# Dragnet: The Big Mail (EP5044)

An episode of [The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio| Daily Mystery Dramas](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/335549005), 20 Aug 2026, 35 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pdrl.fm/997ffb/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74293002/gd5044.mp3

Today's Mystery: Sergeant Joe Friday and his new partner, Frank Smith, investigate the armed robbery of a U.S. mail truck carrying registered mail. The three-man gang escapes with 28 sacks, leaving police with little to work with beyond a stolen getaway car, a first name, and one robber’s distinctive voice. .Original Radio Broadcast Date: May 24, 1952 Originating from Hollywood Cast: • Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday • Herb Ellis as Frank Smith • Also featuring Vic Perrin and Inga Hollis • Script by Jim Moser • Music by Walter Schumann • Technical advisors: Captain Jack Donahoe, Sergeant Marty Wynn, and Sergeant Vance Brasher Support the show monthly at patreon.greatdetectives.net Patreon Supporter of the Day:Alan, Patreon supporter since February 2024. 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…http://survey.greatdetectives.net Give us a call 208-991-4783 Become one of ourfriends on Facebook. 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.
[0:36] 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 Dragnant. But
[0:43] Speaker 1: first I want to encourage you, if you're enjoying the podcast,
[0:46] Speaker 1: to please follow us using your favorite podcast software. And
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[1:01] Speaker 1: Adam Graham peelbox one five to nine three. That's peel
[1:07] Speaker 1: box one five nine thirteen, Boise, Idaho eight three seven
[1:11] Speaker 1: one five, and you can become one of our ongoing
[1:14] Speaker 1: Patreon supporters for as little last two dollars per month
[1:18] Speaker 1: by going to Patreon dot Great Detectives dot net. But now,
[1:24] Speaker 1: from May fifteenth, nineteen fifty two, here is the big mail.
[1:31] Speaker 2: Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to read a telegram we
[1:33] Speaker 2: just received final ballot tabulation shows. Dragnet has won Michael
[1:37] Speaker 2: Award for Best Radio and also for Best Television Mystery
[1:40] Speaker 2: Program in nineteen fifty two. Twenty thoy ninety qualified members
[1:45] Speaker 2: participated in nominations and final ballot. Congratulations and best wishes.
[1:49] Speaker 2: Ed Bobbley, President Academy of Radio and Television Arts and Sciences.
[2:02] Speaker 2: The story you are about to hear is true. The
[2:05] Speaker 2: names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're a
[2:16] Speaker 2: detective sergeant. You're assigned a robbery detail. A United States
[2:20] Speaker 2: mail truck is held up and robbed. Twenty two sacks
[2:23] Speaker 2: of registered mail have taken the hold up men escape.
[2:26] Speaker 2: There's no lead to their identity.
[2:28] Speaker 3: Your job get them.
[2:40] Speaker 4: Dragnet the documented drama of an actual crime. For the
[2:43] Speaker 4: next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department,
[2:47] Speaker 4: you will travel step by step on the side of
[2:49] Speaker 4: the law through an actual case, transcribed from official police files,
[2:53] Speaker 4: from beginning to end, from crime to punishment. Dragnet is
[2:57] Speaker 4: the story of your police force in action.
[3:04] Speaker 5: It was Monday, August fourth, was hot in Los Angeles.
[3:06] Speaker 5: We were working the night Watch out of robbery detail.
[3:08] Speaker 5: My partner's Frank Smith. The boss's captain Dideon. My name's Friday.
[3:12] Speaker 5: I was on the way back from communications and it
[3:14] Speaker 5: was eleven o five pm when I got the room
[3:15] Speaker 5: twenty seven as the squad room.
[3:18] Speaker 6: That's it.
[3:18] Speaker 7: There wasn't anything else to do. I had a gun
[3:21] Speaker 7: pressed right up against the back of my head. I
[3:22] Speaker 7: didn't dare make a move.
[3:23] Speaker 6: Yeah, i'd but take it easy, Joe, nothing yet.
[3:26] Speaker 7: The broadcast in the apb are out on 'em. How
[3:28] Speaker 7: you feeling, Houston? Not bad, It's still a little shaky.
[3:31] Speaker 7: How about my partner's Frank and eight off? Are they
[3:33] Speaker 7: hurt bad?
[3:33] Speaker 6: No, a couple of bad bumps in the head. They'll
[3:35] Speaker 6: be all right by morning. Doctor's treating him now over
[3:36] Speaker 6: Georgia Street. We talked on tonight. Doctor doesn't think it'd
[3:39] Speaker 6: be a good idea. Wait, can't wait all the morning.
[3:41] Speaker 6: It was a little pale uston You sure we can't
[3:43] Speaker 6: get you something? No, No, I'll be all right.
[3:45] Speaker 7: Still a little shaky in it's so so we're scary
[3:48] Speaker 7: I ever got in my life. Thought I was gone
[3:50] Speaker 7: for sure. How about a glass of water?
[3:51] Speaker 6: Yeah? You know, okay, if you got it, you're back.
[3:55] Speaker 6: You got a penny Frank, Yeah, just talking about the
[4:09] Speaker 6: getaway car when you came in, Joe. Yeah, Houston here
[4:12] Speaker 6: is pretty sure it was right the first time. It
[4:13] Speaker 6: was a dark blue Sedan.
[4:15] Speaker 7: Light model, and the idea all what make it was?
[4:17] Speaker 7: But I wouldn't like to say definitely. I don't want
[4:19] Speaker 7: to mix you up. I think got half an idea
[4:20] Speaker 7: was a GM car, maybe a Buicker and Olds. I
[4:23] Speaker 7: can't say for sure, though, but here's your water.
[4:25] Speaker 6: Huh. You didn't get a look at the license. You're
[4:27] Speaker 6: sure of that, are you?
[4:28] Speaker 2: No?
[4:28] Speaker 6: I didn't see that. All the whole thing went too fast. Fun.
[4:32] Speaker 6: I appreciate this.
[4:35] Speaker 7: I got it, Robbery Smith, Yes, sir, Oh yeah, inspector, actually, yeah,
[4:44] Speaker 7: we'll be here for a while. Yeah at twenty seven
[4:47] Speaker 7: A right, thank you, goodbye, we got posting inspector.
[4:51] Speaker 6: Joey's on his way over. Now that's fine. Hey, Bud,
[4:53] Speaker 6: when you started your run with that mail truck tonight,
[4:56] Speaker 6: you have any inkling at all? But there was something wrong.
[4:58] Speaker 6: I don't think I got you, serg you mean well?
[5:00] Speaker 5: I mean, if you happen to notice anyone suspicious hanging
[5:02] Speaker 5: around the post office out of the loading platform?
[5:05] Speaker 6: No, no, no, buddy.
