Episode
Wagon Train: The Christopher Hale Story
Overview
Flint meets Chris Hale alone on the prairie. Hale has just found his entire family massacred by Indians, and Flint asks him to join the wagon train. However, the company that owns the wagon train has hired a new wagonmaster, Jud Benedict. Benedict is a ruthless and brutal tyrant who puts time above all other considerations, and does not care how many people are left behind or even die in the process of heading to the final destination as soon as possible. He has also hired unscrupulous gunmen to enforce this goal by brutalizing slower people, or anyone who stands up to him. It is revealed that Hale has also been a wagonmaster, but has retired from the job and does not ever want such a responsibility again. Still, people on the train are looking to Hale to stand up to Benedict.
Details
- Series
- Wagon Train
- Season
- Season 4
- Episode
- Episode 25
- Air date
- 1961-03-15
Episode context
The Christopher Hale Story is Episode 25 in Season 4 of Wagon Train. It aired on 1961-03-15.
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Episode 24: The Nancy Palmer Story
A married couple use the wife's innocent face and winning way with children to gain the trust of their companions on the wagon train so that they won't be suspected when the husband pulls off a bank robbery nearby.
Episode 26: The Tiburcio Mendez Story
Bill Hawks is leading four wagons through to California when they are stopped by Tiburcio Mendez and his band of renegades, who demand they turn back. Mendez and his group claim that California is their land and that it was stolen by the later settlers. A judge traveling with Hawks' group believes that Mendez has a legitimate grievance which could be addressed by the legislature in Sacramento, and against Hawks' warning goes in to Mendez' camp to talk with him. When Hawks follows, both he and the judge are taken prisoner.
More episodes from this season
Episode 23: The Jed Polke Story
When Flint brings a stranded woman and boy to the train, her husband who went off to find help is also found but his return to the train sets off tempers when four men recognize him and their only thought is murder.
Episode 27: The Nellie Jefferson Story
When actress Nellie Jefferson joins the wagon train, her incessant demands for special treatment come to grate on Hale and Hawks, but Wooster is totally smitten with her. Meanwhile a fanatical man from her past is following her, talking about how she will meet her fate like the biblical Jezebel.
Episode 22: The Beth Pearson Story
The leaders of the wagon train are taken aback when they see a woman asking to join the wagon train who is the twin of Major Adams one and only love who died in his arms.
Episode 28: The Saul Bevins Story
Saul Bevins, a blind doctor traveling with his son, his sister, and his dog, asks to join the wagon train. Many others on the train object that he will slow them down, but Hale agrees to let him ride at least until the next settlement, at which time the entire wagon train will vote on whether he should continue. On the way Bevins is forced to overcome many obstacles.
Episode 21: The Odyssey of Flint McCullough
Looking forward to some time off, Flint heads towards the town of Monument but runs into an old man and some kids whose parents were just massacred by some Mescaleros and they're running low on supplies especially milk for the baby.
Episode 29: The Joe Muharich Story
Polish immigrant Joe Muharich tries to befriend and hopefully straighten out Johnny Kamen, a brash young man who doesn't take well to anyone giving orders to him. Joe has lost his wife and son to thugs, and now he reacts violently to any attempt to harass or intimidate him. When Johnny accidentally shoots a woman while reacting against drunken thugs, Joe tries to defend him. But the thugs who harassed Johnny then harass Joe and start fire to his wagon, causing Joe to react by shooting the men and killing one of them
Episode 20: Path of the Serpent
At a Rocky Mountains fort , a wounded soldier asks his old friend Ruddy Blaine to bring his daughter to him before he dies. With the Ute Indians on the warpath, Blaine will have to take a dangerous route known only to him and the Shoshone.
Episode 30: The Duke Shannon Story
With his clever tall tales, old prospector Henry Shannon talks Charlie Wooster into coming with him to search for a gold mine. When Hawks finds out about this, he rides out after the two men, along with Shannon's grandson Duke. Also following the old men are three men who hope to grab the gold for themselves.
Episode 19: The Prarie Story
The story of the women of the wagon train and the unforgiving prairie through which they pass. Who will endure, and who will give up? Who will live, and who will die?
Episode 31: The Will Santee Story
The Santee family---Will, his mother, and his younger sister---join the wagon train under a false surname. They have been forced out of town after town because of a terrible thing a family member did. They confide in Hale, Hawks, and Charlie, who agree to keep their secret from the others on the train. But it soon comes out anyway, and things get complicated when Will falls for a young woman from the wagon train.