Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This
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it's time for this week's episode of Dragnet, and we're going to hear some
pretty significant changes. The original air date is June seventeenth, nineteen forty nine.
It's Production three aka The Werewolf Ladies. Gentlemen, the story you were
about to hear is true, only the names have been changed to protect the
innocent. NBC brings you drag Met. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned
to robbery detail. There's a potential killer on the loose in your city.
Eighteen women have been beaten and robbed by this man. The newspapers call him
the werewolf. Your job is to get him. Drag Nets that document the
drama of an actual crime, investigated and solved by the men who unrelentingly stand
watch on the security of your home, your family, and your life.
For the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department,
you will travel step by step on the side of the law through an actual
case, from beginning to end, from crime to punishment. Dragnet is the
story of your police force in action. It was Thursday morning, February second,
was reigning in Los Angeles. We were working the early morning watch out
of robbery detail. Detectives in Los Angeles work in pairs. My partner's Ben
Romero. He's a sergeant, and so am I. My name's Friday.
The boss is ed back Strength. The chief of Detectives I was on the
way back from a teletype room and it was three am when I got to
room twenty seven. A robbery detail. Hi, Ben, what's up?
Keep you quote on Joe. You've got a hot shot call, come and
give her right behind you. Let's go, Freddy, what was it?
Ed? Another woman rowing was beating a dead How many does that make?
About eighteen and six weeks? Is that rat? Skip? Yeah? Eighteen
too many. Come on down these stairs to the garage. Yeah. What
about that suspect we had it? You mean Martin? Yeah? I had
a release him this morning, and I got a good tale on him,
Henderson. Yeah, we've got any report, Yeah, nothing definite to hold
him for. Here's the garage. Let's hustle it right. Then If this
isn't Martin's job, Skipper, and he's not the right man, then we
start all over again and we worked night and Day'll be fine the right man.
Here's a car, let's go, then you drive me are How do
the victims describe this guy? Yet? Pretty sketchy, supposed to be tall,
dark, long, black man. Last woman said he had a face
like an animal, something like a dog or a wolf wolf. Yeah,
she said something like a world, something like a world wolf. We almost
happen to be that. Judging from the way he operated. He was either
an animal or a raving maniac. One thing we were sure of he was
smart when he was dangerous. For almost two months, he followed the streets
in a stolen car in the early morning, usually between three and five AM,
and the victims were always lone women, most of them waitresses, coming
to work or going home. He dragged him into the car and robbed them,
beat them until they were unconscious, and then throw the body out into
the street. That's just what we found. When we pulled up to the
curb near the corner of eighth and Grand, one cruiser car was already there,
and so was the ambulance. About a dozen people were standing around looking
at the crumpled figure of a woman sprawled out on the sidewalk. Two officers
were talking to the only witness, a thin, sallow faced newsboy. His
story didn't give us much to go on. Like I was telling these cops
or these officers, sir, I was walking up eight Street when I went
home. He's usual when I sit his blue Chevy sit and pull up down
to block there a little way and dumb bought the dame's body. Actually,
I don't know what to think. You get a look at the licens blade?
Well, no, I didn't. The truth I could hardly keep from
I was just plain scared. What did you do after you saw him throw
the body? After d just stepped there for a minute and fell in the
card roold right on past me? Did you get a look at him?
I sure did. How close for you when he drew first? Well,
I couldn't have been more than well eight or ten feet away. I was
right over there by the street lightning of the curve. Would you know this
man if you saw him again? I don't know about his height, or
his build or his weight, but mister, his face I'll never forget.
Why do you say that? So we just like the paper says about him,
right right here on the front page here reading see woman says attack.
I looked like whirlwolf. That's all the news boy could tell us. The
suspect drove a blue sedan. He had a face like a whirlwolf. We
covered the neighborhood for clues, and we questioned a dozen people, but we
got to nowhere. We took the witness's name and address, and we drove
down a couple of blocks to an all night YAES station. I'm going in
here and call in the office. I'll see if Henderson's called in on Martin,
we might still have a suspect of right. Skipper looks as mad as
a wet horn. It doesn't mean Yeah. Did you get a good look
at that woman's face when they moved around the ambulance? Yeah? Sure does
like to mess him up. I don't know how we're going to get him
ben, but we better do it fast. Next time it'll probably be murdered.
