This is William Conrad. Because so many of you took the time and the trouble to write to Liggett and Myers,
Gunsmoke will continue to be heard right through the summer months.
I hope you'll join us for Gunsmoke every Saturday at this same time.
Gunsmoke, brought to you by L and M Filters. This is it. L and M is best. Stands out from all the rest.
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 U.S. Marshal and the smell of Gunsmoke.
Gunsmoke, starring William Conrad. The French scribe's 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.
The blazing sun and dust, dust everywhere.
And the hot, dry wind from the panhandle, baking your lungs, driving the blood to your brain and goading you into things you might not even think of any other time.
That's what the summer days are like in Dodge City.
But the nights are different. After sundown, when the warm dark lies soft and gentle on the prairie, then everything changes.
The nights are fine, but it's the blast and killing heat of the day that breeds the trouble.
Well, I declare I'll be doggone.
Yes, sir. It's her, all right.
Who are you talking about, Chester? Who's her?
Lucy.
What?
Oh, you remember her, Mr. Dillon, that girl that old Eve from Hunt took out of the Long Branch Saloon and married last winter.
Lucy was her name, Lucy Middlecamp.
Coming down the street there, see?
Oh, yeah.
First time seeing her in Coon's age. I hear old Eve rides a pretty close herd on her.
Looks like she's coming here.
Never could figure them two, Mr. Dillon. Why, she'd marry him, I mean.
And 800 acres of mighty good range land.
How are you, Matt? Chester?
Ma'am.
Why don't you sit down?
I haven't time, Matt. I can't let Ephraim know I came here.
Oh, why not? Why did you come?
Ephraim's gonna kill me.
What?
It's true. He told me so.
I know everybody thinks he's so good, studied to be a preacher and all.
But he's not good. He's mean and cruel.
I made an awful mistake when I married him, and now he won't let me go.
Why does he want to kill you?
He accuses me of things. Crazy, terrible things.
How do you want to file a charge, have him locked up?
My word against his? With him always quoting the Scripture and the like?
And me six months out of a dance hall?
People can't forget that.
Maybe it's only you who can't forget it.
I've been reminded often enough.
He keeps telling me I'm evil and that he tried to save me.
He says when I married him, I led him into sin and now I have to pay.
Well, what do you want me to do?
Talk to him, warn him, something.
He's crazy, Matt. I don't know what he might do.
I can't take a hand in this without more to go on.
Sooner or later, you'll have to take a hand in it.
And if you wait too long, you'll have to bring him in for murder.
My murder.
Think about it, Marshal.
Well, if you'd have taken that medicine I gave you, it would have been...
Oh, there's Matt. Matt! Oh, Matt!
Ah, hello, Doc.
Sit down here and have a drink, Matt.
Well, maybe later.
Ephraim Hunt's over there at the bar.
I want to talk to him for a minute.
All you're going to get is a sermon.
Well, maybe that's what I need.
Evening, Mr. Hunt.
Oh, Marshal. Will you join me?
Oh, thank you. I will.
A glass for Marshal Dillon, lad.
Yes, sir.
Evil it may be, but a vast help indeed in banishing the cares of the day.
A man like you shouldn't have any cares, Mr. Hunt.
Care lurks everywhere in this veil of tears, Marshal.
Men's brief joys, dearly bought.
Your good fortune, sir.
Well, luck.
Well, how's the missus?
Her health is excellent, as it usually is in youth.
Her state of grace may be somewhat more on second.
Oh?
It's nothing that can't be dealt with.
It's a man's bounden duty in this world to lend his own strength to the frail reeds of his household,
to support them against the storm and strife of this temporal life.
A man is a rock, sir, and a woman a reed, swayed by the winds.
Uh-huh. But if the rock happens to break the reed, what about that, Mr. Hunt?
I doubt the rock will break the reed, Marshal.
Good evening, sir. Good evening, Mr. Hunt.
Ah, your math.
Oh, hello, Kitty.
What's old Hunt preaching about these days?
Look, Kitty.
You knew Lucy when she worked here, didn't you?
Sure.
Tell me about her, huh? What's she after? What does she want?
A chance to be somebody.
She's hard as nails, Matt, and she'll use anybody to get what she wants.
That's why she married old Ethan.
Oh, there's something else you might not know, Matt.
Oh?
There's a young fellow working out there at Ethan's place, Booth Ryder.
You mean that young kid who drifted in here a couple of months ago?
How does he figure?
Well, I don't know. But I do know Lucy.
And you can take it from me, Matt. He figures.
Well, it's been fine talking to you, Marshal, but I reckon I'd better get back to work.
Unless you've got something else on your mind.
No, nothing, I guess. Just wondered how things are going, Booth.
