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 Gunsmoke.
Gunsmoke 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 chance a job and it makes a man watchful and a little lonely.
I sure would like to turn off here and go down to that stream and catch me a mess of
fish, Mr. Dillon.
Can the fish have enough sense to lie low under a noon sun like this, Chester?
And I'd just soon be lying low with them along the bank there under a tree.
Yeah, sure.
There you'd be, stretched out under a tree.
Yeah.
And the ants would come and the chiggers, maybe a rattlesnake or two.
Well, not just a minute here.
Just as soon as you got rid of them, they'd probably blow up a storm.
Well, now...
I think you're better off riding right back into town with me.
Maybe you're right at that.
I don't guess I really feel like eating fish today anyway.
Say, look yonder there.
Ain't that somebody walking up ahead of us?
Yeah, it looks like it.
Well, why on earth would a body be walking on a day like this?
It probably has no choice.
Well, everybody around here rides a horse, Mr. Jones.
Looks like he has been riding one.
How's that?
Well, he's carrying a saddle, Chester.
Well, my man, I can see that.
But what do you suppose he's told us?
Well, we'll be up with him in a minute.
Why don't you ask him?
Oh, well, I wouldn't want to come right out and ask him.
Greetings, gentlemen.
Hello.
Hello.
Costas.
Essentially Costas.
Matt Dillon.
This is Chester Proudfoot.
Pleased to meet you.
Is that a star you're wearing?
Yeah.
You as Marshal out of Dodge City.
Well, Marshal, I feel a bit awkward without my horse.
Rather warm for walking.
Yeah, we were just wondering about that.
Lost him, you know.
Lost him?
Lost him?
Lost him?
Lost him?
Lost him?
Lost him?
Lost him?
Lost him?
Lost him?
Lost him?
In this open country?
Chester, let the man talk.
Well, yes, you're better than him.
Yeah, I lost him in a card game.
Poker.
Oh.
Not very good at poker.
You bet you're a horse.
All I had at the moment.
Temporarily embarrassed, you might say.
Well, you know, what's he talking about?
He means he's out of money.
I'm afraid that's correct.
But you didn't lose your saddle, huh?
Oh, I didn't wager my saddle, sir.
No.
That's the only one I found to give me any comfort in your American style of writing.
I feel I must keep it.
That's a good idea in case you got another horse.
Oh, I mean to win him back.
That's one reason I'm heading for Dodge City.
Who'd you lose your horse to?
A chap named Beat Newtson.
We came up together driving cattle from Texas.
He gradually won everything I had, and last night he won my horse.
So, now I'm afoot.
Well, Beat Newtson's a mean man in a poker game.
He's a mean man out of one, too.
If he weren't so mean, I might not be so determined to win back my horse, Marshal.
I see.
Well, at least we can give you a lift into town and you climb up behind me.
You take his saddle, Chester.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
There you go.
There.
Very sporting of you.
Perhaps I can repay you sometime.
Just don't try too hard to repay Beat Newtson.
It's somewhat an affair of honor, you know.
You'd be better off just to think of it as a poker game and leave honor out of it.
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.
I don't know if you've heard of Joe Masurak or not.
If you've never worked in steel, then you probably haven't.
But he was a legendary giant whose body was made of pure steel.
It was Joe who invented riveting.
Joe would stand there shaping rivets out of the hot steel with his thumb and fingers.
And while the rivets were taking shape, he'd punch holes in the girders or plates with
his little fingers.
And he'd plug the rivets into the holes and pound them over with his knuckles.
Worked so good that they invented riveting machines to take his place on jobs he couldn't
get to.
Joe was a busy man, you bet.
But in between jobs he couldn't just stand around doing nothing, so he'd stockpile cannon
balls, making them out of white hot steel the way little children make snowballs by
rolling them in their hands.
For entertainment, Joe used to have what he'd call a taffy pull.
He'd use steel instead of candy.
And as he stretched it out, his fingers would be shaping it.
When he finished each long tug, he'd break it off and lay down another length of rail
to cool.
Guess half the rails of the B&O were made by Joe and his taffy pulls.
Yes, Joe Masurak was the spirit of the steel industry.
The spirit of those men who worked and sweat before the open horrors of the Alleghenies,
who laughed and bragged about the strength of their giant while they turned out the finest
steel in the world.
Some of that steel was Joe Masurak himself, to hear them tell it.
It seems that during the year of the big layoff, when the steel mills couldn't get metal to
process, why Joe, he melted himself down in the flames of heart number seven, so as America
could maintain its steel supply.
Yes, old Joe was quite a legend, wasn't he?
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.
Well, you want something more, Chester, like maybe another piece of pie?
No, thanks, Doc.
There's a little more coffee.
I'll buy.
No, no, I've had plenty.
Had plenty of that Carster's fellow, too, come think of.
Oh, is that so?
What's the matter with him?
Well, now, Doc, what kind of a man would have a name like Sedgely Carster?
