July 23, 2025 • 40 mins
Original Release Date: August 9, 2023
Today's Mystery: Steve is sent to a U.S.-occupied town in West Germany to find the source of an epidemic that's making everyone sick.
Original Radio Broadcast Date: May 11, 1951
Originated in HollywoodStars: Brian Donlevy as Steve Mitchell, Herb Butterfield as the Commissioner
Support the show monthly at patreon.greatdetectives.net
Support the show on a one-time basis at http://support.greatdetectives.net.'
Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
Take the listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.net
Give us a call at 208-991-4783
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Today's Mystery: Steve is sent to a U.S.-occupied town in West Germany to find the source of an epidemic that's making everyone sick.
Original Radio Broadcast Date: May 11, 1951
Originated in HollywoodStars: Brian Donlevy as Steve Mitchell, Herb Butterfield as the Commissioner
Support the show monthly at patreon.greatdetectives.net
Support the show on a one-time basis at http://support.greatdetectives.net.'
Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
Take the listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.net
Give us a call at 208-991-4783
Follow us on Instagram at http://instagram.com/greatdetectives
Follow us on Twitter @radiodetectives
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:28):
Welcome to the Great Detectives of OldTime Radio from Boise, Idaho. This
is your host, Adam Graham.If you have a comment, email it
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(00:50):
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(01:15):
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(01:38):
and thank you to Jonathan or increasinghis support from the Detective Sergeant level
of seven dollars and fourteen cents ormore per month the Master Detective level of
fifteen dollars or more per month.Again, thank you so much for your
support. Now it's time for anepisode of Dangerous Assignment. The original air
date May eleventh, nineteen fifty one, and the title is Epidemic Needle in
(02:02):
a Haystack. Dangerous Assignment starring BryanDunlevy is Steve Mitchell. Yeah, danger
(02:38):
is my assignment. I get sentto a lot of places I can't even
pronounce. They all spell the samething, though, trouble. But when
I walk into the Commissioner's office,I don't realize that this assignment is going
to have me looking for the proverbialneedle in the haystack. The only difference
is the needle I'm looking for meansdeath to about three thousand people. Winning
(03:04):
commission Bill said you had an assignmentfor me. I do, Steve,
and I'm afraid it's a pretty roughone. You know, sometime you'll give
me an easy one and I'll fallflat on my face. Okay, what's
the deal? You just named it? What do you mean that part about
falling flat on your face. Ohfine, look, you'd better start on
page one. Okay, Steve,what would you do if you were a
doctor and had a patient with fever, partial deafness, and paralysis, I'd
(03:24):
send for another doctor. Steve answeredthe question, Oh, okay, okay.
So if I were a doctor andhad a patient that come down with
symptoms like that, I'd try tofind out what was the matter with them
in a hurry. Suppose you couldn'tfind out, couldn't find no. Look,
and suppose furthermore, that most ofthe other people in town came down
with the same symptoms. Not justa minute, would you mind telling me
the point of this charming little analogy. There's no analogy, Steve. It's
(03:46):
exactly what's going on right now inthe little town of Lensburg and our occupations
all of Germany. Why that's right. Within the past three weeks, almost
one half the town's population has beenstricken. Further, they must be having
a pretty rough time. Look,I'm sorry to hear it, but I
don't see what it's got to dowith me. I'm a government agent,
not a doctor. That's exactly whyI'm sending you. But hey, wait
a minute, you said they haven'tbeen able to diagnose the things so far.
(04:09):
That's right. Are you trying totell me that this isn't an ordinary
epidemic? Could it be a plannedthing or something somebody conducting themselves a friendly
little experiment. At this point,I don't think anything, Steve, And
all I'm trying to tell you isthat you'd better get over there in one
big hurry, find out what's causingit, and if anybody is responsible for
it, stop them before it's it'sjust stop. Well, that's it.
(04:30):
You've got your assignment. Good luck. A National Broadcasting Company is presenting Dangerous
Assignment, starring Brian Dunlevy in therole of Steve Mitchell, colorful two fist
(04:54):
at government agent. At all thoseplaces of the world where danger and intrigue
walk canned hand, there you willfind Steve Mitchell on another dangerous assignment.
Here, I've got my assignment,a real sweetheart, fly over to the
(05:15):
little town of Landsburg in our zoneof Germany and stick my nose into an
epidemic, try to find out ifsomebody's causing it, and if so,
grab him, and incidentally, tryto stay healthy myself. It's Wednesday,
when I arrive in Landsburg and it'slike a ghost town. The streets are
deserted and all the doors and windowsare shut tight. And then I spot
a bunch of people milling around abuilding which looks like the town hall.
In the center of the crowd standsin a fresher looking fat little jack with
(05:39):
a handlebar mustache was trying to quietthem down. We are doing everything that
we can. You are not.Please go back to your home and chet
up. You can do nothing here. Excuse me? Are you the man?
Yeah? He gaha. And whoare you, Dave Mitchell from the
United States? Oh? Yeah,yeah, We've been anxiously waiting for your
coming. Side three, lead theway I see you. Who what are
(06:04):
the leaf to get away from?Most people of only for a few minutes,
the same pretty panicky you are,And I cannot blame them, This
mysterious sickness. It's enough to makethe bravest among us panicky. Come.
Oh, there's some people here inmy office that I would like for you
to meet. Okay, well Iam gentlemen. This is Harf Steve Mitchell
(06:28):
Mitchell. I will start at thisenter the table. This is for Risatanna,
A scientist who was vacationing near hereon kindly volunteer services in this emergency.
Lane Tanner, I'm very happy tomake your acquaintance her Mitcheon. Next
Colonel Madison of the United States ArmyMedical Court. Colonel Matson's glad you're here,
Mitchell. And this is her Fisher, a local village doctor, doctor
Fetcher. Yeah, I too,am or leave to see you here by
(06:50):
Mitchell, I certainly hope you willbe able to help us to get to
the bottom of this tail Brooke testof you, I hope so too,
dog. And finally, this isher stabbing chief of police stal Finger Mitro.
Well, now that I've met allof you, I think somebody better
bring me up to date on thesituation. Oh, of course, Colonel
Madison, perhaps you will do it, true, GHI thank you. As
(07:11):
far as the disease itself is concerned, metto it appears to be a virus
somewhat similar to the influenza type,except considerably more virulent. I see,
I suppose it's highly contagious. Itcertainly seems to be any idea how it's
transmitted or how it started. You'vegot it. We've checked the water supply,
inspected just about all the food intown, checked the air, everything,
(07:31):
only no helmets. Is that tendays ago seven people was hoddle stinking?
Seven people? Yea, all atthe same time, doctor Fisher.
We're within a few hours of eachother, Mitchell, or those people all
in the same place at the time, the ghar, No, that is
the mystifying part. They were not. They were indeed scattered all over town.
Three workers at the World Mill shopkeepinghis wife, a school teacher,
(07:55):
my secretary. As you see,that makes it a lot tougher, Mitchell.
If they had and all together inone place, it might have been
fairly simple to isolate the source ofcontamination. But as it is. Yeah,
these seven people did they all recover, all but one, a worker
in the woolen mill. He isstill in a very critical condition in the
hospital. The epidemic seemed to beover as the first group recovered, and
(08:16):
then suddenly it hit again, muchharder, started spreading rapidly. Well,
I guess that brings you up todate, Mitchell. Thanks Carol Prome Tanner.
Yeah, did I understand Mayor Gerhardtto say that you're a scientist,
Yeah, an industrial chemist. Iwas vacationing at a resort but a few
kilometers from here. When the troublesstarted, I felt I should offer my
services such as they are. Haveyou any theories as to how this disease
(08:39):
could be transmitted? No, I'vebeen unable to think of any possibility that
has not already been investigated by ColonelMatson and head doctor Fisher. I see,
well, I think I'd like totake a look around the town,
certainly. Yeah, I'd be veryglad to act as your guy. Thanks,
Mayor Geary. All right, butI think I can find my way
around. Okay, I will beglad to place any of my police officers
(09:01):
at your disposing him at thanks.See, if I'll let you know if
I need any looks like the townspeopleare still outside the building here, gets
back, move along, my husband, please for huntsmen, let go of
me. We are doing everything thatwe can. Husband, I'm afraid he
(09:24):
is dying. I tell you youmust do something, But we are doing
everything that we can. Don't know, Oh, brother must be pretty rough.
