No. 218 - Three-Ten to Yuma

This morning I stopped at the post office to mail some packages. As I placed the first one on the counter - destination Yuma, Arizona - the postal lady asked if I ever saw the movie "3:10 to Yuma." I told her I did not. She proceeded to tell me that "3:10 to Yuma" - she said the name again - was a great old western movie that was re-made recently.

If you ever want someone to remember something, say it twice. Or three times. I can't be sure if the postal lady said it a third time, but I left the post office thinking "3:10 to Yuma."

I learned that Three-Ten to Yuma is a short story written by Elmore Leonard. The story was first published in Dime Western Magazine in March 1953. The story focuses on two men, one of whom is a deputy sheriff, another a ruthless outlaw. The outlaw is to be taken to the Yuma Territorial Prison in Yuma, Arizona by train. The deputy overcomes the odds to get the outlaw to the train (a 3:10 departure to Yuma, thus the name).

Indeed, just as the postal lady said, the story has since been adapted to film twice, in 1957 and fifty years later in 2007.