 For your listening enjoyment John Lund as Johnny downer that That plane crash Johnny. Did you hear? Yeah? I just turned off my radio. It's horrible. Who is this? Oh, I'm sorry Sam Harris Columbia. Oh, yeah, sure. Does your company carry the policies in that airline? Yes, but I'm not thinking of that that crash was planned. Oh, they're definite about it now Yes an explosion some kind of a boss. Yeah, sure. Mr. Harris. You want me to go out there? Yes, it was a man named for just a moment. What do you say we take time out to talk about star roots? Never heard of them. Well, I don't suppose many of us have but they exist. All right Now those of us who live in cities or in other localities where regular letter carriers drop off our mail Probably never wonder how mail is handled in places where almost no one live Where there's hardly anything and not much reason for going there But there is someone who thought about it and did something about it our postmaster general He sought to it the folks who live in these out-of-the-way places received their mail Of course the post office doesn't operate regular mail routes to these places because there isn't enough mail to warrant a regular postman But the people in isolated spot such as prospectors in the Nevada mountains or Trappers in the Alaska wilderness or Louisiana Bayou's are entitled to their mail That's why the post office department has set up a system of contracting Responsible agencies to deliver mail to out-of-the-way places These special mailman follow what are known as star route Deliveries are made usually to mailboxes similar to RFD boxes that stand in the middle of some Barren waste or along a rarely traveled river Star route carriers use cars horses mules roboats dog sleds or airplanes whatever they need to deliver the mail Sometimes they even walk Yes, the job of the star route postman is a rugged one and our hats are off to these little publicized employees of our United States Post office department Expense accounts submitted by special investigator Johnny dollar to home office Columbia all risk insurance company The following is an accounting of expenditures during my investigation of the fairway matter Expense account item one two fifty cab fare to the scene of the plane crash Which as you know covered quite a bit of territory The fairway Airlines plane had taken off at 8 20 p.m Had reached an altitude of no more than six hundred feet and then had crashed Setting two houses of fire a short distance from the Springfield Hartford Airport. I Got there a little after 9 30 one house had been partially safe But the other has been completely demolished the family of four living Parents of one child in the first house were not expected to live Twisted pieces of the plane were scattered across a feed Fragments still smoking turn white with the phone chemical extinguishers Mr. Reed Mr. Carl Reed Yes, what did you want? My name is Donald the insurance company The time to worry about money is it? I'm only an investigator Me the help in any way I can just fix the blame You'll have to excuse me there are some things I have to do She doesn't know about the explosion She thinks that the chance the daughter wasn't on the plane, but she was She was a stewardess you haven't told her I can let her hope for a couple more hours It's horrible I think even worse than if it had been an accident When you know it is for meditation when you know someone planned it What kind of a person would you have to beat up plan something like this? Yeah, it's hard to believe But we have proof There was an explosion in extreme after section destroyed all the control people to the tail assembly I don't suppose the civil aeronautics man is here yet. No, no, but he's on his way They're sending one of their best That's up your new to captain linhardt of the state police is here though. Oh, I'd like to talk to him now Do you have any idea where he is? Well, the last I saw me was over there by that. Oh Where have you seen the group of men over by the hangar? Yeah, he might be there they They collect the body Made it as many identifications as possible Look, I know it's bad mr. Leave, but don't you go to pieces that wouldn't help at all. I'll be all right. I'll see you I remembered captain Jim Linhardt from the case we shared last year and I found him in the group of silent men Their silence and their expressions told better than words How they felt about the role of sheep draped bodies on the ground I Was reading making out I thought it was going to pieces a little while ago Well, he's still in pretty bad shape. He's not alone. I didn't might have been worse Plain could have been filled. Yeah Well, I guess our approach will be to try to find out which victim was the planned victim Yeah, that's what we have now. I don't see any other way to start you know The possibilities as I see them are murder with a motive This guy is suicide or a homicidal maniac that must cover it I have men covering the airport in a two-mile circle around it Their orders are to question everybody they spot and search every car. I think that's about all we can do tonight Well, I'll see you in the morning then so I would do sure is Glad to have you on the case Me to my house at nine good Here's another ambulance we can get the rest of these poor devils into the morgue and Try to find out who they are the next morning the official findings were released