Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to hear is true.
The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Dragmen.
You're a detective sergeant.
You're assigned a juvenile detail.
Four children in your city have apparently been abandoned by their mother.
There's a possibility of foul play.
Your job, investigate.
It was Friday, February 8th.
It was raining in Los Angeles.
We were working the night watch out of juvenile detail.
My partner is Frank Smith.
The boss is Captain Powers.
My name is Friday.
I was on my way back from juvenile hall and it was 7 46 p.m. when I got to 1335 Georgia
Street.
The office.
Joe?
Yeah, Irene.
You talked to Captain Powers?
Yeah.
The way it looks, Frank's going to be tied up in court for a couple of days.
Going kind of hard.
Game war, isn't it?
Yeah.
Seems like everybody in town's clammed on this one.
Really making a big thing out of it.
Uh huh.
Colonel Skipper said I was supposed to give you a hand on anything that might come up.
Then you just made it.
Hmm?
Woman in the next office, you better talk to her.
What's it about?
It'll be better if you got it straight from her.
What is she, a crane?
I don't think so.
See what you can figure.
Mrs. Eggers?
Yes, Miss Dragmen.
You ready to do this?
Yes, ma'am.
I'd like you to meet Sergeant Friday.
Joe, this is Mrs. Eggers.
Now, how do you do?
Mrs. Eggers?
Well, if you'd give him the story the way you told it to me.
You bet I will.
Sit down, young man.
I'll tell you all about it.
All right.
Get your book out.
How big a pardon?
Your book.
You're going to take some notations, aren't you?
Well, if you'll just tell us what this is all about.
Yeah.
Well, I don't want you to get the idea that I'm the nosy type.
I'm not.
It's just that I take an interest in the things that I do.
I'm not a nosy type.
I'm not.
It's just that I take an interest in the things that go on around me.
Civil minded is the way they put it in the papers.
Of course, there are people who say that I pay too much mind to their business, but it
isn't true.
Not a bit of it.
If you'd tell the sergeant what happened.
Oh, yeah.
Well, these people moved into the house about six months ago.
The five of them.
Yes, ma'am.
Stevie, Pamela, Carol, Martin, and the mother, Rowena.
Four kids and the mother.
All right.
Would you like to go on?
Well, now, right off, I could spot this woman.
I've seen a lot of them.
How do you mean that, Mrs. Eggers?
You can make it crystal if it's any easier.
Yes, ma'am.
What did you mean?
That you've seen a lot of them?
Alkies, you know, drunks.
Well, she's one.
I could spot it right off.
Her and those four beautiful children.
Yeah.
The first few months they lived there, I'd maybe see a couple of times a week, you know,
going in the house or coming out.
Just a couple of times a week.
I see.
Last week, ten days, I hadn't seen her at all.
Not even a little sight.
So right off, I figured that something was wrong.
That's the way it looks to me.
All right.
Mrs. Eggers, we'll check on the house right away.
That's what I wanted this policewoman to do.
I told her I'd go right along with you.
Well, I won't be necessary.
Now listen, young man.
If there's anything wrong with them kids, I want to know about it.
I'll do my part.
The whole neighborhood's talking.
Is that right?
Sure.
Little Stevie's been to all the houses looking for something to do, asking for work.
It just seems to me that there's something wrong about the whole caboodle of them.
Not seeing the mother and the way the boy don't eat the lunch plate, not seeing the other
kids.
There's something that don't fit over there.
All right, ma'am.
We'll look right into it.
We'll do that.
We'll see what I say is true.
Thank you, Mrs. Eggers.
Don't go thanking me.
Just trying to be civil minded, that's all.
It seems that there isn't anybody who cares about those kids.
Well, that's not true, Mrs. Eggers.
What?
We do.
8.14 p.m.
Policewoman Irene Gardner and I left the office and drove over to the address the Eggers woman
had given us.
The house was a small, one-story clabbered building located on the rear of the lot.
The front yard was overgrown with weeds and there were neighborhood advertising papers
lying around.
When we arrived, there was a faint light on in one of the front rooms.
Irene and I went up to the front door and we knocked.
We got no answer.
I tried the door, but we found it locked.
There was no sound from inside the place.
The shades were drawn over the window so that it was impossible for us to see into the house.
We walked around to the rear and tried the back door.
It's locked.
Yeah, doesn't look like there's anybody home.
Mm-hmm.
Well, let's talk to that Eggers woman again, huh?