[5:06] Speaker 5: How about on your way to the union station. You
[5:08] Speaker 5: know it's any cars following your mail truck.
[5:09] Speaker 7: No, if they were, I think i'd have noticed it.
[5:11] Speaker 7: I usually keep an eye out when we're making a run.
[5:13] Speaker 7: The habit I got into I guess how long you've
[5:15] Speaker 7: been driving a mail truck, but about five years. I've
[5:17] Speaker 7: only been handling the registered mail last couple of months.
[5:20] Speaker 7: So did your truck leave the post office on schedule
[5:22] Speaker 7: to man, Yeah, right on the dot.
[5:23] Speaker 6: We followed the other trucks out.
[5:25] Speaker 7: See the trucks that pick up the ordinary mail, they
[5:27] Speaker 7: leave first, and then our truck leads right after him.
[5:29] Speaker 7: We only handle registered stuff. So the same routine tonight.
[5:32] Speaker 7: You know, different you're with the driver of the truck
[5:34] Speaker 7: that ride. But yeah, that's all I do is drive.
[5:36] Speaker 7: Frank's a clerkt offs the guard. That's regulations on trucks
[5:39] Speaker 7: that handle just as straight mail. The driver is the
[5:41] Speaker 7: only one aboard registered mail. Truck's got to have three men,
[5:43] Speaker 7: the driver, the clerk.
[5:44] Speaker 6: And the guard. We know usually drive the same route
[5:47] Speaker 6: from the post office to the Union station.
[5:48] Speaker 7: Yeah, we go the same way every night, straight down
[5:50] Speaker 7: Temple Street, turn right and go down Ferguson to Alameda
[5:53] Speaker 7: and over all a meta the Union station, make the
[5:55] Speaker 7: pick up or the delivery, and then we come back
[5:57] Speaker 7: the same way as the post office.
[5:58] Speaker 6: I mean that's the route of Palm Snyder, Yes, said,
[6:00] Speaker 6: that's it. Only we didn't make it back this time.
[6:02] Speaker 5: I'd like to make sure we got this street now, Bud,
[6:04] Speaker 5: Do you mind checking us out on exactly what happened
[6:06] Speaker 5: from the time you got to.
[6:06] Speaker 6: The Union station. No, no, I don't mind.
[6:08] Speaker 7: I'll try to relax. If you can't, just take your time,
[6:10] Speaker 7: try to remember everything. Say, would you mind very much
[6:13] Speaker 7: if I called my wife first? I know I'm going
[6:15] Speaker 7: to be late getting home.
[6:16] Speaker 6: I don't want her to worry about right ahead, but
[6:18] Speaker 6: what's your number? I'll doe O. Thanks, it's pleasant two nine, three,
[6:22] Speaker 6: two one. Okay you got a family, Bud, Yeah, three kids,
[6:28] Speaker 6: mother in law too. She lives with us here.
[6:32] Speaker 3: You are bout night?
[6:34] Speaker 6: All right? Oh? Hi, mother got you out of bed.
[6:39] Speaker 6: Nothing's wrong. I just called it.
[6:40] Speaker 7: Say i'd be a little late tonight. I didn't want
[6:41] Speaker 7: Lorraine to worry. No, please, no, I'm not in a bar.
[6:46] Speaker 7: Why do you have to say things like that? That's
[6:49] Speaker 7: the way you feel?
[6:50] Speaker 2: All right?
[6:50] Speaker 6: Just tell Lorrain we're got it. Hello, mother in law.
[6:55] Speaker 6: They never get off your back. Sorry to inter reptops.
[7:00] Speaker 6: All right, glad you want to go ahead now?
[7:02] Speaker 7: See you wanted to know what happened after we left
[7:05] Speaker 7: Union State that's right. What time was it when you
[7:07] Speaker 7: left the station? Right after we loaded the mail sacks
[7:09] Speaker 7: on the truck, twenty eight sacks all registered and took off.
[7:12] Speaker 7: What time was that scheduled time? Nine fifty six left
[7:16] Speaker 7: the station? Hit it for the po throw the same
[7:19] Speaker 7: route long alimedia the Ferguson and up Ferguson. As I
[7:22] Speaker 7: turned the corner, I picked up their headlights in the
[7:24] Speaker 7: rear view mirror and they started crowding us.
[7:27] Speaker 6: I knew something was wrong, too late to do anything new.
[7:29] Speaker 6: They pulled up along side forcedield of the curbs and yeah,
[7:31] Speaker 6: the darkest part of the street too.
[7:33] Speaker 7: It was a big toeday and I know that had
[7:34] Speaker 7: a four door job dark blue and it was a
[7:36] Speaker 7: late model.
[7:37] Speaker 5: I'm sure you noticed anything special about the car, but
[7:40] Speaker 5: I mean maybe a dead of defender, some special accessories on.
[7:42] Speaker 6: It, anything like that. Oh nothing, I'd be sure. I
[7:44] Speaker 6: was too busy trying to keep going get out of
[7:46] Speaker 6: their way.
[7:47] Speaker 7: I didn't have much of a chance. They forced us
[7:49] Speaker 7: up on the sidewalk. I saw a telephone poll County
[7:52] Speaker 7: and maybe I had a stop.
[7:53] Speaker 6: What happened?
[7:53] Speaker 7: Then I threw a bright spotlight on its blinded me
[7:56] Speaker 7: for a minute, and these three men got out of
[7:59] Speaker 7: the car, came out of his guns in their hands.
[8:01] Speaker 6: It all happened in a couple of seconds. I've never
[8:03] Speaker 6: so scared in my life. You got a good look
[8:05] Speaker 6: at any of the men, No, I didn't.
[8:06] Speaker 7: It was pretty dark place they stopped or said. I
[8:08] Speaker 7: couldn't be sure I'd recognize any of them if I
[8:10] Speaker 7: saw them again. What did the men do when they
[8:12] Speaker 7: came up to the truck, put the guns in our face,
[8:14] Speaker 7: made us get out of the truck and climb into
[8:15] Speaker 7: their car. The LUSI dan and one of them got
[8:18] Speaker 7: in the mail truck behind the wheel.
[8:20] Speaker 6: His name was Sid.
[8:21] Speaker 3: I heard that.
[8:21] Speaker 7: One of the men said, follow us in the truck,
[8:23] Speaker 7: said you know where to go. That's that's what he said.
[8:25] Speaker 7: And you happen to hear any other names? Now, that
[8:27] Speaker 7: was the only one. The Sid seemed to be the boss.
[8:30] Speaker 7: He was giving the orders anywhere. They put you in.
[8:31] Speaker 7: Your two partners in the back seat.
[8:33] Speaker 6: Of their car.
[8:33] Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, And the two thieves were in the front seat.
[8:35] Speaker 7: One drove and the other held a gun on us.
