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, the 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.
I don't know why this ain't growing wood like we used to. You can't hardly make yourself an even fire no more. You just can't get it to burn.
Nobody knows you can't cook none without an even fire. I'm sorry about it, but I might just as well decide to chew on a piece of jerky and let it go at that.
Oh, Chester, you got the beans ready?
You know they ain't ready, Mr. Dillon. Beans have got to cook long and slow before you can eat them.
They seem mighty slow to me.
Well, it ain't easy to cook them with this wet wood that's laying around here. It ain't dried out like it needs to do for a decent fire.
You're getting pretty fussy, Chester, for a fellow who's camped out half his life.
A man gets tired of it sometimes, Mr. Dillon. A man likes a few comforts when he's cooking his dinner.
Like that old pot-bellied stove back in Dodge.
Well, now a decent stove don't hurt, man. I can tell you that.
Come on, Chester, stop your bleating, will you?
I haven't got me a decent slab of pork.
A what?
A decent slab of pork for the beans, Mr. Dillon. They ain't hardly worth fussing about without that.
You want to ride in the Dodge and get some?
Well, that's a day-and-a-night's ride.
Well, then why don't you quit complaining now? How long before we eat?
Well, at least about an hour or two, I expect. Them beans should just set and simmer. That's for sure.
All right, you let them set and simmer. We'll go check that line shack for old man Goss, like we promised, huh?
I guess that'll be all right.
Come on.
I don't smell anything burning, Chester.
Of course not. I wouldn't eat them till they burn, Mr. Dillon.
Well, I'm glad to hear that.
Oh, I'm tired and I'm hungry.
You know, there's some folks on the chuckwaggums that won't let you touch their beans till they've set all night.
I'm not about to wait all night, so why don't you dish them up and I'll say to the horses, huh?
Sure. I was just telling you, there's some folks, it's my particular, about their...
Oh, Mr. Dillon?
What?
They're gone.
What are you talking about?
Them beans.
Them beans. They're gone.
What?
They wasn't rightly done yet, neither.
Whoever took them wasn't too particular, I guess.
Maybe it was an animal, Mr. Dillon.
No animal would come in there with a fire like that.
I guess you're right.
There's nothing spilled.
No, there ain't.
Your animals are two-footed, one all right.
I'll be clear.
They were just dragging along, don't they?
Yeah.
You're gonna track them?
I don't begrudge anybody a free meal, Chester, but I wanted some of those beans myself.
Sure.
Say, you...
You're gonna track them?
I'm not gonna track them.
I'm gonna track them myself.
See, you reckon I'd better go get the horses?
No, not yet. Let's see where these tracks lead to.
Them prints are going right down the creek, ain't they?
Yeah.
Maybe he didn't have a horse.
No way. Don't go around without no horse, Mr. Dillon.
Unless you don't have one.
Well, yes, but then...
Hey, Chester, keep your eyes open on these bushes, huh?
Yes, sir.
Down this way.
Looky there.
There's my bean pot.
Yeah.
Well, I declared a woman.
Yeah.
Come on.
Let's turn her over, easy, Chester.
Is she alive?
She's still breathing.
She don't look very good, Mr. Dillon.
Just look at them bruises.
Mm-hmm.
She's been beaten, all right.
She looks half-starved.
She didn't even get to eat them beans.
She stole them.
We gotta get her to talk.
She ain't fit to ride. She was still...
No.
Chester.
Yes, sir?
You know this, that old wagon out back of old man Gus's shack?
Yes, sir, I seen it.
Oh, you ride up here and get it, huh?
Well, you'll have to hitch your horse and lead him, huh?
All right.
You think you'll settle down after I pull that wagon?
It's the only chance we have, Chester. Go on, now.
Yes, sir.
Uh, Chester.
If there are any old blankets in the shack,
put them in the wagon, huh?
All right, Mr. Dillon, I'll do that.
Hold up a minute, Chester.
I want to take a look at her.
All right, sir. Move.
How does she seem, Mr. Dillon?
Yeah, it's hard to tell, Chester. She hasn't moved.
She's still alive, anyway.
Poor thing.
Yeah, whoever she was running from gave her plenty of cause.
All right, you get on my horse, Chester.
I'll lead the wagon for a while.
No, no, I ain't tired, Mr. Dillon. I can go on walking.
Go on, Chester, mount up. I want to stretch my legs.
All right.
I'll say one thing.
They're going to have plenty of time to stretch them
between here and Dodge.
Yeah, I guess you're right.
All right, let's go.
I swear to God, Mr. Dillon, I didn't think we'd ever get here.
I'm just glad the wagon hung together.
I don't suppose you'd go much farther, and that's a fact.
