 Cragmet, they're assigned to auto theft detail. You receive a report that a circus truck has been broken into. Several of the animals are missing. Some of them are dangerous. Your job, find them. May 12th was cold in Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out of auto theft detail. My partner's Frank Smith, the boss of Chief of Detectives, Thad Brown. My name's Friday. I was on my way back from Superior Court and it was 1146 a.m. when I got to room 40. Auto theft. Hi. How'd it go? Well, his lawyer's got a contingent. Yeah, how come? I don't know. New evidence they want to introduce. What's the DA's off to say? Well, none they can say. It comes under the heading of due process, you know. Yeah. You think he's gonna nail him? Alex thinks so. The guy's admitted his guilt and now he's claiming the confession is a lot of bunk. Says we got it out of him by force. Where now? Well, if he did it without the confession again. It shouldn't be too hard. We got all the evidence. We get the chance to lay it out for the jury. Yeah. When you go back? Let's see. He set it off for a week, I guess, yeah. Anything come in? No, not big. Excuse me. Yeah, sir, something we can do for you? I can report something stolen. All right, sir. Just come on in. Sure, get service around here. All right, sir. Now, what kind of a car was it? Ain't no car. Big point. No car stolen. Stuff in the car. All right. What was it? Well, it wasn't really a car anyway, a truck. That's what they stole it from a truck. All right, if you'll give us a description. As far as I know, they might not have stolen it anyway. Might just have opened it and let them all out. Yeah, sir. Well, as soon as we get this report filled out the faster we can start looking for the stolen merchandise. Yeah. Just so that myself should have. All right, sir. Now, what's your name? Clarence Havel. H-A-V-I-L-L. No R. Most people put an R in it. Yeah, they eat it. It's Havel. Where'd the theft take place? Corner fountain d'Longpre. Right on the corner there. Just south of the red zone on fountain. All right, sir. What was taken? You see, I got this call from one of the drivers who worked for my brother and me. He drives one of our trucks. Call said the machine broke down. Wanted me to bring another tractor over. Well, we can get to all that later, Mr. Havel. Now, what were the stolen articles? Animals. Sir? Animals from our carnival. What kind of animals? Well, a couple of monkeys, Cody Mundy, two raccoons. All right, sir. Anything else? Yeah. Here comes the bad part. This is what I was afraid of. What's that, sir? It's the reason I waited so long to report it. I thought maybe turn up. What's that, sir? A black pamp, sir. We've got a description of the animals when a local broadcaster's gotten out on them immediately. 12.18 p.m. We continue to talk to Clarence Havel. Friday night? That's when it happened. What time Friday night? About 7.05 or 7.10. Right after the fights went on. That's when the phone rang. Right, sir. I was kind of sure about being interrupted when the fights was on. Always watch them. Most of my friends know not to call me then. Yes, sir. Well, anyway, the phone rang. I got up and went over to answer it. It was Bert. Who was Bert? Bert Newell. He's a driver. Oh, I see. Said he had a breakdown at Fountain D Long Creek. Asked me if I had an extra tractor. Happened, I did. Bert asked me to bring it over. Said he wanted to use it to get the shoot in Nevada. So you drove over there, huh? Not right away. How's that? Well, it looks like the fight wasn't going to last much longer and I wanted to see the finish of it. So I stuck around for a couple more rounds. After that, I left. Uh-huh. Drove over and found Bert right on the corner. Just standing there. Not trying to do nothing about the breakdown. Just standing there. Yes, sir. Well, you just better read him off. Told him at least he could have done it and get out of the rinse or something and try to find the trouble. And I read him off good. Yes, sir. Didn't do no good. He's shiftless, you know. Real shiftless. Yes, sir. You know Bert, do you? No, sir. Shiftless. You know him? You know that. You want to go on, please? Oh, yeah. Well, we got the trailer on the hitch and the tractor hooked up when it took a couple of minutes. And got it done and Bert took off. Where was he going, you know? Over to Nevada. Going to play a show there. Overton. Going to play a show there. Yes, sir. Right by Lake Mead. Overton. Yes, sir. When did you find out the animals were missing? When I got the wire from my brother. That's when I got the first emblem. When was that? Last night. The company phoned me about, oh, I guess it was about 8.30. I see. You have the telegram? No. Told you they phoned it. What did it say? Just the animals were gone from my brother. Said that the animals weren't on the truck when it got to Overton. Uh-huh. Told me about how the locks on a couple of the cages was busted and smashed and the animals was gone. Well, now there's a possible that the cages might have been broken into some