["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to hear is true.
The names were changed to protect the innocent.
Tragment.
["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned to auto theft detail.
You receive a report that a circus truck has been broken into.
Several of the animals are missing. Some of them are dangerous.
Your job, find them.
["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
It was Monday, May 12th. It was cold in Los Angeles.
We were working the day watch out of auto theft detail.
My partner is Frank Smith, the boss of Chief of Detective Stad Brown.
My name is Friday.
I was on my way back from Superior Court and it was 1146 A.M. when I got to room 40.
Auto theft.
Hi. How'd it go?
Well, his lawyer's got a continuous.
Yeah? How come?
I don't know. New evidence they want to introduce.
What's the DA's office say?
It was nothing they can say. It comes under the heading of due process, you know.
Yeah. You think you're gonna nail him?
Alex thinks so. The guy's admitted his guilt. Now he's claiming the confession is a lot of bunk.
Says we got it out of him by force.
Hmph. Why now?
Prove he did it without the confession, I guess.
It shouldn't be too hard. We got all the evidence.
We get the chance to lay it out for the jury.
Yeah. When you go back?
Let's see. Set it off for a week, I guess. Yeah.
Anything come in?
No. Not big.
Excuse me.
Yes, sir? Something we can do for you?
I could report something stolen.
All right, sir. Just come on in.
Sure gets nervous around here.
All right, sir.
Now, what kind of a car was it?
Ain't no car.
Big one?
No car stolen. Stuff in the car.
All right. What was it?
Wasn't really a car anyway. A truck.
That's what they stole it from. A truck.
All right. If you'll give us a description.
As far as I know, they might not have stole it anyway.
Might just have opened it and let them all out.
Yes, sir. Well, the sooner we get this report filled out,
the faster we can start looking for the stolen merchandise.
Yeah. Just out of that myself.
Sure does.
All right, sir. Now, what's your name?
Clarence Hevel. H-A-V-I-L-L.
No R. Most people put an R in it.
Hevel.
Where'd the theft take place?
Corner Fountain, D. Longfrey.
Right on the corner there.
Yes, south of the red zone on Fountain.
All right, sir. What was taken?
You see, I got this call from one of the drivers
who works for my brother and me.
Drives one of our trucks.
Called and said the machine broke down.
Wanted me to bring another tractor over.
Well, we can get to all that later, Mr. Hevel.
Now, what were the stolen articles?
Animals.
Sir?
Animals from our carnival.
What kind of animals?
Oh, a couple of monkeys, Cody Mundy, two raccoons.
All right, sir. Anything else?
Yeah. Here comes the bad part.
This is what I was afraid of.
What's that, sir?
It's the reason I waited so long to report it.
I thought maybe turn up.
What's that, sir?
A black panther.
We got a description of the animals
when the local broadcasters got out on them immediately.
12.18 p.m. We continue to talk to Clarence Hevel.
Friday night. That's when it happened.
What time Friday night?
About 7.05 or 7.10, right after the fights went on.
That's when the phone rang.
I see.
I was kind of sure about being interrupted when the fights was on.
Always watch them.
Most of my friends know not to call me then.
Yes, sir.
Well, anyway, the phone rang.
I got up and went over to answer it.
It was Bert.
It was Bert.
Bert Newell.
He's a driver.
Oh, I see.
Said he had a breakdown at Fountain D'Longcree.
Asked me if I had an extra tractor.
It happened, I did.
Uh-huh.
But he asked me to bring it over.
Said he wanted to use it to get the show to Nevada.
So you drove over then, huh?
Not right away.
How's that?
Well, it looked like the fight wasn't going to last much longer,
and I wanted to see the finish of it.
So I stuck around for a couple more rounds.
After that, I left.
Uh-huh.
Drove over and found Bert right on the corner,
and I was standing there,
not trying to do nothing about the breakdown,
just standing there.
Yes, sir.
Well, you just bet I read him off.
Told him the least he could have done was get out of the wrench or something,
try to find the trouble.
I read him off good.
