"ANNOUNCER:" "The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC." "(fanfare plays)" "(frog croaking)" "♪♪" "(door bangs open)" " (screams)" " What is this?" "What are you doing?" "(grunts)" "What are you..." "What are you going to do?" "Let go of me." "What...?" "No!" " WOMAN:" "Jess!" " No!" "Jess!" "(Jess groaning)" " Jess!" "Jess!" " Wait!" "Jess!" "(sobbing):" "No!" " Jess!" " Let me go." "No." " (crying):" "Oh, Jess!" " No... (gunshot)" "JESS:" "No!" "No." "Let me off!" "Let me off." "Jess!" "JESS:" "No!" "(horses neighing)" "(hoofbeats)" "(branch creaking)" "(hammering)" "(theme song playing)" "Reckon I ain't much good at making light conversation, Cameo." "You just leave that up to me, Hoss." "I can rattle on enough for the two of us." "(sighs)" "My, what a glorious night." "(sniffs)" "Smell the air." "It's so sweet." "(Hoss sniffs)" "Yeah, I... reckon it must be honeysuckle." "There's..." "lots of it around here." "I just love this place." "It's so peaceful and quiet." "Away from the noise of the town." "It's, uh, getting late, Hoss." "Cameo..." "Uh... there's..." "There's something I'd..." "There's something I'd like to say to you." "Oh, what's that, Hoss?" "(sighs)" "Ain't nothing..." "Ain't nothing important." "I, uh, best be getting inside." "Cameo..." "You..." "You reckon, uh...?" "Do you reckon I could...?" "Do you reckon I could kiss you?" "Tender-like?" "I reckon you could." "♪♪" "(whistling)" "(coyotes howling in distance)" "(whistling continues)" "(horse neighing)" "(horse snorting)" "Jim." "(humming tune)" "(horse snorting)" "(crickets chirping)" "♪♪" "That's them, Sheriff." "It's got to be." "Yeah." "Take the horses, Jimmy." "Just hold it right there, boys." "Howdy, Sheriff." "What's going on?" "That's what we want to find out." "Where you boys been?" "They were at my brother's house wearing masks." "I saw them drag Peg and Jess out of the house and kill them." "Huh?" "And what about it?" "You there with the green jacket-- you come up here where I can see your face." "(horses neighing, gunfire)" "(indistinct shouting)" "(horses neighing frantically)" "(gunshots)" "(gunfire)" "Clem Johnson." "I never thought he'd turn to this." "(sighs)" "Clem Johnson was a friend of mine." "No excuse for this." "He's not the only cattleman around that's been taking a beating." "Think of all the steers we've lost." "I'd rather lose every living thing on the Ponderosa than resort to the rope." "Look, you're a cattleman, Pa." "How come you weren't asked to join the vigilante pack?" "I was asked." "Didn't show you the letters." "(sighs)" "Sent to stock owners all over the territory." "Full of noble, virtuous arguments." "All they lacked was one thing-- signatures." "(Hoss clicks his tongue)" "Well, uh, I think I'll go up and get a little rest." "ADAM:" "You know, I wonder about that fellow that got away." "Oh, they'll catch up with him sooner or later." "I don't know." "It could be anybody." "Nobody saw him." "BEN:" "Mm." "(Hoss clicks his tongue)" "I think I did." "Well, you tell the sheriff about it?" "No, sir." "Why not?" "Well, Pa, I didn't actually see nobody around the Morehouse place." "I just saw a bunch of men riding from that direction." "They might not have had nothing to do with it." "I don't know." "But you recognized some of them." "(Hoss sighs)" "One of them." "Well, who was it?" "It was Jim Applegate, but Jim ain't the sort to go vigilante." "Well, neither was Clem Johnson." "Hoss, you've got to tell the sheriff about this." "Pa, I know Jim." "He's just a hardworking wrangler." "But I still think you have an obligation to tell the sheriff that you saw him with some of the men near the scene of the lynching." "Yeah, I reckon I do." "(sighs)" "I'll talk to the sheriff in the morning when I go into town." "Hoss!" "I didn't expect to see you this morning." "Well, I, uh, heard about last night." "You finding those people." "It must have been awful." "Yeah, it wasn't very pretty." "Well, would you like to come inside for a little while?" "Yeah, thanks." "I-I can't stay but a minute." "I got to get on into town." "Hello, Hoss." "Hiya, Jim." "I didn't expect to see you here." "(laughs)" "I guess I'm doing the