Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're
Speaker 1: going to bring you this week's episode of Drag Napp.
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Speaker 1: at Patreon dot Great Detectives dot net. But now, from
Speaker 1: April twenty fourth, nineteen fifty two, here is the Big Elevator.
Speaker 2: The story you're about to hear is true. The names
Speaker 2: have been changed to protect the innocent. You're a detective sergeant.
Speaker 2: You're assigned a homicide detail. You've got a call from
Speaker 2: the receiving hospital in your city. A dead body has
Speaker 2: been left in the hospital elevator. There's no lead to
Speaker 2: the identity of the corpse. There's no apparent cause of that.
Speaker 2: Your job investigator.
Speaker 3: Drag Net the documented drama of an actual crime. All
Speaker 3: the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles
Speaker 3: Police Department, you will travel step by step on the
Speaker 3: side of the law through an actual case transcribed from
Speaker 3: official police files, from beginning to end, from crime to punishment,
Speaker 3: drag Net is the story of your police force and action.
Speaker 4: It was Wednesday, November ninth. That was foggy in Los Angeles.
Speaker 4: We were working the night watch out a homicide detail.
Speaker 4: My partner's Bill Lockwood. The boss is Captain Lrmon. My
Speaker 4: name's Friday. It was eleven, twenty eight pm when we
Speaker 4: got to the third floor at Georgia Street Receiving Hospital,
Speaker 4: doctor Terrell's office right right to see You've been waiting
Speaker 4: for you. We made it as soon as we could. Doctor, Like,
Speaker 4: have you meet my new partner, Bill Lockwood, Doctor Carroll.
Speaker 5: Bill, how I think I've seen you round Lockwood?
Speaker 6: Yes, sir, how I understand you got a problem talk
Speaker 6: with the start.
Speaker 7: Odd one after a few minutes after eleven, you want
Speaker 7: to sit down a minute, I'll fill in.
Speaker 5: Before we go back and take a look at the body.
Speaker 6: Thanks very much.
Speaker 7: I understand it's a woman that right, Yeah, Grace Morgan,
Speaker 7: she's a night nurse son duty. She told me she
Speaker 7: was sitting at the desk checking over.
Speaker 5: Some patients cards.
Speaker 7: It was about five ten minutes after eleven when she
Speaker 7: heard the elevator come up. She heard the elevator stop
Speaker 7: and the door's open. Kept on checking the cards there,
Speaker 7: didn't pay any attention to it, and then she realized
Speaker 7: nobody got out of the elevator. She looked up and
Speaker 7: the elevator doors were still open. She saw this young
Speaker 7: woman slumped over in a wheelchair sitting there in the elevator.
Speaker 6: A woman was alone with her. That's right.
Speaker 7: The nurse went over and wheeled her out of the elevator.
Speaker 7: A woman was wearing a nightgown a bathroom over that.
Speaker 7: She's unconscious, nurse called me. The two of us took
Speaker 7: the woman into a treatment room, examined her. She was
Speaker 7: dead in any indication, how long the body was still warm,
Speaker 7: She didn't lived in dead a short time, any idea
Speaker 7: of the cause of death. And then there's a couple
Speaker 7: of abrasions on her right shoulder, another one in the
Speaker 7: right temporal region. Not positive, but I don't think any
Speaker 7: of them were severe enough to cause death.
Speaker 6: No other markings at all.
Speaker 7: No, she seemed to have been in good physical condition. Know,
Speaker 7: it's a strong smell of alcohol, though, could be cheap
Speaker 7: and drinking.
Speaker 6: Here's a nurse. Pretty sure.
Speaker 7: The woman came up the elevator alone. Possibility one of
Speaker 7: the attendants might have brought her up.
Speaker 8: No.
Speaker 7: I checked for the attendant on duty down the first
Speaker 7: floor lobby, Ray Collins. He didn't bring her up. He
Speaker 7: said a man came in the lobby about eleven o'clock
Speaker 7: said he had a sick woman out in his car.
Speaker 7: He asked for a wheelchair to bring her in. Ray
Speaker 7: asked if he could help, but the man said he'd
Speaker 7: take care of it. It's all Rady knows about it.
Speaker 7: He let the man have a wheelchair, then he went
Speaker 7: in the back room to change some linens on the
Speaker 7: ambulance striction.
Speaker 6: Any possibility one of the other attendants might have brought
Speaker 6: her up on the elevator.
Speaker 7: No, Collins was the only attendant on duty.
Speaker 6: I'd like to talk to him. Is he still around?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I knew you'd want to see him. He was
Speaker 7: off duty eleven thirty. I held him over. He's down
Speaker 7: at the corner having a sandwich. He'll be back in
Speaker 7: a few minutes. What do you figure, doctor, I think
Speaker 7: the one could have operated the elevator self possible, not
Speaker 7: too probable, though it's a self operating elevator automatic. Someone
Speaker 7: could have wield a woman into the elevator, pushed the
Speaker 7: button for the third floor, and then stepped back. We're
Speaker 7: taking her straight up.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the nurses sure the elevator didn't go back down
Speaker 4: after it got up here.
Speaker 5: Positive, she heard the elevator doors open. They stayed that way.
Speaker 7: She kept waiting for someone to come out, and that's
Speaker 7: what attracted her attention.
Speaker 6: How about identification the woman have a person or anything
Speaker 6: like that.
Speaker 7: Not, No, all she had was what she was wearing
Speaker 7: nightgown slippers in the bathroom.
