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 the U.S. Marshal and the smell of gun smoke.
Gun Smoke, starring William Conrad, the 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.
Rape! Rape! What are you shooting at?
Something moving near the barn.
I declare, Rape, I think you're beginning to see things. You were out here shooting about this time yesterday. Come on in and have your supper.
I saw something, I tell you. I'm going down there.
Now, Rape, your eyes are playing tricks on you in the twilight. You didn't find anything last night, did you?
I didn't get a good look. You hollered me back here like the engines was after you.
A woman likes her supper at once she sets it on the table. Come on, Rape, your pile be getting cold.
Oh, but one of these times I'm going to get a good shot at him.
Put that gun down and pull up to the table.
You really think you could make somebody out?
Somebody was there, all right. I got me a good idea who it was.
Got me a good idea it's that worthless dude kid we had around here.
Tom? You mean Tom?
Yeah, I sure do.
Now, you wouldn't want to go and shoot him, would you?
I'll shoot him sure if I find him on my land.
He caused nothing but trouble, letting the hogs loose, tipping the landing in the loft, pounding my mare.
He wasn't used to living on a ranch.
And he don't belong on one, especially not mine.
I reckon he's miles away by now. You threw a bad scare into him the day you sent him packing.
I'll see him around here again, I'll send him packing again.
Load a buck shot.
Here. Hold your cup, I'll pour you some more coffee.
Boy? You here, boy?
Yes, I'm here.
So why ever didn't you come back? You are out, he gets at the sight of you.
Come on out here where I can see you.
Come on out, boy. I can't stand here all night. He might wake up.
I can't move too good, ma'am.
You hurt?
It's my leg.
Well, for the ranch's sake, I should say it is. It's all over blood.
Yes, ma'am.
You've been shot. You've been up to?
Well, nothing, ma'am.
Come on, boy. Tell me the truth.
I was just trying to get me some food. I was awful hungry.
So you tried to steal somebody's chicken.
Oh, no, ma'am, I wasn't trying to steal nothing.
Well, why would anybody shoot you then?
Well, ma'am, I don't rightly know.
Well?
I didn't exactly see.
Never mind that right now. Your leg needs binding up. Turn your head, boy.
Ma'am?
Turn your head.
Oh.
This night down will have to do for a binding.
I declare, Rafe's right about one thing. You don't bring nothing but trouble.
I swear I don't know what to do about you. You're purely out of place on the prairie.
You never should have left Baltimore in the first place. You hear me, boy?
Yes, ma'am. I ain't much good out here.
Well, now, don't fret. We'll just fix you up somehow.
Now, let me see that leg.
Now, just listen a minute, if you will. I've got a little story to tell you.
Well, it's not so little. It's sort of a tall tale.
It's about a legendary hero, a log-in hero.
You know, log-in is a pretty important business, and this hero, Tony Beaver, was his name.
Well, he gets most of the credit for making it what it is today.
Now, Tony came from the Eel River country.
It's kind of hard to figure out just where that is, because Georgia claims him, and so does North Carolina.
And then West Virginia says he's from there.
But wherever it was, well, that's where they raised the greatest logger of them all.
Seems Tony used to raise watermelons before he started lumbering.
Biggest melons there ever was, too.
They were so big they used the shells for bunkhouses.
That's where the Army got the idea for quonset huts. Yes, sir.
Well, it seems Tony was bringing in a load of these melons by flat car one day,
and he was clipping along pretty fast when he hit a curve and dumped the whole load into the Eel River.
Bouncing down the hill broke them all to smithereens, and the seeds, which were big enough to sit on,
floated downstream and jammed up against a sawmill dam.
Old Tony, he wasn't short on brains.
He made a deal with a mill owner who took the seeds off his hands and sold them for hardwood.
And that's how Tony got started in the logging business.
First thing you knowed, everybody was floating their logs down rivers to the sawmills,
same as Tony had done with the melon seeds.