Yeah, and the worst of itis they seem to look to me
to deliver them. Oh if onlyI could. Well, maybe you smell
(09:46):
anything, girl? Well, yeah, smoke Yeah, that's strange. He
shouldn't order for bidding any fires orburning of trash during this emergency. Anybody
see where it's coming? I seeno signs of a fire anywhere, why,
Feline Tanner. But maybe we're notsupposed to see it. What do
you mean, her Mitchell, you'renot trying to say that's such an unimportant
(10:07):
thing as the smell of smoke hasanything to do with this. Colonel Matson,
as a medical man, would yousay it's possible that this mysterious disease
could be transmitted by means of aircurrent? You mean smoke? I mean
smoke. Yes, I suppose itwould be possible. Well, what do
you think, doctor Fisher? Iyea, why it seems like quite a
(10:28):
fantastic idea, But yeah, yeah, I suppose it is within the realm
of possibility. Okay, let's spreadout and find out where that smoke's coming
from. We split up into twoparties near Gerhardt Frowline, Tanner and myself
and one and the rest of themand the other. The three of us
work our way up towards the edgeof town, but we don't spot a
(10:50):
thing. It's most perplexing how muchI still smell the smoke. But I
thought she'd a fire. I thoughtone. I'm becoming quite tired of this
tramping around. I suggestive we allgo back to the olive. What's that
big building over there? Oh,that's the Woolen mill man. Yeah,
looks like it. Then whisper smokecoming from behind the building, doesn't it?
Demand But I don't understand. Themill has been shut down for several
(11:13):
days due to the epidemic. That'sinteresting, Steve. I am sorry,
but I'm must say your ideas abouta significance of the smoke sounds a little
fantastic to me. Sure, Iagree with you, Elsie, when you
come right down to it, thewhole deal sounds fantastic. Gerhard, you
happen to know anything about prevailing windsin this area? Prevailing winds? I
don't follow you. Does the windusually blow from the mill towards the town
(11:35):
or vice versa machine like? Yeah, it does from the middle to the
town. I see, Well,i'll get around the corner here. We'll
be able to how much you lookan old man over there? Thing?
Sin it? Yeah? You saywhere you are? Good? Who are
you? What are you doing here? You spoke of me answer my question.
(11:56):
I am degenitor here to me,it's really burning sometimes you know there
was an order for bidding the burningof trash. They do not lie,
But I am telling you the truth. If you see, my wife has
been seek I have been home severaldays taking care of What are you burning
some scraps of clothes? How didyou get them out of the laboratory?
Fans gave them to me and toldme to burn them, right to say,
(12:18):
but I cannot seem to get themto burn. They only smoke them
smolder. Who's this France? Heworks in the laboratory upstairs. Please,
I have done nothing wrong, Sowhat on them? At once? Yeah?
Yeah, mature, Yeah, aguy working in the lab upstairs when
the mill has been closed down fora week. Come on, let's just
see what kind of work he's doing. Ah, there's the laboratory attended the
(12:52):
horror, I mature. Perhaps atlast, on the tail of an explanation
for this horror, maybe you willpardon me if I have my dast teeth.
As I said, this entire affairseems to live. Yeah, I
know, else are fantastic. Herewe are locked. Perhaps this France has
gone Yeah, he's inside, allright. I just heard what sounded like
(13:13):
a drawer closing. Rance Open up, Come on, we know you're in
there. Funs open the door immediately. What what what is the metal?
That's what we'd like to know.Buster, Why do you have the door
locked? Just now? What businessis this of yours? It could be
plenty answer the question in my oldWhat is the meaning of it? You
(13:37):
gave that old jant to certain scrapsof cloth and starts to burn them when
there's an order forbidding all fires.But that's a lie. You didn't get
him the scraps of cloth. Yeah, yeah, I gave them to him,
But I did not tell him toburn them, only to take them
away. Why would I want themburn? That's a good question. And
here's another. What are you doinghere in the lab when the mills closed
(13:58):
down? I do not have toanswer that. Look by stick In case
you haven't heard, there's a littleepidemic going on. We have to find
somebody's doing their best to spread it. How we don't know. That's just
what we're trying to find out.It so happens that three of the first
six people to get sick worked hereat the mill. Are you insane?
Do you actually think I have anythingto do with it? Oh? No,
(14:20):
better when you tell me what you'redoing here? Better? Well,
I was experimenting with some new dyesfor woolen materials. I did orders Agenita
to burn those scraps of cloth theyhad been tied with my new dye.
After all, why should I giveto the company the results of my long
hours of look on my own time? I heard you're putting something in a
(14:41):
drawer when we knocked on the door. Was that this die you were talking
about? Yeah, let's see it. That all here? Its beak,
sort of a strong smell. Yeah, yeah, I must somehow remove that
if I wish to mark and thisis just a harmless die. But of
(15:03):
course, why she's lying. Youhave no right to talk like it's obviously
I mitur. He burns the figumentsof cloth which you have been soaked in
this liquid, The air curns,cave, the smoke over the village,
the air becomes contaminated. That's exactlytalking nonsense. This die is harmless.
We can easily find out whether ornot this France is telling us the truth.
Well, I I'm an industrial chemist. I can analyze this die for
(15:26):
you. Okay, go ahead,Elsa and you, Frank, you'll stay
right here until she's through. Elsagoes to work, Will you wait?
The minutes dragged by, and shemakes her tests slowly and methodically, and
finally an hour later, she turnsto me. I finished, Steve,
Yeah, this die is completely harmless. You're sure about that? Yeah,
(15:52):
got sure. I would take myreputation on it. Have you ever wanted
the house in the country, justa nice little place with birds and trees
(16:14):
and things. Well, so didthe Blandings. They got theirs too,
But have you heard what's happened tothem? If you tune in Sunday,
you will when Carrie Grant and BetsyDrake star as mister and Missus Blandings.
Another Sunday feature will be the TheaterGuild on the Air presentation of Craig's Wife
with Rosalind Russell and Melvin Douglas.We'll be expecting you right here on this
(16:36):
station. Now back to Dangerous Assignmentand Brian Dunleavy as Steve Mitchell. Guess
when I figure I'm getting somewhere onthis deal, I run right into the
(16:57):
proverbial stone wall. Elsa tells methe die is harmless. On my one
lead like the scraps of cloth goesup and smoke. But along about then
a little idea starts pecking away atmy brain. I decided to try it
out on the chief of police here, Strangnger. So flan Elsa Tana analyze
the diane found a harmless that's right, Stravenger. And now I'm beginning to
wonder just a little bit about it. Fraulein Elsa Tanner, you have something
(17:21):
to back up your suspicion, nothingvery concrete. But don't you think it's
a little convenient for her to appearon the scene the way she did.
I have been wondering about that,her story that she was vacationing near here
and came to offer her services.I think I'd better check up on it.
Yeah, and another thing, sheseemed very skeptical of the smoke proposition
right from the start, and thenwhen we grabbed the die, she offered
(17:41):
to analyze it real fast. Yeah. Well, I will send this sample
of the dye you brought me toBerlin to be analyzed. We will see
how their analysis compares with Fraylann Tanners. Then excuse yeah, Straubinger. Yeah,
what is that? Gwent very well? Doesn't the matter? Yeah,
come, there's been an accident atthe hospital. The crowd in front of
(18:15):
the hospital. Your men have thesidewalk roped off. Yeah see there,
said doctor Fisher. He's beckoning tous right over here, gentlemen. Here,
you're on the sidewalk. A body. Yeah, here, I will
pull back the corner of the blank. A woman. You know, her
face looks familiar. What could Ihave seen her before? What happened?
(18:36):
Fisher? As nearly as we can, we can start shobbing up. This
woman was attempting to make her waysecretly into the hospital by means of the
fire skip. You mean she fellfrom that ledge after Yeah. Yeah,
But here's a strange thing. Weexamined the contents of her pulse to identify
her. One of the papers wasslightly dead and there was a broken hypodermic
(18:56):
syringe in her pose, a hypodermicsarrange. Yeah, why she was killing
it? We do not know.Has she been identified? Yeah, she
has foul. Martha Huntsman, herhusband worked at the woolen mill. He
was one of the first to getsick and has been critically ill here in
the hospital ever since. Wait aminute, what is the matter? Yeah?
