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Speaker 1: for great detectives of old time radio. Well, now it's
Speaker 1: time for today's episode of Dragnet. The original air day
Speaker 1: August thirty, first of nineteen fifty. The title The Big Check.
Speaker 2: The story you are about to hear is true, only
Speaker 2: the names have been changed.
Speaker 3: Protect the Innocent.
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Speaker 4: Dragnet, the documented drama of an actual crime, will the
Speaker 4: next thirty minutes in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department.
Speaker 4: You will travel step by step on the side of
Speaker 4: the law through an actual case, from official police violence,
Speaker 4: from beginning to end, from crime to punishment. Dragnet is
Speaker 4: the story of your police force in action.
Speaker 8: It was Monday, February fourth, was cold in Los Angeles.
Speaker 8: We were working a day watch out of forgery detail.
Speaker 8: My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Captain Elliott. My
Speaker 8: name is Friday. I was on the way home from
Speaker 8: the office, and it was eight twenty five pm when
Speaker 8: I got to Collis Avenue, remember.
Speaker 5: Forty six fifty six. Joseph said you, Yeama.
Speaker 7: We're in the living room. We have company.
Speaker 5: Oh that's all.
Speaker 7: Hello Joe, remember Mary found?
Speaker 5: I sure do? How are you, miss Foller?
Speaker 9: Just signed Joe? Thank you doing some shopping out this
Speaker 9: wedd thought I stop buying. Have a cup of tea
Speaker 9: with your mother.
Speaker 5: Well it's good to see. How are things in the
Speaker 5: old neighborhood now?
Speaker 9: Oh? Pretty much the same?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 9: Miss Daily remember her finally die? Yeah, I suppose it
Speaker 9: was for the best. So I'm just telling your mother.
Speaker 9: Jim and Louise watching finally moved. Jim got a new job.
Speaker 9: How by all the dinner?
Speaker 5: Oh that's all.
Speaker 9: Yeah, Na, you certainly looking, find Joe. Don't you wear
Speaker 9: your police uniform anymore?
Speaker 7: Mind? No, Mary and Joseph's and the detective girl now
Speaker 7: hasn't learned his uniform from here?
Speaker 9: Oh that's right. I remember now that note you sent
Speaker 9: me your Christmas guide here before last. What do you
Speaker 9: do now, Joe?
Speaker 8: Forgery detail my partner and I am a bum checkcases
Speaker 8: my that certainly must.
Speaker 7: Be under it. Have you had your dinner at Jersey.
Speaker 8: Yes, ma'am, I stopped at the place out in Santa
Speaker 8: Monica and had something.
Speaker 7: Yes when Mary brought me some nice coffee cakes finding
Speaker 7: for filling, would you like them of a couple of
Speaker 7: comfort yours?
Speaker 5: No, I don't know.
Speaker 7: You sit down in your chair there and rest yourself,
Speaker 7: cos I'm so tired. I have no idea how hard
Speaker 7: they work.
Speaker 9: You remember Genevieve, don't you? Joe my oldest girl?
Speaker 7: Oh?
Speaker 5: Yeah, sure? How is she just fine?
Speaker 9: Lots of boyfriends as usual, going out all the time.
Speaker 5: Well, that's good.
Speaker 9: She asked to be remembered to you. I think you
Speaker 9: and Jen were stuck on each other at one time.
Speaker 9: Where to do?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 8: We went to a couple of dances in high school
Speaker 8: a r. I think she started going to stay with another fella.
Speaker 9: Young girls never open their will off coffee and Joe
Speaker 9: soon set it here in the end table.
Speaker 5: Nice. I don't think I can use it much.
Speaker 7: Delicious coffee cake? You smell?
Speaker 8: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Nice?
Speaker 7: Oh?
Speaker 9: My quarter to nine, I should have left, have an ago.
Speaker 7: Oh you have to go. Maybe she's visits throng. We're
Speaker 7: so sure?
Speaker 9: Well, I got a lot of iron introduced and I
Speaker 9: have to make Carl's lunch. He's always so fussy about
Speaker 9: his lunch.
Speaker 7: Yes, I get your cold.
Speaker 9: Well, it's nice seeing you again, Jim. Do you want
Speaker 9: to be remembered to Jenevieve?
Speaker 5: Yeah, tell her hello, William is father.
Speaker 9: If you're over our way, be sure and drop in
Speaker 9: and see us. Let me say Jenney's home office by six.
