November 9, 2025 • 29 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 (00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, Dragnet has a very important announcement for
all of you at the close of tonight's program.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
The story you were about to hear is true. The
names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
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drag Net And.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
You're a detective sergeant here assigned a robbery detail. Two
armed bandits invade the home of an elderly couple in
your city. The aging husband is tortured unmercifully before he
reveals the hiding place of his valuables. The two thieves
make good their escape.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Your job get them.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Why are thousands and thousands of King size cigarette smokers
switching to Fatima every day.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Because in Fatima the difference is quality.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
You see, Fatima contains the finest domestic and Turkish tobaccos,
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a much different, much better flavor and aroma. So compare
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the advantages of extra length plus Fatima quality, which no
(01:28):
other King size cigarette has.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
Remember fatimas cost the same as the cigarette are now smoking, but.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
In Fatima the difference is quality.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Next time by Fatima best of all King size cigarettes.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Drag meant the documented 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 violence, from beginning to end, from crime to punishment.
Dragnet is the story of your police force.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
In action was Saturday, October third. It was hot in
Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out of
Robbery detail. My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Harry
Diddy and Captain of Robbery. My name is Friday. It
was eleven thirty eight PM when I got to Georgia Street,
Receiving Hospital Room five, Treatment room. Joe, all right, how's
(02:33):
it going?
Speaker 6 (02:34):
Then?
Speaker 4 (02:34):
We're not going to be able to talk to him
anymore tonight, doctor said, maybe late tomorrow morning.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
How's the old man making a.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
He's resting a lot better. Doctor gave him a sedative.
Old fellow Shore had a rough time.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Well, how about since I've been gone to tell you
anything else?
Speaker 4 (02:46):
No, just kept repeating the same thing. Two guys forts
the way into his house, beat his wife tortured him,
took older jewelry. It's aboudy. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Well, I put in a call at the office. I
got a broadcast out of the information that we have,
there's not much to go on.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
I should be able to pick up a little something
more tomorrow. Doc said, it's been a long time since
he's seen anything like this where they worked the old
man over.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
What'd they do to the fella's hands anyway?
Speaker 4 (03:07):
The doctor are able to tell. He thinks they used
a hat pin on him, something like that. It's sharp
and thin, at least a dozen wounds in both hands.
He's pretty badly burned. Too hard to imagine somebody that
cold blooding seventy one year old man sold his feet
a massive burns. Wonder his heart stood up through the
beating I gave was he got a weak heart. He's
had a little trouble. Yeah, terrific shock going through something
(03:29):
like this.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
It is, eh, you know, maybe we better check back
at their house.
Speaker 6 (03:32):
Huh, see how the old fellaw's wife is doing it?
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Yeah, how's it shape up for you?
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I was not an awful lot to go on, Yes,
wasn't the shot in the dark. I think we can
count on that whoever the thieves were, they had some
kind of an inside tip. The old man and his wife, well,
they don't put up much of an appearance. You wouldn't
be apt to figure that they had three or four
thousand and jewelry put away at home with you.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
Maybe his wife might have some idea. Joey's a lovely shame,
you know, you might have winderstand if they just held
them up, working them over the way they did. There
was no sense to it at all, trying to show
off what a couple of rough bums they are. Maybe
that's it them.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Let's do them a favorite, Let's show them what it costs.
Ben and I got in the car and drove back
to the Westlake Park area to the home of the
robbery victim, seventy one year old Wendall McClung and his wife,
Katherine McClung. It was a one story wooden frame building,
gray shingled, a typical modest four room bungalow. The men
from UNIP thirty one hor who had answered the robbery call,
(04:29):
were still there, standing by another pair of men from
Robbery Detail. Powers and Gonzales were checking the neighborhood for
possible leads on the suspects. Inside the house, Ben and
I found Missus McClung popped up in an easy chair
in the living room. She was a small, chubby woman,
gray haired, looked to be in her fifties. Reassured her
husband's condition wasn't critical. Outside of a small bruise on
(04:51):
her forehead in a case of nervous upset, she seemed
to be all right. In recounting the story of the
hold up, Missus mclung told us the two bandits rang
the front door, ourbell, and forced their way into the
house at gunpoint, shortly before eight o'clock that night.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
How about the color of their hair, ma'am? They're waiting
to hide?
Speaker 7 (05:07):
No, I hardly saw a thing just that one. Look
at them when they first pushed their way in.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
How was that they blindfold you?
Speaker 7 (05:16):
Yes, they might just as well. Have you see when
they started to hit window, my husband's window, m knock
him down. I went after them, and one of them
slapped me right across my face and knocked my glasses off.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I see.
Speaker 7 (05:29):
I reached opted to find them, but before I did,
I guess one of those gangsters stepped on them. Thirty
five dollar glasses broke, broke of the lenses, just little
in the frame.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
I look at that.
Speaker 7 (05:40):
Of course, I can't see a thing without 'em. That's
why I say it might as well.
Speaker 5 (05:44):
Have been blindfolded.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
And you didn't have a chance to notice what kind
of clothes they had on, what they looked like at all.
And they weren't shabby.
Speaker 7 (05:51):
I know that pretty well dressed if memory serves. Both
out them in dark suits. So only they wouldn't have
broken my glasses.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
How about their voices? Miss playing anything unusual about the
way they talked, anything that they might have said.
Speaker 7 (06:05):
Oh, I was just thinking. One's name was Sam. I
remember that. The other one had sort of an accent
of some kind, maybe from the Midwest or maybe Texas.
One of those funny people.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Funny people, how do you mean then, well.
Speaker 7 (06:20):
You know, something like a cowboy or a farmer, that
funny kind of talk.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
I see.
Speaker 7 (06:28):
I guess I really should be inside fixing you men
a cup of tea. Maybe if you just help me up.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
That's all right, ma'am. You just sit there.
Speaker 7 (06:36):
When my sister Dolly gets here, it shouldn't be too long.
I'll have her fix something.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
There's no need to boy, man, we'd like to have
you tell us this if you can. Did your husband
do anything at all to provoke the two men?
Speaker 6 (06:45):
I mean, did he call out for help or try
to get to a phone, anything like that.
Speaker 7 (06:48):
It was the jewelry we had, Wendell and I just
those few pieces. The two men seemed to know all
about it, just as if they had.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
A list of the things.
Speaker 7 (06:57):
Yes, when they first came in, they took my engagement
ring and old brooch that belonged to my mother I
was wearing. Then they got wind O in that chair
over there and tried to make him tell where all
other things were.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Well, now, it was a pretty common knowledge around the
neighborhood here that you and your husband own expensive jewelry.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Man, No, I don't think so.
Speaker 7 (07:17):
What the men seemed most interested in was Windell's ring.
His diamond signet ring was a beautiful thing for carrotness.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Man. We got a description on that. That was when
they tried.
Speaker 6 (07:27):
To force your husband to tell him where it was hidden.
Speaker 7 (07:29):
Right, I never thought anybody'd be that cruel officer, downright cruel.
They burned his hands in his feet, kept hitting him
in the face with their.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Fists, it was just terrible, poor window.
