 The Cavalcade of America, starring Irene Dunn. Presented by the DuPont Company, makers of better things for better living through chemistry. Good evening. This is Irene Dunn. Tonight, our Cavalcade story is called Bryant Station. This is a romantic and exciting story of what happened to Prudence Potter during an Indian attack on a pioneer outpost in the Kentucky wilderness. MUSIC Now, Bryant Station, starring Irene Dunn, has Mrs. Potter on the DuPont Cavalcade of America. The Kentucky wilderness of Daniel Boone, 1782. The dark and bloody ground. A year of terror in the frontier settlements. A year of savagery. Captain Craig. Captain Craig. Yes, Hawkins? I found Corrigan in a ravine back of a stockade. Alive? Just about. What about Potter? He was with him? He ain't no. Come on. What is it you want to tell us, Corrigan? Simon Gertie done this. Gertie, that white renegade leading a big war party. We're in Potterhead's stake. Gertie threatens his Indians will kill every white settler in Kentucky. Has Corrigan any family? No. Potterhead. Wife and three youngins. Anybody told him? We kind of figured you'd do that, Captain. Thoughtful of you. Well, if I must, I must. What a big girl she's getting to be. Let go of her, Jane. See if you can stand by herself. It'll give her room land. No, it won't. Not, Mom. Well, I don't think so. Oh, Papa's going to be so proud of his baby. Come here to mama, Elizabeth. Come on. Mom, where's Pa coming back? Any time now. Will he bring us something good from heart and more? Well, he always does, doesn't he? Look, somebody's coming. Maybe it's Pa. The Pa certainly wouldn't knock. Come in. Oh, hi, Captain Gray. Good day, Miss Potter. Nice to have you called. Won't you sit down, Captain? Well, I haven't time to stay, ma'am. I... Well, could I... Can I see you private a moment? Certainly, Captain. Come in. Take the girls outside. All right, Ma. Come on, Jane. Look, Captain Gray. I'm careless. Yeah, fine. Fine, yes, that's wonderful. Not in, Captain. This is Potter. Is there something about John? Yes, it is. Is there something bad? Very. What is it? John ain't coming back to Bryan Station, ma'am. No! No! I'm sorry, Mrs. Potter. If I can do anything, I... My poor Johnny. Now, please, Mrs. Potter, all the set rules will do anything to help you, ma'am. Yes. I know. I know, Captain Gray. Thank you. I'll go now, Mrs. Potter, and you'll be all right, ma'am. I want to go outside. Well, it's a beautiful night. Moon. Yes, Captain. I'll be all right. I'll get back to sleep, so I came out here. Come here, honey. Get up on my lap. You've been sitting out here long, ma? Yes, ma'am. The valley looks pretty in the moonlight. Look at our cornfield down there. Your father and I planted that in the spring. Ma, why does Pa come back from Horton? Tell me. I don't know, son. Oh, heck. Come on, honey. We're going to the cabin and to bed. Ma, first sing me the song about Pa. You always sing me that song when I can't sleep. Now, tell me if you must. Won't you, ma? Please, won't you? Well, if I do, son, will you promise me something? Sure, ma. What? Grow up so your father will be proud of you. Uh-huh. Sure, ma. Bye, son. All right, honey. We're getting on right fine, aren't we, Tommy? I killed 12 bugs in the snake. Yeah. Here, Tom. Give me a second. Yeah. Here, Tom. Give me that hoe. Now, you go mind the baby with your sister. I'll help your mother. All right. Isn't that necessary for you to help us with our work, Captain? Now, it's no reflection on your garden and abilities, ma'am, but this is a lot of work for a woman and three little ones. We'll manage. Can I speak frank, ma'am? Well, what, Captain? Your plans. Oh. Now, it's not my affair I know except I'm in charge of the station here, and I feel kind of responsible for the folks in it. Well, you needn't be responsible for us. I was just wondering what you were going to do next. The frontier is no place for a widow woman. What do you suggest, Captain? Have you got people you can go to? My husband and I left Virginia to give our young ones a chance they ought to have in life. They can get it in Kentucky, and they're going to have it. Oh, then you're figuring to marry again? No, Captain. I am not. No one could ever take my husband's place. Well, I don't say that, ma'am, but there's two or three single boys here at the station, any one of whom will be glad and lucky to have