 Ladies and gentlemen, the story you're about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. Dragmen, you're a detective sergeant. You're assigned a juvenile detail. Four children in your city have apparently been abandoned by their mares, as a possibility of foul play. Your job, investigate. It was Friday, February 8th. It was raining in Los Angeles. We were working the night watch out a juvenile detail. My partner is Frank Smith. The boss is Captain Powers. My name is Friday. I was on my way back from juvenile hall and it was 746 p.m. when I got to 1335 Georgia Street, the office. Joe? Yeah, Irene. You talked to Captain Powers? Yeah, the way it looks, Frank's gonna be tied up in court for a couple of days, going kinda hard. Game war, isn't it? Yeah, seems like everybody in town's climbed on this one, really making a big thing out of it. Uh-huh. Donald Skipper said I was supposed to give you a hand on anything that might come up. Then you just made it. Woman in the next office, you better talk to her. What's it about? I'll be better if you got it straight from her. What is it, Frank? I don't think so, see what you can figure. All right. Mrs. Eggers? Yes, Miss Garg, are you ready to do something about this? Yes, ma'am. I'd like you to meet Sergeant Friday. Joe, this is Mrs. Eggers. How do you do? Mrs. Eggers? Well, if you'd give him the story the way you told it to me, you bet I will. Sit down, young man, I'll tell you all about it. All right. Get your book out. I beg your pardon? Your book. You're gonna take some notations, aren't you? Well, if you'll just tell us what this is all about. Yeah. Well, I don't want you to get the idea about him the nosy type, I'm not. It's just that I take an interest in the things that go on around me. Civil minded is the way they put it in the papers. Of course, there are people who say that I pay too much mind to their business, but it isn't true, not a bit of it. If you'd tell the sergeant what happened. Oh, yeah. Well, these people moved into the house about six months ago, the five of them. Yes, ma'am. Stevie, Pamela, Carol, Martin, and the mother, Rowena, four kids and the mother. All right, would you like to go on? Well, now, right off, I could spot this woman. It's been a lot of them. How do you mean that, Miss Eggers? You can make it crystal, if it's any easier. Yes, ma'am. What did you mean that you've seen a lot of them? Alchies, you know, drunks. Mm-hmm. Well, she's one. I could spot it right off. Her are most four beautiful children. Yeah. Well, the first few months they lived there, I'd maybe see her a couple of times a week. You know, going in the house or coming out, just a couple of times a week. I see. Last week, 10 days, I hadn't seen her at all. Not even a little sight. Mm-hmm. So right off, I figured that something was wrong. That's what it looks to me. All right, thank you, Miss Eggers. We'll check on the house right away. That's what I wanted this police woman to do. I told her I'd go right along with you. Well, I won't be necessary. Now listen, young man, if there's anything wrong with them kids, I want to know about it. I'll do my part. The whole neighborhood's talking. Is that right? Sure. Little Stevie's been to all the houses looking for something to do, asking for work. It just seems to me that there's something wrong about the whole caboodle of them. Not seeing the mother in the way the boy don't eat the lunch plate, not seeing the other kids. There's something that don't fit over there. All right, ma'am, we'll look right into it. You just do that. We'll see what I say is true. Thank you, Mr. Eggers. Don't go thanking me. Just trying to be civil-minded, that's all. Mm-hmm. It seems that there isn't anybody who cares about those kids. Well, that's not true, Miss Eggers. What? We do. 8.14 p.m., police woman Irene Gardner and I left the office and drove over to the address the Eggers woman had given us. The house was a small one-story clabbered building located on the rear of the lot. The front yard was overgrown with weeds and there were neighborhood advertising papers lying around. When we arrived, there was a faint light on in one of the front rooms. Irene and I went up to the front door and we knocked. We got no answer. I tried the door, but we found it locked. There was no sound from inside the place. The shades were drawn over the window so that it was impossible for us to see into the house. We walked around to the rear and tried the back door. Locked? Yeah, it doesn't look like there's anybody home. Mm-hmm. Let's talk to that Eggers woman again, huh? All right. Doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? The story she gave us, the kid should be at home. She might be seeing things, Joe. You know, trying to figure out some way to get attention. Yeah, it might be. You see Mike at the meeting, huh? Joe? What? What do you got there? The front window. There, you see it? Yeah, there's somebody in there. Come on, let's go. Try it again. Yeah. Not answering. Open up in there. We know you're in there, come on. Open the door. Police doctors, let us in. There's nothing wrong, go away. No, we can't do