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 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 thing they want to meet. It's a chance a job, but it makes a man watchful and a little lonely.
It seems to me, Riley, if you'd have brought your wife this far, you'd have brought her on into Dodge for me to care for.
I sure would have liked to do that, Doc, but Cassie just carried on about it, something terrible. She said she just couldn't stand another turn of them wagon wheels, so I come to get you.
Where are you bound?
We ain't decided on where to settle, Doc. Just heading west someplace where it'd be dry for Cassie.
Oh, well you're traveling for your wife's health, are you?
Yeah, Doc, that's the reason for it. You see, Cassie's been ailing for a year or two back home, and finally we just figured to light out yonder and see if it'd help her some.
When does she start to sicken?
Must be a week now, Doc. At first she tried to keep on going, but it just got to be so she couldn't stand it to ride the wagon no more. So we stopped.
Let's see, what are the symptoms?
How's that again?
What seems to be wrong with your wife? Is she in pain? Can't you keep her food down?
Well, I ain't much up on what ails women, Doc, but she's coughing an awful lot, for one thing. She's awful weak, can't hardly move around.
I'll examine it.
The wagon's around the next bend, Doc, down by the stream.
I was beginning to think it was in the next county.
Down there, Doc, turn down there. I'll head in right here, under this tree.
That's good, Doc. You go on into the wagon now. I'll unhitch my horse from behind the bucket.
All right, Riley.
It's kind of a hot day to be under all that canvas.
Mrs. Riley, I'm Doc Adams. Your husband brought me from Dodge.
Mrs. Riley?
Easy now, Mrs. Riley. I'm going to turn you over this way.
Oh, what a name.
Riley! Riley, come here, quick!
What's the matter, Doc?
Easy now, Riley.
What's the matter, Doc?
What is it?
I'm sorry.
Dead?
She's dead? Can't you do nothing?
No, I can't do anything. She's been murdered.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Where's Matt?
Oh, Doc, where you been at? We was looking for you.
I haven't time, Chester. I've got to find Matt. Where is he?
Hold your horses. He's right back there.
You're looking for me?
Oh, Matt, yes.
You'll have to ride out east of town right away.
Oh, that's the trouble.
I'm looking for a woman named Tassie Riley.
Why, that's terrible.
How did you know about it, Doc?
Her husband came to Dodge to get me. He wanted me to go out and treat her.
They were on their way west in a wagon, and she got sick.
When I got out there, she was dead.
You say she was murdered?
That's right. She'd been beaten to death.
Where's the husband?
I brought him in with me. He's up in my office.
I'd better have a talk with him.
No, no, it won't do much good.
To tell you the truth, Matt, I gave him a bottle of whiskey and told him to drink himself to sleep.
He was in terrible shape.
Well, he still might be able to tell me something.
Chester.
Yes, sir?
Get the horses ready. I'll meet you at the stable in a few minutes.
Yes, sir.
Come on, Doc.
I left everything out there just the way it was, Matt.
I didn't move or anything.
That's good.
You'll have to bury him, Matt.
Yeah. That's one thing I've learned how to do.
There it is.
Right down there in that grove.
It just don't seem right. Everybody riding off and leaving her laying alone in that wagon down there, Mr. Dillon.
Riley's staying wouldn't have done her any good, Chester.
Well, he told you about some trapper being around, didn't he?
I don't know if he told me or not. He was muttering about a trapper that had made a camp with him all night.
Well, you're sure going to look for him, ain't you?
Yeah. Yeah, I'm going to look for him.
My Grishy sure is quiet, ain't he?
Yeah, sure is.
Is there going to be a burial right here, Mr. Dillon?
I don't think so, Chester.
Why?
The body's gone.
What?
Mr. Dillon, you don't think somebody stole that poor woman clean away.
That's hard to tell him.
Maybe that's our answer.
What?
Look over there.
Why? It's a platform like up on poles.
You doing?
Yeah.
That looks like one of them Pawnee graves built up that way, don't it?
Yeah, it sure does. Come on.
Why, dear Clare, I ain't never heard an Indian stopping a burial quiet of you, Mr. Dillon.
No.
That framework don't look like it to have been up there very long, does it?
No. The wood's fresh cut.
All right, Chester, you hold it steady while I take a look, huh?
Mr. Dillon.
Why?
Behind you.
Disturbing graves ain't seemly.
Who are you?
Them that's passed on got a right to rest.
I'm a U.S. Marshal. It's my job to find out who's up there.
Well, I can tell you that, thought you unresting her.
You tell me who you are first, huh?
They called me Ben.
Don't you have a last name?
Not that I never heard, mister.
Are you a trapper?
Oh, I trade some in pelts and skins.
Now tell me who's up there.
A girl woman?
Who put her there?
I did, mister.
An Indian grave?
How come you buried her Pawnee style?
The Pawnees reared me, mister. I learned their ways.
And their burying strikes me a sight nicer than digging in the ground.
Did you kill her?
