Original subtitles

[ theme music playing ]

No school today, Sammy.

Go on down to O'Fallon Creek

and do yourself some fishin'

with the rest of the kids.

Yippee!

I'm sorry.

Cut out this nonsense, Jethro.

Move all that stuff back.

There isn't gonna be any trial.

You don't have much of a library

for a growing community like this.

All I could find was Dalrymple's Diseases of Livestock.

Of all the crazy notions, this one takes the prize.

I'm tellin' you there's not gonna be any trial.

It says here you can treat a sick calf

with fatback and gunpowder.

Ever hear of that?

Don't joke with me, Judge.

Charlie, one thing I'm not gonna be doing with you today

is joking.

Judge Harper, you can't do it!

It's crazy!

You can't try a man that's already dead!

MAN: Hey, Garth!

Stage is pullin' out in a half hour!

You get on it!

Get back to Medicine Bow where you belong.

You hear me, Garth?!

What happened?

Cowpoke out there thinks he can fix things with a rock.

It's a put-up or shut-up proposition, the way I look at it.

I don't care how you look at it.

I got no intention of having--

You can't back down.

Who says I can't?I do.

He roped us into this thing pure and simple.

Got us backed up against the wall.

We quit now, the whole territory of Wyoming

is gonna call us yellow.

Don't use that word on me.

You back down now, I'll use it on you.

You've got to go along with the rest of us, Charlie.

There's nothing we can--

[ door closes ]

Beware a silent lawyer.

What do you mean by that?

Old Judge McCracken gave me that piece of advice

over 40 years ago.

"Beware a silent lawyer," he said.

Ever hear of treating cattle with lard and gunpowder?

I wish I could cure what I've got

with lard and gunpowder.

You may as well know, Henry--

if I'd heard all the particulars

when you sent me that wire in Sheridan,

I'd have stayed home.

That's why I didn't tell you all the particulars.

Actually, what I wanted was a principled man.

But, none being available,

I took the next best thing.

Oh, now, Henry, you--[ laughs ]

you don't want to marry up with principle.

It won't bend.

Sometimes human affairs get wound up in such a tangle,

that something's got to bend.

Or everybody gets cut up.

Sounds crazy, doesn't it?

Fatback and gunpowder.

MAN: Henry! Henry Garth!

By golly, it's good to see you.

Arthur, you remember Henry Garth.

Best friend I've got in all the world.

We practiced law together back east.

Why, you old rascal. You're a sight for sore eyes.

You, too.

Lookin' prosperous.

Well, puttin' up a front anyway.

Nearly went broke last winter after the freeze.

Are you still running cows?

Yeah, hangin' on.

How's Amy and the boy? Fine.

And they're both hungry to see you.

Good Lord, how long has it been?

Arthur, when was that cattle auction?

That was the last time, wasn't it, Henry?

Oh, yeah. Four, five years.

Seven.Oh, can't be.

You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

Come on, let's go surprise Amy and Ben.

Frank, I'll be staying here.

Don't be silly.

I'll be handier.

I've got some business in town.

Is it that important?Can't say yet.

You're being mighty mysterious.

Don't even write me you're coming,

breeze in on a stage without a word.

I just happened to see a client in town.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have known you were here.

That's a backhanded way to treat an old friend.

Aw, now, I didn't mean that.

Look, I can't accept the room, but...

I might have some dinner with you,

if Amy has something on the back of the stove.

How about it?Fine, let's go.

I'll take care of those, Judge.

Thank you.

[ indistinct chatter and laughter ]

Gonna get him a law degree at Harvard,

marry him to one of those rich, eastern girls,

have him a palace at Newport.

Lawyer, eh?

Yes, sir.

You've got a pretty good model.

I've always thought so.

Well, I keep telling him--

the world lost a great lawyer when I went into ranching.

Got him believing it, too.

Well, I feel a little guilty about that.

Why?

If it hadn't been for me

and those tales about the fortunes to be made

in cattle ranching,

he might've--

he might've ended up on the Supreme Court.

Ah. Now you are laying it on.

No. No, I believe it.

That was the trouble when we were partners.

I was always out beating the bushes for--

oh, any kind of case.

Contracts, leases, felonies.

Spending money faster than I could make it.

But this fella here--

What about him?

It had to be...

right...

before he'd take a case.

He had a fiery glow in his eye.

The law.

It was a great...

sacred temple...

in those days.

Wasn't it, Frank?

Hmm. Still is.

For those near enough to attend the services.

Henry, how about a drink?

I've got some first-rate brandy in the study.

Good.

Amy...the pie was better than ever.

Bless you, Henry.

That freeze last winter will go down in history.

Losses up to 80%, 90%.

Herds knocked down to a nub.

An army of cowpokes out of work.

Nothing around for them except stealing.

Thank you.

Frank.

We've been walking around the subject

like a couple of wolves at a bait.

You want to talk about it, let me know when you're ready.

Well, I've been ready for some time.

I received a letter from Rosanna Dobie.

Want me to read it to you?

I can probably quote it.

If I forget something, you can fill me in.

