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Killers Crop – Tales of the Texas Rangers (12-30-51)
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Original Air Date: December 30, 1951Host: Andrew RhynesShow: Tales of the Texas RangersPhone: (707) 98 OTRDW (6-8739) Star:• Joel McCrea (Ranger Jayce Pearson) Special Guests:• Tony Barrett• Virginia Gregg• Herb Ellis• Ken Christy• Bill Johnstone• Byro...
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Andrew Rines
Saving for your next milestone. Turn your everyday errands into cash back opportunities. Thanks to the Blue Cash Every Day card, we can earn 3% cash back in the US on essentials like groceries at supermarkets, online retail purchases and gas stations. That's how we started growing our family's little nest egg. Take the next step with Blue Cash every day from Amex. Learn more at americanexpress.com Explore BCE terms and cash back Cap Apply welcome to the Old Time Radio Westerns. I'm your host Andrew Rines and let's get into this episode. This episode is going to be Tales of the Texas Rangers Original air date it's December 30, 1951 and the title is Killer's Crop. Hope you enjoy and again, thanks for listening. Tales of the Texas Rangers starring Joel McCray as Ranger Jace Pearson. Another authentic reenactment of a case transcribed in the files of the Texas Rangers. Names, dates and places in the following story are fictitious for obvious reasons. The events themselves are a matter of record. In two days, a new year will be upon us, and with it come top New Year's Day football games on this NBC station. Both the Cotton bowl and the Rose bowl games will be broadcast by NBC this New Year's Day. First, from Dallas, Texas, you'll hear the wide open passing game of the Kentucky Wildcats and the Texas Christian Horn Frog. Then later in the day, the west will meet the east when the Indians from Stanford meet the Fighting Illini of Illinois in the world famous Rose Bowl. Tuesday's broadcast from the Rose bowl in Pasadena will mark the 26th year this football classic has been aired coast to coast. As usual on NBC, you'll hear every thrilling play expertly called as the Stanford Indians, led by their coach of the year, Chuck Taylor, clash with Ray Elliott's men from Illinois. Make your New Year's Day more enjoyable by listening to both the Cotton bowl and the Rose bowl football games on this station of the NBC Radio Network. And now, from the files of the Texas Rangers, the case called Killer crop. It is 10:35pm April 16, 1947. A black coupe is driving west on a deserted highway 20 miles from San Antonio, Texas. Inside the coupe, the girl glances nervously at the driver. Mitchell. Yeah? What's this all about? What do you mean, Kitty? You know what I mean. Why couldn't you just pay me back there in front of my room and house like usual? Why bring me way out here and stick like I told you? Kitty, the boss says we gotta be real careful these days. This is far enough. Come on let's walk a little. I'd rather go back home. Now, Kitty, don't tell me you're not interested in the money anymore. What's the matter, Kitty? Well, nothing. I'm just pardoned. Sure, that's all it is. Wouldn't be you've gotten cold feet or anything like that, would it? Cold feet? Of course not. It's just that I. That may be why you went to see that doctor the other day. Doctor? Oh, you didn't think the boss and I knew about that, huh? Listen, mister. The doctor gonna take care of your cold feet, is he? Or maybe the police are. I hadn't been to the police. No, not yet. Where were you fixing to go when I came by this evening? Well, just to a movie. Sure, sure. That's why he had all those crop dusting order blanks we told you to burn. I just forgot to bring them. Yeah. You weren't by any chance figuring on turning them over to the police for evidence, were you? No. Too bad, kid. Too bad. You used to be a good mule. Mister. You got it wrong. Have I? So all of a sudden you're too good for the outfit, huh? You worn out? Maybe. All right, all right. I'm sick of the whole rotten, filthy mess. Look at me. Look at the wreck that stuff made out of me. And I've been helping make wrecks out of other people. Well, I'm through. I'm getting out. My, my, my. Isn't she an angel all of a sudden? No, not by a long shot. But maybe someday with help, I can get over it. You want to tell that to the boss? You think I'm afraid to say it to him, huh? Okay, take me to him. You know something? I already did. Standing right there in the bushes behind you. Later, a young boy accidentally discovered the girl's body