Mark and I was setting on the porch working, I was helping him with his homework.  He just couldn't understand why he needed to learn fractions.  I told them they would come in handy later on.  "What's handy about finding out one half a cow times one eighth of a pig times one third of a horse?"  Ask Mark.  Just then we heard someone approaching the ranch.  It was Micah.  He came to ask me to do him a favor.  He wanted to deputize me.  Mark got all excited.  Micah told him it really isn't all that exciting.  He wanted me to keep an eye on the office while he took Brett Stocker to Silver City.  I had heard of Stocker and his fancy guns. The territorial Marshal was due in Silver City tomorrow.  He wanted to get Stocker off his hands.  This guy was nothing but trouble.  I raised my right hand.  "Do you solemnly swear to uphold the 'Letter of the Law' to the best of your ability?"  "I do."   "I here by deputize you acting Deputy Marshal of  North Fork."  Mark was curious what Micah meant by 'Letter of the Law.'   Micah was a little thrown off by that question.  It really wasn't something he gave much thought to.  "If your a Marshal you just naturally do it.  Like Brett Stocker. I got a poster saying he was wanted for murder, he isn't wanted for any killing around here, but upholding the law is as much my business as if it happened in my own back yard.  It's upholding the law no matter what."   His talk made good sense.  I told him we'd be in later in the afternoon.  He had something's he wanted to show me before he left for Silver City.  Micah then headed out for North Fork. 

He didn't get very far on the trail.  There were three cowboys waiting for him.  They were Stocker's gang.  They had a plan, Micah for Stocker. 

We were surprised when we got into town that Micah wasn't there yet.  Abel was covering for Micah while he came out to my place.  Micah had told Abel he'd be gone an hour at the most.  It has been four hours.  I told Mark to stay in the Marshal's office while I checked around town to see if anyone had seen him.   Mark was admiring Stocker's guns.  He told Stocker that he must be pretty good to be using double action guns.  He told Mark that killing was a trade and that you had to learn about guns when your young.  Stocker use to live by a army supply depot.  He use to slip thru a hole in the fence and take what he wanted.  He used to shoot 200 rounds off in a day.  "Hey boy, why don't you strap 'em on,"   Mark hesitated.  He couldn't resist.  As he started to put them on, I walked in.  "Mark, put those guns down!  He's behind bars because of those guns.  So anything he tells you, just consider where it's coming from."   Stocker said, "When he wears those guns again, he'd remember what I said."  Just then someone thru a rock with a note attached thru the doorway.  "They've got Micah."  They wanted to exchange Micah for Stocker.

I consulted with John Hamilton, our Bank President.  He felt I had no other choice then to let Stocker go.  I know how I felt and what I wanted to do.  I also knew what Micah would do.  I just couldn't stop thinking about what Micah had said earlier today to Mark about the 'Letter of the Law.'  If there was another way, I had to find it.  As I looked down at Stocker's guns I thought of something.  I went over to the Jail and left Stocker out.  I told him he better get going before I changed my mind.  "Sodbuster, you ain't got no choice."  He went to get his guns off of the desk.  I stopped him.  I told him they stayed right here.  "Now you mark that down for the right time to.  Now get going."  He told me he wasn't leaving without them.  I grabbed him by the arm and pushed him out into the street.

Galt and Davis were standing watch.  Galt was sure Stocker would be riding in soon.  "Church going people will turn him loose," he said.  They had this kid, Harris guard Micah.  Harris was a little edgy.  Micah sensed it.  He tried talking him into letting him get on his horse and ride out.  The kid laughed.  Said they had plans.  Micah told Harris he had no plans for the future.  Not the way he was going.  Galt came over to get some coffee. Micah told him they've made a mistake.  The town wouldn't let Stocker go.  "They don't think your worth trading for Stocker?"  "They think I'm worth trading for a dozen Stockers.  But the law don't take personalities in to account.  You don't make bargains with the law.  There's no compromise."   Galt said he was like Micah, he didn't compromise either.  Harris questioned Galt.  "You don't bargain with the law.  The minute we picked him up off of the train, you've been talkin' to a dead man," said Galt.  Galt went back over to talk to Davis.  Harris told Micah he could make a run for it.  He could make it to the boulders without being see.  He wouldn't shoot.  But he had to decide before Harris changed his mind.  They could see Stocker riding in.  If Micah was going to take a chance, he better do it now.  Micah made a run for it.  Davis happened to see Micah heading for the rocks.  He shot Micah in the shoulder.  Micah fell to the ground.  He picked himself up and started running again.  Harris shot and killed Davis.  Galt in turn killed Harris.  Now there was two left.  Stocker and Galt.

I know everyone thought I did the right thing.  I just couldn't stop thinking about it.  I was sitting on the porch of the hotel when Mark came out.  He could see the decision that I made was eating away inside of me. "You had to let him go Pa.  You did the right thing.  Everybody in town thought you should let him go.  Your not sorry now, are you?"  I told my Son I wasn't sorry.  I was just trying to justify it to myself.  It's not that simple.  "A man has to do what he thinks is right not just because the rest of the town thinks it's right."  I reminded Mark what Micah had said earlier today.  "The law is the law and it has to be persevered no matter what."

