Latest / Dragnet | Old Time Radio / The Big Imposter [episode 104], Broadcast 6/7/1951

Transcript

The Big Imposter [episode 104], Broadcast 6/7/1951 · Dragnet | Old Time Radio

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: The story you're about to hear is true, only the
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: names have been changed to protect the innocent.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Fatima cigarettes, best of all long cigarettes, brings you dragnet.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned to missing persons detail.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: A ten year old boy disappears from his home in
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: a remote section of the city two nights and two
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: days past. There's not a trace of the boy. Your
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: job find him.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Friends. Compare Fatima with any other king size cigarette, you'll
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: find a world of difference. Yes, in Fatima. The difference
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: is quality.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Quality of tobaccos, the finest domestic and Turkish varieties, extra mild,
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: superbly blended to give you a much different, much better
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: flavor and aroma.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Quality of manufacture, smooth, round, perfect cigarettes, rolled in the
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: finest paper money can buy, manufactured in the newest and
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: most modern of all cigarette factories.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: Quality even to the appearance of the bright, clean gold
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: and yellow package, carefully wrapped and sealed to bring you
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Fatima's rich, fresh, extra mild flavor.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: So compare Fatima yourself today.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: You'll find Fatimas now cost the same as other long cigarettes.
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: But your first puff will.
• 1:41
  Speaker 5: Tell you, ah, that's different.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: Yes, in Fatima. The difference is quality. By Fatima.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: Drag Net the documented drama of an actual crime. All
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Police Department, you will travel step by step on the
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: side of the law through an actual case transcribed from
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: official police files, from beginning to end, from crime to punishment.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Dragnet is the story of your police force and action.
• 2:23
  Speaker 6: It was Wednesday, August fourth, was hot in Los Angeles.
• 2:26
  Speaker 6: We were working the day watch out of Juvenile Bureau.
• 2:28
  Speaker 6: My partner's Ben Romero. The boss's inspector Bowling. My name's Frank.
• 2:33
  Speaker 6: We were on the way out from the office and
• 2:34
  Speaker 6: it was two twenty five pm when we got to
• 2:36
  Speaker 6: Bowers Avenue number twelve eighteen. Yes, police officers, ma'amould I
• 2:40
  Speaker 6: see mister Sherman.
• 2:41
  Speaker 7: We'll certainly officers, won't you come in?
• 2:43
  Speaker 8: Thank you very much.
• 2:46
  Speaker 7: I'm missus Keller from next door. I saw you around
• 2:48
  Speaker 7: here yesterday. Yes, ma'am, came over this morning look after
• 2:51
  Speaker 7: poor mister Sherman.
• 2:53
  Speaker 8: Yes, ma'am, well, how's he feeling today?
• 2:55
  Speaker 7: Too?
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: Well?
• 2:56
  Speaker 7: Fixed him some nice chicken broth for lunch and I
• 2:59
  Speaker 7: helped him in his wheel Sharon took him out in
• 3:00
  Speaker 7: the backyard, out in the sun, good hot sun. It's
• 3:03
  Speaker 7: wonderful for his legs. He has arthritis, you know.
• 3:06
  Speaker 8: Yes, so we understand. What if we could talk to him,
• 3:08
  Speaker 8: Miss Kellery, Well, yes.
• 3:09
  Speaker 7: I guess you have to. He's still out in the
• 3:12
  Speaker 7: back sleep in his chair. Last time I looked, seems
• 3:15
  Speaker 7: ashamed of disturb.
• 3:16
  Speaker 9: H Well, he called us at the office that he
• 3:17
  Speaker 9: wanted to see us as soon as we could make
• 3:19
  Speaker 9: it out here.
• 3:20
  Speaker 7: Was it about his grandson Jimmy? They found him yet.
• 3:23
  Speaker 10: No, ma'am.
• 3:23
  Speaker 9: Searching parties calming in the area. There's still no trace
• 3:26
  Speaker 9: of the boy.
• 3:27
  Speaker 6: But did any of the other officers who were out
• 3:28
  Speaker 6: here covering the neighborhood talk to you, miss Keller?
• 3:30
  Speaker 5: Oh?
• 3:31
  Speaker 7: Yes, there was, uh, mister Lorman, Detective Lorman.
• 3:34
  Speaker 8: Yes, ma'am.
• 3:35
  Speaker 7: I told him everything I knew about Jimmy's disappearance. It
• 3:38
  Speaker 7: was right after dinner hour on Monday. It was about
• 3:41
  Speaker 7: six thirty. Last time I saw Jimmy.
• 3:43
  Speaker 8: I see.
• 3:45
  Speaker 7: I came off the side door to empty the garbage,
• 3:48
  Speaker 7: and I saw Jimmy hiking up the side of the
• 3:50
  Speaker 7: hill there just in back of the house, all by himself,
• 3:54
  Speaker 7: nice boy.
• 3:55
  Speaker 9: As far as you know, Mes's Keller. Jimmy is mister
• 3:57
  Speaker 9: Sherman's only living relative.
• 3:59
  Speaker 7: That's right, his only relatives, only grandchild. Jimmy's mother and
• 4:03
  Speaker 7: father were killed in an auto rack that was three
• 4:05
  Speaker 7: or four years ago. Sherman's had a terrible lot of tragedy.
• 4:09
  Speaker 7: Jimmy and his grandfather, they're the only ones left.
• 4:12
  Speaker 6: You can't think of any reason why the boyoud wanna
• 4:14
  Speaker 6: leave his grandfather.
• 4:15
  Speaker 7: Can't none at all. Mister Sherman's a wonderful man. Jimmy
• 4:18
  Speaker 7: loved him.
