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The Virginian Season 9 Episodes
Season 9 Episode Guide
24 Episodes 1970 - 1971
Episode 1
The West vs. Colonel MacKenzie
Wed, Sep 16, 197073 mins
Colonel Alan MacKenzie arrives from England as Shiloh's new owner. Right away he faces his first challenge when a young struggling small rancher who The Virginian and Trampas strongly vouch for as a past employee is lynched, allegedly because of rustling cattle from one of the larger ranches. Another was lynched just before MacKenzie's arrival. The sheriff lacking manpower is unable to do much due to the size of the territory he must cover. MacKenzie locks horns with other members of the cattlemen's association led by Mayor Evans, who believe that extraordinary measures are needed to deal with rustlers, and due to his strong disagreement the colonel is beaten. Meanwhile, the lynched man's sister and young son are staying at Shiloh for their protection, especially as the boy may have witnessed his father's hanging though he has now gone mute due to shock.
Episode 2
The Best Man
Wed, Sep 23, 197075 mins
Trampas and his friend Pick Lexington are talking while practicing their fast draw shooting. Pick is both fast and accurate while Trampas can be accurate but not fast and accurate. Pick tells Trampas that on a recent railroad trip he met a girl and followed her to the end of the line to her home. He plans to marry her and would like Trampas to join him on the trip to the Mexican border. Trampas agrees to join him in return for tips on improving his shooting as he knows the village and people who live there. The pair arrive in the village which is preparing for a big celebration in a day or two. Thinking at first the preparations are for the wedding, Trampas soon realizes they are not but also that Pick has never asked the girl to marry him nor is there a strong relationship between them. They soon run into Trampus' friend El Jefe who runs the village as mayor, police and judge and it is his daughter Teresa Zaragosa who Pick wants to marry. However, she is being seriously courted by El Jefe's assistant, Cristobal Nieves. The shy Pick has Trampas trying to help him by talking to Teresa but Trampas soon finds himself trying to keep Pick and Cristobel apart as both are fast and expert marksmen. Adding to his problem is that Teresa takes a shine to Trampas himself.
Episode 3
Jenny
Wed, Sep 30, 197075 mins
The Virginian comes to the aid of a woman being attacked in a hotel, and finds that it's an old flame, Jenny Davis, who says three men have been following her though she doesn't know why. The next day, she and The Virginian are on a stage with another man who is sick and a young woman when the three men chase after them and cause the stage to break down in the desert. The driver takes a horse for a new wheel leaving the four passengers to wait until he returns. The men take out the help coming for the stage leaving the four stranded in the heat with no water. Jenny is slow with telling the whole truth, but finally admits that the men are the partners of her outlaw husband who are looking for money he hid before he was imprisoned. A mysterious man riding alone is also following both the stage and the three outlaws.
Episode 4
With Love, Bullets and Valentines
Wed, Oct 7, 197075 mins
Trampas is playing poker on a steamboat with Billy 'Moose' Valentine and others. Billy has a surefire winning hand and he is after an old steamboat owned by Skeet who is also in the game. When Skeet bets the boat to cover $300, Billy retrieves the money from his brother but it is stolen and traceable. When he spots the Plimpton detectives coming on board, he throws his hand. Trampas wins big including the riverboat from Skeet. He also wins a substantial amount of money, which the two railroad detectives confiscate as it was previously stolen. Upon landing ashore Skeet quickly leaves with his granddaughter Corey Ann and her beau, Jason, the temporary sheriff before Trampas can catch him. Broke without even $4 to pay for his horse's boarding, he decides to collect the $300 Skeet covered with the steamboat. He finds his new boat very dilapidated with Skeet and Corey Ann living on it. Skeet doesn't have the $300 so Trampas works to fix it with the help of Skeet and his granddaughter. But two aging outlaw Valentine brothers and their gang also want to use the riverboat to stage one last big crime.
