Yours Truly Johnny Dollar - "05 the Indestructible Mike Matter Part 2" (Old Time Radio)

Yours Truly Johnny Dollar presents “05 the Indestructible Mike Matter Part 2,” originally broadcast June 5, 1956. This is episode 5606 of the CBS insurance-investigation series, starring Bob Bailey as Johnny Dollar.

Johnny follows a suspicious $50,000 life-insurance policy involving Michael Jeremiah Flynn, a resident of New York’s Glad Hand Rescue Mission, and beneficiary John Wesley Cosgrave. Written and directed by Jack Johnstone, this second chapter of a five-part serial also features Howard McNear as Flynn.

Yours Truly Johnny Dollar presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:50 Original Broadcast
15:25 Closing

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Speaker 1: A $ 50, 000 life insurance policy has lakeside life and casualty

concerned for Michael Jeremiah Flynn, a resident of the Glad

Hand Rescue Mission on New York's Bowery. Insurance investigator Johnny

Dollar is on the case, following the questions surrounding the

policy and its beneficiary, John Wesley Cosgrave. From CBS, this

is part two of the five-part Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar serial.

The Indestructible Mike Matter, originally broadcast June 5th, 1956. Episode 5606.

Bob Bailey stars as Johnny Dollar, with Howard McNear as Flynn.

Jack Johnstone wrote, directed, and produced. And now, the original broadcast.

Speaker 2: From Hollywood, it's time now for.

Johnny Dollar. John, this message I found when I came in.

Speaker 3: Yeah, Pete, somebody took a couple of shots at your $ 50, 000 client,

Mike Flynn.

Speaker 2: Well, is he.

Speaker 4: will he die?

Speaker 3: From the looks of things, last night he may pull through,

in spite of the two slugs in him.

Speaker 2: I hope so. Do you know who did it?

Speaker 4: No idea, but I'm going to try to talk to him.

Have you talked to the beneficiary? Not yet.

Speaker 3: First, I want whatever information I can get from Mike,

if he's still alive.

Speaker 5: Tonight and every weekday night, Bob Bailey and the transcribed

adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account, America's

fabulous freelance insurance investigator, yours truly, Johnny Dollar.

Speaker 6: © BF-WATCH TV 2021.

Speaker 3: Expense account submitted by Special Investigator Johnny Dollar. Location, New York,

New York. Attention, Peter Branson, Lakeside Life and Casualty Insurance Company.

Following is an accounting of expenditures during my investigation of

the indestructible Mike matter. Expense account item six, 55 cents.

Taxi to the neighborhood of the Glad Hand Rescue Mission,

where Daddy Bill, a general fact totem, had promised to

take the best of care of Michael Jeremiah Flint. He'd

given Mike a room to himself on the second floor,

and what a room. What wallpaper was left hung in

shreds from the cracked plaster. The shades on the dirty

windows were tattered and torn. A single bare fly-speck light

bulb hung on a cord from the ceiling. The floor

was bare, and the only furniture was a battered chest

of drawers, an ancient washstand with a cracked pitcher and bowl,

and a sagging iron bed on which old Mike Flynn lay.

Speaker 2: Come in. Come in here.

Speaker 7: Hi.

Speaker 4: Hi.

Speaker 2: Well, you must be the man who helped me into

the mission last night.

Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah. My name's Johnny Dollar. Come up to see

how you're making out.

Speaker 2: Well, I much obliged to you, Johnny. I'm real obliged

to you.

Speaker 4: Well, how are you feeling this morning?

Speaker 2: Oh, I'm fine, I'm fine. Never felt better. Sit down,

sit down.

Speaker 4: Well, what did the doctor that Daddy Bill got for you,

I have to say?

Speaker 2: The doctor for me? Oh, now, Johnny, you must be joking. Joking?

Speaker 4: After you had a couple of slugs tear through your ear? Here,

let me help you.

Speaker 2: Oh, you want to see them? Sure, sure.

Speaker 5: Now, wait a minute.

Speaker 2: Now, just look for yourself here. Ah, you see? See?

They just went through my side here, in the front,

and out the back. Holy. Oh, see, aren't they heating

up nicely?

