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.
Music
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.
Music
Alice, who is it helps now with your cleaning? I need somebody.
Thought you did your own work.
I always have, but lately I've had a nagging backache with sleepless nights and feel tired out.
I know what discomfort backache can be. Better do something about it.
But what?
Try Don's pills.
Good advice. That's Don's pills, an analgesic and mild diuretic to the kidneys.
Nagging backache, also headache, dizziness and muscular aches and pains,
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Don's pain relieving action is often the answer, and they also offer mild diuretic action through the kidneys.
So if nagging backache is making you feel worn out, tired and miserable,
with restless sleepless nights, don't wait.
Try Don's pills, used successfully by millions for over 60 years.
See if they don't bring you the same welcome relief.
Get Don's pills today. To save money, buy Don's Big Economy Size.
I'm sure can't find your order, Miss Kitty.
Well, don't worry about it, Mr. Jonas.
I saw Edna getting things together, but what she did with them...
Mr. Jonas, I don't mind waiting.
Well, it bothers me. Now, she should stay here till five o'clock.
But no, every afternoon come 4.30, she has to run off to the boarding house,
change her clothes, comb her hair and freshen up, as she keeps saying.
Well, I'll be right back.
I'm sorry, Miss Kitty.
I'm sorry, Miss Kitty.
I'm sorry, Miss Kitty.
I'm sorry, Miss Kitty.
And freshen up, as she keeps saying.
Well, if she's not a good worker, why do you keep her on?
No, no, no, no. I didn't say that. She's a fine worker.
As a matter of fact, I'd hate to lose her.
Lose her?
Well, she keeps talking about San Francisco and how she'd like to live there.
Well, maybe it's only talk.
Oh, I don't think so.
I get the notion that Dodge is just the place she ran out of money,
and as soon as she saves up enough, she'll be on her way.
Did she ever tell you where she's from?
A farm, some place in Ohio, I think.
You know, one day we got to talking about hogs and milk cows,
and she let it slip.
Almost bit her tongue off after she said it.
You think she's ashamed of being raised on a farm?
No, it ain't that.
Funny thing, it's more like she was scared,
like she had to keep it a secret.
Well, I'm back, Mr. Jonas. I'll just tidy up the counter.
Oh, Miss Kitty.
Hello, Edna. My, you look pretty.
Well, thank you.
Miss Kitty is waiting for her order, Edna.
Oh, I've got it all wrapped and setting on the counter here.
That was very thoughtful.
Well, I knew you'd be in, so I told Mr. Jonas,
rather than have you wait, I'd get it ready, and he could give it to you.
Here you are.
Thank you.
Edna, it's almost five o'clock. Are you ready to...
Uh, half noon, Miss Kitty.
Hello, Chester.
I'm all ready, Mr. Proudfoot.
You have to forgive the way I look,
but I have been working all day,
and a person does get a little wilted.
Yes, ma'am.
Well, shall we go?
See you in the morning, Mr. Jonas.
All right, Edna.
Nice seeing you, Miss Kitty.
Nice seeing you.
And you too, Chester.
Yes, it was. Very nice.
Mr. Jonas, I think you're wrong.
Oh, about what?
San Francisco.
I think Dodge City is as far west as Edna plans to get.
Goodbye, Miss Kitty.
Oh, I just think trains are the most exciting thing, Mr. Proudfoot.
Don't you?
All that black smoke and huffing and puffing,
and the way the whistle screams,
it's like a big wild animal or a dragon.
Well, no, I never quite thought of it that way,
but with all the suit and all.
Mr. Proudfoot, would you mind if I just held onto your arm till it leaves?
Well, it's nearly no, ma'am.
Not if you're really scared.
Wow. Oh, my, but you're strong.
Well, I'm...
Oh, and you must be very brave too,
working with Marshal Dillon the way you do,
fighting Indians.
Well, we don't fight many Indians anymore.
Capturing rustlers and horse thieves and train robbers?
