Latest / The Great Detectives Present Dragnet (Old Time Radio) / Dragnet: The Big Gent, Part Two (EP4496)

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Dragnet: The Big Gent, Part Two (EP4496) · The Great Detectives Present Dragnet (Old Time Radio)

• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment,
• 0:38
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• 0:43
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• 0:53
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  Speaker 1: little as two dollars per month by going to Patreon
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: dot Great Detectives dot net. Now, while I am still
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: in Boise, I should note that I'm recording from a
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: different location in Boise, as we're having some work done
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: on the house and we're staying somewhere temporarily. I hope
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: that does not affect sound quality or anything at all. Yeah,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: for right now, we're recording from the Boise Foothills. That
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: little update out of the way. Let's go ahead and
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: we will be bringing you this week's episode of Dragnet.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: The original air date July twenty seventh, nineteen fifty and
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: the title is The Big Gent Part two.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: The story about to hear is true, only the names
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: have been changed to protect the innocent. You're a detective sergeant.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: You're assigned to Robbery Detail. Three persons are shot down
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: in a twelve thousand dollars hold up. One of the
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: bandits is apprehended, convicted, and sent to prison for life.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: The other one is still at large. Your job, get.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: Him Dragnet the documented drama of an actual crime. For
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: Police Department, you will travel step by step on the
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: side of the law through an actual case.
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: From official police files.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: From beginning to end, from crime to punishment.
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: Dragnet is the story of your police force selection.
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: It was Tuesday, June sixth.
• 3:06
  Speaker 6: It was cloudy in Los Angeles. We're working a day
• 3:09
  Speaker 6: watch out of Robbery Detail. My partner's Ben Romero. The
• 3:11
  Speaker 6: boss is Captain ed Walker. My name is Friday.
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: I was on the way back from communications.
• 3:16
  Speaker 6: It was eleven thirty five am when I got to
• 3:18
  Speaker 6: Room twenty seven to eight Robbery's Division.
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: Joe, all right, Oh hi, Dave.
• 3:25
  Speaker 7: Message in the book player they in a couple of
• 3:27
  Speaker 7: minutes ago.
• 3:28
  Speaker 8: Oh thank you, woman's boy.
• 3:30
  Speaker 7: Did you call.
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: Yeah, thank you, Dave. I get it now.
• 3:46
  Speaker 9: George Street, Juvenile room.
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: Is Bentley Policewoman. River there, please, that's a minute, River,
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: Hold on please, it's River, Dorothy, Joe Bridy.
• 3:58
  Speaker 9: Oh yes, Joe, you got the Yeah.
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: You worrying about your purse.
• 4:02
  Speaker 9: I can't find it anywhere? Did I leave it in
• 4:03
  Speaker 9: your car last night?
• 4:04
  Speaker 6: Found it this morning. I can leave it at the
• 4:06
  Speaker 6: desk here if you like, you can pick it up
• 4:08
  Speaker 6: some time today.
• 4:09
  Speaker 9: Joe.
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: Thanks a lot, Sure, Dorothy.
• 4:11
  Speaker 9: I had a wonderful time last night, Joe. I certainly
• 4:13
  Speaker 9: enjoyed it.
• 4:14
  Speaker 6: Yeah, pretty good movie, huh they Dorothy? Yeah, mother and
• 4:20
  Speaker 6: I were talking this morning at breakfast, like, come over
• 4:25
  Speaker 6: the house sometime for dinner.
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: Mind'd like to meet you.
• 4:27
  Speaker 9: Oh well, sure, that'd be fine. I'd like to meet
• 4:29
  Speaker 9: your mother.
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: How about a week from this coming Monday. That's my
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: day off? Is that okay? All right?
• 4:33
  Speaker 9: Week from this Monday.
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: The weather's good. Well, maybe we can have a barbecue
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: out in the back.
• 4:37
  Speaker 9: It sounds wonderful.
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: Okay, see you later then, bye bye, Joe. Hi, how
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: to work out Ben?
• 4:49
  Speaker 7: It didn't another force alarm? Sure there's a scorch you're
• 4:53
  Speaker 7: up today.
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: Four months working that one solid lead. Where are we going?
• 4:58
  Speaker 7: I haven't got the inswer, I've run down so many
• 5:00
  Speaker 7: bum tips. I don't think I know the real thing.
• 5:02
  Speaker 7: But it hit me in the fa.
• 5:03
  Speaker 10: Yea ye, yeah, Oh maguire and Mark Gear from San
• 5:07
  Speaker 10: Diego just got here.
• 5:08
  Speaker 8: You want to come in?
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: Yeah, right away?
• 5:10
  Speaker 7: At all?
• 5:16
  Speaker 5: Right, sit on.
• 5:19
  Speaker 7: Hope you two have more than we have sell on
• 5:21
  Speaker 7: that report on the skipper's desk. Four month's leg work, cold,
• 5:25
  Speaker 7: nothing at all, lots of.
• 5:26
  Speaker 6: Phony tips, bum leads. We've got three steak outs going.
• 5:29
  Speaker 6: His mug shots plastered all over town.
• 5:31
  Speaker 7: No go huh.
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: I don't know.
• 5:33
  Speaker 6: I think he's got the perfect face for a killer.
• 5:35
  Speaker 6: You can hang his description on a million guys. Got
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: nothing on him at all. Ben here just ran down
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: the last lead we own.
• 5:41
  Speaker 7: Yeah, force alarm. Nothing on the APV. You got the
• 5:44
  Speaker 7: dust on it, cold enough to bury.
• 5:46
  Speaker 8: How long has it been since it happened back in January?
• 5:48
  Speaker 7: Wasn't they?
• 5:49
  Speaker 11: Yeah?
• 5:49
  Speaker 7: Twenty seven Stanley Finance Company, San Diego.
• 5:52
  Speaker 10: It's all right there and the report in Yeah, I
• 5:54
  Speaker 10: see all up. Shooting got twelve thousand suspects. Frank Cheney
• 5:58
  Speaker 10: took away where Cheney did.
• 6:00
  Speaker 12: That's what stopped me. What's that took us a couple
• 6:03
  Speaker 12: of weeks to grab Turke? Weburn put him away here.
• 6:06
  Speaker 12: It's more than.
• 6:06
  Speaker 7: Four months and Cheneys still on the loose.
• 6:08
  Speaker 13: Doesn't that he can't be that smart?
• 6:10
  Speaker 5: Well, he's free. I can't think of a better testimonial.
• 6:12
  Speaker 8: What about the other angles Friday? Besides those three steakhouts.