Speaker 7 (07:44):
He finally had to tell them. I see they went
and found the things, and then they came back in
here and ripped out the phone, warned us not to move,
and then they left. I just broke down and cried, officer,
to see poor women go there the way they abused him.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Yes, man, we understand.
Speaker 7 (08:03):
You're sure he's going to be all right.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
What did the doctors?
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Boy? He said, there's no danger. Man, mister mclung's resting comfortably.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
Now, well that must be my sister.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Stay right here with miss mclun ben.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
I'll get that. Yeah right, Joe.
Speaker 6 (08:18):
Hi, Jess, you and powers do any good.
Speaker 8 (08:20):
I've been checking through the neighborhood, three or four blocks around,
not an awful lot. A lot of people know the McClung's,
few of them know about their having jewelry. Not of
saw anything unusual going on tonight.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
The thieves us the car, we know that. Didn't anybody
at all spot it.
Speaker 8 (08:33):
I'm not sure, but there's one possibility. Some of the
neighbors said a young kid was peddling magazines down this
block tonight just about the same time as a robbery.
He might have spotted that's fine.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Where's the boy?
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Where's he lived?
Speaker 8 (08:43):
That's why we asked the neighbors.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Now nobody knows.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
A supplementary broadcast and an ATV was gotten out containing
what description we had on the two hold up man,
plus descriptions of each article of jewelry taken from mister
and missus mclung. Following morning, along with Jess Gonzales and
Johnny Powers, we continued canvassing the immediate neighborhood of the
whole up. The only thing we got was a fair
description of the boy who had been selling magazines the
(09:11):
night before in the vicinity of the mclung house, and
also the names of the magazines he was peddling.
Speaker 6 (09:17):
Monday morning, nine am, we.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Got in touch with the local distributor for the publications,
got a list of five boys who sold for them
in that general area, and started checking them out. Third
on the list was a Bill Newsom, a sophomore student
at a nearby parochial high school. He lived a half
a dozen blocks from the mclungs. We checked at his house,
but his mother told us he wasn't at home.
Speaker 5 (09:38):
I'm sure Billy won't be long.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Thank you right in here, go ahead, thank you.
Speaker 7 (09:46):
Sit down, won't you?
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Thank you very much?
Speaker 7 (09:49):
Must see him now, Billy in here.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
Y'all come in here, Bill.
Speaker 7 (09:54):
Two police officers to see you.
Speaker 9 (09:57):
Bill.
Speaker 7 (09:57):
This is the Sergeant Friday and Sergeant Romam my son, Bill,
Would you excuse me, I'm going to have to start
fixing dinner. You go right ahead and have your talk
with Bill.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I'll be out in the kitchen all right, ma'am.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 7 (10:06):
You speak right up now.
Speaker 9 (10:07):
Bill, try and help the offices all you can. How
can I help you?
Speaker 4 (10:11):
What's it all about? We understand you have a magazine
rop the neighborhood. Billion mother tells us you were selling
this last Saturday night.
Speaker 9 (10:17):
Yes, sir, that's right. Thursdays and Saturdays, they're my regular nights.
I don't really sell long.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
How do you mean so well?
Speaker 9 (10:23):
You see, I line up all my customers ahead of time.
I got a regular list of people to buy from
me every week. I don't do any door to door
selling that way. He's not much good, I see.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Do you have a regular customer on your list with
the name of McClung. Bill, it's mc celio Injin.
Speaker 9 (10:37):
Yeah, mister McClung. Once a month, he takes a gardening
magazine comes out the last week and every month.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Were you over near the mclung's place Saturday night?
Speaker 4 (10:45):
You remember? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I was.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
I went right by it.
Speaker 9 (10:47):
I've got customers all along that block there. Say, this
wouldn't be about that robbery.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
That's right, Bill, you heard it by it.
Speaker 9 (10:54):
After church Sunday. A couple of kids would go to
the same school.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
I do.
Speaker 9 (10:57):
They live right around the McClung's.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
They heard about. Uh what time was it when you
went by their Saturday night? You remember?
Speaker 9 (11:03):
Oh, about a couple of months after nine, I guess
maybe a quarter after. When I heard about the robbery
on Sunday, I thought maybe I ought to tell somebody
about it. I wasn't sure about it, though, you know,
I didn't want to be a test.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
What do you mean, so you weren't sure about what this?
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Uh?
Speaker 9 (11:18):
Dark, Glucy Dan. I saw a park down the street there,
just a couple of houses down from the mcclub's place.
The reason I even noticed it was because it was
a new car, almost a brand new car, but it
looked like the license plates on it were kind of old.
Speaker 6 (11:30):
What else?
Speaker 9 (11:31):
Well, I uh delivered some magazines to missus uh Brubaker,
and I got my money for him, and then coming
down the stairs, I saw these two men. I'm not
sure they came out of mister mclin's house dark, you know,
but I thought that's where they came from. Anyway, they
went down the street, got in the car and took off.
Seemed to be in a hurry.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Well what did the two men look like, Bill? Do
you have any idea?
Speaker 9 (11:52):
No, I didn't see him too well, it wasn't too
close to him. I was about from oh here to
across the street.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
On them. How about their clothes? You noticed the emmondel.
Speaker 9 (12:02):
Yeah, they had suits on, dark suits, I know that.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
How would you describe their built son? Medium? Tall, fat, skinny?
What would you say?
Speaker 9 (12:09):
Well, I think i'd say medium, Yeah, both a medium.
Speaker 6 (12:13):
Now about that car built?
Speaker 1 (12:14):
He said it was a dark Bluesiday and new model
and the license plates looked kind of old. Is that right?
Speaker 9 (12:18):
Yeah, that's right. That's how I first noticed it, parked
down by the restaurant right about seven point fifteen. When
I started my route down on South Benson, I saw
the same car parked outside the restaurant down there. I
forget the name of the place now. It just opened
about a month ago.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Sure it was the same car.
Speaker 9 (12:36):
Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm pretty sure. That's why I noticed
it again. When I saw it up by mcloing's place,
I thought it looked kind of terrible, brand new car
like that with old license plates.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
By any chance, son, do you remember the license number
on those plates?
Speaker 9 (12:49):
No, sir, I didn't notice it at all. I'll tell
you what though, Yeah, if I see that car again,
I'll be sure and get the number for you.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Before we left the home of sixteen year old Bill Newsom,
we got a complete description of.
Speaker 6 (13:05):
The car, which he'd seen park near the McClung's home
on the night of the robbery.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
He told us it was a nineteen fifty Hudson four
door Sedan, dark blue, white sidewall tires. We relayed the
information downtown to robbery detail. After we left the boy's house,
we drove to the vicinity of the restaurant on South
Benson where the Newsom boy had first spotted the Hudson Sedan.
After making the rounds of several bars and coffee counters
(13:29):
in the area, we started checking at the restaurant. It
was newly opened, just as the boy had described it
full of glass brick and fancy modern stonework. The main
bar was situated just off the lobby set apart from
the main dining room. We interviewed the head bartender and
he thought he remembered serving two customers. Answering the general
description of the hold up men on the previous Saturday night, A.
Speaker 10 (13:51):
Bad looking fair. They're in a little early, around seven fifteen,
seven thirty. They seem to be all right.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
Do you remember what they looked like at all?
