Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're
going to bring you this week's episode of Dragnet. But
first I do want to encourage you. If you're enjoying
the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software.
Our listener support and appreciation campaign continues and you can
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or more per month. Thanks so much for your support.
Now from December twenty seventh, nineteen fifty one, here is
the big sorrow.
Speaker 2: Ladies and gentlemen, The makers of Fatima Cigarettes and the
entire cast and crew and technicians of Dragnet respectfully dedicate
tonight's program to the memory of Barton Yarborough, who created
and portrayed the role of Sergeant Ben Romero.
Speaker 3: The story you were about to hear is true. The
names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're a
detective sergeant. They're assigned a robbery details. Two convicts escape
from a nearby state penitentiary in the early morning. According
to reports, they're heading for your city. They're both armed,
they're both dangerous. Your jobs get them.
Speaker 4: Drag Man the documented drama of an actual crime. While
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. Transcribed from
official police violence, from beginning to end, from crime to punishment,
Dragnet is the story of your police force in action.
Speaker 2: It was Saturday, April twenty fourth. It was hot in
Los Angeles. We are working the day watch out of
robbery detail. My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Captain Didion.
My name is Friday.
Speaker 5: It was five minutes past eight am when I got
the room, twenty seven.
Speaker 6: A robbery detail worn Joe, Hi.
Speaker 2: Crowley, how's it working out?
Speaker 5: Any more?
Speaker 7: Word in the escape for isn't it nothing this morning?
Speaker 8: No?
Speaker 6: Captain likes seeing Joe.
Speaker 7: Okay, Ben check in yet?
Speaker 5: No get a little late? Yes, he was held up.
Speaker 6: Huh Captain want to see it right away?
Speaker 9: Some bad minutes?
Speaker 5: Joe, Oh, what's matter?
Speaker 6: Maybe it'd be better if.
Speaker 5: You don't do all right?
Speaker 7: Oh morning Joe, Hi, do you want to see me? Yeah?
Good money, it's good.
Speaker 6: N Yeah.
Speaker 10: Got some bad news, Joe, real bad for what's a mina?
I know how much it means. I wish I didn't
have to be the one.
Speaker 7: To tell you.
Speaker 5: But tell me what.
Speaker 7: Sorry, Joe, it's about the Ben. Something's happening Ben.
Speaker 5: Well, what do you mean?
Speaker 10: We were going to find him out it early this morning.
I thought about calling him.
Speaker 7: Figure it'd be better if I told you in person.
Speaker 5: But what's the matter of Ben?
Speaker 8: Sir?
Speaker 7: He's dead Joe been dead early this morning?
Speaker 5: What?
Speaker 7: Yeah? Sorry?
Speaker 10: Heart attack happened a little after six o'clock this morning.
No got out of bed, started dressing and go to work.
Went downstairs to put a pot of coffee on make
some toast. Wife heard him fall. She went downstairs and
found him already dead.
Speaker 7: Went fast.
Speaker 5: Ook. I don't get this.
Speaker 7: It couldn't be sorry, Joe means a lot to all
of us.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well I still don't yet it. Ben didn't have
any trouble with his heart. He never mentioned anything about it.
Speaker 10: Yeah, maybe that was the trouble? Was his heart all right?
When his wife found him. She called the doctor in
the fire department rescue squad. They worked over him for
an hour, no years, and his wife called me not
to tear your heart out.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I can't believe it what you say.
Speaker 10: Actually didn't break up, too shocked to realize that, I guess,
sounded apologetic that I'm sorry, captain, this is missus Romero.
Ben died this morning. I thought you ought to know
Ben's dead.
Speaker 5: That's terrible. It's a lousy shame.
Speaker 10: Kept saying the same thing over again, I'm sorry, Ben's dead.
I thought you ought to know Ben's dead. Yeah, Joe
White had and I went out there right away, tried
to talk to her. It wasn't much.
Speaker 5: You excuse me, I'm sorry.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you were with him a long time.
Speaker 11: Yeah, eleven years day I came on the job. They
assigned me as his partner. You know, this is a
tough one. It's hard to believe. It's tougher on his wife.