Oh, here it comes to skipper. Joe doesn't look good. What
is it? Ed? Just talk to Henderson, he telled Martin to a
bar in Long Beach. Hasn't been out of a site for two minutes since
yesterday. Martin's clear, and we're right back where we started. Yeah,
with one more half dead woman in the hospital. Well how about that story?
And cars can't wait a minute? Wait a minute? Cold three Ambulance
dispatched attention all units on Grand Avenue between Venis and Washington. A woman victim
of robbery and attack called three ambulistic tasks, three Red leg and SARN and
come on Friday, let's roll. We couldn't be sure, but it sounded
like another one. Six minutes later we were there, same story werewolf.
For next day, the chief ordered the number of cruiser cars doubled in the
central district. This was for the early morning watch, with plainclothesman to back
them up. Then the newspapers played at vague. In two days, the
story was on the front page of every paper in time. Maybe that should
have made the werewolf lay low, but it didn't, because at four o'clock
that morning, while Ben and I were patrolling with the other cars, he
got his twentieth victim attention all units Whittier between Soto and Matthew's a woman victim
of two eleven an attack CO three ambulance dispense. Here's a report on a
Blueci Danny used the other night. Joe found it out on Anaheim Telegraph Road.
Any lucky with it? Not one fingerprint? Week in you anything else?
Nothing? Well? How about the auto theft detail, same old storage
Joe, he steals a car, use it once and in drafts it never
leaves a thing behind. That's great, We're sure moving fast. How about
that big guy you picked out of the lineup as more. Oh, I
checked his alibi. It's perfect. Now we haven't got even half of to
live. Yeah, well, come on, let's check with Eddie's instructing the
policewomen on the plan for tonight. All right, I have heard the reports.
You understand how the suspect operates and what you're to do. Remember,
all of you, forget you. Wherever police women change the way you walk,
will you carry yourselves? That's the part you're playing, all right,
and be careful and don't take any chances, all right, Freddie? Okay,
now, just to make sure you look the part, we're spotting each
one of you a different restaurants and coffee shops throughout the central district from seven
o'clock tonight until daylight tomorrow. Each one of you is going to be a
waitress. You got there, okay, Ben? You want to give them
their assigments? Okay, Joe. Well, here's the way it lines up.
March Kissel at the top had Cafe AT's on Ninth Street between alf Run
and Westley and Katie Wills Jorge Coffeehouse broke from Soto right brat Field and at
the All Night Steakhouse from Federo street between Florida. No, the trick of
using decoys to lure trembles into a trap wasn't exactly new, but well,
it was just one of the old tricks that we figured might land the werewolf
behind bars. At seven that night, Ben and I made the rounds and
found each of the policewomen on her job as a waitress. Well. The
overall plan was simple. The girls were to leave the different restaurants between three
and five am that morning and pretend they were walking home. We mapped different
courses for each one of them to throw out as much bait as possible and
yet not to make it look suspicious. Each policewoman, from the time she
left the restaurant and stepped out into the deserted streets would be pretty much on
her own. We had officers planted all along the way at designated intervals,
but a big element of chance and danger was still there. All we could
do is cross our fingers and hold how much more time? Joe? Let
me see she's doing two minutes. Yeah, waiting gets on your nerves that
it won't be long. And he's corner doorways pretty good lookout spot. Yeah,
wait a minute, listen, who is it, Joe, and you
say you get back? What is it? Wait a minute, it's Marge
Kissel. There's a man following her, a big guy. If it's the
World Wolf, where's his car? I don't know, maybe he changed his
plans. Get back? Here he come? You look at him? Joe?
All pretty good, not too suspicious. It might be coincidence. And
I gotta pretty good lead. Come on, let's go. Stay back in
the shadows. Here's Joe. So where did the guy go to? A
lost a little coffee shop up on the next corner. See take a look.
Oh yeah, yeah, he's opening a door. He's turning on the
lights. Looks like a false alarm, Joe. Well, let's check anyway.
