Latest / The Great Detectives Present Dragnet (Old Time Radio) / Dragnet: The Big Sophomore (EP4814)

Transcript

Dragnet: The Big Sophomore (EP4814) · The Great Detectives Present Dragnet (Old Time Radio)

• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Voice to Home. This is your host, Adam Graham. In
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: a moment, we're going to bring you this week's episode
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: of DRAGONA. But first, I do want to encourage you,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: if you are enjoying the podcast, to please follow us
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  Speaker 1: using your favorite podcast software. Today's program is brought you
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  Speaker 1: in part by the financial support of our listeners. You
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  Speaker 1: can support the show on a one time basis by
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  Speaker 1: me lean a donation to Adam Graham pill box one
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  Speaker 1: five nine one three. That's pio box one five nine
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  Speaker 1: thirteen boise Aldohol eight three seven one five, and you
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  Speaker 1: can also become one of our ongoing Patreon supporters for
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  Speaker 1: his Little Lass two dollars per month by going to
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Patreon dot Great Detectives dot net. Now from July nineteenth,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: nineteen fifty one, here is the Big Sophomore.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: The story you were about to hear is true, only
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: the names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: a detective sergeant. You're assigned to Juvenile Bureau. Dozens of
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: petty theft cases are reported in one of the resident
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: areas in your city. The victims neighborhood businessmen, the suspects,
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  Speaker 2: teenage high school students. Your job stop them.
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  Speaker 3: Drag Net the documented drama of an actual crime. For
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: the next thirty minutes, in cooperation of the Los Angeles
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: Police Department, you will travel step by step on the
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: side of the law through an actual case transcribed from
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: official police files, from beginning to end, from crime to punishment.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: Dragnet is the story of your police force.
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: In action.
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  Speaker 5: Was Tuesday, February fourth, was cloudy in Los Angeles. We
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: were working a night watch out of Juvenile Bureau, assigned
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: a university division. My partner's Ben Romero. The boss's inspector Bowling.
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: My name is Friday. We're on the way out from
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: the office and it was seven thirteen pm when we
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: got to the corner of South Waverley and Chester Avenue,
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: the grocery store.
• 3:04
  Speaker 6: I guess that's him back there to meet Connor. Yeah,
• 3:08
  Speaker 6: looks like he's getting ready to close up.
• 3:10
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: I guess we just about meet it in time.
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  Speaker 6: Excuse me, sir, Yes, sir, help your gentlemen.
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  Speaker 4: We're looking for Henry Loomis.
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  Speaker 5: Yes, sir, that's my name, Police officers, mister Loomis. My
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: name is Friday. I believe I talk to you on
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: the phone. Oh yeah, I guess my partner, Sergeant Ramero one.
• 3:24
  Speaker 6: If you'd mind waiting a half a minute offices, just
• 3:26
  Speaker 6: getting a little bookwork straightened out here, today's receipt. I'll
• 3:29
  Speaker 6: go right in.
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  Speaker 2: I'll take a better minute.
• 3:31
  Speaker 6: Let's see. Yeah, eighty seven forty five.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Thirty.
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  Speaker 6: So that's all.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: I hate that.
• 3:45
  Speaker 6: Allows a bookwork going to get a girl to come
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  Speaker 6: in and do it one of these days. Let's go
• 3:49
  Speaker 6: up front here and talk. All right, fine, pull up
• 3:52
  Speaker 6: a couple of stools there, well as we'll be comfortable. Yes,
• 3:55
  Speaker 6: thank you. You talk to any of the other merchants
• 3:57
  Speaker 6: in the neighborhood yet, no, sir, nus yet. We'd like
• 3:59
  Speaker 6: to find out what you have to tell us.
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: First.
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  Speaker 6: Well, it's one of those high school kids. I can
• 4:02
  Speaker 6: tell you that, I'm sure of it. I don't want
• 4:04
  Speaker 6: to sound like an old grouge, but this stealing's gotta stop.
• 4:07
  Speaker 6: You get quite a bit of business from the high
• 4:08
  Speaker 6: school trade. Being at the noon hour and then just
• 4:10
  Speaker 6: after school lets out. Usually have quite a bunch of
• 4:13
  Speaker 6: them in here around those times. Do you spasically cater
• 4:16
  Speaker 6: to the high school crowd? I mean, do you deserve
• 4:17
  Speaker 6: lunch here or anything like that. No, I don't. I
• 4:20
  Speaker 6: usually get the kids to take their lunch. They come
• 4:22
  Speaker 6: in and buy soda, water or milk to drink with
• 4:24
  Speaker 6: their sandwiches. They seem like such a nice class of kids.
• 4:28
  Speaker 6: I didn't think they were thieves.
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: Well, how long has this stealing been going on?
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  Speaker 6: I might say about ten days, two weeks. It's not
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  Speaker 6: very hot from the get away with it. Fifteen or
• 4:36
  Speaker 6: twenty kids crowd in here during noon hour. I'm usually
• 4:39
  Speaker 6: busy up at the counter. It's no great trick for
• 4:41
  Speaker 6: honey one of them to make off for a couple
• 4:43
  Speaker 6: of dollars with the merchandise. We'll say this happens just
• 4:46
  Speaker 6: about every day, every day the kids are in here. Yeah.
