Gun Smoke, brought to you by L&M, the modern cigarette that lets you get full, exciting
flavor through the modern miracle of the pure white miracle tip.
Live modern, smoke L&M.
In 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.
You're kindly cooled up after all that hot weather, didn't you, Mr. Dillon?
Uh-huh.
It sure turned out to be a pretty nice day.
Yep.
It kind of makes a man lazy, though, doesn't it?
Hey, look at that little old dog out on the street there.
He sure is playful, ain't he?
Oh, yeah.
If it had any sense, he'd go lie down in the shade somewhere.
Well, he's just a pup.
Uh-huh.
Uh-oh.
He better leave them horses be.
He's gonna get kicked.
Yeah, he's gotta learn sometime.
Go on.
Go on, scat.
Go on, get away from me, you mutt.
You're gonna make that fella mad.
Go on.
Oh, I'll fix you.
Hey.
Why did you shot him?
Oh, what a mean, miserable thing to do.
That little old pup wasn't hurting nothing.
No, he sure wasn't.
Hey, that's a marshal.
Well, what do you want?
Get on off those horses.
What?
Do it!
Right now.
All right.
Now, what's your trouble, marshal?
I'll take your gun, mister.
No, you won't.
I'm not even gonna argue with you.
I'll make a move.
Here, Chester, hold it.
Yes, sir.
All right, I'll take yours, too.
Sure, marshal.
I ain't gonna try nothing.
Hold up now.
What's this all about, anyway?
What's your name, mister?
Walt Gorman.
Mm-hmm.
And what's yours?
Hicks.
John Hicks.
All right.
I don't allow shooting and dodge.
Well, ain't no reason to take our guns.
I ought to bend them across your heads.
Come on, Chester.
Hey, wait a minute.
When do we get them guns back?
Tomorrow noon, when you leave town.
We ain't figuring on leaving.
Oh, never mind him, Hicks.
He can't run us out.
You're gonna bag all you are to me, sir Dylan.
I will, Chester.
Look at that poor little dog.
I wonder whose tis.
I don't know.
Probably belongs to some kid around here.
I'll carry it around back to jail.
Maybe the kid will want to bury it himself.
Hey, Al, why don't you do that?
That Gorman sure is a mean one.
Well, I can get mean too, Chester.
And I got a feeling I may have to before I'm through with him.
Why don't you live modern?
Live modern.
Live, live, live modern.
I'm a modern man.
I'm a modern man.
Live, live, live modern.
Change to L&M.
Only with L&M can you enjoy the full exciting flavor of today's finest tobacco.
Through the modern miracle of the L&M Miracle Tip.
Through the pure white Miracle Tip, L&M tastes richer, smokes cleaner, draws easier.
No other cigarette, plain or filter, gives you all the flavor you want.
The rich, exciting flavor you get only from L&M.
So light up, free up, let your taste come alive.
Live modern.
Smoke L&M.
Make today your big red letter day and start to live the modern way.
Live, live, live modern.
Get L&M today.
Hey Mr. Jones, guess what?
Now what, Justin?
You know who that little raggedy dog belonged to?
It was no kid at all.
It was an old fella called Pony Thompson.
Pony Thompson?
Yes sir, he come in here a while ago.
He heard we had him.
He's out back now burying him.
I never heard of Pony Thompson.
Neither did I.
He's a real nice old fella though.
Oh, kindly funny looking.
He looks at you from under them scraggly eyebrows like an old gray wolf.
But that's him.
You'll see.
Hello Mr. Thompson.
Ah, no, I ain't no Mr. Pony's good enough.
This is Marshall Dillon.
Ah, how do, Marshall?
Ah, I'm sorry about your dog.
Ah, well I shouldn't have brung him.
Town's bad enough for humans.
Where you from, Pony?
I haven't seen you in Dodge before.
I don't seek out no town but once a year.
I move around on the prairie, Marshall.
