Gun smoke brought to you by L and M filters. This is it. L and M is best. Stands out from
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killers and the spoilers, and that's with a U.S. 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 chancy
job and it makes a man watchful and a little lonely.
Well, Mr. Dillon. Morning, Chester. Well, I didn't know you was back. Yeah, I rode in
late last night. Have a good trip? Well, I ran out of grub and I ran out of water. The
last hundred miles got pretty long. Now, what of interest has been happening in Dodge? Well,
sir, let me see. Oh, I got the toothache. That was the day you left. No, no, it wasn't.
It was the day after that. At least I think it was. I ain't real sure. But you are all
right now, though. Oh, yes, sir. I'm fine. I'm glad to hear that. I noticed a sign up
the street. New bank. They opened last week. Well, that's a big thing for Dodge, isn't
it? A new bank? Oh, I guess so. Do you know who's running the bank? A fellow named Holt,
Drew Holt. Holt. I never heard of him. No, sir. He just come to town, opened him up the
bank and he was... Oh, my goodness. Marshal Dillon? Yes, sir. Parsley Smith, sir. At your
service. So that's your name. I've seen you around, Mr. Smith. Not Mr. Smith, young
fella. General Smith, 3rd Illinois Cowry. What? I thought the 3rd Illinois was demobilized
a long time ago, sir. It was, sir. In the fall of 65, we stood with General Grant before
Richmond. Yeah, that was our last action. Well, what can I do for you, General? For
me, nothing. For the good citizens of your town, plenty. Oh. I arrived on the Santa
Fe last week, sir, and I've been waiting for your return. You sure wait loud, General.
You see, he's kind of like a preacher when he gets started, Mr. Dillon. You ought to
hear him. Well, I'm only doing my duty, but now that the Marshal's back, he can take over.
Take over what, General? Drew Holt is a thief, Marshal. What do you mean, the new banker?
Oh, that's what he talks about all the time, Mr. Dillon. He claims that when Holt gets
enough money on deposit, he's gonna steal it. Well, how do you know this, General? Well,
I haven't told anybody else, but I knew Holt in the war, Marshal. So? We caught him, but
he escaped. He was a Confederate spy. He was? Well, of course, there's nothing wrong with
being a spy, but Holt also was a Union spy. That man is no good. He's got to be stopped.
Are you sure of all this, General? To my words, an officer and a gentleman, sir. All right,
I'll look into it. Well, don't take too long, Marshal. Drew Holt's just waiting for enough
deposits to make it worthwhile. Well, he wouldn't get very far, General. A man who spied for
both armies and lived through it, you're underestimating the enemy, Marshal. But I've told you, it's
your responsibility now. Yes, sir. Sure. Good day, sir.
Chester. Yes, sir? About what of interest has been happening in Dodge. Have you figured
out just yet which day it was that you got that toothache?
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This is the place, Mr. John. Drew Holt? Yes. I'm Marshal Dillon Holt. This is Chester
Proutfoot. This is a pleasure. Have a chair, gentlemen. Thank you. I heard you were out
of town, Marshal. How'd I got back last night? Dodge has grown since you were away, eh? Yes.
Well, we're doing fine. Just fine. Except for one thing. That crazy old fool General
Smith. I don't know what he's got against me. I never even saw him before. But you're
gonna have to lock him up, Marshal. I'm not gonna have my bank and my name ruined by a
madman. Uh-huh. Where you from, Holt? What? I said, where you from? Back East, Pennsylvania.
Why? You look familiar. I thought maybe we'd met somewhere a long time ago. It couldn't
have been in the Army, could it? I wasn't in the Army, Marshal. Well, it doesn't matter.
Oh. What do you want? I didn't know you were busy. Well, wait outside. Yeah, I'll wait
at the Alphaganser. You want me, you come. You'll have to excuse him. He's kind of a handyman
I keep on staff. Uh-huh. Yeah, sure. Well, we'll be going, Holt. Glad you came by, Marshal.
You're, uh, you're not gonna do anything about General Smith? I don't know. But don't
you do anything about him. Come on, Shuster. Yes, sir. Oh, what do you think, Mr. Dillon?
He don't seem so bad to me, outside of being kindly short-tempered, like when that fellow
walked in. You know who that fellow was, Shuster? No, sir. His name's Ed Nash. He's a hired
gunman from up north.
Now, you wait here, Shuster. I won't be long. All right, sir. Tell Mr. Botkin hello for me.
Well, if it isn't the Marshal, back safe and sound. How are you, Mr. Botkin? Well, can't
complain. Sit down, Marshal. Sit down. You're not even complaining about your competition
down the street? Holt's Bank? Not at all. Dodge needs another bank, Marshal. Oh, is
that so? Certainly is. Now I'll be able to spend more time in the land business. That's
where I'm needed. Tell me something, Mr. Botkin. Do you know anything about Drew Holt? Well,
he came to see me the first day he got here, Marshal. Showed me his credentials and his
charter. Perfectly sound man. Uh-huh. But a man could fake credentials, couldn't he?
