Ep.489 Nick Carter Master Detective: Death In The Pines

Nostalgic Mystery Radio

In 'Death in the Pines,' Nick Carter investigates the murder of Regan, Tate's long-time driver, who was shot and his truck set ablaze after

Key takeaways

• The hijackers changed their tactics mid-attack, killing the driver instead of just stealing cargo—indicating they were trying to eliminate someone who recognized them.

Main topics

• Racketeering and extortion in 1940s trucking industry

Notable quotes

"If you want to stay alive, get down out of that cab and keep quiet."

Conclusion

Nick Carter solves the case by exposing an internal betrayal within Tate's company,

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:18) Hello, and welcome to another episode of Nostalgia Mystery Radio. I'm your host, Stevie K, and it's my honor to bring you the radio shows of yesteryear. For this episode, I bring you Nick Carter, Master Detective, episode titled Death in the Pines, originally aired March 4th, 1944, where Regan was Tate's oldest and best driver. And when racketeers stopped his truck, he recognized the voice of one of the hijackers and was shot dead. along with a helper. So sit back and relax, and I hope you enjoy this nostalgic mystery radio. Thank you for listening. What Speaker 2 (1:20) is it? Speaker 5 (1:20) Another case for Nick Carter, master detective. Speaker 3 (1:32) Yes, it's another case for that most famous of all man hunters, the detective whose ability at solving crime is unequaled in the history of detective fiction. Nick Carter, Master Detective. Tonight's curious adventure, Speaker 5 (1:45) Death in the Pines. For Nick Carter and the mystery of the murdered driver. Speaker 8 (2:01) Let's see. There's a truck coming up the grade now. It ought to be them. Speaker 5 (2:05) Yeah. Just 130. That's a tape Speaker 8 (2:09) truck, all right. Now, you guys know what to do. We've done it often enough before. All right. Get going. When the truck gets close enough, I'll put the searchlight in the driver's face like before. He'll stop fast enough. Speaker 6 (2:32) What the blazes goes on here? What's the big idea? Get Speaker 8 (2:36) those hands up, wise guy, and get down out of that cab. Speaker 6 (2:38) You guys can't get away with this. Speaker 8 (2:40) Shut Speaker 6 (2:40) up. Speaker 8 (2:40) If you want to stay alive, get down out of that cab and keep quiet. And bring your helper down with you. Speaker 7 (2:45) You're a bunch of crooks. Don't, Jack. Don't, don't, don't. They got us. There ain't nothing we can do. Speaker 8 (2:50) Okay, boys, get busy. Get up on that truck and get that stuff dumped out in the road. Okay, sir. Shake it up, boys. We want to get out of here. Hey, keep your voice moving, Jake. We got another one to take care of, yeah? Speaker 6 (3:00) Hey, I know that voice. So you're the guy who's in back of all this hijacking. Now I know you. Oh, Speaker 8 (3:06) yeah? Well, I hope you enjoy it. Speaker 6 (3:08) What's the idea? What'd you have to kill him for? Speaker 8 (3:11) Shut up, punk. You don't want to get bumped off, too. But you didn't have to kill him. Shut up. Speaker 7 (3:17) Hey, Speaker 8 (3:17) that changes our plans a little, Jake. Get your men down off the truck. Pick these two stiffs up and put them back in the cab of the truck. Then put a hole in the gas tank and touch a match to it. Speaker 7 (3:26) Okay, boys, come on down. There Speaker 8 (3:28) won't be much left for the cops to work on when they get here, which is all right with me. I don't like to see them get killed, but when they know too much, it's the only way. Speaker 5 (3:44) I see, coroner. Yes, thanks very much. Yes, thanks. So long. Speaker 4 (3:52) You might as well let me know the worst, Mr. Carter. After what I've been through, a little more or less doesn't matter. Mr. Tate, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, Speaker 5 (4:01) but your driver wasn't burned to death. He was shot, murdered before the truck was set on Speaker 4 (4:07) fire. I was afraid of that. Regan was my oldest and best driver. Been with me for ten years. You're having trouble with racketeers? Speaker 5 (4:14) Yes, have been for the past year. How do they work? Speaker 4 (4:18) Well, I operate about 40 trucks, hauling vegetables and green stuff from South Jersey to the New York markets. It