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Dragnet: Production 5 aka The Helen Corday Murder (EP1352) · Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas

0:28
Welcome to the Great Attactives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This
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one thing I was consistently asked when I was doing the Old Time Dragnet Show
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Picture. And again that's with a donation of one hundred dollars or more.
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Full details are available and a lot of other options that support not Great Detectives
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dot Net. Also over at Great Detectives dot net. This weekend my review
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of Father Dowling season one, and you can follow all of my reviews actually
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right on your kindle and you can try that service out free for two weeks
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for at the Kindle store. Well, now it's time for our fifth episode
2:42
of Dragnet, and after the show we'll talk a little bit about Barton Yarborough.
2:47
But here now is Production five, also known as the Helen Corde Murder.
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Ladies and Gentlemen. The story you are about to hear is true,
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only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. NBC brings you drag
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Net. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned a homicide. Somewhere in the
3:29
tangled web of your city. There's a killer on the loose. A young
3:32
woman has been brutally murdered. The weapon a steel bludgeon. Your job is
3:39
to get him. Drag Nets the documented drama of an actual crime, investigated
3:47
and solved by the men who unrelentingly stand watch on the security of your home,
3:53
your family, and your life. For the next thirty minutes, in
3:57
cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will travel step by step on
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the side of the law through an actual case, from official police files,
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from beginning to end, from crime to punishments. Dragnet is the story of
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your police force in action. It was Thursday, March nineteenth, was foggy
4:20
in Los Angeles. We were working the night Watch out of homicide detail.
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My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is ed Backstrand, Chief of Detectives.
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My name's Friday. It was nine fourteen PM when I got to the Old
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Central Jail Building, third floor. The crime lamb Hi Joe Hi. Commonly
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just run a spectrograph. What you find the paint flake from the victims head,
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matches that paint on the hunk of pipe, any prints, the pipe
4:46
was clean, no latent print. I figured anything else. Got those blood
4:50
test reports. A couple of slides for you to look out under the comparison
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Mike, Thanksully, Oh hi Joe. Then hear you come in. What's
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looked like, Ben? Here's the blood test reports. This one is blood
5:01
found on the piece of pie, Type A. This one's blood from the
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victim. Type A. They matched. That's right, boys, doesn't mean
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too much. So if you look at these slides under the microscope, not
5:13
yet, this is your clincher. Wait till I get the light. Okay,
5:16
take a look. Gotta make Yeah, go ahead. Well this slide
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here on the right, that's a slice of hair from the victim's head.
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On the other slide his hair found on the steel pipe. Yeah, she
5:30
had wavy hair. Both specimens are flat, same hair. Joe, You
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got anything on that piece of piepley, Nothing, just ordinary steel pipe fourteen
5:41
inches long? What else you got? The plaster impressions of those footprints we
5:45
found by the body here they are crape sold tennis shoes, new ones,
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size nine, good impression. Ground was soft man about one hundred and fifty
5:56
pounds. According to the length of stride, roughly about five feet hen inches
6:00
tall. Yeah, new shoes, all right, you can still read the
6:02
manufacturer's label. That's right, made by the Sport King Company. Well that's
6:05
something to follow up. Yeah. Sure, you could start with the tennis
6:09
courts, only about a thousand or so in LA. Maybe you'd rather track
6:13
down the brand. These particular tennis shoes are the biggest sellers in the country.
6:16
Yeah, right, you like to start Minneapolis or Pullman, Washington.
6:20
What about that glove? Yeah, you might look for a missing glove.
6:24
Yeah, they go well with the shoes, just about as common white cotton
6:28
work gloves or the blue top. Here's the right glove, you find the
6:31
left one? Blood own a glove type. Well that's good evidence, Jones.
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But where's the lead? Now? Look, I don't ask you to
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pay my parking tickets. You want to see blow ups? Okay? Right
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over here? Uh yeah, this is the vacant lot where they found the
6:46
body. And that's right. Here's a close up of her showing the location
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of the murder weapon, the glove and the footprints relative to the position of
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the body. Looks as bad as yesterday. Sure did work her over,
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didn't you. The rest of these are interested. I checked them this morning.
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Once is enough? Lee? That winds it? Boy? You want
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to go over the stuff in her purse again? You're find anything more?