[8:38] Speaker 7: He kept the lower part of his face covered with
[8:39] Speaker 7: a handkerchief. I'd see the mail truck following a little
[8:42] Speaker 7: ways behind.
[8:42] Speaker 6: Us, and they drove you straight down in Alameda, all.
[8:44] Speaker 7: Right, yes, sir, like I told you before. I think
[8:46] Speaker 7: it was about a mile a mile and a half.
[8:48] Speaker 7: And they turned off right into that alley by the warehouse,
[8:51] Speaker 7: the same place you found it.
[8:53] Speaker 6: I figured that was the end. Us out of the car,
[8:55] Speaker 6: Frank and me and Ate off.
[8:57] Speaker 7: I made us line up against a brick wall there
[9:00] Speaker 7: up in the air, facing the wall, and then they
[9:01] Speaker 7: opened up the back of the truck and transferred the
[9:03] Speaker 7: mail sacks to their car. Well, any conversation while all
[9:06] Speaker 7: this was going on, not too much. No, you see
[9:08] Speaker 7: one of them, I think that was Sit. He covered
[9:10] Speaker 7: us with a gun, a shot gun, and the other
[9:12] Speaker 7: two moved the mail sacks from the truck to the car,
[9:14] Speaker 7: and every once in a while was sitting tell him
[9:16] Speaker 7: come on faster, we're short on time.
[9:18] Speaker 6: I think that's what he said. Well, why did they
[9:19] Speaker 6: slug your two partners, this, Frank and Adolf? Any reason
[9:22] Speaker 6: that's coming to that?
[9:23] Speaker 7: You see, when they got all the mail sacks in
[9:24] Speaker 7: their car and they were ready to pull out, the
[9:26] Speaker 7: other two guys came over to sit and one of
[9:28] Speaker 7: them said, what are we waiting for let's kill them and.
[9:29] Speaker 6: Get out of here.
[9:30] Speaker 7: Yeah, right away, our clerk Frank. He began pleading with
[9:33] Speaker 7: him not to kill us. I guess Frank was thinking
[9:35] Speaker 7: of his wife and his little kid. How the thieves
[9:38] Speaker 7: react when they slugged him, cranked him with a gun
[9:40] Speaker 7: and git him a couple of times.
[9:42] Speaker 6: Frank went down. He started crying, just a young kid,
[9:45] Speaker 6: you know. Yeah.
[9:47] Speaker 7: This other guy told Si again, he said, come on,
[9:49] Speaker 7: let's kill him, let's get out of here. He's the one,
[9:51] Speaker 7: and that's something wrong with his voice. It was real husky,
[9:53] Speaker 7: you know, like he had a cold go ahead.
[9:55] Speaker 6: Well, I got to say this Cid wasn't much for
[9:57] Speaker 6: killing us.
[9:58] Speaker 7: He told the other guy he didn't think they ought
[9:59] Speaker 7: to kill because they'd set him up for a murder
[10:01] Speaker 7: wrapped besides mail robbery. The other two guys told Sid,
[10:04] Speaker 7: what's the difference. If we're going to rob the mail
[10:06] Speaker 7: to you might as well go all the way. And
[10:07] Speaker 7: they argued about it a minute or so. Then my
[10:10] Speaker 7: other partner ate off. He began to plead with him.
[10:12] Speaker 7: He said, please don't kill us. I sick to my stomach.
[10:15] Speaker 7: I couldn't even talk.
[10:16] Speaker 6: I said, I was sick to my stomach. I couldn't
[10:19] Speaker 6: even talk. Was that when they slugged it off? Yeah?
[10:21] Speaker 7: You know this Sid slugged me. He hit him worse
[10:24] Speaker 7: than he did Frank. He kept beating and beating him.
[10:26] Speaker 6: I still hear it. I just got sick.
[10:29] Speaker 7: We'll make a long story short, they said. Finally said
[10:32] Speaker 7: we'll give him a gambler's chance. We'll choss for it.
[10:34] Speaker 7: That's just what he said. He said, we'll choss for it.
[10:37] Speaker 7: And he says, hey, you, and he motioned to me.
[10:38] Speaker 7: He said, I'm going to toss a coin.
[10:40] Speaker 6: You call it. If you lose, we kill the three
[10:41] Speaker 6: of you. If you wing, we don't, so help me.
[10:44] Speaker 6: It's the truth. I didn't know what to do.
[10:46] Speaker 7: I tried to talk him out of it. They wouldn't listen.
[10:49] Speaker 7: The Sid told me either I called it, or they'd
[10:50] Speaker 7: kill us. Then to a coin out of his pocket
[10:53] Speaker 7: and put it in the air. I called heads. I
[10:57] Speaker 7: guess I don't have to tell you. I won something
[11:00] Speaker 7: new for the book How to Go? After that, but
[11:03] Speaker 7: tied up the three of us and drove off in
[11:04] Speaker 7: their car. About fifteen minutes later that night, watching the
[11:07] Speaker 7: Fadust and called you fellas you know the right, and you're.
[11:09] Speaker 6: Sure you wouldn't be able to identify any of the
[11:11] Speaker 6: hold up minu if you saw him again, now real sure?
[11:13] Speaker 7: No, the general bill, that's the only thing I'm sure
[11:15] Speaker 7: if this fellow sid was tall and the thin side
[11:18] Speaker 7: about forty five.
[11:18] Speaker 6: Fifty years old.
[11:20] Speaker 7: The other two were fairly short, stocky, Like I told
[11:22] Speaker 7: you that. One fella's voice deep and husky. I think
[11:25] Speaker 7: i'd know him if I heard him talk again.
[11:27] Speaker 6: Excuse me, robbery Friday. Yeah, well, how's it going?
[11:33] Speaker 5: Uh huh yeah, not much doubt a fine, yeah, fine, Well,
[11:40] Speaker 5: getaway car had just gone a torrida up the Alleesian
[11:42] Speaker 5: Park just off river Side.
[11:43] Speaker 6: What about the mail sacks? They find them too? Yeah,
[11:46] Speaker 6: every one of them empty.
[11:53] Speaker 5: According to the report we've received, the getaway car was
[11:56] Speaker 5: found parked in the clump of shrubbery on the edge
[11:58] Speaker 5: of Alesian Park, about half a mile from river Side Drive.
[12:01] Speaker 5: All of the twenty eight registered mail sacks were found
[12:03] Speaker 5: scattered in and around the car, and with the exception
[12:05] Speaker 5: of a few pieces of mail, the sacks were empty.
[12:08] Speaker 5: The crew from the crime lab was dispatched immediately to
[12:10] Speaker 5: the scene to check the car and the mail sacks
[12:12] Speaker 5: for fingerprints and to cover the entire area for physical evidence.
