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 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,
the story of a man who moved with it, Matt Dillon, United States Marshal.
Music
Go bring his horse over here, Benson. Sure, Jake.
Wait till we get him up on his horse before you tie that rope to the wall, there'd be too much slack otherwise.
He couldn't hang you very good with your feet touching the ground, could we, Tillman?
No, Jake, he couldn't. We've been neighbors a long time, Tillman.
If I could figure some way to make the noose bust your neck, I'd do it for you.
It's all right. But you get to hanging, I could put a bullet in your neck.
I'd be beholden to you.
Okay, I'll do it then.
Would you drop by and tell my wife on your way home, Jake?
Sure, I figured on doing that anyway.
Thanks.
I always liked you, Tillman. It's kind of too bad about this.
Sure.
You're a mighty calm for a man with a noose around his neck.
You men got your minds made up.
Well, we can't have no man stealing horses around here,
but none of us feel safe less than we caught and hung them.
I reckon I'd feel the same way, Jake.
Of course you would.
You'd hang me just as fast if I'd done it.
I would.
Only difference is I'd want to be awful sure it was you that done it.
Oh, I'm sure.
Heck, we caught you red-handed, didn't we?
Told you a hundred times I found them horses running wild.
I was driving them back to you.
Now, Tillman, you was headed in the other direction.
He got away from me. I was trying to turn him back.
Except we don't believe you. None of us do.
Well, ask Jennings. He saw me rounding them up for you.
Jennings ain't here.
Well, why don't you find him?
Can't take the time.
You'd lay a hangin' and the first thing you know, the man's got loose.
He'd just encourage horse-stevin'.
Like I said, you got your minds made up.
We gotta protect ourselves, Tillman.
Here's his horse, Jake.
Get him out of, Tillman.
Sure.
Okay, Duvall. Take up the slack and tie it.
Hey, hey, look out there, Jake. Someone's coming.
So they are. Let's get this done. We might have trouble.
He's a long way off yet. We got time.
You want to slap his horse, Benson?
No. You do it, Jake.
Okay.
So long, Tillman.
So long.
Hello, Jake.
Hello, Miss Tillman.
Come on inside.
Oh, thanks, ma'am. I'll stay out here.
Suit yourself.
My husband ain't here, Jake. He's out in the prairie someplace.
I know.
Claves around, though. Want to see him?
No. I wanted to see you.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Claves around, though. Want to see him?
No. I wanted to see you.
Me? What about?
About your husband, Miss Tillman.
Something's happened to him.
Well, it was like this, ma'am.
You know, me and Duvall and Benson's been losing some horses lately.
I heard.
But Tillman ain't, somehow.
I heard him driving a bunch of mines this afternoon. We figured it was him who's been stealing them.
I don't believe it. My husband's an honest man.
I know that. Now, Jennings saw him rounding them up where he found them running wild on the prairie.
I guess whoever had stolen them got scared and left them there.
Where's my husband, Jake?
That's what I want to explain to you, ma'am.
Jennings came and told us about it, but he got there too late.
Too... too late?
We'd already hung him.
Hung him?
Yes, ma'am.
Claves! Claves, come out here!
What is it, ma'am?
Well, hello there, Jake.
Hello, Claves.
Tell him what you done, Jake.
Done?
Claves, we hung your old man this afternoon.
You what?
We hung him. For stealing horses.
Pa?
They found out he didn't do it. After.
Yeah. I guess the joke's on us all right.
Wait, ma.
He's kind of upset, Claves. You better go with her.
Somebody ought to kill you, Jake.
Now, don't talk like that. I said we were sorry.
I've got to get home. It's kind of late.
Hello.
Cheer up, Matt. Spring will be here in a few months.
Yeah, sure.
You're still bothered by the Tillman hanging, aren't you?
He was lynched, Kitty.
All right, lynched. You'll never find out who did it.
Now, that was nearly three weeks ago.
Well, I got a pretty good idea who did it.
Man, I can't be sure.
No? Who?
Probably some of the ranchers out there who've been losing horses.
Benson and Duvall and Jake Kaiser in particular.
Benson? I heard he got shot the other night right in his own house.
Yeah, he did. Just a week ago.
Maybe his conscience was bothering him, Matt.
Huh? What do you mean?
Well, maybe the other two killed him to keep him from talking.
Maybe.
Or anyway he had it coming to him.
It's still murder, Kitty.
You feel worse about Tillman, don't you?
It's not that I hate more than a lynching.
And knowing Tillman, my guess is he was completely innocent.
What about Mrs. Tillman and the boy?
Do they have any ideas?
Well, if they have, they didn't tell me.
Well, you've done all you can, Matt.
Yeah, yeah, sure.
I might as well be in St. Louis.
Huh? I like St. Louis, Matt.
Well, why don't you go then?
I don't know. I guess I'm afraid of the dark.
What? What are you talking about?
Never mind, Matt.
Oh, Matt.
Oh, hello, Doc.
Oh, hello, Kitty.
Sit down, Doc.
Oh, thank you.
And don't mind if I do that.