you. There's Tom Ashley, there's Louis Boyd, then there's that widower Morrison. They're almighty fine men. Have they appointed you their marriage broker, Captain? Oh, ma'am. Oh, bachelor like me. Well, he's the last person who would know anything about marriage. Well, then let me explain to you one thing. When it's been right once, you don't want marriage anyway, but that way again. Now, you tell that to Mr. Ashley, Mr. Boyd, Mr. Morrison, with my compliment. No, I'm only trying to be helpful, ma'am. And my advice would be to go back to Virginia. Never. You say that, but the truth is we may all be going soon. What do you mean? The way the Indians have been carrying on this year, it's got even Dan Boone worried. You heard about the settlement up the Blue Ridge being massacred? Yes, ma'am. Well, many more of those, you won't be able to pay the settlers to stay here. Well, I'll stay, and Tommy and the girls are going to stay too, and they're going to have that chance. Hawkins and Tom Ashley. Here, come in. Door's unlocked. I'm sorry to wake you, Captain, but Tom here's got something to tell you. Where is it, Tom? Well, there's a bear. He's been wild at my stock. Great big critter. I've seen him, but never got a shot at him for a day. Well, sir, long about sundown, I did hit him, too. Only the critter wouldn't drop. No, sir. You wake me up just a yap about a bear. So, sir, to myself, I says that old bear ain't going to get away from me if I have to follow him clear to kingdom come. What you did, only a couple of miles short of. Then what do you think happened? What? That old bear got away, darn it. And that's my story. All of it, except the coming back to the stockade tonight, I ran smack into the biggest Indian war party I ever met up with. What? Must be hundreds of them. Where? To the stockade, hiding back in the woods, but on all sides. Took me three hours to sneak in here. Could you sneak back through their lines, do you think, Ash? Yes, sir. Go ahead, then. Get to Boonsboro as fast as you can. Haven't sent every man they can spare and tell them all you can about the war party. I'll tell them everything. Just leave out about the bear. I want that relief here, this year. What next, Captain? It's set for a dawn attack. Everybody has plenty of ammunition. Whatever else you do, don't show any lights. I don't want our red friends to know we're expecting their little cause. Already un-waiting with my rifle, Captain. Where are them Indians, sir? I promised I could shoot. They're out there, all right. Yeah, but why don't they attack? It's past dawn now. Just wondering that myself. Captain Gray, we've got a lady here wondering just who she should load guns for in the fight. Well, Mrs. Johnson, just tell that lady to stand right by her husband like a good wife should. Oh, it's you, Mrs. Carter. I didn't realize who Mrs. Johnson meant. I'm sorry. That's all right, Captain. But I would like to help. Got more spunk than all of us put together this girl has. Well, I got no one to load my rifles for me, Mrs. Carter. If you'd help me, I'd like it fine. Whatever you want, Captain. Captain Gray, yes. What's the matter, Madison? But during the night, that leak developed into a water barrel again. What? Yes, we've caught me a dropped lift. Can't hold out long without water. Yeah, but how are we going to get it? Can't we send a bunch of armed men to the spring? Oh, no, that'd be ambush sure. Besides, it'd tell how much we need water. Yeah. All they have to do is lay siege to us for a few days. That's right, Captain. Well, there ought to be a better way of getting at the net. Captain, why are the Indians waiting now before they attack? Well, they probably figured we don't know they're here. They're waiting for the men to go outside to stalk Cade and work in the fields and then they'll attack. Well, in that case, I know how to get the water. Oh, Mrs. White. The way we always get it. Let the women and children go. And have you all cut down in cold blood? It's our only chance, Captain. We've got to have water, and they'd never let the men bring it back. Us, they might. Now, what women would be willing to take a chance like that? I would. You, Mrs. Johnson? Well, and so would I, and so would plenty others. You'll see. You mean that all these are going, Mrs. White? Wasn't one woman in Bride Station refused, Captain? Oh, what are all the children here