[12:15] Speaker 5: The mail truck was also gone over for prints at
[12:17] Speaker 5: the point where it had been located. The officers at
[12:20] Speaker 5: the scene, Sergeants bitter Off and Gonzales, continued the investigation
[12:23] Speaker 5: on their end. Eleven fifty pm, after the inspector from
[12:27] Speaker 5: the post Office Department arrived, we continued our interview with
[12:29] Speaker 5: Budd Houston, one of the three victims of the mail
[12:31] Speaker 5: truck robbery. We ended the interview a few minutes after midnight,
[12:35] Speaker 5: and Houston was driven to his home. The following morning,
[12:38] Speaker 5: along with the postal inspector, Frank Smith, and I talked
[12:40] Speaker 5: to the other two victims, the clerk and the guard,
[12:42] Speaker 5: who were with Houston at the time of the hold up.
[12:44] Speaker 5: They could add nothing to what their partner had already
[12:46] Speaker 5: told us. The investigation went on, every possible angle was.
[12:49] Speaker 6: Checked and rechecked. Three days passed nothing.
[12:53] Speaker 5: Thursday August seventh, five forty pm. Hi, Joe, Jamake a
[12:58] Speaker 5: sour nothing at all. The guy wasn't even in town
[13:01] Speaker 5: the night of the whole up, and he can prove it.
[13:02] Speaker 5: Do you have any luck you know better than yours?
[13:04] Speaker 5: I might just as well have taken the day off.
[13:06] Speaker 5: For all the good we did nothing from the stats office.
[13:08] Speaker 5: Huh now, last one we asked, well, won't be ready tomorrow.
[13:10] Speaker 5: It's gotten a little embarrassing, Joe.
[13:11] Speaker 7: We got them checking practice every robbery card they've got
[13:14] Speaker 7: mo description. Only a few of them come close. We've
[13:16] Speaker 7: already rolled them out as possible. The one you just
[13:18] Speaker 7: checked down, that was the last one.
[13:20] Speaker 6: About does it ight as we'll close up shop for
[13:22] Speaker 6: the day. Huh you ready?
[13:23] Speaker 7: Yeah, let's go our signs out? Uh okay, Joe. Now
[13:34] Speaker 7: mail truck driver Houston. He and his partners were in
[13:37] Speaker 7: checking through our mug books again this afternoon.
[13:38] Speaker 6: Oh yeah, I forgot about that. They come up with anything.
[13:40] Speaker 7: They spotted one mug shot Paroly from Quenton, only a
[13:42] Speaker 7: partial idea, and three of them couldn't even agree on that.
[13:45] Speaker 7: I'd checked down the man. He's back in Quenton for
[13:46] Speaker 7: a month. I can't say the three of them are cooperative.
[13:49] Speaker 7: They sure have been working for us, haven't they.
[13:50] Speaker 6: Hey, Joe, you in a hurry? How about watching it? Yeah?
[13:52] Speaker 2: All right?
[13:56] Speaker 6: In a long time since we've had when start dis
[13:57] Speaker 6: closed this one? You're really the worst, fright.
[14:04] Speaker 7: I mean right from the Star show. I'm trying to
[14:06] Speaker 7: get away car. Plenty of prints on it. You can't
[14:08] Speaker 7: get a make on any of them. Find out the
[14:14] Speaker 7: car was stolen.
[14:15] Speaker 6: We checked the owner location leads nowhere. Prints on the
[14:18] Speaker 6: steering wheel of the mail truck, parts of the mail sacks.
[14:20] Speaker 6: Still know me? How tough can it get? Well?
[14:24] Speaker 5: They might have something when their kickback comes through from
[14:26] Speaker 5: Washington to hold up and then we're an amateur as
[14:28] Speaker 5: we know that.
[14:29] Speaker 6: Joe, you check with Gonzales and better off today. I
[14:31] Speaker 6: didn't see him. Yeah, they're not doing much better than
[14:33] Speaker 6: the rest of us.
[14:34] Speaker 7: We got an informant hot on the thing we're supposed
[14:36] Speaker 7: to have somewhere for him tomorrow. And a couple of
[14:38] Speaker 7: possibles say how about the money taking from the mail league,
[14:40] Speaker 7: got list of the cerial numbers on the.
[14:41] Speaker 6: Bills going on to everybody. Yeah, it reminds us when
[14:43] Speaker 6: I lay last night and copy cent a little the time. Right, Yeah,
[14:47] Speaker 6: I'm ack'ring here, calls and says, okay, nice to be
[14:51] Speaker 6: right there. Okay, let's go.
[14:58] Speaker 7: Hope this call means something Joe wouldn't aren't going wait tonight,
[15:01] Speaker 7: what do you mean my sister in law, Lawrence, Do
[15:03] Speaker 7: you haven't me and the wife over for dinner some
[15:05] Speaker 7: kind of fancy pork dish.
[15:06] Speaker 6: What's the matter with them? He never cooks anything until
[15:08] Speaker 6: it's done. She likes things wrong. Imagine what that roastbork
[15:11] Speaker 6: is going to be like? Well, all end up with crickonosis. Yeah,
[15:13] Speaker 6: go ahead, Max, which one? Max? Joe? Thank you?
[15:21] Speaker 5: Friday talking? Yeah, oh yeah, Johnny, Okay, fine, about twenty minutes.
[15:27] Speaker 5: Twenty minutes, Yeah right, thank you, edything Joe. Wilcher Detectives.
[15:31] Speaker 5: They got a petty theft suspect out there now named
[15:33] Speaker 5: Cecil Grant. Picked him up this morning. What about him, Well,
[15:35] Speaker 5: he had a twenty dollars bill on him, stuff down
[15:37] Speaker 5: in the corner of his pocket.
[15:38] Speaker 6: Yeah, they checked out the serial number. It's on the list.
[15:44] Speaker 5: Six oh five pm, Frank and I got in the
[15:46] Speaker 5: car and drove out to Wilshire Station where we double
[15:48] Speaker 5: checked the serial numbers on the twenty dollars bill taking
[15:51] Speaker 5: from the petty theft suspect, Cecil Grant.
[15:53] Speaker 6: It checked out.
[15:54] Speaker 5: The officers of Wiltshire Division had already made a run
[15:56] Speaker 5: on Grant through R and I, but outside of one
[15:59] Speaker 5: other arrest for that hey theft. He had no further
[16:01] Speaker 5: criminal record. His fingerprints had been checked, but they failed
[16:04] Speaker 5: to tie in. The suspect was taken from his cell
[16:07] Speaker 5: to the interrogation room, where Bill and I questioned it.
[16:09] Speaker 6: He talked a lot, but he didn't say much.
[16:11] Speaker 8: Well, I look, there ain't any reason to get mad.
[16:13] Speaker 8: We can settle this thing without a big rue bard.
