 Jenny dollar dollar my name is hell Barker try Western life insurance out in Los Angeles, California No, I'm holding down the branch office here in Reno, Nevada. We'll make a change, huh? That's right. Well, how are you mr. Barker? And what can I do for you? Are you available for an assignment? Can you fly on out here right away? I don't see why not as long as you're willing to pay the freight good Yeah, you mind telling me what it's all about Semanian Walter Bisbee has just died in the mining accident over near Virginia City Virginia City the famous old ghost town That's right, but now listen. Yeah, I don't think it was Was what mr. Barker? Well, I don't think it was any accident. Oh, you don't know and believe me I don't say that just in the hope of not having to pay double indemnity on his insurance. Why do you say? Well, tell me more mr. Barker fly on out here to Reno, and I will I'll grab the first one I can CBS radio brings you Bob Bailey in the exciting adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account America's fabulous freelance insurance Investigate yours truly Johnny dollar Expense account submitted by special investigator Johnny dollar to the Tri-Western life insurance company Reno, Nevada office Following is an account of expenses incurred during my investigation of the stope of death matter Expense account item one a hundred seventy six twenty five a jet to Los Angeles item two thirty two seventy for the flight to Reno, Nevada Hal Barker met me at the airport, and we headed south on 395 then southeast on 17 toward Virginia City Virginia City By far the largest and most famous of the old mining towns of the West With its quaint colorful streets and fascinating buildings left over from the days when the Comstock load was the richest silver strike the world had ever known Where it didn't take much imagination to visualize the grizzled old characters with borough and pick and shovel who roamed the desert hills and a stubborn search for gold-bearing quartz Who worked and fought and often died violently to keep others from getting their hands on the precious yellow metal? And who finally realized that the heavy blue mud they'd been discarding was the real bonanza was loaded with rich silver ore Yeah, you can almost see their ghosts walking the streets is stopping for a drink at the fabulous crystal bar or the lowly bucket of Blood saloon depending on their luck During the 23 mile ride over to this fascinating historical spot Hal Barker fill me up Yeah, thanks to modern methods modern tools of the trade so to speak Walter Bisbee and his partner did fairly well dollar. Uh-huh. Let's explore these old abandoned mines around here Supposedly all worked out and they locate new or a strata that would pay off Like I say with modern efficient recovery methods that weren't even known about during the gold rush Yeah, like the big petroleum companies have found ways to get more oil out of wells the old-timers thought were pumped dry That's it exactly Bisbee and Hargrave would locate these profitable veins and take a royalty from whoever worked on they'd go off and hunt for another spot They made no fortune, but well, they did pretty well for a while at least. Hey, you said Hargrave Bisbee Spartan health. That's right Bill Hargrave Each of them claimed he couldn't do the job without the help of the others So we wrote a partnership policy for them how much upon the death of either one the other was received 35,000 Double that for accidental death and now Bisbee is dead Want to tell me just how it happened Hal? Well, the old mine where it happened is up here just off the six mile road the old catawall number two catawall number That's the name of a mine. Yeah, well you should hear the name of some of Anyhow old bill left Walter at the mine a couple of days ago Exploring one of the stoves while he drove into Carson City for supplies When bill finally got back here to the catawall. He says he found the ceiling of the stove it collapsed Hey, wait a minute. He says why do you put it that way how according to a state geologist? I talked to early this morning a man who knows the mine has been inside of it many times There was no reason in the world why it should have happened unless somebody helped it to all That set me to thinking about the bad luck Bisbee and Hargrave have been having lately About how much it would benefit either one of them to have the other one die Especially accidentally on account of the double indemnity clause in that insurance. Oh, well now Hal and then when the geologist found Where somebody had planted a charge of nitro. Oh Well, are they holding Bill Hargrave? Why why well unless the police find Bisbee's body There's no actual proof. He's dead remember dollar Hargrave was in Carson City when it happened Plenty of witnesses to that. I see But he's the only person I'm sure of it Johnny He's the only person who could possibly benefit by Walter Bisbee. Oh now how that doesn't make a case against him Yeah, now they're up ahead. That's the old catawall number two What are they doing there trying to get into the stove find Bisbee's body, huh? There's a surprise on that hill on top of the mine The man standing there by the block and tackle. They've rigged up there. That's Bill Hargrave And he was perfectly willing for them to try to get in there and look for the body