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Prviously on AMC's
Hell On Wheels...
Durant: When the board arrives they may see
that I have misled the government.
I simply need you
to back me up.
Mr. Durant's in custody.
Mr. Bohannon,
will you finish this road?
[Train whistles in the distance]
You and me made that.
You can't have no black baby.
You mean your baby.
[Screams] No! Ahhh!
You made it so easy...
to take her from you.
You're an evil son of
a ***.
Good day.
Whoa!
[Wind whistleing]
[Tarps flapping]
[Object banging]
Cullen.
It's been a long winter, son.
Stretch out on your bunk.
Get some sleep.
[Sniffles and groans]
Go away, doc.
You a... you ain't real.
You ain't real.
Your candle is
burning low, Cullen.
Soon it's gonna go out.
[Blast of air]
That's just the wind.
What that was,
that was just the wind.
[Groans]
[Grunts]
[Grunts]
Uhh!
[Distant howling]
[Wolf growls]
[Wolf snarls]
[Thud] [Wolf whines]
Get on out of here!
Get on out of here!
Get out of here,
you miserable son of a ***!
Get off my damn railroad.
Off my damn railroad.
Sparky?
[Metal groaning]
[Horn blows]
[Western folk music]
♪
Hell On Wheels 03x01,2
Part 1 - Big Bad Wolf; Part 2 - Eminent Domain
Originally Aired August 10, 2013
==sync, correction by dcdah==
for www.addic7ed.com
[Background chatter,
vendors calling out]
You know where there's a ***
with a marked-up white woman?
He'she's down there
behind the sawmill.
[Coins clink]
[Train horn in distance]
[Knocks on door]
I'll be damned.
Yup.
Heard you froze up solid.
Thanks for looking in.
Shut the door!
Woman's suffering.
Baby near?
Mmhmm.
Baby's gonna come
whether you're here or not.
What the hell
that's supposed to mean?
I need you to come
with me to New York.
Railroad business.
Right now I ain't got
no stake in no railroad.
Well, I'm the railroad boss,
and this here's a railroad town.
Come with me now or you don't be
here when I come back through.
Take your talk outside, please.
What is it you want me to do?
Watch over me while I sleep.
Against who?
Some you can see,
some you can't.
You lost your mind
in that snow.
You crazy.
On the contrary,
my *** friend...
I have never
been thinking more clearly.
Say your piece, get your coat.
Train's waiting.
[Door opens]
I heard.
Go.
- I can't leave you like this.
- Well, he's right.
The baby's gonna
come either way.
Yeah.
- I wanna be here for it.
- I said go.
Birthing ain't
a man's business.
Best thing you can do
is get us a job.
Mm.
[Background chatter]
Hey, boy.
The *** car's two cars down.
This is where I aim to be.
Now, don't make me
throw you off this train.
It's all right.
He's mine.
[Goat bleats]
[Men shouting in background]
How come you show up now?
Stopped snowing.
[Horn blows]
What the hell
happened to your ear?
Some trespassers.
Come on.
Mr. Bohannon?
I'm Clement Beale,
Secretary of Credit Mobilier.
Good, you got my telegram.
Let's go.
Mr. Bohannon, I'm afraid
you've made a trip for naught.
What do you mean "for naught"?
The board of Credit Mobilier
and the Undersecretary
of Railroads
has already filled the position
of Chief Engineer last month.
I tried answering
your telegram.
- I knew this was snakebit.
- Now hold on.
Senator Howard hisself
offered me that job last fall.
Senator Howard
lost his bid for reelection.
Frankly, Mr. Bohannon,
word came back to us that
you didn't survive the winter.
- Word was wrong.
- Yes, well, thankfully so,
but the decision
has already been made.
I'm here to unmake it.
Is Durant back in?
Is that it?
No. Mr. Durant
is still in Hudson Prison.
Show me a train back to Omaha.
You hold your damn horses.
You take me to see
Durant right now.
I won't if this is a vendetta.
Not all at once it ain't.
[Cane bangs]
I'll have
some hot water for tea.
A visitor, Mr. Durant.
Hmm?
Good God.
I thought you were dead.
Yet here I stand.
And what the hell
are you doing here?
Oh, wait, don't tell me.
No.
- You've come to gloat.
- No, sir.
No.
[Laughs]
No. Gloating is not
in your character,
is it, Bohannon?
Too much integrity.
That was always your problem.
I came to ask for help.
[Scoffs]
Haven't you heard?
I'm ruined.
There's nothing
I could possibly do for you.
Even if I wanted to.
Union Pacific offered me a job,
and they gave it
to someone else.
I need you to tell 'em
I'm their man.
I need you to vouch for me.
Vouch for you?
[Chuckles]
Those spineless, myopic weasels
are in no mood to listen to me.
You've lost your nerve.
Not so sure you actually
can run the railroad.
And once upon a time,
I told you that you could.
That's why you're here.
You're scared.
