Latest / Dragnet | Old Time Radio / The Big Fall Guy [episode 304], Broadcast 6/14/1955
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Chesterfield brings you drag net.
- 0:05Speaker 2: Put a smile in your smoking.
- 0:07Speaker 3: Buy Chesterfield Smoother, cooler, best for you.
- 0:21Speaker 4: Ladies and gentlemen. The story you are about to hear
- 0:24Speaker 4: is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
- 0:36Speaker 4: You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned a robbery detail. The
- 0:40Speaker 4: owner of a small delicatessen reports that he's been robbed.
- 0:43Speaker 4: He says, the thief casually walked out of his store
- 0:46Speaker 4: and disappeared. Your job find him.
- 0:55Speaker 2: Put a smile in your smoking.
- 0:57Speaker 4: Next time you buy cigarettes, stop, remember this. In the
- 1:02Speaker 4: whole wide world, no cigarettes satisfies like Chesterfield.
- 1:07Speaker 2: Put a smile in your smoking.
- 1:09Speaker 4: Instantly, You'll smile your approval of Chesterfield smoothness.
- 1:14Speaker 2: So smooth, so satisfying.
- 1:17Speaker 4: You want them mild, We make them mild, mild and
- 1:21Speaker 4: mellow with the smooth and refreshing taste of the right
- 1:25Speaker 4: combination of the world's best tobaccos. So next time you
- 1:28Speaker 4: buy cigarettes, stop.
- 1:31Speaker 5: Start smoking with the smile with Chesterfield, smiling all the
- 1:37Speaker 5: while with Chesterfield, put a smile and your smoking just
- 1:41Speaker 5: give them a try.
- 1:43Speaker 1: Light up a Chesterfield.
- 1:46Speaker 6: They sat as.
- 1:47Speaker 7: Fine drag met. The documented drama of an actual crime.
- 1:57Speaker 7: For the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los
- 1:59Speaker 7: Angeles Police Department, you will travel step by step on
- 2:03Speaker 7: the side of the law through an actual case transcribed
- 2:05Speaker 7: from official police violence, from beginning to end, from crime
- 2:09Speaker 7: to punishment. Dragnet is the story of your police force.
- 2:13Speaker 7: In action.
- 2:18Speaker 8: Was Sunday, October ninth. It was overcast in Los Angeles.
- 2:21Speaker 8: We were working the day watch out of robberie detail.
- 2:22Speaker 8: My partner's Frank, spent the boss a chievity taking his
- 2:25Speaker 8: dad Brown.
- 2:25Speaker 9: My name is Friday.
- 2:26Speaker 8: I was on my way back from communications. That was
- 2:28Speaker 8: three forty eight PM when I got the room, twenty
- 2:30Speaker 8: seven to eight.
- 2:31Speaker 9: Robbery definitely, lest.
- 2:34Speaker 6: My god, it.
- 2:37Speaker 8: Robbery, Friday, get a second, give me that pamin Yes,
- 2:43Speaker 8: all right, go ahead, please, all right, I have it.
- 2:48Speaker 1: What happened?
- 2:50Speaker 9: How long ago? All right, right away, thank you.
- 2:57Speaker 8: Guy came into a delicatest over on Sunset, took out
- 3:00Speaker 8: a pretty big order, eh sack full of money.
- 3:07Speaker 9: Four or fifteen pm.
- 3:08Speaker 8: Frank and I drove out to a small combination delicatessen
- 3:10Speaker 8: and grocery on the corner of Sunset and Third. The
- 3:12Speaker 8: owner of the store, mister Paul Claypool told us that
- 3:14Speaker 8: the robbery had taken place approximately twenty minutes earlier. He
- 3:17Speaker 8: said that the patrol car officer who had answered his
- 3:19Speaker 8: call had left to make an immediate search for the suspect.
- 3:22Speaker 10: Gabe a real good description, I did, Yeah, so he said.
- 3:24Speaker 11: That.
- 3:24Speaker 12: Kept my wits about me all the time. At young
- 3:26Speaker 12: Hitler was in the store, I was studying him. Didn't
- 3:29Speaker 12: let him catch on, of course, but I was making
- 3:30Speaker 12: mental notes.
- 3:31Speaker 9: I wonder if you tell us just what happened, mister Claypool.
- 3:33Speaker 10: How's that?
- 3:34Speaker 9: Or we'd like to hear about the robbery right from
- 3:35Speaker 9: the beginning.
- 3:36Speaker 10: Oh checking up on me?
- 3:37Speaker 12: Oh sir, making sure I give you the same story
- 3:40Speaker 12: I gave another car.
- 3:41Speaker 9: Oh no, sir, that's not the idea.
- 3:43Speaker 10: I told him everything that was to tell.
- 3:45Speaker 9: Or we liked to hear too, that's all.
- 3:46Speaker 10: You ain't gonna hear nothing different than what he did.
- 3:49Speaker 9: But would you tell us anyway?
- 3:50Speaker 12: Well, if that's how you wanted This year, crook Fuller
- 3:52Speaker 12: came walking into my store, big as life.
- 3:55Speaker 10: That I've begun.
- 3:56Speaker 6: I was about twenty minutes ago, was it?
- 3:58Speaker 10: Oh it might be twenty one to two, But now
- 4:00Speaker 10: depends on how long you've been.
- 4:01Speaker 9: Talking to me? Yes, what do you say when he
- 4:03Speaker 9: came in?
- 4:04Speaker 10: Bandit, fellow?
- 4:04Speaker 9: That's right?
- 4:05Speaker 12: Nothing nothing, that's what he said, not a single solitary word,
- 4:09Speaker 12: I say, indeed, open his mouth, just handed me an
- 4:12Speaker 12: envelope sealed.
