 For your listening enjoyment John Lund as Johnny dollar mr. Dollar, this is Wilbur Runyon I plan to meet you at the Dallas Airport, but by the time I had to pay oh, it's all right I'm sorry you went to that trouble. I took a cab in are you at your office now? Oh, yes. I'll be right over I hope the home office didn't think I was foolish asking for your help in this matter But oh no, they didn't not after paying our four policies in one employee group in so short of time That's the way I figured it accidental death at the oil well to one thing, but well murder puts a different light on yeah It usually does. I'll be there in 10 minutes Expense account submitted by special investigator Johnny dollar to home office employees cooperative group insurance company Hartford, Connecticut The following is an accounting of expenditures during my investigation of the syndicate matter Expense account item one $106.40 airfare and incidentals between Hartford and Dallas including cab fare to the Alamo building where I contacted Wilbur Runyon Manager of your Southwestern division you read my report to the home office mr. Dollar. Yeah, what there was other Much I can add to it I'm afraid even the sheriff at Tupelo doesn't know any more than what I wrote With the new oil strike the fellas of boom town that always means a certain amount of trouble Four murders seems like an extra large helping though even for a boom done I don't know what to think of of course practically every man working in that field is insured with us under the group plan So it isn't unusual that we've paid off in all four cases. No, but it is unusual for all four men to die the same way You said that in each case the victim had been beaten to death the murders all follow the same pattern That would seem to indicate that they'd all been done by the same person or persons Oh, that's right and collecting the insurance money might seem to be the answer if all the policies have been made out of the same Beneficiary, but they weren't who did benefit in all four cases the wife of the victim Well, it still doesn't roll out a syndicate. What do you mean? Killers can be hired mr. Runyon They collect their share of the insurance after an unhappy wife becomes a merry widow not in this case Why not oil company that made the strike at Dupelo is one of the best they pay the premiums for their employees No payroll deduction. So so to the wives who collected didn't even know about the insurance until we contacted them That could be an act. I'll let you judge that for yourself Last man killed was a driller named Gonzalez, Mexican. I haven't paid the claim yet I asked his wife to come in this afternoon to pick up the check. She'll be here in a minute I'm sure the man who killed my husband. No, Mrs. Gonzalez. It's insurance life insurance. They all company paid for That's right, man You have a family Mrs. Gonzalez somebody you can go to my mother my brother in Sonora But my husband Manuel he always wanted baby to be born here in status of needle Everything was going to be so good Did your husband have any enemies He never heard nobody There were three other men killed Mrs. Gonzalez. Did he know any of them? I don't think so we were in Tupelo for three weeks three weeks Ah, I forgot to mention that my report dollar all the men killed have been newcomers to the Tupelo field Where'd they work before they came there? They all come in from the same job someplace else Oh, no all came from different places None of them had worked for a couple of months or before hitting Tupelo according to employment record Was your husband out of work for a long time before you went to Tupelo, Mrs. Gonzalez We have no money. He worried all the time Your husband drink or gamble He was a good man. He tried hard to work every day even when he was hurt hurt where how? There was some accident to well You know anything about that running no, but one of the other women mentioned the same thing an accident the week before the killing What did your husband say about his accident mrs. Gonzalez really tell me he falls off But he has marks all over For two days he's staying better. I tried to make him stay longer, but he cried. He must get up and go back to work He's afraid he will lose the job well not for an on-the-job injury he would There isn't any record of an on-the-job injury dollar He was afraid for something you wouldn't tell him, but he was afraid How do I get to Tupelo? Oh? Trailways bust people right across the street, but like I said even the sheriff has stumped on this one I'm not going to see the sheriff I'm gonna get myself a job in that oil field. Oh, I see Want me to contact the company make sure there's an opening now. Don't contact anybody. We already know of four openings Expense account item two five dollars and twenty cents for a use suit of dungarees and a pair of work shoes Item three six dollars and twelve cents bus fare from Dallas to the Tupelo oil field I found quarters in a rundown boarding house and at seven the next morning. I