 Texas Rangers, starring Joel McRae as Ranger Jase Pearson. Another authentic re-enactment of a case transcribed from the files of the Texas Rangers are fictitious for obvious reasons. The events themselves are a matter of record... There's top entertainment all day long when you set your radio dial to NBC. Listen for Double or Nothing. You'll hear one of radio's funniest quiz shows. Here's Walter O'Keefe consistently comes up with great comedy entertainment Monday through Friday on Double or Nothing. Listen and you'll agree. Then there's the program with a heart, Strike it Rich. The grand entertainment that Warren Hall brings you every day on Strike it Rich is just what the doctor ordered if you suffer from the housework blues. From Chicago, Tommy Bartlett brings you welcome travelers and interviews with many interesting guests who each day pass through the windy city. And for more fun, listen for Bob and Ray, those two zany comics. Then there's Music and Charm with Dave Garroway. So remember, every day Monday through Friday, chase your blues away with the wonderful daytime programs on this station of the NBC radio network. And now, Tales of the Texas Rangers. And now, from the files of the Texas Rangers, the case called Travesty. It is 10.30 a.m. February 12, 1951 at the Texas Rangers headquarters, as the commander of that company, Captain Stinson, is disturbed from his desk duties by an unexpected caller. Morton, are you Captain Stinson? I sure am. What can I do for you? My name's Phil Clampett. Come a long way to talk to you, Captain. Sit down, Mr. Clampett. Thank you. Now, what's your problem? Well, this is bigger than just any little problem of mine, Captain. It's a matter of catching some crooked cops. That's a mighty serious charge, Mr. Clampett. Sure it is. I don't mind telling you I'm plenty burned up about this. I'll try to keep my dander down till I give you the facts. That'll be just fine. A couple of weeks ago, my company moved me down from St. Joe, Missouri to our Texas office at Harper's Ferry. Yeah? Brought my wife and kids, of course, and I was driving them down to New Sedana bought for the trip. Stopped by a little driving on Highway 92 near a town called Corona. About 150 miles north-east of here. Yeah. And while we was inside eating, somebody opened the back of my car and stole a brand new spare. Sent for a deputy sheriff right away and reported it. That's the best thing you could have done, Mr. Clampett. Well, that's what I thought at the time. Deputy took down a full complaint and said he'd look into it. I gave this information to the insurance company, of course. When you filed a claim for the tire? Sure. Well, the insurance company made a routine check and the sheriff of Corona County wrote him back saying he had no information on file about a tire theft report. Ah, see? I was good and riled up about it. Because it sure makes me look like a sap. So I wrote the sheriff of Corona County myself and asked him what in blaze was going on. Well, have you got his answer yet? Right here in my pocket. Here. Here it is. I don't like his attitude at all. Look, says here, have interviewed all my deputies and we have no information at all about any report having been made of an alleged tire theft. Yeah, I see. How you like that? Alleged. Well, he's called me a blasted liar, Captain. Is it possible, Mr. Clampett, that you could have the wrong county? No, it ain't, Ranger. Don't have a tire stolen every day in a week and I'm not likely to forget where it happened. You're sure it was on Highway 92 near Corona? Yeah, place had a filling station right next to it. How could you be positive the tire was stolen there, Mr. Clampett? Because I stopped on the highway about a mile before we got there to get a blanket out of the back and the tire was there then. And when did you first notice it was gone? Just as soon as we'd finished eating. It was getting colder and my wife wanted another quilt for the kids, you see. We went to get it before we started and found the back of the car had been jimmied open and the tire was gone. Look, here's the receipt for repairs on the trunk, Captain. Tell me, do you remember the name of the deputy you talked to, Mr. Clampett? No, no, I don't. He was a young fellow, though, and I gave him a detailed report of the whole thing. Now the sheriff says he don't have any set report on file. Now, look, Mr. Clampett, I've known Sheriff Halstead of Corona County for a long time. He's considered a mighty fine officer. Well, something's fishy somewhere, because I sure talked to a deputy. And if you can't trust even the law nowadays, who can you trust, Captain? Now