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The quality king size cigarette. Best of all, long cigarettes. Start enjoying Fatima tomorrow. Dragnet, the documented drama of an actual crime. For the next 30 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 files. From beginning to end, from crime to punishment, Dragnet is the story of your police force in action. It was Wednesday, March 18th. It was cold in Los Angeles. We're working the night watch out a robbery detail. My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Captain Ed Walker. My name's Friday. It was 9.48 p.m. when I got to room 27A. Robbery detail. Joe? Hi, you ready to go? Yeah, we better hustle. Here's your top coat, Joe. Thank you, Ben. Ah, where's Tom? We can pick him up down the hall. He's checking out some tear gas shelves. Might need him. How about the address? You confirm it? 2100 Buchanan Avenue. It's a corner house. Skipper? You know what to expect when you get out there. Don't take any chances. He's alone in the house, right? Supposed to be. Yeah, that won't give you much of a break. What do you mean? He's heavy on guns. Two revolvers and a hunting rifle. He's not shy about using them. Don't forget it. Right, Ed. Slaps, Ben. Let's go. Okay. It's been a long haul. Yeah, I hope this washes it up. Hunting rifle, couple of revolvers. What do you think, Joe? 18 robberies in three months. You know the guy as well as I do. What's your guess? His name was Hoffman, George R. In our files, his criminal record dated back to high school days. Petty theft, grand theft auto, burglary, armed robbery. His record included two terms of Preston Reformatory and one at San Quentin. Hoffman's latest campaign was a three month run of armed robberies. We tried everything we knew to stop him, but it wasn't enough. We'd failed to get a line on him until one of Captain Walker's informants came up with a tip that Hoffman had been hiding out for the past month in a small bungalow on the corner of Buchanan Avenue and Selma Street. According to the information, the suspect had a good supply of food, ammunition, and three guns. 10.15 p.m. Together with Sergeants Tom Gaffney and Slats Henry, Ben and I parked our car down the street and started toward the house. It was foggy. The street was poorly lighted. As we approached the house, we could see a light burning in one of the rooms at the rear of the bungalow. The light in the back room, George, just went out. Slats, you and Tom want to cover the back? Right. Let's go, Tom. Be careful. Yeah. All right, Ben. Easy, huh? Wait a minute, Joe. Curtains in that corner of the room. I thought I saw a move. Come on, Ben, the front door. Come on. Hit it again. Yeah, all right. Come on. They got it blocked or something. Something piled against it. Come on, once more. Oh, my God. What's the furniture, Joe? Yeah. That front room's clear. Where'd he go? Across the street. Got him pinned down behind that car there. He's in the car. All right, let's go for the tires. Hey, Hoffman, give it up. Cover this end, Slats. Right. Ben, that hedge across the street, do you see it? Yeah. Okay. Well, let's run for it. Come on. You okay, Joe? Yeah. Hoffman, you haven't got a chance. Throw out your guns. Okay, Ben, give it back, Joe. Throw out your guns. Throw them in the street. All right, get out of the car. Hands behind your head. All right, hands behind your back now. Slats, you want to get our car? Right, Joe. Who told you? Who gave you the tip? Does it matter? I made it easy enough for you. Lousy car wouldn't start. I'd be three miles away if it would have started. Better call a tow truck, huh, Joe? Let me give it a look, huh? Lousy luck, that's all it is. What was wrong with it, Joe? I tried it. It wouldn't start for me. We should have turned on the ignition. George Hoffman was taken downtown and booked on suspicion of robbery. At a special show up, he was identified by more than a dozen of his robbery victims. Between his arraignments and his preliminary hearings, we worked together with the district attorney's office in lining up witnesses and preparing the evidence against the suspect. We figured we had an airtight case. Hoffman's trial in superior court was set for May 14th. Hi, Joe. Hi, Slats. What's doing? Is still arraigning, Hoffman? Yeah, this trial's coming up. What happened to your eye? Yeah, how about that? I'll never live with that now. Yeah, come here, let's see. This real black guy I ever had, had him bruised plenty. They hurt, you know? Yeah, how'd that happen? Well, every week, Gaffney and I go up the neighborhood boys' club after work to help coach the kids at sports, you know? Mm-hmm. Well, last week we had boxing lessons. I was coaching this one youngster. He turned out to