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 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 chance a job, and it makes a man watchful and a little lonely.
And I sure do hope things, Mr. Dillon, are you listening to this?
Huh?
Oh, oh yeah, yeah, sure, go ahead, Chester.
And I sure do hope things have been good with you like they have been with me.
Take care of yourself.
I will come up to see you one day soon, your loving brother Magnus.
Down here at the bottom of the paper he says, your Uncle Will got tromped on by a cow last
week.
Now ain't that nice, Mr. John?
What are you mean about Uncle Will?
No, I mean getting this letter from Magnus.
It's real thought of him.
It's the first one I remember you getting.
It's the first one he's wrote, to me at least.
It sure is funny though, I never knew that boy could write a lick.
Oh, maybe he's learned since you saw him last.
No, no, I don't think so, because Magnus don't hold the school.
No?
No sir, none of my kin folks does.
But my ma always said that all a body needs to know is how to cook, care for your own,
and get to the church.
Well, she must have made your pa a very good wife.
Well, I don't know if he ever said.
He ran off when I was only four.
Him and me never talked to each other much.
You the Marshal, mister?
Yes ma'am, that's right.
I'm Nancy Creed.
Well, come in, what's yours?
This is Chester Prodfoot, Miss Creed.
How you doing, Miss Creed?
Marshal, I come to see you because my pa's going to shoot somebody dead.
What?
And I want you to stop him.
Well, who's your pa going to shoot, Nancy?
A fellow that worked for him for a spell, named Ben Tolliver.
Well, why's your pa after him?
Ben ran off last night and took one of pa's studs.
Pa says he is just about the best stud pa ever saw.
Well, what do you and your pa live, Nancy?
About twenty miles from here, out along the archangels.
And you think this man, this Ben Tolliver, came into Dutch?
I don't just think it, Marshal, I know it.
And so does pa.
And all is said he was coming here.
I see.
So I sneaked away this morning after pa went down to the corral to come tell you.
I figured you'd be the feller to see, being the marshal and all.
Well, look, Nancy, if this man stole one of your pa's horses, why doesn't your pa come
in here and tell me he could swear out a warrant for Tolliver and then I could arrest him?
Pa don't want to.
He says he'll take care of his own troubles.
You think you can stop pa from shooting Ben?
Oh, I can sure try, Nancy.
Tell me, what does your pa look like?
Look like?
Well, you see, I don't know your pa, but if I knew what he looked like, I could watch
for him, you see.
I never thought about pa as looking like anything, except just pa.
He's kind of gray.
But then he's always looked like that.
So anything else?
He's got a bad leg from where a horse kicked him and his jaw is busted.
Well, that don't sound like he should be hard to find, not with a limp and a lopsided face.
My gracious, even I could find a man with a limp and a lopsided face.
All right, all right, Justin.
Look, Nancy, I'll watch for your pa and if he does come into Dodge, I'll have a talk
with him.
You do that and I'll surely thank you, marshal.
Say, marshal.
Yes, ma'am?
If it helps any, I know where that Ben Coliver is at.
You do?
Right there at the Long Branch Saloon, having a beer.
You know where I'm at?
Yeah.
I've seen his horse tied outside.
So I went up and looked through the window.
He's there right now.
Nancy, why didn't you tell me this before?
I never thought of it.
Well, you do something about pa now, won't you, marshal?
I declare she don't know.
Get up from whole dusk and she's gone.
She's kindly pretty, but gauze and chin and flat jaw...
Come on, Chester.
Let's go have a talk with Ben Coliver and find out what this is all about.
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You want me to come in for long branch waiting, Mr. John?
Yeah, Chester, but stay at the door while I talk to Toliver.
But how are you going to know which one is him?
There won't be more than three or four people in there this time of day.
You reckon that's him sitting at the table over there?
Yeah, it could be.
Hello, your name Ben Toliver?
That's right.
My name is Dylan. I'm a marshal here in Dodge.
Do you mind if I sit down?
Please yourself. Thank you.
A girl named Nancy Creed came into my office a little while ago.
What'd she want?
She says her pa is looking for you.
No?
Yeah, he claims you stole one of his horses.
Is that right?
He owed me four months wages and he wouldn't pay me.
Trouble.
Do you think you can stop Pa from shooting Ben?
Well, I can sure trust somebody else no matter what you figure.
Look, mister, I caught him when he was running wild out on the range.
I brought him into old Creed's place and broke him myself.
I put three months work into that stud and on my own time of an evening.
Creed says it was his horse and that you stole it.
No such thing.
Besides, he said he'd pay me $30 a month and he threw me out without a penny.
Well, come on, Ben.
Come on where?
I'm gonna take you to jail.
Jail? What are you putting me in jail for?
If what Nancy says is true, Creed is coming into town to shoot you.
Putting you in jail is the best way I know to stop a fight.
Well, I ain't done nothing wrong, Mark.
You'll only be in jail till this thing gets straightened out.
