Latest / The Great Detectives Present Dragnet (Old Time Radio) / Dragnet: The Big Seventeen (EP4844)
Transcript
- 0:28Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
- 0:36Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're
- 0:39Speaker 1: going to bring you this week's episode of Dragnet, but
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- 1:27Speaker 1: per month. Thanks so much for your support, Eric, And
- 1:30Speaker 1: now from Chamber sixth, nineteen fifty one, here is the
- 1:34Speaker 1: Big seventeen.
- 1:41Speaker 2: The story you were about to hear is true. The
- 1:44Speaker 2: names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're a
- 1:56Speaker 2: detective sergeant. You're assigned a juvenile bureau. A series of
- 2:00Speaker 2: crime suddenly starts among teenage children in your city. Robberies, burglaries,
- 2:05Speaker 2: bodily assault that doesn't seem to be any reason for it.
- 2:08Speaker 2: The crime wave grows. Your job stop it.
- 2:22Speaker 3: Dragnet the documented drama of an actual crime. For the
- 2:26Speaker 3: next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department,
- 2:30Speaker 3: you will travel step by step on the side of
- 2:32Speaker 3: the law through an actual case transcribed from official police files,
- 2:36Speaker 3: from beginning to end, from crime to punishment. Dragnet is
- 2:40Speaker 3: the story of your police force in action.
- 2:48Speaker 4: Was Thursday, April tenth, was warm in Los Angeles. We
- 2:51Speaker 4: were working the night watch out of Juvenile Bureau. My
- 2:53Speaker 4: partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Captain Stein. My name
- 2:56Speaker 4: is Friday. It was ten twenty seven pm when I
- 2:59Speaker 4: got to thirteen thirty five Georgia Street, second floor, the squadroom.
- 3:04Speaker 4: Joe got you, Yeah, you're ready, half a minute, all right,
- 3:08Speaker 4: get my coat on here, if you leave a note
- 3:11Speaker 4: for McNamara, Yeah, I set all right, let's hurry. Huh yeah,
- 3:15Speaker 4: same neighborhood we had the trouble Monday night. Uh huh,
- 3:17Speaker 4: sounds like the same gang too. These kids are sure moving.
- 3:21Speaker 4: Go ahead, Yeah, what is it this time movie theater
- 3:24Speaker 4: on West Fremont, small neighborhood house. Oh, they had a
- 3:28Speaker 4: crowd of fifteen to twenty kids in there tonight, mixed
- 3:30Speaker 4: group boys and girls. For no reason at all. They
- 3:32Speaker 4: started to tear the place up. They do much dammage. Well,
- 3:34Speaker 4: I don't know. We can see when we get there,
- 3:36Speaker 4: told me on the phone. In the theater manager tried
- 3:38Speaker 4: to quiet the kids down. Half of us boys piled
- 3:40Speaker 4: all over them. One of them pulled a knife. They
- 3:42Speaker 4: tore up a couple of seats up on the balcony,
- 3:44Speaker 4: moved out into the lobby, smashed mirrors and lamps. They
- 3:46Speaker 4: beat up one of the ashes. I was the little punks.
- 3:49Speaker 4: Where'd you park the car straight back? I'd give a
- 3:52Speaker 4: right arm to know how this thing got started. We've
- 3:55Speaker 4: never had much trouble from the kids in that neighborhood
- 3:57Speaker 4: out there, not till this last month seemed to be going.
- 4:00Speaker 4: It's not getting any better. Burglary's car, theft's wrecking property.
- 4:03Speaker 4: Somebody's going to come out on the short end. If
- 4:05Speaker 4: it keeps up, it's got to happen. Maybe it already has.
- 4:08Speaker 4: When they were ripping up that theater lobby tonight when
- 4:10Speaker 4: kid got hurt. What happened to a fourteen year old
- 4:12Speaker 4: boy and the mix up? He got shoved through a
- 4:14Speaker 4: display case plate glass, cut up pretty bad his eyes.
- 4:17Speaker 4: I'm not sure he'll see again. In police work, the
- 4:23Speaker 4: standard law of cause and effect works like it does
- 4:25Speaker 4: for everything else. When a crime is committed, there's a
- 4:28Speaker 4: cause behind it, there's a reason for it. And when
- 4:31Speaker 4: a group of normally well behaved kids in an average
- 4:33Speaker 4: residential neighborhood start running wild, there's got to be a
- 4:36Speaker 4: reason for that too. A month before, a rash of
- 4:39Speaker 4: auto thefts, petty stealing, and public disturbances had broken out
- 4:43Speaker 4: suddenly in the particular neighborhood. All of the incidents were
- 4:46Speaker 4: traced directly to the teenagers in the area. Why the
- 4:49Speaker 4: kids had suddenly decided to run wild, we didn't know,
- 4:51Speaker 4: But the amount and the nature of the violations kept
- 4:53Speaker 4: getting more serious. Juveniles who had previously been picked up
- 4:57Speaker 4: for petty thefts and placed on probation were now committing
- 4:59Speaker 4: burglar Auto steps in the area had jumped twenty percent.
- 5:03Speaker 4: Misconduct and drunk charges against the teenagers, girls and boys
- 5:06Speaker 4: alike increased by the week. We had a fair idea
- 5:09Speaker 4: what the root of all the trouble was, but so
- 5:12Speaker 4: far we hadn't been able to trace it. Ten forty
- 5:14Speaker 4: five pm we got to the neighborhood movie Theater on
- 5:17Speaker 4: West Fremont. We went inside. The lobby was a shambles.
- 5:20Speaker 4: Two large mirrors had been shattered, lamps and sofas overturned
- 5:23Speaker 4: and broken. The lobby candy counter had been wrecked completely.
- 5:27Speaker 4: The glass showcases were caved in, the popcorn machine was smashed,
- 5:30Speaker 4: the soft drink cooler turned on its side. The last
- 5:33Speaker 4: showing of the feature picture was still going on. We
- 5:35Speaker 4: interviewed the theater manager in the lobby, a mister Clyde Barton.