Say, that fellow Duval, Matt.
Yeah, what about him?
He's over in my office.
What for?
He's been shot, Matt. Shot.
Dead. Why?
His hired hand brought him in.
What did this happen?
Well, early tonight he said, you know, it's a funny thing, Matt,
Duval was shot through the window of his house
with a.50 caliber rifle.
I dug the bullet out.
Just like Benson.
Yeah, I thought it was kind of interesting, myself.
That makes Jake Kaiser the only one left, Matt.
Why, you think Jake didn't?
I don't know.
Well, he's been sitting right over there in a card game since noon.
Are you sure of that, Kitty?
Well, I was gone for an hour, but he was there when I left
and he was there when I got back.
Well, he couldn't have done it in an hour, Matt.
No.
Look, Matt, he's leaving.
Yeah, excuse me. I'll be right back.
Oh, Jake.
Hello, Marshal.
Jake, let's sit down a minute.
I want to talk to you.
Sure, Marshal.
What's it about?
Here's the table.
I'm kind of late getting out home.
Jake, your ball was shot tonight.
He was?
Yeah.
Killed the same way Benson was.
Same way?
Uh-huh.
You know anything about it?
I'm beginning to, Marshal.
His artilleryman boy, Claib, I know what he is.
Why would he do it, Jake?
Oh, he's crazy, that's why.
Marshal, I'll tell you, Claib's took it into his head that we hung this old man.
How? How do you know he has?
I saw him right here in town this morning.
He was here last Saturday, too, come to think of it.
You talked to him?
Sure.
And he keeps saying that we done it.
Why?
Don't you believe anything he says, nor Miss Tillman either.
They're both liars, Marshal.
I've known them a long time to be liars.
Jake, did Claib threaten you?
Sure he did.
You go arrest him, Marshal.
There's not much evidence.
I just told you.
Yeah, I know.
You mean you ain't going to arrest him?
No, not yet.
Well, he ain't going to shoot me.
I'm going to go kill him on the way home, right tonight.
You're talking to a U.S. Marshal, Jake.
Oh, oh yeah.
Well, right then you do something about it.
I will, but you got any ideas of shooting him out of your head?
If you'll arrest him, I will.
And don't you forget what liars they are out there.
You leave it to me, Jake. You hear?
Sure. Not for long, Marshal.
Not for very long.
Music
We will return for the second act of gun smoke in just a moment, but first,
a reminder to you Western fans.
America's favorite singing cowboy, Gene Autry, rides to New Adventure
and sings plenty of songs with the Melody Ranch Gang tomorrow night.
You'll want to follow Gene's latest exciting adventures of the wide open West,
and you'll enjoy the offerings down Melody Ranch Way, too,
when CBS Radio sends the Gene Autry Show galloping your way
tomorrow night on most of these same stations.
Now the second act of gun smoke.
Music
Jake Kaiser was a senseless kind of man,
and I knew he'd probably go kill young Claib Tillman the first time it happened to occur to him again.
Still, I couldn't arrest Claib for two murders just on Jake's word that he'd threatened him.
I needed a lot more evidence than that,
and the only way of getting it that I could think of was from Claib himself.
So the next morning, Chester and I rode out to the Tillman place.
It was only about 15 miles from town, and we got there early.
I just don't understand these people, Mr. Dillon.
Oh, what do you mean, Chester?
Well, sir, if young Claib was sure enough about Duval and Benson to kill him,
why didn't he come to you and have him arrested?
He's taking an awful chance this way.
Well, nobody came to the law when they hanged Tillman.
But maybe someday they'll learn to.
All they want is they can go on murdering each other and get by with it.
Now, let's tie up here, Chester.
Hold on.
Nice place Tillman made here, ain't it?
Well, he worked hard on it, Chester.
Now, come on, let's see if Claib's around.
My, I'd like to have me a place like this.
Well, he didn't build it on gambling money, Chester.
No, sir.
Hello, Marshall.
Chester.
Morning, Miss Tillman.
Hello, ma'am.
Come on inside.
Thank you.
Sit down.
Thank you.
Well, I don't want to bother you, ma'am.
No bother.
Well, I was looking for Claib.
I'd like to talk to him.
He's out back.
He'll be here in a minute.
Oh, good.
Good.
Miss Tillman, have you heard about Duvall?
He was killed last night.
All right.
Why don't you care?
Several people have been murdered around here lately, Marshall, including my husband.
Oh.
Well, do you think Benson and Duvall were being on the run?
No.
Oh, well, do you think Benson and Duvall were in on that?
I didn't say they were.
What about Jake Kaiser?
You're prying, Marshall.
That's the trouble with the law.
It's always prying.
What do you want Claib for?
Well, I thought he might tell me what he knows.
You won't.
We don't know nothing.
And Claib ain't shocked nobody.
He was in Dodge yesterday.
Yeah, I know he was.
I wouldn't put it past Jake to have shot Duvall himself.
Well, I've thought of that too.
Do you have any idea why he might have?
No.
Here's Claib now.
We've got visitors.
Hello, Claib.
