Latest / Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas / Dragnet: The Big Make (EP1688)
Transcript
- 0:28Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
- 0:33Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment,
- 0:36Speaker 1: email it to me Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net,
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- 0:46Speaker 1: of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com slash Radio Detectives. Well,
- 0:52Speaker 1: before we do get started, I do want to let
- 0:54Speaker 1: you know the programs brought to you by the financial
- 0:56Speaker 1: support of our listeners, and I particularly want to thank
- 0:59Speaker 1: you for his support. You can support the show support
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- 1:06Speaker 1: us on an ongoing basis recurring once a month Pytreon
- 1:10Speaker 1: dot Great Detectives dot net, and we have levels from
- 1:14Speaker 1: two dollars on up. A list available details there. But
- 1:18Speaker 1: now it's time for today's episode of Dragnet. The original
- 1:22Speaker 1: air date September fourteenth of nineteen fifty and the title
- 1:26Speaker 1: is The Big Mac.
- 1:37Speaker 2: The story you were about to hear is true, only
- 1:40Speaker 2: the names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're
- 1:54Speaker 2: a detective sergeant. You're assigned to robbery detail. The small
- 1:58Speaker 2: bakery shop in your city is held up. A man
- 2:01Speaker 2: and his daughter are shot down without reason. Your job getting.
- 2:17Speaker 3: Drag meet the documented drama of an actual crime. For
- 2:20Speaker 3: the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles
- 2:23Speaker 3: Police Department, you will travel step by step on the
- 2:26Speaker 3: side of the law to an actual case from official
- 2:29Speaker 3: police files, from beginning to end, from crime to punishment.
- 2:33Speaker 3: Dragnet is the story of your police force in action.
- 2:39Speaker 4: It was Tuesday, November three, was Chile in Los Angeles.
- 2:43Speaker 4: We were working the night watch out of robbery detail.
- 2:45Speaker 4: My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Captain ed Walker.
- 2:48Speaker 4: My name is Friday. Was five minutes to midnight when
- 2:51Speaker 4: we got to three eighteen Silver Avenue, Stendall's Bakery shop.
- 2:56Speaker 5: A Maryland Friday Central robber at sixteen.
- 3:00Speaker 6: Are my partner Olson's back there in the shop talking
- 3:03Speaker 6: to the owner.
- 3:03Speaker 4: You answered the call, did you?
- 3:05Speaker 5: Yeah?
- 3:05Speaker 6: I must have been a crazy man. Shot two of
- 3:06Speaker 6: them down, cold blood. They go in the ambulance now shot.
- 3:10Speaker 4: Up pretty bad.
- 3:11Speaker 5: Who runs the place?
- 3:12Speaker 6: Swedish family named Stendall, father, mother, two daughters, All four
- 3:16Speaker 6: of them work in the bakery here.
- 3:18Speaker 4: They all here at the time of the robbery.
- 3:19Speaker 6: Yeah, the hold up man shot the father and the
- 3:21Speaker 6: oldest daughter. The mother and the younger girl are in
- 3:23Speaker 6: the back straight through that door.
- 3:25Speaker 5: Okay, thanks James, Right, Sergey, yo on the side of
- 3:33Speaker 5: the door here looks like a bullet hole.
- 3:35Speaker 4: Yeah, thy Jacob, Sergy, you want to call into the
- 3:39Speaker 4: crime lab, ask who send somebody out?
- 3:40Speaker 5: All right?
- 3:41Speaker 4: Thank you?
- 3:46Speaker 5: Hi you Olson. That's right, romere on Friday, sent for robbery.
- 3:50Speaker 5: Oh how are you? These are two of the victims,
- 3:52Speaker 5: missus Sidney Stendall, girls, her daughter named Jennifer. Any other
- 3:55Speaker 5: witnesses not so far. Neighbor around here is pretty deserted
- 3:58Speaker 5: this time of night. Hold up, man made a fast
- 4:00Speaker 5: getaway and two people who were shocked. What kind of
- 4:02Speaker 5: shape of then? And father and mister standle he's got
- 4:05Speaker 5: a bullet wound on the right shoulder. Older daughter is
- 4:07Speaker 5: a lot worse. Her name is June, nineteen years old.
- 4:10Speaker 5: Chat four or five times in the stomach or do
- 4:13Speaker 5: you want to stand by?
- 4:14Speaker 4: Right? Yeah? Okay, missus Stendall, we're from robbery detail.
- 4:22Speaker 7: Yeah, how do you do?
- 4:23Speaker 4: How do you do?
- 4:24Speaker 7: Jeannie was Alexei and Sis plats for her to go too.
- 4:31Speaker 7: You will excuse me for not getting up offer It
- 4:35Speaker 7: doesn't feel so bad.
- 4:36Speaker 4: That's perfectly all right. Man.
- 4:40Speaker 5: Oh, thank you, okay, thank you very much.
- 4:45Speaker 4: You and your daughter here. We're in the front of
- 4:47Speaker 4: the bakery shop at the time of the robbery, Is
- 4:49Speaker 4: that right, miss Standle?
- 4:50Speaker 8: No?
- 4:51Speaker 7: Yeah, Nie was back here with her father. That's Lars,
- 4:55Speaker 7: my husband. Unie and I were in the shop in front.