- 5:40Speaker 5: They got real foul mouth, one or two of the
- 5:42Speaker 5: girls too, some of the language I wouldn't even use
- 5:45Speaker 5: at a stag party. I got some mad. I grabbed
- 5:47Speaker 5: two of the noisy ones by the neck and told
- 5:49Speaker 5: them to get out.
- 5:50Speaker 6: That's when it broke loose.
- 5:52Speaker 4: Well what exactly happened.
- 5:53Speaker 5: The whole crowd of them jumped out of their seats
- 5:55Speaker 5: and piled on me. I fell back down against the
- 5:57Speaker 5: stairs and I started swinging. Tell you a two sides,
- 6:00Speaker 5: and I was scared. I didn't know what to make
- 6:02Speaker 5: of them. Me seemed like a packup of animals wild.
- 6:05Speaker 5: I happened to hit this one kid, and I saw
- 6:07Speaker 5: him pull out a knife and come at me. Didn't
- 6:10Speaker 5: take me too long to get out of there. Kids
- 6:12Speaker 5: are not when a bunch of them like that come
- 6:14Speaker 5: after you, you run.
- 6:15Speaker 4: Yes, sir, you've called for the police as soon as
- 6:16Speaker 4: all this happened.
- 6:17Speaker 7: You bet I did.
- 6:18Speaker 5: Just as soon as I could get out into the
- 6:19Speaker 5: lobby and into my office, I locked the door. I
- 6:22Speaker 5: could hear him turn the place up outside. Just look
- 6:29Speaker 5: at that smashed up everything inside. I have to have
- 6:33Speaker 5: something like this happen. Look at this candy stand.
- 6:39Speaker 4: Well, how about some of the kids you recognize in
- 6:41Speaker 4: that crowd?
- 6:41Speaker 5: Ms boarn Oh, say, the last show is ready to break.
- 6:44Speaker 5: Folks are going to be coming out. You want to
- 6:45Speaker 5: step back here into my office. We can talk there
- 6:48Speaker 5: and be out of the way.
- 6:56Speaker 6: And here we are.
- 6:57Speaker 4: Pull up a chair for yourself if I say thank you.
- 7:00Speaker 5: I just got the feeling there's something radically wrong going
- 7:04Speaker 5: on with those kids.
- 7:05Speaker 4: This is the first time you've ever had any trouble
- 7:07Speaker 4: of any real size, Is that right?
- 7:08Speaker 6: Yeah?
- 7:09Speaker 5: Or once in a while the kids fall around in
- 7:11Speaker 5: the show talking loud, you know, but nothing like this.
- 7:15Speaker 5: Oh let's see Fred, my usher and the way they
- 7:17Speaker 5: missed him up brutal, And that little fourteen year old
- 7:20Speaker 5: they shoved through the glass showcase. It'll be a real
- 7:24Speaker 5: mess if he doesn't pull through.
- 7:25Speaker 4: And I was gonna ask you, sir, about the kids
- 7:27Speaker 4: in that crowd you recognize you haven't known any of
- 7:29Speaker 4: the name.
- 7:29Speaker 6: Sure thing.
- 7:30Speaker 5: I made a list of them while you were run
- 7:32Speaker 5: the way over here. I got a half dozen of
- 7:34Speaker 5: little more. That's another thing I can understand.
- 7:38Speaker 6: You know what's sense when.
- 7:39Speaker 5: These kids start running wild, no matter what they do,
- 7:42Speaker 5: they don't seem to care if they're recognized or that.
- 7:44Speaker 5: You think if they wanted to raise the devil, they
- 7:46Speaker 5: go over to some other neighborhood, someplace where people didn't
- 7:49Speaker 5: know them.
- 7:50Speaker 6: They just don't seem to care.
- 7:51Speaker 4: Yes, sir, we've had the same report from a couple
- 7:53Speaker 4: of other business people in the neighborhood here. Mister Barton,
- 7:55Speaker 4: you probably have a pretty fair opportunity to watch the
- 7:58Speaker 4: kids around here from time to time. I mean running
- 7:59Speaker 4: theater here, and I sure do.
- 8:01Speaker 5: Most of them are in here once a week anyway,
- 8:04Speaker 5: So all the kids I've known since they were knee pants.
- 8:06Speaker 4: Well, of you, any idea at all what's behind all
- 8:08Speaker 4: this trouble, I mean, any real indication.
- 8:11Speaker 5: Maybe I'm just the suspicious kind, but I've got an idea.
- 8:15Speaker 5: All right here, I'll get that list of names for
- 8:19Speaker 5: you at the same time. Yeah, they are seven names
- 8:24Speaker 5: in all. Every one of those kids was in that
- 8:27Speaker 5: gang tonight. I can give you a hand tracking down
- 8:30Speaker 5: the address and I'll thank you. Huh, there's something else.
- 8:36Speaker 5: Here's what I was talking about.
- 8:39Speaker 4: What's this, sir?
- 8:40Speaker 5: And that scramble in the lobby tonight? This little box
- 8:43Speaker 5: fell out of one of the kid's pockets. One of
- 8:45Speaker 5: the ushes picked it up, brought it into me. I
- 8:48Speaker 5: have a look inside.
- 8:53Speaker 4: Ben.
- 8:56Speaker 5: I don't know too much about it, Sogean, but I
- 8:58Speaker 5: got a hunch. I don't think I made a mistake. Man,
- 9:02Speaker 5: what do you think? No, sir, no mistake.
- 9:04Speaker 4: It's marijuana. We finished interviewing the theater manager, Clyde Barton,
- 9:12Speaker 4: and then we talked to the usher, a Donald Masters,
- 9:14Speaker 4: who recovered the small box containing the marijuana from the
- 9:17Speaker 4: floor of the lobby. He told us he recognized the
- 9:19Speaker 4: young fellow who dropped the box, but he wasn't sure.
