 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. More than 260,000 square miles. And 50 men who make up the most famous and oldest law enforcement body in North America. Case for tonight, dead giveaway. A single light glows in the living room of a farmhouse four miles in the town of Ashton in West Texas. Inside the house a frantic young woman tries to place a telephone pole. Operator? Operator? Oh, please? Operator, get me the sheriff quickly. Is that you, Mrs. Denine? Yes, yes, hurry! Oh, this is Mary. Mary, you stop talking and get me the sheriff. This is Mrs. Denine. You've got to come out to my house. Right away! Right away! Take it easy, Mrs. Denine. What seems to be wrong? Somebody's prowling around outside trying to get into the house. Isn't your husband there? No, he went to Abilene on business. Something woke me up and I thought at first it was the bait. And then I heard a noise outside. I'll be right there. The sheriff called for the assistance of the Texas Rangers. Ranger Jase Pearson was assigned. You got here right quick. Yeah, I was over in the next county when your call came through. I hope you got a little sleep because you won't get much now. Better come in out of this cold. How long ago did it happen? About a half hour ago, 1.30. Mrs. Denine called me, woke me up at home, said somebody was trying to bust in. Right in here, Jase. Shot right through the chest, huh? Yeah. She leaves the phone hanging off the hook like that? I reckon so. Whoever broke in, they broke in just before I hung up. Nothing's been touched, Jase. I know. I had a time getting past your deputies down the main road. The phone operator's been buzzing everybody. We don't want half the county barge in here messing things up, so I blocked them all. Good. Where's the baby? In there, the front bedroom. You can look if you want it, Jase. A little more than I can take twice. How old? Only four months, Jase. A little girl. Where'd he break in? Side door. I'll show you. Where's the husband? Abilene on business. I call the chief of police there. He's gonna check the hotels and notify them. Now, here's the door. It was wide open. That's how I got in to open the front door. Lock doesn't seem to be broken. Must have been picked. Denines keep much money around the house? Yeah, as little or as much as most folks, I guess. I don't think Andy's missing. There's Mr. Denine's purse on the kitchen table. Killer couldn't have missed that. You check it? Yeah, about $40. It hasn't been touched. Well, it wasn't robbery then, Sheriff. No. There's no sign of any other motive. But there's gotta be one, Jase. Yeah. The toughest motive of all. Because it's the easiest hidden. Hate. The kind of hate that devil wouldn't hold. We went through the rest of the house, but we didn't find anything that would help us until we got outside. It's cold tonight, Jase. Ground's frozen hard. Yeah. We find a trace. It won't be much. Keep your flash close to the ground. All right. Why are you working back at the house here? Away from the driveway. Because I think the killer came in from this direction, probably on foot. Why? Why, you said Mrs. Denine told you she woke up when she heard somebody prowling around outside. A horse or a car coming up the gravel road around front would have made even more noise. Woke her up sooner. Say, that's right. I heard your car coming from quite a ways off. That's why I was standing out in front to meet you when you drove up. Wait a minute. What is it, Jase? It's a bailing wire. It's in the shape of a key. Well, that must about be what he used to get in. Maybe. Or maybe that's what somebody wants us to think. Let's take another look at that door. Yeah. What makes you think the wire was planted there, Jase? I'll tell you better when we try it in the lock. It beats me while a killer leaves something deliberately. That's what makes me think something's wrong. This wouldn't have been dropped so close to the house. And grab the door and hold it up high. You don't want to mess up any prints around the lock. Got it. Now, let's see how this wire fits. It goes in perfect, Jase. Yeah. Watch when I turn it. Hey, wire's just twisting. It'll keep on twisting. This wire isn't strong enough to turn the tumbler in the lock. Then how did the killer get in, Jase? If you ask me, Sheriff, I think he had a regular key. I put in a call for a fingerprint approval, and the Sheriff called to have the bodies picked up for autopsy. Then we went outside and started trailing again. We found a few directional traces, but they heated out in the