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  Speaker 6: I tried playing detective myself for a while, trying to
• 4:51
  Speaker 6: catch the gilly ones.
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  Speaker 8: Didn't do much good.
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  Speaker 6: As long as this stealing's been going on, Miss Lumis,
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  Speaker 6: is every monthy more than just a few dollars worth
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  Speaker 6: of food every day?
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  Speaker 2: No, that's a funny part.
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  Speaker 6: Besides, And when I checked back on my inventories, it's
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  Speaker 6: always just about the same amount. A few cans of meat, vegetables, butter,
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  Speaker 6: few loads of bread. It's not so much the value
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  Speaker 6: of this stuff. I just don't like the idea of
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  Speaker 6: some kid making a fool out of it day after day.
• 5:13
  Speaker 6: Has your case register ever been tampered with, you know,
• 5:16
  Speaker 6: I mean any money stolen?
• 5:17
  Speaker 7: No.
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  Speaker 6: So that's another thing. I can't understand that a kid's
• 5:20
  Speaker 6: gonna turn thief. You'd think you'd go after the cash.
• 5:23
  Speaker 6: Whoever's doing it. They've never tried anything like that here.
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: Well, how about some of the other merchants in the neighborhood.
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: So you mentioned on the phone there were a couple
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: of others having the same trouble that you are.
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  Speaker 6: Yes, So there's George Brophy, he's the newspaper distributor. And
• 5:35
  Speaker 6: there's Collins. He's got the grossy place up the street.
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  Speaker 6: You can talk to them. I gave you their addresses
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  Speaker 6: on the phone. Yes, Just one more thing, missus, lemmit's
• 5:43
  Speaker 6: about this crowd of high school boys and hang around here.
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  Speaker 6: Any of them in particular, you might suspect as a
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  Speaker 6: matter of fact, there is I certainly can't prove anything,
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  Speaker 6: but I just have a feeling about it.
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  Speaker 2: I don't like the boy.
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  Speaker 6: Just one boy said yes, so there may be more
• 5:56
  Speaker 6: than one that's guilty. But this young fellow I'm.
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: Pretty sure of.
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  Speaker 6: I hear the kids call him Harry, redhead boy, curly,
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  Speaker 6: red hair, tall, a few freckles. Won't be hard to
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  Speaker 6: get his last name if we need it. Uh huh?
• 6:08
  Speaker 6: Is there anything else you can think of it? We
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: ought to know you go up the street and talk
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  Speaker 6: to the other two men's Sides and George Broughy and Collins.
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  Speaker 6: They might have something more for you. I think I've
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: told you about everything.
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: All right, mister Lewis. I've got your home phone here.
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: If we want to contact you later tonight, I'll call you.
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: There is a.
• 6:25
  Speaker 6: Perfectly all right. Here's our card, so you can call
• 6:27
  Speaker 6: us at that number there anytime.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: I thank you.
• 6:30
  Speaker 6: What do you think is behind the whole thing, Sides
• 6:32
  Speaker 6: and this cheap stealing Nicholin dime stuff.
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: I don't know, sir. We'll try and find out for you.
• 6:37
  Speaker 6: Just doesn't make sense stealing like that day after day.
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  Speaker 6: I think even the kids know that you can't go
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  Speaker 6: on stealing forever. Yes, sir, A lot of them give
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  Speaker 6: it a try. From the very start.
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  Speaker 5: The whole pattern of the case and the thief's method
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  Speaker 5: of operation made little or no sense at all. The
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  Speaker 5: thefts had been going on for more than two weeks,
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  Speaker 5: and they'd all taken place in a twelve square block.
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  Speaker 5: In each of the two dozen cases reported to us,
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  Speaker 5: not one of the thefts had been for more than
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  Speaker 5: five dollars, either in cash or merchandise. The thief's scene
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  Speaker 5: of operation included two grocery stores, a drug store, coinboxes
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  Speaker 5: attached to the newsstands in the neighborhood, and a five
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  Speaker 5: and ten cent variety store. With one exception, all of
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  Speaker 5: the cases involved theft of merchandise only. The breaking open
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  Speaker 5: of coin boxes attached to newsstands was the single instance
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  Speaker 5: in which money was taken. The total sum was less
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  Speaker 5: than three dollars and fifty cents. Seven forty PM. Ben
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  Speaker 5: and I left the grocery store and went up the
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  Speaker 5: street to the home of George Brophy. He was the
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  Speaker 5: neighborhood newspaper distributor who operated the coinbox newsstands which had
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  Speaker 5: been broken into.
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  Speaker 6: Well, I think you can just about count on it, Surge,
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  Speaker 6: and it's one of the kids in the neighborhood doing
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  Speaker 6: all this. Either that or a couple of them are
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  Speaker 6: working together. What makes you so sure about it, mister Brofy, Well,
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  Speaker 6: for one thing, we got more in our share kids
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  Speaker 6: out this way. A lot of them are from poor families,
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  Speaker 6: under privileged, you might say. I guess they figure it's
• 8:00
  Speaker 6: one way of picking up extra spending, right. I got
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  Speaker 6: nothing against kids myself. If you, Nicholas, they get out
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  Speaker 6: of those boxes, I would prosecute them for that.
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  Speaker 5: Well, sir, that's not exactly it. The point is they're stealing.