Oh, Tony was inventive, he was.
The two-man saw was his idea, you know.
Of course, he made that big saw with a handle on both ends just for his own use
so he could clear more acreage of trees during a day's work.
But a couple of his men got into a fight over his saw one day,
and while they were tugging back and forth trying to get the saw away from one another,
why, they sawed clean through a big tree.
Yes, sir, that two-handle saw worked real good for two men.
Loggers are still teaming up with it today.
At Tony Beaver, he was the heart and spirit of the logging country.
Man is the tale, I could tell you.
And you'd believe me, too, wouldn't you?
Say, isn't it nice being citizens of a country where you can laugh
and talk about things free as a breeze, and write and read and worship, too?
Yes, sir, maybe you don't think about it much, but you should.
I declare, that must be the sixth one I've sawed today.
Hmm?
I said that must be the sixth one I've...
Oh, excuse me, Mr. Delny. Didn't mean to disturb your reading of the paper.
Oh, that's all right, Chester. What are you counting, anyway?
Ladies.
You keeping track of the ladies all of a sudden?
Well, no, sir, but it seems like today there's a lot of exes
when driving into town. I must count as six, at least.
Yeah, what do you make of it?
Oh, I know why they're here, all right.
Is that doings that the church are getting ready for?
What doings?
Yes, sir, supper or a sociable, something like that.
Anyway, they're bringing in all sorts of home-cooked food.
No wonder you're so interested.
I sure would like to sink my teeth into some of it, matter of fact.
Maybe you can tuck yourself into some.
Looks like one of the ladies is heading this way.
Mm-hmm.
Oh, that's Rafe Mayfield's wife, ain't it?
Yeah, I think it is.
Hello, Marshal. Chester.
How do, ma'am?
Hello, Miss Mayfield.
Oh, how are you and Rafe making out these days?
It's tolerable, I guess.
Marshal, can I speak to you for a few minutes in private life?
Well, sure, Miss Mayfield. Here, let me help you down.
Oh, thank you.
There you are. Yeah, come on inside.
Well, I guess I'll be going along.
Oh, I don't mind you, Chester. You might even help.
Well, now, thank you, ma'am.
Chester, pull up that chair for Miss Mayfield, will you?
Yes, sir.
Here you are, ma'am.
Ah, now then, what's on your mind, ma'am?
Oh, Marshal, we've known each other for a long time, haven't we?
Well, yes, ma'am.
I guess you know me well enough to know I wouldn't go behind Rafe's back
as an ordinary way of doing things.
Yes, ma'am, I think I know that.
I can't let him find out about this, though.
Why, he'd drive that boy right off, hurt as he is.
Boy? What boy?
Why, that boy from Baltimore, the one we took on as a hand a few months ago.
Oh, you mean that Wilson kid, huh? Tom, isn't it?
That's his name. Rafe ran him off the place two weeks ago.
Oh, what'd he do?
It's not so much what he'd done wrong.
It's more that he'd never done nothing right.
He surely wasn't cut out to be on a ranch.
Rafe says he's worthless, cleaned through, but I don't believe it.
He's a nice boy.
He's come back.
I found him out in the barn last night with a bullet hole in his leg.
A bullet hole? Who shot him?
I can't get it out of him.
He just don't talk straight whenever I ask him about it,
but he can't stay out there, Marshal.
Rafe's sure to find out, and he won't stand for it.
We'd better go out there and bring him into town.
I'd be much obliged.
Rafe's away picking up a new mayor.
If he could come today, he wouldn't have to know about it.
I would do that, Miss Mayfield.
That Chester.
Yes, sir.
Go down and get the loan of Moss Grimmick's wagon, will you?
And we'll bring him into the dark side.
All right, sir.
Well, sure. Thank you, Marshal.
Oh, don't thank me, Miss Mayfield.
I'm kind of curious about that bullet hole.
I thought you'd think a doctor's office could be a little handier to get to.
And all these stairs.
I'll make it all right.
