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Gentlemen...

I would like to propose a toast to our guest of honor.

Judge O'Hare.

Bon voyage and safe return.

Bon voyage.

We all know

that I shall be away a considerable time;

too long for this district

to be without a judge or a circuit court.

In this emergency, the members of the town council have

appointed a man to act in my place,

and we all agree that they have selected

the best possible one...

Ben Cartwright.

Congratulations, Ben.

Gentlemen, I-I... I can't possibly accept this.

Why, this is the wrong time of the year, for one thing.

We're too busy here at the ranch and-and...

Oh, come on. Now you've got... No, of course.

Now, now, wait a minute, now, please.

No, besides, I'm not qualified.

We're not going to accept no for an answer.

That's right, Ben,

and we're gonna stay here all night, if we have to.

You know, uh, you're the only one we can trust.

Gentlemen, I propose a toast to our new judge, Ben Cartwright.

Hear! Hear!

To Judge Pa!

...faithfully swear to uphold the laws

of the United States of America

and the territory of Nevada, so help me God.

Congratulations, Ben.

Congratulations, Pa. Thank you. Thank you.

Congratulations, Judge. Congratulations, Judge.

Thank you. Ben.

Gentlemen, if you don't mind,

I'd like to have a word alone with our new magistrate.

Why, surely. Go ahead.

Excuse me. Ben. Sure.

Well... a toast? How about that, huh?

Help yourselves. There's plenty more where that came from.

Well, all right. Thanks.

Do you realize what you've done to me?

Ben, the reason I asked you to come in here--

And I didn't want to say this in front of the others--

Is there's no one else

in Virginia City equipped to handle the job.

But the responsibility! There's got to be...

There's no man better liked or more respected.

Well, I sure don't know anything about the law.

Uh, I'm not... I'm not equipped

to-to sit in judgment of my fellow man.

Well...

it takes more than a wide knowledge of the law

to be a judge, Ben.

It takes being a man people can look up to,

whose decisions will be respected.

You're the only one strong enough to keep his head.

Good luck, Ben.

Aren't you gonna go on in, Judge?

Hmm? What?

Aren't you gonna go in there, Judge?

Ch... of course.

What's the matter with you two?

Well, there for a minute, it looked like

you'd rather hold court out here... Your Honor.

Yeah, well, you just watch yourself now.

Contempt charges in my court are very expensive.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir, Judge.

Oh, and, uh...

you can pay off your fine by putting up my buggy.

I was gonna plead innocent.

♪♪

Is there anything I can get for you, sir?

Oh---...

Your chambers are here, sir.

If there's anything you need,

I'll be in my office, over there.

I'm Higgins, your bailiff.

Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Hurry up! Get the sheriff!

Oh, Jed, what's all the commotion about?

Somebody robbed the bank, Ben.

Ben.

Sure is a mess, huh?

What'd they get away with?

We ain't sure.

It's gonna be plenty, though.

Frank's going over the books now.

Disaster.

A complete disaster.

$256,000 in cash.

We'll have to close the bank.

What?!

Shut the doors and go out of business.

Whole town will be bankrupt.

What do we do? Where do we start?

You ain't gonna like it, Ben,

but who is the best safecracker in the territory?

Well, Sundown Davis, but he didn't do this.

Why? Because you arranged his parole?

Well, we better ride out and check on him,

but I'll bet you you're wrong.

You go inside.

Hyah! Hyah!

No. I... I want to stay with you.

And I want you out of the way.

Now, you mind me, you hear?

Go on!

Whoa. Morning, Billy.

Morning, Sheriff, uh, Mr. Cartwright.

Billy.

Uh, what brings you out this way?

Is your father around?

Uh, no, he isn't.

Uh, something I can do?

Was he, uh... was he here last night?

Yeah, I guess so.

You mean you ain't sure?

Oh, well, he's, uh...

fixed himself a place out in the barn.

Uh, house kind of small for three people, you know. He...

uh, I-I... I guess he was there all last night.

He usually stays pretty close.

Well, do you have any idea

where he might have gone off to this morning?

Oh, well, he's been thinking about going deer hunting.

Uh, we're out of meat, and, uh...

...well, just about everything, as far as that goes.

How'd you hurt your head, Billy?

