# The Big Story: The Case of the Ambitious Hobo (EP4872)

An episode of [The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio| Daily Mystery Dramas](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/335549005), 23 Dec 2025, 33 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pdrl.fm/997ffb/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/69076918/gd4872.mp3

Today's Mystery: A reporter hunts for a baby-faced killer. Original Radio Broadcast:December 17, 1947 Originating from New York Starring: George Petrie as Russ Wilson; Larry Robinson; Hester Sondergaard; Humphrey Davis; William Keene; Ralph Bell; Bob Sloane Support the show monthly at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net Patreon Supporter of the Day: Phil, Patreon supporter since March 2018 Support the show on a one-time basis at http://support.greatdetectives.net. Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715 Take the listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.net Give us a call at 208-991-4783 Follow us on Instagram at http://instagram.com/greatdetectives Follow us on Twitter @radiodetectives Join us again tomorrow for another detective drama from the Golden Age of Radio.

## Transcript

[0:28] Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
[0:35] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're
[0:39] Speaker 1: going to bring you this week's episode of The Big Story.
[0:44] Speaker 1: But first I do want to encourage you. If you
[0:47] Speaker 1: are enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite
[0:52] Speaker 1: podcast software. I also want to encourage you to check
[0:56] Speaker 1: out our other podcast and today I'm highlighting the Amazing
[1:00] Speaker 1: World of Radio and Amazing Dot Great Detectives dot net. Well,
[1:05] Speaker 1: this episode is mostly non holiday related. We do have
[1:11] Speaker 1: a Christmas episode of the Amazing World of Radio dropping today,
[1:16] Speaker 1: and then on New Year's Eve we have a special episode.
[1:22] Speaker 1: And we don't always do New Year's episodes, but I
[1:25] Speaker 1: found a good one and I hope you'll enjoy it.
[1:27] Speaker 1: Check that out an amazing Dot Great Detectives dot net.
[1:32] Speaker 1: Whole variety of different sorts of programs that are presented there,
[1:36] Speaker 1: with some really unique and interesting old time radio programs
[1:40] Speaker 1: that you might have missed. All right, well, now, from
[1:44] Speaker 1: December seventeenth, nineteen forty seven, here is the case of
[1:49] Speaker 1: the ambitious Hobo.
[1:54] Speaker 2: ELML Famous Cigarettes presents a Big Story.
[2:05] Speaker 3: The Idaho Yeah Kid, my back feels broken right on
[2:09] Speaker 3: the floor this empty box car.
[2:12] Speaker 4: You'll get used to a kid, You'll get used.
[2:15] Speaker 5: To Oh no, not me. Maybe you're gonna go on
[2:17] Speaker 5: being a hobo all your life.
[2:19] Speaker 3: But not me. I got big ideas and kind of
[2:22] Speaker 3: big ideas.
[2:23] Speaker 5: I'm gonna be a big shot someday.
[2:25] Speaker 4: Idaho, big shot.
[2:27] Speaker 5: Yeah, what I do.
[2:29] Speaker 6: I'm gonna ride the cushions in a Pullman car first class.
[2:45] Speaker 2: A Big Story another in a thrilling series based on
[2:49] Speaker 2: true experiences of newspaper reporters. Tonight, Russ Wilson of the
[2:54] Speaker 2: Des Moines Tribune goes the Ellmel Award for the Big Story.
[3:05] Speaker 2: Now the exciting and authentic story of the case of
[3:09] Speaker 2: the ambitious Wholeboy.
[3:18] Speaker 7: You are Russ Wilson, and right now you hang your
[3:22] Speaker 7: hat in the city room of a California newspaper, But
[3:25] Speaker 7: actually you're from out where the tall corn grows in Iowa.
[3:30] Speaker 5: The years you.
[3:31] Speaker 7: Worked for the Des Moines Tribune as a crime reporter,
[3:34] Speaker 7: and it was with the Tribune that you finally nailed
[3:37] Speaker 7: down your big story. It really began some two hundred
[3:41] Speaker 7: and fifty miles south of Des Moines, in a little
[3:44] Speaker 7: home in Kansas City, Ready.
[3:47] Speaker 4: You listen to me.
[3:48] Speaker 5: Don't leave home again.
[3:49] Speaker 8: Stay here.
[3:50] Speaker 6: Sorry, Mom, but I'm through hanging around the house being
[3:53] Speaker 6: a burden to you.
[3:54] Speaker 5: The last time you left home, you were gone two years.
[3:57] Speaker 5: I never even knew where you were or what you did.
[4:00] Speaker 8: I worry about your done.
[4:01] Speaker 5: You're a meal boy. That's the trouble. That's what everybody thinks.
[4:05] Speaker 6: Everyone around here still calls me baby face, baby face
[4:09] Speaker 6: Freddy Bell.
[4:10] Speaker 5: But I'm no Kidney Morsey. Even if I look at it,
[4:13] Speaker 5: I'm twenty one.