was at the employment office Before 9 a.m. I had a shovel in my hand was digging a sludge Hey, you new man You talking to me. Yeah, come here. What's your name? Johnny dolly. I'm bullfowl Boss on this job. Hi Smoke. Oh, thanks New man comes on the job. I'd like to get to know him help me long up again Where'd you work last before you come here? I was uh, I was out of a job for quite a while Oh, that's too bad. No money coming in gets rough on the fella. Yeah, you broke I Ain't being nosy dollar Thought if you was I might figure out a way to help. Thanks. I'll get by all right Well, if you do get stuck, let me know All right, you can go back to work. It was friendly. All right a little too friendly I was a stranger, but he wanted to help me out with money when I said I didn't need it. He didn't like it Was too late to go back to him without making him wonder. I Had to figure out a way to make him offer again by lunchtime. I had it figured I Left the well and crossed the field of the office Went up to the payroll window Something I can do for you. Yeah, I just signed on this morning. When's payday weekend Wednesday? You get your money Thursday Any chance of getting a little advanced and broke your first day on the job? What do you think this is? Well, I got to get by until payday. I got to eat I can't help that advances are against the rules well Thanks, anyhow Hey Just a minute. Yeah You need some money See bullfaro See bullfaro all roads led back to the straw boss and seeing him wasn't hard He was leaning against the wall to payroll a shack when I came out Hey dollar wait up racing the cashier for an advance, huh? I could have told you that wouldn't work. You're right. It didn't Why didn't you come to me like I told you? All right, you want to lend me some money? I wish I could but I'm just a working stiff myself Well, then why the offer I thought I'd send you to Frankie robling runs the tool department Hunter somebody died and left him a bundle. He likes to help guys alone just like that Well, you expect a little something for his trouble little interests after all he's taking a chance your new on the job You want to see him or don't you? Yeah. Yeah, I want to see him. He said the tools here. I don't bother him on the job Room 12 the Tappella Hotel tonight We're Frankie robling I'm robling Johnny dollar Come on the next room dog. I understand you need some doll. That's right. How much? How much can I get enough to live on it's your payday if you ain't planning on taking any trips What do you live kill garland's boarding house? 20 bucks see it through Sounds all right Yeah, and on payday you'll drop in and give me the 30 back, right? 30 for 20. We're just to show you appreciate the fame And you wanted it, aren't you? All right You want me to sign some kind of a note and I owe you what for I'll remember it and if you forget I'll remind you $20 and for dead workmen There was a big gap no way of linking them together, but somewhere the pieces had to fit Then Thursday came and I drew my first pay yet. You know all right, huh? Oh, oh, yeah, Bo. I got it 3280. Well only three days Frank her overing will be expecting to see you tonight. I know he just asked me to remind you Some of these rough nicks get absent minded makes it tough on everybody especially themselves. Don't worry, Bo I got a good memory More than 50 men were in robling's room that night all of them in work clothes all them giving him money and None of them enjoying it. I waited until the last of them paid up and drifted out Well dollar I see you hanging back with other boys are shelling out. I Want to see you alone? Yeah That means you want to talk and when you want to talk it means you want to stall about paying I only had three days pay coming you knew that when you borrowed the money had the boarding house to pay I have to live don't I do you all I'm asking for is more time. All right, darling I'll give you more time next payday Only then it'll be 40 bucks not 30 As I say, I won't pay it What do you do then robling take me outside you're thinking of getting hard dollar. No, no robling just curious Yeah Big two ain't you? big hard guy Next week 40 bucks Figure by next week you may soften up John Lund. We bring you the second act of yours truly Johnny dollar Went into a couple of the honky-tonks along the main drag and tried to strike up conversations with men I'd seen in robling's room They shied away from the subject like skittish horses. I Was ready to give it up when a man I recognized from the job came over and set his beard out next to mine Why don't I sit down up yourself? My name is Prescott Wally Prescott. Yeah, I know You were behind me in the pay line this afternoon. Yeah, and I saw you up at robling's room tonight What were you doing there man off? Yeah, I saw you too, but you didn't pay off. How do you know? I heard some talk later robling and bullfowl It's none of my business. Maybe but You better pay I'm sure a cash look a lot of us are short. I'm just telling you for your