Ranger Bill, Warrior of the Woodland.
Struggling against extreme odds, traveling dangerous trails, fighting the many enemies
of nature.
This is the job of the guardian of the forest, Ranger Bill.
Pouring rain, freezing cold, blistering heat, snow, floods, bears, rattlesnakes, mountain lions.
Yes, all this in exchange for the satisfaction and pride of a job well done.
Brethren, the Lord's given me a vision.
The one wire fence is a tool of the devil.
Brethren, it's our duty to see that young Bradshaw doesn't put that one wire fence up.
Unfortunately, there are men still living in our modern world who have taken certain
liberties with the Scriptures and interpret God's word according to their own liking.
The voice you just heard is that of Jeremiah's sikes, self-appointed leader and prophet of
an isolated area called Elk Mesa.
It wasn't too many years ago that Jeremiah was the leader of one of the bloodiest ranged
wars the West has ever seen.
And he and his clan held off the invaders and retained control of Elk Mesa.
But now Jeremiah has overlooked one thing, or two, youth and progress.
The dreams of the young empower them to tackle obstacles that would floor an older man.
Such was young Herb Bradshaw, son of Jack Thunder Bradshaw.
Thunder Bradshaw got his name from the ranged war days.
He said he could shout a man to death or thunder him down with his guns.
Well, right now, Herb and his dad are out at the old Conklin spread on Elk Mesa.
Let's find out what happens in the story, The One Wire Fence.
Son, you mean to say that you want to start out on your own with this run-down ramshackled
spread way up here in Elk Mesa?
Yeah, that's what I want, Dad.
I don't understand, son.
Your dad's the richest rancher this side of Central City.
And I'd be glad to start you out on a decent spread.
How'd you start out, Dad?
With bare land, the sweat of my brow, and the best gun hand in the valley.
Well, that's the way I want to start.
Maybe not with the best gun hand, but with nothing.
Build it up just like you did.
You sent me to college to learn scientific ranching and animal husbandry.
Well, now I want to build my own cattle empire.
Ah, well, I guess you wouldn't be Thunder Bradshaw's son if you didn't.
I can't stop you because it's in your blood.
I'll have my lawyer draw up the papers, and I'll settle the back taxes and buy the lease.
And then you can start to work.
Thanks, Dad. Thanks a lot.
I should thank you, son, for making me so proud of you.
There's just one thing about this place you ought to know.
Jeremiah Sykes?
That's it, son.
There isn't any reason I should have trouble with him, is there?
I hope not.
The Range War's been over and done with almost 30 years now.
You were just a wee smidgen when your old dad's guns and Jeremiah's guns thundered across this country.
Well, there's no reason for a Range War today.
Maybe so, but don't you underestimate Jeremiah Sykes and his clan.
Jeremiah walks around with a Bible in his left hand and a sharp-shooting rifle in the other.
I'll put a bullet through you one minute, then pray over you the next.
What do you make of it, Pa?
Looks like the Spirit of the Lord moved into the Conklin place.
He's about to fix it up, youngin'.
Yeah, sure looks that way, Pa.
Who do you reckon it is beside the Spirit of the Lord?
Mind your tongue, youngin'.
In a few days, we'll drop in neighborly-like and have a look-see.
I reckon we will if you say so, Pa.
Let me have another look into them glasses.
Here.
Hey, Pa, I got news for you.
All right, Luke, speak it out.
You know who it is that bought the Conklin place?
No, youngin', the Lord ain't given me no visions about that yet.
I recognize him now.
It's her Bradshaw.
You sure about that?
I sure am for certain.
I can see him and Shorty Petscher ridin' in there with their horses and a lot of gear.
What do you think of that, Pa?
He ain't doin' no harm, but if and he does,
the Spirit of the Lord will direct my pairs to destroy them and try us to move again us.
How come we're takin' the long way back to town?
I want to stop and see how her Bradshaw's makin' out, pal.
Hey, that's right.
He's got the old Conklin place now.
He sure has, honey.
Lock, stock, and barrel, and there ain't much lock, stock, nor barrel.
I have to give the young fella credit, though.
