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 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.
We're going to stop in at the Long Branch for a minute, Mr. Dillon.
Yeah, might as well, Chester. There won't be much doing around town tonight.
So do hope they got a rip-sorting fire going.
Yeah, but winds got an up to it, all right.
And it's going to blow up worse one morning.
It looks like it.
I thought Doc might be here, but I don't see him no place.
Oh, Matt.
That's very good, kitty. You want to go over to the stove, it's warm.
Yeah, if it was warm right here, kitty, I'd have that wind outside.
Goes right through you, doesn't it?
So I think I'll be going over to the stove, Mr. Dillon. Might be some kind-hearted stranger who'll buy me a beer.
Ha-ha.
Nothing ever gives up hope, does it?
Sit down, kitty, see if you're not too busy.
Yeah, thanks, miss.
Don't you believe in kind-hearted strangers?
No, not since I was nine years old.
I must have took you to the lodge.
I was kind of slow growing up.
Do you like a beer?
If you let a kind-hearted stranger buy it.
I wouldn't exactly call you a stranger, kitty.
Well, you'll have to admit I'm kind-hearted, Matt.
Uh, Sam, a couple beers.
All right, missy.
You think a real bad storm's coming up, Matt?
Yeah, it's that time of year.
I remember the blizzard last year around Christmas time.
Oh, yeah. It was a rough one, all right, wasn't it?
Matt, things would be rough this time of year, even if the weather weren't bad.
Oh? What's that mean?
Oh, holiday season.
Families getting together and all, just ordinary, decent, good times.
Yeah.
Do people still live that way, kitty?
Not many out here, and I sure don't.
I'm not kidding.
Oh, I'm sorry, miss.
But, Sam, a year, I was thinking too much and remembering too much.
Well, that's not good, kitty. This is a hard town and a hard country.
It goes so often, it'll kill you.
I remember nights you coming here.
Had to kill a man.
Nights he stayed till sun up not talking alone mostly and dying a dozen deaths inside.
You know something, you're as sentimental as Chester.
Oh, yeah, I know.
Mr. George, you're letting him cool.
Well, give me a chance to.
Where I? I've been robbed, Marshal. Hailed up right in my own store.
Huh? By how to happen, Miss?
Well, a fellow come riding in after closing time, bandana over his face.
Stuck a gun in my stomach and took everything to test, or $68.
Sure took you long enough to get around telling me about it.
He tied me up, left me there in the back room. I just now got loose.
You've got to go after him, Marshal.
That's kind of a tall order, isn't it, trailing on a five-hour head start?
Well, that don't matter now, because I know who he is.
I thought you said you couldn't see his face.
I couldn't. But I could tell by his voice, he'd walk, and everything about him.
It was Clint Doty.
Clint Doty?
Yeah, he's the homesteader up the river.
Yeah, I know him, I know him.
I can't believe Clint's the kind to do a thing like that.
And it was him, all right. I'm 100% certain.
Well, all right, we'll ride out in the morning and bring him in.
In the morning?
But if it was him, he'd be there.
Oh, but Marshal...
Look, Jonas, I'm not going to ride 12 miles up that river bottom at midnight
with a blizzard coming up for $68.
Now, we'll leave in the morning. That's sunup.
Well, he must have heard us riding up, Mr. Jonas.
Yeah, you'd think so.
I suppose he's got a hole up in the house and just tried to shoot it out.
I don't think Doty's his type, Chester.
Well, nobody didn't think he was the type to hold up Mr. Jonas, either.
Well, morning, Marshal. Chester.
How are you, Doty?
Come on in instead. I got some coffee on the stove.
We might warm our hands a little bit. Come on, Chester.
I reckon Madora can rustle up some eggs inside me to gain an ant.
Thanks, Doty, but we had breakfast before we left Dodge.
Ants can get warm at least.
What you trying to do, Marshal? Blow up a storm?
That looks that way.
It's been snowing since daybreak out here in the river bottoms.
And with that wind blowing, it's going to start drifting.
That probably will.
Well, heat this coffee up a little.
What brings you out this way, Marshal?
You, Doty?
Me? What do you mean?
We're here to arrest you. Take you back in.
What for?
Armed robbery.
Armed robbery? You mean that hold up at the general store?
That news seems to travel fast, doesn't it? How'd you know about it?
Well, I...
What's the old answer about armed robbery?
Oh, you know him a lot, again.
Yeah, sure. How are you, Madora?
Good morning, ma'am.
Did I hear you accusing Clint of robbery, Marshal?
That's more a matter of Wilbert Jonas accusing him, ma'am.
When did this happen, Marshal?
Yesterday evening around seven o'clock.
He hasn't been away from this place for two days.
Yeah, no, Madora.
My wife's word might not stand for much out of the circumstances, Madora.
Are you calling me a liar?