- 4:14Speaker 10: It was sealed up, shut, go ahead. Struck me as
- 4:18Speaker 10: being kind of peculiar.
- 4:19Speaker 12: And what do you mean, Well, lots of my customers
- 4:22Speaker 12: bring in lists of things they're supposed to buy. They
- 4:24Speaker 12: don't seal them in no envelope. Then I see my
- 4:27Speaker 12: instinct show was right. It wasn't no grocerer, there's too
- 4:30Speaker 12: far from it. Is that something note inside handprinted?
- 4:33Speaker 9: It was? I say, I wonder what it said? Well,
- 4:36Speaker 9: that would be nice, Yes.
- 4:37Speaker 12: Sir, take all of the money out of the cash register,
- 4:40Speaker 12: put it in a paper bag and hand it over.
- 4:43Speaker 10: That wasn't all you want to hear? The rest? If
- 4:46Speaker 10: you wouldn't, please, don't do any talking. Don't try to
- 4:48Speaker 10: stop me. If you do, I'll kill you. That was
- 4:51Speaker 10: the end of it.
- 4:52Speaker 6: Do you still have this note, mister Claypool.
- 4:54Speaker 10: Right over that so laying on the register.
- 4:56Speaker 9: Wonder if we could see it?
- 4:57Speaker 6: Please?
- 4:57Speaker 12: Well, that's up to you, I guess other cups said,
- 5:00Speaker 12: I wasn't handled on the kind of fingerprints.
- 5:02Speaker 9: Well, we'll try to be careful with it.
- 5:04Speaker 10: Help yourself. Tain't my place to take no chances on
- 5:06Speaker 10: the straw and valuable evidence. Yes, sir, well had it right,
- 5:14Speaker 10: didn't it? Word forward?
- 5:16Speaker 9: Yeah, sir, you sure did.
- 5:17Speaker 6: After you read this note? What'd you do, mister.
- 5:19Speaker 10: Claypool, I'd done just what it said.
- 5:21Speaker 6: You gave him the money from the registered.
- 5:22Speaker 12: That's right, put in the paper bag and number eight
- 5:25Speaker 12: eight day. That was the size of the bag.
- 5:28Speaker 9: H How much money did you give him?
- 5:30Speaker 10: All? There was the.
- 5:30Speaker 12: Neighborhood of fifty dollars, most of it built, most i'd say,
- 5:34Speaker 12: couple of ten s or four five some ones? Restless change,
- 5:39Speaker 12: all right?
- 5:39Speaker 9: What happened next?
- 5:40Speaker 12: Feller took the bag, kind of grinned and walked out,
- 5:43Speaker 12: looked real pleased with himself.
- 5:45Speaker 6: Did you see where he went?
- 5:46Speaker 10: Left the store?
- 5:47Speaker 9: Yes, sir, I mean after that, turned down the street
- 5:50Speaker 9: to get into a car.
- 5:51Speaker 10: I didn't see nothing.
- 5:52Speaker 9: He didn't try to follow him, Nope.
- 5:53Speaker 12: I didn't aim to stick out my neck none. Figured
- 5:55Speaker 12: that was up to you, fellow.
- 5:56Speaker 6: That's right, missus Claypool. You know if the robber had again,
- 5:59Speaker 6: must have did you see it?
- 6:00Speaker 9: Nope?
- 6:01Speaker 12: But that day no said he'd killed me if I
- 6:03Speaker 12: gave him any trouble, Yes, sir, must have had a
- 6:06Speaker 12: gun if he'm to kill me, well he stands to reason.
- 6:08Speaker 6: Yes.
- 6:09Speaker 9: Was there anybody else in here when he came in?
- 6:11Speaker 11: Just me?
- 6:12Speaker 10: I don't do much business this time afternoon and not
- 6:14Speaker 10: on Sunday.
- 6:15Speaker 9: Had you ever seen this man before?
- 6:17Speaker 10: Nope, not that I recollect.
- 6:18Speaker 9: I wonder if you could describe him for us?
- 6:20Speaker 10: Oh? Sure, I told you I gave him a real
- 6:21Speaker 10: good once holder.
- 6:22Speaker 9: Yes, sir.
- 6:23Speaker 10: First all, he was a young.
- 6:24Speaker 9: Fellow, right around though twenty.
- 6:26Speaker 10: I'd say, husky, about five ten maybe ways one.
- 6:30Speaker 9: Seventy, Not that you understand you're just husky.
- 6:33Speaker 10: What about his coloring, Well, I'm coming to that.
- 6:36Speaker 12: Yes, brown hair, medium brown, kind of gray eyes, medium complexion, and.
- 6:41Speaker 9: He marks the scars.
- 6:42Speaker 3: No.
- 6:42Speaker 9: How was he dressed.
- 6:43Speaker 12: Pants dark colored surge more than likely blue surge. They
- 6:48Speaker 12: looked like they was part of a suit. Couldn't see
- 6:50Speaker 12: his shirt that he had on? A sweater yellish with
- 6:54Speaker 12: the one of them by them colors a choke show.
- 6:56Speaker 12: Let's they it fits all around your neck because he likes.
- 6:59Speaker 9: So turtle next sweater?
- 7:01Speaker 10: Is that what you call it?
- 7:02Speaker 9: Yes, sir, curtly like that.
- 7:04Speaker 12: Well that's a right good name. That's just what it
- 7:06Speaker 12: looks like, turtle poking hot his neck.
- 7:08Speaker 13: Yes, sir, there's anything else you can tell us about
- 7:10Speaker 13: this man?
- 7:11Speaker 10: What have they got in mine?
- 7:13Speaker 6: Well, mister Claypool, anything that would help us identify him?
