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Transcript

Dragnet: The Big Frame (EP4478) · The Great Detectives Present Dragnet (Old Time Radio)

• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: email it to me Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net.
• 0:46
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• 0:50
  Speaker 1: out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com slash Great Detectives. Today's
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: program is brought you in part by the financial support
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  Speaker 1: of our listeners. You can support the show on a
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  Speaker 1: one time basis by mailing a donation to Adam Graham
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  Speaker 1: of our ongoing Patreon supporters for as little as two
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: dollars per month by going to Patreon dot Great Detectives
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: dot net. Well, now it is time for this week's
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: episode of Dragnet. The original aired eight July sixth, nineteen
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: fifty and the title is The Big Frame.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: The story you are about to hear is true, only
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: Dragnet.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned a hit and run
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: felony detail. A dead body is found in the streets
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: in the early hours of the morning. There's only one clue,
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: a set of skid marks on the pavement. Your job
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: find the killer.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: Dragnet the document a drama of an actual crime. For
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: Police Department, you will travel step by step on the
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: side of the law through an actual case transcribed from
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: official police files, from beginning to end, from crime to punishment.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: Dragnet is the story of your police force in action.
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: It was Monday, April nineteenth, was windy in Los Angeles.
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: We're working the day watch out of Traffic Division. My
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: partner's Ben Romero Loss, Lieutenant Calfrey, Commander A I d.
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: My name is Friday.
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: Was seven fifty five am when I got to the
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: second floor at one twenty three South figure Ou Street.
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: Accident investigation, get and run, following detail.
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: Get tell me more and Joe George, Yeah, how is it?
• 3:16
  Speaker 5: Oh it's not much better still aching m rough lousy
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: thing kept me up most of the night. Check of
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: that dentist that told you about Yeah I did, says
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: it's a wisdom too. Eh.
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: This one here, well, yeah, since gotta come out, supposed
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: to go back to see him the day.
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: That's rough, I guess.
• 3:34
  Speaker 6: Remember a friend of mine had his wisdom teeth out,
• 3:36
  Speaker 6: hurt like the devil terrible. Finally pulled him eight for
• 3:39
  Speaker 6: five six days after Roger. Excuse me, Joe, geatmid better.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: Have a fifty seven I thought about yesterday.
• 3:47
  Speaker 6: Okay, I got most of it down. I'll finish you that.
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: Friday. I ben coming yet he's down the record brough.
• 3:57
  Speaker 7: Let's see that, Joe. Yes, mm, it hasn't gone down much.
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: Uh. It's a bad Wisdom tooth. Dennis's gonna have to
• 4:04
  Speaker 5: yank it bummed down.
• 4:05
  Speaker 8: Man.
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: That's the first time I ever had any trouble with him.
• 4:08
  Speaker 7: I remember a few years back my sister Gertru had
• 4:10
  Speaker 7: had trouble with the Wisdom tooth and packed him.
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 4:13
  Speaker 7: All the side of a face was swarm book kid
• 4:16
  Speaker 7: was in terrible, pain full week. Even after they pulled it, it
• 4:19
  Speaker 7: still hid.
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: Uh huh hi Joe uh picked up the overnight reports
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: done at records mac here.
• 4:25
  Speaker 7: Yeah, oh thanks man, this one on top hand. I'd
• 4:29
  Speaker 7: like to have you to check it out. M dead
• 4:32
  Speaker 7: buddy report.
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 4:33
  Speaker 7: It left me a note on it. That's about all.
• 4:36
  Speaker 7: Hard to figure. What's the story just what you see
• 4:38
  Speaker 7: in the report.
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: The victim was Edward Raymond Stokes, seven thirty two Delano Street,
• 4:44
  Speaker 5: apartment too.
• 4:45
  Speaker 7: His body was finding a gutter in there at sixty
• 4:47
  Speaker 7: thirty per month, three o'clock this morning. No witnesses, only
• 4:50
  Speaker 7: one piece of evidence.
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: Oh see they got it listed here. Skid marks near
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: the body. That all that's it? Parent, hdn't run?
• 4:57
  Speaker 7: Where's the body mat neighborhood mortuary there Emily Hill's funeral home.
• 5:01
  Speaker 7: One of the deputy corners handled the body, but her
• 5:03
  Speaker 7: named Joe Larimore.
• 5:05
  Speaker 5: Anybody claim it yet?
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: No?
• 5:06
  Speaker 5: Okay, Ben, you ready, yea, let's go. I'm gonna check
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: you later.
• 5:10
  Speaker 6: Man, Yeah, you need any help. I've got to Clennon and.
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: Rodgers On here right. However, we managed to draw all
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: the choice ones. I don't know, skid marks and the
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: dead body. Yeah, oh say, I almost forgot. How's your Joe?
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: It still hurts, it's still swollen. What did Dennis say?
