Latest / Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas / Dragnet: The Big Check (EP1676)
Transcript
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- 2:32Speaker 1: for great detectives of old time radio. Well, now it's
- 2:36Speaker 1: time for today's episode of Dragnet. The original air day
- 2:41Speaker 1: August thirty, first of nineteen fifty. The title The Big Check.
- 2:55Speaker 2: The story you are about to hear is true, only
- 2:58Speaker 2: the names have been changed.
- 3:00Speaker 3: Protect the Innocent.
- 3:01Speaker 4: Fatima Cigarettes best of all, Long Cigarettes brings you Dragnet.
- 3:16Speaker 2: You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned a forgery detail. An
- 3:20Speaker 2: accomplished check forger is at work in your city. His
- 3:24Speaker 2: victims small businessmen. You know his m O.
- 3:28Speaker 3: You don't know his identity.
- 3:30Speaker 2: Your job.
- 3:32Speaker 5: Get him.
- 3:36Speaker 6: If you want a long cigarette, smoke the best of
- 3:38Speaker 6: all long cigarettes. Smoke extra mild Fatima. Yes, Fatima is
- 3:44Speaker 6: the king size cigarette which contains the finest Turkish and
- 3:47Speaker 6: domestic tobaccos, superbly blended to make it extra mild, to
- 3:52Speaker 6: give Fatima a much different, much better flavor and aroma
- 3:56Speaker 6: than any other long cigarette. That's why Fatima has more
- 4:00Speaker 6: more than doubled its smokers.
- 4:01Speaker 5: Coast to coast.
- 4:02Speaker 6: Enjoy extra mild Fatima yourself, best of all long cigarettes.
- 4:08Speaker 2: It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima.
- 4:11Speaker 7: It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima.
- 4:20Speaker 4: Dragnet, the documented drama of an actual crime, will the
- 4:24Speaker 4: next thirty minutes in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department.
- 4:28Speaker 4: You will travel step by step on the side of
- 4:30Speaker 4: the law through an actual case, from official police violence,
- 4:33Speaker 4: from beginning to end, from crime to punishment. Dragnet is
- 4:37Speaker 4: the story of your police force in action.
- 4:42Speaker 8: It was Monday, February fourth, was cold in Los Angeles.
- 4:46Speaker 8: We were working a day watch out of forgery detail.
- 4:49Speaker 8: My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Captain Elliott. My
- 4:52Speaker 8: name is Friday. I was on the way home from
- 4:54Speaker 8: the office, and it was eight twenty five pm when
- 4:56Speaker 8: I got to Collis Avenue, remember.
- 5:00Speaker 5: Forty six fifty six. Joseph said you, Yeama.
- 5:05Speaker 7: We're in the living room. We have company.
- 5:08Speaker 5: Oh that's all.
- 5:09Speaker 7: Hello Joe, remember Mary found?
- 5:12Speaker 5: I sure do? How are you, miss Foller?
- 5:14Speaker 9: Just signed Joe? Thank you doing some shopping out this
- 5:17Speaker 9: wedd thought I stop buying. Have a cup of tea
- 5:18Speaker 9: with your mother.
- 5:19Speaker 5: Well it's good to see. How are things in the
- 5:21Speaker 5: old neighborhood now?
- 5:22Speaker 9: Oh? Pretty much the same?
- 5:23Speaker 3: Oh?
- 5:24Speaker 9: Miss Daily remember her finally die? Yeah, I suppose it
- 5:28Speaker 9: was for the best. So I'm just telling your mother.
- 5:30Speaker 9: Jim and Louise watching finally moved. Jim got a new job.
- 5:34Speaker 9: How by all the dinner?
- 5:34Speaker 5: Oh that's all.
- 5:35Speaker 9: Yeah, Na, you certainly looking, find Joe. Don't you wear
- 5:40Speaker 9: your police uniform anymore?
- 5:41Speaker 7: Mind? No, Mary and Joseph's and the detective girl now
- 5:44Speaker 7: hasn't learned his uniform from here?
- 5:46Speaker 9: Oh that's right. I remember now that note you sent
- 5:50Speaker 9: me your Christmas guide here before last. What do you
- 5:53Speaker 9: do now, Joe?
- 5:54Speaker 8: Forgery detail my partner and I am a bum checkcases
- 5:58Speaker 8: my that certainly must.
- 5:59Speaker 7: Be under it. Have you had your dinner at Jersey.
- 6:01Speaker 8: Yes, ma'am, I stopped at the place out in Santa
- 6:03Speaker 8: Monica and had something.
- 6:04Speaker 7: Yes when Mary brought me some nice coffee cakes finding
- 6:07Speaker 7: for filling, would you like them of a couple of
- 6:09Speaker 7: comfort yours?
- 6:11Speaker 5: No, I don't know.
- 6:11Speaker 7: You sit down in your chair there and rest yourself,
- 6:13Speaker 7: cos I'm so tired. I have no idea how hard
- 6:16Speaker 7: they work.
- 6:21Speaker 9: You remember Genevieve, don't you? Joe my oldest girl?
- 6:24Speaker 7: Oh?
- 6:24Speaker 5: Yeah, sure? How is she just fine?
- 6:27Speaker 9: Lots of boyfriends as usual, going out all the time.
- 6:31Speaker 5: Well, that's good.
- 6:32Speaker 9: She asked to be remembered to you. I think you
- 6:36Speaker 9: and Jen were stuck on each other at one time.
- 6:38Speaker 9: Where to do?
- 6:39Speaker 5: Oh?
- 6:39Speaker 8: We went to a couple of dances in high school
- 6:41Speaker 8: a r. I think she started going to stay with another fella.
- 6:44Speaker 9: Young girls never open their will off coffee and Joe
- 6:48Speaker 9: soon set it here in the end table.
