By special recording, General Mills, makers of Wheaties, Breakfast of Champions, and Cheerios, the oat cereal ready to eat, presents The Lone Ranger. Horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust, and a hearty hi-yo silver, The Lone Ranger. With his faithful Indian companion, Tonto, the daring and resourceful mask rider of the plains, led the fight for law and order in the early western United States. Nowhere in the pages of history can one find a greater champion of justice. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. From out of the past come the thundering hoofbeats of the great horse, Silver. The Lone Ranger rides again. Come on, Silver. Let's go, big fellow. Are you still there? Yes, sir. Get on your way. Get on your way. Get on your way with Wheaties. It's inspiring to know champions are made, not born. Just aim for the top like Bob Davies did in basketball. He's the great set shot artist for the Rochester Royals. Small Bob worked hard at basketball, determined he would top them all. He learned to make that fast break play. And here's what helped Bob on his way. Wheaties for breakfast most every day. Today Bob sinks that payoff shot and Wheaties still help him a lot. A Wheaties kid, a Wheaties man. That's Bob Davies. Wheaties eater 22 years. Real man food, Wheaties. There's a whole kernel of wheat in every Wheaties flake. Okay, Bob, lay it in there. Hey, hey, hey. He's on his way. On his way. He's on his way. On his way. Get on your way with Wheaties. Cause champions are made, not born. Yes, sir. Get on your way. Get on your way. Get on your way with Wheaties. Breakfast of champions. The oil lamp hanging over Pepper Neller's press flickered gently as the door at the rear of the shop opened and the lone ranger stepped into the poorly lighted room. As the elderly stoop-shouldered printer turned from his work, he reached for the twist of tobacco on his workbench. Fighting off a chew, he adjusted it in his cheek and looked up to greet his visitor. Howdy, mister. And good evening to you. Good evening, Mr. Neller. Here, take it easy. Thanks. Thanks, mister. What's wrong? Your mask. I'm sorry if I frightened you. You scared me so I swallowed my tobacco. I can see you never chewed, let alone swallowed a chunk of the stuff. If you're here to rob me... I'm here for some information. Oh. What kind of information? Did you print this map? Let's see it. Here. Where'd you get this? Never mind that. Just tell me whether or not you did the printing. It's my work. How many have you printed? Fifty on the first order, twenty-five on the second. And right now I have another order from the same customer for fifty more. But I don't savvy why you're interested. The maps are being used to swindle people out of thousands of dollars. Did my customer swindle you? No, but I've talked to several of his victims. So he fleeced friends of yours. I want to see Wink Tatum. Well, if you're gunning for him, why come to me? You know where to find him. What makes you think I know where he is? The top order on your spindle is for Wink Tatum. Oh, that's for the fifty maps he wants me to send him. Where will you send them? Well, I'll have to see what the order says. I'll take the order, Mr. Neller. Now, hold on. All I want is the address. But you have... The order says you to send the maps to Wink Tatum, care of the postmaster in Blue River Junction. He paid in advance for the work. He's due to pay a lot more. Now... Thanks for the information, Mr. Neller. Now, wait. You didn't tell me your name. Or explain that mask. Adios. Go on, eh? Well, I reckon it doesn't matter. There was a lot I didn't tell you, mister. I've printed enough reward notices to know how it's done. I'll print one more. Mail it to the sheriff at Blue River. Dodge and the law will keep that mask man too busy to interfere with Wink Tatum. After leaving Pepper Neller, the Lone Ranger joined Toto at Claribel Hornblow's ranch. He learned that Thunder Martin, Claribel's top hand, had been swindled by Wink Tatum when he had bought one of Tatum's printed maps. The mask man said... Toto and I are going to Blue River Junction to give Tatum a dose of his own