August 25, 2025 • 29 mins
Chronicles the cases of a law enforcement officer in the American West, blending traditional Western themes with modern investigative techniques. The stories are based on real cases.
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Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Tales of the Texas Rangers, starring Joel McCrae as.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Ranger Jase Pearson.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Another authentic reenactment of a case transcribed from the.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Files of the Texas Rangers.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Names, dates, and places in the following story are fictitious
for obvious reasons. The events themselves are a matter of records.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
How does a radio network go about covering a national
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on the roster room and listen to the speeches. Well,
that's one way, but it wouldn't bring you the real
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anything of the behind the scenes plans and deals that
are so much a part of the political game. These
are the reasons why NBC sent more than three hundred
(01:13):
expert newsmen and technicians to Chicago to cover the Democratic
Convention beginning Monday, July twenty First, there's an NBC man for.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Every four delegates.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
With NBC, you will interview the delegates, hear the candidates
informal speeches and off guard moments, and the myriad political
technicalities will be made crystal clear by America's greatest newsmen. Yes,
for complete, careful, concise coverage of the Democratic National Convention.
Make your headquarters the NBC Radio Network. You will find
that their years of leadership in radio news reporting means
(01:45):
continued leadership and the coverage of the Democratic Convention. Now
tales of the Texas Rangers.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
And now from the files of the Texas Rangers, the
case called finger Man.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
It is just before noon on a swelltering day in
August nineteen forty three, in the County Jail at Dover, Texas,
nine men reading lunch at a table in the runway
just outside theirselves. Among the prisoners are Leon Desser and
Carl Fully, serving one year sentences for unlawful possession of
fire arms.
Speaker 6 (02:29):
It's hot, Yeah, give me a bread full.
Speaker 7 (02:31):
You lousy's stolen his hot weather makes my stomach sick just.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Looking at it.
Speaker 6 (02:36):
How about the bread?
Speaker 7 (02:36):
They canna feel like he's coming through that tin roof.
They got no right putting up tin roof on his place.
Speaker 6 (02:40):
Hey, you're gonna get you quick crying.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Oh, I only want it here. You didn't have to
do that.
Speaker 7 (02:46):
Fully, he's fat enough without you crying on my ear.
Speaker 8 (02:48):
They'll be bringing that horn kip back in the courthouse
any minute. Definitely here you throw a four on he
slapping the solitary.
Speaker 7 (02:53):
We'll let him try.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Well, you you talk big, that's it. Hmm, we're gonna
bust out a here.
Speaker 9 (03:01):
You're crazy.
Speaker 6 (03:02):
We've already done six months, another six and they let
us out.
Speaker 7 (03:05):
I ain't spending another day in this hotbox. We're busting out.
Speaker 6 (03:07):
Fully fully, Look, just six more months. It ain't long.
Then we start knocking over.
Speaker 7 (03:11):
Stores again, and he won't be looking for us, Your chicken,
that's so. I don't know why I ever picked you
for a partner in the first place.
Speaker 6 (03:17):
You know why you like the way I open seas?
Speaker 10 (03:19):
Ain't that it?
Speaker 9 (03:19):
Fully?
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Your chicken?
Speaker 7 (03:20):
Look, I said, we're busting out, Okay, how do you figure.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
To do it? All?
Speaker 7 (03:24):
These guys have gotta be with us otherwise the wrong way. Hey,
you guys, listen, deser me is busting out of here.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
You're with us?
Speaker 6 (03:34):
How are you gonna work it?
Speaker 4 (03:35):
For now? Listen, listen, listen. It won't be tough that
they'll be bringing that horn kid back. We'll hear him
when he unlocks the outer door.
Speaker 7 (03:42):
Minty opens the door into this runway, we jump him
and get his keys.
Speaker 6 (03:45):
Have those sounds so easy.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Shut up.
Speaker 7 (03:49):
You guys in yeah, alright, keep talking like.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
We always do, so as we don't tip our hands.
Speaker 8 (03:55):
Well, we're gonna call when we get out.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
The first thing we gotta do is get out.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
We do shut up.
Speaker 7 (03:59):
Time the shoeff gets upstairs, we'll be out.
Speaker 6 (04:01):
And if we ain't.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Sheriff don't want his deputy killed, does he?
Speaker 11 (04:05):
He's coming on.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Okay, you guys, I get ready. Don't jump till I
give the word. Keep talking.
Speaker 6 (04:11):
You've got a shitta like that?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
All right, get in there. I'll bring you some food
in a few minutes.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Now, what's going on?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Hold on, close that door. You can't do that.
Speaker 6 (04:23):
He's getting away.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
How come on?
Speaker 6 (04:25):
He hold them keys outside, Well give me the keys.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
You ain't gonna get him.
Speaker 9 (04:29):
All the counts.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
He throw him out till.
Speaker 9 (04:33):
Thirty colock shelf Sir.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
Prisoners holding the deputy inside their cell blocked began to riot.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Unable to cope with.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
The situation alone, the sheriff requested assistance from all law
enforcement offices into the Senator for.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Us to arrive.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
On the scene was Texas Ranger and Jason Pearson. As
he pulled up in front.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Of the jail.
Speaker 5 (04:57):
He found the sheriff outside his rifle trained. I'm not
bunking bars and a second story windows.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Sure glad you got here, Jason.
Speaker 6 (05:04):
Don't know how much longer I could have managed alone.
Speaker 11 (05:06):
And we'll have some more help in ten or fifteen minutes.
A couple of highway patrol units are on the way, and.
Speaker 5 (05:10):
You can see where they busted out two of the bars,
and that window must have tore up one of the
bunks to do it.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Uh huh.
Speaker 11 (05:15):
I hope they've let down. Looks like it's made out
of mattress. Ticket one of them started down before you
got here.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Jump back when I bounced a bullet off the side
the building.
Speaker 11 (05:23):
Just a matter of time before they try to use
your deputies a shield for a getaway.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Yeah, and that's what worries me. If it hadn't been
for Jewel being up there, I'd.
Speaker 10 (05:30):
Have gone in.
Speaker 11 (05:30):
It's just why you didn't try it alone. Anybody covering
the side windows. L I deputized a few townspeople. Don't
know how much good they'll be in a pinch.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
You tried to talk to the prisoners yet, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (05:39):
But I can't get any sense out of them.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Mind if I try. I wish you would.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Hey, you men up there, I can't talk to all
of you.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Pick one to speak for you there.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
You see, that's all I could do. I sure hope
they haven't done anything to jump.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
For them, and lesson, go back to yourselves, all of
you absurdy.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Now we know you're loping enough a while. We got
for deputy up here.
Speaker 6 (06:08):
You listen to what we gotta say.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
What have you got to say?
Speaker 4 (06:11):
We're coming up, ain't coming his shut I.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Wouldn't try to fire you.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
You'll never make it. We'll take that shots.
Speaker 6 (06:19):
That's folded him and his partner desher real bad apples.
Speaker 9 (06:22):
Yeah, hey, Raja, we want your gun.
Speaker 6 (06:27):
Got up the winter They us back across the street.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Keep their hands up.
Speaker 6 (06:31):
Jason hates to say it, but if we want to
save Joey, I reckon, we ought to do what they
tell us.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
That's something we won't do, no matter what happened.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Oh, come on, how do we know he's all right?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
He's all right? We want to hear him.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
Tell us he can't.
Speaker 7 (06:47):
We got him tying up with guns and.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Take the gag out of his mouth. We want to
hear him talk before we.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Do anything else.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
Oh, Joe Reckon.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
He feels pretty bad by letting himself get tricked the
way he did.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Speak to him. Sheriff, you all right, Joe, Yeah, that's
not Joe your poster.
Speaker 6 (07:12):
I've known Joe for fifteen years.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
I could tell his voice any place. I'm afraid they've
already done something to it. One of the townspeople.
Speaker 11 (07:17):
To take over here, Sheriff, we're going up there, Ted,
y'all take over here? Will you plug the first one
chose his head outside those bars?
