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Dragnet - "Big Lie" (Old Time Radio, 1952) · Dragnet | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On a warm Los Angeles morning, Sergeant Joe Friday and
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Officer Frank Smith are called to the Curtis home after
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the shooting death of Jeff Curtis. The first account comes
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: from his mother, whose manner and description of a man
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: leaving the house send the homicide detectives back through the
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: events of that morning and toward a connection with Bruce
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Dudley from NBC. This is Dragnet Episode one hundred seventy three,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Big Lie, first broadcast October twelfth, nineteen fifty two. Jack
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Webb and Ben Alexander are featured with a script by
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: John Robinson. We now take you back to the original broadcast.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Sound off for Chesterfield. Chesterfield first Cigarette in America to
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: give you premium quality in both regular and king size,
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: brings you Dragnet.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: Ladies and gentlemen. The story you were about to hear
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned a homicide detail. You've
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: got a call that a man has been murdered. His
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: killer is unknown.
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: Your job get him.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: Here's what the tobacco trade press it's had to say
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: about Chesterfields.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: US Tobacco journals Boston, Massachusetts. Chesterfield Cigarettes in the new
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: King size is still maintaining large turnovers in this area.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Dealers report that sales continue to climb on this size,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: and it seems that volume on the regular size has
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: climbed to new heights with its big brother.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: And Tobacco Leaf reports from Chicago more calls for Chesterfield
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: King size cigarettes than for most brands being marketed. Dealers
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: all over the country tell us no product they ever
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: handled has grown so fast in so short a time
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: as King sized. Chesterfields King size cigarettes give you quantity,
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: but only Chesterfield King Size gives you quantity plus quality,
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: Premium quality.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: Chesterfield King Size contains tobaccos of better quality and higher
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: price than any other king size cigarette. In fact, the
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: only difference between Chesterfield King Size and Chesterfield Regular is
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: that the King Size is larger, contains more of these
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: same tobaccos, enough to give you more than a one
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: fifth longer smoke. So remember Chesterfield is the only cigarette
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: to give smokers premium quality in both regular and King size.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: Ask your dealer for Chesterfield either way you like them.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: Premium quality Chesterfields and much milder.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Drag net. The documented drama of an actual crime. Well,
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Police Department, you will travel step by step on the
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: side of the law through an actual case transcribed from
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: official police violence, from beginning to end, from crime to punishment.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: Drag Net is the story of your police force in action.
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: It was Saturday, May twelfth. It was warm in Los Angeles.
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: We were working the day watch out of homicide detail.
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: My partner's Frank Smith. The boss is Captain Wrmanck.
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: My name is Friday.
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: It was eight oh four am when I got through
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: forty two homicide actual Joe.
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm like Frank, I got held up
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: in traffic. Okay, no problem.
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: Now, sure be that when I get that freeway, Pnash,
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: won't you And on the end of the past, this
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: time the morning, you can't go more than ten an hour, yeah, Carson,
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: pilot around Franklin.
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: Oh boy, when we get through the night, I'm going
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: to go straight to bed. I might not even stop
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: to eat with the matter, have trouble to get a
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: sleep lessons Well, I wouldn't have had any trouble if
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: I'd had the chance to do it. What do you mean,
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: get it my brother in law. Oh what did he
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: have to do with it?
• 4:09
  Speaker 6: A couple of weeks ago he sent away for one
• 4:10
  Speaker 6: of those courses and hypnotism at home. Book got to
• 4:13
  Speaker 6: the house yesterday right away. He's got a new career,
• 4:16
  Speaker 6: going to go into.
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: The hypnotism business. Right yeah, book tells how to do
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: it right.
• 4:20
  Speaker 6: You can have full control over people, make him do
• 4:22
  Speaker 6: things you want, all that stuff. Right away, he's got
• 4:24
  Speaker 6: a practice on somebody. We just finished dinner and I
• 4:27
  Speaker 6: was all settled down to watch television. He comes in
• 4:29
  Speaker 6: with this little book, a little bit of mirror in
• 4:31
  Speaker 6: the candle, and the first thing he likes the candle,
• 4:33
  Speaker 6: tells me to look at it, concentrate, you know now,
• 4:36
  Speaker 6: I told him to go take a run and jump
• 4:37
  Speaker 6: and ride away.
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: Fade joins in and says, I don't want him to
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: get ahead, and I said something about the fact that
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: he could use one, and it started ends up with
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: me sitting there in him trying to control my will
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: go to the work. I don't know.
• 4:48
  Speaker 6: Waved his hand in front of me and flashed the
• 4:50
  Speaker 6: mirror in my eyes and I fell asleep. Yeah, right away,
• 4:53
  Speaker 6: wakes me up. Wants to know how it felt what
• 4:56
  Speaker 6: it was like when he put me under. I told
• 4:58
  Speaker 6: him he didn't. I just went to sleep. He kept
• 5:00
  Speaker 6: trying to use with this book called Post Thepotic Suggestion.
