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Transcript

Dragnet: The Big Story Man (EP4889) · The Great Detectives Present Dragnet (Old Time Radio)

• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: going to bring you this week's episode of Dragnet. But
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: first I do want to encourage you. If you are
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Today's program is brought to you in part by the financial
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  Speaker 1: support of our listeners, and you can support the show
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: on a one time basis by maleeing a donation to
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Adam Graham Peelbox one five nine one three. That's peel
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Box one five nine thirteen, Boise, Idaho eight three seven
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: one five And I want to thank Laura and Kenneth
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  Speaker 1: and Carol and Carolyn for sending donations that way. You
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  Speaker 1: his little last two dollars per month by going to
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  Speaker 1: Patreon dot Great Detectives dot net. And I want to
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: thank Denise for upgrading her support to the Detective Sergeant
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  Speaker 1: level of seven dollars and fourteen cents or more per
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: month from the Shawmus level of four dollars or more
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: per month. Thanks so much for your support, Denise. But
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: now from October eighteenth, nineteen fifty one. Here is the
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: big story, man.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: The story you're about to hear is true. The names
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: have been changed to protect the innocent. You're a detective sergeant.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: You're assigned a burglary detail. A dozen churches in your
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: city are victimized by a team of experienced safe burglars.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: You at track the suspects for weeks. You finally apprehend
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: three men. Your job an victim.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: Drag Met the documented drama of an actual crime. For
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: Police Department, you will travel step by step on the
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: side of the law through an actual case transcribed from
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: official police buyers, from beginning to end, from crime to punishment.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: Dragnet is the story of your police force and action.
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: It was Sunday, March fifth, was cloudy in Los Angeles.
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: We were working the day Watch out of burglary detail.
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Captain Wisdom. My
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: name's Friday. I was on the way back from the
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: record Bureau and it was eleven thirty PM when I
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: got the room twenty five A, the interrogation room.
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: Excuse me, Ben, Yeah, Joe got a minute.
• 3:22
  Speaker 6: Yeah, sure, wait here, Brighton back in a minute. Yeah,
• 3:26
  Speaker 6: let's go out in the hall. Huh, how you doing
• 3:32
  Speaker 6: with Bryson? Me tell you anything now, I admit a thaying.
• 3:35
  Speaker 6: How about the other two men?
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  Speaker 4: No nothing, they're sitting tight waiting for their lawyer to
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: show up. Had all three of 'em check through R
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: and I. Bryson's a two time loser burglary GTA, his
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: two partners served time for robbery.
• 3:45
  Speaker 6: We shouldn't have too much trouble putting them away. We
• 3:47
  Speaker 6: got a good enough collection of physical labiness, you know,
• 3:50
  Speaker 6: maybe heard from the prime labyat No, not yet. I'd
• 3:52
  Speaker 6: feel a lot better about it if we'd get Buyson
• 3:54
  Speaker 6: to cop out. Let's try him again.
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's well, nothing to lose.
• 3:58
  Speaker 6: Yes, keep your safe, Bryce, And you've got a few
• 4:01
  Speaker 6: more questions for you. Excuse me. I thought you had
• 4:05
  Speaker 6: it all squared away by now. I thought you're going
• 4:07
  Speaker 6: to say I could leave by now.
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: No afraid not. Bryce, And you haven't even given us
• 4:10
  Speaker 5: a story yet.
• 4:11
  Speaker 6: Well, I told you I didn't have anything to do
• 4:12
  Speaker 6: with it. It seems pretty obvious I didn't. I thought
• 4:14
  Speaker 6: you'd take my word for it.
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: Ca an, you think of any reason why we should.
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: You lied to us once already to know I didn't
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: lie to I told you the truth. I didn't break
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: into that church. I didn't have anything to do with it.
• 4:23
  Speaker 6: On the way in here, we asked you if you'd
• 4:24
  Speaker 6: ever been arrested before, and you told us no. I
• 4:27
  Speaker 6: Reckon Bureau says you're a two time loser. Well I'm
• 4:31
  Speaker 6: sorry about that, Sergeant, I really am. When you pick
• 4:33
  Speaker 6: me up, I guess I got a little nervous. I
• 4:34
  Speaker 6: didn't mean to lie to Yeah, I was just a
• 4:36
  Speaker 6: little mixed up. I guess you've had a little time
• 4:38
  Speaker 6: to settle down. You ought to be able to tell
• 4:39
  Speaker 6: us your story. Now, just relax and take your time. Well,
• 4:43
  Speaker 6: what did the other two fellas started, Miller and Hendy.
• 4:45
  Speaker 6: What difference did that make to you? Well, it might
• 4:47
  Speaker 6: make a lot of difference. Sorry, you just tell us
• 4:49
  Speaker 6: your story, that's all we asked. What were you doing
• 4:51
  Speaker 6: at the scene of the burglary? What business did you
• 4:53
  Speaker 6: have there? If you went mixed up? And then you've
• 4:54
  Speaker 6: got nothing to hide. I haven't got anything to hide.
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  Speaker 6: I just don't want to involve a lot of innocent
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  Speaker 6: people that saw anything you tell us, it's going to
• 5:00
  Speaker 6: help you, you know that. But all right, so strictly confidential. Well,
• 5:05
  Speaker 6: or one of those other fellows you picked up tonight,
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  Speaker 6: the darkhead fella. His name's Miller, Tony Miller. He's engaged
• 5:10
  Speaker 6: to marry my sister.
• 5:11
  Speaker 5: You know, Well, what's that got to do it? Now?
• 5:12
  Speaker 6: Please give me a chance. I'd like to lay it
• 5:14
  Speaker 6: all out for him. Well, ever since my sister got
• 5:17
  Speaker 6: engaged him and I've been worried about it. I never
• 5:19
  Speaker 6: liked him to begin with. Likely, I've been keeping an
• 5:22
  Speaker 6: eye on Miller, him and that friend of his, Henderson.
• 5:24
  Speaker 6: I knew they were up to something. And then I
• 5:26
  Speaker 6: read in the paper about that string of the church burglaries.
