 The National 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 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 facts Only names, dates and places are fictitious for obvious reasons The events themselves are a matter of record Case for tonight, Lager's Larsenay It is mid-afternoon, September 7th, 1938 Two lagers employed by the Gulf Lumber Company are marking timber near a lonely stretch of company logging road in the Piney Woods region of East Texas Ah, there, cutting crew ought to be able to see that, Mark Yeah, it looks like that's the last decent stick left in this standard timber too Ah, plenty more trees in the woods, come on, we'll cross the creek and start working that stand up on the other side of the road We're already marking off a lot of trees today I think my axe is heavy in yours, I could do with a breather Yeah, catch it on the run then, come on You'll get used to that axe, I told you I'd make a lager out of you Just stick with me, kid, I'll put muscles like this on your arms Air on your chest, iron on your fists Yeah, if I live through it, Bull, I'm about done in Oh man, that creature looks good Yeah, don't let it fool you, ain't fit to drink down here, so does pilot the mill poison it Well, what do we do, Wade? Sure, ain't even have to swim, is it? That he want to ride across piggyback Hey Bull, look, over there on the other side Up there against that old cut over stump That's a car Yeah, upside down, all smashed up Well, come on, somebody might be hurt Hey Bull, that's one of the company costs on the mill Yeah, I see, sure is wrecked, ain't it? Yeah, he smelled like gasoline Tanks busted wide open Sure, good thing there wasn't a spark Mm-hmm, there'd been some fire if that gas had caught Hey, look here, kid, in the front seat Who is it, Bull? It's old man Hutton, what's left of him? He's a pay master, come on, we better get him out of there No, we can't do nothing for him But get a load of this bank bag Hey, that's full of money Uh-huh, payroll for the mill Bull, what are you doing? What are you stuffing that money in your shirt for? Look, kid, we ain't been around here, understand? You've got no right to that money Bull's got a better one Who's even gonna know it's missing Unless you shoot off your mouth See, you're just my arm I'll twist your neck right off your shoulders If you let out one word Bull, pull the load Forget the law Just remember you'll get the worst beating you ever had You understand? Yeah, yeah, I understand Yeah, that's being smart Here, throw this sack back in the car While I get my shirt button There's still some money left in it Sure, all the coins and a few bills Now, you used to be in a hog, is there? Besides, this is gonna look right Throw it back in the car, I said Sure, Bull, sure Now, you got a match? Crazy bull, a match with all the gasoline spilled around here? Wait and see how crazy, give me a match Okay, here There's only one left in the box, is all you got? Yeah Well, we'll make us some counting Now, get back out of the way The frantic mill superintendent waited until evening To report the missing paymaster and money Sheriff Stanton immediately contacted the Texas Rangers An all-points bulletin for the apprehension of the man Was sent out And Ranger Jase Pearson was assigned to the case He arrived at the mill with the sheriff early the next morning Here's the mill office, Jase Might as well start there The quicker we can get a line on Hutton the better Yeah If he's making a run for it, he's already got a big lead on him I've been waiting for you Meet Ranger Pearson, Mr. Browning Mr. Browning's the mill superintendent Howdy, Mr. Browning Yeah, pleased to meet you, Ranger Anything new here? No, I'm kind of inexperienced at this sort of thing I sure have been waiting for you The delay is my fault I was nearly sun-up when I met the sheriff Took time enough for breakfast And to drag the bank teller out of bed He says your man Hutton left the bank About a half hour after closing time yesterday Yeah, they waited until the street doors were closed Before they started making up Hutton's orders for mixed currency They usually work it that way at the bank on paydays 18,000 dollars is a lot of money to count out, you know Well, we not only know how much money we're looking for But how much of each denomination I've got Hutton's list The bank teller gave me a copy of it He sure must have slipped out quiet Not a soul in town saw him after he left the bank No telling which direction he headed Eh, would you have a picture of him by any chance, Mr. Browning To sort of amplify the description we've already sent out? Well, there may be one among his belongings in his shack You know, Sheriff, I still can't believe Bob absconded With that money 18,000 dollars is a lot of temptation, Mr. Browning I know it, but Bob Hutton's been with us for years I'd have trusted him with every asset the company owns I just don't know what to think now We won't rule out any possibility Before we go through Hutton's things I'd like to talk to any of your crew Who might have been working near the road yesterday afternoon Well, a foreman Bull Evans and his helper Will mark in a standard