• 5:03
  Speaker 6: You know, when I'm asleep, he says something I'm supposed
• 5:05
  Speaker 6: to do, and I waked up, and he woke me
• 5:08
  Speaker 6: up and waited for me to do it, And what
• 5:09
  Speaker 6: do you want you to do?
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: I never found out. He just sat there and looked
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: at me.
• 5:13
  Speaker 6: Every time I doze off. He'd waked me up so
• 5:15
  Speaker 6: I could do whatever it was he suggested. In Around
• 5:18
  Speaker 6: one thirty this morning he gave up. He said the
• 5:20
  Speaker 6: book wasn't any good and he gonna get his money back.
• 5:23
  Speaker 6: All the time faced it and I just watched him miserable.
• 5:25
  Speaker 6: If I'd known what it was he wanted me to
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: do it, I'd have done it to get him off
• 5:28
  Speaker 6: my back.
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: Never did find out what it was.
• 5:31
  Speaker 6: This morning?
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: Would him say, Hello, figured I wasn't cooperating.
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: I guess I get it. Homicide Friday, Guess ma'am, guess
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: man it is? Yes, Well, what was that address again?
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: Next man will be right out something for us.
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: A woman out on Burne Street sixty four, twenty five,
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: says your son's been murdered.
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: Frank and I drove out to the house. It was
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: a typic residential neighborhood.
• 6:01
  Speaker 5: When we got there, a crowd had gathered around the
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: front of the house. A radio card arrived, and the
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: officers had gotten the people back from the lawn and
• 6:07
  Speaker 5: the entrance of the house. We went in and met
• 6:09
  Speaker 5: the woman who had placed the call, and missus Edith Curtis.
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: She was a woman in the late forties with graying hair.
• 6:15
  Speaker 5: As we talked to her, she kept leaning a handkerchief
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: in her hands.
• 6:18
  Speaker 7: Jeff was cleaning the gun in the middle of the week.
• 6:20
  Speaker 7: He looked at it and said that it needed cleaning.
• 6:23
  Speaker 7: He's always home on Saturday, so this morning he said
• 6:25
  Speaker 7: he might as well get at it. After breakfast. He
• 6:28
  Speaker 7: got out all the things he uses, put them on
• 6:31
  Speaker 7: the table in there, and started to clean the gun.
• 6:33
  Speaker 7: I was in the bedroom, tidying up the place. I
• 6:36
  Speaker 7: heard these loud voices, and then it shot. I went
• 6:39
  Speaker 7: to the living room and I saw this man standing there.
• 6:42
  Speaker 7: As soon as he saw me, he turned around and
• 6:44
  Speaker 7: ran for the door. I yelled at it, but he
• 6:47
  Speaker 7: didn't stop.
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: Why'd you do then, man?
• 6:50
  Speaker 7: I went over to Jeff. He was just lying there,
• 6:53
  Speaker 7: still and quiet. I could see where he'd been shot.
• 6:57
  Speaker 7: I knew it was dead. And then I called you
• 7:00
  Speaker 7: before you got here. The other men, the ones in
• 7:02
  Speaker 7: the car, got here, but it was too late. My
• 7:05
  Speaker 7: boy was dead. Terrible, just terrible, ma'am.
• 7:11
  Speaker 5: I'll go see if my partner's finished with the call.
• 7:13
  Speaker 5: Missus Curtis, would you like us to call your family doctor?
• 7:15
  Speaker 7: No? Very kind of you, but I'll be all right.
• 7:19
  Speaker 7: This house has been full of tragedy last couple of years,
• 7:23
  Speaker 7: nothing but sadness. I'm used to it. I guess the
• 7:27
  Speaker 7: Good Lord makes she used to it. If he didn't,
• 7:30
  Speaker 7: I don't think a mother could go on, ma'am. My
• 7:33
  Speaker 7: youngest daughter, Alice, two years ago, this next month, to
• 7:37
  Speaker 7: twenty fourth, she killed herself, Sergeant. It almost killed me too,
• 7:42
  Speaker 7: losing her. Yes, ma'am, that's why say I'm used to it.
• 7:46
  Speaker 7: I got to the point after Alice was dead where
• 7:48
  Speaker 7: I couldn't see any reason for going on, and I
• 7:51
  Speaker 7: figured that the Good Lord must have wanted it this way,
• 7:54
  Speaker 7: and I wasn't the one to say it was wrong.
• 7:57
  Speaker 7: Alice was going to have enough trouble as it was.
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: I don't think I understand.
• 8:02
  Speaker 7: Suicide, sergeant, the one unforgivable sin man.
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: Okay, So I called him. Checked with the fellows in
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: the car. They're looking around the neighborhood this curse. Yes,
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: wonder if you could give us a description of the
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: man you saw, we'd like to get out of call on.
• 8:18
  Speaker 7: Of course, I saw him pretty good, just standing there
• 8:21
  Speaker 7: looking at me.
