Around Dodge City and in the territory on West, there is just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers, and smoke.
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 chancy job, and it makes a man watchful and a little lonely.
For the sake of money, I don't hardly get a chance to take his boots off.
Why do you think a man didn't have no call to sleep?
Never mind, Chester, I'll take care of it.
All right, thank you, Mr. Dillon.
I'd like to see the Marshal.
I'm the Marshal.
Come in.
My name is Cassius Mayhew.
I'm sorry to disturb you at this hour, Mr. Dillon.
Matt Dillon.
That's all right, Mr. Mayhew. Why don't you sit down?
Thank you.
What can I do for you?
My journey westward has been interrupted by the illness of my wife.
I'm sorry to hear that.
And I'm gravely worried. I was taking her to a dry climate for her health. That's the purpose of the trip.
It seems to me, Mr. Mayhew, that you need a doctor more than you need a Marshal.
I was hoping you'd be able to put me in touch with one.
Sure I can. Doc Adams, a very good friend of mine. I'll go rouse him out for you right now.
Oh, Marta Dillon.
Yeah?
There's another purpose for my visit to your office.
Oh? What's that?
This suitcase. I'd be obliged, if you'd keep it for me, to keep it locked up, I mean.
There's something valuable in it, I take it.
Yes, there is. All the family treasures that we were able to bring on our journey.
They mean a lot to Mrs. Mayhew. I'd feel better if they were kept here.
Well, I suppose I can do that for you. You know how long you're going to be in Dodge?
Well, that depends on my wife and your doctor, Marshal.
Ah. Oh, yeah, I'll take care of the suitcase for you. And I'll go get Doc Adams, too.
Well, go ahead, Doc. Eat up. Chester told me that he had three helpings of that stew.
Well, that's no recommendation. Chester's got four stomachs like a camel.
It doesn't look as bad as all that, Doc. Not as bad as usual, anyway.
Maybe not, man, but I'm not very hungry. I want to get back up to the Dodge house to see Mrs. Mayhew.
Now, how's she getting on?
Hmm, not good, man. Not a bit.
Still can't travel in, huh?
Hmm. Three new me. It'll be a long time before she's able to head west.
How's the old man taking it?
He's taking it hard, man.
Oh, well, he's the soul of devotion and taking care of his wife.
Nobody could be kinder and more patient. But it's clear to me that he's mighty anxious to move on.
He trying to hurry you, Doc, so you will say that she can travel?
Oh, no. No, no, no. He's too fond of her to do anything like that.
I can just kind of sense it, though.
Yeah, after all, you can't blame him. It's, uh...
Uh...
Yeah?
I would expect to find the Marshal in his office in the middle of the day.
The Marshal has a right to eat his dinner.
No, that's all right, Doc.
Who are you?
My name is Henry Brails, and I'd like a word with you in private.
Well, I'll be going along there.
No, take your time, Doc. Take your time.
No, I'm late now. Unless you need me.
No, Doc. You go ahead. I'll see you later.
Yeah, all right.
Okay, Mr. Brails, what do you want?
An office is the proper place to transact business.
If you don't have anything to say to me, you're wasting both our time.
All right, Marshal, but we'll have to go to your office anyway.
Now, what for?
To open the suitcase, of course.
Are we going to open the suitcase?
Why, certainly. The suitcase left with you by Cassius Mayhew the other night.
Oh? Well, go on, Mr. Brails. You seem to have this all worked out.
Why, it's perfectly simple, Marshal.
Cassius Mayhew is my brother-in-law.
He left the family home very suddenly to take this trip.
I followed him. I want to be sure that he's not making off with some of the things that belong to me.
Mrs. Mayhew is your sister, huh?
She is.
Did you know that she's a very sick woman?
So, I understand.
You haven't been to see her?
No, Marshal. When I accosted Mayhew and he told me you had the suitcase, I felt it was important to see you at once.
Now, if you come with me, we can open it.
Just a minute, Brails. I can save you the walk.
What do you mean?
I'm not going to open that suitcase unless Mayhew himself tells me to do it.
But I tell you, I have a right to see what's in there. I'm a member of the family.