Yes, sir.
Didn't do no good.
He's shifflous, you know.
Real shifflous.
Yes, sir.
You know Bert, do you?
No, sir.
Shifflous.
You know him, you know that.
You want to go on, please?
Oh, yeah.
I got the trailer on the hitch, and the tractor hooked up,
only took a couple of minutes, and got it done,
and Bert took off.
Where was he going, you know?
Over to Nevada.
Going to play a show there, Overton.
Going to play a show there.
Yes, sir.
Right by Lake Mead, Overton.
Yes, sir.
When did you find out the animals were missing?
When I got the wire from my brother.
That's when I got the first inkling.
When was that?
Last night.
Company phoned me about, oh, I guess it was about 8.30.
I see.
You have the telegram?
No.
What did it say?
Yes, the animals are gone from my brother.
Said that the animals went on the truck when it got to Overton.
Uh-huh.
Told me about how the locks on a couple of the cages
was busted and smashed,
and the animals was gone.
Well, now, sir, is it possible that the cages might have been
broken into some other place than Los Angeles?
Might be, yes.
Might be, made likely.
Why do you say that?
The only reason I know of is, it ain't likely.
Not only that, I got proof of it.
How do you mean, sir?
Well, as soon as I got the wire, I went down to Fountain D. Longcree,
went right there and looked around.
Uh-huh.
Figured I might as well go down there and look around.
I might find something, you know.
Took a big four-cell flash and went down to the corner.
I see.
Yeah, I was right. That's where it happened.
Yeah, that's where they got away.
Found a spore, you know.
How big a part?
Spore, tracks. Found them all over the place.
Oh, I see. Of the panthers?
Of the raccoons.
Not only that, I found something else.
Yes, sir? Monkeys. Found them, too.
Where were they?
Phone pole, right up on the top, just sitting there, shivering.
They're kind of little, you know.
Get real cold, easy.
We have them around the place. They wear little sweaters.
Get chilly real easy.
How about the rest of the animals?
You see any sign of them?
No, I went over to a little store near there and got a head of lettuce.
Seventeen cents.
Took it back to the phone pole, showed it to Caesar and Salome.
Oh, they love lettuce.
Is that the monkeys?
Yeah, mama's a white-eared.
Love lettuce.
They came right down there, didn't they?
Yeah, right down the pole, slithered right for the lettuce.
And they were scared stiff.
Being up there on that pole all night,
should have had their sweaters.
What about the other animals?
Not a sign of them.
Just the spore of the raccoons.
Haven't got the slightest idea where they might have gone.
No real problem, though, not them.
How do you mean?
Easy to replace.
Just go up in the Hollywood Hills, lots of them there.
Run all over the place, upsetting garbage cans.
Imagine some of the people would be glad to have me come up there and take them away.
Yeah, raccoons ain't no problem.
Well, Mr. Havel, what about the panther?
Well, he's a problem.
Yes, sir. Can you give us a description of the animal?
He's black.
Yes, sir.
Like the inside of a well, jet black.
Even blacker than that ink they're talking about.
About six inches.
That's what I'm talking about.
About seven feet long, oh, easy there.
That's counting the tail, seven feet.
Anything else about him that we should know?
No, just a plain black panther, nothing special.
Is he dangerous?
Well, not unless he meets somebody.
Dandy's got a temper.
That's the name of the animal, is it Dandy?
Yeah, namely that because he's blacker than the pitch of the inferno.
Dandy.
You're pretty sure he got out of that truck when the monkeys did, huh?
Well, I ain't going to give you no written guarantee, but I'm sure of it.
All right, sir, we'll start looking for him right away.
Mr. Havill, where were these animals coming from?
Winter quarters.
The standard organ is going to be our first, just starting the season.
Mm-hmm.
Well, is there anything else you can tell us that will make it easier to find the panther?
No, not a thing.
Just be careful, that's all.
Don't hurt him.
He's really as gentle as a kitten when you get to know him,
like a big overgrown cat.
Gentle.
