Original subtitles

All right.

And there you walk.

Yes, Father.

Yes, sir. Be with you in just...

Well, for the love of... Mr. MacDonald, what happened?

Tell him.

Two men caught me along Indian Ridge.

Beat me.

They said this will remind thee to take the letter serious.

What letter?

These men, you ever see them before?

No.

The FBI.

A Quinn Martin Warner Brothers production.

Starring Ephraim Zimbliss Jr.

Also starring Philip Abbott, Stephen Brooks,

with guest stars John Anderson, Harry Townes,

Robert Colbert, Michael Burns.

Tonight's episode, The Forests of the Night.

I understand about that.

What about the long -range forecast?

Well, check it out for me, will you?

I hate to call you back on a night like this, Lewis, but we've got a main one

here. Extortion.

Spencer's going over the original manuscript upstairs.

Joe Bites?

Yeah, a minority religious group.

Settle in a few acres just outside of Stanton, Oregon, about six months ago.

There's been trouble growing there ever since.

Mainly a matter of economics, I suppose, but maybe bigotry is always a matter of

economics.

It is a highly depressed area. There are more men on relief than there are

working. A year ago, a pulp mill started looking at a property down by the river

for a new plant.

Joe Bites bought it while the Pope men were still trying to make up their

And the town blames the Joe Bites? Yeah, some of the town does.

As if we're getting into constitutional guarantees, Art.

That's not all we're getting into.

What do you think of, Lewis?

What do you think of Oregon?

Oregon?

Mount Hood? Crater Lake?

Rain? Yeah.

They've just finished their 97th day without a drop of it.

I was talking to Kramer over at the Department of Interior a little earlier

tonight. He says they're sitting on a nuclear bomb out there.

One spark and 10 ,000 acres of prime timber could explode.

And Stanton is right smack in the middle of it.

Burn houses, kill people.

You suppose we're up against here, right?

I don't know.

People do strange things when a drought hits. I know because I've been through

it myself.

There's a plane leaving for Portland tomorrow at noon.

And you can get a plane there to Klamath Falls where the resident agent will

pick you up.

His name is Martin Bennett.

That was the weather bureau.

There's no change in the forecast for southern Oregon.

Continued hot and dry.

Well, sometimes they can be a hard man to locate, Adam.

We missed thee at supper.

Too hot to sit in the house.

Or the meeting hall.

Is there a meeting this afternoon, Elder Stone?

I forgot.

That's what I told the council. I said, stop grumbling.

Adam's the leader and...

The leader has more on his mind these days than council meetings.

Like heat lightning over a tinder -dry forest, for instance.

Maybe God's gonna burn us out before our general neighbors get around to it.

Maybe you'd like to know what the council...

Discuss.

Let me guess.

Moving.

Pavement to the extortionist.

If there is a fire set, and if a spark blows into the woods, everything here

could perish.

Jobites, townspeople, men, women, children, animals, everything.

Is $5 ,000 too much to pay for all that life?

I've since too much to pay for all that bigotry.

Has thee ever thought that part of this may be our own fault?

I remember when we first came here, some of the townspeople asked us to their

homes, and we always said no, no, as though it would corrupt us.

The world's way is not our way.

Elder Stone.

Father?

The sheriff just called. He has more pictures for me to look at.

Would thee be afraid to go into town again, Jacob?

No, sir.

Ah.

Another hand held out at him.

I've been leader 22 years, Elder Stone.

I've never known a single outsider who truly wanted to help us.

But perhaps this once.

There's nothing unusual about these cutouts, Inspector.

They appear to be from national and regional American magazines.

The paper, though, that's something else again.

That's a very distinctive watermark.

Comes from a little mill in Vermont.

I need comparison strips.

All right.

What about the paste?

Plain flour and water.

Probably homemade.

Lou, I'm sorry I'm late. The traffic's backed up halfway to Arlington.

What have we got?

Extortion, Southern Oregon.

Better book two feet from the noon flight to Portland.

You can forget about that flight.

You'll be boarding an Air Force jet at three.

This morning?

That's right, this morning.