[4:16] Speaker 6: I can't just sit around here and watch you work
[4:19] Speaker 6: to support a little son.
[4:20] Speaker 8: If you stay home, there are plenty of jobs.
[4:23] Speaker 5: Look my kind of jobs.
[4:24] Speaker 6: I want to be rich, famous. I want to own
[4:27] Speaker 6: a big car, a big house, have ten suits of clothes.
[4:32] Speaker 5: I want to make sure you never.
[4:34] Speaker 8: Have to work again.
[4:35] Speaker 4: Mom.
[4:36] Speaker 6: I want people to turn around and look at me
[4:38] Speaker 6: when I walk down the street and hear I'm saying,
[4:41] Speaker 6: there goes Freddy Bell.
[4:42] Speaker 5: It's a big shot. I wish your father was alive.
[4:46] Speaker 5: I wish he was here to advise you.
[4:48] Speaker 8: I don't know what to do.
[4:50] Speaker 5: I can only say I think you were making a
[4:52] Speaker 5: terrible mistake. Oh no, I'm not.
[4:55] Speaker 6: It's like in those stories you used to read me
[4:57] Speaker 6: when I was a kid. I've got the go out
[5:00] Speaker 6: and seek my fortune.
[5:03] Speaker 5: You wouldn't stand in my way, would you?
[5:05] Speaker 4: Mow?
[5:06] Speaker 8: No? No, son, If that's what you want, I won't
[5:10] Speaker 8: try to.
[5:11] Speaker 5: Now you're talking, Mom.
[5:15] Speaker 6: I hate to ask you this, but I'm gonna need
[5:18] Speaker 6: some money to get started on my trip.
[5:21] Speaker 5: How about that twenty dollars you got saved up for
[5:23] Speaker 5: that washing machine you were going to buy. Oh, I
[5:26] Speaker 5: know it's all you have, and I feel like I
[5:28] Speaker 5: he'll asking you for it, honestly.
[5:30] Speaker 8: But you don't have to ask me for it. It's yours.
[6:01] Speaker 5: It'll be daylight in an hour. Idaho, what is this here?
[6:04] Speaker 5: Freight trank?
[6:05] Speaker 6: Get to des Moines.
[6:06] Speaker 3: This is a high ball freight kid. She's been hitting
[6:09] Speaker 3: the high iron ever since you jumped the board of
[6:12] Speaker 3: Kansas City. You're in the outskirts to Des Moines.
[6:15] Speaker 7: Now we've played in luck Why Idaho.
[6:19] Speaker 3: Brakeman hasn't been around to bothers the whole trip. Once
[6:23] Speaker 3: we hit the yard, she'll slow down, drop off this box.
[6:27] Speaker 2: Car and after that.
[6:29] Speaker 3: After then I'll take you to the hobo jungle, introduce
[6:32] Speaker 3: you to some of the other bulls riding this tritooing.
[6:35] Speaker 5: Well, I can't come too soon for me. My back's
[6:37] Speaker 5: broken riding on this box car floor.
[6:41] Speaker 6: Someday when I get rich, Idaho, I'm gonna ride the
[6:43] Speaker 6: cushions on the pullman car first class.
[6:47] Speaker 4: You don't think you're gonna be a big shot, that kid.
[6:50] Speaker 5: I got my mind set on it.
[6:52] Speaker 4: Yeah, stay away from the road.
[6:55] Speaker 3: Don't go getting cinders in your blood. Train whistles ring
[7:00] Speaker 3: in your ears like I didn't. It ain't a life
[7:04] Speaker 3: for a kid like you.
[7:05] Speaker 5: You expect to be a bomb all your life?
[7:08] Speaker 7: Idaho?
[7:09] Speaker 3: Bumb kid a hobo?
[7:12] Speaker 4: What's the difference?
[7:13] Speaker 3: Plenty bumbs? A tramp won't work, you'll steal. Hobo's different.
[7:20] Speaker 4: You'll work.
[7:21] Speaker 3: You esther and he's got respect for the lord.
[7:26] Speaker 4: Hey kid, Yeah, trouble coming up. Breakman's coming? Should the
[7:31] Speaker 4: cat walk? Two cars a hit, Get away from the door, kid,
[7:34] Speaker 4: break them will be on the roof in this box
[7:36] Speaker 4: car a minute.
[7:36] Speaker 1: Oh what of it?
[7:37] Speaker 4: If he sees he'll throw us off this train?
[7:39] Speaker 7: Oh no, he won't, Idaho. Won't you've heard me?
[7:43] Speaker 4: You mean kid?
[7:45] Speaker 5: I mean this, Idaho?
[7:47] Speaker 4: What'd you get that knife?
[7:50] Speaker 5: Okase a bowie knife.
[7:52] Speaker 6: That call it? If that breaking sticks his head through
[7:56] Speaker 6: this car door, cut it off, boy, Get.
