 In a moment we'll present the Texas Rangers, but first here's a reminder that you can read all about your favorite NBC stars and Find pictures of most of them in the current NBC silver jubilee issue of radio TV mirror magazine Why edit your newsstand today the national broadcasting company presents Joel McCrae in tales of the Texas Rangers Hollywood another authentic re-enactment of a case transcribed from the files of the Texas Rangers More than 260,000 square miles famous and oldest law enforcement body in North America this for tonight Helping hand the 15 p.m. An afternoon in November 1950 The deluge of rain has swamped the deserted roads of west texas And a lone motorist sits disconsolately in a small sedan near the side of the road His face brightens suddenly as a curtain jeep pulls to a stop beside him Painted on the jeep's motor hood of the words joe's garage Howdy, howdy having trouble. Yeah wires must have got soaked coming through that low spot in the wash back there She chugged and sputtered away and then conked out on me Rock and we can fix that for you I get that kerosene squirt can rusty. I'll catch up. You want the canvas too? Yeah, raise his hood and take the canvas over so none of this rain beats in there. Yeah You just sit there and relax, mister. We'll have a perk in a minute. I'm sure grateful to you. What are you gonna do? Squirt a little kerosene on the ignition wires. Better release your hood. Oh, yeah Okay, rusty, lift her up. Yeah Hand it all right. Sure You fellas sure know what you're doing. What do you mean? I can't see how you can get them wires dry by squirting them wetter. That's a mechanics trick Squirting with kerosene the kerosene gets under the water and the water runs off And a minute or two the kerosene runs off too. What's left evaporates? I reckon you'd know. I know. All right We're raised like this. I do more business along this road than I do back at the shop Reckon we've got a dozen stall cars going today. Why is all the spray, Joe? Okay, close her up Okay to drier now. It drops the water running down my neck only a mile up the road to wallace cafe We'll stop for coffee after this fella gets moving sure could use them myself I've been sitting here for more than an hour. Only other car to come through Borrowed right best where you bound for long ridge Too bad his heap didn't hold out until I got there Coming back. I'll have me a new car dealer called this morning. Tell me was in This thing ought to be ready to limp along now, Joe. Yeah, you can try starting now. Oh, fine. Well Here's hoping Big help me hang Tricky yours really works ain't never miss. I'll show buck a little at first, but what's the puddles you'll be okay Sure wish I I knew how to thank you brother. Well, that ain't hard mister charges 15 bucks 15 dollars standing up in this rain ain't fun. Let's say you were stuck, weren't you? Yeah, we're stuck 15 dollars seems like the kind of steep price for a three minutes working a little kerosene Look, I got a nice warm garage where the prices are regular working out here is a little bit different Charge is 15 bucks I don't think I got 15 bucks. What are you a wise guy? I reckon if you can buy a new car You ain't exactly flat broke. I didn't sell wise. I got money the smallest bill. I got to 100 Look, don't stall me. You could right out here if we didn't happen along At least you can do us pay up. I tell you I got nothing but large bills Money I got from a bank this morning to put down on the new car Aren't your money on meet you at the coffee place you was talking about and get changed Well, I went while I get changed for a hundred and that chronic joint change ain't our problem, Joe Our problem is whether or not this guy's really got a hundred bucks to begin with. Now, let's see it You ain't seeing nothing Matter of fact, thanks for sure. You got a right to charge me no 15 dollars Before I pay it. I'm going to stop at the sheriff's office in the long race You think I'm standing in this rain for fun? Come on Never mind the conversation, Joe. You got hands and he's got Hey rusty look yeah 500 bucks, Joe I could do a lot with though like What do you say, Joe why I hear report it not if you've got enough nerve I got as much nervous you got all right then grab his feet move him in there off the road Hey, it's coming to not for long All right, put him down Get your heavy wrench. No, you're crazy. You back out on me. No, but I'm not chomping off to use my wrench on him Look be smart rusty If we're going to do this let's be smart and do it right. There's a big rock over there Use that Body of the slain man was found early the following morning when highway patrolmen examined the area around the seemingly abandoned car The sheriff was summoned from Longridge and he in turn requested the help of a texas ranger Ranger jays pierceman was assigned Still might have went from that rain yesterday jays. Yeah Yeah, here's the body wanted you to see it before we moved it into town Check his identification. Mm-hmm license description fits names arthur mcshane comes from pooper sprains Were you looking