 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 a word from our sponsor. And now, here is our star, David Bryan as Paul Garrett, Mr. District Attorney. A district attorney must see people through different eyes than others. The man who passes on the street may be a criminal, one of a prosecution, or he may be an innocent man who will one day find himself amessed in the law by a chain of circumstance, to tell him apart as a function of justice. This case started on a lonely road on the outskirts of town. How is he, Francine? He's still out, Rocky. He hit him awful hard. But what do you expect for 93,000 a love tap? Well, he isn't just another gambler who can't go to the law, he's an important man. He'll make trouble. Yeah, for who, an undertaker? Rocky, you're not gonna... Yeah, I'm gonna. What do you want me to do? Wake him up, tell him I'm sorry, give the dough back to him? What do you want it? Suckers ain't supposed to win. I run that game for me to win, one way or another. Yeah, this place is as good as any. Rocky, I'm scared. Oh, you just shut your mouth and help me get him out, will you? Rocky, please. Don't help me, Francine. One more bleed out of you and I'll shove the muscle of this gun down your throat and pull a trigger. Now, you're gonna help me get him out of here or you want me to drag you out with him? Don't, don't hurt me, Rocky. I'll help you. That's better. Come on. Yeah, you hear anything coming? How could I hear anything in this rain? That's good. Nobody else will hear anything either. Well... Goodbye, Mr. Ferguson. Too bad you got so lucky. Now, we should tell me what this is all about, Mr. Harrington. This week, attorney will tell you. Morning, Miss Miller. Good morning, Harrington. This is Joe Ryan, the cab driver we've been looking for. Now, you better tell him. Yes, Miss Miller. Harrington's here, Mr. Garrett. He has a Joe Ryan with him. Send him in. You've been a little difficult to find, Mr. Ryan. We've been looking for you for four days. I didn't know that all this morning. Are you in the habit of taking four-day vacations from driving your cab? No, sir. I took the time off because I've been looking for a good buyer in a new cab. Why didn't you register a change of address with the Motor Vehicle Bureau when you moved a couple of months ago? I forgot. That's all. Well, you know that's a violation, don't you? Yes, sir, but look, is that why you picked me up? No, that isn't why. Four nights ago, Ryan, just before you took this unusual vacation, you picked up a fare outside the Chelsea Club. Just a few minutes before midnight. Remember? Ah, so that's it. What did you expect it to be? Story of the murders, but in all the papers. I know it. You picked up a fare who was found murdered the next morning, and you know about it. But you don't get in touch with the police. Why? Why should I? I don't know nothing about it. I picked a man up and I drove him home. His body was found out on Pendleton Road. What's that got to do with me? I took him home. Look, if you think I had anything to do with this, you're sending your dogs on the wrong trail. Are we? Do you know we impounded your cab at the garage? No, I didn't know it. I haven't been near the garage. Maybe you should have been. The police lab crews gave the cab a going over. This is their report. Like me to read it to you? I'd like anything and help to clear this up, yeah? According to this report, Ryan, there are blood stains on the back seat and the floor mat of your cab. The report also states that John Ferguson's blood was typo. What's that prove? Lots of people have typo blood. You've been reading up on the subject? I don't have to read up. I was in the medics in the service. I got typo blood myself. You trying to tell us it was your own blood on that back seat? No, a guy got hurt in my cab. When? Why? It was the same night I picked Mr. Ferguson up at the Chelsea Club. Look, I've driven Mr. Ferguson lots of times. Yeah, we know. The doorman told us. That's what started us looking for you. Who got hurt in your cab? I don't know who he was. Can I tell you about it? About how it happened? Oh, that's why you're here. All right. Well, it was after I dropped Mr. Ferguson off. I picked up these six guys. They were wearing those hats, you know. The convention that was in town last week. Shriners? Yeah, that's right. Well, there were six of them. And brother was at rain and they flagged me down. I don't usually take six, but well, like I said, it was raining cats and dogs. They wanted to go to Savin Plaza. I took the free way in. Some guy cut in front of me at Montrose Turnoff and I had to go for the brakes. The road was wet and I went into a skid. I threw him around a little bit in the back seat. One of the guys in the drop seat bumped something. Got a nosebleed. That's it. That's the whole story. Look, you gotta believe me about this. Ryan, just before he left the Chelsea Club, Howard Ferguson cast a check for $2,000. I don't know. That was at midnight. You say you drove him home, but his body is found the next morning out on Pendleton Road without a cent on him. And we find you out shopping for a new cab. And it doesn't look good, Ryan. I don't care how it looks. Where'd you