Around Dodge City and in the territory on West, there's just one way to handle the killers
and the spoilers and that's where the US Marshal and the smell of gun smoke.
Gun smoke starring William Conrad, the story of the violence that moved west with young
America, the story of a man who moved west with it, Matt Dillon, United States Marshal.
That's you, Si?
Over here, Jim.
That's allowed.
Major's got guards walking all the way around the fort these nights.
What do you care?
You ain't a soldier.
You ain't done nothing.
Look, Si, I don't want nobody at all to get suspicious of me.
Not for a week anyway.
What do you mean, not for a week?
That's what I want to tell you.
You're going to be hauling rifles into Dodge starting the day after tomorrow.
Rifle?
Right about four wagon loads.
That'll be a heap of rifles, Jim.
Sure it will.
What about Jonas?
Will he give you time off to do it?
Jonas?
Jonas can't stop me.
He's just a fool's storekeeper.
Yeah, I suppose so.
I figure it'll take me before five days, Si, and afterwards I'll just quit and disappear
before anybody catches on.
When they do, we'll be a long ways from here.
Yeah, and we'll get their rifles back, Jim.
Next time they go Indian hunting.
Shhh, guards about, Si.
Come on, over here.
She made it, Mr. Dillon, for the first time all week.
She made it.
Now you can't expect the train to pull in on time every day, Chester.
Well, the railroad people expect it to.
Otherwise, they wouldn't write it down on the schedule board up there.
That's the time they hope she'll arrive.
Well, then they ought to say so.
With all their money, they can afford to be honest about such things.
What have you got against the railroad, Chester?
They're so rich, that's all, and I'm so poor.
I was Saturday night, Chester.
You never told me.
Why, they must have been using a marked deck on me.
I never had such a run of bad luck in my whole life.
Aren't you old enough to know you can't play poker with a woman sitting on your lap?
A woman?
We was in the old case stable, Mr. Dillon.
We didn't even have a glass of beer.
Well, then you didn't have much fun for your money, did you?
No, sir.
I didn't enjoy one minute of it.
Not one minute.
Hey, you fellas busy?
What can we do for you, mister?
I got some supplies coming on the train.
I need a little help loading my wagon.
Oh, why don't you hire someone?
I'm not going to hire anyone.
I'm going to hire a man.
Why don't you hire someone?
I'm not going to hire you two men.
If you want to work, I'll give you 20 cents an hour.
That's fair enough.
Here's your chance, Chester.
You won't get rich, but it's something.
All right.
I'll take it, mister.
What about you?
Oh, well, thanks, but I got to pick up some mail.
You're talking to the U.S. Marshal, mister.
He don't take odd jobs.
U.S. Marshal?
How the fact?
You buy only see no badge.
Well, I don't often wear one.
Well, I'm glad to meet you, Marshal.
My name is Will Jonas.
I am the subtler out of Fort Dodge.
Glad to know you, mister Jonas.
My supplies are in the last freight car, Chester, down yonder.
Well, where's your wagon at?
It's on the other side of the train.
Won't take more than an hour, hour and a half, maybe.
Thirty cents, but I can sure use it.
Well, let's get at it, mister Jonas.
Funny thing, mister Jonas, I never knew what a subtler did before.
You was in the Army, now Chester.
Yes, the Army what a general storekeeper is to civilians.
We sell us always everything from extra food, clothes, whiskey and playing cards.
Is that what was in all them boxes?
They sure were heavy.
Of course they were heavy.
And that's why I needed help.
That's why I'm buying you a beer.
Here we are.
Hey, look, there's mister Dillon.
Who?
Mister Dillon, the Marshal.
Oh, sure.
Well, let's go sit with him.
He seemed like a nice fellow.
Well, you go ahead, I'll get the beer.
All right, here, take some money.
Thank you, mister Jonas.
Hey, join you, Marshal?
Sure, sit down, mister Jonas.
I would have met you before, Marshal, but I usually drive straight to the depot, straight
back to the fort.
Now, have you been at the fort long?
