Slaughter's my name. Luke Slaughter. Cattle's my business. It's a tough business. It's a big business. I got a big stake in it. There's no man west of the Rio Grande big enough to take it from me. Luke Slaughter of Tombstone. Luke Slaughter of Tombstone. Civil War cavalry man turned Arizona cattleman. Across the territory from Yuma to Fort Defiance, from Flagstaff to the Huachucas and below the border through Chihuahua and Sonora, his name was respected or feared depending on which side of the law you were on. Man of vision. Man of legend. Luke Slaughter of Tombstone. It was a long hot ride to Laredo. We had to get a little bit of a ride to Laredo. The last day I pushed it hard, eating dust all the way. I didn't know if I'd be in time or not. When I rode up to the canteen in town and went inside, I saw I was. Barely in time. The two of them were sitting at a corner table. From the sound of it, the deal was just about closed. Excuse me, gents. You Ben Wilkins? Why, yes. President of the Cattleman's Association? Yes, that's right. I don't think I know you. Look, mister, we're talking business. That's why I'm here, Hancock. How come you know my name? Wilkins, I understand you're aiming to bring a herd of cattle up from Mexico into Texas. What's that to you? You're missing a good bed. Why don't you drive them west to Arizona? Arizona? That's right. Haven't you heard about the new mines opening up around Tombstone? Everybody and his brothers headed out there, and they all gotta eat. That means a good market for beef. A lot better price than you get around here. He's crazy, Wilkins. That's too far to drive a herd. Yeah, it's sure too dangerous anyway. Why, there's banditos, rustlers, even Indians maybe. I took a herd out there last month. There wasn't near enough to take care of all those beef-eating miners. I'll drive your herd out there for you, for a percentage. Now, you just shut that big mouth of yours, mister, whoever you are. I'm the one who drives Wilkins' herds wherever they go. Oh, Wilkins, you can't afford Jess Hancock anymore. What do you mean? The last herd he brought across the border for you. How many did he lose along the way? Why, 43 head. Could have happened to anyone. Banditos, that's what it was. Mexican bandits, huh? Here's a bill of sale might interest you, Wilkins. Seems last week a rancher named Hollister bought 43 head in good faith, paid for him proper. Man who sold him was Jess Hancock. What? That's a lie. Take a look, Wilkins. That Hancock signature? Wow. It sure is. Nobody's gonna accuse me of wrestling with you. Don't try it, Hancock. I can kick that gun out of your hand before you get it loose from their holster. You just try it, man. You convinced Hancock? Who are you, mister? Slaughter. Luke Slaughter. I've heard of you, mister Slaughter, but I didn't know you was in these parts. You don't have to mister me, Wilkins. Just Slaughter's good enough. Hancock, the Association's gonna hear about this. If those are the same 43 head, we'll see about that. Slaughter, you said Arizona, huh? A lot of hungry miners in Tombstone. Bigger price, huh? Half again as much. Meet me back here in an hour. You got yourself a job. I'll be here, Wilkins. You hear me, Slaughter. I don't care what your reputation is. You ain't gonna beat me out of this. I'll stop you. Here I am, Hancock, and now's as good a time as any. Go ahead. Yeah, you can talk mighty tall with my gun laying there on the floor. Oh, yeah. Your gun. There it is, Hancock, and I'm just as far from that table it's sitting on as you are. Now go ahead. These, uh, these other ways, Slaughter. These other ways. Now look, Slaughter, when you signed for this job, you guaranteed me six good trail hands. I didn't know you were just gonna pick them cold out of the bar here. That's the difference, Wilkins. They're not good hands, and now they will be by the time we get to Tombstone. I'll see to that. Yeah, I guess you will. How many you got so far? Two Mexican boys who know the country pretty well and a cook. Still leaves you three shy. I'll get them. Say mister, your name's Slaughter? Yeah. Mine's Rusty. I hear you're looking for trail hands. Maybe. You ever been to Tombstone? Not with a herd. Didn't know anybody had. This will be the second. I've been almost every place else. You can take a herd, a guest, Dodge City, Cheyenne, the panhandle, you name it. All right. I'll take you. You the one that's hiring, mister? That's right. You look a little old for the drive I've got in mind. Tombstone's a long way. Don't worry about that, now. I'll keep up. What's your name? They call me Wichita. All right, Wichita. You're on. Got