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: Well, how old a man would you say?
• 8:23
  Speaker 7: Was maybe thirty five or forty? Not any older than that,
• 8:26
  Speaker 7: I'm sure?
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: How tall would you say?
• 8:28
  Speaker 7: It was taller than you?
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: About how much taller? Oh?
• 8:32
  Speaker 7: Maybe a couple of inches I.
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: Want to think on about six one or two? Is
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: that right?
• 8:36
  Speaker 7: Yes? I think that's pretty.
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: Close about his weight. How hea did you think he was?
• 8:40
  Speaker 7: I'm not very good at that. I guess about one
• 8:42
  Speaker 7: hundred and eighty round there.
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: What about his clothes? What was he wearing? Could you remember?
• 8:47
  Speaker 7: He had on one of those blue danim out that
• 8:49
  Speaker 7: you know, the trousers and the jackets light blue, and
• 8:52
  Speaker 7: the coat had that dark blue trim knitted around the
• 8:54
  Speaker 7: bottom and collar. Had on a white shirt, no tie,
• 8:58
  Speaker 7: a pair of those shoes with a real thick souls
• 9:01
  Speaker 7: that Robert.
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: Anything unusual about him?
• 9:04
  Speaker 7: I don't think I know what you mean.
• 9:05
  Speaker 5: But does he have any marks or scars, anything that
• 9:07
  Speaker 5: might make it easier for us to identify him?
• 9:09
  Speaker 7: No, not that I could see. But you won't have
• 9:12
  Speaker 7: any trouble identifying him. I'll tell you if you have
• 9:14
  Speaker 7: the right one or not.
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: Did he have a car? Would you know that?
• 9:17
  Speaker 7: I don't think so. I didn't see one, Thank.
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: You, ma'am. I'll call us in right away, Joe, get
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: out the local and ap be here. Miss Curz.
• 9:25
  Speaker 7: Yes, could you.
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: Tell us exactly what time the shooting took place?
• 9:29
  Speaker 7: Not exactly, but i'd say about a quarter to eight.
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: Did this man say anything to you?
• 9:34
  Speaker 7: No, not a word.
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: You never saw him before? Maybe around the neighborhood, the stars,
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: in the streets, someplace.
• 9:39
  Speaker 7: No, I never saw. I might know that, but if
• 9:41
  Speaker 7: I see him again, i'll know him.
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: I'll be right back. Job. I hope you won't take
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: a fast ma'am.
• 9:48
  Speaker 7: What's that? Sergeant?
• 9:49
  Speaker 5: Well, you don't seem too greatly concerned about your son's
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: death here.
• 9:52
  Speaker 7: I thought i'd explain that to you. I told you
• 9:55
  Speaker 7: that I have to figure that it's the Lord's will.
• 9:58
  Speaker 7: I might as well. Tell you, sergeant, you'll probably find
• 10:01
  Speaker 7: out anyway.
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: What's that man?
• 10:03
  Speaker 7: Well, Jeff and I had a few arguments, nothing serious,
• 10:08
  Speaker 7: but we did have words. How about your pardoners, Well,
• 10:11
  Speaker 7: I told you that my daughter took her own life.
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: I am.
• 10:14
  Speaker 7: She lived with us here in this house. I thought
• 10:17
  Speaker 7: it was a happy home. I found out it wasn't.
• 10:21
  Speaker 7: I found out too. Well. You see Alice, that's my daughter, yes, ma'am. Well,
• 10:27
  Speaker 7: she was going to marry. She'd met a young man
• 10:30
  Speaker 7: who worked in an aircraft factory. She seemed to think
• 10:33
  Speaker 7: he was very nice. I couldn't see much any I
• 10:37
  Speaker 7: told her.
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: So.
• 10:38
  Speaker 7: We had quite a few rows about it once when
• 10:41
  Speaker 7: he was here on that night the row Alice's young
• 10:45
  Speaker 7: man left, made quite a fuss about my trying to
• 10:48
  Speaker 7: run the children's lives. Told Alice that he'd marry or
• 10:51
  Speaker 7: right away that night, but when they were married, he
• 10:53
  Speaker 7: didn't want to have anything to do with Jeff or me.
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: Well, did Jeff take any part in this quarrel?
• 10:58
  Speaker 7: Oh? My yes. Finally the young man stormed out of
• 11:01
  Speaker 7: the house. Alice was in tears, just seemed to go
• 11:03
  Speaker 7: to pieces. That night, she took an overdose of sleeping pills.
• 11:08
  Speaker 7: I'll never forget when I called her for breakfast. Terrible.
• 11:14
  Speaker 7: That's not doing any good. I'm sorry, sergeant.
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: That's quite all right, ma'am. Now you said you and
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: your son had several arguments. Was it about this engagement thing?
• 11:24
  Speaker 7: Yes? After Alice's funeral, Jeff seemed to stalk around the house.