Sometimes you go into the mountains.
I just can't stand four walls and a roof.
It's like being in jail.
What are you doing here now?
Once a year I get drunk.
What?
That's why I come to town to do it.
I figure if I've got to get drunk, I've got to be cooped up in some saloon.
You know, just walking down your street there, I feel kind of hog-tied.
My goodness.
Hey, Marshall.
Yeah, Pony?
Who shot my dog?
A couple of men who just rode in the town.
I'll have to know their names.
Why, you want them to pay you for the dog, Pony?
No, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no, no.
No, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no, no.
No, no, no, no.
No, no, no.
I'm going to have to death with it.
Yeah, that wouldn't help you, Pony.
You, uh, you ain't going to tell me their names?
No, Pony, I'm not.
Well.
Why are you going?
I can't get drunk unless I start drinking, can I?
No.
I'll find out who shot my dog.
Don't you worry.
You're right, Pony.
Your friend Pony Thompson's doing pretty well at the bar over there, Matt.
That's his second bottle he's working on.
He sure keeps to himself, doesn't he?
Uh, a man who drinks alone is usually peaceful anyway.
Yeah.
Now hurry it up, bartender.
We ain't got all night.
Now who's that there?
Just came in.
Oh.
Well, you know him, Matt?
Yeah.
One of them's the man who shot Pony's dog I was telling you about.
Oh.
Now he looks like the kind of...
Kitty?
I don't know what Sam wants.
Hey, Kitty.
I'd better go see.
I'll be right back.
Yeah, sure, Kitty.
Hey, look at this one there.
She's pretty.
Hey, girly.
Buy you a drink.
No, thanks.
What do you want, Sam?
Never mind about him.
Come on, have a drink.
I said no.
I said yes.
Come on, girly.
Loosen up now.
Tell me something, mister.
Do you have to be awful brave to shoot puppy dogs?
What?
Must take a real long time.
I just ought to slap your face in for you.
I wouldn't try that, gun.
It's a marshal.
Now what?
You get out of here, and you take Hicks with you.
You sure like having your own way in this here town, don't you?
I sure do.
Now, you get out of here, and you take Hicks with you.
Now, you get moving.
Come on, Gorman, we don't want no trouble.
Get up.
All right.
I sure am getting a belly full of that.
What a hero.
Yeah.
But you know, Kitty, I wish you hadn't mentioned the dog.
Oh, I'm sorry, Matt.
I forgot.
Hey, evening, marshal.
Ah, hello, Pony.
Oh, that fella's name was Gorman, huh?
You got a mean face, too, ain't he?
Now, look here, Pony.
Oh, don't you worry.
I ain't going to follow him, marshal.
No siree, Bob.
I got me this here bottle to finish.
Yeah, I'm going to get drunk tonight, remember?
Well, I guess it doesn't matter after all, Matt, huh?
Hell, I hope not, Kitty.
But I'm not so sure.
Oh, my side meat, fried potatoes, harmony grits and sorghum, and a cup of lye.
Matt, there was a mighty poor breakfast, if I do say so.
Well, then I'm glad I didn't treat you to it, Doc.
Oh, look who's in it.
If you ever treated me to breakfast, I'd be so dumbfounded I couldn't complain.
Mr. Dillon! Mr. Dillon!
What?
Oh, it's Chester.
At the stable door there.
You too, Doc.
Hurry up.
Me?
What's he got?
A sick horse in there?
He's got something, Doc.
He looks pretty worried.
No, Chester's always worried.
If it isn't money, it's women.
Moss Dremick went to the office looking for you.
Now, what's the trouble, Chester?
They've been a-killing.
What?
That fellow, Walt Gorman, he got his throat cut in here.
Moss found him laying in one of the straws.
Pony Thompson done it.
How do you know?
Well, he was right in there with him.
It still is.
We tied him up with a rope.
Of course, he was passed out drunk when Moss found him.
