"Just told her so." "What?" "Do I hear wedding bells?" "When can I print the story?" "Don't rush me, Mr Editor." "Don't rush me." "There's your cactus rose." "Sure is pretty." "Thank you, Pompey." "It is pretty." "Go in and get supper." "Thank you, ma'am." "Oh, Rance." "Look at that." "Isn't that the prettiest thing you ever saw?" "Yeah, it's very pretty." "Did you ever see a real rose?" "No." "But someday if they dam the river, we'll have water and all kinds of flowers." "Hallie!" "When you finish the dishes, will you help wait tables?" "Sure." "Washing dishes is enough for him." "A man waiting on tables?" "Well, no, I'd be glad to help." "Be glad to." "I thought we was busy." "Well, these steaks look done just right for us." "You cowhands ain't in no hurry to eat, are you?" "Well, are you?" "I guess we could do with another drink." "That's right neighbourly of you, partner." "Especially after all the lies" "I hear folks been saying about Liberty Valance." "Oh, wait a minute!" "One of Mamma's pies for Tom." "Well..." "Looky at the new waitress." "That's my steak, Valance." "You heard him, dude." "Pick it up." "No!" "Pilgrim, hold it." "I said you, Valance." "You pick it up." "Three against one, Doniphon." "My boy Pompey in the kitchen door." "I'll get it, Liberty." "I said you, Liberty." "You pick it up." "What's the matter?" "Everybody here kill-crazy?" "Here!" "There!" "Now!" "It's picked up!" "Why don't you get yourself a fresh steak on me?" "Show's over for now." "Try it, Liberty." "Just try it." "Well, get out!" "Now, I wonder what scared him off." "You know what!" "The spectacle of law and order here rising up out of the gravy and the mashed potatoes!" "All right, all right, you made your point." "The gun scared him off." "Pompey's gun, your gun, Tom." "Why did you interfere?" "He tripped me." "It was my steak." "And you would have killed him for it!" "Or he would have killed you over one measly steak!" "That's why I picked it up!" "Thanks for saving my life, pilgrim." "That isn't why I did it!" "Nobody fights my battles." "Rance, I'm sorry." "Peter, I'm not in the habit of eating my steak off the floor." "Well, cool off, pilgrim." "It's all over." "Nobody got hurt." "It is not all over, and everybody here knows it." "He'll be back." "He will, but not after me." "After you, pilgrim." "And you can't shoot back with a law book." "What Peabody's saying is, if you want to stay healthy, there's two ways to do it." "Buy a gun or leave the territory, is that what he meant?" "That's it, pilgrim." "By golly..." "I'd hate to see you go." "You're news, Mr Stoddard, and you've been news ever since you hit town." ""Ransom Stoddard, Attorney-at-Law."" "Oh." "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings out there." "Hey, I'll tell you what." "You decide to stick around, and I'll let you hang this thing outside the newspaper office, rent-free, for as long as it lasts." "No." "No." "The first time Liberty rides into town, he'll shoot it to pieces, and the whole newspaper office." "How about that, Mr Peabody?" "Well, that'd be news." "I accept your offer, Mr Peabody." "How about letting me hang that up tomorrow?" "Huh?" "Tomorrow?" "Well, of course." "Thank you." "Why not?" "I'm staying, and I'm not buying a gun either." "Well, good luck, pilgrim." "Oh, Hallie, I'll be out of town for a while, north of the Picketwire, horse-trading." "Goodbye, Tom." "Oh, and take note of what goes on around town because by the time I get back, there won't be no newspaper to read it in." "Well, any news?" "Hansons had a baby boy, eight pounds." "But not twins?" "Not twins." "Here, I got this list of voters for you." "There are 37 new registrations over last year, and not one single one needed a lawyer." "Oh. 37, huh?" "Well, by golly!" "If we can only get them to vote, maybe we can handle those cattle barons from across the Picketwire, huh?" "Well, did you write this, Mr Peabody?" "Yeah." "Well, this is great." "You like it?" "This thing's just great." "Well..." "As my old boss, Horace Greeley, used to say," ""We'll tear their hearts out."" "I'll be right there." "Let me have this." "I'll use it in class." "Well..." "Good morning." "I'm sorry I'm late." "A teacher should never be late for class." "Take your seats." "Well, this is quite a turnout this morning." "We have more pupils every day." "Morning, Marshal." "Morning, Rance." "How are you feeling?" "Just fine, fine." "Your head cold?" "Oh, no, no." "I have a..." "Excuse me." "I just wanted to see how