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: Wisdom tooth? Oh it's miserable. Yeah, my wife had the
• 5:38
  Speaker 5: same thing a couple of years back. Benn has tried
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: to yank the tooth and they broke right in two
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: finally got it out that's good funny thing about wisdom
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: d what's up after they pull him? Hurts for five
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: or six days.
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: Eight thirty three am, Ben and I drove about the
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: sixty third in Vermont and rechecked the spot where the
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: dead body of Edward Stokes had been found. According to
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: the report, the body was found two feet west of
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: the easterly curb and thirty two north of sixty third
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: Street on Vermont.
• 6:09
  Speaker 5: We examined the skid marks.
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: They showed definite signs of being a lot older than
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: twenty four hours.
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: The consistency of the rubber was weak, and.
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: There were heavy dirt smudges over them, indicating more aware
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: than they could have possibly had since the estimated time
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: of the victim's death. We got back in the car
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: and drove to the Emerald Hills Funeral Home at Vernon
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: and Denver Avenue.
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: Sure he's rotten weather for April. Huh, Yeah, he's funeral home.
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: Do you ever notice it? What's that? Why do they
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: always put awnings over the winds? Never opened? Ra I
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: don't know, but funeral going on? You know where the offices?
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: Here's a brass played on that door over there. That's
• 6:54
  Speaker 5: how a lot Yes, sir, here's somebody's Oh, I be
• 7:00
  Speaker 5: of service. Police officers like to talk to mister Larimore.
• 7:03
  Speaker 5: I believe he's a deputy corner. I'm mister Larimore. You
• 7:06
  Speaker 5: came about to hit and run victim.
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's right, decided Romerow. My name's Fridy. We like
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: to check the body if we could.
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: Certainly, it's back this way. Understands you moved the buddy
• 7:15
  Speaker 5: from the scene of the accident here to the mortuary. Yes,
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: that's right, early this morning. Unusual case. Careful, there's two
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: steps down just inside the door. Yeah, thank you. Why
• 7:28
  Speaker 5: do you say it's unusual, mister Larimore, Well yeah, let
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: me show you.
• 7:34
  Speaker 9: There now.
• 7:36
  Speaker 5: For one thing, the victim had a basil skull fracture.
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: I don't know about you, gentlemen, but in the hit
• 7:41
  Speaker 5: and run cases i've handled, a basil fracture is a
• 7:43
  Speaker 5: pretty rare thing. Well, it is possible, isn't it. Yes,
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: it's possible. Anything's possible. As they say, it's not usual.
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: A few other things here too, you know. How is
• 7:55
  Speaker 5: the victim's knee here? A single clean cut? Wounds on
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: the head. I've never seen anything like it, and hit
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: and run cases I've been called him. Yeah, a wound
• 8:06
  Speaker 5: on the knee doesn't gibe, does it? It was hit
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: by a car. The knees should be skinned up quite
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: a bit, exactly. You know how it usually is the
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: automobile hits the victim. There's always signs that the body
• 8:15
  Speaker 5: was either dragged or thrown, shredding and clothing, skin, knees, legs, elbows.
• 8:20
  Speaker 5: No sign of that here. You don't think the victim
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: could have been killed by hitting running cars? Any No?
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: I don't say that it's possible that it might have
• 8:26
  Speaker 5: been a car, but well, let's say it's not very probable.
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: Has anybody at all inquired about the body? Mister Lamoor?
• 8:33
  Speaker 7: No, No, that's funny.
• 8:36
  Speaker 5: Oh Lama, All right, Tom, excuse me a moment. Yeah sure, Well, yeah,
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: where do we start?
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: I don't know. Maybe we won't have to hm another
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: lead like this. We can turn over to homicide.
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: Sajan. Yeah, there's a young lady in the Yeah, she
• 9:01
  Speaker 5: wants to claim the body.
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: The girl was shown the body. She identified it as
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: that of Edward Raymond Stokes. She gave her name as
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: Marian Fuller, the victim's common law wife. After she recovered
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: from her shock, She asked if she might sit down
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: for a while and rest. We took her into one
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: of the offices in the mortuary and Ben got her
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: a glass of water. She told us that she had
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: last seen Stokes alive at about one am that morning.
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: They had been drinking together at a neighborhood bar on
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: Vermont Avenue between sixty third and sixty fourth Streets, half
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: a block from where the victim's body had been found
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: sprawled in the gutter.
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: Why don't you sit down over there as for thanks?
• 9:39
  Speaker 5: How long did you know Edward Stilkein's for her.
• 9:41
  Speaker 10: About six years on and co being together pretty much
• 9:45
  Speaker 10: for the last couple of years.
• 9:46
  Speaker 7: So, oh, my.
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: Dad, do you mind telling us exactly what happened while
• 9:50
  Speaker 5: you were with Stokes last night? Everything he can remember.