Thunder Bradshaw is a plenty wealthy man.
Herb could have an easy life, but he's a chip off the old block.
Only there's one chip I hope he hasn't acquired.
You mean a fast gun and a straight shot?
That's what he means, honey.
I guess that range war was pretty bad, wasn't it?
Plenty bad.
Now there's Herb spreadin' out.
Yep, looks like he's got company.
I'll say, quite a bit of company.
This my eyesight, feels me, that's Jeremiah Sykes and Thunder Bradshaw wavin' arms at each other.
Your eyesight isn't failing, old timer.
Let's ride up slow and easy, find out what's goin' on.
The Spirit of the Lord will punish you for interferein' with our neighborly visit to your youngin's ranch, Thunder Bradshaw.
Don't try and pull that stuff off on me, Jeremiah.
You blame Almighty God for everything you do.
Why don't you stop the fraud and act like a man once?
Almighty God isn't gonna have anything to do with the likes of you.
The Spirit of the Lord will take you to...
Close your blasphemy and yap and listen to me once, will ya?
All right, that's better.
As for your neighborly visit, well, I think you're just nosin' around and you better vamoose outta here.
We come here to visit your youngin, not you.
Maybe I better leave, Jeremiah, before you and Dad get so riled up there's trouble.
I reckon he's right, Paul. Let's get.
There's too many Bradshaw cowpokes round here for us to whoop anyhow.
All right, youngin.
Don't you push me too far, Thunder, or there'll be some new graves in that cemetery of yon over yonder.
Just a minute, Jeremiah.
Hey, he comes on.
All right, lads, you must have come right up outta the ground, Mr. Jefferson.
Where'd you fellas come from?
Not outta the ground, Herb. We just rode in quietly and listened.
Well, welcome to my spread.
Thanks. Jeremiah, I heard the threat you made.
You heard her right. The Spirit of the Lord's given me a vision.
Now, just a minute. You don't know the first thing about the Holy Spirit.
If you would read your Bible the way it should be read, you'd find out that you're a blaspheming man, Jeremiah.
Ha-ha, that's tellin' him, Bill.
You hold your tongue, Thunder. Now, listen to me, both of you.
There's not going to be any range war again.
The first man that tries to start it'll have me to deal with.
And that goes for the one who shoots back, too.
There's still bad blood running here, but that's all it's going to do, run.
First drop that's spilled will bring the strong arm of the law down into your necks like the plague.
Is that plain enough?
Yes, sir, it is. Come on, young'un, let's go.
All right, fall.
Thunder, you have every right to visit your son's spread.
You'd better not let me catch you irritating Jeremiah and his clan, you understand?
Yep. Let's go, boys. I'll see you in a few days, son.
Okay, Dad. Come on up as soon as you can.
Let's go.
I'm sorry I had to get tough, Herb, but I could see the old war blood beginning to boil and I don't like it.
Boss, you sure got yourself an idea here.
Glad you like it, Shorty.
I didn't say I liked it. I said you sure got yourself an idea.
What's that supposed to mean?
Here, have some water.
Thanks.
What in the name of common sense are you going to do with all this twisted and tangled barbed wire fence after we get through ripping it out of the ground?
You'd like to spend your free evening straightening it out.
Me? Why, Herb, you know I spend my evenings carting the winter smith.
All the way from Elk Mesa.
Well, maybe not every evening, but tell me, will ya, what's with this fence ripping?
I'm going to put a new one in, Shorty.
Now there's a logical answer if I ever heard one.
Why do you got to tear out the good fence posts then?
Can't we replace the rotten ones, string new wire?
I want to use steel posts and just one wire.
Better let me have that canteen back. There must be something in it besides water.
No, it's just water, Shorty.
You said you were putting up just one wire fence.
That's right, just one wire.
Poor fellow, so young to go off his trolley.
Think you never heard of a one wire fence?
No, but that isn't what disturbs me most.
No, what does disturb you most?
Who ever heard of a one wire fence that would hold a stear or a horse?
The fellow's got troubles keeping some of them in with six strands of barbed wire.
This one wire will hold them all right, Shorty.
I've got it. Why didn't I think of it before?