Speaker 4: Why, that one couldn't have missed your heart by more

than three inches.

Speaker 2: But it did. Yes, it did. Not nearly so close

as this scar, though. Want to see this scar? Look

at it right here.

Speaker 4: Hey, was that a bullet wound, too?

Speaker 2: No, oh, no, Johnny. That was just an old ice

pick or something. Huh? Somebody in the crowd doing that

fire down at the battery light. Oh, wasn't that a

beautiful fire, Johnny? Did you see that?

Speaker 4: Oh, but what did these slugs do to you inside?

You must be.

Speaker 2: To me? Oh, not a thing. I'm so durable. Wait

a minute, wait a minute. Did you say there was

another attempt on your life last week? No, no, no, no,

of course not. Just an accident like those shots last night.

Speaker 4: You think that was an accident? Uh-huh.

Speaker 2: Why, don't you?

Speaker 4: Do you know who fired them?

Speaker 2: Oh, Johnny, I haven't the least idea.

Speaker 4: Where did it happen? I was right here in the mission,

and I didn't hear any shots.

Speaker 2: Oh, dear, no. I was down near my private place.

Speaker 4: Where's that? Where's that, Mike?

Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you, Johnny. It's this way. Daddy Bill

and the others here at the mission are real nice

to me. Oh, they're real nice. You can see by

this lovely private room that they fixed up for me.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Speaker 2: And they'd like for me to stay here all the time.

I guess Daddy Bill thinks if I'm here most of

the time, I might not drink so much and keep

getting into those kind of... Say, do you ever enjoy

a little drink, Johnny?

Speaker 4: Well, on occasion. But you were going to tell me.

Speaker 3: Oh, here.

Speaker 2: I've got a little bottle tucked under the mattress here. Ah! Ah,

here it is.

Speaker 4: Well, what under the sun is that? That color, that pink?

Speaker 2: Yes, that's my favorite, that pink. Straight whiskey costs so much.

Even when I have the money now. And you know something?

I like a little bit more kick in mine. I

guess it's kind of a hangover from Prohibition days. So

I mix a little kick into it. Here, Johnny, I

want you to try this. Well, I.

Speaker 4: Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.

Speaker 2: Oh, you'll like this. Oh, what a wallop.

Speaker 3: Well.

Speaker 4: What the... Yes, well, that sterno.

Speaker 2: That's what I add to it. Just a little bit

of sterno.

Speaker 4: Mike, this stuff will kill you.

Speaker 2: Oh, I've been drinking that for years. Look at me,

the picture of health. Oh, Mike, listen to me.

Speaker 4: I'm going to get you a doctor.

Speaker 2: No, no, you're not. I won't stand for it.

Speaker 4: But you've been shot.

Speaker 2: Oh, no. Just gave me a little twinge or two

last night, but now I feel fine. Well, you fell

flat on your face when you came in here.

Speaker 4: Now, listen, Johnny.

Speaker 2: Don't you tell Daddy Bill, but I'm afraid it wasn't

the bullets last night. It was... overindulgence.

Speaker 4: Oh, brother, I give up.

Speaker 2: No, no, don't say that, Johnny.

Speaker 4: Oh, all right, then how did it happen?

Speaker 2: Well, I was on my way back here when the

car drove by. Oh? That sounded to me like a

couple of backfires or two, but then I felt this

little sting on my side, and that's it.

Speaker 4: And you call that an accident?

Speaker 2: Well, of course. The men in the car were probably

just having a little friendly argument. How many men? Well,

I'm not sure. I think there were only two of them.

I waved at them.

Speaker 4: What kind of a car?

Speaker 3: Black.

Speaker 4: Well, what make could you tell?

Speaker 2: Well, it was shiny and it was new. See, I

wish I had a car, Johnny.

Speaker 4: Look, Mike, I'm going to level with you.

Speaker 3: Oh?

Speaker 4: I'm an insurance investigator.

Speaker 2: Insurance? Well, my, well, see, that's interesting, Johnny. Say, let's

have a little drink on that while you tell me

about it.

Speaker 4: No, no, no, thanks.

Speaker 3: And there isn't much to tell. Except that I'm here

to try to save your life, among other things.