get the money for the new cab? I wanted. I wanted a couple of months ago, just before I moved. That's why I got the dough to move. What do you mean by one? I want the guys around the garage. We used to play the number one. You know, the numbers racked. And you won. Yes, I won. Then you won in a million and that's suck a racket. I know it, but that's where I got the dough. I spent part of it moving. I was holding the rest until now to buy a new cab when the new models came out. They came out the day before yesterday. That's where the dough come from, honest to this. Okay. Then there's only one other thing you have to tell us about. Who sold you the numbers? A guy named Willie Lamont. Where can we find him? I mean, you don't know. Well, he hasn't been around the garage in a couple of months. All of a sudden, he just stopped coming around. And any of the other cab drivers verify that you won that money? No. I never told any of it. Ryan, your story is pretty thin. You've improved a part about the blood, can't you? Find the six guys I picked up. Almost 40,000 of them come in for the convention from every state in the country. The convention ended yesterday. Our chances of finding them might have been good while they were still in town. And you went till this morning. And you didn't come in on your own. I swear to you, I took Ferguson home. Then how did his body get out on a penitent road? Wait a minute. I just remembered something. You better remember for your own good. What is it, Ryan? When I took him home, there's a big circular driveway at his place. Well, there was a car in front of the house when I let him out. I passed right next to it. There was a couple of people in the car. It was a limousine. Yes. You didn't wait to find out? I collect them a fair and blue. Ryan, nobody saw that car except you. Servants didn't see anything. They didn't even hear your care, Brian. It was raining so hard, the rain kept them from hearing. That could be one explanation. What other explanation could there be? The one that all the evidence seems to point to. Ryan, you never took Ferguson home. This is a frame. It's a frame. Mr. Ferguson was a big shot, no matter what I tell you. Everything you said will be checked, Ryan. Every single point. If you're innocent, I want to know it. I have no choice but to hold you. I know. Take him over to the county jail and book him, Harrington. Then come back and meet me in the record room. Okay, Chief. Come on, Ryan. Miss Miller? Call the county sheriff's office if I squad detail. I ask for Sergeant Payne. Yes, sir. Tell them I'd like them to come over and meet me in the record bureau. Yes, sir. Hi, Chief. Get Ryan booked all right? Yep. Now, what do you think of his story? Weak, but it has possibilities. Like what? This, for instance. There's a petty gambler named Willie Lamarne. Three times arrested is a runner for various bookies, always the same charge. Taking bets on the numbers record. Yeah, but those arrests are all dated before you convinced the state legislature that gambling ought to be a felony. I've been more careful since then. Gamblers are hard to put out of business. No regular joints operating? No, but there are floating places and runners like Willie Lamarne picking up bets. It can't be much of it. More than you think. I've had somebody on the sheriff's vice squad working on a report. Young sergeant, his name is Ed Payne. He's on his way over now. I thought he might be able to give us some information on Willie Lamarne. Look, couldn't I have handled one of the professionals hanging? I need a young man who could work right in with them on the cover. Payne's well qualified, fresh out of army intelligence and a comparative stranger in town. Don't worry, you'll be there when we have a complete report and the time comes from the crackdown. Chief, even if we do find this Willie Lamarne, he's not going to stick his neck out to help Ryan. He wouldn't have taken that bet. We'll have to find a way to make him admit it. Without Lamarne's testimony, we'll have to wait for conviction. Oh, chief, there's a fellow over there looking around. Oh, that's Ed Payne. Over here, sergeant. Hi, Mr. Garrett. The secretary said you wanted to see me. Yes, sergeant Payne. This is my assistant, Harrington. Hello, sergeant. Glad to know you. I heard a lot about you. Somebody else, I hope, you've heard a lot about Payne. A bookmaker's runner named Willie Lamarne. He's still operating? We have to. That might not be too easy, Mr. Garrett. Why not? There's been some talk about him since he's been gone. They say he got ambitious in Chicago. Word got around that he was holding out some bets on his new boss and also slipping in a phony winner too to turn himself at his honest dollar. The boss got wise, student. You mean Lamarne is on the run again? I need him badly as a witness. Mr. Garrett, you know how the mobs are. If you want my opinion, Lamarne isn't on the run. He's standing still. Somewhere on the bottom of Lake Michigan, wearing a pair of cement shoes. This is David Bryan. Before we continue with Mr. District Attorney in the case of the vanishing runner, here is an important message from my sponsor. I'll back to David Bryan starring as Paul