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Around Dodge City and in the territory on West, there's just one way to handle the killers and
spoilers and that's with a US Marshal and the smell of gun smoke. Gun Smoke 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 chancey job and it makes a man watchful
and a little lonely.
There's a couple of chairs, Matt. Let's sit down and watch the plaza for a while. Okay,
Doc. You'd look better sitting than standing anyway. I'd feel better, that's for sure.
An attack of the aegyo always leaves a man weak, Matt. You got over yours darn fast. I still feel
kind of ravelled out, Doc. Stupid and mad at the same time. Well, aegyo doesn't improve a man's
temper. I haven't had a good night's sleep in a week, I'll bet. Marshal Dillon? Yeah. Marshal,
you don't know me, but I've seen you around lots of times. My name is Jake Buehle. I've seen him,
too. Hello, Doc. You know, what can I do for you, Buehle? I heard you was in the market for a good
horse, Marshal. I'm always in the market for a good horse. Well, that's what I do, Marshal. Right
around the country looking for extra good horses. I don't make much profit off them, but keeps me
from working steady. And I don't buy horses very often, Buehle, even good ones. You like buckskins?
Sure, but I don't want to look at him tonight. Tomorrow? Well, yeah, yeah, if I'm feeling better.
So you know, Matt, what'll do you good? Oh, what, Doc? Go over to the Long Branch and take a couple of
shots of whiskey. Uh-huh. And then go to bed. Okay, Doc, I'll just do that. You, uh, you want to come
along? No, no, I've got some work to do at my office. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night, Buehle.
Good night, Doc. Good night, Doc. How long you been around Dodge, Buehle? Couple of months. You, uh,
make pretty good living trading horses? I done good so far without cheating nobody too bad.
Marshal! Marshal Dillon! Oh, no, what does he want? Who is he? Sam Noonan. Oh, yeah. Don't he work at
the Long Branch? He built it. What do you want, Sam? Hurry up, Marshal. Oh, what's the trouble?
Outback. Gonna be a fight. A fight? Who? You know that gambler, Charlie Pickard? He's also kind of a
gunman, isn't he? He's raw and drunk, Marshal, and there's gonna be trouble, sure. Now come on,
we'll go up the alley. That Pickard's always getting me in trouble. Who's he after, Sam? Chester.
That's who? Chester. Yeah. It started right inside at the bar, Marshal. Chester bought a drink for
that little blonde girl. Well, it doesn't matter now. You can tell me later. There they are.
I didn't bring you out here for talk, Chester. Now everybody get back! You're drunk, Pickard.
I ain't so drunk I can't shoot you. Pickard. Marshal Dillon. Don't touch the gun, Pickard.
What are you doing here, Marshal? I'm stopping a fight. I ain't gonna fight you. All right,
then give me your gun. Take it. I ain't that drunk. Chester. Yes, sir. Throw him in jail.
Now wait, Marshal. Shut up. Take him around the other way, Chester, out the next alley. I'm going
inside for a minute, then I'll be over. There ain't gonna be no fight. I think I'll go to bed.
I'll be around with that buckskin in the morning, Marshal. Yeah, sure. Sure, Bully. It ain't fair to
put me in jail, Marshal. I ain't done nothing. You're drunk and you're about to shoot a man,
Pickard. I'm doing you a favor throwing you in jail. That's true, Pickard. All right, put me in jail.
But wait till I get sober, Chester. Wait till tomorrow. I'll get you. You'll see what I'll do.
You're not gonna do anything, Pickard. All right, take him along, Chester. I'll follow you,
I figured. Go ahead. Walk slow. It won't be so easy next time. Marshal. What have they got to have
Marshal around for? Oh, you'll forget it by morning. No, I won't. You'll see, Chester.
All right, Sam, tell me now. What's this all about? Well, I started to tell you, Marshal, Chester
bought a drink for Nita Tucker at the bar in there. You know her. Yeah, I've seen her around. Well,
she's really Pickard's girl. He kind of watches out for her, you know. Yeah. Well, she don't seem
to like it much, but that don't stop him. And he's real jealous if anybody gets anywhere near her,
especially if he's been drinking, like tonight. So he was gonna shoot Chester because he bought
Nita a drink, huh? Yeah. Now, that's a great reason for killing a man. Oh, that Pickard can be awful
mean, Marshal. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if he makes more trouble tomorrow when he's sober.