[7:59] Speaker 7: Of a minute, come over here, put that knife away.
[8:01] Speaker 5: Shut up by the Oh, I'll take care of this.
[8:03] Speaker 4: You shut up. He's on the roof of this carnal.
[8:07] Speaker 4: He looks in.
[8:08] Speaker 6: I'll shove this knife right through him.
[8:14] Speaker 8: Oh he's gone.
[8:19] Speaker 4: Yeah, he's gone. Kid, Now you're gone.
[8:25] Speaker 5: Heyadaho, what's the idea? What do you think you're doing
[8:27] Speaker 5: with that iron bar?
[8:28] Speaker 4: Get off this train, kid?
[8:30] Speaker 7: I don't ad me fool with that baby.
[8:33] Speaker 3: Face of yours. I know what kind of a big
[8:36] Speaker 3: shot you want to be. You want to be a
[8:38] Speaker 3: big shot like dylaner her legs Diamond, A killer kid.
[8:43] Speaker 3: I don't want to be traveling around with a killer
[8:46] Speaker 3: We put company here and now get off this freight.
[8:51] Speaker 5: Kid, Why I like to have this knife?
[8:54] Speaker 3: Cry anything? Kid? You'll get this iron bar right across
[8:58] Speaker 3: your face.
[9:00] Speaker 9: Go on, jump, Okay, I know I'll jump, but I'll
[9:07] Speaker 9: be seeing you.
[9:26] Speaker 5: Hey, mister, give me a lift.
[9:29] Speaker 7: Maybe let me get a good look at you. Person.
[9:31] Speaker 7: Don't like to pick up strangers when it's dark like this,
[9:33] Speaker 7: unless why you're only a kid? Okay, I've been gee.
[9:38] Speaker 6: Thanks, What are you doing outside of the morning at
[9:41] Speaker 6: five in the morning?
[9:42] Speaker 5: Oh, just get hiking around?
[9:45] Speaker 7: Got the show? I had it too before I got married.
[9:50] Speaker 7: My name is Carl Andrew.
[9:51] Speaker 5: I'm Freddy Belle.
[9:52] Speaker 3: I'm glad to know.
[9:53] Speaker 7: You, Freddy.
[9:54] Speaker 5: I'm sure there's a beautiful car.
[9:57] Speaker 7: Yeah, brand new and it's got every gadget in the
[10:00] Speaker 7: A custom made too.
[10:01] Speaker 5: Is it your car?
[10:02] Speaker 7: Mine? No?
[10:05] Speaker 5: What would I be doing on a car like this.
[10:07] Speaker 5: I work for a garage, just delivering the car to
[10:10] Speaker 5: the guy who owns it.
[10:11] Speaker 7: He's a bank president.
[10:12] Speaker 5: Of the mine, so it belongs to a big shot.
[10:14] Speaker 7: Huh, I drive.
[10:16] Speaker 5: This is the kind of car I'm gonna drive.
[10:19] Speaker 3: Well.
[10:20] Speaker 7: I wish you luck, kid, I hope you do someday.
[10:22] Speaker 6: I'm not talking about someday.
[10:24] Speaker 5: Paler, I mean now, huh.
[10:26] Speaker 6: I'm gonna start riding in being a big shot.
[10:29] Speaker 5: Now what are you talking about this? Well, put the
[10:33] Speaker 5: knife away, kid, pull over to the side of the road,
[10:36] Speaker 5: pal I'm taking over.
[10:37] Speaker 7: Have you gone crazy?
[10:38] Speaker 3: Stopped the car and pull over to the tide.
[10:41] Speaker 5: What do I have to cot you up? You wouldn't
[10:44] Speaker 5: hear you that knife?
[10:45] Speaker 6: Not a kid like you or wouldn't I prow wouldn't I.
[10:48] Speaker 5: I've been waiting for a kid like this.
[10:51] Speaker 7: You're bluffing kid wants the state police barricks down the highway.
[10:54] Speaker 5: And no, no, kid, no, you're wet.
[11:00] Speaker 6: Up wheel.
[11:01] Speaker 7: Ye, Hugh Russ Wilson of the Des Moines Tribune get
[11:16] Speaker 7: the murder flash shortly after dawn. You Hi Taylor to
[11:20] Speaker 7: the scene, and when you get there you find the
[11:22] Speaker 7: usual crowd, radio patrolman, detectives, Deputy Kanner just playing citizens,
[11:29] Speaker 7: and Officer James Hodge of the Iowa State Bureau of Investigation.
[11:34] Speaker 7: You take a long look at the body. Then you
[11:36] Speaker 7: manage to get Officer Hodge over the one side the
[11:40] Speaker 7: identification on the dead man. Yet, Hodge, it's a garage
[11:44] Speaker 7: mechanic named Carl Andrews. Anything else? What do you mean
[11:49] Speaker 7: any more information I can use for a story? Look, Wilson,
[11:52] Speaker 7: according to everything I read, newspaper reporters and private detectors
[11:56] Speaker 7: are real bright guys. They always capture the quib single handed.
