Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment,
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Speaker 1: You can try that out free for two weeks. Well,
Speaker 1: now it's time for today's episode of Dragnet. The original
Speaker 1: air date September the twenty first of nineteen fifty and
Speaker 1: the title is The Big Pair.
Speaker 2: The story you are about to hear is true, only
Speaker 2: the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Speaker 3: Dragnet.
Speaker 2: You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned to burglary d Unidentified
Speaker 2: thieves start a campaign of burglaries in your city. Homes
Speaker 2: are broken into and.
Speaker 3: Stripped of their furnishings.
Speaker 4: There's no lead on the criminals.
Speaker 5: Your job get them.
Speaker 6: Dragnet the documented drama of an actual crime. For the
Speaker 6: next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department,
Speaker 6: you will travel step by step on the side of
Speaker 6: the law through an actual case, from official police files,
Speaker 6: from beginning to end, from crime to punishment. Dragnet is
Speaker 6: the story of your police force and action.
Speaker 7: It was Monday, August third, was warm in Los Angeles.
Speaker 7: We're working a day watch out of burglary detail. My
Speaker 7: partner's Ben Romero. The boss's Thad Brown, Chief of Detectives.
Speaker 7: My name is Friday. I was on the way back
Speaker 7: from the business office and it was nine to twenty
Speaker 7: five am when I got through them. Forty five burglary detail.
Speaker 4: You get all the money together, Joe.
Speaker 8: Yeah, dollar from each man in the detail.
Speaker 4: We got to buy the gift. When's Austin gonna get
Speaker 4: married next Sunday. You haven't got too much time. Why
Speaker 4: we always have to pick out the gift.
Speaker 8: Somebody has to do. If you got any ideas what
Speaker 8: we got to get him.
Speaker 4: Talk to my wife over the weekend. She thinks it'd
Speaker 4: be nice we get him time to start housekeeping with
Speaker 4: maybe some nice kitchen table lamp.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I don't know if we have enough to do
Speaker 7: for a good lamp. But maybe they might like a
Speaker 7: bedspread you can always use them, or maybe a nice
Speaker 7: little blanket.
Speaker 4: Huh, I don't know. Gotta be careful about those personal things.
Speaker 4: What do you mean, what's personal about a blanket? Well,
Speaker 4: we don't know much about the girl Austin's gonna marry.
Speaker 4: She might not need anything. What's that?
Speaker 8: Well, what'd you want to know? A little girl?
Speaker 9: Since stolen things?
Speaker 8: I know that all depends. Why don't you come on
Speaker 8: in and tell us all about it?
Speaker 4: Huh? Like to sit down a little girl?
Speaker 9: I'm twelve years sold Standford? Sorry?
Speaker 4: All right?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 4: Would you like to tell us what's been stolen?
Speaker 9: Everything? Everything's been stolen? We came back this morning and
Speaker 9: found it that way. Grandpa's awful mad.
Speaker 8: Maybe we better get the facts to start with what's
Speaker 8: your name.
Speaker 4: Ruth Emory Janette Jeannette, that's your last name?
Speaker 9: No, Snyder, Ruth emorigion as Snyder.
Speaker 8: Did you come down here alone?
Speaker 4: Ruth?
Speaker 9: Yes, Grandpa sent me. He's awful mad.
Speaker 8: Where do you live with Grandpa? Where's that?
Speaker 9: We're on College Avenue. Grandpa's lake's bothering him arthritis. So
Speaker 9: he told me to come down and tell you about it.
Speaker 4: About what man?
Speaker 9: Everything. We came back this morning on the train and
Speaker 9: when we got home we found everything was stolen. It's terrible.
Speaker 4: What do you mean by everything?
Speaker 9: I walked all over here to tell you. I'm thirst, sir,
Speaker 9: drinking fat in the hall.
Speaker 8: Oh, we've got a cool over here. Let me get
Speaker 8: your copa.
Speaker 9: Thank you.
Speaker 8: You like to drink? Man?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 4: No, things.
Speaker 7: All right, little lady, there you go, Thank you very much. Well,
Speaker 7: so I tell us what it's all about.
Speaker 9: Grandpa and I got back to Los Angeles on the
Speaker 9: train this morning. It's been on a trip back to Indiana.
Speaker 9: We took a taxicab home from the station. When we
Speaker 9: got there, everything was gone. Everything that the rug in
Speaker 9: the dining room.
Speaker 8: Yeah, all the furniture.
Speaker 9: Everything's a bit sold for the chairs, my desk upstairs.
Speaker 9: The stole everything's been stolen. I want you to find it.
