 Broadcasting Company presents Joel McCrae in Tales of the Texas Rangers. Tonight transcribed from Hollywood another authentic reenactment of a case from the files of the Texas Rangers. Tales of the 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. From the files of the Texas 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, sweet revenge. It is 6.30 p.m. March 13, 1944 at the ranch house of Judd Wilkins. It is raining heavily as Judd and Alva Briggs from a neighboring ranch finish their dinner. Yeah, the rain's sure coming down, Judd. Yeah. And welcome to say the night here if you want to, Alva. No, no, no, thanks. I gotta get back to my own place tonight. Told the kid who's been doing my chores over there for the last three days I'd meet him in the morning to pay him. I sure appreciate you helping me and Billins vaccinate the cattle. I'm planning on doing the same for you at your place when you're ready. Well, be ready in a couple of days, I reckon. Hey, when must the blown open the... Hello, Judd. Blake. Hello, Alva. Yeah. Well, you don't seem none too happy to see me either, Judd. Well, no, it's just... It's a big surprise you're popping up this way after two years, boy. Of course I'm glad to see you. You're my brother, ain't you? Oh, yeah, Alva. Where's Callie? What? You heard me, Blake. Where's my daughter? Well, didn't you hear? Yeah, what? Callie and me. We split up, Alva. Split up? Yeah, and Dallas, I thought you knew. You get her to run away with you, and then when you're through with her, you toss her to one side. No, Alva, no, that ain't true. That ain't the way of it all. Why are you... Alva, let go of me! Stop me now! Blake Wilkins, if you wasn't your part, boy... Alva, you got to listen to me. Just stay away from me from now on, Blake. Stay away from... Judd. Yeah? How come Alva didn't know about Callie and me? Well, you see, Blake... I can understand Callie not wanting to write Alva about it, but I wrote here to Paul right after we split up. I told him the whole story in that letter. Callie was just using me to get away from home. She left me soon. She found somebody else who could do her more good. I told all that in my letter to Paul. He and Alva were friends and neighbors. Now, how come Alva didn't know? Paul died last month, Blake. Yeah, I know. That's why I come home, Judd. I ran into a fellow in Lubbock the other day who told me. But Paul wasn't dead when I wrote that letter. I told him I was sorry about everything that I wanted to come back home if he wanted me to. But I never heard from him, Judd. Why not? Blake, you're making me say something I don't want to say. Even though you and I are only half brothers, I've always felt toward you like a... What are you getting at, Judd? Well, hearing about you and Callie splitting up just now makes me feel pretty bad. I guess it was part of my fault. You encouraged me to run away with her? Yeah. You came to me asking advice. I told you on the QT I figured you had a right to your own life, but I sure didn't know it was going to turn Paul against you like it did. Turn him against me? Judd, I want to know what happened to that letter that I wrote Paul. All right, Blake. Paul wouldn't even open your letter. Just threw it away. He what? Said he never wanted to see you or hear from you again. Well, Judd, that just doesn't sound like Paul. He just wouldn't say a thing like that about me. I know, boy. It's hard to believe. You and he always used to be so close. Of course, he was his own son. I wasn't. So it was natural for things to do that way. Judd, are you sure that Paul got my letter? Of course. I just told you, Blake. All right. All right. What Paul's saying is will. Well, now, everything's taken care of, Blake. I want to know how it's taken care of, Judd. Well, it's in town, and go in as soon as we can. I'll show it to you. You got a pleasant surprise coming, kid. You know, it's going to be good having you home. You come at a good time, too. We need another hand here, and I'm not sure Al will ever be back to help after tonight. But having you back again, everything's going to be fine. No. I'm not so sure. What do you mean? Al, for the way it feels about me. I don't like things like that. Oh. Well, don't you worry about Alvin on, Blake. He'll get over it. You know, I think I'll take a horse and ride across to Alvin's place. Tonight? Yeah. See if I can get things straightened out with him. Afterwards, I could stay on the shack the rest of the night. It's about halfway. That way, I'd be out there