has to be done at night, so we get to New York market before morning. About a year ago, somebody called me on the phone and said he represented a protective agency and he'd like to sell me protection at $25 a truck. $25 a truck? That's pretty steep, isn't it? It's exorbitant. I told him I wouldn't pay it. So what happened? Two days later, one of my trucks was stopped and the drivers were beaten. The produce was dumped and destroyed. The next day, the guy called again. I told him I wouldn't pay. Did you try getting protection from the state troopers? Sure I did. And they did what they could. Whenever a trooper followed one of the trucks or when one of their men rode on the truck as a helper, these trucks were never bothered. But the other trucks, it was the same old story. Speaker 5 (5:04) I see. How do you account for the fact that the trucks with the troopers on them were never touched? Speaker 4 (5:08) I don't know, unless the hijackers had spies at the loading points to watch if the trucks had their regular crews. And what was the outcome this time? In the end, I had to agree to pay the $25. Then, for six months, there was no more trouble. A week ago, this same guy called and said the ante had been raised from $25 to $40 a truck. $40? I told him I couldn't pay that because I didn't make that much. And you know what happened last night. Yes, yes, I know. Well, are you going to try to keep writing this Speaker 5 (5:37) stuff through? If you can help me, I will. I'll do it. And to begin with, I'd like to put my assistant Patsy Bowen in your office as a typist. Speaker 4 (5:45) Sure. Speaker 5 (5:45) Maybe she can learn something that will start us off in the right direction. Speaker 5 (5:59) Well, Patsy, did you have a nice eventful day in Tate's office? Speaker 2 (6:01) I learned a few things, Nick, if that's what you mean. Speaker 5 (6:04) Good. Let's have them. Speaker 2 (6:05) Mr. Tate makes up the daily schedule of operations based on the orders he receives. Then he turns the completed schedule over to Al Leparo, who's the fleet foreman. Only Mr. Tate, Leparo, and Dave Morgan, Tate's assistant, know what the orders are, as far as I can find out. I Speaker 5 (6:21) see. Any suspicions? Speaker 2 (6:22) Not yet. Leparo's been with Tate nine years and Morgan for about four years. When the trouble started about a year ago, both of them rode the trucks. Morgan was one of the drivers that got beaten up, got knocked out cold before he could see anything. Speaker 5 (6:36) Doesn't leave us much in the way of anything to go on, does it? Speaker 2 (6:39) Sorry, Nick, but that's all I could get today. Speaker 5 (6:41) Don't feel bad, Patsy. You did what you could. Speaker 2 (6:43) What's the next step? Speaker 5 (6:45) I want to talk to the state trooper who found the truck in which Regan was killed. He may be able to tell me something that's been overlooked. Speaker 4 (7:05) You say you read my report, Mr. Carter. I don't know that I can tell you anything else. Speaker 5 (7:09) Were you on the State Police Force when Tate started having his trouble about a year ago? Speaker 4 (7:13) Yes, I was. Well, Speaker 5 (7:14) that business of the hijackers never picking in a truck guarded by state troopers needs explaining. Could there have been any leak from this end? Absolutely Speaker 4 (7:22) not. I rode several of the trucks myself. None of us ever knew where we were going until Tate's office gave us our orders. Then we went out on the road just as soon as we got those orders. Speaker 5 (7:31) Good. Then the leak must be on Tate's end. Speaker 4 (7:34) Now, the next thing. Speaker 5 (7:35) Your report gives the impression that the thug simply stopped Tate's truck, killed the driver in cold blood, and then burned the truck for good measure. Speaker 4 (7:43) Was that your personal impression? Well, no. Ah. When I first got there, I was suspicious because the truck hadn't gone off the road or collided with anything that would cause a fire or a wreck. Then I remembered that Tate's truck had Speaker 5 (7:57) been having trouble a while back, so I took another look around. And the result of that second examination? The truck was surrounded by crates which had been thrown off Speaker 4 (8:05) the truck. Crates that were smashed and broken, but not burned. Now, if the hijackers were going to burn