- 9:22Speaker 4: He said the boy's name was Harold Everson, one of
- 9:24Speaker 4: the names which appeared on the list which the theater manager,
- 9:26Speaker 4: mister Barton, had given us. Half an hour later, Ben
- 9:28Speaker 4: and I located the Everson boys' home was a two
- 9:31Speaker 4: story frame colonial style house in the better than average
- 9:34Speaker 4: section of the area. The boy's father answered the door,
- 9:37Speaker 4: Harold Everson Senior. We told him what we wanted.
- 9:40Speaker 8: A little late to be making routine calls. Don't you
- 9:42Speaker 8: think people have to get this sleep? Why can't you
- 9:44Speaker 8: let it wait until morning?
- 9:45Speaker 4: It's not a routine called, mister Everson, like to see
- 9:47Speaker 4: your son. If he's on Harry, What do you have
- 9:49Speaker 4: to see him about? Would you have any idea where
- 9:51Speaker 4: your boy spend his time tonight, sir?
- 9:53Speaker 8: He said he was going down to the gym, played
- 9:54Speaker 8: a little basketball, and he was going to the library.
- 9:56Speaker 7: It's a school night. He had studying to do.
- 9:58Speaker 4: I think maybe you ought to keep a little closer
- 10:00Speaker 4: check on your son, sir. That's not the way we get.
- 10:02Speaker 8: It, you're getting at I trust my boy. He said,
- 10:04Speaker 8: he's going to the gym and under the library. He's
- 10:06Speaker 8: got no reason to lie about it.
- 10:07Speaker 4: They had a minor riot at the neighborhood movie down
- 10:10Speaker 4: on West Fremont tonight. Gang of high school kids ran
- 10:13Speaker 4: wild and wrecked the place.
- 10:14Speaker 7: What's that got to do with Harry?
- 10:15Speaker 4: A couple of people recognized him among the gang of kids.
- 10:18Speaker 4: They said he did his share of wrecking along the
- 10:20Speaker 4: rest of 'em.
- 10:21Speaker 8: Couldn't be it's a lie. Harry didn't go to the
- 10:23Speaker 8: show tonight, he told me when he got home. He
- 10:24Speaker 8: even had his books with him. He spent the night
- 10:26Speaker 8: at the library. Oh, I'd like to have.
- 10:29Speaker 4: You take a look at this, mister Everson. Huh this
- 10:32Speaker 4: box here? Would you recognize this at all?
- 10:36Speaker 8: Yeah, same kind of box. My stomach pills come in.
- 10:39Speaker 8: Got a little ass condition of my stomach. I take
- 10:41Speaker 8: these pills for it. What's all this have to do
- 10:44Speaker 8: with Harry?
- 10:44Speaker 4: I'm going to open the box for you, mister Everson.
- 10:48Speaker 7: I don't get it. What is this stuff?
- 10:50Speaker 4: Someone saw your son drop the box in the lobby
- 10:53Speaker 4: of the theater tonight. The box contains marijuana.
- 10:56Speaker 8: It's stupid. It couldn't be right. I haven't got that
- 10:59Speaker 8: kind of a boy, I know it is, right.
- 11:00Speaker 4: Do you mind if we talk to your son. Maybe
- 11:01Speaker 4: he can explain it for.
- 11:02Speaker 7: Us just a minute. I'll get him down here, all right,
- 11:05Speaker 7: have a cheroche.
- 11:06Speaker 4: One, thank you. Sure a nice place, an Joe. Yeah,
- 11:11Speaker 4: beautiful furniture. There's nothing like period furniture. Never goes out
- 11:14Speaker 4: a day. Be just as much in styled ten years
- 11:16Speaker 4: from now as it is today. We better be sure
- 11:19Speaker 4: and take by Georgia Street Hospital on the way back,
- 11:21Speaker 4: and sure that kid's doing. You know, the one that
- 11:23Speaker 4: was hurt at the show. Oh yeah, this.
- 11:25Speaker 7: Is my boy, Harry.
- 11:26Speaker 6: Officer.
- 11:28Speaker 8: Harry just told me offices. He doesn't know what this
- 11:30Speaker 8: is all about. He was at the library, like I said.
- 11:32Speaker 6: Sure, I was there to lay closed. Somebody made a mistake.
- 11:35Speaker 6: I wasn't at the show tonight.
- 11:36Speaker 4: But Harry, do you know mister Barton, the man who
- 11:39Speaker 4: runs the theater. Yeah, I know at least swear as
- 11:41Speaker 4: you were there tonight. So does one of the iceers.
- 11:44Speaker 4: Oh boy, but the name of Donald Masters, he says,
- 11:46Speaker 4: he knows you pretty well.
- 11:47Speaker 6: I don't know any Donald Masters.
- 11:49Speaker 4: You go to the same high school together, son, You're
- 11:51Speaker 4: in the same class.
- 11:52Speaker 6: I told you, I don't know any Donald Masters.
- 11:54Speaker 4: What about this, Harry, This box here. Do you recognize this?
- 11:59Speaker 6: No?
- 12:00Speaker 4: What's the matters? Huh?
- 12:02Speaker 7: What is it? Harry? What's wrong with you?
- 12:04Speaker 6: Nothing? I don't know whose it is. It's not mine.
- 12:06Speaker 4: Was lost in the lobby of the theater tonight. Master
- 12:08Speaker 4: says he saw you drop him.
- 12:09Speaker 6: He's lying. I hate the kid's guts anyway, he's lying.
- 12:12Speaker 4: But you said you didn't know him, Son, what's wrong
- 12:15Speaker 4: with you?
- 12:16Speaker 7: What he's shaking for? Kind of a story you're trying
- 12:19Speaker 7: to tell?
- 12:23Speaker 6: I didn't mean it? Then, kid got this stuff for me.
- 12:29Speaker 6: I didn't mean to get I didn't mean to dead.
