# The Big Story: The Jigsaw Crime (EP4917)

An episode of [The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio| Daily Mystery Dramas](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/335549005), 24 Feb 2026, 39 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pdrl.fm/997ffb/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/70244497/gd4917.mp3

Today's Mystery:A legendary Arkansas reporter investigates the murder of an unidentified man. Original Radio Broadcast: January 26, 1949 Originating from New York Starring: Martin Wolfson as Joe Wirges; Art Carney; Larry Haines; Art Carney; Martin O'Day; Joyce Gordon; Joe DeSantis Encyclopedia of Arkansas entry on Joseph Wirges. Support the show monthly at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net Patreon Supporter of the Day: Susan, Patreon supporter since October 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.
[0:43] Speaker 1: But first I do want to let you know about
[0:47] Speaker 1: our other podcast, and I want to encourage you to
[0:49] Speaker 1: check out The Great Adventurers of Old Time Radio. There
[0:53] Speaker 1: we bring you two great adventure stories every week, currently
[0:57] Speaker 1: featuring Tarzan and counter Spot. And you can find this
[1:01] Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast from, or at our website
[1:04] Speaker 1: at Great Adventures dot impo. Well Now from January twenty second,
[1:10] Speaker 1: nineteen forty nine, here is the Jigsaw Crime.
[1:16] Speaker 2: Well No Famous Cigarette presents the Big Story.
[1:26] Speaker 3: Two foam conversations place about the same time, one between
[1:31] Speaker 3: a man named Tom Cooey and his wife.
[1:34] Speaker 4: Don't talk like that, Tom Dog. I can't help it
[1:36] Speaker 4: to you.
[1:37] Speaker 3: If he goes I'm like this, I swear I'll kill him.
[1:39] Speaker 5: Ed Rumley's a crump.
[1:41] Speaker 4: You won't do anything.
[1:42] Speaker 2: Some partner lazy lies to me, never does any work,
[1:44] Speaker 2: blames me.
[1:46] Speaker 3: I swear one more stunt like that one in Galaston,
[1:48] Speaker 3: and I swear I'll kill him. The other was between
[1:52] Speaker 3: the first man's partner Ed Rumley and his brother and Galison.
[1:56] Speaker 6: He pockets fifty bucks. I know it for a fat
[1:58] Speaker 6: jack fifty bucks. I need tell me took in twenty
[2:00] Speaker 6: five and foot step with me.
[2:02] Speaker 5: Look and talk to him. He's your partner.
[2:04] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, my partner, some partner, some swindler.
[2:07] Speaker 6: I'll tell you one thing, Jackie. One more deal like that,
[2:10] Speaker 6: just one Tom Cooey's gonna be a dead man.
[2:19] Speaker 2: The big story here is America. It's found in its fury,
[2:25] Speaker 2: it's joy, and it's sorrow. As batically reported by the
[2:28] Speaker 2: men and women of the.
[2:29] Speaker 5: Great American newspapers.
[2:34] Speaker 2: Little Rock, Arkansas on the pages of the Arkansas Gazette,
[2:38] Speaker 2: the story of a puzzle whose pieces would not match
[2:41] Speaker 2: until a reporter put them together.
[2:44] Speaker 5: Then they spelled murder.
[2:46] Speaker 2: Joseph Wurgius of the Little Rock, Arkansas Gazette, for his
[2:49] Speaker 2: brilliant work in this jigsaw crime, goes the pell Mell
[2:53] Speaker 2: Award for the Big Story. Now, the story as it
[3:11] Speaker 2: actually happened, Joe Worgers' story as he lived it, Little Rock, Arkansas.
[3:25] Speaker 3: All your life, you Joe Worgis of the Arkansas Gazette,
[3:29] Speaker 3: did one thing well.
[3:30] Speaker 6: The police reporting.
[3:32] Speaker 4: He did it so well.
[3:33] Speaker 3: There wasn't a crime committed in Little Rock in the
[3:35] Speaker 3: last thirty one years, and most of Arkansas for that matter,
[3:39] Speaker 3: that you weren't connected with, not just reporting it, but helping, sleuthing,
[3:45] Speaker 3: asking questions, finding answer. So at fifty five you were
[3:51] Speaker 3: something of a legend in Little Rock. No crime was
[3:54] Speaker 3: complete without Joe Orgis on the spot. And that was
[3:57] Speaker 3: why you were sore at the young new lieutenant homicide
[4:00] Speaker 3: Sam hauled saw because the first you knew of it
[4:04] Speaker 3: was when you.
[4:04] Speaker 5: Heard hauld his report.
[4:06] Speaker 3: Arnie found an empty lot adjacent to farm of sy Travers,
[4:09] Speaker 3: Rose City, two miles north of Little Rock, dead one week,
[4:12] Speaker 3: face disfigured, clues, none, identification impossible. You've got to the
[4:22] Speaker 3: scene of the crime, Travers farm two hours after the
[4:25] Speaker 3: police two hours. Usually you beat them by at least
[4:29] Speaker 3: half an hour. With your son Jean or Cob on
[4:32] Speaker 3: the paper. You walk up to the new lieutenant two
[4:35] Speaker 3: hours late and say it right out, what's the idea?
[4:39] Speaker 5: Eh? Oh, hello, Joe, what's the idea?
[4:43] Speaker 6: Lieutenant? You know my son Jeans hiet what idea? Well,
[4:47] Speaker 6: don't I read anymore? Man's murdered. No clues, identification, difficult.
[4:52] Speaker 6: Don't you call me anymore?
[4:53] Speaker 5: Ah, Look, Joe, the weather is bad.
[4:55] Speaker 3: I got the news at seven this morning, and it's
[4:57] Speaker 3: a goose chase.
[4:58] Speaker 6: I didn't want to.
[4:59] Speaker 3: Get you out of better Necessarily, I'm used to cold weather,
[5:01] Speaker 3: bad weather, any.
[5:02] Speaker 6: Kind of weather, and I like school chases. Maybe you
[5:05] Speaker 6: think I'm getting old?
[5:06] Speaker 5: Is that?
