Original subtitles

I, Frederick Sheldon,

in the presence of witnesses,

do swear that I will never divulge or reveal

any of the secrets of this organization.

And I will obey the proper authorities when ordered,

and will assist a brother of this organization

when required to do so.

And I will obey the proper authorities when ordered,

and I will assist a brother of this organization when required to do so.

If need be, with my life.

If need be, with my life.

Dr. Frederick Sheldon, you are now a Knight of the Golden Circle.

Death to traitors.

Death to traitors.

Howdy, folks. I'm the Old Ranger.

Secret organizations have plagued mankind

since the beginning of time.

The Knights of the Golden Circle prove to be no exception

when it came to dealing out death and destruction from behind a hood or a mask.

During the Civil War,

they spread terror and violence throughout the Southwest.

Their symbol was this circle and cross.

But there was a nobler and stronger force

that could not be put down by this hate group.

Its name was charity,

and it was symbolized by a replica of this sack,

which, in 1863, came to be known as...

We don't get many Northerners that think the way you do, Doctor.

I have had my bellyful

of industrialists and manufacturers

calling themselves abolitionists

just to fatten their pocketbooks.

That's why I came out West.

Here's to our men winning tomorrow's election.

He can't lose.

Dr. Sheldon! Dr. Sheldon!

That's Gridley's boy.

Dr. Sheldon! Wait!

Reuel Gridley owns the general store.

His wife's expecting a second.

You don't open that door until we've cleared out.

Dr. Sheldon, it's me!

But Gridley's a Southerner!

Be a great man to have in the organization.

Dr. Sheldon! Dr. Sheldon!

Now, you get one thing straight, Doc.

Not you, nor me, nor anybody speaks for the organization.

But from here on, you don't know me, you don't know Leach.

Now, is that clear?

Yes, sir. Dr. Sheldon!

Dr. Sheldon, it's me, Tom Gridley!

Dr. Sheldon!

Hello, Tom.

Dr. Sheldon, Pop wants you to come right away.

I'll just get my bag.

What's it gonna be, Tom, huh?

A little brother or a little sister?

I'd kind of like a brother, Dr. Sheldon.

Well, we'll see what we can do.

Thanks, Doc.

Tom? Yes, Father?

Go and see your new baby sister.

Sister?

Go on now. Behave yourself.

Doc.

Why, thank you. No, go ahead.

Take a whole handful.

Thanks. I don't mind if I do.

Oh. Oh, here.

Hey, uh, what's the, uh, talk down at the store

about the election tomorrow?

Oh, it looks like it's pretty even.

But I think the democrats are gonna win.

They doggone well better, or you're gonna see me pay off

one humdinger of an election bet.

Oh, really? What'd you bet? Well, I told Herrick

that if Swanson lost and Holbrook won the election,

I'd carry a 50-pound sack of flour

all the way from Austin to Clinton.

I'm gonna donate it to the, uh, Sanitary Fund.

Sanitary Fund?

Well, that's just a Union scheme to raise money for the North.

Well, I don't know anything about that.

I was so sure that Swanson was gonna win,

that... that I didn't even think about it.

Mm-hmm.

Well, all I can say is,

if Holbrook wins,

you may be sorry.

There we are.

How about a Havana, Mr. Smithers?

Yes, sir, we had the name Joseph all picked out,

but Josephina, that's gonna do just fine.

Joseph was my wife's father's name.

Let's see now. Uh, think I got everything the missus wants.

Hey, Gridley! Gridley! Holbrook won!

He won! He's the new mayor of Austin!

Hear ye, hear ye!

Our friend Gridley might run a good general store,

but he don't know beans about picking the winning candidate for mayor!

Are you ready to pay off our little wager, Mr. Gridley?

Well, looks to me like I don't have any choice.

Spoken like a true loser!

All right. Weak on politics maybe,

but he got mighty strong muscles.

Somebody bring Mr. Gridley 50 pounds of his best flour!

Go on! Get it!

Here you go!

Hey, Tom. Tom, come here, Tom.

Yes, sir? Tom,

now, you fetch one of those new brooms your father's got for sale.

Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. What's the broom for?

Well, a clean sweep for the Republicans, Gridley. Go on, Tom.

Yeah. And someone bring along a sponge

so you Democrats can throw it in!

On to Clinton! Let's go!

Come on!

♪ For he's a jolly good fellow

♪ Which nobody can deny

Hey!

Come on, boy. Stick to it.

Folks, there is nothing more blessed

than to bring aid and comfort

to the wounded, to the sick, and the lonely,

whom the fortunes of war have torn from their family and home

to fight upon the battlefields of this divided country.

