Latest / Dragnet | Old Time Radio / The Big Fourth [episode 155], Broadcast 5/29/1952
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen.
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- 0:26Speaker 2: The story you were about to hear is true. The
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- 0:46Speaker 2: You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned a juvenile detail. An
- 0:50Speaker 2: eight months old baby is stolen from its mother. It's
- 0:53Speaker 2: the third case of child stealing reported in less than
- 0:56Speaker 2: three weeks. There's no lead on the suspect.
- 0:59Speaker 4: Your job, get him.
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- 1:51Speaker 3: Dragnet the documented drama of an actual crime. For the
- 1:55Speaker 3: next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department,
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- 2:00Speaker 3: of the law through an actual case transcribed from official
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- 2:16Speaker 5: It was Wednesday, June eighteenth, was warm in Los Angeles.
- 2:19Speaker 5: We were working the day Watch out of Juvenile Division.
- 2:21Speaker 5: My partner's Frank Smith. The boss is Captain Stein. My
- 2:24Speaker 5: name is Friday. It was six thirty pm when we
- 2:26Speaker 5: got back to thirteen thirty five Georgia Street, second floor,
- 2:29Speaker 5: the squadron.
- 2:30Speaker 6: I I've been waiting for you, big Edel. How's it going.
- 2:33Speaker 6: Any sign of the baby?
- 2:34Speaker 7: No, not yet.
- 2:34Speaker 1: We're doing everything we can. We haven't got a lead
- 2:36Speaker 1: to our name.
- 2:37Speaker 6: E lowzy thing. How's it stack up anything like the
- 2:39Speaker 6: last two cases?
- 2:40Speaker 1: Yeah, quite a bit. Same neighborhood, same General Imo, where you.
- 2:43Speaker 6: Checked with just about everybody in the vicinity. No one
- 2:44Speaker 6: saw the baby take and happened about ten o'clock this.
- 2:46Speaker 5: Morning, ten fifteen, Missus Donaldson drove down to the neighborhood
- 2:50Speaker 5: shopping center to do her marketing. She had the baby
- 2:52Speaker 5: in a bass onet in the backseat of her car,
- 2:54Speaker 5: baby boy, eight months old. She pulled into the parking
- 2:56Speaker 5: lot right behind the market, left the baby asleep in
- 2:59Speaker 5: the car.
- 2:59Speaker 1: She went in were shopping. When she came out, the
- 3:01Speaker 1: baby was gone.
- 3:01Speaker 6: How long was she in the market, She told us
- 3:03Speaker 6: about twenty minutes.
- 3:04Speaker 5: We talked to a half a dozen people who drove
- 3:06Speaker 5: their cars in and out of the parking lot about
- 3:07Speaker 5: that time.
- 3:08Speaker 1: They couldn't help me. They didn't see anyone loitering around.
- 3:10Speaker 6: How about delivery trucks, They usually unloaded supplies at the
- 3:12Speaker 6: back door, don't they.
- 3:13Speaker 5: Already checked on that. We talked to the driver of
- 3:15Speaker 5: a bread truck. He was making a delivery about that time.
- 3:18Speaker 5: He couldn't help us either, the mother and Missus Donaldson.
- 3:21Speaker 5: She's the only one who came up with anything at all.
- 3:22Speaker 5: It's not much, but it's better than nothing. Yeah, But
- 3:25Speaker 5: when she parked her car and got out to go
- 3:26Speaker 5: in the market. She noticed a woman sitting in the
- 3:28Speaker 5: car park next to hers. When she came back and
- 3:31Speaker 5: found her baby was gone, she noticed that this woman's
- 3:33Speaker 5: car was gone too.
- 3:34Speaker 6: Missus Donaldson described the woman for you. Yeah, she was
- 3:36Speaker 6: middle aged, she had gray hair. That's all she remembered.
- 3:38Speaker 6: How about the car the woman was in was a
- 3:40Speaker 6: green Sedan. That's the only thing, Missus Donaldson could tell us.
- 3:43Speaker 6: She's not even sure of that. There's no one else
- 3:45Speaker 6: around the market that remembered the car.
- 3:46Speaker 1: Well, if there is, we haven't found them.
- 3:48Speaker 6: We covered the whole neighborhood. Skipper talked to everybody we could.
- 3:50Speaker 6: Got us nowhere, smoke out and thanks you, Joe, Yeah,
- 3:54Speaker 6: thank you. I got a life, captain, no kickbag kid
- 4:00Speaker 6: on the broadcast, the old points you got out on
- 4:03Speaker 6: the baby.
- 4:03Speaker 5: No nothing up to now. It's a carp and copy
- 4:05Speaker 5: of the last two job. No suspect, no more.
- 4:07Speaker 6: Missus Donaldson can't think of any reason at all for it.
- 4:10Speaker 1: No, not a one.
- 4:11Speaker 5: Her husband's a teamster, they don't have much money. She
- 4:14Speaker 5: couldn't think of any friend or relative who might possibly
- 4:16Speaker 5: want to take their baby.
- 4:17Speaker 6: The baby normal and good health. Yeah, perfect, it's got me.
- 4:20Speaker 6: This makes it about one a week just to buy.
- 4:23Speaker 6: Martin baby was taking on the fifth. The Andrews' baby
- 4:25Speaker 6: was taken on the twelfth. Both of them recovered in
- 4:27Speaker 6: twenty four hours. Nothing wrong with either of them. Sure
- 4:29Speaker 6: doesn't make sense.
- 4:31Speaker 1: Must be a psycho, kisa some kind. I think we
- 4:33Speaker 1: can go along on.
- 4:34Speaker 7: Man.
- 4:34Speaker 6: This one happened near Eighthan Dine Heart right.
