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 spell of gun
smoke
gun smoke starring William Conrad the story of the violence that moved west
with young America the story of a man who moved with it Matt Dillon United
States Marshal
it was over a hundred miles back to dodge but I figured I could make it easy
in a day and a half I've been in Hayes City as government witness in a murder
trial and I was anxious to get back so I rode out of Hayes one morning a couple
of hours before light the ground was clear as snow but it was midwinter and
it was sharp cold when the day came there was no Sun only dark gray sky
drilled by a high cold search and wind the air was as thin as I could ever
remember it being behind me in the North lay a great slab of blackness and I saw
that I should have turned back for the wind stood out of the north too and
sooner or later it would drive that black slab right down on top of me this
was blizzard weather the kind of weather that kills the land and everything on it
I don't know why I went on maybe because of the wind you know a high wind will
distemper a man make him drunk like anyway I didn't turn back about noon the
sky began to turn white with snow and I could smell a touch of moisture in the
air and finally it came asleep shrillin in on the wind like small buckshot as
the blizzard howled on the prairie I couldn't look right or left without being
stung blind but as long as I kept the wind on my back I knew I was headed
south two hours of this and I could feel my horse slowing down and weakening under
me my own body stiffened with a cold men died when they got caught in the thing
like this they died easy another hour passed and my horse was carrying his
head close to the ground I figured he'd stumbled soon so I kicked my feet out of
the stirrups and brace myself against the horn by now the wind had really
gotten into me when I saw the blur of a ranch house up ahead I thought maybe it
was a trick but a few minutes later we rounded a corner of the place and stood
at last in the way of the storm I slid down we got up to the door and pounded
on it I waited but I pounded again then the door came open and the figure stood
in the light
who are you?
bring him in Albie
any man out in that weather has been made harmless
get inside
out of the way Albie you fool
alright stranger hands in the air high that's better unload him Albie
nice gun Hack, real nice gun
shut up
take him down stranger you can come up to this stove now but don't try nothing
I'll cut you in half with buckshot he was a burly man with flushed cheeks and a wild red beard and a great shock of red hair even his hands and fingers bristled with it he sat on the stool by the stove a shotgun across his knees and his eyes never left me the other one Albie had a body of an underfed boy but he was completely bald and his skin was tight and dry he looked like a
naked skull and his eyes well something had touched Albie
you look half-froze stranger you must have wanted something real bad to go out in weather like this
I never saw him around here before Hack he's a stranger Albie he don't belong around here
of course we don't know anybody but I seen a few and I never seen him before maybe he's seen you Albie somewhere not me he never saw me nowhere how do you know that?
maybe he was just looking for some cows and got lost in the storm
you're just a kid Albie always said you don't know much Belle Belle get on out here
she was a pretty girl but with a dark half wild look that I'd never seen before in a woman her eyes jumped from man to man and then came to rest on me fixed and curious
and then after a moment she looked away and moved it into a chair across the room
supper ready Belle it's awful cold out you recognize him Belle you ever see him before?
no you're sure now maybe Hayes City maybe you saw him up there sometime I don't know him you're sure?
yes if you're lying to me you know what I'll do to you I never saw him before
he come in here half froze right out of the blizzard must have been looking for some cows and got lost
shut up Albie we don't know what he's doing here Belle
why shouldn't a man get out of the storm even in here?
that's enough alright stranger we never saw you before we don't know who you are and as soon as I think you're lying I'm going to blow a big hole in you
what about my horse I like to put him in the barn if you've got one
Albie oh no heck I ain't going out there I'd freeze
and the horse will freeze if you don't it's his horse we might need it go on Albie before I get cross
alright I'll go
Albie's a good boy you'll put your horse up thank you
supper's about ready leave it I want to talk to our friend here first maybe we won't have to feed him
potatoes will get mealy they better not that's all I'm right curious about you mister I've noticed that
I'll blow your guts all over the wall you make fun of me don't get me mad mister I got the shotgun
the meat will be boiled to shreds if we don't eat soon
you just won't understand any other way will you Belle what is it you want to know about me?
