26min | Western, TV Series | Episode aired 17 December 1957
The wife of a preacher who recently established a mission for Apaches living near Gaheyville receives a suspicious telegram and fears her husband has been murdered. Travis learns that a lynch mob hung two Indians accused of being horse thieves and the minister who tried to prevent the hanging. He also discovers that, in a moment of cowardice, the town sheriff failed to prevent the hangings.
Director: Oliver Drake
Writer: John K. Butler
Stars: Tristram Coffin, Kelo Henderson, Harry Lauter
The wife of a preacher who recently established a mission for Apaches living near Gaheyville receives a suspicious telegram and fears her husband has been murdered. Travis learns that a lynch mob hung two Indians accused of being horse thieves and the minister who tried to prevent the hanging. He also discovers that, in a moment of cowardice, the town sheriff failed to prevent the hangings.
Director: Oliver Drake
Writer: John K. Butler
Stars: Tristram Coffin, Kelo Henderson, Harry Lauter
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Saddle up! Saddle up! Saddle up! Saddle up! Saddle up!
00:08This is the story of 26 men who rode the Arizona Territory.
00:16High is the glory of 26 men whose courage helped to build the Territory.
00:2326 men who saddled up and then rode out to answer duty's call.
00:3126 men who lived to write again and fight for the rights and the liberty of all.
00:38This is the story of 26 men enforcing law within the Territory.
00:46Praise be the glory of 26 men who rode the Arizona Territory.
00:53Ride on! Ride on! Ride on!
01:0726 men carefully chosen for their courage and ability formed the Arizona Rangers.
01:12Fame and public acclaim was not their objective.
01:15This is perhaps why the story of these 26 men has never been told until now.
01:20Back at the turn of the century, when the nearest ranger was on duty somewhere else,
01:25the citizens of a frontier town sometimes took the law into their own hands.
01:29Their method of law enforcement was a rope.
01:33What do you want?
01:47Clyde, do you know what we're here for?
01:49Open up that door!
01:51Do you want to make a fight with us voters and taxpayers?
01:56What am I going to do? I can't fight a mob.
01:58You know your duty just as I know my duty.
02:00If a man has faith, there's no such thing as fear.
02:02I'll take care of this.
02:09Wait a minute, man. You've been drinking, haven't you?
02:11Yeah, sure, but we ain't stingy. We even brought a bottle for you.
02:13Look, it's my duty to protect all of this.
02:15This one isn't your duty to protect Apache hostages.
02:18Come on, get out of there.
02:19Don't do this. If you can't believe in your own laws, what about the laws of God?
02:22Well, hang that preacher, too.
02:24Why not? Trying to protect those hostages, that makes him as bad as they are.
02:27Yeah, that makes him an accessory after the fact.
02:29Hey, be serious. This is a man of the cloth.
02:31What's the matter with you? You're supposed to be a sheriff. Don't you even know the law?
02:34You're not only drunk, you're out of your mind.
02:36Look, if you try to stop us, you're out of your mind.
02:38All right, here, take him. Go get those keys. Come on, take him up.
02:41Bring him out of there. Come on, hurry up.
02:48Come on.
02:50Come on, come on.
02:52I'll take that preacher. Go on, get him up.
02:57Here they are, boys. Take them to the station.
03:27You men got any last words you want to say?
03:42I say to you both, have faith and you shall have no fear.
03:47Believe his words. This night, we shall join him in paradise.
03:53All right, Snyder, take it away.
04:05You sent for me, Captain?
04:06Yes, Travis. This is Mrs. Brigham, Clint Travis.
04:09How do you do?
04:10I want you to hear this.
04:12This young lady wants us to investigate a missing person.
04:15Her husband is the Reverend Dr. Matthew Brigham there from Salt Lake City.
04:18She thinks something may have happened to him.
04:20Something did happen. He'd never send a telegram, not like that second one.
04:25Her husband went to Gailyville to set up a mission.
04:27Why would he leave the mission? He'd only just started it.
04:30She's been waiting in Tucson till she heard from her husband.
04:33She's heard from him twice.
04:34Once.
