In this thrilling episode of Hill Mystery Theater, host EG Marshall takes us on a journey through a lesser-known skirmish of the Civil War, shrouded in secrecy and mystery. The story revolves around Andrew Wolf, a seasoned rogue with a penchant for chicanery, who finds himself embroiled in a web of intrigue involving a mysterious painting, a hidden fortune, and a murder. As Andrew navigates through a maze of deceit and danger, he teams up with the skeptical Inspector Harold James to unravel the truth behind a series of enigmatic events, including the murder of a woman and the disappearance of a valuable painting linked to a Confederate treasure hidden since 1863.
As the plot thickens, Andrew and Inspector James follow a trail that leads them to Gettysburg on July 4th, where a group of women gather annually, hoping to uncover a long-lost fortune. With a blend of wit, disguise, and cunning, Andrew uncovers a scheme that has duped many into believing in a treasure that may not exist. The episode culminates in a dramatic revelation, exposing the true nature of the mystery and the characters involved. Join us for a captivating tale of deception, history, and the relentless pursuit of truth.
(00:22) Introduction to the Mystery
(01:21) The Retirement of Andrew Wolf
(03:01) The Civil War Connection
(05:04) The Mysterious Painting
(07:13) A Deadly Discovery
(10:51) The Antique Dealer's Secret
(15:16) The Gettysburg Picnic
(19:34) A Gathering at Mead's Farm
(24:03) The Hidden Treasure
(30:59) The Unveiling of the Truth
(36:19) The Final Confrontation
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[00:00:00]
Unknown:
Hill Mystery Theater presents Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. The civil war, more than any other, has been fought and refought by armchair strategist for over a hundred years. But there is one skirmish that till now has been kept quiet. It has been kept dark and hidden in a fog of secrecy and the mists of mystery. It concerns a battle of wits and 25 priceless blue white diamonds. Well, Andrew, what are you doing alone in a room with a female corpse? I don't know the lady, inspector. I arranged to meet her here, came up to her apartment, and found her dead.
You just found her. Inspector, you know shooting people is my line. There's always a first time, Andrew, if there's motive enough. Our mystery drama, the Gettysburg Address, based on an adventure of the rascally Arsene Lupin, has been written especially for the mystery serial by Gerald Keen and stars Robert Dryden. It is sponsored in part by Signoff, the sinus medicines. I'll be back shortly with act one. Andrew Wolf is not yet fifty fifty years old, yet he has enjoyed a matchless professional career of chicanery, larceny, and robbery for some forty years.
Yes. Andrew got a very early start. This very year, however, when at the peak of his profession, Andrew Wolf decided to retire, it was a strange swan song regarded with much suspicion by inspector Harold James. Why are you so suspicious, inspector? I tell you I'm through. I've had it. I've thrown in the spawns quick. Sucked it. It's your move, Andrew. From now on, every move I make will be for the benefit of man. I meant it's your move on the checkerboard. Oh, yes. I know. I know. I was just looking at my options. How do you like this move, inspector?
Jump. Jump. And I'll take both of your men. Thank you. Great, Alex. What was that? Someone upstairs has just fired off a musket that hasn't been used since the civil war. Well, how on earth did you know that? Well, I never used them myself, but I know the sound of them. Excuse me for a bursty in your room, but we just heard a gun being fired. I'm terribly sorry. I just bought this rifle and it went off. My name is Andrew Wolf. I live below you. This is inspector James of the Washington Police. Oh, well, I didn't do anything wrong, inspector. I wasn't shooting at anyone. You managed to go clean through your window. What's your name? Jeffrey Knox. But it's nothing really. Just an accident. You see, I I collect memorabilia from the Civil War. I was just cleaning this old gun and it have a look, inspector.
It's an old flintlock. Very similar, I'd say, to the one old John Burns used at Gettysburg. I see. Are you interested in the Civil War? I certainly am. Hey, mister, do you have a license for that gun? No, inspector. Don't be stuffy. A, this is an antique, and, b, you could hardly call a five foot Musket a concealed weapon. Yes. Yes. It is. But firing that thing is a disturbance of the peace. Well, it won't happen again. I promise you. I didn't know it was loaded. No. Come on in, Knox. I'm not greedy. Oh, what's that you've got? A painting? Remember me? The day before yesterday, I shot off that old musket, and you came upstairs with the inspector? Yes. Of course. I remember your Knox. The Civil War buff. I didn't want you to look at this painting I just found. Well, I'm no expert on art value. Jewelry and gems, yes. Painting, no. Well, no. I thought because of your interest in the civil war. You see, it's not much of a picture as you see at the garden surrounded by a stone wall.
There's a well and a sundial. I see something else to the left there. Isn't that a cannon? Why so it is a cannon. I didn't notice that. Let me see the back. Yes. This place could be Gettysburg. You're sure? Well, how do you know? Well, here on the back, a date 04/07/1863. Well, I saw that, but that's 04/07/1863. And the Battle of Gettysburg was in July. I know. But in those days, the number of the month followed the number of the day. So 04/07/1963 is the fourth day of the seventh month. In other words, 07/04/1863, the last day of the battle. And this is it.
This is really it. This is what? Oh, nothing. Nothing. Well, do you see any other clues in that painting, mister Wolf? I mean, can you tell me more about what it represents? It's a garden. The shadows of the sundial and the well and the trees are deeper on the left, which might mean the time the painter wished to represent is about 04:00 in the afternoon, four or five. The cannon faces south, so it could be a Union Army encampment. Now, mister Knotts, what can you tell me? Well, only that I happen to find it in an antique store, and I was told it's the key to a great unsolved mystery. Really? Unsolved mysteries are a hobby of mine. Oh, mister Wolf, you you've been so helpful.
There's something else I'd like your advice on. I wonder if you'd come upstairs for a minute. You notice this apartment of mine faces a house across the street, and I'm gonna lean this painting on a chair by the window. If you'll just take these binoculars and have a look, mister Wolf, straight ahead at the window directly in your line of sight, what do you see inside that room on the wall? Well, I'll be. It seems like the identical painting. Pretty close, isn't it? Yeah. I'd say very close. The sundial, the well, the stone walled garden. Who lives in that apartment?
I don't know. But you're curious if someone else seems to have a representation of what may be a garden in Gettysburg just like yours. Well, a man who sold me this painting this morning said you have just bought yourself a map of great value. He said a map? Well, maybe not in those words, but the impression I got was well, you know, like the map of buried treasure in Treasure Island. The x's that mark the spot. And that's all he told you? Well, he said that was all he knew. 07/04/1863. What could be the connection? Well, mister Wolf, I've lived here almost three years.
On July year and July the year before, the woman who lives in that apartment with a painting is would pack up a picnic basket and go out for the day, not come home till evening. That's so strange. On the July 4, it seems like a perfect day to picnic. Hold on. And never any other day in the year? Oh, you seem to have kept pretty close watch on her. But in any case, I don't see any connection between her picnic and the painting. Except July. That's the mystery. Go to the lady and ask her what mysterious Aaron takes her away from here every July 4. Look who's here.
Andrew Wolf himself. Inspector. I didn't expect to see you. Yes. I'll bet you didn't. Where's the body? In the next room. Well, let's have a look. Oh. My oh my. Tell me, what's your lady friend's name? I don't know. I never met her alive. Oh, alright, Andrew. Do you wanna tell me about it? I don't know her. A neighbor of mine, though you met him, he lives upstairs, Jeffrey Knox. He and I had an appointment with this woman to ask her about a painting she has. At the last minute, he called me and said he couldn't make it, but would I go and talk to her? So I came up, the door was open, and there she was, dead as a herring.