I remember now, remember what whereI saw this woman before? She
(19:18):
was in the crowd outside the townhall, the one who rushed up to
the mayor and begged him to dosomething as we were leaving. Yeah,
you are right, but unfortunately thatdoes not explain why she was trying to
climb into the hospital. I know, Doctor Fisher, have you any idea
what was in the hypodermic syringe shewas carrying in her purse? More?
I see you have this woman's address, Yeah, yeah, right to you.
(19:40):
Okay, it might be a goodidea to take a look around her
house, strab In to see ifwe can find anything there. It'll throw
some light on the deal. DoctorFisher goes back into the hospital and I
wait a few minutes while Straubinger attendsto the removal of the body, and
then he and I had for thedead woman's house. It's after dark when
we up in front and get outof the car. Her mutualry seemed to
(20:03):
be getting nowhere in this investigation,and meanwhile more people are being stricken each
oar. Yeah, I'd sure liketo know why. Fraulin Huntsman was trying
to climb into the hospital, perhapsmerely to pay a secret visit to her
husband, As you know, visitingis pop bidden. Yeah, but that
doesn't explain the hypodermic needle. Iwonder if she fell while she was on
her way to her husband's room,or had she already gotten to him and
(20:23):
fell on her way out again.Unfortunately, there's no way of finding that
out. Her husband has been ina coma for two days now. There
were perhaps there will be something herein their house to give us a clue.
After you at right, wake switch. You ought to be around here
somewhere, perhaps on this one stranger, Why the meddle through that open window?
(20:48):
Get down? Hey, you're okay? Yeah, the shots they came
from the alley. Come on,listen, somebody running down the alley.
Come on after him. Could yousee who it was? What a thing?
We didn't get those lights on,we'd have been dead ducks. He
is out of sight. Maybe duckedaround in front of the house. Soon
as we get out of the alley. Hey, somebody standing in front of
(21:12):
the house. Okay, just holdit right where you are, doctor Fisher.
Doctor, But of course is somethingthe matter slightly, just a small
matter of Stramnger and I getting shotat a few seconds ago. I did
hear shots after got way the hardway, so we chased the guy around
the corner and run right in thee. What are you doing here,
(21:33):
Fisher? Why? I was lookingfor the two of you to tell you
that Foul Huntsman's husband has just died. Why? Yeah, why are the
two of you looking at missus?Strangely? Surely you do not think I
am the one who fired those shotsat you? Gentlemen? If I rolled
the one, who would I bestanding here? Now? That's a good
(21:55):
question, doctor Fisher. Let itgo for now, and thanks for the
information. Come on, Aerody,you can count on that. What do
you think Metro about Fisher? Yeah? I don't know right now. I'm
so confused that anybody could be mixedup in the deal, including you and
me. I do not think thisis the proper time to make jokes about
(22:17):
it him at or believe me,I'm not. Nothing in this deal fits
together, including Fraul Huntsman's Husband's death. Did she kill him with a shot
of whatever was in that syringe?But why would she do that? Why
would anyone take a shot at usjust now. Questions for no answers.
Yeah, yeah, come on,let's go check with a mayor and find
out if he and the others arehaving any better luck than we are.
(22:49):
Oh last him? Oh well,elsa, Hello, Steve, I thought
it was my Ghart. Mayo,is he not here? Antenna? No?
And to tell the truth, I'mworried about him. May I ask
what you are doing here in hishouse? I came here to tell him.
Look, the desk groys are openand stuff scattered all around on the
(23:11):
floor. What goes? As Istarted to knock, I noticed the door
was ajar. I pushed it open. Then I saw that the door was
in disorder, and that large windowover there was open. But there was
no sign of mar Gearhart. Iseen I had better call my office and
report this. Do you think anythingcould have happened to the majority? I
(23:32):
don't know whut you say? Youcame here to, say Gerhart, to
tell him I could see no purposeto my remaining here any longer. Oh
are you sure that? Very well? Word with you? If you please
a sure? Excuse me? I'llset what is a stravenger An? He
worried about the Mayor. No,I have just received information about fraulein Antenna.
(23:57):
Well, it doesn't surprise me.Right now, she's looking pretty guilty
of something, Hella, Right nowshe is looking very innocent of everything.
What do you mean my men havecompleted a thorough investigation of her. Her
reputation is of the highest that wehave just received word from Berlin and that
sample of die her analysis was completelycorrect. I guess that's smoke theory.
(24:17):
Mind just went up and saying,ye, my men had received no report
concerning the mayor. I wonder ifthere was a fight here, or if
somebody broke in looking for something.I'll say, yeah, you say this
window was open when you came in, opens out into the garden. Him
(24:38):
say, Elsa, have you beenout of this room since you arrived?
I Mitchell, if Mayor Gerhart hasbeen kidnapped? I have not, Hey,
Mayor Gerhart, Yeah, it's somethingthe matter. We were sure beginning
to think. So I do notunderstand. We found your room here and
disorder, with no sign of you. He man, we thought somebody has
broken ins. So funny, Well, someone indeed did buy king, gentlemen,
(25:00):
it was myself. What's that?He is I needed some papers in
my study here for a meeting.I came back to the house and I
realized I'd locked myself out. Soyou mean it was you who climbed through
this window here cheah. Yeah,I got the papers on you did,
and went to the meeting. Isee where, Mitchell, I guess that
is that? Yeah? Sure,come on, Stravenger, let's go.
(25:26):
We go outside. Elsa drives offin her car and Strangnger starts for his,
but I suddenly pull him into thegarden besides the mayor's outfoot. Mitchell,
what is the matter? Come on, Stravenger, and keep it quiet.
But but where too? We'll workour way up to that window.
What is this all about? Alot of things just fell into place a
moment ago. Stranger. Here,here we are. We can see in
(25:48):
from here, yeah, strange.Her mirror is crouching against the door,
probably listening to make sure we've gone. See now he's crossing the room,
taking something out of that gap init. A hypodermic Syrene's crossing to the
fireplace. Come on, quick,fruindo I have that hypodermic needle? What's
(26:10):
the meaning of this? Quits darling, that's syrene you've got your hand is
responsible for this epidemic, Mitchell?Do you realize what you are saying?
Or it was just about the destroyit in the fireplace? Mitchell? Have
you gone mad? I was merelyabout to sterilize the needle in the flame
before injecting myself. Why, yes, this is my weekly iron shot,
which has been prescribed for me.I administered them to myself, Mitchell,
(26:33):
and for this you drag me inhere? I apologize her. Maya yes,
a minute, okay, if thatis your iron shot, let's see
you stick yourself with it, soyou well, yeah, are you quite
satisfied? I'll be. I couldn'tunderstand your overwrought nerves and your consequent wild
imagining some Mitchell, and I'm willingto overlook it. And it's for you
(26:55):
starving, although your attitude has hardlybeen one of the loyalty which you may
deserves him as chief of police.My humble apologies em here now if you'll
both to be good enough to leavemy house and I feel Mitchell, I
get it now. No, we'renot leaving. Mayor tell Mitchell, I
want you, don't you get it? Strawbingery, He's injected the virus into
(27:17):
himself, and now he wants usto clear out so he can give himself
the antidote. No, that's alie. Now get out at once,
Mitchell, get your hands off me. I'm not getting out of here.
He has a gun. He hada gun. Now we just make ourselves
comfortable and wait, Gerhart, No, no, please, why not.
We've got a lot of time.Haven't we time to kill? No,
(27:37):
just stay where you are in thetablet a black bottle. I must have
it, adote, Yes, theantidote. I'll get it. Mitchell.
You were right. Yeah. Yousee, just before the mayor walked in,
I spotted footprints in the ground outsidehis window. But they were woman's
footprints. Elsa told me she hadn'tleft the room. So when the mayor
(27:59):
say he was the one who'd brokenin, I knew he was lying.
Piece Mitchell, there's not much time. Oh, I've got plenty of time,
Gerhart. But then who did breakin here? And why? Who
was the only other woman involved inthis deal? Stravenger Why the dead one
Frau Hutzmann, whose husband was sickin the hospital. Yeah, as soon
as I realized it must have beenher, I remembered something that just made
(28:21):
sense. What do you mean?Right after I arrived here, she ran
up to the mayor and begged himto do something for her husband. There
were two doctors standing beside him,but she wanted him to save her husband.
