"The Tobias Jones Story" is among the most notable episodes of WAGON TRAIN due to the surprise casting of comedian Lou Costello in the title role of a wayward drunk adopted by a teenage runaway named Midge (Beverly Washburn). Her only living relative lives in California so the unlikely pair become stowaways headed west in the storage wagon of Major Seth Adams (Ward Bond), who decides to move on rather than take them back. Toby has a weakness for 'cough medicine' that he keeps hidden from his young charge, but Adams warns him about drinking in front of a little girl, causing friction with some of the more disagreeable passengers, in particular obnoxious Michael Folsom (Morris Ankrum) and hot tempered Alf Meadows (Peter Breck). Michael's wife Martha (June Clayworth) agrees to take in Midge, reluctant to leave Toby alone in his wagon, and Michael objects when he tries to offer Midge a gift, fearful of thieves coveting his savings of $10,000. Toby threatens Michael after he knocks down Midge, admitting to being drunk but not forgetful: "if you ever lay a hand on her again you'll answer to me." Martha later discovers her husband's corpse and the money stolen, Toby's knife left stuck in his back, some people eager to hang the drunk right away but not before Major Adams demands a fair trial. How rare to see a genuine dramatic turn from Lou Costello, understandably nervous without someone like Bud Abbott to play off of, and giving all the credit for his performance to 15 year old veteran Beverly Washburn. He was singled out early in his movie career for 'Chaplin pathos,' able to bring more to the screen than was written on the page, though sadly passed away without leaving much of a mark since his amicable professional split from dear friend Abbott. This was the first of four well written episodes scripted by actor Harry Von Zell, and the only one he appeared in as well, concluding with a powerful statement from Adams to Toby: "if I had someone with as much faith in me as that little girl's got in you, nothing in this world could stop me from bein' the man she believed me to be."