Calling All Cars - Desertion Leads to Murder

On the morning of January 10th, John C. Sheldon, lineman for the Consolidated Gas and Electric Company of San Diego, and two members of his crew are repairing a telephone line. Sheldon is perched on the cross arm of a telephone pole. The others are waiting below. One of the crew asks "Are you going to want a new insulator for that line, Sheldon?" He says "No, the insulator is alright, the line itself has just loosened a little. I'll get it in a minute. Just needs a little tightening is all". A crew member says "You can tighten it all you want as far as I'm concerned. I want to sit down and eat. I'm hungry". Sheldon says "I've got this finished now. We can rest for awhile. Say, this is a swell day alright. It's quiet and peaceful. Huh, there's a guy whose got the right idea. He's stretched out on the grass over there. He looks like he's out like a light. That's the life, nothing to do be sleep... Hey, wait a minute. He can't be sleeping like that, with his face right in the dirt. Yeah, you guys take a run over there and see what's wrong with him". After a few seconds, the crew find him. One says "Hey, this guy is dead. There's a hole in the back of his head. You better call the police, Sheldon!" He says "I'll tap this line and see if I can get through to police headquarters!" Acting upon this information, Chief Hayes of the San Diego Police Department, immediately sends Detectives Harry Kelly and James Patrick, and others, to the scene. From the body of the dead man, they remove letters from his wallet, which establishes the victim's identity of being one Frank McCrary, a San Diego taxi driver. After the crime scene has been investigated, Sergeant Joseph Lopez is assigned to check on McCrary's actions as far as possible. His first step is to interrogate a cab driver friend of McCrary's named Register. After the initial shock of learning that McCrary had been murdered, Mr. Register told Lopez that he had two soldiers in his cab last night, and that they got on his got on his nerves, so he brought them back to the city.