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, 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.
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Most people think of Dodge City here in the 1870s as a wild, lawless town, swamped with exciting women and strong, daring men.
And then they picture as fighters, the kind who stand up for almost no reason at all and gun each other down with as little regard for their own lives as they have for their opponents.
Men whose courage is as raw and harsh as the prairies it's bred on. Well, this is the picture, but it isn't quite complete.
We've got our share of cowards, too. Like the one whose work I ran into the night I found a note on my door said, come up to Doc Adams' office as fast as I could.
Doc, come back room, Mr. Dillon.
What's the trouble, Chester?
Well, we've got Jack Massey in there.
Jack Massey?
You know, that cowboy who looks you up whenever he comes to town, you remember him? He always comes into the office and gets around and talks.
Oh, you're the red-headed fellow, you mean. What's he doing up here? What's wrong?
Here's Doc. You better ask him.
Hello, Matt.
Doc.
Well, he's dead.
Oh, that poor fellow.
As soon as I saw him, I knew he couldn't make it, not with a hoe like that.
Well, what happened, Doc?
Somebody shot him, Matt.
Oh.
We don't know.
I was coming down the street, Mr. Dillon, and I heard a shot, and I ran in and found him laying there on the floor right where he fell out of the chair.
Out of what chair?
Yours.
Mine?
Yes, sir, down in the office. He was waiting for you, I guess, and somebody must have sneaked in the back way and shot him.
Why?
He was shot in the back.
So?
Well, he was sitting in your chair, and we noticed he was wearing a hat just like the one you wear.
And also, he's about the same size as you.
Somebody's out to kill you, Matt, to kill you the easy way.
Well, I guess I'll have to go.
Evening, Matt.
Hello, Kitty.
Good afternoon.
Yeah, thanks.
Well, what brings you into the Long Branch this time of night?
I was just looking around.
There are a lot of men at the bar over there. Think you can pick him out?
What?
The man who thought he shot you tonight.
Oh. News travels fast, huh?
I heard somebody was after you two days ago.
You did?
I figured it was the talk. Didn't anybody tell you about it?
Hell, I haven't been around much the last couple of days, Kitty.
But even so, it isn't the kind of talk people feel easy about passing on.
To me, that is, anyway.
I guess not.
You know who started it?
He did.
Who's he?
Coming this way.
I said, he. What's he doing in there?
He's got to drop around more often now. He's been banking pharaoh here three or four days now.
But at Sam and Harry?
Yeah. He's been doing fine, too.
Evie always was a smart gamble.
Hello, Marshal. Miss Kitty?
Ed?
Hello, Evie. Do you mind if I sit down?
No, go ahead. Thanks.
I've been meaning to come to see you, Marshal.
Oh, is that so?
Yeah, I heard about the shooting tonight.
It seems most everybody has.
I know something about it, Marshal.
Would you like to hear it?
Not tell me.
Well, a couple of nights ago I went out back to breathe a little fresh air.
I was standing out there in the dark around the corner in the alley.
And I heard a couple of men come out.
They couldn't see me, and I couldn't see them.
But I heard one of them tell the other he was going to shoot Marshal Dillam.
Shoot him any way he could.
That's all you heard?
They said something else, but I couldn't understand it.
Then they went back in.
Uh-huh.
You, uh, you got no idea who it was.
I didn't dare take a look, Marshal. It had killed me, sure.
You're a little late telling me this, aren't you, Evie?
I don't exactly owe you any favors, Marshal.
Why did you bother to tell me at all?
I like killing. That's why I hate killing.
Well, I've told you everything I know, Marshal.
I'll be going now.
Night, Kitty.
What's that all about, Mars?
What's between you and Evie?
Uh, I knew him up on Saturday one time, Kitty.
He was a bully, I'm a man.
Now I showed him up to be a coward.
A lot of people witnessed it, didn't they?
Evie never forgave me.
Maybe he's still alive. Maybe he's the one who did the shooting tonight.
I don't think Evie has the guts to shoot a man.
Even in the back.
