 I'm Hollywood, it's time now for Edmund O'Brien as... Johnny Dollar. This is Mitchell Kendall, Mr. Dollar, you call my office? Oh, yes, Mr. Kendall. I'm an insurance investigator from Hartford, Connecticut. I was sent out here to look into the Jarvis Wilder killing by the company that holds the policy on his life. Oh, Mr. Dollar, I'm defending Mrs. Wilder, not prosecuting her. I understand that. I'm not a prosecution witness, not yet anyway. I'm glad to hear that. Insurance money had nothing to do with the situation, Mr. Dollar. Killed him and self-defense. Edmund O'Brien in another adventure of the man with the action-packed expense account, America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Expense account submitted by Special Investigator Johnny Dollar to Home Office Britannia Life Insurance Company, Hartford, Connecticut. The following is an accounting of expenditures during my investigation of the Jarvis Wilder matter. Expense account item won $150.50, airfare and incidentals between Hartford and Farmington, New Mexico. It was shortly after noon when I reached the drowsing western town. I checked into a hotel and read in the local paper that the county grand jury at any moment was expected to indict the widow. This is Alma Wilder for the murder of her husband. I contacted her lawyer by phone and a few minutes later walked into his office. That's quite a trip. Hi, Mr. Kendall. It's a lot of miles from Hartford. Not too many hours these days. Sit down. Thank you. Well, I read the papers. The indictment comes any minute, huh? Yes, it didn't take long. From arrest to conviction, with as little cost of the taxpayer as possible. That's the way they like it. Not that there's anything wrong with the way things have been handled, you understand? I haven't gotten too many details. Alma, Mrs. Wilder confessed when she was arrested and confessed again at the inquest. That was only yesterday, also only a formality. Why the indictment then? Why doesn't she plead guilty and get it over with? Because I won't let her. I want a trial because I'm going to get a not guilty verdict for her on the grounds of self-defense and temporary insanity. Those grounds have sprung a lot of widows, I guess. Do you object to that? No, not at all. I hoped you'd tell me she's innocent. A lot of money tied up in the policies for Jarvis's brother and his estate. None is due her. I wish I could help you on that. Were you planning on going out to the ranch? Yeah, I thought I might. Why? I wanted to warn you about what kind of people they are. What kind of? They've been the most hated people in this part of the state for two generations. Russell is a twin brother, you know, and he has not only the appearance of Jarvis, but every single bad quality. Selfishness, cruelty, conceit. Russell has a wife, too, hasn't he? Yes, Rosemary. And if she shoots him, I won't be surprised. But I'd advise you to be careful if you're going out there. Don't push too hard. They like to run people off their property. I'll watch it, thanks. Just what do you expect to accomplish, Mr. Dollar? I've got to make a report, that's all. Murder, it's routine. If you still have any idea I'm working with the prosecution to set up a motive for your client and turn it into a first-degree charge, forget it. I'm not. Well, they've been awfully quiet, and I've been practicing law long enough to develop a suspicious mind. It was nice to meet you. Thanks a lot for the help, Mr. Kendall. I'll probably see you again before I leave. The wild ranch was about 15 miles out of town by report some 5,000 acres in cattle range. I wheeled a rented car up a road that led to a large house resting on a knoll among a few pine trees. There were some outbuildings, and finally a grizzled character who got up from a bench to stop me as I neared the house. You got business here? That's right. Well, you'll have to wait. Ain't nobody at home. What kind of business? Nothing to do with ranching. My name is Dollar. I am here from the east to get a report on the shooting of Jarvis Wilder. What's that? I said I'm from the east. What's your interest in the trouble? I've been hired by an insurance company to get a report on it. Where'd you say he was from? The east, Hartford, Connecticut. My folks come from there about from west in the 80s. You heard of the Shrams back there? No, I don't think so. My daddy had six brothers, so some of their kin is still around. Hazardville is where we sprung from. You heard of that? Yeah, it's in the northern part of the state, isn't it? On the Scantic River. It's marked on the map. Yeah, I know the place. Mr. Shram, I take it you work here on the ranch? For more than 40 years. Worked for the old man before Jarvis and Russell was born. Where were you the other night when Jarvis was shot? I got a cabin to myself. I'd sit over there. That's where I was. Could you tell me what happened as far as you're concerned? As far as I'm concerned? Sit down. Sure. I'm an old man. I lived through some right troublesome time. I've seen a lot of men get killed. And I always sort of figured I stayed healthy because I never meddled with nobody's business, right