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 a U.S. Marshal and the smell of Gunsmoke.
Gunsmoke, 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 chancy job, and it makes a man watchful and a little lonely.
The incident occurred in a Korean prisoner of war camp.
The names of the men are not available, but the actions should be noted.
In one group, two men were exchanging food for cigarettes.
The food was pork. It didn't taste very good, and the man giving it up preferred the cigarettes.
What he didn't know was that pork in his system now would help him get through the winter.
The exchange was reported to the senior officer, an Army major, who took over and issued an order
to the effect that there would be no more exchanges of luxuries for food.
The major knew he would suffer for his action, but he felt that it was in the best interest of all concerned.
And suffer he did, for he was placed in solitary confinement for issuing the order.
But by his action, this Army major had exemplified Article IV of the American Fighting Man's Code of Conduct.
If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners.
I will give no information, nor take part in any action which might be harmful to my comrades.
If I am senior, I will take command.
If not, I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me, and will back them up in every way.
Ah, morning, Doc, Chester. Morning, John.
Ah, come have some coffee with us, man. You've got nothing to do in your office.
No, but in there people can't see me doing it.
You're no used to hiding. They're on you anyway.
Now the Christmas season hasn't made you any more charitable, has it, Doc?
I'm not a man to be good on Sunday and sin all week, if that's what you mean.
Ah, you're honest and nothing else.
Of course I'm honest. Hey, look. Look, look down there at that fellow.
What fellow, Chester?
Across the street there, that coonskin hat.
Oh, you mean that?
Well, for the love of...
Well, I never did.
Now that's the tallest man in the store.
And that rifle, he's carrying as long as he is. He sure does look out of place in Dodge.
He is out of place, Chester. That's a squirrel-hunting southern mountain man.
Well, he's coming over here.
Well, at least he ain't another gunman, Mr. John.
That's something to be thankful for.
Hi, Howdy.
Hello.
Which of you be the, what you call them?
The Marshal?
Yeah, that's the word. I never heard it till a fella told me this morning.
Why, it's just a peace officer.
I'm again peace officer.
It ain't fitting for some folks to be meddling in other folks' business.
Well, what have they figured like that, stranger? In the Ozark Mountains?
Better country than this. And my name is Eben Hicks.
My name is Dillon Hicks. This is Chester Proudfoot.
Ah, let's knock at him.
Peace officer, a man said you'd help me find where that Joth Monger is living.
Joth Monger?
He come out here about a year ago. He's got old mountain gal with him.
Ah, they got a place up near Rock Springs about ten miles north of here.
I'll find it.
You come a long way to see your friends, haven't you, Hicks?
Joth Monger ain't exactly a friend, peace officer.
Well, I got to get going. It'd be in Saturday and all.
What's being Saturday got to do with it?
Nothing, except I won't kill no man of a Sunday.
I never have and I never will.
Music
Let's take a moment to think of the world we live in, of just how small it really is.
With modern transportation, traveling to almost any place in the world is only a matter of hours.
Now let's say that you're about to be stationed for the first time in the Panama Canal Zone.
Once there, you'll find the Republic of Panama more intimately associated with the United States than any other country.
You'll also find that nowhere abroad will you get in closer contact with the United States.
North Americans have lived in the Canal Zone ever since it was acquired in May 1904.
And you'll find thousands of your fellow countrymen, soldiers, sailors, and civilians living and working in the Zone much as they would at home.
Why would you be stationed here?
It would be to help protect one of the greatest engineering feats in history, the Panama Canal,
which was finally dug and completed by the United States Army engineers and opened to navigation August the 15th, 1914,
ten years after our engineers took over the actual digging of the Big Ditch at a total cost of $380 million.
Now here is why the canal is so important.
This narrow gateway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans is kept open and maintained so that our Navy and merchant ships can pass quickly from ocean to ocean.
This is a tremendous saving of time and money.
Ships plowing the ocean waters between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States save 8,000 miles by going through the canal
instead of around the southern tip of South America where, incidentally, there's some of the world's worst weather.
Here's another thought to keep in mind.
Whenever you leave the Canal Zone and enter Panama proper, you are under the laws and customs of Panama, not those of the United States.
