 The National Broadcasting Company presents Joel McRae in Tales of the Texas Rangers Tonight transcribed from Hollywood another authentic re-enactment of a case from the files of the Texas Rangers Tales of the Texas Rangers starring Joel McRae as Ranger Jase Pearson Texas more than 260,000 square miles and 50 men will make up the most famous and oldest law enforcement body in North America The Texas 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? Conspiracy It is 2 p.m. the afternoon of October 17, 1926 Captain Clint Stinson of Texas Ranger Company B is seated in his office Across the desk from him sits a woman sobbing bitterly They killed him, I tell you They shot him down in cold blood the way they'd shoot a dog Now get a grip on yourself Mrs. Wendell Oh, help me, please help me It was a good man Our baby's only seven months old Now it is dead and the man who killed him is walking the streets of Crescent as though nothing happened Crescent? Yes, in Ames County, that's where I keep from I see you Some pretty funny things have been happening in Ames County Who was the man who killed your husband? A man named Ray Thorpe It happened four days ago But he wasn't even arrested The grand jury said that according to the evidence he killed Ed and self-defense Any witnesses testified to that? Yes, three of them But they were lying They were lying, my Ed never carried a gun in his life Are you sure of that? A wife doesn't always know I knew Why can't you help me? What kind of a world am I living in? What kind of a world am I bringing my baby up in when his father could be killed without anybody even lifting a hand? Now just take it easy, Mrs. Wendell, please Yes, Captain? Get me a sheriff porch at Crescent in Ames County What are you calling him for? I want to help you, Mrs. Wendell If there's anything that calls for help You won't get the truth, Mrs. Sheriff porch You said yourself that funny things are happening in Ames County Funny things are liable to happen in any county where there's a big oil strike Drifters and floaters crowd in You can't always condemn a sheriff for what happens You mean it's just too bad if a man gets murdered I didn't say that, ma'am Yes Hello Yeah Fine, Sheriff I'd like a little information Sure thing, what about? Man named Ed Wendell Shot and killed in Crescent by a man called Ray Thorpe Wendell and self-defense Yeah, sort of a hard-headed troublemaker Started to fight with Thorpe and pulled a gun on him Thorpe had to kill him to save his own hide I understand there were witnesses Sure were, three of them And one of the three was my deputy Who opened and shut Case I see Well, thanks, Sheriff Just checking Uh, what brought the case to your mind? You have some sort of a complaint? Wendell's wife thinks he was murdered in cold blood Well That happens Thanks, Sheriff Anytime Goodbye Goodbye You don't have to say anything I know what he told you Mrs. Wendell, I'm sorry But there's nothing much I can do He left the house smiling Waving to the baby And he never came back And they wouldn't even let me see him again After he was killed What's that? Mrs. Wendell, are you telling me That you never saw your husband's body After he was dead? No, they wouldn't let me They said it was a law because of the way he got killed There's no law like that Are you sure you're telling me the truth? Why would I lie to you? You never saw the body? No, I tell you They buried him in the county cemetery The day after he was killed Do you know if an autopsy was performed? I don't know I see Mrs. Wendell If I can get an order to have your husband's body exhumed Will you give your permission? Yes Oh, they won't let you do it They're not going to know it's being done Put out a call for Jace Pearson Tell him to report to me immediately And bring Steve Clark in too Then get me headquarters at Austin By late afternoon Captain Stinson had a magistrate's authorization To exhum the body of Ed Wendell Later the same night Texas Rangers Jace Pearson and Steve Clark Accompanied by a medical examiner and Mrs. Wendell Were at the Ames County Cemetery Three miles from the county seat at Crescenta The box lit is almost clear, Jace All right, Steve, hold it See we can get the top off now Want to flash that light down here, Doc? Oh, yes, sure, Jace Mrs. Wendell Yes Maybe you better go wait in the car, ma'am No, I'm all right You should have to identify the body anyhow, Jace I guess you're right All right, Steve, let's get the cover off All right And let's get it Just lift it up over the edge of the hole Yeah The body's completely covered with a sheet Yeah We'll lift it out to you I got this in All right, lift Yeah I can get a hold now Yeah, I'll help you All right, that does it Boost me, Jason, I'll pull you up All right Now grab my rest Got it Here, we'll have to replace the cover And shovel the gravy in again We can do that as soon as Mrs. Wendell Identifies the body I hate to ask you like this, ma'am