She said that her son was lynched

by a committee of 13 men

for a crime he had nothing to do with.

That they're all steeped in blood

up to their elbows.

That there's nobody around she can appeal to

because she was an outcast--

an ex-saloon woman... and worse.

That her boy John was an outcast, too.

Justice has fled.

The rogues and the knaves are in power.

And she--poor, innocent little lamb--

is crying in the wilderness

for a white knight in the form of Henry Garth

to come save her.

She didn't put it quite that well,

but that's the general idea.

What about the sheriff?

Been here and gone.

County seat's two mountain ranges away.

What did he call it?

Accident.

According to the record,

John Dobie rode home drunk from the 4th of July dance,

pitched off his horse, broke his neck.

There are 13 signatures on that report,

and I expect it'll stay that way.

Henry...

we're not talking about the death of John Dobie at all.

We're talking about the murder

of Sally Ann Tressider-- age 18--

the daughter of Charlie and Leora Tressider.

Neighbors of mine.

Have another brandy.

No, thanks.

How'd Rosanna happen to write to you?

I knew John.

Oh? Where?

Medicine Bow.

Found him swamping in a saloon,

sleeping in the back room.

14 years old,

alone in the world.

Heh.

A raggle-taggle kid

without a spare pair of socks to his name.

You could see he was going places.

He was.

So, I put him to work at Shiloh

for a couple of years

so he could make himself a stake.

And I gave him $100, a train ticket,

shipped him off to school.

Six years later,

and the $100 and the price of the ticket

came back in the mail.

He insisted on paying me back.

You knew him pretty well.

I'd have been proud to have him for a son.

I can't believe he did a thing like this.

You just can't tell about a man.

You were in law long enough to know that.

No, I guess you can't.

Are you asking me to defend myself?

No.

I'm still trying to pick myself up off the floor.

Frank, of all the men in the world to dirty his hands--

You don't understand.What?!

You do what you've got to do.

That's all. You've got no choice.

If you're telling me you've got to choose

between due process on one side

and a committee of vigilantes on the other, you're right!

You've got no choice! You take the law!

And you die.

You get stolen blind by mavericking sodbusters.

You get fenced off from your water.

And, in this case, your daughter gets bludgeoned to death

and left in the dust.

You file a complaint at the county seat

and you scream.

And you rant and beat on the table

and due process huffs and puffs

into the same station every time.

The accused is turned loose

by 12 other cow thieves and criminals

sitting in judgment.

Now, that, old friend,

is what we've had up here in the way of due process,

and what we still have.

That's why we organized our committee.

Henry...

it wasn't a mob.

It wasn't blood lust.

It wasn't lynch fever.

You've got to understand that.

You live in a society like this,

you take sustenance from it,

you owe it something back.

There's no school, so you build one.

And a church, and a hospital.

And if there's no justice,

you build that, too.

13 men did it because it was an obligation, Henry.

That is all.

What kind of evidence did you have?

The strongest in the world-- an eyewitness.

Who?The girl's little sister.

She saw him do it.

She's still under the doctor's care--

almost out of her head from the sight of it.

Henry...

we've known each other a long time,

and I have never asked anything from you.

I'm going to now.

I want you to trust me.

There was only one thing to do.

And we did it.

We thought it through,

we made our decision...

and we're standing by it.

He sent that to me when he graduated from college.

Five years ago in June.

Third in his whole class.

He was smart.

Not bad, considering his upbringing.

Third in his whole class.

Magnum cum something or other.

Laude.

Yeah.

Magnum cum laude.

That's a crazy thing to call a kid

who gets good marks.

You want a drink or something?

No, thanks.

Mind if I do?

Not at all.

I've been drinking too much lately.

I quit for a long time.

Till this happened.

Gotta cut down.

John was all I had, you know.

The works.

I've been in this miserable world a long time,

and he was the only good thing.

That's what they'll write on my tombstone someday.

"Rosanna Dobie-- worthless for the most part,

but she gave the world a first-rate man."

Took him away, too.

Why do you say that?

If I hadn't been what I am,

they wouldn't have done it.

Magnum cum laude-- that's what they killed him for.

It stuck in their craw

that the illegitimate son of a saloon woman

could walk tall down the main street.

Outfigure the banker,

outswap the horse trader,

and buy a scraggly, run-down ranch from Joe York

and make it pay so big within two years

that Joe nearly got his knee out of joint

from kickin' himself.

That was a lynching offense in itself.

What do you think the little girl saw?

I don't know, but it wasn't John.

Dark night, out there alone by that bridge,

scared out of her wits-- could've been anybody.

I wish I could help you.

You can, and you've got to.

How?

Get him a trial, get him cleared.

Without a trial, without a chance to defend himself,

he'll be marked down as a murderer.

I can't get his life back for him, but...

get him cleared.

$2,700-- everything I've got.

And it's all yours if you can get that done for me.

Judge...you knew him.

You loved him, too.

The law says, every man gets a day in court.

Get it for him.

You can't try a dead man.

Who says you can't?

Is there a law that says my boy can't have a trial?

