 Listen at the close of this program for an important announcement of a change in time for Tales of the Texas Rangers. The national broadcasting company presents Joel McCrae in Tales of the Texas Rangers. Tonight transcribe from Hollywood another authentic reenactment of a case from the files of the Texas Rangers. Texas Rangers starring Joel McCrae 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. Rangers come these stories based on fact. Only names, dates and places are fictitious for obvious reasons. The events themselves are a matter of record. Case for tonight? Blood relative. It is 4 p.m. June 26, 1949. Will Bonner, proprietor of the general store at Stump Hill, Texas, waiting on Mack Kennedy, a dirt farmer. It's found a flower in the bacon, Mac. Anything else? Yeah, carton of cigarettes. Yeah. How about making it a couple of sacks of tobacco? What's the matter, Will? My credit no good anymore? Mac, I think you ought to pull in your horns a little. Your bills run kind of high. You get your money, don't you? Ain't a question of getting it, Mac. You stand to make a good crop this year. Unless you have to pay out, the better chance you'll have to get on your feet permanently without no credit. Let me worry about it. Go ahead, wait on him. That's all right. I got time. No, no, I'll take care of you, stranger. What do you have? Stranger. Time ain't helping your sight any, is it, Uncle Will? Been. Been. Dang it, boy. You changed. How do you like that? Didn't recognize my own blood relative? Well, Liz, Liz, come see those here. Well, really, I don't see a shit. What is it, Will? I don't see nothing. Well, once you know you want to buy some perfume. No, Will, you could have told him that. What would I do with Ben? It sure is. Stop crackling, Will. You know about your Pa. I know he's dead. Oh, being glad to see you, Ben. I almost forgot. He happened last winter. The pneumonia. Yeah, we tried to locate you, boy, but nobody knew where you was. Nobody would have wanted to know. I was independent, Huntsville. That's why I've been for four years. In the prison? Your Pa never said. Well, nobody's business, but mine. Well, Ben, I guess we can talk that over later. You want to stay? There's a place here for you. I ain't asking you for nothing except what's coming to me. I just want you to buy out my Pa's share. The storm pay me off. Ben, your Pa never did have a share in the store. He only worked for me. What you trying to get away with, Uncle Will? He told me he was going in with you when he moved out here. But Ben, you knew your Pa. He always talked big, but he never did have a dime of his own. You telling me about my own Pa? No, we ain't running him down, boy. He never harmed nobody, but talking big was just his way. Look, I come to get what's mine. Do I get it up, Dona? Ben, there's a bed and a job waiting for you if you want them. Your kinfolk, and that makes you welcome. But outside of that, there ain't nothing here that's yours. You're going to pay for it, don't you? You just hold on, young man. Hey, turn him loose. Turn him loose, man. I reckon I can still take care of myself. Maybe you can. Maybe you can, Uncle Will. I'm staying around town to give you a chance to change your mind. Now, I'm warning you. I won't get what's mine if I have to kill you for it. On the following morning, June 27th, neighbors found Will Bonner shot to death, and his wife Liz critically wounded and unconscious in the back room living quarters of this store. The sheriff called with the assistance of a Texas ranger. Ranger Jase Person was assigned to the case. Well, that's all of the story, just like I found it, Jase. You look pretty downhearted, Sheriff. Bonner, a friend of yours? I knowed him all my life. He helped me get elected. Hey, the body's in the back room. You want to see it? Yeah. You can stay here if you'd rather. No, no, I'll come. I guess you notice the way the safe was cracked in the door where the killer got in. Yeah, professional job, all right. I covered Will over with a sheet. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I... It's all right. Corner hasn't been here yet, huh? No, he's on his way. Hmm. Dead about six, seven hours. How do you figure that, Jase? rigor mortis just beginning to set in. You see a lot of them, you get to know. Nine o'clock now, that means it happened about two or three this morning, huh? That's close to it. How about Bonner's wife? Is she gonna pull through? Doc Woodson took her to the county hospital, said there's a little chance. You've got a deputy posted at the hospital in case she comes to? Yep, he can take any statement she can... Sheriff! Sheriff, I gotta talk to you in a minute. Well, all right, Jody, come in. Farm hand works for Mack Kennedy on and off. Howdy, Ranger. Sheriff. What's on your mind, Jody? Well, I... I just come to pick up some feet and Mack's pick up. Heard about what happened? Know anything