[16:15] Speaker 6: No reason to get mad. Twenty eight sucks of us mail, mister,
[16:17] Speaker 6: A couple of men slugger. They couldn't stand up. We
[16:19] Speaker 6: figured that's a good reason, right, all right? Why bring
[16:23] Speaker 6: your troubles in me? I wasn't in.
[16:24] Speaker 7: You got a piece of the loot, a twenty dollars bill,
[16:26] Speaker 7: You had it in your pocket. You admit it's yours,
[16:28] Speaker 7: all right, So what the hold up?
[16:29] Speaker 6: Still fresh? It ties you in close seat, so you're
[16:31] Speaker 6: warm enough for us? What do you mean?
[16:32] Speaker 9: What are you getting?
[16:33] Speaker 5: You don't need me to explain it. You got a
[16:34] Speaker 5: piece of the loot, you say. The bill must have
[16:36] Speaker 5: been in your pocket for at least a day. That's right,
[16:37] Speaker 5: and it's a good chance you were in contact with
[16:39] Speaker 5: the thieves.
[16:39] Speaker 6: Either that or you're one of them. I'm not you
[16:41] Speaker 6: know that couldn't have been there. I got an alibi.
[16:43] Speaker 3: Now face it, grants.
[16:44] Speaker 6: You're not going to alibi that twenty dollars bill? No,
[16:46] Speaker 6: how about it? I don't know. I told you, I
[16:48] Speaker 6: don't know. If it's not your job, you better check
[16:50] Speaker 6: us out. Ceacil, robbing the US mail, I think you
[16:52] Speaker 6: know what that gets you. I don't know money was
[16:54] Speaker 6: in my pocket. I just don't know. Twenty five years,
[16:56] Speaker 6: thirty maybe thirty five. If you're not in white, fool
[16:59] Speaker 6: with it? How about it, Cecil, I'm not in you
[17:02] Speaker 6: know that? But what about the twenty? What about it?
[17:06] Speaker 8: Well, this is the way it happened. The guy owed
[17:08] Speaker 8: me a twenty, owed it to me for six months,
[17:10] Speaker 8: maybe more. Tuesday came around, paid off, gave me that
[17:13] Speaker 8: bill you've got this last Tuesday. That's right. I thought
[17:15] Speaker 8: it was funny. But he's a nice guy. I didn't
[17:17] Speaker 8: want to make trouble.
[17:18] Speaker 6: What do you mean?
[17:18] Speaker 8: Oh, and he paid me the twenty back. He said, well, look, hey,
[17:22] Speaker 8: Bill isn't phony, but don't let it out for a
[17:25] Speaker 8: couple of days. Bill's okay, but just sit on it
[17:27] Speaker 8: maybe a week or two. That's just why he told
[17:29] Speaker 8: them who was it? Where do we find him?
[17:31] Speaker 6: You're a nice guy, friend. I don't want to make trouble.
[17:33] Speaker 6: It's already made. Now what about it?
[17:35] Speaker 8: Johnny Carter, three eighty Nashville Avenue, apartment too.
[17:48] Speaker 4: You are listening to drag met authentic stories of your
[17:52] Speaker 4: police force in action.
[18:01] Speaker 5: August seventh, Thursday, six fifty five pm. We called R
[18:05] Speaker 5: and I, but they had no make on the name
[18:07] Speaker 5: John Carter. My partner Frank Smith, and I left Wiltshire
[18:10] Speaker 5: Division and headed out to check on the address given
[18:12] Speaker 5: us by the theft suspect, Cecil Grant. The three hundred
[18:15] Speaker 5: block on Nashville Avenue was in West Hollywood, just below Melrose.
[18:19] Speaker 5: Number three eighty was an aging, two story apartment house.
[18:22] Speaker 5: The architecture was Old Spanish, a relic of the mid twenties.
[18:25] Speaker 5: The name John Carter appeared on one of the mailboxes,
[18:28] Speaker 5: but when we rang it was no answer. We contacted
[18:31] Speaker 5: the apartment manager and he told us John Carter worked
[18:33] Speaker 5: at night at a downtown garage. Along with the manager,
[18:36] Speaker 5: we went up to the second floor and checked to
[18:38] Speaker 5: the suspect's apartment. We found nothing to indicate that he'd
[18:41] Speaker 5: taken part in The mail holder After a routine interview
[18:44] Speaker 5: with the manager, we got the name and address of
[18:46] Speaker 5: the garage where Carter was employed, and we left eight
[18:49] Speaker 5: twenty three pm. We pulled up and parked half a
[18:51] Speaker 5: block away from Carter's place of employment, an all night
[18:54] Speaker 5: service garage on South the Euroa. Frank waited in the
[18:57] Speaker 5: car and I headed up the block alone toward the garage.
[19:00] Speaker 5: In the event Carter was one of the mail truck
[19:02] Speaker 5: hold up man, it was a possibility, is too, Confederates
[19:04] Speaker 5: might be employed at the same place he was.
[19:06] Speaker 6: If this was the case, we didn't want to give more.
[19:15] Speaker 9: Hi, Yeah you want some Yeah I do.
[19:18] Speaker 6: I need a little help, if you got the time.
[19:20] Speaker 9: I know, I'm busy right now.
[19:21] Speaker 6: I'm smart. I got my car stall down the street there.
[19:24] Speaker 6: I can't figure out what's wrong. A lot of your
[19:26] Speaker 6: things just.
[19:26] Speaker 3: Stopped on me.
[19:27] Speaker 9: All right. Check your gas tank?
[19:29] Speaker 6: Yeah, nothing as simple as that. I got almost a
[19:30] Speaker 6: full tank. Well, I hate to bother you. You think
[19:34] Speaker 6: it could come down and take a look at it.
[19:35] Speaker 6: It's not fired. Just the half a block down the street.
[19:37] Speaker 9: I'm pretty busy. You can see that.
[19:39] Speaker 10: I don't know.
[19:39] Speaker 5: I sure appreciate it if you give it a look,
[19:41] Speaker 5: I'm not much of a mechanic with stall, probably something
[19:43] Speaker 5: real small.
[19:44] Speaker 6: My car is almost new A just man, all right.
[19:50] Speaker 11: That's gonna have to do. It's two and a half
[19:53] Speaker 11: service charge. I have to leave the garage. I guess
[19:55] Speaker 11: you know that.
[19:56] Speaker 6: Okay, that's all right with me. I gotta get that
[19:57] Speaker 6: car started.
[19:58] Speaker 11: You pay in advance from how many hassles on this before? Okay,
[20:04] Speaker 11: there you go, Yeah, okay, just down street?
[20:08] Speaker 6: His head, yeah, down this way.
[20:09] Speaker 11: Okay.
[20:11] Speaker 6: I don't know what happened to the lousy thing. You
[20:13] Speaker 6: just quit on me?
[20:14] Speaker 9: Ah, nice sny? What'd you do upon I gas fed off?