- 12:33Speaker 8: That's forgetting to look like I'm the dummy of the family.
- 12:36Speaker 8: Take it easy, mister Everson, Harry, you're a liar.
- 12:40Speaker 7: Kid got the stuff for me, That is the truth.
- 12:42Speaker 6: I didn't buy it.
- 12:43Speaker 8: You want him downtown officer, So mister Effson'd like to
- 12:46Speaker 8: have you come down with him.
- 12:47Speaker 7: We get your clothes on, go back your room, get
- 12:50Speaker 7: your clothes on.
- 12:50Speaker 6: Okay, dead.
- 12:54Speaker 8: Trying to believe son using marijuana. I can't tell you
- 12:58Speaker 8: how I feel.
- 12:58Speaker 4: I'm afraid there's going to be more folks feeling the
- 13:00Speaker 4: same way before this is cleaned up.
- 13:02Speaker 8: Would be different if Harry didn't have a chance, but
- 13:04Speaker 8: good home, good training boys had the best I could
- 13:07Speaker 8: give it. Yes, wife and I, we never thought we
- 13:10Speaker 8: had a worry in the world as far as Harry
- 13:11Speaker 8: was concerned.
- 13:12Speaker 4: Yes, sir, maybe that's why it happened. Before we left
- 13:18Speaker 4: the Everson house, we checked the boy's room and came
- 13:20Speaker 4: up with another small box full of marijuana, which he'd
- 13:23Speaker 4: hidden back in his closet. Besides Everson and his son Harry,
- 13:27Speaker 4: more than a half a dozen other teenagers who'd had
- 13:29Speaker 4: a part in the theater brawl were rounded up and
- 13:31Speaker 4: taken downtown along with their fathers for interrogation. By the
- 13:35Speaker 4: time we finished our questioning and the teenagers had finished talking,
- 13:38Speaker 4: we had most of the story piece together, a story
- 13:40Speaker 4: that had the parents so amazed that half of them
- 13:43Speaker 4: thought the youngsters were making it up. The pattern was
- 13:45Speaker 4: familiar enough for us to know that they were telling
- 13:47Speaker 4: the truth. Almost two months before, word had gone around
- 13:51Speaker 4: among the teenagers in the neighborhood that marijuana, along with
- 13:54Speaker 4: various stimulating drugs, was to be had easily and in
- 13:56Speaker 4: quantity for anybody who wanted them. Word was passed around
- 14:00Speaker 4: that it was the new thing to do. The smart
- 14:02Speaker 4: thing to do if you wanted to keep up with
- 14:03Speaker 4: the crowd. In questioning the Everson boy, we found that
- 14:06Speaker 4: he seemed to know more about the history and operations
- 14:08Speaker 4: of the narcotics campaign in the neighborhood than the other boys.
- 14:11Speaker 6: Did I know one of the guys who first showed
- 14:14Speaker 6: up with this stuff names Johnny Demring. He's about my age, seventeen.
- 14:18Speaker 6: I used to know him pretty well.
- 14:19Speaker 4: How do you mean he was the first to show
- 14:21Speaker 4: up with this stuff? Harry? What kind of stuff?
- 14:23Speaker 6: Marijuana? Some of the other things? You know, yellow jackets, goofballs.
- 14:27Speaker 6: More of the kids go for them than they do
- 14:29Speaker 6: for marijuana.
- 14:29Speaker 4: Do the youngsters know what these goofballs are made of? Sun?
- 14:32Speaker 4: They know what they are.
- 14:32Speaker 6: It's dope. I guess narcotics. The kids get a big
- 14:35Speaker 6: kick at him. I guess that's all lakes here.
- 14:38Speaker 4: It's Johnny Demmering. Does he sell the stuff around the neighborhood, Harry.
- 14:41Speaker 6: Yeah, he was the first one. He's got a couple
- 14:43Speaker 6: of other kids selling for him, now, a couple of girls.
- 14:46Speaker 6: They sell a lot for him. Johnny makes pretty good money.
- 14:49Speaker 4: Yeah, I guess he does. Where does he get the
- 14:50Speaker 4: stuff from? You know?
- 14:52Speaker 6: No, I wouldn't know that. Someplace downtown. Johnny knows a guy.
- 14:55Speaker 6: He's never told anybody where he goes to meet the guy.
- 14:58Speaker 6: Nobody ever goes with him.
- 14:59Speaker 4: Was Johnny at the shit with you tonight?
- 15:01Speaker 6: No, he doesn't hang around with the kids much anymore.
- 15:04Speaker 6: He's getting a little big time. I think he's got
- 15:06Speaker 6: his own car and good looking girlfriend downtown. Says he's
- 15:09Speaker 6: gonna quit school next month.
- 15:11Speaker 4: Where does Johnny live, son, Can you tell us?
- 15:13Speaker 6: I don't know the address right off. I can check
- 15:15Speaker 6: it in the phone book for you.
- 15:17Speaker 4: How about the kids Johnny gets to sell us? Can
- 15:19Speaker 4: you give us their name?
- 15:21Speaker 6: Yeah, okay, I think I can remember who they are.
- 15:24Speaker 6: You gonna bring Johnny in.
- 15:25Speaker 4: And talk to him, that's the idea. Yeah.
- 15:27Speaker 6: I don't know if you're gonna find him right away.
- 15:30Speaker 6: He probably heard about the trouble tonight. And Johnny's a
- 15:32Speaker 6: pretty smart guy. I don't think you'll find him very easy.
- 15:35Speaker 4: I think we'll find him.
- 15:36Speaker 6: Nobody knows much about him. He never talks about what
- 15:39Speaker 6: he's doing, never tells anybody anything. Pretty smart guy.
- 15:42Speaker 4: He told you how smart was that? Complete statements were
- 15:48Speaker 4: taken from each of the youngsters we'd brought in for questioning,
- 15:50Speaker 4: and then in practically all cases they were released into
- 15:53Speaker 4: the custody of their parents pending action by the juvenile court.