04:36She got this first telegram last Saturday.
04:38It says that he set up the mission in a tent.
04:41But there was some trouble when two young Apache Indians were falsely arrested for horse stealing.
04:45I'm sure he did send that one.
04:47The second telegram sent Sunday from Gailyville.
04:50Told her that he had to leave at once for Salt Lake City and for her to wait in Tucson for him.
04:54Nothing else.
04:55I'm sure he didn't send that one.
04:57Why should he go back to Salt Lake and leave me waiting in Tucson?
05:00Mrs. Brigham, I can understand your anxiety, but I'm sure there's some simple explanation.
05:04Telegraph service from Gailyville is pretty bad.
05:07We can hardly get accurate messages ourselves.
05:09But I'll send Ranger Travis there to investigate.
05:12Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be back in a minute.
05:17♪♪
05:25There are two other telegrams that she doesn't know about yet.
05:28The first one's an answer to a wire I sent to the sheriff of Gailyville.
05:31He says he didn't arrest two Apaches last Saturday night.
05:34He also says he never heard of a preacher by the name of the Reverend Brigham.
05:37You don't think her husband's been lying to her?
05:39No.
05:40Here.
05:42Now listen to this one, just came over the wire.
05:44Last Saturday night, a bunch of Gailyville drunks lynched two Apaches
05:48and a preacher named Matthew Brigham.
05:50Who sent that one?
05:51Well, it came out of Gailyville and it signed a friend.
05:54Let's hear from you, Travis.
05:55See you, Captain.
05:57♪♪
06:07♪♪
06:17♪♪
06:27♪♪
06:34I want to put my horse up tonight.
06:36Put myself up, too.
06:38Is there a hotel in town?
06:40Mr. Lemke runs the Crystal Palace.
06:42He has a few rooms.
06:43Talk to him.
06:44What are the rates?
06:46Got a new rule.
06:48We don't put up any strangers unless we know who they are.
06:51Why is that?
06:52Well, we get a lot of drifters through here.
06:55Some of them got bad records.
06:57We like them to drift right on through.
07:00Arizona Rangers.
07:01I have to pay my own expenses.
07:03I hope I can afford a room.
07:06Sorry, my rooms are full up.
07:09Well, I guess I'll have to bunk in the barn.
07:11I've done it before.
07:12How much to put up a horse?
07:14Stable's full up.
07:15Sorry.
07:17Well, I'll say one thing for this town.
07:19If you treat all drifters the way you treat a Ranger,
07:22you don't get much trouble here.
07:24Well, let's go.
07:38Look, you just run the newspaper,
07:40and I'll run the Sheriff's office.
07:42All right, all right.
07:46Well, what do you want?
07:48Turn Travis.
07:49Rangers.
07:50Fine, Travis, Sheriff.
07:53Good to see you, Ranger.
07:54But I don't think the Sheriff is.
07:56All right, cut it.
07:57This is Paul Cullen.
07:58He runs the local newspaper.
08:00Galeyville Weekly News, if you can call that a newspaper.
08:03All right, Paul.
08:04You can go if the Ranger here is on bed,
08:05as he wants to talk to me.
08:07Now, if he's here to see about the lynching,
08:09maybe he'd like to talk to me.
08:11What lynching, Mr. Cullen?
08:13Well, he's got some crazy idea the three men
08:15were hung here Saturday night.
08:16He must have been drunk.
08:18No, I wasn't drunk.
08:20But a lot of other people sure were.
08:22Did you see this lynching?
08:23No, I wasn't there myself.
08:25Well, you're supposed to be a newspaper man.
08:27Why weren't you there?
08:28You're supposed to be the Sheriff.
08:30Why weren't you there?
08:31Because there wasn't a hanging.
08:33Why is he here?
08:34This telegram from here in Galeyville
08:36was sent to Ranger headquarters.
08:39Last Saturday night, a bunch of Galeyville drunks
08:41lynched two Apaches and a preacher named Matthew Brigham.
08:45It signed a friend.
08:46And what kind of a crank would want to send a wire like that?
08:49I don't know.
08:50I thought I'd see the local telegraph operator.
