The DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware, makers of better things for better living through chemistry, presents the cavalcade of America. Our story, the nugget and the law. Our star, Glenn Ford. My name is Will Coleman. William Tell Coleman, merchant of New York and California. My story begins the year before I first journeyed west. It begins in the winter of 1848 at a place called Sutter's Fort, where a gang of workmen are building a mill race. Scotty, Billy Scott. Yes, Mr. Marshall. Here, look. What do you make of this? Eh, sort of a yellowish rock. Where'd it come from? I dug it up myself. You don't think that... Right, I don't know. It could be. Well, the saly way is to tell us to boil it up in Saleratus water. Sort of cleaned up like. Maybe Mrs. Weemer has some. Let's go up the cabin, huh? Eh, might just be a rock. I'd give all the rocks in Sacramento Valley just for three days in San Francisco. Man, I ain't see to hiding the hair of a civilized white woman since... Here's Mrs. Weemer. Eh, she don't count. She ain't civilized. Quiet. Evening, Mrs. Pete. Evening. Quittin' time already? Supper ain't on. Ah, we ain't hungry yet, you old... Scotty. Mrs. Pete, you got some Saleratus water or some bacon soda? Uh-uh. No. What you want it from? We want you to boil up this rock in it. Boil up a rock? Yeah. Ain't gonna do it. Got no time. Gotta get supper for 13 men. Oh, please, come on. Well, you want your supper, don't you? Supper ain't ready. I got too much to do. What's boiling in that kettle yarn? Soap. Making some soap. Not that any of you scallywags ever wash, but I need it. You sure do. Ah, shut up. Mrs. Weemer, suppose I just throw this piece of rock into the soap kettle. That'll do as well, Scotty? Sure, sure, I suppose. That's not a lot of foolishness anyhow. Do you mind, Mrs. Pete? Oh, you're the crazy one. Go ahead. All right, here she goes. My dog is in a cold morning. Where's that kettle at? Over here. Cold soap. Dirty stuff. What a mess to stick your hand into. I can't find it, Scotty. It must be there somewhere. Hook around a bit more. All right. Here it is. Say. Great jumping gush of mud. Scotty, it ain't possible. It is. It is. That's us go, Jim. That's another one of those. Gold! Gold! Gold in California! Gold! Gold! That nugget, the first nugget, rests now in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Jim Marshall, who founded Dida Popper. But within a year, no fewer than 100,000 men surged out of every state in the Union to besiege the neighborhood of Mrs. Weemer's soap kettle. Villages were deserted, crops left to rot in the fields, army and navy posts abandoned by officers and men, ships scuttled and burned in the Golden Gate Harbor, while San Francisco grew into a boom town, a place where ham and eggs cost three dollars a plate, and a small gambling tent rented for forty thousand dollars a year. And it was into that unholy, boiling, witch's cauldron of a town that I, Will Coleman, stepped in my 26 years, and for the second time, the town had changed since my first visit. What can I do for you, stranger? I'd be obliged if you could tell me where I might find James King. James King, the banker. A fellow that calls himself James King of William? Yes, yes, that's him. Jim King ain't no banker no more. Ran out of money and out of luck. And where can I find him? He's an old friend of mine. Well Mr. Stranger, if you wish to turn your neck one quarter, turn to the left and look across the street, see what it says on that there big glass window? The Daily Evening Bulletin. James King of William Proprietor. Thank you, my friend. Sure, but I wouldn't go visitin' Jim King right now if I was you. Why not? Oh, it might not be healthy. I sort of got a hunch you'd better stay over here, this side of the street. Nonsense, I want to see James King. All right, have it your way, stranger, have it your way. It's a free country, go ahead, go right ahead. I walked slowly across the street, put my hand on King's doorknob and pushed. Sharp bell tinkled and then... Come in, it's a love of heaven come in if you're a friend. Here, get down behind this desk. Here, down, you fool. What's goin' on here? For just a little California fun, keep down. I guess they're gone. Who are they? Local friends of mine. They don't like my editorials. Who are you? Why all this holy? Will Coleman. Have I changed that much? Well, well, you look like an Easterner, man, all duty down. I couldn't stand it back there, no excitement. That's what I had to come back with. Say, this thing happen all the time around here. What? Well, the shooting. Only when my editorials are real good. Why don't you call the police? Man, you are a tenderfoot. I don't see why you take this lying down. I mean, aren't you gonna do something about it? Have a drink, Will? Oh, yeah, yeah, I kinda need it. So do I. I have a little special stock for just such an occasion. Here's to New York, Will. And