No, mister, I didn't kill her.
You bled it up like you could have done it, all right, mister Dillon?
Doesn't look good for you, Ben.
Well, I reckon maybe you don't.
I'm gonna have to take you along with me until I find out about this.
Into town?
Mm-hmm. To Dodge City.
You gonna lock me in?
Until I find out who did this.
Well, I ain't never been locked up.
Chester, get his gun.
As you.
All right, hand it over.
You're slow, Ashkin.
How's that?
I could have shot the pair of you four if I'd been a mind.
That's right, Mr. Dillon. He could have done just that.
Yeah, he couldn't.
All right, come on.
Hello, man.
Hello, Kitty.
Ta-dum.
I haven't got time, Kitty.
I'm looking for a man named Riley.
Do you notice him in here?
Oh, I'd say I have.
Oh, has he caused trouble?
No, man, not trouble.
I guess the poor man's got a light to take on, so I'm losing his wife that way.
But I can't help thinking he's overdoing it a little bit.
What do you mean?
Oh, just a little bit.
Well, I guess he's got a little bit of a problem.
I guess I'd better go talk to him.
Maybe he's down at the end of the bar.
Thanks, Kitty.
Riley?
Yes?
Yes?
My name's Riley, all right?
Who are you?
Matt Dillon, the U.S. Marshal.
I came to see you the day Doc Adams brought you into town.
I don't remember that.
Oh, it doesn't matter.
I am.
I'm sorry about your wife, Riley.
You're too late, Marshal.
It'd help if you'd tell me what you know.
I know.
I know that my poor wife lies murdered.
My poor wife said I was bringing West to get well.
Well, she's sick.
She's sick and all the way west, Marshal.
I was bringing the doctor to her when we found her.
Poor, weakening thing.
And when you got there, she was dead.
Beaten, Marshal, beaten.
That's a terrible thing for a man to see.
Yeah.
I'd just like to get me that trapper.
What about the trapper?
The trapper fellow's the one that done it.
We shared fires two nights back,
and he was there in that poor tassie the whole time.
But you figure he followed you, huh?
Sure, Marshal.
Couldn't have been nothing else.
You didn't take out after the trapper.
But no, Marshal.
Tell the truth, I was just plumb sick,
and when the doc had to give me a powder,
I sure would like to get my hands on him, though,
and that's a fact.
You may get the chance.
What do you mean?
He's in jail.
Come on.
I tell you, Marshal,
it's giving me the sickness again,
just thinking of seeing that trapper.
You'll be all right, Riley.
I was wondering if I had an ought to stop by Doc's first.
Let's stop in here first.
He's back there.
Hello, Riley.
All right, Riley, do you recognize him?
For certain, sure, he does, Mr.
We camped at the same fire two nights running.
He's a trapper.
Made me mighty sorrowful coming on your wife that way.
Didn't seem hardly like it could be, seeing her
living so strong just the night before.
Riley says you did it, Ben.
Why, he's a bad mistook.
He said you were following him.
Oh, I was that bitter.
A man shouldn't point no finger unless he's certain, sure.
He seems sure.
Riley, you're a bad mistook.
Marshal, we was friends, Riley.
You ain't got no cause to suspicion me.
Marshal, it sickens me to look at him.
I feel the need to get outside.
All right, all right, Riley, you can go.
But stay in town.
I'll need you to talk to the judge.
Sure, Marshal, sure.
Mr.
Yeah, Ben.
A man shouldn't tell if he can't prove out.
Well, he thinks he can.
Maybe it's his grieving that makes him so bad mistook.
Yeah, maybe it is.
Here's your veal, Ben.
I'll be pleased to eat.
Now, I'll say this much for you.
You sure ain't no problem to feed.
I ain't one to fuss about overeating.
There you are.
You sure ain't like the usual on the people I get in here.
I'm all over the belly aching.
I get you'd think I was feeding them straight out of a hog pan.
As long as you've fetched me free food, I won't complain then.
Well, I don't charge for it, that's one thing.
I tell you the truth, Ben.
I don't find it too easy to figure you out.
Oh, what's troubling you?
Well, you seem like a nice, decent kind of fella, and you ain't no bother at all in that cell.
You ain't snarling and mean all the while.
Well, I don't aim to be.
And yet you could go and do a thing like killing that poor little sick lady out there,
laying on what was maybe her death bed.
You ain't talking about Tassie.
Well, sure.
Being Aileen?
Why, you know that, Ben.
Riley was bringing Doc out to see her when he found her killed.
He said she's sick and so all the way west she couldn't hardly move no more.
Who told that?
Well, Riley told it, of course.
He was the one to know.
He was her husband, wasn't he?
Her husband.
Chester.
Well, I gotta get on back.
You're mindful of that, but I figured you ought to know about that loose bar.
What loose bar?
That loose bar up to that window.
Oh, my gracious, I certainly should know about it.
I better take a look at it.
You can climb up on that bunk there.
It sure don't make no sense to have a loose bar in a jail window.