- 4:37Speaker 5: Yeah, same neighborhood as the other two, About a twelve
- 4:40Speaker 5: square block area there.
- 4:41Speaker 6: How about that lead you had on the old man
- 4:42Speaker 6: out there? Do you exhaust that?
- 4:44Speaker 5: Yeah, the old gardener, m We double checked him this afternoon.
- 4:47Speaker 5: He wasn't anywhere near the market when the Donaldson baby
- 4:49Speaker 5: was taken.
- 4:50Speaker 6: How about the other two people? You had your eye
- 4:51Speaker 6: on either of them anywhere near the scene at the time.
- 4:54Speaker 6: Neither one of them, skipp are both clear. How's it
- 4:56Speaker 6: stand now?
- 4:57Speaker 5: Well, we're doing everything possible. Dean Bergman went over the
- 4:59Speaker 5: donald and car for prints. The bass in that too.
- 5:02Speaker 5: There's no word from him yet. Special detail for Metro
- 5:04Speaker 5: Division still going over the neighborhood. Nothing from them either.
- 5:07Speaker 6: No sign of any physical evidence, I mean, besides any
- 5:09Speaker 6: possible princes.
- 5:10Speaker 1: No, nothing.
- 5:11Speaker 6: The usual number of tips from people in the neighborhood
- 5:13Speaker 6: checked on all of them. They went nowhere. Well, they
- 5:15Speaker 6: just about run the gamut on this thing. You have
- 5:17Speaker 6: anything in mind? Joe and I were kicking around an
- 5:20Speaker 6: idea on the way back in figure it might be
- 5:21Speaker 6: worth a try. I mean, providing we get the Donaldson
- 5:24Speaker 6: case cleared. Yeah, Joe, Well, for.
- 5:26Speaker 5: One thing, we figure the neighborhood out there works in
- 5:28Speaker 5: our favor. All three of the babies were taken in
- 5:31Speaker 5: the same twelve square block area. It's the strongest part
- 5:34Speaker 5: of the mo that we got to work on. Now,
- 5:36Speaker 5: if we get good enough coverage in that area out there,
- 5:38Speaker 5: it might lead somewhere. What kind of coverage, Well, maybe
- 5:40Speaker 5: a system of decoy something to draw the suspect out
- 5:43Speaker 5: at the right time the right place.
- 5:44Speaker 6: Makes sense. What have we got in money? Well, Frank
- 5:47Speaker 6: and I were figuring if we could round up half
- 5:48Speaker 6: a dozen police women or so, let them work different
- 5:51Speaker 6: points around the neighborhood and make it obvious that their housewives.
- 5:53Speaker 5: Yeah, have each one of them with a baby carriage.
- 5:56Speaker 5: Spot them at the shopping centers out there in that area.
- 5:58Speaker 5: They leave the carriages outside the stores, go through the
- 6:01Speaker 5: motions of doing your shopping and cover each one of them.
- 6:04Speaker 6: What do you do for bait? I think we can
- 6:05Speaker 6: fake it, skip her. Put a life sized doll each
- 6:08Speaker 6: of the carriages, keep it pretty well covered. Very chance
- 6:10Speaker 6: it will get us in neighbor if we.
- 6:11Speaker 1: Work it right.
- 6:11Speaker 6: About half a dozen police women. That's what you're figured
- 6:13Speaker 6: out for you that I ought to do it. And excuse
- 6:16Speaker 6: me now, Guvenal Division Captain Stein. Yeah, that's right. How's that?
- 6:24Speaker 6: I see this is Boulger, Yes, ma'am, I understand.
- 6:30Speaker 1: How's that?
- 6:31Speaker 6: Yes, ma'am? If you like, all right, thank you? Anybody
- 6:36Speaker 6: queer one? Yeah, either one of you contacted missus Marion
- 6:39Speaker 6: Bolger the last month or so.
- 6:41Speaker 1: You know it's not familiar to me. How about you, Frank,
- 6:43Speaker 1: don't recall the name?
- 6:44Speaker 6: Why that was her on the phone. She wants to
- 6:46Speaker 6: be investigated, says she wants to prove to us that
- 6:48Speaker 6: she's not involved in any of these child stealing cases.
- 6:51Speaker 1: How do you spell that name?
- 6:52Speaker 6: Marion Bolger?
- 6:53Speaker 4: B O.
- 6:53Speaker 8: L G E.
- 6:54Speaker 6: R Ewing Street address.
- 6:56Speaker 1: No, I never heard of her.
- 6:56Speaker 6: What's the pitch got me? She kept saying she's got
- 6:59Speaker 6: to have her name clear. She's innocent, kept insisting she
- 7:01Speaker 6: didn't steal the Donaldson baby.
- 7:03Speaker 1: Well we didn't say she did. We don't even know
- 7:04Speaker 1: the woman.
- 7:05Speaker 6: You're going to check her out.
- 7:09Speaker 5: We ran the name Marian Bulger through our and eye,
- 7:11Speaker 5: but there was no previous criminal record on her. Seven
- 7:14Speaker 5: twenty five pm, Frank Smith and I left the office
- 7:17Speaker 5: and drove out to the Ewing Street address to interview
- 7:19Speaker 5: the Bulger woman. Before we called at her home, we
- 7:22Speaker 5: checked with some of the neighbors. Most of them had
- 7:24Speaker 5: a favorable opinion of her. They described her as a
- 7:26Speaker 5: pleasant woman, slightly eccentric. The only complaint was that the
- 7:30Speaker 5: Bulger woman was very fond of children, and that she
- 7:32Speaker 5: kept most of the youngsters on the block well supplied
- 7:35Speaker 5: with cake and candy, despite repeated objections from the youngster's parents.
- 7:39Speaker 1: Other than that, they seemed.
