Original subtitles

[THEME SONG]

NARRATOR: "Gunsmoke", with Milburn Stone as Doc,

Amanda Blake as Kitty, Ken Curtis as Festus,

Buck Taylor as Newly.

And starring James Arness as Matt Dillon.

[HOOTING]

[WHISTLING]

Who's there?

Who's there?

[SCREAMS]

Oh, Festus, how are you?

Oh, Doc Adams, how good to see you.

Cora, thank you.

Cora, there's, um, something I, uh--

I must tell you.

Renegade Comanches have been rampaging all over Kansas.

And while your father was away, they raided your place.

Cora, your mother's dead.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Oh, my God.

Pa!

[WHISTLING]

Hyah!

Hold fire.

No firing.

No firing.

Come on, give it up there.

Give it up there.

Renegades.

Probably split off from the main raiding party.

BRIGGS: Captain, look at this.

I don't reckon they made this on no reservation.

This watch is from Dodge.

It belongs to Bear Sanderson.

I want them men.

They're going to jail, Bear.

They don't need jailin'.

They need killin'.

That'll be decided by a court of law.

There's going to be no killing here.

I'm seeing the killin's been on the wrong side.

I'm going to change it now.

Hold it right there.

These men are going to be tried in a court of law.

And if they're found guilty, they'll hang.

In the meantime, nobody takes justice into his own hands.

Not you or anybody else.

That's the way it's been around this town, that's

the way it's going to be.

Now, stay out of the way.

BEAR: Now, listen to me.

Those murdering savages killed my wife.

I'm going to see 'em burn in hell for it.

And anybody that ain't with me is against me!

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

We're with you, Bear.

We're on your side.

You would ask me--

let me understand-- to take a case

that no other lawyer will touch?

Forgive me, in order intentionally to lose it?

CORA: It's not a question of that.

I'm truly afraid of what my father

might do if you don't help me.

I sympathize with you.

Believe me, I do.

Well then, please, will you take the case?

I'll see that you're paid very handsome.

Ms. Sanderson, it is not a question of money.

I cannot take the case.

Why?

Because it would not be fair.

Not to the men on trial and not to you.

Because you see, if I take a case, I take it to win.

And those are the reasons you choose to give?

They are real and legitimate.

CORA: No, I'm sorry.

They're false.

I think I'm beginning to understand you, Mr. Wolfe.

You are one of those very practical men who

is so indifferent to justice that he won't take the time

and trouble to see it done.

Good night, sir.

I want the ones that done it.

I want 'em and I'll have 'em.

Papa, listen to me, please?

If you try and deal with these men the way you want to,

it won't work.

And you'll only destroy yourself.

You think I care what happens to me now?

What about me?

Do you care what happens to me?

We want those Indians, Dillon.

[CROWD YELLING]

Come on, send 'em out, Dillon.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

Listen to me, those Indians are in jail, that's

where they're going to stay. Nobody's getting them out.

Then we'll come in and get them.

[CROWD YELLING]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

That's far enough.

Back off.

Break it up.

Back off, all of you, before somebody gets blowed in two.

I came here to ask your help.

Now if you want to, you can cool that town off right now.

If you don't, you can blow the lid off it.

It's up to you.

Talk to me, mister.

Bear, if you come in the Dodge on the prod

and you try to face me down, I'm gonna have to kill you.

It come down that, is it?

It's gone as far as it can go.

CICERO: Marshal, you will prevail on me to take the case.

And I must warn you, I will fight it with all my skill,

which is considerable.

And how do you suppose your good public will react, sir,

when they discover, as they will,

that the man who represents your renegades is, himself,

a half-blooded Cherokee?

There's one thing, Mr. Wolfe.

CICERO: Yes.

You and I both know, you don't have much of a chance.

There's one piece of evidence that everybody

seems to have missed.

I want to make sure you don't.

I intend to prove, beyond all possible doubt,

that these men are not guilty.

[CROWD GRUMBLING]

Order.

Order!

CICERO: And ladies and gentlemen, it

is my painful duty to show, as well,

that this whole indictment is the kind of conveniently

and irresponsibly trumped up slander which would never

have come to trial if the two defendants had been

White men instead of Indians.