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  Speaker 5: They get away with this small time stuff. They might
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  Speaker 5: figure they're right for something bigger, probably be the best
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  Speaker 5: thing in the world for him. If we can stop
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  Speaker 5: them now and set them on the right dragon sing yeah.
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  Speaker 6: Put in with you there, surgeon. I don't know how
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  Speaker 6: much it can help you, though. Do you have any
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  Speaker 6: idea at all who it might be is breaking into
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  Speaker 6: the coin box? Well, like I say, I have nothing
• 8:27
  Speaker 6: against any kid myself, but there is one I'm around
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  Speaker 6: the neighborhood. I've been a little suspicious about a red
• 8:31
  Speaker 6: headed kid. Once you look like you know, red hair,
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  Speaker 6: freckle face, kind of tall and gangly, typical high school kid.
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  Speaker 6: Oh loomis down to the grocery store. He's been literally
• 8:40
  Speaker 6: about the same kid too. Well, why do you single
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  Speaker 6: out this red haired boy, mister Broky? Well, oh, excuse me,
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  Speaker 6: a better grad? Yes, hello, oh yeah, Maggie, im for
• 8:53
  Speaker 6: of them? One are they born? Is that right?
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  Speaker 2: All right?
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  Speaker 6: Bar in this morning? For four of them?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 9:04
  Speaker 6: Yeah, just a minute alcohol?
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  Speaker 2: Uh great, yeah, honey, it's real, Maggie Harris. Okay, thanks,
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: excuse me.
• 9:12
  Speaker 6: Friend of my wife's so cat just had four kittens.
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  Speaker 6: Oh I see where were we?
• 9:16
  Speaker 9: Oh?
• 9:16
  Speaker 6: Oh yeah, but the kid?
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: Yes, sir, what do you suspect?
• 9:19
  Speaker 6: Well, there's a couple of reasons, Sergeant. Late one night
• 9:22
  Speaker 6: and I was making my collections, I spotted the boy
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  Speaker 6: hanging around one of the newsstands. Didn't look like I
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  Speaker 6: had any business there at that time of night. He
• 9:28
  Speaker 6: looked up and saw me coming. He turned and duck
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  Speaker 6: down a side street.
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  Speaker 4: But do you have any idea where this boy lives,
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  Speaker 4: mister Brothy?
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  Speaker 6: No, I can't say I do. He goes at high
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  Speaker 6: school a few blocks up on South Waverley. I know
• 9:37
  Speaker 6: that it's the same boy that the groceryman had his
• 9:39
  Speaker 6: eye on. And you said there was a couple of
• 9:41
  Speaker 6: reasons why he was suspicious of this boy, mister Brothy, yeah,
• 9:44
  Speaker 6: well this other thing doesn't mean too much. There wasn't
• 9:46
  Speaker 6: anything really wrong with it. It just seemed a little queer.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: So oh is that well?
• 9:50
  Speaker 6: I dropped in at the Safety liquor store down the
• 9:52
  Speaker 6: street last week. I wanted to pick up a little something.
• 9:54
  Speaker 6: I saw the same kid in there. He was asking Benny,
• 9:57
  Speaker 6: the guy who runs the place, if he'd sell him
• 9:59
  Speaker 6: a fifth of bourbon. I heard the kid saying it
• 10:01
  Speaker 6: was supposed to be for his father. His father was
• 10:03
  Speaker 6: sick and couldn't come in. Of course, Benny turned him down.
• 10:05
  Speaker 6: He wouldn't sell it.
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  Speaker 2: To the kid.
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  Speaker 4: And that was the extent of it.
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  Speaker 6: Now, yeah, that's all. Wasn't anything wrong with it. Kid
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  Speaker 6: didn't insist. I thought it was just a little lot
• 10:13
  Speaker 6: of lines sending a kid out the liquor. Well, it's
• 10:16
  Speaker 6: about size of it. How about some of the other
• 10:18
  Speaker 6: merchants in the neighborhood who have been bothered with these
• 10:19
  Speaker 6: petty thefts. You know if any of them is suspicious
• 10:22
  Speaker 6: of this boy. No, I wouldn't know that. Henry Loom
• 10:26
  Speaker 6: missed out the stories, but you don't want to know. Well,
• 10:28
  Speaker 6: thanks very much, mister Brophy. If anything else comes up,
• 10:30
  Speaker 6: you can get us at the number on his card
• 10:31
  Speaker 6: and here. Oh okay, so fine, if I can help
• 10:35
  Speaker 6: it all the clear, they sing up. I'd be glad
• 10:37
  Speaker 6: to do it.
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: Well, we'll probably be checking back with you. And thanks again, sir.
• 10:41
  Speaker 6: Sure it's funny, the whole thing. I get a big
• 10:43
  Speaker 6: laugh out of sir. Oh. I mean the friend of
• 10:47
  Speaker 6: my wife's called up Maggie Harris cat had four kittens.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Like I told you.
• 10:51
  Speaker 6: He got a big laugh out of that. I kept
• 10:53
  Speaker 6: telling her. She wouldn't believe me, was that, sir? She
• 10:55
  Speaker 6: thought the cat was a mail.