- 4:59Speaker 5: Who were you with, man, Uni?
- 5:01Speaker 7: Uni and I MoMA means June, my older sister, she
- 5:05Speaker 7: calls it Uni.
- 5:06Speaker 5: Yeah, Yun oh yeah, do you mind telling us what happened?
- 5:10Speaker 7: Well, Yun, and I was scrubbing the floor of the shop.
- 5:16Speaker 7: You choose the nightly scrubbed the floor of the shop.
- 5:20Speaker 7: Then this man came in and pointed a gun. He
- 5:23Speaker 7: wanted our money.
- 5:25Speaker 4: Boy, what time did he come in?
- 5:27Speaker 7: Eleven fifteen, eleven twenty, I don't remember for certain. He
- 5:31Speaker 7: wanted dull money and I gave it to him.
- 5:34Speaker 5: How much was that man?
- 5:37Speaker 7: Yeah? No, do it omka bang? Twenty four dollars, Yeah,
- 5:42Speaker 7: twenty four dollars. Used the paper money, He took it
- 5:46Speaker 7: and put it in his pocket. Un my daughter, she
- 5:51Speaker 7: started to cry. The man hit her. She cried some
- 5:58Speaker 7: more than last.
- 6:00Speaker 8: Yeah.
- 6:00Speaker 7: He came around and from the back the man pointed
- 6:04Speaker 7: the gun he made Lars and me and yeh he
- 6:08Speaker 7: stand against that war, but not you. He took hold
- 6:14Speaker 7: of her. Jenny, who's held the theay been vegan denman
- 6:20Speaker 7: and but you.
- 6:23Speaker 9: He was getting fresh with your mom. The man tried
- 6:27Speaker 9: to get fresh with June. Officers, June.
- 6:31Speaker 7: He tried to drag out the door with yeah you,
- 6:34Speaker 7: and he hit him, hit him good and even like that,
- 6:42Speaker 7: drew her against the counter and pushed June down. Crazy
- 6:48Speaker 7: man class he looked. He kicked her.
- 6:54Speaker 4: M h.
- 6:55Speaker 7: Then Lars, my husband. He ran at the man. He
- 7:00Speaker 7: hurt the gun loud and Lars fell down and I screamed, yeah, yeah,
- 7:08Speaker 7: I screamed. He turned and I saw the man standing
- 7:12Speaker 7: over you. He pointed the gun down at her. I
- 7:18Speaker 7: see looked on him. He kept shooting her four maybe
- 7:25Speaker 7: five times. Yeh, miscreamed, She kept screaming. The man ran
- 7:35Speaker 7: off the door.
- 7:37Speaker 4: It's all right now.
- 7:39Speaker 5: And either one of you ever seen this man before?
- 7:42Speaker 7: No?
- 7:42Speaker 5: No, did I But you know him?
- 7:44Speaker 4: If you saw him again, I think so I.
- 7:47Speaker 9: Would, abser. I got a good look at him. He's
- 7:49Speaker 9: wearing a blue cap like a baseball player wears.
- 7:52Speaker 4: Howd he get away? Was he on foot or did
- 7:54Speaker 4: he have a car?
- 7:55Speaker 9: Nobody followed him, but after he left I heard a
- 7:57Speaker 9: car start up down the block and then it drove away.
- 8:01Speaker 5: Do you have anything else to add, Missus Staniel.
- 8:04Speaker 7: I hope you catched the man. He beat his catch.
- 8:10Speaker 4: Yes, ma'am, we're gonna try.
- 8:11Speaker 7: Yin Arsenella, Calm and Nichols. Here, Mom, your officer, can
- 8:27Speaker 7: you find the man? Please call me.
- 8:30Speaker 4: You keep the nickels, we'll call you. Before we left
- 8:37Speaker 4: the scene of the robbery and shooting, Missus Stendall and
- 8:39Speaker 4: her daughter gave us their description of the hold up man,
- 8:41Speaker 4: together with the clothing he wore. The suspect had no
- 8:44Speaker 4: outstanding physical characteristics that they'd noticed. The only thing unusual
- 8:48Speaker 4: about his clothing was that he wore what appeared to
- 8:50Speaker 4: be a baseball cap at the time of the hold up.
- 8:52Speaker 4: She described the cap as light blue with a visor.
- 8:55Speaker 4: Together with officers Bechdel and Lopez from Central Robbery, we
- 8:58Speaker 4: canvassed the immediate neighborhood for us their possible witnesses. We
- 9:01Speaker 4: found none. The next morning we went out to the hospital.
- 9:05Speaker 4: The condition of the older daughter, June, was critical. We
- 9:08Speaker 4: interviewed the father. He could tell us nothing. At ten am,
- 9:11Speaker 4: missus Stendall and her younger girl, Jenny were brought to
- 9:14Speaker 4: the office and we started them looking through mug books
- 9:16Speaker 4: of Parolis previously convicted of armed robbery. Within two hours,
- 9:20Speaker 4: both of them positively identified the picture of a recent
- 9:22Speaker 4: San Quentin release as that of the hold up man.
- 9:25Speaker 4: His name was Harold Best. We started a quick rundown.