medicine. How do you plan to do that? We have several good friends there, Claribel. I think he'll help us. Will Thunder get his cash back? I hope so. Well, I'd sure like to go to Blue River Junction with you, Antono. I counted on you to come with us. You mean it? Yes, Thunder. Now, now, now, just give me time to saddle my horse. Saddle mine while you're at it, Thunder. But, Claribel... Don't argue with me, oversized galoot. Oh, now, I... Now, I aim to do all I can to help the Lone Ranger help you get your cash back. Several days later, Sheriff Conley in Blue River Junction received an unexpected package. His deputy, Hank Dixon, watched him open it. What is it, Sheriff? A reward notices, Hank. Who's wanted? Let's see. It says $10,000 for information leading to the capture of a tall, slender, educated masked man who rides a white horse called Silver... Gosh, Sheriff. What in thunder did he do to get a price like that set on his head? I don't know. Who sent the notices? Sheriff Miles in Copper County. Is that a note from Miles? Yeah. He thinks the masked man's heading this way. Huh. I met him the last time he was in your office. Judge Kennedy was with us. That's right. Ed Miles is loco if he thinks that man's an outlaw. I wonder who put up the reward. $10,000 for the Lone Ranger. What are you going to do, Sheriff? I'll wire Miles for more information. I hope you get an answer pronto. With that kind of cash at stake, someone's bound to capture the masked man just to collect the reward. Late that night, as Sheriff Conley sat working at his big roll-top desk, he heard a light tap on the rear door of his office. A moment later, the door opened. The Lone Ranger entered, followed by Clarabelle, Thunder, and Tonto. How are you, Sheriff? Down right. Glad to see you, mister. Howdy, Tonto. How, Sheriff? Sheriff, these are friends of mine, Miss Hornblow and Thunder Martin. How are you, folks? Mr., I sent a message to Sheriff Miles about you this afternoon. What kind of a message? I asked him to explain why he sent me this note and handbill. Now, read them while I draw the shade so no one will see you in here. Right. The rest of you folks, sit down and make yourselves comfortable. Thank you, sir. Sheriff, have you posted this handbill? Underration, no. I didn't want anyone to go gunning for you. Well, why would anyone go gunning for the Lone Ranger, Sheriff? To collect the $10,000 reward, ma'am. Reward? Yes, Clarabelle. Oh, but Sheriff Ed Miles knows you. Why, he wouldn't send out reward notices for you. Are you friends of Ed Miles? We both know him mighty well. Well, in that case, you might be able to tell me if this is his handwriting on the note I got with the handbills. Huh? Do you recognize the writing? Well, Ed Miles didn't write it. Why, that writing doesn't even look like his. Sheriff, compare the printing on the handbill with the printing on this map I brought with me. Let's see it, mister. Sure. The man who printed the map knew I planned to come to Blue River Junction. The handbill and the map were printed on the same press? Yes. Maybe printer worked with Swindler. I think you're right, Tonto. Who's a Swindler? A man named Wink Tatum. Oh, Wink Tatum. Tatum's in town. If you have proof he's a Swindler, I'll jail him pronto. I don't have proof, Sheriff, but I have a plan to make him repay what he's stolen. Does the plan include getting the sidewinder who sent me the letter and the handbills? Yes, sir. Good. What do you have in mind? There's a farmer near town who wants to sell his property. Sam Dawson wants to sell out and go east, but his place is run down. It's not worth much. Oh, what's his price? $3,000 for the house, the land, and the livestock. But it's no bargain. I'll put up the cash, Sheriff. Hold on, ma'am. Have you seen the place? Nope. I don't think you'll want it. I'm not buying it for myself, Sheriff. I've heard the Lone Ranger's plan to outsmart Wink Tatum, and I think it'll work. Hey, Clive, I'll have $3,000. There's a lot of cash to lose if anything should go wrong with the plan. Nothing will go wrong if you do your part, Thunder. Yeah, but... Besides, if I lose the cash, I'll just take it out of