 Sound off for Chesterfield. Chesterfield is best for you. First cigarette with premium quality in both regular and king size. Chesterfield brings you dragnet. Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned a robbery detail. You get a call that a large market has been held up. You have a good description of the thief. Your job? Get him. Years ahead of them all. Chesterfield is years ahead of them all. The quality contrast between Chesterfield and other leading cigarettes is a revealing story. Recent chemical analyses give an index of good quality for the country's six leading cigarette brands. The index of good quality table, a ratio of high sugar to low nicotine, shows Chesterfield quality highest, 15% higher than its nearest competitor, and Chesterfield quality 31% higher than the average of the five other leading brands. Yes, Chesterfield is first with premium quality in both regular and king size. Don't you want to try a cigarette with a record like that? 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 Monday, March 10th, that was raining in Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out of robbery detail. My partner's Frank Smith. The boss is Captain Didion. My name's Friday. I was on my way into the office, and it was 8.02 a.m. when I got to room 27A. Robbery. Oh? Yeah, Frank. It's really coming down, isn't it? Yeah, pouring out in the valley. That's all? Yeah, keeps coming down like this, going to cause a lot of trouble. Sure makes Fey, man. Yeah, how's that? Well, it gets to raining like this, and she begins to think about the house. You know, doing something about it, changing stuff around. That's all? Spent the whole day yesterday moving furniture. Finally got it all set just before dinner. Looks pretty good, too. What happened? Well, we got through dinner and all went in to look at television. Yeah. The way she had the furniture, none of us could see a thing. And chairs were either so close you couldn't see or else they were way across the room. No, well, you're not supposed to get too close, are you, anyway? Yeah, but, Joe, we only got a 10-inch screen. We got one of those big magnifiers on it. And if you get to one side, everybody looks like they got the lumps. Had to move all the stuff back the way it was. It's a hot shot. I'll get it. All right, get your coat. We got one to roll on. What is it? Liquor store robbery. 8-12 a.m., we arrived at the scene of the hold-up. It was a large liquor grocery store at the corner of San Marino Avenue in Sixth Streets. A radio unit was already there. Frank and I checked with him and then we talked with the victim of Mr. Henry Alden. I was just standing there at the counter. This old guy came in, pulled a gun, told me he wanted the money. I gave it to him. Uh-huh. He said in a phone that he was elderly. Is that right? Yeah, old guy. Must have been about 65 or 70. Real bum. How do you mean? All the way he was dressed, you know. Old clothes, real seedy. Uh-huh. What if you tell us just what happened? Well, sure. Well, it was about 8 this morning. I opened up and I was there making out the deposit slip for the bank. I walked in the back door and pulled his gun, told me he wanted the money. Uh-huh. Well, like I said, I gave it to him. He told me to get into the closet back there. He told me to lie down on the floor. Well, I did and he had that gun pointed right at my head. I did like he told me. I see what happened then. Well, he walked over to the door and flipped the lock on a couple of times. You know, to make sure it worked. Yeah. And then he figured it was okay and he told me not to make any noise for five minutes. And he locked the door and left. That's it. Took all the money. How much money did he take, would you know? Yeah, to the penny. I just finished adding it up in just a minute. All right. We got the figures on the machine, take it right away. That is $5,200 and 52 cents. That's it exactly. You said the guy came in the back door, is that right? Yeah, that's right. Well, were you open? I mean, was the store open for business? No, we weren't. You see, I usually don't open before 8.30. We'd be back door open for deliveries, bread and stuff like that. What if he could give us a description of the man? Well, sure, like I said, he was old. I'd say around 70, not in there. But how tall was he? I'd say maybe 5.7, not much more than that. How much did he weigh, would you know? Not much, maybe 125. How about his complexion? Real tan, like he'd be down in the sun a lot. His face was all wrinkled. How about the color of his eyes? Blue, real blue. Now, what about his clothes? Real bum, had on this old overcoat, brown, off-raid, ragged