Bonanza (1959–1973): Season 7, Episode 15 - The Dublin Lad - full transcript
Joe has to serve jury duty in a matter that involves theft and murder of the Fred Demmer, husband of Molly MacGregor Demmer...
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Howdy, Hoss.
Howdy, Mr. Porter.
Jury's still out, looks like.
Yeah, over three hours now.
What's taking 'em so dang long?
Seems like to me it's
a cut-and-dried case.
That Irishman just up and
shot poor ol' Fred Demmer,
then robbed him.
Don't seem to me they
got much to deliberate on.
Man's life at stake, Mr. Porter.
Don't reckon you
make that decision
without some pretty
serious considerations.
Hoss.
I lay odds it's that
brother of yours
that's holdin' up the verdict.
I don't hold with
puttin' young fellas
like Joe on a murder jury.
You need men who think alike.
Men who'll take
an eye for an eye.
You know what I mean?
Mr. Porter.
Oh, Mrs. Demmer.
- I was just tellin' Hoss Cartwright...
- I heard.
Do you mind if I trouble
you for a cup of water?
That courtroom
is-is... is like an oven.
Course, Mrs. Demmer, come
on over to the store with me.
Town appreciates how
you must be feeling,
what with the
trial not lettin' you
get your sorrows for one minute.
Hi, Ben.
Hey, Ben.
Oh.
Any sign of a verdict yet?
No. No, they're still in there.
What's bothering you, Ben?
Oh, nothing.
Oh, I was just thinking
about Little Joe in there.
And remembering the first time
I sat on a jury
in a murder trial.
Oh, what a responsibility.
Deciding whether
a man is gonna...
live or die.
It's like you're burdened
with the power of God.
All right, now,
hold it, hold it.
Look, if we're all
gonna talk at once,
we're not gonna
get anything decided.
Now, now, wait a
minute. Wait a minute.
We already decided.
Three hours ago,
everybody here was set
to vote Terrence O'Toole
guilty. Everybody exceptin' you.
All right, and
I'll be ready, too.
As soon as we go
over the evidence again.
- We've already done that.
- Oh, sure we have, piecemeal.
Well, that's as
good a way as any.
We talked it all out.
Anybody that's made up
their mind ain't gonna change it
by going over the
whole thing again.
Maybe not, but there's a
man sitting over in that jail cell
waiting for us to decide
whether he hangs or goes free.
Now, if I was that man,
I'd like to know that this jury
was taking its time deciding.
Well, we've already
taken a lot of time.
When I leave this room...
Whatever the verdict is...
I want to be
able to live with it.
Let's go over it one more time.
Give me another drink.
Ain't you had enough?
You ought to be over at the
courthouse with your mother.
- She needs someone to st...
- Stepmother.
Nevertheless, she needs
someone to stand by her
at a time like this.
She's no more to me
than a housekeeper.
Anyway, who asked you to poke
your big nose in my business?
Can I get another drink or not?
- Hoss.
- Hi, Sam. Beer.
He's been drinking like that
ever since the jury
started deliberating.
Yeah.
Well, it's sort of a
hard time for ol' Jeb.
Losin' his pa like that
and this trial draggin' on.
What's taking that jury
so dang long, anyway?
Swore on a Bible I saw
O'Toole kill my pa, and...
why don't they
just string him up?
Jury's in!
All right, O'Toole, the
court's ready for you.
The hour of judgment
is at hand, is it?
That's right.
I welcome it, then.
You got a verdict?
Oh, we got one, Your Honor.
Well, what is it? What is it?
We say "guilty."
You got anythin' to say
before the sentencing?
Well, perhaps a few
words'd do no harm.
I'll not take long.
Well, get on with it.
'Tis, uh, many a land I visited
since leaving the old
country, Your Honor.
Half of them are
the devil's own,
let me tell you,
with no democratic processes
of law as you have here.
I commend you, sir,
and the prosecutor
and the jury, as well.
'Tis a fair trial I've had.
I'm that grateful,
you'll be hearing no
word from me against it.
But...
though these good people
have deliberated fairly
and have rendered their verdict,
by the Almighty,
they've made an error.
Terrence O'Toole has
been falsely accused
and wrongly condemned.
I stand innocent
of these charges.
I've said my piece, Your Honor.
I thank you kindly
for the privilege.
The jury has found you guilty
of robbing Fred Demmer of $400
and shootin' him
down in cold blood.
I sentence you to hang
by your neck until dead.
Sheriff, you have a
job to deliver this man
to the U.S. Marshal at
Carson City tomorrow.
The hangin'll take place there.
All right, Your Honor.
All right, O'Toole.
That's all.
Well, Mrs. Demmer,
justice was done.
Yes, I'm thinking it was.
Joe, you sure missed
some good apple pie tonight.
Ol' Hop Sing almost
outdid himself.
Yeah, I'll bet.
Pa wants us to do some work
on that barn roof tomorrow.
You want to haul the
shingles out tonight?
Ah, it can wait till
tomorrow, can't it?
Yeah, reckon so.
You're still bothered
by that verdict, ain't you?
What if I am?
Just askin'.
Pa?
Hmm?
Pa...
I think you ought
to talk to Little Joe.
What's the matter?
Well, he's worked
himself up a real fret.
Yeah, I noticed it at supper.
That trial really has
got him worried, huh?
Yeah.
Yeah, he's takin' a mighty
big load on his shoulders.
Well, I'll talk to him.
See if you can make sense
out of these figures, will you?
Yes, sir.
Nice night.
Yeah.
Like some more coffee?
Oh, in a little while.
