The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955–1961): Season 1, Episode 32 - The War of the Colonels - full transcript

♪ Wyatt Earp, Wyatt Earp ♪

♪ Brave, courageous, and bold ♪

♪ Long live his fame and long live his glory ♪

♪ And long may his story be told ♪

On the Western frontier of 1875,

a tragic phase of lawlessness was the range war.

A range war started when two owners

of large cattle outfits had a personal dispute.

Then it spread to cowhand retainers of the cattle barons,

with professional gunfighters hired by both sides,

making the war hot and deadly.



Thus, when the Wades and the Fentresses invaded Wichita,

Marshal Earp had no choice.

He must break up the fight

or the city streets would become their battleground

and every Wichita citizen might suffer the fate

of the innocent bystander.

Hold it!

Break it up! Break it up!

What's the matter with you fellas, anyway?

You know better than that!

All right, come on.

Come out of there!

Back up there. Back up. Come on.

Get back.



Get back!

Stop it! Stop it!

You Wades better stop it!

You Wades better stop it or I'll get a gun

and I'll shoot every one of you!

Break it up!

Break it up! Break it up!

Come on...

Stay out of this! I said break it up!

Break it up!

Should I take 'em all to jail?

Any of 'em drunk?

Well, they don't seem to be.

I want him and him and him arrested!

Arrest all six of them. They're Wades from the Bar W.

They jumped three of our men, and it just wasn't...

Hold it!

Any of them are hurt take them to Doc Fabrique.

Turn the rest of them loose.

Marshal Earp, are you on the Fentress' side or the Wades'?

Who are you and where do you live?

I'm Mary Ellen Fentress.

I'm staying here in town at the Wichita Hotel.

You'd better get inside to cool off.

Let me have this. Go on now.

Now you sit down and cool off.

And I suppose you'd like to know what makes me tick.

You must be Colonel Fentress' granddaughter.

Lazy H outfit, hmm? Yes, I am.

And there's gonna be one real sure-enough fight

when my grandfather gets to town. Oh?

He put up with old man Wade for years and years.

Haven't you any sense of justice, Mr. Earp?

Well, there's two sides to every argument, Miss Fentress.

Those Wades jump our range, they rustle our steers,

they bribe the cattle agents,

so they can load first at the freight pens,

now they bought up all the rooms

at the Texas House.

Colonel Wade's coming into town, huh?

Don't call him a colonel!

He was only a brevet colonel and a plum coward.

Well, I never argue with ladies.

I'm sorry.

I hope you'll forgive me for losing my temper.

But it was six against three,

and, well, my blood just about boiled.

Yeah, I know.

I bet you've lost your temper a few times.

A few times, but, uh, you know,

that's one of the worst things a peace officer can do.

Peace. Can't be any now.

The Wades are loading guns.

They've come into town for the finish fight.

Wyatt? We're gonna need some more men.

The Wade boys just went into the Texas House and cleaned the gun rack.

You see?

Where are the Fentress men?

Well, Doc Fabrique's patching them up.

All right, let's go down there.

Just the two of us, Wyatt? That'll be plenty.

We'll go in the back door. I'll go, too.

No, you stay here and start trying to act like a lady.

All right, put your hands on the bar!

You put yours on the table.

Come on, move!

Get their guns, Ollie.

I gave your men a break on the streets.

Now you're gonna go to jail.

That Fentress girl put you up to this, Earp?

Same law goes for the Fentresses.

Been enough trouble from both outfits.

Now go on. Get moving.

Come on. Move.

Go on! Move!

Hold it.

Mary Ellen said they beat up on three of our boys.

Oh, you're Fentress men, huh?

Climb down, both of ya!

Oh, sticking up for the Wades...

I said climb down!

Now follow with the Wades.

Go on! Move!

Marshal Earp, are you sure

you haven't made some dreadful mistake?

Mistake?

Well, it was all right to arrest those Wade cowhands,

but you arrested two of our men, too.

Mr. Broaddus here doesn't think it was quite legal.

I am John H. Broaddus, attorney-at-law.

Howdy.

Miss Fentress, your men were arrested

because they were drunk and wearing guns.

They also told me that you incited them

to get even with the Wades.

Why, I never!

All I did was tell them how the Wades beat up our boys.

Now all of this is a little irrelevant.

Oh, it is, huh? Yes, it is.

You know, ever since my arrival in Wichita,

I've been quite concerned over your high-handed tactics, Mr. Earp.

I've been retained by Miss Fentress, here,

to see that her grandfather's employees

are released immediately.

You got a writ of habeas corpus?

Not necessary, young man.