• 6:15
  Speaker 6: We covered the town for Cheney had four months of
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: his hotels, rooming houses, motor courts, bars, restaurants, the works.
• 6:22
  Speaker 6: Must have a couple of thousand copies of his mugshot
• 6:24
  Speaker 6: spread around.
• 6:25
  Speaker 7: Nor responts get four or five calls a day on
• 6:28
  Speaker 7: been going on for weeks now we check him out?
• 6:30
  Speaker 10: Never the right man. What about his wife? She's still
• 6:32
  Speaker 10: supposed to be with Cheney, isn't she?
• 6:34
  Speaker 8: Funny thing? We haven't had one report in her.
• 6:36
  Speaker 6: Last time the two of 'em are supposed to have
• 6:37
  Speaker 6: been seen together was five weeks ago.
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: That was having stocked him.
• 6:40
  Speaker 10: Cheney's mother in law lives in Marysville. Still had a
• 6:43
  Speaker 10: stake out in our house.
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah, no leads there either.
• 6:45
  Speaker 12: How about it more nothing to offer? How about the
• 6:48
  Speaker 12: SAME's up here? There is something we'd like to check
• 6:51
  Speaker 12: on though.
• 6:52
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 6:52
  Speaker 12: One of McGuire's informance was parole two weeks ago. He
• 6:55
  Speaker 12: served time with Cheney at Fulsom.
• 6:57
  Speaker 7: Do you have any thing to say?
• 6:58
  Speaker 14: Yeah? His idea. Frank Cheney was the most hated man
• 7:01
  Speaker 14: at Folsom. Most of the cons had given their right
• 7:03
  Speaker 14: arm to cool him off.
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: What made him so popular? Pretty much of a.
• 7:07
  Speaker 7: Heel rant the Warden's office three times a week regular
• 7:09
  Speaker 7: and formed in the other cons every chance he got.
• 7:11
  Speaker 10: You figure some of them might want to even the
• 7:13
  Speaker 10: score if they know anything. I'm pretty sure they'll talk.
• 7:16
  Speaker 6: Worth a try, and their leads can't be any colding
• 7:18
  Speaker 6: what we got anyway.
• 7:19
  Speaker 7: Are you gonna need any help more? No, mcguarren, I
• 7:22
  Speaker 7: can handle a question. We'll go up to Folsom tomorrow.
• 7:24
  Speaker 10: Okay, I don't think there's any argument. This thing needs
• 7:27
  Speaker 10: a quick answer, Joe, you and Ben will have to
• 7:29
  Speaker 10: push a lot harder and a lot faster. Cheney's robbing
• 7:32
  Speaker 10: and killed before give him the chance. He'll do it again.
• 7:34
  Speaker 6: We've run down all the possible ankles they had. We
• 7:36
  Speaker 6: check every lead we could take up. There's one you miss, Yeah,
• 7:38
  Speaker 6: the right one.
• 7:39
  Speaker 7: Find it.
• 7:44
  Speaker 6: From the day Frank Cheney had been identified as the
• 7:46
  Speaker 6: killer and the San Diego hold up murder, four months
• 7:48
  Speaker 6: before all of us realized the danger of another killing.
• 7:51
  Speaker 6: As long as he was loose after eighteen years in prison,
• 7:55
  Speaker 6: Cheney had a gun and he had his freedom again.
• 7:57
  Speaker 5: We knew he wouldn't give him up easily.
• 8:00
  Speaker 6: Thursday June eighth, Lieutenant Mort Gear and Sergeant Tony McGuire
• 8:04
  Speaker 6: returned from Fulsome Prison after talking with most of the
• 8:07
  Speaker 6: convicts who knew Cheney well during his prison days.
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: They had a list of more than forty leads to
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: run down. Ben and I took half of them. We
• 8:14
  Speaker 5: started checking.
• 8:16
  Speaker 6: It went kind of slow and the results were thin.
• 8:19
  Speaker 6: After running down the first dozen leads, we'd found out
• 8:22
  Speaker 6: nothing about the suspect that we didn't already know. Monday,
• 8:25
  Speaker 6: June twelfth, we checked with the John Streezac, supposedly one
• 8:28
  Speaker 6: of Cheney's close friends up at Fulsom. He'd been paroled
• 8:31
  Speaker 6: before Cheney, and he was now working at a large
• 8:33
  Speaker 6: commercial engraving firm down on East Maine.
• 8:37
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I know Cheney pretty well, Sage pretty well, cus the.
• 8:42
  Speaker 8: Mantly you know.
• 8:46
  Speaker 15: Yeah, I doesn't, and I know why you're here, sergeant,
• 8:52
  Speaker 15: I can't help you.
• 8:53
  Speaker 7: You were pretty close to channing up at Fulsom Morchestresach
• 8:56
  Speaker 7: the best friend, and everybody was.
• 8:58
  Speaker 5: His best friend.
• 8:59
  Speaker 7: Everybody could doing some good.
• 9:01
  Speaker 5: And you haven't seen or heard from him since he
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: got out.
• 9:03
  Speaker 15: No, I don't want it. I learned fast. What do
• 9:05
  Speaker 15: you mean he's a bomb, Sergeant? Some people are born
• 9:08
  Speaker 15: that way. Tried to talk me to a break once.
• 9:10
  Speaker 15: He didn't buy I knew we didn't right to the
• 9:12
  Speaker 15: warden with it. Some people are born that way, bombs.
• 9:16
  Speaker 7: You think somebody might be hiding him up, somebody's pals?
• 9:18
  Speaker 7: How about them?
• 9:19
  Speaker 8: He's got any pals.
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: I don't know him. I could tell you this.
• 9:22
  Speaker 7: They didn't come out of Fulsom.
• 9:24
  Speaker 5: Well. Can you think of anything at all that might
• 9:26
  Speaker 5: give us some kind of a lead on Jeanie.
• 9:28
  Speaker 15: I wish I could believe me. I better get back
• 9:31
  Speaker 15: on the job shop for him. He's no better than
• 9:34
  Speaker 15: Cheney bum All right, Stezak.
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: Thanks a lot. Like know, if you hear anything, I'm
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: gonna leave you one of our cards here.
• 9:40
  Speaker 7: Yeah, okay, sergeant as fre as acht. What'd you go
• 9:43
  Speaker 7: up for anyhow? Just that I'm doing huh, I'm grating.
• 9:48
  Speaker 6: We kept at it, checking out the leads one by one,
• 9:51
  Speaker 6: the same slow, dull routine that we've been on for
• 9:53
  Speaker 6: four months. It ate up valuable time, but it was necessary.