That's all right with you. I'd like to go see her,
all right. I wish I could give you the day off, Joe.
I know what it means to you. You just get
convict thing. I just can't spare you. Yeah, that's all right,
I just soon worked.
Speaker 12: I figured out to talk to Amy though, might help
to take the edge off as the four video.
Speaker 10: Sure man, Joe, Yeah, I know what it is. I've
been on the job nineteen years, lost two partners, good cops.
One of them was killed in the line of duty.
The other one worked at his job until he dropped.
It's the same thing, Joe. In my book, they both
rate medals.
Speaker 2: I left the office and went down on the elevator alone.
I got in the car, and I started over for
Ben's place. I thought about what I was going to
say to his wife.
Speaker 5: I thought about his little boy. I thought about Ben.
Speaker 2: Eleven years I'd been working as a cop, and all
of a sudden, it wasn't the same anymore. I thought
about the first day I met Ben I was a rookie.
I remembered what he taught me about being a cop.
Speaker 5: I thought about how much I owed him.
Speaker 2: I thought about the thousands of cops just like him
all over the country, the ones that came before us,
the ones that'll take our place.
Speaker 5: I thought about their.
Speaker 2: Lives, and their homes and their families, what they meant,
what their jobs meant.
Speaker 5: I thought about Ben eleven years.
Speaker 2: Stakouts, the early morning watch, interrogations, office duty. You could
cover it in volumes, or you could write on the
back of an envelope. He was a good cop and
he was a good friend. There wasn't much else to say.
It was a big loss.
Speaker 5: I stayed at Ben's house for about an hour talking
to his wife.
Speaker 2: Joe Whitehead from the medical detail was there. All things considered,
she seemed to be taking it fairly well. I told
her I'd drop around later in the day, and then
I checked back in at the office for work. Temporarily,
Sergeant Ed Jacobs was assigned to work with me. The
big problem at the moment was a pair of escaped convicts.
Jacobs and I drove out to run down on a
possible lead eleven o five am. We got to the
address listed the Cathedral of Saint Augustine.
Speaker 5: We checked in at the rectory and then we went
around to the church.
Speaker 13: Go ahead, Okay, I'm sure a beautiful church, isn't it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a nice choir, isn't it.
Speaker 8: What if they're holding services?
Speaker 5: No, whole choir is probably just practice. You'll see the
priest on anywhere. Ed.
Speaker 14: Well, yeah, someone over by the side all today looks
like the padre.
Speaker 12: Yeah, easter Hamles sure pretty hard the yeah, sure, it
really takes me back.
Speaker 8: You never believe it to what's that?
Speaker 5: He used to be a boy?
Speaker 8: Tendor?
Speaker 5: Or excuse me?
Speaker 8: Please?
Speaker 9: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Are you father? Newman's right?
Speaker 9: Can I help him?
Speaker 2: Police officer's father? I see, this is my partner, Sergeant Jacob's.
Mine name was Friday.
Speaker 14: I'll foll housekeeper over directly told us we could find
you here. I'd like to talk to you for a
few minutes if you got the time.
Speaker 10: Father, Let's see, I have confessions starting at three o'clock.
Leave me about ten minutes. What was it about Sagan?
Speaker 5: Well, we're inquiring about a Stanley Blair. Father. We understand
that you knew him fairly well, oh.
Speaker 10: Yes, if I knew. Matter of fact, I read about
him in the paper this morning. Trouble he's in. Is
that what you wanted to talk about?
Speaker 14: Yes, that's right. We're making a check of all his
known friends as relatives.
Speaker 10: Very unfortunate, isn't it. Did the newspapers have the story correct?
Speaker 8: Yes, I'm afraid so. Yeah.
Speaker 14: I wonder if we could step outside of father, we
could talk out there without disturbing anyone in church.
Speaker 5: Truly sorry, please kill.
Speaker 10: Certainly a tragedy, I mean happening at Easter time. I'll
remember the boy in my mask tomorrow. Lord knows he can.
Speaker 5: Use some prayers, yes, sir, I guess he can.
Speaker 9: Here we are bench there could carried us down, sir.
Speaker 5: That's all right.