The explosive had been nitroglycerin it had been detonated by some electrical means which it was assumed Was connected to a timing device that had not yet been found Captain Lenhart's men had questioned the number of suspicious characters near the airport without result But Lenhart himself had received an anonymous tip on a possible suspect a Wilber wheeler Who was a member of the ground crew that serviced the plane just before its takeoff? We were shown to the captain's office about 40 minutes after I've gotten there Why did you pick me to come up here? Why didn't you get straighter or no over me? It's just routine willing routine You must have a reason I got a right to know if you got a reason haven't I why do you think we started with you? Well, I'm asking you aren't I? The stewardess who died in that place surely good you I knew her We understand that she meant something to you weren't you in love with it? Yes We understand you made quite a pest of yourself Phoning her at home and waiting for her at the airport and then a week or so ago You learned she was going to marry the copilot who was killed. What's his name? Bill Strand wasn't it really yes You're saying that you think I caused that crash Oh, you wanted to know why you were here I told you it was just routine wheeler and it would have been if you'd acted differently But it sounds as though you're trying to hide some facts from it. I won't anymore I I don't have any reason to well then why did you I don't know I? I've been going crazy ever since I heard about it last night. I was still at the field I got sick and I had to go home. We heard about that. I got home and turned on my radio Then I heard what caused the crash the explosion And they knew that a lot of things I've said and a lot of things I've done We're gonna make trouble for me even getting sick and coming home was bad What were some of the other things? Well, I said some pretty bad things to Shirley when I heard she was gonna marry strand And I had a fight with him you had a fight with him over the same thing I guess for me it was really over that he ordered me around one day and I didn't like it That's how it started beat me up pretty bad Said he'd have my job and I told him I see the day his plane with him in it would be plastered all over some hill I know what it sounds like now, but I didn't mean anything. He was just talk. It was plenty of that. All right You heard enough dollar. I think so and that's all really I can go. Yeah Nobody be stupid enough to compromise himself the way you did and then pull a job like this. All right. I Sure made a lot of mistakes. I know that yeah Just be around where we can find you if we want to talk anymore. I I can't go back to that airport, sir I was gonna call them and then quit if it's all right with you just be where we can find you that's all I will I'm sorry a Lot of people are really yes Collins the man just leaving my office name is Wheeler Wilbur Wheeler have two of the boys get on him and stay I'll arrange to relieve them tonight Yeah, thanks What do you think? Well, I'd like to know what's in Wheeler's background And I'd like to get a psychiatrist's reaction when you we'll learn about him Now let's get on with this list of passengers and see what we can get from their survivors We spent the rest of the day in the efforts of six more of captain Lenhart's men preparing files on the ten dead passengers One file contained nothing but a name Rupert Stone Gotten from the ticket office records is that of a man who had paid cash for space to Augusta main The Hartford address he'd given was non-existent and the phone number rang a bakery where no one had ever heard of a Rupert Stone That one we dropped until the identification of the body was complete Lenhart and I started out to follow up a couple of the others that evening There's rotten work. Yeah, check Mrs. Graham. Yes, this is mr. Dollar, and I'm captain Lenhart of the state police We'd like to talk to you about the death of your husband. No, I have talked too much Only keeps in my mind the things I saw in that field and the women crying No, Mrs. Graham, but it's our job to fix the responsibility We only want to ask you a few questions You'd want to help find whoever caused all those deaths if you could wouldn't just how can I help they we come in All right But only a little while. I haven't slept No No, it's poor old dog And very soon he will die Then I will be alone Please sit down. Thank you, Mr. Graham. Thank you Mrs. Graham your husband. Yes He uh He bought space to Boston didn't he? Yes Martin's brother is very there Martin was a religious man and quite often he would go to visit his brother's grave. I see and I think That's all we needed wasn't a dollar to Recheck his plan. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think that was all then we better go We're sorry we had to bother you Mrs. Graham and thanks very much for seeing us Thanks very much. Oh, don't bother to get up. You don't have to come to the door with Good night. Good night. Good night, Mrs. Graham I Couldn't cut it I think that dog did it. Sorry. Don't apologize to me This hasn't happened to me since I was a rookie. Why don't we have a drink on the way downtown? No, it's just me You know Al's on front street. Yeah, that's fine Anyplace I'll phone in from there and have Collins check me off duty Yeah, I'll catch it That's good enough keep it. Oh, thank you Drink up dollar Guess I'll have to waste mine because it seems I'm not off duty. What happened? We're back to that stewardess again the explosive has been checked to her equipment That man says some twisted metal a pound used to be a first-aid box and that it was in her flight bag Well, that brings Wilbur Wheeler back again, too, huh? He's being picked up now 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? He was a president of several first He was the first vice president to become president through the death of the chief executive The first president to be married in office and the first president against whom impeachment proceedings were introduced He graduated from William and Mary College at 17 and at 26 was elected to Congress During his administration a treaty was signed which opened the door to Oriental trade for the first time If you don't have his name by now, here's one more important clue On the last day of his term he signed a resolution providing for the annexation of Texas Who was he? John Tyler 10th 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 yours truly Johnny dollar Like the idea being loaded into a police car twice in one day with everybody in the block gawking at me A lot of people have been loaded into police cars today They were glad to come in and do anything they could to help clear this up. Oh, I want to help, too I didn't mean it that way glad to hear that How long have you worked for the fairway airline? About a year and a half. I think what you do before that I want to know why you're asking questions like that. Why did you bring me back here because some new evidence has turned up? That's why What does it have to do with me it has to do with surely good you I Don't know what you mean. I don't know what you're talking about I told you everything there was about her and me as you know that she carried a first-aid kid aboard the plane last night First-aid kept that I don't know what you mean. You don't have to work an hour a year and a half What did you do on the plane? Oh brought food on check the water a few other things things that the stewardess would be involved in She'd be there with you wouldn't she yeah, but I don't know what you're driving at. I don't know what you mean Where did she put her first-aid kid wheeler? Oh, why do you ask me that? I don't remember I didn't notice They had a place they kept it, but I didn't notice was it open I don't know what was in it. Well if I knew what you meant I I don't know why you're asking me these things look each stewardess has a kid They take it off the plane when they leave they bring it aboard when they report for work I don't know what you're talking about the explosive wheeler the nitroglycerin that was hidden in her first-aid kit Why didn't put it there? That's what you mean, but but I didn't do it. I don't know anything about it 13 people in the plane wheeler Four people in one of the houses it crashed probably two more in the other. I didn't do it. I didn't I didn't do it Wilber wheeler was turned over to the police psychiatrist The web that was tightening around him was only Circumstantial and the question was did he know that he could keep on saying he hadn't done it And that we couldn't do anything without physical proof or was he innocent? Our last move that night was to go to wheeler's room We were looking for a wire that could be checked to that use with the explosive We didn't find that or anything else that could be a definite help But a couple of things we didn't find seems strange Hey, you said he came home and turned on his radio. There isn't a radio here a Newspaper's dollar see any no no I don't No, there aren't any unless he's got them out of sight someplace. Oh, why would he do that? No, I'm in the way You think a man so close to this would want to find out what the papers were saying wouldn't you kill you're innocent? Yeah Yeah, I don't know dollar. I'm bushed. Let's drop it for tonight The next day Lenhard and I talked to the psychiatrist who'd spent a couple of hours with wheeler The doctor said the wheeler was definitely suffering from a severe guilt complex But whether that meant he had actually committed the crime or had only wished secretly that harm would come to miss Good you wasn't clear yet in Terms of evidence that meant nothing The lack of a radio or newspaper in his room the doctor tossed off is meaning merely that wheeler was hiding from actuality As captain Lenhard put it if that doctor thinks he helped my mental condition. He's wrong That afternoon a development came from the fairway office of Carl Reed He'd been unable to locate another of his stewardesses and when finally he'd sent someone to her apartment She'd been found Shot to death We met mr. Reed at the scene of the second crime. Hi I simply had to get back on the job today Two of our flights were delayed yesterday because of my going to pieces. You better watch it now, mr. Reed I I don't know if I just take it easy You tried to phone this girl and tell her to report for one of your flight And when you sent somebody out here, she was found dead, huh? Yes, exactly I I hadn't tried to contact Alice before because I Well, I I knew that she and miss. Good you had been close friends and that she must have felt Almost responsible for her death. Why mr. Reed? Why? Well, she was scheduled for the flight the other night. I thought you knew