This is Your FBI: The Confidence Game - William Roscoe

There are no major developments in the war news to report. Any new developments will be brought to you immediately. Keep tuned to your Blue Network Station. This is your FBI. This is your FBI. An official broadcast from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, presented as a public service by the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States.

To your FBI, you look for national security. and to the equitable society for financial security. These two great institutions are dedicated to the protection of you, your home, and your country. Tonight, the story of a crime against society, the confidence game.

There are some people who seem to wait for laws to be made so that they can break them. Break them and make money doing so. To those people, a curfew means a speak easy. A price ceiling means a black market. A war means a high-pitched gullible nation.

They like war, those people, because they can make money out of it in a hundred different ways. Sooner or later they all get caught, but they try. They try every angle that a nation at war provides, and they try it in the most innocent places.

Places like... ...or take the sunny boardwalk overlooking the ocean at a resort near New York. Put your face up, Abby. Let the sun get at it. It only brings out my freckles, Lily. Or else I start peeling.

Oh, good for the bones. Oh, I wish we were really on vacation from school. But I can't help feeling a little guilty about spending money in wartime. I think of poor Mrs. Greenway and... She hasn't heard from her son yet?

No. She's hoping he's a prisoner of war in Germany, but... I beg your pardon, it is. I couldn't help overhearing you mention the name Greenway. Do you by any chance know the lads first name?

Well, I... Forgive my rudeness, but I've just come back from overseas myself and I thought perhaps... Oh, his name is Herbert. Isn't that it ever? Yes. Herbert Greenway? Do you know him? Yes, quite well.

What ever is he all right? Do you know? Madam, you can tell the lads mother to rest easy. Exactly eight days ago the Russians freed him from a German prison camp. Then he was a prisoner.

Oh, so nice of you to tell us. Major? Major. Major William Evans Roscoe at your service, Miss. That is, I hope it's Miss. Oh, yes, yes. I'm Miss Tompkins and this is Miss Vergus. How do you do?

Most charming pleasure. You see, I happen to know about the Greenway Boy because... May I sit down? Oh, please do. Of course, move over the way. Thank you. Now, as I said, I've only just returned from some very secret work overseas in connection with prisoners.

I leave for Washington shortly to make my report. Oh, when? Well, not for a day or so. I've been granted a short leave, but I... Frankly, I don't know anyone sitting in. Would you ladies take it very presumptuous if I asked you to join me for dinner tonight?

Oh, it would be a pleasure, Major. Miss Bergen. Lily, you know I promised the Perkins. Oh, yeah. I'm very sorry. Some other time, perhaps. I'd like to. But I will have the pleasure of your company, Ms. Tomkin.

Well... Please, take pity on a lonely serviceman. You know, I haven't had a real meal or charming company for... Well, let's not say how long. Oh. Major. Yes? Wouldn't you prefer a good home cooked meal?

Well, as a matter of fact... Oh, I'd be so honored. Why, I... Oh please, it would make me very happy, and it's the least a civilian could do. Well, in that case, I met your service, ma'am.

There are two things about you that I find very hard to believe. Major. One is that you cook that most excellent dinner all by yourself. Well, I did. And the other is that you're really not married or engaged.

Oh, Bill. I look at you and I... What's the matter? I think I better go. Why? Because I can't do this anymore. Lily, forgive me for what I'm going to say. Well, I don't understand.

Can you understand the feeling of lost time that war gives a man? Can you forgive it? Can you forgive me for saying, Lily, that I love you? You know, I know we've only just met, but I want to run out and buy you flowers, buy champagne by your ring, an engagement ring.

You don't have to say yes this minute. You don't have to answer it all. It would suddenly fool you, but I want to... What, Bill? Funny. Here I am talking of buying a ring and thinking of running out and getting one first thing in the morning and have exactly $47 in my wallet.

But they'll ask that. For a ring for you. Oh, now Bill, listen. No, no, no, no. My banks in Philadelphia, do you suppose they'd honor a check here in New York? I refuse to let you.

What's money for? But something like this, something with someone like you. No, my army credentials are down at their secret. Lily, if you endorse the check, not for much, say, $50, I couldn't ask you.

Why not? I couldn't that, so are you? Well, we're going to be engaged. So what I have is yours. What I have is yours. The world is filled with people looking for love.

And people in love forget to ask questions. They don't care. Willie Tompkins didn't ask, didn't care, didn't know. Didn't know that when Major William Roscoe left her house that night with a check for $50 in his pocket, he walked quickly to the nearest subway station.