other place than Los Angeles. Might be. Yes, might be. Might be. Might likely. Why do you say that? The only reason I know of is being likely. Not only that, I got proof of it. How do you mean true? Well, as soon as I got the wire, I went down to Fountain D Long Creek. Went right there and looked around. Uh-huh. Figured I might as well go down there and look around. I might find something, you know. Took a big four-cell flash went down the corner. Fantastic. Yeah, I was right. That's where it happened. Yeah, that's where they got away. Found a spore, you know. I beg your pardon? Spore. Tracks. Found them all over the place. Oh, I see. Of the panthers? No, raccoons. Not only that, I found something else. Yes, sir. Monkeys. Found them, too. Where were they? Phone pole, right up on the top, just sitting there shivering. Kind of literally, you know. Get real cold easy. We have them around the place. They wear little sweaters. Get chilly real easy. How about the rest of the animals? You see any sign of them? No. I went over to a little store near there and got a head of lettuce. 17 cents. Took it back to the phone pole. Shored it to Caesar and slow me. Oh, they love lettuce. Is that the monkey? Yeah. Mama said, white-eared. Love lettuce. They came right down into the... Yeah, right down the pole. Slipped right for the lettuce. And it was scared stiff. Being up there on that pole all night, should have had their sweaters. What about the other animals? Ah, not a sign of them. Just a spore of the raccoons. I haven't got the slightest idea where they might have gone. No real problem, though. Not them. How do you mean? I've been to every place. Stoke in the Hollywood Hills. Lots of them there. Run all over the place. I'm setting garbage cans. Imagine some of the people would be glad to have me come up there and take them away. Ah, raccoons ain't no problem. Well, Mr. Havel, what about the panther? Well, he's a problem. Yes, sir. Can you give us a description of the animal? He's black. Yes, sir. Like the inside of a well. Get black. Even black isn't that pink they're talking about. Mm-hmm. About seven feet long. Oh, easy there. Yes, sir. About seven feet on the tail. Seven feet. And any else about him that we should know? No, just a plain black panther, not so special. Is he dangerous? Well, not unless you meet somebody. Dandy's got a temper. That's the name of the animal? Is it Dandy? Yeah. Maybe that's because he's blacker than the pitch of the inferno. Dandy. You're pretty sure you got out of that truck when the monkeys did, huh? Well, I ain't gonna give you no written guarantee, but I'm sure of it. All right, sir. We'll start looking for him right away. Mr. Havel, where were these animals coming from? Winter quarters. The standard ordering's gonna be our first to start in the season. Mm-hmm. Well, is there anything else you can tell us that'll make it easier to find the panther? Mm-hmm. No, not a thing. Just be careful, that's all. Don't hurt him. He's really as gentle as a kitten when you get to know him like a big overgrown cat. He's gentle. Yes, sir. That's something Clyde didn't understand. Who's Clyde, sir? My brother Clyde. Oh, I see. He didn't like Dandy. He didn't understand him. That's his cause of trouble. What was that? Last winter, Clyde came to see the show. Tell me about the bookings. I see. We discussed about how the best way to exhibit Dandy would be and Clyde got too close to the cage. Yeah. Dandy almost killed him. All officers in the area where the panther had escaped were notified and an additional team of men were called from Metropolitan Reserves to patrol the vicinity. The presence of the animal on city streets presented a very real menace to all citizens in the city. A team of detectives from Auto Theft Detail matched to the corner of Fountain and DeLongfrey to talk to the people who lived in the area. However, they were unable to come up with any new information on the escaped panther. Frank and I talked to Chief Detective Stad Brown and with Captain Nelson. We decided to start a block-by-block search for the missing cat. Authorities from the Griffith Park Zoo were consulted as to the possible hiding places of the animal. When the afternoon newspapers hit the streets, calls began to flood the complaint board asking for additional information on the panther. Local radio and television broadcasts carried stories about the escape and the number of calls went up. Additional men had to be called to care for the switchboard. The search went on. Frank and I worked in the field, along with the other men from Auto Theft Detail and officers from Metro Division. Every possible hiding place in the vicinity of Fountain and DeLongfrey was searched without turning up any new information on the cat. It was the opinion of authorities that the panther might try to hide in the brush of the Hollywood Hills and the search was moved to that vicinity. Tuesday, May 12th, Frank and I got back to the office from the area. We'd been up all night looking for the animal. You want to check for the