Latest / The Great Detectives Present Dragnet (Old Time Radio) / Dragnet: The Big Honeymoon (EP4969)

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Dragnet: The Big Honeymoon (EP4969) · The Great Detectives Present Dragnet (Old Time Radio)

0:28
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from
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Speaker 1: Boise Idahol. This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment,
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Speaker 1: we're going to bring you this week's episode of Dragonet.
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1:09
Speaker 1: But now, from February seventh, nineteen fifty two, here is
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Speaker 1: the Big Honeymoon.
1:17
Speaker 2: Ladies and gentlemen.
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Speaker 3: Due to technical difficulties beyond our control at the moment,
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Speaker 3: the drag Net program originally scheduled at this period has
1:23
Speaker 3: been postponed temporarily.
1:25
Speaker 2: It will be heard in just a few moments.
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Speaker 4: The writer's at j Boss Bosses Katty sta Is Friday.
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Speaker 4: They're on the way and away on the office ten
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Speaker 4: thirty eight am. When we got to Paris Avenue number
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Speaker 4: two one.
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Speaker 5: Three, Yes, how do you do, miss Wagner. Police officers,
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Speaker 5: I'm Sergeant Jacobs, as my partner, Sergeant Friday.
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Speaker 6: Oh, yes, sergeant, I've been expecting you. Would you come in? Please?
1:49
Speaker 2: Thank you very much, thank you.
1:52
Speaker 6: I hope you'll excuse the way the house looks. Officers
1:54
Speaker 6: right in the middle of packing getting ready to move.
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Speaker 2: I understand, try not to keep you, Miss Wagner.
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Speaker 6: So much to do making arrangements for Dorothy's funeral undertaker
2:02
Speaker 6: than all this moving business on top of it, I
2:05
Speaker 6: couldn't bear to stay here any longer, though.
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Speaker 2: Yes, man, we understand. We'll make it as brief as
2:08
Speaker 2: we can.
2:09
Speaker 4: I'd like to have you tell us about this trouble
2:11
Speaker 4: that your sister had as much as you know about.
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Speaker 6: It, I mean, plain out and out murder. In my opinion,
2:15
Speaker 6: might just as well have taken a gun and killed her,
2:17
Speaker 6: no difference.
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Speaker 4: You knew all about the relationship between your sister Dorothy
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Speaker 4: and this man Reynolds, Is that correct, Yes.
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Speaker 6: Right from the beginning. I was there when they met.
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Speaker 6: Would you mind if I went ahead packing these few
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Speaker 6: things here my sister's things I like to finish up
2:30
Speaker 6: before I leave. Have an appointment at noon in the mortuary.
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Speaker 2: Surely go right ahead.
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Speaker 6: Few books, nick Knacks personal things to Dorothy's foolish woman.
2:42
Speaker 6: I gave her credit for more.
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Speaker 2: Since about this man Reynolds, Miss Wagner, I thought.
2:46
Speaker 6: Threw him right from the start. I tried to tell
2:48
Speaker 6: Dorothy it was a fortune hunter, money hungry. Of course
2:51
Speaker 6: she wouldn't listen. She always knew better.
2:53
Speaker 2: Charles R. Reynolds. Is that the name you knew him by, ma'am?
2:56
Speaker 6: Yes, that's right. Dorothy and I met him one Sunday
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Speaker 6: night in the hotel dining room. Two of us always
3:01
Speaker 6: had dinner at the hotel Sunday nights every Sunday.
3:03
Speaker 2: That's the hotel out on Wilchire you told us about.
3:06
Speaker 6: That's correct, be exactly a month this coming Sunday. Came
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Speaker 6: up to our table and introduced himself. Claimed he knew
3:11
Speaker 6: my father when he was a lot. Dad owned some
3:14
Speaker 6: big packing plants in the East. Died nine years ago,
3:17
Speaker 6: left the estate to Dorothy and me.
3:19
Speaker 4: I see, was you have anything to add to the
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Speaker 4: description that you gave us on Reyl's Miss Wagoner? I mean,
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Speaker 4: can you think of anything unusual about him at all?
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Speaker 4: Scars peculiar mannerisms anything with that.
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Speaker 6: No, nothing special. M dressed well, as I say, apparently, cultured,
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Speaker 6: well traveled. He was handsome enough attractive. I knew it
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Speaker 6: was only after our money, though. Playing up to Dorothy
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Speaker 6: that way, kissing her hand, taking her out all the time,
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Speaker 6: probably would have tried the same thing with me. It's
3:44
Speaker 6: lucky I knew better.
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Speaker 5: How did your after the first meeting with him as wagoner?
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Speaker 5: Did you start to enny of your sister Dorothy right away?
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Speaker 6: Yes? The next night called here at our home and
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Speaker 6: asked Dorothy to the theater. I think he was going
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Speaker 6: to ask me, but he was too smart for that.
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Speaker 6: I knew it for what he was hum Imagine that
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Speaker 6: poems Dorothy wrote in high school love poems silly. She
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Speaker 6: never did get it out of her head.
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Speaker 2: You and your sister lived alone here in the house,
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Speaker 2: did you, ma'am?
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Speaker 6: Yes, Dorothy and I and the maid. I don't wanna
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Speaker 6: stay here after what's happened, though, I'm going to my
4:19
Speaker 6: cousins in Vermont. Never want to see this place again.