[12:01] Speaker 7: Professional coptires to dope would know clue he saw one,
[12:04] Speaker 7: So why don't you get your own information? Frankly, I
[12:08] Speaker 7: wouldn't know how. I've never captured a criminal in my life.
[12:10] Speaker 7: And you probably think you could. I know very well
[12:13] Speaker 7: I couldn't. It's a matter of Hodge got a big
[12:16] Speaker 7: hate on reporters. One of us spell your name wrong
[12:19] Speaker 7: or something right. So I got out of bed on
[12:22] Speaker 7: the wrong side this morning. What do you want to know?
[12:25] Speaker 7: Just the regular stuff. I'm motive for this murder, for instance, robbery.
[12:29] Speaker 7: I suppose you suppose wrong. Andrews had fifty bucks on him.
[12:32] Speaker 7: Killer didn't even touch it. That's funny. The killer wasn't
[12:36] Speaker 7: interested in money. What did he want? You figure that out, reporter.
[12:39] Speaker 7: Let me know.
[12:39] Speaker 5: How about revenge?
[12:40] Speaker 7: Maybe Andrews was writing with somebody new, a personal enemy.
[12:43] Speaker 7: Unlikely check for the people in Andrews' garage, said, didn't
[12:46] Speaker 7: have an enemy in the world. And you haven't got
[12:49] Speaker 7: an awful lot to go on? Have you enough to
[12:51] Speaker 7: catch the killer? I fingerprints, finger Prince, Yeah, just like
[13:00] Speaker 7: indetective stories, only sometimes killers really do leave fingerprints. This
[13:05] Speaker 7: one did. It's smart enough to wipe them off for
[13:07] Speaker 7: steering wheel, but it's hurry to make a getaway forgot
[13:09] Speaker 7: to wipe him off the door handle. We'll probably know
[13:12] Speaker 7: who he is within a few hours. Did he'd ask
[13:23] Speaker 7: Russ Wilson. I'm calling from headquarters. Those fingerprints belong to
[13:26] Speaker 7: a kid named Freddy Bell. He served a term in
[13:29] Speaker 7: jail out West for armed robbery. Police expect to pick
[13:31] Speaker 7: him up in an hour. An hour, but the police
[13:40] Speaker 7: don't pick him up. A day passes two three, A
[13:45] Speaker 7: man hunts high gear because out of the state nationwide,
[13:50] Speaker 7: you follow it close right, story after story, the Tribune
[13:54] Speaker 7: is flooded with tipsy You track them down, behind them worthless.
[13:59] Speaker 7: And then days later, when the authorities are just about
[14:02] Speaker 7: ready to concede a clean getaway, you get a phone call. Oh,
[14:10] Speaker 7: this Russ Wilson.
[14:13] Speaker 3: I've been reading those stories he wrote out of Carl
[14:15] Speaker 3: Andrews murder case, and I got a tip on the killer.
[14:20] Speaker 3: Who's this?
[14:21] Speaker 4: Never mind?
[14:22] Speaker 3: You want that tip on the killer, don't you?
[14:25] Speaker 4: Yes, Yes, I do.
[14:26] Speaker 3: Okay, meet me at the Hobo's Jungle near the Freak
[14:30] Speaker 3: Yards Midnight tonight Jungle. That's right, and Wilson, just a
[14:37] Speaker 3: word of warning, don't talk to the cops and come along.
[14:57] Speaker 2: We'll be back in just a moment with the night's
[14:59] Speaker 2: big story. I'll back to our narrator, Bob Sloanan and
[15:10] Speaker 2: Tonight's big story.
[15:12] Speaker 7: You, Russ Wilson of a des Moine Tribune, have a
[15:16] Speaker 7: date with a mysterious voice on the telephone. Your rendezvous
[15:20] Speaker 7: a hobo jungle near the freight yard at midnight, your
[15:24] Speaker 7: mission to find a killer. When you cross the tracks
[15:29] Speaker 7: in the darkness and head for the clearing they call
[15:32] Speaker 7: the hoboes jungle, You're scared plenty. Somewhere in the distance,
[15:39] Speaker 7: you hear a train, and right now you wish you
[15:42] Speaker 7: were on that train. You wish you were anywhere but
[15:45] Speaker 7: where you are. But you keep on walking, and finally
[15:51] Speaker 7: you hit the jungle itself where the hoboes camp.
[15:55] Speaker 4: You see the ashes of the cooking fires, bits of.
[15:59] Speaker 7: Cast off and ten Cairn's lettered about, and you keep
[16:04] Speaker 7: on walking. Wilson, Oh, he hello, Oh, it's so doc here.
[16:15] Speaker 4: You're right on time.
[16:18] Speaker 3: And names Jones, Idaho Jones, I'm a hobo. Uh.
[16:24] Speaker 7: Why did you want me to meet you out here?