Well, I didn't think we'd be that lucky on the first try,
and we weren't. We asked the man a few questions. It didn't take
him long to show us he wasn't our man. He owned the coffee shop.
So Ben and I went back and took up our posts again and waited
for the next decoy. We covered that ten block course six times that morning,
back and forth following the bait. But it was almost as if the
guy could sense a trap. Not once did we get a nibble. By
the time our last decoy finished the route, it was almost daylight. Joe,
I never was so glad to see that sun come up my whole life.
My feet feel like they're puffing right up out of my shoes. Yeah,
me too. Come on, let's get over to the car and check
on the other squad out and boil heights hit the radio. Would you been
Yeah, Jordan must be some easier job on the force and the yeah,
you wouldn't be both un Let's see what happened to the others. H eighty
K to unit one oh four K. Come in, one oh four K
to Unit eight K. Go ahead, one oh four K. This is
Friday. You do any good out there? This is Miller i'lt called Curtis.
Stand by. Eighty K to one oh four k. Roger, what
any thanks, Joe? Maybe a buye I don't know. This guy seems
to work like a mind reader. Well he can't win all of them.
One oh four K to Unit eighty K. This is Curtis. Go ahead,
this is Friday, Al, how'd you do out there? Any luck?
Just checked in the last gal Joe, dye, welch, not a
same. Okay, Al have them in check in eighty K clear kgpl Okay,
let's go Ben. When we finally got back to the office that morning,
both Ben and I were ready for some sleep, but it didn't look
like we were gonna get it. We're just about finished going through the overnight
reports for some kind of a lead when the phone rang Robbery Friday. All
right, Joe, this Wilkers at Hi. Wilkie. You got something for
us, Joe, but it might work into something. He's got a rip
board in in a pair of stolen license plates. Oh yeah, I'm up
much of a hawk show. But I figured there's just a chance it might
be your werewolf for it, I'll come. I don't know, maybe just
a hunch. After thirteen years in this business, you get to know thieves
pretty well. Sometimes you got to even think like them. Okay, Wilkie,
thanks, we'll check buy in a couple of minutes, Right, Joe,
what do you have to say peril? License plates stolen last night?
Wilkie's got a hunch it could have been our man. That might be an
angle, Joe. In fact, werewolf g I'd hang on to one car
long enough we'd have a change that he's too smart for that. I don't
know, Joe, sooner or lady, he's gonna make them mistake. Yeah,
come on, let's check with Wilkie. Well, we checked with Wilkerson.
We got the best piece of news we'd had in days. On the
average, ninety five percent of stolen cars are recovered or located within twenty four
hours. In the remaining five percent, Wilkerson buy a simple process of elimination
narrowed down the number of cars the suspect might be driving. Wilkie figured six
cars. Yeah they are now. I bet you if you've picked up your
man tonight, he'd be in one of these cars. Let me see,
huh, two door black sedan, You look confortible. Another sedan, green
blue coop black coop and a great confortible. What's good work, Willie.
At least we've got something to look for now. Yeah, you're right,
Joe. Look you've got the numbers, those stolen plates you're talking about right
here, Ben, they're already on the hot sheet. Keep us posting,
huh as usual, Ben, see your lady welcome. That's a good break,
Ben, something to keep us busy tonight tonight. What do you mean
we're setting another trap. Same thing as last night, same police women,
same everything. Heyell, only this time let's will be steps into it,
you know, Joe, this werewolf character is getting me mad. That night
we followed in our own footsteps. We planted the police women decoys in three
separate districts, and a few minutes before three am, our squad of men
took up their positions. The same police women went to their waitress jobs in
the same restaurants, and Ben and I and the rest of the men stood
in darkened doorways or empty filling stations or whatever cover we could find, and
we waited and waited. What time is it, Joe? Let me look
half past four? Thank you? Any sign? Joe? No, nothing
yet, Come on, stay in the shadows. That's the way it went
all through the early morning, the same plan, over and over again until
daylight. Ben and I had check in at the station, go over the
late stolen car reports with Wilkie, catch a few hours sleep at home,
and then come back and do it all over again the next night, the
next morning, the night after that, in the morning after that. Five
days later, Ben and I were ready to call it quits. I'll admit
it Joe. I can't figure guys either, psychic gros. He can smell
a cup a mile away. Yeah, well, at least got that stolen
car angle left you check with Wilkie up this morning. I'll give him a
call. That otto, Wilkerson, This is Ben. Well you got anything
for us this morning? Yeah, I'm just gonna call you. You fellows,
let me starve your cases for you. Why what'd you get? The
boys picked up three of those six stolen cars since late yesterday. Great,
Now what does that leave us with? I hear the three still missing?
