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all the rest. 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 smell of gun smoke.
Gun smoke starring William Conrad, the French broad 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
chance a job and it makes a man watchful and a little lonely.
Marshal Dillon, come in, Marshal, come in. Hello, Teters. You got time to give me a haircut?
You're the only customer I've had in an hour, Marshal. You hang your coat and your gun belt
right over there, I'll get things ready for you. Okay. Say, haven't seen you around town lately,
Marshal. Well, I've been over in Abilene for a week. I just got back late last night. Oh,
must come in on the midnight centipede, huh? Yeah, that's right. I wish I could get out of
Dodge once in a while. Not the way I have to do it, you wouldn't. Maybe you're right, Marshal,
maybe you're right. Hey, this is a new chair you got, isn't it? Yes, sir. The finest barber's
chair west of St. Louis. That's pretty fancy. Here, try it. Ah. Comfortable? Well, I'll tell
you after I find out if you've raised your prices to pay for it. Here, let me get this
cloth over here. Here you are. Haircut's still a quarter, Marshal. What about shaves? The
price of a shave's gone up a dime, Marshal. A dime? Now, Marshal, you wouldn't stand in
the way of progress for the sake of a dime, would you? Yeah, but who's progress? Hmm.
Anyway, you don't need a shave, not today. That's a good thing. See, Marshal, you know
Mabel over at the Long Branch. Yeah. Well, last Wednesday night. Oh, take a chair, stranger.
I'll be with you in a few minutes. Last Wednesday night. In a few minutes? Yeah, that's right.
You're next, right in line. Barber. What? I ain't next. Why, of course you are. Nobody's
ahead of you. I said I ain't next. You mean you won't wait? That's right. Oh, sure you
will. I work fast. It won't be longer than ten minutes at the most. Now, you just sit
down. I want a shave. I want to ride now. You can cut his hair later. What? You heard
me. Now look, mister, you don't know who you're... Shut up, Teeters. Get out of that chair,
mister. Take this sheet off of me, Teeters. All right. There. Okay, mister, I'm out. Then
move. I want to sit down. You don't understand. I don't understand what? I didn't get out
of that chair so as you could have it. You're going to be troublesome, ain't you? I am.
And there isn't much you can do about it. Isn't there? You don't see very well, mister.
What? I'm not wearing a gun that's hanging on the wall over there. You going to shoot
an unarmed man in front of a witness? Go get your gun. Put it on. No. Do it. You're licked,
mister. How are you going to make me do it? Shoot me? Put your gun on. I don't like killings,
but if you don't turn around and walk out that door, I'm going to half kill you with
my fists. Now get moving. All right. You got me this time, but next time you'll be wearing
a gun. It'll be some different thing. Oh my goodness, Marshall, you took an awful chance.
Who was he, T.S.? I never saw him before, but he might have killed you, Marshall. Now that
would have been murder. You can get hung for murder. Now go check and let's get this haircut
over with. He won't be back. Hello, Mr. Dillon. Hello, Chester. I was looking for you. I've
been right here in the office the past half hour. Yes, sir, I know. I'm past the barbershop.
Teter's told me. And he told me how you handle that fellow too. Oh, did he? Teter's described
him to me, Mr. Dillon. I know who he is. You do? He come here about a week ago, just after
you went to Abilene. Oh, what's his name? Springer, Nate Springer. What? Yeah, sure,
that's right, Mr. Dillon. You were sure that was Nate Springer? It couldn't have been nobody
else. Why? You said you don't know him. I've heard about him. You have? Where? All over.
Nate Springer's got quite a reputation. He's a gunman, you mean? Yeah, he's a gunman. They
say he's the most nerveless gunman that ever lived. He's all ice. Bad Masterson told me
once that out in Arizona, a man got the drop on him and Springer started to laugh. The
man asked him what he was laughing about and Springer said he'd never had before and he
didn't want to die without seeing what it was like. Well, forevermore. What happened?
It's kind of hard to shoot a man who's enjoying his first laugh. Yeah. My. Well, I'll be dying.
What do you suppose he's doing in Dodge? Springer's a killer, a paid killer. That's all he's ever
done anywhere. Then why don't you go arrest him? Well, he's not wanted, that I know of.
There are no circulars out on him. Well, but you can't wait till he kills somebody. No.
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Time for another cup of coffee, Matt? Hell, I'll take time, Doc. That's good. Here you
are, there. Thank you. Well, things pretty wild up in Abilene? Hell, it's still a camp
with a hair on, Doc. Worse than Dodge? No, I wouldn't say that. And I'll stay here.
Why? You're usually complaining about Dodge. I'm thinking about business, Matt. Business.
What's there to do in a peaceful town? Oh, aside from delivering a baby now, then, and
setting a broken leg. You know, sometimes you sound pretty bloodthirsty, Doc. I don't
do the shooting, Matt. It's men like that Nate Springer you were telling me about. He,
uh, he's sitting over there in the corner, Doc. He is? Where? There. Alone with his back
to the wall. Oh, oh yeah, so he is. Oh my, he looks like a killer. He is. Yeah. You see
how he keeps turning around? Oh, it's like he thinks everybody in this room is his enemy.
