 In the Dutch 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. Barring William Conrad, the transcribed story of the violence that moved west with young America, the story of a man who moved with it, Matt Dillon, United States Marshal. I'd been up north for a few days. On the way back, I camped on the Porney River about 30 miles from Dodge, planning to ride on the next morning. During the night, however, my horse twisted his knee somehow and it was going to be slower traveling than I'd figured. So I started out before dawn. It was just break in day when I had a rifle shot up ahead. Half hour later, I spotted a fallen horse and the figure of a man crouched by its head. As I came closer, however, the figure stood up and I saw it wasn't a man at all but a small boy. He held a rifle in his hand. It's far enough, mister. I'm a friend, son. Put down your rifle. Hey, you sound like... Yeah, it's Marshal Dillon. That's right. Who are you? Gee, I'm glad to see you, Marshal. You look familiar. We must have met somewhere. I'm Yorkie Kelly. Oh, sure. I remember now that camp on the Arkanses. That's right. Well, what happened to your horse, Yorkie? Busted his leg. I shot him just a little while ago. I've been crying, Marshal. That's why I couldn't see you good. I don't know. Every man loses his horse once in a while, Yorkie. It ain't the horse so much, Marshal. It's my paw. Your paw? Oh, where's he? They rode off with him, Marshal. Right that way. You've got to go after him. Please, Marshal, please. Something will happen if you don't... Now, wait a minute, Yorkie. Take it easy. Just tell me what happened. Who rode off with your paw? I don't know, Marshal. It was dark. I couldn't tell. Well, let's sit down here. Come on. Okay. Now, take your time and tell me the whole story, huh? I was out hunting last night, Marshal. I sneaked off to shoot some coyotes. Yeah? And then I heard a lot of horses coming. So I hid and watched them. Those were our horses, Marshal. And two men were driving them. They stole them. I know they did. Well, what about your paw? He was with them. They stole him, too. Well, how do you know? It was dark, but I could tell. The way he was riding, I had his feet tied under his horse's belly. That's why. Well, go on. Well, I followed him till my horse went down. He busted his leg in a prairie dog hole. So I unsaddled him and then I shot him. Oh, where do you live, Yorkie? Over there, about five miles. All right. My horse is lame, but I'll get you home on him and go get you saddled. Not my paw. Aren't you gonna go after him? I'll find him, but I gotta have a fresh horse. All right. Hand me your saddle. Now get up behind me. You think there are any horses left at your ranch, Yorkie? We only had six, and they were driving five. Paul was on the other one. We're in a spot, then. My horse will never make dodge. He's getting worse every step. I got a little Indian pony out in the pasture. Oh, but he's not big enough for you. Then you'll have to do it, Yorkie. When we get there, you'll catch your pony and you'll ride into dodge. What'll I do there, Marshal? Go to the jail and tell Chester I sent you. You can leave your pony there and ride back with him. I'm telling him to bring some extra horses. We'll need them. We'll be just like a posse, won't we? Sure. And don't worry about your paw. We'll find him. He's got to. You tell Hattie where I've gone. Will you, Marshal? Hattie? Hattie ain't my real ma. My real ma, she's dead. All right. I'm sorry to hear that. Hattie's awful pretty, but I don't like her much. Well, I hope you don't tell her that, Yorkie. She ain't as old as Paw, but she's awful old. Oh? She must be 30 anyway. I see. How old's your paw? 65, but he's tough. You know, Marshal, I don't think Hattie's any good for a ranch. Why's that? I don't know. I just don't think she is. You'll see. Yeah. I'll ride real hard for dodge, Marshal. We'll be tracking my paw before you know it. Sure we will, Yorkie. When we got to the pasture, I helped Yorkie catch his pony and got him started for dodge. Then I rode on into the ranch, put my horse in the corral and walked up to the house. Hattie came to the door. She was young, all right, and pretty. But she looked more like she belonged in a dance hall than on a ranch. What do you want? My name's Matt Dillon, ma'am. I'm from Dodge, U.S. Marshal. Marshal Dillon? I heard about Mr. Kelly from Yorkie. I ran into him out on a prairie. Where is Yorkie? He's gone to Dodge for some fresh horses, ma'am. He'll be back by evening and then we'll get started. Get started? Don't you worry any. We'll find him, all right. What did Yorkie tell you, Marshal? Last night he saw the man who stole your horses and took Mr. Kelly. Where'd he come? He was out hot and he told me and he saw him ride by. So that's where he was. Darn little scoundrel. He's