Original subtitles

BAT (VO): There's a reason they called it the Wild West.

WILLIE: Name's Willie Kennard.

I came back to see a marshal position.

BURNS: No wagon or stage coach is safe,

not with the McGeorge gang around.

WILLIE: There ain't no one lawman

can nab four outlaws in the middle of nowhere.

But I got a better way.

Make Billy McGeorge come to us.

[GUNFIRE]

[TRAIN WHISTLE]

BAT (VO): I was just a young man when I first headed West.

In the years that followed, I became a cowboy, a gunslinger,

and even served as sheriff of Dodge City

one of the most lawless towns in the country.

My name is Bat Masterson.

Now I'm a reporter. And I've come West again

to chronicle the world that I know best.

These are the incredible true tales of the Wild West.

♪ ♪

[KNOCKING]

- Come in.

BARNEY: Is this Bat Masterson's office?

- It is... My apologies, I have an

important meeting any minute,

can you come back this afternoon?

- This meeting...

is it with a man named Ford, by any chance?

- You're Barney Ford.

I beg your pardon.

You'd think a writer of all people wouldn't-

BARNEY: Wouldn't judge a book by its cover.

But I never thought a gunslinger could write anything worthwhile...

until I read your column.

Call us even.

♪ ♪

- Please.

Exactly what line of business are you in Mr. Ford?

- Hospitality.

I opened up restaurants and hotels in Chicago,

Wyoming, Colorado...

This old life has taken me all over.

BAT: I take it you're looking for someone

to put that life down on paper.

BARNEY: Just so happens I am looking for somebody...

but it's not my story I want you to write.

You ever heard of a lawman called Willie Kennard?

- I don't know the name.

BARNEY: No one does.

Willie was my bodyguard for years.

Extraordinary man.

But I...

lost track of him along the way...

I'd hate his story to get lost with him.

BAT: You say he was a lawman?

BARNEY: Yup. He came to Colorado looking to become one.

And he left the bravest marshal they'd ever seen.

Yankee Hill had gone through three marshals in three months.

Either killed off or run off.

And no local was fool enough to want that badge.

So, the town leaders put out an ad

in the Rocky Mountain News seeking a new one.

SMALL MAN: Ben, don't...

I'll pay back your money, I swear... [GUNSHOT]

CASE: Oh you better,

or the next one won't be in the dirt.

MAYOR BORDEN: Ben, you leave that fellow alone!

You've created enough trouble in this town!

CASE: And what are you gonna do, Borden?

Arrest me?

♪ ♪

I didn't think so.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

MAYOR BORDEN: Ben Case is the scourge of Yankee Hill.

Gentlemen, something's got to be done.

WARD: Borden, you've been saying that going on two years now.

MAYOR BORDEN: I don't see you coming up with any solutions.

All you do is complain.

WARD: Well, we pay you to do your job. Do it.

MAYOR BORDEN: What am I supposed to do? They kill everybody I bring in here.

WARD: Find somebody else.

- Mayor Borden?

- How can I help you?

WILLIE: Hopin' I'd be the one to help you.

Name's Willie Kennard.

I came about this here marshal position.

WARD: I guess that means he can read.

BURNS: What exactly are your qualifications?

WILLIE: I fought for the Union,

seventh Illinois Rifles.

After that, I was Ninth Cavalry,

fightin' Apaches in Texas, Arizona.

MAYOR BORDEN: Gunfighter, huh?

You ever done any marshaling?

WARD: Hold on, Mayor.

Can't just hire the first

cow poke that wanders in off the street.

WILLIE: Now, it seems to me y'all don't have time to wait.

That mouthy fella out there,

what exactly has he done?

BURNS: He...

hurt a woman. Barely more than a child.

Her daddy came for retribution and

Ben gunned him down.

WARD: Add to that he

killed the last marshal tried to arrest him.

I'll tell you what, Mister Kennard.

Show of good faith.

