. And remember, as you're making your travel plans, to check JohnnyDollarAir.com. JohnnyDollarAir.com is a Priceline affiliate link. And the great detectives of old-time radio can benefit most of you when you go to JohnnyDollarAir.com. But now, from October 11th, 1959, here is the Further in Buffalo matter.

1:08 Johnny Dollar.

1:18 Still there in Buffalo, huh?

1:19 Yeah.

1:20 Well?

1:21 You, uh, get my report on the big robbery case out here?

1:24 Yes.

1:25 It looks to me like you've done yourself proud again. Only if you're still there, how come your expense account included transportation back here to Hartford? I, uh, I'm afraid I got a little ahead of myself, Pat. Or maybe just batted a bit before you actually spent.

1:39 The money, is that it? Yeah, something like that. Well, I think we can overlook it this time.

1:43 After all, you recovered something over $ 400, 000 that was stolen from that store.

1:48 Well, let's say I found out where it went. Well, that's the same.

1:52 What?

1:53 You mean to say you didn't get that money back? Not yet.

1:56 Oh, but Johnny.

1:57 Now, look... Oh, no, no, no. Come on, Blue Pat. I know where the money is. At least I'm pretty sure I do. Johnny, so... It's aboard old man McNair's yacht on the way of a point off the Canadian shore of Lake Erie. Now, listen... With the big storm that's raging up over Lake Erie, well, it's impossible to go out and get them.

2:12 Who's them?

2:13 An employee, an ex-employee of the Emporium. The guy who took the money and his pal who helped him get away with it. Well, now you wait.

2:19 Until that storm is over, and by that time they'll be a hundred miles away.

2:22 I'll be hidden away in some little cove there on the Canadian shore. The what? What was that? Nothing, Pat. Now, listen, I'll keep on it. You'd better. I'll bring him back here, and the money, or die in the attempt.

2:33 You fail to get that money back, and I'll gladly attend your funeral.

2:37 Yeah, okay, Pat, I'll stay with it. Believe me, Johnny, you'd better. CBS Radio brings you Bob Bailey in the exciting adventures of a man with the action-packed expense account. America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. And now, act one of yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Expense account submitted by Special Investigator Johnny Dollar. To the Universal Adjustment Bureau, Hartford, Connecticut. Attention, Mr.

3:30 Pat McCracken. Following is an account of expenses incurred during my investigation of the further and Buffalo matter. What I hadn't told Pat over the phone was that the last minute the Coast Guard had stepped in, forbidden me to go after those crooks in a rented subchaser after all. And you know something? Because of that storm, I'm afraid they were right. In spite of the fact I'd already paid for that boat and could only get half of it back. I, uh, I'll put that down as a credit on this expense account. After all, it's on my American Express credit card. Anyhow, all I could do was sit around my hotel room and wait for the storm to quit. Yeah, sit and wait. Come in.

4:12 Come in.

4:14 Well, Dollar.

4:15 Oh, hi, Mr. McNair.

4:16 So you couldn't go after those criminals because of this storm.

4:21 Well, sir, just as soon as it lets up... That's no reason for them to get away. Not with my $ 400, 000. $ 421, 216. Yeah, look, Mr. McNair, I.

4:27 Quite frankly, that amount of money doesn't mean very much to me. But to coin a praise, it's the principle of the thing.

4:38 Yeah, sure. So how can you sit either here in this hotel and.

4:42 Well, have you gotten in touch with the Canadian authorities?

4:44 Yes, sir. And they can't do any more than weekend. Also, there's a... Well, there's a kind of ticklish international situation. What international situation? Well, if by any chance I should be wrong... Be wrong? About what? Well, I mean... Well, look, after all, the only evidence against John Harker and his pals so far is the circumstantial kind. I thought you were absolutely certain they took the money. I am, as sure as I can be, until I get my hands on that money.

5:08 I had all the faith in the world in John Harker. Then you came along and destroyed it. Destroyed it with your, your, your theory that he and some friend of his committed that robbery.

5:18 Mr. McNair.

5:18 Well, just let me tell you something, young man. You go out there to wherever he is on my yacht, and you find him. But when you do, you'd better also find proof that he stole that money. I'll do everything I can. Because if you don't, if you or anybody else finds out that he is innocent, Dollar, I'll ride you out of Buffalo on a rail.

