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Dragnet: The Big Cast (EP4676) · The Great Detectives Present Dragnet (Old Time Radio)

• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: going to bring you this week's episode of Dragnet. But first,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: I do want to encourage you, if you're enjoying the podcast,
• 0:46
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• 0:50
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• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: From February eighth, nineteen fifty one, here is the Big.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: Cast, Ladies and gentlemen, proud to bring you its prize
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: winning radio program, winner of the Motion Picture Herald Fame Award.
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: The story you're about to hear is true, only the
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: names have been changed to protect the innocent.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned to Homicide Detail. Twelve
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: men drop completely from sight over a short period of time.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: There's evidence of foul play. Four months past, you finally
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: locate the leading suspect in the case. Your job, pick him.
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: Up, drag meet the documented drama of an actual crime.
• 3:06
  Speaker 5: For the next thirty minutes. In cooperation with the Los
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: Angeles Police Department, you will travel step by step on
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: the side of the law through an actual case transcribed
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: from official police violence, from beginning to end, from crime
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: to punishment. Drag Net is the story of your police
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: force in action.
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: It was Wednesday, October the sixth, was sultry in Los Angeles.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: We were working the day watch out of homicide. My
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: partner's Ben Romero, the boss istat Brown Chief of detectives.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: My name's Friday. We were on the way out from
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: the office and was ten forty five am when we
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: got to our Tegas Street number twelve eighty five, second floor. Yeah,
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: room fourteen. They all smell the same, don't they. What's
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: a rooman housing coorea? H No, these are the odd
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: numbers here, must be down that way. Huh yeah, here
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: it is fourteen. Yeah, it's a minute, taking his time,
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: Try it again.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, all right?
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah, police officers. Your name Henry Ross.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: Get out of here, get all right?
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Come on?
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: Where all right? What what do you want?
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: Ben? Yeah? I got him? What is this?
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: You guys really costs?
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: Come on, get up so fuller, no fulling, you're really coss.
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: I thought you're faking. We showed you your identification at
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: the door.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: I thought you're faking. That's the truth.
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: There's a couple of guys got to mess me up.
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: I thought you were them.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Is your name Henry Ross? Yeah, that's right.
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: I thought you were one of those moochers had a
• 5:28
  Speaker 6: fight within the bar the other night. So he's gonna
• 5:31
  Speaker 6: get a power and come back in take care of me. Yeah, yeah,
• 5:35
  Speaker 6: I got no reason to fight with cops. I didn't
• 5:41
  Speaker 6: do my room any good land ladyes, sh're gonna scream.
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: Come on, you want to finish up dressing? I want
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: to talk to you downtown. It's a bout officer missing person.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: They'll brief you when we get downtown. Oh that's Harry
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: with me. Take his handcuffs off, please, it's kind of
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: hard dressing with him.
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: All you have to do is put your shoes on.
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: You man, all right, I don't know.
• 6:03
  Speaker 6: Why you had the slap handcuffs. Tell me I didn't
• 6:05
  Speaker 6: know your cops. You mind if we chick through your
• 6:07
  Speaker 6: things wrong? Why you mind? Oh go ahead if you want.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: I got on the hip.
• 6:14
  Speaker 6: You know, if you spoke up at the door, that
• 6:16
  Speaker 6: wouldn't have been a fight. I thought you were that
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: mooch in the bar and he's praying. I thought you
• 6:21
  Speaker 6: were looking for trouble.
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: You by ready to go.
• 6:24
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I'd like to brush my teeth off.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: You don't mind.
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: I got a real muffull of cot in his monkey.
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: All right, what do you keep your tooth brush and
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: so here?
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: I'll get it.
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: No, I'll get it. Never mind.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Here, Yeah, first show, it's in the glass. Don't you
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: trust me?
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: There? You go? Want some toothpaste?
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: All right, yeah, turn on the water tap on? Thanks?