- 7:40Speaker 7: To like her.
- 7:41Speaker 5: Eight o five pm, Frank and I called on missus
- 7:43Speaker 5: Bulger and she ushered us into a neatly furnished living room.
- 7:46Speaker 5: She was an older woman, possibly in her early sixties,
- 7:49Speaker 5: dark brown hair streaked with gray.
- 7:51Speaker 8: It's the honest truth, Sergeant. Anybody who really knows me
- 7:54Speaker 8: to tell you I wouldn't do a thing like that.
- 7:55Speaker 8: I love children. I want all of them to be happy.
- 7:57Speaker 6: I wouldn't steal in butes a matter, missus Bulger, Please,
- 8:00Speaker 6: something we'd like to get straight.
- 8:01Speaker 8: I don't care how it looks. I don't care what
- 8:02Speaker 8: they say. I didn't do it. I didn't steal those
- 8:04Speaker 8: other two babies. I didn't steal the Donaldson baby either.
- 8:06Speaker 1: How'd you know the Donaldson baby was missing?
- 8:07Speaker 7: Ma'am?
- 8:08Speaker 1: It just happened this morning evening paper.
- 8:09Speaker 8: The whole story's in there so first I knew about
- 8:11Speaker 8: it to help me, but I got my evening in paper. Please, sergeant,
- 8:14Speaker 8: you got to believe.
- 8:14Speaker 4: Me right now.
- 8:15Speaker 5: I try to take it easy, ma'am. What gives you
- 8:17Speaker 5: the idea that we're accusing you of taking those babies?
- 8:19Speaker 8: Haven't yet? Not in so many words? You're thinking about it, though,
- 8:21Speaker 8: I know that you've been told.
- 8:22Speaker 6: How do you mean told?
- 8:23Speaker 7: What? You know?
- 8:24Speaker 8: What? I mean? All those stories going around about me,
- 8:28Speaker 8: just because I like children, because I enjoy them, I
- 8:30Speaker 8: understand them. Just because of that, they tried to make
- 8:33Speaker 8: me out a witch or something, trying to say I.
- 8:35Speaker 5: Took those poor little bit Just a minute, ma'am, who
- 8:37Speaker 5: said you took the babies.
- 8:38Speaker 8: At the store this afternoon. I heard them, that grocery
- 8:41Speaker 8: clerk and that sillimitous murdock. They laughed about it, tried
- 8:45Speaker 8: to make out there's only a fool, and well I
- 8:46Speaker 8: knew better. They weren't fool, and they meant it, accusing
- 8:49Speaker 8: me of such a terrible thing. I just don't know
- 8:51Speaker 8: when I've been so upset.
- 8:53Speaker 5: Well, now, what grounds would they have for saying anything
- 8:55Speaker 5: like that, ma'am? I mean, even if they were.
- 8:56Speaker 8: Fooling, only because I love children, that's all. People in
- 9:00Speaker 8: the neighborhood the same way. They don't like me. They
- 9:03Speaker 8: go around saying things about me just because I understand
- 9:06Speaker 8: their children better than they do, just because I know
- 9:09Speaker 8: how to treat children.
- 9:10Speaker 1: No, I think you got it wrong, missus Bulger.
- 9:12Speaker 5: The only complaints your neighbors have is that you treat
- 9:14Speaker 5: children too well, little, too much candy.
- 9:16Speaker 8: I'm nothing wrong with given a child candy, good homemade fudge.
- 9:20Speaker 8: I make it myself. Besides, how would you know about that.
- 9:23Speaker 1: We talk to your neighbors, ma'am. They had a lot
- 9:25Speaker 1: of nice things to say about you.
- 9:26Speaker 8: Yes, I just bet they did nasty, dirty stories they've
- 9:30Speaker 8: been passing them all over the neighborhood about me.
- 9:32Speaker 1: No, ma'am, you've got it wrong.
- 9:34Speaker 8: Just let me show you. Come in here this way,
- 9:36Speaker 8: the dining room.
- 9:37Speaker 6: Yes, ma'am.
- 9:41Speaker 8: Look at that. Look at that next, ma'am. It's very nice.
- 9:45Speaker 8: You see how I decorated the table, paper streamers all
- 9:49Speaker 8: over the room. It is supposed to be a party
- 9:52Speaker 8: for the children in the neighborhood. I worked a whole
- 9:54Speaker 8: week getting it ready. I made the cakes myself, decorate
- 9:58Speaker 8: them too. I made everything in my own kitchen, candy
- 10:02Speaker 8: and sandwiches. Took me a whole week. And they didn't
- 10:06Speaker 8: even come. They didn't come, ma'am, the neighborhood children. It
- 10:11Speaker 8: was supposed to be for them, special summer party I
- 10:14Speaker 8: wanted to give them today. They didn't even come. The
- 10:17Speaker 8: parents wouldn't let 'em, not one of them. M. It's
- 10:21Speaker 8: a crime, terrible crime. All this good food.
- 10:26Speaker 1: Well, now, maybe there was a mistake, ma'am. M.
- 10:28Speaker 8: There wasn't any mistake. I invited the children, fourteen of 'em.
- 10:32Speaker 8: Mothers wouldn't let them come. I had everything ready, the
- 10:36Speaker 8: little favors. Reach one of 'em. Now, look, ice creams
- 10:41Speaker 8: all melted hot coco boiled away to nothing. Even the
- 10:46Speaker 8: paper streamers are coming down. Such a mean thing to do,
- 10:51Speaker 8: keeping children from a party, Such a mean thing.
- 10:55Speaker 6: Oh, we don't like to buy you, Missus Bulger, just
- 10:57Speaker 6: like to ask you for your routine questions and.
- 10:59Speaker 8: Will let you long anything you want to know, Sergeant.