All Miss Fentress need do is to tender bail money.

I've got more than a hundred dollars

right here in this purse.

Don't bother.

I intend to keep those prisoners for 24 hours.

The law gives me that authority.

Now look, if the Wade and Fentress people

aim to start a private war, they're not gonna start it

on the streets of Wichita.

But you have no proof...

And I don't waste any time on shysters,

so you'd better get out of here. B-But...

You dare call me a...

A shyster and a fool. Now I told you to get out.

I'm going to see Judge Jewett! Well, you do it.

You'll find him right over at the courthouse.

You know what's wrong with you?

You're a girl.

You've never been punched in the nose.

Girls seldom are.

So a few of them grow up to be spoiled brats.

You're insulting.

But perhaps you're not gentleman enough to know that.

You haven't got enough brains in your stupid little head

to know what you're trying to start.

A range war isn't romantic, Miss Fentress.

You've see a lot of men beaten. You wanna see them killed, too?

Yes. Every one of those Wades. Oh.

And where will you be?

Ringing your hands in the parlor, I suppose.

Sniveling about all the Fentress men that are killed.

Well, you make me sick. You get out of here, too.

My grandfather will shoot you.

He's got more brains than to try it.

And you tell him for me, if he shows up in this town

wearing a gun, he'll wind up in jail.

I'll tell that to Wade, too.

What did she do to ruffle your... Forget it!

How many deputies have we got?

Seven, counting me.

All right. Send five of them over to the Texas House.

You tell them to arrest every Wade

that shows in town wearing a gun.

Yes, sir.

I'm going over to the Wichita Hotel.

Old Fentress will show up this afternoon.

You and Paul join me over there later. Right.

Oh, Grandfather, thank heaven you've come.

You having trouble, Mary Ellen?

Oh, it's that Marshal Earp.

He says we can't fight the Wades.

Three of our men got beat up.

Then he arrested two more and took them to jail.

And when I got a lawyer to try and get them out,

why, he said just dreadful, insulting things to me.

He did, huh? He treated me like a poor, trashy nobody.

Then he took our lawyer and just shoved him out of his office.

I reckon we'll drive straight to the calaboose, Curly.

That Earp has needed a teaching for a good spell.

Hold on! Hold on...

You Colonel Fentress?

I am, sir.

Then you're under arrest, sir.

Don't you dare try to...

You stay out of this.

She's been trying to start a free-for-all ever since this afternoon.

And you think you can stop it?

Well, if you and Colonel Wade haven't got enough sense

to stop it yourself, then I'll have to do the job for you.

The jail's right this way, sir.

I won't be there long.

No, you won't, Grandfather.

Mr. Broaddus is seeing the judge right now.

And why don't you arrest Wade?

I intend to as soon as he shows in town.

It's too bad I can't arrest you, too.

Now let's get going.

Don't worry, honey.

He'll pay for this.

I don't know why you acted with such severity.

Colonel Wade and Colonel Fentress

may be just blowing off steam.

Not this time, Judge.

They told their men to fight it out.

But you don't know that!

Well, Fentress is right in there.

Go ask him point blank.

Oh, hang it all, Wyatt.

A man's intent doesn't constitute a breach of law.

Broaddus has been after me to release

all the prisoners on bail.

Well, you wouldn't do that.

Well, why not?

A pitched battle in the streets?

Innocent bystanders being hurt?

It's a condition of priority criminus.

You're asking me, as a judge,

to assume that Wade and Fentress' men

will actually shoot at each other.

That's right.

Broaddus is a shyster,

but he knows enough law to realize that you put me

in an embarrassing position.

Why... Why, old man Wade isn't even in town.

No matter what Fentress threatens,

it takes two to make a quarrel.

Don't you see that I'm stretching the law?

Don't lose your temper, Wyatt.

Oh, I think I'm doing right well,

considering there's a range war

about to bust loose in this town.

And you quote Latin.

Let me tell you... Wait a minute, Judge.

You listen to me.

You grant those men bail

or sign writs of habeas corpus,

I won't honor the papers. Indeed!

Now you're the judge, but I'm the marshal.

If Broaddus gets you to sign papers, they have to be enforced.

Well, I won't enforce them, and neither will my men.

Are you... Do you realize what you're saying?

I took an oath to keep peace in Wichita,

and that's what I aim to do.

As long as you're marshal.

Well, sir, in order to remove me,

you'd have to have a trial.

Mayor Hope is out of town, so you can't fire me.

Wyatt, don't put... Excuse me, Wyatt.

Old man Wade just got in. Where is he?

