 The national broadcasting company presents Joe McCrae in tales of the Texas Rangers Tonight transcribed from Hollywood another authentic re-enactment of a case from the files of the Texas Rangers The tales of the Texas Rangers starring Joel McCrae as Ranger Jase Pearson Texas more than 260,000 square miles And 50 men will make up the most famous and oldest law enforcement body in North America The Texas Rangers come these stories based on facts only names dates and places are fictitious for obvious reasons The events themselves are a matter of record case for tonight can death It is 1 15 a.m. January 26, 1940 Bob Farragut a rancher comes awake slowly as his eyes open a wave of nausea sweeps over him And he breaks into a cold sweat He throws back the covers staggers to his feet noticing that his wife has left her place beside him May May where are you? May What's the matter? Why are you out of bed? Yeah, I feel kind of funny myself. I was just putting some water on my face Yours white as a sheet you better get back and lie down Funny I can hardly stay on my feet with I'd hold on to something. You're all perspired About what can it be? I don't know. Let's draw coming down with a flu or something Kids acted kind of funny before they went to bed. I was up with him about 11 o'clock They were complaining about stomach aches. Wait We better go have a look at them. They feel like we do. I'm gonna call the doc Yeah They they seem to be all right now both sleeping better close the window by pete's bed Janet's got covers kicked off. I'll put a quilt over We better get back to bed ourselves have doc out in the morning What is it what's mad at Janet's face There's the funny don't go getting yourself excited. I'll wake her up Janet Janet wake up, baby Janet P.D. Wake up, P.D. Doc gotta call the doc right away May may gotta get him Get somebody to have Gotta get downstairs to the phone But two days later when a neighbor noticed Farragas milk cows wandering in pain as the result of not being milked The sheriff was summoned along with a medical examiner who made a preliminary diagnosis of poisoning The bodies were moved into town for autopsy and the sheriff called for the aid of a Texas ranger Ranger Jase Pearson was assigned Everything in this medicine cabinet seems to be innocent enough Jase your deputy check the garbage cans and refuse bins Yeah, no empty bottle of any kind just a few cans vegetable peel and stuff like that I'll need some wrapping to pack these bottles in so they can be flown to the lab for examination probably find what you need downstairs At least I've been in office nine years, and this is a dirtiest killing I've ever had Seem pretty sure this wasn't an accident not with kids being affected Farragas are a lot of careful people Carpooling up. Yeah, it must be the duck with our top to report No shit man Farragas partner in this range Who did it Sheriff? See it if I knew that I wouldn't be standing here. They got to do something about this I don't want anybody getting away with it. You can post a $5,000 reward for the killer in my name Make it 10 make it anything. I got it easy sit down. I know how you feel Sheriff tells me you own half this place. That's right. Ranger. How come you haven't been out here in a couple of days Well, I don't live on the place. It was just an investment to me I got a hardware store in town living there. I see You know anybody who was packing a grudge against the Farragas Against Bob and me and those kids you take a madman to want to hurt them Jace that's dark scar come on out. Good. Why does everything take so long? Everybody's staying around waiting instead of doing something. There's no point in doing anything until you know what you're doing And doc tells us what killed the Farragas will have something to trace. Oh, I'm sorry. All right, mr. Mag Howdy, howdy doc, you know said this is Ranger Pierce. Hello, sir. Hey, Ranger Yeah, the results of the art of season kind of surprising sheriff death in all four cases is accidental No doubt about it deaths were caused by botulism. What's that? It's the result of improper home cannon Stammer content showed the Farragas had made their last meal on green beans Potatoes and canned sausage meat. There's nothing in that to kill them. Yes. There is mr. Mag the Doc's right cannon me at home is tricky business said should be done under steam pressure at high temperature If it isn't a bacteria forms and it's plenty deadly. You sure that's what killed him dog bacteria was unmistakable Sheriff it was the sausage meat nothing else Guess we should be thankful in a way. It's nice to know it wasn't murder dead Just from sitting down to a meal and they're all dead Well, Jace looks like I brought you down here for nothing. I don't know sheriff Looks like we've got a real job on our hands anyhow What do you mean ranger a sheriff and I have fine combed the house There's nothing in