She knew that he had the antidote. Yeah, that's what she broke
in here to steal. She gotsome of it and she was climbing into
the hospital to give it to herhusband when she fell and Mitchell, I
beg of you the antidote. Imust inject him immediately. Then it is
(28:44):
the mayor who was responsible for theentire epidemic here. We were so busy
looking for mysterious means of transmission thatwe overlooked the obvious one. Six people
came down with the disease at once. Remember they were the mayor's stooges.
He injects them with a virus,they go out and spread it around,
and then he gives them the antidote. Please. It was to be regarded
as an expanse, Oh, afine little experiment. I was told that
(29:07):
it was merely a disabling disease,not fatal. It was desired to see
what the results would be. Kindof backfired on you when Hnceman died,
didn't it. Yeah, yeah,you're right. I tell you anything that
you want to know, but pleaseyou must let me have okay, Marrison,
as I'm sure there's enough of thisstuff for all those people you've put
in the hospital. Yes, yes, enough, I swear it, Okay,
And you've got nothing to worry about. We want you to stay alive
(29:27):
too. You know what do youmean? After all, you can't try
a dead man for murder. Yeah, you were pretty handy with that needle
gerhard, but the way it turnedout, all you did with it was
so your own shroud. Dangerous Assignment, starring Brian Dunlevy as Steve Mitchell with
(30:18):
her Butterfield as a commissioner, iswritten by Bob Rife and Adrian Chandau,
with music by Robert Ambruster, isproduced and directed by Bill carn Join us
again next week at this time whenBrian Dunlevy, starring in the role of
Steve Mitchell, will embark on anotherdangerous assignment and enjoy the very best radio.
(30:56):
Be sure of that, to dialand write like you ought to hear
money Wolly every Saturday, nicely,magnificent one of you every Saturday night and
resing welcome Back. The police chief'sobservation that the woman asked the mayor for
(31:26):
help when there were doctors who werestanding right by the mayor was a logical
one, but people are not oftenlogical when it comes to what they expect
of political leaders, often blaming orcrediting them with everything that happens, good
(31:48):
or bad, and turning to themto provide help in time of crisis,
even if there are others who reallygoing to be providing the help or capable
of delivering the help, which iswhy they only realized what was actually going
on after the fact. Well,now we turned to listener comments and feedback,
(32:10):
and we have some comments in particulararound Tales of the Texas Rangers,
And since we don't have a Talesof the Texas Rangers episode to read them
on, will just read them hereand the same if we get any further
ones. I won't tend to waitfor any specific day. But we start
with an email from Jonathan who writes, Hello Adam. At the beginning of
(32:32):
this series, I couldn't really getinto it, but after a while I
couldn't miss an episode. Now Ireally will miss the show. It appeared
that in the beginning there were moreexecutions and at the end of the run
all confessors with mostly life imprisonments.Was this due to audience feedback? That's
(32:54):
a good question, Jonathan, andI don't have an answer. I don't
think so, though. I thinkthat there may have been a couple of
things at work here, because Ithink season one and season two of Tales
of the Texas Rangers are different.It's not an entirely different show, but
(33:15):
there's a real difference in the typeof cases that are covered in some of
the stylistic things. Part of thismight be an attempt to take the show
in a direction that was a littlebit more similar to Dragnet. The first
season really focused almost exclusively on hardhitting crimes of violence. A second season,
(33:40):
much like Dragnet, showed all thedifferent sorts of cases the police might
take on. You saw a greatervariety of cases as the Rangers investigated things
like armed robberies without fatality and cattlerustling. You also saw more cases where
jas Pearson was partnered up with layMorgan, and that also is a little
(34:07):
bit more like Dragnet, you know, without becoming this exact photocopy. Another
factor maybe the cases supplied by theTexas Rangers themselves. Oftentimes a law enforcement
department would have some sort of classiccases that they could offer to be adapted,
(34:30):
and we'll hear that on Dragnet whenyou listen to the first season.
Many of those cases are quite recognizable. Like I remember, the first time
I went through Dragnet, I receivedemails from listeners who recognized details about the
(34:51):
cases that the episodes were based on. One was such a classic that it
had actually been told in an episodeof Calling All Cars more than a decade
before it was done on Dragnet.But those sort of emails stopped after the
first year because you quickly run throughall of the classic cases and you've got
(35:15):
to dig through the files, oryou have to have policemen as Jack Webb
diad sell their stories for them tobe made into Dragnet episodes and for case
to be adapted to radio, itreally does need to be interesting. It
needs to be a case that wassolved usually and one that suitable for adaptation.
(35:42):
There were actually some crime stories thatcame to Dragnet that were determined to
be too lurid to be adapted.To air, and Jack Webb wrote about
them in a book. But thosesort of limitations would beyond tales of Texas
Rangers, so they needed to findmore suitable stories. Once they've gotten past
(36:05):
the sort of classic Texas Rangers storiesfrom the first season, and in particular
they were staying in modern times.It wouldn't be until the TV version that
they would have Jace Pearson and ClayMorgan letting about from modern times to the
Old West, whichever era the storyhappened to come from. Of course,
(36:30):
it's possible that there could have beensome listener or network pressure, but I
don't have any information to that effect. No, thanks so much for the
question. Jonathan over on Facebook,Eric Wright's excellent show, Sorry to see
it go. And then on YouTubeThe Butcher Rights Filo Vans retrieves stolen shoes,
(36:52):
Johnny Dowler finds stolen jewelry, SteveMitchell recovers stolen documents. Jace Pearson
brings us death, lots and lotsof death. Thanks for the comment.
It does have to be said thatthe Bringer of Death would be a great
fund to have on your resume forwhat position, I'm not sure. And
(37:15):
then Manias writes I'm going to missthe Texas Rangers, but I'm looking forward
to future series for Saturday Ahead.Keep up the awesome work, Adam,
Well, thank you so much.And finally, Richard writes, thank you
Adam for faithfully providing uploads of oldtime radio shows, and I especially enjoy
(37:39):
your commentary. Well, thank youso much. I appreciate it, Richard.
Now it's time to thank our Patreonsupporter of the day. Thank you
to Stephanie, Patreon supporter since Marchof twenty twenty, currently supporting the program
at the Seamus level of ford dollarsor more per month. Thank you so
(38:00):
much for your support, Stephanie.And that will do it for today.
If you are enjoying this podcast,please follow us using your favorite podcast software
and be sure to rate or reviewthe podcast wherever you download it from.
We'll be back next Wednesday with anotherepisode of Dangerous Assignment. But join us
(38:21):
back here tomorrow for follow Vans,where you're seeing everything you wanted to in
the morgue, haven't we vance Yes, I suppose so, Margam, let's
get out of here all right.You've examined the body and the man's clothes,
Vans, what do you make ofthe situation. I'm not sure yet.
I believe the man was killed bysomebody who thought we could never identify
his victim, though otherwise, thesuit, the shoes, the tie,
(38:43):
and the shirt were purchased so thatthe original clothes belonging to the dead man
could be destroyed and identification by thatmeans made impossible. What about the socks
vans? Could be the murderer forgotto buying you sucks and that the ones
the victim was wearing on his own. That's fine. That gives us a
lot to go on, gives usa great deal. For instance, I'll
tell you this, the dead manhabitually wore tweeds, scotch grain shoes,
(39:06):
woolen ties, and I think Iknow where to pick up his trail lance.
You're making all of this up.Nobody has been reported missing in this
town that even remotely resembles the individualyou describe. I think the murderer knew
nobody would report his victim missing.Here we go again. Certainly looks that
way, it doesn't We understand something. Yes, you've built the clothes the
dead man wore, the tweeds,the woolen tie merely from the fact that
(39:27):
he wore woolen socks. Let mepoint out I didn't mark him. You
didn't know. Did you notice thetie clasp that was on the blue silk
tie he was wearing. Yes,And except for the fact that it was
about to slip off the tie,I noticed nothing unusual about it. It's
an ordinary clip would be bought inany of a thousand stores. But it
was about to slip off the silktie. Now what does that mean that
the victim almost lost his tie?Class? How do I know what it
(39:51):
means? I think it means thatthe dead man usually wore woolen ties.
They spread the clasp. Consequently,it couldn't hold a silk tie securely.