Marshall?
Gesture.
How are you, Claib?
You been hunting this morning?
No.
Put that rifle back where it belongs, son.
Okay, ma.
I was shooting hawks with it yesterday.
Left it in the barn.
You should have brought it in last night, son.
Sure, but well it was dark when I got back, ma.
I didn't see it out there.
Yeah, I should have brought it in myself.
What are you doing here, Marshall?
Duvall was murdered last night, Claib.
He was?
Yeah.
Shot, same as Benson.
Well, what do you know?
Jake Kaiser thinks that you did it.
He does, huh?
Uh-huh.
He also said that you threatened to kill him next.
Maybe I ought to.
Claib, don't talk like that.
Okay, ma.
How are you going to prove I killed anybody, Marshall?
Well, if you have, I'll find out somehow.
Go ahead.
There's a law against murder, Claib.
They murdered my pa.
Where was the law then?
I'd have had him in jail right now if I knew who they were.
Too bad you weren't there, Marshall.
Well, I could still arrest Jake.
We don't know nothing about Jake, do we, son?
No.
No, we don't know nothing.
Leave us alone, Marshall.
We've got trouble enough.
Okay, okay, Claib.
But you'll hang for murder if you kill Jake.
Come along, Chester.
I just saw him, Mr. Dillon.
Walking right up Front Street.
Oh, Claib?
Yes, sir.
Mitch Saddy, and he's back in town, just like you said he'd be.
Well, I wasn't too sure, Chester.
Jake might have killed him during the week.
It must have slipped his mind somehow.
I know what you're thinking, Mr. Dillon.
Claib's going to ride past Jake's place on his way home, ain't he?
Well, the man's been killed each Saturday the last two weeks.
It could happen again.
You going to stop him?
Get our horses, Chester.
We'll ride out to Jake's.
Now?
Hadn't we ought to follow Claib when he leaves?
No, it's Jake I want to keep an eye on.
I don't understand.
Just get the horses, Chester.
Yes, sir.
And be sure there's a rope on my saddle, huh?
We going to hang somebody?
No. Now get going.
Yes, sir.
The pigs are just setting in the house, sir.
Plum unconcerned, Mr. Dillon.
Somebody just got off a horse out there by the corral.
I thought I heard a horse.
Gosh, I wish there was a moon tonight.
Oh, it's better dark.
Stay out of the way of my rope, Chester.
You going to rope him?
Quiet now.
All right now, Chester.
All right, grab the rifle, Chester.
Yes, sir, I got it.
No, don't let me go.
Why is there a line, Mr. Dillon?
Yeah, that's why I used the rope.
All right, stand up now, Miss Tillman.
Come on.
Shouldn't have stopped me, Marshal.
It won't do any good.
Two murders are enough, aren't they?
I was saving Jake for the last.
I wanted him to sweat.
And I'll kill him yet.
Who's out there?
It's Marshal Dillon, Jake.
Now put the gun down.
What's going on here?
Mine's Miss Tillman.
Yeah.
She wants to kill you, Jake.
A woman?
That's a.50 caliber sharps.
I think that'll do it.
It sure would.
You killed Benson and Duvall with it, didn't you?
I'll kill you if I have to use a knife, Jake Kaiser.
A woman?
Going around killing people.
That's terrible.
You hung my husband.
One of the best men that ever lived.
I told you it was a mistake.
I said we were sorry.
That's what I've been waiting to hear, Jake.
No.
All right, get his gun, Chester.
Here it is, Mr. Dillon.
All right, throw it away.
With pleasure.
Now you're both under arrest, Miss Tillman.
Well, as long as Jake hangs, too.
He'll hang.
What will Clay think?
He knew about this when he found your rifle in the barn last week.
But I guess he figured there was no way to stop you.
You found the only way, Marshal.
I guess maybe I should have told you everything from the first.
Yeah.
Yeah, but it's too late now.
I'm sorry.
Don't you feel bad about it, Marshal?
I don't mind.
I don't really mind at all.
I know you don't, Miss Tillman.
And that's the worst part of it.
Gunsmoke, under the direction of Norman McDonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
Tonight's story was specially written for Gunsmoke by John Meston, with music composed and conducted by Rex Corey.
Featured in the cast were John Danaer, Helen Klebe, Sam Edwards, Ted Bliss, and Herb Ellis.
Parley Bear is Chester, Howard McNear is Doc, 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 Dillon, U.S. Marshal, fights to bring law and order out of the wild violence of the West in Gunsmoke.
A Transatlantic telephone call with Ingrid Bergman about her plans to tour as Joan of Arc, a preview of the London Company of Kismet,
and an introduction to Renée Jean-Maire, star of the forthcoming Broadway production, The Girl in the Pink Tights.
All this and more takes place on Mike Wallace's Stage Struck, now heard Sundays on most of these same CBS radio stations.
Tomorrow at its new Sunday afternoon time, go Stage Struck at the Star's Address.
George Wolfe speaking.
Lionel Barrymore's Radio Hall of Fame is great Sunday night drama on the CBS Radio Network.