or wrong. I'm not sure I know what you're driving at. Are you advising me to stop meddling? It ain't my place to advise a young fella. Besides, I ain't smart enough. You ask me as far as I'm concerned. Well, as far as I'm concerned, I don't know what happened. I still don't get you. You're telling me that other people don't know what happened? It ain't my place to tell you anything. I didn't come here to investigate the murder. All that's been done, and it's in the hands of the authorities. Jarvis' wife confessed. You know, I haven't even waited here for Russell and his wife. I got short. Now, wait a minute. That was it, wasn't it? You thought something had been uncovered and that I'd come to look into it. Isn't that it, Sram? You don't concern me. Yes, it does. Is there a possibility that Alma Wilder did not kill her husband? She confessed, didn't she? That's not what I asked. She said she killed him, and I reckon she knows better than anybody else, don't you? I ain't got time to talk no more. I ain't got a choice to do. All right, Sram. I can't hold you, but I'll have to go to the police with this. Not sure enough. A lot of trouble, young fella. Don't stir it up. You do. I got a feeling you're going to be sorry. If it's there to be stirred up, I'll have to do it. And I guess it's there, all right. But I can make a deal with you, Sram. What deal? You talk to me and I won't go to the police. As an insurance investigator, I'm in a position to make a deal like that legally. All right, young fella. You want to grab it with a tail, you can. It ain't much for a certain what I saw. I heard Jarvis yelling at her. That's what woke me up. When I heard the shot, I jumped to the door. It was light enough to see and there was bows laying on the ground. They'd come out of the house. Yes. And it'd come over me when I saw him that she didn't shoot him because she was laying on her belly with her feet toward him. Like as if that's where he'd knocked her. Well, that wouldn't mean much, would it? I told you it wasn't much for a certain. But when I got to where she was, she didn't have no gun. It was on the ground next to Jarvis. Where was everybody else? They'd come out of the house, and I got out of sight. It stayed in my mind that Almond didn't kill him, till she said she did. Is that all, Shran? You're telling me everything? That's the whole of it. The way she was laying and where the gun was. I got there fast. And it come to me that she didn't shoot him. What are you figuring out I'm doing? I'm not sure. I don't see what I can make out of it. Thanks for telling me. I'm going back to town. You can count on my confidence, but if anything develops, I may have to talk to you again. You ain't gonna stay here till Russell and his wife come back? After talking to you, I think I'd better get to them later. And if you don't feel like it, you don't even have to tell them I was here. And I won't. It ain't my business that you come, and it ain't their business that I talk to you. It was little enough to go on, certainly. Back in town, I approached the authorities on the basis of wanting a routine report. The investigation was no more thorough than could be expected. A confession naturally would do away with the usual need for examination. There were photographs to record the position of the body, etc. Results of ballistic comparison tests to establish the fatal weapon, the 30-30 rifle. That was about all. The autopsy report hadn't yet been added. I debated on where to go from there and decided against Kendall, the defense lawyer. I got permission to visit the cell of the confessed murderers. Alma Wilder was a slight well-formed grenade of 24. She looked older than her years, but she would have been quite beautiful under different circumstances. I don't understand why you've come to see me, Mr. Dollar. You told them all how it happened. Didn't you talk to them? Yes. Then why have you come to see me? I read your confession. I guess I was curious about what kind of a woman could make such a calm statement about killing her husband. It was done and finished. There was no other way to say it. I'm curious about what kind of woman could be driven to the point where she'd do such a thing. If you read it, you know. It wasn't the kind of a woman I was. The kind of a woman he made out of me. In your confession, you said he'd been cruel to you. What kind of cruelty did you mean? I won't talk about it. Physical cruelty? Yes. I won't talk about it. Why do you want it? I'd hope maybe you would want to talk to somebody that might help you. I told all the truth I'm going to. I won't tell anybody about my life with him. I went through it. Now it's finished. I won't talk about it. All right. Time I've been here alone. Time since I killed him, I've been happier than I have for three years. It's the kind of a woman I am now. I'm happy now. I hadn't noticed. But I really wasn't after that part of the truth. You hated your husband and that's enough. What about the twin brother? Do you hate him? He thinks it's about me. Do you? Yes, I hate him. I hate him the same way I hated Jarvis. What about the sister-in-law? I thought much of