Speaker 10: The newspapers weren't too specific. How did he manage to
escape the way he did? I always thought state penitentiaries
were well guarded.
Speaker 14: Apparently Blair was one of the trusted prisoners. It's a
minimum security prisoner to begin with, Father.
Speaker 10: I see, I suppose Blair and the man he escaped
with thought about it. A good deal, according to the paper,
and as well planned. When did they get away last night?
Speaker 14: It was this morning, prison official figure about two am
slugged the guard and went over the wall.
Speaker 8: Some other.
Speaker 14: Two of them got hold of a gun, held up
a motorist on the highway store his car. As last
reportment hand terrible?
Speaker 9: Did the police considered them dangerous?
Speaker 5: Their arm? Father?
Speaker 2: Both of them were doing time for robbery. They both
used guns before. How about possible contacts he might have outthound?
Speaker 5: Father? Can you help us there at all?
Speaker 10: I'm I prayed, not, Sergeant. I think stan knew some
people in San Francisco. I don't know their names or addresses, though,
I haven't any idea, And.
Speaker 2: There's no special person or place that you know of
that he'd be likely to go if he heads back
for Los Angeles.
Speaker 10: No, no, I can think of. You imagine he'd be
likely to come back here.
Speaker 8: We're not sure.
Speaker 14: Last report we had seemed to indicate Blairin's partner. We're
heading this way. Prison's only about forty miles away. Could
be there in the city.
Speaker 9: Now, I don't understand.
Speaker 10: I mean, with all the police looking for them, why
would they come back here.
Speaker 2: They probably figured they can find cover a lot easier
than they could in some of the small towns.
Speaker 10: H Sergeant, Yeah, father, do you think they'll have trouble
taking stand?
Speaker 9: I mean, can they take him alive?
Speaker 2: Well, we'll try our best to make it that way.
It's like I told you, father, he's got a gun.
If he's cornered, there's a good chance he might try
to shoot his way out.
Speaker 10: Discouraging sometimes I try to help them. I pray for them,
young thieves. I only hope they're all as lucky as
as he was.
Speaker 8: How's that it?
Speaker 7: The grotto back there in the garden figure of a
man in it.
Speaker 8: Oh?
Speaker 10: Yeah, the statue of Disma's one of the luckiest men
who ever lived. I like to tell fellows like Stan
about him.
Speaker 5: I don't think I understand. Father.
Speaker 10: You know the story of the crucifixion. The two men
who were crucified with Christ.
Speaker 8: They were both thieves.
Speaker 10: A few minutes before he died, one of the thieves
turned to Christ on the cross, confessed his crimes, asked
our Lord to remember him. Christ told him this day
he'll be with me in Paradise. The man's name was Disma.
We like to call him the good Thief. I told
Stan about it right here in his courtyard. He should
have remembered it. Yeah, I guess so. I told him,
you never give up hope. He can make the grade
in the last five minutes of your life. Stand out
of no better or to remember, sir, the good Thief.
He made it with a prayer, not to the gun
in his hand.
Speaker 2: Before we left, Father Newman, we gave him our card,
and he gave us a list of eight names and
addresses people in the neighborhood who'd known the escaped convict
Stanley Blair before he was sentenced to the State penitentiary
to serve time on his robbery conviction. Three point fifteen
pm we met with Sergeants Max Herman and J. E.
Crowley from robbery Detail. We divided the list of names
in half and we began checking him out. Ed and
I didn't have much luck on our and most of
the people we talked to told us that they knew
Stanley Blair, but none of them had seen heard from
him or knew anything about his activities or his family
since Blair had gone to prison two and a half
years before. Steakhouts were set up at two of the
hottest places. Five twenty pm. ED and I went back
to the office. Crowley was waiting for us.
Speaker 15: No no luck on our Indeed, the same thing I
say heard Edvan was when he was set up.
Speaker 8: Just finishers at any lately, pats.
Speaker 6: It all yees teletype from the Sheriff's office.
Speaker 15: It was waiting here When Max and I got back,
I guess Sir Hunt was right.
Speaker 6: Looks like they headed this way.
Speaker 5: Well, how do you mean somebody spot them?
