The Case of the Professional Beggar: Nick Carter, Master Detective (August 15, 1948)

“The Case of the Professional Beggar” is an episode of Nick Carter, Master Detective, the old-time radio show, first broadcast August 15, 1948. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

Listen to Nick Carter, Master Detective free, live around the clock: every episode, in the order it first aired. No sign-up.

What happens

When a frightened boy delivers a misdirected letter to Nick Carter's office, Nick discovers the boy witnessed a murder that morning—the killing of assistant DA Billy Davis. The letter, addressed to neighbor Mr. Van Dyke, comes from Major Hector Dowd. Nick traces the boy to the Major's house and learns he saw a man named Gatsley shoot Davis on Holland Street. Now the Major has hidden the boy in his basement and made a mysterious phone call, his intentions unclear.

A brownstone mansion on the corner of Fifth and Fourth in the city; Holland Street where the murder occurs; Major Dowd's house next door to Nick Carter's office.

Characters: Nick Carter, Patsy Bowen, Sergeant Maddie Mathis, Billy Davis, Mr. Van Dyke, Major Hector Dowd, Rodney, Gatsley

Listen for: The connection between Major Dowd and the murder; why the Major is hiding the boy; what the Major's phone call to the neighbor means for everyone's safety.

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.