• 5:28
  Speaker 6: That guy's breaking into churches. Nothing have to safe. Well,
• 5:31
  Speaker 6: I had an idea, is Miller and his friend? How
• 5:33
  Speaker 6: do you mean, bro? That made you think he was him?
• 5:35
  Speaker 6: I had an idea, that's all. I couldn't prove anything.
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: It was just a hunt. You must have had some
• 5:39
  Speaker 6: reason to suspect him. Nothing definite. No, I just knew
• 5:42
  Speaker 6: something was wrong, that they were up to something. Well,
• 5:44
  Speaker 6: then earlier tonight I saw a friend of Tony Miller's,
• 5:47
  Speaker 6: a one of the bars in the neighborhood. I talked
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  Speaker 6: to him a while and finally told me that Miller
• 5:50
  Speaker 6: and Henderson were out working a deal. Said they were
• 5:52
  Speaker 6: going to break into a church over on Eighth Street
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  Speaker 6: and knock over the city not till this friend of
• 5:56
  Speaker 6: Miller's let you win on it. Well, I guess he
• 5:58
  Speaker 6: thought I was a pretty close friend, as he knew
• 6:00
  Speaker 6: Tony's going to marry my sister. Anyway, when I found
• 6:03
  Speaker 6: out about it, I got over to that church as
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  Speaker 6: fast as I could. I wanted to find Miller Henderson
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  Speaker 6: try and talk him out of it. I didn't want
• 6:08
  Speaker 6: any guy who was going to marry my sister getting
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: in that trouble like that. But you know, maybe going
• 6:12
  Speaker 6: to jail for berg if Roell.
• 6:13
  Speaker 5: Miller's been in jail before. I suppose you knew that.
• 6:15
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I knew it, but that was before he was
• 6:17
  Speaker 6: engaged to my sister. You met Miller and Hennison outside
• 6:19
  Speaker 6: of the church, did you No? I was too late.
• 6:21
  Speaker 6: They had already broken into the place. So I went
• 6:23
  Speaker 6: around on the back of the church and I saw
• 6:25
  Speaker 6: one of the stained glass windows as broken while they'd
• 6:27
  Speaker 6: gotten in. I climbed up on the cellar, and I
• 6:28
  Speaker 6: could see him working inside of it, some kind of
• 6:31
  Speaker 6: a small back room. They were working on the safe,
• 6:33
  Speaker 6: both of them, Miller and Henderson.
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: So what'd you do then?
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  Speaker 6: Right? I tried to talk him out of it. They
• 6:38
  Speaker 6: wouldn't listen.
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: I suppose you can prove your I mean that friends
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: you met in the buy, the one who tipped you
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  Speaker 4: off about the burgery.
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: I guess he'd be willing to go back up his student.
• 6:46
  Speaker 6: Well, I'm not sure, Sergint. He might lie. He might
• 6:48
  Speaker 6: not want to get involved. How about Miller and Henners
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  Speaker 6: in their back at that point, If you weren't involved
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  Speaker 6: in the deal, it wouldn't be any reason for them
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  Speaker 6: to implicate you. Would We're sure there would. Tony Miller
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  Speaker 6: thinks it's my fault. He's in jail. He hates me.
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  Speaker 6: You can't take his word. I think probably the first
• 7:01
  Speaker 6: thing he'd do is lie about it in Henderson too.
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  Speaker 6: And who you got to corroborate your story? Well maybe nobody,
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  Speaker 6: But it's the truth. I swear to it's the truth.
• 7:08
  Speaker 6: I'll tell the same thing in court if I have to.
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  Speaker 6: They gotta believe you're asking them, leaf Man. That's the
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  Speaker 6: way it happened, So help me. Yeah, I'll tell me
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  Speaker 6: the truth sod and you know I didn't have a
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  Speaker 6: hand in it. If it goes to court, they couldn't
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  Speaker 6: convict me, could they? Come on? What do you think?
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  Speaker 5: I think you're a liar?
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: To the working detective, the one logical way to appraise
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: a known criminal is bias record.
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  Speaker 5: You estimate him the same way.
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  Speaker 4: You check a particular makeup, automobile, a racehorse, or a
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: radio set by past performance. By refusing to buy a
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: trumped up story, we didn't figure that we were doing
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: the suspect Charles Bryson, an injustice. Bryson was thirty seven
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: years old. He'd spent thirteen of those thirty seven years
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  Speaker 4: in prison, either the county jail or the state penitentiary.
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  Speaker 4: His criminal record dated back to the time he was
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  Speaker 4: twenty years old. Besides serving numerous shorter terms for lesser
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: offenses in the county jail, Brison had spent two terms
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  Speaker 4: in the state penitentiary for burglary. Despite the efforts of
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: the probation officers, the adult authority, and the rehabilitation officials
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  Speaker 4: to help him, he seemed content to go along in
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  Speaker 4: his criminal career. In this particular case, the series of
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: church burglaries, we had good reason to believe that Bryce
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: and then his two accomplices, Miller and Henderson, were the
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: guilty men. All three of them were booked at the
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  Speaker 4: main jail on suspicion of four fifty nine PC. The
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  Speaker 4: next morning, Ben and I checked in at the crime lab,
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: Lee Jones.
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  Speaker 6: You're run and here my bill. How about that they
• 8:29
  Speaker 6: gave the place a new code of paint. Yeah, sure
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  Speaker 6: needed it, fellas hiding Lee.
• 8:34
  Speaker 7: That set of burglary tools those thieves were using that
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  Speaker 7: church last night. Just finished checking them over. Might have
• 8:39
  Speaker 7: two or three things for him, but he got a
• 8:41
  Speaker 7: look over here you find set of tools. I take
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  Speaker 7: it to thieves had a lot of practice.
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  Speaker 6: All three of them had records. How about some of
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: the other physical evidence you got there?