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No, nothing you haven't seen already, the usual makeup home, Barrett.
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That's a hair clip, few cheap stones in it, loose change, a
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quarter nickel, few pennies her id card. Yeah. Helen Corday thirty three,
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Naomi place, age twenty one, twenty one? That's not very old,
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is it? Lee? Not to die? No? Helen could Who
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could kill Helen could? Day? Why why do you say that, mister
7:46
Meyer? But people kill for money, they kill for love? Helen?
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Could they hit? Not enough? See you? No boyfriend? Nothing here?
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No? She was a good worker. Five different vader says the union
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VENs me one month five? Did the union send Helen to you? For
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sure? Sure, all the girls come from the union, But man like
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Helen. No, she was sweet, honest and courteous. Mister Mayer.
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Did you know anything about her personal life? Only that she was a good
8:13
worker? Everything else she took home with her from this place. Did she
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ever mention any men to you? Anyone at all? No, gentleman,
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not one. How much money did you make here? I paid her twenty
8:24
six dollars fifty cents a week every Tuesday, and not much zalary for so
8:28
much work. But the tips are very good here nice customers. There's her
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home address, thirty three Naomi Place, certainly three now that's side. Yeah,
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thank you very much, mister Miya for your time. Wonder what kind
8:41
of a person does things like that? Who could kill Helen Cordy? Everybody
8:46
liked heaven Helen Cordy. I never liked her. Come on in the office,
8:54
boys, where we can talk. Never liked her because I knew her.
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You're the head of the union. ID just the steward. I know
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most of the girls. It's Cordiy girl. What was she? What she
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look like? Small brunette, about five or three. Here's a picture.
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Yeah, pretty girl, wasn't she? Oh sure, sure, please throw
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out it out of us place. Nice little Dutch fellow out of Mayer.
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That's right. He seemed to think quite a lot of her. Yeah,
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she was a fine worker, Ah sure, always ride up ones, paid
9:28
all the assessments right on time. You said you didn't know it or not
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right off? I didn't it when you showed me that picture there place to
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ride away? You know anything about her personal life. Wait a minute,
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why all these questions. Helen cord Day was murdered last night? Oh who
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did it? Do you know anything about her personal life? See my position,
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sergeant, twelve hundred girls, check him in, check him out.
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Just names to me to see a picture of them. You wouldn't know if
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she had any boyfriends here in the union waiter bus boy that I wouldn't know.
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I got to tell you, Sergeant, I never know Helen Corday.
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Sure I knew Helen Corday. Gus plays a nice piano, as Sergeant,
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Yeah, I read about it in the paper this morning. How long you've
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been selling pianos here at display? But as long as I knew Helen three
10:18
years? How'd you find me? Helen's landlady. We talked to her yesterday.
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She told us she worked here at this piano store. Oh it's funny,
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isn't What's funny? See Gus over there, that fellow demonstrating the piano.
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A few weeks ago. I made a deal with him to give Helen
10:35
piano lessons. I figured it would help her with her singing lessons, wanting
10:39
to be a singer. You know, did Helen know that fellow Gus,
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No, she never met him. Who gave her the singing lessons? Miss
10:46
Olsen? She took from Ostrander, Paul Ostrander out on Melrose. A lot
10:50
of movie people used to take from him. What do you know about her
10:54
personal life? How do you mean does she have any boyfriends? Well?
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Yes, you don't seem sure myself. Well, it's just that I don't
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know. I never asked Helen, but she did have a few dates with
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Paul Ostrander. I don't think she was serious. How about Ostrander? Gee,
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I don't know. Sergeant, I don't want to involve anybody. You
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want to help us find the killer, don't you? Yes, But if
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you're thinking Paul Ostrander did it, no, I'm sure he didn't kill her.
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Ah, that's off to day Victoria. No, gentlemen, I did
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not kill Helen Paul Day. You gave her seeing lessons, mister Ostrander.
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You know her pretty well? Yes, I gave her voice coaching about a
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year and a half. Helen said a little promise, not a great voice.
