 The round-dodged city and in the territory on West, there's just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers, and that's with a U.S. Marshal and the smell of guns 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 Matt Mann, Matt Dillon, the United States Marshal, the first man they look for and the last they want to meet. It's a chancy job that makes a man watchful and a little lonely. William Bendix. Nobody can act up to par with a nasty cold. I checked my cold to stress the fast way with four-way cold tablets. Yes, tests of four leading cold tablets proved four-way fastest acting of all. Amazing four-way starts in minutes to relieve aches, pains, headache, reduce fever, calm upset stomach, also overcomes irregularity. Always the fast way to relieve those cold miseries, then you feel better quickly. Four-way cold tablets, only $0.29 and $0.59. And now a word about another fine product of Proof Laboratory, to get rid of embarrassing dandruff in three minutes, change to Fitch Dandruff Remover Shampoo. Three minutes with Fitch regularly is guaranteed to keep unsightly dandruff away forever. Apply Fitch before wetting hair, rub in one minute, add water, lather one minute, then rinse one minute. Every trace of dandruff goes down the drain. Three minutes with Fitch and embarrassing dandruff's gone. At the same time, Fitch can brighten hair up to 35 percent. Get Fitch Dandruff Remover Shampoo today. We'll think of Dot City here in the 1870s as a wild, lawless town, swamped with exciting women and strong, daring men. And then they picture as fighters the kind who stand up for almost no reason at all and don each other down with as little regard for their own lives as they have for their opponents. Men whose courage is as raw and harsh as the prairies it's bred on. Well, this is the picture, but it isn't quite complete. We've got our share of cowards, too. Like the one whose work I ran into the night I found a note on my door, said, come up to Doc Adams' office as fast as they could. What's the back room, Mr. Dillon? What's the trouble, Chester? We've got Jack Massey in there. Jack Massey? You know, that cowboy who looks you up whenever he comes to town, you remember him? He always comes in to the office and sets around and talks. Oh, yeah, the red hat is probably your name. What's he doing up here? What's wrong? Here's Doc. You better ask him. Hello, Matt. Well, he's dead. Poor fellow. As soon as I saw him, I knew he couldn't make it. Not with a hole like that. But what happened, Doc? Somebody shot him, Matt. We don't know. I was coming down the street, Mr. Dillon, and I heard a shot, and I ran into him and found him laying there on the floor right where he fell out of the chair. About what chair? Yours. Mine? Yes, sir. Down in the office. He was waiting for you, I guess, and somebody must have sneaked in the back way and shot him. But why? He was shot in the back. So? He was sitting in your chair, and we noticed he was wearing a hat just like the one you wear. And also, he's about the same size as you. Somebody's out to kill you, Matt. To kill you the easy way. Well, what brings you into the long branch this time of night? I'm just working around there. There are a lot of men at the bar over there. I think you can pick him out. What? The man who thought he shot you the night. Well, news travels fast. I heard somebody was asking you two days ago. You did? I figured it's a talk. Didn't anybody tell you about it? Well, I haven't been around much the last couple of days, kiddie. But even so, it isn't a kind of talk people feel easy about passing on. And to me, that is anyway. I guess not. You know who started it? He did. Who's he? Coming this way. I said, he'd be. What's he doing with that? Got to drop around more often, Matt. He's been bankin' Pharrell here three or four days now. But Sam, are you? Yeah, he's been doing fine, too. He always was a smart gamble. Hello, Marshall. Miss Kitty? Ed? Hello, E.D. You mind if I sit down? Now go ahead. Thanks. I've been meaning to come to see you, Marshall. Oh, is that so? Yeah, I heard about the shooting tonight. It seems most everybody has. I know something about it, Marshall. Would you like to hear it? Now tell me. Well, a couple of nights ago, I went out back to breathe a little fresh air. I was standing out there in the dark around the corner in the alley. And I heard a couple of men come out. They couldn't see me. And I couldn't see them. But I heard one of them tell the other he was going to shoot Marshall Doom, shoot him any way he could. That's all you heard? All they said something else, but I couldn't understand it. And then