• 11:28
  Speaker 7: Then at night he'd go out and drink quite a bit.
• 11:31
  Speaker 7: He seemed to think that I'd caused Alice to do
• 11:33
  Speaker 7: away with herself. I tried to tell him that I didn't,
• 11:36
  Speaker 7: that I was just as sorry as he was. I
• 11:39
  Speaker 7: told him how badly I felt that he didn't seem
• 11:41
  Speaker 7: to do any good.
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: Well, have you heard from Alice's fiancee since that night?
• 11:45
  Speaker 7: He was at the funeral? Oh? What's his name, missus,
• 11:48
  Speaker 7: Chris Dudley, Bruce Dudley.
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: Do you know where we can get in touch with him?
• 11:53
  Speaker 7: I think Jeff had his address. I can look for it,
• 11:56
  Speaker 7: thank you. But you don't think that Bruce had anything
• 11:59
  Speaker 7: to do with this. I know it wasn't him. I
• 12:01
  Speaker 7: know Bruce. I know what he looks like. It wasn't him.
• 12:04
  Speaker 7: In the living room.
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: Oh, we just want to talk to him.
• 12:06
  Speaker 7: Man of course he might have hired someone else. No,
• 12:11
  Speaker 7: I'm sure Bruce had nothing to do with it, even
• 12:14
  Speaker 7: with what he did say, ma'am. That night when they
• 12:18
  Speaker 7: had the fight, Jeff told him that if he didn't
• 12:20
  Speaker 7: get out, he'd throw him out. When he left, Bruce
• 12:23
  Speaker 7: said that someday I'm meddling in other people's lives was
• 12:25
  Speaker 7: going to backfire, that it might take some time, but
• 12:28
  Speaker 7: that we'd be repaid. And that look in his eyes
• 12:31
  Speaker 7: when he went through the door, Sargeant, Yeah, maybe he
• 12:34
  Speaker 7: did do it. He looked mad enough to kill us both.
• 12:41
  Speaker 5: Nine twelve am, the corner arrived and removed the body.
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: The men from the crime lab crew went over the place.
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: A complete set of pictures was taken before the body
• 12:49
  Speaker 5: was removed. Layton Prince went over the rifle on the
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: table and the cleaning apparatus. Frank and I noticed that
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: the tablecloth on the living room table had been on
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: the floor When.
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: We got to the house. Missus had told us that
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: her son had grabbed it as he fell to the floor.
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: We talked with the neighbors.
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: One of them and Missus, Alvin Kemper, said that she
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: had been watering the lawn between seven thirty and eight am,
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: but that she had seen no one enter or leave
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: the Curtis house.
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: She told us that she had heard frequent.
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: And loud arguments between Missus Curtis and her son. Frank
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: and I drove out to the address of Bruce Dudley,
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: was a modern one room apartment on Riverside Drive in
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: the San Fernando Valley. We rang the buzzer a second
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: time and waited.
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: Looks like he's not in. You know what time? You've
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: got about seventeen and it's probably gone out. Come on,
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: we checked the manager. Yeah, mister Dudley, Yeah, what do
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: you are? Well, police officers would like to talk to you. Okay,
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: come on, it just got up out late last night.
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: I feel it all. Well, all of those clothes and
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: sit down. I'm going to put a pot of coffee on.
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: Oh it feels like a troop of midgets ran barefoot
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: over my tongue. Yes, sir, right ahead. What do you
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: want to see me about? You know what? Jeff Curtis, Yeah,
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Hey, what'd you say your names were?
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: Well, my name is Friday, it's my partner, Frank Smith.
• 13:57
  Speaker 8: You've got any bad something to prove that your cops, Yes, sir,
• 14:00
  Speaker 8: my id M. Sergeant Joseph Ridy. Okay, now what's this
• 14:06
  Speaker 8: about Jeff? He's dead, mister Dudley dead, Yes, sir, How
• 14:09
  Speaker 8: did it happen?
• 14:10
  Speaker 7: Accident?
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: Now we're not sure I didn't kill himself?
• 14:12
  Speaker 7: Did he?
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: Why did he ask that? I just thought he might have.
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: Sister killed herself, thought he might have done the same thing.
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: Do you know of any reason that he do something
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: like that?
• 14:20
  Speaker 7: Oh? No, not that I could name.
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: Understand you and mister Curtis didn't get along too well?
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: We got along all right. Oh when Alice and I
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: split up, there were some words, nothing serious.
• 14:29
  Speaker 6: Well, the way we got you pretty short him? Yeah, yeah,
• 14:32
  Speaker 6: I understand you and he had quite an argument. He
• 14:34
  Speaker 6: was already to throw you out of the house.
