 starring Joel McRae as Ranger Jase Pearson. Another authentic re-enactment of a case transcribed from the files of the Texas Rangers. Places in the following story are fictitious for obvious reasons. The events themselves are a matter of record. Tomorrow, from the windy city, NBC, the national broadcasting company, begins its coverage of the Republican National Convention. More than 300 experts in their fields will be on hand to bring you every important news event of the next week. Yes, tomorrow is the big day. NBC has been preparing for this convention coverage for almost a full year with tons of valuable equipment at their disposal and years of news experience behind them. Men like H.V. Caldenborn, John Cameron Swayze, Richard Harkness, W.W. Chaplin and hundreds of other nationally known newsmen will see to it that you at home will be able to attend the Republican Convention on NBC. You'll be closer to the activity than many of the people at Chicago's international amphitheater. For NBC, we'll take you to the convention floor to smoke-filled rooms and to news studios built especially for convention use. Yes, NBC with more personnel than any other network will be your best bet for convention coverage. You'll hear all the news first on this station. Now, the Texas Rangers. Now, from the files of the Texas Rangers, the case called the Boomerang. It is late afternoon on a Thursday in May, 1937. Several miles north of Catonsville, Texas, a car containing two middle-aged women pulls up in front of a shanty on a rundown farm. He's here all right. There's his horse and buggy. I'll ride back with him, Ruthie. All right, Ethical. Thanks for driving me over. Don't mention it. What do you want? Is my father in there? No, he ain't. Don't lie to me. That's his buggy. I said he ain't around. I'll get out of here. Don't tell me what to do, Sam White. I'm coming in to get my paw. Take one step inside my place, and I'll bust you in the teeth. What? When my Harry gets back from his sisters, we'll see who gets busted in the teeth. Your husband ain't gonna do nothing to me. Oh, no. Oh, no. Harry's just as tired of your nagging as your paw is. He only went to Oklahoma to get away from you for a couple of weeks. That ain't so. Now, you tell my paw to come out of there. Why don't you get on your broom and fly off my property? You're just asking for trouble, Sam, and you're gonna get it. Never coming here again. Why don't you ask him if he wants to go? He don't belong around no filthy, sloppy pig like you. The way I live is none of your nosy business. Hey, Roscoe, the warden's come to take you back. This time, Ethel. How many times have I told you not to come over here? And what are you doing with your feet in that tub of dirty water? It's for my rheumatism. It's got sassafas, rits, and keel in it. Something Sam fixed up for you, I suppose. I'd like to fix up a pine box for you. Is that paw's watch chain you're wearing? Well, I love it. You give it to me. Paw, why did you give him that gold chain? Well, he liked it. I never heard of such a thing. Sam, you hand over that chain right now. You just try and make me, woman. My mother gives that to Paw. And he give it to me, so I'm keeping it. Let's cut the arguing, Ethel. I give Sam a present and he's gonna keep it. I want him to have it. You're always giving him something. Suppose you give him that box of canned goods out by the back door. I just looms Sam the money for that until his pinching check comes through. We bought the stuff because he invited me for supper. What for? So he could get some more of your money? Get your paw's money, not yours. If he helps me out once in a while, it's his business. Well, it's my business too. Come on, Paw. Get your feet out of that tub. Are you gonna let your daughter push you around like that? No, you snogging with her. She always gets away. If she was mine, I'd put her over my knee and wail the living daylights on her like she's a spoiled kid. Come on, Paw. You can put your shoes on in the buggy. All right, Ethel. Sure. Go on. Both of you. Eh? Turn, crazy woman. Look at you, letting her lead you around by the nose. Go on home. Don't come back. Oh, you don't mean that, Sam. You're right, I do. You don't find property or I'll throw you off. See, I told you it was only after your money. Go on. Get up in the buggy, Paw. I don't believe it. My Sam ain't that way. Here I am. She told you so. You see? You're not giving him or anybody else no more money. I won't give him no more, Ethel. I know you won't. Shouldn't keep all that money around the house anyhow. First thing tomorrow morning, you're gonna get in this buggy and take every penny of it to the bank. Yeah. You better do it too. Or she'll send you to