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: You never know what a leads were earth until you
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: check it out.
• 10:02
  Speaker 6: During the past months, from the least promising sources, we'd
• 10:05
  Speaker 6: uncovered a half a dozen bits of information about the suspect,
• 10:07
  Speaker 6: none of them conclusive, but.
• 10:09
  Speaker 5: They helped point the way. We found out Cheney's favorite
• 10:12
  Speaker 5: sport was sailing.
• 10:13
  Speaker 6: Yacht clubs up and down the coast were contacted and
• 10:15
  Speaker 6: asked to watch for him.
• 10:17
  Speaker 5: We learned where Cheney got his eyeglasses contact lenses.
• 10:20
  Speaker 6: We went to the optician, got the description for them
• 10:23
  Speaker 6: and had copies of it distributed to all optical firms
• 10:25
  Speaker 6: in the area. They got a request for lenses which
• 10:28
  Speaker 6: matched those in Cheney's eyeglasses or contact lenses.
• 10:30
  Speaker 5: They were to notify us From a former colleague friend.
• 10:34
  Speaker 6: We found out that the suspect was once treated for
• 10:35
  Speaker 6: tuberculosis and because of this, he drank only goat's milk.
• 10:39
  Speaker 5: All the retailers in the area who sold goats milk
• 10:41
  Speaker 5: were contacted and alerted.
• 10:42
  Speaker 6: We set up a system to check regularly all the
• 10:44
  Speaker 6: mail received by relatives of both Cheney and his wife.
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: Thursday, June fifteenth.
• 10:49
  Speaker 14: Hi, that Diego called while you were out or here.
• 10:53
  Speaker 7: They come up with anything there.
• 10:55
  Speaker 10: One lead told him Cheney learned the printing trade while
• 10:58
  Speaker 10: he was up at Fultson, you know, the business, while
• 10:59
  Speaker 10: out to work at it.
• 11:00
  Speaker 7: San Diego.
• 11:01
  Speaker 10: Checking that out, they alerted the Printer's Union will do
• 11:03
  Speaker 10: the same up here. Picture and story on Channey will
• 11:06
  Speaker 10: be in the Union newspaper next week.
• 11:08
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and we dug up another bit on Cheney. We
• 11:11
  Speaker 6: got it this morning.
• 11:12
  Speaker 7: What's that instead of ordinary eyed last, Chaney has been
• 11:14
  Speaker 7: known to work contact lenses.
• 11:16
  Speaker 6: You know, last fits right over your eye. Huh, good
• 11:18
  Speaker 6: chance he might be wearing them now. Kind of helped
• 11:21
  Speaker 6: change his appearance.
• 11:21
  Speaker 7: And we got the prescription for the lenses firm. Chaney's
• 11:24
  Speaker 7: eye doctor got the information to all the optical firms
• 11:26
  Speaker 7: from town. Right man out here.
• 11:29
  Speaker 13: To see it.
• 11:30
  Speaker 10: Okay, thank you, Dave, all right, that's all better, contact
• 11:33
  Speaker 10: San Diego.
• 11:33
  Speaker 7: Keep them posting.
• 11:36
  Speaker 16: Gentlemen here too, Yes, sir, all right, chargent, you remember me,
• 11:42
  Speaker 16: Vince per Toli, you're in my place last month the
• 11:44
  Speaker 16: White House.
• 11:45
  Speaker 7: Girl place down on Alimeda.
• 11:46
  Speaker 14: Yeah, that's right block from Union Station. Both of you
• 11:49
  Speaker 14: came in.
• 11:50
  Speaker 8: Yeah, you had coffee and an omelet.
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: You like it? Sure? Yeah? What can we do for you? Bertally?
• 11:55
  Speaker 14: Remember you were talking to me. You said you were
• 11:57
  Speaker 14: looking for somebody. You left some pictures in this here.
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's right.
• 12:02
  Speaker 16: Well I lost the pictures. I don't know why I
• 12:04
  Speaker 16: lost them, but I kept your card. That's why I
• 12:05
  Speaker 16: came to see you.
• 12:07
  Speaker 14: Well, as I.
• 12:08
  Speaker 16: Say, I lost the pictures, but I still have an
• 12:10
  Speaker 16: idea what they look like.
• 12:11
  Speaker 7: Have you seen either one of those people, the man
• 12:13
  Speaker 7: or the woman.
• 12:13
  Speaker 14: Well, that's why I came to check with you.
• 12:15
  Speaker 16: A week ago, one of my steady waitresses quit and
• 12:18
  Speaker 16: I hired this brunette with a hard luck story.
• 12:21
  Speaker 14: Hey carefrs take a gun licorice flavor?
• 12:23
  Speaker 7: No, No, I think.
• 12:25
  Speaker 16: Well, after a couple of days, I remember that picture
• 12:28
  Speaker 16: you gave me and I thought she looked a little
• 12:30
  Speaker 16: like it. That's why I kept her an eye on him.
• 12:33
  Speaker 5: Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?
• 12:34
  Speaker 14: You bet. She never dates anybody, not even me, and
• 12:37
  Speaker 14: I'm the boss. Not ugly either.
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 12:41
  Speaker 14: She always claims she's got to get home, never gives
• 12:44
  Speaker 14: a reason, say she lives alone?
• 12:45
  Speaker 5: Where does she live?
• 12:47
  Speaker 14: A couple of blocks from my place on North Jersey.
• 12:50
  Speaker 16: I think I checked the place where she does her shop,
• 12:52
  Speaker 16: and they tell me she buys enough groceries for three people.
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: She still insists she's living by herself.
• 12:57
  Speaker 14: Yeah, that's why I thought i'd better check with you.
• 13:00
  Speaker 14: We lost the pictures, but I hung on your car.
• 13:02
  Speaker 7: Will you take a look at this photograph of totally yeah.
• 13:06
  Speaker 14: Sur see when you gave me looks just like her?
• 13:09
  Speaker 14: Mary Swoan? Who Mary Swoan? What your name isn't it?
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: You want to turn that picture over.
• 13:16
  Speaker 14: Missus Frank Cheney.
• 13:21
  Speaker 6: Thursday, four pm, Ben and I drove down to the
• 13:23
  Speaker 6: White House Grill and had a cup of coffee. We
• 13:25
  Speaker 6: got a good look at the waitress, whom the owner,
• 13:26
  Speaker 6: Vince per Toty, suspected of being Missus Cheney. We left
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: and waited outside in the car until five o'clock when
• 13:32
  Speaker 6: the suspect came out.
