In just a moment you'll hear James Stewart as the six shooter, just one of the many great stars brought to you Sundays on NBC. Every Sunday here Hume Cronin and Jessica Tandy in the marriage. Sir Lawrence Olivier on Theater Royal. Lawrence Tibbett with the golden voices. Ellen Hayes, Fredric March, Rex Harrison and Lily Palmer on the NBC Star Playhouse. All of them heard only on NBC. James Stewart as the six shooter. The man in the saddle is angular and long legged. His skin is sundyed brown. The gun in his holster is gray steel and rainbow mother of pearl. Its handle unmarked. People call them both the six shooter. The NBC radio network presents James Stewart as the six shooter, a transcribed series of radio dramas based on the life of Griff Ponson, the Texas Plainsman who wandered through the western territories leaving behind a trail of still remembered legends. Now in just a moment immediately following this important announcement you'll hear Act One of the six shooter. A lot of vacations start as a daydream and end as a daydream for lack of money. That need not happen to you. You can have extra money when you need it. Simply join the payroll savings plan for buying United States savings bonds. When your bonds mature you'll get back four dollars for every three dollars you invest. And there's your extra money, your vacation, both guaranteed. Ask your employer about buying United States savings bonds through the payroll savings plan. Then join. Now Act One of the six shooter starring James Stewart. The rain had stopped but the wind still carried slivers of moisture that cut into the boy's face as he rode along the edge of the creek. When he saw the yellow light from the back of the office he pulled up and slid out of the saddle. Then tied a wet bandana under his eyes and walked slowly, quietly through the door. Alright, put him up over your heads. Reach. What's that? Way up, both of you. Stay away from that shotgun. Now look here young fella. You, get over to the safe. Better hurry it up mister. Open it. I said open it. That's better. Now toss me that sack. Okay. Don't try to follow. Thanks a lot. You dirty young. I'll show you. I'll show you. I'll show you. I hadn't figured on going through Clay City. It was an hour out of my way and I was already a day late to the Jefferson Ranch where I'd signed up for the round up but Scar started limping from a loose shoe and I didn't have much choice. So we had to head to the nearest blacksmith's shop so we turned north. Howdy mister. What's the trouble? I think a horse is losing a shoe here. Let's have a look. Raise it up fella. Come on. Come on boy. Yeah, it's split mister. He needs a new one. Okay boy. Can you take care of it do you think? Sure, sure. Bring him over here. Say what happened to Red? Fully just on the shop. Oh he went to Nevada chasing silver. I bought him out a few months ago. Is that so? You know you don't look very much like a blacksmith. I'm stronger than I look. Heavier too. Yes sir. What do you think I weigh mister? Oh I don't know. Why don't you take a guess? Say 120? 30? Oh well not in one night I wouldn't say. You a betting man mister? Sometimes yeah. Alright. I say I weigh over 130 and if I don't you get the new shoe for nothing. But if I do you pay me double. What do you say? Well now I've got a set of scales. You don't need no scales. What do you say mister? Is it a bet? There don't seem to be no way of proving it though. All you got to do is lift me up. You look like a man who can judge weight. What do you say? Okay. Alright it's a bet. Alright mister just heist me. If you don't think I weigh more than 130 the shoe is free. Come on heist me up. I don't know. I haven't ever tried to judge a man's weight before but here we go. Well. Yeah yeah yeah. Oh I'll be do it then. Yes sir. I'm back solid mister. You're back tighter than a stair. You must weigh 150. You see you see what I tell you. 158. Horseshoe is going to cost you money mister. But you ain't the only one. Ever since I bought the shop there ain't been a stranger come through Clay City but what he paid double for his first horseshoe. You ain't sore mister. Oh no. That's a fair bet. Sure sure sure it was. I told you I was heavy in my look. That's what folks call me. Heavy Norton. My real name is George but everybody calls me heavy. What's your name mister? Ponson. Britt Ponson. Oh they call a sick shooter? Well. God gone and I've heard about you mister. I sure heard about you. Oh well. I sure have. I would have recognized you too if I didn't notice your gun. Sure is fancy ain't it? Say do you mind showing it to me? No no no. Here catch. It's. Oh that's real fancy. Just like Sheriff Schofield said. And you know something? He says he's seen you fire sick shots with it while Whitey Jackson was getting off his first bullet. At that time down at Eagle. Well the sheriff kind of likes to build up a story. He swears it's the truth. Well here's your gun mister Ponson. Thanks. Sure. You was mighty quick in getting into Clay City. How'd you hear about it so fast? Hmm? Hear about what? A fellow holed up at the Fargo station last night. Ain't that why you