Speaker 9: She often says, she'd like to see you again. All same,
Speaker 9: good night, Joe. You'd be sure to come and see
Speaker 9: us now, Jenny'll be looking forward to it.
Speaker 5: Okay, his following tonight, she's all right.
Speaker 9: You know I wouldn't be You're mine.
Speaker 7: Nice person, married, hind time trying to find a husband
Speaker 7: for Geneva.
Speaker 5: Yeah, hey mom, I'm not very hungry. I can't even know.
Speaker 7: She's such a shame. Waves lovely copy cake been used
Speaker 7: on the same case.
Speaker 5: Yeah, same one.
Speaker 7: It's taking it off your long time.
Speaker 5: Oh we've been on it two months here.
Speaker 7: Never understand that when people write bad checks always get caught.
Speaker 5: Well, it's easy living while it lasts.
Speaker 7: Now you know what the man's handwriting is like? Don't
Speaker 7: you know who the man is?
Speaker 8: Well, we think so much, we're not sure. There's hundreds
Speaker 8: of checkmen at work, almost alike. Some of them even
Speaker 8: look alike. There's always a big enough field to pick from.
Speaker 5: Our problems picking the right one.
Speaker 7: I don't know much about it, but the whole thing
Speaker 7: is kind of silly to me.
Speaker 5: How's that?
Speaker 7: What's this man's supposed to be doing? They're around your
Speaker 7: small neighborhood stores cashing fifteen twenty dollars checks? Have you
Speaker 7: got himself a job? He's probably doing that much in
Speaker 7: money day, doing good? Honest?
Speaker 5: So he? Ben didn't call before I got home?
Speaker 7: Did he?
Speaker 8: He was going to interview one of the bum check
Speaker 8: victims on his way home the grocery store onner down
Speaker 8: of Highland Park.
Speaker 5: It might be him. Now we're not that yeah Friday talking.
Speaker 5: There's Ben Joe.
Speaker 10: I've got a partial identification from the Grocer's nothing great.
Speaker 5: Which mug shot did he?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 10: Stanley Buelbeck grocer thinks it might have been the guy
Speaker 10: pushed the check.
Speaker 5: He can't be sure.
Speaker 8: Thirty three bum checks passed, Samemo, not one positive identification.
Speaker 5: Something's funny, isn't it?
Speaker 4: All?
Speaker 5: Got me stuff?
Speaker 10: We know the endorsements on every one of those checks
Speaker 10: was written with the same guy. He was practiced the
Speaker 10: same story on every one of his victims. Yeah, those
Speaker 10: thirty three people are either blind and they're kidding it.
Speaker 5: There was only one other answer. We're looking for the
Speaker 5: wrong man.
Speaker 8: For two months and two days in different shopping districts
Speaker 8: throughout the city, a man described as well dressed, middle aged.
Speaker 8: It's been passing worthless checks on independent neighborhoods this man.
Speaker 8: Most of the victims were proprietors of small shops, meet markets,
Speaker 8: liquor stores, grocery stores. In none of the cases was
Speaker 8: the check written for more than twenty five dollars.
Speaker 5: With the help of the Stat's office.
Speaker 8: And our record bureau, we've gone through the list of
Speaker 8: experienced checkmen until we found one man who's description and
Speaker 8: m O. Matt's perfectly with that of a suspecture. The
Speaker 8: man's name was Stanley Buebeck.
Speaker 10: We can't locate him cabin Another thing, we can't get
Speaker 10: a positive identification from many of the victims.
Speaker 11: And find a suspect they can identify. They've been tracking
Speaker 11: the guy for two months. What's the big mestery?
Speaker 8: Oh, he tabbed the man of Stanley Bubeck and his record.
Speaker 8: His m is description the all tie in perfectly. Now,
Speaker 8: we're not sure it's him.
Speaker 12: What I mean, Well, if it is bu Beck, it's.
Speaker 8: Almost a sure thing that one of the victims could
Speaker 8: have made him on one of his mud shots. None
Speaker 8: of them can make up their minds.
Speaker 11: Look, maybe one of you two would like to be
Speaker 11: kept in the forgery for a day. Sit in this
Speaker 11: office and listen to complaints coming over that phone about
Speaker 11: this guy at the front office. Neighborhood, business men's clubs,
Speaker 11: retail merchants. They tell me they're trouble, so I'm passing
Speaker 11: them on to you. Whoever this paper hanger is.
