The Chicago Fraud Matter: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (February 6, 1953)

“The Chicago Fraud Matter” is an episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, the old-time radio show, first broadcast February 6, 1953. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Insurance investigator Johnny Dollar arrives in Chicago to investigate a suspicious $50,000 life insurance claim. Christopher Lane died on the street from malnutrition, yet he passed a complete physical exam just days before, with no sign of the chronic conditions the coroner found. Dollar begins questioning the doctor who signed off on the exam to determine whether the body is actually Lane's or if fraud is at work.

Chicago, Illinois in 1953, including Dr. Unger's office, the city morgue, and Christopher Lane's apartment building.

Characters: Johnny Dollar, Miles Hartley, Lydia Staley, Dr. Wolder Unger, Miss Shutty

Listen for: The mystery of how a man could pass a clean physical exam only days before dying of severe malnutrition and undetected chronic illness; questions about whether the body in the morgue is actually Christopher Lane.

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.