What do you say, kid? Are we moving in?
How many times do you want me to say yes?
Every time you say it is like the first time.
My heart starts beating like I just ran around the block.
Those slippery rugs are out. A guy could break his neck on those.
Mr. Wilson, do you plan doing a lot of running around?
Yeah, after you.
- The rugs are out. - And the twin beds too.
Out like a light.
Hey, I like peanuts too.
- I thought you hated them. - I did once.
What changed your mind?
I love you. You love peanuts.
I love peanuts too.
Well, I guess that wins.
It's raining.
Gee, it feels swell against your face.
Tonight of all nights it's gotta rain.
Don't talk about it.
What am I gonna do after you've gone?
Joe.
I'll be walking like this down a street.
- Where are you? - I'll be here.
Twenty cents.
- How do you like that? - Oh, dear.
Here, give me.
Don't.
What are you gonna do?
Oh, here it is.
- Come on, I'll sew it. - Here? No, no.
- You'll let it go. I know. - Honest, I won't.
- You know you will. - No, I'll sew it myself.
- I won't forget it, darling. - Sit down.
Sit down.
There's a lot of people around.
Joe.
I've only got blue thread.
- Blue? - Yep. Blue.
Train number 19 leaving for De Kalb.
- There. You hear? That's your train. - That's not my train. Sit down.
- I'm hard to get rid of. - Like my right arm.
Only I need you more.
Oh, Kat.
I'll come for you as soon as I get that old bank account...
...up to the third floor and a kitchenette.
This waiting is awful.
After all, we're human.
Why can't you stay with your job here?
- At least we... - We've been through that, darling.
There's a better job there, and I'll be saving for us too.
I know.
Train number 27 leaving for Galesburg and all points west.
- Give me some of those peanuts too. - Yes, sir.
- How much for that "smellum"? - That one there?
Take it easy on yourself now.
Four dollars.
Not for me, wise guy. It's for a girl. How much?
Five even.
I got you a little mementum.
"Memento," darling. "To," not "tum."
How often have I told you?
It's from wearing braces on my teeth when I was a kid.
You're still a kid. A lot of you is...
...and I love it.
I love you.
I got a memento for you too.
Look inside.
"Henry to Katherine."
It was my mother's wedding ring. I was named after her.
So I...
- Turn it around. - "Katherine to Joe."
Oh, Kat...
I guess I'll have to wear it on my little finger.
All aboard!
I'll come for you soon.
Soon, Joe.
Soon.
Hello, stranger.
Think you're smart, don't you? How do you like this, big shot?
How's that?
You look the way I feel.
Lonely and small.
Come on.
Quiet.
That Charlie, always leaving the light on.
Straight ahead.
- Charlie, now, I'm all right. - Yeah, I know, I know.
Come on, hold it now. Hold it.
- Charlie, where'd you get the dog? - There's no dog. You're drunk.
- So you went to a movie? - Hello, Joe.
- Katherine get away all right? - Yeah.
That's fine. I'm fine too.
I feel awful.
Now, listen, Charlie...
We had a couple drinks after the show.
Kid's gotta have fun. He just can't take it.
Who said I can't take it?
- I'm all right. - All right, Tommy. Sure you are.
- All right, kid. - Even Mr. Donelli said I was all right.
- Donelli? - All right. I've been waiting for it.
Waiting for an undertaker or cops, the life you're leading.
Running errands for that racketeer.
Let me tell you, Charlie, leave Tom out of it.
Joe, I know, I know.
We met Donelli, and he invited us up for drinks.
Better Tom meets someone who can do him some good.
Do him some good?
I'm glad Mom and Dad aren't here to see the good you're doing yourself.
Can that Sunday-school talk.
Think I'm gonna ride to heaven on 30 a week from a sweatshop?
Be a working stiff all my life, like you?
- Times have changed. - You bet times have changed.
The people are against you monkeys now.
The people ain't doing so good either.
I don't know what's so hot about you.
Crazy in love with a swell gal and can't make enough to get married.
- Leave Katherine out of it! - Leave me out. Stop living my life.
I wouldn't live your life for all the money in the world.
Okay, Reverend. Okay.
"Memento," darling. "Memento."
Soon.
Come in.
It's a special delivery this time, Miss Grant.
- I hope nothing's happened. - Oh, no.
They come faster than when I was a girl, but I guess the insides don't change.
- He's coming, Mrs. Whipple! - No.
Wedding, marriage license.
He's bought a car.
Look.
- Be sure and kiss Katherine for me. - Happy landings, fella.
Don't let the Indians get you out there.
You keep your chin clean. Look after the kid.
You can trust me. Rainbow, take care of Joe.
- Goodbye, boys. - So long, Joe.
- Is there gas in it? Bye-bye. - All right.
War and crime.
Strikes, taxes.
And some weenies for his dog and an avocado for him.
They call them alligator pears back East, cost a fortune. Think he'll like them?
He won't know what he's eating for being with you again.
What time will I make lunch for?
I'm leaving for Sycamore Corners by bus on the main road.
I wrote him to meet me there at 11:00 at that hot dog stand.
We'll be back by noon sure.
Golly, Mrs. Whipple, I can hardly stand it.
Over a year now.
Stop your motor, buddy.
Get both hands up on that wheel there.
What is this, a holdup?
- No grass growing under them tires, eh? - I wasn't speeding.
- And Illinois license plates? - Yeah, sure. Chicago.
Get that fist up there.
Hey, I haven't got any gun if that's what you mean.
- Peanuts won't kill you. - Salted peanuts?
- Yeah, why? - I ain't answering the questions, buddy.
You are. Come on, get out.
Where were you last night, Mr. Wilson?
If you don't mind.
- I drove all night. - On that old road?
I got lost trying to find a shortcut to Capital City.
- And the night before last? - Camping out.
Sorry to take up so much of your time, but... Excuse me a second.
- Smoke? - No, thanks.
Some peanuts?
Now you're talking my language, sheriff.
