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.
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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 chancy job, and it makes a man watchful and a little lonely.
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No less than seven of America's long-time favorite dramas.
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I got the mail, Paul. We got a letter from Brother Ben. I brought it to read for you, Paul.
Paul, where are you?
Paul, where you at?
Paul?
Paul, where are you?
Down here, a crisp bed.
What are you doing here, Paul?
Paul, you sick?
Fetch me to the house.
You've been beat.
Who done it, Paul?
The house. Fetch me there, boy.
Sure, sure, Paul. Do that right now.
Can you make it on your feet?
You'd rather I carry you, Paul?
Oh, I can walk.
Tell me, Paul, who done this to you?
Just get me the bed, boy.
You know who done it? You seen him before?
Yeah, I know him.
Tell me his name, Paul.
No, ain't no use in it. You're a know it.
Sure, days. Sure I'll go after him.
No, you ain't going no place.
Look, then there's the law, Paul.
It ain't right for him to go off free.
No, leave it be, boy. I ain't never had no need for the law.
But, Paul.
I said leave it be.
Go ahead, open the door for me. I'll walk in by myself.
Well, hello there, son. What can I do for you?
I've come to see the marshal.
You've come to the right place.
I don't see him here.
Of course you don't see him, because he ain't here.
Is he coming back?
Sure he's coming back.
Well, I'll wait for him.
All right, son. Have a seat.
Thanks.
Might be that I could help you.
Me being the marshal's assistant, you might say.
I'll wait.
Oh, sure. I just thought I might maybe could save us some time before he got here.
I said I wanted to see the marshal.
All right, son. All right. Ain't no call to be so huffy about it.
Oh, Mr. John, I'm glad you come.
You got trouble, Chester?
It ain't exactly trouble, but this young fellow is mighty all fired serious about seeing you.
I couldn't do nothing for him at all.
Is that so?
You want to see me, son?
Yeah, marshal. Yeah, I sure do.
What's your name?
Jess Burriss.
Burriss? Are you Luke's son?
Yes, sir, I am.
What can I do for you?
I want you to arrest the man that beat my pa.
You can do that, can't you, Marshal Dillon?
You better tell me more about it.
Well, I found him yesterday laying down by the creek all beat and bloody.
I'd have come sooner, but he needed tending.
Did he tell you who did it?
No, sir. No, he wouldn't.
But I know right enough. It was Smid Molley.
What if your pa wouldn't tell you? How do you know?
I've been asking questions.
See, pa had some bad dealings with Smid, marshal.
He seen him here in Dodge yesterday morning and called him down good.
He called him a cheat and a liar and a horse thief.
Pa can give it to you good when he's of a mind.
That's right, Mr. Dillon.
It happened right out there on Front Street while you was over in Hayes City.
Mr. Burriss really gave it to him good, all right?
Smid got himself liquored up and come out to our place and beat up pa.
He might have died, marshal.
Yeah. I'm sorry to hear it, Jess. Your father's a good man.
You can arrest Smid, can't you, marshal Dillon?
Well, yes, I can arrest him if your pa will swear that he's the man.
Oh, he ain't going to do that, marshal.
Why not? Is he afraid?
Pa ain't afraid of nothing. That's most of the trouble.
How's that?
Well, he ain't never needed to call on nobody for help.
He don't figure to start now. He's root stubborn.
Well, there's not much I can do to change that.
Maybe not, marshal, but maybe you could stop a killing.
You figure that this isn't the last of the time, huh?
No, no, it sure ain't the last of it.
Unless you lock Smid Moli up for a while.
All right, Jess, huh? I'll go talk to your pa.
Look, look, Burris.
Who's there?
Matt Dillon. I'd like to talk to you.
Come on in, marshal.
I'm back here.
Well, sorry to see you laid up, Luke.
Heed amend.
What are you doing out this way?
Well, I heard you were off your feed.
You didn't come to pay no sick call, marshal.
No, I guess I didn't, Luke. I was hoping you'd help me out.
How would that be?
I need you as a witness, Luke, as soon as you're able to travel.
A witness for what?
Witness against Smid Moli.
I told the boy to leave it be.
I'm just trying to protect you, Luke, and see that there's no more trouble.
I don't need no help. I ain't never needed no help.
Looks like you might have used some yesterday.
He jumped me when I wasn't ready for him.
But I can handle Moli, marshal. Don't you worry about that.
You let me lock him up and you won't have to. The law has a law.
I come out here before the law, marshal.
Maybe, but times have changed.
Not for me, they ain't.
When I come out here, a man had to do his own settling with the land.
The Indians were forever stood in the way of his carving out a place.
Folks learn to live and die without the law.
And some up and died when they didn't have to.
How a man dies is his own business.
If he's the only one dying.
Marshal, you got something to rest me for? You going to take me in?