at jays and just noticing these footprints around the body sheriff? I puddled up too much to help rain wash the edges away Carried in here by two men or walked in with one man. No, he was carried He'd walk there'd be some mud on his shoes His feet never touched the ground after he left the pavement. How long you think he's been dead Looks like it's been quite a few hours Any sign of a weapon around there must have been one with his head like that big rock with the blood trace on the bottom Of it was laying over there Almost washed clean so I didn't want to leave it I had a deputy wrap it and take it in for your lamp. I won't help much Might have held some blood, but prince wouldn't take Now let's get back the car right Anybody touched the car? No, that's just like a highway patrol boy found it Drive his door open seat and steering wheel soaked with rain I got out to fix something well if he did he must have got it fixed before he was killed because uh Car works all right now. I checked it I want to take a look underneath You see something jays. Yeah oily spots on the pavement Thin film on a couple of small puddles drip from the oil to crankcase maybe. Oh, it's too thin for that too light It's more like a gasoline drip. Gasoline drip would be further back under the carburetor That man can check it. I want one to fly down and go over the car anyhow Where's the nearest phone wallies cafe about mile up the road Wallies cafe was a dilapidated roadside stop I called austin for a lab crew to fly down to long ridge and the sheriff called a medical examiner authorized to pick up for arthur mcshane's body The sheriff hadn't had any breakfast How about some ham in wolly? Hey settle for bacon. Why sure. How about you jays? Uh, just some coffee, right? The lab man will want to bring that car into a garage sheriff. Where do you have your car service? Joe's garage. That's what little work we have. Hey, uh, you found us. What's your coffee now? Are you out with your eggs sheriff? We'll take it now. Yeah I don't think they're gonna find much on the car though anything on the outside would have been washed away by the rain Yeah, this is going to be a tough nut. Well, here's your job. I'm Say, uh, here you say something about uh, joe's garage for sheriff. Yeah, why are you gonna see him in time? I expect to Ask him do me a favor will you next time he stops by I need a new fan belt from a pickup I'll tell him that's why he's got no ham. I couldn't make a trip into town for supplies today I'll have to buy you a bicycle wally Be better than pick up That's for sure Why don't you make a flat deal with joe? Damn, but we can have him make one stop here every day be cheaper than I'm surprised he didn't stop by yesterday Sars jeep go down by late in the afternoon and head to town Oh, that's darn rain. You know, I bet I didn't shove three blue plates across his counter all day yesterday Didn't take in more than four dollars Well, that's more than you're allowed to take in the day if you burn my eggs Went out after McShane's car. I waited in the sheriff's office in town until the sheriff came in with the report from the medical examiner Here's your autopsy report jay's cause of death cerebral hemorrhage Due to a severe beating about the head Blood on the rock we found match McShane anything on the time of death about 3 30 yesterday afternoon 3 30, huh? All right Uh, McShane's wife just got in town went over to the funeral home. You want to see her? Yeah Another hour or so before the lab man gets to joe's garage Taking that long to check those oil spots and a few other things out of the road funeral home is just up the street Let's go Why who could do with him like this? Take it easy, man How come you didn't drive up here with him? I mean you said he was coming up to get a new car I should think he didn't want to do along. Well, I didn't know about the car when he left See it was for anniversary next week A surprise I didn't know that he left yesterday. How'd you find out then? I'm abby lotton She's the banker's wife back home in hooper spring When my husband took the money out of the bank yesterday. He told bill lotton why he was taking it Well bill must have called abby to tell her and abby called me Abby's always doing things like that. Nobody ever gets surprised when she knows about anything and some people are like that, ma'am You know how much money your husband was carrying She said he drew out $500 all in hundred dollar bill as your motive chef sure is jace robber Hundred dollar bill shouldn't be too hard to trace. Oh, I'll depend on where and how soon the killer tries to spend them You better call the bank at hooper springs and see if you can get a list of serial numbers do it prano They have any numbers put them on a statewide bulletin right your Your husband have anything besides money on him ma'am any jewelry or anything else that might have been taken Well, no He had a wrist watch. That's all. It wasn't on him when he was found You know what make it was. No, I just know he had one. That's all he wanted all the time I never gave it no special