Gun Smoke, brought to you by L&M, the modern cigarette that lets you get full, exciting
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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 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.
That's a nice clear evening, Mr. Dillon.
It'll be cold before morning, though.
Maybe old Doc ain't too far wrong.
Oh, what about?
Well, he claims winter's coming early this year.
He claims we'll have snow before the end of the month.
You're just passing along Indian talk, Chester.
They're all claiming it's tainting.
Evenin', Marshal.
Oh, how are you, Chester?
Miss Cobb?
How do you do, Marshal?
Chester.
Evenin', ma'am.
Yeppa.
You do declare, Mr. Dillon, that that ain't the most dilapidated old buggy I ever seen
anywhere.
Yeah, Chester believes in getting full value out of things.
Making do, as he calls it.
Yeah, let's get something to eat, huh?
Well, now, eatin' is something I get full value out of.
I know.
Let's sit over there by the window.
That team of Jesuits could do with some eatin', the way their bones was stickin' out.
Oh, a Jesuit figures fat on a horse is a sign that grain's bein' wasted.
Well, you're sorely, Marshal.
Okay.
You must figure the same thing about women.
Miss Cobb's bones was stickin' out some, too.
Yeah, he probably works her half to death.
Just stood around a farm that size without any hired help.
Yeah, they sure do keep to their selves.
Nah, people just don't take the Jesuit much.
He's got a pretty cool way about him.
And it's hard to say what she's like.
That poor lady don't even open her mouth lessen he tells her she can.
Plain mousy, that's what she is.
What are you figurein' to eat, gents?
Well, what have you got?
Stewed beef and bile greens.
Well, I guess that's what we'll eat, huh, Chester?
All right, I'll bring it right out.
Boiled greens.
Boiled gyms and we eat more...
What?
That was up the end of the street, Mr. Dillon.
Yeah, come on, Chester.
Open up here.
Let me through, will you, please?
Will you let me through?
Hang on to that horse.
It might be spooky.
What's the trouble, Chester?
Marshal, you've allowed this town to become a spook.
What's the trouble, Chester?
Marshal, you've allowed this town to become a sink of iniquity,
a white-ass sepulcher.
How's that so?
A town of painted Jezebels, scoundrels and murdering assassins.
The name should be changed to Sodom or Gomorrah.
You all right, Miss Cobb?
Somebody tried to kill us, Marshal.
They were standing right over there in the shadows.
Minerva, you'll try to remember a woman's place.
Marshal, ask me...
Silence.
Sorry, Chester.
Did you get a look at him?
We did not.
Who fired those shots?
You're the law here, Marshal.
I demand an accountant for this outrageous assault.
Chester, do you know anybody who might think they got a reason to kill you?
I never had an enemy in my life.
It looks like you got one now.
Free yourself of old-fashioned ideas.
Why don't you live modern?
Live modern.
Live, live, live modern.
Free up.
Freshen up your taste.
Smoke an L&M.
Why are more people changing to L&M than to any other cigarette?
Because only L&M lets you enjoy full, exciting flavor through the pure white miracle tip.
L&M draws easier, tastes richer, smokes cleaner.
So free up.
Freshen up your taste.
Get full, exciting flavor.
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Make today your big red letter day and start to live the modern way.
Live, live, live modern.
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America's fastest growing cigarette.
What a little more sugar in there.
That should fool Mrs. Prudman.
Now hand me that pill mold, will you, Matt?
Is this what you mean, Doc?
That's it.
Thank you.
Hey, I've got to make this prescription look real authentic.
Oh, what do you mean?
These are fooling pills.
They've got nothing in them but sugar and some chalk and a little gum arabic to bind them.
So that's the kind of medicine folks get from you.
Oh, no, it's the kind Mrs. Prudman gets.
Long as she figures they help her, that's all that's necessary.
At least they don't do any harm.
Nothing wrong with her anyhow except in her mind.
There they are.
We let that set awhile, dry, and then...
Oh, say, you found out yet who fired those shots at old Jezra Cobb?
No, Doc.
Not a hint.
That's the funny thing, Matt.
I don't think I know a soul and dodge that likes old Jezra.
Yeah, not, Doc.
But nobody really hates him, either.
They just stay clear of him as far as they can.
Yeah, that's just it.
He just isn't the kind of a man to rouse up strong feelings in anybody, good or bad.
Well, he must arouse some in whoever tried to kill him or kill her.
I don't even know for sure which one they were after, him or his wife.
You're busy, Doc.
Huh?
Well, come right in, Kitty.
Hello, Kitty.
Matt, what are you doing here?
Well, he's hiding from Jezra Cobb.
What?
Don't mind, Doc.
I'll step outside, Kitty.
Oh, no, no, don't go, Matt.
I just wanted to get something for a headache, Doc.
Oh, it's too bad.
Well, dip yourself some water there.
Here are some pills I just made up, Kitty.
Oh, not Doc.