to lend you a hand in the morning. Is there bedding and food out the shack? Yeah. Yeah. Plenty of it. Okay, Blake, if you want to go. But if Alvin don't listen to reason, don't you argue with him. And don't be afraid of him. He won't harm you as long as I'm alive and kicking. Yes, sir, Blake, I'll take care of you from now on. The next morning, Tom Billings, a ranch hand, rode out to the isolated shack on the Wilkins Ranch. He discovered the dead body of Blake Wilkins lying in front of the open doorway. Sheriff Hedges was immediately notified and requested help from the Texas Rangers. Ranger Jase Pearson was assigned to the case. Morning, Jase. Howdy, sir. Whoa, whoa, charcoal. Any trouble getting out here? No. Pretty heavy going, though. Must have been some rain last night. Good thing you didn't try to come out in your car. You'd have been huffed deep in mud halfway. Yeah, that's what I figured. I've already talked to the half-brother at the ranch house. He's pretty broken up. But I figured you'd want to look at the scene of the shooting before you did any questioning. Yeah. You find anything, Sheriff? Yeah, a couple of things. Left the body right where it was, though, and examined it on his way out. Whose horse is that in the crowd? I figured it's the one Blake Wilkins rode out here last night. Followed the tracks out here, just one set of them. Any footprints around? Couldn't see any. A lot of gravel rocks around. Yeah. Okay. Let's take a look at the body. Hmm. Lying in front of the open door. Bullet ended over the right eye. Rain must have washed some of the blood away. Bullet came out the back of the head, higher up. That means it was traveling in an upward angle. Yes, right, Jase. Went clear through them and then carried through the shack. Come on inside. I'll show you. You got the bullet here in my pocket. We found it out back. Here it is. What's left of it? Smashed up. I'm afraid it won't help us any. You take a look at the roof, Jase. Back wall over the shelf of provisions. Yeah. That's a bullet hole, all right. Let's go back outside. I'd say Blake was just about your height, Sheriff. Looks like. I want you to stand here beside the body and hold your hand out of the level of your forehead. My forehead? Yeah. That'll represent the approximate height of the bullet when it hit Blake. There, that's it. What are you backing up for, Jase? I'm side-long your hand and the bullet hole in the roof. I get it. You're trying to figure out where that shot was fired from. Yeah. And it's leading me straight to this old watering trough. Okay, Sheriff. You can take your hand down. You figure it out? You can take your hand down. You figure the killer was hiding behind the watering trough when he shot Blake? Behind it or in it, the bottom of the trough split. It doesn't hold any water. Don't see any footprints around. Whoever it was could have walked on this gravel and rocks over to that gully there. And there's water in the bottom of the gully. Well, however he did it, he sure covered his tracks. I guess Blake must have heard a noise outside the shack. Come outside and get shot. Yeah. But I'm wondering what Blake was doing out here at this shack in the first place. I mean, didn't even know Blake had come home without the report of the shooting this morning. About two years ago, he and Callie Briggs from the next ranch over ran off to get married. According to Judd, Blake returned home just last night. And made a beeline out to this shack in the rain? It does seem a little peculiar. Come on, let's ride back to the ranch house and see if Blake's half-brother can throw any light on the matter. No doubt about it, Jase. That horse at the shack is the one Blake rode out there last night. He'd backtracked the hoof marks all the way here to the ranch house. Yeah. Just one set of prints, all right. Well, he thought it was heavy going for our horses this morning. Must have been a lot worse last night from the way those hoof marks of Blake sank down in the mud. Yeah, I noticed that. Is that the half-brother on the back porch? Yeah, that's Judd Wilkins. All right, Sheriff. Oh, boy. Oh, Judd. Here's his Ranger Pearson, Judd. He's in charge of the investigation of your brother's murder. Uh-huh. Well, you got any line on the killer so far, Ranger? Not much yet. As I understand it, Judd, your brother had been away from home about two years. That's right. When did he get back? Walked in last night at supper time, about 6.30, I guess. Albert Briggs can verify the time for you. He's having supper