Speaker 2: Well, no, I don't understand. I'm getting along all right.

I've been living it up here in the Bowery for years.

Speaker 3: Maybe you were getting along okay until you took out

that big insurance policy.

Speaker 2: Yeah, oh, say, wasn't that nice of Mr. Cosgrave? Now,

all my life I wanted to have some life insurance...

You know, it gives you a kind of feeling of

importance and security. So when he came down here one

night and I told him that, well, I say his

eyes just lit up and he said he was going

to make me a president of some insurance.

Speaker 4: Who is this Cosgrave? How much do you know about him? Oh,

he's wealthy.

Speaker 2: I know that much about him. He has a beautiful

car and a chauffeur.

Speaker 4: Does he come down here often?

Speaker 2: Oh, now and then. Just now and then. Why? Now,

I've often wondered about that, Johnny. So one time I

asked Daddy Bill, and he said that years ago when Mr.

Cosgrave was young, he came to the mission for help,

and Daddy Bill gave it to him. Oh, what does

he do when he's here? Oh, he brings some food

for the brothers. The brothers, that's what Daddy Bill calls us.

And some money, and he always gives jobs to a

couple of men who've drifted in him.

Speaker 4: What kind of jobs, Mike?

Speaker 2: You know, that's something I don't know. You see, they

never come back here again.

Speaker 4: Maybe it's because they can't.

Speaker 2: What's that? What did you say, Johnny?

Speaker 3: Mike, I'm going to give it to you straight. To me,

the whole thing smells to high heaven. To me, this

Cosgrave sounds like a racketeer.

Speaker 4: I may be wrong. I'll know better when I meet him.

And I intend to do that as soon as possible.

Speaker 3: But right this minute, I bet that he comes down

here for only one purpose. To recruit help for some

sort of illegal job. Oh, that's a terrible thought, Johnny.

When he heard you say you'd like insurance, he jumped

at the chance.

Speaker 2: And why not?

Speaker 3: Let you name him as beneficiary and then have you

knocked off. That ice pick in your side was no accident, Mike.

No more than the shots at you last night. But

he's been so nice.

Speaker 4: Sure, of course he has. He can afford to.

Speaker 3: After all, your body's worth $ 50, 000 to him. And that's

what you're going to be, Mike, just a body. Unless

I can do something about it.

Speaker 2: Oh, and such a nice man, too, really.

Speaker 4: How has he been getting this money to you?

Speaker 2: In an envelope.

Speaker 4: By mail?

Speaker 2: Usually it's just left here at the mission.

Speaker 4: By whom?

Speaker 2: Well, nobody ever seems to know. It's just a plain envelope.

It's dropped in the mail.

Speaker 4: No return address?

Speaker 2: No, no, no, no. But I'm sure it comes, Mr. Cosgrave. Say,

come to me. Say, there was one due yesterday. Every Monday,

you know. But Daddy Bill said it didn't arrive.

Speaker 4: Well, maybe it'll be here today. And you know something?

I'd like to see it delivered.

Speaker 2: No, you wouldn't. No, you can't kid me, Johnny. You'd

like to see who delivers it. Oh, say... Why don't

we go downstairs and wait and see?

Speaker 4: No, easy there, Mike. You're a sick man.

Speaker 2: Oh, stop talking that way. Sick. Up we go. Oh, no,

you can't.

Speaker 4: All right. Here, let me give you a hand.

Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm all right.

Speaker 1: I'm all right.

Speaker 2: Oh, say, look at that. Look at that. Daddy Bill

left my shoes here by the bed for me.

Speaker 4: Oh, brother, now I've seen everything.

Speaker 2: I put my shoes in. Ah, there. Now, there we are,

all dressed.

Speaker 4: I don't know how you do it, Mike.

Speaker 2: Shall we go downstairs?

Speaker 4: Sure. Lead the way.

Speaker 2: All right. The envelope should be there because it always

comes in the morning when there's nobody here. You know,

when Daddy Bill's out shopping and just the door to

the assembly room is open for any poor lost soul

who wants to come in wait for the chow line

to open. Well, we'll see. We'll see. And then we'll

go to my private place. You see, there are two

things I like, Johnny.

Speaker 3: Yeah?

