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.
Barkeep, Barkeep, get down here.
Name's Sam, mister.
That so?
What's your name?
Neil Butler.
Ain't you pretty young to be drinking so much hard liquor, Neil?
Nineteen, but I've been around Dodge longer than you have.
Kind of sassy for a kid, ain't you?
Man enough to ride for fate ender.
Fate ender?
You never heard of him?
Maybe I have.
Anybody that's ever been near a Longhorn steer has heard of fate ender.
Sure.
He's a hard man to work for, though.
How's that?
Well, he eats one meal a day and don't drink or smoke, so he has a big advantage over the
likes of me and you.
Does he pay regular?
Looking for a job, mister?
It ain't mister, it's Lee Shin.
Okay, Shin.
And I'm looking for a drink, not a job.
Sam!
Hey, Sam!
Yeah, it's about enough, Neil.
You ain't my nursemaid.
I'm buying a drink for me and Lee Shin here.
I've been yelling for one long enough.
Sometimes I'm hard of hearing.
You know, I've seen bar keeps with their heads all busted open.
Shin, huh?
And where would you have seen that, Shin?
Texas, maybe.
Well, you ain't in Texas now.
Lay off of him, Sam.
He's new around here.
Fetch them drinks.
I just don't believe I will.
Now looky here.
You don't pull much weight around here, do you, Neil?
You've had enough, Shin, and don't you egg them on.
You can take care of them, Sal.
Of course I can.
Sam, you give me a drink or by heaven I'll bore a hole in you.
Now take it easy, kid.
You don't think I will, huh?
Well, you better not try.
I'll try.
All right, you hold it, mister.
Watch it, Marshal.
I ain't made a move.
No, but you is about to.
It would have been too bad for you if I had, Marty.
Never mind that.
Throw some water on Neil there, Chester.
All right, Mr. Dillon.
You got any water, Sam?
What kind of place you think I run?
Well, give me some beer, then.
You paying for it?
Mr. Dillon?
I got it, Chester.
The kid's coming, too, anyway.
You're a stranger in Dodge, mister.
I suppose I am.
You don't start any trouble with it, so.
I ain't done a thing.
I've just been standing here.
It's that mean tempered barkeep started it.
You want me to break a bottle over your head, Shin?
See?
Last you, Sam.
What did you hit me with, anyway?
Usual.
If you try that again, I'll hit you twice.
You sure sobered me some.
Sobered you, did he?
What were you doing drunk in the first place?
Now, Mr. Rendler.
Shut up, Neil.
I can tell what's been going on here, and I don't like it.
It's all right now, Mr. Render.
You gonna arrest him, Marshal?
No.
I got nothing to arrest him for, Faith.
Drunkenness?
He won't cause any more trouble.
You're trying to protect him, huh?
Well, it ain't gonna work.
He's sober now.
Look at him.
Sure, he's all right, Faith.
I just had a little argument with him.
Wasn't nothing.
I'm dreaming you, Sam, but a man has to learn to hold his liquor or not drink at all.
It's a lot easier not to drink at all the way you do, Faith.
Maybe.
But I remember the time I felt I'd come to the estate of man when I'd learned to drink
one and one-half quarts of whiskey daily.
That's a lot of whiskey.
But I quit.
Fifteen years ago, I quit.
You ain't had a drop since?
Only once.
Friend of mine who was a candidate for office tempted me into a glass.
I felt like I'd stolen a sheet.
Oh, you can't expect everybody to feel the same way, Faith.
I don't, Marshal.
But I recognize the weakness for liquor when I see it.
And young Neil here's got to learn.
Mr. Ender, I ain't been drunk in two weeks.
Till today.
Two weeks?
Neil, if you ain't man enough to stay away from it longer than that, you ain't man enough
to work for me.
You mean I'm fired?
You'll draw your pay tomorrow morning.
Good day, gentlemen.
Mr. Ender.
That old moss head.
He needs shooting.
You'll start thinking about finding a job, Neil, not shooting somebody.
Maybe I'm tired of working.
Say where'd that fella Shin go?
His plum disappeared.
Never mind about him.
