 Wheaties presents Joel McCrae in Tales of the Texas Rangers. On stage tonight transcribed from Hollywood another in the Wheaties big parade of exciting half-hour presentations. Tales of the Texas Rangers starring Joel McCrae as Ranger Pearson, Texas more than 260,000 square miles, and 50 men who make up the most famous and oldest law enforcement body in North America. Interest come these stories based on fact. Only names, dates and places are fictitious for obvious reasons. The events themselves are a matter of record. Case for tonight, Apache Peak. Shortly after midnight on October 4 last, a late model blue sedan came to a stop at a traffic light on the highway leading southwest out of Wichita Falls, Texas. While the driver waited for the light to change, a figure moved out from the shadows and tapped on the window of the sedan. Going toward Haskell, mister. I didn't hear you with the window up. Said you're going near Haskell. I don't know. Where is it? I'm headed for El Paso. That's my direction now about a ride. All right. Up in. Thanks. Might be hard getting a ride as you like. Uh-huh. How far is Haskell? About 80 miles, but I'm going past there up near Apache Peak. Pretty far from El Paso. Oh, good. Keep me from falling asleep at the wheel. I got to be in El Paso in the morning. Business appointment. You from the east? New York. I guess the accent sticks out, huh? I reckon so. What kind of business you in? Salesman. Airplane parts. You get tired on your driver's bill. Hey, that's a thought. As soon as I start to feel sleepy. Sure. Give me a chance to rest up. Good. Almost 4 a.m. Be in Odessa in 20 minutes. You want to take over? Yeah. I guess I can stop any place on this highway. Haven't seen another car in an hour. I'll slide over. You get out and come around. No, you get out. Well, it's just as easy for you. Hey, what are you doing with that gun? I need money, mister, and you've got it. Sure, sure. I'll give it to you. I won't report it or anything. I'll give... I know you won't, mister. Sales of the Texas Rangers will continue in just a moment. Tonight, as special guest, Wheaties champion, Robert Feller. Well, by golly, it's always fun to meet a Wheaties champion. Especially when he's as nice a guy as Bob Feller, the Cleveland Indians. Hello, Bob. Hi, Ed. Are you seeing many baseball games these days? Oh, you bet, Robert. You eating many Wheaties these days? What a question. Well, I've been eating Wheaties for breakfast almost every morning for pretty close to 20 years. And still going strong, eh? Wheaties are money tough to get tired of. I guess Wheaties and milk and fruit will still be my favorite breakfast when I'm too old to climb out of the dugout. Now, that won't be happening for a lot of years yet. Thanks for stopping in, Bob Feller, our real Wheaties champ. You know, gentlemen of the audience, this man, Feller, has a wife and youngsters, even as you and I. His paycheck depends in part on healthy energy, just as ours does. Got my point? We need him, too. Wheaties, breakfast of champions. Get yours. And now, back to our story with Joel McCray as Ranger Pearson. The body was discovered at 8.15 in the morning of October 4th when a fence rider from Moran's bordering the highway found it in the brush at the side of the road. He reported the discovery to the nearest sheriff, and the sheriff relayed the report to the Texas Rangers. Ranger Jase Pearson was assigned to the case. There's the body, Jase. Under that sheet. Where was he found, Sheriff? About 11 miles east. Must've been dumped out of a car. Shot three times. One through the neck and two through the chest. 