own good I'm gonna look myself. They don't like it. Let them sue me. That isn't the way they work How do they work? Bronski and a couple of the others could tell you you don't pay up and fold by next week you're liable to get worked over That doesn't convince you. Yeah If you guys have died around here since the field open too bad a few guys didn't have a talk with a sheriff instead About what a beating in a dark alley from a bunch of guys you can't identify What would it prove? And what happens next when the guys you want behind bars can't be put there? Every pay they I just about managed to pay off. I got a wife and two kids So I got a borrow all over again to feed them Bronski's in the same boat so it doesn't others Behind started toward the boarding house cutting across lots and the gravel walks between the trailers What's the matter? No, I'll see what I can do though. Haven't you got a world over me? And then I was sucked down into a whirlpool of blackness. I Came out of it. I was alone. I could feel the gravel biting into the side of my face After a while I managed to get on my feet make my way to the boarding house Fell across the bed with my clothes on and passed out again Isn't that what usually happens rough town On an own better and to get licked up on pay night And I know that's what happened when you didn't show for work this morning. Why don't you save it? We're alone. Oh What are you talking about? You know what I'm talking about You and robling had me worked over I wouldn't go around saying foolish things. I couldn't prove I was you Things could be worse, you know You might have been hurt as bad as Prescott was Prescott. Yeah He got you talking through a bottle last night and somebody resented it He's over at the hospital ain't saying much today though. Guess he's sobered up guy with two kids Probably lose a whole week's work Robling likes him. Oh, you see him through Better be back on the job tomorrow though. You got obligations, too, you know, they're due next Thursday. Don't worry, Bo They'll be paid off in full Expensive on item four five dollars to dr. Wayne Libet of Tupelo We're patching up some of the damage done by Frankie Robling's bill collectors Item five eighty cents round trip bus fare to the county seat at Langham Where I laid the story on the line for Sheriff Arthur McMahon. How much of this can you prove dollar? I'll speculate I could probably put a couple of deputies on it. We might be able to hang a loan shark charge on Revelling you get bail and scare all the witnesses out of town in five minutes. Sure. He would science. I want him for murders I want as bad as you do. Yeah, I know it Everybody's been on my neck for this Tupelo mess letters from civic groups who are coming to churches they yell for action But they forget about evidence when they get a position where they could testify personally That's when they lose their tongues Prescott can testify to the setup. You think you'll testify now After what happened to him just because he gave you a warning Can you point to one single man and line up and say he did it? No neither can I Wait a minute Suppose you got him trying to kill somebody before they succeed. What do you mean? I was jumped last night for failing to pay robling Gonzalez and the others drew one beating that way before they were killed. Yeah, I see what you mean Robling expects me to kick him with 40 bucks next Thursday night. Suppose. I don't pay him again You're willing to be the play pigeon on this you keep me tagged next Thursday night from the minute I leave that hotel I'll be there, but if we stop them from killing you we still wind up with an assault shot They all know they've done murder before those sheriff when you take them in and split them in different cells Each one is going to be worrying about how much the others are talking somebody in that syndicate is going to get nervous I went back to the job for the first couple of days my head throbbed in my size eight Still the beating finally wore off All Pharaoh was at his post outside the payroll shack when Thursday came I saw him speak to a couple of the men with me. He didn't think it was necessary When we knocked off for the day, I headed straight for the Tupelo hotel and robling from our robling Come up on business or just to talk again. I came up to tell you I couldn't pay you this week It's too bad. I'm sorry to hear it. I had an accident had to pay a doctor bill I bought 20 bucks from you and you'll get it next week 20 bucks that's bad business stuff. It'll end money without interest. You're gonna do something about it Big guy like you know you're too big for me much too You know what I'm gonna do. I got an idea I'm gonna make that 20 a gift dollar for me to you no string no strings at all I left the hotel and hit the main drag as I had the week before I Started a sweat The sheriff and his deputies were around I couldn't see him I pretended to have quite a few drinks and a half a dozen bars before I headed for the boarding house Once I got