- 6:50Speaker 5: Nice. I don't think I can use it much.
- 6:52Speaker 7: Delicious coffee cake? You smell?
- 6:56Speaker 8: Yeah?
- 6:56Speaker 5: Nice?
- 6:57Speaker 7: Oh?
- 6:57Speaker 9: My quarter to nine, I should have left, have an ago.
- 7:00Speaker 7: Oh you have to go. Maybe she's visits throng. We're
- 7:03Speaker 7: so sure?
- 7:04Speaker 9: Well, I got a lot of iron introduced and I
- 7:06Speaker 9: have to make Carl's lunch. He's always so fussy about
- 7:08Speaker 9: his lunch.
- 7:09Speaker 7: Yes, I get your cold.
- 7:11Speaker 9: Well, it's nice seeing you again, Jim. Do you want
- 7:14Speaker 9: to be remembered to Jenevieve?
- 7:16Speaker 5: Yeah, tell her hello, William is father.
- 7:18Speaker 9: If you're over our way, be sure and drop in
- 7:20Speaker 9: and see us. Let me say Jenney's home office by six.
- 7:23Speaker 9: She often says, she'd like to see you again. All same,
- 7:27Speaker 9: good night, Joe. You'd be sure to come and see
- 7:29Speaker 9: us now, Jenny'll be looking forward to it.
- 7:31Speaker 5: Okay, his following tonight, she's all right.
- 7:38Speaker 9: You know I wouldn't be You're mine.
- 7:45Speaker 7: Nice person, married, hind time trying to find a husband
- 7:50Speaker 7: for Geneva.
- 7:51Speaker 5: Yeah, hey mom, I'm not very hungry. I can't even know.
- 7:56Speaker 7: She's such a shame. Waves lovely copy cake been used
- 8:06Speaker 7: on the same case.
- 8:08Speaker 5: Yeah, same one.
- 8:10Speaker 7: It's taking it off your long time.
- 8:13Speaker 5: Oh we've been on it two months here.
- 8:16Speaker 7: Never understand that when people write bad checks always get caught.
- 8:21Speaker 5: Well, it's easy living while it lasts.
- 8:23Speaker 7: Now you know what the man's handwriting is like? Don't
- 8:29Speaker 7: you know who the man is?
- 8:31Speaker 8: Well, we think so much, we're not sure. There's hundreds
- 8:33Speaker 8: of checkmen at work, almost alike. Some of them even
- 8:35Speaker 8: look alike. There's always a big enough field to pick from.
- 8:39Speaker 5: Our problems picking the right one.
- 8:41Speaker 7: I don't know much about it, but the whole thing
- 8:42Speaker 7: is kind of silly to me.
- 8:45Speaker 5: How's that?
- 8:47Speaker 7: What's this man's supposed to be doing? They're around your
- 8:52Speaker 7: small neighborhood stores cashing fifteen twenty dollars checks? Have you
- 8:56Speaker 7: got himself a job? He's probably doing that much in
- 8:58Speaker 7: money day, doing good? Honest?
- 9:01Speaker 5: So he? Ben didn't call before I got home?
- 9:03Speaker 7: Did he?
- 9:05Speaker 8: He was going to interview one of the bum check
- 9:07Speaker 8: victims on his way home the grocery store onner down
- 9:09Speaker 8: of Highland Park.
- 9:10Speaker 5: It might be him. Now we're not that yeah Friday talking.
- 9:17Speaker 5: There's Ben Joe.
- 9:18Speaker 10: I've got a partial identification from the Grocer's nothing great.
- 9:21Speaker 5: Which mug shot did he?
- 9:22Speaker 4: Like?
- 9:22Speaker 10: Stanley Buelbeck grocer thinks it might have been the guy
- 9:25Speaker 10: pushed the check.
- 9:25Speaker 5: He can't be sure.
- 9:28Speaker 8: Thirty three bum checks passed, Samemo, not one positive identification.
- 9:32Speaker 5: Something's funny, isn't it?
- 9:33Speaker 4: All?
- 9:34Speaker 5: Got me stuff?
- 9:34Speaker 10: We know the endorsements on every one of those checks
- 9:36Speaker 10: was written with the same guy. He was practiced the
- 9:39Speaker 10: same story on every one of his victims. Yeah, those
- 9:42Speaker 10: thirty three people are either blind and they're kidding it.
- 9:45Speaker 5: There was only one other answer. We're looking for the
- 9:47Speaker 5: wrong man.
- 9:51Speaker 8: For two months and two days in different shopping districts
- 9:53Speaker 8: throughout the city, a man described as well dressed, middle aged.
- 9:57Speaker 8: It's been passing worthless checks on independent neighborhoods this man.
- 10:01Speaker 8: Most of the victims were proprietors of small shops, meet markets,
- 10:04Speaker 8: liquor stores, grocery stores. In none of the cases was
- 10:07Speaker 8: the check written for more than twenty five dollars.
- 10:10Speaker 5: With the help of the Stat's office.
- 10:11Speaker 8: And our record bureau, we've gone through the list of
- 10:14Speaker 8: experienced checkmen until we found one man who's description and
- 10:17Speaker 8: m O. Matt's perfectly with that of a suspecture. The
- 10:20Speaker 8: man's name was Stanley Buebeck.
- 10:22Speaker 10: We can't locate him cabin Another thing, we can't get
- 10:25Speaker 10: a positive identification from many of the victims.
- 10:27Speaker 11: And find a suspect they can identify. They've been tracking
- 10:30Speaker 11: the guy for two months. What's the big mestery?
- 10:32Speaker 8: Oh, he tabbed the man of Stanley Bubeck and his record.
- 10:34Speaker 8: His m is description the all tie in perfectly. Now,
- 10:37Speaker 8: we're not sure it's him.