Speaker 4 (07:23):
I'll tell right, Jason, I'm ready. Who else is up
there beside Pollyan's at Most of them are pretty tough boys.
Five of them, wait and try for m Robert, Deser.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
And Folly are serving a term for carrying gun.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
Yeah, I heard that was all you could get on him.
Speaker 6 (07:36):
It don't seem like anybody's been too successful.
Speaker 9 (07:38):
Now.
Speaker 11 (07:38):
We got a list of sixty one knob knocking jobs
we think Desern fully pulled, But so far we've only
been able to pin one offense on.
Speaker 6 (07:44):
Yeah, and that was eight years ago.
Speaker 11 (07:45):
It was just three years at Huntsville in you've got
your set of keys with your sheriff, fine, end, Joe.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
They must have rushed him before he could get out
that he didn't manage.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
To throw the keys through the bars if you didn't
talk to him before he came outside. No, as soon
as I got close to the cell box, that started
yelling they killed Joe.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Come any closer, hey.
Speaker 6 (08:00):
Fully, Sheriff's coming.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
He's got the ranger with thought. We told you to trial.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Funny, ranger, where's the deputy?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
He he's in here.
Speaker 7 (08:10):
Better keep away if you don't want something to happen
to him.
Speaker 6 (08:13):
Jeez, there's just a chance Joe might still be alive
if we go in here.
Speaker 11 (08:16):
Ollie, I'll give you ten seconds to bring the deputy
out here where we can see him.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Otherwise we're coming in. Keep father here, Ranger, I'm warning you.
Get back from this door, all of you. Open it up, Sheriff.
Speaker 6 (08:28):
You sure have me to record this play out.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
I get back into your cells.
Speaker 11 (08:35):
Come on, move, I'll be careful, ja, I said, get
back into those cells and don't get any funny ideas.
Speaker 7 (08:41):
Oh what's it good?
Speaker 6 (08:42):
I was gonna point now, honest.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
Ranger, Ali, you get moving, keep moving, you Polly, pick
up your pa, pick it up.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Yeah, get in your cells, all of you.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
All right, sheriff, how come on, okay, geez, all right,
keep back there shone tough here right right, But you
wouldn't probably coming up here with.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Off deep guns. Where's the deputy?
Speaker 7 (09:05):
Why don't you look for We've had just about enough
smart talk about you.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Holy you ain't even the gun hearing for me?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Well that does it, Jese?
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Yeah, Now we gotta find out what over gear, sheriff.
But between the bench and the table, it's joe.
Speaker 6 (09:22):
Hey, we better get a doctor.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
No you, sheriff, he's dead. The deputy had been stabbed
to death.
Speaker 11 (09:35):
After a short search, we found the murder weapon, a
bloodstained fork. While we waited for the Justice of the
peace to authorize removal of the body, I took the
fork downstairs and checked it for fingerprints. It had been
white clean, and I went back to the runway in
front of the cells. Any luck, Jesse, Now you talk
to him.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
Ye had have been waiting for you, all right, man,
one of you killed the deputy. Now I want to
know who it was us you no copper?
Speaker 9 (10:01):
Shut up?
Speaker 4 (10:01):
Are you ready to talk? How about you?
Speaker 6 (10:04):
I don't know nothing, ranger.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
You fully, you're wasting your time. Nobody's gonna tell you nothing, Yeah, sir, me,
I didn't do it. Who did?
Speaker 6 (10:13):
I didn't see nothing?
Speaker 7 (10:14):
Maybe the deputy fell, maybe it was an accident.
Speaker 11 (10:16):
You'll keep your mouth shut fully, okay, then every one
of you is gonna be booked for murder. All right,
all right, we'll give you one last chance.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
We'll talk to you individually. Maybe one of you'll change
your mind.
Speaker 7 (10:29):
He's trying to make stool pigeons out of us.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
We ain't gonna let them do them. Holy boy, Well,
it's up to you unless somebody talks all of you.
Take the wrap, all right, Polly, you're first.
Speaker 12 (10:40):
Don't worry.
Speaker 7 (10:41):
Boys.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
You ain't gonna get enough. None of me now, they
won't give enough. Not of the rest of you will
take him downstairs.
Speaker 7 (10:48):
Sheriff, Come on, fully, I'm getting tired, ranger. When are
you gonna take me back up to my and.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
I'm through talking to you? Who killed the deputy?
Speaker 7 (11:02):
Thanks a long time for you to catch on or something,
don't it?
Speaker 6 (11:05):
I got nothing to say.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Did you see him killed? How to why know? Things
happened pretty fast up there?
Speaker 5 (11:09):
Reckon?
Speaker 4 (11:10):
He got in somebody's way. Whose idea was it to
break out of jail?
Speaker 7 (11:13):
We all got the idea. At the same time, it's
hot up there. I can't expect men to stay in
a place like that when there's a chance of getting out.
Speaker 5 (11:18):
I got death are out here, Jason.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Whenever you're ready, you can bring him in now, serff.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Come on, desert, don't push me.
Speaker 7 (11:24):
Come on, you didn't tell nothing, fully, you think I'm nuts?
Speaker 4 (11:27):
That's enough, Tuck, Come on, fully, let's go back upstairs.
Speaker 7 (11:31):
See you keep your mouth shut, desk, and I told
you the pipe.
Speaker 8 (11:34):
Come sit down, desir, Yeah, thanks, Renje. But I got
nothing to say, nothing at all.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
The sheriff tells me you served six months of your term.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
Yeah six months.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
You only six more to go, and you could have
been out.
Speaker 6 (11:48):
Who wasn't my idea to bust on here?
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Ring's honest, Whose idea was it?
Speaker 6 (11:51):
Even if I didn't deserve getting put in here, I
wasn't even thinking of.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
A busting not Who planned to break I.
Speaker 8 (11:55):
Don't know, I don't seems like the deputy opened the
block door and things started happening.
Speaker 6 (11:59):
Then, I don't know who's idea was.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Did you see the deputy get killed?
Speaker 6 (12:02):
Oh, we're not mean.
Speaker 8 (12:03):
When all the fighting started, I run back into my cellar,
I don't like fighting, Ranger.
Speaker 6 (12:08):
You gotta believe me. I turned over a new leaf.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
I'm going straight and a shame. You won't have a
chance to prove it. Why not? You heard what I
said upstairs.
Speaker 11 (12:15):
If we don't find out who killed the deputy, you
all take the rap.
Speaker 6 (12:20):
What happens if maybe somebody talks.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Then only the guilty person goes on trial for murder.
Speaker 8 (12:24):
I ain't saying I seen anything, Ranger, But suppose I did,
and suppose I told.
Speaker 6 (12:29):
You what I seen. I think maybe I wouldn't have
to serve my other six months.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
That's something that's not up to me.
Speaker 8 (12:34):
Oh, it ain't fair to send a guy like me
up with the rest of them a life.
Speaker 6 (12:37):
I didn't have nothing to do with him.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
What do you know about it, Desser?
Speaker 6 (12:41):
A man was to tell what he's seen him follows upstairs?
Speaker 4 (12:43):
I kill him?
Speaker 6 (12:44):
If if if they knew, you know, what would they
have to know?
Speaker 4 (12:47):
Sooner or later? You'd have to testify at the trial.
Speaker 6 (12:51):
Uh, you've forgot to be a trial yet.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
What do you know, Desser.
Speaker 6 (12:55):
I don't want to take no murder rap Ringer. I'm
going straight. I just want to get out.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
The chances are you never will if you don't tell
what you know.
Speaker 8 (13:02):
Yeah, well, I suppose I wasn't in my cell when
a deputy got stabbed.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
I didn't think you were.
Speaker 6 (13:09):
Suppose I was to talk to them follows upstairs? He
kill me.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
Sheriff could arrange your efforts sell for you.
Speaker 6 (13:15):
Are you sure about that?
Speaker 4 (13:16):
Ranger?
Speaker 9 (13:16):
Uh? Huh?