No, better than that, Luke.
Then, marshal, I sure think you'll leave me alone and get along.
Locking Moli up might save you a lot of trouble, Luke.
I'll handle my own trouble.
All right. All right, you handle it.
But there may come a time when I'll have to move in.
I ain't never needed the law yet.
You better hope you won't be needing it from now on.
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Beecham.
Hello, man.
How about you, Kelly?
Sit down.
Thanks.
Well, the law business must be pretty good.
Oh, how's that?
You're usually in here early, isn't it?
Yeah.
Well, it's not that business is good, I can tell you that.
I'm having a hard time selling the law.
What do you mean?
Old man Burris.
He got beat half to death yesterday.
And he won't let me haul in the fellow that did it.
Smad Moli?
Yeah, Smad Moli.
How did you know?
Everybody knows.
He's been here at the bar all day bragging about it.
How the old man got uppity with him and how he fixed it.
Yeah, he's still here, down at the far end there.
Yeah, I see him.
I guess I better have a talk with him.
All right, man.
He ain't gonna do nothing but talk.
He showed him.
Ain't nobody gonna talk about horse whippin' Smad Moli.
Well, now, the marshal.
Yeah, I'll talk to you.
All right, you go right ahead, marshal.
You go right ahead.
Ain't nothing you can do to me.
Don't count on it.
I know ain't nothing you can do, marshal.
I seen the boy.
What boy?
Luke's boy, marshal.
Big fella like him nearly to cryin'.
You take the beating him too, like you did the old man?
Oh, sure not, marshal, sure not.
He feels bad enough.
You know why he feels so bad, marshal?
I suppose you tell me.
He feels so bad cause he come running to you for help and he can't get none.
Cause this old man won't take no help from the law.
Well, that's lucky for you.
We got us a big marshal out here and he can't do nothin'.
Moli.
Well, you know that's true, marshal.
You can't arrest me if the old man don't say so.
And he ain't gonna be saying so.
Well, that's the old man's business.
Yeah, yeah, I know.
And I'll tell you something.
If you ever go out there again, he means to take care of it.
I ain't worried.
You should be because if the old man doesn't handle you, I will.
Well, marshal, you can.
Yes, Moli, I can.
But if you're smart, you won't make me prove it.
Hey, Moli, you there.
You ain't got no business coming out here no more.
Well, see me, I got business here.
Unfinished business.
What do you want?
I want to see your old man.
You seen him enough.
That's the way I figured it to.
I figured I'd seen him enough.
But I've been hearing different.
What do you mean?
Been hearing from folks around town.
Your pa been talking unkindly about me.
Downright unkindly.
How'd you expect him to talk?
I figured I closed his mouth some other day, boy.
Pa ain't afraid of you?
No, no, I guess he ain't yet.
I guess I got to show him some more.
You ain't going after him again.
Boy, now, you ain't figuring this through.
Oh, you got a gun, ain't you, boy?
And I can use it.
All right, boy, seeing you got the drop on me,
I'll just ride off.
You shouldn't have threatened me, boy.
Here you are.
You coward.
You dirty coward.
Jess!
Jess, Jess, what's happened?
Well, he shot me.
Oh, the murdering, the thieving.
Shot my boy and rode away.
Next time I see him, I'll kill him, sure.
Jess, Jess, are you hurt, bad boy?
Oh, it ain't nothing, Jess, nothing at all.
I'll get you to the dark and he'll fix you up in no time.
Don't you threaten him.
I'll go and fetch the wagon.
It's pretty nice, ain't it, Mr. Dillon,
sitting out here, watching the world go by?
Uh-huh.
Of course, ain't much of the world going by,
I gotta admit that.
I ain't saw more than three or four wagons
and a buggy or two since I've been sitting here.
Now, that's funny, Chester.
It seems to me you've been sitting here
most of the morning.
I've had to step over you every time I went in
or out of the office.
Oh, well, I may have dozed off once or twice.
Yeah, yeah, you may have.
But you said yourself it's been a slow morning, Mr. Dillon.
I figured I might as well rest up
so as to be ready in case something happened.
Yeah, looks like it might be going to happen right now.
Why, what do you mean?
That's old Luke Burris driving that wagon, isn't it?
Hmm, I guess he is.
Ah, he must be feeling better.
Well, he may be, but there's somebody in the wagon bed
who isn't feeling so good.
All righty, Claire, you're right, Mr. Dillon.
There is somebody stretched out in there.
Yeah.
Luke?
Luke Burris?
You're not even looking at him, Mr. Dillon.
Well, that's his boy. He's got there.
Yeah, come on, let's give him a hand.
How is he, Doc?
He's not good, Matt.
Is he going to make it?
He hasn't got a chance.
The bullet was fired at point blank range.
It's a shame.
Yeah.