And I'll keep him in jail till he forgets about it. Can't keep him there forever. No, but I can always
run... Come from that alley there. Yeah, come on. Must be Chester.
Hey, looky, Marshal. That's Pickard. Chester shot him. What's the matter with you, Chester?
Did he knife you or something? Here, come on. Stand up. Come on.
Pickard's dead, Marshal. Are you hurt, Chester? What happened?
Come on, tell me what happened. I got hit. And here's Chester's gun, Marshal.
He's laying right to his feet. Did he jump you? Is that what happened? No. No, he didn't jump me.
Well, then why did you shoot him? I didn't shoot him. Somebody hit me. Well, that don't make sense.
Of course you shot him. This here's your gun. It's been fired. I didn't shoot him.
Somebody jumped out from back of that rain barrel and hit me.
He ain't bleeding low for you. Well, he hit me back here behind my ear.
Didn't knock me out for long. I heard the gunshot, but I couldn't do nothing. Who was it, Chester?
I didn't see him. I started to turn and then he hit me. You're gonna have a hard time proving that,
Chester. I didn't kill him, Sam. He swore he was going to get you tomorrow and looks to me like you
killed him for that. I got hit, I tell you. You mean me, don't you, Mr. Dillon? Sure, sure, Chester.
But Sam's right. It's gonna be hard to prove. You're not even marked up. Well, let Doc look at it.
He can tell I got hit. I wouldn't kill nobody like that. Sam, get somebody to take care of Pickard's body, will you?
We're going over to Doc's.
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I hold that lamp a little higher, Matt. I can't see.
Is that better, Doc? That's fine. That's fine. Now then, show me where you were hit, Chester.
Right there, Doc. Right back there. What'd he hit you with? Well, how'd I know? I didn't see him.
Maybe he used the edge of his hand. It isn't swollen. The skin isn't broken anywhere. Well, it's bruised,
ain't it? Well, not that I can see. Well, it must have done something. How hard were you hit, Chester?
Well, it knocked me off my feet. And I got kindly feinty for a few seconds. Long enough for him to
take my gun and shoot Charlie Pickard. That's pretty hard, ain't it? Yeah. You can put the lamp down now, Matt.
Okay, Doc. You're saying you can't testify I got hit, ain't you, Doc? You want me to lie for you, Chester?
No, I wouldn't ask you to do that, Doc. It's too bad Sam Noonan had to be there, isn't it, Matt?
Oh, Sam likes Chester, but he thinks he did it and he'll testify against it. Well, how can he, Mr.
Dillon? He didn't see it. No, nobody saw it. Then they can't hang me, can they? They can't hang you, Chester.
But prison, huh? Maybe for life. We'll find out who did it. Oh, there's no way in the world to find out.
Wait a minute, Chester. You're giving up too easy. Tell me, you and Doc, you don't really think I'd done
that, do you? You're in a bad spot, Chester, real bad, but I believe you. What about you, Doc? Oh, of
course I believe you, Chester. Thanks, Doc. And you too, Mr. Dillon. I'd feel awful if you didn't
believe me. Well, worrying about it won't help, Chester. Well, I gotta worry about it. If we don't
find out who done it, I'll have Sam trial and I won't have a chance. If I do, are you...
Are you gonna put me in jail, Mr. Dillon? No, of course not. But you'd better stay around the office,
though, huh? There's gonna be enough talk about it as it is. All right, sir. Uh, was the girl's name
Nita Tucker? Yes, sir, that's right. But why? Well, maybe she knows who wanted Charlie Pickard dead.
I'll be back later.
Uh, hello, Sam. Well, what did Doc find? Nothing visible. Yeah. Put Chester in jail?
Uh, I'll have a shot of whiskey, Sam. Now, looky, Marshal, I'm as sorry about this as anybody. But
just because Chester works for you, there's no reason he can murder a man and then go free.
I'll be responsible for Chester. If he gets away, it'll make a lot of trouble, Marshal.
You think Chester did it, don't you? Of course I do. And I don't like him not being in jail.
Uh, Sam, that's Nita Tucker sitting over there with Kitty, isn't it? Yeah, that's her. But she
didn't do it. Oh, well, she hated Pickard, but you're not going to try to hang this on her,
Marshal. No, sir. I'll stand up for her. She's a good girl. I got the drinks, Sam. I don't need it.
