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 a U.S. Marshal and the smell of gun smoke.
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.
Let's see now. All right, Sam, stand still.
No, it ain't nothing worth your trouble, Miss Kitty.
Well, it will be if it gets any worse. Lean over.
All right. I'll thank you to have a sure hand with that needle.
Don't worry, Sam. I'm not much of a seamstress, but I ought to be able to catch up a rip in a pair of britches without doing much damage.
There. That ought to hold it.
Thank you, Miss Kitty.
You're welcome, Sam. I just hated to see you start the day with a hole in your britches. With that trail her doing, town is going to be hard enough.
Yes, ma'am.
What in the world's that?
Hey, let's get him going there. He's in for that swinging door.
Just maybe. He's dropping there.
I gotta hide someplace, Miss Kitty. I ain't hurting nobody.
Now look here, Raffy.
Well, I'll handle this, Sam.
All right, you two, settle down.
Why, oh, Raffy's got a friend.
You two go along.
She's hiding behind a gal. Play your drum for her, Raffy.
I said get along. Big strong man, aren't you, picking on the likes of Raffy?
Now you get out of here, and don't come back.
Well, what do you know about that?
It's all right now, Raffy. They've gone.
I wasn't doing nothing wrong, Miss Kitty.
No, of course you weren't. Come on over and sit down, huh?
You know, it's a drum, Miss Kitty. They give me misery on account of the drum.
Yeah, I know, Raffy.
Ain't nothing wrong about wearing the drum?
No, of course there isn't.
You give it to me, that captain, for entitum. He told me to wear it proud.
I've always done that, Miss Kitty.
I know you have, Raffy.
I don't hardly play the drum calls no more. Don't seem much need.
Well, no. With the war over and all.
But I always wear it, like the captain said, I wear it proud.
Folks give me misery.
Well, I've got no right to do it. You can always come in here when they do, Raffy.
You don't have to be afraid.
You're a true good lady, Miss Kitty.
I don't know about that.
Yes, ma'am, you are. You're a true good lady.
Raffy, are you hungry?
Well, I ain't weak with it, Miss Kitty, but it's a fact I ain't ate yet.
Well, we'd better fix that.
Well, I ain't taking no more handouts.
But if you're hungry, Raffy.
I can work, Miss Kitty. Folks have just left me.
If you just stop plaguing me and let me work, I could make out fine.
All right then, Raffy. Sam?
Yes, Miss Kitty?
Come here a minute, will you?
Sure thing.
Take Raffy out to the woodshed, will you, Sam?
Set him to chopping that wood out there. He wants to work.
Well, sure. Come along, boy.
I'm obliged to you, ma'am. Oh, Miss Kitty.
What is it, Raffy?
Will you watch after the drum for me? I wouldn't want nothing to happen to it after the captain trusted it to me like he did.
Sure, Raffy. Sure. I'll watch after it.
No, it was enough to break your heart.
As soon as it chopped the wood, it came back in and I gave him his money and hung that drum around his neck again and left.
Poor boy.
Yeah. You want some more gravy, Kitty?
No, thanks, man.
Doc?
No, not for me. It's better with this food not to cover it up while you're eating it.
You know where Raffy went, Kitty?
No, no, I don't. He just appears now and again and he's always in trouble. Somebody's always plaguing him, as he says.
No, it's a shame.
What's the answer to it, Doc? What makes Raffy... well, what makes him the way he is?
That's hard to say, Kitty. Maybe there's just too much war.
He must have been very young during the fighting.
His mind hasn't grown any older.
Why would he hang on to the drum then, Doc, if it reminds him of a bad time?
I can't tell about these things for sure, man. Maybe because the drum was the last thing he was ever proud of.
Hello, Miss Kitty.
Marshall.
Hello, Dolby.
I couldn't help overhearing your conversation. I was sitting right over there.
You've got good ears. Hey, you know, I think it's important to know what this fellow Raffy might do.
The town has a right to know.
Well, if he can't tell for sure, he might go along just as he is for the rest of his life,
wearing that drum around his neck and being crucified for it.
And then again, he might decide to turn on somebody someday.
Well, you couldn't blame him.
Well, then, Marshall, I say you ought to take steps.
How do you figure that, Dolby?
Well, either way, he isn't doing the town any good. He might turn mean and cause trouble.
Even if he doesn't, he gets in the way of the town's normal citizens wandering around that way, wearing that drum night and day.
Oh, come on now, Dolby. I can't arrest the boy for that.
Well, Doc just said he might cause trouble. It'd be better to act now.
You listen to me, Dolby. If he causes trouble, it'll be because he's been driven to it by normal citizens.
I might spend some time talking to him about it.
Mr. Dillon?
Right here, Chester.
It's like somebody's been after Chester.
What's the trouble?
Chester, you better come right away. It's that rapid blight.
