The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955–1961): Season 2, Episode 4 - The Double Life of Dora Hand - 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. ♪

Cowhands on a hoo-rah

weren't the only troublemakers in Dodge City

when Wyatt Earp was Marshall.

There were tough buffalo hunters...

who went on sprees in Dodge.

And there were the railroad construction gangs of the Santa Fe,

who tried to make good their boast that Dodge was hell on wheels.



In 1876, these two groups of hoodlums fought each other

for possession of the dance hall run by Dora Hand,

the queen of Dodge City's night life.

Dora Hand, a beautiful and mysterious young woman

who was a legend in her own lifetime.

Men shot or maimed one another in fights over Dora and the girls of her dance hall.

Come on!

Cut him up!

You got him!

You got him, Rogan!

Why'd you do that? That was Rogan.

The fight's over!

Take it easy.

Now what's all this about?



It was just an argument, Marshall.

There's no need to arrest them. They'll behave.

Take them both to jail, Hal.

Come on.

Now look, Miss Dora, this is the third fight

you've had in here since noon.

Sam, drinks on the house.

Marshall.

I'll take one of those drinks...

I would have broken it up. The men listen to me.

That buffalo hunter would have cut him to ribbons.

Well, the railroad man started it.

Look, you've got a rough mixture here...

Buffalo hunters and railroad men.

You're gonna have to make up your mind to bar one crowd or the other.

That's not easy, Marshall.

What about the cowhands and the soldiers?

No, what I need are bigger and braver barkeeps.

They'll stop all the rough stuff.

Miss Dora, that isn't gonna work either.

There have always been fights on this side of the line.

When men drink and argue about women,

there are bound to be fights.

Not with knives and guns, they're not gonna fight.

What's this leading to, Marshall?

Are you planning to close me?

I sure don't want to, Miss Dora, but...

Keep out of this.

I only want to make a suggestion to Marshall Earp.

Just say in your report the hoo-rah was at my place.

That way she won't get mentioned in the papers.

No! Keep out of it!

Mr. Kelly is in one of his gallant moods this evening.

I handle my own beefs, Kelly.

You hit one of them on the head with a whiskey bottle.

Is that ladylike?

I told you you could never make a lady out of me!

What did you do to Jim? Are you a hypnotist or something?

No, ma'am.

Earp ain't any friend of mine.

Don't try to string me!

Earp's got you acting respectable.

Councilman Kelly, they call him. The law and order man.

This is between us.

You can say I'm a public nuisance and close me, I guess.

- Oh, no, now!
- Oh, shut up!

What's the verdict, Marshall?

Well, Miss Dora,

I could assign an extra deputy here for a few days.

Yeah. Good idea.

Oh, it's not a good idea at all!

The buffalo men will say you're siding with the Santa Fe crowd

and the Santa Fe crowd will tell Major Paxton

that you're favoring the buffalo men.

Well, what do you suggest?

I suggest...

Why don't you let me talk to all the men?

If they know that you're threatening to close me,

they'll stop all the rough stuff.

All right, ma'am, you're entitled to that chance.

- Good evening.
- Thank you, Marshall.

Now Dora...

Oh, shut up, Kelly.

Earp, wait for me! I want to talk to you.

I thought you wanted to talk to me.

I do. But not as a friend, mind you.

All right.

And don't get any wrong ideas about Miss Dora and me.

She considers herself too good to marry a saloon keeper.

By George, she's right.

Yes, sir.

You don't know Miss Dora!

All you see is a dance hall owner and jump to conclusions.

I've jumped a lot of times, Mr. Kelly,

but never to a conclusion.

You might as well know the truth, fair and square.

I'm on Miss Dora's side.

You in love with her?

That's none of your business!

We hired you to keep law and order in this town,

not to go sticking your nose into personal matters.

All right, Mr. Kelly.

I'll have to tell you the truth,

fair and square.

What truth?

I can't keep Sunday-school order in this part of town

and I'd be a fool to even try,

but I do draw the line at knifin' and shootin'.

If Miss Dora can't control her customers,

she's just gonna have to close.

Close her? Over my dead body!

She'll still have to close.

Earp, I had you right in the first place.

You're nothing but a stupid, sanctimonious John law!

Now let me tell you...

Hold it, Kelly.

