Written by KEN TREVEY Directed by SUTTON ROLEY Regular Cast JOHN McINTIRE as Chris Hale ROBERT FULLER  as Cooper Smith TERRY WILSON as Bill Hawks DENNY (SCOTT) MILLER as Duke Shannon MICHAEL BURNS as Barnaby West FRANK McGRATH as Charlie Wooster  [Burns & McGrath make only fleeting appearances in this episode] Guest Cast ROBERT LANSING as Judge Arthur Forbes PETER BROWN as Aaron Balfour SHERRY JACKSON as Geneva Balfour ARCHIE MOORE as Ishmael Supporting Cast E.J. ANDRE JACK GRINNAGE BYON FOULGER KATE MURRAGH KATHLEEN FREEMAN  WILLIAM CHALLEE JAMES GRIFFITH Note:  This episode was from the only season of Wagon Train to be telecast in color.  However, the color on our copy is poor so we did our video grabs in black & white.

Peter Brown Sherry Jackson Robert Lansing

Regular Cast Robert Fuller John McIntire Scott (Denny) Miller

This episode is about the psychological travails inherent in the journey West; it's not an action adventure.  Geneva Balfour is a coddled daughter from a wealthy Boston family.  Her husband Aaron knew she would always be her father's daughter, not his wife, unless they went West.  However, it appears that the hardships of the journey, heightened by her advanced pregnancy, have driven her to despair.  She begs Aaron to take her home.  He asks her to have faith in him for once.

Aaron Balfour hopes his pampered Boston wife will learn to have faith in him.

An Indian war sends the train on a detour through the desert.  When Geneva hears another woman die in childbirth, she's sent over the edge.   Geneva thinks that if the wagon containing extra supplies is destroyed, they'll have to turn back.  So during the dead mother's funeral, she splashes the supply wagon with kerosene and sets it ablaze.   Aaron burns his hands trying to put out the fire and sends her back to their wagon.

After another woman dies in childbirth, Geneva sets fire to the supply wagon.
Aaron tries to put it out and gets blamed for setting it.

Aaron is accused of starting the fire.  Coop takes him ahead in the jail wagon, out of the path of the mob.  Geneva finds out from Bill that the loss of the supplies would make it impossible to turn back, dashing her hopes that she can return home.

After Aaron is accused, Geneva finds out the fire won't send them home anyway.

Just prior to the fire, Duke reported to Hale that the fort they had counted on for supplies has been abandoned.  An itinerant miner did tell Duke there was a mining camp to the West where they could get supplies.  When the mob accuses Aaron of doing something that will cause them to starve to death, Hale assures them they can get supplies at the fort.  Back at the wagon, Hale sends Duke out to find the miner and bring him to the fort by sundown.  He won't let him tell Coop or anyone else about the abandoned fort.  He tells Duke he's going to delay and pray, hoping the prospector will be there by the time the wagons arrive.  Unbeknownst to them, Geneva has come to find out what will happen to Aaron and overhears the conversation.

As Coop tends Aaron's burned hands, it's clear both that they have developed a prior friendship and that Coop doesn't for a minute believe Aaron burned the wagon.  He doesn't even take Aaron's gun away from him (although likely he'd have difficulty using it with his burned hands).  Coop knows the man he calls "Boston" is covering for Geneva and urges him to tell the truth because it will be easier to protect a woman.

Coop is sympathetic; Aaron is adamant about protecting his wife

Coop, who is still in the dark about the abandoned fort and Hale's reasons for wanting delay, is upset that Hale insists they stop the train prior to midday and have a hasty trial.  Coop confronts Geneva and insists she tell Hale she set the fire.

Geneva goes to Hale and demands he stop Aaron's trial or she will tell about the abandoned fort.  He persuades her everyone will panic and their lives will all be at risk.  She then confesses that she set the fire.  Hale urges her to keep quiet for everyone's sake.  If Aaron is banished, Hale promises to send Coop with a horse and supplies.

As Hale proceeds with the trial, even Judge Forbes who has been appointed prosecutor, insists that it would be too prejudicial to hold the trial so soon.  When Hale persists Coop drags Geneva out to face everyone.  When Aaron confesses and the men on the train want to find him guilty, Coop insists he's guilty only of protecting his wife.  Aaron is furious in his continued protectiveness.  Geneva is caught between Coop and Hale and she collapses.  As he picks her up, Aaron can only say to Coop, "If she loses this baby . . ."