You're not acting much like one.
Well, I certainly am.
Sounds to me like you're more interested in the suitcase than in your sister.
Marshal, it is your duty.
It's my duty to protect property around here, including anything left of my care.
Now, you better go on, Mr. Brails. I want to finish my dinner.
But the law...
You let me worry about the law, huh?
Now, Jack.
Huh?
If you've got time, I'll have another cup of coffee.
Oh, sure, Marshal. Coming right up.
It's an awfully pretty night, man. I enjoyed the walk.
So did I, Kitty.
You know, it's the first time I can remember that I've walked when I didn't have to.
You suppose your horse got on all right without you?
As you're hoped so.
But I wouldn't want to make a habit of covering much ground without him.
You're coming in for a drink, man?
No, thanks, Kitty. I think I'm going back to the office.
I thought you said the jail was empty.
Oh, it is. Of people.
Mr. Dillon?
Mr. Dillon?
Yeah, Chessie.
Excuse me, Miss Kitty.
Oh, sir, Chessie.
Mr. Dillon, that fellow Brails is fixing to raise an awful row at the Dodge house trying to get in to see Miss Mayhew.
Uh-huh. I better come with you. Good night, Kitty.
Night, Marshal.
And thank your horse for me.
Yes.
Right, Miss.
What do you mean by that?
Never mind, Chessie. Tell me what happened.
Well, Mr. Dillon, I was there at the desk, you know, talking to Mr. Doby about trying to buy one of his hotels.
It was off his mind, getting off of his heart.
All right. Go on, Chessie.
Well, this fellow Brails came in and he tells Mr. Doby he wants to know what room is Miss Mayhew in.
What, did Doby tell him?
No, sir, he didn't. It was late in the morning. He knew Miss Mayhew was terribly sick.
So he tried to tell Brails to come back in the morning.
The Brails wouldn't leave, huh?
Not by a jug full. He wouldn't.
Right on, Mr. Doby, and then pretty soon Mr. Mayhew come out on the landing.
Brails seen him start heading up the stairs and that's when I come for you.
All right, Chessie. Let's go in.
And you have no right to keep me from seeing my sister. I'm going in that room.
I will respect the necessity of shooting you, Henry.
Mr. Dillon, Mr. Mayhew's got one of them little dangers.
Yeah, hold it up there.
You better put that gun down, Mr. Mayhew.
I'm glad to see my sister.
You sure picked up funny time for it.
He has no right to keep her locked up in a strange town, not letting her be seen by a member of her own family.
I am protecting her health, Marshal. I don't intend to allow her to be distressed by anyone.
You mean you don't want to ask any questions about what's in that suitcase? That's what you mean.
Get down those stairs, Brails. I wouldn't want to have to push you.
This is outrageous treatment, Marshal.
It'll get a lot more outrageous if you don't do what I say and I go on, get out of here.
I'll go, for now. But no country marshal is going to deprive me of my rights.
I'll be back. You can count on that.
I'll be here.
Thanks for your assistance, Marshal Dillon. You spared my wife an ugly scene.
Yeah. And I think I'd keep that derringer in my pocket if I were you.
I'm not a shooting man, Marshal. I've never even owned a pistol before.
But Mrs. May, you thought I might need protection on the journey.
Yeah. Well, sometimes a man needs protection from his own gun, Mr. May.
Yes, Marshal. I understand. It will not happen again.
I was trying to stop it. I should have known better. I was trying to keep a woman alive. Grown men stayed your riot outside of her door. I tell you, it just makes you wonder.
I'm glad you came by. Well, I can only tell you that she's a very sick woman.
Too sick to talk to me? Too sick to talk to anyone? What in the world would you have to say to her?
Now, Doc, this whole business is a little hard to understand. One half of a family against the other half.
Brails accusing Mayhew and Mayhew keeping him off at gunpoint.
I thought maybe Mrs. Mayhew could give me a couple of answers to a couple of questions so that I could get Brails out of here for good.
Maybe she couldn't, but I couldn't be responsible for what it might do to her. That scene outside her door last night almost finished her off.
All right, Doc. Never mind. Thank you, man.