38 caliber? Yeah. Corner got two of the slugs. Any identification on him? Or anything, Jase? Whoever'd done it even stole the clothes off of him. Except in his shirt and shorts and necktie. And a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket. It's all there on the table. Hmm. A picture mark on the shirt, that might help. Corner, say how long he's been dead? Since 4 or 5 o'clock this morning. These cigarettes, were they on him? Yeah. Why? They helped any? Maybe a whole lot. Look at this. New York state tax stamp. Can you make something out of that? Only the one pack of cigarettes wouldn't have lasted him from New York to Texas. Probably bought a carton or two to start out on the trip. So his home might be in New York. I reckon an awful lot of folks buy a carton of smokes in New York, Jase. Yeah, but it's a place to start checking that laundry mark on the shirt. It'll be a help if we know who this man is. I'll send these things into the lab, and they can send a wire photo of the mark to New York. The car now has some pictures of the body. I'll put them on the wire, too. You got a deputy to get the stuff to my headquarters? Sure thing. I'll call him. Good. And we can get out and check the scene. Had this little piece of road here blocked off so no cars could wipe out anything. Good. That body was found right in here. Yeah, dragged in from the road. Back of the heel scraped along there. Clothing caught on the mesquite here. And what you picking off there? Little fibers of cloth snagged on here. Lab men get through with these, and they'll be able to tell us what kind of duds they came from. Let's take a look at the road. Fresh set of tire tracks here on the shoulder, Jase. Yeah, I noticed them. Impressions deeper here. That's where they stopped. Look at the marks around it. The body was dragged out of the driver's side. Does that make a difference? Means the dead man must have been driving. So it was a good chance it was his own car. I reckon that ends up. But how about the other pillar? Could be the same old story, Sheriff. A hitchhiker. A man had to be a fool to take a hitchhiker through this country, didn't he? Yeah, a fool. The rules is, most of them are nice people. And they don't rate being killed. I'm gonna play a hunch. Make some work for the highway patrol. Captain Stimson's out on investigation. I may be able to reach him in his car. Unit 10 to Unit 3. Unit 10 to Unit 3. Unit 10 requests all points, bullet, and alerting highway patrol and ranger units to stop and check all cars carrying New York state plates. No, Captain. The man was driving car he was dumped from. Might have been his own. How soon can we expect report from New York police on Laundry Mark? We'll keep Unit 3 informed if I move from this location. Unit 10, 10-4. 10-4, sign off. I took the sheriff back to his office. And that's when the hardest part of all hunting began. The waiting. The only thing we knew for certain about the murder car was that it was heading west on the road to Pecos, El Paso. I headed the same way, to all the cafes and service stations, wherever a man on the run might risk stopping. But all the answers were the same. New York car, you say? No, no, I don't think so. I only saw one out of state all day from Oklahoma. Well, thanks anyhow, man. Sit down. Have some coffee and pie, Ranger. Oh, no thanks. I gotta find a fellow. No, I sure remember it if a New York car stopped here for gas, ain't seen one in a week. Thanks. Uh, Ranger? Yeah? The kid runs across a little while I'm eating. Maybe he saw something. I'll call him out if you want to wait till I catch his fellas with you. I'll wait. Oh, gee, I just remembered the kid didn't sell nothing today. Well, thanks anyhow. We've been working on the road all day, senior. But we don't know this nobody. Yeah, I guess not. They detour past your 50 yards away. There's only one who might see his one. He holds the red flag when a car is coming down there. But he don't even look up. He just hears the car and wave the flag. He too busy looking in the movie magazine at Betty Grabo. Well, thanks. By nightfall, I was just outside of Pekas. I pulled into a grove near an auto court, a place I'd stopped before. Let my horse Charco get down from the trailer. Barely got him unloaded when another Ranger car pulled in. What's up, Kurtz? Howdy, boy. Howdy. What are you doing down here? Got a teletype for you from headquarters. Murdered man's name was Roger Bradley, New York City salesman for an airplane pod's outfit. Identification positive? Yeah, pictures, laundromat, everything. Police up there traced the laundromat. Bradley's wife identified the pictures. Was married, huh? Yeah, three kids. The car you're looking for is a 49 blue sedan. Here's the make and license number. Highway patrol hasn't spotted it in any place. Nope, but here's a list of