for? Well, I figure the Indians have probably had their scouts here for days. If so, they know the children always go with us for water. They'd be suspicious that they didn't go this time. Man, think what you're saying. Well, would you want yours to go? Would you say a going, Captain? Aren't you, Tommy? Aren't you, James? I'm not afraid. I am. I'm taking my bestie along, too. Well, then we'll have men posted on the stockade. And if there's any trouble, we'll come out shooting and do what we can. And God bless you all. Already, Mrs. Johnson? Indeed we are, Miss Father. And I think the Captain can open the gate. Yes, ma'am. Open the gate. You are listening to Bryant Station starring Irene Dunn as Mrs. Potter on the Cavalcade of America sponsored by the Depart Company, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. The Kentucky Wilderness, an early morning in 1782. Mrs. Potter and her friend, Jemima Johnson, are leading the women and children of Bryant stationed to a spring outside the stockade, knowing it's surrounded by hostile Indians. With 12 million birds in that one, it'll thicken alone. My dear, you know what? Now we're not going to talk about you know what, are we? Don't you think we all ought to talk a little more? You usually do, Mrs. Johnson. It's certainly a lovely morning, ladies, isn't it? Lovely morning. Here we are. Pill your buckets, everyone. And keep talking. Keep cheerful. It must sound the way we always do. We do, ma'am. One of us kids is always crying. Just a little wave from here to this one here now, and we've got water. Don't run. You'll spill the water. But I'm still scared, Mom. Jamie, if you run now, you'll give us away. We've got to get back inside the stockade. Gee. Yes, ma'am. And let me congratulate you all. That was as brave a thing as I ever saw. Those Indians can attack anytime now. We're ready. The Indians in plain sight over to Eastwood. How many? Oh, not over a dozen or so. Looks like a small raiding party. Maybe Ashley was wrong about how many were around here. No, I don't think so. Whenever an Indian lets himself be seen, there's some purpose in it. If they want us to see 12, there's a purpose in that. They want us to think that's all of them there are, probably. Yeah, but suppose it is only 12. We could finish them off in no time. And while we're out doing that, what happens at the stockade? Yeah. Yeah, you figure it's a trick. I know it's a trick. Furthermore, it's the same one they used at Boonsboro last year. Well, maybe we can make it work to our advantage. How's that? Take 14 or 15 men, send them out east, apparently after the Wyandott's that way. Make a lot of noise, fire a lot, try to sound like the whole force, and then turn around, get back inside just as quickly as you can make it. Join the rest of us at the Westgate wall. We'll be waiting for them there. Why, Westgate? Well, that's where I figure the main attack will be. That bunch you saw on the east must be making a faint. And when the main attack comes at the Westgate, there's going to be a mighty surprise bunch of Indians. Well, there go Hawkinsons boys. Yes, it does sound like a whole force. Now to see if our bait catches any fish. They're hooked. Here they come west. High tail on it for the creek. That's the last. That's one Indian trick they won't try again for a while. I still don't see how we're so much better off. We've killed a few ES and we've driven them off, but we're still surrounded by Wyandott. And meanwhile, we've all got our scales. Look, one of them coming toward the stockade. With a white flag. Hold your fire, man. That's a flag. Oh, another Indian trick, probably. Well, let's see what they want to talk about. Look, it's a white man. Man, I wouldn't call him that. It's Simon Gertie. The Simon Gertie? Yes, the same. All right, quiet, men, quiet. I want to hear this. Themers, you are surrounded. We're very snug, too, Simon Gertie. But that can't last. We're getting some artillery. It'll be here within two hours. A few balls against those gates of yours, you won't be quite so snug. You ain't got cannon. Oh, yes, we have, gentlemen. But all you have to do to save your scouts is to surrender peaceably. And give me a word as one Christian to another. You'll go back to Virginia. I don't believe you've got cannon. You're confused. You've got cannon. You can find out any way you choose, gentlemen. You have two