Eugenia Rawlins (Sarah Marshall; 1933 - 2014) was the hidden villainess in the 1967 episode "The Night of the Hangman" for the TV series "The Wild Wild West".
Eugenia Rawlins is the wife of Amos Rawlins (John Pickard), the rancher and philanthropist of the town of Kirby Gap, Kansas. During a short stopover in Kirby Gap, Jim West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) take part in a town-wide celebration sponsored by Amos and Eugenia Rawlins. During the festivities a shot rings out and Amos is killed.
When West and Gordon attempt to run down the shooter from a tip by witness Abigail Moss (Anna Capri) they find that the shooter is Lucius Brand (Dean Stanton). Brand is at home clutching the gun. It is surmised that the bullet may have been intended for local banker Roger Creed, who has just foreclosed on Brand's farm. On trial attorney Franklin Moore frames Brand for the murder and it is determined that he will be hung in two days.
On insistence that her husband is not guilty, West and Gordon begin to investigate the shooting in order to save Brand. Artemus dresses as an old man and catches a ride on a stage coach. On board the coach is Abigail Moss, who during the trial had fingered Brand as the shooter at the celebration. Gordon was posing as a jeweler and intentionally allowed Abigail to see part of his collection. Miss Moss, being attracted by the shiny items in Gordon's collection showed off her own diamond broach she had been given by attorney Franklin Poore to lie on the stand in the conspirator. When Gordon told her it was "nice for costume Jewelery", this made Abigail very made since this had been payment for her deed. When the coach stopped at the next stop, she immediately got on the next coach back to Kirby Gap. Back in Kirby Gap, West observed through the window of Poore's office via a spy glass, Abigail reading him the riot act. Poore struck Abigail and the window curtains immediately were shut. When West went to investigate, Abigail was gone. Poore had his men tie West up.
Meanwhile, Artemus finally gets the evidence he needs to clear Brand's name and takes it to the local prosecutor. From some daguerreotypes taken at the celebration, he determines that Brand could not possibly be the killer. A man on a horseback was standing right in the line of fire between Brand and Rawlins. However, as we have seen, Franklin Poore the prosecutor was one of the conspirators against Brand. As a result Artemus and Gordon are both tied up.
After making their escape they spot a woman's parasol that has been altered to fire bullets from its curved handle. Upon finding this, Eugenia and her men entered the room with guns trained on the two lawmen. Eugenia commended the two men for figuring it out. She explains that she despised the town of Kirby Gap, and couldn't stand living here one more day. Eugenia came from a wealthy family back in Boston, Massachusetts. Her family went bankrupt and she married Amos Rawlins solely for his money. She hated both her husband and Kirby Gap, and she planned to leave as soon as she could.
West and Gordon explained the crime at the end of the episode by saying, it was organized as an elaborate plan to kill Amos and frame Brand for the murder. Eugenia had in her web of conspirators, a morally bankrupt banker in Roger Creed who not only foreclosed on Brand's farm, but stood to gain half of Rawlins' interest. Poore ran the rest of the enterprise such as the drugging of Brand's drink, the tearing of his coat to frame him, and providing the muscle in terms of henchmen and Abigail Moss as a witness. For payment, Poore was to receive the other half of the interest and back Creed politically. The actual bullet had been fired by Eugenia from her parasol while sitting next to her husband. The blank shot fired from the crowd had distracted the people from noticing, and Amanda yelling out the killer had diverted everyone's attention.
Trivia[]
- Sarah Marshall appeared as KAOS agent Nicola Darvey in the 1966 episode "Hubert's Unfinished Symphony" for the TV series "Get Smart".