Look, Neil, they're looking for some help over at the O.K. Stables.
Maybe it'll keep you on feed till you find something else, huh?
Thanks, Marshal.
But I got some thinking to do first.
That fade ender sure is a hard man, Mr. Dillon.
Hard enough to cure himself a drinkin', anyway.
Yeah, but he ain't even been so mean with Neil the other day.
He could have gave him a second chance.
Oh, Neil can get another job.
Yes, I know.
But I don't cotton to a man being so self-righteous.
My, I'll bet old Ender's made lots of mistakes in his time.
People say he has.
Only nobody's caught up with him yet.
What do you mean?
Back in Texas, he used to spread a mighty wide loop, Chester.
I expect it was a long time before he paid money for any calves.
Oh, well, I never heard he was a thief.
Oh, he isn't.
Not now.
It was just after the war when everybody was branding anything in sight.
Cattle were running wild then.
What was so few men to look after them?
Yes, sir, I know.
One of my brothers got caught at it.
Oh?
You never told me that, Chester.
Well, it's something us proud foots don't bring up very often, Mr. Dillon.
No, no, of course not.
My brother wouldn't like it.
What?
Well, he's a banker now.
A banker?
Yes, sir.
At a place called Pavo.
That's over west of San Antonio.
Real dry country there.
He likes it, but I sure don't.
My goodness, the wind and the dust is just...
Ah, Mac!
Ah, hello, Doc.
You better come upstairs.
Oh, what's the trouble?
The fate ended.
He didn't want to see you, but I sneaked down anyway.
He didn't want to see me about what?
I just took a bullet out of his arm, Matt.
What?
And he's talking about killing the man that put it there.
Who?
He didn't say.
Oh, wait here, Chester.
I didn't hear about no gunfight, Mr. Dillon.
Neither did I.
Does he hurt bad, Doc?
I didn't even break the bone, Matt.
It'll be a mite painful for a while.
He's resting a little right now.
That's how I got away.
I'm glad you did.
I might have known that's where you went, Doc.
No man comes in here carrying a bullet without my telling the Marshal, Fait.
How'd this happen, Fait?
I'll skin my own snakes, Marshal.
Not around here, you won't.
I've killed men before, and I don't need no help to do it again.
Somebody took a wild shot at you, is that it?
It's a wild one that didn't hit me.
Well, maybe he wasn't trying to kill you.
He didn't get close enough for any such trick shooting, little coward.
Ah, you think it was Neil, huh?
Of course it was.
I'll kill him.
I'll kill him, sure, Marshal.
Why do you think it was Neil, Fait?
I know it was.
He tried to kill me while I was crossing the Arkansas on my way into town.
He was a quarter mile off, behind a bluff.
That's too bad for him.
He didn't hit my gun on me.
Now wait a minute, wait a minute.
If he was behind a bluff, how do you know who it was?
You're just complicating things, Marshal.
I heard he threatened to kill me the other day when I fired him.
Now, all right, Fait.
I'll find him, and if we can prove he did it, he'll go to jail.
He won't go to jail if I find him first, Marshal.
You won't stop me.
I've lived too long to be killed by some hot-headed kid.
You've got a right to protect yourself, Fait.
But murders are hanging a fence these days.
And if you don't want to see me hung, you better move fast, Marshal.
We will return for the second act of gun smoke in just a moment.
But first, Barbara Stanwyck and Barry Sullivan play their original screen roles again in
the Luxe Radio Theater adaptation of Jeopardy!
It's the story of a wife who encounters a killer during her frantic race to save her
husband from death.
Remember, Jeopardy! on the Luxe Radio Theater Monday night over most of these same stations.
On the same evening, here Victor Matheur in The Girl in Car 32 on Suspense.
Matheur plays a cop who, chasing a jewel thief, finds love along the way.
Here's Suspense, also Monday night at the Star's Address.
Now the second act of gun smoke.
For all his hardheadedness, Fait Under was as good a citizen as any around Dodge.
And in some ways a lot better.
In any case, I didn't want to see him hung any more than I wanted to see young Neal shot.
And since Fait wasn't the kind of a man you could argue with or throw in jail to cool
off, I went looking for Neal.