Speaker 10: We want him, We want it fast, lowsy little twenty
Speaker 10: dollars checks. We'll probably have a lot better target if
Speaker 10: you drive something bigger and.
Speaker 11: Don't think he and a hundred dollars checkmen like him,
Speaker 11: don't know that you won't find him stealing company paychecks
Speaker 11: and flood in the town with paper. They take it
Speaker 11: from the little guy, and they take it in small amounts,
Speaker 11: but add up those small amounts at the end of
Speaker 11: the year, and they'll scare you.
Speaker 8: It's a rotten part about it. None of those victims
Speaker 8: can afford.
Speaker 11: A bad check at grocer Donnely stands on his feet
Speaker 11: all day and at a profit of ten to fifteen dollars,
Speaker 11: he gets tagged with one bad check and he's working
Speaker 11: for nothing.
Speaker 10: We've got bulletins out on the suspect. All the small
Speaker 10: businessmen in town. I've all been alerting.
Speaker 3: Excuse me, catn.
Speaker 11: Ellian, Okay, don right away, Don Myers, he went over
Speaker 11: the handwriting those last three checks.
Speaker 3: Wants to see you.
Speaker 11: Okay, how about that special bulletin you got out to
Speaker 11: the prisons on Stanley Bubeck And he replies nothing, ex
Speaker 11: g me, all right, stay on it, right, let's go
Speaker 11: for it.
Speaker 5: Yes, I'd give a right arm for a line on
Speaker 5: this guy. Yeah.
Speaker 8: Well it would move a lot faster if somebody'd help
Speaker 8: us follow those checks closer. The way it's running now,
Speaker 8: we hear about the paper two weeks after it's been
Speaker 8: cash and few bag.
Speaker 5: Thing isn't over much, you know, you just find another
Speaker 5: line to get a settle. Hi, don oh hi, U.
Speaker 13: Just finished up on those last three checks that came in.
Speaker 13: You want to give me a look, how do they say?
Speaker 13: But well, you can see for yourself right here, yeah,
Speaker 13: uh here the three I just went over and uh,
Speaker 13: here are half a dozen bad ones for cash last month.
Speaker 13: The endorsements on this half doesn't match perfectly on those
Speaker 13: other three. Well, i'd say they were endorsed with the
Speaker 13: same person. Oh look here you can notice the capitol letters.
Speaker 13: He still handles them the same way, disconnected from the
Speaker 13: other letters in.
Speaker 5: The first name see yeah, yeah, But.
Speaker 12: He connects the capitals in the last.
Speaker 5: Name see not very bright. Yeah.
Speaker 12: And I much doubt my mind.
Speaker 13: All the other handwriting factors tied in form skill shading,
Speaker 13: They all match up. The movement terminals are all the
Speaker 13: same for my money. Yeah, here the way he writes
Speaker 13: the lower case letters. That's interested for me.
Speaker 5: How's that done? Well?
Speaker 13: Here the inclination of the terminal stroke on the s
Speaker 13: see the breest land above the horizontal's just about fifty
Speaker 13: five degrees in all cases. Now, the finger movement in
Speaker 13: his capitals have plenty of freedom. They're not shaded much.
Speaker 13: Nothing like this in his lower case letters though. You
Speaker 13: see here, Yeah, I think I know what you mean.
Speaker 13: That much freedom here, lots of shading and the pressure
Speaker 13: on the lifts here they match up same on the downstroke. Now,
Speaker 13: I'd say the skill is medium in all cases embellishments
Speaker 13: both class two.
Speaker 5: No change is a doll in the style all he made.
Speaker 5: The signature just look a little different.
Speaker 12: All eight factors match up. Though it's the same person.
Speaker 5: All we have to do is find him.
Speaker 13: How about this fella, Stanley Bubeck, I thought you had
Speaker 13: him tap.
Speaker 8: I We're not too sure about him, but it's the
Speaker 8: only line we got to work on, so we'll have
Speaker 8: to do for now.
Speaker 7: I lamera a man in the office, say you and Joe.
Speaker 10: Names Loomis, right, Fred me there in a minute.
Speaker 5: Well, thanks John, we'll check you later. Sure, okay, see
Speaker 5: you let's go back.
Speaker 8: How you do you mister Loomis, Yes, Sir Sagan Rameril No,
Speaker 8: this is sergeant Ramoo here. My name is Friday. Oh
Speaker 8: all right, what can we do for you?