Oh, I was... chopping some firewood,

and a chunk flew up and hit me.

Mm.

Mind if we look around?

No, I guess not.

Uh, but, uh, can't you tell me what this is all about? Uh...

Billy, the Virginia City Bank was robbed last night.

Hmm.

You think, uh...

...Dad did it?

Well, we don't know, but...

just want to talk to Sundown about it.

You helped him get his parole, Mr. Cartwright.

You know he wouldn't do anything like that.

I hope not, Billy.

You, uh, show us around this place?

No, you can...

find your own way around.

Hmm.

Giddyap. Giddyap.

Hyah!

What'd they say, Billy?

Ah, they're just looking around.

How'd they know to come here?

Dad's reputation, that's all.

You go inside and stay there.

I don't want them talking to you.

If they ask, I'll just say you're too sick.

Go on now.

Hey, Pa?

Pa... what's the matter?

Oh... I'm tired. I...

We had some, uh, trouble in town today.

What?

Well, they robbed the bank.

Really?!

Yeah, cleaned it out.

They got everything? Everything.

Oh. The town's in trouble.

They got any idea who did it?

Yeah, I'll... I'll talk about it later.

Pa, you, uh... you got a guest in there in the study.

He wants to talk to you private.

Who? Sundown Davis.

Sundown.

Hello, Ben.

Sundown, I just come from your place.

I was looking for you.

Yeah, well, you were looking for the right man, Ben.

I came to turn myself in. There's my gun.

I'm the one that robbed the bank.

I let you down, Ben.

After you standing up for me for my parole and all.

I let you down.

I can't figure you out at all, Sundown.

I just can't figure you out.

All right.

Where's the money?

Well, now...

that's the joker in the deck, Ben.

What is?

I hid it.

Yeah, I hid it real good.

Nobody knows where it is but me.

Well, then if, uh...

if you know where it is, let's, uh...

let's help out the people of Virginia City

and let's go find it.

Well, now, just a minute, Ben.

It ain't that easy.

That ain't the way it's gonna work at all.

How come?

Well, I made a mistake--

let's put it that way, I made a mistake--

But I ain't gonna serve no more time behind those prison walls

on account of that mistake.

How do you figure you're gonna avoid that?

Well, now, that's where you come in, Ben.

I'm gonna make you a deal.

I'll turn all the money over to you.

You see to it that that judge sets me free.

Come on, let's play a game of chess, huh?

You want the... light or the dark?

Wait a minute, Frank, wait a minute.

Do you know what this is gonna do to me?

It means 30 years of good hard work gone.

Clear gone!

All right, Sundown.

Come on. Right up there.

You boys wait out here.

So I believe we split the posse into three parts,

we'll be able to cover...

Sundown.

We was just fixing to organize a posse to go hunting for you.

Well, I'll, uh, save you the trouble, Sheriff.

Yes, Sundown has given himself up for that bank robbery.

Pa, Roy,

there's a group of folks congregating down in front

of the bank-- looks like they're heading this way.

Bob, you and Charlie go head 'em off, will you?

Yeah. Uh, well, what do you want us to tell 'em?

Well, tell them that we got our man

and that, uh, they'll get their money shortly. All right.

All right, now, where's the money?

Well, it's-it's put away, Sheriff.

Well, where? Where's that?

It's hid.

Where?!

Well, as soon as Ben here

says he'll let me off for taking it,

I'll show you where it is.

He told me about being appointed judge.

Makes it all nice and cozy, don't it? Huh?

And I told you

there'd be no deals, didn't I?

You're gonna tell us where that money is,

and there's gonna be no nonsense about it.

Oh, no.

That's where you're wrong, Sheriff.

No deal, no money.

You're gonna stick to that, huh?

I sure am, Sheriff.

Even if it kills me.

Well, it might do just that.

What are you gonna do, Roy?

If he wants to play that game

with that crowd out there feeling the way they do,

I'm gonna have to swear me in some more deputies.

Hoss?

You and Little Joe raise your right hands, please.

Hey, Ben, Bob was just telling us

that we're gonna get our money back.

Oh, you'll never know what it was gonna do to me

to lose all that money.

I didn't even know how I was gonna get through the winter.

When are we gonna get it back, Ben?

Well, just as soon as...