Episode 5
The Mysterious Mr. Tate
Wed, Oct 14, 197075 mins
Colonel MacKenzie is traveling on a train in a private rail car with Lark Walters, the young and sheltered daughter of a wealthy friend of his. At a stop in a town, he and her see a young man shoot another man in self-defense in the street. Later, MacKenzie while on the train sees the same young man being lynched. He stops the train to save him and brings him onto the train to help him escape, where the overly romantic Lark falls for the young stranger as MacKenzie tries to help him. MacKenzie tries to keep them apart, but Lark won't give up. Meanwhile, other men on the train hatch up a scheme to kidnap Lark and hold her for ransom. They recognize Tate who was in prison with one of them so he has an outlaw background. They try to get the young man, Tate, to join with them. This episode introduces Tate as a series regular as Col. MacKenzie offers him a job at Shiloh.
Episode 6
Gun Quest
Wed, Oct 21, 197073 mins
The Virginian caught napping under a tree is taken by a posse who say he killed a man. He is brought into a saloon in a small town for his speedy trial by the local incompetent drunken Judge Hobbs. Judge Hobbs refuses to listen to The Virginian's statement about his identity or to try contacting Col. MacKenzie by telegraph to prove his innocence. The only evidence allowed is the accusation of the dead man's younger son, Rem Garvey, who claims The Virginian is a notorious hired killer known as Boss Cooper, and that he saw him kill his father. The Virginian is convicted of murder and taken out to be hanged by Judge Hobbs who is also the hangman all in a span of a couple hours. The Virginian escapes from the lynch mob and determines to clear his name by finding the real Boss Cooper, though the dead man's sons are trailing him. He starts with the dead man's wife who sends him to a small town where Boss Cooper is known by a saloon girl who eventually tells The Virginian Cooper is now married. Can he reach her before the son's catch him?
Episode 7
Crooked Corner
Wed, Oct 28, 197075 mins
After their new ranch is damaged by someone who tears down fences, pulls down their windmill, and salts their water for the cattle the leader of a group of German immigrants, August Hansch, meets with gunman Embry in a Cheyenne saloon. Embry agrees to come to Medicine Bow to help them for a total of $1,000. He is to receive the first $200 from Hansch's daughter, Clara, in Medicine Bow. Tate in town for supplies is unknown in town and when Clara sees him in the general store she thinks he is Embry. Outside when Tate rescues her from two men who try to kiss and molest her, she slips the money into his pocket with a whisper and quickly leaves. Unable to follow her in the wagon he gives the money to Col. MacKenzie when he returns to Shiloh. They return the money the next day to the Germans. They talk the group into firing Embry but Tate is forced to wound him when he asks for whole $1,000. Tate soon finds himself against his wishes helping them. Although the pressure to sell is coming from the black blacksmith,Mace Ivers, there is more to story as Tate soon learns.
Episode 8
Lady at the Bar
Wed, Nov 4, 197075 mins
Trampas is on the road nearly asleep n the saddle when a shot rings out startling him and his two horses. He finds himself facing one man and with another behind him with rifles pointed at him. The man in front, Sheriff Howard Acton, relieves Trampas of his gun telling him he is under arrest.They take him back to an old mine which Trampas admits he was at that morning arguing with the owner. He had won the mine in a card game the day before but found the mine was worthless. The deputies then carry the body of the mine owner out of the mine causing Trampas to realize he is in trouble. Wanting to clear up the case fast Sheriff Acton confers with Judge Elmo J. Carver who tells him he has only four days to complete the case or wait for another judge as he and Marshal Krug are going on a long awaited vacation. The one local attorney is appointed to represent Trampas but since he is going on a trip he tells the Sheriff his partner Finch will handle the case. In court Trampas is told his lawyer will be Frances B. Finch who then makes her appearance in court. Trampas' fate rests in the hands of the quirky Finch while everyone - including Trampas - questions the idea of a woman lawyer.
