 For your listening enjoyment, John Lund as Johnny Dollar Ralph Weedon again, Johnny. I'm glad I caught you before you left. Well, there's almost two hours before my plane leaves. What's on your mind? Another cable came in from Middler just now. The amount taken in the burglary is roughly $75,000. That's dollars and not pesos? Dollar. And they mentioned that a clerk has dropped out of sight. Oh, a native? An American. Blake. All right. That's all so far. What's your hotel in Middler? Do you know yet? Yeah, the Hotel Tondo. Tondo? Good. I'll get word to you there if I learn anything you can use. Good luck on the trip. You want to join me in a quick look at the path? Okay, here it goes. Back around 1890, Charles Dudley Warner, who was editor of the Hartford Current, wrote in an editorial, everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. Well, maybe no one did in 1890, but someone definitely has since then. Our United States weatherman. He's quite a busy gentleman who works for the Department of Commerce. His job is to read thermometers, barometers, anemometers, and other resorted meters, which forecast weather conditions so the rest of us will know what to plan or what not to plan, like hanging out the wash or going to a baseball game. Information about weather conditions is also given to aircraft pilots and ship captains so they can plan their flights or cruises accordingly. Of course, they need more than just weather data, and the Commerce Department gives them what they need. For the pilots, the Department issues aviation charts and maps and sees to it that air markers are laid out so that the pilots can find their way easily and safely. For the ship captains, the Commerce Department issues nautical charts and tide tables to indicate when and where it will be safe to navigate their ship. The Department also inspects the ships to see that they're in perfect operating condition and issues licenses for the operating of the ship. For the next time, you look up at the sky and wonder what kind of a day it's going to be. The thought might also cross your mind that many lives and valuable cargo carried by American planes and ships are depending on the United States weatherman who is also looking at the sky. Expense accounts submitted by special investigator Johnny Dollar to Home Office Columbia All Risk Insurance Company, Hartford, Connecticut. The following is an accounting of expenditures during my investigation of the Woodward Manila matter. Expense account item 1, $1,188.75. Airfare and instrumentals between Hartford and Manila. Passenger Dollar from the incoming Fun American flight number 103. Will you go to the ticket office, please? Sure, sir. Passenger Dollar from the incoming Fun American flight number 103. Will you go to the ticket office? Yes, sir. My name is Dollar. I was being paid. Oh, yes, yes. These gentlemen are waiting for you. This is Mr. Dollar, sir. Oh, yes. I'm Floyd McDonald, Mr. Dollar, local manager for the Woodward Company. Oh, how are you? And this is Mr. Irving Morgan, my assistant. Mr. Morgan, glad to meet you. I've made arrangements to have your luggage sent on to your hotel if you'd like to do it that way. And Irving and I can drive you right in. Oh, fine. Very nice of you. Well, I know how it is. At least I don't want to bother with the detail. That's for a long flight like that. If you will give me your luggage checks, sir. Oh, oh, yeah. I have them right here. Thank you. Well, that's all I think. The car is right outside. We can give you the details of the burglary on the way in. Nice. McDonald told me very little that I didn't already know the story managed. One of Manila's largest hardware stores was part of the American owned Woodward chain. He discovered the loss of the seventy five thousand dollars himself on Monday morning when he'd entered his office and found the safe open naturally. I feel very badly about it. But everything that can be done is being done. Well, I don't know who the main office is blaming on, but I think you'll find that Floyd and I were anything but careless. Well, you've got five years without a loss behind us to prove that. Are you in the habit of keeping that much money in your office safe? Well, it wasn't my idea, nor to my liking. It was because of a company rule. They were worried about conditions on the side of the Pacific and ordered us to stop banking our cash here instead of the usual yearly transfer. Our money has been going to the states once a month. I didn't save much this time. What about this clerk, Dan Blake? Don't get me started on him. No, no, there's nothing proved yet. What's it going to take to open your eyes, Floyd? We don't agree on just what to think about, Dan, Mr. Dollar. In spite of the circumstances, I find it almost impossible to believe that Dan would do this to me. Or could he have done it? Of course he could. He had access to the office. Yes, that's true. But I can't forget that he was a very good friend of mine. He was like a son to me. Was he in any trouble that you know of? Oh, any money? I hadn't heard of anything. He's gone out of sight four days now. What kind of a search has been made for him? I understand the police have been working very hard. They've had time as the chief suspect, too. But you've got to realize that the Philippines aren't like the States, dollar. It's not hard to drop out of sight here. It's a big