California. And California. Under law and order within our borders. Yeah, you haven't answered my question, Jim. What are you gonna do about these people? I'm gonna sweep up the glass on the sidewalk outside and write me another editorial. Jim King and I had supper that night at the giant nugget hotel and bar. A place of amusement that filled almost an entire city block. Now, the fellow that owns this place, named Charlie Chora, blue chip Charlie Chora, he's quite a power in these parts nowadays. Oh, is he here now? No, not out here. Probably back in his office, behind that green bay's door yonder. That's where he entertains his bosses, the folks who took over this town. While you were gallivanting back east, was it Chora who shot you a place in? He hired the guns, yeah. Mine host paid him off in gold dust. Then they paid him off, what you call a kickback. Oh, yeah. Better sort of bring me up to date on it. All right, I'll make it short. You remember I got out here less than a year after Poet Jim Marshall fished up his nugget out of the soap kettle. For three months, I had a quarter of a million dollars in dust. Well, seen as how I'd been a businessman at home, like yourself, I started up a bank and I also got named to be the foreman of the first federal grand jury set up in San Francisco. People trusted you, huh? They did. I don't know why, but they did. And I took the job serious like. I bore down on certain crooks round about, the big ones. Then things began to happen in my bank. People I made loans to suddenly ran away or got killed in accidents, of course. Like the accident this morning? Sort of like that, yes. Well, in the end, my bank failed. I lost pretty near everything, saved just enough to buy a printing press. Well, who was behind this? Old man Palmer. He's taken over the city, the county, the whole state. Bill, that's a name I want you to remember. Sam W. Palmer, old man Palmer. I beg pardon, monsieur. What is it, William? Compromise of the management, monsieur. The champagne. One of Charlie Chora's little jokes. Well, who'd look a gift wine in the cork? Let's have it. There is a note, monsieur. There would be. Give it here. Here, you read it, Will. Dear Jim, if your friend is a newspaper man, tell him to go back to New York. If he's not a newspaper man, tell him to go back to New York anyhow. Sign the blue chip. You know, I like that man. Well, my friend, I understand the Sea Witch sales tomorrow for Panama and New York. Not with me aboard, Jim. I'm fond of this town, always was. Yet has color. Good. But just you remember that name, old man Palmer, in case anything happens to me. Oh, waiter. Yes? Open the wine, will you? May we? Wait a second. Jim, shouldn't we send a message back? You wish to stick your neck out, my friend? Sure, sure. It's a habit of mine. Where's that card? Here. Let's see, right on the back of it. You got a pencil? Yeah, right here. Thanks. To the blue chip and his boss. We see you and we raise you. We're staying in till the bay freezes over. Regards to old man Palmer. And now, waiter, you may open the wine. You're listening to the DuPont Cavalcade of America, starring Glenn Ford. And now Bill Hamilton speaking for the DuPont Company. Here's news about a new type of rayon. Fiber e-rayon made by DuPont is already popular in rugs and upholstery. And alert manufacturers are finding new uses for it. Children's cuddly toys are among the latest applications. Rayon is not a new fiber. As one of 13 major producers in this country, DuPont has been making it since 1920. But DuPont research continues to find ways of making it better and increasing its usefulness. Fiber e-rayon is one of the latest developments. Still newer types of this versatile fiber are now being tested in DuPont laboratories to bring you better things for better living through chemistry. And now we return to our Cavalcade story, The Nugget and the Law, starring Glenn Ford as William Coleman. As the months passed, James King of William went right on hammering away at crime, corruption, and the hidden bosses who ran the town. And somehow Jim and the bulletin stayed alive. I asked him once why he signed himself King of William. Well, I'm an eccentric cuss, Will. Well, I've noticed that. Yeah, what you might call an individualist. You see, William was my father's name back in Maryland. He was a fine man. I sort of, well, I worship my father. So James King of William, little showy maybe, but different. Well, it lends a certain air. Sort of a feather in your cap. Well, shucks, I like it. So do I. So do I. Well, Jim, I didn't come up here tonight to talk about your amiable air. Oh, yes, I'm an amiable cuss. That's it. You're too darned easy-going and likeable. You know, I've been talking with the United States District Attorney today. And you know something, Jim? In the last year since they pushed you off the grand jury, there have been 1,200 homicides in San Francisco and the