Julietta was doing." "Julietta's doing fine." "How's the rest of my family doing in reading?" "Well, Hallie's in charge of the kindergarten." "Hallie, why don't you run through the ABCs?" "All right, you ready?" "One, two, three." "A, B, C, D, E, F, G" "H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P" "Q, R, S and T, U, V" "W, X and Y and Z" "Now I know my ABCs" "Tell me what you think of me" "Well, that was just fine, just fine." "Well, I see a couple more new pupils back there." "Highpockets, Kaintuck, you fellas really serious about reading'?" "Go on." "Stand up." "Tell him." "Well, Miss Hallie, she talked such a right smart argument to the Lazy J..." "The boss of the Lazy J..." "Well, he just up and told all the hands to cut the cards to see who come to school, and I lost." "I see." "Well, we'll try..." "Good morning, Mr Carruthers." "Good morning." "Caught him playing hookey again, fishing." "Catch anything, Herbert?" "No, sir." "They weren't biting." "That's too bad." "Ain't you gonna whop him?" "He's too big." "For the benefit of those of you just starting, none of us in here smoke, Mr Carruthers." "Thank you." "For those of you who have just started," "I might explain to you that we've begun the school by studying about our country" "and how it's governed." "Now, let's see." "Well, now, Nora..." "Would you tell the class what you've learned about the United States?" "The United States is a republic and a republic" "is a state in which the people are the boss." "That means us." "And if the big shots in Washington don't do like we want, we don't vote for them, by golly, no more." "Any more!" "Any more." "That's fine, Nora." "That's just fine." "Now, I wonder if anybody in class remembers what the basic law of the land is called." "You remember I told you it had to be added to and changed sometimes by things called amendments." "Does anybody remember?" "Julietta, your hand's always up." "Here, let's..." "Pompey, you try this one." "It was writ by Mr Thomas Jefferson of Virginia." ""Was written", Pompey." "Written by Mr Thomas Jefferson." "He called it the Constitution." "Declaration of Independence." "It begun with the words," ""We hold these truths to be..."" "Self-evident." "Let him alone, Charlie." ""Self-evident that..."" ""That all men are created equal."" "That's fine, Pompey." "I knew that, but I plumb forgot it." "A lot of people forget that part." "You did just fine, Pompey." "Thank you." "This law also states that the governing power rests with the electorate." "Now, that means you, that means the people." "And you exercise this power through the vote." "Now, then." "Yes?" "Well, Hallie?" "Go right ahead, Hallie." "Now, here is the best textbook in the world." "It's an honest newspaper." "This is the Shinbone Star, Dutton Peabody, Editor-in-Chief." "And reading this ought to bring home to everybody the importance of using that vote." "Now, the headlines say, "Cattlemen fight statehood." ""Small homesteaders in danger."" "It says clearly that if big ranchers north of the Picketwire River win their fight to keep this territory in open reign, then all your truck farms and your corn, the small shopkeepers and everything, the future of your kids, it will all be all over, be gone!" "And they call upon you in this article, they call upon you to unite behind a real strong delegate and carry this fight to Washington if necessary." "Hello, Tom." "Welcome back." "You want to join us?" "I'm looking for Pompey." "I've been away three weeks, and there's no sashes or doors in yet." "Why have you been wasting time here?" "Get to work." "Your schooling's over." "Don't get rough with Pompey." "He's entitled to a..." "What I got to say to you will be a whole lot rougher." "The good editor here has written some noble words, and you read 'em good, but if you put that paper out, the streets of Shinbone will be running with blood." "Why are you against this, Tom, you of all people?" "Aren't there more votes south of the Picketwire than north?" "That's right, but votes won't stand up against guns." "Guns?" "What guns, Tom?" "You think Valance stays away from here 'cause he's scared of you?" "He's recruiting hired guns for the big ranchers." "Julietta." "Take the little ones home." "Come on." "Hallie, it would be a good idea if you dismissed class." "Dismiss class?" "Go on." "Dismiss them, please." "Class dismissed !" "Same time tomorrow." "You get to the store." "This could get worse than the sheep wars." "Will they start anything