Original subtitles

Dave why don't you listen to the reason,

try to go along with Judd Sellers.

Meg, we've been over all this before.

Then we'll go over it again.

If Judd Sellers

and his group wanna put a saloon

and a gambling house in every building

on Main Street, I say let them.

I was hired to clean up this town.

And you cleaned it up.

Only now the good people of Warburg

decided they like it better the way it was.

They haven't said so.

What do you think

they're saying behind your back?

Meg, I was hired to enforce

the laws of this town as passed by the people

and that's what I'm gonna do,

until the people decide to change those laws.

Or the marshal.

They can fire me anytime they want.

They're not going to fire you,

any more than they're going to change the laws.

They're hypocrites Dave, all of them.

If Judd Sellers

and his gang break the law,

the good people of this town

will benefit right along with them,

but they can go on being self-righteous.

In his own way,

Judd Sellers is at least honest.

Why don't you come right out

and say what you mean.

What you really want me to do is to go to Sellers

and tell him he can have the kind of a town he wants

for a price.

All right, why not?

At least we can have enough money

to leave this town.

Dave, Sellers is going to have

the kind of town he wants anyway.

Not as long as I'm around.

Dave.

Dave.

Dave?

Dave?

All the drovers here, they're welcome

in Warburg again.

Every trail boss in Texas

will push his herd through here.

Come on inside, boys.

I'm setting up a drink for us.

Who's that?

His name is Hardie,

special agent for Wells Fargo. Oh.

Could be trouble. Uh-huh.

He was a good friend of Dave Prescott's.

It's beautiful Thorne.

I'm glad you like it.

I bought it for you in Wickville

and when you're Mrs. Thorne Whitman

you'll have...

Is something wrong Meg?

Are you sure you wanna marry me Thorne?

Yeah. What a question.

Haven't I told you a thousand times you're...

But I was married to Dave then.

And being another man's wife

is more desirable,

more exciting.

Oh, I want you more now than ever.

I can't marry you, Thorne.

Now, just a minute.

Not if it means staying in Warburg.

Meg, I've told you,

everything I have is here.

The bank, the ranch, everything.

Sell out. I can't.

Look, look, Mother still has

something to say about the business.

She'd never agree.

I'd lose everything.

Meg...

I can't leave this town.

And I can't stay.

Good people of this town have never forgotten

that I was nothing but a dance hall girl

before I married Dave,

and being Mrs. Thorne Whitman

isn't gonna change anything

any more than being Mrs. Dave Prescott did.

I'm leaving Warburg.

I don't know where I'm going or how I'll get there,

but I am leaving.

Jim.

Oh, Jim.

Oh, I was wondering if you'd come.

I'm just sorry I was late.

I was on an assignment for Wells Fargo

and I didn't hear about Dave's death

till I got back in San Francisco.

Well, thanks for coming at all Jim.

You know I would.

I hoped you would.

Oh, Thorne.

Jim, this is Thorne Whitman.

Thorne, Jim Hardie.

Glad to know you, Mr. Hardie.

Pleased to meet you, sir.

Meg has mentioned you.

Well, I'd better be

getting back to the office.

I'll stop by this evening Meg.

Well, all right, Thorne.

Mr. Hardie.

Good day.

I saw a Whitman Bank as I came through town.

Is he any relation?

He is the Whitman Bank since his father died.

Come on inside, Jim.

You're probably tired out

after that long ride.

Yeah, a little bit.

Oh, Jim, it's so good to see you.

I've been so lonely,

so miserable.

I can imagine. How long has it been now,

four weeks since Dave was killed?

And what are they doing about it?

Is anybody trying to find out

who killed him?

No.

No one is going to.

Why not?

Oh, Jim, you know what kind of a town

this used to be.

Like any other town along the cattle trail.

Well, the people decided

they wanted it that way again.

It was wild, but it was profitable.

Well, Dave stood in their way.

So they got rid of him.

It's not that easy.

Isn't it? Dave is dead.

Well, I'm not.

Well, it is my job,

Dave was a friend of mine.

I wanna know who killed him.

Jim forget it. It's not worth it.

Dave isn't worth it?

Well, that's not what I meant.

I mean, you can't bring him back.

I was thinking of you.

Why should you risk your life?

I'll be all right.

But you don't know Judd Sellers.

No, I don't. Who is he?

Well, he's a man I worked for once.

That doesn't answer my question, does it?

He owns the only saloon

left in town after Dave got through.

He's also spokesman for the group

that's turning Warburg

back into what it used to be.

And when Judd Sellers speaks,

he's got a hired killer,

Von Becker, standing by

just to make sure that everybody listens.

Even the new marshal?

The new marshal?

Have you seen the new marshal

handpicked by Mr. Sellers?

No, I haven't. Who is he?

Some old fool, a drifter,

trapper, prospector.

Nobody seems to know exactly

who he is or where he came from,

but he's apparently a good friend of Mr. Sellers.

Does he have a name?

Uh-hmm. His name is Cather.