around the sleeves. Had a patch on the right elbow. Patch looked like it was kind of dark, surge material. Was he wearing a hat? Yeah, yeah, blue, all beat up. You could see the dirt around the brim. How about his shirt and trousers? Blue striped shirt and old kind of brown pants, no press. Looked like he was getting ready to jump in, a real seedy. Yes, sir, did he wear glasses? No, I didn't. Was he clean-shaven or did he wear a mustache? Well, I had about a four or five day old growth of beard, white. I see. Did he have any marks or scars that you could see? No, nothing like that, at least not that I could see. How about the gun? Was it a revolver or an automatic? Well, it looked like an automatic, might have been a .45. I didn't look too close at that. Yeah. Do you have any sort of an accent when you talk to him? No, no, nothing like that. All right, Mr. Alden, Joe, I'll get the description out. Right, right, thanks. Mr. Alden, did the man say anything to you that might help identify him? No, not that I can think of. He kept telling me that he was real sorry he had to do this. He said, I'm really sorry, but I have to have the money. I have to. He kept asking me if I understood. I told him no. And he said that someday I would. Real weird. He kept apologizing while he robbed me. I see. You're the owner here, are you? No, no, I'm just a manager. The owner's Mr. Wood. He's going to be real mad when he hears about this. Second time in three months we've been held up. Getting a little tiring. A couple more times the insurance company isn't going to stand for it. Yes, sir. Do you usually have that much money in the store? Most of the weekends, yeah. You see, a lot of our stuff is pretty expensive. This is about the only store in the neighborhood that's open over Sunday. Get a lot of trade. Weekend business usually runs between three and five thousand. About how many employees are there in the store? Three, all tall. We stay open until 2.30 in the morning. I come in in the morning and work until noon. Hank comes in and there's two of us until six. And John comes in and he works on through. Once in a while Mr. Wood comes in himself and we get busy. I wonder if I could have their names and addresses? Sure. They weren't involved in it. I'm sure of that. Well, we have to check them out anyway, Mr. Alden. Yeah, I suppose so. But I tell you, he knew what he was doing. The way he moved. The way he knew just when to come in. This fella's done that sort of thing before. Trying to say he was sorry about taking the money. He wasn't fooling anybody. Honestly, not a soul. Real bum, seedy, you know? Yes, sir. All that baloney about how he had to have the money wasn't any other way. He wasn't sorry, not at all. Yeah, well, he probably will be. 9.30 a.m., Frank and I started a canvas of the immediate vicinity. None of the store owners in the area had seen anyone answering the description of the holdup man. None of them had seen any suspicious cars in the area. We asked the liquor store manager to go with us to the city hall to look at the mug books. We called the store owner, and when he arrived, we drove downtown. The victim went through the mug books on known holdup men, but failed to make an identification. A local and an APB were gotten out on the suspect. We asked the stats office to make a run on the MOUs, and they came back with 14 possibles. It took us two days to check them out. They let us know where. The papers caught on to the store and letters began to pour in with advice and tips. On Monday, March 17th, the full week after the robbery, Frank and I had lunch and checked back into the office. See the afternoon papers, John? Yeah, pretty funny, huh? Yeah, sure, taking up the story. Everybody got a different idea of who the old guy is and why he did it. Have you read some of the stories? Yeah, sure. The only thing is, a lot of people seem to think the old guy's a real Robin Hood. Now, that's alright, but they forget that he walked in that store with a gun. Wasn't anybody to say that he wouldn't have pulled the trigger if somebody got in his way? Yeah, should be glad when we get him to find out what it's all about. I get it. Robby Friday. Yes, ma'am, it is. No, ma'am. No, ma'am, we haven't caught him yet. What was that? Yes, ma'am, uh-huh. Would you give me that address again? Yes, I have it. Yes, ma'am. Alright, thank you. There's another one. What's that? Landlady runs a place out on 9th Street. Says she's got a tenant that she sure is the old fellow we're looking for. How come? Says all the old guy does is stay up in his room. After the day, the landlady's daughter went upstairs for something. Tenant chased her down