All right.
Doesn't make a lot of sense, does it?
From the story she gave us, the kid should be at home.
She might be seeing things, Joe.
You know, trying to figure out some way to get attention.
Yeah, it might be.
Doesn't seem like that to me, though.
Joe?
What?
What do you got there?
The front window.
There, you see it?
Yeah.
There's somebody in there.
Come on, let's go.
Try it again.
Yeah.
Not answering.
Come on, open up in there.
We know you're in there.
Come on.
Open the door.
What do you want?
Police officers, let us in.
There's nothing wrong.
Go away.
No, we can't do that.
Now, come on, open up.
Who are you going to arrest?
Nobody.
We just want to talk to you.
You sure that's all?
That's right.
Okay.
Just a minute.
What do you want?
Are you Pamela Telford?
I haven't done anything wrong.
Well, we didn't say you did.
Then what are you doing around here?
I'm going to go and get some water.
What are you going to do?
I'm going to go and get some water.
What are you going to do?
I'm going to go and get some water.
What are you going to do?
I'm going to go and get some water.
But what's the matter little girl nothing why'd you have something like that?
Don't you think you better let us in we're gonna have to talk to your mother, but she's asleep
He's tired. You can't talk to her you can't come on you want to go and wake her up
There's some things we've got to talk to her about I wonder if we could come in if it's kind of wet out here
Hmm, how about it? Then you can get your mother don't you have our talk huh?
Yes, you can come in I guess it's all right
Come on in Joe
The front room was about 12 feet square
The only light in the room came from a candle and a jelly glass on a table
The only furniture in the place was the table that held the candle and a torn artificial leather and chrome couch
The floor was covered with paper rain soaked cardboard boxes and dirty clothes
At a half a dozen different places drops of dirty water were seeping through the roof
The water was being caught in empty tin cans that had been placed around the room
To the left was a door to a bedroom in it in a wooden crib were two children
From the descriptions we've gotten from the Eggers woman
We recognized them as Martin Telford age 4 and his sister Carol age 2
As soon as the children saw Irene and me they hid their heads under the dirty blanket that covered the crib
There was nothing else in the room except the dirty mattress lying on the floor in one corner
From the appearance of the bedding it hadn't been laundered or changed in at least three weeks
On the other side of the house a small kitchen was piled high with dirty dishes pieces of rotting food and empty tin cans
The plumbing in the house had apparently been out of order for several weeks
While Irene and I looked over the house the girl who'd met us at the door Pamela Telford followed us
When we got back to the front room she started to cry
All right, you want to tell us where she is
Oh, come on Pamela. It's not as bad as all that is it here. Here's a handkerchief
There you are now, where's your mother
She's out looking for a job. It's kind of late for that isn't it? I don't know. That's what she's doing now
I'm looking for a job. Well now why'd you tell us if she was here tonight?
Because I didn't know what you wanted. I thought you were trying to arrest her. Why'd you think that?
Because that's what she said your mother said that
Yes
Yes, she told us that policeman arrested people she told us about it
How you did it once to her your mother's been arrested? Yes, you know why?
Because she was but what for do you know she got sick? He got sick and they put her in jail
That's why I told you she was asleep. I thought that you'd go away and leave us alone
Sure cold in here. Yeah, do you have any heating house Pamela? There's a heater in the bedroom
I'll turn it on then it doesn't work
What the heater doesn't work Marty was playing one day and he broke a little rosin
It doesn't work anymore. We should be able to get some heat out of it. No, you won't there isn't any gas they turned it off
Well, I think maybe you youngsters better come downtown with us don't you think why well
It'll be warm down there a lot more comfortable for you. We can't go we got away here. That's all right
Pamela will leave word for your mother where you are. Maybe that's your mother now. No, it's Steve. Oh
You he's a policeman. What do you want? There's nothing wrong here. Nothing for you to come buttoning for we want to see your mother son
He hasn't done anything. Why does your cops leave her alone all that time?
You're after never leave her alone. We kind of rough for a little guy aren't you? It's none of your business
I know my rights. I know I'm good. Well, look here son. We're gonna take you downtown
Give you a good meal just until we can talk to your mother. That's all
And you're gonna bring us back. I will see how about Marty and Carol you taking them to yeah
Can you get better something? Yes, that's right
Okay, we'll go with you just for tonight though. That's all just for tonight. You understand. Yeah one another thing. Yes, what sense?