I like it fine here.
Yeah, I understand Ethan's a good man to work for.
I got no complaint.
Uh-huh. How'd he get along with Miss Hunt?
Fine. Why?
I just wondered.
Weren't you wearing a gun when you first rode into town?
Yeah, it's over in the bunkhouse. Mr. Hunt don't hold with guns.
He don't pack one himself.
He's never had any reason to.
You got something on your mind, Marshal?
You're young, Booth, and it's a big world.
Why don't you go take a look at it, huh?
Some of the big spreads up north are on out west in the territories.
Marshal, with a setup like I got here, a man would be crazy to pull out.
And he might be crazier to stay.
I like it fine here. Just fine.
All right. I can't run you out.
It's your life, Booth.
As long as it lasts.
Well, there it was. And nothing to be done about it.
Like a mountain slide starting to move slow but about to pick up speed any second and smash anything in its way.
And the heat kept getting worse all that week.
The water pumps along the plaza dried up.
And even the night stayed hot.
Sundown didn't seem to make any difference.
Maybe if it hadn't been for the heat, things might have worked out different. I don't know.
Mr. Dillon, I reckon there's something you ought to know.
What is it, Chester?
I was just down at the hardware store and E from Hunt come in.
Well, what about it?
He just bought himself a gun.
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Booth.
Huh?
Up here on the porch.
Ephraim's bought a gun, Booth.
In town this evening.
He's got it there with him now and he's drinking.
He's gonna kill us, both of us. He told me so.
What'd you tell him?
Nothing. He's suspicious, that's all.
But he's crazy, Booth. He'll do it.
You gotta get that gun away from him.
That might take some doing.
You can do it.
You got a gun too and you know how to use it.
He doesn't know one end from another.
You gotta do it. It's the only way.
Maybe the marshal was right.
Maybe I have stayed here too long.
You... you can't leave now, Booth.
Can you?
You know I can't.
Then you gotta do it.
And it'll be better to face him.
If he don't, he'll lay for you and shoot you in the back.
And then me.
I know. I know.
Then it's up to you.
Am I worth it or not?
You're worth it.
Go on. Now.
What are you gonna do, Mr. John?
It's got me buffaloed.
All the way out from town I've been trying to figure it.
I still don't know.
Yeah, but if it ain't stopped, you know what it's gonna lead to.
I haven't got a thing to go on, Chester.
Because a man by Zagon doesn't prove he's planning a murder.
I know.
And ten to one Ephraim will order me off his property and tell me to stay off.
And he's got a perfect right to do it.
If I was in his shoes, I'd...
Come on, Chester.
I guess we should have got here sooner, Mr. John.
Yeah.
Over this way, Chester. They came from the barn, not the house.
Come on.
Came from inside the way it sounded.
Mr. Dillon, there's somebody over there on a horse heading down into the river bottom.
Let them go. We'll never catch them in that brush, not tonight.
Wait a minute. Easy now.
Mr. Hunt! Lucy!
They're over this way.
Now, here, Chester.
Mr. Hunt.
Marshal.
Who did this?
No matter.
It matters to me.
Marshal, I admire you.
You have implicit faith in the law.
But no law covers an old man being a fool.
The...the read survives.
Mr. Hunt.
What did he say there at the last, Mr. Dillon? What survives?
He meant Lucy, Chester.
Oh.
Chester, you stay here.
Yes, sir. Where are you going, Mr. Dillon?
I have to carry this sad news to the grieving widow.
What were you doing out there so long?
Mad.
Who were you expecting?
Well, I...I thought it was my husband.
What are you doing here?
What is it, Marshal? Did something happen?
You heard the shots, didn't you?
Well, I...I heard some shooting a while ago, but I...
What's happened?
Zephyrum, isn't it?
Who else would it be?
I don't know. I...
Zephyrum?
You really outsmarted me, Mrs. Hunt.
You planned it, you carried it out, and you'll get away with it.
Clean as a whistle.
Then I can't touch you.
What are you talking about?
Your husband's murder.
You're out of your mind.
I guess I should have figured what you were up to, but I didn't.
You were too smart for me.
You killed him without touching a trigger.
You worked young Booth Ryder up to that.
Are you crazy?
You got E from to buy that gun. You told him Ryder was bothering you.
Wouldn't let you alone.
That he was dangerous.
Maybe even hinted he was too old to protect his wife.
So he had a gun in his hand when Booth shot him.
Do you have any proof of what you're saying?
Not a bit.
Like I said, I can't touch you.
You're too smart for me.
Or else none of it's true.
Have you thought of that?
Yeah, yeah, I've thought of that.
Well, there's not much point in talking about it.
Marshal.
I guess I'll be leaving Dodge soon.
