Marshal Mart Duggan

Synopsis

BASED ON TRUE EVENTS. Gold's discovered in Colorado in 1860, then silver in 1876. By 1878, the frontier settlement of Leadville, Colorado, was becoming the richest and wildest of America’s boomtowns. Newspapers across the nation spread the word of the new gold and silver discoveries. Soon, the settlement grew from five hundred inhabitants to thirty thousand. The settlers built new mines. They hauled hundreds of tons of carbonate ore to smelters. They cut pine trees down and built cabins and stores as merchants came with their goods, looking to capitalize on this new free-spending market. Investors from the East build smelting factories and buy shares in the mines. Over a hundred saloons, gambling houses, variety theatres, and dance halls spring up. They all cater to the miners, roughs, and tourists with abundant beer, liquor, and whores. Leadville is known for its instant wealth, gambling, depravity, and MARSHAL MARTIN DUGGAN. The mayor and town council need a firm marshal, a man to tame their out-of-control town that’s in the hands of the bad element. Thieves, con men, claim jumpers, footpads, and murderers are infesting this fast-growing boomtown. Law enforcement officers unable to stand up to the lawless are being shot or run out of town. MAYOR HORACE TABOR selects Deputy Martin Duggan, a mean, tough, no-nonsense man who’s equally good with his fists and a gun, as the new marshal. Marshal Duggan proves to be a match for the rough and unruly miners. With an iron hand and loyal deputies, he gains ground against the culprits quickly. Men like Horace Tabor, MARSHALL FIELD, DAVID MAY, MEYER GUGGENHEIM, and others are becoming millionaires. But many men and women are dying - in the mines, on the streets, or in Stillborn Alley of starvation, drunkenness, pneumonia, childbirth, or murder. DESTINY McCUE and her brother QUINT McCUE arrived in Leadville to put on rope and shooting exhibitions. They’re also looking for the three CURLOU brothers who, years earlier, murdered their parents. The beautiful Destiny smites Marshal Duggan as she is by him. They become lovers, and the marshal aids Quint and Destiny in finding the three Curlous. There’s a showdown. Destiny and Quint’s fast draw brings the demise of the Curlou brothers. Later, Destiny learns that Duggan is married and ends their relationship. The marshal takes to heavy drinking and disorderly behavior. The new town council no longer appreciates Marshal Duggan’s harsh methods and his conduct. They suspend him from duty, and he leaves town. Within three months, Leadville’s bad element takes over the town with the aid of the unscrupulous new marshal and his crooked deputies. Vigilantes form, and they hang men. The town is reverting to its old ways. The new mayor contacts Duggan and offers him his marshal position again. He returned with his wife and was reinstated as Leadville’s marshal. He rehires his past deputies, and once again, they restore order. Six months later, Marshal Duggan gives up being a marshal and opens a livery stable. Destiny falls in love and marries JOHN JOHNSON, the manager of the Texas House saloon. Duggan is devastated, as he still loves her. He watches the wedding from across the street. Duggan again begins drinking. He makes snide comments about Destiny and her new husband. Hearing about the remarks, John Johnson becomes incensed and goes to the livery stable. The two men argue, and Johnson attacks Duggan. They fight. Johnson gets knocked to the ground and pulls a gun. Duggan’s fast on the draw, and he shoots and kills Johnson. Duggan is arrested. An angry Destiny goes to the jail to face him. She tells him she will kill him, stand in his blood, and dance on his grave. Duggan is released as the shooting is ruled self-defense. Two years pass. Leadville is becoming a somewhat civilized town but still has its wild side. Famous gunslingers, law enforcement officers, and gamblers started to arrive in Leadville on the newly built Denver & Rio Grande railroad. DOC HOLIDAY comes for his health and to gamble. He likes this wild town and decides to stay. Doc is befriended by ex-marshal Duggan, who is now a part-time bartender and deputy. While there, Holiday is goaded into a gunfight. Doc shoots and kills the last man he’ll ever face. Duggan convinces Holiday to get out of town. Late one night, Duggan and two friends are making the rounds of drinking and gambling. When they enter the Texas House saloon, Duggan sees Destiny working at the roulette table. This adds to his already foul mood. While gambling, he argues with the table's croupier and the saloon's owner. They ask him to leave. He resists, becomes belligerent, and challenges them to a gunfight. Duggan’s friends convince him to back off and leave. As he’s walking home, someone steps from the darkness and shoots him in the back of the head. He falls forward, blood seeping into the planked walkway, and people rush out from the saloons. Two deputies carry Duggan to the doctor. Destiny steps over to where Duggan had fallen. She stands in his blood. Two days later, the townspeople are at the cemetery for his funeral. Late that moonlit night, Destiny, in a long, flowing dress, stands on Duggan’s grave and begins to dance.