Speaker 3: It's about these checks, are you? These are right here?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 3: You see.
Speaker 14: I run a delicatessen out on Sunset, and a few
Speaker 14: days ago a new customer came in for a few
Speaker 14: things and paid for them with these checks.
Speaker 3: He came in twice.
Speaker 14: Yeah, go ahead, Well I got the checks back today.
Speaker 14: They're no good. I tried to look up the man
Speaker 14: at the address he gave but there's no such address,
Speaker 14: you can. I see one's for fifteen dollars, the other
Speaker 14: ones for twenty. And the reason I asked for you, man,
Speaker 14: is because I know the man who runs a drug
Speaker 14: store across the street, George home Quist. He had some
Speaker 14: bad checks about a month ago, he said, dud took
Speaker 14: care of him.
Speaker 8: Oh yeah, yeah, I remember you recall a man who
Speaker 8: passed these checks, Misteris.
Speaker 3: Yes, I think I do.
Speaker 14: He told me he was new in the neighborhood and
Speaker 14: he was looking for a place to trade. Well, I
Speaker 14: guess we're all anxious for new business.
Speaker 3: I took the checks.
Speaker 8: He got those mud shots there, man, Yeah, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 8: How about these men, mister Loomis, and he haven't looked
Speaker 8: anything like the person who passed the checks on you.
Speaker 14: No, let's see this one. Yes, it does look like
Speaker 14: a man in a way. I don't know if I
Speaker 14: could be.
Speaker 5: Absolutely sure, Andy, bu vaccine him.
Speaker 3: Pot.
Speaker 8: Well, it looks like you're stuck with a couple of
Speaker 8: bad ones. Mister lumis probably the same man who passed
Speaker 8: checks on your druggist friend.
Speaker 5: We're doing everything we can to run this man down.
Speaker 14: What about the checks, isn't there anything I can do
Speaker 14: about them.
Speaker 8: No, sir, I'm sorry, not right now. We would like
Speaker 8: to have you make out a crime report if you will,
Speaker 8: and would you.
Speaker 5: Leave these checks with us?
Speaker 11: Bad here as just came in for you, I replied
Speaker 11: from Salt Lake City, Utah on that bullet and you
Speaker 11: sent out on the Stanley Bubreck.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's been in jail for five months.
Speaker 8: We sent a request to Salt Lake asking him to
Speaker 8: question Stanley Bubeck if he knew of any forger who
Speaker 8: matched his description or used his m O.
Speaker 4: BW.
Speaker 5: Beck could tell us nothing.
Speaker 8: Wednesday, February sixth we threw away the results of two
Speaker 8: months of investigation.
Speaker 5: We went back and started from the beginning.
Speaker 8: Despite all precautions and warnings, the checks kept coming in
Speaker 8: at the rate of half a.
Speaker 5: Dozen a week.
Speaker 8: The same mo O was used, the same handwriting showed
Speaker 8: up in the signatures on the checks.
Speaker 5: Again. With the help of the staff and.
Speaker 8: The statistician's office and the record Bureau, we waited through
Speaker 8: hundreds of names of known checkmen and compiled a new
Speaker 8: list of thirty eight possible suspects. Each one fitted the
Speaker 8: general description of the forger. Each one at some time
Speaker 8: in his forgery career, had he was the same general
Speaker 8: method of operation. Well, after days of leg work, we
Speaker 8: finally boiled down the list of possibles to three names,
Speaker 8: George Roberts, James Young, and Harry L.
Speaker 5: Johansson.
Speaker 8: We got out a flyer to all the small businessmen
Speaker 8: in the areas where the forger operated. Another week passed,
Speaker 8: the worthless checks kept showing up at the rate of
Speaker 8: two and three a day. On February twenty first, Ben
Speaker 8: and I answered a call from a druggist in the
Speaker 8: Echo Park district.
Speaker 15: He bought some toothpaste and a cotton of cigarettes. Sergeant
Speaker 15: asked me to cash a twenty dollars.
Speaker 3: Check for it.
Speaker 5: Did you ever seen the men before?
Speaker 7: No?
Speaker 15: He gave me the same old story about being new
Speaker 15: in the neighborhood. That's when I remembered that police full
Speaker 15: of in the department sent me.
Speaker 5: Do you still have that bullet?
Speaker 7: No?
Speaker 12: I looked it over, and then I guess it got mislaid.
Speaker 8: I wonder if you'd mind taking a look at these
Speaker 8: pictures here, not at all these right here?