Speaker 4: I mean someone broke in while you were gone and
Speaker 4: took all your furniture. Is that what you think?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 9: They did a lock on the back door. It was broken.
Speaker 9: They took everything to the dining room rug. That's why
Speaker 9: grandpa's home now. He thinks the crooks will be back.
Speaker 9: He's sitting on the rug because he says if they
Speaker 9: take that, they'll have to take him too. We better hurry.
Speaker 8: Yeah, Grandpa's not very big.
Speaker 7: Am Ben and I drove little ruth and Snyder back
Speaker 7: to where home on College Avenue was an old fashioned
Speaker 7: wooden frame structure of few doors up from.
Speaker 8: College Avenue in Everett Way.
Speaker 7: Ruth Anne showed us inside and introduced us to her grandfather,
Speaker 7: mister John H.
Speaker 8: Snyder, aged seventy eight.
Speaker 7: He told us that a year ago he and his wife,
Speaker 7: ruth Anne's grandmother had come to California from Indiana and
Speaker 7: rented the house on College Avenue. The grandmother had fallen
Speaker 7: ill and passed away. Suddenly, three weeks ago, he and
Speaker 7: ruth Anne closed the house and took the body back
Speaker 7: to Indiana on the train for burial. On their return
Speaker 7: that morning, they found the house stripped of every piece
Speaker 7: of furniture. We checked room by room and listed the
Speaker 7: missing articles. We put in a call to latent fingerprints.
Speaker 4: Do you happen to know the serial numbers of your
Speaker 4: home appliances, Missus Noddy, No.
Speaker 10: Sir, I've lived with most of the furniture for forty years.
Speaker 10: You get to know the things you own in forty years.
Speaker 9: I know it was in my room, Sergeant, my DES's
Speaker 9: my table and share the bed, the curtains.
Speaker 11: I took every Well, how.
Speaker 4: About the estimated value of the furniture, sir? What would
Speaker 4: you say it was worth?
Speaker 8: Dallas?
Speaker 10: And since I don't know what's a household of furniture
Speaker 10: wor anyone is there? Everybody puts thrown value on their things. Yes,
Speaker 10: salad on on a dining set, a wedding present, my
Speaker 10: hug in the front room table. Solid too got money
Speaker 10: in their day all gone.
Speaker 4: Were there any leans against the furniture? Sir? Did you
Speaker 4: owe anything on the furniture? I mean there was no
Speaker 4: trouble with the finance company or anything like that.
Speaker 12: We didn't even know what the finance company was. When
Speaker 12: the wife and I was married. It was sad enough
Speaker 12: trip as it was.
Speaker 10: And Ruthy and me get here this morning and everything's gone.
Speaker 10: All we own, Ruthie, where the thieves broke in? Would
Speaker 10: you show the officers please spack this way?
Speaker 8: How are you and your grandfather going to make out here, Ruth?
Speaker 9: Grandpa says, we'll buy two cuts for the night, Army
Speaker 9: surplus smooth stove to cook on. We'll have to eat out.
Speaker 9: Maybe we'll have to go back to Indiana. Grandpa doesn't
Speaker 9: have much money. It's on a pension. Where's the back door?
Speaker 9: And see what they did to get in?
Speaker 4: M must use the hammer and the crowbar smashed and
Speaker 4: playing through.
Speaker 9: You'll find the crooks, won't you start?
Speaker 4: We're gonna try, Ruth. Better have the crime lab check this.
Speaker 3: Huh yeah.
Speaker 4: How about your neighbors, Ruth? You know an of them?
Speaker 13: Well, I know who they are.
Speaker 9: I don't know any of them good. They're not very friendly.
Speaker 8: We'd like to ask you and your grandfather a few
Speaker 8: more questions.
Speaker 4: Ruth.
Speaker 9: All right, I don't know what I'm going to do
Speaker 9: when school starts. I stole on, I stop even my composition,
Speaker 9: chat it.
Speaker 4: Then they have to take those what's greaty in Ruthy?
Speaker 9: I was in age seven, I'll be nba. Why did
Speaker 9: they take my school things?
Speaker 12: I don't know you see how they got in back there?
Speaker 7: Yes, sir, we did, by any chance? Did any of
Speaker 7: your neighbors know that you and ruth here were going away?
Speaker 12: Why I didn't mention it?
Speaker 4: No? Then no one kept an now on your house
Speaker 4: while you were going.
Speaker 12: No, I didn't figure it was necessary.
Speaker 9: I just remember Grandpa, Missus Murton, I told her we
Speaker 9: were going away. Who's that ruth She wants store down
Speaker 9: to the corners, bird storeph canaries, other kinds of birds too.
