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.
Music
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.
Music
Oh, Mr. Dillon, ain't this a fine morning though?
A little nippy maybe, but just fine.
Yeah, Indian summer hanging on, winter holding off.
You know, Chester, this time of year I wouldn't trade western Kansas for everything east of the Mississippi.
Oh, good morning, Caleb.
I've been waiting in this jail office for a full two hours.
What time do you start work, Marshal?
Uh, Chester, you know Caleb Andrews, don't you?
Oh, yes sir, how are you, Mr. Andrews?
Marshal, I have an order here from the U.S. District Court.
Oh.
I believe it's your job to serve such orders.
It is, I don't get them often, huh?
Oh, order of foreclosure and eviction on Ed Blake.
Now, Caleb, why are you doing this to Ed?
The man borrowed money from me and gave me a mortgage on his farm and household effects.
He can't pay it.
It only came due three days ago. You sure didn't waste any time.
Oh, I'm not interested in your opinions, Marshal Dillon.
I'm out of the mortgage, $420.
What do you need with $420? You own half of Ford County right now.
Marshal, it's not your place.
You know as well as I do why Ed Blake can't pay this off.
His horse rolled on him last spring and broke his leg.
And then his wife and kid nearly broke their backs trying to get a crop out.
Oh, I didn't come here to listen to him.
Now, if you had left this right on through the winter, you'd get your money out of it.
But if you go ahead and foreclose now, you're going to wipe him out.
Marshal, I already have foreclosed.
Yeah, you'd break a man for $420 that you don't even need, huh?
As I said, your opinions don't interest me.
All I expect from you is to serve those papers.
All right, I'll serve them.
You'll notice they're to be served today.
I said I'd serve them!
Now, get out.
What, sir?
This office belongs to the United States government,
and as far as I know, that's one thing you've got no mortgage on, so get out.
You may find I have some influence in Washington, Marshal Dillon.
Let's see if you can get me a decent salary for this rotten job I've got.
Sure was a fine morning, Mr. Dunne.
Yeah, it sure was.
All right, Chester, let's saddle up.
I didn't care that it was one job I sure wish we didn't have to do, Mr. Dunne.
Yeah.
It sure is a nice farm.
Ed and Martha put in a lot of work here the last four years.
Chester, we don't have any choice.
Yes, sir, I know.
It's a downright shame.
Hey, Marshal!
Oh, boy.
Hello, Jimmy.
Look here what I got, Marshal.
Looks to me like a mighty dead coyote.
He's been killing my chickens the last night I hid out behind the barn.
I got him with one shot, Marshal, and there wasn't even a full move.
Oh, that's fine, Jimmy.
Matt Dillon, how are you?
Morning, Martha.
And Chester, too.
Good morning, Blake.
Glad to see you.
Get down and come on in.
Oh, thank you.
Jimmy, now that you've showed that thing to Marshal Dillon, take it away somewhere.
All right, Ma.
He's real proud of those chickens of his, and he's done fine with them.
Oh, here I am, though, keeping you standing out here in the yard.
Come on, let's go inside.
Well, we really can't stay, Martha.
Oh, nonsense.
You don't get out here once in a coon's age.
Yeah, I know, but...
And you're just in time.
Your favorite dish, Matt.
I was just about to take it out of the oven when you rolled up.
Cornbread? Buttermilk cornbread?
Right.
Ed's not here, but you will stay, won't you?
Oh, Ed's away, huh?
Yes, he's in town.
Matt, you're not yourself. What is it?
Well, Martha, I suppose I ought to talk to Ed about this,
but maybe it'd be better if he hears it from you.
He's what?
I've got a court order here.
It has to do with that mortgage of Caleb Andrews.
It's an order of foreclosure and eviction and sale.
No. Oh, no.
Yeah, here it is.
We were so sure he'd extend it.
So sure.
Matt, how long before we have to get out?
Five days.
So soon?
You were right, Matt.
It is better that Ed hears it from me,
coming on top of everything else.
Martha, if there's anything I can do,
you know, just let me know.
And Matt, I don't blame you for this, I understand.
Come on in now and have some cornbread with it.
I couldn't. I'm sorry.
Thanks anyway, Martha, but I'm just not very hungry.
Music
Matt, you've looked low all week.
Well, it's just things in general, Kenny.
You know, sometimes you get to wondering if it's all worth it.