your way, Jeff. You don't... You don't take me forever to pay you $3,000. Oh, calm down, Thunder. I'm not worried about the risk. The Lone Ranger's plan won't fail. Now, Sheriff, if you'll take me to see the banker, I'll make arrangements for my bank to get the cash here pronto, so's the deal can go through. All right, ma'am. But I don't see what buying Sam Dawson's place has to do with catching Tatum and his pal. We'll explain that, Sheriff. You see, Thunder Martin signed a partnership agreement with Tatum. The curtain falls on the first act of our Lone Ranger adventure. Before the next exciting scenes, please permit us to pause for just a few moments. This is Mel Allen, sports announcer, and I've been in this business long enough to know that champions are made, not born. Isn't that the way it should be? Gives every youngster a chance. Take Betty Shallow, figure skating beauty with the famous Shipstads and Johnson Ice Follies. Why, she was learning to cut figure H years ago. Been eating Wheaties since she was only chin high to her breakfast bowl. Twenty years ago, that was. Or Otto Graham of the Cleveland Browns who can thread a needle with a forward pass. Otto made himself a champion, practiced hours every chance he had, and been really going for that Wheaties breakfast for 23 seasons. There's so doggone much honest energy packed into Wheaties. Nothing you pick at and push aside, for Wheaties are downright goblin good. Let me say again what champions know. There's a whole kernel of wheat in every Wheaties plate. And don't you lose track of this fact for a minute. Champions are made, not born. Get on your way with Wheaties. Breakfast of champions. Now to continue. While the Lone Ranger and his friends busied themselves setting a trap for Wink Tatum, the well-dressed, prosperous-looking swindler was also busy, cultivating acquaintances he planned to victimize. Early one afternoon as he entered the hotel lobby. Mr. Tatum. Who are you? Who are you? Well, look who's here. My old partner, Thunder. Thunder. Thunder, my. Of course. Have you found gold yet? Well, no. I bought a little place a couple of miles north of here. It's not much of a farm. Farm? I thought you were going prospecting. Well, I was, but I bought Sam Dawson's farm instead. When did you buy it? Oh, a few days ago. The place is all stocked. I bought his chickens and everything. Well, if your heart isn't in prospecting, you're better off doing something else. That's right. Well, I've still got the map you sold me. It's here in my pocket. And here's the partnership agreement we signed. Oopsie-daisy. Hey, what's that you dropped? Oh, nothing, nothing, nothing at all, Mr. Tatum. That's a gold nugget. Now, hold on. Let's see. Now, listen. That nugget's mine. Hand it back, Tatum. So, you turned farmer, huh? Yeah. I came to town today to deliver some chickens to the hotel. Ask the cook if you don't believe me. Where did you get this nugget? That's my business. Thunder, Thunder Martin. What the? That's Clam, the hotel cook. Hey, where'd you get the chickens you brought me? Where do you suppose I got them? On the farm, of course. What's wrong with them? Are you sure they came from your farm? Of course I'm sure. Aren't they good enough for you? Oh, those chickens are good enough for anybody. Look what I found when I was cleaning them. Huh? Look, Thunder. Well, I'll be doggone. Gold. Thunder, you're rich. But I... The gold must be laying on the ground at your place. Gold laying in the gravel. The chickens must have picked out... There's no use trying to act surprised, Martin. But I don't say... We're partners, remember? We're no such thing, Tatum. You signed an agreement with me. I didn't go prospecting for the gold you told me about. We're partners. Whatever you find, we split 50-50. But I didn't find any gold. You lying hypocrite. You knew all the time there was gold on that land. That's why you bought it in such a hurry. Oh, now, simmer down, Mr. Tatum. He's trying to cheat me. That's a lie. The nugget in your pocket proves it. The nugget doesn't prove a thing. I have a written agreement saying we're partners. I'm holding you to it. You try. I'll sue