 Johnny dollar, this is Harry Branson at Philadelphia mutual liability and casualty company Harry. It's been a long time What's in your mind John? I have a case for you involving several of our very important clients good Then it ought to pay me a nice big fee. I'm not sure about that John Of course, we'll pay your regular expenses your regular commission, but no extra fee. I don't know you, huh? That is to say it all depends on what you're able to shall we say? Unearth some thing or someone Harry what you said on earth. Didn't you what facts you're able to? Accertain what I meant. Oh So what about these very important clients of yours John? They have disappeared. Oh, and maybe unearth is the proper term What what do the police got to say about them? You did call in the police didn't you? Yes, but they gave up years ago at least years ago That's right. At least in the game. Wait a minute. Harry you say they disappeared years ago Well, some of them, but now all of a sudden you expect me to be able to What did you say the extra fee will be on this case? I told you it all depends exactly On whether I'm able to literally dig them up for you. You know where they're buried John this morbid so-called sense of humor Okay, Harry. Okay, I'll be down to see you and you might have a good strong shovel ready and waiting for me John Bob Bailey in the exciting adventures of the man with the action-pact expense account America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator is truly Johnny dollar Now act one of yours truly Johnny dollars Expense account submitted by special investigator Johnny dollar to the Philadelphia Mutual Liability and Casualty Company Following as an account of expenses incurred during my investigation of the cask of death matter Expense account item 1 1340 train fare and incidentals Harper to Philadelphia I went by train since Harry Branson didn't seem to be in a hurry and I enjoyed a look at the countryside this time of year It was a little afternoon by the time I reached the office on Walnut Street Saddle to talk with Harry, but I thought I impressed a little Old sober sides Branson hadn't changed a bit since the last time I'd seen him and he still looked as though He was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders However now that you have finally arrived suppose I get right to the point and tell you what this is all about Well, you said on the phone that some of your policy holders have disappeared Yes, and you must understand this John yeah in accordance with Pennsylvania law in a case of a mysterious disappearance And I'm sure you're familiar with the mysterious disappearance clause It's part of all our life insurance contracts Well, if you mean that I ever read the fine print on one of your policies the answer is no you should sometime The fact remains that when the insured disappears and fails to return or otherwise be accounted for by the end of seven years When the company has received no proof the insured is still alive The company then presumes the insured to be deceased. Do I make myself clear? Keep talking Harry. It simply means that at the end of seven years the full amount of the insurance is then paid to the beneficiary or Beneficiary is whichever the case may be so so Seven years ago, Mr. Wilbert Davis of Goshenville here in Pennsylvania mysteriously disappeared now His beneficiary is demanding payment of the insurance naturally. So why don't you pay it? We shall But in checking through the files I've suddenly discovered that his was only the first in a long series of mysterious disappearances There have been a total of eight or within a relatively small area and of recently increasing frequency One was the last one the fourth of last month. Mr. Charles Moody Charles Moody where in the little town of Kirkwood, New Jersey? And the police have found no clue as to what might have happened to none whatsoever one in Goshenville, Pennsylvania One in Kirkwood, New Jersey Where were the others to and other small Jersey towns to here in Pennsylvania and to down in Delaware Any any relationship among the beneficiaries none that is none that we know of Why do you ask that I just wondered if some one person was killing them off to collect the insurance No, the beneficiaries are all widely separated individuals. So you can dismiss any possibility of murder Harry in a case of this kind. That's the one possibility. I never dismissed Harry's secretary put together a comprehensive list of the people we were concerned with their names addresses beneficiaries and so on In my room at the Bellevue Stratford that evening. I went over it carefully All of these people had disappeared from their homes and small communities All of them had been in their sixties had been woodaways or bachelors As for the beneficiaries, they were scattered about all over the country Very the next morning. I paid my hotel bill that's item two eighteen dollars even for the room and a couple of meals Then spent item three fifty bucks to deposit on a rental car I drove first to the little town of Kirkwood, New Jersey from which a mr. Charles moody had disappeared just about a month ago I stopped to make inquiries at the general store Thank You miss pizza now. See you next week again Now as you were saying mr. Hermione. Yes, mr. Donner I certainly hope mr. Moody shows up again. You'll find me a fine man You come down here to store for quiet game of checkers now and then and the police have no idea where he might have gone Or why yeah, well, I guess I'm