[CROWD YELLING]

Order!

Order!

Order!

Order!

Break it up.

Order!

Order!

Order.

We will have order in this courtroom.

This court stands adjourned until tomorrow.

We could be in quite a bit of danger

after this morning, Mr. Wolfe.

I'm gonna have to ask your cooperation on a few things.

Of course, Marshal.

I'd like you to take your meals in your room

and confine yourself there when you're not in court.

I'm also going to have a guard take you back and forth.

And he'll be outside your room at all times.

I appreciate your concern, Marshal.

But I am able to defend myself.

Against a man who doesn't care whether he lives or dies?

You're talking about Mr. Sanderson?

I am.

[KNOCKING]

NEWLY: Mr. Wolfe.

Come in.

Mrs. Anderson's here to see you.

Ms. Anderson?

Please, forgive me for coming here to see you.

There didn't seem to be any other way.

Of course.

Of course, I'd hoped to see you again to, uh, talk with you.

Really?

I would have thought otherwise.

You're angry.

Does that surprise you?

No.

No, I suppose it shouldn't.

Did you think that by trying to save the men who

murdered my mother you would win my undying

gratitude, Mr. Wolfe?

I didn't come here to talk about myself.

I came here to talk about you.

You see, I understand you now.

Am I so complicated, Ms. Cora?

When I first came to you and you refused me,

you concealed the fact that you were yourself an Indian

and afraid to risk involvement.

Fear for myself had nothing to do with my position,

I assure you.

You needn't justify it to me, Mr. Wolfe.

You refused me, shamed me for having asked.

And then as if to spite me, perversely took the case.

And I know why.

Perhaps you'd better tell me.

Because your own vindictive prejudice overcame your fear.

I've seen you in court, Mr. Wolfe.

I know how you feel about us.

You intend to destroy my father because he's

a symbol of our domination over your race.

And you count on the law to protect you.

You poor uncomprehending, miserable woman.

Are you really so corrupt as to think that I would take

the case of men such as these if I didn't

believe them to be innocent.

I am not so shallow as to be affected by anything you say.

You think it matters to me what

affects you and what doesn't?

What's sad is that a woman of your beauty and intelligence

has become so used to judging others

by the narrow light of bias and prejudice

that she is unable to recognize idealism.

How can you talk about idealism?

Don't you see that I refused at first because I knew

that I might jeopardize whatever chances

they had for a fair trial.

I felt it altogether possible that I

might ensure their conviction.

I came in when I realized there was no ethical alternative.

These men mean so much to you?

Justice means so much to me.

Is that so hard for you to understand?

You made me a shameful offer and, surely, you know it.

My taking the case had nothing to do

with fear or money or your father,

as man, symbol or anything else.

I took the case when I realized it was ethically

impossible not to take it.

Justice in my life is everything, Ms. Cora.

When you understand that, you will understand me.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Good night.

And in your opinion, the ponies

with which the defendants were captured had never been shod?

Not the one's I looked at, they hadn't.

Objection, your Honor.

Counsel's argument is proving nothing.

We all know that the tracks found on the Sanderson's place

where those of shod horses.

But they might have changed horses

once they left the premises.

Might indeed, your Honor.

Why from shod to unshod?

Overruled.

Proceed Counsel.

CICERO: And when you arrived, will

you tell the jury what you saw?

Well, uh, the whole place was burning down.

CICERO: Did you see anyone on the premises?

Anyone at all?

I found poor Lavinia, dead.

CICERO: And as far as you know, you are the only person

on the premises between the time of the departure

of the guilty parties and the arrival of the law?

I-- I'm the one that come in and got the marshal.

CICERO: Then I submit, gentlemen.

And let the record so show, that there is not a single soul

alive who can identify the killer

or killers in a court of law.

CAPTAIN SYKES: At about 6:30 in the morning,

we came on that camp.

They'd been sleeping.

They offered no resistance.

CICERO: They simply surrendered without a fight, sir?

Does that sound like fugitive murderers?

It would have been useless, we had them surrounded.

Captain, would you step over to this map, sir,

and show the court the approximate location

of the captured?

Here.

Near Jonathan Cooley.