Yeah? Four x Rays seven six three yeah, five six Young three four
two six one, Robert three eight five Yeah, yeah, thank you,
welcome, check you later. Good news, Maymber. Those six missing cars,
yeah, Wilke, he says, the boys found three of them since
late yesterday. Here's what's still out, the blue coupe, the yellow convertible,
and a great CONVERTI yeah, all this feels like the right track for
a change. Ben. Lady got a minute, Jore, Thanksgaper, Come
on, Joe. What he got in woman? Nothing? Hollywood just called
in with this, she said. She walked down to the corner from her
house last night to me the letter. On the way back, a guy
pulled up in the car and tried to drag her inside any description, big
heavy said, dark, same thing. Well how'd you get away from him?
Skip? She said? She started running as soon as he made a
motion toward her, and he saw he run up the steps of her house.
He jumped back in the car and took off. How comes she didn't
call in before then? She hasn't got a poons ready to leave the house
again this morning? Sounds good? She if you got her address there?
Yeah, yeah, missus Tom Birdie one two three seven Worldcocks Apartment ten.
Come on, Ben, this might be what we're looking for. Who is
it. Who's the Sergeant Friday? Ma'am police? Oh that's the moment.
I'm Sergeant Rommero. Missus Birdie, he's my partner, Sergeant Friday. We
come out to check on your call about that little trouble last night. Oh
well, I don't know if I'm going to be much help to you.
I was so frightened about. All I could do it was just run.
Well, could you add anything to the man's description, miss Bertie, I
mean, other than what you told the chief on the phone. Well,
now, honestly, I don't think I can. All I saw was this
tall, dark man jumping out of his car and starting for me. He
had a heavy build and seemed to me well a large head, lots of
long black hair. Miss Bertie. Would you recognize this man if you ever
saw him again? Well, I think I might. He was such an
unusually big man. Almost frightened me to death. Just one more question,
Miss Bertie. Could you describe the car this man was driving when he approached
you? His car? Why? Yes, it was a great convertible,
Miss Bertie. Are you sure of that, Yes, I'm sure of it.
A great convertible. Thank you, Miss Bertie. That's all we wanted
to know. Sometimes when you're on a case, you can chase yourself around
in circles for weeks, trying to fit together just two little pieces of a
yard long jigsaw, and a lot of the time you find the answer were
you at least expected. But once you get that feeling you're after the right
man in the right way, there's nothing that can shake you. When Ben
and I got back to headquarters, we went straight to the chief's office with
a story, and we had him stake out the great convertible. In other
words. If any detective or officers spotted the car, he reported it back
to us, but he stayed away from it. We figured that there probably
weren't more than two of the victims who could take the witness stand and identify
the man who rob and beat them, not with a smart defense lawyer anyway,
So there was only one way to catch this suspect red handed. Here
they are, Joe close sets the largest numbers for that great convertible. Here
the original. Here the numbers on the stolen plan. Good. Everybody got
a hot sheet from the chief all the way down to the Jinn. Fine.
Now let's get together with the hunt. Joe, gravit, I got
it on the corner of California and Oakwood. Or woman badly beaten on the
corner of California and hopeful a woman bad Come on, ben another one,
but Joe, it's broad dayla. Yeah, doesn't figure, does it?
Come on? And vacant? Lotto verd you. Two plane clothesmen and uniformed
officers were keeping the crowd bank. An ambulance was drawn up at the curb,
but it was empty. When we got down to the rear of the
lot. We found out why they were waiting for the corner. The woman
was young, not much more than thirty. Her body was half sprawled across
the muddy ground and her face was turned upward. It had been badly beaten.
