Around dark city and in the territory on West there's just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers and that's with the US Marshal on the smell of gun smoke.
Gun smoke starring William Conrad. The story of the violins that moved west with young America. The story of a man who moved with it. Matt Dillon, United States Marshal.
Music.
What have you got there?
You best lock him up somewhere Mr. Dillon. It's safer that way.
Alright Chester, just calm down.
Now you come over here son, sit down.
Come on.
Look out Mr. Dillon, he's got a hold of your gun.
Okay.
Now you sit there.
Don't you move an inch.
You hear me?
Not one inch.
He is a mean little bug.
Now what's it all about Chester?
What's he done?
He done nothing.
Now you hush your mean little face. This here place is the law and you're talking with the Marshal.
What's he done Chester?
He done nothing I told you.
Chester.
Yes sir.
Well sir, I don't really know what he's done.
That's what I told you. I ain't done nothing.
Mr. Dillon, I was walking down to the office when I see this, this kid.
I know almost all the sprouts in town but not him so I says hello and he starts running.
That's what he did?
Yes sir.
And that's why you brought him in here?
I sure did Mr. Dillon. I figured if a kid runs away from me for doing nothing then he's been up to something so he must have done something. You know what I mean?
No.
Now what's your name son?
I ain't done nothing.
Alright. Now what's your name?
I ain't saying.
There you see what I mean Mr. Dillon? Just plain ornery mischievous.
You live here in Dodge?
I ain't saying.
Alright.
Well he's probably a runaway Chester. I guess we'll have to lock him up until somebody comes looking for him huh?
Best thing in this whole wide world to do Mr. Dillon. Just look at where he gnawed my thumb. Best thing to do. Come on you.
You ain't going to lock me up?
Have you got a better idea? We got to do something with you.
Let me be on my way.
Where do you live?
About four miles out.
Oh. Oh sure, sure. I know you. You're the Macklin kid.
No I ain't. I'm Danny Burch but I ain't saying.
There I knew he wasn't a town kid. I just knew that Mr. Dillon. What did I tell you?
Nothing. Now if you'll just close up a minute Chester we can get this settled and Danny can go on his way.
Now you say you haven't done anything wrong son?
No.
Your ma know you're in Dodge this morning?
Yes sir.
All your chores done before you came?
No.
Well maybe you better go on back then huh? Your ma might be kind of worried.
Yes sir.
You got a horse?
Yeah.
Okay. So long. And take it easy.
I can go now?
Sure. Go ahead Danny.
You're a marshal Dillon ain't you?
Yeah that's right.
Well I guess I come to Dodge to fetch you. My sister sent me.
Oh.
I wasn't going to but I've got to now because I promised Lily. She made me swear on Raller's buttons.
I figured if I didn't see I wouldn't be telling no lie if I told her you weren't around.
But now I see me.
No no no hold on. Your sister wants me to come out with you to your place. Is that it?
Yeah.
Why?
On a kind of paw. None of us gives a hoot except in sister Lily and she's just acting like a girl.
Oh what's happened to your paw?
He's gone off again shooting up the cattle.
Thing is he took two guns with him this time and a whole mess of bullets.
Lily's just scared.
Your paw been drinking a little maybe?
Yes. Anyhow he goes local and stays that way for a long while.
But it's like Dave and Donald say. He'll get over it. He always does.
They're my brothers Dave and Donald. They ain't worried.
Uh huh. Now you want me to go out with you to help find him. Is that it?
I don't want it. Lily does. And I just swear on Raller's buttons that I'd fetch you.
Oh yeah sure sure. Well it's good that you did.
Uh Chester get your stuff will you. We'll ride out with Danny.
I didn't get anything more out of the boy on the way out to the birch place.
No one in town knew much about the family.
They'd moved in about a year earlier. Came up from the territories.
The folks about said birch and his brood kept pretty much to themselves.
They'd never been any trouble with anybody.
I looked at the boy riding his horse bareback.
He was nice looking enough but there was something the matter with his mouth.
It was too hard. He could tell he wasn't a kid who did much smiling.
Maybe with his paw acting that way I didn't blame him.
He sure rode his horse proud though.
It was hot and dry and by the time we were inside of the birch place the sun was burning down hard.
Oh yeah there he is.
Kid get off on that horse and get over here.
You're going to get yourself a lickin'.
Lily made me go it's not my fault.
Do as I say.
Thank you mister.
