Bullwhip (1958)

Steve Dailey is in the Abilene, Kansas jail waiting to be hanged when Judge Carr brings Cheyenne O'Malley into his cell and says that Dailey can go free if he marries the girl, without knowing her name, because she must have a husband to claim an estate. Dailey agrees and gets a letter of pardon from the Judge, who plans to kill him, but Dailey, with the help of his friend, Podo, escapes the jail and the Judge's hired killer, "Slow" Karp. He sets out to find his new bride but is captured and taken to the mansion of John Parnell. The latter tells Dailey that Cheyenne is actually a half-breed who runs a fur-trading company and needed a husband because of provisions in her father's will. Parnell is also a fur-trader but he wants Dailey to take over her business so they can work together. Dailey agrees, trails the wagon train and takes over but not before Cheyenne bull-whips him. Meanwhile, Karp has been hired by Judge Carr to kill Dailey and hired by Parnell to keep him alive. He plays both ends against the middle. Dailey has no desire to be the middle.