The Ruth Owens Story

Shelley Winters does one of her infrequent acting jobs in this Wagon Train episode playing a woman going west with her new husband Kent Smith and her daughter from a previous marriage. The first husband had been killed in the Civil War.

Her younger brother Dean Stockwell makes the first of several Wagon Train episodes he appears in. He had heard she was with the Seth Adams Wagon Train and has followed from St.Louis. He has the misfortune to mention the place where he heard she worked, a notorious saloon pleasure palace. When someone questions his sister's honor he hits him. The other party draws a knife and Stockwell draws his gun and kills him.

Winters has a most troubled past, an alcoholic and abusive father is why she ran away from home and left Stockwell there. She also had to do a lot just to survive including being a 'fancy woman'. Not good for mixing with those pioneer wives.

In this early Wagon Train we also see Frank McGrath with only the scraggle of a beard and Terry Wilson not yet an official regular acting as one of the lynch mob. Certainly not Bill Hawks type behavior. Then again he had a wife in a few early episodes who was gradually forgotten.

Ward Bond shows in this story why he became for many such an authority figure the way he stops a lynch mob. It was a big reason for Wagon Train's popularity and why his sudden demise was such a news story around the 1960 elections. He was a father figure to many as Major Seth Adams.

A good ensemble performance by a carefully chosen ensemble for this Wagon Train episode.

Jimmy Drew arrives at the train looking for his sister Ruth. Someone told himin St. Louis at a saloon that she was seen with the train after she left there. When he tells Lank Carr she was working at the Satin Slipper as a waitress, he tells Jimmy no woman with that background could be on the train. As the argument heats up, Lank pulls a knife and tries to stab Jimmy who shoots and kills him. Lank's blind uncle hears the confrontation and later recognises his voice. Jimmy is caught and saved from a lynching by the Major.

Jimmy's sister Ruth who is remarried to a school teacher spots him and tells Jimmy that she did have a past she has tried to put behind her. Jimmy is so hurt he decides not to defend himself until his sister tells the truth at the trial.

Excellent episode which is on point in regard to drama, story, plot and characters - there's a certain depth to the plot and characters as well as strong themes.

Shelley Winters shines in this moving story early in this excellent series. A young man is held for murder when he kills a man while defending the honor of his sister, whom he hasn't seen in a long time. He claims self defense but after his sister reveals her sordid past, he becomes bitter and loses his will to defend himself. Meanwhile, a drought has put the travelers on edge and the dead man's father demands a hanging. The episode touches on many serious themes, including revenge, morality, justice, desperation, forgiveness and redemption. Ward Bond's authoritative presence as the wagon master is on full display and the ending may even elicit a tear or two.