No, Madora, stop that.
There's people seen me in town yesterday evening.
And Wilbert Jonas claims he's one of them.
Oh, the way I heard it, the fellow that held him up was wearing a mask.
He's got to recognize your voice.
Wilbert Jonas couldn't recognize a apple if he had a mouth full of them.
Well, I guess that would be something for a judge to decide, ma'am.
You're going to take me into jail?
Unless you can prove you were somewhere else at 7 o'clock last night.
Oh, that might be kind of hard to do, Marshal.
Yeah, then we better get started.
We've got a hard ride ahead of us.
Oh, no, wait a minute.
I can't go off and leave Madora like this with a storm coming on.
Maybe one of the neighbors could come over and stay with her.
There's none closer than five miles, Marshal,
and they all got plenty of trouble to their own this time of year.
I ain't even gotten a firewood, split it up to last year more than a day and a half.
I was aiming to get some laid in today.
I'm sure she's made out before.
Oh, well, maybe so, but not in her condition.
Condition?
What are you talking about?
Well, she's going to have a baby, Marshal.
Oh, for the love of...
It's mighty hard on a woman having her man took off to jail
and not even wood in the house to keep warm.
Now, look, Doty.
You know, it wouldn't take no time at all
if the three of us were to pitch in together.
All right, Doty, let's get at it.
Oh, no! God damn it!
What's the matter, Chester?
Well, this kind of axe needs sharpening again, Mr. Dillon.
It ain't too good a steel, and the Marshal's got the best of it.
You couldn't put it in there, could you?
I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
What?
Well, I came here to see if excellency SSR Chooseable
was making the cut for the shooting,
so I could hear what you said there.
Well, I like it enough to buy wood,
you know, V, so I can go in there and
see what the
Pavel Shklovich
I thought she could make other arrangements.
Now let's pack it into the shed and head back for town before that snow gets any worse.
Well, whatever you say, Marshal.
Mr.
What?
You must be feeling like taking on some vittles.
I got the nice hot stew ready.
Did you say vittles?
Now we've got to get started, Mathur.
It's getting late.
Oh, it won't do no harm to eat first.
It'll make the trail shorter, Marshal.
Well...
Oh, my! Just look at all that firewood!
I'm rather obliged to you, man.
You're welcome, Mathur.
I reckon all me there was sick of it, too, with this wind driving the snow into the north wall of the cabin.
God, dang it, I clean forgot.
Forgot what?
The chinkin'.
The chicken?
No, the chinkin'.
The chinkins all fell out of the north wall of the house.
Oh, I was aiming to fix it today.
We've got a lot of bark slabs cut laying out back to the barn.
Now look, Doty...
What's mighty hard on a woman in madorish condition with the snow and the sleet blowing in on her.
Doty...
What?
Would it be all right if we eat first?
Well, I reckon that about does the job down at this end.
Yeah, that's about through here, too.
You know, that ain't a bad piece of work, by do, sir.
Oh, sir, a carpenter couldn't have done one bit better.
Eh, I thought I'd keep the wind out.
Oh, that looks fine, Marsha, just fine.
I'm mighty obliged to you, man.
Oh, that's all right.
Well, I know you've got your duty to do.
You've got to take me in, and I want you to know there's no hard feelings about it.
Oh, sure, Doty.
And I appreciate the way you both been so decent.
Help me get things in shape so my daughter will be all right here alone.
Well, ain't many lawmen to take to trouble.
Well, she's got enough problems without making her words for it.
Let's put the tools away and get her charged.
It's going to be dark before we get to Dodge.
You sure are right about her having plenty of problems, Marsha, in her condition and
all.
And now the cattle gone.
The cattle gone?
Well, of course we only had about 20 head, but with me going to prison, maybe, there
has been enough to see her through, her and the little one.
What do you mean, the cattle gone?
Well, I had them there in the meadow back at the corral, letting them pick clean what
pasture was left.
I guess they drifted off, I guess.
Well, of course they drifted off.
When that storm hit, they turned tail and moved along with the wind.
Cattle always do that.
Man, I guess it don't matter much, though.
Madora couldn't take care of them, no how, not in her condition.
Well, she could if you hold them in the corral, air next to the barn.
All she'd have to do is push the hay out of the loft door.
I reckon they drifted down south there about three miles and come up against the bluff.
Oh, they'll probably mill around and freeze to death there.
Storm keeps up.
About three miles, huh?
Mm-hmm.
I was aiming to go after them, but of course, one man alone wouldn't have had much chance.
All right, Tony, come on, let's go find your cattle.
Well, that's the meanest, crankiest ornate bunch of cattle I ever seen on my born days.
Storm's really got a boot.
You know, that turned out to be more of a chore than I thought, Marshal.
Yeah, sure did, though.
