 Down Dodge City and in the territory on West, there's just one way to handle the killers in the spoilers, and that's with a U.S. Marshal and the smell of gun smoke. Calling 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 chancey job, and it makes a man watchful, and a little lonely. What? Marshal Dillon. Yeah. What's up? You been? Oh, probably wrecked, Marshal. The rheumatism is plaguing me some. No. And by the time of life, a man's got to expect a few miseries. Are you heading for your office, are you? Yeah, sure I am. Well, I just thought maybe we could sit and talk a spell. Oh, come on. I don't get into town too often, Marshal. Yeah, I know that. I just thought we'd sit and talk. Oh, I see. Uh, things all right out the farm? Oh, yes, yes, same as usual. Farming don't change much. You get a good crop one year, and a bad one another, but all evens out in the long run. Yeah, I guess it does. Now, go ahead. Thank you, Marshal. Mr. Dillon. Oh, Chester, you know Cyrus here, don't you? Sure. How are you, Mr. Hutton? Fine, fine, Chester. My land, I didn't hardly recognize you at first. We don't see you in town very often. No, the place keeps me pretty well tied down. Have a chair, sir. Oh, thank you, Marshal. Yeah, it seems good to say it. I ain't getting any younger. Oh, I guess none of us are. Mr. Dillon, I fetched the mail up from the depot. Oh. There on your desk. Oh, thanks. Well, there's nothing important to us. Oh, I'll look at it later. Say, I'm getting coffee, haven't I? Well, I got something brewing. Hey, will it be all right if I whittle, Marshal? Oh, sure. Go ahead. Seems to help a man to talk. Whittling and talking just go together somehow. Yeah. What was it you wanted to talk about, sir? Well, nothing exactly. Just talk, sir. Oh, I see. This is going to musk up your floor some. Oh, well, that's all right, Mr. Huggins. I've got to boom it out later, ain't I? That's one thing Bertha never stands for. Bertha figures the barn or out in the yard is a place to whittle. How is Bertha? It's fine. She's fine. We've been together a long time, Marshal, me and Bertha. 37 years we've been married. That's a long time. Yeah, it sure is. Married back in Ohio. Then we went down to East Texas for a while and come on up here later. There have been a lot of changes in them years. No, thanks, Justin. Weren't no town here at all when they first come to dodge just the fort. Then later a trading post. Buried our boy here the second year. Used to grow corn down in the bottom land and sell it to the garrison at the fort. And he's when the Indians didn't get it first. Yes, there has been a lot of changes. Yeah. Sorry, I see you. You didn't come clear into town just to sit and talk about the old days, did you? I don't know what you mean, Marshal. I think you do. 37 years we've been together. Too better and worse. Finest woman that ever lived. Marshal, she left me. She what? Birthday. She's run off. Disappeared. Without so much as to buy your knees. Cyrus, that doesn't sound like Bertha. She did. Woke up one morning and she wasn't there. I kept thinking she'd come back, but she... Well, maybe she's visiting one of the neighbors. No, they all have been by the ones she might have. Well, that must be some reason. Cyrus, she just wouldn't leave you. She'll be back. That's what I hoped. It's mighty lonely on the place without Bertha. I couldn't even go on without her. And the neighbors, man, they figured I ought to come tell you about it. So that's what I done. Well, how long has she been gone? Three weeks. Now, just listen a minute. If you will. I've got a little story to tell you. Well, it's not so little. It's sort of a tall tale. It's about Camp Morgan. Ever hear to him? Well, he was one of the legendary heroes of Oklahoma or to be more specific of the oil industry. Seems it was Morgan who first discovered oil in them parts. Now, folks say that old Morgan didn't need divining rods and such to show him where the oil was. He knows, sir, he'd just follow his nose. Why, he'd just snip his way across the field. And when he found the right smell coming up out of the ground, that's where he'd plant his well. Oh, Camp Morgan didn't need any help planting that well either. He knows, sir. He was his own crew, old Morgan was. Camp would dig down as far as he could reach. And he'd unlimber his sharps and shoot a hole through the bottom of the pit and talk about fast why that boy would have his derrick up and his oil tanks build before the oil had time to reach the surface. Oh, he was a gore he was. One time he dug a well so deep that it come out on the other side of the world right into the middle of a rubber plantation. Down around Brazil it was. For days that well spouted pure rubber. Man from Akron, Akron, Ohio, that is, took it off Morgan's hands at a nice little profit for old oil nose. He had, sir, Morgan was tops in the oil field. Never brought in a dry hole but once. Camp wasn't one to lose, though. You can bet your bottom dollar on that. He took that old dry hole, sawed it in the lengths and sold ever last one of them to Kansas farmers for fence post holes. Kind of hard to believe, isn't it? Say, isn't it nice being citizens of a country where you can laugh and talk about things free as a breeze and write and read and worship too? Yes, sir. Maybe