- 7:16Speaker 12: Well, sir, he acted real funny, almost like he didn't
- 7:18Speaker 12: know what he was doing. Oh, kind of looked at
- 7:21Speaker 12: me funny too.
- 7:23Speaker 10: I don't know how to put it into words exactly.
- 7:26Speaker 8: Yes, sir, What if you come down the city hall
- 7:28Speaker 8: for a few minutes, mister Claypool, City Hall, Yes, sir,
- 7:30Speaker 8: we'd like to show you some mugshots, se if you
- 7:32Speaker 8: can make it adentification for us.
- 7:33Speaker 10: Well, that means closing up the store.
- 7:35Speaker 9: It won't take very long.
- 7:37Speaker 10: Well, I guess it will help catch this fellow.
- 7:39Speaker 14: We'd appreciate it, don't excuse me, yes, sir, Playpool's Delicatessen
- 7:47Speaker 14: all that who Friday?
- 7:51Speaker 9: That's for us, sir?
- 7:52Speaker 10: Oh here you are.
- 7:57Speaker 9: Thank you, it's Friday. Yes, that's right. How long ago?
- 8:03Speaker 6: Fountain?
- 8:05Speaker 9: Yeah?
- 8:05Speaker 10: I got it?
- 8:06Speaker 9: Thank you. Well, we won't need you downtown just yet,
- 8:09Speaker 9: Miss Claypoole, change your mind?
- 8:11Speaker 8: Huh, yes, sir, what's up? Flower shop over on Fountain. Yeah,
- 8:14Speaker 8: sounds like the same guy. Frank and I told mister
- 8:22Speaker 8: Claypool we check with him later. We left the delicates
- 8:24Speaker 8: and drove out to the Pringer Flora shop on Fountain
- 8:26Speaker 8: and Selma four forty two pm. We talked to the victim,
- 8:28Speaker 8: Miss Norma Devereaux. She seemed to be extremely agitated. She
- 8:32Speaker 8: told us that a man had walked into the store
- 8:33Speaker 8: about four point thirty and gave her a sealed envelope.
- 8:35Speaker 8: She showed us the note the envelope had contained, and
- 8:37Speaker 8: it appeared to be a duplicate of the note mister
- 8:39Speaker 8: Claypool had been given.
- 8:40Speaker 6: Did this man say anything to you, Miss Devereux?
- 8:42Speaker 15: I don't remember. I don't think so well.
- 8:45Speaker 9: Did you say anything to him?
- 8:46Speaker 15: Oh? I was too scared.
- 8:48Speaker 6: How much money did he take?
- 8:49Speaker 15: I gave him all? It was everything in the register.
- 8:52Speaker 6: I said, But about how much? Would you say?
- 8:54Speaker 15: I'm not sure? You see, I don't work here. I
- 8:56Speaker 15: was just helping out. The store belongs to my sister
- 8:59Speaker 15: and brother in law. They wanted to take their children
- 9:01Speaker 15: for a ride this afternoon, so I said I'd look
- 9:03Speaker 15: after the shop. Oh I never should have offered. I
- 9:06Speaker 15: might have known something like this would happen. I've had
- 9:08Speaker 15: a funny feeling all day long. It's a bad week
- 9:11Speaker 15: for me anyway, this whole week, according to my horoscope.
- 9:15Speaker 9: And you don't have any idea how much money was stolen,
- 9:17Speaker 9: miss deve I don't.
- 9:18Speaker 15: Think it was very much. A few bills and some coins.
- 9:21Speaker 15: Do you happen to know what day? This is the date?
- 9:23Speaker 9: I mean, yes, ma'am, this is the ninth, ninth.
- 9:25Speaker 15: Oh, I might have known, she said to be especially
- 9:28Speaker 15: careful on the ninth and the eleventh. Why didn't I
- 9:30Speaker 15: pay more attention to that last reading? It certainly cost
- 9:33Speaker 15: me enough.
- 9:33Speaker 13: And Miss Devreeux, you noticed where this man went when
- 9:36Speaker 13: he left the shop. What did you notice where he went?
- 9:38Speaker 10: Oh?
- 9:38Speaker 15: No, no, no, I didn't pay any attention. I was
- 9:40Speaker 15: just so relieved that he was gone.
- 9:42Speaker 9: I want if you're describe him for us, please.
- 9:44Speaker 15: Well, miss Deeux, I'm trying to think. Yes, man, it
- 9:50Speaker 15: just comes up a blank. His face, everything.
- 9:53Speaker 9: About him, well, how was he dressed?
- 9:56Speaker 15: I'm terribly sorry. I just can't remember week can help you.
- 10:01Speaker 9: Was he wearing a coat or a sweater?
- 10:03Speaker 15: That's right, a sweater. I remember the sweater?
- 10:06Speaker 9: What color?
- 10:07Speaker 10: Was it?
- 10:08Speaker 15: Lightish? I think?
- 10:09Speaker 9: I'm not sure what kind of a sweater? Would you
- 10:12Speaker 9: recall that?
- 10:15Speaker 15: Just a sweater?
- 10:15Speaker 10: I guess?
- 10:16Speaker 9: How about his hair, eyes, anything at all?
- 10:20Speaker 15: Mist Deyroe, Well, there's one thing. I don't know whether
- 10:25Speaker 15: it would do any good or not.
- 10:26Speaker 9: Yes, ma'am.
- 10:27Speaker 15: I feel like such a fool not being able to
- 10:29Speaker 15: remember where it was or when, But I'm almost certain
- 10:32Speaker 15: about it.
- 10:32Speaker 9: What's that that I've seen him before? Frank and I
- 10:38Speaker 9: continue to question the victim.