5:51 Yeah, at this point I was feeling real good, real happy. Everybody was being so nice to me. I was just about to blow expense account item seven on room service for a bottle of scotch and a couple of quarts of soda in the phone range. Johnny Dollar. Murphy at the Coast Guard, Dollar. Yeah, Murph.

6:10 Look, I'm still sorry about having had to stop your chase across the lake, but the old man would have had my scalp.

6:14 It's all right, Murph. Nothing you can do about it.

6:16 Anyhow, if you've been.

6:16 Following the radio reports on that storm, well, you might have gotten yourself into a lot of trouble out there. Yeah, I guess so. And you've never been able to board a yacht in it anyway. So, do you have any ideas?

6:25 Yeah, I just received a report from our meteorological station.

6:29 Oh.

6:29 That storm's going down just about as fast as it built up. So if you want me to arrange a boat for you to go out there... Yeah, just as soon as we deem it safe.

6:38 Why?

6:40 What?

6:41 Well, the minute the storm is over, the boys in that yacht will start moving. After all, they got 400 grand they've got to stash away somewhere. Oh, yeah, that's true. So by the time I could sail over to where they've been riding out the storm, Lord knows where they could get to. Yeah, but now Dollar... Now, wait a minute. Yeah, Murph, I just got me a wild idea, wild enough to work.

7:00 Oh?

7:00 The storm is breaking up now? Yeah, it's beginning to. Then, mister, by the time that yacht is able to get underway, I'm going to be right on top of those guys. How, Dollar? Just remember what I said. Right on top of them.

7:13 The End.

7:30 Expense account item seven, three bucks and a quarter for a taxi out to the municipal airport. Along the way, I noticed the rain was letting up. The wind was dying down. At one side of the airport, I found exactly what I was looking for. Within a couple of minutes, I was in a little office talking with Tinker Barnum, owner of the Barnum Flying Service. Sure, Dollar.

7:46 Complete equipment for it. Winch, line, slings, everything.

7:50 Good.

7:50 You see, we not only give a lot of demonstrations, instruction, that sort of thing... But now and then a Coast Guard calls on us to help with an actual.

7:57 Rescue at sea. What'd you say your price is? $ 300.

7:59 That includes me at the control.

8:02 Okay, then it's a deal.

8:03 Okay, we'll take off just as soon as the wind goes down a few more knots.

8:06 Oh, sorry, Tink. We gotta take off right away.

8:09 But if the wind starts blowing up again.

8:10 It won't, and I got that straight from the Coast Guard. You're sure of that? I'm sure, so let's go.

8:16 Well, I don't know if the tower will give me clearance.

8:18 Then forget the tower.

8:19 Well, now, wait a minute.

8:20 $ 400?

8:22 But I could lose my license, Dollar, get in a lot of trouble.

8:24 Well, there's nothing else taking off from the field right now.

8:27 I know. But that flight that just came in had a pretty rough time of it.

8:30 Tell the tower it's an emergency, a rescue operation if you have to. But please, let's get going.

8:35 Now, listen. It could be very dangerous.

8:37 All right. That's a chance we'll have to take. Five hundred. Five fifty. Keep talking. After all, it's four hundred thousand bucks this thing. What? Six hundred bucks. Take it or leave it.

8:51 Okay, Dollar, let's go out and warm up the old windmill.

8:54 Atta boy. It was my first ride in a helicopter. And, brother, what an introduction. I've been aboard regular planes in rough weather lots of times. But the way that wind tossed us around picked us up and let us down. And with nothing but the broad wind sharp surface of Lake Erie below us. Well, it was an experience to say the least. For the first half hour, Tink was fighting the controls every inch of the planet, the gray, ominous, scudding clouds that raced by overhead. Then, all of a sudden, the clouds left us. The sun came out in all its glory, the most welcome sight I've seen in years, and the air calmed down. Then finally standing out clearly under us was the Canadian shoreline.

9:41 Look ahead, Dollar, over to the left a bit.

9:43 Yeah, Tink?

9:44 That neck of land, that peninsula sticking out into the lake.

9:48 Yeah, I see it.

9:48 Long point.

9:50 And the yacht was supposed to be riding out the storm in the lee of it.

9:53 I don't see it.

9:54 The lee side would be the.

9:55 But I do. Look, moving along the far side of the point.

10:00 That's a cruiser, Johnny. But is it the right one?