Sheriff Coffee is able to...

get Sundown to tell him where he hid the money.

Wait a minute, he...

he said he'd tell if you let him go, didn't he?

Well, uh... yes, he did.

Well, then what's the sheriff got to do with it?

Well, the sheriff is trying to get Sundown to tell us

where he hid the money without having to make a deal with him.

Well, now, just how long is that gonna take?

Sheriff Coffee has the answer to that.

Well, I'm telling you,

he better come up with the answer to that pretty soon.

I'm worried about my family.

I don't even know how they're gonna eat.

You better stay with him.

Yeah. They're pretty worked up, ain't they?

Where do you think you're going?

Wait, Pa... hold up a minute.

Those-those folks back there are pretty riled up.

Well, I don't blame 'em.

Pa, we had money in that bank, too, didn't we?

Yes.

How much?

All our working capital for the ranch.

You mean we can't get along without it?

That's right.

What are we gonna do?

Well, right now, I'm going into that courthouse

and study the law.

Don't expect me home for dinner.

Pa, Little Joe and me will have dinner in town, too.

We'll be around if you need us.

♪♪

Come in.

Hello, Ben.

Well,

come on in, come on in... fellas, sit down.

Catching up on your homework, huh?

Oh, gosh, I'm just beginning to find out

how little I know about the law.

Well, don't worry about it.

Nobody expects you to be letter-perfect.

Well, maybe you don't, but how 'bout...

how 'bout those poor people who are gonna be in the courtroom?

What are you two boys doing out this late at night?

Ben, I'd like to read you a list of names.

List of names?

Henry Perkins, Donald J. Wentworth and, uh...

well, it's a long list. Take a look at it yourself.

You know 'em?

Of course I know 'em.

They're all friends of yours.

Well, I hope so.

Great Western Mining needs hoist cables.

Loan's been approved but, of course, now it can't be made.

The Great Western employs 94 men.

All would be out of work.

That's just the beginning.

The bank is sound, Ben.

If it's closed, then it's got to stay closed

because I haven't any working capital

and I don't know where to get it.

Now, if Sundown doesn't tell us where to find that money

he stole from the bank,

all of those friends of yours are gonna be pretty broke.

Uh, that... just about sums it up, Ben.

And we talked to Sheriff Coffee.

He told us that Sundown won't cooperate

unless you promise that he'll go free.

That's why you've come to see me.

It's a question of who's being punished.

Sundown or the people of Virginia City.

Some of the stolen money was yours.

Don't you want to get it back?

Well, I want to get it back, of course, but...

...it's not that simple.

I've been...

studying these law books.

You know, Sundown

admitted to stealing that money.

He robbed the bank-- everybody knows it.

Well, according to these law books,

a sentence is mandatory.

For a four-time loser,

he gets 20 years.

Well, sounds like you've already made your decision.

No, I haven't made my decision. I...

I'm just trying to figure out what's right

under the law.

If Sundown goes to prison, this town goes broke.

♪♪

Morning, Charlie. Morning, Judge.

Uh, I'm gonna talk to Sundown before the trial.

You two bodyguards wait for me at the courthouse.

Yeah, well, if it's all the same to you, Pa,

we'll just wait for you right here.

Oh, I think I'll be all right.

I don't need your protection.

You're the judge, we're Roy's deputies,

and that makes us officers of the court.

Wherever you go, we go.

It's our job.

Sure wish you wouldn't take your job quite so seriously.

Well, Pa, you always taught us that any job that's worth doing

is worth doing well-- didn't he?

He sure did.

Hi, Ben.

Roy.

Morning, Ruth.

Billy.

Mr. Cartwright.

How's your father?

Were you able to persuade him to change his mind

about telling us where the money is?

He won't change his mind, Mr. Cartwright.

Not even if you...

asked him to?

I have. Uh, he won't do it.

Uh...

how long will he go to prison, Mr. Cartwright?

If he's found guilty, 20 years.

But he says you won't send him to prison. You can't.

Not if you want the money back.

We will...

just have to wait and see about that.

Oh, he is, uh, going to court this morning, isn't he?

Yes.

You won't send him to prison. I know you won't.

You can't! You wouldn't dare. Uh, you'll have to excuse

my wife, Mr. Cartwright.

