 The story you're about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. Fatima cigarettes. Best of all, long cigarettes. Brings you drag net. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned to robbery detail. An elderly woman on her way to the bank has been robbed and beaten senseless. The suspects are cruel, ruthless. Your job? Get them. If you want a long cigarette, smoke the best of all long cigarettes. Smoke extra mild Fatima. Yes, Fatima is the king-size cigarette which contains the finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos superbly blended to make it extra mild. To give Fatima a much different, much better flavor and aroma than any other long cigarette. That's why Fatima has more than doubled its smokers coast to coast. Enjoy extra mild Fatima yourself. Best of all, long cigarettes. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. Ignat, 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 Saturday, August 9th. It was hot in Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out of robbery detail. My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Ed Walker, Captain of Robbery. My name's Friday. It was 10.14 a.m. when I got to room 27A, robbery detail. Hi. Hi. Hello, Jim. Hi, Wynn. How are you? Well, no, for a while. What did that say? It thinks the dog picked up some kind of poisoned food. Oh, it's too bad. Sure hot. You got a penny? Hell, yeah, there you are. Thank you. Somebody poisoned, huh? Yeah. That's what the vet says. I never could figure why some people poisoned dogs. I don't understand some people not liking animals, but I can't see why they poisoned food and then just tossed it around and wholesale lost. You know how I feel about that dog of mine? Everything happens to him. I don't know what he'll do. He'll be all right. Those vets can do wonders these days. I sure hope so. They told me to check back with him about noon. I'm about to melt in his heat. Yeah, doesn't seem to be any air at all. Well, more Sunday. Guess I'll just lie out in the backyard. It's going to be good to just loaf around and read the Sunday papers, huh? It's a hot shot. I'll take it. My wife wants me to get out and get a little color. She says I'm better looking with a tan. She ought to know. All right, will you get married, Joe? After so long, you get so you believe everything they tell you. Here's one to roll on. Yeah? When I was shooting, Victor's car was stolen. You want to get on it? All right, let's go, Joe. Bank job. Don't make any plans for Sunday. 10.53 a.m., Ben and I pulled up in front of the Union Trust and Savings Bank at Melrose and Logan. We made our way through the usual crowd that was milling in and around the bank. We spoke with a manager, Mr. Bill Four. He told us that he didn't see the actual robbery the victim was taken in the parking lot next to the bank. Her name was Myrtle Shaw, a longtime customer of the Union Trust and Savings. Four told us that she always did her banking the same time each day, around 10 in the morning when the bank first opened. He said she was the proprietor of Myrtle's Cafe, four doors west of the bank. Let us through, please. Sorry, let us through here. Officer, over here. Yes, sir. Friday in Romero, Central Robbery. Did you answer the call? Yes, we did. Freeman and Wells, unit 13R. Ambulance just left. They can been one to go to Georgia Street, said she wanted her own doctor. Okay, is she inside the cafe? Yeah. Let's go in, Ben. Are you Freeman? No, I'm Wells. Freeman's inside. See if you can clear this crowd a little, will you, Wells? Right. Thank you. All right, you've seen everything now. Well, let's move along. Come on. Good luck on your sweet day. There she is, over in the last booth. Freeman? Yes, sir. Friday in Romero, Central Robbery. Is this the victim? Yes, that's right. Her name's Myrtle Shaw. Michelle? Yes, that's right. My name is Romero. This is Sergeant Friday. We're from robbery division downtown. You men detect this? Yes, ma'am. We'd like to ask you a few questions. Yes, all right. I hope you can catch the men that did this. Well, we're going to do all we can. It's a little hard for me to talk my face as a swollen. It hurts something terrible. What happened? One of them struck me. Yes, ma'am, we know that. Do you want to tell us how it happened? And I was on my way to the bank. I drove in the parking lot there next door. Yeah? I just got out of my car when these men walked over to me. You're only four doors from the bank. Do you always drive such a short distance? No, no. I just picked up my car from Edgar's filling station. I haven't greased once a month. I see. Where was I? You're just driven into the parking lot when these men walked up to you. Oh, yes, oh, yes. Well, one of them said, just hand over the money and there won't be any trouble. The other one said, this is a gun in my pocket, Grandma. Yeah? My head's splitting. Did someone call Dr. Van Halve? Yes, ma'am. He's on his way. Oh, thank you. Well, I carry my days receipts in a cloth bank bag. I had it in my purse, and I wasn't sure if they knew I had any money. Yeah? I told them I didn't have any. Now, I was going in to draw some out and one of the men said, look, old