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  Speaker 7: One thing at a time though. First of all, these
• 8:51
  Speaker 7: tools here for her small sledge, these three Jimmy Finch,
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  Speaker 7: Bonn and the screw driver. I think we can tie
• 8:57
  Speaker 7: them in with at least six of those church burglaries.
• 8:59
  Speaker 7: I think we can do for certain Goodn't there for
• 9:01
  Speaker 7: three convictions? I think so? For jury's listening, Why you
• 9:03
  Speaker 7: got it?
• 9:04
  Speaker 5: Worked out le tool markings. That's part of it.
• 9:06
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I want you to take a look at this
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  Speaker 7: pinchbar here. They did a lot of their work with this.
• 9:12
  Speaker 7: I guess I don't have to tell you there aren't
• 9:13
  Speaker 7: two identical pinch bars in the world that could leave
• 9:16
  Speaker 7: the same exact markings on a piece of woodwork around
• 9:18
  Speaker 7: a safe. You know, they're on a pair of tools
• 9:20
  Speaker 7: in the world that leave the same markings than anything.
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we know, But can you show a jury positivity
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: that the thieves used this pinch bar here on six
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: of the jobs they pulled.
• 9:28
  Speaker 6: That's the idea.
• 9:28
  Speaker 7: Are compared specimen markings of every one of these tools
• 9:31
  Speaker 7: against the marketings made at the point of entry on
• 9:33
  Speaker 7: six of the churches these thieves broke into. In every case,
• 9:36
  Speaker 7: the markings match perfectly. These are the tools that made them,
• 9:40
  Speaker 7: no doubt about it. The screwdriver, the set of window jimmies,
• 9:43
  Speaker 7: and the pinch barner.
• 9:44
  Speaker 6: I'm sure I won't hurt our case any get anything else.
• 9:46
  Speaker 7: Then I examined the end of the pinch barer of
• 9:48
  Speaker 7: the microscope, checked the screw driver jimmies too. The tips
• 9:52
  Speaker 7: of each one of them are contaminated with particles of pink,
• 9:55
  Speaker 7: different kinds of paint. I've already compared these paint transfers
• 10:00
  Speaker 7: samples of paint taken from the exterior of those churches
• 10:02
  Speaker 7: that were broken into each one of them. They match
• 10:05
  Speaker 7: all the way. The color of the paint, the age,
• 10:07
  Speaker 7: degree of oxidation, the lead content compares perfectly. Now come
• 10:10
  Speaker 7: over here something else once you got theren These are
• 10:15
  Speaker 7: the shoes the two men you found inside the church
• 10:17
  Speaker 7: were wearing. These are the foot impressions the boys from
• 10:20
  Speaker 7: Layton Prince lifted off the floor in front of the
• 10:22
  Speaker 7: safe inside the church. Oh, we know them on that
• 10:25
  Speaker 7: church floor shot up. The dest impressions of the feet
• 10:28
  Speaker 7: pretty good. Did you make the brain the boys from
• 10:30
  Speaker 7: Layton Prince did. Yeah, good impressions. See here general size
• 10:34
  Speaker 7: of the shoe, the make heal impressions, to wear pattern
• 10:36
  Speaker 7: on the sole. Here the whole general characteristics of both
• 10:39
  Speaker 7: pair of shoes matches.
• 10:40
  Speaker 5: Up to a team. How much is that going to
• 10:42
  Speaker 5: mean to a jurim Well.
• 10:43
  Speaker 7: I mean a lot. It's the truth. It's the same
• 10:45
  Speaker 7: thing I've been telling you. It's the same thing I'd
• 10:47
  Speaker 7: like to tell every copy of the department. If you
• 10:49
  Speaker 7: can place an object at the scene of the crime
• 10:51
  Speaker 7: beyond a reasonable doubt, then don't go thrashing around looking
• 10:55
  Speaker 7: for an object that's an exact duplicate. Don't play hawk show.
• 10:58
  Speaker 7: Any microscope will tell you there are no two things
• 11:01
  Speaker 7: in this world exactly and identically alike. I don't care
• 11:04
  Speaker 7: if it's a pair of shoes, a gun, the crowbar,
• 11:06
  Speaker 7: or you're two front teeth. Now that's where it lines
• 11:09
  Speaker 7: up to me. I think you're going to have trouble.
• 11:11
  Speaker 6: And I don't know they we shouldn't have.
• 11:13
  Speaker 7: You got the three of them right at the seat
• 11:15
  Speaker 7: of the crime. Not all be enough for the court. Yeah,
• 11:17
  Speaker 7: I hope, So you know I's on shore.
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: Well, Lee, there's only one time I'm sure about Thias
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: like Bryson. Yeah, when they check them in at San Clinton.
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: Two days later, Charles Bryson and his two accomplices, Henderson
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: and Miller were arraigned in municipal court and a date
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: set for their preliminary hearing. Four days later, the preliminary
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: hearing was held and the three of them were bound
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: over for arrangement in Superior Court.
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: In the weeks that followed.
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: Before their arrangement and superior court trial, Ben and I
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: worked along with the District Attorney's office preparing the case
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: against the three men, taking statements, running down additional evidence,
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: checking and rechecking, piecing together the facts which we hope
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: would earn a conviction for each of the criminals. We
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: weren't positive that it happened. The strongest part of our
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: case was going to come out of the crime lab,
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: the testimony of Lee Jones. And we knew as well
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: as Lee did that generally speaking, juries are not too
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: much in sympathy with scientific fact when it has to
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: do with physical evidence. Generally they don't follow technical cases
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: too well. We also knew that the three defendants had
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: a good lawyer, a clever one. Getting convictions wasn't going
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: to be easy. The trial opened in Superior Court June second.
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: Then and I testified when we were called on on
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: the morning of June ninth, the jury retired to deliberate.
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: Wait that afternoon, we got a call from the Hall
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: of Justice.
• 12:32
  Speaker 6: Yes, many, Yeah, what's that? Muh I see uh huh,
• 12:36
  Speaker 6: that's laugh. I guess I think jury's back, Joe. They
• 12:40
  Speaker 6: came up with the verdict Henderson and Miller. They found
• 12:42
  Speaker 6: them both guilt at first degree.