Garrett, Mr. District Attorney. A prominent citizen had been murdered and a cab driver surrounded by a mesh of circumstantial evidence had been taken into custody. We needed a small-time gambler to verify the cab driver's alibi. But the underworld grapevine indicated that the only possible witness was dead. For two days, I had Harrington and Sergeant Payne of the Sheriff's Vice Squad check on every possible source of additional information. Haven't you been able to locate Harrington yet, Miss Miller? Yes, sir. Basement garage called. He just drove in. He's on his way up now. You don't look well today. Good morning. It isn't a very pleasant prospect. Well, it's not your... Oh, well, here's Harrington now. Yes, sir, he's gone so long, Chief, but I ran into some pretty funny things. What? It's Howard Ferguson was having an awful lot of trouble before he was killed. What kind of trouble? Believe it or not, financial. Howard Ferguson? That's right. Here's a complete rundown. He was draining money away and even had him on a COD basis. A couple of other things too. Oh, excuse me, am I interrupting? No, it's all right, Payne. Come in. Answer just came in from Chicago. No line on Willie LeMond. Well, I guess the scuttle but you heard was right then. Go ahead, Harrington. That $2,000 check wasn't unusual. Ferguson would have been cashing checks for that amount or more a couple of nights a week. What would he need it for? Only one thing I can think of, Mr. Gern. Yamblin? Only came to business I can think of where a lot of money changes hands in the middle of the night. Payne, when players go to one of these floating games you've been looking into, how are they notified where the game is going to be held? They aren't notified. A slip-up could lead to a raid. They don't tell the customers where to go. They come and pick them up in the limousine. Limousine? Chief, Ryan said there was a limousine parked in Ferguson's driveway the night he dropped them home. Yamblers wouldn't have killed Ferguson for $2,000 though. They had an easier way to take the money away from him. Unless he won. Yes. If a man got lucky in a big money game he might win $50,000 or $100,000 for the hot pair of knives. That's enough for a killing. I'm not in, Miss Miller. Yes, sir. Hello. It's the Holloway Bank and trust for Harrington. Oh, that's Ferguson's bank chief. They were checking something for me. I'm better taken. Mr. Harrington. Yes. What's that name again? No, no. First name. Spell it. F. R. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I got it. Thanks. Thanks, Miss Miller. Ferguson had been writing some other big checks made out of cash in addition to the one he cashed at the Chelsea Club. The bank says the others were endorsed by a Francine de Vaux. Francine de Vaux. Mr. Garrett, can I call the record room for a minute? Go ahead and get it for me, Miss Miller. You got a match, Payne? Yes, sir. No, thanks. Sure will. Record room? Just a second. Thanks. Hello, Mike. Ed Payne. You still got that woolly lemon fold you pulled for me? No, his wife's maiden name. Yeah, Mike, plenty. Thanks a lot. That's something, Mr. Garrett. Francine de Vaux, alias Francine LeMond. She was Woolly LeMond's wife. I heard about it when I was trying to get a run down on LeMond. How come she didn't go to Chicago with him? She divorced Woolly a couple of years ago. Started to run around with the big-time gamblers, working for boys like Rocky Jessup. What do you mean by working for them? Bate, Michelle, stirring suckers to their games. Men like Ferguson? He cashed an awful lot of checks. Can you find out where Rocky Jessup is holding his next game? Well, I could find out, but I couldn't get in. Why not? You've been making contact. Yeah, as a small-time gambler. I've never flashed the kind of money they're interested in. And if I did flash it all of a sudden, they might get curious. Well, suppose you called up and said you had a wealthy customer, somebody you'd steered the game for a percentage. Yeah, that could work. But who? You or Harrington, they might know. How about me? Oh, please. No, no, wait a minute, Harrington. How about it, Paine? It would be good. Wealthy young woman from out of town looking for kicks. Hey, I was only joking, Mr. Garrett. Well, I wasn't. I'd be scared silly. They won't try anything inside the place. They'll be other people. Anything they do will be outside. And when you come outside, we'll be waiting. But I won't know how to act or what to say. We'll tell you. But first, take this. A hundred dollars? What would I... Go to a costume rental place, run an evening gown, the best they have, and a fur wrap. Why some good-looking costume jewelry? You drive it, Harrington. But... Come on, Cinderella. You know what I want you to do, don't you, Paine? I... I think so. After we get in, ask questions. Make them suspect I'm a cop. That's right. Maybe if you tip your hand, they'll tip theirs. Now call Rocky Jessup and arrange for the pickup. I'm scared, Paine. Do you like a little action, Miss Miller? Yes, I... I think gambling's very exciting. Well, I run a good game. You'll like it. What's your poison? I beg your pardon? I can't hear you too well back here. No, I... I said, what do you