same thing you're doing--visiting Cameo." "Well, isn't this nice?" "You two know each other." "JIM:" "Sure do." "Next to you, Hoss is probably the only real friend I got." "Why don't you just sit there and make yourself comfortable?" "I'll make us some tea." "Won't that be nice?" "Jim-dandy." "I didn't know we was both courting the same gal, Hoss." "Likewise." "She sure is a nice gal, though, ain't she?" "Real nice." "Jim, I..." "I ain't seen you around lately." "Well, I've been around." "Lost my job, though." "I've been looking for work." "Those mighty fancy new boots for a man out of work." "Why, you know me, Hoss." "Never save for tomorrow what you can spend today." "The tea will be ready in a minute." "Well, it looks like winter's about over, doesn't it?" "Reckon so." "The Indians say when the hazelnut is about the size of a-a squirrel's ear, it's safe to put in seeds." "(Cameo laughs)" "I go by a corn on my left foot." "When the swelling goes down, summer's on." "(Jim giggles)" "I guess, uh, Hoss don't feel much like laughing." "He found those poor people last night." "Oh, yeah, yeah." "Whole town was talking about it." "That poor woman." "Must have been awful." "Had no call to kill that woman." "They had no call to kill nobody." "You expecting more company, Cameo?" "Don't tell me Hoss ain't my only competition." "Goodness, no, I can't imagine who that could be." "(horse neighs)" "SHERIFF:" "Morning." "Jim Applegate, you're under arrest." "Under arrest?" "What are you talking about?" " I'm talking about you being one of them vigilantes." "Hey." "That's what I'm talking about." " What are you doing?" " Take him out, boys." " Oh, come on." "Oh, Sheriff, Jim couldn't possibly do" " anything like that." " Get my hat for me, will you?" "I'm afraid he could and did." "Them two folks that was murdered last night are no more cattle rustlers than you or me." "They're just a couple of homesteaders who were giving some stockman a little trouble over land rights." "You shouldn't be taking up with a man like that." "He's a murderer." "Hoss." "Hoss, they're making a terrible mistake." "Jim's no vigilante." "Hoss, I want to go into town right now." "Cameo, you, you'd best stay out of this." "Stay out of it?" "He's your friend, too, Hoss." "Do you really believe he could have killed two innocent people?" "I don't know." "Maybe he didn't think they was too innocent." "How can you say that?" "I don't believe what the sheriff says." "I'm going, Hoss; you can stay if you want to." "MAN:" "Come on, Sheriff, let us in there." "We'll get him, come on, now..." "What are you doing here, Cartwright, coming to see your friends?" "I... guess that sort of comes under the heading of my business, don't it?" "Is it your business to murder innocent people?" "Mr. Morehouse, I'm, I'm terrible sorry about your brother and his wife." "Forget your sympathy;" "I don't need it." "They were lynched by cattlemen, and you're a cattleman." "MAN:" "Come on, Sheriff, let us in there." "We'll get him." "SHERIFF:" "Hoss." "Cameo." "Afternoon, Sheriff." "Uh, Sheriff, we'd like to see Jim Applegate." "Hoss, you've got no call to get mixed up in this." "Well, just the same, we'd like to see him." "Well, I reckon I can't deny you that right." "Are you all right, Jim?" "They didn't hurt you, did they?" "Yeah, I'm all right." "I'm sorry about this, Cameo." "I... guess I kind of busted up our tea party." "You shouldn't have come down here." "I shouldn't have come down here?" "They took an innocent man right out of my house and threw him into jail, didn't they?" "Yeah, well, I guess you're about the only one in town that believes I'm innocent." "How about you, Hoss?" "It don't make no difference what I think, Jim." "It's what the law proves that counts." "Heck, I couldn't lynch nobody." "You know that, Cameo." "I'm as sure of that, Jim, as I am of anything." "But Hoss ain't so sure." "Why, sure he is." "Hoss, isn't that so?" "I..." "I hope he is, yeah." "Hope he is?" "What kind of talk is that?" "How could you even doubt it?" "Maybe he's got a reason." "What possible reason could he have?" "You." "Jim, you know better than that." "I ain't so sure, the way you're