 You hired me to keep a mob from lynching a man. Now you want me to hand them over. Just which side of that badge are you going to stand behind, Sheriff? Gun. Will Travel. Starring Mr. John Daener as Paladin. San Francisco, 1875. The Carlton Hotel. Headquarters of a man called Paladin. This is excellent, Sherry, hey boy. My compliments to the management. Oh, if I tell them about compliments later, Mr. Paladin, they ask me to give you a bill. It's a good idea not to tell them compliments to remind them you were wrong. Take this back to them. Tell them it'll be settled in a week's time. Oh, they'd be very happy. Then bring me some more Sherry. After that you better run up and pack my clothes. You going away again? To a place called Arcadia and to a man named Grayson. Oh, what for? It depends on Mr. Grayson. He happens to be a sheriff when he happens to have a prisoner. Everyone wants to lynch. Do you know you're coming? Not yet, but send him a wire. He's our have gone wheel travel? Correct. Arcadia was an ugly town set in an ugly notch between two ugly mountains. Not the kind of place a man wants to meet when he's too tired to understand anger and too weary to care about deceit. The greeting committee was a weather-boned woman flanked by a pair of burly men. I walked to where they stood, blocking the boardwalk. You got business in town, Mr.? Yes. Who was? The sheriff. About the Briggs murder? Yes. What's your name, Mr.? Paladin. Get on your horse, Paladin, and keep going. We don't need outside help. Tim Briggs is my son. I'm sorry, Mr. Briggs. Not Mrs. Briggs. It's Wither Briggs. No husband, no son. Just Wither Briggs. Good day, ma'am. Excuse me. Barry? You and Boke go back to the ranch. Get Tom here. Tell him the sheriff's tired of guns. Reach up. Sheriff Grayson. My name is Paladin. Oh. Come in, Paladin. Sorry about that gun in the belly. It's just that I got to be a mite careful about who walks in here. Not bad? Not yet. But it can be. They want to hang my prisoner without a trial. I'm glad to see you, Paladin. I guess I don't have to tell you that, but... I suppose I ought to tell you it'll be just the two of us. I can't get any more help. Have they tried anything yet? Just talked so far. But they know the judge will be in from Placer Wednesday. Gage will do more than just talk before he gets in. Excuse me, Papa. My daughter Julia, Miss Paladin. How do you do, Miss Grayson? How do you do? Can I take these cookies to him, Papa? Sure. Come along, Miss Paladin. You can have a look at our prisoner. Mr. Grayson? Hello, Julia. Hello, Andy. I don't send these cookies, Andy. Andy. Julia. Last night, I heard an owl. Did it keep you awake? I pretended it was you calling to me that it was time for us to go in a picnic. Out to the old barn? Yeah, Andy. Try one of these cookies. I pretended it was you calling. Andy. Andy. All right, Julia. Paladin, let's go out front. How long has he been like that? Since he was a child. He followed Julia around like a puppy, as for years. A man like that can't be held responsible for his acts. Try to tell that to the wit of Briggs. They found Andy in the old Smith barn near the body. Jim had been stabbed between the shoulder blades with a stake or a spike or something like that. Nobody ever did find out what it was. They say a person like Andy probably didn't know he'd done it. Just sat there. You know, judging isn't my job. Keeping a mob back is. It'd be easier to do if we could establish some reasonable doubt about his guilt. Is there anything in that barn, any murder weapon? Nothing, Miss Paladin. There's a murder weapon somewhere. Our job is to find it. There's always something. Something to kill wit, something to hate over. Something to be sad, something to be explained. Something to be done. But then again, there's always the exception. The one chance that there's nothing. Huh? Let go of it. Down the street. Widow Briggs. Get in the other room, Julia. Don't let him have him. She'd have brought more men if she wanted to force a showdown now. I hope you're right, Mr. Paladin. The one riding in Calico. Who's he? Tom Chisholm. He was a friend, Jim Briggs. Now, he might be trouble. I'll handle it, Sheriff. It's my job. Just stay on the side, Grayson. Hello, Mr. Briggs? Mr. Briggs? His name's Paladin. You're tall and loose, Mr. Paladin. Your guns are tied low. Well, you seem to tell a cut in a notch on you. You want to try, Mr. Chisholm? Just might be I could beat you. Great, Tom. It's a dainty time for that. We've got to even things for my son, Jim. For your friend. His man's thinking to stop it. No, he ain't. He's got me sent. Tell Neil Grayson he's turning Andy over to us, Paladin. He stays here until he gets a fair trial. Now, Grayson will give the boy a fair trial. You hang him. I ain't here to argue points with you. You're an outsider. The town don't like gunslingers moving in and we're taking matters into our own hands. The men are coming back with me at three o'clock. We want Andy then. I hope you ain't got the good sense, Mrs. Briggs, thinks you've got. I'd like to cut a notch on a county youth. Three o'clock. Shock. Come on, Tom. It just won't rest until she sees Andy hanging from a tree. Paladin, maybe I got you into something bigger than we can both handle. We've got two hours, Mr. Grayson. Well, it can be done in two hours. I don't know. But there has to be some explanation. A man in there can't explain it. He has a child's mind. Man? Even a man like Andy doesn't kill someone and then hide the weapon he used without hiding the body or trying to get away. There's no way of knowing how Andy's mind would work. Besides, where the Briggs and the others wouldn't listen to words. No. No, it has to be something they can