I've had that habit since I was a kid.
My old man used to bring them to me. I got used to having them around.
Yes, sir.
- Always find peanuts in my pocket. - Wilson...
...where did you say you spent the night before last?
- Camping out. - Why?
Why? For the...
Is it a crime to get fresh air for yourself when you've been stuck in a ci...?
Hey, look. What am I suspected of anyway?
- I got a right to know. - Sure.
Me? Why, that's the craziest thing I ever heard. That'd fit a million men.
Read that.
Am I the only guy in the world that eats peanuts?
- Why, you just... - I never ate peanuts in my life.
I get it.
Why don't you check? Get my brothers on the phone...
...in Chicago... - We'll check all right.
That's what I'm here for.
- Mind showing me your pockets? - I should say not.
I don't mind, I mean. He knows what I got.
Keys, handkerchiefs...
...my license, money, what there is of it.
Pipe, tobacco, matches.
- And peanuts. - Bugs.
- Quiet, Rainbow. - Check those bills...
...against the numbers of these ransom banknotes.
You've come to the right man, chief.
- Sure he's only gonna check those? - You're probably right as rain, Wilson.
Take a look under the five-dollar series. Q 49677308 Z.
And on his bill the same thing. Q 49677308 Z.
That can't be. That's impossible.
Rip up that car of his. Might be more of them.
- Man, is this gonna be a sensation. - Keep it to yourself.
And keep that dog quiet.
- Good morning. - Hello.
Anybody here?
Any good-looking man from Illinois looking for a good-looking girl here?
- Where's the good-looking girl? - She'll be along in a minute.
Well, the good-looking young fella ain't here yet either.
He will be.
Well, will you let me phone Chicago then?
Or better, I can phone my...
- Phone your what? - Phone my brothers.
If you're mixed up with this gang, it wouldn't be smart of me to let you.
Look, sheriff. I got the bill some place in change. I don't know where I got it.
Maybe I got it at a store or a gas station or some place.
Take me back over the road. I can prove...
Not a thing in the car. Not a thing.
Take care of this stranger, Frank. Go through his clothes.
Sure you haven't forgot anything, Wilson?
Yeah.
There's my watch.
The ring. It's too tight. I can't get it off. Cut it off. Why not?
I've gotta hold you, Wilson, for the district attorney.
But you'll get a square deal.
- Come on. - You can type that now, Myrtle.
Quiet, Rainbow.
- She'll be all right, sheriff. - Okay.
- Looks like we got ahold of something. - Yeah.
- Be at the barbershop if you want me. - Okay.
Let me tell you, professor, if you young geniuses at the high school...
...fill our children's heads with radical ideas...
...we parents will have to get a law. - Not possible to get a law...
...that denies the right to say what one believes, in peace times anyway.
- Who says so? - The Constitution of the United States.
I don't believe it.
You should read it sometime. You would be surprised.
Well, that's enough of that now, Sven.
I had to read it to become an American.
You never had to because you was born here.
Hello, Meyers? Anything new on this awful Peabody case?
I don't know.
You public servants quit playing cards. Maybe you'd bring somebody to justice.
What'd you say if I raked in a guy this morning...
...might know something about them kidnappers? Yeah.
What do you suppose it is makes people do things like snatching that kid?
Nutty, I guess.
Now, I'll tell you.
People get funny impulses.
If you resist them, you're sane...
...if you don't, you're on your way to the nuthouse or the pen.
At the taxpayers' expense.
Mr. Jorganson, you've got one of the levelest heads in the county.
Would you believe that in the 20 years that I've been stroking this razor...
...across throats here...
...that many a time I've had an impulse...
...to cut their Adam's apples wide open?
Just like that.
Yes, sir.
How about it, Hec? Do you feel an impulse coming on?
An impulse is an impulse.
It's like an itch. You gotta scratch it.
Hello?
What's that, Hector?
My oldest customer.
All on account of that Bugs Meyers from the sheriff's office...
...telling a cock-and-bull story about his capturing...
...one of that Peabody kidnapping gang. - I got something on the stove, precious.
Call you back. Bye-bye.
Mrs. Tuttle! Mrs. Tuttle!
- Of all things. - For mercy's sake, what is it?
Just wait. My husband phoned me. They've arrested a man.
And they think he's one of the kidnappers.
Fanny!
That barber's wife says this morning they caught a man on the old road...
...who they suspect knows something about this kidnapping.
I got it on the highest authority that they arrested...
...one of that kidnapping gang. - You don't say.
He tried to escape, but they captured him all right.
- Oh, I'll have three of those. - Oh, come on.
- And a pound of prunes. - What's his name?
- Who was he? - What else?
Well, I can't tell you any more. It was told me in the strictest confidence.
Fanny, that isn't fair. Please. Come on.
But, darling, you know I'm as silent as a tomb.
But are you sure he's not innocent?
My dear young woman, in this country...
...people don't land in jail unless they're guilty.
My wife's sister called up and told her that a friend of hers told her...
...that this guy acted as cocky as a bronco.
All he'd answer was, "Let me phone my lawyer."
Sure. That's the racket of those bigtime attorneys.
Helping these skunks beat the law.
Well, they won't beat it with any jury I'm ever on.
If all us people had the courage of our convictions...
...these vermin would vanish like spit on a hot stove.
Set them up for the boys, Oscar.
Four beers.
Last time after you played that slot machine...
...it was full of telephone slugs.
Now, ain't that a shame.
Say, Dawson...
...I hear they gave that guy your favorite cell at the jail.
Next time I'm in, it'll be for beating you up.
All right, big shot.
While I didn't vote for Hummel for sheriff...
...his promptness in catching this kidnapper is commendable.
They can't bring him to trial any too quickly to suit me.
- Lf you don't mind. - Well, excuse me for living.
- Mr. Pippen. - Hello, George.
- I have some fine, new English flannel. - Later, Durkin.
- Yes, as you wish. - My usual, Oscar.
We were discussing down at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon...
