 Family Theater presents Walter Brennan and Richard Denning. From Hollywood, the mutual network in cooperation with Family Theater presents Cow Town starring Walter Brennan. And now here is your host, Richard Denning. Family Theater's only purpose is to bring to everyone's attention a practice that must become an important part of our lives if we are to win peace for ourselves, peace for our families and peace for the world. Family Theater urges you to pray. Pray together as a family. And now to our transcribed drama, Cow Town starring Walter Brennan as Sheriff Yeager. The time, August 1889, the small cattle town of Whitestone, Montana. It's a little before 10 in the morning and in his office, across from the railway depot, Sheriff Ellis Yeager is opening his mail. Kind of strange though, huh? What's that, Floyd? What I just told you. Hmm? What the conductor said to me while I was over getting the mail at the depot. Oh, yeah. He's pretty sure one of those two men that got off at Hardwood was Clinton Tag. Well, maybe he's right. Look, if it was Tag on that train, why would he get off at Hardwood? Well, for one thing, he spreads about halfway between here and there. But Zoe said he wrote her he'd be coming into Whitestone in the 620 tonight. I've seen some homecomings like this before and they ain't easy. No, I don't reckon they are. Just seem funny like him and his other fella getting off a stop early. Who says he was even with the other fella? As far as that goes, who says it was Clint good off the train at all? I told you, Joe Hardy. Most nearsighted conductor in the history of Railroad. That's why he looks at things so close. Floyd, you've got the makings of a fine deputy, but let me give you a little free advice. You? What is it? Coming across the street from the depot. Yeah. You think she might stop in here? I don't know. You happen to hear if Hardy shot his mouth off to anyone else about this? No. But I shot my own a little. To who? Ted Coolidge. Well, it ain't likely she'd be talking to the telegraph operator, but... She's coming in. Don't bring it up now. Let's see what she wants. Chef Yeager. Oh, morning, Mrs. Tag. Zoe. Did you tell Ted Coolidge that Clint was on the train this morning? No. That's not what I told him. But I just spoke to his wife down at Brady's and now Ted... Floyd was just telling me about it, Mrs. Tag. The conductor didn't say for sure it was Clint, he saw. Just a man that resembled him. He's getting off at Hardwood. Well, Clint's not an unusual type, you know. Lots of folks look like him. After all, it's been five years, you know. No, it's Clint. I know it. Well, suppose it is. Like I was just saying to Floyd... There's nothing wrong. And now get hold of yourself, Mrs. Tag. It figures he'd be a little edgy about having the whole town turn out to gape at him. That's not what I mean. You've read some of his letters, Floyd. Well, now there never was anything you could really get your teeth into, Zoe. We've talked about this. It's what Clint didn't say. The fact that he never once mentioned his name in a letter in all these years. Mention whose name, Mrs. Tag? Yours. I can't say I'm much surprised to hear that. You don't think he's forgotten? Look, a man serving a term in prison ain't likely to forget who sent him there. But it still don't add up to anything being wrong. Look, I don't think he's ever forgiven you, Sheriff. And I'm probably a little... Now you listen to me, Mrs. Tag. I was wearing this badge when Clint was running around white-stone a knee-pants. I think I know him pretty well. What he did, he's paid for, and it's all forgotten now. Lord Harry, he must have some idea how folks here about feel the way they pitched in to help you keep the place. I just wish I'd written him about the note at the bank. Well, Floyd says you didn't find out for sure until yesterday that the stock had bring in enough to cover it. Now that it has, the news is just a little... Well, it's just a little more icing on the cake. I hope so. Clint's coming home to a pretty bright future, Mrs. Tag. And I know he's too smart to mess it up after waiting all this time. That's the place down there. It's a good-looking spread you got, Tag. Plain little of its mine. Changed much since the last time you saw it. Hard to tell this far off. Looks like a fresh coat of paint on a stable. Some new fence here and there. Didn't you tell me your wife owned a rig? She wrote me. She bought one about a year ago. Why? I don't see no sign of it. Oh, and she must have drove into Whitestone. She got some plan for a kind of homecoming celebration tonight. After they meet you at the train? Yeah. You figure the Sheriff Yeager fellas invited? Maybe. He won't make it, will he, Deutre? You just gave me $200, says he won't. You know, I'm as good at nursing a grudge as the next man, Tag. But if I was your age and had a pretty wife waiting for me in a ranch like that down there, well, I'd find it a might hard to stay riled at a lawman for just doing his duty. He said he was my friend. I don't know what kind of friend he was. Five years ago, I had to raise $700 in a hurry or I was going to lose my spread. Kind of fell over the land and go to a bank? They ain't allowed me all they could, so I settled on stealing the money. Held up the bank messenger on his way to the train. All I took was what I needed. I left over $2,000 behind. But this fellow Yeager caught you? Yeah. Could have let me go, too. I told him what I was up against. The messenger hadn't even recognized me. But he wouldn't. Well, if things turned out as bad as you say, how is it your wife still got the ranch? Oh, friends helping work the place. Friends of hers more than mine. Love-sick calves like Wetzel. Who? Floyd Wetzel, Yeager's deputy. You mean he and your wife? I know how he used to feel about her before we were married, same as he knew how I felt. I don't fool myself. He's glad to welcome me back. Seems just about everything connected with this fellow Yeager rub you wrong. I don't figure it will much longer. Think you have any trouble recognizing him from that picture? Nope. Leaves his office at 5.30, and he rides across town at the boarding house just like I showed you on that diagram. They always serve dinner there at the same time? Yeah. Have for the last 20 years. You'll probably be through there around 6. He'd be getting dark by then. You can take him when he starts back over to the station. While you're riding in on the train from Hardwood. That's idea. Pretty clean all around. That's the trail to Whitestone up there through the pass. Well, I think I'll just tie up here until your wife comes back with a rig. The less riders I meet on the way, the better. Yeah, suit yourself when I'm starting back to Hardwood. You gonna shave off that beard for your homecoming? You bet I am. Zoe wouldn't know me with this thing. That's how come I wasn't spotted on the train this morning. Hold on. That's your wife's rig coming through the pass? Might be. Come on, get back into the brush here. Give me your glasses. Here you are. There's a couple of riders with a tube. Keep your britches on. Is it hurt? Yeah. It's Zoe. It's hurtier than ever. Who are those two men on horseback with her? I can't quite tell. Oh, there. Who? I don't know. I've never seen them before. Yeah, give me those glasses. I'll tell you, I don't know them. Shut up a minute. You don't know them, huh? All right. That big fellow Jager ain't it. He's wearing a star. What if it is? There's something funny. That's what if it is? He probably just rode out to help Zoe fix up the place for the matches. Good friends with both of them. And why'd you lie about knowing who there was? Because I figured if you knew, you might start shaking. I sure enough figured right, didn't I? Is there any way we could get up close enough to hear what they're saying? You local? No, and that's why I've stayed alive this long. Now what about it, is there? I guess we might swing around, come down at that stand of pine back of the house, be about a 20-foot crawl in the open after that. I'm agreeable. What if it sees? Then I guess it's just welcome home and you ain't got no deal. That's what I mean. But you ain't got one this way either, miss you. Where do you want this bag of flour to go, Zoe? Oh, right over there on the sideboard. How about these decorations, ma'am? Well, I'll take those, Sheriff. They're for the front room. Have you glad to carry them for you? Oh, I can manage. They don't wear a thing. Want me to help you start putting them up? Well, no thanks, board. If you don't mind stacking the rest of the canned goods away, then I'll finish the heavy work. Yes, ma'am. Well, Sheriff. I don't know. Do you know sign anyone showed up here this morning? I think maybe it wasn't Clint the conductor saw after all. Well, I'm the one who said how poor Hardy's eyesight was, but now I'm beginning to wonder. What do you mean? Well, Hardy was helping Zoe load up the rig down at Brady's. I went over to the depot and had Ted calligraph a couple of questions to the marshland hardwood. Seems two fellas did get off the train this morning together. Anyone recognizing? Guess not. Are they still there? Well, one of them started out of town on foot. The other bought two horses at the delivery stable about a half hour later and rode out after him. They ain't neither been seen since. Don't add up too much. Except the part about the fellow walking when he could have rid. Well, what's that add up to? Well, the man