Hello, Matt. Evening, Kitty. You don't need a Tucker, Matt? No. How do you do? Marshal, sit down.
Oh, thank you. Uh, I'm sorry about Charlie Pickard, Nita.
Sounds terrible, Marshal, but I'm not very sorry. I hated him.
Charlie didn't treat women very good, Matt. Well, that wouldn't excuse murdering him, though.
I'm not so sure. Marshal, you're not thinking I had anything to do with it, are you?
Now, Chester says he didn't do it, and I believe him. I wouldn't kill anybody, even him. Where were
you when it happened? I was in here. She was at the bar, Matt, and I was standing right next to her.
OK, I guess that clears you, Nita. Uh, tell me, who else hated Pickard?
A man like him has enemies, Marshal. There must be a lot of them. Anybody in particular?
Not that I know of. Look, I'd like to help, Marshal. If Chester didn't do it, it isn't right.
He should be in jail. Now, it sure isn't.
It looks bad for Chester. Don't it, Matt? Yeah, Kitty, it does. Now, good night. Good night, Heather.
Good night, Matt.
Marshal Dillon? Uh, hello, Billy. I heard about Chester, Marshal. I'm awful sorry about it.
He's always seemed like such a nice fella. Sure is too bad. Yeah, yeah. People are going to wonder
why you don't lock them up. No, they aren't. Well, not me. I understand, but Sam Noonan was
saying something about it inside there a minute ago. I see. Well, that's what I wanted to tell you.
He's going to make trouble about it. I told him not to be a fool. Ah, just a minute, Billy. Well,
what do you care? Is Chester a good friend of yours? No, I don't know him very well, but I don't like to
see no trouble start. Well, if it does, I'll handle it. I know you will, Marshal. I just wanted to tell
you what the talk is. I'll bring that buckskin by in the morning, huh? Okay. Good night, Billy. Good night, Marshal.
Jack Bully's warning doesn't bother me much, but still I couldn't delay filing murder charges
against Chester forever. And after 10 days of useless search for the real killer, I had to do it.
And then having written him up, I really began to worry. Chester did too. He'd sit quietly in the
office and look at me as though I'd just kicked him. So I stayed out of there as much as possible.
Like today, I went into Mr. Jonas General's store for nothing but to kill time looking
around. Matt, hey Matt, come here. Wow, hello Kitty. You need her? Hello, Marshal. How are you girls
gonna buy that whole pile of dresses you got stacked up there? As soon as Mr. Jonas gets back,
here we are, Marshal. She means she is. I'm only watching, Matt. Well, isn't that a lot of clothes
for just one woman? Not for me. Not this time. Not this time? Matt, when does a girl buy everything
new? All she wants. Oh, I don't know, I'm sure. When she gets married, of course. Married?
You getting married, Nita? Next Saturday, Marshal. Well, that's fine. It's fine.
What? Do I know the groom? Jake Buehle. Jake Buehle.
I guess everybody's surprised. Yeah, yeah. Would you come to the wedding, Marshal? I wish you would.
Well, sure, sure. Really? Of course, I'd like to come, Nita. Good.
Look, Kitty, I didn't see those hats back there. Well, I'm not gonna leave this store until I've
looked at every single thing in it. Kitty. She's so excited. Kitty, listen to me. How long has this
been going on between her and Buehle? A month or so, I guess. Why? I thought she was Charlie Pickard's
girl. Pickard thought she was, too, but she and Buehle used to meet on the sly. He never did find
out. And he sure can't stop him now. No, he can't. As bad as it is for Chester, I'm glad Charlie Pickard
got shot. Well, there are other ways it could have been handled. Kitty, I'm gonna tell you a secret.
A secret? Well, that's what I want you to call it when you tell it to Nita. Tell Nita what?
And I'm gonna let Chester leave Dodge tonight. What? I'm gonna ride out of town with him,
and as soon as he's gone, I'm coming back and arrest Buehle. Buehle? You think he did it, Matt?
Well, he could have. He had a good reason to. I'm gonna find out for sure tonight.