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Speaker 4: Yes, ma'am might understand. How soon after you met Reynolds
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Speaker 4: did he marry her.
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Speaker 6: Sister a little over two weeks. He'd been seeing her
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Speaker 6: almost every night, taking her out, dancing to the theaters,
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Speaker 6: big dinners, bringing her home late and sit here in
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Speaker 6: the living room. I could hear them from my bedroom upstairs,
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Speaker 6: laughing him telling her how beautiful she was. Forty two
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Speaker 6: year old woman.
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Speaker 2: Imagine that you're about the same, aide. Your sister was
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Speaker 2: just about a little older.
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Speaker 6: People always took us for twins, though there's a snapshot
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Speaker 6: of me taking in my twenties. The boy with me there,
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Speaker 6: he wanted to marry me my money, of course, that's
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Speaker 6: all he wanted, too bad. Dorothy never seemed to realize
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Speaker 6: that about men. Girls from wealthy families have to be careful.
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Speaker 4: And we understand Reynolds took your sister out of town
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Speaker 4: to be married as overly.
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Speaker 6: Yes, Las Vegas. Reynolds had told her his bank funds
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Speaker 6: were tied up temporarily in a Canadian bank. He wrote
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Speaker 6: Dorothy a check for ten thousand dollars, and she gave
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Speaker 6: him her check for the same amount. He said he
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Speaker 6: wanted to book reservations for around the world trip for
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Speaker 6: both of them. I see the same day Dorothy gave
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Speaker 6: him the check, he cashed it the bank called her
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Speaker 6: about it, and she said it was perfectly all right.
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Speaker 6: Hour after he cashed it, Reynolds disappeared, no trace of him.
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Speaker 6: Of course, his check's worthless.
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Speaker 4: We found that out, and you figured that's the only
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Speaker 4: reason your sister took her own life.
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Speaker 6: There's no other reason. Wasn't the money so much? Dorothy
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Speaker 6: has her share of the estate. It's a shame, I suppose,
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Speaker 6: awful shame, disappointment. She should have known better a woman
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Speaker 6: her age.
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Speaker 2: Had your sister ever been married before Miss Wagner?
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Speaker 6: Yes, when she was eighteen, ran off to Chicago and
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Speaker 6: married a young fellow. She claimed she loved him too
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Speaker 6: naturally he was atter dar money. My father and I
6:02
Speaker 6: went and brought her home. We had the marriage anulled.
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Speaker 6: It was that way all her life. Half a dozen
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Speaker 6: men they brought Dorothy nothing but misery. And this was
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Speaker 6: a last this Charles Reynolds.
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Speaker 4: How about his background, ma'am? His business connections? He ever
6:15
Speaker 4: mentioned any of that to you or your sister?
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Speaker 6: Claimed he had interests all over South America, Australia, seemed
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Speaker 6: to have plenty of money. Guess his kind always has.
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Speaker 6: Do you think you'll find him?
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Speaker 2: We're gonna try h Miss Wager.
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Speaker 6: Dorothy went upstairs to her bedroom and stayed there. She
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Speaker 6: looks as strange. She took out some press flowers from
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Speaker 6: a book. Some boy'd given them to her once years ago,
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Speaker 6: don't know who. She just sat on the edge of
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Speaker 6: her bed and stared at them, old press flowers. Next morning,
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Speaker 6: the maid came upstairs and Dorothy was lying on the floor,
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Speaker 6: empty bottle of pills next to her. Awful disgrace. Never
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Speaker 6: happened before in our family.
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Speaker 4: If you don't mind, miss Wagoner, we like to get
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Speaker 4: as many particulars about this man Reynolds as you can remember.
7:02
Speaker 2: There.
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Speaker 6: That's a last. I don't know what else to tell you,
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Speaker 6: off Cirl. I know is I was young when Dorothy
7:09
Speaker 6: was young. I could have had a man if I wanted.
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Speaker 6: But I didn't run off when I was eighteen to
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Speaker 6: marry a boy. I knew my duty. It wasn't proper,
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Speaker 6: it wasn't a love. I didn't run off as a
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Speaker 6: middle aged woman to marry a fortune hunter either. What
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Speaker 6: made her do it?
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Speaker 2: I wouldn't know, ma'am. She was your sister.
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Speaker 6: What kind of a man was he? What kind of
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Speaker 6: a mind? Making love? Kissing her? Just to take her money.
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Speaker 6: Imagine selling somebody with a kiss.
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Speaker 4: Well, it's not the first time, ma'am is that so
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Speaker 4: look it up. You'll find it in the Bible eleven
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Speaker 4: eighteen am. We continued to interview the victim's sister for
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Speaker 4: another forty minutes, and then we left the Wagner home,
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Speaker 4: drove back to the office and continued our investigation of
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Speaker 4: the suspect, Charles R.
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Speaker 2: Reynolds.
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Speaker 4: As far as we were concerned, the criminal was new
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Speaker 4: to us, but the crime wasn't. The marriage rackets as
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Speaker 4: old as any con game on Earth, and as con
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Speaker 4: games go, it's one of the lowest. It trades on
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Speaker 4: one of the most natural and normal instincts. A man
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Speaker 4: or a woman has a desire for companionship, a home,
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Speaker 4: and a family, and for the sake of an easy dollar,
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Speaker 4: it betrays the victim and the instinct ruthlessly, regardless of
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Speaker 4: the consequences. In the case of forty two year old
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Speaker 4: heiress Dorothy Wagner, the disappointment was too much to cope
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Speaker 4: with for her. The marriage game ended in the front
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Speaker 4: parlor of a mortuary on South Hoover Street. For the suspect,
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Speaker 4: Charles Reynolds, it had continued to be a paying business
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Speaker 4: until he was stopped. After Homicide Detail completed their investigation
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Speaker 4: of the case and it was definitely determined that Dorothy
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Speaker 4: Wagner took her own life, the matter.