- 9:32Speaker 5: You pulled the Packagejohnny, here's the dope.
- 9:34Speaker 4: Harold Best as Harold Norris alias Harold Thomps alias Tom
- 9:38Speaker 4: Norris one term for arm robbery and Q got out
- 9:41Speaker 4: four months ago. M owned description both match. How about
- 9:44Speaker 4: the ex con file to check he's registered? Do you
- 9:47Speaker 4: get ahold of his parlofs.
- 9:48Speaker 5: Yeah, twenty four to for to Excelsior Avenue's rooming. I'll
- 9:51Speaker 5: let checks for the x con files. Cruel officer says
- 9:53Speaker 5: Best went to work two weeks ago to filling station
- 9:55Speaker 5: over on from mine. Yah doesn't seem to be able
- 9:57Speaker 5: to hold a job. Quarrelsome n himself to dead. I've
- 10:01Speaker 5: got robbery romel. You're right, that's all huh yeah, right,
- 10:09Speaker 5: but great thinker. The crime lab they checked the slugs
- 10:12Speaker 5: taken from the two victims. Yeah, they came from a
- 10:14Speaker 5: thirty two caliber revolver. I'll be a cult anything else,
- 10:19Speaker 5: that's it. I'm too bad at dark. We've had worse. Yeah,
- 10:23Speaker 5: maybe we can make that phone call pretty quick.
- 10:30Speaker 4: Two pm Wednesday, Ben and I drove out to his
- 10:32Speaker 4: rooming house at twenty four to forty ex Celsia Avenue,
- 10:34Speaker 4: and we found that Herbert Best was still living there.
- 10:36Speaker 4: We had the landlady show us his room. Besides the
- 10:39Speaker 4: usual personal belongings, we came across nothing of consequence. After
- 10:43Speaker 4: questioning the landlady, we drove to the service station on
- 10:45Speaker 4: Vermont Avenue where Best was supposed to be employed.
- 10:55Speaker 5: I don't seen him run around.
- 10:57Speaker 4: There's a fellow over there greasing your car in there as.
- 11:00Speaker 5: Oh oh yeah, it looks like Best.
- 11:08Speaker 4: Hey fella, you now, can you tell us if there's
- 11:13Speaker 4: a Herbert Best working here?
- 11:15Speaker 5: Uh?
- 11:15Speaker 10: Man?
- 11:16Speaker 4: Why police officers would like to ask you?
- 11:22Speaker 8: Ah?
- 11:23Speaker 5: Matter routine investigation. Got a few questions for you supposed.
- 11:27Speaker 4: To have this greased up a quarter to four?
- 11:31Speaker 8: What am I supposed to do?
- 11:32Speaker 4: Please?
- 11:32Speaker 5: Your boss?
- 11:33Speaker 4: I'll find him.
- 11:34Speaker 5: Your got any heat on you?
- 11:37Speaker 8: Oh?
- 11:38Speaker 5: This is all a bar?
- 11:39Speaker 4: How long is it's gonna be a.
- 11:41Speaker 8: Couple of minutes. I'm gonna take more on a grease job.
- 11:44Speaker 8: Put this singing shape.
- 11:45Speaker 4: I will wait for you.
- 11:49Speaker 8: How'd you find me? Mosey Line, lady of mine, No routine, general,
- 11:58Speaker 8: you're very fetnah on. This trap is froze, he said, Chunk, Well,
- 12:06Speaker 8: what's all about?
- 12:07Speaker 5: Got a few things are straightened out? Bess how long
- 12:09Speaker 5: you been working here?
- 12:10Speaker 8: You didn't drive out here for that. That's not your game.
- 12:14Speaker 4: What's the pitch routine?
- 12:15Speaker 5: Investigation?
- 12:16Speaker 4: We'd like to know where you've been spending your nights.
- 12:17Speaker 4: For instance, Sunday night, where were you?
- 12:20Speaker 5: Well, I don't know.
- 12:21Speaker 8: I went to a show. Yes, I saw Mickeyrny Pitcher
- 12:26Speaker 8: where downtown? I had a beer after the show? Come home?
- 12:31Speaker 5: H How about Monday night? Uh?
- 12:33Speaker 8: Or went home after work? I was booked, went to
- 12:37Speaker 8: bed early?
- 12:37Speaker 4: Can you prove it?
- 12:38Speaker 8: Land ladies saw me come in, always snooping around. She
- 12:42Speaker 8: ought to know if I was there or not?
- 12:44Speaker 4: How about last night Tuesday?
- 12:46Speaker 8: Played some cards a friend of mine, him and his
- 12:49Speaker 8: wife Penny Annie Pooker.
- 12:51Speaker 5: Where the place it's.
- 12:53Speaker 8: Down on Pico near the park. You can ask 'em
- 12:57Speaker 8: what times you get there? I'm not sure. Oh, eight o'clock.
- 13:02Speaker 8: I guess what.
- 13:02Speaker 5: Time did you leave?
- 13:04Speaker 8: What's it all about?
- 13:05Speaker 4: What time did you.
- 13:06Speaker 8: Leave roun midnight? Y'all must have been around midnight?