Speaker 15: This is side of West COVENA hell up a grocery
store slugged. The owner got twenty three dollars and forty cents.
Not going to take them far.
Speaker 5: Descriptions match out, yeah, perfectly.
Speaker 15: Suspects believed to be two prisoners who escaped this day
from the California Institution from Manchino, Stanley AR Blair, Wesley A.
Speaker 6: Russell something else.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 6: At grocery store they knocked over.
Speaker 15: They picked up another gun. The owners description serial numbers
on it. Here has twenty rounds of ammunition too supplementary
apb's already.
Speaker 9: Out on it.
Speaker 15: How about a car they switch over? Y, Yeah, we
don't know about it. Apparently they're still using the Buick coop.
They took them at motors this morning. No reports on it,
though it's.
Speaker 5: A queer one. You think somebody'd spot it.
Speaker 15: They got the highway patrol working, this highway patrol, Sheriff's office,
our department, everybody you can name.
Speaker 6: By the way, you had R and I Puller mug jest.
Speaker 14: Said, yeah, both of them. Blair and Russell are running out.
The duplicates now five hundred of them should be about ready.
Pretty good chet mm hmm, stand up mugs. Fairly recent
I made the last time we had the two of
them through here.
Speaker 2: How about that other list of their friends and relatives
we pulled from their packages. The michaeleb were checking them out,
weren't They.
Speaker 6: Probably still are.
Speaker 7: No word from him yet.
Speaker 6: How do you size it to them, Joe Blair and Russell.
Speaker 5: I don't know.
Speaker 2: It's a tough combination. Russell's older, He's got the experience.
Blair is younger, he's got the nerve. Anyway, you figure
it's not going.
Speaker 6: To be easy.
Speaker 8: Guns in the ammunition they grabbed me and gonna help
much either.
Speaker 5: Just the roadblocks are up, highway patrol take care of the.
Speaker 6: Yeah, all said, working now.
Speaker 15: All our special details have been alert at airports, bus depots,
train terminals, just about everything covered. Robbery Crowley, Yeah, my collage.
You'll stay on it right see La mclem He and
young are still checking on friends of Russell. It's on
the places he hung out, any lots. Not from the
end either, one of you see the captain on the way.
Speaker 8: No, I say he'd be over with the Sheriff's office,
didn't he? Hotcha?
Speaker 2: I'll get it.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 8: What as a.
Speaker 2: Clothing store out of North Thig two eleven and slugging.
They're sure moving fast, Sam, you got it Blair and
Russell five point fifty five pm. A supplementary broadcast and.
Speaker 5: An all points bulletin were gotten out.
Speaker 2: Immediately on the two escaped convicts. While Crowley and Hermann
stood by at the office, Ed Jacobs and I picked
up duplicate mug shots of the suspects and drove out
to the scene of the robbery, a men's clothing store
near the intersection of North Figueroa and merced We showed
a group of mugshots to the victim and two witnesses,
and they definitely identified Blair and Russell as the hold
up men. The robbery had netted them less than twenty dollars.
We relayed all the information we got back to communications
immediately and another supplementary.
Speaker 5: Broadcast was gotten out on the two fugitives.
Speaker 2: An hour later, at seven o five pm, Blair and
Russell hit again, this time at a sporting goods store
in the San Fernando Valley. It netted them ninety four dollars,
a thirty thirty hunting rifle and two hundred rounds of ammunition.
Speaker 5: According to the broadcast, they were last seen heading north.
Speaker 2: Through the valley in the Buick Coup the original escape car.
Seven thirty eight pm Ed Jacobs and I got a
call to return to our station. We went back to
the city hall.
Speaker 8: Got a hunch show. It's going to be a long
night and it's a rough one.
Speaker 5: Guns and ammunition. They want to make a stand. They're
all ready for it.
Speaker 14: Can't see how they can go too fu at hot
car or roadblocks set up. Somebody's bond to stopping what
we're doing. All right, So go ahead, you know, Friday Jacobs, Yeah,
Cappan you want to send here.
Speaker 8: Not for long. Keep your coats on.
Speaker 6: The rest of the men have already left.
Speaker 5: What's the latest.