[5:07] Speaker 7: Ah?
[5:07] Speaker 4: Credits?
[5:07] Speaker 5: You know? I respect you and all that.
[5:09] Speaker 6: Okay, okay, now what do you mean? Identification is difficulty
[5:15] Speaker 6: my report?
[5:15] Speaker 5: I said impossible.
[5:17] Speaker 6: No such a thing, Lieutenant, Where is he down that dip?
[5:20] Speaker 6: Where the cop is? Can I look? Take a few pictures.
[5:24] Speaker 6: No such thing as impossible.
[5:26] Speaker 5: You're quite a guy, aren't you.
[5:28] Speaker 6: Yeah, and let's walk on over.
[5:30] Speaker 3: I wrote identification impossible on my report because one, we
[5:34] Speaker 3: don't know who's dead, so we don't know who kills him.
[5:36] Speaker 5: Three we don't find any clothes.
[5:38] Speaker 3: No wallet, no identification what Tooever, how about on the underwear,
[5:41] Speaker 3: for if you let me finish, No identification on the
[5:44] Speaker 3: underwear or anywhere on the scene of the crime.
[5:46] Speaker 6: Oh, there's the body, look jeans see him?
[5:49] Speaker 3: Yes, pot always look at a body from like ten
[5:52] Speaker 3: feet away, gives you perpective?
[5:54] Speaker 6: See uh huh? Icy pods.
[5:56] Speaker 3: Now take a picture from here, Jean, then one from
[5:59] Speaker 3: the feet, then a closer.
[6:01] Speaker 6: I'll stay here and tell the lieutenant why I said.
[6:04] Speaker 6: Identification is difficult, but not impossible.
[6:07] Speaker 4: I have bluff and.
[6:08] Speaker 3: Joe, what tells you the identification and not the identification
[6:11] Speaker 3: with him?
[6:12] Speaker 6: It just gives me ideas.
[6:14] Speaker 3: Two men camped out in this field, one the dead man,
[6:19] Speaker 3: the other the guy.
[6:19] Speaker 6: Who did it. Footprints of two men are quite clear.
[6:23] Speaker 3: Or okay, two men did camp out travers The pharmer
[6:26] Speaker 3: says that we could go.
[6:26] Speaker 4: Two men ask to sleep.
[6:27] Speaker 5: Out in this field.
[6:28] Speaker 6: They had a car. Yeah, it looks like amateur crime,
[6:32] Speaker 6: not a gangster killing. Gangster never pick a place like this.
[6:35] Speaker 6: Two opens. Gangster never let himself be seen by Travis.
[6:39] Speaker 6: So what so as amateur.
[6:42] Speaker 3: They bungled somewhere they bungled. That's something for somebody to find.
[6:47] Speaker 7: Joe.
[6:49] Speaker 3: I heard you thee your eyes before, and I heard
[6:52] Speaker 3: about how you sound cases, But honest.
[6:54] Speaker 6: You never heard anything like this before.
[6:56] Speaker 4: Well exactly a gene you finished yap.
[7:00] Speaker 3: Okay, Now over there, see about one hundred yards over there,
[7:05] Speaker 3: papers see lots of little pieces of papers, got it
[7:10] Speaker 3: all over those scraps are junk.
[7:12] Speaker 4: You don't mean to tell me.
[7:13] Speaker 5: A dig bag, Jean.
[7:14] Speaker 6: Pick up everything you see, even if you can't make.
[7:17] Speaker 5: It out of that. Oh what do you think you're doing?
[7:21] Speaker 6: I said they were amateurs.
[7:23] Speaker 3: Amateurs always leave something or somebody who can read it.
[7:28] Speaker 6: Column, Yo, I'm a faigure slipping, getting old.
[7:33] Speaker 3: Maybe, but i'd advise you not to file that report
[7:38] Speaker 3: on identification impossible for twenty four hours.
[7:42] Speaker 6: Don't have to listen, just my advice, Pom.
[8:00] Speaker 4: I'm tired.
[8:02] Speaker 6: I can't see anymore.
[8:03] Speaker 5: Well you go to bed jeans.
[8:05] Speaker 6: Why don't you stop shuffling these scraps of paper. Pie,
[8:08] Speaker 6: We've been.
[8:08] Speaker 3: Out of twenty hours and we haven't got a thing.
[8:11] Speaker 6: You'd think the lieutenants right too. I'm getting old. I
[8:13] Speaker 6: didn't say that, Pie.
[8:15] Speaker 3: I'll sit with you all.
[8:16] Speaker 6: Day tomorrow and the next day only.
[8:18] Speaker 3: Only I sounded awful, big, didn't I? Twenty four hours litennant,
[8:23] Speaker 3: I shouted, swell at it? Oh not exactly.
[8:27] Speaker 6: Ah, Now I.
[8:28] Speaker 8: Think I got something.
[8:29] Speaker 6: Look seen a letter, part of a letter anyhow? An envelope,
[8:32] Speaker 6: this little piece of greening? That did it?
[8:34] Speaker 4: What have you done?
[8:35] Speaker 6: The letter signed to see.
[8:37] Speaker 3: Lonely for you dd and in the same handwriting same
[8:40] Speaker 3: ink is a envelope to Tom c o U And
[8:44] Speaker 3: there's a letter missing.
[8:45] Speaker 8: Why c o u blank y?
[8:48] Speaker 7: Yeah?
[8:48] Speaker 6: But Pie, that might not be the murdered man or
[8:50] Speaker 6: the murderer. It might be well.
[8:53] Speaker 3: Anybody, true, might be someone who uh picnicked there a
[8:57] Speaker 3: year ago we tore off the letter and.
[8:59] Speaker 5: Left of that, right sure, or.
[9:00] Speaker 6: Maybe a passing murderer through it out the window. And
[9:03] Speaker 6: why am I excited? Because it might also be the
[9:07] Speaker 6: murdered man or the murderer.
[9:10] Speaker 3: Right?
[9:12] Speaker 6: Well, you begrudge me the answer, I suppose I'll never
[9:17] Speaker 6: begrudginating father and answer.