She's pretty emotional at this time,

what with the baby coming and all.

This whole business got her pretty upset.

Yes, of course.

Thanks, uh...

Well, my... dad always said that...

no matter what happened, you were one man

that could always be trusted to do what's right.

Thank you, Roy.

I figured I'd see you sooner or later, Ben.

Them bankers and the like, I knew they'd get to you.

I just dropped in to tell you that you'll be in court

at 11:00 this morning.

Oh, and I've appointed Clem Powell to act as your attorney.

Attorney? What for?

Well, I figured...

you're entitled to advice from counsel.

Advice?

I don't need any advice, Ben.

I'm holding all the cards, ain't I?

Not all of them.

Well, if that's the way you're thinking, Ben,

maybe it's you that needs the advice.

Come on, sit down here.

Let's talk it over, huh?

Aw, yeah, I should've figured that a man like you,

sitting up there on the bench,

honest, God-fearing and new to the job...

I should've figured it, all right.

Setting me free kind of sticks in your craw, don't it?

I suppose you...

looked up all those law books.

Yeah.

Well, I'm an old man, Ben.

You throw everything there is in those books at me,

I ain't gonna get out of those walls alive.

I'm gonna die there.

Yeah, I'm aware of that.

You want to see me die there?

No.

I got a grandchild coming, Ben.

I-I want to see that child

walking and talking.

And learn to ride a horse.

Then Why'd you rob the bank?

Oh, I got sick of seeing my boy

and his wife

breaking their backs,

daylight till dark.

Trying to make a crop off of land so poor

even the prairie dogs walked away from it.

I got tired of...

seeing them kids living on

nothing but rabbit stew and mush.

I J-just got tired of seeing Ruthie

wearing clothes that

other women threw away.

I J-just got tired of...

having no money

for medicine or anything else, Ben.

I just got tired.

If you'd told me about it, I'd have helped out.

Well, a man can get tired

of begging favors, too, Ben.

A man likes to get up off his knees, once in a while.

Yeah, I could understand that.

But there's other ways of doing it

besides robbin' a bank.

Is there?

A man with my reputation?

Oh, Ben, there ain't crimes bad enough

that people won't believe I could do.

I don't know, Sundown.

You never gave yourself a chance to find out otherwise.

Oh, but I did, Ben, I did. Oh, boy, I did.

But this town wouldn't give me a chance

to save my soul.

Well, now, it's my turn.

I'm telling you, Ben,

if you want to get that money back,

there's only one way to get it.

You know, Sundown...

Sundown...

you answered every question I had on my mind.

Except one.

Why'd you give yourself up?

Well, I...

I-I figured I'd...

split the money with my boy and

head outwith the rest of it.

Why didn't you?

He wouldn't take it.

No, I had to

knock him stiff with a piece of firewood

to keep him from bringing me in.

And I got to...

thinking, Ben.

What good was the money

if my boy didn't want it?

You see,

I stole the money for them, Ben.

I'm an old man, Ben. My life's behind me.

What good would all that money be to me, huh?

Roy!

See you in court.

Yeah, well, Ben...

you just think over what I been telling you.

Make it easy on yourself.

Make it easy on both of us, huh?

Ben, you sure are gettin' a lot of advice, ain't you?

Everybody's trying to help you make up your mind.

Even the defendant.

Well, I've had a few suggestions made, yes.

Well, I ain't gonna tell you what to do.

'Cause there's one thing that I have learned in my years

in the public service:

do your duty

and give advice to nobody unless they need it.

Now if I was you,

I wouldn't listen to anybody.

I'd do just like I felt like doing.

You know, Roy, I've learned something, too.

Yeah?

I've learned that everybody starts out by saying

that they're not gonna tell you what to do.

Then they tell you what to do.

Ben, we can't make deals

with a thief.

Why, if we do it for one,

we have to do it for all.

To bargain with a criminal

is a first step toward moral suicide.

Well, what does the defense attorney have to say?

Oh, I, uh, I understand my colleague's view.

But I disagree with it.

What we do today

needn't dictate what we do tomorrow.

Nor does it, uh, commit us

to any certain course of action.

We can't always live

by a hard and fast set of rules.

There are times when we...

we must make concessions.

We must be flexible.