Speaker 10: Yes, communication from the Ventura Sheriff's office. Blur and Russell
were spotted just across the county line. Sheriff figures they
got them boxed in. How close a lot of territory?
Twenty square mile circle? You say they got Blurr and
Russell tied down inside and they're on foot. We're sending
up men to help out her.
Speaker 8: Two of them. Twenty square mile's gonna take a lot
of men.
Speaker 10: If we need more, we'll get them. It's no easy touch.
They're desperate. You heard the latest? O. What's that last
place they hit in the valley? They serve Notice they're
not going to be taken alive, either one of them.
Speaker 5: That's good sales talk. What do they got to back
it up?
Speaker 10: Three guns and a load of ammunition. If we want
to take them alive, they swear it'll cost us ten men.
They'll kill five cops apiece.
Speaker 16: You any ideas, Yeah, let's make liars out of them.
Speaker 4: You are listening to dragnet authentic stories of your police
force and action.
Speaker 2: Saturday, April twenty fourth, nine pm, along with Captain Dideon
and a dozen other men from Robbery Detail, Ed Jacobs
and I left the office and headed north up through
the San Fernando Valley.
Speaker 5: The area where the two escape.
Speaker 2: Convicts were reportedly surrounded was just on the outskirts of
Ventura County Line. On the way out, we stopped for
a minute and iPhone Ben's house. His wife had been
given a sedative and she was resting. Her folks were
with it. Ten fifteen pm we arrived at the meeting
point on the edge of the blockaded area from which
the search was being directed. Communication facilities had been set
up along with a field kitchen to feed the men
taking part in the hunt, over five hundred of them,
from our office, the La Sheriff's Department, the State Highway Patrol,
the Ventura Sheriff's Department, and a couple of dozen private
citizens who lived in the area. Together with Max Herman
and Crowley, Ed Jacobs and I took up our position
in the line of men that stretched north and east,
then north again, circling the entire area, twenty square miles
of it. The line drew slowly inward twelve midnight, one am.
Speaker 5: No sign of the suspects. We stayed at it.
Speaker 14: You get no idea the size of these hayfields till
you start hiking them.
Speaker 8: Yeh.
Speaker 5: Throw the light over there? What you add irrigation ditch
there right there at it? Yeah, it's okay.
Speaker 2: It's a long hike. I would you like to see
some of that hot coffee pretty soon?
Speaker 8: Yeah? Same here? Nice setup they got.
Speaker 2: I had a field kitchen, yeah, joy, Yeah, Hey.
Speaker 12: You got the light.
Speaker 17: Yeah we got it.
Speaker 7: I want to stand up with flare worth.
Speaker 2: A clump of tree over this light It up good, okay, Crawley.
Speaker 8: About a forty five degree angle. Joe had ought to
do it.
Speaker 14: Huh yeah, okay, had ought to do it.
Speaker 8: Really lights it up, doesn't it.
Speaker 5: You got any extra magnesium shells?
Speaker 4: Are right?
Speaker 8: Yeah? One fight here? Here you are?
Speaker 5: Thanks?
Speaker 6: There we go Friday at you?
Speaker 5: Yeah, cap over here?
Speaker 9: I know he was beating the brush here anymore.
Speaker 7: We're moving up three miles north.
Speaker 10: How come Blarin Russell? They hit again, kidnapped an old
couple from a farmhouse.
Speaker 5: They're still on foot.
Speaker 10: Yeah, as far as we know, they're hemmed in a
two square mile area. They may try to break out,
use the old couple for a shield, but where's that
leave us?
Speaker 7: I don't know.
Speaker 5: You think they'd harm the old couple.
Speaker 6: They kidnapped him their desk?
Speaker 5: You figure it, am.
Speaker 2: All of the men in the search party were shifted
north to the area where the two escaped convicts and
their kidnap victims were last seen. Two officers were sent
to each farmhouse in the immediate neighborhood to make sure
that the suspects and their victims were not hit out
or that they were.
Speaker 5: Being held as hostages.
Speaker 2: The officers were ordered to remain at the homes in
the event that Blair and Russell might try to find
cover the searching party moved in slowly over the affected area.
We knew for certain the suspects were still somewhere inside.
