November 16, 2025 • 28 mins
https://www.solgoodmedia.com - Listen to hundreds of audiobooks, thousands of short stories, and ambient sounds all ad free! Dive into the captivating world of classic crime-solving with "Dragnet Radio," where each episode brings to life the thrilling police investigations from the original 1950s radio series. Join Sergeant Joe Friday and his partners as they navigate the mean streets of Los Angeles, unraveling complex cases with meticulous detail and unflinching determination. This podcast not only revisits the groundbreaking drama that set the standard for all future police procedurals but also explores the cultural impact and historical significance of one of the most influential shows of its time.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
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Speaker 2 (00:25):
The story you are about to hear is true. The
names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're a
detective sergeant. You're assigned a forgery detail. For the past
six years, a forger has been working in your city.
The victims described the suspect as a woman. Hermo is simple,
(00:47):
but it continues to work.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Your job stopper.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
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Speaker 1 (01:32):
Dragnet the document a drama of an actual crime. For
the next thirty 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.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Was Friday, September eighteenth. It was warm in Los Angeles.
We were working the day watch out of forgery detail.
My partner's Frank Smith. The boss's Captain Welsh. My name
is Friday. We're on our way out from the office
and it was ten forty two am when we got
to the ninth floor the Beckworth Department store, the credit
manager's office. Yeah, would like to see mister Donaldson please. Yeah,
I see he was Sergeant Friday, Los Angeles Police Department.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
Oh, yes, he's expecting you just a moment, thank you. Yes,
the gentleman from the police department are here, mister Donaldson. Yes,
you want to go right in.
Speaker 6 (02:30):
That's the door.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 7 (02:37):
I'm a a gentleman.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Thank you, mister Donaldson. Yes, I'm Sergeant Friday. This is
my partner, Frank Smith. Sit it out, Thank you very much. Sir.
How do you want to tell us what this is
all about?
Speaker 7 (02:50):
Alice a little mother again. I've got the receipts here
in the desk. Sergeant Ferguson's still working on this case. Yes, sir,
I talked to him the last time.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
It was stuck type of things.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Charge.
Speaker 7 (03:01):
Yes, children's shoes, dresses, sweater the same as always.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
I see, and I wonder if I could have those
slips in ster Donaldson for sure?
Speaker 5 (03:07):
Here?
Speaker 7 (03:08):
Are you all made out the same day?
Speaker 4 (03:12):
August twenty second?
Speaker 7 (03:13):
Yes, our experience is that she usually comes in on
a Saturday.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Seems that the store is more crowded there.
Speaker 7 (03:19):
Girls don't take any more time to verify their accounts
than they have to.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Can I see those jos here? Here? What if we
could talk to the salesgirl who waited on her?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Sure, I'll have us set out fine.
Speaker 7 (03:30):
As fires, So would you please have missus Allen set up?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
I know it's here. Are the only items to charge
not for children as a woman's slip?
Speaker 7 (03:37):
Yes, we've had a couple of them in the past,
pieces of women's clothing. I talked to Sergeant Ferguson about
when they was here.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
Did you get the bullet when we sent out this
month beg pardon the bulletin giving the women's description samples
of her handwriting. Did you get it?
Speaker 7 (03:50):
Yes, sir, if we did, You've got to understand, sergeant,
this is one of the biggest stores in the city.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
We do a lot of business.
Speaker 7 (03:56):
It'll be almost impossible to learn all of the salesgirls
to watch the woman.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Yes, so we understand that. But was the description sent
to the children's departments. It was It didn't do any
good though.
Speaker 7 (04:06):
If a woman charged large amounts, it might be easier.
But look at the sales slips yourself. More dollars shoes,
three dollars dresses. Nothing to make a charge like that
stand out. We make sure that there's an account in
the name.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
And then let it go. Don't you use the charging
plate system?
Speaker 7 (04:22):
Yes, we do, but if a customer wants to charge
an item and hasn't got the plate, we usually just
verify the account and let them sign the sales slip.
Aw about identification, well, normally we do ask for it.
As I said, these sales are such small amounts, and
the woman comes in when the store is crowded, the
girls just call the credit department. Let us sign the receipt,
I say, excuse me, yes, yes, oh, all right, just
(04:48):
a moment. Yes, the woman who waited on us out
in the office. Do you want to talk to.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Her in here? Well, we don't want to take up
any more of your time, so we can see her
out there. All right, there's anything else you need. I'll
be here, yes, sir, oh offica, Yes, you know, I'll.
Speaker 7 (05:04):
Feel a little funny about this thing.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Wise, that's it.
Speaker 7 (05:07):
Well, the things she's charged, things she's taken, they're almost
all kids clothes. Doesn't seem to be interested in anything else.
Total amounts of the articles she's taken, though, that up
too much. Stay, it's the principle of a thing more
than the value. Or it just seems that the only
thing she's interested in is the children, and it feels
a little funny to call the piece about a person
(05:28):
like that.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Yes, sir, we understand.
Speaker 7 (05:31):
We've got a lot of this going on. But the
others they take things for themselves, luxiush, you know, expensive items,
but she doesn't just with the kids. She doesn't seem
to be at all interested in herself. Where we are, Yes,
well I suppose so.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Well, I'll be here.
Speaker 7 (05:46):
If you need anything more.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Thank you, mister Donaldsan.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Thanks very much. We'll be in touch with you.
Speaker 7 (05:50):
You will bring the sales slips back, won't you?
Speaker 4 (05:52):
Yes, or sir, as we've had the chance to photograph them.
Speaker 7 (05:54):
Well, I hope you can do something about it.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Yes, you share the way, Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Anything you need you let me know.
Speaker 6 (06:00):
Oh, yes, sir, thank you, Jackie moment, missus Allen.
Speaker 5 (06:04):
Yes, these are the police officers.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
How you doing, ma'am? I'm sorry Friday. This is my partner,
Frank Smith. Hello, how are you doing?
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Miss Allen?
Speaker 4 (06:12):
I want to sit down over here, please, Yes, all right.
Speaker 5 (06:19):
I feel just terrible about this, ma'am, all this forgery thing.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Now, you waited on the woman, didn't, Yes, at.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
Least in the little girl's department?
Speaker 4 (06:26):
Uh huh? What if you could describe her for us?
Speaker 5 (06:28):
Well, she was a little woman, I'd say.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
A ten how's that again, ma'am?
Speaker 5 (06:33):
A size ten huh five to one, about a hundred
and five pounds, kid as a button.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Did she have the children with her?
Speaker 5 (06:40):
No, No, she didn't. I thought it was a little
funny at the time, But as I say, we were
so busy with the school rush that afternoon that none
of us girls had a chance to really think about anything.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
What color hair did she have?
Speaker 5 (06:52):
Kind of sandy color. I guess you'd call it a blonde.
Wore it up in a bun, uh you know back here,
you know, Yes, ma'am, the other girls noticed it long
looked nice, different than all the other short hair cuts,
kind of old fashioned in a homies, Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
How was she dressed?
Speaker 5 (07:08):
Not very well? Had little blue hat, dark coat, cloth
coat color came up like this, you know, slash pockets.
Nice but not expensive.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I say, ma'am, Now would you know her if you
saw her again?