So I called the station house. What was the, reason you were visiting a lady that you didn't know? Now look. Don't pretend you didn't hear me because she had a painting I wanted to ask her about. I see. Where is it? See that rectangular mark on the wall, inspector? That's where it hung. The painting is gone. Oh, well, isn't that too bad? Yes. It is, inspector. In fact, very bad. Would you mind if I followed my own hunches in this case? You've done it before, Andrew. Sometimes with pretty good results. Your neighbor, Knox, who is going to meet you here, did he know the lady? He told me they'd never met, but he'd watched her for three years from his window.
Interesting. Yes. I agree. I was gonna drop around to see him. In fact, I was going to tell him that my suspicions were unfounded. What did you suspect? That the antique flintlock he fired off was stolen. You don't know people, inspector. You really don't. Jeffrey Knox is loaded. You saw his apartment. Well, anybody can steal. I had the dealers checked if I found the man who sold it to him. Inspector, I love you. You saved me hours of pursuit. I wanna talk to that dealer. Before you go, give me his name. Hello? Anybody here?
Mister Crows? Hello? Anyone in the back? Mister Crows? You're there. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes. I hear you. Where are you? I am in the cellar.
[00:11:13] Unknown:
The cellar? Yeah. Yeah. When you look for the trapdoor.
[00:11:17] Unknown:
Trapdoor? No. No. I don't see it.
[00:11:23] Unknown:
Can you get me out of here? Well, sure. I'll get you out. But where's the trap door? The right side of the counter. Right side of the counter. Yes.
[00:11:32] Unknown:
Push right side towards the wall. Push it towards the wall.
[00:11:37] Unknown:
Alright. Yes. I'm pushing.
[00:11:42] Unknown:
I see the trapdoor. I'll have it open in a second.
[00:11:47] Unknown:
Oh, thank you. Yeah. Let me give you a hand. I thought I thought I'd be down there forever.
[00:11:55] Unknown:
How long were you there? What what day is today? Monday. Monday. Oh, man. It's two days since Saturday. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Let me close this thing. That's a clever place to hide a trapdoor under the counter. Well, I keep my valuable aim teach down there. See how stupid I am? I tell everybody everything. That's how these things happen. As mister Klaus, I'm Andrew Wolf. Well, whoever you are, I thank Providence you came along. How did you get down there? Well, I was attacked in rots. Terrible in this day and age, isn't it? Since I deal in valuable antiques, especially irreplaceable things from the civil war period. Do you know what was taken? No. No. No. No. Not I I haven't looked around yet. Well, mister Krauss, you ought to go to the police. Tell them what happened here.
You were kept a prisoner in your cellar for two days. Can you describe the man? Well, I I am not sure. Is one of your clients a young man called Jeffrey Knox? No. No. No. No. I I never heard of him. You did sell him an old flintlock gun recently, though, didn't you? Yes. Yeah. Oh, is that the man's name? Yes. I did. Did this man also buy from you a valuable painting? I sell valuable American paintings. This one was dated 07/04/1863 on the back and on the face as seen in a garden. Yeah. Well, oh, yes. Yes. I had a painting like that. There are only two. This man, did he say where where he got it? No. He didn't tell me the name of the dealer.
Not from you. No. No. No. No. No. No. So you recognize it, sir? A painting with a sundial and a well? Yes. Yes. Yes. It is dated 07/04/1863. I know it very well. It has a long history. If you'd lived in Washington a hundred years ago, you would know the story. Today, very few know about it. Well, could you tell me, mister Krauss, in confidence? Well, I suppose I owe my life to you getting me out of the cellar. You promise it will go no further than these four walls? I promise. Well, on 07/04/1863, a man was about to be hanged. Now he had hidden enough wealth to have purchased the entire city of Washington. Now since that day, many, many people have looked for it and and some have died, but it has not yet been found.
But that fortune exists somewhere near Washington. So far, it's hard to tell who is on what side. Who's lying? Who's telling the truth? What's the score so far? A man called Knox has fired a front lock. An antique dealer has been locked in a cellar. A woman has been murdered. A fortune and death seem to be fighting for the upper hand. Who loses? Who wins? Check the players with me when I return shortly with act two. What a strange pair they make these two. Andrew Wolf, the rogue rascal turned Robin Hood, and straight laced police inspector Harold James, who wouldn't trust Andrew as far as he could throw his badge. Just the same, their friendship is cemented by one sole motive, to track down crime. Now one of them, Andrew Wolf, has been stopped in his tracks by the words of an antique dealer.
And, mister Krauss, where did this fortune come from? It will, on 07/04/1863, a wealthy southern plantation owner was traveling north behind the Confederate army hoping to lose himself in Washington and hide his money. Now he'd seen the handwriting on the wall. The Confederacy was doomed. Now, unfortunately, he hid in a farmhouse near Cemetery Ridge. It was discovered and arrested. In a last minute effort to escape, he killed a union soldier guarding him. Now he was brought to Washington, tried, and sentenced to hang. Now while in prison, he painted two identical pictures which were bequeathed to his family, but his wealth was never found.
Are you sure you don't remember who it was who came in here, stole that painting, and managed to push you into the cellar possibly to die? No. No. No. No. No. I do not remember anything. Would you agree with me that the paintings must have been a clue to where this escaped southerner had hidden his wealth? Yes. And by the way, what was the name of the escaping southerner? Harley Knox. Is that also confidential, mister Krauss? Oh, no. No. No. No, sir. He is in all the history books. Andrew, this, cockamamie story of buried treasure somewhere near Washington, How can a grown man believe that? In fact, are you gonna talk or play checkers?
Oh, well, it's your move as always. No. Yes. Yes. So it is. Alright. How about this? You always do that to me. I didn't see it. Well, don't you think I'm right? About the Confederate hidden treasure? No. I can't agree it's an illusion. I've seen evidence that the hiding place may be somewhere in Gettysburg. In the battlefield? In a hundred and twenty five years, don't you suppose the park service would have dug it up? If it's in the ground. But suppose it's under a rock or in a tree. I I know what you're going to say. The painting, the painting missing from that woman's apartment. Yes. I know all about it.
Did I tell you that she'd swallowed poison? No. For a time before she'd been examined, I thought it, might have been your upstairs neighbor with a doggone civil war blood through puss. But up to now though, no one has turned up to claim the body. We can't find out anything about her. Why don't you go and ask Jeffrey Knox? Go find Jeffrey Knox. He's disappeared. He's not upstairs anymore? No. No. It's cleaned out. Empty. Your landlord says he paid up the rest of the year and left no forwarding address and departed.
Inspector, why don't you take the day off tomorrow? Why? What's tomorrow? The July 4. Let's take a picnic lunch and head out for Gettysburg for a nice al fresco meal. Bring our own food? Okay. Why bother? They've got snack bars out there where we can get hot dogs and drinks. Hot dogs and sodas? You uncivilized peasant. I wouldn't insult my stomach. I'll pack the food. You bring the beer. You've worked hard enough. You deserve a day off. Andrew, you are not usually so concerned with my well-being. What's up? Don't be so suspicious, friend. I enjoy the pleasure of your company.