room for one more, Slaughter? Who are you, son? Name's Carson. Jim Carson. You ever ridden trail before? No, but I don't figure it'd be too tough. Besides, Slaughter, I come in handy when there's trouble. Oh. How about when there's work? I'll work. I need the money. I want to buy me a gun. You already got a gun. I want to get me another one. All right, I'll put you on. You say your name was Jimmy? It's not Jimmy. It's Jim. I don't like being called Jimmy. Go get your stuff together, Jimmy. I guess you didn't hear me, Slaughter. I said I don't like being called Jimmy. You want to come along or don't you? I want to come. Then get moving, Jimmy. I don't like that one, Slaughter. He's on the prod. Could be, Wilkins. I take a chance with him, then. I don't want any trouble with this herd. Just a minute, Wilkins. I didn't guarantee no trouble. Matter of fact, I'd be surprised if there wasn't. I guarantee just one thing to bring that herd through. That you can count on. I've seen young punks like him before, Slaughter. They go around with a chip on their shoulder trying to show how tough they are. He probably heard about you. What about me, Wichita? No, friends. You've got a kind of reputation, that's all. Punk like that, sooner or later, you'll probably want to find out how tough you are. Maybe. I heard him shooting off his mouth at the bar earlier about how he'd gunned down a couple of men here and there. Oh. I bet he's awful green on the trail, though. You can sew him the ropes, Rusty. Maybe the trail will take some of the toughness out of him. Anyway, I need what men we can get. He goes with us. You're the boss. Where are we heading from here? Delgada. Little town below the border. That's where we pick up the herd. When we leaving? Soon as we saddle up. Tonight? Yeah. We should be able to hit the trail with the cattle tomorrow afternoon. Make a few miles toward Doomstone before dark. What's the hurry? There's a man named Jess Hancock who wouldn't mind making a little trouble for me. I want that herd all in one piece to start with anyway. Pretty good looking herd, Rusty. Yeah, but no herd's worth pounding leather like we did all the way down here to Delgada. Slaughter said he wanted to make it by this afternoon. He did. Where is he anyway? Sign the papers over there at the pens. I don't see why we can't hang around town tonight. Leave in the morning. Well, why not take it up with the boss? Here he comes. You think you're pretty funny, don't you, Wichita? Just once in a while, son. Well, I guess we're all ready. Rusty, how about the cook? Oh, he's got all the grub loaded in the chuck wagon ready to roll. Good. Señor. Señor. What? You're Slaughter? Yeah, who are you? I'm Carlotta. You are going to Arizona? Yeah, Tombstone. Why? Take me with you. What? I want to get away from this place. I want to go to Arizona. Please take me with you. Sorry. What are you doing here, Carlotta? Come on, back to the canteen where you belong. Well, well, Jess Hancock. How come you're down here? This is my stamp and ground slaughter. Or was. I ain't forgot. I didn't figure you had. First you take my job, now you try to take my girl. Just a minute, Hancock. Don't get things any more twisted up than you can help. Get moving, Carlotta. You leave me alone. Get home. I hope you have a real pleasant trip to Tombstone, Slaughter. I better have. Getting pretty dark, Slaughter. Don't you reckon we'd better get that herd better down for the night? A little further. You've been avoiding the regular trail. Expecting trouble? I usually do, Wichita. I've been watching you around horses, Slaughter. Been thinking you was in the cavalry. Oh? I heard about a man named Slaughter once. Commanded a regiment from Illinois in the war. Yeah. Raiders, they were. Used to raid across the line. This slaughter I heard about, he always used to come back leading a string of Confederate horses with their saddles empty. I've been thinking you're the same Slaughter. And I've been thinking you're a pretty nosy old man. Yep, that's me. Well, this is far enough. Rusty, go bed down here. Right. Wichita, that chuck wagon of ours. I just saw the tarp move. There's somebody inside. Yeah, I saw too. All right, Carlotta. Get out of there. Please, Senor, I want to go to Tombstone. You picked the wrong way. But you don't send me back now. It's night. It's wild country. You wouldn't do that, would you? You counted on that, didn't you? All right, you'll go with us. Gracias. But you'll earn your way. You'll help the cook. You'll clean up after him. You'll wash the dishes. Work me like a horse, huh? Or maybe you like the horses better. There's one