The Night of the Circus of Death - Recap

In Denver, Jim visits Moore’s Emporium and asks the woman at the counter, Mrs. Priscilla Goodbody, about a $20 that the emporium deposited at the bank that morning. Priscilla is more interested in the numerological significance of Jim’s name compared to hers. While she talks, a man in a top hat watches the exchange. Jim finally gets Priscilla back on track and says that Mr. Bronzini, a traveling salesman, paid with the $20. She directs Jim to the hotel where he stays and explains that Mrs. Moore sends special orders to Bronzini two to three times a month.

Jim thanks her and goes to the hotel, and knocks at Bronzini’s door. There’s a gunshot inside and Jim breaks in. He finds Bronzini on the bed, shot in the chest. The man in the top hat emerges, wielding a candy-striped flame-thrower. Jim manages to stay one step ahead of him long enough to disarm him with a thrown vase. The man escapes out the window and Jim carries Bronzini out, taking his case with him. In the hallway, Bronzini dies from his wound and Jim finds a secret compartment in the case holding thousands of dollars in fresh bills.



At the U.S. Mint in Denver, Jim and Artie meet with the director, Abner Lennox. As his chief assistant, Burt Farnsworth, comes in, Abner insists that they are facing a major catastrophe. Farnsworth reads a report on all of the counterfeit bills that have been passed in the last three weeks, but never more than a hundred dollars per town. The agents figure that it’s a dress rehearsal, and Lennox warns that the nation isn’t prepared to cope with the infiltration of millions of dollars in near-perfect counterfeit bills. The agents take the fake money while Abner admits he has no idea who is responsible. His wife, Mary Lennox, comes in to make sure he takes his medicine.

The agents go to Doc Keyno, an expert counterfeiter that they put in prison. Keyno recognizes the work as that of the man who taught him, Harry Holmes. However, Holmes died eight years ago. Jim and Artie go to the Wanderer and send a wire to Washington to confirm that Holmes is dead. They figure that someone may have got hold of Holmes’ plates. Meanwhile, Jim receives a flyer from the Colorado and South West Circus advertising Bronzini’s tightrope walking act. He suggests that they pay a visit to the circus and get something to eat.



At the circus, the agents look around and spot a firebreather. He directs them to the owner, Colonel Housley. When they go to Housley’s trailer, they find Housley planning his circus tour. They tell him that his wirewalker is dead, and he explains that Bronzini was a loner who kept to himself. Bronzini did receive packages containing women’s clothing, which he gave to all the women at the circus except for Lola the Fat Lady.

Back at the train, Artie confirms that all of the circus’ play dates corresponded to the appearance of counterfeit bills, and Bronzini received a package from Moore’s Emporium in each one. They figure that the counterfeiter is printing the money at the emporium and Artie prepares a disguise while Jim goes back to the circus to see if Bronzini left anything behind.

At the circus, Jim sneaks in that night and makes his way to Bronzini’s wagon. Inside he finds a trunk containing a box with a piece of paper. Wrapped in the paper is a key and the note says that Bronzini will need it in Denver. Someone throws a knife through the window, just missing Jim, and he goes out after the knife-thrower. The man runs into a tent but when Jim follows him, he finds himself in a cage. The door closes behind him and a lion emerges from its cage. Jim tries to hold it off with a lion tamer’s chair but it soon breaks it. A woman comes in and initially assumes that Jim is the new lion timer. When he explains that he isn’t, the woman tosses him a whip to intimidate the lion back into its cage. The woman unlocks the cage door and introduces herself as Erika. She threatens to arrest him for trespassing but realizes that he was injured and goes to get something for his wound.



At the Emporium, Artie arrives disguised as Southern gentleman Emerson P. Gentry. He asks after Priscilla but when he’s informed that she only works during the day, says that he’s shopping for his wife. Artie flirts with her and pays her with a counterfeit bill, and she sends it via an overhead box wire. The box comes back and Mrs. Moore removes a gun from it while her assistants lock the door.



Erika tends to Jim’s wound and he explains that someone lured him into the cage. When he tells her that Bronzini was murdered, Erika admits that she didn’t now about her co-worker’s death. When Jim asks if Bronzini was with any woman more than once, Erika says there was one woman but she always stayed in the shadows. However, she did nervously play with her earring. Jim thanks her with a kiss for saving his life and departs.