- 13:10Speaker 4: What'd you play with your friend and his wife?
- 13:12Speaker 8: Okr ook her loss as usual, took a street car home,
- 13:17Speaker 8: went to bed.
- 13:18Speaker 5: I'm sure you didn't leave earlier.
- 13:20Speaker 8: Of course, I'm sure it was rum midnight? I remember,
- 13:24Speaker 8: how do you remember? I looked at my watch, but
- 13:28Speaker 8: not for you.
- 13:29Speaker 4: What times you get home?
- 13:31Speaker 8: It takes about a half hour on trolley. Must have
- 13:34Speaker 8: been about twelve thirty.
- 13:36Speaker 5: And the land lady see you coming.
- 13:38Speaker 8: I don't know if she saw me or not? Always
- 13:40Speaker 8: snoop aroun probably did?
- 13:42Speaker 5: You're not sure?
- 13:43Speaker 8: No, of course, I'm not sure she looks for me.
- 13:46Speaker 8: I don't know for her.
- 13:48Speaker 4: You want a gun? Best?
- 13:50Speaker 8: You know better than not? Copper ex cons Can I
- 13:52Speaker 8: have a gun?
- 13:54Speaker 4: Your friend and his wife now, they're going to back
- 13:56Speaker 4: you up? If you were playing cards with him till midnight?
- 13:58Speaker 8: Why not?
- 13:59Speaker 4: I was?
- 14:01Speaker 8: There's a boss looking from here. I'd better let him
- 14:03Speaker 8: know I'm here.
- 14:04Speaker 4: Best. What's that you got in your back pocket? There?
- 14:09Speaker 4: In your back pocket? The right one? There?
- 14:12Speaker 5: Oh?
- 14:12Speaker 8: This yeah, baseball cap Why.
- 14:18Speaker 4: Four pm, Ben and I checked the suspects locker at
- 14:21Speaker 4: the service station and then drove him back to the office.
- 14:23Speaker 4: At the interrogation room, we continued questioning him. He denied
- 14:27Speaker 4: any knowledge of the hold up and shooting at Stendall's
- 14:29Speaker 4: bakery shop the night before. We asked him again about
- 14:32Speaker 4: the friends he was supposed to be playing cards with
- 14:34Speaker 4: at the time of the robbery. He told us that
- 14:36Speaker 4: they lived over on Peico, but he couldn't remember the address.
- 14:38Speaker 4: He volunteered to direct this there, but he said they
- 14:41Speaker 4: wouldn't be home. He told us their names were mister
- 14:43Speaker 4: and missus Clyde Mitchell. They were in charge of the
- 14:46Speaker 4: food concessions at one of the football stadiums in town.
- 14:49Speaker 4: Best was held for suspicion of robbery. That night. We
- 14:52Speaker 4: drove out and interviewed the landlady at his boarding house.
- 14:54Speaker 4: She knew nothing of Best whereabouts the previous night. She
- 14:57Speaker 4: didn't know what time he left or what time he returned.
- 15:00Speaker 4: Ben and I went over his room again. There was
- 15:02Speaker 4: no sign of a gun. Friday, two pm, officers Beckall
- 15:05Speaker 4: and Lopez went out to the hospital to see if
- 15:07Speaker 4: mister Standell and his daughter June could identify best mug shots.
- 15:10Speaker 4: Ben and I drove out to the stadium to locate
- 15:12Speaker 4: and missus Clyde Mitchell was a high school football game
- 15:15Speaker 4: going on.
- 15:18Speaker 5: High school kids here, have a lot of fun nowadays.
- 15:20Speaker 4: Best years of your life, Joe, you sound like you're
- 15:22Speaker 4: eighty five.
- 15:23Speaker 5: Some nights. I feel like it. Way those kids turned
- 15:26Speaker 5: out for these things. You'd think USC and Noted Dame
- 15:29Speaker 5: were playing. You see the number on that gate over there, Yeah,
- 15:32Speaker 5: it's twenty three. That the number of the gatekeeper gaming.
- 15:35Speaker 4: Yeah, must be the Mitchell stand over there.
- 15:37Speaker 5: Come on, oh mess, and you'll tell us where to
- 15:45Speaker 5: find mister and missus Mitchell.
- 15:46Speaker 9: You'll run back to ten.
- 15:47Speaker 5: You're knocking the door. Thank you.
- 15:53Speaker 4: Godle Man to Mims Mitchell, it's all right. What is
- 15:57Speaker 4: it police officers like talk to if you a few minutes, I'm.
- 16:00Speaker 7: Having a bottle lunch with some money.
- 16:02Speaker 4: Shut the door, yes, ma'am, Thank you.
- 16:04Speaker 11: Lowsy food business. You never get a chance to feed yourself, Yes, ma'am.
- 16:08Speaker 11: Hey care for some of these new kind of potato chips? Revolutionary,
- 16:12Speaker 11: it says, oh, mother, Thompson's poff chips flavored.
- 16:16Speaker 7: Get all kind.
- 16:16Speaker 11: See do you her a combination?
- 16:19Speaker 7: See girl like an egg?
- 16:20Speaker 8: Clint?
- 16:21Speaker 7: Sure tastes different?
- 16:22Speaker 8: Have come?