just hold on. We'll try to find out for you what went wrong over there. Johnson getting a KTXA. As soon as I get the radio station, Mr. Clampett, I'll have a ranger assigned to investigate this right away. Within minutes, Ranger Jase Pearson had called in, was briefed on the case, and assigned to take over the investigation. He proceeded at once to the county courthouse in Corona and was told he could locate Sheriff Halstead at the cattle pens of a local stockyard. Pearson contacted him there about noon. Sheriff Halstead? Oh, hello there, Jase. Can I speak to you for a minute? Sure thing. Well, what you doing over this way? Come on over here, we can hear ourselves think, huh? You bet. Oh, bud, I'll talk to you later. I got kind of a tickless job in my hands, Jim, and I'd like to ask you a few questions. I hope you'll bear with me while I clean up a little misunderstanding here. Sure thing. Far away, Jase. Okay, you got a letter on February 7th from Harper's Ferry, didn't you? From a party named Phil Clampett? Yeah, I did. Some fellow claims he made a report of a tithe after one of my deputies. And I understand you wrote him that you'd interviewed all your deputies, and none of them had taken any such report. That's right. Boys didn't know anything about it. Well, it must be some kind of a crank, I think. Well, I don't think so, Sheriff. He had a receipt for repairs on the trunk of his car, and Captain Stinson seemed to think he was telling the truth. Oh, so now he's pestering the rangers about it, is he? Let me ask you something, Sheriff. Yeah? Have you ever had any complaints on any of your deputies before? Nothing to speak of. Oh, about three months ago, a fellow was picked up for vagrancy and claimed Jerry Matthews emptied his wallet before he brought him in. Did you check on it? Sure, nothing to it. A fellow was plastered. Is Jerry Matthews a young fellow? Yeah. Yeah, he is. Nice, clean-cut kid. How long has he been working for you, Sheriff? Oh, six, seven months, a reckon. A good officer? Kind of hard-headed. Gives me a little static sometimes, but he's got plenty of nerve. Matter of fact, I'd say he's my best man, Jase. Well, Clampett's dead shirt was one of your deputies he talked with. How could he be sure? When he wrote me, he didn't even remember the name of the diner. There are dozens of chicken and burger joints on Highway 92. He's pretty definite about it being near Corona, Cap said. Do you know of any place on the highway with a fill-in station next to it? Well, sure, that's the roundup, but... Well, Clampett didn't tell me that. Who covers that area, Sheriff? Jerry Matthews and the son. The same fellow you had the complaint on before? Yeah, but look here, Jase. Might as well accuse me. I bet my bottom dollar is a straight shooter, that kid. Clampett said it was a young fella. I think I better talk to Matthews, Sheriff. Okay, Jase, I sent him up in the hills this morning. He's checking on the moonshiner. Want to ride up there? Yeah, I'd like to clean this up right away, Jim. The sheriff picked up his horse in Corona and loaded him into my trailer with Charco. We drove about 30 miles out of Corona and took off on horses into the hills. The sheriff knew where the still was supposed to be located, so we didn't have any trouble finding his deputy. Up there is Jerry's horse. Oh, there he is now, over there. Coming up from behind that rock. Hey, Jerry! Hi, Sheriff. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You find anything? No. Just another room right, Gaston. Looked all over, there's nothing here. Just come out on a wild goose chase. Jerry, there's Ranger Pearson. Jerry Matthews. Ranger wants to talk to you, Jerry. But that fellow claims he had his tire stolen. You mean the one who wrote that letter? Didn't even know where it happened? Well, we figure now he was talking about the roundup, Jerry. I told you last week I don't know anything about it, Jerry. Clampett still claims he talked to a deputy, a young fellow, who took down a written report. What do you want to talk to me for? Looking to accuse me, Ranger? Concealing something? I'm not looking for anything but information, Jerry. I told you, Sheriff, I never took no such report. Look, Jerry, the Ranger here's been assigned to clear this up. And while he's here, I want you to cooperate with him as much as you can. Forget one of the other boys. I've got more than I can do now. I can't send you out on anything else, Jerry. It'll get this cleaned up. Meaning I am under suspicion then. We'd just like to have you stick around and we'll get to the bottom of this, Jerry. In the meantime, just on the report of some