Okay. You're on. Tomorrow morning then. Meet me here at my apartment at 07:00. Seven in the morning? I thought it was a day off. Andrew. Andrew, where are you? I'm up here, Inspector. One flight up the stairs. I'm in Jeffrey Knox's apartment. Your door was open, but I didn't see you. What are you doing in this man's apartment? Well, there's nothing like getting off to an early start. You feel okay this morning? Yeah. As soon as anybody can expect to at, 06:45AM. Then I asked you what you were doing up here, Andrew. Well, I thought I'd have a look around Knox's apartment for myself. I found these binoculars.
They belong to Knox. Now before you send them downtown for fingerprints, hold them in this handkerchief like I have and point them straight out this window. Mhmm. The one with a hole through the glass. Now what do you see? What room is that across the street? That's where we both discovered the dead lady. Oh, I see someone moving in in there. Yeah. So did I. It's a woman. She's, putting things in a basket, a thermos, and, now she's heading for the door. And now listen, I've gotta stop her. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Wait. Wait. Don't head her off, Inspector. She might lead us to something.
Let's follow her. Look. Just got down to the street ahead of her. What? There she comes out the front door carrying that basket. That is she's headed for the bus stop at the corner. Don't flag your cab and have it ready in case. In case what? In case she hops on a bus. So we run like the devil and catch the same buzz. No. It's too chancy. We're on this side of the street. The bus is on the other. Taxi? Well, I can tell you're not on police, shall we? Don't you rate an expense account yet? An inspector? Yeah. She is waiting at the bus stop. Taxi.
Driver, we are following someone. It's a woman on the other side of the street. She may get on a bus. If she does, we want you to make a u-turn, and when the bus passes, follow it. My partner is inspector Harold James, Washington Police. I say here comes the bus. Our gal is getting in the run, and she's getting on. Great Scott. Andrew, you were right. I tried to make it a habit. That bus is Mark Gettysburg Battlefield. Climb in, inspector. Okay, driver. That's the boss. Follow it. Well, am I glad we're finally here? This battlefield never looked so good to me. It did take a little longer than I planned, but hold it, Inspector. What does it handle?
Most of the visitors to the battlefield are turning left. See? Mhmm. Along that path there that goes to the park service station where you can get your tickets. Yes. But our woman is taking that path to the right. Yeah. And she's not the only one. Yeah. Yeah. Those two other women right behind her. And here comes another one, carrying a baby. They're all turning right and going past those trees. Let's go, Inspector. Oh, you look at that. You can't teach the public anything. Right along the path here, these signs say private no trespassing. Nobody pays any attention. Hey. Where look.
Pass those trees. An old farmhouse. Let's get closer. Andrew. Andrew, there's a whole bunch of female picnickers behind us walking single file against about a dozen. Okay. We'll duck off the path and pretend we're looking over towards Cemetery Ridge until they pass us. Andrew, that woman, the one we were following, she went right up to the front door of the farmhouse and went inside. I saw the rest of them. Look at them all going in that door. Maybe it's a private party. Wouldn't I look foolish if it was? All the way out here in a cab for that? No. No. There's something fishy about all this.
Have you noticed, inspector, how intent their faces are? And no one talks to anyone else. And look, almost all of them are going into the farmhouse. Another few minutes just to make sure they're all inside. And then what? Why then? We follow. No one in here. I'll shut the door. How do you see that sign outside? Mead's Farm. Yeah. This could have been General Mead's headquarters during the battle. Well, the stick of furniture is just that long table. Come see. Look through the back window. There they are. I'll be turned. Look at them all. Sitting on the ground in that garden, leaning on the stone wall around it, there's about 20.
What strikes me as most extraordinary is where we are. Yes. Mead's headquarters, you said. You see that old well the three girls are looking into? Yeah. See the sundial? Well, I'll be. What I'm saying is that garden we see, the sundial, the well, this is the garden in those two paintings. No kidding. Must be the house where Harley Knox was captured on the July 4, and that garden is the one he painted before he was hanged. And you figure that, some of these people must know that and they come here to find the buried treasure? Maybe a hundred years ago, Knox's children looked.
But I don't think these people are doing any more than hoping. Oh, and you figure that those women are all his descendants. Who else? That woman we were following. She's still here? Yes. I see her with her back to the sundial. I just don't get what they're waiting for. Look. Let's get out of this house. I'd like to know what they're up to. If we walk around the back and up that little hill on the other side of the stone fence, we can't be seen, but we can sit down and watch them. Andrew, I have a feeling we've come out to Gettysburg for nothing. We're not gonna find out a thing. So if we don't, the day won't be wasted. We'll enjoy the sun, eat good food, and who knows? Maybe oh, heck. Don't mind my poor stomach. Oh, now what's hit you?
The picnic basket I made for the two of us. Mhmm. All that gourmet food. I left it in the apartment. I shall have to insult you with hot dogs and sodas and ice cream. Shut up, and let's go find a snack bar. It is entirely possible something of value, of great value, lies hidden in that garden. And if indeed these pilgrims are the descendants of Harley Knox, why do they only come here on July? What is so special about that day to them? Stay with us for the conclusion of act three. There's more truth than poetry in that old maxim, it takes a thief to catch a thief. And that is why a certain feeling is cooking in the perceptions of Andrew Wolf.
The stew before him does not smell quite right. We'll stand aside now and see what transpires as Andrew and inspector James watch the goings on in the garden at that Gettysburg address. Inspector, you've been standing on that rock for fifteen minutes taking pictures of those women with your telephoto lens. Taking pictures is my hobby. Do you really wanna know what I think? I think we're keeping watch on an outing of inmates of a mental home. The whole morning, they they they they've sat there, most of them staring off in the space, and now half the afternoon's gone, and nothing's ever good lord. Look.
Those two women under the tree, they're on their knees. They're crying. Now, look look look at the whole group. It's like they're saying their prayers. Something's upset them a great deal. Something these women expected would happen but hasn't. Of course. How stupid of me. Come on, inspector. Let's make a run for it before it's too late. Are you crazy, Andrew, running 202 yards to the gatehouse? But it suddenly came to me. I've got an old friend who works here. He's the park supervisor. You'll know what all this means. Yes. And why the rush? It's 04:00, closing time. Alright. Let's go in. I'll introduce you. Jack Little.
Jack, where are you? This is where they sell guidebooks and admissions inspector. Jack. He's probably gone for the day. No. No. Card started. Hey. Who's that? Come on out. Come on out. Come on. Oh my lord. Just my luck. Alright. What were you doing?
[00:28:57] Unknown:
Hiding back there. Been a whole shelf of guidebooks fell on me. Pinky, pinky little.
[00:29:04] Unknown:
Andrew Wolf. Oh, Pinky. When did you get out? Well, I've been out a year, Andrew. But I'm clean on as clean as a whistle. Oh, Pinky. I, I didn't mean to be rude. I'd like you to meet inspector Harold James. Hello, Pinky. I'm am glad to see you've got an honest job. You two know each other? Well, the inspector sent me up twice. That's why I hid when I saw him come in. Well, there goes the ballgame. Bye bye job. Pinky, we just came in to get some information. No one's after you, I swear. Are you sure? I came in to see your father. Is he around?
How is old Jack? Well, dad's retired. That's how I got this job. He recommended me. This is what we need to know, Pinky. What is with that gathering in the garden in the back of the Mead Farmhouse? What are they waiting for? And why the fourth of July?
[00:29:59] Unknown:
Well, those people have special permission from the defense department to get together at the Gettysburg Address once a year. Just one day, the July 4. No one else is allowed in there. Only the relatives of a southerner the Union Army hanged. There's supposed to be something this guy hid. Well, who knows? The deal is, if any one of them relatives find anything, they all get to share, my dad told me. They used to come here with shovels and metal detectors. Women. Yeah. Yeah. But that's all died out.