Speaker 10 (13:58):
No, I didn't notice in that much. Can you give
us some general idea or on the young side, I
guess not more than twenty eight point thirty one of
them to talk like a Midwestern or I think, you know,
maybe Arkansas, Texas, some place like that.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Because you give us any idea what they were wearing.
Speaker 6 (14:13):
I remember that.
Speaker 10 (14:13):
The suits on dark suits. One had on a gray
Athn's about all I remember. The reason I can place
them at all is because Saturday was a pretty slow
night at the bar. It's a new place here, you know,
and it takes a little time to colivate the trade.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Well, did these two men stop for dinner here? Do
you remember that?
Speaker 6 (14:27):
No?
Speaker 10 (14:28):
No, they sat right here at the bar and had
a couple of beers.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
And then they left, no dinner. Did you went on them, Yes, sir,
I did.
Speaker 10 (14:34):
I served them, bought a bottle of beer, imported the
Dutch beer.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
You served quite a bit of that imported beer.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
No, not here.
Speaker 10 (14:40):
No, it's mostly cocktail trade. These two colors the only
ones I remember asking for.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
But do you remember if the two men handled the
beer bottles at all?
Speaker 6 (14:47):
If they handled well, I mean, did you quartered you?
Speaker 10 (14:51):
I filled up their glasses and set the bottle down.
I guess they did handle them. They emptied the bottle.
It almost have to, wouldn't it.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Would you still have those two bottles on him? Let's
see todays?
Speaker 10 (15:02):
Yeah, I guess I would. They don't pick up the
empty store something around the middle of a week.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
We'd like to take a look at them, if you
don't mind, Oh, sure, things you guys just want to
follow me down the bar.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
It's in the store them just back, all right, let's
go right back your office time. Let's see.
Speaker 10 (15:19):
Yeah, yeah, the rid of them here, there you go,
Holland labeled only ones in the whole case the same
to I serve those fellows.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yeah, I see what do you.
Speaker 10 (15:29):
Think fingerprints maybe, And as soon as you get the fingerprints,
you can pick them up, can't you.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
Yeah. When we find the men they belong to.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Monday six pm, we call Layton Fingerprints and they came
out to check the evidence. First, they obtained the set
of the bartender's fingerprints to serve as a basis for comparison.
Then they dust at each of the empty beer bottles carefully.
After the various sets of prints were lifted off the bottles,
the men went back to the office to run the
sets through, classify their findings, and then turn them over
(16:00):
R and I for further checking. While they worked on it,
Then and I ducked out and had a sandwich and
a bowl of soup for dinner. Seven twenty five pm
we got back to the city hall.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
I sure, I am getting tired of the kind of
food that guy serves. Yo. It seems to get worse
every time and go in.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
There wasn't very good, was it.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
I'm willing to better. I know his formula for the
soup two gallons of hot water and one booty on cube. Well,
I've gone and done it before, I may still do
it again. What's that bring my dinner? From home in
a paper sack pack a thermos full of hot coffee
be a better deal than across the stree. I know
about that.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
You remember the last time you had your wife fixed
you up a thermost full of coffee?
Speaker 4 (16:37):
Yeah? I almost forgot the was any betterness stuff across
the tree?
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Bye?
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Were you too bent?
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Alright?
Speaker 8 (16:44):
Jes getting some dy latent Prince called just a minute ago,
told him I'd give you the message.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
What's in? Well?
Speaker 8 (16:50):
The prince? They lifted off those beer bottles, checked them
through the record bureau, you know, found two sets.
Speaker 11 (16:55):
They made both of them.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
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are going up and up.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
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Speaker 2 (17:18):
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Speaker 3 (17:22):
In the second, Fatima sales up one hundred eighteen percent.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Another state, Fatima sales up ninety two percent.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Still another state, Fatima sales up one hundred forty two percent.
And those are just a few.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Yes, Coast to coast, thousands and thousands of king size
cigarette smokers are switching to Fatima.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
You see, Fatima contains the finest domestic and Turkish tobaccos
superbly blended.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Fatima gives you extra mildness, a much different, much better
flavor and aroma. You get all the advantages of extra
link plus Fatima quality, which no other King size cigarette has.
Fatima best of all king size cigarettes, definitely the best
quality in its class, but the same price as the
(18:07):
cigarette you're now smoking. Remember in Fatima, the difference is quality.
Next time by Fatima.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
October fifth, Saturday, seven forty pm. The two sets of
fingerprints which had been lifted from the empty beer bottles
were checked through R and I and identified as those
belonging to two known criminals. The first was Henry Vincent
Moss WMA, twenty nine years old. He'd served two terms
in the Coddy Jail for burglary and grand theft auto
(18:45):
and one term in San Quentin for robbery. The second
was Ernest Robert Windsor WMA, twenty eight years old. His
home was listed as Little Rock, Arkansas, where he'd twice
been convicted on charges of first degree burglary and served
time the Arkansas State Penitentiary. We pulled the packages on
both of them in checked the last known addresses, but
(19:06):
failed to locate either of them. To double check their identification,
we showed mugshots of Windsor and Moss to the robbery
and torture victims, mister and Missus McClung. They gave positive
identification of both men, so did the bartender.
Speaker 6 (19:19):
At the restaurant where they'd stopped for the beer.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
We got out a broadcast and an all points bulletin
on them. Immediately we began the routine legwork checking with
all the friends, relatives and associates who were listed on
the Mama sheet and each suspects package. As usual, it
was a long, monotonous hall. One of the persons listed
as fairly close to Ernest Windsor was an ad of
his a, missus Marie Ralph, whom we located at her
(19:43):
home in the Echo Park district.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
No, I hadn't seen Ernest in almost a year, Sergeant.
What is it you want him for?
Speaker 4 (19:49):
I'd like to talk to you about a few minutes,
Missus rough you don't mind.
Speaker 5 (19:52):
I don't know how I can help you. You can
come in for a minute if you want. I've got
to go out and do some errange pretty soon, though.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
I'm all right, man.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
Thank you here, sit down if you want.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Thank you very mighty.
Speaker 5 (20:03):
Let's got finished taking care of my little children here,
giving him nice clean cages.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
Good singings. They up canaries, ma'am.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
Oh, Yes, Oscar and Ethel. That's these two here. They're
both genuine rulers. Their grand folks came from Germany. Beautiful singers,
wonderful company. Yes, my others are pretty too.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
They're only choppers though, ma'am. Choppers.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
They're different than rulers. They seem much louder, maybe not
as nicely. But I don't like to play favorites. I
like all of 'em. You have bird sergeants, No, ma'am,
you should. I think everybody should have a canary in
the house. Cheerful you know, wonderful company. Don't know what
I do without mine.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
How about your nephew, Ernest mus Rolph. Have you any
idea at all how we could contact him?
Speaker 5 (20:40):
And, as I say, it's been almost a year since
I last heard from him. What would this be about, surgeon.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
It's a routine investigation. Man. We understand that you're quite
close to your nephew, that he lived with you for
a time.
Speaker 5 (20:50):
Yes, that's right, he did. When you come right down
to it, Ernie's a good boy. He kept bad company,
That's what I always said, got him in trouble too
three times.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
Yes, schools.