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: Burger again, what about Bryson? They let him go?
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: Well, maybe it was no great shock to us, but
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: after the time and effort we put in on the case,
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: it was a disappointment the worst of the three criminals
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: had been set free. At the trial, Bryson had taken
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: the stand and told the court the same Cock and
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: Bull's story. He told Ben and I that he'd gone
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: to the church the scene of the burglary to plead
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: with Henderson.
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: And Miller not to commit the crime.
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: Bryson had a good personality and a fast line of talk.
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: Wasn't hard to see how he could convince a jury
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: that it was only an innocent bystander. The biggest obstacle
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: that stood in the way of convicting Bryson was that
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: the prosecution, a district attorney, according to law, could not
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: call to the attention of the jury Bryson's previous criminal record,
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: especially as two prior convictions for burglary, to them. Because
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: of the limitations of the law, he was presented as
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: a private citizen with as much integrity and as clean
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: of any previous guilt as you or your neighbor.
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: Henderson and Miller were committed.
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: To the state penitentiary to serve sentences as prescribed by law,
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: and Charles Bryson shortly after the trial left the city.
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: Two months passed Saturday, August eighth, I started on my vacation.
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: Two weeks later, on August twenty second, I checked back
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: in for work.
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: Hi, Joe, good at seeing aid Jim. What's been doing? Oh?
• 14:01
  Speaker 5: Not too much. How the vacation go well? Pretty good? Thanks? Mother?
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: And I went up north to visit some relative was something.
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: We're in county. It was a nice trip for she
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: hasn't been feeling too well, you know. Oh it's too bad,
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: getting fish and done a little. Yeah, it's sure. Beautiful
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: country up.
• 14:14
  Speaker 5: There is better.
• 14:15
  Speaker 8: Uh no, No, I took off today. He's been putting
• 14:17
  Speaker 8: in some full days while you've been going so anything
• 14:19
  Speaker 8: special doing?
• 14:20
  Speaker 6: Oh?
• 14:21
  Speaker 8: Nothing too big? String a chain story, Burger Race, south
• 14:24
  Speaker 8: end of town. I've been working along with Ben. Yeah,
• 14:26
  Speaker 8: giving you much trouble. It's been going a couple of weeks,
• 14:29
  Speaker 8: not getting any better, but beginning to feel the pressure
• 14:31
  Speaker 8: alone or how does it stand? Any leads on a
• 14:33
  Speaker 8: suspect Just one yeah, guy, the name of Charles Bryson.
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: When our suspect, Charles Bryson left Los Angeles after his trial.
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: Some three months before, we had reports that he was
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: hitded east for the city of Memphis, Tennessee. In subsequent weeks,
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: we had word that he was also seen in Saint Louis, Missouri,
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: where police officers had him under surveillance as a possible
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: suspect and a robbery there honor. About August tenth, the
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: Saint Louis police lost track of Bryson. A week later,
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: the newest series of burglaries began throughout Los Angeles. The
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: thiefs mo matched that of Bryson down to the last detail.
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: The places burglarized were change stores supermarkets.
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: Generally, the method of entry was the.
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: Same, crying open a back window with a pinch bar
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: similar tool. The manner in which the safes were opened
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: in the various business places that match too, So did
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: five sets of foot impressions found at the scene of
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: five different burgaries, each of them made by a man
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: wearing tennis shoes. The operation corresponded exactly to the way
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: Bryson worked, but there was one big hitch in the investigation.
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: Nobody could be sure Bryson was back in town. No
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: one had seen him, no one had heard from him. Monday,
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: August twenty fourth, eight A M.
• 15:45
  Speaker 6: Got us running in circle. So far, Joe, I can't
• 15:48
  Speaker 6: figure it. I bet lunch money is Bryson, but we
• 15:50
  Speaker 6: can't even.
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: Start to prove.
• 15:51
  Speaker 6: Well, how about the people in town Bryson runs with.
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: They all been checked out.
• 15:54
  Speaker 6: There's one we know about. Yeah, his friends Relictis are
• 15:56
  Speaker 6: always known hangouts. We've been over at every inch of
• 15:59
  Speaker 6: the way. Knows they're not saying. There's no trace of
• 16:02
  Speaker 6: it's a possibility. Maybe we're wrong. Go ahead, what do
• 16:05
  Speaker 6: you mean maybe we're wrong. Well, the only lead we've
• 16:07
  Speaker 6: got is the m O. Bryson isn't the only thief
• 16:10
  Speaker 6: who operates that way. It could be another man using
• 16:12
  Speaker 6: the same system. Yeah, we've thought about that. He ran
• 16:14
  Speaker 6: a check to the stats office. Yeah. The only known
• 16:16
  Speaker 6: Burglers and our records too, operate like Bryson are either
• 16:19
  Speaker 6: in jail, they're out of town, and they're dead. We
• 16:21
  Speaker 6: check it through a couple of times, keeps coming out
• 16:23
  Speaker 6: the same way. Bryson's the only strong lead we got.
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: I got it Burglary Friday, Yes itir no cercage. The
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: taber's out right now. Is there any message well, I
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: guess about ten minutes. Yes, you're right, I'll tell him.
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: Thank you. You're sure that the m O and all
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: these jobs matches Bryson?
• 16:41
  Speaker 6: Huh all the way. That's what's got me stumped. If
• 16:43
  Speaker 6: the guy is pulling these jobs and he isn't down,
• 16:46
  Speaker 6: somebody should have spotted him. He's changed stores, he's hitting.
• 16:49
  Speaker 6: We've had steakouts on him for ten days. I've got
• 16:51
  Speaker 6: every informant we know watching for Bryson and not a
• 16:54
  Speaker 6: sound All right, tamer call came in for a minute ago.
• 16:58
  Speaker 6: Jim said they'd call back. All the things.
• 17:01
  Speaker 8: Got this teletype of morning banist from Sam Quentin might
• 17:04
  Speaker 8: be a line on Bryson.