10:02 Come on, take us down to her. Right. Meantime, I'll get the swing ready so you can drop me down to the deck. Right. I still don't know how Tink figured he could pilot that helicopter and at the same time lower me to the deck of the yacht, that he could handle a winch. But he swore he'd done it before in rescue operations, and he could do it again.

10:26 He made a couple of close passes, and I was able to identify John Harker at the helm, a tough-looking character standing beside him. So it had to be McNair's yacht. Then I suddenly realized there were not only two of them, but they both knew who I was, knew all about my interest in the robbery. I could be at a slight disadvantage. Sure, Dollar.

10:45 They'd shoot you dead before you even hit the deck.

10:47 Pink, I can't remember when a lie has ever paid off or even worked. I've got to try one this time.

10:53 Well, listen, we could simply keep a line on them and find out where they go.

10:56 Yeah? And what happens when a six-feeter runs out of gas? Yeah.

11:01 Oh, well, I can radio the Canadian Coast Guard.

11:04 No, no. By the time they get through the necessary red tape to hold those boys and get here from wherever the nearest station is.

11:09 Yeah, I see what you mean.

11:11 Okay then, Johnny. Open the door. Use this megaphone. Thanks.

11:15 I'll hang around over them.

11:17 Right. Arthur! Arthur!

11:26 He's cut his power and cut the hand to his ear.

11:29 Arthur! This is Johnny Dollar. You hear me? You hear me all right? Wave with your right hand.

11:39 It's okay.

11:39 He can hear you.

11:40 McNeil wants you to know the police have found the man who did the robbery. They gunned him down.

11:48 He waves okay.

11:49 Yeah.

11:50 Harker!

11:52 They haven't found the money yet.

11:54 McNeil says you'll have to throw something away.

11:57 And the place will only be the last of you. Hey, what was that, Johnny?

12:01 You get that, Harker?

12:03 I said that... Look!

12:06 I'll drop on down there. Drop your engines, and I'll drop down to your deck on a line. You get that?

12:15 The motion's okay, Johnny, to come ahead.

12:17 Then set me down there, Tinker, and make it gentle, will you?

12:21 You got your gun real handy?

12:22 Right.

12:23 I still don't like this, but down you go.

12:32 Swinging around under that copter, hoping I'd hit the deck of the boat below was no fun. It was a pretty small target, and the yacht was still popping heavily. I think it was an expert, and a couple of minutes later, I saw the deck slowly coming up to me.

12:45 Lower!

12:47 Lower! Coming down too fast.

12:52 That's it.

12:53 That's more like it. Glad to see you, Dollar.

12:57 Can't you steady that boat a little? Better give me a hand when I get down there.

13:00 Sure.

13:02 Don't worry.

13:03 We'll take care of you.

13:05 Come on.

13:06 Get ready to pull the release cord, Johnny. Steady now. Steady. There you go.

13:17 What a way to make a living. Nice work, Donald. Let me give you a hand. Thank you. Yes, while Billy here takes your gun away from you.

13:26 Oh, no, you don't.

13:27 I got it, baby.

13:29 Now, just one funny move, darling, and I'll pull this trigger.

13:32 You see what I mean? Oh, yeah. I see.

13:34 Yeah.

13:35 Just one funny move.

13:38 Okay, Harker, now what? You know something, Billy? I think it might be a very good idea for you to pull that trigger anyway. All right, Frisk him, till he makes sure Dollar hasn't got another gun on him.

13:56 That's just what I'm doing, baby, just what I'm doing.

13:58 And it's all right. He's clean now. What did you take me for, Dollar, a fool? Did you think I'd be crazy enough to believe what you were shouting down from that helicopter, whatever it was? Well, as a matter of fact, Harker, most of it was double. And did you think I'd believe that old fool McNair sent you out here?

14:12 Yeah, that's a laugh.

14:13 That star-fisted old coot.

14:14 Now, shut up, Billy. After that story, the police.

14:16 Had gunned down the man who stole the money from the emporium.

14:18 Don't make me laugh.

14:19 Would you like to see that money before you go, darling? Would you like to run your fingers over 400 Gs?

14:24 Yeah, really. Why not?

14:25 It's all stashed away in that chain lock up for you. But you ain't never going to see it. You're never going to see anything anymore. Can I kill him now, Harker? Can I, huh?

