 In a moment, you'll hear James Stewart as the six-shooter, just one of the many fine programs brought to you Sundays on NBC. Later this evening, listen to the NBC Star Playhouse with one of your favorite stars. Here, meet the press, America's number one newsmaking program. And be sure to keep tuned for the dramatic story of communism in America on Last Man Out. It's a wonderful lineup of great programs, all of them heard only on NBC. James Stewart as the six-shooter. The man in the saddle is angular and long-legged. His skin is sun-died brown. The gun in his holster is grey steel and rainbow mother of pearl. It's handle unmarked. People call them both the six-shooter. The NBC radio network presents James Stewart as the six-shooter. A transcribed series of radio dramas based on the life of Britt Ponsett. The Texas Plainsmen who wandered through the western territories, leaving behind a trail of still-remembered legends. The post office at Yellow Crest was in Jim Pentcher's general store. It was just a piece of planking and some wooden cubby holes over the one side between the soda cracker barrel and the jug of the apple cider. And when the store was crowded, you couldn't expect to get much mail, sir, but you couldn't blame Jim for that. Just like he said, he made his profit on selling groceries and staples, and the post office was just sort of a convenience for the folks in town. Well, anyway, I'd been out on the range about three, four months, so I thought maybe a letter might be turned another. Not that I was expecting to hear from anybody in particular, but oh, well, it was about my time to get some mail. I usually receive about three letters a year, oh, four, maybe some years, but that's not counting the catalogs either, that's just a letter. Nope, I'm sorry, Britt, it just ain't good a thing for you. Well, I thought I might as well make sure while I was in town. Sure, sure, I'm real glad you dropped by. How are things with the foster outfit? First right, Jim, first right. Well, maybe by the time the roundup's over, I'll have some mail for you. Deliveries are usually a little heavier then. Why, one day last September, I got in six letters. No. It's the truth, so help me. Six letters, and it was all for the people right here in Yellow Crest. Oh, treat yourself to some of them conquered grapes there, Britt. They're real sweet and juicy. Oh, oh, thanks, yeah, much obliged. Well, like... I'm sure they're good. Yeah, they're the best I've seen in a long time. Oh, well, it is your fiction preserves. That's why my wife's always... Well, she's already on about... The woman who'd just come in was tall, kind of gray-haired, with deep frown wrinkles in her forehead and big blue saucer eyes. They had black circles all around her. She didn't look my way. As a matter of fact, she didn't seem to be looking anywhere. She just stared straight ahead and... resting the palms of her hands against the mail counter. I'd like my mail, please. No mail. You sure? No mail, I said. Well, there must be something by now. Maybe you didn't look... Say, Britt, I show you the new supply of holsters I got in. Come on over here, where you can get a good look at them. Not that they're fancy enough for that revolver of yours, but they're sure pretty. Good quality, too, they... All right, just... Just what's going on here, Jim? Well, that lady was in here. You treated her like she had the plague or something. You mean you didn't recognize her, Britt? No. No, I guess there's a dead. Helen Bricker. Strad Bricker's girl. Helen Bricker? Well, that's not her. Guess we ought to be calling her Mrs. Billy Stark, right? Yeah. Well, excuse me, Jim. I want to see if I can catch up with her. Thanks for the great... Now, wait a minute, Britt. The poach and yellowgrass don't like the idea. Hold up a second here. Hey, what is... What's the matter with you, Helen? You getting stuck up or something? Stuck up? Well, you remember me, don't you? Sure. I remember you, Britt. Well, but back there in the store, you didn't so much as give me a nod. I didn't hear you falling all over yourself with good mornings, either. Uh-huh. Well, I... To tell you the truth, Helen, I just didn't recognize you. It's not right or bad. Not that you've changed very much or anything, but, well, you... It's been quite a spell. Your mouth is the wrong shape of a lion, Britt. You couldn't fool a horse fly. Well, I... I don't know what you mean, Helen. So I haven't changed, have I? Gray hairs, wrinkles so deep you can feel the bones behind them. Well, maybe your hair is sort of lightened up here and there, but that