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Speaker 2: Was turned over to US. Eleven fifty am.
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Speaker 4: We got off a request to Las Vegas asking them
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Speaker 4: for all the information on the marriage, and then I
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Speaker 4: contacted the Stat's office and asked them to make a
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Speaker 4: run on the suspect for US based on his detailed
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Speaker 4: description and also on his method of operation. I went
9:00
Speaker 4: back down the hall and met d Jacobs at the
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Speaker 4: R and I encounter.
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Speaker 2: How you doing? Not too much luck?
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Speaker 5: Joe Forgery didn't come up with anything either, nothing on
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Speaker 5: him in their files.
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Speaker 2: I mean, so much of a start is it? Apparently
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Speaker 2: this is the first time he's worked at town Horns.
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Speaker 2: We couldn't find anything on the name, not the main file.
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Speaker 5: Anyway, what do you got there? I asked John to
9:18
Speaker 5: check the correspondence file. He came up with this out
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Speaker 5: of Chicago. He came in over three months ago. Inquiry
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Speaker 5: from their Bunco detail suspect the name right here, Frank L.
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Speaker 4: Richland, same angle Marry draggedt mm. Yeah them was pretty
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Speaker 4: close any description? Oh here, what do you think six foot,
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Speaker 4: one hundred and seventy pounds, gray, wavy hair, blue eyes,
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Speaker 4: fair complex and.
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Speaker 2: That's fairly close, could be.
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Speaker 5: Here's the alias list Richland US as long as your arm.
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Speaker 5: Here's one caught our I Reynolds Alius George A. Reynolds,
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Speaker 5: Thomas R. Reynolds alias C. H. Reynolds alias Charles R.
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Speaker 4: Reynolds once owned him for forgery, buncle grand theft a
10:00
Speaker 4: lot of experience. How about a mud shot on this.
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Speaker 2: One mm none attached, no LA contacts either.
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Speaker 4: Now we better get off a wire to Chicago. PD
10:07
Speaker 4: haven't sent us what they can on him.
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Speaker 6: Uh.
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Speaker 4: I want to prove it one way or the other.
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Speaker 4: But at the end of the week maybe, uh yeah.
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Speaker 5: Copy is named out here, right, Frank Ellen Richland Correspondence
10:17
Speaker 5: number C one four three seven three two Chicago case
10:23
Speaker 5: number D day six one two dash three two tension
10:28
Speaker 5: Lieutenant Smikels.
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Speaker 2: I'm just thinking it.
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Speaker 4: Huh the last time anyone saw Reynolds?
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Speaker 2: When was it? Ten twelve days ago? Ten days ago?
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Speaker 5: Yeah, September twenty third, same day, cash the check and
10:39
Speaker 5: took a run out.
10:40
Speaker 4: Well, if he's working in the city for the first time.
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Speaker 4: He must figure he's had some fair luck. Ten thousand
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Speaker 4: on the first try is pretty encouraging.
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Speaker 2: Uh.
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Speaker 4: If he gets the idea of the town's a gold mine,
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Speaker 4: he's not gonna pull out steaks here.
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Speaker 5: Mm figures probably trying to reach a couple of other
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Speaker 5: women with the same angle.
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Speaker 2: It could be he's working on it now.
10:55
Speaker 4: Well that's the problem. What do you mean the women
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Speaker 4: say he's been romancing three or four around town. He's
11:00
Speaker 4: got them all prime. How are you going to warn
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Speaker 4: a woman about a thief before a purse is gone.
11:09
Speaker 4: After getting off a wire to Chicago regarding the suspect,
11:12
Speaker 4: which was in addition to the broadcast in the APV,
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Speaker 4: We've gotten out on him, Ed Jacobs and I continued
11:17
Speaker 4: checking out the various contacts that he'd made in the city.
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Speaker 2: We checked stores where he shopped, banks where.
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Speaker 4: He allegedly did business, restaurants and hotels which he reportedly patronized.
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Speaker 4: It took three days of dull, steady legwork. You can
11:31
Speaker 4: say it much faster than you can do it. All
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Speaker 4: of the bank references, without exception, were falsified. Where he
11:36
Speaker 4: made purchases, it was strictly cash dealing, the same for
11:40
Speaker 4: the restaurants he'd frequented. Besides meager descriptions of the man,
11:43
Speaker 4: the restaurant employees weren't able to help us much. At
11:45
Speaker 4: one of the two hotels where we learned he was
11:48
Speaker 4: a guest for a full month, we finally netted half
11:50
Speaker 4: a lead.
11:51
Speaker 2: One of the bell boys.