• 13:33
  Speaker 5: We followed her at a grocery store.
• 13:35
  Speaker 6: And from there to a Rundown apartment building on Graystone Alley,
• 13:38
  Speaker 6: just off Temple. We waited a few minutes and then
• 13:40
  Speaker 6: we followed her in the tab on one of the
• 13:42
  Speaker 6: mailboxes read Mary Sloan, Apartment sixteen. We went up, which one,
• 13:50
  Speaker 6: Joe number sixteen. It's done this way, come out.
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: I guess we better try.
• 14:04
  Speaker 8: The door.
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: There.
• 14:08
  Speaker 7: Police officers, open up, open the door.
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: Anybody else in here?
• 14:18
  Speaker 14: My brother, he's sick sleeping in the next room.
• 14:21
  Speaker 7: You can't be disturbed.
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: Come on, Ben, you can't go in there.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: Honey, the cot show on the window.
• 14:27
  Speaker 6: All right, get back inside here, come on, let me
• 14:30
  Speaker 6: go on hold here here, all right?
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: You are right?
• 14:44
  Speaker 7: Yeah, he broke bread.
• 14:46
  Speaker 5: You were Yeah, you got clipped for nothing, not Cheeney.
• 14:55
  Speaker 6: We drove the man and the woman, who identified herself
• 14:57
  Speaker 6: as Mary Sloan, back to the office where they are
• 14:58
  Speaker 6: identified as fugit. It's from Miami, Florida. The man was
• 15:02
  Speaker 6: wanted on charges of first degree burglary. The woman was
• 15:05
  Speaker 6: the accomplice. We turned the case over to Bunko Fugitive Detail.
• 15:09
  Speaker 5: A little after.
• 15:10
  Speaker 6: Eleven o'clock Friday morning, Ben got a tip that Cheeneye
• 15:12
  Speaker 6: had been seen the night before at a small bar
• 15:14
  Speaker 6: down near Fullark and went to a Los Angeles suburb.
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: Was supposed to be living in the area. We spent Friday, Saturday,
• 15:21
  Speaker 6: and Sunday tracking.
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: It down and went nowhere. On Monday, for the first
• 15:25
  Speaker 5: time in three and a half weeks, we had.
• 15:27
  Speaker 6: Some time off half a day. I picked up policewoman
• 15:30
  Speaker 6: Dorothy River and drove her out to the house for lunch.
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: We had a barbecue out in the backyard.
• 15:36
  Speaker 7: Certainly a wonderful place you have here, missus Friday. Beautiful garden.
• 15:40
  Speaker 11: Oh, thank You's lot of work keeping it up. Roses
• 15:46
  Speaker 11: didn't do well at all this year.
• 15:49
  Speaker 14: Aces, you know much more spaits Dorothy.
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: The fires just right now.
• 15:53
  Speaker 7: Oh no, thanks, Joe, I've had plenty.
• 15:56
  Speaker 11: Care for another cup of coffee?
• 15:58
  Speaker 7: All right, thank you.
• 16:02
  Speaker 11: I'm glad you could come today, Dorothy. Joseph's been talking
• 16:07
  Speaker 11: so much about you. Oh you surprised me a little
• 16:11
  Speaker 11: when I met you.
• 16:12
  Speaker 6: How's that at, Joseph.
• 16:16
  Speaker 11: I don't think you look at all like policewomen. Most
• 16:20
  Speaker 11: of them are rough looking, I think.
• 16:22
  Speaker 7: Oh no, I don't think so. They look like most women.
• 16:26
  Speaker 9: Nothing much out of the ordinary about them.
• 16:28
  Speaker 11: Oh well, times have certainly changed. We didn't have policewomen
• 16:35
  Speaker 11: when I was a girl.
• 16:37
  Speaker 8: Probably could have used them.
• 16:38
  Speaker 11: Well, I don't know. I don't think we have so
• 16:40
  Speaker 11: much crime then times were much different. You seem so
• 16:46
  Speaker 11: young for such work, Dorothy.
• 16:48
  Speaker 17: Please, women, I haven't twenty five, missus Friday in the
• 16:52
  Speaker 17: department almost two years.
• 16:53
  Speaker 11: Oh yeah, as your young girl. Joseph's thirty one.
• 16:59
  Speaker 7: You know, yes, I know.
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: Hey, how about letting me get you for this?
• 17:03
  Speaker 11: She said, Oh no, no, nax, don't mind, Joseph. You
• 17:05
  Speaker 11: just sit there, have your coffee. I'm used to this.
• 17:10
  Speaker 11: Have to get used to housework when you're married.
• 17:15
  Speaker 7: A wonderful dinner, Joe. Your mother is very sweet.
• 17:19
  Speaker 5: Yeah, real subtle, isn't she motherly instinct.
• 17:22
  Speaker 9: Somebody has to look after you.
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: That's the phone, Dorothy, I better grab it. I'll be
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: right back.
• 17:26
  Speaker 18: Okay, Joseph, never mind, moll let me get it right
• 17:40
  Speaker 18: he doing this is Walker.
• 17:41
  Speaker 8: Joe, check back in right away.
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: What do you got.
• 17:44
  Speaker 8: Spring in West Tampa, the Second National Bank. Yeah, Frank
• 17:47
  Speaker 8: Chaney just held it up.
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: You are listening to drag nets.
• 18:07
  Speaker 6: Monday June nineteenth, three pm. I went back to the office,
• 18:11
  Speaker 6: picked up Ben and Captain Walker, and the three of
• 18:13
  Speaker 6: us drove to the scene of the robbery at the
• 18:15
  Speaker 6: corner of Spring and West Temple the Second National Bank,
• 18:17
  Speaker 6: Ricketts and Thaxter from robbery details were already there. Questioning
• 18:20
  Speaker 6: the witnesses. We talked to the bank's vice president in
• 18:23
  Speaker 6: Charts at the time of the hold up on mister Bronson.
• 18:26
  Speaker 6: He had a welld on the right side of his
• 18:27
  Speaker 6: head and was pretty badly shaken.
• 18:29
  Speaker 13: He had his hand in one of his coat pockets
• 18:31
  Speaker 13: and he walked straight over to me. It's the first
• 18:34
  Speaker 13: thing he said, this is.
• 18:35
  Speaker 7: A hold up. You're positive of the identification is Bronson.
• 18:39
  Speaker 13: I'm certain this picture here that's the man, all right.