darkness. Can't see anything at night on this ground, Jase. Try cutting back and forth a little further. Yeah, all right. And we're following this weaving trying to throw us off. It just makes it tougher to track. You've got to be headed for some place, some definite direction. You might as well establish which direction. Yeah. Guess there's nothing much we can do except this, until we have some daylight. Save us an hour in the morning. Then we can track on horses without wasting time finding out which way to go. By sunup, we knew the killer's general direction had been west. The Sheriff got his horse from town. I unloaded charcoal from the trailer and we rode. He kept heading west, all right. But there's nothing out this way for miles once he got into those hills up ahead. Any kind of a road between here and the hills? Yeah. Old wagon road just beyond the scrub on the rise we're coming to. Does it connect with a state road? It does, but nobody uses it. Maybe somebody dead is in good enough condition for a car to run through? I reckon it is. You figure you had a car waiting for him? I'd have to have a car or a horse staked out someplace. Come on. Let's make right for the road. Yeah. Second road lead to any other farm in the area? It used to lead to the old mullet place. That's burned out. Nobody living there anymore? No. An old folks dead. A young Ted mullet moved away a couple of years ago. Oh, here's the road. Oh, boy. Oh, charcoal. It's a pretty straight last track, we saw. Must have reached the road right near here. Yeah, we'll find some mark if he crossed it and kept going. He didn't keep going, huh? Look. Hmm. Fire track. Had a car staked out, all right. Turned the car around here to head back for the highway. Could have been somebody else waiting in the car for him. Maybe, but I don't think so. Yeah, look at the heel marks. Walked around to the driver's side of the car to get in. Yeah. There's something else here, too. Dropped this cigarette butt and stepped on it. Yeah, sure didn't smoke much of it. He even burned down to the brand mark. At least we know what brand he smokes. About all we do know, Jase. Won't be anything to follow with the main road. He sure won't leave a trail there. No. Mount up. Let's get back to the house. We rode back to Danine's. As we came to the farm, we saw a couple of cars that hadn't been there when we left. Looks like company, Sheriff. Car next to mine belongs to our lab. Others must be the coroners. Oh, a coroner ought to have been and gone by now. No, no, that isn't the coroner's car, Jase. Blue sedan, that belongs to Walter Danine. The husband? Yeah, must have got back from Abilene. Yes, Danine, all right. There he is, sitting on the side porch. He sat with his face buried in his hands until we dismounted and walked up to him. A lab crew was in the house looking for latent plants. Howdy, Walter. Howdy, Sheriff. Walter, I can't tell you how... Don't say anything, please. Ask me anything you like, but I don't want anybody else telling me how sorry they are. Better let me talk to them, Sheriff. Sure, Jase. Mr. Danine, it'd help us a lot to know one thing. Sure, your family have any enemies? Enemies? Could there be an enemy as bad as this? We know the house wasn't robbed. If you ever had any trouble with anybody, no matter how small it seemed, now's the time to remember it. If there was anybody, I wouldn't tell you. I'd take care of it myself. That's no way to be, Walter. Don't go telling me how to act, Sheriff. You didn't come home to your house ten minutes ago. You didn't find your wife and kids... Wait, I found mine. Mr. Danine, why don't you try to get a little rest? We'll talk to you later. Yeah, okay. Anything I can do, Walter, just holler. Yeah. Able to think of anybody who might have had it in for him? Not a soul, Jase. Unless it was Ted Mullin. The one you told me about, family that was burned out? Yeah, but, Jase, that was five years ago. Sometimes hate doesn't die with age. What happened? Folks just got to broodin' and died off after their house burned. Young Ted Blaine Walter. Why? Windmill at the Mullin place was busted. They tried to borrow from Walter to get it fixed, but he turned them down. Ted said if the mill had been working, it would have pumped enough water for him to put the fire on. Young Mullin the kind to hold a grudge? After five years, Jase. And he moved out a long time ago. Where? Who knows? Come on. I'll call my headquarters by radio. Maybe they can get a line on Mullin. Find out where he is. Won't do any harm to check on where he