I can tell mister I can handle you easy now what do you mean?
all I got to do is wallop the girl and you'll talk I don't have to do nothing to you
alright if I take my jacket off I've warmed up now I'm mine you might have a gun hit out in there
he can raise his hands I'll unbutton it well now that's right smart of you Belle
oh I'll hide it no leave it be
Belle come over here Belle
drop the jacket Belle now hold out your other hand
open it Belle open your hand
that's real bad what you did Belle real bad
you know what I'm going to do I'm going to put you outside for a spell out in the weather
after supper after you've cleaned up supper you can be thinking about it till then
United States Marshal you're in bad company Marshal you shouldn't have come here
huh? it looks to me like I sort of struck gold coming here
now why do you talk like that Marshal I still got the shot
let me get that stole seems like it's getting colder and colder
you didn't see the sign of nobody outside did you Alvie?
what? who? somebody might have come along to cover the Marshal here it's all
Marshal what Marshal? me I'm a Marshal Alvie
spit him back shoot him shut up and answer me was there sign of another horse footprints anything like that
ah I didn't see nothing maybe you didn't look would I have walked in here the way I did if I'd been after you people
maybe your head got muddled with the cold where'd you ride from Marshal?
hey city left there this morning it was a fool thing to do with a blizzard coming up
maybe did you think you could get the jump on us easier in a storm was that it Marshal?
yeah you knew we'd be trying to keep cozy in here I'm curious Hack
what are you and Alvie on the run for? don't you tell him Hack I don't trust him at all
Alvie would be mighty dull without you boy don't laugh at me Hack now stop it
I don't like laughing you know that Hack don't you do it no more I got ways
yeah I ain't seen you in your ways but don't try him on me Alvie
maybe I won't look Alvie now you don't understand it's all right to tell the Marshal about us he ain't going nowhere
no no of course not we'll kill him Alvie we'll kill him and bury him somewhere
sure now why didn't I think of that? cause I do the thinking for us Alvie that's why
now what was it you like to know Marshal? stop playing games Hack
me and Alvie are wanted for murder up in Cheyenne Wyoming seems a might unfair though we didn't aim to kill nobody
just happened that way we was robbing the bank yeah and a couple of the people there wouldn't do what we told them
so Alvie used his knife on one but it just made the man holler you could hear him all over town
I mean we had to shoot our way out after that must have killed three or four people
I know I killed two worst of it was Marshal all we wanted just then was some money
we didn't care about killing anybody but you know how it is Marshal when you're robbing a bank and all
yeah sure now I don't suppose you do it that anyway we're wanted for murder and we didn't even get any money
nary a dollar so he wrote out here and lighted for a spell I see what about Bell and whose place is this anyway?
