 The Linux show starring Nick Carter, master detective presented by the three great Linux home Brighton This is the story of a man known the world over as one of the most daring and resourceful characters in the history of detective fiction a Man whose name has become a symbol of the triumph of right and justice over the sinister forces of crime and lawlessness Nick Carter master detective Today's exciting case the talking tree another exciting chapter dramatized from the life story of Nick Carter In just a moment We'll hear how Nick Carter Investigated the murder of a beggar with a fortune in his pocket and found the solution to the strange case of a talking tree And now for today's exciting case from the life of Nick Carter Today is file index day at the old Brownstone mansion at the corner of fifth and fourth The giant study is filled with piles of neatly typed cards as Nick and Patsy keep regular tabs on the thousands of criminals The famous detective has encountered in his long career Charlie buzz burns tried and convicted for forgery July 1941 sentence August 1941 to seven-year term and eating penitentiary check Well, that finishes the deal that the fees Okay, but it feels like it's gonna be a long hard day Albert cabal tried and convicted the first degree assault April 1931 hold it Bell's on a parole for his card in the active file with a note last seen in st. Louis July of this year, right? Johnny Kevin tried and convicted. Oh goody the door. That means a five-minute vacation wherever it is Send him away. We've got to finish this job. I will but my heart won't be in it Johnny Kevin tried and convicted the second degree murder life time at east and state I remember Johnny He was the one who swore no private detective was ever there to take him wrong The no friend of mine this Mr. Peter Simpson. He takes me writing twice a day. Thanks for writing twice See street garden up there. That's a Mr. Carter Miss Bond takes my car every morning every night at the cross-town passes right behind his house Mr. Simpson's got a problem. One of his customers won't get off the trolley. How's that? Well, she ended my run behind your house, so I left the trolley there and run up to see you I remembered miss Bowen talking about how you help folks out when I get in a jam I'm in a bad one sir. What's the trouble? Well, like miss Bowen said one of my customers won't get off a car Why not because mr. Carter? He's been murdered This is my trolley car here, mr. Carter. I closed the doors and left everything wait a minute. I'll open a door for you Come up sir He's in the back of the car. You can see him. He was the last one and I said to him last stop wall out He don't move. I thought he was asleep. I understand. Yeah, fine. I thought you would. Oh, Nicky He's been stabbed. There's a nice sticking in his side. Yes wait Well, not dead yet, but it will be in a minute bleeding for half an hour mostly internal can't be moved or say Oh wait trying to talk Where with you can you tell us who did this on? Valley what that's don't valley talking Free what was that? talking tree killed by talking mean Oh He's dead. Oh, this is awful. Mr. Carter. I can't have no murdered guys on my car All right, just go out and call sergeant Matheson and his homicide department. All right I was got to work that day Emptiest pocket Collie Nick, what do you mean killed by a talking tree and Been saddling about a million dollars. I don't know Dying men usually speak the truth I'd like to know what the truth is about that talking tree Nothing worthwhile in any of his pockets badly A torn and empty no handkerchief no wallet 27 cents in chains total asset. Oh So where do we stand exactly nowhere? What do you mean? No identification of any kind in this man badly nothing to tell us who he is or why he was killed What about the murder weapon that knife that's an ordinary kitchen knife no prints on the handle Golly Killer probably sat beside him drove a knife into his side got up and left the trolley. That's all Look at him clothes shabby and torn Very obviously a tramp, but who'd want to kill a tram and for what? I don't know yet That wait a minute. Oh here's something I overlook Seems to be a hard lump in the front corner of the jacket probably slipped down from the torn pocket here. Wait a minute What is it Nick? Answer to your question Look It looks like a big lump of crystals happens to be an opal opal You mean that rough piece of material looking stone is a dual opal uncut and unpolished That's way about 30 terits with quite a bit of money That's he that's maybe the answer to why our victim was killed No, it doesn't answer the question of how it came into his possession Or explain his dying speech about talking trees. What do we do now? Leave the body for sergeant mathison and our friends at the homicide department We're hustling down to the dual center where there's opal tampering with evidence again, Nick Or maybe that's what the police would call it that I call it solving a murder I see I'm going to give you a lesson in the art of jewels Every person doesn't realize that jewelers keep track of gems as closely as the police watch x convict Every stone of any real value cut or uncut can be checked and traced Here's