Oh, come now, Marshal. You've been listening to that crazy old General Smith. Now you think
he's lying, huh? Why, that old fool lies about everything. He told me he'd fought under Zachary
Taylor in the Black Hawk War, and that the last time he saw Taylor was at Harper's Ferry.
Well, what do you think of that? Well, that had been some ten years after Taylor died.
Just about. And you can be sure he's lying about Drew Holt, too. Well, I hope you're
right. You bet I am. And don't forget what I said. We need that bank. We need it bad.
It's gonna mean a lot to the whole country around here. You wait and see. Okay, Mr. Botkin.
I'll wait.
Evening, Kelly. Hello, Matt. You haven't seen General Smith around tonight, have you?
He's usually here about this time. You gonna do something about him, Matt?
Not much I can do, except to tell him to quit talking. Well, if he's got any proof about
this, he ought to bring it out. As far as I can tell, he just says Holt's a thief and
expects everybody to believe him. You know, I'm finding our General Smith something of
a liar, Kelly. Like his coming here on the train. He didn't come on the train. He came
on the stage. The driver himself told me today. Now, why does he have to lie about that? Who
cares?
That beats me. Maybe he'll find out when Doc gets back from the country.
What do you mean, Matt?
General Smith said he was with the Third Illinois Cavalry. That's Doc's old outfit.
Say now, that'll be interesting.
Yeah. But I feel kind of uneasy about it.
Why?
Well, he's a liar, sure, but I'm not sold on this Drew Holt.
He seems harmless enough.
A man that hires a gunman like Ed Nash isn't as harmless as he might be, Kelly.
I didn't know Nash was a gunman.
Well, he is. I seen him up north. He doesn't remember me, though.
Well, what's Holt need of a man like that?
Well, if you ask him, he'd probably say it was to protect his bank.
Mr. Botkin doesn't have gunmen hanging around his bank.
He certainly doesn't.
Well, there you are, Matt. The General's arrived.
Yeah. Well, I'd better go talk to him, Kelly, and get it over with.
Come back later, Matt.
Uh, yeah. I'll try.
Draw me a beer, Barty. I mean, I could drop a shot of good bourbon in it.
Oh, well, good evening, Marshal. Will you join me in a drink?
No, thank you, General.
Yeah, I see the new bank is still open. When are you going to close it?
I'm not going to.
You're shirking your duty, eh?
No, not the way I figure it, sir. Drew Holt's credentials are good, according to Mr. Botkin.
Nothing easier than that, especially for somebody as clever as Holt is.
He's hired a gunman, General. It could be to take care of you.
Take more than that to scare a man who stood before the batteries at Vicksburg.
Have you ever faced great shock, Marshal?
Look, General, your talk is hurting this town. Now, we need that bank.
I was decorated by General Grant himself, Marshal, in person.
Look, your talk can also hurt Botkin's bank. Now, people lose faith in a hurry when they get started.
Now, you're not helping dodge it all.
I helped win the war, Marshal. That's why they gave me a medal.
Will you keep your voice down? Keep your voice down.
Now, look, General, either you prove that Drew Holt is a thief or you quit talking about him now. I mean it.
Huh, I'm under fire, eh?
Well, that's one way of putting it, General, but you come up with proof or I'll run you out of dodge.
Oh, you'll get your proof soon enough, but it'll be too late then.
There's no use arguing about it. I've warned you. Now, next time, out you go.
If they'd listened to me at Bull Run, there never would have been no disaster.
General, why don't...
Now, what's the use? I've warned you. Now, you remember it.
I'll do my duties as I see fit, Marshal. I always have and I always will.
More coffee, Matt?
No, no, thanks, Doc.
Oh, my, look at that coffee. I sure made it black and heavy this morning.
Well, you'd complain if it wasn't.
Yes, I... I suppose I would.
Oh, my, my, my. Delivering babies is some fine way to make a living.
Now, what else would you use for an excuse to stay up all night, Doc?
Excuse, listen.
Well, I could always shine me up a tin star and sit around saloons waiting for dawn and acting like a killjoy.
It doesn't look like work, but it is.
Oh, now, just when I start a good row, you get serious on me.
I'm sorry, Doc. I guess I'm in a bad mood this morning.
Oh, what's the matter? General Parsley Smith?
Yeah. You haven't told me anything about him.
Well, I want to see him first. I want to talk to him.
But you told him to lay off, Matt, so he probably will.
Oh, yeah, sure. I bet he will.
Oh, see, I hear Drew Holt bought himself a house out at the edge of town.
Well, now, that doesn't sound like a man who's planning to run away.
No, it doesn't.
Mr. Dillon?
Oh, Doc, how interesting.
General Smith's at it again. He's standing out there in front of Holt's Bank, yelling at everybody who goes in.
He's telling them they might as well throw their money in the street and put it in there.
He'll probably lay off, huh, Doc?
Yeah, but let's go and see him, Matt.
All right. You can say hello to him before I run him out of town.
There. See that? Look at that. See?
He just talked that fellow out of going in there.
Uh-huh. Well, he'll quit talking soon enough.