timer, we don't want to get rough. Just hand it over. We know you got it. What'd you do? Well, I turned and started to walk away and I saw this one man's arm flash out of his pocket and then something hide like a rock struck me on the side of the face. That just lugs you with his gun. Oh, yes. It couldn't have been his hand. I don't think he could have cut my face like this with his hand. He should have let them take you to the emergency hospital. No. No, I don't want to go in the ambulance. I want my own doctor. He don't know what to do. The ambulance crew gave her first aid. She wouldn't let him take her. Mm-hmm. Thanks. Miss Shaw, would you know the men if you ever saw them again? Well, I think so, yes. One of them looked like the worst kind of a hoodlum. And then they got your money, huh? Oh, yes. They tell me they got away with my car, too. How much money did you lose? $116.23. Do you own this cafe? Yes, I do. It's a small place, as you can see. I do all the cooking and serving up to 11.30 in the morning. Then I have a college girl that waits on tables in the afternoon and evening. Do you think those men have ever been in here in the cafe? No, no, no. Have you ever seen either of them before? No, no. No, I never laid eyes on them before today. How about the girl who works for you? You think she's ever seen them before? I don't know. You could ask her. She should be here soon. What time is it now? Mm-hmm. 11.20. Yes, you'll be along any minute. I wish there was something to stop this aching. We know you must have a lot of pain, Miss Shaw, but we've got to ask a few more questions so we can get right on this. Yeah, I understand. I'll tell you all I can. Ben, do you want to get the dope on the stolen car in the description of the man I'll call the office? Right. Say, is there a pay phone I can use here, Miss Shaw? Yes. Right over there behind the fountain over here. Thank you. Do you need change? Yes, ma'am. I'm afraid I do. Well, just help yourself from the cash register there. Thank you. I put in a dime, taking out two nickels. Oh, well, now that wasn't necessary, young man. You didn't have to tell me. Well, I know, but we don't like to open other people's cash registers. You're a police officer, aren't you? Yes, ma'am. I trust you. That seems to be the reason a lot of people don't. I called the office and as fast as Ben repeated the information I phoned it in. The detailed information was broadcast to all units. The stolen car was a 1946 Green Ford sedan, license number 1-X-Ray, 1-8-9-8. All units were instructed to be on the lookout for the car and have found abandoned to notify robbery detail immediately and keep the car under surveillance until we arrived. I called in the description of the suspects and the fact that the money was taken in the cloth bag, stamped union trust and savings. Myrtle Shaw's doctor arrived and she was ordered to bed for rest and treatment. Ben and I interrogated all the possible witnesses in the parking lot and we found only one man who saw the actual robbery. His story compared to that of Miss Shaw's, but he could add nothing more. We talked with a young college student who worked in the restaurant. She didn't think she'd ever seen the men in question. We drove back to the city hall and went to the stats office. They made a run for us on the descriptions and ammo that we had and we pulled the packages of all possible suspects that the machine sorted out. We narrowed and sifted the 24 possibles down to 12. We took the mug shots out and showed them to the victim and the one witness. They could not identify any of them as the two men in the holdup. 2.35 p.m. Saturday. We started to canvas the neighborhood door to door. I'll take care of Logan Street for one block both sides. Want to start here on Melrose? Okay. Let's try this drugstore. I'm on fire. Paper says it's supposed to hit 99 today. I believe it. Come on. Yes, sir. Police officers, we're looking for a couple of men. Here's the descriptions. I wonder if you'd read this and tell us if you've ever seen them. Yes, sir. We've got time to have a coat. Yeah, we better not. It's getting late. No, I'm afraid I've never seen anybody who answers either one of these descriptions. You sure? Yeah, quite sure. Thank you. I have to have that bag. Oh. Let's go. Is it just my imagination or does it seem to be getting hotter to you? Talking about it doesn't help. I'm trying to ignore it. That don't help me either. Let's try this bakery. How do you do, John? All right, police officers. Wonder if you'd read the two descriptions listed here and tell us if you've ever seen either of these men. Yes, of course. It smells good in here, doesn't it? No, I don't seem to be calling about it looks like this. Anybody else in here who might have seen them? No, I don't think so. I wait on trade. Okay, thank you, ma'am. Let's go. That smells just like good old apple pie down in the jail. We're baking Danish coffee cake at the moment. Hmm. The next place here is a plastic factory. Yeah, it looks like they're closed half day Saturday again. Somebody in there cleaning up if she didn't hear me. Oh, here it comes. A lot of money in this plastic business. Mm-hmm. Really came