that No, no, we didn't I wish we had but I told you That night at the scene of the crash, but I was talking to her mother and mrs. Good you yes I remember that you said she thought there was a chance her daughter wasn't on the plane But I told you the other girl was scheduled. Oh, no, mr. Reed You made it sound like mrs. Good you thought her daughter was on a different flight You didn't say anything about another stewardess. Good lord. It's all right, mr. Reed the human mind isn't infallible, but it can correct its mistakes Tell us now That's all right But with with everything else, I suppose it didn't seem important I Well, I I know our procedure is less Well, that's exact than the regular companies I You see that the girls often traded flights. What did you find out about this trade? Well, not until mrs. Good you told me that her daughter had gone to work that night You didn't discuss it with the brandy chain. No, I I didn't discuss it With that night and all of it I and I think we'd better go see mrs. Good you dollar Of course, I'll tell you anything I can we've just learned that your daughter wasn't scheduled to be on that plane mrs. Good you Well, no, she wasn't we understand that she and Alice Turner exchanged flights quite often But do you know how it happened the other night? No Shirley was here at home in this whole right. What time was that please? Oh, I hardly remember We'd had an early dinner and the plane took off at 8 25. How long before then? Well an hour at least No, it was less than that because Shirley left in such a hurry. What did she say? Oh, she said that one of the girls was sick and she was going to take a place on the flight Just up to me and then back. She said She said she'd be home soon after midnight. I've never liked rush decisions I've always worried when she'll be left in a hurry like that. She did it quite often Yes, they they all did it six of them live here in Hartford. I never liked it Did she trade more often with Alice Turner than with the others? You know, I don't think so It was an agreement if one of them couldn't work one of the others would fill in and it's possible and Alice Turner Called some of the others before she called your daughter. It is quite possible Of the crime led to the stalling of it Late that afternoon when I'd gone back to my apartment building and in the corridor just outside my door Hey Your name darling Yeah Can I help you? Hey, I want to talk to you I think we'd better go inside. Well, I'm pretty busy. Yes. I know you are but I want to talk to you about the plane explosion. Oh All right, come on in I can't stand it anymore. I read about Alice Turner this afternoon Just can't stand it. That's all. What do you know about it all those people kill for nothing and I'm part of the blame, too And I'm ready to give myself up. Well, why did you come to me then? Why didn't you go to the police? Oh, you can talk to somebody like you the police or I wasn't booing the case for the estate Okay, they'll get you anyway, but you know what I really said see all right. Go ahead. His name is church Arthur church. Who's Arthur church? He's the chief pusher for a bigger narcotics outfit than you ever thought they were We've had a few cranks in this case already. I know Frank. What do you mean? I'm a Alice Turner was carrying the stuff for him She wanted to get out church wooden letter So she got smart and set up a meeting with the federal man the other night And that's why she was killed and all the rest of them, too Doesn't make sense If she'd made this date, don't you think the federal authorities have been in on this? Well, she didn't tell him who she was or what she did. How do you know? I'm the one that told her church was on to her. I told her to drop it sure not to go That's my part of it. I told her church was on to it and that he'd stop her somewhere I told her to drop it no matter what I don't like it No, why would she put surely good you on this? Alice didn't know what would happen I did a who could know that he'd do anything like this. Oh, why did he if what you say is true We could have stopped her some other way. That's my doing too. I kept her out of sight to see and the other night I told her not to do anything to stay where she was not to go to the field and and then she believed me And then she called surely good you and told her she was sick and that's why she didn't go Do you know where the explosive was the recta plane? Yes, I read today the first aid kit That's where Alice carried the stuff and it was her kid How did the good you girl get it? Yeah, because she was called at the last minute you see and Alice had her things in a locker at the field Look mr. Dollar, I wouldn't be here if I wasn't telling the truth. It's a peddling rack for me. You don't you see? But I've been reading these stories about the people that get killed and the families that are left and I Couldn't take it off I knew the truth and then when Alice was killed. Well, there was no reason for me not telling what I knew Are you ready to go to the police? You heard what I got to say. I'm giving myself up You know where this Arthur Church is? Yes. Yes. Yes. He he and I lived together And you'll come with us if I have to yes. Yes. Yes. I'll take you This is where I left you go in then tell him who's here Just calling that room miscellaneous $23.45 Expense account total $25 and 95 cents yours truly Johnny Donna