 The round-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. 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, the United States Marshal, the first man they look for and the last they want to meet. It's a chantsy job, and it makes a man watchful, and a little lonely. I'm here in bed so early. I'm not in bed, Doc. I'm just resting. Oh, I did that, man. Oh, I see the cost of governments going up again. Well, why don't you say that? The souls of your boots. They're worn almost through. I don't care. That's better. Aren't you feeling good? Sure, I feel fine, Doc. I always lie in bed till noon. Well, it just doesn't look right for you to be like this. Oh, for heaven's sakes. What's the matter now? It's cold. The coffee's cold and the rattlesnakes belly. Don't drink it, sir. And it's no better hot here. No man like I was saying a man in your position should have more to do than just lie around. Maybe I'm just tired, Doc. Oh, now don't try to tell me it was brought on by upholding law and order all night, because I don't want to hear about it. I had a bad night myself. Well, then sit down and rest. Yes, hey, aren't you going to ask me what I was doing? No. Well, I spent the whole night working for four dollar fees. Oh, it must have been somebody who didn't know you. They knew it was Jeb Dorn. His wife had a baby girl. Jeb, huh? He was hoping for a boy, as I recall it. And that's what worries me. Oh, why? He refused to pay me. No wonder you're tired. Hey, hey, hey. What's your thing now? Well, who's this poster on? It says right there, doesn't it? Yes, it does. Wanted? Get her alive, Jack Pargo, for the torture and subsequent murder of... This man is noted for armed holdup and is believed heading in the general direction of Missouri. Kansas. Or Nebraska. He's a mean-looking devil, isn't he? Well, I can see that he will certainly find his comeuppance if he sticks his head in Dodson. Well, I'll tell you, Doc, I'll worry about that if he comes here. Oh, that gives me a nice, safe feeling. Marshall, here is a... Yeah, yeah, I'm the Marshall. I say Marshall Proudfoot, hereabouts is a... Marshall Proudfoot? Huh? Yeah, no, neither one of you... I'll say neither one of you ain't the Marshall I can tell. I was Paul, I didn't know him anywhere. Uh, Doc, go find Chester, will you? Sure, man. No, no, no need to get up, just come see my boy, Marshall Chester Proudfoot. Made good somehow, he did. Chester Neverworld, one of my brightest boys. Eleven boys I had, I remember. See, I ain't your hand here yet. What's your name, sonny? Dylan, Matt Dylan. Dido? Ah, a funny name for a man. I knew a man one time had the name Hergrove. Hergrove. I thought that was the funniest up till now, but Dylan... Doc, you better go get Chester. Who's that fella? Well, that's Doc Adams. Nice to tell you, sir, saying something is a... I said it's nice to know. Now, my name is Wesley Proudfoot. Sir, the Marshall turns out... Yes, sir, eleven boys I had. Chester was no word near the brightest. No, sir, he'd rate about number nine there. That's very interesting, Mr. Proudfoot. Chester bordered on being ignorant, I'd think. I can't imagine how he ever got to be a Marshall. Chester Wesley Proudfoot. Marshall of Dodge City, Proudfoot. Look, Mr. Proudfoot. He named all them boys with the middle name of Wesley. After me, he did. I hoped at least one of them would mount something like me. I'd say name-wise. It's Adams. Doctor Adams. Doctor Adams. Horse or people. What? It matters to you. I say, do you see a doctor, horses or people? People. Oh, it's too bad for you. I wouldn't ever let a people doctor work on me, and I got a great many things wrong with me, too. Hey, where's Chester? He's out getting the mail from him. Well, good for him. He's got spunk. Probably running down some of them bad men he always writes about. You have an assistant named Dylan working for him. What have become of him? Dylan, that's me, Mr. Proudfoot. Matt Dylan, that's me. Oh, yeah. Well, you'll do a fair job, according to Chester. Says he can usually depend on you. Well, that's very nice of him. Look, Mr. Proudfoot, maybe you should know something. Hello, Don. Chester, there wasn't too much mail, Mr. Donk. I got it, Chester. What? Chester, you've got company. Who's