Speaker 9: Missus Murton's her name, stores right down the corner.
Speaker 4: You figure she's the only one who knew you'd be
Speaker 4: going from the house, or sometimes must have been the
Speaker 4: only one.
Speaker 7: All right, mister Snyder, we'll be back to see you
Speaker 7: later on. And here's our card. We'll see if we
Speaker 7: can't do something to help you out here.
Speaker 10: Let's see here Friday merrow burglary detail. All right, thank
Speaker 10: you boy. Ruthie will show you to the door. Oh say, yes,
Speaker 10: you understand, but I'd like to apologize anyway.
Speaker 12: I just couldn't do it. What's that sir offer you chair.
Speaker 7: Ten thirty am, Ben and I called the Salvation Army
Speaker 7: and told them the Snyder's situation, and then we went
Speaker 7: down the street to the store at the corner of Cooley.
Speaker 8: Javenue and Everett Way.
Speaker 7: The sign on the window said Missus Merton's bird Land
Speaker 7: Manager Agnes Merton.
Speaker 4: We tried the door was locked.
Speaker 7: Cardboard clock hanging on the glass door read be back
Speaker 7: at one pm. So we went back up to Collige
Speaker 7: Avenue and we started ringing doorbells.
Speaker 8: Some of the residents on the block didn't even know
Speaker 8: the Snyders.
Speaker 7: Of those that did, only two had noticed any activity
Speaker 7: at the house during the three weeks mister Snyder and
Speaker 7: his granddaughter had been away. They told us that they'd
Speaker 7: seen a moving van park in front of the house
Speaker 7: about a week before. They also saw a man moving
Speaker 7: furniture from the house into the van. Neither of the
Speaker 7: two could describe the vehicle or remember its license number.
Speaker 8: Twelve forty five PM. We had a cup of coffee.
Speaker 7: And a hamburger, and then we headed back for Missus
Speaker 7: Merton's bird store. Yes, ma'am, police officers, you have a
Speaker 7: few questions for you.
Speaker 4: Something about free, No, ma'am, but one of your neighbors. Oh,
Speaker 4: the Snyders. I lived just at the street running.
Speaker 13: Oh, yes, old couple. Poor missus Snyder passed away, you
Speaker 13: know a few weeks ago.
Speaker 8: Yes, we know.
Speaker 13: They have a wonderful granddaughter, Ruthy. She and I are
Speaker 13: getting to be great friends. The Snyder's having some kind
Speaker 13: of trouble.
Speaker 4: We're investigating a burglary at their house.
Speaker 13: Oh that now you'll be fie.
Speaker 12: Mary.
Speaker 13: You heard what I told Blackly just see two fo
Speaker 13: wouldn't be.
Speaker 8: Fat I guess you knew the Snyders have been away
Speaker 8: for the last few weeks.
Speaker 13: Yes, I did, but they're back. I saw Ruthy pass
Speaker 13: the window this morning.
Speaker 4: Have you noticed any activity around the Snyder's house since
Speaker 4: you've been going?
Speaker 13: Yes? I did.
Speaker 4: And just what you noticed? Ms Martin?
Speaker 13: Well, it was seven or eight days ago. I think
Speaker 13: some white moving trucks stopped in front of their place
Speaker 13: and the two men started moving out to Snyder's furniture.
Speaker 8: Huh.
Speaker 13: Thought it was a little strange because Ruthy hadn't told
Speaker 13: me anything about moving. In fact, she said definitely she
Speaker 13: and her grandpa was coming back after poor missus Snyder's
Speaker 13: funeral in Indiana.
Speaker 8: Did you investigate it?
Speaker 13: All Man's What was that you, Fred? Yes, you ought
Speaker 13: to be ashamed. You can see I'm Busy's never out
Speaker 13: like that.
Speaker 9: And all three of them bred Blackie Mary.
Speaker 13: I'll take care of you.
Speaker 4: What was I You saw the moving van from the Snyders.
Speaker 10: Oh?
Speaker 13: Yes, and I went up to the moving men and
Speaker 13: asked them if the Snyders were going back to Indiana. Well,
Speaker 13: of course they didn't know anything about it.
Speaker 8: Did you inquire at the Snyder's house, Well.
Speaker 9: No, it so happened.
Speaker 4: I didn't.
Speaker 13: I was on my way to one of the big
Speaker 13: avia areas in the valley and I just didn't have
Speaker 13: time to stop.
Speaker 4: How about the moving vans? You haven't to notice the last.