timber over by Pine Creek They're down the dry yard this morning The rest of the crew's out in the woods How do they feel about Hutton not showing up? Quite a few of them wanted to dig up a rope And go hunting for him But Bull Evans talked them out of there Let's go find this foreman of yours He sounds like some talker Maybe he can tell us something Put your shoulder to the dolly, kid Here I will stack this load of sheathen beside that last bunch of two-bys Stand them on end and slide them in against the ridge pole Okay It's green stuff, it's heavy as lead Stack it up there straight Want the whole blame rack to come down on top of you? What's the matter with you? You nervous? No, no, I ain't nervous Give me a hand, won't you Bull? Sure Like I told you, keep your mouth shut and nothing will happen to you Okay Get that next stick now Like that? Maybe we'll make a lager out of you yet Bull, Bull, look, here comes the boss and arranger Yeah And the sheriff So what? Grab that next stick and remember what I told you about talking Hello, boss Sheriff, find old man Hutton in the payroll yet? Bull, this is Ranger Pierce Oh, howdy, Ranger Ranger and the sheriff want to ask you and the boys some questions Sure, sure, glad to help Hey, kid, hold it a minute there, will you? Yeah, sure I understand you were working somewhere near the road from town yesterday afternoon No, we were working to stand over on Pine Creek Sometimes it was near the road, sometimes it wasn't Did you see anything of Hutton or the company car he was driving? We didn't see any car, did we, kid? No Did you hear a car going either way on the road? Yeah, we didn't hear nothing, we didn't see nothing I'm afraid you're barking up a wrong tree, Ranger How's that, Bull? Oh, man, Hutton wasn't crazy He's seen a chance at a lot of money and he took it He never headed back this way from town You'll pick him up someplace long gone from here All right, Bull, that's all Yeah, come on, kid, let's get back to work Now, wait a minute I haven't talked to your helper yet Bull told you we didn't see nothing Now, I don't know nothing about that money We're looking for a man right now, son Not the money he was carrying Are you as convinced as Bull here that he ran off with a company payroll? Well, I... Well, are you or aren't you? I don't know nothing about it, I tell you What are you so nervous about? Well, nothing, I... I just don't know nothing about it Look, son, maybe you don't know it But there's a severe penalty for withholding information from the law in this state If you do know anything about this case Anything at all at your duty to tell the Ranger and me now Well, I... Yeah? Well, there's a pretty bad turn over there on Pine Creek Mr. Hutton might have had an accident when nobody was around See, it is a possibility, Ranger That's the worst stretch along the road And one of those turns is a bad one Ah, old Bob Hutton could drive that road backwards and blindfolded He's been doing it for years Besides me and the kid coming by the road last night There wasn't no wreck along at 10 Did you see anything, son? No No, there wasn't nothing along the road when we went by We came out that way this morning, Jace Wasn't anything inside then, either Well, the area along the creek is an old cut over Brushes come back thick in spots The car down in there could be completely hidden from the road Well, we're gonna have to search every inch of the way out in town to eliminate accident as a possibility in this case anyway, Jace This bad turn out of the creek sounds like as good a place as any to begin with Yeah, let's get out there and take a look You mind showing us that cut over, Mr. Browning? Well, not tol'ranger I'll get my car and you can follow me Uh, Bull If anything comes up here while I'm going you take care of it for me, will you? Oh, sure, Bull, sure I'll take care of everything Hey, don't you want me to go with you? No, thanks, son You better stay here Yeah, kid, you stay here There's gonna be plenty to keep you busy Roadside tracks and broken brush near the bad turn on Pine Creek were so faint we nearly missed them The car itself was completely screened from the road by brush It was badly burned and lay upside down on an open patch of grass The body of its driver slumped near the wheel Mmm, some accident, all right, Jason Seems like good heavens What a way to die Marks indicate Hutton lost control when he left the road Judging from the damage to the car I think there's no question but what he was dead when the wreck caught fire Well, I hope so I told you I couldn't believe Bob Hutton would steal that money Looks like you were right, Mr. Browning Here, look in this window Yes What a mess There's your money, what's left of it There, beside the springs of that burned sea cushion Oh, yeah I see some corn rolls with a rapist burned oil And that fluff of ash on top of them is what's left of the paper money It's hard to believe it would burn that much It was a mighty hot fire while it lasted Even the body metals warped all out of shape Well, Jason, it looks like it's back to town for us I gotta get an undertaker's wagon out here to pick up his body Not to kill that all-points-wanted