Gun smoke, transcribed earlier today from PBS.
Around Dark City and in the territory on the west, there's just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers,
and that's with a U.S. Marshal and the fellow Gun Smoke.
Gun smoke, starring William Conrad, the transcribed story of the violence that moved west with young America.
The story of a man who moved with it, Matt Dillon, United States Marshal.
Look out ahead there, Mr. Dillon. Somebody's gone left his wagon right out on the prairie.
Now there's a man down in front of it, Chester. It sure looks like his team went off and left him.
What would he be doing out here with a busted wagon and no team?
I expect he'll be glad to tell us. Come on, get out.
Hello there.
What? It's Mike Blocker.
Yeah, hello Mike.
Hello there.
It's the perfect for a man to be in the day before his wedding.
It sure is. I'm a little keeping him sober, Marshal, and I still do appreciate that, even if I don't make dodge tonight.
What happened, Mike? Where is he, King?
Oh, Chester, we hit a hole back there and the whiffle tree busted and that team, they just run off like they was glad to get you out of the hole, dang thing.
That must have been quite a hole you had to do this.
No, not much. Look at you, Marshal.
Now the bar's been sawed half and two.
Sure. It's them boys again.
What boys?
Them two crazy cowboys I hired on last fall. Plumber and Webb, you mean?
Yeah.
They've been funning me a lot lately.
You mean this is just a joke?
That's what they figured, I guess.
Well, it ain't much of a joke to leave a man stranded on the prairie this way, especially when he's trying to get the town to be married.
Now this ain't so bad. Just yesterday they cut the stakes on my saddle.
The thing, the bronc got loose and bucked it off before I could get mounted.
I wish I were as even tempered as you are, Mike.
Eh, Marshal, it don't pay to get mad.
No, it seems to me Plumber and Webb are going a little far with their joke.
Now, do they want you to get married?
I don't know. I never asked.
Now where are they now?
Oh, they rode into Dodge this morning. They see me at the wedding.
I had to bring the wagon so that I could carry Matilda back to the ranch.
Well, we'll find your team for you. Maybe we can rig up a whipple tree of some sort. You can buy a new one in Dodge.
Oh, I'd be beholden to you, Marshal.
Now you'll get to town in time for a drink yet. We'll ride along with you to see it.
You do, Mike.
Music
You want a beer, Chester?
No, sir, if you don't mind, Mr. Dillon, I think I'll go on down to Depot.
The Santa Fe's about due and I'd like to watch it come in.
Oh, well, I'll leave it here.
So do thank you to all the things.
Well, I didn't say that I was buying.
You'd have had to. I'm broke.
Man has to be mighty careful of what he says around you. I'll see you later.
Okay, sir.
Music
Bring me a beer, Sam, will you?
Hello, Matt.
Hello, Kitty.
Sit down, dear.
I am here if it hadn't been for you and Chester. Mike Barker never would have got to town today.
Well, he rode in a mile or two and you already heard about it?
Matilda told me.
Oh, that's right. I forgot about you and Matilda.
She's the only lady in this town who is my friend.
Here's your beer.
Oh, thanks, man.
You're going to the wedding, Kitty?
He insists that I do.
You're pretty close friends, aren't you?
Pretty close, Matt.
I guess his partner thought she could talk to me about things she wouldn't even dare mention to her nice friend.
Now, they're no better than you are, Kitty.
Maybe not, but there are more of them in the long run. That makes a difference.
What do you want to know about Matilda and me?
Well, I've been wondering if there's any reason why either of those cowboys who work for Mike Barker
wouldn't want that wedding to come off tomorrow.
For a man wed?
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
You must have some reason for wondering about it, Matt.
Well, man's friends always treat him a little rough before he gets married,
but these boys have carried it pretty far.
Is jealousy, Matt?
No. Which one?
Plummer. He and Matilda used to see each other once in a while until she met Mike and fell in love with him.
Yeah. Has Plummer threatened her or Mike?
He's afraid of Mike in spite of his gentle temper.
He should be.
But he told Matilda he'd make as much trouble as he could.
What kind of trouble?
Anything that'll embarrass her, I guess, like a chivalry, but real unfriendly.
They started their chivalry a little early. They even tried to get Mike crippled up a couple of days ago.
Oh, I didn't know about that.
Well, nothing came of it, but I sure don't like to see anybody's wedding day spoiled.
I think I'll look those two up and have a talk with them.
I swear I've been in every saloon and dine, Mr. Jones. Maybe they ain't in town after all.
Well, we'll try the hotels.
Why don't you just throw them in jail till the wedding's over?
I'd like to.
Now, wait a minute. There they are.
It's him, all right.
I saw Mike over at the Longhorn taking on a few.
Well, even marrying a good woman makes a man nervous.
Oh, it sure does.
I just thought of it and I want to go live at the Comanche.
Well, you can't let other men do all the marrying.
Why not?
I don't know, just given it what they say.
Hello, plumber.