Speaker 5: Two point fifteen am, still no sign of them.
Speaker 2: The lines drew in closer two thirty am.
Speaker 8: Can't be much longer, that's sure.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I can't understand it. We should have jumped
them by now.
Speaker 14: It's only a few hundred feet to ago. As the
other line closing in toward us wander, they could have
slipped through beach me ed. Who's that coming?
Speaker 5: Can you see?
Speaker 8: Yeah? It looked like Crowley. Yeah, Joe, Yeah, over here?
Speaker 5: You got any word?
Speaker 15: They found the old couple tied up in an irrigation
to a chaf a mile south of here. Say all right,
yeah they're okay, old ladies for a bad headlong she
got slugged.
Speaker 6: She and her husband have been taking the hospital.
Speaker 8: How about blurring Russell?
Speaker 6: No word?
Speaker 15: She's heard the captain ask for the car with a
loud speaker. He's over there now with sheriff early and
they couldn't have gotten through the lines. They gotta be
around here somewhere.
Speaker 8: Doesn't figure. We combed every foot of this neighborhood.
Speaker 18: Attention all officers. Attention all officers, this is Captain Didion.
Returned to your posts immediately. The search has been canceled.
The search has been canceled.
Speaker 8: How about that?
Speaker 5: I don't know. Come on, let's find out.
Speaker 8: Area is just getting out of the car.
Speaker 5: Capt'n Yeah, what's the matter are we're giving it up?
Speaker 8: No?
Speaker 10: Maybe we've been going at it backwards. We've been trying
all night to jump in. Got a new idea, Yeah,
maybe we can make them jump us.
Speaker 2: Two forty eight am, Captain Dideon and Sheriff Durley ordered
the men to return to the Sheriff's office, with the
exception of two deputy sheriffs, Captain Dideon, Sheriff Durley and
Ed Jacobs, and myself. The rest of the searching party
vacated the area. The plan was to give the general
impression that the search had been called off in the
hope that it might bring the suspects out in the open.
Because of the darkness and the early morning fog settling
over the terrain, we knew that the odds were all
against us. Captain Didion and Sheriff Durley decided instead to
try and lure Blair on Russell from wherever they were
hiding out Each of the small farmhouses in the immediate neighborhood,
eight of them in all, were already under surveillance. Each
of the occupants were requested to park their cars in
a conspicuous place outside their homes with the distributor heads removed.
They were asked to turn all the lights off in
their houses. In the event they heard anyone trying to
start their cars, they would remain indoors. Ed Jacobs and
Eyes were assigned to cover two of the houses. The
other men cover the rest of them. The two houses
that Ed and I were assigned to cover were separated
by about five hundred yards.
Speaker 5: We staked out in between the two of them. We
waited four am. Four thirty.
Speaker 14: Sure cool. Uh yeah, bug goes right through you. You're
gonna be getting light pretty soon. Joe just remembered, Yeah,
what's that Easter morning? I wonder how long this is
gonna go. I promised to hide Easter eggs for the
kids today.
Speaker 2: Now, if it's gonna break, it has to break soon
be daylight and a half hour or so. They won
have a chance and wait a minute.
Speaker 8: Bomb house down on the left.
Speaker 5: Yeah, sounds like it come on, couldn't you see the car?
Speaker 2: Wait a minute, Yeah, you'll cover the passenger side. I'll
come up on the driver's site and watch it.
Speaker 8: Hustle or getting out of the car.
Speaker 2: All right, hold it up, police officers, watch you, Joe
Blair Russell.
Speaker 9: You haven't got a chance.
Speaker 8: Throw it on the gun, all.
Speaker 5: Right, ed, let's give it back.
Speaker 2: Shoo show, throw.
Speaker 7: Off the guns.
Speaker 8: Come to it with your hands open.
Speaker 5: Go shoot.
Speaker 9: Do what they say.
Speaker 17: Come on up, go shoot that.
Speaker 8: All right? Come on, keep coming.
Speaker 5: That's fine enough, right, cover them and I'll shake them down.
Speaker 8: Yeah, we'll break up Joe.
Speaker 5: All right, you want to throw the cuffs on him?
