 A brown-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 gun smoke. During William Conrad, the story of the violence that moved west with young America, the story of a man who moved with it, Matt Dillon, United States Marshal. Mine's stopping and Jonas' store down here won't take long. What are you going to buy, Doc, another diploma to hang on your wall? Oh, another diploma to hang on. Oh, man. Well, anybody can shoot bullets into people the way you do. Yes, sure. What takes real brains is digging them back out. Ah, between the two of us, though, we might as well make a good living, though. Oh, yes, sure. Barely. Just barely. Hello, Marshal. Mr. Jonas. All right, Jonas. What can I do for you? I'm looking for a saw. You were looking for a saw? And some nails, Mr. Jonas. Sure, Doc. Sure. I'll have to fetch them from the storeroom out back. Eh, what's the matter with that? What? He's got a batch of new derbies in. Oh, they're pretty fancy. Yeah. Oh, they are fancy. Here, stop there. What's that? There, stay here, Doc. You go there behind them barrels, Marshal. Who is? I don't know, but I'll shoot him dead if he moves. Don't kill me. I ain't armed. All right, come out of there with your hands up. Neil Amber. That's me. I can't believe it, Amber. I was going to pay you later. Pay me later. You're on my books now for over $300 and stealing from me on top of that. Marshal, I want this man arrested. Were you stealing, Amber? No, no, I never stole nothing in my life. I was going to pay him later. Then what was you doing running off of that sack of seeds? I had to have them seeds, Mr. Jonas. I got to raise something. My wife and I are about to starve out there. Out where, Amber? On a little patch of land there upon the wells north here, Marshal. Ain't much. We've had nothing but bad luck. I've been keeping you going for nearly a year, Amber. This is a fine show of gratitude. How can I pay unless I raise something? A man's desperate, Mr. Jonas. But he owes me money too much, but I don't owe it to stealing to pay off your debt. I'll pay you, Doc. Someday I will, but right now we've got nothing. That's good land up there, Amber. What's been your trouble? Oh, everything, Marshal. First, I raised a little corn, peaked Fletcher's cattle, busted in and ruined it. And then Mrs. Amber's goats got swelled up and died. She had two of them. She always wanted goats. All her life she wanted them. And then some mean devil shot one of my horses and that. Oh, I don't know what all, Marshal. We just ain't making out very good. That's still no excuse for thieving, Amber. You throw him into jail, Marshal. Amber, you take your seeds and go on home. What? Put them on my bill, Mr. Jonas. You mean you're going to turn him loose? Go on, Amber. Thank you, Marshal. I won't forget this. It's a fine thing when the law starts encouraging crime. I hold you as guilty as he is, Marshal Dillon. Come on, Doc. Let's get out of here. You know something, Mr. Dillon? What, Chester? If the government would come through with a little expense money, I've got an idea. The government won't even supply me with ammunition, Chester. Let's go ahead. Well, sir, if we bought two or three buffalo hides and sewed them together now, we could make a nice rug for this office. Then it wouldn't make so much noise as people stomping around like to do. Yeah, Chester. Well, I'll have to take that up with Washington. But in the meantime, you work on some other ideas. Yes, sir, I will, Mr. Dillon. And I got a... I got a... Hello, Marshal. Chester. Well, it ain't Pete Kletcher. Hello, Pete. Marshal, I heard about your refusing to arrest Neil Amber yesterday. Uh-huh. That seems like a lot of people have. I'm a cattleman, Marshal. I got no use for sod busters, especially when they don't know when to quit like them ambers. There's room enough out here for everybody, Pete. Not for thieves, there ain't. Well, I don't think Amber will try to steal anything again. I come to tell you you're wrong, Marshal. Why? One of my riders, Jim Baird, found a calf in Amber's shed. It had been stole, slaughtered, and half-scun. One of your calves? Where in my brand? Baird's standing guard over right now. Look, Pete, the ambers are nearly starving. What's one calf to you? Is there a law against cattle thief and Marshal or ain't there? Yeah, there is. Well, then do something about it. All right, all right, I'll have a look. I want that woman arrested, Marshal. Woman? Well, it happened yesterday while he was in town. It had to be her. If Mrs. Amber wasn't a woman, I'd have shot her. That calf's in the shed right over there, Marshal. I don't see the ambers around anywhere. Yeah, told Baird to make them stay in the house. You had no right to do that, Pete. You got a right to protect my property, ain't I? Chester, go tell the ambers to come out to the shed here, huh? All right, sir. Come on, Pete. I'm