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: I knew that, Missus Keller, Missus Keller.
• 4:23
  Speaker 7: Way, we can go through the house out the back,
• 4:25
  Speaker 7: all right, man?
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: Best way?
• 4:27
  Speaker 8: I go ahead?
• 4:29
  Speaker 7: The yeah, yeah, okay, visitors for you, Missus Sherman.
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: How are you feeling alright? I suppose?
• 4:41
  Speaker 11: Hello, surgeon, Missus Sherman. What about the boy? Have you
• 4:45
  Speaker 11: found him yet?
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: Well?
• 4:45
  Speaker 6: Nothing yet, mister Sherman. We've added more men to the
• 4:48
  Speaker 6: searching party. We're doing everything we can.
• 4:49
  Speaker 11: We gone two nights and two days. Tell me the truth, sergeant,
• 4:54
  Speaker 11: what's happened to the boy?
• 4:55
  Speaker 8: All right?
• 4:56
  Speaker 11: Now?
• 4:56
  Speaker 6: We don't know any more about it than you do,
• 4:57
  Speaker 6: Servant has no reason to give up.
• 4:59
  Speaker 8: Hope.
• 4:59
  Speaker 9: You he told us yourself yesterday that Jimmy's been messing
• 5:02
  Speaker 9: once before.
• 5:02
  Speaker 10: It turned out alright. That time.
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: He wasn't gone for two nights and two days.
• 5:06
  Speaker 11: Maybe you'll just say I'm old and I've got funny ideas,
• 5:10
  Speaker 11: But I got a feeling, Sergeant, something's happened to Jimmy.
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: Something's happened, and I can't do anything about it.
• 5:16
  Speaker 7: You just put those thoughts out of your head, mister Sherman.
• 5:18
  Speaker 7: They're gonna find Jimmy. It's gonna be alright. Why don't
• 5:21
  Speaker 7: you pull up those lawn chairs there, sergeant. All right,
• 5:24
  Speaker 7: I'm gonna go in the house and fix some coal
• 5:25
  Speaker 7: lemonade for you.
• 5:26
  Speaker 11: Man.
• 5:26
  Speaker 10: Well, thank you, man.
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: We got your phone message at the office, mister Sherman,
• 5:30
  Speaker 6: anything specially you wanted to talk to us about.
• 5:32
  Speaker 11: Yes, there was something when you were talking to me yesterday. Yes, Sir,
• 5:36
  Speaker 11: I told you that Jimmy had on a brown jacket
• 5:38
  Speaker 11: when he disappeared Monday night. Yeah, I was wrong, Sergeant.
• 5:42
  Speaker 11: We found the jacket in his room. All he was
• 5:45
  Speaker 11: wearing was a pair of blue jeans in this white sweatshirt.
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: Do you think that might help any Yes, sir, it might.
• 5:51
  Speaker 8: We'll send out a supplementary description of his clothes. We'll
• 5:53
  Speaker 8: see that everybody's notifined.
• 5:55
  Speaker 11: Just wish I could be out there with the searching party.
• 5:58
  Speaker 11: O's writers is pretty bad today. It caught me in
• 6:00
  Speaker 11: a terrible time. I don't know what I'd do if
• 6:03
  Speaker 11: anything happened on the boy.
• 6:04
  Speaker 9: I know we've asked you this before, mister Chanman, but
• 6:07
  Speaker 9: can you think of any reason at all why your
• 6:09
  Speaker 9: grandson would want to leave home?
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: No, sir, no reason at all.
• 6:12
  Speaker 11: Those two Collige pops over there in the pin Jimmy
• 6:15
  Speaker 11: just bought him last week, with his own money saved
• 6:18
  Speaker 11: up to get him. I see the boy's crazy about dogs.
• 6:21
  Speaker 11: That's why I say, just wouldn't pick up and leave everything.
• 6:26
  Speaker 11: Boy and me got a long fine. No reason for it, Sogan,
• 6:30
  Speaker 11: something's happened to the boy. I just got a feeling.
• 6:34
  Speaker 10: Offer, Yes, ma'am.
• 6:36
  Speaker 7: Uh telephone call for.
• 6:37
  Speaker 8: Either one of you or get it Ben. I'll be
• 6:38
  Speaker 8: right back.
• 6:39
  Speaker 7: All right, man said it was your office calling, Thank you,
• 6:47
  Speaker 7: Ms Keller. Where's the telephone straight back there in the hall.
• 6:50
  Speaker 8: Thank you very much. Friday talking.
• 6:57
  Speaker 12: This is Booling Joe just heard from the search party.
• 6:59
  Speaker 8: Up or do they find something?
• 7:01
  Speaker 12: Yeah, in the Allian Park area by the upper reservoir.
• 7:04
  Speaker 12: Huh found a pair of kids trousers right by the
• 7:06
  Speaker 12: edge of the water.
• 7:07
  Speaker 8: What kind of trousers?
• 7:08
  Speaker 12: Blue jeans? Nothing in the pockets. They'll start dragging for
• 7:11
  Speaker 12: a body as soon as they get the equipment. Check
• 7:13
  Speaker 12: it out with a grandfather.
• 7:14
  Speaker 10: Huh.
• 7:14
  Speaker 12: See if the boy was in the habit of hiking
• 7:16
  Speaker 12: up there around the reservoir.
• 7:17
  Speaker 8: Right, we'll call in just before we leave here, right, Joe,
• 7:19
  Speaker 8: right by.
• 7:31
  Speaker 7: Well, there's your lemonade, Sergeant support it for you nicely.
• 7:34
  Speaker 8: Call Thank you, ma'am.