big difference. I invited the horses. After we bedded down the herd, the cook wrestled up some grub. Carlotta was plenty sullen, but she worked. Jimmy kept eye on her, so I figured I'd better put him on night herd. I turned in around midnight. Everything was peaceful, but it didn't stay that way very long. Slaughter, you hear that? Yeah. Where'd they come from? Well, I don't know, but it's got the herd riled up. There they go. They stampede and slaughter. They stampede and... In a moment, Luke Slaughter of Tombstone returns. Somebody ought to set Jack Benny straight about how to make a movie because he's at it again. When you join him later on today, CBS Radio's misguided matinee idol will attempt his own version of a famous movie. To make it even better, Hollywood producer Stanley Kramer, who made the movie, will be right there when he does. For a hilarious example of how not to make a motion picture, hear the Jack Benny show later today on most of these same stations. Henry Morgan and Mitch Miller will be around following Jack Benny. Henry Morgan is host on the fast and funny guessing game Says Who. His star-studded panel of experts spark one laugh after another as they try to identify memory-teasing mystery voices. And speaking of stars, you'll find an hour of fast and funny conversation with the biggest name stars of Hollywood and Broadway waiting for you on CBS Radio's Mitch Miller show tonight. And now, Act Two of William M. Robeson's production of Luke's Slaughter of Tombstone. I thought I'd seen everything slaughter, but I guess I was wrong. What do you mean? Riding into that herd the way you did, you know, a better way to turn them. You could have been run down kill maybe to me. Come out over here. Look, look slaughter up on the ridge. Small fire could be Indians. We'll go up and take a look in a minute. What do you want slaughter? Those two shots that started the stampede sounded like they came from over near where you were. You fire those shots to me. I said, did you fire those shots? Yeah. Why? I thought I saw something moving in the dark near me. Figured it could be trouble. So you just hold up and blast it away. Pretty spooky with that six gun of yours, aren't you? I tell you, I thought someone was coming at me. You almost cost us the whole herd. You want two of those guns, but one's too much for you. I'm taking your six gun, Jimmy. No, you ain't slaughter. I'll leave you your rifle in case you run into trouble on the way to Tombstone. I can't take any more chances on that itchy trigger finger of yours. I hand it over. Ain't nobody going to take my gun away from me. I'll draw on you before I let you. No, you won't. I'd maybe you ain't heard about them two men I gun slaughter. Yeah, you were shooting off your mouth about it in the saloon, but I don't believe it, Jimmy. You never gunned a man and you're not going to start now. Now hand it over. But first, let's have it. All right. Now get back to the herd. You've taken a lot away from that kid slaughter. First calling him Jimmy and now taking his gun. I had no choice. Even so, you cut him up and he won't forget it. You're trying to be my conscience or something, Wichita. Oh, like you say, I'm just an old, old man. Then let's go nose around that fire up on the ridge. There's some dirt on that fire, Wichita. Get it out. Nobody around here. You know, this could be a signal fire. Think it was Indians at Liddich? I doubt it. I think it was intended as a signal for Jess Hancock so he could locate the herd. You suggesting somebody in our outfit set off the fire? Could be. With the stampede, we was all there. The fire could have been lit just before the stampede. You say somebody in the outfit added it included me? Yeah. Right now, Wichita, there's only one person in the outfit I'm sure of. Who's that? Me. I tell you, I didn't start the fire slaughter. I wouldn't help Hancock. I told you I want to get away from him. I know that's what you told me, Carlotta. But you don't believe me. You think I'm still Hancock's girl. Why don't you trust me? Why don't you be nice to me, huh? Maybe I could be your muchacha. Sorry. But now my job's riding herd on cattle, not women. Oh, would you make me sick? You don't care about nobody but yourself. Is she right, slaughter? What? Oh, Wichita. I might have known you'd be listening. Yep. Well, slaughter, the herd's quieted down. Two Mexican boys are keeping an eye on it. Did Carlotta admit anything? No. I wouldn't trust her any. I don't, Rusty. You want us for anything more or can we turn in? In a minute. I want to lay out the plans for tomorrow. I think we're in for some trouble. How so? We've