about it? Not exactly, but I was in town with Mack yesterday afternoon. He come to trust some suppliers from Bonner. What time? Oh, about four o'clock. I wasn't in the store with him, but when he come out and we was driving back, Mack said Bonner had a fuss with somebody. Phyllis threatened to kill him. He say who the fellow was? No, but whoever it was, he took a swing at Bonner. Mack had to grab him to stop a fight. Where's Kennedy now? Well, he was out plowing when he left. We'll be able to get him by phone then. Come on, Sheriff. Let's get out there and talk to him. Dead. Will Bonner dead? Yeah, and Liz is mighty close to joining him, Mack. Better cut the motor on your tractor. Yeah. Sheriff, we should have told you about that, fellow. I should have called and told you myself after what he threatened to do to him. Too late for what anybody should have done. You know the man? Never saw him before, but I know who he is. Bonner's nephew. Fresh out of Huntsville. I heard him say so. An ex-con and you didn't say anything about it? Well, Sheriff, how could I know he'd do it? A blood relative. Wasn't my affair, was it? You know the man if you saw him again? I'd know him any place. You better come into town with us. Talk while we ride. Okay. Bonner mentioned his nephew's name. Well, he called him Ben. He will Bonner had a brother died last year. Must have been his boy. We'll find out. On the way into Stump Hill, Mack Kennedy told us the story of the threat and gave me a description of Ben Bonner. I put a shortwave radio call through to KTXA. Unit 10 to KTXA. Request all units be alerted to look out for subject Ben Bonner, recently released from Huntsville. Subject wanted for questioning in murder of Will Bonner at Stump Hill. Request special alert on all roads leading from Stump Hill. Subject may be leaving area on foot or by hitchhike. Unit 10 clear. Maybe young Bonner didn't run for it. Jase, he may be hiding out someplace nearby. Not likely, Sheriff. If he killed his uncle, he'll go for distance. He killed him all right. You can bet on that. When a man's life's at stake, Kennedy, I don't bet. Ben Bonner wasn't around Stump Hill. He pulled stakes and made a run for it all right. We got the information from a woman in the crowd near the store when we got back to town. Her name was Sadie Wattle. She ran a rooming house. I ran all my rooms to extra farm hands, generally, because I don't have to serve no meals that way, with them eating where they're working. So naturally, I thought this fella was one of their migratory hands. Yeah, yeah, I understand all that, ma'am. All I want to know is when Ben Bonner left your place. Well, it must have been just around midnight last night. Everybody was in and sleeping and the house was locked up. And, well, the phone woke me up and it was for him, that Ben. Phone, huh? You know who called him? Course not. I didn't know who he was or nothing about him, except his name was Ben. Did you recognize the voice of the person who called? No. Well, please go ahead about the phone call. Well, I called him to the phone, that's all. Fine time of night to be waking people, I told him. Then he answered it. Right after that, he lit out like the devil was after him. You hear any of the conversations? I did not. I mind my own business. Besides, all he said was hello. After that, all the talking must have been done by whoever called him, because he never said another word, just listened a minute, then hung up and lit out. The phone ringing in the store, Jase, I better get it. Go ahead, Sheriff. Well, thanks for your help, Mrs. Wattle. I'm glad I'm alive to give it. I might have been murdered my own sleep with an ex-convict under my roof. Or to be some way, we could tell him from other folks. A man who served his time can't be expected to carry a brand, ma'am. Besides, how did you know Ben Bonner's an ex-convict? How did I not? Jase, the call is for you. Right there, Sheriff. Thanks, ma'am. Excuse me. Who's calling? Your headquarters, Captain Stinson. Hello, Captain. Where'd they get him? It's a good thing they saw him. If he'd made El Paso, he'd been across the border into Juarez in no time. I seem to be getting plenty. I don't know. You look up his record. What was on his last ticket to Huntsville? It fits all right, like the executioner's glove. Five miles cross country from the nearest railroad spur. We had time before the highway patrol would be delivering Ben Bonner. We sent Kennedy back to his farm. I unloaded charcoal from a horse trailer and the sheriff got his horse. We rode to the railroad tracks. He was smart, Jase. Almost got away. Lots of them almost get away. Sure made a lot of distance in a hurry. Don't know why you wanted to be sure he came this way to get to the train. I just wanted to be certain he cut through these five miles on foot. Proves he didn't hitchhike a fast ride and pick up the train further on down the