all the clothes Bradley was carrying on the trip. Pretty complete description. Can't understand why nobody's seen that car. A killer might have gotten out of the state. Had a good start. I hope that isn't it, Kurtz. Three kids have to grow up without their father because of a gun crazy hitchhiker. I know what you mean. Let's hope he's still in Texas. If he is, we're gonna find him. In just a moment, we continue with Tales of the Texas Rangers starring Joel McCray as Ranger Jase Pearson. Next time you bounce out of bed in the morning, well, you do bounce, don't you? Well, okay, let's say next time you get out of bed, head for the Wheaties. Sure enough, head for the Wheaties at 7 a.m. and see how they help at 11 a.m. Yes, they can make a difference at 11 and they can make a difference at the breakfast table. It's likely to be a pleasanter place with a bowl full of crisp little old Wheaties next to your spoon and napkin. The reason is, of course, the wholehearted whole wheat taste of Wheaties. You're getting all that sweet as a nut whole wheat flavor in every Wheaties flake. Pour on the milk, put on the fruit and dig right in to one of the finest openings any morning ever had. And then, see how much finer the morning itself goes. When you've started with breakfast of champions. That bowl whole wheat really gives with vitality, you know? There's a whole kernel of wheat in every flake of Wheaties. Now, see if you don't notice the difference all morning long. Less of the mid-morning slump, more of the up-and-atom punch. Know what I mean? All right then, you try it. Tomorrow, next day, for a good breakfast, for a good morning, start with Wheaties. See yourself how Wheaties at 7 can help at 11. And now, back to Joel McCray as Ranger Jase Pearson in Tales of the Texas Rangers. For the next five days, Ranger Kurtz and I worked our way west, but we couldn't get a lead. Then on the afternoon of October 10th, six days after the killing, we stopped and unloaded our horses at Eagle Flat in Hudspeth County. Blacksmith's place is open? Yeah, horses can drink from his trough. Hey, look at that poke leaning against the fence there. They sure do get dutied up for Saturday night in Eagle Flat. Yeah. Kurtz, how about it, Jase? That suit. No poke ordered that through a mail catalog. It looks like one of the suits described on the teletype. Let's find out. Howdy. Well, howdy, Ranger. You live around here? I live in the Longbow Ranch up near Tabernacle Mountain. What a nice suit you've got there. It's kind of fancy. Yeah, ain't it a good thing? From New York, label says. New York, huh? Where'd you get that suit? Well, I bought off... Now, wait a minute, Ranger. This ain't stolen, is it? Yeah, and the man it was stolen from is dead. Oh, man, I just bought off and a fella come by the bunkhouse. When? A few days ago. He'd drive up with a bunch of stuff. Drove up in what kind of car? Uh, new sedan. Blue. Notice the license plates on the car? No, no. What do you think, Kurtz? He's seen our men or he is our men. Were you on the ranch October 4th? Well, this is the first time I've been offin' it in two weeks. I bought the suit, I'm telling you. Did you buy anything else? Yeah, this. What's your hands? Well, I'm just gonna show your wallet to fella threw in with the suit. Get it out. Hey, yo, paid him $10 for the suit and this. Hmm. Identification cards and everything stripped. You take anything out of here? Well, nothing to take. Just like I got it set for my $5 and the money pocket. Killer took all identification out of these celluloid card holders. Might've left some prints. Or to get it to the lab. Yeah. All right, you better come with us. Now, look, I didn't do nothin'. Thank you, ma'am. To the sheriff. You can give us a description of the man who sold you the duds. If your story checks out clean, you got nothin' to worry about. Oh, it's clean. All right. Let's go. We checked the folk story at the Longbow Ranch. He was tellin' the truth, all right. At least we had a description of the man we were after now. About 20 years old, dark, 5'7", about 140 pounds. Kurtz and I unloaded our horses. Which way we ridin', Jase? Come on, boys. Head north, into the hills. Road Peter's out past this ranch, though. Nothing