[00:30:31] Unknown:
If there was something there once, well,
[00:30:34] Unknown:
it sure ain't there anymore.
[00:30:36] Unknown:
Pinky, many thanks. Tell your dad that Gettysburg is in good hands. Well, I hope I was helpful. Believe me, you don't know how helpful you were. Inspector, I'm going into that garden alone. Keep clicking that camera. You won't frighten them. Not if I go in as a woman. You you're going to disguise yourself? Watch me. This scarf, all my head's tied under my chin. These glasses on my nose. Two flattened Dixie cups here and here. Yeah. That's all there is to it. A woman in pants is not much different from a man. Okay. I can't wait to take a picture of you and I'd get up. Tell me, what are you gonna do? End their misery.
I'm going out this back door right to that sundial. Well, I can tell you what time it is. It's 05:00. That gives me a fast fifteen minutes.
[00:31:38] Unknown:
Oh, my friends. You don't know me. I am Andrea Knox, and I have just recently come to Washington. We are all Knoxes here, so we are one family. I know that every July 4, we hope, we pray, one of us will find great grandfather's treasure which he hid here in this garden before the northern soldiers took him away. And when one of us finds it, all of us will fail. But I figured out let me show you. I take my little pen knife, open it, and pry up the corner of this little old metal sundial on this marble column. Yes. Yes. I'm right.
Look, all of you. Here it is. I just pulled it out from under the sundial where great grandfather hid it. This leather bag. See? I'm opening the string and, oh my. Oh my, oh my. Diamonds. Beautiful, big, blue, white diamonds. A handful of diamonds for all of us. Give me that. Get away from me, you. Old woman, give it to me. Anyway, don't just get there happy with this crazy person. I have a bottle of hair. Let go of me. Oh, well, will you look at that? Her hair came clean off. It's a wig. This person is not one of us. This is a man.
[00:33:14] Unknown:
I had to laugh. I I really I really had to laugh. There you are, Andrew, doing a superb piece of acting. A man with only a scarf tied on your head, making everyone believe you're a woman. And you get into a fight with another guy disguised. That's a woman. And when you ran out of there with that bag of diamonds, I'd say I never saw such a picture of collected female shotgun all my life. Woo hoo. Wait till you see the pictures I took. How is the prisoner? Jeffrey Knox? I can't keep him here much longer. Impersonating a woman is still not a federal offense, but, I am holding him for questioning. Okay. Let's have him in.
He's still in that dress, so don't laugh. Alright. Harry, show mister Knox in here. Will you please? Well, I thank you. Well, there won't be hell here long. I'm sorry we all meet again under these rather painful circumstances. Jeffrey, I'm very disappointed in you. You told me you had bought that painting showing the garden behind Mead's farmhouse, and mister Krauss told me someone had stolen it from him. Well, I don't know why Krauss lied to you. He must have had his own reasons. I bought it from Krauss because I persuaded him he couldn't pass up $25,000. He was reluctant because male descendants, I understand, are prohibited to have the painting.
But money talked. Why was it necessary to remove the identical painting from the apartment across the street? Why did you need two? Well, remember that morning, mister Wolf, you and I were to meet her? Well, I'm afraid I set you up. I went there two hours earlier. She was also an ox, old, desperate, and unhappy, and as I knew before I went, convinced the painting had ruined her life. And she asked me to remove it and burn it. You see, this meant I would be the only one with an evidential positive claim. I did as she asked, moved away to another part of town, and that night, well, I learned that you'd taken our own life.
And the following day, the fourth, you returned to her apartment, put on her clothes, and disguised as a woman, went out to Gettysburg. To Mead's Farm, which you helped identify for me, mister Wolf. The irony of all this is my disguise didn't help me. You, mister Wolf, not even related to our family, you found the treasure. No. No. I didn't find it. If there really is a fortune hidden in that garden, it's still there. Just just a minute, Andrew. I saw you with the diamond. All you saw was a bag. I said it contained beautiful large blue white perfect stones, but how do you know? Andrew, I give you just twenty four hours to come up with those diamonds.
I'll be waiting for you here right at my desk. Yes, sir. What can I do for you? My name is Andrew Knox. I've been given your name by my mother, missus Harley Knox. No doubt the name is familiar to you. You did say, missus Harley Knox? Certainly, sir. Well, this is an honor. Well well well, what can I do for you, mister Knox? My mother has been going through some old family papers, and discovered in one of them her great great grandfather, right, she's hoping to bequeath assets, which he has turned into diamonds, bequeath them to his descendants.
Is, is that really true? I understand you believed it was. Oh, well, for a number of years, mister Knox, I have been trying to assist those entitled to share the fortune. How have you gone about it? Well, I have sold them a painting which I believe was done by Harley Knox in prison and showed the exact spot where the fortune is hidden. Over the years, how many of the Knox family have you assisted in their search? Oh, two dozen or three dozen or so. There are 36 identical painting? Oh, no. No, sir. Only two. How do you circulate them? Well, after a year or so, the Knox relative has a very good general idea of where to look and, once a year, they all gather. Now if the painting is no longer needed, they return it to me and I give them their money back. You do? Mhmm.
How much do you charge for the paintings? Well, I, I can't reveal that, mister Knox. It would embarrass your relative. Yeah. Miss Krauss, I'll show you photographs taken this July 4 in the garden behind the Mead Farmhouse. Were all these ladies your clients at one time? Well, I I I don't know. I suggest they were. They've each paid you at least $10,000 Well, speak the truth, mister Kraus. There is no fortune hidden in that garden. You've taken advantage of ancient hearsay and the gullibility of unfortunate women. But I have done nothing wrong. The police have given these photographs to the newspapers to publish. You are in big trouble, mister Krauss. Oh, I don't understand. Mister Krauss, how do you know about all of this? Because, mister Krauss, I am not the son of missus Harley Knox.
I am the same Andrew Wolf who came to see you not very long ago. No. I am very confused. I I don't see what this has to do with me. Oh, you will. I assure you when you arrive at the police station. Well, it's about time you showed up, Andrew. This place has been a madhouse. All those women who were at Gettysburg, they saw their pictures, and they've been here asking for their share of the diamonds you found. I don't know whether you've met mister Kraus, inspector. Mister Kraus has made a great deal of money in this affair. A lot of money, inspector.
Over 200,000 taken from those women alone. Well, I don't see it that way, Andrew. They ended up with a couple of million dollars worth of diamonds. What diamonds? Oh, now you you're not gonna pull that again, are you? Did you see the diamonds yourself, inspector? No. I was in the farmhouse taking pictures through the window. But they were there in that leather bag you found on the sundial. This leather bag? Yes. Yes. That's the one. Tip out the contents on your desk, inspector. What's that? A jeweler's glass. It's my own. I take it everywhere to detect flaws in arguments, like a rabbit's foot. Where are the diamonds?
There aren't any. There never were any, and mister Krauss knows it. I suggest, inspector, that you obtain a full statement from him, and I shall bring suit on behalf of all the injured ladies to recover the money they invested in this dreamed up scheme. I imagine mister Krauss has sizable assets. Oh, sir, there was something you wish to say? If you're like me, you had to be on your toes to follow every turn made by Andrew Wolf, for he thinks fast and moves even faster. A man of many resources, unrivaled cleverness, and a veteran of disguises with the ability to be a lion or a sheep in Andrew Wolf's clothing.
