Gun smoke brought to you by L&M Filters with the Miracle Tip.
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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 U.S. Marshal and the smell of gun smoke.
Gun Smoke, starring William Conrad, the transcribed 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.
Hey, you.
Where's the Marshal's office?
What do you want the Marshal for?
I'll tell him that.
Where's his office?
I'm leaning on it.
Oh, well.
It ain't no use your going in there.
What?
Marshal Dillon ain't around.
Well, where is he?
He won't be back for two, three hours.
Oh, I can't wait that long.
Well, I work for him.
My name's Chester Proudfoot.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
I heard of you.
You have?
I didn't know where you were.
I don't get to dodge it, but seldom.
My name is Sam Rickers, Chester.
Got me a homestead.
I'm proven up a few miles west of here on the Arkansas.
You got trouble of some kind, Sam?
Oh, no.
Not me.
I want to show you something.
That's my wagon standing over there.
The one with the woman sitting on it.
Your wife?
Yeah.
Now, come on over.
I'll show you.
What do you want to show me?
You're going to be real surprised, Chester.
I am?
Everybody is, except him that knows me, of course.
Here we are.
Hey, lady, don't sit there like you was dead.
Look around.
That ain't Marshal Dillon, Sam.
And Marshal ain't here, but this is Chester.
He works for him.
I do, ma'am.
Howdy.
Chester can take care of everything.
Can't you, Chester?
Well, if you'll tell me what it is, maybe I can.
Oh, well, you're going to be real surprised.
Hurry up, Sam.
Get it over with.
Give him his surprise.
You're so pleased.
You shut up or you'll get nothing out of this.
I don't want nothing out of this.
I don't care no mind, Chester.
Come on around to the back of the wagon.
I'll show you.
There.
Who's that?
I had to wrap him up in canvas.
Here, I'll uncover him.
You'll see.
There.
Take a look at that.
My goodness.
Where'd you get him?
He rode into my place last night, about suppertime.
He didn't figure on finding a fellow like me there, I guess.
Say you must be a whirlwind to shoot a man like him.
Oh, no.
It was part luck, I guess.
But I didn't haul him in here for nothing, Chester.
Yeah, I know.
But Mr. Dillon will have to take care of all that, Sam.
It'll be a little while before you get anything.
As long as I know it's coming.
Oh, sure.
You'll get it.
But right now, you can help me carry him up the dock so that he can do an autopsy.
It'll be a pleasure.
Oh, what's the matter, Mr. Dillon?
I found your note downstairs, Chester, so I came straight up.
Where's Doc?
He's out back finishing up.
Hey, Doc!
Mr. Dillon!
Mr. Dillon here!
What's this all about, Chester?
Who killed Bob Hobart?
Sam Rickers killed him.
Sam Rickers?
The homesteader?
Yes, and that's what he said he was.
I don't know Rickers well, but he sure never seemed the kind of a man who'd take on an outlaw
like Bob Hobart.
A thousand dollar reword might have braven him up.
Yeah.
Oh, hello, man.
Hi, Doc.
Well, you've got a good bad man there.
You can take him out to Booth Hill and plant him any time you like, man.
That's not much of an autopsy report, Doc.
What's that a report?
Hobart was wanted dead or alive.
How he got shot doesn't matter.
How did he get shot?
Twice in the chest, once in the back.
In the back?
Well, I can't tell you which was first, Matt, but getting buried with you, I don't want
him around here all day.
I haven't seen him yet, Doc.
Do you know Bob Hobart, man?
Yeah, some years ago.
This is his first time around here, though.
First time, too.
I guess Dodge was too tough for him.
That might be like saying Ford's Theater was too tough for Mr. Lincoln, Doc.
If he was shot in the back first, you mean.
Well, there he is.
What's the matter, Matt?
Sam Rickers isn't going to collect a thousand dollars reward for this.
What?
He might hang for it, though.
I don't know who he murdered here, but it sure isn't Bob Hobart.
After all, it seems the fault is in the
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Look at that place, Mr. Dillon. You'd think Ricker could prove it out better than that.
Sam Ricker isn't the most enterprising man I ever met, Justin. Not till lately, anyway.
It's sure a funny way to murder somebody, ain't it?
Now we better leave our horses here.
All right.
There they are. They must have seen us coming.
Yeah.
Hello, Chester. Marshall Dillon.
Hello, Sam. Miss Ricker ma'am.
Howdy.
Say hello to the Marshal, lady.
