 Around Dodge City and in the territory on West, there's 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 they want to meet. It's a chancey job, and it makes a man watchful, and a little lonely. I was on my way over to the jail after you. You heard about the Lady Gay? The Lady Gay? What about it? You haven't heard or you wouldn't ask? Heard what, Doc? Well, I'll walk along with you if you're heading that way. As a matter of fact, I was, but what's all that crowd out front? In due time, Matt. In due time. You know, Doc, there's only one thing that makes you happier than having a secret is to collect your coroner's fee. You might get a fee out of this, too, before it's over. Well, no wonder you're all worked up. Come on, Mr. Dillon. Chester. You heard about the Lady Gay? No, Chester. I have not heard about the Lady Gay. What? He's upset, Chester. He's the only man in dodge who hasn't seen me. So help me, Doc, if this is one of your practical jokes. No, no, no. I had nothing to do with it. You'll see. Pardon me, please. Will you pardon me, please? Well, Mr. Dillon, what do you think of it, Matt, aside from the misspelled words? The Lady Gay Saloon will open up at 8 o'clock tonight with new management and new policy. Everybody welcome. Sign the new manager, Mamie. A woman. Lately, of Kansas City, St. Louis, and Pointe East. A woman can't run a salooning dodge. Oh, I don't know. Miss Kitty, well, I... I've been doing pretty well, Adam. Well, yes, ma'am, but what I meant was... You're not a woman, Kitty. You're an institution. Well, that might be a compliment, Matt, but I'm not quite sure. The reason you manage it is because you've got respectable patrons like me and Matt and Chester. I'm not sure I'd call any one of you respectable. Oh, now, Kitty, do you three know anything about this Mamie person? Nobody ain't even sorry, Miss Kitty. She must have come to town last night sometime. Probably some frilly little piece of Boston fluff. You sound jealous, Kitty. Why should I be jealous? There's enough business in town for both of us. Well, satisfy your curiosity and then come on over the long lines for a decent turn. Well, now, Kitty, I'll have to wait until I get a look at her. Yeah, and you just might lose our trade, you know. I kind of doubt that. I'll see you boys later. Goodbye, Kitty. Say, Miss John, is Mamie the new manager? What's went with Herman Bleaker? I don't know. Maybe he sold the saloon tour, but he sure didn't say anything about it yesterday morning. That's right, and I seen him over at the leery sale yesterday afternoon. Showing off one of them fancy vests he's always ordering. He never said a word about it. You know that little Pop and Jay? He's flighty. It probably happened suddenly. Too sudden, Doc, even for Herman. They come to think of it. I ain't saw him all morning, and he usually strutting up and down the front street, greening himself like a powder pin. He's probably upstairs there, sleeping in, getting ready for the opening night. We're going to be here for opening night, Miss John. Yeah, Chester, I think maybe we better. That's here. If you don't, shut up. My boy is getting kind of rambunctious, Mr. John. Yeah. I was talking to the bartender earlier, Matt, asking what she looks like, and he said if he told me, I wouldn't believe it. That fellow I'd like to talk to is Herman Bleaker. Ah! Welcome to the... 190 pounds or so she weighs on us. Oh, that bartender was right. I wouldn't have believed it. It's like we're going to be doing business together. So let's get things straight right in the beginning. Now, in the first place, the minute you stick your foot inside that door, you're on my... Don't ever forget it. When I tell anybody to hop, I'm going to put her for decoration. Well, just kick the page and get tacked up on the back wall. You ready? She got the cart, too. The Marshall, huh? That's right. My name is Dylan. Proud to shake your hand, Marshall. Oh, thanks, Mimi. Uh... Welcome to Dutch. Mighty decent of you to express this sentiment, Marshall. I reckon he won't get much business around the Lady Gay. I'll take care of and make some of it, Doc. That'll be quite a change. The boys used to push Bleaker around every now and then. Ah, runny little prairie dog. I, uh... I didn't know that he was planning to sell. He must have made his mind up in a hurry. Yeah, I made him an offer and he took it. Just like that. Uh-huh. Found himself some new living quarters, I suppose. Oh, yeah, he, uh, he moved out last night. I see. There, uh, were a couple of things I wanted to talk to him about. Well, now I'm afraid he left town, Marshall. I think he said something about taking a train to, uh, St. Louis. Oh, that's too bad. I, uh, I'd like to have seen him. Well, uh, I'll probably be dropping in now, then, Miss