Speaker 13: I don't remember the numbers.
Speaker 7: Any identifying marks about the truck. You might remember maybe
Speaker 7: a sign on the side.
Speaker 13: Yes, the side of the truck was painted white and
Speaker 13: there was large blue lettering on it. Van in storage
Speaker 13: that said I remember that much?
Speaker 4: Is that all?
Speaker 12: Well?
Speaker 13: Yes? As I said, I was in a hurry. I
Speaker 13: had to pick up three sick canaries out in the valley.
Speaker 4: Is there anything else about the Internet? You can remember
Speaker 4: or anything at all.
Speaker 13: No, I'm afraid not.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 8: Thank you very much, missus Merton.
Speaker 7: Here's our card if you happen to come across any
Speaker 7: further information.
Speaker 13: Yes, all right, I have to go see the Snyders.
Speaker 13: Maybe I can help.
Speaker 8: Bye, goodbye, ma'am. Thank you very much, Yes, goodbye.
Speaker 4: Yeah, not much help there, not much. Give me an
Speaker 4: idea though, waiting present for the Austins. Yeah, maybe a
Speaker 4: couple of canaries and a nice cage. Five pm we
Speaker 4: went back to the office.
Speaker 7: Reports had come in from two more victims that night,
Speaker 7: Than and I drove out to interview them. The circumstances
Speaker 7: of the theft and them of the criminals matched identically
Speaker 7: with the Snyder case.
Speaker 8: Both of the families victimized had gone.
Speaker 7: Off on vacations and neglected to notify either the neighbors
Speaker 7: or the patrolmen in their area.
Speaker 8: Both had allowed daily.
Speaker 7: Newspapers to collect on their doorsteps in their absence, and
Speaker 7: otherwise left signs that their homes were vacant.
Speaker 8: In both cases, the thieves had forced an.
Speaker 7: Entrance through a back door or window, stripped the house
Speaker 7: of every last piece of furniture, and either hauled away
Speaker 7: themselves or hired somebody to do it for them. We
Speaker 7: started canvassing the two areas where the crimes had been reported. Again,
Speaker 7: the neighbors saw the moving vans, but none were able
Speaker 7: to definitely identify the vehicles or their license numbers. Captain
Speaker 7: Fulton called us into his office.
Speaker 3: You're going to have to try harder. I know they're hard.
Speaker 3: To get them, to get them, get them fast?
Speaker 4: Is that about everything we can so force?
Speaker 8: Given only one small lead.
Speaker 7: The thieves seemed to be using a different moving van
Speaker 7: on each job.
Speaker 8: We started the checking the movers around town, the transfer.
Speaker 14: Companies, they and friends come up with any and yet
Speaker 14: no no luck there allows the rackety bad? Since I
Speaker 14: came on this detail, whole house, fls of furniture, everything up,
Speaker 14: family owns.
Speaker 7: We'll stay on top of it. The Stat's office may
Speaker 7: come up with something.
Speaker 3: How about an outlet for all that stuff that's been stolen?
Speaker 3: Thieves can't be sitting on it.
Speaker 4: Foreign shopping, second hand details been alerted.
Speaker 7: They're checking regular outlets, auction, how the second hand place?
Speaker 7: There's nothing yet?
Speaker 4: What about some kind of preventive idea at least slow
Speaker 4: them down? Good dose of publicity on the whole thing
Speaker 4: with help. Only people wouldn't give it a secret when
Speaker 4: they're going away. Neighbors aren't alerted. That's why a lot
Speaker 4: of them didn't think much of it. When you saw
Speaker 4: the moving events park.
Speaker 7: Goes out and drawing blinds, and the newspapers on the
Speaker 7: doorsteps didn't help much either.
Speaker 8: It's an open invitation.
Speaker 14: Well, i'll see what we can do on the publicity.
Speaker 14: And we've had one campaign on this already. Now excuse me,
Speaker 14: regulary Captain Polton.
Speaker 4: What's the address? Okay, I god, thank you?
Speaker 14: There you go another one. M sixty three are just
Speaker 14: call it in family back from vacation. Furniture all gone.
Speaker 4: Here's your dress, sire, thank you.
Speaker 3: Got to get on it right away.
Speaker 4: Let's go. I'll have a little more help for you
Speaker 4: on this tomorrow.
Speaker 3: Crowley and Barnes will be free.
Speaker 4: They can work with the OKI.
Speaker 13: Check you later, right, Sorrgy Friday, remember me, don't you missus?
Speaker 3: Burton?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 3: Sure?
Speaker 8: The bird story, yes, ma'am. How are you well?
