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, the 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.
Flag Miller sure is going to be mad about all this, Mr. Dillon. I can't help that, Chester.
He's coming up the street right now, some of them men.
Yeah, I see him. Get the keys, will you?
Yes, sir. I can't say I blame him much at that, though.
There's not much to be done about it. The law is the law.
I can tell, but still, no.
Come on.
That you, Marshal?
Yeah.
When am I going to get out of here?
Right now, Grody. All right, I'll knock it, Chester.
Yes, sir.
So you finally come to your senses, huh?
I didn't decide anything one way or the other, Grody. It's a court order from Judge Bent.
Well, at least he had gumption enough to clear me.
You're not cleared exactly. He just ruled that there wasn't enough evidence to bring you to trial.
There was no evidence, except for them lies Flag Miller's girl told.
Now, come on, Grody. I'll give you your gun back.
Marshal?
All right, Flag. Just hold your horses.
Watch your temper, Grody. He's going to be pretty upset.
He ought to be firing me the way he done.
Getting me jailed for stealing cattle just on the say-so of that old maid daughter of his.
Marshal, do I understand right? Are you turning this young cattle thief loose?
It's a court order, Flag. Judge Bent says there's no case.
No case?
My girl seen him come riding in at daybreak the night them cattle was took.
And he stood up and lied and said he hadn't been out of the bunkhouse.
It wasn't me doing the lying, you hard-nosed old badger.
You calling my daughter a liar?
All right, shut up, both of you.
Enough, Flag, it might have helped your case some if your girl had come in and told her story.
I told you why she wouldn't. She's too dang bashful to stand up in front of the public.
Well, maybe so, but the judge couldn't go on hearsay.
You call that justice, dude?
Under the circumstances, I do, yeah.
Chester, you got Grote's gun.
Okay.
Well, I got another name for what you're doing, Marshal.
Is that so?
No, thanks, Chester.
There you are, Grote.
Much obliged, Marshal.
I call what you're doing, aiding and abetting and outlawing.
What are your plans, Grote?
I don't know.
Hire on at some other ranch, I reckon.
Ain't a rancher in Kansas that's gonna take on a branded thief,
and I'll see to it that they know all about you.
Flag, you better rein in that mouth of yours.
All right, take it easy, both of you.
He shuts up, he won't be bothered.
Yeah, but he's right, Grote.
You're not gonna find a job around here.
I wasn't convicted.
You weren't cleared, either.
You telling me to ride out, Marshal?
You think of a better idea?
Maybe you're right.
And maybe I don't care to live around this big-mouthed bull snake anyhow.
Maybe I will ride out in good riddance.
You've been lucky, Flag, real lucky.
Don't push it too far.
I'll catch you within ten miles of my place.
I'll put a bullet through you on sight.
All right, that's enough, Flag. The kid's leaving.
There's no call to get him out.
I'm just warning him.
You want to get going, Grote?
Might as well.
I guess you treated me as good as you could, Marshal.
Thanks.
Good luck, Grote.
So that's the kind of law we got here.
I'll put a bullet through your head and wish him good luck.
If he is a cattle thief.
Are you doubting my word, Marshal?
Judge Bent doubted it.
Judge Bent. You and him's hand in glove.
Coddle him. Give him a nice warm cell to rest up in.
Then hand him back your gun.
Send him out to do it again.
Maybe it's about time some of us made some law of our own around Dodge City.
Don't try it, Flag.
Wouldn't be the first time a rope and cottonwood limb cured a man of stealing cattle.
Did you hear me?
And I hope you heard me good.
For your sake, Flag, I hope you heard me real good.
It sure beats me, Mr. Young.
It's like them cattle just disappeared into thin air.
Now that's awful rough country south of Flag's place.
Must be a hundred or more draws and gullies where you can hide fifty head of stock.
I'd swear we covered them all these past few days.
Yeah.
Looks like we'll have to try here in town and see what we can turn up.
Yeah, Max.
I'm gonna go get some fresh air.
I'll be right back.
I'll see what he wants.
You go ahead and start doing what I told you.
All right, sir.
See you later.
Now what's on your mind, Doc?
Hey, Matt, what's this I hear about you running young Grote Beck out of town?
I hear behind the times, Doc.
It was three days ago.
Oh, well, I've been busy.
I tried to hear it, Matt.
You're sore because I ran Grote out of town.
Flagg Muller's sore because I coddled him.
Well, the truth is I didn't do either one, Doc.
Anyway, when did you start taking up for Grote?
I like him. He's a good kid.
