 Around 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. 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 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. It's time to give me a haircut. I think I kind of need one. You're the only cut your mom had in an hour, Marshal. Just hang your coat and your gun belt right over there, and I'll get things ready for you. All right. Yeah, I haven't seen you around town lately, Marshal. I've been over in Abilene for a week. I just got back late last night. You must have come in on the midnight stage. Yeah, that's right. I sure wish I could get out of Dodge once in a while. Not the way I'd do it, you wouldn't. You would just be glad that you can stay here if it is. Yeah, maybe you're right, Marshal. All right. Isn't this a new chair you've got? Yes, sure. You have to find this barbershare with the St. Louis. Wow. Wow, that's pretty fancy. You break it. Try it. I'll tell you after I find out if you've raised your prices to pay for it. And here, let me get this cloth over here. Here we are. Yeah, here, cut still a quarter, Marshal. A shave? Yeah, it's too tight around your neck. No, it's okay. What about a shave? The price of a shave is going up a dime, Marshal. A dime? Now, Marshal, you wouldn't want to stand the way of progress with the sake of a dime, would you? Who's progress? Well, anyway, you don't need a shave. Not today anyway. That's a good thing. Just take a chair there, stranger. I'll be with you in a few minutes. In a few minutes? Yep, you're next, right in line. What? I ain't next. Well, of course you are. There's nobody ahead of you. I said I ain't next. You mean you won't wait? That's right. I won't wait. Oh, sure you will. I work fast. He won't be longer than ten minutes at the most. Now, you hear... You don't understand. I want a shave. I want it right now. You can cut his hair later. What? You heard me. Now, look, Mr. You don't know who you're... Shut up, Tater. Get out of that chair, Mr. All right, Tater. Let's take the sheet off of me. All right. Here. Okay, Mr. They move. I want to sit down. All right. You don't quite understand. I don't understand what... I didn't get out of that chair so you could have it. You're going to be troublesome, ain't you? Mm-hmm. There's not much you can do about it. Isn't there? You don't see very well, Mr. What? I'm not wearing a gun. It's hanging on the wall over there. Oh. You're going to shoot an unarmed man in front of a witness? Go get your gun. Put it on. No. You're licked, Mr. How are you going to make me do it by shooting me? What you're going to... I don't like killings. But if you don't turn around and walk out that door, I'm going to have to kill you with my fists now you get moving. You got me this time. The next time you'll be wearing a gun, there'll be some difference then. Thank goodness, Marshal. You took an awful chance here. Who was it, Tater? I don't know. I never saw him before. He might have killed you, Marshal. That had been murder. You got hung for murder. Why don't you quit shaking and let's get this hair cut over with? He won't be back. I went by the barbershop and Tater's told me. And he also told me how you handled that fella. No, I didn't. Tater's described him to him, Mr. Donovan. I know who he is. You do? He came here by a week ago. Except you went to Albling. What's his name? Springer. Nate Springer. What? I tried. Are you sure that was Nate Springer? Well, couldn't have been nobody else. Well, why? You said you don't know him. No, I don't, but I've heard about him. You have? We're all over it. Nate Springer's got quite a reputation. He's a gunman, you mean? Yeah, he's a gunman, all right. They say he's the most nervous gunman that ever lived. He's all ice. That Masterson told me once that out in Arizona, a man got the drop on him and Springer started to laugh. Laugh? He asked him what he was laughing about. Springer said he never had before and he didn't want to die without seeing what it was like. Oh, my, what happened? It's kind of hard to shoot a man who's enjoying his first laugh, Chester. I'll be darned. What do you reckon he was doing in Dodge? Springer's a killer, a paid killer. That's all he's ever done anywhere. Then why don't you go arrest him? He's not wanted that I know of. There are no circulars out on him. Well, but you can't just wait till he kills somebody. No. And I can't put him in jail till he does. You got time for another cup of coffee, Matt? Ah, take time, Doc. Good. Well, things pretty wild up in Abilene. There's still a camp with a hair on, Doc. Worse than Dodge? No, I wouldn't say that. Then I'll stay here. Why? You're usually complaining about Dodge. I'm thinking of