skipper? Anybody around to come bring in some coffee? I'll call Sal. He'll bring some over. That'll be a good idea. Ask him to send over a sandwich, too. Okay, you are. I don't care. Just tell him to make sure the coffee's hot. Yes. Yes, sir? I'd like to talk to the men who are working on the panther thing. Yes, sir. Come right in. At the end of the hall, I'd find him here. One sergeant's party. Maybe I can help you. You working with the search party? Yes, sir. My partner and I have been out with him. Have they caught it yet? No, sir. Not yet. They know where it is? Well, no, sir. We don't. That's what I thought. I'm Sidney Norton. I live in this town. Yes, sir. Got a family. I pay taxes. Uh-huh. Just want to ask one question. Yes, sir. Go ahead. Now, according to papers, this is Cavill or whatever his name is. He owns the panther. Is that right? He owns Clarence Havel. But he owns the cat. Yes, sir. That's right. And I want his address. Thank you, sir. I want the number of his house. That's simple, isn't it? Well, we're not allowed to give that out. I'm sorry. All I want is his address so I can go over there and punch him right in the nose. Are you going to give it to me? No, sir. Who's your superior? Captain Nelson. Well, where is he? I want to talk to him. He's in Chief Brown's office right now. Well, where's that? Down at the end of the hall, office number 26. All right, I'll talk to him. I want that man's address and I want it now. A terrible thing for the law to allow a person to keep animals like that so they can get away and walk around killing anybody they meet. If you cops can't do anything about it, I can. You can just bet I can. Well, if you go out in the car, Mr. Havel, and you trouble your libel for arrest, sir. By whom? Any policeman that he wants to call. Well, you protect him, but you don't care about me and my family, is that it? No, sir. You've both got rights to protection under the law. Now, if Havel's done anything, we'll take care of it. When? As soon as we find that panther. Well, you may just be wrong. I've been talking around. There are a lot of people who feel like I do. A lot of them. Enough maybe to decide to do things our way. Well, I wouldn't try it, Mr. Norton. Too late, mister. You can't do anything about it. We will. Me and my friends will take care of it. It's out of your hands. We'll take care of Havel. We'll take care of him good. I wouldn't make a book on that. You can stop us. Just like I told you, any cop that Havel calls. Frank and I talked to Sidney Norton, and we finally convinced him that any action he might take would not help the situation. We sent him home, and then we met with Captain Nelson and Chief Brown. The progress of the search was reviewed, and it was decided to continue it in the Lake Hollywood area and in the upper grip of Park Hill. All days off had been canceled, and additional officers were joining in the hunt for the panther. After the meeting, Frank and I got some breakfast, and then we drove out to Clarence Havel's home. With a large ranch house at the corner of Vickrey Boulevard and Monterey Avenue out in the San Fernando Valley. We drove through the gate and parked the car. Clarence Havel was sitting on the large porch waiting for us. A small monkey was sitting on his shoulder. All right, come on up and sit down. Yes, sir. How are you going, Mr. Friday? Mr. Smith? All right, sir. Pretty good, sir. Get you anything? Class of ginger beer, maybe? Got something cold in the icebox? No, sir, no thanks. Code for my brother this morning. All right. In the valley, got a telegram. Company phoned it to me again. Good news. What's that, sir? Well, it began to look like it's all a mistake. Sir? The whole thing. Looks like the animals didn't get away here in Los Angeles. Why do you say that? Well, it's telegram from my brother. Says they found the Cody Mundy in one of the raccoons in Baker, California. Farmed alongside the road. Tired and hungry. Guess they're sorry now they got out of the church. How about the panther? Any word on him? No, not yet, but Clyde sets a man out to look for it. Sure, Danny, he'll turn up. How can we get in touch with your brother, Hamill? Can't. What? Can't get in touch with him. Out in the desert looking for Danny. How to touch. Can you give us the address of your winter quarters here in town? I can't do that, Mr. Friday. Why not? You don't know him. Well, sir, you run a circus and you don't know where the animals are kept? Not really, a circus. Kind of. Yes, sir, we understand. But what's the address? I don't know him. Do you have any idea? Can you can't tell us where to reach your brother? He's out looking for Danny. Then how about it, Hamill? Something that you're not telling us? Hamill? Yeah. Well, is there? We haven't got no regular winter quarters. Not regular set up. That's why I can't tell you where it is. Ain't none. All right, go ahead. You see, the Hamill amalgamated combined shows is really a gypsy carnival. Why do you mean that? Well, we ain't got no big operation. We've got a couple of mangy