bed without your supper. Oh, fool. Get up, Rusty. At 3.30 the following afternoon, Mrs. Hadley went to the office of Sheriff Nielsen and reported that her father, Roscoe Crido, was missing. After a preliminary check, the sheriff requested aid in the Texas Rangers. Forty-five minutes later, Ranger Jase Pearson was the sheriff's office. You'll find him once, your Ranger. We'll do our best, Mrs. Hadley. When was the last time you saw your father? About half past nine this morning. When he took off in the buggy. With the $1,400? Yes, sir. Was in a tin box. He never got to the bank, Jase. And we can pretty well rule out the possibility of an accident. He's not at the hospital and no doctor around here has seen him. Oh, excuse me. I know something terrible's happened to him. And it's all my fault. I made him go. I'll be right back, Jase. I'm gonna take this call in the other office. Okay, Sheriff. Was your father feeling all right when he left for the bank, Mrs. Hadley? He wasn't alien, if that's what you mean. But he was in pretty low spirits because I kept after him until he took off in the buggy. I was only doing it for his own good. Did he ever stay away this long before? Sometimes he'd sneak off with that awful man named Sam White. But I stopped off there and Sam claims he ain't seen him all day. You think he might be lying? He sure could be, right? He's a nasty old man. Can I see you over here? Sure. Excuse me, ma'am. What is it, Sheriff? That phone call. One of our boys in a plane thinks he spotted Crider's horse and buggy. Where? On the edge of Warren's Lake. But there was nobody near it. Have a deputy take Mrs. Hadley home. We'll go out there. We drove out to the lake. The horse was grazing about 50 feet from the unhitched buggy. I don't see him anywhere. There's nothing in the buggy. You can see where he walked around unhitching the horse. I wouldn't look over there, Sheriff. Where? Down toward the edge of the water. A lot of footprints. He must have gone up to his ankles in the mud. Looks like someone shoved a rowboat off here into the water. Reckon he went rowing? It doesn't make much sense that Roscoe Crider would take his money down here and go rowing. Sure doesn't. Can you see any boats on the lake? No, not from here. Let's get up on that rise. We ought to be able to spot it from there. The lake's only half mile across at most. This should be high enough. And there isn't a single boat out there. Wait a minute. There's one over there in that inlet. Nobody in it, though. Let's take a look. Might be the one Crider used. A fine place to leave a boat. Looks like it just drifted into these reeds. The oars are pulled in. The boat he took, all right. That mud on the floor is still wet. Well, the boat's in the water, so it's a pretty good chance he didn't go on shore. Wait a minute, Sheriff. What's the matter, Jason? That straw hat over there floating by the reeds. Come on. Doesn't look like it's been in the water very long. Look at the initials in this hatband. RC. Roscoe Crider. He must have committed suicide. Guess so. You better drag the lake. We told Mrs. Hadley the news. She broke down and bitterly blamed herself for her father's death. She felt she'd driven him to it by being too hard on him. I called headquarters for aid and at dawn the following morning, a crew started dragging the lake. Sheriff and I circled the shore on the horseback to see if the body had been washed up. Still worried about not finding the money? Don't you think it's kind of funny? Not exactly. Look, Jason, old man in his right mind, commits suicide in the first place. As I see it, Roscoe Crider was all riled up because his daughter was running his life to her liking. If he was mad enough to kill himself, I think he'd be sore enough to take his money to the bottom with him. Maybe so. I can't see why he wanted to destroy $1,400. After all, Mrs. Hadley wasn't after his money. She was only trying to help him in her own way. I'm almost willing to bet we'll find that money on the end of a grappling hook. We'll see. Whoa, whoa, Charlie. Oh, hold it, boy. You see anything, Jason? No, just like to check under that pier. It's a good place for a body to get wedged in. Anybody better be careful. This old pier is rotten clean through. Not safe to use anymore. A couple boards missing. You can see straight down to the pilot. Yeah. Let me take a look. See anything, Jason? No. It's all clear down here. Let's go out to the end. Sheriff, have any of the dragging crew been on this pier? No, I told them to keep off. Why? There's fresh mud tracks on this planking. Well, I know none of the boys were out here. Looks like these tracks were made by someone who got out of a boat. You mean maybe Roscoe Crider