you if I have to. All right. Judge Kennedy's in town, Tatum. We'll take the argument to him. That suits me. Come on. We'll go to see him right now. A short time later, Wink Tatum and Thunder Martin visited the Lone Ranger's friend, Judge Kennedy. Wink showed his copy of the agreement with Thunder and said, Martin's trying to swindle me, Judge. It says here in writing that we split 50-50 on any gold he found. The farm is nowhere near the country shown on the map you sold me. The agreement doesn't say where you've got to find the gold. I haven't found any gold. That's a lie. The nugget was given to me. The gold's so thick on your farm that the chickens are eating it with gravel scratch. Now, just a minute, gentlemen. You came to me for an interpretation of your agreement. That's right, Judge. Well, according to this paper, Tatum, you're entitled to half of any gold Thunder Martin finds. It doesn't matter where he finds it. There, Martin. You just prove I found gold on the farm. Prove it. Oh, you can't bluff me any longer. I said prove it. I don't have to. I'll go to your place. Try to set foot on my property. I'll be there with witnesses. I'll have friends there to meet you with six guns. Now, you don't scare me. Tatum, you can't trespass on Martin's property. You can't set foot on the land. Why, he's trying to cheat me. You can't set foot on the land if Martin doesn't want you to. Unless, of course, you want to buy it from him. And you'll not do that, Tatum. So, you see, you're stopped. I'll not give up that easily, Martin. What do you want to do? Buy my place? How much do you want for it? Oh, you wouldn't pay what it's worth. Name a price. Well? Put a price on it. All right. Their price is $10,000. I'll take it. You what? I'll pay you the $10,000 and take that land. You'll have to pay in cash. I've got the cash. I'll be here with it as soon as I can get my money from the hotel safe. Judge, you draw up the papers. When the sale was completed, Wink Tatum left town hurriedly to investigate the property he purchased. Thunder Martin went to the sheriff's office where the Lone Ranger and Clarabelle were waiting with the sheriff. The big ranch hand reached into his pocket and drew out a fistful of money. Here it is, folks. $10,000 cash. Cash. Judge Kennedy drew up the papers and witnessed the sale. So Tatum bought that worthless farm. Yep. That grabby polecat was so sure he was buying gold barren land, he couldn't get the papers signed fast enough. Good. I told you the Lone Ranger's plan at work. I'll hand it to you, mister. You've hoodwinked Tatum with the slicker deal than he ever pulled. Hand over the cash, Thunder. Now, wait a minute, wait a minute. $500 of it's mine. Take your $500, Thunder. Yeah, all right. Yeah. And here's the $3,000 you loaned me to buy Dawson's place, Clarabelle. Well, thanks. The rest of the money will go to Tatum's victims. They'll be downright glad to recover what they lost to that swindler. What's going on outside? Oh, the stage from Copper County's arrived. Sheriff Miles will be aboard. And so will the printer, Pepper Neller. Tonto's waiting at the station to meet Neller. Well, doggone. I'd like to be there to see what happens when Tonto talks to that crew. As Pepper Neller dismounted from the Concord coach, he automatically reached for the twist of tobacco in his pocket. He bit off a generous chew as he watched Sheriff Miles get out of the stage and stride toward Sheriff Conley's office. Pepper was wondering what brought the lawman to Blue River Junction when Tonto approached him. Are you Pepper Neller? That's right, Ingen. Me have message for you about Wink Tatum. What about him? Him thinkin' fine gold. Yeah? Where'd he find it? On farm. Not far from town. Doggone. Say, Ingen, will you take me to his place? Ah. Me get extra horse. Take your front. Ed Miles had just entered Sheriff Conley's office when Tonto rode past with Pepper Neller. Moments later, the two lawmen, the Lone Ranger, Thunder, and Clarabelle, followed them. Oh, Scal. Oh, oh, oh. Here, farm, and there, Tatum fella. Yeah, I see him. Steady, man. Hi there, Tatum. Pepper. What are you doing here? I came as soon as I got