Think of what?
You're going to get your herd from that cowpoke university you went to.
They got education.
They know they ain't supposed to go over or under a one wire fence.
Paul?
Yes, youngin'.
Now, what's that Herb Bradshaw up to?
Why, he done tore up all the fence posts on his spread.
Maybe he's done been took with the fits.
The spirit of the Lord told me there'd be strange things for our eyes to see.
Of course, that was a crumbled down fence.
Well, maybe he just...
Mind your tongue.
Okay.
Let me figure this out.
All right, Paul, but I know one thing for sure.
What's that?
Well, I know Herb went to the university,
and he's going to run that spread real scientific-like.
I've seen some of the beef they have over there at the university,
and you've never seen such beautiful critters in your life.
Well, honest, Paul, and I figure Herb's going to have some the same way.
Now, you wait and see.
He ain't going to have them long unless he gets some fence lined up, youngin'.
Herb, I've had it.
This cowpoke is plum water off frazzle.
Me too.
Guess you won't be courtin' the widow's smith this evening, eh, shorty?
Who said it, boss?
I'm courtin' a good supper and then relax.
When I get through relaxin', I'm gonna sleep.
When I get tired of sleepin', I'm gonna turn over and sleep some more.
Me too, buddy.
Yeah, in the mornin', I'll tow the rest of this stuff over to the junk pound.
Store it there until I can figure out how to get rid of it.
I still can't get over that one wire fence and them education critters.
Shorty?
Don't tell me you haven't ever heard of a one-wire fence, electric fence.
A what?
An electric fence.
With honest to goodness electricity juice in it?
Yeah.
You're gonna raise a big hurt if you fry all the critters on the hot wire.
Nah, it won't be hot enough to fry a grasshopper.
Just enough to scare them as soon as they touch it.
Is that the truth, boss?
Sure.
I don't want to electrocute anyone, man or beast.
I don't think you would, but you say you're gonna hang the one wire on steel posts?
That's right.
With insulators.
Steel posts are easy to move and strong.
They don't rot.
You know, boss, maybe you're not as crazy as you act after all.
Well, thank you, Shorty.
Barbed wire has hurt many a good dogie real bad.
And torn a good host of shreds.
Will them critters ever go near the one-wire fence after they once touched it?
Not usually.
That's another advantage.
I understand.
You get messed up a lot like Christy, Juice.
I won't go near it either.
It isn't that strong.
That's hit the hay.
I've got to go to the end of the town in the morning.
Get that one-wire fence at the freight depot.
Oh, Herb, I heard you've taken over the old Concom place.
Yeah, that's right, Cy.
See, you know my fence didn't come in yesterday like it was promised?
Sure did, boy.
How come you ain't got no barbed wire fence over there, huh?
I won't need it, Cy.
This is an electric fence.
Oh, why, sure.
I wasn't thinking.
I should have known that these electric control boxes and smooth wires for an electric fence,
it's all piled on the ramp.
You can back your truck around to it and have yourself a bale of fun.
Hey, get that, boy.
A bale of wire, a bale of fun.
Yeah, I got it, Cy.
Here's my check to cover the bill.
I've got to get busy now.
See you later.
Sure thing.
Oh, as the youngsters say, see you later, alligator.
After a while, crocodile.
Huh?
Oh, yeah.
Well, some fellas have all the fun in life.
Oh, hi, Bill.
I didn't hear you walk up.
How are you?
Busy, happy.
Let's see, someone has the courage to start using an electric fence up in Elk Mesa.
Say, do you really mean that?
Of course I do.
Many valuable animals have been lost in the barbed wire.
You know Pete Jones, don't you?
Yeah, he's a dairy farmer over at Junction Cityway, isn't he?
Big operator?
Right.
Well, he lost a fine brown Swiss cow because she got her tail caught in a barbed wire fence.
And of course, she tried to get free.
She got free all right by pulling the switch off her tail and all the vertebrae in her back out of line.
No kidding.
She had total loss?
Yeah.
Shipped her out to the canners for little or nothing.
Pete figured he lost $30,000 in that barbed wire fence.
$30,000 on one cow?