Speaker 4 (07:21):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (07:21):
My yah, surehood.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Oh, we'd like you to come over to our office
and look at some pictures if you would.
Speaker 5 (07:26):
Alright, I'll have to talk to the floor manager.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
We'll take care of that, missus Allen.
Speaker 5 (07:30):
Alright. Do you think that you might have a picture
of her?
Speaker 4 (07:33):
We don't know.
Speaker 5 (07:34):
I kind of hope not, ma'am. I hope you don't
have a picture. I guess it's a little sinful to
even think of it. But she had a reason for
what she did, I'm sure of it.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Why do you say that, missus Allen officer.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
I've been selling for a long time. I've met a
lot of people in that time, nice ones and nasty ones,
and believe me, this is one of the sweetest people
I've ever served. I understand that you call her the
little mother?
Speaker 6 (08:00):
Is that right?
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Well, we don't, man, that's what the newspapers call her.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
Well, it fits her to a tea, right to the
tea where she bustled around those dresses looking testing. She
was just like a mother hen trying to find something
for a brood little doll cues a button. She just
got to have a reason for what she's.
Speaker 7 (08:16):
Doing, Sigan Friday. Yesked, mister Donaldson, I'm glad I caught you.
I think we've got it, sir, A little mother. He's
downstairs now.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
For the last six years, the same woman had been
operating in the downtown department stores. During that period, she'd
forged a total of thirteen hundred dollars worth of merchandise
that we knew of Because of her mo there was
no way of telling how much more had gone undetected.
The operation was a simple one. She'd had her a
store go to one of the departments. There, she'd pick
up articles of apparel, mostly for children, and then asked
to charge them. She'd explained that she'd forgotten her charge
(08:51):
of plate, and after the account had been verified, she'd
signed the charge slip. These slips would be put in
the mail to the people who maintained the account, and
it wouldn't be until they noticed the discrepancy that we'd
be notified. Usually a month would pass between the time
the clothing was taken and we were told of it.
In the six years that the little mother of the
newspapers at Dubbeder had been operating, almost every team of
detectives in the forgery detail had worked on the case.
(09:13):
Statements from salesgirls had waited on her were taken, photostats
of the sales slips were made, witnesses were interrogated, and
then when the sum total of actual physical evidence was
weighed and sifted, there was no lead to the identity
of the forger. The police department had gotten out printed
bulletins and copies of composite drawings of the suspect, and
these had been distributed to all department stores in the area,
but because of the suspect's appearance and the way she operated,
(09:33):
none of the victims became suspicious in time to notify us.
The department stores Protective League was working with us, but
they met with the same dead ends that we'd found. Meanwhile,
the evidence continued to pile up. The operation continued to work.
When the manager of Beckworth's department store told us that
the suspect was in the store, Frank and I were
able to come up with the first concrete lead we'd
had since we'd been working on the case. In the
(09:54):
company of the manager and the saleswoman, missus Meyra Allen,
Frank and I went down to the boys' department, where
the suspect was reported to.
Speaker 7 (09:59):
Be down's way. Yes, sir, the girl said she was
over by boys' suits. I hope they were able to
hold it for just a minute. Yes, sir, I know
I don't have to tell you gentlemen about the store's liability.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
In a situation like this.
Speaker 7 (10:11):
No, sir, I'm sure it's her, but it could be
very embarrassing and expensive to the.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Store if we made a mistake.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
All right, sir, we understand. Good over here, all.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
Right, it's Donaldson.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Yes, Miss Franklin.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Why is she?
Speaker 5 (10:24):
It's not my fault. You've got to believe it.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Don't tell me.
Speaker 7 (10:27):
You stop the wrong person. You've caused trouble with a
n innocent party, and she could sue the store.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
I'm sorry to don't where's the woman? Miss?
Speaker 5 (10:32):
That's what I'm trying to tell you, ma'am. She wouldn't wait.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
A quick search of the immediate vicinity in the store
failed to turn up the suspect. The department store security
staff was notified and the watch was put on all
of the doors. The credit department was notified and they
took action. We checked with the elevator operators. We found
one that told us she'd seen a woman who answered
the description get in her car. She explained that the
woman seemed to be in a hurry and had left
the elevator as soon as it had reached the main floor.
(11:00):
A further check at the store and netted us nothing.
The suspect has escaped in the downtown crowds. It would
have been almost impossible to try to find her on
the streets. However, an additional broadcast carrying a complete description
of the clothing she was wearing was gotten out to
all cars in the area. The first good chance we'd
had for apprehending her was gone. We had to go
back to the legwork in the waiting. Three months passed.
(11:20):
During that time, Frank and I cleaned up a series
of counterfeit payroll check cashing's. Another thirty days went by
without activity for the little mother. There were four new
sales slips added to the file, but when the leads
resulting from these were checked out. We were no closer
to her than we'd been six years before. Thursday, December seventeenth,
twelve fifty five pm. I checked into the office, show that.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
You Yeah, what do you got? I'll just talk to
Skipper now.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Got a couple of more beefs about the little mother
when they come in this morning? Where are they?
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Don Myers got him? He's checking the handwriting.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Well, how about the name she used?
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Wait a minute, and I got him here in my book,
here the arm missus Norris Farrell, Missus James Slagel. I
guess it is Ross and Neeman. I called the stores
and got the information on these people.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Did you talk to them?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah, asked all the routine stuff. None of them can
think of any friends who matched the description.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
How about the things she charged?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Anything?
Speaker 4 (12:10):
There?
Speaker 3 (12:11):
M no you wuld items? Let's see prepare Levi's for kids.
On child's cotton dress?
Speaker 4 (12:18):
There's one thing different? What's that? I checked the.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Sizes of the clothes.
Speaker 8 (12:22):
Last bunch of sales slips we had. The dresses were
for a ten year old. You know this time she
bought them for a twelve year old. Kids are getting bigger,
Joe you.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
Know, that's a big help. All we got to do
is look for a couple of kids that are growing well.
I was just trying to help Joe. No, I mean,
it just doesn't seem to be anywhere to go. All
the time we put in, all the people we've talked to,
all we got forward to the file drawer, all to
ourselves on the things again Forgery Friday. Who yes, ma'am, Yes, ma'am,
(12:51):
I remember where is she now? I see yeah, we
can be right over, yes, ma'am. Bye bye, Well we
got it. What do you mean that was Missus Allen?
Remember the sales lady over at Beckworths. Oh yeah, think
I do what you have to say? Told me she's
having lunch in the restaurant at the corner of Jackson Hill.
Our suspects sitting next to her. One o two pm.
(13:18):
We checked out of the office and drove over to
the restaurant. It was located at the rear of a
large drug store. When we came into the place, Missus
Allen met us at the entrance. She took us back
down the counter and pointed out a small woman sitting
on the last stool. That's her. You're sure ma'am.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
I'm positive that's her.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
All right, let's go. Yeah, you want to wait here,
miss Allen. Certainly something you gentlemen want for police officers. Man,
we'd like to talk to you police. Yes, ma'am, you
want to step over there to talk might be better.
Speaker 6 (13:45):
Well, if you want to say anything to me, you
can say it right here. I haven't done anything wrong.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
What if we could see your identification? Why your identification, ma'am?
Could we see it?
Speaker 6 (13:53):
All right? Just a minute.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
I've got in my purse getting terrible.