Don't get tough with the Marshall.

Let Major Paxton handle him.

Who's Major Paxton?

He's boss of construction for the Santa Fe, that's who.

A fine man, Paxton.

I'll stand you all a round of drinks on it.

Will you drink to the railroad, Mr. Earp?

I'm sorry. I don't drink.

You can also tell Major Paxton

I don't handle easy either.

Double round of drinks. Free.

All right.

- All right, we'll have a nice peaceable shindig.
- - Yeah.

Here's to Miss Dora, the Daisy bell of Kansas.

To Miss Dora!

Miss Dora!

And we don't want any more dirty buffalo hunters causing trouble.

We're going over to her place and we're gonna throw them out!

It'll be for railroad men only.

Now, whoa, now, old friend.

Do you see that, Kelly?

It's a lantern.

We're gonna hang it on the door.

And that will mean that Dora's place is for railroad men only!

Are you drinking to that, Kelly?

Well, sure.

We'll all drink to that!

And on the house!

And on the house! On the house!

Yes, sir, this is Santa Fe night in Jim Kelly's.

Any more railroad men in the house?

Step right up here. I'm buying you a drink. Belly up!

You better get over to the alhambra right away.

There's been a crime committed.

Kelly's? What is it? A barroom brawl?

Worse than that.

All right. Put this one in the back room too.

Easy. Nice and gentle now.

I don't want a bruise or a Mark on 'em. Okay...

What happened, Mr. Kelly?

Uh, bad liquor.

They got it at chalk beeson's place across the street.

What he uses in his whiskey I'll never know.

Put him down, Mr. Kelly.

- It's just some bad liquor...
- Never mind.

Holy smoke!

Chloral hydrate.

Anybody else besides these three men get Mickey Finns?

Marshall, I swear...

I thought you were smarter than this.

- I had to do it!
- Why?

They were going over to Miss Dora's

to pick a fight with the buffalo hunters.

Don't you know that knockout drops can kill a man, that it's poisonous?

Nah! They're railroad men.

You couldn't kill a railroad man with a Mickey Finn.

Chloral hydrate is a deadly poison.

I oughta charge you with attempted murder.

Charge me!

Here I thought the old Jim Kelly was dead,

that you'd put an end to all this hoodlum stuff.

Come on, lock me up!

Don't you even stop to think?

Rogan and humpy put on a dance hall fight.

Now you spread that route to all the buffalo hunters and all the railroad men.

Well, I done it for her.

A dance hall girl and a pretty face.

Now you stop right there!

She's a ministering angel, that's what she is.

She's what?

You go over to reverend hawkut's church in the morning and...

No. Never mind.

Come on, lock me up!

Never mind. I'll do that later.

I'm gonna send doc mccarty over here to take care of these men.

You pay the doc, and you just better hope they all wake up by tomorrow morning.

And I'm no prude, Marshall.

I expect my men to get drunk and chase dance hall girls.

But I can't let it interfere with their work for the railroad.

We're pushing iron...

Two to four miles of track a day.

Yes, sir.

This is a pretty kettle of fish!

Rogan my top boss on the spike crew,

laid up with a fractured skull.

Seven terriers groggy from drugged liquor.

Do you think the railroad's gonna stand for this?

Your men kind of ask for trouble, Major Paxton.

Are you defending this Dora Hand?

- Am I to infer...
- No, sir.

I'm not taking sides with Miss Dora or Mr. Kelly.

I think we may be doing them both an injustice.

Injustice?

Great Scott, this hand woman has given me more trouble

than all the other dance hall operators combined!

I didn't come here to argue.

I demand that you close this woman's place.

Run her out of Dodge.

If I decide that's the way to handle it,

I'll do it.

How long do you think it'll take you to make up your mind?

Not long, Major.

I'll give you until tomorrow.

After that, the railroad will take it to the town council.

Tomorrow will be time enough.

Good.

There's just one little thing that bothers me.

Yeah?

The blanket camps outside of town

are full of buffalo men.

You got a big crew driving track.

I think I can calm down the buffalo men.

I used to be a hide hunter myself.

But what about your crew?

They'll be busy on the railroad.

See that they stay that way. Otherwise we may have a little fight on our hands.

You going out to those buffalo camps now?

Later. I gotta go to church first.