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: You've been talking to his mother. He's been throwing lies
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: around again. Well, is it true? Did you and Curtis
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: have an argument? Yeah? I got nothing to hide. You
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: been out of the house this morning? No, why have
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: any way of proving you were here all morning? Just
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: got up? You know that you guys got me out
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: of bed. What are you trying to prove? I just
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: want to know if you can account for your time,
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: and so you think I had something to do with
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: Jeff's death? Is at it? We didn't say anything, no,
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: but you meant it. Excuse me, I got to get
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: the coffee. You want some coffee? No, I don't think
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: how about you? No, you don't mind. If I have
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: a couple, I'll sigure out of head. Thanks.
• 15:13
  Speaker 8: Let's face it, you guys really think I anything to
• 15:16
  Speaker 8: do with what happened to Jeff.
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: We're not paid to say what we think. We try
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: to get the facts.
• 15:20
  Speaker 8: Yeah, and advise you. I'd concentrate on missus Curtis. I
• 15:22
  Speaker 8: wouldn't put it past the old bat to kill her
• 15:24
  Speaker 8: own son. Check around the bars in the neighborhood, talk
• 15:27
  Speaker 8: to his friends. I'll tell you his mother was scared
• 15:30
  Speaker 8: to death that he'd marry one of these days, walk
• 15:31
  Speaker 8: out on her. He used to be on his back
• 15:33
  Speaker 8: all the time about the girls he went out with.
• 15:34
  Speaker 8: I knew some of them, Alison. He used to double
• 15:37
  Speaker 8: date with him once in a while.
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: Do they ever have any arguments about this? While you
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: were around a couple of times.
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you don't believe he wanted to check with Harry.
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: He'll tell you the same story. Lord knows he went
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: through enough of it, Harry. Yeah, Jeff's brother. He got married.
• 15:53
  Speaker 8: Let's see about five years ago, moved out of the house,
• 15:56
  Speaker 8: locks stocking baggage.
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: He went through a thrash with his mother about it.
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: He'll tell you about it.
• 16:00
  Speaker 8: He used to go over to see Jeff once in
• 16:01
  Speaker 8: a while after he got married, but the old lady
• 16:02
  Speaker 8: caused so much trouble if they started me at the bar,
• 16:05
  Speaker 8: got to the point where Harry wouldn't go in the
• 16:06
  Speaker 8: house check with him.
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: Don't tell you. You know where we can get in touch
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: with it.
• 16:09
  Speaker 8: No, I haven't got the address. Look it up in
• 16:11
  Speaker 8: the book, Harry Curtis. I think it's out on Selma
• 16:13
  Speaker 8: someplace in Hollywood, all right? Said where do you work?
• 16:16
  Speaker 8: Myra Aircraft? I'm a tool maker who work today? Shit, yeah,
• 16:18
  Speaker 8: I'm off today.
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: What this for? This one? To know where we could
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: read you? You still think I had something to do
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: with it? No, we didn't say you did. Your name
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: came up a way to check it out.
• 16:26
  Speaker 8: And I know a lot of times when Jeff and
• 16:28
  Speaker 8: I didn't get along. I want to try to tell
• 16:30
  Speaker 8: you that they weren't. I never do anything to hurt him,
• 16:32
  Speaker 8: got him up in his hands with that mother, you know, Cheryl.
• 16:35
  Speaker 8: One night when we came home from a date, Alice
• 16:37
  Speaker 8: med Jeff and his date. We're sitting around the kitchen
• 16:39
  Speaker 8: having something to eat. Another came in matter than a
• 16:42
  Speaker 8: wet hand raised cane, told Jeff to get the woman
• 16:44
  Speaker 8: out of the house.
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: Jeff told her he wouldn't have her talk to a girl
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: like that, He thought quite a bit of her.
• 16:48
  Speaker 8: The old bitty walked right over and slapped the girl
• 16:50
  Speaker 8: across the face, told her to leave Jeff alone, that
• 16:53
  Speaker 8: you'd rather see him dead than tied up with a.
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: Girl like that.
• 17:00
  Speaker 5: Forty PM we drove back to the office. There's been
• 17:02
  Speaker 5: no replies on the local or the APV. We checked
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: the names of Jeffrey Curtis and Bruce Dudley through R
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: and I. There was no record on Curtis, but Dudley
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: had been arrested twice for LAMC forty one to twenty
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: seven c being drunk in a public place.
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: He'd served sentences in the city jail on both charges.
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: We checked with the coroner's office and they told us
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: that Curtis had been killed by a thirty eight caliber bullet.
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: It had been fired at close range into the back
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: of his skull.
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: The bullet was booked for evidence, and we made out
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: a dead body report. He put in a call to
• 17:31
  Speaker 5: the brother's house, but we were told that he was
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: out of the city and he wouldn't return until sometime
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: that night.
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: We left word for him to call our office as
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: soon as he returned.
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: We checked on the suicide story given us by missus
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: Curtis and found that an Alice Curtis had taken our
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: own life by an overdose of sleeping pills two years before.
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: Five twenty pm, Frank and I drove out to talk
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: to missus Curtis again.
• 17:51
  Speaker 7: You want to look at Jess's room, don't you.