you don't think about it much. But you should. Now just take it easy, mister. Come on, how about another little drink, sweetheart? No, have a bite now. You'll have to excuse me. I don't be like that, sweetheart. Sorry, but a friend of mine just came in. Well, I'm a friend of yours too, ain't I? That's one way of putting it. See you later, mister. You know, I've been spending good money on you. Evening, lad. How are you kidding? You here to talk, drink and force the law of proposed marriage. What talk will do, I guess? Let's sit down. What have you been for the last two days? Trying to find a woman. Well, in that case, man. Oh, no, no, this is a particular woman. I'm fairly particular at times. Oh, you're not 60 years old, though. It's good of you to know this. Then your name's not Brethren Huggins. Oh, oh, yeah, of course. I heard she disappeared. Yeah, disappeared's right. Chestnut and I have checked every possible way of leaving Dodge City. And as far as we can find out, she's still gotta be here somewhere. But where? We even followed up the chance that she might have hired a wagon or a buggy. Maybe horseback. No, she's 60 years old, kiddie. And she's in bad health, too. Well, doesn't her husband... What's his name? Cyrus. Doesn't he know anything about him? No, just that he woke up one morning and she was gone. That was over three weeks ago. Nobody's seen her since. It's changed. Matt, you don't suppose Cyrus might have... Well... Oh, no, there's no reason to think anything like that. Oh, I guess not. Imagine he's pretty broke up over there. He sure acts like it. You know, kiddie, he seems ten years older. All of a sudden, he talks vague, half-bobby. Well, my golly, a man steps out just long enough to deliver a baby, and he finds somebody trying to steal his girl. Hello, Doc. He's not trying, Doc. Moore's the petty. Oh, and you're not my girl, kiddie. Moore's the petty. Oh, why haven't you ever asked me? Oh, mind if I sit down here, man? Yeah. It seems to me you're already sitting, Doc. Yeah, yeah, so, huh? Well, kiddie, the last thing in the world you need is a broken down little cow town saw-bones. What do I need, Doc? Well, not me. Oh, and not this hard-headed, battered-up excuse for a lawman, either. I thought he was in pretty fair shape. Oh, pretty dope. He's got so many bullets in him. If you drop him in the water, he'd sink like a rock. You don't say. Sure, he'd say anything to keep him buying a beer. Well, I just can't help it, man. Not the way you've been letting my patients disappear on me. Oh, you mean Bertha Huggins? Was she a patient of yours, Doc? You know, come to think of it, kiddie, maybe that's why she ran off. Self-preservation. Oh, she better not have done any running. Not in her condition. Oh, is it bad, Doc? Bad enough. What's wrong with it, Doc? It's easier to say what isn't. Oh, I suppose too many years in the prairie sings it up. Too many 16-hour workdays, crop failures, too many nights in a wake in Indian country. Well, it's sure no country for a woman, all right. It's no country for a human being. So I think I'll get out of it. I'll just marry Kitty here and go back and live in Boston. Don't tempt me, Doc. You'll never leave Kitty anymore, and I will. We're dark here. Anyway, I don't think I'd be very welcome in Boston. Oh, I'd like to know why not. Thanks, Doc. The beer's on the house, boys. I'll go bring it. What do you think's happened to Mrs. Huggins, man? Beats me, Doc. Not a soul in town has seen her in the last three weeks. I've since the morning Cyrus woke up and found her gone. It seems to me he's acting kind of strange about her. I've already broken up about it naturally. Well, yesterday morning I saw him on the street and I asked him how she was. He said, fine. We then he walked right on down to your office and reported her missing. Well, Cyrus hasn't gotten any younger than that. But I asked him to leave her common scene, man. He said he'd tell her. You know, I've got some medicine from St. Louis that I thought just might help her. Mr. Dillon? Oh, yeah, what is it, sir? Mr. Jonas showed the general's story. He wants you to come over there right away. It's about Mrs. Huggins. What? There's some fellow come in there trying to sell some secondhand clothes and things, and Mr. Jonas recognizes the stuff. It belongs to Mrs. Huggins. Then they're about to stove. He's getting restless till the time keeping him here. Well, I'll see what he's up to. Careful, Marshall. He's wearing a gun under his coat. So am I. Sure, that's any of your business, mister. I'm not Dillon. I'm a U.S. Marshal. Not make you any more sure. I didn't know you was a lawman. Why don't you head dodge? Well, just today, you got no reason to jump in. I haven't yet. What's your name? Hody Peele. Look, I ain't done nothing. You got nothing to worry about. Just stand still, buddy. Here. What'd you take my gun for? I'd say it was both a little trouble. I ain't gonna stand for this, Marshal. I'm a law-abiding citizen with a wife and a family. Where are they? We've been camping about five miles up the river. I rode in the town alone. We've been looking for some land to take up. Homestutter. If I can find a decent piece of land behind. How long have you been camped up there? Around three weeks, I guess. Uh-huh. Come on over here to