That'll get you into Portland at 5 .30 their time. Bennett'll meet you there.

What's happened to him?

Remember how I told you weather like that could make a man want to kill

something? I just got a call from the local undersheriff.

McDonald and his son went into town tonight. They're being attacked.

Right now.

I don't care if you have to call out the militia. I need some help down here,

and I need it now.

Now!

Elder Stone said, you've heard us argue about it.

You've even argued a little with me, thyself.

You're young.

You'll be leader someday.

Remember what they have seen tonight and keep the world out.

They don't hate you, Mr. MacDonald.

It's the weather. It's their own fear.

Fear didn't write that extortion note, Sheriff.

Hatred.

Hatred did.

Will you let the FBI handle the extortionists?

The FBI can do as it pleases as long as it leaves my people and me alone.

They'll need your cooperation, Mr. MacDonald.

They'll not get it.

We'll let no more of the world in.

Said they broke out a few store windows.

They milled around for a while, and then most of them went on home.

When the streets were cleared, he and a deputy drove McDonald and his son out to

their farm.

Did nobody attack the settlement?

No, sir.

Lou, look.

Oh.

I must say, it's beautiful country.

Yes, sir.

Like a tigress, my granddad used to say.

Beautiful until she turns on you.

Turns on you?

Fire. Forest fire.

You ever see one?

Once.

I remember the Douglas fir exploding like cannon.

You see, the fire creates its own vacuum.

And that's what you hear mostly, the wind screaming.

How many roads are there out of Stanton?

For evacuation?

One.

But I guess most of the children have moved out already just in case.

There won't be much time for evacuation if a fire ever breaks out here.

There won't be much time for anything.

That's got to be a bluff.

Nobody could hate anybody enough to try to burn this whole country out.

Could they?

Could they?

Just look.

Look at that street.

Why is it so quiet now, Sheriff?

They're quiet because it's Sunday and because they're all home nursing an

emotional hangover.

They're all ashamed of themselves.

I'm ashamed.

Come on, let's go inside. I'll try to fill you in.

Was this supposed to be a Joe bite?

That's a Joe bite.

Found it hanging over my door when I got in from the settlement last night.

There's only one man in town with gall enough to do a thing like that, so I

arrested him.

Well, not just for the effigy. He was one of the rioters, too.

He probably organized it.

I airmailed his prints to Washington.

I don't know of anything important that's gone on in this town in the last

years that Roy Sumner didn't start, or finish, or at least know about.

Did the boy get a good look at this, Sumner?

Good enough.

Roy didn't have anything to do with beating up the boy.

I'd like to talk to him.

Well, I'll tell you right now, you're not going to get any cooperation out of

anyone on this case, Inspector.

It's your time. If you want to waste it, you go right ahead.

Sumner, rise and shine.

You yell when you're ready.

FBI, Mr. Sumner.

I'm Inspector Erskine. This is Special Agent Rhodes.

FBI.

I'd like to ask you a few questions.

You're entitled to counsel, of course.

What questions?

Yesterday morning, a 16 -year -old boy named Jacob McDonald was beaten up.

I'm not guilty, but, Mr. Erskine, I don't beat up kids or women even when

deserve it.

Do you feel the McDonald boy deserved it? I wouldn't know.

How about his father? Did he deserve having his car wrecked?

Look, Mr. Erskine, if wrecking a car or sending a note would chase these pious

people out of here, then... A note, Mr. Sumner?

Stanton's got a sheriff with a big mouth.

Everybody knows about that note.

Something about burning him out, wasn't it?

And you would approve of that?

I wouldn't know.

Nobody's going to set any fires around here. You're sure?

I'm sure.

Then wouldn't a note seem a little pointless?

Mr. Erskine, the kids in this town play a game on the sidewalks. They race their

bikes towards each other as fast as they can.

Be quite a crush if they hit.

But one of them always swerves.

Are you serious?

What's the matter with you, Sumner? We're not talking about children's

We're talking about extortion and bigotry.

Or do you think these people deserve that?

These people? These people put this town out of business.

Did they?