• 9:52
  Speaker 11: I can't think.
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: His headaches killing you or we should try him as
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: full it's important.
• 9:57
  Speaker 10: Well, I mean I had dinner together at the Spanish
• 9:59
  Speaker 10: show placed down on soft fig that was about a
• 10:02
  Speaker 10: quarte eight, and he drove out to the Brown Barrel
• 10:06
  Speaker 10: and Vermont. But I told you about Yeah, I think
• 10:09
  Speaker 10: I go there most of the time. We stayed there
• 10:11
  Speaker 10: and drank, played a.
• 10:12
  Speaker 11: Little shuffle board.
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: H Ye, don't go ahead.
• 10:16
  Speaker 10: Oh, we stayed too long, drank a little too much.
• 10:20
  Speaker 10: I started talking this fella next to me, and he
• 10:23
  Speaker 10: got sore. Always got jealous when he was drunk.
• 10:26
  Speaker 5: Poor Ready. Did any fight with this other man misfortned? Oh?
• 10:29
  Speaker 11: Oh no, I stopped him.
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: I made any mad.
• 10:32
  Speaker 11: He never could drink right. He always wanted to pick
• 10:34
  Speaker 11: a fight.
• 10:34
  Speaker 5: Who was the other man? You remember?
• 10:36
  Speaker 7: No, I don't.
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: I guess I had a lot to drink too.
• 10:38
  Speaker 10: He did some guy at the bar he hit ache.
• 10:43
  Speaker 5: It's not gonna take much longer, Just a few more questions,
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: Organs getting on my nerves.
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: What happened after you broke up the argument between Stokes
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: and the other man?
• 10:52
  Speaker 5: Oh?
• 10:53
  Speaker 11: Nothing.
• 10:53
  Speaker 10: We'd stayed in the bar. Had he played shuffle board
• 10:56
  Speaker 10: most of the time? I was one of the booth drinking.
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 11:00
  Speaker 10: One o'clock I started feeling six, so I went outside
• 11:03
  Speaker 10: and sat in the car.
• 11:04
  Speaker 11: I guess I passed.
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: Out there in your car.
• 11:07
  Speaker 11: No, I guess I belong to one of the fellas
• 11:09
  Speaker 11: in the bar. I passed out, and that's all I
• 11:10
  Speaker 11: can remember.
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: Did you sleep in the car all night?
• 11:13
  Speaker 11: No? I guess whoever owned.
• 11:15
  Speaker 10: It drove me home.
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: Well, how do they know where you live?
• 11:17
  Speaker 11: I must do in one of her friends.
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: I don't know.
• 11:19
  Speaker 11: I don't remember anything till this morning. They phoned me
• 11:21
  Speaker 11: out and said Eddie was dead. Who phones you missed
• 11:23
  Speaker 11: car one of our friends. I don't remember. I had
• 11:25
  Speaker 11: a rotten headache.
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: Well you can do better than that, I tell you,
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: I don't remember.
• 11:30
  Speaker 11: I phoned and told me Eddie was dead. Somebody who
• 11:32
  Speaker 11: ran Eddie down?
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: Where are we going downtown? We'll have a stenographer take
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: your statement.
• 11:38
  Speaker 11: I've got a terrible hangover. I've never had one as
• 11:42
  Speaker 11: bad as this.
• 11:43
  Speaker 5: Neither is Eddie. Let's go.
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: Well the way back to the office, Ben stopped at
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: the drugs store and I picked up a box of aspring.
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: The wisdom tooth was giving me trouble again. Clerk at
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: the soda fart and fixed something for Marion Fullora's hangover.
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: When we got her back to the office, questioned her
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: for more than an hour, but she gave us only
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: one additional piece of information. The victim, Eddie Stokes, had
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: been married before and divorced. His ex wife lived out
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: in the valley with their two children, and on several
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: occasions she came to see Stokes at the Vermont Avenue
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: bar when he failed to make the monthly payments for
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: the support of the children.
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: Each time they'd argued bitterly.
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: We had a police denographer take the four women statment,
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: and then she was released.
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: Ten forty five am.
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: Sergeants Rogers and McLennon were assigned to check out the
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: Vermont Avenue bar, where Stokes had last been seen alive.
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: Ben and I drove out to the valley to the
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: home of Catherine Stokes, the victim's former wife.
• 12:35
  Speaker 5: She met us on the front porch.
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: Inside it sounded like one of the children was practicing
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: the piano.
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: Who told her what had happened last week?
• 12:42
  Speaker 9: I think it was yes Thursday, last week Eddie hadn't
• 12:46
  Speaker 9: sent anhim money for the kid's support for three months.
• 12:49
  Speaker 9: I hated a chase after him like that. There wasn't
• 12:51
  Speaker 9: nothing else I could do.
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: Where did you meet him, miss Stokes?