Yes, he was And look by the way. He's waving and shouting that police officer down there. It looks like he's found something Come on Johnny. We'll see what it's all about on top of the small hill was a vertical ventilation shaft driven down into the mine Hargrave had rigged up a support a kind of tripod with a block and tackle on it Then lowered himself to the stove where Bisbee had been trapped or to what was left of it When Hal and I and the police officer got up there to him Hargrave looked like a ghost or as if he'd seen one There was a strange expression in his eyes his mouth half open and his weather beaten face so pale. It was almost gray When we questioned him he simply stared at us until the police officer took him by the arm and shook Well Well, come on Hargrave. Did you get down there all right down to the stove? Yeah Yeah, I got down there There's a clear space where Walter was working. Did you find him? Well, come on Hargrave. Yeah Yeah, I found him and listen Listen, well He was murdered in there Walter was murdered Well, the political conventions are long gone. Is it all over but the voting? Hardly from now to November. We're in for some hard campaigning details of course from CBS news And your candidate whoever he may be is in for tough sledding before he gets into office if at all Your responsibility to your candidate is of course to give him your vote. Your voice will help too But there's something else that helps put across a campaign It's money the best candidate in the world can't get elected without incurring expenses If you believe in your man enough to vote for him believe in him enough to get out and work for him And put some money on the line too. That's the real test of your interest We haven't covered the subject of whom to vote for whom to support whom to help with the contribution That's strictly your own business But if the people who like the other man dig in for him and you don't do likewise for your man Well, that could be the difference right there So think it over and make sure you vote And now act two of yours truly Johnny dollar and the stope of death matter When Walter Bisbee died in the gold mine cave-in when a state geologist hinted that maybe a charge of Nitro had caused the cave-in Both Hal Barker and the police figured it might have been done by Bill Hargrave to get rid of his partner to collect the insurance on But as they started clearing away into the stope to look for Bisbee's body It was Hargrave who took the lead he rigged a kind of makeshift hoist above an air shaft lowered himself into the mine And down below in a small space cluttered with the rocks ensuring another debris piled up in the collapse of the ceiling of the stope He'd found what was left of his partner Beaten to death Walter my partner beaten to death down there By somebody node we'd made another fine down there easy and then they blowed in the mine on top of them They murdered him. Don't you understand? Somebody murdered Walter down there. Okay, Bill Okay, now just just take it easy. Well, you're the law now you go and find out who killed him who killed my partner. We'll try Bill Try Sure dollar If you want to go down there with me and help me recover the body Yes, I'll have some of the men working on the slope come up here and give us a hand lower us down this ventilating Okay, and Bill Bill you go on back to town. We'll bring the body in so you can give him a decent funeral funeral that's right No officer what why not harker because Walter'd want to be buried here in the mine The same as I would if this had happened to me But if you made a valuable fine down there, what are you talking about dollar? You think all the dirty yellow dust in the world would ever make up for a man like Walter, is he? It was my partner it was my friend 20 years together like brothers we were always together Always share and share alike And I found something it was his to He found something It was mine as much as his Well, didn't you know that yes, and I understand the two of you did fairly well for a while Yeah, as long as the two of us work together, of course we did We opened up the old Hickey's folly didn't we and the old yellow Javert those were go mines and they still had plenty in them We showed him where we showed him where to get it out when was that? Back in 1950 51 was Walter and me found the veins they'd passed on by They thought those mines were all worked out, but we showed them different We still had gold in them. We showed him where it was Walter and me and the jolly tar and the Frenchman's luck back in 53 Walter Walter and me Now he's gone I through Without him without my partner Now I'm through And I never want to see a mine again. Well, I want us to get away from here here now and forever Officer you go on down there You'll find him laying there water in the mine It's the way he wanted it It's the way that it's happened If the law says it's all right You can leave in there God rest his soul Well now of course that's something that we'll have to we'll have to with those machines You got there in the slope you can fill up this shaft and bury him The way he'd have done for me if I'd gone first Now maybe maybe we can do that bill officer I'd be mighty beholden to you if you would now you've gone back to Virginia City and it's necessary. We'll we'll talk to you later Thank