It's all right I know he's dead What can it matter? Uh, Jace, you got a pocket knife Have to slit this sheet Yeah, here, doc Well, Mrs. Wendell Yeah You better take it in your car, Steve Come on, ma'am, there's nothing more you can do here Just a sheet on him Didn't even bury him with his clothes Yeah, it wasn't even him bummed There's something strange here, Jace Yeah, let me roll the body over With that sheet out further Sure No marks in the head and the chest Yeah, here's what we're looking for Yeah, this man was shot, all right Shot in the back The medical examiner took the body into the funeral parlor And Steve Clark took Mrs. Wendell home It was after 2 a.m. But what I had to do couldn't wait I located the home of the county attorney Lou Morrison in a ranch about 10 miles out of Crescenta I got him out of bed What's on your mind this time in that, Ranger? Official business It seems to me you could have waited And come to courthouse in town in the morning A few men I'm after might be disappearing From town by morning I had to wake you up I need some warrants Warrants? Is somebody in Crescenta? Yeah, the first one for a man named Ray Thorpe On what charges? The murder of Ed Wendell Thorpe killed Wendell in self-defense He's already been exonerated by the grand jury Look, Mr. Morrison I've just come from the cemetery We exhumed Wendell's body A body can't be exhumed without an order? We had an order From a magistrate at the other end of the county And Wendell's body proves Thorpe Couldn't have killed him in self-defense Because Wendell was shot in the back That's impossible Did you see the body before he was buried? No No, I didn't But there were witnesses The witnesses lied Mr. Morrison I want a murder warrant for Ray Thorpe All right, Ranger You seem to have some evidence I can go into my office and write him up We can get Judge Padgett to sign him Thanks I don't have to dress You, uh... Said that you... You wanted several warrants That's right Three more beside Thorpe's For the witnesses who claimed the Thorpe shot in self-defense On what charge? That's a funny question from a county attorney A charge of perjury before the grand jury I got the warrants But Morrison's attitude told me they weren't going to be easy to serve I'd arranged to meet Steve Clark At an all-night cafe in Crescenta He was waiting there Get the warrants? Yeah Jayster, something funny about this town It smells to high heaven Say that again There's more to this than just a murder The county attorney didn't want to cooperate And one of Thorpe's witnesses is a deputy sheriff Yeah, it looks like the law is trying to cover Wendell's death And I think I found out why Mrs. Wendell spilled it when I was taking her home Said that her husband was planning on having some kind of a meeting It is housed on the night of the day that he was killed She say what? Kind of a meeting? Yeah, it's about the county elections coming up next month What about him? A sheriff, Forts and county attorney Morrison Are both running for reelection But nobody's running against him Both unopposed candidates? Yeah, that's why Wendell called a meeting He didn't like it He was fixing to stir the town up for a writing vote How come Mrs. Wendell didn't mention that before? I guess it didn't seem to have any connection With her husband getting killed with Thorpe You finished with your coffee? Yeah Let's get those warrants served This town's gonna get awful hot Thorpe works on a ranch out beyond the oil fields I'll go out there and pick him up while you Hit the ground, Steve Where'd it come from? Caught a flash from the corner across the street There's something moving in the shadows there Let him have it He's mounted, Jayce He cut through the alley The fields behind town Can't get a shot at him now Come on, let's get our horses out of the trailer Right Keep back, everybody Keep back Come on, Chalky Come on on Come on on His horse is breaking the stride Looks like he's gone lame Yeah, I must have picked up the stone He'll have to leave him soon He's out of sight now Be careful after we cross the rim He may run on foot and keep going Or he may drop in the cover and try and pick us off Anyway, he wants to play his all right with me Here's the top of the rise Hunchlaw on your saddle There's his horse, Jayce, no rider Yeah, he's dismounted Pull up fast and drop Whoa, whoa, Chalky Whoa, long on He's in that trumpet mesquite Yeah, I know it Keep flat The moon touches the top of that brush beside you Reach over a nudge and draw fire Right You get him? I don't know The skeet seems bent over like there's some weight on part of it Crawl trotted Keep your gun ready Better stay a few feet apart No sign of movement We'll know in a minute I can see a boot sticking out of the mesquite Must be laying out flat He's hit all right We can get up No more trouble with him, Jayce Right between the eyes Some shot for hitting the man you couldn't see I knew he was