 The National Broadcasting Company presents Joel McRae in Tales of the Texas Rangers Tonight transcribed from Hollywood another authentic reenactment of a case from the files of the Texas Rangers Texas Rangers starring Joel McRae as Ranger Jase 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 The 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, The Devil's Share It is 6.45 p.m. October 26, 1939 Frank Whalen, a dirt farmer, is sitting down to a simple evening meal When the door to the kitchen opens and his brother Jeff Whalen comes in Howdy, Jeff. Thought you was going to spend a couple of weeks up at Big D So I changed my mind to come back. Any law against that? Didn't say there was. Yeah, just fix and eat. I'll get you a plate Stop playing big brother. I want to eat. I can rust some on grub You can call it fat back and beans grub What's the matter with you anyhow, Jeff? Nothing. Just leave me alone You've been acting like this for quite a spell Thought taking a trip would do you some good Jeff, why'd you come back? I met Luthor Riggs up in Big D He told me you and Marjane was fixing to get married Oh, so that's it Why didn't you tell me? Because of the way you've been acting I was going to tell you when you come back You should have had a talk with me, Frank Marjane used to be my girl, remember? Used to be, ain't now, Jeff Maybe you should ask me a few things, Bob Marjane Maybe there's a couple of things you ought to know Anything I want to know about Marjane, she'll tell me herself Far as you're concerned, ain't nothing through tell No, huh? You ought to learn a little about women, Frank You might learn a lot if you didn't spend so many days Looking at the rear end of a mule So many nights poking your nose into that Bible, Leo If it's hurt me any, I reckon I'll find out when judgment comes Meantime, I ain't taking your word for it Meantime, you ain't bringing Marjane here either Maybe you're forgetting it, I'm half owner this far You're never proven by anything you grew here The law says I'm half owner with or without grown anything You want to bring a wife here, you better buy me a... You can have my share for $2,000 in good riddance Jeff, you got yourself a deal I'll give you 800 cash in the morning and notes for the rest You give me 2,000 cash in the morning He got that kind of money and you know it Who do you think you're kidding? He had a good crop, you got that much in the bank right now Yeah, yeah, I got it And almost half of it belongs to Uncle Joe for working on shares Work you wouldn't raise a hand to do I don't care about you or Uncle Joe, let him weigh, not me Jeff, get this And get it straight Uncle Joe is going to get every nickel that's coming to him whenever and however he wants it He's work for it Okay Frank, I just guess you, me and Marjan Gonna live here like one big happy family Maybe Marjan like that more than you think You... Jeff, if you weren't my brother I'll get you money for you, somehow I'll get it and you're gonna clear out I wouldn't have Marjan around dirt like you for a million dollars Oh, she used to be mighty fine at dirt like me Jeff, shut up, I tell you Don't say nothing else, Jeff, don't open your mouth It's only a member and when we was kids together in the memory I'm all in pa, just keep on me from beating you up That's just too bad, Frank Cause I ain't like you, memories don't bother me at all You ain't gonna do anything to me, Frank And I'm gonna get what I want and I'm gonna get it all Now ain't clutin' Marjan Jeff, put that bread knife back on the table I took a knife to you once before, Frank Pa'll stop me that time But pa ain't around anymore Give me that knife, Jeff! Bet you sure was pa was here this time Jeff Whalen waited until next morning Before reporting the death of his brother Frank to the local sheriff The sheriff asked for the assistance of a Texas ranger Ranger Jase Pearson was assigned to the case Well, Jase, I went all over the place earlier this morning When I was called here, now you've been all over it If you see anything, I must have missed it It doesn't seem to be much to see except the body Wanna talk to the brother now? He's still waitin' in the parlor I'll see him in a minute Look at the table where Frank Whalen was eating He was cuttin' his bread from this whole loaf Crumbs show that And it was a sharp clean cut This eatin' knife's the only one on the table, though That's not sharp enough to slice the bread that way He might've cut the bread then put the knife away It's possible, but it doesn't figure No, no, it doesn't If he sits down to his food, he don't put nothin' away until he's through And Whalen wasn't through From the looks of it, he just started to eat What you lookin' in the drawers for? A murder weapon, maybe Something like this bread knife Could be, I guess, but that knife's clean Yeah, too clean Look at the