11:52
Speaker 4: Told us that the man known as Charles Reynold seemed
11:55
Speaker 4: to be pretty friendly with the head waiter in the
11:56
Speaker 4: hotel dining room at Henry Kingsbury. He get at Kingsbury
12:00
Speaker 4: in the dining room in mid afternoon, directing arrangements for
12:03
Speaker 4: a large private party to be held that night. Across
12:06
Speaker 4: the dance floor, the orchestra was on the bands stand, rehearsing,
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Speaker 4: the musicians in their shirt sleeves. Kingsbury was reserved, not
12:14
Speaker 4: too cooperative. Yes, I was acquainted with mister Renolds, no
12:19
Speaker 4: more than the other guests.
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Speaker 5: Though that's not the way we get it, mister Kingsbury here,
12:22
Speaker 5: you were pretty friendly with him.
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Speaker 7: Only as far as my job goes, that's my business
12:26
Speaker 7: making people feel at home, making them comfortable.
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Speaker 2: We I understand Reynolds was a pretty heavy tipper, Is
12:30
Speaker 2: that right? He always took good care of me and
12:32
Speaker 2: the boys.
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Speaker 8: The waiter.
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Speaker 2: He was very generous. Did he expect anything special in
12:35
Speaker 2: return for the tips that he gave? I don't think
12:37
Speaker 2: I understand why they you do? How about it?
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Speaker 7: Well, he was always very good to us, all of us,
12:41
Speaker 7: so I can highly refuse, refuse what When he first
12:44
Speaker 7: moved into the hotel, he became friendly with me, introduced himself,
12:47
Speaker 7: gave me a good tip in advance to take care
12:49
Speaker 7: of him. First few nights here he spent at the
12:51
Speaker 7: cocktail bar, you know, meeting people, buying a few drinks,
12:54
Speaker 7: getting acquainted. Third or fourth night, that's when he asked me.
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Speaker 7: You know, he said, once some prominent women came into
13:01
Speaker 7: the dining room, wealthy women, would I point them out
13:03
Speaker 7: to him? Single women? Of course, I couldn't see any harm.
13:06
Speaker 7: And then he put a twenty dollars bill in my hand.
13:08
Speaker 7: I said, yes, I would, After all, we have to
13:10
Speaker 7: look out for ourself.
13:11
Speaker 2: Did he expect anything else for those tips?
13:13
Speaker 7: I don't know.
13:14
Speaker 5: I don't think he'll be right if I told you.
13:16
Speaker 5: You know, while we're here, mister Kingsbury, we leveled with him.
13:18
Speaker 5: We expect you to do the same with us.
13:20
Speaker 7: Well, there was the two Wagoner sisters. They came here
13:23
Speaker 7: every Sunday night for dinner. Regular routine for them. Yeah,
13:26
Speaker 7: mister Reynolds is at the bar. He asked who they
13:28
Speaker 7: were and I told him. He seemed impressed. He asked
13:31
Speaker 7: me to help with an introduction to them, and I did.
13:34
Speaker 7: Next afternoon he came to me again. He said he
13:36
Speaker 7: was taking one of the Wagoner's sisters to dinner that night.
13:38
Speaker 7: It was important to him, and gave me another big tip.
13:40
Speaker 7: Said he wanted us to roll out the red coppet
13:42
Speaker 7: for him that night. What that consists of, well, special consideration,
13:46
Speaker 7: the best treatment in the house.
13:47
Speaker 2: You know.
13:48
Speaker 7: I was to act as if I'd known him for years. Well,
13:51
Speaker 7: it was a good tip. I did what he asked.
13:52
Speaker 7: Did I say, we have to look out for ourself.
13:55
Speaker 7: Has happened on once today? Two or three times? Yeah,
13:58
Speaker 7: Miss Wagner, Athy Wagner. She seemed impressed. At the time.
14:02
Speaker 7: I didn't think anything was wrong with it.
14:04
Speaker 4: You actually didn't know Reynolds, Is that right? You'd never
14:06
Speaker 4: seen him before? Well, I suppose yes. I only found
14:10
Speaker 4: out later though reading the papers. I mean, what really happened.
14:13
Speaker 4: I didn't know what he was at the time. You
14:15
Speaker 4: couldn't see what Reynolds was up to. You didn't know
14:17
Speaker 4: what he was doing.
14:17
Speaker 7: Oh, naturally not. He was a good tipper, that's all
14:20
Speaker 7: I know. It was the money. Yeah, look up for herself. Yeah.
14:24
Speaker 7: I felt sorry about miss Wagner. I went to the funeral.
14:27
Speaker 7: They couldn't say I'm to blame, could they?
14:29
Speaker 2: What happened? I mean, it's not on my conscience. You
14:31
Speaker 2: wouldn't say so, would you. She's dead, mister, you figured it.
14:38
Speaker 4: Thursday, October thirteenth, the investigation continued, still no sign of
14:42
Speaker 4: the suspect. We got an answer from Las Vegas and
14:44
Speaker 4: also from the Chicago p d's Bunco detail on our inquiries.
14:48
Speaker 4: They enclosed mugshots and fingerprint classification of the suspect, Frank
14:52
Speaker 4: Richland alias Charles R.
14:53
Speaker 2: Reynolds.
14:54
Speaker 4: The pictures were shown to witnesses and acquaintances who'd known
14:57
Speaker 4: the suspect, and they definitely established for Thank Richland and
15:01
Speaker 4: Charles Reynolds as one and the same person. We got
15:04
Speaker 4: out of supplementary APV containing the latest information on the suspect. Saturday,
15:08
Speaker 4: October fifteenth, we got our second complaint on the marriage
15:11
Speaker 4: Bunco artist, this time from the propractice of a small
15:14
Speaker 4: chain of lunch counters in the San Pedro area. From
15:17
Speaker 4: missus Hagar Linstrom ed and I drove down to the
15:20
Speaker 4: Harbor area, where we interviewed her. At one of her
15:22
Speaker 4: lunch counters, she identified Richland's mugshot. Her story of the
15:26
Speaker 4: marriage swindle matched closely with that of the previous victim,
15:29
Speaker 4: Dorothy Wagner.
