The Night of the Colonel's Ghost - Recap

The Wanderer approaches the town of Gibsonville and the area appears deserted. Jim checks to make sure that the area is clear and returns to report to President Grant that no one is about. Grant is eager to continue but Jim insists on going ahead to Gibsonville. The President consents but warns that he must be on time for his conference in San Francisco, and points out that Gibsonville is a Union town and he’s only there to dedicate a war statue. He admits that hasn’t been to Gibsonville in years, since he went to visit Josiah Gibson, and it was a friendly fast-growing town.



Jim rides into Gibsonville the next day and finds the streets empty and the buildings in disarray. He dismounts and hears a pounding noise, and goes to find a man, Chris Davidson, chopping at a wooden Indian statue. Jim asks what he’s doing and the man says that he’s digging for gold. The agent introduces himself and the man explains that there was an epidemic of broken necks. Davidson continues with his chopping as Jim rides on past the town’s statue of Wayne Gibson, who died in 1865 while defending a fort.

Jim finally enters the town’s hotel and discovers that the lobby is richly furnished even though everything is covered in dust. A caged parrot sits in one corner. A ledger sits on the counter and a woman, Jennifer Caine, steps out. She seems dazed and asks if Jim wants to rent a room, and he points out that according to the ledger, there hasn’t been anyone there in six months. Jennifer explains that business has been slow. Jim signs in and Jennifer welcomes him to Gibsonville. She shows him upstairs to his room but trips and Jim catches her. Jennifer’s brothers, Abel and Bert, come in and jump Jim. He takes them on and defeats them, and then hears a scream from outside. Jim and Jennifer run outside and find Davidson dead in the street, his neck broken. The agent notes that Jennifer doesn’t appear too surprised. She admits that it’s happened before.



An organ plays from within the hotel and Jim goes to investigate. When he touches it, it falls apart and the music stops. When Jennifer comes in, Jim asks her about the other murders and Jennifer explains that each time someone died, the organ played. It belonged to Colonel Gibson and his father allowed no one to touch it after he left. Jennifer explains that Gibson’s ghost is angry and that no one is safe in Gibsonville.

Jim goes to the jail and finds Sheriff Tom Hollis and Doc Gavin toasting Davidson. The agent introduces himself and Hollis explains that Davidson died an accidental death. Gavin says that they weren’t surprised given how Davidson went around exerting himself, and then takes a nap. The sheriff invites Jim outside and asks why Jim is there. Jim avoids the question and asks why Gibsonville is now a ghost town. Hollis explains that Colonel Gibson’s father Josiah planned to cash in on the move west but misjudged where the railroad would go through. The War took away many of the town’s young men, and Josiah’s mind snapped when he learned that his son died. Josiah spent every last cent of his fortune to build the statue in the center of town.



When Hollis insults Colonel Gibson, Jennifer comes out and calls him a coward for staying behind while others went to war. She says that she knew the colonel personally and insists that he and his father was a fine man. Hollis says that she planned to marry into the Gibson family, and Jennifer starts to explain why Hollis and the others stay in town. Shots ring out and Hollis explains that Abel and Bert like to shoot out the windows of empty buildings. He goes to quiet them down and Jennifer admits that her brothers get into trouble but mean no harm. She tells Jim that she’ll tell him the town’s secrets later and returns to the hotel.

Hollis goes up to the hotel’s second floor and finds Bert pounding on the door. Bert explains that he stepped out for a moment and when he came back, the door was locked. The two men try to break the door down as Jim and Jennifer arrive, and Jim kicks the door in. The doors and windows are locked from the inside and there’s no trace of Abel. As they examine the room, the organ plays.

Jim goes outside to examine the statue and then returns to his hotel room. He sends a carrier pigeon to Artie with a message and then hears someone at the door. He hides behind the door and ambushes the man as he comes in. The intruder introduces himself as Victor Pernell, attorney at law, and says that he was one of the town’s original settlers. He took it upon himself to investigate Jim’s presence and demands to know why Jim is there. Jim avoids the question and asks why Pernell is there, and the attorney says that he’s exercising his business. He believes that the town will arise once more. They hear a struggle outside and find Doc Gavin in the hallway, and Jennifer grabbing him. She says that Gavin was listening at the door, and Gavin says he was told there was a patient awaiting his services. Jim tells Jennifer to have everyone gather in the lobby at 4 p.m. so he can talk with them.



