TV-14 | 30min | Western, TV Series | Episode aired 4 November 1957
Jim Hardie is called in when a stagecoach is robbed near the Arizona/New Mexico border. He is told that the only thing taken was a yellow mongrel dog. Investigating further he learns that the dog's collar may provide evidence to a murder.
Director: Earl Bellamy
Writers: Steve Fisher
Stars: Dale Robertson, Penny Edwards, Gregg Palmer
Jim Hardie is called in when a stagecoach is robbed near the Arizona/New Mexico border. He is told that the only thing taken was a yellow mongrel dog. Investigating further he learns that the dog's collar may provide evidence to a murder.
Director: Earl Bellamy
Writers: Steve Fisher
Stars: Dale Robertson, Penny Edwards, Gregg Palmer
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00One of the strangest, most mystifying stagecoach robberies in the files of Wells Fargo took
00:26place on top of a pass near the New Mexico-Arizona desert.
00:56The two bandits failed to stop the coach in a trap they had set up, so they raced after
01:05it, firing continuously.
01:11When the shotgun messenger was winged, the driver decided to stop before anyone else
02:54could.
02:55The two men that did it are guilty of wounding you, Robin Wells Fargo Express, molesting
03:00one of our stages.
03:02Why would they go to all of that bother over a dog?
03:05I'd sure like to know.
03:06Well, that makes two of us.
03:08Not only that, we've got to deliver that dog, as agreed.
03:12That may turn out to be quite a job.
03:15You got the name of the man it was to go to?
03:17Got that Bill O'Laden here somewhere.
03:22I'll go by and have a talk with him before I leave town.
03:38Is your name Anderson?
03:40That's right.
03:41I spent the better part of an hour trying to track you down.
03:44Oh?
03:45Well, what do you want?
03:47My name's Hardy.
03:48I'm an investigator for Wells Fargo.
03:51A crate containing a little dog being shipped to you was taken off one of our stages.
03:55A dog, you say?
03:57Yeah, I understand it was a little yellow dog, kind of a mixed breed.
04:00Well, it must be Hank, my brother's dog.
04:02He had a gold mine a mile or two outside of Santa Fe.
04:05You say he had a gold mine?
04:07Yes, he was killed the day before yesterday.
04:10Fell down a mine shaft.
04:12I'm sorry to hear that.
04:13I just heard about it this morning.
04:17Somebody tried to send you his dog?
04:19I guess so.
04:21Ed and he were just about inseparable.
04:24Hank's only a mutt, you know.
04:26But you ought to see some of the tricks he knows.
04:28He's as smart as they come.
04:30Even so, why would anybody want to take him?
04:33I don't know.
04:35You can't think of any possible reason?
04:37No, not a single one.
04:40Well, neither can I.
04:41Well, he isn't worth anything.
04:43He is to Wells Fargo.
04:45I've got a reputation for delivering freight without losing it.
04:49It's a reputation I want to maintain.
04:52Well, if anyone does find him, I'll be in Santa Fe.
04:54I quit my job as soon as I heard the news.
04:57I'll be leaving tomorrow.
04:59Oh.
05:01All right, Mr. Anderson.
05:03Then I'll see you there.
05:04I hope when I do, I've got Hank with me.
05:16I retraced the trail the stage had taken back to the area of the holdup.
05:28The crate was there.
05:30They had broken it open and taken the dog out.
05:36But what had they done with him?
05:38It wasn't likely they really wanted him.
05:40It didn't make sense.
05:42There had to be some other reason for the robbery.
05:45But I didn't know what it was.
05:48I couldn't even guess.
06:12Hank.
06:23Yeah.
06:24Good answer, isn't he?
06:28You can't go a bad way, aren't you, old fellow?
06:31Why didn't you get in out of the sun?
06:35Didn't have the strength, eh?
06:37Why don't we get you to a water hole I know about near here?
06:43Yeah.
06:48Think you want a little coffee, Hank?
06:50Hmm?
06:55What have you got here?
06:58Huh?
07:01If only the heat had got you, would it?
07:03Feels like somebody kicked a rib out of you there.