in the bottom of a dry wash near the highway. The sheriff was notified and requested help from the Texas Rangers. Ranger Jace Pearson was assigned. Nothing's been moved, Jace. Good. Here we are. Yeah. Shot from close range. Looks like. Pretty young, isn't she? Sure. Any identification? Owner purse had been emptied, but. See the ring on her finger? Yeah. Class ring. According to it, she graduated from Ransford High School four years ago. Well, we should be able to get an identification from the school records, then. What is it, Jace? Sheriff, take a look here. On her left forearm, near the crook of the elbow. Tiny scars. Quite a few of them. J. How does that spell to you, Sheriff? Narcotics addiction? Look at my stomach. So young. 21, 22. Look at her. Look where it led her same place that leads all of them sooner or later. Yeah, only with her it came a little faster. Somebody was supplying her with the stuff, Jace. I know. That's why I'm taking a special interest in this case, Sheriff. Somewhere along the line we gotta dig that rat, whoever he is, out of his hole. From the Ramsford High School records we identified the dead girl as Kitty Barrows, 22 years old. She had listed as her next of kin an uncle S.B. cullum who owned a ranch near Randsford. Cullen was sent for. In the meantime we learned that Kitty had lived at a rooming house in San Antonio and called on her landlady there. Mrs. Worms there. Pretty dead. Rangers. I just had a fear it might be something like that. She'd been gone overnight before, but this time when it got to be two days, I just began to get a feel. Yeah. Mrs. Wormser, where did Kitty work? Work? Well, I'm not sure she did. Oh. At least I don't know what kind of a job you could hold down. Being out all hours and sleeping all morning like she used to. I see. Always was an issue to me where she got her money. But I am one who believes in minding my own business. But she did seem to have quite a little money. Yes. These days to dress the way she did and drive that flashy yellow convertible around. You don't do that or nothing. Yellow convertible? Yes. Little parked out back. We want to take a look at that. You say she went out at night frequently, Mrs. Wormson? Where? There were several boys I dates with her. Never saw any of them more than once. And then there was one that was with us several times. You know his name? No. Can you describe him? Well, I'd say he was in his late 20s, maybe 30. But you're high sheriff. Anything else? No. Certain he always wore a leather jacket. I'm afraid that's not very much to go on, ma'am. Well, it's about to. Best I can do. I always believe in mine. Yeah, I know. Come to think of it, there was something else. Something about his face. What do you mean? Well, his skin seemed like it was stretched trying to tie it across his cheeks. So when he smiled it stretched even tighter. Made the smile look kind of painful, like it hurt him too. I see. Thank you very much, Ms. War. Anything else, we'll contact you again. Sure. I hope you care if you ever did it. So do we, ma'am. Apparently Kitty was a little on the wild side. Had quite a few casual dates. Thing like that could be tough to run down. At least we've got a lead on one of our dates. Fellow in the leather jacket who looks like it hurts him to smile. Uh huh. Pronounced facial characteristic like that can be a big help in making identifications. Yeah, but even so, it's not too much to go on. I know, Jeff. One of two things. Either Kitty was killed by one of those casual dates, in which case it will be tough, or else her killing stems from something else. The narcotics angle? Yeah. She was an addict. She didn't have a job, yet she wore flashy clothes and drove a convertible. Where was she getting her money? I can think of one place from peddling narcotics to run them. I'll have the lab give her car a good going over. If she was using it to transport narcotics, they'll be able to tell us. When the sheriff and I returned to his office, S.B. cullen, the man whom Kitty had listed in high school as our next of kin, was waiting for us. I got over here from the ranch as soon as I could, Ranger. Thanks, Mr. Cullen. Sure. Too bad. Yeah. According to registration blank, Kitty made out her last year at Ransford High School. School? You're her next of kin, uncle she put down. Well, matter of fact, that's not true. What do you mean? Well, I wasn't really any kin to a sheriff. She used to call me Uncle Stan, but it was just sort of a nickname. Nickname? Yeah. You see, her mother died when she was just a baby. Dad brought