you, sir Now dollar, let's get down inside the mine so I can verify the death and make out my report I'm afraid I'm not used to one of these miners labs dollar. Yeah, I know I know what you're mean I think we can see enough for them to just yeah, wait wait look There he is Good Lord. What a beating he took beating look look at him. Look at his face. It's the officer This man was knocked down and kicked to death These marks on him on his face Hobnails, yeah, right dollar whoever did this to him stood stood right here You see yes, and you see the print of his right foot deep in the dust Where he stood while he kicked and and kicked with the other one and he is Walter Bissby Yeah, maybe we're gonna have to leave him down here. What do you mean? Oh? 240 maybe 50 pounds up through that air shaft. Oh, yeah, maybe it got something there You and I a couple of skinny guys. We barely made it There was something around here could tell us who did this to him That footprint, huh? Hey, don't hurt her. There isn't a hard rock miner in this whole area doesn't wear shoes like that Yeah, look look you see here these other footprints, huh? Yeah, well those are probably Hargreys from when he came down here through the air shaft to look for Bissby Yeah, that's right same kind of shoes, but but newer you can tell by the nail marks Yeah, but does it prove that Hargrave came down here only after his partner was killed? Oh now wait a minute dollar You you're forgetting that bill was in Carson City when this happened. Yeah, when what happened the murder Or the caving into the stope. Well, what do you mean by that murder him? Then try to cover it up with a cave now now look now Barker says that a state geologist told him He found signs of a small night or charge may have been used near the entrance to this mine What if bill? You you mean you think bill killed him down here and then had somebody else start the cave in while while he was over in Carson City let somebody else in on it. No, no Bill killed him. He probably set off that charge too But don't you see if he was over didn't you ever hear of an explosion being set off with some kind of a timer? Well sure of course I have but but that still doesn't give us any proof that bill did the fact Remains that Bill Hargrave is the only one who can possibly profit by his partner's death, right? Sure, I'll go along with that all right, but unless you can find some proof that he did this Well, well, I don't know But why do you poking around in the dark down here? I'm gonna pay a little visit to Bill Hargrave Go ahead, but why I told you officer I don't know the police officer stayed inside the mine in the hope of finding some definite clue to the killer of Walter Bisbee Several things convinced him that Bill Hargrave hadn't done it What Bill had said about his partner their relationship over the years Bill's known presence in Carson City at the time the mine collapsed and My theory that an explosion was set off by some timing mechanism was only a theory Even the fact that Bill was his partner's beneficiary didn't prove anything and Bill had been among the first to volunteer to help and try to recover the body and found a way to get down to it Nobody else had thought of Yeah, very convincing almost too much. So at least enough to make me more suspicious than ever Suspicious of Bill Hargrave Just a little sort of shack on the edge of town Johnny. Okay, then let's head for it Hell, of course, you may have gone over to Miss Crutch's boarding house to take care of Walter's things Hey, you mean in spite of all their palsy-wellsy over the years They didn't share the same living quarters well up to a few months ago. Yes So maybe they had a falling out huh in spite of Hargrave's pretty little speech Johnny I must confess I believe what he said and they were still working together Maybe Bill just got tired of Walter's cooking or vice versa after 20 years Sure, look how you're the one who was suspicious of Bill Hargrave right from the beginning. I know Johnny I know well unless you can find some proof that he did it After his behavior back there the mind better do this how after you let me off at Bill's place Go on back to the mine and bring that policeman over here to join me. Oh, well now Johnny You just do as I say. What yeah, but did you see something if you discovered something you haven't told me about or the officer? Oh, yes, maybe I don't know How I honestly don't know But there was something back there Something you were the officer told me. I don't know something down there in the mine Well, here we are. Here's the shack bill is and wait a minute wait a minute what yeah, maybe that's it Yeah, what Johnny? Hey listen Before he leaves that mine tell the officer to take one more good long look at the footprint we found in the dust Huh? Well just exactly what is that? Yeah, tell him that Hal then tell him to get on over here fast Well, then you have thought of something to pin it on Hargrave. I told you Hal. I don't know Hargrave wasn't there Maybe he had gone over to the boarding house to look after his partner's belongings maybe With the help of my pocket knife. I managed to slip the catch in the front door of the shack I closed it after me and took a look around Well, it was pretty obvious things hadn't been going good for Bill and for quite some time I Looked first for the