I came to see you behind bars
for what you done.
There was a time
you could have done it.
When I was your champion.
When I was your advocate.
Now look at you.
You're tragic.
Your hour has passed.
Your railroad will fail
without me.
It's no longer my railroad.
For now.
The board won't accept you.
You wanna know why?
Because you are not one of us.
You will never be
from Massachusetts or New York.
You will always
be from Mississippi.
You suffer from
a preposterous miscalculation
of possibilities.
Like all southerners,
you're deluded.
And you smell.
[Background chatter]
[Sighs]
What type of dressing
are you requiring today?
Business.
What type of business
might it be?
Railroad, but cut the top
and the overcoat,
so I can wear this.
Very good.
Maybe an open frock
with a Fuller waist?
Sounds right.
Inch or two of the cuff showing,
neat in the pants,
and I dress to the left.
[Door bell jingles]
And the gentleman's gentleman?
How come I gotta be
a gentleman's gentleman?
Why can't I be
a gentleman plain?
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
he's right.
War's given the *** the right
to decide what he wants, so...
What type of suit
will you have, sir?
Let's see.
That one there, I can afford.
Yeah, I like that one.
Make that one up for me.
The black man chooses,
and the white man pays.
It's a new reckoning
of the world, Mr. Collier.
That it is,
Mr. Bohannon.
And you, sir?
What side do you dress on?
What you mean
what side I dress on?
Psst.
Hey.
Thank you,
Mr. Bohannon.
And when you're hiring men
for your railroad,
don't forget
your Irish kinsmen.
When I land this job,
I'll need two or three.
That's for sure.
Hundred?
- Thousand.
- Ah.
The man you'll need to see
is Three-Piece Duffy
down at the Points.
He knows all the railroad men.
If you're with the Union
Pacific, he'll find ya.
He ain't with nobody.
He barely with me.
Oh, Mr. Bohannon.
Burn it.
But shoot it first.
I think I dress to the right.
Cullen Bohannon.
The board's expecting me.
Elam Ferguson.
This way, sir.
Mr. Bohannon.
We appreciate all you've done
for the railroad.
Both Doc Durant
and the late Mrs. Lily Bell
spoke highly of
your achievements and abilities.
Let's go to it then.
The job of Chief Engineer
and Senior Vice President
of Union Pacific has been
awarded to someone else.
Yes, sir.
And I aim for it to be mine
before I walk out that door.
- What's it a question of?
- Vision.
And temperament.
Someone whose pedigree
speaks to getting things done
in Washington
as well as out on the plains.
Have you ever been
to Washington, Mr. Bohannon?
I am familiar.
Well, then you know
that even at the highest levels,
it's dog eat dog.
This man you hired,
he's a real dog fighter then?
He comes
with my personal recommendation.
He was the Chief Engineer
of the Westwood
and Upclair Railway.
Yeah, that sounds like
a Shortline Railroad to me.
16 miles, but he oversaw
the building
of two major trestles.
Yes, your son-in-law
comes well-appointed.
Especially with your new role
as Undersecretary
of the Railroad.
And he's a veteran.
Fought with Black Dave Hunter
on the winning side.
All due respect, I don't
doubt your son-in-law's ability
to build pretty Bridges
over stony brook streams,
but that's not
what we're facing
out west at the moment.
Is this the best map you have?
- It's current.
- It's not very accurate.
Here's where we are.
Plains extend here.
Here's the beginning
of the red desert.
Now we'll be good along here.
Plenty of grazing
for our feed cattle,
mild weather.
Here's where we start
running out of water.
I've drawn up some designs...
For water cars.
Here are some designs
for dormitory cars.
Keep the men
out of the elements, healthier,
more productive.
Who will build these?
We'll build 'em together,
just like we'll build
this railroad.
Now here we start hitting
real Indian country hard.
Shoshone, Crow, Kiowa...
some friendly, some not.
Oh, um, your son-in-law,
has he ever been
in Indian territory?
We've started stockpiling
rail and ties here,
waiting for the Missouri
to thaw.
Mmmm, river's already
breaking up here South.
Saw it myself coming over.
Central Pacific
was able to work
through most of the winter.
Collis Huntington
has put them ahead of schedule.
Then the race is on, gentlemen.
No time to waste.
Now this...
These are plans for organizing
the rail-layers and tie crews.
Think we can get
more steel laid.
Probably 30% more steel
if we follow these regimens.
[Men murmuring]
Were we to take you on
in some capacity,
you'd be paid in U.P. stock.
We feel that that would
make your involvement
more of a personal investment.
Congressman Ames...
I'm already more invested
than you'll ever know.
There's a lot of graves
along this railroad,
marked and unmarked.
Some I laid to rest myself
and some... time or two.
Point is...
I make no apologies
for my temperament.
Mr. Bohannon,
I believe you're bleeding.
Surely not from shaking hands
with a shaving razor.
Wolves, actually.
The kind that bite.