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: The next morning, Ben and I continued checking with various
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: merchants and residents in the neighborhood where the series of
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: petty thefts were taking place. We located and questioned one
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: more shopkeeper who was suspicious of the tall, red haired
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: boy known as Harry. That afternoon, we went to the
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: high school on South Waverley Avenue to check on him.
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: From his first name in his description, he was identified
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: by the boy's vice principal as Harry Thomas Dunbar. He
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: was eighteen years old and a sophomore with an average
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: scholastic record. We were told that Dunbar had left the
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: grounds about half an hour before with the high school's
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: basketball team. The group was headed for one of the
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: local sports pavilions, where the team had one of its
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: more important games scheduled for that afternoon. Harry Dunbar was
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: in charge of selling the printed programs for the game.
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: Ben and I drove out to the sports pavilion and
• 11:49
  Speaker 5: checked with one of the boys collecting tickets at the door.
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: He told us we'd find Harry Dunbar inside at the
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: program stand.
• 11:58
  Speaker 6: These high school kids, shure, take your basketball seriously, don't Yeah,
• 12:02
  Speaker 6: a big turnout.
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: Sounds like we're gonna be lucky if we can find
• 12:04
  Speaker 5: that boy in this crowd. Yeah, you see him anywhere. No,
• 12:10
  Speaker 5: which side is the program standing supposed to be on? Well,
• 12:13
  Speaker 5: there's a lot of them along and through here, on
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: both sides. I guess we better start checking them out.
• 12:17
  Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's stand back down and left.
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: You see, right headed?
• 12:27
  Speaker 6: Kid?
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah, let's check you.
• 12:30
  Speaker 7: A programs dime, complete programs for the game. Ten excuse me, son,
• 12:35
  Speaker 7: program mister?
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: Your name Harry Dunbar. Yeah, that's right. With police officers, Harry,
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: we'd like to talk to you for a few minutes.
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: If it's all right.
• 12:42
  Speaker 7: Oh well, I can't talk to you now. I'm pretty
• 12:44
  Speaker 7: busy sell these programs here.
• 12:45
  Speaker 6: I suppose we wait a few minutes, son, So you
• 12:48
  Speaker 6: only have a few left there to say.
• 12:50
  Speaker 7: No, I wouldn't do any good waiting and I selly's
• 12:52
  Speaker 7: I got something else to do.
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: It's I'm not gonna take a few minutes of your time, Harry.
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: We won't keep you along.
• 12:57
  Speaker 8: What is it alsin?
• 12:58
  Speaker 7: What do you want to talk to me about?
• 13:00
  Speaker 5: A few questions for your son, that's all. Can you
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: step out in the lobby with us for just a minute.
• 13:04
  Speaker 8: What's it all about?
• 13:05
  Speaker 6: I'd like to know? Well, just soon, not talk about
• 13:07
  Speaker 6: it out here.
• 13:08
  Speaker 7: Oh all right, we can go up this ramp here.
• 13:11
  Speaker 7: All right, there's a hallway back here runs underneath the stands.
• 13:17
  Speaker 8: Won't be so noisy.
• 13:18
  Speaker 6: Fine, we won't keep you along. Just a few routine questions,
• 13:24
  Speaker 6: this sort of do Okay?
• 13:26
  Speaker 8: What is it you want to know about?
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: Do you know how mister Loomis Harry runs a grocery
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: store near the high school.
• 13:32
  Speaker 7: Yeah, old man Loomis. I can go down to the
• 13:34
  Speaker 7: store and eat lunch sometimes.
• 13:35
  Speaker 6: Why how about a mister Collins, he runs another store
• 13:37
  Speaker 6: near the high school.
• 13:38
  Speaker 8: Yeah, I know the place.
• 13:39
  Speaker 7: Sometimes I go there too, A bunch of the kids
• 13:42
  Speaker 7: hanging around there during lunchtime.
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: We've had quite a few complaints from Collins and Loomis,
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: some of the other stores in the neighborhood too. We're
• 13:48
  Speaker 5: checking on some of I'm proud. Maybe you could help
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: us out, Harry.
• 13:51
  Speaker 7: No, I couldn't help you any mister Collins, now old
• 13:54
  Speaker 7: man Loomis. They don't like us and want to get
• 13:56
  Speaker 7: us in trouble. I think they're lying, lying about what
• 14:00
  Speaker 7: about us kids stealing things out of their stores. I
• 14:03
  Speaker 7: bet they even told you I'm stealing things.
• 14:05
  Speaker 6: From him, are you, Harry?
• 14:06
  Speaker 8: Of course not. They can't say any of us stole things.
• 14:10
  Speaker 8: They don't know. They can't prove.
• 14:11
  Speaker 6: Anything, do you know with the man that distributes newspapers
• 14:14
  Speaker 6: and your neighborhood's done and mister Brothy, who mister Brothy,
• 14:17
  Speaker 6: some of the coin boxes on his newstands have been
• 14:20
  Speaker 6: broken into. He thought maybe you could tell her something
• 14:22
  Speaker 6: about that.
• 14:23
  Speaker 7: Why me, I don't know any mister Brokey, Well he
• 14:25
  Speaker 7: knows you, Harry.
• 14:26
  Speaker 5: You saw your hanging around one of the news stands
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: one night. And there's something else you saw you're trying
• 14:31
  Speaker 5: to buy a bottle of liquor in the neighborhood.