• 18:42
  Speaker 13: The others will tell you the same. Who's that mister Bronson?
• 18:45
  Speaker 13: The tellers eh all got a good look at him,
• 18:47
  Speaker 13: no mistake.
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: Well, what happened after Cheney approached him, He was very calm,
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: very quiet. Hu.
• 18:53
  Speaker 13: He said, do exactly what I tell you, call for
• 18:57
  Speaker 13: help and I'll kill you. He was calm all the
• 19:00
  Speaker 13: way through it, just like it was an ordinary business
• 19:02
  Speaker 13: with him.
• 19:02
  Speaker 7: Did he have you get the money for him?
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: No?
• 19:04
  Speaker 13: He ordered me from back to the front counter there
• 19:07
  Speaker 13: and we went from cage to cage. Each time he
• 19:11
  Speaker 13: had me say the same thing to the teller, this
• 19:14
  Speaker 13: is a hold up. Give me all the currency you have,
• 19:17
  Speaker 13: don't call for help?
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: How many taillers did he have you collect?
• 19:20
  Speaker 13: From five this line? Along here? Windows one to five.
• 19:24
  Speaker 13: My knees were shaking so hard I could barely walk.
• 19:27
  Speaker 13: I kept wondering if one of the tellers might try
• 19:29
  Speaker 13: to sound the alarm.
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: Answer what happened after he got the money?
• 19:33
  Speaker 13: He had me walk in front of him down there
• 19:35
  Speaker 13: to the side exit. That's when he hit me. I guess,
• 19:39
  Speaker 13: side of my head. You can see here where they banded.
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: Answer.
• 19:42
  Speaker 8: How much money did he get to?
• 19:44
  Speaker 13: You know, I'm not quite sure more than four thousand.
• 19:48
  Speaker 13: I can't help but think how lucky I am. That
• 19:51
  Speaker 13: man's a killer. I'm certain of it.
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: Are you sure that we can't fix you up with
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: a ride home?
• 19:56
  Speaker 7: No?
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: No, I'll be all right, Thank you.
• 19:57
  Speaker 13: My wife's on the way down now, was it not?
• 20:00
  Speaker 7: Yes?
• 20:01
  Speaker 8: Thanks to excuse us for your bronson.
• 20:03
  Speaker 7: Yeah, certainly unted up all to do it on the
• 20:06
  Speaker 7: getaway car Chandy utes.
• 20:07
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 20:07
  Speaker 19: At two this afternoon, he went to a used car
• 20:10
  Speaker 19: lot up and figured out about eight blocks from here,
• 20:12
  Speaker 19: it has to be shown a late model Ford. Yeah,
• 20:13
  Speaker 19: of course, salesman took him for a demonstration ride. When
• 20:16
  Speaker 19: he pulled up for an arterial, Cheney jabbed a gun
• 20:19
  Speaker 19: at him and told him to get out.
• 20:20
  Speaker 8: Salesman got out, Jad.
• 20:21
  Speaker 7: Drove off and fifteen minutes later he walked in here
• 20:23
  Speaker 7: and pulled the robbery.
• 20:24
  Speaker 8: That's at the bank.
• 20:25
  Speaker 19: Tell Us tab the same port as the getaway car,
• 20:27
  Speaker 19: broadcast at all points in the car.
• 20:29
  Speaker 7: Nothing yet. What time he got from here? M Ten
• 20:32
  Speaker 7: minutes four?
• 20:32
  Speaker 8: What time the alert to O thanks to two forty five?
• 20:35
  Speaker 5: Everything covered?
• 20:35
  Speaker 7: Yeah, Union Station, Both airports are bustypos. They are all alerted.
• 20:38
  Speaker 8: Roadblocks set up in the highways since two forty five.
• 20:41
  Speaker 7: Just about and changing somewhere in the city. Find him.
• 20:49
  Speaker 6: Six pm, the search went on. We called into the
• 20:52
  Speaker 6: office and had them notify San Diego of the latest
• 20:55
  Speaker 6: developments in the case. At seven pm the weather started
• 20:58
  Speaker 6: to cloud up. Still no sign a Cheney or the
• 21:01
  Speaker 6: getaway car. At eight o'clock it started a ring. A
• 21:04
  Speaker 6: few minutes past ten, two door Ford Sedan was found
• 21:07
  Speaker 6: abandoned on San Pedro Street near South Park. A license
• 21:11
  Speaker 6: number matched out of Cheney's getaway car. Sadan was impounded
• 21:14
  Speaker 6: and towed to a garage for fingerprinting. Ben called the
• 21:18
  Speaker 6: office and an emergency detail from Metropolitan Division was sent
• 21:20
  Speaker 6: out to help in a house to house canvas of
• 21:23
  Speaker 6: the neighborhood where the car had been found. By four
• 21:25
  Speaker 6: point thirty the next morning, we got to nowhere, so
• 21:28
  Speaker 6: we decided to give it up until later in the day.
• 21:30
  Speaker 6: At six thirty am, we had poached eggs and coffee
• 21:32
  Speaker 6: at an all night drive. In seven am, it was
• 21:35
  Speaker 6: still raining. We checked back in at the office.
• 21:38
  Speaker 7: I don't know, it seems like every time we have
• 21:40
  Speaker 7: to work lateis got a rain?
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: You got any of those little white tablets in your
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: locker at breakfast? Gaining iniggestion?
• 21:49
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I think I got a few. Now reminds me
• 21:52
  Speaker 7: how did dinner come off yesterday? To have them get
• 21:54
  Speaker 7: along the rye?
• 21:55
  Speaker 5: Oh?
• 21:55
  Speaker 7: All right?
• 21:56
  Speaker 5: You know how it is my our usual few things?
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: Is uh? Dorothy handled a pretty good, good sense of.
• 22:03
  Speaker 7: Humor, a nice living girl sentiment.
• 22:07
  Speaker 8: I am Sarah, do any good?
• 22:11
  Speaker 5: No?
• 22:11
  Speaker 7: Not much phone message in the book for you. You're supposed
• 22:14
  Speaker 7: to call as soon as you get in MM and
• 22:17
  Speaker 7: had four to one nine, no name, No, you're supposed
• 22:21
  Speaker 7: to call the number. That's all Oh.
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: Okay, Well, how's new house? Though?
• 22:29
  Speaker 20: Pretty good takes a lot of money. Got the forums
• 22:32
  Speaker 20: in for the patty. I'm going for the cement this weekend.
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: Got the place fenced Offia not you had.
• 22:38
  Speaker 7: No Most pickets cost money.