with me. Any reason the time of Blake's return home should need verifying, Judd? No, no, I just, I just figure you want all the facts straight, Ranger. What happened when Blake walked in? Well, right after Blake walked in, Albert walked out. Oh, why? When Blake told us he and Callie had split up. Seems Albert didn't know anything about it. Neither did I, as a matter of fact, but Albert, being Callie's pa, took it pretty hard. Seemed to hold it against Blake. I guess he thought it was all Blake's fault. Matter of fact, I had to pull him away from Blake's throat. I see. Of course, the way Blake explained it to me later wasn't his fault at all. But Albert didn't wait for any explanation. What do you feel about Blake coming home, Judd? Well, I reckon we're any brother to feel. I told him I was glad he's back. It'd be good to have him help me with the ranch. Judd, there's one thing that's bothering me. Maybe you can throw a little light on it. Yeah, what is it, Ranger? How come your brother went out to that lion shack the first night he got home? All right, he decided to ride over to Alva's and try to straighten things out with him. He said he'd stay at the shack the rest of the night so that he could give us a hand of the rest of the vaccinations first thing in the morning, and that's what he said. What did you do after that? Me? Yeah. I see now. Around nine, I sent for my ranch hand, Tom Billings. I told him about Blake being back and also had him help me check some tally sheets. I'd say that was about 10.30 when we got through. Tom went on back to the bunkhouse? That's right, sure. And you? I turned in. You didn't leave the ranch house? Me? No. Of course I'm sure. What are you getting at, Ranger? I'm just trying to get at the truth, Wilkins. Now, wait a minute. You think that maybe I killed Blake? I'm not thinking anything right now. I'm just asking questions. I don't like the kind of questions you're asking. They got killed by my own brother in cold blood. Take it easy, Judd. Look, Ranger, you know who discovered Blake's body? Tom Billings, my own ranch handy. You know how he happened to ride out there this morning? Because I told him to. I wanted to meet Blake and start to work. Now, would I kill Blake and then go out of my way to make sure his body would be discovered? Well, Judd, I'll go along with you far enough to say a stupid man wouldn't have done that. No, I didn't kill Blake. Then you got nothing to worry about. Yeah, I know. Sorry, I lost my temper, Ranger. It's just a thing like this hits you pretty hard. Yeah, sure. Where can I find this ranch handy, yours, Tom Billings? He's waiting for you down at the bunkhouse. I told him to stick around in case you wanted to question him, Jus. Good. Let's have a talk with him, Sheriff. Whoever that skunk is, Ranger, I sure hope you get it. Thanks. What do you think, Jus? About Judd Wilkins? I don't know, Sheriff. Tells a pretty straightforward story, but listening to it, I somehow got the idea it was a little too straightforward. Almost like he might have been rehearsing it. Yeah, sounded like that to me, too. Well, we'll check up on as much of his story as we can from Tom Billings. Here's the bunkhouse. Come on in. Howdy. Tom Billings? That's right, Ranger. I've been waiting for you. And Pat's an old pair of jeans. I'm jarring to find much of a seamstress, Tom. Oh, I don't know. Seems to me I've seen worse-looking patches than that. Billings, you're the one who discovered Blake Wilkins' body this morning, aren't you? Yeah. I almost lost my breakfast. Pretty bad sight. Who told you to ride out that way? Judd. He wanted me to meet Blake and get started with the vaccinations again. Check so far, Jase. How about last night, Billings? Judd says he called you up to the ranch house. Yeah, he did. Wanted to tell me about Blake being back and have me help him check some tally sheets. What time did you go up? Right around nine o'clock. And what time did you come back here? Well, about a quarter to eleven. The rain had just stopped. I come back here to the bunkhouse and turned in. And then this morning you rode out to the line shack? I tried, Ranger. Okay. I guess that'll be all, Billings. Come on, Sheriff. Well, one thing's sure, Jase. Judd's time last night is accounted for from nine to about quarter to eleven. Yeah. Of course, we don't know how much that means until they've completed the autopsy and can tell us the time of death. You know, there's another angle to this case he could probably stay and look it into. What you're