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 violist 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.
In there.
Easy, Marshal.
That's a roll in a cell back there.
Yes, sir.
All right, come on.
You got no call to haul me in so rough. It's your legs real bad.
You're lucky I didn't break your neck.
I ain't done nothing to get drug around like this.
Get in there.
Look, that engine was as dead as they come. I wasn't hurting him, none.
His relatives won't look at it that way. They'd call it grave robin.
I wasn't going to must things up, none. I was just sort of looking for some things they might have buried with them, Marshal. They sure wasn't doing him no good.
Now, you listen to me, Red, you're a fool, but that's no excuse. In the first place, those Indians don't bury anything where they're dead that you'd want.
An old pipe, maybe, or a can of grease, or a horse's tail. But even so, they don't look kindly on grave robin.
If they'd have caught you before I did, you'd be needing a grave by now, or you'd be praying for one anyway.
And the whole countryside would be in danger of an uprising. Now, you're going to stay in jail for a while.
But my leg, Marshal, it's still bleeding.
All right, I'll have Doc take a look at it if I can get him to come over here. Chester.
Yes, sir.
Go get Doc, will you?
Well, yes, I will. But if it was me, I'd just soon let him bleed to death.
I would too, Chester, but that way we'd have a job of burying him.
Yes, you're right there, Mr. Dillon. I'll go get Doc.
You better order some more of that whiskey, Sam. We're getting low.
I'll do that, Miss Kitty, but it sure ain't very good, and that's a fact.
That's the best we can get. Besides, the men that come in here wouldn't pay for any better.
Most of them wouldn't know the difference anyway.
Oh, hello, Miss Kitty.
Hello, Chester. You want a drink?
Well, that ain't exactly what I'll come in here about, but...
What's on your mind?
Well, I've been all over town looking for Doc. I guess I have worked up quite a thirst at that.
A beard goes down real good.
Give him a beer, Sam.
Coming up.
Cracking somebody down is sure dry work.
There you are.
Thank you kindly for the beer, Miss Kitty.
You should have come in here first, Chester. I could have saved you getting so thirsty.
How come?
Doc was in earlier on his way out south of town someplace. He said he wouldn't be back till tomorrow.
I swear I sure don't know what's good of being a doc if you ain't going to be around when you're needed.
Slow down, Chester. Doc didn't go off on a pleasure trip, you know. Who needs him?
Mr. Dillon sent me out to find him and bring him back with me.
Did Matt hurt?
Oh, no, ma'am. It ain't him. It's that no-good Joe Red we caught out there climbing up on an Indian barren place.
He hurt his leg when we pulled him down. He's carrying on something awful about it.
Well, you'll just have to wait till Doc gets back tomorrow.
I beg your pardon.
Yeah?
I couldn't help overhearing.
There's no secret about it.
Sounded as though I might be able to help. My name is Milford Brand. I'm a doctor.
Oh, well, that's good of you, Dr. Brand. This is Chester Proudfoot.
I do. Proudfoot.
Why don't you take Dr. Brand over to the jail, Chester? He can look at Joe Red's leg.
All right, I'll do that, Miss Kitty. Maybe he'll have to cut it clean off.
Now, this rifle works a little slow, Chester. How long's it been since you cleaned it?
Well, not too long.
Well, look at it. You can see that it's dirty, can't you?
Well, right after the last time we... It ain't too bad.
Hello, man.
Hello, Doc.
Hello, Doc.
When did you get back?
Oh, by now, go.
Hey, what are you doing? You figured on starting a war?
Yeah, just want to be able to finish it if one gets started, Doc.
We was only checking over the guns, Doc. It don't mean we're planning to shoot nobody.
I'm glad to hear that. Oh, so you still got Joe Red locked up?
Yeah.
How's his leg?
Well, he stopped complaining, anyway.
Well, that could mean it's better or a lot worse.
You want to see him?
No, no, just not. He's Dr. Brand's patient. Let him handle it.
You mean that other Doc is still in Dodge?
He's still here and he's going to stay here, Chester.
Huh? He's going to take up doctor in here?
That's what the tell me.
Why he can't do that.