• 6:53
  Speaker 6: Nothing, Joe's pretty clean, of course I'm clean. What do
• 6:56
  Speaker 6: you expect anybody could have made the mistake?
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: I didn't know your.
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: Cops was Worth Ross. That's your full name.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: Hard to ever used the Elsworth. It's a real lazzy name.
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: Huh. What's a fetch on all this?
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: Officer?
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: We told you a missing person. I want to talk
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: to you about it. I don't think I can help you.
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: Nobody I know he's missing. How about Paul Davis Davis?
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know Davis.
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: I don't know what his name is. Paul been gone
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: a long time, isn't miss Davis?
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: That's right?
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: Even more? Something wrong?
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: You think we figure murder?
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: After going over his room thoroughly, we took Henry Ellsworth
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: Ross back to the city hall to the interrogation room.
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: Who was a slightly built man, dark hair, brown eyes,
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: swarthy complexion.
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: It was a long shoreman by trade.
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: Among his friends and acquaintances, he was known as a
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: heavy drinker and a man with a violent temper. Ben
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: and I questioned him for a half an hour and
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: got nowhere. He sat across the table, relaxed, scraping at
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: a thick callous on his hand with his fingernail.
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: I'll tell you the truth. I just don't know what
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: you're getting at. I think I know a guy named Davis, and.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: It's about as far as it goes. Sure, that's all
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: you've got to Dallas, of course, I'm sure, ah loock,
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: I got a right to call a lawyer if you're
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: gonna sit there and throw a lot of.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Charges at me.
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: We're not throwing charges at your hand. We've got a
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: missing person's case. We'd like to have you cooperate.
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: That's about it.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: Well, maybe i'd like to, but I can't. Paul Davis
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: is just a name of me. Maybe I know him,
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: I I don't know. You got that report event m Yeah,
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: just a minute, there you go. Thanks, here's the way
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: it goes in. Yeah, according to his wife. Paul Davis
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: left Los Angeles by auto a little over four months ago,
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: was driving up to Oakdale, California to take a job
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: with a dairy company up there.
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: He never got there. He's been missing ever since.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: So what's the picture.
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: All we've been able to find is Davis's car.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: It's a thirty six Ford coup seven Toms seven nine
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: two was sold a month ago up in Low Dye, California,
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: but Davis didn't sell it. Man with the name of
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: Carter signed the pink slip at the time of the sale,
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: Henry Carter.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: Sorry, I don't mean anything to me.
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: Wes Carter made it look like Paul Davis had signed
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: the Ford over to him. We checked it out. Davis's
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: signature was forged.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: That so supposed to. That has something to do with me.
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: Did you ever use the name Henry Carter? Of course
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: not Ross, that's some of the name might go by.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: Never had your name, Jane, never used the navy I
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: told you no.
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: I wonder if you'd mind taking a look at this.
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: Here you go this year.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: We just got to do with me.
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: It's the pink slip to Paul Davis. Carr.
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: See these signatures on the back here, transfer of ownership.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: You recognize either one of them?
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: Paul Davis Henry Carter.
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: Doesn't mean anything to me?
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Is it supposed to? It should?
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah? Why the signatures? They're both in your handwriting? How
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: about Henry?
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: About what?
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: I don't even know what you're talking about. You're trying
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: to give me the treatment. What's this all about?
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: Trying to locate Paul Dave. I'm not even sure I
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: know the guy. I think you better level Henry. Our
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: handwriting man checked both the signatures that you're writing, and
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: then maybe you better get a new handwriting man.
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: I never saw that slip. I never wrote those signatures.
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: Anybody can copy handwriting.
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: Oh it got something else for your ross. I like
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: to have you check it over, see if you can
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: identify it. What is it? It's a letter? I want
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: to take a look. Here mean anything to you? No?
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: No, nothing?
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: Now, OK, A'm not gonna tell me this is my handwriting.
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: That's what the report said. Oh it's crazy.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: I never wrote like that in my life.
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: All the writing characteristics match up same as the signatures
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: on Pink's lap. All right, maybe they are the same.