Bless you for all your contributions.

My friends, I'd like to say at this time

that the people I've met and talked with throughout the West

have all had the real spirit of giving.

Yeah. That's right.

♪ Yankee Doodle dandy

♪ Mind the music and the step, and with the girls be handy ♪

♪ Yankee Doodle went to town a-riding on a pony ♪

♪ Stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni ♪

♪ Yankee Doodle keep it up, Yankee Doodle dandy ♪

Come on, boy!

Reverend Bellows,

our friend Gridley here has got something to tell you.

Reverend Bellows, you fine ladies and gentlemen,

seems I bet on the wrong candidate in this last election.

I'm from Hannibal, Missouri.

I don't go along with everything the North does,

but I don't welch on a bet either.

And I'm very happy to donate this sack of flour to your Sanitary Fund.

Why, thank you, Mr. Gridley.

You make a right fine Yankee, Reuel.

Three cheers for Reuel Gridley!

Hip, hip! Hooray!

Hip, hip! Hooray!

Hip, hip...

Friends of yours?

Now, you know me better than that.

All right. Let's get this wagon back on its wheels.

Mighty strong hint to stay out of this fund business, huh?

Folks, I've decided not to donate

this sack of flour to the fund after all.

Instead, I'm gonna buy it back for $200.

Why, Mr. Gridley, that's very generous of you.

I just want you to know that all the men from the South

don't necessarily think the same way.

Oh, we can't let the Democrats show us up, can we? No!

Here. Here's better than $300 for the fund.

Long live the Republicans! Hey!

Who's got $400?

Now, come on.

You don't have to have the cash.

I'm sure the minister here will take your pledge.

Jess Harper has it. Right, Jess?

Put Jess Harper down for $400.

Good boy, Jess!

Folks, Jess is from Austin, and I'm proud of him.

But, now, you citizens from Clinton,

you gonna let an Austin man top you now?

No!

Do I hear 500?

Who's got $500?

Clem! Clem Johnson!

That's a man! Do I hear 600?

Charity is just a blind.

All the money and stuff the Sanitary Commission raises

is turned into guns and ammunition for the North.

Oh, I don't think Reverend Bellows would lend his name to anything like that.

He's being used and doesn't know it.

How much money did you raise?

Oh, about $5,000.

Oh. There are people who aren't going to like that very much.

Like those hoodlums that turned over that wagon?

There are secret organizations, Reuel, that make it a point to discipline traitors.

You calling me a traitor, Doc?

I'm only trying to talk sense to you for your own good.

Raising that money for Bellows could get you into a lot of trouble.

With one of those secret organizations you were talking about?

They might overlook what you've already done.

But you steer clear of anything like that in the future.

Well, I hadn't given any thought about raising more funds,

but I'll tell you one thing, Doc:

no secret organization would stop me if I decided to do it.

Only speaking as a friend.

You are my friend, Doc.

Howdy.

See you later.

Can I help you? I don't know.

Oh, wait. Don't tell me.

Hannibal, Missouri? That's right, Frogskin.

Oh, Sam, Sam! I knew it had to be you!

You're the only one who ever called me Frogskin.

Well, that's 'cause you had so many warts.

Hey, what happened to 'em anyway? Oh, we witched 'em off.

Don't you remember? That's right.

What's that on your upper lip?

Don't you like it? Well, it's probably a lot better than what's underneath.

You old chicken thief! I didn't even know you were in Nevada.

Well, I didn't know you were either.

Not until I heard about a sack of flour

that got auctioned off for $5,000 by a man named Gridley.

A lot of sugar for one sack of flour.Yeah.

Anyway, I got to wondering if that gifted, talented, public-spirited auctioneer

could be old Frogskin.

Well, see, I was paying off an election bet.

Well, it sure paid off for charity.

You know, if you could raise $5,000

in a one-sidewalk town like Clinton,

I'll guarantee we could raise $25,000 in Virginia City.

And that's only the beginning. What do you mean "we"?

I'm working for the Territorial Enterprise.

We could have that whole newspaper behind us.

Now, how about it, Frogskin? It's for a great cause.

Well, I don't know, Sam.

See, there's the new baby, and I've got this store to run...

When do we start?

350!

I have 350. Do I hear 400?

Do I hear $400?

$400 to that fine gentleman behind me.

Now, do I hear five?

Do I hear 1,500?

1,500? MAN: 1,500!

1,500! All right!

Folks, from here, we go to Gold Hill.

Now, you wanna be outbid by Gold Hill?

No!

All right, let me hear 2,000!

Two thou...

$2,000.

$2,000? MAN: $2,000.

$2,000 to that gentlemen.