That's something Clyde didn't understand.
Who's Clyde, sir?
My brother Clyde.
Oh, I see.
He didn't like Dandy, didn't understand him.
That's what caused the trouble.
What was that?
Last winter, Clyde came to see the show, tell me about the bookings.
Oh, I see.
We discussed about how the best way to exhibit Dandy would be,
and Clyde got too close to the cage.
Yeah.
Dandy almost killed him.
All officers in the area where the panther had escaped were notified,
and an additional team of men were called from metropolitan reserves to patrol the vicinity.
The presence of the animal on city streets presented a very real menace to all citizens in the city.
A team of detectives from auto theft detail were dispatched to the corner of Fountain and DeLongfray to talk to the people who lived in the area.
However, they were unable to come up with any new information on the escaped panther.
Frank and I talked to Chief of Detective Stad Brown and with Captain Nelson.
It was decided to start a block-by-block search for the missing cat.
Authorities from the Griffith Park Zoo were consulted as to the possible hiding places of the animal.
When the afternoon newspapers hit the streets, calls began to flood the complaint board asking for additional information on the panther.
Local radio and television broadcasts carried stories about the escape, and the number of calls went up.
Additional men had to be called to care for the switchboard.
The search went on.
Frank and I worked in the field along with the other men from auto theft detail and officers from Metro Division.
Every possible hiding place in the vicinity of Fountain and DeLongfray was searched without turning up any new information on the cat.
It was the opinion of authorities that the panther might try to hide in the brush of the Hollywood Hills, and the search was moved to that vicinity.
Tuesday, May 12, Frank and I got back to the office from the area.
We'd been up all night looking for the animal.
You want to check with the skipper?
Anybody around here can bring in some coffee.
I'll call Sal. He'll bring some over.
That would be a good idea.
I can send over a sandwich too.
What kind do you want?
I don't care. Just tell him to make sure the coffee's hot.
Yes.
Yes, sir?
I'd like to talk to the men who are working on the panther thing.
Yes, sir. Come right in.
I'm at the end of the hall. I find it in here.
Well, I'm Sergeant Party. Maybe I can help you.
You working with the search party?
Yes, sir. I'm partnering with them. I've been out with them.
Have they caught up yet?
No, sir. Not yet.
They know where there is coffee?
Well, no, sir. We don't.
That's what I thought. I'm Sidney Norton. I live in this town.
Yes, sir.
Got a family. I pay taxes.
Uh-huh.
I just want to ask one question.
Yes, sir. Go ahead.
Now, according to the papers, it's Havel, or whatever his name is.
He owns the panther. Is that right?
His name's Clarence Havel.
But he owns the cast.
Yes, sir. That's right.
Well, I want his address.
Big pie?
I want the number of his house. That's simple, isn't it?
Well, we're not allowed to give that out. I'm sorry.
All I want is his address so I can go over there and punch him right in the nose.
You going to give it to me?
No, sir.
Who's your superior?
Captain Millson.
Well, what is he? I want to talk to him.
He's in Chief Brown's office right now.
Well, where is that?
Down at the end of the hall, office number 26.
All right. I'll talk to him.
I want that man's address, and I want it now.
Terrible thing for the law to allow a person to keep animals like that
so they can get away and walk around killing anybody they meet.
If you cops can't do anything about it, I can. You can just bet I can.
Well, if you go out and cause Mr. Havel any trouble, you're liable for arrest, sir.
By whom?
Any policeman that he wants to call.
Well, you protect him, but you don't care about me and my family, is that it?
No, sir. You've both got rights of protection under the law.
Now, if Havel's done anything, we'll take care of it.
When?
As soon as we find that panther.
Well, you may just be wrong.
I've been talking around.
There are a lot of people who feel like I do, a lot of them.
Enough, maybe, to decide to do things our way.
Well, I wouldn't try it, Mr. Norton.
Too late, mister. You can't do anything about it.
We will. Me and my friends, we'll take care of it.
It's out of your hands. We'll take care of Havel.