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: What was it? Something about the boy?
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: Oh?
• 7:37
  Speaker 6: Nothing, definite, no, sir, Just to report on the search party.
• 7:40
  Speaker 6: They're still up in the Alleesian Park area.
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: Oh, I see.
• 7:43
  Speaker 6: Did your grandson Jimmy do much hiking in that neighborhood
• 7:46
  Speaker 6: up there, mister Sherman.
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: You has to think he did likes to hike up
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: there around the reservoir.
• 7:51
  Speaker 6: Why the name on the three sixteen report missing juvenile
• 7:59
  Speaker 6: Red James Phillip Sherman, WMA, ten years old. He lived
• 8:03
  Speaker 6: with his sixty eight year old grandfather, Oscar Sherman, and
• 8:06
  Speaker 6: a small cottage in a sparsely populated section of the city.
• 8:09
  Speaker 6: Shortly after six pm on Monday, the boy went outside
• 8:12
  Speaker 6: to play. When darkness fell and he failed to return home.
• 8:15
  Speaker 6: His crippled grandfather went out to look for him. Half
• 8:18
  Speaker 6: an hour later, the neighbors joined in in the search.
• 8:21
  Speaker 6: No sign of the boy. At ten pm, Juvenile Bureau
• 8:24
  Speaker 6: was notified, and throughout the night, squads of men on
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: foot and in cruiser cars canvassed the area. A local
• 8:30
  Speaker 6: broadcast and an all points bulletin was gotten out on
• 8:32
  Speaker 6: the boy. Neither the grandfather or the neighbors could find
• 8:35
  Speaker 6: any reason for his disappearance. After almost forty eight hours
• 8:39
  Speaker 6: of continuous searching, the only lead we had was the
• 8:41
  Speaker 6: pair of trousers found on the edge of the upper
• 8:43
  Speaker 6: reservoir in Alegian Park. They were shown to the grandfather,
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: but he failed to give positive identification. Dragging operations at
• 8:51
  Speaker 6: the reservoir began immediately. Meantime, Ben and I, together with
• 8:55
  Speaker 6: Lorman and Lopez from Homicide, checked out every possible lead
• 8:58
  Speaker 6: on the missing youngster. Tips came from a Frank Grady,
• 9:01
  Speaker 6: an unemployed carpenter who lived five blocks from the Sherman home.
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: I don't know how much is maybe worth you, Sergeant.
• 9:08
  Speaker 13: I don't want to get anybody into trouble, but I
• 9:10
  Speaker 13: figured this is a pretty important thing.
• 9:12
  Speaker 10: What is it you want to tell us, mister Grady?
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: Well, as I.
• 9:14
  Speaker 13: Say, I don't want to get anybody in any trouble,
• 9:17
  Speaker 13: but have you checked over everybody in this neighborhood?
• 9:20
  Speaker 10: I think we've talked just about everybody in the are
• 9:22
  Speaker 10: you don't you?
• 9:22
  Speaker 6: Joe Well either rest of the men from homicide? Why
• 9:24
  Speaker 6: do he ask Grady?
• 9:25
  Speaker 13: Well, there's a guy who's down the street there, right
• 9:28
  Speaker 13: down the corner from this house, old.
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: Guy by name of Gilby.
• 9:32
  Speaker 8: What about him?
• 9:33
  Speaker 13: They say, I don't want to cause any trouble, but
• 9:35
  Speaker 13: maybe you ought to double check him. One thing, he's
• 9:38
  Speaker 13: next convict and all that. Another thing, he hates everybody
• 9:42
  Speaker 13: in the neighborhood, hates the kids too. Wouldn't be surprised
• 9:46
  Speaker 13: if he was your man.
• 9:47
  Speaker 10: Why do you say that, Graddy?
• 9:48
  Speaker 9: Does he have any special reason for dislacking the sherman boy?
• 9:51
  Speaker 13: Oh Man Gilby wouldn't need a reason. A real queer
• 9:54
  Speaker 13: one say I got a couple of cans cold beer
• 9:57
  Speaker 13: in the icebox, and I fixed you fas up.
• 9:59
  Speaker 10: Oh, thank you, you're just the same.
• 10:01
  Speaker 6: What makes you think this Gilby had anything to do
• 10:03
  Speaker 6: with the boy's disappearance, mister Grady.
• 10:05
  Speaker 13: Well number one, I saw man Gilby out walking Monday
• 10:08
  Speaker 13: night when the Sherman kid disappeared.
• 10:10
  Speaker 10: Yep.
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: So I'm walking along the road.
• 10:12
  Speaker 13: Up there, the same one that goes up by the reservoir,
• 10:15
  Speaker 13: and I watched him. It was dark by the time
• 10:18
  Speaker 13: he got back to his house, and check on him again.
• 10:21
  Speaker 8: If I were you as sure as you know.
• 10:22
  Speaker 9: Has Gilby ever been in trouble for bothering the kids
• 10:25
  Speaker 9: in the neighborhood?
• 10:26
  Speaker 13: H sergeanty bothers everybody in the neighborhood, real queer, lives
• 10:29
  Speaker 13: by himself, always complaining about something.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: Frankly, I think he's your man. I think he took
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: that kid and he did something to him.
• 10:36
  Speaker 8: Do you have anything at all to back up your opinion.
• 10:38
  Speaker 13: You dig around, you'll find something on him. He's no good,
• 10:41
  Speaker 13: no bet on it. I've had a couple of runnings
• 10:43
  Speaker 13: with him myself. He just isn't any good, that's all.