It's the Blakes that's bothering you, isn't it, Matt?
Chester was coming.
Chester talks too much.
That's not your fault, Matt.
Somebody had to serve the orders.
Yeah, and somebody has to be a hangman, too.
Life's never all good, Matt.
There's always a little bad in it.
And on my job it's more than a little, Doc.
Try making your living sometime as a dancehall girl.
Yeah, I guess so.
But you know, when you have to go out
and boot somebody like the Blakes off their land and out of their home,
then you just start wondering what is right and what is wrong.
Well, if you find out, Matt, that's me now.
Oh, there you are, Marshal. I stopped by the jail.
All right, Caleb, what's on your mind?
That Blake family, Marshal, they were supposed to vacate today,
and they haven't done it. I rode by there a little while ago.
According to the court order, they got until sundown.
But, Marshal, I believe I'd prefer to discuss our business elsewhere
than in the presence of this... this woman.
Just a minute, Caleb.
Matt, I'll go.
No. Caleb.
You're going to apologize to Miss Russell right now.
Matt, no.
Apologize?
I'm not going to apologize to any cheap little scum.
Matt, you shouldn't have done it.
Sam.
Take him outside and throw some water on him, will you?
Sure, sure, Matt.
He'll do everything he can to harm you now, Matt.
He'll take it out on the Blakes, too.
Maybe.
Look, I just got an idea.
I'll see you later.
Now, Matt, the mere fact a man runs a bank
doesn't always mean he has a free hand in everything he does.
A bank has stockholders, board of directors.
I have to listen to them.
Well, I think they'd approve the loan, Mr. Barkin.
Another thing, Caleb Andrews is the biggest account I've got.
He's out to get that Blake farm.
I crossed him by making this loan, you suggest.
Oh, Matt, he'd break me.
I see.
All right, Mr. Barkin, forget it.
Matt.
I realize I'm under obligation to you.
You saved my life that time the James brothers held me up.
Saved the bank, too, in fact.
That was part of my job.
That's no obligation.
I was just asking you as a friend to help on another friend.
Matt, I'd like to do it, but I just can't, don't you see?
Yeah, sure, forget it.
I've got to think of my wife and the two girls.
Of course you have.
It's not that I don't want to help.
I understand, Mr. Barkin, forget it.
That ought to hold it awhile.
That fire feels kind of good, Mr. Dunn.
Getting chilly tonight.
Yeah.
Yes, sir, when winter sets in, it always makes you feel good
to know you've got a warm place to hold up.
It'd be mighty rough to...
Yeah, I was thinking of the same thing, Chester.
You reckon they vacated this afternoon?
I don't know.
We'll right out there in the morning, let's find out.
Yeah, come in.
Can we bother you?
Ed, come on in.
Martha.
Hello, Jimmy.
Come on up the stove.
The fact is, Matt, we kind of like to impose on you for tonight.
We don't have any place to go and no money.
Well, wondered if we could sleep in the jail.
Well, sure, Chester, would you get a fire going back there?
Yes, Mr. Dunn.
And dig some blankets out of the store room, huh?
Yes, sir.
Want to come help me, Jimmy?
Yeah, you go on along with Chester, son.
Ed, we may as well get your stuff out of the wagon.
Well, there ain't any wagon, Matt, when we walked into town.
What? You walked?
Well, that lake.
The wagon, the stock, all the household goods, they're all covered in that mortgage, you see.
But we didn't take anything, did we?
Clothes on our backs.
Oh, Ed, so help me.
It's all right, Matt, we know how you feel.
After all, we started with nothing before and we can do it again.
There's no reason you should have to.
We do have to, though, and that's that.
Mr. Dunn?
Yeah, what is it, Chester?
Here's Jimmy.
He grabbed a rifle from the rack and took out the back way.
I couldn't stop him.
Where on earth is he going?
I know where he's going.
And heaven help him if we don't catch him.
That's a little keyless house here in the corner.
Looks dark.
Yeah, he may not be at home.
Ain't no sign of the boy, man.
Well, it's ten to one, this is where he headed for.
Ah, Chester.
Hmm?
There's somebody back on that tree there to the left.
Hmm?
Oh, yeah.
Reckon it's him?
I don't know, just keep on walking.
Jimmy?
It's me, Matt Dillon.
Go away, Marshall.
You better go away now.