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: I didn't write either one.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: I never wrote like that in my life. Here let
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: me show you all.
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: Sorry, Henry Ben you want to pull the package tomorrow
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: and I yeah, okay.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: Don savvy one bit of this, sergeant. How about laying
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: it out man. You can see the name at the
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: bottom of the letter. It's signed Henry Carter. Same the
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: pink slip.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: Well that is meaning to me. Well.
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: This letter was sent to the wife of Paul Davis
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: about nine weeks ago, and it says here that Davis
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: supposedly was too busy to write his wife, so he
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: had this Henry Carter send a letter.
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: He also writes in here that Davis sold his car
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: to Carter. Somebody trying to cover up huh no, we
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: think so. We think it's Henry Carter.
• 11:22
  Speaker 6: This Davis guy's been gone about four months. That's right,
• 11:27
  Speaker 6: you said you thought Davis was murdered. I'll come just
• 11:29
  Speaker 6: an idea.
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: Eight men had disappeared from around here in the last
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: fourteen months, just like Davis. Six more up in the
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: San Joaquin Valley the same way. They took off alone
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: on auto trips and never seen again, not a trace.
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: Pretty funny.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: Here you go, Jill, Thank you, You've got your record
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: here Henry from Baton Rouge sent to Sheriff Clemens sport A.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: Look, we have to drag all out again. It's past.
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: It's just one thing we had to check. Henry. You
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: told us that you never used an aliens.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: Is that right?
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: All right?
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: I have. I didn't know what you're getting at.
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: I didn't figure there's any use dragging out dirty laundry again.
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: I asked you if you ever used the name Henry Carter. Okay,
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: I've used that. It's common name. There's a lot of
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: Henry Carters around. We only know what toll pet your description.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: I'm clean, you know all that.
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: I'm gonna smoke Henry, now, yeah, yeah, thanks, well let
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: me have one here you goes. Thanks, I'm gonna match here. Yeah.
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: We rode this thing for four months. It's all over
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: the state. Here. Thanks, I'll tell you what we got, Henry.
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: We'll let you make up your own mind.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: It's not my writing.
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: On June fourth, Paul Davis left Los Angeles and his
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: car headed for Oakdale late in the afternoon. He stopped
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: for gas at the service station just beyond Sandford. The
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: attendant says, a man was with Davis.
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: You fit.
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: That man's description, Henry. Yeah, I've seen monks like that
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: in court. Now get on the stand and can't remember
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: their own name.
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: A couple others. You and Davis stopped for Hamburger just
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: outside of Gorman.
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: There's a man there. He remembers you too. He stopped
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: again in Bakersfield, picked up a court of.
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: Oil for the car. You and Davis had a coke.
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: It's the last time he was seen alive.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: That makes me a killer, huh.
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: Month after that, the pink slip to Davis's car came
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: through DMV up in Sacramento. That was for the transfer
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: of ownership from Davis to Henry Carter, both in your handwriting.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: A couple of weeks later, Missus Davis got that letter.
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: Month ago, Davis's car was sold to a dealer in Lodi. Yeah, yeah,
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: we found a dealer. Rus showed him a mugshot. He
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: says you sold him.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: In the car at all.
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: It's just the main part. There's more. We've been on
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: the road a lot. We followed you from here to
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: Sacramento and back, Henry, every stop, every detour. It took
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: us a long time.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess it did.
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: What do you say, not any way? You want it, Henry,
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: he got on the smoke. Yeah, yeah, here, you know
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: nice here.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I guess you worked hard on it all over
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: the state.
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Try.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: It must be pretty hot up in the valley summer time,
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: Dusty en We I've never been up in the valley
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: in summer.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: It's too hot for me.
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: We got people who saw you there.
