Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to hear is true.
The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
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You're assigned a juvenile detail.
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Dragnet, the documented drama of an actual crime.
For the next 30 minutes in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will
travel step by step on the side of the law through an actual case transcribed from official
police files.
From beginning to end, from crime to punishment, Dragnet is the story of your police force
in action.
It was Wednesday, February 10th.
It was cold in Los Angeles.
We were working the day watch out of juvenile detail.
My partner's Frank Smith.
The boss is Captain Powers.
My name's Friday.
I was on my way into the office and it was 8.01 a.m. when I got to Georgia Street juvenile
squad room.
Hi Frank.
Well?
Hmm?
Well, what do you think?
About what?
Ruth, what do you think?
Oh, she's nice, sure.
Well, is that all you got to say?
Well, what do you want me to say?
Did you like her?
She's a nice girl, yeah.
You got another date with her?
No, I told her I'd call her sometime.
You said you'd call her?
Mm-hmm.
Did you say when?
No, I just said sometime.
Sometime.
Well, Fay's not gonna like it.
Why?
She's just not, Joe.
You're not sure?
We had it this time.
Well, look, Frank, I think it's real nice of you and Fay to be concerned.
I don't think that I don't appreciate it, but when you asked me over last night, I figured
we were just gonna have dinner and sit around and talk.
I didn't know anything about this girl gonna be there.
Don't you think you should have told me?
Let me know.
I don't know.
I'll talk to him.
Yes, sir. Who am I speaking with?
Yes, sir.
Well, we did find hypodermic marks.
I see.
All right, sir. We'll be checking with you.
Now you'll get my daughter?
I'll have her sent right up.
You want to come out in the hall, Frank?
Who'd he call?
His family doctor.
We might not have a case here.
What's the matter?
Well, the doctor says he's been treating the girl for the past six months.
Yeah.
Been giving her hypodermic injections.
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With the doctor's statement, there was nothing we could do but release the girl to her father pending further investigation.
The parents of the teenager who had written us the first letter came to the office and she was released to them.
At 11.40 p.m. that night, we got word that the other suspect had returned to the apartment and been taken into custody.
It was identified as Lewis Conklin, age 23.
He was taken to the main jail and booked on the same charges as Vincent Beale.
Their apartment was gone over, but no trace of narcotics was found.
We questioned both suspects again, but they failed to cooperate with us.
Frank and I checked out of the office and went home.
The following morning, we drove out to see the doctor who had told me he was treating the Pilgrim Girl.
He said the girl was underweight and highly nervous and that he had been giving her vitamin injections.
He went on to say that he had stopped treating her five months previous at her father's request and that he had not seen the girl since then.
February 11th, 10.24 a.m. We checked the car belonging to Vincent Beale.
In the trunk, we found an expensive leather jacket.
It looked too expensive to be worn by a man who had the reputation of never holding a job.
We took the jacket over to the crime lab and had it checked.
From a cleaning tag, we got the name of the cleaner who had serviced the jacket.
We contacted him and he remembered the jacket as having been among several stolen from his store.
With this information, we went back to the main jail and had the Conklin boy brought from his cell.
He told us that the jacket belonged to Vincent Beale.
It was brought into the interview room.
This leather jacket belonged to you, Vince?
No, I never saw it before.
Conklin says it's yours.
I don't know. Maybe it is. What difference does it make?
Take a look. We want to know.
Yeah, yeah, it's mine.
Where did you get it?
Where do you think I bought it? You know some place you can get these without buying them?
Yeah, the same place you picked this one up.
What's that supposed to mean?
You know a man named Ted Hartman?
Who?
Ted Hartman.
Ted Hartman. Never heard of him.
He knows you.
Maybe he's got a better memory than me.
Says you used to work for him.
Is that right?
Yeah. Now how about it?
Maybe I did. I had a lot of jobs.
The cleaner says you worked for him a couple of weeks last December.
That's a long time ago.
Says this jacket was stolen from him.
Where do I fit?
He thinks you stole it.
He's crazy.
You sure enough to make a complaint?
They'll laugh him out of court.
Conklin says it's yours.
I told you I bought it.
Conklin wants no part of a burglary rap.
What'd Conklin tell you?
Maybe we ought to get your side of it, huh?
What'd he tell you? I got a right to know.
Look, he's going to make a beef like that on me. I got a right to know what he said.
He wants no part of it. He lays it all on you.
He's no good.
I never figured for a guy I could trust.
He did all right on the deal. Lute kept us both going.
What do you mean?
I thought he told you all about it.
Yeah, well, we want to hear it from you.
A lot of time stories get all mixed up.