- 15:56Speaker 4: With the information we had at hand, it took us
- 15:59Speaker 4: the better part of Ford to round up everybody involved
- 16:01Speaker 4: in the narcotics distribution system which had been set up
- 16:04Speaker 4: among the teenagers in the neighborhood by seventeen year old
- 16:06Speaker 4: Johnny Demering. As for the Demuring Boy himself, he couldn't
- 16:10Speaker 4: be found. We checked with his family, his relatives, as friends,
- 16:13Speaker 4: all his known associates. We got out a want for him.
- 16:16Speaker 4: Then we checked the car that he owned through DMV.
- 16:19Speaker 4: We got out a want for that. No sign of
- 16:21Speaker 4: the boy. Narcotics Detail gave us a hand and got
- 16:24Speaker 4: their informants busy trying to track down the source of
- 16:26Speaker 4: the dope for which the Demmuring Boy had been the
- 16:29Speaker 4: only neighborhood distributor. We knew it went far beyond him.
- 16:33Speaker 4: It reached to the same vicious men who make their
- 16:35Speaker 4: money off the hopeless adult drug addict, the same vicious
- 16:38Speaker 4: men who today are trying to build a new market
- 16:40Speaker 4: for their wares among the young people of this country. Tuesday,
- 16:44Speaker 4: April twenty ninth, two thirty pm. Again right, June Bureau
- 16:52Speaker 4: Meril Oh, yeah, Briddy, Yeah, huh, that's try what's his name? Yeah, yeah, okay,
- 16:59Speaker 4: right away, right, but it's ready from narcotics. They figured
- 17:03Speaker 4: they got our man, the Demmuring Boy, No, the guy
- 17:05Speaker 4: who pushed his stuff to Demmering. His name is Jock o'harris.
- 17:08Speaker 4: They found him in a Kunty hospital this morning. Somebody
- 17:11Speaker 4: got a hold of him two nights ago and gave
- 17:12Speaker 4: him a good work and over. We're lucky, we're making
- 17:15Speaker 4: What do you mean, he's not supposed to last out
- 17:17Speaker 4: the day. Two thirty five pm, Ben and I left
- 17:23Speaker 4: the office and went immediately to the Katie Hospital where
- 17:25Speaker 4: we were allowed to briefly interview the narcotics suspect, Jock o'harris.
- 17:29Speaker 4: He was in a critical condition with a fracture of
- 17:31Speaker 4: the skull. He gave us a statement in the form
- 17:33Speaker 4: of a dying declaration. He admitted being the contact man
- 17:37Speaker 4: for seventeen year old Johnny Demmering, and he admitted also
- 17:40Speaker 4: that he had kept the boy supplied with enough narcotics
- 17:42Speaker 4: to keep the neighborhood teenage demand for the stuff fully satisfied,
- 17:46Speaker 4: Sae like.
- 17:46Speaker 7: A good kid. Never thought he turned?
- 17:49Speaker 4: What do you mean, Jocko, how he turned?
- 17:52Speaker 7: Why do you think I'm here?
- 17:53Speaker 4: You mean he's the one who worked over? Yeah? Where
- 17:56Speaker 4: is he, Jocko? Do you know?
- 17:57Speaker 9: No?
- 17:58Speaker 4: Do you know where he's staying? Do you have any idea?
- 18:00Speaker 4: You all?
- 18:01Speaker 6: No?
- 18:02Speaker 7: Still all my stuff?
- 18:04Speaker 6: Every outs?
- 18:05Speaker 4: What was it? Heroin? Yeah? Listen, Yeah, get him fast.
- 18:14Speaker 7: He's got enough junk to start a war.
- 18:26Speaker 3: You're in a cruiser car of a metropolitan police department.
- 18:29Speaker 3: You receive a routine radio car.
- 18:32Speaker 9: All units attention, All units pick up and hold for investigation.
- 18:36Speaker 9: The following vehicle nineteen forty eight Ford, two door Sedan, black,
- 18:40Speaker 9: white side wall tires.
- 18:42Speaker 2: There are many cars that fit this description. You listen
- 18:45Speaker 2: for more facts.
- 18:46Speaker 9: This car will have extensive damage to write front end
- 18:49Speaker 9: license number nine Robert nine seven oh seven in the
- 18:54Speaker 9: seven column nine Robert nine seven o seven.
- 19:01Speaker 2: Now you can pin it down to one.
- 19:10Speaker 4: Wednesday, April thirtieth, nine am. The hunt for seventeen year
- 19:14Speaker 4: old Johnny Demmering was intensified, to our knowledge, because of
- 19:17Speaker 4: the information we'd gained from narcotics peddler Jocko Harris. The
- 19:21Speaker 4: teenage youngster had a large store of high grade heroine,
- 19:24Speaker 4: which we knew because of his inexperience he was unaccustomed
- 19:27Speaker 4: to dealing with. In his hands, the narcotics immediately became
- 19:31Speaker 4: a lethal weapon. We knew that Johnny Demering had only
- 19:34Speaker 4: one market to deal in, only one type of customer.
- 19:36Speaker 4: He was acquainted with the teenager in previous transactions. We
- 19:40Speaker 4: knew that the youngsters received only a low grade type
- 19:43Speaker 4: of narcotic, highly deluded. We knew that if Demmring succeeded
- 19:46Speaker 4: in dispensing the highly concentrated store that he had on hand,
- 19:50Speaker 4: and the juvenile customers he served tried it on themselves,
- 19:52Speaker 4: it would very likely result in death. Three pm Wednesday,
- 19:57Speaker 4: Despite all our efforts, Johnny Demmering and the store of
- 19:59Speaker 4: high greade narcotics which he'd hijacked from Jock o'hrris were
- 20:02Speaker 4: still missing. Wednesday twelve noon, we began rechecking every one
- 20:06Speaker 4: of the possible sources that might lead us to the suspect.
