 Ladies and gentlemen, the story you're about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. Dragnet, brought to you by Chesterfield, America's most popular two-way cigarette. Chesterfield king size at the new low price, and Chesterfield regular. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned the burglary detail. The two-way store has been robbed. Merchandise amounting to $5,000 has been stolen. The thief made goodies escape. Your job? Find him. This is George Fenerman. In choosing your cigarette, be sure to remember this. You will like Chesterfield best, because only Chesterfield has the right combination of the world's best tobaccos. Tobaccos that are highest in quality, low in nicotine. Best for you. You and I smoke for relaxation, for comfort, for satisfaction. And in the whole wide world, no cigarette satisfies like a Chesterfield. Get a carton of Chesterfield today. Chesterfield regular, Chesterfield king size, both at the same price in most places. In regular or king size, you can get them either way. The best smoke ever made's the Chesterfield you buy today. Smokers coast to coast are changing. It's a cinch to do. Here's all you have to say to get the one that's best for you. Chesterfield's for me. Chesterfield's for me. You just say it's Chesterfield's for me. 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 Sunday, September 8th. It was warm in Los Angeles. We were working the day, watch out a burglary detail. My partner's Frank Smith, the boss's chief of detectives, Dad Brown. My name's Friday. We're on our way out to the scene, and it was 10.18 a.m. when we got to 6247 28th Street, the jewelry store. I'll be right there. Yes, sir. It's not a very big place. There's probably more room behind that partition there. I'm coming. You're the police? Yes, sir, that's right. This is my partner Frank Smith. My name's Friday. I'm glad to meet you. How you doing, sir? My name's Ham. Ray Ham. This is my store. Yes, sir. Sorry I kept you waiting. I was back in the kitchen making some tea. I was a little nervous, you know. Thought it might help. Mm-hmm. You gentlemen care for some? No, sir. No, thanks, sir. When did you discover the theft? Well, I got back to the store about 40 minutes ago. Saw what had happened, and I called the police right away. Is everything like you found it? Yes, sir. These cases open? That's right. I haven't touched anything in here. Didn't want a chance messing anything up. Yes, sir. Didn't leave very much, huh? A couple of watch bands is about all. Really cleaned out the place. Now, about the watches, what kind were they? Mostly wrist models. A couple of pocket size. Uh-huh. All different brands, but I just got a bunch of long jeans in. Took every one of them. Yes, sir. Clean me out. Can you tell us how they got into the store? Yes. I'll show you how they chopped a hole right through the wall. All right, sir. Right through the wall. In the back. Came right through. You can see there. Goes right into the storeroom of the barbershop next door. Mm-hmm. Uh... Sure made a mess of the place. Plaster all over the floor. Yes, sir. Pretty much ruined the wall, too. Yeah. Wanted to make sure they'd have enough room. Mm-hmm. See, the hole must be about to be the cross jump. You can see there. Right into the storeroom. Yes, sir. Better check over there, huh? Oh, I forgot to tell you. The back door to the barbershop is open. Before you officers arrived, I checked out in the alley and I saw it wide open. I guess that's how they got in. Who owns the barbershop, Mr. Hemp? Ed Justin. Had the place over 15 years. You know where he lives? Yes. He isn't home, though. As soon as I saw that hole, I tried to call him. You can give us his address and phone number, can you? Yes. We'll want to talk to him. All right. I've got one of his cars up front. All right, sir. We'll check next door. Look at that hole. Must be a good three feet across, wouldn't you say? Yes, sir. Here. Let me get that door for you. Look at that. What's that? Size of that door. Heavy, double lock. Burglar alarm system out in front. On the skylight up there. Doesn't stop him. Yes, sir. Well, we'll check next door. That seems like kind of a nice little guy, huh? Yeah. I wonder why the thief didn't close the door when he finished. Probably nothing left to steal. Yeah. Take a look at the door here. It doesn't look like it was forced. Uh-uh. Well, Justin might have left it unlocked. He made a mess in here, too. Yeah. Looks like they had a head start. Yeah. Huh? The place must use a lot