 Mr. District Attorney, starring David Bryan. Mr. District Attorney, champion of the people, defender of truth, guardian of our fundamental rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And it shall be my duty as District Attorney, not only to prosecute to the limit of the law all persons accused of crimes perpetrated within this county, but to defend with equal vigor the rights and privileges of all its citizens. This is David Bryan. In a moment we'll bring you another case from the files of Mr. District Attorney. But first the word from our sponsor. Now here is our star, David Bryan as Paul Garrett, Mr. District Attorney. A District Attorney learns that in every man's mind there is a secret compartment. It can be the hiding place for guilt or for fear. And fear is a deadly enemy of justice. Take this case. It started at one o'clock in the morning in the shadows of a waterfront pier. All right, start it up. Where'd you get this heap from, Crow? That's my business. Looks later. You just drive. Let me do the thinking. You do the thinking, I do the dirty work. Is that it? You want to keep working, Slater? You want to brass checker tomorrow, shape up? All right, all right. If Rimmlinger isn't straightened out, I'm going to be finished. And no stumble-bumble like him is going to finish any crew. All right, turn down River Street. You'll be leaving the pier in two minutes. Suppose somebody sees us, Crow? Who's going to see us? He's the only long-term one I got working on that dock tonight. He'll be coming out alone. Get him in the middle of the street. It's nice and wide. He'll have nothing to duck behind. Better slow down a little. I'll be careful on this stretch. Hey, this thing's sliding all over. Why do you think I told you to slow down? Oil truck turned over here last night. They put sand and gravel on it, but it's still slippery. Watch it now. Pier 37 just passed the ferry shed. There's people in that ferry shed, Crow. They're not close enough to bother us. Watch the street. Hey, there. There he is now. Let him walk further into the street. Now, gun it. Hey, stop, Crow. She'll let you go by. Perfect. Cut into him. Keep going. Think we got him? We knocked him 100 feet later. But the front of the car is all smashed. So what? I'll give it to get 100 bucks to have it fixed. That's getting rid of rimling. You're pretty cheap. And the newspapers ain't going to try to pin this one on any, Crow. I can see the headlines now. Long-shoreman killed in hit-and-run accident. Chief of this office, Miss Miller? He's waiting for you here. I'm going to go right in. Hi, Chief. How'd you make out? Lab identified the hot rod we found at the Midtown Garage. It's the one all right. Any line on the owner? Yeah. We picked him up. A news boy, 16 years old. Names Jimmy Leonard. I got him down in the detention room now. You want to see him? Yes. I'll be down in the detention room, Miss Miller. What's the boy's background like? He lives with his father. Cold water walk up on the east side. No trouble with the police before. As a matter of fact... What? I swear by him. They don't think he'd do a thing like this. It's his car, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. He keeps it in a public garage near the paper. Says when he went in this morning, a fender and a headlight were smashed up. We picked him up when he took it to a body shop to have it fixed. Four of these. This Leonard kid's hot rod isn't the only one in town, Chief. Half the kids who peddle papers own cars just like it. But not with a smashed fender. Now somebody might have backed into it in the garage. Kid says he didn't drive it last night. And I believe him. I'm sure you're not being influenced by the opinions of the men in the ninth precinct. Yeah, take somebody pretty cold-blooded to run a man down and then beat it without stopping to help. And this kid, well, he just isn't cold-blooded. 16-year-olds can do a lot of foolish things when they're frightened. Oh, here we are. All right, Mike, open up for Mr. Garrett. Jimmy Leonard? Yes, sir. My name is Garrett. I'm the district attorney, Jimmy. He'll help you if you can, boy. Just be honest with him. You'd like to know where you were last night. I already told him I was home. Your father says you want it? Maybe he didn't hear me come in. He was sleeping. I guess I got up this morning before he was awake. A man who was killed was struck down just after 1 a.m. Can you tell us where you were then? No. If you're hiding something to protect yourself, son, you're being very foolish. If you're trying to cover up for somebody else, you're being even more foolish. I don't want to say no more. That's all I just can't tell you, sir. Why don't you go away? Why don't you leave me alone? Your father says you weren't home all night. Not since you left the cell papers yesterday afternoon. Jimmy, did you ever lend a car to anybody? Is anyone else in the habit of using it? Anybody who might have a duplicate of the ignition key? No. I was the only one who ever drove it. Only assembled the car a month ago. You admitted yourself? A bunch of us made him. We all chipped in and bought parts so we could get him, you know, wholesale. Any