Sam Spade - The Quarter-Eagle Caper

0:00Meet the Red Bull Dragonberry Emergizer. It's one of the many new drinks out now. Who knew ice cold drinks could be so fire? Try them all only at McDonald's. The adventures of Sam Spade detected. Two, uh, Thalma Darling. Last name Sam. Roger? Thalma, Roger. Darling. I only asked Sam. Let's get on with it. Yes, Sam, I'm Thalma. From Samuel Spade license number 17596. Subtick? Subtick. The quarter eagle caper. Uh, dear Thalma Darling. Sam. Yes, Sam.

1:00Isn't that redundant? Again? The South Etaxian Sam. Shouldn't it be dear Thalma or Thalma Darling, but not both? Now, I get this, Sam. It's real deep. Her name is Thalma Darling. I have that dear. Thalma, Roger. Darling, it's a name. Her father was a darling before it. Oh, really? Sam, can't you take a joke? On the egg type, you should taste a label grade double-eighth fresh. A dear Thalma Darling. I'm stubborn. Not all of this will be news to you. The part it is will be bad news. The start of it was not a quarter eagle, but a bald eagle. He swooped in through the door of my office, landed in front of my desk, perched on the edge of its chair, and said, My name is Eagle, Mr. Spade. Junior's J-Eagle. My card. Uh-huh. Eagle's landing machine company. And they call me the Gumball King. I'm proud of it. Care to join me in a ball, sir. Not while I'm on duty. Ah, it's very good. Our new avocado flavor.

2:01Yes, I've kept the bay area chewing for twenty years. And I will not be swerved my purpose. Boy. I intend to fight them tooth and nail. And I'm pung. The last dish. Bravo. But I'll need help. That's why I've come to you. My competitors, Mr. Spade, are leaving no stone unturned in their contentable campaign to drive me out of business. Now they've resorted to outright sabotage. In short, they have hired hoodwins to destroy my Gumball machines. They've already smashed eleven. And they won't be content until they demolish my entire equipment. It sounds like a police case to me, Mr. Spade. No, I've been to the police. No. They don't understand my problem. Give me a lot of double talk about juvenile delinquents. Ha, my foot. Cut-pro competition. You're sure of that. What would you think? If they were their motive, they most certainly would steal a penny from the machines. But what do they take? My Gumballs. Why do they do that? I'll buy. Oh, I'll buy all means.

3:01Oh, yeah. Buy this. It's our best seller in Chinatown. We call it sub-com. Better not. I have to drive later. No, you don't. Now, I had the force. I could buy up a three years' supply of chewing gum at non-inflation prices. So I see. Now, you can see with what peruners they encompass my ruination. They are not only smashing my machines. They're making off with my gum. And you want me to try and stuff them? No, I do not. No. I want you to catch them in the act and find out who is paying them. Well, okay, Mr. Eagle. I'll see what I can do. Good. Good. Now, in this envelope, there's a list of my machines and their exact locations to gather with the cheque for your retainer. Thank you, Mr. Eagle. I'll keep in touch with you. Oh, Mr. Eagle, I meant to ask you. How many of these gum machines do you operate here in town? 300. And guide them well. 300. 300, nuts. 300 nuts, please. No, 300 gums. Gumball machines.

4:01Okay. Isn't it wonderful you took this job? I mean, because of my penny cards. Hmm. I'm sorry if I wasn't listening. My penny card, Sam. My new one, that is. I've already completed my Lincoln series. And now I'm collecting Indian chips. Scalps. No, Sam. Panies. See, this is the card. And these are little slots to see like this. That's where you put the penny. And they're classified according to the date and the myth where they're manufactured. I see Sam. See, where the little asses on these. Well, that's where the Sam's and Cisco men. And the D, that's for Denver. Bigger. And the ones with nothing, that's the Washington DC. Yeah, well, that's a very nice hobby, yeah. Pardon me. 300 gum balls. See, that's what I had in mind, Sam. All those pennies. Indian had pennies as scarce, Sam. You have to go through a lot of pennies to find even one. Honestly, sometimes when I go past one of those penny machines, it's all I can... Oh. F. This is all right between you and me, but don't ever mention your hobby to Mr. Eagle.