the stairs, yelling at her to stay away from his room, all that sort of thing. He was tired of people not respecting his rights, the rights of an old man, something like that. I couldn't get it all on the phone. Description she gave him pretty much matches the one we got. What do you figure? Well, we got no choice. We'll check it out. 158 p.m., Frank and I got to the rooming house on 9th Street. It was a large four-story building. We talked to the landlady and she gave us what information she could. She told us that the tenant's name was Roger Dietrich. She told us that he'd lived in the building for the past eight years. She went on to tell us that he had some sort of a private income and that he rarely left his room. The landlady explained that earlier the same morning, her 11-year-old daughter had gone to the attic to get some old newspapers and that on the way she'd run into Mr. Dietrich. The tenant had yelled at her and told her that as long as he was paying rent on the room, he wouldn't have anybody snooping around. We checked and found that he got no mail except the single letter a month with the income check. 2.30 p.m., Frank and I went up to the fourth floor and knocked at the door. You want to try it again? Yeah. Go away! Go away! Mr. Dietrich? Who is it? Police officers. We'd like to talk to you. Huh? Just a minute. Who'd you say you were? Police officers. We'd like to talk to you. What are your names? My name's Friday. This is my partner Frank Smith. Uh-huh. I guess it's all right. Come here. Thanks, sir. Well, guess it's about that thing this morning, huh? Sir? Oh, you don't have to play cage with me. I know that she called you the old busybody. That bad kid of hers is just like her. He's always snooping. Well, it wasn't anything to it. The kid come up here and was snooping around trying to find out what I was doing. I'm not ready yet. Well, what do you mean, sir? Not ready? No. The book's not finished yet. It will be in another year. And the whole world can see it. Maybe mend their ways. Give them some hope to avoid what's coming. Well, sir, that's not why we're here. Don't lie to me. I know all about you. I know that you'd be around. You're trying to stop me. I knew it. I knew it all the time. You see that stack of magazines over there? Yeah. Every copy of Life Magazine ever printed. Right from the first. I keep track, you know. I use it for research. Well, I don't quite understand, Mr. Dietrich. That's from my book. Oh, yeah. It's going to be in five volumes called The Evils of the Machine Age and its effect on mankind. Five volumes. That's the five volumes. Got the first four finished. Working on the last one now. That's how I knew you were coming. I worked it out on the charts. Well, we'd like to talk to you about what you were doing a week ago, sir. Oh, you would? Oh, well. Well, yes, I figured on that. I knew that you'd be checking me. I knew it. I saw it in the chart. I'm getting close now. Well, it's going to sit up and take nobody to sit right up. Yes, sir. Did you go out last Monday? Monday? Well, yes, yes. I went out to get some supplies. I got them to come right back. Would you tell us what time of day that was? Oh, night, sir. I always go out at night. Yes, sir. Where'd you get these? What are these supplies? Well, that's a little place down the street. I always buy things there. Very nice, very nice. Yes, sir. And the man down there would be able to tell us if you were there, wouldn't he? Oh, sure, yes. He and me had a talk about my book. I thought it was really interesting. We talk all the time. I just finished volume four, you know, about what's going to happen if the machine is allowed to continue. Oh, it's going to be terrible. I beg your pardon? The way the world's going. All these atom bombs. Now the hydrogen bomb. Going to blow the world right away. Even if they stop, bad things aren't going to be the same. They're all going to be different. All right. You just betcha. You know what kids are going to look like a thousand years from now? Well, sir, I imagine pretty much the same way they do now, huh? Yes, sir. And just where you're wrong. Take a picture right here. That's volume four, you know. Finish volume four. I'll get it. There you are. See? I'll do it up myself. Yeah. Well, what is it? Well, you see, that's the way we're all going to look. You see there? See? At large here. All brains. Little bitty legs. That's from that we won't be doing any walking, you see. Just riding all the time. One great big eye right in the middle of the head. And the right arm fit only for eating breakfast food. It makes noise. It doesn't turn on the television set, you see? Oh. It's clever. Yes, sir. That's what the chart says we're going to look like if we all eat atom bombs. Yes, sir. I wonder if you mind coming downtown with us. In an automobile? Yes, sir. Well, I'm afraid not. You see, I don't believe in them. And I'm going to last, you see. Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Dietrich, but we have to ask you to go with us. Police business, huh? Yes, sir. That's right. Well, I don't like it, but I guess I got no choice. Is that right? Yes, sir. That's right. Well, all right. That way. I was going to ride an automobile. Won't be around long, you know. Then just fade right out of existence. Is that right? Yeah. That's going to happen in my book. Volume five. 301 p.m. We drove Roger Dietrich down to the city hall and checked him through R&I. We found no record on him. We got in touch with a holdup victim, Henry Alden, and asked him to come down to the city hall to see if he could identify this aspect. He got to the robbery squad room at 4.15 p.m. No. No, I'm sure of it. That's not the guy. What's all this about anyway? What are you officers trying to do? Well, it's all right, Mr. Dietrich. We're just conducting a routine investigation. It's all right now. Oh, it is, huh? Yes, sir. We can take you home now if you like. In that police car? Yes, sir. Well, how about this fellow? Are you going to? No, sir. Oh, well, not. Maybe I'll do just that. Would you mind dropping me off at Pershing Square? I'd like to listen to a speech. A friend of mine is making it this afternoon. Brilliant, man. Oh, my. He's already written 12 books. All on odds. Sir? O-D-B-S, odds. Like, what are the chances of a comet falling on your house? Or what are the chances of a certain horse winning the Kentucky Derby? All things like that. It's, you know, brilliant, man. Yes, sir. He's dead broke. That right. Yeah. Spends all his money on research. I got it. Robby Friday. Yeah, Barnes. Uh-huh. Yeah. When'd you pick him up? Yeah. All right. No, we'll be right over. Anything? Yeah, Barnes over at the main jail says they got a drunk over there who's doing a lot of bragging. What about? Heist and the liquor store for $5,200. 4.30 p.m., we had Roger Dietrich taken to his home and then Frank and I went over to the main jail. We talked to Officer Phil Barnes. He told us that an Arnold Jefferson had been picked up and booked for L.A.M.C. 4127A on the previous day. Barnes went on to say that this was Jefferson's 42nd arrest on drunk charges. We had the suspect brought to the interview room and we talked to him. All right, Jefferson. Now, what's all this about you holding up a liquor store? What do you know about it? You matched the description of the man who committed the robbery, the clothes there that you're wearing or like the ones the victim described. Now, how about it? You figure you can prove it without me telling you? Yeah, if Alden identifies you, we can. Alden? He's the man who was robbed. He's outside now. We want him to take a look at you. That won't be necessary. You got the right man. You are listening to Dragnet, the authentic story of your police force in action. Chesterfield is best for you. Listen to this report. It's a report never before made about a cigarette. Smoked day after day by a group of people smoking from 10 to 40 cigarettes a day for a full year. Here's Chesterfield's record. A medical specialist giving this group thorough examinations every two months for a full year reports no adverse effects to their nose, throat, and sinuses from smoking Chesterfield's. Don't you want to try a cigarette with a record like that? You'll find Chesterfield's best for you. They're much milder, with an extraordinarily good taste. And for your pocketbook, Chesterfield is America's best cigarette buy. Chesterfield. Years ahead of them all. We had the victim, Henry Alden, look at the suspect, Arnold Jefferson. He identified him positively as the man who had held up the liquor store. We took Jefferson back to the city hall and checked him through R&I. He had no felony record. 