And why can't he?
Well, this is your town, Doc. That's why he can't.
Oh, now wait a minute, Chester.
Ain't no two ways about it. He can't come in here in his darn city suit and start drumming away your ass.
That can't keep going on like an old woman.
Chester, will you quiet down and let Doc talk?
Now listen to me for a minute. This town is getting bigger all the time. We can use another doctor.
We don't need no other doctor.
Lord knows I don't mind a little help. And that just plain fruit of his system.
You don't want a doctor because you don't like to cut up your suit.
Well, now I never said anybody could cut a suit.
I'm going to go to the Dodge house and see if I can help him to get started.
I don't have any sense at all, Chester Prophet, to keep your mouth shut and give him a chance.
You might need him yourself someday.
Well, now just what did you think of that, Mr. Dillon?
Well, I tell you, Chester, from the way Doc just left here, I think you better stay healthy for a while.
Where are you from, Dr. Brand?
Philadelphia.
Philadelphia, oh. I understand Philadelphia has developed into quite a medical center.
Oh, yes indeed. There are several medical schools there.
The newest methods and procedures are taught.
Now, it doesn't look much like Dodge City.
Oh, Dodge City. No, that's true.
You'll get your hands dirty here, that's a fact.
My office is just up those stairs.
That's very kind of you, Dr. Adams.
Oh, no trouble, no trouble at all.
You'll be welcome to use my office and do the hand-handle setup in a place of your own.
I hardly think so.
I wish many a time there was somebody around to help with the load.
Here we are.
Very, very nice.
Yes, it's very nice.
And there's another room in there.
I see.
And where is your laboratory?
Well, you're standing in it.
This room? It's hardly equipped.
Most of my equipment, Doctor, fits right into that black bag.
My laboratory travels with me.
How are you able to keep up on the current studies, on research?
Well, a doctor out here doesn't give a man much time for study or research.
You're too busy keeping folks alive any way you can, whether it's in the book or not.
But maybe now that you're here and can help out with the work, I'll have a little more time.
Dr. Adams, perhaps we'd better get something straight.
I didn't come to Dodge City to be your assistant.
I intend to practice medicine in a professional and scientific manner.
Well, sure you do, Dr. Brandy.
Sure you do.
I just hope you'll be able to.
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You got the wrong slant on it, Matt.
It's not the way food tastes at council. It's what it does for you.
Well, that's what I'm afraid of, Doc.
Now, it wasn't that bad.
You know, you're pretty squeamish for a man of your hift.
Well, maybe so, but I'd hate to know the bloodlines of that stew I just ate.
Oh, wait a minute there, Matt. There's Zach Willard. I want to ask him about his wife.
Oh, sure, Doc.
Zach! Zach Willard.
Oh, hello, Doc.
Come on over here. I want to talk to you a minute.
Oh, all right.
Hello, Zach. How are you?
Marshall.
I wanted to ask you about Murdoch, Zach. Is he feeling any better?
Why, yeah, Doc. She's better.
Good. That medicine we tried earlier must be doing the job, huh?
I've been trying to get out there for a week, Zach.
You tell Myrtle that I'll be by to see her real soon.
Well, I'll tell her, Doc, but ain't no need for you to come by.
Ah, sure I'll come, Zach. I may have to neglect my patients for a while, but I always get there eventually.
Well, the fact is, Doc, well, Myrtle's took the doctor in a little different.
She has? Well, as long as she's feeling better, I'll come by and check on what she's doing.
Well, you see, well, Myrtle's doctoring with the new doc now. He comes out every day.
Oh, oh, I see. Dr. Brand.
Well, you tell Myrtle that I'm glad she's feeling better, Zach.
Sure, Doc.
Come on, man.
You, uh, you're not going to let a thing like that bother you, are you, Doc?
No, it doesn't bother me, Matt. Myrtle Wood is suffering from a common cancerous complaint.
Too much dust, too much loneliness, too much prairie.
It'd do a lot of good to have a visit every day from a doctor.
If he only talks to it, I never had the time.
Funny thing, though.
What's that, Doc?
It looks like I might have the time from now on.