Speaker 9 (14:00):
I don't know what you officers are trying to find out,
but I'm gonna tell you right now. If you can't
prove you've got a reason for making me do this,
you're in trouble.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
We're not making you do anything, ma'am. We don't wanna
cause you any embarrassment.
Speaker 9 (14:09):
Funny way of showing it. I wanna tell you that
my husband knows people in this town when he hears
about this.
Speaker 6 (14:14):
H Oh, here you are. Here's my driver's license.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Would you take it out of your wallet? Please?
Speaker 9 (14:19):
Here?
Speaker 4 (14:21):
Missus Evelyn Nelson, that's who I am. That's your present address.
Speaker 6 (14:24):
No it isn't. We moved a few months ago, but
I haven't had a chance to have it changed. Is
that all you want?
Speaker 4 (14:30):
No, Missus Nelson, it isn't. I wonder if we could
talk you in our office.
Speaker 6 (14:32):
Why I always thought you had to arrest people before
you could order them around.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
We're asking you to come over to the city Hall
with us, if you're will, ma'am, and a few things
we'd like to check out.
Speaker 9 (14:40):
What things?
Speaker 4 (14:41):
Wonder if I could see what you've got in the
bags here?
Speaker 6 (14:43):
What are you looking for?
Speaker 4 (14:44):
Do you mind if we took a look?
Speaker 6 (14:45):
Well, there's just some clothes for my children.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Nothing in there to interest you, Elena, wouldn't hurt if
we looked with it.
Speaker 6 (14:52):
Go ahead, you won't find anything you.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Wanna take tup of each brank? Yeah, I got it?
Speaker 6 (15:01):
Well what about it? You find anything wrong? Maybe a gun?
Speaker 4 (15:05):
No man? But I want to explain this.
Speaker 5 (15:07):
What's that?
Speaker 4 (15:07):
It's charge slip here signed by missus ross Niemann.
Speaker 6 (15:10):
Certainly that was probably in the bag when I bought
the things. I don't know anything about it.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
All right, Miss Nelson. Afraid we're gonna have to ask
you to come with us on what charge, especially of forgery?
Speaker 1 (15:29):
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Speaker 4 (16:51):
We returned the suspect to the city Hall for questioning.
While Frank checked her name through the files. I tried
to get her to talk for twenty minutes. Her attitude
was one of surprise, and she answered the questions I
put to were with indignance. Finally, she lapsed into silence
and wouldn't we fly at all the further interrogation, Frank
came back from R and I with the information that
there was no arrest record for Missus Nelson. We put
out calls to the salesgirls who had waited on the
(17:11):
little mother in the past and asked them to come
down to the office to see if they could identify
the suspect. Yes, ma'am, Room twenty nine.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Yeah, I'm right in the first street entrance, turned left
into the police department.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
That's right, ma'am. There's an arch there.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Go right through it, straight down the hall to the right.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
It's the only way you can go.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
It's on the left as you go down the hall.
That's right, twenty nine.
Speaker 8 (17:32):
If you last, Sergeant Friday or Officer Smith, No, ma'am Smith.
That's all right, man, we'll expect you goodbye.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
I'll call the next one. Yeah. You know, you'd save
yourself in us a lot of trouble if you'd tell
us the truth. Missus Nelson, Missus Nelson, Hello.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Maska, Miss Brundage please and children's wear.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
Yes, ma'am, I will.
Speaker 9 (18:02):
Hang up the phone.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
Lakey Pide.
Speaker 6 (18:04):
You don't have to go through this.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Anymore, alright, ma'am. You wanna tell us about it? Is Nelson.
Speaker 6 (18:17):
I only did for them, the kids. I didn't wanna
How do you think I felt when I knew I
was stealing? How do you think I felt?
Speaker 4 (18:24):
You wanna go ahead?
Speaker 9 (18:25):
My husband, Paul's a good man. What he's done he
thinks is right. I can't quarrel with him, but he
doesn't know.
Speaker 6 (18:32):
He doesn't just stand. It isn't that he doesn't love
the kids.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
He does.
Speaker 6 (18:38):
He really does. It's just that he doesn't understand. You
can see that, can't you. He doesn't understand about them.
Do either of you have a handkerchief? I came away
this morning even felt one.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
That's ma'am, here you are thinks I wanna go ahead? Please.
Speaker 9 (18:57):
All his life he's worked, put in long hours with
I would have thought of what he was doing to himself.
Every nickel Nickolay made was put away so I'd be
able to feel secure, so.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
He wouldn't have to worry about anything. It was all
right when we first got married. I could understand it.
Then I went along with what he thought.
Speaker 9 (19:14):
For the last few years, it's gotten to be an
obsession with him.
Speaker 6 (19:16):
The almighty dollar. That's all it seems important.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
To him, what kind of work did your husband do,
missus Nelson?
Speaker 9 (19:21):
He owns a grocery store, small place, but it does good,
makes a good living. Only we aren't living, we're existing.
He gives me ten dollars a week to run the
house and buy clothes for the kids. I've tried, Lord knows,
I've tried, budget meals.
Speaker 6 (19:36):
Cheap cut some meat, day old bread. Anyway you spend it,
no matter how you figure you're ten dollars just doesn't
go very far.
Speaker 8 (19:46):
Well, my missus Nelson, didn't you talk to your husband
about it? Didn't you ask him for additional money for
the expenses?
Speaker 9 (19:51):
Yes, I'd ask him, and he'd tell me that I
had to make do all the time, Make do just
a little longer until he had the money in the
bank and we'd be all right.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
Only the more it went on, the worse it got.
Speaker 9 (20:03):
It didn't seem to make any difference how much money
we had, how the total in the past book went up.
Speaker 6 (20:07):
He wasn't satisfied, had little more, a little more.
Speaker 9 (20:15):
I guess I'm feeling sorry for myself. But you see,
he could afford to buy the kid's decent clothes.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
At least that.
Speaker 6 (20:22):
He'll agree with me, don't you.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Well, that's sorry to say, man, not for me.
Speaker 9 (20:27):
I'll never forget the day when my boy came home crying,
been fighting. One of the other boys at school had
said something about the patches on his clothes.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Just a little kid, that's all.
Speaker 9 (20:36):
He was ridiculed by his friends. That's when I made
up my mind to do something about it.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Does your husband know anything about your activities?
Speaker 6 (20:43):
No?
Speaker 5 (20:44):
Nothing.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
How'd you explain the new clothes for the youngster doing?
Speaker 9 (20:47):
I didn't have to last year. He's been working so
hard at the store. I hardly ever see him. The
kids don't hardly know him. He even spends Sunday at
the store addressing the windows.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
You mean he spends all his time there, every.
Speaker 6 (20:58):
Minute he's not asleep. He let one clerk he had
go so he could save the money. Always save the money.
It doesn't make any difference who gets hurt. Get that
dollar and put it away. That's what he put the
dollar away. You know, something off, sir?
Speaker 4 (21:17):
What's happens? Nelson?
Speaker 6 (21:20):
I haven't been able to sit down and talk to
my husband for six weeks. Six weeks. He gets home
at twelve thirty one, o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 9 (21:29):
He's up and gone at six thirty. Kids are always
asking when daddy's coming home. How do you answer him?