that. Now come on, open up. Nobody, we just want to talk to you. Are you sure that's all? That's right. You Pamela Kelford? I haven't done anything wrong. Oh, we didn't say you did. Then what are you doing around here? What are you looking for? Your mother in? What? Is your mother home? Well, yeah, she's here. Well, we'd like to see her if it's all right. You can't, you can't see her. Well, I'm afraid we're gonna have to. She's lying down asleep. That's why you can't talk to her. Well, what's the matter, little girl? Nothing. Why'd you have something like that? Don't you think you'd better let us in? We're gonna have to talk to your mother. But she's asleep. She's tired. You can't talk to her, you can't. Now come on. You want to go in and wake her up? There's some things we've got to talk to her about. I wonder if we could come in if it's kind of wet out here. Hmm? How about it? Then you can get your mother when you have our talk, huh? I guess we can come in. I guess it's all right. Come on in, Joe. Yeah. The front room was about 12 feet square. The only light in the room came from a candle and a jellyglass on a table. The only furniture in the place was the table that held the candle and a torn artificial leather and chrome couch. The floor was covered with paper, rain-soaked cardboard boxes and dirty clothes. At a half a dozen different places drops of dirty water were seeping through the roof. The water was being caught in empty tin cans that had been placed around the room. To the left was a door to a bedroom. In it, in a wooden crib were two children. From the descriptions we've gotten from the Eggers woman, we recognize them as Martin Telford, age four, and his sister Carol, age two. As soon as the children saw Irene and me, they hid their heads under the dirty blanket that covered the crib. There was nothing else in the room except the dirty mattress lying on the floor in one corner. From the appearance of the bedding, it hadn't been laundered or changed in at least three weeks. On the other side of the house, a small kitchen was piled high with dirty dishes, pieces of rotting food and empty tin cans. The plumbing in the house had apparently been out of order for several weeks. While Irene and I looked over the house, the girl who'd met us at the door, Pamela Telford, followed us. When we got back to the front room, she started to cry. All right, you want to tell us where she is? Come on, Pamela, it's not as bad as all that, is it? Here, here's a hand for you. Here you are. Now, where's your mother? She's out looking for a job. I was kind of late for that, isn't it? I don't know. That's what she's doing now. I was looking for a job. Well, now, why'd you tell us if she was here tonight? Because I didn't know what you wanted. I thought you were trying to arrest her. Well, why'd you think that? Because that's what she said. Your mother said that? Yes. She told us that policeman arrested people. She told us about it, how you did it once to her. Your mother's been arrested? Yes. Do you know why? Because she was. Well, what for, do you know? She got sick. She got sick and they put her in jail. That's why I told you she was asleep. I thought that you'd go away and leave us alone. It's your cold in here. Yeah. Do you have any heat in the house, Pamela? There's a heater in the bedroom. Oh, I'll turn it on. Good. It doesn't work. What? The heater doesn't work. Marty was playing one day and he built the little rods in it. It doesn't work anymore. Well, we should be able to get some heat out of it. No, you won't. There isn't any gas. They turned it off. Well, I think maybe you youngsters better come downtown with us, don't you think? Why? Well, it'll be warm down there. A lot more comfortable for you. We can't go. We've got to wait here. That's all right, Pamela. We'll leave work for your mother where you are. Maybe that's your mother now, huh? No, it's Steve. He's a placement. What do you want? There's nothing wrong here. Nothing for you to come buttoning for. We want to see your mother, son. She hasn't done anything. Why don't your cops leave her alone? All the time you're after, never leave her alone. You're kind of rough for a little guy, aren't you? That's none of your business. I know my rights. I know I'm good. Well, look here, son. We're going to take you downtown and give you a good meal just until we can talk to your mother. That's all. Then you're going to bring us back? I will see. How about Marty and Carol? You taking them two? Yeah. Going to give them something to eat? Yes, that's right. OK, we'll go with you. Just for the night, though. That's all. Just for the night. You understand? Yeah. Want another thing? Yes, what's that? We're paying our own way. I've got money. Anything you give us, we're going to pay for it. Oh, you won't have to do that, son? Well, I'm going to. We don't need charity. We're getting along all right. Everybody has a little rock, rock now on there. Everybody, mum tries. She really does. She's been looking for a job for a long time. All right, Steve. You want to help get the others ready to leave? I'm not sure we can go. Well, I'm afraid you're