Matt, I think you ought to do something.
What do you want me to do, Kitty? Lock him up, throw him out of town?
I'm serious. This Dr. Brand needs talking to. He's going around as though he's the only man who ever had a medical degree, as though Doc isn't anything more than a medicine man.
Well, does he actually come right out and talk against Doc?
No, he doesn't come right out and say anything, Matt. He's too smart for that. But he sure gets the idea across. I wish you would knock some sense into him.
I'll knock Kitty as long as he doesn't poison his patients. I can't do anything about it.
Excuse me. Joe Red just came in. I want to talk to him.
Sure, Matt.
Out of a bottle of rye?
You don't look much like a man who's going to stay out of trouble, Joe.
You going to follow me around the rest of my life, Marshal?
Joe, I warned you to stay out of trouble or stay out of Dodge.
There ain't no law against liquor.
There's a law against breaking the peace, and I think you better get out of town until you sober up.
Well, look, Marshal, I got a right to be here. I got a right to be in Dodge. A man's got a right to see his doctor. Now, don't he?
You came in to see Dr. Brand?
I come in to see Dr. Brand. A man has a right to see his doctor.
It wasn't your health that interests me, Joe.
But you cause any trouble and you're going to go to jail sick or well. Now, you go on and you see your doctor.
Then you get out of town.
Mr. Dunn, just look at that cussed prairie stretching away out there.
What's the matter with it?
Well, it ain't good for nothing. That's what's the matter with it.
It's only good for a buffalo grass. The best it can do is grow a cottonwood. You can dry it all day and all night, and it don't ever change.
I swear I don't know what else folks settling in a place like this.
Well, you ought to know, Chester. You settled here.
Well, I ain't either settled here.
Well, you've been in Dodge a good many years now. You live there. Your friends are there. I call that settling.
Well, now, that may look like settling to you, but I ain't about ready to settle nowhere near...
Look down, Mr. Dunn. Over there next to that little solid house. That man there, he's signaling to us.
Well, let's go over and see what he wants.
You wanted the seahorses, mister?
You're the marshal, ain't you?
Yeah, I'm the marshal. What can I do for you?
Well, I'll tell you, there ain't much for cottonin' up to the law, but right now it's a choice between the law and an Indian uprising.
What are you talking about?
Them poor need to go on the warpath. If they found out about it, sure as shootin'.
Now, come on, mister. Tell me what happened.
Why, that grave. The little grave out on the prairie. That Indian grave up on them poles.
Well, what happened to it?
Why, nothing happened to the grave, marshal. It's still there, all right.
What's the trouble?
It's the body.
Body?
Yeah. Somebody made off with it, clean as a whistle. Them Indians are always stoppin' by.
Mister, come on. Let's get back to town.
Marshal, I swear...
I knew you were stupid, Red, but I didn't know you were this stupid. Now, you better tell me quick. What did you do with that body?
What body, marshal? I ain't killed nobody.
Don't get smart with me, Red, or I'll break you in two.
Now, I'm talkin' about the body you took from that Pawnee grave last night. Now, come on. What did you do with it?
I ain't been near no grave.
You haven't got much time, Red. You better start talkin' real straight.
Matt? Matt, can I see you for a minute?
Can I wait a little while, Doc?
I think it might be important, Matt.
All right, but make it fast, will ya? I want to get the truth out of this man before it's too late.
It won't take long.
Chester, lock him up, huh? I'm comin' right back to you, Red. You better have your story ready.
But I ain't got no story, marshal, even if you beat me to death.
I might do that, too.
Come on, Red, get on.
All right, now, Doc, what's on your mind?
It's about that Dr. Brand.
Oh, Doc, I haven't got time to worry about how you two are gettin' along.
You oughta listen to me, Matt.
All right, Doc, shoot.
But it seems to me that there's something mighty peculiar going on in those rooms that Brand is set up to practice in.
No?
I know he takes great stock in being as up-to-date and scientific as possible, and that's all right. That's a good thing.
But I think this is going a little too far.
Will you get to the point, Doc?
All right, Matt. Dr. Brand keeps a body in the back room of his office.
A body?
A corpse.