was last night. He won't hurt any. But I can't believe that a man after bullets. Well, that's only Walter's car, Jase. What are you looking at? The design of the tire tread. Look at him. Oh, that may be. It's the same design we saw in the dirt road where the killer picked up a car to make his getaway. But, Jase, that was hard ground. You could barely see the tread. Tires like that are standard on lots of cars. Yeah, I know. Just the same. I want to look this car over. Left his ignition keys in. You going to start it? No. Just want to take a look at the dash. He said he got back from Abilene ten minutes ago, didn't he? That's what he said. Take a look at that temperature gauge. Let me see. Regist is cold. Yeah. Only it should be pretty warm if he finished to drive a couple of hundred miles just ten minutes ago. Oh, to drop back, Jase? Not in ten minutes, Sheriff. It's a cold morning, but not that cold. I want to talk to Denine again. Do you see something else? I sure do. Look at this on the frame of the door. Service station lubrication sticker. Yeah. Dated December 2nd, day before yesterday. 18,412 miles. The mileage on the dash shows he's driven less than 200 miles since then. He couldn't have been in Abilene. Well, wait a minute, Jase. I admit that looks funny, but... The man we were chasing, he ground out a cigarette, remember? Oh, what about it? I've known Walter since he was a boy, Jase. He don't smoke. Sheriff! Oh, Mary Lou Simmons' phone operator. Who let you in, Mary Lou? I told the deputy I put Mrs. Denine's call through to you last night. He thought you might want to talk to me. Ain't it just awful? I was still on the line after you hung up, Sheriff. I heard it all, the shots and everything. You hear any voice beside Mrs. Denine? No. No, I just heard her say, who are you, what do you want, and then the shots. That was all. You sure she said, who are you? Oh, cross my heart. I heard it as plain. Guess you don't want to talk to Walter now. Do you, Jase? No, I guess not. You are listening to Tales of the Texas Rangers, starring Joel McCrae as Ranger Jase Pearson. And now we continue with tonight's case. Dead giveaway, an authentic story from the files of the Texas Rangers. I didn't want to question Walter Denine until I had a chance to check on his movements. Sheriff and I drove into town and called the Abilene police. The answer didn't fit. I don't think there's any doubt about who he was, Ranger. Okay, thanks. Thanks very much. Well, I guess that does it, Sheriff. Denine was an Abilene, huh? Checked into the Harris Hotel yesterday about noon. Checked out again at 2.10 this morning, right after the police notified him of the murder. Police could have spoken to anybody on the phone. And they didn't tell him by phone. Police Sergeant went up and told him direct. Description of Walter Talley's, too. And there's something that doesn't Talley, though. A mileage on that car. Could be something wrong with his pedometer cable. Happened in my car a few weeks back. Maybe. And I'll be back sometime tomorrow. Where you going, Jase? To Abilene. As I hit the highway, I put in a short wave called a headquarters, station KTXA. Unit 10 to KTXA. KTXA, go ahead, Unit 10. This unit en route to Abilene, request Abilene police secure names of all contacts made by subject Walter Denine, registered Harris Hotel there yesterday. We'll do it, Unit 10. Unit 10 sent a piece of wire back to LAV for examination. Any report yet? Not yet. Wire and clink of prints both on to study. We'll give you a call. 10-4, Unit 10, clear. KTXA, Austin. I reached Abilene. I got a complete rundown on Walter Denine's activities. It was too complete. Like he was making sure his time in the city would be accounted for. One of the people who'd seen him was his attorney. Well, yes. Yes, Ranger, Mr. Denine spent several hours with me yesterday afternoon. We had dinner together last night. What's good, Theta? What'd he come to see you about? Well, some investments. He's been doing a little speculating cotton. Good or bad? Well, it's client business, and I don't think I have the right to discuss it. I can find out by checking with the exchange. I'm just asking you to save time. All right. His losses have been rather heavy. More than he could afford? Much more. Any assurance on his wife and child? A normal amount, nothing large. All right, thanks. One more thing. Are you sure Denine doesn't benefit financially by his wife's death? Well, Ranger, he couldn't have gotten back to asking about 130 last night after we'd been out. That isn't what I