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It's badly Brad. You know her pretty well? Why'd you say that,
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mister Astrander? Didn't you used to take her out in less than a
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while. No, I didn't know Helen socially at all. We know you
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had dates with her, That's not true. The only times I saw was
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funch. She came here to the studio for lessons. You better tell the
12:13
truth, mister Ostrander. We can prove that you've been out with her.
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Praid of the publicity? Is that it? Certainly that's it. I have
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a successful business here, I've spent years building it. Anything right, this
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has ruined me. Then you have been out with it only a few times,
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nothing serious. I had nothing to do with her murder. Now that's
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the true. Don't you know that withholding information about a thing like this can
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go kind of hard for you? Yes, I know that. What else
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could I do, mister Ostrander. Somewhere in this city right now, there's
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a guy who beat a young girl to death. He crushed her skull with
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a piece of steel pipe. We need every bit of information we can get
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to track him down. I know that you could have come to us.
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We wouldn't run to the newspapers with it. If the information is confidential,
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that's the way we treat it. Most of the time. It's the people
12:48
who run to the newspapers first, then they come to us. That's right,
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mister Ostrander. People are their own press agents. Sargeant, I'd like
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to know what right you have to invade my privacy and lecture me on my
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city. All right, I'll tell you what right, Ostrander. We want
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the man who murdered Helen Corday. I got as much right as he had
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at twelve fourteen this morning. Come on, Joe Yeah, thanks, mister
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Ostrander. Sorry if I invaded your privacy. Cheef the detectives of us Halen,
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Oh, I'm sorry, ma'am. I got the long extension. Try
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two five one one. You're welcome. Hi Friday, he Ram, she's
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been looking for you. Thank you. Mike. Come on, Joey,
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Hello, Joe Ben, sit down. What'd you get? A notebook full
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of notes, a crime lab full of evidence, nothing to time together.
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M These some of the people you interviewed, Yeah, losn about a dozen
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more we didn't even take notes on. It's hard to figure scamper. Everybody
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seemed to lack this girl, Ellen Corday, no known relative, single,
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unattached girl living all alone in the city, and no enemies. None we
14:01
can find anyway, you satisfied that all the people you interviewed are in the
14:05
clear. Well, if we're going to stick to the sample, robbery motiva
14:07
or kind of money hell in court they made, wouldn't they arrest those people?
14:11
How are you doing on the outside, leads? Nothing? If we
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could just find one hole someplace, anything? All right? Now, Look,
14:18
you've got a lab full of evidence across the street. You've got a
14:20
book full of names. Here, You've got the pieces. I'll put them
14:24
together. They just don't add. Well, go over them and keep going
14:28
over them until they do add anything from the informants, No, nothing so
14:31
far. No tips on anybody that's been do heavy lately. Nobody's shooting off
14:35
their mouth. The guy we want won't advertise figures himself a pretty smooth operator,
14:39
but he probably made a mistake somewhere along the line. We'll find it.
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Go yeah, two twenty casino woman, probable attack. All right,
14:50
Friday, you and Ben run it down. We ran down the hot shot
14:58
call for thirty two to twenty Casino turned out to be a typical dead end
15:01
lead. Her name was missus Lillian Horne. For the past five years,
15:05
mister Horn had been paid regularly on Wednesdays. He spent all day Thursday drinking
15:11
up his paycheck and beating his wife. The call had no connection with the
15:13
Cord murder. We made the usual call in the communications unit eighty CAA Control
15:20
one eighty K to control one during one to EIGHTYK going ahead on that probable
15:24
attack thirty two twenty casino code for eighty K Roger EIGHTYK to control one KMA
15:31
three to sixty seven. That was the beginning for the next three days.
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We followed up every lead and every call, but they were all blind.
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All units were alerted, and they had as much information on the killer of
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Helen Cord as we did. Ben and I cruise throughout the entire Central Division,
15:48
which covered every probable call that might have some connection with the murder.
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I plan some unit forty one on sixteen to fifty four Swanson Terris, a
15:58
Roman victim of carbon our attack, come through doing it forty rock. It
16:06
didn't make any difference what the car was. If there was a possibility at
16:08
night tie in with the corday and murder, we ran it down. We
16:11
needed a twenty four hour job so far. If the killer made a mistake,
16:15
we hadn't been able to find it. The cour day funeral was on
16:21
Monday. They were all there, the girl's landlady, the boy's teacher,
16:25
Ostrander, the girl friend Marie Olson, a man from the union, and
16:29
her boss Ottomeyer, but nobody else we hadn't checked. That was Monday afternoon.