my place now the Pa's gone you mean you were living here alone? no they killed your Pa is that it? yes
how long ago? I don't know maybe a month yeah it's been about a month hasn't it Alvie? 35 days
there you see Alvie always knows just how long everything's been now that's fine
tell me what you do with him who? the old man oh we buried him out back
couldn't afford a funeral could we Alvie? Hack we told him that now let's shoot him no I've been thinking it over
people in Hays City know he started for dodging when he don't show up they might come looking for him
but you said we'd bury him Hack that's what you're saying yeah that's right but we can't bury his horse too
not in this ground it's froze solid and if we turn the horse loose and they find it and can't find the Marshal's body
then they'll suspect something you're pretty smart Hack too bad you don't know enough to stop killing people
too bad for you anyway well what are we gonna do Hack I'm getting hungry that supper won't be fit to eat
shut up one more word out of you Bellin I'll whoop your good come on Hack I'm really hungry no no listen to me Alvie
now my idea is to knock the Marshal on the head and throw him outside to freeze now he'll keep real good that way
and when the storm breaks we can carry him off 20 mile or so and dump him on the ground look like he got
throwed and hit his head and froze that's fine Hack that's just fine then we'll break his horse's leg make it easier for them to find him
you just don't care about anything do you Hack just me sometimes Alvie sure me and Hack are friends ain't we Hack
course if it don't want snowing we'll have to think something else can't leave tracks for them to follow back there
Hack ain't we gonna kill him now sure sure we are Alvie I didn't mean that
let me hit him you keep the gun on him and I'll get up behind and hit him there was a Brandon iron around here somewhere I'll hit him with that
Hack you sunk pretty far but I'm sort of wondering just how far what do you mean I'm wondering if you're low enough to kill a man
before he's been fed here it is Hack here see I found it leave it be Alvie we're gonna eat first
we will return for the second act of gun smoke in just a moment but first this Sunday night Lionel Barrymore is your host and Joseph Cotton the star on Sunday night playhouse's gripping historic drama based on the life of Peter Marshall
hear how a Scottish immigrant lad rose to the position of chaplain of the United States Senate a story you'll agree is far more fascinating than fiction
remember it's tomorrow night when Lionel Barrymore introduces another Sunday night playhouse on most of these same CBS radio stations
now for the second act of gun smoke
it was only five in the afternoon but the blizzard had darkened the land and its blackness showed in at the windows
here and there along the walls of the ranch house tricklets of snow blew in through the warped timber
in the kitchen Hank sat directly behind me while I ate later changed places with Alvie and fed himself heartily
so he had nothing at all on his mind that was just a nervous brute born with no conscience at all
his intelligence was the instinct of an animal that snapped at her killed whatever got in its way of survival
every living thing was his enemy and Alvie well there was no way to figure Alvie too much of him was missing
my only chance lay in the girl Belle even though Hack had pretty well beaten all resistance out of her
supper was over soon enough but Hack seemed to no particular hurry to get on with his plans
you've eaten better food on the trail than that can't blame me for
get it cleaned up Belle you can talk your head off when you're outside alone and you're going outside I'll learn you to heal if I have to break your neck
now don't do that Hack not till we're ready to pull out anyway why well I ain't gonna do the cooking
well I hope not I've eaten your cooking my sister was a good cook yeah we should have brought her along now we
know I don't like her where are you from anyway which me or Alvie how do you start with Wyoming place called
Crowheart I didn't stay there long though what about you well now where were you born Alvie I never did know
the public and river that's not a place you fool that's what they told me Republican River
they always lived in a wagon my mind Paul had a lot of kids too of course most of them died I'm about the only one that made out any good at all
and you did fine Alvie fine give me the shotgun all right Marsha let's get back by the stove while Belle cleans this mess up
should we hit him and throw him out to freeze up now Hack not yet I want to punish Belle first
you know someday you're gonna get caught without that shotgun Hack somebody's gonna tear you apart
that's fair enough Marsha give me a fair chance at you then huh barehanded no oh you're bigger than I am Hack
might be fun for you I don't know nothing about fun I ain't gonna kill you cuz it's fun oh come on Hack I want to go to bed
Belle Belle come out here get outside like I told you
Ben don't open that door so wide you'll blow the lamp out
Belle had walked through the room and out the door without a glance at any of us
I figured she'd go down to the barn where she'd be all right for a little while anyway but I knew I'd have to make a move soon
I sure wasn't gonna sit there like a fall hog and let Alvie knock me in my head whenever he got ready