Speaker 6 (20:59):
You know that you live alone here in the house,
do you, Ms Ralph?
Speaker 5 (21:02):
Yes, that's right, Sergeant say, I'm a widow, husband's going
a good many years now.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
You don't take in borders anyone like that.
Speaker 5 (21:08):
Oh, just me and my pets here, they're company enough.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
I wonder if you'd explain that laundry piled up in
the bed there in the next room. Man, Oh that
the men's shirt stockings, the underway, the record in the
bed there.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Well, I usually try to keep things in better order
than that. Just some laundry I do, Sergeant, little odd
jobs for some of the bachelormen in the neighborhood. I
do it as a favor for him.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
And you're sure about that, Miss Ragh.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
Yeah, What do you want Ernest for? Why do you
have to chase after him all the time, persecute him?
Speaker 4 (21:38):
We're not persecuting him ever since.
Speaker 5 (21:39):
He's coming here from Arkansas. It's been nothing but police
chasing after him. Can't you give her any of a chance.
All he wants is a chance. He told me to himself.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
We checked through his record, Miss Ralph. He's had all
the chances in the world and nobody's persecuting him.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
Why are you chasing him again, hunting him down? Why
did you leave him alone for a spell, give him
a chance to get a job, do something. Why are
you chasing him?
Speaker 1 (21:59):
This is a robbery charged, Ms Ralf. He's been positively identified.
He and Henry Moss forced their way into an old
couple's home a few weeks back. They tortured the old
man and they beat him till he was unconscious. That's
what we want Ernie for.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
How do you know it was Ernie? He could have
made a mistake.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
No mistake, ma'am. The victims identified his picture and there
wasn't a doubt in their mind. From where is he?
Speaker 7 (22:18):
You sure that's the truth?
Speaker 5 (22:20):
You sure it's Ernie again?
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Yes, ma'am again. You can have all the proof you need.
Speaker 5 (22:24):
And the last time he told me he swore in
the memory of his own mother, He's swore he wouldn't
do anything wrong again. I guess I just don't know, Ernest.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Where is he, ma'am? You wanna tell us the last time?
Speaker 5 (22:35):
Starting I'm sorry, Ernie's at his last time. Yes, ma'am,
he's sleeping the room over the garage. You'll find him there.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Ernest Windsor was apprehended and placed under arrest. His room
was searched, as well as the entire home of his aunt,
Missus Marie Rawl. We failed to find the trace of
any of the jewelry stole him from mister and Missus McClung.
After we made arrangements for a stakeout on the house,
Windsor was taken downtown to the interrogation room, where Jess Gonzalez,
Ben and I questioned him for five hours. He refused
(23:09):
to tell us anything. At a special show up, he
was positively identified as one of the hold of the
men by the two victims. Windsor was booked at the
main jail on suspicion of two eleven PC. The investigation
went on. Every possible lead on the other suspect, Henry
Moss was checked out. We got nowhere. It was obvious
that either Moss was in possession of all the jewelry
(23:31):
stolen from the mcclungs, or it had been hidden away
someplace known only to Windsor and Moss. From time to
time we had Windsor taken from his jail cell for questioning.
Wasn't hard to tell. He was bothered with the possibility
that perhaps Moss had run off with the entire loot
and was enjoying himself while Windsor spent his time in jail.
We worked hard on that particular angle while we questioned him,
(23:52):
but Windsor still refused to break to give us any
kind of elead on Moss. A month passed Wednesday, November eighth.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Sure working out into a dull routine. A full month
we got exactly what we started with.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
You know, we're gonna only get Windsor to break it.
It'd sure to do a lot toward wrapping this thing up,
wasn't it.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
I don't know what he figures he's gonna game, but
keep him quiet, you know. Guns all this and Johnny
Power said they were checking out a tip from some
informant this morning. We're supposed to know where Henry Moss is.
Speaker 6 (24:17):
I wonder if they founded me luck they ought to
be back by.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Now, yeah go ahead, hey, yes, oh right, how about it?
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Did you do any good this morning?
Speaker 4 (24:25):
Oh? Not a bit. Informant didn't even show up. Johnny's
gonna meet him this afternoon. Doesn't look to be very much.
How about you fellas the same gist. We're going as
slow as you or.
Speaker 6 (24:34):
I got it?
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Robbery Friday, Yeah, George h Third and Maine. It's sure right, yeah,
right away? Well maybe we got a break. What is
Henry Moss? He tried to hock a ring at a
pawn shop Third and Maine about twenty minutes ago.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
Did you make it?
Speaker 6 (24:50):
Well?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
The pawnbrokers stall him. He didn't know for sure that
the guy was hot.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
How's his stand?
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Moss said he'd come back to close the deal. When
half an hour eleven fifty five am, a special detail
of men, including Gonzales and Powers, Ben and myself were
sent to cover the pawnshop near Third in Maine. Gonzales
and Powers staked out in stores adjoining the place. Ben
and I were stationed inside the pawn shop. Another team
(25:15):
of men covered the rear exit. We waited the suspect,
Henry Moss failed to show at.
Speaker 6 (25:20):
The appointed time.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
We kept waiting one pm, one thirty no sign of him.
At one forty five pm, a young looking, dark haired
man in a neat gray suit entered the shop and
approached the manager. At the rear counter. There wasn't any
mistaking him, Henry Moss. He surrendered himself without even protesting.
We took him to the city Hall to the interrogation room,
where we started to question him. Meantime, Gonzalesen Powers located
(25:43):
the apartment where the suspect had been staying. His rooms
and personal belongings were searched and every piece of the
missing jewelry recovered. Surprisingly enough, in contrast to his partner
Ernie Windsor, Moss was cooperative, even obliging. We had a
stenographer take his full statement.
Speaker 6 (26:00):
And then we got ready to move him over to
the main jail for booking.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Just a couple of questions before we leave. Moss, sure,
so I didn't go ahead. We've had you in here before.
I come all cooperation this.
Speaker 12 (26:09):
Time when I had it figured before time. If you
got me, you'd have everything you need on He wouldn't
do much good putting in a beef with it.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Whose idea was it to start with Moss? The hold
up deal? Yours or was it Windsors?
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Both of us?
Speaker 3 (26:20):
I guess I.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Didn't want to get rough with the old man.
Speaker 12 (26:23):
I mean the way Ernie did that part.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
I didn't like.
Speaker 6 (26:25):
All I wanted was a loop.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
And he just lost his head too bad?
Speaker 4 (26:29):
All right? You ready to go any time? Sergeon?
Speaker 12 (26:33):
Hey, I wonder if I could ask a favorite what's that? Well,
it's gonna get a little tough, and they're in a jail.
Wonder if we couldn't stop for a good steak in
some French fries first, huh, maybe some good restaurant around here.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Now, it won't work, Moss. You know I wouldn't try anything.
You put your order in a long time ago, masting.
What do you mean when you worked over that old couple. Yeah,
that's when you ordered jail food.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
The star you have just heard was true. The names
were changed to protect the innocent.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
On March, second trial was held in Superior Court, Department
eighty eight, City and County of Los Angeles, State of California.