be a lot quicker than I thought. He really connected. I guess everybody in the building has heard the story, huh? Yeah, just about. Gaffney took care of that. Gatton called me in this morning, asked me if I wanted to file assault charges against a kid. Some joke. Never fails. You still coaching the kids up there? No, not this week. Kids are supposed to get lessons in wrestling. I'm not taking any chances. They've been watching television for months. I'll see you later, man. Yeah. Oh, nice, Lance. All right, man, how you doing? Pretty good. Put your coat on, Joe. Yeah? What's the matter? George Hoffman. Yeah? Just broke jail. The morning of his escape, Hoffman was scheduled to appear in Superior Court for arraignment. According to routine, he was taken from his county jail cell on the 12th floor of the Hall of Justice and escorted to the jail's shower room on the 14th floor. There he was to take a bath, change to his civilian clothes for his appearance in court. While he was in the shower room, he turned on the hot water faucets, filling the room with steam to hide his actions from the guard. He succeeded in forcing his way out through one of the windows, climbed up one story to the roof. Realizing that he couldn't escape down through the building, he lowered himself over the ledge of the roof and using the narrow crevices between the bricks to hold on, he climbed seven stories down the outside of the building. At the eighth floor, he found an open window and got inside. He slugged the bailiff who tried to stop him and then ran down the remaining flights of stairs into the street and disappeared in the crowd. Twenty minutes later, he robbed a dentist's office at 3rd and Los Angeles streets and got away. Police and sheriff's deputies covered the city for him. Ben and I were among them. 11.55 p.m. We checked back in with Captain Ed Walker. You want to cut that speaker bin? Yeah. Nothing. Not a trace of him. He must have a good friend someplace in town. Everything's covered. His friends, relatives, his hideout, everyone he knows, every place he's ever been. We plug every loophole we can think of. The depots, terminals, the airports, still don't trace of him. I don't know. It sure is a strange one. No stranger than climbing down the side of a building. Did you check that story out, Ed? It's a truth. Apparently Hoffman planned the thing out pretty carefully. How do you mean? The sheriff's men talked to some of the prisoners in the jail. They said Hoffman was practicing for it since the day we put him in there. He would work out five to six hours every night building up his hands and fingers. How'd he do that? He'd use the upper bunk in his cell, hang from the edge of it with the tips of his fingers. He'd do it for hours pulling his body up and down. Made little grooves in the wall, dug his fingertips into them. Prisoners say he got so he could hold himself up like that ten minutes at a stretch. That's pretty amazing. How about the bail if he slugged? He'll be all right. Got a little bad bumps on the head, that's all. Robbery Walker. Oh yeah, little young. I sent him out about ten minutes ago to relieve you. Yeah, they ought to be there pretty soon. Right. How about our schedule, Ed? As far as I know, we're going all night on this thing. Sheriff's Office is the same. You two were relieved at 11.30. Better check back about 5.30 a.m. Okay? Good. That's a hot shot. I got it. What is it? Drugstore holdup. I think it's Hoffman. The scene of the holdup was the Rex Lake pharmacy on the corner of Pico Boulevard and Pine Lake Street. The victim, Mr. Clarence Garinger, told us that the holdup man had entered through a rear door, slugged him and escaped on foot with his overcoat and about $150 in cash. We showed him a number of mugshots. He identified George Hoffman as the bandit. A special detail of men were ordered on a thorough search of the general area around the drugstore. No sign of the suspect. The citywide dragnet continued all that night and into the next day. No developments. The search went on. A week passed. Two weeks. At 10 p.m. on the day Hoffman was scheduled to be tried in Superior Court, he beat up and robbed a 40-year-old liquor salesman in the Highland Park area. Again he made good his escape. Routine investigation failed to turn up a single lead. June 8th, the suspect was still at large. The legwork continued. 