Gunsmoke brought to you by L&M Filters.
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In 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 U.S. Marshal and the smell of Gunsmoke.
Gunsmoke, starring William Conrad, the transcribed story of the violence that moved West with
Young America, and the story of a man who moved with it.
I'm that man, Matt Dillon, United States Marshal, the first man they look for and the last they
want to meet.
It's a chancy job, and it makes a man watchful and a little lonely.
It's a doggone shame, Mr. Dillon.
Oh, what is, Judge Dillon?
Well, for long, it'll be too cold to sit out here in the evening.
Winter's too cold, summer's too hot.
How do you like spring?
Oh, spring's all right up here, but I remember back in Waco, we all got to hate you every
spring.
Oh, what terrible fever.
It makes a man feel like a harp with a thousand strings.
Yeah, I know I've had it.
You know, my ma had an idea we wouldn't get it if we had three hard-boiled eggs on Good
Friday.
But if that didn't work and we got to aid you anyway, then she'd tie salt mackerel onto
our feet.
Well, that should have toughened up your feet anyway.
We all survived.
That stage is mighty late tonight, Mr. Dillon.
Are you expecting somebody?
Me?
Well, now, who would I be expecting?
Oh, maybe some girl from Waco who's found out where you've been hiding.
Not very likely.
Even my ma don't know where I'm at anymore.
Hey, here comes a stage driver.
Is Jim Buck?
Yeah.
Marshall.
Hello, Chester.
Oh, Jim.
What's the matter?
Trouble, Jim?
I'd call it trouble, Marshall.
Got held up.
One passenger shot down in cold blood.
Huh?
Meanest thing I ever saw.
Well, what had happened?
On the side of Wagon Bed Springs, between there and Jesse Daggett's.
Daggett's?
He runs a stage station out toward the Colorado line.
Oh.
I got a mighty strong feeling Jesse Daggett's in on this, Marshall.
Well, what makes you think so, Jim?
He knew I was carrying gold.
Wasn't much, but it was some.
After we'd laid over an hour or so at the station, I seen Daggett talking to a man who
just rode in.
As cussed looking a gunman as you'd want.
Well, then what happened?
The fellow rode off.
He was alone?
Just him.
His face covered.
And he never said a word.
Took the strong box, robbed the passengers, and he got on his horse, turned around and
shot one of them right through the head.
Forevermore.
Then he rode off.
I could have cried.
I was so mad.
Helpless.
That's a strange thing, Jim.
Is shooting down the passengers.
Why would a man do that, Marshall?
I don't understand it.
How they just likes to kill, maybe.
I'll go back with you tomorrow, Jim.
Maybe we can find out.
We made the trip down the Santa Fe Trail next day through Wagon Bed Springs and on to Jesse
Daggett's stage station.
I sat on the box with Jim Buck while Chester rode inside with the passengers.
And by evening, everybody was glad when we reached Daggett's.
It was a typical road ranch with a large eating room and a row of sleeping quarters for the
travelers.
Jesse Daggett himself was a tall, angular man, gaunt and gray.
He was quiet, but one could feel the trouble that lay inside him.
The first chance I had to talk to him was in the yard after supper.
Cold weather be coming soon.
Have to lay in more whiskey.
I figured you probably made your own whiskey, Daggett.
I do.
I've got five barrels of corn buried on the road out there.
Stage and the horses keep them shook up properly.
You have this station long?
Three years come spring, Marshall.
Put her up myself.
Pawnees try to burn her down now and then, but I'm still here.
Any plan to stay here?
Man's plans are his own, Marshall.
I'm sorry.
It was just an idle question.
That's all right.
I think I'd like it here myself.
No neighbors, but lots of company passing through.
Ain't all good company.
Lots of people travel, good and bad.
That's true.
Like the man who held up Jim Buck's stage yesterday and shot that passenger.
What about him?
Well, you might call him company like we were talking about.