• 17:52
  Speaker 8: Yes, Miss Curtis this way.
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: We were here this morning. Didn't say anything about your.
• 18:01
  Speaker 7: Other son, Harry's the officer. Harry doesn't care much for me.
• 18:05
  Speaker 7: I know it's hard to believe that a boy would
• 18:07
  Speaker 7: desert his own mother, but that's what Harry did. He
• 18:10
  Speaker 7: got married and right away his wife started to cause
• 18:12
  Speaker 7: trouble between.
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: It a rifle. Your son was clean this morning.
• 18:16
  Speaker 7: Oh yes, those men from the crime lab I think
• 18:18
  Speaker 7: they said they took it.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: Yes, ma'am, did your son do much hunting.
• 18:22
  Speaker 7: Well, he used to. He used to do quite a
• 18:24
  Speaker 7: bit before Harry got married. They used to be a
• 18:27
  Speaker 7: great pal Mother couldn't ask for a better pair of sons.
• 18:31
  Speaker 7: And when Harry left home, Jess sort of gave it up.
• 18:34
  Speaker 7: He cleaned the gun when he had to, but he
• 18:37
  Speaker 7: didn't go after game anymore than too. Was afraid to
• 18:40
  Speaker 7: leave me alone at night. Ma'am, Well, we've had a
• 18:43
  Speaker 7: lot of trouble with prowers in the neighborhood. Had to
• 18:46
  Speaker 7: call the police a couple of times. They didn't find anybody, though.
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: He is your son's clothes man. Yes, this man you
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: saw this morning. Did you know that he had a gun?
• 18:58
  Speaker 7: Yes, he did. It was a revolver. When I came
• 19:00
  Speaker 7: into the room, it was still smoking.
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: Did your son keep any other firearms in the house,
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: Oh no, just the rifle.
• 19:07
  Speaker 7: I wouldn't have any other guns in the place. I
• 19:09
  Speaker 7: don't like them.
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: You had me call to go up on the attic
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: let the hurt it plus the attic man. Have either
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: you or your son had any reason to go up there.
• 19:17
  Speaker 7: No, I don't think we've been up there since we moved.
• 19:21
  Speaker 7: Could I get you officers a cup of coffee or anything.
• 19:23
  Speaker 7: I've got some nice fresh cake, like a slice of that.
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: No, ma'am, thanks just the same. Oh, now I'll get here. Yeah,
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: put her hair on the shoulders of these suits in
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: the back. See this dirt. It's like I came down
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: from that door of the attic. Now let me get
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: a chair and we'll have a lot.
• 19:43
  Speaker 7: But it's all about I told you we haven't used
• 19:46
  Speaker 7: that attic. Don't you believe me?
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: Just like to take a look.
• 19:49
  Speaker 7: If you don't mind, men, well maybe I do mind.
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: Just gonna take a minute, ma'am.
• 19:57
  Speaker 7: I think you officers have sure got your nerves. I
• 20:00
  Speaker 7: try to be nice to you, help you out. Isn't
• 20:02
  Speaker 7: enough that my voice said, now you have to come
• 20:04
  Speaker 7: in here and tear my home apart.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: I can reach it. Yeahn here it is. Get my pencil.
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: Have you ever seen this? Missus? Curse?
• 20:20
  Speaker 7: No, I haven't got any idea how that gun got there.
• 20:24
  Speaker 7: Doesn't belong to us.
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: What do you think, Joe? I don't know. Thirty eight calendar.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: You are listening to Dragnet, the authentic story of your
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: police force election and now report Every smoker should hear
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: nose throats and access re organs not that versely affected
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: by smoking Chesterfields. First such report published about any cigarette.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: A responsible consulting organization reports study by a competent medical
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: specialist in Staff on the effects of smoking Chesterfields. For
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: six months, a group of men and women smoke only
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: Chesterfield ten to forty a day their normal amount. Forty
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: five percent of the group of smoked Chesterfields from one
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: to thirty years for an average of ten years each.
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: At the beginning and end of the six months, each
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: smoker was given a thorough examination, including X rays and
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: covering the sinuses, nose, ears, and throat. After these examinations,
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: the medical specialists stated, it is.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: My opinion that the ears, nose, throat, and accessory organs
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: of all participating subjects examined by me were not adversely
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: affected in the six months period by smoking the cigarettes.
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: Provided remember this report and by Chesterfields regular or king size,
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: premium quality chester Fields and much milder.
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: We took the gun back to the city Hall. It
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: was checked for fingerprints, but none were found.
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: We checked with pawn shop records but the gun had
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: not been registered. By checking with the manufacturer, we got.
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: The retailer's name.
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: It had been sold to the victim, Jeff Curtis. The
• 22:16
  Speaker 5: gun was turned over to rust Camp for the routine
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: check through ballistics.
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: Bring it out, all right, Okay, there's some kind of
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: a comparison, min.
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: All what's that now?
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: Gotta make russ Yeah. By match.