You know, he helped set a broken leg out at Flagg's range a couple of months ago.
You can tell a lot about a man when you work with him like that.
Yeah? Can you tell whether he'll rustle cattle or not?
There wasn't a thing against him except that fool girl...
...who came and she'd seen him right out that night.
And then she wouldn't even show her face in town to tell the judge about it.
Well, she's bashful, Doc.
Ah, bashful, confounded man.
If it's got to do with an outlaw or a killer or such like, there's nobody better than you.
But when it comes to women, you haven't got the sense of a good Lord give a rabbit.
Oh, what are you talking about?
Why, anybody with a half a brain would know why that girl lied.
How do you know she lied at all?
How in the...
Harsher lie than luck in for you.
Now, how about Flagg? What's the trouble now?
He had a cattle last night.
Oh?
Now, then Grote Beck wasn't guilty after all, was he?
You're saying that, I'm not.
It'd be kind of hard for him to steal cattle last night when he rode out of Dodge three days ago.
He may have rode out, but he didn't ride far.
What?
He was seen on my range this afternoon.
Now, look, Flagg, it's possible your daughter's mistaken.
It wasn't my daughter that seen him, it was two of my riders.
Or maybe you're claiming we're all a bunch of liars.
I know that boy, Flagg, and he's not a thief.
Why don't you stick to doctrine and leave the law to them that can handle it?
Suppose you'd take that advice yourself, Flagg.
Marshal, I already seen what they expect out of you.
Leaving it up to you and Judge Benz cost me another hundred head of stock.
So now I'm aiming to use some of my kind of law.
There's only one kind of law here, Flagg.
It's got nothing to do with some riled up brainless mob.
It's got nothing to do with much anything, as far as I can see.
They may be slow sometimes.
They may have loopholes, temporary ones anyhow.
But you know, it's got one thing that your so-called law never has.
It's got a margin to take up the slack.
A chance to back up and change a mistake before it's too late.
Grody Beck said all the margin he's gonna get.
That's no proof that Grody took him.
And just what was he doing on my range?
Yeah, that's just possible.
He was looking for some way to clear himself.
But I'll know that when I find him and talk to him.
You better find him in a hurry if you're aiming to talk to him.
I better find him able to talk, Flagg.
If I don't, it's gonna be the sorriest day of your life.
Well, look what you've put in.
Hello, Kitty.
Here, Matt.
Pull up a chair.
Ah, thanks.
Where you been for the last three days?
Trying to find out who stole Flagg Muller's cattle.
Any luck?
No, not yet.
Chester around?
Yeah, he's in that box.
He's got a little bit of a
good eye.
Oh, yeah.
He's been acting real funny, Matt.
The last hour and a half he sat in on every game in the house.
He stays ten minutes or so and then he moves on to another table.
I told him to.
What do you mean you told him to?
Just that.
Got anything to do with those cattle?
I hope so.
By the way, Kitty, Doc claims that Muller's daughter was lying about Grotty Beck.
Of course she was.
Well, why did she do it?
Matt, when it comes to women, you haven't got the sense.
The good Lord gave a rap.
Oh, so help me, Kitty.
Now look, Matt, Grotty is a very handsome young fellow, right?
Well, I suppose he is.
I don't know.
Well, he is.
You take it from me.
And every girl in town knows that he could have his pick of them.
Right, so he could have his pick.
What about the Muller girl?
Her looks, I mean.
Well, she's not exactly the prettiest girl.
Say it right out.
She's as homely as a mud fence.
She never had a man look twice at her in her life.
Ever seen her in town on Saturday the way she follows Grotty around?
No, I never noticed it particularly.
Well, I have.
So there you are, Matt.
There I am what, Kitty?
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
I know.
Are you claiming that she lied to get Grotty into trouble just because he wouldn't have anything to do with her?
It's been done before.
Well, maybe.
Look, there's another thing now.
Grotty lied about leaving town.
I just found out he's still here.
Yeah, well, I knew he was planning to stay.
He stopped in here the day you let him out of jail just to talk.
He has some crazy idea clearing his name.
It looks like you know more about this than I do.
He's a good boy, Matt.
He didn't steal those cattle.
Mr. Young, could I see you a minute?
Yeah, what is it, Chester?
Well, I think maybe I spotted somebody.
A fellow at that table over where I was just playing at, the name of Pete Crowe.
Well, he's got an awful lot of cash for a man that looks as raggedy as he does.
Pete Crowe, huh?
You know him, Kitty?
He's been in here the last two or three nights.
And like Chester says, he's free with money.