The bad kind.
Any man kills in cold blood that way.
I'd call bad.
Might have been a mistake, though.
Gun might have gone off by accident.
Might.
You don't think it did, huh?
What I think won't raise the dead, Marshall.
No, but it might keep more people from dying.
I'm sure that's what you're doing here, looking for that fella.
Jim Buck thinks it might have been that gunman you were talking to here the day of the holdup.
That was Nat Pilcher.
And I don't care what Jim Buck thinks.
Well, it won't help your business or the stage companies if more passengers get killed in
their hair, Daggett.
No, it won't.
Perfect.
Everybody expects a stage to get held up once in a while, but it's a different matter
to shoot people down for nothing.
I don't figure this man unless he's just a born killer.
It could have a lot of reasons.
Men are all different, Troy.
All got different reasons for doing what they do.
Living the way they live.
I guess it's what happened to them in the past that spells it out.
That's why I'm a lawman and you run a stage station and whoever he is holds up people
and kills them.
Marshal, I'll tell you something, but it ain't what you want to hear.
I believe in letting every man kill his own snakes.
Then this business is between whoever that bandit is and me.
Is that it?
That's it exactly.
Every man for himself, you might say.
I don't interfere and I won't help.
I see.
It's got to be like that, even though a man was killed for nothing.
Dog eat dog, I see.
Well, I hope you won't regret it, Daggett.
One more regret won't break me, Marshal.
I'm not so sure, Daggett.
I'm not so sure it won't.
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Trying to get anything out of Jesse Daggett was hopeless.
But I still couldn't agree with Jim Buck that Daggett was partners with a road agent.
But somehow wasn't that kind of a man.
Anyway there was nothing to do but wait.
Let things happen.
Two days passed while Chester and I sat in the eating room and played two handed stud
and got bored and restless.
Late afternoon of the second day, however, Jim Buck drove back with his stage.
The travelers came in first, went to their rooms, and then Jim came over to say hello.
I wish I had a job like yours.
Nothing to do but sit around and play cards and drink whiskey.
Well we do a lot of thinking Jim, that's what makes up for it.
You do, huh?
Oh.
You done any about finding Jesse Daggett's friend?
Not a picture.
But if we did find him Jim, we couldn't prove anything.
No, neither could I I guess.
We might just shoot him for luck.
You're too suspicious Jim.
He was probably just some cowboy riding through.
Maybe.
Anyway, I got no gold this trip.
Then there's nothing to worry about, is there?
There's another pilgrim for supper.
That's the first visit we've had since you left, Jim.
Man has to be mighty hungry to ride in here for Jesse Daggett's food.
Where is Daggett anyway?
Well he went outside just after you pulled in.
Didn't you see him?
I was busy with the horses and I still got work to do.
I'll see you at supper.
Oh my.
That's a hard life driving a stage Mr. Dillon.
I don't think I'd want to do that.
You might give it a try first, Justin.
Now wait a minute.
I heard there was a marshal here.
Yeah, that's right.
What can I do for you?
Me?
You can't do nothing for me, Marshal.
And what do you want?
Oh, I just wanted to see what a marshal looks like.
A live one.
You satisfied?
Sure.
All right, then get out of here.
You touchy, Marshal, real touchy.
I don't aim to start no trouble.
I only come in to say hello, friendly like.
What's your name?
Pilcher.
Ned Pilcher.
Yeah, I thought so.
Sure.
I'm a friend of Jesse Daggett's, an old friend.
Where do you live, Pilcher?
You got a job around here?
I'm a cowboy, Marshal.
Know anybody needs a good hand?
What do you do besides ride?
Funny you ask that.
Is it?
You being a lawman, it is.
Ever hear of Charlie Hall, sheriff over in New Mexico?
I have.
It's they play Alice in the sharding.
That's what they say, Marshal.
But I know for a fact, it wasn't Clay.
Nice meeting you, Marshal.