- 20:09Speaker 4: One of them was the boy's mother, Missus Francis Demmering.
- 20:12Speaker 4: We talked to her at work. She was employed as
- 20:14Speaker 4: a motograph operator in the mailing department of a large
- 20:18Speaker 4: downtown department store.
- 20:20Speaker 10: Not since the last time you talked to me, sarje
- 20:23Speaker 10: and I haven't heard a word from my boy, nothing
- 20:25Speaker 10: at all.
- 20:25Speaker 4: Have you heard anything? Well, yes, ma'am, in a way,
- 20:28Speaker 4: they've got an idea. There's still somewhere in the city.
- 20:30Speaker 4: That's why we figured we'd come back and talk to
- 20:32Speaker 4: you again. Have you been in touch with your relatives
- 20:34Speaker 4: in town recently, Miss Demmering, I mean knows that Johnny
- 20:36Speaker 4: might possibly contact.
- 20:38Speaker 6: Yeah, there's just my sister and my mother.
- 20:40Speaker 4: Yes, ra'am.
- 20:41Speaker 10: I guess it just wasn't to be right from the start.
- 20:44Speaker 10: Johnny's father ran away, you know. Tried my best after
- 20:47Speaker 10: that never seemed to be enough. I suppose there's no
- 20:50Speaker 10: getting away from it. A boy needs a father. Try
- 20:53Speaker 10: all you want, they still need a father, some kind
- 20:55Speaker 10: of discipline.
- 20:56Speaker 4: How about the relatives you have out of town, Miss Demmering,
- 20:58Speaker 4: any word from them? And all about john.
- 21:00Speaker 10: No, sergeant nothing.
- 21:01Speaker 6: Would you excuse me? Please? This run here is finished.
- 21:03Speaker 6: I have to get it.
- 21:04Speaker 4: Off the machine.
- 21:08Speaker 10: Yes, terrible thing, Johnny getting mixed up in all this
- 21:12Speaker 10: seems no matter how you try, it's never enough, never enough.
- 21:16Speaker 4: Do you have any idea at all where Johnny would
- 21:18Speaker 4: most likely go in down if he didn't want to
- 21:20Speaker 4: be seen, missus demmering.
- 21:21Speaker 11: We'd go.
- 21:22Speaker 10: No, I wouldn't know that, Sergeant. First place, Johnny's never
- 21:26Speaker 10: really been in trouble before.
- 21:27Speaker 4: How about Johnny's school friends, ma'am. Would there be any
- 21:29Speaker 4: one of them he might possibly contact in a gym?
- 21:32Speaker 4: None that I haven't told you about before.
- 21:33Speaker 10: I don't think Evelyn, she's the only one I suppose
- 21:36Speaker 10: Johnny go to if he needed help if he was
- 21:38Speaker 10: in trouble.
- 21:38Speaker 4: That's his girlfriend at the high school, isn't it, Evelyn maxiwmell.
- 21:40Speaker 6: Yes, that's right, sweet girl.
- 21:42Speaker 4: How about a girlfriend Johnny was supposed to have downtown somewhere,
- 21:44Speaker 4: missus demming? Would you know anything about her? Nothing? Really?
- 21:48Speaker 6: No name was Betty.
- 21:49Speaker 11: I think you.
- 21:50Speaker 4: Have no idea where she lived downtown?
- 21:51Speaker 6: No, I don't, Sergeant.
- 21:53Speaker 4: Well, all right, ma'am, thank you very much, appreciate it
- 21:56Speaker 4: if you'd notify us if you hear anything about your
- 21:58Speaker 4: son at all.
- 21:58Speaker 10: All right, sergeant, thank you. Tomorrow's Johnny's birthday. You know
- 22:02Speaker 10: I meant to tell you always expect Johnny home on
- 22:05Speaker 10: his birthday. Seems no matter where he is, how he's
- 22:08Speaker 10: tied up with his school or sports or something, Johnny
- 22:10Speaker 10: always makes it home for his birthday.
- 22:12Speaker 4: I wonder how it'll be tomorrow. He's never missed once,
- 22:16Speaker 4: not once. Well, if he shows up, I guess you
- 22:18Speaker 4: can count on one thing, ma'am. What's that he's going
- 22:20Speaker 4: to have to miss next year? Two pm, Ben and
- 22:25Speaker 4: I picked up a glass of milk and a hot
- 22:27Speaker 4: dog for lunch, and then we continued making a check
- 22:29Speaker 4: of Johnny Demmering's closest friends. Next in line after his
- 22:32Speaker 4: mother was Demering's high school girlfriend, Evelyn Maxford. Relocated her
- 22:36Speaker 4: at her home. A tall, attractive brunette, nicely dressed and
- 22:39Speaker 4: well mannered, she seemed unusually nervous as we interviewed her.
- 22:43Speaker 11: I haven't heard a word, Sergeant. I know tomorrow's his birthday.
- 22:46Speaker 11: His mother's expecting him home. I know he won't come though,
- 22:48Speaker 11: sure of that?
- 22:49Speaker 4: Are you sure, miss Well? I just know That's all
- 22:52Speaker 4: I'd like to ask you again. Yes, Are you sure
- 22:54Speaker 4: you haven't heard from Johnny Demmering recently in the past
- 22:56Speaker 4: two days or so?
- 22:58Speaker 11: No, that's what I told you. Don't you believe me?
- 23:00Speaker 4: Do you know why? We're so anxious to locate Johnny,
- 23:02Speaker 4: Miss Matxman, Well, I think so.
- 23:03Speaker 11: It's about the narcotics business. You say Johnny had a
- 23:06Speaker 11: hand in it, he was selling those things to the kids.
- 23:09Speaker 11: I still don't believe it myself.
