Around Dodge City and in the territory on West, there's just one way to handle the killers
and the spoilers and that's with a 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 with it, Matt Dillon, United States Marshal.
The first time I saw Lena Wave, I should have resigned my job and gone to Texas on the fastest
horse I could find.
Handling a man is one thing, but trying to handle a woman is another, especially when
she weighs some 200 pounds and is muscled like a mule and twice as ornery.
Lena came to Dodge on a great draft horse with dark circles around its eyes and she was leading
an old jack mule that carried her boyfriend, Emmett Fitzgerald.
Emmett was a tired pigeon-breasted little fellow with a green look in his face.
They weren't a very handsome pair, but we were mightily impressed by them the day they
rode up Front Street.
I swear, Mr. Dillon, that woman must wear leather underwear.
I don't know why she's leading his mule.
The man doesn't look stout enough to run away if he wanted to.
My, I'd sure hate to have her on my tail.
She's wearing a six gun and built like a buffalo.
She sure isn't the gentlest looking woman I ever saw.
Oh, that poor little man, Mr. Dillon, he somehow gives me the feeling he's being carried around
in a bird cage.
Now quiet, Chester, they'll hear you.
Yes, sir.
I never thought we'd make it, Lena.
You mean you never thought you'd make it?
Get off that mule.
Sure, Lena.
I'll help you tie him up, Lena.
Oh, you stepped on my foot.
I'm sorry.
Lena.
That'll earn you to be a gentleman.
You up there.
Stop that.
Who you laughing at?
I, nobody, ma'am.
That's good.
Because if I got the notion you was laughing at me or my man, I'd open you up.
Oh, no.
Oh, my, no.
No, it was just something funny I heard the other day from a fella.
What?
What did you hear that was so funny?
I was sitting there and he come around and...
Think hard, mister.
You remember Mr. Dillon, you tell her, please.
Dillon, why, you must be the marshal here.
That's right, ma'am.
Well, now, marshal, I'm proud to know you.
My name's Lena Wave.
Shake.
Well, how do you do?
Do.
Over here, Emmett.
Sure, Lena.
Marshal, this here is Emmett Fitzgerald.
Emmett?
Glad to know you, marshal.
Emmett's a gambling man.
Oh, is that so?
I want you to know he's honest, marshal.
Ain't you, Emmett?
Sure, Lena.
Say it.
I'm honest.
I only caught him cheating once, marshal.
Ain't that right, Emmett?
I was just trying to get you to believe me.
I'm not lying.
You think that right, Emmett?
I wasn't bed two weeks.
She liked to kill me.
Well, I'm glad to know that.
I'm about your being honest.
I mean.
Emmett will be running a game tonight.
Right over there's as good a place as any.
The Texas Trail.
Uh, sure.
Glad to have you sit in, marshal.
And you can come, too, if you watch your manners.
Yes, ma'am.
Thank you.
Emmett, I'd better feed you so you can get enough strength back to kneel them cards.
Come on.
Sure, Lena.
Chester's been in that game over there for two hours, Matt.
He must be losing.
Well, he usually does, Kitty.
How anybody could concentrate with Lena hulking around, I don't know.
She does keep an eye on things, doesn't she?
You know, Matt, I feel kind of sorry for her.
Oh, she can take care of herself.
Oh, isn't that?
Being so big, not very pretty.
After all, she is a woman.
That's not too easy to tell, Kitty.
You think she's in love with Emmett?
Well, now, Kitty, I tell you, I haven't worked that out yet.
I'm sure been studying on it, though.
Oh, Matt.
Every woman needs a man of some kind.
Well, she's got one.
Yeah.
I feel sorry for him, too.
Lena will take care of him.
I know.
But I'll bet he'd like to take care of Lena just once.
After all, he's human.
I tell you, that is not my hand.
I had three aces.
You accuse Emmett of cheating, and I'll shoot you dead.
Excuse me, Kitty, I better go fish Chester out of that.
Emmett was dealing, wasn't he?
I'll blow a hole in you, mister.
Right now.