- 16:23Speaker 5: I would thank you.
- 16:24Speaker 4: See we're inquiring about a friend of yours, Miss Mitchell.
- 16:27Speaker 4: Maybe you can tell us something about him.
- 16:28Speaker 7: Oh that.
- 16:30Speaker 5: Man, but the name of Herbert.
- 16:32Speaker 8: West herb you o time friend of my husbands?
- 16:34Speaker 7: What do you want to know?
- 16:35Speaker 5: You see him quite often, do you, Miss Mitchell?
- 16:37Speaker 8: Once?
- 16:38Speaker 7: Twice a month, Clyde and I played cards or glot
- 16:40Speaker 7: bowling with him. Her pretty, you got me?
- 16:44Speaker 4: When's the last time you saw him?
- 16:46Speaker 11: Early this week?
- 16:47Speaker 7: Tuesday? I think?
- 16:48Speaker 5: Was sure it was Tuesday?
- 16:49Speaker 7: Mmm, see, yeah it was. We played card twice.
- 16:52Speaker 5: That's your play, that's right.
- 16:53Speaker 7: I a little poker cride and herbing me.
- 16:56Speaker 4: What time did best get to your place, Miss Mitchell?
- 17:00Speaker 7: Right after I finished up for the dinner dishes, around
- 17:02Speaker 7: seven forty five?
- 17:02Speaker 4: I'd say, how long did you stay?
- 17:04Speaker 5: A couple hours?
- 17:05Speaker 7: We sat around, had a few drinks, played poker.
- 17:06Speaker 5: Nicol Emmett, what time do you leave?
- 17:08Speaker 4: Do you remember that?
- 17:09Speaker 7: A little before ten?
- 17:10Speaker 5: I think? Sure that man is important, A sure as.
- 17:13Speaker 7: I can be. Must have left before ten, because Clyde
- 17:15Speaker 7: and I listened to the ten o'clock news alone. Then
- 17:18Speaker 7: we went to bed ye after your.
- 17:19Speaker 5: Friend Best tells us he didn't leave your place until midnight.
- 17:22Speaker 7: Oh, that's not right. He must be mixed up.
- 17:25Speaker 8: He left before ten.
- 17:26Speaker 4: I'm sure that all right, miss Mitchell. Thank you say
- 17:28Speaker 4: I hope I.
- 17:29Speaker 7: Haven't said anything I shouldn't have. I know Herb's next gun. Yeah,
- 17:32Speaker 7: he likes to gamble, not checking out on for Tuesday night.
- 17:35Speaker 4: I that's right, you're playing too much poker for not
- 17:38Speaker 4: playing enough. Three point thirty pm, we located mister Mitchell,
- 17:45Speaker 4: corroborated his wife's story, and then we went back to
- 17:47Speaker 4: the city hall. Officers Beckel and Lopez were waiting for us.
- 17:50Speaker 4: They told us that they had seen mister Stendall and
- 17:53Speaker 4: his daughter June at the hospital. Both of them had
- 17:55Speaker 4: identified Herbert best mugshot as that of the hold up
- 17:58Speaker 4: man had a show up Missus. Stendall and her daughter
- 18:01Speaker 4: identified Best. We checked auto records for all stolen cars
- 18:05Speaker 4: that might tie in. There were none. We then started
- 18:07Speaker 4: to work on the theory that he had taken a
- 18:09Speaker 4: bus from his friend's place where he had been playing
- 18:11Speaker 4: cars at the stend Doll Bakery where the shooting took place.
- 18:14Speaker 4: Lopezan Bechdel rode the bus over the same route, took
- 18:16Speaker 4: forty three minutes, plenty of time for Best, who have
- 18:19Speaker 4: gotten from one place to the other, even on a
- 18:20Speaker 4: slow run. We interviewed the bus driver who'd been on
- 18:23Speaker 4: duty that particular line Tuesday night between ten pm and midnight.
- 18:27Speaker 4: He identified Best as one of his passengers, but he
- 18:29Speaker 4: didn't remember where he got off. The next morning, Ben
- 18:32Speaker 4: and I met with Ed Walker, captain of robbery.
- 18:36Speaker 5: How they got just sew the wu DA night out
- 18:39Speaker 5: the case for him. Yeah, we got to complain. He'll
- 18:41Speaker 5: be arrangdous afternoon.
- 18:42Speaker 8: That's doing a case.
- 18:43Speaker 4: He got well, he's one of the Stendall family. Identified Best.
- 18:46Speaker 4: His alibi didn't stand up for Tuesday night, and we
- 18:49Speaker 4: got that bus driver. He tapped Best too in that
- 18:52Speaker 4: blue baseball camp. All we need now's the hold up again?
- 18:54Speaker 5: I hate to spoil it for you. This letter just
- 18:59Speaker 5: came through the man. Have a look. What do you
- 19:02Speaker 5: think I read in the paper this morning about Herbert Best.
- 19:08Speaker 5: You've got the wrong guy. I'm the one who held
- 19:11Speaker 5: up that baker. Every detail about that robbery is written
- 19:13Speaker 5: down in that letter. The information wasn't in the newspaper story.