Not later this afternoon. I'll ride out and have a talk with Creed before he decides to come into town.
It sure is hot out here. Ain't it?
What ain't a speck of shade for miles around?
Well, if he's breaking wild horses out here, he doesn't have time to worry about the heat.
We'd better leave our horses here, Chester.
All right, Chester.
Don't be banging on the door. I see they're coming.
You Jack Creed?
That's right.
I want to talk to you, Creed.
Who are you, mister?
Marshall Dillon from Dodge.
I'll come out.
What do you want?
I want to know about Ben Tolliver.
That fool Nancy ran to Dodge and told you.
That's right.
Well, since she did, I won't try to fool you.
That boy stole a horse of mine.
I figure in a couple of days I'll go after him, find him, shoot him.
Now look, Creed, you just can't shoot a man down, you know.
Why not? He stole a horse, so I got cause to shoot him.
Now listen to me.
I don't have to listen to nobody.
Being a marshal, you're all filled up with laws.
We ain't got time to mess with that, no. I'll just shoot him.
Creed, either you come into Dodge and swear at a complaint against Tolliver or you forget about the whole thing.
I got better than 40 range horses out here, only half broke.
I can't be wasting time fooling around with no time.
Did you owe the boy money?
Of course not.
Everything he did I had to show him how.
The way I see it, he should have paid me.
He worked out here for you for four months, didn't he?
You could say that.
Well, he told me that that stud horse was his.
Well, since he caught him and broke him, I guess he'd figure it that way, but Ben was working at my place and taking my food.
That stud's mine.
The law might not agree with you, Creed.
That's just why I'm going to handle my own trouble and not mess around with the law.
Look, I've tried to tell you, Creed, and I'm going to tell you once more, real plain.
You shoot that boy and you'll hang for it. I don't care what you think the right of it is.
All right, come on, Chester.
And maybe I won't shoot him.
Maybe I'll fix that boy good some other way.
In the next stud horse he's the product.
That beautiful old buckles is mean as an acre of snake, ain't it?
Yeah.
What are you going to do, Mr. Dillon?
Well, I can't keep Ben Tolliver in jail forever.
No, sir.
I'll have to turn him loose in the morning and hope they don't run into each other.
Well, you're free now, Ben.
Thanks, Marshall. Being in jail overnight makes a fellow kind of ouchy.
I'm sorry about that. I did it to save trouble.
Oh, I know, Marshall. I don't blame you none.
What are you going to do now, Ben?
Well, Chester, I thought maybe I could find myself a job or work somewhere.
Oh, what kind of work?
All I know is horses.
There ought to be some spread near here that could use a hand.
Well, if there's anybody looking for a hired hand, Sam, over at the long branch, you'd know about it.
I'll tell you what, Ben. I'll walk down with you if you like.
Well, thanks, Marshall.
Mr. Dillon?
Yeah, what is it, Chester?
You could just have a beer while you're down there talking, couldn't you?
Yeah. Say, Chester, why don't you come along with us, huh?
Thank you. Say, that's a good idea, Mr. Dillon. I'm glad you thought of it.
Thank you, Chester.
Where are you from, Ben?
California.
California?
What are you doing in Kansas?
This is the cow country, Marshall. California just don't have the spreads.
Yeah, but all that gold out there.
The gold rush was 20 years ago, Chester.
Well, I know that. But there might just be a little dab of it left laying around.
I sure didn't find any, Chester. Maybe you didn't know where it looked.
Well, I don't see Sam no worry.
No.
Oh, my.
Oh, how are you?
Uh, Kierst, Ben Tolliver.
Oh, hi, man.
I came down to talk to Sam.
And have some beer.
Well, I can get you the beer, Chester, but Sam's down at the depot with a wagon.
Oh, I see. You're up kind of early, aren't you?
Oh, I can sleep this afternoon. Come over to the bar. I'll get you beer.
Okay.
Now, you make a pretty fancy bartender, Miss Kitty.
Well, girls got to have an ace up their sleeve, Chester.
What?
Never mind, Chester.
I know that.
What do you do during the saloon this early?
Well, Ben here's looking for a job.
What sort of job, Ben?
On the ranch somewhere, Miss Kitty.
Do you work around stock much?
All my life, just about. He was working for Jake Creed up until yesterday.
Jake Creed?
Yeah.
Oh, do you know him?
Oh, I know about him.
Only a few months back, some cowboy was giving me half a dozen reasons why you ought to kill him.
Yeah, he must have been the fellow Jake threw out just before I come along.
You probably stayed with him about three, four months, is that right?
Yes, ma'am.
Then he started some argument. You had a fight and he threw you out, huh?
That's about the right of it.
And no pay in the bargain. I swear, I don't know how Creed gets away with it.
Well, I guess there's always somebody new drifting by who doesn't know his reputation.
What'd you argue about, Ben?
Oh, a little bit of everything, Miss Kitty.
But mostly on how to rope.
How to rope?
