Mortgage On Wheat

Originally Aired: July 22, 1938The Lone Ranger #856, "Mortgage On Wheat," Jeff and May Halstead take pride in their prosperous wheat farm near Graysville, Texas. With their three grown sons successfully established in their own careers and a bountiful harvest ready for cutting, the elderly couple looks forward to a comfortable future. Jeff has borrowed money from local businessman Cephas Cooper to finance his farming operation, with payment due on the twenty-fifth of the month. He confidently expects to repay the debt after selling his wheat crop, and he even used a thousand dollars from his son Luke to purchase an option on Cooper's additional land, planning to expand his operation.When Jeff visits Cooper to discuss the promised loan for harvesting expenses, he discovers a shocking betrayal. Cooper denies ever making such a promise and reveals his true intentions: to foreclose on Jeff's property when the elderly farmer inevitably fails to meet the deadline without harvest money. The arrangement was a calculated trap from the beginning, designed to strip Jeff of everything he has worked for. When Jeff protests this cruel deception, Cooper's men prepare to throw him out of the store, but the Lone Ranger, disguised and present in the shop, intervenes to prevent the violence.