here?" "It's already started." "Valance and his men crossed the river yesterday, killed old man Holliday and his son." "You know that for a fact, Tom?" "I do." "They tried to bushwhack me, unfortunately for one of them." "You gonna put that in your newspaper?" "It's news, and I'm a newspaperman." "Print that, he'll kill you, sure as hell." "You think they'll come here, Tom?" "They'll be here, tomorrow or the next day, according to how much who-hit-john they consume, but election day, pilgrim, you can depend on it, they'll be here." "Hallie, go back where you belong." "I don't want you in no shooting gallery." "Now, you listen to me, Tom Doniphon." "What I do and where I go is none of your business." "You don't own me." "Like I said, Hallie, you're awful pretty when you get mad." "Hal." "Rance, after all you've taught us, how can you say we should knuckle under now?" "You heard what Tom said." "When force threatens, talk's no good any more." "Hallie..." "Hallie, you go find Tom and make it up to him." "He..." "He's only trying to protect you." "Rance." "Rance!" "Better let him go, Hallie." "Why?" "Where's he going?" "He's gonna need all the practice he can get." "Practice?" "What are you talking about?" "I might as well let you know now." "When he decided to come in with me, I let him have a gun of mine." "He's been going out in the country twice a week, practising, ever since." "You mean he's going to face up to Liberty, Liberty Valance?" "Rance?" "That's the only way I can figure it." "He never would discuss it." "He just keeps on practising." "Tom !" "Tom Doniphon !" "Hey, professor." "Where you going?" "I want to talk to you." "Tom, I'm going..." "Step down, pilgrim." "Take a look." "Well, all right, Tom, what are you trying to tell me?" "I'm telling you that Hallie's my girl." "I'm building that new room and porch for her for when we get married." "Tom, everybody pretty much takes that for granted." "Everybody except Hallie, maybe you." "That's a damn lie, and you know it." "Then why did she come to me fretting herself sick because you were gonna get killed facing up to Liberty Valance?" "I never told her." "Well, Peabody did." "I think you're bluffing." "I'm not bluffing about anything." "Wait a minute, Tom." "What?" "Pompey." "Bring two or three of those paint cans." "You got a gun?" "Yes..." "Get it." "Come on." "All right, gunslinger." "Hit that can." "Pretty far." "Pilgrim..." "You got to cock it first." "I forgot." "Balance it light in your hand and don't jerk the trigger." "Squeeze." "You don't have to coach me." "Pompey, bring me those cans." "Give me that thing." "I'll show you how easy it is." "Take these cans, put 'em on those three posts." "Go ahead." "That's it." "That first post." "There?" "That's right." "Not there!" "On the far post." "That's right." "Put that last one in the middle." "Pilgrim !" "I hate tricks, pilgrim, but that's what you're up against with Valance." "He's almost as fast as I am." "I don't like tricks myself, so that makes us even !" "Hey, pilgrim." "You forgot your popgun." "I got you, Lyde." "Ruf McMard." "Highpockets." "Kaintuck." "Kaintuck!" "Leave the jug." "Well, Hallie, I am so proud of him !" "Dutton Peabody exercising his franchise." "Dutton Peabody." "Ransom Stoddard." "Rance, we'll need you for some of that legal stuff later." "Ransom Stoddard, Attorney-at-Law." "Check." "Peter Ericson, American citizen." "Go on in, Pete." "See you for supper, Pete?" "Yeah." "Hey, Tom !" "Tom !" "Yeah, Pete?" "Tom, look, we need a statehood !" "I agree." "A statehood !" "I agree." "Herbert." "Yes, sir?" "You're too young to vote." "Greetings." "Hey, excuse me." "Excuse me." "The usual, Jack." "Bar's closed." "The bar is closed, Mr Editor, during voting." "You can blame your lawyer friend." "He says that's one of the fundamental laws of democracy." "No exception." "No exceptions for the working press?" "Oh, that's carrying democracy much too far." "A small beer." "Bar is closed." "Give me that bungstarter." "Since when is beer-drinking..." "Tom." "Tom !" "All right." "Settle down !" "Sit down, everybody!" "Come on." "Settle down." "Settle down." "Settle down." "Well, since our legal authority closed the bar on us," "I propose that Ransom Stoddard, Attorney-at-Law, come up here and run this meeting." "I second the motion !" "I third it!" "Ransom." "There he is." "There he is." "All right." "All right." "All right." "All right, now, if that's what you want, I can show you the rules." "The meeting will come to