John and I were sitting in Micah's office.  Just waiting.  Micah was long over due.  I was just getting ready to get a search party together when Abel came rushing into the office.  They found Micah.  He was over at the Docs office.  We rushed over to see him.  "Why did you let him go?  I swore you in Lucas.  You took an oath."   John tried defending me, but Micah said I should have kept Stocker in jail.  "That's what I would have done.  That's what I expected him to do.  When I swore you in Lucas, I told your boy what the law meant.  You were standing right there with him.  Brett Stocker killed 15 men and he's as free as a bird.  If that's your idea of law, well then maybe you better get yourself another marshal."  I told him I weighed my options before I released Stocker.  I would not had released him, except I knew I would get him back.  I had told Micah of my plan. I told him about Stocker's guns and how I wouldn't let him take them.  I knew he would come back for them.  They meant too much to him.  Now all we had to do was wait.

I went over to Micah's office to wait.  I had the door lock and the lights out.  I heard someone outside.  It was Stocker and Galt.  Stocker broke the glass on the door and opened the door from the inside.  He went straight for the desk, to where his guns were laying.  "Hold it, drop the gun belts, One hand."  Stocker slower started for his gun.  "I wouldn't try that," I said.  They both started to undo their holsters when Galt went for his gun.  Then Stocker.  I shot and killed them both. 

Micah was well enough to take his town back.  He walked into his office with a "Good morning Marshal," to me.  I was glad to give him back the badge and the responsibility that went along with it.  "Lucasboy, when your flat on your back like I have been the past few days, I had time to think."  He said he would have never figured Stocker as I had.  But I knew better.  He told me I was figuring from the man and he would have went by the book.  I told him he didn't have to worry, I wouldn't do it again.  As long as he didn't get bushwhacked again.

piddlin stuff.....Vic Morrow appeared in two episodes of  "The Rifleman" ~  'The Angry Gun' as Johnny Cotton - this episode best know for Lucas using a pistol on a piece of board to get better range to shoot Johnny Cotton &  'Letter of the Law' as  'Brett Stocker.'  He had guns that were of a French design, handcrafted guns, the only two like 'em.  He just had to come back and get them - that's what lead to his demise.  His best role ever, I would say was the TV series - Combat as Sergeant Chip Saunders.  Another "Untouchable" star.  His last Movie was -"Twilight Zone: The Movie" (1983), but a tragic helicopter accident on the set ended his life.

Ken Lynch played Karl Galt.  He's the cowboy with the deep voice, who ended up going back with Stocker to get his guns.  He played Sergeant Grover in the TV series "McCloud."  This man has done everything imaginable.  From detectives to cowboys to war movies.  He guest stared in "The Untouchables" several times. 
He also played military officers, business executives and private eyes, and every so often he'd be a sheriff in a western, but it was as a street cop or detective that most people remember him.  

Paul Carr appeared in four episodes of 'The Rifleman."  He played Derek Hanaway [the groom] in 'Shivaree.' Garth Healey in 'The Woman' ~  He was the one who was in love with Miss Adams. Fred Harris in 'Letter of the Law'  ~ He gave his life to save Micah. Doug Carter in 'Smoke Screen' ~  He was in love with Marge Crandell.  The cowgirl who got killed. He had a starring role in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. He played Dr. Peter Taylor [#1] in the soap "General Hospital." He appeared in shows like "Peter Gun" to "Hardcastle & McCormick."   "Love that "Hardcastle & McCormick!"  "Hunt 'em, hear 'em and hang 'em, that's the code of the West!"

John Goddard played Davies in this episode.  He was one of Stocker's gang.  He also appeared in another episode of "The Rifleman" ~ 'One Went to Denver' as Naylor, a member of Tom Birch's gang.

Michael Fox has appeared in several episodes of "The Rifleman"―'The Trade' as Trager ~ 'Letter of the Law' as Abel ~ 'The Hangman' as Joe Hannah and 'Miss Milly' as Jim Oxford.
He had recurring roles in "Burke's Law" as the Medical Examiner George McLeod.   Amos Fedders in "Falcon Crest".  He was the announcer in the movie "The Longest Yard".  Also "The Untouchables".  Another one of those familiar faces.  He has done man things.

Milton Parsons has appeared in three episodes of "The Rifleman"―'Letter of the Law' as A. Parker- Gunsmith.  He's the one who notified Micah when Brett Stocker brought his fancy guns in to be fixed.  'The Vision' as Perkins and in 'Strange Town' as the old man who gave Lucas directions.
Bald, skeletal character actor with a sepulchral speaking voice who specialized in playing creepy undertakers and other eccentrics.  He guest started on "The Untouchables."  He had appeared in many of the great TV shows back in the fifties and had done many movies.

Doc Burrage played by Rhys Williams.

Mark asks what "letter of the law" means: "The letter of the law" is the strict word-for-word content & meaning of a law (or contract), no more & no less that what is specified in the text. To conform to the letter of the law is to follow the law exactly as it is written.

Actually, Lucas "kills" Vic Morrow twice - the first time in The Angry Gun and the second time in The Letter of the Law! Guess he really wanted him to stay dead!!  Thanks Linda C.!

*If anybody has any information on any of the stars, and would like to share it, please get in touch with

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updated 9/28/08