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: Is that right?
• 14:33
  Speaker 6: We've had three or four reports on your son. What
• 14:36
  Speaker 6: do you say you want to tell us about it?
• 14:37
  Speaker 8: They're crazy. I haven't done anything.
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: Well, you've got nothing to worry about, son.
• 14:41
  Speaker 7: I will tell you any man they're grabbing, I got him,
• 14:43
  Speaker 7: all right, hold it.
• 14:44
  Speaker 6: Up, son, have gold.
• 14:46
  Speaker 8: Let me go, take it easy, MFL. I haven't done anything.
• 14:49
  Speaker 7: I haven't now let me go.
• 14:50
  Speaker 8: Please, I haven't done anything.
• 14:51
  Speaker 6: Why do you try to run away?
• 14:53
  Speaker 8: I have to get home.
• 14:53
  Speaker 7: I gotta get home right away.
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: All right, son, We'll take you there.
• 14:56
  Speaker 7: No, you can't go with me. I have to go along.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: Grad.
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: We're gonna have to hold on to you, Harry. Either
• 15:00
  Speaker 5: we take you home or we take you downtown.
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: Which is it.
• 15:03
  Speaker 7: I tried to tell them I couldn't do everything.
• 15:06
  Speaker 8: I tried, but it didn't work out. I can't do everything.
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: What do you mean, sir?
• 15:10
  Speaker 8: Take me home? Let don't tell you.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: You are in the forgery division of a metropolitan police
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: department handwriting analysis.
• 15:33
  Speaker 6: All right, now write the alphabet and lower case please.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: You are listening to a police officer taking a sample
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: of a suspect's handwriting. This handwriting sample will be compared
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: with the forged signature side by side. Two signatures may
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: often look alike, but closer examination will prove a world
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: of difference.
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: Wednesday, February fifth, four fifteen pm.
• 16:06
  Speaker 5: We left the sports pavilion, got in the car and
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: started to drive our teenage suspect, Harry Dunbar to his home.
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: On the way, we questioned him about the series of
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: petty thefts which had been going on in his neighborhood.
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: We asked him about stealing merchandise from the grocery store
• 16:20
  Speaker 5: run by mister Loomis. He admitted he was responsible. He
• 16:24
  Speaker 5: said he'd been stealing things from the store for more
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: than a month. We asked the boy about the petty
• 16:29
  Speaker 5: thefts from the grocery store operated by mister Collins.
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: Again he told us he was responsible. He also admitted
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: stealing from the neighborhood.
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: Drug store and the variety store, in addition to breaking
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: into the coin boxes on the self service newstands.
• 16:43
  Speaker 6: In each instance, he described his method of operation.
• 16:46
  Speaker 5: He estimated that over a period of some four and
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: a half weeks, he'd stolen approximately fifty.
• 16:50
  Speaker 6: Dollars in merchandise and about five dollars in cash.
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: We asked him why, he refused to answer, and.
• 16:59
  Speaker 6: Must have better reason for doing all this, Harry, why
• 17:01
  Speaker 6: don't you tell us? We're gonna find out sooner or later.
• 17:04
  Speaker 7: Sorry, ul sir, it's the next turn to your left.
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: Okay, some matter, Son, You afraid of what your folks
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: are gonna say.
• 17:13
  Speaker 8: No, that's not it.
• 17:15
  Speaker 7: I never stole anything in my life till this time.
• 17:18
  Speaker 7: When I started in, I didn't think of it as stealing.
• 17:20
  Speaker 7: Something I had to do, that's all.
• 17:21
  Speaker 8: I couldn't help it.
• 17:22
  Speaker 6: That doesn't make much sense, Harry, What do you mean
• 17:24
  Speaker 6: you couldn't help it? It's the truth.
• 17:26
  Speaker 8: You gotta believe me.
• 17:26
  Speaker 7: There wasn't anything else I could do.
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: What was it then, somebody forcing you to steal?
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: No?
• 17:32
  Speaker 7: Can't you just believe me something I had to do, Sergeant?
• 17:37
  Speaker 7: Can't you let me off? Y'all walk home the rest
• 17:38
  Speaker 7: of the way. I promise you'll come and see you tomorrow.
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: You know we couldn't do that, son.
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: You've already admitted stealing from a half a dozen stores
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: in the neighborhood, breaking into those coin boxes.
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: It's gonna have to be straightened out one way or
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: the other.
• 17:47
  Speaker 7: But I can pay them back for what I took.
• 17:49
  Speaker 7: I got a job up here, back every one of them.
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: I believe your son, But there's still a lot of
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: explaining that's gonna have to be done.
• 17:55
  Speaker 6: This is the fifteen hundred blog, Harry. I want to
• 17:57
  Speaker 6: point out your house for us.
• 18:00
  Speaker 7: Huh, can't we fix it up some other way? We
• 18:02
  Speaker 7: don't have to go to my house?
• 18:03
  Speaker 6: Do it something? You face it the better?
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: How Aby?
• 18:07
  Speaker 8: Keep on going s way down the end of the
• 18:09
  Speaker 8: block there?
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: Well, now, which is it? Sun? There's no houses beyond this,
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: just that shack down there.
• 18:18
  Speaker 6: That's my house.
