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.
Well, ho, Miss Dillon, I thought you'd be gone by this time.
Oh, I was just about to go, Chester. Just wanted to get through these papers I'm working on here first.
Well, I could have stayed and helped if I'd known.
No, that's right.
See, I sure did meet up with an interesting fellow.
Oh?
I tell you, Miss Dillon, I counted it up privilege to shake his hand.
Oh, that's good.
I kindly had to wait my turn to do it, though.
What? How's that?
Well, there's other folks there wanting to do it, too. I couldn't just push my way in ahead and all that.
Push your way in ahead where, Chester?
Why, to shake Jonathan Woods' hand, Mr. Dillon, like I've been telling you.
And who's Jonathan Wood?
He's that hero fellow that's down at the Long Branch.
Hero fellow? What's he done?
I don't know. What battle was that?
Well, I ain't quite sure about that. He saved his whole company, though. I do know that much.
Uh-huh.
Oh, you want me to ride out to the Hays place with you?
No, thanks, Chester. There isn't much to attend to. I'll be back by suppertime.
Yes, sir. Well, that'll be good. Maybe you'll even get to shake his hand, too.
Yeah, maybe I will.
Hello there, Marshal.
Hello, Mars.
Hey, looks like you've been riding hard.
Yeah, I have. Rub him down good, William Austin, and throw him some extra grain.
Sure. Sure, Marshal.
Oh, I say, like Jonathan Wood. Folks are sure proud to have him around town, ain't they, Marshal?
How's that?
Well, because he decided to settle near here.
He's gonna live here, is he?
Sure, Marshal. It's all over town. Ain't you talk to him about it?
No.
Oh, well. Now, Marshal, you ought to do that.
Sure. It's just a privilege to meet a man like that.
Yes, I've heard.
Matt, come back.
Here comes Doc Adams.
Hello, Doc.
Hello, Matt.
Marshal, wait up and I'll walk along with you.
Take care of my rig, will you, Marshal?
Sure thing, Doc.
Thank you.
Bye, Marshal.
Bye, Marshal. Doc.
You were coming along at a pretty good clip there, Doc. You must be hungry.
Yeah, you have to be hungry to get the food down in this town.
You know, if I kept finding as many things wrong with Dodge as you do, I'd move away.
And I don't know why I don't.
Don't know why a smart man like Wood would want to move into this town anyway.
Jonathan Wood?
Oh, yeah. Why, do you know him?
Sure been hearing a lot about him. Sounds like a bigger hero than Molly Pitcher.
Yeah, well, I wouldn't laugh about a man. Wood is a fine man.
He saved the day at the Battle of the Hogback.
No offense, Doc. Chester was raving so much about him, I thought maybe that he'd have the wool pulled over his eyes.
No, no. Not this time. He's impressed everybody in town.
Yeah.
Yeah, it wouldn't hurt you to look him up.
I'm bound to run into him sooner or later.
Come on, Doc, I'll buy you some supper.
You sure you don't want another drink, Mr. Wood?
No, thanks, Miss Kitty.
You know, if I'd accepted all the hospitality this town offered me, I wouldn't be able to move.
Well, people in Dodge respect the brave men.
Well, now there must be a lot of brave men in Dodge.
Oh, yeah. Oh, Matt, Matt.
Ah, hello, Kitty.
Matt, this is Jonathan Wood, Marshal Dillon.
Wood, I'm glad to meet you, Marshal.
Sit down, Matt.
Thank you, Kitty.
Mr. Wood is thinking of buying a place near here, Matt.
Yeah, so I've heard. As a matter of fact, I've heard quite a bit about you.
Nothing bad, I hope.
Nobody's saying anything bad about you, Mr. Wood.
Well, they sure aren't.
That's quite a story about you at the hogback.
Oh, I should never have told it, Marshal.
It was just one of those convivial times when the whiskey was pouring freely at the bar.
Sure.
Just that I happened to be in the right place at the right time, Marshal.
Any man could have done the same.
Yeah, but no other man did. That's the important thing.
I hope you'll find a place that suits you.
Thank you, Marshal. I'm sure I will.
Everybody's being very helpful.
Dodge City can use a good man. Isn't that so, Matt?
Yeah, sure is. All the good men I can get.
Good morning, Mr. Dobie.
Well, Mr. Wood, good morning. I certainly hope you slept well.
Just fine. You keep a very nice place here.
I try, sir. I certainly try.
I'll be out for a little while.
Anything I can do for you while you're going, sir?
Well, thanks, Mr. Dobie. Everything's fine. Just fine.
Huh.
That man who just went out.
You mean Mr. Wood? His name's Jonathan Wood?
Yes, sir. It certainly is. Mr. Jonathan Wood of the Battle of the Hogback.