I can't stop you.
You could if you wanted to, Matt.
Two days passed with no sign of Booth Ryder.
I figured he was waiting it out somewhere around town.
Waiting to see which way the wind was going to blow.
But I didn't know where.
And I didn't have much case against him anyway.
It's probably a waste of time.
But I still had to try.
I had to bring him in and try.
It is a fact, Mr. Dillon, I ain't never seen a hot spell last as long as this...
Why, it's an up-to-down right frazzle person.
It's a rough one, all right.
Eight o'clock in the evening and that thermometer ain't dropped one degree.
Why, it keeps on like this a while it's going to drive folks back east.
Well, here comes somebody I wish would have driven somewhere.
Oh, Belk.
I reckon he's hunting somebody to stake him to a bottle.
And it kind of looks like we're going to be the ones on it.
Yeah, I'm afraid we are.
Mr. Dillon.
Marshal, I heard a rumor going around.
That you might be looking for this fellow Boothrider.
That's generally known, yeah.
I just might be able to tell you where he is right now.
All right, there's your bottle.
Now tell me.
I just like being an informer, but of course I...
It's my duty as a citizen to tell you...
Just tell me, Belk.
Now, Marshal, I...
What do you think to tell me, say it and get out?
He's hiding in the hayloft down to the livery stable.
You got no call.
You got your money, Belk. Now go on, get out.
All right.
Evening, General.
All right, Chester.
You'll get Booth.
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You think you'll put up a fight, Mr. Dillon?
I don't know, Chester, he's just a kid. I'm afraid he might.
That's a downright shame. He seemed real nice when he come here.
Lucy was too much for him.
She had him out in the middle with his head underwater before he even knew how to swim.
Here she is.
All right, watch yourself, Chester, stay clear.
Yes, sir, I will.
Hey, Booth!
I know where you are.
Now why don't you make it easy on yourself? Come on down and give up.
You got no protection up there.
I can stand here and throw bullets up into that loft as long as I have to until one of them finds you.
It's your last chance, Booth!
Hold it, Marshal!
Stay back, Chester.
All right, Booth, you're under arrest.
No. I ain't giving up that easy.
You're a fool. Now hand over that gun.
You haven't got a chance. If you try to draw, I'll kill you.
Then I reckon you better start your killing.
Ah! Ah! Ah!
Well, at least he won't have to stand trial.
He's not dead, Chester. I aimed high on him.
Come on, we'll get him over to Doc's.
Oh, hello easy, easy now, young fellow.
We just about got a hold of it.
Oh, it could have been a lot worse.
I wish it had been.
Oh, sure, sure, sure.
All right now, just brace yourself, boy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yes, well now I got a bandage on that and you live to hang yet.
Provided you don't get locked, y'all.
Why do you have to shoot people in stables, man? It's the worst place in the world for locked, y'all.
I'll try to remember that, Doc.
How do you feel, Booth?
I'll make out.
You've been hiding at the livery stable all the time?
No, I circled back and stayed in the barn out at the hunt place.
I figured you wouldn't be looking there.
Ah, you figured right.
That's about all I figured right.
She was using me, Marshal, that's what it was.
She told me when I went back out there, she gave me two weeks' wages, told me to drift.
Well, now you know.
She laughed at me, called me a green kid.
Now I reckon maybe she laughed at him, too.
She hadn't ought to laugh, Marshal.
That's where she figured wrong.
What do you mean?
I choked her to death.
Well, Booth, I'd probably have let you off clean.
You were in the clear.
He had a gun in his hand, even if he didn't know how to use it.
But not now.
Yeah.
Well, I guess it don't matter much now.
Funny thing, too.
I was heading up north when I stopped here.
I hit Dodge along about sundown, so I figured to lay in for the night.
Then I met Mr. Hunt in the saloon.
He'd give me a job.
I wasn't aiming to stay here, Marshal.
You weren't, huh?
I was just riding through.
Booth?
Yeah.
You ought to have kept on riding.
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Gunsfolk, produced and directed by Norman McDonald,
stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
The special music for Gunsmoke was composed and conducted by Rex Corey.
Sound patterns by Tom Hanley and Bill James.
Featured in the cast were Michael Ann Barrett, Sam Edwards, Ralph Moody, and Edgar Barrier.
Harley Bear as Chester, Howard McNear as Doc, and Georgia Ellis as Kitty.
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Canada, our northern neighbor, our best customer in trade,
and our close ally and partner in defense, celebrates its 88th birthday on July 1st.
This holiday is the Canadian equivalent of our July 4th.
And so today we send our warmest regards to our neighbor to the north.
Remember, listen again next week for another transcribed story of the Western Frontier
when Marshal 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.
Music