C (4:10)

all right?

B (4:10)

Go on, make the turn. You're okay.

C (4:16)

There it is.

B (4:25)

All right.

C (4:26)

Come on.

B (4:26)

Yes,

C (4:30)

officer. This is at this house.

B (4:32)

Did you call the police?

C (4:33)

Yeah. I'm the super.

B (4:34)

John. John Parazoni. This is the house, Captain. Yeah. Where is it? What for? I don't know. One of the tenants called me upstairs. He smelled gas in the hall. I was up in the hall and it's lousy with gas. I couldn't tell where it comes from. His face. Lousy with gas all over the place. Marcado. Yes, sir. Stay down here. Help the people out. Don't let anyone in. Yes, sir. And keep them away from those mailbox bells. Come on, John. Sure, let's find it.

C (5:06)

All right, folks, take it easy. You'll get out. We'll get out. Come on. Take it easy, folks.

B (5:12)

Where do you think it was coming from, John? Well, it smelled to me like the second floor, but I don't know. Smells the same all over. Now, how many tenants in the building? There are four floors. Two families to a floor. That's the moors. I got them out. I thought at first it was from them. I knocked on the door, but it wasn't. What about the family in front? There was no answer there.

C (5:33)

Captain Canelli. Who's that? Sergeant Waters.

B (5:37)

Yes, sir.

C (5:37)

Well, send somebody to get the people off the first floor. See they open their windows. Yes. And then come up here. It's up here someplace. Yes. There's no stars down here. Riding a big cloud. Open their windows.

B (5:51)

It wasn't our ass. The second floor up front. Well, I don't think it's from here anyway. I think it's from upstairs. Wherever it's from, it just smells lousy. I was going to say ring all the doorbells and get the people out no, that's no good. A doorbell might cause a smart. Could be an explosion. Oh, yeah? Never thought of that. Those people left the door open. That's not there. No. What about in front, then? That's the rosters. They could really cause an explosion, huh? The doorbell, I mean. Well, they have caused explosions. Doorbells and cell phones.

C (6:30)

Captain, are you there? Yeah. Here, Sergeant. They're all off the first floor.

B (6:34)

When is that open? Where is it? Either here or on the fourth floor.

C (6:39)

Police officers. Anybody in there?

B (6:42)

Moncado, I thought I posted you down at the mailboxes. I left Barrel at the mailboxes and told Mikado to come up with me. Oh, okay. Sergeant, take Mercado and go upstairs. Yes, sir. Come on, Mikado. Okay. Sure.

C (6:54)

Sergeant. Yes, sir.

B (6:56)

Be careful about causing sparks.

C (6:58)

Yes, sir.

B (6:58)

Don't worry.

C (7:00)

Police officers. Open up.

B (7:01)

Could be in there. Is that what you think? Well, it could be. Yeah, I'd say so, too. It just smells pretty lousy here. You got a pass, K. John? No, I don't have Sasky to these apartments. They all got special locks in this building, Captain.

C (7:14)

It's up there. Okay. Coming. Where? In the car.

B (7:21)

That's the Happles. Did you see them go out? No, as a matter of fact. I said didn't see the Haples at all.

C (7:29)

Police officers. Open up.

B (7:31)

You sure that's it, Sergeant? Yes, sir. Coming out from under the door. Cabin. This is it for sure. He's got no path, Steve. Shall we kick it in? Yeah, I guess we'll have to. Listen, you're going to break down the door. I'm responsible for that. The landlord will be around here shooting all kinds of questions. Never mind the landlord now. Okay, Sergeant. Yes, sir. Hit it right at the lot. One good one ought to do it. Yes, sir. Need more than one good one, Captain. All right, try it again. Listen, be careful, will you? Go ahead. Yes, sir. Once more. It's gone. Try again. Yes, sir. That's got him. All right. Easy now.

C (8:07)

Easy.

B (8:08)

Is it all right? Where's the kitchen? That way. Sergeant, get the windows.

C (8:14)

Yes, Mercado. Turn off.

B (8:16)

The burners

C (8:20)

are all off, Captain.

B (8:23)

The burners are off, Captain. All four of them were on. 90 of them. Mrs. Zeppelin. All right. Marcado, get the emergency squad up here. Yes, sir.

C (8:30)

Right away, Captain.