• 14:28
  Speaker 6: What's improved? Ten people in some riding, Sam, But you
• 14:30
  Speaker 6: can't build a case on that, you know it, don't
• 14:32
  Speaker 6: You're gonna try. Do you think I murdered Davis? You said, yeah,
• 14:39
  Speaker 6: you think I murdered those other guys too? What was
• 14:41
  Speaker 6: it the ten twelve of them we're asking about Davis?
• 14:45
  Speaker 6: You think I killed him? Tell me the truth. Do
• 14:48
  Speaker 6: you think I murdered Davis?
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think he did. Well.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: Then you know as well as I do. There's only
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: one way to prove it. He find his body. One
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: fifteen PM, Ben and I took Henry Ross out and
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: fed him some lunch. Then we took him back to
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: the City Hall of the interrogation room, where we continued
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: to question him. It was relaxed and he talked a
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: great deal about everything but the disappearance of Paul Davis.
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: He didn't seem anxious to get away, made no demands
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: for an attorney to represent him. For a full hour,
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: he did most of the talking. He told us about
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: the different homicide cases he'd read up on. He asked
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: us about the twelve men who disappeared in the past months,
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: in the same manner Paul Davis had.
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: Was there any trace of him at all? Did we
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: have any leads? How did we think we were going
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: to find him?
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: Well, we finally got around asking him if he'd submit
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: to a light detector test. He seemed taken by the
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: id and agreed to it almost immediately. Ben called Sergeant
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: Burger and made arrangements.
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: For the test. We made up a list of key questions.
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: At five pm, we took the suspect to the third
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: floor of the Old City Jail, where Sergeant Burger gave
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: him the polygraph test. On the way back to the office,
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: Ross complained he was hungry. We stopped him coffee and donuts.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: We got back to the interrogation room a little after
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: six pm. The questioning continued. Ross didn't seem to mind
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: at all. We kept talking. We let him talk eight pm.
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: He was still going strong.
• 16:13
  Speaker 6: You remember the Wilson case back in thirty four. Don't
• 16:15
  Speaker 6: you say, woman killed a whole family? Big case you remember, Yeah,
• 16:20
  Speaker 6: it's pretty tragic. Got a hobby of yours, Henry, collecting
• 16:24
  Speaker 6: murder stories.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: I just read them, remember them. I guess I can
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: remember every big murder case in the last fifteen years.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: That's so.
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's about all of them. I guess it is
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: kind of a hobby. I got a big kick out
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: of it.
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: I got it, Ben, excuse me, Henry, Oh, oh sure,
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: interrogation room Friday, Oh yeah, Burger, how many?
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Okay, thank you.
• 16:53
  Speaker 6: You know, there's one thing I get a real big
• 16:55
  Speaker 6: kick out of those Detecting magazine mystery stories.
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: The way they make out the murderer. You know, they
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: always build it up into something big.
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: Somebody's always killing somebody else for a million dollars, or
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: maybe over some woman, some beautiful woman.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: Same way with the movies. That's where they get it
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: all mixed up.
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: Don't think I follow you. I'm sure you do.
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: Every time some guy writes some murder story, he's got
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: to build up a big reason for the killing.
• 17:18
  Speaker 6: A lot of money, beautiful woman. Revenge maybe always got
• 17:22
  Speaker 6: to be a big reason motive. Motive, that's what they say.
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well generally works out that way, didn't it.
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: Why, I bet you there's a thousand murder cases in
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: your flaws without any reason at all. Some people kill,
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: that's all I've heard about, lots of them that they
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: just want to kill, and they go ahead and do it,
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: maybe for a few bucks, maybe for nothing.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: They just do it.
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: That's so, that's so sure, you know that, Like this
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: thing you've been talking about, ten twelve guys disappear.
• 17:48
  Speaker 6: They got a few bucks, maybe they got nothing. Somebody
• 17:51
  Speaker 6: plaus them on it, and that's all, no big reason.
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: They just do it.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: So twelve guys are gone. It doesn't mean anything. That's
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: how you got it figured out, all right. The phone
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: call a minute ago. There was a man who gave
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: you the light detective test.
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: Oh that right, how to go?
