The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Earp, as Marshal of Wichita in 1875,

had gone against hardened killers

like Manning Clements and John Wesley Harden,

mature men with a lust for blood

and a quick hand on the grip of a Colt .45.

But there was a group of desperados,

most of them 18 or 20 years old,

who styled themselves Billy the Kid

or the Pecos Kid

or the Comanche Kid.

A few of them were like young Lonnie McVey,

known as the Kansas Kid,

who found himself hounded by a reputation

and driven toward death

at the end of a posse's rope.

How bad is he?

Ah, not too good.

We better get him to a doctor.

Anything really new in the paper?

Well, Times in New York City

is charging corruption by Tammany Hall.

The French have asked President Grant

if he'd like a statue.

Of himself?

No, statue of liberty.

They want to give it to us,

'cause we're the first republic.

Oh, I think that's a very nice idea.

How much would it cost?

No, Martha. That's not the point.

The point is, that if they gave us...

Lonnie?

Yeah, it's me.

Now, Martha...

Why have you come here?

Used to be my home, didn't it?

Lonnie, my boy, it's still your home.

We've missed you so and waited.

Martha.

There's a posse after me.

That's the only reason I came back.

A posse?

And you expect us to hide you here?

I always thought you were my father.

Oh, now, John...

We told him last time

he mustn't ever come back.

- Oh, I... - You agreed to it!

I know, but...

Why did you come here? Why is the law after you?

For something I didn't do.

You see, John?

No.

He's a stage robber

and a murderer.

Get out.

Not right now.

Please, John.

He can't expect us to hide

the Kansas Kid from the law.

Shut up. I'll hide myself.

I don't want you to do anything but shut up.

Ain't askin' ya.

I'm tellin' ya.

Lonnie, not your own father.

You practically threw me out,

ignored me when I was a kid.

I don't owe you a thing.

Far as I'm concerned,

you're just any stranger.

And this is just any house.

You can't hide here.

Who's stopping me?

Playing common sense oughta stop ya.

That posse'll report to Marshal Earp.

This is the first place he'll search.

He nor any other marshal don't know my real name.

You're not going to tell on him, John.

You can't.

He's our son.

He won't tell on me.

He knows what he'll get if he does.

Turned my horse loose

and made it here on foot.

I'm dead beat.

I'm going upstairs.

The least you can do is give me a bed for the night,

considering you haven't much choice.

Now, Martha, we agreed...

Lonnie, what are they after you for?

They say I killed a man.

They aim to hang me.

Marshal Earp,

this is Sheriff Osbourne from Kingman County.

Oh, howdy.

Mr. Earp, these are my two deputies, Larson, Jones.

Glad to know you. A long way from home.

Yeah.

They chased the Kansas Kid into town, but he got away.

Oh, how?

The Kid shot Danny Obert,

just when we were overtaking him outside the city limits.

We had to stop and take care of him. He's over at the Doc's now.

Doc Fabrique's a good man.

Seemed to know his business.

Sit down, gentlemen.

And you think the, uh, Kid's holed up in Wichita, huh?

Oh, he has to be. Rode in here not more than a half an hour ago.

Now, what's he wanted for besides wounding one of your deputies?

Well, he killed a Wells Fargo guard

in a stage hold up outside of Kingman City.

I'm having some of these printed up.

The Kansas Kid.

There are a dozen kids this and that. What's his real name?

Nobody knows. Works out of the bush country.

Never comes in to town, huh?

Hmm. If he has,

he's sure got sense enough not to brag on who he is.

But your men can identify him?

We got close enough for that.

He's slender, brown hair, brown eyes...

Good-lookin' kid.

Marshal Earp,

we picked up a stray horse

that was wandering on a cross street off Douglas Avenue.

I got him outside.

That could be the Kid's horse.

Let's take a look.

This is the one right here.

Got the blaze.

Three white stockings.

Belongs to Kid, all right.

Looks like he was traveling light.

Been a long ride.

Looks like an old saddle, too, about 8 or 9 years I'd say.

Uh-huh.

The saddle-maker's mark might give us a lead.

Looks like old man Gentry's.

Here, in Wichita?

Yeah.

We'll take the horse on down to his shop.

You and your men might as well get some rest

and something to eat.

Any objection to my going along with you, Mr. Earp?

It happens there is. Old man Gentry may not wanna

talk in front of strangers.

Okay, you're the law in Wichita,

so long as we get the kid.

If he's here, you'll get him.

Come on, boy.

Who is it?

Your mother.

Where's the old man?

Did he go to turn me in?

I don't know.

I was born in this house.

I might as well die here.

If you're innocent as you say, you should give yourself up.

Stand trial, I suppose.

Yes.

They've tagged me with enough jobs to hang me nine times.

We know Marshal Earp.

He's a decent young man.

He goes to our church.

Awful fast with a gun, I hear.

He'd treat you fairly.

I'm good with a gun, too.

Guns.

That's how it started.

You were smaller than the boys your age.

You thought you'd be evened up with guns.

I evened up.

Your father would have stood by you.

The morning you ran away, he'd gone to hire a lawyer.

What have you done now?

What have you brought to us?

The old man's walking around in the yard.

Guess he can't make up his mind to turn me in.

I want you to make up your own mind.

Go to Marshal Earp and tell him you're this, this Kansas Kid.

Too late, Mom.

It's never too late to...

To go to prison?

I could take that for stage robbery.

But you don't know what it's like

to have a reputation like mine.

They accuse me of hold ups

I was miles away from,

of shooting men I never saw in my life.

Every crime that's unsolved, I did it.

I'm the Kansas Kid.

And proud of it.

Not anymore.

Then go to Marshal Earp.

Tell him what you've just told me.

Mom, I never could talk to Poppa,

but I used to be able to tell you things.

Tell me now, Lonnie.

All right.

You ever hear of lynching?