• 10:46
  Speaker 6: Well, Oh, I had gratty. Thanks for the tip. We'll
• 10:48
  Speaker 6: be sure and double check on the man.
• 10:50
  Speaker 13: He won't tell him where you got the tip though, Huh,
• 10:52
  Speaker 13: Like I say, I've had run ins with him before.
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: It might cause trouble.
• 10:57
  Speaker 8: No, he won't know where we got it.
• 10:58
  Speaker 13: Thanks again, Okay, sergeant, it's a pretty important thing. I
• 11:02
  Speaker 13: didn't want to make anybody look bad.
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: But oh man, it's just no good. You understand that,
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: don't you sure?
• 11:08
  Speaker 8: Greddy, we understand.
• 11:14
  Speaker 6: As a matter of routine, we double checked on Grady's neighbor,
• 11:17
  Speaker 6: mister Harold Gilby. We found out that he had no
• 11:19
  Speaker 6: jail record and that he had been at work on
• 11:21
  Speaker 6: Monday from three to eleven pm. He could have had
• 11:24
  Speaker 6: no direct connection with the Sherman boy's disappearance, no more
• 11:26
  Speaker 6: than Gritty himself could have had.
• 11:28
  Speaker 8: The so called tip he'd offered us.
• 11:30
  Speaker 6: Was like one hundred other phony leads in a hundred
• 11:32
  Speaker 6: other cases, spiteful small minded neighbors trying to use a
• 11:36
  Speaker 6: tragic situation to work out their jealousies and prejudice on
• 11:39
  Speaker 6: somebody that they didn't get along with in the neighborhood.
• 11:42
  Speaker 6: The search continued, so did the hot weather. Friday, August sixth,
• 11:46
  Speaker 6: no sign of the missing boy. The temperature climbed into
• 11:49
  Speaker 6: the mid nineties. Dragging operations at the reservoir went on Saturday,
• 11:53
  Speaker 6: August seventh.
• 11:54
  Speaker 8: More legwork, more hot weather.
• 11:56
  Speaker 6: By noontime, Ben and I had run down the last
• 11:58
  Speaker 6: lead we had on ten year old Jimmy Sherman went nowhere.
• 12:02
  Speaker 6: One pm. We headed back for the office to check
• 12:04
  Speaker 6: with Inspector Bowling.
• 12:07
  Speaker 9: These are the days when I wish I had a
• 12:09
  Speaker 9: little swimming pool in my backyard.
• 12:11
  Speaker 10: It'll be nice to go home too.
• 12:13
  Speaker 8: You know, I'll save your money.
• 12:14
  Speaker 10: Oh, it doesn't cost some money?
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: No.
• 12:18
  Speaker 9: I read in a magazine where a feller built his
• 12:20
  Speaker 9: own pool for ninety five dollars and thirty seven cents.
• 12:22
  Speaker 8: So it can't be much of a pool, kenn it.
• 12:24
  Speaker 10: Oh yeah, good size.
• 12:25
  Speaker 8: Of course.
• 12:25
  Speaker 10: He did all his own labor, had all his friends
• 12:28
  Speaker 10: and to help out.
• 12:29
  Speaker 8: He must have had a lot of friends, didn't.
• 12:30
  Speaker 9: He, Yeah he did after he finished the pool. Alrighty then, uh, hi, skipper,
• 12:36
  Speaker 9: how'd you two make out anything? I know, no luck
• 12:39
  Speaker 9: at all. It makes you unanimous. Did you hear about
• 12:41
  Speaker 9: the old man boy's grandfather?
• 12:43
  Speaker 10: No, what happened?
• 12:44
  Speaker 9: I guess this strain got too much for him. He collapsed.
• 12:46
  Speaker 9: They're moving him to a hospital. Oh it's too bad.
• 12:49
  Speaker 11: Uh.
• 12:49
  Speaker 8: Our men still up there, dragon.
• 12:51
  Speaker 10: At reservoir finished this morning.
• 12:53
  Speaker 8: Nothing. How about the search party, nothing there either, I suppose.
• 12:56
  Speaker 9: Oh, not a trace of the boy. It's a blind
• 12:58
  Speaker 9: alley all the way around. How about the API be
• 13:01
  Speaker 9: The radiogram had three replies so far. None of them
• 13:04
  Speaker 9: panned out.
• 13:05
  Speaker 10: You know, grab it, juven I your.
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: L bowling there for it?
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: No good?
• 13:13
  Speaker 9: Uh, alright, check you later. I heard it once, I
• 13:19
  Speaker 9: heard it fifty times. No trace of the boy, got me, escaper.
• 13:22
  Speaker 9: Something real weird about the whole thing. Well, little look,
• 13:25
  Speaker 9: we know he didn't just disappear into thin air.
• 13:28
  Speaker 6: Kid's gone. There's a good reason for it. There's gotta
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: be an answer somewhere.
• 13:32
  Speaker 9: That's right, you'll find it.
• 13:37
  Speaker 8: Another week passed, and then a month. Two months.
• 13:40
  Speaker 6: We were no farther along than the day we started
• 13:42
  Speaker 6: on the case. In November we had a teletype from
• 13:45
  Speaker 6: Chief Earl o'claire of the Phoenix, Arizona Police Department reportedly
• 13:48
  Speaker 6: the Sherman boy had been seen in Phoenix. Was another
• 13:51
  Speaker 6: false alarm. The Christmas holidays.
• 13:54
  Speaker 8: Wore on into a new year.
• 13:55
  Speaker 6: February came and went, and then March and April Tuesday,
• 14:01
  Speaker 6: Ben and I got a call to check in with
• 14:03
  Speaker 6: Inspector Bowling.