Why don't you shake hands
with the new Chief Engineer
of the Union Pacific railroad?
I'd rather shake hands
with the devil.
You may well
before this is over.
You made 'em think
I was your Butler or something?
I did, and it worked.
Got the job.
Now we got men to hire.
Let's go.
[Men and women shouting]
I don't like this at all.
Safer back home
with them Indians.
Meet me back at the hotel
if we get split up.
I'm on you like a tick.
Show these lads
their place of employ.
Caught a musket ball at
a bowery party the other night.
It's festering a bit.
"Either the ball comes out
or the leg comes off,"
says the barber.
Pardon the smell.
I'm Cullen Bohannon,
- new Chief Engineer of the...
- I know who you are...
And who you're pretending
to be.
No pretense, Mr. Duffy.
- I'm in need of railroad workers.
- I know, I know.
Who the hell do you think
put the last two years
on to Durant's pay but was me?
I was hoping
we could maintain it similar.
Pleased with the quality
of men, were ya?
For the most part.
[Chuckles]
"For the most part."
Thems were the Creme
de La Creme I sent Durant.
Not the, uh, consumptive
or the weak-backed.
I winnowed 'em clean.
You know why?
Mr. Durant's a fine man.
He backs up his word
with solid gold.
Locked away in prison now.
Because of Tatterducks.
They're jealous of his acumen.
The man's a genius.
Wouldn't you agree,
Mr. Bohannon?
Well...
reckon even a genius
can run afoul of the law,
Mr. Duffy.
$1,000 in gold coins
for each lot of 500 men
boarded at the station.
McFee counts 'em for me.
Maybe you can have your ***
there count 'em for you.
That is, of course,
if he can count
beyond his fingers and toes.
The ones
that fall off the train
or that arrive with rigor mortis
are not my concern.
It's called attrition,
according to Mr. Durant.
Something pretty
you wanna say to me, boy?
[Chuckles]
The day it's just me and you
is the day
your Irish luck run out.
You gonna let your ***
speak to me that way,
Mr. Bohannon?
He ain't my ***.
So when do you think
you'll be able
to send out
the first shipment of men?
Let us see your gold.
I wouldn't show you how much
money even if I had it on me.
So you come around here
wasting my time,
not planning
to commence business?
Mr. Durant
would never do that.
How much coin
do you have on you?
Not enough to trouble you,
Mr. Duffy.
It's no trouble at all, sir.
Whatever you have on you
will recompense me
for speaking with you today.
See, I'm a fine judge
of character, Mr. Bohannon,
and I can tell
you have no interest
in dealing with me
or my enterprise.
Now that's the first truth
you spoke since we met.
[Men chuckling]
Now me and my friend here,
we're gonna back out slow,
and this'll be done.
[Trigger ***]
[Overlapping shouting]
[Gunshots] [Screams]
Boy, don't you ever step
out of line like that again.
Don't go for my gun.
Like to got us killed.
Well, you should
have let me have a gun.
My grandpappy
was right about you people.
You mean when he owned us?
Tore a thousand-acre
plantation out of nothing,
he did.
Well, you tell your grandpappy
we a free people now.
- You tell him that.
- Free?
Well, ***.
Don't you go telling me
about your freedom, son.
I know all about it.
I'm the one
that paid full price for.
You may be free, but you sure
as *** ain't my equal.
Take 'em off.
Take 'em off.
[Grunts]
Oh, yeah?
All right.
[Both grunting]
[Knocks on door]
Shh.
Might be the landlady.
Come in.
Mr. Beale.
Mr. Bohannon.
Telegram.
Actually,
it's for Mr. Ferguson.
Thank you, sir.
Yeah, he can read.
He's also a free man,
in case you hadn't heard.
Eva had the baby.
Yeah.
What is it?
There you go
talking that again.
I meant is it a boy or girl?
Don't say.
Boy's fine.
Girl's sweet too.
- Just say it's healthy.
He- y.
You remember this minute,
all right?
Might only come once.
Yes, sir.
I got me a baby.
[Chuckles]
I'm sorry
for the things I've done.
And... for the things
I left undone.
Feeling like I bit off
more than I can chew, you know?
[Chuckles]
Course you do.
Take off your gun!
We'll have no guns
in the house of the Lord.
This is not
a shooting gallery, sir.
Reverend Corner.
It's me, Cullen Bohannon.
You married me
and Mary Elizabeth Tate here
back in '56.
Uh...
We... we don't recognize you.
You're welcome to stay
and pray with us,
but...
You'll have to leave
the guns outside.
Good day to y'all then.
I did
what I was supposed to do.
I voted against Bohannon.
Your job was not
to vote against Bohannon.
Your job was to get everyone
else to vote against Bohannon!
He was very compelling.
Well, you tell that
to your constituents
when the Union Pacific
bankrupts your state coffers.
You promised
that wouldn't happen.
No
[whispers] No.
Not when I could run things
through that cloddish
son-in-law of yours.