Speaker 5: Let's go back and have a look on of swimming.
Speaker 7: Okay, have it? You saw the only markings on the
Speaker 7: body of those abrasions on the shoulder and the forehead. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 7: you don't think that's why she's dead. You any ideas
Speaker 7: at all? I wouldn't want to say Lockwood strange one.
Speaker 7: Then I have to wait for the autopsy. How about
Speaker 7: the wheelchair? The woman came up in dockwards it though
Speaker 7: back here in the same room with the body, and
Speaker 7: I gave notice it wasn't to be touched.
Speaker 5: I knew you'd want to check it.
Speaker 6: Oh far in here, all right, just spoke in here?
Speaker 7: Yeah, sure, no thanks, No over here on the table,
Speaker 7: nurse put the woman's clothing over there, nightgown, slippers, bathroom
Speaker 7: I see. Seems to be a fairly young woman, i'd.
Speaker 5: Say, in her early thirties.
Speaker 7: Nice looking girl, well groomed nose, her hair and fingernails,
Speaker 7: well kept bruised.
Speaker 6: There on her head. Took a pretty good blow to
Speaker 6: cause that.
Speaker 5: When you say, yeah, it might even be worse than
Speaker 5: it looks hard to say right now. Other abrasions I.
Speaker 7: Was telling you about right here along the clavicle seem
Speaker 7: to be fairly distinct for or forum.
Speaker 6: That's all of them.
Speaker 7: Uh, it's it, like I say, we'll no more after
Speaker 7: they post the money. Take a look at the clothing,
Speaker 7: O're he? You want to check over the bathrobe bill, Yeah, there's.
Speaker 4: No label here, size marking though, size thirty four, just
Speaker 4: an ordinary rayon nightgown seems to be fairly new. It's
Speaker 4: not damaged. Nothing in the bathrobe, Joe. Both pocket's empty,
Speaker 4: no visible marking. Manufacturer's label here fairly common.
Speaker 6: Trade name Lodi Marks.
Speaker 7: No, none showing we can have a crime lab check
Speaker 7: them over.
Speaker 6: How about the slippers, though it's the same nothing.
Speaker 5: Do you fellows want me to notify the corner, No,
Speaker 5: we'll get a doc.
Speaker 6: We have to call in for the crime lab crew. Anyway,
Speaker 6: it looks like a rough one.
Speaker 7: We don't even know what we've got.
Speaker 5: And figured if somebody murdered the woman, why did they
Speaker 5: bring her here to die?
Speaker 6: Yeah, she was sick or.
Speaker 7: Hurt and they were worried enough about it to bring
Speaker 7: her here. Why do they want to get rid of her?
Speaker 7: Leave her alone in an elevator? Yeah, it doesn't make sense.
Speaker 7: Somebody's got something to hide. Sure could use a lead
Speaker 7: man puts her on the elevator and sends her up
Speaker 7: three floors. Who she is? How she died? I don't
Speaker 7: even know where she came from.
Speaker 4: No choice when we start at the beginning, Yeah, ground floor,
Speaker 4: eleven fifty two pm. The receiving hospital attendant Ray Collins
Speaker 4: returned and we interviewed him.
Speaker 6: In doctor Terrell's office.
Speaker 4: He told us substantially the same thing the doctor had
Speaker 4: told us at a few minutes past eleven o'clock that night,
Speaker 4: a man entered the lobby of the hospital and asked
Speaker 4: for a wheelchair to move a patient up to the
Speaker 4: third floor. Colin stated he gave the man the wheelchair,
Speaker 4: the man refused his offer of assistance, and Collins went
Speaker 4: on about his work. He didn't see the patient, he
Speaker 4: didn't see any car park outside, and he was able
Speaker 4: to give us only a partial description of the man,
Speaker 4: himself a male Caucasian about thirty five years old, short,
Speaker 4: heavy built, old dark hair.
Speaker 6: The group from the Prime Lab arrived and began their investigation.
Speaker 6: The body was.
Speaker 4: Photographed and fingerprinted, and the wheelchair was also dusted for prints.
Speaker 4: The clothing was packed up to be taken downtown for
Speaker 4: further examination. After the men from the Prime Lab left,
Speaker 4: Bill Lockwood began a canvas of the immediate neighborhood for
Speaker 4: possible witnesses. Meantime, I checked with the rest of the
Speaker 4: hospital person out.
Speaker 6: On the patience. They could tell me nothing.
Speaker 4: Twelve thirty am I met Bill back at doctor Terrell's office.
Speaker 7: How'd you do? Joey?
Speaker 4: Lock After the nurses and some of the other attendants
Speaker 4: they couldn't help any checked with a dispatcher on incoming
Speaker 4: and outgoing ambulance.
Speaker 6: There's nothing there? What about you? No good?
Speaker 7: Most of the business places around here a lock up.
Speaker 7: Talk to the newsboy down at the corner. He was
Speaker 7: about the only one in the street. He didn't see anything.
Speaker 4: Sure going slow and then might give Bergmann a call
Speaker 4: see if he's got the woman's princes classified that.
Speaker 7: How about the corner show up yere?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think he's in there now, yes, ma'am give
Speaker 4: me station two five five seven, Yeah, that's right, late
Speaker 4: in print, All right, let me talk to Bergman plice right, yeah, Dean,
Speaker 4: Joe Friday.