Oh, he's seen you, Doc.
Yeah, so he has.
Doc. Doc Adams.
Hello, Parsley.
What are you doing in Dodge?
I live here. What are you doing here?
Well, I was on my way to Arizona, but I stopped here because I...
Well, I guess you heard about Drew Holt and his bank.
I thought I told you to lay off Holt, General.
I'm only doing my duty since you won't do yours, Marshal.
You're a hard man to convince, aren't you?
Well, I've already saved two men from losing their money today.
Well, that's all you're going to save. You're through, General.
I'm going to give you till noon, and if I see you around after that, I'm going to lock you up.
You mean that, don't you?
I mean it.
All right. I'll go.
No, wait a minute.
Um, Doc.
Yes?
Did you ever hear of Drew Holt and the Army?
That's the name he used, isn't it, General?
Yes.
I never heard of him.
All right, General. Till noon.
Noon.
Goodbye, Doc.
Thank you.
Goodbye, Parsley.
Well, what was the thanks for, Doc?
For keeping my mouth shut.
Oh?
Parsley Smith wasn't a General, Matt. He was the regimental butcher.
The regimental butcher?
He started out as a line sergeant, but they found out he'd lied about his past experience.
He claimed he'd been an officer with General Scott in Mexico.
It turned out he'd never been in any Army before.
Well, he's through now.
I feel kind of sorry for him, Matt. He isn't a bad man.
No, he isn't.
And I sure hope I'm doing right.
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I didn't see Parsley Smith again that day, and I was glad I didn't.
But I had to get rough with him, and I had no stomach for that.
I did go talk to Drew Holt, however.
I decided his gunman was the next man I was going to run out of dodge.
But he wasn't in his office, so I let it go until next day.
And the next day started pretty early.
Chester came and woke me up about dawn.
Seems there was a gun battle in progress down at the edge of town at Drew Holt's house.
There he is, Mr. John, laying behind that barrel there.
Go tell those sightseers to keep back, Chester.
Yeah, sure.
I swear he's gone plum crazy.
General, General Smith, it's Marshal Dillon.
Now hold your fire.
Stay where you are, Marshal.
He'll see you.
I'll come over there.
Drew, Drew Holt's still alive, Marshal, but I shot that gunman of his.
He's laying dead on the porch over there.
I see him.
He was going to run off tonight, but I was standing guard.
I stopped him.
Give me your rifle, General.
What for?
I said to give it to me.
Oh, you can take over?
Yeah, I'm going to take over.
Okay, here.
Now you're shaking. Have you been hit?
Oh, no. That Holt couldn't hit nothing.
He kind of yelled once, though.
I just might have a bullet in him.
You better hope you haven't, Chester.
You're in enough trouble now.
You still don't believe me, do you?
It doesn't matter what I believe right now.
You stay here, General.
Holt, it's Marshal Dillon.
I got the General's rifle. You can come out.
No!
You got him, Mr. Dillon.
I heard him yell.
Yeah. Go get General Smith, Chester.
Bring him up to the house.
Yes, sir.
Hey, General, come here.
Holt. Holt, can you hear me?
You got me, Marshal.
You did it.
Smith winged me, but you did it.
Yeah.
An old fool.
I should have killed him a long time ago.
I heard you ran him out of town.
I thought we were safe.
I sure was wrong, wouldn't I?
Is he dead, Mr. Dillon?
He's dead.
Now, you were right, General.
You did have a bullet of him.
Look at all them bags by the door there, Marshal.
That's the money they was running off with.
I don't suppose there's any use asking you how you really came to know about Drew Holt, is there?
I'm awful tired. Can I sit down in his chair?
Go ahead.
It's been a long night.
I made that up about him being a spy.
I thought you'd more likely believe that than what really happened.
It was over in Abilene a few weeks back, Marshal.
You know the Grant Hotel there?
Yeah, I know it.
Well, I had a room next to this Holt fellow.
That's how I come to overhear them flotting this business.
You mean you heard him through the wall?
Oh, of course not. How could I?
Well, what happened was I used to sit there in the dark with my window open,
and they'd sit outside on a little balcony they had where they thought nobody could hear them.
They didn't know I was anywhere around.
Well, say now, that was smart.
I fooled him good. He was pretty.
Marshal.
Here, General.
It looks like he's painted, Mr. Dillon.
Look.
Well, he's been shot.
Yeah, shot dead.
Poor old fellow even lied about being hit.
Oh, my goodness.
But he sure wasn't lying about Drew Holt, was he?
He knew about him. But we'll never know how.
Well, he told us how he heard him and all.
Yeah, but there was something wrong with that, Chester.
What?
The Grant Hotel burned down two years ago.
And now our star, William Conrad.
Thank you, George.
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Gunsmoke, produced and directed by 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 Bill James.
Featured in the cast were John Danaer, Joe Duvall, and Vic Parrott.
Harley Bear as Chester, Howard McNear as Doc, and Georgia Ellis as Kitty.
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Listen to Gunsmoke again next week, transcribed for L&M Filters.
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