her up. He worked for me on my ranch and the two of them lived there in one of the houses. Well, he died somewhere before her last year in high school. Her father? Yeah. She didn't have nobody to turn to, so I took her in the big house with me and kind of looked after all that year. And I'm gonna tell you, I had a time too. I'll get it, Jake. What do you mean about having a time, Mr. Cullen? Well, I don't like to say this, but Kitty was a little bit wild. Soon she turned 21, she moved out on me. Said she was her own boy. Where'd she go? I heard she was working as a car hop in Lubbock for a while. He showed up at the ranch once or twice and hit me for a little money. Then I sort of lost track of him. Mr. Cullum, did you know that Kitty was addicted to narcotics? Yes, sir. What? That's right. No, I sure didn't. Why, that's terrible. It sure is. You know, one contributing cause for young people drifting into that is lack of supervision at home. Ranger. Maybe I wasn't taking the police repairs. Very good. But I. I was sure trying. Just seemed like she wouldn't let me. Then when she turned 21, what could I do? Yeah. That'll be all, Mr. Cullen. All right. Oh, Deranger, I was just wondering. I'd like to arrange for Kitty to have a decent burial. I know it's not much. Yeah, it can be arranged. You. Thanks. Ain't his name. What is it? Sheriff, Your boss just telephoned. Captain Stinson. Yeah. Said the lab reports have been sent to his office. Good. I'll get up there right away and see if they've turned up any leads for us. Hear the report, Jace? Looks like your hunch the girl was transporting narcotics in her car was a good one. Yeah. Microscopic particles found in the trunk. That's right. They found something else, too. In the tread of the tires. Quite a bit of insecticide. Insecticide? The kind they use for spraying crops. I wonder where. Wait. What's this? Little scrap of Mexican newspaper. They found it in one corner of the auto truck. Got a lot of the powder on it. Could have been used to wrap the stuff. As you can see, there's a little of the paper's name shown at the top in just four letters. E, N, D, O. Either part of the paper's name of the town or it's published. Mexico. I wonder if that's where the stuff came from. It's a chance. Although you know how thorough the border patrol has been. Yeah. You got anything else, captain? One thing more. Something that hits me kind of hard. What is it? We located a doctor who told us Kitty had planned to enter a sanatorium for treatment. What? Say, that could peg the reason for a murder. If she was running this stuff and decided to take treatments for her own addiction, that means she was probably trying to pull herself out of the mess. Whoever she was working for could have found out about it. Could have been afraid she'd turn them in, so they killed her to shut her mouth. It's a rotten business, Jace. And as far as I'm concerned, this is the most important case we've got. I feel the same way, captain. We find who Kitty was working for, and we've got her killer. And right now, looks like the trail leads into Mexico. In a moment, we will continue with Tales of the Texas Rangers, starring Joel McCray as Ranger Jace Pearson. Our national safety council reports that last year more than 35,000 persons were killed in traffic accidents, with more than a million injured. Almost without exception, these fatalities and injuries were the result of carelessness, violation of traffic rules, or that drinking took away the driver's skill and judgment. Of those who lost their lives, 9,000 were pedestrians. The Safety Council is waging a constant campaign to develop in every driver and pedestrian the personal responsibility of knowing and obeying all traffic laws. Remember, traffic accidents don't always happen to someone else. They can happen to us, to you or to me. Every driver is urged to obey all traffic signs and signals. Never to drive after drinking and never to drive on the wrong side of the road. To be always alert at grade crossings. The slogan of the Safety Council is drive safely for life. The life you save may be your own. We continue now with Tales of the Texas Rangers and our authentic story, Killer's Crop. Captain Stinson contacted the Mexican police. They assigned one of their agents to work with us. Ernesto Gomez, an old friend of mine we met in the captain's office. It would seem as though a new channel for smuggling narcotics is in existence, Jason. That's the way it looks to us, Ernesto. The Border Patrol's got a pretty tight clamp on all the old ones. Here's a case of