acting." "Look, hasn't either one of you in your life ever met anybody that you could trust, that... that you just knew was telling the truth?" "Jim, that's the way I feel about you." "And Hoss, that's the way I feel about you." "MAN:" "Ma'am... looks like you're wrong about both of 'em." "Who are you?" "I'm, uh, Frank Gideon, ma'am." "I'm one of those terrible fellas that lynched them homesteaders, and Jim-Boy was right there at my side." "Weren't you, Jim?" "That's a lie!" "Cameo..." "Hoss... he's lying, believe me." "I believe you, Jim." "(door opens and shuts)" "Jim, you, you and me have known each other for a long time." "I've always respected you for an honest sort of fella, and I, I'd like to believe you." "You'd like to, but you can't." "Jim, I seen you last night." "Seen me where?" "Riding in from the Morehouses' with a bunch of other fellers." "I seen you just as plain and clear as I see you right now." "That's right, Hoss." "I was with them-- that's a fact-- but I didn't take part in that lynching." "Well, what was you doing with them?" "Well, I met 'em just as they was leaving the Morehouse place." "I was heading back from Canlon's spread, just the other side of the Truckee." "I was over there looking for work." "Then Mr. Canlon can verify what you're telling me?" "There wasn't nobody home when I got there." "I plumb forgot that Canlon rides his scrub stock into market on the 15th." "Then there ain't nobody that can tell where you was." "I'm telling you the truth, Hoss." "I'm innocent, I swear it." "(snorts)" "It's funny, they all say that, right up to the time they swing." "Ain't that right, mister?" "All right, go tell the sheriff." "Tell him that you saw me." "Go ahead, maybe it'll do you some good." "What's that supposed to mean?" "You know what I mean." "With me out of the way, you're not going to have any competition with Cameo." "(dog barking in distance)" "♪♪" "♪♪" "Mr. Morehouse, you're not going to gain nothing by stirring up a lot of hate." "It ain't me that's been stirring it up, cattleman." "There's been a lot of mistakes made, lot of mistakes made by both sides." "You going to keep on making 'em?" "Let's show him what we do to cattlemen, boys." "You just stay right where you are." "That goes for all of you." "You ain't stopping me, cattleman!" "Mr. Morehouse, I don't want to hurt you." "Your brother and his wife were two innocent people." "Those two fellows in there might be, too." "Don't you want to hang around and find out?" "They're guilty, Hoss, they're as guilty as sin, but they will be accorded the due process." "They'll get all the due process they need-- same kind they gave my brother and a helpless woman." "(crowd clamoring)" "Now, wait a minute, boys." "I told you earlier that a gathering like this was illegal and I asked you to break it up, but now I'm telling you to break it up, so go on, git, before somebody gets into real trouble." "(men muttering discontentedly)" "MAN:" "Let's knock that door down right now." "Come on, open up, Sheriff." "(men grumbling)" "Hoss, this man is a no-good drifter." "Now, forget about him." "He's always been that way." "This time he's got himself into real trouble, and he's going to pay for it." "Roy, I, I thought your job was catching criminals, not hanging 'em." "Oh, Hoss." "My job is protecting the public, but that don't mean" "I ain't got a right to my own personal opinion." "Dad-burnit, Roy, I got a right to my opinion, too, and there might be just an outside chance that Jim's telling the truth." "What about these?" "How much can you let this boy twist the truth to suit himself?" "(sighs)" "I don't know." "But I'm gonna find out." "I gotta." "Well, Hoss, I didn't expect to see you again." "I'm sorry about what I said before." "I guess I must have had a burr under my saddle." "Forget it." "Just keep talking, Jim-Boy, just keep talking." "Maybe he'll forget about you trying to steal his girl." "Don't listen to him, Hoss." "He doesn't know what he's talking about." "Don't I?" "Why don't you tell him about you and me?" "I think he'd be mighty interested in hearing." "That's got nothing to do with this." "Ain't it?" "You told the sheriff yet you seen Jim-Boy with