I brought the mail, Mr. John. Hello, Doc.
Chester, how are you?
You were gone long enough to write some of it, Chester.
Well, I was noticing things. Man can't hurry himself when he's noticing.
No, of course not. And what did you find to notice this morning?
Oh, man, there's lots of things going on in one place.
Sometimes it doesn't pay to be a bachelor.
And I think that Brails, Bob.
How is he doing?
He was going with the dog, I thought.
I don't know, Chester, but we will expect that he will be the first one to see that we find out.
Marshal Dillon? Marshal Dillon?
You can go get the suitcase now. We've come to open it. This is Sheriff Dyer from St. Louis.
Hello, Sheriff.
Marshal.
You're a long way from home, Sheriff.
The suitcase is right inside. Right inside the Marshal's office.
Mr. Brails, I'll handle this. That's what I've come to do.
Well, handle it then. You've come all the way from St. Louis about that suitcase?
Yes, Marshal Dillon, I have. My office received telegram.
I'll bet you did.
I don't deny sending it.
Maybe I should explain a little further. Both Mr. Brails and Mr. Mayhew are from those St. Louis families.
I've known them personally for years.
And you probably know that Mrs. Mayhew is a very sick woman.
Indeed I do. Here are my credentials.
If you don't mind, let's you and me have a look at that suitcase.
You know that Mayhew doesn't want Brails to open it.
Mr. Brails won't be opening it, Marshal. We will.
All right then. Come on inside.
As suitcase isn't back, you'll stay here, Brails.
But I think it would be best if you followed Marshal Dillon's advice, Mr. Brails.
Come on, Sheriff.
There's a couple of places in here.
I've got a couple of keys. I don't know what you think will fit.
This one fits. It'll open.
I don't see any of the family valuables Brails was talking about, but that looks like an awful lot of money to me.
It should be just about $20,000.
You're telling me this isn't Mayhew's money, huh?
He worked in the same bank in St. Louis for many years, Marshal. He left in kind of a hurry.
Yeah, he told me his wife was sick.
And this money disappeared on the same day.
Oh, I see. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry.
Mr. Mayhew was a highly respected man.
It's hard to blame a man for trying to save his wife, isn't it?
It is for a fact.
Well, Marshal, shall we go across the street?
I've got a right to know it.
There's nothing here that concerns you, Mr. Brails.
That money. Cassius stole all the... I knew there was something wrong. I was right.
I bet you feel fine about this, Mr. Brails.
I think we'd better go, Marshal.
I'll go with you.
As Marshal Dillon said, this does not concern you.
I have a right to confront him.
If you wanted to confront your dying sister, you stay away from me, Brails, from now on.
There's a room at the top of the stairs, Sheriff.
Oh, Matt.
I want to see Mayhew, Doc. I don't want to bother his wife.
You can't. She's dead.
Oh.
I'm sorry to ask this at such a time, Doctor, but would you tell Mr. Mayhew that I'm here?
Matt.
This is Sheriff Dyer from St. Louis, Doc.
Well, all right, Matt. He's in pretty bad shape.
I am able to face up my responsibilities.
Hello, Sheriff Dyer.
Hello, Mr. Mayhew.
I'm sorry about your wife, sir. Thank you.
You know why I'm here?
Yes, yes, yes, I know. The money.
I took it to give her a chance at a new life.
Now her life is gone. Mine is gone with it.
Uh, I'm sorry, Mr. Mayhew.
I'm sorry too, Marshal. Sorry for imposing on your good faith and kindness.
Sorry for betraying your trust.
Mr. Mayhew, she, uh, she never knew that you took the money.
No. She never knew. That's one thing. She never knew. And she never will.
Welcome, William Bendix.
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Gunsmoke. Produced and directed by Norman MacDonald.
Starring William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
The story was specially written for Gunsmoke by Marion Clark.
With editorial supervision by John Meskin.
Featured in the cast were Ralph Moody and Harry Bartel.
Harley Bair as Chester, Howard McNear as Doc, and Georgia Ellis as Kitty.
This is George Walsh inviting you to join us again next week for another Story on...