5:02No, no, I won't. Little me this, sweetheart. How does one detective guard 300 gum ball machines? Scat it all over the city. Well, if they're going to smash all of them, you can just sit out one in the middle and somewhere and wait. No good. It's an organized plan to sanitize. There might be some pattern. It seems they were given to some thought, though, F. How would you pick them? In the busy places where they'd have more pennies. But they're not after the pennies. They take the gum. Well, then maybe the quiet sections where they don't sell much gum. Well, they've knocked over 11 so far here and everywhere. Busy spots, dead spots. No pattern at all. You know, F. Maybe I've bitten off more than I can chew? I wasn't sold on Mr. Eagle's theory that the cable was organized sabotage, but I decided to test it out anyway. I learned the operation did follow a pattern, unless it was coincidences that the 11 machines knocked over the previous night were the same 11 machines that had been refilled that afternoon. I checked with the Eagle Company's maintenance man and learned that only five had been refilled today.

6:05I fixed the one that looked like the easiest to knock over. It was the one in the doorway of a darkened loft building that the Siemens hiring hall on drum street. At 9 in the 3M, I scrolled down there. The block was deserted. I took a plan to me adjacent doorway and talked to myself, but it was just before midnight. And I shut up. My heart skipped the beat as she passed under the light, red hair. I secretary, then I noticed how she was dressed, not on the salary I paid. She paused before the gun machine, opened a large handbag, stripped off her long black gloves, dropped them in her purse, and took out a small, boy scout-type hatchet. She went at it with the enthusiasm of Kerry Nation, busting up a saloon. I edged around the doorway. She'd been over the mess of pennies and gunballs at the feet. When she reached out her hand, I took one more step and that was all. She was up on her feet, facing me, and I saw that hatchet sailing through the air straight at me. Hey!

7:09Now, okay, what you've done? Yeah, I'm sorry. I won't let it happen again. I hope. Well, don't just stand there. Let's get out of here. That noise will bring the police down on it. Yeah, you're right. No, not that way. The alley. And that's how I met you, Tomah Darling. Fawzing only to figure out an Indian head-tiny for luck. I escorted you through the alley to Washington, of Washington, to Salon, jogged through French straight and followed that to market where we ended the happy hour barn-grilled by way of the kitchen. You've receded unfoldering lead of the darkest booth. We sat down and caught our breath. You ordered a pirate's dream. And by the way, I did get that recipe. Lime juice, granadine, passion fruit, a sprig of mint, and six jigs of rum. After two swallows, I heard myself saying, Now aren't you ashamed of yourself? But Sam, why should I be? I have to what I've been through. I think I deserve a drink. I didn't mean that. I meant so on that hatchet. I thought you were Merrill. Who's Merrill?

8:09Why he works for Mr. Chiselhurst? Yeah, that's the guy. Now tell me who Mr. Chiselhurst is. Not who he works for. I just who he is. He was acting as my agent for the sale of the pearl. Well, match, match. Oh, what, please. Don't make me say what, Pearl. It's called the black pearl of the Lila Bay. My brother brought it back to me self-acidated when he was in the war. When he went to prison, he gave it to me and it keeps on. So you decided to sell it? I had no choice. I needed the money desperately to finance his appeal. He comes up next week. If I don't get that pearl back, I don't know what I'll do. You've got to help me. What makes you think it's an agum ball machine? Mr. Chiselhurst took the pearl to show to a man named Junior Eagle. And that's when it disappeared. Mr. Eagle decided not to buy. And when Mr. Chiselhurst returned to the hotel? Eagle had found the pearl and such a little ball of black trade gum. Then what? Mr. Chiselhurst had Merrill follow him. Nothing happened the first two days. But day before yesterday, he followed into his warehouse and saw and dropped a single ball of gum into a barrel of them.

9:15What was waiting to be loaded onto a truck? The pearl must have been hidden in it. Why else would he do anything like that? He would put a valuable pearl in a machine where anybody could buy it for a penny. I suppose it would be safe for a few days. I don't know how these machines work. Well, now you know why I had to break those machines. No. You don't believe me? What are you going to do? Check the cycle, and find out which one he was scape from. Hello? Mr. Eagle? I'm speaking. Spain. Oh, yeah, I just got in. I've been out making my monthly collection. Hey, I want to talk to you. You're falling down on my job. Never in my machine. Yeah, I know. Drums straight. I nailed the hoodlums. Ah! Who's he working for?