All right, hold it, Lena.
She's about to shoot me, Mr. Dillon.
You bet I am.
Lena, I don't know what it's like where you came from,
but you shoot anybody around here, and you're going to go to jail.
You'd put a woman in jail?
For shooting, I would.
For fighting?
What?
This is what.
Well, now, here, he can put King Jeff for that, too, now.
Now, here.
Let's go.
The game's closed, gentlemen, for half an hour.
I need some beer, Emmett.
Come on.
Sure, Lena.
Like that, it ain't fair.
Here, Chester.
Let me help you.
There.
Well, are you all right?
Why didn't you stop her, Mr. Dillon?
She might have killed me.
Well, I don't know, Chester.
I never fought with a woman.
Well, I have, and I don't want no more of it.
Well, you can't hit her. What can you do with her?
Leave her alone. That's what I'm going to do.
You know, Chester, Lena could get to be quite a problem.
Well, she ain't going to be my problem.
Well, I'm getting out of here.
Good morning, Matt.
Oh, hello, Doc.
Hey, you going to have some breakfast?
Oh, yeah.
No, I've already eaten.
I will have some coffee, though.
Oh, good.
They had me up real early this morning.
No. Who did?
A couple of men. Lena Wave got mad at.
Huh?
She used a bottle on them.
Oh, were they hurt bad?
Oh, she bloodied them up some. It wasn't real serious, though.
All they did was try to protect themselves.
After all, what man's going to fight a woman?
Yeah, that's true.
One of these days, some drunk's not going to realize she is a woman, and he'll shoot her.
You wonder if it hasn't happened already?
Oh, see, I hear Chester caught it all right when he accused Emmett of trying to cheat him.
Well, he found out later that it wasn't true, Doc.
The other boys were just playing a joke on him.
They switched his cards while he was under the table looking for some chips that he'd dropped.
Oh, one of all that.
Oh, if you ask me, a man that'll leave his hand while he crawls around on the floor deserves anything that happens to him.
Well, just about everything did.
Mr. Dillon!
Oh, say, you better come too, Doc.
What's the trouble, Chester?
Lena Wave. She just shot a man over at the Dodge house.
What?
Oh, I say, we better get going.
Is the man dead, Chester?
He sure is, Doc.
Where's Lena?
She's still there. Claims it was self-defense.
Did you see it?
Yes, sir. I was right there.
Lena was getting her room key at the desk, and this buffalo hunter come in and grabbed her.
Well, he was pretty drunk.
Drunk? At this hour of the morning, he was drunk?
Well, I guess he'd been up all night.
Anyhow, he tried to kiss her.
He must have been drunk.
He got her gun hand behind her back, and then he pushed her up again to the desk.
Oh, she was swearing at him something terrible.
Well, how did she shoot him, Chester?
Well, sir, she just pooched around and squirmed herself along the desk until she'd rubbed her six-gun around on the other side.
Then she just pulled it out with her free hand and shot him in the belly.
She did? Oh, my, she's quite a woman, actually.
She sure is.
She's waiting with Emmett right inside here, Mr. Dillon.
Everybody else took cover. They're scared to death of her.
Yes, they are.
What are you here for, Doc?
You can't do him no good.
Well, I... I just come to take a look at him, I think.
Oh, yes, he looks dead, all right.
He's dead.
Why did you kill him, Lena?
Well, I had to protect myself, Marshal.
Nobody else would, including Emmett.
I... I figured you'd take care of him yourself, Lena.
You always do.
Sure.
But if you was a man, you'd do it for me.
Now, Lena, look how big he is.
He ain't very big anymore.
All it takes is a gun, Emmett.
Sure, Lena.
There are too many people carrying guns around here already.
I'm gonna take yours, Lena.
What for? I killed him in self-defense.
He wasn't even armed.
Except for that bullet.
You're forgetting something, Marshal.
What?
I'm a woman.
So?
So, you mean to tell me a woman ain't got the right to protect her virtue in this town?
What do you men come to, anyway?
Well, by... Oh, by... Oh, yes, she's got a point there.