We were discussing at the luncheon about what a great publicity break...
What a great publicity break our capturing this Chicago fellow...
...is gonna give our little city, assuming of course the citizens, leading citizens...
See that he's brought to justice.
We'll take care of that, all right, all right.
We'll go to the sheriff, get it from him.
Boys, that's a great idea. I'll go with you.
Hey! Hey, jailer.
- Has the sheriff phoned my brothers yet? - I don't know.
But you'll hear something one way or the other in due time.
I'm trying to locate the district attorney. We'll get the truth as soon as possible.
But till we do, one way or other...
...l've no right to make a statement.
Ordinarily, sheriff, yes.
But there's a nervous feeling about town.
Yes, sheriff.
And the community feels that...
We got a right to know about him.
I don't know yet that he is a kidnapper, so neither do you.
What are you trying to do, Hummel?
- Protect this weasel? - That's pretty comical, you cockroach.
You teaching me law and order.
You've been stirrings up trouble for law and order hereabouts...
...ever since you put on long pants.
Anything more I can do for you gentlemen?
Here, let me talk. No offense meant.
I'm sure, sheriff, we can count on you keeping everything shipshape, I'm sure.
Good afternoon.
But I would like to...
Good day, sheriff.
- Goodbye, sheriff. - Well, good day.
It's an outrage a man can't stand up for law and order...
Men do stand up for it.
I'll tell you one thing, Hummel. My friends won't be satisfied...
...with what those pillars of society have to tell them.
An attack on a girl hits us ordinary people where we live.
We're gonna see that politics don't cut any ice.
I'm gonna see that a lot of half-baked rumors don't either.
Now hightail out of here and behave yourself...
...or I'll have the county take you and all your relatives off the dole.
Myrtle, get the governor on the phone.
I'll have the National Guard ready for any merited emergency.
Oh, I'm sure you will.
Keep me informed.
I hope nothing's happened. It's the first time he's come West, so...
I ain't heard of anyone being tomahawked or scalped in the neighborhood in a while.
The sheriff's wrong not to give us the facts.
What'd they rip his car up for unless it was to find ransom dough?
I heard there was 5000 in tens, twenties, fifties...
- Ten thousand, they told me. - It was a lot of money.
First thing he did was phone Chicago for his lawyer.
That's always the first thing a guy like that will do.
Maybe he gave the money to the sheriff to go free on bail.
- Shut up, Goofy. - There's Bugs. He ought to know.
- Let's ask. - That's an idea.
- Bring him in and give him a drink. - Come on, gang. Let's go and get him.
Remember, just one.
Hooray for Bugsy!
- Give us the dope, Bugsy. - Come on, Bugs.
- He knows all about it. - Say, what's biting you fellas?
- What do you wanna know? - There's an argument about...
...the amount the sheriff found in that kidnapper's car.
- I hate to disappoint you guys. - Come on, Bugsy.
We didn't find nothing. We ripped it up...
Go on, we know you found ransom money.
- Yeah, ten grand hid under the seat. - Ten grand, me eye.
Why, all Wilson had on him of the ransom money was a five-dollar bill.
Who does that make a liar out of?
Wait'll I shove it down the sheriff's throat.
Come on. Let's give him a serenade.
- Yeah, Dawson's right. - Attaboy!
Quiet. Quiet, I say! Quiet!
Everybody's getting too excited.
The sheriff's okay.
- This is none of our business. - No?
I'll tell you, if I lived in this town, I'd make it my business.
What are you eggs?
Soft-boiled, that you don't stick up for a kidnapped girl?
- Who are you? - Just passing through.
Been up to Capital City, strike-breaking for the streetcar company.
Maybe you need some help here too.
Not from a mug like you.
Lay off, Garrett. The sheriff made a monkey out of you too.
He's right. We ought to be ashamed letting a stranger show us the ropes.
Come on, fellas, let's go get him. Come on!
Come on, let's have some fun!
Where's that special deputy list I made out?
Did I tell you to call up the gov...? Wait a minute.
Here, Myrtle, first call up the men I've checked on that list.
Get out the tear gas bombs.
- Two apiece. - Right.
Sheriff, we wanna talk to this Wilson guy.
Boys, keep out of this.
There's no positive proof that the man you want to...
...talk to is guilty.
Or innocent either.
The district attorney is checking on him now.
But whichever he is...
...he's under the protection of the law.
As long as I stand here you can yell yourselves hoarse.
- But you won't see this man. - Then you won't stand there long.
We'll move you.
Well, then I ought to tell you men...
...the National Guard is on its way.
Orders to stop, telephoned from the governor.
- Stop? But... - Why, Will?
Because people always resent troops moving in on them.
Hurts their pride.
When the papers phoned me about this little ruckus in Strand...
...I was able to calm them down all right.
But knowing how conscientious you are, Bert, I came right over.
And mighty good thing I was in time to stop you too.
You could cut our political throats with this soldier stuff in an election year.
You, Freddy Garrett, Durkin, Lopez, Walker, Johnson, all of you, go home.
You're gonna wind up being sorry for this.
Think of your families.
Stick in with this kidnapper, Milt Grimes, and you'd better not come home tonight.
You elected me to do my duty, and I'm going to.
You're diving in over your heads, men. Listen to reason.
Stop acting like a lot of hysterical...
I'm warning you! Don't make me use force.
You're not up against just us here.
- More deputies, with tear gas and rifles... - Hey!
Hey, jailer! Jailer! Come here, will you? Hey, jailer!
Jailer!
Jailer! Have the sheriff inform my girl, will you?
She's the one I wanted to call up.
I just didn't wanna get her mixed up in this thing.
She can tell you who I am.
Ten cents.
Hey, buddy! Hey!
Hey, is this the way to Strand?
- Straight ahead. - Okay, thanks. Keep going.
Them newsreel guys are on their toes. Must have found out before it happened.
I phoned where I live. There's no word of him.
Oh, he had a puncture, I suppose. Everything will be all right.