Not because he was in a hurry to catch that train, but because he had an appointment. An appointment he had made that very afternoon. Ms. Bergen! Ms. Bergen! Major! Major, I hope I haven't kept you waiting long.

I've been waiting all evening. Oh. It sounds like a pretty speech, but it's true. Did... Did Lily say anything? Oh no. I knew she didn't hear us on the boardwalk and if she had, I wouldn't have cared.

I... I really never should have done this. I'm sorry. Oh no. Oh no. You don't understand. I mean, Abby, forgive me for what I'm going to say. I don't understand. Can you understand the feeling of lost time that war gives a man?

Can you forgive it? Can you forgive me for standing here on a lonely subway platform and saying? The confidence game requires only two players. A gullible, rather lonely woman, for example.

And a man with a great deal of charm and absolutely no scruples. It's an old game, but it becomes a particularly nasty one when a new twist is added. A twist of taking advantage of a war.

Still, it's a game and like all games, it can't last. Particularly when checks are involved. Sooner or later, those checks turn up at the FBI. Are these the checks, Robbie? Yes. Both for $50 and both returned marked no account.

Didn't those women ask the major for any credentials? They felt the uniform was enough and the army never even heard of William Evans Roscoe. Probably an alias. You know, well it's a low trick alright to use the uniform of a... well he won't be wearing it long.

The laboratory reported on his handwriting in. We're waiting for a teletype from Washington now. fifty dollars from two school teachers to checks and one within ten hours of the other which makes me think he's an old hand i'm looking forward to that report from washington on major rosco when i'm writing specimen sent to the fb i laboratory in washington is

identified worked as not stop there And the sense it just begins because agents immediately begin investigating the man concerned. In this case while the FBI was checking, the criminal who called himself Major Roscoe decided to leave the city and go to a mountain resort.

It would be cooler in the mountains, it would be relaxing. Besides there would be lots of women, lots of unattached lonely women. It's plain caught fire naturally, there was nothing for me to do but bail out.

And that was when the Japanese fire ditched you. Of course I got the Purple Heart, but... But what, Maitre? Well, I'd rather not talk about it, Miss Hudson. Of course. Oh, I wish I were a man.

What? Well, I could have the kind of life you have now. Personally, I prefer the life I led before I fulfilled my obligation to my country and joined up. What did you do before the Army, Maitre?

Exactly what I wanted to do at the moment. If I felt the urge to go to China, South Seas, I'd take over 25, 30,000 out of the bank and go. So it always takes money to do things like that. I could probably go as far as Chicago, I guess.

Oh, no, no. You must have more than $100 in the bank. Well, I do, but... How much? Just a little. Barely 7,000. Well, where's your spirit of adventure? Take that and just pick up and go.

Oh, yes, I've always wanted to. I've always felt that I don't know why I talk like this to you. I do. You do it because you know that I think you do. Martha, can you forgive me for what I'm about to say to you?

Say to me? For the first moment I saw you, I knew that. Don't please, Major, don't say that. No, please don't you see how much it would mean to a woman like me? Don't you see how seriously I would take it?

Martha, I know. And I know how I feel. You mean? Yes, Martha. You want to marry me? Yes, Martha, I do. Just never thought I'd be happy. And I am. I am now for the first time in my life.

Two days later another check marked no account turned up at FBI headquarters in New York. Another check signed by Major William Evans Roscoe. A check that Major Roscoe had cashed at a resort in the mountains.

Now the trail, the path, the road that led to Major Roscoe was getting shorter, much shorter. The agents went at once to the resort to see the manager and then...the major. Well, really gentlemen, if you can't accept a check from a major in the United States Army States Army and a major who's been decorated and wounded. Lord knows what else.

Did you ask to see his credentials? Well, no, but after all his uniforms. Unfortunately, the uniform is not enough of the credential, not with people like Major Roscoe around. By the way, the major has been very friendly with any particular woman.

Yes? With Miss Hudson. Very nice lady, I. Miss Hudson. Miss Martha Hudson. We better see her right away, Leo. Oh, you can't. She's gone too. Oh, yes. They both checked out yesterday and he paid for both.

By Chek. Yes. By Chek. You have Miss Hudson's homodress. Yes, Anne. Get it, royal. A day too late. Yes. Laboratory report on his handwriting certainly indicted him. The major has quite a record. He's been operating for almost five years under about 20 different names.