There are those who live by their wits, and there are those who feed from others' plates. It has been said that everyone has the makings of a criminal in him, latent, lying asleep, hopefully never to be awakened. Think to yourself how simple it would be to cheat a friend. Take advantage of a situation or profit from other people's mistakes. How easy. And then say to yourself, oh, no. That's much too hard for me to do. Our cast included Robert Dryden, Earl Hammond, and Lloyd Bautista. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. This is E. G. Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre.
Until next time, Pleasant?
[00:42:45] Unknown:
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Hill Mystery Theater presents Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. The civil war, more than any other, has been fought and refought by armchair strategist for over a hundred years. But there is one skirmish that till now has been kept quiet. It has been kept dark and hidden in a fog of secrecy and the mists of mystery. It concerns a battle of wits and 25 priceless blue white diamonds. Well, Andrew, what are you doing alone in a room with a female corpse? I don't know the lady, inspector. I arranged to meet her here, came up to her apartment, and found her dead.
You just found her. Inspector, you know shooting people is my line. There's always a first time, Andrew, if there's motive enough. Our mystery drama, the Gettysburg Address, based on an adventure of the rascally Arsene Lupin, has been written especially for the mystery serial by Gerald Keen and stars Robert Dryden. It is sponsored in part by Signoff, the sinus medicines. I'll be back shortly with act one. Andrew Wolf is not yet fifty fifty years old, yet he has enjoyed a matchless professional career of chicanery, larceny, and robbery for some forty years.
Yes. Andrew got a very early start. This very year, however, when at the peak of his profession, Andrew Wolf decided to retire, it was a strange swan song regarded with much suspicion by inspector Harold James. Why are you so suspicious, inspector? I tell you I'm through. I've had it. I've thrown in the spawns quick. Sucked it. It's your move, Andrew. From now on, every move I make will be for the benefit of man. I meant it's your move on the checkerboard. Oh, yes. I know. I know. I was just looking at my options. How do you like this move, inspector?
Jump. Jump. And I'll take both of your men. Thank you. Great, Alex. What was that? Someone upstairs has just fired off a musket that hasn't been used since the civil war. Well, how on earth did you know that? Well, I never used them myself, but I know the sound of them. Excuse me for a bursty in your room, but we just heard a gun being fired. I'm terribly sorry. I just bought this rifle and it went off. My name is Andrew Wolf. I live below you. This is inspector James of the Washington Police. Oh, well, I didn't do anything wrong, inspector. I wasn't shooting at anyone. You managed to go clean through your window. What's your name? Jeffrey Knox. But it's nothing really. Just an accident. You see, I I collect memorabilia from the Civil War. I was just cleaning this old gun and it have a look, inspector.
It's an old flintlock. Very similar, I'd say, to the one old John Burns used at Gettysburg. I see. Are you interested in the Civil War? I certainly am. Hey, mister, do you have a license for that gun? No, inspector. Don't be stuffy. A, this is an antique, and, b, you could hardly call a five foot Musket a concealed weapon. Yes. Yes. It is. But firing that thing is a disturbance of the peace. Well, it won't happen again. I promise you. I didn't know it was loaded. No. Come on in, Knox. I'm not greedy. Oh, what's that you've got? A painting? Remember me? The day before yesterday, I shot off that old musket, and you came upstairs with the inspector? Yes. Of course. I remember your Knox. The Civil War buff. I didn't want you to look at this painting I just found. Well, I'm no expert on art value. Jewelry and gems, yes. Painting, no. Well, no. I thought because of your interest in the civil war. You see, it's not much of a picture as you see at the garden surrounded by a stone wall.
There's a well and a sundial. I see something else to the left there. Isn't that a cannon? Why so it is a cannon. I didn't notice that. Let me see the back. Yes. This place could be Gettysburg. You're sure? Well, how do you know? Well, here on the back, a date 04/07/1863. Well, I saw that, but that's 04/07/1863. And the Battle of Gettysburg was in July. I know. But in those days, the number of the month followed the number of the day. So 04/07/1963 is the fourth day of the seventh month. In other words, 07/04/1863, the last day of the battle. And this is it.
This is really it. This is what? Oh, nothing. Nothing. Well, do you see any other clues in that painting, mister Wolf? I mean, can you tell me more about what it represents? It's a garden. The shadows of the sundial and the well and the trees are deeper on the left, which might mean the time the painter wished to represent is about 04:00 in the afternoon, four or five. The cannon faces south, so it could be a Union Army encampment. Now, mister Knotts, what can you tell me? Well, only that I happen to find it in an antique store, and I was told it's the key to a great unsolved mystery. Really? Unsolved mysteries are a hobby of mine. Oh, mister Wolf, you you've been so helpful.
There's something else I'd like your advice on. I wonder if you'd come upstairs for a minute. You notice this apartment of mine faces a house across the street, and I'm gonna lean this painting on a chair by the window. If you'll just take these binoculars and have a look, mister Wolf, straight ahead at the window directly in your line of sight, what do you see inside that room on the wall? Well, I'll be. It seems like the identical painting. Pretty close, isn't it? Yeah. I'd say very close. The sundial, the well, the stone walled garden. Who lives in that apartment?
I don't know. But you're curious if someone else seems to have a representation of what may be a garden in Gettysburg just like yours. Well, a man who sold me this painting this morning said you have just bought yourself a map of great value. He said a map? Well, maybe not in those words, but the impression I got was well, you know, like the map of buried treasure in Treasure Island. The x's that mark the spot. And that's all he told you? Well, he said that was all he knew. 07/04/1863. What could be the connection? Well, mister Wolf, I've lived here almost three years.
On July year and July the year before, the woman who lives in that apartment with a painting is would pack up a picnic basket and go out for the day, not come home till evening. That's so strange. On the July 4, it seems like a perfect day to picnic. Hold on. And never any other day in the year? Oh, you seem to have kept pretty close watch on her. But in any case, I don't see any connection between her picnic and the painting. Except July. That's the mystery. Go to the lady and ask her what mysterious Aaron takes her away from here every July 4. Look who's here.
Andrew Wolf himself. Inspector. I didn't expect to see you. Yes. I'll bet you didn't. Where's the body? In the next room. Well, let's have a look. Oh. My oh my. Tell me, what's your lady friend's name? I don't know. I never met her alive. Oh, alright, Andrew. Do you wanna tell me about it? I don't know her. A neighbor of mine, though you met him, he lives upstairs, Jeffrey Knox. He and I had an appointment with this woman to ask her about a painting she has. At the last minute, he called me and said he couldn't make it, but would I go and talk to her? So I came up, the door was open, and there she was, dead as a herring.
So I called the station house. What was the, reason you were visiting a lady that you didn't know? Now look. Don't pretend you didn't hear me because she had a painting I wanted to ask her about. I see. Where is it? See that rectangular mark on the wall, inspector? That's where it hung. The painting is gone. Oh, well, isn't that too bad? Yes. It is, inspector. In fact, very bad. Would you mind if I followed my own hunches in this case? You've done it before, Andrew. Sometimes with pretty good results. Your neighbor, Knox, who is going to meet you here, did he know the lady? He told me they'd never met, but he'd watched her for three years from his window.