So respect these laws and customs to maintain the people's friendship.
For remember, the only way to have a friend is to be one.
The Joss Monger place don't look no better than it ever did, does it?
Not much.
And just look at that poor Miss Monger. Outdoing chores as usual.
I wonder where Joss is.
Sleep, some worries, probably.
Morning, Miss Monger.
Hi.
Hi, ma'am.
Poorly.
Is Joss here, ma'am?
Today wasn't Saturday he'd be here.
What?
Joss heals in the Dodge every Saturday.
He does? I never see him.
He socialized more, you'd see him.
Joss got his ways, Marshal. They're lonesome, but they're his.
I see. Miss Monger, do you know a man called Eben Hicks?
Hicks? You speak that name around here, you won't be welcome, Marshal.
Is there trouble between you?
You call Joss being the only Monger left and even being the only Hicks left,
then you could say there's trouble.
Ah, you mean there's a feud, huh?
Both families have been twiddled down to just them two.
I see. Is that why Joss came out to Kansas? To get away from it?
Not if he's always talking about going back long enough to kill Eben Hicks.
Oh. Now what do you think, ma'am? Don't you think it's gone far enough?
Either one of them could call it off if they wasn't so mewly.
Well, how'd this feud start, ma'am?
If you had any bringing up, you wouldn't ask.
Oh. Oh, my. Sorry.
It's a family matter. Where'd you see Eben Hicks, anyway?
He was in Dodge asking about Joss.
He was asking, and he'll find him. And that's bad. Joss don't even know he's around.
That's why I came out here, ma'am.
If Joss knew about him, I wouldn't worry. Joss better shop than Eben Hicks any day.
Look, Miss Monger, the law doesn't hold with feuding.
Whichever one kills the other, he'll hang for it.
You start meddling, they'll shoot you.
But I'm worried about Joss. He'll be drunk soon as it's dark.
I'll find him, ma'am.
Now, goodbye.
Goodbye.
My land, do them hill people all like that, Mr. Gummett?
They're mighty independents.
Well, well, sure, it don't seem to me much. Who knows?
Not when it comes to feuding, it doesn't.
Chester.
Hmm?
Look over there.
What?
That little bluff.
Well, for evermore. How'd he get here? I don't see no horse.
Well, let's go ask him.
Hello, Hicks.
Is that Joss Monger's place yonder?
Uh-huh.
Good. I'll get a little closer and shoot him when he comes out.
You don't care whether you'll hang or not, do you?
Hang? For shooting a Monger?
For shooting anybody. Did you ever hear of murder?
Peace officer, you're getting down right contrary.
Where's your horse?
I don't need no horse to travel by.
You mean you walked all the way from the Ozarks?
Well, it was mostly downhill, peace officer.
But I'd walk anywhere to get me a Monger.
Maybe I ought to throw you in jail.
Now you are being meddlesome.
I've got to get closer to that house.
And don't you fret none about the old lady.
I don't aim to shoot her.
Mr. Gummett, you're going to let Hicks wait here and shoot Joss?
I'll let him go, Chester. Let's get back to Dodge.
We can find Joss and warn him.
Maybe you ought to just let them shoot each other and have done with it.
Don't tempt me, Chester.
Go ask Sam if he's seen Joss. We'll get you, Chester.
Aye, sir.
Evening, Kitty.
Hello, Matt. Where you been?
Pretty near midnight.
Well, I've been trying to find you.
I've been trying to find you.
Where's the old man?
He's gone.
Where's the old man?
He's gone. Pretty near midnight.
Well, I've been trying to stop a feud, Kitty.
A long time since I've heard of a feud around Dodge.
This one kind of got transplanted from the Ozarks.
The Ozarks.
And it's a wonder that crazy Joss monger isn't mixed up in them.
Well, it's Joss I'm looking for.
I'll bet your daughter's right out back, Matt.
Out back?
Yeah. He's out there every Saturday night.
He buys a bottle of corn from Sam and takes it out back and drinks it.
Sits there all alone with his long life on one hand and his bottle on the other.
Nobody knows what he's thinking.
No wonder I never see him around.