like? The wheel, bones, faceboard... Relax, Rocky. She likes the wheel. Oh, good, good. You'll be happy if Paine suggested my place to you. Paine tells me if I'm out of town. Yeah, that's right. Cleveland. Family and business, then? Yes, they have a chain of grocery stores. Oh, that's nice. People got to eat. I said that's right, Mr. Jessup. Oh, just call me Rocky. But don't let the name fool you. I'm really a soft guy. Pain will tell you. Rocky's tops, Miss Miller. I don't see any particular car following us, Paine. The working relays on the radio car set up. One turns off, another one turns in behind us. You say something, Paine? Just telling Miss Miller about the percentages in the game. Odds, law of averages... Yeah, yeah, you want to listen to him, Miss Miller. This boy knows the score. You know, you might make a killing tonight. Well, here we are. Target for the night. Well, what kind of a place is this? Oh, don't be scared. This is just... It used to be an airfield here in a flying school. No use letting the building go to waste, huh? You sure know how to pick the spots, Rocky? Yeah, you sure know how to pick the doubts. Oh, come on, Miss Miller. Thinking your lab will cost me some money tonight. Nobody's going to be looking at the dice with your route. All right, go ahead now, folks. Dark. Well, it'll be light soon as we get through the other door. Don't be afraid. Come on. Looks a little better than you thought, huh, Miss Miller? It's surprising. Well, all my customers go first class. Uh, Francine. I'll be there in a second. All righty. Francine's her hostess. She'll tell you where the action is. Oh, uh, Francine. This is Miss Miller. She's from Cleveland. A friend of Payne's. You know Payne, don't you? I've seen him around. Francine. My uncle mentioned meeting with Francine the last time he was here on a visit. He likes to gamble, too. Is that so? What's your uncle's name? Miller. Same as mine. Robert Miller. I don't remember him. Well, it could have been another Francine, of course, but... Well, it is an unusual name. How long ago? Just about a week ago. Yes, just the night before he came back to Cleveland. I didn't run an old game last week. Uncle Bob said the game was in, uh, some kind of an old restaurant on, uh... Uh... Penderson Road, something like that? No, Pendleton Road. That wouldn't be our game. No, no, not out there. Must have been somebody else, Miss Miller. No, he said Francine. He said it was raining like blazes. Oh, yes. And some man won a lot of money. Practically broke the game. Uncle Bob was standing right next to him. His name... His name was Ferguson. Your uncle tells you things in detail, doesn't he? Hey, you better, uh... You better show me what refreshments we got, Francine. Payne and the lady can just drift around with things over. Okay, Payne? Oh, sure. Come on, Miss Miller. I'll show you the day, Stephen. I thought that same Mr. Ferguson might be here if he was. I bet the way he did. I sure don't like this, Francine. Neither do I. Why didn't you tell me Payne was coming? Why? Because he's the one who's been nosing around asking questions about willies. We had nothing to do with that, no willies? No, but we did with Ferguson and he was asking questions like a cop. Why would a cop steer a rich dame here? Rich dame, nothing. Did you see the label in that fur jacket she's dragging around? No. Madam Pompadour costume rentals. Get them over to the door. Do like I tell you. They've got to get rid of them tonight and blow town but fast. Now go ahead. Miss Miller. We were just watching. There's a much bigger game in another room around the side of the building. Rocky thought you and Mr. Payne would rather go in there. But we have to go outside first and then around. Well, that sounds interesting, Miss Miller. Yeah. Dark place again. It's only for a second. All right, cop. You and this dame outside to the car. And no funny moves or I got a hole in my pocket and you got a hole in your back. Do what they say, Miss Miller. Where are you going to take us? Same place we took Ferguson and we're going to leave you the same way. I wouldn't count on that, Rocky. Down, Miss Miller. Let me help you, Miss Miller. How's he hanging? Rocky, he's not dead. He'll live to stand trial. I'll testify. I'll make a deal with you. We don't need any deals. Thank you. Take him in, Payne. Round up that crowd inside. They can do their gambling in a cell for the night. Come on, Miss Miller. I'll drive you home. Thank you. You were shaking. I'm scared. I was thinking when they were shooting what could I ever tell a Madame Pompeter costume company if I brought back this fur jacket with a bullet hole in it? What? Miss Miller, if I didn't hear it, I wouldn't believe it. Oh, I shouldn't have expected a man to understand. 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. Who was the star of Mr. District Attorney? David Bryan. With a word about the program, you have just heard. Rocky Jessup was tried and convicted on a charge of murder in the first degree. The death penalty was mandatory. His accomplice, Francine Devoe, alias Francine LeMond, was sentenced to the woman's prison for 15 years. 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. Lawrence.