Around Dodge City and in the territory on west there is just one way to handle the killers
of the spoilers and that's where the US 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.
There you go, Job.
Drink it down.
Yeah, what's in it?
It's just something that tastes bad so you'll remember a doctor's been here.
Go ahead, go ahead, drink it.
I remember you being here all right.
I don't know why I keep coming by all the time either.
You know you don't need a doctor and Job, you're going to outlive us all.
If it's the money, Doc.
Oh, forget about the money.
If I'd wanted to get rich I'd have gotten out of this game a long time ago.
But I'll be able to pay regular now that the boy is back.
You mean, Tad's back?
Yeah, he come in day before yesterday riding up like he'd just been to town for the mail
instead of being gone four years.
Where?
What?
He say where he'd been?
No, no, Doc, he didn't.
But it don't matter none now that he's home.
Ah, say, do you a lot of good having Tad around.
Yeah, that's a fact, Doc.
Well, I just about give it up being out here alone all the time.
It didn't seem like it was worth keeping going.
A man should never do that, Job.
Sure not.
But a man's wife dies and his boy lights out.
It seems there weren't nothing left.
I just got punier and punier.
It's going to be different now, though.
I hope so.
Well, I got to be getting along now.
Thanks for coming, Doc.
Oh, say, Tad's outside there someplace.
Why don't you stop and see him?
That boy sure grew it up man-side.
Yeah, you bet, Job.
I want to see him.
Goodbye.
Bye.
Oh, you, Tad?
Yeah, I'm Tad.
Well, it's been quite a spell since I've seen you, lad.
I'm Doc Adams.
I remember.
I'd just been with your Pa.
I seen you drive up.
Yeah, well, I thought you might like to know what shape he's in.
He's crumbling like everything else around here.
Well, you know, you can help him.
Yeah, well, you know, it's a good thing you're home, Tad.
How do you figure?
Well, there's not much that I can do for him.
He's old and he's tired and he's just about worn through.
Well, but you, well, you can do a lot for him.
You mean you want me to nurse him?
No, I don't want you to nurse him.
But you can do the chores for him.
You can keep the place going.
Most of all, you can talk to him.
Talk to him?
Yeah, that's right.
That's mostly what I've been coming around here for, to give him somebody to talk to
once in a while.
Now, look, Doc, I ain't his little boy no more.
I ain't going to hold his hand.
Well, I don't remember asking you to.
Maybe not.
But if you think I come back here to take care of a broken down old man on a broken down
farm, you got another thing coming.
What did you come home for?
I come home because I didn't have nowhere else to go.
But I'm taking care of that right soon.
Another visit with Joe and Daphne Forsythe.
Ooh, ow, ouch, ooh.
What's wrong, Joe?
Daphne, have you been using my razor again?
Just a little.
I was peeling peaches.
Oh, fine.
Why didn't you change the blade?
It feels like you've been sharpening pencils with this thing.
Now, just a minute, buddy.
It was you who said we could use more economy around here.
And I've been shaving wherever I can.
And by shaving the skin off the peaches...
But look at my face.
Think how the Red Cross could have used all this blood.
It's your own fault, you and your economy.
Well, being penny-conscious isn't such a bad idea.
Not if you use common sense.
Take savings bonds, for instance.
Uh-uh.
Here it comes.
Go right ahead and scoff.
But I've got eight million Americans who agree with me.
We all buy savings bonds on a payroll saving plan, because we know that investing in bonds
is the best way to use our money.
We could use some of that money around here.
Well, maybe.
Or maybe we just think we can.
When we buy bonds, we guarantee we'll have the money in the future, when we'll certainly
need it more.
Stop waving that razor.
You're splattering me with soap.
Oh, I don't mean to get excited, but who wouldn't?
Where else can a man make an investment that's guaranteed to pay off four dollars for every
three?
And guaranteed by the credit of the whole U.S. of A.
So there.
Bravo!
All right, all right.
Now let me change the blade and get back to shaving.
I think I'll stay and watch.
Why?
Because you're so cute when you cut yourself.
Oh, fine.
Have some coffee, Doc.
Might make you feel better.
Well, I'm in a chest to make it.
Yeah.
That'd make me feel worse.
Well, I guess I'd rather have dyspepsia than problem Job's got.
All right, pour me a little.
Okay.
You know, I know what Job's boy, huh?
You know, as I remember him, he wasn't worth much as a kid.
But he's grown up the same way.
I tell you, Matt, that boy's as worthless as he comes.
As too bad as four years away, it didn't do him any good.
He's just bigger and meaner.
That's all.
Hello, Mr. Donut.
Hello, Dr.
Hello, Mr. Donut.
Hi, Mr. Donut.
Well, what's the matter with you two?
Doc just had some of your coffee.
That always makes a man pretty sober.
Oh, now, Mr. Donut, ain't that bad?
Oh, that was a fresh egg I used in it this time.