a fat fella? That's Chester. That's the marshal, Proudfoot. Paul. You know, Mr. Dylan, I just... Paul, aren't you, Chester? Yeah, that's him, Mr. Proudfoot. Ah, you fatted up, good deal, Chester. Your assistant here looks better than you do. I'd like an explanation. Is there a fact so without it, Chester? Mr. Dylan, Doc, I... Oh, Paul. Some folks, I guess, think that stamps are just for licking. And some go in for that flatly stuff. You know, looking for misprints and hard-to-get ones. But me, well, I just collect them for fun. I learn a lot that way, and maybe you can, too. Now, that's cause our United States stamps all got the stamp of history on them. If you got a minute, I'll open my album here and I'll show you what I mean. Let me see here. Ah, now, here. Here's a 4% one the post office put out in 1962 for the 75th anniversary of the Association of State Universities and land grant colleges. I ain't had any of that higher education myself, but I know it's mighty important in making your way these days, and you're never too old to learn. No, even from stamps. Found out from this one that A. Blinken signed the Land Grant Act into law during the Civil War. Now, that act still gives the money from sale and use of public lands to help make 68 colleges and universities some of the biggest and finest we've got. And, seeing as how they turned out 25 of our 42 live-in Nobel Prize winners, I guess you could just say it's paid off real good. What are you going to do about Matt? Do about what, Doc? Chester, telling his father that he's the Marshal. What can I do? I'm not going to let him get by with it, are you? I don't know, Doc. No, Matt, no. Let me by. No. An assistant doesn't make too much, you know. Easy, Doc. Hello, Doc. Matt. How are you? Doc, you're looking pretty strange today. How come? Tell her, Matt. You tell her, Doc. You're the one looking strange. Well, come on. Somebody tell me. Sit down. Thank you. Have you seen Chester, Kitty? No. Why? Well, we may never see him again. What? What happened? Not much really, but I'm sure he wishes he was dead right now. What's this all about? Chester's father came to town today. Well, that's a terrible about that. He thinks Chester is the Marshal here. What? Yeah, that's right, Kitty. Chester wrote to his father and he probably stretched the truth a little bit like we all do sometimes. Oh, no. Well, where are they now? They're at the Dodge House. He's getting the old man a room there. I never saw Chester look so scared in my life, Kitty. You should have seen him. He grabbed his pawn. He lit out of the office like his coat was on fire. Don't be hard on him now. I'm not going to be hard on him. Well, his father must be pretty old. Oh, he's older, I guess. I can't hear good and he can hardly see. But he's a bright old father. Well, you can't let the old man be disappointed, Matt. Well, what would you suggest that do, Kitty? I don't know. Just don't hurt him. That's all. You're not going to hurt him, Kitty. I don't care if the old man thinks Chester's a marshal. Matt, we should think of something to make Chester look good while his father's in town. Yeah, I heard the old man tell Chester that he was only going to stay for a few days. Oh, see, Matt, maybe you could lie low for a while. I wouldn't mind that. I'd need a rest. Hey, I got it. Why don't you get somebody to pretend to hold up and then let Chester play Marshal and take him in? I'd be too loose when his father leaves. Kitty, I couldn't do a thing like that. Well, something's got to be done, Matt. Yes, did you? I could put you to bed, Matt. What are you talking about? Yeah, you get sick and I'll examine you and say that you've got a rare blood disease and you have to go to bed for a few days. Get my work, Matt. I can't let that old man go away thinking Chester's been lying to him all this time. No, we'll get Mars grimmick to stage a fake hold up, you see? Then we'll come and get Chester right in front of his father, he'll capture the bandit. You're the one with a rare disease, Doc, and it's not in your blood, it's in your brain. I'll do it, Matt. You got to. No, I don't got to. I don't want any part of a fake hold up. Now, you just get that out of your head. Oh, Matt. Well, I'm going back to the