Three, four months.
I've been a subtler for ten years, ever since I got married, in fact.
Is your wife at the fort?
She is, she helps keep the store there.
There we are.
Hey, beer looks mighty good to a working man.
Don't tick on airs, Chester, it wasn't much over an hour.
Here's to you.
Yes, sir.
Don't you have some sort of rank in the Army, mister Jonas?
No, I don't mean much, Marshal, I'm sort of a warrant officer.
I ain't really in the Army, though.
In fact, the Major's about to fire me any day as things stand.
Why is he going to fire you?
Oh, my assistant, a fellow named Vail, I hired a few weeks ago.
The Major likes him.
He wants to make him the chief subtler.
Gee, this Vail is willing to do extra work for the Army, so the Major's always calling
on him for this and for that.
It's the work the soldiers ought to do, and I just won't do it myself.
Not without extra pay, I won't.
What sort of work, mister Jonas?
Oh, all kinds of things.
Hauling stuff, mostly.
Vail's got a wagon of his own.
He's no good.
I don't like him, nor do I trust him.
Why don't you fire Vail, then?
Too late now, Marshal.
He did look like sour grapes.
And the Marshal would just, the Major, rather, he'd just hire him back as soon as she got
rid of me, anyway.
That Major sounds like a real hard nose to me.
Well, I suppose.
But he don't even know Vail's not the man's real name.
A lot of men don't use their real names, mister Jonas.
Well, what is his real name?
Linza.
Jim Linza.
Saw it once on a letter he got here in Dodge.
Jim Linza?
Yes, sir, that's it.
But I can't sit here telling you my troubles all day.
Been a pleasure, gentlemen.
And so on.
Goodbye, mister.
Goodbye.
Oh, he's a good man, mister Dylan.
I like him.
Yeah, he is.
But it's this Jim Linza I'm curious about.
You know him?
No, but I know enough about him to ride out and have a talk with the Major.
We'll go in the morning, Chester.
While you're talking to the Major, I think I'll go see mister Jonas.
Okay, Chester, I'll meet you there afterwards.
Marshal Dylan?
Yeah, I'll see you after, mister Dylan.
Yeah.
Well, good morning, Marshal.
Have a chair.
Thank you, Major.
No trouble, I hope.
Well, that depends.
What do you mean?
Major, you've got a man out here called Vale, the subtler's assistant.
Vale?
Oh, yes, very willing fellow, hard worker.
What about him?
He's got another name, Jim Linza.
So?
If he's the Linza I've heard about, he's not a very good man to have around an army post.
State your case, Marshal.
Well, there is a Jim Linza who's a renegade.
He's spied for and fought with the Indians, sold them supplies, all of that.
You think this is the man, Marshal?
Well, he has the same name.
And you condemn a man for that?
No.
But I'd sure keep an eye on him and find out what he's up to.
I see.
I think Vale's all right, Marshal.
I don't think he's a renegade.
But Major, if he is, he could sure cause a lot of trouble.
One man against a regiment of cavalry?
Well, I didn't say he might take on your troop single-handed.
Oh, of course not.
Marshal, who told you Vale's real name is Linza?
Man whose word I think I can believe.
Will Jonas, wasn't it?
Oh, you don't have to answer.
I've been watching Jonas.
He's only interested in his store.
I know what he's trying to do.
Jonas seems like a good man to me.
Perhaps.
But you're not in command of Fort Dodge.
No, no, I'm not.
Command has its problems, Marshal.
I wouldn't expect a civilian to understand them.
All right.
But what about Linza?
Well, thank you for trying to help, Marshal.
I'll handle the matter.
By firing Jonas and making Linza your subordinate, is that right?
I've been thinking about it, but I'll still call him Vale.
All right, Major.
I warned you.
Good day.
Good day, Marshal.
We will return for the second act of Gunsmoke in just a moment.
But first, Sunday night, you are cordially invited to Escape via CBS radio.
Yes, every weekend for drama that will take you right out of this world, listen for Escape
at the Star's Address.