come? No. No I was heading past town and turned off because Scar got a loose shoe. Well now ain't that a coincidence? Fella holed up the Fargo office, killed one man, maybe two, gets away at five thousand dollars and twelve hours later you ride into town. You got any idea who did it? No sure not a single solitary one from what I hear. Like I say the deputy agent was dead when they found him. Another fellow, Fred Wilmer, a friend of his got shot up pretty bad. Ain't done no talking yet. Fox says maybe he never will. I see. Well does Sheriff Schofield take out a posse? Nope ain't nobody to go. Most of the men signed up for the Jefferson Roundup. Left town the day before yesterday. Here's a Jefferson ranch playing good money this year. You seen the sheriff this morning? No not lately he might be over to his office. You could try there. Yeah I think I'll walk down there while you're fixing up Scar. Sure Mr. Ponson. Yes it's a darn good idea. Sheriff Schofield will be real glad to see you. A couple of doors this side of the sheriff's office I saw the Wells Fargo sign nailed up next to the window. The place wasn't locked so I went inside. One of the chairs was upset and there was some damp stains on the floor. The cast iron safe against the wall was standing wide open so I kicked it shut. Then I went out in the back stoop. There was some more blood on the steps and then just red mud. Right at the edge I saw the hoof prints. They trailed off to the side of the creek and whoever made them had headed west. I let one knee down into the mud and looked at the prints real close. The horse had been wearing one shoe different from the other three. A sharp rock must have cut into it somewhere or another. Not enough to split it but just enough so that the print left a sort of a jagged line like fancy handwriting. You find something Britt? Huh? Oh. Oh hello sheriff. Huh I was just heading out your way. Yeah I just saw Heavy. He told me he was in town. Did you find something? I don't know. I don't know. Did you see these hoof prints? Yeah. Well. Don't mean nothing. Trailed gives out a mile or so down the creek at the fork. Uh huh. Uh huh. Did Clay City had any other trouble lately? No. Not a bit. I guess any town's gotta expect to hold up once in a while. Well I heard it was more than that. Yeah that's right. Was Fred Wormer able to talk yet? I'm afraid not. The doctor said he'd let me know the first time he'd come around. Take him out to his ranch on the other side of town. You been out to see him since last night? There was no reason. Uh. Well it might be a good idea to be there just in case. I thought maybe I ought to stick in town. Uh. Well it don't look like anything more is going to happen here. Why don't I get Scar and meet you out of Fred's place? I can handle this alone Britt. Well sure I was just offering to keep you company Ed. I'll meet you there. Well he's all fixed up Mr. Pontus. I tied him up around the side so he'd be in the shade. Well thanks very much. Mighty fine horse you got there too. You find Sheriff Schofield? I told him you was in town. Yeah I caught him. You figure out anything? No, no not so far. You will. Sheriff's a good man. You and him together you'll get whoever done it. Maybe, maybe. Now you're the only blacksmith around here aren't you Eddie? Yeah only one for forty miles yes sir. Did you ever see a horse with a shoe that's got one jagged edge left hind leg? A lot of shoes got jagged edges Mr. Pontus. Yeah I know but I'll let's see here. See I'll try to show you what I mean. I'm not much of an artist but it looks something like this. It's, it's, it's, it's something like that. Seems to me I did see a shoe like that just the other day. Well sure I remember. Told me I ought to get a new one for it. Ben Schofield that's who it was just the other day. Ben? That's right sheriff's kid. You know him don't you Mr. Pontus? Sure. Well I haven't seen Ben for a couple of years though. Well sir you wouldn't recognize him if you saw him now. That boy just sort of growed up overnight. Yeah. Yeah I guess he has. We'll return to James Stewart as the six shooter in just a moment. Here's a reminder about some of the wonderful entertainment that's yours for the listening each Wednesday evening on the NBC radio network. There's comedy for everyone when you set your dial to NBC for such programs as You Bet Your Life with Groucho Marx and The Great Gilder Sleeve starring Willard Waterman. The Great Gilder Sleeve provides 30 minutes of top flight entertainment that your whole family will enjoy. Then when it's time for Groucho Marx watch out. Groucho throws a mean ad lib and there's a barb at the end of every one of them. Listen and laugh as this Marx man trades quips with his contestants from the studio audience. There's a riot of fun from top to bottom when Groucho Marx plays You Bet Your Life. Also on Wednesdays listen to more quiz fun on Walk a Mile with your genial quiz master Bill Cullen. That's Wednesday night on the NBC radio network. Be sure to listen. Now Act Two of The Six Shooter starring James Stewart as Britt Ponson. One month of a riot and Sheriff Schofield was