• 17:05
  Speaker 6: Never see an answer on that mail watch. We asked
• 17:08
  Speaker 6: him for what angles this?
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: Ben?
• 17:11
  Speaker 6: You remember the two partners Bryson's had on the Church burglaries,
• 17:14
  Speaker 6: Miller and Henderson who they sent up Clint? Oh, yeah,
• 17:16
  Speaker 6: you asked Clinton for a male watch on both of.
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: Them, did you?
• 17:19
  Speaker 6: I figured there was a chance Bryson might write to him.
• 17:21
  Speaker 6: Looks like it got.
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: Us a lead man. What do they got there?
• 17:24
  Speaker 6: It's from the Wharton's office, and so it says, regarding
• 17:28
  Speaker 6: your request on information concerning Charles Bryson. On August twenty second,
• 17:32
  Speaker 6: Anthony Miller our number one seven two one six J
• 17:36
  Speaker 6: received letter from person signing himself George Cameron. Contents of letters.
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: Suspicious Cameron, that mean meaning to you.
• 17:44
  Speaker 8: Just checked Bryson's package again down R and I. Cameron
• 17:47
  Speaker 8: was his mother's maiden name Wesson Jesus as an alias
• 17:50
  Speaker 8: before quite a few times.
• 17:52
  Speaker 6: I'm about to return address on the letter pen Los
• 17:54
  Speaker 6: Angeles Main Post Office General de.
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: Levin Monday, ten am, we alerted the post office detail
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: and arranged for a mail watch on all incoming letters
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: through general delivery addressed to Charles Bryson, George Cameron or
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: to another of the suspects known aliases. A week passed,
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: no sign of Bryson, no trace of any of his
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: correspondents through general delivery. Another week went by two more
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: chainst our burglaries. Themo in each case was the same.
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: It Matt's closely to Bryson's known working habits, but despite
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: our precautions in the close check we maintained on his
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: friends and his known hangouts, the suspects still remained unseen
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: and unheard from. On September ninth, an informent of Ben's
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: called us at the office and told us he thought
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: he'd seen Bryson the night before. Yeah, Maddie, where was that?
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah right, we'll check it, Thank you.
• 18:44
  Speaker 6: Bye.
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: Bryson's supposed to have.
• 18:47
  Speaker 6: Been seen there for a month and every boulevard last
• 18:49
  Speaker 6: night drinking in a bar up there. It's pretty sure
• 18:51
  Speaker 6: it was Bryson, he thinks. So yeah, that's the name
• 18:53
  Speaker 6: of the place here. We can check with the bartender.
• 18:54
  Speaker 6: See if you can identify Bryson's mugshot.
• 18:56
  Speaker 5: Right, I'll get my top CODO.
• 19:00
  Speaker 6: I get it, Burgery Friday, Yes, sir, when was that?
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: Yeah? Go ahead, all right, I got it, yes sir,
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: right away.
• 19:13
  Speaker 6: Post office detail Bryson called.
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: For mail at the general delivery half an hour ago.
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: Where is he there? Following to eighty Glenmore, Apartment six,
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: he is.
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: Then you are listening to Dragnet authentic stories of your
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: police force and action.
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: September ninth, Tuesday, eleven thirty am, the burglary suspect Charles
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: Bryson was placed under surveillance at the apartment where he'd
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: gone immediately after calling for his mail at the general
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: delivery window in the main post office three teams of
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: men were assigned the job of following Bryson alternately twenty
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: four hours a day. We waited for a chance to
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: get into his apartment and search it while it was empty,
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: but it never occurred. Somebody was always there, either Bryson
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: or a tall.
• 20:11
  Speaker 5: Dark haired woman, his common law White.
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: During the week that followed, the suspect was watched everywhere
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: he went. He attempted no burglaries. On the eighth day,
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: the stakeout was removed. Three nights later, two burglaries were committed.
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: Both jobs bore the marks of the suspects m but
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: we could improve a thing against him. We knew the
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: setup we had was going nowhere. If we wanted to
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: get Bryson red handed, if we wanted a case against
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: him that did stand up in any court, we had
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: to find a new approach.
• 20:38
  Speaker 7: Lee Jones came up with an idea. There's a job
• 20:41
  Speaker 7: of stuff right here. The technical name for its antheese.
• 20:44
  Speaker 7: Because you heard of it.
• 20:45
  Speaker 6: I think I've heard you mention the name. Ly, it's
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: about luminous powder. Isn't it blows in the dark? O?
• 20:50
  Speaker 7: No, not exactly. Yeah, take a look at them. You
• 20:53
  Speaker 7: see colorless odorless, no smell at.
• 20:55
  Speaker 5: All of it.
• 20:56
  Speaker 7: It's a cold top product. We call it crystalline hydrocobon.
• 21:00
  Speaker 7: Now here's the point of the thing. When you take
• 21:01
  Speaker 7: this anthra sine powder and rub it into the surface
• 21:03
  Speaker 7: of an object, it's completely invisible to naked eye. You
• 21:06
  Speaker 7: never know it's there. Hey, let me show you.
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: How about my coach sleeves.
• 21:09
  Speaker 7: That'll do. That's the powder all over it. Some on
• 21:13
  Speaker 7: your hand too, numb it in like so h Now
• 21:18
  Speaker 7: can you see or feel any of the powder where
• 21:20
  Speaker 7: I put it on?
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: No?
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: Nothing there.
• 21:23
  Speaker 7: Now, let me switch on this lamp here. This is
• 21:27
  Speaker 7: an ultra violet flight. Now watch when I turn it
• 21:30
  Speaker 7: on your arm where we rub down the potter.
• 21:33
  Speaker 6: Look at your hands, Joe like it's lighting the.
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: Oh the coach sleeves too, it's glowing.
• 21:39
  Speaker 6: How about it?
• 21:39
  Speaker 5: Whill this stuff rub off?
• 21:40
  Speaker 7: We try it?