[16:26] Speaker 3: I figured it was safer for me if I met
[16:29] Speaker 3: you in town. It'd be too easy for you to
[16:31] Speaker 3: turn me over to the cops.
[16:32] Speaker 4: If you didn't believe my story.
[16:34] Speaker 7: I see you set over the phone that you had
[16:37] Speaker 7: a tip on the call Andrew his murder.
[16:39] Speaker 5: What's the tip?
[16:40] Speaker 3: I've seen the killer about seven o'cocks this season. It's
[16:44] Speaker 3: af Freddy Bello, baby face and all where right? Yeah,
[16:49] Speaker 3: when you're standing maybe.
[16:50] Speaker 5: He's right here. In the morning, it was I just bought.
[16:54] Speaker 3: Him and long about doc. Tonight, me and another boat
[16:58] Speaker 3: started to burn some kindling, cook up some coffee and slum.
[17:03] Speaker 4: I remember it had started to rain, and my friend.
[17:06] Speaker 5: Was telling about other hobo jungles.
[17:11] Speaker 7: You're a lot of hole.
[17:12] Speaker 6: The best one I ever seen was off the d
[17:14] Speaker 6: L and W and air scramp me.
[17:16] Speaker 5: It was spelled against the clay bank to keep.
[17:18] Speaker 4: Out the wind.
[17:19] Speaker 7: And they're waiting, hold it, what's the matter.
[17:22] Speaker 4: Somebody's coming?
[17:24] Speaker 6: Yeah, I wonder if you two guys could deal me
[17:29] Speaker 6: in little stew I oh to you.
[17:33] Speaker 4: Wider hole, Yeah, it's me Freddy.
[17:37] Speaker 10: Who's this?
[17:38] Speaker 7: Baby face? Had a hole?
[17:40] Speaker 3: Freddy bell knife to guy to death near here a
[17:44] Speaker 3: couple of weeks ago.
[17:45] Speaker 5: Look, Idaho, I didn't do any of.
[17:47] Speaker 3: What the des Moines papers say, Kid.
[17:48] Speaker 5: The lion, I tell you, I didn't don't lie to me.
[17:51] Speaker 4: Kid, I know you did it.
[17:53] Speaker 5: How do you know what makes you think I did it.
[17:56] Speaker 3: Garland Jews is murdered at half past four like this
[18:00] Speaker 3: port to Wilson, and the Tribune says, and at four
[18:03] Speaker 3: o'clock you jumped the freight. We was traveling right about
[18:06] Speaker 3: the place where.
[18:07] Speaker 4: Andrews was killed. You were carrying a knife, and you
[18:11] Speaker 4: were in a killing move.
[18:13] Speaker 6: Well, okay, okay, so I knifed him.
[18:17] Speaker 5: So I'm on the lamb. Look, guys, I'm taking the
[18:21] Speaker 5: next freight.
[18:22] Speaker 3: Down for Kansas City.
[18:23] Speaker 6: All I want is a little stew eat it, kid,
[18:26] Speaker 6: But I am a hobo like the two of you.
[18:27] Speaker 3: You know you're not kid, You're a killer.
[18:31] Speaker 4: I'll beat it.
[18:32] Speaker 3: And if you're going to k C, don't try to
[18:34] Speaker 3: go by freight.
[18:35] Speaker 6: What do you mean He means not to ride the
[18:37] Speaker 6: rods or box cars. That's hubble law, jungle law. If
[18:42] Speaker 6: you're going to Kansas City, you'll have to hit the highway.
[18:45] Speaker 6: It rides by car way on then at Wise, guys,
[18:48] Speaker 6: you can't tell me how to travel. We kid, If
[18:50] Speaker 6: any hobo catches you on a freight, he'll throw you
[18:53] Speaker 6: off the train.
[18:53] Speaker 7: That's the law. You don't want any killers riding the
[18:56] Speaker 7: rails brings the cops down too quick.
[18:59] Speaker 3: Highways about a mile easter here.
[19:02] Speaker 4: And I'll beat a kid get going.
[19:09] Speaker 3: That's the story, mister Wilson. It's the last I saw
[19:12] Speaker 3: a babyface Bell.
[19:14] Speaker 4: But it looked to.
[19:15] Speaker 3: Me like he was still carrying a knife and still
[19:18] Speaker 3: figuring on using it.
[19:20] Speaker 7: Did you call me right after he left?
[19:21] Speaker 4: Yeah?
[19:22] Speaker 7: Yeah, it means he got about a five hours start.
[19:26] Speaker 7: You think he's heading for Kansas City, right? Why did
[19:30] Speaker 7: you tip me off to this Sideaho?
[19:32] Speaker 3: When the cops find out Freddy Bell's a hobo, that
[19:35] Speaker 3: they raided this jungle, close it up. I figured if
[19:39] Speaker 3: I tipped them off through.