We'll take care of him good.
I wouldn't make book on that.
He's going to stop us.
It's like I told you, any cop that Havel calls.
Frank and I talked to Sidney Norton, and we finally convinced him that any action he might take would not help the situation.
We sent him home, and then we met with Captain Nelson and Chief Brown.
The progress of the search was reviewed, and it was decided to continue it in the Lake Hollywood area and in the upper Griffith Park hills.
All days off had been canceled, and additional officers were joining in the hunt for the panthers.
After the meeting, Frank and I got some breakfast, and then we drove out to Clarence Havel's home.
It was a large ranch house at the corner of Vickery Boulevard and Monterey Avenue out in the San Fernando Valley.
We drove through the gate and parked the car. Clarence Havel was sitting on the large porch waiting for us.
A small monkey was sitting on his shoulder.
All right, come on up and sit down.
Yes, sir.
How's it going, Mr. Friday, Mr. Smith?
All right, sir. Pretty good, sir.
Get you anything? A glass of ginger beer, maybe? Got some cold in the any spot?
No, sir, no, thanks.
Heard from my brother this morning.
All right.
Well, in Nevada, got a telegram. Company phoned it to me again. Good news.
What's that, sir?
Well, it began to look like it's all a mistake.
Sir?
The whole thing. Looks like the animals didn't get away here in Los Angeles.
Why do you say that?
Well, a telegram from my brother.
Said they found the Cody Mundy and one of the raccoons in Baker, California.
Found them alongside the road, tired and hungry.
Guess they're sorry now they got out of the truck.
How about the panther? Any word on him?
No, not yet, but Clyde sets some men out to look for it.
Sure, Dandy will turn up.
How can we get in touch with your brother, Hevel?
Can't.
What?
Can't get in touch with him. Out in the desert looking for Dandy. How to touch.
Can you give us the address of your winter quarters here in town?
I can't do that, Mr. Friday.
Why not?
Don't know.
Well, sir, you run a circus and you don't know where the animals are kept?
Well, not really a circus, a carnival.
Yes, sir, we understand, but what's the address?
I don't know.
You haven't any idea?
Not the least.
You can't tell us where to reach your brother?
He's out looking for Dandy.
Well, how about it, Hevel, something that you're not telling us?
Hevel?
Yeah?
What was there?
Well, we haven't got no regular winter quarters, not regular set up.
That's why I can't tell you where it is.
Ain't none.
All right, go ahead.
You see, the Hevel Amalgamated Combined Trolls is really a gypsy carnival.
How do you mean that?
Well, we ain't got no big operation, a couple of mangy animals.
We don't have a license to keep them in the city.
The only quarters we've got are vacant lots.
We set up and stay there until the neighbors start to complain and we move on.
Trucks for the shore are registered in states where the fee is smallest
and we got about every deal we could to keep the cost of operation down.
Now, what about the pants?
Dandy?
Yes, sir?
When he real the traction we got.
Man killer.
I told you about how he almost got cried, didn't I? I told you that.
Yes, sir.
I don't understand, Dandy, or nothing works with him.
Is that right?
Might be something about Dandy.
Could be our officer. We gave him this number.
Yeah, yeah, just a minute.
Hello.
Yeah, this is number. Huh?
Yeah, just a minute.
It's for you, Mr. Pryde. Your office.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
No trouble at all. I'd like to do what I can.
Yes, sir. Pryde. Yes, Cooper.
That's right.
Well, you want to give me that address?
I checked out, didn't I? Uh-huh.
Now we'll get right over.
Frank, let's go.
Good news?
Well, we're not sure yet.
Huh?
I said they found the Panther.
The address we'd gotten on the telephone was in the Hollywood Hills just off Beechwood Drive.
Frank and I drove down the freeway, turned off at Gower, up Franklin to Beechwood, and we continued up to Ledgwood Drive.
By the time we got there, other units had arrived in the immediate vicinity where the animal had been seen was surrounded.
From one of the officers, we got the story.
The Panther had been seen by one of the civilians searching the area.
