Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar: The Really Gone Matter (EP5075)

0:03 Music Music Music.

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, to please follow us using your favorite podcast software. And a reminder, as you're making your holiday travel plans, remember JohnnyDollarAir.com. JohnnyDollarAir.com is our Priceline affiliate link.

1:03 So you can go to JohnnyDollarAir.com, and part of the purchase price benefits the great detectives of old-time radio at no additional cost to you. So remember JohnnyDollarAir.com. But now we've got a program. Opening's a bit clipped. But please enjoy, from August 30th, 1959, here is The Really Gone Matter.

1:32 It's Percival Leslie Fairport.

1:34 Percival, what?

1:35 He's headman at TriWest Life Insurance Company in Eugene, Oregon.

1:39 Oh, brother, with a name like that, what's bothering the dear boy, Pat?

1:43 Exactly $ 50, 000.

1:44 Yeah, how'd he lose it?

1:46 He didn't. He wants to give it to the beneficiary of a life insurance policy.

1:50 What's the name of this beneficiary? Jonathan... John Doe? That's right. Oh, now, wait a minute. That's right. You sure this isn't a gag of some kind? Hardly.

2:00 I have a bonus out of the policy right here in front of me.

2:03 Okay, Pratt, I'll take your word for it.

2:05 I also think that Percy wants to hand over the money but can't find this John Doe.

2:09 Right. But maybe you can.

2:12 Expense account at my usual commission based on face value of the policy?

2:18 To steal and whatever you may be able to save the company. But in this case.

2:21 But in this case, you'll stretch a point and give it to me.

2:23 I didn't say that.

2:24 Okay, Pat, it's a deal. I'll be in touch. Johnny!

2:35 CBS Radio brings you Bob Bailey in the intriguing adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account.

2:41 America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator. Yes, truly. Johnny Dollar.

2:54 Expense account submitted by Special Investigator Johnny Dollar.

3:07 To the Tri-Western Wife Insurance Company, Eugene, Oregon. Attention, Mr. Percival Leslie Fairford. Wow. Following is the account of expenses incurred during my investigation of the really gone matter.

3:21 Percy Fairford. And a missing beneficiary by the name of John Doe?

3:26 Oh, well, that's the living.

3:27 So in spite of the late hour, item one is 162.85, plane fare Hartford to New York to Portland, Oregon. For some reason or other, I couldn't get to sleep during the cross-country flight. Of course, it may have had something to do with the good-looking redhead in the seat next to me.

3:42 In any event, by the time we pulled into Portland a few minutes after 4 a.m., I was bushed.

3:46 Then I had to wait some four hours for the local flight to Eugene.

3:50 It was after 11 a.m. when I finally walked into the office of Tri Weston on Jefferson Street. I was tired, hungry, and in no mood to bandy words with anybody by the name of Percy. The office made a head, Mr. Dollar.

4:01 Thanks.

4:01 He's expecting you.

4:02 Very happy to see you.

4:04 Oh, I am sure.

4:04 Well, come in, Dollar.

4:07 Close the door and come in.

4:08 And sit down.

4:09 You're Percival Leslie? Yeah, that's right.

4:12 Call me Leslie.

4:13 Come in, come in.

4:14 Yeah, sure. Well, you look like you've been run through a ringer, Johnny. How about a little drink? You think that might help? No, no, thanks. Or is it because you've been nipping at the jug all the way out here?

4:23 Oh, hardly. Of course, there was that redhead in the seat next to mine. Oh, yeah, those redheads, they'll do it to you every time.

4:30 Good looking. Well, I told you I didn't get any sleep. Baby, you're a man after my own heart. But now listen.

4:37 Did Pat McCracken tell you why I wanted to see you? Something about a missing beneficiary. Here's a story in a couple of nutshells. We've got a lot of farms around here. Big ones, little ones, all kinds. Two years ago, Harvey Wakeman and his family came out here.

4:49 That's Mrs.

4:50 Wakeman and his 20-year-old son, Ben. It's Wakeman's policy that's involved? Just let me give it to you my own way to save time.