didn't commit suicide? I don't know. We didn't find any suicide note. Besides, what proof do we have that Roscoe Crider wasn't robbed and killed? You. You think these tracks belong to somebody who killed Roscoe? It's sure possible. Another could have tried to make it look like suicide by Rowan Crider's body out the middle of the lake and pushing it overboard, then landing here at the end of the pier. That sure explained these muddy tracks. Yeah. Another thing. The wind's been blown from the southeast for the last couple of days. The boat would float right toward that inlet. That's just where we found it. Maybe you're right, Jason. Maybe it was murder. When we find the body, we'll know for sure. So, now we start looking for a murderer, huh? And a clever one. Somebody who knew Roscoe Crider was carrying a lot of money. Only two people knew that. Mrs. Hadley and Sam White. That's just what I've been thinking. Let's go pick him up. In just a moment, we will continue with Tales of the Texas Rangers starring Joel McRae as Ranger Jayce Pearson. At this moment throughout the country, millions of motorists are beginning to wend their way home along crowded highways from a long, independence day weekend. It is a time such as these when accidents happen more frequently, when death and driving draw closer together. You can help to decrease the accident and death rate on our nation's highways. Excessive speed for driving conditions is a major cause of many motor accidents. Control your speed at all times to keep within the safe speed, not just the legal limit. America's professional truck drivers are taught to drive ahead of themselves and to avoid accidents by seeing them threaten before they can happen. They know that careful driving keeps them from having accidents which may take lives. Speed is the number one killer on the highways. So drive carefully today on your way home from an enjoyable weekend and tomorrow wherever you go in your car, exercise caution, courtesy and the golden rule for the life you save may be your own. Now act two of the Texas Rangers. We continue now with Tales of the Texas Rangers and our authentic story, The Boomerang. We left the crew at the lake and drove to Sam White's dilapidated farmhouse. Outside we saw an elderly woman trying to lead a mule up a ramp into the back of a truck. Wonder who that woman is? Sam isn't married? Probably a neighbor. Howdy, boys. Howdy. How come Sam isn't out here helping you with this new? No, he moved. Come on now, get up here. Sir Mules is stubborn and Sam White. When did he move? Last night. Bought all his stock. This ornery mule, his won't pay me no mind. Get on up there. I'll take a whip to him, sure as I'm born. Now where Sam went? I got no idea at all. When he'd come by last night, he had all his stuff piled out on the trailer, hooked on back and it was an old wreck he'd drive. I know you. Do a man. Sure you do, Sheriff. I'm Red Russell's sister. Live over near the South Wash. Oh, of course. I didn't recognize you with your hair, Bob. Did Sam say where he was going? No. Just said, dog gone. That was... Would you mind just shoving that ramp into the tailgate? Sure, ma'am. What was I telling you? About last night. Oh, yeah. Well, Sam said it was an emergency. He had to go away, didn't say why. So he sold me the whole shooting match. Already got the hogs and a couple of angora goats and some chickens. He didn't even know for sure how many of them he had. And then this here mule. Did he act like he needed money? No, sir. I wouldn't say that. He was satisfied with $42 I'd give him for the whole batch of stock. Them goats and hogs are worth more than that by themselves. Seems like he wanted to sell out at any price. Are you sure he didn't say anything that would tell where he was heading? No, not single word. I signed over the milk check that Derry gave me and he drove off. Checked? Yep. Something wrong? What company issued that check, ma'am? Friterian Derry. Thanks, ma'am. Come on, Sheriff. Where were we heading, Jay? Friterian Derry. When that check comes back, we want to know where it was cashed. We went to the Derry Company. They arranged with their bank to notify us when the cancel check came back. Meanwhile, we continued our search for Roscoe Crider's body without success. A week later, the check came through. It had been cashed 300 miles away in Tucker, Texas by a real estate broker named John Cooney. We went there. That's it, Jay. Save your sign, John Cooney. Maybe Sam White bought some property. Here, I'll get it. Thanks. Good morning, gentlemen. What can I do for you? You, Mr. Cooney? Yes, sir, I am. Do you remember cashing this check? Let's see now. Oh, sure. I took it as a rental payment a few days