10:15Let me ask you one. Did a man named Chisel Hurst ever try to sell you a black pearl? Hello. Are you still on the line? You stopped showing. Yes. I think you better come over to my house. Right away. Hello? Hello? That's... When I came out of the phone booth, I wasn't surprised to find that you were blowing the coop darling, if I may. I called you by your last name. But I was surprised at what I found of my clients house. I rang the front door bell and waited. Nothing happened. Ben flew the glass door. I saw a man rush out on the landing at the top of the stairs. He had ran half stumbled on the long flight to the entrance hall. He ain't covering the door and tried to shut past me. I grabbed him. Get out of my way. Wait a minute. Let's go. I got to get a doctor. You're flading. No, no, not me. I got to get a doctor. Why don't you phone? They ripped the wires out. Now, let's go where it'll be. You're falling to be dies.

11:20I memorized this mug, lifted his wand as we unclinched and let him go. On the way up stairs, I checked his ID cards. Piggins, Morris L, employers, Eagle vending machine company, occupation, maintenance supervisor. On the floor of the room at the top of the stairs was quite a sight. The floor of the room was covered almost completely with pennies. In the middle of it, sprawled forward like a miser would have been attacked while counting his hoard as Julius J.E. The wound in the back of his neck could have been crossed by a small hatchet. There was a book keepers account sheet open across the desk and sprawled across the meat rows of figures. There were three words. Spade, quarter, and Eagle. The United States Armed Forces Radio Service is presenting the weekly adventure of National Hammits, famous private detective, Sam Spade.

12:25And now, back to the quarter Eagle paper. The night adventure with Sam Spade. Sam Spade. Are you Higgins? Save yourself the trip upstairs. There's nothing you can do for him. Get, huh? Yes. I guess he won't need that doctor, I call. We can use one anyway. Did you tell the doc Eagle them staff? Yes, sure, sure I did. Yeah, that means the law will come with him or ahead of him. But I don't get it. He must have been killed for the money, but why didn't they take the pennies? I should have. It looked better for you if they had. You're that detective behind, huh? That's right. Now look Higgins, we haven't got much time. If you want to find out who killed your boss, still everything you know to me now before the cops get here. Because they're going to hold you and they'll hold me too if they claim me. But I don't know what thing Spade, I just found him like that. How did you get in the house? I have a key. He did me once so when I came here to pick up the pennies, he wouldn't have to come all the way down to rip me in. But now tell the cops that the door was open. Did he always collect the pennies from the machines themselves? Yeah, yeah. He was a coin collector, he was a hobby. He liked to go through them and say about the odd ones. You always pick up the money at one of the am?

13:26Oh no. No, he called me tonight. A little pass, but night may ask me to come ride over. Hey look, you've got to believe that. I do. He said the same thing to me. What do you know about a man named Chiselhurst? Chiselhurst. Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute. That's the name of the guy that ran into my truck yesterday coming down the California incline near Grant. He's trammed right into the rear of my truck. I tangled with his shopper, some punk kid. Name Merrill? Yes, yeah, that's what they called him. And there was a dayman, a car, too, a redhead. Any report on the accident? No, no. The cop took it down on the beat there. There was no damage. Sounds like we haven't got much more time. Oh, what exactly happened the night the first gun machine in your room was smashed up. Come on. First off, I went to a bowling alley on truck street and we moved on the machine there. It was just continued. Wait a minute. Where did you take it? Back to the shop? Wait a second. I got it here in my book. Come on, come on. All right, I'm hurrying. Hey, here it is, 11, 864. No, no, I exchange it for an out of order down on Drum Street. You leave the pennies in it? Oh sure, sure. They only get collected once a month. How much gun was in it? About half full. I didn't read the look until today. Yeah. What's your system on the refill operation? I carry about four extra machines in the truck. When I go to fill a machine, I take one of the extras already filled out of the truck and trade for the empty.

14:29Then I fill the empty one in the truck and I say, we can carry the bag around. Now, is there anything else I can tell you? Yes. Is that a quarter eagle me and anything to you? No, no. Okay, now where's the back door? That quarter eagle. What was it? Was it a wrestling hole like the half-mouse? I thought I was asking you, but I was afraid you'd know. I was sure that if I could find Schisler Hurts, I could get all the answers at once. That collision between his car and the rear under Higgins truck was a good lead. More ways than one. It meant that the police party a story-dalling was true. But you neglect it to tell me that you, Schisler Hurts and Merle, have been telling Higgins to point it around to the gunball machine. I checked the police report on the action. The car was registered in Great Britain, the report said transient, no local address, and so the bet. I'd read it with my spare story when I was eating a roasted quarter eagle, then it turned into a troll.