Man like that doesn't have friends. Oh, oh, oh, he's getting up, Matt. He's, oh, well,
he's coming this way. Yeah. He hasn't finished his dinner. He better turn around, Doc. Okay,
but you keep your eye on him. I don't like that man. Hey, you. Me? What were you staring
at me for? I wasn't staring at you. No man stares at me without a reason. I don't like
it. I want to know why you was doing it. Oh, no, no, no, Mr. You're getting yourself all
upset over nothing. Why you ruin your dinner working yourself up this way. Tell me why
you were staring at me. I'll put a hole in you. I'll do it. Well, you're awful jumpy
for a big gunman. Tell me I should. Hold it, Springer. You getting into this, mister? I
am. Who are you anyway? Matt Dillon. Dillon? That's right. I knew I'd run into you sooner
or later. Oh, why? My line of work dissolved with some lawman wanting to fear. Sure. And
it'll happen here, Springer. You kill anybody. Fair fights, fair fighting. Not when you're
paid to pick a fight with a man. Like I said, Marshal, I knew I'd run into you. Springer,
when I find out who you're after, I can probably find out who's paying you. And I'll jail you
and him both. You're going to lose a lot of sleep trying to find out, Marshal. I can stand
it. You're the one that needs sleep, Springer. A lot of it. Without any bad dreams. Oh, well.
Looks like the man of ice is starting to melt, man. Yeah. You know, something's happening
to him, Doc. And whatever it is, it isn't good. Kitty. I didn't see you, Matt. Sit down,
if you got time. I don't have to go to work till after sundown. Good. Guess I might as
well sit here and watch Front Street with you as do anything else. Little air is good
for you. Ah, and a lot of it would be even better. Well, you ought to buy a horse, Kitty.
Take a ride up the river every day or so. I'm too broke, Matt. Well, I'll lend you one.
I got a little bay that's pretty gentle. Imagine having more than one horse. That's about all
the government gives me, Kitty. A couple of cheap horses. I've seen you riding your own.
Well, I got to keep him in shape in case I decide to quit. The day you quit, that horse
will be as old as a man. I hope you're right, Kitty. Hey, look, Matt. What? Walking down
the middle of the street. Yeah, Springer. Now, who'd expect a man like Springer to have
a little yellow dog? I don't know the dog's his, Kitty. Maybe he's just following it.
He's right at his heel. I don't think Springer knows it. Oh, he's trying to sniff at him.
Matt, he shot him. Poor little dog. He didn't do anything. I'll be back, Kitty. Well, what
do you want, Marshall? It's just a dog. Did you think he was going to bite you, Springer?
It might have. How do I know? I don't know what it was. Could have been anything. Or anybody.
I knew it wasn't a man. But you just said it. Who cares what I said? That dog shouldn't
have been sniffing around. Not around you, that's for sure. Well. Why don't you go get
a drink, Springer? I think you need one. I don't drink, Marshall. Never. You don't have
any vices, do you? Marshall. Nothing. Go ahead. Matt, is he crazy or something? I don't know,
Kitty. Well, he's the meanest man I ever saw. He didn't shoot that dog out of meanness.
No? Why then? He's jumpy. Well, if he's that jumpy, nobody need worry about him. He's more
dangerous now than the way everybody tells me he used to be. What do you mean? Suppose
instead of a dog sniffing at his heel, it had been a man who just happened to bump into
him. I'd hate to be the man. He'd probably get killed. That's right. Then Springer shouldn't
be carrying a gun, Matt. Yeah, I know. Well, why don't you take it off him or run him out
of town? If I did that, whoever's paying him would just hire another gunman, Kitty. The
only way to stop this killing is to find out who that is. Well, I hope you do before it's
too late. That night I had Chester follow Springer around, keep an eye on him. But all
he did was to buck the farrow bank for a few hours and then go to bed earlier than the
most respectable citizens. The next day Chester went back to trailing him while I sat in the
office and tried to figure a way to trap him into telling me who had hired him. By mid
afternoon I was no further than when I'd started. The only idea I had was to choke it on him.
Hey, Mr. Dillon? Yeah, what is it, Chester? That doggone Nate Springer, he almost shot
a girl over there. What? A girl over at the Alphagamza. What do you mean, he almost shot
her? Well, sir, he stayed in his room all morning, so just before noon. Never mind that.