We're paying our own way. I've got money anything you give us. We're gonna pay for you won't have to do that son
I'm going to we don't need charity. We're getting along. All right. Everybody has a little rock rock now
I'm in everybody mum tries. She really does
She's been looking for a job for a long time
Alright Steve, you want to help get the others ready to leave? I'm not sure we can go. I'm afraid you're gonna have to son
All right, but just for tonight
The only reason is that I want Marty and Carol and Pamela to have something hot food
And something wrong with the stove says we can't cook on it. That's the only reason we're going just because there's something wrong with the stove
The gas is turned on. No, it isn't just don't work
Whatever we eat, whatever we get we're gonna pay for I've got the money
Well, I told you once before that won't be necessary. It is too. We're not taking any charity. We've never taken we're not gonna start now either
We think it's done for us is gonna be paid for yeah, I guess that's right Steve. Huh? It'll be paid for
856 p.m. Men from the crime lab arrived and photographed the entire house
The pictures were held for evidence a search of the house showed that there was no food for the children
In a cardboard box in the bedroom under a pile of toilet articles
We found a photograph of a man and a woman taken of what appeared to be a beach photographer
I mean and I checked through the rest of the house
But we found nothing that would indicate where the mother of the four Telford children have gone
The youngsters were taken to juvenile hall bathed given clean clothes and fed
At first Steve Telford refused to eat anything until he was assured that his two sisters and his brother were being given the same kind
Of food after the boy had finished eating Irene and I talked to him his previous uncooperative attitude had changed
And he seemed anxious to help us find his mother
This is the longest she's ever made on the game to think there might be something wrong. Well, when'd you see your life Steve? This is Friday
Isn't it? Yes, February 8th
It was last Tuesday. You mean this week son. No a week ago a week ago Tuesday
Well, what did she say when she left just like always said she wasn't feeling very good
And she was going out and try to look for work. What kind of work does she do? She's a waitress a good one, too
That's a trouble. I guess she's so good. What do you mean?
Well, there are only a couple of places that mom says are any good. Well, you know where she want to work
I don't believe I understand what you mean Steve. Well, my boy said that she wasn't just a hashling. That's what she called
Oh, I see. She said that she was a waitress and she couldn't go to work just anyplace
What she worked last big place out in Beverly Hills. I got the name right now. How long did your mother work there?
She had some trouble. She had to quit. What do you mean trouble?
Well, she got sick and the man who was the boss got mad at her and I guess he said a lot of things her mom didn't like
So mom told him he couldn't talk to her like that. He thinks he quit. Your mother ever tell you what was wrong with her?
Steve?
No, she didn't. Did you see a doctor about it?
You might as well know it.
What's wrong?
Well, mom drank a lot. Sometimes she drank too much and then she gets sick. That's what was wrong.
What's your father's Steve? He died before Carol was born. Right before.
I want you to take a look at a picture for us, will you? Look at it and tell us if you know who the man in it is.
All right.
There you are.
That's mom.
You know who the man is?
No. I don't think I ever saw him before.
Does your mother have any men, friend?
No, I don't think so. At least she never told me about him.
She always said that the kids were enough for her, that we were all that mattered. She used to say that when she got a steady job we were all going to live good.
She used to tell us how one day the phone would ring and all our troubles would be over. Just like that.
One day we've had a little trouble and the next everything was going to be all right.
She really believed it too. Just all of a sudden the phone was going to ring and all our troubles would be over.
I didn't know how to tell her.
Tell her what?
That they turned the phone off.
We had the name Rowena Telford checked through RNI. We found that the boy's story was true.
The woman had been arrested once on a charge of 4127A LAMC being drunk in a public place.
Irene put in a call to the waitress' union and asked them to check to see if the woman was working any place in town.
They came back with the information that the last job she'd held had been six months before and that she'd been fired for insubordination.
They came back with the information that the last job she'd held had been six months before and that she'd been fired for insubordination and for being drunk.
We showed the picture of the man and woman that we found at the Telford home around the department in the hopes that one of the officers might recognize the place where it was taken.
None of them did.
The next morning we had several copies made and we began a search of the bars along Fifth Street.
We asked each bartender if he'd ever seen the man or the woman.
In the first four places we checked we got yes answers to the query about the woman,
but none of the people we talked to could tell us anything about the man in the picture.
Two more days passed without results.
In the meantime a warrant had been issued ordering the arrest of Rowena Telford charging her with child neglect.
