OUR STORY SO FAR: Look, you pretty much know the drill if you’ve been keeping up with the reading…and if you have been keeping with the reading, may the Good Lord take a likin’ to ya. Vic Murkland (Roy Barcroft), habitual scofflaw, has busted out of the jernt and with the help of some nip and tuck has become a dead ringer for Police Commissioner Angus Cameron…whom he is currently holding prisoner at the “sanitarium” of Robert “Doc” Benson (Stanley Price), a medico of questionable qualifications and the frequent dissenter in those “four out of five doctors” surveys. The two representatives of the law attempting to capture Murkland are Special Agent Ted O’Hara (Clayton Moore), who looks out of place without a mask, Indian and white horse, and Sergeant Francis Blake (Ramsay Ames) who…just looks out of place.
There was quite a bit of excitement in last week’s chapter: R.L. Cook (Edmund Cobb), big bidness tycoon and philanthropist (he’s the individual behind the Little Cook Urban Achievers) stumbled onto to Murkland’s masquerade as Cameron and, because we have another eight chapters to go, neglected to impart this information to O’Hara until it got dark—making it much easier for Murkland’s to silence him. He recorded this revelatory information on a Dictaphone record, but during a donnybrook between O’Hara/Blake and Murkland’s men it was scuffed up a tad. O’Hara is painstakingly trying to restore the recording and listen to Cook’s dying words…not knowing that an agent of Murkland’s has planted a booby trap in the machine…
I don’t know about you, but I was sort of rooting for the bomb in the last chapter—simply because O’Hara still hasn’t caught on that the man he believes to be Commissioner Cameron is in actuality his nemesis, Vic Murkland…and if he hasn’t figured it out by now, this serial needs to be put out of its misery. There was a glimmer of hope…but this turns to despair when Chapter 6 gets underway—O’Hara and Blake witness smoke belching out of the Dictaphone machine, and duck behind a stuffed easy chair to avoid getting hit with the subsequent shrapnel. (Missed it by that much.)
O’HARA (standing amidst the wreckage): Sure wish we could have found out what was on that record…well, Sarge…I have a hunch there’s a leak in the Commissioner’s office…
BLAKE: Come to think of it—I’ve never seen those two characters in our fingerprint department, either…
Now she tells him. Well, let’s leave our two clueless super cops and mosey on over to kindly old Doc Benson’s sanitarium (“If we don’t put back all your parts during surgery—the operation is on us!”)
MURKLAND: What’s the difference—even if Cook is dead, Cook Enterprises is still in business and still our pigeon…we’ve got nothing to worry about except O’Hara…
Trust me on this one, big guy…O’Hara is the last of your worries…he’s such a doofus.
GRAHAM: Want me to bump him off?
MURKLAND: No—what’s the matter, you crazy or something? (After a pause) I got a better idea…we’ll make O’Hara do just exactly what I want…
BENSON: That I gotta see…that I gotta see…
MURKLAND: You will… (To Graham) Get over there and write me a note…
(Duke sets down at a desk, ready to comply with Murkland’s commands…)
GRAHAM: Okay, shoot…who’s it go to?
MURKLAND (dictating): Ted O’Hara…”Willing to make a deal...spill all I know about the Murkland set-up…they’ve double-crossed me…I promise to turn state’s evidence if you’ll give me a break…if interested, come alone to 223 Front Street…Room 25…tomorrow afternoon…two o’clock…signed…Duke Graham…”
GRAHAM: Duke Graham? That’s me!
He’s a bright boy, that Dukie…very bright. Murkland tells him to stop worrying and sign the note, and the scene dissolves to the outside of a building marked “223,” followed by a close-up of Duke (Drew Allen) attaching a roscoe to his left leg with a rubber band. (What does he need a gun for if he’s not supposed to shoot…oh, there I go asking dumb questions again…) There is a knock at the door, and Duke walks over to answer it. It’s our hero, who gives Graham a fast frisk to see if he’s armed (this doesn’t include his left leg area, where he would find Graham’s piece rather easily) and then begins a spot-check of the room:
GRAHAM: What’s the matter, O’Hara? Don’t you trust me?
O’HARA: No, I don’t… (Finishes checking a locked door) Let’s get down to cases…what’s on your mind?
GRAHAM: Sit down…sit down, O’Hara…just what I said in the note…I’m willing to turn state’s evidence in return for a…immu…immuni…
O’HARA: Immunity?
GRAHAM: Yeah! That’s it!
O’HARA: You know I can’t make any promises…I’ll do what I can with the District Attorney…
That’s Mr. District Attorney to you, sir…you know, champion of the people! Defender of truth! Guardian of our fundamental rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness!