Yeah, but you know, he's a home skater.
Kitty just told me, Chester, go out and see if he's there.
I'll bring him in, will you?
Yes, sir.
Who's Joss Feuden with, Matt?
A man called Eben Hakes.
Oh, he from the Ozarks, too?
Yeah, he arrived today on foot.
On foot?
Yeah, he's all legs, Kitty, a real traveling man.
Hey, I'd like to see him.
He's got a face like a hatchet and he's built like a piece of wire.
Well, I'll bet he carries a long rifle, too.
He does.
Here he is, Mr. John.
I may leave his rifle with Sam.
Hello, Choss.
Say what you want, Marshal.
I don't care to be cooped up inside here very long.
Eben Hakes is looking for you, John.
Of course he is.
Monger's and the Hakes been looking for each other now under 40 years,
and most all got found, too.
You been drinking, John?
Mrs. won't allow no drinking on the place, Marshal,
so I've got to come to town every Saturday.
Joss Monger!
Get out of the way, Kitty.
Yeah, sure will.
I got you caught like a batter up the tree, Joss.
Put that rifle down, Hakes.
He's gonna kill me and I ain't got no weapon.
Put it down, I said.
You're standing in the way, Peace Officer.
And I'm gonna stay here.
Then I'll have to shoot you first.
You're not gonna shoot anybody.
Of course I am.
That's what I come for, ain't it?
Don't try it.
Hold on a minute, everybody.
Hey, wasn't you...
I just thought of something.
I wish all you folks had stopped meddling in this.
Yeah, but it's after midnight, Hakes.
What?
It's of a Sunday.
Sunday?
Yeah, that's right, Hakes.
Oh, well, of all the God-blame luck.
Well, quit looking so troubled, Joss.
I won't shoot no man on Sunday, even to Monger.
You come awful close to it, Eden.
It's a doggone shame it took me so long to find you today.
You traveled a long way, Eden.
I know.
Well, I got tired waiting for you to come back home, Joss.
I was coming.
I was coming this summer.
I know.
Your old lady told me about it today.
I seen her scratching around doing chores.
That ain't much of a place you got, Joss.
Oh, fella can make a crop here sometimes, Eden.
But it's a hard fight with a short stick.
I didn't see no hogs out there.
Where at your hogs, Joss?
I'm getting some come spring.
Eden?
Yeah?
How is things back home?
Well, there's been a lot of changes since you left.
Eden, I got me a little jug out back.
It's most empty now, but we could maybe buy another one,
set out there on the stoop for a spell, and kind of get soured on the cob.
What say you?
Might as well.
We can't do no shooting till Monday.
Where at do we buy this jug?
I'll show you.
Fell over here, sell.
You'll have to give me the loaners their money, Joss.
I didn't bring that with me this week.
Well, if they don't meet all me, you know, isn't it?
Yeah.
Looks to me like they're going to call their feud off.
No, not them, Chester.
Midnight tomorrow they'll be stalking each other all over again.
How are you going to stop them?
Well, I'll let them enjoy themselves tonight,
but tomorrow I'm going to throw them both in jail.
Are they going to stay there till they learn something more than feud?
Music
Get the picture.
And we do mean motion pictures.
This is your chance to attend school within your assigned area.
How?
By enrolling in a USAPI telecourse.
If you are taking a USAPI correspondence course,
you may also be able to attend a classroom on film,
which will give you additional instruction on the same subject.
Although primarily prepared for showing in areas which are serviced by Armed Forces Television,
these telecourses can also be shown in any other area which has a standard 16 millimeter projector.
The film courses each come in a series of from 12 to 20 half-hour films,
and are conducted by well-qualified high school and college teachers.
At the present time the number of courses is limited,
so if you are interested in studying by this method,
see your education officer for information and details.
Then enroll with your SAPI and let a telecourse be your guide.
Music
I wasn't sure that jail would teach Joth and Eben a thing,
but I still couldn't let them run loose and shoot each other down.
So the next morning Chester and I went looking for them.
We found where they'd built a small fire out back of the long branch,
and we found a number of empty bottles.
But that was all.
We searched the town till noon with no luck,
and then I decided to ride off to the monger place and see if by any chance Joth had returned.