Or are they being blamed for the town's backwardness?

Oh, for crying out loud.

Hey, Earl!

Earl! Hey, Earl! All right, what's going on? Get him out of here.

We're through, Mr. Askin.

Oh, bro.

Hey, I thought I was going to be transferred to Klamath Falls.

You will be simmered down.

Crazy weather's getting to all of us, I guess.

Yeah, it must be.

Can I borrow your car?

I'd like to talk to McDonald.

Why, yes, sir. It won't do any good, but go ahead.

In the meantime...

Check the stores in town, the place that sells writing paper. See if they can

match that.

Jim, you... You know something, Sheriff?

Sometimes I think they ought to add a phrase to all welcome mats.

Tolerate or die.

Time for that.

Call my father, quick.

Afternoon.

You wouldn't be Jacob McDonald, would you?

Yes. We'd like to talk to your father, Jacob.

He sees no one from the town.

Well, we're from Washington, the FBI.

I'm Inspector Erskine. This is Special Agent Rhodes.

How do you do?

Washington, D .C.? Truly?

Uh, truly.

The Smithsonian Institute?

Lincoln Tunnel?

A Lincoln Memorial.

I've read that they have Lindbergh's plane in the Smithsonian Institute.

Has they ever seen it?

Yes, yes, they have.

Has thee ever ridden in a plane thyself?

Jacob?

Yes, Father?

He has no business here. Go away.

We're from the FBI, Mr. MacDonald. We are here in connection with the

I said he has no business here.

My people and I can take care of ourselves.

Now, Mr. MacDonald, I know how you feel, but if you'll just give us your version

of the story.

Here I am.

I understand they're governed by a council of elders.

McDonald seems to have the final word. We see it did today.

You're not expecting any cooperation at all, then?

Not until something happens, and then it'll probably be too late.

You'd better call some agents down from Portland.

There'll be five men in tomorrow.

How are you doing with the paper sample?

Oh, hold on.

Any luck?

No luck.

Checked every outlet in town.

Nothing. Then it drew a blank.

We developed some very clear latents from the extortion note.

They're being checked against the Stanton Rioters' prints right now.

I'll call you tomorrow.

Rhodes.

Are you sure?

Thanks.

Lou, Klamath Falls Courthouse. Sumner made bail.

He's out.

Stone's house.

Fire brigade!

Fire brigade!

David!

David! David!

David! David! David! David!

David!

David!

David! David!

David!

Hey! Get those buckets in!

Let me go, David.

Thank the Lord.

Put this down along there real good.

Did you get all of it?

I hope so.

You hope so?

Can't you be sure?

Well, no, not 100%. Some of those hot spots can smolder underground for days.

And a good wind comes up, and that's all she wrote.

I got the boy's statement.

The doctor says Stone's awake if you want to talk to him.

You got a chance to talk to McDonald?

Yes, I did.

Apparently, he was the only one in the settlement still awake when the fire

broke out.

He was in his room writing a sermon. He heard a woman scream and ran outside.

No sign of the... Get this back to the lab.

It's like part of a Molotov cocktail. Yes, sir.

Oh, by the way, the boy, Jacob, has to go into town for some medication. I told

him he could go back with me.

All right, give me a chance to talk with him.

Not unless you think it's too risky.

Sorry to take so long tracking him down, Inspector, but turns out he was still

in Klamath Falls.

He got to drinking, shooting off his mouth, got the Joe bites, causing all

of trouble, ended up in the hospital.

All night?

All night.

Looks as if somebody forgot to swerve, Mr. Sumner.

Anybody killed, Inspector?

Not this time.

It won't happen twice. It has to be an accident.

He could be right, Inspector.

This shook up the whole town.

It set a lot of people to thinking.

The fellow said to me, Earl...

What happened? This isn't Hitler's Germany. This is Stanton, Oregon.

I said, well, Bob, everybody was yelling for help. Nobody was listening.

For gosh sake, let's listen.

You won't have any more trouble, Inspector.

Mr. Erskine.

This just came in the morning mail delivery, sir.