into its own during the war, didn't it? Oh, yeah. Plants closed Saturday afternoon. Police officers, wonder if you'd look this paper over and tell us if you may have seen two men answering these descriptions. All right. You have to put my glasses on. Yes, sir. There now. I don't need them for sweeping. Just read it. All right, here you are. Mm-hmm. What do you think? What was that? I said, what do you think? Have you seen them? I don't know. What do you mean? I'm not sure yet. Hm? I'm not sure. I may have seen one of them. How about the other one? That's what I mean. Yeah. I don't know about the other one. But you do remember seeing one of them? I might have seen both of them. But you're not sure? I don't know. Well, do you want to tell us what you remember about the one you did see? Oh, don't you want to know about the other one, too? Yes, sir, we do. But I understood you to say that you didn't know about the other one. No, I don't. Well, you just tell us what you know then. Then why don't you just forget about the other fella? No, sir. But if you don't know, it's all right. I might know. Yeah? I haven't read about him yet. Oh. You asked me a question just as I finished reading about the first one. I was just starting on the second one at that time. Yes, sir, sorry. What was that you asked me? Wasn't important. Then I'll read about the second one. Yes, sir, thank you. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I seen them two or three days ago, both of them. In this neighborhood? Yes, sir, right around back in the parking lot. They work here? No, sir, they don't. Seems to me I've seen them a couple of times. What were they doing? I don't recall. I just remember I've seen them. You sure? Yes, I'm positive. One of them had on a brown suit the other gray, just like it says here. The descriptions fit all right. You have any idea where these men might be now? No, sir. We're investigating a robbery. We want these men for questioning. I wish I could help you more. I do know I've seen them, but that's about all. I don't know their names. All right, sir. What's your name? Seth Williamson. We'll leave you one of our cards, Mr. Williamson. If you see him again, appreciate you letting us know. Yes, sir. Sure will. Let's go then. I wish we had something more definite to go on. We just had a picture of the guys. Yeah, it helped. He's vacant out in the corner. Friends, you got this, bro. Let's double back on the other side of the street. All right. Sure, all right. 4 30 p.m. We continued knocking on doors, checking every place that was still open or showed any activity Saturday afternoon. We talked with hotel managers, janitors, and clean-up men at the different factories or business establishments. We checked grocery stores, private homes, every way that we could find anybody to show the descriptions to. By 6 p.m. p.m., the only person who showed any sign of recognition of the two holdup men was still Seth Williamson, the janitor at the plastics plant. Before we took time out for a sandwich and a cup of coffee, we drove back to the city hall to check the office. Hi, Friday. What do you say, Marty? A couple messages for you here. Thanks. What's the matter with you, Romero? I'm dehydrated. That son almost fried me. I'll show that one call there from your mother. Said to tell you, a dog's out of danger. Oh, that's fine. Calling around 2, huh? Yeah. That other one's from some guy who says he wants to talk to you right away. Been calling in since about 3 this afternoon. Seth Williamson, eh? Call four times. Yeah. Said to tell you, he'd wait at that number there. They heard from you. I'll call them right now. Been a hot downtown, boy. Pretty warm, huh? Any kickback on that stolen car? No, a jet. This is Sergeant Friday, police department. Oh, yeah. Who was taking the pictures? Thank you very much, Mr. Williamson. Oh, I'll help you. Yes, sir, it will. Goodbye. Goodbye. What do you got? They've had their pictures taken. Yeah? Let's find the prints. Listening to Dragnet, the case history of a police investigation presented in the public interest by Fatima Cigarettes. If you smoke a long cigarette, it will be in your interest to listen to a typical case history of a Fatima smoker. It's the case of Miss Nancy Appel, a night news writer for one of the world's great press services. This is her actual signed statement. When you're working hard, smoking more, it's nice to enjoy a really mild cigarette. I found the king-size cigarette that has this quality above all others. That cigarette is Fatima. Because it's extra mild, Fatima is always more enjoyable. That's why I agree. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. And more and more smokers agree to that every day. Actual figures show Fatima has more than doubled its smokers coast to coast. So enjoy extra mild Fatima yourself. The long cigarette, which contains the finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos, superbly blended to make it extra mild. You will prefer Fatima's much different, much better flavor. You will agree. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. It's wise to smoke extra mild Fatima. The best of all long cigarettes. Ben and I figured if we could possibly turn up the photographs that had been taken, we'd have something more definite to go on. We still had a lot of doubts. Maybe the janitor Seth Williamson was wrong. Maybe there were no pictures. If the snapshots had been taken, maybe they were still in the camera undeveloped. With any kind of fast service and processing, the photos could have been picked up by now. We figured it was worth the chance and the time involved to check the lead out. All we had was the victim scant description of the two holdup men, and if we could possibly turn up pictures, it would help a great deal. If Williamson was right, we'd have another lead, the two girls. 6.40 p.m., we started checking drugstores, going through all prints that had not yet been picked up by the customers. We'd made the rounds of all the drugstores in the neighborhood earlier in the day, but we double checked the descriptions of the two men with the personnel in each store. By 9 p.m., we checked out 10 drugstores and found nothing. We were going on the hunch that the photos would most likely be dropped off for processing somewhere in the immediate neighborhood. It was only a hunch, and we were running out of drugstores. Police business. We'd like to go through your photos that have been left for development. Yes, sir. Here's the box right here. Oh, thank you. I'll take half. Not very many this time, huh? Oh, don't forget to check the negatives, too. Sometimes they don't print them if they're bad. Yeah, I know. Nothing in this one. People sure take a lot of pictures of babies, don't they? Mm-hmm. Nothing. These are sure fuzzy. Pictures of the zoo. Pictures of Yellowstone. Yeah? Pay dirt, maybe. Let me see. Two guys. Two girls. One's a blonde, white blouse, dark skirt. Look close. Now, let's see. Left by a Marion Lange, 223, East Bexel. Well, Claire. Yes, sir? You want to double-check us on this envelope? Yes, sir. This date and time right here, 3.30 p.m. August 6th. Yes, that's correct. That's when the films were left for processing. Three days before the robbery. Did you ever see this woman in the picture before? Let me see. Oh, yes. Yeah, she comes in here quite often. Miss Lange is her name. How about these men? Are this other girl here? No, no, I've never seen them. When were these prints supposed to be picked up? I waited on her. She told me she'd picked them up Friday, yesterday. Well, we'll have to take these photos along with us. They'll be returned. All right, sir. How will I explain this to Miss Lange? If this is the right address, you won't have to. Before we left, we called the office and had a stakeout placed in the drugstore in case Marion Lange tried to pick up the photos. We checked the address she gave on the envelope. 223, East Bexel. It was a small apartment building near the corner. The manager told us that Marion Lange had moved out the morning of August 9th, the day of the robbery. She left no forwarding address. The manager knew nothing of the other girl or the man in the photos. We checked with Myrtle Shaw, the victim. She positively identified the two men as the ones who robbed and slugged her. She knew nothing of the two girls. Hadn't seen them before. We put out a warrant on Marion Lange and gave the photos to Lieutenant Frank Cunningham in the record bureau. Monday morning, August 11th. Morning, Frank. Hello, Frank. Any record on the guys? Nothing we could find, no. I'm having copies sent out right now. Kind of thought maybe if we came up with pictures, we'd be halfway home. Maybe we are. How do you mean? I had Tony make some blow-ups in the negatives. Full of grain, probably taken with a cheap box camera of some kind, but it might help. What'd you find? I just checked the enlargements. They were still in the wash, but I think we got something. Let's go over the photocopies. All right. I'm good and clear now. Clear as it'll ever be, anyway. I had 16 by 20 enlargements made. Let's just show you what I found. Yeah? You guys take a good look at the face of this one man here. I thought we did. Why? It's pretty hard to see on those small prints. Look here. You see the nose on this one? Mm-hmm. I'd guess it's been broken one time or another, wouldn't you? Yeah. You see here? Scar over the left eye, scar over the right eye. A couple of them. Look at the right here. See how mashed it is? We couldn't come up with any names for you, but all better to be safe to guess his line of work. Looks like a prize fire. Nothing in the oddity file. I checked and double-checked everything. I'd lay my hands on here in the department. I don't place him if he was a boxer of any standing. I don't recall him. Isn't much. Wish I had something else for you. It's a lead, isn't it? Might be. More than we had. It was possible that one of the two holdup men in the photos could have been a professional fighter. From his appearance and build, we felt it was a fair guess. We took copies of the snapshots to the State Boxing Commission, Los Angeles branch. We spoke with a Mr. Farmer, who couldn't seem to recall a man from his picture. We went over the description that the victim had given us. Farmer said that he knew a great many of the fighters because at one time or