animals. We don't have a license to keep them in the city. The only quarters we've got are vacant lots. We set up and stay there until the neighbor starts complaining and we move on. Trucks for the shore, registers in states where the fee is smaller, and we've got about every day we could to keep the cost of operation down. Now, what about the pants? Danny? Yes, sir. When do you reel the traction we've got? Oh, man, chill there. I told you about how he almost got crying. And now I told you that. Yes, sir. I don't understand, Danny, or nothing works with him. Is that right? Might be something about Danny's. Could be our officer. We gave him this number. Yeah, yeah, just a minute. Yeah, this is his number. Huh? Yeah, just a minute. Uh, if you're real, Mr. Friday, it's your office. Thank you. No trouble at all. I'd like to do what I can. Yes, sir. Friday. Yes, Cooper. That's right. Well, you want to give me that address? I checked out, didn't it? Uh-huh. No, we'll get right over. Frank, let's go. Good news. Well, we're not sure yet. Eh? I said they found the panther. The address we'd gotten on the telephone was in the Hollywood Hills just off Beachwood Drive. Frank and I had drove down the freeway, turned off at Gower, up Franklin to Beachwood, and we continued up to Ledwood Drive. For the time we got there, other units had arrived, and we immediately vicinity where the animal had been seen was surrounded. From one of the officers, we got the story. The panther had been seen by one of the civilians searching the area. The animal had run between two houses and jumped through a window into a ground floor garage. We checked the house, but we found that the occupants were not there. Because of the danger of the panther's presence and the difficulty of taking it alive, it was decided to try to shoot it. The officers involved in the search were armed with large caliber weapons. Frank and I took two sought-off shotguns and we approached the door leading to the garage. Let's cover in the window. Max, I'll hit the door. Stand back. We'll try to see what's inside. Okay. You can't see anything from the window. You know, might be behind those boxes at the rear there. Yeah. You know what's that? Yeah, trying the cases. Looks like something there. You can take that sign. All right. Can you tip those boxes over there? Yeah, I think so. Well, let's try it. Maybe it'll drive them out in the open. Black panther. During the 20-odd hours we've been looking for the animal, there's been several reports that seemed authentic enough to be checked out. All of them turned out to be false. By this time, there were over 300 officers engaged in the search. Frank and I went back to the office and put in a call to the telegraph company in an effort to find Clyde Havel. They checked through their files, but they were unable to find any record of any wires. We then put in a call to the California Nevada border station in an attempt to get information. Yes, sir, that's right. Havel amalgamated combined shows. What? All right. Sorry. A. B. Victor. I. L. L. Havel. Well, what we got, it should have come through Saturday 13th. No, it might have been Sunday the 14th. You're pretty sure about that, are you? Well, you're possible. All right, I understand. Okay, thank you. If anything turns up, will you call us? Friday, extension 2507. That's all of theft detail. Right. Thanks again. Bye. How about it? You got a record of the show going through? They never heard of it. We immediately put in a call to the authorities in Baker, California. We talked with members of the State Highway Patrol, and from them we obtained the information that there had been no stray animals captured in the vicinity during the past few days. The conversation with them lengthened the possibility that the story we'd gotten from Clarence Havel was a lie. We checked his house, but Havel wasn't there. From his neighbors, we obtained the name of his sister. 6.10 p.m., we drove out to the address of two families stuck or duplex. We rang the bell and we waited. Yes. Ms. Havel. That's right. What is it you want? No police officers. Frank Smith, my name's Friday. How are you doing, ma'am? What is it you want? We'd like to talk to you about your brother. What? No, ma'am. Clarence. Mr. Friday, I've done what I can for him. If he's in trouble again, he's just going to have to go it alone. What if we could talk inside? Oh, come on in. Thank you, ma'am. What's he done this time? Make it fun. What's my brother done this time? Does your brother own a circus? Is this a joke? No, ma'am. It's pretty serious, does he? Sure. Big one. Havel's amalgamated and combined shows travels all over the country. Animals, confessions, even got a man eating black pasta. Yes, ma'am. That's one of the things we want to find out about. Dambi? You know the animal, do you? Oh, Clarence's friends, too. Talked about him all the time. You know where the circus is right now? Same place it's always been. Never been in a place else. In Clarence's head. We continue to talk to Lillian Havel. From