Joe Bites asked me to give it to you.

Jim, go ahead and drive the boy in. Ask the police to escort him back.

Put money in hollow log just for forks.

Good night.

Mr. McDonald.

Take that.

It was addressed to me.

It was addressed to us.

Give him the note.

are covered.

No.

The people have been independent for 300 years. We want no help.

No interference.

Mr. MacDonald, one house has burned already.

It's God's wrath for our weakness.

Good lesson.

I think it'll be taken to heart.

I should be back no later than midnight, David.

If I'm not... Where are they going?

I told the... Roseburg.

We need tools.

Picks, axes, and shovels to save our homes.

In case of fire.

Adam?

Oh, God help the man.

That...

Something I should tell thee, perhaps.

Something I saw.

No.

No, it's for the council to decide.

There's one telephone in the settlement.

At our meeting hall.

Leave a message there this afternoon.

I will write thee the number, sir.

Jacob, you're going to go blind reading on a road this rough.

Would almost be worth it.

Did they buy any more magazines at the airport?

Just this one.

Hey, there's an article on the astronauts in there. Maybe you'd like to

Oh, really?

Uh -huh.

Ships to the stars.

Boy, I wish I could be on one.

Maybe you will someday.

No.

Father wouldn't approve.

He approves of very little.

He approves of you.

He talked a lot about you when I interviewed him.

Yes, we're friends.

We've been friends from the start.

My mother died when I was four.

Typhus. I had it too.

I remember lying there, shaking with pain, my father's hand on my forehead.

Light, cool.

That big voice of his saying that I wasn't going to die because he forbade

If he only wouldn't forbid so much.

It's about time we caught up with the world a little.

Everybody wants that, you know. Elder Stone, Elder Price, Elder Gordon.

Sometimes I think you'd do almost anything to keep the old ways.

No, sir, I couldn't tell you which box this letter came from.

But you do remember the first letter. I sure do. It come on Friday.

I recall it from the cutouts and the way it was addressed.

Enemy Joe Bites.

Just like that one.

You didn't see who deposited it? No, sir.

I noticed another mailbox outside the sheriff's office.

Could this second letter have been dropped there?

Yes, sir. That's an afternoon pickup.

And you'll notice that's a Saturday p .m. cancellation.

Any of your people mention seeing a Joe Bite in the office here on Friday?

No, sir.

But the only way you'd pick out these people is by their clothes.

See, if somebody came in here in a regular outfit, he'd be the invisible

certain. Yeah, except for the beard.

Well, that wouldn't have been seen either last Friday.

When? It was Pioneer Day, the anniversary of Stanton's founding.

You see, every male over 21 in the county had to dress the part or be

We all wore beards.

Yes, sir. I'll tell them.

Lou, that was identification.

They couldn't get a match between Sumner's prints and the latents on the

note. That's all right.

Bennett?

Yes, sir.

What an hour -by -hour rundown on McDonald's whereabouts last Friday.

Find out if he left the settlement.

If he did, I think we've got our extortionist.

I have that information right here, Inspector.

When did he leave?

Never.

Never.

When I interviewed the doctor this morning, he said that this was only the

second trip he'd made out to the settlement since the Jill Bites moved

He said that last Friday, a little after 8 a .m., was the first.

You see, McDonald has a bad sacroiliac. Something slipped out of place and he

had a muscle spasm.

He was flat on his back in bed until Saturday morning.

All right, what do we got?

Well, both extortion notes were apparently written on the same kind of

And both matched the paper that came from McDonald's desk.

So McDonald could have written them.

He had a motive.

His position as leader out there seems to be kind of shaky.

Becoming a martyr would be a good way to bolster it up.

He could have set the fire.

He admits he was the only man up and dressed at the time.

He certainly could have mailed a second note. It's not by his sanity.

But what about the first note?

Couldn't he have sent someone in with it?

Who could he trust that much?

His son?

No.

Jacob was beaten up Saturday.

By whom?

Where was it he was attacked?

Indian Ridge.

Even up there?

Yes, sir.

There's a path that runs along the crest with a guardrail on the right.