[Sighs]
You have got
to get me out of here.
Thomas, I don't think
I can get you out of here.
We frankly have run out
of friendly judges.
There's always
some new appointee,
some... someone freshly elected,
a holder of a lien,
a witness with a faulty memory.
Perhaps a Peeping Tom
or a chambermaid with a tail.
Now you listen to me,
you pissant!
Your fall
will be far greater than mine
if Bohannon is not stopped
and I am
not returned the railroad.
I understand.
Good.
Good.
[Crowd chatter]
Looks a lot like
Durant's old car.
It is Durant's old car,
just refurbished.
Better sleeping quarters,
heating throughout.
Can we get a cot in here
or something for Mr. Ferguson
for the ride back to Omaha?
I loaned Mr. Ferguson money
for passage on the *** car.
Mr. Huntington.
Collis Huntington,
head of Central Pacific.
Whoa.
I'm glad I caught you, sir.
Been wanting to meet you.
Especially when I heard
you weren't dead.
Mr. Beale, may I have a moment
with Mr. Bohannon, please?
The package on the desk
contains your issued stock.
Thank you, Mr. Beale.
You're being paid in stock
because the Union Pacific's lenders
have closed their books.
Government's guaranteeing us.
Government's in chaos.
Senate wants to impeach the
president for reconstruction.
The house is investigating him
for the assassination
of Lincoln.
There'll be no new vote
on railroad funding
until next session.
In short, Mr. Bohannon,
you and your railroad are broke.
Got stockpiles in Missouri.
I'll be in Wyoming by fall.
No, you won't, Mr. Bohannon,
regardless of your pace.
I was making 2 mile a day.
Sometimes 5
when the work was good.
You know
what progress I'm making?
- Hmm?
- 12 a day.
12 miles?
12 inches a day.
[Chuckles]
Through solid granite.
Now that may
not sound like much,
but I'm almost
through the sierras.
And I just received 5,000 pounds
of Nitroglycerin
and 11,000 Chinamen
who do not get sick
and are happy to work
with half pay.
Now I am backed
by the Bank of England,
funded by all the tons
of glittering gold
found in the streams
of California.
It's the Golden State,
Mr. Bohannon.
Looking forward to meeting you
there at the border then.
Oh, you haven't
read the papers, sir.
My friends in congress
have just voted
to lift
my building restrictions.
Now, once I'm through the
mountains, it's all downhill.
I intend to cross
the California border
and be in your camp
before you know it.
The stretch between Nebraska
and California is mine.
No, sir, it belongs
to whomever can cross it first.
Now, based on your reputation,
I'm offering you a chance
to cross it with me,
but from the west,
and you'll be paid in gold.
Not in some worthless paper.
[Chuckles] Huh.
Well, I...
Already gave my word
to the gentleman
at Credit Mobilier,
and that's about all
I got left, so...
[Train rattles]
[Grunts]
[In distance] Board.
All aboard.
Chicago, Omaha,
and all points west.
It was a pleasure to meet you,
Mr. Bohannon.
[Door opens] Board!
[Door closes]
Hmm.
Omaha!
The stop is Omaha.
[Background chatter]
[Baby fusses]
[Door opens]
Well...
look at you.
How you feeling?
She came out kicking
and tearing.
- She?
- Mm-hmm.
Can I see her?
Yeah.
- She's moving all right.
- [Chuckles]
- You all right?
- Yeah.
You can't tell much
with newborns.
They're all wrinkled up
and splotchy-looking.
She's beautiful.
Thank you.
She like her daddy.
[Chuckles]
I'm glad you're back.
Ladies.
Aye, Mr. Bohannon.
You look great.
How was New York?
It was an open sewer,
Mr. McGinnes.
Mm.
My new hat don't fit me either.
Welcome back, sir.
We're all very excited about,
um, our new prospects west,
aren't we, girls?
Yes.
[All laugh]
It'll be a few more days
before we ship out.
We need to collect some crews.
Actually, um...
Once the word got back that
you're the new Chief Engineer,
workers started
coming in from all over,
began loading up the trains.
That's a nice vote
of confidence, I would say.
Wouldn't you, Mr. Bohannon?
When do we roll out?
At your leisure and signal.
Sir.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Bohannon.
[Laughs]
Freedmen ready to get to work?
Hmm, damn lowlife
scrabble hereabouts
taking all our hard-saved
railroad money.
- Mm?
- Mm-hmm.
Treating us like
it's backsliding times.
- Mm-mm.
- Yes, sir.
Anywhere but here.
- Even Hell On Wheels?
- Hmm.
Sound like heaven
when you say it.
Don't forget your man
Psalms here when you make
your, uh,
Walking Boss list, huh?
There's a lady
on the cowcatcher, Mr. Bohannon.
Alive or dead?
I'm not sure what's going on.
Say, Mr. Bohannon,
is that, um...
Is that Sparky's pipe?
Was.
Ruth?