Episode 9
The Price of the Hanging
Wed, Nov 11, 197075 mins
Colonel MacKenzie is seriously injured in an accident by Tate's horse when MacKenzie saves Tate after his horse is scared by a rattlesnake. Tate brings him into the nearest town, Concho, in a wagon looking for a doctor. He finds that the only doctor in town is in jail, scheduled to be hanged the next morning. Feeling personally reasonable for the Colonel, Tate must contend with the deputy, Lonnie, Sheriff Tolliver, and finally Judge John Markham to get access to Dr. Benjamin Kinkaid. Though Tate finally persuades the sentencing judge to let the doctor out under guard to treat the Colonel, after the surgery starts against the Judge's wishes, Tate learns there are two costs before the doctor will complete the operation. He wants $10,000 for his wife and Tate to prove the witness against him, Tracy, lied. When Tate investigates he learns that the judge may have been motivated more by a desire for vengeance than for justice.
Episode 10
Experiment at New Life
Wed, Nov 18, 197075 mins
A young couple, Toby Wheeler and Belinda Ballard, are having a secret meeting when The Virginian rides by scaring them. Belinda is a member of the New Life commune but Toby is an outsider. Later, at his dad's house against the wishes of his father Seth, Toby tells The Virginian that the New Life commune is the only place in the area running cattle. The Virginian goes to the communal village of New Life, looking for a number of Shiloh cattle that have strayed. At the commune council meeting, the members agree to let him take his cattle back. After the Virginian leaves, however, the council makes another vote---to start "complex" or group marriage in the community, meaning that every woman will be considered married to every man. Given an unreasonably short time by the acting leader, August Gruber, to round up his cattle, the Virginian appeals to the widow of the commune's original leader for help, but when he learns of the new marriage rule he decides to help her and her daughter escape the commune as the widow realizes she has lost control to Gruber.
Episode 11
Follow the Leader
Wed, Dec 2, 197075 mins
Ritter Miley, the leader of an unschooled backwoods clan of thieves, has called a meeting with his older cousin Thad Miley on Shiloh were Thad works. He and his brothers want Thad to return to lead them in their plans to return to rustling and other crime. Thad was always the smart member of the family. However, Thad who is now married and happy at Shiloh wants to go straight. When he refuses to join them, Ritter shoots and kills Thad which Colonel MacKenzie and his men hear. Colonel MacKenzie finds a shell and that the type of gun used in the killing was sold to only two men, Ritter and Trampas. Trampas at the same time is in Medicine Bow to help pick up the Colonel's niece, Vanessa MacKenzie. Vanessa, a writer from England, takes an immediate interest in Trampas who if not for the charges against him would enjoy her company even more. Trampas at the urging of the Colonel meets with Sheriff Abbott who releases him without bail. Trampas thus tries to prove his innocence by bringing Ritter in and locating his gun, but Ritter's brothers come up with their own ideas to force his release.
Episode 12
Last of the Comancheros
Wed, Dec 9, 197073 mins
While on a trip to buy cattle, Colonel MacKenzie becomes involved in the affairs of a woman reporter and a group of former Comancheros who are now trying to make an honest living raising sheep. The reporter is unaware of how dangerous the west can still be. In writing a story about the group, the reporter has mentioned their hunting down of a maverick steer. Gossip in the town fails to note that the steer was a maverick, and a group of cattle ranch workers respond by killing the sheepherders' entire herd. The leader of the former Comancheros, Sosentes, responds by kidnapping the reporter and Colonel MacKenzie and holding her for ransom while releasing MacKenzie to return in 48 hours with a $25,000 ransom to pay for the lost sheep and herder who was shot. Unfortunately, MacKenzie finds that the local's hatred of Comancheros far exceeds his concern for the woman's safe return and that Sheriff Parks is the worst due to losing an eye to them when he was young.