07:06Yes, sir.
07:09It's all right if you can't talk.
07:12I understand it.
07:15Too bad the old dogs can't talk.
07:18Tell about some of the things that folks do to them.
07:21And I guess it's a good thing you can't.
07:24Probably be talking too much, wouldn't you?
07:29We'll rest here for the night.
07:32And we'll go on in the morning.
07:34Want some water?
07:43We never caught up with the two bandits.
07:46But the trail led straight to Santa Fe, and ended.
07:49They were here in town, all right.
07:51But where?
07:53I decided before I started looking for them, I'd go out to Ed Anderson's gold mine.
07:57See what I could find.
08:06Maybe some clue as to why Hank had been taken off of the stagecoach,
08:10then abandoned in the desert.
08:13There had to be some answer, some explanation.
08:36Is this your home, boy?
08:38Is this your home, boy?
08:51No use for it. He's not here.
09:09Hank!
09:15Who are you?
09:16My name's Jim Hardy, with Wells Fargo.
09:19But I just sent him to Tucson by Wells Fargo.
09:22I know, but he didn't make it.
09:24Why?
09:25Two bandits held up our coach and took him off.
09:28Kicked him around a little bit, left him in the desert to die.
09:33Why in the world would anybody want to hurt you?
09:36I wish I knew.
09:38Where's his collar?
09:40Did he have one?
09:42He had a beautiful one.
09:44Ed made it himself.
09:47Carved leather.
09:50Yeah.
09:51I know, I just saw some of his handiwork.
09:55He could do almost anything with leather.
09:58It was his hobby.
10:00Sounds like you knew him pretty well.
10:02We were going to be married.
10:06Why were you sending him to Tucson?
10:08Because I promised.
10:10Ed said if anything ever happened to him,
10:12he wanted Jeff, his brother, to have the dog.
10:15What do you think was going to happen?
10:17He wouldn't talk about it.
10:21Did he have any enemies that you knew about?
10:24No.
10:25Everybody liked Ed.
10:27Oh, his death was an accident.
10:29No doubt about that.
10:30In case you're thinking it wasn't.
10:32Must have had a premonition of something.
10:36Yes.
10:38Yes, I guess he did.
10:42I see you have some of your personal belongings with you.
10:45My father bought them mine from Ed a week or two ago.
10:48We're moving out here.
10:50Who is your father?
10:52Sam.
10:55Who is your father?
10:57Seth Hill.
10:58He has an office in Santa Fe.
11:02What about you?
11:03Do you have a name?
11:05Mm-hmm.
11:07Sally.
11:09You're a pretty girl, Sally.
11:13Did you by any chance know the brother?
11:16Oh, yes.
11:17Jeff used to live out here with Ed.
11:19They worked the mine together.
11:21Then they had a fight and Jeff moved away.
11:25What'd they fight about?
11:29Me.
11:32Well, let me see if I've got this straight.
11:34Ed sold the mine to your father?
11:36After Jeff pulled out, Ed didn't want the place anymore.
11:41We were going away.
11:44What business did your father in?
11:46He's a lawyer.
11:48But he doesn't have many clients left, you see.
11:50There's a new lawyer in town.
11:53Well, anyway.
11:56Ed let my father have the mine cheap.
11:59On my account, I guess.
12:02Mind if I go in and have a talk with him?
12:05No.
12:07No, of course not.
12:13You keep an eye on that little fella till I get back?
12:16Gladly.
12:21I practically raised both Ed and Jeff Anderson.
12:26They were like sons to me.
12:29How much did you pay for the mine, Mr. Hill?
12:32Frankly, Mr. Hardy, I don't think that's any of your concern.
12:37Oh, well.
12:38In the first place, it wasn't an outright sale.
12:41He was going to get a percentage of everything I took out of it.
12:46Do you have any papers to that effect?
12:48No.
12:49There were no papers.
12:51Ed trusted me.
12:53Did he give you a deed to the mine?
12:56Of course he did.
12:59Good.
13:00All right, Mr. Hill.
13:01I'll be talking with you later on.
13:02Anytime.