- 10:40Speaker 8: She insisted that she had met or seen the suspect
- 10:42Speaker 8: sometime before the crime, but she was unable to recall
- 10:44Speaker 8: the circumstances. Five point thirty eight pm, we drove both
- 10:47Speaker 8: victims down to the City Hall and asked them to
- 10:48Speaker 8: go through the mug books for the purpose of identifying
- 10:50Speaker 8: the suspect.
- 10:54Speaker 15: We've finished another book, Sergeant, Yes, ma'am.
- 10:57Speaker 10: Huh, she seemed like you sure have a enough of it.
- 11:00Speaker 15: Yes, sir, I could only think where it was that
- 11:05Speaker 15: I saw him before?
- 11:06Speaker 12: Yes, did I get you folks some coffee that sounds
- 11:09Speaker 12: like a right good idea.
- 11:11Speaker 6: How about you, miss What would you like some coffee too?
- 11:16Speaker 15: That's it, that's it. I remember now, his face, everything
- 11:19Speaker 15: about him. It's the same man. I am positive it is.
- 11:22Speaker 15: It was when you mentioned coffee, that's what brought it
- 11:24Speaker 15: back to me.
- 11:25Speaker 9: Yes, ma'am. Just when was it you saw this man?
- 11:27Speaker 4: Oh?
- 11:28Speaker 15: Let's see, it was last week when I went shopping
- 11:31Speaker 15: for a new coat. Tuesday, Yes, that's when it was. Tuesday.
- 11:34Speaker 15: I was having lunch the Fairway Cafeteria in Hollywood, Yes, ma'am. Well,
- 11:38Speaker 15: it was crowded and I was sitting alone. He came
- 11:40Speaker 15: by and asked if he could use the same table.
- 11:42Speaker 15: I nodded, and he sat down. I didn't pay any
- 11:44Speaker 15: attention to him, not really. I just went on and
- 11:47Speaker 15: finished my lunch. He was still eating when I left.
- 11:50Speaker 9: Anything else you can tell us about him?
- 11:52Speaker 15: I think he had on the same clothes he was
- 11:54Speaker 15: wearing today. The sweater anyway, I remember this sweater real
- 11:58Speaker 15: plain now, I.
- 11:59Speaker 9: See sure this was the same man who robbed you.
- 12:01Speaker 15: Oh, yes, I know it was. That'll help, won't it?
- 12:04Speaker 15: My remembering where I saw him?
- 12:06Speaker 9: Well it might.
- 12:07Speaker 15: I'll bet he eats there all the time. At that
- 12:09Speaker 15: same cafeteria.
- 12:10Speaker 9: Yes, ma'am, we'll check on that.
- 12:11Speaker 15: Oh he does. I just feel certain of it. You'll see, Sergeant.
- 12:15Speaker 15: It was faith that made me go into that restaurant,
- 12:17Speaker 15: and it was faith that made him sit at my table. Yes, ma'am,
- 12:20Speaker 15: was all part of a big plan. Our meeting like
- 12:22Speaker 15: that and then him robbing me today was all part
- 12:24Speaker 15: of a big plan so that you could catch him.
- 12:27Speaker 9: Yes, that's right, and you will catch him.
- 12:28Speaker 15: Don't you worry about that. You'll catch him. Fate's against him.
- 12:32Speaker 9: Well that makes us even then, don't that what?
- 12:34Speaker 6: So are we.
- 12:39Speaker 8: Now that she remembered seeing the suspect before, Miss Devereux
- 12:42Speaker 8: confirmed Paul Claypool's description, we asked the victims to continue
- 12:45Speaker 8: going through the mudbooks. They were unable to come up
- 12:46Speaker 8: with an identification. Six point thirty one PM, Frank and
- 12:49Speaker 8: I drove them home and we went off duty. The
- 12:51Speaker 8: next day, October tenth, ten oh five am. We interviewed
- 12:54Speaker 8: the day cashiers at the Fairway cafeteria. They couldn't recall
- 12:57Speaker 8: any specific customer who answered the suspects this ription. Eleven
- 13:01Speaker 8: forty six am we went back to the office.
- 13:07Speaker 9: Robbery Friday Yallerry.
- 13:09Speaker 8: M h well thanks anyway, right, Sloan, Yeah, says he
- 13:16Speaker 8: can't give us a lead from the way those notes
- 13:18Speaker 8: were printed. Uh uh, well, how about in early lunch today?
- 13:21Speaker 8: It's all right with me?
- 13:22Speaker 9: Where do you want to go?
- 13:23Speaker 6: I don't care. How about you?
- 13:24Speaker 9: That main difference to me?
- 13:26Speaker 6: We'll suggest him.
- 13:27Speaker 9: Oh I told you doesn't make difference.
- 13:28Speaker 6: Well, I don't know why it.
- 13:29Speaker 9: Always has to be up to me, Joe where we eat?
- 13:32Speaker 6: Why don't you decide once in a while?
- 13:34Speaker 8: All right, fine, let's go to that new Chinese place
- 13:36Speaker 8: on Broadway for lunch.
- 13:38Speaker 9: Well why not?
- 13:39Speaker 6: You don't want Chinese food for lunch?
- 13:41Speaker 11: Joe?
- 13:41Speaker 9: I don't, of course not. But what have you got
- 13:43Speaker 9: in mind?
- 13:44Speaker 15: Right?
- 13:45Speaker 10: And on?
- 13:45Speaker 6: I'd end up making the choice.
- 13:47Speaker 9: Sure's a problem, isn't it.
- 13:49Speaker 6: Well it gets kind of monoton That's that's all.
- 13:50Speaker 9: Buddy man. That's tough.
- 13:52Speaker 10: Say.
