Around Dodge City and in the territory on west, there is just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers, and that's with the U.S. Marshal and the smell of gun smoke.
Gun Smoke, starring William Conrad, the 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.
Mr. Dillon, you want me to keep this fire from building up? Mr. Dillon?
What? What did you say, Chester?
I said, you want me to keep this fire going on the forest?
Oh no, let it go out. I haven't got this shoe shape right now, I never will. Now we'll quench it and see how it fits.
Shoeing your own horse, next thing you'll be cutting your own hair.
Haircuts are different, Chester. Hold him steady now, we'll see how the shoe fits, huh?
Easy, boy, easy. Hold on, hold on. Why is it different, Mr. Dillon?
A bad haircut will never leave you stranded on the prairie, 20 miles from Dodge. Reach me that hammer, will you?
Here you are.
Oh, thanks.
Moss grimmick ain't that bad, a blacksmith.
Ah, moss is all right, but I can still ride easier when I shod the horse myself.
Just spinning, that's all.
Oh, maybe.
Moss does all that on my horse. I ain't shod but one shoe in the last six months.
Yeah, well that's just one too many.
Ah, there.
Oh, ho.
That'll trim the hoof now and that'll stay on till it wears off.
Yeah, after all that trouble it ought to. I swear to goodness, Mr. Dillon, father's gonna...
And get his horse put up here?
Yeah, I guess so. It's a livery stable.
I'll give him extra half ration of grain.
You rode hard today.
How's that so? Where'd you come in from?
Man gotta tell his life history before he can leave a horse here.
No, no. All you gotta do is find the stable man.
Ain't you him?
He's up the street, getting himself a cup of coffee. I'm the marshal.
Oh, I didn't mean no offense, Marshal.
There's none taken. My name is Argo, Ben Argo.
I'd be proud to make your acquaintance.
How do you do?
I was aiming to come looking for you as soon as I got my horse took care of.
Oh? Why?
You see these easier saddlebags?
They are. What about them?
They look kindly heavy.
Yeah, they are heavy.
Whew.
I got a year's hard work up north of here gold-hill diggings and them sacks.
We're at near $15,000 in plaster gold.
Oh, hell, huh? They had quite a strike up there.
Oh, it's a big one, all right.
A few months of hard work, a man can quit rich.
Providing he's lucky enough to keep what he makes.
What do you mean?
Marshal, there's more crooks and outlaws up there than there is honest miners.
The only way I hung on to this was taking out to the diggings with me in the daytime
and sleep on it nights with a gun in my hand.
Now you can rest easy, Argo. Things are different here in Dodge.
Maybe so. I'd still like to put these saddlebags up in a safe place for the night.
I'm leaving tomorrow. I'd kind of like to be free to look the town over this evening.
Never been here before.
The bank's already closed.
Yeah, a fellow down the street tells me there's a storekeeper.
Takes care of money for folks sometimes.
Now, that'd be Wilbur Jonas, but only in case of an emergency,
like when stage passengers hit town late, you know?
Some of that kind.
Well, Marshal, maybe you could tell him that this is an emergency.
How is it?
I ain't a man to spook easy, but there's fellows up in Gold Hill
who know how much I left with, know where I was headed.
I might have been followed.
All right, Argo, I'll send Moss to take care of your horse
and you meet me over at Jonas' store. I'll wait for you there.
I'm much obliged, Marshal.
It's no trouble. Come on, Chester.
Yes, Chief.
Why, the graceful to both of you.
You think somebody could have followed him and the dogs, Mr. Jones?
No, Chester. Just depends on what his reasons are for lying.
Lying?
Yeah.
Well, what are you going to do about him?
For the time being, nothing. Just going to have to wait.
Look, you better tag him around and keep an eye on him anyway, huh?
Yes, sir, Mr. Jones.
Hello there. Aren't you that memory expert?
Yes, I guess I am at that.
What are you committing to memory now?
I'm reminding myself to get my wife a new...
ID card?
Yes. She needs it to get medical care under the Dependence Medical Care Program.
