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 US 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 chancey job and it makes a man watchful and a little lonely.
Kindly nippy tonight, eh, Mr. Dillon?
It's getting toward the season for it, Chester.
I always hate to see winter come on, it's a lonesome time of year.
You know, I remember you saying last spring that you hated to see summer come on because
you didn't like the heat.
Well, yeah, but at least it ain't lonesome.
There's always something going on in summertime.
Yeah, dust and flies mostly.
Well, come on, let's go over to the jail.
Anyhow, it don't snow and freeze up everything in the summertime.
You got me there, Chester.
I sure can't recall every hearing of any snow in the summer in Dutch.
Oh, my goodness.
Another bunch of cowboys come to heat up the town.
Yeah, it sounds like they're feeling pretty good, too.
Hello, guys.
Looks like the lazy tea out there.
Yeah, it is.
That was Carl Willett trail boys.
What are they doing up in the Panhandle this late this season?
Well, I heard they were going to try to make a second drive this year.
I've been forgetting about it.
Well, they're going to have a mighty hard time finding the virus.
Most of the cattle agents have gone back.
Yeah, they probably contracted their herd when they were here in the spring.
Come on, Chester.
Well, ain't you going to stop them shooting that way?
They're not doing any harm, just letting off steam.
They'll quit pretty soon.
They'll settle down to spending their money.
I swear I just can't understand the way a trail driver thinks, Mr. Jones.
Well, what do you mean?
Well, they'll spend two months or more working a herd north.
Then they hit town with a pocket full of pay.
They go out and throw it away in one night, and their flat broke again until they get back to Texas.
Yeah, but they sure got a night to remember, Chester.
Well, maybe so, but dog-nots, you'd think they'd use some sand for something.
Well, what is it, Kitty?
Up at the end of the street, Matt, you better come.
It's Red Bastion's wife.
Well, what about her?
One of those cowboys shot her.
Will you let me through here, please?
Please let me through here.
Stand back, now, will you?
Please, stand back.
Well, Doc?
Oh, oh, hello, man.
You need any help?
Well, no, no.
How bad is she?
Well, it's hard to say until I get the bleeding stopped.
Bullock grazed the side of her head.
She's still unconscious.
Her husband's over there.
I guess he can tell you what happened.
I haven't even had time to find out.
Well, I'll go talk to him.
You holler if you want me, huh, Doc?
All right, man.
Red?
Is she going to be all right, Marshal?
Doc's doing his best.
How did it happen?
Them half-wit drunken cowboys.
They ought to be run out of town and kept out.
Did you see which one it was?
No, it was too dark.
Anyhow, I was across there by the stable when it happened.
Where was your wife?
Melodia was there on the seat of the buckboard.
She was holding the horses while I went to fetch some harness I'd bought.
They were just fixing to go back out to farm.
I see.
I heard them hooping and hollering and firing their guns had come running out.
Then Melodia yelled and fell off the seat.
By the time I got there, I found out what had happened.
They'd rode on past.
That's a bad thing to have happen, Red, even though it wasn't on purpose.
That ain't no excuse, Marshal.
I know that.
And the law will deal with whoever did it.
The law's sure better.
Now you just take it easy, Red.
I've used gun law before and I can use it again.
Now don't be a fool.
There are twenty lazy tea writers in town.
I never started nothing yet.
I couldn't finish.
And whoever shot my wife's going to be a lot better off if you get him before I do.
You can tell him that, Marshal.
Red.
You tell it to him just that way.
Marshal.
Oh.
Hello, Carl.
Hey, uh, I wish I could say welcome to Dutch.
Yeah, I know.
They're saying one of my boys done it.
That's why I've been staying back here in the shadows.
How is she?
The Doc doesn't know yet.
Marshal, I ain't had a chance to talk to my men yet.
But if one of them did it, I'll find out and I'll turn him in.
Now you can count on it.
I was hoping I could, Carl.
You may be broke up a little when you get him, but you'll get him.
There's just one thing.
What?
You better make it fast.
This thing could get out of hand.
And then.
Over here, Matt.
Oh, all right.
Hello, Kitty.
You look like you could stand a drink.
Yeah, I think I could.
How is she, Matthew?
The doc's still working on her. He moved her up to his office.
Any luck finding out who did it?