another they all check in and out of the commission before about. But the man in the snapshot remained unidentified. He checked through several hundred cards bearing the photographs of boxers in the files. No luck. Farmer suggested that we try the Spring Street Gym where the out-of-town fighters get into shape and the boxers in town train. We left him a copy of the photograph in our card so that he could continue checking back through his files. It was 10.22 a.m. when we got to the Spring Street Gym. Here's the manager, though. You're the boss here? Yeah. What can I do for you? Police officers. Yeah? We're looking for a man we think might be a fighter. I wonder if he can help us out. Sure, try. I'm Sergeant Friday. This is my partner, Ben Romero. Hi. My name's Charlie Coleman. Here's a couple of photographs for you to look at, Mr. Coleman. Mm-hmm. Have you ever seen this fellow on the ride? Let's see here. Let's walk over by the window to get a little light on him. Wait a minute. I used to work out here all the time, a couple of years back. Name's Billy. Marshall, yeah, that's right. I wonder the name Billy to kid Marshall. Is he still around? Oh, gee, I couldn't tell you. It's been a good two years since I've seen him up here. Any idea of where we might locate him? I doubt it. He used to be a Benny farmer's stable. Benny's been to East now over a year. Let me check back through my locker listings. Maybe I've still got something on there. Gee, that's what we want. Let's take him over here by the window where we can read him. Oh, as I recall, Marshall wasn't much of a fighter. Farber nursed him up through the prelims, got him in the semi-windups. He started hitting the bottle, played the dame. Oh, yeah, here we are. Can I see that, please? Oh, sure. You hear that? Mm-hmm. Billy the kid, big beefy boy, real sucker for right cross. 1637 Carver Avenue. That's the last address you got on him? Whatever the card says, yeah. Real sucker for the old right cross. Thank you very much, Mr. Coleman. You're welcome, boys, anytime. What's he done? We just want him for questioning. Oh, I see. If you should hear from him, don't tell him we're looking for him. Let's go. Thanks again. What do you think you did wrong? I don't know. How do you block a right cross? We called the new information into Captain Walker, and he sent a crewman to the boxing commission to check further. 1637 Carver Avenue. It was a cheap roaming house in the west side of town. Marshall hadn't lived there for over a year and a half. The landlady gave us a forwarding address. The next place hadn't seen him for a year. We kept checking and rechecking, going from one into town to the other. Each place was a little better than the last. It was easy to trace Billy the kid's rise in the fight game, such as it was, by the condition of the places he lived in. We covered six different roaming houses, boarding houses, and apartments. Each time, his residence had been a little more recent. 5.15 p.m., Monday, August 11th. We pulled up in front of the Sunflower Hotel, 433 Banyan Street. Rates, $2 a week and up. Nobody at the desk. I'll ring the bell. How do you do? Police officers. Have you got a Billy Marshall registered here? No, no one by that name here. You take a look at this picture? Either one of these men live here? Oh, sure. That's Tom Green and George Martin, Room 9. They in now? I could buzz the room and see. No, never mind. Room 9, you said. Yes, sir. That's right. Let's go. Room 9. Cover McBride. Special delivery letter. Slip it out of the door. You have to sign for it. Stand still, police officers. Tom, watch it, Ben. Get over there against the wall. You, get up. Over there with him. Move. Give me a hand, Joe. I'll help you up. Yeah, I'm okay. There he is, Joe. Looks like his picture fits the description. Except for one thing, yeah? He's no sucker for a right cross. Only the names were changed to protect the innocent. On March 27, 1947, trial was held in Superior Court, Department 81, City and County of Los Angeles, State of California in a moment the results of that trial. It's amazing how many long cigarette smokers are changing to extra-mild Fatima. Here is the actual report. From coast to coast, extra-mild Fatima has more than doubled its smokers. Yes, more and more smokers every day are discovering that Fatima is the king-size cigarette that is extra-mild. Extra-mild because it contains the finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos superbly blended to make it extra-mild. To give it a much different, much better flavor and aroma. Enjoy extra-mild Fatima yourself. Best of all, long cigarettes. It's wise to smoke extra-mild Fatima. It's wise to smoke extra-mild Fatima. Both William Marshall and his accomplice were found guilty of armed robbery and grand theft auto and are now serving their terms as prescribed by law. You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical Advice for Dragnet comes from the Office of Chief of Police W.A. Wharton, Los Angeles Police Department. Fatima Cigarettes, the best of all long cigarettes has brought you Dragnet transcribed from Los Angeles. Screen Directors presents Lucille Ball as Miss Grant tomorrow on NBC.