of hair oil. Yeah. For me, that's liquid soap there. Oh, yeah. It doesn't look like there's any tools around. No. How you doing? Take a look. Want me to find something? Come here. What? In the dust here, can you see? Yeah. Impressions? Yeah. Looks like a stocking foot, huh? Yeah. The guy must have worked with his shoes off. That's the way I'd call it. You notice right here? Right. The middle of the print? The stains? Yeah, looks like it could be blood. Possibly he might have cut his foot, wouldn't he? Yeah. Well, let's call a crime lab. Have him send the crew out to go over both places. Yeah. Joe? Yeah. Take a look at the skylight up there. Mm-hmm. It's broken. You better check the roof, huh? All right. It sure looks like hair, Tony. Yeah, it's green. Yeah. There's the drain pipe there. Might have used that to get up. We'll have the crew check it. Let's go back in. Yeah. Mr. Hemp? Yes? Find out anything? Well, we're not sure yet, sir. I wonder if you could tell us. Is there some way to get to the roof of the building here? Oh, yes, yes. Come on, I'll show you. There. There. You see? Up in the corner. Trap door. Mm-hmm. Hinged. Swings right up. Been a while since I've used it. You have something we can use to get up there? No, I've got a ladder. I'll get it. All right, sir. Want me to give you a hand with that? Oh, I can get it. All right. Here, you better let me help you with that. I'll swing my end over and you can walk it right up under the trap door. All right. Careful. All right. How's that? That's fine. I'll get it. I want to steady the ladder, Frank. Yeah. Can you get it? No, this bolt's stuck just a minute. It's probably rusty. I told you I didn't use it very often. Yes, sir. Okay. That's got it. Good. Okay, now, hang on. What do you want? I'll boost myself up. I got it. Okay. All right. You want to come up, Frank? Yeah. Let me give you a hand. Yeah. Wait until I get my foot on the ledge. All right. Come on. You've got to lose some weight. Let's take a look at that skyline, huh? Yeah. Well, I'm glad we didn't hit this tire rough at noon. It was still funny warm. You can see all the hams placed through this one. Good spot to case it from, isn't it? Yeah. Let's check that broken skyline. Yeah. Take a look. Yeah. More smears. There's not much doubt about these. Looks like blood all right, doesn't it? Yeah. Maybe they did case the stories from here. Uh-huh. Could have cut his foot on a piece of glass, couldn't he? Figures. Still not much to go on. Yeah. They'll take a pretty big cut to make these smears. Well, that'll be something in our favor. How do you mean? It will heal overnight. The crime lab crew arrived and started their investigation. Photographs were taken of the interiors of both stores and samples of the plaster and lath materials were held as evidence. Layton Fingerprints went over both the jewelry store and the barber's shop. Frank and I checked with the people in the neighborhood, but none of them could recall seeing any automobiles or strangers loitering in the vicinity. At 7.20 p.m., the barber had Justin returned. We questioned him. He said he didn't recall locking the back door to the shop, and he said it was more than possible that he did leave it open. We got a complete list of the stolen merchandise from Ray Hemp along with the case and movement numbers of the watches. These were distributed to pawn shops throughout the city. Frank and I went back to the city hall and had the stats office start a run on the M.O. used in the burger. 9.47 p.m., Lieutenant Lee Jones from the crime lab called to say that they'd finished their examination of the physical evidence. He told us that the stains we'd found were blood, and that he'd have the grouping tests finished for us in the morning. He went on to say that the suspect should have particles of plaster dust and other debris in his clothing. Also, if we were able to find the socks that the thief had worn, the pattern of the material would identify them. At 10.15 p.m., Frank and I finished the log and we checked out of the office. The next morning, we started to run down the list that the stats office had furnished us. It took two full days to question all of the men named. At the end of that time, we had what we'd started with, nothing. We talked to informants, none of them could tell us anything. Wednesday, 11.40 a.m., Frank and I checked into the office. I guess I better check the book, huh? Yeah. What do you got? A call from Luca Reli over at Narcotics. Yeah. Says they picked up a guy this morning. Luke