us?" "Why don't you shut up?" "GIDEON:" "I think you'd better." "I'm just trying to help, mister." "That little girl of yours" "Jim-Boy here has got his eye on her." "Gideon, shut up." "Oh, come on, Jim-Boy, stealing another fellow's girl is nothing new to you." "Remember?" "(screams)" "Don't listen to him, Hoss." "I've seen this boy work." "Oh, he's got a way with women." "Yeah, they melt like hot tallow when he looks at 'em." "They forget about everybody else." "Ain't that right, Jim-Boy?" "Ain't like it sounds, Hoss!" "Hoss, listen to me." "Hoss!" " Roy." " Yeah?" "Hoss." "What's the matter, boy?" "You got something to tell me?" "He's gonna tell them now, Jim-Boy." "That's all they'll need to get you good." "Well, if it ain't the law, it'll be them homesteaders." "Yeah, they're gonna..." "dangle you into nowhere." "Just like me." "Why don't you stop?" "Be kind of fitting, won't it?" "Two men in love with the same woman dangling from the same tree." "(sighs):" "Ah... but, then," "I guess you never really did love her." "You just used her, till she couldn't think about anybody else but you." "That was a long time ago." "You gonna carry that around in your gut for the rest of your life?" "It's easy for you, Jim." "Everything's always been easy for you." "You just love 'em and leave 'em." "I didn't take Ellen away from you." "She couldn't stand the sight of you." "Ellen?" "Oh." "Oh, yeah." "My wife." "(chuckles) I'd almost forgotten about her." "I guess I never cared very much for Ellen." "No, she's not the one I hate you for." "It's the first one you stole from me." "That's the one I hate you for." "That's the one I hate you for." "(door opens)" "(grunts)" "(groans)" "(keys rattling)" "Let me out, Jim-Boy!" "I-I didn't mean what I said, honest, Jim." "It-It's all in the past." "Give me the keys, huh?" "The keys!" "That's more of a chance than you'd give me." "(glass shatters)" "(grunting)" "Have you been to Virginia City again?" "All right, if I have?" "That's twice in two days." "I ain't got to account to nobody, have I?" "Now, we just missed your strong back around here," " that's all." " I do my share." "Well, you don't have to get so riled up about it." "I ain't riled up." "Oh, I guess red's, uh, your natural color, huh?" "Maybe it is." "What are you making your bullets for?" "You too cheap to go in town and buy them?" "Hold on to a dollar longer than anybody I ever seen." " Now, wait a minute..." " Oh, excuse us." "No, come on, I want to find out" " what's the matter with you!" " Aw, leave him alone." "(door opens)" "(door closes)" "Hoss." "Sit down." "What is it, son?" "This isn't like you." "Uh... reckon I just felt like being mean, Pa." "This Jim Applegate thing troubling you?" "I guess I'm letting it get me down." "Is that the only reason?" "No, sir." "There's a girl." "You know, Cameo." "What's Cameo got to do with it?" "I like Cameo a whole lot, Pa." "(sighs)" "So does Jim." "And I got to make sure that... if I tell what I saw, it ain't gonna be just to get rid of him." "(sighs) It seems to me that you're letting your personal feelings influence you to the point where they're... interfering with what you're obligated to do." "But Pa, that's exactly what I'm trying not to do." "Don't you see?" "The... the sheriff already thinks Jim's guilty, and... well, everybody else does." "All they need is an eyewitness-- me." "I think there's one possibility which you seem to be avoiding." "Maybe he is guilty." "(hoofbeats approaching)" "(horse neighs)" "BEN:" "What do you want here, Morehouse?" "We want Jim Applegate and Frank Gideon." "Well, they're in jail." "MOREHOUSE:" "Don't give me that, Cartwright." "They're out, and you know it." "Your boy helped them to escape, and he's hiding them here." "Hoss?" "Last time I saw 'em, they was in jail, Pa." "He's lying." "They're friends of his." "Now, Mr. Morehouse... you're a little excited, so I'll overlook the fact that you've called my son a liar." "But my patience wears very thin." "So does mine, Cartwright." "We'll find them." "And when we do, we'll give them exactly what they gave my brother and his wife." "Well, Hoss, what about it?" "You didn't help them escape, did you?" "Course