order." "Settle down please, huh?" "Mr Peabody, would you keep a record of the meeting?" "Oh, Rance, please." "There are other men..." "Give me a drink!" "Bar's closed." "A beer's not drinking !" "Bar's closed." "Before we start..." "Sit down, Doctor, please!" "I have a pencil right here." "Thank you." "Now, you all know why we're here." "We're here to elect two delegates because a growing population south of the Picketwire entitles us to two." "These two delegates will represent us in the convention for statehood." "You know the issue." "The cattle interests want to keep this territory an open range." "No!" "Ruled by their high-handed ideas, whatever they are." "And we, that means everybody in this room, we're for statehood !" "We want statehood because it means the protection of our farms and fences and it means schools for our children and progress for the future!" "Can I get..." "Shut..." "Just sit down, please." "Now we'll proceed with the nominations." "You can nominate as many as you feel like, and in order to show you how this procedure works," "I'm going to step out of the chair." "That's parliamentary law, you can do that." "I'll step out of the chair and make the first nomination." "I'd like to nominate a man I think is the only man in Shinbone who has the qualifications to lead us in our fight for statehood." "I could stand up here and talk about him all day, but I know everybody here could too and that's not necessary." "I nominate Tom Doniphon." "Come on, sit down !" "Sit down !" "Stop sucking on that cigar and put that pencil away because I refuse the nomination." "You can't refuse now!" "Oh, yes, I can, because I got other plans, personal plans." "Mr Attorney." "Go on with your meeting." "You don't live south of the Picketwire." "You got no vote." "I live where I hang my hat." "Come on, move!" "Out of the way!" "Get out." "Well, hash slinger, what are you looking so high and mighty about?" "He's running this here meeting, or hadn't you heard?" "The whole shebang." "I'd like to nominate the chairman," "Mr Ransom Stoddard, as delegate to the territorial convention." "Wait a minute..." "I second that nomination, not only because he knows the law, but he throws a good punch." "Now, listen, all you sodbusters, you hard-rock farmers." "I aim to be the delegate." "You don't live south..." "Floyd, say your piece like I said." "I nominate Liberty Valance for delegate." "I second the nomination." "Move the nominations be closed." "Now, wait a minute." "That ain't legal, is it, Mr Attorney?" "No." "We need two good delegates to Capitol City, Valance." "Two honest men." "We've got one in you, Mr Stoddard." "You looking for trouble, Doniphon?" "You helping me find some?" "You heard my motion, dude!" "All right." "Put his name down." "Liberty Valance, address unknown." "Have I got a right to speak?" "Go ahead, Highpockets." "What about Mr Peabody?" "He can read and write and he runs the newspaper." "Yeah, and when he's drinking, why, he can talk the ears off of a wooden Indian." "I second the motion." "No..." "No!" "I..." "No, you don't." "No!" "I'm a newspaperman, not a politician !" "No, politicians are my meat!" "I build 'em up." "I tear 'em down." "But I wouldn't be one." "I couldn't be one!" "It would destroy me!" "Give me a..." "Bar's closed." "Good people of Shinbone, I'm your conscience." "I'm the still, small voice that thunders in the night." "I'm your watchdog that howls against the wolves." "I'm..." "I'm your father confessor!" "I'm..." "What else am I ?" "Town drunk?" "Dutton Peabody." "Write it down." "I move the nominations be closed." "I second the motion." "All in favour?" "Aye!" "Now we'll proceed with the election." "You sodbusters are a brave bunch when you're together, but don't vote any way now that you'll regret later when you're alone." "All those in favour of Ransom Stoddard as delegate, raise your hands." "Aye!" "All those in favour of Liberty Valance, raise your hands." "All those in favour of Dutton Peabody, raise your hands!" "Aye!" "This calls for a drink!" "The bar's closed." "According to Mr Stoddard, the bar's closed." "Anything further on the election?" "No, the election's finished." "Then the bar is open." "That vote don't mean a thing." "Stay out of this." "He's been hiding behind your gun long enough." "You got a choice, dishwasher." "Either you leave town, or tonight be on that street alone." "You be there, and don't make us come and get you." "Well, he called it plain." "Too bad you didn't come to me