crackpot, you're relieving me of my duties. Is that it? No, get a hold of yourself, Jerry. Remember, you're still wearing the deputy's bed. No, I'm not. I'm turning it in. Now, wait a minute, Jerry. No reason for you to fly off the handle like this. What more can I tell you, except I don't know anything about a tire theft? I suppose next you can ask me if I stole the tire. Well, somebody stole it, Matthews. We'd like to have all the help we can in locating who did. First off, we want to find out who took that report. Well, you can stop investigating me right now, Ranger, because I'm not a deputy anymore. I quit. Now, take it easy, Jerry. Why are you fed up with this? You better be looking for a job than working for someone who doesn't trust me. I'm not taking any more orders from you, Sheriff. I'm through. Turning in that badge, Matthews, doesn't mean you're not still taking orders from both of us. What do you mean, Ranger? I mean, the sheriff and I are ordering you to stick around and be available for questioning until we figure this out. We're not through investigating this case yet. After we left Jerry Matthews, we headed for the Roundup Cafe to talk to the owner. We drove out to Highway 92 and got there a little past one. Mr. Charlie Reeves, he owns a place. I'd like to know if he remembers about that deputy. Hey, Charlie, you got a minute? Ranger Pearson here wants to talk to you. Sure thing. Wait and look right behind. Howdy. Mr. Reeves, do you remember an out-of-state car belonging to a fellow named Phil Clampett? Who? Phil Clampett. He claims he had a spare stolen out of the back of his car while he was eating in here. No, sir. I don't remember anyone having a tire stolen. When did it happen? A couple of weeks ago. You don't recall one of your customers sending for a deputy sheriff at any time? No, sir. I don't, Ranger. You know a deputy named Jerry Matthews? Sure do. You remember if he's been around here lately? No. Don't think he has. He used to drop in here for grub all the time before he got married. I haven't seen Jerry Morton twice in the last year, I reckon. Don't look as though you're going to be much help to us, Charlie. Sure. Sorry, Sheriff. Hey, maybe Vince knows something about it. Hey, Vince? Yeah? Take a face out that blueberry pie for a minute. Come over here, will you? Yes, sir. That's my brother-in-law, Ranger. Take care of the fill-in station next door for me. I'd be able to tell you something. Hey, Vince, this Ranger Pearson. Howdy, Rick. I'd like to know if you can give us any information about a tire theft. Tire theft? Yeah. A fellow named Clampett says it happened here, and he sent for a deputy. You know anything about it? Search me. I've heard anything about a tire theft or a deputy coming here, either, ain't you? Being outside, if a tire was stolen, it seems like I sure wouldn't own about it. Would you be able to recognize a customer if he came in here just once, Charlie? Well, that's hard to say. Off a lot of people, dropped by here in 24 hours. That should remember it. If anything like that, it happened. Maybe that fellow's pulling an insurance rack and pick up the price of a tire. Hey, how about that, Jayce? Good to be. Maybe we'd better get Clampett over here, Sheriff, and be sure we got the right diner. Right. So long, boy. You're sorry we can't be more help to you, right here. Okay. Thanks. Yeah, it seems funny nobody remembers anything about it, don't it, Jayce? Yeah, it does. And I'm feeling kind of bad now about Jerry Matthews turning in his badge. Tell you what, Sheriff, let's go out to Jerry's house and take him over to Harper's Jerry with us to talk to Clampett. Darn good idea, Jayce. Because if this does turn out to be a racket, Jerry might like to be on hand when we clean it up. In just a moment, we will continue with Tales of the Texas Rangers, starring Joel McCrae as Ranger Jayce Pearson. It's all right to build castles in the air, but don't keep them there. To bring that pet dream, a home of your own, down to Earth, start saving. There's no easier way than through the payroll savings plan. That way, automatically, you'll build up that money you'll need. And what's more, money invested in United States defense bonds grows over and above the money you sock away in them, especially with the higher interest rate and quicker return that defense bonds now give you. Don't put it off. Authorize your employer to lay aside from your salary every week whatever sum you choose. As the money accumulates, he'll buy your bonds and turn them over to you. Or if you're self-employed, your bank will take care of you on the bond a month plan. There's no