Yeah, Creed says when you work in stock, the only way is to tie hard and fast and I dally.
I sure couldn't argue that.
Kitty, you see, hard and fast means that you tie the end of your rope to the saddle horn.
And when you dally, you just hold the end of the rope in your hand and twist it around the horn a couple of times.
That's right.
That way if the rope gets tangled up in your mount's legs or yours, you let go and you're free.
There ain't no way to get dragged if you dally.
Of course, most fellows don't think it amounts to much, but some do in California.
Well, they sure don't in Texas.
Well, I'm glad I make a living in here.
It sounds complicated, I guess, Miss Kitty, but it ain't to a horseman.
Well, no matter what the argument was about, he should have paid you, Ben.
Say, Ben, have you got any money at all?
No, sir.
Look, here, I'll give you five dollars and then, well, you can pay me back when you make it.
Thanks, Marshall.
As long as you've got your money out, Marshall.
Don't forget the beer.
There you are, Kitty.
Thank you.
Marshall, I think maybe I'd better go down and have a look at my horse.
Make sure he's been watered this morning.
Say, could I go with you? I'd like to see your horse.
Sure.
Ben, you come back later this afternoon.
Sam will be here and we can talk about a job for you.
Thank you, Miss Kitty.
He seems like a nice young fellow, man.
Yeah.
What's the matter?
Oh, I was just thinking about Jake Creed.
What about him?
He's got something on his mind, Kitty.
He'll try to get even with Ben Tolliver some way.
Oh.
Pardon me, sir. What's the matter?
I'm going to be a father.
Well, congratulations. That's wonderful.
Not the ninth time it isn't.
Well, just think. Because you're a serviceman, your wife is under the Dependence Medical Care Program.
That means complete maternity and infant care.
Why, you'll practically have the baby for nothing.
It's not having that bothers me. It's the rest.
The rest?
Yeah, I don't get any.
They're always crying and yelling and playing,
wanting a drink of water in the middle of the night.
There's the food bills and the clothing bills.
For more about Medicare, get the pamphlet, Dependence Medical Care Program.
And baby oil and pablum and three o'clock feedings and burping and walking.
The worst thing I ever seen.
Mr. Dillon.
Yeah, what is it, Justin?
Mr. Dillon, he's gone.
What? Who's gone?
Ben Tolliver. He took a horse from Moss Grimmick's and he's headed out to the Creed Place.
He says he's going to kill him.
Well, what for? What's this all about?
Well, this morning I was having a couple of cover with Ben over at the Long Branch,
and I walked down the stable with him to kind of keep him company-like while he's too fed.
And that's when we saw it.
Well, that poor old stud, he was...
Saw what, Chester?
Moss told us he'd seen old man Creed out and back with the crowd,
but he didn't think too much of it.
Chester, will you tell me what happened?
That mean old devil hamstrung Ben Stud, Mr. Dillon.
The hamstrung?
He cut the tendons in both hind legs.
That poor horse couldn't budge an inch out of his tracks.
Ben just stood there, real stony-like, looking at the stud.
And then he shot him.
Didn't say nothing more, just turned and walked away with that funny kind of look on his face.
All right, come on, Chester.
Let's ride out to the Creed place before Ben does something he'll be sorry for.
I'm coming.
Oh, hello, Munch.
Is your Pa here, Nancy?
Down to the catch, Peele.
It ain't time to eat, so he's working.
Nancy, have you seen Ben Tolliver?
Sure did.
He rode up here a few minutes ago, wanted to see Pa.
I told him Pa was down to the corrals.
He just went down there.
Come on, Chester.
If you're going down to talk to Pa, I'll go with you.
He goes down to the corrals before it's done up,
and don't come back till time for dinner.
What do you want, Pa, sir, or Martha?
To keep him from getting killed, Nancy.
Who's killing Pa?
You don't think, do you?
Come on, let's go.
Mr. Dillon, you look out there in the middle of that catch pane.
All right, Tolliver.
Hold it right where you are.
I ain't moving.
Now give me your gun.
What for?
Just give it to me.
All right, now you're under arrest, and this time you'll stay in jail.
Ben, why did you shoot my Pa?
I didn't, Nancy.
Well, then who did shoot him?
Nobody shot him, Marshal.
I'm trying to tell you, Jake was already dead when I got here.
It was the horse I shot.
What?
See for yourself.
Looks to me like Jake's horse got tangled up in the rope while they were working a Mustang.
The horse got thrown, and Jake was trapped under him, and the Mustang drug them both.
It killed Jake.
His horse had two legs broke, so I shot him.
That's what you heard.
Well, looks like you're telling the truth, huh?
I am, Marshal.
Poor old Pa.
I always told Jake he shouldn't work wild horses alone.
He ought to have somebody snub firm.
Pa always did have a mind of his own.
He sure did, that old devil.
You should be glad he did, Ben.
It saved you from hanging.
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Join us again next week for another specially transcribed story on Gunsmoke.
This is the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.
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