I'm so sorry,
Mr. Bohannon.
I was gathering my thoughts
for a prayer before we set off.
[Bell ringing]
[Horn blows]
You can pray with me
if you want.
I'll leave you in charge
of that department.
Heavenly Father,
You have given us a vision
of this railroad
which will bind our nation.
Lord Christ,
when you came among us,
you proclaimed God's Kingdom
in towns and lonely places
such as these.
Grant that your presence
be known
as this railroad
is built across this land.
Have mercy on those
who labor on it.
Send us
honest and able leaders.
May peace prevail
with righteousness,
justice with order,
and help us eliminate poverty,
oppression along the way.
And especially eliminate evil.
All this we ask
in God's Holy name.
Amen.
[Indistinct chatter]
I see why they call this place
"Hell On Wheels."
Rough men, loose women,
whiskey, sin, and guns.
It ain't
a church social, ma'am.
I'm not sure your bosses
at Credit Mobilier
would want me to put that
in the newspaper.
What is it that holds you to
this enterprise, Mr. Bohannon?
Every piece of steel we lay
puts us closer
to somewheres else.
That's about all I can say.
So it's more personal
than just laying rail.
You're the writer.
Ho!
Mr. Bohannon,
people of this country
believe the railroad is robbing
the National Treasury.
My job is to dissuade my readers
of that notion.
Unfortunately,
our brief interview
was not enough to dissuade me.
And it ain't my job
to fix what people think.
In fact, it is.
You are the face of the
Transcontinental Railroad now.
And either this is
a brave and noble endeavor,
or it's *** and Gomorrah.
Which is it?
The sooner you help me
accurately report
what's going on out here,
the sooner I can leave
and make both our lives
less miserable.
And for the record,
I covered the war '63 to '65.
I know the difference between
hell and a church social.
What more you need to see?
Everything.
Come on then.
♪ That I ever did see
All: ♪ that I ever did see
♪ she was born
in Jackson, baby ♪
♪ raised in New Orleans
grading crews work ahead
of the tie-layers.
100 miles west,
surveyors lay out the route.
- How many men do you have?
- Near 3,000.
Work six days a week,
sunup, sundown.
$1.50 a day.
Them's good wages.
How many miles do you make
a day?
Two now,
weather and Indians permittin'.
Rust eaters lay the rails.
Walking boss makes sure
the gauge is right.
Spiker teams secure the rails
to the ground.
Fish-plates tie them together.
3 swings of the hammer
per spike,
10 spikes per rail,
400 rails to a mile,
1,500 miles to Sacramento.
Do you really believe
you can win the race
against the Central Pacific
to build this road?
Wouldn't be here otherwise.
You think you can do it
without Thomas Durant's
political connections?
Without his money,
his ego to drive it on?
Well, here I stand,
and here he don't.
- Excuse me.
- One more question.
Why you?
Each car sleeps 60 men.
Keeps them out of the weather
and close to the work.
Lady coming through.
Who designed these cars?
Mostly me.
[Belches]
[Clears throat]
Yeah, I'm still working out
the ventilation.
Mmhmm.
Two weeks ago, these men
were starving, out of work,
straight off the boats
in New York.
My newspaper has reported
Irish labor bosses
conscripting them out here
for a fee.
How is that any different
from indentured servitude?
Union Pacific offers
free rail passage
and a week's wages on arrival.
We got more applicants
than we got work.
Really?
Your idea again?
Didn't much care for the labor
bosses I met in New York.
New cemetery runs
from the sawmill
up to the Ridge line.
Ain't a day goes by
we don't put some one or two
in the ground up there,
most from railroad mishaps.
And the others?
Spare time mishaps.
Is that where the fair-haired
maiden of the west is buried?
No, she's buried in
a wild flower field she liked.
- Did you know her?
- A bit.
Well, you must've known her
better than that
if you knew where she wanted
to be buried.
Mrs. Bell should've left
Hell On Wheels
when she had the chance.
This ain't no place for a lady,
less'n she's a ***.
I can assure you,
Mr. Bohannon,
I am neither a lady
nor a ***.
Figured you'd have to be
a little bit of both
being a newspaper woman.
Get outta here.
Huh.
You figured wrong.
[Horse neighs]
You Bohannon?
I am.
Keep your railroad
off my property.
I won't tell you again.
Where'd they come from?
No idea.
Train for Omaha leaves
in an hour.
I expect you won't
wanna miss it.
[Mutters indistinctly]
Howdy.
Who are you?
You come pawin' around
for turmoil,
you best think twice, friend.
This is my office.
Mr. Ferguson.
*** Barlow.
Just arrived from Omaha.
Didn't Mr. Bohannon tell you
to expect me?
No.
What you want in here?
Well, I can tell by looking,
you ain't short a hat size,
so I guess you know.
I'm new Chief
of Railroad Police.
You work for me now.
Coffee?
My grandpap taught me
how to make it.