• 14:05
  Speaker 9: This telegram just came in from Dayton, Ohio and we.
• 14:08
  Speaker 8: Love thank you.
• 14:09
  Speaker 10: Let's see Joe.
• 14:10
  Speaker 6: What is it, Jimmy Sherman They found him. Nine months
• 14:17
  Speaker 6: had gone by, almost to the day since the Sherman
• 14:19
  Speaker 6: boy had disappeared. The grandfather was contacted immediately. When he
• 14:23
  Speaker 6: was told his grandson had been found and that he
• 14:25
  Speaker 6: was safe, the old man was unable to answer.
• 14:28
  Speaker 8: He broke down and wept.
• 14:29
  Speaker 6: In our communications with the Dayton, Ohio police, they told
• 14:32
  Speaker 6: us that the boy had been found wandering along a
• 14:34
  Speaker 6: highway just outside that city, and that he'd appeared to
• 14:37
  Speaker 6: be in a kind of a dazed condition. The boy
• 14:39
  Speaker 6: told the Dayton officers that he'd been kidnapped a short
• 14:41
  Speaker 6: distance from his home in Los Angeles by a man
• 14:44
  Speaker 6: in a blue sedan. He gave them detailed descriptions of
• 14:47
  Speaker 6: both the man and the car. He told them that
• 14:49
  Speaker 6: for the past nine months a man had held him prisoner,
• 14:52
  Speaker 6: driving from state to state, never letting the boy out
• 14:54
  Speaker 6: of his sight. He said the kidnapper told him on
• 14:56
  Speaker 6: several occasions that he was holding him for ransom that
• 14:58
  Speaker 6: he was waiting to get money from his grandfather. On
• 15:01
  Speaker 6: May eighth, the youngster was returned to Los Angeles and
• 15:04
  Speaker 6: reunited with his grandfather. On May tenth, we got a
• 15:07
  Speaker 6: call from the grandfather that he wanted to talk to us, Ben,
• 15:09
  Speaker 6: and I drove out to see him.
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: I'm right in all the citizens, glad to see you.
• 15:14
  Speaker 11: How are you, sir? When I miss him? Sorry to
• 15:17
  Speaker 11: cause all this trouble chasing you're out here like.
• 15:19
  Speaker 8: This, not at all, sir? What is it you want
• 15:21
  Speaker 8: to see us about?
• 15:22
  Speaker 11: Well, I'm not really sure about it, sergeant. That's the
• 15:26
  Speaker 11: whole thing of it. I don't know if it's me
• 15:29
  Speaker 11: or what it is. Well, what's bothering you, miss jim
• 15:32
  Speaker 11: it's the.
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: Boy, Jimmy, I don't know what the thing.
• 15:36
  Speaker 8: What do you mean, sir? He's all right, isn't he.
• 15:38
  Speaker 6: We saw him as we drove up, playing out in
• 15:40
  Speaker 6: the backyard and the doctor checked him over here.
• 15:42
  Speaker 11: No, it's not that. The boy's healthy and nothing wrong
• 15:45
  Speaker 11: with him.
• 15:46
  Speaker 8: Well, then, what is it, sir?
• 15:47
  Speaker 11: Maybe it sounds a little weird to you, but I'm
• 15:51
  Speaker 11: just not sure. You're not sure what that boy out there? Sergeant?
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: I'm not sure he's really my grandson.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: You are in the communications division of a metropolitan police department.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: The teletype room forty three LOS five twenty nine fifty
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: one twelve O three PMAPB WMA one fifty five foot six,
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: dark haired, dark eyes, wearing gray suit, no hat. Suspect
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: is wearing glasses, heavy build, twenty two years. Suspect is
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: armed with blue steel revolver. Any information forward You have
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: just heard a teletype description of a suspect. This information
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: will apply to many, but careful screening will eliminate all
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: but one.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: You'll find the same as true when you examine king
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: size cigarettes. Careful screening will eliminate all but Fatima.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: Compare Fatima. Fatimas are the same length as any other
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: king size cigarettes. Eighty five millimeter. Fatima has the same
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: circumference one and one sixty fourth in inches around, and
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: Fatima filters the smoke exactly the same long distance as
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: other king size cigarettes. But in Fatima the difference is quality.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: Fatima gives you extra mildness, a much different, much better flavor,
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: and aroma. You get all the advantages of extra length
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: plus Fatima quality, which no other king size cigarette has.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: So compare Fatima yourself. Your first puff will tell.
• 17:30
  Speaker 7: You, ah, that's different.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: Yes, in Fatima the difference is quality. Best of all
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: long cigarettes.
• 17:47
  Speaker 6: Tuesday May tenth, two pm, when the aging grandfather Oscar
• 17:51
  Speaker 6: Sherman told us that he wasn't sure whether the recovered
• 17:53
  Speaker 6: boy was really his grandson, Ben and I didn't know
• 17:55
  Speaker 6: what to think. Our first reaction was that the shock
• 17:58
  Speaker 6: of recovering the boy after he almost been given up
• 18:01
  Speaker 6: for lost, had been too much for the old man.
• 18:03
  Speaker 6: Mister Sherman admitted that there was no physical difference in
• 18:06
  Speaker 6: the boy as far as he could see, but he
• 18:08
  Speaker 6: still insisted that there was something wrong, that the boy
• 18:10
  Speaker 6: seemed different somehow. To satisfy the grandfather, Ben and I
• 18:13
  Speaker 6: talked to the boy, but he failed to give us
• 18:15
  Speaker 6: any reason to believe that he was not Jimmy Sherman.
• 18:18
  Speaker 6: We checked with the boy's friends, all the people in
• 18:20
  Speaker 6: the neighborhood who'd known Jimmy over a period of years.