firing a rifle He had to be drawn a sight So I just fired a little above and to the right of the flash Wonder who he is We'll find that out later Better get his horse, we'll have to lead him back Yeah Easy, boy Easy enough Come on, we'll fix where it hurts Turn him a little, Steve Let the moon hit this side of his saddle Yeah, round, boy What do you see? A couple of letters burned into the leather Yeah, it looked like initials A, R, T Yeah, R, T I guess we can tear up that warrant for Ray Thorpe You are listening to Tales of the Texas Rangers starring Joel McCrae as Ranger Jayce Pearson We continue now with tonight's case Conspiracy, an authentic story from the files of the Texas Rangers It was sunup when we got back to the main street of Crescenta The town was waking up for the day and shopkeepers and morning crews headed for work in the oil fields followed us to the funeral home I was unstrapping Thorpe's body from my saddle when Sheriff Porch came through the crowd Let me through here, let me through Well, howdy, Rangers Howdy Oh, Sheriff See, you got Thorpe all right About time somebody got him Yeah, I know County Attorney told me what you found out Could have knocked me over with a feather Oh, Beth All right, Steve, grab his feet and let's carry him in Right I'll get the door for you Put him down there All right Sure is heavy He tried to fight it out, eh? Tried to ambush us, you mean And somebody better explain how he knew we were after him Reckon, you can blame me for that, Ranger What do you mean by that? County Attorney called me right after Judge Padgett signed your warrants for you I knew where Thorpe was hanging out when the hotspots outside the town Thought I'd go out and pick him up for you When I told him you was after him, he sort of caught me off balance and bolded Kind of convenient, Sheriff Especially since you let him out once before after he'd shot a man in the back I didn't know that I never looked at Wendell's body I, well, I was home sick My deputy handled the case Same deputy that said Thorpe shot in self-defense Yeah, same one, Joe Slade I got a warrant for him, too I know That's why I got him locked up in a jail right now You're getting mighty cooperative, Sheriff Well, Slade was right with me when I heard you wanted him I know my job I'm trying to help you How about the other two witnesses, Thorpe had Rallo Kane and Arthur Sampson I still got warrants for them You'll find them out in the oil field, Reckon They got two operating wells and they're drilling a third Just past the old stockade, north of town You'll need horses and roads too muddy for a car I'll ride out with you Thanks We can handle it You need a rest You've been working too hard They're not drilling, Jase They're just pulling the drill stem out of the hole Yeah Probably jumped the pin on the bit Funny thing, Kane and Sampson being mixed up in this Wendell killing You think a couple of oil men with produced wells Would be on the side of the law Something behind this we haven't hit yet, Steve Man with the toolsheds watching us Oh, yeah Doesn't seem to be doing much work Maybe he's one of our boys Don't take long to find out We'll ask him in a second Yeah Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Howdy Hello I'd like to talk to you for a minute Mind telling your crew to knock off Sure thing Hold it, boys, cut fire What's on your mind? What's your name? Kane Rollo Kane Ah, the Sampson around? That's him Up on top of there I'm greasing the crowns here What's the matter down there, Rollo? Tell him to come on down All right Rangers want you to come down Ah, send a hook up for me Just a second Look, what's this all about? I got warrants for you and your partner Oh What for? Forgery before the county grand jury You must have the wrong names, range I never testified for a grand jury Who are you trying to kid, mister? Records will show whether you did or not So if you didn't, you got nothing to worry about Now get your partner down here All right, boys, send a hook up Look, you mind if I get my coat It's right there in the tool shed Go ahead I can watch you All right, thanks The drive clamps fell from the top of the derrick Yeah, hit right where we were standing Thanks for the pull Hey, you, you heard, Rangers That come close to being nasty accident It came close to being nasty But I don't think it was close to being an accident What do you mean? You know what I mean, Kane Pretty convenient time for you to step into that tool shed Well, I'm just lucky, range Starting right now, your luck's running out All right, Sampson You can climb down I'm sorry that happened, ranger I just knocked it off reaching for that hook If anything else falls from that derrick You're gonna come with it Oh, come on now, climb down All right, come down No, man can't be too careful if he wants to live, ranger These oil fields can be dangerous Something else can be dangerous, too, Kane Something you're gonna find out