What'd he tell you about the Hogback?
He didn't tell me anything. It's all over town, though.
What's all over town?
The story of how Mr. Wood saved his company by staying behind and manning that gun when the enemy started up the hill.
He held them off single-handedly.
Where has he gone?
I don't know who you are, young man, but Mr. Wood isn't the kind of man I try to keep track of.
I'll find him myself.
And if I did know where he was, I see no reason for telling you.
You're the Marshal?
Yeah, I'm the Marshal. Who are you?
My name is Jake Rowe.
All right, Rowe, what can I do for you?
There's a man needs thrown out of town.
What's he done?
He killed my pa.
What's his name?
Wood. Jonathan Wood. He's a coward and a liar and a killer.
You'd better slow down, Rowe, and start from the beginning. Where did he kill your father?
In the war. In that battle he's bragging all over town about.
Was your father a soldier?
He was a soldier, Marshal. A fighting soldier.
When a soldier dies in the war, it's not murder, Rowe.
That depends on who kills him, don't it?
You're telling me that Wood and your father were on the same side?
They were. And that coward fixed it so my pa would die. He killed him as if he'd aimed the gun.
How did he do that?
He stood up and he ran off, Marshal. He and my pa were holding him off, covering a retreat like he tells the story.
Only he couldn't stand it no more. He broke away howling for the shooting to stop. It led him right to my pa.
They killed him like he was a rabbit in a snare.
Did the company get away?
They got away all right. But it wasn't this Wood's doing. It was my pa's.
Uh-huh.
And it ain't right that he's bellying around telling the story, Marshal.
Maybe not, but telling the story isn't breaking the law, Rowe.
He ain't fit to have around, Marshal.
That may be, but he hasn't done anything to make me throw him out yet.
You mean you ain't gonna do nothing?
There's nothing I can do.
All right, then, Marshal. I'll have to do it.
If your story is true, I don't blame you. But it's not gonna help any for you to do anything crazy.
If the law won't move in...
You're likely to fix it so that the law has to move in and it might be against you. Now, you'd better forget it.
Forgetting it is just one thing I ain't ever gonna do, Marshal. Not ever.
Yeah, I was always wondering about one of them guns. Was it hard to get the hang of being newfangled and all?
You mean the Gatling gun?
Yeah, that was the one you used there, holding them off. Weren't it, Mr. Wood?
Yes, that's what we use, all right.
Uh-huh.
Well, it wasn't hard to get the hang of it if it was set up properly.
Oh.
Of course, you had to know how to do that.
And you knew how to do that all right, didn't you, Mr. Wood?
Well, yes. It just so happens that I did.
And you didn't need no help?
Now, a man can always use help. I won't deny that.
These fellas at the bar here, they all been buying you drinks?
One or two have been kind enough to buy me a drink.
That's true.
Did you buy him a drink, mister?
Well, sure I did. I'm proud to.
Because of what he done at the hogback, huh?
Well, he was a mighty brave man that day.
Then how'd you like to buy a drink for a man named Jed Rowe?
Jed Rowe? Why should I buy a drink for him? I never heard of him.
He's dead.
Dead? What?
Yeah, he's dead.
But I'll tell you why you should buy a drink for him, mister.
And I'll tell everybody.
Now, look, boy.
Listen here, everybody.
You want to hear about the hero of the hogback?
This boy, this boy is much too young to know what he's talking about.
My pa wasn't too young.
That's right, everybody. Move in close.
Now, you all been listening to this fella spin a yarn, ain't you?
Well, he can tell a better one.
He doesn't know what he's talking about.
But you do, Mr. Wood.
You can tell a lot better yarn than you've been telling.
And everybody'd like to hear that, wouldn't you?
Please, please, go away and I'll talk to you later.
I'm talking now.
Now, here's how the story goes.
There was someone else there with you at the hogback, wasn't there, Mr. Wood?
Wasn't there?
Well, sure. Yes, there was.
Someone else, just sort of helping you with that newfangled gun.
Yes, but I...
And what was his name? Come on, speak it. Speak it out loud.
His name was Roe. Jed Roe.
You bet it was.
Now, you just go on, Mr. Wood, and tell the story, and you tell it true.
These people, they've all heard it.
They've all heard how you were supposed to stay there and cover the retreat with that gun, huh?
They've heard that.
Have they heard that that's what Jed Roe did?
Stayed right there shooting as they come at him?
Well, yes.
And have they heard what you really did?
How you stayed there with your head down till the enemy come close?
Now, this is a ridiculous...
And then you stood right up and you run, and you left Jed Roe there to be shot down like a turkey at a shoot?
Did you tell him that?
That is wild talk. That's all this is, wild talk.
Well, I ain't gonna talk no more.