Speaker 6 (21:35):
How do you make him understand?
Speaker 9 (21:38):
I can't.
Speaker 6 (21:40):
I've tried the only way I know how, and I
did it so wrong.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
All right, Miss Nelson, we'll try to work it out.
Speaker 6 (21:50):
Can I use your phone? I've got to tell the
children what to do about dinner.
Speaker 4 (21:55):
I'll call for it if you like. Man, what's the.
Speaker 6 (21:56):
Number Hollywood nine eight eight four four.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Where's your husband now? Miss Nelson?
Speaker 6 (22:14):
At the store? I guess you're gonna call him.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
I think we should, ma'am let him know what's happened.
Speaker 6 (22:18):
I guess so somebody's gonna take a lot.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
I'm calling from missus Nelson. I wonder if I could
speak to her son, the sergeant Friday Los Angeles Police Departments,
who yes, No, she's down here now from twenty nine.
All right, fine, was that my boy?
Speaker 6 (22:35):
I wanted to talk to him?
Speaker 4 (22:36):
No, ma'am, that was your husband. He's on his way
down here. Two fourteen pm. Paul Nelson walked into the
office Frank and I took him and his wife the
interrogation room. She'd asked us, while we waited for him,
if we let her talk to him for a few
minutes alone. We stayed out in the hall, and after
a brief way, Paul Nelson opened the door and asked
(22:57):
us to come into the room. His wife evidently told
him a full story because he was visibly shaken. He
walked over to his wife and sat down beside her. Well,
I guess I've really done it, haven't I What do
you mean, sir?
Speaker 2 (23:07):
I really ruined everything?
Speaker 10 (23:09):
Oh my kids, everything all the time was happening. I
never knew it, never had an idea.
Speaker 6 (23:14):
Don't blame yourself too much, Paul.
Speaker 10 (23:16):
But I should have known. I should have seen it myself,
even when you tried to tell.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Me, I was too busy to see it.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Two wrapped up with the business.
Speaker 6 (23:22):
It wasn't for me, Paul. It was for the children.
Speaker 10 (23:24):
It doesn't make any difference, so it was for I'm
the one who caused it. I'm the one.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
It's my fault.
Speaker 10 (23:30):
I'm sorry. I haven't How can I have him make
it up to you?
Speaker 6 (23:33):
Don't think about that now, Paul. It won't do any good.
What's been done can't be changed.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
How about it? Officer sir. What happens now, Well, your
wife is gonna be given a preliminary hearing. She'll have
a chance to flead Gilly she does, the cardinal decide
what to do.
Speaker 10 (23:48):
What's the punishment for what she's done?
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Well, according to section four seventy three of the Penal Code,
it's imprisonment in the state penitentiary for one to fourteen years,
or for not more than a year in the county jail.
Speaker 10 (23:57):
Is there any way out of it?
Speaker 4 (23:58):
What do you mean anyway?
Speaker 10 (23:59):
You're getting Eveline out of it? If I went to
the judge and told him why she did it, if
I told him it was my fault, would that make
a difference.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
I'd be up to the court.
Speaker 10 (24:06):
But I could try, Yes, sir, If I paid the
money back for all the things she's taken, I can
afford it.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
I could go to the stores and pay him.
Speaker 10 (24:13):
Maybe they'd feel different then, huh. I could make it
up to them everything.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
It'd be all right.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
Well that's been going on for six years, you know.
Speaker 10 (24:18):
But if I did pay the stores back, it did
make it up to him, wouldn't it.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Maybe?
Speaker 4 (24:22):
But how about your wife? Well, are you going to
make it up to her four point thirty PM. The
suspect was released on her writ. The next afternoon, Frank
and I met with mister and Missus Nelson and their attorney.
We talked over the case. Seemed that the husband's change
of heart was permanent. He swore that he'd never give
his wife cause for unhappiness again. Two weeks later, in
(24:44):
Department eighty nine of the Superior Court, Missus Nelson entered
a plea of guilty to fourteen counts of forgery. When
the court reviewed the circumstances and was informed that mister
Nelson intended to make full restitution, the probation Board recommended
that Missus Nelson be placed on probation for three years.
After the hearing, Frank and I had a brief time
talk with the couple. They thank us for our consideration
and understanding. Apparently the cause of trouble between the Nelson's
(25:05):
had been erased. Another two weeks went by January twenty second.
Frank and I got back from lunch and we checked
into the office.
Speaker 6 (25:13):
Yeah, they are here, mister Friday, mister.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
Smith, Miss Nelson, mister Nelson.
Speaker 6 (25:17):
How are you just fine?
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Sergeant?
Speaker 5 (25:19):
How are you too?
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Fine, Thank you very much, ma'am. What can we do
for you?
Speaker 10 (25:22):
That's what we want to do for you, sir.
Speaker 6 (25:24):
You got the boxes, honey, yoh they are. It's not much,
but we thought that you'd like him.
Speaker 9 (25:31):
Made them ourselves to say.
Speaker 10 (25:33):
Thanks for that.
Speaker 7 (25:34):
Joe.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
That's not necessary, ma'am. He didn't have to do that.
Speaker 10 (25:37):
No, No, we wanted to told house cookies. He made
a box for each of you, real good lots of chocolate.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Well, that's very nice of you.
Speaker 6 (25:43):
We just hope you'll enjoy him.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
That's man. I'm sure we will, yes, ma'am. How are
things going with you?
Speaker 6 (25:48):
We're just fine. Paul and I have gotten everything straightened.
Speaker 7 (25:51):
Uh.
Speaker 9 (25:51):
I helped him out at the store now. That way
he's got more time to spend with the kids. Things
just couldn't be much better.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
Well, we're glad to hear that.
Speaker 6 (25:58):
It's a funny thing to see, mister Friday. But it's true.
The best thing that ever happened to us. What's that
is Nelson not getting arrested.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
The story you've just heard is true. The names were
changed to protect the innocent.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
On January eighth, the meeting was held in the County
Probationer's office in and Fall, the County of Los Angeles,
State of California. In a moment the results of that meeting.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Now here is our star Jack Webb.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
Thank you, George Fennman. Friends, We've been getting letters from
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Speaker 1 (26:55):
At the end of three years, Missus Evelyn Margaret Nelson
had fulfilled the requirements of her probation and the case
was officially marked closed. You have just heard Dragnet, a
series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice comes
(27:17):
from the Office of Chief of Police W. H. Parker,
Los Angeles Police Department Technical Advisors, Captain Jack Donahoe, Sergeant
Marty Wynn, Sergeant Van Spracer. Heard tonight were Ben Alexander, Vick, Rodman,
Joyce McCluskey, script by John Robinson, music by Walter Schumann.
Hell give me speaking.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Watch an entirely new Dragnet case history. Each week on
your local NBC television station. Please check your newspaper for.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
The day and time.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Chesterfield has brought you Dragnet transcribed from Los Angeles. Have
you tried new cork tipped Fatima. It's the smooth smoke.
Here's why.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
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Speaker 2 (28:35):
This is the NBC Radio network.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
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Speaker 2 (00:25):
The story you are about to hear is true. The
names have been changed to protect the innocent. You're a
detective sergeant. You're assigned a forgery detail. For the past
six years, a forger has been working in your city.