it reaching as far north as San Antonio. You fellows have any recent leads on operations in Mexico? It sure, Captain Stinkson. We make it a point to keep track of recognized traffickers in narcotics down there. Which of them are in jail, which have served their sentences, and where they are. You probably do the same thing. Mm. Yeah. A year ago, one of them completed his prison sentence. Huey Flores. He had been convicted as a grower. Grower? Yes. He raised poppies and extracted the raw powder. After he was released from prison, he dropped out of sight. Only yesterday, I received a report that he had been seen recently in a town hundred miles or so below the border. That's Mendota at the foot of the San Jacinto Range, who was buying provisions and claimed to be mining in the Matas. Wait a minute. What's the name of that town again? Mendota. That's it. What do you mean? In the trunk of the dead girl's car, we found a scrap of newspaper which apparently been used to wrap the stuff in. We could only make out four letters of the name. E, N, D, O. That's part of Mendota. There's our tie in, Captain. Sure looks like a. Jeez. It would then appear that Flores is up to his old tricks, eh? Yeah. Ernesto, I think we better take a little trip in the ranger plane over the San Jacinto range. See if we can find out where those Tricks of his are the rugged country down there, Ernesto. Yes, yes, those mountains are quite wild, you know, Once I trail a few deeds through them. For four days on foot without a sign of another human being. Well, we've crisscrossed this range pretty thoroughly. I'll have our pilot alter course. Hey, Jake. Yeah? Look. Yeah, A little pocket down there just below the rear. See? Pale patch of orange that. Bobby. Keep her flying straight ahead, Fox. I don't want anyone down there to know we're interested. I reckon that could be your chewy floor. S. Ernesto, he. There's a real good chance of it, Jake. Got the spot fixed in your mind? Okay, that's all we need to see from here now. We'll go back and pack in for a closer look. The ranger plane landed at Mendota. There we outfitted and started back into the San Anto range on horseback. Portable radio transmitter was included in our equipment. Several hours ride up through the bleak foothills brought us close to the area we spotted from the plane. Hey, it should be just over that rig. You have us G? Yeah, we better leave the horses here. Tie them in this clump of scrub, see? They should be sufficiently hidden here, I think. Okay, let's go. We'll work our way up the top of the ridge here. Should be went up stairs. There's plenty of COVID along the top. Yeah. Okay. You better cheek down and take advantage of this brush. Is this good guess? Yeah. Well, there it is, all right. Yeah, right below the patch of poppy. A little hut there at the edge of the clearing. Look, a man near the door. Just let me get my binoculars on here. Flores. Hunch about him was right. Looks like, well, Chewy Flores at this end and maybe the dead girl at the other. The question is, who is the tie up between them? We're gonna roost right here until somebody shows up to pick up some of that stuff. You know, lying here among these rocks in the sun, I'm beginning to feel slightly like a lizard. Yeah. Two days and no sign of anybody down there below. Except Huey, Florence, J. This could go on for a long time. Yeah, I know. But it's a cinch Flores isn't growing those poppies down there for his own amusement. Even so, it may be that. Hold it, Ernesto. Listen. It's an airplane, eh? See it? There it is heading this way. Starting to circle now. Well, Jason, we already seen that. There's not enough room down there for a plane to land. I don't think it has to land, Ernesto. Look down there in the clearing. Flores has Hoisted a couple of poles out of the brush and a rope stretched between them. A package dangling from the center of the rope. Yeah, it's a flying tika. Yeah. Hey, he's starting his dive. He'd have to fly very close to the ground. Now he's flattening out. See there's a hook dangling from the plane. He's making a pass at it now. Hooked it. He. Some very skillful piling, huh? Get down. He's climbing out this way. Did you make out that number on the underside of his wing? That could get only the first spot of it. NC45 something. Yeah, with what I noticed. I think that's enough. What you notice, Jeff? Looks like a crop dusting plane to me, Ernesto. You mean the guy would sprays the crops in the field? Yeah. That explains why he's so good at low flying. It also could explain the insecticide in