always running off like that. Well, I don't understand, ma'am. Well, that boy's got the wildest imagination. What do you mean? There's no trouble, Marshal. Kelly went along with those men just to show him the trail, that's all. He's holding those horses. Oh. Well, sure. Crazy Yorkie always stirring things up. I'm going to hide him good when he gets home. Yeah. Then you expect Mr. Kelly back soon, is that right? Sure. He'll be back. When did he say? Today, I suppose. Who are the men he rode off with? Well, I don't know their names. That's Kelly's business. I don't interfere. Come on inside, Marshal. I've got a pot of coffee on the stove. I expect you could use some. We had coffee and she insisted that I call her Hattie. And we talked for quite a while. It seemed she'd worked in a dance hall all right over in Abilene. That old Kelly came along a few months ago and offered her a home and respectability. She jumped at it. According to her, Yorkie was the biggest problem she had. Aside from the fact that living on the prairie wasn't exactly her idea of a good time. I'm sick of it, Marshal. Nothing but work and wind and dust. And that awful kid. Are you planned to stick it out? Sure, I'll stick it out. Sure, I will. Now you get used to it in time. Tell me, Marshal. How's Dodge these days? Pretty lively? It was when I left. And I was planning to move to Dodge once. Before Kelly came along. I kind of wish I had. Now. One town's pretty much like another, Hattie. But the men are different. Maybe. I'd have got along real fine in Dodge. Wouldn't I, Marshal? Sure, why not? More coffee? No, no, no thanks. It'll be night before anybody gets back here, Marshal. Yeah, I suppose it will. You sure you don't want any more coffee? No, thank you. I think I'll go see what I can do for my horse. He's pretty lame. I'll see you later. I'll be here, Marshal. I spent the day up by the corral, doctoring my horse and taking it easy. It was after dark when Chester and Yorkie rode in, leading three extra horses. But I still didn't know whether we were going to need them or not. I told Chester how things stood while Yorkie was watering the animals, and then we all walked up to the house. I explained to Yorkie that we'd have to wait for morning, in any case. Hattie was waiting on the porch. Well, Yorkie, you ought to be real proud of yourself this time. We're going after Pa in the morning, Hattie. You can't track him at night, at least that's what the Marshal says. You're right, Yorkie. I don't tell me you're going to make a fool of yourself, Marshal. Well, I hope not. Oh, excuse me, this is Chester Proudfoot, Miss Kelly. How you do, ma'am? Yorkie, I could whip you... Now, wait a minute, Miss Kelly. He's done no harm. Your husband isn't back yet, and if he doesn't come in tonight, maybe we better go look for him. How can he come home when they've got him all tied up? Store our horses, too. That's a lie, Yorkie. Those men bought our horses, and your father just rode out to show them the trail. Why are you saying that? You know Pa wouldn't sell our horses. Don't you talk back to me. You shut up, that's all. I won't shut up. You ain't my man. You can't make him. Now, Yorkie, you take it easy. We'll find your Pa. I promise you that. Well, okay, Marshal, but you find him. We will. Well, Marshal, I figured you'd all be back here, so I'd fix him supper. Well, say now that's mighty kind of you, ma'am. I'm awful hungry. And the Marshal also missed his dinner. Come on inside and we'll eat. Well, I'm going around back and watch, Marshal. You don't have to if you don't want to, though. Okay, Yorkie, we'll be along. Uh, Chester, yes. I don't think old Kelly's coming back tonight. We'll be riding after him in the morning. Yes. There's a lot cooler now. The sun's down. I don't know when. I rode so much in two days. Dodge yesterday, and we're out here today. I must have covered a thousand miles. Well, maybe you'll learn to ride. You keep this up, Yorkie. Oh, now, Marshal Gillan. Now, wait a minute. Huh? What's the matter? Here they are. The tracks go off this way. They got a whole day to start on. We can't follow them at night. We'll find them. We got to... Hey, look up ahead there. What's a man? And he's a foot. Yeah, come on. Get him some water, Chester. He's about played out. Uh, sit down, Mr. Kelly. Chester's getting you some water. They had it all planned. I knew it, Pa. I saw you with them and the horses. I knew it. Have you eaten anything? No, Marshal. It didn't feed me either. Wanted me weak so I couldn't walk far when they left me. Chester, dig out the jerky. Yes. I'm old. Wouldn't have lasted very long. It was a good trick to blast them. You mean they were going to leave you out here to starve just so they could run off with your horses? No, it's more than that, Marshal. I'll have another drop of