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: He just finished going over your graph. He got sixteen
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: positive reactions.
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah, what's that mean? You lied Henry sixteen times?
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: You better tell him to get a new machine. I
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: lied all the way through mind telling us.
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: Why, Yeah, I don't mind.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: I guess I knew you'd find I. Let's go get
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: something to eat first, So I'm hungry. Well, we better
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: talk a little more and let's go. I'll tell you
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: why we're eating. Bring a pencil.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: We did raw your mat maple on the canyon right
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: buried it.
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: You are listening to Dragnet for the step by step
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: solution to Tonight's authentic case history.
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: Wednesday, nine fifty five pm.
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: Ben and I took Henry Ross across the street, bought
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: him a coke at Max's place. Then we took him
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: next door to the Melbourne Cafeteria. It was almost closing time.
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: Ross got himself a cottage cheese and pineapple salad, bacon
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: and liver with onions, rye bread, banana pie and coffee.
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: Ben had a hot beef sandwich, mashed potatoes and coffee.
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: I had the same. At the back of the cafeteria,
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: one of the bus boys was mopping the tiled floor.
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: It was a strong smell of disinfecting. How about that
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: table over there, Sgian had? All right with you?
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's okay, it doesn't make any different, that's fine. Yeah,
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: once the water, yeah her, yeah, please, all right, I'll
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: get some oh boy, living onions. This sure smells great.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: Huh yeah.
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: I can't take those onions, so well they repeat on them,
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: not me. I didn't need any something paper. Yeah, thanks,
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: I'm sure hungry. I haven't eaten much to day. You
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: get the sandwich made with rye bread Graham bread. Oh
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: you should have gotten the rye real German rye bread. Yeah,
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: well that real nice and fresh. Here you go, man,
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: I don't thanks, Oh thank you. You know all that
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: talk really shopping up my appetite. Boys food tastes good.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: Juger Joe, Uh.
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah, thanks. We brought a pencil along. Henry wanted to
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: start taking them.
• 20:39
  Speaker 6: The greatest time is any I guess you know, the
• 20:42
  Speaker 6: whole thing just comes right back to what I was
• 20:43
  Speaker 6: trying to tell you there in the office.
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah, what's that?
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: You know all about those Forny mystery stories. Yeah, every
• 20:51
  Speaker 6: time there's trouble, there's a big reason behind it. It's Forny,
• 20:54
  Speaker 6: that's all.
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: Sure, it's Paul Davis for Instan. I guess I knew
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: you would find me out. I knew this morning when
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: you picked me up you had it figured. Must have
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: been a big job huh finding me pretty big?
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: I mean, you know a lot of mileage. How did
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: it happened?
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: Well, then again, it's just like I was saying, there's
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: no big reason why it. I needed a few bucks.
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: If Davis came along, I guess he was it. I
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: passed me a catch up with oh yeah, and hey,
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: I'll get the land off there.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: There you go? Nice?
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: What'd you meet? Davis?
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: Henry's hitchhiking out on Ventura?
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: Not a diamond my jeans. I was going up to America, Opa.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: I thought I had a job up there. This David
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: come along, pick me up.
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: You never know him before?
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: Then, no stranger, he says, going to Oakdale, little guy,
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: grimm me a ride. Go ahead, Well we'll stop for gasses,
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: say for now. And I saw he had a few
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: bucks in his walt. I guess that's when I got
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: the idea bad. What killing him?
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: Now?
• 22:06
  Speaker 6: Maybe that gives you an idea what I was talking about.
• 22:08
  Speaker 6: You don't need any big reason to kill somebody. David said,
• 22:12
  Speaker 6: eighteen bucks. I suppose I told that to a writer.
• 22:15
  Speaker 6: Somebody killing the guy for eighteen bucks. That wouldn't make
• 22:18
  Speaker 6: much sense, huh. He told you I'd never sell you
• 22:20
  Speaker 6: need a million dollars, beautiful woman?
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: Good morning?