Speaker 6 (13:18):
And nonoman couldn't get near me?
Speaker 4 (13:19):
That's right? Who was a desir?
Speaker 6 (13:22):
Now you gotta protect the arranger?
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Ya gotta we'll see I you're safe. Who killed a deputy?
Speaker 6 (13:28):
The guy I used to work with?
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Call Foley.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
In just a moment, we will continue with Tales of
the Texas Rangers, starring Joel McCrae as Ranger Jace Pearson.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Only a madman or a fool would intentionally set fire
to one of our forests or woodlands. Yet ninety percent
of our forest fires are started by people. Most of
these men caused fires are due to plain carelessness. A
campfire left smoldering, a lighted match thrown from a car window,
a cigarette not extinguished. In less troubled times, the waste
due to forest fires would be tragic. In these dangerous times,
(14:12):
it can be disastrous. Forest fires destroy natural resources. We
need to keep our cuntry strong. They impede the production
and transportation of critical defense supplies, interfere with military training,
and may destroy military installations. Join in the fight against carelessness.
Crush out cigarettes, cigar and pipe ashes, break matches in
two after using, drown all campfires, then stir and drown again.
(14:35):
Find out the law before using a fire. One moment
of carelessness can destroy national beauty and wealth that can
never be replaced. Forest Fires are a shameful waste because
they can be prevented. Remember only you can prevent forest fires.
And now back to the Tails of the Texas Rangers.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
We continue now with Tails of the Texas Rangers and
our authentic star Fingerman.
Speaker 11 (15:08):
We called in two townspeople as witnesses and took Leon
Desser's statement naming Folly as the killer. But we knew
Desser's word alone wouldn't be enough for a conviction. Began
questioning the other prisoners. No one would admit he had
seen anything.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
The last one to be brought in was a boy
in his early twenties.
Speaker 11 (15:24):
These are Johnny Horn Jase. He was the one Joe
was bringing back in the courthouse when the break started.
Sit down, Johnny, Yes, did you lose something? No, sir,
I was just looking for a cigarette. I must have
left him in his cell.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
I reckon, I got a pack somewhere in this drawer. Yeah,
here take one, Johnny. Oh thanks, got a match?
Speaker 4 (15:44):
Yeah? Yeah, I guess you know why you're down here. Major.
Speaker 6 (15:50):
I didn't kill it, deputy. I swear I didn't.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
We know you didn't.
Speaker 6 (15:53):
Johnny's up for two months, Jase. First thing, I.
Speaker 7 (15:55):
Didn't mean to take those tire, shir if it was
well with es E laying and the kid hadn't been
out for a ride so long.
Speaker 6 (16:00):
I didn't have the money. Oh, what's the use I
did wrong? I got what I deserve.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
We're not talking about what you did before, Johnny. What
we wanna find out is who killed the deputy, and
we think you can help us.
Speaker 6 (16:11):
No, Sir, I don't believe I can't. You're not being
fair to yourself son, nor to your wife and little boy.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
There's no reason why you should have to go up
on a murder chart.
Speaker 6 (16:20):
I'm not gonna talk, Sheriff. That's all there is to it.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Why don't you wanna talk? Ranger?
Speaker 6 (16:24):
Don't ask me any more questions.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Please. You're afraid something'd happen to you if you told
us who the killer is. Aren't you sure?
Speaker 6 (16:28):
I'm afraid.
Speaker 8 (16:29):
When the sheriff took me out of the cell just now,
I could feel them staring at me, all of them.
Speaker 6 (16:33):
I knew what they were thinking. I don't know what
they'll do to me if I opened my mouth. I
can promise you, Johnny, nothing's gonna happen to you. It's
easy for you to say, but I know those men
who've been.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Listening to them talk. They'd kill me. They'd never have
to see you again.
Speaker 6 (16:44):
Johnny, I'm scared, Ranger, I'm scared.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
What would you say if I told you one of
the other men has already.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
Talked, I'd say you were trying some kind of trick.
Speaker 11 (16:51):
Oh now, Johnny, one of them has talked, Johnny, which one?
I'm afraid we can't tell you that. But we have
a statement right here.
Speaker 6 (16:58):
Well, and why do you want me to talk?
Speaker 4 (17:00):
You got what you need. One witness wouldn't clinch our case.
We need at least two.
Speaker 6 (17:04):
Then you better find somebody else.
Speaker 11 (17:06):
Listen to this, Johnny. When the deputy came in, with Horn.
We run at him and kept him from closing the
block door. He busts away from us and run to
the outside door.
Speaker 6 (17:16):
Is that the way it happened here? I'll read a
little further.
Speaker 11 (17:20):
Fully and some of the others run after the deputy
and caught him at the outer door, but he threw
his key through the bars and we couldn't get out.
Then he started hollering for the sheriff. Folly tried to
shut him up, but he kept hollering and fully stuck
the fork in his back.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
Two or three times we seen he was dead. And
does that sound like we're using a trick on you, Johnny? No?
Is that statement right? Ranging? Was it? Fully? Yeah?
Speaker 9 (17:47):
Fully killed him?
Speaker 4 (17:48):
Take care of Johnny, sheriff. We're booking fully for murder.
Speaker 11 (18:00):
Two months later, Carl Foley was brought to trial for
murder on the testimony of Desser and Johnny Horn.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Speaker 11 (18:08):
Charges of variet and attempt at prison break were brought
against all the other prisoners except Deser and Horn.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
Desser requested that.
Speaker 11 (18:15):
He be released immediately from jail because he turned state's witness.
The court denied his request, and it was not until
February that Desser was discharged from the county jail. On
a rainy night three weeks later, I was returning from
a case. About two am, I received.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
A radio call KTXA un ten Unit tend to KDXA
go ahead.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
KTXA is Unit ten near town of White Bluff.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
Over conting Unit ten, three miles south of White Bluff.
Tom Watchman has been.
Speaker 12 (18:46):
Overcome by arm Burma safe in store at three oh
nine Monroe Street. Believe rob Watchman tied up in stored
address you just mentioned. Sureff has been notified and is
enroute to White.
Speaker 6 (18:58):
Bluff for you in the tunnel. Proceed the scene at once.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
You're okay?
Speaker 10 (19:25):
Now I just about give up, hope anybody who's coming?
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Let me get this rope off? Yeah, where's the person
who put in the call?
Speaker 10 (19:32):
I did to myself, what the guy out of my mouth?
And I rolled over to the phone, and now's the
receiver off the hook? Was my head.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Much obliged ranger.
Speaker 10 (19:44):
Now I could just help me get out.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
Thank you. You look like you taking a pretty bad
bump on the head to get your doctor.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
I'll be all right.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Just a little stiff from being tied up. You better
sit down over here a while. Yeah, I believe it will.
Where's safe over in that corner? He got it all right,
and I was knocked off afraid of that. He canked
me on the head when I woke up. I was
tied up and gagged. Did you get a look at
the man now? First to come up behind me?
Speaker 2 (20:13):
She happed a gun in my back. That you share, geez?
Speaker 6 (20:18):
I saw the Ranger car outside, but I didn't know
it was you.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
I just got here a few minutes ago.
Speaker 6 (20:22):
Well, you look like you've had a little going over, Harry.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
I'll be all right.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Did you see the fellow who did it? We were
just talking about that. You said you didn't see his
face at first?
Speaker 10 (20:31):
No, should not till he took my keys and started
opening the door of this place.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
Then I got a good look at him over my shoulder,
little fellow was. I was kind of surprised he had
so much strength. Did you notice if he blinked his
eyes every now and then? Yeah? Do you know ranger?
I got an Eyedea could be.
Speaker 6 (20:48):
An old friend of ours, You mean Leon Desrick?
Speaker 9 (20:51):
Uh huh?
Speaker 4 (20:51):
The way he blinks his eyes jumping the watchman from behind.
Couldn't be anybody else.
Speaker 6 (20:55):
All that talk about going straight should have known he
didn't mean a.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
Word of it.