but a trail. He might've turned back to the highway. Uh-uh. Well, arm was out by the time he passed here. If he went back to a main highway, the car would've been spotted. He's ditched it up here someplace. Well, let's ride. Get up there, charcoal. Get up there, boy. Yeah. Road north from the Longbow Ranch, cutting into the mesquite and cedar that flank the road. Got thinner and more difficult. And just when I thought we might've come too far, we spotted the car. Reckon that's it? Let's see. Then we'd gully and then covered it with dirt and grass. Nobody'd ever spotted unless they were lookin' for it. Let's get back and report it. Unit 10 to KTXP. Unit 10 to KTXP. Unit 10 located blue sedan, registered to Roger Bradley, New York City. Murder victim, Roger Bradley. Another set identified as being those of Lenny Tripper. Please repeat, Lenny Tripper. Lenny Tripper. Any line on him? We're in cabin near Apache Peak. Car was found north of Longbow Ranch. Apache Peak's about 10 miles further in. We'll investigate. Unit 10, 10-4. It was sundown when we got started. The country we had to go through is tough enough by daylight. It was after midnight when we sighted Apache Peak. There was still a light on and a cabin nested down in the foothills. Woo, boy, easy. Keep kinda late hours up here, don't they? Too late. Better tie the horses to that mesquite. We'll slip up and look in. Yeah. Come on, boy. Chase. Something movin' over there. See it? Looks like a couple of burrows. Let's take a look at him. You boys up past your bedtime, ain't ya? Feel him. Both in a sweat, all kicked up. Been packin' too. Yeah, the hair's matted down where they've been cinched. Funny time to be workin' burrows. Yeah. Come on. Let's see the house. Look through the window. Man eatin'. Not our boy, though. Too old. Must be Tripper's father. Look, there's the old lady, too. You go around the back way and I'll go in through the front. Wait till you hear me knock. Get in. Right. Who's there? Texas Ranger. What do you want? Lenny Tripper. He ain't here. Mind if I come in and make sure? Hand him in. Come on. Oh, what? Just another Ranger at the back, Mrs. Tripper. You want to let him in, too? Go ahead. Don't mind if I... When he's eatin', do ya? No, I'll go right ahead. This your regular mealtime? I eat what I want up. Nothing out back, Chase. Where's your boy, Mr. Tripper? You're the Ranger. You find him. I haven't seen him in a year since he joined the Army. You haven't seen him in the last three months, either, since he deserted from the Army. You heard what you said. Get me a smoke mo. Want to help your boy? You better help us. He's in Mexico. Been there more than a month. Mexico, huh? Thanks. Mind if I have one of those cigarettes, Mr. Tripper? Yeah. Never mind. Reckon you can buy you one. Well, I just got a hankering for one of those. I always get a cigarette like that. What do you mean, Ranger? A New York tax stamp on the pack, Tripper. Those cigarettes were stolen from a murdered man six days ago. Murdered man? Shut up! What were you doin' to those boroughs outside? They been packin'. Well, I was bringin' some stuff down. Been brosh-packin' up the peak. The band of silver mines up there, Chase. Is your son hiding out one of those mines, Tripper? Were you packin' supplies to him? I told you when I was doin' them. That boy's wanted for murder, and if you're smart, you'll take us to him and tell him to surrender. Do what they say, Pa. Do what they say! Shut up! Leave her alone! I didn't know about the murder. He just said the army was after him. Come on, Kurtz. We better go up after him. Oh, don't hurt him! Go ahead, Ranger. Don't hurt Pa. Go after him. He'll kill you. That's what he'll do. He'll kill you! We had to go up on foot. It was too treacherous for the horses, and trailing over that rocky ground in the darkness slowed us to the crawling speed of an overfed snake. There got to be less earth and more rock, and the burrow tracks grew fainter. So we tried to pick them up by moonlight and flashlight. There could have gone in any direction from here, Chase. Can't pick up a mark. Seems to level off a bit on that shelf ahead. Might be a narrow trail there. Hope so. Gettin' steeper. Too steep for