about the only police we have here in Kirkwood. Oh, of course I notified the state police and I presume they're still looking for just uh, what happened mr. Hurley just took the bus into Philadelphia one day and well, that's the last we heard of him You know anything about the beneficiary of his insurance? Let's see according to my list. It's a nephew mr. Dollar. Yeah, Charles moody lives out in California Yeah, mr. Moody always felt that he was the most deserving of his relatives left him everything, huh? Well the insurance and his money Yes, you know, I know because Yeah, I'm the only lawyer here in Kirkwood and I made out of will for you You say just the money to his nephew except for his wine cellar all his property will go to the town Wine cellar. Yes, mr. Moody doesn't come back or if he's proved to be dead the wine cellar will go over to a man over in Philadelphia Had themselves a sort of a Gourmet club, I guess you'd call it. I see but now tell me, you know, I kind of wish he'd a world me that wine cellar He he oh you should see the collection He has there from all over the world. Yes, German wines and French and I'm sure What's fun? No, mr. Hurley is there anything else you can tell me that might help me to find him? How about his friends everybody was mr. Moody's friend mr. Dollar I So I checked out all of mr. Moody's friends there in Kirkwood and ended up with no more information I got from the storekeeper But you know something If I had had sense enough to realize it I'd have gotten plenty from him He had given me a real key to the disappearance not only of mr. Moody But of the seven other people on the list and what a key Yeah, so what turned out to be one of the weirdest cases I ever handled Now act two of yours truly Johnny dollar and the cask of death matters item 542 70 traveling expenses food and lodging for the next two days I Drove my rental car to Pitt's Grove and Malligan, New Jersey. I'm strong and Mount Pleasant down in Delaware Then Hickoryville, Pennsylvania, Goshenville and the nearby town of Milmay. I Contacted not only the local police such as they were but dug up the lawyers who've written wills for the missing men And by doing so I learned a strange and triggering fact You see my last contact was there in the village of Milmay with a one-lawyer My client mr. Frederick Burton fails to return by the end of seven years your company will have to pay the insurance As for the rest of you the state including a wine cellar Very excellent one its contents will go to a friend of his who lives in Philadelphia. Mr. Edward Alden pulley Yes, that's right How did you know when I've been doing a little poking around these past couple of days? You understand, of course That's only if we receive some definite evidence of mr. Burton's death or if he fails to return before the seven years is up And therefore legally is presumed to be deceased. You know anything about this man pulley. No, I don't It seems they had a sort of epic yours club. Do you know who the other members of it were? Well, if the Burton told me who they are sometime before he disappeared if you just give me a moment Perhaps I can recall their name. Hey, I want to check them against this list of mine Let's see mr. Frederick Burton. That's your client John L. Wakeman over in Hickoryville Will be Davis in Goshenville. That's correct. I'm in Phillips and Ralph Hunter from down in Delaware That's right. And finally Charles Moody Nathan Norwood and William Harnell over in Jersey. This is quite correct Except for one omission there was another mr. Bradford W. Turner, you know where he lives Yes, in the little town of Allaway here in Pennsylvania. That is if he hasn't disappeared. Yes, I Good heavens Do you mean to say that all the others? Well, I know of course it mr. Burton did but Do you mean to say that all the others on that list have disappeared too? Yes, sir, and I'm gonna find out about this mr. Turner right now in the town of Allaway. Did you say yes? It's about 18 miles north of here. Okay, sir, and I'm very much obliged to you. Yeah Do you really think there can be some connection between these Disappearances and the fact that all these men have willed their wine collections to this Edward Alden Polly. What do you think? Wait a minute Had I told him the others all will their wine collections to Polly? Oh, had he just come to that conclusion or what? Hmm Anyway, I drove due north to Allaway the one large rather nice home belong to mr. Bradford W. Turner The man whose name was not on my list So I hope that he was still here in the land of the living he was and he turned out to be a very fine gentleman despite his preoccupation with vintage wine Little order of epicures has not been very active since several of the members Disappeared but not you or mr. E a polly I was just preparing to make the tip over to Philadelphia to pay visits. Mr. Polly. Oh Mine telling me why mr. Turner Also, not at all. I Happen to have an excellent wine cellar. Yes, I rather guess that oh, but it's nothing compared to that mr. Polly's Edward is younger than I younger than any of us But he's a bad Labyrinthine cellar is a wearable treasure house of rare and priceless vintage. I see now even I haven't seen the full extent of it Only I could get hold of some of that ancient rare a Montiado here so often told us about promised to show us so many times Up until now, I've not had anything worthy to offer in exchange Ah, but now I've acquired a bottle of very old I'm a doc at you grab So I shall take it to