[19:40] Speaker 4: You, they might let us hoboes alone. Maybe you see
[19:45] Speaker 4: what I mean? Wilson, Sure, Idaho, Sure, I see what
[19:47] Speaker 4: you mean.
[19:49] Speaker 7: Come on, I want you to tell his story to
[19:51] Speaker 7: a friend of mine. All set of those pictures, Hodge. Yeah,
[20:08] Speaker 7: got seven different photographs, hareman desk, everyone of them out
[20:11] Speaker 7: of the robes gallery for the names blanked out, and
[20:14] Speaker 7: Freddy Bell's picture is one of them. Right, this hobo
[20:17] Speaker 7: picks it, we'll know he's not talking through his hat.
[20:20] Speaker 4: We know that he's seen the right man.
[20:23] Speaker 7: Much as I hate to admit it, this is a
[20:25] Speaker 7: good idea of yours a reporter.
[20:28] Speaker 5: I'll let him in now, why not home?
[20:34] Speaker 3: What's the sort about us?
[20:35] Speaker 7: Make it easy, take it easy. We just want to
[20:37] Speaker 7: see whether you can pick Freddy Bell from these pictures.
[20:40] Speaker 3: Go ahead, I know, pick it on which one of these.
[20:43] Speaker 7: Pictures is Freddy Bell?
[20:47] Speaker 3: This year?
[20:47] Speaker 5: One? Is this picture deserved from the left?
[20:50] Speaker 4: That's Freddy Bell.
[20:50] Speaker 3: I'd know him anywhere.
[20:52] Speaker 7: Well, Jim, he's the right reporter. It doesn't gourd. What now? First,
[20:57] Speaker 7: ti'mem going to send out a general alarm, notify all
[21:00] Speaker 7: rode the closing police between here and Kansas City. Fine,
[21:02] Speaker 7: that'll give me a chance to phoning in the lead.
[21:04] Speaker 7: I can just make my addition after that. Where do
[21:06] Speaker 7: we go from here? Right along the highway to Kansas City?
[21:24] Speaker 6: Yes, excuse me, ma'am, I'm on my way to Kansas City, hitchhiking.
[21:29] Speaker 5: I'm hungry. I wonder if you could spare me a meal.
[21:32] Speaker 5: Why it's a shame nice looking boy like you going hungry?
[21:35] Speaker 6: Come in, Come in, gee, thanks, ma'm you're swell. You
[21:39] Speaker 6: remind me of my mother.
[21:49] Speaker 7: Did you not to file the police immediately after you
[21:51] Speaker 7: heard that Freddie Bell was in this area? Missus Henshaw yes.
[21:54] Speaker 6: Mister Hodge, but I don't believe that this boy who
[21:56] Speaker 6: had a meal right here in my house.
[21:58] Speaker 5: Was the killer at all.
[22:00] Speaker 7: Why don't you believe it, missus Henshaw?
[22:02] Speaker 4: Why he seems like.
[22:02] Speaker 5: A nice boy and he had such a kind thing
[22:16] Speaker 5: house chats on a white and your truck driver, I
[22:19] Speaker 5: don't know.
[22:19] Speaker 7: I'm not supposed to take any riders where.
[22:21] Speaker 5: You're going, Yester City.
[22:23] Speaker 7: Well you look like a nice kid, and you're a
[22:25] Speaker 7: long way from home.
[22:26] Speaker 4: Come ahead, hop in.
[22:36] Speaker 7: Where did you pick up this kid in your truck? Driver?
[22:38] Speaker 4: And right outside of Saint Joe, mister Hodge.
[22:40] Speaker 7: But when the state troopers put up that roadblock and
[22:43] Speaker 7: looked into my truck, the kid was gone. Well that's that.
[22:47] Speaker 4: Let's go on.
[22:48] Speaker 7: If you ask me, mister Wilson, you two are bucking
[22:50] Speaker 7: up the wrong tree way. Why why that kid was
[22:53] Speaker 7: clean cut, a regular fellaw. He didn't look anything like
[22:56] Speaker 7: a killer to me.
[23:04] Speaker 5: Let me in, mom, lend me in ready.
[23:10] Speaker 3: The police were here.
[23:11] Speaker 2: They told me about what your dog got.
[23:13] Speaker 6: They haven't got much time off. Cook up something for me,
[23:15] Speaker 6: something to take along.
[23:17] Speaker 5: Sandwich is anything?
[23:18] Speaker 6: I gotta get some clothes and get out of here.
[23:20] Speaker 5: In a hurry, Why did you do it? Why did
[23:22] Speaker 5: you wet Gavin and get busy? I'm on the lamp seat.
[23:25] Speaker 6: Ready, you're asked me, breathing on my nerves.
[23:27] Speaker 3: Pready.
[23:28] Speaker 5: Where are you going? Where can you go when they
[23:30] Speaker 5: give me a job?
[23:31] Speaker 6: Somewhere at someplace where they won't look for me with
[23:33] Speaker 6: the railroad, may be working on.