Speaker 12: M sure this one right on top that's the man.
Speaker 5: Yeah, sure, I am.
Speaker 12: It only happened a few hours ago. Do you know
Speaker 12: who he is?
Speaker 5: Harry L Joe Hanson. That's the name we have on him.
Speaker 12: Doesn't mean anything to me. He got real happy when
Speaker 12: I wouldn't take his check, stalked right out of the store,
Speaker 12: very suspicious.
Speaker 5: Did you follow him?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 12: I told Ralph, my clerk, to follow him.
Speaker 15: Ralph, you want to tell these officers about that man
Speaker 15: this morning?
Speaker 14: I followed him down the street for blackman, turned the corner.
Speaker 3: That's where I lost him.
Speaker 5: Bad. Yeah, all I got was a license number.
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Speaker 8: September twenty first, Thursday, three pm. We took the license
Speaker 8: number which the drugstore clerk had given us. We went
Speaker 8: back to the office and checked it through DMV. We
Speaker 8: found the car was registered to a Russell Burrows on
Speaker 8: Pico Boulevard.
Speaker 5: We checked O out.
Speaker 8: He told us that he had loaned his car the
Speaker 8: day before to a friend of his. He identified the
Speaker 8: friend as Harry L. Johansson and gave us his last
Speaker 8: known address, six fourteen Elderwood Avenue.
Speaker 5: We got out a broadcast on the car.
Speaker 8: The Elderwood Avenue address turned out to be a single
Speaker 8: story wooden frame house in the southern part of the
Speaker 8: city on the edge of the industrial district.
Speaker 5: It needed a coat of paint.
Speaker 8: A woman in her elderly thirties answered the door and
Speaker 8: identified herself as Missus Johansson. She invited us into the
Speaker 8: living room. Who was a baby playing on the floor.
Speaker 16: I don't expect my husband home for another two weeks, sergeant.
Speaker 16: He's a cosmetic salesman, travels all over the Western States.
Speaker 5: When did he leave on this last trip, Missus Johnson, the.
Speaker 7: First of the month. Why is anything wrong?
Speaker 8: What's the name of the cosmetics company that your husband
Speaker 8: works for?
Speaker 7: Harrington Universal offices are down on East Maine.
Speaker 5: Do you know a friend of your husband's name Russell Burrows.
Speaker 16: Yes, I do. He's kind of a friend of the family. Please, sergeant,
Speaker 16: if there's anything wrong, I don't know.
Speaker 10: We talked to mister Burr's this afternoon. He told us
Speaker 10: your husband's in town. Burr's learning his car.
Speaker 16: Harry, that's silly, is still on the road. He'd certainly
Speaker 16: let me know if he was coming back early.
Speaker 5: You sure that man?
Speaker 16: Would you excuse me a minute, sergeant, I'll have to
Speaker 16: put the baby to bed.
Speaker 7: Certainly, come on body, I'll be back in a minute.
Speaker 8: Kind of a funny set up in it. I mean,
Speaker 8: Johnson's pushing bum checks. The money isn't going into his home.
Speaker 7: Here.
Speaker 10: Life doesn't act like she knows anything, seems cooperative.
Speaker 8: I'm afraid we're gonna have to level whether if we're
Speaker 8: gonna find out anything.
Speaker 10: You've got a cute little girl. I'm sorry, sir, It's
Speaker 10: perfectly all right. Just a few more questions.
Speaker 8: Is it possible that your husband could be in town
Speaker 8: and you might not know what I mean, but he
Speaker 8: be staying with a friend or some relatives.
Speaker 7: You know, fairy was in town, he'd come home. Why
Speaker 7: would he stay with anyone else?
Speaker 5: When did you last year from your husband?
Speaker 7: Last week? He wrote from San Francisco, He was right
Speaker 7: there on the mantle.
Speaker 10: Well, besides that letter, do you have any other samples
Speaker 10: of your husband's handwriting?
Speaker 5: Run? Huh?
Speaker 7: Well I think so? Yes, Where did you say you
Speaker 7: were from?
Speaker 5: Central Division? Forgery? Detail?
Speaker 7: You investigate checks bad checks?
Speaker 5: That man? That's right? And you know about my husband
Speaker 5: this prison record.
Speaker 7: Yes, Harry promised me he was through it all that.
Speaker 7: He gave me his word.
Speaker 16: Sorry, man, about a month ago, he had some extra money.