I told you, Marshall.
What's he done, Chester?
He ain't done nothing. But some of the boys have got him treed down there at the livery stable.
You better come with us, Doc.
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No, please.
It's like a monkey up there, don't it?
You don't even have to be up no tree, you look like a monkey.
Swing the drum out more, Sloat.
Down the end of that limb there.
It's getting kind of thin down there, Bull.
I said swing that drum.
All right, Bull, all right.
Go ahead, kid, let's see you get your full drum.
Crawl out there.
Go ahead, crawl.
Please, Mr.
Come on now, if you want it, go get it.
It's too far.
If you don't crawl out and get it, Raffy, I'm going to shoot it full of holes like this.
Please, please don't shoot it, I'll get it.
Go on then.
That's right.
Let me pull in the drum, Bull, he's going to fall short.
Leave it be.
Well, he's hurt himself.
Oh, he's too simple to be hurt bad.
Come on, Sloat, let's get it.
All right, just a minute.
I got to get the boy, Doc.
Sure, man.
All right, you men, you're in an awful hurry to get away all of a sudden.
Oh, why, Marshal, there ain't no reason to hang around.
The show's over, is that it?
I don't know what you're talking about, Marshal.
This boy just fell out in the tree.
You know what I'm talking about, all right, and so do the rest of you men.
Well, our Marshal is-
A bunch of real live two-legged coyotes.
Now listen here-
Oh, you listen to me.
If I catch you, any one of you, deviling this boy again, falling out of a tree will seem easy to you.
Now go on and get out of here.
Well, we was going anywhere.
Just remember, you leave this boy alone.
How is he, Doc?
Well, can't tell yet, man. He's unconscious.
I'll have to get him to the office.
All right.
A couple of you men give us a hand here to get him to Doc's.
There.
There you go, Raffy.
That cool cloth ought to make you feel better.
My hair.
It hurts pretty bad, doesn't it?
It- it hurts.
Well, I expect it does.
You took quite a blow, but it's going to be all right, Raffy.
Nothing to worry about.
Has he come to, Doc?
Yes, man. He's conscious.
Is he going to be all right?
I think so, man. Yeah, there's no signs of a fracture or concussion.
Oh, that's good.
Well, Raffy, you feeling better?
My drum. You got my drum?
Yeah, I got it. It's down in my office.
Well, nothing happened to it.
I think it's safe enough.
That's good.
I sure do thank you, Marshall.
It's all right. It's all right.
You come get it when you're feeling better, huh?
Yes, sir.
I got to do that.
You know, it seems like folks don't like me to wear it.
Why don't they, Marshall?
I don't know. Maybe it's because they just don't know any better.
I ain't never hurt nobody. They ain't got no call to hurt me.
That's right.
Them folks who hurt me, they ought to learn different, Marshall.
Yeah. That's what I came to tell you. I'm going to see that they do.
I can see it real clear, Marshall. Real clear.
Them folks need to learn it real good.
Them folks that hurt me, they got to be taught different.
Here's mail, Mr. Dillon.
Oh, thanks, Justin.
Well, Mr. Dillon?
What?
It seems to me you'd want to know what's in it.
It seems to me a man should ought to open up his mail when he gets it.
Might even be Governor Bridgerton.
Chester, what are you muttering about?
Well, I just can't understand it, Mr. Dillon, after I went and fixed it to you and all.
Why you don't open it up?
The mail?
All right, Chester, I'll open it up.
Expecting something special?
No, sir.
To tell you the truth, I could see there wasn't nothing there worth bothering about.
You put on a pretty good show of bothering, though.
Well, it just seems to me that a man should ought to open up his mail, whether it's worth anything or not.
Oh, you're wondering, Marshall. You were too bullheaded to discover and to listen.
What's on your mind, Dobby?
I told you last week right there in the restaurant. I told you you ought to do something about it.
Oh, come on, Dobby. What are you sputtering about?
That bad boy, that Raffy Blight. I told you he'd cause trouble.
Well, what's happened?
It's worse than I even expected, and you could have prevented it.
Dobby, quit babbling and tell me what's happened.
He's killed him.
Who's been killed?
Bull Ramsey's been killed, and Raffy did it. They found a gun stick by the body, and now we've got a lynching on our hands.
Where are they?
They're taking him to hang him, and it should never happen.
Dobby, where are they?
They're taking him out west of town.
All right, come on, Chester. Bring the rifles.
There they are, Mr. Jones, in that clump of trees.
They've got him up on a horse, but it doesn't look like they've got the rope on him yet.
Oh, they're lucky.
All right, let him go.
We was just trying to help the law, Marshal.
I'll take care of the law. I said let him go.
Sure, you can have him if you want to waste jail space on a murderer.
I've got to have a lot more than your say-so on that, Sloat.
Why, it's plain as plain. Everybody knows he had it in for bull.
