 The Equitable Life Assurance Society presents this is your FBI. This is your FBI, the official broadcast from the Files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Presented as a public service by the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States and the Equitable Society's representative in your community. During the past few days representatives of the Equitable Life Assurance Society have been busy sending out postcards to their neighbors. Perhaps you've received one yourself from your own equitable man. If so, you know that these postcards simply asked you to listen to the middle commercial on this Equitable Society radio program. Equitable representatives have gone to the trouble because this commercial has a very important message. It describes the Equitable Society's independent 60s plans, a practical workable plan for people who want to be independent after they're 60 years old. I'll be back in approximately 14 minutes to give you full information on this special plan offered by the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. Tonight's FBI file, The Rocking Chair Shakedown. Future historians may well refer to this as the age of the million, for we have come to be a people who think and talk about a million as if it were an ordinary number. We have come to the point where we feel no shock when we learn that the fingerprint arrest records on file at the Federal Bureau of Investigation number more than seven and a half million. Let us stop for an instant and examine that figure. How big is seven and a half million? Divide it into our total population, and you'll learn that virtually one out of every 20 people in the country, including women and children, has such an arrest record. A recent study of those files showed that better than 50% of the cards represent people who have been arrested more than once, people who have anywhere from two to 50 arrests. They form the core of the Army of American Criminals. Criminals who continue to operate despite their many arrests. They operate because of one thing. Too many communities have outmoded local ordinances which have not been rewritten or overhauled in recent times. Those laws were adequate to serve under past conditions, but times have changed in crime as well as in everything else. If you would do your part in preventing the criminal from going free after two short assentments, see to it that your local criminal code is brought up to date. Fixed so that at long last the punishment fits the crime. Tonight's file opens at an attractive resort hotel located near a large eastern city. On the spacious porch of the establishment, three elderly women are seated in chairs rocking briskly. A young couple walks by them. Look. Is that the one you told me about? Yes. She's been walking by here with a different man ever since breakfast. Sister. Yeah? How many men has she been by here with? Who, dear? That one with the fizzy hair. Was she coming? She just went by. Oh. I was misting my eyes for a minute. Then you were sleeping. I was not. Oh, my heavens. Look, look, look. Get out, young man. Oh. What? That boy's going to kill somebody with that tricycle yet. Do you think his mother'd tell him not to ride on the porch? Have you seen her? No. She's the blonde who was in the movies with the manager last night. Oh. We were sitting right next to them. Where aren't we, sister? Yes. What, what? I said that was the little boy's mother. The woman with the fizzy hair. Kate, will you stay awake and pay attention? Pissiller, I was just misting my eyes. Goodness. Is my watch right? The three o'clock? Hmm. Oh, I have ten minutes of. Oh, my nephew's coming by to take me for a ride. Did you go into the village? Yes. Oh, I wonder if you'd pick me up some yarn. I have a sample. Shall I listen to you say? Have you got it, sister? Eh? What? Have you got it? Oh. Oh, yes. It's the little boy's mother. Sister, I'm talking about the yarn. Oh. Oh, here it is. Oh, well, just give it to Mrs. Carter. Surely. Here. Thank you. Oh. Isn't that your nephew coming up the stairs? Yes, it is. Ready? Oh, hello, Aunt Abby. Hello, son. You've met Mrs. Morgan and her sister, Miss Abby. Oh, yes. You ready, Aunt Abby? Yes. Well, I'll see you later, lady. You won't forget the yarn, Mrs. Carter. No, indeed not. Have a nice ride. Thank you. Fred, I want you to hear something. What? One more session with those two, and I turn in my suit. Oh, now look, Aunt Abby. I mean it. Well, you won't have to put up with it much longer. Charlie's in town. When did you get here? This morning. I'm taking you to see him now. Not directly. We're making a