I don't trust him at all.
Oh, now, a man can't help his name, Chester.
Chances are in England, a name like Sedgely Carster is everybody as common as Chester
Proudfoot is over here.
Oh, Proudfoot.
Maybe so, but I tell you, Doc, he talks so fancy, it's just plain silly.
Oh, he's not trying to talk fancy, Chester.
That's just the way Britishers talk.
He was born in England, wasn't he?
Well, what's he doing over here, then?
Why, didn't he stay at home where folks could understand him?
Oh, now, I expect he's here for about the same reason the rest of us are.
What reason?
To make it a living.
Oh, now, Doc, I don't believe nobody who talks like he does knows how to make a living.
He sure don't know how to keep a horse.
See, you know, I've run into a couple of these fellows before.
And they're what they call second sons.
Second son?
What's that?
Well, it's the second son born into a British family, you see?
Usually a wealthy family.
Or sometimes even a title family.
You mean lords and dukes and queens and all such as that?
Could be.
Well, say, then, this Carster fellow might be rich.
You can't be sure.
In England, it's the first sons who get everything.
Doc, you mean them lords and dukes and stuff don't give their second boys nothing?
Those not.
Unless maybe they send them something a couple of times a year to keep them from hanging
around the estate and raising a fuss.
You mean they bribe their boys to stay away?
It's been done.
Sometimes those second sons turn out to be kind of an ornery once they find out that
they're not going to get their share of the family to lose.
You can't rightly blame them for that.
Say, Doc, you reckon this Carster fellow's getting paid to stay away?
Can't tell, Chester.
Eh, man, something to think about, though.
Give me a beer, will you, Sam?
l'll take it over in a minute.
Sure, Marshall.
Here you go.
No, thanks.
Oh, evening, Kitty.
Hello, man.
How are you?
What are you going to talk to me or are you just going to look around the room?
Huh?
Oh, l'm sorry, Kitty.
l was just looking for somebody.
He's over there at the far table.
You can't see him too well with all the crowds standing around.
Damn, now how'd you figure l'd be interested in Carster's?
Everybody's interested in him.
Now, l hear he's the willing-est poker player to hit dodge since the Santa Fe Railroad gangs.
Well, then this loser, he doesn't seem to care who he loses it to, so he keeps on playing.
Well, wonder where he gets his money?
Well, they say all he has to do is walk into the bank and he comes out with all the money
he wants.
Could be gossip, you know.
Yeah.
He was down to betting his horse a few days ago.
You worried about him, Matt?
No, not exactly worried, Kitty.
He's a likable fella.
l just hate to see him losing all his money.
l wonder why he's doing it.
He wants to learn to play good enough poker so that he can sit in on another game with
Beat Knudsen.
He wants to win his horse back.
Well, you can't blame him for that.
But if Knudsen hears about the money, there'll be a lot more involved in our horse stuff.
Now, the game's backing up.
Yeah, looks like it.
l'll get the money back up tomorrow.
Then l'll be only too glad.
Hi.
Hello, Marshall.
Miss Kitty.
Hello, Sedge.
Sedge.
Mighty pleasant chaps in here, Marshall.
Why shouldn't they be pleasant?
l understand you're supporting them.
l am losing a good deal of money, that's true.
But l'm learning, Marshall.
l'm learning.
Well, good day, Marshall.
You must have opened the bank this morning, Sedge.
Oh, no, Marshall.
Mr. Butkin was there and the bank was open for business.
But, oh, you're joking me, huh?
You better get that money out of sight.
Seems hardly worthwhile, does it?
l lose it as fast as l get it.
Yeah.
Well, Sedge, l'd like to talk to you about that.
Oh, it's my money, Marshall.
Nothing shady about it.
l'm not worried about that.
l just think maybe you ought to be more careful with some.
Careful?
Yeah, there's talk all over town that you're a rich man.
For somebody as free and easy with as money as you are, it could be dangerous.
Then you haven't a worry in the world.
l'm certainly not a rich man.
Maybe you ought to quit acting like one.
No, it's just that my latest bank draft was waiting for me here when l got to town.
Bank draft?
Yes, from London.
They, uh, they send me a remittance check twice a year, Marshall, to, uh, keep me safely
on this side of the ocean.
But it'll be gone soon.
Well, it's your business, Sedge.
Just make sure that you don't lose more than your money.
Thank you for your interest, Marshall.
Now, if you'll excuse me.
Yeah.
l'll get to the other side.
Mr. Jones?
Yeah, what is it, Chester?
Mr. Jones, Beat Newson and his crowd just got in from Abilene.
They went right into Dodge House.
How many of them?
Well, there's four of them altogether.
There's a funny thing, though.
What's that?
They tied up five horses.
One without a saddle, eh?
Yes, sir, that's the way it was.
That's really rubbing it in, isn't it?
Oh, well, shucks, Mr. Dillon.
If Sedge didn't have no better sense than to lose his horse in the first place...
l just hope he wins it back, Chester, for his sake.