15:32
Speaker 9: Yeah, he was a fine gentleman, mister young richlid it
15:35
Speaker 9: will know what happened.
15:36
Speaker 6: They don't know what to say.
15:37
Speaker 2: He told you it was from England, Miss Winstrom, Is
15:39
Speaker 2: that right? Yeah?
15:39
Speaker 9: He talked like Englishmen. He could speak good English, like
15:42
Speaker 9: from London or someplace. Says he builds boats, baked once
15:47
Speaker 9: beg boats. Oh, yes, he told me that's his business.
15:50
Speaker 9: He said he had lots of mone Maybe he would
15:52
Speaker 9: sail around the Verve on the honeymoon. Maybe he will
15:55
Speaker 9: come back still, I hope.
15:57
Speaker 2: So I wouldn't call on that, Miss Linstrom. Would you
15:59
Speaker 2: tell us this please? How'd you happen to meet this
16:01
Speaker 2: man Richland at.
16:02
Speaker 9: The hotel up the street, the Bay Hotel? Taking sure
16:06
Speaker 9: to ye, the one on the Axon Street. Yes, they
16:09
Speaker 9: seem to know. He was a rich man, nice clothes here.
16:12
Speaker 9: He spent money a lot, and they got married. They
16:15
Speaker 9: spent lots of money.
16:16
Speaker 2: Where were you married, ma'am?
16:17
Speaker 9: They went down to Mexico one weekend, liven down there
16:21
Speaker 9: and they got married.
16:22
Speaker 6: It's just romantic, very nice. If I'm Mars liked it.
16:27
Speaker 2: Who's that, ma'am?
16:28
Speaker 6: Lars? That's him down the counter there, Lars, my daughter.
16:32
Speaker 2: Oh, your brother went along with you when you got married,
16:35
Speaker 2: Is that right?
16:35
Speaker 9: Lars and I go every choice together. They don't do
16:38
Speaker 9: anything without Lars, mister Richland, that's nice about it. He
16:42
Speaker 9: does seem to mind. Lars used a minnes. They call
16:45
Speaker 9: him a Lars. Huh, Lars a Norse.
16:50
Speaker 6: And I run the business together. At the's all the
16:52
Speaker 6: fountains we have. It's a long time.
16:54
Speaker 9: They have work at it, hard work it. We make
16:58
Speaker 9: good living. Not easy though, that's fright. It was so
17:01
Speaker 9: bad mister Rishland. Three thousand dollars he took, They said
17:07
Speaker 9: that halielas. They want to know about mister Reshland a.
17:11
Speaker 2: He was no good when they find them eating.
17:14
Speaker 4: Another three thousand dollars he got from you, ma'am?
17:16
Speaker 2: How did that work. I mean, did you give him
17:18
Speaker 2: the money? Lend it to him? Just? What was it?
17:20
Speaker 9: When we came back to mix a coof friend being married,
17:23
Speaker 9: mister Rishland and me and Flars, he said it was
17:26
Speaker 9: waiting for money from his bank in New York. Mister
17:29
Speaker 9: Reshland said that he wrote me a check for three
17:31
Speaker 9: thousand dollars. He gave him a check for three thousand.
17:35
Speaker 6: Even Mars thought it was all right.
17:37
Speaker 2: The new Lars, Yeah, it was crazy. His check was
17:40
Speaker 2: no good. He beat nim up paper chin good. It's
17:44
Speaker 2: quite a bit of money, Miss Linstrom. What kind of
17:45
Speaker 2: a story do they give you?
17:46
Speaker 9: He would buy the tickets for a honeymoon trip, That's
17:49
Speaker 9: what he said.
17:50
Speaker 6: I don't trip together.
17:52
Speaker 9: Romantic mister Rishland and me and Lars, Hey didn't mind
17:57
Speaker 9: last coming along?
17:57
Speaker 2: Heather that Hey, Lars, No, he didn't now this.
18:01
Speaker 4: Richland disappeared right after he cast you checked, Yes.
18:03
Speaker 9: Sir, he got the money and he was gone six
18:06
Speaker 9: days ago. They've never hurt him. A don't know I
18:09
Speaker 9: had did this to us.
18:10
Speaker 6: He thought he loved me. He thought he lost my husband.
18:15
Speaker 2: We haven't seen or heard anything of him since he disappeared.
18:17
Speaker 6: Not me and no lars. But maybe they know. That's
18:20
Speaker 6: why they call you officers.
18:22
Speaker 2: Yes, ma'am, they have.
18:23
Speaker 9: His friend on town. Yeah, I'm Swenson. He met mister
18:26
Speaker 9: Racheland law once friend of us here. It's fens and
18:29
Speaker 9: callars on the telephone. He said he saw mister Rationlan
18:32
Speaker 9: downtown going into the hotel.
18:34
Speaker 2: Are you sure it was Richard?
18:36
Speaker 6: Yeah, he said he so.
18:37
Speaker 2: I long ago to see him, and last night.