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Monday night, we went back to the old routine, tracking calls during
16:38
the night in the squad car, picking up small threads that led nowhere.
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Three more days of the same thing. Thursday morning, one week after we
16:47
found Helen Corday's body, we got an anonymous phone till I know who killed
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Helen Corday. His name is George Barlow. He lives at four eighteen White
16:55
Oak Avenue. He used to date her up all the time. Get him
16:59
and you've got them. We checked George Borrow one about ten others just like
17:04
him, none of them new Helen Cordator. Saturday night, Ben and I
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were back in the squad car cruising the Central Division. Saturday Night's a good
17:14
night for robbery. By ten pm we'd run down four various calls one twenty
17:19
three Code one one twenty three, Roger twelve g Crawia Station in a thirteen
17:30
R twelve fifty four tower road. A woman screaming, mistigating trouble. How
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two, let's handle that one, ben yeh okay, I'll notify Communications Unit
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eighty K to control one, eighty K to control one Control one the unit
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eighty K go ahead on your twelve fifty four tower road call. We are
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in the vicinity. We will handle eighty K. Roger eighty K to control
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one km eight three sixty seven. Let's go then roll one to thirteen R
17:57
does forgad your raft call? Adn't find Eddie King, it's you'd be right
18:03
about it. Here, oh man, here it is well fifty four?
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Where guilty? Come on? Where'd he go? Joe? Turn right at
18:21
the next corner. I see him up ahead. He's got a good lead
18:26
on us. Hit the siren. He's getting. Joe took a left at
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the next corner. Oh, he isn't gonna stop closing as tight as you
18:37
can. Ben out to the floor. Now, swing out to the left
18:40
a little. I'm going for his tires right, all right, that'll flow
18:45
him down, full up on him. Yeah, all right, Joe,
18:51
keep both hands on that wheel and get over the curb. Government. Joe
18:55
right out of that car, mister, shake him down. Hey, take
19:00
it easy, I haven't got a gun. Put the cups on him,
19:07
You boys, work fast? What am I doing with the gas chamber?
19:10
Just save that menthy. It's a pretty rough treatment for speeding. All right,
19:12
come on you look, I got all right to know where you're taking
19:18
me. What's the charge? Well, let the girl tell you what.
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We can sit there and be quiet. Huh oh, I know where you're
19:30
going and place back on Tar road. Well, I asked to use the
19:33
phone. The girl slammed the door in my face. I don't know what
19:37
your cops are trying to prove. I just wanted to use the phone,
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that's all. I even tried to scare a little I told her I'd hit
19:45
over the head if she didn't let me use the phone. It's a laugh.
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Run all right, you get out here. Yeah, it's the place.
19:53
Get out, hey, I got nothing to hide. That little girl
20:02
is gonna lie. You know that, don't you. Who's there? Police
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officer? What's the man? His full name's Frank Philip Larson had no previous
20:19
records. This the girl's rippling? Yeah, shit, scaper, h Judy
20:26
Scott, How old is she he's nineteen's the babysitter. Real tough boy,
20:30
isn't He pours his way into the house, hid her about the neck and
20:34
arms, tire iron he bought up in his car. Jones is running through
20:38
the crime lab. Asked her if she had any money. She told him
20:41
no, struck her again. Where's this? Lots and lived hotel out near
20:45
Santa Monica. The clothing salesman. He had worked for a big men's store,
20:48
Burns and Company. According to the house book sales record, he bought
20:51
a pair of ten of shoes two weeks ago. We hes one hundred and
20:53
fifty eight pounds five for eleven inches. Dennis hues her mission. They're not
20:56
in his hotel room. He's not learning. What else do you find?
21:00
A Ryan stone? You mean a pen? No, just a small loose
21:03
stone recovered from the rug and Larsen's room. Grime lab got it working on
21:06
it. Now ed we got the man who killed Helen Corday. A few
21:19
scraps of circumstantial evidence in a hunch, that's not much to go on.