The formula came straight from Boston.
Well, then take care of this headache there.
Miracle pills.
That's exactly what they are.
Here you are.
You swallow a couple of those.
Thanks, Doc.
I personally guarantee those stop the world's worst headache in one minute flat.
Yeah, they've done wonders for Mrs. Prudlin.
Mrs. Prudlin?
Pay no attention to him, Kitty.
He's all upset over that shooting.
Well, I can name a few people who aren't upset over it.
Oh, which people?
Some of the girls at the Long Branch.
He drops in about three times a year.
Jezra Cobb at the Long Branch?
Old self-righteous Jezra.
And every time it means trouble.
He always drinks too much and he bothers everybody.
Bothers them how?
By trying to reform them.
And it's the girls who always get the worst of it.
He? Now who'd have thought it?
He calls them painted Jezebels.
He says he means the curum of their transgressions.
Of course, the only cure he seems to know is to
grab a cane and beat the daylights out of any of them he can get his hands on.
I didn't know Jezra was that bad.
You ask some of the girls, Matt.
Daisy or Billy Bell.
Yeah, I will, Kitty.
Doc, could I have some of those pills to take with me?
Look, Kitty, Doc was just pointing...
They're real good, Doc. My headache's all gone.
What'd you start to say, Matt?
Nothing, Kitty. Nothing.
Forty-eight hours, Marshal, and you've accomplished nothing.
I demand legal action.
You haven't helped things any by lying to me, Jezra.
Lying to you?
You told me you never had an enemy in your life,
but two or three young ladies over at the Long Branch disagree with you.
Dance hall girls.
Maybe so, but I'd sure hate to have them looking at me over a set of gun sights.
Abandoned, painting their faces,
devoting in public to the devil's music.
And stay away if you don't like it before you got a bullet in your back.
Wasn't a woman who fired them shots?
A woman wouldn't have to fire them, Jezra.
She could get a man to do it for her.
Then why don't you jail them girls if they're plotting to kill me?
I don't have any proof of anybody plotting anything.
You're in league with the adversary, Marshal.
You're aiding and abetting a force of evil.
Let me tell you something, Jezra.
I'll aid and abet anybody's right to live his own life according to his own likes.
As long as he's within the law.
Mr. Dillon, I...
Yeah, what is it?
Could I see you a minute?
Yeah, sure.
Yeah, what's the matter, Chester?
Well, it's Miss Kitty.
She wants you over at the Long Branch right away.
Oh, what for?
Well, it seems there's a fellow there that's been drinking real heavy, Mr. Dillon.
Talking too much?
Oh.
And Miss Kitty heard him say he'd been offered $300 to kill old Jezra.
See yourself of old-fashioned ideas.
Free up.
Freshen up your taste.
Today all over the country, more people are changing to L&M than to any other cigarette.
And it's all because only L&M gives you full, exciting flavor through the pure white miracle tip.
L&M draws easier.
Tastes richer.
Smokes cleaner.
So free up.
Freshen up your taste.
Live modern.
Change to L&M.
Make today your big red letter day and start to live the modern way.
Live, live, live modern.
L&M.
It's America's fastest growing cigarette.
This way, Matt.
Right, Kitty.
Come on, Chester.
Yeah, sure.
He's playing poker over here with a house dealer and a couple of cowboys.
He been in here before?
Yeah, just during the last week.
He's a drifter, I guess.
Goes by the name of Puggy Rado.
There.
That's him, Matt, on the far side of the table.
Uh-huh.
He looks like a saddle bum.
He was making out real braggy for a while.
Fastest gun in Texas, that kind of talk.
But I guess he knew he'd gone too far when he said that about Jezebel Cobb.
Shut up tight right after.
All right, Kitty, I'll try to get him away from that table.
Wait, Matt.
I think he's coming over here.
Yeah.
I reckon you're the marshal, ain't you?
That's right, yeah.
And I reckon she heard what I said, sent for you.
That's just what I figured she was doing.
Stop it!
Hold it, hold it, Marshal.
You make one move toward that gun, and I'll put a bullet right in her back.
Will you get your hands off me?
Take it easy, Kitty.
You tell her, Marshal.
Tell her me and her are leaving now.
If anybody lays a hand on a gun, there's going to be a pretty corpse on the floor.
I told you to let go!
Take him out!
Drop that gun right now!
By the chance!
Are you all right, Kitty?
I'm all right.
Thanks, Matt.
I had to kill him.
There's no time for anything else.
Marshal, Marshal, was that the man?
Yeah, it looks that way, Jester.
He was claiming somebody had offered him $300 to kill you.
Why, that's the fellow who...
Who what, Jester?
Well, he stopped in at my place last week, begging a handout.
Did you say $300?
That's right.
Yeah, hi.
Got to be getting on home, Marshal.
Got to stop to attend to.
Got a lot of things to think of.
We'll forever more want to come over here and...