line. Well, luck was with him for a while. He cut the only train he could have cut. You mean only one freight goes through here at night? Yep. Hot shot passenger clears first at about 1 a.m. Freight comes through about 15 minutes later. Slows for the grade here where he jumped it. About 1.15 is the schedule for the freight then, huh? That's right. Well, let's get back to town. Come on, Chuck. You look like that train schedule means something, Jase. It might. Corner's report ought to be in by the time we get back to town. Hey, I see what you mean. If Bonner was killed between 2 and 3 a.m. like you figured... It'll mean his nephew Ben was on that freight at the time the old man was killed. It was waiting at the sheriff's office when we got back. Well, you didn't miss by much, Jase. Here's the report on the time of day. What is it? Between 1 and 2 a.m. Then Ben Bonner didn't kill his uncle. Even if he ran the five miles across country, his track showed as he walked, he couldn't have made it in time to catch that freight. It doesn't look that way. Bullets from Bonner's body have been sent through to Austin. We may get a lead from Ballistics. I'm going to do some more checking around town on that. Just a second, Jase. Sheriff speaking. Oh, good. Good. She did, huh? No. No, you stay right there. Goodbye. Well, Jase, looks like there's been a mistake someplace. That was my deputy at the county hospital. Liz Bonner regained consciousness for a few seconds. What'd she say? She said her and her husband were shot by their nephew, Ben. You are listening to Tales of the Texas Rangers, starring Joel McCray as Ranger Jase Pearson. We continue with tonight's case, Blood Relative, an authentic story from the files of the Texas Rangers. The highway patrol brought Ben Bonner back to Stump Hill and unloaded him at the local jail with a sheriff and I questioned him. But I didn't kill him, I tell you. Didn't he know he was dead, too, now? You said you was going to kill him. You said it in front of a witness. Man, there's a difference between saying and doing. If you had nothing to do with it, why'd you run away? Well, somebody called me up last night at the room in the house late. It was a man. Said he was a friend and wanted to warn me the sheriff was going to pick me up for threatening Uncle Will. You scare easy, don't you? You bet your life I do, mister. I just pulled four years at Huntsville and I had enough. I don't want no more. Maybe I was tough when I went to Uncle Will yesterday, but last night when I got that call, I was scared sick. And you don't know who called you? No, no, I don't know. You sure it wasn't somebody you served time with, letting you know he was here to help you with the job? No. Look, you've got to believe me. This is a murder rat. You can't send me up for it just because I shout off my mouth. That ain't evidence. Ben, there's more than that. Your aunt Liz didn't die. She came to at the hospital. She says it was you who gunned her and her husband. That's a dirty lie. Look, if I did that, if I shot them and robbed the store, what was I doing on a freight? What did I do with the money? I ain't going to say anymore. I ain't going to talk till I see a lawyer. That's your right. We told you that in the beginning. All right, Sheriff, guess you can lock him up again. Go on, go ahead, Ben. Ranger, please, I didn't do it. Maybe the fella who told you I threatened Uncle Will didn't tell you everything. Maybe you ought to ask him why there was arguing when I come into the store. All right, Ben, all right. Well, what do you think, Case? I don't know. Let's get outside. If he did have an accomplice, the other fella might be cartin' the loot and the gun. Might be. I'll see you later, Sheriff. I'm driving over to the hospital at the county seat. I want to talk to his aunt, Liz Bonner. Mrs. Bonner, the doctor will only let me stay a minute. Well, shot Will, just getting up. Who shot him, Mrs. Bonner? Ben, Ben, ungrateful, wanted to help him. How did it happen? There was a noise in the store. Woke us up. Well, Cole said, who's there? Then he got up, went to put on the lights. Ben shot him. Did he get the lights on? Did you ever see your nephew? No, but it was him. He said he'd do it. It was him. If you didn't see him, did he say anything? Did you hear his voice and recognize him? No, he just shats off. But you didn't see Ben or recognize his voice? No, but he said he would. It couldn't be anybody else. I think you're wrong, ma'am. I think it could be. I burned up the road back to Stump Hill and got the sheriff. I wanted to make another check of the store and find out a few things about Mack Kennedy. Dog on it, Jase. You're sending your dogs at the wrong tree. Mack Kennedy's been Will's friend for years. I just asked if Kennedy had ever been in trouble. Never. He's an honest, God-fearing dirt farmer, and that's all. What kind of shape is he