The things that happen. The bus driver just told me...
...they got somebody they suspect of that kidnapping at Strand.
A fella named Joe Wilson.
The mob there is trying to make him confess.
Joe Wilson? But...
Joe... That's impossible.
He never hurt a hair on anyone's head in his life.
Where's a car? I've got to go there. Lend me your car, please? I've got to go.
- The boys got my car. - When's the next bus?
They ain't no more.
What'll I do? I've got to go.
Don't you understand? I've got to go to him.
Won't you help me?
Boy, oh, boy, oh, boy, what a shot this is.
We'll sweep the country with this stuff.
Oh, the film's gone. Reload.
And be sure and use that hypersensitive film.
Holy smoke.
Come on, Bill, make it snappy. And get me that 2-inch lens.
Bar the door.
Open the door!
I can get them through the window.
- More bombs! - We're almost out.
- Where's them National Guards? - Where's Ralph?
- Here. - Where's Milt?
- His wife took him home. - Why, the yellow...
Wait a minute.
What does that silence mean? Quiet.
Heave ho!
Heave ho! Heave...
Get cabinets, desks, line them up against that door.
Stop! Please, stop!
Jailer! Jailer! Can't anybody hear me? Let me out!
I'll talk to them!
Let me out! Give me a chance!
Let me talk to them! Give me a chance, will you?
Can't anybody hear me?
- Up to the cells, men. - Come on!
- Give us the keys, Lem. - I ain't got them.
- Nothing's gonna happen to you. - All we want is this guy Wilson.
- We know you got keys. - I ain't got them!
- We want those keys. - Where are they?
- Get a post. We'll break it down! - Yeah, that's it!
We haven't got time. Let's smoke him out.
Yeah, he's right. Let's go, men. Come on, let's get some wood.
Hope you like baked potatoes, Wilson.
- Hey! - There goes his dog!
- Give me some of them books. - Hey, come back here!
- Let the dog go! - Get it down!
Hey, Wilson, they can't parole you out of this.
Hello, Rainbow.
Let him have it. Take it away.
Looks bad, Rainbow.
Looks bad.
There he is!
I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord.
I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
God forgive him and our trespasses, as we forgive them who trespass against us.
Run in back, Wilson. Get back there!
What are you looking for, the Peabody girl?
Get back!
No.
Jiggers! The soldiers are coming!
Soldiers!
- Let's beat it. - Wait! I've got an idea.
- They'll never get him out. - That's the stuff.
After this dynamite, they won't be able to find the jail.
Wait! Here's somebody!
Help her up!
Why, the very spirit of government has been violated.
The state disgraced in the eyes of the world...
...by this brutal outburst of lust for vengeance.
And I blame myself.
I let you talk me down.
That mob could have been stopped if assistance had been sent...
...to officers in time. - Forget it.
The reformers will cuss around for a while and then start cussing something else.
These letters and telegrams backing up the statement I gave.
Congratulations, 90 percent of them.
"Finest thing we've heard of in years."
"Congratulations."
I wonder what sort of telegrams we'll get...
...when it's known that Wilson was an innocent man.
Well, when I gave out the statement I didn't know that.
This story is on every wire in the world right now.
Yeah, yeah. Now he's innocent. Yeah.
I can't get it out of my head. I can't get any sleep.
When I close my eyes, I...
I can't understand why we haven't heard from Katherine.
She's like all the rest.
He gets in trouble, and she takes a run-out powder.
When I think how happy he was when he left here...
Oh, stop it!
Hey, what are you doing here?
You better go back.
- Any of that milk left, Tom? - What?
Oh, yes.
There. Come back over here.
Here.
If I could only get at them rats. If I could only get my hands on them.
We're going out there, Tom. We're gonna get them.
- Kill them the way they killed Joe. - Whatever you say. And whenever.
That's five-and-ten-cent store talk.
Joe!
Joe.
Pull down that shade.
Pull down the shade!
Turn out that light!
You know where I've been all day?
In a movie.
Watching a newsreel of myself getting burned alive.
I watched it 10 times or 20 maybe.
Over and over again. I don't know how much.
The place was packed. They like it.
They get a big kick out of seeing a man burned to death. A big kick!
What an explosion.
It blew the cell door off, and it killed...
...Rainbow.
I got out down a rain-pipe.
I almost burned my side off.
I could smell myself burn!
- It's awful. I feel like thanking God. - Did you get burned bad?
That don't hurt me. You can't hurt a dead man and I'm dead.
Everybody knows that. The whole country. I'm dead, see.
You remember me preaching to you to live right?
Live right. I tried it. I tried to like it.
And people... But they won't let you!
You were right. Donelli was right. Everyone was right but me. I was wrong.
I know now. I'll get them.
- We'll get a lawyer and have them... - Arrested for disturbing the peace?
For setting fire to a jail, maybe? No, that's not enough for me.
I'm burned to death by a mob of animals.
I'm legally dead. They're legally murderers.
That I'm alive is not their fault.
But I know them. I know a lot of them.
And they'll hang for it.
According to the law which says if you kill somebody...
...you gotta be killed yourself.
I'll give them the chance they didn't give me.
They'll get a legal trial in a legal courtroom.
They'll have a legal judge and a legal defense.
They'll get a legal sentence and a legal death.
But I can't do it myself.
You'll have to do it for me.
You see that?
I tore it out of a law book.
My husband says it would be a blessing if the community would forget...
...what happened.
It just leaves a bad taste, and it reminds everyone of what...
...as the minister said Sunday, would be better forgiven and forgotten.
The mailman was just here.
Shall I go?
Yes, yes, I'm coming.
Oh, it's you, Mrs. Garrett. Come in.
Have you heard anything from the hotel?
Fred's been down at that investigation for so long.
I wondered if your husband had phoned, or anything.
There, there. Don't worry, Mrs. Garrett, don't worry.
Nobody's going to cut off their nose to spite their face, naming names in this...