Interesting. Yes. I agree. I was gonna drop around to see him. In fact, I was going to tell him that my suspicions were unfounded. What did you suspect? That the antique flintlock he fired off was stolen. You don't know people, inspector. You really don't. Jeffrey Knox is loaded. You saw his apartment. Well, anybody can steal. I had the dealers checked if I found the man who sold it to him. Inspector, I love you. You saved me hours of pursuit. I wanna talk to that dealer. Before you go, give me his name. Hello? Anybody here?
Mister Crows? Hello? Anyone in the back? Mister Crows? You're there. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes. I hear you. Where are you? I am in the cellar.
[00:11:13] Unknown:
The cellar? Yeah. Yeah. When you look for the trapdoor.
[00:11:17] Unknown:
Trapdoor? No. No. I don't see it.
[00:11:23] Unknown:
Can you get me out of here? Well, sure. I'll get you out. But where's the trap door? The right side of the counter. Right side of the counter. Yes.
[00:11:32] Unknown:
Push right side towards the wall. Push it towards the wall.
[00:11:37] Unknown:
Alright. Yes. I'm pushing.
[00:11:42] Unknown:
I see the trapdoor. I'll have it open in a second.
[00:11:47] Unknown:
Oh, thank you. Yeah. Let me give you a hand. I thought I thought I'd be down there forever.
[00:11:55] Unknown:
How long were you there? What what day is today? Monday. Monday. Oh, man. It's two days since Saturday. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Let me close this thing. That's a clever place to hide a trapdoor under the counter. Well, I keep my valuable aim teach down there. See how stupid I am? I tell everybody everything. That's how these things happen. As mister Klaus, I'm Andrew Wolf. Well, whoever you are, I thank Providence you came along. How did you get down there? Well, I was attacked in rots. Terrible in this day and age, isn't it? Since I deal in valuable antiques, especially irreplaceable things from the civil war period. Do you know what was taken? No. No. No. No. Not I I haven't looked around yet. Well, mister Krauss, you ought to go to the police. Tell them what happened here.
You were kept a prisoner in your cellar for two days. Can you describe the man? Well, I I am not sure. Is one of your clients a young man called Jeffrey Knox? No. No. No. No. I I never heard of him. You did sell him an old flintlock gun recently, though, didn't you? Yes. Yeah. Oh, is that the man's name? Yes. I did. Did this man also buy from you a valuable painting? I sell valuable American paintings. This one was dated 07/04/1863 on the back and on the face as seen in a garden. Yeah. Well, oh, yes. Yes. I had a painting like that. There are only two. This man, did he say where where he got it? No. He didn't tell me the name of the dealer.
Not from you. No. No. No. No. No. No. So you recognize it, sir? A painting with a sundial and a well? Yes. Yes. Yes. It is dated 07/04/1863. I know it very well. It has a long history. If you'd lived in Washington a hundred years ago, you would know the story. Today, very few know about it. Well, could you tell me, mister Krauss, in confidence? Well, I suppose I owe my life to you getting me out of the cellar. You promise it will go no further than these four walls? I promise. Well, on 07/04/1863, a man was about to be hanged. Now he had hidden enough wealth to have purchased the entire city of Washington. Now since that day, many, many people have looked for it and and some have died, but it has not yet been found.
But that fortune exists somewhere near Washington. So far, it's hard to tell who is on what side. Who's lying? Who's telling the truth? What's the score so far? A man called Knox has fired a front lock. An antique dealer has been locked in a cellar. A woman has been murdered. A fortune and death seem to be fighting for the upper hand. Who loses? Who wins? Check the players with me when I return shortly with act two. What a strange pair they make these two. Andrew Wolf, the rogue rascal turned Robin Hood, and straight laced police inspector Harold James, who wouldn't trust Andrew as far as he could throw his badge. Just the same, their friendship is cemented by one sole motive, to track down crime. Now one of them, Andrew Wolf, has been stopped in his tracks by the words of an antique dealer.
And, mister Krauss, where did this fortune come from? It will, on 07/04/1863, a wealthy southern plantation owner was traveling north behind the Confederate army hoping to lose himself in Washington and hide his money. Now he'd seen the handwriting on the wall. The Confederacy was doomed. Now, unfortunately, he hid in a farmhouse near Cemetery Ridge. It was discovered and arrested. In a last minute effort to escape, he killed a union soldier guarding him. Now he was brought to Washington, tried, and sentenced to hang. Now while in prison, he painted two identical pictures which were bequeathed to his family, but his wealth was never found.
Are you sure you don't remember who it was who came in here, stole that painting, and managed to push you into the cellar possibly to die? No. No. No. No. No. I do not remember anything. Would you agree with me that the paintings must have been a clue to where this escaped southerner had hidden his wealth? Yes. And by the way, what was the name of the escaping southerner? Harley Knox. Is that also confidential, mister Krauss? Oh, no. No. No. No, sir. He is in all the history books. Andrew, this, cockamamie story of buried treasure somewhere near Washington, How can a grown man believe that? In fact, are you gonna talk or play checkers?
Oh, well, it's your move as always. No. Yes. Yes. So it is. Alright. How about this? You always do that to me. I didn't see it. Well, don't you think I'm right? About the Confederate hidden treasure? No. I can't agree it's an illusion. I've seen evidence that the hiding place may be somewhere in Gettysburg. In the battlefield? In a hundred and twenty five years, don't you suppose the park service would have dug it up? If it's in the ground. But suppose it's under a rock or in a tree. I I know what you're going to say. The painting, the painting missing from that woman's apartment. Yes. I know all about it.
Did I tell you that she'd swallowed poison? No. For a time before she'd been examined, I thought it, might have been your upstairs neighbor with a doggone civil war blood through puss. But up to now though, no one has turned up to claim the body. We can't find out anything about her. Why don't you go and ask Jeffrey Knox? Go find Jeffrey Knox. He's disappeared. He's not upstairs anymore? No. No. It's cleaned out. Empty. Your landlord says he paid up the rest of the year and left no forwarding address and departed.
Inspector, why don't you take the day off tomorrow? Why? What's tomorrow? The July 4. Let's take a picnic lunch and head out for Gettysburg for a nice al fresco meal. Bring our own food? Okay. Why bother? They've got snack bars out there where we can get hot dogs and drinks. Hot dogs and sodas? You uncivilized peasant. I wouldn't insult my stomach. I'll pack the food. You bring the beer. You've worked hard enough. You deserve a day off. Andrew, you are not usually so concerned with my well-being. What's up? Don't be so suspicious, friend. I enjoy the pleasure of your company.
Okay. You're on. Tomorrow morning then. Meet me here at my apartment at 07:00. Seven in the morning? I thought it was a day off. Andrew. Andrew, where are you? I'm up here, Inspector. One flight up the stairs. I'm in Jeffrey Knox's apartment. Your door was open, but I didn't see you. What are you doing in this man's apartment? Well, there's nothing like getting off to an early start. You feel okay this morning? Yeah. As soon as anybody can expect to at, 06:45AM. Then I asked you what you were doing up here, Andrew. Well, I thought I'd have a look around Knox's apartment for myself. I found these binoculars.
They belong to Knox. Now before you send them downtown for fingerprints, hold them in this handkerchief like I have and point them straight out this window. Mhmm. The one with a hole through the glass. Now what do you see? What room is that across the street? That's where we both discovered the dead lady. Oh, I see someone moving in in there. Yeah. So did I. It's a woman. She's, putting things in a basket, a thermos, and, now she's heading for the door. And now listen, I've gotta stop her. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Wait. Wait. Don't head her off, Inspector. She might lead us to something.