O’HARA: Besides…we’ll run you down eventually, Duke…nobody ever made crime pay off…
I have a list in my pocket of several former Wall Street CEO's that is going to make you look so silly, Theodore.
GRAHAM: Okay, O’Hara…you’re a square guy…besides, I got a beef against Murkland…and I’d do a little time to see him get his…
(As Duke utters this statement, a panel opens up from one of the doors and a man [Ken Terrell] can be seen pointing a camera in their direction…)
O’HARA: Start talking…
Graham asks O’Hara if he remembers “the Smith kidnap case,” which, since it happened outside the parameters of this serial is of little interest to us—its only purpose is to allow Duke to hand O’Hara the payoff money and…well, you see where this is going. Camera Guy is going to capture a Kodak moment, one that looks as if O’Hara is accepting a big honkin’ bribe. Graham explains that because the cash was marked (the “marked evidence” of the chapter title) he couldn’t spend it, and is deciding out of the goodness of his itty bitty criminal heart to turn it over to O’Hara.
O’HARA: Couldn’t spend it, so you decided to sell out Murkland…is that right?
GRAHAM: I got a beef, ain’t I?
O’HARA: All right, Duke…on your feet…you’re taking me to where I can find Murkland…
GRAHAM: All right, Joe…that’s enough…
Joe, of course, is the hidden photographer asking O’Hara to say “cheese”—and Duke, whipping out his hidden gat, has our hero right where he wants him.
GRAHAM: You’re in pictures, now…evidence of you taking a bribe…and it’s going right to the Times as soon as it’s developed—unless…
O’HARA: Unless what?
GRAHAM: Unless you’re only pretending to be trying to run us down while really taking orders from Murkland…
O’HARA (looking around): Well, uh…I’ll need time to think it over, Duke…
GRAHAM: I’ll give you time… (Glancing at his watch) One minute…gimme your camera, Joe…
One minute is more than enough time for Ted only because Republic serial henchmen are easily distracted, and he soon flips Joe the Cameraman over a table and onto Duke as another installment of “Fun with Balsa Wood” commences. In the subsequent dust-up, Joe snuffs it from a stray bullet fired from the gun that Graham and O’Hara are wrestling for control over, and Duke is able to wipe the walls with the flabby O’Hara—allowing him to take the camera and run like a Dristan-treated nose. A not-at-all groggy Ted gets to his feet, adjusts his fedora and grabs his pistola while glancing out the window to witness Graham’s hasty retreat. Unbeknownst to Dukie, he’s got a radiator leak that’s going to allow O’Hara to follow him easily, and the special agent motions for a car driven by Francis Blake to pull up alongside him:
BLAKE: Were you right?
O’HARA: It was a trap, all right…I had a hard time making Duke think he knocked me out… (Smiling) I see you did your part…
BLAKE: I put the caseline in the radiator and opened the petcock like you said…it’ll be easy to follow his trail…
O’HARA: Better start now…take it easy…we don’t want Duke to know he’s being followed…
What follows is a montage of driving scenes showing an oblivious Duke tooling along, unaware that he’s being tailed by O’Hara and Blake until our two shining examples of clean living and eight hours of sleep each night arrive at what appears to be an abandoned house, with Graham’s car parked outside. Ted instructs Francis to get in contact with the cops, and he cautiously makes his way toward the domicile. He is forced to hide when our old pal Trent (David Sharpe) pulls up on a motorcycle and knocks on the front door, asking to be let in. Told by Duke to cool his jets for a second, O’Hara quickly grabs him from behind and spirits him to where he’s hiding, knocks him out and dons the motorcycle apparel
Inside the house, Duke and another goon of auld acquaintance, Parker (Tom Steele), are developing the camera negative containing the incriminating photo of O’Hara happily pocketing the bribe money. Duke goes to let
GRAHAM: You know, boys…we’ve got O’Hara right where we want him…
O’HARA (snapping on the lights): You sure have…hand me the film…
Duke introduces O’Hara to the business end of some crockery, the lights are dimmed and the whole shootin’ match begins! Well, only for a little bit…O’Hara quickly runs out of ammo (don’t worry, little buckaroo…those things happen to guys all the time), so his stuntman crashes through one of the house’s windows in front and O’Hara saddles up on Trent’s motorcycle…while Duke and Trent follow close behind in their Merry Oldsmobile.
The scene shifts to the highway you’ve seen in dozens of movies and serials, with O’Hara trying to shake off his pursuers and an eager Duke firing away like ammunition was ten cents a box. He manages to shoot out one of O’Hara’s tires, causing the motorcycle and WHEEEEEEEE…off the cliff it goes, with a great shot of Ted and cycle plunging right smack dab into the camera lens…
Next Saturday, Chapter Seven: Hot Cargo!