the tire tread. A kitty's convertible. Flores here. The pilot in the middle, the dead girl at the other end. You think that the pilot is the boss of the operation? I don't know. To get an answer to that, first we gotta find the pilot on our portable radio transmitter. We requested the Ranger plane to attempt intercept and follow the crop duster. Then we moved in and Ernesto placed Flores under arrest. By the time I reached the border and called Captain Stinson, he had some information for me. Our plane intercepted the crop dusting plane. All right, Jay, speed far enough away so as not to arouse suspicion. Tag him all the way to his airport. Him for a few minutes, then spotted him again landing at the Tri City Airport. We checked and learned it's a one man outfit called Amica. Crafts in service. Is the plane at the airport now? Yeah, J. Phillips is over there keeping an eye on it. Thanks a lot, Captain. I'll get over there right now. Yes, S. I'm setting up headquarters here behind this shed for the time being. See that little hanger off there by still? Yeah. Meeker, Crop Dusting Service. Captain Stinson said it was a one man outfit, huh? Mick is a pal. Is he in that hangar now? Yeah, working on his plane. Boys in the control car told me he mentioned to fall the fuel pumps with him when he came in. You mean he's been right there with his plane ever since he landed? According to them, he has. That wouldn't press your neck, Race. If he's the boy that picked up that package below the border. Then it should be somewhere in that plane. A hangar? Yeah, I. Hey, man, coming out of the hangar must Be Nikki heading for the coffee shop. Looks like Sheriff. You get a good look at him? I sure did. Kitty skin stretched tight across his face. You can't miss it. That's the guy Kitty's land lady told us about. The one she saw Kitty with several times. Yeah, well, it's all beginning to slide into place, Jason. It sure looks that way. Come on. We need that package for evidence, and now's a good time to get it. While Mika was in the coffee shop, the sheriff and I searched the plane in the small office in the corner of the hangar. We were unable to find a package. I don't get it, Jay. We know Mika picked it up below the border on the fly. Maybe that's just the way he unloaded, Sheriff. On the fly. What do you mean? Look, Nick would be taking a big chance coming into land with that package aboard. Always facing the chance there'd be a tip on him in a search. Yeah, but wait. You figure he dropped it somewhere before landed? Could be. But where? It seems to me it'd be just as risky dropping it in the same place each time as it would land in here with it. Let's suppose it's a different place each time. Different places. I don't. Wait a minute. And he gives it crop dusting. Sure. And what we see in his office there, Crop dust in order. Right. Let's take a look at those orders again. Again, on the top of the spindle was an order for that day to dust a cotton field 20 miles east. We rushed to that cotton field hoping to find a package before it was picked up. Some more walking than I've done for quite a spell. Yeah, well, we've already walked our way around 2 3rd of the field, but we've been sticking to the edges. J. Well, we know that type of picked up in Mexico could have been dropped from in the middle of the field. Maybe, but I doubt it. Sheriff, I think they'd want to keep it as close to the roads as possible so the runner could drive up close and pick it up instead of walking right through the field. Yeah, sounds logical, but I. Sheriff, look over there. A package. The package. Just about 20ft in from the road. Sure. That accounts for the insecticide and the tread of Kitty's tires. She drive up alongside whichever field Mika had sprayed that day and hunt around till she found the package just in from the edge. Well, what now? J. Now we wait around and find out who's taking Kitty's place. We concealed a car behind a pump house at one corner of the field. And staked out in a clump of bushes near nearby. Shortly after dark, a car came down the road. Captain Jace. Yeah. I figured they wouldn't let that package sit in the field very long. Somebody getting out. Crossing in front of the headlights. It's Nika. Sure is, Dennis. Why would Nika drop the package from his plane and come back in a car to pick it up? I don't get it. Neither do I. He's got the package all right. Getting back in the car. Okay, we'll give him a lead, then tail him with our light flow. See where he takes that package. Look, Jake, he swung off the road, turned off his