there. That's home can and no equipment for home canning. Yeah, that's right All we did find was one cannon jar on the kitchen green board must have been washed out along with the dishes from the last meal Hey, are you sure that wasn't even a steam boiler big enough for home canning No woman doesn't just put up one jar She cans and batches and the whole batch might be contaminated women do pass out samples of their home cannon to neighbors and friends That jar must have been a gift quite a gift like a stick of dynamite with a lighted fuse Somebody around here must have a pantry full of poison and they don't know it You mean what happened to the Farragut's could happen to somebody else? It will happen to somebody else if we don't find out where that sausage meat came from and fast Sheriff you better get all your deputies and a bunch of volunteers out here right away We need them to make direct contact with anybody in the area who can't be reached by phone Got to warn anybody that may have given the Farragut's that sausage meat I'll call them right away. Ask the phone company to put on a staff and make calls to every listing right James Is there anything I can do Ranger you get your car you can take an area when the sheriff and I map it out I can help you there I'd rather use you in another way if you don't mind doc drive into town go to the newspaper in the local radio station Ask him to get out a warning right You want me to come back then no you better stand by in town and pray that we don't bring in another case for the hospital of the morgue For five days and nights we covered the territory the shacks and farms and ranch houses without phones and then doubled back on the Phone listings that hadn't answered running down the whereabouts of people away on business trips or vacations But we couldn't locate the source of the contaminated meat If only somebody come forward and admit that they can to stuff the Farragut's eight We'd know we were safe. They may be afraid of being held responsible for the deaths There's something to wonder about yeah, we're almost back to my office. Maybe one about the men has left a report What time is it almost midnight? Yeah, here we are That's right. This is Ranger Pearson. Hello. What can I do for you? My name is Burton? I just came down from Dallas. I'm an investigator for the Midland and Frontier Insurance Company We understand that you're still investigating the death of the Farragut family Well, we're trying to find the source of the stuff that killed him if that's what you mean And this isn't a criminal investigation. No death's were accident. What's your interest, mr. Burton? Well ranger It is unusual for an entire family to be killed except for a highway accident of a fire some natural calamity The Farragut's were all heavily insured by my company I'm just making a routine check up before we pay the beneficiaries claim with thirty thousand dollars thirty thousand dollars You say your company insured all the Farragut's that's right $10,000 each and fired his wife five thousand each on the children all the Farragut's are dead though Who is a beneficiary mr. Farragut's partner Sid Mac? Sid Mac How long ago were those policies written mr. Burton a little over a year ago when the partnership was formed? That's the main reason my company wanted to make certain about your investigation It's a matter of routine for partners to insure each other, but but this involved Farragut's whole family. Yes However, since there's no criminal investigation, we'll have to honor mr. Max claim. Thanks for your time, sir At just a second mr. Burton yes, if I were you I wouldn't recommend payment of that claim just yet But the sheriff just said that there's no criminal investigation. There wasn't a minute ago, but there is now You are listening to tales of the Texas Rangers starring Joel McCrae as ranger chase Pearson We continue now with tonight's case can death an authentic story from the files of the Texas Rangers In the morning sheriff Kingman got a search warrant for Sid Mac's house Mac had already left for the hardware store, but we were admitted by his hired girl She was young and frightened. She watched us in silence as we started our search and then disappeared Nothing in here Jay's Nothing in the pantry either. Let's try the attic That girl scooted mine a quick didn't she She probably told Mac what we're doing by now gonna kept her here until we were through doesn't make any difference He'd know sooner or later If anything's here, he won't be able to stop us from finding this door here We're not gonna find anything Jay's if there was more that contaminated food He'd be stupid to have it around and if he did kill the Farragut. She's not stupid This whole job is too clever. No job is perfect. There's always a slip someplace Let's move those crates, okay Nothing in these things Jay's better look on those barrels too. Yeah