A local and an APB were gotten out on her.
On the third day after we'd started our search for the missing woman we talked with a bartender who was able to give us the name of the man in the picture.
He described the man as a fry cook in one of the smaller restaurants down on Fifth Street.
We checked the restaurant but we found that he'd been fired on Monday the 28th of January.
A check of his home address gave us no indications to where he might be.
Irene and I went back to the office and checked the name through RNI.
Joe?
Yeah.
Did he come up with anything?
Checked the name. He's registered as an ex-convict.
Uh huh. Where'd he fall?
Back in Pennsylvania. Good time for ADW.
Well we'd better talk to him huh?
Right now he looks awful good.
Why do you say that?
What he was arrested for.
Yeah.
He tried to beat a woman to death.
An immediate search was started for the man in the picture with Rowena Telford.
From friends of his we found that we might be able to locate him at a hamburger stand down at Santa Monica.
Tuesday, February 12th. Policewoman Irene Gardner and I drove down to the beach.
Should be it up there huh?
Yeah.
Go ahead.
Thanks.
It's warm in here.
Yeah.
Would you like to see Willis Thatcher?
What for?
Police officer. He's your Thatcher, aren't you?
Yeah. What do you want with me?
A couple questions I'd like to ask you.
Sure. I got nothing to hide. No reason to give you any trouble. What do you want to know?
You know a woman named Rowena Telford?
Why do you ask that?
It's a simple question Thatcher. Can you give us the right kind of an answer?
How about it?
Yeah. I know her why. What she's done now.
When did you see her last?
I don't know. A couple weeks ago.
Bear that down will you?
Why? Listen, I think she did I had no part of.
We understand you were pretty friendly with her.
That's not true. Sure. Maybe I had a couple of dates with her. Not more than a couple. That's it.
And anybody in the world could put up with her for more than that.
Why do you say things like that?
You ever know her?
No. We're looking for her.
You?
No. I've never met her.
That's how come you can ask that kind of question. And if you knew her, if you spent any time with her, you had to know what I mean.
Well, suppose you tell her.
She's a lush. A real lush. All the time, boozing it up.
Wasn't so bad that she got loaded, but she was real loud when she was tanked up. Real loud.
Is that right?
Sure. Check around. Ask her friends. Talk to them. They'll all tell you the same story. Every one of them.
First off, she'd have a couple of drinks. Next thing you know, any fellow with her be trying to get out of a place without getting his head knocked off.
She's always starting trouble.
Sit down, order a drink. The next thing you know, some guy was asking you outside.
Well, I ain't built to go outside too often. I get hurt bad when I fight.
Uh-huh. Does she have any other boyfriends?
You don't listen very good, do you?
What's that?
I told you, there isn't anybody around here that had much to do with it. As far as I know, there wasn't nobody who went with her.
How'd she seem the last time you saw her?
All right. She had a little hangover. She always had one of those.
She seemed depressed about anything?
Not that she talked about.
Did she say anything about the town?
Not to me.
Listen, how about giving me a break and telling me what this is all about? What do you have to report?
These fights you told us about. Do you ever have any arguments with Miss Talbert?
I don't think that's any of your business.
We're writing it down that it is, now how about an answer?
We had a couple of beefs. I told you, you couldn't go around with her and not have a little trouble.
Did you ever hit her?
We're back to that, huh?
What do you mean?
You know the record. The time I did, you figure maybe I did something to Rowena, isn't that it? You think I hurt her?
We're asking you.
Well, you're way off the road. I ain't gonna try to con you. Sure, maybe I had a lot of reasons to want a better. I used to think a lot of Rowena.
Awful lot. But that's over. All I want to do is leave you alone. Stay away from me.
I didn't ever hit her. I didn't hurt her, no matter what you think.
All right.
Believe that. I guess it sounds funny. I ain't trying to fool anybody. I'm ready to admit it. I'm a bum.
She didn't have to keep telling me, not all the time. I knew it.
Nobody likes to be called a bum. Even if you know it's true.
1.47 p.m. We drove the suspect over to his rooming house and we checked the premises.
We found nothing that would definitely tie him in with the disappearance of the Telford woman.
After leaving his room, we took him downtown where he was held for further investigation on a charge of suspicion of murder.
We checked communications, but there had been word of missing one.
Pernima decryption had been checked through the files in missing persons bureau without results.