Speaker 6: Now we're still over at the hospital. And do any
Speaker 6: good to those prints? That's what we figured How about
Speaker 6: her princes? Yeah?
Speaker 4: Okay Dean, thanks, yeah right, we're still betting a thousand
Speaker 4: when you say they make her princes? Nothing in records
Speaker 4: on her. Dean's going to set along a set to
Speaker 4: Washington see if they got anything.
Speaker 6: How about the wheelchair? Any prints there?
Speaker 9: Oh?
Speaker 6: The nurses and Doc Carrell's that's all we figured on that,
Speaker 6: didn't we how's he luck? Sure is?
Speaker 4: I checked with missing persons while you were up. There's
Speaker 4: nothing there either, I mean, how about finish this up here, Holly.
Speaker 6: We better get back to the office. Joe, Yeah, I
Speaker 6: think I got something for you here, you know.
Speaker 7: Nurse at the switchboard got a call a minute ago.
Speaker 7: Man's voice wanted to know the condition of Colline Cheswick.
Speaker 7: Nurse checked the list of patients, didn't find anyone by
Speaker 7: that name. The man insisted she's here. The nurse asked
Speaker 7: him one time the woman was admitted to the hospital.
Speaker 7: He told her at eleven o'clock tonight. Now, man said,
Speaker 7: I know she's there. I brought her myself along.
Speaker 6: With doctor Terrell.
Speaker 4: Bill Lockwood and I went down the hall and talked
Speaker 4: to the nurse who'd received the phone call. She told
Speaker 4: us that she tried to question the caller as to
Speaker 4: his name and his relationship to the allegation Carla Chaswick,
Speaker 4: but the man refused and hung up. We put in
Speaker 4: a call to R and I and asked him to
Speaker 4: run the name for us. There was no one for
Speaker 4: that name in the files. We went back to the
Speaker 4: doctor's office and started checking through the telephone directories.
Speaker 6: In the northwestern section.
Speaker 4: We found a listing for a missus Carla z Chaswick
Speaker 4: on North Capitol Avenue. We called the number but there
Speaker 4: was no answer, and we checked with the office, told
Speaker 4: him what we had and we were going to follow
Speaker 4: through on it. One eighteen am.
Speaker 6: It was only a possibility, but it had to be
Speaker 6: checked out.
Speaker 4: Bill Lockwood and I left Georgia Street Receiving Hospital, got
Speaker 4: in the car and drove out to the address on
Speaker 4: North Capitol Avenue. Was a large apartment house, fairly new.
Speaker 4: The name on the mailbox for apartment eighteen was missus
Speaker 4: Carla Chaswick. We rang but there was no answer. We
Speaker 4: finally had to get the manager out of bed, Missus Herbert.
Speaker 4: We identified ourselves and explained the reason.
Speaker 6: For our visit.
Speaker 4: She got a pass key, showed us upstairs to the
Speaker 4: second floor and let us in apartment eighteen. There was
Speaker 4: no one there, but there was evidence of a recent
Speaker 4: party within a matter of hours. Half filled cocktailed glasses,
Speaker 4: an empty whiskey bottle, a glass bowl containing partially melted
Speaker 4: ice cubes. An end table in the corner has been overturned.
Speaker 4: In the bedroom, women's clothing was scattered on the floor
Speaker 4: and on the dressing table.
Speaker 6: On the mantel in the living room there was a
Speaker 6: picture of a woman did.
Speaker 7: You notice anything unusual about her at that time?
Speaker 6: Is her?
Speaker 7: I mean anything out of the ordinary.
Speaker 10: Oh, don't think so. She'd been drinking some I'm pretty
Speaker 10: sure of that, and that's not unusual for missus Cheswick.
Speaker 10: She drinks quite a bit, parties and things, runs around
Speaker 10: a lot.
Speaker 6: Yes, you didn't notice anything about her face, No cuts, bruises.
Speaker 10: Anyone, No, nothing like that.
Speaker 7: Why and you told her she had quite a few
Speaker 7: men friends. Do you know any of their names? Where
Speaker 7: they live?
Speaker 6: No?
Speaker 7: CA's they to do? She was just rooms.
Speaker 9: The tenants.
Speaker 10: I didn't try to get acquainted. It didn't have much
Speaker 10: in common with her. The other tenants isn't either a
Speaker 10: matter of fact, she kept pretty much to herself, her
Speaker 10: and her friends.
Speaker 4: I see now about this party she had last night
Speaker 4: with Herbert. They say, you don't know who was there
Speaker 4: with her?
Speaker 7: No, I'm afraid of don't.
Speaker 10: When I called her on the phone to ask her
Speaker 10: to quiet things down, I heard that one man's voice talking.
Speaker 7: That's about all.
Speaker 10: Though I couldn't tell you who was there?
Speaker 4: Was there anyone at all that you know of? It
Speaker 4: was close to her, I mean someone we could talk
Speaker 4: to about her.
Speaker 10: Well, her husband. I suppose he's the only one close
Speaker 10: to her. I know he comes around every month and
Speaker 10: takes care of the rent. Kind of peculiar thing, but
Speaker 10: I never questioned it. I figured it's their business live
Speaker 10: and let's live. You any idea where we can find
Speaker 10: the husband, I'm not sure. He works at a machine
Speaker 10: shop out near Glendale. I have these home address in
Speaker 10: my rent book downstairs. If you want it, yes, man,
Speaker 10: we'd like to have that if we could.