• 21:42
  Speaker 6: You're spreading it all over yourself everything you touch anything
• 21:45
  Speaker 6: harmful in it?
• 21:46
  Speaker 7: Ly No, Now, watch when I turn the lamp fork
• 21:50
  Speaker 7: you see gone, never even know you had it on.
• 21:52
  Speaker 7: Only time it shows up is under ultra violet light.
• 21:55
  Speaker 5: Well does it stay on you in? Definitely?
• 21:56
  Speaker 7: Oh?
• 21:57
  Speaker 6: No.
• 21:57
  Speaker 7: The maximum is generally about uh, say, twenty four. You
• 22:01
  Speaker 7: guarantee the work well all physics, Joe, under the proper conditions.
• 22:04
  Speaker 7: It's got to It's just when I tell my classes
• 22:06
  Speaker 7: up at the Academy Crook some chorus skills of one
• 22:08
  Speaker 7: thing in common, they show up better when you put
• 22:11
  Speaker 7: them under the right kind of lights.
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: When we left Lee Jones at the crime lab, we
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: figured we had the potential solution in our hands, but
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: there was still a lot to be done before we
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: could go into any court of law with a case
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: that we were positive was strong enough to convict Charles Bryson.
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: Number one, we had to get into his apartment when
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: it was unoccupied, find the set of burglary tools he
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: was using, and doubt them thoroughly with Anthra scene.
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: The same for the clothes he worked in. Number two.
• 22:38
  Speaker 5: We had to get Bryson into custody within twenty.
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: Four hours after he moved on a burglary job, or
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: the anthwer scene wouldn't work. Number three, we had to
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: find the loot taken in the burglary in his possession.
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: Ten days passed before we got a chance to make good.
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: In the first step, I'll get it, Joe, right. Burglary
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: and Meryl. You got Jim Mo. Good finally I'll be
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: right out. Good break Joe and Bryson.
• 23:03
  Speaker 5: What's it?
• 23:04
  Speaker 6: They holed him in on a traffic war and speed him.
• 23:06
  Speaker 6: Looking him in at the main jail right now, Good
• 23:08
  Speaker 6: chance to go through his apartment. What about his wife?
• 23:09
  Speaker 6: She's still up there and she's only way to put
• 23:11
  Speaker 6: up bail for him. Yeah, apartment's empty.
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: By the time Bryson was bailed out, Ben and I,
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: along with Jim Tabor and Lee Jones, had combed through
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: Bryson's apartment and finally uncovered a set of burglary tools
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: and work clothes carefully hidden beneath the floorboards under a
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: kitchen cabinet directly below the sink. Lee Jones contaminated each
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: of the tools with the invisible anthracine powder, and also
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: the work clothes. We checked the apartment for any possible
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: loot taken in the burglaries, but we found nothing. We
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: put everything back exactly the way we found it, and
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: then we left and went back to the office. We
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: stood buy until four am, waiting for a call that
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: had indicate that Bryson might be out on another burglary job.
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: Nothing happened.
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: The next night up until ten o'clock, it was the
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: same routine. At a few minutes past ten, we got
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: a four to fifty nine call on a chain drug
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: store out on Alvarado Street.
• 23:59
  Speaker 5: Lee Jilles had.
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: His portable ultraviolet light all ready to go. Ben and
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: I picked him up at the crime lab and the
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: three of us drove to the scene.
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: Of the burgery.
• 24:07
  Speaker 6: Straight back here, Lie, can I help you with the lights?
• 24:09
  Speaker 7: I can handle it.
• 24:10
  Speaker 6: Things as the window they figure he got in safe
• 24:13
  Speaker 6: stand in the corner.
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: Yeah, there's not too much of it left. You all set?
• 24:16
  Speaker 7: Lee, you got the extension cart for the life from arrow.
• 24:19
  Speaker 6: Yeah, right here, I'm just plugging it in. Yeah okay,
• 24:22
  Speaker 6: all said, all right, switch it out with it right? Well, yeah,
• 24:29
  Speaker 6: seems like it where he got in the winter there, Joe.
• 24:31
  Speaker 7: Look at that Anth the scene tracks all over, putt
• 24:34
  Speaker 7: impressions there, tool marks on the safe, left prints on
• 24:38
  Speaker 7: the floor, on the wall, No question, he left plenty
• 24:41
  Speaker 7: of trail.
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: All right, let's get him.
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: Lee Jones put in a call to the crime lab
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: in ordered the photographer out to take pictures at the
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: scene of the burgery. Lee and the photographer had stay
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: at the scene to gather physical evidence and take pictures
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: of the answer scene, prints and markings for presentation in court.
• 24:59
  Speaker 5: Ten fIF Jones.
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: Packed up the ultra violet lamp and Ben and I
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: took it along with us. We drove directly to Bryson's apartment.
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: Nobody was there.
• 25:08
  Speaker 6: No nobody in the bedroom either. How about that?
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 25:11
  Speaker 5: I don't get it.
• 25:12
  Speaker 6: Bryson's had plenty of time to get back here, over
• 25:15
  Speaker 6: an hour. And what about his wife. The only time
• 25:17
  Speaker 6: we know she left was when she had to go
• 25:18
  Speaker 6: bail him out of that traffic. One doesn't look like
• 25:21
  Speaker 6: they pulled out, does it.
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: There's a closet full of clothes in there, a lot
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: of their personal things around.
• 25:25
  Speaker 6: Yeah, she looks like they were expecting to come back.
• 25:29
  Speaker 6: We might check with the apartment house manager. He could
• 25:31
  Speaker 6: tell us if they gave notice to move. If let's
• 25:35
  Speaker 6: see here.
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: What he got.
• 25:39
  Speaker 6: No, if you're on the desk, she says, Charlie, I'm sorry,
• 25:43
  Speaker 6: but I told you it just doesn't work out with us.
• 25:46
  Speaker 6: When you read this, I'll be on my way east.
• 25:48
  Speaker 6: I don't want to be mean with you. I just
• 25:50
  Speaker 6: think it'll work better if we forget each other. That's
• 25:53
  Speaker 6: thanks for everything, so long, signed Ruth. If she doesn't
• 25:58
  Speaker 6: like him much either, Wait a minute, what are you doing?