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: Fellas are telling me that you're doing all the work yourself.
• 22:44
  Speaker 7: Me and the brother in law.
• 22:44
  Speaker 20: Yeah, costs a lot of money. A new house sounds good.
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: Yeah it was it.
• 22:50
  Speaker 7: Frank Cheney's grandfather. Yeah, says to come over right away.
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: Seven thirty am it was still ring. Ben and I
• 23:00
  Speaker 6: drove out to the older section of the Wilshire district.
• 23:03
  Speaker 6: To the Cheney mansion. Represented one part of the suspect's
• 23:06
  Speaker 6: life that we could never figure. As a child and
• 23:09
  Speaker 6: later as a young man, Frank Cheney had had every
• 23:12
  Speaker 6: advantage and comfort that a millionaire father could buy for him,
• 23:15
  Speaker 6: yet for some reason, he'd settled on a career of crying.
• 23:19
  Speaker 6: Seven am, Ben and I were shown into the main
• 23:22
  Speaker 6: hallway of the Cheney home by the butler. He recognized
• 23:25
  Speaker 6: us from previous visits.
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: He took our.
• 23:27
  Speaker 6: Hats and coats, and then led us up the staircase
• 23:29
  Speaker 6: to the master bedroom.
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: At the far Into the second floor, we.
• 23:32
  Speaker 6: Found Cheney's eighty two year old grandfather, popped up in
• 23:35
  Speaker 6: a four poster bed.
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: His face was gray and sunken.
• 23:38
  Speaker 6: It was a nurse in a white starched uniform standing by.
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: You couldn't go a nurse go on, I'll be outside
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: of didn't leave, miss Cheney.
• 23:46
  Speaker 7: Yes, yes, you have some information for us, mister Chaney.
• 23:55
  Speaker 7: Of course, that's I could sit down.
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: Thank you, sir.
• 24:01
  Speaker 17: That hold up yesterday, the bank robbery, I know all
• 24:04
  Speaker 17: about it.
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: Has Frank contacted you, it's.
• 24:07
  Speaker 7: Like the police get right to the point.
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: Has he contacted us?
• 24:10
  Speaker 7: Yes, hand me that glass of water please?
• 24:18
  Speaker 17: Yeah, there you are, ugh, thank you, No, don't leave
• 24:27
  Speaker 17: it on the table.
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: Then. Yes.
• 24:31
  Speaker 7: When Frank got out of prison last year he came
• 24:34
  Speaker 7: to see me.
• 24:35
  Speaker 17: I offer him one more chance. I told him, if
• 24:38
  Speaker 17: he decided to earn his way up, all the hope
• 24:39
  Speaker 17: I could give him. He said he would, Yes, Sir,
• 24:43
  Speaker 17: I was a fool like everyone else.
• 24:45
  Speaker 8: I believed him.
• 24:46
  Speaker 5: Any idea where Frank is now?
• 24:48
  Speaker 17: I gave him everything it was possible to give him.
• 24:51
  Speaker 17: He directed the family, his father's life, my life, everything.
• 24:56
  Speaker 5: He touched you ruin. You know where he is now, sair.
• 24:58
  Speaker 17: He telephoned me before yesterday he was going away Central America.
• 25:03
  Speaker 7: Why didn't you notify us he was going away? I
• 25:06
  Speaker 7: thought it'd be better. We've had enough notoriety newspaper stories.
• 25:10
  Speaker 17: How was he going to get to South America's Swedish
• 25:13
  Speaker 17: ship is going to Worky's way?
• 25:16
  Speaker 7: He called from San Pedro, staying in some hotel there.
• 25:19
  Speaker 7: You don't know the name.
• 25:21
  Speaker 17: Fight and take him away, bury him someplace, okay, Joe, Yeah.
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: Thank you very much, mister Cheney.
• 25:29
  Speaker 17: Sergeant, Yes, sir, Frank will have a gun, he'll try
• 25:33
  Speaker 17: to use it.
• 25:34
  Speaker 5: Yes, sir, kill him. Nine am.
• 25:40
  Speaker 6: Ben and I went back to the office and put
• 25:42
  Speaker 6: in a call of the Swedish Vice consult on South
• 25:44
  Speaker 6: Spring Street. They told us that three days before a
• 25:47
  Speaker 6: man answering Janie's description and signed on the Swedish Motorship
• 25:50
  Speaker 6: Southern Cross as a member of the engine room crew.
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: We picked up Sergeant Slackster and Davis and drove down
• 25:55
  Speaker 5: to San Pedro. The Southern Cross was still taking on cargo.
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: When we got there. We showed chill, he's mud shout
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: for the first mate.
• 26:02
  Speaker 8: You there, man, I can Cameron, that's you. And he
• 26:05
  Speaker 8: signed on this trip?
• 26:06
  Speaker 7: Was he aboard the ship? Now?
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: Oh, he's hide up there on deck. What's there?
• 26:11
  Speaker 7: I guess event be low?
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: What if you take a still him? Please? All right?
• 26:16
  Speaker 7: Then then oh if the commander eating storm? All right,
• 26:23
  Speaker 7: the game grade mind?
• 26:24
  Speaker 5: Just better watch it? Then? Yeah, oh for true hair,
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: maybe you better stay behind here, sir, we'll take him.
• 26:39
  Speaker 5: Might be a little trouble here. Do you want to
• 26:40
  Speaker 5: stay behind us? What right?
• 26:42
  Speaker 7: You must stay in the engine room? Stay theyhead into
• 26:45
  Speaker 7: into your left. Don't go, companion, all right, thank you,
• 26:50
  Speaker 7: don't come on, I'll watch you. Step in there, Joe man,
• 27:02
  Speaker 7: which one's my spotted?
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: All right, Jenny holet he's making a break on you.
• 27:10
  Speaker 5: He's going top side hustle, coming up a ladder, Look on, Joe,
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: give it up, Jenny, he's going for the game con
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: all right, stop him? Come on. Yeah so the shoulder, yeah,
• 27:34
  Speaker 5: bumped his head on the fell.
• 27:35
  Speaker 6: How to get the cuffs on him? Yeah, I learned
• 27:39
  Speaker 6: everybody disappeared to I guess you didn't notice when we
• 27:43
  Speaker 6: came aboard. Huh looked topside red flag?
• 27:48
  Speaker 8: Oh yeah, taking on a few.
• 27:52
  Speaker 5: There's some of the cargo right over there. Oh, I explosives.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: The story you have just heard was true, only the
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: names were changed to protect the innocent.