thinking you'd never get back, Pete. This here is Marshal Dillon, Baird. Where I come from, we hand cow thieves ourselves. Now, it's been done around here, too, Baird. Good. And the man that headed the last lynching got 25 years in prison. You trying to scare me, Marshal? I hate lynching, Baird. I hate even the talk of it. Now, where's the cat, Pete? Right over here, Marshal. He's trying to butcher it on the ground. That man that I hung it up. There's Pete's brand right there. I thought I told you ambers to stay in the house. You're not telling anybody anything, Baird. Hello, Amber. Ma'am. She didn't do this, Marshal. What, uh, you mind telling us about it, Miss Amber? Well, Baird can tell you all you need to know, Marshal. I want to hear what Miss Amber has to say. I feel guilty, Marshal. They made me feel guilty accusing me this way. It's hurt her bad, Marshal. My wife's honest woman. If you're innocent, you got nothing to worry about, Miss Amber. Now, you tell me what happened. Well, Neil was in town. I came out this shed to get a potato from a dinner. And I seen that little calf lying there. And I was standing here looking at it. And then he come in and grabbed me and said I'd stole it. Marshal is saying that makes me want to die. I tracked that calf here and I caught her skin in it, Marshal. She's just trying to work on it. Nobody's going to believe a couple of thieves. I know what you're doing, Pink Fletcher. But I ain't leaving this land enough now or ever. You're going to arrest her, Marshal? Go on back to the house, ma'am. What? In my whole life, I've never done anything wrong. Now, I feel I ought to be hung. She'd be better off dead than like this. If she was a man, she would be dead, ma'am. That's enough, Bear. I'm not arresting anybody, people. You're calling me and Bear liars, then? I'm saying there isn't enough evidence. Now, you take your calf and get out of here and leave these people alone. All right, Marshal. Next time we ain't coming to the law, we'll handle this ourselves. Evening, Matt. Well, hello, Kitty. Matt, I want you to meet the rescender. Oh, welcome to Dodge, Lucinda. Kitty's told me a lot about you, Marshal. I was hoping you'd come in tonight. Where are you from? Well, I've been in Abilene the past two years. Well, then you must know Bill Hickock over there, huh? Sure I do. He told me he looked you up when I got to Dodge. He said you'd keep me out of trouble. Well, I can't do that, but if you do get him to trouble, come see me. Thanks, Marshal. Mr. Hickock said Dodge is a lot wilder than Abilene. Is that true? I'll soon be able to judge that for yourself, Lucinda. Well, I won't be here very long, Marshal. I'm working my way out to California. You've got a man in California, Matt. Well, fine. I hope you're making it, Lucinda. Thanks, Marshal. I'll see you later. Sure. Goodbye. She's a nice girl, Matt. Well, all girls are, Kitty. Especially me. Look, I just made $50. Hey, that's a good night's work, Kitty. If this keeps up, I'll buy me a house somewhere and retire. Oh. And do what? You're probably right, Matt. I've worked ever since I was a little girl. I'd get spooky if I didn't have anything to do. Well, anyway, I hope you're not going to put your $50 back into the game, Kitty. No. I'm through with Farrell. I might buy into that poker game a little later, though. Well, I'll tell you what. You can have Chester seat in a few minutes. I'm going to put him to work. Uh, Chester was telling me about the Ambers, Matt. I feel awful sorry for that poor woman. Yeah, so do I, Kitty. But, uh, there's nothing I can do about it. You don't think she's guilty, do you? Oh, I can't be proven either way, Kitty. That one way or another, Pete Fletcher has managed to get rid of every nuster anywhere near it. Except for the Ambers. Like he says, they're pretty stubborn. Look, Matt. What? Isn't this that fellow Baird? Oh, yeah. I was kind of hoping he'd busted his neck somewhere. Good evening, Marshal. Ma'am. It's Miss. Not that it matters. Okay, Miss. I come by the Amber Place today, Marshal. You made a big mistake the other day. Did I? You sure did. Remember how Amber kept saying his wife would be better off dead? Well, he's sitting out there now, and he won't even look at you. Talk. And the woman ain't nowhere around, Marshal. Amber's gone killed her. That's what. We'll return for the second act of gun smoke in just a moment. But first, starting next Monday evening, most of these same stations will bring you CBS Radio's newest anti-crime program entitled Night Watch. On Night Watch, you will actually ride the prowl cars with the police of Culver City, California as they seek the trouble spots, question witnesses, and arrest suspects. No actors, no sound effects, and no music will be heard in these actual presentation of police work. Be sure to ride with us when Night Watch has its premiere on