The victims described the suspect as a woman. Hermo is simple,
(00:47):
but it continues to work.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Your job stopper.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Smokers by the thousands are now changing to Chesterfield. No wonder.
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(01:16):
Chesterfield the only cigarette ever with a record like this,
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Speaker 1 (01:32):
Dragnet the document a drama of an actual crime. For
the next thirty 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.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Was Friday, September eighteenth. It was warm in Los Angeles.
We were working the day watch out of forgery detail.
My partner's Frank Smith. The boss's Captain Welsh. My name
is Friday. We're on our way out from the office
and it was ten forty two am when we got
to the ninth floor the Beckworth Department store, the credit
manager's office. Yeah, would like to see mister Donaldson please. Yeah,
I see he was Sergeant Friday, Los Angeles Police Department.
Speaker 5 (02:21):
Oh, yes, he's expecting you just a moment, thank you. Yes,
the gentleman from the police department are here, mister Donaldson. Yes,
you want to go right in.
Speaker 6 (02:30):
That's the door.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 7 (02:37):
I'm a a gentleman.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Thank you, mister Donaldson. Yes, I'm Sergeant Friday. This is
my partner, Frank Smith. Sit it out, Thank you very much. Sir.
How do you want to tell us what this is
all about?
Speaker 7 (02:50):
Alice a little mother again. I've got the receipts here
in the desk. Sergeant Ferguson's still working on this case. Yes, sir,
I talked to him the last time.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
It was stuck type of things.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Charge.
Speaker 7 (03:01):
Yes, children's shoes, dresses, sweater the same as always.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
I see, and I wonder if I could have those
slips in ster Donaldson for sure?
Speaker 5 (03:07):
Here?
Speaker 7 (03:08):
Are you all made out the same day?
Speaker 4 (03:12):
August twenty second?
Speaker 7 (03:13):
Yes, our experience is that she usually comes in on
a Saturday.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Seems that the store is more crowded there.
Speaker 7 (03:19):
Girls don't take any more time to verify their accounts
than they have to.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Can I see those jos here? Here? What if we
could talk to the salesgirl who waited on her?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Sure, I'll have us set out fine.
Speaker 7 (03:30):
As fires, So would you please have missus Allen set up?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
I know it's here. Are the only items to charge
not for children as a woman's slip?
Speaker 7 (03:37):
Yes, we've had a couple of them in the past,
pieces of women's clothing. I talked to Sergeant Ferguson about
when they was here.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
Did you get the bullet when we sent out this
month beg pardon the bulletin giving the women's description samples
of her handwriting. Did you get it?
Speaker 7 (03:50):
Yes, sir, if we did, You've got to understand, sergeant,
this is one of the biggest stores in the city.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
We do a lot of business.
Speaker 7 (03:56):
It'll be almost impossible to learn all of the salesgirls
to watch the woman.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
Yes, so we understand that. But was the description sent
to the children's departments. It was It didn't do any
good though.
Speaker 7 (04:06):
If a woman charged large amounts, it might be easier.
But look at the sales slips yourself. More dollars shoes,
three dollars dresses. Nothing to make a charge like that
stand out. We make sure that there's an account in
the name.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
And then let it go. Don't you use the charging
plate system?
Speaker 7 (04:22):
Yes, we do, but if a customer wants to charge
an item and hasn't got the plate, we usually just
verify the account and let them sign the sales slip.
Aw about identification, well, normally we do ask for it.
As I said, these sales are such small amounts, and
the woman comes in when the store is crowded, the
girls just call the credit department. Let us sign the receipt,
I say, excuse me, yes, yes, oh, all right, just
(04:48):
a moment. Yes, the woman who waited on us out
in the office. Do you want to talk to.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Her in here? Well, we don't want to take up
any more of your time, so we can see her
out there. All right, there's anything else you need. I'll
be here, yes, sir, oh offica, Yes, you know, I'll.
Speaker 7 (05:04):
Feel a little funny about this thing.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Wise, that's it.
Speaker 7 (05:07):
Well, the things she's charged, things she's taken, they're almost
all kids clothes. Doesn't seem to be interested in anything else.
Total amounts of the articles she's taken, though, that up
too much. Stay, it's the principle of a thing more
than the value. Or it just seems that the only
thing she's interested in is the children, and it feels
a little funny to call the piece about a person
(05:28):
like that.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Yes, sir, we understand.
Speaker 7 (05:31):
We've got a lot of this going on. But the
others they take things for themselves, luxiush, you know, expensive items,
but she doesn't just with the kids. She doesn't seem
to be at all interested in herself. Where we are, Yes,
well I suppose so.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Well, I'll be here.
Speaker 7 (05:46):
If you need anything more.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Thank you, mister Donaldsan.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Thanks very much. We'll be in touch with you.
Speaker 7 (05:50):
You will bring the sales slips back, won't you?
Speaker 4 (05:52):
Yes, or sir, as we've had the chance to photograph them.
Speaker 7 (05:54):
Well, I hope you can do something about it.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Yes, you share the way, Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Anything you need you let me know.
Speaker 6 (06:00):
Oh, yes, sir, thank you, Jackie moment, missus Allen.
Speaker 5 (06:04):
Yes, these are the police officers.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
How you doing, ma'am? I'm sorry Friday. This is my partner,
Frank Smith. Hello, how are you doing?
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Miss Allen?
Speaker 4 (06:12):
I want to sit down over here, please, Yes, all right.
Speaker 5 (06:19):
I feel just terrible about this, ma'am, all this forgery thing.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Now, you waited on the woman, didn't, Yes, at.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
Least in the little girl's department?
Speaker 4 (06:26):
Uh huh? What if you could describe her for us?
Speaker 5 (06:28):
Well, she was a little woman, I'd say.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
A ten how's that again, ma'am?
Speaker 5 (06:33):
A size ten huh five to one, about a hundred
and five pounds, kid as a button.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Did she have the children with her?
Speaker 5 (06:40):
No, No, she didn't. I thought it was a little
funny at the time, But as I say, we were
so busy with the school rush that afternoon that none
of us girls had a chance to really think about anything.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
What color hair did she have?
Speaker 5 (06:52):
Kind of sandy color. I guess you'd call it a blonde.
Wore it up in a bun, uh you know back here,
you know, Yes, ma'am, the other girls noticed it long
looked nice, different than all the other short hair cuts,
kind of old fashioned in a homies, Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
How was she dressed?
Speaker 5 (07:08):
Not very well? Had little blue hat, dark coat, cloth
coat color came up like this, you know, slash pockets.
Nice but not expensive.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I say, ma'am, Now would you know her if you
saw her again?
Speaker 4 (07:21):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (07:21):
My yah, surehood.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Oh, we'd like you to come over to our office
and look at some pictures if you would.
Speaker 5 (07:26):
Alright, I'll have to talk to the floor manager.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
We'll take care of that, missus Allen.
Speaker 5 (07:30):
Alright. Do you think that you might have a picture
of her?
Speaker 4 (07:33):
We don't know.
Speaker 5 (07:34):
I kind of hope not, ma'am. I hope you don't
have a picture. I guess it's a little sinful to
even think of it. But she had a reason for
what she did, I'm sure of it.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Why do you say that, missus Allen officer.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
I've been selling for a long time. I've met a
lot of people in that time, nice ones and nasty ones,
and believe me, this is one of the sweetest people
I've ever served. I understand that you call her the
little mother?