about Yeah? What's that? Breaking the law in the state of Texas We heard it, Kane and Sampson back to Crescenta And marched them into the jail All right, boys, step in Go ahead now I'll see you right to the cell Uh, you know the law, ranger You gotta check your guns here in the office If you come inside the cell block gate Unbuckle them and hang them in the cabinet All right I wanna talk to your deputy, Joe Slade, anyhow Steve, you better take care of the horses Right, well, I'll meet you We can eat at the cafe in about an hour Okay, Chase, I'll see you later All right, Sheriff Go on, Kane, move You too, Sampson All right You know you're not gonna keep us here long, ranger We'll see Your charge won't stand up Into the tank with Slade I was wondering when I was gonna get companies here If I knew you wouldn't let your star deputy die alone Shut up, Joe Get out of the gateway and let these men in, Slade Sure, ranger, sure Come in, fella I wanna talk to you, Slade Why, sure? You're Jay Spearson, ain't you? You got a reputation for being pretty good with the gun I'm still alive Why did you lie to the grand jury? Me? You got the wrong boy, ranger Oh, it's my office room You gonna give me the same story I got from your two pals? That's right, ranger Same stuff Sure, Slade never appeared before the grand jury either It's all your imagination, ranger If the three of you have one brain to go around, you'll tell the truth You're not in here without evidence The grand jury records are being subpoenaed Listen to the man, fellas He knows all about the law You're in for a few surprises, ranger A few big surprises Seeing the three of you sent to Huntsville Isn't gonna be a surprise to me A ranger Yes, Sheriff, what? See, you got a gun, Sheriff You're not supposed to bring a gun past the cell block gate either It won't do no harm You don't make me use it You see, ranger? Surprises, like I said Back away from that cell gate, ranger All right, now you get in there with him What's the idea? You're under arrest, boarder of the county attorney For what? For the murder of Ray Thorke The sheriff was showing his colors openly now He was part and parcel of all that was crooked in Ames County I was dumped into a cell with three men who would gladly kill me if I gave him the chance Off in the corner by yourself, ranger That's far enough, Slade I'm keeping this side of the cell for myself Don't come past the middle, any of you Who's gonna stop us? Sheriff is gone for the day Yeah, since I'm in here, thanks to you, there ain't nobody on guard I didn't come to this town alone, you know If you're counting on help from that other ranger, don't get too happy about it Probably somebody breathing down his neck right now Just like we're breathing down yours Be too bad if you got to broodin' about the way you killed Thorke Sheriff forgot to take your belt away, you might hang yourself You got real broken up Sure, I might even stab myself with this He's got a knife Lousy pocket knife, you think you're gonna scare three of us with that? No, not three of you But I'm figuring it's good enough to scare one of you The one who comes at me first You better get together and figure out which one of you it's gonna be Because he's the one who's gonna get killed before I do I didn't dare sleep I had to watch every move they made There was no sign of Steve Clark in the morning the sheriff came in He took Kane, Samson, and Slade out for the arraignment before the judge When he came back, he didn't bring them back with him Here's some food for you Stop playin', sheriff, you know I'm not gonna eat anything you give me Suit yourself You may be here a long time Longer and most of your prisoners stay What happened to him? If it's any of your business, Judge Padgett released him No evidence You call grand jury records, no evidence? Seems like the grand jury records have been misplaced Suppose the county attorney took care of that This town's gonna come down around your ears, sheriff You can't... What's that? Maybe what I've been expecting What happened to Steve Clark? Well, how should I know? You mean you don't know whether your men got him or not? Well, you couldn't have gotten away Watch your hurry, sheriff All right, now keep your hands away from that gun, cabinet, sheriff Cabinet Stinson I'm all right, Steve Take the keys, Steve You can't let him out, he's my prisoner We've got a writ for him And to keep the record straight, sheriff, you're my prisoner Howdy, boy Glad to see you, Steve I was afraid you caught one in the back No, not quite They tried to take me after I left here But I got away on Longhorn, not run him Had to ride across country most of the night to get to a phone Let's go, we've got a lot to clean up Yeah Captain's got a lot of information on what there is to clean up Yeah, sure I have Things that porch could have told you, Jace Porches are rich men, aren't you, porch? Well, I don't know what you're talking about I'm