anything about Rosemary. Something brought me to that house. She seemed like some dead person. I should have known then what it was like. Wasn't there anybody you liked out there? Or who liked you? Why? Any of the men who worked there? I never saw them. They weren't allowed in the house and I wasn't allowed outside alone. Why? I'm asking these things because I don't know if this confession you made will stick. What? Alma, right now only you know whether or not you really killed your husband. Yes, I did. If somebody knew you and felt sorry for how unhappy you were, he might have killed him. There wasn't anybody. If somebody thought enough of you to do that, you could be thanking him with your confession. It would be a noble gesture, I suppose, but if that is the case, it's going to come out. It wasn't. You could save everybody a lot of trouble if you'd tell me about it. It wasn't that. Nobody would do that to me. I didn't know anybody. I killed him because I hated him and I was trying to run away and he was trying to stop me. Don't do anymore. More what? Any more looking for things. Why not, Alma? Because you don't have to. Please. I killed your husband. Nobody else did. Nobody had to. Because I killed him. He was trying to run away and he wouldn't let me. He was going to take me back to that house. I couldn't go back. Please. Please let me stay here alone. You better sit down, Alma. I won't bother you anymore. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Alma. We will return you to the second act of yours, Julie Johnny-Dollar, in just a moment. There's one married couple you can always depend on for fun on Saturday evenings and to invite them over is as easy as staying tuned to CBS. They're Lucille Ball and that man she calls my favorite husband. You don't have to get involved in the strange predicaments they do. All you have to do is sit back and laugh at the results. How's for asking them in this evening? Lucille Ball and my favorite husband will be waiting on most of these same CBS stations. Now with our star, Edmund O'Brien, we return you to the second act of yours, Julie Johnny-Dollar. Hi, Mr. Kennel. I didn't know whether you'd be in your hours or not. Five o'clock? Oh, yes. I sometimes stay in the office until eight or so. I'm a single man, no place to do any homework. Sit down. Thanks. Well, I see you escaped the wilder ranch without loss of life or limb. Yeah, I made it all right. Nobody was there. Perhaps you were lucky. Did you talk to Crutchfield? Whom? Crutchfield, prosecutor. Oh, I didn't even know who he was. No, I haven't seen him. Would you like a whiskey? Uh, yeah, thanks. I think I could stand one. Good. Well, I went to see Alma Wilder. Oh. What's the matter with her? Well, just what do you mean? Oh, will you take this knee? Yeah, that'll be fine. I mean, how could any woman live like a prisoner with a man she hated for three years, wasn't it? Three years? This is the 20th century. Nobody has to put up with anything like that. Why didn't she leave if it was that tough? There you are. Thanks. I believe she did try to leave one other time, and evidently was discouraged from trying again. Please, that's what she told me. What? That she was beaten. Hard to believe. I know that. So was the case that broke in the papers last year the man had been locked in a room for 14 years. Remember? Yeah, that's right. Well? Shall we toast the human race, Mr. Dollar? Let's not bother. Mr. Kendall, did you ever give a thought to the possibility that Alma Wilder could be innocent? What? I mean actually innocent. That somebody else could have killed her husband. Mr. Dollar, if you come into any information pertinent to this case, I want to know about it. Well, it's not quite information yet, but maybe it will be. What was it sourced? I can't tell you that now. Why not? Came to me in confidence. I've got to keep it that way. But I faced Alma with it. The way she reacted makes me think that there's something to it. What'd you say to her? I asked her if somebody we don't know about got rid of her husband for it. How'd she answer? Naturally, she said no. And I don't believe it. Has anything you've learned pointed to the identity of this person? No. Well, until we can be more specific, this is worthless as testimony. Yeah, I know that. And I'd give anything to produce a witness that would blast Crutchfield's case from here to the state capital. Yeah, but there's too much to hope for. From here? Who knows? Well, her confession assigned statement a matter of record. Obviously, you're going to follow it up. Oh, sure. I'll have to now. Would there be any way to keep the whole thing confidential without interfering with your work? I don't know. We'd have to see. Of course. Well, there's too much to hope for. I won't start impaneling a jury until day after tomorrow at the earliest. If you're making any progress and need more time, let me know. I can delay that. All right, I will. You ought to be congratulated, Mr. Dollar. However, you came about this possibility. Case of plain fool luck, as a matter of fact. No, don't say that. You put us in the back seat. A green horn. We westerners