I just don't know how I'd have managed without you fellows helping.
We're mighty grateful to you, me and Madora both.
Well, we couldn't let the cattle freeze.
Well, if you're waiting out till I put these landings in the barn, we can leave any time you say.
Oh, and of course, you'd like some hot coffee for us.
Tony, it's dark now.
You know, as well as I do, we're not going to ride back to Dodge tonight.
Well, say, in that case, maybe you wouldn't mind helping me kill and dress a couple of dozen hens.
A couple dozen hens?
And hang them up under the ease to freeze.
Oh, my gracious!
Chicken broth, mighty good for a woman in Madora's place.
Look, Tony, we've already chopped your wood, fixed your house, and rounded up your cattle.
Oh, you've been mighty decent.
All right. All right, we'll help you dress your chickens.
Make soap for you, salt down the pork, preserve eggs, anything you say up until midnight.
Then I'm going to get some sleep.
And at sunup, we're going to ride into Dodge, and you're going to jail.
Now, Chester.
Hey, Chester, come on, wake up.
What's the matter, Mr. Jones?
You tell me you're the one who's supposed to be on guard.
Huh?
Well, it's after daylight. I'm going to doze off for a second.
You'll be there a couple of hours, don't you?
Please, Doty, did he get away?
No, he's in there. I just woke him up.
Oh, well. I kind of figured he wasn't going nowhere in that storm.
What storm?
Why, it's over.
Yeah, I died out during the night.
You'd better get yourself collected, Chester. We're heading for Dodge.
My, just look at that sun on the snow over there.
Now, turn that thing down, and get that out of the way.
Oh!
What's the matter?
Oh, Mr. Jones, I'm so lame. I don't even know if I can stand up straight.
Well, keep trying.
That's right. I'm going to have to be spoon-fed for a month.
I ain't never worked so hard in all my life.
Hello, anybody home?
Somebody outside?
Yeah.
Oh, my golly, it's dark.
Dark?
Well, come on in, you old reprobate.
I'm counting on you to plan up my horse and buggy.
What are we doing out this way?
Being a patient, I guess. He must have left town half-alive early.
Hey, did somebody ride up?
Yeah, it's dark.
You about ready to leave, Billy?
Oh, there's still a morning to take.
Nothing's changed.
Ah!
Oh!
Where, Matt?
Chester?
This is the way I've been hiding out here.
How are you, Doc?
Good morning, Clint.
Morning, Doc.
Get any coffee?
I have some in two shakes, Doc.
Medora?
Yes, Clint?
Will you come out and fix some coffee?
Yes, sir, Matt.
What are you doing out here this time of morning, Doc?
Oh, the MoDoc baby was acting up.
Touched the troops, so I spent the night there.
So I just drop over and say hello to the Doders, as long as I was this close.
You kept a Donut in town. I'm taking him in.
You're taking him in? For what?
Robin Jonas sent those store nights before last.
Robin the Je...
Now where did you get that idea?
Jonas claims he recognized him.
Wilbur Jonas hasn't got the sense the good Lord gave a gopher.
Matt, they caught the fellow who had done that.
What?
That's right.
There was some drifter riding through town.
He threw a lot of money into a poker game, and the boys got kind of suspicious.
And he finally admitted the whole thing.
So they barred the jail keys from Judge Benton, locked him up until he'd get back.
But Clint, didn't you tell him?
Well, I... tell me what...
Clint, he couldn't have done it, Matt.
He was playing poker at the time with me and Mark Grimmick in the back room of the livery stable.
Doty.
Now, Marshall, I didn't lie to you.
You asked me if I could prove where I was.
I didn't know Doc's word was actual proof.
Clint, Doty.
He done that deliberately to let us think he was guilty just to get us to do all that work for him.
And I suppose the story about your wife having a baby.
Oh, that's the gospel truth, Marshall.
Well, it sure is, Matt. I'll vouch for that.
Let me see now. It's about another six months.
Let me see.
Around the 1st of July.
1st of July?
Yes.
I didn't say when, Marshall. And you didn't ask me.
Aren't you gonna wish us well, Matt?
The 1st of July?
So help me, Doty, for two cents.
Oh, we might even name him after you, Marshall, if we can't think of nothing else.
Oh, help.
All right.
All right, Doty.
How about some of that coffee, huh?
Gunsmoke, produced and directed by Norman McDonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
The story was specially written for Gunsmoke by Les Quetzals, with editorial supervision by John Mexton.
Featured in the task were Joseph Kearns, Virginia Gregg, and Ralph Moody.
Holly Bear is Kester, Howard McNeer is Doc, and Georgia Ellis is Kitty.
This is George Walsh inviting you to join us again next week for another story on Gunsmoke.
You have to complete news first on the CBS Radio Network.
CBS Chicago, the 780 spot on your dial, WBBM.