• 12:54
  Speaker 9: That bar used to hang around over on Vermont, called
• 12:57
  Speaker 9: the Brown Bell or something. Wouldn't you like to come inside?
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: Yes? Thank you? You happen to know anybody by the
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: name of Marion Fuller?
• 13:09
  Speaker 11: Yes, Eddie mentioned her he was a man seeing a
• 13:13
  Speaker 11: woman like that.
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: Do you know anything about it?
• 13:15
  Speaker 9: Tom Well, whenever I saw it, he mentioned he was
• 13:18
  Speaker 9: running around with him.
• 13:20
  Speaker 11: Yes, he wanted to make me jealous.
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: Was your husband a pretty heavy drinker?
• 13:24
  Speaker 9: Yes he was, so I got the divorce. Eddie was
• 13:28
  Speaker 9: such a fine boy when we got married, good home.
• 13:32
  Speaker 5: You didn't know any of the people he'd been running
• 13:33
  Speaker 5: around with lately.
• 13:35
  Speaker 11: No, just the full of him, and that's all.
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: Can you think of anything at all? It might possibly
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: have a bearing on his death?
• 13:40
  Speaker 11: No, Eddie was probably drinking. Wanted in the street to
• 13:45
  Speaker 11: call him. I don't know. Oh, there's the bakery.
• 13:50
  Speaker 9: Man, I've got to get some bread and a few things.
• 13:52
  Speaker 11: Excuse me.
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: I think that's about it all, don't you, Joe, Yeah,
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: I'll tell you.
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: I'll leave our card here Misstokes in case you want
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: to contact his funny reason?
• 13:59
  Speaker 11: Why so wonderful?
• 14:04
  Speaker 9: When we were married, Eddie and I, my folks gave
• 14:07
  Speaker 9: us his house a wedding prison.
• 14:09
  Speaker 11: We got wonderful prisons.
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: Yeah, we had.
• 14:11
  Speaker 9: Everything we wanted, car, nice house, kids, wonderful. We started drinking.
• 14:19
  Speaker 9: Then everything went job. Everything thought all of a sudden.
• 14:24
  Speaker 9: I never knew why, Yes, ma'am.
• 14:27
  Speaker 11: How the men get that way. How do they start?
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: I don't know. We only see a part of it.
• 14:32
  Speaker 11: Yeah.
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: When they finished.
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: Twelve noon, Ben and I drove back into town to
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: Vermont and sixty third Street for a meet with Sergeants
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: Rogers and McClendon. They told us that they checked out
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: the bartender who had been on duty the night before,
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: and also seven of his customers. Their stories were almost identical.
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: Each of them remembered seeing Eddie Stokes at the bar.
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: Each of them remembered he was playing shuffle board, but
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: he was drinking heavily, and then he left the bar,
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: and about one am all of us had the idea
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: that for some reason, the bartender and the customers were lying.
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: In most cases, it's hard to find two witnesses who
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: tell identical stories, let alone seven. For the rest of
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: that afternoon, Rogers, McLennan, Ben and I spent our time
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: canvassing the neighborhood. In the vicinity of the Brown Barrel
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: tavern four forty five am, we talked to the proprietor
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: of a small grocery store two blocks down the street
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: from the tavern. He told us that he rarely visited
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: the bar, but that he thought that the man who
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: ran the butcher shop next to his place, mister Eugene Murray,
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: was a regular patron of the Brown Barrel. So we
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: went next door.
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: Town the grand job in to Murray.
• 15:38
  Speaker 12: We had anytown.
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: Yes, nice looking mates and you. Yeah, the stakes look good,
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: don't they? M h.
• 15:49
  Speaker 13: Tupou all right?
• 16:00
  Speaker 6: Else?
• 16:00
  Speaker 13: Now, missus Kidney got some nice fresh kidneys today.
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: No, I'll George.
• 16:04
  Speaker 11: You want to touch kidneys? That'll be off?
• 16:06
  Speaker 5: Put it on a bill, want to, mister Murray?
• 16:08
  Speaker 7: Yes, man, thank you?
• 16:12
  Speaker 5: Yes, their gentlemen. Can I hug you police officers? Mister
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: Murray like to ask you a few questions.
• 16:17
  Speaker 7: Oh, I'm sure glad to help out if I can.
• 16:20
  Speaker 5: Have you ever been in the Brown Barrel tavern down
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: the next block there?
• 16:23
  Speaker 13: Brown Barrel? I'll go there all the time. Say, would
• 16:26
  Speaker 13: you mind if I fix up another while we're talking?
• 16:27
  Speaker 13: Customer's gonna pick it up in a couple of minutes.
• 16:29
  Speaker 13: I don't like to keep waiting. Sure, go ahead, I
• 16:31
  Speaker 13: gotta go with the ice pot.
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: When's the last time you were in the Brown Barrel,
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: mister Murray? Last night?