this water. A fellow called Webb Cutter. He's going to run off with my wife, Hattie. As soon as they sell the ranch he is. Hattie had owned the ranch with me dead. I never get like her in Newhouse. Here, Mr. Kelly, chew on some of this, huh? And I got some hard biscuits, too, if you want to soak them in the water. I'll be all right once I get something in me. Pa's old, but he's awful tough. Ain't ya, Pa? Yeah. He's an awful fool, too, Yorkie. Oh, that's all right, Pa. We're better off alone, you and me, anyway. Who was the other man, Mr. Kelly? Uh, Roark, he called himself. A friend of Cutter's. He's going to get his share of the money off the sale of the ranch. Did you know these men before? No. Hattie and Oom, back in Abilene. So they said they had it all figured out before we got married. Oh, Marshal, there's nothing worse than an old fool. Well, you aren't the first man to be fooled by a pretty woman, Mr. Kelly. I was lonely, that's all. And I thought Yorkie ought to have a mother. Sure picked a good one. Just you and me, Pa. We don't need no woman around. Well, there ain't going to be one long. That's sure. Look, Mr. Kelly, what did they do with your horses? They're going to drive them back to the ranch. That's what they said. The only thing that bothered them was Yorkie here. I wasn't sure he was asleep. Hattie said she'd take care of him. I sure fooled him, didn't I, Marshal? Yeah, yeah, sure did, Yorkie. But if they're headed back to the ranch, Hattie'll tell them we're on their trail and they'll all run off. I got to stop them. They got a couple of hours' time, isn't it? I know, but those horses, they're driving them slow a little. Chester, you stay here. You can ride in tomorrow when Mr. Kelly gets his strength back. I'm going to take the horse Yorkie. He was riding on a fresh one. I'll go with you, Marshal. I'll fight him. No, no, Yorkie. You've done your part. You stay here with your pa. Yeah, I'm the one that ought to go, Marshal, but I just ain't up with that kind of ride. That's all right, Mr. Kelly. You take it easy and come on back when you can. I'll see you at the ranch. Mr. Dillon, you... You wouldn't have an extra horse, Chester, and you'd need it. Yeah, I see that's true. Well, good luck. Thanks. We will return to the second act of gun smoke in just a moment. But first, every Monday night, an affable man about murder, Thomas Highland, invites you to come along on a CBS radio crime classic. Dramatizing all the known facts about actual killings of bygone days, crime commons have been used in the past two years. Dramatizing all the known facts about actual killings of bygone days, crime connoisseur Highland recreates atmosphere as well as details in his crime classics. Remember, Monday nights on most of these same stations, CBS radio presents crime classics for an unseasonal chill in the atmosphere. Now the second act of gun smoke. One thing in my favor was that Cutter and Rourke weren't riding as hard as I was. They didn't know there was any special hurry. I changed mounts every few miles but along toward the end one of the horses began to sull and finally I had to leave him. But just before daybreak when I came to the ranch there were no lights on in the house so I figured I'd beat them after all. There was a room for my horse in the hay shed and I put him in there and closed the door. Then I walked up to the house, hid behind a rain barrel near the porch and waited. It was a half hour before they rode in and put their horses in the corral and then came up to the house. She's awake, she's lighting a lamp back there. What's she need a lamp for? It'll be daylight in a minute. She's your woman, why don't you ask her? She's my woman and you remember it, Rourke. I seen you looking at her the other night. One woman's just like another to me. They're all the same. They're all poison. For you, Hattie's poison all right. I'm telling you, Rourke, but she's pretty. That's more than I can say for most. You forget she's pretty. Okay, there's something else about her I like. What do you? Well, I've been thinking when she sells this ranch she gets a third, you get a third, I get a third. That's right. But whoever gets Hattie sort of gets two thirds, don't it? You try that, Rourke, and I'll kill you. I'm just joshing. You really gonna marry her, Cutter? I told her I was, didn't I? I didn't ask you what you told her. Cutter, here she comes. Hello, Wes. Rourke. What are you all locked up for? Oh, man, Kelly ain't gonna come sneaking home. Come on inside, hurry up. You haven't got much time. What's the matter with you, Hattie? You're all upset. You'll be all upset, too, when you hear all that. Why didn't you take care of that bratty kid like I told you? He sneaked off to go hunting. He wasn't even here. So how could I help him? And he ran smackin' to the marshal. Now