[9:20] Speaker 3: Come on, Jeane, we're still under the twenty four hours.
[9:23] Speaker 3: And I really got something for Lieutenant calder.
[9:35] Speaker 5: So.
[9:36] Speaker 3: His name is cou blank why cooory COOLi something like that,
[9:39] Speaker 3: and he's got a wife' named Gja.
[9:41] Speaker 4: That's all, Joe.
[9:42] Speaker 6: The letter was mailed from Bridgeport.
[9:45] Speaker 5: Yeah, oh shot, end it alone.
[9:48] Speaker 4: I'll put a call through.
[9:49] Speaker 6: You don't have to, right, I already did.
[9:52] Speaker 3: I put the call through, told the operator to connect
[9:54] Speaker 3: you here at your office soon.
[9:56] Speaker 6: As she got a missus.
[9:56] Speaker 3: Jis cou blank y in Bridgeport? Well, don't say it,
[10:04] Speaker 3: but a hold a homicide.
[10:08] Speaker 5: Hey, thank you?
[10:11] Speaker 4: Hello, Hello, this is missus Delia cooey.
[10:14] Speaker 6: Oh, hello, Missus Cooley. The name is Cooley. Who is this,
[10:18] Speaker 6: Missus Cooley? My name is Joe Wurgers from Little Rock, Arkansas.
[10:22] Speaker 6: And nothing to be alarmed that.
[10:24] Speaker 8: Just your husband's name is Tom?
[10:26] Speaker 5: Is that right?
[10:26] Speaker 4: That's right?
[10:27] Speaker 6: Have you heard from him? No, man, just just a
[10:29] Speaker 6: routine newspaper check. Have you heard from him?
[10:32] Speaker 4: No? I thought it was him calling. See it's been
[10:35] Speaker 4: a long time, over ten days, and he always writes
[10:38] Speaker 4: or phones me.
[10:40] Speaker 6: Have something happened?
[10:41] Speaker 3: No, Missus Cooley, it's nothing, definitely, just we may have
[10:44] Speaker 3: some information for you. If we do, we'll get in
[10:46] Speaker 3: touch with you. Missus Cooley. How old is your husband?
[10:50] Speaker 4: He's thirty two?
[10:51] Speaker 6: Something is the man? As I said, if anything comes up,
[10:54] Speaker 6: we'll call you back. Don't worry.
[10:58] Speaker 4: Why didn't you tell her? Joe?
[11:00] Speaker 5: Tell her what?
[11:00] Speaker 6: Lieutenant?
[11:01] Speaker 8: I tell her to come down and identify the body? Well,
[11:05] Speaker 8: it's her husband we found in the field.
[11:09] Speaker 5: Now you know it as well.
[11:10] Speaker 6: As I might be. But then again it might not.
[11:14] Speaker 8: What are you talking about?
[11:15] Speaker 5: Now?
[11:16] Speaker 6: Did you take a good look at that body?
[11:17] Speaker 8: I spent a day going over that body.
[11:20] Speaker 5: Did you see his teeth? I saw his teeth.
[11:22] Speaker 3: Are those the teeth of a man thirty two?
[11:24] Speaker 6: A false upper plate?
[11:27] Speaker 4: Well, it's happened before.
[11:28] Speaker 6: To look at his feet?
[11:30] Speaker 3: Bunions on his feet, sir? Are those the feet of
[11:32] Speaker 3: a man of thirty two?
[11:34] Speaker 6: That man was fifty at least?
[11:35] Speaker 8: Well, just because a guy has a plate in his
[11:37] Speaker 8: mouth and bunions will.
[11:40] Speaker 4: Well, maybe he's a thirty two.
[11:42] Speaker 3: Year old male carriers possible, But I say our man's
[11:46] Speaker 3: fifty five.
[11:47] Speaker 6: He's a day all right. I've said my piece. What
[11:50] Speaker 6: are you going to do?
[11:51] Speaker 3: File the death certificate in the name of Tom Cooey?
[11:57] Speaker 4: What are you going to do?
[11:58] Speaker 5: First?
[12:00] Speaker 6: Give you some free advice? Don't?
[12:03] Speaker 3: And second, I'm going back and finished by jigsaw puzzle.
[12:05] Speaker 6: I've been working on a gene.
[12:07] Speaker 3: There's still a few pieces of paper.
[12:09] Speaker 5: Have me worried?
[12:16] Speaker 6: You've got Lieutenant Hall to worried.
[12:18] Speaker 3: But you're worried too, Joe wurges. A few pieces of
[12:22] Speaker 3: paper have you worried? One I have torn receipt with
[12:26] Speaker 3: a number seventy three thousand, five hundred and sixty nine,
[12:31] Speaker 3: and the other the name of a Post Office Hudson
[12:35] Speaker 3: Terminal post Office, and a somewhat similar piece of paper.
[12:39] Speaker 3: If you wonder if the two go together. If you
[12:42] Speaker 3: have on the disarrayed table in front of you two
[12:45] Speaker 3: pieces of a receipt for a registered letter for suppose
[12:48] Speaker 3: you have PI, then maybe the amateur.
[12:51] Speaker 6: Murderer tore up his receipt and you'll find his name.
[12:53] Speaker 6: Oh that's one thousand and one at least two thousand
[12:56] Speaker 6: and one gene.
[12:57] Speaker 3: It might be the murdered man tore up to receipt,
[13:00] Speaker 3: or it might be neither of them did it. Maybe
[13:02] Speaker 3: it's seventy three and sixty nine to one gems. But
[13:06] Speaker 3: I like long shots. You play the long shot a
[13:15] Speaker 3: phone call to a friend in the post office at
[13:17] Speaker 3: Hudson Turmo, and you find that the letter was mailed
[13:20] Speaker 3: three months ago by a man named Ed Rumley, who
[13:23] Speaker 3: has brother Jack in Sacramento, California. So you put through
[13:28] Speaker 3: a call the Sacramento and mister.
[13:30] Speaker 5: Rumley, you've got a brother named Ed. That's right.