21:25
Larson had gone after the little scott girl with a tire iron. Wasn't much
21:27
of a tie in, but we had to be sure. All that day
21:30
we checked Frank Larson's alibi for the night of Helen cor Day's murder. We
21:33
interviewed the personnel manager at Burns and Company where he worked. We talked to
21:37
all the clerks, soon knew him, a manager of the hotel where he
21:40
lived. We found out everything we could about Frank Larson, and that night,
21:42
at ten o'clock we had the prisoner brought to the interrogation room. All
21:48
right, Larson, fine, just fine, I like jail, Sit down,
21:52
lousy weather been foggy all over time. I wouldn't know. I've been
21:56
inside all day. How old are you? Lawton? Thirty one? Same
21:59
as the last time you were asking where'd you go to school? I didn't.
22:03
I was born smart. You sell clothes, don't you talk? We
22:06
know you work for Burns and Company. Remember you told us what is all
22:08
this? What are you guys trying to build? You just want to know
22:11
if you like selling clothes. That's all we do. You coppers know about
22:14
clothes. One blue surge of year is your speed. You know quite a
22:18
bit about clothes, don't you. I've been selling them for five years.
22:21
Can you tell me something I've been wondering about what's that? Are your stocks
22:25
and tie always sposed to me? That's what the style books say. Bet,
22:29
you always know the right things to wear, don't you. You wouldn't
22:32
wear black shoes with a brown suit, would you? Is that what you're
22:33
keeping me here for stylism? Oh? Would you? Would you wear black
22:37
shoes with brown suit? Morset? People wouldn't? Bet you wouldn't wear brown
22:42
shoes with a tax seed overer. I've been smoking too much. You gotta
22:47
go someware. Oh yeah, sure, Hey you are lord nice? That's
23:03
good and cool? How about it? Would you ever wear brown shoes with
23:06
a tucks? Nobody would? That's a navy blue flannel and you got on
23:10
there, isn't it. Yeah? It's a good looking suit. Stop run
23:14
sometime, get you a good deal suit like that flannel eire you're wearing.
23:18
You'd never wear tennis shoes with an outfit like that, would you? What
23:21
do you think? I think you did? I think you wore them the
23:22
night you killed Helen Cord a Oho. Maybe you didn't have the blue suit
23:26
on, but you were wearing tennis shoes sport King size nine sell for five
23:29
ninety five. You pick them up at a discount cost you three and a
23:30
quarter? Where'd you get that out of the house? Book Burns and Company.
23:34
You wouldn't have those shoes around, now, would you. We couldn't
23:37
find them in your hotel room. You're boss, Mister Craig. Used to
23:41
think a lot of you, Larson, before you started drinking on a job.
23:44
Your commissions just run pretty high up the last couple of months. What
23:48
happened that cheap ride get to you? Were you two really noised around,
23:51
didn't you? Weren't you gonna tell me what I eat for breakfast? Corn
23:53
flakes, cup of coffee, donut, sometimes two donuts when you're hungry.
23:56
Elsie waits on you at the Royal Cafe. She gets a tipple and I
24:00
ask him more that water yourself as a cooler. They're good and cold.
24:14
How about it, Larson? Wear the tennis shoes they wore out in three
24:17
weeks. Ain'd be very good tennis shoes or they didn't wear out. What'd
24:19
you do with them? You know all the answers. You figure it out.
24:23
We know you bought the tennis shoes. We don't know where they are
24:26
now. We know you had them five nine three feet from the body of
24:29
Helen Corday. We found two size nine footprints made by a pair of sporteen
24:33
tennis shoes. I figured the man weighed about one hundred and fifty pounds.
24:34
You weigh one hundred and fifty eight. It's about five foot tenth. You're
24:37
five eleven. You come awful close to being the same build as a man
24:41
who killed Helen Corday. Don't you large man? You wear the same size
24:44
tennis shoes, same brand name. A lot of people wear nines. It's
24:47
the average size. They sell a lot of sport games to. Everybody wears
24:49
them. We could find your pair might make a difference. It doesn't mean
24:52
your tennis shoes made the prince with a body doesn't prove it. It didn't
24:56
neither what you do with the Martian. I threw them away too bad.