And how do you remember that?
What?
The memory card.
Oh, I see.
I see.
And how do you remember that?
What?
To get your wife a new ID card so she can use Medicare.
Oh, by association.
By association...
I associate...
What were we talking about?
Making sure your dependents have an ID card.
Right. I associate cards with thinking, thinking with headaches, headaches with pain, and pain with doctors.
I'll write it down in this little book here.
Oh, that's funny. I could have sworn I brought it with me.
For more about Medicare, get the pamphlet Dependence Medical Care Program.
Oh, man, look at that. Look at...
That does it. That's the final straw.
Look at that, will you, Matt?
Look at what, Doc?
The stuff they slap on a place and call food in this town.
Just look at that.
Well, Doc, if you don't like beefsteak...
Beefsteak?
Oh, beefsteak, he says.
Matt, that is buffalo.
Buffalo's good, mate.
Not when it's a seven-year-old bull and tougher than a cavalry boot.
Matt, you know something?
What?
I am pulling steaks. Yes, I am. I'm going back east.
I see. Last time you said that was about a month ago.
I don't care. I mean it. I am through riding herd on a bunch of shuffles, no good prairie rats that never pay their doctor bills.
Ninety percent of them nothing but drifters, cutthroats, saddled bulls.
I thought it was the food jib, Jackson, too.
I could be living like a civilized human being back east, eating at all the finest restaurants in the world.
Oh, like Bernheimer is the...
Pass the sugar, will you?
Here. Yes, I could go back tomorrow. Yes, I could.
And by heaven, I think I'll do it, too. I'm going to do it.
I am not taking another case in this town. Not one.
You know, Doc, it's going to be kind of hard to get used to shaving regular.
Talking polite, putting on clean shirts and keeping your color, but...
I haven't always lived like a rough-naked sodbuster. I know how to act like a gentleman.
Why, when I came out of medical school, I was one of the most promising young men.
Oh, there you are, Doc.
Chester, I thought you were over at the Long Branch keeping an eye on Ben Argo.
Yes, sir, I was, till he snuck out, Mr. Dillon.
He what?
Snuck out.
You see, there was a couple of men come in and I heard them asking for him. When I looked around, he was gone.
But we don't have to worry none, Mr. Dillon. He ain't going to leave town.
Not while he's got all that gold and Mr. Jonas is safe.
Now, I guess you're right, son.
Doc, what I come for is you're wanted out at the Rensselaer place.
What for?
Well, because Miss Rensselaer's about to have a baby. They sent word for you.
By golly, I forgot she was that close.
Oh, hand me that bag. Will you, man?
Yeah, sure, Doc.
There you are.
Where you going?
Well, I'm going out today. Where the tarnishing think I'm going?
Well, back east, you said.
Well, I couldn't leave a woman like this...
Doc been threatening to leave town again?
Why, yes, but... Oh, shut up, the both of you.
Good night, Doc.
Good night.
Well, come on, Chester.
Let's go over to the Long Branch and have a talk with those men, huh?
I'm glad you dropped in, Matt. I was just going to send for you.
Oh, what for?
I finally came a month later, Carson.
Only one instead of six, but I guess it's better than none.
One what, Kitty? What are you talking about?
Beer, Bach beer.
Just one barrel. Came in on the Santa Fe today.
Oh, Bach beer, doggone. Miss Kitty, my mouth's been watering for a month.
Yeah, you and 500 other men, Chester.
You better hurry. It's not going to last long.
How about you, Matt?
Mr. Dillon, couldn't we just take time for one glass?
Them fellas ain't going nowhere right away.
You go ahead, Chester. I'll join you in a few minutes.
Yes, sir. I'll be right down there next to the barrel.
Hey, Kitty.
Uh-huh?
You know those two men down there at the end of the bar?
Are those two? Yeah.
They came in about an hour ago. I've never seen them before.
Prospectors, I think somebody said, from way up around Gold Hill.
Ah, I see.
They were asking for somebody named Ben Argo.
I've never heard of him, either.
They don't look very much like prospectors, do they, Matt?