• 16:42
  Speaker 14: The picture we dropped in at the Barrel and.
• 16:45
  Speaker 5: Way home for a beer about what time? Is that
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: pretty close to too?
• 16:50
  Speaker 13: What's the matter some kind of trouble?
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: Did you notice anything unusual while you're in there? Anybody
• 16:55
  Speaker 5: fighting or arguing?
• 16:56
  Speaker 13: No, we were only in there a couple of minutes.
• 16:58
  Speaker 13: But now that you mentioned that something funny happened.
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: What was that?
• 17:02
  Speaker 13: Well, a bartender, Carl, and a half dozen of the
• 17:04
  Speaker 13: neighborhood gang were back in one of the boots talking together.
• 17:08
  Speaker 13: They seemed kind of nervous and now I'm seeing to
• 17:10
  Speaker 13: be having a good time. Yeah, a wife and I
• 17:13
  Speaker 13: yelled hello at him, but they kind of gave us
• 17:15
  Speaker 13: to go by. Then this drunk came up to us,
• 17:18
  Speaker 13: uh and they say, officer, would you reach that knife
• 17:21
  Speaker 13: for me?
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: Which one did happen? Oh? Yeah here? Yeah, yeah go ahead. Yeah.
• 17:26
  Speaker 13: Well this a drunk came up to us and whispers
• 17:28
  Speaker 13: to me, say, you better get out of here. There's
• 17:31
  Speaker 13: been a fight.
• 17:33
  Speaker 5: Isn't that a beautiful piece of meat? Well?
• 17:35
  Speaker 13: I didn't pay much attention to him. He was pretty drunk,
• 17:38
  Speaker 13: could hardly understand him. I I guess they have a
• 17:41
  Speaker 13: lot of fights in there anyway.
• 17:42
  Speaker 6: Is that all he told you?
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: They've been a fight? Yeah?
• 17:44
  Speaker 15: That time?
• 17:45
  Speaker 13: Well, He came back a couple of minutes later and
• 17:47
  Speaker 13: whispered the same thing. You better get out. There's been
• 17:50
  Speaker 13: a fight, he said. The wife and I just laughed
• 17:52
  Speaker 13: at him. He said, I know all about it. A
• 17:55
  Speaker 13: guy's been murdered.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: You are listening to dragnet, the case history of a
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: police investigation presented in the public Interest.
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: Six pm, Ben and I went back to Homicide to
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: turn the case over to them. They asked us to
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: handle the investigation for another day because they were short
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: of men at the moment, because there was still a
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: big doubt of whether or not Eddie Stokes had really
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: been murdered. Actually, the only solid lead we had was
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: the second hand testimony of a drunken witness. That and
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: the deputy coroner's doubts that Stokes was actually the victim.
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: Of a hit and run.
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: Mister Murray, the butcher didn't know the name of the
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: man who told him that there'd been a.
• 18:44
  Speaker 5: Murder, and he could give us only a meager description.
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: We brought Marian Puller back in and requestioned her.
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: She stuck to her story. She didn't remember anything. She
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: was released again. Looked like we were in for a
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: long night. We went across the street for a bowl
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: of soup and a sandwich. And when we got back,
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: Ben called his wife and totally he'd be working late.
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: I called my mother working late a king.
• 19:04
  Speaker 14: Oh, Joseph, how's your tooth feeling?
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: That's a little better, mind, it's still pretty tender. I'm
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: gonna go to the dentist tomorrow.
• 19:12
  Speaker 14: Yes, you gotta have that attendant to right away. Bad
• 19:15
  Speaker 14: teeth can poison your whole system. You be sure. And
• 19:19
  Speaker 14: see that dentist. Is he a good one?
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he's okay. One of the fellas down there told
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: me about him. I'll see a little later. I don't
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: wait up.
• 19:25
  Speaker 14: Yeah, and you don't work too late, Joseph, you need
• 19:29
  Speaker 14: your rest.
• 19:30
  Speaker 5: Yeah, okay, Man, goodbye.
• 19:32
  Speaker 11: All right, Joseph, goodbye, Joe.
• 19:38
  Speaker 5: Yeah, just talk to that butcher's wife on the phone,
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: Miss Murray. What'd she have to say? Ask you the
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: same questions we asked Murray? She couldn't add my same story.
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: You have some cowain?
• 19:46
  Speaker 7: Yeah, Man, Rogers and mcclenan just called and they're still
• 19:49
  Speaker 7: out at that bar.
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: Now.
• 19:50
  Speaker 7: Finally got somebody to talk a little. But again the
• 19:53
  Speaker 7: bar boy out there, he says there was a fight
• 19:55
  Speaker 7: happened about one point thirty.
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: Doesn't remember who was fighting. Not much here.