CBS Radio next Monday evening. Now the second act of gun smoke. Maybe something has happened to Miss Amber. That may be. I will soon find out. Let's get out of the house first, Chester. Yes. The door's wide open. Yeah. Amber! Now let's take a look inside, Chester. Hello, Marshal. Chester. Uh, have you been sitting here like this long? I don't know. Well, where's Miss Amber? Well, she went away. Went away? Well, where? Yes, she went away back east. Home. When did she go? The other day. Well, uh, did you have an argument with her? Is that why she went away? I loved her, Marshal. She's all I had. Yeah. Chester, come outside a minute, huh? Yes, sir. That's Amber's horse down there in the corral, and it's the only one he's got. Hey, by golly, that's right. I'm going back and try to talk to him. You take a look around, huh? Take a good look, Chester. I understand. But I sure hope I don't find nothing. Well, if you do, come in and tell me. Yes, sir, I will. Uh, Amber, you, uh, you want to tell me what happened? She's gone. Did Baird or Peak Fletcher have anything to do with it? Baird come by yesterday, but he didn't do nothing. I'm shamed about my wife. Shamed? Oh, why? I mean, her not being here. It was too much for her. She just couldn't take it anymore. But she shouldn't have gone like that. How did she go? We was married 30 years. I was real proud of her. Sure, of course you were. But tell me, when she left here, how did she go? She rode away. You mean she took your horse? Yeah, she took my horse, Mr. Dillon. How'd you find anything? Yes, sir. Laying under a blanket right out in the shed. He didn't even bury her. She's been shot, Mr. Dillon. Amber, who shot your wife? I couldn't bury her. I couldn't get that dearer yet. Did you shoot her? I shot her, Marshall. Don't eat, Mr. Dillon. He's going to die of starvation before they hang him. He hasn't been tried yet, Chester. Oh, no, sir. Just keep bringing his meals in. He'll eat sooner or later. Hello, Marshall. Hello, Peek. Baird. I guess you'll believe me. Next time I tell you something, Marshall, all right? What do you want here? When they're going to hang Amber? When an effort judge in a court of law says so, he'll hang. Meantime, I'm going to burn down that house in the shed of his force of mother nester. It takes an ocean move into place. Yeah, you do that, Peek. Yeah, you do that, and I'll throw you in jail. What? You've done enough to Amber. You and Baird. You accusing me of anything direct, Marshall? If I could, I'd have you both tried. Careful what you're saying. Now, get out of here. Both of you. Come on, Baird. Leave one. Any way you look at it. Here, then, Marshall. What'll it be? A glass of beer, I guess, Sam. Sure. Say, Marshall. Yeah. That Phillip Baird over there has been making a lot of talk about you. Peek Fletcher, too, probably. Not like Baird. It's okay, Sam. I thought you ought to know. Thanks. I'll get you a beer, Marshall. Hey, Mr. Dillon? Oh, what's the matter, Chester? Neil Amber, he's gone. What? I unlocked his cell to bring him some supper. Then I guess I went off and forgot to lock it up again. Anyway, he took a rifle. Well, let's go find it. Wait, Mr. Dillon. What? Look, there he is. Over there, but Baird. Yeah, come on. Baird, I'm gonna kill you. Hold it, Amber! He's not gone away, Peek. He killed Baird, Marshall. He's gonna kill me. You shoot him again and I'll kill you. He's unarmed now. Marshall. Chester, go get Doc quick. He can't help me. This is gonna save me from hanging, Marshall. Had it been an even worse disgrace. Worse? Come close, Marshall. Yeah. I don't want nobody else to know my wife. I didn't shoot her. Kill herself. Is that it? That made me a terrible shame, Marshall. I'd have hung rather than everybody noted. You won't tell, will you? No. Thank you, Marshall. You've been good to me. Well, you ought to thank me, Marshall. Saved the law, the expense of a rope. He didn't kill his wife, Peek. Well, you did, but trying to devil him off that land. Making her look like a thief, did it. You killed him. I'd see you hung for it if I could. After the direction of Norman McDonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshall. Tonight's story was specially written for Gunsmoke by John Meston, with music composed and conducted by Rex Corey. Featured in the cast were Ralph Moody, Lawrence Dobkin and John Daener, with Harry Bartell, Helen Clebe, Francis Drew and James Nussar. Farley Bear is Chester, Howard McNeer is Doc, and Georgia Ellis is Kitty. 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. And split their signatures to the North Atlantic Treaty, thus forming the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. CBS Radio joins in the salute to NATO at this time of its fifth anniversary. George Walsh speaking. For Mystery Mixed with Merriman, join Mr. and Mrs. North Tuesday evenings on the CBS Radio Network.