You walk across that street

and you slap Ben Case in irons...

and this will be yours,

as long as you want it.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

BURNS: I've gotta see this.

♪ ♪

[SQUEALING] GOODRICH: Hey, girl. You sure are pretty.

SERVER: Stop, please! You're hurting me!

- Leave her alone.

♪ ♪

CASE: Teach him a lesson, boys.

GOODRICH: This is what we do to meddlers.

[COCKS PISTOL]

♪ ♪

- You're under arrest.

♪ ♪

CASE: And just

who are you?

WILLIE: New town marshal.

Now I'll ask you boys just once--

come peaceful.

♪ ♪

- I'm gonna help you set a record.

The One-Day Lawman.

[GUNSHOTS]

Kill him!!

[GUNFIRE]

[TABLE CRASHING]

- Now

I'm done askin'.

♪ ♪

- Shot the iron right out the man's hand?

You're taking Willie's word on that?

BARNEY: Willie never stretched the truth

when it came to killin'.

He earned the badge that day.

Earned.

- How'd the town take to their new marshal?

- Willie was...

tolerated there.

He never found a place to rightfully call home.

- One lawman, standing at the center of a lawless territory.

BARNEY: Pretty soon, he had his hands full.

[GRUNTING]

[CRYING]

WIFE: Please, don't take it all. It's everything we own.

CASH: The lady's confused, boys.

MCGEORGE: If you own it,

then why is it in my pocket?

Now give me that ring.

- Please, don't hurt my wife.

[PUNCH]

♪ ♪

- Come on!

Come on.

[CRYING]

[GUNSHOT]

- Whoa! Whoa.

Come on.

[HOOFBEATS]

Whoa.

- Please no; we got nothing left to take.

HUSBAND: Marshal.

WILLIE: Who did this?

What'd they look like?

WIFE: He was tall...

He had eyes like the Devil.

WILLIE: Did you get a name?

WIFE: The leader... they called him...

Billy.

- Which way did they go?

♪ ♪

Ho!

Split up.

Cash, y'all head east.

We'll meet up at Red Rocks in three days.

Hyah.

[HOOFBEATS]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

WARD: It's Billy McGeorge.

Those people are lucky to be alive.

BURNS: No wagon or stagecoach is safe,

not with the McGeorge gang around.

People have got to get to Yankee Hill

or this town will die!

WARD: Mayor, you better get that marshal of yours

to do his job, or you're gonna be out of yours.

MAYOR BORDEN: Councilman Ward is right.

For all the good you've done here...

if you don't capture Billy McGeorge,

none of it will matter.

- Give me a proper posse.

WARD: Now you're making excuses.

WILLIE: I'm one man, trying to cover an entire territory.

WARD: You get out there and arrest McGeorge,

or you're finished here in Yankee Hill!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

WARD: You got a lotta nerve, Marshal.

Coming back here without McGeorge in custody.

BURNS: We were explicit in our instructions-- MAYOR BORDEN: Gentlemen!

Let's hear what he has to say.

WILLIE: Ain't no one lawman

can nab four outlaws in the middle of nowhere.

But I got a better way.

WARD: Oh yeah? What's that?

- Make Billy McGeorge come to us.

WARD: Impossible.

WILLIE: Oh, he'll come, all right.

He'll want a piece of me.

♪ ♪

[HAMMERING]

♪ ♪

[LAUGHTER]

BAT: Fifty dollars?

Hardly a steep reward for a man like that.

- That there was Willie's stroke of genius.

He knew a price that low would make Billy's teeth itch.

- He'd have to answer the insult face to face...

BARNEY: But on ground of Willie's choosing.

- Did McGeorge take the bait?

[GUNSHOT]

♪ ♪

MCGEORGE: Cash. CASH: Here, take a look at this.

- Fifty dollars?

This some kinda joke?

CASH: That price on your head sure took a dive.

[LAUGHTER]

MCGEORGE: Maybe a killin' would fix it.

CASH: Take it easy, boss.

Everyone knows what you're worth.