- 10:38Speaker 12: What I mean, Well, if it is bu Beck, it's.
- 10:41Speaker 8: Almost a sure thing that one of the victims could
- 10:42Speaker 8: have made him on one of his mud shots. None
- 10:44Speaker 8: of them can make up their minds.
- 10:46Speaker 11: Look, maybe one of you two would like to be
- 10:48Speaker 11: kept in the forgery for a day. Sit in this
- 10:50Speaker 11: office and listen to complaints coming over that phone about
- 10:53Speaker 11: this guy at the front office. Neighborhood, business men's clubs,
- 10:56Speaker 11: retail merchants. They tell me they're trouble, so I'm passing
- 10:59Speaker 11: them on to you. Whoever this paper hanger is.
- 11:01Speaker 10: We want him, We want it fast, lowsy little twenty
- 11:04Speaker 10: dollars checks. We'll probably have a lot better target if
- 11:06Speaker 10: you drive something bigger and.
- 11:08Speaker 11: Don't think he and a hundred dollars checkmen like him,
- 11:10Speaker 11: don't know that you won't find him stealing company paychecks
- 11:12Speaker 11: and flood in the town with paper. They take it
- 11:15Speaker 11: from the little guy, and they take it in small amounts,
- 11:16Speaker 11: but add up those small amounts at the end of
- 11:18Speaker 11: the year, and they'll scare you.
- 11:19Speaker 8: It's a rotten part about it. None of those victims
- 11:21Speaker 8: can afford.
- 11:22Speaker 11: A bad check at grocer Donnely stands on his feet
- 11:24Speaker 11: all day and at a profit of ten to fifteen dollars,
- 11:27Speaker 11: he gets tagged with one bad check and he's working
- 11:28Speaker 11: for nothing.
- 11:29Speaker 10: We've got bulletins out on the suspect. All the small
- 11:32Speaker 10: businessmen in town. I've all been alerting.
- 11:35Speaker 3: Excuse me, catn.
- 11:37Speaker 11: Ellian, Okay, don right away, Don Myers, he went over
- 11:43Speaker 11: the handwriting those last three checks.
- 11:45Speaker 3: Wants to see you.
- 11:45Speaker 11: Okay, how about that special bulletin you got out to
- 11:49Speaker 11: the prisons on Stanley Bubeck And he replies nothing, ex
- 11:52Speaker 11: g me, all right, stay on it, right, let's go
- 11:55Speaker 11: for it.
- 11:59Speaker 5: Yes, I'd give a right arm for a line on
- 12:02Speaker 5: this guy. Yeah.
- 12:04Speaker 8: Well it would move a lot faster if somebody'd help
- 12:06Speaker 8: us follow those checks closer. The way it's running now,
- 12:08Speaker 8: we hear about the paper two weeks after it's been
- 12:10Speaker 8: cash and few bag.
- 12:11Speaker 5: Thing isn't over much, you know, you just find another
- 12:13Speaker 5: line to get a settle. Hi, don oh hi, U.
- 12:19Speaker 13: Just finished up on those last three checks that came in.
- 12:21Speaker 13: You want to give me a look, how do they say?
- 12:23Speaker 13: But well, you can see for yourself right here, yeah,
- 12:27Speaker 13: uh here the three I just went over and uh,
- 12:31Speaker 13: here are half a dozen bad ones for cash last month.
- 12:34Speaker 13: The endorsements on this half doesn't match perfectly on those
- 12:37Speaker 13: other three. Well, i'd say they were endorsed with the
- 12:40Speaker 13: same person. Oh look here you can notice the capitol letters.
- 12:45Speaker 13: He still handles them the same way, disconnected from the
- 12:48Speaker 13: other letters in.
- 12:49Speaker 5: The first name see yeah, yeah, But.
- 12:51Speaker 12: He connects the capitals in the last.
- 12:52Speaker 5: Name see not very bright. Yeah.
- 12:57Speaker 12: And I much doubt my mind.
- 12:58Speaker 13: All the other handwriting factors tied in form skill shading,
- 13:01Speaker 13: They all match up. The movement terminals are all the
- 13:05Speaker 13: same for my money. Yeah, here the way he writes
- 13:08Speaker 13: the lower case letters. That's interested for me.
- 13:11Speaker 5: How's that done? Well?
- 13:13Speaker 13: Here the inclination of the terminal stroke on the s
- 13:17Speaker 13: see the breest land above the horizontal's just about fifty
- 13:20Speaker 13: five degrees in all cases. Now, the finger movement in
- 13:23Speaker 13: his capitals have plenty of freedom. They're not shaded much.
- 13:28Speaker 13: Nothing like this in his lower case letters though. You
- 13:30Speaker 13: see here, Yeah, I think I know what you mean.
- 13:33Speaker 13: That much freedom here, lots of shading and the pressure
- 13:37Speaker 13: on the lifts here they match up same on the downstroke. Now,
- 13:43Speaker 13: I'd say the skill is medium in all cases embellishments
- 13:45Speaker 13: both class two.
- 13:47Speaker 5: No change is a doll in the style all he made.
- 13:49Speaker 5: The signature just look a little different.
- 13:51Speaker 12: All eight factors match up. Though it's the same person.
- 13:54Speaker 5: All we have to do is find him.
- 13:56Speaker 13: How about this fella, Stanley Bubeck, I thought you had
- 13:59Speaker 13: him tap.
- 14:00Speaker 8: I We're not too sure about him, but it's the
- 14:01Speaker 8: only line we got to work on, so we'll have
- 14:03Speaker 8: to do for now.
- 14:04Speaker 7: I lamera a man in the office, say you and Joe.
- 14:07Speaker 10: Names Loomis, right, Fred me there in a minute.