4:56 Yeah, shoot.

4:57 Well, Wakeman used to be a professor at some agriculture college somewhere back east. When his doctor told him if he didn't stop teaching and retire, he'd die before his time, why, he came out here and bought this farm up this side of Coburg and went to work on it.

5:09 He called that retiring? Oh, he did wonders with it. And when he died a few weeks ago... Now, let him know this. Yeah? A wife and son... That's right. I left the insurance to somebody by the name of.

5:19 That's right, to a man named Jonathan Doe. Just who is this John Doe?

5:24 Ask me, Johnny. He isn't. What do you mean by that?

5:27 Ask me, Jonathan Doe is dead. He must have known old man Wakeman was leaving him this money, so why isn't.

5:32 He around to collect it? I see. Tell me one thing, Les. What's that? How did Wakeman die? Sound asleep in his own bed in his own house. Nothing to be suspicious about, if that's what you meant. Okay. Now, let's get back to Jonathan Doe.

5:45 Wakeman's best friend, Johnny, had a farm just north of Wakeman's on a little side road. The way I understand it, Wakeman spent almost as much time this past year over at Jonathan's helping him out as he did on his own farm.

5:56 His best friend? Yeah, that's why he left him the insurance money.

6:00 After all, he left his widow and his boy his own farm worth three or four times that much.

6:04 I see.

6:05 But now my problem is I can't find Jonathan Doe.

6:09 Well, he just disappeared? Just disappeared. When? About the same time Harvey Wakeman died, near as we can figure it. That was three months ago. What did the police think? Well, they decided the only thing we can do is wait. Maybe he'll show up again. But you ask me, Johnny.

6:23 Yeah?

6:24 That means wait for seven years until he's legally presumed.

6:28 Not to be alive, and then give the money to the secondary beneficiary. Legally presumed not to be alive? That's a funny way to put it.

6:34 That's the way Harvey Wakeman had me write it in his policies. But you know what it means, Johnny. Sure, the statute of limitations. If someone fails to show up for seven years, the law presumes them to be deceased. But this company doesn't like that sort of stuff hanging over its head.

6:46 So, Johnny, it's up to you.

6:48 Either find this Jonathan Doe or, more likely, prove him dead.

6:52 So how are you going to start? You know something? Well, you've given me so much to go on.

6:57 Right.

6:57 But, Les, I have the least idea. The reeling....

7:22 Expense account item 250 bucks deposited on a rental car after a big lunch at Les Fairfax expense.

7:29 I crossed the Willamette, then drove north.

7:31 A couple of miles inside of Coburg, I found the prosperous-looking Wakeman Farm.

7:35 As I pulled up in front of the house, a clean-cut young fellow in blue jeans came over to the car. Afternoon, mister.

7:43 Can I help you?

7:44 I'm Ben Wakeman. Yeah, hiya, Ben. My name's Johnny Dollar. Dollar? Insurance investigator. Oh. Oh, then you must be here because of Jonathan Doe. Yeah, that's right.

7:54 Sure saved you people a lot of time and trouble if Mr. Doe showed up, wouldn't it? Any idea what might have happened to him, Ben? Me?

8:02 Why, no, sir. Well, I have, Mr.

8:05 Dollar.

8:05 I could hear you through the window.

8:07 I'm Mrs.

8:07 Wakeman, and I have a couple of ideas about what happened. Oh, how do you do, Mrs. Wakeman? You know what I think? Well, now, Ma.

8:13 I think Jonathan Doe was just so broken up over my husband's.

8:16 Passing that he couldn't bear just staying around, not being able to do.

8:19 Anything about it.

8:20 Ma, listen. He was the closest friend that.

8:22 Ever lived, Harvey and Jonathan Doe.

8:24 Well, tell me, Mrs.

8:24 Doe.

8:25 I spent more time with him, helping him, loaning him his influence.

8:28 Well, maybe he.

8:29 I guess I always told him his tractor's still over there.