Coop confronts Hale about his apparent unreasonableness and warns him that the members of the train are looking more and more to Judge Forbes as a leader and may be looking for a new wagon master.  Hale reacts by warning Forbes, who disclaims any interest in taking over.  Hale continues to delay and also sets the scene for Coop to take over should he be ousted.  When they reach a deep narrow gorge, Hale deliberately lets Coop suggest they blast and then dig to make a path for the wagons so that he looks more like a leader.  When Coop confronts him with the fact that Hale knew very well what needed to be done and suggests that Hale had dealt him out of whatever game he's playing, Hale responds that the game is solitaire.

As the train starts up again, Aaron discovers Geneva is missing and enlists Coop to help find her.  When they do, she tells them Hale lied about the fort at Castle Rock.  She thinks it's her fault that Hale will probably be killed by an angry mob.

As they ride toward the fort, the judge has a talk with Ishmael who apparently feels that if Hale did lie about the fort, he might have had good reason.  When the mob gets to the abandoned fort, Hale tries to deflect their anger by putting a noose around his own neck.

The mob is quieted except for one woman, the chief resident harpy, who fires a gun causing the horse to spook and Hale to swing.  However, as his hands aren't tied and Coop is almost as fast on the draw as Jess Harper (his Laramie former-gunfighter incarnation), Coop shoots the rope free before any damage is done.

Duke shows up with the prospector who knows about the mining camp, thereby reassuring everyone they won't starve after all.

In a comforting  scene at the end, Geneva cuddles up to Aaron around the fire made from her imported hope chest.  He starts to reassure her that once they get to California, he will get her all the things she gave up when she left Boston.  She puts her hand to his lips to stop him.  She just wants to be a wife to him.  The possessions aren't important.

NiteOwl Review:  A definite collectible for both Robert Fuller and Peter Brown fans.  This was a different role for Peter.  Not a rugged man of action, a boy becoming a man or a sleazy villain, in this story Peter was a city boy from Boston.   However, he showed himself to be a man of quiet courage determined to protect his wife at all costs.  As kids watching this episode most of us would have despised the wife as unworthy of either Peter or the character he was playing.  Looking at her from a more mature point of view, we wonder how any woman in any stage of pregnancy could brave the extreme hardships of a wagon train journey.  Geneva Balfour was a woman used to servants and the other comforts of the rich.  It was no wonder she cracked.  This episode told a pretty decent story.  This was the only  year of Wagon Train to be filmed in color and to last 90 minutes.  Some of the stories of that season tended be stories suited to an hour but stretched to an hour and a half, but this one filled the time well as the stories of Aaron and Geneva, Chris Hale and Judge Forbes and the potential for mob violence always under the surface of "the good people" all came together.    Our Favorite Scene: We loved the scene between Peter Brown and Robert Fuller as Coop expresses his disbelief in Aaron's responsibility for the fire and Aaron quietly but firmly explains why he must protect his wife.   Both actors brought compassion, dignity, strength and good chemistry to the scene.
Cast Note:  Robert Fuller was a Western hero to those of us who grew up on the TV of the 1960's as he put in two years on Wagon Train after his four years in Laramie and made many guest appearances on Westerns from Rin Tin Tin [where he dies of anthrax] to shows like Lawman, Big Valley, Virginian, Paradise, etc. etc.  He made several Western features: The Return of the  Seven [we liked him better than Steve McQueen in the role McQueen originated.], The Gatling Gun, Mustang Country and the first of the two attempts at making a new Bonanza series.  Most of us were not thrilled when he became a doctor hiding in a white coat in Emergency any more than we were when Peter Brown became a doctor in a daytime drama.  We had planned to eventually add a Robert Fuller fansite to our effort here because his  official site is mainly for selling pictures although it does have a guestbook.  [We have it on good authority that Bob reads the email he gets there although he doesn't usually answer it.] There's also a Laramie fan site   which is limited to just that but is worth checking out.  We recently found a really nice Wagon Train site that includes a lot on Bob.  http://www.fiftiesweb.com/wt/wagon-train.htm     Finally, there's an  ambitious fan site which  eliminates any need for us to add Bob to our fansite.   Check  out this full service Robert Fuller Fan Site at: http://fansite@robertfullersite.co.uk
They're adding stuff from many of Bob's roles, have fanfic from several roles, pictures, bio, etc.  They are expanding all the time.  We plan to contribute some of our stuff to their site.  There's an article about Bob in the third issue of Wildest Westerns.  Order at www.wildestwestern.com

Contact us at:  peterbrownsite@peterbrown.tv

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