He wasn't at the okay stable, but a small boy there told us that he'd be right back.
So Chester and I sat down in one of the stores and waited.
Mr. Dillon, Mr. Dillon, you don't think Neal's going to admit trying to stage an ambush,
do you?
Well, he'd be a fool if he did, Chester.
And what are you going to do with him?
I don't know.
Maybe he'll do it by himself.
What?
Maybe this is him.
He's not worth dying, Neal.
It don't matter none of them killed him.
Hey, it's that fellow Shinn.
Be quiet, Chester.
Well, sometimes I think you'd be worth hanging for, even if I did get caught.
That's more like it, kid.
Don't you let nobody bluff you.
He ain't all bluffed.
I've seen him.
Neal, Fait Ender's like a Confederate dollar.
Like 500 Confederate dollars, looks like.
He's just that no good.
Well, I don't know.
But anyways, he sure didn't treat me fair.
I shouldn't have talked so much about shooting.
Don't you worry, kid.
They can't do nothing to you.
They can't prove nothing at all.
Of course they can.
What's there to prove, are you?
Marshal.
Take your hand off that gun, Shinn.
Why, sure.
You shouldn't jump out at a man like that, Marshal.
I might be in here, wouldn't bother most men.
What do you mean?
I, uh, think that you've heard about Fait Ender getting shot.
I heard.
And he's saying I did it, too.
Well.
Don't tell him nothing, kid.
You don't need no alibi.
Suppose you stay out of this, Shinn.
Well, why should I?
I'm the only friend Neal's got around here.
Neal can talk for himself.
Everybody's got a rope on the kid.
It ain't the Fait-
That's enough out of you.
He's just trying to help me, Marshal.
But he don't need to.
I can prove I wasn't anywhere near there.
Oh?
Well, how do you know where it happened, Neal?
Friend of mine met him on the way into town.
Ender told him all about it, and he comes straight off and told me.
Ender says it was at noon, Marshal.
You want to know where I was at noon?
Yeah, where?
At the Texas trail, talking to Kitty.
I'm going back there right now and get her to prove it before Ender find me and tries
to kill me.
Now, wait a minute, Neal.
Let him go.
It won't do any good, kid.
Of course it will.
Darn fool, kid.
Shinn.
Why won't it do any good?
There's nobody to believe either of them.
You'll say they're both lying.
He's paid off, Kitty.
Stop right there, Neal.
No!
Hey, that was fate, Ender, Mr. Dillon.
Yeah.
All right, drop that gun, Fate.
Drop it.
Don't let him shoot me again.
I ain't gonna shoot you again.
Not this time anyway.
Here.
Take my gun, Marshal.
You know, you don't have to kill a man to go to jail, Fate.
All right, Chester, keep an eye on him.
Yes, sir.
How are you, Neal?
He busted my shoulder, Marshal.
You're lucky.
I seen him coming and I got scared.
I wasn't fast enough.
He went fast enough?
I know him.
He never bothers saying so.
But I drew first, Marshal.
I gotta admit it.
Now, Chester.
Yes, sir?
Give Neal a hand here, huh?
Taking up the ducks?
Okay, Mr. Dillon.
Shin can help you, Chester.
He's run off, Neal.
Seems like he's kind of gun shy.
All right, now, come on.
Get your armor on me.
Careful.
There we are.
Walk some, Neal.
It's gonna kill the person.
Tell me something, Fate.
How come you didn't finish him off while you had the chance?
Well, I would have.
My first shot hadn't crippled him.
I ain't no murderer, Marshal.
But you'll kill him when he gets well.
Is that it?
I'll kill him.
Of course I will.
Hello, Matt.
Hi, Marshal.
Kitty.
Sam.
I can tell you're not gonna make any money off him today, Sam.
Have a drink on the house, Marshal.
No, no.
Kitty's right, Sam.
I didn't come here for pleasure.
I heard about Fate Ender being shot.
Is that what it is, Matt?
Yeah.
Kitty, young Neal claims that he was in here at noon talking to you.
Yeah, he was, Matt.
Funny thing is, he was talking about Fate most of the time.