safer investment than United States defense bonds. And when you buy them, you're not only protecting yourself against possible future emergencies, you're helping to protect your country, too. They're now even better. Invest more in defense bonds. We continue now with Tales of the Texas Rangers and our authentic story, Travesty. We drove over to Jerry Matthews' house to pick him up and take him with us to Harper's Ferry to get clamped. It was about 315 when we reached Jerry's place to hear a baby crying inside the house. Yes? Oh, hello, Sheriff. Hi, I'm Miss Matthews. This is Ranger Pierce. Afternoon, ma'am. Come in, won't you? Jerry home, Miss Matthews? Well, no, Sheriff. He's gone out on an assignment, he says. Oh, yeah. Say when he'd be home? No, it isn't, Sheriff. I'm sorry about Skipper's car and Anso, but he ain't been very well today. You're expecting your husband home for supper, aren't you, ma'am? I don't know. I don't know if he'll come home at all, Ranger. Anything about his job, ma'am? Oh, no, he sure likes his job, Sheriff. Well, it's only we had such an awful fight today when he came home for lunch. Probably blow over, ma'am. Yeah, it's just nerves, I guess. You see, we don't either of us get much sleep nowadays. Baby's been awful fussy lately, and we've both been a path of night with him. You gotta go through that to raise a family, Martha. Sure. My guest today was mostly my fault. I was nagging at him about money again. Not having any trouble, I hope. Don't everybody nowadays? You see, Jerry's still struggling to pay off the hospital bill for Skipper and the washing machine and all. It's pretty tough on a policeman, Sounding. Gee, yeah. I guess I deviled Jerry about paying the rent on time. It's mostly because we're leasing from my folks. Kind of a stubborn point of pride, I reckon. Anything I can do to help, Martha? No thanks, Sheriff. I guess Jerry takes an awful lot from me. It wasn't about the rent nor... But today, when I pitched in to him about it, he just blew up at me and said he was getting out, and he wasn't coming back. It's probably not half as serious as you think, Mrs. Matthews. Gee, I hope not. Where'd you send him today, Sheriff? Well, see, I can't just recall now, Martha. I've been up to my neck lately. Well, ma'am, I guess we'd better be heading along. Is there anything special you want with Jerry Rachel? No, just tell him we were asking for him. Sure will. I'm hoping he'll cool off and head home for too long. Well, thank you, Mrs. Matthews. I sure hope that baby picks up soon. He's just kind of got a touch of colic, I guess. I reckon he'll be all right. Goodbye, Ranger. It was nice to meet you. Thank you, ma'am. Goodbye, Martha. Take it easy. Don't like Jerry's heading out of town like that, Jace, when you told him to stick around? I don't like it either, Sheriff. Looks like Jerry's getting a little too independent for his own good. Of course I hate to admit it, but if they're having financial trouble, maybe Jerry did have something to do with that tire theft. Maybe so. Wonder what he's up to now? Tell him, Martha, he's on an assignment when he's turned his bad game. I'm glad you didn't give him away, Sheriff, till we find out a little more about what's going on. I sure hope he isn't mixed up in this clampard case, Jace, with a new baby and all. I hope so, too. And don't think we can tell anything till we go get Clampard. Sheriff and I headed for Harper's Ferry to pick up Clampard. We got to the house about 5.15 and knocked on his door. No one was home, so we walked around the garage at the back of the house. The car is not in the garage. Probably hasn't come home from work yet. Yeah, what'll we do? Wait for him? Just a minute, Sheriff. What? There's a tire in that garage. A new one. Do you suppose that nervy so-and-so really is pulling an insurance racket after all? It sure looks like it, doesn't it? Oh, there's a car coming in the driveway now, Jace. There's the same as those on his car. Yeah. Mr. Clampard. Yeah? I want to talk to you a minute. You're here to see about that tire theft. Well, I'm sure glad you fellas are getting moving on this thing. Looks like we should have come to see you in the first place, Mr. Clampard. What do you mean? Maybe you can explain what that new tire, same issue as these on your car here, is doing in your garage. Oh, what are you talking about, Ranger? Mr. Clampard. This is Sheriff Jim Halstead of Corona County. I think he's waiting for a little explanation, too. I sure am, Clampard. What's that spare doing in there after you raised all this rampage? Accusing one of my deputies of withholding a report. You're a local. I