away from the center of town the streets were like a cemetery Who's that? Oh Friends of yours with me fellas you met last week wanted to take you to a party with it. No, thanks Could have listened to Prescott. He told you a couple of guys was killed Okay boys giving the full job I got four deputies riding herd on this party. What's one of you to move stops a bullet Get your hands up You all right dollar. Yeah, where the devil were you rushing the car on the way out turned into the driveway across the street How'd you know where to stake out this big mouth laid it out for his playmates I'll tell bar right after you left my deputy with Stan less than ten feet away from it Okay, so I start to beat a guy up Sure I got a half dozen murder wars here in the name of John Doe too. What do you want to do about them? Where's your corpse you kidding? No, I'm not Prescott and Bronsky and 20 other men are in jail right now protective custody And they've all made statements Some one of them is bound to recognize one of your boys. We got all of you except Frankie Roeblings He's the boy who's gonna pay the fine bowl. Why do you sweat it out? He'll pay a fine for loan sharking and then get out of the state Who are you bluffing you guys keep your mouth shut you got nothing on any of us It's all going to wait and see huh The way for it, but they didn't break we knew that by Monday morning Roeblings would have a high-powered attorney in the spring I'm on a writ Roeblings was getting the jittery himself though He didn't know what was going on inside and it was killing him We watched him from the upper window of the courthouse. Get him down there He's more nervous than the ones we got here under lock and key. Yeah, and hanging around all day I could only get him in here for 24 hours on the loan charge. He bailed himself out before you got the key turned Hey, who is that he's talking to Jaler going over the way to get supper for the other every time he crosses the street Rubbering tries to pump it. That's a frightened man sure. He could blow up any minute Unless we find a way to light the fuse. Hey, wait a minute. Hey, but we can get a match under him Oh, I'm putting on a show for his benefit Suppose he thought we were gonna bring bull in here tonight and work him over. I don't handle prisoners that way, darling You don't have to all we want is for Roeblings to think you're doing it Is there a telephone over in that cafe? No, call over and get your jailer and the way back He can tell Roeblings that bulls getting a workout tonight. I'll get what you're driving it What do you think Roeblings will be tonight after he gets that piece of information right down there where he is now Sweating it out by proxy. Well, then what about 10 o'clock at bull out of the cell and bring him in here I won't manhandling darling. Listen to me. What you bring him in and see them over there Roeblings across the street. He'll see it. Yeah, who's that deputy yours the big guy Mike Larkin. Yeah After we get bull in here We pull the shades then we march him right out again and put Larkin in that chair instead We can stage it right we put the overhead lights out and turn that desk lamp on the chair So it throws shadows against the shade from where Roeblings stands it looked like the shadow when the chair is bulls We can also make it look like we're giving him a terrific beating and what? What would you do if you actually got a confession out of somebody in this room over the next hour? Let's tie it up have him signing. Oh, that's what you do. Mm-hmm typewriter in there is right next to the window Then you bring bull in to sign it. He won't sign a confession. Nobody will sign a denial Isn't what bull signs that matters. It's what Roeblings thinks bullfair was signing What are you pulling me in there for won't take a minute boy. Just want you to sign this Sign what what is it? Can read it. It's a statement. You made when we brought you in denying any connection with a murder What do I have to sign it for routine bull? And let me get back here use mine Shake hands friend. You've been a real big help. All right Joe take him back to sell Here's hoping don't it won't take long to know the sheriff of Roeblings My man yeah, Charlie Good No, I'll handle it myself. Let's go down. It works. Yeah Deputy I staked out the cafes that Roeblings bolted like a rabbit as soon as bulls took your fountain pen We'll get him at the hotel Wounded up. There were six of them all together Bull steered the suckers to Roeblings for half his take and kept the staff of three muscle men to enforce the payoffs The girl who got me into that dark trailer park was the wife of one of the muscle boys Expense account items six same as combined totals of items one and three $112.52 transportation from Tupelo to Dallas and back to Hartford again Incidentals and miscellaneous were covered by my earnings on the well job proving that I live within my means Expense account total two hundred thirty six dollars and four cents yours truly Johnny dollars