You hold the door, Chester, and I'll get it out.
Yes, sir.
What have we got here?
Why don't you take a look at this leg, will you, Doc?
Certainly, man. I'll get him up on the table now.
Yeah.
Easy. Easy.
That's fine. That's good.
I'll go see the wagon, Mr. John.
All right, Chester.
Let me see here now.
Oh, yes.
The bullet caused that, didn't it?
Yes, sir, it did.
You're lucky, though. It's not too deep.
Must have bled a lot then, isn't it?
Sure did bleed. Yes, sir.
That's a good thing. Cleans itself out for you.
Probably kept you from getting locked up.
Is the bullet still in there, Doc?
No, no, it isn't.
It just creased down top of his leg.
Funny thing.
Doc? Oh, Doc?
That's Ben Tower there.
You up there?
Nah, tell him to hold his horses.
Yeah, Doc.
Hey, Doc?
Yeah, Doc's up here, Ben, but he's busy right now.
He'll be with you in a minute.
Oh, he can't be busy, Marshal.
It's Lucy. It's her time.
Ben, calm down. I'll be there.
Well, Doc, you know how she is.
She don't waste no time once she gets started.
All right, Ben, all right.
This boy's okay, man.
I've cleaned his leg out good.
Just needs binding up again.
I guess I can do that, Doc.
Why, sure you can.
Well, I better be moving in.
This is Lucy's sixth,
and like Ben says, she doesn't waste any time.
But after this one, I don't know why she needs a doctor at all.
Come on, will you, Doc?
All right.
You, boy, better take it kind of easy for there, too,
and then you'll be as good as new.
Thank you, Doc.
Yeah, it's kind of painful, I guess.
Oh, no, Marshal, it don't hurt hardly at all no more.
I wasn't thinking about you.
I was thinking about Ben being a father.
Oh, yeah, I guess so.
You hold still now, I'll bind you up.
Sure must have been a trick shot that got you.
What do you mean, Marshal?
Or else the gunman must have been ten feet straight up above you.
Why?
Bullet angle's nearly straight down.
That's a pretty hard shot to make.
Marshal...
Seems to me that you couldn't help seeing who it was
that got that close enough to shoot you like that.
Well...
But you didn't see anybody, did you, Tom?
All right, Marshal, I guess you know.
You did this yourself, didn't you?
Yeah, Marshal, I did.
Did you do it on purpose?
Oh, no.
I was trying to shoot me a rabbit.
I was awful hungry.
And I guess I shot a mite too soon.
It's usually a good idea to get your gun up
before you pull the trigger, you.
You know, you should have spoken right out about this, Tom.
I couldn't, Marshal.
I just couldn't.
But then I haven't done anything right
since I run off from Baltimore.
Maybe that was your first mistake.
Here, now.
I sure don't belong in the West, and that's a fact.
But when you're so all-fired clumsy
you shoot yourself in your own leg,
where do you belong, Marshal?
There's lots of accidents with guns, Tom.
That's no disgrace.
You don't understand, Marshal.
I had done nothing right.
Besides, I'm scared of guns.
Well, Tom, the man who isn't scared of guns is a fool.
I tell you, Marshal, I never thought it would be like this.
I didn't get scared when I was reading them stories
and hearing folks tell their tales about the West.
But once I got out here, well, nothing's been right.
I shouldn't have come.
Well, you can always go back, I guess.
No, I can't.
Least way's not like this.
You got any folks?
Would they send you any money?
Oh, yes, they'd send it, but I just can't ask for it.
I can't go back with my tail between my legs.
I can't go home while I'm yellow, while I'm afraid of a gun.
There you are.
All right, you can climb down off the table now.
Can you bear any weight on that leg?
Yes, sir, I think so.
Well, if you do think so, I may be able to work down as far as Delmonico's
and get something to eat, huh?
Oh, sure, Marshal.
Thank you.
When I was a child, I used a little spelling game to remember Mississippi.