they went back in. You got no idea who it was. I didn't dare take a look, Marshall. It had killed me, sure. Tell me this. I should you be? I don't exactly owe you any favors, but why did you bother to tell me at all? I don't like killing. That's why I hate killing. Those are everything I know, Marshall. They're going now. Like, Kitty? That all about, Mark. What's between you and me, dear? Well, I knew him up in Santa Fe one time, Kitty. He was bully in a band. Now I'd shot him up to be a coward. A lot of people witnessed it, didn't they? He never forgave me. Well, maybe his story's a lie. Maybe he's the one who did the shooting tonight. I don't think Ed E.B. has the guts to shoot a man, even in the back. Who is it, then? Haven't you had any ideas? No. There are a lot of men that like to see me dead, Kitty. I know. I'm always willing to take my chances with anybody who will face me. There's a man who shoots out of a dark amateur. I don't know. Well, for Nash Rambley, what's your best buy for 59? How do they really compare in size, horsepower, comfort, and economy? Read the facts about every 59 car in the January Popular Science Magazine, the giant 256-page new car issue. It's now at your newsstand at the special new Reader's introductory price of only $0.25 instead of $0.35. Can the big three automakers stop the swing to the little foreign cars? Has Detroit sacrificed safety for styling? Can your family get more pleasure and value from a station wagon? Are today's automobile brakes really able to handle today's horsepower? January Popular Science brings you the inside pack, plus a goldmine of you money-saving ideas. Pick up your sample copy of January Popular Science at the get-acquainted price. Look for the big yellow band on the bright blue cover. Remember, this month, you get Popular Science, the same magazine that regularly cost $0.35 for only $0.25. At your newsstand today, while the supply lasts, Popular Science Magazine. Just to die, but it's even worse without a chance to fight back. That's what always made me feel especially bad about a man who broke his neck falling out of his saddle or who maybe disappeared in front of a stampede buffalo or who, like Jack Massey, is sitting at my desk, had to take a bullet in the back. It's not dying. It's being slaughtered like a hog in a pen. It rubs a man of everything he's lived for. Well, sir, I tell you, if I was in your boots, Mr. Jones, I'd hide me out onto the prairie for a spell. You're worth it. You bet I would. Out there, you can see a man coming tomorrow. You know, he wouldn't like that, Chester. Oh, I guess you're right. He wouldn't never follow you out in the open, not him. Or them. You think you might be more nor? Might be. Well, no, no, Mr. Jones, why don't you hire some men to hang around to sort of a bodyguard for you? Then nobody wouldn't dare try him. Well, sooner they'd try. The better, Chester, to get it over was one way or the other. I wish I was as cool about it as you. Am I cool, Chester? I'm mad. I'm sure he's got a funny way of killing it. Now, if I was mad, I'd be hopping around like a bone to the bone under the tail. I'd be a swanson in a slayer in a foam on my mouth and blood up. He's up there now, eh? Yeah, I'm going after him. Then I'm going with him. Now, you stay here. Wouldn't, Mr. start shooting while you got a chance. I sure will, Chester. That's just as good. That's what I'm going to do, Chester. All right, drop the gun. Mr. Jones, he had a gun in his hand. He's drunk, Chester. You gonna help him out? I hit him hard enough. Come on, let's get him up to docks. We'll sober him up and find out what this is all about. Here's your coffee. Cup down, yes, sir. Not before you drink every drop of coffee in it. I'm drowning in coffee, Doc. Come on, drink it. No more, Doc. No, I'm sober now. Yeah, all right, Doc. Matt, we can talk straight enough now. It's about time. Swann. But I didn't mean nothing, Marshall. I didn't know what I was doing. Honestly, I didn't know. I'll tell you, you were trying to kill me, weren't you? Weren't you? No! No, please don't hit me. You better shoot me in the back. You have to take on a little whiskey. I ain't got nothing against you, Marshall. I come to town, heard all that talk, thought I could make a name for myself if I done the shoot. Ain't no more to it than that. No more to it than that. Never mind, Doc. You know something I believe, dear Swann? You do? Look, it's true. Honest, dear. Sure, it's true. And there are a lot of other drunk and brainless bums gonna try for the same reason. They heard somebody's out to murder me and they got to thinking why shouldn't they do it and