Hey, hold it somebody's coming upstairs Mac. I reckon you're the ranger up there chair. That's right Mac What's the idea just having a look around Mac? We've got a search warrant Maybe gonna need more than a search warrant. I had a call from an insurance man named Burton this morning And we had a call from him last night. That's why we're here I've got a legitimate insurance claim, but you've stopped it from being paid It'll be paid in due time if it should be paid is that soul ranger? Well, let me tell you something I think the way you stop that claim constitute slander you think of any reason why I shouldn't slap a lawsuit on the two of you No, Mac not anymore and I can think of a reason why you insured Farragut's wife and two kids Then maybe I'll give you the reasons sheriff Farragut knew I had him all insured you can't insure somebody without them knowing it the company will tell you that Farragut is my friend you understand that my friend Sure, I insured his wife if he'd lost her and been left with the two kids He'd need somebody to take care of him and that cost money Farragut could have been sure to himself So I did it for him and I love these kids. I don't have any and they were like my own The policies I had on them weren't just life insurance policies They were endowment policies to to pay for the education. Now. What's wrong about that sheriff? Nothing wrong If what you're saying is true ask the insurance man ask him Out of the ranch before we found out what killed the Farragut's when we thought they'd been murdered I offered to put up everything I have as a reward didn't I was didn't I? Yes, Mac you did. I'm glad you mentioned that Mac because it brought something to my mind Something that's been trying to register and you just brought it out. What do you mean? How long you've been in the hardware business? 11 years why? Because when doc told us the Farragut's died from food poisoning from food that wasn't canned properly He had to draw you a blueprint. You didn't seem to know anything about it. I don't know anything about it No, don't you sell canning equipment at the hardware store? Well, we can go over to the store and have a look Mac all right So I sell canning equipment any hardware store does what does that prove companies that make canning equipment usually put out Instruction booklets to telling how the equipment should be used and those booklets contain a warning about the possibility of food poisoning Maybe they do I never read one of them kid me Mac Man who's been handling a line for 11 years has to know the answers when customers ask about the stuff He's selling if he doesn't he doesn't last 11 years in the business. You're covering up Mac. It doesn't look good So it doesn't look good All right, Sheriff. What are you gonna do about it? Arrest me for telling the lie. Don't be smart like I don't even know why I'm bothered to talk to you You got your warrant go ahead and search But you're not gonna find anything here. No canning equipment and no canned sausage meat to go ahead search your heart out Mac wasn't hedging anymore having him out in the open made me feel uncomfortable He was too defiant too sure of himself We finished our search, but we found nothing started back for the sheriff's office He knows something about those desges practically told us so right to our faces. I know we can't prove anything Yeah, he could have brought canning equipment home from the store could have taken it any place Then ditched it when he was finished. He'd need more than just the equipment sheriff What hog meat might have bought a hogger had one butchered at some farm around here But which one we checked every house in the territory once warning them about the meat I reckon we'll have to check them again from a different angle be a job Some folks off in the backwoods keep a hog or two. We'll check them all I'm towing a double horse trailer We can load your mount in with charcoal in case we need them for the woods or hill country Matter of fact places off the beaten trail might be our best bet I know it's gonna be done. Jayce, but even if we find a place can't jail him for buying hog meat Just the same it's our next step and it might be the step that starts Mack on his way to a cell It was work grim routine discouraging work the game of questions and answers without ever getting the right answer In three days. We checked all the spots that could be reached by car, and then we switched to the horses and rode into the backwoods These backwards people are kind of tight mouth. Yeah, so I've noticed I guess they figure the world doesn't want to share the troubles So they hold up back here You see what I mean next place we come to crazy Annie crazy Annie. That's what the collar She isn't really crazy just kind of strange as a son feeble minded They had him at the state of Salem for a while, but he was harmless, so they let him go The old lady