In a moment, the results of that trial.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Now here's our star, Jack Webb, thank you.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
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Speaker 3 (28:28):
Ernest Windsor and Henry Moss were tried and convicted on
one count of first degree robbery and one count of
assault would intent to do great bodily harm. Both men
are now serving their terms in the state penitentiary. First
degree robbery is punishable by imprisonment for no less than
one nor more than ten years. Ladies and gentlemen, The
(28:48):
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the unneeded clothes in your closet. Help these men, women,
and children live through the winter. Send your clean, unneeded
clothing and shoes, prepaid directly to the ARC Masbeth, New
York or the ARC Oakland, California. You have just heard Dragnet,
(29:18):
a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice
comes from the Office of Chief of Police W. H. Parker,
Los Angeles Police Department. Fatima Cigarettes, best of all Kingsize Cigarettes,
has brought you Dragnet. Transcribed from Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Stay tuned for Counterspy next over NBC
Ladies and gentlemen, Dragnet has a very important announcement for
all of you at the close of tonight's program.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
The story you were about to hear is true. The
names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
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Speaker 2 (00:36):
You're a detective sergeant here assigned a robbery detail. Two
armed bandits invade the home of an elderly couple in
your city. The aging husband is tortured unmercifully before he
reveals the hiding place of his valuables. The two thieves
make good their escape.
Speaker 4 (00:52):
Your job get them.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
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(01:28):
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Speaker 3 (01:49):
Drag meant the documented 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 violence, from beginning to end, from crime to punishment.
Dragnet is the story of your police force.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
In action was Saturday, October third. It was hot in
Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out of
Robbery detail. My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Harry
Diddy and Captain of Robbery. My name is Friday. It
was eleven thirty eight PM when I got to Georgia Street,
Receiving Hospital Room five, Treatment room. Joe, all right, how's
(02:33):
it going?
Speaker 6 (02:34):
Then?
Speaker 4 (02:34):
We're not going to be able to talk to him
anymore tonight, doctor said, maybe late tomorrow morning.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
How's the old man making a.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
He's resting a lot better. Doctor gave him a sedative.
Old fellow Shore had a rough time.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Well, how about since I've been gone to tell you
anything else?
Speaker 4 (02:46):
No, just kept repeating the same thing. Two guys forts
the way into his house, beat his wife tortured him,
took older jewelry. It's aboudy. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Well, I put in a call at the office. I
got a broadcast out of the information that we have,
there's not much to go on.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
I should be able to pick up a little something
more tomorrow. Doc said, it's been a long time since
he's seen anything like this where they worked the old
man over.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
What'd they do to the fella's hands anyway?
Speaker 4 (03:07):
The doctor are able to tell. He thinks they used
a hat pin on him, something like that. It's sharp
and thin, at least a dozen wounds in both hands.
He's pretty badly burned. Too hard to imagine somebody that
cold blooding seventy one year old man sold his feet
a massive burns. Wonder his heart stood up through the
beating I gave was he got a weak heart. He's
had a little trouble. Yeah, terrific shock going through something
(03:29):
like this.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
It is, eh, you know, maybe we better check back
at their house.
Speaker 6 (03:32):
Huh, see how the old fellaw's wife is doing it?
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Yeah, how's it shape up for you?
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I was not an awful lot to go on, Yes,
wasn't the shot in the dark. I think we can
count on that whoever the thieves were, they had some
kind of an inside tip. The old man and his wife, well,
they don't put up much of an appearance. You wouldn't
be apt to figure that they had three or four
thousand and jewelry put away at home with you.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
Maybe his wife might have some idea. Joey's a lovely shame,
you know, you might have winderstand if they just held
them up, working them over the way they did. There
was no sense to it at all, trying to show
off what a couple of rough bums they are. Maybe
that's it them.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Let's do them a favorite, Let's show them what it costs.
Ben and I got in the car and drove back
to the Westlake Park area to the home of the
robbery victim, seventy one year old Wendall McClung and his wife,
Katherine McClung. It was a one story wooden frame building,
gray shingled, a typical modest four room bungalow. The men
from UNIP thirty one hor who had answered the robbery call,
(04:29):
were still there, standing by another pair of men from
Robbery Detail. Powers and Gonzales were checking the neighborhood for
possible leads on the suspects. Inside the house, Ben and
I found Missus McClung popped up in an easy chair
in the living room. She was a small, chubby woman,
gray haired, looked to be in her fifties. Reassured her
husband's condition wasn't critical. Outside of a small bruise on
(04:51):
her forehead in a case of nervous upset, she seemed
to be all right. In recounting the story of the
hold up, Missus mclung told us the two bandits rang
the front door, ourbell, and forced their way into the
house at gunpoint, shortly before eight o'clock that night.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
How about the color of their hair, ma'am? They're waiting
to hide?
Speaker 7 (05:07):
No, I hardly saw a thing just that one. Look
at them when they first pushed their way in.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
How was that they blindfold you?
Speaker 7 (05:16):
Yes, they might just as well. Have you see when
they started to hit window, my husband's window, m knock
him down. I went after them, and one of them
slapped me right across my face and knocked my glasses off.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I see.
Speaker 7 (05:29):
I reached opted to find them, but before I did,
I guess one of those gangsters stepped on them. Thirty
five dollar glasses broke, broke of the lenses, just little
in the frame.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
I look at that.
Speaker 7 (05:40):
Of course, I can't see a thing without 'em. That's
why I say it might as well.
Speaker 5 (05:44):
Have been blindfolded.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
And you didn't have a chance to notice what kind
of clothes they had on, what they looked like at all.
And they weren't shabby.
Speaker 7 (05:51):
I know that pretty well dressed if memory serves. Both
out them in dark suits. So only they wouldn't have
broken my glasses.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
How about their voices? Miss playing anything unusual about the
way they talked, anything that they might have said.
Speaker 7 (06:05):
Oh, I was just thinking. One's name was Sam. I
remember that. The other one had sort of an accent
of some kind, maybe from the Midwest or maybe Texas.
One of those funny people.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Funny people, how do you mean then, well.
Speaker 7 (06:20):
You know, something like a cowboy or a farmer, that
funny kind of talk.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
I see.
Speaker 7 (06:28):
I guess I really should be inside fixing you men
a cup of tea. Maybe if you just help me up.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
That's all right, ma'am. You just sit there.
Speaker 7 (06:36):
When my sister Dolly gets here, it shouldn't be too long.
I'll have her fix something.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
There's no need to boy, man, we'd like to have
you tell us this if you can. Did your husband
do anything at all to provoke the two men?
Speaker 6 (06:45):
I mean, did he call out for help or try
to get to a phone, anything like that.
Speaker 7 (06:48):
It was the jewelry we had, Wendell and I just
those few pieces. The two men seemed to know all
about it, just as if they had.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
A list of the things.
Speaker 7 (06:57):
Yes, when they first came in, they took my engagement
ring and old brooch that belonged to my mother I
was wearing. Then they got wind O in that chair
over there and tried to make him tell where all
other things were.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Well, now, it was a pretty common knowledge around the
neighborhood here that you and your husband own expensive jewelry.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Man, No, I don't think so.
Speaker 7 (07:17):
What the men seemed most interested in was Windell's ring.
His diamond signet ring was a beautiful thing for carrotness.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Man. We got a description on that. That was when
they tried.