7.30 p.m. We took him to the interrogation room. I knew you'd get me. Knew it all the time. Sure. I knew it even before I held up the store. You know, I didn't really want to do it. You know, I really meant it when I told him and I was sorry about doing it. Really meant it. I guess maybe you find that kind of hard to believe. Well, I suppose you'd tell us about it, huh? Yeah. I guess the best way would be to start from the beginning, huh? Yeah. The first thing you should understand is I think basically that I'm an honest man. All my life I've never cheated anyone or taken anything that didn't belong to me. I've tried to live pretty much for the Golden Rule. Yeah, I see. Sometimes. Maybe. Lots of times would be a little hard to do, but I did my best. Yeah, sir. Go ahead. I was born in the Middle West. It's a tiny little town. You've probably never heard of it. It isn't dawn. Most of the maps went school there through the eighth grade. Then I decided that I wanted to see the rest of the country. Worked my way through every one of the 48, every one of them. Uh-huh. Did a lot of things, met a lot of people. Is that right? Well, all that time, all my life I never did anything real big. Nothing that I could ever tell anybody about and be proud. Nothing to tell people about. Yeah, sir. I'm 72 years old now. It's a long time to live and never do anything big. Long time. Uh-huh. Came downtown one day, sat in the plaza in the sun, met some real nice people. People like me, people without much reason. Got to come down every day, sitting, talking, exchanging ideas. Found a lot of good friends. Most of them were alone. And I guess being alone made us members of the same club. Got to be sort of a lodge. 17 of us. Used to meet, talk about things, where the world is going, how things look for the future, all things like that. Friends. Yeah, sir. How'd you get along all this time? How'd you live? Oh, I get a little pension from the state enough to get along on. I don't need much. Uh-huh. Well, one day I got to thinking about how I didn't really have anything big to remember. That's when I decided. You mean on the robbery? Yeah. Decided that if I could get my hands on a lot of money, a lot of it all at once I could have something. Yeah. So I started to figure. First off, I had to figure what kind of a store to rob. Had to be one where I could get enough money. Thought about it quite a while. When I had that figured, I picked out the store. And then I cased. Is that right? Yeah, that's right. Well, I cased the store, figured how I'd do it. Then I figured that I'd have to have a gun. Yeah. Got one of those little plastic ones. Bought the dime store, fixed it up with shoe black. Couldn't hurt anybody. Just plastic. Looked real, but couldn't hurt anyone. Of course, the victim wouldn't know that, would he? Yeah. I thought considerable about that. Worried about it a lot. About how if there's any trouble, it'd make it hard with just a plastic gun. Oh, not that I wanted to hurt anybody. I didn't. But I got to thinking what would happen if somebody got scared and thought it was real. Could be trouble there. Mm-hmm. No, no. Now before I go any further, I want you to know that right at this point I knew I was doing wrong. I knew it. Knew that I'd have to go to jail for what I did. Knew it, and it didn't matter. Had to be that way. Well now if you knew that, why'd you go ahead with the robbery? Yeah, it wasn't any other way to get the money. At least none that I could think of. Believe me, I tried to think of one. All right, go ahead. And I held up the place, took the money, and then I made the man get into the closet. Did that so he wouldn't try to follow me. I was sorry about it. Tried to tell him, but I don't think he really believed it. Don't think he did. What'd you do then? I took a bus out the airport. I thought about taking a cab, but then I figured that I'd want to save as much money as I could, so I was having it later. Yeah. I inquired around out there at the airport and found a place where I could rent an airplane. I paid for it in advance, so there wouldn't be any trouble. Hired it to go to San Francisco. Round trip, both ways. You hired an airplane? Yep, big one. Carried 18 people. That's what I needed. Real comfortable seats, two motors. Had a girl paint on the front. Some of the war, I guess. All right, go ahead. Well, I took the bus back to town, and I started walking around the plaza. Rounded up all 17 of my friends, a whole bunch of them. Talked to them all. Guys who had been nice to me, even if it wasn't anything I could do for them, told them to meet me at First and Main, right by the fountain in front of the city hall that night. Told them that I was going to throw a party. A party they'd never forget. Well, we got together that night and took a cab out the airport. Matter of fact, we took four cabs. Had to show the drivers that I had the money for the tickets. I guess they thought we was going to try to get a free ride. But anyway, when I showed them the money, they drove us out. Give them a good tip. Nice fellas. Got on the airplane, flew up to San Francisco. Wonderful. Got into the city, and then we started. Really had a time, lasted three days. Wasn't anything we didn't see, nothing we didn't do. Three days of it. Real living. Everything was