bulletin on Hutton, too Guess I'll about wind this up, huh? I'm not so sure, Sheriff What do you mean? This... This just doesn't feel quite right What doesn't? Finding this car like this we might've looked for a day before we found it down here in this brush Don't you have more to go on than that, Ranger? No, nothing more Just a hunch Seems like working on hunches would be kind of dangerous in your business It usually is for somebody Come on, I want to get back to the mill Well, what do you want to go back there for? You don't need a phone You can use your car radio Yeah, I know But there's something funny about this I want to get it cleared up Hey, Sheriff, look out Watch where you're stepping What is it? That matchbox Oh Hey, wait a minute What's so important about a matchbox? It could be plenty important Now, look where it's lying I don't get you, Jason All right, look up there, Sheriff That's where Hutton's car turned over It slid down from there on its roof The matchbox is right in the track And it hasn't been crushed Meaning it was dropped after the wreck What? That's right, Sheriff Let's see It's empty The last match was used and the box thrown away Well, use for what, Ranger? What's a matchbox got to do with Bob Hutton's death? Maybe nothing But even when a car is as badly damaged as this one was Even when it's drenched with gasoline it doesn't always catch fire Let's go back a minute Do you know what you're saying? I think so You mean somebody could have deliberately set this car fire after the accident? If this was an accident Oh, but look, Jason The only possible reason for arson in a case like this would be to cover taking the money Hutton had with him And it's still there What's left of it, anyway? I know, Sheriff There we are Give me your hand, will you, Sheriff? Sure, Jason What do you want to do? And see if we can't get what's left of that money out without disturbing the ash around it I want to send it into the lab But what'll that get you? If any of it's missing they may be able to tell us Remove the remains of the chart money bag and its contents as carefully as possible and pack them for transfer to the laboratory When we drove back to the middle yard Bull Evans was just coming out of the office You find any sign of Hutton? Yes He's dead, Bull Dead He had an accident in your pine creek Just about where that kid suggested we look, too Well, can you beat that? Where is the kid? I think we'd better talk to him again Well, he ain't going to get much out of him, Ranger Why? No, these young punks never look where they're going or what they're doing He's got himself really bunged up Where is he? In the first-aid room back in the office I wanted to send for a doctor but he wouldn't let me I got him on a cot back there He don't feel so good Let's take a look, come on You, too, Bull Yeah, sure Right through there, Ranger Okay Easy, kid Let's have a look at it Yeah, no See me, mate Why, his face is too opposed and bruises on his ribs and belly, too What happened to you, son? No Go away You'd better answer the Ranger, boy What happened to you? Go on, kid Tell him what happened The drying rack It fell on me We're listening to Tales of the Texas Rangers starring Joel McCrae as Ranger Jase Pearson We continue now with tonight's case Loggers Larsonay, an authentic story from the files of the Texas Rangers The kid was in no condition for further questioning When we were unable to persuade him to submit to medical treatment the sheriff and I returned to town and had a talk with the justice of the peace The next morning the sheriff attended Hutton's inquest while I waited in his office for a call from our lab at Austin It just comes through when the sheriff returned Sorry to be so long, Jase I was comfortable, Sheriff You got a nice office Thanks Inquest over? Yeah Death by natural causes, I suppose Yeah, failure of the heart Doc says Hutton was dead when his car left the road an out-and-out accident Oh, look, Jase, it's like the JP told you last night That matchbox don't mean anything It could have blown in on those tracks I guess this isn't my week for hunches, Sheriff Now, the lab report came in, too How did that up? Coins in the bank sac tallied exactly where the withdrawal slipped the teller gave us Well, how about the bills of paper money? There were traces of them in the ash The quantity was small and might indicate some paper money was missing, but it burned so completely the lab couldn't be sure Yeah, looks like that's right Yeah Well, Sheriff, I guess I better get started Thanks a long, Jase, and thanks See you again on another case Yeah, call us any time you need us You know, Sheriff It still doesn't feel right You know, Jase, it doesn't to me either There's that matchbox Sure it could have blown in there, but that kid at the mill Yeah What about the kid? If he had a hunch Hutton's car was wrecked it might be, why didn't he tell his boss that as soon as he and Bull came in from the timber Yeah, that's right As it was, he didn't tell us till we dragged it out of it That turn out there didn't have anything to do with Hutton's death His heart quit He could have gone over the edge anywhere along