blade and the handle Well, what about him? The other knives in this drawer don't shine like this one This one's got special treatment Hey, I see what you're driving at You figured it was rubbed with a scouring pad To remove blood, maybe, huh? That's something we'll have to find out, but it's worth a bet It's been cleaned up too well to help us any, though We might as well put it back in the drawer Seems like that knife's the only thing we got to go on, Jase And we're not even sure of that I know We better have a talk with Whalen's brother right now Sure, but Jeff won't be able to help much Why not? He just got back from Dallas early this morning Called me as soon as he found the body Oh, I didn't know that Why don't we might as well see him anyhow Marjan Galt's in the parlor with him, Jase Oh, who's she? Marjan and Frank Whalen were fixing to get married Folks tried to keep her away when the news got out, but She came anyhow Yeah, it's just as well She might know something She's broke up pretty bad Parlor's here Sliding to her hollow, man Jeff, the ranger'd like to talk to you and Marjan now When can I see you, Frank? I think it'd be better if you didn't, ma'am For your own good, Marjan Last night Only last night I was home, but I was so in pillowcase No, come on, please, Marjan Love, do you have to talk to her now? I can tell you anything you won't know All right But I think you'd better come into the next room then Okay Ma'am Why don't you just stretch out on that sofa and rest All right, Jeff When did you find your brother's body? Well, like a total sheriff by 5 o'clock this morning when I come home He was killed last night around dinner time Where were you then? On the road, I reckon Having up the big day for the last 5, 6 days You'd drive back? Didn't have nothing to drive back in I hitch-rides, come back, same way I went And got here at 5 a.m. When'd you leave Dallas? Well, yes, Dad Then now I guess about 2 o'clock Why? Why are you asking me this? You're supposed to be find out who killed Frank Now, don't get steaming, Jeff Ranger's got a reason for asking You didn't touch anything in the house when you got in? Ranger, first thing I saw was my brother laying there on the kitchen floor Then a hot-tail back to the highway and called a sheriff Waited right there, he come pick me up Okay Your brother been having trouble with anybody? You know of any reason why anybody might want to kill him? Oh, no Nothing I can think of Except... Go ahead, Jeff Well, just something kind of my mind, Sheriff But no, couldn't be him Couldn't be who? Come on, Jeff Your brother's laying dead in there We gotta know every little thing, no matter how small Well, all right Just before I left, Frank did have a little argument with Uncle Joe Uncle Joe? Who's he? Oh, Sheriff Cropper Been working a good piece of this farm for Frank What was the argument between him and Frank? Well, old Joe claimed that Frank owed him some money from the crop Frank said it didn't He's both pretty hot about it Well, that don't sound like your brother Frank Or Uncle Joe I know it don't It was probably just a misunderstanding, straight now That's why I told you it wasn't worth mentioning When it comes to murder, anything is worth mentioning And this sounds like it might be plenty important Sheriff, we better ask Uncle Joe to account for his movements last night We haven't seen him around But his granddaughter, Belle, might be able to tell us something She's been standing around outside the house ever since we got here Look, I'd like to go back tomorrow, John She needs somebody with her All right, go ahead Tell Belle to come in here, will you? All right I'll send her right in Oh, uh, just a second, Jeff Yeah? You must be pretty tired You have much trouble catching rides last night? Well, I got one long ride in a truck Oh, you know who owned the truck or anything about the driver? What? No I didn't talk to the driver much I slept most of the time I think it was out of state truck Truckers usually don't like sleeping rider beside them on a night haul Well, uh, this fellow let me sleep on the shelf Up in the back of the cab Oh, I see All right, send Belle in Okay You've been asking him a lot of funny questions Yeah, and he's been giving me a lot of funny answers What do you mean, Jayce? That stuff about sleeping on the shelf in a truck cab He never slept in that suit he's wearing It's too well-pressed So he changed clothes when he got home this morning He said he ran to call you the minute he saw his brother Yes, Belle, come in Belle, you and your grandfather, Uncle Joe, you live on this farm? Yes, sir That little house down there near the matter You can see it Just the two of you? Yes, sir Where was your grandfather last night? He was home, sir He don't ever go no place Was he home all night? Where was he at dinner time? Home, sir, honest Only time he