Very well put.

Well, thank you, gentlemen.

♪♪

Here he comes now.

They got nothing to worry about, Sundown.

Be over in a little while, we'll have our money back,

it'll soon be forgotten about.

Court ready, Your Honor.

Hats off.

Everybody rise.

Circuit Court, Virginia City,

Judge Ben Cartwright presiding.

Now in session.

All sit.

People v. Sundown Davis.

Well, gentlemen.

Prosecution's ready, Your Honor.

Defense is ready, Your Honor.

Will the defendant please rise.

Sundown...

you know the charge against you.

Yeah, yeah, I know why I'm here, Ben.

You want to hear the charge read?

No.

Well, I guess all that remains for me

is to ask you whether you plead guilty or not guilty.

Well...

I-I'm guilty, Ben. Guilty.

If the court please...

Before sentencing,

the defense would like to make a few remarks to the court.

Proceed.

Your Honor,

there isn't a person

in this courtroom who doesn't know

that Sundown offered to return the money

he stole from the bank.

Yeah, that's right.

That's what I said. I said I'd do that.

We think this is a fair offer.

The court is not asked to set this man free,

just to give him a light sentence.

It is a fair bargain.

One which will not abort the law,

but which will avoid something

this community cannot afford:

financial disaster.

The defense throws this case on the mercy of the court.

Mr. Powell.

The law says-- quite clearly--

That the defendant

should be given a severe sentence.

To make the kind of bargain which you suggest,

it seems to me,

would weaken the law.

This case, to my way of thinking,

rests on a serious question.

Which is more important?

The welfare of the people

or the welfare of the law?

The welfare of the people...

is a thing of now,

of this moment.

The law is for all time.

The law stands for all people.

It must not be weakened.

It must be guarded.

Guarded...

even with our lives.

Let the record show that the defendant stands convicted.

Guilty as charged.

Sundown Davis, will you please rise?

I sentence you to...

20 years at hard labor.

Your Honor! Your Honor!

No...! Mr. Cartwright!

Wait a minute!

You passed the law sentence.

You done your duty.

But you ain't never gonna see that money!

Nevefl

None of you are gonna see it!

Billy, take me home.

I'm frightened.

Move off the porch! Step aside.

Break it up. Go on home.

You boys best stay here with your pa. Come on.

Hey, wait a minute, Roy. Hold it.

What kind of a law is it allows a man like this

rob us of everything we ever made? Huh?

How 'bout that, Roy?

What kind of a law is it, Roy, huh?

What kind of a law is it?

Inside.

That's far enough.

Why, there's no need for gunplay, Roy.

You know who we are.

Every one of us lost a lot of money in that bank, Roy.

All we want to do is get our money back.

Now, why don't you go take yourself and your deputies

and go for a little walk for a while.

We'll go in, have a few words with Sundown.

By the time you get back, he'll tell you exactly where it's hid.

Now, both these barrels is loaded with buckshot.

And if we cut loose, there's gonna be

a mighty big crop of widows in this town tonight.

I'm gonna give you ten seconds

to get back out of range of this gun.

One...

two...

Roy, we're all citizens and taxpayers.

Then act like it. Three...

four...

five...

six...

seven... All right, all right.

But it ain't right.

It ain't justice.

No justice in this town.

No justice here at all.

...the law is one thing, but the decent citizens of this town...

Hold on, hold on. Whoa up now.

Hold your horses, gentlemen, please.

Don't all of you rush at me at once now.

What is this?

Uh, Ben, I guess as prosecuting attorney,

I can speak for all of us.

All right, Mr. Hicks.

It's this way, Ben.

When I argued for the law as it is written,

it was my job.

But to tell the honest truth, I thought Sundown was bluffing.

I thought when the man was faced with the reality

of 20 years in prison, he would relent,

tell us where the money is.

I see.

And now that, uh...

you see that you're mistaken, what do you propose?

That we make a deal with him.

Roy?

What do you think?

Ben, I certainly know what my duty is,

but I don't enjoy putting a shotgun on decent folks

that I've known all my life.

So I've got to say that I'm with them.

This town is bankrupt, Ben.

You've got to listen to reason.

I'm trying to do that, gentlemen,

but you are making it very difficult.

What can we do to change your mind?