came into the woods with him and they've been here ever since they got hogs. Yeah Couple of chickens. That's about all I have got. Oh, yeah They've got one other thing the meanest dog in the state of Texas. Keep your eye open for him when we ride them Don't they keep him tired? Yeah. Yeah, but he chews loose hates everybody, but the old lady and her son Places just through this puff of trees Hey, hold it sheriff. Oh Look at that on the earth covered with rocks and a cross sticking up at the head looks like a grave Reckon Luke did that old Annie son always burying dead birds and things gives them all first-class funerals. Oh There's Luke now You scared him took off for the woods like a jackrabbit. Yeah, never know how he's gonna act I don't see any dog any place. No first time I come here that he hasn't tried to sample my pants Oh, there's the old lady coming out of the shack now. Yeah, I see her Howdy, honey Why do you come to frighten him? We don't mean him any harm ma'am. We just came to see you Where's your dog Annie? I don't want him sneaking up on me. Never came for him He's dead and look Christ for him. He's afraid in the night without the dog Maybe you're just as well off Annie that how it might have turned on you sometime How the hogs coming see the sow has a new litter those sucklings ought to make good canning Maybe you got some canned meat that I could buy Nothing can't not until we butcher. That's true. Jay's Ford check their shells when we were warning everybody. I see You ever give any canned sausage meat to the Farragut? Why people always asking me that you know the Farragut's are dead don't shanning Yeah, if you never gave anything to the Farragut's did you ever give or sell any canned sausage to Sid Mack? Artie hog meat or even a live hog Well, did you any you've got a right to sell what you own? I don't know the man you talk about now Don't lie to us Annie. We're friends. You know that don't you never sold him nothing. I Never did He never come up here All right any want to write on Jay's no sense trying to catch Luke when he's scary like he is today He can't even talk. Yeah, let's go. Goodbye, ma'am. Good. Bye Of course, it's hard to tell with anybody like that Jay's but she seemed to tighten up when you mentioned Sid Mack She did her hands start to work nerves and the boy Luke ran when he saw me Of course, he's done that before they can give us any information. It isn't gonna be easy to get I got an idea. Maybe a wrong one, but it's worth a shot Let's turn back for town. Come on. Come on boy You're gonna tackle Mac again. No, I want to see the doctor There's a complete chapter on botulism in this book Jase Now what was it? You wanted to know this food poisoning from improper canning doc Does it always happen? I mean if the batch wasn't cooked the proper length of time Or if it wasn't sealed under the proper steam pressure, would it necessarily be poisoned? No Not necessarily it could be all right. I just want to make sure what your point is if Mac put up that Contaminated meat. He'd have no way of knowing it was bad without testing it So since she wouldn't test it on himself. He didn't test it on anybody else either There'd have been another death or somebody sick enough for doc to know about Mac wouldn't have gambled on the Farragut's just getting sick He wouldn't have even gotten the food to him unless he was sure it was deadly Well, he could have tested it on an animal would an animal eat that food doc Meat it seemed all right by taste or smell Yes, yes an animal would eat it. That's all I wanted to know doc Sheriff we're going for another ride in the woods. I think I know what for shouldn't take two guesses We're gonna dig up Luke's dog and send it to the lab at Austin. I want to know what that dog died from We took deputy Ford with us to stay on guard and keep all Annie and Luke from leaving their shack We dug up the dog and sent it to Austin the answer fit death by food poisoning Sheriff and I rolled back to the shack in the woods old Annie was white and shaking in her son huddled in a corner His eyes enormous and frightened his lips numb Annie believe me. Nobody's gonna hurt you or Luke, but you've got to help us You had no reason to harm the Farragut's we know that but we're after the man who did have a reason I don't know I don't know what you have to do is tell us was Mac here Did you sell him anything or can anything on his direction? I Guess it's no use Jay. Yeah, we can try again when we get to town any your local have to come with us. We're taking in We're only taking you into town. I wouldn't have to do that if you or your mother dance them a question The lion ball they want to take me back there Max wait on the chair Where did mr. Max say that we're gonna take you Luke? You know where the police when it took me before Luke I won't let him so I think he means you sound what he does mean. That's the key to why