the road Yeah, but, Jase, he did go over at that turn Sure he did And that's why the kid couldn't have known the car was there unless he'd seen it Then Bull Evans and the kid were lying But why? That's what we're gonna find out That and why the drying rack fell on the kid Kind of funny two accidents should happen so close together Come on, Sheriff Let's get out to that mill For you and Range Appearance and bank Something new come out? Not exactly, Mr. Browning Just a few loose ends I want to talk to that kid who was hurt yesterday How is he? Oh, apparently a lot better than he looks How's that? He was up for breakfast this morning and yesterday he was in shape to work In shape to work That's what he claimed That kid was in shape for a hospital Bull banked him up He'd been taking care of him, I guess you ought to know They're on the yard here? Bull didn't figure the kid was quite up to yard work They went out with the felon crew Together? Sure Bull said he'd watch out for the kid Oh, he did, huh? Where are they? Up in the northeast quarter of Section 3 some place about four miles down Come on, Sheriff, we better get out there That kid was in no condition to work You can't make it in a car We haven't got our access road to that section finished yet You've got any horses here? No The one I used for making my rounds of the crews had saddled up out bank Bring it around for the Sheriff I'll get my horse unloaded from the trailer All right, we'll arrange you Come on, Sheriff Get me other side of that end gate, will ya? Sure You think that kid's in any danger, Dave? What do you think? I'm beginning to think so It's all mine Oh, back out, Sarky Steady, boy Easy, easy, boy Hey, there you are, Sheriff Sheriff, so to be about right No, thanks, Mr. Browning Now you take that work road at the corner of the yard You begin to hit some of the crew out at the end of it They can tell you just where Bullen is helping us Thanks Let's go, Sheriff Come on, Sheriff Following Mr. Browning's directions we found some of his sawyers and axmen that work in deep woods They sent us on to others knowing only that Bullevans and the kid were working somewhere up ahead Pull it, Sheriff Ooh, ooh, ooh, Chuck Listen Somebody working over there Yeah, come on Let's go, Chuck Yeah, come on, boy Is it Bulle and the kid? No What you doing out here? Looking for Bullevans and his partner Boys down the line said they were up this way Yeah, they were A little while ago Where'd they go? Blamed a fan, though Into a craze Crazy? What do you mean? Bulle was working over there You can see the cut he was making The kid wasn't worth much Bunged up the way he was So he was just fooling around kind of grubbing out a little brush Well, Bulle came over to bum a smoke off of me and when he turned around the kid was gone Gone? He slipped off in the brush Bulle hollered for him when he didn't get no answer Bulle took right off after him swearing, fed the mega old Paul Bunyan turned over in his grave How long ago? Ooh 10, maybe 15 minutes ago Come on, Sheriff Hey, look, what is all this? Ten to later, son Come on, let's go, boy Tracks again on this soft ground Yeah Ooh, old charcoal Ooh Wait a minute, Sheriff Steady boy What do you make of it, Jason? I don't like it Where do you suppose that kid's heading? Yeah, it beats me Wherever it is he's sure heading there in a straight line and hard as he can go Yeah, with Bulle apparently right behind him Makes about as little sense as that drying rack following on him yesterday or Bulle talking him into reporting for work this morning What's between the two of them? That's what we've got to find out Tracking us too slow We're losing too much time That's pretty thick timber head Get out of slow them up, son Won't be much to follow when we get in there in those pine needles either Jase, maybe we better split sort of spread out That way we'll be... Hey, hear that? Somebody in there's got a gun Come on, get up, charcoal You know, I'm betting it's Bulle Sounds like the shot's in the middle of that timber stand It's a bad place to work blind, Jase Yeah You might miss him complete in there Possible Look, Sheriff You cut around the timber the other edge in case somebody breaks out in the clearing of those shots Try to box them in, huh? Worth a try Try stop near a blowdown A huge living pine tree blown over onto the ground I wanted to listen for movement But I knew an armed man was somewhere ahead of me and charcoal seemed to sense my tension Oh, whoa, charcoal Steady, boy, steady Take it easy, charky Found it? What are you shying away from? Oh, whoa, boy Not from under that blowdown No He's gonna shoot, kid Crawl out of there No, get away, will you? Leave me be He'll kill me if he finds me Get hold of yourself, kid Who'll kill you? What for? Bulle He almost caught me You're all right now, son Come on out He shot at me I crawled in there and he lost me He ran on past, I heard him But he'll be back You better tell me why he's after you Come on, spill it quick I saw him take the money From Hutton's wrecked car? Yeah, yeah, we came down to the creek and there it was He took the money and threw a match into the gasoline He burned the car and