Just about to go, which one is it, Ben?
Yeah, I sure do hate to do this gesture.
Well, listen here, Ben.
Let me go now, Ben.
I just got to tie you up, Chester.
That's all there is about it.
These belts will have to do.
You can't go and do a thing like this, Ben.
Now, that ought to hold.
I ain't happy about this, Chester.
You tell the Marshal I was driving like that, I ain't used to being kept in.
And now I've got to move out of here.
Well, it ain't going to do you no good.
He'll find you.
He'll bring you back.
Yeah, I reckon he'll have to try, Chester, being his job and all.
Bet your dog on boots he will.
We all have to move in our own way, Chester.
Now, you just rest easy until he comes and lets you loose.
I wonder what's keeping Matt.
Well, I wouldn't worry about Matt's missing a meal, kid, eh?
He considers eating as much of a duty as his job is.
He'll be here.
I guess you're right.
Certainly I'm right.
By the way, Matt and Chester eat.
They'd need a chuck wagon all alone on a cattle guard.
You against eating, Doc?
Oh, no, no, no, certainly not.
But I don't specialize in it the way those two do.
Want another piece of pie?
It don't matter what you do, Kitty.
No, I don't.
Yeah.
Oh, here's Matt.
Hello, Matt.
Hey, do you like to take an olive in nourishment, do you?
Kitty, Doc.
Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do.
Joe, bring me some steak and potatoes and a piece of pie, will you?
Sure, Marshal.
Kitty was worrying about you, man.
I think I convinced her that you wouldn't miss a meal.
Oh, I've been talking with the judge.
What do you mean about that trapper that you got locked up?
Mm-hmm.
It looks like he did the thing, doesn't it?
Yeah, Doc, it does.
I hope you have more than Riley's word for it.
That man giving me the creeps, boy, he's been carrying on.
He's taking it hard, all right.
Well, I'm glad I won't have to be seeing him anymore.
What do you mean by that?
Well, he was in the long branch this morning.
He had a few even then.
And he told Sammy he was taking his last drink and dodged.
It was too hard for him to stay around so close to where his wife was killed.
He was leaving?
Yeah, but he told Sammy he was going to pick up his things at the Dodge house and move on.
Excuse me, Kitty.
Doc, I'm going to try and catch him.
Chester, we've got to get moving.
Chester.
I'm back here, Mr. John.
Yeah.
What in the...
Would you untie me, please, Mr. John?
How in the world did you get in this mess?
Well, it was that fellow Ben.
Turn around.
What happened?
Well, he picked me in to climb up to look at that window.
He said one of the bars had come loose.
And then they jumped you, huh?
Yes, sir, he sure did.
He did tell me to tell you he was sorry to have to do it.
Well, that helps.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Well, he was just as nice as can be, but he said he had to move on.
Well, that makes two of them.
Riley moved on, too.
Let's go get our horses.
Which one of them are we taking out after first, Mr. John?
I'm hoping we'll find them together.
I feel real bad about letting Ben get away, Mr. John.
He'll be awful hard to track.
It seems to use to this country and all.
Don't worry about it.
Better be got clean away.
He's not trying to get clean away.
What?
Look there.
What?
A strange man.
And he's got Riley.
Yeah, I figured they'd be together.
Come on.
I'd like to go with Marshal Dillon.
Make this man set me free.
All right, Ben, let him go.
Let him go.
Now, what's this all about?
It's proved out, Marshal.
Let him talk, Riley.
It was him, Marshal.
Killed his own woman.
I know that as soon as I learned, he was spreading stories about how ailing she was.
Why she weren't ailing, Mr. She was a young, strong woman and done all this carrying and fetching.
I know it was him when I learned that.
And then it come to me why he was doing it.
So he could make like he was away fetching the duck.
Well, how about it, Riley?
There ain't no truth to it.
If he'd give me leave, mister, I could make him tell.
I ain't one for hurting creatures, but it would come easy with him.
Maybe that's a good idea.
No, no, you keep him away, Marshal.
Keep him away.
You got something to say, Riley?
No?
All right, go ahead, Ben.
All right, all right.
I killed her.
I killed her.
She was making moon eyes at him, saying how nice and gentle he was.
Now, a man don't have to take that from his woman.
A man doesn't have to kill her, either.
Chester, take him away.
Okay, sir.
Mister.
Yeah, Ben.
I'm sorry for the fuss back at the jail.
It come to me that I couldn't do nothing in them four walls.
Yeah, Ben, I'm sorry about that.
You was doing what you figured was the right thing.
Man can't always know for certain.
No, man can't always know for certain.
Um, come on, Ben.
I'd like to buy you a drink.
Music
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.
Featured in the cast were Barney Phillips and Vic Perrin.
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.
Latest news next, then Walter Cronkite, Dave Kammerer Sports, and the Mitch Miller Show on the CBS Radio Network.
I love the music on CBS.
I think they cover the news the best.
I love the drama on CBS.