Speaker 6 (07:27):
To force your husband to tell him where it was hidden.
Speaker 7 (07:29):
Right, I never thought anybody'd be that cruel officer, downright cruel.
They burned his hands in his feet, kept hitting him
in the face with their.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Fists, it was just terrible, poor window.
Speaker 7 (07:44):
He finally had to tell them. I see they went
and found the things, and then they came back in
here and ripped out the phone, warned us not to move,
and then they left. I just broke down and cried, officer,
to see poor women go there the way they abused him.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
Yes, man, we understand.
Speaker 7 (08:03):
You're sure he's going to be all right.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
What did the doctors?
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Boy? He said, there's no danger. Man, mister mclung's resting comfortably.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
Now, well that must be my sister.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Stay right here with miss mclun ben.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
I'll get that. Yeah right, Joe.
Speaker 6 (08:18):
Hi, Jess, you and powers do any good.
Speaker 8 (08:20):
I've been checking through the neighborhood, three or four blocks around,
not an awful lot. A lot of people know the McClung's,
few of them know about their having jewelry. Not of
saw anything unusual going on tonight.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
The thieves us the car, we know that. Didn't anybody
at all spot it.
Speaker 8 (08:33):
I'm not sure, but there's one possibility. Some of the
neighbors said a young kid was peddling magazines down this
block tonight just about the same time as a robbery.
He might have spotted that's fine.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Where's the boy?
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Where's he lived?
Speaker 8 (08:43):
That's why we asked the neighbors.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Now nobody knows.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
A supplementary broadcast and an ATV was gotten out containing
what description we had on the two hold up man,
plus descriptions of each article of jewelry taken from mister
and missus mclung. Following morning, along with Jess Gonzales and
Johnny Powers, we continued canvassing the immediate neighborhood of the
whole up. The only thing we got was a fair
description of the boy who had been selling magazines the
(09:11):
night before in the vicinity of the mclung house, and
also the names of the magazines he was peddling.
Speaker 6 (09:17):
Monday morning, nine am, we.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Got in touch with the local distributor for the publications,
got a list of five boys who sold for them
in that general area, and started checking them out. Third
on the list was a Bill Newsom, a sophomore student
at a nearby parochial high school. He lived a half
a dozen blocks from the mclungs. We checked at his house,
but his mother told us he wasn't at home.
Speaker 5 (09:38):
I'm sure Billy won't be long.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Thank you right in here, go ahead, thank you.
Speaker 7 (09:46):
Sit down, won't you?
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Thank you very much?
Speaker 7 (09:49):
Must see him now, Billy in here.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
Y'all come in here, Bill.
Speaker 7 (09:54):
Two police officers to see you.
Speaker 9 (09:57):
Bill.
Speaker 7 (09:57):
This is the Sergeant Friday and Sergeant Romam my son, Bill,
Would you excuse me, I'm going to have to start
fixing dinner. You go right ahead and have your talk
with Bill.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I'll be out in the kitchen all right, ma'am.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 7 (10:06):
You speak right up now.
Speaker 9 (10:07):
Bill, try and help the offices all you can. How
can I help you?
Speaker 4 (10:11):
What's it all about? We understand you have a magazine
rop the neighborhood. Billion mother tells us you were selling
this last Saturday night.
Speaker 9 (10:17):
Yes, sir, that's right. Thursdays and Saturdays, they're my regular nights.
I don't really sell long.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
How do you mean so well?
Speaker 9 (10:23):
You see, I line up all my customers ahead of time.
I got a regular list of people to buy from
me every week. I don't do any door to door
selling that way. He's not much good, I see.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Do you have a regular customer on your list with
the name of McClung. Bill, it's mc celio Injin.
Speaker 9 (10:37):
Yeah, mister McClung. Once a month, he takes a gardening
magazine comes out the last week and every month.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Were you over near the mclung's place Saturday night?
Speaker 4 (10:45):
You remember? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I was.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
I went right by it.
Speaker 9 (10:47):
I've got customers all along that block there. Say, this
wouldn't be about that robbery.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
That's right, Bill, you heard it by it.
Speaker 9 (10:54):
After church Sunday. A couple of kids would go to
the same school.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
I do.
Speaker 9 (10:57):
They live right around the McClung's.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
They heard about. Uh what time was it when you
went by their Saturday night? You remember?
Speaker 9 (11:03):
Oh, about a couple of months after nine, I guess
maybe a quarter after. When I heard about the robbery
on Sunday, I thought maybe I ought to tell somebody
about it. I wasn't sure about it, though, you know,
I didn't want to be a test.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
What do you mean, so you weren't sure about what this?
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Uh?
Speaker 9 (11:18):
Dark, Glucy Dan. I saw a park down the street there,
just a couple of houses down from the mcclub's place.
The reason I even noticed it was because it was
a new car, almost a brand new car, but it
looked like the license plates on it were kind of old.
Speaker 6 (11:30):
What else?
Speaker 9 (11:31):
Well, I uh delivered some magazines to missus uh Brubaker,
and I got my money for him, and then coming
down the stairs, I saw these two men. I'm not
sure they came out of mister mclin's house dark, you know,
but I thought that's where they came from. Anyway, they
went down the street, got in the car and took off.
Seemed to be in a hurry.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Well what did the two men look like, Bill? Do
you have any idea?
Speaker 9 (11:52):
No, I didn't see him too well, it wasn't too
close to him. I was about from oh here to
across the street.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
On them. How about their clothes? You noticed the emmondel.
Speaker 9 (12:02):
Yeah, they had suits on, dark suits, I know that.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
How would you describe their built son? Medium? Tall, fat, skinny?
What would you say?
Speaker 9 (12:09):
Well, I think i'd say medium, Yeah, both a medium.
Speaker 6 (12:13):
Now about that car built?
Speaker 1 (12:14):
He said it was a dark Bluesiday and new model
and the license plates looked kind of old. Is that right?
Speaker 9 (12:18):
Yeah, that's right. That's how I first noticed it, parked
down by the restaurant right about seven point fifteen. When
I started my route down on South Benson, I saw
the same car parked outside the restaurant down there. I
forget the name of the place now. It just opened
about a month ago.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
Sure it was the same car.
Speaker 9 (12:36):
Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm pretty sure. That's why I noticed
it again. When I saw it up by mcloing's place,
I thought it looked kind of terrible, brand new car
like that with old license plates.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
By any chance, son, do you remember the license number
on those plates?
Speaker 9 (12:49):
No, sir, I didn't notice it at all. I'll tell
you what though, Yeah, if I see that car again,
I'll be sure and get the number for you.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Before we left the home of sixteen year old Bill Newsom,
we got a complete description of.
Speaker 6 (13:05):
The car, which he'd seen park near the McClung's home
on the night of the robbery.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
He told us it was a nineteen fifty Hudson four
door Sedan, dark blue, white sidewall tires. We relayed the
information downtown to robbery detail. After we left the boy's house,
we drove to the vicinity of the restaurant on South
Benson where the Newsom boy had first spotted the Hudson Sedan.
After making the rounds of several bars and coffee counters
(13:29):
in the area, we started checking at the restaurant. It
was newly opened, just as the boy had described it
full of glass brick and fancy modern stonework. The main
bar was situated just off the lobby set apart from
the main dining room. We interviewed the head bartender and
he thought he remembered serving two customers. Answering the general
description of the hold up men on the previous Saturday night, A.