• 26:06
  Speaker 6: Police officers? Bryson like talk to you for a minute?
• 26:09
  Speaker 6: Oh I know, yeah, I remember. What do you want?
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: Man? Do you want to plug in that light?
• 26:13
  Speaker 6: Yeah?
• 26:14
  Speaker 5: Outlet over here?
• 26:15
  Speaker 6: What is all listen? You said you wanted to talk
• 26:17
  Speaker 6: to me. What's it all about? You all?
• 26:18
  Speaker 5: Set? Ben?
• 26:19
  Speaker 6: Just a minute? All right, okay, turn it on? What
• 26:22
  Speaker 6: are you doing? What are you trying to do to me?
• 26:25
  Speaker 6: You've done it all to yourself, mister. Let up like
• 26:27
  Speaker 6: a Christmas tree, Joe, it's all over him? Here, I
• 26:31
  Speaker 6: close your hands. What is there's? There's light going all
• 26:35
  Speaker 6: over them? What are you doing?
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: It's a chemical, Bryson. I'm the same stuff you left
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: all over the drug store.
• 26:39
  Speaker 6: And I pack up?
• 26:40
  Speaker 5: Ben.
• 26:41
  Speaker 6: Come on, let's go, Bryson. I don't understand what's this
• 26:44
  Speaker 6: whole thing all about?
• 26:45
  Speaker 9: You'll understand it. Here's a note for you. Oh I'm sure,
• 27:01
  Speaker 9: oh's said Jill.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: Let's go, mister. I just I didn't know, mister tramp.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: I guess I should have been smart about it.
• 27:07
  Speaker 6: Yeah, yes, sir, come on, how could I know? She said,
• 27:10
  Speaker 6: she was in love with me. I believe it. What
• 27:12
  Speaker 6: am I going to say when they asked me? All
• 27:14
  Speaker 6: our friends are all going to ask me, They'll say
• 27:16
  Speaker 6: what happened to rule? I'd say what happened this time?
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: Am I going to say? Happen this time? What are
• 27:21
  Speaker 6: you going to say to the jury?
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: This time?
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: The story you have just heard was true. The names
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: were changed to protect the innocent.
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: On December tenth, trial was held in Superior Court, Department
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: eighty sixth, City and County of Los Angeles, State of California.
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: In a moment the results of that trial, Charles Lang
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: Bryson was tried and convicted on three counts first degree burglary.
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: This is punishable by imprisonment in the state penitentiary for
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: not less than five years. However, due to his previous
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: convictions on this and other felon accounts, Bryson was judged
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: an habitual criminal. He was sentenced to spend the rest
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: of his natural life in the state penitentiary. You have
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: just heard Dragnet a series of authentic cases from official files.
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: Technical advice comes from the Office of Chief of Police W. H. Parker,
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: Los Angeles Police Department.
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: Fatima Cigarettes best of all, Kingsize Cigarettes has brought your
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: Dragnet transcribe from Los Angeles.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: Welcome back. If you're a longtime listener of the podcast.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: The story may sound somewhat familiar. There are quite a
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: few points of similarity. There's a burglar who is caught
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: but found not guilty despite physical evidence. You have Lee
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Jones coming up with a plan where light can be
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: used to reveal particles that the burglar collected. But on
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: the other hand, there are lots of things that are different.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: In this episode. The burglar had accomplices that were convicted.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: The burglar told a story sorry that got him off
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: the hook. The burglar in the Big Lamp was married.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: Burglar in this story had a common law wife who
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: left him. As the concluding note to the episode, so
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: what's the nail? Are we getting the same story told twice?
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Probably not. This is probably a case of the fact
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: that a lot of criminals are caught in very similar
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: manners in real life. And that's one of the big
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: challenges with Dragnet and part of what led to Web
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: getting burned out on the series. In the nineteen fifth
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: he actually wanted to call it quits after Dragnet had
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: released its one hundred TV episode. He felt, and I
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: think with some justification, that having done three hundred radio
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: episodes and having brought one hundred douds Dragnet TV episodes
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: to television, that he had covered every kind of case
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: that the police commonly handled. NBC took the principled philosophical
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: position that Dragnet should continue to run as long as
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: viewer continued to watch it, and Dragnet should only be
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: canceled at the point where it had become so tired
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: and worn out that people became tired of it, which
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: it took until nineteen fifty nine, and more than two
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: hundred and fifty odd episodes have been produced, plus the
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: three hundred over radio. And in some ways it may
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: make more difference to the creative person who is doing
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: it than it would the casual viewer or listener. In
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties, in this world without reruns, where everything
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: just went out once and that was considered to be
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: the end of it, Hardly anybody was a lot going
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: over and saying, hey, didn't they do a case like
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: that about two years ago. But if you're the person
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: who's the creative mind behind the series, the director, star,
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: and showrunner, like Jack Web, was that you somehow shifted
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: from creating one of the most innovative programs where you
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: were constantly experimenting and finding new ways to do things,
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: to doing shows that really feel like you've done them
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: a hundred times before. But audiences continued to enjoy Dragnet
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: for the most part until the final season, where creative
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: exhaustion just kind of became apparent in the series, at
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: which point it really did need to go away for
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: a few years until coming back in the sixties with
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: some fresh issues to a draft and some fresh things
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: to say. Well, now we turn to listener comments and feedback,
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: and we start with de Niece, who writes over on Patreon, Adam,
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: I joined in March and I appreciate your work so
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: much that I just increased my levels of support. Happy
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: holidays to you and your family. Well, thank you very much.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: And Carolyn and Caral sent a lovely card along with
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: their donation. This one was of a Bobcat Yellowstone National Park.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: I've got to get over to Yellowstone one of these days,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: but a beautiful card, and they write, thank you so
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: much for what you do with old time radio. It
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: brings back such memories. I remember my mother listening to
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: soap operas on the radio. We wish you and your
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: family the very best of the holiday season. Merry Christmas. Well,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: thank you so much. Appreciate that nice card. When do
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: we have some comments regarding the Big Shop left and
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: we start with Mechanics sixty six rights, you'd think was
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: such a successful show like this, they could afford other
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: actresses instead of having Virginia Gregg play every female role.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: Not saying she wasn't up to it, but it was
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: obvious it was her. Well, I appreciate the comment. I
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: don't think that the decision to have Virginia Gregg play
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: so many parts was a matter of budget anymore than
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: the decision to keep having her Butterfield and Stacy Harris
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: back all the time was a matter of budget. There's
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: a little bit of an artistic choice that's involved in
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: this when you decide to do something that's got a
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: bit of a rep company feel, and certainly over radio,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: Dragnet does have that feel. You don't have many modern
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: programs that do that quite a bit. The main one
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: that comes to mind, and at this point it's twenty
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: five years old, is a Nero Wolf mystery. They had
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: their main recurring cast for Neural Wolf, Archie Goodwin, Inspector Kramer,
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: Fritz Saal Panzer, and a few other characters, and then
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: they'd have about a dozen or so actors who would
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: rotate in and play different parts murderers, suspects, victims, supporting characters, etc.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: Who were there for just a story situation. I was
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: very common in the golden age of radio, particularly on
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: the West Coast, where performers like Virginia Greg Peggy Weber,
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: Stacy Harris, Wally Mayer, her Viagrant, Kathy Lewis, and performers
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: like them filled the airwaves, often playing thousands of different parts.