3.40 p.m. Frank came by the ops and said that the trial he was attending was dragging on and it would be a couple more days before he'd be back on duty with me.
A petition was filed on behalf of the children charging violation of section 2738 P.C. unfit home.
Asking what the name was.
Police were hearing Gardner put in a call to the next door neighbor of the Telford woman, but we found that there had been no trace of the missing woman since we'd removed the children.
5.12 p.m. We finished up the log for the day and we were leaving the office.
I got it.
Juvenile Friday.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, what's that guy? Yeah.
Yes, sir. We'll be right there. Right. Thank you.
What do you got?
Bar over on East 6th.
Yeah?
The bar over on East 6th.
Yeah.
We're going to tell her just walk in.
The bartender was one of those that we'd questioned when we first started our investigation at the time he knew the Telford woman, but he said that he hadn't seen her for several weeks on the phone.
He told me that she just walked into his bar.
Irene Gardner and I left the office and drove over to the East 6th Street address, but the woman had just left.
We had a description and a description of the clothes she was wearing.
She said she was allowed to get out to all cars in the area, but she was not picked up.
Irene Gardner and I went back to the office and we put out a supplementary bulletin on the woman.
At 8.14 p.m. we got a call from the woman who'd made the original complaint, Mrs. Crystal Agars.
She told us that the Telford woman had just walked into her own home.
Irene and I left the office and we drove out to the house on Vallejo Street.
Light on. She must still be home.
Yeah.
Where is it?
It's about time you got here. You got them yet?
I beg your pardon?
You got the little brats? They all run off, all of them.
Get my hands on them and they're going to get what for. Where are they?
We have them downtown, Miss Telford.
Why don't you bring them home? This is where they belong.
I get my hands on them. Oh, what I'm going to give that little Steve.
You mind if we come in?
No, come on in.
You got to excuse the way the house looks.
I've been away for a couple of days and you see how the kids can mess the place up.
I'm Sergeant Friday. This is Miss Gardner.
Oh, how you do? Would you like some?
No, that's all right.
How come you didn't bring them back?
They're being held in juvenile hall, Miss Telford.
For what?
Well, when we found them, they were suffering from malnutrition.
This place here is not fit for youngsters.
Oh, you just took them out and put them in a home, the way it is?
Yes, ma'am, that's the way it is.
Well, you've got your name on it.
You really have.
What?
You coming in here and breaking up a home like this.
You ought to be ashamed of yourself.
We have a warrant for your arrest.
Me?
Yes, ma'am.
Now, you listen.
You've got no right to come in here and break up my home.
I know all about you cops.
All of you pussy-footing around trying to make everybody think you're so good.
I know you for what you are, and I tell you this.
Yes, ma'am, what's that?
You better get those kids back here fast.
Do you hear me?
You get them back here fast, because if you don't,
I'm going to sue you and her and the city for every dime it's done.
I'll take this to any court in the country.
I have to, but I'm going to get my kids back.
You ain't half as good as you think you are.
You aren't playing real playing so you can understand it.
You stink.
That's what.
All of you stink.
All right, ma'am, I think that's enough of that.
Where have you been for the last two weeks?
The most terrible thing that ever happened to me to anybody.
He told me he loved me and said he was going to get married.
I thought, that's what I said, and we was going to get married.
He gave Stevie a couple of dollars and told him to take care of things.
And then we left and drove all the way to San Diego without stopping.
And then we had some lunch on the way to get married.
We had a couple of drinks just to make the food taste better, that's all.
And then all of a sudden I got sick again.
And he walked out on me.
Left me right there in the bar all by myself.
And all the promises he made to me, all the things he was going to have.
No, I love it.
Just a lot of lies.
Soon as I get a little sick, he just had a couple of drinks.
He walked out on me.
Left me right there all by myself, you know.
All by myself.
I didn't have no money.
No way to get back.
What was I going to do?
I believed him.
I really thought he was going to marry me.
I believed all he said.
How things were going to be better.
I believed it all.
The dirtiest trick I ever heard of, walking out on a girl like that.
A dirty trick.
I got one to beat it.
The one you pulled on your children.
You have just heard Dragnet, the authentic story of your police force in action,
and starring Jack Webb, a presentation of the United States Armed Forces Radio Service.
G grains out fresh.
G grains in fresh.
DJ.
G grains for guys outgrowing guys outgrowing.
M ons all cons account.
M ons connecting the wires there,
Self,leri