I know, but if somebody does talk, then what'll happen?
Nobody's going to talk.
The responsible businessmen have decided it's a community...
...and not an individual thing.
So everybody's got to stick together against this district attorney.
The whole town's tongue-tied. Under wraps.
- Protecting its own, naturally. - Ask anybody!
They'll tell you Joe was there.
Before I can charge anybody with murder...
...I have to prove a murder was committed.
And I can't even find anyone who will swear...
...that at the time the jail burned, your brother was in it at all.
Sorry, boys, but I've got to go back tonight.
Come on, I don't believe she ran out on him.
We got an hour till train time, so we might as well try. We can ask, anyway.
I'll do the talking.
Miss Grant live here?
She's very sick. She can't talk to anyone.
- Our name's Wilson. We're... - Oh, his brothers. Come in, come in.
Hello, Katherine.
Katherine!
- It's Charlie. - And Tom.
This is the way she's been ever since she came home.
Katherine, don't you remember us?
We came from Joe...
We're Joe's brothers. Joe, Katherine.
You see? It's the same as ev...
Land sakes! Excuse me a second. I've got broth on the stove.
Charlie, look. She is sick.
- Lf we tell her Joe's all right... - Shut up!
She can't hear. But it's not fair to her not to know. It might help.
No, no. Let me think.
No. No! No!
Joe! Joe!
No, it's Charlie. Charlie, Katherine, and Tom.
What is...?
Joe's brothers. Try and remember, Katherine. Joe's brothers.
Charlie?
Tom?
Oh, Charlie...
...I saw him.
I saw him...
...behind those flames...
...in that burning jail.
His face.
There, dear heart, it's all over now.
The witness.
I'll make them suffer. I'll get them now, all right.
Why'd you have to come to Capital City? Why didn't you stay in Chicago?
Your picture will be in the papers. Somebody will see you.
Nobody will see me because I'll be hiding. I had to be on the scene.
Did you think I was going to wait for letters from you?
I think Joe's right. It's natural, wanting to hear everything as soon as possible.
- Maybe he'll wanna see Katherine. - Get this straight!
Katherine's not to know I'm alive. She'd crack. Never go through with it.
She wouldn't see things the way I see them.
I wanna hear everything they say.
I wanna see them squirm the way they made me.
I wanna see them at the end of a rope.
Adams, I've got to hold this party together in this state.
These star-spangled heroics of yours will blow it a mile high.
I've got to proceed with this case as my oath of office requires.
You and your wife and that boy of yours...
Adams, you like to eat, don't you?
Sure, Will.
But some of the things people have had to eat in this country lately...
...haven't agreed with their stomachs. - But...
Well, who are you going to name?
You can't bring a town full of John Does to trial...
...just to pull yourself to heaven on a publicity stunt.
John Doe is not going to trial, Will...
...but 22 citizens of Strand...
...who I can prove are guilty of murder in the first degree.
Because the law declares that in a lynching...
...all who consent to the design are responsible for what took place.
All who participate are responsible for the act.
This may seem harsh...
...but when a mob takes it upon itself...
...to identify, try, condemn and punish...
...it is a destroyer of a government that patriots died to establish and defend.
Every decent person in the country feels the importance of this case.
The nation is hanging on the outcome of this trial.
No lynching can be justified, though sometimes attempts are made...
... to whitewash them by citing the confessions of...
... or proofs of guilt against, the by now silent corpse.
But no one can dare defend the lynching of an innocent man.
American democracy and its system of fair play for the rights of individuals...
...under the law is on trial here, ladies and gentlemen of the jury.
To this end, you must be guided not only by your common sense...
...but by your patriotism.
As counsel for these defendants, Your Honor...
...ladies and gentlemen of the jury...
...I must point out that my clients are not on trial for treason...
...against any philosophy of government...
...as our esteemed district attorney seems to think.
They're on trial for murder.
A charge you will see vanish into thin air here...
...as the state, to cover up its own criminal negligence...
...in not protecting this innocent man, proceeds in this savage attempt...
...to kill as scapegoats...
...these 22 bewildered souls.
These defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder.
We're ready, Your Honor.
Are you ready, Mr. Adams?
With the permission of the court and of my friends for the defense...
...and their experienced associate brought from the city of New York...
...l'll reverse the usual order of procedure...
...and instead of establishing the crime itself...
...first establish the whereabouts of the accused...
...during the commission thereof.
As its first witness, the state calls Edna Hooper.
Raise your right hand and place your left on the Bible.
Do you swear you'll tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
- I do. - Be seated, please.
- Your name? - Miss Edna Hooper.
- Your residence, Miss Hooper? - Twenty-three Catalpa Avenue, Strand.
Strand is the town in which this lynching took place?
Objection! Object as to his incompetence.
- Question assumes a fact not in evidence. - Sustained. Strike it out.
I will reframe the question.
Strand is where the jail burned down on the night of October 26th, is it not?
Yes, but I certainly had nothing to do with the...
You're not on trial, Miss Hooper. Your occupation in Strand, please?
I am a couturier and a modiste.
By couturier and modiste, you mean you're a dressmaker, do you not?
It's just the difference between a dress shop and a gown shoppe.
On the afternoon and evening of the day in question...
...you were employed in your capacity as a couturier...
...in the home of Frederick Garrett in Strand, were you not?
- I was. - Who was in the house beside yourself?
The baby and Mr. And Mrs. Garrett.
And this Mr. Garrett...
...is the same Frederick Garrett who is one of these defendants here?
Yes.
Will Frederick Garrett stand, please?
This man, charged with murder, is the Frederick Garrett who...
...by the testimony of your eyesight, Miss Hooper...
...was at home that Saturday afternoon and evening, then?
Yes.
I will remind the witness that she is under oath...
...and ask her again.
Edna Hooper, will you swear that during the hours when this indictment...
...charges that this defendant, Frederick Garrett...
...among others, murdered Joseph Wilson...
...will you swear that during those hours Garrett was peaceably in his own house?