13:03Anytime at all.
13:04Get freshened up a little, run back out to the mine,
13:06see if Sally needs any help unloading the rig.
13:08Good.
13:09Good day, sir.
13:10Good day.
13:18Hello, Hank.
13:49Is he...
13:50He's dead.
13:53It's Curly Nelson.
13:55Do you know him?
13:56Just a look, Ed.
13:57He's a...
13:59He was a town tough.
14:01Never worked.
14:02He was working just a little while ago.
14:04He hired his gun out to somebody that wanted me killed.
14:07Mr. Hardy, I'm frightened.
14:10Hank has been acting peculiarly ever since you left.
14:13Now this...
14:14How do you mean?
14:15Running in and out of the mine, barking.
14:17His hair bristling as if he's seen a ghost.
14:21Do you suppose it was Curly Nelson he saw?
14:25I don't know.
14:27If Hank's still in there, I'll have a look.
14:48Hank.
15:06Dried blood.
15:08What's that all?
15:10Isn't that enough?
15:12I don't understand.
15:14Hank smelled his blood and knew something was wrong.
15:17Maybe he even knew whose blood it was.
15:20Somebody sent Nelson out here to kill me.
15:21That's proof there's a murderer around.
15:24And I think you're wrong about Anderson's death.
15:25I don't believe it was accidental.
15:28It's my guess he was hit on the head with this rock and killed
15:30and his body thrown down the mine shaft.
15:33Ed murdered?
15:36I'd bet my bottom dollar on it.
15:38But who'd want it?
15:40Why would anybody?
15:42That's what I intend to find out.
15:48Want me to go with you?
15:50No, if you testify at the inquest, that'll be enough.
15:53Curly tried to kill you.
15:55I saw him. That's what I'll say.
15:58You think he's the one who dumped Anderson's body down the shaft?
16:01He'd have no reason.
16:03He had no reason to try to kill me either.
16:06You mean somebody might have hired him to kill Ed?
16:11But who?
16:13I don't know.
16:14Somebody hired him to kill Ed?
16:16But who?
16:23Hello, Sally.
16:24Jeff.
16:25Howdy.
16:27I didn't expect you till tomorrow, Mr. Anderson.
16:30There's no reason to hang around Tucson.
16:32Long, hard trip, wasn't it?
16:34Yeah. Desert all the way.
16:37Nice clean shave you got.
16:39Oh, I guess I was in Santa Fe ahead of you.
16:41I traded horses at Yellow Rock and came straight on through.
16:45Did you come back to run the mine?
16:48No. No, I walked out of here. I told Ed it was all his.
16:52The day your brother was killed, were you in Tucson?
16:57Well, not that particular day. I...
16:59Where were you?
17:01Out prospecting.
17:03Were you alone?
17:04Yeah. Why?
17:07You could have come back here.
17:09You could have slipped in without anybody seeing you.
17:11What are you trying to say?
17:13Trying to say that I think your brother's murdered.
17:15Murdered?
17:17Are you accusing me of maybe coming...
17:19I was just thinking of the reasons you'd have.
17:21The motive.
17:23The gold, the girl.
17:25Revenge on a brother that you might have had a grudge against.
17:28Why you?
17:30I was just thinking.
17:32Jeff wouldn't have hurt Ed.
17:34Neither would anybody else, but somebody did.
17:36They hurt him pretty bad.
17:38Well, if my brother was murdered, mister,
17:39what's the business of Wells Fargo?
17:41If it's tied in with two men
17:43that took a dog off a Wells Fargo stagecoach, it is.
17:48Now, wait a minute.
17:50That's my dog.
17:52I'm going after those two men.
17:54I don't know what they look like, but he does.
17:57You mean you want him to help you find them?
18:00Any objections?
18:02But you don't even know where to look.
18:04If they just got paid,
18:06they're going to be in town somewhere spending the money.
18:07I want to find out who sent them after that dog and why.
18:10Who paid them?
18:12Are you afraid of some of the answers they might give?
18:16Of course not.
18:18If you do locate them,
18:20please let us know what it was they're looking for
18:22when they robbed the stage.