And l also hope he rides it right out of town.
This land is your land.
This land is my land.
This land was made for you and me.
Stephen Foster came from Alabama, and Al Jolson was always Alabama-bound.
Even though there was no particular validity to these claims, there was a definite sincerity
behind them, for Alabama has a sense of charm and hospitality unlike any other state.
Maybe Stephen Foster didn't come from Alabama, but Helen Keller did, and so did a lone wolf
train robber named Rue Burrow.
And what if Jolson didn't go there?
George Washington Carver did, and his experiments at Tuskegee brought international fame to
him and the state.
For all the deep, radical changes experienced by the cotton state, some things never seem
to change.
Each spring, the fields and roadsides are carpeted with primroses.
Green fields turn pale pink and roll wave-like in the wind.
Alabama, like much of the South, seeks to combine 20th century industrial progress with
the barn raisings and candy pulls of an earlier era.
And what is more, Alabama succeeds.
Hello, Knudsen.
Hello.
Well, it's about time you showed up.
I thought you'd be down to the Long Branch for now.
What do you mean by that?
Well, the whole town's been waiting for you to come in so you could play poker with that
English fellow.
Why should I play poker with him?
I already cleaned him out.
I even got his horse.
Yeah, that's what he wants to win back.
I don't know why he put such a store by it, though.
Why, he could buy a string of horses if he wanted to.
He been winning?
Said.
Win money?
Why, not hardly, but that don't matter.
Why?
He's rich.
He is?
I mean, you didn't know that?
Well, he didn't have no money on the way up from Texas.
Well, it just come.
It come from London, England, to the bank.
He goes and gets some every day.
I hear Taylor got another big wad this morning.
You know what you're talking about.
Well, anybody will tell you.
Well, maybe I will just mosey down there and play a little poker after all.
Try to give the man a chance to win back his horse.
Sure.
I got a cab.
I ain't no sudden.
Well, if he ain't the marshal.
You heading for the long branch?
I didn't know I had to report to you.
You don't.
There's a lot of stories been going around town, Knudsen.
I just don't want any trouble.
You got a law against playing poker?
There ought to be, the way you play it.
Well, marshal, I just want to give the man a chance to win his horse back.
Now, listen, Knudsen.
I've told Sedge that if he's smart, he'll just try to win that horse and then quit.
I'm telling the same thing to you.
Well, thank you, marshal, but I just figure I'll have to take my chances without any help.
From you.
Let's not start anything, Knudsen.
No, no, no.
Of course not, marshal.
What's you doing?
There's something down right peculiar going on around here.
What?
That English fella, he won back his horse from Beat Knudsen.
He did?
Uh-huh.
Looks like Carstairs' luck has finally changed.
No, no, no.
Old Beat stood pat on a pair of sixes.
Now, you know he never done a thing like that before in his life.
Oh.
And he let Carstairs win.
Yeah, but that's not all.
It all went off to the livery table, Knudsen and his crowd, to get the horse.
Friendly as you please.
Knudsen had a jug and they was getting old Sedge all liquored up.
Well, I, well, it don't make sense, but...
Are they still there?
That's what I was getting at.
They rode off out of town.
Come on, Chester.
I think maybe we better follow them.
You reckon they took the road to Hay City?
Now they headed off this way towards some cover.
Come on.
I gotta play a hunch, Chester.
Isn't there a deserted shack just over the rise?
Yes, sir, there is.
I figure they'd stop the first place they come to.
Do you think they're gonna gamble him for the rest of his money?
They won't bother to gamble, Chester.
Yeah, we'll leave the horses here.
Yeah, there it is.
Four horses out in front.
All right, listen, Chester, you keep low and you go up to the window on the left side there,
see?
Now, you think you can make it?
Yes, sir, I can make it.
All right, good.
Now, I'll go around to the front.
When I get to the door, you cover me through the window.
All right, you ready?
I'm ready.
Come on, then.
All right, Chester, you're covered.
Just go right nice and roughly,
say, left, move right over there, Chester.
You may have got me, Marshal, but you're too late for that fancy talker.
Where is he, Knudsen?
Where's Costares?
He's in the gully, up back.
Dead?
Dead as I'm going to be.
You're a fool, Knudsen.
All you had to do was keep on playing poker with him.
He'd have lost everything he had.
You didn't need to kill him to get it.
Marshal, you want to laugh?
Something funny, Knudsen?
All that money they talked about, it was all spent.
He just had three dollars on him.
Three dollars.
What's she doing?
You know, Chester, a man's life should be worth more than three dollars.
A lot more.
I guess what color is that?
Okay.
Gun Smoke, produced and directed by Norman MacDonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon,
U.S. Marshal. Featured in the cast were Parley Bear as Chester, Howard McNear as Doc, and
Georgia Ellis as Kitty. George Walsh speaking. Join us again next week for another specially
transcribed story on Gun Smoke. This is the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.