• 19:59
  Speaker 7: Barboy's name is. He told Rogers. He went outside about
• 20:02
  Speaker 7: twenty minutes to two to put the garbage out. He
• 20:04
  Speaker 7: saw the fullow woman asleep in that car.
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: You get the license number?
• 20:07
  Speaker 7: No, said there was a ticket on the windshield.
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: Ben and I checked with the sergeant of the watch
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: at seventy seventh Street Division. He told us Unit one
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: to eleven was as signed to the area where the
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: Brown Barrel was located. And checking their worksheet, we found
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: that Unit one eleven had issued a hang on citation
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: the night before to a car park near sixty three
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: thirty and one a half Vermont Avenue, the address of
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: the Brown Barrel tavern. We checked the license number through
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: DMV and found that the car was registered to a
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: William R. Huddy, fourteen Naylor Street. We drove out to
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: the Naylor Street address and talked to Huddy's wife. She
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: told us he was playing in a shuffleboard tournament that
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: night at a bar down on South Olive Street eight
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: fifty five pm. We checked in at the bar bar.
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: Then, oh yes, sir, what'll it be?
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: You know, if there's a William Huddy in here. He's
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: supposed to be playing a shuffle board game here tonight.
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I know how good.
• 20:57
  Speaker 7: He's with the Highland Park team.
• 20:59
  Speaker 5: Yeah. Let me see. Yeah, that's him up now out
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: on the blue shirt. Thank you, mine, Ben, I said, Bell,
• 21:07
  Speaker 5: good way, make it another three?
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: Oh that cleans the good one.
• 21:14
  Speaker 6: Bell.
• 21:14
  Speaker 15: Yeah, that's pretty close.
• 21:15
  Speaker 11: Speet that one makes.
• 21:18
  Speaker 7: Excuse me?
• 21:19
  Speaker 5: Yeah, you're with him, honey, Yeah, that's right. Police officers
• 21:23
  Speaker 5: would like to talk to you a minute. Oh what
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: about I think to ask you a few questions. You
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: stepped over here, man, Oh yeah, alright. Were you at
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: the Brown Bell tavern out on Vermont last night?
• 21:36
  Speaker 15: Yeah?
• 21:36
  Speaker 5: I was.
• 21:37
  Speaker 15: Why what's the matter?
• 21:38
  Speaker 11: You know?
• 21:39
  Speaker 7: Uh?
• 21:39
  Speaker 5: Marion Fuller?
• 21:40
  Speaker 15: Yeah, she hangs around the place. She goes with a
• 21:42
  Speaker 15: guy named Eddie.
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: Did you drive her home last night? Oh?
• 21:46
  Speaker 15: Yes, as a matter of fact, I did. She passed
• 21:48
  Speaker 15: out my car. It's a nice kid, but she drinks
• 21:51
  Speaker 15: a lot.
• 21:51
  Speaker 5: I drove her home. Do you mind telling us what
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: happened at the bar last night when you were there? Alright?
• 21:55
  Speaker 15: Well, I commented about nine o'clock I stopped playing shuffle
• 21:58
  Speaker 15: board with a couple of guys. This guy, Eddie Stokes
• 22:00
  Speaker 15: was one of them. Yeah, when they got no beef
• 22:03
  Speaker 15: with the guy at the bar over Marrion, it's nothing.
• 22:05
  Speaker 15: Big guy left after a while, Go ahead, what's about all?
• 22:09
  Speaker 15: I left the place around one thirty and they said
• 22:11
  Speaker 15: he was beefing with some merchant semen about that time.
• 22:15
  Speaker 5: Was the fuller girl still to buy at that time? No?
• 22:17
  Speaker 15: When I went outside, I saw a sleep on my car,
• 22:19
  Speaker 15: so I drove her home. I left her off and
• 22:21
  Speaker 15: then come back to the bar. That's when they told me.
• 22:24
  Speaker 15: Told you what When I said that he had a
• 22:26
  Speaker 15: fight with this merchant seaman, they said, to be better
• 22:28
  Speaker 15: if we kept it quiet.
• 22:29
  Speaker 5: Who told you that?
• 22:30
  Speaker 15: Call a bartender? When I got the real story from
• 22:33
  Speaker 15: one of the fellas, I was playing shuffle board with
• 22:35
  Speaker 15: Leo mccartty.
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: Whatd he tell you?
• 22:38
  Speaker 15: And he said that when Eddie Stokes left, the merchant
• 22:40
  Speaker 15: seaman followed him out. He said he chased Eddie. McCarty
• 22:44
  Speaker 15: went out about five minutes later. Yeah, well the merchant
• 22:46
  Speaker 15: seamen was gone and Stokes was lying the gutter down
• 22:49
  Speaker 15: the street.
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: Did McCarty look at him.
• 22:51
  Speaker 15: Yeah, he said Stokes looked pretty bad, so he looked
• 22:54
  Speaker 15: like he was dead, but.