Oh oh, I see, I'llgradu A combination of woollent tine woolen socks
would mean tweeds and possibly Scotch greenshoes. But what's your clue to his
identity? Did you look on theinside of the socks, Markham? No,
I did, and I found somethingon the inside of the sucks that
(40:14):
will take me directly to the insideof this case. I hope you'll be
with us then. In the meantime, do send your comments to Box thirteen
at Great detectives dot net, followus on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and
check us out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash Great Detectives from
Boise, Idaho. This is yourhost, Adam Bram Sign and AF
Welcome to the Great Detectives of OldTime Radio from Boise, Idaho. This
is your host, Adam Graham.If you have a comment, email it
to me bucks thirteen at Great Detectivesdot net, Follow us on Twitter at
Radio Detectives, and check us outon Instagram, Instagram, dot com,
(00:50):
slash Great Detectives. If you areenjoying this podcast, please follow us using
your favorite podcast software. Today's programis brought to you in part by the
financial support of our listeners. Youcan support the show on a one time
basis by mailan at donation to AdamGraham peel box one five nine one three.
That's peel box one five nine thirteenBoise idahol eight three seven one five,
(01:15):
and thank you to John and Ionawho also sent along at Lovely Card,
and also to Carlin Carolin all supportingthe program that way. You can
also become one of our ongoing Patreonsupporters for as little last two dollars per
month at Patreon dot Great Detectives dotnet. Thank you to Larry for becoming
our latest Patreon supporter at the rookielevel of two dollars or more per month,
(01:38):
and thank you to Jonathan or increasinghis support from the Detective Sergeant level
of seven dollars and fourteen cents ormore per month the Master Detective level of
fifteen dollars or more per month.Again, thank you so much for your
support. Now it's time for anepisode of Dangerous Assignment. The original air
date May eleventh, nineteen fifty one, and the title is Epidemic Needle in
(02:02):
a Haystack. Dangerous Assignment starring BryanDunlevy is Steve Mitchell. Yeah, danger
(02:38):
is my assignment. I get sentto a lot of places I can't even
pronounce. They all spell the samething, though, trouble. But when
I walk into the Commissioner's office,I don't realize that this assignment is going
to have me looking for the proverbialneedle in the haystack. The only difference
is the needle I'm looking for meansdeath to about three thousand people. Winning
(03:04):
commission Bill said you had an assignmentfor me. I do, Steve,
and I'm afraid it's a pretty roughone. You know, sometime you'll give
me an easy one and I'll fallflat on my face. Okay, what's
the deal? You just named it? What do you mean that part about
falling flat on your face. Ohfine, look, you'd better start on
page one. Okay, Steve,what would you do if you were a
doctor and had a patient with fever, partial deafness, and paralysis, I'd
(03:24):
send for another doctor. Steve answeredthe question, Oh, okay, okay.
So if I were a doctor andhad a patient that come down with
symptoms like that, I'd try tofind out what was the matter with them
in a hurry. Suppose you couldn'tfind out, couldn't find no. Look,
and suppose furthermore, that most ofthe other people in town came down
with the same symptoms. Not justa minute, would you mind telling me
the point of this charming little analogy. There's no analogy, Steve. It's
(03:46):
exactly what's going on right now inthe little town of Lensburg and our occupations
all of Germany. Why that's right. Within the past three weeks, almost
one half the town's population has beenstricken. Further, they must be having
a pretty rough time. Look,I'm sorry to hear it, but I
don't see what it's got to dowith me. I'm a government agent,
not a doctor. That's exactly whyI'm sending you. But hey, wait
a minute, you said they haven'tbeen able to diagnose the things so far.
(04:09):
That's right. Are you trying totell me that this isn't an ordinary
epidemic? Could it be a plannedthing or something somebody conducting themselves a friendly
little experiment. At this point,I don't think anything, Steve, And
all I'm trying to tell you isthat you'd better get over there in one
big hurry, find out what's causingit, and if anybody is responsible for
it, stop them before it's it'sjust stop. Well, that's it.
(04:30):
You've got your assignment. Good luck. A National Broadcasting Company is presenting Dangerous
Assignment, starring Brian Dunlevy in therole of Steve Mitchell, colorful two fist
(04:54):
at government agent. At all thoseplaces of the world where danger and intrigue
walk canned hand, there you willfind Steve Mitchell on another dangerous assignment.
Here, I've got my assignment,a real sweetheart, fly over to the
(05:15):
little town of Landsburg in our zoneof Germany and stick my nose into an
epidemic, try to find out ifsomebody's causing it, and if so,
grab him, and incidentally, tryto stay healthy myself. It's Wednesday,
when I arrive in Landsburg and it'slike a ghost town. The streets are
deserted and all the doors and windowsare shut tight. And then I spot
a bunch of people milling around abuilding which looks like the town hall.
In the center of the crowd standsin a fresher looking fat little jack with
(05:39):
a handlebar mustache was trying to quietthem down. We are doing everything that
we can. You are not.Please go back to your home and chet
up. You can do nothing here. Excuse me? Are you the man?
Yeah? He gaha. And whoare you, Dave Mitchell from the
United States? Oh? Yeah,yeah, We've been anxiously waiting for your
coming. Side three, lead theway I see you. Who what are
(06:04):
the leaf to get away from?Most people of only for a few minutes,
the same pretty panicky you are,And I cannot blame them, This
mysterious sickness. It's enough to makethe bravest among us panicky. Come.
Oh, there's some people here inmy office that I would like for you
to meet. Okay, well Iam gentlemen. This is Harf Steve Mitchell
(06:28):
Mitchell. I will start at thisenter the table. This is for Risatanna,
A scientist who was vacationing near hereon kindly volunteer services in this emergency.
Lane Tanner, I'm very happy tomake your acquaintance her Mitcheon. Next
Colonel Madison of the United States ArmyMedical Court. Colonel Matson's glad you're here,
Mitchell. And this is her Fisher, a local village doctor, doctor
Fetcher. Yeah, I too,am or leave to see you here by
(06:50):
Mitchell, I certainly hope you willbe able to help us to get to
the bottom of this tail Brooke testof you, I hope so too,
dog. And finally, this isher stabbing chief of police stal Finger Mitro.
Well, now that I've met allof you, I think somebody better
bring me up to date on thesituation. Oh, of course, Colonel
Madison, perhaps you will do it, true, GHI thank you. As
(07:11):
far as the disease itself is concerned, metto it appears to be a virus
somewhat similar to the influenza type,except considerably more virulent. I see,
I suppose it's highly contagious. Itcertainly seems to be any idea how it's
transmitted or how it started. You'vegot it. We've checked the water supply,
inspected just about all the food intown, checked the air, everything,
(07:31):
only no helmets. Is that tendays ago seven people was hoddle stinking?
Seven people? Yea, all atthe same time, doctor Fisher.
We're within a few hours of eachother, Mitchell, or those people all
in the same place at the time, the ghar, No, that is
the mystifying part. They were not. They were indeed scattered all over town.
Three workers at the World Mill shopkeepinghis wife, a school teacher,
(07:55):
my secretary. As you see,that makes it a lot tougher, Mitchell.
If they had and all together inone place, it might have been
fairly simple to isolate the source ofcontamination. But as it is. Yeah,
these seven people did they all recover, all but one, a worker
in the woolen mill. He isstill in a very critical condition in the
hospital. The epidemic seemed to beover as the first group recovered, and
(08:16):
then suddenly it hit again, muchharder, started spreading rapidly. Well,
I guess that brings you up todate, Mitchell. Thanks Carol Prome Tanner.
Yeah, did I understand Mayor Gerhardtto say that you're a scientist,
Yeah, an industrial chemist. Iwas vacationing at a resort but a few
kilometers from here. When the troublesstarted, I felt I should offer my
services such as they are. Haveyou any theories as to how this disease
(08:39):
could be transmitted? No, I'vebeen unable to think of any possibility that
has not already been investigated by ColonelMatson and head doctor Fisher. I see,
well, I think I'd like totake a look around the town,
certainly. Yeah, I'd be veryglad to act as your guy. Thanks,
Mayor Geary. All right, butI think I can find my way
around. Okay, I will beglad to place any of my police officers
(09:01):
at your disposing him at thanks.See, if I'll let you know if
I need any looks like the townspeopleare still outside the building here, gets
back, move along, my husband, please for huntsmen, let go of
me. We are doing everything thatwe can. Husband, I'm afraid he
(09:24):
is dying. I tell you youmust do something, But we are doing
everything that we can. Don't know, Oh, brother must be pretty rough.