county, and one man, just one man, was arrested, tried for murder, and executed. Yes, and he was innocent. Look, Jim, it's time to do more than just write editorials. Oh, you think so? Yes. Yes, I think so. Bill, five years ago, back in 1851, we had a vigilance committee. You'll recall that. Well, it petered out. That's the trouble with reformers. They peter out. I have kept unplugging alone. But you're not alone now, Jim. I found the 11 honest, respectable, solid men in San Francisco. There's hundreds of honest, respectable, solid men in San Francisco. Thousands. Trouble is, well, they won't stick their necks out. That's what I've learned in the past three years, fighting almost alone. But you've fought with words. Yes, and our enemies pay no attention to words, and so they've left me alive. But my words will win in the end. There isn't time. But Jim, believe me, there isn't time. I've asked my friends to join me here. And there's the first of them right now. I'll let them in. No, wait. Wait just a minute. Jim, I've asked each of these 11 men who he thought should lead the new vigilance committee. Each one of them nominated the same man. You. You, Jim. That was likable of him. Now, everybody knows you're the man to lead this fight. Everybody knows it, yes. Because I've stuck my neck out already way out. And once it leaks to Palmer and Chora what we're doing, and it will leak, I'll be a walking target. Will. We need a leader who's going to last for a little while. A secret leader. You see the sense of that? Yes, I suppose you're right. Will you take the job? I'll take it. With pleasure. Come in, gentlemen. Come in. We shall call ourselves then the Committee of Thirteen. And it shall be our object to make our numbers grow from thirteen into thousands into a great countywide statewide committee of vigilance. We shall proceed in secrecy until we are ready to act. A constitution has been drawn up for our committee, for we shall act always as far as possible in a constitutional manner without violence. You've elected Isaac Bluxom here as our secretary. Now, Ike, would you mind reading the suggested preamble to our constitution? Aye. It goes like this. Whereas it has become apparent to the citizens of San Francisco that there is no security for life and property either under the regulations of society as it at present exists or under the laws as now administered... Gentlemen, you will mark that passage well. Read it again, Ike. Or under the laws as now administered. Therefore, the citizens whose names are hereunto attached to unite themselves into an association for the preservation of the lives and property of the people of San Francisco. Thank you, Ike. Gentlemen, we are now in rebellion. Not against the laws of the state of California, but against the vultures who've betrayed those laws. Those who have brought the city we love to the edge of anarchy and disaster. Who is that? Me. Jimmy Casey. No way, I told you never to interrupt. It's important, boss. Awful important. All right. All right, come here. Sam Palmer to see you. Sam Palmer? Oh, it's so seldom we have the pleasure. Please sit down, Mr. Palmer. Yes, yes, yes, I will. Jimmy, some brandy for Mr. Palmer. Hurry up. Sure. Chora? Yes, Mr. Palmer. They're doing well. You're making money hand over fist, eh? Hand over fist. We do fairly well. Nonsense. They have a gold mine here. Better than any gold mine. You know why? You know how you get rich, eh? Oh, yes, some, Mr. Palmer. I give you 50% and you give me... Protection, Mr. Chora. You've been well protected, eh? No awkward questions from the police? No, Mr. Palmer, all is very smooth. Good. Now I want you to do me a favor, Mr. Chora. Anything, anything at all, Mr. Palmer. You just name it. I want you to kill Jim King. Poor Jim. I've always liked him, that crazy fellow. Is necessary, huh? Yes. The scribblers decided to back up his words with action. They've organized a new vigilance committee. 13 men. Soon there'll be many more. You're sure, Mr. Palmer? I mean, how did you find out? There were only 12 apostles, Mr. Chora. One of them was Judas. My information cost me just 30,000 pieces of silver. Mary. Yes, Jim. I think I'll take a little walk. Nice night. You look worried, Jim. What is it? Oh, nothing, nothing. I just feel like walking down to the nugget. Bye, dear. Jim King? Well, well, Mr. Casey. How is our friend the blue chip? Mr. Chora said I was to say he's very sorry. Sorry? Sorry for what? For this, Mr. King. Jim King alive was an important man, but a strange one. Not to be taken quite seriously by those respectable folk who thought only of today and never of future days, or of California. But Jim King, shot and dying, a martyr and a hero. While he lay nearing death of Casey's bullet, our committee of 13 flew to an army of more than 8,000 men under my command. And when we knew that Jim King would die... Halt! Rest! Men? Men, Chip Chora and Jimmy Casey are in the