When they found that girl by the bridge,

they wanted it to be John.

That's why they killed him.

They wanted it to be him.

And that's wrong.

The law says it's wrong.

It's all yours.

What are you gonna do?

I don't know.

[ sobbing ]

JOHN: It's just a piece of paper.

But it says I did what you told me I could do...

way back in those awful days

when I was swamping in that Medicine Bow saloon.

I'm third in my class--

magna cum laude.

And I want you to know that when they handed me that piece of paper,

I was thinking of you.

A trial?

[ murmuring ]

It's kind of a wild notion, isn't it?

Not wild. Crazy.

Maybe. But you owe it to him.

He got his trial.

Did he?

[ all talking at once ]

I want to know what he's jabbin' at.

Never mind that.

I didn't mean to upset you.

I didn't know I'd hit such a sore spot.

Who says it's a sore spot?

Henry...

I think you'd better go.

All right.

Happy days.

Leave the red ink,

live with the unpaid bill.

We've got no unpaid bills, Henry.

You've got the longest tab of all.

You had some principles once.

You all did.

Now you've tucked John Dobie way in his grave...

with the sign of Cain on his forehead.

He didn't have a word to say about it one way or the other.

Pitched off his horse, broke his neck.

That's that.

That's what you all swore to, isn't it?

Red ink on the ledger.

He never had a chance to tell his story

to 12 men in a court of law.

Well, it seems to me it'd be...

kind of sporting for you to give him that.

You can't put a dead man on trial.

[ all talking at once ]

How about it, Frank?

Suppose we did try him.

What are you talkin' about? What?!

Just wait a minute.

Suppose we did.

Suppose we drew a jury from the valley right here.

Now, I guarantee you

there'll be a couple of sour apples on it.

Out of the same barrel they draw from over at the county seat.

You could try Captain Kidd

and get a hung jury.

How many sour apples you got here?

Hmm?

Right here in this room. 13 of you altogether.

How many sour apples?

What do you mean?

12 of you could hear the evidence, too, couldn't you?

12 of you on a jury.

Frank could prosecute. Is that fair?

[ all talking at once ]

You're out of your head.

Who'd waste time on a crazy thing like that?

All right, forget it.

You never had a case anyway.

Henry, he would've been hanged

by any court in the country. That's right.

Then why didn't he get into a court?

Why?!

For the same reason that you're backin' off right now.

Nobody is backing off.

That man was guilty.

He got what was comin' to him.

Prove it. I'll give you a chance.

If your case won't stand up, admit it!

All right.

Stick together.

You need each other.

For comfort and reassurance and...

righteousness.

In this puddle of guilt.

Henry.

You got a deal.

[ gavel bangs ]

Quiet, please. Come to order.

JUDGE HARPER: Now, there may be a few of you in this room

who aren't quite sure what's about to go on here.

So, maybe I'd better explain.

This is not a trial.

It has no legal standing anywhere.

There'll be no transcript made of the proceedings.

Now, on the record,

John Dobie-- 25, citizen of this town--

was bucked off his horse and killed

while riding home from the dance in this schoolhouse

on the night of the 4th of July.

From the facts developed so far,

it appears that John, before he died,

committed about as mean a crime as there is.

He bludgeoned to death, in a fit of anger,

a girl who wouldn't have him.

The citizens of this community--

most of 'em--

hold John guilty.

He is convicted-- in their minds--of murder.

And we're here to find out

if the man deserved that verdict.

We can either clear him

or put the mark on him for all time.

That is the purpose of this proceeding.

Now, although this is not a legal trial...

I'm going to hold both counsel

to the rules of evidence

and the discipline of the courtroom.

I'm putting the Holy Bible on the desk here,

and I expect anyone who testifies

to consider himself sworn.

So, with the issues understood,

I think we can dispense with opening statements

and get right down to business.

Mr. Sturgis, call your first witness.

I call Dr. David Harvey.

We'll dispense with your name and qualifications, Doctor.

Everybody here knows you.

But I would like you to recall the events

which took place just prior to midnight

on the 4th of July.

Where were you at the time?

On the north road at O'Fallon Creek Bridge.

For what purpose?

To examine the body of Sally Ann Tressider.

She was dead when I got there,

lying on her back at the side of the road near the bridge.

How long had she been dead, would you say?

Half hour or so.

And what, in your opinion, was the cause of death?

Multiple skull fractures.

A hard blow on the head with a rock or some such.

She had been dead about half an hour,

so she was probably killed around 11:00.

I'd say so.

Could she have sustained that kind of injury

had she tripped or fallen on the road?

Impossible. Much too hard a blow for that.

Thank you.

Your witness.

Doctor...

we're starting out with the body of a young lady

at the side of a road by a bridge...

found midnight.

We start out with that,

and we end up with an assumption--

almost unanimous by the town of Rapahoe--

that John Dobie bludgeoned her to death

and left her there.

What I'm gonna be interested finding out...

is how everybody arrived at that assumption.

What was the evidence? What were the facts.

How much emotion, prejudice,

was mixed up in it?

Now, you say you were at the O'Fallon Creek Bridge around midnight.