ago. Oh, my man named Sam White? That's right. Rented him a little place out on York Road. He gave me the check for part of the rent. Is there something wrong with the check? No, it's okay. How do we get to Mr. White's place? It's about three miles out on York Road. But if you want to see him, he's probably in town. What makes you think so? Well, when he rented the farm, he asked me where he could pick up some stock. I told him to go down to the auction yard today. They have sales every Monday, you know. I'm sure he'll be down there. That's about it, Jay. Yeah, let's get over to that auction. The auction was held out in the open. We moved around the edge of the crowd trying to spot Sam White. You were sure going to have the time to find him among all these people. I just hope he doesn't see us first and sneak out. Why don't we mix with the crowd and wander through it, Sheriff? Okay. Could we get through here, please? Sam's a big man, Jay. Hey, Jay, I think you'll see him. Right up front. Where in that checkered shirt? Uh-huh. Come on. Excuse me, please. He sees us, Jay. Look, there he goes. Keep an eye on him, Sheriff. Would you let me through here, please? Please. He's running past that pen full of hogs. Sam, hold it. Hold it, White. You're not going anywhere, so just stand still. Well, what do you want of me, Ranger? I ain't done nothing unlawful. Then why are you running away? I wasn't running from you. In fact, I didn't see you. I forgot I had to meet a fella. I was in the rush to get there. You ain't going to hold me back, are you? You're done right. We're going to hold you. You've got a lot of answering to do. About what? I don't know what you want me to tell you. Why did you leave Catonsville in such a hurry? Well, there's no crime in moving. It's a pretty country, Ranger. How come you picked the day Roscoe Crider disappeared? Well, when I heard poor Roscoe drowned himself, I didn't feel like staying around no more. Are you sure you didn't leave because you murdered him? Ranger, he ain't serious, are you? Me kill Roscoe? Why, we as closer and most keen folk. He had $1,400 on him the day he disappeared. Outside of his daughter, you were the only one who knew that. That don't make me no more a murderer than a blue-nosed mule. Where'd you get enough money to be stalking another firm? Sold all my livestock for coming here if I can prove it. You don't have to. We know you only got $42 for it. How about it, Sam? You want to tell us the truth? You're digging a dry well, Sheriff. I wouldn't rob or kill Roscoe, arrest his soul. No more and I can fly like a bird. Sam, if we find that money in your house, you're in for a lot of trouble. You know that, don't you? Now, you stay away from my house. Ain't nothing in it to interest you at all. Quit stalling, Sam. We think you murdered Crider and took his money. You're gonna have to prove it. Maybe we will. Sheriff, let's lock him up. We turned Sam White over to the local constable. Then we got a search warrant from Magistrate and went out to the farm White had rented. Well, look at it, Jayce. Hardly any difference between this shack and his last one. Yeah, I reckon he was gonna use that money for other things. Door's locked. Let's try that window. Get to open a couple, ain't you? Good. I'll go in first. You don't have to climb through. I'll open the door, Sheriff. Okay, Jayce. He doesn't have much furniture in here. Shouldn't take us long to go through his stuff. Not many places in here to hide him. Let's try this closet. Some packages up on the shelf. A lot of old shoeboxes. Yeah, I hate... Here's a tin box. The cover's really jammed on tight. There it is. Neat little stack of bills. I reckon this cinch is the case. It sure does. Let's show this to Sam White. He has to say, come on. Wait a minute, Sheriff. What is it? You hear that noise? Sounded like it came from that back room. Careful, Sheriff. What are you doing here, Mr. Crider? Please, don't take me away. I don't want to go back home. Are you all right? Ethel sent you to bring me back, didn't she? Please tell her you couldn't find me. Nobody sent us, Mr. Crider. We thought you were dead. Well, that's what I wanted you to think. I thought you were similar. You can forget you've seen me. How about telling us what this is all about? Your promise I can stay here? You're an adult. You've got a right to do anything you want. My daughter doesn't think so. Everything I'd done was wrong. I couldn't smoke in the house. I had to eat only what she liked. I had to go to bed when she had company. Treat me just like a kid. Well, you had money. Why didn't you move out? I did. I moved in with Sam once. Ethel had come after me and made me go back home. She dragged me. She said my place