sitting on Fred Wilmer's porch swing when I got there. He told me Doc was inside with Fred so I squatted down on the stoop and waited. About half an hour later Doc came out told us we could go inside and see Fred. Fred was lying on a cot breathing hard. A white cloth across his chest was stained pink and his voice sounded like it was full of air. We were just sitting talking Sam and me didn't hear the back door open. We must have left it unlocked. Turned around and there he was holding his gun on. Did you get a look at him Fred? Sure but it didn't do much good. Hanged you over his face and couldn't see nothing just begun. Told Sam we were hoping he was safe. There wasn't nothing else Sam could do. Sure. Took the money, walked over to the door, looked at us for a minute and then fired. Didn't have no reason. Hit Sam in the face, hit me in the chest and couldn't have no reason. Fair enough, I get easy Fred. It is just like he enjoyed shooting at us. That's how it was like he enjoyed it. Maybe he was scared. He wasn't scared, he didn't have no reason. He killed us both, started down the steps. I got my hand on the shotgun and let him have it. You hit him? I don't know maybe. He give me Allen Road or? You go out back after him? I couldn't go no where, Britt. What kind of a fellow was he? Was he young, old? I couldn't. His face is young for I'd say though. How young? Oh 17, 18, he was full grown. Yes sir. He sounded young, he moved young. Tall, short? Medium. About the size of your kid. About that size. That enough for you Ed? Yeah, yeah that's enough. You think you can get him Britt? Sure Fred, sure. Sure we'll get him. Come on Ed. Didn't have no reason to shoot. No reason to shoot. Let's go Ed. We're wasting our time Britt, he's got a day's head start. He'll be 40 miles from here. Not if he's shot up. Well you go on if you want to. Well you're the sheriff, you've got to make the arrest. You ain't never been so particular before. Maybe not, maybe not. This time I am particular. You coming? I don't even know where to start. Well I thought along the creek, good place as any other. It's a waste of time Britt. We picked up the trail along the creek and headed west. Wasn't hard to follow. Every once in a while we'd see a few drifts. I'd say they were a little bit of a good start and end. About ten minutes I tried to escape out. Scar stick his nose down into the water. I looked around. The trail didn't give out. It turned south. I nodded in that direction. Ed didn't say anything. He just followed. Then about five o'clock we stopped to eat. Ed built a fire and I opened up a couple of cans of beans I had in my roll. You're not hungry, Ed? It's early for supper. Too early. Yeah. Yeah. Ed, I talked to Hevy before I went out to Fred's place. I asked him who had a horse that would leave a mark like the one we've been following. So? He said that Ben did. Your son, Ben. I thought you ought to know that. A lot of horseshoes leave the same kind of mark. Fred said it was a young fellow. It wasn't Ben! Where is he, Ed? At Jefferson Ranch. He's working on a roundup. He left Clay City the day before yesterday. He couldn't have been Ben. There's a lot of wild youngsters in these parts, but Ben's a good boy if he couldn't be him. You sure? That mark don't mean nothing. Plenty of horseshoes leave the same kind of mark. You know that, Fred. You running up to eat? Yeah. All right, let's go. The moon came out, thin, yellow. Not real bright, but not so we could follow the trail. For about three miles there wasn't any blood sign. He must have wrapped something around the wound, wrapped it real tight, and then we found the bandage. A piece of shirt tail sopped through. For the next mile he'd been bleeding a lot, much worse than before. He was hurt pretty bad, Ed. Yeah, looks like it. He couldn't have gone much further, could he? Hold up, Scott. Ed. Yeah? Pull up. Pull over here. Look. Over there in the gully, that cabin. Yeah. Whose is it? It used to belong to Jack Lavani. Died a couple years ago. Ain't nobody living there now. There's somebody living there. Why? Out back. There's a pony. We'd better go on foot. Britt? Yeah? We're gonna take him alive, ain't we? If we can. We gotta take him alive, Britt. It's a band, isn't it? I don't know. Not for sure. It could be Ben. It could be. Where's he been the last couple of days? I don't know that either. I had an argument with him two nights ago. He needed some money. He'd been playing poker. He lost a lot. Now the $5,000 that was taken out of that safe is a lot. I wouldn't give him that. He got mad. He said he'd get it. He said he'd get it himself. And I hit him. I hit him hard across the face. I hit him twice. He started to hit me back and then he walked out of the house and I ain't seen him since. I wish he had hit me back. Now we've gotta get across this clarinet, over to that clump of trees. He may see us. We'll have to take that chance. You ready? Yeah. You all right? Yeah, sure. I'll stand these trees for a couple of minutes. Okay. And then we'll rush him. It's not gonna be easy to take him out now that he's spotted us. Red, you ain't gonna kill him. I'm