Who is this, then? Haven't you had any ideas?
No.
There's a lot of men that like to see me dead, Kitty.
I know.
I'm always willing to take my chances with anybody who'll face me.
It's the man who shoots out of the dark I'm afraid of.
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Nobody wants to die.
But it's even worse without a chance to fight back.
That's what always made me feel especially bad about a man who broke his neck falling out of a saddle,
or who maybe disappeared in front of a stampede of Buffalo.
Or who, like Jack Massey sitting at my desk, had to take a bullet in the back.
No, it's not dying, it's being slaughtered like a hog in a pen.
It robs a man of everything he's lived for.
Well, sir, I tell you, if I was in your booth, Mr. Jones, I'd hide me out onto the prairie for a spell.
You wouldn't.
You bet I would.
Out there you can see a man coming a mile off.
You know, he wouldn't like that, Chester.
Oh, I guess you're right.
He wouldn't never fire you out in the open, not him.
Or them.
You think there might be more than one?
There might be.
Well, don't, don't, Mr. Jones, why don't you hire some men to hang around as sort of a bodyguard for you?
Then nobody wouldn't dare try him.
The sooner they try, the better, Chester, and get it over with one way or the other.
I wish I was as cool about it as you.
I'm not cool, Chester, and I'm mad.
You sure got a funny way of killing it.
Now, if I was mad, I'd be hopping around like a bong of the bear under a table,
I'd be a swan swimming in a swale and a foam on my mouth and blood.
Look out.
He's up there now, Lee.
Yeah, I'm going after him.
You're going with him?
No, you stay here.
Start shooting, mister.
Start shooting while you got a chance.
I sure will.
I'll shoot you.
I'll shoot you good.
That's what I'm going to do, shoot you.
All right, drop the gun.
You walked right up to him, Mr. Doe.
He had a gun in his hand.
He's drunk, Chester.
You knocked him out?
I hit him hard enough.
Come on, let's get him up to Doc's.
We'll sober him up and find out what this is all about.
Here's your coffee.
Don't put that cup down yet, fella.
Not before you drink every drop of coffee in it.
I'm drowning in coffee, Doc.
Come on, drink it.
No more, Doc.
I'm sober now.
Matt.
We can talk straight enough now.
It's about time.
All right, mister.
What's your name?
Matt.
Matt Swan.
But I didn't mean nothing, Marshal.
I didn't know what I was doing.
Honest, I didn't.
Then I'll tell you, you were trying to kill me, weren't you?
Watch it!
No!
No, don't hit me.
Please don't hit me.
You're a real coward, aren't you, Swan?
You better shoot me in the back if you have to take on a load of whiskey.
I ain't got nothing against you, Marshal.
I come to town, hear all that talk, thought I could make a name for myself if I'd done the shooting.
Ain't no more to it than that.
No more to it than that.
Never mind, Doc.
You know something, I believe you, Swan?
You do?
Look, it's true.
Honest, dear.
Sure, it's true.
There are a lot of other drunken, brainless bums going to try for the same reason.
They heard somebody's out to murder me and they got to thinking why shouldn't they do it and get that credit for themselves.
Now, Matt, it's not that bad.
I already started, Doc.
There'll be others, lots of them.
As long as I last.
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Mr. and I rode Matt Swan down to the Arkanzes and told him to get his horse across and keep going.
I guess he thought I was about to shoot him the way he rode off all hunkered up in the saddle trying to look small.
I was pretty sure he'd never show up in Dodge again.
There was one less glory hunter to deal with.
But the thought of how many were left waiting in the alleys, hiding in the shadows, made me jumpy.
I didn't realize how bad off I was until we got back to town and rode under the stable.
We put our horses under their stalls and were walking toward the doors.
It's a boring, clunky desert at night, Mr. Young.
That was way too everybody to get drunk or in bed by.
There's somebody who ain't.
What's he doing with that rifle?
He's ducking to that stall, Mr.
He saw us?
All right, drop the rifle, Mr.
Not likely.
Drop it, I say.
No.
He's gonna shoot me.
You got him.
