Wrong Man

Chester has never been much of a help ... about the only thing he was good at was eating big meals and sloughing off his duties at the jail... but these episodes were less hill billy than after festus joined the cast

When a local, Sam Rickers, brings a body to the Marshal's office he has high hopes of collecting the $1,000 for killing an outlaw Bob Holbert. But wait, the man that he killed was actually an innocent rider named Jake Haney. Now Ricker is going to have to come up with a story that he killed the rider in self-defense so that he will not hang. With the only witness being Ricker's abused wife, Letty, she will go along with what ever her husband says or risk getting slapped around. And with Letty backing up her husband's story there is no way the Marshal can prosecute this crime.

But later a friend of Jake Haney, Catlin, comes riding into Dodge. He wants to know why they have his partner's picture on wanted posters. Seemed that someone in the state office placed the wrong picture on the wanted poster and that is why Haney died. Catlin is set on finding the killer of his friend and take some rural justice on him. But before that can happen, the Marshal has another killing to investigate.

The killing of the 'wrong man' really is not the most interesting part of this episode. The real story come with the interchange between the abusing husband and the submissive wife. Even though shocking in nature the relationship between the two was just as interesting, maybe not as entertaining, as the dead innocent man. A nice story that was well acted by all involved.

Note- Not to be confused with a 1966 episode with the same title.

A failing farmer Sam Rickers (Don Keefer) dry gulches guy in picture for reward promised, except picture is of innocent guy. Sam Rickers shot a man dead in the back to try and claim a $1,000 reward, but it turns out that the dead man was never wanted by the law. Now, the partner of dead man (Robert Griffin) swears revenge on the culprit, while Marshal Dillon tries to keep the peace in Dodge.

But it is sure difficult, not when Rickers, who learns he killed the wrong man, goes to the man's room and shoots him dead. It's a case of "kill him before he gets killed." His wife watching on - will she cover up for him again?

There's seems to be quite a few wife beating characters in Gunsmoke, and Rickers, played brilliantly by Don Reefer, is a slime of the highest order. He shot an innocent man in the back, does it again later on but not in the back and treats his wife like cow dung.

Another solid episode with great acting. Best thing about this series is the characters and how they come to life. You think about them way after you have finished.

"A no good, wife-beating, reward-huntin' bum" (according to Chester Goode) named Sam Rickers brings a dead man into Dodge City. Rickers killed the man thinking he was an outlaw named Bob Holbert.

Chester and Rickers take the body to Doc Adams. Rickers goes back to his farm, and Doc determines the dead body was a man shot to death. When Matt Dillon arrives back in town, he visits Doc's office and discovers the dead man is not Bob Holbert.

When Matt and Chester visit the Rickers farm, Sam tells them he killed Holbert in self-defense. Letty Rickers, Holbert's obviously abused wife, confirms Sam's story. Marshal Dillon suspects Rickers is lying, but there is not much he can do legally.

The identity of the dead man is a mystery until a man named Catlin arrives in town on the stagecoach. He sees the wanted poster for Holbert, but he also notices the picture on the poster is of his partner, Jake Haney. Catlin visits Marshal Dillon's office to tell him the picture on the poster is of his partner. Matt must tell Catlin that Jake Haney was shot to death and was just buried on Boot Hill. Catlin is furious and swears to kill the person responsible for his partner's death.

Don Keefer plays the Sam Rickers character in this story. This is Keefer's first guest appearance on Gunsmoke. He would return for another nine episodes with his final appearance in Season 19. Classic television fans may remember Keefer as the character Dan Hollis in the terrifying classic The Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life" where he gets drunk and belligerent before young Anthony Fremont turns him into a jack-in-the-box.

Catherine McLeod (credited as Catherine McCleod) portrays Letty Rickers in the first of two appearances in the series. McLeod and Keefer were married in real life,

Robert Griffin plays Catlin in this story. Griffin appeared again in the series during Season 5. A veteran character actor, he often played sheriffs, policemen, and judges in b-films and television shows. Griffin was an unfortunate victim of lung cancer in 1960 when he was only 58 years old.

The premise of this story is solid, but, as it is said, the devil is in the details. The story begins with a killing that does not hold up to scrutiny. How and why did Rickers recognize the man he thought was Bob Holbert? The Rickers live far enough outside Dodge that neither Chester nor Doc know who they are. So how is it that Sam Rickers is so familiar with a face on a wanted poster he has presumably rarely seen that he instantly recognizes a stranger riding up to his house as the man on the poster?

Most wanted posters did not include the alleged outlaw's picture, and even when they did, the pictures were not high-quality photographs. Even an experienced lawman or bounty hunter would have trouble recognizing someone from a wanted poster alone. However, Ricker, a poor farmer, not only recognizes the man from a poster, he recognizes him from some distance as he approaches his farmhouse on horseback.

And how is it that Haney's picture ended up on a wanted poster for Holbert? According to Catlin, Haney was an upstanding citizen.

The viewer is supposed to accept the fact that a man whose picture was mistakenly printed on a wanted poster just happens to stop at a farm in a remote area on the prairie, and the resident of the farm just happens to instantly recognizes the man from a distance and hatches a plan to shoot him to death.

John Meston often painted ugly pictures of life on the prairie with his stories, and those pictures often included spousal abuse. Although one theme of this story is the actions of Sam Rickers regarding the shooting of Haney, the more impacting story is the abuse Letty has endured at the hands of her despicable husband.

Average episode despite an interesting premise. Those "wanted posters" that figure in so many westerns usually include a picture of the wanted man. But suppose the picture is of the wrong guy. Here failing farmer Rickers (Keefer) dry gulches guy in picture for reward promised, except picture is of innocent guy. Now partner of dead man swears revenge on culprit, while Matt tries to keep the peace.

It's a good novel plot device, but to me the drama doesn't really gel. Maybe it's that Rickers seems more like a bad boy than a public menace. Then too, that final scene in Matt's office seems especially contrived, even for a limited 30-minute time frame. However, what really bothered me was the overdone music that accompanies the woebegone Mrs. Rickers (McLeod). For a series that really uses mood music effectively and sparingly, this tearful lament is like piling it on. Rather Letty's face and actions speak for themselves. They need no emphasis. Good thing this was a rare exception to the norm.

(In passing—Keefer & McLeod were real life husband and wife.)