They figured it happened last night. Sergeant, Have the fingerprint men been
notified? Yeah, how about the crime lab? Just call them. That's
good. Now, let's keep everybody out of the area till they get here,
right, sergeant who found the body? One of the kids in the
neighborhood own was dead when he found her. Did she live her on here
about a half mile away? I hear she's got three kids, or she
had three kids. You've seen enough, Ben, Yeah, let's get on
back to headquarter. All the way back to headquarters, Ben and I planned
our next move, and by the time we got to ad Backstrand's office,
we knew exactly what had to be done. When we told him about the
werewolf murder, he didn't say a thing for a minute. He just stared
across the room at the calendar on the wall, and he brought his hand
down hard against the desk. Friday Romero, I'm only going to say this
once, so get it straight. That guy's pulled his last job in this
city. He's through rubbing and beating women, and he's through with murder.
I'd given you time to track him down, and I want him in no
stalls and no excuses. I wont him. I don't care how many men
you used, and I don't care how you get him. But get him,
That's all. Ben and I worked all that afternoon, right through dinner,
up until eight o'clock. By that time, the overall plan was on
paper and already in action. It was one of the biggest things we'd ever
tackled, and well, we didn't know if what was going to work.
We only knew it had to work. We had a squad of sixty five
cars to stretch out over forty square miles of the city, and one big
dragnet. The blockade itself would be stationary most of the time, and working
inside it would be two cars fourteen policewomen as decoys with two plane clothes but
assigned to watch each policewoman. If and when the werewolf was sighted in the
great convertible, we'd automatically take over the police radio for the whole city,
and Backstrand would direct the chase from headquarters. A little after eight, we
had coffee and hamburgers, and we went to Ben's for a few hours.
Ben tucked his kid in bed as usual, and then he laid down for
a nap. I talked to his wife and until I dozed off in the
chair. At eleven thirty. She woke us up. I combed my hair
and put on my coat. Cops wives, or like everybody else's, they
worry. When we met at a headquarters, we did some last minute checking
on details with Backstrand for about a half an hour, and then we were
all ready to go. By five minutes past two, half the dragnet crew
pulled out of the police garage and scattered over the city to their places.
By two thirty five, the other half pulled out in a few minutes later.
Ben and I followed. At three minutes to three that morning, Backstrand
took over communications and checked every car in the operation. It was a good
start, every man in his right place, but the right time. The
trap was set. All we needed now was to find our suspect, the
werewolf inside control for the unit ad K, control for the unit AD game
ADI K to control four Go ahead missus. Backstrand standing by him, AD
k Roger Claire kgpl Okay, Ben, Now let's go find him. I
gotta haunched you. Let's try the Wilshire district for sounds. It right to
me. Let's go. For the first hour and a half we raked the
Wilshire district back and forth. Not a sign. Then about thirty eight minutes
past four, we headed back for the downtown area and parked in an alley
where we could double check on one of our police women decoys. Here comes
one of the girls, now, Joe pat feeler. But her feet are
almost distarred as mine. You know, do you see anything else? Ben?
Nothing quiet is at church? No, I don't wait a minute.
Card just turned the corner, heading up in the same direction she is so
to it's slowing down. Wait a minute, it's pulling up beside her.
It's a great convertible. It's him, Joe, Come on, Ben,
down, he sees it. He a gun? All right, yeah,
look at that guy. Take off eighty k to control four, eighty k
to Control four eight. We've spotted the suspect. He's driving a gray Fort
convertible license six one Robert three eight. Five suspects headed east on Olympic from
Alameda, driving without lights. Suspect his arm. He had a vast car
and he knew how to drive it. We almost lost him twice. Two
minutes after we've sighted him Backstrand took over full radio control Fairy unit at Katy
on occation eighty K to control four. We're traveling at a high rate of
speed, headed east on Olympic crossing Soto Street control for all units and live
units eleven, eight, twelve and thirteen R closed in on the intersections at
Olympic and Loreno. Units forty one, forty two, forty five and one
oh four K one on the next four or four six east eleventh to the
north and south. Units one on five K fourteen day seventy R forty three
D lock all main arteries in the next half hour of the sixty five cars
in the drag got it pulled in like a noose around a five mile area.