How do, Marshal?
Howdy do, Miss Ricker.
I like to be called Letty, Marshal. Mrs. makes me feel kind of old.
Why, sure. Letty.
Stop trying to fool people, Letty. You know how old she is, Marshal?
Don't, Sam, please.
Sam, I came out to talk to you about that man you brought in the dark just morning.
That man? Well, he's the most valuable man I ever run into, Marshal.
Howdy, am I going to build me a new house, buy me some hogs and cows, and I don't know what all.
I've been telling Letty about all the things I'm going to do with that reward money.
I wish you wouldn't take it, Sam.
What?
I just don't want any part of it, but...
All right, stop that. You...
He, you interfering with a man and his wife, Marshal?
If I have to, I am.
But you're not going to get any reward money, Sam.
What do you mean?
That wasn't Bob Hobart you killed.
What?
I don't know who it was, but it wasn't Hobart.
What are you talking about? I knowed him as soon as he rode in here.
How did you know him? Where did you ever see Bob Hobart?
Well, I seen his picture last week on one of them wanted cards down at the post office.
My golly, that's right. Mr. Dillon and Plum forgot.
Them posters came in last week and I nailed a couple of them up here in there.
I saw his picture too, Marshal. I recognized him right off.
Well, the man Sam killed looked a little like Hobart, I'll admit that.
But it wasn't him.
Sam.
Shut up, Liddy.
But that makes it murder, Sam.
No, not at all. It was a mistake.
Marshal said he looked like Hobart's picture. It wasn't my fault.
Now tell me what happened, Sam.
I didn't murder nobody. It was a mistake.
You want to tell me about it, Liddy?
No. I'll tell you. It was like this.
We seen him coming. It was about supper time.
When he got close, we both recognized him.
So I went outside and, well, I told him to keep riding.
We don't want no outlaws around here.
Then he started to pull out his gun.
I shot him.
That's how it happened.
Ain't it, Liddy?
Ain't it.
That's right, Marshal. That's what happened.
There's one thing you didn't tell me, Sam.
What?
How come he got a bullet in the back?
Oh, well, he fell off his horse and he was rolling around and I shot him again.
Must have hit him in the back, I guess.
You saw it, Liddy.
I saw it.
Liddy, if Sam went on trial, would you swear to all this and could?
Yeah, I'd swear to it, Marshal.
You were the only witness to this.
It's the truth, Marshal. Self-defense.
Why should I be lying?
I don't know, Sam.
I'd just like to know who the man was that you shot.
Well, he was some kind of outlaw.
Drawing on me like that?
Maybe, but you were taking quite a chance bucking a man you thought was Bob Hobart, weren't you?
I ain't afraid of no man, Marshal.
No man at all.
Uh-huh.
Well, don't write it too hard, Sam.
It might throw you someday.
So long.
Drink your beer, Matt.
Uh, no thanks, Kitty. I don't think I want it after all.
You're gonna have to pay for it just the same.
Okay.
You know, there must be something wrong with me, Kitty.
Yeah, there sure is. I wish I knew what it was.
Well, I can tell you what it is tonight.
I know.
Sam Ricker.
Yeah.
You know, there's sure something wrong with that story of his.
Yeah, something wrong with that wife of his, too. Putting up with him.
Oh, she's afraid of him.
I'd take an ax to him if he were mine.
You Marshal Dillon?
Yeah, that's right.
My name's Catlin Marshall from San Antone.
Now, what can I do for you, Catlin?
You can explain this to me, that's what.
A map. Bob Holbert's wanted poster.
I don't know nothing about no Holbert.
But that's my partner's picture you got on there.
Thousand dollars, dead or alive.
Now, what's this all about, Marshal?
Well, maybe you can tell me, Catlin.
Tell you nothing. I got off the train here this afternoon.
First thing I see is a wanted picture of Jake Haney with somebody else's name on it.
Jake Haney, huh?
Been my partner for ten years.
He ain't no outlaw.
Never been in Kansas in his whole life before.
Where is he anyway?
He was supposed to meet me here. You got him in jail or something?
Jake Haney's dead, Catlin.
Dead?
That's not Haney's picture there. That's Bob Holbert, like it says.
Your partner looks some like him and...
...they got shot.
Who'd shoot Jake Haney? He never had trouble with nobody.
Carried a gun, sure, but I always done the fighting for us.
I don't believe it, Marshal.
I'm sorry, Catlin, but it's true.