in, financially? Well, Jase, a man don't have to be a criminal just because he's down on his luck. Mack's crops have been bad. Sheriff, I'm just trying to figure out a few questions, that's all. Well, I'm sorry, Jase. I reckon Mack's in hawk up to his neck, placing all his equipment as mortgage. How come he can afford a hired hand? You mean Jody? Oh, he just drifts in and out, ain't much of a worker, but he's all Mack needs. Migrates in in the spring for planting season, then out again in the fall after harvest. Doesn't work for nothing, does he? Mack pays him right off when he makes his crop and sells it. Is that the way he pays everybody? It's the only time he ever has any cash. Why? Just wondering. Did Mack buy here on credit from Bonner? Well, I guess so. Why? You find something in the ledger? Come take a look. Seems to be a page torn out. The book has kept an alphabetical order. Missing page is in the case. If there was a charge page in here for Kennedy, it'd be right here. Now you've got something I can't buy, Jase. What a setup. An ex-con threatens to kill a man, makes it perfect for somebody else to do the job and set the jailbird up for a frame. Come on, Sheriff. Let's get out to Kennedy's place again. Only this trip, we won't be asking questions about Ben Bonner. There's one thing still bothering me, Jase. Mack Kennedy's never been in trouble. So how come we both spotted the marks of a professional knob-knocker on the burger? It's been bothering me, too. And the more I think of it, the more I wonder why he tore that charge page out of the ledger. Why do something that would point right at him when he had somebody else all set up to take the fall? Just beating the bill wouldn't make the chance worthwhile. Not with murder it wouldn't. Oh, this may be the ballistics report, Jase. Yeah. Unit 10, go ahead, KTXA. 10-4, unit 10, clear. KTXA, Austin. A minute, KTXA. Stand by, please. What's the matter, Jase? Just got an idea. Something that didn't fit before. That hand who works for Kennedy, that Jody. What's his last name? Jody? Well, I see it. It's Pelham. Jody Pelham. Why? I'll tell you in a minute. You there, KTXA? This unit requests quick check on subject Jody Pelham. Repeat, Jody Pelham. Urgent. Unit 10, clear. Jase, you figuring Jody helped Matt Kennedy to pull this job? Maybe. Or maybe Jody did it on his own. I want to know if he's got a record. What Swiss you're thinking to him? He was waiting outside Bonner's store for Kennedy when Ben walked in yesterday and made his threats. Well, sure, he admitted that. Kennedy told him about Ben when he come out and they drove on back to the farm. Yeah, but when Jody came into town the next morning and came to tell us about the threats, he pretended he didn't know too much. Just knew that old Will Bonner'd been threatened couldn't say who made the threats. Well, I don't get what you're driving at, Jody. If Kennedy told him, he must have told him the whole story about the threats coming from Bonner's nephew. A nephew just got not a prison. That'd be the logical way to tell it. And that's the way Kennedy did tell it. But Jody was anxious not to seem to know too much. Hey, sure, I see what you mean. Kennedy wasn't in town this morning until we went out and brought him in. Yeah, but when we got back, everybody in town knew that the man we were looking for was Bonner's nephew and that he was an ex-con. Sadie Waddles told us that. Only one it could've come from was Jody. He spread it around while we were out getting Kennedy. When we get to the farm, draw him out, don't pounce on him until I get an answer on him from Austin. I hope it's the right answer. It may save Mack Kennedy's life. It was dark when we reached the farmhouse. There was a light on in the house, but the pickup truck wasn't in sight in the open garage. We left my car around in back of the house and went up on the porch. A stranger, huh? I thought it was Jody coming back with the pickup. Where'd he go? He drove up north to Edgeville this afternoon. Sadie wanted to get something. He ought to be back soon. Well, aren't you going to ask us in, Mack? Sure, sure thing. Make yourself at home. I understand you got Bonner's nephew today. He heard a couple of women chewing about it on the party line. We got him temporarily. What do you mean, temporarily? He didn't kill anybody, Mack. You had an argument with Bonner yesterday. What about? I reckon that's my business. Yours and Bonner's, but he's dead now. So that makes it my business. Better talk up, Mack. Well, I've been running up a big bill. Will was cutting me down a little. You admit you owed him money. Why wouldn't I admit it? I pay my bills. Any man says otherwise is a liar. Nobody is, say, otherwise, Mack. You keep a gun around here any place? Yeah. What kind? Smith and Wesson 38. It's right there on the mantle over the fireplace. I'll get it, Jason. Oh, don't wipe off any prints. Stick a pencil in the