Speaker 13: They told me to wait here. I guess everything will
Speaker 13: be all right now. Yeah, I saw it today on
Speaker 13: Olive Street. Here the truck became to Snyder's house. That's
Speaker 13: the license.
Speaker 6: Number you are listening to Dragnet. The case history of
Speaker 6: a police investigation presented in the public interest by Dragnet.
Speaker 7: Tuesday, August eleventh, six pm. The license number which missus
Speaker 7: Merton had given us was checked through DMV. We found
Speaker 7: that the truck was registered in the name of a
Speaker 7: local secondhand furniture dealer by the name of Ralph Grismore.
Speaker 7: We checked his name to the Police Commission and then
Speaker 7: the Eye Bureau. He had a good reputation, no criminal record.
Speaker 7: Early the next morning we picked up mister Snyder and
Speaker 7: his granddaughter Ruth, and we drove to Grismore, a secondhand
Speaker 7: furniture store. We identified ourselves and asked to look at
Speaker 7: his bibook. Under the date of July twenty seventh, Brismore
Speaker 7: had recorded the purchase of more than three dozen articles
Speaker 7: of furniture from a house on College Avenue.
Speaker 8: The address was that of the snyders.
Speaker 3: Man and a women's sergeant. They said they'd sold their house.
Speaker 15: And there going east Man said the company worked for
Speaker 15: a transferred them to Boston, told me how to get
Speaker 15: back to.
Speaker 3: Take all his new job.
Speaker 4: Would you recognize the people if you saw him again, Grismore.
Speaker 3: Oh, I think so. A woman was a great talker.
Speaker 9: She said.
Speaker 15: They figured on selling the stuff piece by piece they
Speaker 15: get more, but since they had to leave town the
Speaker 15: next day, she decided to sell a whole lot to
Speaker 15: a dealer.
Speaker 8: You got the furniture for a pretty low price, didn't say.
Speaker 15: That pretty good price. Yeah, that's why I went along
Speaker 15: in the fast deal. Wasn't going to talk myself out
Speaker 15: of a bargain. They wanted to sell fast. I want
Speaker 15: to buy.
Speaker 3: I don't think anything was wrong, Sergeant, Yeah.
Speaker 12: Missus Snyder, how long a dining room said?
Speaker 3: That's it?
Speaker 10: Right over there is sherman snip cigarburne on top, just
Speaker 10: above one of the legs.
Speaker 3: Know it anywhere?
Speaker 12: Seems to me that time I huged the table.
Speaker 9: I'll look, sergeant, the table my best hear they all
Speaker 9: right here? Miss schools up too?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 15: Yeah, they sure stuck me. All right, that's the last
Speaker 15: fast deal I am. I mean, how did they contact you, Chrismore?
Speaker 15: What kind of approach did you call me on the phone?
Speaker 15: And I came out and gave him the praise alund
Speaker 15: of stuff. Nothing suspicious about either the man or the woman.
Speaker 4: That's so.
Speaker 15: She was in a house dress man then around her head.
Speaker 15: The guy was in old clothes, just as home as
Speaker 15: you please, look like he was doing a little repair
Speaker 15: work around the house.
Speaker 8: You know you noticed that they had a car park
Speaker 8: for the house.
Speaker 3: No matter of fact, I didn't. It wasn't any in
Speaker 3: the driveway.
Speaker 4: No argument over the price you offered him to the phone.
Speaker 15: You know, I seemed to hesitate a little, but they
Speaker 15: took my first offer.
Speaker 3: I thought I had a good deal. I know.
Speaker 4: How'd they react after you agreed on the price, didn't it?
Speaker 15: Hurry said they had to boil the train that night
Speaker 15: for Boston. They asked me to get the furniture out
Speaker 15: right away. The woman said they had other business to
Speaker 15: wind up. So if they weren't at the house when
Speaker 15: I came back with the van, why she leave the
Speaker 15: back door open for me?
Speaker 8: I guess you realized you were going to have to
Speaker 8: place a hole on this furniture.
Speaker 3: That you boy, I know, I had no one didn't
Speaker 3: blame but myself.
Speaker 8: And you gave this man a woman a check for
Speaker 8: the full amount of the sale. Is that right?
Speaker 4: Chrismer?
Speaker 3: Five hundred and fifty dollars down the drain.
Speaker 4: Do you have the cancel check?
Speaker 3: No, not yet.
Speaker 15: If you like, you'll probably get us from the bank.
Speaker 15: Don't imagine those crooks would waste any time cashing.