but it didn't take much more sense to try to jump Hack and that shotgun and let him blow me all over the place
it was a beggar's choice and the more I thought about it the matter I got
Hack I'm sleepy I'm gonna hit him and go to bed you can do what you want after but I ain't staying up all night
Alvie's got his mind made up Marsha I can tell just what do you call his mind Hack
I got ways to fix you Marsha never mind Alvie wrap something around that iron otherwise it won't look like he hit his head on a rock
what difference it make do what I say Alvie all right Hack here I'll use this curtain
now keep your eyes on me Marsha
Alvie moved around behind me and was getting a good grip on his brandon iron
I leaned slightly forward in the chair and was tensed and waiting for the split second when my instinct had told me to jump
and then suddenly the door was wide open and the wind roared in almost slipped in the room as it came
the lamp flared and then went out as I plunged sideways from the chair
didn't you hit him Alvie didn't you hit him you bloody fool don't you try nothing Marsha
I got some more shells right here don't you move now
I crawled across the room and was off the door before Hack could reload
in the snow outside I stood up and turned to find Belle waiting by the side of the door a pitchfork in her hand
I couldn't see her face very well in the dark but I could tell she was shaken with cold
I reached out and took the port from her and then flattened myself against the wall and waited
I was afraid it was you he shot
that was a smart trick Belle throwing the door open that way
he shot Alvie didn't he yeah good I think he's found out I'm not in there
what are you going to do wait
Marsha Marsha I'm going to kill you and the girl both now
I waited praying he'd come through the door before my hands got too cold to hold the pitchfork
and finally the barrel of the shotgun appeared waist high and began to focus way around in our direction
it was stupid of him but a man behind a gun often gets a false sense of power
I let him shove it up three or four inches and then I slammed down on it
then I jumped into the room Hack tried to club me with a gun but he missed
and I got in under him with a fork and lifted him up his feet
and he struggled for a moment like a spirit fish and then went limp and I let him fall
one of the prongs had reached his heart
did you get him Marshal is he dead yeah I like the lamp
I can't do it Marshal my fingers are too stiff
here I'll do it
there
yeah quite a mess in here why don't you wait in the kitchen
I'm all right Marshal but I can't help you much till I get warmed up
then you stay by the stove huh I'll let these people outside
thank you Marshal
Marshal Marshal Dylan what oh morning so come on out in the kitchen Marshal it's
warm there and I got some hot coffee waiting that sounds good
yes it looks like the storms lifted has the winds gone but it's mighty cold out
I don't mind the cold said wind that breaks a man down
there get some of that in you
you know how you make mighty good coffee though
tell me something Marshal hmm tell me the truth now oh sure well what is it
are you married I'd make a poor husband Bell for any woman why well in my
profession it's too chancy thank you Marshal thanks for putting it that way
now Bella I didn't mean forget it I'm leaving this place Marshal what soon as
you go I packed what I need and I'm clearing off where you go I got three
horses I'll ride up to Hayes City and sell them then what I'll buy some pretty
clothes and I'll find a place won't be hard after this I wish I could help you
Bell you have but I mean I can take care of myself Marshal I just want to get
away from here sure I'll stop at the nearest ranch and tell the men to come
over here and take care of hack and I'll be soon as it warms up whatever you like
Marshall well goodbye Bell goodbye Marshall look me up in Hayes City next
time you're there sure sure I will but Bell don't let all this make you bitter
there are a lot of good men in the world so they say so long Marshall I so long
though
a few minutes later I'd saddled up and was on the trail to dodge the sky was low
and a slate gray all over but there was no wind the blizzard had gone leaving
the land still white bitter cold there wasn't a sign of life anywhere it was
like riding through a vast tomb I found myself feeling like a trespasser as
though something had gone wrong and I wasn't supposed to be there at all
gun smoke under the direction of Norman MacDonald stars William Conrad as Matt
Dillon US Marshal tonight's story was specially written for gun smoke by John
Meston with music composed and conducted by Rex Corey featured in the cast were
John Boehner as hack Harry Bartel as Elvie and Vivi Janice as Bell gun smoke
assert by our troops overseas through the facilities of the Armed Forces Radio
Service join us again next week as Matt Dillon US Marshal fights to bring law and
order out of the wild violence of the West in gun smoke
starts this Monday a new run for Road of Life returning to CBS radio to join the
rest of your daytime listening favorites at the Stars address Road of Life telling
the day-to-day story of surgeon scientist dr. Jim Brent will keep your
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will be heard again on CBS radio Roy Rowan speaking America now listens to
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