About six miles south of the south fork of the Cimarron.

Some 45 miles from Dodge.

Thank you, Captain.

Captain Sykes, you are a calvary man, are you not?

Yes, sir, I am.

And in your work, what do you consider a hard day's ride?

Well, uh, 30 miles would be a tough trip in one day.

CICERO: 12 or 15 hours riding time?

There abouts.

And what do you consider to be the furthest possible distance

a horseman might ride in, say, a 12 hour day?

A man might make 40 miles on a fine horse.

And yet we are told by the prosecution

that in the space of less than 9 hours from the time

of the murder, the defendants, who were mounted

on unshod Indian ponies and who appear to have been camped,

slept and gave no resistance to capture had cover the almost

45 miles from the Sanderson house

to the point of their capture.

I call it utter nonsense, gentlemen.

And I say it could not have been done.

[CROWD CHATTERING]

Thank you.

No further witnesses for the defense today, your Honor.

Tomorrow, defense will call our key witness and rest our case.

And if the prosecution has no further desire to recross?

None, your Honor.

Captain, you may step down.

This court stands adjourned.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

[KNOCKING]

It's open.

Cora, what are you doing up this time of night?

Come on in.

Thanks.

Marshal, I need to talk to you.

What can I do for you?

It's about my father.

I'm afraid for him.

I'm afraid of what he might do.

I understand how you feel.

If they call him to the stand to testify,

I don't know what'll happen.

Well, they already have called him for tomorrow morning.

Oh, Lord.

Oh, Marshal, he's not responsible for what

he does anymore.

Cora, every man is responsible for what he does.

And that includes your father.

I mean, he doesn't have control over himself.

He's been hurt by so many things lately.

Everybody knows that, Cora.

People think more of him than anybody alive.

But those men are acquitted, he--

Cora, you know how I feel about your pa.

I'd do anything in the world I could

to keep him out of trouble.

But he's going to have to make a choice

between the law and violence.

All we can do is hope that he makes the right choice.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Papa.

Papa, please, stop drinking.

It isn't going to solve anything.

It won't, huh?

They started the trial yesterday, Papa.

Everyone saw that you weren't there.

Well, they gonna to see a lot more of it,

because I paying along with their game.

CORA: Well, you'll have to go and if they call you.

I ain't never had to do nothin'.

This is different.

Those men have a lawyer now, a good one.

I know all about him.

Got 'em on to match their color.

Making a joke outta me.

Nobody's making a joke out of anything, Papa.

The people in the town are all on your side.

Take my name and let some half-breed Indian shyster

drag it through the bumble.

Oh, Papa.

Ain't gonna matter in the end, though.

Listen to me.

Are you sure that those men are the ones who--

I know what happened, don't I?

And I know who done it.

Found them with her jewels on 'em.

In their filthy hands.

In court today, he made it sound like the case

against them was weak.

Well, what else would he do?

That cheatin', low-livin' Indian liar.

It ain't gonna make no difference.

What do you mean?

I mean, there's three renegade bucks gonna

pay for it instead of two.

Don't talk like that, Papa.

I'm going to kill 'em.

Oh, all right then.

Kill 'em.

Ruin your life.

Throw everything away.

Put yourself and your own revenge before everything else.

That's the way it's always been, hasn't it, Papa.

I guess it'll never change.

It's always been Sandersons this and Sandersons that.

Your ranch, your wife, your daughter.

Until you made us feel like nothing but little

insignificant pieces of you.

Don't you talk to me like that, lady.

You always had everything your own way

every time, because you bullied everybody into submission.

Cora.

You made mama hate you.

You drove her to it.

Because you never once let her be herself.

Don't you say anything else about that woman.

I loved her.

Did you?

Then how is it every time she needed you, you were 50 miles

away drunk in some bordeleau?

Get out.

Go on, get out.

You ain't never talked to me like that before.

And you ain't never gonna to again.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I raised you up to be my princess, lady.

Give you everything I could think.

'Cause you was the rose in my love for your mama.

But you never know'd it, did you?

No.

Well, maybe that don't make no difference neither.

Not anymore.

Because you see, I'm just a plain man.

But I am a man.

And you're just like her.

A man ain't good enough for you.