Well, every once in a while we...
I'll bet you've saved his life lots of times.
Oh, Mr. Dillon has a way of looking after himself.
Oh, there she goes.
Hey, my, Jim, you know it is pretty exciting, isn't it?
Oh, it certainly is.
Here's the Marshal's mail, Chester.
Oh, thank you, Charlie. I was just coming in to get it.
You think you and your pretty little helper here
can carry all that by yourselves?
Oh, sure, Charlie. This little bit ain't too much to get.
Oh.
This old Charlie sure is a jocker.
I'll bet there are real important things in those letters.
Oh, once in a while he is.
Don't seem to be much today, though.
Just three wanted circulars.
Could I see one of them?
Well, I guess there ain't no harm.
They're going to be posted anyway.
Here you are.
Texas Sam.
Oh, what a mean, terrible-looking person.
Well, that ain't a very good likeness of him.
Oh, don't show me the others.
I don't want to know about such people.
Well, all right. But you asked...
But I would like to see those on books.
Well, now, Miss Edna, the U.S. mail is sort of sacred-like.
Oh, Chester.
Just let me look.
My.
The Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C.
and the U.S. Marshal's office in St. Louis.
Oh, my. All that important mail.
It is a responsibility, isn't it?
Well, yes, ma'am. It is.
And I think I better walk you on home now,
so as I can take the mail over to the office.
All right.
Mr. Dome likes to look at it before he goes out for supper.
Chester.
Yes, ma'am.
This boardwalk's terribly rough.
Would you mind if I took your arm?
Hmm. Hmm.
Let me see here.
Yeah, well, now, you're sure that's the move you want to make.
Yeah, I guess so.
Yeah.
Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.
Yeah, that makes three games in a row, and, uh,
I suppose I should feel flush with victory,
but I find absolutely no satisfaction
in beating a half-hearted opponent.
What are you talking about?
Come on, man. Out with it.
Well, you'll know sooner or later anyway.
It's Chester.
Chester?
I've been up to see you.
No, why? Is he sick?
Well, something's wrong with him.
Well, what are his symptoms? What does he do?
Nothing.
Well, then what makes you think that...
Well, those are his symptoms, Doc. He doesn't do anything.
When he's here, he walks around with a blank expression.
He doesn't hear anything I say.
This place hasn't been swept up in a week.
I've had to make coffee for the last two mornings,
and the day before yesterday, that drifter we had in the cell
didn't get any supper.
Oh, that doesn't sound like Chester.
Now, do you have any idea what might be bothering him?
As a matter of fact, I do.
And the only thing that amazes me is that it hasn't happened long before this.
Well, what is it, Doc?
Chester is a victim of your ingratitude.
Oh, now, Doc...
I know, it may sound silly, but it's a fact.
Look, Doc...
Now, wait. You ask my opinion, and I'm going to give it to you.
I've seen cases like this before.
A man goes on year after year doing his job,
and then suddenly one day he asks himself why.
Oh, sure, he gets paid for it, but he has to feel that
what he's doing is important,
that the person he works for appreciates his efforts.
If he is not appreciated, all the spunk goes out of him,
and he begins to think maybe he should find something else to do.
You mean...
Chester's thinking about quitting.
I wouldn't be a bit surprised.
So tell me, Matt, when was the last time you said something nice?
Something nice? Look, I can't run this off as like a Sunday school, Doc,
if I have to pat Chester on the head every time he does it.
All right, all right, you asked me and I told you.
But you just go on like you have been,
no word of thanks or no praise, barking orders,
expecting things to be done day after day.
Well, maybe.
You certainly wouldn't want to lose a man like Chester
because of your own stubbornness.
Well, I...
No, I wouldn't, Doc.
Okay, I'll do something about it.
There she goes.
Yes, siree, there goes that old dragon.
Oh, it sure is exciting.
It sure is.
Well, let's go pick up the mail.
Old Charlie must have it sorted out for now.