haven't got no spare. I've been trying for weeks to collect from the insurance company so I could buy another one. There it is over there, Clampard. Would you like to take a look? I sure would. Well, I'll be. How in the devil did that get in there? Well, this tire wasn't in here when I left this morning. It is your spare, isn't it? It is. At least it looks like it. The one that was stolen? Yeah, but Ranger, I tell you, up till this morning it wasn't here. And I've been away all day. Where's your family? Well, my wife and kids are our business sister and Waco. Somebody must have put it in here today while I was away. I'll bet it was that crooked deputy of yours, Sheriff. Now look here, Clampard. I think you've caused my county enough trouble already. Ranger, listen, I'm telling you the truth. Somebody did put it in here. Well, look around. You see all the dust on things? This tire here is clean. You can see it hasn't been laying here long. I can see that all right. The tire is clean. There are a few fresh fingerprints on the casing. If all those prints are yours, Mr. Clampard, you're in trouble. If they belong to somebody else, then maybe we'll believe you. I got my kit and lifted the prints from the tire. Then we fingerprinted Clampard at the Constable's office in Harper's Ferry. We sent a copy of his prints along with the tire prints to the lab in Austin for comparison. Then we took Clampard with us in my car and headed for Jerry Matthews' house. We got there about ten after nine. You stay in the car, Clampard, we'll bring him out here. Come on, Sheriff. Jay, sir, times when I don't like my job too much. Yeah, I know what you mean. I have a feeling Clampard's telling the truth. Would have hidden the tire if he hadn't been. Yeah, Jerry's skipping off like that, telling Martha they had an assignment. Not too good with that tire suddenly turning up. Yeah? Oh, it's you, Sheriff. Ringe and I'd like to talk to you, Jerry. Come on outside. No use upsetting your wife. You're with me in a minute, honey. Now what do you want? I'd like to know where you were from noon on today, Jerry. When you told Martha you were going on an assignment. Look, I'm not working for you anymore, Sheriff. I don't have to be badgered with questions like this. Oh, yes you do. I'm here representing the county and Ranger Pearson represents the state. All right. What do you want to know, Ranger? Were you in Harper's Ferry today, Matthews? No, I wasn't. Where were you then? Not going to answer that. I don't have to. Listen, Jerry, you know we're just doing our job. Why don't you tell us and be done with it? I'm not keeping anything from you that's any of your business. Where you were this afternoon is our business. Oh, look, you fellas, haven't I any right to privacy at all? Why don't you want to tell us? Just don't warn with us all. You know, Jerry, there's an old saying, the truth is a mighty powerful weapon. Yeah. It can't do anything but help you out of this mess. Now, where were you all day today? I was at my father-in-law's over in Junction. Had some things to settle with him. But I didn't want to tell Martha about it because I didn't want to upset her with skip or sick. You still don't believe me, do you? Just one more thing. Yeah? I want a fella sitting over in the car to take a look at you. What fella? Bill Clamford. Come on, Jerry. Mr. Clamford, is this the deputy that took the report? Yeah. No, for thee. He was a big fella about same size, but the one I talked to was kind of grimy looking. Dirty fingernails and all. Couldn't help noticing when he took down the report. This fella ain't the deputy I talked to at all. Thanks. Okay, Jerry. That does it. We'll go into your wife now. Thanks. To share? Yeah. Sure sorry about this morning. Didn't quite realize what that badge meant to me. I got it right here in my pocket, Jerry, if you'd like to have it back. Sure would. Thanks. Good night, Ranger. Nice kid. Yeah. I still don't know who did this. Dirty fingernails, huh? Wait a minute. What is it, Jayce? Mr. Clamford? Yeah, Ranger? Did this deputy sheriff you talk to have dark sort of curly hair? Yeah, he did. You mean you're beginning to believe me? Uh-huh. You'd been lying, you'd tried to pin it on Jerry just now. When were you driving out a minute ago, Jayce? Well, when we were talking to those people at the roundup the other day, couldn't help noticing how dirty that brother-in-law's hands were. Bench? Yeah, looked as though he might have washed them all right, but there was black grease under his nails. Bench could have done it all right. Sure, being right there in the fill-in station next to the parking