sooner with that gun." "Pilgrim." "Come full dark," "Pompey will be at the Swedes' place with a buckboard." "Why don't you get out of town?" "Thanks." ""Liberty Valance defeated."" ""D-E-F-E-E..." ""E-T-E-D?"" "The unsteady hand betrays, huh?" "What's the matter, Mr Peabody?" "Are you afraid, huh?" "The answer is indubitably yes." "No courage left." "Well, courage can be purchased at your tavern." "But have we credit?" "Huh?" "That is the question." "Have we credit?" "Well, credit is cheap." "Wait for me, old servant of the public wheel." "Our shining hour is yet to come." "As for you, Horace Greeley, go west, old man, and grow young with the country." "Don't do that, Mr Peabody." "Why are you out here?" "Don't you know that everybody has to get off the street?" "My inalienable right, the pursuit of happiness." "Sure, but don't go to the saloon." "Liberty Valance is back there." "You should hear what he's swearing to do to Rance." "And he ain't leaving you out, either." "Go in and let the Mexican fill that." "But I doubt if my credit is good with these Spanish-American gentlemen." "Sure, it is." "He's my wife's step-uncle by her sister's marriage." "But please say something nice about me in your paper?" "My dear friend, Link Appleyard?" "The fearless, fighting marshal of the west?" "Your name will go down in history with Buffalo Bill !" "Mr Peabody's drunk as a skunk over in that Mexican joint." "He ain't eating tonight." "Hallie!" ""Isn't" eating tonight, remember?" "Isn't, ain't, what difference does it make?" "Ain't going to be school any more with you leaving tonight." "Good evening, folks." "Mr Rance, I have the buckboard out here." "I'll be waiting for you, if you need me." "Go, Rance." "Go now, while you can." "Nora and Hallie can finish the dishes." "Ja, Rance." "Go." "Please go." "I owe you for three days' room and board." "I just want to square my account." "I want to square my account before I go." "And those in England now asleep shall think themselves accursed !" "They were not here whilst any lives that fought with us on Saint Crispin's Day." "But when the blast, the blast of war, blows in our ears and we summon up..." "Liberty Valance." "And his Myrmidons!" "Liberty Valance taking liberties with the liberty of the press?" "Had your supper yet, Peabody?" "My supper?" "No." "That's a splendid idea!" "Well, you can start by eating this." "That's a poor joke, Liberty!" "Eat it!" "Eat it!" "Eat it!" "Eat it!" "Eat it!" "Eat it!" "He's dead !" "Mr Peabody?" "Rance?" "Rance Stoddard?" "Mr Peabody." "Help me get him up." "Where's Doc Willoughby?" "In the saloon." "Go and get him." "Rance?" "Rance!" "I sure told that Liberty Valance about the freedom of the press." "Marshal?" "Marshal..." "You tell Liberty Valance I'll be outside." "Pompey!" "Miss Hallie?" "Where's Mr Tom?" "Down the road..." "Get him !" "Rance is out front with a gun !" "Yes, ma'am." "You've heard of Gettysburg." "240 amputations..." "Doc, Mr Peabody's awful hurt." "He needs you at his office." "Somebody have an accident?" "So that's it." "Another one of your accidents, huh, Valance?" "I'm waiting for the day when they call me for you." "Paid in advance." "$10 into the cans." "Liberty, what you did to Mr Peabody, ain't that enough?" "Ain't that enough what, Mr Marshal?" "You know that Stoddard couldn't shoot the hat off his own head with a gun in his hand." "Oh, you mean, he's got a gun in his hand, huh?" "I'm calling you, Valance." "Kings and threes." "Good hand, but not good enough." "Aces and eights." "Thank you." "If you gun him down, it'll just be pure murder." "Well, Mr Professor, I thought you left town." "What are you doing out here?" "I'm waiting for Liberty Valance." "Why doesn't he come out?" "Well, that's none of our business." "You heard him say he had a gun, right?" "I didn't say that!" "That ain't murder." "That's clean-cut self-defence." "You heard him call me out, right?" "Well, didn't you?" "Now get out of my way." "Hash slinger, are you out here?" "I'd say that was Liberty Valance there now." "Wouldn't you?" "Yes, I would." "We be seeing you, Mr Stoddard." "Come closer where I can see you." "Get out of that shadow, dude." "You got two hands, hash slinger." "Pick it up!" "All right, dude, this time, right between the eyes." "Liberty?" "Liberty?" "Liberty!" "Hey, Doc!" "Doc!" "Liberty!" "It's Liberty!" "He's hurt!" "It's Liberty!" "Whisky, quick." "Here, sir." "Dead." "Rance, if it had been you instead of Valance, I would..." "Oh, no, Hallie." "Hallie." "I