talked to him and figured maybe we'd want to see him. You say why? No, he didn't spell it out. He saw our teletype on the jewelry store thing. Yeah. It's about some watches. We put in a call to Sergeant Roxy Luca Reli at Narcotics Division. Five minutes later, the suspect was brought to our office. He was identified as Frederick Gabriel Garth. He had a record listing several arrests for burglary in Narcotics. He'd served one term at the county jail on the Narcotics Charge. He was brought into the interrogation room where Frank and I questioned him. What are you giving me trouble for? I'm clean. They found nothing on me. Is that so? Sure. The marks are old, been a long time since I had a fixer. Uh-huh. Well, what do you want from me? Information. On what? You've been around a while, haven't you, Garth? Sure. I'm a native son. And you must have a lot of friends. A couple? Any of them selling wrist watches? What do you mean? Well, you don't need a drawing for this now. Any of your friends selling watches cheap? No. You sure about that? What are you trying to build? The only way it came to us, you can stare us to a cheap watch. Well, you've got it all wrong. I don't even own a watch. If I could buy one cheap, I'd have one. That right. Well, sure. I always wanted a good one. Mm-hmm. You know anybody who can lead us to a good buy? Well, what's in it for me? What do you got now? Nothing. Well, you're going to leave the same way. No reason for me to give you a hand, then, is there? Then put it down that we're going to have you in here again. The way you act now, go on the books. How about it, Garth? Who's going to know? You, Smith, and me. For real? Won't do us any good to spread it around town, will it? Okay, I met a guy last night. He showed me a watch he bought for $5. What did it look like? Gold. Pretty good watch. A fellow friend of yours? I know him, that's all. You got a name? Yeah, Victor Gordon. Where'd you see him? Hot Dog Stand. But where's that? Out on Western. Western's along the street. Corner of St. Andrews. What does Gordon do for a living? I don't know. I just see him around the Hot Dog Stand once in a while. You live around there? Yeah, I got a room near 39th and Western. I don't know the number. It's a big green place. Got those kind of plastic shingles on the roof. Red ones. You show it to us? Yeah, a friend of mine has a car. We drove him home a couple of times. You got a good look at the watch last night? Yeah. What kind was it? Longy. You're pretty sure about that, aren't you? Sure. I looked at it pretty good. He took it off his wrist. Asked me if I thought it was worth $5. I told him it was. At least I'd pay that for it for the real beauty. Can you give us the description of this Gordon, pal? Yeah. We want you to show us where he lives. I haven't seen him in this far. No reason to get off now. You got any more on him? You're going to find out anyway. Yeah. This Gordon? Uh-huh. He's an ex-convict. We checked the name and description of Victor Gordon through R&I. We found that he'd served one term for armed robbery in an eastern penitentiary and was not on parole at the time. The check of the ex-convict registration gave us his present address. We also found that he was employed at the Belden Aircraft Corporation in San Fernando. We took Fred Garth out to the address on Western Avenue to verify it for us. He pointed out the house and asked that we drop him off near a streetcar line. After that, Frank and I returned to the rooming house and we went up to the third floor. We knocked on the door to Gordon's room and he asked us in. I know what you're climbing on me for. A while of questions. You ask him to get answers, don't you? We'd like a few. Look, you tell me what all this is about and maybe it'll shake up my memory. All right. The way we heard it, you were wearing a new watch last night. Well, you got it wrong. Is that so? Yeah, I haven't got a watch. We got it different. Look here. You had one last night. Well, you're crazy. I haven't got a watch. We heard different. Somebody lied to you. I showed you. I'm not wearing one. You don't mind if we look around the place. Go ahead. You won't find anything. All right. I'll check the closet, Joe. You're wasting your time. You're not going to find anything. Well, and you haven't got anything to worry about, have you? Go ahead and mess up my room. Tear it apart. You're not going to find anything. Why don't you just simmer down there? I just don't want to have to put all that stuff back. Joe. Yeah. What do you got? Take a look. I found one of the shoes there. 