No. Looks like it's up to Carl Willett. He's checking with his men.
Oh, a lot of good that'll do. Those trail drivers stick together like leeches.
No, Kitty, I think Carl will try to get to the bottom of it.
I figured it was best to let him have first chance anyway.
Well, didn't anybody see it happen?
Not as far as I can find out. It was dark down there.
They were all bunched together, riding fast, firing their guns.
Well, what a dirty shame, Matt.
I always liked her. What little I've known of her.
She seems real sweet and gentle.
Yeah. Yeah, I noticed her on the car show.
Oh, you want me to leave, Matt?
No, no, you stay around.
Uh, Carl, you know Kitty. Miss Kitty, what you said, uh...
You, uh, may be sorry you invited me, Marshal, when you were here, what I got to say.
Oh.
None of my boys shot at her.
They was firing in the air.
Yeah.
That's what they say, huh?
Marshal, I've rode with them men at least two drives with all of them, ten or twelve with some.
And you get to know a man on a car show, and he's a good man.
Ten or twelve with some. And you get to know a man on a cattle drive, and you know when they're telling the truth.
I believe him.
I see.
Marshal?
Uh, that's her husband.
We met last spring. I bought water off him for a couple of weeks.
You find out who shot my wife yet, Marshal?
I'm working on it, Red.
Why don't you make Carl Willard here tell you?
It was him and his men riding down that street. None of my boys did it, bastion.
That so?
Yes, that's so.
And what makes you think so, Willie?
They don't lie to me. If one of them had done it, he'd tell me.
Now ain't that just fine?
My wife's laying over there in Doc's office, hurt bad, maybe dying, but it ain't nobody's fault.
Nobody really done it because your men wouldn't tell a lie.
Look, bastion, I...
Nobody feels worse than I do about your wife.
But you're barking up the wrong tree.
I say you're a liar, Willie.
You'll only say it once.
All right, hold it, both of you.
Now, you listen to me, Red. Carl's only saying what he believes.
If he's wrong, we'll find out about it.
Now, you both just settle down.
Looks like I'll have to, Marshal. He's wearing a gun and I ain't.
I'll be glad to take it off.
No. Tomorrow I'll be wearing one myself.
And long as you're gonna cover up for the man that's guilty, I reckon it'll have to be you I come looking for.
Red, you're talking like a fool.
Maybe so, Marshal, but the way I see it, the law's had its chance and it ain't done much.
Yes, Mac?
Now, Doc, how is she, Doc?
It's close call, but she's gonna squeak through. She's resting easy now.
That's good. That's real good.
You can take her home if you want her, Red. I'll stop by tomorrow.
She'll more than likely sleep for 12, 14 hours.
Well, it could have been a lot worse, Red.
And don't change nothing far as I'm concerned.
I'll be in town tomorrow, will it? I hope you are, too.
Uh, Carl, I want to see your men first thing in the morning. All of them. Over to jail.
All right, that's all. You can go.
Thank you, Colonel, Marshal.
You can call on the next one, Chester.
Well, that's all I'm missing, John.
Huh?
That fellow Tick, sir, was the last one.
He was.
And we don't know anything about him.
I don't know anything about him.
And we don't know any more than we did when we started talking to him.
Well, one of them did do it. He sure is a good liar.
Yeah.
They stuck together like pups from the same litter.
They all fired in the air. They couldn't possibly have hit her, and they don't know nothing.
Ever story just alike.
Without a witness, about all I can do is slap a fine on them for disturbing the peace and what they do with it.
Well, that won't satisfy Red Bastion, Mr. Dunn.
I'm afraid it won't.
Of course, now he's had a chance to sleep on it. He might have simmered down some.
Yeah.
I wish I could believe that, Chester.
He always treated his wife like a dog. I can't figure him getting surrounded about this.
Well, I guess it's a matter of pride.
Matt, Red Bastion's down the street there, and Carl Willett's standing on the porch of the Dodge house.
He's been there all morning. He says he didn't ask for the fight, but he won't run from it.
All right, come on, Chester. Thanks, Kitty.
If Red had just hold off a few days, we might still get to the bottom of this.
Think he'd be happy his wife don't get well.
I've never seen that man happy in his whole life.
There's Red, in the street in front of the Dodge house.
Yeah.
Willett, come on out here.