- 11:02Speaker 6: Can you account for your time this morning?
- 11:03Speaker 5: Man?
- 11:03Speaker 6: Between nine am and eleven am?
- 11:05Speaker 8: Yes, of course I can. I was right here in
- 11:07Speaker 8: the house getting things ready for the party. My friend
- 11:09Speaker 8: Aggie Benson was with me. She's a school chum of mind.
- 11:12Speaker 8: She was helping me get things ready.
- 11:13Speaker 9: Well.
- 11:13Speaker 1: And you didn't leave the house at any time this morning, No.
- 11:16Speaker 8: Sir, I didn't. You can ask Gaggie she had had.
- 11:18Speaker 1: You have a car, Missus Bowdley, Oh, I know, I wouldn't.
- 11:21Speaker 8: Know what to do with it. I've had one. I
- 11:22Speaker 8: never learned to drive. What do you want to know?
- 11:24Speaker 1: Just routine?
- 11:25Speaker 7: Man?
- 11:26Speaker 1: Well, I guess we'd better be going frank, aren't you.
- 11:28Speaker 8: And you don't believe those stories, do you? I mean,
- 11:30Speaker 8: just because I like children, i'd steal those babies. You
- 11:32Speaker 8: don't believe that, do.
- 11:33Speaker 1: You, No, ma'am, we haven't any reason to believe it.
- 11:35Speaker 8: I knew you'd understand. I wouldn't do a thing like that.
- 11:38Speaker 8: I just love children, Sergeant, never had any of my own,
- 11:41Speaker 8: living here by myself, no husband, lonely, terrible thing being lonely. Yes, man,
- 11:47Speaker 8: is there's only one answer for it, children, big family.
- 11:50Speaker 8: It's an old saying. It's very true. Man, when you
- 11:53Speaker 8: get to be sixty three, you want something else to
- 11:55Speaker 8: wake up to beside the morning paper.
- 12:02Speaker 5: Eight forty pm, before we headed back for the office,
- 12:05Speaker 5: Frank and I made a thorough check on Missus Bulger,
- 12:07Speaker 5: her background and her alibi. We found nothing to link
- 12:10Speaker 5: her in any way with the child stealings. Nine to
- 12:13Speaker 5: fifteen pm we got back to the City Hall and
- 12:16Speaker 5: went directly to Layton Fingerprints, where we met with Dean Bergman.
- 12:19Speaker 5: He'd found several sets of prints on the Donaldson's car
- 12:22Speaker 5: and on the bassinette from which their baby had been stolen.
- 12:25Speaker 5: Most of them were those of the parents, mister and
- 12:27Speaker 5: Missus Donaldson. Bergmann was unable to identify the two foreign
- 12:31Speaker 5: prints found inside the car. We contacted the officers in
- 12:34Speaker 5: charge of the special detail checking the neighborhood where the
- 12:36Speaker 5: latest child stealing had occurred. They'd failed to uncover a lead.
- 12:40Speaker 5: Seven forty eight am the following morning, Friday morning.
- 12:44Speaker 6: Kevin Good piece of news. Donaldson baby. They just found
- 12:47Speaker 6: him where Highland Park area. They found him in a
- 12:49Speaker 6: cardboard box. Apparently he's all right, little exposure. Doctors are
- 12:52Speaker 6: checking him over now at Georgia Street.
- 12:53Speaker 5: How about the suspect and he sent him not a trace?
- 12:59Speaker 5: Was are no different than the first two cases. Some
- 13:02Speaker 5: twenty one hours after he'd been abducted from the car
- 13:04Speaker 5: in the parking lot at the rear of the market
- 13:06Speaker 5: near Eighthan Dinehard, the Donaldson baby had been recovered, apparently unharmed.
- 13:10Speaker 5: The cardboard box in which the baby had been found
- 13:13Speaker 5: was gone over for fingerprints.
- 13:15Speaker 6: Routine investigation at the scene and in the neighborhood where
- 13:17Speaker 6: the child had been found failed to turn up a
- 13:19Speaker 6: lead on the abductor. Frank and I checked with doctor
- 13:22Speaker 6: George Hall, who'd examined the child.
- 13:24Speaker 1: After that we talked with mister and missus Donaldson.
- 13:27Speaker 5: The details of the case coincided almost point for point
- 13:30Speaker 5: with the first two abductions. The baby had been taken
- 13:33Speaker 5: then recovered in a twenty four hour period outside of
- 13:36Speaker 5: slight exposure, the child was unharmed. Also, like the two
- 13:39Speaker 5: cases preceding it, something which the child was wearing at
- 13:42Speaker 5: the time of his abduction was missing. In the first case,
- 13:46Speaker 5: it was a small pink sweater, in the second a
- 13:48Speaker 5: pair of shoes the baby was wearing. In the case
- 13:51Speaker 5: of the Donaldson baby, it was a sterling silver eye
- 13:53Speaker 5: D bracelet with the initials JD engraved on it. During
- 13:57Speaker 5: the next five days, Frank and I ran down every
- 13:59Speaker 5: lead we could get our hand.
- 14:00Speaker 1: They went nowhere.
- 14:01Speaker 6: Our system of policewomen decoys was put in effect.
- 14:05Speaker 1: It failed to get a rise.
- 14:06Speaker 5: On the sixth day, Thursday, June twenty sixth, five thirty pm,
- 14:09Speaker 5: we got word of another child stealing, this time in
- 14:11Speaker 5: the Echo Park area. We drove out to talk to
- 14:14Speaker 5: the mother, a missus Chester Osborne.
- 14:16Speaker 9: Yeah, that's right. Did the same thing I do every morning.
- 14:19Speaker 9: Gave the baby a bath, dressed her, put her out
- 14:21Speaker 9: in the backyard and her buggy. She usually plays a while,
- 14:23Speaker 9: then she takes her nap.