gonna say, Sheriff? Yeah. According to Judd, Alva was pretty mad at Blake last night when he found out Blake and Kelly had split up. We're gonna look into that angle right now, Sheriff. Let's take a run over to the Briggs Ranch and have a talk with Alva. See if we can find out just how mad he was at Blake Wilkins. You are listening to Tales of the Texas Rangers starring Joel McCray as Ranger Jase Pearson. We continue now with tonight's case, Sweep Revenge, an authentic story from the files of the Texas Rangers. We drove over to Alva Briggs Ranch. We could see from a distance that his car wasn't in the shed. Then as we got closer, we noticed a kid sitting on the front porch. Hmm. Who's that kid over there? Don't know, Jase. Morning. Looking for Alva Briggs. Oh, I thought I'm looking for Senior Briggs, Sheriff. What do you mean? Well, he's nowhere around. He told me to be here this morning to feed his chickens and horses. So I come this morning like he told me. I wait, but he don't come. Jase, yeah. Looks like Alva Briggs got called away all of a sudden. I'm going to put out an all points wanted bulletin on him right now. Checking in town, I learned that Alva Briggs had caught the Dallas bus that morning. I notified Company B. Four hours later, Briggs was picked up at the Continental Trailways Depot in Dallas by Ranger CB Wade, who brought him back to Sheriff Hedge's office. After a brief talk with Ranger Wade out in the hall, I came back into the room. I'd like to know the meaning of this, Ranger. We'd like to know why you suddenly decided to take a trip, Mr. Briggs. I don't recognize my business. You're wrong about that. It's our business, too. When it looks right now, you get mad at Blake Wilkins. He turns up dead and you leave town. But I didn't even know about Blake being killed to that other Ranger pick me up getting off the bus in Dallas. I still want to know why you took off from your ranch this morning. All right. Last night, Blake told me he and my daughter, Kelly, had split up in Dallas. They come as a bad shock. So this morning, I decided to head for Dallas, see if I could locate Kelly and find out what happened. Get her to come back home with me, if she would. I see. You left the Wilkins ranch about 6.30 last night. That's right. Where'd you go? Home. You stay home the rest of the night? Yeah. Any way of proving that, Alva? Well, I guess not. I live alone. Ranger, I didn't kill Blake Wilkins. Sure, I felt like it were a second or two when he told me about him and Kelly, but thinking about it later, I got over it. I guess when a couple splits up, it ain't ever completely one person's fault. I didn't kill him. If you didn't, you'll want to cooperate, then. Cooperate? I'm asking you to postpone your trip to Dallas. I want you to keep yourself real handy until this investigation's wound up. All right, Ranger. You'll find me at the ranch. He's got no alibi for any part of last night, Jayce. No, he hasn't. There are a couple of things that make me doubt that he killed Blake. What are they? If he did kill Blake, why'd he wait till this morning to take off from his ranch? Well... Another thing. Alva walked out of the Wilkins ranch house right after Blake arrived. How'd he know Blake was going to be out at the shag? Well, Blake told Jerdy was going to ride over and talk to Alva. Maybe that's how Alva found out. But we know Blake never got as far as Alva's place. Those horse tracks led right to the shack and stopped there. See, that's right. You think Judd was lying to us trying to make it look bad for Alva? I don't know. Then there's the matter of motive. You find out, like Alva did, that your daughter split up with a guy and you think it's his fault. You might knock a few teeth loose over it, but as for killing him on account of it, I don't know. Well, speaking of motive, how about Judd? That's just what I'm going to follow up next, Sheriff. See if I can find a motive for Judd Wilkins to kill his half-brother. I checked into the background of the Wilkins family and found out about several instances of friction between the brothers. The Judd had always been envious of Blake. That started me thinking about the father's death and his will. The executor of the estate was a lawyer named Sam Farris. Sheriff and I dropped in to see him in his office. Yes, Ranger. The will's in probate, but I'm very familiar with the terms and provisions of it. What are they? It's a sort of a peculiar will. I told old man Wilkins at the time he made it that it might not stand up in court. I