Never mind, Sloat. If he needs to be tried, he'll be tried by a judge, not by you.
And that drumstick.
I said never mind. Chester.
Yes, sir.
Untie Raffy's hands and take that gag out of his mouth.
Yes, sir.
Now, lead his horse over here.
That's my horse he's on, Marshal. You ain't going to take it.
He's riding it back to town, Sloat, and I wouldn't argue about it if I were you.
I'm going to have to keep you here for a little while, Raffy.
It's all right, Marshal. You ain't one to plague me.
No. No, nobody will plague you here.
Now, you can go on in.
Thank you.
Marshal.
Hmm?
What they're saying about me killing that bull, Ramsey.
Yeah?
Well, I don't think I ever killed nobody, Marshal.
Well, I hope you're right about that, Raffy.
I don't recollect too good about last night. My head was hurting real bad.
I just don't recollect too good.
Oh, don't worry about it. We'll find out.
I know I was out there or something. I was trying to cool my head in the night.
All right, Raffy, I'll see you later.
Oh, Marshal?
Yeah? What's that?
My drum, Marshal. Have you got my drum?
Chester found it, yeah. We'll take care of it for you.
Thank you for that.
Oh, and here, Marshal, you might as well take care of these, too. Huh?
What have you got there?
My drumsticks, Marshal. I always keep them right here in my shirt. I only got one set, you know.
Are they both there?
Sure, they're both here. You take care of them for me, Marshal.
Yeah, yeah, I'll do that.
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There you are, Mr. Critten. Here's your change. And here's your parcel.
I'll be right with you, Marshal.
I know, hurry.
Thank you, Mr. Jonas.
I should have that new bowl of Calico any day now.
Oh, that's fine. I'll stop in again soon. Goodbye, Mr. Jonas.
Goodbye, Miss Critten.
Now then, Marshal, something I can do for you?
I sure hope so. Tell me, Jonas, do you sell drums here?
Well, I had a couple a few years ago. But ain't stocked them recent, Marshal.
Tell you the truth, I don't get much call for drums in Dodge City.
I suppose not. I guess you don't get a call for drumsticks either, huh?
Well, now that beats all.
Now what do you mean?
You'd think we was getting ready for a parade or something.
How's that?
You're the second feller in two days come in here to ask me after drumsticks.
Oh? Well, who was the other one?
Well, I don't rightly know his name, Marshal. Big, thin feller.
Used to steam around town with Bull Ramsey.
Yeah. But you didn't have any drumsticks, is that right?
Oh, I found a pair, Marshal. But I didn't really need it.
What do you mean?
Well, this feller only wanted one. I made him buy the two, though.
Now what in tarnation would a feller want with just one drumstick, Marshal?
I'll see you later, John.
So the Marshal got there too fast for you, did he, Slug?
No sense to it. No sense to it at all.
Well, now lynching ain't a very nice thing to do.
It ain't gonna make no difference to that boy. No difference at all.
Well, now you can't tell.
Well, they're gonna hang him one way or another, sure as sure.
Slug, I want to talk to you.
I ain't hard to find, Marshal.
I want that other drumstick.
Drumstick? You're talking crazy, Marshal.
I want the drumstick you didn't leave by Bull's body.
Now, listen, hear that Raffy. He's the one with the drumstick.
That's right, Slug, and he's still got two of them.
Now listen, Marshal.
I've been listening. I've been listening to Jonas.
Jonas? Yeah, he sells drumsticks.
Well, it wasn't me, it was some other feller.
No, it wasn't, Slug, it was you trying to buy just one drumstick so you could kill Bull and blame Raffy.
You can't prove it.
I don't have to prove it because you're gonna tell me about it.
Aren't you? Isn't that right, Slug?
Oh, Marshal, isn't that right, Slug?
Yeah, yeah.
All right, come on. I don't think Raffy will mind giving up his soul to you.
All right, Raffy, here's your drumstick.
Thank you kindly, Marshal. I sure am proud to be wearing it again.
Yeah. Now things ought to be better for you around here now.
I don't think folks are gonna bother you anymore.
I'm right glad to hear that.
I'm pretty sure we can fix you up with some odd jobs.
Jonas and Dobie already got some chores you can do.
Thank you, Marshal, but I think it's time for me to be moving on.
Well, I can't say I blame you after the way they treated you and Dodge.
But things will be better now.
Maybe they will, Marshal, but it's time I moved on anyway.
I don't know why.
I don't know why either, Marshal, but I don't rightly belong nowhere.
I keep looking for a place. I ain't never found it yet.
I just gotta keep moving on.
Well, that's up to you.
Funny, ain't it, Marshal, for a drummer boy like me to be always out of step?
A lot of folks more out of step than you are, Raffy.
I see him all the time.
Gunsmoke, produced and directed in Hollywood 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.
Harley 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.