left was for a few minutes to bring He didn't leave the house at all Not at no time He didn't leave the house at all Belle, you're lying No, sir, no, I'm not Look, Belle, you started to say something Then you backed away from him No, sir, I didn't Belle, if you want to help us And your grandfather, you better talk up I told you everything, honest, I did With all this going on, why am I all around? Why did he run off? He didn't run off He went to the church to pray for Mr. Frank Where's their church, Sheriff? Left fork of the road, decided town But he probably ran off someplace You can find out about that later If he isn't at the church Let's go Uncle Joe was at his church all right We saw him kneeling in the dim light When we opened the door Sheriff beckoned to him And he came out into the sunlight Tears were streaming down his face I was just saying the prayers Yes, Mr. Frank, Sheriff I didn't know you'd be needing me for anything, sir Where were you at dinner time last night, Uncle Joe? Why are you asking me that, Mr. Sheriff? Just answer the question, Uncle Joe You can't be figured out I killed Mr. Frank, is you? We just want to know where you were I never hurt Mr. Frank He's the best man I ever know Why, he's even helping me So I could buy my own strip of land And my own new Joe, I want an answer and tell the truth Bell already tried to lie for you Begging your pardon, Mr. Sheriff But don't nobody ever have to lie for me, sir The truth ain't never hurt me I ain't never hurt the truth Well, you'd better tell it just a minute, Sheriff Uncle Joe, did you leave your house At supper time yesterday? Yes, Mr. Ranger, I did Where'd you go? To Mr. Frank's house Like I did every evening To bring him some of Bell's fresh bread First supper Uncle Joe, I better tell you right now That anything you say from here on Can be used against you Used against me for what, sir? Ain't nothing I'm ashamed to tell How long did you stay there? Mr. Frank was cooking him some food I just stayed long enough to leave the bread And to fix up with him to meet him Friday At the bank so he could give him the money What money? What was mine from working on shares Are you saying Frank Whalen was holding money of yours? You had an argument about whether or not He owed you that money, didn't you? Mr. Frank and me ain't never had no argument, sir He was my good friend Hey, Jace, here comes one of my deputies, Ben Sloan I thought he and the other boys were beating around the farm They might have found something Howdy, Ben Howdy, Sheriff I thought you got wrapped in that newspaper This A bloody knife Where'd you get it? Reckon no Uncle Joe here could tell you as well as I can We found it in the weeds Out behind his shack and Whalen's farm You are listening to Tales of the Texas Rangers Starring Joel McCrae as Ranger Jace Pearson We continue now with tonight's case The Devil's Share, an authentic story from the files of the Texas Rangers Uncle Joe stared at the bloodstained knife The deputy found behind his house The stare was a look of recognition Have you ever seen this knife before, Uncle Joe? Come on, answer me You know we've seen it before, Sheriff You can tell just by looking at it How about it, Uncle Joe? Yes, sir, Mr. Ranger It's mine It's just a old whittlin' knife But I never used that in nothing else on Mr. Frank Uncle Joe, you're under arrest for the murder of Frank Whalen Mr. Sheriff, I'm telling you here Outside of God's own house I've never done it Think maybe you better depotize a few more men, Sheriff We might need them Why? What for? People around here thought mighty high, Frank Whalen, Jace They aren't going to cotton to the idea of him being killed By somebody he took in and held And you can't blame him for that I can blame anybody for anything that doesn't follow the law You're not going to have any problem with Uncle Joe, Sheriff I'm going to take him off your hands Now, hold on, Jace He's my prisoner and I'll guarantee his safety I know you'd protect him, that isn't why I'm taking him I'll give you receipt form and bring him back here later Where are you taking him? On the radio for Unit 88 The Ranger plane to pick us up and fly us to Austin And you'd better hand over that knife, Ben That goes with me I put through my call to Camp Mavery Austin And the Ranger plane picked us up at the nearest airfield Uncle Joe tightened up as we took off And his lips moved like he was praying After that, he relaxed Where you taking me to, sir? Ranger camp on the slab at Austin, Uncle Joe You know what a lie detector is? No, sir Well, it's kind of a machine, it's called a polygraph It can tell whether a man is lying or telling the truth Whether or not you take the test is up to you We can't force you Look, I'm colored, folks Would it work right on me? Yeah It'll work all right, Uncle Joe If you say it's all right, Mr. Ranger Then I'll