Speaker 4: Would you happen to know how missus Cheswick and her
Speaker 4: husband got along, I mean the separation of there.
Speaker 6: Was it friendly or did they still quarrel quite a bit?
Speaker 10: No, as far as I know, they got along all right,
Speaker 10: as long as they didn't have to live together. For
Speaker 10: mister Cheswick, I's sorry for him. It's going to take
Speaker 10: it hard his wife. I don't know whether to blame
Speaker 10: or pity or she was a terrible disappointment to him,
Speaker 10: that's all. I had a long talk with him once.
Speaker 10: Seemed like such a nice man, hard worker, and he's
Speaker 10: a wife. He was so disgusted, I mean, drinking all
Speaker 10: the time, going out with different than men. Bitter disappointment.
Speaker 6: He told me how well or did he see violent
Speaker 6: on the subject iming did he feel angered toward his wife, wh.
Speaker 10: Just pit a City'd rather have her dead than go
Speaker 10: on the way she was.
Speaker 4: We checked through the dead woman's apartment for names and
Speaker 4: addresses of some of our men friends, but we found nothing.
Speaker 4: The crew from the crime lab went over the apartment thoroughly.
Speaker 4: The only evidence found were fingerprints on some of.
Speaker 6: The cocktail glasses.
Speaker 4: Along with the apartment manager, missus Herbert, we went downstairs
Speaker 4: and she gave us mister Chesswick's home address and also
Speaker 4: his place of employment.
Speaker 6: Two thirty am we got to a phone and called.
Speaker 4: Cheswick's home, but the people he was staying with told
Speaker 4: us that he wasn't there.
Speaker 6: He was working the.
Speaker 4: All night shift at a farm implement factory on Glendale Boulevard.
Speaker 4: Three to zero five am, Bill and I drove out
Speaker 4: to the factory and checked with the night personnel superintendent.
Speaker 4: He directed us to the factory repair shop, where Chesswick
Speaker 4: was employed as a welder. The forarman at the repair
Speaker 4: shop pointed him out course Chaswick was working on the
Speaker 4: welding line.
Speaker 6: A tall, thin man slight build.
Speaker 4: Bill Lockwood and I went back and introduced ourselves.
Speaker 8: Say any Cheswick. That's my name. What can I do
Speaker 8: for it?
Speaker 11: Like to talk to you for a few minutes as
Speaker 11: we could. It's about your wife, Donna. What's the matter
Speaker 11: of seeing trouble again?
Speaker 6: It might be better if we can step outside and talk.
Speaker 6: It will take very long, all right.
Speaker 8: I gotta finish up this little job here. If you
Speaker 8: don't mind waiting a couple of pieces of tube, It
Speaker 8: won't take a minute.
Speaker 6: Here you go right ahead.
Speaker 8: You might stand back a couple of steps.
Speaker 11: This thing pops a little okay, thanks, Ah, too much oxygen.
Speaker 8: I have to light it again. Ah, that does it?
Speaker 8: Don't look at the flames go bast of your eyes.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I know.
Speaker 8: For suring their money, don't they Yeah?
Speaker 6: They seem to a lot of work.
Speaker 8: Manish just tacond hair. Okay, that's got it. Now, what's
Speaker 8: this about my wife? Sergeant? What's the matter?
Speaker 6: Well, I understand you're separated from missus Chadwick.
Speaker 11: Yeah, that's right about a year ago now. Finally gave
Speaker 11: it up as a bad job. Wasn't anything I could
Speaker 11: do for nothing else anybody could do for her hopeless.
Speaker 6: Well when's the last time you saw?
Speaker 11: First of the month went by the pair of Rent
Speaker 11: dropped in and say hello, that's all.
Speaker 8: I stay away as much as I can. No good, plumb.
Speaker 11: That's about all you can say about her. James to
Speaker 11: admit I was eating married to? Or why do you
Speaker 11: ask anyway?
Speaker 6: The wife's dead, mister Cheswick?
Speaker 8: Uh? Yes, but she died late last night. Found her
Speaker 8: at Georgia Street Receiving Hospital.
Speaker 11: Oh, because I've been expecting something like that.
Speaker 8: I can't feel sorry. Probably the best thing for ither
Speaker 8: have to.
Speaker 6: But we're not sure.
Speaker 4: I wonder if we could step outside triby a lot
Speaker 4: easier to talk with it.
Speaker 8: Yeah, all right, fine, over here, we can duck out
Speaker 8: the back way.
Speaker 7: Okay.
Speaker 5: You say they found her at Georgia Street, huh?
Speaker 6: Or was it she in an accident? I say it
Speaker 6: doesn't look like that.
Speaker 4: We're gonna have to wait for the coroner's report.
Speaker 6: What time do you check in at night for work,
Speaker 6: mister Cheswick.
Speaker 5: We're supposed to be on the job by ten o'clock.
Speaker 5: I punched in before that tonight.
Speaker 7: Why teen question?
Speaker 11: I suppose I've been around the Planet'll watch for your
Speaker 11: check in a ten and you've been here ever since?
Speaker 8: Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 5: You can ask any of them what's the pitch You.
Speaker 7: Think I had something to do with it, Charlie getting killed?
Speaker 6: Well, we didn't say that, Cheswick.
Speaker 4: Your wife's dead and we have to check out all
Speaker 4: the leads, all the possible suspect.