8:33 Ben. I know it is, Ma. And as soon as Mr. Waverly says it's okay, I'll... All right.

8:38 All right.

8:38 Yes, Pa spent more time with him lately than he did here. And with the shock of Pa going, well, I just think he went away. Ma, I don't mean to argue with you, but.

8:48 Ben, the more you say no, the more I believe it's true.

8:51 You just know the best way to keep me thinking something is to say it isn't so. You're just like your father was. You, uh, you said you had two ideas, Mrs. Waverly.

8:59 Well, of course, Mr.

9:01 Dollar. Any reason why this Jonathan Doe wasn't just, well, murdered? Ma, please. Any reason you know of why somebody might have murdered him? Well, no, but just to say it's a possibility, isn't it? What sort of a man was Jonathan Doe? Well, according to Paul... No, no, I mean in your own opinion. Well, you see, I just never did get around to meet him.

9:21 Goodness knows I told Pa to invite him over here to Sunday dinner often enough.

9:26 Ben?

9:27 Sir? Uh, ladies, I never met him either. I offered to go over there with Pa a couple of times and maybe help them out, but... You want the truth.

9:36 Neither Ben nor I ever really saw his farm close up until they told us he'd disappeared.

9:41 It wasn't that Pa kept us away from him.

9:43 It's just... Well, who.

9:45 Around here did know Jonathan Doe? Well, actually, uh.

9:50 Well, I guess even we wouldn't have known about him if it hadn't been for Paul. That's true, Mr.

9:54 Dollar.

9:55 It's just.

9:55 It's kind of funny that they knew so little about Mr. Wakeman's closest friend and beneficiary of his insurance. But the more I questioned them, the more sure I became that they really didn't. More important, tired as I was, Mrs. Wakeman's constant jabbering nearly drove me off my rocker. So after learning that the Eugene police had made what little investigation there was, I drove back to town, dropped in at headquarters.

10:22 Well, you really should ought to talk to Sergeant Conroy, Mr. Dollar. He's the one really been out looking for that Jonathan Doe. Jonathan Doe, ain't that a laugh?

10:31 Yeah.

10:33 Well, is Conroy around here now? It's his afternoon off. I don't know where you'd find him.

10:38 He'd be on duty 8 a.m.

10:39 In the morning, though. Okay, thanks. I'll catch him then.

10:41 Sure. I spent the rest of the afternoon contacting everybody I could think of who might have had some contact with Jonathan Doe. At the post office, I learned the delivery man had only seen him at a distance driving Wakeman's tractor across the field. None of the merchants remembered his having ever come in. I drove out into the country again and talked with other farmers living nearby. None of them knew anything about him, nor had ever seen his face. I drove to his farm, went over the place with a fine-tooth comb.

11:11 Result?

11:12 Nothing.

11:14 Except, perhaps, that it was obvious he'd never owned a car or any livestock. Nor many of the usual agricultural implements, either. As a matter of fact, the Alice Chalmers Mrs. Wakeman mentioned was the only motorized piece.

11:29 No car. I went back to Eugene again, checked with ticket offices, bus, plane, and railroad. Nothing.

11:36 I began to wonder if this John Doe ever existed. But then, at City Hall, in the Hall of Records, I had that idea knocked right out of my head.

11:43 Well, here are the records, Mr. Dollar. All in order. Now, look, tell me this. Did you ever see and talk to this man? Well, no. Well, who in this office might have talked to him? Well, I would have. But, you see... Hey, now, wait a minute. Where's his signature on these? Well... You see, they were all signed by Mr. Waverly. Waverly?

12:12 Well, that lawyer, John Waverly, had his power of attorney.

12:17 Where'll I find him?

12:19 Well, I understand he went up to Portland this afternoon.

12:24 Oh, son of a gun.

12:25 Somebody around this town must have known this Jonathan Doe, must have seen him somewhere sometime.

12:30 Well, of course, Mr. Dollar. All right, who?

12:34 Well, now, that's something I just don't know.