muzzle and lift it that way. Okay. Don't go in, Jason. Something jammin' it. Let me see. Huh. Don't have to worry about prints on that. Outside's been wiped clean with an oil rag. Looks like paper jammed in there. We'll soon find out. I'll take these shells out and poke the pencil through. There. Why is Mack's charge page from the ledger? What's that for? What are you trying to pull? Take it easy, Mack. We're not after you. Smell this gun and look at it, Sheriff. It was used, then reloaded, but never cleaned. That gun hasn't been touched in years. Mack, this gun killed Will Bonner and almost killed his wife last night. Jody Pelham did it after you told him about Bonner's nephew. But why would he tear out that page and plant it here? So he could use Mack here to give himself a double cover-up. He made the call to the ruling house and got Ben Bonner to run. But he knew if Ben was caught any place and could set up an alibi, there'd be a second search. That's why he tore out the page and planted it here on Mack. I'm sure glad you know it wasn't me. If it was you, you'd have burned the page. That dirty little... There he comes now. That's the pickup. You want to help us nail him? I'd like to blow his brains out. There's a better way. Let him feel safe. Here, let me put these cuffs on you quick. Put that gun back in the mantel, Sheriff. But are you sure that... Oh, like he says, Mack. Boy, I didn't know anybody was here. Mack, Mack, what's the matter? What are you doing with those things on? What's your guess, Jody? What's in that bag you're carrying? Well, I just picked me up a bottle and packaged stone, Edgeville. What'd you use for money? You don't get credit on liquor. Well, Mack, Mack, he paid me some wages this morning. Dirty little... Oh, I get it. I kind of wondered where he got the money. Now you know, huh? Well, when I got up last night and found he was gone, I sort of got the wondering this morning. You shut up, man. All right, Sheriff. I guess we can take him in. You better come along to make a statement, Jody. Sure, sure. I hate to do a thing like this to a friend, but I guess he deserves it. Do an old boner like he did. Yeah. I thought you'd feel that way. Let's go. You might as well admit you fired the gun, Mack. A dive fennelman test will prove you did. What kind of test is that? A man fires a gun. The nitrate from the powder gets into the pores of his hand. Chemical application shows it up. Well, he washed his hand since last night, I reckon. Oh, washing won't get it out. A couple of days. You fired a gun recently, Jody? No, no. Then we'll make the same test on your hand. It'll show you the difference. You don't have to do that. I don't understand that kind of stuff anyway. That's too bad. I thought you might like to see how we work. Get in. Watch him, Sheriff. All right. Austin ought to have that information I requested before, Sheriff. Yeah. This might bore you, Jody. This unit back in service. It's on subject, Jody Pelham. What? What's that? Two Indian estate penitentiary, burglary and safe-cracking. 10-4, unit 10, clear. Idiot, stop this car. Watch him, Sheriff. Don't make me use this gun, Jody. Never mind that, Mack. Here, take these keys and put the cuffs on the right man, Sheriff. We might as well have him there. He'll be wearing them a lot until he reaches the death cell at Huntsville. Jody Pelham was tried and convicted for the wanton murder of Will Bonner. On the morning of December 6, 1949, at Huntsville Penitentiary, his sentence was carried out. Death in the electric chair. Well, here again is the star of our show, Joel McCrae. Folks, tales of the Texas Rangers is moving to a new time. You won't hear us next Sunday, but the week after that, we'll be back just an hour and a half later than usual on NBC, right after Theater Guild. So, we'll see you in two weeks. On Sunday, November 26, and I hope you'll be listening. Good night. Good night, Joel. See you one week from this coming Sunday. Remember, friends, as Joel told you, tales of the Texas Rangers will come to you an hour and a half later, immediately following Theater Guild. Beginning next Sunday at this time, you'll hear Hedda Hopper's fine program. The week after next, November 26, Joel McCrae as Ranger Jace Pearson will be with you again. A week from Sunday, Joel McCrae in another authentic re-enactment of a case from the files of the Texas Rangers. Joel McCrae is currently seen starring in the MGM production stars in My Crown. Tonight's cast included Tony Barrett, Bill Johnstone, Joe DeVall, Virginia Gregg, Parley Bear, and Byron Kane. This story was transcribed and adapted by Joel Murkoff, and the program was produced and directed by Stacey Keach. One week from next Sunday, tales of the Texas Rangers will be back with you immediately following Theater Guild. Consult your local radio schedule for time. This is Hal Gibney speaking. Three times mean good times on NBC.