25:00
Might make a difference. Oh what difference could it make? I threw them
25:03
away, that's all. How about the mate to this glove? I never
25:06
saw it before. Found this right hand glove, but the body of Helen
25:08
Corday just an ordinary cotton work glove. Everybody wears them. We could find
25:12
the miss and left glove might make a difference. Size medium that's the average
25:17
too, isn't that? Larcense? I never saw work clothes. I wouldn't
25:19
know. No, but you bought work gloves, haven't you? Not a
25:22
pair of those? I mean like this? Don't you only got one?
25:25
What kind of work gloves did you buy it? I didn't buy any.
25:26
You just said you did. I never said I bought any work gloves.
25:30
You bought tennis shoes, though, didn't you. I told you I bought
25:32
the tennis shoes. Didn't I tell you I bought them? No? You
25:34
didn't tell us. We told you found out from Prinson Company where you were?
25:37
All right? You told me I bought them, you and all that
25:38
same kind of tennis shoes that made foot prints by Helen Corday's. But it
25:41
wasn't me. And why won't you tell us what you did with it?
25:44
I've already told you I threw them away. They were only three weeks old.
25:45
Le's the worn out off a fair. I didn't say they wore out
25:48
they got too dirty, though you told us they wore out, Remember,
25:51
Larsen, I don't remember what I told you, but I don't have them
25:52
now we know you don't have them. Now where are they? He told
25:55
us they got too dirty, right Larcense, Yes, yes, yes,
25:59
that's what I said. Anyhow, you haven't got him now, No,
26:02
I haven't got him now, all right? Not just for the record,
26:03
Larsen, which was it? Did they get too dirty or did they wear
26:04
out? Whatever I said before? You said both before, Lark, all
26:07
right, I said both. You haven't got anything on me. We got
26:10
that little scott girl's statement from last night. She says you tried to kill
26:11
her. She's lying. I told you she'd lie, didn't I. I
26:15
only wanted to use a phone. She says you hit her with a tire
26:17
iron. Did you hit her with that iron? No? I only tried
26:18
to scare I didn't hit her with anything. Then. How did you get
26:21
those marks around her neck? No? Police doctor says they were made with
26:22
that tyre iron. I don't care what your doctor says. I didn't hurt
26:26
her. I what do you mean, Larsen? You didn't hurt her.
26:26
You didn't hit her with that time? You know what? I just wanted
26:29
to use her phone. How do you know she had a phone. I
26:30
didn't know if she had a phone. I just went have to find out
26:33
to find out why, I find out if I could use her phone,
26:34
but she said you didn't know if she had a phone. I don't know
26:37
anything there where you pushed everything around. Sorry, Larson, we only want
26:41
the truth. How about a cigarette? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I
26:45
could use here's a lie, Larson. Where were you Wednesday night in March
26:52
eighteenth? How many times you're gonna ask me that same question? Just want
26:56
to make sure we got it right. I told you this morning to a
27:00
show. I got out about eleven, had a beer, and I went
27:02
home. What times you get home? About eleven thirty? Did you stay?
27:03
I went to bed? What'd you see at the show? I never
27:06
remember the names? You ought to try to remember this, and it's pretty
27:08
important. I was a deluxe theater. It was Spencer, Tracy and something.
27:14
What was on when you walked in the news? I never go in
27:15
in the middle of a picture. Neither do lass boys and for me,
27:19
yeah that's right. The girl in the box office doesn't remember seeing you go
27:22
in. You know it was Keeno night. There's a big crowd. Did
27:26
you win anything? I never do. Anybody hit the jack boy? I
27:29
don't remember. They gave away a lot of money in those neighborhood theaters.
27:32
I always remember who hits the jack butt? All right? You do?
27:33
I don't. Do you remember if anybody won the jock? I told you
27:37
no. Did they have a jackpot at that show? I guess they do.