Let's follow her. Look. Just got down to the street ahead of her. What? There she comes out the front door carrying that basket. That is she's headed for the bus stop at the corner. Don't flag your cab and have it ready in case. In case what? In case she hops on a bus. So we run like the devil and catch the same buzz. No. It's too chancy. We're on this side of the street. The bus is on the other. Taxi? Well, I can tell you're not on police, shall we? Don't you rate an expense account yet? An inspector? Yeah. She is waiting at the bus stop. Taxi.
Driver, we are following someone. It's a woman on the other side of the street. She may get on a bus. If she does, we want you to make a u-turn, and when the bus passes, follow it. My partner is inspector Harold James, Washington Police. I say here comes the bus. Our gal is getting in the run, and she's getting on. Great Scott. Andrew, you were right. I tried to make it a habit. That bus is Mark Gettysburg Battlefield. Climb in, inspector. Okay, driver. That's the boss. Follow it. Well, am I glad we're finally here? This battlefield never looked so good to me. It did take a little longer than I planned, but hold it, Inspector. What does it handle?
Most of the visitors to the battlefield are turning left. See? Mhmm. Along that path there that goes to the park service station where you can get your tickets. Yes. But our woman is taking that path to the right. Yeah. And she's not the only one. Yeah. Yeah. Those two other women right behind her. And here comes another one, carrying a baby. They're all turning right and going past those trees. Let's go, Inspector. Oh, you look at that. You can't teach the public anything. Right along the path here, these signs say private no trespassing. Nobody pays any attention. Hey. Where look.
Pass those trees. An old farmhouse. Let's get closer. Andrew. Andrew, there's a whole bunch of female picnickers behind us walking single file against about a dozen. Okay. We'll duck off the path and pretend we're looking over towards Cemetery Ridge until they pass us. Andrew, that woman, the one we were following, she went right up to the front door of the farmhouse and went inside. I saw the rest of them. Look at them all going in that door. Maybe it's a private party. Wouldn't I look foolish if it was? All the way out here in a cab for that? No. No. There's something fishy about all this.
Have you noticed, inspector, how intent their faces are? And no one talks to anyone else. And look, almost all of them are going into the farmhouse. Another few minutes just to make sure they're all inside. And then what? Why then? We follow. No one in here. I'll shut the door. How do you see that sign outside? Mead's Farm. Yeah. This could have been General Mead's headquarters during the battle. Well, the stick of furniture is just that long table. Come see. Look through the back window. There they are. I'll be turned. Look at them all. Sitting on the ground in that garden, leaning on the stone wall around it, there's about 20.
What strikes me as most extraordinary is where we are. Yes. Mead's headquarters, you said. You see that old well the three girls are looking into? Yeah. See the sundial? Well, I'll be. What I'm saying is that garden we see, the sundial, the well, this is the garden in those two paintings. No kidding. Must be the house where Harley Knox was captured on the July 4, and that garden is the one he painted before he was hanged. And you figure that, some of these people must know that and they come here to find the buried treasure? Maybe a hundred years ago, Knox's children looked.
But I don't think these people are doing any more than hoping. Oh, and you figure that those women are all his descendants. Who else? That woman we were following. She's still here? Yes. I see her with her back to the sundial. I just don't get what they're waiting for. Look. Let's get out of this house. I'd like to know what they're up to. If we walk around the back and up that little hill on the other side of the stone fence, we can't be seen, but we can sit down and watch them. Andrew, I have a feeling we've come out to Gettysburg for nothing. We're not gonna find out a thing. So if we don't, the day won't be wasted. We'll enjoy the sun, eat good food, and who knows? Maybe oh, heck. Don't mind my poor stomach. Oh, now what's hit you?
The picnic basket I made for the two of us. Mhmm. All that gourmet food. I left it in the apartment. I shall have to insult you with hot dogs and sodas and ice cream. Shut up, and let's go find a snack bar. It is entirely possible something of value, of great value, lies hidden in that garden. And if indeed these pilgrims are the descendants of Harley Knox, why do they only come here on July? What is so special about that day to them? Stay with us for the conclusion of act three. There's more truth than poetry in that old maxim, it takes a thief to catch a thief. And that is why a certain feeling is cooking in the perceptions of Andrew Wolf.
The stew before him does not smell quite right. We'll stand aside now and see what transpires as Andrew and inspector James watch the goings on in the garden at that Gettysburg address. Inspector, you've been standing on that rock for fifteen minutes taking pictures of those women with your telephoto lens. Taking pictures is my hobby. Do you really wanna know what I think? I think we're keeping watch on an outing of inmates of a mental home. The whole morning, they they they they've sat there, most of them staring off in the space, and now half the afternoon's gone, and nothing's ever good lord. Look.
Those two women under the tree, they're on their knees. They're crying. Now, look look look at the whole group. It's like they're saying their prayers. Something's upset them a great deal. Something these women expected would happen but hasn't. Of course. How stupid of me. Come on, inspector. Let's make a run for it before it's too late. Are you crazy, Andrew, running 202 yards to the gatehouse? But it suddenly came to me. I've got an old friend who works here. He's the park supervisor. You'll know what all this means. Yes. And why the rush? It's 04:00, closing time. Alright. Let's go in. I'll introduce you. Jack Little.
Jack, where are you? This is where they sell guidebooks and admissions inspector. Jack. He's probably gone for the day. No. No. Card started. Hey. Who's that? Come on out. Come on out. Come on. Oh my lord. Just my luck. Alright. What were you doing?
[00:28:57] Unknown:
Hiding back there. Been a whole shelf of guidebooks fell on me. Pinky, pinky little.
[00:29:04] Unknown:
Andrew Wolf. Oh, Pinky. When did you get out? Well, I've been out a year, Andrew. But I'm clean on as clean as a whistle. Oh, Pinky. I, I didn't mean to be rude. I'd like you to meet inspector Harold James. Hello, Pinky. I'm am glad to see you've got an honest job. You two know each other? Well, the inspector sent me up twice. That's why I hid when I saw him come in. Well, there goes the ballgame. Bye bye job. Pinky, we just came in to get some information. No one's after you, I swear. Are you sure? I came in to see your father. Is he around?
How is old Jack? Well, dad's retired. That's how I got this job. He recommended me. This is what we need to know, Pinky. What is with that gathering in the garden in the back of the Mead Farmhouse? What are they waiting for? And why the fourth of July?
[00:29:59] Unknown:
Well, those people have special permission from the defense department to get together at the Gettysburg Address once a year. Just one day, the July 4. No one else is allowed in there. Only the relatives of a southerner the Union Army hanged. There's supposed to be something this guy hid. Well, who knows? The deal is, if any one of them relatives find anything, they all get to share, my dad told me. They used to come here with shovels and metal detectors. Women. Yeah. Yeah. But that's all died out.
[00:30:31] Unknown:
If there was something there once, well,
[00:30:34] Unknown:
it sure ain't there anymore.
[00:30:36] Unknown:
Pinky, many thanks. Tell your dad that Gettysburg is in good hands. Well, I hope I was helpful. Believe me, you don't know how helpful you were. Inspector, I'm going into that garden alone. Keep clicking that camera. You won't frighten them. Not if I go in as a woman. You you're going to disguise yourself? Watch me. This scarf, all my head's tied under my chin. These glasses on my nose. Two flattened Dixie cups here and here. Yeah. That's all there is to it. A woman in pants is not much different from a man. Okay. I can't wait to take a picture of you and I'd get up. Tell me, what are you gonna do? End their misery.