Anyway, tell Nita that I have a witness. A witness that nobody knows about but me. But, Matt,
if Buehle believes that, won't he wonder why you're letting Chester run away? Well, not if he hears
my witness won't be back in Dodge for a couple of days, and that I'm afraid Sam Noonan will form a
lynch mob before then. All right. But you're asking a lot, Matt. Why telling Nita this could ruin her
one chance to be happy? No, she wouldn't be happy with a murderer, Kitty. And if Buehle's
innocent, I promise you that nothing will happen to her. Okay, Matt. I'll do it. All right. Good.
Well, Chester will be riding out at Moss-Gremmick's stable about midnight tonight with me.
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It's pretty near half past 12, Mr. Dillon. Yeah. Guess we know you was waiting here much longer.
No, I was hoping he'd come into the stable just so we'd have a better chance at him that way.
Yes, sir. Well, it's me he's going to be after. I'll go out first. I'll cover you the best I can,
Mr. Dillon. Now, look, he doesn't know which direction we're going to be taking, so I expect
he'll be hiding pretty close to the stable. Mr. Dillon, you're risking your life just to keep me
out of jail. I'm catching a murderer, Chester. No, sir, that's the only part, Drew. You're
catching a murderer. I'm going to lead my horse out the main door now. You stay here in the shadows,
and I'm going to turn back and call to you so that he'll know it's me that's out there. Well,
ain't there some other way we can catch him, Mr. Dillon? I swear, I don't know what I'd do if
anything happened. I'm going to go now. Yes, sir.
All right, hurry up, Chester. Let's get moving.
Stop it!
He's in that alley, Mr. Dillon. I seen his gun.
I'm going to go and check.
I'll go and check.
He's in that alley, Mr. Dillon. I seen his gun.
Don't shoot, Chester. Wait a minute.
Come on.
Laying right there, Mr. Dillon.
That's a woman.
Don't kill me. Don't kill me.
Don't kill me.
It's me.
You hurt Badnita. Where did I hit you?
My arm.
Here.
Let me take a look.
Well, it's not broken.
We'll get you up to Doc's right away.
She tried to kill you, Mr. Dillon.
No, it wasn't me. I followed Jake here.
I tried to stop him.
Get on, Chester.
Where is he, Nita?
I couldn't stop him.
He's a murderer. Where is he? Tell me.
That rain barrel at the end of the alley.
He said he was going to hide in there and for me to shut up.
All right, you stay with her, Chester.
I'm taking no chances, Billy.
I'm going to start blowing holes in that barrel.
No.
Don't shoot.
Look.
My hands. Can't you see them?
All right, keep them up.
High.
All right, now stand up.
I ain't going to try nothing, Marshal.
I'll take your gun. Give it to me.
All right, now climb out of there.
Sure.
I...
I wasn't going to shoot nobody, Marshal.
You made a big mistake.
Especially shooting a woman like you.
Shut up. Start walking.
Sure.
Jay. Shut up.
I told you not to do it.
I told you.
Too bad you wasn't killed.
She was the one tried to do it, Marshal.
Not me.
I only run and hid to protect her, sort of.
You're not making much sense, Billy.
Take him to jail, Chester.
Listen to me, Marshal.
Now, get going.
Come on. Move, Billy.
Go on.
And you better walk straight.
You'll do no good.
You can't keep me in jail.
You'll be saying that a month from now, Billy.
Can you walk all right, Neither?
Let me rest a minute.
When I can.
Yeah, sure.
I guess you won't be coming to the wedding after all,
will you, Marshal?
No.
No, Neither. I guess I won't.
Here. I'll carry you up to docks.
Now our star, William Conrad.
Thank you, George.
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Gunsmoke, produced and directed by
Norman MacDonald, 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, James Nusser, and Joyce McCluskey.
Harley Bear is Chester,
Howard McNear is Doc,
and Georgia Ellis is Kitty.
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Listen to Chesterfield's two great radio
shows every week. The Perry Como Show
every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday,
and Dragnet, Tuesday nights
on another network.
Remember, listen again next week for
another transcribed story of the Western Frontier
when Marshall Matt Dillon,
Chester Proudfoot, Doc, and Kitty,
together with all the other
hard-living citizens of Dodge,
will be with you once more.
It's America growing west in the 1870s.
It's drama.
It's gun smoke.
Brought to you by L&M Filters.
This is the CBS Radio Network.