Now we want to get it right.
Now, we knocked the place, but it was both of us.
Lou was in on it all the way.
Go ahead.
We were scratching for H. We had it real bad.
We needed some way out.
I thought about the cleaning place.
Figured we could score a good.
Well, we did all right.
Took care of three of us for a long time.
You, Conklin, and the Pilgrim girls, that it?
That's it.
Why were you shooting?
Me and Lou kept it down.
The Pilgrim kids, she built up fast.
She was juicing five caps a day.
I should have listened to Lou. He kept telling me to drop her and leave her alone.
Well.
Wasn't anything between us. It was just for laughs.
And then all of a sudden she was hooked bad.
We had to do something.
We stole her jacket so we could keep her supplied.
Five caps a day.
You know, that's a lot of H.
I tried to break her down. I tried to cut her habit.
I did what I could.
You can see that, can't you? I did everything I could.
How much was that?
5.23 p.m.
Frank and I, along with the policewoman Irene Gardner, drove out to the Pilgrim residence.
We went up to the front porch and rang the bell.
Yep.
What do you want?
I'd like to see your daughter.
Now you get out of here. You get out of here right now.
I've had enough of this shoving around from you.
It's about time you learned your place.
It might be better if we came in.
Anything you've got to say to me you can say here.
I don't want any cops in my house.
You want to get your daughter?
What for?
You're going to have to take her down to Jubal Hall.
You guys just don't give up, do you?
You want me to call my doctor again?
We talked to him this afternoon.
Then you know the story. Now get out of here.
You want to get your daughter?
Look, I've got a gun inside.
If you're still here when I come back, I'm going to use it.
Now you listen to me, mister.
You've been acting like a big man long enough.
You can play the part of the outraged parent with your family, but don't try it with us.
I'm not going to have you talk to me like that.
Not much you can do about it.
We've got the boys been supplying your daughter with narcotics.
It's pretty clear that this home isn't the place for her.
She's a good girl.
We didn't say she wasn't.
Then why don't you leave her alone?
You know better than that.
I can do you boys some good downtown. I've got a lot of friends.
You're going to need them.
All right, you want to make a case out of this, I'll fight you in every court in the country...
before I let you take my daughter away from me.
Now you just try it.
Your daughter's a drug addict. She's sick. She's got to be straightened out. She needs help.
Who are you to set yourself up as the jury?
You've got a fine girl in there. She's got all the breaks except somebody who thinks enough of her to stand by her.
There isn't anything she wants she doesn't have.
What about the things she needed?
You let her run all over the town by herself, she gets in trouble and you won't take the time to care for her.
What about those two men who got her started?
What are you going to do with them? They're guilty.
If it hadn't been for those two, this never would have happened.
They'll be taken care of. You lay the blame any place you want, mister, but if you're honest, you'll keep it.
What's going to happen to her?
She'll be given medical attention. We'll do what we can.
I can afford to take care of her. I've got the money. I'll hire the best people. I want her to have the best.
Yeah.
She's mine. I'm her father. I've got the right to take care of her.
Yes, sir, that's right.
Hmm?
Why didn't you?
The story you have just heard is true. The names were changed to protect the innocent.
On June 3rd, trial was held in Department 98, Superior Court of the State of California, in and for the County of Los Angeles.
In a moment, the results of that trial.
Now here is our star, Jack Webb.
Thank you.
Earlier, George Fenomen told you exactly why the Chesterfield you smoked today is the best cigarette ever made.
And best for you. Now the rest is up to you.
Get a carton or two for yourself.
Smoke them and you'll say as we do, it's Chesterfield's for me.
Vincent Norman Beale and Lewis Shelman Conklin were tried and convicted of one count of burglary
and additional charges of violation of the State Narcotic Act of felony
and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. They received sentences as prescribed by law.
Burglary is punishable by imprisonment for a period of not less than five years in the state prison.
Catherine Noreen Pilgrim had a hearing in juvenile court and was made a ward of that court.
You have just heard Dragnet, 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.
Technical advisors Captain Jack Donahoe, Sergeant Marty Wynn, Sergeant Fance Brasher.
Heard tonight were Ben Alexander, Joyce McCluskey, Henry W.
Bartel, Carolyn Jones. Script by John Robinson. Music by Walter Schuman. Hal Gibney speaking.
Watch an entirely different Dragnet case history each week on your local NBC television station.
Please check your newspapers for the day and time.
Chesterfield has brought you Dragnet, transcribed from Los Angeles.
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Music by Walter Schuman.
Here, crime and Peter Chambers following John Cameron Swayze on the NBC radio network.