The Case of the Two-Faced Firemaster: Nick Carter, Master Detective (September 21, 1947)

“The Case of the Two-Faced Firemaster” is an episode of Nick Carter, Master Detective, the old-time radio show, first broadcast September 21, 1947. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Nick Carter investigates the illegal sale of untraceable firearms after two teenagers attempt a holdup at a hardware store, leaving one dead. A professional gun smuggler has been removing serial numbers and selling weapons to criminals, and Nick poses as a gangster from St. Louis to infiltrate the operation and trace the guns back to their manufacturer.

A city with a hardware store on 10th Avenue, a police station, a hospital, and the offices of a gun manufacturing firm called Rodney Valens, Inc.

Characters: Nick Carter, Batsy, Waldo, Scubby, Johnny Maclin, Fred, Mr. Gerard, Sergeant Brady

Listen for: Nick's clever method of recovering serial numbers from filed firearms using chemical reagent to reveal the original stamps in the metal's crystalline structure, and his undercover operation as a tough gangster named King from St. Louis.

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.