Speaker 6 (08:00):
Is that right?
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Well, we don't, man, that's what the newspapers call her.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
Well, it fits her to a tea, right to the
tea where she bustled around those dresses looking testing. She
was just like a mother hen trying to find something
for a brood little doll cues a button. She just
got to have a reason for what she's.
Speaker 7 (08:16):
Doing, Sigan Friday. Yesked, mister Donaldson, I'm glad I caught you.
I think we've got it, sir, A little mother. He's
downstairs now.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
For the last six years, the same woman had been
operating in the downtown department stores. During that period, she'd
forged a total of thirteen hundred dollars worth of merchandise
that we knew of Because of her mo there was
no way of telling how much more had gone undetected.
The operation was a simple one. She'd had her a
store go to one of the departments. There, she'd pick
up articles of apparel, mostly for children, and then asked
to charge them. She'd explained that she'd forgotten her charge
(08:51):
of plate, and after the account had been verified, she'd
signed the charge slip. These slips would be put in
the mail to the people who maintained the account, and
it wouldn't be until they noticed the discrepancy that we'd
be notified. Usually a month would pass between the time
the clothing was taken and we were told of it.
In the six years that the little mother of the
newspapers at Dubbeder had been operating, almost every team of
detectives in the forgery detail had worked on the case.
(09:13):
Statements from salesgirls had waited on her were taken, photostats
of the sales slips were made, witnesses were interrogated, and
then when the sum total of actual physical evidence was
weighed and sifted, there was no lead to the identity
of the forger. The police department had gotten out printed
bulletins and copies of composite drawings of the suspect, and
these had been distributed to all department stores in the area,
but because of the suspect's appearance and the way she operated,
(09:33):
none of the victims became suspicious in time to notify us.
The department stores Protective League was working with us, but
they met with the same dead ends that we'd found. Meanwhile,
the evidence continued to pile up. The operation continued to work.
When the manager of Beckworth's department store told us that
the suspect was in the store, Frank and I were
able to come up with the first concrete lead we'd
had since we'd been working on the case. In the
(09:54):
company of the manager and the saleswoman, missus Meyra Allen,
Frank and I went down to the boys' department, where
the suspect was reported to.
Speaker 7 (09:59):
Be down's way. Yes, sir, the girl said she was
over by boys' suits. I hope they were able to
hold it for just a minute. Yes, sir, I know
I don't have to tell you gentlemen about the store's liability.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
In a situation like this.
Speaker 7 (10:11):
No, sir, I'm sure it's her, but it could be
very embarrassing and expensive to the.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Store if we made a mistake.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
All right, sir, we understand. Good over here, all.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
Right, it's Donaldson.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Yes, Miss Franklin.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Why is she?
Speaker 5 (10:24):
It's not my fault. You've got to believe it.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
Don't tell me.
Speaker 7 (10:27):
You stop the wrong person. You've caused trouble with a
n innocent party, and she could sue the store.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
I'm sorry to don't where's the woman? Miss?
Speaker 5 (10:32):
That's what I'm trying to tell you, ma'am. She wouldn't wait.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
A quick search of the immediate vicinity in the store
failed to turn up the suspect. The department store security
staff was notified and the watch was put on all
of the doors. The credit department was notified and they
took action. We checked with the elevator operators. We found
one that told us she'd seen a woman who answered
the description get in her car. She explained that the
woman seemed to be in a hurry and had left
the elevator as soon as it had reached the main floor.
(11:00):
A further check at the store and netted us nothing.
The suspect has escaped in the downtown crowds. It would
have been almost impossible to try to find her on
the streets. However, an additional broadcast carrying a complete description
of the clothing she was wearing was gotten out to
all cars in the area. The first good chance we'd
had for apprehending her was gone. We had to go
back to the legwork in the waiting. Three months passed.
(11:20):
During that time, Frank and I cleaned up a series
of counterfeit payroll check cashing's. Another thirty days went by
without activity for the little mother. There were four new
sales slips added to the file, but when the leads
resulting from these were checked out. We were no closer
to her than we'd been six years before. Thursday, December seventeenth,
twelve fifty five pm. I checked into the office, show that.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
You Yeah, what do you got? I'll just talk to
Skipper now.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Got a couple of more beefs about the little mother
when they come in this morning? Where are they?
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Don Myers got him? He's checking the handwriting.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Well, how about the name she used?
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Wait a minute, and I got him here in my book,
here the arm missus Norris Farrell, Missus James Slagel. I
guess it is Ross and Neeman. I called the stores
and got the information on these people.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Did you talk to them?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah, asked all the routine stuff. None of them can
think of any friends who matched the description.
Speaker 4 (12:09):
How about the things she charged?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Anything?
Speaker 4 (12:10):
There?
Speaker 3 (12:11):
M no you wuld items? Let's see prepare Levi's for kids.
On child's cotton dress?
Speaker 4 (12:18):
There's one thing different? What's that? I checked the.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Sizes of the clothes.
Speaker 8 (12:22):
Last bunch of sales slips we had. The dresses were
for a ten year old. You know this time she
bought them for a twelve year old. Kids are getting bigger,
Joe you.
Speaker 4 (12:30):
Know, that's a big help. All we got to do
is look for a couple of kids that are growing well.
I was just trying to help Joe. No, I mean,
it just doesn't seem to be anywhere to go. All
the time we put in, all the people we've talked to,
all we got forward to the file drawer, all to
ourselves on the things again Forgery Friday. Who yes, ma'am, Yes, ma'am,
(12:51):
I remember where is she now? I see yeah, we
can be right over, yes, ma'am. Bye bye, Well we
got it. What do you mean that was Missus Allen?
Remember the sales lady over at Beckworths. Oh yeah, think
I do what you have to say? Told me she's
having lunch in the restaurant at the corner of Jackson Hill.
Our suspects sitting next to her. One o two pm.
(13:18):
We checked out of the office and drove over to
the restaurant. It was located at the rear of a
large drug store. When we came into the place, Missus
Allen met us at the entrance. She took us back
down the counter and pointed out a small woman sitting
on the last stool. That's her. You're sure ma'am.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
I'm positive that's her.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
All right, let's go. Yeah, you want to wait here,
miss Allen. Certainly something you gentlemen want for police officers. Man,
we'd like to talk to you police. Yes, ma'am, you
want to step over there to talk might be better.
Speaker 6 (13:45):
Well, if you want to say anything to me, you
can say it right here. I haven't done anything wrong.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
What if we could see your identification? Why your identification, ma'am?
Could we see it?
Speaker 6 (13:53):
All right? Just a minute.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
I've got in my purse getting terrible.
Speaker 9 (14:00):
I don't know what you officers are trying to find out,
but I'm gonna tell you right now. If you can't
prove you've got a reason for making me do this,
you're in trouble.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
We're not making you do anything, ma'am. We don't wanna
cause you any embarrassment.
Speaker 9 (14:09):
Funny way of showing it. I wanna tell you that
my husband knows people in this town when he hears
about this.
Speaker 6 (14:14):
H Oh, here you are. Here's my driver's license.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Would you take it out of your wallet? Please?
Speaker 9 (14:19):
Here?