[13:33] Speaker 6: He's about fifty five edge fifty four full supper plate
[13:36] Speaker 6: in is mouth.
[13:37] Speaker 5: That's right. Say what is this?
[13:39] Speaker 3: Bunion's honest feet bad bunions?
[13:42] Speaker 5: Yes, but what's this all about?
[13:44] Speaker 3: And mister Rumley, you'd better hop a plane and get
[13:47] Speaker 3: out the Little Rock as soon as you can.
[13:49] Speaker 6: I'm afraid your brother has been murdered.
[14:04] Speaker 5: We'll be back in just a moment with tonight's big story.
[14:29] Speaker 2: This is Sy Harris returning it to your narrator and
[14:32] Speaker 2: the big story of Joe Burgess as he lived it.
[14:36] Speaker 4: And wrote it.
[14:38] Speaker 3: First, Lieutenant Sam Halder announces that the identification of a
[14:42] Speaker 3: murdered man is impossible, and you, Joe Wurgeses of the
[14:46] Speaker 3: Arkansas as that proved that wrong. Then he announces that
[14:51] Speaker 3: the murdered man is one term Cooie, and you blandly
[14:56] Speaker 3: write a lead story for your paper that the murdered
[14:59] Speaker 3: man is Ed Rumley.
[15:02] Speaker 6: The thing on the safe side, you don't run the story.
[15:06] Speaker 3: Because the identification by Rumley's brother on his way from
[15:09] Speaker 3: California hasn't been made yet. But when Rumley's brother arrives
[15:14] Speaker 3: and takes one look at the body, you'll know you're right.
[15:19] Speaker 6: The murdered man is Ed Rumley. So you run your
[15:24] Speaker 6: story and you and the lieutenant get on with the case.
[15:27] Speaker 5: So your brother and Koey were partners.
[15:29] Speaker 6: Mister Rumley, that's right.
[15:30] Speaker 8: Return, and he and Kuey didn't get along. They hated
[15:32] Speaker 8: each other.
[15:33] Speaker 6: Yes, that's true.
[15:34] Speaker 3: They well partner's in business, sold udo polished together and
[15:36] Speaker 3: they weren't doing well.
[15:37] Speaker 4: They fought a lot. I was it a surprise to.
[15:40] Speaker 5: You your brother was killed.
[15:42] Speaker 6: I knew they had trouble, but I never thought it
[15:44] Speaker 6: would come to this.
[15:45] Speaker 5: Do you think who he did it? I don't know.
[15:47] Speaker 3: Why don't we let the man go to his hotel, Lieutenant.
[15:50] Speaker 3: He's had a great shock his brother's death and all that. Yeah, yeah, sorry,
[15:56] Speaker 3: mister Rumley, that's all right, thank you, thank you. Now,
[15:59] Speaker 3: joe oh, I think we sent out a dragonet for
[16:02] Speaker 3: a man.
[16:03] Speaker 6: Named Kooy term c o u e y All right, right,
[16:10] Speaker 6: but here you're both wrong. It isn't two minutes later
[16:14] Speaker 6: when I gut start and opened the door and let's in.
[16:17] Speaker 3: A tall man wearing a palm beach suit. Lieutenant holler,
[16:21] Speaker 3: I'm Tom Cooey, you're Cooy. Yes, I have got a
[16:25] Speaker 3: story in the paper that it had been killed.
[16:27] Speaker 6: I thought I could be a help.
[16:29] Speaker 3: Got here as soon as I could, so well where
[16:32] Speaker 3: he been, Well, that's as you see, I didn't even
[16:34] Speaker 3: bother to change my clothes.
[16:36] Speaker 6: I was in Florida. I took a plain and got
[16:38] Speaker 6: here as soon as possible.
[16:40] Speaker 3: That's just good friend, Lieutenant Jeans outside, you might if
[16:43] Speaker 3: I get.
[16:43] Speaker 5: A dog, go ahead?
[16:44] Speaker 8: You do anything like sit down the skooy anyway I
[16:47] Speaker 8: can help, Lieutenant.
[16:48] Speaker 5: Well, just tell me you and Rumby were partners.
[16:51] Speaker 6: Yes, that's right, auto polish line. But about three months
[16:55] Speaker 6: ago we broke up.
[16:56] Speaker 5: We weren't doing too well.
[16:58] Speaker 6: We split what we had to stock.
[17:00] Speaker 5: I took the car and he just parted friendly.
[17:03] Speaker 6: Why it was the song of the year.
[17:06] Speaker 4: You have no idea how it's distresses.
[17:09] Speaker 6: Just hold of mister cooey. Pictures go ahead, Jean, one
[17:12] Speaker 6: from the fire, then one from the front.
[17:14] Speaker 4: Uh, what are you shooting pictures for now? Joe? Okay,
[17:21] Speaker 4: you were friends with Rumley? Were you ever in this territory?
[17:24] Speaker 5: Oh?
[17:24] Speaker 6: Yes, we have a little rock with the guy.
[17:27] Speaker 5: Recently.
[17:28] Speaker 6: No, about six years ago.
[17:29] Speaker 4: I was not recently.
[17:30] Speaker 8: No, every Knatsville.
[17:32] Speaker 6: Uh, you're ago for pleasure, but not recently.
[17:35] Speaker 4: Where did you last see Rumley?
[17:37] Speaker 6: Well, let me see now, must be four.
[17:39] Speaker 4: Months ago, and where did you see him? Lad? Richmond?
[17:42] Speaker 6: We split up in Richmond as I said, he took
[17:45] Speaker 6: the stock polish and I took the car and.
[17:49] Speaker 4: That was the last time I saw him.
[17:52] Speaker 5: Well, thanks for coming in, mister Ken.
[17:55] Speaker 8: Can I do a work you don't have to wish
[17:57] Speaker 8: for Joe?
[17:57] Speaker 4: You are going to go? Are you go?
[17:59] Speaker 6: Maybe Trappator? See him the farmer from one of the
[18:01] Speaker 6: mass travers of permission to camp on the farm. Remember, yeah,
[18:04] Speaker 6: I remember?