• 18:23
  Speaker 8: They confirmed our opinion.
• 18:24
  Speaker 6: A few thought that the youngster had changed a little,
• 18:26
  Speaker 6: but no one had any serious doubts about it. The
• 18:29
  Speaker 6: boy was really Jimmy Sherman, so the matter was dropped. Thursday,
• 18:33
  Speaker 6: May twelfth, Ben and I had lunch and then we
• 18:35
  Speaker 6: checked back in at the office.
• 18:38
  Speaker 10: Sure, I want to grab that.
• 18:39
  Speaker 8: Yeah, get it. You haven't Bureau Friday.
• 18:45
  Speaker 12: This is mister Sherman talkie.
• 18:47
  Speaker 8: Yes, sir, Yes, sir, how are you?
• 18:49
  Speaker 12: I want you to come out and take this boy?
• 18:52
  Speaker 6: U he's not my grandson.
• 18:54
  Speaker 9: I'm sure of it.
• 18:55
  Speaker 8: Well, how do you mean, sir, This.
• 18:56
  Speaker 11: Boy's got a scar on his side.
• 18:59
  Speaker 12: Yes, my grandson never had an operation.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: In his life.
• 19:05
  Speaker 6: Before we left the office, Ben and I briefed Inspector
• 19:07
  Speaker 6: Bowling on the phone call from the grandfather. Then we
• 19:10
  Speaker 6: drove back to the Sherman house. While Oscar Sherman didn't
• 19:12
  Speaker 6: claim that he knew his grandson's complete medical history, he
• 19:16
  Speaker 6: was certain that the boy had not had his appendix
• 19:18
  Speaker 6: out and that he had not had an operation. He
• 19:20
  Speaker 6: told us that his neighbor, missus Keller, could substantiate that
• 19:24
  Speaker 6: that she had known Jimmy since.
• 19:25
  Speaker 8: He was a baby. We put in a call to
• 19:27
  Speaker 8: the Sherman's family doctor. He wasn't in.
• 19:29
  Speaker 6: We left a message, and then we went next door
• 19:31
  Speaker 6: to see missus Keller. We found her in the kitchen
• 19:34
  Speaker 6: washing dishes.
• 19:37
  Speaker 5: I just got a couple.
• 19:38
  Speaker 7: More to rents than the Wait a minute, yes, correct,
• 19:39
  Speaker 7: If we can no to tell you the truth, Sergeant,
• 19:50
  Speaker 7: I just don't know what to think about mister Sherman.
• 19:53
  Speaker 7: Maybe the whole thing was too much for him. His
• 19:54
  Speaker 7: mind's going back up.
• 19:55
  Speaker 9: Oh do you acknowledge, missus Keller, was the boy ever
• 19:58
  Speaker 9: operated on him?
• 19:59
  Speaker 7: No? Not as far as I know. It's possibly did
• 20:02
  Speaker 7: have an operation. I didn't hear about it.
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: Sorry.
• 20:04
  Speaker 7: As far as I'm concerned, that boy's Jimmy Sherman, I
• 20:07
  Speaker 7: don't know what his grandfather's up to with all that
• 20:09
  Speaker 7: silly talk.
• 20:10
  Speaker 6: Well, if it's not really the boy, we won't have
• 20:11
  Speaker 6: too much trouble finding the truth.
• 20:13
  Speaker 7: There's no question in my mind of course it's Jimmy.
• 20:16
  Speaker 7: Why when he was over here the other day he
• 20:18
  Speaker 7: talked about the party I gave for him one Halloween.
• 20:20
  Speaker 7: He even remembered the children who were there.
• 20:23
  Speaker 8: Are the other neighbors as sure about the boy as
• 20:25
  Speaker 8: you are?
• 20:25
  Speaker 7: Just about mis Foster down the street? Jimmy was in
• 20:29
  Speaker 7: to see her yesterday, talked about some changes she'd made
• 20:31
  Speaker 7: in her living room, asked her about some relatives she
• 20:34
  Speaker 7: has living out of town. M come to think about it.
• 20:38
  Speaker 7: Jimmy even remarked on that new trailer rose I planted
• 20:40
  Speaker 7: out in front beside, says the boy's dogs. Why they knew, bat, youngster.
• 20:45
  Speaker 7: The minuty set foot in the yard.
• 20:46
  Speaker 6: Yes, ma'am, well, thank you very much, Miss Keller. If
• 20:49
  Speaker 6: we have any more questions, we'll contact CENTA.
• 20:50
  Speaker 7: All right, sergeant. Couldn't pixure a cup of coffee? Could I?
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: Oh?
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: No?
• 20:54
  Speaker 7: Thanks now, poor old mister Sherman. I don't know what
• 20:58
  Speaker 7: to make of it.
• 21:00
  Speaker 8: So mixed up, yes, ma'am, so are we.
• 21:07
  Speaker 6: We left the neighbor missus Keller, and went back next
• 21:09
  Speaker 6: door to the Sherman house. The grandfather told us that
• 21:11
  Speaker 6: the family doctor hadn't returned our call yet. At three
• 21:14
  Speaker 6: point thirty pm, the boy came home from school, changed
• 21:17
  Speaker 6: his clothes, and went out into the backyard to play.
• 21:19
  Speaker 6: We figured we had nothing to lose in talking to
• 21:21
  Speaker 6: the boy again. We found him in the small workshop
• 21:24
  Speaker 6: at the rear of the garage, where he was sawing
• 21:25
  Speaker 6: on a piece of plywood with a hacksaw. We talked
• 21:28
  Speaker 6: to him for about twenty minutes. It was no different
• 21:30
  Speaker 6: than the first time we interviewed him. He was relaxed,
• 21:32
  Speaker 6: and talkative.