Wade Cather?

Yeah, do you know him?

Yeah.

No, you don't have to worry none

about Jim Hardie, Becker.

You neither, Mr. Sellers.

You know Jim Hardie?

Well enough to know how to handle him.

Now, as town marshal,

I am here to keep the peace

and with the help of old King David here,

I aim to do just that.

No, sir, the way I see it

if anybody is gonna get Prescott's killer,

it's up to me.

Being the law and all.

Becker? Hardie.

Judd Sellers. Jim Hardie.

Mr. Prescott was a friend of mine.

So I hear?

So now we understand each other.

Cather can't handle him.

Are you sure you can?

The town needed a marshal

and I needed a job, so here I am.

Gee, I knew Sellers up in Ragtown

but now that he's sort of running Warburg

and he knew that I'd...

You'd take orders? I make 50 a month,

and the meals, and a place to sleep

as long as there's an empty cell back there,

and that's all I'm interested in.

And it doesn't bother you that you're taking

the place of a man who was murdered

just because he wouldn't knuckle under to Sellers?

Oh, I suppose I would have,

if I let my mind dwell on it. But you don't?

Mr. Hardie, last time I saw you I got $2,500 reward

for helping find that Wells Fargo money.

That's $2,500,

more money than I ever had in my life.

Of course, I invested it wisely.

Wisely?

By buying a map showing where

Jean Lafitte's hidden treasure was buried.

You call that investing wisely?

Well, how was I to know that skunker

turned out to be a liar and a thief.

Now, you listen to me, Mr. Hardie,

times is bad and jobs is scarce,

and there comes a time in a man's life

when he's got to decide between what he thinks

or whether he eats,

of course, it don't mean I hold with murder.

You know me better than that.

I thought I did.

Like the same time I'm not wanting to butt my head

against a stone wall.

Well, Judd Sellers doesn't look like

a stone wall to me. Oh,

what about that gunfighter

he's got working with him.

What does he look like, huh?

That Von Becker?

Von Becker, he's fast mind you.

He's faster even than you maybe.

I mean, no offense now.

Mr. Hardie,

I like you.

You know I do.

You've done me some good turns in times past and...

now I hope you let me repay you

by taking my advice.

And getting out of town, huh?

All right, Wade,

I'm gonna take your advice.

I'm gonna leave town,

just as fast as I find out

who murdered Dave Prescott.

You're very quiet this evening, Jim.

I suppose I am.

I'm sorry.

Can I ask you something, Meg?

What?

You weren't in love with Dave, were you?

Why do you ask?

Were you?

No.

Not at the end.

Maybe for a long time after that too.

Maybe I never was.

Then why did you marry him?

We all have to make choices along the way, Jim.

At the time, it was between...

marrying Dave and...

going on being just a dance hall girl.

If I could have seen into the future,

if I could have just known that I was going to...

Going to...

Gonna what?

Meet you.

Get upstairs.

Where are you going?

Going into town.

No Jim, not after what happened last night.

Jim please take me away from here.

If anything should happen to happen to you, I...

You'd still have Thorne Whitman.

I forgot to tell you, he came by to see me yesterday

while you were in town.

What did he say?

He didn't say much of anything,

but he hinted a lot of things.

He's a liar. Is he?

Yes.

Oh, he hasn't let me alone

since he came back from the east

after his father died.

He knew me before I married Dave.

He knew what I'd been and...

never let me forget it.

He used it as an excuse to keep from marrying me.

What would the town think of Thorne Whitman

marrying a former dance hall girl

he used to see?

That's why I have got to get away, Jim.

As long as I stay here,

I'll always have a Thorne Whitman

or somebody to remind me of what I was.

Oh, Jim...

I meant what I said last night.

Give me a chance to prove it.

I could teach you to love me.

You know I could.

We'll have to talk about it later.

I've got to go to town.

JIM: I wanna return that to you Cather.

Don't try to deny that it came from this.

King David's probably the only rifle

within 500 miles from here

that can fire a slug that size.

Now, I wanna know what you're up to.

I know you didn't intend to kill me.

If I did you'd be dead.

Did you really think you could scare me out of town?

Well, I figured it would be worth a try. Why? Because of money?

Because of that badge? No.

You're no saint,

but it's gonna take more than money

to turn you into an errand boy for a man like Judd Sellers.

Now, I wanna know what you're up to and I want the truth.

Mr. Hardie, why don't you just get on your horse go home... Answer my question!

All right. All right.

I will. You just simmer down now.

For one thing, I'm trying to keep you

from going up against Von Becker there

and maybe getting yourself killed.

That's one reason. Now, give me another one.

No.

Well...

Because I'm trying to do the same thing as you,

find out who killed Dave Prescott,

because I knew Prescott.

When? Where?

Well, close to 15 years ago it is now,

before he turned lawman, before he got married,

before even you knew him maybe.

He was up in the Monastery Mountains.

That's right, he was up there

quite a few years ago.