18:41
Speaker 4: We got on the phone right away and talked to
18:43
Speaker 4: the friend of the linstruments, James Swinson, who gave us
18:46
Speaker 4: the name and location of the downtown hotel where he
18:48
Speaker 4: thought he'd seen the suspect Richland the night before. Ed
18:51
Speaker 4: called the hotel and checked with a desk clerk.
18:53
Speaker 5: Yes, fairly to all wavy gray hair, fair complexion, might
18:57
Speaker 5: be registered as John Richland.
18:59
Speaker 2: M Hey, what check with you later? Hi? Any what?
19:04
Speaker 5: I registered as Harold Richland. Descriptions match. He's still there
19:07
Speaker 5: checked out this morning.
19:19
Speaker 10: You are listening to drag met authentic stories of your
19:22
Speaker 10: police force and action.
19:32
Speaker 4: Saturday, October fifteenth, two thirty pm at Jacobs and I
19:35
Speaker 4: drove back downtown to the hotel where the Bunco suspect
19:38
Speaker 4: Richland supposedly had been staying. The desk clerk definitely identified
19:42
Speaker 4: his mugshot and told us that the man registered as
19:44
Speaker 4: Harold Richland had checked out a few minutes before nine
19:47
Speaker 4: am that morning, no forwarding address. We examined the room
19:51
Speaker 4: he'd been staying in, talked to the residents and the
19:53
Speaker 4: employees of the hotel, but we failed to come up
19:55
Speaker 4: with a single lead as to the suspects whereabouts. During
19:59
Speaker 4: the week that followed, we received three different kickbacks on
20:02
Speaker 4: the all points we'd gotten out on Richland. We checked
20:04
Speaker 4: each one of them out, but they failed to materialize
20:07
Speaker 4: into anything. We stayed on it. October nineteenth, Wednesday, seven
20:11
Speaker 4: fifty am. Morny, Hi, what's doing?
20:14
Speaker 5: Charlie Frost called from Forgery. He went over to talk
20:16
Speaker 5: to him and came up with something on the Richland thing.
20:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's it? Picked up a woman.
20:20
Speaker 5: Last night the name of Helen Stokes got a good
20:22
Speaker 5: sized record checks Bunco Records now got her this time
20:25
Speaker 5: on a check beef. She wrote one for thirty five
20:27
Speaker 5: hundred dollars.
20:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, well I was a time with us. Check was
20:29
Speaker 2: made out to Harold Richland.
20:33
Speaker 4: Eight fifteen am we signed out, drove over to the
20:36
Speaker 4: main jail and had the forgery suspect Helen Stokes brought
20:39
Speaker 4: to one of the interrogation rooms. She was a dark haired,
20:42
Speaker 4: fairly attractive woman in her early thirties. As a bunco artist,
20:46
Speaker 4: she apparently knew her trade pretty well. She was relaxed
20:49
Speaker 4: and talkative. She told us Richland and introduced himself to
20:52
Speaker 4: her at a Palm Springs resort the week before when
20:55
Speaker 4: the business at the check come up as.
20:56
Speaker 11: Soon as we got back in turn and gave me
20:58
Speaker 11: the story. His money was in a New York bank.
21:00
Speaker 11: I played along with a gag. He wrote me a
21:01
Speaker 11: piece of wallpaper for thirty five hundred dollars.
21:03
Speaker 2: I did the same for him.
21:04
Speaker 6: What's the difference? Nobody hurt both check solid rubber.
21:06
Speaker 2: Maybe you forget, ma'am, there's a law against it.
21:08
Speaker 6: To me a gag. I told you that. You would
21:10
Speaker 6: have loved to have seen his face when he found
21:12
Speaker 6: out the check was a phony.
21:13
Speaker 11: You don't think they're gonna push the charge against me,
21:15
Speaker 11: do you.
21:15
Speaker 4: No, We've already told him and she wrote a bad one.
21:17
Speaker 4: There's a law against it.
21:18
Speaker 11: That was only stringing him around. I mean, his check
21:20
Speaker 11: was a phony. Too, I didn't have anything to gain. Look,
21:23
Speaker 11: suppose I help you find him? Would you give me
21:25
Speaker 11: a hand on this? See I get a break.
21:26
Speaker 5: We can't make any promises. You cooperate helps find Richland?
21:29
Speaker 5: Be taking into consideration, all right, cheer on?
21:32
Speaker 6: You can tell a lover boy, I tip.
21:33
Speaker 11: Chure you know where Richland is now I can come
21:35
Speaker 11: close to hers. I mean I know where will be
21:36
Speaker 11: next week.
21:39
Speaker 4: On further questioning, Helen Stokes told us that on one occasion,
21:42
Speaker 4: while she was at Palm Springs with Richland, she prowled
21:45
Speaker 4: his hotel room, went through his personal effects, and read
21:48
Speaker 4: his correspondence. She told us that she read one letter
21:51
Speaker 4: from a friend of Richland's inviting him for a visit
21:53
Speaker 4: the week of October thirty first. She also noted Rixland's
21:56
Speaker 4: answer accepting the invitation. She said the friend's name was Maurice.
22:00
Speaker 2: Archer, and that the letter came from an Ocean Boulevard
22:03
Speaker 2: address in the beach town of Venice.