Speaker 11 (21:00):
Sounds like he's not doing so well without his partner, Foley.
This is the first time anybody actually got a look
at him on a job.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Where were you when he first jumped you in front
of this store? Oh it's three or four doors up. Eh.
Speaker 10 (21:13):
Seeing a car parked in front of the feet store.
Only car on the street. So I went to take
a look. I was shining my light on him, and
I filled.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
A gun in my back. Must have been hiding in
one of the doorways.
Speaker 11 (21:25):
There's a car light colored sit in. Yeah, I believe
it was his car is still outside. I saw it
when I pulled up, so did I.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Maybe deest they're still around one of the stores. I
just have a look. Share if you want me to
give you a hand, Ranger.
Speaker 11 (21:35):
Oh thanks, You better just sit here and rest awhile say,
if that's the car he used, he he might have
just left it and taken off the robber.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Doubt if he'd do that on a night like this.
Sure is rotten weather.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
The car is still less me.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
I'm gonna check the other stores on this street. This
has been known to hit three or four at the time.
Speaker 6 (21:53):
Jay, Jason, that drug store across the street. The door's open.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Yeah, watch yourself walking in.
Speaker 6 (22:00):
Uh, I don't see the light switch.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
Maybe he didn't mind the lights. Back doors open. Come on,
there's no doubt about his going out this way.
Speaker 6 (22:11):
You can see as muddy tracks playing as anything, right
out into the alley.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Just a second, shaff what.
Speaker 6 (22:21):
He went up here to the right.
Speaker 5 (22:23):
There's not a thing up here but a garage and
a field beyond it. Yeah, he could have taken him
off across the field for those hills, so he did.
We'll have a rough time to climb him out there
on a night like this.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
Hold a chaff and track stop here.
Speaker 6 (22:35):
He's pretty close to the garage, I reckon.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
We'd better check inside. Yeah, not a sign of him,
as the dirt floor makes it hard to tell if
he was in here at all. But he won't do now.
(22:59):
Jason put out an eb Yeah, and I'll take my
horse and wait a minute.
Speaker 6 (23:04):
What's the matter the wrong side ladder going up to.
Speaker 9 (23:06):
The loft fresh Onne.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Yeah, cover me, I'm going up.
Speaker 9 (23:10):
Well, I'll be careful. Case de sirir, we gonna.
Speaker 12 (23:22):
Get me, give me that connaught, oh my arm, properly,
properly gonna take me.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Come on, none of that.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
You are right, Yeah, I'm down the ladder desert.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
He's gonna put me in the pen.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
We can't think of a better place. Get moving.
Speaker 11 (23:43):
Leon Desser was brought to trial in the District Court
at Dover, Texas under terms of the Habitual Criminal Act.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment of Huntsville. The sheriff
requested that I assist him in delivering Desert to the penitentiary.
It was about eleven o'clock on a warm morning in
May when we approached the hunt to the wall.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Well, just a couple of more minutes, we'll be there.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
Yeah, you're sure they gonna keep me here at the
main wall.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
Ranger, that's what we were told.
Speaker 7 (24:08):
That's good.
Speaker 6 (24:09):
You sure cheezed your tune. We could go. You squeal
like a stuck holled every time anybody mentioned the pan.
That was last week.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
What's happened since then?
Speaker 8 (24:17):
I found out a few things like what like folly
ain't at the main wall.
Speaker 6 (24:21):
They got them over the retree fund.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
Make sure so sure of that?
Speaker 8 (24:24):
Your cups think you can keep me from finding things
out of I got ways in the millon you hadn't,
huh sure, And as long as Folly.
Speaker 6 (24:31):
Ain't where I am gonna be, I ain't got nothing
to worry about.
Speaker 11 (24:36):
Come on, desir, okay, Sureff, you want to take our
guns over the guard tower and outside ahead with Desser.
Speaker 5 (24:43):
Sure Jason, Well, sounds like Desher's already got a welcoming
committee up there looking out through the bars.
Speaker 6 (24:50):
I've got lots of friends hire. I'll be glad to
see me.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
Let's go, Desir.
Speaker 6 (24:54):
You know ranging it was pretty lucky catching me like
you did. For I have feeling too bout of bart
be surprised if I was a trustee.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Inside the year, and I wouldn't bet on it.
Speaker 6 (25:03):
And you'll be missing a short thing. You just watch
this way you telling me?
Speaker 5 (25:10):
You go right around the corner here to the left,
past the commissary.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
I know the way.
Speaker 6 (25:14):
I'm gonna be working on that commissary one of these days.
They can't treat a smart guy like me like some
ordinary Kanya.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
You got it all figured out, haven't you.
Speaker 6 (25:22):
I always figure everything out?
Speaker 4 (25:25):
What's the matter?
Speaker 10 (25:26):
That guy?
Speaker 6 (25:27):
Find a pack of cigarettes in there. That's fully ain't it.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
I believe it is.
Speaker 7 (25:31):
He lied to me.
Speaker 9 (25:32):
He ain't it retreating.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
He's right here. Come on, I ain't going he who
killed me.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
He won't get through those bars. Come on, you have
to go to the wardens of me.
Speaker 8 (25:40):
Ranger.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
He sees me.
Speaker 9 (25:42):
He sees me. Rangel looked at him.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
Well, I.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
Heard you was coming down. Couldn't wait until I seen
you keep moving.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Take me on it, you take me out.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
I got big.
Speaker 10 (25:55):
Plans for you.
Speaker 9 (25:56):
That's is He's gonna kill me.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
You won't be anywhere near him. They're going to isolate
you in another wing. Yeah, Toda ain't gonna help. You'll
be safe enough.
Speaker 8 (26:05):
Yeah, you'll be in this building.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Figure out how we can get me if we try
to get me all the time I'm here.
Speaker 11 (26:11):
If you'd a meant what you said about going straight,
you wouldn't be here at all.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Come on, in just a moment, we will tell you
the results of the case you have just heard.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
For nineteen fifty two, Republican National Convention has adjourned for
the final time. The selection of their candidates for president
and vice president is completed, but the political story is
only half over. Monday, July twenty first, the Democratic Party
will begin its national Convention in Chicago's Amphitheater, and as
during the past week, NBC will be on hand in
Chicago beginning next Monday to bring you a minute by
(26:57):
minute account of convention activities. NBC's three hundred correspondents, commentators
and technicians mean that there will be one NBC man
for every four delegates. Again, representing NBC will be such
famous names as HV. Colton, Born, Ben Grower, Earl.
Speaker 8 (27:12):
Godwin, W. W.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Chaplin, and a dozen more. Again next week, NBC will
broadcast more political headlines, more incisive campaign commentary, more human
interest stories, more behind the scenes features than any other network.
For complete, careful, round the clock news coverage, Attend the
Democratic Convention on NBC.
Speaker 7 (27:33):
Now the conclusion of Tales of the Texas.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Rangers, and now here are the results of the case.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
You have just heard.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
Leon Besso was confined in an isolated wing of Huntsville Penitentiary.
Throughout the years, he has been carefully guided. As an
additional precautionary measure. Carl Foley was transferred to the retrieve
unit of the penitentiary system.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Next week.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Joel McCrae and another authentic reenactment of a case from
the Piles Out, but Texas Rangers Joel McCrae is currently
(28:34):
seen in San Francisco story, a Warner Brothers release. The
cast included Tony Barrett, hy Averback, Bob Sweeney, Paul Freeze, Parley.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Bear, and Bert Holland.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Technical advisor was Captain M. T. Lone Wolf Gonzales of
the Texas Rangers. This story was transcribed and adapted by
Charles E. Israel, and the program was produced and directed
by Stacy Keach. Tales of the Texas Rangers is heard
overseas through the worldwide vicinities of the Armed Forces Radio Service.