Her name's Dylan. I'm the U.S. Marshal out of Dodge.
Your brother asked me to come out and help.
You don't need no help.
I'm sorry.
Your brother asked me to come out and help.
Shut up Ham.
Nothing to help with.
Danny you heard put the horse away and get in the house.
You ain't giving me no lickin'.
Put up your gun I'm coming over to talk.
Come on Chester.
It's against the law to shoot a man in cold blood.
You know that?
Shucks I wasn't aiming at you.
I was aiming at a rabbit up in the rise there.
Your horse is scattered away.
Well now what about your pa?
What about him?
Have you found him?
Shucks you don't need to be afraid of him.
He's a good man.
Have you found him?
He'll come back when he's good and ready.
Pa's off hunting.
That's not what your brother says.
Where'd he go?
He's going to get himself a lickin' that's what and he knows it.
Get himself away that's what.
Donald that's your name isn't it?
Yeah.
Well look I'm not one to interfere in family matters.
But if you do need help.
I mean if your pa's shooting up cattle like Danny says.
Well maybe he'll be practicing next on people and that wouldn't be so good.
That brother of ours he's a dirty little liar.
No he's not Donald.
I'm glad you came Marshal.
Will you come into the house please?
Chester and I followed the girl into the house.
I knew it was the sister Lily.
All the family I'd seen up to then had had a great likeness to each other.
Donald slouched in behind us and moved around the room nervous like.
It wasn't by rights a house.
It was too big for a cabin.
I had the feeling that they'd put up boards and stuff.
Where the fancy took them and the place just grew another room like a lizard's new tail.
I don't know what it was but I got a funny feeling.
It was too hot.
And something was wrong.
All wrong.
And the girl Lily looked square at me with hard eyes.
Donald.
Huh?
Sit down.
You make me nervous.
Oh sure.
Marshal Dillon.
I want you to help us find Pa.
Oh Lily Dave's going to be awful mad.
Somebody's got to do something around here.
Did uh.
Did your Pa take a horse?
No.
Oh where do you think he went Miss Lily?
I don't know.
Maybe up to horse flats.
Maybe over by Garman's Creek.
Creek's all dried up.
There's got to be no water in there.
Did he take a water scan with him?
No he didn't.
Kind of bad wandering around without no water.
When did he leave?
Yesterday morning.
Heard a couple of shots along about noon.
Dave found a calf laying dead over in the north range.
You can see it there through the window.
Haven't had time to bring it in yet.
Was uh.
Was he drunk?
Sure.
Drunk as you can get.
Weren't you Lily?
I'm a feared for Marshal Dillon.
Yeah I understand.
Well it makes good sense you sent for me.
Well I'll uh.
I'll try and find him and bring him back.
Well I ain't gonna do no such thing.
You had Marshal Fella out of the dark?
This is Marshal Dillon Dave.
My brother.
Dave Birch.
How are you?
I told you Lily.
Told you keep our business to us not outside.
It's got to be somebody else's business the way it is Dave.
And you know it.
No such thing Lily.
I told her Dave.
I told her I knew you was gonna be mad.
I uh.
I figure the four of us you and your brother here and Chester and me ought to be able to
get him in before night.
I missed I told you we don't need you.
Oh no one else.
I'll be obliged you get off this problem.
Shut up Lily.
I'll see you and your fella there to the door Marshal.
I'm sorry but uh.
If your paws running around dangerous it's
my duty to find him.
Donald.
I got him.
Get up slow Marshal.
And you fella reach up high.
Okay Dave.
Take the guns.
The younger brother Donald had got behind my chair and now he was covering us with a
shotgun.
Dave took our guns.
It was kind of crazy and I almost wanted to laugh when I saw the kid Danny peeking in
around the door.
But then I saw his eyes.
And there was the same thing in him.
Hard.
Angry as in the others.
The girl started to say something.
Then she shut up.
Now get on your horses and ride back.
And I don't want you out here again.
It's ain't no matter for the law and your trust.
You're making it a matter for the law right now.
You know that.
Start walking.
Them guns is US property.
Okay.
I ain't no thief.
They're bullets I'm keeping.
I figure they're worth about two bits.
Donald give them two bits.
Sure.
Right now here's your guns.
Now get out fast.
You come snooping back again me and my brother's going to be shooting at you.
We will return for the second act of gun smoke in just a moment.
But first for centuries arthritis and rheumatism have plagued mankind.
