Seasons & episodes
S2 · E17The Spitfire 1961-01-14 · 49 min
Joe becomes the target of a tough and vengeful Kentucky family, after he kills one of them who almost sets the Ponderosa on fire and the Cartwrights take in the dead man's daughter.
S2 · E18The Bride 1961-01-21 · 49 min
The Cartwright boys are surprised to find that a woman, claiming to have recently married their father, shows up on their doorstep. When Ben gets home, he is just as surprised as they are. Has the lady been swindled by a con-man, or is she something of a con-woman herself?
S2 · E19Bank Run 1961-01-28 · 49 min
When they "rob" the bank in Virginia City to save depositors from being cleaned out by its president, Hoss and Joe wind up wanted by the law.
S2 · E20The Fugitive 1961-02-04 · 49 min
Adam goes to Mexico to find out how the son of a family friend was killed, only to learn the man is still alive.
S2 · E21Vengeance 1961-02-11 · 49 min
Hoss accidentally kills a drunk he was trying to disarm. The man's brother bushwhacks Hoss, who has lost the will to live. Joe makes a promise to Hoss that he will kill Red Twilight, the vengeful brother who bushwhacked Hoss, no matter what happens, and will not let Adam stand in his way.
S2 · E22The Tax Collector 1961-02-18 · 49 min
The kindness Hoss extends to shiftless Jock Henry is not exactly repaid when Henry becomes an assistant assessor and raises the Ponderosa's annual tax bill from $375 to $1700.
S2 · E23The Rescue 1961-02-25 · 49 min
The Cartwright boys are concerned that Ben might be getting on in years, yet it is he who saves them from cattle rustlers.
S2 · E24The Dark Gate 1961-03-04 · 49 min
Adam is confused by the sudden behavior of his good friend, Ross Marquette. He beats up his wife, Delphine, after accusing her of having an affair with Adam. He also joins a group of rustlers and killers and helps rob a gold shipment. Adam thinks Ross is suffering from insanity, in this highlight of season two.
S2 · E25The Duke 1961-03-11 · 49 min
Hoss takes on The Duke Of London, an arrogant, abusive bare-knuckle fighter, though his brawn is no match for the Duke's agile skills.
S2 · E26Cutthroat Junction 1961-03-18 · 49 min
When freight company detective Jed Trask is fired after a decade of service, he joins the thieves preventing supplies from reaching Virginia City.
S2 · E27The Gift 1961-04-01 · 49 min
While crossing the desert to Yuma, Arizona with a white stallion intended as a birthday present for Ben, Joe runs into a pack of merciless comancheros. His companion, a former comanchero, Emiliano, who raised the horse, must get he and Joe through safely.
S2 · E28The Rival 1961-04-15 · 49 min
Jim Applegate, Hoss' rival for the affections of Cameo Johnson, is a member of a vigilante group who lynched an innocent man and his wife.
S2 · E29The Infernal Machine 1961-04-22 · 49 min
Hoss believes in his friend's primitive version of the automobile in this lighthearted, yet sad episode. When the "car" uses up the last of its fuel, Hoss remarks, "Dadburn it, I still say it woulda worked".
S2 · E30The Thunderhead Swindle 1961-04-29 · 49 min
With Virginia City on the verge of economic ruin, out of work miners put their hopes in word of a strike at a mine everybody believed was played out. Ben suspects the new owners have been stealing silver from an adjoining mine also thought dry, and resolves to prove it.
S2 · E31The Secret 1961-05-06 · 49 min
Joe is the victim of an elaborate frame-up, accused of murdering a pregnant girl. When Ben is asked if Joe is telling the truth, he replies, "If I were to start doubting my son at this point, everything I've lived and worked for would be lost".
S2 · E32The Dream Riders 1961-05-20 · 49 min
To finance his dream of constructing an airship capable of crossing the Atlantic, Ben's old friend plans to rob the Virginia City bank while diverting the citizens' attention with a hot air balloon.
S2 · E33Elizabeth, My Love 1961-05-27 · 49 min
At the bedside of a seriously ill Adam, Ben thinks back to his days as a first mate in the merchant marines and his marriage to Adam's mother, Elizabeth Stoddard.
S2 · E34Sam Hill 1961-06-03 · 49 min
Blacksmith Sam Hill fights to keep the land on which his mother is buried, after his drunken father signs the deed over to Colonel Tyson and his private army. Poetic episode written by John T. Kelley and directed by Robert Altman.
S3 · E1The Smiler 1961-09-24 · 49 min
A drunk is killed in a saloon brawl with Hoss, and though the man's brother insists there are no hard feelings, he is actually a silver-tongued devil bent on revenge.
S3 · E2Springtime 1961-10-01 · 49 min
A friend of Ben's (Mr. Milbank) arrives at the Ponderosa at a bad time...when the Cartwright boys are fighting in the mud. Mr. Milbank, who is injured by a flying log during the fight, gives an assignment to each of the three boys. Can they fulfill the assignments, or has Springtime gotten to them all?
S3 · E3The Honor of Cochise 1961-10-08 · 49 min
The Cartwrights and a bigoted army captain are pinned down by Cochise and his braves, who claim the officer poisoned 30 of their people.
S3 · E4The Lonely House 1961-10-15 · 49 min
Little Joe pays a visit to the widow Lee Bolden, and brings her a bank draft for her husband's investments with Ben. Actually, the investments were losing propositions. Ben just wanted to help out his friend. During his visit, a wounded man stumbles into the house, and Joe recognizes him as Trock, who had just robbed the local bank. Lee Bolden was a nurse to her husband physician, and removes the bullet from Trock. Joe soon learns that Lee is in love with Trock, and that is the only thing standing between him and an early grave.
S3 · E5The Burma Rarity 1961-10-22 · 49 min
In this comic episode involving a precious emerald and the sweet widow, Clemantine Hawkins who is attracted to Ben, turns the tables on a pair of land swindlers.
S3 · E6Broken Ballad 1961-10-29 · 49 min
Adam tries to help a reformed gunman who wants only to live peacefully near Virginia City. Good story without a tidy ending. Pernell's first chance to sing on the series.