The Hanging Cross: Have Gun, Will Travel (December 21, 1958)

“The Hanging Cross” is an episode of Have Gun, Will Travel, the old-time radio show, first broadcast December 21, 1958. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Paladin arrives at the Beecher Ranch in Colorado after being summoned by rancher Matt Beecher, who claims to have recovered his son Robbie, kidnapped by Pawnee six years earlier during a tribal conflict. But Paladin discovers the boy speaks only Pawnee, may not actually be Beecher's son, and Chief Kalate arrives demanding the return of the child, setting the stage for a dangerous confrontation.

The Beecher Ranch in Colorado Territory, near a Pawnee camp, during Christmas time in 1958.

Characters: Paladin, Matt Beecher, Tater, Maude, Peter, Chief Kalate

Listen for: Paladin's efforts to determine the boy's true identity and his tense negotiations with both the stubborn rancher and the grieving Pawnee chief.

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.