office. Oh, sure, go ahead. Yeah, go ahead. Ruin an old man in his last days. Um, what do you think, Doc? Man, I... Old Matt will come around, all right, Kitty. I'll go talk to Mars grimmick and have it all set. You're a bit kind of early, didn't you? Ain't but four o'clock. I guess you got such a dead little town on your hand. You can do that, you and Chester. I say, where is Chester? Saying something? I said, where's Chester? Oh, yeah, I like that. Hurt me your pant when you bell her out like that. It's got a pretty big voice on you there, Dylan. What's the matter with you? Uh, feeling poorly are you? I feel terrible. Ah, too bad. Chester ain't feeling too good neither. I'm on my bed over at the Ruin House all day. Good thing you boys got this dead town on your hand. Yeah. People will be up the creek with both the Marshal and his assistant in bed. Ooch over there. I say, ooch over there, let me take a look at you. Let me look at your eyes. Tell everything about how a man feels by looking to his... Look at me, Dylan. I can't help looking at you. That's it, that's coming. Yes, sir. You've got bad eyes there, Dylan. That one in particular. You've got a good voice, but bad eyes. Reminds me of Chester's Uncle Hector. Last time he looked all slack-jawed like that, he died the next day. Huh? What say? Nothing, I didn't say anything. Oh, thought you talked. Yes, sir. I reckon that's where Chester gets all his, get up and go. Well, some different though. Hector fought again the law, Hector did. Ever seen a man stirred up again the law all the time I go? Have you had your dinner yet, Mr. Price? Oh, indeed, he was a winner. You're right there, won all his battles. Killed two Marshal's, Hector did. Killed him dead. Good thing Chester's on side of the law. Man, it's a peril I've got ought to be on the side of the law. Yes, sir. Hello, Mr. Profit. Oh, you're here. Look here, you got a sick memory here, Adam. Better go get a horse doctor and get him straightened out. What are you doing in bed, man? I'm in bed because I'm sick, Doc. Did you ever hear of anything like that? You're sick? Uh-huh. You are, man. Oh, see, that's fine. Yeah, well, I figured you'd think so. Do you have any favor and take Mr. Proudfoot out to dinner? Anything, just get him out of here. Yeah, sure, Mac. You're much older. See, your eyes look kind of beady there. Yeah, well, we've been through all that. I didn't know that I'd say that you had a fever. Adam, I say you got a sick boy there. Doc, would you go right now? Yeah, okay. Oh, sure. Mr. Profit, you come with me. Come with me, Mr. Profit. I'll take you to dinner. Dinner? Oh, no, too early for dinner. I'll see you later, Mac. And I'll let Kitty know you're with us. Oh, fine, Doc. Good. You let Kitty know I'm with you. You just go. Yes, sir, Adam. That boy there is sicker than a pig. Let Kitty know I'm with you, but in common. And yet they're each one of a kind. Take, for example, Chicago, Illinois. The land of the Spiegel catalog and the Playboy Bunny Beacon is a totlent town. And at the summer music festivals in Grand Park, the price is right. Standing at Marshall Field on State and Randolph, you're on the windiest corner in the world as your body braces for the blast. The colorful neighborhoods of the west side are gone to urban development. But the University of Illinois is getting a new campus there. In theater, there's the second city on the near north side or the theater on the lake in Lincoln Park. Shopping in the suburbs offers Old Orchard in Skokie, Randhurst in Mount Prospect and Oakbrook near Hinsdale. Chicago can't win them all, though. In 1948, the tribune said, Dewey defeats Truman. And in the fall of 66, the convention center burned. But if your hometown is Chicago, you already know this. We only wanted to remind you, it's still there. I've wasted a half hour looking at all the eating houses for him. He's got Chester's father with him. I gotta stop him. What's the idea that you and he had? What do you mean, full idea? Doc came by and said it was on, that you were playing sick in bed. Kitty, I was in bed because I really was sick, and I still am sick. Have you and Doc lost your senses? Well, we're just trying to help. Chester, that's all. Now, look, what if somebody