 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 guns 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 chancy job, and it makes a man watchful, and a little lonely. You want some more pie, kitty? You might as well, since Doc's paying for it. No, thanks, Matt. I've had plenty. Now, what happened to make you such a big spender, Doc? Some forgotten relative leave you something in his will? Might as well. Well, what do you mean, Doc? Well, you remember that cowboy got himself shot up in a long branch brawl, who that was a year or two ago? There's been more than one of them. Well, I know that, but Kitty might remember this. She helped stop the bleeding until I got there. Oh, I remember, Doc. You didn't even have enough money to buy a bear. And we figured he never would have. Oh, what happened to her? Well, sir, I had a letter from him this morning. He's had some kind of a payoff in California, and he sent me a $20 gold piece to pay me for what he called my medical services. Oh, that's fine, Doc. I'm glad he made up. Yes, men like him don't often do it. You don't often get paid to do that. Well, you never know in my business. Mr. Dillon. Mr. Dillon. That's Chester, man, at the door. Oh. And you, too, Doc, hurry up! He means the doc. Excuse us. Come on, sir. He's going back outside. Somebody must be hurt. Yeah. I didn't hear any shooting. Now, there are other ways to get hurt, Doc. Well, we're here for the stage, Mr. Dillon. Oh. That man has been hurt, Mac. That's the shotgun messenger, Doc. Somebody must have held up the stage. That shot, Mr. Dillon. He's hurt pretty bad. Let me take a look. What happened, Chester? Well, I don't know. For sure. I didn't see him come in just now, and Mike was driving. Mike was driving? Yes, sir. So I knew something was wrong. Then I could see he is hurt, too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mac. Yeah, Doc. He's trying to say something. Make it fast, man. I got to get him up in my office. Mike. It's Marshall Dillon. What happened? Hell, Doc. Driver. Cute. Are there any passengers? No. No. I don't see shipment. 20,000. What had happened, Mike? No, no. He's going out, Mac. Mike. Mike. Please try. Tell me what had happened. How many men? Huh? North. Oh, Mac. He's unconscious. I'll find a couple of men to help you, Doc. Chester, go get our horses. Yes, sir. And hurry. All right, now, Mr. Dillon. That cracked shoe shows up real funny. Yeah, they've been riding hard, too. But they must have slowed down their stop for a while somewhere. I hope they didn't get no more sleep last night than we did. Oh, it's a matter, Chester. You getting old? I know, sir. It ain't that. But my gracious, two hours sleep, it just don't seem worth bothering about that song. I hope our friends bother a little about sleep. If I was carrying $20,000 in bills, I wouldn't ever stop. You'd have to be riding a pretty unusual horse. Yes, I guess you're right. Wait a minute. Looks like they did stop after all. What? They built a fire over there. I think we picked up a little time on them, Chester. I did at the little town of Rome in New York state back in 1817. And on July 4th, 1967, the Post Office released a special sesquicentennial stamp there in honor of the big ditch, they dug, which it says on the stamp in my album here was the Erie Canal. Now, in case you don't know, that canal went all the way from Buffalo on Lake Erie to the Hudson River, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. The biggest waterway ever built in the United States at the time, and it was done mostly by the Irish, just over from the old country, who did their digging with spit and mussel. Made lots of money for years on tolls, and the traffic and freight and people through the canal was mainly responsible for building up the Midwest and keeping business in the East busy doing it. Well, of course the Erie Canal ain't what she used to be, because the railroads do most of the job now, but the big ditch is still there, and so is all the history that went through it. I swear I'm gonna show them that man's riding like this stuck to the saddle. They're near dark again. They'll have to stop someplace along there pretty soon, huh? I don't know. Hold up, Chester. Those tracks are heading down to those bushes along the creek. Let's go easy. There, sir. Below the stream there are they the shack. Oh, yeah, I see it. You think they might be a hit out, ain't it? Maybe. I'm not gonna ride straight up to find out. We'll leave the horses here. Yes, sir. We'll circle around back. Just keep low. Two horses tied up there? Uh-huh. Mr. Dillon, are they out? Yeah. They're heading for the horses. But the other one's getting away. Chester, you go bring the horses up. I'll see about