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: Say, would you have me that hammer of their officer?
• 21:39
  Speaker 10: Oh yeah, here you go.
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: Thanks.
• 21:45
  Speaker 14: Well, I ever get this thing finished. It's gonna be
• 21:47
  Speaker 14: the best coaster around here. These are the wheels I'm
• 21:51
  Speaker 14: gonna put on it.
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: Pretty good, aren't they?
• 21:53
  Speaker 8: Yeah? They look fine? Son.
• 21:54
  Speaker 6: Do you like building things? Coasters and things like that?
• 21:57
  Speaker 8: Oh?
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I like it all right, it's fun.
• 22:02
  Speaker 9: Your granddad says you've changed quite a bit since you
• 22:05
  Speaker 9: got back. Jim says you didn't like working around the
• 22:07
  Speaker 9: shop here before.
• 22:08
  Speaker 5: Well, I guess I don't really s You know, once
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: in a while, I like to come out and fool around.
• 22:14
  Speaker 9: Have you seen mister Barlow down the street since you
• 22:16
  Speaker 9: been back?
• 22:17
  Speaker 14: Mister Barlow? Mm no, I went down to see him,
• 22:20
  Speaker 14: but he wasn't home. Maybe I'll go down and see
• 22:22
  Speaker 14: him tomorrow.
• 22:23
  Speaker 8: His name isn't Barlow, is it Ben? I thought it
• 22:25
  Speaker 8: was Robinson.
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: Oh yeah, that's all right, mister Robinson. Sometimes I forget.
• 22:32
  Speaker 8: How do you when your grandfather get along?
• 22:34
  Speaker 11: Jim?
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: Alright, Oh sure, every once in a while. Looks kind
• 22:38
  Speaker 5: of funny at me. I don't know. I guess he's
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: still worried about that man taking me away.
• 22:43
  Speaker 8: You know all. Uh huh, I've been feeling lately, Jim okay, sure.
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: I feel fine, hardly ever get sick. That's good.
• 22:54
  Speaker 8: You ever been in the hospital, son?
• 22:56
  Speaker 9: Uh huh, just.
• 22:57
  Speaker 5: Once had my appendix out. I hate hospital. Uh Can
• 23:01
  Speaker 5: I have that kind of nails there? Please?
• 23:02
  Speaker 10: Oh?
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, here you are.
• 23:04
  Speaker 14: I gonna make this good and strong.
• 23:07
  Speaker 5: You know.
• 23:08
  Speaker 8: I like to ask you a question, son, Yeah, what's
• 23:11
  Speaker 8: your real name?
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: M I'm Jimmy Sherman. You know that.
• 23:14
  Speaker 8: No, I'd like to have the truth. Son, Who are you?
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: He must be fooling officers. You know who I am?
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: Jimmy Sherman.
• 23:21
  Speaker 6: No, Jimmy Sherman never had his appendix out, son, But
• 23:23
  Speaker 6: you did, and you've got a sky to.
• 23:24
  Speaker 8: Prove it, haven't you?
• 23:26
  Speaker 5: Sure? I had my cerinis out? Ask my grandpa. He'll
• 23:28
  Speaker 5: tell you.
• 23:29
  Speaker 10: I'm fraid he won't. Son.
• 23:30
  Speaker 9: He says he's not your grandfather. He says you don't
• 23:33
  Speaker 9: belong here. His grandson never had an operation in his life.
• 23:40
  Speaker 8: How about it? Son? Do you wanna tell us about it?
• 23:43
  Speaker 7: Oh?
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: Grandpa isn't feeling real. He doesn't know what he's saying.
• 23:46
  Speaker 8: Well, he knows you're done. His grandson now, come on,
• 23:50
  Speaker 8: what about it?
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: Son?
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: Alright, I'm not Jimmy Sherman.
• 24:00
  Speaker 8: He told us his real name was Donald Rush.
• 24:03
  Speaker 6: He said he'd run away from his home in Springfield, Ohio,
• 24:05
  Speaker 6: two weeks before.
• 24:06
  Speaker 8: He said that he'd been picked up.
• 24:08
  Speaker 6: By the police on a highway just on the outskirts
• 24:10
  Speaker 6: of Dayton, Ohio. On returning the boy to the station,
• 24:13
  Speaker 6: the police officers saw that he fitted the description of
• 24:15
  Speaker 6: the missing California boy perfectly, was almost as if the
• 24:18
  Speaker 6: two were identical twins. Under the impression that the youngster
• 24:21
  Speaker 6: was suffering from shock or amnesia, the police officers told
• 24:24
  Speaker 6: him all about his home and his friends in California.
• 24:27
  Speaker 6: They gave Donald Rush all the information that they had
• 24:29
  Speaker 6: on the missing Sherman boy, all the newspaper stories, pictures,
• 24:33
  Speaker 6: the dozens of teletypes and circulars which had been sent
• 24:36
  Speaker 6: across the country in an effort to locate the missing youngster.
• 24:39
  Speaker 6: On his way out to California on the train, the
• 24:41
  Speaker 6: Rush boy was given dozens of newspapers to read, which
• 24:43
  Speaker 6: contained thousands of words concerning the disappearance of Jimmy Sherman.
