Gunsmoke brought to you by Chesterfield. To put a smile in your smoking, always by Chesterfield. Made the modern way with Accuray. In Dodge City and in the territory on west, there is just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers. And that's with a U.S. Marshal and the smell of Gunsmoke. Gunsmoke 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. Matt? Yeah, what can I do? Come over to that table in the back. I want you to meet Ida Stewart. All right. Ida's only been working here about a week. Isn't that Gil Barden sitting with her? Yeah. Uh-huh. Oh, hello Miss Kitty. Marshal Dillon. Hello Gil. I brought the Marshal over so she could meet him. How do you do, Marshal? It's a pleasure, Ida. Gil's been telling me a lot about you. He's quite an admirer of yours. Well, it's good to know I got some friends. You always did right by me, Marshal. You never caused anybody any trouble, Gil. And I don't aim to. Well, if you'll excuse us now, I promised I'd try to bring Gil a little luck at Farrow. See you again, Marshal. You all right. Come on, Ida. And you'd better bring me luck, too. She sure has a way with kids. Kids? What, Gil's 20, Kitty. To me, that's a kid. Well, I've known kids who were men at 16. Oh, sure. But there aren't many of them. Yeah, maybe it's good to take your time growing up, huh? Oh, maybe. As long as you don't take forever. Like Henry Gant over there. He must be 40. And all he's ever learned to be is a loudmouthed bully. I don't call him grown up. Well, I don't care much for Gant myself, Kitty. Look at him right now, Matt. He's trying to horn in on Gil and Ida. Yeah. That Gant's mean. It's going to be trouble, Matt. Look, he and Gil are going outside. I better go throw some water on that. Shoot him for me, Matt. All right, everybody stay inside. Stop it, Marshal. He'll shoot him. I'll stop it, Ida. Okay, Gil. You're wearing a gun. Use it. Hold it, you man. Now, how'd he get here? I won't have any gun play, you know that. He's going to shoot me because I call his girl a bad name, Marshal. Ain't that something? If there's any shooting, I'll do it, Gant. All right. I'll fight him barehanded. Who are you, little scut? That's enough, Gant. You leave him alone. Get out of here. I'll kill you, Gant. One way or another, I'll kill you. You hear that, Marshal? He means he's going to shoot me in the back. He wouldn't dare try it in the weather with me. That's all I want to hear. I told you to leave, Gant. He's a coward. He's a dirty little coward. You know what he called Ida, Marshal? Forget it, Gil. And you forget about killing him, too. No, I won't. I'll get him. You want to hang for killing a man like Henry, Gant? I don't care. You don't? No. Maybe Kitty was right. Maybe you are only a kid after all. Stop, shop, for all your friends this year, this easy way. Give Chesterfield this year so bright and gay. Wrapped and ready, they're the best to buy. Cartons of Chesterfields, they satisfy. This Christmas, give everyone Chesterfields. Chesterfields are easy to give because they come ready to give in a bright red special holiday carton that's wrapped in its own colorful Christmas ribbon. Everyone enjoys Chesterfield's smoother, cooler smoking pleasure. So to all your friends this year, say, Merry Christmas with cartons of Chesterfields. No wrapping, no tying. They're easy to give because they come ready to give. Chesterfields in the bright red special holiday carton. Wrapped and ready, they're the best to buy. Cartons of Chesterfields, they satisfy. Morning, Doc. Oh, well, well, good morning, Matt. Good morning. You've been sleeping in that chair all night. Why wasn't I asleep? Your eyes were closed. You ever hear of a man doing a little thinking? What were you thinking about, Doc? Oh, about sitting out here in the morning sun, settling my breakfast and breathing fresh air, wishing good for my friends and evil for my enemies. That's pretty start thinking, Doc. Well, I was doing fine until you came along and spoiled it. Now I might as well go up to my office and back to the sordid trade I'm in. Now what's his hurry? Who is it? Gil Varden. Maybe he's being chased by Indians. Yeah, he sure acts like it. Or maybe he's just exercising his horse. I'll stick with the Indian theory. Yeah, oh my. When I was a young man, I used to ride like that. Oh, I was fearless as an eagle. No wonder the women loved me. You know, you better get up to your office, Doc. You don't handle this fresh air too well. Oh, you think I'm lying? You never heard about the time the preacher's daughter and I were about to elope, huh? You didn't hear that, did you? I helped carry you home the night you invented that story, Doc. Mr. Dillon! Mr. Dillon! Seems like everybody's in a hurry this morning. Henry Gant's been killed, Mr. Dillon. What? A cowboy found him half a mile north of town. He was shot in the back. Gant was shot in the back? Yes, he was shot in the back. Must have happened last night sometime. Well, we won't have much trouble