Yes.
That's all. Thank you.
You can go.
Oh, Miss Hooper, isn't it true that for years...
...you've been a close friend of, and, before she married, roomed with...
...Mrs. Garrett? - Don't answer that!
But this is a witness for the state, sir, not for the defense.
- I'm sorry, I simply meant to object. - I withdraw the question.
Miss Franchette...
...you are then the proprietor as well as the hostess...
...of the Green Light Inn?
Well, it's my place, if that's what you mean.
That's just what I mean. The list, please.
Will the defendants whose names I read stand?
Dawson, Piper, Lopez, and Durkin.
Miss Franchette, do you recognize these men?
I most certainly do.
Did you see them at any time between 5 and 9 p. M...
...on October 26th in Strand? And, if so, where?
Well, they were all at my place. In the café.
From 6 till, oh, 10, 11, anyhow.
And what makes the presence of these particular men stick in your mind?
Because, for once, Mr. Dawson paid the bill.
You mean, by Mr. Dawson, the defendant Kirby Dawson.
Oh, yes.
Two years in jail, not identified with any church.
- Objection! - Sorry. I was just thinking out loud.
Yeah.
This defendant, Kirby Dawson, according to these notes...
...also known as Bubbles...
...for once paid the bill.
But he or someone else didn't pay you to concoct an alibi for him and his friends...
...by any chance, did they? - Objection!
Sustained. Strike it out.
I wonder if I haven't been calling the defense witnesses by mistake.
His last remark proves the district attorney...
...hasn't lost his humor, in spite of the fact...
...that his attempt to establish the presence of the defendants...
...at the lynching has either failed or been ridiculed by the defense.
Wait. Just wait.
Thaddus Hummel, Sheriff of Strand County, is now on the stand.
Can you identify any or all of these defendants...
...as having been in the mob that stormed your jail and burned it...
...thereby burning your prisoner to death?
Objection!
To the latter part of the question as assuming a fact not yet proved.
I will change the question to:
"Who stormed your jail and burned it," then.
No, sir.
I can't identify them.
Can you, then, tell me the names of anyone, other then these defendants...
...among those rioters? - No, sir.
They must have been men from out of town.
Oh, I see. Foreigners.
I will remind the jury of the easy habit of putting on foreigners...
...events that disturb our conscience.
Or perhaps it was a roving band of redskins. Indians, I mean.
Only red-skinned thing I saw was that tomato...
...that plopped me in the face and made a fool of me.
I must remind the spectators of the dignity of this court.
An injury you suffered put you to bed for a week, sheriff.
How did that happen?
The deputies that stuck with me...
...most of them disappeared...
...and I were holding off the mob as best we could...
...with tear gas and rifle butts...
...when somebody slugged me from behind, and l...
You said, "slugged," "tear gas," "rifle butts," "mob."
After all, this was an attempted lynching then!
- Objection! - The question was proper!
I disagree! Your constant use of the word lynching...
If counsel's ears were as quick as his objections...
...he'd know I said attempted lynching.
If the state's evidence was as breathtaking as its sarcasm...
...which I suggest is being employed to hide from the jury...
...the failure of its own witnesses to back up its hollow case...
Hooray! Hollow as a busted jug, is what it is!
Quiet, will you?
Remove that man.
- I was just... - Come here. You're going.
They hadn't ought to treat Uncle Billy that way! Uncle Billy's right!
This is a shame against the good name of our town.
- Bring that man before the court. - Order in the court. Quiet.
He won't do nothing to me. I ain't afraid.
Sit down, you. Sit down!
I order you held in contempt with a fine of $ 100...
...or 10 days in the county jail.
I protest against this injustice!
The fine will be $200 or 30 days.
But he can't put me in... Why, all I said was...
A trial for murder...
...is the most solemn occasion upon which men can be called...
...to perform a public duty.
Any further demonstration and I shall order the courtroom cleared.
- Proceed. - May it please the court.
The state's own witnesses...
...have not been able to identify these defendants...
...as having even been at the scene of the crime...
...alleged in the indictment.
We must insist that the state give us facts...
...instead of...
...tittle-tattle here.
Your Honor...
...in the last 49 years...
...mobs have lynched 6010 human beings...
...by hanging, burning, cutting, in this proud land of ours.
A lynching about every three days.
And of the many thousands that comprise these mobs...
...only 765 were ever even brought to trial...
...because their supposedly civilized communities...
...have refused to identify them for trial.
Thus becoming as responsible, before God at any rate...
...as the lynchers themselves.
I did not put these representative citizens of Strand on the stand...
...to prove anything, Your Honor, and ladies and gentlemen of the jury...
...except that on their oaths...
...to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, so help them God...
...they are liars!
And that their contempt of truth shall not go unpunished...
...I shall ask their indictment for perjury...
...on the same evidence that in one minute...
...will prove the identity of these defendants...
... with that of 22 active members of the mob...
... that stormed and burned the jail and lynched Joseph Wilson!
I shall introduce that evidence now.
Will counsel for the defense please approach the bench?
While the judge is hearing arguments over the admission of evidence...
...l'll take this opportunity to remind you this broadcast is brought to you...
...courtesy of No Make-A Me Fat, that magic dessert...
Flash! Against the objection of the defense...
...the judge has just admitted this evidence, whatever it is!
Stand back, everybody. Clear the door.
I warn the spectators against any demonstrations.
At the slightest sign of disorder, I will unhesitatingly clear this court.
- We are ready, Your Honor. - Proceed.
By stipulation with defense attorneys that this is a true film record...
...taken at Strand by Ted Fitzgerald, in employment as a news cameraman...
...I hereby present this film as state's Exhibit A.
Close the shutters.
- Ready? - Ready.
- Ready? - Let it run.
Defendant number one, Kirby Dawson...
...who, according to testimony, was in the Green Light Inn...
...during the hours of the commission of this crime.
A stop action of the scene.
Defendant number two, Mrs. Sally Humphries...
