Latest / Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas / Dragnet: The Big Lamp (TV Soundtrack) (EP1436)

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Dragnet: The Big Lamp (TV Soundtrack) (EP1436) · Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas

0:28
Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This
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is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, send it
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three seven one five. That's Adam Graham peel Box one five nine one three,
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Well, after last week's episode of Dragnet, we entered into the biggest
2:02
black hole in the run of the Dragnet Radio Show. Only eleven of the
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three hundred and seventeen Dragnet episodes broadcast are missing, and seven of them right
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in a row from October sixth to November seventeenth of nineteen forty nine, with
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The Second Handkiller, The Big Buye, The Big Lamp, The Big Drink
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Casco, and Bring the Big Bar and Harry Girard all being lost episodes.
2:34
However, we do have the television version of one of these episodes, The
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Big Lamp, and so to bridge this big gap in Dragnet history, we're
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going to bring you the soundtrack for The Big Lamp. This is something we
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did late in the run of the Old Time Dragnet Show received positive feedback,
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so we're going to do it again. This is one of two episodes that
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we can do this with. The Big Lamp, aired originally over a radio
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on October twentieth of nineteen forty nine. The TV soundtrack We're Going to Hear
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originally aired June nineteenth, nineteen fifty two, from the very first season of
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Dragnet, And I should say that in this episode, Barney Phillips is playing
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one of several temporary partners to be teamed with Joe Friday after the death of
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Ben Romero and Barton Arborrow. Other than those changes, this is essentially the
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same script. So here now is the TV soundtrack of the Big lamp Ladies
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and Gentlemen. Starry you are about to see is true. The names have
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been changed to protect the innocent. The fourth largest city in the United States
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and still growing every year. We get more of everything, population, transportation,
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stores, crime, buildings, and more crime. More than fifty thousand
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major crimes were committed last year alone. That means fifty thousand criminals. They
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ranged from professional killers to petty thieves. A lot of them are experts.
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Every year they seem to get better at their jobs, and the better they
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get, the harder I work. I'm a cop. It was Tuesday,
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April twenty eighth. That was warm in Los Angeles. We were working the
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day Watch out of Safetytail Burglery Division. My partners had Jacob's the Boss's Captain
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Wisdom. My name is Friday. It was two sixteen pm when we got
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back to the Hall of Justice, Superior Court, Department thirty eight on January
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fourth, the s IF in the Grand Herald building was burglarized. It took
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us weeks before we narrowed down the suspects to one man. It was an
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ex Khan, a two time loser. It took more weeks of interrogation,
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gathering evidence, long hours in the crime lap to build our case against him.
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It was a big job, a hard one. He was guilty.
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We were convinced of it. We had one step to go. It was
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the jury. We had to convince them, highly husi gonly I think we
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got them. Joe, did you testify yet this morning? How it work
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on physical evidence? Tied in persuty all six points. Jury impressed had to
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tell Buckley's got a smart lawyer. I was sugging to the Assistant DA.
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The case ought to go to the jury late to day. What's coming up
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next year? I'm doing back on the stand when this recess is over.
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The Superior Court is again win session remain seated no spooking pace. Let the
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record show that the jury, the dependent and the counsel are President Proush Custon
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may proceed. If it please your honor, I'd like to recall Leland Jones'
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stand. Leland Jones take the stand, be seated, if I may your
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Honor, for the benefit of the record, state that Leland B. Jones
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has been duly sworn that Council for the Defense has stipulated that he's a forensic
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chemist attached to the Scientific Investigation Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, and
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that he's qualified to testify as an expert in the case. Proceed Jones.
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Early today in this court you heard the testimony to the effect that Conrad Buckley
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had identified these exhibits as his own, this wool jacket, this pair of
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trousers, and these shoes. Did you not I did this morning, mister
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Jones. You pointed out these pertinent facts about these articles of clothing. First,
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people's exhibit one. The red paint smudges on the soles of the shoes.
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They matched the paint on the ventilation pipe which leads to the third four
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of the Grand Herald Building of that great That is correct, You further stated
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that the footprints left at the scene of the crime are made by a size
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EH shoe with cuban heels and metal taps on each toe. Is that correct?