See you later.
Jesse Daggett's stage station lay on the prairie, miles from anywhere.
It would be an easy thing for a man like Ned Pilcher to ride in long enough to check on
a stagecoach and the value of its cargo and then ride up the road a few miles and wait
for it.
But I still didn't believe Daggett was in on the deal, even though he and Pilcher had
obviously known each other somewhere before.
The next morning at dawn, Jim Buck loaded his passengers aboard and pulled out.
Daggett and I stood there and watched the little cloud of dust as it moved up the Santa
Fe trail toward Wagon Bed Springs.
Make dodge tonight and be back here tomorrow.
If he doesn't get shot up, I ain't carrying no gold this trip.
I met your friend Nat Pilcher last night, Daggett.
Pilcher rode out before supper.
Yeah, I know.
It seems like he only came in to tell me what a hard case he is.
He warned me about it.
Didn't have much effect.
You're still here.
You don't think I scare that easy?
You're all right, Marshal.
You should have gone back to dodge.
Why, Daggett?
Why should I?
Things will work out here without you.
Now, go ahead.
That's all.
Now, Daggett, I don't know what's going on down here.
And if I'm meddling in your affairs, I'm sorry, but a stage has been robbed and a man's been
killed, and that makes it my affair, too.
I want to thank you for not thinking I got anything to do with all that, Marshal.
And I wasn't sure at first, but I am now.
Even so, I'm not going back to dodge without a man.
No, I suppose you won't.
Now, let's go inside.
Sure.
You know, you ought to plant some trees out here, Daggett.
Sure improved the place.
Not enough water.
Now, dig for it, then.
You'll never get a woman to come out here and marry you unless you've at least got some
trees.
How's that?
No, it's fine.
No offense, I was just remarking that women like things growing around a place.
Let's say that I meant it generally.
I thought to have a woman here once when I first planned about running a stage station
that was over in New Mexico.
Seems like a long time ago.
Now, things don't always work out.
I was mighty fond of her, but I lost her.
Been a little lonely ever since.
Now, you came close.
That's better than some men do.
Oh, I don't know about that.
Funny how a man goes right on living, even when his luck is about to run out.
Yeah.
Come on inside.
Heat up some coffee.
Good.
Got him, Chester.
Mr. Dillon, do you mind if we don't play no more?
That's where I'm beginning to see things.
It's OK with me.
The stage ought to be here pretty soon anyway.
Just think, Jim Buck's taking the stage all the way to Dodge and back, and we've just
been sitting here in another two days.
Well, waiting's always the hardest part, Chester.
I just hope it pays off.
Hey, there's the stage now.
At least there'll be some people around here.
Yeah, let's go out and meet it, huh?
Howdy, Jim.
Come out here, Marshal.
What's the matter?
More trouble, Jim?
He stopped me again, Marshal.
My heaven, I'm going after him now if you don't.
Take a look in the coach there.
Why?
Why, it's a woman.
Is she dead, Jim?
Of course she's dead.
You got a bullet in her.
Where are your other passengers, Jim?
They ain't any.
She was the only one on this trip.
Look at him, Marshal.
He killed her.
There's some blood sucking through your jacket, Jim.
You hit bad.
In the shoulder.
I wasn't going to stop at all.
He knocked me off the box.
And he just rode up and put a bullet in her and rode off.
Never said a word.
You think it was Pilcher?
Who else would it be?
You've seen him.
You know what he's like.
Must be him.
Let's ask Jesse Daggett here who it was.
Take a look in the coach, Daggett.
Take a good look.
Well, Daggett, what do you think of killing women?
Look at him, Marshal.
I told you.
You ever see a gilly looking man?
Now you're wrong, Jim.
It doesn't even make sense.
He didn't do it, no.
But he's in on it somehow.
Justice.
Yes, sir?
I'll help you take the woman inside.
Then we'll see what we can do about your shoulder, Jim.