817, is that the address you got? Yeah, he said it was near the corner. Oh yeah, yeah, there it is. The town to send the hobby shop. Yeah, let's go in. Joe, look at the electric train. Look at that one. Beautiful layout, huh? I guess that's all we handle in here. Electric trains, huh? Must be money in it. Look at those signals there in switches. They're all automatic. I wonder if my boy's old enough for a train, yeah. There must be the manager over there. Come on. Say, uh, excuse me, sir? Just a moment, please. Be right with you. You've got to check this transformer. All right. Uh-huh. Automatic coupling on the tanker car looked out. It killed her. No mistake. No? Well, let's see, Jim. Yeah, she's a dandy, isn't she? All right. I'm sorry, gentlemen, have to keep up our maintenance on the rolling stock. What can I do for you? Police officers, we're looking for Mr. Townsend. Oh yes, I'm Roy Townsend. Are you the sergeant I talked with on the phone? Yes, sir, that's right. This is my partner, Sergeant Romero. Hi, Mr. Townsend. Are you mentioned that you might have some information for us? Yes. As a matter of fact, I may have. About that fellow who climbed out and escaped, uh, no, it was in all the papers. Your job. Pop and pop and that's it. I'm a pretty good one for faces. I think I might have seen him last night. Where was that? On my way home from the meeting. I belong to a model train club. Don't get enough of it here every day. Yes, sir. We'd like to know about this man that you saw. As I say, I saw him going into the autocourt just down the street from where Mother and I live. It was pretty late after midnight. Where do you live, Mr. Townsend? All the way by Pasadena, Royal Oaks Avenue. I know Mrs. Cox at the autocourt very well. I see. Well, this man that you saw last night, you sure it was Hoffman? I saw his picture in the paper when he climbed down and escaped. I don't say I'm positive it was him, but I'm good on faces. Well, uh, I wonder if you'd mind checking through these pictures. Not at all. This one. He's the one I saw. Am I right? That's Hoffman. Do you happen to know if he's staying there at that autocourt? Oh, yes. He's been there for a month. Say, Sergeant, if you find out it really is this Hoffman, don't tell Mrs. Cox at the autocourt or to just break her heart. Oh, is that so? She's sort of an amateur detective. She thinks she knows faces better than I do. After we left the train shop, we called the office and filled them in. Captain Walker called Pasadena and notified them. Then we drove out to the autocourt where the suspect was reportedly seen. Yes, you want something? Yeah, are you Mrs. Cox? Yes, I'm the manager here. If you want, lodgings were filled up. You might try the Golden Eagle, straight down the street there. Police officers, Miss Cox. Do you have Mr. Hoffman staying here? Hoffman? No, I don't. Is that a Hoffmire, though? Are you sure that's not it? Would you look at this picture, ma'am? Recognize it? Yes, but his name's not Hoffman. It's Cain. Number 23. He's not in, though, left this morning. Oh, is that so? Yes, won't be back for another hour. You are listening to Dragnet for the solution to an actual case from official police files. Now, here's a real solution to many of your Christmas shopping problems. If your friends smoke long cigarettes, give the best of long cigarettes give king-size Fatima. You see, Fatima's now cost the same as other long cigarettes, but in Fatima, the difference is quality. Quality of tobaccos, the finest Turkish and domestic varieties, extra mild and superbly blended, to give smokers a much different, much better flavor and aroma than any other long cigarette. Quality of manufacture, smooth, plump cigarettes, rolled in the finest paper money can buy. Quality, even to the appearance of the distinctive royal blue Fatima gift carton. Christmas wrapped and carefully sealed to ensure Fatima's rich, fresh, extra mild flavor. Remember, Fatima's now cost the same as other long cigarettes, but in Fatima, the difference is quality. So this Christmas, give your friends the best. Give Fatima the quality king-size cigarette. Best of all, long cigarettes. Before going on stake out at the auto court where George Hoffman was registered, Ben put in a call to the office. The owner of the court, Mrs. Cox, gave us a pass key to cottage number 23, where the suspect was staying. We advised her to say nothing to Hoffman when he returned. We went to cottage 23 and waited. An hour passed. Hoffman failed to show. Another hour went by. Still no sign of him. Well, what do you think? You got me, I don't know. Morning hour overdue. No chance he could have been tipped. Well, I don't see how. Mrs. Cox is the only one who knows we're here. There's no reason for her to warn him. I don't know. His things are all here, his clothes. Well, we've had longer waits than this. Relax, huh? Yeah. Hey, wait a minute. Can you see who it is? Man, coming from the next door. Jill? Okay, I'll cover you. Open it. Your new telephone directory? Oh yeah, thanks. Is anything wrong? No, there's nothing wrong, thanks. New phone