stop off first. Where? Any place I can get a double jolt of ride. Meanwhile, at an FBI field office, Special Agent Jim Taylor has seated at his desk when Agent Dave Milton approaches. Hello, Jim. Hi, Dave. Welcome to the offer. Thanks. Have you found a place to live yet? No. Mary saw an apartment she liked yesterday, but when she mentioned we had two children, the landlord shook his head, said sorry. I suppose it would have been all right if you had two great Danes. Yeah, I guess so. What's his case around, Jim? Oh, have you seen the SAC? Yeah, he told me to check with you. What's it about? We're looking for a trio of swindlers. Two men and an old lady. I assume they've got records. As long as you're right on. What's their swindle? They pull the old wallet gag. Ah, yeah. Do we have any lead on where they might be now? Well, the only thing we have to work on is a tip from the local police. At the last place, they pulled their swindle. They said they were headed for here. Any pattern to their method of finding victims? Well, they seem to concentrate on resorts. That gives them a pretty big choice in this area. Hey, Al. How about sending out a line? No, I was just getting one ready with complete descriptions on all three of them. Good. As soon as it's finished, let's send it to the local police at every resort in this area. Oh, thank you. Good morning, Mrs. Sardis. Good morning, Mrs. Sardis. Wake up, Sister. I'm just resting my eyes. We were wondering when you would be down. Did you enjoy your ride yesterday? Oh, yes, it was lovely. But I'm sorry to tell you. I couldn't get you on. I went to the store, but they just weren't able to match it. Oh, that's all right. Look. See him? You remember the little boy on the tricycle yesterday? The one whose mother went to the movies with the manager. That's right. And do you remember the girl with the frizzy hair? The one with all the fellas? That's right. Last night, she danced half the time with the young man who just passed here and half the time with the manager. And the little boy's mother, who'd been with the manager the night before at the movies, danced all night with another young fellow. My house. Sister. I was just telling Mrs. Carter about the dance last night. Oh, yes. Yes, it was. I was just talking to my husband. What? Look down there before I drop you. What? What is it? It's a man's wallet. My goodness. Well, now that he must belong to someone who was sitting here before us. Well, open it, Priscilla. Find out who belongs to. Oh, I hate to look into anyone else's purse. Notice if you were prying. My lads. Look at all this money. Does it say who it belongs to? This little pocket. Let me look at them. Mr. Charles Thompson. Is this golf club membership card and his driver's license? Pardon me, please. I believe that's my wallet. Oh, really? Yes, my name is Thompson. I'll identify the contents if you like. Oh, no, that won't be necessary. Your names are on all these cards. Here, please take it. Thank you very much. Now, if you ladies will allow me, I would appreciate being able to give you a reward. Oh, I couldn't accept anything. Thank you. Neither could we. Oh, no. Well, but you've done me a great service. Would you accept a gift? Oh, no, Mr. Thompson. No, we couldn't take anything. Well, may I at least do you a favor? What kind of a favor, Mr. Thompson? Well, I happen to be on my way to my broker's office. I'm buying some stock that I received encouraging information about. With your permission, ladies, I'd like to get a few extra shares for you. Oh, but that would be the same as taking a reward. Well, then will you just take the profit? Well, I don't see anything wrong with that. Do you, ladies? No. Then you'll let me do it for you. Thank you. Splendid, splendid. I'll buy the stock and tonight at dinner, I'll let you know what your profit is. Hello, Dave, Jim Taylor. Hi, Jim, where are you? I'm at the railroad station. That trail of squinders we started to look for last week has been here and gone. How do you know? I found a porter, remember, the old lady in the act. How long ago was she there? Sometime last week. Porter isn't sure exactly which day it was. Six to? Yeah, yeah, but unfortunately it was a local that stops at about 25 different resort times. Were they? Yeah, we must. Pardon me, Jim. Dave, how soon can you get down here to the railroad station? No. There's an overnight train leaving here at 635 for Greenwood. Let's be honest. Jolly's been figuring out the profit on those stocks. Yeah. The way I figure you and the two old crones each have a paper profit of 3700 bucks. Have you put the build up in