- 13:53Speaker 9: Oh yeah, something we can do for you.
- 13:57Speaker 11: Uh it's this here you the guy as it handled robberies?
- 14:01Speaker 9: Yeah, it's sorry, locked numb too?
- 14:03Speaker 11: Yesterday? Which two grocery store and flower shop?
- 14:07Speaker 9: You know something about them? Do you?
- 14:10Speaker 11: Yeah? I know something?
- 14:11Speaker 6: Well?
- 14:11Speaker 9: Just what is it?
- 14:13Speaker 10: Who robbed them?
- 14:14Speaker 11: I know?
- 14:14Speaker 10: Who it was.
- 14:15Speaker 9: Yeah, this was me.
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- 15:39Speaker 5: They said it's fine.
- 15:49Speaker 8: The man would come into the office, answered the description
- 15:51Speaker 8: we'd received from the victims. He was in his early
- 15:52Speaker 8: twenty stocky build, about five ten, brown hair and gray eyes.
- 15:55Speaker 8: He was wearing dark blue trousers and the yellow turtle
- 15:57Speaker 8: neck sweater. He told us that his name was Harvey
- 15:59Speaker 8: till him that he lived in a rooming house in
- 16:01Speaker 8: West Ivy. He readily admitted the two robberies, but he
- 16:03Speaker 8: insisted they had not meant to commit the crimes.
- 16:06Speaker 11: I didn't know what I was doing that, so I
- 16:07Speaker 11: just didn't know.
- 16:09Speaker 6: What are you trying to sell us? Were you drunk?
- 16:10Speaker 11: Of course not. I hadn't had a drink, not even
- 16:13Speaker 11: at beer.
- 16:14Speaker 6: Well, well, he.
- 16:16Speaker 11: Told me it was money. They owed that I was
- 16:18Speaker 11: collecting it for him.
- 16:19Speaker 9: Who told you that?
- 16:20Speaker 11: Stoney?
- 16:21Speaker 9: Who's Stony?
- 16:23Speaker 11: That's all I know him by Stony?
- 16:25Speaker 9: And you were collecting money for him? Is that it?
- 16:27Speaker 10: Uh?
- 16:27Speaker 6: Huh?
- 16:27Speaker 9: And you expect us to buy that too, don't you?
- 16:30Speaker 17: No?
- 16:31Speaker 11: I guess no one.
- 16:31Speaker 9: Why don't you try giving us the truth?
- 16:33Speaker 17: Well, look, now, may I'm not the brightest guy in
- 16:35Speaker 17: the world. If I was, I wouldn't be in this mess.
- 16:39Speaker 17: I come to you on my own accord, didn't I.
- 16:41Speaker 9: Well, maybe it got scared. Maybe you figured to go
- 16:42Speaker 9: easier with you if you gave yourself up, isn't that it?
- 16:44Speaker 3: Yeah?
- 16:45Speaker 11: I guess I can't blame you for thinking that sure
- 16:48Speaker 11: was a dumb trick.
- 16:49Speaker 9: Well, why'd you do it then?
- 16:50Speaker 17: Because I didn't know, because he told me it was
- 16:53Speaker 17: just a job I was doing.
- 16:55Speaker 9: Stoney told you. Yeah, yeah, that's rotten right now, let's
- 16:58Speaker 9: hear it your way.
- 16:59Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 16:59Speaker 17: Well, he said he worked for a kind of collection agency,
- 17:03Speaker 17: you know, where they go after them dead beats, you know.
- 17:06Speaker 9: Yeah.
- 17:07Speaker 17: Well, he said he had to have somebody to help him,
- 17:09Speaker 17: only part time, but the pay.
- 17:11Speaker 6: Would be good.
- 17:11Speaker 9: Yeah, offered me the work.
- 17:15Speaker 11: I and I had a steady job lately. It sound
- 17:17Speaker 11: kind of good to me.
- 17:18Speaker 9: Yeah, go ahead.
- 17:20Speaker 17: Well, I was supposed to meet him yesterday afternoon, three o'clock.
- 17:22Speaker 17: He picked me up in front of the place where
- 17:24Speaker 17: I lived. Yeah, drove me past that grocery store and
- 17:28Speaker 17: parked around the corner. Give me an envelope, and he
- 17:30Speaker 17: told me to take it inside, hand it to a
- 17:32Speaker 17: fella who worked there. He said, I was to make
- 17:34Speaker 17: sure nobody else is in the store, on account he
- 17:37Speaker 17: didn't want to make the old guy feel bad by
- 17:39Speaker 17: collecting the debt in front of somebody else, you know. Yeah,
- 17:42Speaker 17: So i'd done what he told me. I'll give the
- 17:45Speaker 17: old guy the note. He give me the money, and
- 17:47Speaker 17: I took it back to.
- 17:48Speaker 9: Stony, Well, where was he while you were in the store.
- 17:52Speaker 11: Around the corner?
- 17:53Speaker 9: Like I said, why didn't he go in with you?
- 17:56Speaker 17: He wanted to see if I could handle it myself
- 17:59Speaker 17: on my own, you know, That's what he told me. Well,
- 18:02Speaker 17: then we drove over to that their flower.
- 18:05Speaker 9: Place, same routine.
- 18:08Speaker 17: Yeah, only this time I got kind of suspicious, you know, Yeah,
- 18:11Speaker 17: she acted so scared the lady there. Didn't seem to
- 18:14Speaker 17: me that having to pay up a debt and make
- 18:16Speaker 17: somebody so scared, I told Stony afterwards, he said it
- 18:19Speaker 17: was just the act that they all put.
- 18:20Speaker 11: On like that. H Well, I I didn't exactly believe him.