county jail now under the protection of the men they own. The men they've bought. The men you elected, the sheriff you elected. Yes, yes, you elected them. What's past is past. Each of you has given his pledge to follow in the way Jim King laid down for us. We will march on the jail in Sacramento Street. Yes, and we'll take Chora and Casey into our custody. But we'll give them a fair trial. A free trial under law. The law of the people of California. Mike Luxton, Captain Wakeman, Sam Brannon, see to it that we take Chora and Casey alive. Gentlemen of the extraordinary jury, have you reached a verdict? We have. And what is your verdict? We find the defendants Charles Chora and James Patrick Casey guilty of murderous charge. Every decent citizen of California will thank you. It is therefore the decision of this court that Charles Chora and James Patrick Casey shall be taken from this courtroom and hanged by the neck until dead. Yes, this young man, speak up, speak up, who are you? I represent James King of William. Oh yes, poor Jim King. Such an interesting chap. You represent him you say? Yes, he's dead I believe. Yes, you ordered his death. Did I? Stop it you old fool, stop acting of course you did. I can't listen, help me, help me. There's no one here who can help you now, you have no servants. What are you going to do? I should. You're going to kill me? I should kill you. A man I command will wonder why I don't kill you. But I know what Jim King would do, he'd let you go. He was ever a fool. He was a great man, he knew that violence makes violence. Yes it does, that's life, that's living, if you're strong enough to kill and you win by killing. What do you win? Who cares? To win is enough, the only good thing is to win. But you have lost Sam Palmer. Have I? Yes. There's a very small fishing schooner sailing tomorrow from Mazaland in Mexico under the Mexican flag. You will be aboard her when she sails. As you wish, yes, yes you've won. For a little while. Jim King has won. The Jim Kings never win. I'll be back, oh not this old bag of bones, but someone like me, someone like me will be back. Yes, yes I suppose so. But you know maybe there's one thing you've forgotten. Really now, and what's that? Jim King, he'll be back too. And the last word is one that Jim King might have written in the editorial columns of the Daily Evening Bulletin of San Francisco. He might have said, it is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance. Which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt. Our thanks to Glenn Ford and the Cavalcade players for tonight's true story. And now Bill Hamilton speaking for the DuPont Company. About 20 years ago, an enterprising young man named Lynn Murray opened a small tire retreading shop in Houston, Texas and became a customer for DuPont rubber chemicals. Although his purchases didn't amount to more than $50 a year at first, a DuPont technical sales service representative called on him from time to time. It's the job of DuPont's field representatives to keep in touch with DuPont customers and to offer them helpful technical information. One day the technical service man told Mr. Murray about the unusual properties of a new product, neoprene chemical rubber. The fact that neoprene resists damaged petroleum gave the alert young businessman an idea. His shop was in the heart of the rapidly expanding Texas oil fields. So he made up his mind to try his hand at making neoprene products for the oil industry. The changeover from tire retread work presented many new technical problems and DuPont specialists provided technical help. Lynn Murray learned quickly and his business grew because it met a real need in the oil country. Neoprene products molded to specifications lasted indefinitely where other rubber products disintegrated in weeks or months. Within 10 years, the small shop grew into a flourishing factory. And today, the Murray Rubber Company employs 190 people and is still growing because it's an important supplier to the petroleum industry. There are many examples of this kind among DuPont's 75,000 customers, men like Lynn Murray who have the initiative and the enterprise to develop new ideas. They all play an important part in bringing you better things for better living through chemistry. Tonight's DuPont Cavalcade was written by George H. Faulkner. Original music was composed by Arden Cornwell, conducted by Donald Borey. The program was directed by John Zoller. With our star, Glen Ford, you heard Ed Begley as King, Arthur Maitland as Palmer. Mrs. Sy Harris reminded you to be with us next week when the DuPont Cavalcade will present The Short Straw, starring Irene Dunn. The DuPont Cavalcade of America came to you from the Belasco Theater in New York City and is sponsored by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware, makers of better things for better living through chemistry. Just for laughs, listen to Red Skelton on NBC.