don't like that, you know. I turned in early and the next morning, I looked up the arresting officer in the wilder case. The man who had supervised what little work had been done on it. There's not only a green horn, but a Johnny come lately. I expected a lot less cooperation than I got. Well, I'll be damned. I don't know what to make of that. She's a queer one, all right, but I never thought of nothing like that. Maybe there isn't a thing to it. But how did she act that night? Well, she was kind of numb when I got out there. That good day. She didn't talk till the next morning. Russell, that's the brother, says he was an eyewitness. His wife didn't see nothing, and the old timer that works out there says he didn't either. I suppose it's pretty late to run a paragon test on her, isn't it? Well, we can try. I don't hold much by myself when you're trying to prove somebody didn't fire a gun. When you want to know did they, then they're all right, I guess. We'll test her, though. And the rifle? Yeah. I'll send that back through again. Got her prints off of it, but we'll see what else. I know this is a lot of trouble. No, we need nothing. We don't get many like this, and to tell you the truth, I sort of enjoy trying to work out these things. It was about a quarter after ten when I turned into the Wilder Ranch Road. Passing the outbuildings I looked for, but didn't see the old man's tram. It's been there the day before. Yeah. Are you Russell Wilder? I don't business with anybody, I don't know. I think you'd better get back in your car and drive on out. I think you'll talk with me, Mr. Wilder. What about? The Britannia Life Insurance Company sent me out. A few things to take care of on your brother's policies. You aren't the salesman we bought from? No, I came out from Hartford, Connecticut. Why'd you come all the way from there? There's quite a bit of money involved. The company wants to be sure everything's in order. Jarvis and I kept our own books, everything's in order. There seem to be a few loose ends to take care of. Not that I know about. I understand you saw your brother's wife kill him. I saw it. That's what you told the police, but it's not true. Maybe I didn't hear you. Sometimes it doesn't do any good to throw your weight around no matter what kind of reputation you got for being rough. This is one of those times, Wilder, so take it easy. And you better get out of here, get off my line. You can put me off. It won't do you any good. Murder doesn't brush you off that easy. And you're in this one up to your neck. Is that what you got to say? I said it. You didn't see your brother get killed. You know it and the police are working now to prove it. I saw it. What were you doing outside at 11 at night? Didn't the sound of the shot bring you out? She killed him. It's not the open and shut case you thought they had against her. Why did you lie about seeing her shoot him? It didn't make any difference. I do things the way I think they ought to be done. You've got no right to ask me questions. I don't have to ask you anymore. I've found out all I want. Yeah, wait a minute. There you go on me. What do you want? She killed him. It was the same as if I saw her. I know she killed him. No, they don't. She said she didn't. Now they want to find out why she said it. She's not the only one in the picture anymore. You're in it too. You could have done it. Kill my own brother. Your reputation says you could have. You're mean, full of hate. Both of you seem to get a lot of satisfaction out of kicking your wives around. If that's what passed for love in your marriages, what can you expect people to think about the association between you and Jarvis? You don't kill your brother. Why not? For the insurance money and the ranch? I'll kill you if you don't stop talking like that. You know, Wilder, I think you would. I guess that tells me everything I wanted to know. I'm all right. Just been out to the ranch. I'll never see it again. And I finally met your brother-in-law. Or him again. How did you happen to marry Jarvis? Because my friends were all married. I wanted to be. I was dumb enough to believe his promises. He could be different when he wanted to be. A long time ago, anyway. The rifle you shot him with, was it his? Yes. But you knew where he kept it, huh? Yes, in the bedroom. He kept it loaded? Yes. And you took it when you tried to sneak out of the house? Yes. I had my mind made up to kill him this time if he tried to stop me. He was asleep, and you got up. And got dressed. Shirt and Levi's and some shoes. He didn't wake up while you were dressing? What have he had? Were you near the rifle? Yes. Was there a cartridge in the chamber? I don't know very much about them. I think so. You ever shot the rifle before? One like it a long time ago. How did you cock the rifle? With a lever or with a hammer? What? You cocked the rifle with a hammer or the lever? I'm not sure. Now, what difference does it make? A lot of difference. You'd cock it one way if a cartridge was in the chamber and the other way if you had to bring one up from the magazine. You know that. Yes. Well, which way? I don't remember, and it