Sitting over in the lobby of the Texas House,

and he's just loaded with shooting iron.

We didn't want to tackle him without you knowing about it.

Looks like a gunfight. Yeah.

Wade is right peaceful, isn't he?

Well, maybe you'd better come along,

and find out what his priority criminus

condition is for yourself.

No, no, no.

If he refuses to surrender his weapons,

you arrest him.

Thank you. I will.

And another thing.

Earp didn't throw Fentress and his boys

in jail to stop a fight.

He threw them in the calaboose to protect them from my boys.

And I hear he's sweet on Mary Ellen Fentress.

What kind of a law is that?

A short-horn marshal taking sides with Fentress.

I ask you... Colonel?

Now don't get scared, son.

Just keep your hands away from your gun.

Marshal Earp says you'll either have to check

those weapons or be arrested.

Well, well.

So that's what Earp says, eh?

Yes, sir. Well, you just tell him

to come here and try and arrest me.

That's what I'm waiting for!

What's the matter? Didn't you hear me?

I said tell...

I'm right here, Mr. Wade.

Yeah, that's just what you'd do, Earp.

Sneak up behind a man.

I didn't wanna have to kill you.

A typical sneaky Earp trick.

Come on, stand up.

We'll take a little walk to jail.

I'll have a lot of my boys here around sunup.

How long do you think I'll stay in jail?

Just as long as I want you.

Now get your hat.

Yeah, I heard about you.

Well, I declare.

It's Brevet Colonel Yellow Jack Wade.

You just better stay in jail,

if you know what's good for you.

Let's go. Marshal Earp. Please.

I was wrong.

You did arrest Colonel Wade.

I'd might well like to apologize.

All right. Please.

Can't we be friends?

Why?

Well, I just might be able to persuade Grandfather

to call off the fight.

And why would you do that?

Well, in all my life, no man ever talked to me the way you did,

and it started me to thinking.

If you'd escort me to the lobby of the Wichita Hotel,

I'd... I'd might well like to talk it over.

All right.

And then I got to thinking,

what's all this awful fussing about?

Just because Grandfather says Wade didn't support

the 9th Virginia Regiment at the Battle of Malvern Hill.

That was 12 years ago, Mr. Earp.

And that's what started all the trouble, hmm?

Uh-huh. Truly, it did.

See, Wade was in charge of a Carolina regiment.

But he turned yellow, and he ordered

his wonderful men to turn back,

exposing Grandfather's position.

I know it was a terrible thing for Wade to do,

but, all the same, it just doesn't seem right

that Grandfather should nurse revenge all these years,

now does it?

No.

But what you said about me,

that I'd weep crocodile tears in the parlor

while our men and theirs were getting shot.

Oh, it made me see myself as a mean, cruel person.

Am I really that wicked, Mr. Earp?

Well, I don't know any saints in Wichita, Miss Fentress.

Would you like me to prove I've changed

by getting them to call off the fight?

Your character's none of my business, but...

though you might win a big star for your halo

if you could put an end to this row.

But I'll need your help.

How?

Well, just getting Grandfather to call off the war

wouldn't settle it.

You'd have to agree to let him and his men

out of jail.

And hold the Wades, hmm?

Uh-huh. That'd give us time to get out of town.

Everybody'd have a chance to cool off.

All right.

You and I'll have a little talk

with Colonel Fentress.

And if things work out peaceable,

we'll be friends?

Mmm.

Well, that's right fine of you, Mr. Earp.

You know, you're the first man

that ever told me the truth about myself.

Yeah, well, uh, let's go find out

what your grandfather has to say.

I'm sure Grandfather will listen to me.

I hope so.

Mary Ellen! What are you doing here?

Grandfather, I've come to an agreement with Mr. Earp.

He's gonna turn us all loose

if you promise to stop fighting Wade.

Oh, I thought so.

Earp is a good-looking scamp and he's turned your head.

Grandfather, how can you say such a thing?

Forget it, Miss Fentress.

The Colonel is determined to have a war.

I make no deal with you, Earp.

- I don't have to.
- No?

My brothers have telegraphed the governor,

and the governor is a personal friend of mine.

Grandfather, I've given my...

Mind your manners, Mary Ellen!

No lady would associate with a fellow like Earp.

You go on back to the hotel.

Immediately!

You and that small-town judge will soon be out of jobs.

Paul!

Send Colonel Wade in here.

I'm gonna make you the same offer I made to Fentress.

I'll keep him and his men in jail here for a while

and let your crowd go free

if you'll promise to get out of town.

And make peace, I suppose?

I don't care what you and Fentress do outside the city limits,

but I'm not gonna have any gunfire

in the streets of Wichita.

