 My gun was handcrafted to my specifications. I rarely draw it, unless I mean to use it. The gun will travel, starring Mr. John Daner as Paladin. San Francisco, 1875. The Carlton Hotel, headquarters of the man called Paladin. About that imported silk shawl you ordered as a gift for a lady? Oh, yes. Very pretty. But you didn't say about the color. Is it for a blonde or a brunette? Well, I'm not sure yet. Perhaps you better leave one of each. There's still the clerk at the desk to charge him to my bill. Of course. Thank you, Mr. Paladin. Oh, there you are. Hey, boy. Oh, yes, Mr. Paladin. I have two messages for you. One from San Francisco City Jail. Mr. Holgate said he'd get you a card and want you to come see him. Oh, yes. He's the murderer who's afraid he'll be lynched when they take him back to stand trial in some little town in Wyoming. Oh, and he said you better hurry. Sheriff, come here and take him away on nine o'clock train tonight. And the other message? Ah, pretty lady wait for you. Huh? Over there. Oh, it's too bad. What? I'll tell her, Mr. Paladin. Give her my sincere regrets, hey boy. Tell her later. I have a train to catch. Even if you've had embarrassing dandruff for years, you can get rid of it now in three minutes. That's all it takes with Fitch Dandruff Remover Shampoo. Yes, unsightly dandruff's gone in three minutes with Fitch. Quickest, easiest of all leading shampoos. What's more, using Fitch regularly is guaranteed to keep embarrassing dandruff away. Just apply in the unique Fitch manner. Before you wet hair, rub in one minute. This way, Fitch Shampoo penetrates right down to the scalp. Next, add water. Lather one minute to wash every trace of dandruff out of your hair. Then rinse one minute. All that loosen dandruff goes down the drain. In three minutes, with Fitch, one rubbing, one lathering, one rinsing, dandruff's gone. At the same time, gentle Fitch can leave your hair up to 35% brighter. To get rid of dandruff problems forever, brighten hair too. Use Fitch regularly. Get Fitch Dandruff Remover Shampoo today, only 59 cents. Well, Sheriff, why didn't you just pull a trick and end it right here? You might as well have. You just get back to your seat real careful like. Take them leg irons off to make you more comfortable. You pay me back by kicking me in the head. You just catch me trying to be decent to you again. Oh, and I sit down. Take your leg out. And you, mister. Thank you. Glad to be of help to an officer of the law. They're only helping a man get lynched, that's all. Shut up, Hullgate. If you don't mind, Sheriff, I'd like to talk to your prisoner. Sure. What's that? Thank you. Hullgate, you got my card. I got your message. You're Paladin? I figured you'd be on my side. Who'd you say you was, mister? The name is Paladin. And your name? Sheriff Swing. Oh, what is this? A cozy chat? Listen, Paladin, I hide your gun to turn me loose. Your hide to turn him loose? Mr. Hullgate has his facts slightly confused. Would you mind pointing that some other way, please, Sheriff? Thank you. Now, Mr. Hullgate, what makes you think you'll be lynched? Easy. A town's named Bender after Max Bender. It was his son caught my bullet. How did you come to shoot him? Just an argument in a saloon, a few drinks. You know how that... You got a gun? Well, he had one. I'm sure it was home on his dresser. Well, how'd I know that? I didn't notice. I see. Well, Mr. Hullgate, tell you what I'll do. For $200, I'll see that you're delivered alive to stand trial. You call that a bargain? Man has a chance with a fair trial, but there's no debating a lynching bead. All right. You'll get the money when I step into the courtroom. Just to be sure, I'll choose somebody to hold the fee. When's the trial, Sheriff? The circuit judges do it at the end of the week. We'll beat him there by old day, maybe. And what are the chances of my employer here being lynched? I reckon somebody's going to try. Will you stop it? That'd be a hard decision to make. But I can assume we're on the same side. Aren't we, Sheriff? I reckon. That puts two of us on the side of the right. Now, don't crow, Mr. Them Ain't Good Odds with the whole town on the other side. I never did like this town. Don't worry, you won't be here long. At least there's not a mob to meet us. Nope. Just the benders over there. Who are they? Max Bender's daughter, Amy. The town's named after the old man. Max, Miss Amy, how'd you know we'd come in on this train? We waited on every train. I wanted to see the man who killed my son. He's going to have a trial, Max. Yeah. My brother didn't have a trial. No, Amy. Or a smart lawyer who might trick him to freedom or get him off of the prison sentence. But the man who killed him will have a trial. Who are you? Paladin's my name. Mr. Holgate hired me to see that he isn't lynched. So the gunfighters