B (8:32)

What do you think, Captain? How far Got it? It looks pretty far, drawn to me. You better get over and stick your head out that window. John, get some air. Where's the phone in here? I don't know. In the living room, I think.

C (8:49)

Hey, you don't think it's going to explode. Do. You find the phone, Captain? Yeah, here it is.

B (9:01)

Hold a wire a second, Sergeant.

C (9:03)

Yes, Captain. See if we can get more of a draft through here.

B (9:07)

Okay.

C (9:08)

Hello, this region 44099?

B (9:12)

Yes, this is Legion 4 4099.

C (9:15)

Hold on, sergeant. See what you can do for her.

B (9:17)

Yes, Hello? Who is this? This is a police officer. Police officer? Where's my wife? Are you Mr. Heppel? That's right. What's the matter? Well, where are you? Well, I'm in a sales meeting at the Astor Hotel. Where's my wife? I think you better come home right away, Ms. Hepple. There's been an accident here. An accident? What kind of an accident? Listen, is she heard? Is she all right? Well, we don't know. We just got here. We found her on the floor. The gas burners were on the gas burners. I'll be right there. Boy, that was lucky. Lucky? There was no explosion. Yeah. You're never thinking from her. Nice woman. Very nice woman. You'd never think she'd go away with herself or try to. Any response from her, Sergeant? No. No, sir. Have they lived here long, John? The apples, you mean? Yup. How long have they lived here? Oh, they were here before I came to work. I've been here three years. It's clearing out in here now. Yeah. John. What does he do? Mr. Hepple? Yeah, Mr. Hepple. He's a salesman. He sells something. I don't know what he does. All right, I guess. I think maybe they might have a chance with a captain. Good. That's what I. Boy, after all that gas. I'll check on emergency squad. Yes, sir. You come with me, John. I'm right with you, Captain. Look at that. You landlord ain't going to like that.

C (10:50)

Maro. Yes, sir. Did you catch on the emergency squad, Captain? Get the equipment out of the car. Okay. Everything under control, Captain? Yeah, it's okay. Can I let the people back in their pocket? All right, let them in. But no smoking.

B (11:16)

John, did Mrs. Heel seem despondent to you lately? What do you mean, despondent? Well, depressed, in a mood. That she might do something like this? No, I wouldn't say that.

C (11:29)

Why does he squat her way up, Captain?

B (11:31)

Yeah, of course. I couldn't tell when anybody was despondent. I wouldn't know that. Is she gonna be all right, you think? I don't know. Why would anybody want to do something like this? That's what I can't figure out. What could be your reason? I Don't know, Joan. Let's hope we get a chance to ask her that. You are listening to 21st Precinct, a factual account of the way police work in the world's largest city. Within minutes, two patrolmen from the emergency service squad arrived upstairs with apparatus and were at work attempting to revive the gas victim, Mrs. Margaret Heppel. For this and other rescue work, 13 emergency service squads are strategically located throughout the city of New York. A specially designed truck equipped with hundreds of rescue devices is maintained by each of these squads. In addition, two radio emergency patrol cars equipped for light rescue duty are assigned to each squad and perform around the clock patrol duty within their territory to augment the regular precinct patrol force. Almost as soon as the emergency squad men got to work, an ambulance from Beth David Hospital arrived and the ambulance attendant hurried upstairs to assist the officer. By that time, the odor of gas had cleared out of the kitchen and along with Sergeant Waters, I watched as the specialist struggled fiercely to revive the woman. At the end of 15 minutes, there was still no response. How much pressure have you got on this? It's all right. It's fine. What do you say she is, Captain? About 35? Yeah, about that. Think they're gonna be able to do any good? Well, haven't done much good so far, Sergeant. All right, haven't. Look around on this side, will you? Okay. Husband ought to be here by now. Oh, I don't think he's had time to get uptown. Guess not, Captain. Oh, here's a detective. Hello, Captain. Matt, Lieutenant King. Hi. Fit. Hello, Sergeant. How they doing, Captain? No response yet, man. Any fault there? He leave a note, Sergeant? No, sir, none are. We found all four burners were wide open. Matt. The oven jet was on, the oven door was open. Wasn't any accident. Keep her lit and warm, will you? What's her name, Sergeant? Mrs. Margaret Heppel. Age? We don't know. Looks about 35. Where's Mr. Heppel? Well, the phone rang almost as we hit the door. Man. The phone? Yeah. Lucky the roof didn't blow out. Sure is. Who was it? The husband. Oh, was it? Yeah. Is that factor still good? He said he was at a sales meeting at the hotel.