- 18:24Speaker 17: So next place we stopped opening up the envelope for
- 18:27Speaker 17: I went inside and I read that there note.
- 18:29Speaker 9: Yeah, well, I didn't know what to do.
- 18:33Speaker 17: Finally I went back to the car and I really
- 18:35Speaker 17: told him off, Stony. I told him I was a
- 18:38Speaker 17: new thief. I told him he had to return all
- 18:41Speaker 17: that money.
- 18:42Speaker 9: What did he say?
- 18:42Speaker 17: He just laughed at me. He said I was the
- 18:45Speaker 17: biggest pigeon he ever met. I said, if he didn't
- 18:48Speaker 17: take back the door, I'd go to the cops. He
- 18:50Speaker 17: told me, you'd throw me in jail, that you'd never
- 18:52Speaker 17: believe a word.
- 18:53Speaker 9: I told you what happened.
- 18:54Speaker 17: Then I got out of the car. I said, I
- 18:58Speaker 17: wasn't a crook, and nobro was gonna make me b one.
- 19:01Speaker 17: I was head and right for the police station. Then
- 19:03Speaker 17: I well, I got to think, and I seemed like
- 19:06Speaker 17: maybe he was right, that nobody would believe his story
- 19:09Speaker 17: like this.
- 19:11Speaker 11: So I went home.
- 19:12Speaker 9: All right, why'd you come in today?
- 19:15Speaker 11: Well, I didn't sleep none too good last night. It's
- 19:18Speaker 11: kind of worrying me what I'd done.
- 19:19Speaker 17: I figured maybe he'd find some other sucker like me
- 19:23Speaker 17: and pull that same stone over again. And I didn't
- 19:25Speaker 17: want him to get away with it. So I decided
- 19:28Speaker 17: to take my chances on you guys. I ain't gonna
- 19:31Speaker 17: get a short count.
- 19:31Speaker 11: Now, am I.
- 19:32Speaker 6: You know where that Stony lives?
- 19:34Speaker 11: No, he never said not to me.
- 19:36Speaker 9: And you don't know his last name either. Or where'd
- 19:39Speaker 9: you meet him?
- 19:41Speaker 17: Hintley's Gym or on Olympic I hang out there sometimes.
- 19:45Speaker 9: He a fighter.
- 19:47Speaker 11: Well, I had some bouts.
- 19:48Speaker 15: You know.
- 19:49Speaker 6: How'd you and Stoney get acquainted? Well?
- 19:51Speaker 11: I don't know. He just start talking one day last week.
- 19:54Speaker 17: He'd come in for a steam bath, and afterwards we
- 19:56Speaker 17: were both watching some of the guys work out. Here's
- 19:59Speaker 17: there again on Saturday.
- 20:01Speaker 11: That's that's when he offered me this job.
- 20:04Speaker 9: What kind of a cars he drive?
- 20:05Speaker 17: Chevy Sedan, oh coop, had top last year's model, you
- 20:10Speaker 17: know the license?
- 20:11Speaker 11: No, I don't pay no attention. It wouldn't matter if
- 20:15Speaker 11: for dead. I ain't much remembering things.
- 20:17Speaker 6: Yeah, can you tell us what stone he looks like?
- 20:20Speaker 10: Yeah?
- 20:20Speaker 11: Why he's a big fella shop dresser. How is he
- 20:25Speaker 11: thirty five? Maybe forty?
- 20:27Speaker 6: What color is his hair?
- 20:29Speaker 11: Short of red?
- 20:30Speaker 6: Anything else? Scars or anything like that?
- 20:32Speaker 9: No, that's the whole story.
- 20:35Speaker 6: Huh.
- 20:36Speaker 8: Yeah, you didn't know you were robbing those stories. You
- 20:39Speaker 8: didn't have any idea.
- 20:40Speaker 11: Honor start didn't sounds crazy, don't it?
- 20:43Speaker 9: Yeah? It does?
- 20:44Speaker 6: John knock you for a minute.
- 20:46Speaker 9: Yeah you wait right there?
- 20:47Speaker 11: Tell them Okay, okay, I must.
- 20:51Speaker 13: Think we're pretty dumb expecting us to fall for a
- 20:54Speaker 13: line like that.
- 20:54Speaker 6: Yeah, what's he take us for?
- 20:56Speaker 9: I don't know.
- 20:57Speaker 13: It couldn't be true on a wornaman. Heck of it
- 21:00Speaker 13: is such a darn fool story. Joe, I just can't
- 21:03Speaker 13: help believe in him, So do I?
- 21:10Speaker 8: Frank and I continue to interrogate the suspect. He maintained
- 21:13Speaker 8: his innocence and we were unable to shake him. We
- 21:15Speaker 8: ran the name Harvey Tilden through our and eye they
- 21:17Speaker 8: had nothing on him. We also ran the name Stony
- 21:19Speaker 8: through the moniker file and we came up with two possibles.
- 21:22Speaker 8: We pulled the mugshots and showed them to Tilden. He
- 21:24Speaker 8: tentatively identified one of the photos James Brightstone, but he
- 21:27Speaker 8: wasn't positive. We telephoned Brightstone's last own address, a small
- 21:30Speaker 8: downtown hotel. They told us he'd move during the summer
- 21:34Speaker 8: and they had no idea of his present whereabouts. We
- 21:36Speaker 8: checked DMV and our own vehicle records. They reported that
- 21:39Speaker 8: a late model Chevrolet was registered in bright Stone's name.
- 21:42Speaker 8: Harvey Tilden was held in custody for further questioning. Four
- 21:46Speaker 8: oh eight pm, Frank and I had over to Hintley's
- 21:47Speaker 8: gym on South Olympic and talk to the owner, George Hempley.