Ah, that trial sure upset
everybody's schedule, didn't it?
That's all folks talked about.
Well, I guess the town
will get back to normal,
now that it's over.
Yeah, sure.
Everybody'll be happy now.
O'Toole'll hang and...
justice will be served.
You don't seem
to think so, do you?
Well, I should think so.
I went over the
evidence twice, I made...
I made all the jurors do
the same thing. I wanted...
I wanted to be sure.
You brought in a verdict, Joe.
Yeah, we brought in a verdict.
The evidence was there.
O'Toole saw Demmer take the
money out of the bank, the $400.
He saw... Demmer's
wife stay in town to shop,
figured he'd be out
at the ranch alone.
He followed him out
there, but he wasn't alone.
Jeb was there, saw the shooting.
Little while later, the
sheriff catches O'Toole
and he's got about
$400 on him. It all fits.
Did you believe
O'Toole's story about
earning that money for
passage back to Ireland?
No.
No, I don't believe that.
The-the only question was,
what happened to the billfold?
And the first thing you got to
figure is O'Toole threw it away.
What's troubling you, Joe?
I don't know.
Not the evidence.
It was just the way
O'Toole looked at me.
When we brought in the verdict.
The way he stood up there
and looked every single
one of us right in the eye.
Said we made a mistake.
I just can't believe that a
man could look at you that way
and still be guilty.
Joe... you made a decision.
And I doubt that
there's a man alive
who's never had a second thought
about any decision he's made.
But you were asked to do a job.
To serve on a jury.
And you accepted
that responsibility
and you did your
job conscientiously,
intelligently,
and that's all the...
the law asks for.
You did your job well.
Breakfast is on the table!
Morning, Pa.
Good morning, Joe.
Listen, I wanted
to ask you if, uh,
maybe I could go to work on
that roof this afternoon sometime.
Why, do you have something
more important to do?
Well, there's something
I have to do, yeah.
What?
Well, it's just... just
something personal
I want to take care of in town.
Oh, well, look, Pa, I
can start that roofin'
by myself till Joe gets back.
- Yeah, would you?
- Yeah.
Good, okay. I'll be back.
Well, wait a minute.
Have something
to eat before you go.
Uh, no, thanks, Pa.
I'm not hungry this morning.
Well, you be back for
an early lunch, you hear?
Right. I will.
I'll be back by
noon, I promise you.
Hi, Little Joe.
Hi, Roy.
Wanted to ask a favor of you.
Well, I hope it's something
that I can do for you now.
I'm leaving for Carson City
with Mr. O'Toole 'fore long.
Well, I wondered
if I could go in
and talk to O'Toole
for a minute.
You go right ahead,
but don't take too long.
Better leave your
gun right here, too.
Right.
My name is Cartwright.
I was on the jury.
Yes, I know.
All of your faces are
mounted like portraits
on the walls of my soul.
That little act you put
on in court yesterday
came kind of late, didn't it?
Would it have, uh,
made a difference to you
before the deliberations?
Well, all the evidence
was against you, I...
just couldn't understand
why you bothered denying it.
Would you have had
me admit to murder, then?
Well, why not?
It's not gonna make
any difference now.
Ah.
So you've, uh, come to
hear confession, have you?
'Tis the condemned
man's immortal spirit
that concerns you.
You've, uh, come to offer
God's grace, perhaps?
To help purge me soul of
sin before the eternal sleep?
No, that's not why I came. I...
Then I misunderstood you, sir.
All the while I was supposin'
it was for an admission
of my guilt you came.
Here I was supposin'
that you sought assurance
you'd sent the proper
man to the gallows.
But you see, Mr. Cartwright...
I stole no man's cash.
And I'm innocent of murder.
So I'll not be administering
that balm to your conscience,
badly in need of it as
you'll continue to be.
Thanks, Roy.
Go on, Little Joe.
You say hello to your
pa for me, will you?
Yeah.
♪♪
- Hi, Sam.
- Joe.
- Let me have a beer, huh?
- Sure, Joe.
Thanks, Sam.
Fellas are playing for pretty
high stakes, aren't they?
Yep.
They ain't small-time
gamblers, Joe.
Wonder what Jeb Demmer's
doing in a game like that.
I don't know,
but he's been at it since
yesterday after the trial,
on and off.
How's he doing?
Heavy loser.
But he keeps coming
back with more money.
How 'bout a drink?
Ah, I could use one.
Give me a beer, will you?
Gave you a pretty bad
time over there, huh?
I'll win it back.
Well, here's to that
verdict you turned in.
And a good hanging.
Pretty anxious for that
hanging, aren't you?
Well, you were on the jury.
That-that was the
verdict, wasn't it?
Yeah, that's right.
How much money you
say you lost over there?
Why, you backing somebody?
No, I just didn't figure you
for that kind of
stakes, that's all.
Well, maybe you better
explain what you meant by that.
I'm not gonna explain
anything to you.
There you are, O'Toole.
Is it your plan to
leave soon, Sheriff?
Well, we gotta be
over in Carson City
early this afternoon.
Marshal'll be waitin', then?
Yeah, the marshal and the, uh,
the other official.
I was meaning him, too.
You better eat up.
It's a three-hour
ride over there.
'Tis not the pangs of hunger
I was concernin'
meself with, Sheriff.
Well, you can suit yourself.
Thank you, Jake.
Hi, Pa.
Hoss.
Ah!
Whew.
Boy, it's hot up
there on that roof.
Well, it's hot everywhere.
Long past noon.
Yeah, well, we'll be through
this job in about an hour, Pa.
Oh, I wasn't worried about that.