- 19:16Speaker 5: Nobody else with the hold up man at no all
- 19:18Speaker 5: those details. Yeah, wait a minute, isn't it If you
- 19:20Speaker 5: don't believe I'm the right man, I'll shoot up a
- 19:23Speaker 5: couple of more jerks. Next time I'll kill him. It's
- 19:26Speaker 5: no crank letdy, Oh it isn't You got the wrong man?
- 19:39Speaker 3: You are listening to dragnet.
- 19:48Speaker 4: After we received the anonymous letter in the mail confessing
- 19:50Speaker 4: to distend All Bakery hold up, we met with the
- 19:52Speaker 4: Deputy District Attorney. We acquainted him with the new facts
- 19:55Speaker 4: in the case. That afternoon, the charges against Herbert Best
- 19:58Speaker 4: were dropped. We started again at the beginning ten am Monday,
- 20:03Speaker 4: November ninth, the members of the Stendall family were again
- 20:06Speaker 4: shown mug books of x cons with robbery records. This
- 20:09Speaker 4: time they picked out eight mug shots of known robberymen,
- 20:12Speaker 4: each with a marked resemblance to the original suspect, Herbert Best.
- 20:16Speaker 4: Together with Officers Bechdel and Lopez, we started checking them out.
- 20:19Speaker 4: The first two days we tracked down four of the eight.
- 20:22Speaker 4: All of the four were in the clear. Five point
- 20:25Speaker 4: fifteen pm we got back in the City Hall, the
- 20:27Speaker 4: carpool seen any empty spots you no, but don't park
- 20:34Speaker 4: it in any one of the city councilman's stalls. Yeah,
- 20:36Speaker 4: it might get so well, why don't you pull up here?
- 20:38Speaker 4: Boyd'll take care of you. Yeah, that's just good, right good?
- 20:50Speaker 5: Oh God? And I knew there's something I forgot to do.
- 20:53Speaker 4: What's that?
- 20:54Speaker 5: Well? They had an underwear sale today and placed down
- 20:56Speaker 5: on the South bag shorts T shirt, and I have
- 20:59Speaker 5: feeling to be showing you get down.
- 21:00Speaker 4: There'll be another one. That place has sales all the time,
- 21:03Speaker 4: don't they.
- 21:03Speaker 5: I mean twice a year on underwear stuff. I've got
- 21:06Speaker 5: not gonna last the next time. Right, Wait a minute,
- 21:10Speaker 5: jeaned back.
- 21:10Speaker 4: From here, high back, all right up, Yeah, I'd just
- 21:14Speaker 4: make out.
- 21:15Speaker 12: The two men we checked with clean picked up something.
- 21:17Speaker 12: Seventy seventh Street station. Go ahead, Ben, Well, what's that
- 21:22Speaker 12: elevator door?
- 21:23Speaker 4: I'm sorry? Well, what's was seventy seventh Street?
- 21:28Speaker 12: A couple of minute in traffic out there covered an
- 21:29Speaker 12: accident this afternoon ninety first in central hit and run,
- 21:32Speaker 12: and so one of our traffic cars saw the collision,
- 21:35Speaker 12: took out after the guy chased him ten blocks. While
- 21:38Speaker 12: they were chasing him, they thought they saw the driver throw.
- 21:40Speaker 5: Something out of the car window.
- 21:41Speaker 12: What I'm coming to that. When they finally pulled a
- 21:45Speaker 12: car over, great coup, the driver told him his shoulder
- 21:48Speaker 12: was wrenching the accident. He was on his way to
- 21:49Speaker 12: his own doctor. Our men took him the seventy seventh Street.
- 21:52Speaker 12: Had the doc there look at him? Yeah, well, the
- 21:55Speaker 12: doctor was treating the guy. Only one of the officers
- 21:56Speaker 12: was in the room. When he turned to get a
- 21:58Speaker 12: drink of water. The suspects slugged him, and then the
- 22:01Speaker 12: doctor jumped out of the window, got away, teletypes out on.
- 22:05Speaker 4: He went to an awful lot of trouble to beat
- 22:07Speaker 4: a traffic wrap.
- 22:08Speaker 12: Yeah, that's the way it impressed the boys out there.
- 22:10Speaker 12: They got out of broadcast and the guy went back
- 22:12Speaker 12: to the spot where they thought they saw the guy
- 22:14Speaker 12: tossed this thing out of his car. When they were
- 22:16Speaker 12: chased him, he found a thirty two coat revolver. Arrest
- 22:20Speaker 12: camps checking it now in the crime lab.
- 22:22Speaker 4: What they see the man look like description.
- 22:24Speaker 12: Measures pretty close to our hold up gun.
- 22:26Speaker 4: I'll get a robbery Friday. Yeah, just a minute you.
- 22:32Speaker 12: Back, yeah, oh yeah, right, yeah, okay, fine, right, Rush
- 22:42Speaker 12: camp checked thirty two revolved with the slugs and the
- 22:45Speaker 12: stend All case. Yeah positive make.