- 14:11Speaker 5: Well, thanks John, we'll check you later. Sure, okay, see
- 14:14Speaker 5: you let's go back.
- 14:26Speaker 8: How you do you mister Loomis, Yes, Sir Sagan Rameril No,
- 14:29Speaker 8: this is sergeant Ramoo here. My name is Friday. Oh
- 14:31Speaker 8: all right, what can we do for you?
- 14:34Speaker 3: It's about these checks, are you? These are right here?
- 14:40Speaker 5: Yeah?
- 14:41Speaker 3: You see.
- 14:41Speaker 14: I run a delicatessen out on Sunset, and a few
- 14:44Speaker 14: days ago a new customer came in for a few
- 14:46Speaker 14: things and paid for them with these checks.
- 14:48Speaker 3: He came in twice.
- 14:49Speaker 14: Yeah, go ahead, Well I got the checks back today.
- 14:52Speaker 14: They're no good. I tried to look up the man
- 14:55Speaker 14: at the address he gave but there's no such address,
- 14:59Speaker 14: you can. I see one's for fifteen dollars, the other
- 15:01Speaker 14: ones for twenty. And the reason I asked for you, man,
- 15:04Speaker 14: is because I know the man who runs a drug
- 15:06Speaker 14: store across the street, George home Quist. He had some
- 15:09Speaker 14: bad checks about a month ago, he said, dud took
- 15:12Speaker 14: care of him.
- 15:12Speaker 8: Oh yeah, yeah, I remember you recall a man who
- 15:15Speaker 8: passed these checks, Misteris.
- 15:16Speaker 3: Yes, I think I do.
- 15:18Speaker 14: He told me he was new in the neighborhood and
- 15:20Speaker 14: he was looking for a place to trade. Well, I
- 15:23Speaker 14: guess we're all anxious for new business.
- 15:24Speaker 3: I took the checks.
- 15:25Speaker 8: He got those mud shots there, man, Yeah, yeah, thank you.
- 15:31Speaker 8: How about these men, mister Loomis, and he haven't looked
- 15:33Speaker 8: anything like the person who passed the checks on you.
- 15:35Speaker 14: No, let's see this one. Yes, it does look like
- 15:41Speaker 14: a man in a way. I don't know if I
- 15:43Speaker 14: could be.
- 15:44Speaker 5: Absolutely sure, Andy, bu vaccine him.
- 15:47Speaker 3: Pot.
- 15:48Speaker 8: Well, it looks like you're stuck with a couple of
- 15:49Speaker 8: bad ones. Mister lumis probably the same man who passed
- 15:52Speaker 8: checks on your druggist friend.
- 15:53Speaker 5: We're doing everything we can to run this man down.
- 15:56Speaker 14: What about the checks, isn't there anything I can do
- 15:58Speaker 14: about them.
- 16:00Speaker 8: No, sir, I'm sorry, not right now. We would like
- 16:02Speaker 8: to have you make out a crime report if you will,
- 16:04Speaker 8: and would you.
- 16:04Speaker 5: Leave these checks with us?
- 16:06Speaker 11: Bad here as just came in for you, I replied
- 16:12Speaker 11: from Salt Lake City, Utah on that bullet and you
- 16:14Speaker 11: sent out on the Stanley Bubreck.
- 16:15Speaker 5: Yeah, he's been in jail for five months.
- 16:20Speaker 8: We sent a request to Salt Lake asking him to
- 16:22Speaker 8: question Stanley Bubeck if he knew of any forger who
- 16:25Speaker 8: matched his description or used his m O.
- 16:28Speaker 4: BW.
- 16:28Speaker 5: Beck could tell us nothing.
- 16:30Speaker 8: Wednesday, February sixth we threw away the results of two
- 16:33Speaker 8: months of investigation.
- 16:35Speaker 5: We went back and started from the beginning.
- 16:37Speaker 8: Despite all precautions and warnings, the checks kept coming in
- 16:40Speaker 8: at the rate of half a.
- 16:41Speaker 5: Dozen a week.
- 16:41Speaker 8: The same mo O was used, the same handwriting showed
- 16:44Speaker 8: up in the signatures on the checks.
- 16:46Speaker 5: Again. With the help of the staff and.
- 16:47Speaker 8: The statistician's office and the record Bureau, we waited through
- 16:49Speaker 8: hundreds of names of known checkmen and compiled a new
- 16:52Speaker 8: list of thirty eight possible suspects. Each one fitted the
- 16:55Speaker 8: general description of the forger. Each one at some time
- 16:58Speaker 8: in his forgery career, had he was the same general
- 17:00Speaker 8: method of operation. Well, after days of leg work, we
- 17:04Speaker 8: finally boiled down the list of possibles to three names,
- 17:07Speaker 8: George Roberts, James Young, and Harry L.
- 17:10Speaker 5: Johansson.
- 17:10Speaker 8: We got out a flyer to all the small businessmen
- 17:12Speaker 8: in the areas where the forger operated. Another week passed,
- 17:15Speaker 8: the worthless checks kept showing up at the rate of
- 17:17Speaker 8: two and three a day. On February twenty first, Ben
- 17:20Speaker 8: and I answered a call from a druggist in the
- 17:22Speaker 8: Echo Park district.
- 17:23Speaker 15: He bought some toothpaste and a cotton of cigarettes. Sergeant
- 17:26Speaker 15: asked me to cash a twenty dollars.
- 17:27Speaker 3: Check for it.
- 17:28Speaker 5: Did you ever seen the men before?
- 17:30Speaker 7: No?
- 17:30Speaker 15: He gave me the same old story about being new
- 17:32Speaker 15: in the neighborhood. That's when I remembered that police full
- 17:35Speaker 15: of in the department sent me.
- 17:36Speaker 5: Do you still have that bullet?
- 17:37Speaker 7: No?