Yeah, and the worst of itis they seem to look to me
to deliver them. Oh if onlyI could. Well, maybe you smell
(09:46):
anything, girl? Well, yeah, smoke Yeah, that's strange. He
shouldn't order for bidding any fires orburning of trash during this emergency. Anybody
see where it's coming? I seeno signs of a fire anywhere, why,
Feline Tanner. But maybe we're notsupposed to see it. What do
you mean, her Mitchell, you'renot trying to say that's such an unimportant
(10:07):
thing as the smell of smoke hasanything to do with this. Colonel Matson,
as a medical man, would yousay it's possible that this mysterious disease
could be transmitted by means of aircurrent? You mean smoke? I mean
smoke. Yes, I suppose itwould be possible. Well, what do
you think, doctor Fisher? Iyea, why it seems like quite a
(10:28):
fantastic idea, But yeah, yeah, I suppose it is within the realm
of possibility. Okay, let's spreadout and find out where that smoke's coming
from. We split up into twoparties near Gerhardt Frowline, Tanner and myself
and one and the rest of themand the other. The three of us
work our way up towards the edgeof town, but we don't spot a
(10:50):
thing. It's most perplexing how muchI still smell the smoke. But I
thought she'd a fire. I thoughtone. I'm becoming quite tired of this
tramping around. I suggestive we allgo back to the olive. What's that
big building over there? Oh,that's the Woolen mill man. Yeah,
looks like it. Then whisper smokecoming from behind the building, doesn't it?
Demand But I don't understand. Themill has been shut down for several
(11:13):
days due to the epidemic. That'sinteresting, Steve. I am sorry,
but I'm must say your ideas abouta significance of the smoke sounds a little
fantastic to me. Sure, Iagree with you, Elsie, when you
come right down to it, thewhole deal sounds fantastic. Gerhard, you
happen to know anything about prevailing windsin this area? Prevailing winds? I
don't follow you. Does the windusually blow from the mill towards the town
(11:35):
or vice versa machine like? Yeah, it does from the middle to the
town. I see, Well,i'll get around the corner here. We'll
be able to how much you lookan old man over there? Thing?
Sin it? Yeah? You saywhere you are? Good? Who are
you? What are you doing here? You spoke of me answer my question.
(11:56):
I am degenitor here to me,it's really burning sometimes you know there
was an order for bidding the burningof trash. They do not lie,
But I am telling you the truth. If you see, my wife has
been seek I have been home severaldays taking care of What are you burning
some scraps of clothes? How didyou get them out of the laboratory?
Fans gave them to me and toldme to burn them, right to say,
(12:18):
but I cannot seem to get themto burn. They only smoke them
smolder. Who's this France? Heworks in the laboratory upstairs. Please,
I have done nothing wrong, Sowhat on them? At once? Yeah?
Yeah, mature, Yeah, aguy working in the lab upstairs when
the mill has been closed down fora week. Come on, let's just
see what kind of work he's doing. Ah, there's the laboratory attended the
(12:52):
horror, I mature. Perhaps atlast, on the tail of an explanation
for this horror, maybe you willpardon me if I have my dast teeth.
As I said, this entire affairseems to live. Yeah, I
know, else are fantastic. Herewe are locked. Perhaps this France has
gone Yeah, he's inside, allright. I just heard what sounded like
(13:13):
a drawer closing. Rance Open up, Come on, we know you're in
there. Funs open the door immediately. What what what is the metal?
That's what we'd like to know.Buster, Why do you have the door
locked? Just now? What businessis this of yours? It could be
plenty answer the question in my oldWhat is the meaning of it? You
(13:37):
gave that old jant to certain scrapsof cloth and starts to burn them when
there's an order forbidding all fires.But that's a lie. You didn't get
him the scraps of cloth. Yeah, yeah, I gave them to him,
But I did not tell him toburn them, only to take them
away. Why would I want themburn? That's a good question. And
here's another. What are you doinghere in the lab when the mills closed
(13:58):
down? I do not have toanswer that. Look by stick In case
you haven't heard, there's a littleepidemic going on. We have to find
somebody's doing their best to spread it. How we don't know. That's just
what we're trying to find out.It so happens that three of the first
six people to get sick worked hereat the mill. Are you insane?
Do you actually think I have anythingto do with it? Oh? No,
(14:20):
better when you tell me what you'redoing here? Better? Well,
I was experimenting with some new dyesfor woolen materials. I did orders Agenita
to burn those scraps of cloth theyhad been tied with my new dye.
After all, why should I giveto the company the results of my long
hours of look on my own time? I heard you're putting something in a
(14:41):
drawer when we knocked on the door. Was that this die you were talking
about? Yeah, let's see it. That all here? Its beak,
sort of a strong smell. Yeah, yeah, I must somehow remove that
if I wish to mark and thisis just a harmless die. But of
(15:03):
course, why she's lying. Youhave no right to talk like it's obviously
I mitur. He burns the figumentsof cloth which you have been soaked in
this liquid, The air curns,cave, the smoke over the village,
the air becomes contaminated. That's exactlytalking nonsense. This die is harmless.
We can easily find out whether ornot this France is telling us the truth.
Well, I I'm an industrial chemist. I can analyze this die for
(15:26):
you. Okay, go ahead,Elsa and you, Frank, you'll stay
right here until she's through. Elsagoes to work, Will you wait?
The minutes dragged by, and shemakes her tests slowly and methodically, and
finally an hour later, she turnsto me. I finished, Steve,
Yeah, this die is completely harmless. You're sure about that? Yeah,
(15:52):
got sure. I would take myreputation on it. Have you ever wanted
the house in the country, justa nice little place with birds and trees
(16:14):
and things. Well, so didthe Blandings. They got theirs too,
But have you heard what's happened tothem? If you tune in Sunday,
you will when Carrie Grant and BetsyDrake star as mister and Missus Blandings.
Another Sunday feature will be the TheaterGuild on the Air presentation of Craig's Wife
with Rosalind Russell and Melvin Douglas.We'll be expecting you right here on this
(16:36):
station. Now back to Dangerous Assignmentand Brian Dunleavy as Steve Mitchell. Guess
when I figure I'm getting somewhere onthis deal, I run right into the
(16:57):
proverbial stone wall. Elsa tells methe die is harmless. On my one
lead like the scraps of cloth goesup and smoke. But along about then
a little idea starts pecking away atmy brain. I decided to try it
out on the chief of police here, Strangnger. So flan Elsa Tana analyze
the diane found a harmless that's right, Stravenger. And now I'm beginning to
wonder just a little bit about it. Fraulein Elsa Tanner, you have something
(17:21):
to back up your suspicion, nothingvery concrete. But don't you think it's
a little convenient for her to appearon the scene the way she did.
I have been wondering about that,her story that she was vacationing near here
and came to offer her services.I think I'd better check up on it.
Yeah, and another thing, sheseemed very skeptical of the smoke proposition
right from the start, and thenwhen we grabbed the die, she offered
(17:41):
to analyze it real fast. Yeah. Well, I will send this sample
of the dye you brought me toBerlin to be analyzed. We will see
how their analysis compares with Fraylann Tanners. Then excuse yeah, Straubinger. Yeah,
what is that? Gwent very well? Doesn't the matter? Yeah,
come, there's been an accident atthe hospital. The crowd in front of
(18:15):
the hospital. Your men have thesidewalk roped off. Yeah see there,
said doctor Fisher. He's beckoning tous right over here, gentlemen. Here,
you're on the sidewalk. A body. Yeah, here, I will
pull back the corner of the blank. A woman. You know, her
face looks familiar. What could Ihave seen her before? What happened?
(18:36):
Fisher? As nearly as we can, we can start shobbing up. This
woman was attempting to make her waysecretly into the hospital by means of the
fire skip. You mean she fellfrom that ledge after Yeah. Yeah,
But here's a strange thing. Weexamined the contents of her pulse to identify
her. One of the papers wasslightly dead and there was a broken hypodermic
(18:56):
syringe in her pose, a hypodermicsarrange. Yeah, why she was killing
it? We do not know.Has she been identified? Yeah, she
has foul. Martha Huntsman, herhusband worked at the woolen mill. He
was one of the first to getsick and has been critically ill here in
the hospital ever since. Wait aminute, what is the matter? Yeah?
I remember now, remember what whereI saw this woman before? She
(19:18):
was in the crowd outside the townhall, the one who rushed up to
the mayor and begged him to dosomething as we were leaving. Yeah,
you are right, but unfortunately thatdoes not explain why she was trying to
climb into the hospital. I know, Doctor Fisher, have you any idea
what was in the hypodermic syringe shewas carrying in her purse? More?