The trick is not to over-boil.
And, of course, the sock.
Now, uh, I use a clean one.
But pap swore
the riper the sock,
the richer the brew.
I like a dollop of fresh cream
in mine,
but it ain't real regular
I come across it.
And kicking don't get you
nowhere less'n you're a mule.
So mostly,
I just take mine black.
Mr. Bohannon
ain't said nothing
about me working for nobody.
Well, it ain't no good cold now.
Go on.
That's it.
Mm.
That'll get your hair
out of the butter every time.
[Laughs]
Don't want no trouble.
- Came to talk.
- What about?
Think you know.
Come ahead.
You survive the war?
- I did.
- You a Johnny Reb?
Yes, sir.
Yeah, I was.
So you know a little
about what it's like,
somebody comes,
takes your land.
Everything I had's been took.
Indians killed my father
and my brother,
his wives and kids.
My wives and I,
we buried 'em on the same hill
I pulled our surveyor stakes
out of.
My family bled for this land,
Mr. Bohannon,
carved this place out
of a wilderness nobody wanted.
It is
by Heavenly Father's decree
that we are here,
and it shall be by His will,
not yours, that we leave.
Even God can't stop
the railroad, Mr. Hatch.
It would destroy all we built,
take away our home.
Mm.
You have my word.
You'll get a square deal.
Now, now,
that's the best I can do.
- Could go around.
- Boy.
Ain't nothin' but wilderness
and Lamonites out here, father.
I said that's enough.
You will excuse
my son's manners.
He's got some growing
still to do.
[Sighs]
Tell you what.
Um...
Let me see if my surveyors
can't find a way around.
Now, that...
that's not a promise.
Ift can't be done,
you'll still have to move.
But it don't cost nothing
to try.
Well, a journey
through these lands
at this hour is a foolish one,
Mr. Bohannon.
You are welcome to stay
till morning.
Much obliged.
[Horse neighs]
[Both breathing heavily]
[Clatter]
[Gasps]
[Grunting]
Seen me a Mormon man
killed once.
[Grunts] Liberty, Missouri...
During the war.
[Grunts]
As if them white folk didn't
have enough to fight about,
county sheriff run him through
with a sword
on account of him
being a "Palgemist."
[Grunts]
Yep, they didn't like them
no "Palgemists"
in Liberty, Missouri.
Like they Mormons
didn't like them no negroes.
[Grunts]
Yeah.
They a nasty bunch.
[Grunts]
I think
you mean "polygamist."
[Exhales] What'd I say?
"Palgemists."
Well, I knew it was
something like that.
Why a man gotta get
hisself killed
over being a polygamist?
It's the custom
of having more than one wife
at the same time.
More than one wife, you say?
At the same time?
Well, damn.
No wonder they nasty.
Sand, mud, lime.
Soil like that no good
for the grade, boss.
Take a lot of lumber
to build it.
Yeah, rock wall be better,
but that take time
and rock, which we ain't got.
I've surveyed several routes
through here, Mr. Bohannon.
Sand hills stretch at least
a hundred miles to the north.
We'd have to go South
to get around that farm.
- How far?
- 40 mile, maybe more.
40 mile'll put us behind
schedule by five weeks.
Yes, sir.
[Bell rings]
I met the new police chief.
You ain't happy,
track runs both ways.
[Bell ringing continues]
Where's the livestock?
It's complicated.
Tell you
what's complicated, son.
3,000 hungry men.
What I mean is
I've been on the job
for two days.
And deciphering these books
is quite the task.
Near as I can tell,
Mr. Durant formed
several companies
to supply livestock
to the railroad.
Now that he's departed,
the contracts
have been canceled.
Then find some other
damn place, Sean.
Council Bluffs, Denver,
***, Chicago...
I would, um, but it seems
that Mr. Durant has,
in addition to canceling
our contracts
with his companies,
cornered the market on livestock
in Omaha as well.
***!
Should've killed that son of
a *** when I had the chance.
May I quote you on that,
Mr. Bohannon?
You don't say nothing to her
about railroad business.
- You hear me?
- Yes, sir.
- Still here?
- Missed my train.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
[Knock at door]
Oh.
We missed you at services
this morning, Mr. Bohannon.
[Laughs]
Was there something
I can help you with?
Thought I'd look in is all.
You gave us a good place...
High, dry ground
upwind of the slaughterhouse.
- Thank you.
- It's good.
It's good for the men, I mean.
And you?
Oh.
Sorry.
Uh...
[Sniffs]
Railroad has to move a family
of homesteaders off their land.
They're digging in.
And, uh, they're Mormon.
I wonder if you've had
any cause to know
what they might be like
as people.
The Latter Day Saints are not
a legitimate Church of Christ.
They treat their women
as slaves.
They take child brides.
They're a violent people.
They'll fight then, you think?
It has been their way.
Yes.
They got children with 'em.
Then you'll find another way.
By God's Grace.
God's been slack
with the Grace of late.