see. I'm going out to that barn. I want to go, too. I want to help. Ah, Julia. Papa Andy's my friend. I may be the only friend he's ever had. Mr. Grayson, what? I think it's a good idea. Julia. Yes? Julia, why would Jim Briggs come up here? Why not? He might have come up here with somebody. He was quite the bold rumble. Woman? Yeah. A jealous woman might have killed him. Yes. Yes, he had a lot of friends. But he was true to none of them. Well, any of a dozen people could have killed him. Like who? Oh. There was Bessie Carraday in the Baltimore house. Bessie doesn't let many men run roughshod on her. And there's Jill Prentice. She taught school last year. And then there's a marty dealer. Jim had a terrible fight with a few months ago. She pulled a knife on a man. And then there's Jim's own mother. She used to get jealous of any women Jim had got serious about. And then... And then... And then there was you. What? Were you a friend of his? Well, Mr. Paladin, I... Were you? Yes. Is that Saddle Spike over there on the wall? The weapon that killed Jim Briggs? Yes. Mr. Paladin... And he didn't do it. Oh. I am the one who killed him. How? I pushed him against it. I didn't mean to. It was an accident. Go on. I met Jim here. It was the first time. He was used to having his way. He took it for granted. He tried to kiss me and I pushed him and... You ran away? Yes. He died without knowing that Andy was somewhere around. Yes, I couldn't tell Papa. He'd never believed that that was the first time that I met Jim here. It would have destroyed him. Man's life depends on you, Julian. Julian, you'll have to tell your father. I know. He rode back to Arcadia without speaking anymore. There wasn't anymore to be said. But there was a lot more to be done. The man's life had to be saved. And another man's life had to be ruined. Julian? What is it? Paladin? Julia has something to tell you, Mr. Grayson. What is it, Julian? What I have to tell you is... I killed Jim Briggs. No. I did, Papa. I did. You tell him, Mr. Paladin. Stay where you are, Paladin. I'll kill you. Put the gun away, Grayson. Andy's a clawed, a vegetable. What's he got to live for? Andy didn't kill him. Stay back. I've got to protect my daughter. Nothing will happen to Julia with an accident. No one will blame her. Papa, Papa. Get some things together, Julia. Sorry, Mr. Grayson. Please, Paladin. She's my daughter. Stay with him, Julian. Paladin. Mrs. Briggs. Chisholm, listen to me. There's no need for this sort of thing. We can talk. We've done all our talking, Paladin. Don't try it. I've got five more bullets for five more men. That's the way it has to be. Is one of those bullets for me, Mr. Paladin? Mrs. Briggs, time you knew. I killed your son. Julia and Andy almost ready, Mr. Grayson? Almost. The stage is leaving pretty soon. So many years thinking I was a man of principle, upholding the law, and then I find myself acting like a criminal, or a human being, or just a father. No. No, not where my job is concerned. You're only a man, Grayson. Not a monument. The best man is only that way because he's a human being. Maybe. I'm going to give up his badge just to sing. No. That would accomplish nothing. That must be a bad excuse for a father. If he couldn't even trust me to come to me, tell me what she'd done. So that's what's bothering you. Perhaps it'd be best if you knew the truth. Come on. What I'm doing, you just watch. Yes, Andy, you'll like it. There'll be nice people to take care of you and things to do. Now watch. Ready, Julia? Oh, yes. All ready. Come along, Andy. Oh, never mind. If you come on with me... Let me go! Let me go! You, come with me. Let her go! It's all right now, Andy. Yes. You knew. Yes, I knew, Julia. Take him outside. Come on, Andy. Andy killed Jim Briggs after all. Of course. How did you know? Well, it didn't make sense to me that Julia hadn't confessed immediately. Not of it was really an accident caused by Briggs forcing his attentions on her. Then Briggs was slammed against a saddle hook higher than my shoulder. Julia couldn't have done that. It had to be someone with strength enough to lift him. Andy saw her struggling with Briggs and moved into protector. Don't ask her about it. She wants it this way. All right. I can't let Andy go free. That hospital can take better care of him than any jail in a lynch mob. Yeah, I guess so. Mr. Grayson, you keep right on wearing that bench. You've done a good job with this town and for your daughter. Oh, Mr. Palady, I don't see you come in and already you're going out. Where to? How come? I got back from Arcadia an hour ago. Oh, you have dinner? Now at the warp. But now at After Dark, where you go? Opera, dancing, driving in part? For a walk. A walk? In dark? Why not? Alone? Why not? Well, you are pretty lonely out there. Foggy damn fog around. Pretty spooky, I think. Hey, boy, have you ever walked around San Francisco after dark? Oh, I don't know. You could try it sometimes. San Francisco is a wonderful city. Filled with excitement and adventure. This is just the sort of night to find it. Do you feel good? I feel fine. And so, good night. Good night, Mr. Palady. You're back. Nice man like me, Mr. Palady. Hey, goodbye. Have Gun will travel. Created by Herb Meadow and Sam Rolfe, he is produced and directed by Norman McDonnell and stars John Daener as Paladin, with Ben Wright as Hayboy. Tonight's story was written by John Mubow and adapted for radio by John Dawson. Featured in the cast were Lynn Allen, Harry Bartell, Virginia Gregg, Barney Phillips and Richard Perkins. Cute Douglas speaking. Join us again next week for Have Gun will travel. Here's a tale of two trigger-happy suitors with hair-trigger tempers on Gunsmoke. Next on the CDS Radio Network.