Speaker 16: He wouldn't tell me where he got it. Look, sergeant,
Speaker 16: maybe you've made a mistake. Maybe it's not Harry at all.
Speaker 16: You're not sure, are you?
Speaker 8: Did your husband use the phone much? I mean for
Speaker 8: out of town call sake, No.
Speaker 16: Just that one toll call a Long Beach number. I
Speaker 16: think he has a business friend down there I.
Speaker 7: Used to call.
Speaker 16: Do you know the number, man, I can show you.
Speaker 16: It's on last month's phonevill Ple's sergeant. If Harry's done
Speaker 16: something wrong, he did it for us, me and the baby.
Speaker 16: Harry's not bad. He's done something. He did it for us.
Speaker 16: Harry hasn't had it easy. He wanted to get things
Speaker 16: for the baby, clothes, better house. Oh he wanted it
Speaker 16: was a little happiness, a little happiness.
Speaker 8: We had it wrong, man, you don't buy it with
Speaker 8: bum checks. Before we left missus Johansson, we called and
Speaker 8: had a stake out placed on the house, and then
Speaker 8: we got a sample of her husband's handwriting and the
Speaker 8: Long Beach telephone number that he was in the habit
Speaker 8: of calling it.
Speaker 5: The next morning, Don Myers.
Speaker 8: And handwriting compared Harry Johansson's letter with the signatures on
Speaker 8: the worthless checks.
Speaker 5: It matched.
Speaker 8: We called the Harrington Universal Cosmetics company. They never heard
Speaker 8: of Harry Johansson. We called that long beach phone number.
Speaker 8: A woman answered and gave us the address where the
Speaker 8: telephone was installed. Turned out to be a swanky, modern
Speaker 8: apartment house. In apartment eighteen, we interviewed a good looking brunette.
Speaker 8: She identified herself as Harry Johansson's commonweal wife.
Speaker 5: She was well dressed in the apartment, richly FURNI what's.
Speaker 7: It all about? What do you want? Harry?
Speaker 5: Thanks? Business? You know where he is, But what's he done?
Speaker 5: Do you know where he is?
Speaker 7: He drove into Hollywood this morning, might be back tonight,
Speaker 7: and I don't know for sure.
Speaker 5: Is this your partner?
Speaker 7: Yeah? Mind?
Speaker 5: And Harry, yeah sure. Joe Hunts is not here now,
Speaker 5: of course, I'm sure why well, and you won't mind
Speaker 5: if we come in and look around him.
Speaker 7: I have a right to know what it's all about.
Speaker 8: Johnson's wanted for forgery, and if you want to get involved,
Speaker 8: you'll help him hide out.
Speaker 7: I'm not ask him for that kind of trouble.
Speaker 5: Go ahead and look, take the bedroom, leave in all right?
Speaker 3: I have a mind, cup, Thanks for help, honey.
Speaker 7: I don't want me part of your troubles Harry. I
Speaker 7: didn't know a thing about it.
Speaker 8: All, Ben, Yeah, you better come along to lady.
Speaker 7: We'll tell him here. I don't know what a about.
Speaker 7: What's the idea getting me mixed up in this?
Speaker 3: How do you think I was paying for this place?
Speaker 3: Taken you out bound us clothes for you.
Speaker 7: I don't want any part of it. Three room apartment,
Speaker 7: a couple of addresses. That's all he ever got me.
Speaker 5: You've got no complaints, lady. That's morning bought his kids.
Speaker 8: One pm Friday, Ben and I took Harry Johanson to
Speaker 8: the County jail, where he was booked for suspicion of forgery.
Speaker 8: We called missus Johanson a notifighter. She immediately contacted friends
Speaker 8: and relatives and raised enough money for a writ to
Speaker 8: have her husband released from jail. Three days later, Johanson
Speaker 8: was arranged on a date set for his preliminary hearing.
Speaker 8: After the arrangement, Ben and I took him back to
Speaker 8: the county jail for rebooking.
Speaker 5: I'd like to ask you a question, Johnson. Yeah, you've
Speaker 5: got any money off you own?
Speaker 3: The whn't just stick to your own business?
Speaker 8: Cover that family of years is having a pretty rough time.
Speaker 8: Your wife barred every since she could find to bail
Speaker 8: you out, And what's she going to live on?
Speaker 3: Good relatives?
Speaker 5: Oh it's yell. Come on, Johansson.