Then show them yours,
Mr. Bohannon.
What I'm proposing is
a major new commercial hub,
the most important railroad city
in the United States.
And it will be right here
in your backyard.
That is literally my backyard.
You see that pretty confluence
of good sweet-water streams?
Well, it ain't much,
but it's on my land.
My husband left me all of this
when he passed in '62.
Well, it may be
your land now, madam.
But the Union Pacific Railroad
will reach it before the year
is out.
And, through eminent domain,
they will claim it.
That's against the law.
It is the law.
And by law,
the Union Pacific
is compelled to offer you
a fair market price
for your land,
currently $1.50 an acre.
[Laughter]
- I'd never sell for that.
- And you won't have to.
Because as a representative
and major stockholder
of Credit Mobilier,
I am prepared
to offer you $100 per acre,
thus waiving eminent domain.
- What's the rub?
- Ah, well...
In order to waive
eminent domain,
we must build
a railroad terminus
and a town on the property,
which we will.
Every pound of beef,
every ton of ore,
every fruit, vegetable,
every bale of hay
from either side
of the Mississippi
must ship through our town.
You will become rich
beyond your wildest dreams.
Weren't you in jail
just a month ago?
- Yes.
- And you're broke,
according to the newspapers.
Flat broke.
Well, how do you expect
to pay us
for our property then?
From construction funds
advanced to me
by the Union Pacific Railroad.
You were kicked off
Union Pacific for stealing.
Union Pacific, Credit Mobilier,
different pockets
to the same pair of pants.
When the judge understood that,
I was released.
You're in Omaha now, New York.
Money won't buy you
judges here.
Opportunity is a powerful
elixir, Mrs. Palmer.
Right.
So you're borrowing money
you don't have
from a company
you don't work for
to buy property
you can't afford
to build a city
that doesn't exist.
Spearheading, as it were.
A new way of doing business
in America.
If all difficulties were known
at the outset of a long journey,
Mr. McGinnis,
few of us would ever
embark at all.
A whiskey for my young friend.
Have you got the money?
I'm very uneasy about this.
If Mr. Bohannon finds out...
You are doing nothing wrong.
You are managing
railroad funds,
and you are managing them well.
Have you got
something else for me?
This is the, uh,
telegraph routing code
for the Union Pacific.
You'll be able to eavesdrop
on all of Mr. Bohannon's
business.
Excellent.
Will you be paying
me today, Mr. Durant?
All in due time,
Mr. McGinnis.
Oh, don't look so glum.
My current situation
is but a temporary setback.
History always sides
with a winner.
[Overlapping conversations]
Where are you off to so fast?
Excuse me, I'm...
Um...
Uh, stop, no.
Ow, let me go.
Give us a kiss first.
What?
[Grunting]
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Please, please.
Not like this.
Let's go to my room, huh?
I got us a bottle we can share.
Touch me again,
it'll be your throat!
Bloody ***.
[Gasping]
My grandpap,
a dough puncher from way back,
taught me surest way
to a woman's heart
by way of her stomach.
By God, if that wasn't
certain with my Tess.
You married, Mr. Ferguson?
Some could call it that.
Kids?
Got me a new baby girl.
Nothing like a new baby to
make a man count his blessings
and keep them close.
I got five youngsters,
all girls,
if you want to know.
The oldest one's
12 going on 40.
That little girl of mine,
she beautiful.
I look in her eyes,
and she melt my heart.
But her mama afraid this job
gonna get me killed.
She think that baby ain't gonna
have no daddy to bring her up.
How's the coffee?
It's better the second day.
It's the sock.
Need you boys to ride out
and tell them homesteaders
there's no way around the land.
This here's the writ
of eminent domain.
Let them know the government
pays $1.50 an acre.
Railroad will throw in
another dollar.
Let 'em know that's more
than fair, all right?
Yes, sir.
Oh, you do the talking.
Mormons ain't keen on negroes.
[Train horn in distance]
Finish your coffee,
Mr. Ferguson.
I got to visit the necessary.
Then we'll be on our way.
They said
he was a hell-raiser,
but my pap was a lazy son of
a *** by the time I knew him.
Fact, one time
when I was, oh, nine...
Don't you ever stop talking?
No, sir, I do not.
Out here, a quiet man is twice
as likely as a noisy one
to have his beard clung to
by a bear.
I intend to keep my scalp.
[Horse neighs distantly]
Maybe they're gone.
No, they ain't gone.
Horses still in the barn.
Keep your gun close.
You see our cinch
getting frayed,
start shooting.
[Horse neighs]
Hello!
Anybody home?
Mr. Hatch?
State your business!
I'm *** Barlow,
Chief of Police,
Union Pacific Railroad.
Think you know why we're here.
I already told the other one,
we ain't leaving.
You ain't got any choice.
That's what
we come to tell you.
We ain't afraid to fight
for what's ours.
You best leave
on out of here now.