had him change it a little, but I'm still not sure it's valid. Of course, it doesn't matter much now, Blake being dead. Incidentally, I suppose you question Judd about shooting. Yeah, I have, Mr. Farris. Why do you ask? Because of the way the will read. Well, just how does it read? If Blake returned home of his own accord any time during the probate period, the land, the buildings and the stock were his. That's very interesting, Mr. Farris. What provision was made for Judd? He was to get 25% of the profits from the ranch, and if Blake didn't show up before the probate period was up, Judd would get the whole thing. I tried to talk old man Wilkins in to set it up as a trust fund. Boiling it down then, Mr. Farris, when he came back of his own accord, the place was his, and Judd in effect would be working for him. Well, that's about the size of it. Well, Jay said you'd do it all right. We know Judd was always envious of Blake, so now up pops Blake to take the ranch away from him. Yeah, there's our motive, all right. Mr. Farris, you got a copy of that will? Yes, but I'm afraid I couldn't turn over my copy to your ranger. Okay, we'll look over the original at the courthouse, Sheriff. I want to study that will. We went through the will with a fine tooth comb. When we returned to the Sheriff's office, the autopsy report was lying on his desk. What's it say, Jayce? We were all set to arrest Judd Wilkins, weren't we? Still are all set, Farris. I'm concerned, why? Looks like there's not going to be an arrest. What are you talking about? We just found out Judd Wilkins had plenty of motive for killing Blake. Sheriff, all the motive in the world doesn't do us any good when the facts are against us. You still can't be in two places at once. I don't follow you, Jayce. If Tom Billings told us he was with Judd at the ranch house the night of the shooting, from about nine until quarter of eleven. That's right. Wait a minute. You mean that autopsy report says... Blake Wilkins was killed at a shack six miles from the ranch house. And according to this report, the time of death was somewhere between nine and nine thirty. Well, Jayce, there goes our case against Judd then, right up in smoke. Sure looks that way. If Tom Billings is with him from about nine to quarter to eleven, it's a cinch Judd couldn't have killed Blake at the shack. So where does that leave us? Right in the middle of nowhere. What are you going to do? Only one thing to do, Sheriff. Go right back to the beginning and start all over again. And the beginning in this case is that shack where Blake was murdered. Jayce, hang if I see what good this is doing us. We've gone over this shack just like we did before. You had me hold my hand up again. You sided along it to the bullet hole on the wall and we're still no further along than we were. I know it, Sheriff. The only thing I can figure is that we don't have all the facts in the case yet. Maybe somebody else we don't know about shot Blake. I think we've already got all the important facts, Sheriff. But facts are funny things. You've got to put them together in the right combination to get the right answer. And I think that's where we've gone wrong. But Jayce, I don't see what other combination there is. You've reconstructed this the only logical way it could be. We find Blake lying in front of that open doorway, a bullet hole cleaned through his head. We know it's lying a flight after that because of the bullet hole and the roof by this back wall. Yeah, right over this shelf of provisions. So where's the mistake in there? I don't know except there must be something wrong about... Hey, hey, wait a minute. What is it? Take a look at this sugar bowl, Sheriff. It was right under the bullet hole. I don't see anything to matter with it. Look at the sugar inside it. Nothing to matter with that either. Yeah, well that's the point, Sheriff. You ever see sugar that's had a little water dropped on it? Wife sure gets sort of crusty. And stays that way. Yeah, but I... Remember what Tom Billings told us? That the rain stopped about quarter to eleven? Blake was shot between nine and nine thirty. That's right, over an hour before it stopped rain. Jayce! Yeah, a bullet hole over the sugar bowl would have let a few drops of rain on the sugar. But the sugar's dry. And there aren't any water stains on the shelf either. That means that bullet hole in the roof wasn't made until after it stopped raining. It also means we better get back to the Wilkins ranch house on the double. We headed for the