♪ Lead kindly light ♪

♪ amid the encircling gloom ♪

♪ lead thou me on ♪

♪ the night is dark ♪

♪ and I am far from home ♪

♪ lead thou me on ♪

♪ keep thou my feet ♪

♪ I do not ask to see ♪

♪ the distant scene ♪

♪ one step enough ♪

♪ for me. ♪

Very good, Miss Hand.

Now then, we'll try the recessional hymn.

I'm afraid you'll have to excuse me.

I promised reverend hawkut to take up a collection for him.

Oh, yes, I had forgotten.

Another choir practice Saturday?

Yes, I'll be here.

Good day to you all. Good day.

Good day, Miss.

We'll go right to the recessional hymn...

Well say it.

Say what?

That I'm on the wrong side of town,

that I shouldn't dare to enter a church.

I couldn't very well say that, Miss Dora.

After all, they let me in church too.

Mr. Kelly got mad and told me I should talk to the reverend hawkut about you.

That Kelly!

He also called you a ministering angel.

Blarney.

Sure, I kicked in some money to help build the church,

but so did every place else in town.

The reverend hawkut asked me to join the choir

because I sing a little bit better than the rest.

You have a very nice voice.

This has nothing to do

with whether you're going to close my dance hall or not.

Are you?

Did you talk to the men?

Yes, I talked to them.

They all promised they'd stop all the rough stuff.

But to be honest with you, Mr. Earp, I don't believe it.

That's bad news.

Lots of people will get hurt.

Including you?

You don't have to worry about me.

I'll take care of myself.

I like you, Miss Dora.

And you like Jim Kelly.

It's foolish of you, Mr. Earp.

Liking us is going to get you into lots of trouble,

so much trouble you'll have to leave Dodge.

I don't need anybody's help to get me into trouble.

Here it comes.

Excuse me. Wyatt, the whole section gang's gone down to that blanket camp.

They said they're gonna run those buffalo hunters right out of Kansas.

Guess I better saddle up. Excuse me, ma'am.

Watch yourself, Marshall! They're a pretty tough lot.

Look out! Railroad men!

Tear it down!

Stack it up over here!

Hold it!

You're a mite late, ain't you, Earp?

Yeah, I guess I am.

Another one of your gang just burned out a buffalo camp a mile down the road.

But we're in plenty of time to make you pay for the damages.

Now I want your hands to come up and I want them to come up empty.

Put 'em up! Way up!

All right, Mr. Frohm, you claim there was

about $750 worth of damage, huh?

They burn any rifles?

Yeah, two sharps and a Winchester.

That's about $150 more.

I'll take care of this.

You better take care of it.

My whole ballast crew pulled off of the job.

- We're a mile and a half behind schedule.
- Don't lecture me.

- What was that?
- I don't want any railroad big talk!

Your men were caught dead to rights.

They raided and burned a hide hunters' camp and the damage is $900!

- The railroad won't pay a cent!
- Then they stay in jail!

You had no right to arrest them! You're a town Marshall.

I'm also a United States deputy Marshall!

Now if I were you, I'd get that money and get it fast.

And I'll try and talk the buffalo hunters out of making their own raid.

Are you threatening the railroad?

I don't waste my time, Major.

If you don't have that money in two hours,

I won't even try and stop them.

Now who do you think you're fooling with?

Those buffalo hunters are tougher man for man

than any cowhands you ever heard of!

What do you think they'll do?

While they chase your crews off the rack,

they'll tear up about five miles of track,

would be my guess.

- It's all your fault!
- Oh?

I asked you to run that woman out of town.

That fancy belle Dora Hand...

She had nothing to do with it!

You're wasting your time, Major.

All right.

I'll get the money.

But it's blackmail!

Do you want to repeat that?

No, I guess not.

Sorry.

A barkeep brought a message from Miss Dora.

Wants to see you right away.

Says it's very important.

Yeah, all right.

And don't try to soft-soak me!

You got me into this mess, you and your Mickey Finns!

And don't say you did it to keep the fighting out of my place!

- You did it for Earp!
- Earp? I don't even like him!

Oh, yes you do! And he likes you. He told me so.

Yeah? Since when did you and Earp get so friendly?

Don't change the subject!

The subject is those hide hunters!

You know what they're aiming to do to the railroad.