Mm-hmm.
By the time you add in the milk production he lost, pure bred calves, she would have given birth to, and milk from them.
That is milk from the heifer calves.
Pure blooded bull calves would have sold for a nice price at Wheaties Top.
That's right.
I'm sure glad it wasn't me that that happened to.
Hey, give you a hand loading the fence.
Well, thanks.
Two can do it quicker than one.
Let's go.
Boss, this machine beats digging post holes all the pieces.
I'll say it does, Shorty.
What's more, to take the steel posts out of the ground, all you have to do is use this post jack and hoist them right up.
How about that?
Maybe I'll have more time to court the Witter Smith than I figured with all this work.
I'm sure you'll be able to get a good deal out of it.
To court the Witter Smith than I figured with all this modern and scientific ransom.
Sure you will.
I'll have you washing windows and painting the fence.
Boss, you take all the hope out of an old bachelor when you say that.
We better pound steel posts, hop on them til sunset so I don't have to watch the windows and paint fences.
I suppose old Jeremiah and his boys are gonna say
when they see this one wire fence full of electricity juice.
Nothing.
What can they say?
It's my fence, it's on my property.
Yeah, I hope you're right.
Even though I'm gonna be a bachelor,
I sure would like to live to be an old one.
What kind of a fence is that herb putting up, Paul?
Appears to be a fool's fence, youngin'.
How's he spec'd to hold beasts with one wire?
Hey, Paul, why, that's a smooth wire, too.
What? Give me them glasses.
You're right, youngin'.
What kind of a devil's tool's that?
Let's us go take a look at it.
Come the dark of night, we will.
We surely will.
Here's the fence, Paul.
I can see it with my own eyes, youngin'.
Why, it is a smooth wire, all right.
It's real smooth.
I'm gonna touch it and find out what he's got on that wire
to make them critters stay back.
Ah!
I'm tangled up!
Luke, what's wrong?
You got the devil fits?
Paul, look, let's go.
There's evil spirits in that wire.
The spirit of the Lord told me no good was to come of this.
As his servant and prophet,
I'm gonna destroy this tool of the devil.
Don't touch it, Paul.
The evil spirits will make you jump and holler.
They sure are mean spirits.
You're right, Luke.
Well, there's a box at the end.
Maybe that's where them evil spirits come from.
Maybe so, youngin'.
I'll shoot the box and kill them evil spirits.
Hey, boss, what was that?
Sounded like rifle shots.
Seems like I can hear them, too.
Yeah, thought I was dreaming there for a minute.
There's no dream, Herbie.
Sonar's running out of spread.
Let's get out there and find out what's going on.
You son of a... Where did I load my rifle?
No rifle.
Boss!
You heard me.
No rifle.
Let's go.
Are you sure the shots came from this direction?
No, but I think so.
Hey, there's the new fence.
Hey, wait a minute.
That control box, he shot to pieces.
Little pieces.
That's the understatement of the year.
Let me have a light over here.
Sure. Hey, the wire's torn off the post.
Yeah, somebody must have gotten nosy and touched the fence.
I'll say they did. Touched it real hard.
Hear the prophet of the Lord.
The spirit of the Lord has given me a vision of a tool of the devil.
And it's on your land.
Hear the prophet of the Lord.
Destroy the one wire fence, or you will be destroyed.
That big blowhard.
What does he think he is? Why don't you send for your dad?
No, I don't mean bloodshed.
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
We'd get rid of that nut up there in the hills.
Shorty, don't you ever talk like that again.
There ain't gonna be no range war if I can help it.
Ah, sure. I'll make some coffee.
Boss?
Yeah?
You better call Bill Jefferson.
He said the guy that fired the first shot goes head first into the cooler.
No, Shorty. You just don't understand the problem.
Yeah, sure I do.
That stupid old geezer up there in the hills
is trying to run you off your spread.
You're right to a point.
Jeremiah's not stupid.
Ignorant, yes. Backward, yeah.
He's not stupid.
They saw us put up the one wire fence.
They came down at night to investigate.
Then one of them grabbed a hold of the wire and the fun began.
