TV-14 | 30min | Wester, TV Series | Episode aired 18 March 1957
Jim Hardie is assigned to ride shotgun on a stagecoach that was held up carrying a valuable cargo of gold, but has to contend with a driver who thinks he can handle any outlaws he meets with all by himself.
Director: Leslie H. Martinson
Writers: N.B. Stone Jr.
Stars: Dale Robertson, Chuck Connors, Russell Thorson
Jim Hardie is assigned to ride shotgun on a stagecoach that was held up carrying a valuable cargo of gold, but has to contend with a driver who thinks he can handle any outlaws he meets with all by himself.
Director: Leslie H. Martinson
Writers: N.B. Stone Jr.
Stars: Dale Robertson, Chuck Connors, Russell Thorson
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00The firm of Wells Fargo played an important part in the settling and development of our
00:07American West. As the frontier moved toward the Pacific Ocean, Wells Fargo moved with
00:13it, linking the hundreds of towns that sprang up in that great wilderness with roads over
00:18which their stagecoaches and freight wagons traveled. Wells Fargo's business was transportation
00:24and security. Its motto was to safeguard and deliver the goods, whether it was human
00:29or freight cargo, or a consignment of that precious yellow metal that men called gold.
00:36The West was a lawless place in those days, and a man who worked for Wells Fargo had to
00:41be long on courage to hold down his job.
00:43Get the sheriff.
01:11Get the sheriff.
01:26You're going to have to clean that out, son.
01:28Clean away?
01:30You better stretch out on the table over there, I guess.
01:33I reckon I'll stand.
01:35It'll be a lot easier if you lie down.
01:38I'd like to see what's going on, Doc.
01:52Nobody in Willard Creek's going to bother you strong bucks.
01:56Doc, you mean to tell me there ain't even one dishonest man in this town?
02:05You the driver?
02:07Guard. Bill Peters is the driver. Or was.
02:11I don't recall seeing your face before.
02:13I'm new on this run. Got transferred out here from the Wyoming country.
02:17Where were you shot up?
02:19Back yonder, about halfway between here and Rimrock.
02:22What's in the strong box?
02:24Gold. I reckon it's that heavy.
02:26Wells Fargo don't tell us what we're guarding. They just say guard it.
02:30I'll cash the box in my jail cell until you're ready to go again. It'll be safe there.
02:34Maybe that's a smart idea, Sheriff.
02:39A little snort of whiskey?
02:41I've got no bad habits, Doc.
02:43Well, bite on the bullet then if it starts to tickle.
02:59My name is Jim Hardy, special agent and sort of a traveling detective for Wells Fargo.
03:05I was in our San Francisco office when a telegram came from the Sheriff of Willard Creek
03:10with the information about an attempted holdup of our stagecoach from Rimrock.
03:15I talked it over with our manager.
03:17We decided that I had better head for Willard Creek and come back with the stage to San Francisco.
03:22I could leave here now, ride all night, and I'd be in Willard Creek first thing in the morning.
03:27Good. Well, the guard got nicked in the shoulder. Nothing serious, apparently.
03:32Jim, I think Wells Fargo should make something big out of this.
03:35Get a little advertising to show the country that we've got men in our company who can deliver the goods.
03:40We ought to give this guard a medal at the least.
03:43He might appreciate a bonus a little more.
03:47Yes.
03:49Wells Fargo may be a business firm, but we're doing more than our share toward bringing law and order to the West.
03:56And it's men who have courage and loyalty like this guard, Button Smith, who are the backbone of Wells Fargo.
04:04What was that name again?
04:07Button Smith.
04:09He's a handle for you.
04:11He's new out here, but he's with the company for five years in Wyoming and never lost a payroll.
04:18Wyoming, huh?
04:21I'll send you a message a few hours before we get to San Francisco.
04:27That'll give you a chance to get the brass band tuned up.
04:51Well, how's your arm?
05:01Oh, it'll be all right.
05:04You can give me the box now and I'll be heading on for San Francisco.
05:08Your people are sending another Wells Fargo man to ride with you.
05:11He'll get here in the morning.
05:13I'll keep your shipment locked up till then.
05:16Well, how could you know what they want?
05:20This just came over the wire.
05:22We're getting real city-fied out here.
05:25Telegraph office was installed just last winter.
05:29Well, how do you like that?
05:31I get to go this far alone and now they gotta send some fancy-pants dude to ride herd on me.
05:37Well, there's 30 miles of wild country between here and the valley.
05:42You might just meet up with some jaspers who figure you were easy pickings.
05:46If you was alone.
05:48Sheriff.
05:50Nobody gets that gold from me.
05:54Nobody.
06:18A few miles past the crossroads, I stopped at the Wells Fargo relay station.