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: I don't think you hear quite that same level from
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: New York, although there's certainly a lot of parts for
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: Ralph Bell and Larry Haynes and Jan Minor. But they
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: were the backbone of the radio industry and they got
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: used a lot because they were consistently good at what
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: they did. And it's and probably part of what made
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: the radio industry work like that was that it was,
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: particularly at the beginning, live and if you were going
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: to have good live drama, you needed solid performers who
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: could be trusted to get it right every time, so
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: it's not a budget issue. And I would say in
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: addition to that, Webb also just had people he liked
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: to work with and who he could trust and rely upon,
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: and those were the top of people that he chose
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: to have involved in his production time after time. Harrison wrote,
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: I would have loved to have seen this as a
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: TV episode where Greg just showed up in every scene
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: as every female character, kind of like a detective version
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: of a rich little special. Harrison also right stragnat starring
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: Virginia Greg and featuring Jack Webb as Joe Friday. She
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: had to have had even more lunch to read than
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: even barton Your Ball. I was thrown off by the
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: in line too, but I suppose if you wanted to
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: be generous, Friday could have meant that her husband would
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: be by her side once he discovered the pain she
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: was going through and give her the attention she needed.
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: And I would certainly say that the line was not
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: meant to come off the way that it did, which
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: was why it was changed when it came to television.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: Over on YouTube, James writes, I like how this one
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: kept the mystery alive until nearly the end. I couldn't
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: help but wonder if the original suspect was using the
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: disguise to unburden herself of the stolen merchandise after being
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: questioned by Friday and Romero. As always, thank you for
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: providing these and for your knowledgeable commentary. Thanks so much, James.
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: And then Frankie just writes, good story. Well, thanks so much.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: Appreciate you taking the time to comment over there on YouTube.
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: Well now it's time to thank our Patreon supporter of
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: the day, and I want to thank James, Patreon supporter
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: since April twenty sixteen, currently supporting the podcast at the
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: Shawmas level of four dollars more per month. Thanks so
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: much for your support, James, and that will do it
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: using your favorite podcast software and be sure to rate
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: and review the podcast wherever you download it from. We'll
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: be back next Thursday with another episode of Dragnet. But
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: join us back here tomorrow for yours truly Johnny Dollar, where.
• 39:20
  Speaker 10: You know it's going to take a lot of money
• 39:21
  Speaker 10: to defend him, and with him and the Clink, she's
• 39:24
  Speaker 10: the logic going to raise.
• 39:25
  Speaker 7: It with the diamonds, the real.
• 39:27
  Speaker 6: Diamond Huh, that's my guess. Very well, then I'll go
• 39:30
  Speaker 6: over to the police headquarters right away, charge it with fraud,
• 39:33
  Speaker 6: you know, because of the diamonds themselves, and.
• 39:35
  Speaker 11: See that she is held until she tells us where
• 39:37
  Speaker 11: we can recover them. And you better get evidence of
• 39:39
  Speaker 11: fraud first, the fact that she's substituted paced for the
• 39:43
  Speaker 11: real diamonds and that duelry. Well, a lot of people
• 39:45
  Speaker 11: do that, never wear the real stuff in public unless
• 39:48
  Speaker 11: they have a lot of guards around.
• 39:49
  Speaker 6: Well, even so, no, Henley, you've got.
• 39:51
  Speaker 10: To prove that she's actually got rid of the real
• 39:53
  Speaker 10: ones or tries to. You see, I don't think she's
• 39:56
  Speaker 10: had a chance to yet.
• 39:57
  Speaker 6: Why not?
• 39:57
  Speaker 10: No, No, listen, I'm running up a nice fat item
• 39:59
  Speaker 10: for on my expense account.
• 40:01
  Speaker 7: What kind of an item?
• 40:02
  Speaker 10: Well, so far it only amounts to one hundred and
• 40:03
  Speaker 10: one hundred and fifty dollars what for fee to a
• 40:06
  Speaker 10: private detective agency somebody at the Taylor twenty four hours
• 40:09
  Speaker 10: a day.
• 40:10
  Speaker 6: In the hope of finding out what she's doing with
• 40:12
  Speaker 6: the genuine stones.
• 40:13
  Speaker 10: More important, to find out how she'll try to dispose
• 40:16
  Speaker 10: of them.
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then. In the meantime,
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: send your comments to Box thirteen at Greatdetectives dot net,
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com slash Great Detectives from
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: Boise Atahol, This is your host, Adam graham Son and
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: all