Little Joe said he'd
be back by noon.
You ain't worried
about him, are you?
Oh, not worried about
anything happening to him, I...
It's just that...
I'm wondering why he went
into town and wouldn't say.
Well, I just gotta remind
myself over and over again
that I've got grown sons
and they have grown-up problems
which they have to
solve by themselves.
That's right.
Like that roof.
Yeah, well... I'll get
on that right now.
Nah. Come on, everybody.
Let go into the house,
get something cold to drink.
- Hmm?
- Good idea.
Come on, Jake.
Hello, Mrs. Demmer.
Good day.
Mrs. Demmer, I'm Joe Cartwright.
I sat in on the murder jury.
Yes, I know that, surely.
Well, I'm sorry to come out here
and bother you like this, but...
well, I just wondered if
there was anything else
you could tell us,
anything that didn't
come out at the trial.
'Twas my not knowing anything
that kept me from testifyin'.
Yeah, I know.
There's nothing
else you can add?
What would I be knowing,
shoppin' like I was in
town when Fred was killed?
Well, there's a man about
to be hanged for murder.
I just... wanted to be
sure he was the right one.
Surely anybody
can look in his face
and see he's the right one.
And weren't you given
better reason at the trial?
Weren't ye yerself one of them
that said Terrence was guilty?
"Terrence"?
It was Terrence O'Toole
I was meaning to say.
There's many a chore
here to be done before dark.
I'll thank you to be
leavin' me about my work.
Mrs. Demmer, you know
Jeb has been gambling
pretty heavy in town,
the last few days?
I'll not be a party
to your prying.
Leave the matter be as
it stands, why don't you?
♪♪
What'd he want?
It wasn't much he asked
and I had little enough to tell.
Well, I don't want
that Cartwright around
anymore, you hear?
Do you suppose he
came on my invitation?
Well, you just
make it plain to him,
the next time he
comes snooping around,
that he ain't welcome.
I'm thinkin' it's for
you to tell him that.
You do like I say
if you want to go on
keeping house around here.
Are you thinkin' the
ranch'll tend to itself
while you're off
in town gambling?
Is that what Cartwright
came to tell you?
And how is it you have
the means to gamble?
I'm rememberin'
you hadn't the money
and there wasn't a cent
of ready cash in the bank.
Fred took it all out
to make payment on
those cattle he fancied.
It ain't none of your affair
where I get my money.
It could set people
to wondering.
What people?
It could set people to wondering
how a young man,
with his pockets empty,
suddenly acquired
sufficient to gamble
after his pa was
laid in the grave.
Cartwright?
Is that who's wondering?
It could set people
to thinking that maybe
everything that should've
come out in the trial... didn't.
Well, now, I know something
that didn't come out
in the trial... Molly.
Something else that might
start people to thinking.
You see, I saw you with O'Toole,
day before my pa was shot.
He was an acquaintance
of mine from Dublin,
many years before,
recognizing me in town
and that's all
there was to that.
Well, I seen you, Molly.
Seen you right out by
the end of the pasture.
Talking.
Talking like lovers.
Like maybe all you could want
is to get shed of your husband.
Seeing me in town,
he rode out to pay his respects.
But I barely recollected him.
And that's all there was to it.
Think anybody's
gonna believe that?
Little good it'll
do them not to.
See, I could...
I could do things with
that information, Molly.
Then in heaven's name, do it,
and the devil take you!
I could talk up to the sheriff.
I could tell him what I seen.
What is it you're insinuatin'?
That it was me plotted
Fred's death with Terrence?
I didn't insinuate that, Molly.
You just kind of set
the thought in my head.
Looks like maybe you better quit
making such a big to-do
over where I get my money.
Then maybe I'll forget I
saw you and your friend.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
All right, O'Toole,
it's time to go.
O'Toole, I said we're leaving.
By the Almighty,
Sheriff, I didn't hear you.
I was that far lost in
the fancies of the past...
Sorry, Sheriff.
I didn't mean anything
of a personal nature.
♪♪
Come and draw
me a beer, will you?
That's O'Toole.
O'Toole!
♪♪
♪♪
Hey, Sam.
The sheriff and O'Toole
leave for Carson City already?
O'Toole broke out!
Sheriff's got a posse
out to hunt him down.
O'Toole's not
gonna get very far.
Wouldn't surprise me if
one of them posse boys
didn't save the sheriff a
long ride back to Carson City.
Ain't much fun
huntin' a man down
in this kind of heat.
Yeah, and they're hunting
down the wrong man.
Huh?
Go on!
♪♪
Are you alone?
By the Almighty, Molly
girl, are you alone?
I've no place else
in the world to come
save this one, Molly.
It's me they're out hunting
like the hounds after a fox.
I'd not come troubling
you, you understand,
but I'm hurt too bad to go on.
Can you help me?
Don't you hear me, girl?
I have need of you!
I had need of you, once, too.
It was just 21 years
ago next month
that I waited at the church
for a Dublin lad
who failed to come.
'Twas a base deed I
committed that day.
But 'twas for you I done it.
For you sake
alone, I didn't come.
For me, was it?
You'd have made a poor
match for yourself, Molly.
You alas wantin' a house
and-and little ones...
and me, with the
wanderlust deep in my bones.
I was that believin',
I waited all night
in my white gown and veil.
The pity of my friends.
Oh, I had a need of you.
Did you not hear my
heart crying out to you?
My own heart answered it, Molly.
Many's the night I'd be sittin'
in some devil-cursed
waterfront saloon
weeping bitter tears at the
memory of her I gave up.