on me, paid for it all. Went to the best places, baked the best food, drank finest wines. Really lived. Where'd you stay when you were in San Francisco? Hotel down on Howard. Not the richest in town, but real nice. Clean rooms. All right, go ahead. Well, about time that I thought we'd stayed long enough, we all got on the plane and come back. Got in Wednesday morning. Took cabs downtown, and then we all went to breakfast. Had a real whopper. Kind of a farewell for the whole party. After I settled up with the waitress, I only had $1.75 left. Give it to her for a tip. Sure made her happy. I don't guess she makes much down there. Yeah. Well, did any of your friends know where you'd get the money for this party? No, no. No, you see, when I first got the idea, I told them that I had a real rich brother. Told them that he died and that I was his only relative, that all the money would get to me. I figured that I could sort of set things up by doing that. Seemed to work all right. None of them said anything. Uh-huh. You remember the man you chartered the airplane from? Oh, sure. Real nice fella. I got his card. I kept it. Started with a souvenir. I can give it to you if you want it. Yeah, we'll have to have it. You ever done any big time? Me? Oh, no, no. Just drunk arrests. Lots of them. Yeah. Big thing about this is that I wish there was some way to keep the boys in fine knots so they wouldn't have to know. Of course, I know that I'm not going to see them again, but just the same, how are they going to take this when they hear about it? I don't know. I sure was wrong. Real wrong. How long are they putting me in jail for, you guys know? Well, it depends. Depends on what? What the court says. Oh. Still have to go to prison, though, huh? Yeah, I'm afraid so. Mm-hmm. Well, I haven't got much left. Just no matter what they say, it's going to be life for me. Well, sir, we're not the ones to decide that. Yes, I know. You guys been real nice in the way I'm glad it's over? Like I said before, I knew you'd get me. I knew it all the time right from the beginning. Tried to figure out how to be when you did get me. What I'd say, how I'd act. Wasn't as hard, I thought it was going to be. Not hard at all. One thing, though. Yeah, what's that? A kind of wish I hadn't done it. I really do. I keep thinking to my friends how they're going to take it. Yeah. You want to go? You going to take me back now, huh? Yeah, I'm afraid we have to. Going to put me back in the tank? No, not this time. Upstairs? Yeah, upstairs. That means I'll have a cell all by myself. Be nice. I'd like to be alone. All right, can you all set, Jefferson? Yeah. This way. 72 years, nothing to show for it. Nothing. Only one thing I can really say I did with my life. What's that, Jefferson? Wasted 72 years. The story you have just heard was true. The names were changed to protect the innocent. On July 24th, trial was held in Department 89 Superior Court of the State of California in and for the County of Los Angeles. In a moment, the results of that trial. Now, here is our star, Jack Webb. Thank you, George Phenomen. I hope you'll remember the facts George Phenomen reported to you earlier. Recent chemical analyses give an index of good quality for the country's six leading brands. The index of good quality table, a ratio of high sugar to low nicotine, showed Chesterfield quality highest. 15% higher than its nearest competitor. And Chesterfield quality, 31% higher than the average of the five other leading brands. And I'd like you to try Chesterfields today. I know they're best for me, and I'm sure you'll find Chesterfields are best for you. Arnold Peter Jefferson was tried and found guilty of one count of robbery in the second degree. He was sentenced to the state penitentiary for the term as prescribed by law. Robbery in the second degree is punishable by imprisonment for a period of not less than one year. Ladies and gentlemen, we wish to thank the editors of Real Magazine for their article High Tension on TV in the April issue now on sale. 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. Technical advisors, Captain Jack Donahoe, Sergeant Marty Winn, Sergeant Phan Sprecher, heard tonight were Ben Alexander, Vic Rodman, Ralph Moody, scripted by John Robinson, music by Walter Schumann, Hal Gibney speaking. For a million laughs, tune in Chesterfield's Martin and Lewis show Tuesday on the same NBC station and sound off for Chesterfields. Either regular or king size, you'll find premium quality Chesterfields much milder. Chesterfield is best for you. Chesterfield has brought you Dragnet transcribed from Los Angeles. Tonight it's adventure with Barry Craig on NBC.