I'm going out this back door right to that sundial. Well, I can tell you what time it is. It's 05:00. That gives me a fast fifteen minutes.
[00:31:38] Unknown:
Oh, my friends. You don't know me. I am Andrea Knox, and I have just recently come to Washington. We are all Knoxes here, so we are one family. I know that every July 4, we hope, we pray, one of us will find great grandfather's treasure which he hid here in this garden before the northern soldiers took him away. And when one of us finds it, all of us will fail. But I figured out let me show you. I take my little pen knife, open it, and pry up the corner of this little old metal sundial on this marble column. Yes. Yes. I'm right.
Look, all of you. Here it is. I just pulled it out from under the sundial where great grandfather hid it. This leather bag. See? I'm opening the string and, oh my. Oh my, oh my. Diamonds. Beautiful, big, blue, white diamonds. A handful of diamonds for all of us. Give me that. Get away from me, you. Old woman, give it to me. Anyway, don't just get there happy with this crazy person. I have a bottle of hair. Let go of me. Oh, well, will you look at that? Her hair came clean off. It's a wig. This person is not one of us. This is a man.
[00:33:14] Unknown:
I had to laugh. I I really I really had to laugh. There you are, Andrew, doing a superb piece of acting. A man with only a scarf tied on your head, making everyone believe you're a woman. And you get into a fight with another guy disguised. That's a woman. And when you ran out of there with that bag of diamonds, I'd say I never saw such a picture of collected female shotgun all my life. Woo hoo. Wait till you see the pictures I took. How is the prisoner? Jeffrey Knox? I can't keep him here much longer. Impersonating a woman is still not a federal offense, but, I am holding him for questioning. Okay. Let's have him in.
He's still in that dress, so don't laugh. Alright. Harry, show mister Knox in here. Will you please? Well, I thank you. Well, there won't be hell here long. I'm sorry we all meet again under these rather painful circumstances. Jeffrey, I'm very disappointed in you. You told me you had bought that painting showing the garden behind Mead's farmhouse, and mister Krauss told me someone had stolen it from him. Well, I don't know why Krauss lied to you. He must have had his own reasons. I bought it from Krauss because I persuaded him he couldn't pass up $25,000. He was reluctant because male descendants, I understand, are prohibited to have the painting.
But money talked. Why was it necessary to remove the identical painting from the apartment across the street? Why did you need two? Well, remember that morning, mister Wolf, you and I were to meet her? Well, I'm afraid I set you up. I went there two hours earlier. She was also an ox, old, desperate, and unhappy, and as I knew before I went, convinced the painting had ruined her life. And she asked me to remove it and burn it. You see, this meant I would be the only one with an evidential positive claim. I did as she asked, moved away to another part of town, and that night, well, I learned that you'd taken our own life.
And the following day, the fourth, you returned to her apartment, put on her clothes, and disguised as a woman, went out to Gettysburg. To Mead's Farm, which you helped identify for me, mister Wolf. The irony of all this is my disguise didn't help me. You, mister Wolf, not even related to our family, you found the treasure. No. No. I didn't find it. If there really is a fortune hidden in that garden, it's still there. Just just a minute, Andrew. I saw you with the diamond. All you saw was a bag. I said it contained beautiful large blue white perfect stones, but how do you know? Andrew, I give you just twenty four hours to come up with those diamonds.
I'll be waiting for you here right at my desk. Yes, sir. What can I do for you? My name is Andrew Knox. I've been given your name by my mother, missus Harley Knox. No doubt the name is familiar to you. You did say, missus Harley Knox? Certainly, sir. Well, this is an honor. Well well well, what can I do for you, mister Knox? My mother has been going through some old family papers, and discovered in one of them her great great grandfather, right, she's hoping to bequeath assets, which he has turned into diamonds, bequeath them to his descendants.
Is, is that really true? I understand you believed it was. Oh, well, for a number of years, mister Knox, I have been trying to assist those entitled to share the fortune. How have you gone about it? Well, I have sold them a painting which I believe was done by Harley Knox in prison and showed the exact spot where the fortune is hidden. Over the years, how many of the Knox family have you assisted in their search? Oh, two dozen or three dozen or so. There are 36 identical painting? Oh, no. No, sir. Only two. How do you circulate them? Well, after a year or so, the Knox relative has a very good general idea of where to look and, once a year, they all gather. Now if the painting is no longer needed, they return it to me and I give them their money back. You do? Mhmm.
How much do you charge for the paintings? Well, I, I can't reveal that, mister Knox. It would embarrass your relative. Yeah. Miss Krauss, I'll show you photographs taken this July 4 in the garden behind the Mead Farmhouse. Were all these ladies your clients at one time? Well, I I I don't know. I suggest they were. They've each paid you at least $10,000 Well, speak the truth, mister Kraus. There is no fortune hidden in that garden. You've taken advantage of ancient hearsay and the gullibility of unfortunate women. But I have done nothing wrong. The police have given these photographs to the newspapers to publish. You are in big trouble, mister Krauss. Oh, I don't understand. Mister Krauss, how do you know about all of this? Because, mister Krauss, I am not the son of missus Harley Knox.
I am the same Andrew Wolf who came to see you not very long ago. No. I am very confused. I I don't see what this has to do with me. Oh, you will. I assure you when you arrive at the police station. Well, it's about time you showed up, Andrew. This place has been a madhouse. All those women who were at Gettysburg, they saw their pictures, and they've been here asking for their share of the diamonds you found. I don't know whether you've met mister Kraus, inspector. Mister Kraus has made a great deal of money in this affair. A lot of money, inspector.
Over 200,000 taken from those women alone. Well, I don't see it that way, Andrew. They ended up with a couple of million dollars worth of diamonds. What diamonds? Oh, now you you're not gonna pull that again, are you? Did you see the diamonds yourself, inspector? No. I was in the farmhouse taking pictures through the window. But they were there in that leather bag you found on the sundial. This leather bag? Yes. Yes. That's the one. Tip out the contents on your desk, inspector. What's that? A jeweler's glass. It's my own. I take it everywhere to detect flaws in arguments, like a rabbit's foot. Where are the diamonds?
There aren't any. There never were any, and mister Krauss knows it. I suggest, inspector, that you obtain a full statement from him, and I shall bring suit on behalf of all the injured ladies to recover the money they invested in this dreamed up scheme. I imagine mister Krauss has sizable assets. Oh, sir, there was something you wish to say? If you're like me, you had to be on your toes to follow every turn made by Andrew Wolf, for he thinks fast and moves even faster. A man of many resources, unrivaled cleverness, and a veteran of disguises with the ability to be a lion or a sheep in Andrew Wolf's clothing.
There are those who live by their wits, and there are those who feed from others' plates. It has been said that everyone has the makings of a criminal in him, latent, lying asleep, hopefully never to be awakened. Think to yourself how simple it would be to cheat a friend. Take advantage of a situation or profit from other people's mistakes. How easy. And then say to yourself, oh, no. That's much too hard for me to do. Our cast included Robert Dryden, Earl Hammond, and Lloyd Bautista. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. This is E. G. Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre.
Until next time, Pleasant?
[00:42:45] Unknown:
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Introduction to the Mystery
The Retirement of Andrew Wolf
The Civil War Connection
The Mysterious Painting
A Deadly Discovery
The Antique Dealer's Secret
The Gettysburg Picnic
A Gathering at Mead's Farm
The Hidden Treasure
The Unveiling of the Truth
The Final Confrontation
