Around 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 gun smoke.
Gun smoke starring William Conrad, the story of the violence that moved West, and the story of a man who moved with it.
I'm that man, Matt Dillon, the 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.
This ain't much of a room, quarter. Take a look out the window. It ain't much of a tub.
Wouldn't need a whole lot more dust down there. You couldn't see Dodge at all. That'd be an improvement.
Well, things will work out. They always have, haven't they? You got a short memory, quarter. Didn't work out so good up in Deadwood.
Well, at least we didn't get shot. Now, things will go better here. I sure hope so. What kind of lawman they got here, I wonder?
Don't find out. It ought to be long any minute now. I sent word we'd like to have a talk right away at the Dodge house here.
And by the way, who's going to do the talking this time?
I'll do it.
I guess that's him.
You let me handle this now.
All right.
Come in. My name is Matt Double.
I'm Ben Corda, Marshal. And this is my partner, Harry Duggan.
Hello.
Better know you, Marshal.
You asked me to come here. You said it was urgent.
It is, Marshal. It is. Now, Duggan and me, you see, we're business partners.
Whenever we come to a new town like Dodge here, we like to get to know whoever's running the place. And that way we figure there won't be any misunderstanding later on.
Uh-huh. And that's what is your business, gentlemen.
Well, Marshal, we're gamblers.
Now, what do you want of me, Dodgers, in an open town?
We make money gambling, Marshal. Sometimes a lot of money. We just want you to know in advance you'll get your share of it.
I'm a lawman, Corda, and as long as I am there won't be any crooked games.
Oh, no, Marshal. You know sometimes how a player will just lose a little money and then start to fuss over it, maybe even go to the law about it.
And when he does, he's usually been cheated, and before he gets to the law there's another killing.
Now, you can run your game, Corda, but you keep it straight or out you go. Both of you.
That's not friendly, Marshal.
You've made one mistake trying to bribe me. You make another and you're through in Dodge.
Well, them hard-nosed marshals, huh?
You'll find out soon enough, mister.
Good day, gentlemen.
You handled him great, Corda. Just great.
Oh, don't be a fool.
He's no better than anybody else.
You got an idea we'll persuade him yet?
Chester. Hey, Chester.
Yes, sir?
How's the prisoner?
Oh, he's all right, Mr. Jones. Just sleeping off his drunk.
Well, it's getting pretty late. I think I'll get out of here and go to bed.
All right, sir.
Oh, don't forget to put the lamp out before you leave the office, huh?
No, sir, I won't.
Get out!
Good evening, buddy. You want a light, sir?
No, just stay where you are.
Chester, can you crawl over and put the lamp out? Just stay low.
Yes, sir, I will.
He's through.
Well, ain't he going after you, Mr. Dillon?
He had a rifle, Chester, and he was in an alley just across the street.
There was mighty poor shooting if he wanted to hit me.
What do you mean?
I think he was trying to scare me, show me how they treat the low where he comes from.
Oh, them two gamblers.
Yeah, maybe, but I can't be sure.
I'm going to take the rifle and go out the back way.
See you in the morning.
Yes, sir.
Hello, Matt.
Good evening, Kitty.
Sit down.
Well, thank you.
Well, it's kind of crowded in here tonight.
Oh, no, no, no, thanks.
Chester was in earlier mass.
He told me about you getting shot at last night.
Huh? Well, I didn't get hit.
You might have, especially a man with a rifle.
Well, I'll admit I don't like the idea of being ambushed.
I prefer to do my fight from the open.
Any idea who was after you last night?
Well, it might have been one of those two men watching us from the bar over there.
Maybe both of them.
They look like gamblers to me.
They are.
I'm the one who just headed this way, causing so many quarter.
There's going to be trouble.
No, there won't be. Just sit still.
Evening, Marshal.
Hello.
All right, pretty girl.
Say what you got to say, quarter.
You're making it hard to be friends, Marshal.
I just wanted to tell you I heard that you got shot at last night.
So, well, I'm sorry it happened.
Marshal, I sure don't envy a man who has to be a lawman.
It's mighty dangerous.
Besides, it usually don't pay very good.
What do you think I ought to do about it, quarter?
Quit? Oh, that ain't necessary, Marshal.
Because if you're smart, you can stay right here and make more money.
And take less chances, too.
I didn't know for sure it was you, quarter, but I know it now.
What do you mean?
There's a stage out of Dodge, and in about a half hour, you and Duggan are going to be on it.