- 21:54Speaker 6: Stony.
- 21:55Speaker 9: Yeah, that's right, full name. Maybe James Brightstone. Were not sure.
- 22:00Speaker 18: All in a fight game.
- 22:01Speaker 9: Oh we aren't sure.
- 22:02Speaker 6: How about a Harvey Tilden. You know that's shirt? Sure,
- 22:04Speaker 6: I know he's come here pretty often.
- 22:06Speaker 10: Ohf and on, you're.
- 22:07Speaker 6: Still a little boxing.
- 22:08Speaker 10: Had a perfect record six fights, six ko's.
- 22:10Speaker 11: He was a punchy before he ever got in a ring.
- 22:12Speaker 9: Tilden says, it's where he met the stolen that could be.
- 22:14Speaker 6: Take a look at this picture, will him. You ever
- 22:16Speaker 6: seen this guy before?
- 22:19Speaker 8: Well, I wouldn't swear to what guy looks something like
- 22:22Speaker 8: this coming in lately works out takes a steam back.
- 22:25Speaker 9: You know, I've been around to day No, not so fun.
- 22:28Speaker 9: When was the last time do you remember?
- 22:30Speaker 10: Uh?
- 22:31Speaker 1: And the last week?
- 22:32Speaker 6: Friday? Saturday? Is he talking to Tella? Oh?
- 22:34Speaker 9: I don't know. Maybe guys come in here, friendly type guys.
- 22:36Speaker 9: They all talk to each other. All right, here's our card.
- 22:39Speaker 9: So this fella comes back, he has a call with you.
- 22:41Speaker 9: Do you want it for something? I want to talk
- 22:43Speaker 9: to him.
- 22:43Speaker 6: Okay, if he comes in, I'll call you.
- 22:44Speaker 9: Thanks.
- 22:45Speaker 6: Sure.
- 22:45Speaker 1: I'm a real obliged type fellow.
- 22:46Speaker 4: I got no people, you cops, I'd be a waste.
- 22:49Speaker 6: Of time though, calling you. You want to see this guy?
- 22:51Speaker 9: All you got to do is turn around? What's that?
- 22:53Speaker 9: He just walked in the door.
- 22:59Speaker 8: Frank and I talked to the man George Hinley had
- 23:01Speaker 8: pointed out. He readily admitted that he was James Brightstone.
- 23:03Speaker 8: He also admitted knowing Harvey Tilden. He said he had
- 23:05Speaker 8: spent the previous afternoon in his room at the Jackman Hotel.
- 23:08Speaker 8: We telephoned the hotel, but the clerk was unable to.
- 23:10Speaker 9: Confirm Brightstone's alibi.
- 23:12Speaker 8: Five thirty one pm, we drove the suspect down to
- 23:14Speaker 8: the City Hall and continued our interrogation.
- 23:16Speaker 18: Look, why don't you guys just tell me what it
- 23:18Speaker 18: is you want to know? Spell it out in real
- 23:20Speaker 18: big letters, and I'll give you the answer the same size.
- 23:22Speaker 6: Where were you yesterday afternoon? Thought? We already covered that.
- 23:24Speaker 6: Let's go over it again.
- 23:25Speaker 18: Okay, boys, I was in my hotel room.
- 23:27Speaker 9: Well the clerk doesn't back yep. Well does he.
- 23:29Speaker 6: Say I wasn't there? When was the last time he
- 23:31Speaker 6: saw Harvey Tilden?
- 23:32Speaker 18: Saturday over at the gym?
- 23:33Speaker 9: Not yesterday?
- 23:34Speaker 10: Jim is noping on Sundays.
- 23:35Speaker 9: You know where Tilden lives? Nope? You pick him up
- 23:38Speaker 9: his rooming house yesterday, didn't you.
- 23:39Speaker 18: Why would I be picking a crumb up like that?
- 23:41Speaker 9: Did y'aff for Tilden?
- 23:42Speaker 6: The job?
- 23:43Speaker 10: Oh?
- 23:43Speaker 9: That's pretty funny. What's the joke?
- 23:45Speaker 10: I ain't got a job myself.
- 23:46Speaker 6: Did you ever take Tilling for a drive?
- 23:48Speaker 18: Boys, I'm telling you, the only place I ever seen
- 23:50Speaker 18: the guy is Antley's gym.
- 23:51Speaker 13: Yeah, he knows what kind of a car you got, oh,
- 23:54Speaker 13: Megan model?
- 23:55Speaker 18: Well maybe he assuming and I didn't see him.
- 23:57Speaker 10: Oh look this tilden Fall.
- 23:59Speaker 18: He's a screwball. Don't even know what time it is.
- 24:01Speaker 18: Whatever he told you.
- 24:02Speaker 8: Could forget it, Well, there are a couple of things
- 24:04Speaker 8: we can't forget. Yeah, Tilldon says you put them up
- 24:06Speaker 8: to robbing two stores yesterday.
- 24:07Speaker 6: You couldn't.
- 24:08Speaker 9: He says you hired him to work for you to
- 24:10Speaker 9: collect some past due bills.
- 24:11Speaker 10: Boy, this kid is really off his rocker, isn't he?
- 24:13Speaker 9: Maybe where was I supposed.
- 24:15Speaker 6: To be while he was doing me these favors?
- 24:17Speaker 9: Outside in your car waiting for him? Go on, boys,
- 24:19Speaker 9: you interest me? Well that's about it.
- 24:21Speaker 18: And you'd pick up a guy in a phony story
- 24:24Speaker 18: like that. Hey, look, I'm getting out of here. Tilling
- 24:27Speaker 18: ain't the only.
- 24:27Speaker 9: Guy who's not set down Brightstone.