Where you going, Matt?
I guess it's time I paid a professional call on Dr. Brand.
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He must be in the back.
Oh, Marshall. Oh, hello, Dr. Adams. Hello.
Brand, Dr. Adams here has been telling me that you keep a body in your back room. Is that right?
Why, it isn't exactly a body, Marshall. It's a skeleton. Yes, I do keep it back there. It's helpful in my study.
Where did it come from?
I'm not sure it's any of your business, Marshall.
It's my business, all right? Where did you get the skeleton?
Dr. Adams, as a medical man, is it necessary for me to answer these questions?
I think you'd better answer that one, Doctor.
Well, as a matter of fact, Marshall, it was a lucky find. I procured this skeleton quite near Dodge City.
You better hope you're lucky. It came from an Indian grave, didn't it?
Why, yes it did.
Who got it for you?
I got it myself, Marshall. I took a wagon and got it myself.
Joe Red told me about it, but he was afraid to go out there again. I managed all right without him.
Well, that's the first time I ever heard of Joe Red being smart. Now listen, Dr. Brand, as soon as it's dark,
we're going to take that skeleton right back where it came from. We'll bring the wagon by and you'll be ready.
Come now, Marshall Dillon, aren't you making a mountain out of a molehill?
Every good medical office should have a skeleton to refer to.
You'll have to provide your own, Dr. Brand. This one is private property.
But it was just an Indian grave.
I don't know how you think about things where you come from, Brand, but robbing a grave, any grave, is considered a crime out here.
More than that, you place the whole countryside in danger. These Indians visit their graves,
and if they come and find the body gone, they won't like it, Dr. Brand, and if they came to me and asked me who stole it, I'd tell them.
You must be joking, turning a man over to the Indians.
Let me tell you something. If I had a choice of whether to turn you in or let the Indians start an uprising over something you did,
it wouldn't take me very long to make up my mind.
So you would just be ready and bring that skeleton off as soon as it gets dark.
There. That ought to do all right, Mr. Dillon. It looks just as natural.
You think we got the wrappings back on all right, Chester?
Oh, I think we done a real nice job. I don't think them Indians will ever notice a thing about it.
Let's hope not. Where did Doc go?
Oh, he's sitting down there in the wagon with Dr. Brand.
All right, let's go.
Mr. Dillon?
Yeah?
Look down there on that ridge over there. The moon ain't too bright, but it sure looks like Indians to me.
Yeah, then they're headed this way. Let's get down off of here quick, Chester, and get back to the wagon.
Doc, move over. Give me those lines. There's an Indian party headed this way.
All right, man.
Indians? Look, Marshall, maybe if we shoot at them, they'll go away.
Put that gun down, Brand.
What are we going to do?
We're not going to do anything. I'm going to pull up now and let them come to us.
Everybody keep quiet. When they get here, I'm going to do the talking to them.
We come in peace. Is there a chief among you?
Aye, sharp-nosed.
I don't think I know you, sharp-nosed. Are you far from your village?
Very far.
Why do you come here?
We come to pay respect to grave of my brother's brother.
The one back there?
The one back there. Why are you come?
Well, we were just passing by, so we stopped to pay our respects to the grave of your brother's brother, too.
Where you go?
You go.
What are they doing?
They're going to circle the grave.
Is it going to be all right, Matt?
Yeah, I think so, Doc.
Marshal. Marshal Dillon.
Yeah, what is it I'm listening?
I think I owe you an apology.
And Dr. Adams, I guess I have a lot to learn.
There may be newer ways of doing things in medical schools, doctor, but folks out here have learned a lot about staying alive.
They have a hard way of learning it.
I'm beginning to understand that, Dr. Adams.
Good. Come on, Matt. Now let's get back to town. Somebody might be needing us, doctor.
All right, Doc.
Hello!
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Gunsmoke. Produced and directed by Norman McDonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
The story was specially written for Gunsmoke by Marion Clark, with editorial supervision by John Meston.
Featured in the cast were Jack Moyles, Vic Perrin, Ralph Moody, James Nusser, and Howard Culver.
Harry Baer 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 Gunsmoke.