 Laramie, starring Raymond Burr as Captain Lee Quince, specially transcribed tales of the dark and tragic ground of the wild frontier, the saga of fighting men who rode the rim of empire, and the dramatic story of Lee Quince, Captain of Cavalry. Looks like the freight's at the far end of the train, Gorse. I expect it is, Captain, because I took care to see the wagons was up front here to make the loadin' easy. Well, see, they're moved to the back. Yes, sir. You got the list, Captain? Yeah. Two men unloadin' ought to be enough. Nothing real heavy. Here you are. Rifles, car beams, revolvers, sabers. What says infantry equipment's here? Well, you don't suppose they tucked in a few howitzers. We only brought the two wagons. And then we can't haul back, we'll leave. Let Ordnance do its own work. Rest of it looks like ours. Bridles, haulers and straps, saddles, nose bags. I'll see to the unloadin', Captain. Right, Gorse. Yes? Fort Laramie? That's right. I'm glad to hear that. I'm station master here. You better come into my office and get this business cleared up. Well, the sergeant's got the billin' on the army equipment we're unloadin'. Now, that's not what I'm talkin' about. Now, you're here. I just want you to get him out of my station. I ain't runnin' a guardhouse, you know. I'd give a little to know what you are talkin' about, mister. Them two soldiers chained together in there in a guard with them. They say they're bound for Fort Laramie. Private Medford and Private Stringer, is that right? That's right, sir. The little one's Stringer, he doesn't say much. Paul Blahn, when he's Medford. And your Corporal Benjamin? Yes, sir. Well, their orders say Fort Laramie, clear enough. You got orders, Corporal? Yes, sir. Fort Bridger, sir, from Fort Leavenworth. Transfer, sir. I was to escort Medford and Stringer this far, sir, and contact Fort Laramie to secure him from here. Well, you made contact, Corporal. We'll take over. I don't understand, sir. Fort Laramie's 40 miles from here. I only telegraphed 10 minutes ago, sir. He had a good wind behind us on the way down. Big your pardon, sir. We came to pick up a consignment of equipment left Fort Laramie yesterday. Oh, well, then, would you sit about the wind behind you? It's a bald-faced lie, Corporal. Yes, sir. The captain displays a fine touch of humor. He mustn't encourage me, Corporal. Now, you better arrange for your transportation to Fort Bridger. Good luck. Thank you, sir. Good luck to you, sir. Right on your feet, Private Stringer. Yeah? How's that? That's me. Stringer. You stationed at Fort Leavenworth? I was took there. They gave me this uniform, this tall one next to me, and they put me on the railroad. You're a recruit, then? If that means that I join up with my own free will, no. You've been in the Army before? Mostly, I've been in jail. Don't it say on them papers about me? If it did, I wouldn't be asking. I've been in the Army six days. I heard talk you could make the arrangement on account of enlistments being slow. I could get out of jail if I signed I'd join an Army. Stand up straight. Now, you get this, Stringer. There's not the time to tell you how much learning you got ahead of you. But you learn starting now, understand? Yeah? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. All right. I guess we can take those chains off now. Is there any reason you ain't asking questions of me, sir? I don't have to, Medford. It says about you in your papers. Well, maybe it don't say it all in them papers, Captain. It says enough there. You ride back to Fort Laramaine, the wagons with the equipment. We don't have horses for you. We ride free of these chains, Captain? Free of the chains. A man alone might jump off of one of them wagons. Might. But that ain't your worry, sir. That's your worry, Medford. Jumping the wagon is desertion. If you walk away, you'll be caught. If you run, you'll be shot. All right, Sergeant, dismiss him. Yes, sir. Latude? Yes, miss? Captain? Yes, Sergeant? I'll see the wagons is unloaded. Then pick what men you need, then take the wagons to the wheelwright. Tell him if he can't fix them proper to burn them. Right, Captain. About the new men. What about them? Are they assigned to be company, sir? They're not assigned anywhere yet, Gorse. We could sure use them, Captain. Starting right now with the unloading of the equipment. They'll have to be assigned first. Well, that'll take most of the rest of the day, Captain. There ain't more than an hour's work. Get someone else to do it, Gorse. Yes, sir. There's a reason, Captain. You don't want Stringer and Medford to help. Yeah. Reasons like you'll be unloading rifles and carbines and 50,000 rounds of ammunition. I guess when you want to tell me the rest of that story, you will. It'll be a right time, Gorse. Yes, sir. All right, you two, fall in behind me. You'll report the headquarters company for assignment. All right, if I ask a question, Mr. Captain. What is it? Well, now, I'm brand new to this life, I told you that. I don't even know where this headquarters company's at and all like that. I'll see you get there, Stringer. Any more questions? I got one, sir. Well, Medford? When do the outfitters proper? Proper, Medford? I mean, I got this brand new blue uniform. When they're going to give me... When they're going to give me my rifle and side arms. When you're assigned? They mean I should have them firearms in. Just like anyone else. Just like anyone else, Medford. Captain Quence. Yes, Lieutenant? Are these the transfer, sir? Mm-hmm. Private Stringer and Medford. The major sent me to see if they're assigned and quartered. He's anxious to see you, Captain. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Sammits. Corporal Benjamin's telegram wasn't quite clear, Captain. Something about respectfully urging that we pick up two prisoners from Fort Leavenworth. You get my telegram all right? Yeah, saying you were bringing two transfers from Fort Leavenworth. Now, which are they? Prisoners or transfers? A little of both, I guess. If Fort Laramie's to become a military prison, I'd like to hear it from someone other than a corporal. These men aren't prisoners any more, Major. For some reason, they sent him as far as Cheyenne under Corporal Benjamin's guard. You got their papers? They're at headquarters company, but I read them. Stringer, they let him out of a civilian jail if he'd promised he'd join the army. Oh, under that plan to make up for slow enlistments. I read about it when the order came through a couple of months ago. He decided to face that problem when it came up. It's come up, Major. Any idea what he was serving time for? Oh, he gave me the idea. He's made a career for himself, being in prison. I didn't ask about specific crimes. I know this. He's never been in the army. We can fix that part. The other one, he from prison, too? Yeah. Camp Butler first, then Camp Douglas. You're talking about military prisons, Captain? Union Army prisons for Confederate captives. Private Lacey Medford. He's our first galvanized janky, Major. Galvanized janky. Never heard that term. There's something to do with iron. When it's galvanized, it turns color. Men like Medford, they were captured in gray, sent west in blue. Well, like you say, Lee, this is a new problem for us. It might not be a problem. Oh, but it seems likely enough. Most of your men fought in the Union Army. That war is long over. Not in men's minds, Lee. For some men on both sides, it'll never be over. Major and B Company alone, we've got Irish and English, bunking side by side, same with Germans and French. If we can't put a Yankee in a rebel side by side, we've got more trouble than just Indians. I'm glad you don't consider it a problem. I said it might not be one. One it is, if it is, I'll treat it as a problem. Fair enough. Fair enough. The way you're talking, you've made up your mind to give me Stringer and Medford, huh? B Company's got fewer men than the rest. Any objections? No, not for me. You like challenges, don't you, Lee? You keep telling me I do. Well, I hope Medford won't be a problem. But if he is, I'll feel better knowing he's your problem. Thanks. What's your impression of him? Right off. Right off, I'd say he's awful anxious to get his own rifle and sidearms. Till I know better, I'm going to figure he's itching to get himself an Indian. I tell you, Stringer, these private riding lessons ain't going on forever. Well, I got an idea. I could ride just fine if I ever once got on the horse. Well, you're no young. And how you been getting around without learning the first thing about mountain? I ain't been getting around, Sergeant. There's been no call for it. Will you just sit where you come from? Sit or lay down. You don't know nothing about me? I mean before? Don't know and don't care. But you're sure looking more like infantry to me every minute. You mean that Captain ain't told you about me? Captain Quinn's got important things to think about. Yeah, he sure has. That Medford. I was Captain. I'd think about him a lot. Never mind about Medford. He can mount and ride and dismount with the best of them. He oughta. He was in the dirty yellow rebel cavalry. Stand a horse. You don't care about that? You want a stinking rebel in your army? Now you listen good to me, Stringer. I got a guardhouse with a fine view of the Laramie River down there. Any more talk out of you sending you right there? I feel a sight safer in the guardhouse. I ain't been a month out of jail since I was 10. Well, you just talked yourself right back in again, Stringer. All right. Fine. Can I talk free about Medford now? You got anything to say? You say it to me and nobody else. You understand? Well, you ain't thinking this is no secret. It's about him being a lousy rebel. Well, he tells everybody in earshot, you know, he's proud of it. Right. Proud. That's his business. You fought in that war, Sergeant. How can you stand the thought of him being one of you now? Maybe because I fought in that war, Stringer. What jail was you sitting it out in then? You think more of him than me? You're in for a lot of things you won't understand, Stringer. You can think him over in the guardhouse. I ain't gonna think nothing over. But here's something you can think over, Sergeant. That yellow rebel's got himself a lot of guns, all kinds of rifles, the pistols, and back again. Think it over. See if you rest easy on it. Medford's outside, Captain. You want I should send him in now? In a minute, Gors. How far is all this gone? Can you tell? It's all over. About him being in the Confederate cavalry. About how he was took prisoner, sent out here now. This thing about the guns, I hear that all through the quarters, too. You seen the guns? No, sir. I checked ordnance and stores. Everything's accounted for. Ammunition, rifles, carbines, revolvers. Well, he claims he brought them all in with him. The men say that. In a haversack and saddlebag? I'm just telling you what the men say, Captain. You said we was going out in a few days. You're figuring to take him along? That'll be up to him, Gors. Yes, sir. You can send him in now. Right, Captain. Medford, Captain Quince will