do it I trust you, sir You's good, folks Like Mr. Frank was We landed at Camp Mavery I dropped the bloodstained knife at the lab Then took Uncle Joe upstairs to the polygraph room He wavered a little when we seated him in the chair And fixed the bands to measure his blood pressure, pulse and respiration Sir, this chair... This ain't no electric chair, is it? Don't worry, it won't hurt, Uncle Joe We're ready to go, Chase Okay, I'll be waiting in the next office No matter what I ask you, Uncle Joe I want you to answer yes or no That's all, understand? Yes, sir Is your name, Uncle Joe? Yes, sir Is Belle your granddaughter? Yes, sir Do you go to church? Yes, sir I waited in the next office knowing what was happening The technician would go through the list of questions The simple, harmless questions That would register truthful reaction on the graph And then he'd start to hit the questions that mattered The questions about Frank Whelan Yes, sir Did you have an argument with him about money? No, sir Did you use a knife on him? No, sir Did you kill Frank Whelan? No, sir Was the knife with the blood on it yours? Yes, sir Do you know how the blood got on it? No, sir Is that the truth, so I'll help you, God Yes, sir That's all, I guess You just stay put, Uncle Joe I'll take those things off you in a minute Yes We're all finished, Jase Good, what was the reaction? Looks like he's telling the truth, Jase All the way down the line Even about not having an argument with Frank Whelan over money? According to the graph, no argument He wasn't lying Good, because that means somebody else was lying I'm gonna take him back to him Just a second, Jase Can he speaking? Yeah I'll tell him, he'll be right down That was the lab on that knife you brought in They typed the blood? It isn't human blood, Jase It's chicken blood Unit 88 flew us back to the airfield where I'd left my car and horse trailer The sheriff had been notified that we were returning any medicine to jail with a couple of deputies At my request, Uncle Joe agreed to spend the night in a cell for safe keeping then I filled the sheriff in on what I'd found out at Austin Chicken blood I don't get it, Jase Why didn't Uncle Joe say he'd use that knife to kill a hen? Because he didn't That knife was planted where it was found and whoever planted it didn't expect the investigation to go any further Uncle Joe kept the knife in the shed behind his house Killer got it during the night after the murder stuck a hen with it and tossed it in the weeds Have to be somebody who knew the place pretty well to find that knife and do the plan It was somebody who knew the place Frank's brother, Jeff? Frank's brother, Jeff What do you know about him? Have you ever been in any trouble? Not around here We'd better check and find out where he stayed in Dallas and who saw him while he was there We don't know for sure he was there Oh, he was there, all right How do you know? Because Luther Riggs saw him Luther just drove back from Dallas this morning I met him about an hour ago and he told me he'd seen Jeff there How long was Riggs up in Dallas? Just overnight Quick business trip, why? Doesn't it seem kind of funny that Jeff hitchhiked back here in such a hurry when he could have stayed over until this morning and gotten a sure ride with somebody he knew? Didn't think of that Where does Riggs live? Farm, four mile out Let's drive out there I want to see him Hand with my milk? No, thanks Let go of that cow for a minute, Luther I want you to meet Ranger Pearson Sure thing, howdy Howdy, the sheriff tells me you met Jeff Whalen up in Dallas yesterday That's right When? I reckon it was just about nine o'clock a.m. I'd been driving most of the night to get there Stopped for red light and there was Jeff just fixing across the street You talked to him at all? Sure Told him to hop in and I'd take him wherever he was going He said he was just drifting around so we went and had some breakfast together Can you tell you he was heading back for home? Not right off he didn't Sounded at first like he was planning to spend quite a while in Big D Didn't say nothing about coming home until Well, uh, until after I told him that Mar-Jan's folks had told me that Mar-Jan Frank was getting ready to set the date You mean he didn't know his brother was going to get married? Didn't seem to Matter of fact, now that you mentioned it he looked right upset when I brought it up Maybe it was because of Frank not telling him Or maybe it was because Maybe it was what? Go ahead I think I can answer that one, Jason Mar-Jan and Jeff used to walk out together about a year ago Then Mar-Jan sort of broke off with him Took up with Frank later That's right, Ranger But Jeff never looked like it bothered him none The way a man looks doesn't have anything to do with what goes on inside of him Thanks for your help, Riggs Come on, Sheriff