not gonna let him kill me. It ain't his business. You know that's not so. You know it's the truth. It's my fault. I broke him. I broke him like you break a wild horse, tried to take all the fight out of him fast. You know what happens when you do that to a horse? He gets tame but the fight's still there and someday he turns wild again. He ain't really broke at all. I'm gonna rush him alone, Ed. No, stay here. Sam Norton's dead. Maybe Fred Wilmer too by now. Tell him Ben won't bring him back. He's my son. I'm sorry, Ed. No, we're going back to town. Not without him. We're going back. You can out draw me, Britt, but I'll still have time to get a shot off. I'll try to get him alive, Ed. I'll try. Don't turn your back on me, Britt. Don't be a fool. Don't make me do it, Britt. I knew he wouldn't shoot. I wasn't being brave, but I knew he wouldn't shoot. A man like Ed Schofield just don't change overnight. You can figure a man like Ed. But I hadn't figured on what happened next. Ben! It's me, Ben, you're dead! Can you hear me, Ben? Brett Ponce is coming after you. Throw out your gun, Ben. Brett Ponce is coming. No, let us go, Ben! I saw him go down real slow, like his legs had buckled under him. I pushed myself past a couple of rocks and edged over toward the back door. The kid was in the kitchen. I couldn't see him, but I could hear him moving around. He went from window to window, looking out, waiting for me. I slipped past another rock. I could run for the door now or wait. The kid made up my mind for me. He knew right where I was. I took out my gun and waited. I knew he'd get nervous first. Young fellows always do. I wasn't so young. I could wait. It wasn't more than five minutes before the door started to open. His pony knew he was coming, too. He started for his horse. I aimed at his leg. For a second he just stopped moving and just hung there in midair like a hawk. Then he sprawled forward out of sight behind a log. Everything was quiet now, even his pony. Then the moon went behind a thick cloud, and I came around the corner of the cabin. Then suddenly the moon came out again, and just in time for me to see his 45 coming up over the top of the log. His revolver slipped out of his fingers, and I saw him try to reach for it, but he couldn't make it. I stood up and I walked over to the log. I turned him over with my foot and I looked at his face. Ed? Ed? Over here. Where'd he get you? The shoulder. That ought to be all right. Is he? Did you have to? No, he's not dead. Thanks. I guess he didn't hear me calling to him, didn't know who I was. It isn't Ben. What? It isn't Ben, Ed. You sure, Britt? Yeah, yeah. This kid's got red hair. There ain't no reason to lie to me, Britt. I ain't shot up bad. I'm not lying. I'm not lying, Ed. I knew it wasn't Ben while I was going up there after him. I knew it. What are you talking about? Well, it just came to me. I don't know. A man don't change overnight, and neither does a boy. What? If it ain't Ben, then... Well, there's a lot of tough kids in these parts. You said so yourself. Where do you suppose Ben is? Where you said he is? Jefferson Ranch, working on the round-out. The pay's good. Boy don't change overnight, Ed. Yeah. You able to ride back to town? Yeah, sure, sure. I may have to take it a little slow. Sure, fine. We'll take it slow. Yeah. Well, I'll get the kid. Britt? Yeah? You know something, Britt? I couldn't believe it was Ben neither. Not when he shot me. I just couldn't believe it. You know that, Britt? I know. Sure I know, Ed. Picture the most extravagant vacation imaginable. Then picture yourself going on that vacation. Sounds like a daydream? Well, it isn't. It's completely possible. But it does take a bit of planning, such as the regular purchase of United States savings bonds. Now, the best way to do that is through the payroll savings plan. That's the best way because it's the sure way to buy your savings bonds regularly. The payroll savings plan works like a charm because it's completely automatic. Your employer does everything for you. It's especially easy on you because money is saved from your paychecks before you have a chance to miss it. And when those bonds mature, you can pack your bags for that extravagant vacation because United States savings bonds pay back $4 for every $3 you put in. Join the payroll savings plan where you work. That's the way to save money regularly, earn extra money regularly, through United States savings bonds. The Sick Shooter is an NBC radio network production in association with Revue Productions. It is based on a character created by Frank Bird, and the transcribed story is written by him. Mr. Stewart may currently be seen in the Universal International Picture, Thunder Bay. Others in the cast were Parley Bear, Jimmy McCallion, Herb Bygren, and Bill Conrad. Special music for this program was by Basil Edlum, and the entire production is under the direction of Jack Johnstone. All characters and incidents were fictitious, and any resemblance to actual characters or incidents is purely coincidental. Hal Gibney speaking. Hear exciting stroke of fate tonight on the NBC Radio Network.