yet? Oh, no. That's your routine, honey. And why don't you get them on the phone? Right now? Yeah. You know what to tell them? Fred, I was fronting for this kind of a touch before you forged your first report card. Operator. Would you please connect me with Mrs. Morgan's room? Yes, ma'am. Oh, from the man whose wallet we found, Mr. Thompson. Who's that? Huck. He says we each have a paper profit of 3700 dollars. Oh, God. What's more, he's doing something else for us. What? It seems it's something called a new issue of stock, and he has some inside information on it. He'd like to buy it for us, but it might embarrass him if his name were used, so he wants to buy it in our name. Oh, how nice. Well, because of that, we'd have to put up our own money for this. Of course, he'd see to it that it was returned to us 5000 dollars in cash. I told Mr. Thompson he could count on me, but I couldn't speak for you and your sister. Well, it's Thompson that will meet him here with our money tomorrow morning. Andy? Fred, you're trying to clip them, not romance them. I'll let a man have it. Just a minute. Good morning, Mrs. Carter. Good morning. Mr. Thompson just got here. And you remember my nephew? Mr. Thompson was just explaining to me that he has to get back to his broker's office in a bit of a hurry. That's right, ladies. I would appreciate it if we could get right down to business. Oh, of course. Mrs. Morgan, I understand that you know about the arrangements. Well, I think I do. Each of you puts up 5000 dollars so I can buy the stock for you. I have my money right here, Mr. Thompson. Oh, that's fine, fine. And, uh, how about you, Mrs. Morgan? Did you bring cash? Well, not exactly. I brought this gun instead. What? Mrs. Morgan. Hey, what is this? I think that's rather obvious. Uh, sister? Yes, Priscilla. Pick up Mrs. Carter's money from the table. You want to take that gun away from her? I'd advise you not to. My sister's really an expert shop. Oh, yeah? Well, she ain't got a... Look! Priscilla! I just creased your hand, young man. Next time I'll hit something solid. Oh, Priscilla, Priscilla. That shot may disturb the hotel. Now, don't let that concern you, dear. Just tie these people up. Very well. You first, Mr. Thompson. Look, I don't know what... I would advise you to cooperate. Okay. That's better. What is this all about? Mrs. Carter. Did you ever hear of a confidence man named Artful Artie Morgan? Yes. He was my husband. He passed away this winter. He didn't die a wealthy man, but on his deathbed he left a legacy of advice. Oh, tie his feet, too, sister. Oh, yes. Yes, of course. Artie said to me, Priscilla, you're too old to go hustling after larceny anymore. Why don't you sit down and let larceny come to you? There's a lot of work. And besides, when you steal from thieves, you have no fear that they'll go to the police. That was his advice to me. Well, this is the first time I've tried it. And, bless him, it seems to work fine. We will return in just a moment to tonight's exciting file which shows how your FBI protects this country against criminals and evildoers. Now an invitation to you personally to take advantage of another type of protection. The Equitable Life Assurance Society invites you to share in the benefits of its famous Independent 60s plan. As the name suggests, Independent 60s means comfortable financial independence for you when it's time to retire. Independent 60s means that you won't have to ask help from anyone. You'll be self-supporting and self-respecting. Maybe you'll decide to move to some section where the climate is mild and pleasant all year long. That's what I did, Mr. Keating. Bought a little ranch in the foothills of the Rock is just a sort of place I'd always wanted to own. And that's only part of the story. With an Independent 60s plan, you can afford to travel. You've time for hobbies. My wife and I go on camping trips, and there's mighty good hunting round here when the season open. Of course, everyone believes in the aims of the Equitable Independent 60s plan. Then why doesn't everybody join? Well, because most people do not seem to realize that you don't have to be rich to belong. I was that way myself. How did you find out the truth? From my Equitable Society representative. He pointed out that my social security and the life insurance I already own gave me a big head start towards Independent 60s. Right. In many cases, only a small amount of additional insurance is required to enable a man to look forward with complete confidence to Independent 60s. A few extra dollars a week did it for me. So why not see your Equitable Representative without