06:23I told them we'd be bringing the stagecoach through in a couple of days and to have fresh horses ready for us.
06:29Nice, friendly people there at the relay station.
06:32I got to thinking it'd be a good place to spend a few days sometime.
06:36Vacation sort of.
07:02Hey.
07:04If your horse is that hungry, why don't you try oats?
07:07You from Wells Fargo?
07:08That's right.
07:09My name's Jim Hardy.
07:11I take it you're Button Smith.
07:12Who else?
07:15You know, it's bothered me ever since I first heard it.
07:19Where'd you get a name like that?
07:22Well, when I was born, Ma says to Pa,
07:25now ain't he sure cute as a button?
07:29Your Ma ought to see that cute baby now.
07:32Be quite some sharp to it, wouldn't it?
07:35Yep.
07:36You ready to roll?
07:38Shoulder can take it.
07:39No, I just got it in the arm.
07:41That don't fret me none, as long as my gun side stays fast and limber.
07:51It's swifty, huh?
07:54I'm a ring-tailed whizzeroo when I'm pressed.
07:57I got the payload locked up in a jail cell.
08:00Let's go.
08:31Whoa!
08:42Sure is funny, Button.
08:43Both of us working for Wells Fargo and hadn't ever run into each other.
08:47Guess where you was, I wasn't.
08:49Yeah.
08:50You ever been to San Francisco?
08:52Nope.
08:53That's a good town.
08:55A lot of entertainment there.
08:57A lot of pretty gals, too.
08:59You married?
09:00Not me.
09:01That's good.
09:02That's smart.
09:04A man can't go kissing every pretty girl he sees if he's already been roped and branded.
09:09I ain't never kissed even one.
09:12Beg your pardon?
09:14I've always been spooky around girls.
09:16I don't know why, but they scare me, sorta.
09:30Button and I hit it off fine right from the start.
09:33In no time at all, we were swapping lives with each other.
09:36I never knew a man I took a liking to so quick.
09:39He had an easy going way about him, but there wasn't any flies on Button.
09:43He was tough through and through.
09:45The sort of man that made a good friend and a bad enemy.
09:49And what other kind is worth knowing?
10:00Come on.
10:26All right, reach.
10:29Come on.
11:00Come on.
11:13Big Johnson.
11:21He was fixing to bushwhack you, Jim.
11:30We buried the men so the buzzards wouldn't get at them.
11:34Then we rolled on towards San Francisco.
11:37They're gonna be real happy to see you in San Francisco, Button.
11:41Wouldn't be surprised if they bilch you to the statue.
11:44Ma always said I'd be famous someday.
11:47You bet.
11:49You saved the gold twice for Wells Fargo.
11:51They're not likely to forget it in a hurry.
11:53Jim, those Jespers had us covered.
11:56Jim, those Jespers had us covered.
11:59How come you took a chance and went for your gun?
12:02I had to.
12:04When they don't wear masks, they're not gonna leave any witnesses around that can talk later.
12:08Pretty lucky at that.
12:11Have to go a long way to find anybody who'd ever seen the Whiskey River Gang in action.
12:15Live to tell about it.
12:17How'd you know it was the Whiskey River Gang?
12:20I found identification on one of them.
12:22I think I could have guessed it anyway.
12:24How so?
12:25The way they operated.
12:27Outlaws generally follow a definite pattern which helps identify them.
12:32What about that bunch that you ran up against yesterday?
12:35How'd they work it?
12:36Oh, there was four of them.
12:38Two got away.
12:40They had a log blocking the road and...
12:42when Bill Peters stopped the stage...
12:45they started taking pot shots at us from behind some rocks.
12:49Could have been Steve McGregor and his brother.
12:51Ah, it don't matter, Jim.
12:53We got the gold.
13:03Button.
13:06Never touch it.
13:13You don't drink whiskey.
13:15You don't kiss girls.
13:18I've always been a little suspicious of a man who never had any minor vices.
13:22I promised my ma.
13:25That's a fancy looking hog leg you got.
13:28Let me heft it.
13:36Special job, huh?
13:39What's this here writing on the barrel?
13:41Read it.
13:43Be not afraid of any man that walks beneath the skies.
13:48Though you be weak and he be strong...
13:51I will equalize.
13:53Real pretty.
13:55We ought to get to the relay station pretty early in the morning.
13:58We'll pick up some fresh horses.
14:00They'll put us in San Francisco in the mid-afternoon.
14:03Relay station?
14:05Yeah.
14:06I stopped in there yesterday and told them I'd be coming back through tomorrow with the stage.
14:10They'll be expecting us.
14:14You only got five cartridges in your gun, Jim.
14:17Yeah. I got it adjusted to a hair trigger.
14:20Always keep the hammer sitting on an empty chamber.
14:38Pair of sixes, check.
14:44Bet a ten cent piece.