15:30Good morning, sir. You wish to pay for classified ads. Good morning, dear madam, indeed I do. Can't you write it on this blank? Can I have a read it off this way? Yes. Quarter eagle, interested parties, a fly, sand, fade, feather, three, seven, five, nine, six. That's right. Nine words, sir. I like to charge you for three lines anyway. Do anything you'd like to add? Yes, but it's not set to print. Why has Benry? Uh, Mr. Spay? Uh, yeah. You got it for sale at quarter eagle. Who's speaking? I am speaking. Don't get it, I can't ask. I can't ask. Uh, you have no mismete. Uh, now this is Mr. Spay himself, but look, I like to talk to you personally. Where can I reach you? I'm going to go to the police station. I'm going to go to the police station. I'm going to go to the police station. Well, uh, look, I like to talk to you personally. Where can I reach you? Or, I am by my shop to the front door of the Scorpy Shop on the federal.

16:32Oh, okay, Mr. Zacharias. I'll be right over. Dad, Dad, wait a moment. I had a talk to you. Why don't you do more talking last night? My plan might be alive if you had. Oh, it's terrible. But how could I have known? You knew about the quarter eagle. Why did you spend that young about the furl? How did you find out about it? Dead men sometimes do tell tales. Surely you don't think that I had anything to do with that? It was only hacked to death with a hatchet like the one you threw at me. That makes you look fine. All right, I killed him. That'll make you listen to me. Damn, don't go into that shop. Please, it's a trap. You don't know that man's decorations. He's the cause of all our troubles. I mean, he saw you that, Acha. Damn, please! You're calling me. Let go. I won't allow you to go in there. I won't. I won't. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. What's going on here? What's the occasion of the squabble? Oh, well, no, it's Mr. Spay. I'm going to get my pocket. Ah, ah, ah, take a quick look at this. That would be in such a pretty wood tool. Never mind that, Clint. He just haven't locked up. I'll be down way to the preferred charges. That's all right.

17:37Hello? Anybody home? Okay, show me. Just keep on walking. Straight through the back room. One move and I rip your wide open. Yeah. Better not, Merle. Boss might not like that. Smart guy. Knows everybody's name. Ah, my dear sir. Uh, most profitious meeting. You brought the porter you? Where's Zacharias? He's resting at the moment in John the Clothett. Oh, no, no, no, not dead. Nearly under a street. A bound and gang. And necessary for caution. Well, uh, I should be talking to Tuffy or rather, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, Eagles. Tell you a point to take that knife out of my ribs. Who's a punk? I don't know. I'm, uh, there's been punk. I'm a punk. I'm a punk. I'm a punk. I'm a punk. I'm a punk. I'm a punk. I'm a punk. I don't know, my, uh, there's been quite enough violence. Check. I think I'll take that knife out. Hey, sir. Oh. Where's my spare? I'll sit down. Here's the tip. Well, the murder. Uh, it's strong boy. Uh, now I have to report an eagle. I'm willing to pay a reasonable reward for its recovery. The first time I've told you that Miss Darling, for whom I'm acting as Adrian for the sale of the coin,

18:39is indeed the legal owner. Despite anything Mr. Zacharias may have told you from the country, uh, what would you say to, uh, $500? Uh, I would say no dice. Uh, $1,000? I would say I'm still listening. Sir, you, you seem to exaggerate the value of that tiny gold piece. It was worth one human life for somebody. That sounds like more than a thousand bucks to me. You may find the market valuation of that particular midget of the quarter eagle in my coin catalog. $10,000. But, sir, that valuation is based upon the mistaken belief that there were only two in existence. It was while rummaging in her grandmother's attic that Miss Darling came up on the third. And when she brought it to me, I could stress the accrediting. It was not a official record. The two specimens have been stamped out when the die broke. And then it came to me. There must have been a third. Namely, the coin, which was in that rude stamping press when the die broke. A closer examination of a quarter eagle now in the opposition revealed certain minds. Some defective feathers in the war bonnet on the obverse. And a key bridge in the new world for of the date, 1841.