• 22:42
  Speaker 5: Eleven forty six pm, Harry Curtis called the office. He
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: was surprised to hear of his brother's death, but said
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: that he would be down to see us in the morning.
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: Frank and I checked out, and the next morning we
• 22:51
  Speaker 5: drove out to the house on Burn Street and picked
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: up Missus Curtis. We talked to her in the interrogation room.
• 22:56
  Speaker 7: This is perfectly ridiculous. I don't understand what you're trying
• 22:59
  Speaker 7: to guess me to say.
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: Well, maybe if we lay it out for you, man, yes, that.
• 23:03
  Speaker 7: Might do it. At least it would be something, all right.
• 23:05
  Speaker 5: When we walked into your house yesterday morning, you said
• 23:07
  Speaker 5: that nothing in the house had been touched, that everything
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: was just as it was when your son was killed.
• 23:11
  Speaker 7: That right, yes, I guess I said that like t
• 23:13
  Speaker 7: Have you be sure one way or the other?
• 23:15
  Speaker 6: Man?
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: What did you say?
• 23:16
  Speaker 7: I said that I hadn't touched anything. Nobody did.
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: Would you tell us what your son was doing when
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: you left the room.
• 23:23
  Speaker 7: I told you he was cleaning.
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: The rifle on the living room table.
• 23:26
  Speaker 7: Yes, that's right.
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: What did you say he did after he was shot?
• 23:29
  Speaker 7: I said he fell down.
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: Did he touch anything as he fell, rush up against anything?
• 23:33
  Speaker 7: Well? When he fell, he grabbed the tablecloth, pulled it
• 23:35
  Speaker 7: down with him.
• 23:36
  Speaker 5: Well, and maybe you can explain how it was that
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: all the things he used to clean the rifle and
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: the gun itself was still on the table.
• 23:42
  Speaker 6: What how was it those things didn't come off the
• 23:44
  Speaker 6: table when he pulled the cloth off.
• 23:46
  Speaker 7: I don't know what you're trying to get me to say.
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: Were he likely to tell us the truth?
• 23:50
  Speaker 7: I'm telling that all right, man.
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: When the crime lab went over your house, they found
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: two places in the kitchen floor that had been filled
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: in with plastic wood.
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: The job didn't look very old.
• 24:00
  Speaker 7: Wrong with that, Jeff took good care of the house.
• 24:02
  Speaker 7: He might have tried to plug up someplace where ants
• 24:05
  Speaker 7: were getting in.
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: When the'm in from the lab dug up the package,
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: they found two thirty eight caliber bullets underneath.
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: They checked them with a bullet to kill your son.
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: The bullets came from the.
• 24:13
  Speaker 7: Same gun I don't know what you're talking about. What
• 24:16
  Speaker 7: does all this show?
• 24:17
  Speaker 6: You talked about the prowlers said you had trouble with
• 24:19
  Speaker 6: him in the neighborhood. That's right, Well, actions did you
• 24:21
  Speaker 6: take to stop this?
• 24:22
  Speaker 7: I called the police, had them come out and try
• 24:25
  Speaker 7: to find the person who was causing the trouble.
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: When did you call the police? Laugh?
• 24:29
  Speaker 7: Three weeks ago.
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: We've checked the reports. Man, there's no record of anyone
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: had and called the.
• 24:33
  Speaker 6: Police to check prowlers in that neighborhood for the past
• 24:35
  Speaker 6: six months.
• 24:36
  Speaker 7: Are you trying to make me out a liar? Is
• 24:39
  Speaker 7: that what you're trying to do.
• 24:40
  Speaker 5: We're trying to get the truth, Frank, Dad, Joe. You
• 24:42
  Speaker 5: want to check the off and see if mister Kurz
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: is here?
• 24:44
  Speaker 7: Yeah, sure, you've brought my son here.
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: Yes, ma'am, we've got to get the truth to this.
• 24:50
  Speaker 7: Well, why did you have to get him involved in it?
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: Well?
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: I said, man, we're trying to find the facts.
• 24:55
  Speaker 7: You don't believe what I've told you?
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: Well, no, man, you've made it a little difficult.
• 24:59
  Speaker 7: How can you say that?
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: Well, first you.
• 25:01
  Speaker 5: Tell us that nothing was touched, Yet the physical setup
• 25:03
  Speaker 5: doesn't make that possible. You deny knowing anything about the
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: gun when we find it, but we find two bullets
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: that have been fired from the same gun embedded in
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: the floor of the kitchen. She told us about follers
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: in the neighborhood, but there's no police record of it.
• 25:15
  Speaker 5: Your next door neighbor says she was out in front
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: of our house all morning, but she didn't see anyone
• 25:18
  Speaker 5: enter or leave your house. We find the murdered gun
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: up in the attic. You told us you saw the
• 25:23
  Speaker 5: killer leave the house with a gun. Your son died instantly.