book. Yeah, we waited another hour. George Hoffman still had failed to appear. At four that afternoon, we checked with the office. No word. At 5.30, we were still waiting. I was just thinking, Jill. You know, I fell at Thompson in the train shop. I sure must be a dandy hobby, electric train. Yeah, it runs into money though, doesn't it? Well, I think I'll talk to the wife about it. They're education, you know. My boy sure get a kick out of having his own train. That's pretty young, isn't it? Three years old? Well, I could show him how to work it, put things together for him. I'll get it. All right. Yeah? Oh, yeah, Leighton. I hope when. Okay, thanks. What's doing? Skipper just got a call from Pasadena. Yeah? They picked up Hoffman ten minutes ago. The suspect, George Hoffman, was taken back to Los Angeles and lodged in County Jail. This time, there was no escape. At his superior court trial on August 16th, he was convicted on several counts of armed robbery and sentenced to the state penitentiary. From August to January of the following year, the months went fast. We washed up a string of liquor store hold-ups just before Christmas, got two days off. My uncle George and Ann Allen came down from Renton, Washington to visit with my mother during the holidays. In January, Ben was off work for a week with a bad dose of flu. Another five months went by. Toward the end of June, we got word that George Hoffman was no longer at the state penitentiary. After serving 11 months, the former hold-up men had been paroled into the army with the provision that he served overseas. Another three weeks passed. July 12th, Tuesday, Ben and I had lunch at Cokin's Cafe and checked back in at the office. I wish Cokin would change his menus a little often. Fried beans and pastrami sandwiches seem to have the same thing every time. Well, you sure dug into them. I got the idea that you'll like them. Oh, I come all right and just eat too much, that's all. Three sandwiches, two plates of beans. No wonder I never ate dinner. Joe? Yeah. You two back from lunch? I want to grab a sandwich. Yeah, go ahead, Slats. We can cover it. Okay, thanks. Chair, there's somebody waiting in the next room for you. I want to see you. Okay, see you later. All right. Want to see who it is, Joe? I'll check the book. Yeah, all right, fine. Yes, sir, my name's Friday. You want to see me? Yeah, that's right, Sergeant. Remember me? George Hoffman? Oh, yeah, Hoffman. The army uniform there. I didn't recognize you. Yeah, I thought I might fool you. I guess you heard about me. Good break, huh? I'm glad you feel that way. How you doing with the army, huh? Pretty good. I like it. That's fine. Just thought I'd drop up and see you, fellas. You stole that partner you had? What's his name? Rod Grigas? Romero. Yeah, yeah, we still work together. Yeah, Romero. I knew it was some kind of name like that. Yeah, well, come on in, Hoffman. Oh, thanks. Hey, Ben. George Hoffman here. He stopped in to see us. Oh, yeah. Hi. Been a long time, Hoffman. How are you? Pretty good, Sergeant. Thanks. Just thought I'd stop by, you know? Sure there's no hard feelings? Oh, sure thing. You got any idea when you're going overseas? Boys in my outfit figured day after tomorrow. That's kind of one reason why I dropped in to see you. Well, how's that? Well, I know it's pretty nervy, but I got lots of that. You see, a bunch of us are on leave till tomorrow noon. Figured we'd go out tonight, and I'm a little short. You know how the army pays. Okay, well, how about a couple of bucks, George? Will that do you any good? Yeah. Sure, I'll swallow you, Sergeant. Believe me, I'll see you get it back. Well, here's a couple more, Hoffman. Might help, huh? Well, it's nice telling you how much I appreciate it. I give you my word, I won't forget it. I'm going to pay this money back to you. Don't forget it, George. We're glad to help you out. Well, thanks again for the touch, huh? Sure nice of you. Okay. Now drop a card if you get a chance. Lucky to hear how you're doing over there. Sure thing. See you later, huh? Right. Good luck to you, boy. Looks like a turn for the better anyway, huh? Mm-hmm. But it was my last two bucks, dog. Going to it never failed. Well, we had to give him something. Yeah, but what do I do for lunch money tomorrow? 2 p.m., we drove out to the Wilshire District to interview a robbery victim. We brought him back downtown and took his statement. 