catching this killer. He just rode by here. All right, let's go, Chester. By the time Chester and I picked up a couple of rifles at the office and got saddled, Gil Varden had a good start on us. So to make sure of catching him, we each took an extra horse along. We tracked him south and rode hard till noon without even seeing him. But then we found his horse. The grid sold on him and was standing head down and feet apart near a wagon. And the wagon, it was sitting there with no team to pull it. But harness drew it all over the ground. And on the seat, stony-faced and unmoving, was a gray-haired country woman. Howdy, ma'am. I'm Marshal Dillon. I'm looking for the man who was riding that horse out there. He's gone. Well, what did he do? Take your team? He took them. Oh, man, you just can't sit out here. Can't go no place without a team. There's a ranch about a mile west of here. Give that horse a little more rest and he can carry you that far. We'll rig a blanket on him for you, huh? Can't leave my man here. What? My husband. He's in the back, Marshal, under them blankets. Oh, what's the matter with him? Is he sick? He's dead. Killed dead. The man who stole your team? He done it. He rode up and never said a word. My man reached in the back for his rifle and this fella shot him. I just can't leave your garden to do a thing like that. He was shaken like a leaf. He's plum scared, Marshal, scared of you, I guess. He's got a reason to be, ma'am. Especially now. Go catch him before he hurts anybody else. I'll manage here as soon as I stop aching a little. Well, I don't like to leave you. I'll be all right. But stop him. He's done enough. Chester, bring a horse over, will you? We'll fix a rig for her. Yes, sir. My first husband was killed by Indians, Marshal. Bad as it was, I never hated them Indians. It's different now somehow. Yes, ma'am. I'll catch him, ma'am. I promise you. I sure do feel sorry for that poor lady, Mr. Dillon. Well, I guess Gil figures he can't hang but once, Chester. What got into him? He's the last man in the world I'd expect to run wild killing people. Like she said, he's scared. Blind, crazy scared. Now tell him what he'll do next. My. Hey, look, there's a couple of buffalo out there. Yeah, I've been watching them, but they aren't buffalo. No? They're horses. Yeah, you're right. One of them just put his head up. Hey, it must be that team. They're big enough. Yeah. I don't see Gil. No. Say, maybe he's laying out in the grass there waiting for us. Yeah, maybe. There's something on the ground there. Looks like a man. It is a man and he's lined face up. He must have got thrown and knocked out, huh? I've won that team. Gil's a better writer than that. Well, something's happened to him. That isn't Gil, Chester. It's some cowboy, Mr. Dillon. Yeah. He's been shot. Well, it looks like Gil did a little horse trading, Chester. The rough way. Just fell of the team and a bullet in the chest. That boy's really gone crazy. We'll catch him quick enough unless this man was riding an awful good horse. There's no way of telling him about that. No. Well, let's get busy. We buried the stranger as best we could, and then took up Gil Barden's trail again. By mid-afternoon his tracks showed we were closing on him. Still, it was almost dusk before we saw a sod hut up ahead and a saddle horse standing in front of him. At one side was a corral holding two other horses. But Gil and whoever owned the place were nowhere in sight. We made a circle, rode up behind the hut, and dismounted. He hasn't been here very long, Mr. Dillon. That horse of his is still windy. Well, I don't know whether to wait for him to come out or go in after him. It'd be a lot safer to wait, if you ask me. There might be somebody in there with him. Either way, we've got him now. Look, Chester, you wait at the edge of the cabin there. If he runs out alone, take him, huh? All right, sir. Too late. All right, drop your gun, Gil. No! You all right, Mr. Dillon? Yeah, come on in, Chester. Did he kill that fella? I'll take a look. You get Gil's gun, he's still conscious. Yes, sir. Yeah, he killed him all right. Gil, don't look hurt too bad. I tried to shoot him in the shoulder with it. I'm afraid one bullet went a little low. His eyes is open. Gil, can you talk? You busted my chest. Here, let me open your shirt for you. Well, I don't know. You might live at that. Not with two bullets in me. You want to try it, Gil? Try what? There's a wagon outside. It'll be a rough trip, but we might get you into docks. You shoot a man, and then you try to save him. I've done it before. I asked this fella to trade horses, but he figured I was running, and he tried to jump me. I shot him. You shot a lot of people today, Gil. I didn't want to. I didn't know what I was doing, except running. I heard about Gant. I knew it was me you'd be after. What do you mean you heard about Gant? I'm getting dizzy. I'm going to fall. Hold me, Marshal. You're lying on the floor, Gil. I'm going to