And many's the night
I've wished you dead.
Sure, you had reason
to wish me in my grave.
But now...
knowing why your
groom never came
and the torment
he suffered for it,
perhaps now your
pity wouldn't be amiss.
You have a queer way of
reasoning it out, don't you?
I couldn't go off to die
without telling you why I
deserted you, long ago.
Tell the truth, Molly.
Doesn't your heart
soften a bit to me now?
Seeing all this pain
and suffering I'm in?
Oh, I never had a hate
in me for any man...
leastways, not
for you, Terrence.
It was the hurt
of your going off...
It was the pain of losing you...
That set the stone in my heart.
The Almighty bless you, Molly,
I-I know that.
Will you help me now?
Will you be tending
my wound, Molly girl,
so I can make good my escape
before those baying dogs
get the little fox in their teeth?
Jeb says I'm not to be
receiving you anymore.
Mrs. Demmer, did this billfold
belong to your husband?
Yes, it was Fred's, surely.
See? His intial's on it.
But how is it you've come by it?
Jeb had it.
Sure, then, Jeb lied.
It wasn't Terrence
who killed Fred.
You mind if I talk to him?
It's the billfold he found.
It's the proof you'll be needing
you're an innocent man.
Where did you get that?
Jeb had it.
Saw him throw it in the brush
about a mile away from here.
You can forget that
trip to Carson City;
there's not gonna be a hanging.
They'll be reopening
the case now.
It's just a matter of time
before you'll be a free man.
I'd not count on that, Molly.
What are you sayin'?
I'd not be trusting
the mood of a posse,
hangin' a man first and
asking the questions after.
No.
I'll have no more
of posses and juries.
Better to be ridin'
back to the East
and book passage for Ireland.
O'Toole, that
doesn't make sense.
You try to get away from here,
they'll have every lawman
in the West on your tail.
All right, I'll go with you.
Would you give me a moment
to say good-bye to Molly first?
Sure.
I'll be right outside.
When I get back to Ireland,
I'll be sending for you.
Will you?
We'll be a lass and
a lad in love again
and the years falling away.
We'll be wed in the same church.
Be inviting the same friends.
Sure, it'll be like I dreamed
it a thousand nights since
and time not a minute older.
I'm wishing it could
be that way again.
But who can say
nay to the years?
The young, fair, Irish
maiden is long gone, you see.
I'm thinkin' it's of someone
else you've dreamed,
not the Widow Demmer.
Then woe to those years
and to them that still dream.
Better not to have crossed
the American continent.
Better never to have
chanced upon Molly MacGregor
on the streets of Virginia City.
Better not to have known
what that man had done to you.
A man that set you
down in the wilderness
to struggle with barren soil,
to carry the slop of pigs.
An evil man, who
took away your youth
and wore down your beauty
till what remained was...
was flayed and lacerated.
I couldn't let a man
like that go on living
without paying for his sins!
Then it was you, after all.
Not Jeb.
Aye.
It was me.
Oh, Molly... you were
the star of beauty.
All my life, I carried
the image of you
in my mind and heart.
And when we met
that day in Virginia City,
my heart stopped.
It was all there in your
face and your eyes,
what he'd done to you.
That brutal beast of a man,
destroying the beauty
of your shining eyes.
And then... to
see him strike you,
there in the street.
Blast his eyes,
he deserved more than death!
You were always in
my heart, Terrance.
Always.
It didn't matter what he did.
Even when the
work was brutal hard
and the days longer
than I could bear
and when he wouldn't buy food
or a piece of cloth
for a new dress...
always, through it all,
somewhere inside
of me my heart sang:
"You're young, fair, Molly,
"and someday your
lover will be comin' back
and his heart will
be singing, too."
Bless you, Molly.
In all eternity,
I'll not forget you.
The posse's coming.
Better let me have that gun.
I won't be going with you.
I'm afraid you're mistaken.
I didn't steal,
but I did kill him.
We can still get away.
I'll be pretending
I'm your hostage.
You wouldn't stand
a chance out there.
You'd be a fugitive
for the rest of your life.
Alone, I would.
Move.
Molly...
I never stopped loving you.
Terrence!
♪♪
He come out firing, ma'am.
He... he must've
knowed we'd shoot back.
It was to spare me the
lot of a fugitive's woman
that he done it.
He was thinkin' it
was that or his life.
It was me was his last thought.
You see, he always loved me.
Always.
♪♪
Yeah.
But you did see O'Toole
shoot your pa and then run off.
Now, that part is
the truth, ain't it?
Well, when I come up to
him and saw he was dead, I...
all I could think of was that
he was gonna leave
that ranch to Molly.
'Cause he never gave me
nothing while he was alive.
So I figured I at least
ought to have the money.
So I... just took the billfold
with the $400 in it and...
figured they'd
blame it on O'Toole.
But it was me. I... I stole it.
I took it.
Just hard to believe
that I could've been
so wrong about...
I guess I better learn
to take everything
with a grain of
salt from now on.
Hmm.
Well, Joe, I'll tell you:
I think it's much better to...
keep on looking for
the good in a man,
finding yourself wrong,
than to be looking
for the evil in a man
and finding yourself cynical.
Yeah, well, it
did a lot of good,
looking for the
good in this man.
Well, here's another
way of looking at it.
Suppose you'd been right.
You'd have saved
a man from hanging.
Don't let it sour you,
the first time you
believe in a person
and find that you're wrong.
Next time, you may be right.
Come on.
Where we going?
Well, I'm not going anywhere.
You're going out to help Hoss
finish fixing the roof.
Okay.