can't help it." "This feels so guilty." "I didn't..." "I didn't want you to run away." "I wanted you to stay." "Oh, he might..." "I'm sorry." "Forgive me." "Hallie..." "Hallie, please don't talk." "I'm sorry I got here too late, Hallie." "You got yourself out of that fix real handy." "I'll be around." "Tom !" "Tom, Liberty..." "I know." "Liberty wasn't gonna kill him, just nick him a little." "Just gonna make a pass." "You saw that!" "That lawyer shot him in cold blood !" "Now, that ain't the way we saw it." "It was murder!" "Pure murder!" "And I say if the Marshal don't put Stoddard in jail, we ought to take care of him ourselves!" "I say we ought to hang him !" "That's right!" "Hang him !" "Give him a rope necktie and let him swing !" "Can't a man get a drink around this town in peace?" "No one's bothering you." "You are!" "Marshal !" "What are you gettin' paid for?" "Drag this scum out!" "Kaintuck and Highpockets, I deputise you to give a hand." "Hand me that..." "That's it." "Tell those ranchers north of the Picketwire that hired you that me, Link Appleyard, run ya out of town, and I'll do it again if you ever come back!" "Now, look, Pompey, you know I..." "Who says he can't?" "Pour yourself a drink, Pompey." "I don't drink no drams, Mr Tom." "I said take a drink." "No." "We got a mare in foal and horses to feed and water." "Come on home." "Home." "Home sweet home." "You're right, Pompey." "We got plenty to do at home." "Well, what are they paying you guys for?" "Play!" "Be merry!" "Sing !" "Leave me be!" "Mr Tom !" "The horses, Pompey." "The horses." "Hello, sir!" "How are you?" "Hey!" "Handy Strong !" "By golly, you made it!" "Yeah !" "Thanks to Doc Willoughby." "Here." "Let me pin this on you." "Say, that's him, huh?" "This must be Ransom Stoddard." "Rance, this is Handy Strong." "How do you do, sir?" "It's quite a city here." "It's not much by your eastern standards, but that railroad station there leads straight to Washington." "Come on, Rance." "Order!" "Order!" "Order!" "Order!" "Order!" "Order!" "Order!" "Order!" "Quiet!" "The roll call having been completed and the delegates recognised and seated, this session of the territorial convention is hereby declared open." "Order!" "Mr Chairman." "The chair recognises the Honourable Major Cassius Starbuckle, soldier, jurist and statesman." "Mr Chairman, fellow delegates, ladies and gentlemen," "I came here with a carefully prepared speech, but this is no time for oratory." "Let me speak to you from the heart." "I come before you to place in nomination the name of a man more qualified than any other to represent you in Washington." "Oh, you ill-advised." "Oh, you poorly counselled." "Fly not in the face of heaven's handiwork." "Join with us in supporting' the man who for five terms in Congress has kept this great territory inviolate." "I nominate for the territorial delegate to the Congress of the United States" "the Right Honourable Custis Buck Langhorne." "Now that you got your rope on him, hang the horse thief!" "Order!" "Order!" "This is a convention, not a rodeo, Langhorne!" "Mr Chairman !" "Mr Chairman !" "The chair recognises its old friend, that distinguished member of the fourth estate," "founder, owner, publisher and editor of the Shinbone Star," "Mr Dutton Peabody, Esquire." "Thank you, Mr Chairman, for those kind words, but tell them the whole truth." "Founder, owner, editor and I also sweep out the place." "Fellow delegates, like all of you," "I have listened in awe and admiration to the magnificent oratory of the Honourable Major Cassius Starbuckle, the cattlemen's mouthpiece." "The lowing herd is still with us." "But seriously, under the spell of his eloquence," "I could see once again the vast herd of buffalo and savage redskin roaming our beautiful territory with no law to trammel them except the law of survival, the law of the tomahawk and the bow and arrow." "And then, with the westward march of our nation, came the pioneer and the buffalo hunter, the adventurous and the bold, and the boldest of these were the cattlemen who seized the wide-open range for their own personal domain," "and their law was the law of the hired gun." "But now, now, today have come the railroads and the people." "The steady, hard-working citizens, the homesteader, the shopkeeper, the builder of cities." "We need roads to join those cities, dams to store up the waters of the Picketwire, and we need statehood to protect the rights of every man and woman, however humble." "And how do