Speaker 7: Well, I don't know how it happened, but I didn't
Speaker 7: have anything. I lived nine years with her. I was
Speaker 7: just nine years of my life, booze parties, going out
Speaker 7: all the time.
Speaker 5: She wasn't my wife. She didn't know what the word meant.
Speaker 4: I understand she's been running around with different men lately.
Speaker 4: Do you have to know any of them?
Speaker 6: Oh? I don't know.
Speaker 5: I couldn't care less. Stupid dame, Sergeant. That's the easiest
Speaker 5: way you can let her off. I tried to make
Speaker 5: a go of it, wasn't any good. I worked for her,
Speaker 5: try to give her everything she wanted. Didn't make any difference.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's a bum Some of them must be born
Speaker 7: that way of bum day.
Speaker 5: I could have killed her. I had reason enough to.
Speaker 5: I didn't.
Speaker 6: How about your wife's drinking him?
Speaker 7: But did she do most of it at home or
Speaker 7: did you go out.
Speaker 6: To the bars?
Speaker 5: I always at the bar.
Speaker 7: Only one place she ever went to place on Nathan
Speaker 7: Rosewood right on the corner. Went there all the time,
Speaker 7: six seven nights a week, hang over the bar all night.
Speaker 7: I'd like to put up with that for nine years,
Speaker 7: so drinking, going off somewhere and weekend I'll come. It
Speaker 7: lasted that long, Chesswick, I don't know. I guess I
Speaker 7: should have had my head examined her just the bomb.
Speaker 7: I figured I could change her. Kept trying. They were
Speaker 7: worked out. After drinking, she'd have these terrific headaches, would
Speaker 7: make her sick.
Speaker 5: I'd stay home from.
Speaker 7: Work and take care of her, wait on her hand
Speaker 7: and foot. She always made promises, nothing but a liar.
Speaker 7: Soon as she got well, she'd start it all over again,
Speaker 7: the same thing. Yeahs the bumb tramp, no good at all,
Speaker 7: no good.
Speaker 5: Tramp, no good tramp.
Speaker 6: Chadwick, mister Chesswick is.
Speaker 5: All what you do, Carley, She's dead.
Speaker 4: Probably when the dead woman's husband there was Cherswick recovered.
Speaker 4: We continued questioning him, but we got nowhere. Before we
Speaker 4: left the plant, we checked his time card, talked to
Speaker 4: the machine shop foreman and some of the men Chesswick
Speaker 4: worked with.
Speaker 6: We got the same story. All along the line.
Speaker 4: Chesswick had showed up for work at nine forty six
Speaker 4: pm the night before, and had not left the plant
Speaker 4: since that time.
Speaker 6: Four thirty five am.
Speaker 4: Bylla and I got in the car, drove back to
Speaker 4: the office and typed up a fifteen point seven report
Speaker 4: for Captain Wrman.
Speaker 6: Eight thirty am.
Speaker 4: Over in the County Morgue, the body of missus Cheswick
Speaker 4: was being posted.
Speaker 6: A few minutes past ten.
Speaker 4: Am, Bill Lockwood and I drove out to the bar
Speaker 4: in the corner of Eighth and Rosewood, the same bar
Speaker 4: where Ernest Cheswick told us his wife did most of
Speaker 4: her drinking with a typical neighborhood talk heal lounge in
Speaker 4: the early morning, two customers sipping beer at the bar
Speaker 4: under the bar, the manager busy.
Speaker 6: Washing glasses and bringing in supply.
Speaker 4: We called him over and identified ourselves.
Speaker 7: Popular girl married, old Ernie Chesswick separated.
Speaker 6: Now, yeah, do you know she was in here last night?
Speaker 9: That's right?
Speaker 7: She was hardly missus Knight.
Speaker 4: Why would you have to know about what time she
Speaker 4: left last night?
Speaker 8: Thirty about that mine? I sat frona there downtown in
Speaker 8: the bar' no better than me?
Speaker 9: How's that he left with us?
Speaker 3: You are listening to drag meth authentic stories of your
Speaker 3: police force and action.
Speaker 4: November tenth, Thursday, ten fourteen am, the manager of the cocktail.
Speaker 6: Lounge pointed out the man at the end.
Speaker 4: Of the bar who was supposed to have left the
Speaker 4: place shortly after eight o'clock the night before with the
Speaker 4: dead woman, Carla Cheswick.
Speaker 6: Bill Lockwood and I.
Speaker 4: Went up to the man, identified ourselves and questioned him briefly.
Speaker 4: He appeared tense and highly nervous. He told us his
Speaker 4: name was John Gables, an assistant sales manager for a
Speaker 4: downtown jewelry. Concerned, he didn't deny that he was in
Speaker 4: the bar the night before, but he refused to admit
Speaker 4: that he left with missus Cheswick. He insisted he didn't
Speaker 4: even know her. We asked him to a comper how
Speaker 4: he spent his time the night before.
Speaker 7: He refused.
Speaker 6: We got him a car and drove downtown.
Speaker 4: To the City Hall while Bill took the suspect of
Speaker 4: the interrogation room.
Speaker 6: I stopped by the R and I counter and had
Speaker 6: to make a run on Gables. He had no.
Speaker 4: Previous criminal record. I called him morg but there was
Speaker 4: no report on the autopsy yet. Ten fifty two am
Speaker 4: I signed in at the office brief Captain Lorman on
Speaker 4: the developments, and then I haded down the hall for
Speaker 4: the interrogation room.