Mimi. Sure. Anytime, Marshall. Let's get out of here, Chester. You coming, Doc? Sure. Gracious, alive. I sure would hate to meet her in the dark. Yeah, she's got a voice like a bull buffalo. Ain't it awful? Just, if she's your ear, something's fair. She doesn't exist. What'd she say about her? She says she thinks he left town. Now, Chester, I want you to check all the rooming houses and the hotels along Front Street. I'm going to the railroad station and the stage lines, and I'll meet you back at the office, huh? All right, sir. And, Doc, I think Herman keeps a horse over the livery stable. Would you look into that for me? Sure, I'm happy. You know what she's doing? She's a awful straight shot. Yeah, Chester. I know. Yeah, Matt? Yeah, come on. Bleakers' horse is still a little stable. Yeah, he didn't tell them anything about leaving. He didn't leave, Doc. He came in on the nine o'clock train last night. Only one train out after that, around midnight, and he wasn't on it. And he didn't buy a ticket on the stage. What did I tell you? Matt, that's something. Uh, Mr. Don, Manuel wants to see you. Well, oh, come on in, Manuel. Gracias, Sr. Dillon. What's on your mind? I wanted the railroad depot when I hear you ask about Sr. Bleaker. Yeah, go on. Uh, Sr., last night, I see something which is strange. Huh? I come home very late. One hour, two hours before dawn. I was with a friend, you understand? Yeah, I understand. I walk home in much hurry, you know? It's very dark, Sr. Well, all at once, I see this lantern in the arroyo like a cantina. A lantern? I'm thinking to myself, what is this, huh? So I wait, and this lantern keeps coming toward me. And when it's close, this woman who I have never seen, no one like her, this maime, what a scare. What was she doing in the arroyo? Scarecrow, but she's carried something in her hand. Well, what was it? A shovel, Sr. Anything? There's something here, Doc, but I can't quite... Chester, hold the lantern over here, huh? Yes, sir. Found something here, but it... just get it loose. Can you see it? Yeah, that's fine, Chester. I got it. That's a boot. Here's another one. Oh, yes. And all that fancy stitching. Matt, those are his. I've seen them on him. So have I. Yesterday, in fact. Here, take them, Chester. There's a bundle of some kind here. The body? No, no, it's clothes, I think. Have a look. And that's all there is, too. The hole doesn't go any deeper. There's hard pan on the bottom. Here, hold the lantern down, Chester. Let me get this unwrapped. I'm not sure about that coat. Bottom like that around town. Yeah, I know. Take a look at this vest. Oh, yes. Yes, that's Hermans. Yeah, nobody else in Dodge City would wear a thing like that. Yeah. And from the looks of it, he won't be wearing it again either. How you coming, Doc? Now, don't, don't rush me, man. I haven't made one of these blood tests in years. If you ask me, I don't say any years to make them one now. But we'll see and pour the precipitants into here. Matt, what other kind of blood could it be except human? Doc, I only want to be sure, that's all. All right. All right. Let me see here, five drops of sulfate. Yeah, man. You sure look uncomfortable, Matt. Now, would you like to try a resting Mamie, Doc? Not my job to rest him. You're lucky. And now we'll shake this up and warm it a bit. Well, one thing, Mr. Dunn, shooting at a mark is not the same as a gunfight. Maybe she won't resist. You really believe that, Chester? No, she... Well, there's still a chance we may be going off half-cocked here. That blood could have got on Herman's vest a dozen different ways. Well, she'll see. Now, then, a couple of drops of reagent and look for the color change. Turn up that lamp a little bit, will you, Chester? Yeah, no. Well, Doc? Too bad, Matt. It's human blood. Talk to Mamie. Yeah, so die. Chill, Keith. She's not gone anywhere. It looks cut and dry to me, Matt. You might not, if you were in my shoes. Come on in the office. You know, Mr. Dunn, I talked to that barkeep, Finnegan. He said when he showed up this morning to open a saloon, this woman was inside waiting for him. Told him to come back at 8 o'clock tonight. She never seen no sign of Herman Weaker. Well, there's another nail in your coffin, Matt. You know, Doc, I ought to deputize you and take you along to help me. I will not lift a hand in anger against a woman. I just keep thinking that we can still be wrong. Especially that woman. I suppose Herman hurt himself somewhere. How? And he wanted to get away by himself and recuperate. What? And suppose he didn't want anybody to know about it. Why? So he decided to stay with some friend. And maybe, all right, but it could have been something like that. Well, even if something had happened to him, Mamie may have not had anything