12:44 It was late and I was beat, so I grabbed dinner in a room at the Barkley. That's item 3, 1170, and spent the next nine hours getting some much-needed sleep.

12:53 Item 4, first thing in the morning, $ 1. 85 for breakfast. Then I barged on over to police headquarters again.

12:58 Sergeant Conroy was cooperative enough, but not very helpful, if you know what I mean. Well, you've learned just about as much about Jonathan Bowen one afternoon as I have in three months.

13:09 Yeah, but, Sergeant, it doesn't make sense that no one, not one, around here is... Well, if only I didn't know young Ben so well. What?

13:19 Have you seen him? Ship off the old block. He's hardworking, just as honest as his followers.

13:24 Well, what about him?

13:26 Well, anybody else but him, I'd have locked him up first and asked the questions later. What are you talking about? Speaking of that, do you ever get so many answers, the questions you didn't ask is when Mrs. Wakeman started getting away? What am I listening to, Conroy? Nice enough woman, I guess. I always did feel sorry for Mr. Wakeman having that mouth I heard around all the time.

13:44 Wait a minute, will you? What do you mean about young Ben? The insurance, will you? What? Secondary beneficiary, you know. It's Ben who gets that money if Jonathan Dole never shows up? That's right. You're sure of that? That's what I understood from Les Fairfoot. He's the... Yeah, yeah, I know who he is. But why he didn't tell me that?

14:05 I'll see you later. Now, look, Donner, I told you about that boy. That boy is somebody I want to find out more about for myself.

14:18 Expense account item 510 cents for a telephone call to Les Fairport.

14:28 Johnny, you're not trying to tell me Ben could have killed Jonathan Doe to get that $ 50, 000 seven years from now?

14:34 Didn't he?

14:36 I know that boy. I've known him for years.

14:38 Or maybe he paid him off to disappear this way.

14:40 When he could get 50,000 bucks.

14:43 Are you sure that Jonathan knew he was beneficiary of that policy?

14:47 Well, I'd certainly imagine old man Wakeman would have told him so.

14:50 Wakeman never say he did.

14:51 Oh, no.

14:52 You ever tell it to Jonathan?

14:54 I never even met him.

14:55 Not you nor anybody else.

14:56 And I've been wasting all this time trying to find someone who did, who knew something about him.

15:00 But, brother, that's all beside the point now.

15:02 What are you going to do?

15:03 Go out to that farm for a showdown with Ben Wakeman. Showdown?

15:12 I'm afraid I kind of made a fool of myself trying to trick that boy into confessing that he disposed of Jonathan Doe. He had an answer for everything. But I mean a straightforward, honest eye-to-eye answer. As for his mother.

15:26 Ben, who's worked so hard to take care of me and Pa ever since he first got sick. How can you say such a thing? It's all right now, Mother. It's just, Mr.

15:34 Dollar.

15:35 It's just that he's accusing you of the most horrible, the most awful things.

15:38 And he has no right to. Well, look.

15:40 You think that Ben, this wonderful boy who's taken such good care of this farm, just like his father wanted, and who's even taken care of Jonathan's place ever since he's taken care of us, I ought to cut your eyes out for even thinking such a thing.

15:53 Well, I'm sorry. You'd better be, and you'd just better get out of here. Mother, please. If I had any sense, I'd sue you.

16:00 I'd call up John Waverly and tell him.

16:02 Wait a minute. Waverly? That's right. Sawyer Waverly. He was Dad's attorney, Mr. Don. Your father's, too? Of course. Then he's the one I want to see. Just don't you worry about that.

16:13 We'll just come around here like this anymore and you'll see him in court.

16:16 Mrs.

16:16 Wakeman. Go on now, get out of here.

16:17 Mrs.

16:17 Wakeman, I may end up by owing you a big fat apology. You certainly will, but right now... But until I talk with this lawyer... Right now, you can just get out of here. Yes, ma'am.

16:35 Well, I can't say that you were very wise, Mr. Dollar, trying to, shall we say, cross swords with Mrs.

16:40 Wakeman.