Speaker 4 (29:02):
Hell give me speaking, mm hmmmm.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Wednesdays here the best of Ground Show on NBC
Tales of the Texas Rangers, starring Joel McCrae as.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Ranger Jase Pearson.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Another authentic reenactment of a case transcribed from the.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Files of the Texas Rangers.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Names, dates, and places in the following story are fictitious
for obvious reasons. The events themselves are a matter of records.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
How does a radio network go about covering a national
political convention. It could be simple, just place a microphone
on the roster room and listen to the speeches. Well,
that's one way, but it wouldn't bring you the real
excitement and atmosphere of the convention. It wouldn't bring you
anything of the behind the scenes plans and deals that
are so much a part of the political game. These
are the reasons why NBC sent more than three hundred
(01:13):
expert newsmen and technicians to Chicago to cover the Democratic
Convention beginning Monday, July twenty First, there's an NBC man for.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Every four delegates.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
With NBC, you will interview the delegates, hear the candidates
informal speeches and off guard moments, and the myriad political
technicalities will be made crystal clear by America's greatest newsmen. Yes,
for complete, careful, concise coverage of the Democratic National Convention.
Make your headquarters the NBC Radio Network. You will find
that their years of leadership in radio news reporting means
(01:45):
continued leadership and the coverage of the Democratic Convention. Now
tales of the Texas Rangers.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
And now from the files of the Texas Rangers, the
case called finger Man.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
It is just before noon on a swelltering day in
August nineteen forty three, in the County Jail at Dover, Texas,
nine men reading lunch at a table in the runway
just outside theirselves. Among the prisoners are Leon Desser and
Carl Fully, serving one year sentences for unlawful possession of
fire arms.
Speaker 6 (02:29):
It's hot, Yeah, give me a bread full.
Speaker 7 (02:31):
You lousy's stolen his hot weather makes my stomach sick just.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Looking at it.
Speaker 6 (02:36):
How about the bread?
Speaker 7 (02:36):
They canna feel like he's coming through that tin roof.
They got no right putting up tin roof on his place.
Speaker 6 (02:40):
Hey, you're gonna get you quick crying.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Oh, I only want it here. You didn't have to
do that.
Speaker 7 (02:46):
Fully, he's fat enough without you crying on my ear.
Speaker 8 (02:48):
They'll be bringing that horn kip back in the courthouse
any minute. Definitely here you throw a four on he
slapping the solitary.
Speaker 7 (02:53):
We'll let him try.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Well, you you talk big, that's it. Hmm, we're gonna
bust out a here.
Speaker 9 (03:01):
You're crazy.
Speaker 6 (03:02):
We've already done six months, another six and they let
us out.
Speaker 7 (03:05):
I ain't spending another day in this hotbox. We're busting out.
Speaker 6 (03:07):
Fully fully, Look, just six more months. It ain't long.
Then we start knocking over.
Speaker 7 (03:11):
Stores again, and he won't be looking for us, Your chicken,
that's so. I don't know why I ever picked you
for a partner in the first place.
Speaker 6 (03:17):
You know why you like the way I open seas?
Speaker 10 (03:19):
Ain't that it?
Speaker 9 (03:19):
Fully?
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Your chicken?
Speaker 7 (03:20):
Look, I said, we're busting out, Okay, how do you figure.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
To do it? All?
Speaker 7 (03:24):
These guys have gotta be with us otherwise the wrong way. Hey,
you guys, listen, deser me is busting out of here.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
You're with us?
Speaker 6 (03:34):
How are you gonna work it?
Speaker 4 (03:35):
For now? Listen, listen, listen. It won't be tough that
they'll be bringing that horn kid back. We'll hear him
when he unlocks the outer door.
Speaker 7 (03:42):
Minty opens the door into this runway, we jump him
and get his keys.
Speaker 6 (03:45):
Have those sounds so easy.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Shut up.
Speaker 7 (03:49):
You guys in yeah, alright, keep talking like.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
We always do, so as we don't tip our hands.
Speaker 8 (03:55):
Well, we're gonna call when we get out.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
The first thing we gotta do is get out.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
We do shut up.
Speaker 7 (03:59):
Time the shoeff gets upstairs, we'll be out.
Speaker 6 (04:01):
And if we ain't.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Sheriff don't want his deputy killed, does he?
Speaker 11 (04:05):
He's coming on.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Okay, you guys, I get ready. Don't jump till I
give the word. Keep talking.
Speaker 6 (04:11):
You've got a shitta like that?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
All right, get in there. I'll bring you some food
in a few minutes.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Now, what's going on?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Hold on, close that door. You can't do that.
Speaker 6 (04:23):
He's getting away.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
How come on?
Speaker 6 (04:25):
He hold them keys outside, Well give me the keys.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
You ain't gonna get him.
Speaker 9 (04:29):
All the counts.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
He throw him out till.
Speaker 9 (04:33):
Thirty colock shelf Sir.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
Prisoners holding the deputy inside their cell blocked began to riot.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Unable to cope with.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
The situation alone, the sheriff requested assistance from all law
enforcement offices into the Senator for.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Us to arrive.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
On the scene was Texas Ranger and Jason Pearson. As
he pulled up in front.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Of the jail.
Speaker 5 (04:57):
He found the sheriff outside his rifle trained. I'm not
bunking bars and a second story windows.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Sure glad you got here, Jason.
Speaker 6 (05:04):
Don't know how much longer I could have managed alone.
Speaker 11 (05:06):
And we'll have some more help in ten or fifteen minutes.
A couple of highway patrol units are on the way, and.
Speaker 5 (05:10):
You can see where they busted out two of the bars,
and that window must have tore up one of the
bunks to do it.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Uh huh.
Speaker 11 (05:15):
I hope they've let down. Looks like it's made out
of mattress. Ticket one of them started down before you
got here.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Jump back when I bounced a bullet off the side
the building.
Speaker 11 (05:23):
Just a matter of time before they try to use
your deputies a shield for a getaway.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Yeah, and that's what worries me. If it hadn't been
for Jewel being up there, I'd.
Speaker 10 (05:30):
Have gone in.
Speaker 11 (05:30):
It's just why you didn't try it alone. Anybody covering
the side windows. L I deputized a few townspeople. Don't
know how much good they'll be in a pinch.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
You tried to talk to the prisoners yet, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (05:39):
But I can't get any sense out of them.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Mind if I try. I wish you would.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Hey, you men up there, I can't talk to all
of you.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Pick one to speak for you there.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
You see, that's all I could do. I sure hope
they haven't done anything to jump.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
For them, and lesson, go back to yourselves, all of
you absurdy.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Now we know you're loping enough a while. We got
for deputy up here.
Speaker 6 (06:08):
You listen to what we gotta say.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
What have you got to say?
Speaker 4 (06:11):
We're coming up, ain't coming his shut I.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Wouldn't try to fire you.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
You'll never make it. We'll take that shots.
Speaker 6 (06:19):
That's folded him and his partner desher real bad apples.
Speaker 9 (06:22):
Yeah, hey, Raja, we want your gun.
Speaker 6 (06:27):
Got up the winter They us back across the street.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Keep their hands up.
Speaker 6 (06:31):
Jason hates to say it, but if we want to
save Joey, I reckon, we ought to do what they
tell us.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
That's something we won't do, no matter what happened.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Oh, come on, how do we know he's all right?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
He's all right? We want to hear him.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
Tell us he can't.
Speaker 7 (06:47):
We got him tying up with guns and.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Take the gag out of his mouth. We want to
hear him talk before we.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Do anything else.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
Oh, Joe Reckon.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
He feels pretty bad by letting himself get tricked the
way he did.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Speak to him. Sheriff, you all right, Joe, Yeah, that's
not Joe your poster.
Speaker 6 (07:12):
I've known Joe for fifteen years.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
I could tell his voice any place. I'm afraid they've
already done something to it. One of the townspeople.
Speaker 11 (07:17):
To take over here, Sheriff, we're going up there, Ted,
y'all take over here? Will you plug the first one
chose his head outside those bars?