pair of shoes one of which could have made the print on the floor of the mine But I didn't really care and a pair of shoes could easily be gotten rid of oh No, I was looking for something else, but just what I wasn't sure That is until I found it hanging on the wall above the cot where he slept just to one side of the door Yeah, it was an old lever action rifle Unusual in this part of the country hardly There were thousands of these old 30 30s around here guns of this make and type had been part of the history of the old west Still were a part of it. Oh, no There wasn't a thing unusual about finding this kind of a gun hanging on the wall of a minor shack But about this particular one there was something unusual And as I laid it down on the bed and looked at it as I thought about that footprint back in the mine Hey, oh my mr. Dollar Yeah, come in hot grave. I sure Now what are you doing here? Well, just looking around You mind oh, of course not only you see What a man's partner gets killed. I like to know all I possibly can about him his habits where he lives How he lives how well he's been doing there, but this is my place I know what it was living over. Miss crutches boarding house. I was just over there taking care of his. Oh You mean You mean you want to know all about me? That's right Well now mr. Dollar sit down Bill and Tell me just what kind of a timer you use to set off an explosion in that goldmine Or do we have to tear that hill apart in the hopes of finding bits and pieces of it What are you talking about mr. Dollar too bad the blast didn't fill up that stope completely though, isn't it? Well, yeah, then the rocks would have pounded Walter's body enough to hide any sign of the way that he was kicked to death Well now look sir So when you came back from Carson City and found the police were gonna clear away into that stope you played it smart I'll are you don't play along with them you found a way into the mine through the ventilating shaft You found the body you told us that Bisbee had been murdered Well, it really fooled him Bill. It convinced him you were clean But you you overlook one thing you don't know what you're saying that footprint down there in the dust Oh, you change shoes after you killed him and no doubt you got rid of those old ones where no one would ever find him And you left new prints with the new shoes you're wearing now to show they're different but That one footprint bill What about a dollar when you stood there and kicked him stood on your right foot and kicked him with your left So what what about it and then when I came here a few minutes ago and found that rifle there in the bed found the shiny spot On the right hand side of the stock. Yeah, look there see how shiny it is Do you see it Bill? What about it? What about only a left-handed man polishes the right side of a gun stock when he rests his cheek against it All right the same as he stands on his right foot and uses the left one to kick his partner to death Well, all right But you'll let that tell you you're a fool heart rate You think I would have left that gun on the bed with the shells in it Mean I mean Son of a gun I guess I really should have thought to take the shells out of that thing So maybe the word dozens of left-handed men around Virginia City and who knows maybe there were some right-handers who kicked with the left foot But Bill just didn't happen to think of that when he confessed the killing Expensive out total including all the incidentals I can think of in the flight back to Hartford 24875 yours truly Johnny doll Constipation is something people don't talk about much But it can be a problem for anyone even doctors and when constipation occurs It's interesting to see just what doctors consider important about a laxative. They might use or recommend Well, a majority of the doctors we heard from had this to say a laxative should be effective Gentle close to natural acting a medicine that can be used with complete confidence Now x-lax has been popular with many doctors and millions of people over the years Because pleasant tasting chocolate at x-lax is effective Overnight it helps you toward your normal regularity X-lax is so gentle so close to natural acting. There's no upset That's why many doctors and millions of people use x-lax with complete confidence x-lax the laxative that helps you toward your normal regularity gently overnight Now here is our star to tell you about next week story next week a most unusual case where murder isn't murder at all Where the whole thing is based on the confession of a dying man to something he did some years before oh? His confession is true. It's backed up by all the facts in the case There can be no question of them or the confession itself and yet the twist at the end of the story Well, all I can tell you is it'll take you completely by surprise. So join us. Won't you yours truly Johnny doll First truly Johnny dollar starring Bob Bailey Originates in Hollywood and is written produced and directed by Jack Johnstone Heard in our cast were Herschel Bernardi Russell Thorson and Forrest Lewis Be sure to join us next week same time and station for another exciting story of yours truly Johnny dollar This is John Wall speaking An expectant mother and an adventuresome son of the elements of suspense next on the CBS radio network WROW in Albany, New York