That rail was broken out as though someone had pushed the boy through it.

Or as though he'd jumped through it.

Inspector, you met that youngster.

He's obedient, smart, quiet, and suffocating.

I had quite a talk with him.

The boy's a volcano.

He'd do almost anything to get off that settlement, believe me.

Now, let's examine it.

He had access to the paper.

He could have mailed both extortion notes.

And he had motive.

$5 ,000 would have taken him a long way.

How can we get his fingerprints?

We've got it.

Out in the car.

Let's see.

Here you go.

How's this for openers?

The speed photo transceiver in San Francisco.

How long will it take you to fly there?

Two hours.

Call me the minute you get an answer from Washington.

Yes, sir.

I'm not at the office. I'll be at the settlement.

Ready to receive?

Ready to transmit.

Bennett, we have a match.

Whoa.

Mr. Rhodes?

Hello, Jacob.

It's good to see thee again.

Has thee come to Newmore investigating?

Just about finished.

Well, my father's gone, sir.

Otherwise, I suppose he wouldn't have been allowed on the farm.

He'd better be off before he gets back.

Yeah.

Has thee been using the phone in the meeting hall?

That's right.

Did you talk to Washington?

San Francisco.

Never even talked to Stan.

Truth is, I've never been allowed to use the phone at all.

Small loss, I suppose. I wouldn't know anyone on the other end.

Well, I'd better get back to work.

Will I see thee later?

I don't know, Jacob. I'm not sure.

Maybe.

No one touched the first note but Adam.

No one brought it to him from the mailbox?

He found it himself.

He wouldn't let it out of his sight.

The only other fingerprints on it would be the extortionist's.

Has he identified those other prints, Inspector?

Mr. Stone, you started to tell me something this morning.

Can you tell me now?

Yes.

When Jacob helped me out of the house last night in the fire,

he was fully dressed under his nightshirt.

He had been awake.

He'd been outside.

Will they arrest him?

The prints on the note aren't conclusive, Mr. Stone.

Jacob could have handled it on the way to Stanton.

Nobody saw him set the fires.

Nobody saw him mail the letters. If he did... I understand.

He calls it circumstantial evidence.

Inspector Erskine, I...

Think I know a way that he might find out for sure.

Terrible as it may be.

Adam went to Roseburg to pick up more than tools.

We have some money there.

He intends to pay off the extortionist.

But he said... What a man says and what a man means can be two different things.

The burning of my house was a fearful shock to Adam.

He'd do anything to prevent another act of terrorism like that.

Mr. Stone. I know Adam has asked thee not to interfere, but the council

still has the final word, Mr. Erskine, if they choose to exercise it.

They met today in this room.

The entire problem was discussed.

I am authorized to beg thee to help us.

Thank you.

Jacob. I had to see more than these people, Father.

More than the farm.

I tried to tell thee over and over, but thee wouldn't hear.

I asked, but thee wouldn't listen.

I didn't mean to burn Elder Stone's house.

I meant only to start a little fire in the yard.

What about the beating at Indian Ridge?

I jumped, so did Lucas, though I'd been beaten.

It started from the fire I set yesterday.

Get on the radio.

Take him into town. Find what falls if he can get there.

Every man you can spare.

Aerial tankers everything.

Hey, bring that hose over here!

I thank thee, friend!

They tell me that you'll be taken to Portland for the trial.

Yes.

Yes, well, I'll be there, Jacob, if they want.

Good.

I say good.

No, none killed. A few were hurt.

Our neighbors here in town have given us rooms.

Yes. Well, I'll see thee in about an hour then, Jacob.

Mr. Erskine and Mr.

Rose are going to take me to Klamath Falls with them.

Goodbye,

son.

Ready? Yes, sir.

Goodbye, Mr. MacDonald.

I wonder if brimstone smells like this.

It'll be in the air for a long time to come.

Reminder.

Any foolish mistakes, any people.

Well?

Leaving, Mr. McDonald?

I'll be back, Mr.

Sumner. Good.

This land will bounce back, too.

We'll have a lot of planning to help you with.