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: On November two, trial was held in Superior Court, City
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: and County of San Diego, State of California. In a
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: moment the results of that trial, Frank Bertram Cheney was
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: tried and convicted of murder in the first degree. He
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: is now awaiting execution in a lethal gas chamber at
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: the State Penitentiary San Quentin, California. This is NBC the
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: National Broadcasting Help.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: Welcome Back. For most of the episode, it was really
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: just a case of showing all the evidence that the
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: police collect just in case it moight lead to a
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: capture of the spect but ultimately most of it doesn't.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: Neither the contact lenses or him drinking only Goatsmelt provided
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: a clue. The capture of the fugitives from Miami illustrates
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: one of the perils of being a fugitive. Even if
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: the police in a given city aren't looking for you,
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: they're certainly looking for somebody, and if you act suspiciously,
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: they will suspect that maybe you're them, And we saw
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: how that turned out. What ultimately does Cheney in was
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: his utter contempt and disregard for others. We actually got
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: a couple hints of this early in the second part,
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: with cons at fulsome lining up to give the police
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: incriminating information and tips, not because they hope for reduced sentences,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: but because they hated Cheney so much. And of course
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: that extended to his family, and you get the impression
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: that the grandfather had had a bit of an epiphany
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: about him after trying for so many years and giving
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: so many chances, even as he wrecked other people's lives.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: The fact that the fugitive had felt comfortable contacting his
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: grandfather indicates that there been an effort to maintain a relationship,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: and Cheney probably thought he could use his grandfather. He
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: just found out that he burned too many bridges. Even
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: as a criminal, you can't live your life in total
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: disregard and use every single person you meet without paying
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: a price. It's stories like this that show the confusion
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: when it comes to Dragnet. When he created the show,
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: Jack Webb pledged not to moralize, but many find Dragnet
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: one of the most moralistic shows imaginable because real life
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: often comes with its own moral lessons. The one incongruous
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: thing about this is that Cheney's cocord at the end
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: of part one boasted of the police never being able
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: to catch him. However, to me, this just indicates that
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: the guy with someone chant hadn't quite gotten around to betray.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: We turn now to listener comments and feedback, and we
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: have an email from Jim who writes high Adam Dragnett
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: likes to tell us the story you are about to
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: hear is true. Well, I thought if the Big Bomb
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: were true and based on a case in Los Angeles,
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: it would be an easy one to research. The closest
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: event I could have find occurred November twentieth, nineteen twelve,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: when a man named Carl Ryn Nibak aka Carl War
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: carried sixty six of dynamite with a detonator into La
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: City Hall and threatened to blow up the building. Fortunately,
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: after some heroic actions by two LAPD officers, he was
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: overpowered and the bomb did not dedonate. There was no
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: mention of a motive as detailed in the Dragnet episode. Well,
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: thank you so much, Jim. I did some research on
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: newspapers dot com to kind of fill in some of
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: the gaps. I looked at some newspaper accounts of the time,
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: and I think it has to be said, you're probably
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: right in terms of the source, because I've heard that
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: this story was also done on Calling All Cars, which
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: was a series from the nineteen thirties. I do think
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: that Dragnet has a challenge when it adapts a story
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: that is quite old. They really can't tell the story
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: exactly as it happened, because the point of Dragnet is
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: to show how police forces, particularly the Los Angeles Police
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Department in nineteen fifty or nineteen forty nine, would handle
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: such a case, not how it was handled under procedures
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: and motives thirty five years before. Now, what was actually
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: the motive for World War to do this? We actually
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: when he went into police headquarters, he demanded that the
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: police bring him Paul Shoop, who was president of the
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: Pacific Electric Company. And he made a point that he
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: actually just asked for the president of Pacific Electric Company
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: to be brought to him, And what he planned was
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: to show him his machine with the dynamite and say,
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: either you agree to raise your workers' salaries and improve
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: their conditions, or I'm going to blow you up. However,
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: the police enterveying stopped him, took the bomb away. War
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: said I'd intended to blow them all to pieces at
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: any attempt to thwart me. They were fools to try
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: to capture me. I was doing my best to save
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: their lives. If they had been killed, it would have
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: been no fault of mine. You can't call that murder. Now.
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: The way that War did this particular bombing is he
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: did not, as happened in Dragnet, go in just dressed normally.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: He came in with a monkey face mask covering his head,
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: and he was wearing fake fingers. He actually was missing
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: some fingers due to an accident on one of his hands.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: In fact, there was actually a photograph of him taken
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: in city hall. It was taken by E. J. Spencer
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: of the Los Angeles Examiner. And I know nothing about
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: mister sp Answer other than the fact that he took
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: that photo. But that one act is that what he
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: did is he went into city Hall with everybody warning
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: him this could get you killed, and he set up
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: his camera on a chair and took a picture. And that,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: my friends, is an act that deserves some mention one
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: hundred and twelve years later, because that took absolute nerve.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: But the picture in the Los Angeles Examiner looks like
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: something out of a pulp fiction magazine. Now, some other
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: interesting facts about mister War is that his mother blamed
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: the act on a blow to his head that was
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: quoting her, administered by his stepfather. She said, after that
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: apparently very severe beating, he was never quite right. He
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: was also an escape convict. He had been convicted in
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: Salt Lake City of petty larceny, but had escaped from
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: a chain gang. I can see all kinds of reasons
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: why they would go ahead and change a lot of
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: details in adapting this story to drag Nat First. I
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: think there's a relatability issue. In many ways, War's actions
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: don't make a lot of sense. I couldn't find any
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: specific information as to why he picked on the president
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: of Pacific Electric as a particular target. Where this does
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: make sense is that this crime was committed at the
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: time where you had a lot of anarchist activity, and
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: in fact it's really been identified with that, and so
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: the idea that you have this very in many ways
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: theatrical crime, based on the disguise and the methods, it
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: makes sense in that context, which is not the context
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: of nineteen forty nine and nineteen fifty America. I think
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: that there is a sort of psychology to these sort
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: of actions, just as kind of some of the more
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: seemingly random acts of mass violence we've seen in our
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: time that would just not make any sense in the
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: context of the culture of nineteen forty nine, nineteen fifty.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: And of course the problem is that you're trying to
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: pitch Dragnet as a series that's going to be about
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: realistic cases and how the police really work. You can
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: just imagine the production meeting and you know, Jack Webs
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: talking and saying, Okay, I really I think we're doing
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: a great job. I want to be sure that we
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: continue to tell these realistic, down to earth stories of
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: how the police really addressed problems. What case are we
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: going to adapt this week? Okay, well, this one is
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: about a guy missing several fingers who came into city
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: Hall wearing a monkey mask and threatening to blow it
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: up with an actual bomb unless the police delivered the
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: president of the electric company into his hands. Okay, let's
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: work on that one a little bit, fell us.