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah? What'd you kill him? Henry?
• 22:26
  Speaker 6: Just outside of Baker's Fill a little canyon there. I
• 22:30
  Speaker 6: got Davis to buy a fifth of sherry and Bakersfield.
• 22:33
  Speaker 6: He drank someone the way I passed the saw. Huh yeah, yeah,
• 22:40
  Speaker 6: there's no good without playing a saw.
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: How'd you kill Davis, Henry?
• 22:45
  Speaker 6: That's funny thing. He drank some of the wine, got
• 22:48
  Speaker 6: a little sleepy. I was just outside of Baker's drill
• 22:53
  Speaker 6: dark by that time. I spotted this little canyon. I
• 22:55
  Speaker 6: figured as good as place as any, so I get
• 22:57
  Speaker 6: him pull off the side road and had a few
• 22:59
  Speaker 6: more drinks.
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: I spot this little shack out there in the middle
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: of nowhere. Exactly where it was, this enter.
• 23:03
  Speaker 6: Lacking Stawyers, maybe two miles north the beggar store. We
• 23:07
  Speaker 6: got to the shack, finished the wine, went to sleep both.
• 23:11
  Speaker 6: And that's where the funny point comes in. I guess
• 23:14
  Speaker 6: I killed Davis, all right, but I didn't mean it.
• 23:20
  Speaker 6: Oh brother, get away for that.
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: Huh.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: Why of these monks had to mop up up?
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: People are eating? They'll be thrilling a minute in Its fine?
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: How'd you mean, Henry didn't mean the killing? You already
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: told you she had the idea, for sure, I had
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: the idea. Let me explain. Huh.
• 23:37
  Speaker 6: We both went to sleep in the shack. Davis me
• 23:40
  Speaker 6: just that must have been all about nine o'clock at night.
• 23:42
  Speaker 6: I don't know why. It was maybe the wine I
• 23:44
  Speaker 6: dis but I started having nightmarees. You know, maybe that's
• 23:47
  Speaker 6: probably sounds like a story, but it's the truth. I
• 23:50
  Speaker 6: had all these dreams. I woke up, but this still
• 23:52
  Speaker 6: there was that the faces. Faces, it's all I can see.
• 23:57
  Speaker 6: It was full of faces like, I guess that's really
• 23:59
  Speaker 6: still asleep.
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah, go ahead.
• 24:01
  Speaker 6: Oh, I've picked up a two by four and started
• 24:04
  Speaker 6: swinging at him and faces.
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: Funny thing too, I knew every want of these faces.
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: How do you mean people I killed? They're only a
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: dozen of them, really, but it seemed like there were
• 24:13
  Speaker 4: one hundred of them all.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: Around in the air well.
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: I grabbed that too by before and I started swinging.
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: I was cold and sweating all at the same time.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: And I kept on swinging, and I saw Davis's face
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: and I swung hard. I kept swinging. Didn't he make
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: a sound, his eyes closed, kept on swinging at his head.
• 24:29
  Speaker 6: Oh, I come to there. He was flying on the floor.
• 24:33
  Speaker 6: Seemed to take those other faces away. They didn't bother me.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: After he killed Davis.
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: What'd you do with him? Henry?
• 24:37
  Speaker 6: Oh pulled him outside the shack. I go home and buried,
• 24:40
  Speaker 6: burn his clothes, take his card, money, and drove off.
• 24:42
  Speaker 6: I'll show you if you like.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: Where I buried him.
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: I mean, how about these other men? Were lot these
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: faces you saw? M oh.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: One.
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: If I get a little more coffee, it's all gone again.
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: You know, no, no, thanks not to me. What about
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: it ross the other man?
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: Well, I don't recall him too well, that's what you
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: said in the office. Ten or twelve of them, and
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: Sacramento the others down through the building. Like I say,
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: there was no big reason for killing them. It just
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: happened that way.
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: What did you do with him? Your rumor?