Speaker 7: We had a couple of drinks together, and that's all
Speaker 7: it was to it. You didn't ask anybody who was there.
Speaker 7: She got up and left by herself. I didn't go
Speaker 7: with it. Jill Eables, who was just telling me you
Speaker 7: did see missus Cheswick in the bar last night. I
Speaker 7: had a couple of drinks with us.
Speaker 6: Why did you hold out, Gable?
Speaker 7: Why couldn't you told us that when we asked you,
Speaker 7: I didn't remember. Then you came up to me and
Speaker 7: the bar started asking questions. I got a rattle. Did
Speaker 7: make a different?
Speaker 9: So?
Speaker 7: I didn't even know her name, said those couple of
Speaker 7: drinks with him, and then she got up and left.
Speaker 7: That's all. I didn't go out with him. And the
Speaker 7: bartender says, you did, sure of it. He says he
Speaker 7: can get half of another people to back him up.
Speaker 7: He's wrong, He's got to be. He's thinking of somebody else.
Speaker 6: Well, if you didn't leave the bar with miss Chesswick,
Speaker 6: when did you leave?
Speaker 7: I don't know. At five to ten minutes later, I
Speaker 7: get where'd you go? Then I walked around a little bit,
Speaker 7: got a little fresh air, and I went to a show,
Speaker 7: which one I don't remember the name of the places.
Speaker 7: So n rose with a couple of blocks down from
Speaker 7: the bar or pictures you see. I'm not sure. I
Speaker 7: had a couple of drinks.
Speaker 6: I went to the movies. You don't even know what
Speaker 6: you saw.
Speaker 7: I told you I had a couple of drinks, feeling
Speaker 7: pretty good. I just don't remember that song. Not much
Speaker 7: of an hour bar gave us talking about it.
Speaker 4: I don't mean Alabama's dead, mister, you were with her
Speaker 4: the last time she was seen alive.
Speaker 7: It wasn't with her. I don't care what anybody tells you.
Speaker 6: I wasn't with this movie. You say you went to
Speaker 6: What times you get.
Speaker 7: Out at the midnight? I think I don't remember.
Speaker 6: Where'd you go after that? Bar?
Speaker 7: Had a few more drinks, and then I went back to
Speaker 7: my hotel. Which bar was a place on West Seventh.
Speaker 7: I'd go there sometimes. I know the bartender.
Speaker 6: What times you leave there?
Speaker 7: Closing time two o'clock? And then I went back to
Speaker 7: my hotel.
Speaker 6: You say you know the bartender there, I guess he'd
Speaker 6: be glad to vouch for you. I mean that you
Speaker 6: were there when you said you were.
Speaker 7: I don't know. Maybe not. He was pretty busy last night,
Speaker 7: maybe didn't notice me. How about your hotel h the
Speaker 7: desk clerk, somebody like that. They should be able to
Speaker 7: tell what time you got in. Don't you think they
Speaker 7: wouldn't know. I always carry my key with me. I'd
Speaker 7: go into side door. They wouldn't know what time I
Speaker 7: got in.
Speaker 6: What are you trying to sell? Mister? What are you
Speaker 6: talking about?
Speaker 4: You knocked around town from eight o'clock last night till
Speaker 4: past two o'clock this morning. You can't think of anyone
Speaker 4: that could watch for you where you were, what time
Speaker 4: you got here, what time you left?
Speaker 7: I can't think of anybody right now. I don't take
Speaker 7: down names and the dresses every time somebody looks at me.
Speaker 7: What's the difference, anyway? I didn't have anything to do
Speaker 7: with a girl.
Speaker 4: This difference gable attendant at the hospital. He got a
Speaker 4: good look at the man who came in and asked
Speaker 4: for that wheelchair. He gave us a man's description that
Speaker 4: fits you pretty close, So it doesn't mean anything.
Speaker 7: He could make a mistake too, just like that bartender.
Speaker 6: They're all wrong. But you's know what you're trying to say.
Speaker 7: Look, as far as I'm concerned, I only got one
Speaker 7: thing to say. I had a couple of drinks with
Speaker 7: Karla last night, and that's all. She left by herself.
Speaker 7: I didn't even go near the apark.
Speaker 6: How do you know she had an apartment?
Speaker 7: Well, you told me, you said, so, you know, we
Speaker 7: didn't say anything like that, And I guess I heard
Speaker 7: around the bar. Maybe she mentioned to me, Yeah, that's
Speaker 7: probably it.
Speaker 6: Why don't you come off at Gables?
Speaker 12: Come off what.
Speaker 7: I don't even know what you getting.
Speaker 4: We want a straight story, and we're not getting it.
Speaker 4: You told us she didn't even know the chairs with
Speaker 4: women before last night. You didn't even know her name,
Speaker 4: that's right. And why did you say Carla? Just a
Speaker 4: minute ago you said I had a couple of drinks
Speaker 4: with Carla. They say that that's what you're saying. Maybe
Speaker 4: I just hadn't remembered. I was drink quite a bit
Speaker 4: talking to her. Maybe I just remembered, won't.
Speaker 7: Do Gables story, doesn't know water? How about it? I
Speaker 7: don't know. I was drinking quite a bit. A lot
Speaker 7: of things I don't remember.
Speaker 6: How I've given it to a straight What do you remember?
Speaker 7: I thought about it, thought about it all night. The
Speaker 7: more I went over, the worst it got. I just
Speaker 7: couldn't remember. I knew what it did sound like in court.