- 14:24Speaker 6: But about what time did you discover your baby was missing?
- 14:27Speaker 9: I don't know exactly about two o'clock. I guess maybe
- 14:29Speaker 9: a couple of minutes after went out to see how
- 14:32Speaker 9: she was looked in the buggy and she was gone.
- 14:34Speaker 5: Well it's almost six o'clock now, miss Osbourne. How is
- 14:36Speaker 5: it that you waited so long before you notified us?
- 14:38Speaker 8: Just kept holding It was a mistake, that's all.
- 14:41Speaker 9: I went from house to house all over the neighborhood,
- 14:44Speaker 9: but as far as three blocks away, I asked everybody,
- 14:46Speaker 9: nobody saw my baby.
- 14:47Speaker 6: You don't know what it means to me.
- 14:50Speaker 1: Telephone oesmen, would.
- 14:52Speaker 6: You answer it?
- 14:53Speaker 8: Please? Whoever it is taking thember, I'll calling.
- 14:56Speaker 1: Back, yes, ma'am. I'm glad to.
- 15:00Speaker 7: Hello.
- 15:00Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, sir, Oh yeah, Harry, we're here now. This
- 15:03Speaker 1: is Friday. How's that when I see where? That's so?
- 15:12Speaker 5: Uh huh okay Harry, thanks, yeah, tell them we'll be
- 15:15Speaker 5: right in right away. Okay, bye, Well that was our office,
- 15:18Speaker 5: Missus Osborn. You can stop worrying now what it was
- 15:21Speaker 5: about your little girls.
- 15:22Speaker 1: She's all right.
- 15:23Speaker 8: What do you mean?
- 15:23Speaker 1: I just found her three blocks from here.
- 15:29Speaker 7: Again.
- 15:30Speaker 5: With the lone exception of the time element, the Osbourne
- 15:32Speaker 5: Baby's abduction resembled closely the three previous cases. The crime
- 15:36Speaker 5: occurred in the same general area, the same general method
- 15:39Speaker 5: of operation was employed, and again outside of slight exposure,
- 15:42Speaker 5: the child was recovered unharmed. There was also an article
- 15:45Speaker 5: of clothing missing, a pink knitted bonnet, and as in
- 15:49Speaker 5: the previous three cases, the suspect had abandoned the baby
- 15:52Speaker 5: without detection. Routine investigation, but the crime laboratory crew and
- 15:56Speaker 5: juvenile officers working the case failed to turn up a lead.
- 16:00Speaker 5: During the week that followed, additional personnel for both decoys
- 16:02Speaker 5: and steakhouts were assigned to the area without results.
- 16:06Speaker 1: Friday, July fourth, ten am.
- 16:09Speaker 6: Jolly busy, what do you got? Frank Galvin and Mildred
- 16:12Speaker 6: Leslie just called in and this child stealing thing looks
- 16:14Speaker 6: like it might be something.
- 16:15Speaker 1: You know, what's the pitch?
- 16:16Speaker 6: It's Leslie Girl's employed as a made for mister missus
- 16:18Speaker 6: Roth Roth stockbroker. She's worked from years, So she says, yeah,
- 16:22Speaker 6: Leslie Girls and upstairs made for the Roths. She's been
- 16:24Speaker 6: following this baby stealing case in the papers right along.
- 16:26Speaker 6: She thinks maybe Missus Roth can tell us something about it.
- 16:29Speaker 1: Yeah, how's that?
- 16:29Speaker 9: Well?
- 16:29Speaker 6: The Leslie Girl was cleaning Missus Roth's bedroom yesterday. She
- 16:32Speaker 6: came across a few things started back in one of
- 16:33Speaker 6: the closets, baby things, pink sweater, pink bonnet, and a
- 16:36Speaker 6: pair of baby shoes. And she says they've all been used,
- 16:38Speaker 6: they're not new.
- 16:39Speaker 1: A lot of mothers save baby clothes things like that.
- 16:41Speaker 6: No, the roth woman won't have a reason to Yeah,
- 16:43Speaker 6: she's never had any children.
- 16:56Speaker 3: You are listening to drag net authentic stories of your
- 16:59Speaker 3: police forction.
- 17:01Speaker 2: The only way you can prove to yourself that Fatima
- 17:04Speaker 2: is the best of all king size cigarettes is to
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- 17:09Speaker 3: Yes, compare Fatima with any other king size cigarette.
- 17:13Speaker 2: One Fatima's length filters the smoke eighty five millimeters for
- 17:17Speaker 2: your protection.
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- 17:21Speaker 2: Three Fatima's length gives you those extra puffs twenty one
- 17:25Speaker 2: percent longer than standard cigarette size.
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- 17:38Speaker 2: August first, nineteen fifty two, Fatima Box thirty seven, New
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- 17:58Speaker 5: A Friday, July fourth, eleven am, Frank Smith and I
- 18:07Speaker 5: left the office and drove out to interview Mildred Leslie
- 18:10Speaker 5: at her apartment. She told us substantially the same things
- 18:13Speaker 5: she told Frank on the phone. The Leslie Girl had
- 18:15Speaker 5: been employed as a maid by mister and Missus Roth
- 18:18Speaker 5: for almost a year. She went on to tell us
- 18:20Speaker 5: that for the last few months or so, Missus Roth,
- 18:22Speaker 5: who was a fairly prominent club woman, had been acting
- 18:24Speaker 5: peculiarly and that mister Roth was worried about her. According
- 18:28Speaker 5: to the Leslie Girl, he'd consulted a doctor several times
- 18:30Speaker 5: about his wife. As for the articles of baby clothing,
- 18:33Speaker 5: they had been found stored back on a shelf in
- 18:36Speaker 5: Missus Roth's bedroom closet.