business, Matt. Business. What's there to do in a peaceful town, aside from delivering a baby now, then, and setting a broken leg? You sound pretty bloodthirsty, Doc. I don't do the shooting, Matt. It's men like that Nate Springer that you were telling me about. Doc, uh, Nate Springer's sitting over there in the corner. He is? Where? Right over there. Oh, there's back to the wall. Yes, yes, yes. Well, he looks like a killer. He is. Did you see how he keeps looking around there? It's like he thinks everybody in this room is his enemy. And like that doesn't have friends. He doesn't even take his hat off, you see there? He's all ready to shoot and jump out of the door, I suppose. How can he eat if he doesn't even look at his plate? Oh, he's getting up, man. He's coming this way. He hasn't finished his dinner. You better turn around, Doc. Okay, but you keep your eye on him. I don't like that, man. Hey, you. Me? What was you staring at me for? Well, I wasn't staring at you. No man stares at me without a reason. I don't like it. I want to know why you were doing it. Well, now, look here, mister. You're getting all upset over nothing. You ruined your dinner working yourself up. Tell me why you were staring at me. I'll put a hole in you. I'll do it. Well, you're awful jumpy for a big gunman. Tell me, I said. Hold it, Springer. This is Doc Adams. He doesn't carry a gun. He doesn't. No, but sometimes I wish I did. Wait a minute, Doc. You getting into this, mister? You anyway. Matt Dillon. Matt Dillon. I knew I'd run into you sooner or later. Trying to work yours always. Some law man wanting to interfere. Sure, it happened here, Springer. You'd kill anybody. Fair fights, fair fight, ain't it? Not when you're paid to pick a fight with a man. Like I said, Marshall, I knew I'd run into you. Springer, when I find out who you're after, I can probably find out who's paying you. Then I'll jail you and him both. But you're going to lose a lot of sleep trying to find out, Marshall. I can stand it. You're the one that needs sleep, Springer. A lot of it. Without any bad dreams. A man of ice is starting to melt from there. Something's happening to him, Doc. The world's last to sundown. Guess I might as well sit here and watch Front Street with you as anything else. Good. A little air is good for you. There are a lot of it being better. You're not getting... You ought to buy a horse. Buy it at the river every day or so. I'm too broke. I'll lend you one. I've got a little bay that's pretty gentle. Imagine having more than one horse. That's about all the government does, give me, Kitty. A couple of cheap horses. I've seen you riding your own. I've got to keep him in shape in case I decide to quit. The day you quit, that horse will be as old as a man. You may be right. Hey, look, man. There. Walking down the middle of the street. Springer. Now, who would expect a man like Springer to have a little yellow dog? I don't know that the dog's his, Kitty. Maybe he's just following it. This is why it is here. I don't think Springer knows it. He's trying to sniff it. Matt! Show them! Poor little dog. He didn't do anything. I'll be back, Kitty. What do you want, Marshall? Just a dog. You think he was going to bite you? He might have. But I know. I didn't know what it was. It could have been anything. Or anybody, huh? I knew it wasn't a man. Yeah, but you just said... Don't care what I said. That dog shouldn't have been sniffing around. Not around you, that's for sure. Well... Why don't you go get a drink, Springer? I think maybe you'll need one. I don't drink, Marshall. Never. You don't have any vices, do you? Matt, is he crazy or something? Well, he's the meanest man I ever saw. He didn't shoot that dog out of meanness, Kitty. No? Well, why then? He's jumpy. Well, if he's that jumpy, nobody need to worry about him. I worry about him, Kitty. You? He's dangerous. He's more dangerous now than the way everybody tells me he used to be. What do you mean? I suppose that instead of a dog smelling of his heel, it's been a man who'd happen to bump into him. Well, I'd hate to be the man. He'd probably get killed. That's right. Then Springer shouldn't be carrying a gun, Matt. Yes, I know. Well, why don't you take it off and run him out of town? If I did that, whoever's paying him would just hire another gunman, Kitty. The only way to stop this killing is to find out who that is. Well, I hope you do, before it's too late. Well, Springer, run and keep an eye on him. But all he did was buck the Faro Bank for a few hours and then go to bed earlier than the most respectable citizens. Next day, Chester went back to trailing him when I sat in the office and tried to figure a way to trap him into