doesn't... Britt, I'm an old woman. I was 27 last April, but I'm an old woman. Oh, no, Helen. Now, here's my buck board. Goodbye, Britt. Thanks for speaking to me. Thanks for speaking to... What the Sam Hill you mean, Helen? Haven't you heard? The good citizens of Yellowcrest don't waste their words on Billy Stark's wife. They're not going to like the idea of you walking down the street with me, neither. Oh, now you're doing a little exaggerating, Helen. Am I? Well... Well, where are you living now? Cabin out the end of town by South Creek. One my father built when I was a girl, remember? Oh, sure, sure. By the way, how is Strad? I don't know. I haven't seen him since I come to Yellowcrest last month. Oh? He sent word I could have the cabin. Nobody's living there anyhow. But I wasn't to come near our house or try to get in touch with him. Not for as long as I live. Get a chair, dude. Well, the scene is almost noon. I thought I might as well wander over the hotel and have some dinner. I was just passing Sheriff Ritter's office when I got the dog gone. There's pain in the right foot. Wow. Gee. For a minute, I thought I'd broken something. Every time I put my weight down on it, it was just like somebody was driving a spike up in it. Oh. Oh, for Pete's sake, I didn't think of that before. It was a spike. Yeah. That's what was poking up through my heel. It was a spike. What's the matter, Britt? Huh? Oh. Oh, but I reckon my boot needs a little repair. Better take it over to Seth Jenkins. He'll take care of it. Yeah, I guess I had. Hey. Hey, where'd that star on your chest come from? Are you taking over for Sheriff Ritter or something? Is that Britt? Yes, sir. He's gone over to Salt Center for a few days, visiting some relatives from back east. Left me his deputy while he's gone. Nice. Nice bumping into you. Yeah. Oh, say, Britt. Yeah. Wasn't you just talking to Helen Bricker over by the general store? Oh, yeah. That's right. Uh, Britt, we'd appreciate it if you didn't act too friendly towards her. Oh? She shouldn't have come back here in the first place. She must have known how the town feel about it. Mm-hmm. Because of her being married tomorrow. Sure, Britt. You don't blame us, do you? Well, I don't. Oh, I know she was young when she run off with him, and he hadn't turned into an out-and-out killer yet, but she didn't have to stick with him, did she? Well, even after he robbed the bank right here in her own hometown and killed Dave Fletcher, she still didn't make a move towards leaving him. At least ways they was together when the Marshal captured him a couple of months later. Mm-hmm. Well, I did hear about Star being arrested, but I didn't get too many of the details, I don't think. Yeah. It was over at Junction City. They had been living there on and off, using another name, of course, and pretending to be real respectable. That's all. Yeah, but somebody tipped off Marshal Shaw, one of Billy's own boys, probably, and the Marshal took him without firing a shot. He's up at Fort Brian now, and if you ask me, she ought to be there, too, waiting to be hung right along with him. Well, when's the hanging supposed to take place? This week sometime. The day ain't certain. At least ways we ain't had word from Fort Brian yet. I see. Doggone it. Dave Fletcher was a fine man. Why, if it hadn't been for him and his bank, like, it's not to any of you town here. Yeah, yeah, that's true enough. Every time I see Helen riding around with her head up in the air, it just calls me. Why, even her own father won't have nothing to do with her. A guy like that married to a fellow who's murdered 10, 12 men, maybe. Nobody knows how many for sure. And yet, she'd come back here as big as life as if she owned a place, not asking anybody's buy or leave. Well, Yala crests her hometown, you know. I guess she's got a right to stay here, which she wants to, and there's not much anybody can do about that. Maybe there ain't. Maybe there is. Uh-huh. Hey, what? Look at that. Oh, and the thunder's turning up all that dust. He sure must be in a hurry. Look at him. Yeah, look. Look, looks like Tim Slater. Well, if it is, he's just back from Fort Bryant. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's Tim all right. Hey, Tim! Tim, Tim, what's the news? They're stringing them up tonight, Buck. Officials. Well, what time? 11 o'clock. They were already testing the gallows on their left. Hmm, hmm, hmm. Well, there you are. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I... Guess I'd better see to having this boot fake, son. So long, Buck. Who put this heel on just did not know his trade. No reason why a nail should come through the inside if the heel's been put on proper. Who made the boot for you anyway, Brick? Well, let's see now. Let's come to think of it. Uh, I believe you did. Hmm. What? Well, didn't you? You know darn well I didn't. Do you think I can't recognize my own work? Well, I don't know. Why I never turned out a pair of boots like this even when I was apprenticed. Now, tell me the truth, where'd you get it? The general store over the white corner. I thought so. Yes, sir. I thought so. Mm-hmm. Ready made. That's what they are. Well, I could tell the second to seen them. Well, one of you got a nail in your foot. The idea. Britt Ponsack wearing ready made boots. Well, you know, sometimes very hard to find a good boot maker. Well, I'm here, ain't I? Been here over 15 years. All right, all right, Seth. The next pair I get, you can make them for me. How's that? I think people have learned better than to put their trust in machines. Here. See how this feels now. Mm-hmm. Nice. Now, oh, that looks like I got a hole in my side. Well, sure, that don't come as any surprise to me. Never run into a cowboy cat who didn't have a hole in his docking. Go on, stand on it. All right. Jump up and down. What do you mean? Go ahead, jump up and down. Don't feel a thing, do you? No, no, thank you. Took a human being to get that heel on right and not no machine. You're right. You're right, Seth. You're right. All right. Oh, that's fine. What do I owe you? Yeah. I ought to charge you double for having to work on ready made. But since you give me your word, you'll order your next pair for me. I'll stick to my regular prices. Ten cents. Oh, more than worth it. Here you are. Thank you. Yeah. Gonna be quite a douan tonight, I reckon. How's that? Tim Slater come by with the news just before you dropped in. You mean about Billy Stark? Yeah. We're meeting at Buck Thompson's house, but I don't suppose you'll want to get mixed up in it, Britt. Mixed up in what, Seth? Well, I run in that wife of Billy's out of town. You knew about it, didn't you? Tim said he's seen you talking to Buck. Yeah. I was talking to him all right. Well, didn't he tell you how we're gonna show Helen Bricker Helen Stark that she ain't exactly welcome to stay in Yellowcrest? No, I guess he didn't think I'd be understood. We'd been waiting until we were sure about that hanging. Figured we'd get rid of one Stark while the state's getting rid of the other one. Mm-hmm. Helen isn't gonna be very easy to convince. Burn that cabin where she's staying ought to do the trick. What? I reckon she won't have much choice after that. And seeing as how her own father won't let her live with him, I imagine she might have a little trouble finding somebody else to take her in. Yeah. Well, thanks for fixing my boots, Seth. Feel just like new. We'll return to James Stewart as the six-shooter in just a moment. There's an old expression that goes, don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today. And that's a very good expression to keep in mind now that income tax time is coming along. This year there are going to be approximately 58 million Americans who will be required to file federal income tax returns with the Bureau of Internal Revenue. First of all, there may be some doubt in your mind as to whether you file an income tax return or not. Well, here are the people who should file with the income tax bureaus. Everyone, regardless of age who had an income of $600 or more during the past year, is required by law to file an income tax return before March the 15th. Here are a couple of points that may help you. Be sure your return is complete and accurate, and be sure you sign it. If it's a joint return, be sure the taxpayer and his wife both sign their names. And most important of all, be sure to file your income tax return early. If you're entitled to a refund, you'll receive it a lot sooner if you file early. Remember, don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today, especially you taxpayers. Now, act two of the six-shooter, starring James Stewart as British. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon when I got out to Strad Bricker's house. It's a big, comfortable two-story place on Second Street. Green shutters. Front porch painted kind of gray shade. The two white cast-iron deer stand on the front lawn, one a little smaller than the other. Yes? Oh, hello, Brick. Oh, Strad? Yeah, that's right. Yes? Oh, hello, Brick. Oh, Strad? Yeah, mind if I come in? No, no, of course not. Strad was a big man. A couple inches over six feet, must've weighed oh, two-thirty, I suppose. None of it was fat either. Hair was white, white as snow, and a thick brush mustache and fell down over his upper lip. He didn't look old, though, not for years. Not unless you happen to get a glimpse of his eyes. And they were sort of dull and faded. They didn't jump all around the room the way they did the last time I saw him. I heard you were in Yellow Crest, Britt. Jim Pinscher was telling me down the store. Yeah, I stopped by to see if there's any mail. Sit down. Thanks. You're looking well, Strad. Real well. I stay about the same. What can I do for you, Britt? I ran into Helen this morning. She sure has changed a lot, hasn't she, Strad? Not so. You haven't seen her yourself? No. Uh-huh. It seems kind of funny you both live in the same town. Britt, if you come to try and fix things up between us, you're wasting your time. Oh, no, no, no. It's none of my business. I know that. I told her he was no good before she married him, I told her. But she knew more than anybody else. She wouldn't listen to me. Well, I guess sometimes it's pretty hard to see a person's fault when you're in love with them. That ain't my concern. That must be pretty hard on Helen. Everybody blaming her for what her husband did, not even willing to give her the time of day when they meet her on the street. If she don't like it, she's free to leave. No, she wasn't complaining, Strad. I don't think I ever heard a bricker complain my whole life. She ain't a bricker. She's Billy Stark's wife. Well, anyway, about her leaving town, it may be that she won't have much choice about the matter. Billy Stark's being hung at 11 o'clock tonight, and some of the boys are planning to burn Helen out at the same time. They already told me about it, Britt. They told you. What do you mean? You're not going to try and stop them? That cabin on South Creek, Inkley, we're worrying about. Well, Helen isn't worth worrying about either, huh? Is that it? There probably won't be any violence. There is. It's the Sheriff's job to prevent it. Oh, now, Sheriff Ritter's out of town. You know that. He was here. He wouldn't let those fellas get near that cabin. He's left a deputy. Buck Thompson's one of the gang that's fixing to do the burnin'. She don't belong to Yellow Crest. This ain't her home, not anymore. Better go someplace else. If she needs money, all she has to do is send word to me. Well, she'd never take money from you, Strad. Then let her say she was wrong. Let her come to me and say she's sorry she ever laid eyes on Billy Stark. Let her ask me to forgive her. Maybe then I'll care what happens to her. Maybe then I'll care. You're wasting your time, Britt. No matter what anybody says, no matter what they try to do, I'm not leaving in the Crest. With Sheriff Ritter away, there's no law man here to protect you, Helen. I can protect myself. It's after 10, Britt. You better get out before they come. Well, all right. Britt. Hi. Don't worry about me. I'll be all right. I got a Winchester rifle and I know how to use it. Oh, hello, Helen. I'll kill the first person who comes near this cabin. I mean it, Britt. Oh, you couldn't kill anybody. Couldn't I? I'm Billy Stark's wife, remember? I remember. Sure, I remember. And there's a chance Yellow Crest might forget it someday, but if there's any gunplay here tonight, they never will. I don't expect him to forget. I'm married, Billy. Nobody forced me to. And I don't expect no favors now. Well... All right, good night. Ah, it looks like they're bringing torches. I've told you to leave before they got here. You just let that rifle stay where it is, Helen. You can get out the back way and I'll stall them off. I never thought I'd hear Britt Ponson advise nobody to run from the fight. You never saw me walk right into one, did you? Mr. Stratbreaker! They chose you're no bricker anymore! I'm so set and staying inside here, now you stay! You've got one more minute! I don't want you taking my part, Britt! That's those crazy fools out there. I'm worried about not you. You better be careful about how you hold that torch, Jim. What's the matter? You're afraid he'll set something on fire? Come on, Britt! I got a horse stable in this town. And he concerns me. A horse? What are you talking about? You got a local brick? You start a fire here tonight and like us, don't you burn down the whole town. He's locked us in this way. It can change anytime. Sometimes it changes real fast with a quick blow-up like this. Yeah! I was concerned about my horse, Buck. I wouldn't want anything to happen to my horse because of you. You threatened me. Now, now, now, hold