notice. Well, could you describe it? Well, he He was gold leather striped I don't know men's watches all look the same to me. What would you know it if you saw it again? Well, no, I don't think so Oh, I don't know You ought to have somebody with you if you've got a son or a daughter someplace we could contact them for you No, we didn't have no children. There was just just him and me I The sheriff got a list of currency numbers from the bank and we arranged for a bulletin to all banks and major stores in the state We're leaving the telegraph office when we sighted the lab man coming down the main dragon McShane's car We hailed him and he pulled over to the curb Howdy, jay. Howdy sam Howdy sheriff We'll ride into garage with you if it won't disturb anything. No hop in Fin all over the upholstery and everything lots of prints on the dashboard all the same Probably dead man's no sign of anybody else being in the car with him None I could find Cause he might have had riders bank or a hooper spring said McShane was alone when he left bank Saw him through the window when he got in his car. Yeah, he wasn't alone when he got killed That's a cinch. How about those oily spots on the road sam? I mean the ones under the car They were kerosene spots chase kerosene was used to cut the grease on the ignition wires Easy to tell even with a field kit. That means the ignition wires must have gotten wet car conked out on him and he sprayed them Yeah, that's what happened. All right, but he didn't do the spraying himself Why no sign of kerosene in the car any place no can nothing you check the trunk empty Look chair of way is that gross jose three more blocks and turn left All right I'll make one more check of the interior for blood trace, but I took a preliminary and it was blank I'm afraid I'm not going to find anything say you really don't have to come along less you want I can drop you at the sheriff's office. No, we'll ride. I want to see that garage man anyhow Yeah, sure. Why but walley won't get his fan belt. I'm gonna see him about more than walley's fan belt What walley said the Jeep from joe's garage passed his place yesterday afternoon on the way to town Hey, that's right He must have passed the spot. McShane was killed at No place between there and wall is that he could have been coming from no And somebody stopped to help McShane get his car started Let's find out who in just a moment We will continue with tales of the texas rangers starring joel mccray as ranger jace piercing Now that fall is here and darkness comes upon us during the early afternoon hours You as a driver must be ever alert for children in the streets and highways Slow down at sundown follow the careful and courteous driving rules as set forth by the american trucking association Remember that a rolling ball is always followed by a child Keep alert drive as if a child's life dependent upon your ability to see him before he sees you and it does Remember the life you save may be a child We continue now with tales of the texas rangers and tonight's case Helping hand an authentic story from the files of the texas rangers There were two men in the garage as we drove in One of them was wearing a mechanics coverall The other was seated in a chair tilted back against the wall trying to toss greasy playing cards into a hat placed 10 feet away from him The mechanic gave the car a strange look Honest sheriff There's something I can do for you. Yeah joel fellow from the ranger lab wants a little space to go over this car Well, sure. I'll pull it right over to that corner. All right. Thanks You ever see that car before joe I can't say ranger. I work on a lot of cars Yesterday afternoon during the rain this car was about a mile past walley's place out on state 27 It was stalled with wet ignition wires. Somebody fixed him with a kerosene spray Your jeep was seen out that way Uh, yeah, yeah, I I guess maybe it is a car I fixed Uh, I guess you're gonna be busy joe. I'll call you later. Oh, sure. Sure. Rusty go ahead. Uh, just a second Well, how about this car joe? Well, like I said, maybe I did work on it I got a few cars started on the highway yesterday. You keep saying maybe how about making it yes or no a mile east of walley's Well, yeah, yeah, I saw a car there. Yeah, just like that one Uh ignition wires soaked you get him started. Yeah Driver all right when you left him Yeah, sure. They was all okay. Why what do you mean by all? Wasn't the driver alone? No, no, no. He had a couple of guys with him Hitchhikers, how do you know they were hitchhikers? Well driver said so guys were in the army uniform They were sort of burned off about being stuck had to get back to base or something army guys, huh? Yeah, why? Or something happened in that driver. Yeah Something unpleasant I better put out a pickup for a couple of soldiers ain't she air for reckoning your better jesh You uh Still want me to wait ranger? Oh, I almost forgot about you No, I just thought maybe you were with joe yesterday when he fixed that car. No, no, I wasn't I I don't work here No, no, he just stopped by. Oh, I see. Well, thanks. You're welcome. So uh, oh, uh, by the way Yeah What time you got? Just 10 minutes after one. Thanks Got a good-looking watch there Keep pretty good time. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's right on the dot must have had it for a long time, huh Yeah, I can see that You ought to have the strap changed though. It's getting too small for you Huh mark on the leather band shows where you used to hook it through the fourth hole You're wearing it hooked through the second hole now So long. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'll be seeing you see you later joe. Yeah rusty later I'd noticed the watch strap right away That's why I'd kept talking to joe after I stopped rusty from leaving The waiting made him nervous and he tried to keep the watch hidden Joe gave us a fumbling description of two soldiers, which I pretended to phone to austin While I was phoning I managed to signal the sheriff to pick up the greasy cards rusty been tossing into the hat We left the garage and took the lab man with us Thanks, joe. See you later. Sure thing. Uh, bye ranger. It's all along joe. We'll see you again Jayce, what'd you pull me out for? I wasn't finished. I know you got something else for you to check on Oh, what some playing cards the sheriff has yeah Yeah, I caught your signal jayce But what do you want these for step around the side of the building here? Those cards are pretty greasy sam. I think you can pull prints off of them grace film on a glazed surface Sedge, but why I've seen one of those garage boys before joe. No the other one rusty Something my mind tells me I saw him in the pen at huntsville. I want to check on his prints. I'll have to get right on it Joe's prints probably be on those cards too get a report on anything you find But first move that car out of there take it over to the sheriff's parking shed If you can lift any prints in an hour you can get them on the afternoon playing to austin What was that business about asking rusty the time jayce? It wasn't his watch. That's all Man who owned that watch always wore two notches tighter Comparing their sizes. I figured that arthur mcshane's wrist would be just about two notches thinner than rusty's The lab man lifted plenty of prints from the playing cards with two sets repeated most frequently We sent the batch through to austin for a check the answer came back late that night mug shots and records on two men Looks like you hit the jackpot jayce. Yeah joe and rusty both got records both served time in huntsville same cell block Can we pick them up? We can wouldn't be any use. We haven't even gotten enough on them to get them indicted You know there were two men on the job could be any two men sam I just well filed charges against you and the sheriff if that's all I got to go on Yeah, besides joe claims he was alone when he fixed the car and help a lot if we could prove that he wasn't How about walley out at the cafe? He saw the garage jeep. Maybe he saw who was in it It's almost 11, but he stays open late for the truckers and see we can get him on the phone sheriff. Okay Sheriff walton speaking get me walley's cafe out on route 27. Yeah Want to talk to him yourself jayce? Yeah, if you don't mind. Oh, no, no She's ringing the number now here hold on till he answers. He'll be there. Okay Now walley, this is ranger pearson. I was in your place this morning with a sheriff You said something about the jeep from joe's garage passing your place yesterday Uh, that's right. Yesterday afternoon. You see who was in it? You see who was in it? Did you actually see him? Was he alone or with somebody? I saw it was the jeep going by. You know how them things are or the curtains down the side and Well, the rain was streaming down my windows too. I saw the jeep go by but I reckon I couldn't even swear I saw joe in it Well, thanks anyhow. Yeah, I'm sorry. I wish I could help you you can just forget I called No good, huh? No good sheriff as far as he knows the jeep was driving itself Maybe that story about the hitchhiking soldiers was on the level Couldn't be on the level sheriff because they wouldn't walk away from a murder scene once mcshane's car was running They'd have driven it a few miles at least seems to me we could hold joe on that We could just long enough for some smart lawyer to get a rip All he'd have to say is that the soldiers might have gotten another lift or cut cross country to the railroad Yeah If you'd only find the money Serial numbers for proof Even the watch is no good. Mrs. McShane couldn't make a positive identification And we'd no way of tracing where or when McShane bought it money's probably hidden away Don't wait a mighty long time before they try to spend any of it Then we'll wait with them I hate knowing a man's a murderer and not being able to prove it Come on, sam Let's get over to the hotel and turn in for the night. All right. I'll walk out with you Hey, sam. Yeah You know, you got a grease stain on your pants. Oh, well, I'm right by your pocket there. Oh, yeah Yeah, I got some grease on them this morning lifting the