of the other newsies keep their car in the same garage right near the paper? Yeah. Rembrandt. I don't know his real name. You guys call him Rembrandt because he goes to an art school at night. And Frankie Cutter. They're the only ones. Is that all you can tell us? Yeah. It's no use, Hank. Come on. Lock him in, Mike. Let's get down and get a car. Where to? I want to talk to the other newsies who keep their hot rods at the Midtown garage. They call Rembrandt was no help, Chief. No, it wasn't. But I still want to see that other news boy, Frankie Cutter. Did you find out where his stand is? Yeah, 12th and Madison, but he won't be there. Why not? He wakes the corner nights. Somebody else has at the daytime. He lives over this way in Tenement Row. A couple of blocks from the rimling of place. I'm going to see rimling his wife sooner or later. Maybe I better go over there while you're talking to Cutter. Oh, give me the address. Yeah, it's written down here. Round floor flat. It should be the next street to the right. Waking nights, he'll probably be sleeping. You want to drop me at the corner? Sorry to wake you up, Frankie. Those kids in the street wake everybody up anyhow. So Jimmy Leonard's in kind of a jam, huh? Not bad, Jan, Frankie. I understand you've got a car just like his. Sure. A bunch of us got them. We all made them together. You garage them in the same place, too. Got to keep them someplace. What a racket. Two bucks a month, garage rent. I could leave it in the street and save the dough, but the cops keep slapping tickets on it. These are your keys on the dressing? Yeah. A pair of dice, too? Oh, yeah. I must have left them out without thinking. Shove them in the top drawer for me, will you? Thanks. My old lady spotted those. She'd scream like an eagle. Frankie, did you happen to see Jimmy Leonard any place last night? No. Why? Last night while you were working, I mean. Was it in the garage? Where else? Is it there now? Of course it's there now. Rembrandt's, too. Thank you, Frankie. That's all I want to know for now. You don't have to go through the kitchen. Other door leads right into the hallway. This is supposed to be a parlor. Some laugh, huh? A parlor in this rat trap. Thanks. I want you to stick around for a few minutes. You'd be in the DA, got the old lady all excited. I'm afraid not, Frankie. Well, thank you, mother, for me over some other time. You're the boss. So long. So long, Frankie. I think you'd be back so soon. How did rimling his wife take it? It's hard. A couple of neighbors with him now. Yes, you'd be all right, I guess, if she hasn't left along two cute kids. Oh, uh, I'd like to stop by the precinct house. Right. The rimlingers need some help on the police fund. He left no insurance. Nothing. I think he's having three months. Three months? Long showman should be busier than that. Plenty of shipping. Yeah, I know. But his wife said he'd had some kind of a beef with the hiring boss, something like that. Anyhow, he was laid off for quite a while, until yesterday. The local union had a meeting yesterday afternoon, and he was elected delegate. I guess that helped him to get working again. Yes, I guess it did. For one night. Hangson, I want you to check the license plates and the registration. Make sure the motor number is right. What? Rembrandt and Frankie Cutter have cars exactly like Jimmy's. One of them might have switched parking stalls and license plates. I want to make certain that Jimmy's car is Jimmy's car. His key fit the damaged car, chief. He drove it out to a repair shop. Well, they can always tell his own car, even for mothers like it. You know that. No, I don't, Hangson. As a matter of fact, at this point, I'm beginning to wonder if this is David Bryan. Before we continue with Mr. District Attorney in the case of the hot rod killing, here is an important message I'd like you to hear. And now, back to David Bryan, starring as Paul Garrett. Mr. District Attorney. Alongshoreman had been killed by a hit-and-run hot rod driver. The car had been located with the 16-year-old owner would neither admit guilt nor speak in his own defense. While Hangson was continuing to check his car, I told him. I told him a hundred times if I told him once that that car would get him into trouble. Now, where is he? Behind bars. If I get my hands on him, I'll break his neck. You're talking about your own son, Mr. Leonard. What kind of a father are you? The kind of a father he should have listened to. I've been too easy with him. Just like his mother was. Blood will tell. That's what she'd do, too. Kill a man and run. Never had the guts to face anything. He was very formatory for five years. Doesn't that mean anything to you? No. I never should have kept him. She wanted him. She couldn't get him. Not when I got finished with that divorce court. You mean you divorced your wife and you got custody of the boy? Yes. I was too smart for her. You took him away from his mother? I did everything for him. I tried to make something out of him. Not that anything like that happened in the name of justice. What do you mean by that crack? You never wanted that boy. I took care of him. Made a home for