Oh, but you'll have time to walk home with me, won't you?
Oh, well, of course I will.
There, see, you've got your pretty little helper with you again, Chester.
I sure have.
Mail sorted yet, Charlie?
Yep, here you are.
Thank you.
Well, see you tomorrow.
See you tomorrow.
Both of you.
You know, Chester, you're the nicest person I ever met.
I am?
Well, that's a...
Oh, it's true.
And I'll tell you something else.
What?
This is a secret.
Lean over so I can whisper it in your ear.
Well, you can just say it right out.
Nobody can hear you.
Lean over.
That's what I think of you, Chester.
Eh...
Well, now...
Miss Edna, that's very...
I don't think Front Street's a place to...
Oh, it's all right, Chester.
I don't care. Who knows?
Well, I think I'd...
better take you home.
On the count of it, Mr. Don't be mad if he don't get his mail by summertime.
Must be very important mail tonight.
Let me...
Here.
You shouldn't do that, Miss Edna.
Let's see.
One from the Department of Defense.
A circular.
Please give it back to me, Miss Edna.
A catalog of firearms and ammunition.
Another circular.
A letter from...
Oh! Oh!
I dropped that silly old catalog.
Never mind, I'll get it.
Oh, I'm sorry.
It ain't hurt, no.
Just the new Granger catalog I sent for.
Here are the letters.
Thank you.
Uh...
Miss Edna?
What's the matter?
There was another letter here.
There was?
Yes, ma'am, you know there was.
You had it right in your hand when...
There it is.
Where, Chester?
You stuck it in your shirt waist there.
Well, what makes you so sure that's your letter?
Well, it has to be...
Mr. Proudfoot, are you accusing me of stealing a silly old letter?
Well, no, ma'am.
I suppose it could have got there by accident, but...
If you're so sure, why don't you just take it away from me?
Well, I...
But if you try, I'd scream like anything,
and everybody in Dodge would think that Chester Proudfoot
was a big nasty old brute.
Miss Edna?
Miss Edna, I'm...
Oh, dear.
Well, good morning, Chester.
Good morning, Mr. Don.
Sorry I didn't get your breakfast this morning.
Well, every man has the right to sleep late now and then, hasn't he?
I think it's kind of good to eat breakfast out once in a while anyway.
I'm sorry I just didn't close my eyes, left your son up, Mr. Don.
I just tossed and turned.
Tossed?
You know, Chester, I think you've been working too hard.
I think you should take a couple of days, pack your saddlebag,
and take your fishing pole and ride out and just loaf a little.
You remember that little stream that cuts off the Art Kansans?
Well, yes, sir, I remember it, but I just couldn't do that.
Well, I can manage without you here for a couple of days.
Mr. Dillon, if you want me to go away,
you don't have to be nice about it, I understand.
Chester, I didn't say I want you to go away.
You said you could manage without me.
For two days, Chester, I figured that you needed a rest, a change.
Now look, you've got a tough job.
Well, I got a tough job too, any marshal has,
but if he doesn't have help that he can count on, his job is twice as tough.
Now, you're a good assistant, you're loyal, and you're dependable.
Mr. Dillon.
Shut up, I'm not finished yet.
Now, when I'm out on the prairie four or five days, a week at a time,
I got to have a companion I can stand to live with.
Well, most of the time, I can stand you.
Now, does that sound like I'm trying to get rid of you?
Huh? Does it?
No, sir.
All right.
And thank you very much.
You just helped me make up my mind about something very important.
All right, then. I'll make up your mind to clean up this rat's nest
from top to bottom before I get back.
I'm going over to Longbride.
Yes, sir, Mr. Dillon.
I don't know, Kitty.
I guess I was pretty hard on him, but maybe it helped.
Anyway, sweet-talking him seemed to make him feel worse.
And that was Doc's idea, huh?
Yeah.
He figured Chester needed some encouragement.
And what did you figure?
Nothing.