I think we'll catch him this time. That is not where he's me. What then? I was thinking of a Miss Martha Hudson of the report from Washington that the mages been married twice and both wives died almost immediately after the wedding.

The momentarily closed the federal bureau of investigation file on the fraudulent make. We will return to this case in just a moment. Since the dawn of history, men have been fighting to win security. First, security against marauding enemies. Then security against the despotic power of kings and nobles. Freedom of speech and religion,

trial by jury, protection against arbitrary arrest and imprisonment. These are some of the great securities which our ancestors bought for us with their blood and their lives. In the last century men set out to win still another security for themselves. It was freedom from money worries, protection against the financial uncertainties of the future.

To this end, in the year 1859, a group of Americans founded the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. Their idea was that by joining forces, by combining their dollars into a common protective fund, maximum security for each individual member would be achieved.

health and self-reliance, voluntary cooperation by men willing to work together in ways that benefit the entire community. That's the American way. That's the equitable way. By serving its members, the equitable serves America. And now, back to the file on William Roscoe, Confidence man.

A man signs an assumed name to a check and defrods a woman of fifteen dollars. He's done it before many times. He's never been caught and he sees no reason why he should be now.

But the FBI has his record. They know his method of operation. And now on a train returning to New York they are finally on his trail. The description we got at the hotel fits the one of the report alright.

Five eleven hundred and seventy four pounds scars on his forehead The manager said the major claimed he got those scars in the Pacific fighting japs Well, it shouldn't take long to get to the Hudson woman's house from the station She lives with a brother and sister in law What oh?

Yes, what are you thinking about? Same thing you are what that chamber made told us yes Well, just because the Major carries a gun, that doesn't mean that this train would move a little faster.

So do I. That train was due in New York at 3.45 pm, but it was 10 minutes late. And at 3.50 pm Major Roscoe was waiting in the railroad station, waiting to board a train.

Waiting to board a train with his bride-to-be Martha Hudson. You sure you got everything Martha? I'm course hidden, and now don't worry, so I just wish I could be with you in Boston for the wedding.

I wish you could be with your sister too Mrs Hudson but army orders you know there's nothing I can do of course not stop getting so upset and I can't help it if I can't more about your own sister than you Oh my and now don't cry I'm just so happy for you

Yeah my dear don't you think Martha's safe in my hand oh yes that just it it's all so wonderful Oh for Pete's sake let me have your hand can you miss Martha my dad yes William Harry says sorry well all the luck in the world to you thanks I think I've got it now goodbye it might be good bye major take care of

my best Harry old man good bye sir thanks for everything I can't do it up oh the tickets only macro here they are thanks for picking him up off again You got my check. Sure.

Well, goodbye then. Goodbye! Goodbye! Goodbye! Goodbye! Goodbye! You did enough weeping for a dozen weddings. I know, but I'm so happy for her Harry. Yes, so am I.

She always pretended that she didn't care about not being married, but... Sure. ...and you know when it's your own sister, you feel kind of lousy, honey. Well, it's all right now, Harry. The Majors are wonderful, man.

You sure is. That was a beautiful ring he gave her. Lost a cost of fortune. It did. Five hundred bucks. How do you know? His banks in Philadelphia, so I endorsed the check for it.

Oh, hey. Harry, who's that man waiting on our front steps? Gee, I hope. What? Nothing. Apart me. Yes? I'm looking for Miss Martha Hudson. I'm afraid you'll have to go to Boston to find her, Mr. Boston.

Yes, she just left to be married there. To a major Roscoe? Yeah. Say, who are you anyway? Special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Gee. Martha hasn't done anything, has she? No. The person we're looking for is the man who calls himself Major Roscoe.

I knew it, Edna. I knew it was too good to be true. There is not a section of this country that is not covered by the FBI. Before a train carrying Major Roscoe and Martha Hudson could have arrived in Boston, Special Agents in that city were notified by Teletype to be on the watch.

When the train arrived they were at the station. There was no sign of the Major or Martha Hudson. The agents checked all the hotels, the rooming houses, the churches, but there was no trace of the missing couple.

A report was Teletype back to New York and the Special Agents there immediately paid another call on Martha Hudson's brother and sister-in-law. Mr. Hudson, are you certain that your sister and the major left for Boston?

I can't be certain of anything anymore. Harry! I'm sorry, honey. We know this has been a pretty bad shock, Mr. Hudson, but we're trying to find your sister. Did you put them on the Boston train?