Here, Escape, tomorrow evening on the network that brings you Dick Powell as Richard Diamond,
private detective.
Now the second act of Gunsmoke.
There he is.
Min, Marshal, you're just in time.
Hello, Mr. Jonas.
In time for what?
Well, Mrs. Jonas is expecting you.
Chester here already accepted.
Because they insisted, Mr. Dillon, that's why.
Well, if it isn't putting you out.
Well, glad to have you.
We live right in the back of the store here.
Lil, come on out and meet the Marshal.
Well, here she is.
Lil, this is Marshal Dillon.
How do you do, ma'am?
How do you do, Marshal?
It's good of you to fix dinner for us.
No trouble, Marshal.
If you don't mind dried vegetables, that's about all the Army ever eats.
Sounds fine, ma'am.
Well, some of the boys brought some fish last night, though, and I'm sort of fixing it all
together.
Fish stew?
Oh, I made that myself.
Well, then I hope you'll like mine, Chester.
Oh, I will, ma'am, especially since I'm half-starved.
Oh, I mean, well, I'm sure it's going to be just fine.
Well, I like cooking for hungry men.
It'll be ready in a few minutes.
You can wash up our bath.
Oh, well, thank you, ma'am.
There's soap out there and a towel, if nobody's run off with it yet.
Oh, now who'd do that, Lil?
I don't know, but the boys seem to figure it's a good place to find a clean towel.
Oh, they always return it, dirty, of course.
Hello, Phil.
I'll be taking my wagon into Dodge this afternoon, John.
Again?
This will be the fourth day.
Major wants me to.
Sure.
Who are these men?
This is Marshal Dillon.
That's Chester Proudfoot.
Lawman, huh?
Ain't you supposed to be in Dodge?
I'm not a town marshal, Phil.
I'm a U.S. marshal.
Yeah, I heard of you.
You trouble out here?
We came out to have dinner with the Jonas's.
I didn't know you knew them.
You didn't?
What time you leaving, Vail?
I don't know.
Whenever the Major says, the Major ought to be paying your widgets.
Yeah, he should, shouldn't he?
I'll see you later.
So long, Marshal.
Goodbye.
See what I mean, Marshal?
Yeah.
Well, you all go wash up, and we'll sit right down.
Hurry up, though.
That sure was a good dinner, wasn't it, Mr. Dillon?
Yeah, it was.
Yeah, I'm afraid we stayed too long, though.
Must have been early three o'clock.
Well, it's only five miles to Dodge.
We can get there way before dark.
Hey, look yonder, that wagon up ahead.
Something's wrong with it.
Yeah, looks like he lost a wheel.
Poor fellow, maybe we can help him.
I'm sure.
Mr. Dillon, it's that fellow Vail.
Yeah, come on.
Hello, Vail.
Well, it's the Marshal again.
You want some help with the wheel?
Can't put it back on by myself.
There's a pole and a ditch over there.
We can use it for levers.
I'll get it.
Yeah.
Chester.
Look here, in the wagon box.
My goodness, he's got a load of rifles.
Yeah, by the canvas back, here he comes.
You think he stole them?
I don't know.
That pole's no good.
It's rotten.
What do we do now?
Well, we could ride back to Fort Dodge and send some help out to you.
Oh, no, no, I don't want that.
No?
Why not, Vail?
I just don't, that's all.
That'll take at least four men to lift this wagon, unless you want to unload it first.
No, and I ain't gonna unload it.
Wait, here comes some soldiers.
That's a major.
Yeah, so it is.
What's the trouble here, Vail?
We're rolled off, Major.
Have to lift the wagon up to get it on again.
Corporal Harris.
All right, now, if you men will just get under it now.
Oh, uh, Marshal, uh, step over here, will you?
I sure.
I, uh, I hear you had dinner with Will Jonas and his wife.
Yeah, that's right.
But before you say anything, Major, do you know what Vail's carrying in that wagon?
Do you?
Rifles.
He must have 20 or so.
Twenty-five.
Oh.
All right.