he won't talk Wait, I got a hunch Luke Mac isn't a good man. He killed your dog. Well, he did didn't he? No He was always giving me stuff to feed him You're getting to him Jay We don't want to send you away Luke Mac lied. He's the one he wants to send you away No, he tried to help me He told me who was trying to have me send back there. It was mr. Farragut Don't tell him Luke don't say any more. You better let him talk Annie because if Mac didn't kill the Farragut's then Luke did Mr. Mac said I should be nice to mr. Farragut and his wife then they wouldn't send me away What do you mean by telling you to be nice? He said I should go and bring him a present He gave me the present to bring Something nice for them to eat something a jar something canned. Yeah The same kind of stuff the oldest kept giving me to feed my dog My dog died and mr. Farragut and his ladies the little babies they died, too Answer Jay's making him an accessory to the murder of four people I know but with Luke's background and with a smart defense attorney in court scaring him and confusing him Luke's story Wouldn't hold up Mac could get away with it But what else can we do gotta find the rest of that food and prove it passed through Mac's hands He had a batch of it kept feeding the dog samples until he found a jar that was deadly Annie Your boys in trouble. You know that don't you? How much of that stuff did Mac bring up here? right They kept it here someplace in the woods second what he fed the dog He didn't tell us why and after the dog died That's when he got the jar from his hiding place for Luke to take to the Farragut's wasn't it Luke never know what killed the dog till after Mr. Farragut you thank me. Give me half dollar Latest she smiled at me pretty Luke. Do you know where Mac hid that food? Did you see him digging any place? Did you follow him? I never know where he kept it. He always went over the hill Way over where it's all rock that rock formation across the gully Jason about a mile from here Think you left the stuff there. Yeah, it wouldn't be safe for him to cart around. He had to leave it someplace. Come on Gonna need more men the sheriff may have an all-night digging party boy Yeah, sir. Just water in the house. Well hop on your partner when hit for the nearest ranch Get on the phone and call for deputies tell them to bring shovels and keep the mouth shut about where they're going I want them up here right away We dug by flashlight and torch light finally we found it a burlap sack loaded with jars of sausage meat canned death We rushed back to town and just after dawn a fingerprint crew flew in from Austin. I held my breath All we needed was a print one fingerprint belonging to Sid Mac. We got it more than one There were sets on every jar By that time his store was open and we went for Well Sheriff and the ranger What bright ideas have you got this time? You got an idea. We're gonna lock you up, Mac You can drop that smile Mac Luke was just as scared of us as he was of you. We know the whole story Yeah Guess fellas with your mentality might believe Luke but a jury won't you know what the law says about a reasonable doubt We also found a few buried samples of your canning Mac with your fingerprints all over the jar Just yours so Like you once said I sell canning equipment and I handle the stuff I sell so my prints were on the jars Smart isn't he Sheriff regular genius. Thanks. Sorry. I can't return the compliment You just like all the smart ones Mac. You just made one mistake. It was a real stupid one about those prints You had to put them on the jars after they were filled when the canning was completed Any prints that were on before would have been boiled off Don't make me put a bullet in you because heaven knows Mac Counted wait a minute. Sheriff. I'm not resisting. I'm not touching anything All right Better lock the door Mac. You won't be coming back Said Mac was brought to trial on August 3rd 1940 He was convicted of premeditated murder and on April 19th 1941. He died in the electric chair Next week Joel McCrae in another authentic re-enactment of a case from the files of the Texas Rangers Joel McCrae is currently seen starring in the Universal International Technicolor production Frenchy tonight's cast included Tony Barrett Paul Freese Virginia Greg will write Ken Christie Joe Forte Edmund McDonald and Don Diamond This story was transcribed and adapted by Joel Mercott and the program was produced and directed by Stacey teach Hal Gibney speaking Three chimes mean good times on NBC Gordon Macrae sings for you tomorrow evening as the railroad hour presents a melodic adaptation of the dramatic opera Madame Butterfly Gordon's guest for this railroad hour presentation is lovely soprano Nadine Connor and your Monday of music tomorrow Also includes a concert by the voice of Firestone with guest artist Eugene Conley Bill Baker asks the $64 question next on NBC