...who, according to testimony...
...during the hours of this crime was on the farm of her fiancé.
We identify her by stop action of the same shot.
The first brand that transformed that jail into a blazing stake...
...for Joseph Wilson.
The fire department courageously tried to extinguish those flames...
...but overwhelming numbers fought them back.
While in the meantime, the defendant Frederick Garrett...
...peaceably armed with an ax, destroyed the efforts of the officials...
...to save the life of an innocent man. The enlarged stop action...
No, no! It's not true. He...
Order in the court! Order! Order in the court!
- Come on. We're gonna be late. - Couldn't get a car. There's a crowd.
That's all. That's all.
- Do you feel better today? - Don't worry.
- Second floor. Traffic Court. - Pardon me.
- Got a cigarette, Tom? - Sure.
Peanuts.
Judge Hopkins' Court.
Come on. We're getting out too.
The last the sheriff, the jailer, or anyone else saw of him was before the fire.
I must insist on my question.
Who proved that Joseph Wilson was in that jail at the time it burned?
- The jailer threw the keys down. - Are you ready?
Isn't there the possibility the prisoner angled for those keys and escaped?
- Are you ready? - We say that possibility exists.
It's up to the state to prove it false.
Is the state prepared to proceed?
We call Katherine Grant to the stand.
Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?
- I do. - Be seated, please.
State your name, residence and occupation, please.
Katherine Grant.
I'm a teacher in the Washington Public School here.
I live at 96 Oak Street.
With your parents, Miss Grant?
My father and mother are dead.
Your relationship to Joseph Wilson was?
We were going to be married.
Will you tell the jury, in your own way...
...what happened on October 26th.
I fixed a little lunch of things I thought he'd like.
With flowers on the table...
...and some salted...
...peanuts. He always liked peanuts.
Are you able to go on, Miss Grant?
Certainly I can go on.
I went to meet him at Sycamore Corners.
On the way, I bought him some neckties for a present.
He liked blue.
He never thought of buying things like that for himself.
And then I stopped at the minister's to remind him...
... that Joe and I would be there at 4:00, and not to forget.
We'd been away from each other so long.
More than a year.
And l... I loved him so.
I turn the witness over to the defense.
Miss Grant. According to the fact of psychology...
...that under great emotional stress the mind sees what it has expected to...
...whether the thing is actually there or not...
...is it not possible that you did not see Joseph Wilson...
...but only the image of him your imagination had created in your head?
No, I saw him. I saw him burning to death there!
You can see that picture now too, can't you?
- I'll always see it. - So perhaps after all...
...it was an hallucination of your tortured mind that you saw there...
...just as you see it here.
What do you want me to say, yes or no? I tell you I saw him.
Can you, from your own personal knowledge...
...swear that Joseph Wilson is dead?
Why, no. That is, yes.
- I mean, one can assume. - Excuse me...
...but that is exactly what must not be assumed, but proved!
The state is asking the lives of 22 people for one.
I don't care about the lives of 22 people!
They can't bring back the life I cared about.
I only wish I hadn't fainted. I wish I could have gone in there to him. With him.
That's all, Miss Grant.
I will remind the jury that under the law...
...lives must not be taken on assumptions but on facts!
Where is the corpse of Joseph Wilson?
The law is that the corpus delicti must be established...
... at least by fragments of the human body...
... or of articles known and proved to have been worn by the deceased.
And in the absence of convincing proof of the corpus delicti...
...I move this indictment be wiped off the records...
...and the charges against these defendants be dismissed.
I shall take the motion for dismissal under advisement until tomorrow...
... and hear the state's arguments then.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury...
...I have received an object...
...which, if authentic...
...must be considered as evidence in this case.
As to its authenticity, I am not permitted to have an opinion.
However, in order to present it to you...
...I must take the witness stand.
Mr. Clerk...
...please swear me.
Do you swear that you'll tell the truth and nothing but the truth?
- I do. - Please be seated.
This is a special delivery letter postmarked...
...in this city at 11 p.m. Last night...
...and addressed "Judge Daniel Hopkins, Hall of Justice, Courtroom 10."
Is this the letter you received, Your Honor?
It is.
The communication is not handwritten.
It is formed by letters cut from a newspaper...
...and pasted together to spell words.
It is, ladies and gentlemen, the confession of a tortured conscience.
Listen.
"I can't hide the truth any longer.
I am a citizen of Strand who helped clean up the jail mess.
In the ashes, I found this enclosed ring.
Nobody knew it, so I was keeping it for a mement... Memento.
But it is upsetting my conscience.
I don't dare sign this, or I would probably get lynched myself.
A citizen of Strand."
I now draw your attention to this ring.
It's gold, melted and misshapen, as if by fire.
Inside the ring is an engraved inscription, reading...
I can decipher only the words...
..."Henry to K."
The rest is melted out.
But after that word, I can plainly read...
...in a different style of engraving...
..."To Joe," obviously meaning...
- Objection! - Sustained.
Since when have anonymous letters become gospel in law?
Who can say that ring was the property of Joseph Wilson?
What proof is there that it was found...
...as that concocted letter would have us believe?
Who sent that letter? A man afraid to sign his name.
I believe that this fraud is a fabrication of some soul...
...poisoned with hostility toward these defendants!
The state recalls Katherine Grant to the stand.
I will remind you, Miss Grant, you've already sworn to tell the truth.
Have you ever seen this ring before?
- Yes. - Where and when?
In the railroad station in Chicago.
When I was leaving to come here.
I gave it to Joe.
What did Joseph Wilson do with it when you gave it to him?
He put it on his little finger.
It was too small for any other finger.
How can you be sure this ring is the one you gave him...
...and saw him put on his little finger there?
Because it was my mother's.
It had engraved "Henry," my father's name...
..."to Katherine," which was my mother's name too.
After the "Katherine"...
...I had it engraved...
..."to Joe."
I want to confess!
Let me go!
I threw stones at him!
I helped kill him!