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It doesn't make sense, none at all.
But I figured it would soon.
And after I did what I could for Jim Buck's shoulder, Chester and I buried the woman.
Put a cross over her grave.
We'd find out later who she was.
The rest of the night we took turns watching for a move from Jesse Daggett.
As sure enough, about an hour before dawn, he saddled up and rode out into the prairie.
We let him get a little start and then took a couple of his horses and followed him.
You think he's going to meet Pilcher?
If we can find him.
He must have come 10 miles already.
Yeah, about that.
We shouldn't have let him get so far ahead of us though.
We're right on his trail.
Yeah, I know.
What's that up there?
Look.
It's a man.
Come on.
Why, it's Daggett, Mr. Dillon.
He's been shot.
You followed me, Marshal?
How bad are you hurt, Daggett?
Pretty bad.
Pilcher?
I'd have killed him, Marshal, but my gun didn't go off.
And it got me easy then.
No luck left at all.
Right?
Any idea where Pilcher is now, Daggett?
He said he was going back to the station to get you.
Took my horse with him.
Had to come with you this morning, Daggett.
Wasn't your business.
It was between me and Pilcher.
He come here looking for a fight.
I didn't want to kill nobody no more.
Not even him.
So he drove me to it.
Finally, finally that woman, he knew I couldn't stand that.
You mean he shot her and that other passenger just to prod you into a fight?
Marshal, I'll tell you now.
I had a woman out in New Mexico.
I caught her running off with Nat Pilcher.
I didn't shoot him, though.
I shot her instead.
Figured that made more sense.
You killed her?
I don't think he'd have minded so much if I'd have killed him.
Figured he wasn't doing nothing.
I didn't want to do myself.
I didn't blame him.
None have blamed her.
Pilcher been after me ever since.
I could have stopped all this if he'd have told me sooner, Daggett.
Every man's got to kill his own snakes, Marshal.
I tried.
You can have them now.
I ain't gonna live long.
I'm sorry, Daggett.
Chester will stay with you.
I'm going back to the station.
You both go.
I can die alone.
I ain't afraid.
No.
Goodbye, Daggett.
Goodbye, Marshal.
Chester.
Yes, sir?
Do what you can for him.
Poor fellow.
I'll send somebody out to help you bring him in later.
Yes, sir.
I'll send somebody out to help you bring him in later.
It's about time you got back, Marshal.
Where's Pilcher, Jim?
Out back, looking for whiskey.
Where's everybody else?
It's been a busy morning.
How's your shoulder?
It hurts.
I gotta get up to dodge some hunts.
Good morning, Marshal.
Hello, Pilcher.
You've been riding.
So have you.
A man like me rides a lot, Marshal.
You should have kept going, Pilcher.
I wanted to see you again before I left.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's what Jesse Daggett told me.
I'm gonna kill you and then Jim here.
No, wait a minute.
Shut up, Jim.
I'm sure you can drop your gun belt and take your chances in court if you like.
My chances are better right here, Marshal.
Now that's your choice.
It's always been my choice.
Except for the night Jesse Daggett shot his wife.
Did he tell you about that?
It doesn't matter now.
To me it does.
You killed him, Marshal?
Yeah.
You hit?
No.
What's this all about anyway?
A woman.
Jim, I'm going to hitch up the stage and drive you out of the dodge.
I'd be grateful for that, Marshal.
We'll have to go out of our way some.
Why?
Jesse Daggett's luck ran all the way out this morning.
That's why.
And now our star, William Conrad.
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Gunsmoke, transcribed under the direction of Norman McDonald, stars William Conrad as
Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
Our story was specially written for Gunsmoke by John Meston, with music composed and conducted
by Rex Corey.
Sound patterns by Tom Hanley and Ray Kemper.
Featured in the cast were Vic Perrin, Lawrence Dobkin, and Clayton Post.
Harley Bear as Chester.
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.
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