So you just go on.

You go on back to your tea parties

and you're high-tone college socials.

And if my name makes you ashamed,

you just leave it here when you go

out and don't come back again.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Mr. Sanderson, you're not supposed to be here.

I got to talk to that man yonder.

I can't let anybody in unless the marshal says so.

I wasn't gonna kill him, not this time.

Oh!

[MUSIC PLAYING]

CICERO: Mr. Sanderson, of course.

You got that right, injun.

You come into my room like a common thief.

You have some reason for that or shall I have you arrested?

I reckon you know if I'd come here to kill you,

we wouldn't be a'talkin'.

When you turned that light up, it might have been

the last light you ever saw.

I wouldn't have needed no light.

And you'd be all through horning into other folks business.

So you just put away that iron and listen.

I want to give it to you as plain as I know how.

One is, you calling me and talking to your circus.

Two is, if you get them crossbreeds

anything but hung in what you're doing,

then I will come'a killin'.

You right along with them.

You savvy that?

As clearly as I ever understood anything.

Now, you hear this.

It's my job to get those men acquitted, if I can.

And I intend to do just that.

If I find it necessary to call you, I will.

And if you try to kill me because of it,

you may find that, for once in your life,

you've bitten off a lot more than you can chew.

All right, injun.

We understand each other.

And I'll give you one thing.

I never liked stepping on mealybugs.

So when I kill you, I'll have the satisfaction

of knowing I killed a man.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Come on, Deputy, get up.

You ain't hurt that bad.

[CROWD CHATTERING]

Order.

This court is now in session.

Bailiff will please call the first witness.

Mr. John Uriah Sanderson.

[CROWD CHATTERING]

Mr. John Uriah Sanderson?

Is the witness present?

BAILIFF: Mr. John Uriah Sanderson.

Your Honor, we cannot continue without his testimony.

Prosecution requires his identification of the jewelry

and the watch in question.

MAN 1: Here comes Bear now.

[CROWD CHATTERING]

JUDGE BROOKER: Order.

Bear-- uh, Mr. Sanderson, would you please

step up to the witness stand?

Your Honor, may it please the court,

prosecution has no desire to call Mr. Sanderson

if the defense acknowledges, as a matter of record,

that the items in question did indeed

belong to him and his wife.

CICERO: Defense so affirms.

Let the record so state.

If prosecution desire's, defense will waive formal right

to administer the oath.

Do you concur, Counsel.

Yes.

Yes, your Honor.

Then the witness is excused.

[CROWD CHATTERING]

If the court please, defense will

now call our final witness.

The court calls Ms. May Lassiter.

[CROWD CHEERING]

[Whistling]

How are you, May?

Long time, no see.

Mighty pretty, May.

JUDGE BROOKER: Order.

Order!

I will have order in this court.

Order.

Order in this court!

Do you swear to tell the truth,

the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

I do.

Sit down, please.

Will you state your name, please, Madam?

I'm May Lassiter, sir.

Pleased to make your acquaintance.

Ms. Lassiter, will you tell the court where you live

and have your place of business?

In the town of Santa Fe on the Cherokee strip, sir.

And what is the nature of your business, madam?

Entertainment.

[LAUGHTER]

JUDGE BROOKER: Order!

Order!

Order!

Order!

If we cannot have order, I will clear this courtroom.

Proceed.

Do you know what these items are, Ms. Lassiter?

Well, of course.

CICERO: Tell the court, please.

A watch and some jewelry.

Now, I'm going to ask you a very important

question, Ms. Lassiter.

And I want you to consider closely before you answer.

Is that clear?

Yes.

Have you ever seen these items before at any time, anywhere?

Have you?

Yes.

Where and when?

You know the answer to that or you wouldn't ask me.

Now, why do we have to play these games?

I must caution you, Ms. Lassiter, we

are in a court of law.

You will answer counsel's questions, if you please.

Proceed.

Ms. Lassiter.

They were in my jewelry box until a couple of weeks ago.

[CROWD CHATTERING]

How did they happen to come into your possession?

Do I have to say?

Answer the question, Ms. Lassiter.

Bear-- Mr. Sanderson gave them to me.