Speaker 10 (13:51):
Bad looking fair. They're in a little early, around seven fifteen,
seven thirty. They seem to be all right.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
Do you remember what they looked like at all?
Speaker 10 (13:58):
No, I didn't notice in that much. Can you give
us some general idea or on the young side, I
guess not more than twenty eight point thirty one of
them to talk like a Midwestern or I think, you know,
maybe Arkansas, Texas, some place like that.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Because you give us any idea what they were wearing.
Speaker 6 (14:13):
I remember that.
Speaker 10 (14:13):
The suits on dark suits. One had on a gray
Athn's about all I remember. The reason I can place
them at all is because Saturday was a pretty slow
night at the bar. It's a new place here, you know,
and it takes a little time to colivate the trade.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Well, did these two men stop for dinner here? Do
you remember that?
Speaker 6 (14:27):
No?
Speaker 10 (14:28):
No, they sat right here at the bar and had
a couple of beers.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
And then they left, no dinner. Did you went on them, Yes, sir,
I did.
Speaker 10 (14:34):
I served them, bought a bottle of beer, imported the
Dutch beer.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
You served quite a bit of that imported beer.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
No, not here.
Speaker 10 (14:40):
No, it's mostly cocktail trade. These two colors the only
ones I remember asking for.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
But do you remember if the two men handled the
beer bottles at all?
Speaker 6 (14:47):
If they handled well, I mean, did you quartered you?
Speaker 10 (14:51):
I filled up their glasses and set the bottle down.
I guess they did handle them. They emptied the bottle.
It almost have to, wouldn't it.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Would you still have those two bottles on him? Let's
see todays?
Speaker 10 (15:02):
Yeah, I guess I would. They don't pick up the
empty store something around the middle of a week.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
We'd like to take a look at them, if you
don't mind, Oh, sure, things you guys just want to
follow me down the bar.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
It's in the store them just back, all right, let's
go right back your office time. Let's see.
Speaker 10 (15:19):
Yeah, yeah, the rid of them here, there you go,
Holland labeled only ones in the whole case the same
to I serve those fellows.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yeah, I see what do you.
Speaker 10 (15:29):
Think fingerprints maybe, And as soon as you get the fingerprints,
you can pick them up, can't you.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
Yeah. When we find the men they belong to.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Monday six pm, we call Layton Fingerprints and they came
out to check the evidence. First, they obtained the set
of the bartender's fingerprints to serve as a basis for comparison.
Then they dust at each of the empty beer bottles carefully.
After the various sets of prints were lifted off the bottles,
the men went back to the office to run the
sets through, classify their findings, and then turn them over
(16:00):
R and I for further checking. While they worked on it,
Then and I ducked out and had a sandwich and
a bowl of soup for dinner. Seven twenty five pm
we got back to the city hall.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
I sure, I am getting tired of the kind of
food that guy serves. Yo. It seems to get worse
every time and go in.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
There wasn't very good, was it.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
I'm willing to better. I know his formula for the
soup two gallons of hot water and one booty on cube. Well,
I've gone and done it before, I may still do
it again. What's that bring my dinner? From home in
a paper sack pack a thermos full of hot coffee
be a better deal than across the stree. I know
about that.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
You remember the last time you had your wife fixed
you up a thermost full of coffee?
Speaker 4 (16:37):
Yeah? I almost forgot the was any betterness stuff across
the tree?
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Bye?
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Were you too bent?
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Alright?
Speaker 8 (16:44):
Jes getting some dy latent Prince called just a minute ago,
told him I'd give you the message.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
What's in? Well?
Speaker 8 (16:50):
The prince? They lifted off those beer bottles, checked them
through the record bureau, you know, found two sets.
Speaker 11 (16:55):
They made both of them.
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Speaker 1 (18:24):
October fifth, Saturday, seven forty pm. The two sets of
fingerprints which had been lifted from the empty beer bottles
were checked through R and I and identified as those
belonging to two known criminals. The first was Henry Vincent
Moss WMA, twenty nine years old. He'd served two terms
in the Coddy Jail for burglary and grand theft auto
(18:45):
and one term in San Quentin for robbery. The second
was Ernest Robert Windsor WMA, twenty eight years old. His
home was listed as Little Rock, Arkansas, where he'd twice
been convicted on charges of first degree burglary and served
time the Arkansas State Penitentiary. We pulled the packages on
both of them in checked the last known addresses, but
(19:06):
failed to locate either of them. To double check their identification,
we showed mugshots of Windsor and Moss to the robbery
and torture victims, mister and Missus McClung. They gave positive
identification of both men, so did the bartender.
Speaker 6 (19:19):
At the restaurant where they'd stopped for the beer.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
We got out a broadcast and an all points bulletin
on them. Immediately we began the routine legwork checking with
all the friends, relatives and associates who were listed on
the Mama sheet and each suspects package. As usual, it
was a long, monotonous hall. One of the persons listed
as fairly close to Ernest Windsor was an ad of
his a, missus Marie Ralph, whom we located at her
(19:43):
home in the Echo Park district.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
No, I hadn't seen Ernest in almost a year, Sergeant.
What is it you want him for?
Speaker 4 (19:49):
I'd like to talk to you about a few minutes,
Missus rough you don't mind.
Speaker 5 (19:52):
I don't know how I can help you. You can
come in for a minute if you want. I've got
to go out and do some errange pretty soon, though.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
I'm all right, man.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
Thank you here, sit down if you want.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Thank you very mighty.
Speaker 5 (20:03):
Let's got finished taking care of my little children here,
giving him nice clean cages.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
Good singings. They up canaries, ma'am.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
Oh, Yes, Oscar and Ethel. That's these two here. They're
both genuine rulers. Their grand folks came from Germany. Beautiful singers,
wonderful company. Yes, my others are pretty too.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
They're only choppers though, ma'am. Choppers.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
They're different than rulers. They seem much louder, maybe not
as nicely. But I don't like to play favorites. I
like all of 'em. You have bird sergeants, No, ma'am,
you should. I think everybody should have a canary in
the house. Cheerful you know, wonderful company. Don't know what
I do without mine.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
How about your nephew, Ernest mus Rolph. Have you any
idea at all how we could contact him?
Speaker 5 (20:40):
And, as I say, it's been almost a year since
I last heard from him. What would this be about, surgeon.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
It's a routine investigation. Man. We understand that you're quite
close to your nephew, that he lived with you for
a time.
Speaker 5 (20:50):
Yes, that's right, he did. When you come right down
to it, Ernie's a good boy. He kept bad company,
That's what I always said, got him in trouble too
three times.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
Yes, schools.
Speaker 6 (20:59):
You know that you live alone here in the house,
do you, Ms Ralph?
Speaker 5 (21:02):
Yes, that's right, Sergeant say, I'm a widow, husband's going
a good many years now.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
You don't take in borders anyone like that.