Did he come too fast enough when we snoozed some water on him?
How could he kill a man when he was passed out?
I don't know, Doc, but he was all spattered with blood, and the knife was laying there
right there by his hand.
There he is.
Oh, Marshal.
Marshal, make him turn me loose.
That's Gorman under the saddle blanket back there.
All right, I'll take a look, but I don't know how much good he is.
Oh, please get me loose, Marshal.
Please, I just can't stand this.
All right on time, Chester.
All right, sir.
I didn't kill nobody.
The knife's in that board right next to you, Mr. John.
Oh.
Pony, is this your knife?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, it's mine, but I didn't use it on nobody.
It was laying right by his hand.
Well, then somebody put it there.
Gorman's dead all right, Matt.
Four or five hours.
He took a knife in his back and then had his throat cut.
Oh, there.
Yeah, well, I wouldn't do a thing like that, Marshal.
I wouldn't have thought so, Pony.
It's true.
Oh, sure, I found him later after you left the Long Branch, but I only swore at him a little for shooting my poor pup.
I'm going to have to lock you up, Pony.
Oh, no, please, Marshal, don't do that.
Please don't.
I got no choice.
I said, you ought to just go crazy.
You put me in jail.
I told you how I am.
Chester, take him down.
Come on, Pony, let's get going.
Oh, please don't, not jail.
You should have thought about that before you killed Gorman.
Now, come on.
I'd rather get shot.
I'd rather die.
Me ain't gonna die.
Now walk along.
Hello, Marshal.
I've been waiting for you.
Hello, Hicks.
I've seen Chester a while ago taking Pony Thompson into the jail here.
Can't tell you what happened.
Sure did.
I didn't want to see Gorman.
Not after what that old man did to him.
Come on under the office, Hicks.
Oh, Mr. Gorman.
Chester.
Oh, I...
What's the matter?
What's the matter, you sick or something?
He hit me.
What?
Oh.
Where's Pony Thompson?
That's what I'm telling you.
He hit me with that stool in there.
You mean he got away?
I turned my back to go out of that cell.
That's all I remember.
And he's been gone about 20 minutes.
Well, let's find him.
Standing around here is doing no good.
We'll find him, Hicks.
But I know where he went.
You do? Where?
Well, in the stable there.
He was mumbling about a hideout he knows down by the Arkansas somewheres.
You feel up to riding, Chester?
You bet I do.
And I'm coming, too.
I'll shoot that old devil on sight.
It's a good thing I took your gun, Hicks.
But you're coming with us, all right, just to make sure you don't find another one.
Why don't you live modern?
Live modern.
Live, live, live modern.
Change to L&M.
Yes, have an L&M.
Enjoy a really modern cigarette.
A cigarette that gives you all the full, exciting flavor of today's finest tobacco.
No other cigarette, plain or filter, gives you the flavor you get through the modern miracle of the L&M Miracle Tip.
Through the Pure White Miracle Tip, L&M tastes richer, smokes cleaner, draws easier.
So light up, free up, let your taste come alive.
Live modern.
Smoke L&M.
Make today your big red letter day and start to live the modern way.
Live, live, live modern.
Get L&M today.
It's waking day, Mr. Dillon.
We can get moving again directly.
You could be 30 miles from here by now.
Well, you can't track a man in the dark, Hicks.
We've done the best we could.
Blackest night I ever seen.
Marshall, I want you to give me your gun today.
You're awful anxious to shoot him down, aren't you, Hicks?
I'm just trying to keep him from shooting me.
He's probably armed by now.
Oh, sure he is.
There's lots of guns laying along the banks of the Arkansas.
I'm cold.
I'm going to walk around a little and stretch my legs.
Don't you get lost, sonny.
Oh, why don't you try keeping quiet?
Your voice itches my ears.
Hicks, tell me something.
How long were you and Gorman partners?
About a year. Why?
I just wondered.
You going to let me have a gun today?