- 18:38Speaker 1: The Leslie Girl told us that she.
- 18:39Speaker 5: Happened to find them while cleaning and dusting Missus Roth's bedroom.
- 18:43Speaker 5: Each of the articles she claimed she saw seemed to
- 18:45Speaker 5: tie in directly with the child stealings. A pink sweater,
- 18:48Speaker 5: a pink bonnet, a pair of baby shoes. Identical items
- 18:51Speaker 5: of clothing had been taken from each of the previous
- 18:53Speaker 5: abduction victims. After we left Mildred Leslie, Frank and I
- 18:57Speaker 5: got to a phone called a record bureau and had
- 18:59Speaker 5: them make a run for us on Missus Roth.
- 19:00Speaker 1: She had no previous criminal record.
- 19:02Speaker 6: One twenty pm, we called mister Roth at his place
- 19:05Speaker 6: of business, but the office was closed because of the
- 19:07Speaker 6: Fourth of July holiday. We got in the car and
- 19:10Speaker 6: drove out to the Roth home, an old two story
- 19:12Speaker 6: mansion just above Silver Lake Reservoir.
- 19:14Speaker 5: Missus Roth wasn't at home. We interviewed her husband in
- 19:16Speaker 5: the living room. What seems to be the troubled sergeant.
- 19:19Speaker 5: Why would you want to see my wife? A few
- 19:20Speaker 5: questions we'd like to ask her, mister Roth, can you
- 19:22Speaker 5: tell us where she is now?
- 19:23Speaker 6: She took a drive with some friends of hers. I
- 19:25Speaker 6: think they were going down to the beach club boy.
- 19:27Speaker 5: But we're investigating a juvenile case, mister Roth. We think
- 19:29Speaker 5: maybe your wife can give us some information on it.
- 19:32Speaker 6: I'm sorry she isn't home. It's too bad you didn't
- 19:33Speaker 6: call this morning. She didn't leave until after eleven. She'll
- 19:36Speaker 6: be home later to night if you care to call back.
- 19:39Speaker 6: You're sure it's not something I can help.
- 19:40Speaker 5: You with Well, yes, sir, maybe you can like to
- 19:42Speaker 5: ask you a few questions about your wife's activities the
- 19:44Speaker 5: last month or so.
- 19:46Speaker 6: Well, how do you mean some of the social works
- 19:47Speaker 6: she does with the club? Not quite, mister Roth. You
- 19:49Speaker 6: said you were from the juvenile division. Is it something
- 19:51Speaker 6: regarding her work with the underprivileged kids? Her club does
- 19:54Speaker 6: quite a bit of that, you know, Fred, I don't
- 19:56Speaker 6: know too much about it though. No, sure, it's not
- 19:58Speaker 6: that I don't think I understand what is it about,
- 20:01Speaker 6: mister Roth. We want you to understand that this is
- 20:03Speaker 6: merely a routine investigation. We don't want to offend in
- 20:06Speaker 6: any way, but we have some information that we've got
- 20:08Speaker 6: to check out. What do you mean what kind of information.
- 20:10Speaker 5: Well, there's been a series of child stealing cases the
- 20:12Speaker 5: last month or so. We're the investigating officers on it.
- 20:15Speaker 5: Maybe you read about them in the papers.
- 20:16Speaker 2: Yes, I have.
- 20:17Speaker 6: But what would my wife have to do with that?
- 20:19Speaker 6: Do you think she has some information for you? She
- 20:21Speaker 6: didn't say anything about it to me, Yes, sir, I
- 20:23Speaker 6: think she can help us quite a bit. I don't
- 20:25Speaker 6: know exactly when you'll be home. I don't have any
- 20:27Speaker 6: place to contact it. I do know the clubs taking
- 20:30Speaker 6: a group of children to the coliseum tonight the big
- 20:32Speaker 6: Fourth of July fireworks display, you know, Yes, I see.
- 20:34Speaker 6: I'm going to meet my wife there tonight. Maybe I
- 20:36Speaker 6: could give her a message for you, tell her to
- 20:38Speaker 6: contact you.
- 20:38Speaker 5: I find mister Roth, there is something that you can
- 20:41Speaker 5: do for us right now though, Yes, would you take us.
- 20:43Speaker 1: Up to your wife's room, like to have a look
- 20:45Speaker 1: at it?
- 20:46Speaker 6: Take it to her room. I don't understand what fat
- 20:48Speaker 6: or like we told you before, sir, it's a routine investigation.
- 20:51Speaker 6: I think if you take us to your wife's room,
- 20:52Speaker 6: I think we can clear the whole thing up now.
- 20:54Speaker 6: Probably won't be necessary to bother you tonight. Well, I
- 20:57Speaker 6: certainly don't understand. We'd come along if you like the
- 20:59Speaker 6: darts is was right ahead of the stairs.
- 21:01Speaker 1: Thank you.
- 21:03Speaker 6: Certainly has me bathroom. What would there be about Daris's room?
- 21:06Speaker 6: It has to be investigated. We don't know if there
- 21:08Speaker 6: is anything, sir. Just appreciate your cooperation.
- 21:11Speaker 4: And at all.
- 21:11Speaker 6: We haven't anything to hide here we are. This is
- 21:16Speaker 6: her room. Now, what is it you're looking for? And
- 21:19Speaker 6: that's the bedroom closet, is it? Yes, that's right? Like
- 21:22Speaker 6: to look at it if we could certainly go right ahead,
- 21:25Speaker 6: all right, and the shelf up there, joke and you
- 21:30Speaker 6: reach it eye?
- 21:32Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so what is it?