I'll see you a little later, Kitty.
Oh, why?
Yeah, save a glass of that beer for me, will you?
Sure, but you better hurry, Matt.
Good evening, Marshall. Mr. Jonas.
Care to join me in a glass? A little later, huh?
Very well.
How are you, gentlemen?
I understand you just got in from Gold Hill.
Mister, if you're looking for talk, go find somebody else.
Well, does your partner feel the same way?
You heard him.
You boys are pretty edgy, aren't you?
You got some reason for it?
Suppose that badger is a good friend of yours?
You got some reason for it?
Suppose that badge you're wearing means you're the marshal around here?
Yeah, that's right. My name's Dylan. Matt Dylan.
Well, mine's Pete Wells. My friend here is Rocky Martin.
Look, you ain't got any business with us, Marshall.
We just hit town, and we don't know a soul here.
Not even Ben Argo?
Never heard of no Ben Argo.
Huh? Well, I thought you might have followed him from Gold Hill.
I said we never heard of him.
And you wouldn't know that he was carrying $15,000 in gold, huh?
Look, Marshall...
So naturally you wouldn't be thinking of trying to take it away from him, would you?
Why should we? What kind of men do you think we are?
Well, if you boys just happen to meet anybody with ideas like that,
you tell them to forget it, huh?
Because we got laws here in Dodge City.
It's been real nice talking to you, Marshall.
Come on, Rocky.
Don't leave on my account.
I figure me and Rocky better turn in before we break one of them laws of yours.
That fella up to something?
I don't know for sure, Jonas, but they're lying.
Ben Argo was lying, too, and I'm not just sure why.
Ben Argo, the fella who put his gold in my safe?
Yeah. He told me he thought he might have been followed from Gold Hill.
That's better than 400 miles.
That's right. And then these men write in and ask for Argo.
And now they tell me that they don't even know him.
I'm going to stop letting people use my safe, Marshall.
I got nearly $40,000 in it tonight, and that's too much to be responsible for.
Forty, though. Where'd you get that much money?
Eh, a fella I'd accommodated before.
He came from the East. He got in on the late stage this evening.
And Evan Marshall, he came down from Gold Hill, too, now that I think of it.
Why, maybe the two of them...
Another visit with Joe and Daphne Forsyte.
Joe, honey. Uh-huh.
Joe, darling, put down the paper. I've got something important to ask you.
Okay. Joe.
All right, all right, what?
How many savings bonds do we have?
What kind of a question is that?
A good one. How many?
I'm not sure. I'd have to count. And I'm reading the paper.
Now, what do you want to know for?
Have we got enough to make things comfortable for us?
Very comfortable. That's why I buy in a payroll savings plan.
A bond a month will give us quite an estate for the future.
Enough for a college education?
Eventually. But who's going to college?
Our children, silly.
We don't have any yet.
Oh?
What do you mean, oh?
Better buy some more bonds, honey.
Daphne, you mean...
We've got a new investment.
How about that?
I'll have a look at it.
Let me through, please.
I told you somebody followed me, Marshall, and they jumped me, the two of them, right here in the street.
All right, Argo. Let me have a look at it.
Must have figured I was packing that gold around with me.
Yeah.
Well, that's one of them fellas who was in the long branch, Mr. Dillon.
His name's Martin, according to his partner.
Let's turn him over, Mr. Smith.
Yes, sir.
Want me to go see if Doc's left yet, Mr. Dillon?
Hmm. There's no hurry, Chessie.
You mean he's dead?
Yeah.
Where'd the other one go, Argo?
Dagnified, no.
Just lit out like a scared rabbit.
Hmm. They didn't have such easy mark as they thought, I reckon.
Have you ever seen them before?
Why, sure, up around Gold Hill.
Other one's name is Pete Wells.
Got a bad reputation up there.
Is that so?
Huh.
Well, they ain't prospectors. Never done a day's work in their life.
Just rob off of them it does.
Well, they missed this time.
Yeah.
But it's luck, is all.
I just got a glimpse of them when they stepped out of those shadows over there,
and that give me just enough edge to beat them.