I wouldn't trust you with a buggy.
Now, you've got no cause to say that.
I want Pony Thompson alive.
He'd be no good to me dead.
What do you mean?
I didn't get a chance to talk to him for one thing.
Hey, Mr. Dillon.
Yeah, what?
There's a little old cave right up here.
Go crawl in it. Maybe it'll fall on you.
He sure bothers me.
You kind of bother him.
I ain't done nothing to him.
Mr. Dillon, come here, quick.
What? Yeah, what is it, Chester?
There's a man in this cave.
Ah.
It's old Pony Thompson.
Well, drag him out.
I did.
He's dead, Mr. Dillon.
Huh?
He's dead? Yes, sir.
Ah, make a torch out of some of those dry weeds, Chester.
I can't see much here. Yes, sir.
What is it, Marshal? Somebody kill him?
I don't know, Hakes. Just stay out of the way.
Doggone it. You treat me like I was dirt.
I've had enough of that. Come on, Chester, hurry up.
Yes, sir, I got it.
Here, let me get lit.
I don't feel blood anywhere.
Yeah, ain't gonna burn long, though.
Hold it near his head.
I don't see nothing.
No, wait a minute, hold it closer.
Now, down here.
There ain't a mark on him.
Yes, there is.
Hmm?
See those two little punctures on his neck there?
Yes, sir.
All right, Chester.
Well, I guess Pony meant what he said about not liking jail.
What do you mean?
He'd been sitting right down there in front of his cave
for about eight hours.
Now he could have hollered for help, but he didn't.
Help for what?
There was a rattlesnake in that cave.
That's what them marks on his neck was.
He got bit.
Rather than face jail, he stayed in there and died.
Don't get to feeling so sorry for him.
He stopped being a good boy.
He stopped being a good boy.
He stuck Gorman in the back and cut his throat, didn't he?
Yeah, Hicks.
That's exactly what happened to Gorman.
Were you looking at me like that for...
Chester.
Yes, sir?
Did you tell Hicks that Gorman got knifed in the back?
No, sir.
All I said was he got his throat cut.
And poor old Pony Thompson died for nothing.
I don't know why you killed your partner,
and I don't much care, but we'll find out
after we get Pony buried properly.
Now look here, Marshal.
And you'll dig the grave, Hicks.
And you'll dig it deep.
The old man deserves that much from you.
In a moment, our star, William Conrad.
In a recent study, a noted traffic expert estimates
that inadequate highways and resultant traffic jams
cost the American economy billions of dollars every year
and suggests that the cost of modernizing our roads
would quickly be regained in time saved.
Discussing motor accidents, this same expert suggests
that legislation may be needed to curb the speed
of our powerful automobiles before they ever leave the factories.
This is a controversial question on which the experts disagree,
but all traffic experts agree on one thing.
Common sense cannot be legislated into the automobile driver.
He has to learn it by himself.
Anger, bravado, and the spirit of competition
often are expressed on the highway by excessive speeding,
disregard of traffic signs and signals, and other risky maneuvers.
Psychologists sum it up by saying that
careless drivers are emotionally immature.
Put more bluntly, it means that careless driving is kid stuff.
This has been a CBS radio public service announcement.
You know, when a high plains woman was looking for a husband,
cow hands used to laugh and say, she's throwing a wide loop.
Well, next week a woman catches her man right enough,
but with a 50 caliber rifle.
And that was the West.
Gun smoke, produced and directed by Norman McDonald,
stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
Our story was specially written for Gun Smoke by John Meston,
with music composed and conducted by Rex Corey.
Sound patterns by Tom Hanley and Bill James.
Featured in the cast were Joseph Kearns, Vic Perrin, and Lawrence Dobkin.
Harley Bear is Chester, Howard McNear is Doc, and Georgia Ellis is Kitty.
Join us again next week for another specially transcribed story on Gun Smoke.
Music
Music