22:05
Speaker 4: We went back to the office ran Archer's name, threw
22:08
Speaker 4: R and I and found out that he had a
22:09
Speaker 4: previous criminal record of petty theft and grand theft. We
22:13
Speaker 4: located him in an ocean Boulevard address and brought him
22:15
Speaker 4: in for interrogation.
22:17
Speaker 2: If there was any trouble, he wanted no part of it.
22:20
Speaker 4: After talking to him only a few minutes, he broke
22:22
Speaker 4: down and told us where we could find Richland, an
22:24
Speaker 4: address out near the end of Melrose Avenue. It was
22:27
Speaker 4: an apartment court.
22:28
Speaker 2: The suspect was registered in one of the rare cottages
22:31
Speaker 2: under the name of Reynolds. It wasn't at home, ed
22:34
Speaker 2: and I went on stakeout inside the cottage.
22:36
Speaker 4: We waited six point thirty pm.
22:40
Speaker 2: Somebody coming in.
22:41
Speaker 4: Yeah, call it right there, mister police officers.
22:45
Speaker 2: What's this? Hands out neiltman? Come on up. I don't understand.
22:47
Speaker 4: They want to shake him down in Yeah all.
22:52
Speaker 2: Right, queen.
22:52
Speaker 7: Look, I don't know what you want, officers, but it
22:54
Speaker 7: is a mistake. Your name Charles Reynolds Reynold, No, my
22:57
Speaker 7: name is Richland. That don't do Let's go now.
23:00
Speaker 2: Please? What am I accused of? Who's accusing you? Last
23:02
Speaker 2: pigeon you had lined up, she wanted us to tell
23:04
Speaker 2: you Helmond Stokes.
23:05
Speaker 7: Stokes only Dan. You can't believe her, officers. She's phony,
23:09
Speaker 7: She's nothing but a connor. It's a good reason to
23:10
Speaker 7: believe her.
23:11
Speaker 4: Well, it takes one to know one.
23:16
Speaker 2: Seven oh five pm.
23:18
Speaker 4: After checking through the cottage, ed and idro Richland downtown
23:21
Speaker 4: and took him to the interrogation room.
23:22
Speaker 2: He'd admit nothing.
23:24
Speaker 4: We called miss Wagner, the sister of his first victim,
23:26
Speaker 4: and she was still in town. She agreed to come
23:29
Speaker 4: down to the office to confront the suspect.
23:31
Speaker 2: So did the second victim, Agar Linstrom and.
23:33
Speaker 4: Her brother Lars. Cars were set out to pick them
23:37
Speaker 4: up and a special show up. Richland was picked out
23:40
Speaker 4: as the guilty man. We took him back to the
23:42
Speaker 4: interrogation room. Miss Wagner was the first one called in.
23:45
Speaker 4: She again identified Richland alias Reynolds, as the man who
23:49
Speaker 4: had married and swindled her sister Dorothy.
23:51
Speaker 2: All right, miss Werner, that'll be all, thanks very much
23:53
Speaker 2: for coming in.
23:53
Speaker 6: Yes, all right, thank you.
23:56
Speaker 7: Look, I don't know that woman. I'm not trying to
23:57
Speaker 7: be stubborn, but I'm afraid you're wrong.
23:59
Speaker 2: I met them and you want Listrom's are outside y'all
24:01
Speaker 2: waiting all.
24:02
Speaker 12: Right for you, Miss Lens from mister Linsco from many place,
24:12
Speaker 12: Miss Linston, mister Winston.
24:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I don't know you.
24:17
Speaker 9: I've never seen you before you married me, John, you
24:20
Speaker 9: wanted to be my husband.
24:21
Speaker 6: You said that, Why did you want to hurt me?
24:24
Speaker 2: Sorry?
24:24
Speaker 9: I don't know what you said for you and me
24:27
Speaker 9: and marsh to go in the boat honeymoon around the world.
24:30
Speaker 6: You and me and Marsh you said on those things?
24:33
Speaker 6: Why did you want to hurt us?
24:36
Speaker 2: But enough for you. I don't know what they're talking about.
24:38
Speaker 2: Bait you will. Mister mars Bice, he said you all
24:42
Speaker 2: go around the world honeymoon? All right, all right, get
24:46
Speaker 2: him out of here, okay, mister Winston, thanks.
24:48
Speaker 6: It's no good Lars, come not this please?
24:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank him, thank you very much. All right, all right, Ris,
25:00
Speaker 2: you're ready to give us a statement?
25:02
Speaker 13: Right?
25:02
Speaker 2: Don't tell you.
25:02
Speaker 7: You can't blame me for that one though. You wouldn't
25:05
Speaker 7: have gone through with that view yourself. Nobody would have.
25:07
Speaker 2: What's wrong? A nice looking girl? Sure? I don't mean man.
25:10
Speaker 2: What do you mean, big clown? Or brother Lawrence? Yeah?
25:13
Speaker 2: How'd you like to take that along on a honeymoon?
25:23
Speaker 2: The story you have just heard was true. The names
25:26
Speaker 2: were changed to protect the innocence.
25:28
Speaker 10: On January fourteenth, trial was held in Superior Court Department
25:32
Speaker 10: eighty eighth City and County of Los Angeles, State of
25:34
Speaker 10: California in a moment the results of that trial. Frank
25:46
Speaker 10: Richland was tried and convicted of two counts of grand
25:49
Speaker 10: theft and three counts of forgery of a fictitious name.