not." "Where you off to?" "I'm gonna go get my hat and gun and take a little ride." "I think I know where Jim might be." "I love you, Cameo." "I love you, Jim." "At first I tried not to, but I just couldn't help myself." "(faint creaking in distance)" "(neighing)" "I got to run." "I hate running, but I got to if I'm going to stay alive." "Then I'll run with you, Jim." "It wouldn't be fair." "See, that's-that's not right." "Are you thinking about Hoss?" "I can't help it." "I know how Hoss feels about you." "He's been very decent to me, Cameo, and nobody else has." "I don't belong to Hoss, Jim." "Cameo... were you ever Hoss's girl?" "I thought I might be once," " until..." " Till what?" "Until I realized how much I care for you." "I'll go pack us some food." "We can't stay here." "(gun hammer cocks)" "I don't want to kill you, Jim." "I wouldn't use mine, either." "Jim, you..." "You pretty near had me believing you back there in the jail." "(gun thuds)" "I never lied to you." "Why'd you run off?" "Deck's stacked, Hoss." "They even got an eyewitness." "Jim, I didn't tell them what I saw." "The worst possible thing you could have done was to run away." "It just makes you even look that much guiltier." "Well, I guess it doesn't matter how guilty I look now." "Yes, it does." "I'm-I'm taking you back, Jim." "(gun hammer cocks)" "Nobody's taking me in there, Hoss, not even you." "Jim, I respect how you feel... but I have to." "Why do you have to?" "I got to find the truth out about you, Jim, and the law has a right to decide it." "That your only reason?" "No, it ain't." "I ain't gonna let you ruin Cameo's life just because she feels sorry for you." "You got to quit fooling yourself, Hoss." "She doesn't feel sorry for me." "She loves me." "I'm taking Cameo, and I'm leaving." "No, you ain't." "Well, you gonna have to shoot me, if you want to stop me." "Jim!" "(grunting)" "(grunting)" "(rifle hammer cocks)" "Let him go, Hoss!" "I said let him go!" "I can't do that, Cameo." "You're going to have to." "He's got to go back, for his own good." "They'll kill him, Hoss." "HOSS:" "Not if he ain't guilty, they won't." "You keep saying that, and you don't even believe it yourself." "Cameo, it-it don't make no difference what I believe." "We got to go by the rules." "Otherwise, all of the things we ever believed in don't mean nothing." "I don't care anything about rules anymore." "All I care about is what I feel inside." "You just... you just feel sorry for him." "You don't really love him." "Don't I?" "(hoofbeats)" "What is it, Jim?" "What's wrong?" "Wrong." "Oh... nothing's wrong." "It's just funny." "I was just remembering a thing a fella once told me... and how right he was." "I-I don't understand." "I don't understand, either, Cameo, but I got to admit, the fella is right." "Jim, don't talk like that." "You frighten me." "I always get the best of everything, don't I?" "What are you talking about?" "You're running for your life." "Those men back there want to kill you." "I don't mean that." "Don't you understand?" "I'm talking about you." "Jim, please..." "I took you away from Hoss, didn't I?" "No." "No!" "It was my choice." "I'm here because I love you." "Don't move, Applegate." "Just get up nice and slow." "Well, this is a surprise." "We figured you were holed up somewhere on the Ponderosa." "We were tracking your friend Gideon." "We're going to hang you from the same tree where you hanged my brother." "Mr. Morehouse, he didn't have anything to do with that lynching!" "You got no cause to worry." "We ain't gonna hurt no woman." "Now you're free to go, Miss Cameo, or you can stay and watch him hang." "It's up to you." "You go on, you go ahead." "No, I won't go!" "I won't leave you!" "Oh, you got to go try to find the sheriff, get some help." "Sure, get the sheriff." "He'll get back here in time to cut him down." "(hoofbeats)" "CAMEO:" "Hoss!" "Hoss?" "Hoss!" "Oh, Hoss, that-that mob's got a hold of Jim!" "Please, you got to help him." "(Cameo crying)" "I ain't never helping nobody no more." "But Hoss, they're going to lynch him!" "I don't care what they do to him." "(crying):" "Oh, please, Hoss." "Cameo, I..." "I ain't no just plain