Speaker 4 (07:23):
I'll tell right, Jason, I'm ready. Who else is up
there beside Pollyan's at Most of them are pretty tough boys.
Five of them, wait and try for m Robert, Deser.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
And Folly are serving a term for carrying gun.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
Yeah, I heard that was all you could get on him.
Speaker 6 (07:36):
It don't seem like anybody's been too successful.
Speaker 9 (07:38):
Now.
Speaker 11 (07:38):
We got a list of sixty one knob knocking jobs
we think Desern fully pulled, But so far we've only
been able to pin one offense on.
Speaker 6 (07:44):
Yeah, and that was eight years ago.
Speaker 11 (07:45):
It was just three years at Huntsville in you've got
your set of keys with your sheriff, fine, end, Joe.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
They must have rushed him before he could get out
that he didn't manage.
Speaker 5 (07:53):
To throw the keys through the bars if you didn't
talk to him before he came outside. No, as soon
as I got close to the cell box, that started
yelling they killed Joe.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Come any closer, hey.
Speaker 6 (08:00):
Fully, Sheriff's coming.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
He's got the ranger with thought. We told you to trial.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Funny, ranger, where's the deputy?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
He he's in here.
Speaker 7 (08:10):
Better keep away if you don't want something to happen
to him.
Speaker 6 (08:13):
Jeez, there's just a chance Joe might still be alive
if we go in here.
Speaker 11 (08:16):
Ollie, I'll give you ten seconds to bring the deputy
out here where we can see him.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Otherwise we're coming in. Keep father here, Ranger, I'm warning you.
Get back from this door, all of you. Open it up, Sheriff.
Speaker 6 (08:28):
You sure have me to record this play out.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
I get back into your cells.
Speaker 11 (08:35):
Come on, move, I'll be careful, ja, I said, get
back into those cells and don't get any funny ideas.
Speaker 7 (08:41):
Oh what's it good?
Speaker 6 (08:42):
I was gonna point now, honest.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
Ranger, Ali, you get moving, keep moving, you Polly, pick
up your pa, pick it up.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Yeah, get in your cells, all of you.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
All right, sheriff, how come on, okay, geez, all right,
keep back there shone tough here right right, But you
wouldn't probably coming up here with.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Off deep guns. Where's the deputy?
Speaker 7 (09:05):
Why don't you look for We've had just about enough
smart talk about you.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Holy you ain't even the gun hearing for me?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Well that does it, Jese?
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Yeah, Now we gotta find out what over gear, sheriff.
But between the bench and the table, it's joe.
Speaker 6 (09:22):
Hey, we better get a doctor.
Speaker 4 (09:23):
No you, sheriff, he's dead. The deputy had been stabbed
to death.
Speaker 11 (09:35):
After a short search, we found the murder weapon, a
bloodstained fork. While we waited for the Justice of the
peace to authorize removal of the body, I took the
fork downstairs and checked it for fingerprints. It had been
white clean, and I went back to the runway in
front of the cells. Any luck, Jesse, Now you talk
to him.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
Ye had have been waiting for you, all right, man,
one of you killed the deputy. Now I want to
know who it was us you no copper?
Speaker 9 (10:01):
Shut up?
Speaker 4 (10:01):
Are you ready to talk? How about you?
Speaker 6 (10:04):
I don't know nothing, ranger.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
You fully, you're wasting your time. Nobody's gonna tell you nothing, Yeah, sir, me,
I didn't do it. Who did?
Speaker 6 (10:13):
I didn't see nothing?
Speaker 7 (10:14):
Maybe the deputy fell, maybe it was an accident.
Speaker 11 (10:16):
You'll keep your mouth shut fully, okay, then every one
of you is gonna be booked for murder. All right,
all right, we'll give you one last chance.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
We'll talk to you individually. Maybe one of you'll change
your mind.
Speaker 7 (10:29):
He's trying to make stool pigeons out of us.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
We ain't gonna let them do them. Holy boy, Well,
it's up to you unless somebody talks all of you.
Take the wrap, all right, Polly, you're first.
Speaker 12 (10:40):
Don't worry.
Speaker 7 (10:41):
Boys.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
You ain't gonna get enough. None of me now, they
won't give enough. Not of the rest of you will
take him downstairs.
Speaker 7 (10:48):
Sheriff, Come on, fully, I'm getting tired, ranger. When are
you gonna take me back up to my and.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
I'm through talking to you? Who killed the deputy?
Speaker 7 (11:02):
Thanks a long time for you to catch on or something,
don't it?
Speaker 6 (11:05):
I got nothing to say.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Did you see him killed? How to why know? Things
happened pretty fast up there?
Speaker 5 (11:09):
Reckon?
Speaker 4 (11:10):
He got in somebody's way. Whose idea was it to
break out of jail?
Speaker 7 (11:13):
We all got the idea. At the same time, it's
hot up there. I can't expect men to stay in
a place like that when there's a chance of getting out.
Speaker 5 (11:18):
I got death are out here, Jason.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Whenever you're ready, you can bring him in now, serff.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Come on, desert, don't push me.
Speaker 7 (11:24):
Come on, you didn't tell nothing, fully, you think I'm nuts?
Speaker 4 (11:27):
That's enough, Tuck, Come on, fully, let's go back upstairs.
Speaker 7 (11:31):
See you keep your mouth shut, desk, and I told
you the pipe.
Speaker 8 (11:34):
Come sit down, desir, Yeah, thanks, Renje. But I got
nothing to say, nothing at all.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
The sheriff tells me you served six months of your term.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
Yeah six months.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
You only six more to go, and you could have
been out.
Speaker 6 (11:48):
Who wasn't my idea to bust on here?
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Ring's honest, Whose idea was it?
Speaker 6 (11:51):
Even if I didn't deserve getting put in here, I
wasn't even thinking of.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
A busting not Who planned to break I.
Speaker 8 (11:55):
Don't know, I don't seems like the deputy opened the
block door and things started happening.
Speaker 6 (11:59):
Then, I don't know who's idea was.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Did you see the deputy get killed?
Speaker 6 (12:02):
Oh, we're not mean.
Speaker 8 (12:03):
When all the fighting started, I run back into my cellar,
I don't like fighting, Ranger.
Speaker 6 (12:08):
You gotta believe me. I turned over a new leaf.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
I'm going straight and a shame. You won't have a
chance to prove it. Why not? You heard what I
said upstairs.
Speaker 11 (12:15):
If we don't find out who killed the deputy, you
all take the rap.
Speaker 6 (12:20):
What happens if maybe somebody talks.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Then only the guilty person goes on trial for murder.
Speaker 8 (12:24):
I ain't saying I seen anything, Ranger, But suppose I did,
and suppose I told.
Speaker 6 (12:29):
You what I seen. I think maybe I wouldn't have
to serve my other six months.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
That's something that's not up to me.
Speaker 8 (12:34):
Oh, it ain't fair to send a guy like me
up with the rest of them a life.
Speaker 6 (12:37):
I didn't have nothing to do with him.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
What do you know about it, Desser?
Speaker 6 (12:41):
A man was to tell what he's seen him follows upstairs?
Speaker 4 (12:43):
I kill him?
Speaker 6 (12:44):
If if if they knew, you know, what would they
have to know?
Speaker 4 (12:47):
Sooner or later? You'd have to testify at the trial.
Speaker 6 (12:51):
Uh, you've forgot to be a trial yet.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
What do you know, Desser.
Speaker 6 (12:55):
I don't want to take no murder rap Ringer. I'm
going straight. I just want to get out.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
The chances are you never will if you don't tell
what you know.
Speaker 8 (13:02):
Yeah, well, I suppose I wasn't in my cell when
a deputy got stabbed.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
I didn't think you were.
Speaker 6 (13:09):
Suppose I was to talk to them follows upstairs? He
kill me.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
Sheriff could arrange your efforts sell for you.
Speaker 6 (13:15):
Are you sure about that?
Speaker 4 (13:16):
Ranger?
Speaker 9 (13:16):
Uh? Huh?