fall. Is he dead? No, he's still breathing. What was that he said about Gant? I don't know what he meant, but he sure didn't admit killing him. Let's get him back to Dodge if we can, and maybe we can find out what this is all about. Stop, shop, for all your friends this year this easy way. Give Chesterfield this year so bright and gay. Wrapped and ready, they're the best to buy. Cartons of Chesterfield, they satisfy. This Christmas, give everyone Chesterfield. Chesterfields are easy to give because they come ready to give in a bright red special holiday carton that's wrapped in its own colorful Christmas ribbon. Everyone enjoys Chesterfield's smoother, cooler smoking pleasure. So to all your friends this year, say, Merry Christmas with cartons of Chesterfields. No wrapping, no tying. They're easy to give because they come ready to give. Chesterfields in the bright red special holiday carton. Wrapped and ready, they're the best to buy. Cartons of Chesterfields, they satisfy. You go back up to the docks, Chester. I'll wait in the office. I'll wait until Chesterfield comes to you, let me know. All right, Mr. Dillon. He's an awful tough boy, ain't he? He had to be to survive that trip. It wore me out and I wasn't even shot. Oh, say, if you leave the office, you'd better let me know where else you'll be. Yeah, I will, Chester. Hi, Kitty. Hello, Matt. Hello, Ida. Well, what are you girls doing here? We heard you brought Gill in this morning. Yeah, yeah, he's up at Docks. How is he, Marshal? Well, he's got two bullets in him, Ida. He survived that wagon trip, but Doc can't tell much yet. What do you think? Well, he's still alive and I've seen men pull through, shot up a lot worse than he is. Even if he does leave, he'll hang, won't he? Yeah, he'll hang. I'm sorry, Ida. It's all my fault. Your fault? Ida did it, Matt. Did what? Killed Henry Gant. Ida killed? Yeah, she came and told me about it after he had left. Gant tried to run off with her, but she got her gun away from him and she killed him with it. Is this true, Ida? Are you trying to cover for Gill? Gill's gonna hang anyway, it's true. And it was self-defense, why didn't you come tell me about it? I was scared to. I didn't think about it being self-defense, I was too scared to think. Yeah, yeah, she was, Matt. Had a terrible time calming her down. She's telling the truth, all right? Yeah, I believe her. If Gill hadn't run everything, it'd be fine. He got scared too, Ida. Real scared. But why? He didn't do anything. Well, he'd threatened to shoot Gant when he heard about it, didn't he? I guess he was like you, he just stopped thinking. Oh, Miss Kitty. Hello, Chester. I didn't expect to find you here. Is Gill conscious, Chester? No, sir, he ain't. How is he? He's dead. He died just a couple minutes ago. Doc done all he could for him. That poor scared kid. You killed him, Marshall. Why? Why'd you have to kill him? He was only a boy. I know that isn't fair. What chance did he have against you? You shot him down easy. Why'd you have to do it? I don't like it any better than you do, Ida. But Gill just killed three men. I don't think they wanted to die any more than he did. In a Moment of Star, William Conrad. Remember, friends, this Christmas give everyone Chesterfields. Say, have you remembered the milkman, the postman, and the others who make life easier for you during the year? Well, there's still plenty of time to get them Chesterfields. Just drop by your neighborhood cigarette dealers anytime this coming week. You'll find Christmas cartons of Chesterfields are easy to give because they come ready to give, in a bright red special holiday carton with its own colorful Christmas ribbon. So to all your friends this year, say Merry Christmas with cartons of milder, better tasting Chesterfields. You know, Dodge City was the end of the railroad and the beginning of the frontier. And it was filled to overflowing with people from all walks of life. Well, next week during the Christmas season, two real mountain men come to Dodge to win their three-generation feud just in time for Twelfth Night. And that was the West. Good night. 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 Bill James. Featured in the cast were Sam Edwards, Eleanor Tannen, John Danaer, and Anne Morrison. Harley Bear is Chester, Howard McNear is Doc, and Georgia Ellis is Kitty. Make Christmas their red-letter day, their L&M red-letter day. Give them the Christmas carton full of America's best. Yes, give L&M's on Christmas Day to friends who smoke the filter way. L&M's got everything to give for Christmas Day. This is it. For Christmas, L&M filters and the handsome Christmas carton. No fuss with ribbons or paper. It's all wrapped and ready to give. This Christmas, give L&M Christmas cartons. Join us again next week for another specially transcribed story as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal, fights to bring law and order out of the wild violence of the West in Gunsmoke. consolidates.com