Episode 13
Hannah
Wed, Dec 30, 197075 mins
On a train trip Trampas takes an interest in a thirteen year girl and her father playing chess. After the precocious young girl's father is stricken with a heart attack while traveling on the train, Trampas at the request of the father stays and helps them at their destination. After he gets the sick father to a doctor, he decides to help the girl find her estranged mother. She left the father for a Roy Harkness who is a gambler. The pair had followed her to this town based on letters Hannah received from her. Trampas learns with the aid of Hannah at the saloon that she has changed her name and her and Roy have gone to Loma. He has a hard time keeping the girl, Hannah, from trying to do everything by herself. Unfortunately, Hannah's mother has been manipulated by her boyfriend Roy into participating in a bank robbery at Loma with him and Lafe Harkness who is in jail. Hannah believing Lafe will take her to her mother, Carol, breaks Lafe out of jail adding to Trampas' problems with her.
Episode 14
Nan Allen
Wed, Jan 6, 197175 mins
Upon arriving for a business appointment with a friend, MacKenzie learns that the man was killed by the brother, Bobby, of Nan Allen, a young woman he was in the act of assaulting. Bobby was coming home after playing cards and drinking hears a glass chimney break and rushed in break up the assault and shot the Colonel's friend who fell out the window. The Colonel finds this hard to believe, but upon getting to know Nan, he takes a strong liking to her. He decides to go into business with Nan and her brother who run a shipping business. He and Bobby go on a trip over the Laramie mountains to find feeding stations for the Colonel's cattle. When Bobby is injured by an avalanche, MacKenzie brings him to Shiloh and sends for Nan. They stay there while he recuperates. As he and Nan begin to fall in love, MacKenzie starts to wonder why more than one man in her past has died violently, and if Bobby's strangely possessive attitude has something to do with it.
Episode 15
The Politician
Wed, Jan 13, 197175 mins
When he is appointed to the Senate, Foster Bonham decides to sell his ranch to Shiloh. The Virginian is sent to check the ranch to see if it meets the needs of the Shiloh ranch for grazing.His arrival at the Bonham ranch starts with a warning shot and a warning from Jack Bonham to leave. At the ranch house he meets Foster Bonham who has the controlling interest in the ranch and his wife Rachel. When Jack arrives, The Virginian learns who he is and that the two brothers are fighting over the ranch as Foster believes Jack will lose the ranch due to his drinking. Foster's drunken, irresponsible brother Jack is determined to stop the sale any way he can. While inspecting the ranch, The Virginian stops at a small homestead due to his lame horse where he finds the wife knows him from her days as a saloon girl in Medicine Bow. When she is murdered, the Virginian searches for Jack who had threatened her , and Foster must decide between his brother and his Senate seat.
Episode 16
The Animal
Wed, Jan 20, 197175 mins
Tate returning to Shiloh after a scouting trip finds himself in the middle of a hunting party as he hears shots. After shots spook his horses, he comes across a young Indian boy wielding an ax at him. He then notices that the hunting party is shooting at the boy who is helpless. Tate uses his lasso to capture the boy. When the hunters start using dynamite to drive the boy, Tate notices the boy is deaf and mute when he has no response to the blasts. The boy is being hunted by a group of men led by Gustaveson for the killing of a respected rancher, his brother. To prevent him being lynched, Tate brings the boy into town himself, and hopes to somehow learn his side of the story. But just about everyone in the town, including the judge, is too anxious to hang the boy quickly, so Tate finds he has to take on the role of defense counsel himself with a client who can't hear or talk to him. The Sheriff and Gustaveson's niece, Karen the schoolteacher, do come to his aid even though his tribe, the Shawnee, has expelled him.