A (14:40)

After we're lost, I'm going to pull over and ask that man for directions. Hi there. We're looking to get to the campground.

D (14:49)

Well, you're going to take a left at the old oak tree end of this here road. No, I'm just kidding. Let me get my phone out.

A (14:54)

How are you getting a signal out here?

D (14:56)

T Mobile and US Cellular decided To merge. So the network out here is huge. We're getting the same great signal as the city. And saving a boatload with all the benefits. Oh, and a five year price guarantee. Okay, here's those directions.

A (15:07)

Actually, can you point us in the direction of a T Mobile store?

E (15:11)

America's best network just got bigger. Switch to T Mobile today and get built in benefits the other guys leave out. Plus our five year price guarantee. And now T Mobile is available in US Cellular stores. Best mobile network based on analysis by Oogle of speed test intelligence data 2H2025 bigger network. The combination of T Mobile's and US Cellular's network footprints will enhance the T Mobile network's coverage. Price guarantee on talk text and data exclusions like taxes and fees apply ct mobile.com for details.

B (15:42)

He's on his way here now. Why did he call? Did he say he wanted to talk to his wife? Let's take a look around, Captain. Seth, you and the sergeant stay here. Okay, hold it. Now we'll switch over to eight. Okay. How's she doing? Any response yet? No, sir, not yet. Okay, switch them over. Keep it going. Keep it going. Now she. She took those too, man. I guess she wanted to make a good job of it. No telling how many she used out of the bottle. What are they? Sleeping tablets. Well, that's what they look like. We haven't touched them. Set. Come over here and get these sleeping tablets together. This window was closed tight, Matt. But not locked. What's in the other rooms, Captain? Find any notes there? We didn't see any. You want to take a look? Yes. All right, keep that pressure there. Who discovered it? Captain, at this one of the tenants smelled gas in the hall. Called it the super. Super rang in on it. Mercado and I were heading back to the house from that armed robbery. We were just around the corner when the call came over. We got here first. Pretty nice furniture. They must not be too badly off. No, I guess not. How'd you get inside? We kicked in the door. Oh, wasn't the cane on the door? No, but it was locked. You did kick it, Captain? 210 pounds. Kicked it in Sergeant Warner's. Captain. The Huntsman's on his way up. I seen him get out of the cab. Okay. I hurried up to tell you. How is he? No response yet. It's too bad. This is Lieutenant King, commander of the 21st Detective Squad. John Parazone, the Superintendent of building. All right. Please don't make your turn. Where is she? All right, Mr. Hepple. Just take it easing, Williams. Where is she? The officers are working on her with respirator equipment. There's nothing you can do. I just suggest that you stay out here with us. There's something I can do. There must be. I know how you feel, and I know that you want to help her all that you can. Well, of course I want to help her. Then I suggest that you stay out here and let the officers do their work. How is she? Do you think she has a chance? Well, they wouldn't be working on her if she didn't. Mr. Happel. Why don't you come downstairs to my apartment? They'll let you know what's going on, won't you, Captain? No, I don't want to go down there. I want to stay here. You can stay here, Mr. Hepple, right here. But is she going to be all right? That's what I want to know. Is she going to be all right? Well, we're doing our best. That's all I can tell you. You can see what they got in there. You should see the equipment. Just tell me honestly, do you think she has a chance? She's got a chance, Mr. Heppel. A good chance. Oh, Mr. Heppel, this is Lieutenant King, commander of the 21st Detective Squad. Detective Squad? Yes, that's right. Well, what are the detectives doing here? What do we need detectives for? We roll on every unusual occurrence in a case like this. We investigate to see that there are no suspicious circumstances. You didn't find any suspicious circumstances around here, did you? No, we didn't. That depends on what you'd call suspicious. John, why don't you go down and tell all the tenants that they can go back into their apartments now. I told them all already. Well, go downstairs anyway. Just go down to your own apartment. All right. I'm going to have my own apartment. What does he mean? It depends on what you call suspicions. He didn't mean anything, miss. He must have meant something. He said it. He said it. We didn't listen, can I. Can I just go in there and have a look at her? I'd like to look at her and see what I can do to help. There's nothing you can do, Mr. He positive about that? Because if there is, I want to do it. I'm positive, Mr. He. What time did you leave the apartment tonight? Well, I guess it was about 7:15, 7:30. You have dinner here? Yeah, sure, I had. Did your wife give any indication that she was in a depressed mood? No, she didn't. She didn't at All. Was she feeling all right when you left? Of course she was. She wasn't feeling all right. I wouldn't have gone. You told the captain that you were at the hotel after to sail to the meeting. Is that right? Yeah, that's right. Meeting was called for 8 o', clock, so must have been 7:15, 7:30 when I left the house. So what do you sell? Well, I. I work with a supermarket. You