Ain't no judge in the world that wouldn't call it self-defense.
Now, you're right, Lena. I keep forgetting.
You know I'm right.
Emmett, we ain't had breakfast yet, and I'm hungry.
Come on.
Sure, Lena.
You know, I've been thinking too much.
You know, I've been thinking, Mr. Dillon.
Oh, what about Justin?
Well, old Lena could have let that fella kiss her this morning.
Just a little peck, anyway.
And she wouldn't have to shoot him.
Yeah, she could have.
But she didn't.
I declare, she's enough to curdle cream.
Well, I hope everybody leaves her alone from now on.
Marshal Dillon?
Ah, yeah.
I'm Nate Bannister.
Now, I'm glad to know you.
You won't be, if what I hear is true.
Oh.
Jim Henry was my friend, Marshal.
Is that so?
Nobody's gonna shoot a friend of mine and get by with it.
Not even a woman.
He was drunk, Nate, and he was treating her bad.
There's no call to kill him.
In this country, a woman's free to protect herself any way she can.
Yeah.
That's what everybody I've talked to say.
Well?
Don't sit with me.
You gonna arrest her?
No.
Okay, then.
Oh, wait a minute.
What?
Where are you going?
I'm Marshal.
I'm going to kill me a woman.
We will return for the second act of gun smoke in just a moment.
But first, this Monday night on CBS Radio's Suspense,
hear Jeff Chandler in Death at Skrykerude Pond.
It's an exciting trial in which a young man faces death
because of his decisions made as a member of a World War II underground.
It's a fascinating study in suspense,
and it's yours to hear this Monday night
over most of these same stations at the Star's Address.
Monday, Suspense.
Now the second act of gun smoke.
Nate Bannister was obviously a buffalo hunter,
same as his friend who had been shot that morning.
He was a huge man with a heavy black beard and eyebrows so thick
it was hard to tell if he was looking at you or not.
I watched him as he stood in the doorway having just said
that he was gonna kill Lena Wave.
And I realized that a man that primitive was capable of doing anything,
even shooting a woman.
And I wasn't sure how to stop it, unless I shot him first.
The way I was brought up, Marshal, that's what friends is for.
If somebody kill you, then they gotta kill them.
You do any killing around here, Nate, and you'll be tried for it.
Maybe. If you catch me.
I'll catch you.
Why you gotta protect women, Marshal?
Just because there's a weak and puny?
Is that Nate Bannister?
Huh?
You heard me.
Why? Yes, ma'am. I'm Nate Bannister.
Well, they didn't tell me you was so big.
Who didn't tell you? How'd you know my name?
You've been spreading it around that if the Marshal don't arrest me,
you'll shoot me. That true?
Are you Lena Wave?
I am. If there's gonna be any shooting, I want in on it.
Now, wait a minute, Lena.
I ain't gonna get bushwhacked by no dirty buffalo hunter, Marshal.
Bushwhacked? I wouldn't do that to nobody.
Especially a lady.
Lady?
Yes, ma'am.
He called me a lady, Marshal.
Well, you are, ain't you?
Of course I am.
What's the matter with calling you a woman?
Nothing. I kinda like it.
Just because you ain't pale and skinny like ordinary women?
No. Of course I ain't.
I never seen a woman like you nowhere. You're kinda admirable.
Listen to him, Marshal. Ain't he a one?
Oh, I mean it. I sure do. I sure do.
No, you don't. I'm too big.
Too big? Why, you wanna be like all them little scrawny women?
They can't do nothing. They're no good.
They ain't.
Oh, no. A real man needs someone better than that.
He does?
Of course he does.
Like me?
Yeah. Like you.
What?
You was gonna shoot me a minute ago.
Oh, no. I didn't mean nothing by that.
Hey, come on. I'll buy you a beer. We'll talk about it.
Well, okay. Come on, Marshal.
Yeah. Don't you worry about nothing, Marshal.
Chester!
Yes, sir?
That jug of corn whiskey's still out back.
Yes, sir. It was last time I looked.
