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 the US Marshal and the spell of Gunsmoke.
Gunsmoke 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.
You're going out soon Mr. Dillon?
It's a little early yet Chester, things seem quiet enough.
Why don't you ask?
Well sir I thought I might read this office up a little bit when you go.
At night?
Night wasn't made just for sleeping.
That's what my mother used to tell us.
Chester I'll bet you it was your father that said that.
It was my father who, well of course.
Did I say my mother?
I sure never meant that.
My goodness no.
He didn't believe in doing anything after dark except to read the Bible out loud.
Well that did you no harm.
In any way you've more than made up for it since.
Oh now Mr. Dillon I'm not such a wild one to all laugh.
I don't know Chester, every now and then you get a look in your eye that spells trouble
for a pretty girl somewhere.
That's pure talk.
You're just pure talk.
Hey what's that?
I don't know but it's close by, come on.
There, look right in the street.
Yeah I see him but there's no one else around.
Take a look down the alley Chester.
Yes sir.
Oh it's Shaw.
Shaw, Shaw you're about to hurt.
Shot me right in the back Marshal.
Must have been in the alley there.
Any idea who it was?
No sir, none at all.
I'm bleeding Sam Marshal.
Yeah I know.
We better get you right up to Doc's.
He can work on you better there.
All right a couple of you men pick him up and follow me.
All right.
Take him in.
All right.
Let's go now please.
All right.
Let's go now.
Let's go.
Let's go.
Let's go.
Let's go.
Let's go.
Let's go.
Let's go.
Let's go.
I didn't see a thing Mr. Dillon.
I went right to the end of the alley but there was an area of a soul inside.
Well there's no use running around in the dark looking for him now.
Maybe Shaw can tell us something after we get him into Doc's here.
Yes sir.
All right put him on the couch there.
Easy with him now.
All right Johnny go.
Doc's not here Mr. Dillon.
I just looked out back.
All right.
You men will you spread out and see if you can find Doc try the olifraganza first.
Yeah.
Do something for me Marshall.
Don't you worry Shaw.
Doc will be here soon and he's patched up a lot of men worse off than you are.
Is there anything I can do Mr. Dillon?
Here's his coat.
Put it on the chair over there.
All right.
Shaw do you mind if we talk while we're waiting for Doc.
If you want to know who did it Marshall I haven't an enemy in the world to know.
Yeah I know.
But has anybody anybody at all said anything lately or done anything that might have led to this.
No no.
Did you see him at all.
No sir.
But I did hear him say something about Stone Marshall.
That's all I heard Stone.
What is that a man's name.
Could be.
Anyway that's all I heard.
Maybe thought I was somebody called Stone I don't know.
Well I don't know any Stone not around here anyway.
No.
Do you Shaw.
No I don't.
I'll see you later Chester.
Yes sir.
You let me know if there's anything I can do for you Shaw.
Sure will Marshall.
Thank you.
I'll give it to him.
Bye.
Fell upon a hat out there Shaw figured it must be yours.
I'll put it over here with your coat.
Is that your hat Shaw.
Yeah yeah that's mine all right.
Hey the found Mr. Dillon he's coming across the street right now.
Doc.
Hey Doc.
He can't hear you Chester the one that's closed.
Yeah come on let's get out of here.
The Doc will be right here Shaw.
So long Shaw.
So long.
Nice peaceable fellow.
It's a downright shame that's what it is.
Yeah.
But he's right Chester.
He got shot by mistake.
Oh.
Well come here's to shore Mr. Dillon.
His hat for one thing.
His hat.
Yeah it's the same shape and the same color as mine.
It is?
Yeah.
And Shaw and I are built enough alike we're close enough in size that somebody could possibly
make a mistake.
Especially at night.
Well maybe.
But that's stretching it some if you ask me Mr. Dillon.
Yeah except for one thing.
I once knew a man named Stone.
You knew him?
You mean he's dead?
Yeah.
Well if he's dead then it couldn't have been him.
Stone had a friend by the name of Danche Chester.
Might have been Danche.
But why?
Well they were both cow thieves down in Matagorda County it was.
One day Danche found his friend Stone hung from a live oak tree.
I haven't seen Danche since that event but I've heard that he's often sworn publicly
that he's going to kill me for it.
Well did you?
No Chester.
Probably some cattleman caught him using a straight iron and practiced a little quick
justice.
I wasn't even around.
I don't hang people Chester.
Oh no of course not.
Anyway if that was Danche he's probably still in Dutch.