Well, I can't do that, Jimmy.
You're a friend of mine.
And I figure you're waiting here to do something you'd be sorry for.
And I can't let you do that.
Nothing you can do about it, Marshall.
I got a gun, you're not going to kill him.
You go away and leave me alone.
Jimmy, I know how you feel.
I don't like Caleb either.
But killing him is no answer.
Stop, Marshall.
Stay where you are.
Don't come any closer.
I have to, Jimmy.
It's my job.
So if you're going to go through with this, I guess you're going to have to kill me first.
Stay back!
Sorry, Jimmy, I don't have a choice.
But you do.
Marshall?
Now give me the rifle.
I couldn't shoot you, Marshall.
You know that?
Sure.
I kept waking up nights and hearing Mom crying.
Dad had to sit up all night without the lamp lit and no fire.
I can't see anything.
Just sitting.
Take it easy now.
Why is he doing it to us, Mr. Dillon?
Jimmy, will you do something for a friend?
If you say so.
All right, take that rifle back to the jail.
Put it in the rack.
And you go to bed.
You promise?
I promise, Mr. Dillon.
I'm sorry.
I'll do like you say.
All right, Jimmy.
Good night, son.
Now I could have told you Mr. Botkin wouldn't do anything, Matt.
He wouldn't dare.
He'd be scared Caleb would take his money out of the bank.
Well, that's about what he said.
I don't know, Kitty.
I've done everything I can think of.
Now the worst of it is everybody in town is just as scared of Caleb as Mr. Botkin is.
I doubt if they'll even have the nerve to bid against him at the sale.
I know.
He'll probably get the place that's not much more than the amount of the mortgage.
Four hundred and twenty dollars.
Matt, I've seen more than that change hands across the poker table in one deal.
And to think that's all it takes to get...
Oh, P.R. Jack.
Jack, I'm not usually one to eavesdrop on people, but I have been listening to you two.
The reason I butted in, Miss Kitty, I heard you talking about these people losing their home.
I don't know this fellow Blake.
He's never done any business over my blackjack table and probably never will.
No, I don't think he's ever been in here.
Then I don't know if this will make sense.
But the thing is, I left home when I was ten years old and I've been drifting ever since.
When I see somebody like this Blake that sticks it out and works and fights and then gets a law deal.
Well, when I'm getting that, two fifty dollars, if that'll help money.
Well, this is pretty decent of you, Jack.
Thanks.
Sure.
Matt, I said a while ago that nearly everyone in town was afraid of Caleb.
Well, it looks like there's some who aren't, like Jack and the other dealers and the girls and the bartenders.
Matt, I can raise four hundred and twenty dollars right here in the long branch.
I think maybe you could, Kitty.
I can do as well as Jack to... his fifty for me.
Boys, everybody, listen to me for a minute.
Now quiet down. Quiet down.
I've got something to say.
Well, I told him what you said, Mr. Dillon.
I ought to bring him to the office on a run, if anything will.
Any time Caleb figures he's about to lose a dollar or two, it's hitting him where it hurts.
The bike's turned in for the night, haven't we?
I guess so. It's quiet back there.
Marco, what's this all about?
Shut the door, Caleb.
Would you mind telling me why I've been called here at this time of night?
Sure.
Here's four hundred and twenty dollars.
The Blakes want to pay off that mortgage.
Oh, they do, do they?
The court costs up to now probably run about ten dollars. I'll pay that myself.
Well, that's mighty generous of you.
Well, good night, Marshall.
It's a deal, then?
I'm not the least bit interested in having that mortgage paid off, Marshall Dillon.
The Blake farm is worth about two thousand dollars now. In five years it'll be worth three times that much.
The land's going up in Ford County. So I don't want the money, I want the farm.
When it's put up for sale, I'll get it at my own price.
That foreclosure still goes.
I see.
Oh, good night, gentlemen.
Well, I guess that's that.
I don't know why everything's going so well.
I guess that's that.
I don't know why I ever thought he'd take the money.
The Blakes won't get a cent out of the sale.
He'll scare everybody off and bid it in a few dollars over the amount of the mortgage and nobody in town will even try to...
Nobody in town will even try to...
Try to what, Mr. Dillon?
Chester, I'm going over and wake up Mr. Buck and I got an idea. And if it works, we'll hold that sale at noon tomorrow.
Well, that's a pretty short notice to find an auctioneer.