We buried him out on Boothill yesterday.
Who killed him, Marshal?
He was killed by mistake, Catlin.
Nobody's killed by mistake.
Now, who killed him?
Wait a minute.
You did.
It doesn't matter who did.
I'll find out.
I'll get the man that done it. You or whoever.
It was a mistake, Catlin.
Your partner and Holbert looked enough alike to fool you, didn't they?
You gonna tell me who did it, Marshal?
No.
Then I'll find out myself.
Jake Haney was as honest and decent a man as I ever knew.
He ain't gonna die like this for nothing.
I'm gonna kill the man that did it.
You kill anybody here and you'll hang for it, Catlin.
Not me.
Not if I have to kill you too, Marshal.
Don't try it.
I'll see you later.
Sam Ricker won't stand a chance against him, Matt.
I better send Chester out to warn him.
He can come hide in the jail if he likes.
He'll like it if he's smart.
Yeah.
Oh, Kitty, Doc and I are gonna have supper together tonight.
Won't you join us?
I gotta eat sometime.
I'll go find Chester, then I'll come back for you.
Okay, Matt.
Good morning, Mr. Dillon.
What did you do, Chester? Spent the night out at the Ricker's?
Yes, sir. I sure did.
That's a pretty small place. Why did they sleep here?
Oh, there was lots of room, Mr. Dillon, plenty of it.
Now, what do you mean?
I was all alone.
I never did see neither Sam nor Letty.
Oh, they've gone?
It looks like it.
But I sure don't know why.
Like you said last night, that fellow, Jake Haney, was never around here before,
so Sam couldn't have no reason for wanting to kill him.
Yeah, but Sam had some reason for running off.
Yes, sir.
Good morning, Matt.
Morning, Chester.
Hello, Doc.
I thought you were going out at the Bowers' place today, Doc.
I was, Matt, but Bowers sent one of his men in to say they didn't need me after all.
I thought a cowboy busted a leg out there.
That's what they said yesterday.
Must be a pretty tough man.
Bust a leg and don't want no doctor?
Tough or stingy, one.
You know, I charge $20 for a trip like that.
That's a month's wages for a cowboy, Doc.
So to save $20, he'd probably put a mud cast on it and have a crooked leg the rest of his life.
If he brings his $20 into town and runs it up to a thousand at Farrow,
he won't care if he has a crooked leg, Doc.
Chester, you're trying to ruin my practice?
Oh, I was only kidding, Doc.
He'd never run it up to a thousand.
But I accept your apology.
Well, if that's what it was.
Say, Matt, I was talking to Sam Rickers after I left you last night.
Sam Rickers? Aaron Dodge?
He was over at the hotel with his wife.
Why?
No wonder I never got to see him.
What, have they spent the night in town?
What's wrong with that?
Why, nothing.
Huh?
Oh, well, I told them all about Katherine.
Everything you told me, Matt, I figured somebody ought to warn Sam.
Seeing as how Katherine's staying right there at the hotel, too.
That was all right, wasn't it?
That's okay as long as Katherine doesn't know about Sam.
Well, there's no way he can know.
Kitty won't talk and the three of us here sure won't.
Now, he's safe if he keeps his mouth shut.
But, uh, I better go talk to him.
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Music
With all the money Mr. Dobie makes, you'd think he could paint his hotel once in a while, wouldn't you?
Now, if you stay inside, I guess it doesn't matter, Chester.
Oh, Marshall! Marshall, I was just coming for you.
Now, what's the trouble, Mr. Dobie?
There's been a shoot-in, Marshall, right here in my hotel.
Now, that's got to stop, I tell you. I won't put up with any...
Never mind that. What happened?
Well, I don't know, Marshall.
Heard a couple of shots upstairs, ran up, found Sam Rickers there in the hall.
Now, I don't know what happened, but I've kept everybody from going up there.
Come on, Chester.
Because I don't want them messing around here.
Well, there's Sam. He ain't shot.
What happened, Sam?
Dobie said there'd been a shoot-in.
Yeah, there's been a shoot-in, Marshall.
Look.
In this room here.
That's Catlin, Mr. Dillon.
Who killed him, Sam?
I did.
You did?
I had to, Marshall.
Well, tell me what happened.
Well, you see, Doc told me Catlin was looking for who shot his partner.
So, I got to thank him.
And I figured the only way out was to talk up to him, tell him how I made a mistake.
Don't you think that was right?
That doesn't explain killing him.