I see you have this woman's address, Yeah, yeah, right to you.
(19:40):
Okay, it might be a goodidea to take a look around her
house, strab In to see ifwe can find anything there. It'll throw
some light on the deal. DoctorFisher goes back into the hospital and I
wait a few minutes while Straubinger attendsto the removal of the body, and
then he and I had for thedead woman's house. It's after dark when
we up in front and get outof the car. Her mutualry seemed to
(20:03):
be getting nowhere in this investigation,and meanwhile more people are being stricken each
oar. Yeah, I'd sure liketo know why. Fraulin Huntsman was trying
to climb into the hospital, perhapsmerely to pay a secret visit to her
husband, As you know, visitingis pop bidden. Yeah, but that
doesn't explain the hypodermic needle. Iwonder if she fell while she was on
her way to her husband's room,or had she already gotten to him and
(20:23):
fell on her way out again.Unfortunately, there's no way of finding that
out. Her husband has been ina coma for two days now. There
were perhaps there will be something herein their house to give us a clue.
After you at right, wake switch. You ought to be around here
somewhere, perhaps on this one stranger, Why the meddle through that open window?
(20:48):
Get down? Hey, you're okay? Yeah, the shots they came
from the alley. Come on,listen, somebody running down the alley.
Come on after him. Could yousee who it was? What a thing?
We didn't get those lights on,we'd have been dead ducks. He
is out of sight. Maybe duckedaround in front of the house. Soon
as we get out of the alley. Hey, somebody standing in front of
(21:12):
the house. Okay, just holdit right where you are, doctor Fisher.
Doctor, But of course is somethingthe matter slightly, just a small
matter of Stramnger and I getting shotat a few seconds ago. I did
hear shots after got way the hardway, so we chased the guy around
the corner and run right in thee. What are you doing here,
(21:33):
Fisher? Why? I was lookingfor the two of you to tell you
that Foul Huntsman's husband has just died. Why? Yeah, why are the
two of you looking at missus?Strangely? Surely you do not think I
am the one who fired those shotsat you? Gentlemen? If I rolled
the one, who would I bestanding here? Now? That's a good
(21:55):
question, doctor Fisher. Let itgo for now, and thanks for the
information. Come on, Aerody,you can count on that. What do
you think Metro about Fisher? Yeah? I don't know right now. I'm
so confused that anybody could be mixedup in the deal, including you and
me. I do not think thisis the proper time to make jokes about
(22:17):
it him at or believe me,I'm not. Nothing in this deal fits
together, including Fraul Huntsman's Husband's death. Did she kill him with a shot
of whatever was in that syringe?But why would she do that? Why
would anyone take a shot at usjust now. Questions for no answers.
Yeah, yeah, come on,let's go check with a mayor and find
out if he and the others arehaving any better luck than we are.
(22:49):
Oh last him? Oh well,elsa, Hello, Steve, I thought
it was my Ghart. Mayo,is he not here? Antenna? No?
And to tell the truth, I'mworried about him. May I ask
what you are doing here in hishouse? I came here to tell him.
Look, the desk groys are openand stuff scattered all around on the
(23:11):
floor. What goes? As Istarted to knock, I noticed the door
was ajar. I pushed it open. Then I saw that the door was
in disorder, and that large windowover there was open. But there was
no sign of mar Gearhart. Iseen I had better call my office and
report this. Do you think anythingcould have happened to the majority? I
(23:32):
don't know whut you say? Youcame here to, say Gerhart, to
tell him I could see no purposeto my remaining here any longer. Oh
are you sure that? Very well? Word with you? If you please
a sure? Excuse me? I'llset what is a stravenger An? He
worried about the Mayor. No,I have just received information about fraulein Antenna.
(23:57):
Well, it doesn't surprise me.Right now, she's looking pretty guilty
of something, Hella, Right nowshe is looking very innocent of everything.
What do you mean my men havecompleted a thorough investigation of her. Her
reputation is of the highest that wehave just received word from Berlin and that
sample of die her analysis was completelycorrect. I guess that's smoke theory.
(24:17):
Mind just went up and saying,ye, my men had received no report
concerning the mayor. I wonder ifthere was a fight here, or if
somebody broke in looking for something.I'll say, yeah, you say this
window was open when you came in, opens out into the garden. Him
(24:38):
say, Elsa, have you beenout of this room since you arrived?
I Mitchell, if Mayor Gerhart hasbeen kidnapped? I have not, Hey,
Mayor Gerhart, Yeah, it's somethingthe matter. We were sure beginning
to think. So I do notunderstand. We found your room here and
disorder, with no sign of you. He man, we thought somebody has
broken ins. So funny, Well, someone indeed did buy king, gentlemen,
(25:00):
it was myself. What's that?He is I needed some papers in
my study here for a meeting.I came back to the house and I
realized I'd locked myself out. Soyou mean it was you who climbed through
this window here cheah. Yeah,I got the papers on you did,
and went to the meeting. Isee where, Mitchell, I guess that
is that? Yeah? Sure,come on, Stravenger, let's go.
(25:26):
We go outside. Elsa drives offin her car and Strangnger starts for his,
but I suddenly pull him into thegarden besides the mayor's outfoot. Mitchell,
what is the matter? Come on, Stravenger, and keep it quiet.
But but where too? We'll workour way up to that window.
What is this all about? Alot of things just fell into place a
moment ago. Stranger. Here,here we are. We can see in
(25:48):
from here, yeah, strange.Her mirror is crouching against the door,
probably listening to make sure we've gone. See now he's crossing the room,
taking something out of that gap init. A hypodermic Syrene's crossing to the
fireplace. Come on, quick,fruindo I have that hypodermic needle? What's
(26:10):
the meaning of this? Quits darling, that's syrene you've got your hand is
responsible for this epidemic, Mitchell?Do you realize what you are saying?
Or it was just about the destroyit in the fireplace? Mitchell? Have
you gone mad? I was merelyabout to sterilize the needle in the flame
before injecting myself. Why, yes, this is my weekly iron shot,
which has been prescribed for me.I administered them to myself, Mitchell,
(26:33):
and for this you drag me inhere? I apologize her. Maya yes,
a minute, okay, if thatis your iron shot, let's see
you stick yourself with it, soyou well, yeah, are you quite
satisfied? I'll be. I couldn'tunderstand your overwrought nerves and your consequent wild
imagining some Mitchell, and I'm willingto overlook it. And it's for you
(26:55):
starving, although your attitude has hardlybeen one of the loyalty which you may
deserves him as chief of police.My humble apologies em here now if you'll
both to be good enough to leavemy house and I feel Mitchell, I
get it now. No, we'renot leaving. Mayor tell Mitchell, I
want you, don't you get it? Strawbingery, He's injected the virus into
(27:17):
himself, and now he wants usto clear out so he can give himself
the antidote. No, that's alie. Now get out at once,
Mitchell, get your hands off me. I'm not getting out of here.
He has a gun. He hada gun. Now we just make ourselves
comfortable and wait, Gerhart, No, no, please, why not.
We've got a lot of time.Haven't we time to kill? No,
(27:37):
just stay where you are in thetablet a black bottle. I must have
it, adote, Yes, theantidote. I'll get it. Mitchell.
You were right. Yeah. Yousee, just before the mayor walked in,
I spotted footprints in the ground outsidehis window. But they were woman's
footprints. Elsa told me she hadn'tleft the room. So when the mayor
(27:59):
say he was the one who'd brokenin, I knew he was lying.
Piece Mitchell, there's not much time. Oh, I've got plenty of time,
Gerhart. But then who did breakin here? And why? Who
was the only other woman involved inthis deal? Stravenger Why the dead one
Frau Hutzmann, whose husband was sickin the hospital. Yeah, as soon
as I realized it must have beenher, I remembered something that just made
(28:21):
sense. What do you mean?Right after I arrived here, she ran
up to the mayor and begged himto do something for her husband. There
were two doctors standing beside him,but she wanted him to save her husband.
She knew that he had the antidote. Yeah, that's what she broke
in here to steal. She gotsome of it and she was climbing into
the hospital to give it to herhusband when she fell and Mitchell, I
beg of you the antidote. Imust inject him immediately. Then it is
(28:44):
the mayor who was responsible for theentire epidemic here. We were so busy
looking for mysterious means of transmission thatwe overlooked the obvious one. Six people
came down with the disease at once. Remember they were the mayor's stooges.