Speaker 4 (14:21):
Missus Evelyn Nelson, that's who I am. That's your present address.
Speaker 6 (14:24):
No it isn't. We moved a few months ago, but
I haven't had a chance to have it changed. Is
that all you want?
Speaker 4 (14:30):
No, Missus Nelson, it isn't. I wonder if we could
talk you in our office.
Speaker 6 (14:32):
Why I always thought you had to arrest people before
you could order them around.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
We're asking you to come over to the city Hall
with us, if you're will, ma'am, and a few things
we'd like to check out.
Speaker 9 (14:40):
What things?
Speaker 4 (14:41):
Wonder if I could see what you've got in the
bags here?
Speaker 6 (14:43):
What are you looking for?
Speaker 4 (14:44):
Do you mind if we took a look?
Speaker 6 (14:45):
Well, there's just some clothes for my children.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Nothing in there to interest you, Elena, wouldn't hurt if
we looked with it.
Speaker 6 (14:52):
Go ahead, you won't find anything you.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
Wanna take tup of each brank? Yeah, I got it?
Speaker 6 (15:01):
Well what about it? You find anything wrong? Maybe a gun?
Speaker 4 (15:05):
No man? But I want to explain this.
Speaker 5 (15:07):
What's that?
Speaker 4 (15:07):
It's charge slip here signed by missus ross Niemann.
Speaker 6 (15:10):
Certainly that was probably in the bag when I bought
the things. I don't know anything about it.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
All right, Miss Nelson. Afraid we're gonna have to ask
you to come with us on what charge, especially of forgery?
Speaker 1 (15:29):
You are listening to Dragnet, the authentic story of your
police force in action at cigarette dealers, in vending machines,
at supermarkets and stores coast to coast.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
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To the nose, throat and sinuses from smoking. Chesterfield, a
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Speaker 4 (16:51):
We returned the suspect to the city Hall for questioning.
While Frank checked her name through the files. I tried
to get her to talk for twenty minutes. Her attitude
was one of surprise, and she answered the questions I
put to were with indignance. Finally, she lapsed into silence
and wouldn't we fly at all the further interrogation, Frank
came back from R and I with the information that
there was no arrest record for Missus Nelson. We put
out calls to the salesgirls who had waited on the
(17:11):
little mother in the past and asked them to come
down to the office to see if they could identify
the suspect. Yes, ma'am, Room twenty nine.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Yeah, I'm right in the first street entrance, turned left
into the police department.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
That's right, ma'am. There's an arch there.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Go right through it, straight down the hall to the right.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
It's the only way you can go.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
It's on the left as you go down the hall.
That's right, twenty nine.
Speaker 8 (17:32):
If you last, Sergeant Friday or Officer Smith, No, ma'am Smith.
That's all right, man, we'll expect you goodbye.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
I'll call the next one. Yeah. You know, you'd save
yourself in us a lot of trouble if you'd tell
us the truth. Missus Nelson, Missus Nelson, Hello.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Maska, Miss Brundage please and children's wear.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
Yes, ma'am, I will.
Speaker 9 (18:02):
Hang up the phone.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
Lakey Pide.
Speaker 6 (18:04):
You don't have to go through this.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Anymore, alright, ma'am. You wanna tell us about it? Is Nelson.
Speaker 6 (18:17):
I only did for them, the kids. I didn't wanna
How do you think I felt when I knew I
was stealing? How do you think I felt?
Speaker 4 (18:24):
You wanna go ahead?
Speaker 9 (18:25):
My husband, Paul's a good man. What he's done he
thinks is right. I can't quarrel with him, but he
doesn't know.
Speaker 6 (18:32):
He doesn't just stand. It isn't that he doesn't love
the kids.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
He does.
Speaker 6 (18:38):
He really does. It's just that he doesn't understand. You
can see that, can't you. He doesn't understand about them.
Do either of you have a handkerchief? I came away
this morning even felt one.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
That's ma'am, here you are thinks I wanna go ahead? Please.
Speaker 9 (18:57):
All his life he's worked, put in long hours with
I would have thought of what he was doing to himself.
Every nickel Nickolay made was put away so I'd be
able to feel secure, so.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
He wouldn't have to worry about anything. It was all
right when we first got married. I could understand it.
Then I went along with what he thought.
Speaker 9 (19:14):
For the last few years, it's gotten to be an
obsession with him.
Speaker 6 (19:16):
The almighty dollar. That's all it seems important.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
To him, what kind of work did your husband do,
missus Nelson?
Speaker 9 (19:21):
He owns a grocery store, small place, but it does good,
makes a good living. Only we aren't living, we're existing.
He gives me ten dollars a week to run the
house and buy clothes for the kids. I've tried, Lord knows,
I've tried, budget meals.
Speaker 6 (19:36):
Cheap cut some meat, day old bread. Anyway you spend it,
no matter how you figure you're ten dollars just doesn't
go very far.
Speaker 8 (19:46):
Well, my missus Nelson, didn't you talk to your husband
about it? Didn't you ask him for additional money for
the expenses?
Speaker 9 (19:51):
Yes, I'd ask him, and he'd tell me that I
had to make do all the time, Make do just
a little longer until he had the money in the
bank and we'd be all right.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
Only the more it went on, the worse it got.
Speaker 9 (20:03):
It didn't seem to make any difference how much money
we had, how the total in the past book went up.
Speaker 6 (20:07):
He wasn't satisfied, had little more, a little more.
Speaker 9 (20:15):
I guess I'm feeling sorry for myself. But you see,
he could afford to buy the kid's decent clothes.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
At least that.
Speaker 6 (20:22):
He'll agree with me, don't you.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Well, that's sorry to say, man, not for me.
Speaker 9 (20:27):
I'll never forget the day when my boy came home crying,
been fighting. One of the other boys at school had
said something about the patches on his clothes.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Just a little kid, that's all.
Speaker 9 (20:36):
He was ridiculed by his friends. That's when I made
up my mind to do something about it.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Does your husband know anything about your activities?
Speaker 6 (20:43):
No?
Speaker 5 (20:44):
Nothing.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
How'd you explain the new clothes for the youngster doing?
Speaker 9 (20:47):
I didn't have to last year. He's been working so
hard at the store. I hardly ever see him. The
kids don't hardly know him. He even spends Sunday at
the store addressing the windows.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
You mean he spends all his time there, every.
Speaker 6 (20:58):
Minute he's not asleep. He let one clerk he had
go so he could save the money. Always save the money.
It doesn't make any difference who gets hurt. Get that
dollar and put it away. That's what he put the
dollar away. You know, something off, sir?
Speaker 4 (21:17):
What's happens? Nelson?
Speaker 6 (21:20):
I haven't been able to sit down and talk to
my husband for six weeks. Six weeks. He gets home
at twelve thirty one, o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 9 (21:29):
He's up and gone at six thirty. Kids are always
asking when daddy's coming home. How do you answer him?
Speaker 6 (21:35):
How do you make him understand?
Speaker 9 (21:38):
I can't.
Speaker 6 (21:40):
I've tried the only way I know how, and I
did it so wrong.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
All right, Miss Nelson, we'll try to work it out.
Speaker 6 (21:50):
Can I use your phone? I've got to tell the
children what to do about dinner.