That's right.Why?

Well, as you probably know,

there was a big celebration in town that night.

Almost everybody had showed up there for the dance,

including Sally Ann Tressider and John Dobie.

ALL: Ooh!

Aah! Aaaah!

ALL: Ohh!

[ all talking at once ]

Thank you very much.

That concludes the performance, ladies and gentlemen.

Now let's get on to the dance!

[ all cheer ]

Ma!

Ma!

♪♪

GIRL: Ma, please!

Papa?

Hello, honey.

Ma? Ma, listen!

Not now, Julie. Go over and sit down.

[ sobbing ]

What is it, honey?

[ sobbing ]

Julie, what's wrong?

What's the matter? Tell me.

Let Sally talk to her. Where is she?

Sally? Sally Ann?

Where is Sally?

She went out a while back.

Sally?

Sally Ann!

Sally!

Sally, where are you?

Sally Ann!

Sally?

Julie, where's your sister?

Where's Sally Ann?

[ sobbing ]

She was outside, talkin' to John Dobie.

Where is he?

I saw him about an hour or so ago at the stable.

He'd been drinkin'.

Julie, where did your sister go?

Answer me. Where is she?

[ stuttering ]

We'd better go take a look.

CHARLIE: Sally!

Somebody fetch a wagon.

[ sobbing ] Oh, no!

There's nothing we can do here.

[ sobbing ]

Her scarf.

Torn in two.

Why would a man do a thing like that?

They were quarreling.

Dobie?

Yeah.

Are you sure about that?

I saw them when I was settin' up for the fireworks.

She was upset with him for some reason or other.

He was drunk?Might've been.

Did you hear what they were quarreling about?

I didn't have to. I could tell

from the sound of his voice that he was ready--

Sure he was.

I warned her a thousand times.

He was good and mad--

Don't guess.

That's one thing you don't want to do

at a time like this, is guess.

I don't have to guess.

Neither do I.

He was drunker than seven muleskinners on a Saturday night.

Came down to my place about an hour ago to get his cinch fixed.

He was so drunk, he couldn't even see straight.

Julie honey.

Julie, you've got to talk.

You've got to tell us, now.

Now, Julie, you saw what happened.

You saw who it was.

Was it John?

Answer me, Julie.

Was it John Dobie?

Was it?

Charlie--Let me be.

Tell me, Julie. Was it John Dobie?

Was it?! Julie! We've got to know.

John, that's enough.

Julie, tell me!

I said, that's enough!

[ sobbing ]

I've got to take her home.

I'll go with you. Come, Julie.

It was him. Sure as thunder, it was him.

They were fightin' like cats and dogs.

I say we saddle up right now and ride out there.

No, we don't. Not till we know what we're doing.

I know what I'm doing.Me, too.

What are we waitin' for?!The facts!

What do you mean, the facts?

That's all the facts I need.

That no-account son of a saloon woman

killed my daughter! And he's gonna pay for it!

If he killed her, he will, but we're not--

Don't preach to me! Don't none of you preach to me!

I'm in no mind for it.

HARVEY: I didn't feel like preaching to him, either.

I knew how he felt.

Maybe better than anyone, except her mother.

18 years ago, I brought Sally Ann into the world.

And now I was putting her away.

I drove her back to my office

and made a detailed examination.

What did you find?

Several injuries beside the one on the head.

There were blows on the neck and shoulders,

broken scapula, a couple of ribs.

But the one that killed her was the blow on the head.

Now, Doc, I'm going to ask

what might seem a foolish question.

Do you think the girl was murdered?

Now, what kind of question is that?

An important one, seems to me.

Has anyone asked it so far, Doc? No.

You think she hit herself on the head?

Is that what you're trying to say?

I never heard anything so ridiculous--

Order!

It's a perfectly legitimate question.

Answer it.

Yes, I think she was murdered.

That's your own personal opinion-- not medical?

Well, it's personal, I suppose, but--

Would the blow on the head have killed her instantly?

Possibly not.

She could, for instance, have fallen

off the bridge into a dry, rocky creek bed,

climbed back up on the road and passed out and died.

Well, that's possible. However--

Thank you, Doc.

Now, wait a minute, Doc.

Let's just make sure one thing is clear.

You don't seriously think that Sally Ann fell off a bridge

that she had crossed a thousand times,

hit herself on the head,

crawled back up the bank, and died?

You don't really think it was an accident?

Well, no, I don't.

I said it's possible, and it is.

Not more than faintly possible, though.

Thank you.

Of course I recognize it.

It's a piece of the scarf Sally Ann wore to the dance that night.

How did she wear it?

On her head.

But it wasn't on her head

when you found her in the road.

It was on the ground, lying...

near her body.

You know of any reason why she would tear it in half?

Of course. It was a favorite of hers.

John Dobie tore it when he killed her.

Just a minute.

Sustained.

Never mind about John Dobie Mrs. Tressider.

Stick to what you know about.

I know about that.

If you know about it, then there's no point

to these proceedings.

We're all wasting our time.

That's just what we are doing.