Speaker 8: We'd appreciate it if you'd run down the bank with
Speaker 8: us now, O case.
Speaker 10: Sir, sergeant, could I speak with mister Grismore, show him missus,
Speaker 10: nanny and mister Grismoer.
Speaker 3: Yes, sir, I'm sorry about all this. I didn't know.
Speaker 12: Oh, I understand, sir.
Speaker 10: You buy furniture, don't you, Yes, sir, what could you
Speaker 10: give me for two army surplus cuts?
Speaker 7: Grismore made arrangements to round up mister Snyder's furniture and
Speaker 7: ship it back to his home. Then we took him
Speaker 7: down to his bank, where he recovered the canceled check
Speaker 7: for five hundred and fifty dollars.
Speaker 8: The endorsement read mister Thomas Butterworth.
Speaker 7: According to the bank teller who waited on them, the
Speaker 7: suspects had cast the check shortly after the sale of
Speaker 7: the Snyder's furniture. From the second hand dealer and the
Speaker 7: clerk at the bank, we got a complete description of
Speaker 7: the man in one known as mister and Missus Butterworth.
Speaker 7: We also had photostatic copies made of the check and
Speaker 7: specimens of the handwriting from the endorsement. From the descriptions,
Speaker 7: we checked the suspects through the stats office.
Speaker 4: We got nowhere.
Speaker 7: During the next two weeks we found six more second
Speaker 7: hand dealers who had been taken in on the same
Speaker 7: furniture deal. The description of the man and woman matched,
Speaker 7: and so did the handwriting and the endorsements on each check.
Speaker 7: It was only one variation. The couple went under a
Speaker 7: different name on each occasion. Wednesday, August twenty six to
Speaker 7: nine am.
Speaker 3: Questions like this today? That right, that's it?
Speaker 4: Captain got the description? M all handwriting? Still can't reaching once?
Speaker 3: These have been free wheeling for a month? Now, what's
Speaker 3: going to take a stopping?
Speaker 9: Oh?
Speaker 8: Ben came up with a pretty good idea this morning.
Speaker 8: We'd like to talk it.
Speaker 4: Over with you. How's that kind of a system of
Speaker 4: decoy skipper? We were thinking might be a good idea
Speaker 4: to contact all the division captains and have them ask
Speaker 4: their men if they have any neighbors going on vacation.
Speaker 3: Yeah, go ahead. Well, we've got.
Speaker 4: A few dozen houses spotted around the city. We could
Speaker 4: plant a few things make them look obviously vacant. We'd
Speaker 4: keep the houses covered at all times. They got to
Speaker 4: ma pretty good bait for those thieves. How would you
Speaker 4: set it up? They could make arrangements to get a
Speaker 4: key to each home, keep the milk from favorite delivers coming,
Speaker 4: let them pile up on the doorstep. They could reimburse
Speaker 4: the people for whatever it cause we're not making any headway.
Speaker 4: We could run this for a couple of weeks to
Speaker 4: what happens.
Speaker 8: What do you think?
Speaker 3: Try it?
Speaker 7: Nine thirty am we contacted all division commanders, requesting them
Speaker 7: to ask their men to contact burglary Detail if they
Speaker 7: knew of any of their neighbors about to leave on
Speaker 7: a vacation. During the next two days, the response came
Speaker 7: in and the plan went into effect. Forty homes throughout
Speaker 7: the city were spotted as decoys. They were kept under
Speaker 7: surveillance at all times. In the week that followed, two
Speaker 7: more burglaries are the same type were reported, but the
Speaker 7: suspects failed to try any of the decoy homes. The
Speaker 7: men in the pawn shop and secondhand details continued to
Speaker 7: work right along with us.
Speaker 8: The stolen furniture kept turning up, but not the thieves.
Speaker 7: Again, the homes that had been broken into displayed all
Speaker 7: the usual signs if the occupants were away, old circulars,
Speaker 7: newspaper scattered on the lawn, milk bottles, land up of
Speaker 7: the door, all the blinds drawn.
Speaker 8: The decoy plan continued, no results.
Speaker 4: August thirty.
Speaker 7: First, we had a report of another burglery involving the
Speaker 7: theft of furniture.
Speaker 8: We made our investigation. Two pm.
Speaker 7: We went back to the office to get out a
Speaker 7: list of stolen articles.
Speaker 4: Hi man, Joe, Hi Austin, when'd you get back from
Speaker 4: your honeymoon late last night?
Speaker 3: Say tell them?
Speaker 4: And I sure like to thank all you fellas for
Speaker 4: that wedding present you sent us. They aren't nice of you.