[20:20] Speaker 11: Uh?
[20:20] Speaker 9: The car writer?
[20:21] Speaker 5: No, I don't think so. I kept trying the starter
[20:23] Speaker 5: when the thing quit on me. There's an automatic choke
[20:25] Speaker 5: on the car, though maybe that had flooded.
[20:26] Speaker 6: I don't know.
[20:28] Speaker 9: At half a block, now, which one is your car?
[20:30] Speaker 6: Straight ahead?
[20:31] Speaker 2: There?
[20:31] Speaker 6: And gray sedan? Oh? Uh? This one right here?
[20:35] Speaker 9: Okay, hold on, we'll.
[20:37] Speaker 6: Never mind that. Mister. Just get in the car, all right, frank?
[20:40] Speaker 11: Oh?
[20:40] Speaker 9: What's his?
[20:41] Speaker 6: Police officers? Is identification? Get in the car?
[20:43] Speaker 9: What's the matter?
[20:44] Speaker 6: Come on, come on in the car.
[20:48] Speaker 9: I watch the pitch. What's it all about?
[20:50] Speaker 6: Your name, John Carter, address three at Nashville Avenue.
[20:53] Speaker 9: I wants your talking.
[20:54] Speaker 6: Is that your name and address? All right?
[20:55] Speaker 10: It is?
[20:56] Speaker 9: What about it?
[20:56] Speaker 6: Get him behind you help him frank? Yeah, that's good.
[21:00] Speaker 9: Why you're trying and pull? What's this about the.
[21:02] Speaker 6: US mail robbery? Carter? I want to talk to you downtown.
[21:04] Speaker 9: I don't want to hang about any mail robbery. What
[21:06] Speaker 9: are you talking about?
[21:07] Speaker 6: You to worry over? If you're cleared, you'll be back
[21:09] Speaker 6: on the job in an hour.
[21:09] Speaker 9: Oh, I picked me hour garage. That's my bread and butter.
[21:12] Speaker 9: Why don't you go ahead and arrest of newsboy down
[21:14] Speaker 9: corner the same thing.
[21:15] Speaker 5: Oh there's a big difference. Yeah, your name it twenty
[21:17] Speaker 5: dollars bill, nine oh five pm. After checking with a
[21:24] Speaker 5: garage manager to make sure none of his employees were
[21:27] Speaker 5: possible accomplices of Carters, we drove the suspect back to
[21:30] Speaker 5: the city hall, took him to the interrogation room, and
[21:32] Speaker 5: started to question him. In the space of an hour
[21:34] Speaker 5: and a half, he gave us three alibis, supposedly accounting
[21:37] Speaker 5: for his whereabouts the night of the mail truck robbery.
[21:39] Speaker 5: In the same period of time, we checked out each
[21:41] Speaker 5: of the three alibis by phone calls.
[21:44] Speaker 6: Every one of them was alive.
[21:45] Speaker 5: The questioning went on eleven thirty midnight, twelve thirty am.
[21:50] Speaker 5: We sent out for coffee one am, one point thirty.
[21:53] Speaker 5: We stayed on it two o'clock two thirty three AM.
[21:57] Speaker 5: Was like any other interrogation, it's a lot offer to
[22:00] Speaker 5: keep asking the questions and to answer him. We were
[22:03] Speaker 5: as tired as a suspect.
[22:04] Speaker 6: But he had one big advantage.
[22:05] Speaker 5: We had to keep pressing, and we couldn't afford to
[22:07] Speaker 5: show our fatigue. All he had to do was to
[22:09] Speaker 5: say no and refuse to answer the questions. At a
[22:12] Speaker 5: few minutes before five am, we called a halt of
[22:14] Speaker 5: the interrogation, but not before we gained a point, apparently
[22:18] Speaker 5: by a slip of the tongue. Carter gave us the
[22:20] Speaker 5: name of the girl he was keeping company with, and
[22:21] Speaker 5: also her place of employment. After we booked Carter on
[22:24] Speaker 5: suspension of two eleven PC, and after we picked up
[22:27] Speaker 5: two hours sleep, we located the girlfriend, a Grace Nelson,
[22:30] Speaker 5: at her place of employment, a telegraph office at Alpine
[22:33] Speaker 5: and South Flower.
[22:35] Speaker 10: All I know is I met John about three months ago.
[22:37] Speaker 10: His families from Cedar Rapi's same as mine. There's nothing
[22:40] Speaker 10: wrong with John I know of.
[22:41] Speaker 6: You don't need his friends, Miss Nelson, any good people
[22:43] Speaker 6: he has dealings.
[22:43] Speaker 10: With, not personally. I don't hearde him talk about some though,
[22:47] Speaker 10: Whoever's now?
[22:47] Speaker 6: Do you remember any of the names, Miss Nelson?
[22:49] Speaker 10: You see so I always talking about Sid. I don't
[22:52] Speaker 10: know his last name though, don't the way you'd find him.
[22:54] Speaker 10: And then there's Sammy. Don't remember his last name either,
[22:57] Speaker 10: met Sammy once, but in the way he stays.
[22:59] Speaker 6: You noticed any unusual about mister Carter the last week
[23:02] Speaker 6: or so, ma'am? I mean anything peculiar, anything out.
[23:03] Speaker 10: Of the ordinary an't peculiar? No, I don't think so.
[23:07] Speaker 10: John's been just as nice as ever to me. Well,
[23:09] Speaker 10: like him very much. Matter of fact, he's been nicer
[23:11] Speaker 10: than he's ever been. What do you mean, mister, Yeah,
[23:13] Speaker 10: for my birthday, I mean last Wednesday? Yeah, Well he
[23:16] Speaker 10: was so sweet about it, I mean really sweet the
[23:18] Speaker 10: game four hundred dollars, gave it to me in cash,
[23:21] Speaker 10: told me to go out and buy what I wanted.
[23:23] Speaker 10: Wouldn't you say that sweet?
[23:24] Speaker 6: You any of that money left, Miss Nelson?
[23:26] Speaker 10: Why? Yes, of course I have see you writing him
[23:30] Speaker 10: a purse, see right there, more than half of it.
[23:34] Speaker 6: Carter? Tell you where he got this money, Miss Nelson.
[23:37] Speaker 10: Gambling game? He said he wanted the cards. What's wrong?
[23:41] Speaker 6: Serial numbers? Ma'am?
[23:42] Speaker 5: His money was taken in a hold up us. Male,
[23:44] Speaker 5: we've got a pretty good reason to suspect Carter.
[23:46] Speaker 10: And John's a thief. That's how he got the money.
[23:49] Speaker 6: I can't believe it quite as true.
[23:50] Speaker 10: Man, so hard to believe. I hope you don't think
[23:53] Speaker 10: I had anything to do with it, I mean robbing people, males.