the man I shot. Well, aren't you going after the other one? He's got a pretty good head start, and it's near dark. I'm not gonna after him blind. Morning's soon enough. All right. Now go on. Horses can come here. We'll carry him into the shack. You're right there. Well, his legs broke. He must have stumbled in there. It's time to get away. You reckon I better shoot him? All right. You can do it as soon as we get this man into the shack. All right, sir. Easy, easy. It's locked. You suppose somebody lives in this forsaken place? Well, find out. Go ahead and knock. Just finish telling you men you can't stay in my house. You don't need that shotgun, ma'am. We don't mean any harm. I intend to defend my home, sir. No rough men are going to tramp around amongst my fine things. You open the door a little wider, ma'am, and you'll see we're not the same men. I don't open my home to any strength. I'm Marshal Dillon from Dodge City, and we got a badly injured man here. A United States Marshal? That's right, ma'am. Well, then I guess I'll have to let you in. But I don't hold your Yankee government. I want that clear. All right, ma'am. Fine. Come on, Chester. Now, you just show us where you want us to put him. He hurt bad. Bad enough. Well, I suppose even a rough man has a right to die in the bed. But, ma'am, you, be careful of my things. All right, ma'am. We'll mind. Brung the saddle. A little. Oh, that talk about not hurting her fine things, right? Ain't nothing there that's worth carting away except maybe that old pine. Yeah, I know. Everything else is all cracked and broke. Most ladies wouldn't give that stuff house room. You gentlemen would care to join me. I fixed a small supper. Well, that's very nice of you, ma'am. Now, you say it's nice. Mr. Hanford. He's my husband. Mr. Hanford always said I could spot a gentleman right away. I could see you two were gentlemen as soon as we exchanged pleasantries there in the entryway. Oh, thank you, ma'am. Mr. Proud Forte. Ma'am. Please take your hat off my cherrywood piana. Well, ma'am, ma'am, it can't hurt nothing. I do not allow anything to mar the finish of my beautiful cherrywood piana. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Here's your plate. Please sit down. Right here. I don't imagine your wounded friend will be able to partake. No, ma'am. Hanford, he's not likely to come to for some time, as if he ever does. I can't imagine how he got his wound. I had seen him just a few minutes before. You gentlemen... I mean, Hanford, ma'am, didn't you hear the shooting right outside your door? I have trained myself not to see and hear the ugly things of life. I just live here alone among my things. But you said that you have a husband. My husband has been gone for two, three, four years now, Marsha. I'm sorry to hear that, ma'am. Hanford, you'll never be content to live a quiet life. He thought he could when first we came here directly after the war. I had in mind he'd build me a new plantation. But Marsha, just between you and me, Mr. Hanford didn't appreciate my lovely things. And one day... Well, one day he just moved down west. Oh, that's too bad, ma'am. I do not need your pity, sir. I'm content. Oh, sure, of course. I'd be obliged if you gentlemen would sleep out there on the veranda. Oh, that's all right, Chester. We'll sleep on the veranda. I am going to have to keep an eye on Miller, though, ma'am. I will watch over him, Marsha. Well, no, that's not your job, Miss Hanford. I'm mistress of this house, Marsha Dillon. I will watch over him. I will call you if there's any change. I guess I'll look to him right now. Well, all right, ma'am. Mr. Dillon? Yeah, Chester. Mr. Dillon, is that slanty old porch a veranda? Well, it is to her. My, if she don't be all. Some towns in America have a lot in common, and yet they're each one of a kind. Take, for example, Valdez, Alaska. This is the earthquake on Good Friday in 64. Folks have been building all over again. Folks like Max Wells, whose hardware store reared up and moved back two feet. In those awful hours, fuel tanks exploded, there were scattered fires, and the entire dock disappeared. Men drove to 35-mile roadhouse for help. But that was then. Now Valdez is moving to solid ground five miles around the bay. The houses are up, the city hall and the freight dock are in, and children are buzzing over to the new Grodin Harrison Elementary School. Valdez is pretty much well again. Jurors come to this ice-free harbor and visit Valdez and Columbia Glaciers, over which early adventurers climb to the goldfield. But if you're hometown is Valdez, you already know this. We only wanted to remind you it's still there. When I dig a grave, the ground seems harder than the last time. A grave