Sample Sales Coverage (Cont'd):  Fall Creek / Page 2

SYNOPSIS:

In a forest, BEN CAPE, 9 or 10, plays with FOLDED LEAF, an Indian boy of 9 or 10.  They are called into a camp of Seneca Indians.  JUD CLASBY appears at the camp and eats with and speaks to two Indians who have recently arrived, RED DEER, in his prime, and TALL TREE, older.  Red Deer mentions that he wants peace, even though the white man has been encroaching on their territory.  An elder, BLACK ANTLER, teaches Folded Leaf about a great Seneca prophet who professed a peaceful way.

 In a cabin, CALEB CAPE and his wife, LIZZIE, mid-30's, entertain LUTE BEMIS, approximately 30, and his wife, ORA, slightly younger than Lizzie and heavily pregnant.  Caleb and Lizzie’s daughter, HANNAH, approximately 18, leaves the cabin to bring some cookies to a neighbor and runs into Clasby who accompanies her to a cabin lived in by JOHN WOOD SR., an elderly man; his wife, REBA; and his son, JOHNNY, approximately 17.  Clasby exhibits his contempt for the Indians, as do Old Wood and Reba.  GEORGE BENSON meets Hannah and Clasby on their way back and complains how the Indians are beating him to all the good game and the two men conspire about wiping them out, much to Hannah’s resistance.  After they have left Benson behind, Clasby makes a pass at Hannah, which she rebuffs.  Clasby and Lute get drunk together, with Clasby trying to convince him to help him get his horses back, which he says were stolen by Indians.  Lute refuses him, mentioning that he needs to be home and is not planning on fighting Indians anymore as the two of them did in the past.

As Caleb is preaching to a congregation of several families in his cabin, some settlers arrive, carrying a severely-wounded squaw, TALKING CROW, who accuses Benson of murder.  When Ben sees Talking Crow, he faints dead away.  Talking Crow dies.  The settlers report how all the Indians at the camp were slaughtered, including women and children.  Caleb and Hannah ride in their wagon to the Indian camp, carrying the body of Talking Crow, and see the results of the slaughter:  two women and four children dead.  They come upon Caleb’s bag on the ground.  They move into the forest in search of the Indian men, discovering the corpse of Tall Tree, which they bring back to the camp, where they discover that the bodies of the Indians have been taken.  When they return home, they find an arrow sticking in the cabin door, but, to their relief, everyone is safe inside.  Caleb assumes the arrow means that the Indians to the north are planning to attack the settlers.  He sets out to inform the Indian agent about the murders in order that the agent might be able to convince the Indian tribes to not retaliate against the settlers, and along the way Caleb warns settlers of the imminent danger.  When Ben rides to Lute’s to warn him of the trouble, Lute rides off to try and stop Caleb, fearing that Clasby will kill him if he knows Caleb has gone off to see the Indian agent.  Benson, Old Man Wood, Reba, and Johnny, along with some frontiersmen, block Caleb’s path.  Benson threatens to kill Caleb if he tries to pass, but try he does, prompting Benson to knock him unconscious.  Before Caleb is shot, Lute appears and intervenes, protecting Caleb.  Lute takes Caleb to his place where he is nursed.  Caleb convinces Lute to take his place and he leaves, heading off to see the Indian agent.  Lute eventually runs into the Indian agent, COLONEL JOHNSTON, who has come, escorted by Black Antler.

Heading home, Lute comes upon a burning homestead and a massacred family.  Some Indians charge him, but he fights his way through them.  Caleb arrives at the main town where he is informed by JUDGE McGOWAN, SAMUEL BRADY, the constable, and Colonel Johnston that there have been more settlers killed and burned out.  The Seneca Chiefs have raised a warring party of at least a thousand warriors who have the ability to decimate the frontier.  McGowan has arrived to judge the murders at the Indian camp.  Caleb accompanies Brady as they ride to Benson’s farm where they arrest him.  CHARLES FORT, early 30's, the lawyer for the prosecution, arrives, as does SENATOR STUART, the lawyer for the defense.  Old Wood, Johnny, and Benson, imprisoned in a jail, are met by the lawyers, accompanied by Caleb,  A procession of Indians, led by CHIEF LONE PAWN, rides into town with Johnston, much to the amazement of the townspeople.  Lute confesses to Caleb that he took part in the massacre of the Indians.

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