You're welcome Yeah, looks like you dug up a motive, Jason Yeah, but we need evidence to go with it Jeff left Dallas a lot earlier than he told us he did Not much chance of digging up anybody who gave him a lift, I guess I'd say no chance at all There's something else we can look for, though What's that? Remember my saying that his clothes slept in him or driven a long way in him? Yeah, I do The only reason he'd have changed clothes would be because the things he'd been wearing might have gotten blood on I'm not saying you're wrong, Jason But we combed that house There was nothing there No, they'll be on the farm someplace What makes you think so? Jeff couldn't risk being seen around any place last night Any movie he'd make would have to be on foot He had no other way So it's a good bet he stuck close by the farm until he called you this morning I got my horse in the trailer I'll pick up one for you and take another look around Jayce, we've been out here half the night I don't think we're going to find anything Maybe not Come on back to my place and let's hit the sack Then we wake up, we can start out fresh I don't want to wait too long We come here by daylight, Jeff will see us looking Well, I'm beat Can't we just go into the trees over yonder and rest a while? Yeah, I guess so It'll be dawn in about two hours We can move faster then with a little light Come on and go over to the trees You'll all take a breath Come on, Charkey We moved into the trees, dismounted and hobbled the horses The sheriff dozed off quickly and then I began to nod But an hour later I came out of it There was a bright glow across the fields beyond some corn stalks and it wasn't the morning sun I put my hand over the sheriff's mouth and shook him Look over there Looks like a fire Yeah, just beyond the corn Come on, quick and quiet What do you think it is? Jeff Whalen, burnin' those clothes we've been lookin' for We ran for the cornfield and when we got into it the light rustle of the morning wind in the stalks covered our approach Came to the edge of the field and saw him Jeff Whalen, dumping kerosene on a pile of smoldering cloth Look, Jason, those boys and that hole Old Whale covered over He dumped the clothes in there last night and now he's come back to burn them Must've been some water from Whale They're smoldering, they won't burn right Well, if he keeps pouring kerosene on them long enough let's get him That's enough Drop that can Drop it, I said Well, sure Sure, I'll drop it Drop it, Jason He threw the can onto the fire and a sheet of flame leaped up between us like a blinding flare I dove across it, trying to clear my eyes Look out, Kate, she's got a knife on her I was on him before I saw him I played flash I dug for my gun, but I couldn't bring it up in time The knife slashed into my shoulder and went to the ground He landed on top of me but as he raised his hand to strike I got my gun free with my left hand and slapped the barrel against the side of his head All right, Kate Here, I guess my... This certainly needs a little stitching Your shoulder needs a little stitching too Couldn't risk a shot, you were too close Yeah, come on Gotta stamp that fire out before all the evidence is burned Well, that's only kerosene on the ground, Bernie I kicked what we need out of the fire Plenty left for your lab to work on Ah, good thinking, Sheriff Coming to you, Jason Yeah All right, Jeff Come out of it Come on What did you jump me for? I was only burning some old fire Yeah, we know The old things you happen to be wearing when you killed your brother You were right about that bread knife, Jason Look, here's what he used on you You got nervous about that, too, didn't you, Jeff? Decided to get rid of everything and let old Uncle Joe ride for you Oh, look, you're crazy I don't know what you're talking about Yeah I talk kind of a foreign language But maybe the grand jury will understand me when they indict you for murdering your brother Come on, get on your feet Move Jeff Whelan was tried and convicted for the brutal knife murder of his brother, Frank On August 2, 1940, at Huntsville Penitentiary he died in the electric chair This is Joel McCray, wishing you all a very, very happy new year Good night, folks See you next week Next week, Joel McCray in another authentic re-enactment of a case from the files of The Texas Rangers Joel McCray is currently seen starring in the Universal International Technicolor production, Saddle Tramp Tonight's cast included Tony Barrett, Tom McKee, Parley Bear, Peggy Weber, Roy Glenn, Wilms Herbert, and Rye Billsbury This story was transcribed and adapted by Joel Murkock and the program was produced and directed by Stacey Keach Hal Gibney speaking The season of good cheer of bright and new tomorrow and the happy and new year Stay tuned for the $64 question Tomorrow, remember the Cottonball game on NBC