[CROWD CHATTERING]

As a present.

Then Mr. Sanderson knew all along that this watch

and these jewels were not taken from his house.

No, sir, he didn't.

CICERO: How can you explain that?

Well, some men, when they've been drinking real heavy,

blackout.

Don't remember anything that happens

for hours, sometimes days.

Mr. Sanderson was like that.

When he'd been drinking, he tried

to give away everything had.

Mr. Sanderson gave you these when he was

in the condition you describe?

Yes, sir.

I always put things away that he gave me when he was drunk.

Tried to give them back to him when he was sober.

But he'd never take 'em.

Did you try to return these jewels to him?

MAY: No, sir.

I ain't seen Mr. Sanderson since the night he gave 'em to me.

Oh, I understand.

Now, if you will, Ms. Lassiter, will you

tell the court how it was that these jewels

came to be lost to you?

They were stolen by a couple of renegade bucks.

CICERO: They were stolen?

I was closing up.

I saw two Indians in my room rifling through my jewelry box.

Took a shot at them as they were going out the window, but,

uh, unfortunately, I missed.

And would you recognize these men if you saw them again?

They're sitting right over there.

[CROWD CHATTERING]

Thank you, Ms. Lassiter.

I just hope with all my heart that if you

make me do something bad to Bear, you'll pay for it.

I assure you, madam, in the long run,

you have done him the greatest favor anyone ever could.

That will be all.

JUDGE BROOKER: Prosecution has desire to cross?

None, your Honor.

Ms. Lassiter, you may step down.

Gentlemen of the jury, you have heard all

you need here in the defense of these two men,

except a closing summation.

Let me review.

Bear Sanderson was not at home when he might have prevented

the murder of his wife.

Overcome with rage and grief, he seized

on the first convenient scapegoats

without any concern for evidence, much less justice.

This is sad for many reasons.

It exposed a strong and decent man to harsh public scrutiny.

It wasted the time and the emotion of the man,

the town and the court.

And most unfortunate of all, it may

have allowed the real killers to escape unpunished.

The watch and the jewels which were taken to have been totally

incriminating, have been shown to be

instead totally irrelevant.

They were not in the Sanderson house,

nor had they been there for some time prior to the crime.

And the fact that the defendants were found

with them in their possession, exonerates

rather than convicts them.

In closing, I ask that you find the defendants not guilty.

Because they are not guilty.

There is another, perhaps, a higher duty

which I feel I must fulfill.

Bear Sanderson is a man Kansas has known and come to love.

A man respected for the best.

A man who grew to maturity in conditions

which had marked him for better and for worse as what he is.

It has given him his strengths, which are many.

And his weaknesses and prejudices as well.

It could not be otherwise.

It is not for me, a man you do not

know, to tell you how you must adjust

to what has happened here.

But I am a man of law, and I hope justice, I may ask.

It is perfection that makes ideals and flaws

that make human beings.

And while to be blind is divine injustice,

it is only human in a man and to be forgiven.

The defense rests.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[KNOCKING]

Ms. Cora.

May I come in?

Of course, please do.

I don't imagine I'm welcome and I won't stay long.

But you are welcome.

I don't know quite how to begin.

I can't remember the last time I apologized for anything.

I guess we Sandersons have never been very

good at admitting mistakes.

You don't have to apologize to me for anything, Ms. Cora.

In the courtroom, you talked about forgiving.

Yes.

I hoped I might come here and try and make

you understand how sorry I am for all

the things I said and did.

I must have hurt you very deeply.

CICERO: Oh, please.

I've been sitting in that courtroom,

watching you, listening to you.

And although I was angry and hurt,

I came to know you really.

To know your sense of justice.

As you said, I must if I ever--

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, I'm very shamed.

I want you to know that I have never in all my life

met a man like you that I respect and admire so much.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Please, forgive me.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I've been thinking strong on going away, Matt.

I think that a lot of folks around here

would miss you if you left.

Would they?

I don't know.

It just all seems to come apart on me.

You're wrong.

What about Cora?

No.

No, I've done lost her too.

Pushed her away myself.

Just 'cause she criticized me.

She never done that before, you see?

Nobody had.

Not for a long time.