ranch house. Judd was nowhere in sight which suited me fine at the moment. We eased inside the house. I didn't find what I was looking for in the front room so we went up into the bedroom. What do you figure I'm finding up here, Jayce? I think I've already found it, Sheriff. That calendar on the wall. Looks like it's hanging mighty high. Yeah. Let's take a look behind it. A bullet hole in the wall, Jayce? Yeah. I got my knife here. I'll dig around it. It's in here, all right. Here you are, Sheriff. A slug. Well, I'll be. You see, that's where Judd got the idea. He was probably standing on the stairs and shot and killed Blake right here in this room. Then he noticed that the bullet went clear through into this wall. That's why he fired a bullet through the rear of the shack to make it look like Blake had been killed out there. You mean all the time Tom Billings was downstairs with Judd that night? Blake's body was lying right up here in the bedroom? That's just what I mean. Judd must have shot Blake around nine o'clock, then called Billings over to the house right after it as a cover. Then after Billings left at a quarter to eleven, Judd cleaned up the room and took the body out to the shack on horseback. Yeah. I thought those hoof marks were cut down awful deep even for wet ground. That horse was carrying double, Judd and Blake's body. After he placed the body, he probably walked along that gravel to the gully and doubled back to the ranch on foot. He was sure trying to pull a fast one on us. He almost got away with it too. Yeah, I reckon we got a case. Hold it. I heard a door close. Nobody down there in the living room. Come on, Sheriff. I reckon Judd could have come in without us hearing him. Maybe. Take a look in the kitchen. The kitchen's empty too. Let's look out the back door. There he is, Jase. Running for the car shed. Come on. Judd, hold it. Stop where you are. Hey, he ducked around the corner of the car shed. Corral's back there. He might be trying for a horse. We'll see as soon as we get around this corner. Take cover, Sheriff. Shot came from the bunkhouse. Probably ducked in there to get a gun. Judd, this won't do you any good. Come on out of there. He's gone plum crazy trying to shoot it out with both of us. Judd! I'll give you just one minute to come out of that bunkhouse with your hands in the air. You want me, you come in here and get me, Ranger. I don't have to, Judd. I'm gonna send for you. I circled around the ranch house to my car in front. Got something out of it and crawled back to the sheriff. A tear gas ball. Yeah. This is your last chance, Judd. Hey, my angel, Ranger. Okay. Here's mine. Hey! Come on, Sheriff. Let's ease up closer. You'll be coming out of that door any minute now. Dear guest, my angel, you... I'll take this side of this door, Sheriff. You take the other. I can't see. I can't see. I'll take that gun. My angel, Judd. My eyes. Yeah, they'll clear up. You're under arrest, Judd. You had a pretty neat scheme figured out, Judd. But you got tripped up by a little bowl of sugar. Sugar? Yeah. I'll bet you'll hate that word sugar for the rest of your life. You know, Sheriff, I got a strong hunch that isn't gonna be very long. Judd Wilkins was tried and convicted of the murder of his brother, Blake. On the morning of June 16, 1945, in the state penitentiary at Huntsville, he was executed in the electric chair. Next week, Joel McCrae and another authentic reenactment of a case from the files of... The Texas Rangers. Joel McCrae is currently seen starring in the Universal International Technicolor production, Frenchie. Tonight's cast included Tony Barrett, Lamont Johnson, Bill Johnstone, Stacey Harris, Rye Billsbury, and Wilms Herbert. This story was transcribed and adapted by Bob Reif, and the program was produced and directed by Stacey Keach. Hell, give me speaking. Three times mean good times on NBC. Here is a special announcement. Two weeks from tonight, that Sunday, March 4, tales of the Texas Rangers will relinquish its time period for one week only, so that you can hear a full hour-and-a-half dramatization of Shakespeare's Immortal Hamlet, presented by Theatre Guild on the air. It's radio's most exciting dramatic event when John Gielgud, Pamela Brown, and Dorothy Maguire bring the pages of Hamlet to life on Theatre Guild on the air, Sunday, March 4. But listen again next week at this same time for another exciting adventure starring Joel McCrae in Tales of the Texas Rangers. Now the $64 question, tomorrow here the Boston Pops on NBC.