going to have to, son. All right, but just for the night, the only reason is that I want Marty and Carol and Pamela to have something hot to eat. There's something wrong with the stoves as you can't cook on it. That's the only reason we're going, just because there's something wrong with the stove. The gas has turned up. No, it isn't. Just don't work. Whatever we eat, whatever we get, we're going to pay for it. I've got the money. Well, I told you once before that won't be necessary. But it's true. We're not taking any charity. We've never taken any. We're not going to start now either. Anything that's done for us is going to be paid for. Yeah, I guess that's right, Steve. Huh? It'll be paid for. 8.56 p.m. Men from the crime lab arrived and photographed the entire house. The pictures were held for evidence. A search of the house showed that there was no food for the children. In a cardboard box in the bedroom under a pile of toilet articles, we found a photograph of a man and a woman taken at what appeared to be a beach photographer. Irene and I checked through the rest of the house, but we found nothing that would indicate where the mother of the four Telford children had gone. The youngsters were taken to juvenile hall, bathed, given clean clothes, and fed. At first, Steve Telford refused to eat anything until he was assured that his two sisters and his brother were being given the same kind of food. After the boy had finished eating, Irene and I talked to him. His previous uncooperative attitude had changed, and he seemed anxious to help us find his mother. This is the longest she's ever been gone. The game to think there might be something wrong. Well, when did you see her last, Steve? This is Friday, isn't it? Yes, February 8th. Uh-huh. It was last Tuesday, then. You mean this week, son? No. A week ago. A week ago Tuesday. Well, what did she say when she left? Just like always. She said she wasn't feeling very good, and she was going out and trying to look for work. What kind of work does she do? She's a waitress, a good one, too. Mm-hmm. That's a trouble, I guess. She's so good. What do you mean? Well, there are only a couple of places that mom says are any good. Well, you know where she went to work. Well, I don't really understand what you mean, Steve. Well, Momori said that she wasn't just a hash slinger. That's what she called. Oh, I see. She said that she was a waitress, and she couldn't go to work just any place. Mm-hmm. Where'd she work last? The big place out in Beverly Hills. For God's sake, name her right now. How long did your mother work there? Well, she had some trouble, and then she had to quit. What do you mean, trouble? Well, she got sick. And the man who was the boss got mad at her. And I guess he said a lot of things that Mom didn't like. So Mom told him that he couldn't talk to her like that, and then she quit. Your mother ever tell you what was wrong with her? Steve? No, she didn't. Did you see a doctor about it? You might as well know it. You got to know it. What's up? Well, Mom drank a lot. Sometimes she'd drink too much, and then she'd get sick. That's what was wrong. Where's your father, Steve? He died before Carol was born. Right before. I want you to take a look at a picture for us, will you? Look at it and tell us if you know who the man in it is. All right. Yeah. That's Mom. You know who the man is? No. I don't think I've ever seen him before. Does your mother have any men friends? No, I don't think so. At least she never told me about him. She always said that the kids were enough for her, that we were all that mattered. She used to say that when she got a steady job, we were all going to live good. She used to tell us how one day the phone had rang and all our troubles would be over, just like that. One day we've had a little trouble, and the next, everything was going to be all right. She really believed it too. Just all of a sudden, the phone was going to ring and all our troubles would be over. I didn't know how to tell her. Tell her what? That they turned the phone off. We had the name Rowena Telford checked through R&I. We found that the boy's story was true. The woman had been arrested once on a charge of 4127A, LAMC, being drunk in a public place. Irene put in a call to the waitresses union and asked them to check to see if the woman was working any place in town. They came back with the information that the last job she'd held had been six months before and that she'd been fired for insubordination and for being drunk. We showed the picture of the man and woman that we found at the Telford home around the department in the hopes that one of the officers might recognize the place where it was taken. None of them did. The next morning, we had several copies made and we began a search of the bars along Fifth Street. We asked each bartender if he'd ever seen the man or the woman. In the first four places we checked, we got yes answers to the query about the woman but none of the people we talked to could tell us anything about the man in the picture. Two more days passed without results. In the meantime, a warrant had been issued