Matter of fact, it wasn't as bad as usual, Chester.
Well now, Doc, I'm going to have...
Doc's just been telling me about seeing old Job this morning.
Say, don't he have a boy named Tad?
That's right.
That's about all he has got.
Well, it's a shame.
Huh?
What do you mean?
I've been watching him down for long, Branch, this evening.
You mean he's there now?
He was when I left.
And I must say, Mr. Donut, he don't look to me like he's going to be much comfort to his
paw.
Is he causing trouble?
Well, not trouble exactly.
He's just bellying up to the bar, swilling down drinks, and acting like he wants everybody
to know how big and grown up he is.
Well, he'd be in trouble if anybody treated him that way.
That's just what I think, Doc.
And some of the boys are riling him up pretty good, too.
Ah.
I think maybe I'll go down there.
Want me to come with you, Mr. Dillon?
No, if you want to, Chester.
I just want to reacquaint myself with Tad.
It'll be no pleasure.
I'm sort of curious to see just how big a man he really is.
Why don't you move over, mister?
All right, boy.
There's room for both of us at the bar.
Just don't crowd me.
Ain't you Joe Parley's boy?
Yeah.
Hear your paw's been feeling poorly lately.
Getting any better?
I ain't noticed.
He's real sick, ain't he?
He's done.
The place is done.
Yeah?
Hey, good thing you come home.
You can look after him a little better.
Had any of your business?
Just sort of figured.
You can keep your figuring to yourself.
Every low-living bum in town thinks I come home to nurse the old man.
Easy, boy.
I quit being a boy when I left here, mister.
I've been doing man-sized things for four years.
Why don't you shut up?
You're shoving me.
Straighten yourself up out of my drink.
Go on, now, get.
I'll show you.
I said, run!
You'll shove me, will you?
You're gonna die for that, mister, right now.
All right, hold it there.
Drop the gun.
Now, you stand back.
I said, drop it.
Blast you!
Pick up the gun, Chester.
Yes, sir.
Give me that!
Stand where you are.
All right, Tanner, what happened here?
Well, I shoved him, Marshal.
Why?
Because he's a mean, ornery, no good, and I got tired of listening to him talk, that's
all.
I got a right to have my gun.
Here, and I use him or not.
You're Ted Harley, aren't you?
How do you know?
I've been hearing about you.
Listen, Marshal, I...
You got some special trouble with Tanner here?
He's been crowding me, just like everybody else in this town.
About what?
About the old man.
About how I should be looking after him.
What's wrong with that?
It ain't what I come here to do.
That's what's wrong with it.
And it ain't nobody's business what I do.
Not as long as you mind your own, it isn't.
You got no call to tell me what to do, Marshal.
I'm not telling you what to do, I'm telling you what not to do.
You gonna give me back my gun now?
All right, give it to him, Chester.
Well, I don't...
All right.
Someday this town's gonna find out about me.
Find out good.
Well, I sure am glad to see that one go.
I swear, he's been keeping his place stirred up ever since he came in this afternoon.
Let's have us a beer, Mr. John.
All right, Chester.
I'll be proud to buy.
You will?
Yes, sir.
Well, good.
Hey, Sam, couple beers, huh?
Two beers.
You know, there's gonna be more trouble from that boy, Mr. John.
I don't know, Chester.
He could be just a loud bragging kid.
Or the badness could be full grown in him, I don't know.
Either way, it's mighty hard on poor old Joe.
Well, he's done nothing for four whole years, but just wait for the day his boy would come
home.
He was better off waiting.
I wonder when Job will find out this boy's no count.
Well, Job's old and sick, but he's not blind, Chester.
Yeah, but he don't deserve a disappointment like this.
No, he doesn't.
Job's a good man.
I remember Miss Harley telling me one time she had five babies and Tad was the only one
that lived.
That must be the exception to the rule.
How's that, Mr. Dillon?
Doesn't sound much like the survival of the fittest.
I swear it's so hot.
Man worked up a sweat just whittling.
With the sun burning down like this, Mr. Dillon, makes it hard for a body to remember the cold
and shivering misery of the wintertime, don't it?
You suffer pretty bad in the winter, don't you, Chester?
Well, I guess I don't exactly suffer.
But wouldn't you think there'd be some way of taking some of this heat and packing it
away so you could spread it around in the wintertime?
You work on that, Chester.
We sure don't need it at all today.
That's a fact.
Say, you know, then maybe they could save up some of the cold of the wintertime and use
it on days like this.
I'm going to spell you a riddle, Chester.
They already do that.
They do?
Or in a ice house.
Sure, in a ice house.
Sure enough they do, don't they?
Look, ain't that Len Baylor riding up there?
Yeah.
Hello, Marshall.
Chester.
Hello, Len.
Hey, Marshall, I just come by Job Harley's place.
He's awful anxious to see you.
How?
What's the trouble?