Change the law.

Ben, you can't leave here

without granting permission for us to make a deal with Sundown.

You got it all wrong, George.

I'm telling you

that no deal will be made with Sundown.

You're selling us down the river.

You know that, don't you?

What's the matter?

Oh, I've been thinking all the way out here.

The law's been served but has justice been done?

Well, I think you did just what you had to do.

Sure would've made things simple if old Sundown had just...

taken that money and just kept on runnin'.

That's the only thing I can't figure out.

Why didn't he just keep on runnin'?

Yeah, that's been on my mind, too.

That's been on my mind a lot.

Boys, I'll see you at the house.

I'm gonna make a stop on the way home.

Oh, no, we'll go along with you.

Now, you gonna follow me around for the rest of my life?

No, I'll go alone.

Hyah.

Here!

Billy, Mrs. Davis.

I'd like to talk to you a bit, Billy.

You and your wife.

Won't you come inside?

I'll... I'll make some coffee.

Thank you, ma'am.

Come in. You can sit down right here.

I'll get some coffee on.

It won't be a minute.

Let's see now.

Uh...

Excuse me.

Uh, R-Ruth?

I'd like to talk to you, too, if I may.

Oh.

Talk to both of you.

Um...

Well, Billy, uh...

this morning when I, uh...

I sentenced your father...

I had to.

The law is very specific.

20 years.

Now, I don't know if you realize...

Uh, Ruthie...

I was saying,

I don't know if you realize what that means to a...

a man your father's age.

Life imprisonment-- that's what it means.

'Cause I don't think your father will be able

to live out his sentence.

And that worries me.

Worries me, too, Mr. Cartwright.

Does it?

Sure, it does.

He's my pa.

Well, Billy, I...

Ruth, will you... would you sit down

so I can... look at you when I'm talking to you?

Billy, your father gave himself up to me.

He told me that...

he'd stolen the money because he wanted to...

help you and-and Ruth.

And that you had refused the money.

And that you had told him to, uh... to give himself up.

Then he said that he...

he had to hit you

with a piece of firewood.

I don't know anything... Billy!

Ruthie, you shut up! Billy...

Billy, you can see the bruise on your face.

Tell him the truth.

It's... it's the truth, Mr. Cartwright.

Sundown... came home late with...

all that money, and...

he wanted us to take half.

Billy wouldn't take it, and...

and there was a big fight! Ruthie! Ruthie!

Billy, I don't have to protect your father!

I have to protect my husband,

the father of my child.

Is that the way it happened?

No, that isn't the way it happened,

Mr. Cartwright. Oh, Billy.

Ruthie, we've got to tell him. Billy, please.

Please, not with the baby. Honey...

I can't do it. I can't let him do it.

Can't you understand Don't you see, honey?

It's the only decent thing How can I live with myself

he ever did in his life? If I don't...

How can I live with my own son?!

Mr. Cartwright,

the man you...

sentenced this morning was...

...the wrong man.

I stole that money.

Billy Davis,

you've entered the plea of guilty

to the charge of bank robbery.

Have you anything to say on your own behalf

before sentence is passed?

No, Your Honor.

I hereby sentence you to the minimum term avowed bylaw.

10 years

in the prison of the territory of Nevada.

Since this is your first offense,

and since all the monies involved have been returned,

the law leaves to the discretion of the judge

the weight of mitigating circumstances.

I therefore suspend the sentence.

All but four months,

which you will serve

in the jail of Virginia City.

Oh, Billy... Oh!

Well? Billy...

This court stands adjourned.

Oh, Billy...

Oh, four months.

Oh, Billy.

Four months.

Oh. Oh...

Oh, Billy. Billy.

Oh...

Son, there's gonna be another mouth to feed when you get out.

Yeah.

Now...

Ben here has...

offered me a job on the Ponderosa.

Maybe he'll, uh...

maybe he'll have a job for you when you get out.

Think you can handle it?

Well, I'd sure like to try, Pa.

Yeah.

I'd like to have you try, son.

And, daughter, we've got a lot of things to get ready

for that grandson of mine.

Thank you, Ben.

Thank you very much.

Thanks, Mr. Cartwright.

Come on, honey.

Oh...

Ben...

This has been a color production

of the NBC Television Network.