Ben and I hope it was just a matter of time. Unit ady
K to control four. He's headed north on Fresno Street crossing. What are
your boulevard atjecting all units eighty K NO pursuing suspect Units fifteen one, five
K, eleven or eighteen eight clock off the intersection Old Fresno and hey,
Ben up there ahead. What's he trying to do? Now? Look he's
turning around. Yeah yeah, and he's coming right for Wat's it ko look
out pretty close. Eighty k to control four, exchanging shots with suspect.
Watch it, Ben, Here he comes again. Their likes to use that
gun? Done? They sure done? Hey Joe, Look look he's turning
east. He's running for the hulland Beck Park. Yeah, eighty k to
control four. Suspect just drove up over curb and into Holland Beck Park.
Those pectus in the works and us there he has been wa looks like a
night fastball game. I'm only hands. Yeah, come on, let's get
him. Ye never say die, Hi, Joe joking? You get a
shot anymore foot shoot blood. I'll give up to a shoot and step out
on the open and get your hands in the air. All right, all
right, give up, we don't shoot. You're a brave kill Yeah,
come on, all right, to get your hands in the air. Come
on higher, don't look out. He's got a night I got him,
Joe. Those women were right. It does look like a world war.
Yeah, you got your handcuffs. Yeah, okay, got a cigarette and
been out for an hour. Middle place across the street. Maybe we can
get somewhere. Okay, here's the crew from the forty one hour. Hey,
fellows, take him in the robbery, will you? Okay? Thank
You's a vending machine in there. Say you got some change for the cigarette
machine? Mister, I think so. Say who's that guy? All him?
Cops? Rafter or in the park a little while ago and picked up
the whirlwolf. Been reading the paper? Yeah you fellows, cops. Yeah,
sure made it easy for you, didn't he. All you cops had
to do was shround a little fellow in the park. Nothing to it.
Huh, Yeah, that's right, mister, nothing to it. The story
you have just heard was true, only the names were changed to protect the
innocent. Walter Barton, known as the Werewolf, was tried and convicted and
is now serving a full life sentence at the State Penitentiary. This has been
Dragnets, the third in a new series of authentic cases from official files.
Technical advice for Dragnet comes from the office of C. B. Horrell,
Chief of Police, Los Angeles Police Department. Tonight's program is dedicated to Sergeant
Mario Victor Dyrol of the Los Angeles Police Department, who, on the morning
of January first, nineteen forty three, gave his life so that yours might
be more secure. Dragnett came to you from Los Angeles. This is NBC,
the National Broadcasting Company. Welcome back. The music is the biggest change,
and really compared to last week, you can just hear how essential that
theme is. Now there's gonna be more tweaks with the music as we go
along. There's still not quite that rhythm and the exact cadences of the incidental
music, but it's definitely come a long way from the previous week. Also,
having the narrator explained the this position of the case I think works not
only feels more like Dragnet, but I just think it works better. Of
course, in many ways in the series still doesn't quite sound like Dragnet.
But I find this an interesting era to listen to because the series really is
evolving and changing, and there are some fascinating episodes. I don't think until
either late forty nine or early fifty that the series feels like it's really the
Dragnet program that came so groundbreaking and had this great legacy. In terms of
the story itself, I think this was an absolutely solid case and it was
pretty well balanced. There's a lot of the leg work, quite a bit
of the tedium and the long, repetitive hours that went into the case,
and all the ads that didn't go anywhere, and then you just have a
fantastic climatic at realistic police chase and the citizen comment was just perfectly clothless but
representative of what a lot of people who don't know what they're talking about on
a giving subject will say. And Friday's response was perfect. It was one
of those classic sardonic drynet lines. And the advantage of being sardonic with clueless
people is they don't know that you're mocking them, and you can't get written
up. Listener comments and feedback. Now, I did a pull on YouTube
for opinions on Tales of the Texas Rangers, and we had quite a few
comments, Don Runs, I'm sad there isn't anymore. Well, thank you,
Don, And there are some lost episodes with Tales of the Texas Rangers,
so you never know they're says. I personally enjoyed the show. Joel
McCray was like other movie stars at the time playing on radio between pictures Jimmy
Stewart, Frank Sinatra, and Humphrey Bogard Old did another listener Rights loved it.