I ain't admitting that.

- You better admit it!
- Now Dora!

Earp's coming here. I sent for him.

And you better tell him the truth

because I'm tired of your hoodlum shenanigans!

I'm a hoodlum? Just look who's talking!

Howdy, folks.

Howdy, Mr. Earp.

Miss Dora was showing me this statue.

Just feel the weight of it.

It's, uh... quite handsome.

All right, Kelly, tell Mr. Earp.

Tell him what?

The buffalo hunters are aiming to get even with the railroad crew

for wrecking their camp. Jim knows all about it.

I'm keeping you out of this.

There's no call for you to get in the middle

between them buffalo hunters and the railroad.

You see? He wants to be your friend,

but he's such a hoodlum he doesn't know how.

All right, I'm a hoodlum!

And you're a lady.

- That's an odd term.
- What's an odd term?

What I mean, Mr. Kelly,

is that you can't keep a peace officer out of trouble.

That's what he gets paid for.

If he knows the right cards he's got a better chance!

He'd have no chance at all.

Major Paxton offered to pay the damages.

Won't that calm the boys down?

No. It's too late for damages.

All right.

Who's leading them and where can I find them?

At your place?

Tell him, Jim, or I'll never even think about marrying you.

- Dora!
- Well.

Well, Mr. Earp, we were gonna give up this sort of life,

together, both of us.

But every time the chip are down

it's that old hoodlum Kelly!

I'm quitting the church!

I'm never gonna go inside there again.

- No, Dora no. I'll tell...
- Don't touch me.

The buffalo hunters left for the end of the track about an hour ago.

With guns?

They aim to bushwhack the Santa Fe?

No! Plain standup fight.

Don't go out there.

It would be like riding between the federals and the Johnny rebs.

He's right, Mr. Earp.

We thought it was just gonna be a sneak raid

Major Paxton offered to pay the damages.

Those fellas start shooting, they'll wind up in jail.

I'll see you all later.

Well, you told him, Kelly.

I hope you're satisfied. I know what I'm gonna do!

Buffalo hunters!

Break out the guns!

Buffalo hunters! Break for cover! Grab the guns!

I told you.

I got the money. What do they want?

Give me the money, Major.

Use your head! Don't try to go between 'em!

They'll cut you down!

Maybe not.

Cease fire!

Hey, buffalo men, I've got your money!

The railroad paid the damages! Hold your fire!

Keep back, Wyatt! Too late for talking!

Go back, Miss Dora! Go back!

That is Miss Dora! Hold your fire!

Quit shooting! You'll hit Miss Dora!

You ain't hurt, Miss Dora?

No, but it's a small wonder.

You idiots out here shooting each at other in a damn fool row.

Put down your guns, all of you,

or you'll never get a welcome again from me or my girls, and I mean it.

Look, the railroad paid your damages. $900.

It ain't enough, Wyatt.

It's all you're gonna get.

If you men hang around here with guns,

the railroad's gonna start the soldiers after you.

You buffalo hunters haven't changed a bit

from the days I was a hide hunter.

You're all still stubborn and cantankerous.

That settles it.

Unless you behave yourselves,

no more buffalo men welcome in my dance hall.

Oh, we take the deal, Miss Dora,

and we behave, don't we, boys?

Yeah! We agree...

You can take this to the city council. That's your privilege.

But what Miss Dora did this afternoon

more than makes up for any trouble that was caused at her place.

I'll argue against closing her,

and Jim Kelly controls the Majority vote on the council.

I guess you're right.

No hard feelings?

No, sir.

Yes, sir, quite a woman, isn't she?

Can I tell her that as coming from you?

Great Scott, no! I'm a happily married man!

Evening, Miss Dora.

Oh, howdy.

Did you have your talk with reverend hawkut?

He wants me to stay on in the choir.

The women are raising such ned.

I've caused enough trouble already.

Foolish notion. Me in a church.

Wait a minute. What is a church for,

except for good people and sinners?

- I'm going back in there and tell them...
- Whoa, Marshall!

"Love thy neighbor."

"Be good to them that hate you," remember?

You don't smile. You don't feel like smiling?

No I don't.

- You were about to say...
- I was about to say that...

In this town of women, you are a great lady.

Thank you.

♪ 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 ♪