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That's right? People's exhibit one a pair of black shoes identified by the
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defendant as his own, their stamped size eight cuban heels, metal taps on
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each toe. Mister Jones, you're acquainted with the fact that on the night
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of January fourth, someone scaled the ventilator pipe at the third four of the
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Grand Herald Building, forcibly entered the attic of the building, gained access to
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an adjoining suite of offices, and there burglarized the seat. I'm acquainted with
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that. Is it possible that someone else other than the defendant could have burglarized
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that? Say? In my opinion, now on where you base your conclusion,
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I based it on the application of the law of probabilities to such a
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case as this. Would you explain that to the jury? Please? First,
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let's apply a set of figures to these facts. Let's say conservatively that
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one man in every hundred in this city wears a size EH shoe with cuban
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heels and metal taps on the shoes. Then let's say that one man in
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every hundred has red paint smudges on the soles of the shoes, same color
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and same texture as the paint from the building. Further, let's estimate that
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one man in one hundred also wears ten ribs to the inch woven trousers and
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wool jacket woven twelve ribs to the inch. Let's also estimate that one man
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in a hundred carries a small piece of charred laugh in his jacket. Then
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let's say that one man in a hundred carries in the cuffs of his trousers
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particles or plaster similar to the plaster in the attic of the Grand Herold Building.
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What are the chances in that one man in this city other than the
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defendant could possess all six of these various items. That would be one chance
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in one trillion. Well, how do you arrive at that figure, mister
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Jones? Though simply by multiplying one hundred by itself six times over. You
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mean only one man in one trillion other than the defendant could have burglarized the
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safe on the third floor of the Grand Herald Building. That's correct, one
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trillion. Can you give the jury something to compare that figure with. That's
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more people and have lived on earth since the beginning of time. Lee Jones
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was the last witness to testify in the case of the State versus Conrad Buckley.
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For the rest of the afternoon, the defense lawyer and the Assistant DA
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delivered their summations. The defense lawyer was eloquent and colorfully, spoke for more
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than an hour and threw up every possible smoke screen he could think of to
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disguise the facts of the case. The Assistant DA reviewed again the six points
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of physical evidence clearly defined. At five minutes to five that afternoon, the
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case went to the jury. We were expecting a quick verdict. We didn't
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get it. The jury was locked up for the night and we went home.
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The Superior Court, State of California, in for the County of Los
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Angeles is now in session. The Honorable John Edwards judged beside him, ladies
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and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict? Yes, your
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honor, we have have me the verdict. Read the Verdict, Superior Court
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of the State of California, in and for the County of Los Angeles,
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People Versus Conrad Buckley read during the above and title acts and find the defendant
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not guilty. No talking back there. Please so say you want to say,
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oh, is this your verdict? It is card the verdict, Ladies
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and gentlemen of the jury. I've been a judge for twenty six years.
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For the past fourteen years i've presided in this particular court. May I say
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now that this is the worst miscarriage of justice I've ever witnessed. After hearing
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your verdict in this case, I can arrive at only one conclusion, ladies
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and gentlemen of the jury. Either you are innately dishonest, or you are
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complete morons. Court to journey as soon as possible. The District Attorney's office
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began exploring the personal life and background of each one of the twelve jurors.
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They contacted their neighbors, their friends, their acquaintances. They checked back ten
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years in the lives of every one of them. They found nothing was indifferent.
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They wouldn't follow the case. All the facts were there Lee, none
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of the jurors were fixed. The DA's office found out that much. Why
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wouldn't they follow the case? A lot of people think they're doing the city
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a big favor. When they serve on a jury, they figured all they
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have to do is sit in the jury box for a few days, mark
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a ballot as fast they can then leave each man. If they pay the
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taxes they pay for these trials, they can follow the technical case closely if
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they want to. A lot of them not that conscientious. They don't think
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it means money in their pocket, so they don't care. We went through
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hell on this thing. Four months to catch him, three months to prove
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him gilly, and the jury blew it. You want my opinion, Lee,
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I think it stinks. You don't have an opinion, Joe, you're
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a cop. The case of Conrad Buckley became just another item filed away with
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hundreds of thousands of others in the Record Bureau of the Los Angeles Police Department.
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Six days after he was acquitted, he left the city, and a
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few weeks later was reported in Baltimore, Maryland. After that, he dropped
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from sight. Summer came autumn, Christmas, New Year's On Wednesday morning,
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Ed and I checked in for work as usual. What's the date? Ed?
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Wednesday, February First, Mother, get over that cold, Joe?