- 22:50Speaker 4: The gray coop which the unidentified suspect had been driving
- 22:53Speaker 4: had been checked out by traffic officers at seventy seven
- 22:56Speaker 4: Street Division. They had found that the owner and driver
- 22:58Speaker 4: of the car was a man named Bruno Stock, a
- 23:01Speaker 4: two time loser with a page full of major and
- 23:03Speaker 4: minor crimes to his credit. We checked his Mama sheet
- 23:06Speaker 4: and we got out a broadcast on him in an
- 23:07Speaker 4: apb A steake out had been placed at his last
- 23:10Speaker 4: known address. We picked up a sandwich and a cup
- 23:13Speaker 4: of coffee for dinner, and then we started checking out
- 23:15Speaker 4: Bruno Stock's relatives and friends. By six o'clock the following night,
- 23:18Speaker 4: we still had no idea where he was. A little
- 23:21Speaker 4: after nine pm, we got a call from an informant
- 23:23Speaker 4: who told us that Tommy Josephson, a small time thief
- 23:26Speaker 4: and reputedly a friend of Bruno Stocks, wanted to talk
- 23:28Speaker 4: to us. We found him in a small apartment over
- 23:30Speaker 4: on West sixth.
- 23:31Speaker 13: One thing I want to set you straight on, Bruno's
- 23:34Speaker 13: no friend of mine. He's in on the heavy rackets.
- 23:36Speaker 13: No heavy racket man's a friend of mine.
- 23:38Speaker 5: All right, we've got it. Now's Bruno.
- 23:40Speaker 13: He came here tonight quarter after six, moved right in
- 23:42Speaker 13: on me, didn't even ask me.
- 23:44Speaker 4: What do you want with you?
- 23:45Speaker 5: Now?
- 23:45Speaker 8: You remember Bruno's no friend of mine.
- 23:47Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, we got that. Now, what do you want?
- 23:49Speaker 5: A gun?
- 23:49Speaker 13: He knew I had one. I keep it for self protection.
- 23:52Speaker 13: You can't trust these heavy men. Did you give him
- 23:54Speaker 13: a gun? Can you give it to him? He took it,
- 23:56Speaker 13: took me done like a rat. Maybe go out and
- 23:59Speaker 13: bite dinner, my own dough. Have to bring it back
- 24:02Speaker 13: here from Yeah, Bruno is no friend of mine. What
- 24:05Speaker 13: he does with that gun is his criep. It's out
- 24:07Speaker 13: of my hands.
- 24:08Speaker 4: When he leave here.
- 24:09Speaker 13: An hour ago, I think maybe a little less shot
- 24:12Speaker 13: me down like a rat. Real heavy guy.
- 24:14Speaker 4: Where was Bruno going?
- 24:15Speaker 8: I don't know.
- 24:16Speaker 13: He's crazy. All them heavy guys are crazy. He talked
- 24:18Speaker 13: like somebody with a paper head.
- 24:20Speaker 5: Can he tell you where he was going?
- 24:22Speaker 13: See a friend of his? Oven dogtown guy runs a
- 24:24Speaker 13: bowling alley. Bruno's going to borrow his car.
- 24:27Speaker 4: He's heavy.
- 24:28Speaker 5: I tell you.
- 24:28Speaker 13: I said he was going out on a heist tonight.
- 24:32Speaker 13: Did he ever write you guys a letter?
- 24:34Speaker 4: Why?
- 24:35Speaker 13: Well, he told me he was going to prove what
- 24:36Speaker 13: he woke to you crazy. I didn't get it at all. Yeah,
- 24:41Speaker 13: he said he was going out to kill a couple
- 24:42Speaker 13: of jokes.
- 24:46Speaker 4: Nine thirty pm we got the address of the bowling
- 24:49Speaker 4: alley run by Bruno Stock's friend and we called the office.
- 24:52Speaker 4: An alert for the suspect was broadcast immediately. Together with
- 24:55Speaker 4: Jean Bechdolen Lopez, we drove to the bowling alley. Ben
- 24:57Speaker 4: and I went in. Bechdoln Lopez covered the eye side.
- 25:03Speaker 5: He's a good crowd, and wonder where they do business.
- 25:05Speaker 5: I don't see any counter, no need? Oh yeah, yeah,
- 25:07Speaker 5: there it is way over in front.
- 25:09Speaker 4: Oh yeah, there's nobody behind the cash o the show.
- 25:11Speaker 4: How about that full on the white T shirt staying
- 25:13Speaker 4: with a cigarette machine.
- 25:13Speaker 5: Yeah, it looks like he works here. That's come for me.
- 25:19Speaker 5: Joe guy with him just turned towards you.
- 25:21Speaker 4: No, come on, he sees this.
- 25:22Speaker 5: He's going to the back, all right, you let's hold
- 25:23Speaker 5: it up.
- 25:24Speaker 4: Come on.
- 25:25Speaker 5: He ducked in there to the right.
- 25:26Speaker 4: Joe down behind the alleys.
- 25:28Speaker 5: Hold it up, Stock now one to Joe went right
- 25:31Speaker 5: through it. Come on here he is, get out. He's
- 25:39Speaker 5: in there back top of the front, over the fence.
- 25:42Speaker 5: Show there he is.
- 25:43Speaker 4: I'll give it back. Yeah, come on.
- 25:53Speaker 5: You see you got to be in the yard someway.