He pays for everything with five dollar gold pieces.
Gold pieces?
Uh-huh.
That's what those cattle buyers on the strip pay off with.
Oh, really?
Then he's sure enough you're a man, isn't he?
I'm sure gonna find out soon, Kitty.
Watch him, Matt.
He carries a knife in the back of his shirt.
He knows how to throw it.
Thanks.
Chester.
Yes, sir.
That'll take a lot of you fellas like the guts of cash to stay in the pot and toss in your hands.
The bets on the table, boys.
Been there long enough.
Crowe, I want to talk to you.
Go ahead and talk, Marshal.
Nobody's stopping you.
Let's move into that game room at the end of the bar there.
Sorry, I'm too busy right now.
Chester, will you step behind him and take that knife out of his shirt?
Yes, sir.
Keep your hands on the table, Crowe.
I got it, Mr. Dillon.
All right, Crowe.
Get on your feet.
You're making a big mistake, Marshal.
I don't mind.
I got going.
You got no right to order me around.
Inside.
What do you think you're doing anyway?
I don't know where you got that money you've been tossing around.
I figure that's my business.
Sure, then your business might be cattle wrestling.
Got proof of that, have you?
No, but I got a good hunch you're the man I've been looking for.
The law don't convict nobody on hunch.
No, but Flagg Miller probably would.
What are you talking about?
You got a choice, Crowe.
You can tell me the truth and take your chances in court,
or you can walk out of here and explain to Flagg Miller where you got that money.
You know what he'd do.
He wouldn't do anything if you got a good explanation.
If you didn't steal his cattle.
I wouldn't have a chance.
He'd know right off.
He'd lynch me, sure.
I'll tell you, Marshal.
I'll tell you all about it.
Okay, start talking.
That must be them, Mr. Dune.
15 or 20 of them just topping the ridge up there, see?
Yeah, that's about the size of Flagg's outfit, all right.
He didn't leave any of them at the ranch.
They're starting this way, heading for home, I guess.
All right, Chester, let's wait for them here.
I just want him out in the open and full moonlighted in case he makes a move.
You reckon he'll try, Mr. Dune?
We won't give him a chance to try if we can help it.
You edge in behind him, Chester, so you can take his gun as soon as I call him on it.
Yes, sir, I'll do it.
Here they come.
Yeah.
Hey, Flagg.
Who is this?
Matt Dillon, over here.
Marshal, boys, come on.
You're riding late tonight, Marshal.
No later than you are.
Well, me and the boys have been out hunting cattle rustlers.
That right, boys?
That right, boys.
I've been hunting the same kind of game, Flagg.
Now, what's more, I caught one.
You what?
We rode out here to pick up his partner.
Whose partner? Who are you talking about?
Your foreman there, Flagg.
All right, don't try it, Hawkins.
I'll take that gun, Hawkins.
What are you trying to pull?
Are you claiming my own ranch foreman was partners with Grody Beck?
Grody Beck wasn't in on it.
It was only your daughter's wild story that tied him in the first place.
Hawkins' partner is a man named Pete Crowe.
I got him locked up in Dodge.
I ain't never heard nobody named Pete Crowe.
Yeah? That's not the way he tells it.
Then he's lying.
He says the two of you had run the cattle off into the river bottom during the night.
Then he'd hold them there for the buyer to pick up the next day.
I tell you, I don't even know the man.
He knows you, Hawkins.
He's lying.
Yeah, well, he wasn't lying when he told me where you had your share of the payoff hidden.
Chester and I just found it in the mattress of your bunk.
Now, Flagg, do you believe it now?
It wasn't just them two alone, Marshal.
Grody was in on it, too.
Now, you're wrong, Flagg.
Grody had nothing to do with it.
Pete Crowe told me the buyer was to pick him up tomorrow.
Crowe and Hawkins had him pinned up in a dead-end gully in the river bottom.
But we caught him tonight with the cattle.
Grody's been trying to clear himself.
He probably found them and was driving them back to your place.
And that's what he claimed.
Marshal, I guess you were right.
You said this could be the sorryest day of my life.
What are you talking about?
When we caught Grody with the cattle, we hung him.
Gun smoke.
Produced and directed by Norman MacDonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
The music was composed and conducted by Rex Corey.
Sound patterns were composed by Ray Kemper and Bill James.
Featured in the cast were Parley Bear as Chester, Howard McNear as Doc, and Georgia Ellis as Kitty.
George Waltz speaking.
Join us again next week for another story of the Western frontier of America in the 1870s on Gun Smoke.
This is the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.