by Hal Erickson
synopsis
Dean Jagger guest-stars as General Ira Cloninger, a legendary Indian fighter. The General hopes to ride into the Nevada governor's office on the coattails of his long-standing friendship with Ben Cartwright. The fly in the ointment is San Francisco reporter Freed (Laurence Luckinbill), who in investigating charges that Cloninger is a genocidal murderer. Aided by Ben's son Joe, Freed draws ever closer to the awful truth, which largely lies in the eyewitness testimony of Nez Perce Indian chief Sam Greybuck (Ruben Moreno). Originally broadcast on February 21, 1971, "Shadow of a Hero" was written by John Hawkins, B.W. Sandefur and Mel Goldberg.