either loves exercise or hates crowds. Floor pins and that white paper bag on the kitchen table. You bet. I'd come in with myself, but if I let go of these streamers, I'll have to twist them all over again. You stay where you are, Mrs. Tagg. We'll find them. Yeah, Zoe, here they are. This bag is the last of the kins. After you give it the pins, we better say our goodbyes and start back to town. At least they're heading back to Whitestone. Well, where else would they go? Hardwood, maybe. You heard them. There ain't nothing to find in hardwood in that sheriff knows it. Here. What is it? You're 200 bucks. The deal's off. Why? You got no proof it was you and me who got off that train? They got a hunch. And if something happens to Yeager, that conductor's going to be a tough witness to argue with. Be his word against mine. If you're lucky and nobody else recognized you. I'll be on that train tonight while you're taking Yeager. Uh-huh. And that's why there ain't going to be no deal. Because if you didn't do it, the fellow with you must have, and that's me. Well, they don't know you. You forgetting who bought the horses in hardwood and looked that stable man in the face for 15 minutes. You made a bargain. Not to get hung, I didn't. Here, 200 bucks. The deal's off. Ask me. I think you're crazy wanting to gun that sheriff anyhow. He took five years out of my life. Five years just for trying to keep a roof over my head. All right. You still got the roof and you still got your head. What are you kicking about? Well, he said he was my friend. He could, he could have let me go. Tag. That ain't the way they play the game. Was you going to give them money back if they didn't catch it? What? No, you took it for keeps. That's why the sheriff didn't give you back. He plays the same way. I don't know what you're talking about. Go back to ranch and, Mr. You ain't got the temperament. I came here to get Yeager and you said you'd help me. Just how much do you want to get him? Same deal we had. $200 worth. Enough to do the shooting yourself? Myself. If I can guarantee no witnesses? How can you do that? It'll cost you $200. All right. Can you help you, sir? I'd like to see Sheriff Yeager if he's in. Who shall I say it is? Mr. Dutro. Robert Dutro. And the nature of the business? He is personal. Yeah, Floyd? A man named Dutro to see you, Sheriff. Says it's personal. Send him in. Much obliged, Deputy. Anytime. Come on in. Sit down, Mr. Dutro. Thank you. How can I help you? I got a message for you from a friend of yours. Like your deputy said, it's personal. This friend of yours wants to see you. Well, does this friend of mine have a name? As far as I know. Oh, I see. But that's personal too, huh? Well, this friend of yours would like it that way. He wants to see you up at a cabin on a place called Gorman's Ridge. He wants you to come alone. You know if it's a rifle he's got or a pistol? Well, he wouldn't want me to tell you this, Sheriff. But it's a pistol. Mr. Dutro, I got a half a mind to place you under arrest. Then you better get the other half working, Sheriff. There ain't no charge. Aiden and a Benton? What? You ain't got no charge, Sheriff. But you got the money, ain't you? I got some money. All right. I'll go see him. Your friend don't want nothing said about this to anybody else. It's fair enough. Not your deputy, not nobody. You mind if I stop over the bank for a minute? Unless you mind if me and your deputy come along, too. That ought to be all right. And then after you write out him and I, your deputy could come back to your office for a while and play some checkers, maybe. Is that agreeable? Until when? Until you write in again. You want an alibi real bad, don't you, Mr. Dutro? Well, I always figure you never know when you're going to need one. Ain't it the truth? All right, let's go. I kind of figured it'd be you, Clint. Kick the door shut, keep your hands away from your sides. It was me, why did you come here? Because if it wasn't here, it'd be someplace else sooner or later. You think I'm afraid to use this, don't you? That's why you walked in in Biggie's life, acting like there's nothing the world could touch you because you think I'm afraid to pull a trigger. No, that ain't the reason at all. If I thought you'd frighten easy, I'd have slapped Dutro in jail, brought a postie up here and scared you right back into prison. That ain't flattery. You're just too pigheaded to give up. You talk to me like that? I'll talk to you anyway, please, right now to use that gun. You pick the place, or you're going to have to pick the time, too. Well, don't fool yourself, you ain't got will. I just want to see you sweat a little, like I did. You didn't sweat. For five years. You just sat there, thinking real