[18:05] Speaker 4: Okay, okay, And mister Ko, I'll have to keep you
[18:09] Speaker 4: for a few hours.
[18:11] Speaker 6: I'll make it twenty four lieutenant. Why just to be
[18:14] Speaker 6: on the safe side fus, just a few hours.
[18:18] Speaker 5: Mister Kohe.
[18:20] Speaker 4: Just routine travers.
[18:29] Speaker 8: It was on your property, they say that night I tried. Now,
[18:32] Speaker 8: just look at this man and tell me did you
[18:34] Speaker 8: ever see him before?
[18:35] Speaker 4: Was he one of the men?
[18:36] Speaker 6: And man, I've never show him before?
[18:39] Speaker 4: That is my Joe.
[18:40] Speaker 3: I'd still say make it twenty four hours, lieutenant.
[18:44] Speaker 6: What given to an old man's whim? Lieutenant? Okay, okay,
[18:51] Speaker 6: I'm awfully sorry, mister kohed just a few more.
[18:54] Speaker 7: Hours, stee, we'reges see where are you at? O?
[19:09] Speaker 4: Where s? Where's your father?
[19:10] Speaker 5: See?
[19:10] Speaker 3: I don't know, Lieutenant, but he said he'd be I've been.
[19:12] Speaker 5: Waiting half the day for him.
[19:14] Speaker 4: He said he'd be here at six.
[19:16] Speaker 5: I'm gonna let Koy go.
[19:17] Speaker 6: He said, please to wait twenty four hours? He said, Lieutenant,
[19:20] Speaker 6: twenty four hours? What four?
[19:22] Speaker 3: The man's innocent? Why am I holding him suspicion to murderer?
[19:25] Speaker 3: I've got no suspicion to murder.
[19:26] Speaker 5: What's your old man doing anyway?
[19:28] Speaker 6: I don't know, Lieutenant, but he said please to wait.
[19:30] Speaker 3: Well at seven, he's gotten to light o'clock, not a
[19:32] Speaker 3: bit at moore. Tell him that I don't know where
[19:34] Speaker 3: I'll find him eight o'clock.
[19:35] Speaker 4: I don't care.
[19:47] Speaker 7: He marg, Yes, Lieutenant Faulder, it's aint fifteen.
[19:51] Speaker 4: And he's not here yet. Did you hear from him?
[19:53] Speaker 6: No, Sir, I didn't.
[19:53] Speaker 4: Okay, bring Coley and sergeant, I'm releasing him. Don't see
[19:57] Speaker 4: so he's lieutenant?
[19:59] Speaker 6: What ah did you find anything? I think it's a
[20:02] Speaker 6: fine idea to bring Cooey in, but I don't think
[20:04] Speaker 6: you want to release it?
[20:05] Speaker 4: What did you find?
[20:06] Speaker 6: What have you got? But tell me you want to
[20:08] Speaker 6: developed patience to gen Patience is an askest in the
[20:13] Speaker 6: old as weller.
[20:14] Speaker 4: Than the young. Yo. What did the yes, mister Cooey
[20:17] Speaker 4: I did.
[20:20] Speaker 3: Well.
[20:20] Speaker 6: Go ahead, Joe, mister Cooley, sit down that chair. You'll
[20:23] Speaker 6: be more comfortable than standing.
[20:26] Speaker 4: Yeah, go ahead, sit down, Go ahead, shoe. Uh.
[20:30] Speaker 6: I have a document here, mister Koe just a second
[20:33] Speaker 6: that says, you know. It's the letter I forgot the
[20:36] Speaker 6: mail for my wife. Ah.
[20:38] Speaker 3: Here it is, I let us in your wife and
[20:40] Speaker 3: kooy from deed from dearly. Oh, don't be alarmed, perfectly
[20:44] Speaker 3: harmless letter. Miss you love you write more often, But
[20:47] Speaker 3: that's not what I'm ask It's an envelope I called
[20:50] Speaker 3: your attention.
[20:51] Speaker 6: But what about it?
[20:53] Speaker 3: The postmark chloral postmark. This was sent to you a noster,
[20:59] Speaker 3: then forward to you in Little Rock. Note it bears
[21:02] Speaker 3: three postmarks, Bridgeport where she mailed it, from Knoxville, and
[21:07] Speaker 3: Little Joe, suggesting that mister Cooey was at one time
[21:11] Speaker 3: in Knoxville and later in Little Rock, two facts which
[21:15] Speaker 3: if I remember.
[21:16] Speaker 6: Correctly, he did not.
[21:19] Speaker 4: Why are you uh well?
[21:21] Speaker 6: I uh oh, yes, yes, I I guess I was.
[21:25] Speaker 3: Now were that much cleared? We asked this question, mister Cooey,
[21:30] Speaker 3: were you ever in Rose City?
[21:32] Speaker 6: Rose City, to refresh your memory, was.
[21:34] Speaker 3: The place where Ed Rumley met his death On the
[21:37] Speaker 3: farm of a man named Travers in Rose City.
[21:40] Speaker 6: Ever there, Oh, never good.
[21:43] Speaker 3: You also told us you never sold or will be
[21:45] Speaker 3: a polish in Knoxville or Little Rock or Rose City
[21:47] Speaker 3: in the company of Ed Rumley. Yes, that's true. I
[21:51] Speaker 3: was in Knoxville and Little Rock, but not with Rumley.
[21:54] Speaker 3: We broke up in Rechimond four months ago.
[21:55] Speaker 6: I told you, Oh, yes, so you did. But if
[21:59] Speaker 6: it should be establish.
[22:00] Speaker 3: That you did sell the polish in all those cities
[22:02] Speaker 3: with Rumley within the past month, you might look like
[22:06] Speaker 3: a lion.
[22:06] Speaker 6: I said, I never did, and that's all I've got
[22:08] Speaker 6: to say. And here in my pocket, I have no
[22:11] Speaker 6: that's my colorphone bill. Here I have seven.
[22:15] Speaker 3: Depositions from auto store owners in Little Rock and Rose
[22:18] Speaker 3: City swearing that you and Ed Rumley together sold them
[22:22] Speaker 3: polish within the past month.