4.30 p.m., we checked back in with Captain Walker. Nice, Gibber. Henry says that ex-con George Hoffman was in today. Yeah, yeah, that's right, Ed. Why? Have a look. Thanks. The MPs left about 20 minutes ago. So, well, your two bucks went for nothing, Ben. Hoffman's wanted. Huh? Broke out an Army prison 10 o'clock this morning. Together with the Army authorities, local officers joined in the city-wide search for George Hoffman. At 10 o'clock that night, a food market on Santa Fe in Riala was robbed and a proprietor beaten. From our mug shots, the victim identified Hoffman as the holdup man. Shortly after midnight, a drugstore on Crenshaw was held up. Hoffman was again tabbed as the suspect. The next two days, the search was intensified. No leads. Two more days went by. Late Saturday morning, we got a hurry-up call from the Detail on Duty at the Union Station. Hoffman had been reported in the vicinity. Ben and I drove down to the depot to check with the officer in charge. Slats Henry. Spot him, Joe? No, let's have a look back with the ticket counters, huh? Yeah, there he is over by the phone booth. Come on. Hi, Slas. Hi, looks pretty good. What's the story? One of the news boys up the street gave us a tip. About an hour ago, a guy gave him a dollar to come down here and buy a ticket for him. Ticket to Phoenix. Kid came in, bought the ticket, went back up the street and gave it to the man. We showed the kid a bunch of mug shots. He picked out Hoffman's. Yeah, he's not wearing his army uniform, huh? No, brown suit, dark blue overcoat, no hat. That's what the kid told us. Any idea of which train he was taking for Phoenix? Not exactly. He asked when the first train for Phoenix was. The news boy told him 335. Mm-hmm. 10 minutes to 12, no. You got enough men to handle at Slats? Everything's covered. Only one thing lacking. Yeah? Hoffman. While the stakeout continued on the Union Station, Ben and I together with Gaffney and Henry from Robbery covered the bars, restaurants, and hotels in the immediate area for a sign of the suspect. 2.30 p.m. What do you think? We'd better head back down for the station and see what's going on. Yeah, OK. I'd like to have a dime for every mile we've logged on this case. Yeah. Joe, huh? Have a look. Where? Across the street, dark blue overcoat. Same build as Hoffman. I'll bet on him. Come on. He spotted us. Yeah, that's Hoffman. Come on. I'll pick it up. I lost him, Joe. Where'd he go? Turn down First Street. Come on, hurry up. Across the street, Ben. Yeah, what's the traffic? Where'd he go? I've seen him. That antique store on the corner. He ran in there. Come on, yeah. There he is. All right, Hoffman. All right, hold it right there, Hoffman. I'm coming out. Move. Watch it, Joe. I said I'm coming on. You hear me? You're going the hard way, George. Come on, drop it, drop it. I'll get your hands behind you. Sure. What goods are going to do you? All right, Mr. Let's go. What goods are going to do? I already proved it. I can break jail anytime. I proved it twice. You're going right back in again. What's that proof? The story you have just heard was true. Only the names were changed to protect the innocent. On October 8th, trial was held in Superior Court, Department 89, sitting in County of Los Angeles, state of California. In a moment, the results of that trial. Now, here is our star, Jack Webb. Thank you. To get year-round thanks for the gift you give this Christmas, give Fatimas to every long cigarette smoker on your list. Their first pack of extra mild Fatimas will have them convinced, like I am, that in Fatima the difference is quality. And Christmas Fatimas come in a distinctive royal blue slip-over jacket that makes a perfect gift just as is. Remember, Fatimas now cost the same as other long cigarettes, but in Fatima the difference is quality. Give Fatimas the quality king-size cigarette to every long cigarette smoker. George R. Hoffman was tried and convicted on several counts of robbery and received a life sentence as a hardened criminal. After serving 10 months of his sentence, Hoffman attempted an escape and failed. A few weeks later, he took his own life in his prison cell by hanging. Ladies and gentlemen, next week in answer to your requests, Dragnet will repeat a gun for Christmas, the actual case history broadcast last year during the Yuletide season. That's next Thursday, December 21st. You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice for Dragnet comes from the Office of Chief of Police, W.H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department. This is Bob Hope. Can we steal a second? Chesterfield, Chesterfield, always win first place. That milder mild tobacco never leaves an aftertaste. So open a pack, give them a smell. Then you smoke them. Don't forget to give Crosby for Christmas. I mean the Chesterfield Christmas carton with Bing as Papa Santa Claus. See you Tuesday. Fatima cigarettes, the best of all long cigarettes, has brought you Dragnet, portions transcribed from Los Angeles. We the people is next with more good times on NBC.