delay? Follow him soon. Or send a postcard care of this station to the Equitable Society. That's E-Q-U-I-T-A-B-L-E. The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. And I'll back to the FBI file, The Rocking Chair Shakedown. Back at the criminals in tonight's case from the files of your FBI, range from the young man who operates as part of the trio to the three elderly women may possibly come as a surprise to you. If it does, then you need only be told that they are typical of the people arrested in the past 12 months, according to figures gathered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. More than 10% of all arrests involve people 50 years old and over, and some of them were so old they had grandchildren already enrolled on the police blotters of half a dozen states. Nor should the fact that three of the five criminals in this case are women surprise you. For in that same crime survey made in cooperation with local police departments in every section of the country, it was found that more than 10% of all people arrested were women. A total number of arrests that runs to almost 77,000. Roughly, that means that more than 200 women were arrested every day throughout the past 12 months, and the list of their crimes runs the full gamut from larceny to murder. Your FBI makes these facts known to you, so that in the future, you will not be victimized by criminals who have fooled you because of their age, their sex or their appearance. For none of those things has any part in the determination of why one person is a criminal and another isn't. There is only one thing, all five of the people you have met tonight have in common. That is their business. The business of crime. Well, it continues early the next morning at police headquarters in the resort town of Greenwood. Special Agent Taylor has just entered a small room to meet Agent Dave Milton. Dave, the trio has been here. I found out that much. Well, when I was checking the local hotels I found one where the old lady and her confederate stayed. You mean they've left already? Yeah, about a half an hour ago. Oh, fine. That probably means they've clipped somebody else. No, I don't think so. Why not? One of the bell boys took their bags out to the car and he told me he heard them muttering about being clipped by two old women. Any idea who they might be? Yeah, I checked at the desk and I found that two elderly women, a Mrs. Morgan and a Miss Adams, had checked out a little earlier this morning. Oh, I also got the names that the trio used here, Dave. What were they? The old lady was posing as a Mrs. Carter. The two confederates as Fred Johnson and Shy Townsend. Did you get a description of their car? Yeah, come on into the wire room. We'll send out an alarm. The light is green, Charlie. Go ahead. Okay. Abby, are you sure those two old dames went to see view heights? Some positives. Why? Mrs. Morgan used to give me her letters to mail all the time. Uh-huh. Well, before I mailed them, I used to open them and read what she had to say. So what? One of the letters she gave me was to a hotel in Seaview Heights asking for a reservation. Oh, I got a big scar to settle with that one old dame creaking my hand like that. Why, she don't look. What's that? Oh, the tire. This is a great time for that to blow. Well, it's worse than you think, Charlie. We've got no spare. Don't worry about it. See that sign at the head? It says B-A-R. They don't sell tires, Abby. I know that. But we're close to Seaview Heights. We can call a cab and leave the car. Yeah, that's a good idea. Well, we're waiting. I may pamper myself and have a few drams of rye. Special Agent Milton speaking. No one saw Mrs. Carter? Oh, plenty of them did. Well, they still can't help. No, she didn't cash any checks and any packages or no money. She could see the places she's been to. What do you mean? Well, the first place to remember there was a saloon. Don't tell me she smoked cigars, Jim. No, she came... Oh, fine. Well, I'm surprised she didn't bowl a few herself. Naturally. Have you finished checking all the stores? Not yet. I've got about a half a dozen more. As soon as I finish, I'll see you back at headquarters. Don't get too comfortable, Jim. We'll be going out again in a minute. I had an answer to that alarm. Oh, was the tree arrested? They weren't, but their car was found on the outskirts of a town named Seaview Heights. Another resort? Uh-huh. The local police there checked and learned that they called a cab and apparently abandoned the car. But they can't locate the cab driver. You got anything, Jim? Yeah, yeah. I did find one store she went