know, I'm sort of a promotional man for a bakery. I go around the supermarkets. See that the bread and the cakes, the cookies are all displayed nice. The root man is servicing the supermarkets. Okay. That's my job to tend to that. Did you work today? Yeah, sure, I work today. I work every day. Listen, couldn't. Couldn't you give me any indication of how she's going to be? I'm worried. I'm awfully worried. We understand that. I'd like to be able to go in to see her. I wish you'd let me, Mr. Heppel. There's nothing you can possibly do that's not being done already. You've got plenty of chance to see her. But she may die. She may be dead now. Well, if you insist on going in, Mr. Heppel, I'll take you. But I think you're better off waiting out here with us. All right, if that's what you think. What time did you get home from work, Mr. Havill? Oh, it must have been about a quarter to six. I think it was just about a quarter to six because I went in and got washed up and turned on the radio. The six o' clock news. I listened to the six o' clock news. Was your wife home when you got here? Yeah, sure she was home. What did she say to you when you got home? I don't know. I don't remember. I don't know exactly what she said. Did you notice whether she was troubled about anything? No. But I told you, if she was troubled about anything, I wouldn't have gone to the sales meeting. What time did you have dinner? Well, it was about 6:30. I guess. The news was over. I sat, read the paper for a few minutes. Then she called me to come in. Order jazz for dinner. Meatloaf. Just meatloaf? No, that was the main dish. She had a vegetable, some coffee, something else, some dessert, some cake I brought home. What'd you do after dinner? I helped her with the dishes. Do you help her with the dishes every night? Well, most every night. Did you have any kind of an argument with her before you left? What do you Mean argument. We were quarreling. No, we weren't quarreling. Why do you ask that? We weren't quarreling. We had no argument. I just helped her with the dishes, put a fresh tie on, and I left. Go to the sales meeting like I told you. I don't know what makes you think we were arguing. I was just trying to find out why she would do this. Mr. Heffel, you don't seem to have any answer. Oh, I don't. That's the truth. I don't. Has she ever tried anything like this before? Margaret? Yeah. No, she hasn't. Not that I know of. I'm sure she hadn't. You know, they're taking an awful long time in there. I wish you'd do something. Wish they'd get something done. They're not gonna give up hope, are they? No, they won't give up hope. Not while there's a chance. Has she been in good health, Mr. Heppel? For my wife? Yes. She's been all right, I guess. Just all right. Like anybody else. She's had her bad days. Feeling bad, you know. Has she been under the care of a doctor? Well, as a matter of fact, she has. Is she really ill? She never told me what was the matter. She went to this doctor three or four times. Whenever I asked her about it, she wouldn't say anything. I didn't think it was much. He wasn't in a despondent mood when you left the house? No, no, she was all right. She was fine. Are you sure about that? I'm positive. You don't have any idea why she'd do something like this? Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. She was worried about something. What? Well, she's been worried about her sister, her only sister. Her sister's been in the sanitarium upstate. You know, she got a bad chest, tb. You think she might have been despondent over a sister? Well, I didn't say that. You're asking me to search my mind and see if I can think of something else she'd be despondent over. That's the only thing I can think of. Her sister. Now, please, please let me go in. I want to see her. I've got to see her. All right. Okay, man. Sure. It happens. Okay. So, Mr. Hippo. Yeah? Why did you telephone home? What do you mean? As soon as the police officers got in the apartment, the phone rang with you. Oh. Why'd you call her? Well, I. I don't remember now. Oh, I. I wanted to tell her I'd be home. In about a half hour. I wanted to know if she'd like me to bring some ice cream, something like that. Sometimes she asked me to bring ice cream home. That's what I wanted to find out. Can we go in now? Okay. Has she been taking sleeping tablets, Mr. Heppel? We had some around here. If you couldn't sleep, she took one. Nothing like a habit. Just occasionally, you know, if she couldn't sleep, sometimes I took them myself. She's in the kitchen. Thanks. Oh, Sergeant, this is Mr. Heppel. Is she gonna be all right now? Working, Mr. Heppel. All right, let's find a little bit more. I know they're working with her. She's gonna be all right. I've gotta know that. Gotta know if he's gonna be all right. That's it. That's it. We're getting some response. We're getting some response, Captain. Good. All right, get back out of the way, man. Give him some room to work. Thanks, Captain. Thanks a lot. You can make that mixture a little richer now. Okay, that's it. That's it. That's good. What do you think? He's coming around. Looks like she might be all right. Got two pulse, good pulses. Okay, good work. She's coming around, Mr. Hepple. Is she? They say they think she'd be all right. Are they sure? They're pretty sure, Mr. Heppel. Captain, excuse me. Okay, put it on. Supplemental. Yeah, what is it? He's conscious, Captain. I'd cut it. I want to take the mask off. Yeah. Mrs. Hepple. Mrs. Heppel.