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Yeah, finally, how about your kid? Yeah, he's okay, wife
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Scott one not light morning kid, got a minute, got him caught.
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Our printing company was robbed last night. How much there's the crime report fourteen
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five hundred. Yeah it's a big haul. Yeah, most familiar climb to
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drain pipe to the roof, kicked in the skylight on red Buckley's back in
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town. I think it might add up, could be sounds lacking. There's
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one sure way to make it and put him in smaller words in big type.
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I don't know how to make it any more positive than the last time.
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I don't know if that Greek was the lamp of a found an honest
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man. But get the guy ed and I drove out to the Cotter Printing
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Company and spent the rest of the morning and most of that afternoon checking into
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the fourteen thousand dollars safe burglary. We examined the office where the burglery took
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place and the smashed skylight with a thief entered. We traced his path from
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the time he got into the building the time he left no fingerprints, no
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leads. How many safemen you know that worked like Buckley? Well, let's
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see, there's Hagen. He works about the same. But he's up at
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que Walters. He operates like Buckley. He's doing time to anybody else,
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No, not that I can think of. All Right, find Buckley,
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find out where he lives, who his friends are, where he eats,
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find out what he's doing. He want us to tailhim. Give him in
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your room. When you get the dope on him, we'll have a squad
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of men tail him. Ultimately. Where do we start EMENTSI Sparre and on
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Central Avenue in your fifth whe was he there last Monday? First night he
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got in town. Might be his favorite spot? Okay? Anything else here?
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Buckley's learning new tricks since he's been away. Yeah, carries a gun.
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That night, Ed and I started down into the south end of the
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city to find Conrad Buckley. First stop was Camanche's Bar. Buckley didn't show.
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The next night was the same, and the night after that no sign.
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On the fourth night, at ten minutes past eight pm, Saturday,
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February fourth, he had spotted Buckley entering. We waited. At twenty five
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minutes past midnight, Buckley came out the main entrance with a blond woman on
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his arm. He walked unsteadily. The two of them got into a gray
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car and sat there talking. What's license to me? Joe? Nine Roberts
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seven oh two one get a make? Yeah, control one, request a
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rolling make in the three column nine Roberts seven O two nine Robert seven oh
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two Roger eighty K stand by km A three six. It's a nice looking
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car. Yeah, if it's his, might pan out if we're lucky,
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Control one to a K, come in EIGHTYK to control one, go ahead
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nine Robert seven O two car registered to missus Conrad Buckley nine three nine South
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Norwich Road, Beverly Hills, EIGHTYK to control one Roger cam Any three sixty
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seven. What does that prove? Prosy supporting a new car in my wife?
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Let's find out how am we trailed Buckley and the blonde woman we figured
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to be his wife to nine three nine South Norwich Road in Beverly Hills.
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We waited at three am. Head called Captain Wisdom and a couple of men
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were sent out to relieve us. By Friday of that week, February tenth,
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we had his movements fairly well established. We turned all the information we
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had over to Captain Wisdom, and he assigned a crew of eight men to
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tail the suspect constantly in alternate ships. The trap was set six pm Tuesday,
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February fourteenth. I'll get it Friday talking. Yeah, Kevin, what's
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up? Uh huh yeah, right, Buckley, he's making a move.
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We left the city Hall and drove out to the site of the stake out
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near Buckley's home on South Norwich Road. Wisdom was there waiting for us.
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He left his place alone. He was on foot Berg and Marconi tailed him
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to a bar. That's where he lost him. And he hasn't come back
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to this place. And yet I'm gonna hunt you will. His car is
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still there. Yeah, we can shake him down. If he's been out
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on a cable tonight, he should have whatever he stole with him. Car
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there in the driveway. Uh check your license. Uh nine Roberts seven O
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two. That's Buckley's car. There's somebody coming out of the house that his
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wife looks like it. Does she know either one of her? No follow
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her. Let's go ahead him. It's okay. You see the door from
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here. Yeah, this is fine, Captain, so move, let's sweat
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it down. The blond woman entered the apartment house at twelve sixty one Wilcox
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Avenue at fourteen minutes past eleven pm. At five minutes past midnight, she
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came out and got in her car. A man was lit her. Buckley
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must be the hotout. You two follow them when they got to the house,
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shake them down. What about you, I'll check the apartment. Beat
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you back at the office. Right At twenty one minutes past midnight, Ed
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and I pulled up at the Buckley home at nine three nine South Norwich Road.