Can I go in?
You can't do him any harm now.
He's only got a few minutes.
Come on.
I'm sorry about this, Luke.
Oh, leave us be, Marshal.
This time I can't.
Can I speak to the boy, Doc?
Be easy, Matt.
Yeah, sure.
Jess?
Jess?
It's Marshal Dillon.
Marshal?
Can you tell me who did it?
You don't have to talk to him, Jess.
I can get him if you tell me, Jess.
I can lock him up this time.
Yeah.
Lock him up.
You tell me his name.
He ain't got no right to piss to you, Jess.
You don't have to tell him nothing.
I...
want to tell him.
Oh?
Marshal?
Yeah, Jess.
It was Molly.
It was Matt.
Molly again.
You...
You'll get him that time.
Yeah.
I'll get him.
Matt...
Jess!
He's gone, Matt.
I'm sorry, Luke.
I did the best I could.
I've seen you try to save him, Doc.
I thank you.
Luke?
I still ain't got nothing to say to you, Marshal.
I could have asked that you'd let him die in peace.
I'm sorry you feel that way, Luke.
But I had to step in. This is murder.
I gotta get into this now, whether you want me to or not.
I can't stop you, Marshal.
No. No, you can't stop me.
But I'll tell you something.
What's that?
Nothing's changed.
I can't stop you from coming into this thing.
But we don't need you, Marshal.
Jess and me, we don't need you anymore than we ever did.
We can take care of our own.
I've been kindly hankering to go back to Texas for some time now,
but this sure ain't the way I'd like to make the trip.
Uh-huh.
Trailing a man for a day and a night
can sure wear a fella down. Ain't that right, Mr. Jones?
Yeah.
Wouldn't be so bad if a body didn't have to keep his eyes so open every minute.
Yeah, I know that's particularly hard on you, Chester.
Well, you gotta keep looking out for so many things
that you don't get to enjoy the scene when I'm tall hardly.
You're not missing much in this part of Kansas.
No, I don't know, Mr. Jones.
I-I-I kindly like it out here, so nice and flat.
And hot and dry.
Well, sure, but you can just see forever.
You gotta admit that, Mr. Jones?
Yeah, Chester, you're right. I gotta admit that.
There's nothing in the way.
There, you see? That's what I mean.
Mm-hmm.
How long you reckon it'll take us to catch that smat mole, Mr. Jones?
I don't know, Chester.
We may not catch him at all.
Oh, my gracious me, we'll catch him all right.
You said yourself the trail was nice and clear as can be.
Yeah, it's too clear.
What do you mean by that?
We're not the only ones following us.
You mean there's somebody else a trail in him?
Yeah, he's got about a half a day's start.
You think it's that old meat-burs?
Yeah, I'm afraid it is.
Well, he just ain't got good sense to keep on with a thing like this, does he?
How do you think he's right, Chester?
It's awful hard to talk sense to a person who thinks he's right.
Who's your right at that?
What kind of a Mr. Jones?
Seems like it's a shack stuck way out here.
Yeah, now let's head for it.
All right.
Keep your eyes open, huh?
All right, we'll leave the horses here.
Bring your rifle.
I got it right here.
Don't worry, Marshal.
What?
You won't need your gun.
I'll go look.
I've been ahead of you all the way.
Yeah, I know.
I saw your trail.
No sense.
Both of us making this trip.
I told you, Luke, when it's murder, it's my business.
Well, there ain't no need.
I will see.
I already seen him.
What do you mean?
Come inside, Marshal.
Come on, inside.
Come on, Chester.
Why, why, Mr. Dillon?
Yeah.
Stand back, Burrus.
Here, Marshal.
I'm all done.
Mad Moley.
He's hung him right here inside.
Yeah.
I told you, Marshal, I got no need for the law.
He's been dead quite spare.
Yeah, since sun up.
All right, Chester, you better start digging.
We'll have to bury him.
Yes, sir.
You should listen to me, Marshal.
I meant it when I said we took care of our own,
that we had no need for the law to do it.
Yeah, now the law has to take care of you.
That don't matter now.
My boy's dead, and I took care of the man that killed him.
I took care of it, Marshal, like we're always done,
without no law.
Yeah, you did that all right.
And your boy wouldn't have had to die at all
if you'd let me move in in the first place.
All right, come on, Luke.
You can help Chester dig the grave
like you helped dig the grave for Jess.
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Gun smoke, produced and directed in Hollywood
by Norman McDonald, stars William Conrad
as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
The story was specially written for Gun Smoke
by Marion Clark, with editorial supervision
by John Meston.
Featured in the cast were Ralph Moody,
Dick Trenna, and Lawrence Dobkin.
Harley Bear is Chester, Howard McNear is Doc,
and Georgia Hawkins is Kitty.
This is the CBS Radio Network.