Laura Rights, I give a B. Some of the stories are very
good, some are a bit weak. I think overall of the show struggles
a bit with consistency and at times relied very much on tropes and stereotypes.
But I appreciate Joel mccraye's commitment to jas Pearson. He always portrayed the character
as professional and level headed and was convincing as a ranger. Keep up the
great work, Adam, Well, thank you. And then we had a
couple of listeners more mixed reviews. I started listening to this podcast about eight
or nine months ago, so that's where I picked up the series. I
thought the violence was really graphic, needlessly in my opinions. The last couple
of months it was obvious it was honed down quite a bit, which I
appreciated, and I thought the last few episodes were the best of what I
heard. They had to get more creative and not just rely on violence.
They were able to explore different types of crimes, not just brutal murders.
What keeps it out of the great category for me was that it was a
bit too I'm not sure what the word is. The sheriff is of the
weak sidekicks or one step above idiots most of the time to cringe for me.
Of course, that makes a ranger jas the hero, and with a
movie starring the lead, I can kind of understand that. So much for
realism though, well, I'll take the point about the sheriffs. In most
cases, I think the sheriffs had limited experience in dealing with serious crime in
many of these rural counties, which is why the rangers were called in.
And certainly there were and or many small counties. There are people who are
elected sheriff who are popular, well liked, and good at certain aspects of
the job, like de escalating situations, but are not particularly good investigators and
are not called on to do that that often. So in many episodes,
I think they're being out of their depth. Is defensible, of course,
I think that there were something that took it too far. I'm thinking of
the one where the sheriff failed to check whether a robbery victim was alive and
just assumed he was dead based on the opinion of two guys driving a truck
who showed up there. I mean, two guys in a truck said he
was dead, so I'm pretty sure he's dead, that sort of thing.
And Nicholas right, it's always murders not very uplifting to me. I will
listen to them just once in a while. Well, thank you so much,
and I think that's fair enough. Nicholas. It's interesting to me that
so many folks come to old time radio and the show is different expectations and
taste, even if they say similar things, Like some listeners will say that
they enjoy hearing programs that allow them to escape from the craziness of today,
and some like programs just if it gives people a sense that at the end
of the half hour, justice is served and the natural order is restored.
For other people, they don't want to get extreme violence or upset from their
old time radio. And so there are folks who don't care much for hard
boiled material or for stuff that deals more with real life violent cases. And
that's one of the things I really like about doing this podcast is we really
try to serve a wide variety of different tastes and so people can pick and
shows. And I like Nicholas's comment about listening every once in a while because
there are old time radio programs that are like that. Even for me,
there are programs that I know are absolutely brilliant dousand of If I spend too
much time listening to them, you're going to not be the best thing for
my overall mode. Because there is some old time radio that is brilliantly written
and acted, but it can also be really dark and depressing if you bange
it. So you gotta know yourself and to make good decisions. Now it's
time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day. Thank you to Garrick,
Patreon supporter since January of twenty eighteen, currently supporting the podcast at the rookie
level of two dollars or more per month. Thanks so much for your support,
Garrick, and that will do it for today. If you're enjoying this
podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software and be sure to write
and review the podcast where ever you download it from. We'll be back next
Saturday with another episode of Dragnet, but join us back here tomorrow for our
next listener support special, Where and how long did you sleep? Mister Lewis.
I don't know what woke me up. Was it someone knocking on the
door. I got up and opened it. That's all I remember. Who
was it at the door? I don't know. It's just like like the
lights went out. I don't remember a thing until I woke up here this
morning. I see Do you know where you are? No? This is
a hospital for the mentally ill. This is the Flowerdale Hospital for the criminal
insane criminals. I'm not insane, and I'm not I've had a blackout,
that's all. Does that make me a criminal? Oh no, it's the
other way around. The crime caused the blackout? Crime? What crime?
What did I do? I can't tell you that. I hope you'll be
with us then. In the meantime, do send your comments to Box thirteen
at Great Detectives dot net, follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and
check us out on Instagram, Instagram, dot com slash Great Detectives from Boise,
Idaho. This is your host, Adam Graham. Sign and off.