27:38
I don't know. You know it was Keeno night. You should know
27:41
if I had a jack butt. Maybe they had a jackpot. I don't
27:44
know. I went out for a smoke. You said the cartoon was on
27:47
when you walked in. Why do you always twist what I say? I
27:49
told you the news was on when I went in. You remember anything about
27:52
the news? It was ten days ago. How do I know what was
27:55
in it? I only know it was a news real life lying lash,
27:56
and we checked your alibi. The manager of the theater had to cut the
27:59
news reel Wednesday night because the show was running along with Keno Knight. You
28:02
didn't go to show Wednesday night, did you? All right? Maybe I
28:03
didn't not. I don't remember. What's the different the differences? You could
28:06
have been in that vacant lot the same night, the night Helen Cordy was
28:07
murdered. I didn't kill her. You can't prove I didn't. Interrogation Room
28:12
Friday, Hi Jones, it did huh you're positive. Uh yeah, okay,
28:21
thanks Ley. Sure you didn't want to tell us what you did with
28:23
those tennis shoes. I'm not going to go back over all that I've told
28:26
you guys. How I'm going to tell you, you know how the Cordy
28:30
girl was murdered. How would I know? I don't know anything about it.
28:32
She's on her way home from work as usual about midnight. Of course
28:34
you were home in bed about that time, but you didn't go to the
28:37
show at night, Larson. On her way home, Helen Corday always took
28:40
a short cut across a vacant lot. She was about halfway through the lot
28:42
when the murderer tried to grab her purse. She screamed and he struck her,
28:47
hit her several times. The piece of steel pipe fourteen inches long.
28:49
He beat her to death with that piece of steel pipe. Then he dropped
28:52
the pipe in the right hand cotton worked glove. He left two footprints size
28:55
nine's fourteen tennis shoes. I know all that. Well, here's something you
28:57
don't know. When the killer's the paper money out of that girl's purse,
29:00
he accidentally took along a loose rhine stone, a stone that fell out of
29:03
a cheap burrett in the bottom of her bag. He carried that stone home
29:07
with him. When he reached in his pocket to pull out the money he
29:08
stole from her, the rhinestone fell on the floor. So we found that
29:11
rhinestone on the rug in your hotel room. Oh, I haven't lived in
29:14
that hotel room all my life. Maybe the tenant before me dropped it.
29:17
The No, not this way. We checked the cement that held it in
29:18
that burrett. It matches the glue on the stone. No, Larson,
29:22
that rhinestone came from the haircliff that Helen Corday wore before she was murdered.
29:25
And that's enough to take you to the district atourney with what am I supposed
29:27
to show? We want you to tell us the truth. Why did you
29:29
kill Helen Corday? Yep, you right. The sandwiches and coffee now,
29:37
sageon, wrang them in mine. Looks like we're going to be here a
29:38
long time. Yeah. I brought your ham, cheese and liver worst and
29:45
some fruit coffee's black cream and sugar on the side. Thank you, Mike.
29:52
It looks good. What kinds you want? Lawton ham? Jeez?
29:57
The liver word. Am I not hungry? Okay? I like you?
30:04
No, thanks, I think I'll have an apple. Yeah, fun,
30:08
I looks you will play that. Larsan want coffee if I hear it's a
30:15
fine apple, nice and fresh. This is Washington apple. I don't know.
30:22
I'm not coffee hot enough. That's fine. Whe Mike pick each up
30:29
well across the drake he's no, huh oh, thank you good. I'll
30:37
drink your coffee anyway. Larson, it's getting cold right. I didn't want
30:45
to kill her, she screamed, and I hit her. All I wanted
30:48
was the person. That's all I wanted. She wouldn't give to me.
30:51
She had to fight back, so I hit her. I didn't want to
30:53
kill her. All she had to do would give me the person. I
30:56
wouldn't do what he was drinking. Know what I'm doing. I stay with
31:14
them. We'll call a stenographer, say it's more Jill good night. Yeah,
31:26
so our racket hurt. The story you have just heard is true,
31:37
only the names were changed to protect the innocent. Frank Philip Larson was tried
31:44
and convicted of murder in the first degree. He was executed in the lethal
31:48
gas chamber at the State Penitentiary. You have just heard the fifth in a
31:57
new series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice for Dragnet is furnished
32:04
by the Los Angeles Police Department. Tonight's program is dedicated to police Officer Charles
32:10
A. Brady of the Chicago, Illinois Police Department, who, on the
32:15
night of September two, nineteen forty five, gave his life so that yours
32:21
might be more secure. Dragnet came to you from Los Angeles. This is
32:30
NBC, the National Broadcasting Company. Welcome back. Well, this is an
32:45
interesting episode for a few reasons. One is Friday showing some emotion here in
32:53
terms of dealing with a difficult case and taking it to heart, really frustrated
33:00
and expressive about witness concealing information, and also somewhat personally affected by the crime.