asked. Well... Mrs. Denine had a good bit of money in her own right. In case of her death, though, she might hide up in trust with a child. But the child is dead, too. What happens now? Well, in that case, the entire state will probably go to Mr. Denine. I made one more stop before I headed back to Ashton. I paid a visit to the garage, the Hotel Harris. I keep the location of all guest cars on this index rack, so we'll know which stores they're in when they want them. Was Walter Denine's car in here yesterday? Denine, that's D-I-N, isn't it? Uh-huh. No, there's no record of it. Was he a guest at the hotel? Yes. Is there any parking lot around here he might have used? Not convenient to the hotel, and parking is free here for guests, so I don't think he'd use a lot. Neither do I. Thanks. Before I left Abilene, I called my headquarters. They had a report. No strange prints had been found in Denine's house. The wire key looked like a plant. I hung up and made another call to Sheriff Ross. I'm beginning to wonder about Walter myself, Jess. Why? He's been kind of curious about where you are. I told him you went to Abilene just to see if he could draw him out. Good. How'd he react? Kind of nervous. And he said something about flying up to Abilene and back. Of course, he never did say he drove it. No, but he gave the impression that he drove. Well, even so, he was there when the killer took place. Yeah, but the killer had the use of Denine's car. Can you get your hands on the car? Well, it's over in the back of the funeral parlor right now. That's where Denine said he was going just a few minutes ago when he stopped by to ask about you. Well, grab that car and check it for fingerprints. I'll be there as fast as I can roll. Worked over, Sheriff? Yeah, ought to have reports on the prints soon. Send him to Austin. Find any strangers? Quite a few of one set that weren't Denine's. If they belong to a professional killer, there's a good chance he'll have a record. Where's Denine? My deputies are out looking for him. Why? I thought he was at the funeral parlor. So did I, until I went in to look for him after we finished on the car. The undertaker said he'd left more than an hour ago by the front door. That's the spot that you're working over the car. Come on, let's find him. Yeah. Not any place in town. Where could he be if he hasn't run out? Trying to cover up for a couple of mistakes? He won't run, not yet. Why? Because his alibi is airtight. We can shake it. Unless we find the killer he hired, we can't shake it enough. He took a big gamble and he's got too much at stake to run off. His wife's money? How'd you know about that? Just thinking back. Little late. Folks knew Mrs. Denine's family left her well off. Walter married her not long after they passed on. A lot of people thought the money had something to do with it. I wish you'd remembered that sooner. Well, Jase, they seemed close. And then there's the baby. Baby was just something extra that got into Denine's way. Oh. Never gotten any of the money of it. KTXA, unit 10. Maybe a report on the Prince. Unit 10, go ahead, KTXA. A report on Prince lifted from Carr in Ashton, Texas. One set identified as belonging to Joe Crofton. Joe Crofton. Any line on his whereabouts? Finish serving parole four months ago. Last address known to parole office was Shack located western slope of Casket Mountain. 10-4, unit 10, clear. Can you ask me else? Crofton must be the killer then, Jase? I'll bet on it. How far to Casket Mountain? About 20 miles and turns south another five. After that? Well, we'll need horses if he's far up. You should have brought your horse along the trailer with charcoal. I can borrow one. Crofton's gonna be tough to take. You sound like you know him. I wrote the ticket for his last trip to Huntsville six years ago. That was murder too, but I'm not. Copped out with a manslaughter, please. I'm not taking any chances, Jase. He starts shooting. We'll have to toss it back, dead center. No, we gotta take him alive. He'll talk to Keith from Vernon once we get him. Yeah, yeah, I see. If Walter Venene paid him to do the job, he's the only one who can break Venene's alibi. That's right. So no matter what happens, we gotta take him alive. Crofton's cabin was up all right. Way up. Sheriff borrowed a horse from the man who directed us. Quite a climb, Jase. It's not so bad to follow in this wash, though. I suppose he isn't there. I got a hunch he will be. I don't think Venene had enough money to pay for this killing. He was almost broke. You mean he planned to pay