25:52
Speaker 10: After serving his term in the state penitentiary at San Quentin, California,
25:56
Speaker 10: he used to be released to Chicago authorities for prosecution.
26:00
Speaker 10: Grand theft is punishable by imprisonment for not less than
26:03
Speaker 10: one nor more than ten years. Forgery of a fictitious
26:07
Speaker 10: name is punishable by imprisonment from two to fourteen years.
26:21
Speaker 10: You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases
26:24
Speaker 10: from official files. Technical advice comes from the Office of
26:27
Speaker 10: Chief of Police, wh Parker, Los Angeles Police Department. Heard
26:31
Speaker 10: tonight where Barney Phillips and Virginia Gregg. Script by Jim Moser,
26:36
Speaker 10: music by Walter Schumann, Hell Gibney speaking.
26:44
Speaker 2: February eighteenth.
26:45
Speaker 3: Here the Gala City Service Silver Radio Jubilee on NBC.
26:56
Speaker 1: Welcome back of that little one. Technical delay at the
27:01
Speaker 1: beginning was a bit rare and different, but really all
27:06
Speaker 1: we missed was the sort of introductory comments, so we
27:11
Speaker 1: essentially do get the whole story. This one is an
27:15
Speaker 1: interesting one, and certainly a couple of interesting marriage cases.
27:20
Speaker 1: You definitely feel like that there was a bit more
27:24
Speaker 1: going on with the sister and her feelings. And while
27:30
Speaker 1: I can sort of understand the sentiment of why he
27:34
Speaker 1: didn't want to marry the second victim, the fact that
27:40
Speaker 1: she wanted to take her brother along on the honeymoon
27:44
Speaker 1: is a perfectly valid reason to not marry her, but
27:48
Speaker 1: not to count her out of her money. All right,
27:51
Speaker 1: listener comments and feedback now, and we go to a
27:55
Speaker 1: comment from Jeff on Patreon, who writes regarding the the
28:00
Speaker 1: court interesting to hear an episode with court scenes included,
28:05
Speaker 1: since that it is off an overlooked part of police
28:09
Speaker 1: on the radio. And that is a good point. We
28:13
Speaker 1: rarely get to experience, and this wasn't just on radio,
28:18
Speaker 1: but television as well. We rarely get to experience the
28:22
Speaker 1: whole courtroom aspect on Dragnet, either TV or radio. Yeah,
28:29
Speaker 1: and you occasionally get a scene or two something like
28:32
Speaker 1: what you got in The Big I Am, And they
28:37
Speaker 1: also had that grand jury scene in the nineteen fifty
28:41
Speaker 1: four Dragnet movie. But because the episodes are usually structured
28:47
Speaker 1: around the investigations, you don't get a whole lot of
28:51
Speaker 1: time in court, and kind of to make up for that,
28:53
Speaker 1: Dragnet did do a couple of court focused episodes. The
28:59
Speaker 1: other one I can think of is the Courtroom from
29:04
Speaker 1: season four of the nineteen sixties drag Net. Well, now
29:08
Speaker 1: it's time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day,
29:11
Speaker 1: and thank you to k Pass, Patreon supporter since May
29:14
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, currently supporting the podcast at the Shawmus
29:19
Speaker 1: level of four dollars more per month. Thanks so much
29:22
Speaker 1: for your support, k Pass, and that will do it
29:24
Speaker 1: for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us
29:28
Speaker 1: using your favorite podcast software and be sure to rate
29:32
Speaker 1: and review the podcast wherever you download it from. We
29:36
Speaker 1: will be back next Thursday with another episode of Dragnet.
29:40
Speaker 1: But join us back here tomorrow for yours truly, Johnny Dollar.
29:45
Speaker 8: Where I, mister Dollar, make yourself at home. I must say,
29:51
Speaker 8: you want it all upset about the loss of your warehouse?
29:54
Speaker 8: Should I be sit down? Sure, mister Dollar.
29:59
Speaker 13: That building's in a losing proposition for years because of
30:03
Speaker 13: its bad location, because of zoning restrictions and the cost
30:07
Speaker 13: to tearing it down. I have done nothing but lose
30:10
Speaker 13: money on it all. But I've been very careful to
30:14
Speaker 13: keep up the insurance, so now that it's gone up
30:18
Speaker 13: in flames, I shall let long last collect on it.
30:21
Speaker 8: Three hundred and forty thousand dollars.
30:24
Speaker 13: That's right, And with whatever I can get from some
30:27
Speaker 13: of the misguided investor of the land itself, I'll be
30:30
Speaker 13: sitting pretty I see now. Don't get any funny ideas,
30:34
Speaker 13: mister investigator. The police have found nothing whatsoever to suggests Arson,
30:41
Speaker 13: No will they.
30:43
Speaker 8: You sound pretty sure of that. I'm sure of it,
30:46
Speaker 8: even if it were a job that you didn't have done,
30:48
Speaker 8: I'm sure of it. You know something, mister Barnwell, I'm
30:53
Speaker 8: not so.
30:53
Speaker 13: If you can be of any help in putting through.
30:56
Speaker 8: My can you hear what I said? I heard? Mister
30:58
Speaker 8: Dollar doesn't worry me a bit.
31:02
Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then in the meantime,
31:04
Speaker 1: send your comments to Box thirteen at Greatdetectives dot net,
31:10
Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us
31:14
Speaker 1: out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash Great Detectives from Boise, Idaho.
31:22
Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam graham Son and off