Oh, no. We're opening our new game across the street tonight.
I'll take your gun, quarter.
Wait a minute, Marshal. You can't do that.
Yes, I can.
But you won't do it.
Duggan, now what's your gun next?
Sure, Marshal.
Sure.
Turn around and put your hands on the bar.
All right, now go pick up your partner.
You're riding the stage north tonight.
Get going, Duggan, or they'll never come back either one of you.
At home or out on the highway, Amos and Andy are nice to have around.
Their sense of humor never loses track of its goal to keep you entertained.
And when Amos and Andy or their friends aren't up to mischief,
they keep you in a happy state of mind with music, the songs they play,
and the things that they say couldn't be brighter, couldn't be easier on the ear.
So get in on the happy doings at CBS Radio's Amos and Andy Music Hall.
Remember, it's always a joy to hear.
They got on the stage all right. I was there to see them do it.
And just before it pulled out, I unloaded their guns and tossed them onto the floor inside.
Then they left, and I forgot about them.
I figured those two, like so many others that I'd run out of dodge,
would keep going and make their troubles somewhere else.
But a couple of weeks later, I found out I'd figured wrong.
I was walking up Fun Street one evening with Dug.
Yeah, I don't know.
How's it going?
Fine.
Hello, Dug.
How's it going?
They're right inside the long branch there, Mr. Dillon.
I just saw them.
Oh, just a few.
Them gamblers, Carter and Duggan, and they got somebody else with them,
some stranger.
Ah. I'll see you later, Doc.
Oh, yes, sure, Matt.
There they are, down at the end of the line there.
All three of them.
Well, I don't think so.
There he is, Toc.
That's him.
We're back, Marshal.
You brought a man with us to sort of look after our issues.
You won't buffalo him so easy.
Hello, Toc.
You really the Marshal here?
Yeah, didn't I tell you?
They didn't mention no names.
What are you two talking about?
What is this?
Toc Marlin and I are old friends, Carter.
We worked and rode a long time together.
We went through quite a lot, didn't we, Toc?
Too much.
I remember.
So you've sold your gun to these two, huh?
Is that right?
That's right.
And you're here to kill me?
Yeah, I'm here to kill you.
It was a bad feeling to meet Toc Marlin again after some 15 years
and having him standing at the bar of the Long Branch
hired by a couple of crooked gamblers to kill me.
Toc and I had run horses together over in New Mexico
until the night we rode into Silver City
and got taken by a drunken mob and beaten half to death.
The next day when they found out we weren't the men that they wanted,
it was too late.
Something had gone wrong inside Toc,
and as soon as he was able he had written off without a word.
I never saw him again until now.
How long you been a marshal?
Long time, Toc.
I never figured lawmen for much.
I want to talk to you, Toc. Come on over to the table.
No, you don't, Marshal.
Shut up, Carter.
Come on, Toc.
Is this your profession now, Toc?
Killing people.
I gamble a little.
Why do you do it, Toc?
I don't like people much.
Not after what happened in Silver City.
You recovered from that beating? We both did.
We were young. That was a long time ago.
Maybe my memory is better than yours.
No, no, that isn't it.
We both changed after that took.
We sure did.
But we changed in different ways.
You hate everybody. I just hate mobs.
That's one reason I became a lawman.
There was a lawman helping them that night in Silver City.
He was the sheriff.
You're a good sheriff than bad.
Like marshals?
Yeah, I suppose.
It's kind of too bad you're a marshal, man.
You're going through with this anyway.
I never back off from a fight.
What if I won't fight you?
You don't have to. I get paid anyway.
But you'll have to leave Dodge.
You think I'll do that?
No, but I'll give you 24 hours to think it over anyway.
All right, Tuck. That gives you 24 hours, too.
I don't change talks. Nothing to me.
But money is, huh?
It adds to the pleasure.
I want to ask you something, Tuck.
What?
Do you enjoy killing me?
You ain't Matt Dillon.
You're a U.S. marshal, same as the sheriff.
Same as the one who helped them half kill me, you two, in Silver City.
Tuck, you're stupid. You don't think.
Maybe, but I'm a pretty good gentleman.
Yeah, sure.
You can let Cordray and Duggan run their game here, or you can quit.
It's a crooked game. Let me fight, it's men at die.
Now, I got a job, too, Tuck.
24 hours, marshal.
Okay. 24 hours.
Oh, hello, Mrs. Ben.
You never could have known my name.
Hello, Matt.