All right, let's give, give, give!

Oh, thank you, sir!

Now, we're here to beat Virginia City, and we're gonna do it!

Come on, now! Let's give!

There's a new kind of fever

that's infected the Comstock besides the gold fever.

This fever is giving.

Folks that have dug their gold and silver

from a mile under the earth

are now throwing it

at a man with a sack of flour.

500.Five for this lovely lady out here!

All right. Do I hear six? Six.

Six to this gentleman over here! All right, do I hear seven?

Seven. Seven...

Do I hear a thousand? MAN: $1,000!

Thank you, sir!

That's the spirit, folks! Give!

Now, who'll make it another hundred?

Do I hear another hundred?

Here! There!

And now we got a hundred! Okay, do I hear two?

The three sisters...

Faith, Hope, and Charity...

don't look like sisters anymore.

Charity has grown so large,

she makes the other two look like midgets.

They say it's because of her diet...

a mixture of Comstock generosity,

and flour.

♪ For he's a jolly good fellow

♪ Which nobody can deny ♪

Thanks, folks. And, folks, it's been a real pleasure,

and I thank you very kindly.

And I'm looking forward, well, seeing y'all tomorrow.

Good night. Good night.

Well, what a pleasant surprise.

When did you get into Virginia City?

This afternoon, late.

I came about your son.

Tom? Is he sick?

He's worse than sick.

Doc, he...

No, no, he's not dead.

Then what's the matter?

The Knights have got him.

The Knights?

The Knights of the Golden Circle.

Secret society.

What would they want with Tom?

Not Tom.

They're after you.

They don't like what you've been doing.

How would you know that?

They sent me to get you.

Are you one of 'em, Doc?

What if I am?

Where are they?

I'll take you to them.

Where's my boy, Doc? Tom's all right.

He's not here.

We wanted to be sure that you'd come.

The condemned man will stand here.

Now wait a minute. Doc?

Silence!

You will confine yourself to answering questions.

Later, if out of mercy,

this court decides to let you have a few words, then you may speak.

Doc, this is crazy.

Know ye, by order of the Supreme Knight of the Golden Circle,

exalted leader of our dedicated organization,

and as brave defenders of the truth...

"Defenders of the truth"?

As brave defenders of the truth

to abolish all evil.

Knights of the Golden Circle.

Our armor is our faith in our leaders.

Let's get on with it.

I never heard of such hogwash in my whole life.

No!

We will do as he says.

Get on with it.

Get on there.

Get his hands around back.

Tight.

How you gonna face yourself after this, Doc?

We tried to warn you, but you wouldn't listen.

The Sanitary Commission are a pack of self-righteous bloodsuckers,

and you were helping 'em!

How could you call yourself my friend,

and then betray me in the hands of these... these animals?

I've seen your work, Doc.

I've seen you healing the sick and fixing up the hurt and the wounded,

bringing children into the world.

My children.

Well, that's the picture I wanna go out on.

Face it with kindness.

Face it with a little love and respect to his fellow man.

I don't see it now, Doc.

Before these fools hang me, I want you to do me just one favor.

Cover up that face.

Put a mask over it so you look the same as the rest of them.

Hang him.

$25,000 from the Comstock, Frogskin.

You bring that to 50 by the time you hit Stockton,

Sacramento, and San Francisco,

and then I think, uh, Reverend Bellows plans

to take you East to Boston and New York.

There's no telling how much money

that sack of flour'll bring in before you're through.

Still thinking about Doc Sheldon?

Did you know he was a doctor in the Union Army at the beginning of the war?

No, I didn't know.

Territorial Enterprise

got the full story on him when he first came out West.

Seems he was court-martialed for gross negligence in his treatment of the wounded.

Some members of the Sanitary Commission brought the charges against him.

No wonder he hated everything connected with it.

See, he really wasn't against the North,

and he was no particular friend of the South.

He was just out after a personal revenge,

and he just fitted in fine with those crackpots of the Golden Circle.

Poor Doc.

Well, Sam, I gotta throw you outta here.

I gotta get some rest.

I got a lot of flour to sell tomorrow.

Frogskin, you're just the man who could do it.

After a successful fundraising drive throughout the Southwest,

Gridley took his sack of flour east,

and an eventual total of $275,000

was raised for the Sanitary Commission,

which was the forerunner of the Red Cross.

After the war, Gridley fell into obscurity.

Times were hard, and the family moved to Stockton.

After his death, his boyhood friend from Hannibal

wrote about Gridley in a book called Roughing It.

As a result of this tribute,

the Stockton chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic

erected a memorial statue

in honor of Gridley and his famous sack of flour.

It stands there today.