Speaker 7: I couldn't tell it that.
Speaker 6: We couldn't tell what.
Speaker 7: I didn't kill her. I didn't even touch it. You
Speaker 7: gotta believe that. I left the bar with her about
Speaker 7: eight fifteen, eight thirty. She invited me up to her apartment.
Speaker 7: She was pretty well gone. I had quite a few drinks,
Speaker 7: got there and had some more to drink, and Karla
Speaker 7: got up and started for the kitchen to get some
Speaker 7: more ice. She tripped, I think stumbled a little bit,
Speaker 7: and then she fell down. I think that's the way
Speaker 7: it was, all right, go on. She tried to get up,
Speaker 7: and then she fell again. Wasn't a bad fallow. I
Speaker 7: figured she just passed out. Got some cold towels, ice water.
Speaker 7: I tried to bring her around. It wasn't any good.
Speaker 7: She was white as a sheep. I got scared. I
Speaker 7: didn't know what happened.
Speaker 6: What'd you do that?
Speaker 7: I don't remember. I just kept trying to bring her around.
Speaker 7: I don't remember any of it very well. I don't
Speaker 7: even know why she fell down, could have hit her.
Speaker 6: Gable.
Speaker 7: Do you think maybe that's why she fell down? No,
Speaker 7: I don't know. I don't think so, I don't. I
Speaker 7: don't think I was mad at her for anything. I
Speaker 7: think we were having a pretty good time. I just
Speaker 7: don't remember, that's all. I'm not sure about any of it.
Speaker 7: It was no good at all.
Speaker 6: Did you kill her? Gable?
Speaker 7: No, Sergeant, I swear it, as far as I can remember,
Speaker 7: I didn't. We were having a good time, that's all
Speaker 7: I know. I know I wasn't mad. I'm not a
Speaker 7: nasty drunk, not as far as I can remember. Anyway,
Speaker 7: What did you do when you couldn't revive missus Cheswick?
Speaker 7: He brought her to the hospital.
Speaker 6: Yeah, the shape I was.
Speaker 7: In, I couldn't figure anything else to do. I got
Speaker 7: her in the car, drove down to Georgia Street. I
Speaker 7: put her in the elevator, pressed the button and sent
Speaker 7: her up. I'm a married man, you know. I didn't
Speaker 7: want any scandal. I didn't want to get involved, and.
Speaker 6: You didn't feel he Is that what you want us
Speaker 6: to believe.
Speaker 7: I don't know what to tell you. I don't remember
Speaker 7: if I killed her. I think i'd know it. I'm
Speaker 7: sure I would. I just don't remember. I got it.
Speaker 6: Pterrogation room Friday time. Yeah, that's uh, this is I
Speaker 6: got a pencil I gave be sure. How was that?
Speaker 6: I see?
Speaker 4: No possibility? Yeah, I see. Okay, thanks a lot. Yeah, sure,
Speaker 4: we'll pick it up later. Bye bye.
Speaker 6: Yeah. Joe Corner's report just finished the autopsy.
Speaker 4: Sorry, Gable s all right, it's all cleared up. What
Speaker 4: do you mean while you're free to go if you like,
Speaker 4: we're not gonnology?
Speaker 6: What was the pitched? Joe Corner's report.
Speaker 4: Primary cause of death was a massive cerebral hemorrhage hemorrhae
Speaker 4: into the ventricle.
Speaker 7: Could have been a blow on the head, couldn't it?
Speaker 7: You figured that could have done it.
Speaker 6: No.
Speaker 4: Secondary cause was a brain tumor, a big one. Corner says,
Speaker 4: she's had it for years. It must have caused her
Speaker 4: a lot of pain. Probably would have counted for the
Speaker 4: drinking and the tumor. Wrote on their hemorrhage. That's what's
Speaker 4: killed her, I.
Speaker 6: Say, Corner says. Erosion of the blood vessel.
Speaker 4: By a brain tumor probably grew caused pressure on a
Speaker 4: blood vessel finally gave way caused the hemorrhage, and.
Speaker 7: That killer if she just died, I didn't have anything
Speaker 7: to do. She died and I didn't kill her.
Speaker 6: Yes, sir, that's right. Feel free to go if you want.
Speaker 7: Thank God, you know officers, I'll tell you the truth.
Speaker 7: I didn't know the answer. I didn't know if I
Speaker 7: killed or not.
Speaker 6: I really didn't.
Speaker 7: Drinking so much, I came to and there she was dead.
Speaker 7: I didn't know what happened. I really didn't. I didn't
Speaker 7: know the answer.
Speaker 6: Now you went up on that stable. We thought we did.
Speaker 2: The story you have just heard was true. The names
Speaker 2: were changed to protect the innocence.
Speaker 3: On Thursday, November tenth, the meeting was held in the
Speaker 3: office of Captain of Homicide. In a moment the results
Speaker 3: of that meeting, with the filing of the official autopsy
Speaker 3: report by the county coroner, John Gables was cleared of
Speaker 3: all charges. He was released from custody immediately. The death
Speaker 3: of missus Carla Cheswick was listed as due to natural
Speaker 3: causes by the Coroner's Jury.
Speaker 6: Ladies and Gentlemen.
Speaker 2: Last year's traffic death toll was thirty seven five hundred,
Speaker 2: a seven percent increase over nineteen fifty The National Safety
Speaker 2: Council believes that the best way to promote safety on
Speaker 2: the road is for each of us to know and
Speaker 2: obey traffic laws.