And it's only in the last few years that science has begun to find hopeful avenues to explore toward relief and cure.
The Arthritis and Rheumatism Foundation established in 1948 holds a yearly drive to obtain funds for yet more concentrated research.
A contribution to this year's drive sent simply Arthritis in Care of Your Local Postmaster will help this fine work to continue for the eventual benefit of everyone.
And now for the second act of gun smoke.
The two brothers followed us out and over to the horses.
As hot as it was in the house it was worse in the open.
The saddles were burning.
There wasn't another word passed between the birch boys and me.
They just stood covering us.
When I looked back a hundred yards or more off they were still there.
Well, sir, that's what comes of trying to do a kindness, Mr. Dillon.
As far as I'm concerned they deserve whatever happens.
I can't make it out, Chester. You'd think from the way they talk they don't care what happens to their paw.
Mean bunch of children. They probably don't.
My, Mr. Dillon, you ain't even riled they pulled guns on us.
I guess I'm not, Chester.
You know, there's something awful wrong back there.
Those boys don't look the kind to pull a gun.
The girl wanted to talk all right but they wouldn't let her.
Just mean, that's all.
You aim to go back, Mr. Dillon?
It's like I said, Chester, if it's just a family affair you and me don't belong in it.
But if the old man's as drunk as he sounds he could make a lot of trouble.
No, we're not going back right now.
We're going to have a look around this country for a spell.
Chester and me covered a lot of ground that morning and into the afternoon.
I had an idea that we might find Birch wherever we could find water.
Without a horse he couldn't get too far and without water he was going to get sick pretty quick.
We rode over by Gorman's Creek and then up to Horse Flats and there was nothing.
Along about two in the afternoon Chester spotted a carcass lying off the trail.
It was a cow.
She'd been shot three times in the head.
Could have happened this morning or yesterday.
Uh-huh.
Hard to tell in this weather.
Oh.
Well, the ground's too dry to pick up a track.
Might as well take a chance and go over to the hills.
Yeah, might be water there.
Boy, I could do with something like this very minute.
Come on.
I got a funny taste in my mouth looking at that dead cow.
When a thing dies natural or gets killed for food, that's one thing.
But even an animal has a look about it when it's been murdered.
We rode the half a dozen miles to the hills.
They weren't rightly hills, maybe more like humps rising up from the brown dry earth.
And we could get a good view across the plain.
There was a patch or two of wild oats up there, long turned to rust and fox tails.
Maybe it was in our minds, but just those few feet higher made us seem closer to the sun and hotter.
You ought to be able to see if he's out there anywhere.
Mr. Dillon, he'd be dead if he was.
Man couldn't live a morning out there on foot.
Well, I don't think he's going to find water up here.
Now look at that.
Dry as a bone.
You see something, Mr. Dillon?
Yeah, tracks, I think.
Yeah, he's been up here.
He went down again, though. Over there.
He sure made a long way on foot. Must be more than eight miles from his place.
Yeah.
Oh, you darn fool.
Rattler.
Yeah, I saw. Blew his head clean off.
I was afraid you was going to step on him.
Well, we'll follow the tracks until they give out. Come on.
Those tracks kept going in and around the hills.
A couple of places we saw where they'd stopped by a dry water hole and went on.
Then as the hill sloped down to the plain again, we lost them.
But the direction seemed to be headed back to the birch place.
That's the way we rode.
We hadn't gone more than 15 minutes along when we saw the body of a man and a horse some few feet away.
They were both dead.
He wanted to make sure, didn't he, Mr. Dillon? Birch must have emptied his gun.
Look at that.
Isn't that Jack Mason, one of old man Gorman's hands?
Yes, that's who it is right now. Nice fellow, too. I knew him a bit.
Get him on your horse, will you, Chester, and take him over to Mr. Gorman?
Yes, sir, I'll do that.
I'm going to go back to the birch place.
I'd rather come with you, Mr. Dillon.
Now meet me there, huh?
Yes, sir.
And if you see birch on the way, watch your step. Try not to kill him. But don't take any chances.
No, sir, I surely won't.
There was killing now, and I wasn't in the mood to talk gentle and kind with the sons and girls at the house.
It was the boy, Danny, that saw me first. He was sitting on the doorstep. He ran inside.
And a second later I saw Dave come out with a shotgun. I didn't give him a chance to make up his mind.
Dave!
Dave! Dave! What did you and my brother do? What did you have to do?
Shut up, kid. Get inside. Hang on.