Go and get it.
Those two make quite a couple, Matt. Look at them. They've been sitting there most all day.
Yeah, pretty shaggy pair of lovebirds, if you ask me.
How's Emmett taking all this?
Well, he didn't find them till a couple of hours ago.
Now what happened? Who were is he?
Nate ran him off. He probably had done more, but Lena wouldn't let him.
You know, Matt, I think underneath she's real fond of that little Emmett.
Yeah? She got a strange way of showing it.
Women do sometimes.
Well, it doesn't matter as long as she keeps out of trouble.
She leads quite a life, doesn't she?
Shoots a man in the morning and falls for his best friend in the afternoon.
She might have shot Bootham if Nate hadn't started sweet-talking her.
Well, he made her feel like a woman, that's what.
Oh, sure.
Nothing wrong with that, is there?
It'd probably save his life.
All right, mister. You get away from her.
He's looking mad. It's Emmett.
Yeah.
You heard me.
I thought you'd gone home.
I ain't going home. Not without Lena, I ain't.
Yes, you are. Lena and me are going to get married.
I didn't say that.
I ain't had time to tell you.
I'm warning you, mister.
Excuse me, Kitty. I better stop this.
Look, fella, I'm going to kiss her. Watch.
No.
Hold it, Emmett!
All right, Emmett.
Give me that derringer.
Sure, Marshall.
Chester!
Yes, sir. Here I am, Mr. Dillon.
Get Nate's gun before he comes to.
All right, sir. I'll get it.
All right, then take him over to Doc's, huh?
He doesn't look too bad hurt.
No, sir. He ain't. I'll take care of him.
Emmett, you shot him.
I know.
You shot him over me.
Well, he was stealing you, Lena.
And you went and shot him.
I was kind of ashamed this morning
when that other fella tried to kiss you.
You're a man after all, Emmett.
I couldn't stand losing you, Lena.
Oh, I didn't care nothing about him.
You didn't?
No.
I was just tired of not being treated like a woman.
He called me a lady and kind of lost my head.
That's all.
Well, Emmett kind of lost his head too, Lena.
All right, Emmett. Come on.
You're going to jail.
No, Marshall, please.
Come on. Get going, Emmett.
All right.
My husband goes to jail. So do I.
What? Your husband?
Of course. We've been married 10 years, Marshall.
I always knew it wasn't a mistake.
Now he's still going to jail.
Please, Marshall, don't take him.
Of course I'll take him. He just shot a man, didn't he?
He was only protecting his lawful wedded wife.
You got to let me go with him.
I can't leave him now.
I've been waiting 10 years for him to treat me like a woman.
Oh, please, Marshall.
Look, Lena, there's been nothing but trouble since you hit Dodge.
Please, Marshall.
When Nate gets patched up, he'll be gunning for Emmett here.
Emmett will kill him next time.
All right, all right, Lena.
Look, I'll tell you what I'll do.
Get out of Dodge, both of you.
Right now.
You mean it?
If you hurry.
Oh, thank you, Marshall.
Now, let's go, Emmett.
Wait a minute.
Huh?
Take my arm.
All right.
Now, Lena, come on.
Sure, Emmett.
Sure.
Gunsmoke.
Under the direction of Norman McDonnell,
stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
Tonight's story was specially written for Gunsmoke
by John McDonnell,
who was a former U.S. Marshal.
He was a great man.
Do you hear who's here on this?
The best gunsmoke ever.
dest respect.
No more.
So much good if we do.
So much good.
Gun smoke.
Mr. and Mrs. North of CBS Radio get into an arty crowd, an artful crowd, too, when mixed
paints and mixed emotions make murder.
Here are collectors' items, Pam and Jerry's latest thriller, leading them a merry chase
mid works of art before they nab their killer.
It's on most of these same stations Tuesday night.
On the same evening, you have a date for thrills with John Lund as yours truly, Johnny Dollar.
Don't forget.
George Walsh speaking.
Eve Arden as our Miss Brooks teaches you how to laugh, Sundays on the CBS Radio Network.