The animal had run between two houses and jumped through a window into a ground floor garage.
We checked the house, but we found that the occupants were not there.
Because of the danger of the Panther's presence and the difficulty of taking it alive, it was decided to try to shoot it.
The officers involved in the search were armed with large caliber weapons.
Frank and I took two sawed-off shotguns and we approached the door leading to the garage.
Who's covering the window?
Mac.
Alright, I'll hit the door. Stand back, we'll try to see what's inside.
Okay. I can't see anything from the window.
Yeah, it might be behind those boxes at the rear there.
Yeah.
You all set?
Yep.
Now.
See anything?
No.
Wait a minute.
Back there behind the cases. Looks like something there.
You can take that sign.
Alright.
Take it easy.
Sure. You don't have to tell us.
Alright, Frank. Right from where you are, can you tip those boxes over there?
Yeah, I think so.
Well, let's try it. Maybe it'll drive them out in the open.
Alright.
Well, there he is.
Yeah, looks pretty mean.
Black Tomcat.
The event was similar to several that had happened during the hunt for the black panther.
During the twenty-odd hours we'd been looking for the animal, there'd been several reports that seemed authentic enough to be checked out.
All of them turned out to be false.
By this time there were over three hundred officers engaged in the search.
Frank and I went back to the office and put in a call to the telegraph company in an effort to find Clyde Habel.
They checked through their files but they were unable to find any record of any wires.
We then put in a call to the California-Nevada border station in an attempt to get information.
Yes, sir, that's right. Habel Amalgamated Combined Show.
What?
Five, two, three.
A. B. Victor. I. L. L.
Habel.
Well, what we got it should have come through Saturday the thirteenth.
No, it might have been Sunday the fourteenth.
You're pretty sure about that, are you?
Was it possible?
All right, I understand.
Okay, thank you. If anything turns up, will you call us?
Friday, extension 2507. That's all of that detail.
Right. Thanks again. Bye.
How about it? They got a record of the show going through?
They never heard of it.
We immediately put in a call to the authorities in Baker, California.
We talked with members of the State Highway Patrol and from them we obtained the information
that there had been no stray animals captured in the vicinity during the past few days.
The conversation with them lengthened the possibility that the story we'd gotten from Clarence Habel was a lie.
We checked his house but Habel wasn't there.
From his neighbor we obtained the name of his sister.
Six tens in, we drove out to the address of two families, Stucco Duplex.
We rang the bell and we waited.
Yes?
Miss Habel?
That's right. What is it you want?
Well, police officers. Frank Smith, my name's Friday.
Hello.
How do you do, ma'am?
What is it you want?
Would you like to talk to you about your brother?
Friday?
No, ma'am, Clarence.
Mr. Friday, I've done what I can for him.
If he's in trouble again, he's just going to have to go it alone.
What if we could talk inside?
Well, come on in.
Thank you very much.
What's he done this time?
Thank you, pardon?
What's my brother done this time?
Does your brother own a circus?
Is this a joke?
No, ma'am, it's pretty serious, does he?
Sure, big one.
How about the malcomated and combined shows?
Travels all over the country.
Animals, concessions.
Even got a man eating black pasta.
Yes, ma'am, that's one of the things we want to find out about.
Dandy?
You know the animal, do you?
Oh, Clarence's friends do.
Talked about him all the time.
Do you know where the circus is right now?
Same place it's always been.
Never been anyplace else.
Yeah.
And Clarence's head.
We continued to talk to Lillian Havel.
From her we got the background of her story.
She told us that her brother had been a press agent for one of the larger carnivals,
but that he'd been discharged several years before.
Since that time he talked of very little else but the day when he'd be able to start his own show starring Dandy,
the man killing Black Panther.
She went on to tell us that he'd spent most of his time in the hills of the San Fernando Valley
trapping small animals preparing for the first tour of the carnival.
We called the office and notified them.
The search for the Black Panther was called off.
8.46 p.m.
We left the duplex and we drove out the freeway to the valley.