telling me who'd hired him. But mid-afternoon, I was no further than when I'd started. The only idea I had was to choke it out of him. Yeah, what is it, Chester? Well, Springer, he dug on your shot of girl there. One of the girls worked the long branch. What do you mean he almost shot her? He stayed in his room at the Dodge House all morning. Never mind that. What about the girl? That's what I'm getting to. Well, just afternoon, he went to work the long branch and started gambling. He was sitting at a table in the corner with his back again, one of them wooden windows, you know. And one of the girls at work there, well, I guess she needed a breath of air. She looked in behind Springer's chair and started opening that shot. The wonder she got that far. Well, he just won, he was raking in the pot. But when he heard her, I never see a man move so fast, Mr. Dillon. That poor girl near about fainted the way he jumped around at her. She's lucky she didn't get shot. He had a six gun stuck right in her face. He was within a hair, letting go of that hammer. And when he'd seen who it was, he started cussing her something fierce. He's getting worse. Yeah, and he's gonna kill somebody sure acting the fool that way. He probably won't even be the one to come here to kill me either. Imagine him. About to shoot a woman. I guess I can't wait any longer, Chester. What are you gonna do? Well, I'm gonna shame him first. If that doesn't make him talk, I'm gonna have to run him out of town. All right, come on. Mr. Dillon, I can't help thinking all your friends who pulled you about Nate Springer was a mighty poor gun. He's about the uncoolest gunman I ever saw. I agree about that, Chester. Who was it told you about him last? I don't remember. It's been two or three years. Maybe just a lot of rumors. You know how the talk gets started sometimes? Wyatt Earp was the first man to tell me about it. When we got inside here, you go to the bar and you stay there, huh? I see him. Springer? Springer, come over here. My game, Mark. Your game's over, Springer, for good. What does that mean? Get out of dodge. What? If you've been paid in advance, you'd better give him back his money. You're not gonna earn it. You're saying I ain't... It's an hour to sundown, be out of town before dark. It's a long time since men talk to me like that, Marshall. How long's it been since a dog scared you into shooting him or since you drew on a woman? You've lost your nerve, Springer. I can't kill anybody. You shut up. I'll shut up. If you tell me who hired you. No. And who are you supposed to kill? I won't tell you. I didn't think you would. Then be out before dark, Springer, and don't come back. Ever. What are you standing out here for? Aren't you inside with the feet on your desk the way you usually are? I'm waiting for somebody, Doc. You sound serious. Nate Springer, Doc, he's got about 20 minutes to leave town. Oh, is that so? Well, you finally had to come around here, didn't you? He's still on the long branch over there. If he doesn't come out before dark, I'm going in after him. Well, there comes somebody. Is there going to be a shooting mat? I doubt it. Doc Springer's already back down. Well, you never know. I'm going to get my things ready just in case. Yeah, sure, Doc. Come tell you. Watch, Esther. Springer's been bellied up to the bar over in the long branch for the last half hour. He has. Yes, sir. Been drinking down one glass after another. Doc was right, you never know. What? He's getting ready to use his gun, Chesson. I'm going over and stopping. Look, he just came out. He's headed this way. You stay here. You started too late. You haven't time to find your man. You're leaving town. I've found him. What? Only killed. Who hired you, Springer? I'm going to draw him. I feel like it now. Let's draw him. Don't be a fool, you're drunk. Not that drunk. I can kill you. And then I'll be all right again. Now? No. And why did you take this job? I had to face somebody like you to get my nerve back. You understand? I paid everything I had for it. I lost me. Everything. This is George Walsh inviting you to join us again next week when CBS Radio presents another story of the Western Frontier. When Matt Dillon, Chester Proudfoot, Doc and Kitty, together with all the other hard-living citizens of the West Coast, the story was specially written for gun folk by John Meston, featured in the cast were John Forkham and Jessica Fathwood. Harley Bear is Chester, Howard McNeer is Doc and Georgia Ellis is Kitty. Matt Dillon, Chester Proudfoot, Doc and Kitty, together with all the other hard-living citizens of Dodge, will be with you once more. It's America growing West in the 1870s. It's Gunman.