Yeah, well, I was up there working a claim too,

and I did middling well,

got close to $1,500 in gold,

and mind you, I was on my way

to Abbott City when my horse shied.

That's something I don't know what it was, and through me

and I rolled down couple of hundred yards

to the bottom of the canyon,

and I laid there crushed, mind you Hardie,

crushed my head and my...

And my right leg, and my ribs...

You should have seen them ribs, now.

Go ahead with your story.

Oh, yeah. Well, anyways,

I laid there for two days

and then Dave Prescott come along and he found me.

You get this, I was a total stranger to that man.

He could have taken my gold,

left me there to die,

and nobody would be the wiser

but you know something, he didn't.

He took me to his cabin, he looked after me

till I got back on my feet.

And when I offered to share my poke with him?

He looked like I'd out-and-out insulted him.

You know something, that is the only time

I ever saw that man,

but I never forgot him.

And when I learned that he had been bushwhacked here...

You came in here and took his job.

Figuring that if I could get close to Judd Sellers,

I could get the names of the killers.

But you haven't got that close yet, huh?

Well, Sellers said he didn't have

anything to do with the killing. I don't know,

maybe he didn't.

I don't think he's got the nerve to shoot anybody

and even in the back.

That doesn't keep him from hiring somebody to do it though.

Oh no, not Von Becker. I didn't say Von Becker.

He's still too proud of the fact that he's a gunfighter

to shoot anybody in the back. But he'll come to tell,

I just don't think he's arrived to that point, you know.

No, he's a long way from there Mr. Hardie,

but if you stay here in Warburg,

Sellers is gonna sent him after you,

so I'd be much obliged,

I beg to please let me handle this my own way.

Doesn't Wells Fargo need you in San Francisco,

or Denver, or Salt Lake City? No.

Now why is Sellers so interested in getting rid of me?

He must know I don't have any proof

connecting to him to the murder of Dave,

and if he didn't have anything to do with it,

what possible difference could it make

whether I left or stayed?

Beats me.

Maybe we can find out. How?

I want you take a message over to him.

You go over there and you tell him...

Tell him I'm leaving here the first thing in the morning.

Don't let anybody else hear you.

Tell him I'm going to Denver

and Meg Prescott's going with me.

We're gonna be married up there.

Well, now why would Sellers care about that?

Well, it'd be surprising to learn

what he cares about and what he doesn't.

You go and tell him.

Married?

How did he take the news?

For a man who's been so itchy to have you leave

didn't seem too happy to hear you was going.

Especially when I told him

Mrs. Prescott was leaving with you.

Get a load of this.

I want you to do one more thing for me.

Yeah. Get over to telegraph office

and get this message off right away.

Manager of Palace Hotel Wickville...

Mr. Hardie,

old King David and I would like to know just one thing.

What are you up to?

There's no time to tell you right now.

I'll tell you a little later.

Come in.

Get Hardie.

Come in.

Oh...

Good evening, ma'am.

What do you want?

Well, I come here to see Jim Hardie.

Oh, he's out in the bunkhouse.

Oh, right.

Sorry, right after Cather, you got it?

Oh, yeah, I got the answer right here.

Here it is.

Something wrong, Jim?

I'm not sure yet.

Let's go. Yeah.

Hardie?

Hey,

you go on inside now Von.

Go on.

Now, looky here.

I'm the law here...

Let me take care of this.

Get on back out of the way.

JIM: We've got no quarrel, Becker.

All I want is the man that killed Dave Prescott.

I wouldn't know anything about that.

He hired your gun.

I work for Judd Sellers.

And he worked for Thorne Whitman.

That's his business.

Lucky for you, I happened to see him up there.

Dead.

Oh, no.

I aimed for his left shoulder

and that's where I got him, you see.

He broke his neck when he fell.

You didn't kill him.

Oh, well,

that makes me feel somewhat better.

Because like I said, Mr. Hardie,

I never killed a man.

I know.

I owed him money. I had to do what he asked.

But I didn't know he killed Prescott.

All I know is he wanted you out of town

because he didn't like you hanging around Meg Prescott.

I knew you wouldn't leave without me.

Be ready in a minute.

I'm afraid it's not quite that simple, Meg.

You told me that Thorne Whitman

was in Palace Hotel at Wickville

when Dave was killed.

According to the telegram I got,

he wasn't, and you knew it.

I don't know what you mean.

You also knew that he was responsible

for having Dave killed. No.

You knew because you tried to make him believe

you were in love with him just like

you're trying to make me believe it now.

This is different, Jim. I swear it.

I never encouraged Thorne.

In the beginning perhaps maybe you didn't

encourage him, but certainly at the end

he didn't have to run very far

or fast to catch you.

Don't talk like that, Jim.

Even when I was married to Dave

it was always you.

Oh, please, Jim, I can't stay in this town.

Running away is not going to solve anything either,

because wherever you go you're gonna have

to live with yourself.

I'm sorry.

Goodbye, Meg.

Do you mind if I ride along with you a spell?

Well, I'm headed north.

One direction is good as another.

Yeah.