Mr. Hutton's still in it Settle down, take it easy Hutton was dead when his car left the road Why didn't you tell us about this yesterday when we asked you? Well, I tried to tell you but Bulle was standing there watching listening And look what happened to me afterwards That accident at the Dry and Rack? The accident He pushed the rack over to make it look that way Afterward, he beat me and almost killed me Came close enough Why didn't you sneak out to Mr. Browning with your story last night? Well, I never got a chance Bulle got a gun out of his possible bag and kept it under his blank at all night, pointed at me He never slept a wink I had to get up this morning and make it look like I wanted to come out here to work with him Why'd you head in this direction when you made your break this morning? Well, I figured if I could get to the money and get it back to Mr. Browning this would all be over and well, then I'd be safe You know where the money is? Yeah, yeah, it's an old stump and a draw between here and the road Come on, charcoal will carry double We got some riding to do I could understand the kid's terror A professional criminal knows the odds against him and seldom goes beyond a certain limit An amateur is like a man in quicksand more desperate with every step and more dangerous There, that's the stump right over there Oh, charcoal There's a hollow on the other side of it Hurry up, will you? Take it easy, kid charcoal made a lot better time than bull could have made on foot Besides, he's still probably looking for you Maybe he's been here already We'll soon see Yeah, it's here all right Can't you hurry? Hey, this is a pile of money Yeah, I know, come on All set, kid Just as soon as I stash these bills away in my saddlebags This is what you call valuable evidence And this is what's called a gun, right, sir? Bull! Praise both of you You're making a mistake, Bull You've made yours Drop them saddlebags You ain't gettin' that money, it's mine Now drop them The horse, kid Get off, I said Get away from my money I'd kill you if you opened your mouth, kid Now it's gonna be both of you You hurt, kid No! No, are you okay? Bull's gun just didn't shoot very straight Boy, you're sure dead and then fast That's what a spring clip holsters for, son Hey, Chase! Hey, Chase! Everything all right? Yeah, for everybody but Bull He's... he's dead Kind of What was the deal, Chase? Did he have some of the money from the wreck? Show him what's in the saddlebags, kid All right Hey, sir, take a look Looks like he had it all How deep was the kid here in with him? Are they gonna add something? The court will have to judge on the evidence Here, give me a hand, Sheriff You'll hang Bull across your saddle You've got one last ride coming In 12th, 1938, the kid was arraigned before the county court and found innocent of willful complicity in the theft from the paymaster's wreck car He was returned to society with a deeper appreciation and understanding of the duties of a citizen in the face of crime That is the start of our show, Joel McCrae You know we're awfully grateful to you people for the nice letters you've sent in It makes you feel good to know that there's some folks who just want to let you know that they're all for you and that they like your show I know it's kind of an effort to sit down and write a letter or postcard to a voice hundreds of miles away and that's why it would be downright ungrateful if we didn't thank you for your trouble It's really a compliment There's a little story I ran across about a ranger I thought you'd like to hear before we say good night I thought it was kind of funny It seems that in the days when the Texas Rangers were charged with the enforcement of the prohibition laws their reputation for apprehending offenders caused moonshiners to keep a sharp eye out for these famed officers One day on a lonely road in east Texas a moonshiner with a load of bootleg whiskey rounded a turn and came upon a man dressed in khaki clothes, big hat and boots signaling him to stop Frantically he grabbed a wrench and broke all ten of the one gallon bottles of whiskey Turning to the man on the road he called You can't arrest me ranger You ain't got no evidence What do you mean fellow? Applied the Texas Ranger I have a flat tire Can you loan me your jack? Good night folks See you again next week Next week Joel McCray and another authentic re-enactment of a case from the files of The Texas Rangers Currently seen starring in the Universal International Technical Production Frenchie. Tonight's cast included Tony Barrett, Bill Conrad, Stacey Harris Parley Bear and Bill Johnstone This story was transcribed and adapted by Tom W. Blackburn and the program was produced and directed by Stacey Keach Hal Gibney speaking Three times mean good times on NBC. Monday is for music the best in music on NBC Tomorrow evening the telephone hour brings you control to Marion Anderson as guest soloist and for a melodic blend of light classical and classical music you're invited to the second concert in a new Monday evening series by the Boston Pops under the baton of Arthur Fiedler Now Jack Parr with the $64 question for more good times on NBC