Hello, Marshall.
What's on your mind, Marshall? I've seen you come all the way across the plaza.
I wanted to talk to you about the wedding tomorrow.
Oh? You ought to be talking to Mike Blocker. He's the one that's getting married.
We ain't are we, Webb?
No, we ain't. Did you think we were?
All right, that's enough. You're not dealing with Mike Blocker now.
You're dealing with me and my timbers a whole lot quicker than his.
No offense, Marshall. Webb didn't mean nothing.
No, I didn't mean nothing.
We're just kind of good spirits.
On account of the wedding and all.
Oh, sure, you know how it is, Marshall.
You call a good spirit to try to get a man hurt two days before his wedding?
How?
Cutting the stench on his saddle.
Oh, Mike told you?
He did.
He didn't see any mind as much as you do, Marshall.
Don't be fooled by that. If Mike ever does get mad, there's going to be trouble.
But I'm telling you to leave him alone.
Oh, we ain't going to do nothing. Maybe a little chivalry after the wedding.
I don't want either one of you anywhere near that wedding.
Oh, now, Marshall, we were divided.
The invitation's off. You understand me?
Well, the Marshall...
Shut up, Webb. He's the law. We won't go near the wedding if he says so.
I say we won't go nowhere near it.
That satisfy you, Marshall?
How can a gentleman look beautiful, man?
Now, being a bride sure does something to a woman, doesn't it?
It's the dream that really does seem true.
You're jealous.
I promise you I'll rush to her room and help her get past.
You can see all the lovely new clothes she has. She's been saving for years.
Yeah, I know. Mike told me. He's real proud.
You're going to wait around to see him off, aren't you?
Yeah, we'll be here. I couldn't get Chester away from that free liquor anyway.
This liquor may be free, but it ain't too stout.
I'm on my third glass and I don't feel a thing.
You don't have enough blood in you to move it around, Chester. That's your trouble.
Well, I'd have plenty of blood if it wasn't for old quacks like you bleeding me every time I get a cold.
I never bled a man in my life, and you know it.
Well, maybe you didn't, but I sure have been bled by other doctors.
Don't blame me if you're fool enough to let them do it.
You know, man, I've always said that people would just stand up to their doctors once in a while,
and that would improve the whole medical profession.
Well, you may be right, sir.
Of course I'm right.
I'm going to go see if that jug is empty yet.
Yeah, I think Mike's drunk half of it himself.
Take a look around outside while you're at it, huh, Justin?
For Plummer and Webb?
Oh, they haven't showed up yet, but they might be waiting.
All right, sir, I'll do it.
Oh, it's a nice wedding, wasn't it, man?
Yeah, fine, fine.
I brought some ammonia along in case Mike got too weak to go through it.
His entrance was a little shaky, but he got his color back about the halfway mark.
Matt.
Huh?
What's the matter, Kitty?
Matt, it's terrible.
That poor girl.
What happened?
It's her clothes, all her new clothes.
Matt, we went to a room to get a pass and everything's been torn to shreds.
What?
It's a mess.
I mean, Mathilda's up there crying her heart out.
Not Plummer, I suppose.
Of course you get it.
Who else would?
Poor little girl.
You better go back to her, Kitty, and don't tell anybody about it yet.
All right, Matt.
Hey, what are you going to do, Matt?
Find Plummer and Webb and lock them up.
Mike's pretty drunk and I got an idea he won't take this joke as easy as he did the other.
I found chapter outside, but there was no sign of Plummer and Webb.
We figured they must have sneaked into Mathilda's room during the wedding ceremony,
and while she stood downstairs happily becoming Mike's bride,
they were up there ripping her two silver pieces.
Still, I was much worried about hers and about Mike.
It was one thing to plague him, but the fact that there's cruelty on Mathilda might well be the last straw.
Just then I went from saloon to saloon, but Plummer and Webb seemed to have disappeared.
They must have left town, Mr. Doane.
Yeah, the oasis over there is the only place we haven't been into yet.
Might as well have a look.
It's making pretty bold calling this place the oasis.
Oh, why?
It's the poorest saloon in town.
A thirsty jackass wouldn't stop here to sniff a rain bear.
Well, not if he knew his way around, he wouldn't.
Looky there, the door is busted off.
Yeah, it sure is.
Mr. Doane, this place is a wreck.
Where is everybody?
There's been a fight here, Justin.
Oh, there's somebody.
Look at his head.
He's laying in front of him.
Yeah, he's got his neck broke, Chester.
Where'd that come from?
There behind the bar there, maybe a plumber.
No, that's not Plummer.
Hey, get the beer off the bar and throw it on him, Chester.
Yes.
Don't hit me.
Don't hit me.
I'm the marshal, nobody's going to hit you.
Now who are you, mister?
You.
I'm the bartender.
Well, what happened there, Joe?
Fight.
That was crazy.
Is he still here, marshal?
No, he's gone.
Who was he, Joe?
A fellow that plumbered and web worked for Mike something.