• 18:22
  Speaker 10: Okay, eh, maybe I better go in first see if
• 18:33
  Speaker 10: everything's all right.
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: It'll be all right. We'll come with you.
• 18:39
  Speaker 5: Ben and I followed the boy up the stairs and
• 18:41
  Speaker 5: into the house. From the outside, it looked run down
• 18:44
  Speaker 5: and badly in need of painting. On the inside, it
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: still looked in fair condition except for the housekeeping. The
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: floor of the living room was littered with soil, clothing,
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: cigarette ashes, dirt, and dust.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: The few pieces of furniture didn't look much better.
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: A card table set in one corner was crowded with
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: dirty dishes and scraps of half eaten food.
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: Across the room was.
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: A baby in a crib couldn't have been more than
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: a few months old. Apparently the bedclothes in the crib
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: hadn't been changed for days. Next to the crib, huddled
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: in an army cot underneath a few thin blankets, was
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: a dark haired little girl, maybe two two and a
• 19:23
  Speaker 5: half years old.
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: Her face was thin and pale. She was asleep.
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: Through an open door we could see into the next room,
• 19:29
  Speaker 5: where a woman was lying on a couch. There was
• 19:32
  Speaker 5: an empty glass and a newly opened bottle of whiskey
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: on the nightstand.
• 19:35
  Speaker 7: She'ld let me come in first off, we'll have chance
• 19:38
  Speaker 7: to clean up a little kids mess up the house.
• 19:41
  Speaker 6: Jerry, got you, Harry.
• 19:43
  Speaker 7: That's my mother, rest a little. I guess this is
• 19:48
  Speaker 7: a baby in the crib named Jerry. Well, that's my
• 19:52
  Speaker 7: little sister, and a cot to her name's Annie.
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: Get your mother out here with your son. Want to
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: talk to her.
• 19:58
  Speaker 7: Don't get mad at her, huh, will you? Mars had
• 20:00
  Speaker 7: a tough time lay She tries to do her best.
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: Does no matter what. The kids here sona they been sick.
• 20:06
  Speaker 7: Baby had a cold but I got that mediciner from
• 20:08
  Speaker 7: the drug store. He seems to be okay. I'm not
• 20:11
  Speaker 7: so sure about Annie, though she had a bad colt
• 20:13
  Speaker 7: doesn't seem to be getting over it.
• 20:15
  Speaker 6: We won't take a look. Then get your mother up, son, Yeah,
• 20:21
  Speaker 6: all right, my.
• 20:29
  Speaker 8: Get up?
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: Wi you?
• 20:30
  Speaker 6: What is it? Who'd you bring home with you? A couple?
• 20:33
  Speaker 6: What do you bring him in? Before close the door? There?
• 20:35
  Speaker 6: I have to fix up a little My mother will
• 20:40
  Speaker 6: be right out of us, all right, son, Joe, Yeah,
• 20:44
  Speaker 6: we better get to a phone right away.
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: It looks pretty bad.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: What is it?
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: Baby needs a doctor? A little girl here. I hope
• 20:50
  Speaker 6: she does too, but I'm not sure she's alive.
• 20:57
  Speaker 5: An ambulance was called immediately, and Harry Dunbar's to year
• 21:00
  Speaker 5: old sister Annie and his baby brother were both rushed
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: to the General Hospital. The mother, identified as Missus Florence Dunbar,
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: was taken downtown and booked at the main jail on
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: a drunk charge.
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: Six forty five p m. We took the boy, Harry Dunbar,
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: over to Ben's house.
• 21:14
  Speaker 5: We'd put in a call to the General Hospital to
• 21:16
  Speaker 5: check on his little sister Annie and his infant brother.
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: They told us.
• 21:20
  Speaker 5: Both the children were suffering from malnutrition. The little girl,
• 21:23
  Speaker 5: Annie had double pneumonia. Miraculously, the baby seemed to have
• 21:26
  Speaker 5: been spared. He was sick, but his condition wasn't considered serious.
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: After Ben's wife fed him dinner, eighteen year old Harry
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: Dunbar sat out and told us the story. Three months before,
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: his father had deserted the family. His mother had made
• 21:39
  Speaker 5: a pretense at supporting Harry and the two babies and
• 21:42
  Speaker 5: then gave it up in favor of drinking. The whole
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: burden of keeping the family alive was pile on the
• 21:47
  Speaker 5: youngster's shoulders. Besides school, he had three odd jobs that
• 21:51
  Speaker 5: he worked at to earn enough money to pay the rent,
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: the gas and light bill, food and general necessities. It
• 21:56
  Speaker 5: wasn't enough, so he had to take the stealing. His
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: mother wouldn't work, but at the same time she wouldn't
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: let the boy apply for charity. He slept at Ben's
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: house that night, and the next morning at juvenile bureau,
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: he gave us.
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: The rest of the story.
• 22:09
  Speaker 8: I guess it's got too much for me. I don't know.
• 22:11
  Speaker 7: I could sneak to food and medicine from the stores,
• 22:14
  Speaker 7: all right, but couldn't seem to get enough money together
• 22:17
  Speaker 7: the rent bill and all that kids need clothes too.
• 22:20
  Speaker 6: Oh, why wouldn't your mother let you apply for help
• 22:22
  Speaker 6: son some of the local charity.