I just got tired of him mooning around like a lovesick cat,
neglecting his work.
You said it, I didn't.
Huh? Said what?
Mooning like a lovesick cat.
What?
Oh, now, Kitty.
Mm-hmm?
Chester?
Mm-hmm.
Well, who?
Edna Wollstrom.
You mean the little girl that Jonah's hired to work in the store?
Well, she's not exactly a little girl.
She's 22 if she's a day.
And she set her cap for Chester.
What, Kitty?
Chester isn't the kind to go chasing after girls.
I said she set her cap for him.
Well, what do you know?
Oh, speak of the devil.
Mr. Dillon.
Wow, Chester.
Miss Wollstrom.
Marshal.
I think you know Miss Kitty Russell, don't you?
Oh, yes, I do.
Good evening, Miss Kitty.
Well, won't you sit down?
Thank you.
Uh, Mr. Dillon?
Yeah?
Miss Wollstrom's got something to tell you.
All right.
I'm under arrest, Marshal.
Uh, what?
Chester arrested me for tampering with a U.S. mail.
Now, you didn't open the letter, Miss Edna,
so that just makes it interfering instead of tampering.
Now, that's still a pretty serious charge with Wollstrom.
Well, I-I know, Marshal.
Chester said he liked me very much,
but if he didn't arrest me, he'd be even guiltier than I am
because it wouldn't be loyal to you.
And that a Marshal has to be able to trust his assistant in everything.
Well, who was this letter addressed to?
To you, Marshal.
Here it is.
It's from Mr. Gruber,
back on a farm near Akron, Ohio.
And it's all a lie.
Well, if you haven't opened it, how do you know it's a lie?
Well, see, Mr. Dillon,
this Mr. Gruber wrote to Miss Edna about a week ago
and told her what he was going to do
if she didn't take the next train back to Ohio.
Well, let's find out.
If only you would have told me about this, Miss Edna,
instead of just trying to steal the letter.
But I just didn't know what to do, Chester.
I-I thought if the Marshal didn't know about it,
old Mr. Gruber would leave me alone.
I know, but now...
Miss Wollstrom,
did you steal $200 from this Mr. Gruber?
No, sir, Marshal, I didn't.
He gave it to me. It was a loan.
But he says here that you signed a confession.
He told me I was signing a note.
You're telling me the truth now.
Yes, sir, I am.
And we'll find out who's lying tomorrow.
What do you mean, Mr. Dillon?
I'm going to be on the Dodge at 10 tomorrow morning.
When somebody breaks the law, they should be in jail.
That may be true, Mr. Gruber,
but this jail wasn't built for women.
I'm still not sure that the law was broken.
You got my letter? I sent you her confession.
I know.
And if you'd filed a complaint back in Ohio,
I can hold her here in Dodge
until I can send somebody to take her back.
But I am already here. I will take her back.
Mr. Gruber, the law just doesn't work that way.
Here's the telegraph, Mr. Dillon, from the Akron Police.
You read it, Chester?
Yes, sir, I did.
Now, you read it, Marshal.
Complaint against Edna Wollstrom,
filed here by Hans Gruber, January 10, charge theft.
Presently in your city,
please apprehend and hold for extradition.
So now I want her arrested.
She's not no criminal, Mr. Dillon.
Oh, you think not?
No, I don't. She's a fine person.
And if she'd done something wrong,
she must have had real good reason.
Chester.
I'm sorry, Mr. Dillon, but I'm real upset.
Now, now, look here.
No, you look here.
I think Miss Edna is all right, fine lady,
and I just won't believe she'd do anything really bad
like stealing your money.
She works awful hard, and she's awful nice,
and she's awful pretty,
and she wouldn't do a thing like that.
You, you have got a lot to learn, young fellow.
That may be, but there's one thing I do know.
I know if you say one mean thing to her when she gets here,
if you try to scare her one little bit,
it's going to make me madder than I am.
Are you threatening me?