I'm telling you to get out of town, Mr. Wood.
I'm telling you that if I see you around anywhere after today, you're gonna have to stand and fight me.
I won't be talking.
And running won't do you no good.
He's a familiar sort of fellow, a nice guy.
His manner is affable, his temper serene.
He is conspicuously considerate of others.
Then he climbs into the family automobile.
Immediately, the casual observer notes an unto subtle change steel over him.
His eyes narrow, his jaw juts, and the beginning of a snarl curls his lips.
He's undergoing a transformation.
He's a werewolf touched by the first rays of full moon.
We'll spare you the picture of his driving manners, his tooth and claw tactics in traffic,
the way he streaks down the straightaway driven by demons.
It's a fact.
Getting behind a wheel is strong enough chemistry to warp some personalities.
If you sense that we're trying to make a point here, you're right.
It's simply this.
Be sure your driving manners are at least as good as when you're out of the driver's seat.
Observing motoring courtesy is another way of taking care to get there.
Now, it isn't that I want you to do anything to the boy, Marshal.
I realize that he'd had too much to drink.
Uh-huh.
But I thought it might spare us all a lot of embarrassment if you suggested to him that he leave town.
That's funny.
How's that, Marshal?
He was in here yesterday and he wanted me to make you leave town.
Now, I can understand how he's upset about the death of his father, Marshal Dillon.
It seems to have become an obsession with him.
Yeah.
But I see no reason for me to have to put up with a scene every time we run into each other.
So, will you talk to him, Marshal?
I don't think talking is going to do any good.
Now, surely if you exerted the authority of your office...
Listen to me, Wood. I'll tell you what I told him.
He hasn't done anything to make me send him out of town yet.
Well, he's as much as threatened my life.
Then maybe you should be the one to leave.
I'm sorry, Marshal Dillon, that you take the side of an irresponsible boy.
I'm not taking anybody's side.
Well, surely you don't believe his story.
I don't know, Wood. Do you?
Good day, Marshal.
Stop right there, Wood.
Now, wait, boy. I'm not armed.
Marshal, he's after me, Marshal.
Chester, stay with him.
All right, Roe, put up your gun.
He ran for cover again. You saw him, Marshal.
Yeah, I saw him.
Now, why don't you go on about your business, Roe?
I'll handle this.
Ain't nobody going to handle this but me now, Marshal.
Come on, Wood. Come on out of there and stand up.
Why don't you move on, Roe, before somebody gets hurt?
If you don't come out, Wood, I'm coming in after you.
You're not going in anywhere.
Now, you ain't stopping me, Marshal. Taking sides with him won't stop me.
Put up your gun.
I'm going in.
Mr. Dillon?
Yeah, Chester. I'm all right.
Why, you... you're a hit, Mr. Dillon.
I'm all right.
The boy's dead.
Oh, my goodness.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you, Marshal.
You saved my life.
Yeah.
I saved your life.
The boy just wouldn't listen to reason.
Why don't you shut up?
What do you mean, Marshal?
I mean, the boy's story was true, and you know it.
But, Marshal...
You've been living on the lies you tell. Isn't that right?
I didn't mean any harm.
The boy just died.
I just wanted him to leave me alone.
I just wanted people to go on thinking I amounted to something.
I just wanted them to notice me.
They never did before.
Before you started telling your story.
I just changed the truth a little bit, Marshal.
It made me seem important.
Yeah, you're important.
You're important enough to leave Dodge City.
Yes.
Yes, I guess I'd better go.
Yeah, you'd better.
I'm afraid nobody will believe me anymore.
Well, Marshal, thank you.
Go on.
Get out of here.
Right now.
Well, all right, Marshal.
All right.
It's a funny thing, Mr. Don.
It's more like he killed this boy and you did.
It's his fault the whole thing happened.
Yeah, Chester, it's his fault.
It seemed like he ought to have to pay for it somehow
instead of getting off scot-free.
Don't worry, Chester, he's paying.
He's paying the rest of his life.
Hey, maybe you'll recall this tuneful reminder of times past.
This is Dennis James with something else worth remembering.
It's this.
You're so right to stay regular with Kellogg's All Brand.
See, it's the normal natural way to youthful regularity.
The whole brand content of Kellogg's All Brand supplies your system
with all the bulk-forming food that you need every day.
There's only one All Brand.
It's Kellogg's All Brand.
So relieve irregularity from lack of bulk, as millions do,
with a bowlful of Kellogg's All Brand each morning.
Double L hyphen B-R-A-N.
It's Kellogg's All Brand.
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 Messon.
Featured in the cast were Vic Perrin, Sam Edwards, Jack Moyles, and John Danares.
Harley Bear 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.
Have a happy habit.
Monday through Friday, Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney on the CBS Radio Network.
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