- 24:30Speaker 11: All right, you jokers, prove any part of it.
- 24:32Speaker 9: We're gonna try to I like to know how.
- 24:34Speaker 8: We got a team out right now checking the neighborhood
- 24:36Speaker 8: of both robberies. If anybody saw your car on those
- 24:39Speaker 8: stores yesterday afternoon, you got trouble.
- 24:41Speaker 11: I got news for you, guys.
- 24:42Speaker 6: It don't matter where I was yesterday.
- 24:43Speaker 11: You can't tie me into these jobs.
- 24:45Speaker 9: We'll see.
- 24:45Speaker 18: A matter of fact, I'll give you a hand. I
- 24:47Speaker 18: might have been driving around those stores yesterday, Is that right?
- 24:50Speaker 10: Yeah?
- 24:50Speaker 18: Come to think of it, and went for a ride
- 24:51Speaker 18: along about two o'clock.
- 24:52Speaker 6: Slipped my mind before it.
- 24:53Speaker 18: Sure not that I know where Tilden pulled his heights.
- 24:55Speaker 8: Your dollar, Sure of course not. Then what makes you
- 24:57Speaker 8: think you were in the vicinity?
- 24:58Speaker 10: Well, I'm not saying I was, say it might have been.
- 25:01Speaker 9: Yeah, that's where were you?
- 25:03Speaker 6: Who knows?
- 25:03Speaker 11: It took me a real long drive.
- 25:05Speaker 9: What times you leave your hotel?
- 25:06Speaker 6: Two o'clock? Maybe?
- 25:07Speaker 9: What times you get back later? How much later?
- 25:11Speaker 10: All right, I tell you what. I'm gonna give you
- 25:14Speaker 10: guys a break.
- 25:14Speaker 18: Good Now, I know you can keep this up for
- 25:16Speaker 18: seventy two hours, and I got more important things to do,
- 25:18Speaker 18: So let's.
- 25:19Speaker 10: Get it over with.
- 25:19Speaker 18: Okay, up to you, okay, okay, Tilden was giving up
- 25:23Speaker 18: the square. He was just the pigeon, dumbest pigeon I
- 25:25Speaker 18: ever ran into.
- 25:26Speaker 9: Yeah, go ahead, Well that's it.
- 25:28Speaker 6: You got it.
- 25:29Speaker 18: Now what are you gonna do about it?
- 25:30Speaker 9: What do you think if.
- 25:32Speaker 18: You're smart, you're gonna turn me loose? Yeah, look, let
- 25:35Speaker 18: me give you a little advice.
- 25:37Speaker 10: Free.
- 25:38Speaker 18: So Tilden was a fog guy already admitted to you guys. Yeah,
- 25:42Speaker 18: but to nobody else, anybody else asked me. I deny
- 25:44Speaker 18: it the whole thing. So you might as well play smart.
- 25:47Speaker 18: You figure on sticking me with this wrap. You gotta
- 25:49Speaker 18: have a signed confession.
- 25:49Speaker 10: I ain't gonna give it to you.
- 25:51Speaker 9: Well, now maybe we won't need it.
- 25:52Speaker 18: Boy, you got the biggest rocks in your head. Tilden
- 25:55Speaker 18: was in those stores. I watched, and he took the money.
- 25:57Speaker 18: I didn't you go into court? You come out looking dumber,
- 25:59Speaker 18: and he does. It's my word against is.
- 26:02Speaker 1: You think anybody in her right mind is going to
- 26:03Speaker 1: believe this boy?
- 26:04Speaker 18: You think he's stand a chance of convincing a jury bull?
- 26:07Speaker 9: He might that chance. He convinced us.
- 26:17Speaker 4: The story you have just heard is true. The names
- 26:20Speaker 4: were changed to protect the innocent.
- 26:22Speaker 7: On January eighth, trial was held in Department ninety eight,
- 26:26Speaker 7: Superior Court of the State of California in and for
- 26:28Speaker 7: the County of Los Angeles.
- 26:30Speaker 1: In a moment the results of that trial.
- 26:32Speaker 4: Now Here is our star Jack Webb, the.
- 26:35Speaker 8: Date June nineteenth, the man in question father, the gift
- 26:38Speaker 8: for Father's Day, Chesterfield. Make it a point to pick
- 26:41Speaker 8: up a couple of cardons first chance you get. It's
- 26:44Speaker 8: the easiest way I know to put a smile in
- 26:46Speaker 8: dad's smoking and a nice way to remember a great guy.
- 26:58Speaker 7: The District Attorney failed to issue a complaint against Harvey Tilden.
- 27:01Speaker 7: James Hill Brightstone was tried and convicted of robbery in
- 27:04Speaker 7: the second degree, two counts. Robbery in the second degree
- 27:07Speaker 7: is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for not
- 27:10Speaker 7: less than one year. Ha ha, you have just heard
- 27:22Speaker 7: Dragnet a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical
- 27:26Speaker 7: advice comes from the Office of Chief of Police W. H. Parker,
- 27:29Speaker 7: Los Angeles Police Department Technical Advisors Captain Jack Donahoe, Sergeant
- 27:33Speaker 7: Marty Wynns, Sergeant Vance Brascher. Heard tonight were Ben Alexander
- 27:38Speaker 7: Vick Rodman, Virginia, Greg Eddie Firestone. Script by Frank Burt
- 27:43Speaker 7: music by Walter Schumann, Hell Gidney speaking.
- 27:48Speaker 4: Watch an entirely different Dragnet case history each week on
- 27:51Speaker 4: your local NBC television station. Please check your newspapers for
- 27:54Speaker 4: the day and time Chesterfield has brought you Dragnet transcribed
- 27:58Speaker 4: from Los Angeles.
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