I see.
If I hadn't have been for that, I'd be the one laying dead right here in the street.
Yeah.
I had a hunch somebody was going to make a try for that gold.
Well, I guess the next thing to do is to round up Pete Wells.
One kill him a night is enough.
You figure he's still hanging around somewhere.
That wouldn't be a surprise.
Go on, try to get even.
Marshal, I ain't safe here. I'm not going to wait until morning.
I'm going to pull stakes and ride out of here tonight.
Maybe that's what he wants you to do.
No, no, it ain't.
It's the last thing he'd be looking for.
And when he does find out, he won't know which way I headed.
Now it's up to you.
Yeah.
I'm going to be out of here in ten minutes, Marshal.
Provided you find that storekeeper for me so I get my gold out of his safe.
I'll have to look around for him. It may take a little time.
All right, Mr. John, I thought he was back there.
Chester, suppose you stay with Argo in case Pete Wells has another try at him, huh?
All right.
Well, it won't take long, will it, Marshal?
Sooner I get out of Dodge, the easier I'll feel.
No, I don't think it'll take very long.
Suppose you and Chester meet me over at John's store in about 30 minutes.
I think you're there waiting for us, Marshal.
Yeah, it looks that way.
That you, Mr. John?
That's right, Chester.
Did you find that storekeeper, Marshal?
Yes, he did, Argo.
And if you ever have it a-bothering folks in the middle of the night,
I'll thank you to keep your valuables elsewhere in the future.
Oh, don't you, Fred. Ain't likely I'll be coming through here again.
I see now. Is this the key?
Come in, gentlemen.
Yes, sir?
The only burglar-proof safe between here and Kansas City.
Not counting bank vaults, of course.
I just hope I can remember the new combination.
What do you mean?
Don't worry, Argo.
He always says that when he opens it.
Been saying it for six months ever since he got this new safe.
Over here.
And back to here.
And that ought to...
Well, let's see now.
This bag in front belongs to someone else, a buyer.
Those are yours right behind it. If I can reach you...
Take them all out.
You get your hands up, Marshal. You, too. All three of you.
Here, here. What do you think you're up to?
Do what he says, Chester. Get your hands up.
Yes, sir.
Now, this is what you were after all along, wasn't it, Argo?
To get your hands on that buyer's money.
That's right, Marshal.
I know he was on his way here from Gold Hill.
He always leaves his cash overnight in his storekeeper's safe.
So you put that gold of yours in the safe so you'd have a reason to get Jonas to open it later.
Figure things out is fine, Marshal.
After it's too late to do any good.
I know you were lying the minute I met you.
But I had to wait and find out what you were up to.
Lying? Oh.
You said you'd been working a placer claim, I wonder.
But you made a big mistake by shaking hands with me.
Your hands were as soft as a baby's.
I suppose you stole the gold, huh?
Why, sure.
From Wells and Martin. That's why they come after me.
Of course, Wells don't trust the law, he'd have told you.
Well, I think he trusts it now.
You're covered, Argo. Drop that gun.
Wells?
You found him, Marshal.
You set me up on this. That's why you stole me off.
Do what he says, Trappie Gunner.
He ain't dropped nothing.
Don't be a fool, Argo.
There wasn't nothing else to do, Marshal.
No, there wasn't.
He didn't give Rocky no chance at all.
Before he tried that kind of fool move,
you ought to have remembered Rocky.
He remembered, all right.
That's why he tried to kill you.
You bet he remembered.
queroy
Gun Smoke, produced and directed by Norman McDonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon,
U.S. Marshal.
The script was specially written for Gun Smoke by Les Crutchfield, with editorial supervision
by John Meston.
The music was composed and conducted by Rex Corey.
Sound patterns were by Ray Kemper and Bill James.
Featured in the cast were Parley Bayer as Chester, Howard McNeer as Doc, and Georgia
Ellis as Kitty.
George Walsh speaking.
Join us again next week for another specially transcribed story on Gun Smoke.
This is the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.
Thank you.