This Plotline was written by Stewart Wright and is printed with his permission.

GUNSMOKE
Jailbait Janet
06/14/1952
Script by Les Crutchfield

EPISODE NOTES:
The cover page of the script for this episode, which contains cast, crew and production information, has the title, Jailbait Janet.

The script for Jailbait Janet was reused for the 06/28/1959 broadcast as a new production with a completely different guest cast.
There are many dialog changes, between the two productions of the script. A scene and a character from the 1952 production were deleted in the 1959 production.

PLOT
Chester hurries in to the Marshal's Office to tell Dillon that the train was held up and $50,000 in twenty-dollar gold coins was taken.
After mentioning the location of the robbery and that three bandits were involved, Chester finally informs the Marshal that the baggage car clerk was badly wounded.

Matt arrives at the depot. Doc tells the him that the clerk is dying.
Before Matt can talk to the man, the officious J. L. Krocker, the agent for the railroad and the bank, tries to take over the situation and demands immediate action.
Dillon brusquely dismisses Krocker and talks briefly to the clerk.

With their horses loaded on the train, Matt and Chester go to the scene of the crime so they can begin tracking the outlaws.
Once off the train, the two ride until dark, when Matt spots a camp with a man and a young boy.
Dillon is immediately cautious and quickly determines that a third person is in a nearby thicket with a gun trained on them.
He has found the train robbers. With Chester's help, Matt gets the drop on them.

The robbers are Dan Everly and his teenage children: son, Jerry and daughter, Janet. Dan tells Dillon that his children were just doing what he told them to do.
The three admit to the robbery and won't tell Matt where the money is hidden.
While they are remorseful for the death of the clerk, Dan feels they deserve the money because sparks from a train burned their wheat crop just prior to harvesting.

Matt and Chester take the Everlys' back to Dodge and put Dan and Jerry in jail.
Because there are no facilities for female prisoners at the jail, the Marshal allows Kitty to take charge of Janet.
Krocker is livid because Janet isn't in jail and the money has not been recovered. When Krocker intimates that Matt might be working with the Everlys', Dillon knocks him out.

Krocker offers a thousand dollar reward for the return of the money – no questions asked and keeps implying that Dillon is quite taken with Janet and has made some kind of deal with the Everlys'.
He is stirring up the unsavory element in Dodge into a potential lynch mob. Dillon confronts and defuses the mob before they can act.

The evening before Matt is to send the Everlys' to Hays City for trial, Janet eludes Kitty and breaks her Dad and Jerry out of jail.
Matt and Chester immediately head out after them. At the Everlys' old campsite, they realize that money had been buried under the campfire.
Dan shoots at the Marshal and Chester. Matt returns fire and fatally wounds Dan.

When they hear the gunfire, Janet and Jerry return with the money and give it to Dillon.
Matt makes a decision and has Chester count out a thousand dollars: Krocker's no questions asked reward for the return of the money.
He gives the money to Jerry and Janet for a fresh start in Wyoming.

CAST
William Conrad as Matt Dillon
Georgia Ellis as Kitty (Kitty Russell)
Parley Baer as Chester (Chester Proudfoot)
Howard McNear as Doc Adams
John Dehner as Brake (Ed, the train Brakeman)
John Dehner as Dan (Dan Everly)
Sammie Hill as Janet (Janet Everly)
Harry Bartell as Krocker (J. L. Krocker)
Paul Dubov as Jerry (Jerry Everly)
Paul Dubov as Clerk