talking about bank accounts all over the state Big fat accounts belonging to you And to County Attorney Morrison and Judge Padgett I've been checking on you for two days You can't prove nothing wrong about that Yes, we can, sheriff We've just come from the courthouse Your friends didn't have time to burn all the records You're getting a little pale, sheriff It was just business, that's all Nice business You and others like you form in a combine to rob the people of this county We can convict you on 50 conspiracy accounts Along with complicity in Wendell's murder Killing Wendell wasn't my idea Morrison ordered it when Wendell started to raise a fuss about the administration That's all I wanted to hear Jace, you and Steve go after Morrison He's not in town, must be at his ranch What about the others? We had a shooting match with Samson and Keynes We left the courthouse, they were making a run in the car Some of our boys took them to the hospital for patching up How about Joe Slade? No trace of him, but I got a hunch we'll find him with Morrison Morrison's account shows Slade's on his payroll Probably burning more papers out at the ranch Let's go On the ride to county attorney Morrison's ranch Steve Clark gave me the insight on the gigantic racket that had been working in Ames County Yeah, Jace, Katten dug it all up When the oil strike came, Morrison's crowd bought up county landed auction But no options were actually held Of course, Morrison and his pals didn't take the land in their own names They turned it over to men like Kane and Samson Strong on boys who'd give them a kickback But there must have been some of the townsmen known what was going on Sure they did, but they were scared stiff They didn't always take force to do it either How can you fight a crook when he's in control of a lawyer you had to fight him with? A couple of men who wanted to run for office were beaten out of the idea That's why Morrison and Porch had no opposition There's Morrison's ranch up ahead Yeah, I see it Hey, Jace, look, there's a car coming down the ranch road Really? Raising dust, too Step on it Block them off the intersection before they get on this highway We'll beat them to it, all right Hey, they spotted us The car's turning And we're almost the ranch road You get caught, Jace? No, get their tires when I turn in after them Yeah Good job Hey, they turned turtle Out Look out, Steve That slave breaking for the trees I'll get him You dig Morrison out of the wreck Right You'll miss, Slade You're gonna have to step out and take better aim than that I got Morrison, Jace You're up, Slade, will it? You better listen to him, Slade All right, Ranger I guess it'd be crazy to shoot it off I'm coming I'm dropping my gun Both hands up Get that arm from behind your back I can't I hurt my arm in my back when the car turns Watch him, Jace Still had one rattlesnake trick left in me Yeah His last one I'll send somebody out for his body All right, Morrison, let's get back to town My company should have all your friends rounded up by now Including that phony grand jury you stacked You won't keep us long I wouldn't bet on that, Morrison You won't be handling the prosecution this time And the judge won't be one of your partners Get moving, mister You got a long way to go The Ames County conspiracy was smashed And 12 key men were convicted And sentenced to jail terms ranging from 10 to 50 years Since then, Ames County has become A model American community And now here again is the start of our show, Joel McCray Texans are mighty proud of their state And the story that best illustrates that pride Has made the rounds for many years It was started by an old Texas ranger Whose son was going off to war And parting the ranger gave him this advice Son, you're going to be with fellas From all over the world There's one thing you must never do Never ask a man where he's from If he's from Texas, he'll tell you And if he isn't, don't embarrass him by asking Good night, folks See you next week Next week, Joel McCray In another authentic reenactment of a case From the files of the Texas Rangers Joel McCray is currently seen Starring in the Universal International Technicolor production, Frenchy Tonight's cast included Tony Barrett, Lillian Baya, Herb Ellis, Ken Christie, Byron Kane, Tom McKee, Lamont Johnson, and Herb Vigrant This story was transcribed And adapted by Joel Mercott And the program was produced and directed by Stacey Keech Hell, give me a speech Three times mean good times on NBC Tomorrow evening, Gordon McCray sings for you As the railroad hour presents a melodic adaptation Of One Touch of Venus Gordon's guest for tomorrow's railroad hour production Is Ginny Sims The telephone hour tomorrow brings you Celebrated, controlled home, Marian Anderson As featured artist Ms. Anderson will offer a group of spirituals And collections, accompanied by Donald Vorriers and the orchestra Phil Baker asks the $64 question Next on NBC