world. Yeah, I know. I just watched a lot of it pass by. Well, as soon as my luggage arrives and I can get into a fresh suit, I'll contact the police and see what they've got. Expense account item two is $350, including tip. A picture of Gimlet's delivered to my room. While I waited for my baggage to arrive, I relaxed in front of a window. My hotel was two blocks back from Manila's Great Bay in a section called El Cuerto. And from my room, I could see enough of the Orient and the native craft working the harbor to give even a hardware store, a burglary, an atmosphere of intrigue. Expense account item three, 80 cents, cab fare to police headquarters. But I was shunted into a side office to wait for the sergeant in charge of the Woodward case. He finally showed up. Sergeant Malvaz, you wait for me? Yes, my name is Dollar. I know, you've come to talk of my burglary. You're a flitman? No, not quite. I've been hired by an insurance company to learn what I can about it. Have you gotten any place with your search for Dan Blake? Dan Blake? No, I don't look for him now. You don't? No, I have captured the tip. Oh, well, who is it? Miguel Masaleda. You've recovered the money? He will not say where it is yet, but he will save tomorrow, maybe. Well, what evidence do you have, Sergeant? He cannot say where he was that night of the burglary. Is that all? He is by profession a thief. He was arrested while he was robbing another store that night. Uh-huh. Does he speak English? Oh, yes. I wonder if I could see him. Maybe I could get him to talk. All right. You come with me. Don't stay long. Only five minutes. That's good enough. Miguel? Who are you? Why you come here? How old are you, Miguel? Fifty. Where do you work? No work. I get hurt in bombing. No work. Do you have any children? Yes, two daughters. Where do they work? Does either one work at the Woodward Hardware Store? Work in prison. Both work in prison. Sergeant Malvare says that you stole some money from the Woodward Store. No. You make it easier for yourself if you tell the truth and give up the money. I don't got money. If I got money, then why I steal five pesos from all the place? Why? You tell police why. If I got lots of money, why I steal a little more? Why? Because I don't got lots of money. Well, that's good enough for me, Miguel. Sorry I took up your time. You don't steal long. I think he wants to sleep. What would he say to you? That he didn't do it. And that if he had, you wouldn't have caught him stealing five pesos because he wouldn't have needed it. He needed kicking the head for his life. Do you have any connection between him and the Woodward place? He said you he got two daughters in prison? Yeah, he did. He lied. They come out, but they don't go back to him because he steals their money. Oh. The daughters have connection with Woodward? Connection? If we need connection, we find one, all right. Tomorrow, maybe. I had an idea of Sergeant Malvarr's philosophy reason that it was a lot easier to grill the prisoner than it would be to continue the search for Blake. Glad I left him to his own devices and cab to the Woodward store. I was told that neither Floyd McDonald nor Morgan were in, but that a secretary would help me. Well, how do you do, Mr. Dollar? I knew that you were coming out. My name is Charlotte Page, Floyd McDonald is my uncle. He had to go out to Hermita, but can I help you? Well, I want to look at the office to find out where the safe was. Oh, I can show you. Mr. Dollar, I know you've been here only a little while, but have you learned anything? Well, not much, but all of it looks bad for Dan Blake. Oh, I can't believe it. I just can't believe that Dan would do a thing like this. How well did you know him? He would definitely not well at all if he stole the money. We're the same age. We found something in common working here together. I had dinner with him occasionally, gone to the beach. Do you know if he was in any kind of trouble, death or anything? Well, no, I thought he was very happy and comfortable here. Seemed to be. Where's the safe now? Oh, it's under the rug. It's a death. He had to lift the corner of the rug. He knew where it was? Oh, yes, everybody trusted him. He'd been here for years. Did he know the combination? I don't think so. Uncle Floyd handled the cash. Well, could he have memorized it? I don't know that either. I thought he'd give it a thought. Now, I guess we can put the rug back. I forgot to get his address from the police. Do you happen to know what it is? Well, I've forgotten it's on, um, some Pollock. Well, I can find it on a payroll. It'll be right here. It'd be too easy to find him there, wouldn't it, Mr. Dollar? Yeah, much too easy. But I might pick up a crumb or two. Oh, here it is. 307, St. Pollock Street. 