Written by MARTY ROTH Directed by RICHARD BARTLETT Guest Cast JEANNE COOPER as Kay Comstock EDWARD BINNS as Durgom SHUG FISHER as Old Charlie TED CASSIDY as Monte

Reese is caught in a rainstorm and decides to travel the two miles to Small Chance rather than the 20 miles to Laredo.  He finds a deserted town but a fairly  well-stocked bar.  As he downs a slug of whiskey, a cocked revolver appears against his neck.  On the other end is the owner of the bar, Kay Comstock, who claims most everyone has fled the town because it's haunted.  The only people left, other than Kay, are the Marshall, Old Charlie and Sgt. Durgom.  Reese manages to disarm Kay.  They hear shots from a nearby house and discover the Marshall is dead.  In the meantime, Reese's horse has been stolen.

A deserted bar

A gun to the head

A gal at the other end

Reese soon meets the apparently drunk Sgt. and Old Charlie, a telegraph operator with nothing to do because the telegraph wire is down and there's no one to  send telegrams anywhere.  When Reese and Charlie go out to fix the telegraph line, Durgom shoots Charlie in the back.

A shot is heard

Reese despises the drunk

Durgom

Old Charlie

We soon meet the one person in town Reese has not.   Monte apparently is single-handedly digging out a gold mine under the town.  Monte is a good-hearted dim bulb who believes Sgt. Durgom saved his life during the war and that the people he's killed are "the enemy".  There is some borrowing from "Of Mice & Men",  but Durgom is no protective George..

Monte

Reese prisoner

Parmalee sends Erik to find Reese

despite his important date

When Reese decides Kay and Durgom should leave town before they are killed, they decide Reese should meet an accident.  Reese avoids their traps through sheer luck, but is finally made prisoner in the mine.  Kay suggests both Monte and Reese should meet their fate in a mine collapse.  In the meantime, the Captain sends Erik to find Reese.

Erik surprises Kay

Erik gets the upperhand

and keeps it

The bad guys locked up

Kay is not happy to see Erik arrive, especially after he outwits Durgom's ambush.   In the meantime, Reese tries to convince Monte he's being played for a sucker.  He tells him to try the trap door -- the only exit.  It's bolted shut.  Monte unties Reese.  When they try to ram the door open, they loosen a support post and the mine collapses, causing havoc in the bar above where Erik is holding Kay and Durgom at gunpoint until they tell him where Reese is.  He locks them in a jail cell.  However, more settling in the mine, causes the jail door to fall down.  Durgom goes off to dispose of the Rangers while Kay loads the wagon to leave town.  However Reese halts her flight while Durgom falls off the house when the ground shakes while he's chasing Erik.

Reese stops Kay's escape

Erik safely jumps off the roof

Durgom falls

We'll see the house again in the last episode, "Split the Difference" when [waste not, want not] Erik's part of the same stunt is reused.

Monte hopes he won't go to jail

Reese ends the day by sitting on a piece of glass

NiteOwl Review:  Anyone who's seen our reviews has to know we would not be pleased with an episode with only Reese and Erik and a brief appearance by the Captain.  In light of that, we bet you didn't think we'd have a favorite scene, but we did.  As they are trying to find something to ram the trap door to escape from the mine, Reese points out a support post and says to Monte, "That one can't be holding up nothin."  Of course, the mine collapses.  We did like the Reese comic bits but like them better when balanced with Chad and Joe manipulation.
Cast Notes:  Jeanne Cooper appeared in the 1959 production which earned Peter Brown his SAG card, "Red Nightmare" aka "The Commies Are Coming, The Commies Are Coming".  She played the mother of Peter's high school girlfriend and the wife of Jack Kelly who has the Red Nightmare.  She became a Hollywood staple, appearing in many TV series, including dozens of Westerns.  She also made some appearances on L.A. Law as the TV mother of her real-life son Corbin Bernsen.  Ted Cassidy was, of course, best known as Lurch (and Thing) on the 1964-66 series The Addams Family.  He reprised the role in a 1977 Halloween TV Movie and  (voice only) in the animated version of the series in 1973-75.