He was awful mad, marshal.
Awful drunk, too.
Where'd Plummer go?
I don't know.
I tried to stop it, but they hit me.
Knocked me out.
Was anybody else in here?
Just them and then Mike come in.
That Joe Webb's lying on the other side of the bar.
He's dead.
Dead, yeah.
Do you see who killed him?
He pulled a knife on Mike.
He was going to use it, too.
Somebody killed him, huh?
Was it Mike?
I got hit about that, marshal.
I didn't see no more.
It's all right, Joe.
You do something about Webb there.
Look what they did to my place.
It's ruined.
Who's going to pay for all this?
I don't know, Joe.
But I'll try to find out.
I didn't find out about that night, anyway.
We looked around the oasis inside and out,
and then I sent Chester down the wake for Mike
in case he showed up at my children's place.
So I scouted the town again.
But shortly after daybreak, we both gave up
and met back at the office.
Miss Kitty was down in this building.
She stayed with Matilda all night.
Oh, good.
How's Matilda taking it?
Well, I don't think she cares about her clothes anymore.
She's worried about Mike.
You didn't tell her about Webb being killed, did you?
Oh, my goodness, no, sir.
I wouldn't do that.
You'll find out soon enough, poor thing.
What's Mike?
Yeah, Mike.
I've come to turn myself in, Marshal.
Where you been, Mike?
Sleep?
Sleep.
Where's Plummer?
Oh, I don't know.
I was so drunk and so mad, I don't remember much of anything.
I think he knocked me on the head while I was finishing off Webb.
I know I ain't seen Plummer since.
I just been down the Oasis Joe.
I ain't seen him neither.
Well, nobody has, I know, but where were you?
Oh, I was awful drunk, Marshal.
I must have got as far as Kelly's Stables, crawled into a stall there.
At least that's where I woke up this morning.
Now I'm going to have to lock you up, Mike.
Yeah, that's why I come.
Marshal, that's a bad thing they've done to Matilda.
Yeah, it was.
But you shouldn't have killed anybody for it.
Oh, maybe.
Lock him up, Justin.
Yes, sir.
I'll bring back some coffee.
This way, Mike.
My, I'm sorry to have to lock up a man like you, Mike.
If you didn't trust her, just go find Plummer and kill him.
Hey, uh, yeah.
Mr. Dillon, be back directly.
Maybe you can have some coffee.
I don't want nothing.
Don't move, Kevin.
What?
Plummer.
I'll take your gun.
Where?
We've been looking everywhere for you.
Are you glad you found me?
Morning, Mike.
What are you doing here, Plummer?
I come for you, Mike.
I'm going to take you out back and kill you.
It's a good thing you got a gun.
I didn't have a gun last night.
What'd you hit me with then?
Table leg.
I should have killed you, too.
You didn't kill Webb.
What?
You knocked him out, that's all.
What are you talking about? He's dead, ain't he?
Sure, he's dead.
After I hit you with that table leg, I burst his neck with it.
You'd...
What for?
So they'd hang you for it.
Well, what are you doing here now?
I've already admitted to killing him.
I got to thinking, that's why.
Thinking what?
Well, when Doc gets a look at Webb, he'll know you couldn't have hit him that hard.
Anyway, I figured you'd remember about it all.
Well, they'll hang you, poor well.
Not me.
I'm going to kill you, and then I'm going to be gone to Texas.
You shoot me, or I'll hear you.
I ain't going to shoot you.
That's not half to.
I'm going to cut you, Mike.
And you won't look very good when Matilda sees you.
Matilda?
We was friends once, Mike.
Real good friends.
You know the kind.
You and Matilda?
I'll tell you what it was like while I'm cutting your throat.
Get out of that cell now.
Chester, I got Chester.
You all right?
It was, it was Plymouth, Mr. Lillian.
He might have hit me.
I'm okay now.
Come on, then.
So Mike's gone.
Someone must have let him out.
Let him out?
Nothing. He's probably killing.
Let's look out back.
Look, Mr. Dillon.
Here.
He's blooming.
He's been beat to death.
He sure has.
His gun's missing, but he got that knife into Mike first.
He's leaving an easy trail to follow.
Come on.
He headed for the alley.
I wonder if you didn't run into him out on the street.
He got that far.
All right, stay back, Chester.
I'll go around the corner first.
Now, Marsh!
I got him.
All right, come on.
Mike, what did you just shoot for?
I didn't know it was you, Marshal.
I thought maybe Plumber had come too.
Now Plumber's dead.
You're not in very good shape yourself.
He cut me a little before I got to him.
Ain't bad, but I might have killed him.
Thank you for not trying, Marshal.
We better get you up to Doc.
He'll dig that bullet out of your arm.
Sure.
By the way, Mike, I saw Doc a few minutes ago.
He'd been down looking at Webb.
What did you hit him with?
Oh, Plumber killed him.
Told me so.
He had a table leg, Marshal.
Well, Doc figures something like that.