16:41 You see, she was one of the reasons Harvey Wakeman spent so much time on his... on the farm of Jonathan Doe. Just to get some.

16:48 Peace and quiet. Yeah.

16:51 Now, Mr.

16:51 Waverly, let's stop beating around the bush. Are you going to tell me something about this John Doe?

16:57 No. No?

16:58 You're the one person I found. You had his power of attorney. You're the one person who must have seen him, must have known him.

17:04 No, Mr.

17:05 Dollar.

17:05 No, what?

17:06 What are you talking about? Did you see Wakeman's insurance policy? I know about it, naturally.

17:11 First beneficiary, Jonathan Doe. Right. The money to go to the second beneficiary. That's Ben Wakeman.

17:16 Yes.

17:17 At such time as Jonathan Doe legally is presumed not.

17:21 To be alive.

17:22 Sure, when the statute of limitations runs out at the end of seven years. That's kind of a screwy way to put it.

17:29 I didn't put it that way.

17:30 Huh?

17:31 Sure said until such time as Jonathan Doe legally is presumed deceased.

17:36 Would have meant nothing. What? That's right. For the simple reason that he was never alive.

17:42 Ah.

17:44 Ben is a young man. His father loved him very dearly. The boy meant everything to him. Mr.

17:50 Waver.

17:50 Wakeman knew he didn't have long to live. He arranged it so that his farm and the profit from it would pass to his widow and his son.

17:57 Well, of course.

17:58 But he wanted to do more for the boy after Ben had really reached maturity. and do it incidentally without seeming to slight his widow. So, by inventing this Jonathan Doe, putting the other farm in Jonathan's name, all of it completely legal, by the way, I attended to that myself.

18:18 It means the 50,000 can't possibly, can't possibly go to Ben while he's.

18:24 Still a kid. Exactly.

18:26 Nor could his widow, and she's not the most level-headed woman in the world, nor could she possibly upset the whole plan.

18:33 And the other farm.

18:34 I can show you papers in my files that will turn that over to Ben when he receives the insurance. But I won't be any monkeys. Then this Jonathan was the real McCauley. A real John Doe. In the true legal sense. The fictitious name of a completely non-existent person. But for such a sound, logical, for such a good reason, Mr.

18:57 Dollar, that I... I. Tell me.

19:03 Yeah?

19:04 Don't you agree it's best if neither Ben nor his mother find out about this until, say, until about seven years from now?

19:14 Yeah.

19:16 Sure.

19:22 So that's... You can just hold this $ 50, 000.

19:25 Payment outside and outstanding for a while. And don't forget to keep up the interest on it. Also, I think you have sense enough to keep your mouth shut about it.

19:34 So, expense account total, including another hotel bill and the trip back.

19:38 To Hartford, $ 4, 105.

19:41 Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Now, here is our story to tell you about next week's story. Next week, a very clever device to cover a murder. And it almost worked. Join us, won't you?

20:05 Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Johnny Dollar.

20:17 Yours truly, Johnny Dollar, starring Bob Bailey, originates in Hollywood and is written, produced, and directed by Jack Johnstone. Heard in our cast were Virginia Gregg, Lawrence Dobkin, Marvin Miller, Sam Edward, Julius Matthews, Stacy Harris, and Bart Robinson. Be sure to join us next week, same time and station, for another exciting story of.

20:56 You're Truly Money Dollar. You're Truly Money Dollar.

21:05 This is Dan Coverley speaking.

21:15 Welcome back.

21:17 Okay, I think that.

