The Wheelchair Killing: Tales of the Texas Rangers (October 7, 1951)

“The Wheelchair Killing” is an episode of Tales of the Texas Rangers, the old-time radio show, first broadcast October 7, 1951. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

When an elderly, wheelchair-bound man named Swain is found beaten to death in his isolated home near Colby, Texas, a phone call alerts the sheriff to the crime. Texas Ranger Jase Pearson joins the investigation and discovers that the murder weapon was a sock filled with sand, bearing the markings of Army-issue equipment. The evidence points toward someone from the nearby CCC camp, and Ranger Pearson and Sheriff Saunders prepare to investigate the camp to find their suspect.

Colby, Texas, near the Great Piney Woods, including Swain's isolated home, the sheriff's office, a funeral home, and a nearby CCC camp.

Characters: Ranger Jase Pearson, Sheriff Pete Saunders, Sheriff's Deputy, Old man Swain, Deputy Rag, Doc, Lab technician

Listen for: The discovery of the murder weapon—a sock filled with sand—and the crucial detail that it bears Army-issue markings, which leads the investigators toward the CCC camp.

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.