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, I'll go get the car.
Speaker 5: You want to keep it covered? Ben, excuse me?
Speaker 8: I mean sorry, too bad. He wasn't here tonight.
Speaker 5: How can you tell for sure.
Speaker 3: The story you have just heard was true? The names
were changed to protect the innocent.
Speaker 4: On July sixteenth, trial was held in Superior Court, Department
eighty eighth, City and County of Los Angeles, State of California.
In a moment, the results of that trial, now here
is our star, Jack Webb.
Speaker 2: Thank you, George Venaman. Friends, We all hope that you
enjoyed listening to Dragnet in nineteen fifty one. We all
like to think that you'll be with us during the
new year. On our part, we hope to bring you
the kind of entertainment you want.
Speaker 4: Stanley Blair and Wesley Russell were tried and convicted on
three counts of first degree robbery and one count of kidnapping.
They received sentences as prescribed by law. First degree robbery
is punishable by imprisonment from five years to life. Kidnapping
is punishable by imprisonment for not less than one nor
more than twenty years. One count of escape is still pending.
You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases
from official files. Technical advice comes from the Office of
Chief of Police W. H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department.
Heard Tonight where Barney Phillips and Vic Perrin. Script by
Jim Mosy, music by Walter Schumann. Hell give Me.
Speaker 19: Speaking, Counterspy Fights International Intrigue. Next on NBC.
Speaker 1: Welcome Back. The dedication to Yarborough at the beginning and
the plot addressing the death of Ben Romero is the
type of thing that you would expect from a modern drama,
but these were not at all typical in nineteen fifty one.
In fact, Wally Mayer, who had played the role of
Sergeant Matt Grabb on the lineup, passed away eight days later,
and the death was not even acknowledged of either Mayor
or his character. You just had Jack Moyles playing Sergeant
Pete Harger and presiding over the lineup, so that Web
decided to do this does speak to the nature of
his friendship with Barton Yarborough and the importance of Yarborough
to the series. Yarborough had been part of multiple series,
including a couple of major hits, both for Carlton Morse.
He'd play a doc in I Love a Mystery and
actually played the role in three films that brought the
series from radio to the big screen. He'd also been
part of the cast of one of America's most famous
soap operas, as Clifford Barber in One Man's Family, also
produced by Morse. Now there is no record of any
particular acknowledgement of his passing on One Man's Family, although
that and the character not being mentioned again are not
unheard of for the soap opera genre, and he actually
had been replaced on I Love A mystery back in
nineteen forty eight with Jim Bowles, our broad had a
lot of character work passed away right after filming the
second episode of Dragon. He was fifty one years old,
and his passing would change Dragnet and would definitely be
a creative challenge for Jack Webb. Now, I don't want
to oversell this because so much of this series comes
down to the storytelling style and the way that the
investigation unfolds and shows real procedures. This was not primarily
a character driven drama. It didn't have the impact that
it would have had if, say, Martin Milner or Kent
McCord died while filming Adam twelve about a decade and
a half later. But there was a place, in a
position for Ben Romero that no other partner of Joe
Friday would ever have, and we heard somewhat why during
the reflective part of the episode in which Friday stated
that Romero had been his partner from his first day
joining the force and it taught him to be a cop.
They were totally equals in terms of their even though
Friday was the main character. Both subsequent permanent partners for
Joe Friday would be outranked by him, even though they
were both older than he was. Ben Romero was also
the most effortlessly believable police officer of any of Friday's partners,
with a lot of complaining and no nonsense attitude, and
any humor being somewhat wry or deadpan. The two work
and the show had been built around them, and while
it wasn't as bad part of the show as it
would be more modern programs, Web would need to find
a new dynamic now. Some might see this episode as
slightly contradicting The Big Escape, where Friday stated he went
off to service in World War Two, so therefore couldn't
have been working all that time continuously. I would probably
not read it that way, though. It could have either
been a situation where Friday was counting back to the
time that he started and not thinking about his war service,
or had subtracted it out. But regardless, there are many
instances of larger backstory issues and numbers slipping within Dragnets,
so those things tend not to be terribly consistent. Friday's
reflection on Ben are believable and work for the character,
while also reflecting the water appeal and message of Dragnet
and it's the idea that as a police officer, Ben
Romero was part of something bigger than himself, that he
had this broader mission to protect and serve the people
of Los Angeles, and that everything he did was a
part of that mission, no matter how unimportant or tedious
the task was, or how much he complained about it,
done his part to protect and bring justice to Los Angeles.
