Character Relationship Map: Hellgate

Characters

• Lt. Tod Voorhees (played by Ward Bond) — supporting
• Jumper Hall (played by Peter Coe) — supporting
• George Redfield (played by James Arness) — supporting
• Dr. Pelham (played by Marshall Bradford) — supporting
• Dan Mott (played by Richard Emory) — supporting
• George Nye (played by Dick Paxton) — supporting

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• George Nye → Lt. Tod Voorhees (Power Prisoner And Commandant) — Nye's refusal challenges the rules enforced under Voorhees's command.

  Nye refuses to return to the cistern work, while Voorhees oversees the prison and its discipline.

• Lt. Tod Voorhees → George Redfield (Professional Commandant And Enforcer) — Voorhees runs the prison facility, and Redfield assists in maintaining its discipline.

  Lt. Tod Voorhees oversees the prison, while George Redfield helps enforce its rules.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Dan Mott → Jumper Hall (Alliance Fellow Escapees) — Mott's directions provide guidance for the escape attempt in which Hall is captured.

  Dan Mott's directions scratched onto a door point toward a route across the desert; Jumper Hall is caught during the escape attempt.

• George Nye → George Redfield (Conflict Prisoner And Enforcer) — Nye's refusal places him in conflict with the prison's enforcement system that Redfield helps maintain.

  Nye refuses to return to the cistern work at a prison where Redfield helps enforce the rules.

• George Redfield → Dr. Pelham (Conflicting Prisoners) — Their conflict persists even as Pelham provides aid to a dying prisoner.

  Dr. Pelham helps a dying prisoner despite Redfield's warning that their conflict is not over.

Story Analysis

The account intertwines Brechene's flight and Ellen's hardship with prisoners' escape plans and an unresolved water emergency.

Plot Progression

1. Flight from the Mob — An injured Brechene is hurried away from a hostile town. He reaches the Hanley farmhouse, where Ellen and her husband treat him, but his denial of a connection has consequences for her husband.
2. Ellen Seeks Her Husband — Authorities imprison Ellen's husband after questioning him about Brechene and other fugitives. Ellen learns his death sentence has been commuted, but is denied information about his location.
3. Discipline Behind Walls — New prisoners face harsh rules, scarce water, and dangerous cistern labor under Voorhees's oversight. Nye refuses to return to the work, while Pelham helps a dying prisoner despite Redfield's warning.
4. A Route Through the Desert — A completed tunnel and Mott's directions make escape possible, though guards, a cliff, the desert, and the Pimas remain dangers. Hall is caught, and the other fugitives ride out with guns and water as...
5. The Water Emergency — A guard's death raises fears that typhus has contaminated the prison water. The supply is emptied, leaving the facility dependent on finding fresh water; the available account ends during this emergen...