Episode 17
The Legacy of Spencer Flats
Wed, Jan 27, 197175 mins
Trampas is caught in a bad wind storm in the southwest. He has lost his saddlebags with his ID, food and cooking gear. He stumbles across a sign for the town of Spencer Flats. He heads for it finding a ghost town except for the saloon which is lit with music. Entering it he finds the bar has liquor and a meal prepared on a table. Finding no one around he helps himself to a beer and the meal. As he eats two women enter from different directions and one has a shotgun at his head. the blond. Della, with the shotgun wants to take him outside and shoot him while the brunette, Annie, wants to enjoy his company for a spell. An older man, Teddy, enters and tries to calm the situation. They have received a telegraph message that Deke Slaughter has escaped from Yuma prison and Trampas meets his general description. Della wants to kill Deke (Trampas) thinking it will revive the town founded by their father. Teddy talks them into delaying any action but when the telegraph line goes down in the storm things don't look good for Trampas when the real Deke Slaughter arrives - with a sheriff's badge.
Episode 18
The Angus Killer
Wed, Feb 10, 197175 mins
The Virginian arrives at Laura Duff's ranch to buy her Angus cattle where an unfriendly teenager with a rifle finally directs him to the range. He finds her only to learn that she has lost her head bull due to someone cutting her fence and letting her cattle into a patch of loco weed. While she and her largely drunk foreman, Pat Reedy, suspect a hostile rancher, Gus Muller, who wants her land, her son, Jimmy, insists that a friendly neighbor, Alonzo Worth, is responsible, not only for the cattle but also for the death of his father several months earlier. The Sheriff finally arrives but with no real proof there isn't much he can do to help. After dinner that night The Virginian decides to ride out to the cut fence to look for clues. As he tries to light a lantern two shots ring out with one hitting him. Later, he awakens to learn Jimmy found him and brought him to the Duff ranch house where the doctor and Laura have tended to him. After he is somewhat healed, he decides to investigate further talking to Gus who wants her land. However, it is Jimmy and Pat along with a look at the wire that start to provide answers as The Virginian's interests expands to include Laura.
Episode 19
Flight from Memory
Wed, Feb 17, 197175 mins
Colonel MacKenzie meets a woman on a beautiful black horse that won't respond to his calls. When the horse rears and throws her and runs off, he finds she is unconscious. He is on a remote mountain trail on the way to visit his hermit friend Muley who despises women. He takes her to Muley's cabin which is empty. Muley arrives with her black horse in tow after finding him below. They wait for her to recover as no help is available and other than some blood on her dress that does not appear to be hers, there are no apparent wounds. She wakes up but is slow to communicate and recover her memory. At the same time another visitor arrives with a lame horse asking to stay until his horse can travel again. He knows about the black horse with an unusual brand. Eventually he says he is a deputy after the woman for murder but Muley and MacKenzie don't believe him so they let him go unarmed. As the woman recovers she is attracted to the Colonel in a romantic manner, thinking he is someone named Joe she knows, but remembers no details.
Episode 20
Tate: Ramrod
Wed, Feb 24, 197175 mins
Joe Benson owns a small ranch he works with his teenage son Will and daughter Amada. They are all at a square dance in Medicine Bow along with The Virginian and Tate. While there, Benson's neighbor Sam Donner and his son Mal come to town. They find a wagon load of barbed wire with Benson's name on it. Donner confronts Benson at the dance as he is for free range only. The Virginian breaks up the quarrel but later Mal draws Will outside and severely beats him. Benson is leaving on a trip to buy new breeding stock but now Will is unable to handle the ranch due to the injuries. The Virginian worried about Donner suggests Tate handle the ramrod duties as he has a few days coming. The mildly irritated Tate is hired by his friend Joe Benson to work on his ranch and watch over his teenage son and daughter while he's away on business. This puts Tate squarely in the middle of the dispute with Donner over a fence Benson wants him to build, as well as with a woman who arrives claiming to be Benson's fiancée, the children's rebelliousness, and a hired gun who comes to town with a wanted poster on Tate.