He injects them with a virus,they go out and spread it around,
and then he gives them the antidote. Please. It was to be regarded
as an expanse, Oh, afine little experiment. I was told that
(29:07):
it was merely a disabling disease,not fatal. It was desired to see
what the results would be. Kindof backfired on you when Hnceman died,
didn't it. Yeah, yeah,you're right. I tell you anything that
you want to know, but pleaseyou must let me have okay, Marrison,
as I'm sure there's enough of thisstuff for all those people you've put
in the hospital. Yes, yes, enough, I swear it, Okay,
And you've got nothing to worry about. We want you to stay alive
(29:27):
too. You know what do youmean? After all, you can't try
a dead man for murder. Yeah, you were pretty handy with that needle
gerhard, but the way it turnedout, all you did with it was
so your own shroud. Dangerous Assignment, starring Brian Dunlevy as Steve Mitchell with
(30:18):
her Butterfield as a commissioner, iswritten by Bob Rife and Adrian Chandau,
with music by Robert Ambruster, isproduced and directed by Bill carn Join us
again next week at this time whenBrian Dunlevy, starring in the role of
Steve Mitchell, will embark on anotherdangerous assignment and enjoy the very best radio.
(30:56):
Be sure of that, to dialand write like you ought to hear
money Wolly every Saturday, nicely,magnificent one of you every Saturday night and
resing welcome Back. The police chief'sobservation that the woman asked the mayor for
(31:26):
help when there were doctors who werestanding right by the mayor was a logical
one, but people are not oftenlogical when it comes to what they expect
of political leaders, often blaming orcrediting them with everything that happens, good
(31:48):
or bad, and turning to themto provide help in time of crisis,
even if there are others who reallygoing to be providing the help or capable
of delivering the help, which iswhy they only realized what was actually going
on after the fact. Well,now we turned to listener comments and feedback,
(32:10):
and we have some comments in particulararound Tales of the Texas Rangers,
And since we don't have a Talesof the Texas Rangers episode to read them
on, will just read them hereand the same if we get any further
ones. I won't tend to waitfor any specific day. But we start
with an email from Jonathan who writes, Hello Adam. At the beginning of
(32:32):
this series, I couldn't really getinto it, but after a while I
couldn't miss an episode. Now Ireally will miss the show. It appeared
that in the beginning there were moreexecutions and at the end of the run
all confessors with mostly life imprisonments.Was this due to audience feedback? That's
(32:54):
a good question, Jonathan, andI don't have an answer. I don't
think so, though. I thinkthat there may have been a couple of
things at work here, because Ithink season one and season two of Tales
of the Texas Rangers are different.It's not an entirely different show, but
(33:15):
there's a real difference in the typeof cases that are covered in some of
the stylistic things. Part of thismight be an attempt to take the show
in a direction that was a littlebit more similar to Dragnet. The first
season really focused almost exclusively on hardhitting crimes of violence. A second season,
(33:40):
much like Dragnet, showed all thedifferent sorts of cases the police might
take on. You saw a greatervariety of cases as the Rangers investigated things
like armed robberies without fatality and cattlerustling. You also saw more cases where
jas Pearson was partnered up with layMorgan, and that also is a little
(34:07):
bit more like Dragnet, you know, without becoming this exact photocopy. Another
factor maybe the cases supplied by theTexas Rangers themselves. Oftentimes a law enforcement
department would have some sort of classiccases that they could offer to be adapted,
(34:30):
and we'll hear that on Dragnet whenyou listen to the first season.
Many of those cases are quite recognizable. Like I remember, the first time
I went through Dragnet, I receivedemails from listeners who recognized details about the
(34:51):
cases that the episodes were based on. One was such a classic that it
had actually been told in an episodeof Calling All Cars more than a decade
before it was done on Dragnet.But those sort of emails stopped after the
first year because you quickly run throughall of the classic cases and you've got
(35:15):
to dig through the files, oryou have to have policemen as Jack Webb
diad sell their stories for them tobe made into Dragnet episodes and for case
to be adapted to radio, itreally does need to be interesting. It
needs to be a case that wassolved usually and one that suitable for adaptation.
(35:42):
There were actually some crime stories thatcame to Dragnet that were determined to
be too lurid to be adapted.To air, and Jack Webb wrote about
them in a book. But thosesort of limitations would beyond tales of Texas
Rangers, so they needed to findmore suitable stories. Once they've gotten past
(36:05):
the sort of classic Texas Rangers storiesfrom the first season, and in particular
they were staying in modern times.It wouldn't be until the TV version that
they would have Jace Pearson and ClayMorgan letting about from modern times to the
Old West, whichever era the storyhappened to come from. Of course,
(36:30):
it's possible that there could have beensome listener or network pressure, but I
don't have any information to that effect. No, thanks so much for the
question. Jonathan over on Facebook,Eric Wright's excellent show, Sorry to see
it go. And then on YouTubeThe Butcher Rights Filo Vans retrieves stolen shoes,
(36:52):
Johnny Dowler finds stolen jewelry, SteveMitchell recovers stolen documents. Jace Pearson
brings us death, lots and lotsof death. Thanks for the comment.
It does have to be said thatthe Bringer of Death would be a great
fund to have on your resume forwhat position, I'm not sure. And
(37:15):
then Manias writes I'm going to missthe Texas Rangers, but I'm looking forward
to future series for Saturday Ahead.Keep up the awesome work, Adam,
Well, thank you so much.And finally, Richard writes, thank you
Adam for faithfully providing uploads of oldtime radio shows, and I especially enjoy
(37:39):
your commentary. Well, thank youso much. I appreciate it, Richard.
Now it's time to thank our Patreonsupporter of the day. Thank you
to Stephanie, Patreon supporter since Marchof twenty twenty, currently supporting the program
at the Seamus level of ford dollarsor more per month. Thank you so
(38:00):
much for your support, Stephanie.And that will do it for today.
If you are enjoying this podcast,please follow us using your favorite podcast software
and be sure to rate or reviewthe podcast wherever you download it from.
We'll be back next Wednesday with anotherepisode of Dangerous Assignment. But join us
(38:21):
back here tomorrow for follow Vans,where you're seeing everything you wanted to in
the morgue, haven't we vance Yes, I suppose so, Margam, let's
get out of here all right.You've examined the body and the man's clothes,
Vans, what do you make ofthe situation. I'm not sure yet.
I believe the man was killed bysomebody who thought we could never identify
his victim, though otherwise, thesuit, the shoes, the tie,
(38:43):
and the shirt were purchased so thatthe original clothes belonging to the dead man
could be destroyed and identification by thatmeans made impossible. What about the socks
vans? Could be the murderer forgotto buying you sucks and that the ones
the victim was wearing on his own. That's fine. That gives us a
lot to go on, gives usa great deal. For instance, I'll
tell you this, the dead manhabitually wore tweeds, scotch grain shoes,
(39:06):
woolen ties, and I think Iknow where to pick up his trail lance.
You're making all of this up.Nobody has been reported missing in this
town that even remotely resembles the individualyou describe. I think the murderer knew
nobody would report his victim missing.Here we go again. Certainly looks that
way, it doesn't We understand something. Yes, you've built the clothes the
dead man wore, the tweeds,the woolen tie merely from the fact that
(39:27):
he wore woolen socks. Let mepoint out I didn't mark him. You
didn't know. Did you notice thetie clasp that was on the blue silk
tie he was wearing. Yes,And except for the fact that it was
about to slip off the tie,I noticed nothing unusual about it. It's
an ordinary clip would be bought inany of a thousand stores. But it
was about to slip off the silktie. Now what does that mean that
the victim almost lost his tie?Class? How do I know what it
(39:51):
means? I think it means thatthe dead man usually wore woolen ties.
They spread the clasp. Consequently,it couldn't hold a silk tie securely.
Oh oh, I see, I'llgradu A combination of woollent tine woolen socks
would mean tweeds and possibly Scotch greenshoes. But what's your clue to his
identity? Did you look on theinside of the socks, Markham? No,
I did, and I found somethingon the inside of the sucks that
(40:14):
will take me directly to the insideof this case. I hope you'll be
with us then. In the meantime, do send your comments to Box thirteen
at Great detectives dot net, followus on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and
check us out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash Great Detectives from
Boise, Idaho. This is yourhost, Adam Bram Sign and AF
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