You'd have heard he shot the wrong man soon enough.
You going to go look for him Mr. Jones?
It's better than letting him look for me Chester.
Especially seeing the way he goes about it.
Well what's he look like in case I see him first?
He's tall, thin.
He's got one mark you can't miss.
You're standing on his left side anyway.
What's that?
He had a fight somewhere and he got his ear chewed off.
Oh yeah.
Unless he's grown another one that ought to make him easy enough to spot.
I might wander down and see if he's been around the Dodge house any Mr. Jones.
Alright Chester.
I'm going to make a round to the saloons.
I'll be at the Texas Trail last.
Yes sir.
You sure you don't want a drink Matt?
No, no not tonight Kitty.
You must be expecting trouble.
Yeah maybe.
Kitty tell me something.
Have you heard the name Danch around here lately?
Danch?
Yeah.
No, no I haven't.
What's he look like Matt?
Well he's a tall man.
He's missing an ear.
Oh yeah.
I saw a fellow like that a couple nights ago.
He was in here real late.
Was that so?
Yeah.
You haven't seen him since.
No but I could ask the other girls.
Hi Mr. Dillon.
Hello Mr. Kitty.
Hello Chester.
Mr. Dillon you know that cheap rooming house out the edge of town the one they call the
Prairie Dog Hole?
Yeah what about it Chester?
Well sir I went to every other place and then I tried it just on a chance.
Sure enough he was there.
You mean you saw him?
Oh no sir he's gone.
They said he rode in after dark last night and he left before dawn.
He hasn't been back since and he took his horse with him.
Yeah.
Yours?
No.
I'll put it over here for you.
Is that your hat Shaw?
Yeah, yeah that's mine.
I think I'll keep sniffing the air just the same.
The next afternoon about sundown Shaw suddenly died.
He hadn't been badly hurt but as Doc said you never know how a man's heart will react.
Anyway Shaw the man without an enemy in the world was dead, murdered and in place of me.
That night I was walking down Front Street thinking about it and wondering why it is
that the innocent so often get hurt.
And all at once I had a feeling that it was being followed.
I walked on until I reached an alley and then turned into it casually.
Once out of sight I ran half way down it and ducked behind a rain barrel, waited.
A few seconds later I knew I'd been right.
Don't kill me.
Don't kill me Marshall.
Well that depends on you mister.
All right now come on get up.
Yeah you got my gun.
I'm unarmed.
You went off when you jumped me that's all.
Shut up and turn around.
All right the jail's right around the corner.
Walk ahead of me and walk careful.
I will sure I will.
All right that's it.
I open the door and go right on in.
Sure.
Who is it Mr. Gellin?
I don't know.
Who are you mister?
My name is Lee.
Lee what?
Bill Lee.
All right Lee.
Now why did you follow me down that alley with a gun in your hand?
Oh I wasn't following you Marshall.
No?
Well what were you doing?
Well I was just...
It was dark down there and I didn't want to take any chances.
All right Lee.
Did you shoot Shaw last night?
Oh that fellow I got shot?
Yeah that's the one.
No Marshall why would I shoot him?
There's no reason.
None at all.
You made a bad mistake.
Look here Marshall you can't drag me in here and accuse me of...
Shut up!
Now all I want out of you is one thing.
Did Danch hire you to kill me?
You got nothing on me Marshall.
I've never heard of no Danch.
Oh.
All right lock him up Chester.
Lock me up? What for?
For lying.
Now wait a minute that's illegal.
It sure is.
No no I mean you can't put me in jail for...
You show him what we can do Chester.
All right mister right through that door.
Go on.
I see you tried for this Marshall now I know my rights.
Lee the only right you got left is to be hung.
And I hope it takes place real soon.
We will return to the second act of Gunsmoke in just a moment.
But first a reminder to all vacation bound Americans.
Blood donations fall off in the summertime.
Blood is vital to the saving of American lives.
Give a pint of blood.
Ask anyone who has it's simple painless.
Make an appointment with your local Red Cross chapter.
Give a pint of blood and save a life before you go on your summer vacation.
Now the second act of Gunsmoke.
There were a lot of men on the frontier who were bad.
And some of them were worse than others.
I always felt the rottenness kind was a man like Lee whose guns could be bought.
Every morning Chester brought him out of his cell and I questioned him.
But he admitted nothing.
Day after day.
We kept him in jail anyway.
And I hoped Danch would hear of it and come into town to do the job himself.
But it isn't a good feeling to walk down the street and know that any minute you might get shot in the back.