Threatening us
ain't gonna get us no...
Barlow!
What
[Horse whines]
[Groans]
I need 75,000 ties
delivered 25 miles
beyond the end of the rails
before the first of the month,
a hundred barrels
of blasting powder.
Make sure we got enough
wranglers to tend them cattle
when they get here...
from Denver.
Eva!
What happened?
The Mormons shot him.
***.
Careful, careful.
I got his legs.
Eva!
Eva, we need you!
Elam, the baby!
You're the closest thing
we got to a doctor.
[Baby crying]
[Baby crying]
Go get me some onion broth.
You!
Go to the hotel restaurant,
get me some onion broth now.
Go!
Was it the old man or the boy?
I don't know for certain.
- Certain you don't know.
- Told you I don't know.
Well, I know for certain
there's a man lying here
with a bullet in him.
I just told you
I ain't seen him.
Will you two stop it?
Shut that baby up.
Excuse me.
Excuse me.
Here.
Prop him up.
Get him up.
[Groans]
Drink the medicine.
[Coughing]
Yeah, I can smell the onion
broth through the wound.
He's gut-shot, Elam.
He ain't gonna make it.
[Baby crying]
Take that damn baby outside.
No, wait.
Bring her here.
Bring her over here.
Please.
Let me see her.
Please let me see her.
Oh.
[Chuckles]
She's beautiful,
Mr. Ferguson.
Just like you said.
You wanted it.
Not like this.
Well?
All right.
Telegraph the fort.
Tell the major we need help
evicting them homesteaders.
You want a railroad story?
Follow me.
Mr. Hatch!
This is Cullen Bohannon of
the Union Pacific Railroad.
I have a writ of execution here
for the killing of
my Chief of Police.
Come on out.
You don't, and these soldiers
will burn you out.
I won't be able to stop them.
You got one minute,
Mr. Hatch.
United States Cavalry
was not built for waiting.
We didn't come here
to kill women and children.
A disorganized brain
is lacking in moral principles.
Are you aware of that,
Bohannon?
Not something I ponder nights.
Moral principles are
the first line of defense
against criminal behavior.
You learn
something new every day.
Without moral principles,
these Mormons will inevitably
turn to violence
to solve their problems,
just like the heathens.
Am I right about that, chief?
What he talking about?
Y'all keep your barrels down.
You and your boys
put your guns down.
I told you,
stay off my property
or there'll be hell to pay.
And I told you if I couldn't
find a way around,
the U.S. Government would
rightfully claim its land.
You murdered
my Chief of Police.
He was trespassing.
He was warned.
You have to stand accountable.
I am the priesthood holder
of my family, Mr. Bohannon.
Without me,
they will not survive.
You should've thought
about that
before you pulled that trigger.
They won't survive.
I'll see to it they get to
the Mormon settlement
at Fort Smith.
How's that?
- He done it.
- Father?
Did you kill that man, son?
Tell me the truth now.
Yes, sir.
Mr. Ferguson,
this boy shoot *** Barlow?
I ain't sure.
Good God, man, get on with it.
You'd have me hang him?
It's the law, Bohannon.
You said so yourself, and you
are obliged to uphold it.
We do not make exceptions
to the law out here.
You realize he'll hang.
He's just a boy.
You're gonna tell me the truth.
I told you the truth!
Son, you got a different story,
you best tell me right now.
He's just a boy.
Not today he ain't.
All right.
Father.
Come here.
- Father!
- Come on, boy.
- Come on.
- Easy.
Father!
Father!
Sorry, son.
[Typing]
"Life on the prairie is
not worth the powder it takes
to blow it all to hell."
So say the denizens
of Hell On Wheels,
the rollicking tent city
that moves with
the transcontinental railroad
as it creeps across the country
at a pace of two miles per day.
It is no place
for women or children,
as the men who labor here,
veterans of the recent conflict,
immigrants,
and free negroes,
often take to drink
and un-Christian pursuits
when not swinging a hammer
or laying track.
Every man here carries a gun,
which can be had for
as little as $3,
and a knife,
and goes to church on Sunday.
Here you can buy a meal for 35¢
a beer for less than a quarter,
a suit of clothes for $5
that includes a hat.
The belongings of the dead
are cheaper than that.
Any last words, son?
I came here to meet the man
who replaced "Doc" Durant
as Chief Engineer of
the Union Pacific Railroad.
I can tell you he is a man
for whom honor is sacred
and virtue impermanent.
In the brave new wilderness
he calls home,
integrity is important
to Cullen Bohannon.
[Horse neighs]
[Rope creaking]
Whether a man of integrity
is what's needed
to build the railroad,
we don't yet know.
The railroad has always
been the business
of the unscrupulous
and corrupt.
You owe me a life
for the one
you took from me today.
I suspect our new Chief
Engineer to be neither.
And for that, dear reader,
we might all
count our blessings...
and say a prayer.
==sync, correction by dcdah==
for www.addic7ed.com