I don't know, Jester.
But I think I can guess.
I'll go get some water.
Kind of quiet, Mr. Dunn. Maybe Jester ain't home yet.
There's a light on in the house.
That's a real proud barn, Yonder, to be with such a poor-built house, ain't it?
Yeah, it sure is.
Good evening, Miss Cobb.
Hi.
How do, Marshal?
Jester.
Miss Cobb.
Your husband got home yet, Miss Cobb?
He's out there in the barn.
Won't you come in and set a spell?
Yes, we will, thank you.
As a matter of fact, Miss Cobb, you're the one we wrote out here to see.
That's right, kind of you, Marshal.
Now, you two sit down there at the table.
Just a minute took a wild plum pie out of the oven.
No, no, thank you, Miss Cobb.
I don't often get to feed collards.
You ain't going to deprive me of the chance.
Maybe we could just taste it a little bit, Mr. Dunn.
All right, Jester.
I always had the impression that you were opposed to visitors, Miss Cobb.
Oh, I love to have folks come.
Jester ain't never been one to encourage it.
Ah, I see.
The righteous must turn their faces from the world.
For the world is the cradle of sin.
That's what Jester always said.
There you are, piping hot.
My gracious, that smells good.
Eat hearty, there's plenty more.
It'll just go to waste.
Jester's never cared too much for plum pie.
Miss Cobb, how long have you and Jester been married?
Twenty-seven years, Marshal.
Twenty-seven years.
Uh-huh.
I know, with those years, Miss Cobb, how many times did he beat you?
Hundreds of times.
For my transgressions, he told me.
He used to read me from the good book that a husband's got a right to do that.
I never learned to read myself.
But last month I asked Reverend Blouse,
and he said there weren't nothing like that in the good book.
Well, maybe Chesra's got his own version.
He lied to me, that's what he done.
And if he'd lie about that, then, well, I reckon you know, don't you, Marshal?
Yes, ma'am.
About you offering money to that drifter who rode through here last week,
that you hired him to kill Chesra, yes, ma'am, I guessed it.
Chesra did, too.
I figured he did the way he acted in town.
He come home and told me about you having to shoot the man.
Then he asked me for our savings, and I got it for him.
He sat down here and counted it.
And when he seen it was the same as that fellow had been talking about, $300,
then he knowed for sure.
What did he say?
Nothing much.
He just sat here awhile, smiling that meek-kinda in that cold way of his.
His glory smile, I always called it.
And then he got up and went out to the barn.
And of course I knowed what he was going for.
What do you mean?
He was aiming to fetch a hickory stave.
He always keeps some out there to mend fences.
I didn't clear Mr. Dillon.
A man like that ought to be...
Well...
I think, ma'am, maybe I better go have a little talk with Chesra.
Won't be no use, Marshal.
Just won't be no use.
I think it will, ma'am.
Listen to me, Marshal.
You're wasting your time.
I'm trying to tell you.
When he went to fetch that stave, I knowed what he was aiming to do.
And I followed him out to the barn.
Yes.
I stood real close, Marshal, so I wouldn't miss.
And I pulled the trigger four times.
I put the gun there in the cupboard.
I figured you'd be wanted.
Chesra ain't never gonna beat me no more.
And you sit right by Hellman and finish your pie.
In a moment, our star, William Conrad.
If your daily routine never varies, chances are you're heading for a great big case of monotony.
Everybody needs a break once in a while, and sometimes a vacation just once or twice a year isn't enough.
But a break once a week would more than fill the bill.
What could you do with that leisure time?
Here's the answer to that.
You can vary your routine, but you can't change the routine.
Here's the answer to that. You can vary your routine with a fascinating and vital pursuit,
spotting planes for America's Ground Observer Corps.
It's exciting, it's interesting, and just two hours a week of your spare time is all that's needed to keep up the 24-hour schedule of the GOC.
Men and women from teenage up can help the Air Corps cover the blind spots in our radar system
by volunteering for the Ground Observer Corps, a civilian component of the Air Defense Command.
You'll be trained and supervised by officers and airmen of the Air Defense Command to spot planes in your area.
Find out from your local civilian defense office how you can be a civilian ground observer.
This has been a public service message by CBS Radio.
And now, William Conrad.
You know, when a Batman riding a good horse came into Dodge looking for trouble,
now likely as not he got a bullet hole placed in him.
And the horse went to the man who did it.
And that was the West.
Gunsmoke, produced and directed by Norman McDonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
The script was specially written for Gunsmoke by Les Crutchfield, with editorial supervision by John Meston.
The music was composed and conducted by Rex Corey. Sound patterns by Ray Kemper and Bill James.
Featured in the cast were Virginia Gregg, Ralph Moody, Don Diamond, and John Danaer.
Harley Bear is Chester, Howard McNear is Doc, and Georgia Ellis is Kitty.
Join us again next week for another specially transcribed story on Gunsmoke.
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