we've really got our heads in the noose. I suppose the old man's dead when they find him. Well, if he's dead, he can't talk, can he? Well, it's worse if he's alive. Well, Hattie, can't you do anything right? You're blaming me? Who would I blame? I didn't put that marshal on our trail. Hey, don't matter now. Who did? What are we gonna do? We're gonna have to get out of here fast. I'm all ready to go, just as soon as I got a riding skirt on. Wait. You ain't going nowhere. What? You heard me. We can't be dragging a woman around. You'd wear out in no time. Now you're making sense, Cutter. We'd never get away with her holding us back. You're gonna leave me here, are ya? You're gonna let me face those people? You know I'll go to jail, don't you? Oh, they won't do nothing to you. Tell them you got missed a letter or something. They always go easy on women. You're gonna run out on me. Oh, now, Hattie, you'd be better off here. Now let you go and you can get on back to Abilene. And I'll come by as soon as they forget about all this. Oh, come on, Cutter. We're wasting time. They could be here any minute now. You coward. You dirty rotten coward. Oh, Hattie. Who is your mother, mister? That's enough, Hattie. Fine, Hattie. Either one of us? You didn't think I cared, did you? I'd have made one of you shoot the other before I was through. Pies don't cut three ways, mister. Now we all know, Cutter. What'd I tell ya? There, that'll hold you. Come on, Rock. Let's go. Dirty dog! Oh, forget it, Hattie. Maybe I'll get to Abilene sometime. So long. I'll stick to you. I should have known about you. You gonna talk all day? Come on. All right, get your hands up over there. You touch that gun and I'll kill ya. Why'd you're killing him? What do you think I'll be doing, Marshall? Don't try it. Either of you. Hanging's bad, Marshall. I ain't going to hang. You don't have to hang. Kelly isn't dead. We found him in time. I don't believe you, Marshall. I think you've been here right along. You ain't even seen Kelly. Yeah. You just want to see his hang. And I'm telling you the truth. Oh, no. Lawmen don't tell the truth. And not their fellas like us anyway. What do they do, Roy? No, I don't believe they do. Well, he can't kill us both, Roy. We'll draw at the same time. I'm telling you, don't try it. Why not, Marshall? Let's kill him, Cutter. No! We killed him both. Now, give me the gun, Hattie. Why did you do it? I don't know, Marshall. You do it to help me? Because he was running out on you. He's dead. What difference does it make? It could be murder, Hattie. You'll have to decide that, Marshall. Cutter might have killed me. He might have. Go back in the house. You can wait in there. Now they're both dead. Do you care? What's going to happen to me, Marshall? I don't know. I think I'll let Mr. Kelly decide that. Where is he? He'll be here tonight, probably. He's with Yorkie and Chester. Marshall, will I go to jail? I don't know, Hattie. It depends on Kelly. He's a nice old man. He wouldn't hurt anybody. I'm sorry I got into all this. I wish I hadn't. Little Dylan? Yeah? I just had a long talk with Hattie, Marshall. Well? She tried to kill me, you know. She had a hand in it. She'll go to jail for it if you prosecute her. I know. But Marshall, I can't send anyone to jail. Not a woman. If she was a man, I'd shoot her. But what do you want to do, Mr. Kelly? Well, I'll get her things and drive her to town, Marshall. I'll give her some money. And then Yorkie and I'll come back here. Yorkie will just have to grow up without a mother. And about me? It don't matter, none. All right, Mr. Kelly. I guess I wouldn't want to see her in jail either. We need women out here. Good or bad. We need them. Described under the direction of Norman McDonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshall. Tonight's story was specially written for Gunsmoke by John Messon, with music composed and conducted by Rex Corey. Featured in the cast were Michael Ann Barrett, John McGovern, Joseph Kern, John Daener, and Nestor Plyva. Harley Bear is Chester. Gunsmoke has been selected by the Armed Forces Radio Service to be heard by our troops overseas. Join us again next week as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshall, fights to bring law and order out of the wild violence of the West in Gunsmoke. This Monday night, Herbert Marshall has the leading role in the story adapted from Daphne de Morier's collection called Kiss Me Again Stranger. It's the eerie story of the birds, describing strange happenings on an otherwise quiet English countryside. Here at this Monday night on most of these same stations, when CBS Radio presents the Summer Theater, guess this Monday night starring Herbert Marshall. And remember, there's action as a policeman really finds it in 21st Precinct, Tuesdays on the CBS Radio Network.