ordering the arrest of Rowena Telford charging her with child neglect. A local and an APB were gotten out on her. On the third day after we'd started our search for the missing woman, we talked with a bartender who was able to give us the name of the man in the picture. He described the man as a fry cook in one of the smaller restaurants down on Fifth Street. We checked the restaurant but we found that he'd been fired on Monday, the 28th of January. A check of his home address gave us no indications to where he might be. Irene and I went back to the office and checked the name through R&I. Joe? Yeah. Can you come up with anything? Check the name, he's registered as a mixed convict. Uh-huh, where'd he fall? Back in Pennsylvania, good time for ADW. Well, we better talk to him, huh? Right now, he looks awful good. Why do you say that? What he was arrested for. Yeah. He tried to beat a woman to death. Yeah. An immediate search was started for the man in the picture with Rowena Telford. From friends of his, we found that we might be able to locate him at a hamburger stand down at Santa Monica. Tuesday, February 12th, police woman Irene Gardner and I drove down to the beach. Should be it up there, huh? Yeah. He's warm in here. Yeah. Would you like to see Willis Thatcher? Of course. Police officers, you're Thatcher, aren't you? Yeah, what do you want with me? A couple of questions we'd like to ask you. Sure, I got nothing. I had no reason to give you any trouble. What do you want to know? You know a woman named Rowena Telford? Why do you ask that? It's a simple question, Thatcher. Can you give us the right kind of an answer? How about it? Yeah, I know her why, what she's done now. When did you see her last? I don't know, a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, I'll let that down, will you? Why? Listen, I think she did I had no part of. We understand you were pretty friendly with her. That's not true. Sure, maybe I had a couple of dates with her, not more than a couple, that's it. And anybody in the world could put up with it for more than that. Why do you say things like that? You ever know her? No, we're looking for her. You? No, I've never met her. That's how come you can ask that kind of question, and if you know her, if you spent any time with her, you had to know what I mean. I suppose you tell her. She's a lush, a real lush, all the time buzzing it up. It wasn't so bad that she got loaded, but she was real loud when she was tanked up, real loud. All right. Sure, check around, ask her friends, talk to them. I'll tell you the same story. Every one of them. First off, she'd have a couple of drinks, next thing you know, and he'd follow with her, be trying to get out of a place without getting his head knocked off. She'd always start in trouble. Sit down, order a drink, the next thing you know, some guy was asking you outside. Well, I ain't built to go outside too often. I get hurt bad when I fight. Uh-huh, does she have any other boyfriend? You don't listen very good, do you? What's that? I told you, and anybody around here had had much to do with it. As far as I know, there wasn't nobody who went with it. How'd you see me the last time you saw her? All right, she had a little hangover. She always had one of those. She seemed depressed about anything. Not that she talked about. All right, did you say anything up in town? Not to me. Listen, how about give me a break and tell me what this is all about? What do you have to report? These fights you told us about. Do you ever have any arguments with Ms. Talbert? I don't think that's any of your business. We're writing it down that it is, now how about an answer? We had a couple of beefs. I told you, you couldn't go around with her and not have a little trouble. Did you ever hit her? We're back to that, huh? What do you need? You know the record, the time I did. You figure maybe I did something to Rowena, isn't that it? You think I hurt her? We're asking you. Well, you're way off the road. I ain't gonna try to con you, sure. Maybe I had a lot of reasons to want it, but I used to think a lot of Rowena. Awful lot. But that's over. All I wanted to do was leave you alone. Stay away from me. I didn't ever hit her. I didn't hurt her no matter what you think. All right. Believe it. I guess it sounds funny. I ain't trying to fool anybody. I'm ready to admit it. I'm a bum. She didn't have to keep telling me, not all the time. I knew it. Nobody likes to be called a bum. Even if you know it's true. One 47 p.m. We drove the suspect over to his rooming house and we checked the premises. We found nothing that would definitely tie him in with the disappearance of the Telford woman. After leaving his room, we took him downtown where he was held for further investigation on the charge of suspicion of murder. We checked communications, but found it had been word or missing one. Her name and description had been checked through the Files and Missing Persons Bureau without results. Three 40 p.m. Frank came by the ops and said that the trial he was attending was dragging on and there would be a couple more days before he'd be back on duty with me. A petition was filed on behalf of the children charging violation of section 2738, PC, unfit home, asking that he make war to the... Police Marine Gardner put in a call to the next door neighbor of the Telford woman, but we found that there'd been no trace of the missing woman since we'd removed the children. 