your telegram. What telegram? The one you sent asked me to come to Blue River Junction. I didn't send you any telegram. You did so. I got it right here in my pocket. A fella who sent messages. Oh, no. Huh? What are you talking about, Redskin? You'll find out plenty soon. Hey, what is this? Wink. That masked man. He came to my place asking about you. There's Thunder Martin. Two lawmen and an oversized female. Did you see any big foot? Hello, Mr. Neller. Hey. Uh, howdy, mister. What are you doing here? I came to see you. And so did I, Pepper. I think you know Sheriff Miles. I traveled all the way from Copper County with him. Sheriff Conley sent for me when he received the note and handbills you sent him over my signature. But I didn't write any note to Sheriff Conley. Well, I... Don't admit anything, Pepper. The law hasn't got a thing on us. The law didn't have anything on Neller. Until he started impersonating the lawmen, printing false reward notices, and sending notes with my name on them. I'm not admitting that I sent them. We can prove you printed the handbills just as we can prove you printed the maps, Tatum. So. You're a loco. The print and press in your shop will prove it for us. That's right, Neller. And a handwriting expert will identify the handwriting on the note you sent Sheriff Conley. Well, you mean I'll go to jail? Maybe not. If you have cash enough to pay a fine. Tatum. Tatum, you have cash. Well, I better. He gave me his cash for this farm. Well, I'll pay the fine, Pepper. If they'll all wait till I find the gold on this land. I told you there was no gold here, Tatum. But that nugget you dropped. Someone gave it to me. Well, there's got to be gold here. The chickens were eating it. Oh, that. Well, you see, I heard that little gold dust makes chickens mighty prime. Well. So I paid him cash for the dust that chicken ate. You swindler. You cheating, swindling, zaming crook. We've been outsmarted, Wink. Can you pay the fine? No, of course we can't. Then you'll go to jail. Ten thousand dollars for this run-down worthless farm. Cheer up, Tatum. I didn't keep your cash. It's going back to the folks you swindled with your no-account maps. Oh, no. Sheriff, I gave you a list of the names of Tatum's victims. That's right, mister. Sheriff, I'll see that they'd get their money. Then, Tom and I'll be on our way. Say, mister, if you're going our way, Thunder and I'll go with you. It's time we got back to the ranch. All right. We'll travel together, Clarabelle. Adios, Sheriff. So long, mister, and thanks. We wouldn't have accomplished anything without your cooperation. Easy standing foot. I'm mighty proud to have cooperated with the Lone Ranger. What? Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Now, take it easy, Miller. Slap him on the back. Oh. There. What ails him? He must have swallowed his chew in the back. What's wrong with you, Pepper? Oh. If I'd only known that Masked Man was the Lone Ranger. And fights hard and fair. So in the ring, you kids beware. He's dynamite because he knows. He's got go power from Cheerios. Yes, he's got go power. There he goes. He's feeling his Cheerios. Cheerios. Cheerios. Cheerios. That's Cheerios. The cereal shaped like little letter O's. You know, Cheerios is made from oats. And every delicious spoonful of Cheerios and milk is a real muscle building food. Each spoonful contains vitamins, minerals, and proteins your body needs. Yes, the good things in a Cheerios breakfast do good things for your body. Help you have healthy nerves, good red blood, strong bones, and muscles. Have Cheerios every morning. Then you'll hear people say, He's feeling his Cheerios. Lone Ranger, a copyrighted feature of the Lone Ranger Incorporated, is created by George W. Trendle, produced by Trendle Campbell Muir Incorporated, directed by Charles D. Livingston, and edited by Fran Stryker. The part of the Lone Ranger is played by Brace Beamer, your announcer, Fred Foy. Lone Ranger is brought to you by General Mills every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at this same time. Be sure to listen. This recorded program has come to you from Detroit. This is ABC Radio Network.