him in the hole. You know you talk as though this wine collecting with the most important thing in your life Oh, it is sir hundred poly it's an almost Overpowering passion It is his life the kind of man who kill his own mother for a bottle of wine, huh? That's not the gist you may think it is mr. Dollar Which is why I wonder if this bottle of fine medoc will be enough mr. Tuner. You're not taking it over to him I am now look here mr. Dollar. I've been awaiting this opportunity for years Yeah, and you'd probably give just about anything you are right sir. I would your life Every one of the old men who disappeared have been a nut on the subject of wine collecting And had provided in his will that his seller was to go to a mr. Edward Alden polling You know something When I talked to polio this home in the old germantown section of philadelphia I decided he was the biggest nut of all And possibly a dangerous one It was an old house and a big one that must have been one of the original philadelphia mansions As for polio himself Well, I'd say he was a man of about 50. He was short and heavy set and his face Well, his face reminded me of a bird of prey Very thin with a long aquiline nose his eyes were far apart and almost beady In spite of his shortness. He seemed to almost hover over things including me As he led me into the library his eyes kept glancing at the package I carried and there was a kind of inner glow in them I can think of only one thing Madness, uh, did you say? That's right, johnny duller. I see Oh, I mean, it's a very unusual name I uh Can't help but to admire this library mr. Polly only the best I must have only the best mr. Dollar. Yes, if it looks so nothing No one must stand in the way of my having the rarest the finest of everything Sometimes it takes years mr. Dollar, but sooner or later. I get what I want I notice you have a lot of the works of edgar allen pole the greatest writer who ever lived I am fortunate to bear the same initials. What? Oh, yeah, look there first copies of his works and look there the manuscript of one of them of the Wait, it has to do with a certain wine Yeah, I see which brings us to what you have there Well, it's a famous old meddock of mr. Polly a digrar. It's age the vintage Well, sure Well, I only brought it here for your opinion Oh, but I must have this I must I'm afraid that's impossible We shall see perhaps we'll make an exchange I have in my vaults an old or rare a priceless a montiado Come mr. Dollar the cask of a montiado. Uh, what was that? Nothing, sir Leave the way He did Yeah, he sure did Through a hidden door behind a panel on the wall Instead of using a flashlight. He took along a sort of torch of flambo I think you call it that gave off an evil oily smell that stained the passageway with smoke He led me down a long winding staircase between the walls Then finally we came to the vast wine vaults deep underground This was really something out of edgier allen pole It was cool and damp with great drops of water slipping down the old stone walls On one of them was a model. Nemo may impune la quesit I'm afraid my latin is a little rusty. No one dare seek to best me with impunity I am yeah What now the a montiado Are you amazing Amazed a little joke mr. Dollar You see I am he pulled a small trowel out of the inner pocket of his coat and laughed strangely sure The cask of a montiado just like in the story by edgier allen pole The dark damp wine vaults that motto on the wall the trowel And this madman was living apart No wonder his friends had disappeared because each of them had had some priceless wine that he wouldn't part with That is until the next vault mr. Dollar A large crypt with niches in the wall some of them blocked in others empty waiting There I'll introduce you to my friends who are gathered there Your friends of the order of epicures They too have brought me wines for my collection davis norwood harnel hunter phillips wakeman Frederick burton knows me even my old friend charles moody You killed them didn't you killed them you brought them down here Let me see the bottle of dukra you promised to show them the cask of a montiado Then buried them here in one of these crypts Mr. Dollar You must not keep our friends waiting. Yeah, there's the mortar and the bricks and the a montiado In the nicks behind you the mortar box a hole for mixing in that shovel Yes the shovel and with it you join my friends The wicked the story the eight men who disappeared Yeah, they were all buried behind the bricks and mortar that walled up eight of the niches in that deep underground vault Money I completely forgot to look to see if there was a cask of a montiado in that cellar Edward all in poly When the courts get through with his case, I'm sure he'll be committed to an institution for the rest of his life Yeah, I told you in the beginning. This was the weirdest case I ever tackled Expense account total including incidentals in the trip back to heart rate one or 120 yours truly Johnny dollar Now here's our star to tell you about next week story next week I run into a girl who is fabulously rich and because of it fabulously poor Join us. Won't you yours truly? Johnny dollar Johnny dollar starring bob bailey originates in hollywood and is written produced and directed by jack johnstone Heard in our cast were harry barthel forest louis margaret robinson farley bear and marvin miller Be sure to join us next week same time and station for another exciting story of yours truly johnny dollar This is dan coverley speaking