• 22:55
  Speaker 5: I wouldn't believe that. Why not This mccartty always exaggerates.
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: Ten fifteen pm we had William Huddy come back to
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: the office with us, where he questioned him further and
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: took his statemom. Then we had his friend Leo McCarty
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: brought in along with a bartender at the Brown Barrel
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: tavern and the customers that he'd framed his story with.
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: McCarty was the first to give us the straight story,
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: and then the others followed. The bartender, Carl Jansen, who
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: also owned the bar, was the last to break How.
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: About it, Jensen, why didn't we get a straight story
• 23:26
  Speaker 5: to begin with? What about the publicity? How would that look?
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: A murderer ond my place.
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: Could work out worse than that, mister Janson. You've been
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: withholding evidence. You talk these people into the same deal.
• 23:36
  Speaker 12: I'd protect myself. Newspaper's order Scandaled recommends business. I had
• 23:42
  Speaker 12: to keep it quiet. It's not my fault that Stokes
• 23:44
  Speaker 12: has killed. I didn't do it. I'm not to blame, no, But.
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: You know who is to blame? Now? How about it?
• 23:48
  Speaker 5: Who is he?
• 23:50
  Speaker 12: He works on the ships comes in here. Most of
• 23:53
  Speaker 12: the time when he's important. What's his name, Henry Baxter. Okay,
• 23:57
  Speaker 12: some of his paychecks.
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: Ben, you better get the captain there.
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah, hitn't run Felony Friday.
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: Oh yeah, no, just a minute for you, Jansen.
• 24:09
  Speaker 12: Oh yeah, thank you, Yes, oh yes, just a minute, sergeant.
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's my wife. She's at the bar now.
• 24:22
  Speaker 12: She thought you ought to know, you know, Henry Baxter,
• 24:26
  Speaker 12: free to says, he just came in.
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: I talked to Jansen's wife and told her to lay
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: Baxter as long as possible without arousing his suspicions. Eleven
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: twenty five pm, Ben and I and mister Jansen, along
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: with Rogers and McLennon, drove out to the Brown Barrel
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: tavern on Vermont. When we got there, Baxter was gone.
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: Missus Jansen told us he was pretty drunk. With the
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: time he left the bar. She'd watched him go down
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: one block across the street and then enter a small
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: night club on the opposite side called the Pink Shamrock.
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: She'd been keeping an eye on the place, and as
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: far as she knew, Baxter was still inside. We went
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: down the street to the nightclub. Rogers and McLennon covered
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: the back entrance. We got inside in the middle of
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: a floor show. A blonde was doing some kind of
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: a dance. Can you sparty, mister Johnson?
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: Uh, I don't see. Yeah, how about over on this
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: side back in the corner there.
• 25:19
  Speaker 7: No, no, he's not there so dark and I can't
• 25:22
  Speaker 7: see too well anyway.
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: And there's the re erected to the pinace. He could
• 25:26
  Speaker 5: have slipped out that way and what like have you?
• 25:28
  Speaker 11: Could you take it soon your photograph?
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: No? No thanks, Maybe we better check with the waiter.
• 25:32
  Speaker 5: Be just a minute.
• 25:35
  Speaker 16: That man over there at that table way, yeah yeah,
• 25:39
  Speaker 16: I mean almost positive were left, say next that pillage
• 25:45
  Speaker 16: just behind it to see it?
• 25:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, that's you.
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: That's you.
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: All right, Come on Ben, you stay right here, mister
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: Janson gere.
• 25:52
  Speaker 7: Bet wait they wait you look cocade you later none
• 26:01
  Speaker 7: of cokeh.
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: You didn't get me back to yeh that's say what
• 26:05
  Speaker 5: police officers? Let me talk to you. Yeah okay, yeah, outside.
• 26:12
  Speaker 12: I said nothing and let's see the show.
• 26:14
  Speaker 5: Let's go outside. Come on back. I want him?
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: And what's the beef anyway?
• 26:18
  Speaker 5: You know what to do?
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: Sure, I know what's come on a lot?
• 26:23
  Speaker 7: You punk got his stokes trying to give me a
• 26:25
  Speaker 7: bad card.
• 26:26
  Speaker 6: Now you know it's what a bad time is.
• 26:28
  Speaker 13: Thank you.
• 26:29
  Speaker 5: Come on, how's he funck Stokes? I showed him how
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: it's done to keep your boy stock.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: I slugged him, pounded his hat on the curb.
• 26:35
  Speaker 6: He was talking right in the water out.
• 26:37
  Speaker 5: Come on outside, Hey, everybody, I killed that he Stokes?
• 26:40
  Speaker 14: I killed him.
• 26:46
  Speaker 17: Yeah, that's get him out of here. Yeah, okay, how's
• 26:55
  Speaker 17: that tooth feel?