This load makes an even hundred bales carted into Dodge the last few days.
We're overstocked, so we're shipping them back to Fort Scott.
Does that explain everything, Marshal?
Yeah, sure.
If they all get there.
You're over-suspicious, Marshal.
Perhaps it's the nature of your job.
Perhaps.
Vail's all right.
His helping out with this sort of work means my soldiers have more time for their military duties.
His name's Linsa, Major, and I've told you what he is.
And you had dinner with Jonas.
No, I'm not convinced, Marshal.
Oh, there, the men seem to have the wheel on.
I've got to get back to the fort.
I've just been exercising my horse a little, you know.
Don't have much time.
We'll get behind this bluff, Chester.
He can't see us.
He's not out of that carton of grove yet.
We'll trail him like this all the way into Dodge.
And if nothing happens on the road, then they're stealing those rifles off the train somehow.
They?
Hell, I doubt if Linsa's working alone, it would be too difficult.
You're pretty sure he's stealing them, aren't you, Mr. Dillon?
From what I've heard of Linsa, he can make a lot of money off of some good rifles.
He'll probably trade them to the Indians for horses and sell the horses.
Be in whoever's in on it with him.
Plum makes me boil to think of that major about to fire Mr. Jonas
and then letting this Linsa get by with everything.
He's doing what he thinks right, Chester.
He'll learn.
I sure hope so, sir.
And before it's too late.
Where is that wagon?
He should have come out of those cotton woods a long time ago.
Maybe his wheel fell off again.
I hope not.
Oh, there he is.
No.
No, that's a different wagon.
Well, it sure is.
And it's headed this way.
Look, he's left the road.
Yeah.
I didn't see a wagon coming through there, did you?
No.
It could have been hidden easy enough, though.
There's Linsa's wagon now.
Just leaving the trees.
What do we do?
That first one will be over here pretty soon.
Let's drop back a little, Chester. They might see us.
Yes, sir.
All right, Chester.
Now, you make a big swing around this bluff and stay out of sight as long as you can.
Come onto the road behind Linsa and follow him in the Dodge.
Right to the depot if he goes there.
Well, what are you going to do?
I'm going to wait right here for that other wagon.
I'm curious about it.
All right, get going.
I'll see you in Dodge.
All right, pull that tape up, mister.
Don't shoot! Don't shoot!
Easy.
All right, now wrap your hands around those lines.
Now, two or three times.
Fill them up.
All right, now jump down. Arms high.
You got that drop on me. I won't try nothing.
Now, take your gun.
All right, you can put your hands down.
What is this, a holdup?
I'm a U.S. Marshal. This is no holdup.
What do you want me for?
Your team will stand, drop the lines, and get around to the back of the wagon.
What's this all about, Marshal? I ain't done nothing.
I don't want you not to apologize to you.
But first, I want you to apologize to me.
I don't want you to apologize to me.
But first, I want to see what you're carrying.
I can tell you that.
It's just a bunch of shovels, and I'm late home, Marshal.
Well, let's see them. Check that canvas off.
Go on.
Okay, Marshal.
So they ain't shovels.
No.
Now they're sure not.
Well, what's wrong with a man having a few rifles?
Nothing.
Eh.
About fifteen, I make it.
Am I right?
Fifteen. Now can I go?
What's your name, mister?
Cy Wills.
All right, I'll find out your real name later.
Get back on the wagon.
I bought them rifles.
Gonna trade them off around the country to cowboys and hunters and the like.
Yeah.
Go on, get up on the box.
Can I go now?
Sure, you can go.
Right ahead of me, straight in the dodge.
Now get moving, Wills.
You'll have company pretty quick, Wills.
Who?
Now you wouldn't want me to spoil the surprise for you, would you?
If there's anything I hate, it's a renegade.
Mr. Dillon?
Where is he, Chester?
He put the rifles on the train, sir, but there wasn't any 25 of them.
I guess you found the rest, huh?
Yeah, his partner had them.
I got him locked up.
Where's Linzer now?