doesn't make any difference. Yes, it does. One way would have left an ejected cartridge on the ground and the police would have found it. They didn't ask me these questions. They didn't have any reason not to believe your confession. It's true. Did Russell see you kill your husband? Yes. Did the police see you? Yes. He said she killed my brother. I'm a witness. I saw her. He said that. He was lying, wasn't he? No, he saw me. He told me he was lying. No, he didn't. He saw me. I stopped him. He didn't see you. He didn't see you because you didn't kill him. I did. Did Russell kill him? Did he? He could have. Come on. Tell me the truth, Almond. I can't stand it. I can't stand it. Tell me the truth. Mr. Daller. Huh? What is it? Officer Dandy, send word. He wants you to come over. Can't it wait? He says it's mighty important and you better come. Well, it wouldn't have to be so rough, you know, Almond. How was it, you know? I'm not certain. Something about the rifle they was working on. I think we did her. I hope so. Here, look, right here. Now, this is the murder weapon. It didn't bother her a lot. But look at that butt plate. There it is. Yeah, jammed into the ribbing on the plate and into the indentations for the screw heads. More on the one side. We got that covered, too. You told me how she was lying with her feet towards the disease. Yeah. Well, that figures in, too. And I called back the corner about some marks they found in Jarvis's arm. Teeth marks. There, you see? Yeah. You've done a lot of work, Dandy. And next time, I won't wait. Anyhow, we didn't have a Marlin rifle like the murder gun, but it didn't make no difference. We took one of our Winchester's out on some dirt. We sort of guessed at the angle to get more dirt on the one half of the plate like that Marlin has in it. That's it, Dandy. You've got it. Yeah, we jammed the stock on the ground and pulled the trigger. The recoil pushed the butt plate into the ground and we got dirt in it about the same as the Marlin. That's good work. Say, could we phone Mitchell Kendall? I promised him he'd be in on this. Officer Dandy and I waited 20 minutes for Kendall outside Elma Wilder's cell and we went in without him. It took her a while to realize how much we knew now about what had happened. Why do you want to keep on saying that, Miss Wilder? It ain't true. It can't be. You didn't know anything about that rifle. You didn't have it when you left the house. Jarvis had it when he came out after you, didn't he? I'm scared. I don't know what happened. Well, he can tell you. He tried to stop you outside with a rifle. It was cocked. I don't know. We do, Elma. He tried to stop you and you bit him. He threw you with one arm and the rifle fell from the other. You were no off when it hit the ground. Everything fits in. You were lying in such a way you couldn't have shot him and got there. Nothing you can say now will change it. We know what happened. It's true, isn't it? Yes. Yes, it's true. Why didn't you tell us? You made a false confession and stuck with it. What made you do that? What were you afraid of? Were you afraid of Russell? I was afraid I'd have to go back to that house. You mean it's better to go to prison? Yes. I wouldn't have died for it, would I? But I will now. Why should you, Elma? What do you mean? He said I would. Russell said I would. He said, you killed my brother. I'm a witness. I am a witness before the law. And if they don't kill you, I swear no matter where you go, I will. And they will. That's the kind of men they are when they say if they can do anything. Oh, please. Please, you've got to let me stay here. Expense account item two, Miss Elenius, $185, item three, same as item one, transportation back to Hartford. Expense account total, $540. Remarks? No pleasant ones. The girl who reached the point where prison seemed better than what we call freedom is giving up both for a hospital where they hope she'll improve. It was truly Johnny Dollar. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar, stars Edmund O'Brien in the title role and is written by Gil Dowd with music by Wilbur Hatch. Edmund O'Brien's latest picture is the Paramount Picture Production, the Redhead and the Cowboy. Featured in tonight's cast were Parley Baer, Tim Graham, Bill Conrad, Herb Butterfield and Mary Lansing. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar, directed by Jaime Delvalle. This is Dick Cutting inviting you to join us next week at this time when Edmund O'Brien returns as... Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. There have been some changes made and it's faster, it's funnier, it's got new life and a brand new punch because Jan Murray's taken over. What show is this? Why CBS Saturday Night Musical Quiz, sing it again. That hour of melody, mirth and money that stirred on most of these same CBS stations. Yes, Jan Murray is your new host. Be sure to hear the news sing it again with Jan Murray this evening on CBS. Stay tuned now for Barnman Rose Caravan which follows immediately on most of these same CBS stations. This is CBS where you'll have to jack many every Sunday night, the Columbia Broadcasting System.