Stay back, Chester.
Don't shoot.
Don't shoot again, Mr.
Chester, pick up his rifle.
I got blast you, Mr.
What a bullet.
Not long.
Who are you?
I never seen him before.
Oh, do you care who I am?
You gone kill me, that's what you're doing.
Why were you after me?
Somebody hire you?
Now come on, tell me.
You shoot a man down and you try to blame it on him?
Mr.
Bill, maybe he wasn't after you.
Wasn't after nobody.
Just come for my horses.
I think he's telling the truth, Mr.
Young.
Dylan.
Marshal.
Who did you think I was?
I heard, Doc, somebody was after shoot you.
On me.
I was just trying to get home to Texas.
I'm gonna make it now.
All right.
I heard you deliver that rifle, Mr.
You were about to shoot.
Thought I was being held up.
Oh, you hollered at me.
Mr. Young, he ain't got nothing to do with this.
Of course I ain't.
It was I, you, Marshal.
But there was talk about somebody after me.
I'd find out who was making talk.
I wouldn't go around shooting innocent folk.
Somebody got you out smart.
Well, he'll get you out the docks, Mr.
He'll take care of you.
Don't, don't, don't, don't bury me.
Don't blank it, Marshal.
Fix me a box, would you?
Promise.
Fix me a box?
Yeah, I promise.
I can't swallow no more.
I'm going down.
Mr.
Chester, I...
I just killed an innocent man.
Well, he'd have shot you if you hadn't.
They don't even know his name.
We'll find him a box.
We'll fix him up a real good one.
Yes, sir.
And I'm going to do something else, he said.
What's that?
I'd been out smart if he was right.
But I know what I'm doing now.
I'm going to do something else.
Evening, lad.
Kitty.
You're looking for somebody.
You bet I am.
Trouble?
No, the trouble's over.
It's soon will be.
A fight?
I'd be very surprised if there was a fight, Kitty.
Cowards don't carry guns.
Add E.B.
Yeah.
Here comes the split, gentlemen.
Get a drink of water.
Well, Marshal Dillon, you going to try your luck?
My luck ran out about an hour ago, E.B.
What?
I shot and killed an innocent man.
What are you talking about, Marshal?
You were too cheap to hire somebody to get me, E.B.,
and you're such a coward to try it yourself.
I don't like that word.
Your story about overhearing that talk out back,
you spread it around hoping it would give some brainless fool the idea to try it himself.
That's a lie.
Well, two men tried it and it made me so jumpy I just killed a man I thought was trying it again.
And I feel pretty bad about that, E.B.
I've got nothing to do with it.
You told me the story thinking it would make you look innocent.
Well, you outsmarted me, E.B., for a little while.
But you can't pull any of it.
I don't have to.
Now, come on.
You can't arrest me.
No, but I'm going to lock you up and tomorrow I'm going to run you right out of town.
No.
Two innocent men have died because of your cowardice, baby.
I wish I could hang you for it.
Call me a coward.
You're the worst coward I ever saw.
Shut up! Stop saying it!
You're doing just what you did out in Santa Fe.
Come on, E.B.
I'll show you I'm not a coward.
You won't call me that anymore.
Take your hand out of your pocket.
I got a gun in here.
I'll kill you myself.
Tell you what, you're not going to draw that.
Oh, yes, I am.
Not you, E.B.
Well, do what you...
Just keep talking, E.B.
Just keep talking.
Well, do what I'll kill you.
Why didn't you shoot him, Matt?
You had a right to.
I think he wanted me to, Kitty.
What?
I think he'd rather be dead than face everybody knowing what a coward he is.
And he's got his punishment coming.
For the rest of his life.
Gunsmoke.
Produced and directed by Norman McDonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
The story was specially written for Gunsmoke by John Messon.
Featured in the cast were Joseph Kearns, Jack Moyles, and Lawrence Dobson.
Harley Bair as Chester, Howard McNear as Doc, and Georgia Ellis as Kitty.
This is George Waltz inviting you to join us again next week for another story on Gunsmoke.