No, we said goodbye to them in the station. Maybe they got off before Boston. We're checking on that. But there's also the possibility they never started for Boston. I picked up the tickets myself. Did you see them?

No. Just picked up the envelope, paid for it, and never looked inside. You say you paid for the tickets? Yes. Do you remember how much they cost? Sure. The major gave me his personal check for them.

Here. Thank you. This checks for $20.38. That's the price? Yes, but that's not the price of two tickets to Boston. That's the price of two tickets to Washington. William, why did you tell Harry and Edna?

We were going to Boston instead of Washington. Oh, just the incurable romanticity in me, I guess. This way we seem like two care for youngsters running off to this hotel secretly. Oh, William. We're going to have such a wonderful life.

Oh, dear. What's the trouble? Well, the confusion of getting away, I didn't have time to get to the bank. I stripped myself of cash. That's all right, I have some. It's a fine way to begin our life together.

What do you mean? Borrowing from you. Oh, it's not borrowing. Whatever I have is yours anyway. I wish you didn't have a single penny. Why? I suppose it's because at heart I'm... old-fashioned, my dear.

But I wish you were completely dependent on me. I wish you had a come to me for every penny. William, may I have your pen? What are you going to do? The pen, please. Yeah.

Thank you. I'm going to make myself completely dependent on you because we're healthy because I'm old fashioned too. What's that check for? All I have. Oh, my dear. I knew from the very beginning that you were the woman I always...

Who's that? Say, Bellboy, I guess, I ordered some champagne for us. Oh, William. Yes? Made you Roscoe? That your service, gentlemen? Would you step out into the hall for a moment? Who are you? Special agents of the FBI.

William? Just some military matters, my dear. Nothing to be alarmed about. I'll be back in a moment. Now then, gentlemen. I think you know what we're here for. My dear man, I really haven't the slightest idea.

You mind if we search you? For weapons? Yes. The only weapon I carry is right here in my pocket. My checkbook. What we like to talk with you about concerns, cheques, and impersonation. Oh. We have quite a few of your cheques.

One endorsed by a Miss Lily Tompkins, another by a... No, you don't! Oh, this... My checkbook. I know. I'll take that checkbook for me, Jim. What is it, 38 automatic? Yes. Handy little gun, you had their major?

Not quite handy enough, it seems. But you know, gentlemen, I should have known from personal experience that as a weapon, the checkbook is much better than the gun. Shall we go? Very often, people will believe things because they want very badly to believe them.

But too often, other people, criminals, confidence men will take advantage of this desire, even to the extent of impersonating an officer of the United States Army. Every representative of this country, every government employee carries credentials, credentials that you should examine carefully.

This is a duty you own not only to yourself but to your country, and to the protectors of our internal security, the FBI. These criminals can be among the most difficult to catch, But with a full cooperation of the decent citizens of our nation, they can be the easiest.

You will hear about the file on next week's case in just a minute. Yesterday somewhere on the island of Okinawa, a young American infant from in stepped on a landmine. It blew up in his face.

Today, both of that boy's legs are going to be amputated. with his sacrifice anything that any of us does here at home seems trifling. Nevertheless, while we can't do as much as the men and women at the front, we can do our best. And that best is vitally important to victory. So it will be a source of satisfaction to equitable members

to learn that 44 percent of this society's assets are now invested in war bonds and government securities. Recently, Thomas I. Parkinson, president of the Equitable, pointed out what this means," he said, quote, for every one of its 3,200,000 members, the equitable now owns government bonds amounting to $490. For each member, an additional $220 is invested

in industries and utilities which manufacture weapons of war, plus $115 per member invested in railroads engaged in war transportation. That's another reason why we say that in war time equitable dollars are fighting dollars and at all times they are security dollars for you, your home and your country. Next week a crime against our fighting men war fraud.

The incident used in tonight's broadcast are taken from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. However all names used are fictitious, any similarity thereof to the names of persons living or dead is accidental. In tonight's cast, William Roscoe was played by Arnud Moss and Martha by Charlotte Holland. The music was composed and directed by Van

Cleve. The author was Lawrence MacArthur and your narrator was Frank Lovejaw. This is your FBI is a Jerry Divine production. Now this is Carl Frank speaking for the equitable life for sure in society of the United States and inviting you to tune in again next week at this same time for this is your FBI.

This is the Blue Network of the American Broadcasting Company.