that place international appraising company. Well, there are dozens of appraising officers down here as anyone will do Come on, right? Customers I'm just going out to lunch But I'd go to world appraising across the street. I won't keep you a minute. Come on out. I'm nick Carter Listen, I got bad suggestion. That's good for me to miss my lunch hour What's in your mind? Mr. Carter trouble plenty case of murder. It's happened to be one of the clues, mr. Bowman, let's see That piece of opal, huh, right? I'd like to trace it now Which doctors come from general source and so on who sells this variety I can do better than that I put a price on this stone an hour ago. You what you heard me lady This stone was brought into me an hour ago for appraisal. I gave him the price me left. Hey, how many? Two men Little guy looked like a tramp and the other Nice looking Kind of professional looking doctor, maybe Looked like the tramp was trying to sell this down to the other called in professor Professor steven. Professor steven. Good enough for me. Thanks a lot bowman. What's your fee? I've been paid one for appraising this down. That's enough Now go away. I got my digestion to worry about. Thanks. Come on patty. Let's find a university catalog Maybe we can locate this professor stevens and find out about the talking tree Okay, patty. You're going uptown rock make Any luck all the luck in the world professor. WA stevens chair of mineralogy at the university office 227 geology hall Mineralogy well that you could tie in with opal, can't it? It also tie in with a million dollars in the murder Wish our dead friend had been with a botanist that would have explained the talking tree Well, maybe we'll find a stevens doubles in botany or ever bet you've been cut off. Watch out Let me handle it. That wasn't an accident. Say right where you are carter You tell lady I got a rod and a license to carry it Well, hello carpent patty meet double the carpent when we get back to our file cards You'll meet him in the sea can the double torque retain carter Now look, I don't want no trouble from you Keep the opal if you want Just give me the math what math this is a friendly talk. See I ain't getting rough because I always like to speak my piece first But listening very carefully dub z Sammy the bum with my towel So he gets knocked off in a trolley car. So okay You want to catch the killer good luck? But being family with my pal. I'm his inheritance Get it I want the map cutter The map you took off Sammy. We didn't hold it, but it How much is the map worth to your dub z? You ought to know if you don't it won't do you no good. We don't know how we can get A million dollars not that much But it's worth a big piece of change To me not to you So all right, so I get it not even if we had it So okay You speak your piece. I speak mine I'll be seeing you again carter And I'll let something else talk you into handing over the math That's car passing So long dub z Remember what I tell you To the university passing Maybe professor Stevens can tell us what's going on This is it Nick. Let's go Garly I'm often mixed up in this case Nick. Well, it isn't simple The man we found in the trolley was Sammy the bum. That's what dub z coffin indicated right in here Well from the way coffin talk it didn't sound as though he saved him Could simply be talk Suppose it could But he mentioned the map. Do you think Sammy was killed for that? Very possible I think there's Evidently there's a map tied up with the opal Sammy was carrying Yes, but it's my belief the opal's just a side issue Carpenter didn't seem to care about that and Sammy tried to send it to professor Stevens. Then what what? Professor Stevens office Maybe he's got a class could be Let's go in and wait To wait a long time to speak to professor Stevens that he's been murdered Two murders for an opal a missing map and a mysterious talking tree How can nick tie these strange events together? We'll see in just a moment I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal Before this decade is out Of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth And now back to our story The dying words of a murdered tramp mentioned a talking tree to nick Carter Investigation of the murder and the odd statement led the master detective to the office of professor Stevens at the university When nick and patty entered the office they discovered Stevens murdered Stevens a shot at close range with a thought of shotguns at the typical gangster's weapon Head practically torn to pieces. Oh, it's awful nick Nothing in his pocket to help us either Nothing So where's that leave us about one jump ahead of the homicide squad They won't be pleased with the way I've handled this case sergeant Madison would call it miss him and he won't be far from wrong I'm not happy myself Well Let's get on the ball patty. Let's do some thinking. It's your department nick. I'm just the audience Sammy got hold of an opal and a map We know he showed the opal to Stevens. Mm-hmm. We don't know about the map Stevens and sammy were killed The map disappeared Now what's so valuable about that map it showed the mind where the opal came from The patty opals don't come from mine they could What is it nick? Suddenly my