512 p.m. We finished up the log for the day and we were leaving the office. I got it. Juvenile Friday. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, what's that got? Yeah, mm-hmm. Yeah, sir, we'll be right there. Right, thank you. What do you got? Bar over on East 6th. Yeah? Rowena Telford just walked in. The bartender was one of those that we'd questioned when we first started our investigation. At the time, he knew the Telford woman, but he said that he hadn't seen her for several weeks. On the phone, he told me that she just walked into his bar. Irene Gardner and I left the office and drove over to the East 6th Street address, but the woman had just left. We had her description and a description of the clothes she was wearing. We put that out to all cars in the area, but she was not picked up. Irene Gardner and I went back to the office and we put out a supplementary bulletin on the woman. At 8.14 p.m., we got a call from the woman who'd made the original complaint, Mrs. Crystal Lagers. She told us that the Telford woman had just walked into her own home. Irene and I left the office and we drove out to the house on Vallejo Street. Light on. She may still be home. Yeah. Police officers, we'd like to talk to you. Just a minute. It's about time you got here. You got them yet? I'll make it fine. You got the little brats? They all run off, all of them. Get my hands on them and they're gonna get what for? Where are they? We have them downtown, Mrs. Telford. Why don't you bring them home? Where's the way they belong? I get my hands on them. Oh, and I'm gonna give that little Steve. Do you mind if we come in? No, come right ahead. You gotta kind of excuse the way the house looks. I've been away for a couple of days. You can see how the kids can mess with the place up. I'm sorry to get frightened. This is Mrs. Gardner. Oh, how you do? Would you like to start? No, that's all right. I'll come here to bring them back. They're being held in juvenile hall, Mrs. Telford. For what? Well, when we found them, they were suffering from malnutrition. This place here, it's not set for youngsters. Well, you just took them out and put them in a home. The way it is? Yes, ma'am, that's the way it is. Well, you've got your nerve. You really have. What? You coming in here and breaking up a home like this, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. We have a warrant for your arrest. Me? Yes, ma'am. Now, you listen. You've got no right to come in here and break up my, I know all about you cops, all the pussy-footin' around, trying to make everybody think you're so good. I know you for what you are, and I'll tell you this. Yes, ma'am, what's that? You better get those kids back here fast. Do you hear me? You got them back here fast, because if you don't, I'm gonna sue you and her and the city for every dime it's done. I'll take this to any part of the country I have to, but I'm gonna get my kids back. You ain't half as good as you think you are. You aren't playing real planes, so you can understand it. You stink, that's what, all of you stink. All right, ma'am, I think that's enough of that. Where have you been for the last two weeks? The trouble thing that would happen to me. I don't know if anybody told me or loved me and said we was gonna get married. I thought, that's what I said. We was gonna get married. I got me, gave Stevie a couple of dollars and told him to take care of things. And then we left and drove all the way to San Diego without stopping. And then we had some lunch on the way to get married. And we had a couple of drinks just to make the food taste better, that's all. Then all of a sudden I got sick again. And he walked out on me. Left me right there in the bar all by myself. And all the promises he'd made to me, all the things we was gonna have. No, all of us, just a lot of lies. Soon as I get a little sick, he just had a couple of drinks. He walked out on me. Left me right there all by myself, you know. All by myself. I didn't have no money. No way to get back. What was I gonna do? I believed him. I really thought he was gonna marry me. I believed all he said, how things were gonna be better. I believed it all. The dirtiest trick I ever heard of. Walk him out on a girl like that. A dirty trick. I got one to beat it. The one you pulled on your children. ROWENA ESTER TELLFORD Rowena Esther Telford was tried and convicted of violation of Section 273APC, Endangering the Life and Safety of a Minor, Which is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for a period of not more than one year. The four Telford children were made wards of the juvenile court, and were placed in foster homes. You have just heard, DRAGNETT, the authentic story of your police force in action and starring Jack Webb, a presentation of the United States Armed Forces Radio Service.