Your arm's bleeding.
Get inside now, you hear me?
I'm sorry, but I'm not arguing with you anymore. Where's your pa?
I don't know.
He killed a man back on the plane away.
You're a liar.
I told you, get in the house, kid. Now get...
I'm staying. He's a liar. Pa never killed nobody.
Where's Donald and your sister?
Out look. Mr. Diddy. They killed someone.
Yeah. Jack Mason, one of Gorman's boys.
Don't you say that. Don't you say...
Danny, give me some whiskey. My arm's in pain.
Yeah. Yeah, I will.
But you ain't gonna tell a lie about my pa. You tell him to quit, Dave.
Where do you think he is?
Donald Hurst shot up horse flats when he'd gone up there.
He must have doubled back from the hills.
Listen, you tell the boy to ride in the town and fetch the doc out here. He'll take care of that arm.
Okay.
When my deputy rides in, Chester Proudfoot, tell him where I've gone, will you?
Sure.
Marshal.
Yeah.
Marshal, you gonna... you gonna kill our... our pa?
I don't want to. Not if I can help it.
Over at horse flats, I caught up with Donald and Lily Birch.
I told them about the killin'.
And a half mile further on, the three of us saw the old man.
He was crouched down on his haunches by a parched water hole.
Stripped naked.
He was cryin'.
It was a bad sound.
And when I saw his eyes, I knew he wasn't drunk.
There was no sign of his guns or his clothes.
Come on, Pa. It's okay. It's Donald.
You're okay, Pa.
Come on, come on, Pa. Please.
I knew it would happen.
Someday.
I knew it would.
Boys figured it'd be shame on us all if word got out Pa had spent.
Your brothers were wrong.
Please, will you?
It was all right till after Ma died.
And he started to act this way.
That's why we had to leave our last place, people.
Try to keep him home, but it weren't no good.
Give your old Pa a step of water and you pass this down.
Get up, we're going to bed.
It's funny. Pa never took a drink in his life.
We always said he was drunk when he carried on like this.
People could figure a man drunk.
I'm sorry, Miss Lillie, but I'm going to have to take him in.
I got to.
Will they do too?
I don't know, but he's done murder.
It's my job to take him in.
They'll hang him.
I don't know. Maybe not. I don't know.
Sonny, Sonny, Sonny.
Where's your brother?
He didn't want to let you come out here alone.
You're too young now.
Where's your Ma?
She ought to know better now.
Miss Lillie, come over here.
Oh, no, Sonny.
I want you to listen to me.
It's not my business, but will you let me give you some advice?
Miss Lillie.
Huh?
Now, you sell this place.
I'll see what I can do to help.
And you and your brothers go somewhere else and start afresh.
You can get a good price for your land.
You do that. It's best.
Yeah. We'll go.
I'm not saying you've got to. I'm saying it would be better.
It'd be better for the kid.
He's seen too much of this. It's not good.
You've got to teach him to smile again.
Act like a kid again.
You understand?
Sure.
I understand.
Okay. I'll be taking him along now.
We'll stop off at your place with some clothes.
All right.
We took the old man back to his place.
Got him dressed.
His children said goodbye to him like they knew that they'd never see him again.
Like there was no hope.
Chester rode in and the old man seemed real happy to go back with us to Dodge.
He didn't know. He didn't care.
On the way we passed the dock and Danny riding out to take care of Dave's arm.
Funny thing, the old man didn't even see the kid.
He was prattling to us about the Indian Wars.
At last I saw Danny Burchie.
He was looking back over his shoulder at his paw.
And we heard him still crying a long way off.
Gunsmoke, under the direction of Norman MacDonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
Tonight's story was specially written for Gunsmoke by Anthony Ellis, with music composed and conducted by Rex Corey.
Featured in the cast were Richard Beals as Danny and Michael Ann Barrett as Lily, with Lee Millar, John Boehner, and Lawrence Dubkin.
Parley Bear is Chester.
Gunsmoke is heard by our troops overseas through the worldwide facilities of the Armed Forces Radio Service.
Join us again next week as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal, fights to bring law and order out of the wild violence of the West in Gunsmoke.
The New York Philharmonic celebrates its 110th birthday tomorrow, and in observance there will be a repeat performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5.
This work was featured on the first Philharmonic broadcast over a hundred years ago.
This is Roy Rowan speaking.
America now listens to 105 million radio sets and listens most to the CBS Radio Network.