digging isn't supposed to be easy, Chester. It's too permanent. Funny how many men die at daybreak in it. I mean, when everything else is starting up and all. Well, I guess when you have to die, it's as good a time as any. Or do you reckon his brother is, Benin? Rack? I don't know. Are we sure going to have a long ride to catch up with him? Sure ain't one to hurry up a man-bodied dying, but I sure would have been glad to have been shot at this place for now. It's a matter, Chester, don't you enjoy Southern hospitality? Mr. Dullin, I have to walk around in that old shack on my tiptoes. She's after me every minute about not hurting her things. Grace's goodness, I couldn't hurt them old things if I tried. Well, we can be leaving soon. Now, Chester, we've done about all we can do. Get up! You know, in ambushes. My guns are in the house. Come on! Will you get out of the way, please? I want my gun over there. What do you think that crazy fool's thinking of? I don't know, Chester, but he must have a good reason for sticking around. His brother? No, I don't think he'd take on these odds when he was pretty sure his brother was done for. I think he's got another reason. Where's the saddle that came off Miller's horse? Over there in the corner. Be careful of your heavy footsteps! Hell, let's see now. That's it. I wonder if he's stuck around. All that money makes up into a right pretty little package, don't it? Mr. Dillon, I don't understand the sudden rudeness on your part. I'm sorry, ma'am, but I'm not too polite when I'm being shot at. And you stay away from those wonders. Oh, thank you. Not give me orders, ma'am. Chester, let's push the piano in front of that window over there, huh? We're like sitting ducks this way. You will not touch my chair! All right, come on, Chester. Oh, don't harm it! Oh, don't harm it! I'll watch the front. You take the side. I don't think you'll wait long. I can't do this. How long? As long as that outlaw's out there, Miss Hanford. He's not going to let us out of here alive. You're going to stay here tramping around among my nice things until he goes away. I'm afraid so, ma'am. Well, I'll just order him off my lap. Miss Hanford, come back here! See here, sir! Miss Hanford! He's down. You got him. Yeah. You go make sure. Will you, Chester? Yes, sir. I'll see to Miss Hanford. Miss Hanford. Miss Hanford. Oh, sir, dear friend. You arrived. I'm sorry, ma'am. He was no gentleman, was he, Ma'am? Just passing on a lady's property. No, ma'am, he wasn't. He's dead, Miss Dylan. How's Miss Hanford? Not good. Not good at all. Miss Hanford, we're going to take you into your house. No, not just yet, Ma'am. Don't move me. Let me die here on the veranda. You'd be more comfortable if we... I'm going to smash her. I won't delay you long. Is there anything we can do? I mean, is there any way to make you feel better? You would just see... You would just see that somebody takes care of her. I loved it. She would... buy it. She on? You're inside now. We racked Miller to listen to her and go away, didn't she? And he was no gentleman. Well, it's just a shame. That's what it is. His pie on the shore must play pretty. Well, she loved it. Took care of it. It's good. What are you doing? I just thought I'd hit me in the other two. She wouldn't care, would she? Don't play at all. Look here, under the top. All the strings are rusted away. Just hanging there. Mr. Dillon, this pie ain't made a sound for years. I guess it doesn't have to play, Chester. It just had to look pretty, as old as she had. Here, if you will bear with me, as a quote from a speech rendered by that old political character, Elijah Cuddlestone. Now, I mean to say, tell you that is, that this man is a radical. A radical, mind you. Why, talk about change. He's used enough platform planks, even planks, that is, in this campaign alone to build you a new courthouse. I say, a new courthouse, and still have enough planks left over to construct a warehouse for all of his you-bast mistakes. Well, Elijah was a bit outspoken, and that's how he used the word radical. Radical comes from radix, the Latin word for root. Actually, today, radical isn't much more than a term of abuse. Before the 18th century, radical essentially meant a person who wanted to get to the root of a matter. Toward the end of the 18th century, a group of English politicals became known as radical reformers, because they wanted to revamp the existing political setup. They became a hated crew because folks didn't like change, and radical became a term of low reproach. Produced and directed by Norman McDonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshall. Featured in the cast were Marley 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.