I've been tellin' him that for a week.

Nonetheless, I rode a long piece of rough road

to get here, and I intend to see this thing ended.

Any more disorder, and I'll clear the room.

Go on, Frank.

When did you last see Sally Ann alive?

At the dance.

She'd been outside with John,

come back in, sat down by herself.

I went over to see what the matter was.

She wouldn't tell me.

Of course, I didn't have to ask.

I knew.

What was the trouble?

John Dobie, naturally.

What do you mean, naturally?

I knew she hated him.

Did she say that? Did she use the word "hate"?

Henry, you're out of order.

You'll get your chance when the time comes.

Go on, Frank.

She had a quarrel with John Dobie.

She came inside alone.

Where had John gone?

I don't know.

How long did she stay at the dance?

Oh, half an hour, as far as I know.

We didn't miss her till after the fireworks.

Now, Leora, let's not use the word "hate".

But how did Sally Ann feel about John Dobie?

She tried.

She tried every way she knew to get rid of him.

He was forcing himself on her.

She didn't know what to do.

She even left town for a couple of weeks.

Went down to Saunders to visit with her cousin Millie,

hoping he'd get over it.

She came back just before the dance.

And there he was--

waitin' for her.

He couldn't take no for an answer.

That's what they were arguing about

that night at the dance.

Thank you.

Your witness.

You know positively what they were arguing about?

I heard them when I went out

to watch Art Wyman settin' up for the fireworks.

What were they saying?

I can't tell you exactly.

Not exactly. Approximately.

Give us a rough idea.

I can't tell you, I said.

I was across the yard with Art.

I could tell from their voices she was angry.

So, you guessed he was annoying her.

I know he was.

But you don't know, Mrs. Tressider,

because you were across the yard with Art Wyman.

You couldn't tell what she was saying. You just testified to that.

I know how my daughter felt about him.

I lived with her for 18 years.

I know her.

You felt close to your daughter.

Of course I did.

Well, if she was a few feet away and a man was annoying her,

why didn't she come to you?

Well...

she--she didn't do things like that.

What do you mean?

Well, she didn't come to us with her troubles.

She had a mind of her own.

And she wouldn't let us in on things like that.

She was at an age where...

they don't tell you everything.

But you said you knew all about her trouble with John.

You don't have to be told about a thing like that.

Who left the dance--

Sally or John-- after the quarrel?

Who left first?John did.

Does that make sense?

What would you have done, Mrs. Tressider?

Suppose you were 18 years old,

you had an argument with your escort,

and you didn't want to go to your parents.

Wouldn't you leave?

Sally Ann wouldn't leave a dance because of John Dobie,

for any reason!

Other girls would...

if he was annoying them.

But Sally didn't.

So, to sum it up...

you really don't know what they were quarreling about.

You just heard angry voices.

And Sally never told you directly

how she felt about John.

And she didn't do what most girls would've done,

under the circumstances you suspect,

on the night of the dance.

Isn't that right?

No, that's not right.

That's not right at all. You're just...

twisting everything to suit yourself!

You may be able to browbeat a woman,

but you can't do it with me.

I could tell she was trying to get rid of him,

and I know he was drunk.Wait a minute.

You know he was drunk. How?

How do you know he was drunk?

Because I saw him.

That's how.

You left the dance about 10:00.

Yeah, I had to go back down to my stable

to get the wire for the fireworks--

to make the thingamajig that holds the--

the sky rockets, you know?

Anyway, John was there.

And I could tell the minute I looked at him,

he was drunker than a catfish in a whiskey still.

There was no question about it.

He'd come down there to get his cinch fixed

before riding home.

He got that done and...

climbed on his horse and left.

A little after 10:00?

Yeah. I was watchin' the time

because the fireworks had to be ready around 11:00.

He left the stable in a drunken state

about an hour before the girl died?

That's right.

Hmm. Assuming that she was killed around 11:00,

would that leave him enough time to get to the bridge?

Oh, more than enough. More than enough.

Thank you.

Your witness.

Mr. York...

your judgment is crucial here.

I guess you understand that.

Yes, sir.

And when judgment is involved,

prejudice, emotion, resentment and such,

become important, because all of them color judgment.

So, how you felt about John Dobie before all this happened

is material to this case.

I got no particular feelin'

about John Dobie one way or the other.

He was a good man, a good citizen.

Honest enough.

Why, I daresay there's not a man in that jury box

that had any particular feelin' about him one way or the other.

Why, on the night Sally Ann was killed,

in spite of everything, nobody was saying it was him.

Nobody was rushin' off half-cocked.

We was all out there at the Tressider place,

just waitin' till little Julie could tell what she saw.

We give him much more time, he ain't apt to hang around.

17 miles to the Montana line.

He won't take off.

How do you know?

He isn't the kind to run.

He's more apt to stand up and spit in your face.

What are we waitin' for?

[ all talking at once ]

I told you once, we're waitin'

till Charlie gets Julie calmed down enough to make sense.

You didn't drag your feet much last spring

when we run onto those cattle thieves out in Saunders Valley.