see you now. Sit down, Medford. I prefer to stand, sir. Sit down. You've got any complaints on your treatment here. I want to hear about them now. I've got a complaint. I'm here. I can't do much about that, Medford. Neither can I. I want free to choose. If you were free, what would you do? Go back home? There ain't no home. There ain't nobody. Men like you saw to that. Suppose you could get out, maybe stake a claim, maybe get a little farm, a store. It's all took out of me. I don't want none of that. I don't want anything safe to be let be. It's not all out of you. The hate's still there. You bet it is. I get all the strength I got from hating. Sure, you're feeding it all the time. Well, there's a lot to hate. It's here blue uniform. You can start there. That Spencer Rafferlier should meet it. You're going to let me talk free. You're talking right free. Go ahead. Well, that's Spencer. I never seen one. I just hear the man about him. We used to figure you, Yank, you spent one day a week just loading them and the rest of the week firing them at us. We didn't have their like. No, you didn't. So now you got one. It'll fire eight shots. Only there aren't any Yankees left to kill. There ain't nothing but Yankees. You better get over that feeling, Medford. I'm going to die with it. You don't want to die? You know that, do you? You had a lot of chances to die. You could have died in prison if you'd made up your mind to it. You could have died any day out here starting from the first day you rode in on the wagon. How do you figure that? You could have jumped the wagon. I'd have killed you. I told you that. And since you're here, you're on the rifle range real regular. The way you've been talking, you could go to man into killing you. A man, they've been reporting to you right along. You've been talking your hate right free. They tell you about my guns, did they? Got a lot of guns, have you, Medford? You ain't searched real good, Captain. I haven't searched at all. I'm not going to. If I got guns, you'd have cause to be fearful. Maybe. You got any more complaints? Kind of a man are you? I told you I hate your uniform, everything about you, what you stand for. I'm this kind of man, Medford. I got a cavalry company that's short of men. We're moving out in a couple of days. Now maybe we don't like the same things or hate the same things. But we're stuck with each other, Medford. You taking me on an engagement? Taking me to fight Indians under your flag? You scared of Indians, Medford? It's not that. I'm taking you. You got something you're living for. I want to find out what it is. We're strung out about as thin as we can, Captain. The longer they think we can hold them down there, the better. I don't think we'll be able to fool them long. We've got us outnumbered, two to one anyway. Sure have, Mr. Saberts. Are our horses still secure? Behind the top of the rise, yes, sir. Those Indians are smart. They'll circle us. There's enough of them to do it. Have you thought about retreat, Captain? I've thought of nothing else since we got boxed in. We'll retreat when we can, Mr. Saberts. If we can. Captain, sir. Medford. Captain, can you see their horses from here? There must be a couple hundred of them. The ones they stole caught in the ravine down there? Yes, sir. What about them? We stampeded those horses. Their engines are clear out of here in no time. We'd have to write a charge down there to stampede them that suicide, Medford. They'd pick us off one by one as we rose down. Well, ain't that our only chance, Captain? Getting killed's not the chance we're looking for. Yeah, but, Captain, it's not, sir. Get back to your position, Medford. Now. Yes, sir. Hold your fire, men. Hold your fire. I brought your mount, Captain. You saw what he did. Yeah. Yeah, I'm going down there, Mr. Sammits. He might still be alive. That was a fool thing you did, Medford. I told you. Stampede'd run them off. I told you it was suicide. We was both right, Captain. You're going to court martial me. For breaking orders? Or saving our lives? My rifle. Is it close by? You want to use it, Medford? Just you. You look at it, Captain. Brass manning. Your old Enfield, huh? I carried that at Brandy Station. Along with an old flintlock and a German musket. Good rifle, Enfield. I got shot with one at Bull Run. I had to kill something with it. Captain. You said I had something I was living for. You remember? I remember. One decent thing. I was captured after Brandy Station, Captain. They caught me running away. Desserted. I had to do one decent thing. Yeah, you're dying decent, Medford. That's something. The script was specially written for Fort Laramie by Kathleen Height with sound patterns by Bill James and Tom Henley. Musical supervision by Amarigo Marino. Featured in the cast were Lawrence Dobkin, Parley Baer, Frank Cady and Paul Dubov. Jack Moyles is Major Daggett and Harry Bartell is Lieutenant Cybertz. Company tension. Dismiss. Next week, another transcribed story of the Northwest Frontier and the troopers who fought under Lee Quince, Captain of Cavalry. The thought of approaching footsteps in the darkened room, the high-pitched creak of a door being opened stealthily, the tick of a clock that marks time running out for a doomed man. These are sounds that keep you in suspense. Connoisseurs of crime stories listen to suspense Tuesday nights on CBS Radio because suspense specializes in offbeat drama that makes the hair rise and the heart beat faster. Listen Tuesday night on most of these same stations for another taut, spine-tingling story of suspense.