Finally I got tired of it.
I wanted to know where Danch was.
Go ahead Lee.
Here he is Mr. Dillon.
You're wasting your time Marshal.
For the last time Lee.
You gonna tell me where Danch is?
I've told you a hundred times I don't know Danch.
Where do you make his deal with you?
I don't know nothing about no deal.
I'm an innocent man Marshal and as soon as I get out of here I'm gonna write the government about you.
When you do tell them how you messed up killing me.
I'll tell them nothing.
I mean I'll fix you Marshal.
Yeah sure sure.
Tell me something Lee.
How does it feel to kill a man for money?
Don't look at me Marshal nobody's paid me nothing.
Yeah but what about you?
You get paid for shooting people.
You get paid regular for it.
Lee I'm gonna hit you right on the head and drag you back to yourself.
Sure I'm not armed.
And I won't be armed.
Now wait a minute Chester wait a minute.
Just let him be.
But that kind of talk just makes me boil.
Yeah I know.
But I got a better idea of what to do with him.
What?
Now we're not getting anywhere this way Lee just isn't gonna tell us anything.
He's got his mind made up.
I don't know anything I told you.
So keeping him locked up isn't gonna help.
You don't mean that we're...
Yeah turn him loose.
Oh no Al about time.
You can't do that Mr. Dillon.
He'll just try to kill you again the first chance he gets.
Maybe.
But Mr. Dillon I don't think it's good...
Alright go on Lee you're free.
Now get out of here.
You really mean it Marshal?
You heard me.
There's your gun take it.
Don't pick it up by the butt.
That's better.
I wouldn't try nothing Marshal.
You'd die if you did.
You're not fast enough to kill me face to face.
No I wouldn't try.
Well bye Marshal Chester.
I'm leaving.
I'm taking the next sign of feet I believe.
Go on.
I'll leave.
Yeah?
There's just one thing.
What?
You said I get paid for shooting people.
Oh now Marshal I didn't mean nothing.
No in a way you're right sometimes I have to and there's no other way out.
I understand.
But I won't get paid for shooting you.
What?
No.
I figure killing you will be part pleasure and part self defense.
What are you talking about Marshal?
Just that.
Why would you want to shoot me?
I don't like men of your kind.
But Marshal you can't.
I can't let you get any farther than that boardwalk I'd be a fool if I didn't.
Now go on Lee.
Go on out the door.
Then I'm coming right after you.
No.
I'd feel a lot safer with you dead.
Go on now.
I'm staying right here.
All right then I'll kill you right here.
You're armed.
I'll give you my gun.
Don't touch it.
Don't kill me Marshal.
Don't kill me.
I'll tell you anything you want.
It's too late.
Oh no Marshal.
You'll probably lie anyway.
No I won't.
Listen to me.
The dance is down the scientific trail about 75 mile across Cimarron.
Place called Wagon Bed Spring.
He is huh?
Yeah he's waiting there for me.
He's waiting to pay me when I.
When you kill me.
All right.
I'm not going to kill you Marshal.
No I'm not.
Take his gun Chester before he changes his mind.
He's a pretty brave man.
Sure.
Sure.
Take it here.
I told you.
Let me go now.
You know Danch isn't going to like your having killed the wrong man and me still walking
around in good healthly.
I hadn't thought of that.
No.
And the law wouldn't like it if I turned a murderer loose.
So lock him up Chester.
You know the way Lee.
Mr. Dillon you know what that cussed Lee told me just before we left.
He said Danch had told him to yell lap for stone when he shot you.
Well I figured that.
He was a good man.
He was a good man.
He was a good man.
He was a good man.
You know I think he really believed you to kill him if he walked out of that office.
Cowards are easy to bluff Chester.
Now when we get to Wagon Bed Springs I want you to stay out of the way when I find Danch.
Yes sir I will.
Unless he has friends there.
Yeah.
I suppose he really believes you hung that fellow stone don't he.
Yeah it seems that way.
All right let's pull up here Chester.
It's just over the hill there.
We'll go on in as soon as it's dark.
Wagon Bed Springs boasted a hotel with half a dozen rooms a restaurant and two saloons.
All built in Adobe.
It was a stopping point for bow whackers and mule skinners driving their freight wagons along the Santa Fe trail.
And such men didn't carry much money with them.
When night came Chester and I rode in, found a corral for our horses and scouted the town.
Danch wasn't anywhere in sight.
So I decided to begin asking questions.
Beer or whiskey man?
Beer.
Same for me.