her, we got the background of the story. He told us that her brother had been a press agent for one of the larger carnivals, but that he'd been discharged several years before. Since that time, he talked to very little else, but the day when he'd be able to start his own show starring Dambi, the man killing black panthers. She went on to tell us that he spent most of his time in the hills of the San Fernando Valley, trapping small animals, preparing for the first tour of the carnival. We called the office and notified them. The search for the black panther was called off. At 8.46 p.m., we left the duplex and we drove out the freeway to the valley. When we got to Havel's, he was sitting on the front porch reading. The monkey was still on his shoulder. Hey, come back, huh? Yes, sir. Found Dandy yet? I sure hope you come up with him. I hate to lose the main attraction. You've had any word of me, huh? No. He's a sly one, old Dandy. Sly. He knows if you find him, he'll go back in the cage. You just keep looking while he'll turn up. The search has been called off, Havel. You call it off? That's right. You mean you quit looking? That's right. Well, you can't do that. You can't. Dangerous animal like that loose in the city, all the people in dire danger. You can't call off the posse. Why don't you tell us about it? What do you mean? All right, Havel. Tell us why you did it. Huh? Why'd you report the panther being gone? Of course you was. You wanted to save all the people from dire danger. Why don't you tell us the truth? Huh? We've checked your stories. Pack alive, you know it. Now, just a minute. Ain't no man that says I tell lies. No man. You say you got two telegrams from your brother. Is that right? Yeah, from Clyde. Well, we checked with a telegraph company. They've got no record of any such messages. It's a big company. They might have lost them. Well, I don't think they lost them. Might have. You told us the carnival truck went into Nevada, didn't you? Is that right? Yeah. We checked at the border. They don't know anything about the show. Well, there are a lot of roads in the Nevada. Maybe you call the wrong station. Well, we talked to the right one. Big trucks, red and yellow. Havel's combined. Amalgamated shows. Letters about this big on the side. Yellow letters. Got a picture of Danny on the side. I mean, you can almost call his teeth. You told us the truck was registered in your name. DMV has no record of it. Well, there must be some mistake. It's got to be wrong. We talked to your sister. She tells you don't have any kind of a show. Lillian said that? That's what she said. You hear her, too? Yeah, sir. Lillian told you I didn't have no show? Lillian told you that? She called Helen. Huh? A little cold out tonight. She might need a coat. Are we going someplace? Yes, I'm going to take you downtown. Why? Well, you had half the city on a wild goose chase here. It caused a lot of people, a lot of work. Turns out there was no reason for it. We're trying to find out why you did it. Why? Yes, sir. You ever wanted anything bad, Sergeant? What? Ever wanted something so bad you'd almost taste it, get to a point where you think about it so much, pretty soon it don't come over like a dream anymore. Real, honest and true and real. You ever wanted anything like that? I wouldn't know. Well, that's the way it was with havels, amalgamated combined shows. That's the way it was. I was winged on, Sergeant. I spent around it all my life. The animals, sight shows, the alley, all of it, spent my whole life. When I left it, it seemed like I jumped into a big hole that didn't have no bottom. It wasn't anything to hang on to. Nothing to tie down to, you know? Always I had in the back of my head that I could do it again. I was a good publicity man. Good. Used to pack the man. Never no trouble getting the people in when I was there. When I left, I knew I'd be back. I knew it with my own show. Havels, amalgamated combined shows, the biggest in the world. I guess I just got so I believed it too much and lost the line between what's real and what I was dreaming. You know what this morning, when he was out here, remembered and tried to stop you from going on, but tried and then there's a phone call where they found Andy. Didn't seem right to stop things, man. He just didn't seem right. All right, you want to get your coat? Yeah. Are you going to take me downtown to the police car? That's right. Can you use a sirene? For what, sir? Sirene. There's no reason for any sirens. I suppose not. You used to have sirenes when I come to town. Me and the chief of police ride down the street. Sirene going. Everybody knew I was in town. Big to do. Everybody knew I was there. Things have sure changed. Not very much. Things have changed. People used to know I was in town. I still do. Clarence Neale-Havill was held over for a sanity hearing in Superior Court. On recommendation of the court, appropriate action was taken. Drag net. The story of your police force in action is a presentation of the United States Armed Forces Radio Service.