38 cold. Yeah. How about it? You satisfied now? This gun yours, Gordon? Never saw it before. Found it in your closet? It isn't mine. Won't hold. You want to tell us about it? All right. So you found a gun. Is something wrong? You've got a short memory, haven't you? Maybe I got it wrong. I thought you guys were looking for a watch. There's a law that says an ex-con can't have a gun. You want to know that? How about it, Gordon? All right. Get your coat. Take me downtown? You called it? What charge? We'll let you know when we write it up. Oh, yeah, sure. Well, it is. I don't know what you're after, but I had no piece of it. You want to get the watch? It's in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. All right. You sit still. I'll get it. I bought it. It paid five bucks. We'll get to that. How about it, Joe? Yeah. You got a pen, man? Yeah. Give it here all over. All right. You want to give me the number? I'll check it against the list. Yeah. All right. Give it. Huh. It's kind of hard to see. One, six, seven, five, eight. I think the next one's a nine. Let me see that. Yeah, that's a nine. Sit on the list. Wait a minute. Look, I didn't steal it. I was wrong about the gun, but I didn't steal the watch. Look, Jess said still. How about it? No, it's not here. Wait a minute. Try the other side. Mm-hmm. Gordon, you're in trouble. Yeah, I know. The gun. No, that's only half of this watch. Yeah. It's listed as stolen. You are listening to Dragnet, the authentic story of your police force in action. There are more than 60 million cigarette smokers in America who smoke many brands. In choosing your cigarette, be sure to remember this. You will like Chesterfield best because only Chesterfield has the right combination of the world's best tobaccos. Tobaccos that are highest in quality, low in nicotine, best for you. You and I smoke for relaxation, for comfort, for satisfaction. And in the whole wide world, no cigarette satisfies like a Chesterfield. You smoke with the greatest possible pleasure when your cigarette is Chesterfield, the right combination of the world's best tobaccos. Yes, these six words, highest in quality, low in nicotine, mean Chesterfield is best for you. Buy them king size. Get a carton of Chesterfield today. And regular, Chesterfield king size, both at the same price in most places. The suspect was taken downtown in question. He continued to deny any part in the thefts. We put in a call to the place where he worked and we verified that he'd been there on the night of the burglary. After a half hour of questioning, Victor Gordon told us about the man he'd bought the watch from. He said he didn't know his full name, that he knew him only as Kermit. He went on to say that his girlfriend had been with him when he bought the watch and could verify the story. We contacted the girl, Celia Kirk, and we talked to her. She told us the same story we'd gotten from Gordon. She volunteered the information that Kermit lived in the 3,800 block on Gramercy Place. She also told us that his girlfriend lived in the 2,900 block on 9th Avenue. We got a complete description of the man and we checked it through R&I. We came up with a package for a Kermit J. Wayne. When the mug shop was shown to Gordon and Celia Kirk, we got a positive identification. Wayne's arrest record went back to the time he was 15. He was listed as an expert safeburger and had used a tunneling MO on several occasions. Gordon was booked in at the main jail in a charge of violation of the dangerous weapons control law of 1923, Section 2. 5.40 p.m., Frank and I left the office and drove out to the address on Gramercy Place. Wayne lived on the 2nd floor rear. He wasn't there. In the company of the landlord, we went through his room. Pretty dirty. You want to check the dresser or I'll get the trunk. Yeah. Hey, Joe, look. I guess everybody's got this calendar, huh? Yeah, it's real popular. Good. Hey, look at this. Did you turn something? Yeah, drawer full of dirty t-shirts. You've got to put them someplace. Well, I have gloves for this job. How are you doing with the trunk? There's nothing much in it. More of those calendars. Wayne must be a fine arts patron. Dirty shirts in this one. I don't know. Maybe the guy hasn't heard of laundries. What do you think? Well, the trunk checks out. How do you like that? I should have known. Dirty socks, old drawer full of. Well, he's neat, anyhow. I'll check the closet. A lot of hangers, not many clothes. Maybe the guy's