The Broken Spur: Tales of the Texas Rangers (August 12, 1950)

“The Broken Spur” is an episode of Tales of the Texas Rangers, the old-time radio show, first broadcast August 12, 1950. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

When a rancher named Milton Thomas is found dead in a fire at his remote Texas home, the autopsy reveals he was already dead before the flames started. Ranger Jason Pearson arrives to investigate what appears to be murder disguised as accident. Among the burned ruins, he discovers a broken spur and evidence of a hasty escape on horseback.

A small ranch 10 miles south of Cranston, Erwin County, Texas, in June 1948

Characters: Ranger Jason Pearson, Milton Thomas, Sheriff, Jack

Listen for: The discovery of the broken spur at the crime scene and the ranger's deduction about the killer from the footprints and horse tracks he finds at the escape point.

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.