hard who it was you could blame for some trouble you got into yourself. You could have let me go. How could the judge, or the jury, or the warden, or just about anybody you can think of? But they didn't. So what you going to do? You going to shoot him all? You were my friend. You knew what kind of trouble I was in for money? I was a friend of Billy's staff, it's two. That bank messenger slugged me. I couldn't help that. He went for his gun, you know that. So when he comes to, what am I supposed to tell him? Billy, I know who it was, pistol whip you, but I can't bring him in because he's a friend of mine. I told you I didn't mean it. I couldn't help it. You could have helped it by not being there in the first place. Hey, hey, you're sweating now, ain't you, Yeager? Huh? You're sweating and talking a mile a minute, but you ain't going to talk me out of this. All right, Clint. Maybe I ain't. Maybe I've had you wrong ever since you was a kid hanging around my office. Oh, and don't go try buttering me up with any of that slush. Call it slush, but there it is. You come in all bigger, I'd reel quiet like just looking around and I'd know what you wanted. I ain't big, I had no more. And I'd say, you seen any desperate criminals lately, Clint? And you'd say, no, Mr. Yeager, but I'm on the lookout. Yeah, you've done that at every boy come in, man. It was just a game. Not the part where I take my gun out of the holster and empty the six shells onto my desk and hand it over to you. You remember that? That was just a game? Sure, but what was it I said? What was the same thing I told you every time? I don't remember. You'll remember. There was a lot of slush. Look, you give it any name you wanted. Now, what did I say? I don't. You said there's a gun, Clint. There ain't nothing special about it. What else? I don't remember. Yes, you do. I don't remember. You can't make a weak man strong or a bad man good. I don't care what you told me. If you have to use it in a hurry, it may not hit the broad side of a bar. Shut up! There's a friend on the gun to take care of something you can't handle without it. Ain't that what I told you? What if it is? All right, then. You tell me something, Clint. How'd you go about handling this if you didn't have that gun? What's the difference? I got it, ain't I? Sure, but suppose you didn't. Suppose there weren't no gun in the world or a club or a knife or a whip. How'd you go about getting even with the people who sent you to prison for something you did? What did you do? Hate them to death? Yeah, maybe. Because you'd got tired of hating yourself, tired of wishing you'd stayed on your place and fought it out a little longer. What? Look, I'd tried everything. I had to get that money. There wasn't any other way. But you never did get it. Yet you still got your place. Well, I don't know. The bank must have given Zoe what they... They wouldn't give me, I don't know. How'd you figure to get away with killing me and not being suspected? I was gonna ride the back trails to hardwood and catch the 620. Then climb down at the depot at night and white stone like nothing had happened. Still ain't a bad idea, Clint. I don't think I've ever been so nervous in my life. Ah, now simmer down, Zoe. I mean, Mrs. Fag... You wait, ma'am. Five minutes after Clint gets off in that train, you'll be so used to him you'll forget he was ever gone. You know, I wonder if you ought to be here. I mean, until I have a chance to tell him. Oh, I think it'll be all right. Well, I don't know how he's gonna take all these people coming down to gawk at him. I'm afraid that's something you'll just have to put up with for a while. Well, here she comes. He'd like you to be riding in the coal tender. Let's go up the platform a ways. Ah, there he is. Standing on the steps of the back car. Clint! My gosh, you know he ain't changed much. He shaved off his beard. What beard? Clint never wore a beard in his life. What, it ain't uncommon for a man in prison to grow a beard? That's who you rode out to see this afternoon, wasn't it, Clint? No such a thing. He did get off the train at Hardwood. And after one look at that deutro, I can guess why. All right, keep your voice down. Oh, how'd you cool him off? I didn't show him nothing. We just had a little talk. Shut up now. Here they come. Clint says he wants to... I want to thank you for coming down here to meet me, Sheriff. Don't mention it, son. Welcome home. Thank you. You too, Floyd. You're looking right fit, Clint. Yeah, I would've had a long rest. Clint, honey, I... I wrote you we'd fixed a little homecoming party. Yeah, it sounds fine, Zoe. Just a few people. Won't be a big crowd like this. I mean, a lot of folks staring and such. Oh, yeah, well, they're staring at