- 17:38Speaker 12: I looked it over, and then I guess it got mislaid.
- 17:40Speaker 8: I wonder if you'd mind taking a look at these
- 17:43Speaker 8: pictures here, not at all these right here?
- 17:46Speaker 12: M sure this one right on top that's the man.
- 17:50Speaker 5: Yeah, sure, I am.
- 17:51Speaker 12: It only happened a few hours ago. Do you know
- 17:54Speaker 12: who he is?
- 17:55Speaker 5: Harry L Joe Hanson. That's the name we have on him.
- 17:58Speaker 12: Doesn't mean anything to me. He got real happy when
- 18:00Speaker 12: I wouldn't take his check, stalked right out of the store,
- 18:02Speaker 12: very suspicious.
- 18:03Speaker 5: Did you follow him?
- 18:04Speaker 3: No?
- 18:04Speaker 12: I told Ralph, my clerk, to follow him.
- 18:07Speaker 15: Ralph, you want to tell these officers about that man
- 18:11Speaker 15: this morning?
- 18:12Speaker 14: I followed him down the street for blackman, turned the corner.
- 18:15Speaker 3: That's where I lost him.
- 18:16Speaker 5: Bad. Yeah, all I got was a license number.
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- 19:00Speaker 16: I've tried. Yes, I agree it's wise to smoke extra
- 19:04Speaker 16: mild Fatima.
- 19:05Speaker 6: And so do more and more smokers every day. Actual
- 19:08Speaker 6: figures show Extra Mild Fatima has more than doubled its
- 19:12Speaker 6: smokers coast to coast.
- 19:13Speaker 4: So enjoy Extra Mild Fatima yourself.
- 19:16Speaker 6: The King size cigarette, which contains the finest Turkish and
- 19:20Speaker 6: domestic tobaccos, superbly blended to make it extra mild.
- 19:24Speaker 4: You will prefer. Fatima is much different, much better flavor
- 19:28Speaker 4: and aroma. You will agree it's wise to smoke Extra
- 19:32Speaker 4: mild Fatima.
- 19:34Speaker 7: It's wise to smoke Extra mild Fatima.
- 19:36Speaker 6: Best of all long cigarettes.
- 19:46Speaker 8: September twenty first, Thursday, three pm. We took the license
- 19:50Speaker 8: number which the drugstore clerk had given us. We went
- 19:52Speaker 8: back to the office and checked it through DMV. We
- 19:55Speaker 8: found the car was registered to a Russell Burrows on
- 19:58Speaker 8: Pico Boulevard.
- 19:59Speaker 5: We checked O out.
- 20:00Speaker 8: He told us that he had loaned his car the
- 20:02Speaker 8: day before to a friend of his. He identified the
- 20:05Speaker 8: friend as Harry L. Johansson and gave us his last
- 20:08Speaker 8: known address, six fourteen Elderwood Avenue.
- 20:12Speaker 5: We got out a broadcast on the car.
- 20:14Speaker 8: The Elderwood Avenue address turned out to be a single
- 20:17Speaker 8: story wooden frame house in the southern part of the
- 20:20Speaker 8: city on the edge of the industrial district.
- 20:22Speaker 5: It needed a coat of paint.
- 20:24Speaker 8: A woman in her elderly thirties answered the door and
- 20:27Speaker 8: identified herself as Missus Johansson. She invited us into the
- 20:31Speaker 8: living room. Who was a baby playing on the floor.
- 20:34Speaker 16: I don't expect my husband home for another two weeks, sergeant.
- 20:38Speaker 16: He's a cosmetic salesman, travels all over the Western States.
- 20:41Speaker 5: When did he leave on this last trip, Missus Johnson, the.
- 20:44Speaker 7: First of the month. Why is anything wrong?
- 20:47Speaker 8: What's the name of the cosmetics company that your husband
- 20:50Speaker 8: works for?
- 20:50Speaker 7: Harrington Universal offices are down on East Maine.
- 20:54Speaker 5: Do you know a friend of your husband's name Russell Burrows.
- 20:57Speaker 16: Yes, I do. He's kind of a friend of the family. Please, sergeant,
- 21:00Speaker 16: if there's anything wrong, I don't know.
- 21:02Speaker 10: We talked to mister Burr's this afternoon. He told us
- 21:05Speaker 10: your husband's in town. Burr's learning his car.
- 21:08Speaker 16: Harry, that's silly, is still on the road. He'd certainly
- 21:11Speaker 16: let me know if he was coming back early.
- 21:13Speaker 5: You sure that man?
- 21:15Speaker 16: Would you excuse me a minute, sergeant, I'll have to
- 21:17Speaker 16: put the baby to bed.
- 21:18Speaker 7: Certainly, come on body, I'll be back in a minute.
- 21:25Speaker 8: Kind of a funny set up in it. I mean,
- 21:29Speaker 8: Johnson's pushing bum checks. The money isn't going into his home.
- 21:32Speaker 7: Here.
- 21:32Speaker 10: Life doesn't act like she knows anything, seems cooperative.
- 21:36Speaker 8: I'm afraid we're gonna have to level whether if we're
- 21:38Speaker 8: gonna find out anything.
- 21:41Speaker 10: You've got a cute little girl. I'm sorry, sir, It's
- 21:44Speaker 10: perfectly all right. Just a few more questions.
- 21:46Speaker 8: Is it possible that your husband could be in town
- 21:48Speaker 8: and you might not know what I mean, but he
- 21:50Speaker 8: be staying with a friend or some relatives.
- 21:52Speaker 7: You know, fairy was in town, he'd come home. Why
- 21:54Speaker 7: would he stay with anyone else?
- 21:55Speaker 5: When did you last year from your husband?
- 21:57Speaker 7: Last week? He wrote from San Francisco, He was right
- 22:00Speaker 7: there on the mantle.