Speaker 4: We're over glad you liked it. Austin.
Speaker 3: Sure a beauty.
Speaker 4: I'd like to ask you a question about it, though,
Speaker 4: I hope you won't take it wrong. Oh go ahead,
Speaker 4: Well what is it? You've got an early American house? Answer? Yeah,
Speaker 4: that's right, it's an NT. Yeah, it's an apple theeter
Speaker 4: when the first ever bill?
Speaker 3: Oh, sure, thanks a lot.
Speaker 4: I get it.
Speaker 8: Burglery Friday, Yeah, where right away?
Speaker 4: Thanks? One of the decoy houses.
Speaker 7: Yeah, we got a bite.
Speaker 8: Together with Sergeants Crowley and Austin.
Speaker 7: We drove out to the decoy house, where an unidentified
Speaker 7: man and a woman had been seen forcing entry through
Speaker 7: a back door. It had been spotted by a police
Speaker 7: officer's wife who lived next door and who had called
Speaker 7: in the report. We parked down the street from the
Speaker 7: decoy home and waited. Five minutes past we saw a
Speaker 7: woman dressed in a house coat come out onto the
Speaker 7: porch of the house, look up and down the.
Speaker 4: Street, and then go back inside.
Speaker 7: A few minutes after that, a gray Chevrolet Sedan pulled
Speaker 7: up in front of the house. A man in a
Speaker 7: dark suit got out and entered through the front door.
Speaker 7: Ben called communications for a make on the car.
Speaker 4: Eighty K to control four eight OK to control four
Speaker 4: request DMV on six Mary six seven seven mate repeat
Speaker 4: six AM six seven seven mate information urging.
Speaker 13: Roger EIGHTYK.
Speaker 3: We waited.
Speaker 7: There were no signs of activity from the dcoy house.
Speaker 7: Two minutes after Ben put in the call, we got
Speaker 7: our make on the gray sedan.
Speaker 11: Troll forty eighty K eady K go ahead.
Speaker 2: Six Mary six.
Speaker 13: Seven seven eight six M sixty seven seven eight is
Speaker 13: registered to the Donahe Furniture company legal the same seven
Speaker 13: eight one one Harvard Boulevard. It is the Chevrolet Deluxe
Speaker 13: two doors to dam nineteen forty one, model engine number
Speaker 13: Z six VA four.
Speaker 4: Four one four eighty k Roger M A three six seven.
Speaker 7: A few minutes after the call back, a moving van
Speaker 7: drove down the street and backed into the driveway of
Speaker 7: the decoy house. The sign on the side of the
Speaker 7: van read Donnahoe Furniture Company. Two men got out, went
Speaker 7: up to the front door and were let in. They
Speaker 7: came out in a couple of minutes and loaded the
Speaker 7: sofa into the moving van. Okay, so Charlie and Austin
Speaker 7: get to sign any times. Hey, you would probably want
Speaker 7: to cover the back Austin.
Speaker 4: Right, let's go Crown.
Speaker 11: H Yeah, see you want something police officers like the
Speaker 11: then steal you.
Speaker 8: Boston probably got her, all.
Speaker 4: Right, Holt, what's this all about, you cops?
Speaker 15: That's right, younks, Donald, I'm buying this lot of furniture
Speaker 15: something the matter.
Speaker 7: You're buying from the wrong people and not for the owners.
Speaker 7: You better have your man move that stuff back in
Speaker 7: the house.
Speaker 8: Okay for saying all right, relax, take it easy, Helen.
Speaker 3: There's no use fighting.
Speaker 4: They got it.
Speaker 13: I told you that doesn't last forever.
Speaker 12: Okay, all right, don't make it worse.
Speaker 3: All right, let's go.
Speaker 4: I'll take you better, fix you. Sure? Yeah, come on, man,
Speaker 4: the matter with you shared Austin looks to happen and
Speaker 4: she's trying to get away. Yeah, let's stick all over
Speaker 4: the car there. It doesn't look very good. Yeah it doesn't.
Speaker 8: What are you gonna tell your new bride?
Speaker 4: I got nothing to hide, and I'll tell her the truth. Yeah.
Speaker 4: She'll believe me, won't she?
Speaker 2: The story you just heard was true, only the names
Speaker 2: were changed to protecting innocent.
Speaker 6: On November twenty fifth, trial was held in Superior Court,
Speaker 6: Department eighty seven, City and County of Los Angeles, State
Speaker 6: of California.
Speaker 3: In a moment the results of that trial.
Speaker 4: And now here is our star, Jack Webb, thank you.