are all for law and order now if the pay is right. No, Miss Bender, you don't buy law and order. You fight for it. Yes. Once you have it, you don't throw it away. Your father knows how hard law is to come by. There will be no trial. Your neighbors will come for him, Sheriff. I know you'll do what's right. I think he will, Miss. And so will you. The world tonight brings you lively interviews with people in the news. When big things are happening in London, Paris, Moscow, Tokyo, or Rome, they're all within speaking distance on the world tonight. For a penetrating look beneath the surface of the news, CBS Radio invites you to hear Eric Severide's news analysis. Wise in the ways of the news, Eric Severide explores a particular and important aspect each weekday evening. Invariably, he comes up with new keys to understanding. Always interesting, always illuminating. Eric Severide's perceptive news analysis makes an exciting companion piece to the world tonight. Listen for both of these fine news features regularly. Oh, you can relax, Hogan. You're safe in there. Temporarily, anyways. Yeah, but they'll be swarming around soon enough. You remember you got a job, Paladin. To keep you from getting lynched, I'll remember. Greetings, gentlemen. Just passing by and saw the light, figured you were back. Howdy, Mr. Coombs. Wholegate. You didn't waste no time, Coombs. My client and I must start preparing our defense. Oh, uh, who are you? He's all right. I've hired his gun. Name's Paladin. Oh? Well, now, if we can have some privacy. Oh, sure. Prisoner's got a right to have counsel with his lawyer. Let's wrap on the bars when you're through. We still have some business details to arrange, Wholegate. You tell your lawyer to turn the fee over to the person I name. I'll tell him. Sheriff, you mind if I bed Don in one of these cots in your office? It's all right. Then, uh, I'll be using the other. I thought it was settled. We're on the same side. I'd just like to be sure. Any place I can lock this up? Roll top desk. He's got a key. Good. It'll do. Well, what's in that bag, anyways? Just some of the tools in my trade. What kind of tools is that? The kind that might help quiet a lynch mob. We'll give him Wholegate. That'll quiet him. I thought we were on the same side. We are. I'd just like to be sure. Which one is the Bender Store, Mr. Coons? That one. Up there. There's a noose hanging out in front. Yes, that's Amy's doing. Was she stirring the pot until it boils over? I never suspected she had such a mean streak in her. She was always such a nice quiet girl. I guess it's frustrating for a woman. She can't strap on a gun and settle in a fair like this with her own hands. Oh, I, uh, I hope this won't take too long. I have more important things to do. Like figuring a way to save your client? Something like that, yes. Shall we go in? What do you want here? I want you to hold some money for me, Mr. Coons. Here it is. $200. You're not to give it to me until Wholegate steps into the courtroom for trial. If he dies before then, return it to Coons. You think I'll hold your blood money? Blood money for keeping a man alive? I'll hold that for you. Dad! Give it to me. Thank you, Mr. Bender. Give him the money, Mr. Coons. Very well. There you are, Max. Dad, if you won't help us, at least stay out of it. How can I do that, Amy? I live in this town, too. Good day, Mr. Paladin. Good day, sir. Amy, your father is a very wise man. Excuse me, I guess you don't need me anymore. I'll be in my office, Paladin. Miss Amy? Look, Mr. Paladin, I just want Wholegate to pay for my brother's murder. I don't want anybody else to get hurt. So far, no argument. Now, Sheriff Swink's not going to shoot at his friends, so no one will harm him. Go on. That leaves just you. But you're liable to kill somebody and be killed and turned, and there's no telling where it'll stop. It would seem so. You're doing it for money. What if I gave you more money to leave town now? That's a definite offer, I take it. Cash, I'll get it, Ronald. No way! I'm afraid not. Switching sides is most unethical. Unethical? Did you ever see a lynching, Miss Bender? No. Your imagination would fall far short of the truth. No matter what he's done, Wholegate won't be handed over to feed the animal instincts of the mob. I told you, I don't want anybody hurt but him. Amy! Yes, Clint? You need any help? No. The trouble with a lynching, Miss Bender. You can't have it ordered up all dainty, neat, like a yard of lace. It's something that cowards get whiskied up for and mumble over and wind up screaming in the gutters of a dark night. Go on, get out of here. There's nothing you can do to stop it. Isn't there? Listen, mister. You take her advice, get out of town. A double blast from this shotgun ought to cut a man in half. That man won't be any datter than a man with a 45 bullet between his eyes. There's room enough out there in front, gunfighter, for another noose. So there is. 