- 22:03Speaker 10: Well, besides that letter, do you have any other samples
- 22:05Speaker 10: of your husband's handwriting?
- 22:06Speaker 5: Run? Huh?
- 22:07Speaker 7: Well I think so? Yes, Where did you say you
- 22:11Speaker 7: were from?
- 22:12Speaker 5: Central Division? Forgery? Detail?
- 22:14Speaker 7: You investigate checks bad checks?
- 22:16Speaker 5: That man? That's right? And you know about my husband
- 22:19Speaker 5: this prison record.
- 22:20Speaker 7: Yes, Harry promised me he was through it all that.
- 22:23Speaker 7: He gave me his word.
- 22:25Speaker 16: Sorry, man, about a month ago, he had some extra money.
- 22:29Speaker 16: He wouldn't tell me where he got it. Look, sergeant,
- 22:33Speaker 16: maybe you've made a mistake. Maybe it's not Harry at all.
- 22:36Speaker 16: You're not sure, are you?
- 22:38Speaker 8: Did your husband use the phone much? I mean for
- 22:40Speaker 8: out of town call sake, No.
- 22:43Speaker 16: Just that one toll call a Long Beach number. I
- 22:45Speaker 16: think he has a business friend down there I.
- 22:47Speaker 7: Used to call.
- 22:47Speaker 16: Do you know the number, man, I can show you.
- 22:50Speaker 16: It's on last month's phonevill Ple's sergeant. If Harry's done
- 22:55Speaker 16: something wrong, he did it for us, me and the baby.
- 22:57Speaker 16: Harry's not bad. He's done something. He did it for us.
- 23:03Speaker 16: Harry hasn't had it easy. He wanted to get things
- 23:06Speaker 16: for the baby, clothes, better house. Oh he wanted it
- 23:10Speaker 16: was a little happiness, a little happiness.
- 23:14Speaker 8: We had it wrong, man, you don't buy it with
- 23:17Speaker 8: bum checks. Before we left missus Johansson, we called and
- 23:24Speaker 8: had a stake out placed on the house, and then
- 23:26Speaker 8: we got a sample of her husband's handwriting and the
- 23:29Speaker 8: Long Beach telephone number that he was in the habit
- 23:31Speaker 8: of calling it.
- 23:32Speaker 5: The next morning, Don Myers.
- 23:34Speaker 8: And handwriting compared Harry Johansson's letter with the signatures on
- 23:37Speaker 8: the worthless checks.
- 23:39Speaker 5: It matched.
- 23:40Speaker 8: We called the Harrington Universal Cosmetics company. They never heard
- 23:43Speaker 8: of Harry Johansson. We called that long beach phone number.
- 23:46Speaker 8: A woman answered and gave us the address where the
- 23:48Speaker 8: telephone was installed. Turned out to be a swanky, modern
- 23:51Speaker 8: apartment house. In apartment eighteen, we interviewed a good looking brunette.
- 23:55Speaker 8: She identified herself as Harry Johansson's commonweal wife.
- 23:58Speaker 5: She was well dressed in the apartment, richly FURNI what's.
- 24:02Speaker 7: It all about? What do you want? Harry?
- 24:04Speaker 5: Thanks? Business? You know where he is, But what's he done?
- 24:07Speaker 5: Do you know where he is?
- 24:09Speaker 7: He drove into Hollywood this morning, might be back tonight,
- 24:12Speaker 7: and I don't know for sure.
- 24:14Speaker 5: Is this your partner?
- 24:16Speaker 7: Yeah? Mind?
- 24:17Speaker 5: And Harry, yeah sure. Joe Hunts is not here now,
- 24:21Speaker 5: of course, I'm sure why well, and you won't mind
- 24:23Speaker 5: if we come in and look around him.
- 24:25Speaker 7: I have a right to know what it's all about.
- 24:26Speaker 8: Johnson's wanted for forgery, and if you want to get involved,
- 24:29Speaker 8: you'll help him hide out.
- 24:31Speaker 7: I'm not ask him for that kind of trouble.
- 24:33Speaker 5: Go ahead and look, take the bedroom, leave in all right?
- 24:41Speaker 3: I have a mind, cup, Thanks for help, honey.
- 24:47Speaker 7: I don't want me part of your troubles Harry. I
- 24:49Speaker 7: didn't know a thing about it.
- 24:50Speaker 8: All, Ben, Yeah, you better come along to lady.
- 24:57Speaker 7: We'll tell him here. I don't know what a about.
- 25:01Speaker 7: What's the idea getting me mixed up in this?
- 25:03Speaker 3: How do you think I was paying for this place?
- 25:06Speaker 3: Taken you out bound us clothes for you.
- 25:09Speaker 7: I don't want any part of it. Three room apartment,
- 25:12Speaker 7: a couple of addresses. That's all he ever got me.
- 25:14Speaker 5: You've got no complaints, lady. That's morning bought his kids.
- 25:21Speaker 8: One pm Friday, Ben and I took Harry Johanson to
- 25:24Speaker 8: the County jail, where he was booked for suspicion of forgery.
- 25:27Speaker 8: We called missus Johanson a notifighter. She immediately contacted friends
- 25:30Speaker 8: and relatives and raised enough money for a writ to
- 25:32Speaker 8: have her husband released from jail. Three days later, Johanson
- 25:36Speaker 8: was arranged on a date set for his preliminary hearing.
- 25:38Speaker 8: After the arrangement, Ben and I took him back to
- 25:40Speaker 8: the county jail for rebooking.
- 25:43Speaker 5: I'd like to ask you a question, Johnson. Yeah, you've
- 25:46Speaker 5: got any money off you own?
- 25:47Speaker 3: The whn't just stick to your own business?
- 25:49Speaker 8: Cover that family of years is having a pretty rough time.