• 38:32
  Speaker 13: Now.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: One big difference in the disposition of the case of
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: Carl War and the case of Carney in the city
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: Hall bombing story is that while Carney was found to
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: be insane.
• 38:47
  Speaker 5: Carl War was not.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: And what doctor W. E. Carter said, the police surgeon,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: he said that War was a monome. His speech is rational,
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: his physical condition good, and there's every indication he is
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: saying as many persons called cranks, because his act was insane.
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: It does not necessarily follow he is insane. He is
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: of a morbid turn of mind and undoubtedly would kill
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: himself if given the opportunity. And I think you can
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: see that with Carney, they did give him a sort
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: of monomania about getting his brother out of jail. I mean,
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: there is some very clear, lucid realizations that make him
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: very hard for the police to trick or to save,
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: because he is very alert and aware and has some
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: great sense of logic, except when it comes to his
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: desire to get his brother Elwood out of jail. And
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: so what they went ahead and did is they took
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: that element of monomania. Now it is very well Paul,
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: that if Carl War had committed this crime in nineteen
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: forty nine, he might have also been confined to a
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: mental institution. But he didn't, and so under the standards
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: that were in place when his case went to trial
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: in nineteen thirteen, he was convicted and sent up for
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: twenty years, So a very fascinating adaptation approach, and Jim
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: I appreciated the email.
• 40:31
  Speaker 7: Well.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: Now we conclude our conversations on the Detective Mount Rushmore
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: and we're on to television, having discussed choices for literature
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: and radio in the previous two episodes, So for television
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: original detectives, the first choice has to be Colombo, a
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: great concept, absolutely iconic character, and of course for the
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: most part, dealing in inverted mysteries gave it a very
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: different field than most other programs on television. Then after
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: that it has to be Jim Rockford. James Garner was
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: absolutely iconic in the role and provided a sort of
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: news span on the private detective. Really gave him a
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: very well developed personality, as well as a family of characters,
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: not just the police foil, but his dad and angel
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: his informant. I feel the mysteries were really well written
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: as well, and there were so many surprises in the
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: way that the stories played out. Then there's Jessica Fletcher. Now,
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: obviously a big part of this is just the fantastic
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: performance of Angela Lansbury, but the series knew how to
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: put out really solid mysteries, mostly with a somewhat cozy feel,
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: but they would find all sorts of intriguing and memorable
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: setups for their mysteries and really set up situations that
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: allowed Jessica to show what a great.
• 42:20
  Speaker 5: Character she was.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: And I think Murder she wrote is just a series
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: that has such an intergenerational impact. It was usually on
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: a scale where it was essentially a family show, and
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: so many younger people who are into mysteries have memories
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: of watching this series, and I think the stories tended
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: to work cross generationally, and I think in terms of
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: TV sleuths, Jessica Fleischer is one of the most impactful
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: we've had. My last pick is Adrian Monk.
• 43:00
  Speaker 7: Oh.
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: Yes, we do have one character whose show aired entirely
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: in the twenty first century on the list. And Monk
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: is a lovely series because so much of his method
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: and the way he solves cases is just that classic
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: braining detective. He fits very naicely into the sort of
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: world where you had Sherlock Holmes, Polole and Nero Wolf,
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: but it's a much more upfront about his challenges. A
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: lot of people going through many of the old detective
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: stories and reading about their behavior and actions. Said, based
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: on our current understanding of mental health and the human brain,
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: it kind of seems like these detectives might fall under
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: various categories such as haveing obsessive compulsive disorder, but since
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: they would not have been diagnosed in many cases, these
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: weren't really considered back in the nineteen twenties or thirties,
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: its speculation. But with Monk they would ahead, and they
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: wrote a character with a lot of challenges in terms
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: of OCD and all these various phobias and anxieties that
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: he had. In many ways, it's a very tricky approach
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: because when you have a character like that, it's possible
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: to turn the series into a therapy session where everybody's
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: constantly talking in therapy speak all the time. But I
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: think what they really managed to do with Monk is
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: it really provided him some grounding and humanity and gave
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: him a character arc and journey that goes through the series,
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: even while most of the cases are essentially self contained.
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: Monk was just an absolute delight and I think definitely
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: is a fitting choice for my TV Detective's Mount Rushmore. Well,
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: now it is time to thank our Patreon supporter of
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: the day, and I want to thank Michael. Michael has
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: been one of our Patreon supporters since March twenty sixteen,
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: currently supporting the podcast at the shamous level of four
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: dollars or more per month. Thank you so much for
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: your support, Michael, and that will actually do it for today.
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: favorite podcast software. And if you're enjoying the podcast on YouTube,
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: be sure to like the video, subscribe to the channel,
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: and mark the notification bill. We'll be back next Saturday
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: with another episode of Dragnet, but join us back here
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: tomorrow for our first Chief of Detectives special Way.
• 46:00
  Speaker 9: Hey are they all ready? I just got sleep?
• 46:04
  Speaker 5: No, there's something wrong. There's a cop coming this way.
• 46:08
  Speaker 5: What's the trouble? What we want you? Mister? Wait?
• 46:13
  Speaker 15: You want me fire bad one.
• 46:16
  Speaker 8: We gotta have every man we can find.
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: We can use her too.
• 46:19
  Speaker 7: Oh well, well, look i'd like to Oh okay, Rose
• 46:23
  Speaker 7: the forest ranger. He'll explain.
• 46:25
  Speaker 5: Look, I'm sorry, but I'm on my way to Missoula
• 46:28
  Speaker 5: to night.
• 46:28
  Speaker 21: You're I've got authority to do this, mister. I'm sorry,
• 46:31
  Speaker 21: but we need you and I haven't got You couldn't
• 46:32
  Speaker 21: get much farther anyway.
• 46:33
  Speaker 13: The roads cut off.
• 46:34
  Speaker 21: The mountain's going up like a torch. If it spreads,
• 46:37
  Speaker 21: there's three towns gonna go too. Come on, I got
• 46:40
  Speaker 21: some clothing boots for you.
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then. In the meantime,
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot yet,
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: out on Instagram, Instagram dot com slash Great Detectives from
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: Boise Altohol.
• 46:59
  Speaker 5: This.
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham.
• 47:01
  Speaker 5: Sign and off.