- 25:59Speaker 5: Yeah yeah, where it come from?
- 26:03Speaker 4: I can't see keep down from.
- 26:07Speaker 5: Backstairs that house there he is?
- 26:08Speaker 4: Give it up, all right, mister.
- 26:12Speaker 5: You're tagg Come on, what's it? Look like?
- 26:26Speaker 4: It's a shoulder one? You want to shake him down?
- 26:29Speaker 5: Okay?
- 26:30Speaker 4: All right, yeah, get an ambuous what you back right?
- 26:35Speaker 10: I'll throw the cuffs on. Yah h ah, that said, Joe, Yeah,
- 26:46Speaker 10: where you're going? I got a phone call to make.
- 26:57Speaker 2: The story you have just heard was true. On The
- 27:00Speaker 2: names were changed to protect the innocent.
- 27:02Speaker 3: On February eighteenth, trial was held in Superior Court, Department
- 27:06Speaker 3: eighty four, city in County of Los Angeles, State of California.
- 27:09Speaker 3: In a moment the results of that trial.
- 27:11Speaker 4: And now here is our star, Jack Webb, thank you.
- 27:15Speaker 4: In the record Bureau of all metropolitan police departments, there's
- 27:18Speaker 4: a special file in which all known criminals are cataloged
- 27:21Speaker 4: and cross index according to identifying Marx Marx, which helped
- 27:25Speaker 4: the working detective.
- 27:35Speaker 3: Bruno. Alfred Stock was tried and convicted of first degree
- 27:38Speaker 3: robbery and assault with intent to commit murder two counts.
- 27:42Speaker 3: Because of his prior convictions, he was a judged and
- 27:44Speaker 3: habitual criminal and sentenced to a life imprisonment. He is
- 27:47Speaker 3: now serving his term in the state penitentiary. You have
- 27:54Speaker 3: just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files.
- 27:57Speaker 3: Technical advice for Dragnet comes from the Office of Cheap
- 28:00Speaker 3: of Police W. H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department.
- 28:03Speaker 2: Coming up, Duffy Staver Next Tuesday.
- 28:05Speaker 4: It's Bibber mcgeeaw on NBC.
- 28:19Speaker 3: This is Andrew J.
- 28:20Speaker 2: Graham, author of the web surface series Oh and a
- 28:23Speaker 2: Man of His Wife. You're listening to the Great Detectives
- 28:25Speaker 2: of Old Time Radio.
- 28:33Speaker 1: Welcome back. Well, a very well done episode of Dragnet.
- 28:38Speaker 1: There are a couple of things I found really good here.
- 28:41Speaker 1: The first was the questioning of the victim's wife. It
- 28:48Speaker 1: was a very good scene with this of this actress
- 28:53Speaker 1: playing this role in a very realistic way. I thought,
- 28:58Speaker 1: very well done. And I also so like the way
- 29:01Speaker 1: that they built up the case and then you know,
- 29:05Speaker 1: a very strong, circumstantial case and then it basically turned
- 29:12Speaker 1: out to be wrong and they had to start over again,
- 29:16Speaker 1: and that was very realistic. Just because you proved that
- 29:20Speaker 1: he didn't go home from the card game when he
- 29:23Speaker 1: said he did, and because he had a blue baseball
- 29:26Speaker 1: camp doesn't necessarily mean gilt. Of course, they got a
- 29:31Speaker 1: very cooperative criminal who was willing to tell them they
- 29:36Speaker 1: made a mistake. But it's a kind of a thought
- 29:38Speaker 1: provoking idea. When you have this very strong, circumstantial case,
- 29:42Speaker 1: just absolutely crumble. Well, now we turn to listener comments
- 29:46Speaker 1: and feedback, and we have this from Laura, who says,
- 29:50Speaker 1: thanks so much for the podcast. I've been listening to
- 29:53Speaker 1: it for a couple of weeks now and I love it. Well,
- 29:55Speaker 1: thanks so much, Laura. I appreciate your comments and that
- 29:59Speaker 1: will actually do it for today. Over at Great Detectives
- 30:02Speaker 1: dot net. Meant to say that at the start of
- 30:04Speaker 1: the program, we have my review of Big Finish's adaptation
- 30:08Speaker 1: of The Hound of the Baskervilles, and you can check
- 30:11Speaker 1: out all my reviews at Great Detectives dot net. Tomorrow
- 30:16Speaker 1: we do have a video theater episode, as I'm announced
- 30:20Speaker 1: last week, it's going to be the Big Producer Dragnet
- 30:27Speaker 1: episode in honor of the late Martin Milner who appears
- 30:30Speaker 1: in that episode. So be sure and watch that tomorrow.
- 30:33Speaker 1: We'll be back on Monday with Michael Shane and Tuesday
- 30:38Speaker 1: will feature Heartstone of the Desk Squad. And then next Saturday,
- 30:43Speaker 1: be sure and join us back here for another episode
- 30:46Speaker 1: of Dragnet. Remember box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net,
- 30:51Speaker 1: I follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and become
- 30:53Speaker 1: one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com. Slash
- 30:57Speaker 1: Radio Detectives from Boise, Idaho this year as your host,
- 31:00Speaker 1: Adam Grahamson and Off