Well, but she's still your daughter, Bear.

She still loves you.

Yeah she does.

But you see, everything she said is a truth.

That's what really burned.

Told me I'd forgot how to care about anybody.

Every man's got a few things in his life that he regrets.

Maybe.

I guess I was just never made to be married to any woman.

Well, I'm-- I learned how to give a little, but I

never learned how to share.

You know what I mean, Matt?

Yeah, but there's a lot to be said for giving.

Yeah, but it's kind of sad when

a man has to wait until the shadows get long on his life

before he can see what he's been.

That fancy-schooled Cherokee done showed me my colors.

Even took Cora from me now.

I know how she feels about him.

Doesn't have to end that way, Bear.

What can I do?

Well, if I was you, I'd go talk to him.

Talk to both of 'em.

Settle what's between you.

You figure a man can begin about sundown

and make a new life for his self?

Best time of day, is my way of thinking.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[KNOCKING]

Come in.

Mr. Sanderson, sir.

What can I do for you?

I'd like to talk to you.

Of course.

Come in.

Mr. Wolfe, I came here because I believe you're just.

And I know you can understand another man's pain.

I don't think badly of you.

Well, I wouldn't blame you if you did.

But you see, it ain't me I come about.

It's my girl, Cora.

I love her, Mr. Wolfe.

I ain't got the words to tell you how much.

But I just don't care much about nothing no more,

'ceptin' her well-being.

You see, I know how Cora feels about you.

She told me.

And you would be a lot less man and you are if you

didn't feel something for her.

Now, I ain't got the right to ask you nothin'.

And I ain't going to.

I just say this.

If there's anything in your heart

tells it ain't right for any reason,

I know you've got the strength to go and leave her.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Mr. Wolfe, no matter what happens,

I just want you to know I'd be proud to call you my friend.

Matthew, Ms. Kitty, good news.

You couldn't get no better news then that if you went to work

and dreamed it up your own self.

Read that.

Well, you got it upside down.

Well, it ain't for you.

It's for Matthew.

MATT: It's official.

The rebellion's over.

DOC: Thank heavens.

Oh, that's wonderful.

And you know what's gooder than that?

The Widow Brundage and Woody Lathrop and the Banker Bodkin,

they're throwing the biggest barn

dance and chivaree you have ever saw down there at the bar.

It's startin' right now.

DOC: And you just can't wait to get down there

and sop up all of that free suds, can you?

You old scutter, you.

There ain't nothing you can say to me tonight

to make me feel less than a barn-top rooster

on a prime hoot.

I'm on my way.

[LAUGHTER]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

We have strange ways of finding each other.

We're strange people.

I'd be foolish if I denied that.

I've never been very good at getting close to people.

Do you know that in all my life,

I've never really had a friend.

Because, Ms. Cora, I have no people.

Can you understand that?

Well, I had parents, of course.

And they loved me.

But-- well, they were different.

My mother's name was Shaunessy.

My father's name was Wolf.

Not Mr. Wolfe.

Just Wolf.

He worked a lifetime in the futile attempt

to earn that title, but they never gave it to him.

Whoever they are.

So he had a little half-breed boy with the woman he loved.

And he read to him and made him study.

And when the boy was well-grown, he sent him off to Princeton

to become a gentleman, to be called not Wolf, but Mr. Wolfe.

And he made his dream come true.

His?

Yes.

And the boy's?

He never had a dream.

I can't believe that.

It's true.

Instead, he became bitter and he made a life compulsively

to compensate for that.

But a good life is a good life no matter what the motivation.

I like to think so.

But the boy never learned to love.

Well, that's something that comes late to many people.

Never, to some.

Does it ever come to you?

If I am fortunate.

I've been fortunate.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

MAN 2: All aboard, folks.

Stage is leaving.

Load up.

Cora, I have to go now.

It could have been different.

Perhaps, but not for Wolf's son

and Bear Sanderson's daughter.

But I have loved you, Cora.

I do love you.

Know that.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

MAN 2: All aboard.

[WHISTLING]

[INAUDIBLE]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

NARRATOR: Stay tuned for exciting scenes

from our next "Gunsmoke."

[THEME SONG]

[MUSIC PLAYING]