get that credit for themselves. No, Matt, it's not that bad. I already started, Doc. There'll be others, lots of them, as long as I last. Come by your bed. Don't let acid into gestions for your sleep. Nothing but tums work so fast to make you feel so good so long. Get T-U-M-S, tums, ten cents, three rows back a quarter, or get the view tums six rows back with free metal carrier, only 49 cents. Matt swaned down to the Arkansas and told him to get his horse across and keep going. I guess he thought I was about to shoot him the way he rode off all hunkered up in the saddle trying to look small. I was pretty sure he'd never show up in Dodge again. There was one less glory on this deal with how many were left in the alleys, hiding in the shadows. I realized how bad off I was until we got back to town, loaded with a stable. We put our horses under their stalls and we're walking toward the door. He's barren, corn deserted tonight, Mr. Jones. That was late, Chester. Everybody's here to drink her in bed, but... There's somebody who went... What's he doing at that rifle? He's ducking at that storm. He saw us. Drop the rifle, Mr. Not likely. Drop it, I say. You got him. Stay back, Chester. Shoot again, Mr. I've never seen him before. Oh, you care who? You don't kill me. That's what you're doing. Why were you asking me? Somebody hire you. You shoot a man down, then you try to blame it on him. Mr. Jones, you weren't there for you. Wasn't there after nobody? Did it come from our horses? I think he's telling the truth, Mr. Jones. Still? Marshal? Who did you think I was? Well, somebody was out to shoot you. Or me. I was just trying to get home to Texas. Well, Mr. You, you were about to shoot. I thought I was being held up. Oh, you hollered at me. Mr. Jones, he ain't got nothing to do with this. Of course I ain't. It was I you, Marshal. If there was talk about somebody after me, I'd find out who was making talk. I wouldn't go around shooting innocent folks. Somebody got you out smart. Well, he'll get you out the box, Mr. He. He'll take care of you. Don't, don't, don't, don't bury me. Don't blank it, Marshal. Fix me a box, would you? Promise. Fix me a box? Yeah, yeah, I promise. Can't swallow no more. Well, he'd have shot you if you hadn't. They don't even know his name. He'll fix him up a real good one. I do something else, he said. What's that? I've been off smart and he was right. But I know what I'm doing now. You're looking for someone. You bet I am. Trouble? No, the trouble's over. It's going a little bit. Fight? You might have surprised that there was a fight. Kidding cowards don't carry guns. Ed E. B. Yeah. Come on. What, gentlemen? Is that a drink of wine? No. What? Marshal Dillon. You gonna try your luck? My luck ran out about an hour ago, E.B. What? I shot and killed an innocent man. What are you talking about, Marshal? You were too cheap to hire somebody to get me, E.B., and too much of a coward to try at yourself. I don't like that word. Your story about overhearing that talk, I'll back you, spread it around, hoping to give some brainless fool the idea of trying himself. That's a lie. Well, two men tried it and maybe said jumpy, but I just killed a man I thought was trying it again. I feel pretty bad about that, E.B. I've got nothing to do with it. You told me the story thinking of it to make you look innocent. Well, you outsmarted me, E.B., for a little while. But you can't prove any of it. I don't have to, now come on. You can't arrest me. No, but I'm gonna lock you up, and tomorrow I'm gonna run you right out of town. Rural. Till an innocent man had died because of your cowardess. They're gonna hang you for it. Call me a coward. You're the worst coward I ever saw. Stop saying it! You're doing just what you did out in Santa Fe. Come on, E.B. Oh, surely I'm not a coward? You won't call me that anymore. Take your hand out of your pocket. I got a gun in here. I'll kill you myself. So you won't, you're not gonna draw that. Oh, yes, I am. Not you, E.B. I'll do it. Just keep talking, E.B., just keep talking. I'll do it. I'll kill you right now. I think he wanted me to kill you. What? I think he'd rather be dead than face everybody knowing what a coward he is. Punishment coming for the rest of his life. To buy Norman McDonald's, start William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal. The story was specially written for Gunsmoke by John Messon. Featured in the cast were Joseph Kearns, Jack Moyles, and Lauren Stobbson. Harley Bear is Chester, Howard McNeer is Doc, and Georgia Ellis is Kitty. This is George Waltz inviting you to join us again next week for another story on Gunsmoke.