Speaker 6 (13:18):
And nonoman couldn't get near me?
Speaker 4 (13:19):
That's right? Who was a desir?
Speaker 6 (13:22):
Now you gotta protect the arranger?
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Ya gotta we'll see I you're safe. Who killed a deputy?
Speaker 6 (13:28):
The guy I used to work with?
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Call Foley.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
In just a moment, we will continue with Tales of
the Texas Rangers, starring Joel McCrae as Ranger Jace Pearson.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Only a madman or a fool would intentionally set fire
to one of our forests or woodlands. Yet ninety percent
of our forest fires are started by people. Most of
these men caused fires are due to plain carelessness. A
campfire left smoldering, a lighted match thrown from a car window,
a cigarette not extinguished. In less troubled times, the waste
due to forest fires would be tragic. In these dangerous times,
(14:12):
it can be disastrous. Forest fires destroy natural resources. We
need to keep our cuntry strong. They impede the production
and transportation of critical defense supplies, interfere with military training,
and may destroy military installations. Join in the fight against carelessness.
Crush out cigarettes, cigar and pipe ashes, break matches in
two after using, drown all campfires, then stir and drown again.
(14:35):
Find out the law before using a fire. One moment
of carelessness can destroy national beauty and wealth that can
never be replaced. Forest Fires are a shameful waste because
they can be prevented. Remember only you can prevent forest fires.
And now back to the Tails of the Texas Rangers.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
We continue now with Tails of the Texas Rangers and
our authentic star Fingerman.
Speaker 11 (15:08):
We called in two townspeople as witnesses and took Leon
Desser's statement naming Folly as the killer. But we knew
Desser's word alone wouldn't be enough for a conviction. Began
questioning the other prisoners. No one would admit he had
seen anything.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
The last one to be brought in was a boy
in his early twenties.
Speaker 11 (15:24):
These are Johnny Horn Jase. He was the one Joe
was bringing back in the courthouse when the break started.
Sit down, Johnny, Yes, did you lose something? No, sir,
I was just looking for a cigarette. I must have
left him in his cell.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
I reckon, I got a pack somewhere in this drawer. Yeah,
here take one, Johnny. Oh thanks, got a match?
Speaker 4 (15:44):
Yeah? Yeah, I guess you know why you're down here. Major.
Speaker 6 (15:50):
I didn't kill it, deputy. I swear I didn't.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
We know you didn't.
Speaker 6 (15:53):
Johnny's up for two months, Jase. First thing, I.
Speaker 7 (15:55):
Didn't mean to take those tire, shir if it was
well with es E laying and the kid hadn't been
out for a ride so long.
Speaker 6 (16:00):
I didn't have the money. Oh, what's the use I
did wrong? I got what I deserve.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
We're not talking about what you did before, Johnny. What
we wanna find out is who killed the deputy, and
we think you can help us.
Speaker 6 (16:11):
No, Sir, I don't believe I can't. You're not being
fair to yourself son, nor to your wife and little boy.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
There's no reason why you should have to go up
on a murder chart.
Speaker 6 (16:20):
I'm not gonna talk, Sheriff. That's all there is to it.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Why don't you wanna talk? Ranger?
Speaker 6 (16:24):
Don't ask me any more questions.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Please. You're afraid something'd happen to you if you told
us who the killer is. Aren't you sure?
Speaker 6 (16:28):
I'm afraid.
Speaker 8 (16:29):
When the sheriff took me out of the cell just now,
I could feel them staring at me, all of them.
Speaker 6 (16:33):
I knew what they were thinking. I don't know what
they'll do to me if I opened my mouth. I
can promise you, Johnny, nothing's gonna happen to you. It's
easy for you to say, but I know those men
who've been.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Listening to them talk. They'd kill me. They'd never have
to see you again.
Speaker 6 (16:44):
Johnny, I'm scared, Ranger, I'm scared.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
What would you say if I told you one of
the other men has already.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
Talked, I'd say you were trying some kind of trick.
Speaker 11 (16:51):
Oh now, Johnny, one of them has talked, Johnny, which one?
I'm afraid we can't tell you that. But we have
a statement right here.
Speaker 6 (16:58):
Well, and why do you want me to talk?
Speaker 4 (17:00):
You got what you need. One witness wouldn't clinch our case.
We need at least two.
Speaker 6 (17:04):
Then you better find somebody else.
Speaker 11 (17:06):
Listen to this, Johnny. When the deputy came in, with Horn.
We run at him and kept him from closing the
block door. He busts away from us and run to
the outside door.
Speaker 6 (17:16):
Is that the way it happened here? I'll read a
little further.
Speaker 11 (17:20):
Fully and some of the others run after the deputy
and caught him at the outer door, but he threw
his key through the bars and we couldn't get out.
Then he started hollering for the sheriff. Folly tried to
shut him up, but he kept hollering and fully stuck
the fork in his back.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
Two or three times we seen he was dead. And
does that sound like we're using a trick on you, Johnny? No?
Is that statement right? Ranging? Was it? Fully? Yeah?
Speaker 9 (17:47):
Fully killed him?
Speaker 4 (17:48):
Take care of Johnny, sheriff. We're booking fully for murder.
Speaker 11 (18:00):
Two months later, Carl Foley was brought to trial for
murder on the testimony of Desser and Johnny Horn.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Speaker 11 (18:08):
Charges of variet and attempt at prison break were brought
against all the other prisoners except Deser and Horn.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
Desser requested that.
Speaker 11 (18:15):
He be released immediately from jail because he turned state's witness.
The court denied his request, and it was not until
February that Desser was discharged from the county jail. On
a rainy night three weeks later, I was returning from
a case. About two am, I received.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
A radio call KTXA un ten Unit tend to KDXA
go ahead.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
KTXA is Unit ten near town of White Bluff.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
Over conting Unit ten, three miles south of White Bluff.
Tom Watchman has been.
Speaker 12 (18:46):
Overcome by arm Burma safe in store at three oh
nine Monroe Street. Believe rob Watchman tied up in stored
address you just mentioned. Sureff has been notified and is
enroute to White.
Speaker 6 (18:58):
Bluff for you in the tunnel. Proceed the scene at once.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
You're okay?
Speaker 10 (19:25):
Now I just about give up, hope anybody who's coming?
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Let me get this rope off? Yeah, where's the person
who put in the call?
Speaker 10 (19:32):
I did to myself, what the guy out of my mouth?
And I rolled over to the phone, and now's the
receiver off the hook? Was my head.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Much obliged ranger.
Speaker 10 (19:44):
Now I could just help me get out.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
Thank you. You look like you taking a pretty bad
bump on the head to get your doctor.
Speaker 5 (19:53):
I'll be all right.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Just a little stiff from being tied up. You better
sit down over here a while. Yeah, I believe it will.
Where's safe over in that corner? He got it all right,
and I was knocked off afraid of that. He canked
me on the head when I woke up. I was
tied up and gagged. Did you get a look at
the man now? First to come up behind me?
Speaker 2 (20:13):
She happed a gun in my back. That you share, geez?
Speaker 6 (20:18):
I saw the Ranger car outside, but I didn't know
it was you.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
I just got here a few minutes ago.
Speaker 6 (20:22):
Well, you look like you've had a little going over, Harry.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
I'll be all right.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Did you see the fellow who did it? We were
just talking about that. You said you didn't see his
face at first?
Speaker 10 (20:31):
No, should not till he took my keys and started
opening the door of this place.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
Then I got a good look at him over my shoulder,
little fellow was. I was kind of surprised he had
so much strength. Did you notice if he blinked his
eyes every now and then? Yeah? Do you know ranger?
I got an Eyedea could be.
Speaker 6 (20:48):
An old friend of ours, You mean Leon Desrick?
Speaker 9 (20:51):
Uh huh?
Speaker 4 (20:51):
The way he blinks his eyes jumping the watchman from behind.
Couldn't be anybody else.
Speaker 6 (20:55):
All that talk about going straight should have known he
didn't mean a.