else sees that hold-up mask gimmick at stage, and how do they know that he's just playing games? Doc and I aren't going to let anybody get hurt, Matt. And you know, Chester, oh, you're on your feet for the fun. You call this thing off right now, Doc. Oh, no, no, no, it's too late, Matt. Chester and his father, up at the Dodge House, in exactly three minutes from now, Moss Grimmit is going to rush up there and say there's a hold-up at the delivery stage. And I'm putting a stop to it before somebody gets hurt. What's that? I don't know. It's not time yet. Oh, come on, Doc. You can watch the fun you started. Yes, I'll have fun. Come on. Get off. Now, Matt, now take it easy, Matt. Chester, hurry. Chester just shot a man at the Dodge House. Good lord! Please, move aside. Stand there, Matt, Matt, wait. Look, Chester's sitting on somebody. Chester, what are you doing? Get off of that man. Doc, check that one line over there. I will. He shot and wounded one fella, and we subdued the other one. All right, Mr. Paul. Chester, will you get up? He tried to kill me and Paul. Get up, I said. He's unconscious. Oh, Matt, wait a minute. Look here. Look at this man. It's Jack Pargo. What? You're the man on that wanted poster? Yeah, that is Pargo, all right. Matt or Dylan, our fellow friend of yours is a... He tried to hold up the hotel office here. No, Mr. Proudfoot, it's not a friend of mine. Huh? What say? Anybody catch that call, then? Chester! Chester! There is a hold up at the delivery stable. Moss, go home. But Doc told me to. We'll go to the delivery stable and call off the hold up, huh? Yeah, forget it, Moss. Forget it. We've had the real thing, right? Well, goodbye, Moss. Yeah, sure. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye. Notice something here, did you, Dylan? Chester was right on the spot. He was. That's the reason he took my bed for so long. Uh-huh. He got an instinct for these things. Chester has put him right here on the spot for this hold up. There's a reason for everything. Yeah, well, there's a reason, all right? Mr. Dylan? Mr. Dylan, I can explain all this. No, Chester, you and your father take care of things here. I'm sick and I'm going to bed. Don't count on me taking care of things, Dylan. I'm leaving on the morning stage. Now I'll solve my boy an action. Yeah, well, all right, Mr. Proudfoot. Goodbye. And good luck to you. You wait right here a minute, Pa. Mr. Dylan? Yeah, what? Mr. Dylan, I... Mr. Dylan, I can explain. You don't have to, Chester. But yes, I do have to explain. That's where I've never been so humiliated in all my whole life. I've been thinking about it all day, Mr. Dylan. I never wrote but two letters to Pa. Well, maybe I did stretch a couple things at the... Pa, he... Well, Pa, he put it all together and made me out more important than what I am. But I'll set him straight, Mr. Dylan. I'll tell him the truth and I'll do it right now. Chester, you go on back and help your father take care of things. Yes, sir, Mr. Dylan. As used, I generally find a colorful example in some speech of that old political character, Elijah Cuddlestone. For instance, now, I admit, I say, of course, I'm a grassroots candidate. I work from the bottom up. That is, I get down to the basics of a matter, down to the grassroots. Now, I want to know how I... I mean, you're my people and I insist on knowing how you might be affected. That is why you elected me because I am one of you and it's like I say, I am elected by you and working for you. Well, getting down to grassroots seems to be what politicians and office seekers report themselves as doing most anytime, but more especially, preceding an election. It's a folksy American phrase that simply means getting down to the underlying principles or basic facts of a matter and may be used at any time by anyone. The actual origin of the phrase is unknown, but its reported usage predates 1885. Produced and directed by Norman McDonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal. Featured in the cast were Parley Baer as Chester, Howard McNeer as Doc and Georgia Ellis as Kitty. George Walsh speaking. Join us again next week for another specially transcribed story on gun smoke. This is the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.