You're bluffing with a poor hand, Earp.

A pair of deuces.

Oh, I am, huh? Yes, you are.

Of course, if Fentress wired the governor,

we'll be out of here by morning.

And so will you, sonny.

Wyatt, a Fentress cowhand and a Wade gunslinger

are making showdown talk on Douglas Avenue.

They've hid their guns, so we just can't arrest them.

Let's go down and get them.

You gonna let them run us out of town?

Come on. Get out of the way!

You've been doing enough talk. Why don't you draw?

This one's dead.

This one's still breathing.

Wearing Bar W spurs.

First blood for Colonel Fentress.

All right, you men, take them on over to Doc Fabrique's.

Give them a hand.

Lift them careful.

Oh, Wyatt. The jig's up.

I've written a mandamus from the court in Topeka.

We've got to release both Wade and Fentress outfits.

According to what the court says.

Now, Wyatt... They said it. Let them enforce it!

I'll be impeached. And you'll be fired.

Look, there's one man dead

and another man so badly wounded

he'll be crippled for life.

And do you know why?

Because 12 years ago,

Fentress accused Wade of being cowardly

at the Battle of Malvern Hill.

Ollie, bring Fentress and Wade in here.

Judge, I'm gonna say something to them that you won't want to hear.

Will you leave us alone? But you don't understand.

I've written a mand... Judge, please.

Good night, Wyatt.

Good night, sir.

Have a seat, gentlemen.

Thank you, sir.

Colonel Wade,

one of your men was just killed in a gunfight

down at the Texas House.

Oh, that's too bad. Yeah.

Colonel Fentress, your man was shot up so badly

he'll be crippled for life.

I'm sorry to hear that.

No, neither one of you cares a hoot.

They're both just nobodies in your own private little war!

All right, gentlemen, come morning,

you'll have your own little private war

and your own little private battlefield.

Battlefield?

What do you mean?

I mean that you and Colonel Fentress

are gonna fight the next battle all by yourselves.

These are your guns.

Are you suggesting a duel, sir?

I don't care what you call it.

But tomorrow morning, my men and I

are gonna take you to Denby's horse barn.

There's nice, thick walls,

so that no innocent bystander can get hurt.

This is your fight, isn't it?

Uh, yes.

Of course.

Then I assume you have no objection

to fighting it out personally.

Or would you rather have it fought by boys

who never even saw Malvern Hill?

No. I'm ready.

So am I.

Good.

I just hope you're both as brave as your hired hands.

Oh, and don't worry,

if either of you is killed, your great attorney,

Mr. Broaddus, can appeal it to the Supreme Court.

Have a good night's rest, gentlemen.

Good night.

All right, gentlemen.

Here are your guns.

There are three bullets in each.

Check the cylinders.

Now, Ollie'll open the doors.

You'll walk in side by side.

Then you'll make your own arrangements

as to when to start the fight

and the distance between you.

You understand?

Anytime, gentlemen.

Grandfather!

Where's my grandfather? Take it easy.

Your grandfather and Colonel Wade

went inside the barn to shoot it out.

Are you mad? He's an old man.

He doesn't see very well.

He's no older than Wade.

But he'll be killed!

That's six, Ollie.

Open the door.

My grandfather... you killed him.

He's dead, you murderer!

Grandfather!

Grandfather, thank heavens.

I'm all right, honey.

Wretched bad shootin'.

Take them to Doc Fabrique's.

I hate you! Whoa there, Mary Ellen.

The war's over.

Jack and I decided we've had enough.

Come on, Jack.

Go ahead, Colonel. Thank you, Colonel.

Haa! Hya!

I'm sorry. I lost my temper.

I lost my temper, too, but I'm not sorry.

Just for once, the old fools who started a range war

had to fight it out themselves.

Please...

Can't we be friends, Mr. Earp?

The war's over for you, too, huh?

You know, the courts are not gonna like any of this.

Would it be all right if I sort of

fell in love with you?

Nope.

I'm under a writ of mandamus.

A writ of... What's that?

Well, it means I can't get married

for years and years.

♪ Well, he cleaned up the country ♪

♪ The old Wild West country ♪

♪ He made law and order prevail ♪

♪ And none can deny it ♪

♪ The legend of Wyatt ♪

♪ Forever will live on the trail ♪

♪ Oh, Wyatt Earp, Wyatt Earp ♪

♪ Brave, courageous and bold ♪

♪ Long live his fame and long live his glory ♪

♪ And long may his story be told ♪

♪ Long may his story ♪

♪ Be told ♪