hood of mcshane's car Chackle bolt was awful. It'll had to feel around or release it. Hey, what's the matter jay Joe had to lift that hood too to spray those wires him or rusty Grease film under there ought to hold fingerprints perfectly joe admitted he touched a car that don't help us No, but it'll help us if rusty touched it too because rusty claims. He wasn't there Sam, did you look under the hood for prints? No, jay. I never thought it. That's the last place a man would think of but we've thought of it now Come on. Let's check it. Yeah Good thing you moved it out of joe's place if we find what we're looking for joe's out of business Sam yeah photos of the prints that left at the beginning of show Some of them smeared fuel them clear All right, we can take them out of the bath now Here's the austin make on rusty See if you can match them under there just one print one finger sam and we're home. Want to light on now? Yeah, please No, not this one too much radio lube. No, not this one Hey, wait a minute. What find something. Give me that magnifying glass, will you please here? Now what do you see sam? All right here jays look the scarline small cut see i'll hold the austin print right up next to it Rusty's right for thing That's it sam watch that car and don't let anybody near it. Let's go sheriff. We got a couple of arrests to make Neither joe nor rusty were at home and joe's car was missing from his house garage We combed the town but there was no sign of them. We started to hit the roadhouses along the outlying districts Don't suppose they ran to jays no couple of suitcases in the rafters of joe's house garage He'd left he'd packed he thought you swallowed that story about the hitchhiking soldiers that would make him feel safe Where else would they be liable to stop? Well, I don't know just one more place out this way then there's nothing for four miles until Hey, walley's place. I forgot to give joe that message about walley wanting the fan bail Walley didn't mention it when I called him from your office might have called joe in the phone direct to remind them joe hangs out at walley's place sometimes Nights i mean drums up repair work with independent truckers that stopped there. Let's try it We hit the jackpot joe's car was at walley's place Inside one of the waitresses told us the three men were in the back shed putting a new fan belt on walley's pickup We slipped along behind the line of wash and waited from the finish and come out While we waited walley said something we couldn't hear as he bent down to the motor Suddenly rusty jumped him. Wait, when did ranger call you? A little poor midnight wine. Well watch wait until now to tell us. I just happened to mention it Ranger didn't want me to tell you at all. What do you want to know? Just if i'd seen a jeep pastor in the rain yesterday afternoon and then who was in it. Oh, what'd you tell him? Oh, what could i tell him? I just about saw the jeep who was born. So Hey, you guys are some kind of trouble. No, no, no coastline. So we better get back to town rusty. Wait a minute That's right fellas Fix the man's fan belt. Ranger including me in the party to rusty. Go ahead joe finish your work rusty can help you They won't do any harm if he leaves a fingerprint under the motor hood either Not under walley's motor hood because walley's still alive. How do my way joe pull it the gun I haven't got it good. Oh, holy mackerel. What's going on here? What did you do? I ain't make stuff in Don't keep your hands up joe Take a look at rusty sheriff. Don't take much looking right through the head. He did it was rusty He forced me into it. Sure joe dead man's always to blame. You can tell us all about it down at the jail You're gonna leave rusty here fix your fan belt and bring him into town if you like Come on joe get moving. I want to hear more about those hitchhiking soldiers And i'll tell you about my dream a liar who goes to huntsville Where the rusty holman dead joe falladera made a full confession of his part in the murder of ather mcchain On may 3rd 1951 he was sentenced to huntsville penitentiary for 50 years week joe mccray and another authentic reenactment of a case from the files of The texas rangers Starring in the universal international technicolor production cattle drive The cast included tony barrett herb bygren lou krugman bill conrad ken christy and lily and bio Technical advisor was captain mt lawn wolf gonzalez of the texas rangers This story was transcribed and adapted by joel mercott and the program was produced and directed by stacy keith Hal gibney speaking It's the silver jubilee on nbc Next it's the big show with jone davis herb jeffreys George sanders evelyn night groucho marks and your charming hostess to lula bankhead Then enjoy 30 minutes of mirth and music with phil harris and alice fay Later a theater guild on the air presents a foreign affair Coastarring marlena detrick and richard widmark and for pictures of your favorite nbc stars via the current nbc silver jubilee issue a radio tv mirror magazine Next it's the big show all this and to lula too on nbc