Sam was here, too.
He heard him.
Yeah, he sure did.
And what you were saying is true.
Fate's about the sharpest dealer I ever heard of.
What do you mean, Sam?
It's a story about Fate when he was still in Texas.
Go on.
You tell him, Kitty.
Go on.
Well, it seems Fate owed a man $500 when the war broke out.
But he told him he'd keep it for him so that he'd have something when he got out of the
Army.
That was during the Confederacy, of course.
So when the fellow came back to collect his money, Fate shoved a whole barrel of it at
him and told him to hell himself.
Ain't that something, Marshall?
Fate claimed the debt had been made in Confederate money, so that's what he paid off with.
A pretty foxy of him, don't you think, Matt?
Five hundred no-good Confederate dollars.
Kitty.
Hmm?
Did Neil say where he'd heard this story?
Oh, that new friend of his, Shannon.
You tell them why.
Hey, there's a good story, Kitty, sir.
It's a real good story.
I'll tell you that.
Neil's fine, Mr. Dillon.
Doc's got the bullet out and everything.
There's nothing more I can do now, you're a mighty lucky young fella, Neil.
I don't call getting shot so lucky.
I ain't talking to you, mister.
When you come back tomorrow, Neil, I'll have to change that dressing.
Sure, Doc.
Let's get out of here, Shannon.
Okay.
Shannon.
Yeah?
Where'd, uh...
Where'd you go?
Where'd you go after the shooting of the stable?
Nothing I could do for a man, Marshal.
Come on, Kitty.
Now, you wait here a minute, Neil.
I'd more like to talk to you.
What for?
Well, I ain't waiting.
You might be interested in this, too, Shen.
I'll wait for you at the stable, Neil.
That's far enough, Shannon.
I've heard all your talk I need, Marshal.
Shen, maybe fate ended or outsmarted you, but five hundred dollars isn't enough to try
to kill a man over.
So now, wait!
Get over by the window, Chester, in case he makes a street.
I'm going after him.
Yes, sir.
Look at him, Mr. Dillon.
Right there.
Why?
I got him.
Why?
Did you shoot him, Chester?
I didn't hear anything.
No, sir.
That chamber pot there.
I dropped it right on his head.
What?
It blew his eye, Mr. Dillon.
Yeah.
Well, he's your prisoner, Chester.
Come on down and lock him up.
Yes, sir.
I'll be right there.
Neil?
Yes, sir?
Marshal here.
Yes, sir?
The Marshal here told me the whole story.
Looks like we both made a mistake, Mr. Ender.
Shin wasn't much of a friend, was he?
Trying to hide behind you all the time.
I took up with him when I was drunk.
That's the whole trouble.
Neil, I'm kind of old.
Sometimes I guess I forget what it's like to be young.
Yes, sir?
And I...
Well...
That's all right, Mr. Ender.
No, no, it ain't all right.
See, what he's trying to tell you, Neil, is that he went and paid Doc for fixing you up.
He did?
And Doc says it'll only be a couple of weeks before you can ride again.
A couple of weeks is too long for a little wound like that.
I won't have no namby pambies riding for me.
You hear?
Yes, sir.
I hear.
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 Meston, with music composed and conducted
by Rex Corey.
Featured in the cast were Vic Perrin, James Ogg, Harry Bartel, and Barney Phillips.
Harley Bear is Chester, Howard McNear is Doc, and Georgia Ellis is Kitty.
Gunsmoke 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 End, Gunsmoke.
Kids love him, grownups love him.
Now, who could be so universally admired?
Why no one else but that singing cowboy, Gene Autry.
Tomorrow night, Gene Autry invites all his friends to visit him at Melody Ranch for a
half hour of songs and stories about the Old West.
You don't need any road maps to get to Melody Ranch.
Just turn on your radio and tune in to the Gene Autry Show, Sunday nights over most of
the same CBS radio stations.
George Walsh speaking.
Stay tuned now for Gangbusters, which follows in a few minutes over most of these same stations.
For Mystery Mixed with Merrimouth, join Mr. and Mrs. North Tuesday evenings on the CBS
Radio Network.