[23:35] Speaker 5: A section again. Don't do it, son, give yourself up
[23:38] Speaker 5: if you've gone nough.
[23:39] Speaker 6: But you've got to give yourself up.
[23:41] Speaker 3: You kill the man.
[23:42] Speaker 5: You're not a murderer. Yeah, hey, that's something.
[23:46] Speaker 6: You're the mother of a big shot now a big
[23:48] Speaker 6: shop like Blake's Diamond Dylan to.
[23:50] Speaker 4: The rest of them. I got my picture in the papers.
[23:53] Speaker 6: Report is writing stories about me, a real public Get
[23:57] Speaker 6: of me.
[23:58] Speaker 5: Okay, now, mom, give me that grub. I gotta beat it.
[24:07] Speaker 7: Still following the trail, ew and Hodge checked with the
[24:09] Speaker 7: railroads and find that they're hiring section gangs at Liberty, Missouri,
[24:14] Speaker 7: about twenty miles out of Kansas City.
[24:16] Speaker 4: I'm a chance.
[24:18] Speaker 7: You show up at the employment shack, and sure enough,
[24:21] Speaker 7: the timekeeper tells you he's hired a new man.
[24:24] Speaker 4: Just as you walk out in.
[24:25] Speaker 7: The freight yard, you see, baby face, Freddy Bill, there's
[24:31] Speaker 7: a hut shot freight thing from me through southbound, And
[24:34] Speaker 7: Jim Hodge draws his gun and yells, hey.
[24:36] Speaker 5: You filed. I remember your hat up? Oh yeah, try
[24:40] Speaker 5: get me.
[24:40] Speaker 7: Oh she's making a run for it.
[24:41] Speaker 5: He's gonna try to catch that freight.
[24:43] Speaker 7: He's not gonna make it. Okay, Bill, by these rests
[24:51] Speaker 7: on precise could have made it. I made it seek
[24:55] Speaker 7: Why didn't your baby face fraid he might have got
[24:57] Speaker 7: you with a second shot? Different when you're on the
[25:01] Speaker 7: receiving end, isn't it kidding? All right, let's go Wilson night.
[25:05] Speaker 7: Let'll get the fire back at demordwit.
[25:06] Speaker 3: All right, good fire?
[25:09] Speaker 2: Is that a pullman?
[25:11] Speaker 7: That's right, babyface?
[25:12] Speaker 5: Why that's funny, that's real funny.
[25:19] Speaker 7: What's so funny?
[25:20] Speaker 6: When I was riding the box car, I swore that
[25:24] Speaker 6: some day I'll be a big shot, ride.
[25:26] Speaker 5: The pullman first class.
[25:29] Speaker 6: Here I am a big shot with my picture in
[25:32] Speaker 6: all the papers, in writing a pullman car first class,
[25:37] Speaker 6: just as I said I would.
[25:38] Speaker 2: Yeah, in just a moment, we'll read you a telegram
[25:58] Speaker 2: from Russ Wilson with a final op of tonight's big story.
[26:07] Speaker 2: Now we read you that tagram from Russ Wilson of
[26:10] Speaker 2: the Des Moines Tribune.
[26:11] Speaker 7: Youthful killer in Tonight's Big Story was brought to trial,
[26:14] Speaker 7: convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in the
[26:17] Speaker 7: Iowa State Penitentiary. Ten years later, he made a daring
[26:21] Speaker 7: escape from prison, but after several weeks at liberty, he
[26:25] Speaker 7: voluntarily returned to jail and is now serving out his sentence.
[26:29] Speaker 7: Many thanks for tonight's Pellmell awar Thank.
[26:31] Speaker 2: You, mister Wilson. The makers of pell Mell Famous Cigarettes
[26:34] Speaker 2: are proud to have named you the winner of the
[26:35] Speaker 2: pell Mell five hundred dollars Award for notable service in
[26:38] Speaker 2: the field of journalism. Listen again next week, same time,
[26:42] Speaker 2: same station, when Pellmell Famous Cigarettes will present another Big Story.
[26:46] Speaker 2: A Big Story from the pages of the Nashville Banner
[26:49] Speaker 2: by Lyon Marshall Morgan, A big story about two penniless
[26:53] Speaker 2: parents and a reporter who sought to it that two
[26:57] Speaker 2: children got what they wanted Christmas. The Big Story is
[27:19] Speaker 2: produced by Bernard J. Procter and directed by Harry Ingram,
[27:22] Speaker 2: with music by Vlada miss Lensky. The night's program was
[27:25] Speaker 2: written by Max Serlick. Your narrator was Bob Sloan, and
[27:28] Speaker 2: George Petrie played the part of Russ Wilson. All names
[27:32] Speaker 2: in the Night's story except that of mister Wilson were fictitious,
[27:35] Speaker 2: but the dramatization was based on a true and authentic case.
[27:44] Speaker 2: This is Ernest Chappell speaking for the makers of Palm Alts.