08:52He ought to know.
08:53I can save you some time, Ranger.
08:56I sent that wire.
08:58You sent it?
08:59I thought it was about time we had some law in this town.
09:02Now you listen to me.
09:03I'm not here to settle any fight between the local newspaper
09:05and the Sheriff's office.
09:07I'm here about a possible hanging.
09:09I'm sure the Sheriff wants me to hear
09:10why you think there was one.
09:12Go ahead and tell him, Cullen.
09:14Well, I put the paper to bed about midnight Saturday night.
09:18If I didn't hear any drunks out on the street,
09:20it's because the presses were making too much noise.
09:23And if I didn't see the lynching,
09:26it's because I'm understaffed at the Galeyville Weekly News.
09:30I'm editor, publisher, the only reporter.
09:35I run the presses.
09:37Oh, yes, and I'm janitor, too.
09:39Go on, Mr. Cullen.
09:40On my way home that night, passing the stable,
09:43I saw Tony Snyder taking three brand new ropes
09:46from an overhanging sign.
09:48They still had some kinks in them
09:50while he was coiling them up.
09:52Well, maybe he was just stretching the ropes.
09:54But what'd he use for weights?
09:57There was a hangman's noose on the end of each rope.
10:00The next day, two Apaches and a minister
10:03vanished from this town.
10:06Tell him about the Apache, Sheriff.
10:08Well, there was some talk in town Saturday night.
10:12Seems that Tony Snyder, he runs a local stable,
10:15said a couple Indians came in and stole some of his horses,
10:18drove them off to the reservation.
10:20Well, I went out and talked to these Apaches,
10:22but there was no evidence, so I let them go.
10:25What about the Reverend Brigham?
10:27Well, there was talk about a preacher
10:29and a new tent mission just outside of town.
10:31What kind of talk?
10:32Well, somebody said that maybe this preacher
10:34was hiding those Apaches.
10:36I didn't bother to see the preacher.
10:38There was no evidence.
10:39That's the trouble in this town.
10:41The sheriff can never find any evidence about anything.
10:44Another telegram I'd like to ask you about.
10:47Seems the Reverend Brigham sent a message to his wife in Tucson
10:50saying he had to leave unexpectedly for Salt Lake City.
10:53This wire was sent from here Sunday morning,
10:55but Mrs. Brigham doesn't think her husband sent it.
10:57Who does she think did send it?
10:59She doesn't know.
11:00I thought I'd see the local telegraph operator.
11:02Name's Whitmire.
11:04Sparks Whitmire.
11:06Oh, Sheriff, you care to join us?
11:14This way, Mr. Travis.
11:45Why would anybody want to do a fool thing like that?
11:47Sheriff, I don't think he meant it to be a fool thing.
11:50What do you mean?
11:51Why don't you go after him?
11:53I'd never be able to catch him.
11:56I'd never be able to catch him.
12:12Dead only a few minutes.
12:16Sparks Whitmire.
12:18Finally got his name in the Galeyville Weekly News.
12:21Why do you think he was knifed?
12:23Well, if you want my guess,
12:25it's because he sent a couple of telegrams he shouldn't have sent.
12:28The one I sent,
12:30and the one somebody else sent on behalf of Reverend Brigham.
12:44Morning, folks.
12:45Morning.
12:46Howdy.
12:47I'm trying to locate a preacher named Brigham.
12:49Any of you people know him?
12:51We haven't heard of a preacher in Galeyville.
12:53I understand a preacher in two Apaches were hanged a few nights ago.
12:57Know anything about it?
12:59Come along, Martha.
13:15Mr. Sobel?
13:17Morning, Ranger.
13:18Get a good night's sleep?
13:19No thanks to Galeyville.
13:20Let's go inside.
13:21I want to see your books.
13:23My books?
13:24Want to see if you saw some rope last Saturday.
13:27What rope?
13:28The rope used late Saturday night down at the stable.
13:31Brand new rope.
13:32Still had kinks.
13:33You run the only hardware store around here.
13:35I don't know what you're getting at, Ranger.
13:37I haven't sold any rope to anyone for weeks.