I don't need an auctioneer, Chester. This one I'm going to run myself.
All right. All right. All of you know what we're here for.
This is a foreclosure sale of the property and the household effects of Edward and Martha Blake, ordered by the court at the request of that fine-spirited, good-hearted public benefactor, Caleb Andrews.
All right. All right. Get on with it. Get on with the sale.
All right. Now, the first item I'm offering is a breadboard.
Marshal Dillon, may I suggest you lump the household effects together and offer them as one bulk item?
I'm sorry, Caleb. I'd rather offer them one at a time.
Unless, of course, you'd care to waive all claim to the household effects and withdraw them from the order of foreclosure.
I waive the claim. The household goods are withdrawn. Now, get on to the house and land.
So ordered.
Now, the item offered is 160 acres of tellable land, a four-room house, and a barn.
Now, I won't read through this description. You all know the property.
It's a good farm. The amount of the mortgage is $420, held by Caleb Andrews.
All right. The bidding's open. What am I offered?
$450.
I have $450 from Caleb Andrews. Do I hear another bid?
Now, the farm's worth $2,000. Are you going to let him have it for $450? How about another bidder?
Mr. Dillon?
Yes? What is it, Chester?
I have been thinking some lately of getting me a little place like this and settling down. I'll bid $1,000.
I have $1,000 from Chester Proutfoot. Do I hear another bid?
Why, it's just tricky. He doesn't want this place.
$1,000 going what?
$1,200.
Caleb Andrews bids $1,200. What do you say, Chester?
Well, I think I kindly like this farm. $1,500.
The bid is $1,500. Going once, going twice.
$1,600.
$1,600 from Mr. Andrews. Mr. Proutfoot?
$8,420.
He never had that much money in his whole life.
Do I hear another bid? What do you say, Caleb?
You think I'm a fool?
Going once, going twice. Sold. To Chester Proutfoot for $8,420.
The buyer will come forward and complete the sale.
Well, now, don't you worry then, Mr. Andrews. I got it right here.
Now, see, there's $8,500 bills, and here's the $420.
Where did you ever get that much in cash?
Well, I save my pay, Mr. Andrews. And then, of course, I only drink mostly beer. And it adds up after a while.
Well, Caleb, I guess $420 of this is yours. That takes care of the mortgage.
Well, Ed, looks like you made a pretty fair profit on the place.
Oh, that's better than I expected, Matt. But I still would rather have the farm than the month.
Well, Ed, I've been sort of thinking it over. Maybe I kind of lost my head.
When you come right down to it, I don't know what I would do with a farm.
So if you'd like to buy it, I'll take a $420 loss and sell it back to you for $8,000 cash.
That's done, and here's the money.
This is unheard of. They can't do it, Marshall.
Well, as far as I know, there's no law against a man selling his own property.
And now the way I see it, Mr. Andrews, is right this minute you're a trespasser on my property.
So come on now, let's go.
You don't care about this, please you mean.
Stop pushing me.
Yes, sir. You better get that $8,000 back to the bank.
Mr. Botkin's probably worrying himself into a breakdown.
For fear somebody will find out he let us have it.
Yeah. All right, Mr. Dillon. I'll see you in town later.
All right.
Matt, Matt, I don't know how we can ever thank you for what you've done.
Not me, Martha. I thank a bunch of the work of the Long Branch.
Now, they're bums and drifters, most of them.
When Kitty told them the story, they really came through.
We'll pay it back, Matt, every cent of it.
And that girl Kitty, I guess I've said some hard things about her in the past,
but Matt, will you ask her to come out to dinner some afternoon?
I'd like to thank her myself.
Sure, I'll ask her, Martha.
I think she'll appreciate that even more than you know.
Gunsmoke, produced and directed in Hollywood by Norman McDonald,
stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
The story was specially written for Gunsmoke by Les Crutchfield,
with editorial supervision by John Meskin.
Featured in the cast were Gene Bates, Joseph Kearns, Dick Beals, Jack Moyles,
Lawrence Dutkin, and James Musser.
Harley Bear is Chester, Howard McNeer is Doc, and Georgia Ellis is Kitty.
This is George Walsh inviting you to join us again next week,
when CBS Radio presents another story of the Western Frontier.
When Matt Dillon, Chester Proudfoot, Doc, and Kitty,
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.
this is used in the movie