- 23:10Speaker 4: It's a lot more than that the way it stands now,
- 23:12Speaker 4: Miss Maxon, what do you mean. Well, when he was
- 23:14Speaker 4: at school, Johnny was kept supplied with narcotics by a
- 23:17Speaker 4: man named Jock o' Harris. He's what we call a pusher,
- 23:19Speaker 4: kind of an in between supply man and a narcotics train. Well,
- 23:23Speaker 4: two nights ago Johnny caught up with this Harris. He
- 23:25Speaker 4: beat him up badly enough to send him to the
- 23:26Speaker 4: hospital with a fractured skull. And then Johnny stole everybody
- 23:30Speaker 4: in narcotics that Harris had in his room, some of
- 23:32Speaker 4: the strongest stuff you can buy on the market. That's
- 23:35Speaker 4: why we want Johnny, Miss Maxley.
- 23:37Speaker 11: I don't think I understand. What does it mean?
- 23:39Speaker 4: It means that most of the teenage kids Johnny's been
- 23:41Speaker 4: supplying stuff to have been getting fairly weak grades in narcotics.
- 23:45Speaker 4: If he gets some of this stuff to them and
- 23:47Speaker 4: the kids start taking it, it might prove too strong
- 23:49Speaker 4: for him. They take too much of it. It could
- 23:51Speaker 4: kill him out right. Now, you see what we're up against.
- 23:55Speaker 4: We've got to find that boy. We got to find
- 23:57Speaker 4: him soon.
- 23:58Speaker 11: Couldn't you talk to his mother? Maybe she could tell you.
- 24:01Speaker 4: Something we already have. Man, she couldn't tell us anything.
- 24:03Speaker 4: That's why we halfway depended on you.
- 24:05Speaker 11: Why do they have to put it in my lap?
- 24:07Speaker 11: Why does it have to be me? I like Johnny
- 24:09Speaker 11: for a while, I don't know what to think.
- 24:11Speaker 4: Now, well, have you heard from a miss Maxford? Now,
- 24:13Speaker 4: there's no reason to be afraid. You'd probably feel a
- 24:16Speaker 4: lot worse if something happened to one of the high
- 24:18Speaker 4: school kids, wouldn't you that?
- 24:21Speaker 11: I got a call from him yesterday. Johnny wouldn't tell
- 24:24Speaker 11: me where he was. I asked him, but he wouldn't
- 24:25Speaker 11: tell me.
- 24:26Speaker 4: What else did he say?
- 24:27Speaker 11: He knows everybody's looking for He doesn't know about the
- 24:30Speaker 11: stuff that he stole. Oh, I'm sure that he doesn't
- 24:33Speaker 11: know what it could do.
- 24:34Speaker 4: Did he make any dates with you? Did he want
- 24:36Speaker 4: to see you?
- 24:36Speaker 11: Yes, he wants to see me. He wants me to
- 24:39Speaker 11: meet him tonight.
- 24:39Speaker 4: Where excuse me? Yes? Go ahead?
- 24:44Speaker 11: Hello, Yes, I don't know. I don't really what seven
- 24:50Speaker 11: o'clock A right, yes, yes, I'll meet him, A right goodbye.
- 24:56Speaker 11: That was Johnny just then. He wanted to make sure
- 24:58Speaker 11: I was going to meet him tonight. When at seven
- 25:01Speaker 11: o'clock tonight, right near Westlake Park, which side the west side, Sergeant,
- 25:05Speaker 11: we hope to god it's not true.
- 25:07Speaker 4: What's it the.
- 25:08Speaker 11: Narcotics he stole from that man? He said they were powerful?
- 25:11Speaker 4: Yes we did.
- 25:12Speaker 11: Johnny's been taking them for two days.
- 25:17Speaker 4: Six forty five pm, Together with two other men from
- 25:20Speaker 4: Juvenile Bureau, Hurst and Tye, we drove near the appointed
- 25:23Speaker 4: spot along the lake in Westlake Park where Evelyn Maxford's
- 25:26Speaker 4: meeting with a teenage suspect, Johnny Demmering was to take place.
- 25:30Speaker 4: We staked out at a reasonable distance and Miss Maxford
- 25:32Speaker 4: went ahead to the meeting spot. As far as we
- 25:35Speaker 4: could see, there was no sign of Demmering. Somebody on
- 25:37Speaker 4: the opposite side of the lake was playing a phonograph.
- 25:40Speaker 4: The music came over faintly across the water. We watched
- 25:43Speaker 4: the Maxford girl cross the long stretch of grass down
- 25:46Speaker 4: to the lake. She approached the shore, We saw her
- 25:48Speaker 4: stop and look down.
- 25:50Speaker 2: Show let's go, come on, yo.
- 25:53Speaker 4: We ran all away as fast as we could get there.
- 25:55Speaker 4: When we got close enough, we found out the reason
- 25:57Speaker 4: for the scream. He was lying face up on the ground,
- 26:00Speaker 4: near the edge of a small clump of trees, close
- 26:02Speaker 4: to the water. It was a good looking boy, dark hair,
- 26:06Speaker 4: good build. Took only one look and you knew right
- 26:09Speaker 4: away he was too young to be dead. You could
- 26:11Speaker 4: argue for a week, but you wouldn't change it. He
- 26:13Speaker 4: was dead. The girl stood over him, her face in
- 26:16Speaker 4: her hands, crying. No marks on the body, Joe, none
- 26:21Speaker 4: at all. It must be it. Huh, an overdose. That's
- 26:24Speaker 4: the way it looks to me. We better get her
- 26:26Speaker 4: out of here, hadn't we. Yeah, Miss Maxford, come on, Miss.
- 26:30Speaker 6: Maxford, it's starch.
- 26:32Speaker 11: It's all right. It's all right now.
- 26:34Speaker 4: We'll have one of the other men drive you home.
- 26:36Speaker 4: We can take care of whatever has to be done here.
- 26:37Speaker 11: It was a good boy, It was smart. How do
- 26:41Speaker 11: you ever get started such a thing? Could you ever
- 26:43Speaker 11: make such a mistake?
