In a rage, he burned down his house with their bodies in it. He found them together, both dead, an apparent murder-suicide.

He reveals that his wife had an affair with his own brother. She finds out and asks Frail why he did not respond to her affection. Thus Frail secretly continues to control her. It is worthless, but Frail secretly tells the storekeeper to loan her however much money she needs. To get money, she pawns a family heirloom necklace. She teams up with Rune and Frenchy, who plan to buy a claim and set up a sluice. She leaves in a huff, determined to strike it rich as a prospector so that she can pay off Frail and get out from under his control. Scott) sees Frail's medical practice as a threat.Įlizabeth eventually regains her sight and makes romantic overtures toward Frail. Frail beats him up and threatens to kill him. Frail witnesses the aggression and chases Frenchy back to town. The placement causes much chagrin among the town's righteous women, who believe that Elizabeth may be paying for her medical care through illicit behavior.įrenchy sneaks in under the guise of trying to strike a business deal with Elizabeth, but instead tries to kiss her. A search party is formed, and Frenchy finds the sole survivor, Swiss immigrant Elizabeth Mahler (Maria Schell), daughter of the male passenger.Ĭrippled by burns, blindness and dehydration, Elizabeth is moved into a house next to the doctor's house to recover. Frail forces Rune into temporary servitude with the threat of revealing he is the thief.Ī stagecoach is robbed and overturned, killing the driver and a male passenger.

He rescues and treats Rune (Ben Piazza), a young man who was shot by 'Frenchy' (Karl Malden) while trying to steal gold from a sluice. He passes by the 'hanging tree,' an old oak with a thick branch over which has been slung a rope with a frayed end, presumably a former noose. Joseph Frail (Gary Cooper)-doctor, gambler, gunslinger-rides into the small town of Skull Creek, Montana, with miners in a gold rush, looking to set up a doctor's office.

The hanging tree ben aaronovitch