Had 'em swingin' before the runnin' iron was cold.

What's the difference between that and this?

A big one. We got them red-handed.

But nobody saw John except for that little girl inside--

if that's what she saw.

Frank?

Come in here.Yeah.

Sometimes you get a feeling.

Like I had tonight the minute Dobie walked into my stable.

What kind of a feeling?

Something about him.

I don't know.

He had a cold look in his eyes.

Could be he was fixin' to do it even then.

That girl was the first thing he ever wanted

that he couldn't get.

Like to drove him crazy.

Did she tell you?Yeah.

Well...I suppose what we do now is,

we haul him off to the county seat

where he buys himself a fancy lawyer.

Then we all sit down and watch the show.

Yeah, he'd like that.

How about it, Frank?

Remember one thing-- we're not a mob.

We're a committee.

Our job isn't vengeance, it's justice.

We'll ride over there as a committee,

listen to his side of it,

give him his chance.

But we're the law.

Does everybody understand that?

[ wagon approaching ]

What is this? What are you up to?

Hasn't word reached your side of town?

You see John tonight?

I saw him before the dance. Drunk?

No, of course not.

Where is he now?

Home, I expect.

What is this about Sally Ann?

You know, then.

If you know, why'd you ask us?

I couldn't believe it.

I saw Doc Harvey in town and he told me.

He said you're blaming John for it.

Is that what you're up to?

We just want to talk to him, that's all.

My little girl saw him do it. That's a lie.

If she says she saw him, she saw him.

Why would he kill her?

She wouldn't have him. He's trash,

and she told him so right to his face.

Charlie--

It's the truth. Face up to it.

What are you gonna do?

Justice-- no more, no less.

Now, listen, all of you.

You lay on hand John tonight, and, so help me--

Shut up!

Now, now. Just put your mind at rest.

Why, your boy will have his say.

We got no feeling about him one way or the other.

He's got his rights.

He's a citizen of this town,

just like all the rest of us.

Why, all we want is to see that he gets a fair hearing.

I can't say I liked John Dobie,

but...well, I didn't dislike him, either.

The whole town felt pretty much the same way.

In a fair election, I don't suppose

we'd have chose him mayor, but...

he didn't have no real enemies.

Come, now, Mr. York. You can do better than that.

You were in business with Jeff Mannion--

your friend on the committee here. Right?

Irrelevant, Your Honor.

Your Honor, I'm trying to establish

the feelings of the witness for the defendant.

All right, Henry. Make sure it's relevant.

You and Mannion owned a ranch together.

Sold it to John Dobie. Is that right?

That's right.For how much?

$2,500.

About a year after you sold it to him,

after Dobie had developed water on it,

you're aware that he was made an offer by an English firm--

Ellerbe and King?

I--I don't know anything about his business.

You must be deaf, Mr. York.

Or a hermit. It was all over town.

Now, how much did they offer John

for the ranch that you sold him for $2,500?

I don't know.

$15,000.

And you never heard about it.

Well, that's too bad.

You might've wanted to rejoice with him over his good fortune.

Or you might've hated him for it.

The whole point of this, Mr. York,

is that you were anxious to believe that he was drunk

and ready to kill the moment he came into the stable!

He was drunk! Rollin' drunk!

Come here, look at this.

Now, recognize this saddle?

It's Dobie's.

You say he mended the cinch.

This is the mend, isn't it?

Well, I expect so.

You're an expert on drunks, Mr. York.

You think a man who was rolling drunk

could've sewn a row of stitches like this?

Maybe.

Could you have sewn these stitches

if you were rolling drunk?

I don't see why not.

If you're willing to pay for the whiskey,

I'd be willing to find out.

[ laughter ]

[ Harper bangs gavel ]

Miss DeWitt,

do you understand what the word "motive" means?

Do you understand why that's important to all of us here?

I think so.

If we are to listen to the defense,

there was no quarrel.

Sally and John were the best of friends.

And he hadn't been drinking at all.

As a matter of fact, I think, before this is over,

they'll contend that Sally wasn't found dead

out there by the bridge,

that it was all our imagination.

Now, Miss DeWitt,

you and Sally were good friends.Yes.

She came down to Saunders to stay with you for two weeks

just prior to the 4th of July dance.

Did she say why?

She said John Dobie was in love with her

and wanted to marry her.

She wasn't in love with him,

and she wondered what I'd do in her shoes.

She said she couldn't tell her parents about it

because they wouldn't understand her.

She wondered if it was wrong

to marry a man you weren't in love with.

Especially a man like John Dobie.

And what did you tell her?

I told her it was wrong.

She ought to tell him the truth.

Come right out with it the minute she got home.

And did she agree to do it?

She seemed to.

But I can't be sure.

Why can't you be sure?

Well, she wasn't herself.

She was upset and worried.

I think she was afraid of John.

And that was the mood she was in when she went home?

Afraid?

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Your witness.

She was upset and worried.

Yes, sir.

And you think...

it was because she was afraid of John.

Did she say that?No, sir.

You didn't ask her?No, sir.

Hmm. She spent about two weeks with you.