[23:57] Speaker 10: Are you sure it's John Carter?
[23:58] Speaker 6: You want yes, ma'am, We're pretty sure. We understand you
[24:00] Speaker 6: were pretty close to him. He said the two of
[24:02] Speaker 6: you were going to get married.
[24:03] Speaker 10: I don't know. He did have it said at one time,
[24:05] Speaker 10: but now I don't know. I mean, I had people
[24:07] Speaker 10: in this town, my whole family. I could let this
[24:09] Speaker 10: get out.
[24:09] Speaker 5: Now you're willing to admit the four hundred dollars you
[24:11] Speaker 5: got came from John Carter, the same bells.
[24:13] Speaker 6: That he gave him to you.
[24:14] Speaker 10: Oh no, I love John. I want to hurt him
[24:16] Speaker 10: and I really love him. Tell me the truth. What's
[24:19] Speaker 10: gonna happen?
[24:19] Speaker 5: Oh, he's going to be charged with robbery, ma'am holding
[24:21] Speaker 5: up a US mail truck taking twenty eight sacks of
[24:23] Speaker 5: registered ma'am.
[24:24] Speaker 6: John John Carter, that's right, him and two others.
[24:27] Speaker 7: Like to ask you one more question, miss, Do you
[24:29] Speaker 7: have any idea what Carter was up to the robbery?
[24:31] Speaker 10: Emmy Christener, no idea at all. I loved China, loved
[24:35] Speaker 10: him for what I thought he was go through anything
[24:38] Speaker 10: for him or love him? This would make any sense, though,
[24:41] Speaker 10: Would he, ma'am go into jail for him? Just common sense.
[24:44] Speaker 10: I can't love anybody that much.
[24:50] Speaker 6: That afternoon we had the suspect John Carter brought from
[24:52] Speaker 6: his cell.
[24:53] Speaker 5: To the interrogation room, where he was confronted with a
[24:55] Speaker 5: testimony of both Cecil Grant and Grace Nelson, the two
[24:58] Speaker 5: of the people he'd given some of the stolen money.
[25:00] Speaker 6: Me too. Another hour of interrogation and Carter broke.
[25:03] Speaker 5: He admitted taking part in the hold up and gave
[25:05] Speaker 5: us the name of his partner he named as the
[25:07] Speaker 5: leader and mastermind of the robbery. A Sidney Grover had
[25:10] Speaker 5: an address in Highland Park. Frank and I checked it out. Yeah,
[25:16] Speaker 5: police officers, you Sidney Grover?
[25:18] Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm not feeling so well. Can't you come back later?
[25:20] Speaker 6: Not feeling well at all? It's kind of important, Grover.
[25:22] Speaker 6: I like to talk to you downtown. Come back later
[25:24] Speaker 6: a little later on. I got so many troubles right now.
[25:26] Speaker 5: Please like to talk to you about a hold up, Grover,
[25:28] Speaker 5: a mail truck. We got the two men who worked
[25:30] Speaker 5: it for you. They gave us the whole story.
[25:31] Speaker 6: Two men. What do you mean? Can't you see I
[25:33] Speaker 6: got troubles. Please don't bother me. Come back later. Huh,
[25:36] Speaker 6: bad trouble. You better get your cold. Grover got to
[25:38] Speaker 6: talk to you downtown. Look, don't you understand my son's
[25:40] Speaker 6: left me, my only boy.
[25:41] Speaker 7: He backed his bag, he walked out. He left me right,
[25:43] Speaker 7: that's your problem, mister. He said he didn't want any
[25:45] Speaker 7: part of me.
[25:46] Speaker 3: He had an argument.
[25:47] Speaker 6: He didn't like what I was doing. Big argument.
[25:49] Speaker 7: He slapped my face, my own boy, and he walked out,
[25:53] Speaker 7: slapped my faith. All right, you want to get your coat?
[25:55] Speaker 9: Yeah?
[25:55] Speaker 6: Okay, a male job? Is that it? The other two?
[26:00] Speaker 10: Yeah?
[26:00] Speaker 7: We got him, all right, no argument. I didn't try
[26:06] Speaker 7: to run away. I guess you can see that. My
[26:08] Speaker 7: boy said it was a crook. We argued they slapped me,
[26:11] Speaker 7: walked out. Oh, come, sergeant, I wouldn't know. Let's go, Robert,
[26:16] Speaker 7: it's this our story. Huh, oh man trying a mail robbery.
[26:21] Speaker 7: I'm fifty five. I don't look at do I kids
[26:24] Speaker 7: slapped my face. He said I was a crew. I
[26:27] Speaker 7: couldn't hit him back, my only boy. I wish she
[26:30] Speaker 7: hadn't called me a crook. But it's our story, isn't it. Yeah,
[26:34] Speaker 7: it's our Let's go. The story you have just heard
[26:45] Speaker 7: was true. The names were changed to protect the innocents.
[26:48] Speaker 4: On November twenty ninth, trial was held in Superior Court,
[26:51] Speaker 4: City and County of Los Angeles, state of California. In
[26:54] Speaker 4: a moment the results of that trial, Saidney Alan Grover,
[27:05] Speaker 4: along with his two accomplices, John Harold Cutter and Samuel
[27:08] Speaker 4: Maxwell Johnson, were tried and convicted of robbery in the
[27:11] Speaker 4: first degree one count, and assault with a deadly weapon
[27:14] Speaker 4: one count. All three are serving their terms in the
[27:16] Speaker 4: state penitentiary. First degree robbery is punishable by imprisonment from
[27:20] Speaker 4: five years to life.
[27:21] Speaker 6: Assault with a deadly.
[27:22] Speaker 4: Weapon is punishable by imprisonment for not less than one
[27:25] Speaker 4: nor more than ten years. You have just heard Dragnet
[27:37] Speaker 4: a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice
[27:41] Speaker 4: comes from the Office of Chief of Police, wh partner,
[27:43] Speaker 4: Los Angeles Police Department Technical Advisers Captain Jack Donahoe, Sergeant
[27:47] Speaker 4: Marty Wynn, Sergeant vans Bracher. Heard tonight were Herbellus victeren
[27:51] Speaker 4: inga Hollis script by Jim Moser, music by Walker Schumann,
[27:55] Speaker 4: hal Gibney speaking.
[28:07] Speaker 6: No, it's counter spy on NBC.