- 26:45Speaker 4: At He's got the best excuse in the world, miss, Yes,
- 26:48Speaker 4: he was seventeen.
- 26:57Speaker 2: The star you have just heard was true. The names
- 27:00Speaker 2: were changed to protect the innocent.
- 27:02Speaker 3: On May second, a coroner's inquest was held at the
- 27:05Speaker 3: County Morgue Hall of Justice, City and County of Los Angeles,
- 27:08Speaker 3: State of California in a moment the results of that inquest.
- 27:21Speaker 3: At the inquest, the coroner's jury ruled that seventeen year
- 27:23Speaker 3: old John Andrew Demering had administered himself an overdose of
- 27:27Speaker 3: narcotics and thus had taken his own life. All others
- 27:30Speaker 3: involved in the juvenile narcotics ring, a total of eight
- 27:33Speaker 3: persons were tried and convicted under the State Narcotics Act.
- 27:37Speaker 3: They received sentences as prescribed by law and are now
- 27:40Speaker 3: serving their terms in the state penitentiary. You have just
- 27:52Speaker 3: heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files.
- 27:56Speaker 3: Technical advice comes from the Office of Chief of Police W. H. Parker,
- 28:00Speaker 3: Los Angeles Police Department.
- 28:03Speaker 7: Stay tuned for Color Spy next on NBC.
- 28:13Speaker 1: Welcome Back. This episode portrays something really interesting that we
- 28:18Speaker 1: might struggle to relate to, and that is the degree
- 28:23Speaker 1: to which that the people in this neighborhood are just
- 28:28Speaker 1: utterly shocked as a seemingly nice neighborhood with good kids
- 28:33Speaker 1: and good parents went wrong and seemingly out of nowhere.
- 28:38Speaker 1: It's a tragedy, but it feels almost like a sudden disasters.
- 28:43Speaker 1: You know, the families are shocked. Jock o'harris was obviously
- 28:46Speaker 1: shocked at giving a kid with big ideas drugs didn't
- 28:51Speaker 1: go well. And of course the only reason that Johnny
- 28:56Speaker 1: didn't cause a bunch of kids to old was that
- 29:01Speaker 1: he himself.
- 29:02Speaker 4: Oh deed.
- 29:03Speaker 1: Today, I think our culture has changed, and there are
- 29:09Speaker 1: some crimes that might shock us apps depending on where
- 29:14Speaker 1: we lived and how we viewed that area, but we
- 29:17Speaker 1: don't really have that same shock about many of the
- 29:23Speaker 1: things described in this episode. Well, listener comments and feedback now,
- 29:28Speaker 1: and we have a couple of from a listener who
- 29:33Speaker 1: changes as user name on Spotify frequently, but we'll go
- 29:38Speaker 1: with it, Doctor who Done It, who commented on a
- 29:44Speaker 1: couple of episodes of Dragnet, and we start with the
- 29:50Speaker 1: big sophomore listener rites to think this is based on
- 29:57Speaker 1: real life events as heart wrenching. Honestly feel guilt because
- 30:01Speaker 1: in the first ten minutes I was thinking, lock them up.
- 30:05Speaker 1: You never know what it's like until you walk in
- 30:08Speaker 1: their shoes. Very true. And then on the begin laws
- 30:13Speaker 1: rights of all the crimes against the mother in law,
- 30:16Speaker 1: this is not the one I was expecting. I don't
- 30:20Speaker 1: condone the crime, but I understand the criminal. Thanks so much,
- 30:24Speaker 1: appreciate your comments. Now it is time to thank our
- 30:28Speaker 1: Patreon supporter of the day, and I want to go
- 30:30Speaker 1: ahead and thank Marla, Patreon supporter since January twenty eighteen,
- 30:35Speaker 1: currently supporting the podcast at the shawmus level of four
- 30:39Speaker 1: dollars or more per month. Thanks so much for your support, Marla,
- 30:43Speaker 1: and that will do it for today. If you're enjoying
- 30:45Speaker 1: the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software
- 30:51Speaker 1: and be sure to rate and review the podcast wherever
- 30:55Speaker 1: you download it from. We'll be back next Thursday with
- 30:58Speaker 1: another episode of Dragnat. Join us back here tomorrow for
- 31:02Speaker 1: yours truly, Johnny, all are aware.
- 31:07Speaker 9: Coming in?
- 31:09Speaker 2: Well, it's about time, Paul.
- 31:10Speaker 4: I began to think you got yourself another board.
- 31:12Speaker 1: I think the company has thinking on a couple of
- 31:14Speaker 1: steps investigators, but I managed to convince the press and you.
- 31:19Speaker 9: Can handle it.
- 31:20Speaker 6: Which one particular.
- 31:21Speaker 2: One of our clients, Nina's John welcome.
- 31:25Speaker 4: Oh, I get it. One of the chances somebody getting hurt.
- 31:28Speaker 4: You don't want your own man to take any chances.
- 31:30Speaker 2: Okay, I'll go.
- 31:33Speaker 4: Anything eighteen.
- 31:36Speaker 9: Do you think Mama time down in New York?
- 31:37Speaker 4: That's right.
- 31:38Speaker 8: I'm thinking if we send you down up, you send.
- 31:42Speaker 2: Anyone else and another thing, what that There'll be a
- 31:47Speaker 2: nice scene. And I think expencumented this man.
- 31:50Speaker 4: Welcome Ali, Oh my wife two thousand dollars, three thousand dollars.
- 31:57Speaker 1: Well, well, a long time since I've seen I hope
- 32:02Speaker 1: you'll be with us then in the meantime, send your
- 32:05Speaker 1: comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net, follow
- 32:11Speaker 1: us on Twitter, Radio Detectives, and check us out on Instagram, Instagram,
- 32:16Speaker 1: dot com, slash Great Detectives from Boise, Idaho. This is
- 32:21Speaker 1: your host, Adam Graham.
- 32:23Speaker 4: Sign and off.