brain started to work Suddenly I'm getting a glimmer Patty. I think I know what this talking tree business is what nick look here on Stevens desk There's an atlas open to this state. Mm-hmm. I look across the page where the light hits it. Yeah You can only see what I want to show you by reflected light Are you seeing anything unusual? Oh, wait a minute. My eyes aren't as sharp as yours Yes I see a faint pencil mark as though a pencil point that taps the map lightly in a small town The town of dead tree Remember that that's a dead tree But that isn't talking tree true enough and I think that at dead tree we might find a talking tree And that's the it's going to speak a language that'll astonish you who don't be so mysterious nick. All right. Here's another clue Opals don't grow in mind. They grow on trees Oh, you're crazy. Oh, you think so, huh? Come on Golly, I'm getting inferiority complex. It's going to light three laps behind you the way I do The only trouble in this case is that I happen to be three steps behind a killer. Well, that puts me out of the running Back to the three round walk to the corner. Oh, nick That's my luck. I haven't got a gun on me down the hall run. It's a killer. This is a well-wisher Oh, this hole is the dead end we're trying Here through this door Patty quick Oh That was close. That's too close. Not that for us that door wasn't locked. Did you see who was going to shooting? No, and the trouble is he saw where we went. What are we going to do? He was looking fine to repel the attack Now it's a small lab at some sort. If I can only find... Oh, yeah, Nick, I can hear steps Oh, got it, Patty. Get up the matches quick. Matches? You heard me. Oh, what are you going to do with matches in that bottle? You're going to light a whole pack of matches and throw it out into the hall. This bottle is easier I'll break it near the burning matches I'd like the matches quick They're burning, Nick. All right. Now throw them out as soon as I open the door and I'll throw out the bottle right now All right, Patty. All clear now. You can come out. Is he still here? Yes. Knocked out and burned by the explosion. He'll live and regret it. Who is it, Nick? One of Dudley Coffin's gunmen. Hophead kid named Vern. Oh, I guess Coffin wasn't kidding about letting something else talk to him But he forgot that some people talked back. Now listen, Patty. In about 20 seconds this place is going to be like a beehive I can hear people coming now. It wasn't Saturday afternoon. The place will be crowded already. Now we've got to get out of here. Well, then let's go. Not together. When we're picked up, they see us running. We'll separate and meet at the car. Okay. Try to stop at a drugstore and pick up some sandwiches. We've got a long drive ahead of us. Where to? Dead tree? Right. We're going to Dead Tree to find the talking tree. You've got a sandwich, Nick? No, thanks. You can finish them. I've eaten too many already and I'm supposed to be on a diet. They weren't the best sandwiches I ever had either. I feel as if I were getting bowmans into Jesse How much further is it, Nick? It's getting dark. It should be in Dead Tree any minute. We've passed six signs in the last six miles. Each one said Dead Tree half a mile. Well, at least we're holding our own. It should have added a prox. I think we're a prox there now. Looks like a town. What do we have of it? Well, give me a second to get used to it. Yeah, it's a town all right. And a three-point landing in front of our objectives. The sheriff's office? Right. Come on. Oh, we're not going to get in trouble again, are we? I've got visions of Sergeant Madison waiting for us back in town. He'll greet us with comparatively open arms if we bring him home a solution. All right, let's go in. Okay. Yes. Is this the sheriff, uh... Jason. Yes. Well, my name is Nick Carter. Yes. Chef, Denson, I'd like to ask you a few questions. Yes. I assume that means go ahead and ask. Yes. Do you keep any kind of a check on vagrants passing through Dead Tree? Yes. Do you recall whether a tramp answering to the name of Sammy the Bum passed through here last week? Yes. How long was he in this section? Don't know. Maybe a couple of days. Golly! He can say something else, can't he? Please, Patty. I can talk, young lady, when there's something worth wasting breath over. Why is this town called Dead Tree? On account of a section of sandy waste up in the hills. You mean desert? Yes. Kind of like the desert up in Maine. Wind swept section, about 10 miles square, nothing but sand and rocks. All eroded. I thought so. Probably petrified trees up there too, huh? Well, that's what gives you town's name. How'd you know, Nick? Couldn't be any other answer, Patty. Two more questions, Sheriff. That desert area is constantly enlarging and changing as the wind sweeps it, huh? Yes. Will you show us how to drive there close as possible? Yes. Sheriff, are you 170 years old? No. Patty, for the love of Pete. I'm sorry. I just wanted to hear him say no, and I did. Great. We can't drive any further, Patty. We'll have to hook it through the desert. Golly. It looks just like the real thing, doesn't it? Sand and rocks? And petrified trees. Come on. We'll have to keep pretty quiet now. This