we get it?" "I'll tell you how." "We get it by placing our votes behind one man." "One man !" "And we have that man with us here." "He is a man who came to us not packing a gun, but carrying instead a bag of law books." "Yes." "He is a lawyer and a teacher." "The first west of the rosy buttes." "But more important, he is a man who has come to be known throughout this territory in the last few weeks as a great champion of law and order." "Ladies and gentlemen, I nominate as your delegate and mine to the Congress at Washington, the Honourable Ransom Stoddard !" "Let's have order!" "Get going, Starbuckle." "Thank you, Mr Chairman." "Thank you." "Well..." "I see this demonstration, but I can't believe my eyes." "Is it possible that such a representative body of honest, hard-working Americans can endorse a candidate for the Congress of our beloved country whose only claim to the office is that he killed a man?" "Do you call Liberty Valance a man?" "Order!" "Order!" "Hear me out!" "Who is this Ransom Stoddard?" "And what qualifications has he that entitle him to aspire to such great office?" "We are told he's a lawyer, an attorney-at-law," "an officer of the court." "Yes, but what kind of lawyer?" "A man who usurps the function of both judge and jury and takes the law into his own hand." "Quiet!" "Quiet!" "What other qualifications has he, then?" "The blood on his hands?" "The hidden gun beneath his coat?" "The bullet-riddled body of an honest citizen?" "Honest citizen?" "Liberty Valance?" "You call Liberty Valance an honest citizen?" "Is this your fearless champion of law and order?" "Mr Chairman !" "I tell you, the mark of Cain is on this man, and the mark of Cain will be on all of us if we send him with bloodstained hands to walk the hallowed halls of government" "where Washington..." "Mr Chairman !" "Silence!" "Mr Chairman !" "Order!" "Order!" "...yes, and Lincoln still live immortals in the memory of man." "Mr Chairman !" "Rance!" "Rance!" "Order!" "Order!" "Pilgrim." "Where are you going?" "I'm going home, Tom." "I'm going back east where I belong." "Valance couldn't make you run away." "What is it now, pilgrim?" "Your conscience?" "Isn't it enough to kill a man with..." "Without trying to build a life on it?" "You talk too much." "Think too much." "Besides, you didn't kill Liberty Valance." "What?" "Think back, pilgrim." "Valance came out of the saloon." "You were walking toward him when he fired his first shot." "Remember?" "Pompey." "All right, dude, this time, right between the eyes." "But..." "But, Tom, why did you do it?" "Why..." "Cold-blooded murder, but I can live with it." "Hallie's happy." "She wanted you alive." "But you saved my life!" "I wish I hadn't." "Hallie's your girl now." "Go on back in there and take that nomination." "You taught her how to read and write." "Now give her something to read and write about!" "Well, you know the rest of it." "I went to Washington, and we won statehood." "I became the first governor." "Three terms as governor, two terms in the Senate," "Ambassador to the Court of St James, back again to the Senate, and a man who, with a snap of his fingers," "could be the next vice-president of the United States." "You're not going to use the story, Mr Scott?" "No, sir." "This is the west, sir." "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." "He's right, Rance." "It's getting late, Hallie." "We'll keep in touch with you, Pompey." "I promise." "But, Mr Rance..." "Pork chop money." "Hallie..." "Hallie, would you be too sorry if once I get the new irrigation bill through..." "Would you be too sorry if we just up and left Washington?" "I..." "I sort of have a hankering to come back here to live." "Maybe open up a law office." "Rance..." "If you knew how often I'd dreamed of it." "My roots are here." "I guess my heart is here." "Yes, let's come back." "Look at it." "It was once a wilderness." "Now it's a garden." "Aren't you proud?" "Hallie, who put the cactus roses on Tom's coffin?" "I did." "Here, I got a brand-new spittoon, cuspidor, Hallie." "And the engineer's got a full head of steam in this bucket." "We'll make 25 miles an hour or bust a boiler trying." "And we wired ahead to Junction City." "They'll hold the Express." "In two days and nights, you'll be back in Washington." "Thank you, Jason." "I'll write to the officials of this railroad and thank them for their kindness and for going to all this trouble." "You think nothing of it." "Nothing's too good for the man who shot Liberty Valance."