Speaker 4 (21:55):
I'll call for it if you like. Man, what's the.
Speaker 6 (21:56):
Number Hollywood nine eight eight four four.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Where's your husband now? Miss Nelson?
Speaker 6 (22:14):
At the store? I guess you're gonna call him.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
I think we should, ma'am let him know what's happened.
Speaker 6 (22:18):
I guess so somebody's gonna take a lot.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
I'm calling from missus Nelson. I wonder if I could
speak to her son, the sergeant Friday Los Angeles Police Departments,
who yes, No, she's down here now from twenty nine.
All right, fine, was that my boy?
Speaker 6 (22:35):
I wanted to talk to him?
Speaker 4 (22:36):
No, ma'am, that was your husband. He's on his way
down here. Two fourteen pm. Paul Nelson walked into the
office Frank and I took him and his wife the
interrogation room. She'd asked us, while we waited for him,
if we let her talk to him for a few
minutes alone. We stayed out in the hall, and after
a brief way, Paul Nelson opened the door and asked
(22:57):
us to come into the room. His wife evidently told
him a full story because he was visibly shaken. He
walked over to his wife and sat down beside her. Well,
I guess I've really done it, haven't I What do
you mean, sir?
Speaker 2 (23:07):
I really ruined everything?
Speaker 10 (23:09):
Oh my kids, everything all the time was happening. I
never knew it, never had an idea.
Speaker 6 (23:14):
Don't blame yourself too much, Paul.
Speaker 10 (23:16):
But I should have known. I should have seen it myself,
even when you tried to tell.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Me, I was too busy to see it.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Two wrapped up with the business.
Speaker 6 (23:22):
It wasn't for me, Paul. It was for the children.
Speaker 10 (23:24):
It doesn't make any difference, so it was for I'm
the one who caused it. I'm the one.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
It's my fault.
Speaker 10 (23:30):
I'm sorry. I haven't How can I have him make
it up to you?
Speaker 6 (23:33):
Don't think about that now, Paul. It won't do any good.
What's been done can't be changed.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
How about it? Officer sir. What happens now, Well, your
wife is gonna be given a preliminary hearing. She'll have
a chance to flead Gilly she does, the cardinal decide
what to do.
Speaker 10 (23:48):
What's the punishment for what she's done?
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Well, according to section four seventy three of the Penal Code,
it's imprisonment in the state penitentiary for one to fourteen years,
or for not more than a year in the county jail.
Speaker 10 (23:57):
Is there any way out of it?
Speaker 4 (23:58):
What do you mean anyway?
Speaker 10 (23:59):
You're getting Eveline out of it? If I went to
the judge and told him why she did it, if
I told him it was my fault, would that make
a difference.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
I'd be up to the court.
Speaker 10 (24:06):
But I could try, Yes, sir, If I paid the
money back for all the things she's taken, I can
afford it.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
I could go to the stores and pay him.
Speaker 10 (24:13):
Maybe they'd feel different then, huh. I could make it
up to them everything.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
It'd be all right.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
Well that's been going on for six years, you know.
Speaker 10 (24:18):
But if I did pay the stores back, it did
make it up to him, wouldn't it.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Maybe?
Speaker 4 (24:22):
But how about your wife? Well, are you going to
make it up to her four point thirty PM. The
suspect was released on her writ. The next afternoon, Frank
and I met with mister and Missus Nelson and their attorney.
We talked over the case. Seemed that the husband's change
of heart was permanent. He swore that he'd never give
his wife cause for unhappiness again. Two weeks later, in
(24:44):
Department eighty nine of the Superior Court, Missus Nelson entered
a plea of guilty to fourteen counts of forgery. When
the court reviewed the circumstances and was informed that mister
Nelson intended to make full restitution, the probation Board recommended
that Missus Nelson be placed on probation for three years.
After the hearing, Frank and I had a brief time
talk with the couple. They thank us for our consideration
and understanding. Apparently the cause of trouble between the Nelson's
(25:05):
had been erased. Another two weeks went by January twenty second.
Frank and I got back from lunch and we checked
into the office.
Speaker 6 (25:13):
Yeah, they are here, mister Friday, mister.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
Smith, Miss Nelson, mister Nelson.
Speaker 6 (25:17):
How are you just fine?
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Sergeant?
Speaker 5 (25:19):
How are you too?
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Fine, Thank you very much, ma'am. What can we do
for you?
Speaker 10 (25:22):
That's what we want to do for you, sir.
Speaker 6 (25:24):
You got the boxes, honey, yoh they are. It's not much,
but we thought that you'd like him.
Speaker 9 (25:31):
Made them ourselves to say.
Speaker 10 (25:33):
Thanks for that.
Speaker 7 (25:34):
Joe.
Speaker 4 (25:35):
That's not necessary, ma'am. He didn't have to do that.
Speaker 10 (25:37):
No, No, we wanted to told house cookies. He made
a box for each of you, real good lots of chocolate.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Well, that's very nice of you.
Speaker 6 (25:43):
We just hope you'll enjoy him.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
That's man. I'm sure we will, yes, ma'am. How are
things going with you?
Speaker 6 (25:48):
We're just fine. Paul and I have gotten everything straightened.
Speaker 7 (25:51):
Uh.
Speaker 9 (25:51):
I helped him out at the store now. That way
he's got more time to spend with the kids. Things
just couldn't be much better.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
Well, we're glad to hear that.
Speaker 6 (25:58):
It's a funny thing to see, mister Friday. But it's true.
The best thing that ever happened to us. What's that
is Nelson not getting arrested.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
The story you've just heard is true. The names were
changed to protect the innocent.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
On January eighth, the meeting was held in the County
Probationer's office in and Fall, the County of Los Angeles,
State of California. In a moment the results of that meeting.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Now here is our star Jack Webb.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
Thank you, George Fennman. Friends, We've been getting letters from
people all over the country telling us that they've switched
to Chesterfield, just as I've been telling you. Thousands of
smokers are changing to Chesterfield because only Chesterfield gives proof
of low nicotine, highest quality. That's why I recommend you
try them today, regular King size. You'll find Chesterfield best
for you.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
At the end of three years, Missus Evelyn Margaret Nelson
had fulfilled the requirements of her probation and the case
was officially marked closed. You have just heard Dragnet, a
series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice comes
(27:17):
from the Office of Chief of Police W. H. Parker,
Los Angeles Police Department Technical Advisors, Captain Jack Donahoe, Sergeant
Marty Wynn, Sergeant Van Spracer. Heard tonight were Ben Alexander, Vick, Rodman,
Joyce McCluskey, script by John Robinson, music by Walter Schumann.
Hell give me speaking.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Watch an entirely new Dragnet case history. Each week on
your local NBC television station. Please check your newspaper for.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
The day and time.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Chesterfield has brought you Dragnet transcribed from Los Angeles. Have
you tried new cork tipped Fatima. It's the smooth smoke.
Here's why.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
New Fatima tips of perfect cork king size for longer
filtering and Fatima quality for a much better flavor and aroma.
Remember Fatima has the tip for your lips. Try New
Fatima see how smooth it is. Fatima is made by
the makers of Chesterfield, Liggard and Myers, one of tobacco's
(28:23):
most respected names.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
This is the NBC Radio network.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
Boo
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