The Carboniferous Dolomite Matter

Originally Aired: July 13, 1954Johnny Dollar #223, "The Carboniferous Dolomite Matter,"Johnny Dollar travels to Sumatra when oil company owner Peter Van Oosterhout makes an unusual request: instead of accepting $60,000 in insurance money for destroyed drilling equipment, he wants the company's best investigator for three weeks. Van Oosterhout believes someone is deliberately sabotaging his oil operation with explosions and equipment failures, and he suspects even the government inspector assigned to the case, Inspector Podjok, may be working against him. With his drilling permit expiring in three weeks, Van Oosterhout is gambling everything on striking oil before time runs out.Johnny's investigation becomes complicated when Van Oosterhout's daughter, Frederica Reynolds, warns him that her husband, an oil engineer, has proven there's no oil at the site. She believes her father's weak heart won't survive the disappointment of a dry well and urges Johnny to convince him to take the insurance money instead. But before Johnny can even visit the drilling site, Inspector Podjok arrives at his hotel room at two in the morning with urgent questions.