18:24If it wasn't Hank, they let him go.
18:27Yes, ma'am.
18:29The two of you wait here till I get back.
18:38What was it they were after?
18:40I remembered seeing Ed Anderson's fancy leather work
18:43and Sally saying that Hank was wearing a carved leather collar
18:46when she had shipped him,
18:48one that Anderson had made himself.
18:50It couldn't be the collar alone that they wanted,
18:53so it had to be something sewn up in the lining,
18:56a piece of paper maybe,
18:58like the deed to a gold mine.
19:00Seth Hill had said he had that deed.
19:03Maybe he had the collar too.
19:05I decided to find out
19:07before I went after the robbers at the stagecoach.
19:10Because if it was true,
19:12I could tie everything up in one neat package.
19:15Robbery of the stage and the murder of Ed Anderson.
19:34♪
20:04♪
20:34Can I help you?
20:37I was looking for the dog's collar.
20:41You broke into my office, Mr. Hardy.
20:44I've got every right to shoot and kill you as a common prowler.
20:48But why would you want to do that, Mr. Hill?
20:50Unless you've got something to hide?
20:52Maybe I do have,
20:54but you're not going to be alive to talk about it.
20:56It was you that hired Curly Nelson to kill me.
20:59Only you missed. Now you're going to have to do it yourself, huh?
21:02But I won't miss.
21:04Turn around. Take out that third book on the second shelf.
21:07Look behind it.
21:16You murdered Ed Anderson for the deed to his mine.
21:19Curly Nelson did that.
21:21You were paying him.
21:23Anderson was going to take Sally away with him.
21:25He was going to give the mine to his brother.
21:27They were going to leave me here with nothing.
21:29Maybe that's what he figured you were worth, Mr. Hill.
21:31Exactly nothing.
21:32If you hadn't killed, you must have looked everywhere for that deed.
21:35But you knew Anderson well enough to know that he'd tricked you,
21:37even in death, through his leather work.
21:39Pretty smart, aren't you?
21:41You remember how he'd always told Sally,
21:43if anything ever happens to me, be sure and send the dog to my brother.
21:45That was when you realized that he'd been afraid of you all along
21:47and had planned on sending the deed to his brother
21:49and it wrapped around the dog's neck.
21:51Only you're going to have to keep looking, Mr. Hill,
21:53because it isn't here.
21:55Where is it?
21:57You want me to guess?
21:59Where is it?
22:00You went to the thieves and told them
22:02all you wanted was a dog's collar.
22:04I paid them. I paid them $600.
22:06That's just it.
22:08They must have got to wondering
22:10why was a dog's collar worth $600.
22:12They opened it up, took out the deed and sewed it back up.
22:14Double-crossed me.
22:16Yeah, but they don't look at it that way.
22:18You paid them for a dog's collar.
22:20That's what you got, that and nothing more.
22:22Those crooks.
22:24You knew they were crooks when you hired them.
22:26Those filthy thieves!
22:30I let him go because I knew
22:32he'd be looking for the same two men I was.
22:34My hope was to find them before he did.
22:39Hank and I went from one end of Santa Fe to the other
22:42and I would have sworn the little dog
22:44knew exactly who we were looking for.
22:46We'd already been to two saloons.
22:48Now we headed for the third
22:50and the last one.
23:01Woof!
23:03Woof!
23:05Woof!
23:11Hold it!
23:13Get their guns.
23:20Did you leave that dog out there to die?
23:24I asked a question, I want an answer.
23:28Yeah, we did it.
23:31Woof!
23:33Woof!
23:49Where's the deed to the gold mine?
23:51He doesn't know what you're talking about,
23:53neither do I.
23:57Then maybe he does.
24:01You're the first man that moves a muscle.
24:05You thieves, you filthy thieves!
24:07Did you think you could double-cross me
24:09and get away with it?
24:11You better give him what he wants.
24:14Go on, give it to him.
24:20Now we'll all go for a walk.
24:22Get up.
24:31Come on, Hank.
24:33Wells Fargo owes you a nice fresh bone.
24:35Woof!