hours to make up your minds. Look here, men, we'd best accept Simon Gertie's terms. Now, we've no choice. And he said if we surrender, we'll save our scouts. But who can trust that renegade Simon Gertie? Well, you see, we've got to. Otherwise, we're all dead men in three hours. We don't know for sure they've got cannon. Well, even if they haven't, we can't hold out forever. There's help coming from Boonesboro. But how do we know that Ashley got through safe? No, let's all go back while we got the chance. Yeah, that's what I said. No, no, no. Help has come from Boonesboro. We can see. Who are in favor of going? Who says stay? Well, it seems as if half of us want one thing and half want the other. One minute, please. I've got another vote to cast here. The women can't vote here. Well, I'm not suggesting they do, sir. But I brought my son Thomas here with me to cast his vote. His father was killed in line of duty for this Kentucky frontier. For all of us here at Bryant Station. And I think there's that much inheritance due my son. And so do I, ma'am. How do you vote, son? I say we should tell Simon Gertie to go to the band place where it belongs. Hey! Hey! Hey! Can I say right, Ma? Well, look here, this makes no sense. Now, it's part of putting the words right in his mouth for him. I wish I could put them in yours, Mr. Bannister. To trust Simon Gertie, the man who watched my husband burn to the stake by the windouts and didn't lift a hand to save him. How can you be such fool? Yes, but maybe good. It means what he says about sparing us this time. Even if he did, I'll tell you we've got to stay. We came here for a better chance, all of us. And I'm going to see that my children get that chance. All right, what do you say, man? Are we quick with Bannister? Or do we fight with the lady? We fight! Looks like they're getting ready to attack. Do you suppose they have the artillery? Well, this is one way to find out. It sure is, Captain. You know, Mrs. Potter, it occurs to me that there are four bachelors at this place. I thought of that myself. Now, I know that I could never take the place of your husband or anything like that, but... Well, maybe you... Maybe, ma'am, if we pull through here... I could help your young ones get that better chance that you talked about. Captain Griggs. Yes, Mrs. Potter. I think perhaps you could. Well, I'd consider it a real honor. What's that about? Why the drum's starting, Captain? I don't know. Action to Hawkins! A militia from Boonesboro, Mrs. Potter. As I was saying, I'd like it fine if you'd... if you'd marry me. I'd like it fine, too, Captain. And that's the story of Bryant Station and of its frontier folk in the Kentucky wilderness of 1782. And the nation they helped secure was one day to be served conspicuously by one of the persons there that day of battle. An infant in a cradle. Richard Mentor Johnson, who grew up to become ninth vice president of the United States. Later on in Washington, people used to say he must have come from good, courageous stock. And if you ask us, we'd say so, too. Next week, Cavalcade will present the popular Hollywood stars Linda Darnell and John Hodiak in an original radio play, The Blue Cockade. It's a love story set against the background of danger at Morristown, New Jersey during the American Revolution. Be sure to join Cavalcade next week, then, for Linda Darnell and John Hodiak. Tonight's depart Cavalcade, Bryant Station, was an original radio play written by Frank Gabrielson and was suggested by a chapter entitled Jemima Johnson in the book Women in American History by Grace Humphrey. The program was directed by Jack Zoller. Music was composed by Arden Cornwell and conducted by Donald Bryant. Chuck Webster played Captain Greg. By uniting the fundraising campaigns of its participating organizations under the sign of the red feather, the community chest of America guaranteed effective and total distribution of your funds to bring health and welfare to people in every walk of life. Remember, everybody benefits, everybody gives. This is Ted Pearson inviting you to listen next week to The Blue Cockade starring Linda Darnell and John Hodiak. Cavalcade of America comes to you each week from the stage of the Longacre Theatre on Broadway in New York and is presented by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. This is NBC, the national broadcasting company.