- 25:52Speaker 8: Your wife barred every since she could find to bail
- 25:54Speaker 8: you out, And what's she going to live on?
- 25:56Speaker 3: Good relatives?
- 25:57Speaker 5: Oh it's yell. Come on, Johansson.
- 26:07Speaker 3: I'm not gonna put me back in full same, not
- 26:10Speaker 3: in a hundred years.
- 26:11Speaker 8: You've done two stretches already for hanging paper. You should
- 26:14Speaker 8: have known better, mister.
- 26:15Speaker 3: You got it all figured out, haven't your fuzz? Well,
- 26:19Speaker 3: I'm not going.
- 26:19Speaker 10: Back take any You got a couple of more weeks
- 26:22Speaker 10: on the veil before the trial.
- 26:24Speaker 3: Yeah, a couple of weeks.
- 26:28Speaker 5: What's the matter with you? Don't you feel well?
- 26:31Speaker 3: I won't get me back to fulsom.
- 26:33Speaker 5: You're not making it an easier on yourself, all right,
- 26:36Speaker 5: don't you?
- 26:44Speaker 14: Don't your cops understand I hate it, every lousy bit
- 26:48Speaker 14: of it.
- 26:48Speaker 3: I'm not going back to fulsome.
- 26:50Speaker 12: I'm not going back the understand it's a.
- 26:54Speaker 5: Good idea, mister. You remember that when you get out.
- 26:59Speaker 3: A book.
- 27:00Speaker 8: Mary Johansson in the county jail. His bail was continued
- 27:02Speaker 8: and he was released pending the trial. During the next week,
- 27:05Speaker 8: along with the District Attorney's office, Ben and I helped
- 27:08Speaker 8: prepare the case against Johansson. Three days before the trial opened,
- 27:11Speaker 8: we had a phone call from missus Johansson. She told
- 27:14Speaker 8: us that her husband had disappeared. Well, there's nothing we
- 27:16Speaker 8: could do until he actually failed to appear in Superior
- 27:19Speaker 8: Court at the appointed time. On Monday, April third, the
- 27:22Speaker 8: case of the State versus Harry L. Johansson officially opened
- 27:26Speaker 8: where dependant failed to show. A bench warrant was immediately
- 27:28Speaker 8: issued and we got out a broadcast on an app
- 27:31Speaker 8: on the suspect. Stakeouts were placed in his house and
- 27:33Speaker 8: at the apartment of his common law wife.
- 27:35Speaker 5: Two days passed, no sign up, nothing. Joe um Lay
- 27:43Speaker 5: just checked it out.
- 27:46Speaker 8: How about those two ex conpoals of Johansson's to check them?
- 27:49Speaker 5: Yeah? Nothing.
- 27:50Speaker 10: Then I don't see I can last out much longer.
- 27:53Speaker 10: When should have close no money? He still got a
- 27:56Speaker 10: check book. When did Skipper say.
- 27:58Speaker 5: Was coming back? Tend fifteen? Now I'll get it forgery Friday, Joseph,
- 28:08Speaker 5: this is your mother. Oh yeah, I am. I forgot to.
- 28:11Speaker 9: Tell you when you're called earlier.
- 28:13Speaker 7: You're supposed to be home tonight by eight o'clock.
- 28:16Speaker 5: What's that?
- 28:16Speaker 7: My Mary Powler? She's coming over to visit tonight and
- 28:20Speaker 7: Genevieve's coming with her.
- 28:22Speaker 8: Yeah, well, look, will you try to explain to them
- 28:25Speaker 8: that I'm working and I can't get away?
- 28:27Speaker 7: Huh well, all right, Joseph.
- 28:29Speaker 8: I'll try if I possibly can. I'll try to make
- 28:32Speaker 8: it home by ten. I'll I'll be all right.
- 28:34Speaker 7: I'll see what I can do. Genevieve's going to be disurprised.
- 28:39Speaker 8: Yeah, if I'm later than that, don't wait up for me.
- 28:41Speaker 7: Huh, yes, all right.
- 28:43Speaker 5: Then bye, Ma, Yes, Joseph, Oh Thanksgiver all just came in.
- 28:52Speaker 11: Yeah, I found Johnson.
- 29:00Speaker 8: Captain Elliott, Ben and I drove out the highway to
- 29:02Speaker 8: the Tahunga Wash. We turned off and headed into the
- 29:04Speaker 8: mount policing area.
- 29:05Speaker 5: Capa.
- 29:06Speaker 8: Elliott directed us onto a dirt road. Half way up
- 29:08Speaker 8: one of the mountains. We spotted a group of cars
- 29:10Speaker 8: pulled off on the shoulder of the road. We parked
- 29:13Speaker 8: behind them and got out and started over. Who found
- 29:17Speaker 8: the cars?
- 29:18Speaker 11: Kevin, one of the people living back in my house,
- 29:20Speaker 11: spotted in this way.
- 29:21Speaker 5: Home from Warren H. Barnings are here in a hurry.
- 29:24Speaker 15: Yeah, Hi Davehi, you doing Joe Cat my lep?
- 29:28Speaker 5: How long has you been dead?
- 29:29Speaker 12: This last night?
- 29:30Speaker 5: I figure.
- 29:31Speaker 12: I'm on our.
- 29:35Speaker 11: You talked to the man who found Johnson's body day, Yeah.
- 29:37Speaker 12: He didn't touch the thing.
- 29:38Speaker 5: What'd you find?
- 29:39Speaker 15: Powder burns on the temple, powder on the hands. Boys
- 29:42Speaker 15: from homicide found the note. It's on the seat right
- 29:45Speaker 15: next to him. Here it is here, been checked.
- 29:48Speaker 5: Yeah, I think I'll ties in Dave pretty tight.