him. You took him so you could do just what you have done. You took him so you could punish him. So you could use him to revenge yourself on his mother. So you could ruin both their lives and separate them for your own satisfaction. To appease your petty vanity for whatever you think your wife did to you. Get out of here. You're not going to talk to me like that in my own house even if you are the district attorney. Go on, get out. Tell him I hope they keep him in jail forever. Tell him I hope he rocks there. He'll never rot the way he might have rotted here. If your boy is guilty I know who should really go on trial. Or a formatory won't hurt him. Compared to the home you've given him his life there will be a paradise. Yeah? Excuse me, but it's Mr. Garrett here. He's just leaving. There was no phone listed for here. We can talk outside. Mr. Lunders was right. He blamed you because the boy's in trouble? No, he blames the world for whatever trouble he has inside himself. Well, why did you come after me? Well, as I said, there was no phone listed for Lunders. Some of the policemen at the 9th precinct were trying to help Jimmy. One of them found out where he was last night. Well, it's kind of strange. They found out from another news boy who has a stand near the Park District. So Jimmy went to the Savarin Plaza hotel. They checked for the desk first. The boy was registered there. At the Savarin Plaza? That's one of the best hotels in town. The desk clerk says he comes there one night every month, always on the 15th of the month. You know why? No. Have you heard from Harrington? Yes. Registration and serial number match Jimmy's car, all right. Well, where is Harrington now? We said to tell you he was going down to the docks near where a rimling was killed. How did you get here? By cab. Good. Take another one going back. Make out an expense voucher. Couldn't I ride back with you? I'm going to stop at the docks and get the cop that found out Jimmy was registered at the Savarin Plaza. I'm going to go back to the hotel and check the register for the past year. See if he can find one other particular name besides Jimmy's that appears on the register for the 15th of each month. Get the name, find out who it is and where they come from. Yes, sir. And then go into the civil court's records. About 10 years back, I want to transcript a divorce case. Leonard versus Leonard. Have it all at my office by the time I get back. Yes, sir. See you later. Who do you think I'm talking to? The docks ain't no place for sightseeing. Poison everything. You might get hurt. Why don't you just blow out of here? You were any crow or hiring boss? Yeah. Say, you must be the guy that's been nosing around here asking the longshoremen questions. Yeah, that's right. You shouldn't do that. Those guys got work to do. So have I. Oh, EA's office, huh? Working on that hit run case, huh? The guy that got killed? Fred Rimmlinger? Yeah, that's right. None of my boys know nothing about that. Poor Fred. I just sent some flowers. Bad thing that poor guy getting killed like that leaving a family. I bleed for them. Bleed what? Ice water? You're a pretty fresh guy, ain't ya? I've been talking to your men. The few that ain't afraid to talk. Troublemakers? What'd they tell ya? Had you make them kick back 20% of their pay every time you hand them a brass work check at the shape-up. And they don't like it. You think you can get one of them to say that in court? Rimmlinger didn't like it either. He'd have said so in court. That's why the men elected him delegate. And you gave him a brass check for the first time in three months. He gave him the only night job on the dock. And he got killed on the way home. By a hot rod driven by a crazy kid. You blaming me for that? Nothing wrong there, Ernie. Yes, later. Come here. This flat foot's been going around the dock stirring up the men, keeping them from working, making cracks about why Rimmlinger got killed. Who's this? One of your muscle boys? He's a guard for troublemakers. Now, why don't you get the road? I think this has gone far enough, gentlemen. Gee, where did you come from? I've been behind those veils for the past two minutes, listening to your very enlightening conversation. Do you gentlemen have any plans for Mr. Harrington? No. Of course not, Mr. Garrett, but you ought to tell him to be careful about believing what he hears from troublemakers. He shouldn't repeat it. A guy like you has to stand for re-election every once in a while. I know you wouldn't want a taxpayer like me making complaints. I got a lot of connections. I think I'll be able to get by when election day comes, without you or your connections. Come on, Hank. Where'd you leave your car? Right over here, under the shed. Where's yours? A couple of blocks down. You can take me to it. Yeah, sure. Which way? Turn right when we reach the street. I'll pass the ferry slip. At, uh... At Hiring Boys' Crawl, I think he knows something about the rimling of killing. Yeah, that's where we can't prove it. Only Jimmy Leonard would talk, or if he'd been able to find a car switch. There was no switch. It was his car. He was the only one who could have been driving