307. Thanks. Tell Mr. McDonald I was here, would you please, and that I'll be in touch tomorrow? There was a fair biography of Dan Blake in his room. I learned that he was born in Duluth, Minnesota, 26 years ago, that his father wrote him occasionally, that he'd sailed with a merchant marine during the war and had made a few inter-island trips after that. I made a list of the places he'd visited, but that was all I could do for that day. It wasn't until the next morning that I went to police headquarters and waited again for Sergeant Malbar. Oh, you come back again. We do very good without your help. Well, pardon me, I don't want to butt in. I just wondered if you knew that Dan Blake spent a lot of time learning these islands. Oh? Did you know that he spent some time in San Jose, on Mindoro, and on Marinduque, and in Palo and Laetit? I did not know. I might pay you to check those places. There are more, too. From here, clear down to Mindoro. The search is finished. What do you mean? Dan Blake has been found. He was addressing a dog out in the entire vast day. He was taken aboard the ship and then he died. What killed him? He was shot many times. What about the money? It has not been found. Not yet. Yeah, sure. But maybe tomorrow. You know many great men have attained the highest office in our land, the presidency of the United States. Can you guess the name of this man? As a boy, his general health was bad. But as a man, he was a dynamo of energy. He was only 42 when he became president, the youngest man ever to hold that position. His administration was a fairly untroubled one. There was still no income tax. Other taxes were comparatively low. And the United States was in a peaceful era. Conservation of our natural resources was one of his greatest concerns as president. And in 1902, he signed a bill putting the Reclamation Act into action. If you don't have his name by now, here's one more important clue. During his administration, work was begun on the Panama Canal. Who was he? Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States. His life is part of your American heritage. And now, with our star, John Lund, we bring you the second act of your truly Johnny Dollar. Sergeant Malvar, a Manila police, was again taking his inimitable approach to a subject, believing what he wanted to believe. When I asked him how he knew the body was better than Blake, he told me the ship captain who had picked him up said so. And how did he know? The man had mentioned the name before he died. That was all. And it wasn't enough for me. I put in a call for Floyd McDonald, the Woodward Company manager, and asked him to meet me at police headquarters for identification. When did this develop, Dollar? And why wasn't I notified? Nobody was notified, Mr. McDonald. Sergeant Malvar was playing as close to his chest. Where is this Sergeant Malvar? He didn't tell me where he was going. He left worried that we could look at the body and then left. My name is Dollar, Corporal. See, you go in. Thanks. This is unpleasant, but we have to find out. Is this Dan Blake? Yes. Yes, it's Dan. Where did they find him? In a dugout canoe. Some place called Tayabas Bay, I think. Yes, Tayabas Bay, south-west of here. Who found him? A man by the name of Kovar. He's the captain of an inner island schooner. Could we leave here? Sure. It's Dan. He'd been shot in the back four times. He was alive for a short time after Captain Kovar picked him up. And the money hasn't been found. I see. Then there's no explanation yet. Well, not that I know of. The schooner is anchored offshore just south of the Pasig River. You know where that is? Yes. You're going out to the ship? Yeah, I'd like to talk to this Kovar. I guess I can hire a boat to take me out there. Well, I'll drive you down to the dock. As a matter of fact, I'd like to go with you. Oh, it's a good idea if you have the time. I'll take the time. That's my car, there. CNIMS, is that the name? Yeah, that's it. Skipper? Skipper, that's the one there. CNIMS. It's a little precious for a wreck like that, isn't it? Some are even worse. I don't know how this air flows. There's somebody on deck. What do you want? Are you Captain Kovar? That's right. We want to talk to you about that body you brought in. You're the police? No, this man is Mr. McDonald. Dan Blake works for him. Hey, cover up. Get a line on the shore boat. Okay, come on aboard. I'll put the ladder over there. You got quite a pitch today. My name is Dollar, Captain. I'm working on the burglary for an insurance company. Come on, McCabbin. I'd like to learn about that burglary. All that police sergeant would tell me is that I got the money, and I'd better give it to them. That'll take some doing. I'll take the chairs, you two. I'll take the bunk. What about all this? Well, it's a little over $75,000 missing. You didn't have anything when I picked them up. He was in a dugout canoe, huh? That's right. It looked like a morrow craft to me. Oh, I see what you mean. It was empty. I looked it over. How long did he live? 15, 20 minutes, maybe not that long. I don't think taking him aboard did any good, but I didn't know the shape he was in. Could he say anything about the shooting? Nothing I could understand. What did he say? I told you I couldn't understand. Just some noise. Well, but you were able to understand his name. You were beginning to sound like that police sergeant, Mr. I don't like that. I thought I was doing right when I brought that for you. Oh, wait a minute, Captain. We should have left him there. Police right now are getting papers to search my ship. Now you start. I'm not making any accusations. You were the last person to see him alive. I'm interested in what he said. He said, break, break. That's all I could understand. I'll tell you the truth. I wish I'd left him there. But you know what I think? What? If he went from Manila to someplace on Tireboss Bay where he had his dugout, plenty could happen. That's about 60 miles. There's still a lot of trouble with the huts these