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We waited until Buckley and his wife got in the house. Then we
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went in and shook him down. We found nothing. We searched the house,
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the garage and the car the same. Nothing. All right, put
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your stuff away? Places clean, Joe. Nothing right now? I tell
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you I'm clean. I haven't got one thing on me. I'm clean.
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It's a nice car you're driving. The Buckley is at yours. That's right.
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I like nice things. They cost money. What doesn't Once you get
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back in town last week? Why what are you doing with your time?
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Morris Cabinet Company. I'm a journeyman carpenter. When do you work nights?
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Good job? Believe me, I'm legit. All right, you stay that
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way and we won't have any trouble ed, and I left Buckley's house,
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drove back to the office and checked in with Captain Wisdom. He told us
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that he had talked with a manager of the apartment house at twelve sixty one
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Willcox Avenue. Buckley was running apartment seven A in the building under the name
20:49
of James E. Wilson on the air reach. He used the apartment only
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once or twice each week. The rent was seventy five dollars a month.
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What'd you find in the apartment, Captain? He keeps two complete changes the
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cloth in the closet because the place is empty except for one thing. Set
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a burglary tool, Yeah on them under a false bottom drawer seat of safe.
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Jimmy's small sledge the works and he works out of the apartment. He's
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getting cagy, or he thinks he is. After a job. He probably
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comes back to the apartment, gets rid of his work clothes and figures he's
21:15
pretty safe. Well, all we have to do is keep an eye on
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that apartment. The next time he pulls a job, we grab him.
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That's right, the next time we pick him up, it's going to be
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for keeps. It depends on the jury. Doesn't it. At three am
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that morning, Wisdom ordered a steak out of twelve sixty one Willcox Avenue.
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The steakout on his home also continued during the next week. The suspect was
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seen to come and go from his home, and on two occasions he visited
21:42
his apartment during the daylight hours. No suspicious moves on his part were reported.
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The stakeout went on five weeks later. On March twenty second, the
21:55
safe in the offices of Butterfield and Crusion Wholesale Grocer's was burglarized of seven five
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hundred. That afternoon, Wisdom had and I met with Lieutenant Lee Jones in
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the crime lab. It's cyclo hexa, a coot top product. It's colorless
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and it's odorless. When it's rubbed into the surface of an object, it's
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invisible to the naked eye. Well, what about it? It's a crystalline
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hydrocarbon slightly soluble in ether or alcohol. Uh huh, we're here at They
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show you this cloth hoppily. Yeah, what do you do? Yeah?
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Dusted on here? Now, can you see or feel anything at all?
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You seems to disappear, You can't feel any o. Yeah, you want
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to catch that light. Please sure have a look. How about that seems
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to glow? Yeah? Will this stuff rub Offley? Try it now?
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Look at your hands. Nothing harmful in that stuff at all? How long
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less stuff stay on? Lee? Maybe as long as twenty four hours only
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shows up under that ultravatt lamp. That's try it well. Does it work
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on everybody? Does it work on Buckley? Ten minutes later, Wisdom put
23:30
in a call to the two men on steak out at Buckley's apartment on Wilcox
23:33
Avenue. They reported that the apartment was empty. Buckley hadn't been near it
23:37
since early the day before. At six pm that night, Lee Jones ed
23:45
and I went to the apartment, let ourselves in with a pass key,
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and went to work with two jars of cyclohexaye. We dusted it on everything
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in sight, on Buckley's clothes, his shoes, his hat, and on
23:53
the set of burglary tools which we found on the false bottom drawer. We
23:57
rubbed it in until it was invisible. We arranged everything exactly the way we
24:00
found it, and then we went back to the office. Lee Jones had
24:07
a portable ultra violet lights set up for immediate use. Wisdom alerted communications to
24:11
pass along immediately all reports of burglaries throughout the city. We waited. At
24:17
midnight, we went out in ships for sandwiches and coffee. The watch kept
24:22
on. Two thirty am. I got it. Wisdom h Thanks Harvard and
24:36
wilshrim Boulevard safe job, two of them. Call Lee Jones. I'll meet
24:38
you downstairs. All right, what do you think We'll let the lamp tell
24:42
us facts. Don't keep the storefront clear, ten feet on either side.