to do with it. But then how come she's running the lady gay, calling herself the new owner? Oh, okay, Doc, you're probably right. Come on, Chester, let's get it over with. Take her in, Chester. Maybe she'll talk when she's arrested. And I've got to get that gun away from her somewhere. My dinghy's not going to be easy. That's got to be done. I've never drawn a gun on a woman yet, and I'm not going to start now. You got a plan? Yeah, come on. Come on, Chester, I'm glad you dropped back here. Just wondering how you were getting along, Mamie. Like a kid with two tongues and an all-day sucker. Oh, did you find that little Weasel Herman Blinker? I, uh, I thought you told me that he left town. Well, I was just guessing, Mr. Dullard. He said something about planning, too. Yeah, step up and have a shot of poison. No, thanks. As a matter of fact, I came back here for a particular purpose. You see, Chester and I have a bet on. We do? What kind of bet, Marcel? Well, it was that shooting trick of yours hitting the center of that playing card. Chester figures it was nothing but luck. So he's betting me that you can't do it five times in a row. Well, now, we'll soon settle that. The card's still up there, Marcel. One of them's never to fire my last shot and leave my gun empty. I see. Well, that's a pretty good idea. Sorry to lose your bet for you, Marcel. I just guess you're not a gambler, Miss Mamie. Who says so? I'll take a fair bet at even odds any day of the week and twice in Philadelphia. Oh? In that case, I'll make you one. I got a pretty fair gun here. Or at least I thought so until I saw yours in action. I'd say yours is every bit as good as mine. Then how about a bet, huh? You're a gun against mine. One cut for a high card. Well... It's of course all right with me if you'd rather back out. Who's backing out? You got yourself a bet, Marcel. Finnegan? Yes, ma'am? Shuffle us a deck. Yes, Miss Mamie. If it's a better a fight, Mamie never backs out. Promise, Mamie? Now. Who goes first, Mr. Dillon? Ladies always. All right. If your friend Lester will cut them for us once... Chester... Never mind. Cut the card. Yes, ma'am. Let's see what we've got. Well, a jack of spades, that's not bad. Pretty good, Marcel. Bloody good enough to beat anything. Now... King of diamonds. And beat fair and square. You won yourself a gun. Thanks, here, Chester. Will you take it? Now the handcuffs. Hey, well, what's the... Mamie, you're under arrest. Well, of all the slight-wine and double-cross and backhand... Mamie, you're going to stay fastened to me until I get you in a cell, so you might as well make the best of it. Why, you know what... And as far as that's concerned, you'll be safer in jail than out of it. Once word gets around, people here in Dodge thought a lot of Herman Bleecker. Oh, that little sword of ground bull. That's my excuse for killing him in cold blood. What? You hear him, Mamie, you killed me. Bleecker. Oh, my, this is the biggest night of my whole life. To hear somebody find the shot, Mamie, up and make a racket. What's this all about, Herman? Well, I'll tell you what it's all about. This little grubworm ran out on me in Cincinnati three years ago. I've been hunting him ever since. And last night I found him. I've wailed to live in daylights out of him. He looks at... But why did you bury his clothes? Would you want to be married to a man that's dressed like that? Yeah, she put an air-murdered me, Marshal. I've been up there in bed all day, just two bruised and embarrassed to hobble downstairs. Oh, Marshal, me and little Herman, but you know how it is. Yeah. Chester, come here the keys to the handcuffs. Yes, sir, I got them right here in the... Maybe they're in... What's the matter, Chester? Well, Mr. John, when we was digging out there, I guess I maybe lost them keys. Chester, can't you file that thing any faster? You might just as well relax, Mr. John. It took me nearly an hour to get the other one off on this Mamie's wrist. All right, but hurry up. That Mamie sent this bottle of whiskey to make the waiting a little easier. Oh, fine. Chester, let that go for a minute. Open up the bottle, huh? Oh, yes, sir. Can you imagine a doc, little Herman Bleeker, married for years to a woman like that? Oh, I don't want to imagine. I get nightmares. Here you go, Mr. John. I like it. And one for you, Doc. Yes, thank you. Well, boys, here's to the weaker sex. Whichever one that is. By Norman McDonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal. The story was specially written for Gunsmoke by Les Fratsfield. The editorial supervision by John Messon. Barley Bear is Chester, Howard McNeer is Doc, and Georgia Ellis is kidding. This is George Walsh inviting you to join us again next week when CBS Radio presents another story on Gunsmoke.