Cask had been passed on to him by those who'd
come before, and now that would be passed onto others.
And this is where Dragnet differed from a lot of
programs that pushed people towards various careers. Oftentimes the excitement,
the adrenaline, and the cool toys are what drew people in. However,
Dragnet and I think other Jack Web shows were pretty
straightforward about the tediousness of these jobs and how monotonous
and retain and difficult they could be at times. But
what it presented viewers and those who would be inspired
by them was an opportunity to be part of something bigger,
something important, that transcended excitement or money and had a
real sense of purpose. So, again, very consistent with the
tone and message of Dragnet. Also I don't know what
it is, but of all the roles we've heard her
Butterfield in, I am having trouble buying him as a
Catholic priest. Listener comments and feedback now we go over
to Spotify were Harrison comments regarding the Big Canarityies. I
agree with you about programs dialing it to eleven. I'm
looking at you, mister chameleon. One of the best things
Dragnet does is when they let the villain just talk
themselves into a confession. Stacy Harris is really good at
the slow breakdown. Joyce McCluskey's performance is another one of those.
I remember listening to this once before and I had
to stop what I was doing because I was just
so surprised by one scene after another. The only odd
part was having the journalists tag along like that.
Speaker 7: Well.
Speaker 1: I appreciate the comment Harrison. Now, of course, another series
we're playing, The Big Story, makes it clear that there
is something to be said about journalists hanging around and
being part of the scenery with police investigations, but it
does seem to vary from case to case. Rarely does
happen in Dragnet, and I agree, not certainly what the
point was in this particular story. Well, now it's time
to thank our Patreon supporter of the day, and I
want to thank Sheila, Patreon supporter since February twenty twenty,
currently supporting the podcast at the Detective Sergeant level of
seven dollars and fourteen cents or more per month. Thanks
so much for your support, Sheila, And that will do
it for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow
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be back now Thursday with another episode of Dragon at
But join us back here tomorrow for yours truly, Johnny
at All or.
Speaker 20: Where Larkin has the combination to your wall? Say?
Speaker 13: Why not?
Speaker 17: What would he ever do with the junk I keep
stashed away in it?
Speaker 20: What kind of shock?
Speaker 17: Some odds and names and necklaces and roaches and rings,
mostly a couple of bracelets.
Speaker 20: And what's the ring?
Speaker 17: Shenka diamond?
Speaker 20: What isn't that the one I've read about? Probably the
one supposed to be the opposite of the Hope diamond
that's supposed to have good luck. Charm about it?
Speaker 2: No nether?
Speaker 20: Why the thing's worth close to a million, isn't it?
That's what the insurance company says. And you plan to
wear it when your son Edgar gets married. Oh well,
it's silly superstition, I.
Speaker 17: Suppose, but maybe it'll bring him and marry Luanne good
luck in their marriage. Mary Luanne Melanie Beaufort exement culpepper.
Speaker 20: Sounds like something out of Gone.
Speaker 17: With a Wind, the most gorgeous viol in Greensboro, North Carolina?
Speaker 5: Sir?
Speaker 20: Is that where the wedding is going to be?
Speaker 17: That the old family plantation right outside of town. You're
going to escort me to the wedding and the bang
up reception afterward. I understand those seven folks really know
how to throw a wingding.
Speaker 20: He tell me, Martha, do you expect somebody to make
a try for that time?
Speaker 8: Well?
Speaker 20: Sure, I always do.
Speaker 17: Some of the top jewel thieves in the country I
have tried to snatch that ruck.
Speaker 1: I hope you'll be with us then in the meantime.
Send your comments to Box thirteen at Greatdetectives dot net,
follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and check us
out on Instagram, Instagram dot com, slash great detectives from Boise, Adaho.
This is your host, Adam Graham signing off.