Ex-Con: Tales of the Texas Rangers (June 29, 1952)

“Ex-Con” is an episode of Tales of the Texas Rangers, the old-time radio show, first broadcast June 29, 1952. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Tom Dawson, an ex-convict struggling to find work, is visited by a mysterious man named Elsie who offers him $1,000 to commit murder and make it look like robbery. Tom accepts the job and leaves town heading north, but his worried wife goes to the Texas Rangers and tells them everything. Ranger Jason and Sheriff Simms set out to find Tom before he can carry out the crime.

High Point, southwest Texas, September 1940

Characters: Tom Dawson, Liz Dawson, Elsie, Ranger Jason, Sheriff Simms

Listen for: The tension between Tom's desire to provide for his family and his vulnerability to criminal temptation; the wife's desperate attempt to stop her husband from making a terrible mistake.

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.