Episode 21
The Regimental Line
Wed, Mar 3, 197175 mins
A group of braves approach a man working on his cabin who grabs his rifle until he recognizes Grey Bull. He assumes they want some of his homemade whiskey but instead they shoot him and burn his cabin. They are part of the Native American Ghost Dance Movement in which the braves have an amulet they carry they believe protects them from bullets. When an Army troop arrives looking for the group of marauding Indians, both Colonel MacKenzie and Parker recognize one of the sergeants as a lancer from the British Army whom they believed to have been killed in India ten years ago - and who was supposed to have been leading MacKenzie's brother when he was captured and killed. The pair visit the Army post where MacKenzie asks Col. Harmon about Mulcahy's history. Mulcahy deserts when he recognizes Parker and MacKenzie are onto him. MacKenzie goes out after him, with the Indians crossing the trail of Mulcahy and MacKenzie as Mulcahy lets a fire get out of control drawing the attention of everyone.
Episode 22
The Town Killer
Wed, Mar 10, 197175 mins
The Virginian and Belden are to go to Billings, Montana on Shiloh cattle business with Belden hoping to visit women he has met in the past. However, his saloon fight injuries - over a woman - keep Belden at Shiloh. On the way, The Virginian meets up with Ben Hunter and his group when they interrupt a holdup attempt on him by one of Hunter's men. Hunter invites him to his ranch where Hunter admits up until a couple of years earlier he had been an outlaw. He finds that Hunter is leading a protection racket that now covers a number of towns on the way between Medicine Bow and Billings, and that the people in these towns are cowed into paying him outrageous fees to keep their homes and businesses safe. When The Virginian is forced to kill one of Hunter's men, the citizens of Rutledge are ordered to turn him over to be killed and their monthly payment is increased from $1400 to $2000. Except for the daughter, Susan, of store owner, Stuart Masters, all of the citizens are willing to do so. Realizing he must still travel through the area controlled by Hunter, The Virginian decides to fight alone.
Episode 23
Wolf Track
Wed, Mar 17, 197175 mins
While working a herd in the back country the Shiloh men led by Col. MacKenzie are threatened by a well-known wolf which has a $300 bounty as it has killed a man. While MacKenzie is on guard duty the wolf spooks the horses drawing him away from the herd. It then stampedes the cattle taking a calf for its effort. MacKenzie decides since he was on duty it is his job to track down and kill the sly wolf. The men including Tate warn him it is a dangerous and difficult hunt but having hunted tigers in India he is not overly concerned. On the road a posse tells him the Medicine Bow bank was robbed. Using a ham as bait he draws the attention of the wolf which attacks him first before taking the bait. With his arm wounded by the wolf, he trails it but soon falls sick from the wound and infection. A stranger on foot finds him offering help but instead steals MacKenzie's gun and horse. He cauterizes the wound. A young boy and his mother scare off the wolf and help him. Her husband is gone so he helps as payback and to continue the hunt as the wolf is tracking him. However, that turns out to not be the only threat.
Episode 24
Jump-Up
Wed, Mar 24, 197175 mins
Col. MacKenzie agrees to let Tate take a few days off to visit the town of Jump Up where Tate has an old flame. Tate to the awe of the other hands transforms himself from cowhand into what passes for a dude with new clothes and a derby hat. The town of Jump Up was founded by John Timothy Driscoll. When Tate arrives in Jump Up, Driscoll believing he would be a good addition to the town tries to welcome him with free food and other services. However, Tate's main interest is finding Frankie Grace who is still in town. Professional gambler, Tom Fuller, informs Driscoll that he is going to drain the town with his gambling but he wants to work with Driscoll. Driscoll goes along as Fuller starts a successful poker game winning the last big pot against Tate by saying Tate cheated. Tate threatens to get his money back later. Driscoll not wanting to see the money leave town has his son Slick knock out Fuller but Slick kills Fuller with a blow from an ax handle. Slick suggests framing Tate who had already threatened Fuller in public. After a meeting with Frankie, Tate awakens bloody with bloody money in his room. Framed he is sent to a labor camp no one has escaped from.