I'm guilty! We're all guilty!
Let me ask her to forgive me! Please, please, forgive me!
Forgive me!
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury...
Forgive me!
...there is your answer to this case!
That letter cinched it for us, didn't it?
Yeah, why?
It was certainly lucky for us that it showed up...
...wasn't it? - Stop talking about it.
I mean...
...where does it get you?
- Why didn't you tell me Joe was alive? - What?
- Are you crazy? - I know he's alive, Charlie. I know.
Will you shut your mouth?
You can't keep me quiet. What's happened to him?
Does he realize what he's done? What we've all done?
- Where is he? - You saw him.
You saw him in that fire. Why ask me?
You testified, not me. I wasn't there.
You're losing your mind again.
Of course.
Of course you're right.
I don't know what's the matter with me.
Of course you're right.
He's dead.
But I haven't slept for so long.
I want to go.
I can't listen to any more. I want to go home.
It was that letter that made her jump. I don't know...
You're trying to make yourself important.
- Katherine suspicious? You're daffy! - I'm daffy!
Take a look at your radio. I tell you, that letter...
That letter was the best idea I ever had.
Yeah. Almost cost me my finger getting that ring off.
But it was worth it. It would have been worth the whole hand. Two hands.
Tom, why don't you stick with me? You know as well...
Yeah, you're right. What's the use of fighting with him?
Anyway, she's home now. We got the landlady to put her to bed.
Must have been some sensation when that woman collapsed.
They could stand seeing me burned to death.
- They can't stand an honest trial. - Cut it out!
I can't stand it! I can't hear any more!
You haven't been watching them. You didn't look in their eyes.
- Yellow-livered welsher, sorry for them. - You're as bad! You're lynching me!
It's getting me too. I wish I hadn't started the whole thing. I was with you.
But I got a feeling you talked me into something.
If I could think of a way out...
Why don't you snitch on me!
- Nobody's talking about that! - I am! I can't stand it any longer!
Be human, Joe.
We can get out of the country, start over.
But let's tell them the truth. Let's tell them you're alive!
I'll kill you first.
You might as well kill me too.
You brought her here, you lying...
No, Joe. I followed them!
I knew you were alive when I saw your letter. Why not kill me! Do a good job!
What difference does it make? Twenty-two, 23, 25!
- Listen to me, Joe. - No!
I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to talk that way.
Joe, I understand how you feel...
...and I understand why you feel that way.
When I thought you were dead...
...when I thought of what killed you, I wanted revenge too.
But now I don't.
I want to be happy again. I want what we've always promised each other.
You ought to have violins playing when you talk.
- I know what I want, and I'm getting it! - You're hanging 22 people!
No, I'm not. I'm hanging 22 rats for something they did do.
- These are 22 human beings. - Yeah.
- They live and breathe. - Like me in the jail, for instance!
They're not murderers. They were part of a mob.
- A mob doesn't think. It hasn't time. - What about the guy in jail? He can think.
All right, it's his turn. Let them know what it means to be lynched.
- Don't you think they know by now? - No.
What you've felt for a few hours, they've had to face for days and weeks!
Wishing, with all their souls, they could have that one day to live over again.
Joe...
...don't you see?
We can be together and be happy.
Let me go with you to the judge.
And then we can start all over again.
Stop thinking about them. Think about me.
I am thinking about you.
About what a swell guy you were...
...when you were alive. - When I was alive?
If those people die, Joe Wilson dies. You know that.
Wherever you go. Whatever you do.
I couldn't marry you now, Joe.
I couldn't marry a dead man.
All right, then, all right! I don't need anybody!
Nobody!
Maybe this is crazy.
I can't help thinking we'd be better off if you hadn't escaped.
That's what you can't help thinking? Who cares?
This is a big night. I ought to be celebrating.
And that's what I'm gonna do too! Celebrate. Alone!
From now on, I'm gonna do everything alone! I don't need any of you!
Hey.
- Yes? - This stuff's weak.
- Get me bourbon. - Sorry, sir...
...but with the kind of license we have here, it's against the law.
All right. Give me a check.
- I'm sorry, sir, if you feel... - No. It's all right. It's just, it's too noisy.
I don't like crowded places.
Are you planning to do a lot of running around in this room?
Have a good time...
...and bye-bye.
Come in, mister.
- What's your pleasure? - Double bourbon.
Yes, sir.
Midnight, and another day.
Two pages must've got hanged together.
Do a good job of it! What does it matter?
Twenty-two, 23, 25!
Katherine! Katherine!
Katherine, don't leave me alone.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury...
...have you agreed upon a verdict?
We have, Your Honor.
You will hand the verdict to the bailiff.
We find in the case of the people of the state versus the defendants...
...charged with the murder of Joseph Wilson as set forth in the indictment.
Jasper Anderson, not guilty.
Gilbert Clark, not guilty.
Richard Durkin, guilty.
Walter Dubbs, guilty.
Kirby Dawson, guilty.
Frederick Garrett, guilty.
- Walter Gordon, guilty. - No, no! I'm not. Not me!
Go ahead, go ahead, get it over with!
Order in the court!
Your Honor, I am Joseph Wilson.
Keep your seats!
- Go on. - I know that by coming here...
...I saved the lives of these 22 people.
But that isn't why I'm here. I don't care anything about saving them.
They're murderers. I know the law says they're not because I'm still alive.
But that's not their fault.
And the law doesn't know that a lot of things that were very important to me...
...silly things, maybe, like a belief in justice...
...and an idea that men were civilized...
...and a feeling of pride that this country of mine was different from all others.
The law doesn't know those things were burned to death within me that night.
I came here today for my own sake.
I couldn't stand it anymore.
I couldn't stop thinking about them, with every step and every breath I took.
And I didn't believe Katherine when she said...
Katherine is the young lady who was going to marry me.
Maybe someday after I've paid for what I did...
...there'll be a chance to begin again.
And then maybe...
...Katherine and I... - Joe.