14:47I don't think you got a king in a hole.
14:50So I'm raising you the whole pile.
14:55That's a funny bet.
14:57If I've got a king, ten or a seven in a hole, I got you beat.
15:02Unless, of course, you checked the cinch.
15:05You wouldn't do that.
15:07Now you put your money where your mouth is and find out.
15:10All right, I'll just call for what chicken feet I got left.
15:13Pair of kings.
15:15Three sixes.
15:20You sure won for the book, Buttons.
15:22You don't drink whiskey.
15:24You don't kiss girls.
15:26And you checked cinches.
15:28That's what they call the game of poker.
15:31They do.
15:35I guess it's time we hit the hay.
15:39I guess it's time we hit the hay.
15:48We got off to an early start in the morning.
15:50By the time the day was three hours old,
15:52we were out of the hills and onto the valley floor.
15:55At the relay station?
15:57That's it.
15:59Once we leave there, we'll have nothing to worry about.
16:02We'll be in the clear.
16:04In the clear?
16:06Nothing ahead of us but San Francisco.
16:26Pretty country, all right.
16:28But I'd imagine it'd get a little lonesome around here.
16:31I don't mind it too much.
16:33I guess I'm better off than most folks
16:35living away from civilization.
16:37I get to talk to the stage passengers now and then.
16:41And the drivers?
16:47You know, ma'am, I'd say offhand that if every
16:50Wells Fargo relay station came equipped
16:52with a pretty miss like you,
16:54we'd have more drivers and guards
16:56than we knew what to do with.
16:58You're a knowing man with the words, Mr. Hardy.
17:01Well, you're stating the facts.
17:04You know, I've got a little vacation time coming.
17:06I've been seriously thinking about spending it
17:08in a nice, quiet place.
17:09Like this?
17:11Could be.
17:13We have a dance twice a month
17:15at the Crossroads Schoolhouse.
17:17I suspect I'd better start brushing up on my dancing.
17:24Well, we're just about set.
17:26Dandy.
17:28I'll ride inside the coach for a while.
17:31Catch up on my sleep.
17:58Help!
18:24Am I snoring bother the horses?
18:26Jim old sidekick, we got ourselves stuck.
18:29You mind getting your hands dirty
18:31and giving us a push?
18:33Sure.
18:57How you doing, Jim boy?
18:59Getting adjusted.
19:05All right.
19:26All right.
19:49These here fresh horses are spooky.
19:51They just up and bolted on me, Jim.
19:53Sure.
19:55Next stop, San Francisco.
19:57Think maybe I'll just ride my horse a while.
20:00Give him a chance to stretch his leg.
20:02Yeah.
20:26Hold it, Button.
20:28Whoa!
20:41What's up, Jim?
20:43Tap the wire.
20:45Send off a message to San Francisco.
20:47Tell them to kill the fatted calf.
20:49Button Smith's on his way in.
20:51Message.
20:56What are they going to do
20:58when we get to San Francisco?
21:00Tie me a brass band?
21:02You bet.
21:04Fifty dancing ladies.
21:06You can forget about the ladies.
21:13I'll be back.
21:15I'll be back.
21:17I'll be back.
21:19I'll be back.
21:21I'll be back.
21:23I'll be back.
21:54Hey, Jim.
21:56Ain't Los Angeles pretty close to the Mexican border?
21:59Afar.
22:03That's what I figured.
22:24Hey, Jim boy.
22:26You got a fast draw.
22:28But how are you at hitting a moving target?
22:31Like this.
22:35Pretty sharp, Jim.
22:37But I'll bet a buffalo chip you can't do it with two.
22:40Try me.
22:47Set.
22:54Let me try that again.
22:56Yeah, sure, Jim.
23:09You shot five times, Jim.
23:12Looks as how that five-shooter of yours is empty.
23:15I'll load it when I get down from this perch.
23:18Afraid your loading days are over, Jim.
23:21You see, my name's Pete Johnson.
23:24I killed your man, Button Smith, two days ago.
23:27Took his papers, his hat and his name.
23:32I've been scared of your draw all along.
23:36But now it don't matter how fast you are.
23:39I got all the time in the world.
23:43Sorry, Jim.
23:52Back at camp the night before, when Button was asleep,
23:56I slipped an extra cartridge into my gun.
23:59The first time in my life I ever loaded it with more than five shells.
24:03I guess it was the way he played poker that made me suspicious of him.
24:07A man that will check a cinch is capable of almost anything.
24:11You couldn't help but like him, though.
24:14He could have been a real good player.
24:17You couldn't help but like him, though.
24:20He could have been a real good man to ride with.
24:23There was a flaw in his makeup.
24:25A weakness. That was his undoing.
24:28For a man is like a rope.
24:30He's only as strong as his thinnest part.