off out of his wife's money when he got it? Yeah. Wonder how Walter arranged for him to get the car that night. How much to arrange? Left it near the airport for the keys in it. Crofton brought it back and left it in the same spot. He probably left a house key for him, too. A club compartment, maybe. With the airport, 40 miles from Ashton, nobody recognized the car or a strange driver. Come in at night, use an abandoned road. Yeah. Look, huh? Hey, another horse left traction here, too. Yeah. And they're fresh. Oh, boy. It must be Crofton's horse. No. Walter was taken the rough way. He just cut into the wash here to find a better trail. Crofton lives up here. He'd know the best trail. He's coming up here. Didn't need to shut him up. Come on. Hey, give off. Not too fast, Jason. We'll spill. You gotta risk it. Too slow, we'll be too late. The shacken crept up on it. There was no horse around and no sign of life. Tried to draw fire by showing ourselves, but none came. We had to go in. All right. Hold your gun ready, Sheriff. And don't come in till I call you. Right, Jason. Nobody here, huh? Oh, wait a minute. Crofton. Yeah, that's him. Deneen got here first. Jase, this fella looks like he shot himself. Guns in his own hand. Now, what's his paper beside him? Let's see. Jase, he did kill himself. This note says so. Confesses the murders, too. Sure it does. But Walter Deneen wrote that. And that note's gonna hang him. How do you know? You ever seen Deneen's writing? No, but I've seen Crofton's before. He signed his name with an X. Prison record show he's illiterate. Never could read or write. Come on, Sheriff. Gonna put out a pickup for Deneen. We'll pick him up ourselves. He can't be far off. But if he'd headed back down the wards, we'd have passed him on our way up. He must be going across the top of the mountain to go down the other side. Come on. We raked our horses as fast as they could move. He spotted a rider ahead of us as he topped the slope. He hurt us because he looked back. Then whipped his mountain disappeared. He knows we're on him. Got about 300 yards. We'll get him. Keep pounding leather. Yeah. We're coming to the top now. Keep blowing the saddle. Watch out for... Perfect cover. Not too perfect. Well, it's a ricochet back from that ledge behind you. See that dent in the ledge? Yeah. Draw your gun and we'll empty it on him. Hit right below the dent. All right. All right. Let's hope for a billiard shot. Start firing. Okay, Sheriff. Let's take him. I was sorry for you all up until a few hours ago. You gotta get me to a doctor. You're not hurt badly. We'll get you to a doctor. All I want to know is how you met Crofton. Come on, Walter. Talk up. I saw his picture on the paper when he got out of jail. I made a deal with him a couple of months ago. Yeah. A deal to wipe out your own wife and kid. Must be great to be as brave as you are. Get up, Denane. You've got a long way to go. Confessed and made a plea for clemency. It was not granted. And on the 11th day of October 1947, he died in the electric chair at Huntsville. It's the start of our show, Joel McCray, with another interesting anecdote about the Texas Rangers. When the Allies invaded Normandy in World War II, they got an idea as to how far the fame of the Texas Rangers had spread. Both surrendering Nazis and liberated free French said they knew the war was as good as over because the Texas Rangers had landed. Of course, it was the heroic American Ranger troops who made the landings, but nothing could convince the Nazi war prisoners that these were not the terrible Texans they'd heard about in many American legends. Good night, folks. See you at the same time next week. Sweet Joel McCray and another authentic reenactment of a case from the files of the Texas Rangers. McCray is currently seen starring in the Universal International Technicolor Production saddle trim. Tonight's cast included Tony Barrett, Lorraine Tuttle, Mike Barrett, Hal March, and Paul Freese. This story was transcribed and adapted by Joel Murkock and the program was produced and directed by Stacey Keech. This is Hal Gibney speaking. Three times mean good times on NBC. Monday means music. Fine music on NBC. Listen tomorrow for these great musical programs, the NBC Symphony and the Band of America. Be sure to listen Monday as Milton Catons conducts the NBC Symphony Orchestra in a full hour concert of the finest music on the air. And listen too for Paul Laval conducting the Band of America every Monday on NBC. Phil Harris reminding you that next it's Theater Guild on NBC.