on a minute, Buck. We don't want no serious trouble out here. And I'll just take it easy. Both of it. Look here, I'm the deputy sheriff, Britt. You pull a gun on me and I'll throw you and Jay. It's not against the law to carry a rifle, is it? I'd feel better if you put it down. Drop it. Look, we're not here, boys. Britt, I mean business. Hey, wait, wait, wait, wait. You feel that wind now? Yeah. Yeah, it's changing. It's swinging around. It'll be coming from the south. Yeah, well, not. You're imagining things. Imagination, nothing. Get them torches buried, boys. Now, wait a minute. Down the hill from here. Well, Buck, you still want me to drop the rifle? You just remember one thing, Britt. There'll be other nights when there ain't no wind. I reckon there will, Buck. I reckon there will. I'll have to get this wind to fix talent and new paint and glass and some putty. That's about all you'll need. It don't matter, Britt. Fixing it's probably a waste of time anyhow. Oh? I heard what Buck said. About there being other nights. He is right. Oh, I don't know. You can get folks all worked up about something once, maybe, but they usually come around to their senses before they go off half-cocked again. Besides, when Sheriff Ritter gets back to town, he'll keep things under control. The hands of the clock had touched eleven. Eleven o'clock meant that Billy started, well, that's the time they'd set. I didn't know what Helen would do, how she'd take it, but I sure didn't expect her to get a kind of a relaxed expression on her face, why she looked almost like she was relieved to know that it was over. Ten years I was married to Billy. Ten years is a long time, Britt. Yeah, yeah. Well, why, why'd you stick it out, Helen? You couldn't have gone on loving him after you found out what he was after he turned out long. Love him? Every minute of the day, every day of the year, I hated Billy Stark. Well, if you felt that way... I made a bargain. Of my own free will. Oh, he was wild when I married him, but I thought he'd settle down. Lots of young fellas as wild, Britt. Yeah? Dad told me I'd regret it. Said I'd be sorry all the rest of my life. Said it so often. Well, maybe that's one of the reasons I just went ahead. Just to spite him. And afterwards, when Billy became a killer, I just couldn't come crawling back and admit the dead had been right. I don't know why. I just couldn't. Uh-huh. Sides, I knew that someday they'd get Billy. Another outlaw'd come along. A marshal. I'd pick the wrong gunfight. It was bound to happen. Someday they'd get him even if I had... If you had to what? Nothing, Britt, nothing. Well, I'll be dog-gone. So you're the one that tipped them off, huh? It wasn't one of Billy's gang, it was you. I don't know what you mean. You said I wasn't much good at lying, Helen. Well, you're just no good at all. You're wrong, Britt. You're dead wrong. I am, huh? I'll admit it to you. I was the one. But you gotta promise me you won't tell nobody. You're afraid of Billy's friends, aren't you? Friends? Billy didn't have any. Then why don't you want folks to find out what you did? They'd change their whole attitude towards you. Your father thinking of him while you'd feel entirely different. It's my life, Britt. It don't concern nobody else. Not even Dad. That's the way I was brought up. That's the way Strad Bricker brought me up. And I'm his daughter. I'm Helen Bricker. Yeah? Yeah, I guess you are. Well, I haven't been back to Yellowcrest not for, oh, five, six months. So I don't know whether Helen is still living out in that cabin still holding to herself or whether the folks have kind of softened her by now. Of course, it's possible that somebody told him about her and Billy, about what she did to have him captured and so on. But I haven't mentioned it. But it's pretty hard to keep a secret like that. Anyway, like I said, I don't know what's happened to Helen Bricker. Not for sure. The Sick Shooter is a transcribed NBC Radio Network production in association with Review Productions. It is based on a character created by Frank Burke and is written by him. Mr. Stewart may soon be seen in the Universal International Picture, the Glenn Miller story. Others in the cast were Lillian Baef, Ken Christie, Herb Bygren, Parley Baer, and Will Wright. Special music for this program was by Basil Adlam and the entire production is under the direction of Jack Johnstone. All characters and incidents were fictitious and any resemblance to actual characters or incidents is purely coincidental. John Wall speaking. Here's Sunday at home on the NBC Radio Network.