lot, he's got a perfect racket, stealing tires off out-of-state cars. Most of them had never missed him for a while, either. Until they were miles out of the state. Mr. Clamford, did the deputy you talk to have kind of almond-shaped eyes? Yeah, he did, Ranger. Come on, Sheriff, get in. We got an interesting call to make. We headed for the roundup café on Highway 92. When we got there, the filling station was dark and the neon sign over the diner was out. The lights were on inside, and we could see Charlie drying a stack of dishes. Vince was leaning against the counter, can of beer in his hand. He got out of the car and went up to the door. Ranger, there he is. There's the deputy I talked to, the one with the broonies hand. I'd like to get a closer look. All right, sure, Wood. It's Ranger Pearson. Open up. Oh, I'm sorry, Ranger, I didn't know it was you. Hey, Charlie. Ranger and Sheriff want to see you. Stick around. We want to talk to you, too. Can I get you some coffee or something? No, thanks. Friend here wants to say hello to you, Charlie. Ranger, he's the one that told me to call the deputy. What's he talking about? I never saw this guy before. This is Mr. Clamford. Claims he had a tire stolen here two weeks ago. How many times have you two gotten away with this neat little racket? In which one of your hooks are tires? It would be kind of simple for you, wouldn't it? Do you know outside? Just to break open the back of a car and take out the spare? Yeah, and then if somebody discovers it missing like Clamford did, you put in a call to the gas station, Charlie. Overcomes Vince, the quick change artist pretending he's the deputy sheriff. Listen, I don't know what this fellow's been feeding you, too, but I tell you, Ranger, it's all a pack of lies. It's the same. I'd like to have you both come down to the Sheriff's office with us. What for? I want to take your fingerprints. You see, somebody got a little scared of the entire figure and this whole thing had blow over that way, but he didn't know he was leaving a nice fresh set of fingerprints while he was returning it. Okay, we'll be glad to come down with you. Oh, no, we won't. Hold it, Vince. Grab Charlie, Sheriff. You stay here, Charlie. No, you don't, Vince. You hold me. Stop that cleaver, Vince. Drop it! You all right, Jason? Yeah. It's all right for you, Charlie. You haven't got any prints on it, uh... Well, we've got a pair of handcuffs for him, just the same. Come on, get up, Vince. Now, let me tell you something. A badge is a mark of trust and doesn't belong on rats like you. Get moving. In just a moment, we will tell you the results of the case you have just heard. There's wonderful dramatic listening in store for you later today when NBC presents Best Plays. Today, Best Plays brings you on Borrowed Time by Paul Osburn. This is the touching drama of life and death in a New England town featuring the heroic attempt of an elderly man to keep death from overtaking him until his grandson comes of age. Featured will be Parker Fenley and Mildred Natwick. For most enjoyable radio entertainment, be sure to hear Best Plays later today on the NBC Radio Network. And listen to for Meredith Wilson's Music Room, wherein you'll visit with Meredith and a noted musical personality. And today only, on most NBC stations, listen to the Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street. Under the direction of Henry Hotliff's Levine, you'll hear the finest in drama and music. Keep tuned to this station of the NBC Radio Network. Now, back to Texas Rangers. And now, here are the results of the case you have just heard. The lab report positively identified Vince Wright's prints on the stolen tire. Faced with this evidence, he and Charlie Reeves made full statements concerning their tire theft racket and impersonation of a peace officer. They were arraigned before the district court on charges of larceny and fraud and were each given prescribed terms according to law in the state penitentiary at Huntsville. This is another authentic reenactment of a case from the files of the Texas Rangers. They will soon be seen in San Francisco's story, a Warner Brothers release. In the cast, you heard Byron Cain, Ken Christie, Paul Fries, Michael Ann Barrett, Jess Kirkpatrick, and Tony Barrett. Technical advisor was Captain M.T. Lone Wolf-Gonzalez of the Texas Rangers. This story was transcribed and adapted by Betty Mears, and the program was produced and directed by Stacy Keats. The rules of the Texas Rangers is heard each week overseas through the worldwide facilities of the Armed Forces Radio Service. Starting Wednesday, enjoy the best of Groucho on NBC.