Josh Randall's friend, Boone Morgan, somehow finds Randall at a saloon, playing cards. Boone was played by James Dobson, in his first and only appearance on the show.
Considering that Randall was always on the move, Boone finding Randall in a saloon seems very unlikely. Then Boone basically drops dead a couple of minutes later, and his last request is for Randall to take him home. Turns out that Boone had been ambushed by bounty hunters.
Randall claims his friends body, and then leaves his name, but the address for Boone, as the place to send the reward money, since he is taking Boone's body back to his home town. Randall makes the trip, and meets with Boone's father, Asa Morgan, played by John Litel. Litel was on the show three times. His daughter is played by Rachel Ames, who appeared twice on Wanted.
It was obvious Boone was shot to death, so Randall should have explained what happened, but he didn't. He also did not explain that he had requested the $500 bounty on Boone so he could give it to Boone's family. So the two guys that actually killed Boone show up in town, and tell everyone Randall collected the bounty on Boone.
The bounty hunters were played by Don Gordon, who also worked with Steve McQueen on Bullit, Papillon, and The Towering Inferno. Gordon appeared twice on Wanted. His bounty hunting partner was William Phipps, who appeared three times on Wanted. The two bad guys turn everyone in the town against Randall, but only because Randall never told Boone Morgan's family the truth when he arrived in town.
Eventually all the townsfolk get a chance to tell Randall what a back-stabbing Judas he is. Asa Morgan and his daughter also take their shots at Randall, and nobody will help Randall. Asa even keeps Randall's sawed off rifle, and everyone in town tells Randall the they hope he gets killed. I got the drama, and for a long time I just blamed the townsfolk, but the truth is that Randall never explained the situation to anyone. He only had himself to blame (and bad writing).
In spite of the fact that it is totally contrived and unjust, the fast pace of the action makes this episode work. Don Gordon always played a villain well, and he and William Phipps make you angry, because they are so depraved, greedy, and evil. They spin everything against Randall, but only because he did not get the truth out first. Every time I see this episode, I want to yell at the TV, "Tell them what happened!" when Randall arrives in town.