• 25:26
  Speaker 5: Can you tell us who put the gun there? No, man,
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: there's too much here that doesn't yet.
• 25:33
  Speaker 7: They got you into this, didn't they, Harry? Yes, mother,
• 25:37
  Speaker 7: they're trying to tell you that I killed Jeff. They
• 25:39
  Speaker 7: want me to tell them that I killed my own boy.
• 25:42
  Speaker 7: Tell them, tell them I wouldn't do a thing like that,
• 25:46
  Speaker 7: not my own boy.
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: Pray, I can't.
• 25:49
  Speaker 7: What do you mean you can't.
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: The officer has just told me about it.
• 25:53
  Speaker 7: Well, who are you going to believe the policeman or me?
• 25:56
  Speaker 7: Your mother?
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: You don't give me much choice. Well, I love your mother,
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: you gotta believe that. I know that whatever you did,
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: you thought was right. I know you didn't mean to
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: hurt Chef.
• 26:07
  Speaker 7: I know that. And you think I killed him too,
• 26:12
  Speaker 7: don't you, Harry, give me an answer. You think I
• 26:19
  Speaker 7: killed Jeff, don't you instantly? Well I did. I didn't
• 26:27
  Speaker 7: think I meant to do it. I think I just
• 26:29
  Speaker 7: wanted to frighten him. He was running around so much.
• 26:34
  Speaker 7: Those tramps are seeing terrible women. I had to keep
• 26:37
  Speaker 7: him home. I had to keep him with me. It
• 26:39
  Speaker 7: was all I had. I'm not young anymore, Harry, you
• 26:44
  Speaker 7: went away and Alice. Jeff was all I had. I
• 26:48
  Speaker 7: didn't want him to leave, and he was going to.
• 26:51
  Speaker 7: We had an argument. He was cleaning the gun. I
• 26:55
  Speaker 7: got the revolver that way. I knew that i'd always
• 26:59
  Speaker 7: have him with me, that he wouldn't leave. I pulled
• 27:03
  Speaker 7: the trigger, and I knew what i'd done. That Jeff
• 27:07
  Speaker 7: was gone too. I didn't know what I was doing.
• 27:12
  Speaker 7: I didn't know. You've got to believe that.
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: Office, Yes, ma'am, do you.
• 27:19
  Speaker 7: Believe me that I just wanted my boy. I wanted
• 27:23
  Speaker 7: to keep him. That's all any mother wants. I tried
• 27:28
  Speaker 7: to keep my boy.
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: Maybe that's what was gone.
• 27:33
  Speaker 7: What do you mean you.
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: Tried too hard. The story you have just heard was true.
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: The names were changed to protect the innocence.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: On September fourth, trial was held in Department eighty seven,
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: Superior Court of the State of California in and for
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: the County of Los Angeles. In a moment the results
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: of that trial. Now here is our star Jack Webb.
• 28:00
  Speaker 5: Such of our Dragnet case histories is based entirely on
• 28:02
  Speaker 5: facts taken from authentic police files, and everything we tell
• 28:05
  Speaker 5: you about Chesterfield.
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: Is based on facts.
• 28:07
  Speaker 5: Two Chesterfield, for example, is the first to name its ingredients.
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: Chesterfield tells you what it's made of, because you should
• 28:13
  Speaker 5: know what gives you the best possible smoke. Now that
• 28:16
  Speaker 5: brings me to the report that George Fenoman and how
• 28:18
  Speaker 5: give me read earlier, That too, is based entirely on facts. Nose,
• 28:22
  Speaker 5: throat and accessory organs not adversely affected by smoking. Chesterfield
• 28:26
  Speaker 5: first such report ever published about any cigarette. Remember this
• 28:30
  Speaker 5: the next time you buy cigarettes and ask for Chesterfield
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: Regular or King Size Premium quality. Chesterfield gives you the
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: best possible smoke.
• 28:46
  Speaker 7: B to say.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: Curtis was tried and convicted of murder in the first
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: degree and was sentenced to the state Penitentiary for Women
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: to hatch Apeak, California. While serving her sentence there, she
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: died from natural causes. Murder in the first degree is
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: punishable by death or confinement in the state tennicentary for life.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: from official files. Technical advice comes from the Office of
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: Chief of Police W. H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: Technical Advisors. Captain Jack Donahoe, Sergeant Marty Wynn, Sergeant Fans Bracher.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: Heard tonight where Ben Alexander, Hervella, Helen Cleeve wit Connor.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: Script by John Robinson, music by Walter Schumann, Hell Gidney speaking.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: Tomorrow. Sound off for Chesterfield. Either way you like them,
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: regular or King's Eye. Chesterfield gives you the best possible
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: smoke much milder Chesterfield.
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: Chesterfield has brought you Dragnet. Transcribed from Los Angeles.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: This is NBC, the National Broadcasting Company.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: Our time with Dragnet, Biglie has come to a close.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: Follow Dragnet for more classic broadcasts.