- 21:34Speaker 6: What are you looking for? Or here you go, frank, Yeah,
- 21:38Speaker 6: pink bonnet, pink sweater.
- 21:39Speaker 1: That's it.
- 21:40Speaker 5: Here's the baby shooters, the ID bracelet, you know, initials, JD.
- 21:46Speaker 6: Not much doubt, Yeah, maybe clothes bracelet. Never seen them
- 21:51Speaker 6: around here? How'd you know they were here? Or we
- 21:54Speaker 6: weren't sure that they were, but I've never seen them before.
- 21:56Speaker 6: What are they doing in Darris's room? Why would she
- 21:58Speaker 6: have to talk to her about this?
- 22:00Speaker 7: Yes?
- 22:01Speaker 1: Or so do we?
- 22:05Speaker 5: After finding the evidence in his wife's bedroom closet, we
- 22:07Speaker 5: continued to interview mister Roth. We briefed him on the
- 22:10Speaker 5: details of the case and explained about the articles of
- 22:13Speaker 5: baby clothing. It was very cooperative, but he found it
- 22:15Speaker 5: hard to believe that his wife was responsible for the
- 22:17Speaker 5: abduction of the babies. He told us that early in
- 22:20Speaker 5: their marriage, his wife did have a child, which died
- 22:23Speaker 5: shortly after birth. Complications left her unable to have any
- 22:26Speaker 5: more children. When she found out about this, it resulted
- 22:29Speaker 5: in missus Roth having a nervous breakdown.
- 22:31Speaker 1: But apparently she recovered completely.
- 22:33Speaker 5: Roth went on to tell us that his wife was
- 22:35Speaker 5: very fond of children, that she devoted a great deal
- 22:37Speaker 5: of time to social work caring for underprivileged children. He
- 22:41Speaker 5: also told us that during the past month, with the
- 22:43Speaker 5: recurrence of her nervous condition, she'd been under a doctor's care.
- 22:47Speaker 5: Shortly after eight o'clock that night, along with mister Roth,
- 22:50Speaker 5: we drove to the Colosseum, where crowds of people were
- 22:52Speaker 5: gathering for the annual July fourth fireworks display. Roth pointed
- 22:56Speaker 5: out his wife. We went over and he introduced us.
- 23:01Speaker 4: These officers would like to talk to us. Honey, let's
- 23:03Speaker 4: step over here.
- 23:03Speaker 7: Well, I can't leave the children alone.
- 23:05Speaker 10: Can we talk later?
- 23:06Speaker 4: No, honey, it's pretty important. I think you better talk
- 23:08Speaker 4: to them now.
- 23:08Speaker 10: Well, all right, if you say so, you'll have to
- 23:10Speaker 10: stay and watch.
- 23:11Speaker 4: The children, though, You'll be all right. We can keep
- 23:13Speaker 4: an eye on them from over there.
- 23:14Speaker 10: No, I can't leave them alone.
- 23:15Speaker 7: You'll have to stay.
- 23:16Speaker 4: Oh, all right, ma'am.
- 23:17Speaker 7: I wonder if you step over here, please?
- 23:19Speaker 4: Yeah, huh, this ought to be all right right here.
- 23:21Speaker 7: Beautiful night tonight, isn't it.
- 23:23Speaker 8: Children just love these things.
- 23:25Speaker 10: I think they're just about ready to start the show.
- 23:28Speaker 4: Yes, just look at that the colors.
- 23:34Speaker 10: Isn't that card?
- 23:36Speaker 6: Yes, ra'am, we'd like to drive you and your husband
- 23:38Speaker 6: downtown to Juvenile Division.
- 23:40Speaker 7: We'd like to talk to you.
- 23:41Speaker 10: What do you mean I can't leave now? I have
- 23:43Speaker 10: these children with me. What do you want to see
- 23:45Speaker 10: me about?
- 23:45Speaker 4: What's the trouble? I think you know why we're here,
- 23:47Speaker 4: missus Raw, I don't. Why do you want to talk
- 23:49Speaker 4: to me?
- 23:50Speaker 6: Well, we can start here, ma'am. We were at your
- 23:52Speaker 6: home this afternoon. Your husband showed us your bedroom. In
- 23:55Speaker 6: the closet we found the things up on the top shelf.
- 23:57Speaker 6: What the baby clothed, the bracelet?
- 24:03Speaker 4: Beautiful, just a lot of missus Roth. I want to
- 24:07Speaker 4: come along downtown.
- 24:08Speaker 10: Just baby clothes, had them in my closet. It doesn't
- 24:11Speaker 10: mean anything.
- 24:11Speaker 7: I'm afraid you're wrong. It means a good deal, ma'am.
- 24:13Speaker 7: You know that?
- 24:14Speaker 9: Yes, all right?
- 24:16Speaker 7: But do you want to tell us about it? Miss Roth?
- 24:19Speaker 7: Ms Roth?
- 24:21Speaker 4: Where do I start?
- 24:23Speaker 10: It's no beginning just started. I couldn't help myself.
- 24:26Speaker 4: What can I say? You just tell us what happens?
- 24:28Speaker 4: Start anyplace?
- 24:29Speaker 10: My baby died and they said I couldn't have anymore.
- 24:33Speaker 4: Yes, it started.
- 24:34Speaker 10: Then I told my husband, told the doctor too. They
- 24:38Speaker 10: didn't understand. Nobody understands though I wanted my children, my
- 24:43Speaker 10: own children.
- 24:44Speaker 6: How about the Martin baby, missus Roth, the first one
- 24:46Speaker 6: you took?
- 24:46Speaker 7: How'd that happen?
- 24:54Speaker 4: Look another one?
- 24:55Speaker 10: Purfle quite beautiful?
- 24:58Speaker 7: What about it, ma'am Martin? How'd that happen?