Well, it doesn't have to. Come on, let's get her up to Dodge.
All right.
You take her shoulders, we'll lift her together.
All right, sir.
All right.
Careful now, Chester, take her up easy.
I am.
Sure do hope Dodge's here.
Yeah.
Madden, Chester.
What's the matter?
Who is it?
It's a woman, Doc.
Yes, yes, I see it is.
Where'd she come from?
We don't know, Doc. She was out near Hat Creek when we found her.
Yes.
You didn't get her here any too soon.
She's pretty bad off, ain't she, Doc?
She's in bad shape, Chester.
Yes, she is.
She took a mean beating.
Well, if it isn't the beating, it worries me so much.
How's that?
This woman is nearly starved to death.
Chester, pour some water in that pan for me, will you?
Yeah, yeah, Doc, sure.
Here you are, Doc.
Oh, yes, thank you.
This is an ugly business, Madden.
Yeah.
Think she'll be all right?
She has a chance.
It's a little too early to say how good a chance.
You'll keep her here?
Yes, of course I'll keep her here.
Thanks, Doc. I, uh, I don't know if you'll get paid.
Oh, stop wasting my time. Help me get her into bed.
All right, Doc. Come on, Chester. Here, give me a hand.
You don't know who she is?
I don't know anything about her.
Just that she was badly hurt and hungry.
Shame.
Is she a young woman, Madden?
Okay, that's kind of hard to tell.
She was skinny and so sick.
Yeah.
Well, I hope she comes out of it all right.
The Doc said she was doing a little better this morning.
That's good.
And maybe I could go see her when she feels well enough.
Would you, Kitty? That'd be nice.
Sure. We women have to hang together.
Or hang separately.
That's a lawman's attempt at a joke if they ever heard one.
Oh, do you want me, Sam?
I came to speak to the Marshal, Miss Kitty.
Well, what can I do for you, Sam?
That big fellow at the bar, Marshal.
Uh, down at this end?
That's the one.
You've been asking after him.
I thought maybe it's sooner to see him over there.
Uh, yeah, Sam, thanks.
See you later, Kitty.
I'm the Marshal. You were looking for me?
You got my woman?
What's your name?
My name? Jadro.
I come from a woman.
What makes you think I've got her?
You were seen. You brung her here in the wagon.
Are you the one who beat her?
I'm her husband.
That's not what I ask you.
Did you beat her?
That ain't right in none of your business, Marshal.
It is if she dies.
Ali? Ali ain't gonna die.
Well, the doctor isn't so sure.
I've come to get her.
She's in no shape to be moved.
I've come to get her, you hear?
You listen to me.
No, you listen to me.
You ain't gonna tell me what to do about my woman.
All right, come on, get out of here.
You ain't telling me what to do.
Yes, I am telling you to come on outside.
Come on.
All right, now, just stand easy.
Maybe we can talk.
There's nothing to talk about.
A man's got a right to see his wife.
That's supposed to treat her decently.
I got a right to see her.
Now, the law says that.
All right, Chudrow, I'll take you to see her.
More like it.
But I'll be there, too.
Come on.
Oh, it's you, Matt.
Hello, Doc.
This man's name is Chudrow.
He's the woman's husband.
Oh, he is.
He wants to see her.
Well, now...
And I got right.
Will it hurt her, Doc?
I don't know if she'll even know him.
I shouldn't think she'd want to see him.
She's my woman.
Yeah, she's your woman.
It's all right, Doc.
I'll take him in there for a minute.
All right, Matt, if you say so.
Come on in.
Don't touch her now.
He won't.
Allie?
I've come to get you, Allie.
Chudrow.
I've come to take you back.
She turned her head away.
Let me get to her.
She's unconscious again.
She won't speak anymore now.
All right, Chudrow, come on out.
I've come to get you, Allie.
That depends on the Doc, Chudrow.
And on the good Lord.
Matt.
What?
Wake up, Matt.
What?
Wake up.
What?
Oh, Doc, what are you doing here?
She's gone, Matt.
The woman's gone.
You mean Allie?
Yes, Matt.
I had to walk to the morgue.
When I got back, she was gone.
She can't stand it, Matt.
She's not well enough.
Well, hand me that other boot, will you, Doc?
Chudrow must have been waiting.
Yeah.
And that wagon's gone, too.
That old one you left out back at the office.
Oh, thanks, Doc.
I'll go get the horses.
Go get Chester for me, will you?
Have him meet me at the livery stable.
Sure, Matt.
I'm awfully sorry this happened.
Don't worry about it, Doc.
We'll get her.
I hope so, Matt.
I hope so.
It would have been a sight easier if that general would have took his woman off in the daytime.
He's not interested in it being easy, Chester.
Well, no.