to that you'd expect a little old lady to patronize. Where is that? A knitting shop. She was in to see if she could get a ball of pure French yellow angora yarn. Sounds like she knits between races. Well, she left the sample at the store. Asked them to see if they could get some of it for her. Have you got that sample? Yeah. It's in my pocket. You know, Dave, if they're in Seaview Heights, this little piece of yarn might lead us right to them. I was just resting my eyes. Who do you think I saw down there? Who? The mother of the little boy who rode the tricycle. Really? Who do you think she was with? Who? The girl with the frizzy hair. Good nurse. And they were both talking to the manager of this hotel. Well, I certainly don't want to miss the dance tonight. Oh, I'll get it, sister. Hello, Mrs. Morgan. Mrs. Carter. Go ahead in, Fred. No. You two, come in. You can't come in. Stand aside, Mrs. Morgan. Where's the tricilla? It's me, Miss Adams. What habits? And this time I've got a gun, and I'm warning you, I shoot just as well as your sister does. Now? Now? No dueling, please? Let's get out of business, Abby. Yeah, where's the dough? Would you like some refreshment? We want our money. Where is it? May we come in? Who are you? We're special agents of the FBI. Dave, would you relieve that sweet little old lady of her gun, and we'll take them all down to headquarters? Cilla Morgan, Catherine Adams, Abby Carter, Fred Johnson, and Charles Thompson were convicted in federal court for violation of the National Stolen Property Act, and given 10-year sentences. The sample of yarn left at the store in Greenwood supplied the clue which led special agents Taylor and Milton to the hotel in Seaview Heights where the five swindlers were arrested. Upon their arrival in Seaview Heights, the two special agents checked at the only yarn store in that resort town to see whether or not anyone had been in looking for pure French yellow and gora yarn. The clerk remembered that a Mrs. Morgan had asked for such a yarn, and that she had asked the clerk to call her at her hotel when it arrived. And so another case from the files of your FBI was closed, this time through the alert investigation made by two special agents and the close cooperation of two small town local police departments. The apprehension of these five lawbreakers did not in any great measure reduce the number of criminals still free, but it did reduce it by five, and any reduction is an improvement. Besides, your FBI does not press its investigations according to the number of criminals involved, but rather according to the order in which the files are opened. For only in that way can you, the decent citizen, get the greatest possible protection. In just a moment, we will tell you about next week's exciting case from the files of your FBI. Now two final questions on the Equitable Society's Independent Sixties Plan. Mr. Keating, what happens if I start one of these plans and then die before I reach the age of 60? Your widow receives the full amount of the life insurance issued under the plan. Well, just what income can I look forward to when I'm 60? That figure is governed by your present income and your future needs. You and your Equitable Society representative can work it out together. Phone him soon. Or send a postcard care of this station to the Equitable Life Insurance Society of the United States. Next week, we will dramatize another case from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A story of crime in the western wastelands. It's subject. Escape. It's title. The runaway guest. The incidents used in tonight's Equitable Life Insurance Society is broadcast are adapted from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. However, all names used are fictitious and any similarity thereof to the names of persons living or dead is accidental. Tonight, the music was composed and conducted by Frederick Steiner. The author was Jerry D. Lewis. Your narrator was William Woodson and Special Agent Taylor was played by Stacey Harris. Others in the cast were B. Benedaret, Bill Conrad, Lois Corbett, Peter Leeds, Charles Maxwell and Peggy Weber. This is your FBI is a Jerry Divine production. This is Larry Keating speaking for the Equitable Life Insurance Society of the United States and the Equitable Society's representative in your community and inviting you to tune in again next week at the same time when the Equitable Life Insurance Society will bring you another thrilling story from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The runaway guest on this is your FBI. This is ABC, the American Broadcasting Company.