Oh, Joe...
before you go, there's
something I want you to know.
I'm proud of you.
This has been a color production
of the NBC Television Network.
is brought to you in
living color on NBC.
Howdy, Hoss.
Howdy, Mr. Porter.
Jury's still out, looks like.
Yeah, over three hours now.
What's taking 'em so dang long?
Seems like to me it's
a cut-and-dried case.
That Irishman just up and
shot poor ol' Fred Demmer,
then robbed him.
Don't seem to me they
got much to deliberate on.
Man's life at stake, Mr. Porter.
Don't reckon you
make that decision
without some pretty
serious considerations.
Hoss.
I lay odds it's that
brother of yours
that's holdin' up the verdict.
I don't hold with
puttin' young fellas
like Joe on a murder jury.
You need men who think alike.
Men who'll take
an eye for an eye.
You know what I mean?
Mr. Porter.
Oh, Mrs. Demmer.
- I was just tellin' Hoss Cartwright...
- I heard.
Do you mind if I trouble
you for a cup of water?
That courtroom
is-is... is like an oven.
Course, Mrs. Demmer, come
on over to the store with me.
Town appreciates how
you must be feeling,
what with the
trial not lettin' you
get your sorrows for one minute.
Hi, Ben.
Hey, Ben.
Oh.
Any sign of a verdict yet?
No. No, they're still in there.
What's bothering you, Ben?
Oh, nothing.
Oh, I was just thinking
about Little Joe in there.
And remembering the first time
I sat on a jury
in a murder trial.
Oh, what a responsibility.
Deciding whether
a man is gonna...
live or die.
It's like you're burdened
with the power of God.
All right, now,
hold it, hold it.
Look, if we're all
gonna talk at once,
we're not gonna
get anything decided.
Now, now, wait a
minute. Wait a minute.
We already decided.
Three hours ago,
everybody here was set
to vote Terrence O'Toole
guilty. Everybody exceptin' you.
All right, and
I'll be ready, too.
As soon as we go
over the evidence again.
- We've already done that.
- Oh, sure we have, piecemeal.
Well, that's as
good a way as any.
We talked it all out.
Anybody that's made up
their mind ain't gonna change it
by going over the
whole thing again.
Maybe not, but there's a
man sitting over in that jail cell
waiting for us to decide
whether he hangs or goes free.
Now, if I was that man,
I'd like to know that this jury
was taking its time deciding.
Well, we've already
taken a lot of time.
When I leave this room...
Whatever the verdict is...
I want to be
able to live with it.
Let's go over it one more time.
Give me another drink.
Ain't you had enough?
You ought to be over at the
courthouse with your mother.
- She needs someone to st...
- Stepmother.
Nevertheless, she needs
someone to stand by her
at a time like this.
She's no more to me
than a housekeeper.
Anyway, who asked you to poke
your big nose in my business?
Can I get another drink or not?
- Hoss.
- Hi, Sam. Beer.
He's been drinking like that
ever since the jury
started deliberating.
Yeah.
Well, it's sort of a
hard time for ol' Jeb.
Losin' his pa like that
and this trial draggin' on.
What's taking that jury
so dang long, anyway?
Swore on a Bible I saw
O'Toole kill my pa, and...
why don't they
just string him up?
Jury's in!
All right, O'Toole, the
court's ready for you.
The hour of judgment
is at hand, is it?
That's right.
I welcome it, then.
You got a verdict?
Oh, we got one, Your Honor.
Well, what is it? What is it?
We say "guilty."
You got anythin' to say
before the sentencing?
Well, perhaps a few
words'd do no harm.
I'll not take long.
Well, get on with it.
'Tis, uh, many a land I visited
since leaving the old
country, Your Honor.
Half of them are
the devil's own,
let me tell you,
with no democratic processes
of law as you have here.
I commend you, sir,
and the prosecutor
and the jury, as well.
'Tis a fair trial I've had.
I'm that grateful,
you'll be hearing no
word from me against it.
But...
though these good people
have deliberated fairly
and have rendered their verdict,
by the Almighty,
they've made an error.
Terrence O'Toole has
been falsely accused
and wrongly condemned.
I stand innocent
of these charges.
I've said my piece, Your Honor.
I thank you kindly
for the privilege.
The jury has found you guilty
of robbing Fred Demmer of $400
and shootin' him
down in cold blood.
I sentence you to hang
by your neck until dead.
Sheriff, you have a
job to deliver this man
to the U.S. Marshal at
Carson City tomorrow.
The hangin'll take place there.
All right, Your Honor.
All right, O'Toole.
That's all.
Well, Mrs. Demmer,
justice was done.
Yes, I'm thinking it was.
Joe, you sure missed
some good apple pie tonight.
Ol' Hop Sing almost
outdid himself.
Yeah, I'll bet.
Pa wants us to do some work
on that barn roof tomorrow.
You want to haul the
shingles out tonight?
Ah, it can wait till
tomorrow, can't it?
Yeah, reckon so.
You're still bothered
by that verdict, ain't you?
What if I am?
Just askin'.
Pa?
Hmm?
Pa...
I think you ought
to talk to Little Joe.
What's the matter?
Well, he's worked
himself up a real fret.
Yeah, I noticed it at supper.
That trial really has
got him worried, huh?
Yeah.
Yeah, he's takin' a mighty
big load on his shoulders.
Well, I'll talk to him.
See if you can make sense
out of these figures, will you?
Yes, sir.
Nice night.
Yeah.
Like some more coffee?
Oh, in a little while.
Ah, that trial sure upset
everybody's schedule, didn't it?
That's all folks talked about.