Speaker 5 (21:08):
Oh, just me and my pets here, they're company enough.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
I wonder if you'd explain that laundry piled up in
the bed there in the next room. Man, Oh that
the men's shirt stockings, the underway, the record in the
bed there.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Well, I usually try to keep things in better order
than that. Just some laundry I do, Sergeant, little odd
jobs for some of the bachelormen in the neighborhood. I
do it as a favor for him.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
And you're sure about that, Miss Ragh.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
Yeah, What do you want Ernest for? Why do you
have to chase after him all the time, persecute him?
Speaker 4 (21:38):
We're not persecuting him ever since.
Speaker 5 (21:39):
He's coming here from Arkansas. It's been nothing but police
chasing after him. Can't you give her any of a chance.
All he wants is a chance. He told me to himself.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
We checked through his record, Miss Ralph. He's had all
the chances in the world and nobody's persecuting him.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
Why are you chasing him again, hunting him down? Why
did you leave him alone for a spell, give him
a chance to get a job, do something. Why are
you chasing him?
Speaker 1 (21:59):
This is a robbery charged, Ms Ralf. He's been positively identified.
He and Henry Moss forced their way into an old
couple's home a few weeks back. They tortured the old
man and they beat him till he was unconscious. That's
what we want Ernie for.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
How do you know it was Ernie? He could have
made a mistake.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
No mistake, ma'am. The victims identified his picture and there
wasn't a doubt in their mind. From where is he?
Speaker 7 (22:18):
You sure that's the truth?
Speaker 5 (22:20):
You sure it's Ernie again?
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Yes, ma'am again. You can have all the proof you need.
Speaker 5 (22:24):
And the last time he told me he swore in
the memory of his own mother, He's swore he wouldn't
do anything wrong again. I guess I just don't know, Ernest.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Where is he, ma'am? You wanna tell us the last time?
Speaker 5 (22:35):
Starting I'm sorry, Ernie's at his last time. Yes, ma'am,
he's sleeping the room over the garage. You'll find him there.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Ernest Windsor was apprehended and placed under arrest. His room
was searched, as well as the entire home of his aunt,
Missus Marie Rawl. We failed to find the trace of
any of the jewelry stole him from mister and Missus McClung.
After we made arrangements for a stakeout on the house,
Windsor was taken downtown to the interrogation room, where Jess Gonzalez,
Ben and I questioned him for five hours. He refused
(23:09):
to tell us anything. At a special show up, he
was positively identified as one of the hold of the
men by the two victims. Windsor was booked at the
main jail on suspicion of two eleven PC. The investigation
went on. Every possible lead on the other suspect, Henry
Moss was checked out. We got nowhere. It was obvious
that either Moss was in possession of all the jewelry
(23:31):
stolen from the mcclungs, or it had been hidden away
someplace known only to Windsor and Moss. From time to
time we had Windsor taken from his jail cell for questioning.
Wasn't hard to tell. He was bothered with the possibility
that perhaps Moss had run off with the entire loot
and was enjoying himself while Windsor spent his time in jail.
We worked hard on that particular angle while we questioned him,
(23:52):
but Windsor still refused to break to give us any
kind of elead on Moss. A month passed Wednesday, November eighth.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Sure working out into a dull routine. A full month
we got exactly what we started with.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
You know, we're gonna only get Windsor to break it.
It'd sure to do a lot toward wrapping this thing up,
wasn't it.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
I don't know what he figures he's gonna game, but
keep him quiet, you know. Guns all this and Johnny
Power said they were checking out a tip from some
informant this morning. We're supposed to know where Henry Moss is.
Speaker 6 (24:17):
I wonder if they founded me luck they ought to
be back by.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Now, yeah go ahead, hey, yes, oh right, how about it?
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Did you do any good this morning?
Speaker 4 (24:25):
Oh? Not a bit. Informant didn't even show up. Johnny's
gonna meet him this afternoon. Doesn't look to be very much.
How about you fellas the same gist. We're going as
slow as you or.
Speaker 6 (24:34):
I got it?
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Robbery Friday, Yeah, George h Third and Maine. It's sure right, yeah,
right away? Well maybe we got a break. What is
Henry Moss? He tried to hock a ring at a
pawn shop Third and Maine about twenty minutes ago.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
Did you make it?
Speaker 6 (24:50):
Well?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
The pawnbrokers stall him. He didn't know for sure that
the guy was hot.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
How's his stand?
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Moss said he'd come back to close the deal. When
half an hour eleven fifty five am, a special detail
of men, including Gonzales and Powers, Ben and myself were
sent to cover the pawnshop near Third in Maine. Gonzales
and Powers staked out in stores adjoining the place. Ben
and I were stationed inside the pawn shop. Another team
(25:15):
of men covered the rear exit. We waited the suspect,
Henry Moss failed to show at.
Speaker 6 (25:20):
The appointed time.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
We kept waiting one pm, one thirty no sign of him.
At one forty five pm, a young looking, dark haired
man in a neat gray suit entered the shop and
approached the manager. At the rear counter. There wasn't any
mistaking him, Henry Moss. He surrendered himself without even protesting.
We took him to the city Hall to the interrogation room,
where we started to question him. Meantime, Gonzalesen Powers located
(25:43):
the apartment where the suspect had been staying. His rooms
and personal belongings were searched and every piece of the
missing jewelry recovered. Surprisingly enough, in contrast to his partner
Ernie Windsor, Moss was cooperative, even obliging. We had a
stenographer take his full statement.
Speaker 6 (26:00):
And then we got ready to move him over to
the main jail for booking.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Just a couple of questions before we leave. Moss, sure,
so I didn't go ahead. We've had you in here before.
I come all cooperation this.
Speaker 12 (26:09):
Time when I had it figured before time. If you
got me, you'd have everything you need on He wouldn't
do much good putting in a beef with it.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
Whose idea was it to start with Moss? The hold
up deal? Yours or was it Windsors?
Speaker 4 (26:20):
Both of us?
Speaker 3 (26:20):
I guess I.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Didn't want to get rough with the old man.
Speaker 12 (26:23):
I mean the way Ernie did that part.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
I didn't like.
Speaker 6 (26:25):
All I wanted was a loop.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
And he just lost his head too bad?
Speaker 4 (26:29):
All right? You ready to go any time? Sergeon?
Speaker 12 (26:33):
Hey, I wonder if I could ask a favorite what's that? Well,
it's gonna get a little tough, and they're in a jail.
Wonder if we couldn't stop for a good steak in
some French fries first, huh, maybe some good restaurant around here.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Now, it won't work, Moss. You know I wouldn't try anything.
You put your order in a long time ago, masting.
What do you mean when you worked over that old couple. Yeah,
that's when you ordered jail food.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
The star you have just heard was true. The names
were changed to protect the innocent.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
On March, second trial was held in Superior Court, Department
eighty eight, City and County of Los Angeles, State of California.
In a moment, the results of that trial.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Now here's our star, Jack Webb, thank you.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
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Speaker 3 (28:28):
Ernest Windsor and Henry Moss were tried and convicted on
one count of first degree robbery and one count of
assault would intent to do great bodily harm. Both men
are now serving their terms in the state penitentiary. First
degree robbery is punishable by imprisonment for no less than
one nor more than ten years. Ladies and gentlemen, The
(28:48):
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Speaker 2 (29:50):
Stay tuned for Counterspy next over NBC
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