19:41Yeah, yeah. All right. So how much is it worth? Well, as I say, the price last paid was $10,000. I think we may safely assume that it would bring several times that amount into the day's market. But only mind you. It's for two specimens. Not three, hardly existing. So you decided it would be more profitable to clam up about it and see what the owners of the other two coins would pay to keep this one off the market. The precise case, sir. How did it get in that gum machine? Ah, very in light detail. Keep it short when you're getting hungry. Well, sir, I brought the quarter eagle for Mr. Zachariah, who was acting as agent for the owner of the other two coins. An Australian sheep herd, I believe. The retired now. Yes, I'm glad. Well, not to put too fine a point on it. Mr. Zachariah's offer was so poor that I took Umbra. Oh, you did. I gave him a canine and left the premises. Really? But I'd gone no further than half a league up Turk Street when I became aware that two roughions were sculpting at my heel. No. Since I had no doubt by Mr. Zachariah's to rob me of the quarter eagle.

20:41Big cancer. The precise thing. Knowing full well that they would not dare to strike in a populace well-liked resort. Yes. I entered a burning alley at the corner of Hyde Street. No pun intended. Thank you for that, sir. But there, upon the wall, I spied a ten-a-vending machine. And the word eagle cost my eye. So she used to write, yes, no doubt. No doubt. But that is how I came to put the quarter eagle into Mr. Eagle's gum machine. Yes, I think I can take it from there. When you went back the machine had been taken out by the Eagle Company's maintenance man, right? Not quite. I caught him in a very active removing machine and followed him out of the building. Yeah, the ten-year-long strike of the machine. I found out why. I don't mind that now. What I want to know is who followed Mr. Eagle home the night he was killed. So I'd rather not say. Then all bits are off. One moment, Mr. Spitt. Yeah? Am I to infer that job price for the quarter eagle necessarily includes bringing the murder at justice? Just that, Mr. Schussler. Well, I suppose there's nothing for it, but to make the supreme sacrifice.

21:41Merve. Me? You double-crossing fate and nowver. You know perfectly well you did away with the poor Mr. Eagle. Shut up. I'll consider pieces close into the border nation. You deliberately exceeded your instructions. I wanted you to apply only sufficient violence to recover the coin. Instead you seized the opportunity to satisfy your nauseating blood love. Really, Merve. Continue the pieces. How continue the pieces? I'll save you. Help me. All right, back out. Now, wrap that shit, Merve. My bad, big point. He got it. That was a near-a-feaser. The basin battered you with a backbite. Oh, well. What's done is done. When may I expect delivery of the quarter eagle? I have to go to the Eagle. I have to land soon. To cover my embarrassment when I gagged him, mannigled him the murral and delivered the package, marked one murderer, one accessory to the thumb-founded millions of the law.

22:43And that thalma darling, I regret the one for you, is still the crop. After I'd sprung you from the poultry, I got hold of Higgins, and we went through every coin out of every eagle gum ball machine, in the assidious havens of the sky. It couldn't happen, but it did. Your quarter eagle. It shall we say no place, period, and the report. Say, I'm disappointed in you. Well, so am I, sweetheart. But I'll forgive you if you found even one Indian headpanie from my genie card. Yeah, yeah, just one from that machine on Trump Street. Oh, say. There you are, sweetheart. Oh, thank you. And it's an old one. And the old one I feel, go tight, that up. Oh, thank you. Oh, thank you. Hey, it's money. It's counterfeit. Are you sure? It's joke money. It says two and one-half dollars. Hmm? You see where I should say one cent? Two and a half dollars. Let me see that. Two and a half dollars.

23:44If an eagle is a ten dollar gold piece, what is a two and a half dollar gold piece? Five dollars a half. There. Right? A quarter eagle. Yeah, that's just darn honesty. It's cool, really. Oh, look at it shine. Like the stars in your eyes, sweetheart. I'm cold, darling. Good night, there. Good night, sweetheart. The adventures of Sam Spade, the actual Hamids famous private detective, are produced and directed by William Spear. Sam Spade is played by Howard Doff. The reenuttle is ethic. This is the United States Armed Forces Radio Service, the voice of information and education.

25:00The United States Armed Forces Radio Service, the voice of information and education.