I thought I heard somebody yelling and carrying on out there.
It could have been Luke.
Possibly.
Doesn't really matter who it was.
Fact is that they just didn't understand what happened when they touched the wire.
Isn't that strong a joke, but they let their imaginations run away with it.
You can say that again.
I sure would have liked to see old Luke tangoing with that fence.
He sure must have hopped around like a frog on a hot rock.
Say, what are you gonna do in the morning, boss?
Go out and put the fence back up.
Stumpy, I have a strong premonition about Herb's one wire fence.
How about you and Grey Wolf riding out that way and sort of easing yourselves close into Elk Mesa without being seen?
Yep, easy to do.
Take the portable radio and stay there all day.
If any trouble starts, call me.
I'll hop out in the computer and settle those fellas down for good this time.
How dare you defy the prophet of the Lord.
Destroy that tool of the devil.
It's full of evil spirits.
This is no tool of the devil.
It's an electric fence. It's perfectly harmless.
You will listen to the prophet of the Lord or you'll die.
You are gonna tell me what to do on my own land, Jeremiah.
You kill me and you'll be executed for murder. You'll also start a range war.
I, the prophet of the Lord, have spoken.
Yeah? I have spoken too.
Hand me that roll of wire, Shorty.
I don't know if I should, boss. That old crackpot's just liable to shoot you down.
You heard me.
Yeah, here it is.
You get back.
If they shoot me down, you go get Bill.
He'll take over from there.
Thunder, Thunder, where are you?
Right here. Are they shooting that herb?
Yeah. I watched like you said.
They wrecked the fence last night and Herb's trying to rebuild it.
Now they're giving him hot lead.
Come on up, boys. We're riding up to Elf Mesa.
That old fool wants another range war. We'll give it to him.
Let's go. Come on.
Let's keep going out here.
No, let's go out here.
Slim, take ten men and hit them from the right flank.
You bet.
Al, you take ten men and hit them from the left flank.
Please.
The rest of you, come with me and wait for my signal.
Jeremiah wants war. He'll get it.
I'm not called Thunder Branch or for the fun of it.
Boss, here comes your old dad in his old outfit.
Oh, no. How'd he get wind of this?
I don't know, but he did.
Dismount, scatter and fight on foot. Away from my signal.
No, dad. No, this is wrong.
Out of my way, son.
We're going to finish off Jeremiah and his clan for good this time.
You do and I'll be ashamed to call you my father.
What? Why, you ungrateful whelp.
Well, get out of here. Are you ready, boys?
Yeah, let's go then.
Hey, there's a helicopter coming into the mesa.
Put down your rifles.
Jeremiah, Thunder, put down your rifles and meet me at the one wire fence.
This is Bill Jefferson.
Put down your rifles and meet me at the one wire fence.
Any man that doesn't obey my order goes to jail if he doesn't get shot first.
And that's the story of the one wire fence, Jeremiah.
Safer for a livestock and it's harmless.
Here, let me grab a hold of you.
Look out there. Them evil spirits will grab you like they did me.
You're talking about the low power electrical impulses, Luke.
They're absolutely harmless. I can feel them just a little bit.
It appears our actions were born out of ignorance, hub.
I'll say they were. Not only your actions, but Thunder's action too.
He's right, isn't he, dad?
Yeah, he's right, son.
I'm sorry for the smash I gave you in the face.
It didn't hurt a bit, dad. Honest.
I reckon we'd better be getting for home, Luke.
Now, just a minute, Jeremiah. You too, Thunder.
Jeremiah, you got your Bible with you?
Of course. I always got my Bible with me.
Good. Because you and I and Thunder are going to sit down and I'll read it to the both of you.
And if it takes until Doomsday, you're going to know and understand what God's word has to say about sin and salvation and Christian love.
And also about false prophets.
You know, Bill, I think maybe my one-wire offense is good for more than Jotun Livestock into staying inside where they belong.
And it certainly was, boys and girls. Jeremiah and Thunder took quite a while to shake hands, but they did.
And now there's peace and quiet over a troubled land once more. All started and ended with the one-wire fence.
See you next week for more Adventure with...
Adventure Fails!