laps. Yeah. Must have turned in up there past those trees. Okay, leave the car here. Looks like a rain. That's where he turned in. Yeah, back there beside the house and park. He's the turn in. Wait a minute. The mailbox here. Enough moonlight to make out the name. Yeah. S.B. c. S.B. cullen. What? Well, that's the fellow we had in for questioning. The one that had been looking after Kitty. Yeah, and he was so anxious to give Kitty a decent burial. Give you one instead. Ranger. Lord, I saw you driving up. Just hold it, Booheen. You got the drop on us, Sheriff. I sure have, Mika. What? Colin, what are you. Hey, Ranger. And the Sheriff. Sure. You were real smart, Nika. You let him straight here. I let. It wouldn't have happened if you hadn't called me and told me to pick the stuff up. I told you I didn't have any choice. Couldn't line up a runner I could trust. Yeah, you killed the one you had, didn't you, Kitty? Shut up. What's the matter? She wanted out and you wouldn't let her. I say shut up. So you're the boss of the operation, Cullen. You're the rat who first dragged Kitty down into dirt and then killed her when she tried to pull herself out of it. That's one too many, Ranger. Now you try to pull yourself out of this. You okay, Jake? Yeah. As for you, Meeker, just stand there real still. Well, I had to drop on you. That you? Yeah. I guess you've never seen a spring holster before. You don't have to draw spring holster. Yeah, but you'll never have one, Cullen. That's where you're going. They're going to have the drop on you from now on. In just a moment we will tell you the results of the case you have just heard. Here's another last minute reminder to make your plans now to enjoy both the Cotton bowl and Rose bowl. Football games Tuesday on this station in Dallas, Texas at the famed Cotton Bowl. The Wildcats of Kentucky, led by their All American quarterback Vito Perillo, will meet the wide open passing attack of Dutch Meyers. Texas Christian, Christian Horn Frog and as usual, NBC will switch to Pasadena, California at the conclusion of the Kentucky Texas Christian grid Battle to bring you the color of the Tournament of Roses and the exciting Stanford Illinois football game. The Rose bowl will be playing host to Coach of the Year Chuck Taylor's Stanford Indians and Ray Elliott's Fighting A Lion Eye from Champagne, Illinois. Arrange a football party at your home and enjoy a full day of the country's finest grid clashes broadcast direct to you by NBC from both the Cotton bowl and the Rose Bowl Tuesday New Year's Day on this station of the NBC Radio Network. And now, here are the results of the case you have just heard. William Meeker and S.B. cullen were incited and tried for the brutal murder of Kitty Barrows. For his part in the crime, Meeker was given a life sentence on the morning of November 3, 1948 at Huntsville Penitentiary. Cullen was put to death in the electric chair. Next week, Joel McCray another authentic reenactment of a case from the files of the Texas Rangers. The cast included Tony Barrett, Virginia Greg, Herb Ellis, Ken Christie, Bill Johnstone and Byron Kane. Technical advisor was Captain MP Lone Wolf Gonzalez of the Texas Rangers. This story was transcribed and adapted by Bob Wright and the program is produced and directed by Stacy Keats. This is Hal Gibney speaking. Next, it's the big show, all this and tallulah2 on NBC. This has been a presentation of otrwesterns.com and we hope you enjoyed. Please take some time to like and rate our shows in your favorite podcast application. Follow us on Facebook by going to otrwesterns.com Facebook join in the conversation by going to otrwesterns.Com Discord and don't forget to send us an email podcasttrwesterns.com this episode is copyright under the Attribution Non Commercial Share Like Copyright. For more information, go to otrwesterns.com copyright have a great day and again, thanks for listening. Hey everyone. If you're fascinated by the psychology behind your favorite movies, you've got to check out Popcorn Psychology. Hosted by three licensed therapists, they delve into films through the unique perspectives of individual, child and marriage and family therapy. Each episode unpacks deep psychological themes like trauma, identity and grief all through the movies we love. It's a perfect blend for therapists, movie lovers or anyone who shed a tear during a Pixar movie. Their latest season kicks off with a deep dive into Inside Out 2, exploring teenage emotions and the debut of anxiety. Don't miss out. 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