Red, wait a minute.
Bastion, you're acting like a fool.
Oh, my goodness.
Come on, Chester.
He drawed on me, Marshal. It was self-defense. They all seen it.
Yeah, I saw it too, Red.
He's dead, Mr. Jones.
That's too bad. I was just going to talk to him.
Sure you were. That's why you pulled that old trick on him.
What do you mean?
Slapping your thigh with your left hand the way you did.
He thought you were drawing, and he had his gun half out before he saw his mistake.
That's when you drew and killed him.
It was self-defense. The fact remains he drawed on me.
And the fact remains it's a killer's trick.
Matt?
Yeah, Doc.
I've got to get out to Bastion's place right away.
What's the matter, Doc?
It's your wife, Bastion. One of the neighbor's kids just rode in from the farm.
What about her? What's wrong?
Well, she's been bitten by a rattlesnake.
Doc sure taking a long time in there.
As long as he's in there, there's still hope.
That poor woman. Shot like she was last night, and now being bit by a rattler.
Can't figure out how that snake got in the house.
Ain't nothing like that happened before.
Well, cool willers coming on. Snakes are starting to crawl into warm places to hibernate, Red.
It sure the granddaddy of all of them. Pretty near six foot long.
He's a big one right now.
How many of these rattles I cut off?
Fourteen of them.
Nine years I've been married to that woman. Won't go easy losing her.
Well, now there's still hope, Mr. Bastion.
Last night that fellow Willett trying to kill her like he'd done, and now this.
There's no reason to think Carl Willett fired that shot.
There's plenty of reason. He wouldn't have stood up to no gunfight just to cover for somebody else.
I say he fired that shot himself.
I knew Carl a long time, and he wasn't the kind.
Sure you knowed him, Marshal. Real good friends the two of you. I seen that right off.
That's why I figured I couldn't count on no help from the law.
I think you've said about enough, Red.
All I asked for was for you to do your job, Marshal. I sure don't see what...
How is she, Doc?
Well?
I'm sorry, Red. It was just too long before I got to her.
She was off a week to start with.
What kind of a doctor are you, anyhow?
Not the best I know how to be. I'm sorry.
Sure, you're sorry. That makes it fine.
Take it easy, Red.
Looks like you've got a visitor, Mr. Bastion.
Huh?
There's a wagon pulling in the yard.
Why, that's the same...
Same what?
He's a peddler. Tin-wearing stuff, he.
Come through here this morning heading west.
What the devil's he doing back?
Oh! Oh! Oh!
Well, now, I'm sure to bet you didn't expect to see me again.
What do you want?
My horse went lame on me all the way.
I ain't got no horses to sell.
Oh, that's too bad.
Well, say, did you get rid of that big snake?
What snake, Mr.?
The one he had when I come through this morning.
Said he caught it out in the barn and was fixing to kill us.
Hold it, Marshal. Don't move.
You know, there are four of us against you, Red.
But you're the only one wearing a gun, Marshal.
The others will be just like sitting ducks.
So you're the one who shot at your wife.
Now, wait a minute.
Then you turned that snake on her this morning before you came into town.
All right, so it's true.
I wasn't going to let her go away with him.
With who?
Carl Willett.
They got real friendly when he was here on that drive last spring.
Yesterday she told me she was going to leave with him when he come back.
I ain't letting no man take a woman off me.
So you murdered her, huh?
She sure ain't going to leave with him now.
There's a snake right behind you.
Where?
All right, drop the gun, Red.
Not hardly.
Thanks, Chester.
That was just an old Indian trick, Mr. Buhn.
Well, what do you mean, Chester?
An old Indian trick.
Well, Doc, you just stick a snake's rattle on the point of your knife
and snap the handle with your thumbnail.
See?
Yeah.
Well, it may be an old trick, Chester, but it sure worked.
Gunsmoke, produced and directed by Norman MacDonald,
stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
The story was specially written for Gunsmoke by Les Crutchfield,
with editorial supervision by John Messman.
Featured in the cast were Vic Perrin, Harry Bartel, and James Nusser.
Harley Bair is Chester, Howard McNear is Doc, and Georgia Ellis is Kitty.
This is George Walsh inviting you to join us again next week on Gunsmoke.
This is George Walsh inviting you to join us again next week
for another story on Gunsmoke.