[22:25] Speaker 4: Well, how could they swear that when I never do?
[22:26] Speaker 6: You recall my son to your picture?
[22:29] Speaker 3: Well, armed with that picture and the photo of mister
[22:31] Speaker 3: Rumley before you murdered it.
[22:32] Speaker 6: I never did anything. These photos, I say. I went
[22:35] Speaker 6: to the auto stores and asked if they saw you,
[22:38] Speaker 6: and these depositions say they did. Seven. Lieutenant called seven fairly.
[22:44] Speaker 4: Conclusively all right, cool, let's have the truth.
[22:46] Speaker 3: It's about time. Okay, Okay, we sold the polish together,
[22:52] Speaker 3: but that's all. I left town two weeks ago and never.
[22:56] Speaker 6: Saw Rumley again.
[22:57] Speaker 3: Another lie one of the depositions, as you sold pollup
[23:01] Speaker 3: together the day of the murder one week ago.
[23:04] Speaker 6: You hated him and he hated you. Bromiley's brother says that,
[23:07] Speaker 6: and soold of your wife. As a matter of fact,
[23:10] Speaker 6: you gentlemen, both threatened to kill each other.
[23:12] Speaker 4: Now could he start talking?
[23:14] Speaker 6: Okay, we're in the field together. If we can't Dot
[23:19] Speaker 6: and Travis Field, we were broke, that's why we can't die.
[23:22] Speaker 6: Rummley threatened me. We're about to go to sleep that night.
[23:25] Speaker 6: When he threatened me, I had to do it. He
[23:27] Speaker 6: would have killed me. He had a club maybe you
[23:28] Speaker 6: say it was the carjack. I don't know, and he
[23:30] Speaker 6: tried to kill me.
[23:30] Speaker 8: I took it away from him with self defense.
[23:32] Speaker 6: I didn't even think of what.
[23:33] Speaker 4: I was doing.
[23:34] Speaker 6: Oh, how the man lies.
[23:35] Speaker 3: Gene, note how criminals lie. First, it was premeditated. You
[23:41] Speaker 3: removed not only his clothes but also the labeled from
[23:45] Speaker 3: the underwear. You were careful to leave his body face.
[23:48] Speaker 6: Down the water hoping you would leave him unrecognized. And
[23:52] Speaker 6: you know how I know that. Oh, it was not
[23:55] Speaker 6: a hot night. The weather bureau, with whom I have
[23:58] Speaker 6: just checked, tells me the night the question was a
[24:01] Speaker 6: very cold. Man.
[24:03] Speaker 3: You slept with your clothes on, and when the deed
[24:05] Speaker 3: was done, you removed his clothes. You dragged the body
[24:09] Speaker 3: two hundred jobs to the gully and left it there.
[24:12] Speaker 6: Do you want me to prove each of these points
[24:15] Speaker 6: or would you sign the full confession I prepared for you?
[24:18] Speaker 3: Well, I think mister COOOI needs a fountain to lieutenant,
[24:22] Speaker 3: but you know he lost his in Travis Field. I
[24:26] Speaker 3: found it if you wanted to to kooy, but I
[24:27] Speaker 3: don't think you have much use for it where you're going,
[24:30] Speaker 3: do you, Lieutenant.
[24:34] Speaker 4: Well, Jeane, we better get along.
[24:36] Speaker 6: It's my after nine o'clock. I had better get to bed.
[24:40] Speaker 6: You know I can't take these late hours anymore. I'm
[24:44] Speaker 6: not as young as I used to do.
[25:03] Speaker 2: In just a moment, we'll read you a telegram from
[25:05] Speaker 2: Joseph Worges of the Little Rock, Arkansas Gazettes with the
[25:08] Speaker 2: final outcome of tonight's big story. Now we read you
[25:17] Speaker 2: that telegram from Joseph Worgs of the Little Rock Arkansas Gazette.
[25:21] Speaker 3: Realizing his story of self defense wouldn't stand up in court,
[25:25] Speaker 3: gillern Tonight's Big Story, pleaded guilty to the murder and
[25:27] Speaker 3: thereby escaped the electric chair.
[25:30] Speaker 6: Sentenced to life imprisonment in the penitentiary.
[25:32] Speaker 3: He escaped after serving four years, but was recaptured two
[25:36] Speaker 3: years later. My sincere appreciation for tonight's Pellmell Award.
[25:40] Speaker 5: Thank you, mister Wogs.
[25:42] Speaker 2: The makers of Pellmell Famous Cigarettes are proud to have
[25:45] Speaker 2: named you the winner of the pell Mell five hundred
[25:47] Speaker 2: dollars Award for notable service in the field of journalism.
[25:50] Speaker 2: Listen again next week, same time, same station, and pell
[25:54] Speaker 2: Mell Famous Cigarettes will present another big story, A big
[25:58] Speaker 2: story from the front page which is of the Joliet,
[26:00] Speaker 2: Illinois Harold News byline William M. Hart, a big story
[26:06] Speaker 2: about a reporter who tried to stop an explosion of
[26:09] Speaker 2: dynamite human dynamite. The Big Story is produced by Bernard J.
[26:26] Speaker 2: Poctor with music by Vonna Mitzelenski. The night's program was
[26:30] Speaker 2: written by Arnold Pearl. Your narrator was Bob Sloan and
[26:33] Speaker 2: Martin Wilson played the part of mister Wigs.
[26:36] Speaker 5: In order to protect the names.
[26:38] Speaker 2: Of people actually involved in Tonight's authentic Big Story, the
[26:43] Speaker 2: names of all characters in the dramatization were.
[26:45] Speaker 5: Changed, with the exception of the reporter mister Wigs.
[26:55] Speaker 2: This is Ernest Chapple speaking for the makers of Palmel
[26:58] Speaker 2: Famous Cigarette.
[27:03] Speaker 1: Welcome back. Well, first of all, let's go ahead and
[27:06] Speaker 1: provide the rest of the cast. In addition to mister
[27:09] Speaker 1: Wolfson of the cast Joyce Gordon as Delia, and then
[27:17] Speaker 1: we had Larry Haynes, Art Corney, Michael O'Day and Joe DeSantis.