At the Wanderer, Artie is busy building a model train while Grant grows increasingly impatient. Jim’s courier pigeon Annabella arrives with a message in invisible ink. Artie borrows some alcohol from Grant to use for the ingredients to bring the message out. It’s a coded phrase that says that Grant can’t go to Gibsonville. However, Grant insists on honoring his promise to Josiah Gibson to dedicate the statue of his son. Colonel Gibson was under Grant’s command and his company managed to turn the enemy at the cost of their lives.

Jim greets the remaining five townspeople in the hotel lobby and demands to know why they’ve stayed. Gavin claims he stays for his health and the water, while Pernell says he’s preparing a legal brief and doing research on a land grant. Bert says he stays to help Jennifer run the hotel, while Hollis explains that his duty to serve out his term. Jennifer finally condemns them all as liars and says they are hovering over the town like vultures. When Jim wonders she’s there, Jennifer explains that she and Colonel Gibson were secretly engaged to be married. She would have inherited the Gibson family’s wealth, and explains that Josiah converted his capital into gold bullion. The fortune has never been found and everyone has stayed to dig for the gold. Jennifer insists that she’s a Gibson in all but name and it belongs to her. The others insist that they have an equal right to it. Hollis slips out while Pernell claims that he had a full partnership with Josiah and has the papers in his briefcase in the foyer. He goes to get it and the others hear a thud. They run to the foyer and find Pernell, dead with a broken neck... and organ music fills the hotel.



As Hollis joins the others, Artie arrives, disguised as English hunter Sir Ian-Jellicoe Cooper-Fenstone. He explains that big game has brought him to Gibsonville, and Jim says that they can deal with it later. Hollis says that they all have an alibi sine no one was near the body, and Jim orders Hollis and Gavin to store the body until he can examine it. As Artie goes outside, the parrot squawks, “Fraud” at him repeatedly. Out on the street, Artie tells Jim that Grant has given them 24 hours to assure his safety. Jim says that it’s still too dangerous and that Colonel Gibson’s ghost is breaking necks and playing organ music.

Later, Jim is in his room when Artie arrives with the parrot. Artie figures that the parrot might have noticed something and can provide a clue. All it does is call him a fraud, and the agents go with their original plan to search the hotel. They check Abel’s room and Artie inadvertently opens a hidden panel. Jim and Artie enter the passageway beyond and find a closet containing Jennifer’s wedding dress... and Abel’s corpse. They hear Bert roan in pain and run to his room.



The next day at the jail, Hollis and Gavin offer a toast to the dead Caine brothers. Artie comes in and Hollis asks for his alibi. The agent says that he was in bed reading and had to kill a rattlesnake, shooting it between the eyes. Impressed, Gavin invites Artie to share a drink with them but he declines and offers them some of his own alcohol. They drink and Artie fakes swallowing his, and then suggests that two men must be working together to haul the bodies around and easily break the victims’ neck. He figures that Hollis and Gavin were responsible and watches as they pass out from the drugged drink.

In his room, Jim is checking his weapons and then goes to the window. Artie signals from the street that everything is clear. Suddenly the door locks and bars drop over the window. A panel opens, revealing a scarred Colonel Gibson seated at an organ. Jim isn’t surprised, having concluded that Colonel Gibson placed his papers on the mangled corpse of another soldier and fled in fear.

An angry Gibson grabs a riding crop and tries to whip Jim, who easily subdues him. The agent tells him to open the door, but Jennifer comes in and Gibson grabs her as a hostage to force Jim to surrender his gun. Before he kills Jim, Colonel Gibson asks why Jim was sent there. Jim tells him that Grant sent him to correct the inscription on his monument. Gibson doesn’t believe that it’s wrong and tells Jim to show him the error. They go to the statue and Gibson rants about how he drove off or killed anyone that stood in his path. He confirms that the inscription says that he was a hero and prepares to shoot Jim.



Artie rides up, disguised as Grant, and tells Gibson to put the gun down and act like a gentleman. Gibson hesitates and Artie talks about the days that they fought side-by-side. However, he inadvertently describes the wrong battle and Gibson rips off Artie’s fake beard. Jim jumps him but Jennifer draws a gun and tells the agents to back away. Jim realizes that Jennifer was Gibson’s partner all along, helping him to eliminate the other fortune hunters. Artie detonates a trick cigar and struggles with Jennifer, while Jim ducks behind the statue. His partner tosses him Jennifer’s revolver and Jim shoots Gibson. With his dying breath, Gibson fires one shot that strikes his statue... revealing the gold beneath the paint.



Share this article with your friends