It just ain't no sense in everybody losing a night's sleep.
I'll kill you.
I reckon not, but I'll think about it.
Looks like that might be the wagon there ahead.
See, it does for a fact.
Yeah, come on.
Hold up, Chudrow.
I keep telling you, Marshal, she's my woman.
She's not in any shape to move, Chudrow.
And that just ain't none of your affair.
I told you once a time.
You hadn't a chance to get your wife on in the morning.
You didn't even get a chance to get her.
You had a chance.
You didn't even get a chance to get her.
And now you're talking to me.
You're talking to me.
Now you're talking to me.
You're talking to me.
She's my woman.
She's not in any shape to move, General.
And that just ain't none of your affair.
I told you once it's my affair when somebody is killed,
and this'll be a killing just like a shooting.
Now come on, start the wagon.
All right, grab the reins, Chester.
Where you going?
Oh!
Now you listen to me, General.
This woman has a right to decent care until she's well again.
She has a right to decide for herself whether she wants to go back with you.
No, I do the deciding.
She might even want to file charges against you for the beating you gave her.
She's going to get the chance.
Marshal, her place is with me.
Not right now it isn't.
Now come on, climb down from the wagon.
Well, I ain't doing that.
I said climb down.
You ain't going to shoot me, Marshal, because I ain't wearing no gun.
Ain't no way for you to get me down.
Yes, there is. You're coming down.
No, there ain't.
My arm.
Will you let go of my arm?
Pull it off!
All right, get up.
Oh, my arm.
You could have broke it.
I'm lucky I didn't.
Ain't no call to break my arm.
Now, you listen to me.
I'm going to drive your wife back to Dodge, and if I see you around there again before she's well, I'll lock you up if I have to break both your arms to do it.
Man's got a right to have his woman with him.
Yeah, a woman has a right to, General.
All right, come on, Chester. We're heading back.
Look at that.
There's one.
Well, sir, I tell you one thing, Mr. Young.
This new Baptist Circus, these fellows on these wanted posters sure don't get no better looking, do they?
We all can't be.
You know, I'm not going to be.
I'm not going to be.
We all can't be handsome like you, Chester.
Yeah, my, I guess you're still not any handsome, but I don't look like no desperadio, I'll tell you that.
I guess you don't at that.
Marshal Dillon?
Yes, ma'am. I'm Marshal Dillon.
Well, I'm Hallie, and I come to thank you.
Hallie?
Well, Doc Adams told me all you'd done, fetching me to him and all.
Oh, Hallie.
Yes, I guess I didn't recognize you, looking so well like that.
Yes, I got my strength back.
Oh, Hallie, this is Chester Proudfoot. He helped me bring you.
Yes, I come to thank you too, Mr. Proudfoot.
Oh, my, well, that's all right, ma'am.
Doc said that you'd been out at the Winter's Place for a few weeks, right?
They, they took me and Marshal like I was one of them. I'm beholden to them all.
Sure looks like they fed you all right.
Yes, I, I took on some, and that's a fact.
Fine.
Marshal, I...
Yes, Hallie?
I got another reason for coming to see you.
Well, I figured you might, Hallie.
Well, what do you want me to do?
Well, well, that's, that's just it, Marshal. I don't want you to do nothing.
Well, what do you mean?
Well, it's, it's, I'm trying to save you some trouble like, Marshal.
How's that?
I just want to save you the trouble of coming after me.
What? You think Jedrow's coming again?
No, Marshal. It ain't Jedrow. It's me.
I'm going back.
Going back?
Yes, Marshal. I'm going back to Jedrow.
Oh, you don't have to do that, Hallie. He can't force you to.
He ain't forcing me none. He don't even know it.
Well, then why?
He'll, he'll be needing me, Marshal. The crop's coming in.
What, if he treats you so badly?
Jedrow don't mean no harm. And if we get a good crop, maybe we'd have enough to eat this year.
And Jedrow ain't took mean so often when he's eaten regular.
Hallie, you've been a very sick woman. You better think this over.
I've been thinking. That's my place out there.
I spoke up to the preacher that I'd take Jedrow.
The law'll protect you, Hallie. You don't have to go back to him.
Yes, I do, Marshal. Yes, I do. A woman belongs where her man is.
I'm, I'm thanking you, Marshal. But I'm going back.
Miss Dillon, is that right?
I don't know if that's right or not, but that's the way it's gonna be.
You mean you ain't gonna keep her from going back?
No, Chester, I'm not. If Jedrow hasn't kept her from going back, nobody else can.
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 Marion Clark with editorial supervision by John Mestin.
Featured in the cast were Lawrence Dobkin, Virginia Christine, 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 when CBS Radio presents another story on Gunsmoke.