There was nobody in sight when we got there, so we dismounted and walked up to the door.
Now there's smoke coming out the chimney, Mr. Jones.
Yeah, it doesn't mean Joth's here.
Oh, no sir.
Knock, knock, knock.
Afternoon, Ms. Munger.
Go away, Marshall.
Now wait a minute, Ms. Munger.
If you don't want to get shot, you do what I say.
She's friendly, ain't she?
Yeah.
But she didn't have no gun.
Must be Joth is in there.
Probably.
Well, Tiz, why would he want to shoot you?
There's one reason I can think of.
You mean he's went and killed even Hakes?
I don't know, Chester, but I'm sure going to find out.
Knock, knock, knock.
They ain't going to open it, none.
There's a window around at the side.
It ain't very clean, is it?
It'll do.
Now let me take a look.
Well, I'll be...
What?
What is it, Mr. Jones?
Yeah, have a look for yourself.
Oh, they're eating dinner.
All three of them.
Yeah, come on.
I want to talk to the men, Miss Munger.
I can come in and...
John!
All right, stay away from those rifles.
He busted in.
He busted right past the woman.
I never heard of a man coming in another man's house that way.
He had any upbringing, he wasn't a...
Is this the kind of people they got in Kansas, John?
It's first I've seen of it.
Never mind about that, John.
Why did your wife threaten to shoot me?
What's going on here, anyway?
You hadn't come to put him in jail.
You wouldn't get shot, Mercer.
Oh, how did you know I was going to put him in jail?
He even says you told him you was.
That's right, I did, if he killed anybody.
I ain't killed nobody.
Hudes off.
We stopped it.
Huh?
You stopped it?
Sure.
Last night?
We got to talking a little about old times and everything.
You know what we found out?
What?
You tell him, Eden.
Well, Peace Officer, this here feud started a long time ago.
What happened was my grandpa stole Josh's grandpa's girl and married up with her,
so Josh's grandpa declared a feud right then and there.
But you ain't told him what we found out yet, Eden.
Oh.
Oh, well, we hadn't thought of that before, Peace Officer.
Well, last night we was thinking if my grandpa hadn't done that,
then Josh here would have been me.
Why?
Don't you see?
Otherwise, my grandma would have married up with Josh's grandpa and I'd have been Josh.
So any way you look at it, we're kind of related like.
Any way you look at it last night,
you mean I seen all them empty bottles?
Oh, it doesn't matter, Chester, as long as the feud is off.
It ain't only off.
Eden's going to stay on here with us.
We're going to work this place together.
I'm going to give him a share in it come Christmas.
Come Christmas?
What?
Came far off, January 6th.
Just when did Christmas get to be January 6th?
You knew anything.
You know that.
I swear I'm getting to know less and less, ma'am.
You folks don't understand.
Back in the Ozarks, we do our Christmas celebrating 12 days from when you do.
Oh, you're talking about 12 nights.
We call it Christmas, too.
If you only knew, Marshall, it works just fine for us.
There's no reason why it shouldn't, ma'am.
It's a real good old custom.
Say now, maybe you and Chester'd come out and celebrate with us?
Well, if they don't mind kraut and sour pickles and cornbread and coffee, they'll come.
Well, now, woman, ain't there going to be no chitlins?
If you hadn't asked, I was keeping them for a surprise.
Mrs. Munger, chitlins are no chitlins.
I'd be proud to come.
Me, too.
Well, we'll leave you to your dinner now, and we'll see you all on 12th night, huh?
Oh, you got it.
We'll be sure to come back.
The story was specially written for Gunsmoke by John Mesdon.
It's featured in the cast for John Dana, Virginia Gregg, and Nick Perrin.
Harley Bair is Chester, Howard McNear is Doc, and Georgia Ellis is Chitty.
Join us again next week for another story of the Western Frontier, when Matt Dillon, Chester Proudfoot, Doc, and Chitty, together with all the other hard-living citizens of Dodge, will be with you once more.
It's America growing west in the 1870s.
It's Gunsmoke.
Gunsmoke has come to you through the worldwide facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.
The American Army has come to you through the worldwide facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.