14:32 No, no, wait. Huh? Stop the way that gun around that helicopter gets out of sight. Okay, sure. Well, what's it.

14:38 Hanging around for?

14:39 I don't know. Dollar, you stay here, Billy, but keep that gun on through the door where that flyboy can't see it if he comes any closer. Sure. Go ahead, Dollar. Why not? Now, you just sit right there.

14:53 On that bunk and don't make a move, you understand?

14:55 Because all I got to do.

14:57 Is pull the trigger in here, and neither your pal up in that chopper nor nobody else is going to know it.

15:02 Has he gone away yet, Hocker?

15:04 No.

15:06 Oh, he's circling around again. Make a sign to him there. Make a sign everything's okay.

15:11 Go ahead, Hawker. That'll send him away. You just keep Dollar under control.

15:15 Now, don't you.

15:15 Worry about him. You just go ahead and signal that chopper.

15:19 Okay, up there.

15:21 Everything's okay.

15:24 Thanks a lot.

15:26 Thanks a lot.

15:28 Look, you see?

15:29 I told you not to get rid of him.

15:30 Yeah.

15:32 Yeah, there he goes.

15:33 And maybe I'd better start digging up something that'll make Dollar sink to the bottom. What?

15:38 Well, you know, the lead I'm going to fill him with might not be enough. You see what I mean? Yeah, very funny.

15:43 Go ahead.

15:44 Only watch him.

15:45 He's tricky.

15:45 I can handle him, baby.

15:47 Wait, wait.

15:48 Why?

15:48 What's the matter?

15:49 That cop is coming back again.

15:51 Well, I'll shoot him down.

15:52 I can hit him. Oh, no, you won't. Then get us on the way. Give him the power and get us on the way. Then that guy will know everything's okay. Maybe you're right. I'll try it.

16:08 During all the talk, I sat there on the bunk looking into the muzzle of Billy's. 38. Knowing these were desperate men with a lot at stake. And if I made one false move, he wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger. Even if he took the gun off me for a couple of seconds, there was nothing in reach I could use for a weapon, could even pick up and throw at him.

16:25 Good work, Billy!

16:26 The officer's going away again. I told you so.

16:29 Can I shoot him now? Can I kill him?

16:31 I've got to wait a couple minutes more to make sure. When I find some chain or something to tie around him, make him sink. In the locker under that bunk he's got him sitting on.

16:39 Okay, okay.

16:40 All right now, darling.

16:42 Get off of that bunk and walk up to the front of the camp. Go ahead.

16:47 Don't forget I've got this gun on me.

16:48 Yeah, yeah.

16:53 The copter was going back to shore. Time was running out. Then I saw them. A duplicate set of controls there at the front of the cabin. Steering wheel, throttle, everything.

17:03 Go ahead, Dollar.

17:04 Keep your hands up over your head.

17:06 Up high. Rising off the bunk, my hands over my head, I half stumbled as though from the motion from the boat. I lurched against the wheel and grabbed it and swung.

17:13 It hard aboard.

17:15 Hey!

17:15 The boat swung around crazily. Hey!

17:17 What do you think you did? Hey, let go of that wheel!

17:20 I'll be shot, Billy!

17:23 What's the matter?

17:24 Billy!

17:26 Billy, what's happening down there?

17:28 Plenty, Harker. And if you had some of the same... Wrong, Dollar, dead wrong. Because I have a gun, too, not another step. I see what you mean. Too bad you didn't take Billy's when you... Billy?

17:39 Billy?

17:40 Billy.

17:41 Okay, okay.

17:43 I'm okay.

17:44 If you think I'm going to wait any longer to kill this.

17:46 Guy, you're crazy.

17:47 Okay, Billy.

17:47 Go ahead. Kill him. You don't. I will. Hey, look.

17:51 That cop.

17:51 What?

17:52 He's coming right at us.

17:53 He'll smash into us.

17:54 Stop him. Kill him.

17:55 You bet I will. No, you fool. The pilot and the cop to the flyboy. Shoot him.

17:59 Drag.

18:00 Ouch.

18:00 My last chance.

18:05 They turned to fire at Tinker up in the copter. I lunged against Billy, shoved him over the side.

18:09 By the time Hacker turned to fire at me, I was on top of him, swinging.

18:13 With everything in my hand. I'll kill you.

18:24 All right, Johnny.