Were you with her all that time?

Almost.

Didn't she ever go off by herself?

Well, she went to town a few times.

Where in town?She didn't say.

And you didn't ask her that, either?

Well, why should I?

She had a few errands, I guess.

None of my business.

Did she ever suggest you go to town with her?

Well, she--

What I'm trying to find out, Miss DeWitt,

is whether or not she really wanted to be alone,

whether or not her errands in town were strictly personal.

Did you get that impression?

Well, yes.

I guess I did, at least one of those times, anyway.

She didn't say where she was going,

but she wanted to be alone.

Thank you. That's all.

So, she told you that John Dobie wanted to marry her.

And what did you tell her?

I said if she married John Dobie,

she could forget her name was ever Tressider.

That's what the fight was about,

and that's why he killed her.

We haven't decided that yet.

Well, I have!

He killed her!

This whole thing is crazy!

What are we here for?

My little girl saw him kill her!

All of you know that!

What are we trying to do here?

Twist the knife?

Make fools out of me and her mother?

You all heard the evidence!

He had that piece of bloody scarf.

His face was a mess of fingernail scratches!

Charlie--Why hide it?

I'm tired of playing games.

I'm not ashamed of what I did-- none of us are.

Charlie, I told you that's out.

We got to him, his face was a mess of fingernail scratches.

Guilt, murder, written all over it in blood--

right there for anybody to see.

That piece of handkerchief--

we found in his cabin behind the stove.

Bloody! Her blood on it!

She fought him.

She fought for her life.

And he killed her right in front of her little sister.

Charlie, that's enough!

Please.

I'm not gonna apologize for what I said.

Everybody in this room knows what happened!

I got no excuses.

Easy enough for the rest of you to play this crazy game.

It wasn't your daughter out there in the dust.

FRANK: All right. All right, Charlie.

We all understand that.

Come on, now.

I'm sorry, Your Honor.

Your witness.

Julie told you it was John Dobie?

She did.

Just like that?Like what?

In those words? "It was John Dobie."

Near as I can remember.

Now, that's not near enough, Charlie.

This is very important. Where is Julie now?

Home.

She hasn't been the same since it happened.

Wonder it didn't drive her out of her mind-- the sight of it.

She hasn't spoken since this happened-- is that right?

Yes.

She, uh--

Not since she told us what she saw anyway.

She told you what she saw,

then she lapsed into silence.

Hasn't said a word since? right.

Now, Charlie, this is very important.

Did she ask her what she saw,

or did you say, "Was it John Dobie"?

What's the difference.

A lot.

To a little panicky girl.

She could hardly have invented John Dobie out of her head.

But you could've invented him.

And she might've said yes

just to keep from answering any questions.

Nobody invented him.

She said his name right out.

I asked her, and she said, "It was John Dobie."

And those are the last words she said.

All right, Charlie. That's all.

Charlie...

has Julie ever lied to you? No.

Any reason why she would lie about this?

She saw it happen, and she told the truth.

Thank you.

The prosecution rests.

He stopped by my house

just after he left the dance.

GARTH: But before he went to the stable to fix the cinch?

Yes. He said he wanted some linen thread,

and I told him to go to York's stable.

That isn't why he came by, though.

He said he felt poorly,

that he'd quarreled with Sally Ann,

and that he felt sick inside.

What was the quarrel about?

She pleaded with him all evening to marry her.

That's a lie!

[ overlapping chatter ]

I won't sit here and listen to lies!

Who are you to talk about lies?!

She--She pleaded with him to marry her,

and he wouldn't.

You miserable, cheap, no-account--

You be quiet or get out of here!

All right, I will get out!

Charlie, don't make a fool of yourself.

Well, nothing in the book

says we gotta have a 12-man jury

in this kind of a trial.

Go ahead, Henry.

Mrs. Dobie, you heard the testimony

about John wanting to marry Sally Ann.

He did, but he changed his mind.

He said she was...

anybody's girl.

[ Harper bangs gavel ]

Your witness.

You heard what your attorney had to say a while back

about emotion, prejudice, and bias, Mrs. Dobie?

I did.

Isn't it true that your opinion

about everything in this case--

about the committee, the town, about me,

about Sally Ann Tressider--

is colored, distorted, and twisted by hatred?

No!

You want to destroy us, don't you?

You want to just destroy this town,

leave it a shambles.

You want to make its leading citizens

look ridiculous and contemptible.

I wan justice for my boy.

No more, no less.

And I want it so bad,

I'm putting it in your hypocrite hands.

Maybe I do hate you.

Maybe it does eat into me

the way you come to call, big as life,

pat me on the back and call me Rosanna,

and cut me cold on the street the next day.

Maybe that does hurt.

But I can shake that off.

I'm used to it.

But I'm not used to seeing my son

strung up on the king-beam of his own barn,

with no chance to defend himself.

I'm not used to that.

All I want...

is for all of you to face the truth about my boy.

He did not kill that girl.

HARVEY: Of course Sally Ann was my patient.

I brought her into the world.

I've taken care of her family as far back as I can remember.

Did she confide in you?