25:03
Anything late, it's a long a minute, okay, about alright, we
25:12
can try it. I'll get the lightly Okay, that's it. That's all
25:53
lamp Greek with the lamp had and I did, didn't it. Before we
26:03
left for Conrad Buckley's house, Lee Jones directed the photographer to stay at the
26:06
scene of the burglary and take photographs of the telltale cyclo hexane Prince and all
26:10
other pertinent photographs for use in court. At eight minutes past four am,
26:17
we walked into Buckley's living room and now, I love this is kind of
26:21
getting on my nose. It's four in the morning, and now that's right
26:26
down there, right. What's all that stuff? What's that you got Okay,
26:33
all right, Lee, okay, exil was the light? What is
26:40
it all about? Anyway? Look at yourself? What are you doing to
26:45
me? What is all this stuff like a Christmas tree? Yeah? I
26:56
don't have to take this stuff. You haven't got anything on me. I
26:56
hadn't even caught once before and you had to turn me loose. Yes,
27:00
we had you in court and I can tell you every move you made in
27:02
that case. Yeah, you tell me if I'm wrong. You climbed the
27:06
back of the Grand Harrold building using some pipes of supports. You crawl across
27:10
the roof on your hands and knee the firewall. You raised up a couple
27:12
of times to see if everything was clear. You went over the firewall,
27:17
leaving impressions of your coat and trousers, one of the coat buttons with scrats
27:21
or you went over stomached down. He then went to the front of the
27:23
building, walking in a crouch position, to see if there are any police
27:27
cars in the vicinity. And you returned to the skylight. I'm gonna do
27:33
keep telling you removed the glass from the skylight, crawled through the entrance,
27:37
kicked a hole through a plaster wall into the attic, you broke some of
27:41
the charred laughs, so that you could crawl through the attic to an opening
27:44
in the office of the Grand Harrold Building, and you opened the safe and
27:47
took our twelve hundred and fifty dollars. Is that right? No, I
27:51
took thirteen hundred and fifty. Okay, you give me a couple hours and
27:55
I'll tell you what you did on this case. Here's your coat, yeah,
28:00
move on. My clothes I'll ruin. By the time you need them
28:03
again, they'll be out of style. Right, come on, let's go
28:18
on. October fifteenth, trial was held in Superior Court, Department eighty four,
28:22
City and County of Los Angeles, State of California. In a moment
28:26
the results of that trial, the suspect was tried and convicted of first degree
28:36
burglary. Due to his previous convictions, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
29:21
Welcome back, Well, certainly a unique way of catching the criminal. After
29:26
clearly being disappointed by the jury in the first part of the episode, now
29:30
I know the jury's reaction is going to rankle a lot of listeners, or
29:36
at least I assume so, since it did last time. It was certainly
29:40
a strong statement, and certainly others would be offended by the idea that the
29:47
jury simply decided not to really pay attention to the physical evidence portion of the
29:52
case. The important thing perhaps to remember that web show was highly influenced by
30:00
the police, their perspectives and their attitude. And I think that it's pretty
30:04
clear that there's concern about the public not following physical evidence cases, and so
30:11
in some ways it serves as a challenge to listeners and of course viewer serving
30:18
on juries to pay attention to these aspects of the case and to be fully
30:22
involved and engaged, or else it'll lead to unnecessary expense. That's kind of
30:29
closing message of the narrative. Now, whether you agree with it or not,
30:33
it certainly does reflect the review of the police at the time. All
30:36
right, well, let's go ahead and get into some listener comments and feedback,
30:41
and we will actually go ahead and we'll start with Brian, who says,
30:47
dear Adam, thanks for having the great Detectives podcast. I enjoy listening
30:49
to them, especially the Dragnet series. I used to watch Dragnet when I
30:53
was growing up, but I was just a kid when Dragnet was on TV
30:57
back in the sixties. I was born in nineteen sixty. Nevertheless, I
31:02
still love to watch Dragnet, but I love the other detective radio broadcast too.
31:07
Thanks again for your podcast to the great detactos of old, thanks so
31:11
much. Well. That will do it for today. We will be back
31:15
on Monday with the Saint and join us back here next Saturday for another episode
31:22
of Dragnet. In the meantime, send your comments to Box thirteen at Great
31:26
Detectives dot net, follow us on Twitter Radio Detectives, and become one of
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our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com. Slash Radio Detactives from Boise,
31:37
Idaho. This is your host, Adam Grahamson and off