M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I.
Remember?
Now, of course, I remember Mississippi in other ways, for other things.
I remember Faulkner and Yoknapatawfa County,
the aristocratic old plantations of Natchez,
shrimp boats setting out from Biloxi.
Many of you, too, must remember watching the oistermen off the shores of
Past Christian or cotton pickers in Greenville,
watching the Delta Staple Cotton Festival in Clarksdale,
patting the Spanish moss on the giant oaks.
Mississippi stirs remembrances in most people,
even those who have never visited the Magnolia State,
for the history and the name of the state and, yes, even the spelling game,
make us stop to think and to ponder the wisdom behind the state motto,
by Valor and Arms.
Hello, Matt.
Hello, Kitty. I was just on my way down to see you.
Huh?
Thought I might have a glass of beer.
Come on, then. It'll be a pleasure.
Okay.
Also a novelty.
Oh? What do you mean?
I haven't exactly been making a habit of coming around lately.
Well, I've been kind of busy, Kitty.
That's what I hear.
I understand you've adopted a boy.
No. Who told you that?
Wasn't it true? Isn't that Wolfson Boystam, wasn't he?
Well, just till he gets himself enough money to go back to Baltimore.
I never heard of you taking such an interest before, Matt.
Ah, Kitty, he's got things pretty mixed up.
Poor kid thinks he's no good.
Oh. And you think your figure is not so bad as the Marshal who put up with him, huh?
Oh, not Kitty.
All right, Matt. I don't blame you.
He seems like a nice boy. He waited on me yesterday in Mr. June's store.
Well, another month and they'll have earned his train fare back home.
Couldn't somebody lend it to him?
The ticket says he's going back on his own the same way he came.
Sounds kind of proud and foolish to me.
Well, yeah.
Marshal! Marshal Dillon!
Ah, yeah, Mr. Jonas.
You better come quick.
How's it happen?
That boy, Tom, he tried to shoot it out with a hold-up, man.
What?
I'm afraid he's dying.
Kitty, go get Doc, will you?
I'll show him.
Come on, Mr. Jonas.
Yes, sir.
Where is he?
He carried him into the store room.
Exactly what happened?
Well, I was behind the counter.
This man came in, held a gun on me.
Yeah? You tried to do anything about it?
Oh, no, Marshal. I just put my hands up.
Here's enough money and dodge worth getting shot over.
Then the boy rushed in, huh?
Yeah, he must have grabbed a gun off the shelf.
He stuck it in the man's back and fell a world and shot him.
Boy, didn't even get a chance to pull the trigger.
The man got away?
Marshal, he got away.
I'll find him all right.
Right back here, Marshal.
Tom, what's Matt doing?
Marshal.
Yeah, you did fine, Tom.
But I didn't get him, Marshal.
Well, that doesn't matter.
Thing is, you tried.
Yes, sir, I sure tried.
Well, nobody can do more than that.
Marshal, I wasn't afraid when I grabbed that gun.
Does that count for anything?
Counts for a lot, Tom.
I don't have to be ashamed anymore?
No, of course you don't.
I can go home and face folks.
You can face anybody, Tom.
Then I guess I'm glad I come west after all.
Tom, is he dead, Marshal?
Yeah, he's dead.
It's a shame.
Just a shame.
I'll tell you what's a real shame, Mr. Jonas.
There are a whole lot more Toms back in Baltimore and all through the east,
growing up with the idea that out here a man's not a man without a gun.
I tell you, Mr. Jonas, I hope the rest of them stay home.
Gun smoke.
Produced and directed by Norman MacDonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
The music was composed and conducted by Rex Corey.
Sound patterns were composed by Ray Kemper and Bill James.
Featured in the cast were Parley Bayer as Chester, Howard McNear as Doc, and Georgia Ellis as Kitty.
George Wolfe speaking.
Join us again next week for another story of the Western frontier of America in the 1870s on Gun Smoke.
This is the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.
.