In what way?

She didn't take up her problems with her parents

to any great extent, so far as we can learn here.

Did she discuss them with you?

I couldn't say.

Anything between a doctor and a patient

is privileged and confidential.

Doc, about a week ago, I had to make a decision--

whether or not this fracas would be worth the pain

that it would cause.

I decided, for several reasons,

that it would be.

You have to make the same decision.

The whole question of motive in this case

hangs on what we're talking about right now.

Nobody can force you to break

what you feel to be a professional ethic.

I can only ask you to,

because it's that important.

Then I would have to say no.

All right.

Dr. Lampson of Saunders Crossing

doesn't agree with you.

I have a copy of a letter he wrote you

while she was down there.

It's dated June 30. Would you like me to read it?

No, I would not.

Doc, you know why Sally went down to Saunders, don't you?

It wasn't to get away from John Dobie.

It wasn't to see her cousin Millie.

It was to see the doctor down there,

for the same reason she came to you.

Now, what did she ask you to do?

She was in trouble. She needed help.

That's not true!

What are you talkin' about? That's a lie!

I'm sorry, Mrs. Tressider.

Perhaps you'd rather leave before I continue.

No. No, I won't leave. No!

Now, Doc, she asked you to help her

out of a serious fix, didn't she?

Yes.

What did you tell her?

Just what Doc Lampson did.

If the man responsible wouldn't marry her,

she'd better find someone who would.

Who was the man?

There was more than one possibility.

When did she come to you?

When she came back from Saunders

the day before the dance.

Your witness.

No questions.

I was walking along here--

on this path-- from my house to the north road.

About 11:00.

Fixin' to get to the schoolhouse before midnight

in time to clean up after the dance.

I got about here when I saw 'em.Who?

Mr. Dobie and Miss Tressider.

That's this side of the bridge?

Yes, sir, by a quarter mile or so.

Put an "X" there, please.

All right, sit down.

What were they doing?

She was bandaging up Mr. Dobie.

What had happened?

Well, there was a lot of fireworks going off,

and his horse and spooked and bucked him off

in a barbed wire fence.

He was cut up pretty bad.

When I got there, she was tearin' her scarf in half

to make a bandage for him.

You saw the scratches?

You saw her use a piece of her scarf as a bandage?

Yes, sir.

Well, why didn't you speak up

during all the excitement when they were running out to the bridge?

I didn't know why they was all rushin' out.

I didn't know anything had happened to Miss Tressider.

When I heard about Mr. Dobie...

it was too late to say anything--

anything anybody would want to hear.

Your witness.

You wouldn't lie about this, would you? No.

But you are lying, aren't you? No, sir.

Then you're not telling the truth? No, sir.

You mean, no, you're not telling the truth,

or yes, you are lying?

Come, now, Jethro. Which one is it?

I only know what I saw, Mr. Sturgis.

Henry Garth-- he put you up to this.

He cooked up the whole story.

No, sir.

He's lying, and you put him up to it.

Frank!

You paid him.

You did something--

[ door opens ]

She'll tell us what happened.

Julie...

It was John Dobie.

I saw John Dobie and my sister.

It was John Dobie.

That's who I saw.

It was John.

Dobie.

At the bridge.

John Dobie hitting my sister.

Hurting Sally.

Let me talk to her.

Leora.Now, honey--

Leora!Charlie!

Just be quiet.

Julie, I want you to tell the truth.

For me.

Never mind what Papa says.

Just tell the truth.

It was my fault, Mama.

It was my fault!

[ sobbing ]

Julie, tell us what happened.

She took my pony when she left the party.

I ran after her.

She wasn't supposed to ride Spud.

You told her not to.

I yelled at her when she was on the bridge.

And then I just turned around and looked back,

all the rockets went off,

and Spud reared up and she fell off.

If I hadn't yelled at her--

I'm sorry! I'm sorry!

[ sobbing ]

I won't have very much to say.

The testimony, the evidence,

has pretty much said it for me.

The issue is whether the law--

badly executed, miserably administered

by ignorant, self-seating judges,

corrupt attorneys and sheriffs,

bigoted jurymen--

whether this kind of law-- bad as it is--

is better than the law made and executed

by 13 men...

who conceived themselves

to be the fountainhead of justice.

That's what this farce, this circus,

this ridiculous proceeding-- that has no legal basis

and of which record was made--meant.

Anything I say beyond this is...

worthless.

I hurt my friend.

I hurt this town.

I only ask that you please remember

my reasons for doing it.

I don't care now what you decide.

If you find John Dobie guilty, so be it.

It's on your conscience.

And it'll stay there.

It's off mine.

You're a spellbinder, Garth!

I'll give you that! Greatest confidence man in the world!

Sit down!

He got everybody so upset!

Even little Julie didn't know what she was sayin'!

You got the--Shut up!

No point in our going out.

We've got a verdict already.

No objection, I'll spell it out.

All right.

How say you?

Not guilty.

I'm...sorry.

I can't ask you to forgive us.

Henry.

Mind if I walk back to the hotel with you?

[ theme music playing ]