Hello, Doc.
You're looking mighty glum today, Matt.
Am I?
You should be.
Why?
I've been over at the Dodge house. Jim Dobby's down with the guy again.
But there's a lot of talk, Matt.
I know you must have your reasons, but people are sure wondering what those two gamblers are doing back in town.
After you ran them out.
It'll all be settled tonight, Doc.
I'm glad to hear it.
Don't go to bed early, huh?
I might need you.
A fight, Matt?
We didn't have any trouble before.
Oh, that other fellow they brought with them.
Yeah, that one.
Ain't been no way at all to stop him, Mr. John.
I don't know, Chester. I've been trying to think of some way.
If there's anything in this world I hate, it's a paid gunman.
I've got no use for a man that can be bought for money.
Money's important to Toke. I don't see how...
Hey, wait a minute.
You know where Toke is now?
Well, he was in the long bank a little bit ago.
Good. I'll be back later.
Hello, Toke.
Marshall Dillon.
Sit down, Marshall.
You know Miss Kitty here?
Hello, Matt.
Kitty.
I've been talking about you with me and Kitty.
You've been talking about me, too.
Yes, and I'm not interrupting because I'd like to talk about you.
Right ahead.
But don't stay too long.
She's an awful pretty girl, man.
Maybe I better leave.
No, no, no. You stay right where you are.
Anything that Marshall's got to say, we can all hear.
If you leave, I'll leave.
Except for you, Matt.
No, it's all right, Kitty.
Toke, what are they paying you to get rid of me?
Seven hundred dollars.
What if I give you seven hundred?
To shoot them?
You don't care who you kill, do you?
No, it don't matter much.
I'll give you seven hundred dollars to clear out of here and forget this whole business.
You have changed, Matt. You sure never were a coward in your old days.
Is that what you think?
You're sure this Kitty?
Don't you, Kitty?
Don't tell me what I think, mister.
Well, the fire, Matt, she deserves a real man.
No, I think I'll get my money from Doug.
I don't want to leave, Doug.
Not until Kitty and me get a little better acquainted anyway.
Now I am leaving.
You're no good, Toke.
You're really no good at all anymore.
Wait till eight o'clock, Marshall.
We'll see you by the band.
Sure.
I've seen the whole thing, Mr. Jones.
I was just coming for you.
It was Toke Marlin. He just shot a man at the money table back there.
Put the other fellow down first.
Okay, Chuck. Just keep an eye on quarter and Doug it.
Yes, I will.
All right, Doug.
You hear me, Marshall? You got here just in time.
You kill those men?
I killed them.
Why?
You objected to the deal.
Tried to pull a gun.
It was self-defense, but that's what matters.
A crooked deal always leads to killing.
That's why I'm running your friends out of Dutch.
You ain't running us out of Dutch, Marshall.
Go on, Toke, show it.
I told you once quarter I'll run this place out of it.
Yeah, but I'm sure I don't need nothing.
I haven't.
I guess you ain't the coward after all, man.
Now get out of Dutch and take them with you.
No.
I'm going to try to kill me another lawman first.
Okay.
So long.
So long, Marshall.
I'm hurt, man.
Bad.
Yeah.
You hit me both times.
I had to.
Too late to do anything about it.
Yeah, so I...
Oh, my heaven.
I wish I had last week back again.
Here it is.
Good.
Duggan.
You get out of here.
Anyway you can, but you get out fast.
We're going.
I'll see you figure on coming back with another gun, man.
I won't wait to shoot him.
No, you get away from me.
And now our star, William Conrad.
You know, the legendary feud between cattlemen and sheepmen was very real on the frontier.
It was carried to such extremes that cattlemen wouldn't allow their children to have lambs as pets.
Well, next week trouble comes to a sheep herder, but it's not a cow man who causes it.
It's his own son.
Gunsmoke, produced and directed by Norman McDonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
The story was specially written for Gunsmoke by John Mustin.
Sound patterned by Tom Hanley and Bill James.
The Gunsmoke theme was composed by Rex Corey.
Featured in the cast were John Dana, Harry Bartel, and Lonas Dobkin.
Harley Bear as Chester, Howard McNair as Doc, and Georgia Ellis as Kitty.
William Conrad, co-starring with Academy Award winner Anthony Quinn,
may soon be seen in his own production of The Ride Back for the Associates and Aldrich, a United Artists release.
Join us again next week for another story on Gunsmoke.
Wherever you go, go with radio and the CBS Radio Network.