Well, I guess the town
will get back to normal,
now that it's over.
Yeah, sure.
Everybody'll be happy now.
O'Toole'll hang and...
justice will be served.
You don't seem
to think so, do you?
Well, I should think so.
I went over the
evidence twice, I made...
I made all the jurors do
the same thing. I wanted...
I wanted to be sure.
You brought in a verdict, Joe.
Yeah, we brought in a verdict.
The evidence was there.
O'Toole saw Demmer take the
money out of the bank, the $400.
He saw... Demmer's
wife stay in town to shop,
figured he'd be out
at the ranch alone.
He followed him out
there, but he wasn't alone.
Jeb was there, saw the shooting.
Little while later, the
sheriff catches O'Toole
and he's got about
$400 on him. It all fits.
Did you believe
O'Toole's story about
earning that money for
passage back to Ireland?
No.
No, I don't believe that.
The-the only question was,
what happened to the billfold?
And the first thing you got to
figure is O'Toole threw it away.
What's troubling you, Joe?
I don't know.
Not the evidence.
It was just the way
O'Toole looked at me.
When we brought in the verdict.
The way he stood up there
and looked every single
one of us right in the eye.
Said we made a mistake.
I just can't believe that a
man could look at you that way
and still be guilty.
Joe... you made a decision.
And I doubt that
there's a man alive
who's never had a second thought
about any decision he's made.
But you were asked to do a job.
To serve on a jury.
And you accepted
that responsibility
and you did your
job conscientiously,
intelligently,
and that's all the...
the law asks for.
You did your job well.
Breakfast is on the table!
Morning, Pa.
Good morning, Joe.
Listen, I wanted
to ask you if, uh,
maybe I could go to work on
that roof this afternoon sometime.
Why, do you have something
more important to do?
Well, there's something
I have to do, yeah.
What?
Well, it's just... just
something personal
I want to take care of in town.
Oh, well, look, Pa, I
can start that roofin'
by myself till Joe gets back.
- Yeah, would you?
- Yeah.
Good, okay. I'll be back.
Well, wait a minute.
Have something
to eat before you go.
Uh, no, thanks, Pa.
I'm not hungry this morning.
Well, you be back for
an early lunch, you hear?
Right. I will.
I'll be back by
noon, I promise you.
Hi, Little Joe.
Hi, Roy.
Wanted to ask a favor of you.
Well, I hope it's something
that I can do for you now.
I'm leaving for Carson City
with Mr. O'Toole 'fore long.
Well, I wondered
if I could go in
and talk to O'Toole
for a minute.
You go right ahead,
but don't take too long.
Better leave your
gun right here, too.
Right.
My name is Cartwright.
I was on the jury.
Yes, I know.
All of your faces are
mounted like portraits
on the walls of my soul.
That little act you put
on in court yesterday
came kind of late, didn't it?
Would it have, uh,
made a difference to you
before the deliberations?
Well, all the evidence
was against you, I...
just couldn't understand
why you bothered denying it.
Would you have had
me admit to murder, then?
Well, why not?
It's not gonna make
any difference now.
Ah.
So you've, uh, come to
hear confession, have you?
'Tis the condemned
man's immortal spirit
that concerns you.
You've, uh, come to offer
God's grace, perhaps?
To help purge me soul of
sin before the eternal sleep?
No, that's not why I came. I...
Then I misunderstood you, sir.
All the while I was supposin'
it was for an admission
of my guilt you came.
Here I was supposin'
that you sought assurance
you'd sent the proper
man to the gallows.
But you see, Mr. Cartwright...
I stole no man's cash.
And I'm innocent of murder.
So I'll not be administering
that balm to your conscience,
badly in need of it as
you'll continue to be.
Thanks, Roy.
Go on, Little Joe.
You say hello to your
pa for me, will you?
Yeah.
♪♪
- Hi, Sam.
- Joe.
- Let me have a beer, huh?
- Sure, Joe.
Thanks, Sam.
Fellas are playing for pretty
high stakes, aren't they?
Yep.
They ain't small-time
gamblers, Joe.
Wonder what Jeb Demmer's
doing in a game like that.
I don't know,
but he's been at it since
yesterday after the trial,
on and off.
How's he doing?
Heavy loser.
But he keeps coming
back with more money.
How 'bout a drink?
Ah, I could use one.
Give me a beer, will you?
Gave you a pretty bad
time over there, huh?
I'll win it back.
Well, here's to that
verdict you turned in.
And a good hanging.
Pretty anxious for that
hanging, aren't you?
Well, you were on the jury.
That-that was the
verdict, wasn't it?
Yeah, that's right.
How much money you
say you lost over there?
Why, you backing somebody?
No, I just didn't figure you
for that kind of
stakes, that's all.
Well, maybe you better
explain what you meant by that.
I'm not gonna explain
anything to you.
There you are, O'Toole.
Is it your plan to
leave soon, Sheriff?
Well, we gotta be
over in Carson City
early this afternoon.
Marshal'll be waitin', then?
Yeah, the marshal and the, uh,
the other official.
I was meaning him, too.
You better eat up.
It's a three-hour
ride over there.
'Tis not the pangs of hunger
I was concernin'
meself with, Sheriff.
Well, you can suit yourself.
Thank you, Jake.
Hi, Pa.
Hoss.
Ah!
Whew.
Boy, it's hot up
there on that roof.
Well, it's hot everywhere.
Long past noon.
Yeah, well, we'll be through
this job in about an hour, Pa.
Oh, I wasn't worried about that.
Little Joe said he'd
be back by noon.