• 22:24
  Speaker 8: Well, I'd never go for that office.
• 22:26
  Speaker 7: She get mad when I talked about it, said she
• 22:27
  Speaker 7: had too much pride to take charity.
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: Did your mother know that you were stealing the food
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: and medicine that you used to bring home?
• 22:34
  Speaker 7: I don't know, I guess so I wouldn't be so
• 22:37
  Speaker 7: mad at her. But every time I got some money
• 22:38
  Speaker 7: together to pay bills, she want me to buy whiskey
• 22:40
  Speaker 7: for She begged so much I couldn't say no.
• 22:43
  Speaker 5: We're having your mother brought over from the main jail, Harry.
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: We'd like to find out if we can't locate your father.
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: We want to check outside Ben, see if they brought him.
• 22:51
  Speaker 5: It's done borrow ver yet? Yeah, okay, thank you.
• 22:57
  Speaker 8: How about the kids off, sir.
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: Annie and the baby? How they doing?
• 22:59
  Speaker 7: Oh?
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: I checked the hospital, Harry. The doctor's gonna call as
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: soon as he can.
• 23:03
  Speaker 7: I should have known better, poor little kids. I could
• 23:06
  Speaker 7: take care of myself, but they had to depend on her.
• 23:09
  Speaker 7: She'd only stopped drinking.
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: Go right, in Miss Dunbar.
• 23:14
  Speaker 6: Harry.
• 23:15
  Speaker 11: You all right, son, what they've been doing to you?
• 23:17
  Speaker 8: I'm all right. Don't hang on me like that.
• 23:20
  Speaker 11: I was worried about you, Harry, You and the kids.
• 23:22
  Speaker 11: I'm sorry they got sick.
• 23:24
  Speaker 6: I didn't know.
• 23:24
  Speaker 11: It's just bad luck, Harry.
• 23:27
  Speaker 6: We got to stick together, you and Me's a cherry.
• 23:30
  Speaker 6: Sit down John. You know, hospital call they took the
• 23:34
  Speaker 6: message outside.
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, thank you.
• 23:37
  Speaker 8: The hospital loss her? About Annie the baby?
• 23:40
  Speaker 6: Yeah, i'd write, son, about your little sister Annie.
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: What about her?
• 23:43
  Speaker 7: What the doctor say?
• 23:45
  Speaker 6: Well, it's not good, Harry. The doctor called him said Annie,
• 23:49
  Speaker 6: he had pneumonia.
• 23:50
  Speaker 8: Pneumonia, she'ld be all right though, to take care of her.
• 23:54
  Speaker 6: Well, it's not that way, son, I mean the doctor said,
• 23:58
  Speaker 6: oh look, you tell her.
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: What is it?
• 24:02
  Speaker 8: What about Anne?
• 24:03
  Speaker 6: We got a right to know.
• 24:04
  Speaker 8: She's my little girl, Sergeant. You can tell me.
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: You want to sit down, Harry, Yes, sir, Annie died
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: ten minutes ago.
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: The doctor's tried. They couldn't help.
• 24:23
  Speaker 7: Annie did.
• 24:25
  Speaker 6: That's right, son, She's only a little kid.
• 24:30
  Speaker 11: She's only two years old, Harry, Harry's son, Poor little Lannie.
• 24:38
  Speaker 11: I need have to be her my own little girl,
• 24:41
  Speaker 11: my own little Lannie.
• 24:44
  Speaker 6: Be good to me. Son.
• 24:46
  Speaker 11: I don't know how I can stand it.
• 24:49
  Speaker 6: My own little girl Annie GOTSI.
• 24:53
  Speaker 11: No, Harry, I need you. I need your more than ever. Son,
• 24:58
  Speaker 11: Be good to me.
• 25:00
  Speaker 6: We have to stick together now. We gotta love one
• 25:03
  Speaker 6: another all No I need Harry, He's all I got.
• 25:08
  Speaker 6: I'm just Son. It's so hard.
• 25:11
  Speaker 11: Sometimes everything's against us. Lord, don't he knows. I've tried.
• 25:18
  Speaker 11: We've got to try to be happy, to stay together
• 25:20
  Speaker 11: and love one another.
• 25:23
  Speaker 6: Lord don't even know. Harry.
• 25:26
  Speaker 11: Don't blame me, Son, We've got to try to be happy.
• 25:31
  Speaker 7: I blame you.
• 25:32
  Speaker 8: Anybody blame me. You killed it, poor little kid.
• 25:35
  Speaker 7: You killed any carry it. I will say it while
• 25:39
  Speaker 7: you did it, the whole terrible thing.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: Annie's dead.
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: You did it.
• 25:42
  Speaker 8: Don't you know what it means?
• 25:43
  Speaker 4: So don't hurt all right, Harry, take it easy.
• 25:46
  Speaker 8: You know it too, don't you.
• 25:48
  Speaker 7: She did it, her whiskey and her drinking and laying around,
• 25:51
  Speaker 7: not even caring about the kids. I try to tell you, Mam,
• 25:55
  Speaker 7: at least you could have done take care of the kids,
• 25:56
  Speaker 7: see that, all right? You had to drink.
• 25:58
  Speaker 8: It wouldn't work. You had to lay around.
• 26:00
  Speaker 7: Don't you understand. I couldn't do it all.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: I tried.