Well, he didn't tell me, Marshall.
He said to ask you to come out there right away.
Oh, my.
I hope that boy here hasn't been acting up none.
Well, I'd better go out there and see, I guess.
You watch the store, will you, Chester?
I will, Mr. Dillon.
Another visit with Joe and Daphne Forsythe.
Joe?
Yeah, Daphne?
Look at this story about savings bonds in the paper.
Yeah, what about it?
Do you think that's the best way to tell people about savings bonds?
Why not?
Look, see, it says here that savings bonds are a guaranteed investment.
Right now they pay off at the rate of four bucks at maturity for every three bucks invested.
Uh-uh.
You're not convinced?
Uh-uh.
Why not?
No salesmanship.
No salesmanship?
What more do you need to know?
Why, right now, more than eight million Americans are buying savings bonds regularly through the payroll savings plan.
So?
So what?
That's what I say.
So what?
Now, look, Daphne, if millions of Americans are convinced that savings bonds are their best investment,
not only financially, but for the future of their country, what the heck is bothering you?
Well, I think they could sell a lot more with salesmanship.
You know, slogans and jingles.
Look, listen, if you're spending more and saving less, try a savings bond.
Oh, boy.
Or maybe a savings bond pay good, like an investment should.
Daphne.
You get a lot to like in a savings bond.
Interest, earnings guaranteed.
Wow.
Well, did I sell you?
Yeah, but I forgot what it was you were selling.
Savings bond.
I'll take a hundred.
Oh, Joe.
Hey, Joe.
Matt Dillon.
Come in, Marshal, come in.
You got trouble out here, Joe?
Sure am glad you could come out, Marshal.
Been wanting to see you.
Oh, what about?
Sure is a bright hot day, isn't it, Marshal?
Yeah.
I don't take to the heat as well as I used to.
Joe, if you didn't call me out here to tell me it's hot, what's on your mind?
Is it about your boy?
You seen him, Marshal?
Yeah, a couple of weeks ago.
It's a long branch.
He's grown big, ain't he?
Too big, maybe, Joe.
Is he here?
He's gone off.
You know anything about raising boys, Marshal?
Yeah, it's a little out of my line, Joe.
Well, a man wants his boy to carry on all the good things he's got.
None of the bad.
Yeah, that's a pretty big order, isn't it?
But that's what a man wants for his son, to be good, to be better than he was.
Some boys never grow up to be the men their fathers were, Joe.
It ain't easy raising them.
A man don't want to mother his boy to death, nor ride herd on him too much, neither.
You're going to tell me something, Joe?
What's a man to do when he finds his son has just picked up all the bad ways and none of the good?
What's a man to do then, Marshal?
Let go of him, Joe.
But a man's son, Marshal, he's carrying his name.
He can't let him carry it to perdition.
It hurts your name, Joe, only his own.
That ain't true, Marshal.
I ain't been much.
The people I come from weren't much, neither.
But we always kept the name clean, Marshal.
What's that done, Joe, where is he?
A man don't expect his son to strike it rich, maybe, but he expects him to keep the name clean.
Joe, will you tell me?
Tell you what, Marshal?
Why did you call me out here? You just didn't want to talk about your boy, did you?
Marshal, I always like to talk to you.
You've always been a good friend.
I am your friend, Joe, but you better start talking straight or I'm heading back to town.
You're going to find out, Marshal.
Mr. Dillon!
What's Chester doing out here?
Yeah, what's the matter?
Mr. Dillon, they just been a-holding the bank.
What? And they shooting?
Yesterday was.
How many were there?
Just one.
Did he get away?
No, Mr. Harley, he didn't.
Was he hurt?
Worse than that, Mr. Dillon.
Well, who was it?
Well...
He's dead, ain't he?
Tad's dead.
Tad?
Was it Tad, Chester?
Yes, sir, it was.
I'm sorry, Joe.
It had to be.
You don't seem surprised.
No, Marshal, I've been seeing it coming.
Ever since the boy come home, he was bad clear through, Marshal.
He's robbed before and killed, too.
He told you that?
He carried pieces out of newspapers around with him.
Pieces there had been written about him.
He was proud of it, Marshal, said it made him feel big.
Well, some of them feel that way for a while.
I couldn't talk him out of it.
I couldn't hold him.
But I could see it was stopped.
You knew about today?
I knew.
Why didn't you tell me about it?
I figured you'd take his gun and maybe lock him up for a while.
He had to be stopped for good, Marshal.
I might have done that if I'd been in Dodge, Joe.
I know that, Marshal, but it would have gone hard with you to have to kill my boy.
You're my friend, Marshal.
That's why I seen to it you'd be here.
And then I said word to the bank that Tad was coming.
Now, you made a hard choice, Joe.
Well, it's like I told you, Marshal.
Man has to keep his name clean.
Music
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 Carly Baer 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.
Music
This is the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.
Music