old ordinary piece of clay that you can just mold into any shape you want." "I..." "I got feelings on the inside, too." "Oh, I know you do, Hoss." "I know you have, but..." "I deserve anything you may think about me, but... you just got to help him!" "He doesn't deserve to be murdered!" "(crying):" "Oh, please, Hoss." "You want me to go out there and risk my neck to save him so he can have you?" "Yes." "That's what I want." "Let's go." "(coyote howling in distance)" "Ain't no way of stopping you from hanging an innocent man, is there?" "None whatsoever." "All you want to see is blood, huh?" "Go ahead, Morehouse, get it over with quick." "All right, boys." "(gun hammer cocking)" "HOSS:" "Morehouse, if that horse moves, I'll kill you." "Now, you boys, put your guns out here in a little pile-- that's the way-- and then move over by the tree." "Move slow, but move." "You stay here, Cameo." "(coyote howling)" "That goes for you, too, Mr. Morehouse." "Right over there." "Yah!" "(horse neighing)" "Get him, boys!" "(grunting)" "(creaking)" "(Hoss grunting)" "(men grunting)" "Stop it!" "(grunting)" "(gasping, branch creaking)" "Stop it, I say!" "Stop it!" "Get away!" "(men grunting)" "(creaking, coughing)" "CAMEO:" "Stop it!" "(men grunting)" "Stop it, or I'll shoot!" "(men grunting)" "(gun hammer clicks)" "All right, boys, back away." "(men panting)" "Looks like you're in kind of a spot, Jim-Boy." "Gideon, cut him down." "I-I can't hold him much longer." "Cut him down?" "I've been waiting 30 years to see my brother at the end of a rope." "Your brother?" "Folks always found that hard to believe, didn't they, Jim-Boy?" "You, the handsome, woman-stealing, ladies' man, my brother, Jim Gideon." "No, you've got the wrong man." "That's Jim Applegate." "He's my brother, and he took everything-- her name, her love..." "If he's your brother, cut him down." "She loved me before you came along." "You!" "Her love child." "She ought to be here now, Jim-Boy." "Stroke your hair and hold your hand and sing you songs." "Maybe then..." "(quietly):" "Sing you songs." "I was... four or five years old." "She used to lock me out of the house." "I'd sit under the window, and listen to her talk to you and sing to you." "She forgot all about me." "One day, I..." "I tried to climb in, and she slammed the window on my hand." "Drop my brother, Cartwright." "Drop him now, or I'll shoot you out from under him!" "Do what he says, Hoss." "Drop him!" "(branch creaking)" "I'll kill you with the next one, Cartwright." "He means it, Hoss." " (creaking)" " He'll kill you." "(screaming)" "(Jim grunting)" "Help!" "Help me!" "Please, help me!" " Help!" " (men clamoring)" "MAN:" "Come on, now." "Hurry up there." "(Cameo sobbing)" "MAN:" "Come on, now." " Hurry up there." " MOREHOUSE:" "Down, down." "(Cameo panting)" "MAN:" "You hold him." "(Jim grunts)" "MAN:" "You hold him." "(Jim grunting)" "(inhales deeply)" "My brother was telling the truth about everything." "I lied to you." "I was there when they... lynched those people, but I thought that they was only going to scare them." "I'm sorry, Hoss." "And Cameo... you... you just got to believe me." "I really do love you." "Ho... (crying quietly)" "(sobbing)" "Come on, Hoss." "We got to take care of that arm." "Thank you, Mr. Morehouse." "(Cameo crying)" "(birds singing)" "It's... difficult to put things into words sometimes." "I know it is." "Don't even try." "You were so right, Hoss." "You do have to go by the rules." "No, I don't..." "I don't reckon any of us was right." "Just a lot of folks looking for different things in the wrong places." "I know." "But I'll never forget you, Hoss." "You've been so very good to me." "I'll never forget you, either, Cameo." "Good-bye, Hoss." "Bye." "You still feel the same way about her, don't you, boy?" "Yes, sir." "I don't reckon a man's feelings change overnight." "Hmm." "No." "Did you tell her?" "No, sir." "Why not?" "Why not, son?" "I know how she felt about Jim Applegate, but..." "Well, now that..." "now that Jim's gone, I..." "No, Pa, Jim ain't gone." "He'll never be gone." "Not for Cameo, he won't." "ANNOUNCER:" "This has been a color presentation of the NBC Television Network."