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True Crime Historian

Saving Mother From The Gallows

True Crime Historian

Richard O Jones

True Crime, Documentary, Arts, Society & Culture, Performing Arts

4.4729 Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2024

⏱️ 81 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Baldwin Trunk Murder

Episode 187 takes us to Prohibition-era Los Angeles, where a gallivanting doctor gets a snoot full of juice and more than he bargained for. Factor in a devoted teenage son who will do anything to protect his mother and a somewhat bewildered boyfriend to come up with another scandalous tale.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Popular.com

0:03.4

Los Angeles, California, April 14th, 1924.

0:13.9

Dawn had just broken through the clouds when a couple pulled up in front of the central station yesterday morning.

0:20.9

A woman alighted, and the car hurried on, losing itself in the dense fog.

0:27.4

The woman hesitated a few moments outside the station entrance,

0:31.6

then gathered in the belt of a long, loose-fitting coat,

0:35.5

folded her arms, and mounted the short flight of stairs which led to the

0:39.9

captain's office. Under one arm, she carried a book. Officer H.W. Mack on duty rose from his desk

0:49.0

as the woman entered the small office. She announced, quote,

0:57.2

I have something which is troubling me, unquote.

1:00.1

Then, without a show of emotion,

1:04.6

Mrs. Margaret B. Willis, middle-aged businesswoman,

1:08.6

calmly announced that she had, quote, killed a man, unquote, and offered to lead officers to the dead body.

1:13.1

She gave her name and address, and also the name of the man

1:16.8

whom she declared she had shot to death two days before in her apartment.

1:22.4

After repeating her story to Detective Lieutenant's Parson's Vale and Roselli,

1:31.5

the woman, Mrs. Willis, asked for a cup of coffee,

1:40.3

complaining of the cold and a long loss of sleep. Officers at the Central Station at first appeared to doubt her story. They soon confirmed a part of what she had told them when they learned

1:45.9

from C.M. Baldwin, brother of the slain man, that Dr. Baldwin had been missing since last Friday.

1:54.3

From this juncture, the search for the body began. Taking Mrs. Willis with them in an automobile, the officers followed her directions

2:04.9

and were led to a spot on the San Fernando Road about five miles north of San Fernando near Newell

2:11.5

Gate, where the Southern Pacific Railroad cuts through the Santa Rosanna Mountains.

...

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