sand was dead in our footsteps, fortunately, because of the strong chance the killer may be up here ahead of us. Oh. Do you know where to look for him, Nick? I do. We'll find him under the talking tree. Oh, Nick. I'm not fooling you. Oh, all right if you say so. But where we find the talking tree? I'm not sure. We'll have to listen for it. Listen for 10 square miles? We won't have to cover that much. See, if Simon located it, it couldn't be very far off the road. Probably, if he turned off the road, we'd drove down to sleep in the warm sand at night. So the tree can't be far from here. Oh, I'm listening for it like mad. I don't hear anything yet. Keep trying. It's awfully dark, Nick. Can't we use a light? Hey, for not to. Keep your ears open. Okay. Golly. Those twisty black tree stumps. They look so spooky. They're petrified trees, Betsy. Dead thousands of years. They can't hurt you. Well, I wish they'd talk to me and get this over. Maybe they will. Keep listening. Yes. I think I hear a funny noise. Like water running. Not here in this desert. No, not water. It sounds like... like music. Hmm? Listen. I hear it, Betsy. That's what we've been searching for. The talking tree? That's the way those trees talk. Coming from around that small hammock. Oh, come on. Let's go interview it. Careful now. Very careful now. I think I hear someone digging or something. The killer. Here? Told you we'd find him under the talking tree. Quiet. And watch. What did he not petrified tree for? Let's go down and ask him. Oh, Nick, be careful. You haven't got a gun. I've got something he'll take it, please. Good evening. Have I held you? Call her. What? It's an Anthony appraise. Bowman. Don't mind me calling her. Don't move. You're calling. I am I. That's rough talk. Must be difficult for a man of your culture, Mr. Bowman. Or should I call you by your real name? Professor Steven. Me? All right. Call her. You're asking for this. Oh, my God, Nick. Here you are. What's going on? Oh. Oh. Professor is a rank amateur when it comes to handling a gun. Oh, nice going, Nick. How'd you do it? Barely through a handful of sand in his eyes. And when he was blinded, hit him. That's all. That's all. Well, that's enough. Now you have his gun, and he's out cool. And he's also on his way to the electric chair. Nick, do you mean to tell me Professor Steven's murdered Sammy the bum? Yes, Patsy. And that pretend he was killed himself. And he did all that for the sake of a dead tree? Well, take my flashlight, Patsy, and look at that dead tree. It's all crystal and glittery, and... Oh, it's like a tree of jewels. Pure opal, Patsy. An opal tree, worth a fortune. Too bad we don't hang killers in this state. To be an excellent place to hang Professor Steven. We'll return to Nick Carter in just a moment to hear the final details of the Talking Tree. The happy birthday, W-O-R, from Pointy Towsky Brothers of Flemington, New Jersey. Pointy Towsky Brothers. And now let's hear from Nick Carter himself. Nick, you'd better start at the beginning and explain everything. I'm entirely at sea now. All right, Patsy. The story started millions of years ago when the trees of dead tree valley died. It started petrifying. Uh-huh. After untold centuries, deep under the ground, they turned to stone, and then began to crystallize into opal. Today, as the winds slowly ate away the sand and earth covering them, they were brought to the surface. And when Sammy went out to sleep in the desert, he slept under this opal tree that had been uncovered by the wind. Right. The talking part was the tinkle of the crystalline branches swaying in the wind. Sammy broke off a piece of the tree and took it into town. Went to Steven's for advice, since he didn't know the value of that opal. Well, then what? Steven saw the maps Sammy had made, and, of course, the jewel. He went with Sammy to have it appraised, just to make sure it was valuable enough to pay him to commit murder. When he found it was, he killed Sammy for the map. But he staged his own murder, too. Why? Sammy talked too much. Stevens didn't know Sammy had told his old pal, Dudzie Coffin, but he did know Sammy told the real bowman, the appraiser. So, to protect the secret, he killed Bowman probably only a few minutes before we entered the store. You remember he stalled before coming out to talk to us? Oh, that's right. I remember he talked about his indigestion. He pretended to be Bowman, then rushed the body to his own office at the university, perhaps in a laundry basket or a bag. And there, staged his own death. He didn't know it, Nick, but that was just a preview of what's really going to happen to him. It doesn't pay to play act with Nick Carter. Well, that was an unusual tale, Nick. Now how about a preview of next week's story? What's it going to be? Well, next week, Ken, I'm going to tell you about the case of an 80-year-old man, feeble, sick, harmless, who suddenly began driving down the highways like a savage, injuring people, wrecking cars, and generally behaving like a maniac. Oh, I remember. It was all because of a beautiful Egyptian queen who died 3,000 years ago. Breaking traffic laws because of a dead queen. Sounds good. What do you call the case? The case of the queen's eyebrows.