21:34 Harvey Wakeman actually had a sensible idea with his estate plan in terms of wanting to give his son money, but at a time when his son was fully grown. But the way he went about it is kind of hard to fathom. I imagine that there was more of Johnny's conversation And him saying to Waverly, okay, I get what you did, and I understand it, and I'm not going to try to mess it up, but why didn't you just set up a trust? And Waverly sits back and says, well, you know, Harvey came to me asking for a trust, and I said, no, you don't want to do that. Trusts are boring. I've done way too many trusts. I've got another idea. How about we make a guy? And Harvey was interested, a little confused. He goes, make a guy. Yeah, we'll create a guy and we'll

22:34 leave your money to the guy. But when the guy doesn't show up to claim it, then it'll go to your son Ben, but it'll be seven years after your death. Well, I was thinking we, you know, put this farm in the trough. No, we give the farm to that guy and then you, then I get a power of attorney and I'm acting for that guy. Well, Doesn't that guy have to sign the power of attorney? How does someone who doesn't exist sign a power of attorney? And he said, well, and then what did you tell him? And he said, I just told him not to worry about it. Nobody's asked, so I was right. Yeah, just don't worry about it.

23:17 Of course, I do have to admit that you suspecting his son of killing our fake guy was a bit of an unplanned complication, but, you know, live and learn. On another note, it did feel like a bit of miscommunication between Virginia Gregg and the production team. The story tells us that before his death, back east, teaching at an agricultural college, which makes Virginia Gregg's voice, which sounds very much like old farmer's wife, And not at all back east.

23:59 A bit weird. Though, I don't know.

24:00 Maybe they were kind of vague. I think they used that they were there several years. So, you know, maybe she just went native with the accent. That does happen, actually. All right, listener comments and feedback now. And we go to the site called X where Ichabod comments, I've been listening to the Edmund O'Brien episodes. He was pretty good as Johnny Dollar also. I have always appreciated the O'Brien era.

24:31 He was, of course, a tremendous actor, though mainly known for character work. Johnny Dollar is a very interesting show during the O'Brien years, at least at the beginning, where he is doing this very hard-boiled portrayal. And it may be one of the most serious hard-boiled performances. Now, of course, there are some that went to more extremes, thinking of Pat Novak for hire, but O'Brien played it really straight, and there was a really interesting world-weariness about his character that could go into some interesting places, including him sort of grumbling about the insurance companies and taking his frustrations out on them, which I guess is an interesting choice.

25:27 All right, well now it's time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day. Thank you to Jim, Patreon supporter since May 2020, currently supporting the podcast at the shawmest level of four dollars or more per month. Thanks so much for your support, Jim. That will do it for today. If you're Enjoying the podcast? Please follow us using your favorite podcast software, and be 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 as we give way to the great adventurers of old-time radio and Counterspy, where.

26:09 It's.

26:10 Two minutes to eight. One minute and 30 seconds. That's enough time to give Poulsen.

26:16 Alfred, you'll be back?

26:18 In one minute and 45 seconds. All right, Zero. Down the hall.

26:28 Zero. Did Poulsen walk up from the 20th.

26:32 Floor as I ordered?

26:34 Yeah, boss. Everything's set.

26:38 Good evening, Poulsen.

26:40 Hiya, Mr. Babson. You want to see me?

26:42 Paulson, you've worked the room, that table for me at 11 of our charity parties. You're an excellent group, yeah? And I pay you well.

26:49 No complaints, Mr. Batson.

26:51 Then, Paulson, why did you withhold some of the money from your table at last night's party in Philadelphia? I give you exactly 20 seconds to explain.

27:01 I don't get you. I was watching you, Paulson. You cut yourself a nice slice. You got me wrong, Zero. I wouldn't do a thing like that to Mr. Batson.

27:07 You're a liar. Zero, let him go. Uh, I can explain, Mr.

27:13 Batson.

27:13 There's no time left to explain. You wasted it lying.

27:17 Please, just give me a.

27:17 You heard the boss' time, sir.

27:19 Get moving.

27:22 Zero, open the elevator door for Bolton. With pleasure. That's the way out for you, Bolton. With pleasure.

27:33 The elevator's not there.

27:34 It's 22 floors below, and you're going down to meet it.

27:37 What?

27:38 You're taking a suicide dive, Folsom. That's why I had you get off at the 20th floor and walk the rest of the way up to be sure you wouldn't be traced to my penthouse. All right, Zero.

27:48 So long, chiseler.

27:49 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.