it. He took... Look out, Harrington! That screwball almost skidded right into us. Yeah, it wasn't his fault. It's his road. Slippery. The oil truck turned over here the day before yesterday. They tried to cover it. Hey, you hear that sand and gravel kicking up under the fenders? Yeah, I hear it. Never mind my car, Harrington. Turn south to the Midtown Garage. Watch out. That car that killed rimling almost had come through that oil slick and gravel. Yeah? Then the death car would be bound to have some oily sand and gravel stuck under all four fenders. I want to see Rembrandt's car. And Frankie Cutter's. Hurry. Normal road tires. No sand or oil. Have a look at Cutter's. This one's okay too. It's... Hey, wait a minute. Let me get this flashlight focused. Well? That's funny. Hey, give me a hand out. Would you, Chief? Sure. What did you find? Well, right front fender is clean underneath. But the left front and the two rear fenders are covered with oil and sand. That's what I was looking for. Cutter's car is the one that killed rimling up. Well, Jimmy Lennon's car has a smashed fender and a headlight. Because the right front fender and the headlight from this car were taken off and switched for the fender and headlight on Jimmy's. That's why the underside of this fender is clean and the other three aren't. There a phone here? Yeah. I saw the garage man using one of that little office over there. Mr. Garrett, Miss Miller. Oh, Mr. Garrett, Jimmy Lennon's mother is here waiting for you. What? Yes, sir. She just came in on the train from Upstate. She heard about his arrest on the radio. Her name is Mrs. Goodrich. Now, she's remarried. I see. Well, there's something else. Her name has been on the Savra and Plaza Hotel Register the 15th of every month, the same as Jimmy Lennon's. She says he's been meeting her there, so his father wouldn't know. I thought it was something like that. Tell her to wait. Harrington and I are going down to pick up Frankie Cutter. Meanwhile, call Homicide and tell them I want a plain, closed squad to meet me at the River Street Ferry Shed in about a half hour. Tell them to wait. Let's get Cutter. Why are you taking me? I didn't kill a guy, I tell you. Hey. What are you taking me? I didn't kill a guy, I tell you. Hey. What are you taking me? I didn't kill a guy, I tell you. Hey. What are we doing down here by the docks? There ain't no police station on River Street. You know what we're doing here, Frankie. You want to tell us who was using your car? Or shall we tell you? You know, don't you? It wasn't any crawl, wasn't it? Better answer, Frankie. Yeah. He came by the stand. I wanted to know could he borrow the car. To a guy like him, you don't say no. So I give him the keys. What time? Midnight. I was just going to eat. Then he brings the heat back about 2 a.m. tells me he had an accident. Give me a C note to have it fixed and keep my trap shut. I thought I'd keep it all so I gloned under the fenders and light from Jimmy's car. You want me to drive right under the dock, Chief? Yes. A lot of guys walking out. Longshoreman finishing their shift. Climb into the back, Frankie. Get on the floor and stay there. Don't worry, Mr. I don't want no trouble. Stop here. There's a crow by the hiring shed. And that muscle boy, Slater, paying off and taking their kickback. Too money. Happy to see us. Let's see us in a minute. Morgan, send your squad out along the dock. Nobody gets off this pier. I'll try to take them in peacefully, I don't want any of the workmen to get hurt. I'm with you. All right, crow. Business is over for the day. What are you guys doing back here? You're under arrest for the murder of Fred Rimmlinger. Slater, come here. You guys trying to pull up? We're not trying to pull anything. We have a confession from a newsboy, whose car you used, crow. Confession? I didn't drive the car. I just borrowed it. Who did drive it? Don't move for a gun, Slater. Stay back, Captain. Stay back. We've got six men on this pier if you get by me. Tell Slater to drop that gun. Drop it, Slater. Do it before they kill us. All right, all right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're coming. All right, you men. The law can handle them. They'll get all they deserve. And from now on, you men will get all you deserve. A full day's pay with no kickbacks. Let's go, Harrington. This is David Bryan. I hope you enjoy this case from the files of Mr. District Attorney. I'll be back in just a moment after this message from our sponsor. Now, here is the star of Mr. District Attorney, David Bryan, with a word about the program you have just heard. Jimmy Leonard's father tried to regain custody of the boy, but the court reversed its original decision when the true facts were presented. Meanwhile, Hiring Boss Ernie Crowell and his strong-armed man, Bud Slater, were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Fred Rimmlinger. Frankie Cutter is a ward of the juvenile court until he reaches the age of 21. And now this is David Bryan inviting you to join us when we present our next case based on the facts of crime from the file of Mr. District Attorney. Mr. District Attorney was originated by Phillips H. Lord.