- 25:01Speaker 10: I saw him in the baby carriage outside the market.
- 25:04Speaker 4: There, such a cute baby, pulled the covers back, looked
- 25:08Speaker 4: at him.
- 25:09Speaker 10: I didn't think I was gonna steal him. After I
- 25:12Speaker 10: looked at him, I just wanted to hold him, hold
- 25:14Speaker 10: him close. So I picked him up.
- 25:16Speaker 8: You understand, don't you, Yes, ma'am.
- 25:18Speaker 10: He was such a sweet baby. He could have been mine.
- 25:22Speaker 10: I kept on holding him, and then I started to
- 25:24Speaker 10: put him down, back in his carriage. I couldn't. I couldn't.
- 25:30Speaker 7: What do you mean, ma'am?
- 25:32Speaker 10: I couldn't put the baby down.
- 25:33Speaker 8: It just like mine, It was mine.
- 25:37Speaker 10: I can't explain it. I took the blanket from the buggy,
- 25:40Speaker 10: I put it around him.
- 25:41Speaker 6: I walked away.
- 25:42Speaker 10: Nobody knew it.
- 25:43Speaker 7: Was my baby, yes, ma'am. Would you go on?
- 25:47Speaker 9: Oh?
- 25:47Speaker 10: My head terrible headache.
- 25:51Speaker 8: It's so hard to tell you.
- 25:53Speaker 10: I couldn't even tell my husband I lied. I'd take
- 25:58Speaker 10: the baby and stop overnight at a motel and tell
- 26:00Speaker 10: my husband lies. I couldn't let him know when.
- 26:03Speaker 7: You knew you were doing wrong, didn't you?
- 26:05Speaker 10: Yes, I knew it. Not when I was taking a
- 26:07Speaker 10: baby though, Not when i'd picked them up, not when
- 26:09Speaker 10: I felt them in my arms, held him close. It
- 26:11Speaker 10: didn't seem wrong. Most natural thing in the world.
- 26:14Speaker 8: I just pretended i'd picked.
- 26:16Speaker 10: The baby up, I'd hold it close. It was my baby.
- 26:20Speaker 10: All of a sudden it was my baby. Later on
- 26:23Speaker 10: I had to face, had to stop pretending the baby
- 26:26Speaker 10: wasn't mine. I had to give it back.
- 26:30Speaker 1: This isn't that wonderful look?
- 26:32Speaker 10: Streamers, the showers, the marbles.
- 26:35Speaker 4: Why'd you fandon the children?
- 26:37Speaker 8: Man?
- 26:37Speaker 4: Without notifying anyone.
- 26:38Speaker 10: I knew they'd be found. I make sure that always
- 26:41Speaker 10: put them someplace where they had to be found.
- 26:45Speaker 4: Terrible headache.
- 26:47Speaker 10: You don't know what it's been like.
- 26:49Speaker 8: I couldn't tell anyone, no one, Yes.
- 26:52Speaker 7: Ma'am, you buy ready to go now?
- 26:54Speaker 8: All right?
- 26:55Speaker 10: I could only explain it to you. I mean, having
- 26:58Speaker 10: a baby then losey you don't know what it's like.
- 27:03Speaker 10: No one will ever know what it's like. No one.
- 27:07Speaker 5: You took four babies, ma'am, Yes, how about their mothers?
- 27:18Speaker 2: The story you have just heard was true. The names
- 27:21Speaker 2: were changed to protect the innocent.
- 27:23Speaker 3: On October tenth, trial was held in Superior Court, Department
- 27:26Speaker 3: eighty eight, City and County of Los Angeles, State of California.
- 27:29Speaker 3: In a moment, the results of that trial now here
- 27:32Speaker 3: is our star, Jack Webb.
- 27:33Speaker 5: Thank you, George Fenneman. Friends, I believe all of us
- 27:36Speaker 5: are willing to take practical advice. That's why I like
- 27:39Speaker 5: to make it plain that I want you to compare
- 27:41Speaker 5: Fatima with the King size cigarette you've been smoking. I
- 27:44Speaker 5: know that's the tried, practical way thousands have convinced themselves.
- 27:47Speaker 5: Fatima is the best of all King SiZ cigarettes. You'll
- 27:51Speaker 5: find Fatima gives you more for your money, an extra
- 27:53Speaker 5: mile soothing smoke, plus the added protection of Fatima quality. Tomorrow,
- 27:58Speaker 5: get Fatima in the bright sunny pack, best of all
- 28:01Speaker 5: Kingsai cigarettes.
- 28:11Speaker 3: Doris Evelyn Roth was tried and convicted of child stealing
- 28:14Speaker 3: under Section two seven eight Penal Code four counts. She
- 28:17Speaker 3: was placed on five years probation. One of the terms
- 28:20Speaker 3: of probation required that she would be under strict supervision
- 28:22Speaker 3: of a competent psychiatrist. You have just heard Dragnet, a
- 28:34Speaker 3: series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice comes
- 28:38Speaker 3: from the Office of Chief of Police W. H. Parker,
- 28:40Speaker 3: Los Angeles Police Department Technical Advisors Captain Jack Donahoe, Sergeant
- 28:45Speaker 3: Marty Winn, Sergeant Vance Bracer. Heard tonight were her Bellus,
- 28:48Speaker 3: Bic Perrin, Virginia Gregg. Script by Jim Mosy, music by
- 28:52Speaker 3: Walter Schumann, Hell Gibney speaking.
- 29:01Speaker 1: Being Sized Fatima.
- 29:02Speaker 2: Made for the same people who make popular Chesterfield cigarettes
- 29:05Speaker 2: has brought you drag Net Transcribed from Los Angeles.
- 29:13Speaker 6: Each Thursday night, It's Counterspy on NBC