broke, but that's no reason to be so dirty. How about that bundle there? I haven't looked at it yet. It might be his clean shirts. No, pair of pants. Figures. They're dirty, too. Something in the pocket here. A pair of socks. That makes you wrong. If he was so neat, they'd be with the others. Maybe he had a reason for keeping him here. Why? Take a look. He had a reason. Blood on this one. We checked out the rest of Wayne's room, but we turned up nothing to further tie him in with a burglary. We got a description of his car from the landlord. And before we left, we made arrangements for a stakeout to be set up on his room. We took the pair of pants and the blood stained socks down to the crime lab for examination. 8 20 p.m. Frank and I drove over to 9th Street to try to find Kermit Wayne's girlfriend. We checked the 2,900 block, and we found a car that matched the description of the one owned by the suspect. We checked the white slip and found the car was registered to Wayne. Frank pulled two of the leads to the spark plugs, and we went back to our car to wait for Wayne to show up. The night dragged on. 4 29 a.m. It's been almost eight hours, huh? Yeah. Something had happened, don't you? Put in with you. Joe? Group? Did you ever notice around the city all the clocks that are stopped? No, I can't say that I have. You know, on business places, storefronts, walls, all over? Well, what brought that on? Oh, just thinking a little while ago. You know, some smart fellow, get a lot of work fixing them. All the clocks don't run. They're only right two times a day. What? The clocks that are broke, twice a day, they're right. How'd you like to be right only twice a day? Some fellas would be all right. Like who? Guys that bet on the horses. Oh, yeah, probably wouldn't ever thought of that. Wouldn't be so good if you worked in a chicken hatchery, though. Where? Chicken hatchery. What do you mean? Well, those guys up there, they look at baby chicks their day or so old, and they tell what they're going to be. You know, men or women? What? Well, they're going to be roosters or hens. Oh, yeah. Pretty good money in it. Well, that's a new one on me. Yeah, but you've got to be right. None of this twice a day stuff. You know, say, a guy bought a hundred little baby chicks expecting to get, you know, 98 hens and two roosters. And he finds out he got just the opposite 98 roosters and two hens. How do you think you'd feel? Disappointed? You bet he would. That guy'd be looking for a new job, too. Well, maybe he could fix those clocks. Sure would be a lot of money in it for somebody, huh? Across the street? Yeah, I see him. Talking to somebody inside there? I can't see him too good. It's about the right height, though. Yeah, he's coming this way now. Notice the walk. Check's out all the way. Yeah, it's him. All right, wait till he gets in the car. Let's go. Right. Hey, hey, fella. You Kermit Wayne? Hey, what is this? Police officers. Are you Kermit Wayne? Yeah, why? Get out of the car. Come on. Keep those hands where we can see him. Why do you want to talk to me? Come on, get out. Just put it down the way you walk, huh? This don't make sense. It does, does. What do you mean? You limp. The suspect was taken down at Georgia Street receiving hospital. An examination showed that he had a bad cut on his right foot. We contacted the office, and another team of men were sent out to the apartment of Wayne's girlfriend to go over the place. Frank and I took the suspect back to the office, 8.25 AM. Don't guess we can expect much from Wayne's girlfriend if she's anything like him. No. He's a clam, that's for sure. We're going to need something strong to open him up. Righty? Yeah, Mac. What'd you do out there? Maybe we got something for you. Yeah. Where is the guy? The next office. Here. You taking a trip, Mac? Uh-uh. Suitcases for you. Watches, rings. Wayne's girlfriend didn't know it, but she was in the jewelry business. Look at this. All on jeans. How about serial numbers? Haven't checked them yet. Since we found this, we came right over. All right. We'll run them. Do you have any trouble? No, really. She was pretty cooperative. Didn't see what was going on. We told her Wayne was in custody, gave her a big story. Tells easier than it was. How'd you locate the stuff? When we told her about Wayne, she remembered the suitcase he wanted her to keep for him. He told her it was some war souvenirs. Didn't like to leave them in his room. Real surprised when she saw the contents. Then she got mad. Said he'd always