Speaker 7: Under our system of law, the jury selected the hearer
Speaker 7: cases accorded complete freedom. The jury's decision is the final
Speaker 7: result of the testimony and evidence presented in the course
Speaker 7: of the trial.
Speaker 6: The suspects where I as mister and Missus Thomas Dunbar.
Speaker 6: They were arraigned on fifteen counts of burglary and tried
Speaker 6: and found guilty on all counts. They are now serving
Speaker 6: their terms in the state penitentiary. You have just heard
Speaker 6: Dragnet a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical
Speaker 6: advice came from the Office of Chief of Police W. H. Parker,
Speaker 6: Los Angeles Police Department.
Speaker 3: Coming up Duffy's Tavern.
Speaker 11: Bob Hope returns October third on NBC.
Speaker 2: HI.
Speaker 16: This is Andrew from OTR Westerns dot com. I wanted
Speaker 16: to invite you to come take a look at our site.
Speaker 16: We streamline. I have OTR Westerns twenty fours a day,
Speaker 16: seventies a week, along with putting out podcasts of old
Speaker 16: time radio Westerns. Check us out at Otrwesterns dot com.
Speaker 16: You're listening to the great detectives of old time Radio
Speaker 16: with Adam Graham. Now let's get back into the show.
Speaker 17: Welcome back. Well.
Speaker 1: This is an example of what Dragnet consistently did well.
Speaker 1: Is that they were able to educate as well as entertained,
Speaker 1: and they provide some very vital home safety tips for
Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties and some even do carry over to today.
Speaker 17: In some ways, you can also.
Speaker 1: See the lack of connectedness that many of us have
Speaker 1: with our neighbors can also be a security risk. There
Speaker 1: are other steps, particularly stopping mail delivery. There's certainly a
Speaker 1: good idea as well as if you do somebody letting
Speaker 1: them know, and they were able to illustrate that in
Speaker 1: a way that wasn't a pedantic but felt really natural
Speaker 1: in terms of what was going on, and they still
Speaker 1: managed to sprinkle it with a nice few bits of humor.
Speaker 1: I do get a little nervous when Friday and Romero
Speaker 1: are planning on buying a present for someone, just because
Speaker 1: usually if it's on the police force, about maybe a
Speaker 1: third to half of the time, it signals that that
Speaker 1: person might end up getting killed in the course of
Speaker 1: the episode. But thankfully this one didn't involve violent crime.
Speaker 1: Listener comments and feedback, and we have a comment from
Speaker 1: Kate who said I enjoyed the quote and tribute at
Speaker 1: the end of the episode The Big Poison Resting Paradise.
Speaker 1: Martin Milner, Well, thanks so much. I appreciate your comment.
Speaker 17: Kate.
Speaker 1: Also over on Facebook, and I'm going to be trying
Speaker 1: to do this every now and again, I did a
Speaker 1: pull of Facebook fans as to how soon after an
Speaker 1: episode mode is released do they listen to it, and
Speaker 1: of our Facebook users, thirty four percent listen to a
Speaker 1: show within thirty four percent of it being released, twenty
Speaker 1: three percent listen to it on the same day, and
Speaker 1: eleven percent listen to it between eight and thirty days,
Speaker 1: and nineteen percent were less than a year behind, eleven
Speaker 1: percent were more than one year but less than two behind,
Speaker 1: and two percent were.
Speaker 17: Two years or more behind what I was playing.
Speaker 1: And it's a kind of an interesting point about the audience.
Speaker 17: It definitely does make me.
Speaker 1: About when I do time sensitive things, because sometimes I
Speaker 1: do the show expecting that most of my listeners are
Speaker 1: going to be listening to this program the same day.
Speaker 17: This full suggests that may not be a bet.
Speaker 1: Of course, the poll was taken from a relatively small
Speaker 1: sample and may not technically mean much, but the same
Speaker 1: could be said of many polls that have been in
Speaker 1: the news recently. At any rate, it's an interesting day
Speaker 1: to point and something I do need to think about
Speaker 1: when we come to other listeners support campaigns and things
Speaker 1: of that sort.
Speaker 17: All right, Well, that will do it for today.
Speaker 1: We will be back on Monday with Michael Shane and
Speaker 1: then join us back here next Saturday for another episode
Speaker 1: of dragnet in the meantime, Sender comments to Box thirteen
Speaker 1: at Great Detectives dot net, follow us on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Radio Detectives, and become one of our friends on Facebook,
Speaker 1: Facebook dot com. Slash Radio Detectives from Boise, Idaho. This
Speaker 1: is your host, Adam Grahamson and Off