Speaker 4 (20:59):
Word of it.
Speaker 11 (21:00):
Sounds like he's not doing so well without his partner, Foley.
This is the first time anybody actually got a look
at him on a job.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Where were you when he first jumped you in front
of this store? Oh it's three or four doors up. Eh.
Speaker 10 (21:13):
Seeing a car parked in front of the feet store.
Only car on the street. So I went to take
a look. I was shining my light on him, and
I filled.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
A gun in my back. Must have been hiding in
one of the doorways.
Speaker 11 (21:25):
There's a car light colored sit in. Yeah, I believe
it was his car is still outside. I saw it
when I pulled up, so did I.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Maybe deest they're still around one of the stores. I
just have a look. Share if you want me to
give you a hand, Ranger.
Speaker 11 (21:35):
Oh thanks, You better just sit here and rest awhile say,
if that's the car he used, he he might have
just left it and taken off the robber.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Doubt if he'd do that on a night like this.
Sure is rotten weather.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
The car is still less me.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
I'm gonna check the other stores on this street. This
has been known to hit three or four at the time.
Speaker 6 (21:53):
Jay, Jason, that drug store across the street. The door's open.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Yeah, watch yourself walking in.
Speaker 6 (22:00):
Uh, I don't see the light switch.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
Maybe he didn't mind the lights. Back doors open. Come on,
there's no doubt about his going out this way.
Speaker 6 (22:11):
You can see as muddy tracks playing as anything, right
out into the alley.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Just a second, shaff what.
Speaker 6 (22:21):
He went up here to the right.
Speaker 5 (22:23):
There's not a thing up here but a garage and
a field beyond it. Yeah, he could have taken him
off across the field for those hills, so he did.
We'll have a rough time to climb him out there
on a night like this.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
Hold a chaff and track stop here.
Speaker 6 (22:35):
He's pretty close to the garage, I reckon.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
We'd better check inside. Yeah, not a sign of him,
as the dirt floor makes it hard to tell if
he was in here at all. But he won't do now.
(22:59):
Jason put out an eb Yeah, and I'll take my
horse and wait a minute.
Speaker 6 (23:04):
What's the matter the wrong side ladder going up to.
Speaker 9 (23:06):
The loft fresh Onne.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Yeah, cover me, I'm going up.
Speaker 9 (23:10):
Well, I'll be careful. Case de sirir, we gonna.
Speaker 12 (23:22):
Get me, give me that connaught, oh my arm, properly,
properly gonna take me.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Come on, none of that.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
You are right, Yeah, I'm down the ladder desert.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
He's gonna put me in the pen.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
We can't think of a better place. Get moving.
Speaker 11 (23:43):
Leon Desser was brought to trial in the District Court
at Dover, Texas under terms of the Habitual Criminal Act.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment of Huntsville. The sheriff
requested that I assist him in delivering Desert to the penitentiary.
It was about eleven o'clock on a warm morning in
May when we approached the hunt to the wall.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Well, just a couple of more minutes, we'll be there.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
Yeah, you're sure they gonna keep me here at the
main wall.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
Ranger, that's what we were told.
Speaker 7 (24:08):
That's good.
Speaker 6 (24:09):
You sure cheezed your tune. We could go. You squeal
like a stuck holled every time anybody mentioned the pan.
That was last week.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
What's happened since then?
Speaker 8 (24:17):
I found out a few things like what like folly
ain't at the main wall.
Speaker 6 (24:21):
They got them over the retree fund.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
Make sure so sure of that?
Speaker 8 (24:24):
Your cups think you can keep me from finding things
out of I got ways in the millon you hadn't,
huh sure, And as long as Folly.
Speaker 6 (24:31):
Ain't where I am gonna be, I ain't got nothing
to worry about.
Speaker 11 (24:36):
Come on, desir, okay, Sureff, you want to take our
guns over the guard tower and outside ahead with Desser.
Speaker 5 (24:43):
Sure Jason, Well, sounds like Desher's already got a welcoming
committee up there looking out through the bars.
Speaker 6 (24:50):
I've got lots of friends hire. I'll be glad to
see me.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
Let's go, Desir.
Speaker 6 (24:54):
You know ranging it was pretty lucky catching me like
you did. For I have feeling too bout of bart
be surprised if I was a trustee.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Inside the year, and I wouldn't bet on it.
Speaker 6 (25:03):
And you'll be missing a short thing. You just watch
this way you telling me?
Speaker 5 (25:10):
You go right around the corner here to the left,
past the commissary.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
I know the way.
Speaker 6 (25:14):
I'm gonna be working on that commissary one of these days.
They can't treat a smart guy like me like some
ordinary Kanya.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
You got it all figured out, haven't you.
Speaker 6 (25:22):
I always figure everything out?
Speaker 4 (25:25):
What's the matter?
Speaker 10 (25:26):
That guy?
Speaker 6 (25:27):
Find a pack of cigarettes in there. That's fully ain't it.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
I believe it is.
Speaker 7 (25:31):
He lied to me.
Speaker 9 (25:32):
He ain't it retreating.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
He's right here. Come on, I ain't going he who
killed me.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
He won't get through those bars. Come on, you have
to go to the wardens of me.
Speaker 8 (25:40):
Ranger.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
He sees me.
Speaker 9 (25:42):
He sees me. Rangel looked at him.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
Well, I.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
Heard you was coming down. Couldn't wait until I seen
you keep moving.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Take me on it, you take me out.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
I got big.
Speaker 10 (25:55):
Plans for you.
Speaker 9 (25:56):
That's is He's gonna kill me.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
You won't be anywhere near him. They're going to isolate
you in another wing. Yeah, Toda ain't gonna help. You'll
be safe enough.
Speaker 8 (26:05):
Yeah, you'll be in this building.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Figure out how we can get me if we try
to get me all the time I'm here.
Speaker 11 (26:11):
If you'd a meant what you said about going straight,
you wouldn't be here at all.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Come on, in just a moment, we will tell you
the results of the case you have just heard.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
For nineteen fifty two, Republican National Convention has adjourned for
the final time. The selection of their candidates for president
and vice president is completed, but the political story is
only half over. Monday, July twenty first, the Democratic Party
will begin its national Convention in Chicago's Amphitheater, and as
during the past week, NBC will be on hand in
Chicago beginning next Monday to bring you a minute by
(26:57):
minute account of convention activities. NBC's three hundred correspondents, commentators
and technicians mean that there will be one NBC man
for every four delegates. Again, representing NBC will be such
famous names as HV. Colton, Born, Ben Grower, Earl.
Speaker 8 (27:12):
Godwin, W. W.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
Chaplin, and a dozen more. Again next week, NBC will
broadcast more political headlines, more incisive campaign commentary, more human
interest stories, more behind the scenes features than any other network.
For complete, careful, round the clock news coverage, Attend the
Democratic Convention on NBC.
Speaker 7 (27:33):
Now the conclusion of Tales of the Texas.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Rangers, and now here are the results of the case.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
You have just heard.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
Leon Besso was confined in an isolated wing of Huntsville Penitentiary.
Throughout the years, he has been carefully guided. As an
additional precautionary measure. Carl Foley was transferred to the retrieve
unit of the penitentiary system.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Next week.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Joel McCrae and another authentic reenactment of a case from
the Piles Out, but Texas Rangers Joel McCrae is currently
(28:34):
seen in San Francisco story, a Warner Brothers release. The
cast included Tony Barrett, hy Averback, Bob Sweeney, Paul Freeze, Parley.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Bear, and Bert Holland.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Technical advisor was Captain M. T. Lone Wolf Gonzales of
the Texas Rangers. This story was transcribed and adapted by
Charles E. Israel, and the program was produced and directed
by Stacy Keach. Tales of the Texas Rangers is heard
overseas through the worldwide vicinities of the Armed Forces Radio Service.
Speaker 4 (29:02):
Hell give me speaking, mm hmmmm.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Wednesdays here the best of Ground Show on NBC
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