Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958–1961): Season 1, Episode 18 - Rope Law - full transcript

Josh is knocked out by a posse who wants his prisoner who is wanted for killing his step-daughter. When he goes to recover his reward, he finds he has been paid but he still wants justice and soon finds the prisoner may be innocent.

They're coming for me!

Good morning!

I see you got Logan.

Yeah.

- We'll take him off your hands.
- 'Fraid not.

It'll be $500 for me.

You a bounty hunter?

Right.

Sure, he's Josh Randall.
I've heard of the gun.

Your prisoner's a killer.

We'll have to take him.



No.

Now we want no trouble.

- Who told you to do that?
- Nobody.

ROPE LAW

Well, Randall. I didn't
expect to see you again.

- I'm looking for the Sheriff.
- You're in the right place.

I saw the sign. Where is he?

I'm the Sheriff.

- You didn't mention it.
- I was coming to it.

- It took you a while.
- I'm new at the job.

I'm acting sheriff.

Sheriff Chet Holman broke
his hip. I'm filling in for him.

You make it kinda tough
for what I had in mind.

I don't know. What
did you have in mind?



When you swore to uphold the law,
they make assault and robbery legal?

What do you mean?

I came to swear a complaint
but you wouldn't arrest yourself.

Nobody robbed you.

You took my prisoner. Now that's
the same as taking my property.

You were paid in
full, Mr. Randall.

I don't know what I can
do about the assault.

- Maybe some more cash.
- From you?

My boy hit you and I'm sorry. If
that makes any difference to you...

I really chewed his head off.

There's no handling Damon
since this thing happened.

Since what thing happened?

The murder. Brace
Logan killed Damon's girl.

Since the law won't take a
hand, we'll settle it another way.

Randall!

Where are you going?

To find your son.

So they got him.
Now what happens?

Like I said before, we'll take
him out and string him up.

The whole town's
on your side, Damon.

Why all the talk?

You've got anything to say?

A beer!

Better get outta here.

Next time you pull this gun,
you be ready to shoot, OK?

You take care of that gun,
and pour me a rye, please.

Yes, sir.

Sorry I had to chase
away your customers

but I have enough trouble without
having to worry about young kids.

It's alright with me mister.

They're getting
kinda tiring anyway.

Ever since they rode into town,
they just talk about hanging Logan.

Damon Ring Junior especially.

Every man to his own pleasure.

When does Logan see the hangman?

Next Thursday. So Judge Cooper
said when he sentenced him.

But he won't make it. Damon's
planning a lynching for tonight.

It's a fair-sized town.
Can't they stop these men?

The Rings are too big to fight.

And who cares about Logan? We
all know he killed his own daughter.

Daughter?

Well, stepdaughter, Marilee.

Prettiest thing you've ever seen.
All the young bucks after her.

Ring had the inside track with
her, just like with everything else.

Any witnesses to the murder?

Didn't need them, Logan
signed a confession.

Yes, sir. Confession...

Much obliged.

See you.

Randall, my son was just here,
and he told me what you did.

I guess I owe you
something. A father's thanks.

You taught him a lesson
he wouldn't take from me.

Seems that way.

It's my fault, he's spoiled.

That's not why you're here.

I wanna see Logan.

Look, Logan, I've got to
know. Have you killed the girl?

Can't you get it through your
head I'm trying to help you?

Now...

Did you kill your stepdaughter?

I don't know. They say I did.

And what do you say?

I don't know, maybe I...

You signed a confession.

- The Sheriff wrote it, I signed it.
- Why?

The Sheriff couldn't do anything to
avoid a hanging party outside the jail.

What happened the
night Marilee was killed?

What do you mean?

What led up to it?

It didn't start that night.
Been going on for a long time.

Been going on for a long time?

The trouble between
Marilee's ma and me.

Cooking like a vat of
mash. It had to blow up.

- What was wrong?
- The girl.

She was running around, wouldn't
say where she was or who she was with.

I tried to bring her to heel but
her ma said to leave her alone.

Her ma and me fought.

I called the girl in
and we fought again...

when I learned about the money.

- Money?
- Over $100.

Marilee wouldn't
say where she got it.

I took it and started
to drink the town dry.

A couple of days later, I was
in the shed back of the house.

The missus was screaming at me.

The girl was dead.

That's all I know.
They say I killed her.

But I don't remember.

Any idea where
Marilee got the money?

We'd better find out.

Why? What difference
would that make?

It would help keep you alive.

Alive?

I ask you again, Mr. Randall,

who cares whether I live...

or if I die?

The person who killed
your stepdaughter.

Sheriff, let me out!

What you say about the money
is very interesting, Mr. Randall.

I don't recall it being
mentioned at Logan's trial.

But how does the information
bear on the question of Logan's guilt?

Somebody gave Marilee over
$100, and it wasn't just a present.

Maybe she had
something on somebody.

- Blackmail?
- Possibly.

It'd explain the money
and her being so secretive.

There's a certain
logic in what you say

but what about
Logan's confession?

I'm not forgetting the confession or
the circumstances of him signing it.

A lynch mob yelling
outside of a jailhouse.

There was no mob
yelling in my court.

Logan was represented by a fine
young attorney of my appointment.

There was not one word of testimony
repudiating Logan's confession.

How did he plead?

Guilty.

Not much room
for testimony there.

That's why I set the execution
over until next Thursday.