Strangers ain't you?
Yeah we're supposed to meet a friend here.
Well look around mister.
I have I can't find him.
If he's in Wagon Bed Springs you can find him.
There you are.
Thank you.
This ain't a big town like Dodge and them places.
Wished it was.
You know I'd like to see Dodge sometime.
That's where my friend may have gone.
Maybe you saw him when he passed through here as a tall man.
One ear.
Oh?
Calls himself Danch.
Oh sure I know him.
Yeah he was here quite a while but he left just yesterday.
He's gone to Texas mister not died.
Oh is that so?
He tell you that?
That's what he said when he left.
Alright.
Thanks.
Sure.
Staying here long?
Not long.
Here's for the beer.
We'll be back as soon as we eat.
Good.
Say did you mean it in there Mr. Dillon are we really going to eat supper again?
Chester that barkeep said he'd never seen Dodge.
He was there last fall I remember his face.
I don't know what he's trying to do.
And if he was in Dodge he knows who I am.
Danch is here somewhere and that barkeep's going to get word to him mighty fast.
Here let's cross the street.
Where are we going?
I will follow him when he goes to tell Danch I'm here.
He'll leave as soon as he thinks we're in the restaurant.
Alright he won't see us here.
Can I go with you Mr. Dillon?
Have you stay out of the way.
I will sure.
I'd figured it right and in a few minutes the barkeep came out into the street and walked down toward the edge of town.
We followed some distance behind until he reached a small Dolby hut.
There he knocked and then disappeared inside.
The hut had no windows we could see but I sent Chester around back to make sure.
He returned in a moment and I told him to wait while I went up to the door.
Who's there?
You're trapped Danch.
Come out with your hands up.
I didn't see him he said he went to South Park.
I got nothing to do with this I'm getting out of here.
Go ahead get out.
Marshall I'm coming out.
I ain't even out here so don't shoot.
Okay come on.
You've got to open it more than that Danch I can't get out.
Alright keep your hands up.
Chester.
I'll take him.
Keep an eye on him.
Come on.
I won't do anything he paid me to warn him that's all.
Danch you're in a bad spot you can rot in there.
I don't suppose you'd give me a fighting chance any more than you gave Stone one Dylan.
I was in Galveston when Stone got hung Danch.
That's a lie.
It doesn't matter.
How come you hired Lee to shoot me?
You lost your nerve.
How many cattlemen in dark that's why.
Yeah I forgot your reputation with cows.
I don't care how you die anyway.
Yeah you talk big for a man who's practically buried.
I'm coming out Dylan and I'm coming with a gun.
You better not do it Danch I'll have to kill you.
I'd hang anyway and I just might get you.
I backed off around the corner of the hut and waited.
Danch opened the door wide and he suddenly sprang out a gun ready in each hand expecting to face me.
He stood there for a second before he realized that he'd been trapped again.
And then he made his choice and started for the corner of the hut where I was.
Alright drop him Dan.
Dylan.
Okay Chester.
Is he dead?
Yeah.
Well he tried to kill you Marshal it was self defense pure and simple.
Oh shut up.
What do we do with this man Mr. Dylan?
Let him go Chester he's just scum.
Alright sir.
And you bury him Mr. Heapager.
Yes sir I'll take care of it.
And if I ever see you undodged you'll go to jail.
Oh no sir I wouldn't be coming in.
Come on Chester let's get out of here.
Gun smoke under the direction of Norman MacDonald stars William Conrad as Matt Dylan U.S. Marshal.
Tonight's story was specially written for Gunsmoke by John Mexton with music composed and conducted by Rex Corey.
Featured in the cast were John Danaer, Vic Perrin, Harry Bartel and Lou Krugman.
Harley Bear is Chester and Georgia Ellis is Kitty.
Gunsmoke has been selected by the Armed Forces Radio Service to be heard by our troops overseas.
Join us again next week as Matt Dylan U.S. Marshal fights to bring law and order out of the wild violence of the West in Gunsmoke.
This is the season for people to have letters added to their names as universities award degrees to scholars.
Here on CBS Radio we're having a somewhat similar procedure.
This Monday the letters KQV, WHYN and KTHS will be added to CBS Radio.
Yes on behalf of our affiliated stations from coast to coast, CBS Radio welcomes to the network where America listens most.
Station KQV in Pittsburgh, station WHYN serving the greater Springfield-Holioke area and radio station KTHS serving Little Rock, Arkansas.
This is Roy Rowan speaking over the CBS Radio Network.
Thank you.