the counter. All right, Marshall. I don't know what you're thinking, Marshal, but you're wrong. I ain't done nothing. That's the stuff, Mr. Jones. Yeah, that's right, Marshal. Most of the things, like these turtle shell combs and hand mirror and some of the clothes, could be anybody's, but this wool shawl and this needle point shopping satchel, I've seen Miss Huggins in town with these time and time again. So that's what it's about. You're sure, Mr. Jones? Of course I'm sure. She's had them things for years. This stuff was give to us. I didn't steal it. Some farmer stopped us when we drove past his place and give it to us. You know his name? I didn't ask. It's about eight, ten miles west of town, a place with two white barns. That's the Huggins' place, Marshal. He's an old fella. Talked kind of crazy. That was about three weeks ago. We cut off a trail and drove into his pasture to water our team. And he was there by a little spring. Busy digging a hole. We didn't hardly notice him at first. And he took us up to the house and gave us his stuff. Just see a woman around the place. Now just him. It was dirt from head to foot. It's kind of funny that hole he was digging. I remember thinking at the time it looked sort of like a grave. An apple a day keeps the doctor away and it keeps Washington's economy healthy too. Here in apple production, raising one fourth of our nation's supply, the state of Washington could almost be called a gourmet state. For she also leads the west coast in seafood. And her five famous types of salmon lead the world in canned fish commerce. So proud of their salmon are Washingtonians that a visitor to Seattle, the Pearl of the Northwest, can send home an ice-packed Chinook from the Waterfront Fish and Oyster Company. For the first time in the history of the country, the United States and the United States. For the first time in the history of the United States, Washington remains a hometown state with treaty day powwows in January on the Indian reservations. March of ski patrol race in Snoqualmie Pass, the spring festivals of rhododendrons, daffodils and apple blossoms. And, of course, a salmon fishing derby in September. But every month, Washington is the evergreen state. This is quite a surprise, Marshall. Morning, sirs. Hi, Mr. Huggins. Oh, can't complain. Come on, get out of there and rest yourselves. You might be good to see you. Ah, thanks. Come on up to the house and I'll have birthday pictures and coffee. What? Fixed coffee. Sure will. Well, she'd be awful upset if she knew that you stopped buying and didn't even bring you up to the house. Well, but your wife's gone, Mr. Huggins. Gone? Well, that's what you told me a couple of days ago. Oh, you must be mistaken, Marshall. Well, you came to my office, sirs, and you told me that she was missing, that she'd run off. My birthday wouldn't do a thing like that. We've been together 37 years. Well, then she's here, she's up at the house. No. No, she's not. But you just said... She went to visit her sister in San Antonio. Oh, I see. I forgot about it. Just slipped my mind for a minute. Cyrus, you got a spring over there in the pasture. I'd like to take a look at it. Well, it's just a spring, Marshall. You mind walking over with us? No, I don't mind. Golly, it's funny about me forgetting Bertha went to visit her sister. Yeah. And you say I come into town a few days ago and told you she'd run off? That's right. Golly, it looks like my memory's starting to go on me. Maybe. Funny thing, when something had happened way back, I'd remember it fine. Bertha and me was talking another day about when we first got married. Remembered it just like it was yesterday. And that was 37 years ago. It's funny. Yeah. Things the last three weeks though, they're kind of clouded over for some reason. When did your wife leave Cyrus to go visit her sister? Three weeks ago. Well, here's the spring. Yeah. Let's take a look over here. No, I don't want to. Let's go. All right, Marshall. Did you dig this grave, Cyrus? I don't know what you mean. Wouldn't the headboard read what it says? I don't see it. I don't know what you're talking about. Says Bertha Huggins, beloved wife of Cyrus Huggins. Married 37 years. Bertha's in shanin tone. I don't know why anybody'd put that up. You can't go on living on a dream. You better tell me about it, huh? Well, it was in the night it happened. She was feeling poorly for weeks. That morning when I woke up, she was already gone. Laying there cold. I put her and went out of my mind, Marshall. So you buried her. You gave away her clothes and things, huh? I started pretending, I guess, like she went off some place and was coming back. Pretty soon I started believing it. I had to believe it. I couldn't even think of going about without her. I just couldn't face it. But at the same time I knew, of course, that she Marshall. Yeah. Marshall. She dead. Really dead. And that's the truth. As William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshall. The script was specially written for Gunsmoke by Les Crutchfield with editorial supervision by John Meston. The music was composed and conducted by Rex Corey. Sound patterns were by Ray Kemper 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 Gunsmoke, the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.