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna put me back in full same, not
Speaker 3: in a hundred years.
Speaker 8: You've done two stretches already for hanging paper. You should
Speaker 8: have known better, mister.
Speaker 3: You got it all figured out, haven't your fuzz? Well,
Speaker 3: I'm not going.
Speaker 10: Back take any You got a couple of more weeks
Speaker 10: on the veil before the trial.
Speaker 3: Yeah, a couple of weeks.
Speaker 5: What's the matter with you? Don't you feel well?
Speaker 3: I won't get me back to fulsom.
Speaker 5: You're not making it an easier on yourself, all right,
Speaker 5: don't you?
Speaker 14: Don't your cops understand I hate it, every lousy bit
Speaker 14: of it.
Speaker 3: I'm not going back to fulsome.
Speaker 12: I'm not going back the understand it's a.
Speaker 5: Good idea, mister. You remember that when you get out.
Speaker 3: A book.
Speaker 8: Mary Johansson in the county jail. His bail was continued
Speaker 8: and he was released pending the trial. During the next week,
Speaker 8: along with the District Attorney's office, Ben and I helped
Speaker 8: prepare the case against Johansson. Three days before the trial opened,
Speaker 8: we had a phone call from missus Johansson. She told
Speaker 8: us that her husband had disappeared. Well, there's nothing we
Speaker 8: could do until he actually failed to appear in Superior
Speaker 8: Court at the appointed time. On Monday, April third, the
Speaker 8: case of the State versus Harry L. Johansson officially opened
Speaker 8: where dependant failed to show. A bench warrant was immediately
Speaker 8: issued and we got out a broadcast on an app
Speaker 8: on the suspect. Stakeouts were placed in his house and
Speaker 8: at the apartment of his common law wife.
Speaker 5: Two days passed, no sign up, nothing. Joe um Lay
Speaker 5: just checked it out.
Speaker 8: How about those two ex conpoals of Johansson's to check them?
Speaker 5: Yeah? Nothing.
Speaker 10: Then I don't see I can last out much longer.
Speaker 10: When should have close no money? He still got a
Speaker 10: check book. When did Skipper say.
Speaker 5: Was coming back? Tend fifteen? Now I'll get it forgery Friday, Joseph,
Speaker 5: this is your mother. Oh yeah, I am. I forgot to.
Speaker 9: Tell you when you're called earlier.
Speaker 7: You're supposed to be home tonight by eight o'clock.
Speaker 5: What's that?
Speaker 7: My Mary Powler? She's coming over to visit tonight and
Speaker 7: Genevieve's coming with her.
Speaker 8: Yeah, well, look, will you try to explain to them
Speaker 8: that I'm working and I can't get away?
Speaker 7: Huh well, all right, Joseph.
Speaker 8: I'll try if I possibly can. I'll try to make
Speaker 8: it home by ten. I'll I'll be all right.
Speaker 7: I'll see what I can do. Genevieve's going to be disurprised.
Speaker 8: Yeah, if I'm later than that, don't wait up for me.
Speaker 7: Huh, yes, all right.
Speaker 5: Then bye, Ma, Yes, Joseph, Oh Thanksgiver all just came in.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I found Johnson.
Speaker 8: Captain Elliott, Ben and I drove out the highway to
Speaker 8: the Tahunga Wash. We turned off and headed into the
Speaker 8: mount policing area.
Speaker 5: Capa.
Speaker 8: Elliott directed us onto a dirt road. Half way up
Speaker 8: one of the mountains. We spotted a group of cars
Speaker 8: pulled off on the shoulder of the road. We parked
Speaker 8: behind them and got out and started over. Who found
Speaker 8: the cars?
Speaker 11: Kevin, one of the people living back in my house,
Speaker 11: spotted in this way.
Speaker 5: Home from Warren H. Barnings are here in a hurry.
Speaker 15: Yeah, Hi Davehi, you doing Joe Cat my lep?
Speaker 5: How long has you been dead?
Speaker 12: This last night?
Speaker 5: I figure.
Speaker 12: I'm on our.
Speaker 11: You talked to the man who found Johnson's body day, Yeah.
Speaker 12: He didn't touch the thing.
Speaker 5: What'd you find?
Speaker 15: Powder burns on the temple, powder on the hands. Boys
Speaker 15: from homicide found the note. It's on the seat right
Speaker 15: next to him. Here it is here, been checked.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think I'll ties in Dave pretty tight.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 12: Jean Beckel from homicide wants to talk to you, Captain.