I followed him to the Longhorn. He's in there.
Yeah.
The wagon's out back, Chester. You better stack those rifles in the office here.
Yes, sir.
I'm going after Linzer.
Well, you shouldn't have any trouble. He's not wearing a gun.
I know.
I'll be back shortly.
Linzer.
Give a man the jumps coming up behind him that way, Marshal.
What are you doing, anyway?
Why'd you call me that? It ain't my name.
You're under arrest, Linzer.
My name ain't Linzer.
You got nothing to arrest me for?
Your partner's waiting for you, Linzer. I just locked him up.
I've got no partner. What are you talking about?
Where are the rest of the rifles?
What did you do with them?
I don't know nothing about it.
All right. I just thought it might go easier with you.
You and Wills recovered all the rifles. It's up to you.
Okay, Marshal, we stole a few rifles. That ain't so bad.
If I tell you where they are, will you let us go, or at least let me go?
You'd cut anybody's throat, wouldn't you, Linzer?
We'll find the rifles. Come on.
All right, Marshal, I won't give you no trouble.
Look out!
You broke his arm.
Pick up the knife, Sam.
Are you coming quietly, now, Linzer, or do you want me to break your neck?
I'm through, Marshal.
Get a doc for my arm.
You're bleeding, Marshal. Do you stick you?
I didn't get in. I went across my ribs.
You're quite a man, Linzer. You don't even know how to use a knife.
Now get going.
I heard what happened yesterday, Marshal, so I come in early this morning.
Glad to see you, Mr. Jonas, any time.
He didn't hurt you bad, did he, Marshal?
It was my fault. I got careless.
Doc took five stitches in you, Mr. Jonas. I watched the whole thing.
Me, I don't like blood. My old man was a butcher, too.
Maybe that's the reason, Mr. Jonas.
I don't follow you, Marshal.
Good morning, Marshal.
Gentlemen.
Major.
Oh, Major.
That's quite a stack of rifles you've got here, Marshal.
Yes, isn't it?
I heard the whole story, Marshal.
I hope you weren't hurt.
No, I'm all right.
I looked up the bills of lading. They had obviously been altered.
Out of a hundred, I figured they shipped 40 rifles and stole 60.
You still got that Pony, Scop, Big A?
Yes, I have.
Well, chest all right. I'll be trying to whack and track to Big A.
I'll find the rest of your rifles for you.
Good idea.
Mr. Jonas, I'd like to apologize to you, sir.
Oh, no. That ain't necessary, Major.
For me, it is.
All right. I think I understand, Major.
Thank you.
Marshal, I find myself in an extremely embarrassing position, professionally.
With the Army, you understand.
And I, uh...
Well, I wanted to ask you...
Major, I'd like to ask something of you first.
Why? Yes, certainly.
Those two men, I got locked up.
I was wondering if you'd take them back to Fort Dodge.
It's sort of a military matter anyway.
You could try them out there.
That's... that's very decent of you, Marshal.
Well, I figure once is enough in any one day for a man to admit he was wrong.
Thank you, Marshal.
I'll send a guard in for the prisoners.
Mr. Jonas, would you care to ride back to Fort Dodge with me?
I came in alone.
Oh, be happy to, Major.
Music
Gun smoke under the direction of Norman McDonald stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
Tonight's story was specially written for Gun Smoke by John Meston, with music composed and conducted by Rex Corey.
Featured in the cast were John Dana, Harry Bartel, Joseph Kearns, Julie Conger, and James Nusser.
Harley Bear is Chester.
Gun smoke has been selected by the Armed Forces radio service to be heard by our troops overseas.
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...
Gun Smoke!
Music
Mystery with a twinkle in the eye, CBS Radio's Mr. and Mrs. North.
Mystery with dynamite action, CBS Radio's Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, starring John Lund.
Catch up with the North and Johnny Dollar every Tuesday on most of these same CBS radio stations.
George Waltz speaking, and remember, there's action as a policeman really finds it in 21st Precinct, Tuesdays on the CBS Radio Network.
Music