promised to buy her a good watch she never had. She can start looking for a new Santa Claus, huh? Yeah. Wayne won't be shopping for some time. We checked the serial numbers on the watches, and we found that they were the ones taken in the burglary of the jewelry store. All of the other merchandise matched the description that we'd gotten from Ray Hemp. 918 AM. All right, you want to tell us how you cut your foot? I'm giving you nothing. You did it on the skylight over the barbershop, didn't you? You tell me, I don't know. Maybe I cut at the beach. We don't think so. I want to see a lawyer. I'll talk to him, but I've got nothing for you guys. All right, we got something here we want you to see, Wayne. How about it, Wayne? Look familiar? Oh, you kid and bunch of watches. I've seen watches before. Who hasn't? These are a little different. Look at the suitcase. Does that ring any bells? Don't mean nothing to me. You guys are trying to trap me. I know how it won't work this time. I've learned all about you, cops. A long time ago. I get it. Burgary Friday. Yeah, right. Both of them, huh? Oh, good. OK, we'll check with you. Want to give us a story now, Wayne? I'll talk to a lawyer. That phone call there, it just called the third strike on you, mister. All right, I'll give it to you straight. When you went into that jewelry store, you cut your foot. You left blood smears all over the place. You've got to stay away from comics. We've got pictures of the smears. Our crime lab matched them up with a pair of socks that we found in your room. The pants we found are loaded with debris that you picked up when you went through that wall. And we can prove it came from the same place. Sound like we're bluffing? You want to tell us about it now? Don't think you're so smart, you ain't. You just got the brakes. That's all just the brakes. Yeah, that's all. Yeah, your cops ain't smart. I learned it real young. Once in a while, the brakes fall on your side. Something else you should have learned real young. You wouldn't be worrying about the brakes now. What's that? The eighth commandment. The story you've just heard is true. The names were changed to protect the innocent. On January 16, trial was held in Department 98's 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 Fenerman. You know, almost 100 years ago, Charles Kingsley wrote this about tobacco. He said, tobacco is a lone man's companion. It's like a bachelor's friend, a chili man's fire. Well, I like to think these words describe what Chesterfield means to millions of smokers today. The right combination of the world's best tobaccos, the best cigarette ever made. Chesterfield, highest in quality, low in nicotine. Best for you. Kermit J. Wayne was tried and convicted of burglary in the first degree. Victor Cavell Gordon was found guilty of violation of the Dangerous Weapons Control Act and received sentence as prescribed by law. Burglary in the first degree is punishable by imprisonment in the state penitentiary for a period of not less than five years. Violation of the Dangerous Weapons Control Act is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for a period of not more than one year or a fine of $500 or both such fine and imprisonment. Ladies and gentlemen, the drag net feature motion picture will soon be showing at your local theater. It's in color and wide screen. We hope you'll go see it. We hope you'll like it. You have just heard drag net, 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 Wynn, Sergeant Franz Brasher. Heard tonight were Ben Alexander, Jonathan Hull, Herb Ellis. Script by John Robinson, Earl Schlay. Music by Walter Schumann. Hell, give me speaking. Watch an entirely different drag net case history each week on your local NBC television station. Please check your newspapers for the day and time. Chesterfield has brought you drag net transcribed from Los Angeles. Be sure to listen to drag net at the same new time next week. Like them filtered? Like them king size? Then for you, this is it. King size L and M filters. At the same low price as L and M regular, both have the miracle tip for the effective filtration you need. Yes, it's the filter that counts. And L and M has the best. You get much more flavor, much less nicotine, a light, and mild smoke. Buy L and M filters, just what the doctor ordered. It's America's highest quality and best filter tip cigarette. Buy a cotton, king size, or regular, both at the same low price. Lux Radio Theater presents Weathering Heights tonight on the NBC Radio Network.