18:26 Okay? Okay, Tinker. Okay. You want to pick up what's left of Billy out there in the water? Sure, Johnny.

18:36 After all, that's when I told the tower this was the rescue operation.

18:43 See you back in Buffalo.

18:51 Yeah, like Billy had said, the stolen money, all of it, was stashed away in the Ford chain locker. So after tying up Hocker with all the line I could find, I started the engine of that beautiful yacht, but then suddenly realized, well, put it this way, If Tinker and his copter hadn't stayed with me, so help me, I'd never have found my way back to Buffalo. So, expense account total, including an even thousand bucks for Tinker Barnum, and please don't argue about it, plus the trip back to Hartford, plus the previous charges you haven't yet paid me for, $ 1, 800 even. And believe me, it's a bargain.

19:26 Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Now here is our star to tell you about next week's story. Next week, two beautiful girls, one of them a sweetheart and one of them a killer. Join us, won't you? Yours truly, Johnny Dollar.

19:55 Welcome back. Feels like the ending to last week's episode was kind of a head fake, as we didn't end up dealing with the whole sub-chaser, other than Johnny not being able to get his rental refunded. Also thought the whole scene with McNair was kind of pointless. You didn't need two different people to get on Johnny's back. And McNair's a particularly bad choice. Even if Johnny had turned out to be wrong about where the $ 400, 000 was.

20:32 He was absolutely right to want to track down this employee after McNair hired him without checking references, and those references turned out to be false, and pushed him to leave on a trip while the investigation was ongoing. Tinker Barnum was invaluable to Johnny. Definitely earned the $ 1, 000 payment, but it left me thinking more about the Glacier Ghost matter, which we played as part of our Best of Season 17 special on Sunday, for those who might not have listened to the end. But it made me think of poor Joe Gracie, who Johnny unwittingly enlisted in a plot to throw explosive charges onto a glacier from Joe Gracie's airplane.

21:31 And then Joe Gracie also had to do some fancy flying that he was only able to accomplish through local knowledge that saved he and Johnny's life from the villain. And Johnny only gave Joe Gracie the standard $ 50 charter payment. You know, I know it won't do any good now, but I just gotta say justice for Joe Gracie. Alright, listener comments and feedback now. And we start on the site called X, where we have a listener comment regarding...

22:07 The little man who was there. Honestly, the welcome back on this one pushed me over the edge. I think I have actual hearing damage. Enough. Well, I do apologize if it came across a bit loud, and I will try to watch that. And I definitely tried a little bit softer with today, and we'll see how things go.

22:33 And then on Facebook, we have a comment from Marjorie Hayes who writes, Oh my, I remember listening to Johnny Dollar on Armed Forces Network when we were overseas in 56 to 58. Holy smoke, I'm really old. And then X-1 in a Western. Sounds primitive now, but it was great then. Well, it's actually quite great right now, but I appreciate so much your comments, Marjorie. Now it's time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day. Thank you to Cindy, Patreon supporter since March of 2020, currently supporting the podcast at the Detective Sergeant level of $ 7. 14 or more per month. Thanks so much for your support, Cindy, and that'll do it for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software and be

23:26 sure to rate and review the podcast wherever you download it from. We'll be back next Friday with another episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, but join us back here tomorrow for Counterspy and the Great Adventurers of Old Time Radio, where.

23:42 Go ahead, Captain.

23:44 Well, Mr.

23:45 Harding, this is the obsolete light army bomber I had flown over here to the Miami City Airport to illustrate my theory. Peters and I are very anxious to hear it. Please continue. Now, this is the way I reconstruct the story. A surplus army bomber, identical with this one... left from an improvised runway outside Havana, Cuba last Friday with eight aliens aboard. That, we're fairly sure of, through a contact in Havana. But the plane never landed here in the States. No, Mr.

24:10 Peters.

24:11 We had it under spotter observation in the Caribbean and suddenly lost it. And it didn't return to its Cuban base either. What about the aliens? Just getting to that, Mr. Harding. All right, Bob. Mr. Harding, my theory is the bomb bay doors were opened like that. and the aliens were forced to jump to their deaths in the Caribbean, thousands of feet below.

24:36 I hope you'll be with us then. In the meantime, send your comments to box13 at greatdetectives.net. Follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us out on Instagram, instagram.com slash greatdetectives. From Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham, signing off.