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: Generally? Yeah, there's one of them that stands up. Got
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: the name of Slattery, some kind of salesman, a real crybaby.
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: Before this happened, only picking up in his car outside
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: of Chuck Chiller. It's nighttime. He must been feeling pretty good.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: I made him stop on the side road. I hit
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: him with a piece of angler, and he cried like
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: a baby. Buried him in a field.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: There is one of the faces that I saw there.
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: That's funny.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: I shows you how psychology works.
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: Huh yeah, what'd you do with his car? Slatteries?
• 25:32
  Speaker 6: I mean drove it down to Mexico. So I guess
• 25:34
  Speaker 6: that's what I should have done with Davis's gurning.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: Well, here you go. Oh it's nice.
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: These killings are yours? You got any more you want
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: to tell us about? I told you already ten or twelve.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: I'm there pretty much the same.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: When was the first?
• 25:48
  Speaker 6: Oh maybe eighteen months, two years ago? The first one
• 25:52
  Speaker 6: wasn't any hard and elast. It's just like I was
• 25:54
  Speaker 6: telling you before. Yeah, everybody builds up murder. It's supposed
• 25:57
  Speaker 6: to be a big thing, hard to do. All those
• 25:59
  Speaker 6: phony stories. I'd just hit a guy a couple of
• 26:01
  Speaker 6: times or something, that'd be it.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: A real small thing.
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: Didn't change many That's why I say it, it's all
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: build up. You ever been treated for any mental sickness? Rough? No?
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: Why have you never been examined by a circle? Oh?
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: After you kill these men didn't bother you at all.
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: I'm just that wondering time I was with Davis. That's
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: about it. Sure, good meal, serge?
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: Thanks?
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, you ready, Ben, Let's go all right, I'll
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: go back upstairs. Huh, yeah, do you want to give
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: us a statement?
• 26:36
  Speaker 6: All right, I had an idea you'd find me. I
• 26:40
  Speaker 6: guess I always knew that you'd find me. Well, let's
• 26:45
  Speaker 6: go ahead. I guess I proved my point anyway.
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: Huh.
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: It's all build up.
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: Huh.
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: Murder killing somebody, those phony stories, it's all build up.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: It's cheap.
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: You know you got it wrong, Henry. Huh wait, they
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: read you the build.
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: The story you have just heard was true, only the
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: names were changed to protect the innocent.
• 27:10
  Speaker 5: On January seventh, trial was held in Superior Court, Department
• 27:13
  Speaker 5: eighty sixth, City and County of Los Angeles, State of California.
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: In a moment the results of that trial, Henry Ellsworth
• 27:28
  Speaker 5: Ross was tried and found guilty on two counts of
• 27:30
  Speaker 5: murder in the first degree and received the death sentence.
• 27:33
  Speaker 5: While he indicated that he had murdered the other ten men,
• 27:36
  Speaker 5: he refused to give any further information regarding the killings
• 27:39
  Speaker 5: or what he had done with the buddies. Ross was
• 27:41
  Speaker 5: executed in the lethal gas chamber at the State Penitentiary
• 27:44
  Speaker 5: San Quentin, California. You have just heard Dragnet a series
• 27:53
  Speaker 5: of authentic cases from official files technical advice comes from
• 27:57
  Speaker 5: the office of Chief of Police W H. Parker Angeles Police.