You ain't worried
about him, are you?
Oh, not worried about
anything happening to him, I...
It's just that...
I'm wondering why he went
into town and wouldn't say.
Well, I just gotta remind
myself over and over again
that I've got grown sons
and they have grown-up problems
which they have to
solve by themselves.
That's right.
Like that roof.
Yeah, well... I'll get
on that right now.
Nah. Come on, everybody.
Let go into the house,
get something cold to drink.
- Hmm?
- Good idea.
Come on, Jake.
Hello, Mrs. Demmer.
Good day.
Mrs. Demmer, I'm Joe Cartwright.
I sat in on the murder jury.
Yes, I know that, surely.
Well, I'm sorry to come out here
and bother you like this, but...
well, I just wondered if
there was anything else
you could tell us,
anything that didn't
come out at the trial.
'Twas my not knowing anything
that kept me from testifyin'.
Yeah, I know.
There's nothing
else you can add?
What would I be knowing,
shoppin' like I was in
town when Fred was killed?
Well, there's a man about
to be hanged for murder.
I just... wanted to be
sure he was the right one.
Surely anybody
can look in his face
and see he's the right one.
And weren't you given
better reason at the trial?
Weren't ye yerself one of them
that said Terrence was guilty?
"Terrence"?
It was Terrence O'Toole
I was meaning to say.
There's many a chore
here to be done before dark.
I'll thank you to be
leavin' me about my work.
Mrs. Demmer, you know
Jeb has been gambling
pretty heavy in town,
the last few days?
I'll not be a party
to your prying.
Leave the matter be as
it stands, why don't you?
♪♪
What'd he want?
It wasn't much he asked
and I had little enough to tell.
Well, I don't want
that Cartwright around
anymore, you hear?
Do you suppose he
came on my invitation?
Well, you just
make it plain to him,
the next time he
comes snooping around,
that he ain't welcome.
I'm thinkin' it's for
you to tell him that.
You do like I say
if you want to go on
keeping house around here.
Are you thinkin' the
ranch'll tend to itself
while you're off
in town gambling?
Is that what Cartwright
came to tell you?
And how is it you have
the means to gamble?
I'm rememberin'
you hadn't the money
and there wasn't a cent
of ready cash in the bank.
Fred took it all out
to make payment on
those cattle he fancied.
It ain't none of your affair
where I get my money.
It could set people
to wondering.
What people?
It could set people to wondering
how a young man,
with his pockets empty,
suddenly acquired
sufficient to gamble
after his pa was
laid in the grave.
Cartwright?
Is that who's wondering?
It could set people
to thinking that maybe
everything that should've
come out in the trial... didn't.
Well, now, I know something
that didn't come out
in the trial... Molly.
Something else that might
start people to thinking.
You see, I saw you with O'Toole,
day before my pa was shot.
He was an acquaintance
of mine from Dublin,
many years before,
recognizing me in town
and that's all
there was to that.
Well, I seen you, Molly.
Seen you right out by
the end of the pasture.
Talking.
Talking like lovers.
Like maybe all you could want
is to get shed of your husband.
Seeing me in town,
he rode out to pay his respects.
But I barely recollected him.
And that's all there was to it.
Think anybody's
gonna believe that?
Little good it'll
do them not to.
See, I could...
I could do things with
that information, Molly.
Then in heaven's name, do it,
and the devil take you!
I could talk up to the sheriff.
I could tell him what I seen.
What is it you're insinuatin'?
That it was me plotted
Fred's death with Terrence?
I didn't insinuate that, Molly.
You just kind of set
the thought in my head.
Looks like maybe you better quit
making such a big to-do
over where I get my money.
Then maybe I'll forget I
saw you and your friend.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
All right, O'Toole,
it's time to go.
O'Toole, I said we're leaving.
By the Almighty,
Sheriff, I didn't hear you.
I was that far lost in
the fancies of the past...
Sorry, Sheriff.
I didn't mean anything
of a personal nature.
♪♪
Come and draw
me a beer, will you?
That's O'Toole.
O'Toole!
♪♪
♪♪
Hey, Sam.
The sheriff and O'Toole
leave for Carson City already?
O'Toole broke out!
Sheriff's got a posse
out to hunt him down.
O'Toole's not
gonna get very far.
Wouldn't surprise me if
one of them posse boys
didn't save the sheriff a
long ride back to Carson City.
Ain't much fun
huntin' a man down
in this kind of heat.
Yeah, and they're hunting
down the wrong man.
Huh?
Go on!
♪♪
Are you alone?
By the Almighty, Molly
girl, are you alone?
I've no place else
in the world to come
save this one, Molly.
It's me they're out hunting
like the hounds after a fox.
I'd not come troubling
you, you understand,
but I'm hurt too bad to go on.
Can you help me?
Don't you hear me, girl?
I have need of you!
I had need of you, once, too.
It was just 21 years
ago next month
that I waited at the church
for a Dublin lad
who failed to come.
'Twas a base deed I
committed that day.
But 'twas for you I done it.
For you sake
alone, I didn't come.
For me, was it?
You'd have made a poor
match for yourself, Molly.
You alas wantin' a house
and-and little ones...
and me, with the
wanderlust deep in my bones.
I was that believin',
I waited all night
in my white gown and veil.
The pity of my friends.
Oh, I had a need of you.
Did you not hear my
heart crying out to you?
My own heart answered it, Molly.
Many's the night I'd be sittin'
in some devil-cursed
waterfront saloon
weeping bitter tears at the
memory of her I gave up.
And many's the night
I've wished you dead.
Sure, you had reason
to wish me in my grave.
