Oil Lease Swindle

Originally Aired: June 1, 1938 The Lone Ranger #834, "Oil Lease Swindle," takes listeners to the booming Texas oil fields, where tensions run high between old-world ranchers and opportunistic speculators. Stonewall Gregory, a stubborn horse breeder, fiercely refuses to lease any portion of his Box G Ranch, particularly the north hundred acres, despite offers reaching $10,000. When two eastern oil men arrive at his door, Stonewall greets them with a shotgun, convinced that oil development will ruin his prized grazing land and the special creek water that makes his colts the finest in the southwest. His wife Martha tries to reason with him about the poor-quality northern pasture, but Stonewall remains unmovable, threatening to shoot any oil man who sets foot on his property. The Lone Ranger and Tonto become involved when Tonto guides the easterners to Stonewall's ranch and later overhears their conversation. Reporting back to the masked man, Tonto reveals a disturbing truth: the oil men are crooks planning to obtain the lease but never pay for it. While the Lone Ranger initially believed the offer was legitimate and could help Stonewall through a difficult economic transition, he now realizes the rancher's stubborn resistance may have accidentally protected him from a dangerous swindle.