the right man. Well, a lot of them were those that helped you, Clint. I mean, helped work the place while you were gone. You can't really blame them for being a mite curious to see again. I don't blame anyone, Floyd. It's out of myself. Clint, then let me tell you the best news about the place... Say, you folks, you better get started now if you're going to be on time for that party. Why don't you tell them on the way, ma'am? Will you be coming out there, Sheriff? Yeah, thanks. You're the same boy. Well, you know, I ain't much for this nightlife. Well, I'm going to tell Clint right now because he ought to hear it in front of you. Now, ma'am... Now, look, honey, I got it right with me. It's all paid. What? What's this? It's a note from the bank, extending the mortgage on the place. They advanced me the money after you went to jail. After? I didn't have any collateral. No one guaranteed. Well, somebody did. I didn't find out who till yesterday. Well, good night, folks. Now, you stay right here, Sheriff. Who would stick his neck out so far as to guarantee a loan for a man in prison? The signature's right there on the note. Alice... Now, look, hold on a minute, Clint. You... Just a couple of inch scratches never cost me nothing. Not one dime. Folks are really ought to think that the ones that will help with the work to pay for the spread. This afternoon, I almost... Yeah, you almost missed the train. Well, I had that happen. Do you ever have that happen, Floyd? I have what happen? Almost missed the train. What do you mean almost? Either you miss him or you catch him? See, I never thought of it that way. Well, glad to have you back, Clint. Sheriff, I want you to come out to place tonight. I really want you to. Please, Sheriff. It's a mighty special occasion. Well, I guess just once you won't hurt to open the office a little late, eh, Floyd? Especially on Saturday? We do want you to come, Sheriff. All right, sir, but I'll leave it to you to explain this to Henry Brady. The grocer's boy? Yeah. He sort of likes to come in early. You see, on mornings when there ain't no school, he'd just hang around and look at things. You ever let him hold your gun, Sheriff? Huh? You ever take it out of your holster and empty the six shells onto the desk and just hand it over to Henry Brady? Oh, yeah, yeah, I guess so, Clint. Seems I recollect doing that sort of thing off and on for years. This is Richard Denning again. For centuries, many thousands of good-hearted people have been working toward that great and honorable goal, the brotherhood of man. It would be a wonderful accomplishment, a state of human relations in which all human beings treat each other as brothers and sisters. The real brotherhood of man would mean an end of war, a minimum of deprivation throughout the world, an upsurge in the benevolent sciences, and a host of other wonderful benefits. It would really be a magnificent achievement for the human race, but it will never be achieved by any purely human plan. The brotherhood of man can never be anything more than an impossible dream until we first acknowledge that its success depends on our acceptance of the fatherhood of God. A brotherhood of man based on the fatherhood of God would be good and lasting, and it is possible. Prayer is the means through which it might be accomplished. Through prayer we can turn seemingly impossible dreams into actuality. And when you pray, pray together as a family, and you'll be strengthening the bonds of kinship in your own home as well. For the family that prays together stays together. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. From Hollywood, Family Theatre has brought you transcribed Kowtown, starring Walter Brennan. Richard Denning was your host. Others in our cast were Frank Gersel, Jean Bates, Parley Bayer, and Lamont Johnson. The script was written and directed for Family Theatre by John T. Kelly, music composed and conducted by Harry Zimmerman. This series of Family Theatre broadcasts is made possible by the thousands of you who feel the need for this type of program, by the mutual network which has responded to this need, and by the hundreds of stars of stage screen and radio who give so unselfishly of their time and talent to appear on our Family Theatre stage. To them and to you, our humble thanks. This is George Scroll expressing the wish of Family Theatre that the blessing of God may be upon you and your home is inviting you to join us next week when Family Theatre will present 6 of 1, starring Wallace Ford. Mitzi Gaynor will be your hostess. Join us, won't you? Family Theatre is broadcast throughout the world and originates in the Hollywood studios of the world's largest network. This is Mutual, the radio network for all America.