C (26:53)

I'm dizzy. I'm very dizzy.

B (26:56)

You'll be all right.

C (26:59)

Very dizzy.

B (27:00)

She'll have a shot of caffeine to counteract those sleeping pills as soon as she gets in the hospital. Captain, I don't feel very well, Mr. Heppel. I feel terrible. Yeah. Come here. How is she? She all right? Margaret, what happened? What did you do?

C (27:25)

Ed?

B (27:28)

I'm sorry. Sorry. Why did you do it? I feel terrible. Don't try to move, Mrs. Heppel. Why did you do it? I don't know. I was just tired. Very tired. Margaret, honey. All right, Mr. Heppel, you better let them get her to the hospital. All right. Open up that stretcher now, Captain. I'll see you at the station house. Thanks, Captain. Thanks a lot. That's all right. Oh, she was lucky. Very lucky. Yeah, she was. But that isn't very hard. Not when you don't want to be lucky. 21st Preaching, Sergeant Waters. Shooting. Where? Who's shooting? Well, are there police officers there? Yeah. Yeah. Where are you? Are you upstairs or down on the platform? Which way they go? Oh, he did, huh? And so it goes around the clock through the week, every day, every year. A police precinct in the city of New York is a flesh and blood merry go round. Anyone can catch the brass ring or the brass ring can catch anyone. 21st Precinct. A factual account of the way the police work in the world's largest city is presented with the official cooperation of the Patrolman's Benevolent association, an organization of more than 20,000 members of the police Department, City of New York. Everett Sloan in the role of Captain Kennelly. Ken lynch is Lieutenant King. Featured in tonight's cast were Briana Rayburn, Harold Stone, Bill Lipton, John Shea, Joseph Julian and Phil Sterling. Written and directed by Stanley Nist. Produced for CBS Radio by John Ives. Art Hannah speaking.

A (29:53)

We're lost. I'm gonna pull over and ask that man for directions. Hi there. We're looking to get to the campground.

D (30:00)

Well, you're gonna take a left at the old oak tree end of this here road. No, I'm just kidding. Let me get my phone out.

A (30:06)

How are you getting a signal out here?

D (30:08)

T Mobile and US Cellular decided to merge. So the network out here is huge. We're getting the same great signal as the city and saving a boatload with all the benefits. Oh, and a five year price guarantee. Okay, here's those directions.

A (30:19)

Actually, can you point us in the direction of a T Mobile store?

E (30:23)

America's best network just got bigger. Switch to T Mobile today and get built in benefits the other guys leave out. Plus our five year price guarantee. And now T Mobile is available in US Cellular stores. Best mobile network based on analysis by Ukulele of speed test intelligence data at 2H 2025. Bigger network. The combination of T Mobile's and US Cellular's network footprints will enhance the T Mobile network's coverage price guarantee on talk text and data exclusions like taxes and fees apply. See t mobile.com for details.