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: Now I'm more excitement with Cover Spy on NBC.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: Welcome back a great episode of Dragnet. This story is
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: a chilling look into the mind of a serial killer
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: before that phrase was popularized. And what's really chilling about
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: it is how utterly nonchalant he is. No terrains, laughing, lunatic,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: just a guy talking about what he does, no different
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: than anyone might discuss their own job or hobby. Of course,
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: he's right about the contrast between many, if not most
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: killings and these stories you'd find in a detective fiction magazine.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Lots of crimes happen for small reasons or seemingly no
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: reason at all. There's a reason why there are so
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: many unsolved crimes out there. Oftentimes there's crimes passion, or
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: robbery's gone bad, or moments of intoxication. However, if the
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: stories of murder were out of touch with the reality
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: of what went on in the real world most of
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: the time, so was he. He had killed a dozen
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: people deliberately and in a calculated manner to get a
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: few bucks, and other than that one dream, it was
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: no big deal to him at all, which makes him
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: a particularly dangerous and sinister character. But perhaps part of
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: the reason for his low view of human life is
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: this assumption that most people at their core are really
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: just like him. The only other thing I'll add on
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: a much lighter note is that I noticed Ben Romero
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: ordered graham bread. We discussed graham bread a few months
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: back when he was sent on an erran for it
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: late at night after a case had been resolved by
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: his wife and was wondering where he'd find at that
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: time of not but apparently you could order graham bread
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: in health food restaurants. It does also suggest that missus
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Romero's use of graham bread had one Sergeant Romero over
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: to it. Well. Now we turn to listener comments and feedback,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: and I have an email here from Jonathan who writes,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: I never miss a Johnny Dollar episode. Best part of
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: the week lately. I'm really enjoying more and more Dragnet.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: The production quality with the sounds are really excellent. Two things.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: The passover Satyr that Joe and Ben were at was
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: incredibly accurate. The prayers and Hebrew were the exact same
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: that I really used. Good show. And then the second thing,
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: there was an episode where they were chasing a thief
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: and he shot at them. In the end, the announcer
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: said the perpetrator was only charged with burglary. Shooting at
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: a cop must still have been a cross So why
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: did the synopsis miss out on this? It seems odd
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: not charging them for shooting at them. Thanks for the
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: many hours of listening. Enjoyment yours truly, Jonathan. Well, thanks
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: so much, Jonathan, I appreciate your comments. It's tough to
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: imagine that using a firearm in that manner wouldn't be charged.
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: I can't say for sure why it wasn't mentioned. A
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: few things come to mind. It might be a situation
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: where there was a guilty play and the prosecutor just
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: chose not to bring the gun charge. It also might
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: have been a practice to only mention the underlying crimes
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: that the police were investigating. I can't recall a lot
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: of obstruction or resisting arrest being called out in that segment,
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: and certainly there are many crimes that it could be brought,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: or may even have been brought in real life, but
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: there just may not have been time to cover everything.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: So those are my best guesses. I can't imagine that
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: it would not have been addressed in some way by
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: the prosecuting attorney when the case was brought up for consideration.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: And then we've got a comment here from Jay Huggs
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: six two four over on YouTube regarding the Big Dance.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: It's always kind of made me a bit disappointed when
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: the culprits didn't have an aired interview on the show.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: Granted it didn't happen much, but every now and then
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: you'll get an episode where the bandits feel elusive to
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: there being no character development and interviews. Be that as
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: it may, I still love Dragonet. It got me into
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: old time radio. Keep up the good work at them. Well,
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: thanks so much, And I do agree that there is
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: something really satisfying, after having followed our heroes through this
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: whole process of investigation, for them to at least have
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: an exchange with the suspect and to get a feel
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: for the people who this whole episode has been about
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: the criminals who have committed this crime. And I don't know,
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: I guess because it's on radio, we also know on
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: some level that there's no one who is actually cast
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: as these criminals on television. You can at least see them,
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: but no such lock on radio. Now it's time to
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: thank our Patreon supporter of the day, and I want
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: to go ahead and thank Jeremy. Jeremy has been one
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: of our Patreon supporters since February twenty sixteen, currently supporting
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: the podcast at the Detective Sergeant level of seven dollars
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: and fourteen cents or more per month. Thanks so much
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: for your support, Jeremy, and that will actually do it
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: using your favorite podcasts, and be sure to rate and
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: review the podcast wherever you download it from. Join us
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: tomorrow for public domain video theater at video Theater dot
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: Great Detectives dot net, on YouTube and now on Spotify
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: for podcasts, but from Boise, Idaho, this is your host,
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: Adam Graham signing off.