There was a lot of feeling for
taking Logan out and hanging him.

I wanted him to have
every legal chance.

It's not easy for a judge to
say the words that hang a man.

There's something
you oughta know.

Rumor's going around
town that Logan won't be here

for his hanging.

He'll be lynched tonight.

We'll see about that.

I figured you would.

If that's how my fellow citizens
want the law, I won't disappoint them.

Court's now in session.
L.L. Cooper presiding.

Make it strong.

Get that hat
off. Let's try this.

Let me out!

Hi judge! Who's your friend?

I believe you met him, Damon.

I want the street cleared.

All of you! Go on home!

Is that an order, judge?

It is.

There's no law against a man
buying a drink for his friends, is there?

How about it, judge?

I've never heard of a law where
a judge could order a man around

if he's just minding
his own business.

Is that what you're doing?

That's right! Just
minding my own business.

Right, boys?

Now I'm gonna go in
and mind another glass.

I'm glad you're here judge. I
saw what happened in the street.

Better talk to your son
before he gets in too deep.

You know how much that girl
meant to him. I can't talk to him.

You're not just a father,
you're wearing a badge.

Well, I'm not the
man to wear it.

I want you to get one
thing straight right now.

If they come for Logan,

I'm not going to shoot my son
or my neighbors to protect him.

You're protecting the law!

I won't trade my son's life for
a spell in jail with that squatter!

He was almost your
son's father-in-law.

Damon would've wised
up. Boys do foolish things.

They grow out of it.

We'll see he grows out
of another one tonight.

I'll be here with you to make
sure that this lesson takes.

Why not ride out to Logan's
place to see the missus?

Ring and I can
handle things here.

Mrs. Logan?

Yeah?

I'm Josh Randall, I'd like
to talk about your husband.

I don't know where he is.

The Sheriff's holding him.

Good.

I came here to ask
you a few questions

about Marilee and Brace.

Are you sure he did the killing?

Yeah.

Is that all you wanna know?

No.

I talked to Brace
a little while ago.

He doesn't remember much
about the night Marilee was killed.

He doesn't remember anything.

But he remembers finding
out that Marilee had over $100

in cash.

Where would your daughter
get that kinda money?

Are you trying to say
Marilee wasn't a good girl?

Just trying to ask a
very important question.

Marilee was a good girl.

She didn't have to answer
to me or Brace Logan.

She was a pretty girl.

Any man around here would've
been proud to marry with her.

What about Damon Ring?

He wouldn't leave her be.

Even his dad couldn't keep
him from pestering around.

Where did your
daughter get that money?

What was she up to?

Do you know your
daughter that well?

She didn't keep nothing from me.

Nothing important.

Where was she the day you
and Brace had the argument?

No place.

Then somebody must've
come to see her. Who was it?

She didn't kick over a
rock and find that cash.

If you don't want to tell me,
you can tell Judge Cooper.

Damon Ring came by.

He gave her the money. Why?

Is that all?

Why didn't you
mention this at the trial?

There were no trial.

Brace killed my girl,
signed a confession.

There were no need for a trial.
They just gave him a sentence.

If you'd mentioned it to
the judge, it might've helped.

I got no yearning to help him.

It's about time Logan
got what's coming to him.

- What you gonna do?
- Talk to them if they'll listen.

- And if they won't?
- Then I'll have to make them listen.

That's far enough.

We came for Logan.
Get him out here.

Damon, you knew your
way around the law earlier

when I told you to go home
and cool off. You don't think...

Don't try to soft talk me,
judge! We want Logan!

Bring him out here or
we're going in after him.

If you do, some of us
won't be alive to see it.

Come on, let's go.

Damon, I was a marshal
long before I was a judge.

This gun has killed a lot of men

who wouldn't listen to
reason. Now it's up to you.

You can be the next one.

You're not gonna shoot
me or anybody else.

Just get out of the way!

What happened?

They came. Damon
Ring Junior led them.

I tried to hold them off
at the Sheriff's office.

Damon's father jumped me.

- They'll get a real shock.
- What's that?

They hanged the wrong man.

The murderer's wake...

Congratulations.

How do you feel?

It's too late, Randall.

It is for you.

You set up a riot that led
to a man's unlawful death.

Logan was a murderer!

Was he?

Ask the man standing
behind you. He tried him.

Randall has new evidence
which none of us thought to get.

If Logan were alive,
he'd get a new hearing.

New evidence? That's a laugh!

You think so?

To keep people from asking questions
you make them guilty of murder.

Put men to a mob so
they'll lynch an innocent man

and believe that Logan
killed his stepdaughter.

He did.

Logan came home
that night dead drunk.

Passed out in the shed because
he couldn't make it to the house.

The man who killed Marilee
shoved the body in the shed

and rounded up a lynch mob.

Why are you looking at me?

Why would I kill
Marilee? I loved her.

That'll do for a starter.

You decided she would
plan to take your money,

laughing at you.

I never gave her any money.

Her mother said you did.

A lot of it.

I'm gonna see you hanged Damon.

Since your father's acting sheriff,
he'll be pleased to put you in jail.

Open up!

He's not gonna let you in.

What do you mean?

It wasn't me who killed Marilee.

I loved her.

Get the doctor!

I knew it was my father,
back at the saloon.

I knew it then.

Now I know why.

He loved her more than I did.

A lot more.

Subtitles by Teletota