33:09
And usually this would not be the typical tact for Friday, and it'd
33:14
be something that would be pretty rare throughout the run. But it wouldn't be
33:17
something just limited to his age, though I think age does play a bit
33:23
of a factor in it. It can be hard to wrap her mind around
33:30
this, perhaps, but at the time of this program, Jack Webb was
33:38
just a little past twenty nine. He may have the same rank as Romero,
33:45
but Romero is the more seasoned officer, which is illustrated in that particular
33:51
scene. Another case, one that I remember very clearly, was from when
33:58
he was much older, in nineteen sixty seven. Typically, while Friday is
34:05
never indifferent, he's often just very professional and quietly works through a lot of
34:10
stuff. Plus, you know, when you get into some later programs where
34:15
he gets on uncooperative witnesses, let's say take the nineteen fifty four movie.
34:23
By that point, there's a bit more experience as well as expectation the character,
34:30
so you see an entirely different way of expressing the frustration. The interrogation
34:37
bit at the end was fascinating, and it speaks volumes to the talent of
34:44
Jack Webb and bart and Yarborough that they were able to keep that, and
34:50
certainly under such a situation, it's kind of hard to keep your story straight,
34:54
particularly if you really have got to work on something you concocted. Though
34:59
they I'd shown one later episode I forget which one, where they used that
35:06
on someone they thought had committed a crime and were breaking him down, and
35:12
then they found evidence that somebody else did it, so unfortunately that's not a
35:15
barrage that just works on the guilty. Raymond Burr here joins the cast,
35:21
taking over for Charlie McGraw, and I think really is an improvement as the
35:27
second ed Backstrand. The way McGraw played Backstrand, it was just too melodramatic
35:32
to work with what Dragnet would become. And Burr's work here is pretty interesting
35:38
and at times somewhat show stealing in the way he presents this character. Now
35:45
I said we would talk a little bit about Bart and Yarborough. Yarborough was
35:47
about twenty years older than Web, and he'd gotten his real start in radio
35:55
in the nineteen thirties and was probably best known prior to Dragnet for his work
36:01
with Carlton Morse, where he played Clifford on radio's longest running soap opera,
36:12
One Man's Family, and he also played the role of Doc on I Love
36:19
a Mystery, and those were his big roles, but throughout that he also
36:27
was known as someone who did a lot of character work. As an native
36:31
born Texan, he was called upon often to play roles of people who were
36:38
from Texas in a wide variety of different programs. He and Webb worked together
36:45
in the mid nineteen forties on several projects. They appeared in an episode of
36:52
Escape together as well as an episode of Jeff Reagan, and then there was
36:55
a pilot that they recorded with Elliott Lewis called Three Four Adventures. In the
37:02
series, the three men would play three adventurers with very different background and Yarbroughs
37:09
was picked to play a Texan. Believe it or not, his film work
37:15
was really limited, but he definitely left a lasting impression on radio, and
37:22
having someone who had been as active in the industry in so many successful projects
37:30
certainly helped to make Dragon At such a big success. Though, his interpretation
37:35
and the way that he played the role of Friday's partner as well as the
37:40
relationship between the two is very different from what we would say later on with
37:46
Frank Smith and later built in and Well, now we turn to listener comments
37:53
and feedback in we have a new review on Amazon, Bob d says,
38:00
Adam chooses great shows played in order and gives a good commentary. Well,
38:06
thanks so much. I do appreciate you leaving a review on Amazon, and
38:10
that will actually do it for today. I do want to encourage you to
38:16
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More information on all the options available are at support dot Great Detectives dot net.
38:55
Programming reminders coming up tomorrow It's Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. Another Johnny
39:01
Dollar omnibus, and remember next Tuesday some newly recovered episodes of Yours Truly,
39:09
Johnny Dollar, and then join us back here next Saturday for another episode of
39:14
Dragnet. In the meantime, send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives
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listener support campaign support dot Great Detectives dot net. From Boise, Idaho,
39:32
this is your host Adam Graham signing off