• 24:47
  Speaker 6: So by the time he got to Los Angeles, Donald
• 24:49
  Speaker 6: Rush knew everything he had to know about the boy
• 24:51
  Speaker 6: he was impersonating. We questioned the Ohio youngster further. Besides
• 24:55
  Speaker 6: an exceptionally high IQ, he admitted to having an almost
• 24:58
  Speaker 6: photographic memory. We took him in the house to face
• 25:01
  Speaker 6: the grandfather of the boy that he'd been impersonating. The
• 25:04
  Speaker 6: boy was still missing, mister.
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: Sherman, Yes, sir, sh sit down, would you.
• 25:12
  Speaker 9: The boy here has a confession for you.
• 25:15
  Speaker 10: He wants to tell himself.
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: And I think I know I was right all along,
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: wasn't I such?
• 25:20
  Speaker 14: I didn't mean anything by it, mister, just thought it'd
• 25:23
  Speaker 14: be fun to make up like uh, somebody else.
• 25:25
  Speaker 5: For a while.
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: You would know the difference, would you say?
• 25:28
  Speaker 8: No, sir? Afraid I wouldn't.
• 25:29
  Speaker 6: A picture over there on the maddle and the boy here,
• 25:32
  Speaker 6: they look exactly alike to me.
• 25:34
  Speaker 11: There was only one thing I'd like to know, sir. Yeah,
• 25:37
  Speaker 11: why'd you do it? Why'd you try it?
• 25:40
  Speaker 8: Fool me?
• 25:41
  Speaker 7: Oh?
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: I don't know, mister.
• 25:42
  Speaker 14: I ran away from home and the cops picked me
• 25:44
  Speaker 14: up in your dat and he thought my name was
• 25:46
  Speaker 14: Jimmy Sherman. They said I was a missing kid from California.
• 25:49
  Speaker 8: Why didn't you straighten him? Out right then, Son, I.
• 25:51
  Speaker 14: Was kind of afraid, and if I told him what
• 25:53
  Speaker 14: my room name was, they would have sent me back home.
• 25:55
  Speaker 14: So I'd just let him think I was really Jimmy Sherman,
• 25:58
  Speaker 14: and they seemed to be pretty sure I was.
• 26:00
  Speaker 10: How long did you.
• 26:00
  Speaker 9: Think you could keep it up, son, pretending it were
• 26:02
  Speaker 9: somebody I I don't know.
• 26:04
  Speaker 14: I guess I never thought much about that. I got
• 26:07
  Speaker 14: here and everybody was nice to me. I just didn't
• 26:09
  Speaker 14: think about anybody finding out, honest, mister, I didn't mean
• 26:13
  Speaker 14: to do anything wrong.
• 26:14
  Speaker 5: I didn't mean to hurt anybody.
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: And you never saw my grandson. You never saw it, Jimmy, No.
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: Sir, I just got on the train. They brought me
• 26:22
  Speaker 5: out here.
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: You don't know where he is, you don't know how
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: he is.
• 26:25
  Speaker 8: Al I'd try to take it easy, mister Sherman.
• 26:28
  Speaker 11: Why would you do it? Boy, you're a stranger. Why
• 26:33
  Speaker 11: would you try to fool me about.
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: Jim I'm sorry, mister, I didn't mean it, mist I
• 26:37
  Speaker 5: didn't mean it.
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: HM thought I had a peck. I thought I had
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: n't come on.
• 26:50
  Speaker 8: Let's go, sir.
• 26:57
  Speaker 14: I didn't wanna make him cry like that, sergeant, Honest,
• 26:59
  Speaker 14: I'm sorry. Couldn't you just let me stay.
• 27:02
  Speaker 5: Here with him?
• 27:03
  Speaker 8: No, I'm afraid not, sir.
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: I don't do anything wrong. Don't you think I could
• 27:08
  Speaker 5: just stay here with him? I'll go right back in
• 27:10
  Speaker 5: there now, I'm tell him I'm sorry.
• 27:12
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm sorry too, youngster, But you're not the boys
• 27:14
  Speaker 6: looking for.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: The story you have just heard was true, only the
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: names were changed to protect the innocent.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: On Wednesday, May twentieth, the meeting was held at the
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: Juvenile Bureau, City and County of Los Angeles, State of California.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: In a moment the results of that meeting, and I'll
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: here is our star, Jack Webb.
• 27:38
  Speaker 8: Thank you friends.
• 27:40
  Speaker 6: I hold in my hand a new pack of Fatima's
• 27:43
  Speaker 6: all I need to prove that Fatima is the best
• 27:45
  Speaker 6: of all long cigarettes. Now Here on the side you'll
• 27:49
  Speaker 6: find this statement. Fatima contains the finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos,
• 27:54
  Speaker 6: superbly blended to make Fatima extra mild. Fatima gives you
• 27:59
  Speaker 6: all the advance ages of extra length plus Fatima quality,
• 28:03
  Speaker 6: which no other king sized cigarette has. So tomorrow buy
• 28:07
  Speaker 6: a pack of fatimas I know you'll find that in
• 28:10
  Speaker 6: Fatima the difference is quality.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: Donald Rush, who impersonated missing ten year old Jimmy Sherman,
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: was returned to the custody of his parents at their
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: home in Springfield, Ohio. Four months later, the body of
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: Jimmy Sherman was discovered buried on a farm on the
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: outskirts of Riverside, California. The boy had been murdered. His killer,
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: a farmer in the neighborhood, was subsequently apprehended and brought
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: to trial. He was found guilty of murder in the
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: first degree and was executed at the State Penitentiary San Quentin, California.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: from official Filesicle advice comes from the Office of Chief
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: of Police W. H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Fatima Cigarettes, best of all Long Cigarettes, has brought you Dragnet.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: Portions transcribed from Los Angeles.
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: Stay tuned for Couperspyre next over most NBC stations.