What about the girl? That's what I'm getting to. And then just afternoon he went over to
the Alphagamza and started gambling. He was sitting at a table in the corner with his
back again on them wooden windows. Uh-huh. Well, one of the girls that works there, well,
I guess she needed some air, so she slipped in behind Springer's chair and started pushing
on that shutter. It's a wonder she got that far. He was raking in a pot. But when he heard
her, I'd never seen a man move so fast, Mr. Dillon. Why, that poor girl near fainted the
way he jumped around at her. She's lucky she didn't get shot. He had his six gun stuck
right in her face. He was within a hair, letting go of that hammer. And then when he saw who
it was, oh, he started cussing her something fierce. Well, he's getting worse. He's going
to kill somebody, sure, acting that way. Yeah. And it won't even be the one he come here
to kill. Oh, fancy him about to shoot a woman. Well, I guess I can't wait any longer, Chester.
What are you going to do? I'm going to try to shame him first. That doesn't make him
talking. I'm going to have to run him out of town.
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best filter tip cigarette. You know, Mr. Dillon, I can't take it. I
can't help thinking all your friends who told you about Nate Springer was mighty poor judges.
He's about the uncoolest gunman I ever saw. I agree about that, Justice. Who told you
about him last? I don't remember. Been two or three years. Maybe it was just a lot of
rumor. You know how talk gets started sometimes. Wyatt Earp was the first man to tell me about
him. Look, when we get inside here, you go to the bar and stay there. Yes, sir. There
he is, Mr. Dillon. I see him. All right, sir. Springer. Springer, come over here.
You're interrupting my game, Marshal. Your game's over, Springer, for good. What does
that mean? Get out of Dodge. What? If you've been paid in advance, you better give him
his money back. You're not going to earn it. You're saying that? It's an hour to sundown.
You'll be out of town before dark. It's a long time since a man's talked to me like that,
Marshal. How long's it been since a dog scared you into shooting him? Or since you drove
on a woman, huh? You lost your nerve, Springer. You aren't going to kill anybody. Shut up.
Yeah, I'll shut up. If you tell me who hired you. No. Then who are you supposed to kill?
I won't tell you. Okay, I didn't think you would. Let you be out before dark, Springer.
And don't ever come back. Ever. Oh, hello, man.
Doc. Yeah, what are you standing out here for? Why aren't you inside with your feet on your
desk the way you usually are? I'm waiting for somebody, Doc. Oh? Oh, you sound serious.
It's Nate Springer. He's got about 20 minutes to leave town. Oh, is that so? Well, he finally
had to come around here, then. He's still in the Alafareganza over there. If he doesn't
come out before dark, I'm going in after him. Here comes somebody, then. Now, that's Chester.
Oh, yes. Is there going to be a shooting man? I doubt it, Doc. Springer's already back down.
Well, you never know. I'm going to get my things ready just in case. Sure, Doc. Hey,
Mr. Dillon, I thought I'd better come tell you. What, Chester? Springer's been bellied
up at that bar for the last half hour. He has? He's been taking on one glass after another.
Doc was right. You never know. What? He's getting ready to use his gun, Chester. And
I'm going over and stopping him. Hey, look. He just come out. Yeah. He's headed this way.
You stay here.
Marshal? I thought you didn't drink, Springer. I never did before. Well, you started too
late. You haven't time to find your man. You're leaving town. I've found him. What? You. You
I'm going to kill. Who hired you, Springer? Let's draw, Marshal. I feel like it now. Let's
draw. Now be a fool. You're drunk. Not that drunk. I can kill you. And I'll be all right
again. Now. No! You shouldn't have tried it, Springer. He? I had to. Why? You went
to prison two years. I've come out scared. Lost my nerve in that prison. Then why did
you take this job? I had to. Who hired you, Springer? I did, Marshal. I hired me. I had
to face somebody like you to get my nerve back. Don't you understand? Yeah. Yeah, I understand.
Didn't work. No. And I paid everything I had for it. It cost me everything in the world.
You didn't answer. You got me got me. Well now you can answer. This is for you to
And now our star, William Conrad.
Thank you, George.
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Gunsmoke, produced and directed by Norman McDonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon,
U.S. Marshal.
Our story was specially written for Gunsmoke by John Meston, with music composed and conducted
by Rex Corey.
Sound patterns by Tom Hanley and Ray Kemper.
Featured in the cast were John Danaer and Harry Bartel.
Harley Bear as Chester, Howard McNear as Doc, and Georgia Ellis as Kitty.
Stop!
Start smoking with a smile, with Chester Field.
Smiling all the while, with Chester Field.
Put a smile in your smoking, just give them a try.
Light up a Chester Field, they satisfy.
Put a smile in your smoking, by Chester Field.
So smooth, so satisfying.
Chester Field.
You'll also enjoy Chester Field's great radio shows.
Harry Como sings all the top tunes on CBS Radio every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Jack Webb stars in Dragnet on Tuesday nights.
Check your local listings.
Remember, listen again next week for another transcribed story of the Western Frontier,
when Marshal Matt Dillon, Chester Proudfoot, Doc, and Kitty, together with all the other
hard-living citizens of Dodge, will be with you once more.
It's America growing west in the 1870s.
It's drama.
It's gun smoke.
Brought to you by Ellen Van Pilter.
First picture take.
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