Mr. Moore want to know where Artie got the counterfeit $20. She doesn’t believe him and explains that they made the bill and knows that they weren’t passed in Wichita like he claims. Artie confesses that he stole it from Bronzini, and Mrs. Moore accepts his story and explains that Bronzini was greedy. He was also stupid and accidentally spent the counterfeit $20 in her shop, and then Priscilla unwittingly took it to the bank. Mrs. Moore asks for the rest of the counterfeit money and Artie says it’s in his bag. Figuring it’s a trap, Mrs. Moore opens the bag herself. A balloon inflates, distracting her and her men long enough for Artie to duck behind the counter. They open fire only to discover the legs belong to a dummy. Artie uses the overhead box wire to deliver a knockout gas grenade.

Back at the Wanderer, Artie brings Jim up to speed. By the time he got back, someone had cut Mrs. Moore loose and she cleared out, taking the counterfeit press with her. Jim figures that they’re making someone nervous and that they’re coming to Denver, and figures that the printing press is near the emporium. A messenger pigeon arrives with a message confirming that the death certificate on Holmes is authentic. The report also states that Holmes’ daughter was with her father in his last hour, and then disappeared and went west. As they wire for a description, Jim wonders where the counterfeiters get their near-perfect money. The agents figure that the counterfeiters are getting the money from the Denver Mint.



The agents visit Lennox at the mint and the director insists that Farnsworth keeps scrupulous records. They ask to talk to Farnsworth, but Lennox tells him that he’s in a high-security area. Artie reminds him that they’re Secret Service agents and Lennox reluctantly takes them to the security area. Farnsworth is coming out and insists that everything is accounted for by both himself and Lennox. Surplus money is burned in a special incinerator. As the agents go back to Lennox’s office, Artie slips into a janitor’s closet. When Lennox notices that Artie is gone, Jim says that his partner has gone ahead.

As Jim leaves, he’s unaware that the woman with the earring is watching him from a carriage. She drops a rose, a signal to Colonel Housley and the flame-thrower man. The flame-thrower man attacks Jim and knocks him through a nearby hatch and down a slide into a warehouse. More men are waiting and knock him down. A crate falls on Jim, trapping him, while a vial of chemicals is knocked over, releasing toxic fumes. The thugs run off and Jim fires a dart line over a raft. He shoots the other end into the crate and uses the rope to pull the crate up and off of him.



Artie, disguised as a janitor, checks out Lennox’s office after hours. He doesn’t find anything and Lennox comes back in. Artie fakes stupidity and claims that he just started working there, and the director orders him out. The disguised agent makes his way to the incinerator room, unaware that Lennox has taken out a gun and decided to check up on him. The mint director spots the open door to the incinerator and orders the guards to search the room and shoot any intruders. The two men find nothing and leave, unaware that Artie was hiding in one of the shutdown incinerators. After taking some ash sample, he makes a hasty exit.

At the train, Artie burns the counterfeit bills and confirms that the ash is the same as the money from the mint. They figure Farnsworth is involved and follow him as he leaves the mint. The assistant goes to an abandoned winery and Jim goes in the front while Artie circles around the back. Jim spots a wine cask with a lock that matches the key he found in Bronzini’s trunk.

Jim opens up the cask and finds a secret door leading to an old man working on an engraving plate. He shows Jim his newest work but explains that his daughter Mary only lets him play. Mary and Farnsworth come in and hold Jim at gunpoint. He figures that Mary switched in a dying tramp to “confirm” that Harry was dead. She admits that Harry has become simple with age but still retains all of his skills. Mary tells Farnsworth to escort Jim out so they don’t upset Harry.



The printing press is in the next room in the cellar, and Mary admits that her husband has no idea what she’s doing. As Farnsworth takes Jim up the stairs, the agent attacks him and then goes after the other workers. He takes them out just as Artie arrives via the back door. Jim takes Mary up and realizes that the cellar is beneath her townhouse. Lennox comes in and demands to know what’s going on.

Later, Jim and Artie bring their dates, Erika and another girl from the circus, to the train. They receive word that Mrs. Moore and her gang were captured in Tucson and share a toast. Erika assures Jim that she did quite well at lion taming and offers him some private lessons. Artie assures her date that they will be staying in Denver for the trial, and then suggests that they go out on the town. However, his partner points out that he’s inadvertently picked up some of Harry’s money and Artie suggests they eat in.



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