- 29:52Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 29:53Speaker 12: Jean Beckel from homicide wants to talk to you, Captain.
- 29:56Speaker 3: Okay, if you right back, Joe's right.
- 29:59Speaker 5: Who do you address note too?
- 30:00Speaker 3: Joey?
- 30:01Speaker 5: No, my girlfriend? Look what he wrote it on? Yeah,
- 30:06Speaker 5: blank check.
- 30:15Speaker 2: The story you've just heard was true, only the names
- 30:18Speaker 2: were changed to protect the innocent.
- 30:21Speaker 4: On April ninth, an inquest was held in the Coroner's
- 30:23Speaker 4: office on the main floor of the Hall of Justice,
- 30:25Speaker 4: Los Angeles, California. In a moment the results of that inquest, and.
- 30:29Speaker 5: Now here is our star, Jack Webb, thank you.
- 30:33Speaker 8: The working detective comes in contact with many people in
- 30:36Speaker 8: his daily tour of duty, people who are willing.
- 30:38Speaker 5: To cooperate and those who won't even try.
- 30:41Speaker 8: It's a difficult task, but the police officer has been
- 30:43Speaker 8: trained to try to please everybody to the best of
- 30:46Speaker 8: his ability.
- 30:47Speaker 5: So with a cigarette, the.
- 30:49Speaker 8: People who make Fatima try to please all long cigarette smokers.
- 30:53Speaker 8: They carefully select and blend the finest Turkish and domestic
- 30:56Speaker 8: tobaccos to make Fatima Extra Mile, the best of all
- 31:00Speaker 8: long cigarettes. If you're a long cigarette smoker like I am,
- 31:04Speaker 8: smoke Fatima. Every pack is extra mild Fatima.
- 31:18Speaker 4: On April ninth, the coroner's jury returned a verdict that
- 31:21Speaker 4: the death of Harry Al Johansson was caused by a
- 31:23Speaker 4: gunshot wound in the head, self inflicted. You have just
- 31:31Speaker 4: heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files.
- 31:35Speaker 4: Technical advice for Dragnet comes from the Office of Chief
- 31:38Speaker 4: of Police W. H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department.
- 31:42Speaker 6: Fatima Cigarettes, the best of all long cigarettes, has brought
- 31:45Speaker 6: you Dragnet from Los Angeles.
- 31:47Speaker 5: Coming up Duffy's Tavern. More good Times on NBC.
- 32:06Speaker 9: This is Andrew J.
- 32:07Speaker 7: Graham, author of the web surface series Oh and a
- 32:10Speaker 7: Mana's Wife. You're listening to the Great Detectives of Old
- 32:13Speaker 7: Time Radio.
- 32:21Speaker 1: Welcome back. Well. This was one of those episodes that
- 32:24Speaker 1: took us back in time to a far more innocent
- 32:27Speaker 1: time and showed us why we're a little more cynical
- 32:32Speaker 1: these days, and it is always a challenge actually to
- 32:39Speaker 1: even get a check cashed these days because of the
- 32:46Speaker 1: type of check fraw that's gone on. That was kind
- 32:49Speaker 1: of documented a little bit as to what had happened
- 32:53Speaker 1: in the past in the movie Catch Me if you Can,
- 32:56Speaker 1: although that was obviously on a much larger scale. And
- 33:00Speaker 1: of course our technology has changed and the way we
- 33:03Speaker 1: spend money has changed, which is of course led to
- 33:06Speaker 1: new sorts of fraudsters. Still, Americans do use checks, actually
- 33:11Speaker 1: a lot more than probably most industrialized nations. There's actually
- 33:17Speaker 1: a nation in Western Europe, I forget one, which actually
- 33:21Speaker 1: has a checkbook in their museum rather than is something
- 33:26Speaker 1: that they actively use. But still it's always a challenge
- 33:30Speaker 1: to get a check cashed unless you go to a
- 33:32Speaker 1: check cashing store and play a very high fee. And
- 33:37Speaker 1: that's the result of the fact that so many people
- 33:39Speaker 1: abuse the system when people would cash it just to
- 33:42Speaker 1: be nice. Of course, check forgeries become a bit harder
- 33:46Speaker 1: with faster processing of checks, which would have helped in
- 33:50Speaker 1: so many of these cases here, And of course the
- 33:53Speaker 1: ending was interesting with a very ironic suicide note. All right, well,
- 34:01Speaker 1: that will do it for today. I do want to
- 34:03Speaker 1: remind you to support our Patreon campaign Patreon dot Great
- 34:07Speaker 1: Detectives dot net and at that With that campaign you
- 34:11Speaker 1: can give it a variety of levels including Rookie, Shamas, Detective, Sergeant,
- 34:17Speaker 1: Master Detective, and Chief of Detectives. At the Detective sergeant level,
- 34:22Speaker 1: you get early access to our programs and are even
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- 34:29Speaker 1: also get one ebook every six months, and that will
- 34:33Speaker 1: help us towards our goal of improving the show by
- 34:37Speaker 1: increasing servers and purchasing better equipment, as well as reducing
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- 34:46Speaker 1: gifts Patreon dot Great Detectives dot net. But that will
- 34:51Speaker 1: do it for today, Be sure and join us. Tomorrow
- 34:55Speaker 1: we will have our video theater an episode of Ellery Queen,
- 34:58Speaker 1: and then next month Monday, if final episode we have
- 35:03Speaker 1: of the Saint or second to last I should say,
- 35:06Speaker 1: and then next Saturday another episode of Dragnet. In the meantime,
- 35:10Speaker 1: send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net,
- 35:14Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and become one
- 35:17Speaker 1: of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com. Slash Radio
- 35:21Speaker 1: Detectives from Boise Idaho. This is your host, Adam Grahamson
- 35:25Speaker 1: and off