days. They don't think twice when they get the chance to kill an American. $75,000 so much for better. What do you think, Mr. McDonough? Well, certainly a possibility. I didn't bother questioning the crew. I knew that Sergeant Malvarr, if he hadn't already, would take care of that when he returned to search the schooner. I spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon in routine legwork on the case. And at four o'clock, I got the sergeant's report. He hadn't found the money. However, my legwork had uncovered an interesting point. Floyd McDonald was up to his neck in personal debt. I didn't think it was Floyd. So I waited until his assistant, Irving Morgan, had gotten to his home. Oh, hello. I've been thinking about you. Come on in. Thanks. How's it going? Well, it's hard to tell. Well, I hear that money is gone for good. Did McDonald tell you that? Yeah, isn't that right? Maybe, but it's occurred to me that these huts could be pretty handy people to have around. I don't get you. Now, when a killing outside the city can't be explained any other way, it's marked off to the huts. Well, you don't think they shot Blake? Well, I'm not as sure of it as everybody else seems to be. But just what do you mean, Mr. Dollar? How much did you know about McDonald's personal life? Why, I seem socially, if that's what you mean. We're good friends. Does he owe you any money? That seems to me not a very personal question. Well, I have to ask that kind once in a while. I've learned that McDonald owes a lot of money to a lot of people. $1,000 here, $1,500 there. Loans, gambling debts, he'd be ruined if this became common knowledge, Mr. Dollar. He'd lose his position, everything. How far do you think McDonald would go to save himself? Are you telling me you think Floyd arranged this theft? That was something to think about. And killed Blake? Oh, no, no, he didn't. You're sure? Why, he couldn't. But he's not that kind of man. He's desperate. Yes, but he never do a thing like that. Would he be at home now? No, I don't think so. It's only seven. He usually has dinner at the club. What club? An emergency club. Well, Mr. Dollar, don't question him down there. Wait till he gets home. All right. And I can count on you not to tell him I'm waiting for him. You certainly can. I want to stay as far away from this as possible. There a cab dropped me in front of Floyd McDonald's home. The residence at least was a picture of propriety. I followed a sidewalk across a neatly hedged lawn and halfway to the house I stopped to watch a man come out the front door. Oh, Captain Kovar. Who is it? What do you want? What are you doing here? Forget it. Oh, I can't. What's your part in this? Never mind. Forget you saw me. Come here. Kovar! Get up! Get up! Get up! I didn't expect this. You live here? Yes. I came to talk to your uncle. Is he here? No. And Captain Kovar was with you? Yes. Captain Kovar was with me. It hurts. What did he do to you? He hit me. Why? Because he's insane. He thought he had to hit me. He wanted the money and I gave it to him. You gave him the money? All of it. Every penny of it. I didn't want it anymore. That's not what I mean. You were holding the money for Dan Blake? For us. We were together. Kovar turned it from Dan before he died. Yes. Dan kept calling for me when he was dying. Kovar thought he was blackmailing me. I thought I gave him the money to keep him quiet. But I didn't. Dad and I tried to get away from this place. That was life of our own. We tried. I don't care what happens to me. Where's the telephone? Through that door, but you don't have to. I'm close to the police by myself. I just wanted to wait until Uncle Floyd got home. I'm not worried about your personal problem, Charlotte. That's not my job. Kovar, and that $75,000 is all I want. I tried not to waste a minute, but time slipped by. 15 minutes on the phone, 25 minutes to get Nick into Manila. But when Sergeant Malfar finally arrived at the harbor, police stopped. A boat was ready for us. Hey, tell me what you guys think. Is Shippey's not at Angkor? I checked it. He moved out about 20 minutes ago. Yeah, we're going in. Estamos listos. What if we don't find him? Well, he don't get out this day. Both of you are right now waiting. The girls, you want to accomplish? Well, she held the money, so if he was picked up, you couldn't prove possession. She was going to meet him later. The hooks shoot him? That's what Kovar told her. Oh, but the hooks don't kill them. What's that? The police doctor. He said bullets don't kill blacks. Blacks choke to death. The Kovar killed him to learn secrets. I think we can prove that, Sergeant. Can we get any more speed out of this thing? 20 minutes' start isn't much when a schooner with auxiliary power is matched against the police boat. With our speed and the beams from four searchlights spanning out around us, we covered every possible course that Kovar could have set. It took us less than 30 minutes. There she is. You know, I saw this man. We are strong. He didn't want to walk in front of them. We fired in front of him. This man, when I searched his ship, now Sergeant Lovar keeps course back. He is crazy. But he doesn't get away. We're moving right now and going forward. Let's go forward. There's blanket item covering hotel, transportation, etc. Item five, same as item one. Expense account total $2,611.80. Here's Julie, Johnny Dollars.