Speaker 2: Solitude and crowds of people. Oh, look at there, Johnny.

Speaker 7: Look at there.

Speaker 2: There's mail there by the door. You see? Here's my envelope.

And my name's on it, too.

Speaker 4: Wait, Mike.

Speaker 2: It's all right, it's all right, it's all right. Ah,

you see there, Johnny? A $ 20 bill. Whee!

Speaker 4: Let me have that envelope, if possible, Prince.

Speaker 2: Oh, yes, yes, here you are, Johnny. Now we can

go out, you and I, and we can have a real... Well, now, Johnny,

look at that. A package for me, too. Easy, Mike.

Speaker 4: Let me have that.

Speaker 1: No, no, no.

Speaker 2: I know what you're thinking. An infernal machine or something.

Speaker 4: That's exactly what I'm thinking.

Speaker 2: But you didn't hear it gurgle. Well, looky there, Johnny. Well,

joyous bee. One for you and one for me.

Speaker 6: Easy, Mike.

Speaker 4: I want to carry this one in the wrapping paper.

Speaker 2: Oh, fingerprints, huh?

Speaker 4: That's right, Mike.

Speaker 3: I'm going to take you back upstairs and lock you

in your room. You're to stay there. Let nobody in.

Not even Daddy Bill until I get back here.

Speaker 4: Do what I say. Oh, but Johnny.

Speaker 3: And just remember that I'm trying to save your life.

Item 7, 270, cab fare uptown to the 18th Precinct Station.

The lab boys took over three hours while Randy Singer

and I talked about cases that we'd handled together in

the past. I asked him to dig up whatever he

could for me on John Wesley Cosgrave, the man named

as beneficiary of Mike's insurance policy.

Speaker 4: This he promised to do it.

Speaker 3: Finally, a slim, intelligent-looking lieutenant walked in and handed Randy

a neatly typed report of the lab's findings in connection

with a liquor bottle and envelope I'd given him.

Speaker 7: Hmm.

Speaker 6: Hmm.

Speaker 4: Hello, Randy.

Speaker 8: Not much I'm afraid, Johnny. Apparently, the only prints were

those made by the old man and you.

Speaker 4: Proof that somebody's been pretty darn careful not to be identified.

Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 4: Hey, wait a minute.

Speaker 2: Huh?

Speaker 8: The seal on the bottle had been tampered with, so

the lab boys opened it. That bottle contained enough wood

alcohol to kill an army. Now, if that old boy

drinks the way you said.

Speaker 3: Good Lord, Randy, see you later. Item 8, 10 bucks even.

Taxi fare and tip back to the Glad Hand Rescue Mission.

I don't know how the driver did it, but he

skinned through practically every red light on the route. And

I soundly cursed myself for having left Mike with the

other bottle. The place was apparently still empty when I

pounded up the stairs to the second floor in Mike's room.

Speaker 4: At least he kept his room locked as ordered.

Speaker 3: Mike! Mike!

Speaker 6: Mike, are you all right?

Speaker 5: Mike!

Speaker 7: Mike!

Speaker 3: He was stretched out on the old iron bed, his

face drawn even whiter than the pillow on which his

head rested. The half-empty bottle lay where he dropped it

on the floor beside him. I got a sob for

the stupid, careless, unthinking way in which I.

Speaker 1: Mike!

Speaker 2: Johnny, what a hangover this is going to be.

Speaker 5: Now here's our star to tell you about tomorrow's intriguing

episode of this week's story.

Speaker 3: Tomorrow, the would-be beneficiary of Indestructible Mike turns out to

be a very interesting and dangerous man.

Speaker 4: Join us, won't you? Yours truly, Johnny Dollar.

Speaker 5: Yours truly, Johnny Dollar, starring Bob Bailey, is transcribed in Hollywood.

It is produced and directed by Jack Johnstone, who also

wrote tonight's story. Be sure to join us tomorrow night,

same time and station, for the next exciting episode of

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. Roy Rowan speaking.

Speaker 6: © BF-WATCH TV 2021.

Speaker 7: THE END THE END THE END.

Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us for part two of the

indestructible Mike matter. Follow yours truly Johnny dollar for more

classic broadcasts.