Yes.
Chester, Chester, nobody's going to intimidate her.
I'll see to that.
Now, you just calm down, and I promise you,
we'll get to the bottom of this just as soon as we can.
Here she is, ma'am.
Oh, hello, Kitty.
Come on in, Miss Wollstrom.
Miss Wollstrom, do you know this man?
That's Mr. Gruber.
Hello, Edna.
Why did you do it, Edna?
Mr. Gruber, you told me when I signed that paper
that now everything was all right.
You know I was going to pay it back.
I don't mean about the money, but why did you run away?
Everybody laughs at me.
I can't help that, Mr. Gruber.
I had to do it.
But why?
I'll tell you why.
Kitty.
Oh, Edna, this is important.
Mr. Gruber, you're a widower, aren't you?
That's right.
Four years now.
And Edna here was your housekeeper, your hired girl, huh?
Yeah.
How much did you pay her?
Well, not so much maybe money, but there's room and board.
I bought goods so she could make clothes.
And on fair day, one Friday a month,
you took her to town with you, along with the chickens
and eggs and pigs, and you gave her two whole dollars to spend.
Is that right?
Yeah.
And for that, she kept the house, did the baking, the cooking,
the washing and ironing, fed the pigs and fed the chickens
and gathered the eggs, and when she wanted to leave,
you wouldn't lend her enough money to live for two weeks
while she went looking for another job.
Yeah, that is so, but I didn't want her to go away.
She was always talking about San Francisco,
and I was afraid that if she had money, she would go there.
But you made it easy for her to steal the $200.
Then you made her sign that silly confession
so that you could use it to frighten her into staying on the farm.
Is that the story, Gruber?
Yeah, that's the story.
You must be very proud of yourself.
No.
No, I am not.
That's why I had to find you, Edna.
I don't even want to talk to you, Mr. Gruber.
Please, listen.
I had to find you because...
Well, because I want you to be Mrs. Gruber.
What?
That's all right. You laugh.
But you listen, too.
I have hired a couple, Jacob Glasnap and his missus, to run the farm.
And you know the little house with the green shutters?
They shape a place we used to pass going to town,
the one you always liked so much.
What about it?
I bought it.
Well, that's very nice, Mr. Gruber, but...
Wait, I'm not finished.
Look here, in this envelope.
Go ahead, look.
Two tickets to San Francisco.
And I wrote to the Palace Hotel,
they will get us married and we will stay there,
and we'll buy some fancy clothes,
and we'll go to the show houses, and...
Oh, Mr. Gruber.
I want you to call me Hans Edna.
Oh, Hans.
Hans, you're the nicest person I ever met.
There is a stage at 5.15. If you can get back...
I can, Hans, I can. But we'll have to hurry.
You come with me and we'll get everything together.
Oh, what about this warrant?
I will write to them from San Francisco.
Just forget all about it, please.
Oh, that's a bother.
Well, I'm just so excited.
I almost went off without saying goodbye.
Miss Kitty, thank you so much for helping me.
And Marshall, I'm sorry I took the matter.
Really, I am.
And Chester...
Yes, ma'am?
Please, lean over.
Well, I...
Please.
Oh, Chester, I think you're the second nicest person I ever met.
Goodbye.
Goodbye, Miss Edna.
I'm sorry, Chester.
Oh, that's all right, Miss Kitty.
It's just that...
Mr. Dunn, some people's story is hard to figure out.
Chester, by some people you mean women.
I certainly are.
Gunsmoke.
Produced and directed in Hollywood by Norman McDonald,
and William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
The story was specially written for Gunsmoke by Vic Perrin,
with editorial supervision by John Messon.
Featured in the cast were Barbara Eiler, Joseph Kearns, and Vic Perrin.
Spirey Bear is Chester, Howard McNear is Doc, and Georgia Ellis is Kitty.
This is George Walsh inviting you to join us again next week
when CBS Radio presents another story on Gunsmoke.