But now...
knowing why your
groom never came
and the torment
he suffered for it,
perhaps now your
pity wouldn't be amiss.
You have a queer way of
reasoning it out, don't you?
I couldn't go off to die
without telling you why I
deserted you, long ago.
Tell the truth, Molly.
Doesn't your heart
soften a bit to me now?
Seeing all this pain
and suffering I'm in?
Oh, I never had a hate
in me for any man...
leastways, not
for you, Terrence.
It was the hurt
of your going off...
It was the pain of losing you...
That set the stone in my heart.
The Almighty bless you, Molly,
I-I know that.
Will you help me now?
Will you be tending
my wound, Molly girl,
so I can make good my escape
before those baying dogs
get the little fox in their teeth?
Jeb says I'm not to be
receiving you anymore.
Mrs. Demmer, did this billfold
belong to your husband?
Yes, it was Fred's, surely.
See? His intial's on it.
But how is it you've come by it?
Jeb had it.
Sure, then, Jeb lied.
It wasn't Terrence
who killed Fred.
You mind if I talk to him?
It's the billfold he found.
It's the proof you'll be needing
you're an innocent man.
Where did you get that?
Jeb had it.
Saw him throw it in the brush
about a mile away from here.
You can forget that
trip to Carson City;
there's not gonna be a hanging.
They'll be reopening
the case now.
It's just a matter of time
before you'll be a free man.
I'd not count on that, Molly.
What are you sayin'?
I'd not be trusting
the mood of a posse,
hangin' a man first and
asking the questions after.
No.
I'll have no more
of posses and juries.
Better to be ridin'
back to the East
and book passage for Ireland.
O'Toole, that
doesn't make sense.
You try to get away from here,
they'll have every lawman
in the West on your tail.
All right, I'll go with you.
Would you give me a moment
to say good-bye to Molly first?
Sure.
I'll be right outside.
When I get back to Ireland,
I'll be sending for you.
Will you?
We'll be a lass and
a lad in love again
and the years falling away.
We'll be wed in the same church.
Be inviting the same friends.
Sure, it'll be like I dreamed
it a thousand nights since
and time not a minute older.
I'm wishing it could
be that way again.
But who can say
nay to the years?
The young, fair, Irish
maiden is long gone, you see.
I'm thinkin' it's of someone
else you've dreamed,
not the Widow Demmer.
Then woe to those years
and to them that still dream.
Better not to have crossed
the American continent.
Better never to have
chanced upon Molly MacGregor
on the streets of Virginia City.
Better not to have known
what that man had done to you.
A man that set you
down in the wilderness
to struggle with barren soil,
to carry the slop of pigs.
An evil man, who
took away your youth
and wore down your beauty
till what remained was...
was flayed and lacerated.
I couldn't let a man
like that go on living
without paying for his sins!
Then it was you, after all.
Not Jeb.
Aye.
It was me.
Oh, Molly... you were
the star of beauty.
All my life, I carried
the image of you
in my mind and heart.
And when we met
that day in Virginia City,
my heart stopped.
It was all there in your
face and your eyes,
what he'd done to you.
That brutal beast of a man,
destroying the beauty
of your shining eyes.
And then... to
see him strike you,
there in the street.
Blast his eyes,
he deserved more than death!
You were always in
my heart, Terrance.
Always.
It didn't matter what he did.
Even when the
work was brutal hard
and the days longer
than I could bear
and when he wouldn't buy food
or a piece of cloth
for a new dress...
always, through it all,
somewhere inside
of me my heart sang:
"You're young, fair, Molly,
"and someday your
lover will be comin' back
and his heart will
be singing, too."
Bless you, Molly.
In all eternity,
I'll not forget you.
The posse's coming.
Better let me have that gun.
I won't be going with you.
I'm afraid you're mistaken.
I didn't steal,
but I did kill him.
We can still get away.
I'll be pretending
I'm your hostage.
You wouldn't stand
a chance out there.
You'd be a fugitive
for the rest of your life.
Alone, I would.
Move.
Molly...
I never stopped loving you.
Terrence!
♪♪
He come out firing, ma'am.
He... he must've
knowed we'd shoot back.
It was to spare me the
lot of a fugitive's woman
that he done it.
He was thinkin' it
was that or his life.
It was me was his last thought.
You see, he always loved me.
Always.
♪♪
Yeah.
But you did see O'Toole
shoot your pa and then run off.
Now, that part is
the truth, ain't it?
Well, when I come up to
him and saw he was dead, I...
all I could think of was that
he was gonna leave
that ranch to Molly.
'Cause he never gave me
nothing while he was alive.
So I figured I at least
ought to have the money.
So I... just took the billfold
with the $400 in it and...
figured they'd
blame it on O'Toole.
But it was me. I... I stole it.
I took it.
Just hard to believe
that I could've been
so wrong about...
I guess I better learn
to take everything
with a grain of
salt from now on.
Hmm.
Well, Joe, I'll tell you:
I think it's much better to...
keep on looking for
the good in a man,
finding yourself wrong,
than to be looking
for the evil in a man
and finding yourself cynical.
Yeah, well, it
did a lot of good,
looking for the
good in this man.
Well, here's another
way of looking at it.
Suppose you'd been right.
You'd have saved
a man from hanging.
Don't let it sour you,
the first time you
believe in a person
and find that you're wrong.
Next time, you may be right.
Come on.
Where we going?
Well, I'm not going anywhere.
You're going out to help Hoss
finish fixing the roof.
Okay.
Oh, Joe...
before you go, there's
something I want you to know.
I'm proud of you.
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