[27:24] Speaker 1: This episode was a strong one. I think that the
[27:29] Speaker 1: characterization is very different from your typical Big Story episode,
[27:35] Speaker 1: which is usually about this sort of unassuming a reporter
[27:40] Speaker 1: who does his job and has this one case that
[27:44] Speaker 1: is his big moment. The way that he's written and
[27:49] Speaker 1: played feels like if you tuned in not knowing that
[27:53] Speaker 1: this was supposed to be based on a true story,
[27:56] Speaker 1: you would not suspect it. But the fact of the
[28:00] Speaker 1: matter is that the real life Joe Warges was a
[28:05] Speaker 1: larger than life character. He did not have the national
[28:09] Speaker 1: profile of Dorothy Kilgallon or a Bulter Winshoal because, to
[28:17] Speaker 1: be honest, he was based in Arkansas and not New
[28:21] Speaker 1: York City. But Joe Gazette, as he was known, went
[28:25] Speaker 1: to work as a newspaper reporter when he was glad
[28:30] Speaker 1: of nineteen and stayed with it for forty nine years
[28:36] Speaker 1: out of fifty. Took like a one year sabbatical in
[28:39] Speaker 1: the middle of that, but he had a massive legacy.
[28:43] Speaker 1: Quoting from the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, he was a natural
[28:48] Speaker 1: detective and helped the police break down suspects and solve crimes.
[28:52] Speaker 1: During the heyday of the national pulp detective magazines the
[28:56] Speaker 1: thirties through the fifties, Warges was a free contributor to
[29:01] Speaker 1: and subject of journals like True Detective that publicized crime mysteries.
[29:08] Speaker 1: So probably at least some of the fictional detective heroes
[29:16] Speaker 1: may have been indirectly inspired by Joe Worges because a
[29:22] Speaker 1: lot of people who grew up to be crime writers
[29:24] Speaker 1: they read these sort of magazines. Police literally relied on him.
[29:31] Speaker 1: They knew where he could be reached even when the
[29:35] Speaker 1: newspaper couldn't, and they would notify him if something broke,
[29:41] Speaker 1: which you know, the idea that he was taken aback
[29:45] Speaker 1: that he wasn't notified in this episode. Yeah, that is true.
[29:50] Speaker 1: You if you were in Arkansas Little Rock area and
[29:55] Speaker 1: someone was breaking in the crime area, you would call
[30:00] Speaker 1: Joe Wergis. You would make sure that he knew what
[30:02] Speaker 1: was going on. I mean, according to this even they
[30:07] Speaker 1: even scheduled execution so that he could be there. And
[30:11] Speaker 1: according to the Encyclopedia We'regis was actually featured in multiple
[30:17] Speaker 1: episodes of The Big Story, though this appears to be
[30:21] Speaker 1: the only one in circulation. And I love the way
[30:24] Speaker 1: Wilson portrayed him. I was amused during the part when
[30:29] Speaker 1: he was confronting the suspect and was doing this thing.
[30:34] Speaker 1: Oh wait, no, no, no, that's my grocery list, and
[30:38] Speaker 1: I thought, oh my goodness, he's doing Colombo before Peter Falk. Now,
[30:44] Speaker 1: I think most of the facts of this case, the
[30:48] Speaker 1: story behind The Big Story. Doctor Joe Webb tracked down
[30:52] Speaker 1: the real incident, and the victim was George Riolo and
[30:59] Speaker 1: the killer was Walter Beal, and both were actually from
[31:03] Speaker 1: Westchester County, but Riolo was originally from California. Now, the
[31:10] Speaker 1: big difference with the case is that it did not
[31:14] Speaker 1: happen in nineteen forty nine, when Worges would be about
[31:19] Speaker 1: fifty two, give or take, actually happened back in nineteen
[31:24] Speaker 1: thirty one when Warges was thirty five, So a lot
[31:29] Speaker 1: of references to him being old or be a bit
[31:34] Speaker 1: over the hill. Nobody would have had that assumption in
[31:38] Speaker 1: nineteen thirty one. It's probably one of those conceits of
[31:42] Speaker 1: the program that it is acted like each case is
[31:46] Speaker 1: somewhat recent to make the accomplishment seem fresh. Warges would
[31:51] Speaker 1: actually keep on writing and being a living legend until
[31:58] Speaker 1: he retired in nineteen sixty six. Two of his sons
[32:03] Speaker 1: I had four sons would go on to work in journalism,
[32:07] Speaker 1: with his son Gene becoming a publisher and editor of
[32:12] Speaker 1: a paper and being a crusader against corruption in state politics.
[32:20] Speaker 1: So probably one of the more fascinating subjects for one
[32:25] Speaker 1: of these big story episodes we've encountered so far. Listener
[32:28] Speaker 1: comments and feedback now, and we have a few comments
[32:33] Speaker 1: regarding the episode A Blond Date with Murder. We start
[32:37] Speaker 1: with Peter on Spotify. I guess it wasn't such a
[32:41] Speaker 1: harmless little fib after all, society can still learn a
[32:45] Speaker 1: lesson from this story. I think that there are lessons
[32:49] Speaker 1: to be learned from real life that should teach us
[32:52] Speaker 1: to be more circumspect about how we talk and warn
[32:58] Speaker 1: us against that. But we he seemed not to want
[33:01] Speaker 1: to learn those lessons. Dawn comments, whoever told the actress
[33:05] Speaker 1: she could play a young girl live out the music
[33:09] Speaker 1: was spectacularly inappropriate for the story, the focus on the
[33:13] Speaker 1: consequence of gossip and not the fact that a policeman
[33:16] Speaker 1: went on a killing spree. By modern sensibilities, it misses
[33:22] Speaker 1: the mark completely. A good story told well usually stands
[33:26] Speaker 1: the test of time. This one had an expiration date
[33:30] Speaker 1: well mark. I definitely think there's something to the perspective.