13:39Maybe you gave it away.
13:41It was a lot of rope, Mr. Sobel.
13:42Enough to hang three men.
13:44That's a mighty big rope.
13:46Maybe it's even big enough to hang the men who used it.
13:51Oh!
13:55Oh!
14:02Mrs. Brigham was in the office when your wire came through.
14:04She says it was serious and insisted on coming along.
14:07How serious is it?
14:08Half the town went on a drunk last Saturday night.
14:10They lynched two Apaches and the preacher.
14:12Sunday morning, they got sober again.
14:14They've been trying to cover up the crime ever since.
14:16Nobody seems to know anything.
14:18Have you found the bodies?
14:19Not yet.
14:20But the local newspaper man helped me find something else.
14:22Think we can ask Mrs. Brigham to identify some of her husband's belongings?
14:26No, I think so.
14:27I'll talk with her.
14:31Mrs. Brigham, they may have found some of your husband's personal effects.
14:34We'd like you to identify them, if you will.
14:38I guess I'll have to face it sometime.
14:41Drive along with us.
14:50Oh!
15:03Mrs. Brigham better wait here.
15:05Mrs. Brigham, you better wait here.
15:07This way, Captain.
15:09That tent was pitch close to the town.
15:11Somebody pulled it down and buried it in the sand here.
15:14But there was a big rain the other night.
15:16Lots of water come down the arroyo and washed the sand away.
15:19Is that the missionary's tent?
15:21I left the sheriff here to keep an eye on it.
15:23He left me here to keep an eye on the sheriff.
15:25We found that Bible buried with the tent.
15:27No name in it, but some of the passages have marks.
15:30I don't think it's a Bible.
15:31I don't think it's a Bible.
15:32I don't think it's a Bible.
15:33I don't think it's a Bible.
15:34I don't think it's a Bible.
15:35I don't think it's a Bible.
15:36No name in it, but some of the passages have marks.
15:39Mrs. Brigham might be able to identify the marks.
15:58It's his Bible.
16:00Where is he?
16:02I know.
16:05I guess I've known since the Sunday telegram.
16:08Did you believe in that book, Mrs. Brigham?
16:11Now's the time to do a lot of believing.
16:19What's the matter with you?
16:21Don't you feel good?
16:23Mrs. Brigham, I'm sorry.
16:29Paul, do me a favor.
16:30Take this young lady back to town.
16:32Take her to my house.
16:33Oh, and you might tell my wife I won't
16:35be home in time for supper.
16:36Where will you be, Sheriff?
16:38I'll tell that to the rangers.
16:40Mrs. Brigham, if you'll turn the buggy,
16:42I'll escort you back to town.
16:44One thing I can say about Sheriff Trevor,
16:47he's got a mighty fine wife.
17:00Captain, it's a fact, isn't it?
17:03You can't prosecute anybody for murder
17:05unless you can produce the bodies.
17:07It's a fact.
17:08Got an idea, Sheriff?
17:09Yes, I have an idea.
17:11I got an idea they didn't bury those bodies.
17:13They just didn't have that much time.
17:15Maybe they just took those three bodies
17:16over the old Perkins mine and dropped them down the shaft.
17:19Mine's been abandoned for over a year.
17:21Shaft's flooded.
17:22How far from town is this mine?
17:23Oh, I'd say it was a couple miles.
17:25Had to pump out that shaft.
17:27Pump's rusty and probably needs new parts.
17:29The only place I'm gonna get those parts
17:31is Sobel's hardware store.
17:32You think it's worth a chance?
17:33Well, I'm not just playing it for a hunch,
17:35if that's what you mean.
17:36Just what are you playing?
17:38Let's say I'm playing a new hand.
17:40First thing we gotta do is to go to Sobel's hardware store.
17:50That ought to do it.
17:52Watch out for that ladder.
17:53It's been in the water a long time.
17:55Yep, here it goes.
18:01There she is!
18:09Here comes Sobel with Tony Snyder.
18:11Wonder what's been keeping him.
18:16What's going on?
18:17What brought you here?
18:18Perkins sent us.