Speaker 6: To read and heed traffic signs. So be careful.
Speaker 2: The life you save may be your own.
Speaker 3: You have just heard drag myth a series of authentic
Speaker 3: cases from official files. Technical advice comes from the Office
Speaker 3: of Chief of Police W. H. Parker, Los Angeles Police
Speaker 3: Department Technical advisors Captain Jack Donaho's Sergeant Marty Wynn, Sergeant
Speaker 3: Fans Bracier heard tonight were Martin Milner, Vic Perrin, and Gwendolino.
Speaker 3: Script by Jim Mosy, music by Walter Schumann. Hel Gibney speaking.
Speaker 7: Now it's coveror Spy on NBC.
Speaker 1: Welcome Back. There are a couple of moments in this
Speaker 1: episode that I really appreciated. The questioning of the husband,
Speaker 1: Ernest Cheswick really captures a lot of emotion. He spent
Speaker 1: nine years trying to get the relationship to work, is
Speaker 1: still paying the rent, but is now in this separated status.
Speaker 1: And in this brief scene you capture the sort of
Speaker 1: anger and frustration at the broken promises and the end
Speaker 1: of this self destructive cycle. But then Finally, when that's
Speaker 1: all done, you get to the real core sadness that
Speaker 1: this person you spent nearly a decade with is gone,
Speaker 1: and I appreciate the emotional complexity of that scene. Very
Speaker 1: well done. And then the interrogation, which shows how sometimes
Speaker 1: someone in a less than ideal situation might have trouble
Speaker 1: giving account of themselves to the police even though they're innocent.
Speaker 1: And it also shows the danger of leaning too heavily
Speaker 1: into a solution before a full investigation was done. This
Speaker 1: wasn't a case where they leapt as far as Friday
Speaker 1: and Jacobs did in the Big Casing, but it still
Speaker 1: shows that you can get out in front of the evidence,
Speaker 1: particularly with Friday's closing line. Listener comments and feedback now
Speaker 1: and we go to YouTube for some comments on the
Speaker 1: Big Show. Catherine rits a great ending, and Mildred writes,
Speaker 1: I have fond memories of the Greyhound Buys station when
Speaker 1: it was on sixth and Los Angeles Street. And also
Speaker 1: I had a manager whose wife cheated on him and
Speaker 1: got pregnant with someone else's baby. Instead of getting divorced,
Speaker 1: he raised the sun as if it was his own.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if the boy ever knew that the
Speaker 1: man who raised him was not his real father. Well,
Speaker 1: thanks so much, and I guess that is an example
Speaker 1: of that story in the episode happening in real life.
Speaker 1: Then we have some comments on our listeners survey and
Speaker 1: uh Jeremy writes. Uh Uh in Toronto writes when answering
Speaker 1: what aspect I enjoy most about this podcast, the survey
Speaker 1: only allowed me to pick one between the hosts content
Speaker 1: and guest. I selected content, but I feel that separate
Speaker 1: separating the host from the content is a bit of
Speaker 1: a disservice to the host. Adam grant their many shoes.
Speaker 1: I could choose to listen to with similar programming, but
Speaker 1: I choose to listen to the great detectives of Old
Speaker 1: time Radio because of the insightful, professional, and entertaining commentary
Speaker 1: provided by the host. Adam's commentary is an important portion
Speaker 1: of the content of the show. Well, thanks so much, Jeremy.
Speaker 1: I appreciate the perspective. And David over in Scotland says
Speaker 1: the show is fantastic. I love the Sherlock Holmes series,
Speaker 1: and Paul writes anything with Philip marlowin. I assume that
Speaker 1: Paul approved of our vacation week programs. Well, now it's
Speaker 1: time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day, and
Speaker 1: I want to go ahead and thank Damien, Patreon supporter
Speaker 1: since March twenty twenty four, currently supporting the podcast at
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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your support. That will do it
Speaker 1: for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us
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Speaker 1: will be back next Thursday with another episode of Dragnet.
Speaker 1: But join us back here tomorrow for another episode of
Speaker 1: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, where.
Speaker 12: If you are.
Speaker 13: Willing to pay me, will if you can dig up
Speaker 13: the information I want, I'll maybe you a check for
Speaker 13: one hundred bucks American immediately journey only.
Speaker 12: For in the steam booth services.
Speaker 13: Okay, two hundred Now listen, there's a little idol, the
Speaker 13: mailing Buddha.
Speaker 12: It will. I saw it only this morning here in Paris,
Speaker 12: where at the shop of Monsieur dubuisson On he was
Speaker 12: mored in only a few weeks ago. And the price
Speaker 12: on it well, for such aware and exquisite piece, most
Speaker 12: reasonable how much time? Thirty two million francs.
Speaker 7: Good, that's around eighty thousand dollars.
Speaker 6: So it must be the McCoy.
Speaker 12: You wish me to. Shall we see upteam it for you?
Speaker 6: You mean steal it? What?
Speaker 12: Of course?
Speaker 7: With you?
Speaker 12: But for our price?
Speaker 8: No, no, think I hope.
Speaker 1: You'll be with us then in the meantime, send your
Speaker 1: comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net, follow
Speaker 1: us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us out
Speaker 1: on Instagram, Instagram, dot com, slash Great Detectives From boy
Speaker 1: Se Ataho. This is your host, Adam Graham, sogn and
Speaker 1: off