• 26:01
  Speaker 7: I couldn't do it all. You had to go on
• 26:03
  Speaker 7: drinking later.
• 26:05
  Speaker 11: Watch any DoD Please don't say that I'm gonna love
• 26:09
  Speaker 11: each other. I wouldn't hurt any You know your mother
• 26:12
  Speaker 11: never do that. You know what you're saying, Harry, I'm
• 26:17
  Speaker 11: your mother.
• 26:19
  Speaker 6: No, I've tried to be a good mother.
• 26:21
  Speaker 11: You don't mean what you're saying.
• 26:24
  Speaker 8: I never have to see you again.
• 26:25
  Speaker 11: Harry, Please don't go. He wouldn't believe me.
• 26:36
  Speaker 6: Sergeant.
• 26:38
  Speaker 11: Lord knows I've tried. It's not easy, your husband deserting
• 26:43
  Speaker 11: you the way Charlie did, three kids on your hands.
• 26:47
  Speaker 6: What can I do? Yes, I ought to understand.
• 26:51
  Speaker 7: I tried.
• 26:53
  Speaker 6: Lord.
• 26:53
  Speaker 11: No, it's the best anybody can do. Just try and
• 26:57
  Speaker 11: hope for the best.
• 26:58
  Speaker 6: Yes, ma'am, I only got one question, Yes, how.
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: Hard did you try?
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: The story you have just heard was true, only the
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: names were changed to protect the innocent. On April twenty,
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: third trial was held in Municipal Court, City and County
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: of Los Angeles, State of California. In a moment the
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: results of that trial, eighteen year old Harold Dunbar was
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: filed on in Juvenile Court. After the hearing, the court
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: directed that the two Dunbar children be placed in a
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: foster home. Missus Dunbar was permanently deprived of the custody
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: of her children.
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: from official fire technical advice comes from the Office of
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: Chief of Police W. H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department.
• 28:29
  Speaker 6: Stay tuned for a countras By next over NBC.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: Just raise some serious real life questions and certainly for
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: the time would have exposed lesteners and given awareness to
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: some of the issues that were going on with juveniles
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: that juvenile divisions had to deal with. The mother was
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: far too real list. I was just thinking that because
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: of Dragonet's true tolized storytelling, it often captured some of
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: the sort of psychological functions that we talk about today
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: and were not necessarily all as understood and categorized, and
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: certainly did it, I think better than some of the
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: more heightened dramas did. The one thing that this episode
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: does highlight is that the job of the police often
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: becomes more than solving crimes, and certainly that often happens
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: in the juvenile division cases. And you'll see this with
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: a lot of Dragnet episodes, both radio and television. There's
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: a crime that they're concerned about, but it was relatively
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: minor compared to the underlying issues, and that so often
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: does turn out to be the case issues at home,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: where issues at home and the misconduct of adults becomes
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: a far bigger concern than whatever crime there was, and
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: it's a very different sort of case and approach with
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: the young man spending the night in Romero's house. Well,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: now it's time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day,
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: and I want to go ahead and thank Denise, Patreon
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: supporter since March, currently supporting the podcast at the Detective
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: Sergeant level of seven dollars and fourteen cents or more
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: per month. Thanks so much for your support, Denise, and
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: that will do it for today. If you're enjoying the podcast,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: please follow us using your favorite podcast software. And if
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: you're enjoying the podcast on YouTube, be sure to like
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: the video, subscribe to the channel, and mark the notification bell.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: We'll be back next Thursday with another episode of dragonat
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: but join us back here tomorrow for yours truly, Johnny
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: Dahl are flip time.
• 31:01
  Speaker 9: I've called and Rip. If you don't do something about
• 31:04
  Speaker 9: my loss of the Cape Star, you call.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: The police, Well, sure of course.
• 31:08
  Speaker 9: I might have known you would, so they'll tell the papers.
• 31:12
  Speaker 9: More publicity for you in that lousy insurance business.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: For Hilly.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: I always notify the police.
• 31:17
  Speaker 9: You know what that means. It means reporters, photographers, cops
• 31:21
  Speaker 9: half the time falling all over themselves when I get in.
• 31:24
  Speaker 9: If you're somebody else, and I don't mean the cops.
• 31:27
  Speaker 9: If you don't get out, I'll cancel every policy I
• 31:32
  Speaker 9: have with you. My own. The house is the cars,
• 31:35
  Speaker 9: this old tom everything here, you take it, Johnny Hash.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: Sure, Hello, not all.
• 31:40
  Speaker 9: Didn't you hear what I said?
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: Miss Sad? Johnny Dollar?
• 31:46
  Speaker 9: Johnny, So we got you. Well, now we'll have some
• 31:51
  Speaker 9: actions because you'll come out here right away.
• 31:54
  Speaker 6: Won't you.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: Well, that depends.
• 31:56
  Speaker 9: I don't know what to do. James Starr, Emerald gone
• 31:59
  Speaker 9: and Rip so busy, Gat leaves off, and Johnny you
• 32:04
  Speaker 9: have to complete. Well, look, honey, I'll be waiting for you.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then in the meantime.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: Send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: Follow us on Twitter at Radio detectives and check us
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash Great detectives from Boise, Idaho.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham signing off.