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Get the new February popular science today. Look for the bright blue band on the cover. Popular Science Magazine. And what's going on out there? I didn't hear them. I'm gathering down in front of the bender's store. I'm getting steamed up. I'll be moving before long. Yeah, but you fellas don't be napping. Well, you won't. What you looking at me like that for? What are you thinking? Just wondering what you're thinking. You're mighty cheerful for a man about to face a lynch mob. Well, I got confidence in you and the sheriff. I figure you'll give him what's for. Coming! See you in court. You better. You don't get paid. What is it? Come here and have a look. See, I'm two riders just leaving. Coombs is the place heading down the side street traveling the third horse. They look like two cowboys. Yeah, and William McHeath, the whole gate's friends. Now, what would they be doing at his lawyers? I got a better question to chew on. Who do they figure to ride that extra horse? Oh, yeah. Oh, I reckon that question's going to have to wait. They're getting by ready to move. Oh, there's another shotgun in the closet, Paladin. No, thanks. Incidentally, Miss Bender says you won't use that shotgun against your friends out there. Miss Bender's mistaken. Sheriff, I'll buy you a drink after this is over. Maybe. Well, it looks like everybody's here. I'd say we're all ready. What's the matter, Amy? Nothing. Nothing's a matter. You'll bring him here. Yeah, so you can put the rope around his neck. You just wait here and we'll bring him to you. Dad, what you doing with that gun? Well, Max, you change your mind? I'm going to the jail. Stand beside the sheriff and that fellow Paladin Max, you're getting turned around. From the beginning we had decency and law in this town. Now you're going to wipe it all out one night. We're doing this for your son. No, don't do my boys' excuse. Get out of my way. You better stay here and take it easy, Max. Now, give me that wrap. Never mind. Sheriff will give me another wrap. I said stay here. Take your hands off me. Dad, don't. Come on. Let's go. Let's do it. Oh, Dad. I'm all right. But, Amy, what have you done? I'm sorry. I didn't know it would be like this. Here they are. Paladin, you better get that shot going. I've got something better in the desk. Wait a minute, Sheriff. I need breaking down doors when you can open them with dynamite. Here. Who wants it? You big fella. Nobody wants it. Here. Slow burning one. Don't collect again mob courage as a momentary thing. Once it's gone it's gone for good. It's clean, deserted. Except over there. Yeah, there's Clint. Let's go after him, Paladin. You go ahead. I've got a client who thinks she doesn't have to go to court. Well, Neil, Clint, we can tie this thing up. Go ahead. I'm going back and check Holgate. Willie, what's happened? I can't hear nothing. The crowd's gone. Something's wrong. We'd better go ahead anyway. Now, whip your horses and pull out the bars. You hold it right there, Holgate. Paladin, don't shoot. All right, out there. You stay where you are. You just stay put. There's no call you get mixed up in this. You just collect your money and forget about it. I couldn't do that. I can't collect until you walk into the courtroom. Listen, Paladin, I'll make it a thousand if you just walk away. You don't understand. You hired me to get you into that courtroom. And that's where you're going. To be tried for murder. Oh, hello, Amy, Mr. Bender. Here's your money, Paladin. $200. Thank you. Now that Holgate's in court, there's a lot of people in this town that are grateful to you today. But it's not in their nature to come out and admit it. Well, I... I'm admitting it. And with such a long face? I'm so ashamed. I... I'm confused. Why did you want me to hold your pay? Because... it's an honest face, too. What? Back to Bender again, Mr. Paladin. I'd be delighted. Goodbye. Mr. Paladin, welcome back to San Francisco. You have a good trip? More excitement than money, hey boy. But it's good to be home. I take you back. No, I'll manage. Oh, you have something valuable in it? No, just the tools of the trade. Oh, big secret. Something to upset Apocard? You might say so, yes. Oh, hey boy. That pretty young lady who is... Oh, yes, she's still here. I look plenty lonesome. And let's see. Was she blonde or brunette? Huh? Oh, well, it doesn't matter. Eat on, hey boy, and forget the papers tonight. Tonight's story was written by Sam Roth and adapted for radio by John Donkel. Featured in the cast were Jack Edwards, Jack Krushen, Virginia Christine, Olin Soleil, Roy Woods, and Vic Perron. Hugh Douglas speaking. Join us again next week for Have Gun! Will Travel.