I better get Letty out here. She saw it.
Letty. Letty, come on out here.
She can tell you.
What do you want, Sam?
Oh, the Marshall.
Come out here, I said.
I don't want to talk, Sam.
You'll talk when I tell you to.
You saw what happened, and I'm going to explain it to the Marshall.
Well, go ahead.
Okay.
Like I was saying, Marshall, I wanted to talk to Catlin, so I found out which room he was in.
And I went, knocked on the door, and he opened it.
And then when I told him who I was, before I could say anything else, he grabbed for his gun.
I had to shoot him, Marshall. It was self-defense.
Catlin's gun's laying on the floor in there, Mr. Dillon. He had it out all right.
You saw it, Letty. Is that what happened?
I saw it.
Tell him, Letty.
I don't want to talk.
Tell him what you saw.
Please, Sam, I feel kind of sick.
No, don't, Sam.
Please don't.
I told you once.
You've hurt him, Marshall.
I knocked him out. He's not hurt.
Sam's no good, Letty.
Now, why don't you stand up for him?
Are you afraid of him?
He's my husband.
No woman needs a husband like that.
I married him.
Maybe he was different then.
But the way he is now, he doesn't deserve a wife.
Now, he's no good, Letty, and you know it.
And you're going along with him, makes you as bad as he is.
No. No, don't say that, Marshall. I'm not. I'm not like Sam.
If you lie for him, you're just like him.
No, no.
Now, tell me what happened. Did you see it?
I saw it.
Was it like Sam said?
No.
All right, then tell me.
I can't stand it, Marshall.
I can't stand it no more. Sam's a murderer.
I hate him.
I won't tell no more lies for him.
Well, go on. He won't hurt you again.
That first man, Marshall,
we thought he was that outlaw. He looked like him.
So Sam went in and got his gun,
sneaked around the house while I was talking to him.
He shot him in the back, like killing a hog.
Then he turned him over and shot him twice more in the front.
Makes me sick, Marshall.
What about Catlin? Sam killed him the same way?
Of course he did.
I tried to stop him, but he had his gun out when he knocked on Catlin's door.
And then he shot him just as soon as he opened it.
Then he took Catlin's gun and threw it on the floor. I watched him.
Marshall, she's lying.
Don't listen to her, Marshall. She's a lying woman.
I'm not lying.
I saw you shoot both those men like killing hogs.
When will I get you alone, lady?
Talking about your husband that way, I'll bust you good.
You won't get her alone, Sam. You're under arrest.
I don't care if you are my husband, Sam.
You're a coward. You're a terrible coward.
I ain't. No, I ain't.
I killed him, didn't I? I killed two men.
Give me your gun, Sam.
No. You ain't taking my gun.
I ain't a coward.
Give it to me.
No.
He tried to draw on you, Mr. Dillon.
Yeah.
Come on, let him. I'll take you back to your room.
He's dead. Sam's dead.
I couldn't let him shoot me, let him.
I told the truth like you said, Marshall.
And it made me hate him. Talking about him, it made me hate him worse than I ever did.
I'm sorry I had to make you do it.
I ain't even gonna bury him, Marshall. You do it.
Yeah, sure.
I'm going out and I'm gonna burn down the place.
And then I'm leaving here. For good.
I'm going now.
Goodbye.
Let him.
It ain't your fault, Mr. Dillon. You couldn't have handled it no other way.
No, I couldn't, Chester.
But it is too bad you had to make poor Mrs. Ricker tell on her own husband.
Yeah.
But sometimes I wish it was somebody else's job to make people do things like that.
And now our star, William Conrad.
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Enjoy them today.
Gunsmoke, transcribed under the direction of Norman MacDonald,
stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
Tonight's story was specially written for Gunsmoke by John Preston,
with music composed and conducted by Rex Corey.
Sound patterns by Ray Kemper and Tom Hanley.
Featured in the cast were John Danaer, Evie Janis, Vic Perrin, and Lawrence Dobkin.
Harley Bear as Chester, Howard McNair as Doc, and Georgia Ellis as Kitty.
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.
The country's top disc jockeys in Billboard magazine, the leading publication of the music industry,
have voted Chesterfield's Perry Como the number one record artist.
In second place, Pretty Kitty Callan.
Hear them vote, Perry Como and his special guest Kitty Callan,
on Chesterfield's Perry Como Show.
All the top tunes on radio, Monday night, 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Hear Gunsmoke every Saturday, this same time, this same station.
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