[28:17] Speaker 1: Welcome back. So we now have herb Ellis playing Joe
[28:22] Speaker 1: Friday's partner, and I guess I should have noted after
[28:26] Speaker 1: the departure of Barney Phillips that there really is quite
[28:31] Speaker 1: a cycle of different people playing Joe Friday's partners, and
[28:36] Speaker 1: a few of them will be named Frank Smith. Ellis
[28:40] Speaker 1: was another one of those character actors who just did
[28:47] Speaker 1: a ton of work over the decades, both on radio
[28:53] Speaker 1: and on television. Yet Ellis worked very close with Webb,
[28:58] Speaker 1: particularly in the early days of Dragnet. In fact, in
[29:03] Speaker 1: the two thy twelve book Raised on Radio, written by
[29:07] Speaker 1: Gerald Knackman, Ellis recounts how the first version of Dragnet
[29:14] Speaker 1: was actually created at his kitchen table, where he and
[29:20] Speaker 1: Webb came up with the idea for a semi documentary
[29:24] Speaker 1: police show called Joe Friday Room five in nineteen forty eight.
[29:29] Speaker 1: The pilot didn't sell, and of course there'd be official
[29:34] Speaker 1: cooperation from the LAPD and then we would get Dragnet.
[29:39] Speaker 1: So Ellis was definitely someone that Webb was comfortable working with.
[29:44] Speaker 1: I did question a little bit oh Friday's declaration that
[29:49] Speaker 1: we know they weren't amateurs, and I'm not certain that
[29:54] Speaker 1: you really can say that, particularly looking back the episode
[29:58] Speaker 1: as a whole. Certainly the one guy did a lot
[30:03] Speaker 1: in terms of giving out money from the robbery and
[30:08] Speaker 1: just asking people to hold on to it, and didn't
[30:10] Speaker 1: even do that with the girlfriend pretty much determined that
[30:15] Speaker 1: they would be captured. But even during the robbery saying
[30:20] Speaker 1: the first name of one of the robbers, that is
[30:24] Speaker 1: a huge mistake. And then the whole let's flip a
[30:28] Speaker 1: coin to determine whether we're going to murder the guards
[30:33] Speaker 1: didn't seem like the mark of professionals. I am curious
[30:38] Speaker 1: about the real life case that this is based on,
[30:42] Speaker 1: as what we get here seems to be a mix
[30:45] Speaker 1: of some very strong professional moves but also just some
[30:50] Speaker 1: really dumb mistakes that you wouldn't think that experience people
[30:56] Speaker 1: would make, so maybe there was a mix of professionals
[31:00] Speaker 1: and amateurs involved. And I'm also curious how they got
[31:05] Speaker 1: the roote information on the truck, although that's one of
[31:09] Speaker 1: those cases where Dragnet doesn't need to answer the question
[31:13] Speaker 1: in order to resolve the case, so they don't. I
[31:17] Speaker 1: did feel sorry for that driver went through a horrible
[31:22] Speaker 1: experience like that and just called home out of courtesy
[31:27] Speaker 1: and got his mother in law, and then she went
[31:30] Speaker 1: off in some direction. Well, now we turn to listener
[31:34] Speaker 1: comments and feedback, and we have a comment from Peter
[31:37] Speaker 1: regarding the big elevator. Because it's Dragnet, I really expected
[31:41] Speaker 1: to hear that the suspect killed the victim. It was
[31:45] Speaker 1: a surprise to learn that she died of natural causes.
[31:49] Speaker 1: It's nice that a seventy year old program can still
[31:52] Speaker 1: keep people guessing. Well, thanks so much, Peter, and I
[31:56] Speaker 1: do think this is one of those cases where using
[32:02] Speaker 1: real life case files can produce a different outcome than expected,
[32:07] Speaker 1: because life can be surprising at times, and that old
[32:12] Speaker 1: saying about truth being stranger than fiction is absolutely correct.
[32:17] Speaker 1: There are so many realistic touches which if you were telling.
[32:23] Speaker 1: A strictly fictional series would be problematic, but with Dragnet,
[32:29] Speaker 1: it's just the way the story's told. I thought an
[32:32] Speaker 1: interesting example and something that you wouldn't really see in
[32:37] Speaker 1: a fictional series, was at the end where the ringleader
[32:43] Speaker 1: was essentially broken by his own son turning on him
[32:49] Speaker 1: as a result of this crime, and therefore offered no resistance.
[32:54] Speaker 1: Dragnet doesn't mind having a story go a direction the
[32:58] Speaker 1: audience is, particularly if it aligns with what happened in
[33:05] Speaker 1: real life. Dragnet is willing to be anti climactic at times.
[33:11] Speaker 1: The nineteen fifty four Dragnet motion picture is certainly a
[33:15] Speaker 1: good example of that. Now it's time to thank our
[33:18] Speaker 1: Patreon supporter of the day. Thank you to allan Patreon
[33:22] Speaker 1: supporter since February twenty twenty four, currently supporting the podcast
[33:27] Speaker 1: at the Detective Sergeant level of seven dollars and fourteen
[33:31] Speaker 1: cents or more per month. Thanks so much for your support, Alan,
[33:35] Speaker 1: and that will do it for today. If you're enjoying
[33:38] Speaker 1: the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software
[33:42] Speaker 1: and be sure to rate and review the podcast wherever
[33:45] Speaker 1: you download it from. We will be back next Thursday
[33:49] Speaker 1: with another episode of Dragnet. But join us back here
[33:52] Speaker 1: tomorrow for yours truly, Johnny dollar.
[33:55] Speaker 2: Ware, Johnny Dollars, Well, Johnny, tell me all about the fanksake.
[34:03] Speaker 11: Hell, I suppose you're here on account of every Nicholason.
[34:05] Speaker 6: Sure, that's right, wrote his policy himself ten thousand straight line.
[34:09] Speaker 11: And the beneficiary to be named in his will.
[34:12] Speaker 6: Where the policy read?
[34:13] Speaker 9: Well, isn't that rather unusual?
[34:16] Speaker 7: Entirely irregular?
[34:17] Speaker 1: What thebody doing within me?
[34:19] Speaker 11: But that was what you wanted, and that's what he got,
[34:22] Speaker 11: and it's made us a lot of trouble out first.
[34:25] Speaker 3: All later he died, nobody knew what he'd even made
[34:28] Speaker 3: out with.
[34:28] Speaker 7: All right, it isn't for some of the little characters
[34:30] Speaker 7: moved to Lake Mohavey come along and showed us why
[34:33] Speaker 7: he didn't it there in that house that was Redbird.
[34:35] Speaker 4: That's right, Lloyd Bird called.
[34:37] Speaker 6: Himself read I understand he was a very good friend,
[34:40] Speaker 6: I only.
[34:41] Speaker 5: Real friend he ever had. I guess they needed to
[34:44] Speaker 5: do some pross effects in their cattle raising or something together.
[34:48] Speaker 1: How if you'll be with us then in the meantime,
[34:50] Speaker 1: send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net.
[34:55] Speaker 1: Follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives and check us
[34:59] Speaker 1: out on inch, Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash Great Detectives
[35:04] Speaker 1: from Boise, Idaho. This is your host, Adam Graham sogning
[35:09] Speaker 1: off

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