18:19He's talking to his lawyer right now.
18:21And his lawyer says you ain't got time for this.
18:24And his lawyer says you ain't got no legal right
18:26to work on other man's mind.
18:28We're not working any mind.
18:29We're working on something else.
18:31We're real busy.
18:32Now just turn those horses around
18:33and head back for town.
18:35Go on.
18:54You see anything down there?
18:56Not all right yet.
19:23Find anything?
19:25Wait a minute.
19:28I've seen enough.
19:43Did you find them?
19:45All three bodies.
19:46Tied to what looks like a blacksmith's anvil.
19:49For a man playing a new hand, you sure played it lucky.
19:52Wasn't just luck, Captain.
20:06Somebody leaving town?
20:08He has to go to Tucson.
20:10I'm going to get some new furniture for my crystal palace.
20:13Well, your crystal palace can use something new.
20:16In fact, the whole town could use something new.
20:19What's he giving us the needle for?
20:21He runs the local newspaper.
20:23Thinks it's his duty to needle everyone in town.
20:26I only came to see you, Snyder.
20:29Me?
20:30What for?
20:31You own that livery stable, don't you?
20:33You know I do.
20:34Why ask?
20:35I got some business for you.
20:37Mrs. Brigham wants you to put up her horse and buggy.
20:43She's staying with the sheriff's wife.
20:47Oh, I'll pay the bill myself.
20:49Why didn't you say so?
20:51Nobody asked me.
21:11Who can figure him?
21:13I think there's more to it than he let on.
21:15If there is, we haven't got too long to get out of here.
21:18Sobel, go tell the men who are in on the hanging I want to see them.
21:22I'll wait here.
21:38The rats are quitting the ship.
21:40Who?
21:41Lemker, Snyder, and Sobel.
21:43And they're not the only ones.
21:44I saw them down at the stable.
21:46I think we can stop some of them.
21:47We block off both ends of the street.
21:49Sheriff, you and Cullen cover the east end of town.
21:51Travis and I'll take the west.
22:04Somebody in town talked.
22:05Froning and Travis are out at the Perkins mine with the sheriff and Cullen.
22:08They're bound to find the bodies.
22:10We're all in this together, and we'll have to fight it out together.
22:14What do you expect us to do?
22:15The Rangers will have to be disposed of.
22:17With them out of the way, we can handle Cullen and Trevor.
22:21We ain't proud of what we've done in the past, Mr. Lemker.
22:24But we ain't drunk now.
22:26You do your own killing.
22:29That's just too sweet.
22:44Lemker?
22:46You, Snyder, and Sobel are under arrest, charged with murder.
22:49Throw down your guns, and you'll be given a fair trial.
22:51You can't prove we killed anyone.
22:53I'll supply the proof.
22:54Just unbuckle those gun belts and drop them to the ground.
22:58Let's go.
23:28Snyder!
23:48Snyder!
23:58Drop that gun, Snyder, or I'll kill you.
24:29I don't run a newspaper,
24:31but I think he writes more than the obituary column.
24:35Page one.
24:37The lead-off reads,
24:39Today in Galeyville, a sheriff earned his badge.
24:44We as citizens will long remember Clyde Cullen.
24:48He was a good man.
24:50He was a good man.
24:52He was a good man.
24:54He was a good man.
24:56He was a good man.
24:57We long remember Clyde C. Trevor,
25:00who gave his life in defense of this community.
25:04Uh, the Trevor Place is about six miles over the hill.
25:08Somebody's gonna have to tell Mrs. Trevor.
25:12Well, I guess it'll be me.
25:21This is the story of 26 men
25:25who built the Arizona Territory.
25:28I is the glory of 26 men
25:32whose courage helped to build the Territory.
25:3626 men who saddled up and then rode out
25:40to answer duty's call.
25:4326 men who lived to write again
25:47and fight for the rights and the liberty of all.
25:51This is the story of 26 men
25:54enforcing law within the Territory.
25:58Praise be the glory of 26 men
26:02who rode the Arizona Territory.
26:05Ride on!
26:07Ride on!
26:09Ride on!