got two possible routes through the country ahead, Rusty, through a narrow pass or along the river bottom. The question is which way to take the herd. You expectin' to be drag ghost? I wouldn't be surprised, do me. That narrow pass would be the logical place for a bushwhacking. Why not take the herd through along the river bottom? Well, there's one thing wrong with that, Rusty. It could be just what Hancock wants you to do. Right. You might be trying to out figure me. There's a lot of willows and underbrush along that river bottom. You could be holed up there. That's why we're gonna take the herd through the pass. We'll start right after sunup. I didn't know if my bluff would work or not. It was the only way I could find out who Hancock's spy was. I rode away from camp toward the herd. Wherever it was, I had to give him a chance to make a move and it didn't take long. Pretty soon I heard muffled hooves moving away. I rode back to camp and took a look. It was Rusty. He was gone. Carlotta's gone too, Slaughter. I guess she wasn't so anxious to get away from Hancock as she let on. So Rusty's gone to tell him that we're bringing the herd through the pass. It's just what I wanted him to do. Unless he knows this country a lot better than I do, he's gonna lead me right to Hancock. You're going after him? Yeah. They should give me the slip. We're gonna be in for some trouble. What do you want us to do? Split the outfit in two, Wichita. Take half the herd through the pass, the other half through the river bottom. Be ready for trouble, especially in the pass. Let me take the pass, Slaughter. You, uh, you're sure you want to? Yeah, real sure. And I think I can handle it. I think you can too. Oh, and, uh, you might be needing that six gun of yours. Here it is, Jim. Thanks. Luke? Slaughter'll do. Get moving at sunup. Join up on the other side and wait for me. I picked up Rusty's trail. He was headed for the ridge between the pass and the river bottom. He was getting light when I reached a shortcut where I could gain some ground on him, but I gained too much. Just as I got back to the trail again, a horse came pounding around the bend carrying Rusty and Carlotta. He pulled up when he spotted me and shoved Carlotta off. Get off! Then I saw I'd been holding a gun on her. His slug burned my shirt as I dove at him. Slaughter, you... You all right, Carlotta? I think so. Rusty made me go with him. He was taking me back to Hancock. Slaughter! This came from all those rocks up above there. Take cover. All right. Oh, I can walk. My ankle is twisted. All right. All right. I'll carry you. Get her up behind this rock. You'll be all right. There. Sit here. You'll be safe now. I was wrong about you, Slaughter. What do you mean? You do care about somebody besides yourself. Gracias. It's got to be Hancock up there in those rocks. Here. Take my rifle and stay put. I'm going to try and circle around behind him. There was a big shoulder of rock above me and to my left. If I could get around that, I might be able to get behind Hancock if he didn't hear me coming. There he was, 20 yards away. His back to me. His gun in the holster so he could get a better handhold as he edged his way along the rocks. I holstered my own gun and stepped out into the clear. Hancock! Slaughter! Yeah. Here I am, Hancock. Now go ahead. Draw. I don't like it, Wichita. Slaughter should have been here by now. He'll be long, Jim. Maybe we ought to head up there and see if we can find him. He could be in trouble. He said wait for him here. Even so, maybe... Here he is, coming up the draw. Carlotta's with him. Ain't that Rusty's horse she's riding? Yeah. And Slaughter's leading another one. Uh-huh. With an empty saddle. Heard all right? Yeah, all in one piece. No trouble. But looks like you had some. A little. That horse you're leading, is it Hancock's? It was. I knew you could outdraw him. Matter of fact, the draw was about even. But how come you... Jim, you've got a couple of things to learn. It isn't getting your gun out of your holster that's the most important thing. It's what you do with it once it's out. You figure Hancock was after the herd or after Carlotta? I didn't take time to ask him, Wichita. Luke Slaughter of Tombstone starring Sam Buffington. Written by Robert Stanley with editorial supervision by Tom Hanley and directed by William N. Robeson. Supporting Mr. Buffington in the first of this new series were Lillian Bief, Eddie Marr, Herb Vigran, Sam Edwards, Junius Matthews and Vic Perrin. Next week at this time we return with... Slaughter's the name. Luke Slaughter. When we meet up again you can call me that. Luke Slaughter.