• 26:56
  Speaker 11: You know?
• 26:57
  Speaker 5: It seems okay? Better have the dinners yank it out first.
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: Anymore they call hold off a while.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: The story you have just heard was true, only the
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: names have been changed to protect the innocent.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: On July thirtieth, trial was held in Superior Court, Department
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: eighty seven, City and County of Los Angeles, State of California.
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: In a moment the results of that trial, Henry John
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: Baxter was tried and convicted in Superior Court of manslaughter.
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: He received the sentence as prescribed by law and is
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: now serving as term in the state penitentiary. You have
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: just heard Dragnets, a series of authentic cases from official files.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: Technical advice for Dragnet comes from the Office of Chief
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: of Police W. A. Wharton Los Angeles Police Department, Sarah
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: Berner stars and Sarah's private keeper. Next ton NBC.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Welcome Back. This is one of those episodes I have
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: a really strong memory of. It's got an engaging premise,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: and really I think the dialogue is written in a
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: really realistic way, and it's fun just to watch and
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: see how they're able to unpeel the layers and finally
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: get to the truth. I honestly recommend the TV version
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: of this, not because it's necessarily better, but there are
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: some key differences, and eventually we'll get into playing it
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: on video theater. But they've got a really cool shot
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: in there when they come in and crash the shuffle
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: board tournament. In addition, the TV episode came out in
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: nineteen fifty four after Joe's Mom had been written out
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: of the show and with Frank Smith instead of Ben
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: Romero as his partner, and because of this, the whole
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: toothache story had a different trajectory and a completely different ending.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: If you were sitting there listening to this episode and
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: we're wondering how would Frank Smith have reacted to this toothache,
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: you'll be able to find out when you watch the
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: TV episode. The radio episode was strong, and I think
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: may have had more voices that I was easily able
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: to pick out than any we've heard. Not only do
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: we get Dragnet regulars like Stacy Harrison, of course Peggy Weber,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: but I also heard Sheldon Leonard. One of those great
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: vois is that you don't associate with Dragnet. Of course,
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: if you've been listening to the Amazing World of Radio
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: summer series, he was in the last two episodes of
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: that series, so I've kind of been keyed into his voice.
• 30:13
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Well, listener comments and feedback, and we have a new
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: listener comment from our survey and it's a simple great show. Well,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: thank you so much. Appreciate you taking the time to
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: fill out the listener survey, and that will actually do
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: it for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: us using your favorite podcast software. And if you're enjoying
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: it on YouTube, be sure to like the video, subscribe
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: to the channel, and mark the notification bell all those
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: great things that help YouTube channels to grow. Tomorrow, watch
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: for public Domain Video Theater and we'll have another episode
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: of Racket Squad available at Video Theater dot. Great Detectives
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: dot net or on our YouTube channel, and of course,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: next Saturday, we'll be back with another episode of Dragnet.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: But join us back here tomorrow as we kick off
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: our listener support and Appreciation campaign with our first listener
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: Support Appreciation special where you'll hear.
• 31:19
  Speaker 18: Well, this is a pleasant surprise, mister Dunn. But tell me,
• 31:22
  Speaker 18: how did you know what I looked like?
• 31:24
  Speaker 8: Well, Paula Schendler's accent doesn't happen. His vocabulary miscut you.
• 31:28
  Speaker 8: He used the right adjuctives.
• 31:29
  Speaker 5: Believe me.
• 31:30
  Speaker 18: I'd love to believe you, but I can't, mister Dunn,
• 31:34
  Speaker 18: because Paula Schender never saw me in his life. All
• 31:36
  Speaker 18: our business was done by telephone.
• 31:38
  Speaker 8: Okay, my mistake. I'm Philip Malo Lenny, and I want
• 31:42
  Speaker 8: to know when we run it. But with forty four
• 31:44
  Speaker 8: diamond heead circle for the cloak of command mayor cloak.
• 31:47
  Speaker 18: Yeah, you and no more Philip Marlo than you are
• 31:49
  Speaker 18: Leland Dunn. And if you need a reason, it's that
• 31:51
  Speaker 18: I just left Philip Marlow upstairs.
• 31:53
  Speaker 8: Wait a minute, baby, there's only one model that's me.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: I can prove it.
• 31:56
  Speaker 18: I'll bet you can forge papers and all I've already
• 31:59
  Speaker 18: been warned to watch for imposters, so quit wasting both
• 32:01
  Speaker 18: your time and mine and get out of my way.
• 32:02
  Speaker 18: I got things to do, money for what proof that
• 32:05
  Speaker 18: you're neither dumb nor monal but Kameamea himself.
• 32:09
  Speaker 8: No thanks and goodbye.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then in the meantime,
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: send your comments to Box thirteen at Greatdetectives dot net,
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com slash Great Detectives from Boise, Idaho.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. Sign and off.