[27:54] Speaker 2: This is NBC, the National Broadcasting Company.
[28:06] Speaker 1: Welcome back, all right. I did want to go ahead
[28:09] Speaker 1: and briefly list out the full cast. In addition to
[28:13] Speaker 1: George Petre as Russ Wilson, we have Larry Robinson, Hester
[28:18] Speaker 1: Sounderguard Humphrey Davis, William Keene, Ralph Bell, who probably everybody recognized,
[28:25] Speaker 1: and Bob Sloan. Idaho's explanation of the difference between a
[28:31] Speaker 1: hobo and a bomb is a really important one, and
[28:36] Speaker 1: it's a key distinctive that's missed if you aren't familiar
[28:41] Speaker 1: with how that subculture worked, or if you've seen a
[28:46] Speaker 1: limited amount of media, you can get those mixed up,
[28:50] Speaker 1: but they are very different, even though a hobo and
[28:55] Speaker 1: a bamb might superficially look similar. And this is probably
[29:00] Speaker 1: one of those episodes that plays into the sort of
[29:04] Speaker 1: melodrama that you associate with, or a lot of people
[29:07] Speaker 1: associate with New York radio producers of the era, like
[29:11] Speaker 1: the Hummers. I don't know if it was just a
[29:15] Speaker 1: script or rather Larry Robinson's performances the kid had not
[29:20] Speaker 1: coming off as believably menacing, but this one just did
[29:24] Speaker 1: seem a bit more over the top. According to the
[29:28] Speaker 1: website The Story Behind the Story, this was based on
[29:32] Speaker 1: the murder of mechanic John Mclair in nineteen forty nine,
[29:37] Speaker 1: and Donald Lammy was the name of the murderer. Lammy
[29:41] Speaker 1: was brought in as a result of a tip and
[29:45] Speaker 1: later testimony of a hobo who was a Cornett player
[29:50] Speaker 1: who did part time barbering as well as working other
[29:54] Speaker 1: odd jobs. Lack a hard working hobo should, but he
[29:57] Speaker 1: had the goal of getting dental work so that he
[30:02] Speaker 1: could play the coronet as it was meant to be played.
[30:05] Speaker 1: He also wanted a new suit and a steak dinner.
[30:10] Speaker 1: I don't know if you could really enjoy the State
[30:13] Speaker 1: dinner without the dental work. The folks who write the
[30:16] Speaker 1: Story behind the Big Story website note that pictures show
[30:20] Speaker 1: him in the new suit. They assume hopefully that he
[30:23] Speaker 1: got the dental work and the steak dinner. Things were
[30:26] Speaker 1: not quite so happy for mister Lemmy, who, as the
[30:29] Speaker 1: episode attested, was a problem prisoner in fact by the
[30:33] Speaker 1: time of this episode, having made to escape attempts. Subsequent
[30:37] Speaker 1: to this episode, Donald Lammy broke out of prison again
[30:43] Speaker 1: and escaped to Arizona in nineteen forty eight, and he
[30:47] Speaker 1: was killed by Arizona police there in nineteen fifty All right, well,
[30:53] Speaker 1: now we want to go ahead and thank our Patreon
[30:57] Speaker 1: supporter of the day, and I want to go ahead
[30:59] Speaker 1: and thank philp Areon supporter since March twenty eighteen, currently
[31:03] Speaker 1: supporting the podcast at the Detective Sergeant level of seven
[31:06] Speaker 1: dollars and fourteen cents or more per month. Thank you
[31:09] Speaker 1: so much for your support, Phil, and that will do
[31:12] Speaker 1: it for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow
[31:15] Speaker 1: us using your favorite podcast software. Be sure to rate
[31:19] Speaker 1: and review the podcast wherever you download it from. We'll
[31:23] Speaker 1: be back in three weeks with another episode of The
[31:26] Speaker 1: Big Story. We will have encore presentations on Tuesday the
[31:31] Speaker 1: next couple of weeks, but join us back here.
[31:35] Speaker 5: Tomorrow for our final.
[31:37] Speaker 1: Christmas special off Broadways My Beat, where.
[31:41] Speaker 10: Oh sagean Gino Catagonia speaking yes, yes, yeah, right away. Anny, Hey, Danny,
[31:54] Speaker 10: it's the matter.
[31:54] Speaker 5: Do you know I haven't gotten my coffee yet.
[31:56] Speaker 10: Coffee at a time like this, buddy Mouthpie and they're
[31:59] Speaker 10: doing one million? What about him? He has been slugged.
[32:03] Speaker 1: Let's go, Gino?
[32:04] Speaker 5: Did you say, of course on a case like this,
[32:06] Speaker 5: I'll need you, Gino, come on.
[32:08] Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then in the meantime,
[32:11] Speaker 1: send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net,
[32:15] Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us
[32:19] Speaker 1: out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash Great Detectives from Boise, Idaho.
[32:26] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham signing off.

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