[33:35] Speaker 1: I think on some of the points the music, it
[33:39] Speaker 1: feels like with the big story that you kind of
[33:43] Speaker 1: get the same sort of music and score every episode.
[33:48] Speaker 1: There are other series that meant mix it up to
[33:52] Speaker 1: capture the tone. As to the sensibilities, think you raise
[33:56] Speaker 1: a fair point, although it all wasn't written for our
[34:00] Speaker 1: sensibilities in the twenty first century, and there are many
[34:04] Speaker 1: good or even great stories that cut against our sensibilities,
[34:08] Speaker 1: and certainly the way that some stories are told in
[34:11] Speaker 1: the twenty first century may offend the sensibilities of future generations.
[34:16] Speaker 1: I think that whenever you're creating something, you are kind
[34:21] Speaker 1: of limited by the standards of the time and what
[34:25] Speaker 1: your audience will accept and what, in this case, what
[34:30] Speaker 1: the network is going to broadcast. Probably having this storyline
[34:35] Speaker 1: where the focus is on the danger of gossip and
[34:42] Speaker 1: being malicious made it more palatable to the networks, and
[34:47] Speaker 1: so that the story could actually be made and the
[34:51] Speaker 1: reporter could get their Palmell award, and five hundred dollars
[34:56] Speaker 1: was certainly a big sum of money at the time.
[35:00] Speaker 1: Will see that with films that are made today and
[35:05] Speaker 1: stories that are produced in a dramatic way, they are
[35:09] Speaker 1: not told true to life. They are told in ways
[35:12] Speaker 1: that fit into our cultural narratives and the narratives of
[35:18] Speaker 1: the people who are making the productions. I've yet to
[35:22] Speaker 1: see one where people are like, yeah, that is totally
[35:25] Speaker 1: accurate to how everything happened. There are you know, not
[35:31] Speaker 1: to say that no truth is reflected, but it is
[35:35] Speaker 1: colored with the perspective of its time. But I think
[35:40] Speaker 1: you do have a point. Over on Facebook, Joey writes,
[35:45] Speaker 1: I can't help but think how the child and the
[35:47] Speaker 1: story would feel if she realized what her feb fed
[35:51] Speaker 1: led to. However, even if her feed was true the
[35:54] Speaker 1: friendly neighborhood, Copp's reaction was still way over the top.
[35:59] Speaker 1: And I think, and that's a fair point, Joey, because
[36:02] Speaker 1: there are ways that our lies can harm others. But
[36:08] Speaker 1: the way people choose to respond to a lie or
[36:12] Speaker 1: respond to a situation is on them. And the same
[36:16] Speaker 1: thing with the real life policeman who went on a
[36:19] Speaker 1: killing spree after some allegations. If the allegations were false,
[36:24] Speaker 1: there are all sorts of ways he could have chosen
[36:27] Speaker 1: to respond to it. He chose a killing spree, and
[36:30] Speaker 1: that is ultimately on him. And then we go over
[36:35] Speaker 1: to YouTube comment regarding the episode The Lottery from Mildred,
[36:39] Speaker 1: I like these episodes of The Big Story. Well, thanks
[36:42] Speaker 1: so much, Mildred. I'm glad you're enjoying this series. Well,
[36:46] Speaker 1: now it's time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day,
[36:49] Speaker 1: and I want to go ahead and thank susan Patreon
[36:51] Speaker 1: supporter since October twenty eighteen, currently supporting the podcast at
[36:55] Speaker 1: the Detective Sergeant level of seven dollars and fourteen cents
[36:58] Speaker 1: or more per month. Thank you so much for your
[37:00] Speaker 1: support and that will do it for today. If you're
[37:04] Speaker 1: enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast
[37:08] Speaker 1: software and be sure to rate and review the podcast
[37:11] Speaker 1: wherever you download this from. We will be back next
[37:16] Speaker 1: Tuesday with another episode of the Big Story, but join
[37:19] Speaker 1: us back here tomorrow for Broadways My Beat, where she.
[37:23] Speaker 9: Said the man who's been annoying her with the here
[37:25] Speaker 9: at ringside?
[37:26] Speaker 4: To see him anywhere?
[37:27] Speaker 5: Big?
[37:28] Speaker 6: How would I know?
[37:28] Speaker 9: If I so a man running away from something in
[37:31] Speaker 9: the street, that's an annoyer. I get to urge myself sometimes.
[37:35] Speaker 9: You know any of these men around us? Yeah, that's
[37:37] Speaker 9: one there with the two blinds and a male anutenant.
[37:39] Speaker 6: That's Chili Crane.
[37:41] Speaker 9: His last wife made a settlement on him, a native
[37:43] Speaker 9: village at Malak there someplace he needs probably lay good. Hey,
[37:47] Speaker 9: that one it looks like scientists. Huh, the scientist with
[37:51] Speaker 9: things a dollar around here. I go over to him
[37:52] Speaker 9: and discuss what's new and nuclear fission and there's only
[37:56] Speaker 9: something new. Probably interested him in terms of how soon
[38:00] Speaker 9: she's gonna explode? Do you think him a cult of science?
[38:04] Speaker 9: The one along hence the wall.
[38:08] Speaker 5: Uh, Yeah, that is surprised.
[38:12] Speaker 9: You do not be taken in by the rough and
[38:14] Speaker 9: tumble degree Bob, And that's probably I heard a scream before.
[38:17] Speaker 9: Where is it sounds like I'm addressing room Danny. I
[38:19] Speaker 9: think maybe take me to evict Yeah, sure, sure, come
[38:21] Speaker 9: on in here Danny.
[38:30] Speaker 6: To meet.
[38:34] Speaker 9: Probably take it easy, It's gonna be all right me.
[38:37] Speaker 9: Wherety go, Miss Margin, Where doty go?
[38:42] Speaker 4: Miss Martin.
[38:43] Speaker 1: Hope you'll be with us then in the meantime. Sends
[38:45] Speaker 1: your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot nat,
[38:49] Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter, Radio Detectives, and check us out
[38:52] Speaker 1: on Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash Great Detectives from Boise, Idaho.
[38:58] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham's sign and off

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