was with her. You didn't have to pretend you were dead. There must have been some other way. Ethel had never given up on me unless I was dead. I ain't never going back. Did Sam talk you into that fake suicide? Yeah. You sure he didn't do it just to get more of your money? Oh, no. Sam always pays back what he owes me. The only money I spend now is for my own keep. I see. Mr. Crider, you know your daughter told you're alive. No. No. No, I'd be... I'd just be the same thing all over again. And I'd be bawling me out. Please don't tell her. We have to, Roscoe. She filed a missing persons report. She has to know you're alive. Well, do you have to tell her where I am? That part's up to you. But I don't want her to know. She's been miserable blaming herself for your suicide. She don't care. She does, Mr. Crider. She does care. She thought she was doing the right thing for you. She knows now she was wrong. No, Ethel. She'd never owned up to being wrong about anything. If you could see her now, you'd know how sorry she is for the way she treated you. I wish I could believe that. It'd make me feel a lot happier. Can you give us a chance to prove it? Well, maybe, but how? You leave that up to us. You can come into the office now, Ms. Hadley. Thank you. Hello, Ranger. Hello, Mrs. Hadley. Sit down, won't you? Thank you. The sheriff said you had something to tell me. Yes, ma'am. We've got some news for you. Your father's alive. Alive? Oh, thank God. Thank God. Is he all right? He's fine, Mrs. Hadley. Tell me, where is he? That's something we can't tell you. You mean you don't know? Then I don't understand. Why can't you tell me? Because he asked us not to. Oh, oh, he hates me. He hates me that much. No, ma'am, he doesn't hate you. He must. If he didn't, he'd want to see me. Maybe he does want to see it, but he's afraid you'd make him come back and live with you. No. No, I wouldn't. Mrs. Hadley, your father likes his freedom. I know that now. I love him so. I thought everything I did was for his own good. I was wrong. Well, you all make mistakes. He'll never forgive me. Now I'll never be able to see him again. No, pa, pa. Excuse me a minute, Mrs. Hadley. Did you hear what she said, Mr. Crider? Yes, yes, I heard. You believe us now? I believe you, Ranger. I want to see her. In just a moment, we will tell you the results of the case you have just heard. Tomorrow, the Republican Convention begins in Chicago. Gathered in this convention city are more than 300 employees of NBC, all completing last-minute details, so that tomorrow morning you will hear the best convention coverage. Yes, as in every election year since 1928, NBC will be the leader in convention news coverage in 1952. Top news reporters, men like H.V. Cowdenborn, John Cameron Swayze, Morgan Batey, W.W. Chaplin, and a dozen more will be on a round-the-clock basis to bring you all the convention news when and as it happens. Through the facilities of the national broadcasting company, you will travel throughout Chicago to hotel headquarters, special meeting places, the convention hall itself, and to NBC's special studios built just for giving you top convention coverage. No other network offers you a better way to attend the Republican Convention. Hear every exciting moment on this station of the NBC radio network. Now the conclusion of tales of the Texas Rangers. Here are the results of the case you have just heard. Mrs. Hadley kept her word. Her father continued living quietly with Sam White on their rented farm. Until his death, seven years later, Roscoe Crida made periodic visits to his daughter in Catonsville. And here again is the star of our show, Joel McCray. Folks, today is a red-letter day for tales of the Texas Rangers. It marks our second anniversary on the radio. And as we go into the beginning of the third year, we want to tell you listeners how much we've appreciated your letters and wonderful comments. Most of you know that it takes a lot of work to put on a show of this type. From the gathering of the research material to the sign-off of the actual broadcast, there are dozens of people who helped to put over tales of the Texas Rangers. To the Ranger Force, to all our wonderful friends at the Department of Public Safety, to Captain Gonzales, to the staff at NBC, and to the local stations that make up this great network, we say thanks ever so much. And to you, the listeners, our grateful appreciation. We hope we'll be with you for a long time to come. We hope you feel that way too. Good night, folks, and thanks. See you next week. This story was transcribed and adapted by Bernard Ederer, and the program was produced and directed by Stacey Keith. Hal Gipney speaking. Wednesday is here the best of Groucho on NBC.