When we got to Havel's he was sitting on the front porch reading.
The monkey was still on his shoulder.
Hey, come back, huh?
Yes, sir.
Found Dandy yet?
Sure hope you come up with him.
I hate to lose the main attraction.
You haven't had any word of him yet, huh?
No.
He's a sly one, old Dandy.
Sly.
He knows if you find him he'll go back in the cage.
You just keep looking though, he'll turn up.
The search has been called off, Havel.
Called off?
That's right.
You mean you quit looking?
That's right.
Well you can't do that, you can't.
Dangerous animal like that loose in the city, all the people in dire danger, you can't call off the posse.
Why don't you tell us about it?
What do you mean?
All right, Havel, tell us why you did it.
Huh?
Why'd you report the Panther being gone?
He was, wanted to save all the people from dire danger.
Why don't you tell us the truth?
Huh?
We've checked your story, it's a pack of lies, you know it.
Now just a minute, ain't no man that says I tell lies, no man.
You say you got two telegrams from your brother, is that right?
Yeah, from Clyde.
Well we checked with a telegraph company.
They've got no record of any such messages.
Hey, it's a big company, they might have lost him.
No, I don't think they lost him.
Might have.
You told us the carnival truck went into Nevada, didn't you?
Is that right?
Well we checked at the border, they don't know anything about the show.
Well, there are a lot of roads in the Nevada, maybe you called the wrong station.
No, we talked to the right one.
Big truck, red and yellow, Havel's combined amalgamated shows,
letters about this big on the side,
yellow letters, got a picture of Danny on the side,
you know what I mean, you can almost count his teeth.
You told us the truck was registered in your name, DMV has no record of it.
Well it must be some mistake, it's gotta be wrong.
We talked to your sister, she tells you don't have any kind of a show.
Lillian said that?
That's what she said.
You here too?
Yes, sir.
Lillian told you I didn't have no show? Lillian told you that?
Go and get your coat, Havel.
Huh?
A little cold out tonight, you might need a coat.
We going someplace?
Yes, sir, we're gonna have to take you downtown.
Why?
Well you had half the city on a wild goose chase here,
caused a lot of people a lot of work,
turns out there was no reason for it, we're trying to find out why you did it.
Why?
Yes, sir.
You ever wanted anything bad, Sergeant?
What?
You ever wanted something so bad you'd almost taste it,
get to a point where you think about it so much,
pretty soon it don't come over like a dream anymore, it's real, honest and true real.
You ever wanted anything like that?
I wouldn't know.
Well, that's the way it was with Havel's and Mel's combined shows.
That's the way it was.
I was weaned on sawdust, been around it all my life.
The animals, side shows, the alley, all of it.
Been my whole life.
When I left it just seemed like I jumped into a big hole that didn't have no bottom.
Wasn't anything to hang on to, nothing to tie down to, you know.
Always I had in the back of my head that I could do it again.
I was a good publicity man, good.
Used to pack the man.
Never no trouble getting the people in when I was there.
When I left I knew I'd be back, I knew it with my own show.
Havel's amalgamated combined shows, the biggest in the world.
I guess I just got so I believed it too much
and lost the line between what's real and what I was dreaming.
You know, this morning when you was out here,
remembered and tried to stop you from going on with it.
Tried and then there was that phone call where they found Andy.
Didn't seem right to stop things then, just didn't seem right.
All right, you want to get your coat?
Yeah.
You going to take me downtown in a police car?
That's right.
Going to use a siren?
For what sir?
Siren.
There's no reason for any siren.
I suppose not.
Used to have sirens when I come to town.
Me and the chief of police ride down the street, siren going.
Everybody knew I was in town, big to do.
Everybody knew I was there.
Things sure changed.
Not very much.
Things have changed.
People used to know I was in town.
They still do.
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Clarence Neil Habel was held over for a sanity hearing in superior court.
On recommendation of the court, appropriate action was taken.
The story of your police force in action is a presentation of the United States Armed Forces Radio Service.
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