burrows. What? A dwarf oak here. Flash your light. Yeah, that's it. Hold it. Anything? Yeah. Branch bend. It's been brushed. Look here, been nibbled a bit, too. Recent. Torn leaves are still fresh. Yeah, we're headed right, then. Must have gone straight ahead between those big rocks. Yeah. Yeah, this is it, all right. Look at the side of the rock. Flex the mic up peeled off. Little fiber stuck. Burr a pack of ropes, must have scraped it. Let's keep going. The oaks and cedars fought for whatever slight grip the roots could get on the earth between the rocks. Don found us on a high shelf facing a rise that led to the open mouth of an abandoned silver mine. Trey leads straight enough now. Yeah. He's there, Chase. Yeah, but 20 feet back in. He could pick us up and we'd never even get to see him. Stay down and keep the hole covered. What are you going to do? Just call him out. Tripper. Lanny, Tripper. He ain't going to answer, Chase. You can't get out, Tripper. Stay down, Chase. Oh, he's got a rifle, as well as that 3080 he killed Bradley with. You're going to come out, Tripper? If we'd only packed a stick of dynamite, he'd come out soon enough and be buried in there. Maybe the idea of dynamite would be enough. Go over down the shelf and let him see you just once on the way. Not long enough to draw a bead. Maybe we can bluff him. Why don't you go down and let me... It's my idea. I'll stay. Go ahead. Be careful, Chase. You missed him, Tripper. You're not going to get another shot. He went down to our burls to get some dynamite. We're going to seal you in there, Tripper. You better come out. Don't kill me on sight. I won't if you do what I tell you. Leave your rifle in there and come out with your hands clasped behind your head. This is a deal. All right, Tripper. Now come out. He came out of the shaft slowly, first a blur, then into the light with his hands behind his head. I got up and he walked toward me. He wasn't wearing a gun belt, but there was something in the way he moved that made me keep my hands close to my holsters. A quick side step and his hands came from behind his head and I caught the glint of a .38. I'm all right. Gun hand and arm. Put a tourniquet on and we'll take him down. What's the matter with you, Chase? You look kind of funny. Just thinking of his folks down there, his mother and even the old man, just trying to help him because he belongs to them in spite of everything he's done. Folks will like that. We've got to bring him in and break their hearts. Makes you wonder why you ever wanted to wear a badge. Until you remember the man he killed and the three kids who left to grow up without him. That makes you know you couldn't ever want to do anything but wear a badge. There's a tourniquet. That'll hold him. All right, Tripper, on your feet. Let's go. A ballistic check of the .38 that Lenny Tripper carried showed it to be the murder weapon used in the slaying of Roger Bradley. With that, another evidence accumulated by Ranger Pearson and the department, Tripper was convicted and sentenced to death in the electric chair. Well, Joe, you did a fine job of clearing up that case. Frank, I've got a little mystery at home. Maybe you can help me. Well, try to try, Joe. Well, it's the case of the disappearing Wheaties. Every once in a while, when I'm all set for a breakfast bowl of Wheaties, my cook says, sorry, we're fresh out. Why, that's no mystery. Wheaties are so good, so crisp, so loaded with natural, sunny, whole wheat flavor they just don't last long. Yes, I know, but what can I do? Well, you can get up early before anyone else gets out the Wheaties or buy two or three boxes at a time. I think you hit it, Frank. Many thanks. Good night, and thank you, Joel McCray. Next week, Joel McCray and another authentic re-enactment of a case from the files of the Texas Rangers. Joel McCray will soon be seen in the MGM production Stars in My Crown. Tonight's cast included Tony Barrett, Bill Johnstone, Sam Edwards, Paul Duboff, Byron Payne, and Virginia Grape. Now, this is the Wheaties man, Frank Martin, inviting you to listen on Monday to Frank Lovejoy and Night Beat on the Wheaties' Big Beret. See you then. Tomorrow, listen for Dorothy Maynard. Now, it's Basin Street on NBC.