Speaker 3: Okay, if you right back, Joe's right.
Speaker 5: Who do you address note too?
Speaker 3: Joey?
Speaker 5: No, my girlfriend? Look what he wrote it on? Yeah,
Speaker 5: blank check.
Speaker 2: The story you've just heard was true, only the names
Speaker 2: were changed to protect the innocent.
Speaker 4: On April ninth, an inquest was held in the Coroner's
Speaker 4: office on the main floor of the Hall of Justice,
Speaker 4: Los Angeles, California. In a moment the results of that inquest, and.
Speaker 5: Now here is our star, Jack Webb, thank you.
Speaker 8: The working detective comes in contact with many people in
Speaker 8: his daily tour of duty, people who are willing.
Speaker 5: To cooperate and those who won't even try.
Speaker 8: It's a difficult task, but the police officer has been
Speaker 8: trained to try to please everybody to the best of
Speaker 8: his ability.
Speaker 5: So with a cigarette, the.
Speaker 8: People who make Fatima try to please all long cigarette smokers.
Speaker 8: They carefully select and blend the finest Turkish and domestic
Speaker 8: tobaccos to make Fatima Extra Mile, the best of all
Speaker 8: long cigarettes. If you're a long cigarette smoker like I am,
Speaker 8: smoke Fatima. Every pack is extra mild Fatima.
Speaker 4: On April ninth, the coroner's jury returned a verdict that
Speaker 4: the death of Harry Al Johansson was caused by a
Speaker 4: gunshot wound in the head, self inflicted. You have just
Speaker 4: heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files.
Speaker 4: Technical advice for Dragnet comes from the Office of Chief
Speaker 4: of Police W. H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department.
Speaker 6: Fatima Cigarettes, the best of all long cigarettes, has brought
Speaker 6: you Dragnet from Los Angeles.
Speaker 5: Coming up Duffy's Tavern. More good Times on NBC.
Speaker 9: This is Andrew J.
Speaker 7: Graham, author of the web surface series Oh and a
Speaker 7: Mana's Wife. You're listening to the Great Detectives of Old
Speaker 7: Time Radio.
Speaker 1: Welcome back. Well. This was one of those episodes that
Speaker 1: took us back in time to a far more innocent
Speaker 1: time and showed us why we're a little more cynical
Speaker 1: these days, and it is always a challenge actually to
Speaker 1: even get a check cashed these days because of the
Speaker 1: type of check fraw that's gone on. That was kind
Speaker 1: of documented a little bit as to what had happened
Speaker 1: in the past in the movie Catch Me if you Can,
Speaker 1: although that was obviously on a much larger scale. And
Speaker 1: of course our technology has changed and the way we
Speaker 1: spend money has changed, which is of course led to
Speaker 1: new sorts of fraudsters. Still, Americans do use checks, actually
Speaker 1: a lot more than probably most industrialized nations. There's actually
Speaker 1: a nation in Western Europe, I forget one, which actually
Speaker 1: has a checkbook in their museum rather than is something
Speaker 1: that they actively use. But still it's always a challenge
Speaker 1: to get a check cashed unless you go to a
Speaker 1: check cashing store and play a very high fee. And
Speaker 1: that's the result of the fact that so many people
Speaker 1: abuse the system when people would cash it just to
Speaker 1: be nice. Of course, check forgeries become a bit harder
Speaker 1: with faster processing of checks, which would have helped in
Speaker 1: so many of these cases here, And of course the
Speaker 1: ending was interesting with a very ironic suicide note. All right, well,
Speaker 1: that will do it for today. I do want to
Speaker 1: remind you to support our Patreon campaign Patreon dot Great
Speaker 1: Detectives dot net and at that With that campaign you
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Speaker 1: Master Detective, and Chief of Detectives. At the Detective sergeant level,
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Speaker 1: increasing servers and purchasing better equipment, as well as reducing
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Speaker 1: do it for today, Be sure and join us. Tomorrow
Speaker 1: we will have our video theater an episode of Ellery Queen,
Speaker 1: and then next month Monday, if final episode we have
Speaker 1: of the Saint or second to last I should say,
Speaker 1: and then next Saturday another episode of Dragnet. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: send your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net,
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Speaker 1: of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com. Slash Radio
Speaker 1: Detectives from Boise Idaho. This is your host, Adam Grahamson
Speaker 1: and off