- Where'd you find this?

CASH: That's the- the new marshal over at Yankee Hill.

Name of Kennard.

- Callin' me out...

[CRUMPLES PAPER]

We're going to Yankee Hill.

Come on!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

WILLIE: You all know why I'm here.

I need deputies.

Billy McGeorge is comin' through any day,

and we got to be ready.

Who's gonna help me?

Isaiah.

We got to do right by this town.

ISAIAH: I hear you, Marshal.

I got a family.

Gotta do right by them, I ain't gonna be

no good to them if I'm dead.

WARD: You're wasting your breath, Kennard.

Nobody here's gonna stick their neck out for you.

WILLIE: This is their home, ain't it?

They got to defend it.

WARD: That's right, it is their home.

And after McGeorge raises Cain and lays you flat...

they'll be left to pick up the pieces.

You're on your own, amigo.

♪ ♪

- One badge, taking on four killers.

If it's me standing in that street, I want good men at my back.

BARNEY: Good men didn't exactly line up.

BAT: Still, with time running out, he must've had...

some manner of plan.

- That's the thing about Willie.

You always knew he had an ace up his sleeve.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

MAYOR BORDEN: That's all I could muster.

WILLIE: It'll have to be enough.

MAYOR BORDEN: Listen, Marshal...

Willie.

Folks in this town,

they're not bad folks,

they're just afraid, that's all.

I talk, and they like what I say, but truth is...

I couldn't face something like this.

WILLIE: It's a good thing you gave me the job, then.

MAYOR BORDEN: Is it worth your life?

WILLIE: My whole life has been fightin'.

Different people,

different places,

it all feels the same.

When the fighting's done, they got no more use for me.

But this fight...

This one's mine.

ISAIAH: Marshal. The McGeorge gang...

they're here.

♪ ♪

MCGEORGE: Ho! We're here for your marshal!

He owes me blood.

Kennard!

I'm callin' you out!

You got one minute to show your face --

or I take it out on them!

Where's your lawman now?

Did he tuck tail and run?

WILLIE: I'm right here.

MCGEORGE: You?

You're the one says I'm worth fifty dollars?!

WILLIE: You're under arrest.

All of you.

MCGEORGE: This is who you put your faith in?!

- Lay down your arms,

you'll be treated fair.

MCGEORGE: You really wanna die today, don't you?

WILLIE: No.

I just want that fifty dollars.

[GUNSHOTS]

[GUNSHOTS]

[GUNSHOTS]

MCGEORGE: Ho!

Is he dead?

Cash, Hudson, go check.

♪ ♪

CASH: Hey Mr. Fifty Dollars...

where you at?

♪ ♪

[CRUSHING GLASS]

♪ ♪

[GUNSHOT]

MCGEORGE: Cash!

Get in there, I'll meet you on the other side.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

WILLIE: Drop it.

♪ ♪

[GUNSHOT]

♪ ♪

MCGEORGE: Hank?! He got every one.

♪ ♪

Where are you?!

Show yourself Kennard!

WILLIE: Right here.

♪ ♪

You're done.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

I got Billy McGeorge in custody.

MAYOR BORDEN: On behalf of Yankee Hill,

thank you, Marshal.

♪ ♪

BAT (V.O.): After serving as marshal of Yankee Hill,

Willie Kennard worked as a bodyguard for Barney Ford.

The rest of his life is lost to history.

Barney Ford, the "Black Baron of Colorado,"

was a successful businessman

and advocate for civil rights.

He died in 1902.

Did Willie stick around Yankee Hill?

- For a spell.

Probably the closest thing he found to a home.

Because he fought for it.

Sounds like you knew him as well as anyone.

Willie was a man of few words.

But the stories I did wrangle out of him...

I can't just keep them to myself.

- I should warn you, Mr. Ford.

If you're hoping to find him...

there's no guarantee he'll see this.

- Look,

it's bigger than one man, Mr. Masterson.

The story of my people...

it must be written.

Or be lost forever.