Gunsmoke (1955) s01e16 Episode Script

ANNOUNCER: Starring James Arness as Matt Dillon.
Standing here on Boot Hill, you can look out across the prairie or back at Dodge City, sprawling in the dust and the heat.
It's a young town, a wild town.
A town made up of gamblers, cowhands, hunters and killers, all looking for something.
And they all have one thing in common: Bullets kill one as easily as another.
I know.
I'm Matt Dillon, U.
S.
marshal.
Sometimes, those bullets are meant for me.
Hold it.
You're welcome to make your say, marshal, but hold steady right where you're at.
I'm takin' you into Dodge, Stoner.
Wastin' your time.
Mine too.
I gotta get these bunch-quitting strays back to my ranch.
Stoner, you've killed your last homesteader.
Better heed me, mister: Don't come no closer.
This time there was a witness.
'Nother nester, I reckon you mean.
A settler, with a proved-up claim and legal rights.
Stinkin' thievin' trash, all of 'em.
Took me a month to find a witness.
You never gave Jake Reeves a chance.
Had none comin'.
He was runnin' off my cold strays 'fore I could even put my brandin' iron on 'em.
You got some twisted-up notion that every farmer with a new stray must've rustled it outta your herd.
"Farmer," you say? Pack rats, all of 'em.
Uglyin' up the prairie with their mudhole nests.
I'm not gonna argue.
Stringin' up barbed wire agin men and beasts who were brought up free with this country, the way God almighty made it and intended it to be.
Well, they ain't fencin' out Jeremy Stoner.
The law gives 'em the right.
I got my own kinda law: No, Stoner.
Leave me lay.
I don't need nobody to help me die.
Maybe you done me a favor.
Stinkin', thievin' trash, all of 'em.
Already lived past my time.
I don't wanna see what comesnext.
Mr.
Stoner? Yeah.
What'd he do, Mr.
Dillon? Make ya call his play? Yep.
Why'd you tote him all the way into Dodge? I'd think Mrs.
Stoner'd want him right there.
Well, I found him out on the prairie, gatherin' in some of his stock.
Tsk.
I'll get a wagon and take him home in the morning.
Well, I don't envy you.
No, sir.
Old lady Stoner's as plenty hard as him, and she loved him.
Why don't you let Chester take him back? She can't blame him for anything.
No, I'll do it, Doc.
I killed him.
Anything special that you want me to do while you're gone, Mr.
Dillon? Yeah, Chester.
When you go over to Jonas' for more coffee, tell 'em we want a change of brand.
Well, I dunno.
Maybe nothin' will taste good today.
Mrs.
Stoner.
Mrs.
Stoner.
Where's Jeremy? Horseback news tell it, you brought him here after- After it happened.
Here, ma'am.
Sit down.
I've been sittin' since dawn on a wagon.
I had to do it, Mrs.
Stoner.
You murdered him.
He wouldn't stand for me to take him in.
What chance did he have against you? Did you know that he admitted to killing Jake Reeves? Who cares about people like Reeves? Well, I don't know his wife or any of his kin, but maybe they care some.
What do they matter? Well, you've got the same sickness your husband had: this feeling about nesters.
Jeremy should have had a trial.
He'd have got off.
That makes you a murderer.
Now, look here, ma'am- And you're gonna die for it.
A thousand dollars is all the money I got in the world.
But I'm gonna use every cent of it to hire you killed.
Now, you know you don't mean that.
And it ain't gonna be just one man I'm gonna hire.
I'm gonna hire a whole army of men.
You ain't gonna have no more chance than you gave Jeremy.
Well, where's his body? "Reward for Matt Dillon.
"Thousand dollars reward to the first man who can prove "U.
S.
marshal Matt Dillon is dead.
"Manner of death unimportant.
"No questions'll be asked.
"Money is in safe at Dodge House, "Will be paid in cash.
Sarah Stoner.
" Now, don't this beat all.
Now just last night, me'n the other boys in the Double Bar outfit were throwed outta town by Mr.
Dillon for bein' a little noisy in the street.
And we were shootin' it up some, yeah.
But he called it disturbin' the peace, even though we didn't hit nobody.
Him! Makin' every day in Dodge like Sunday in Philadelphia.
We was wonderin' what we could do about him, and here's our answerhm? A thousand-dollars reward for him's a real good answer.
Hey, you! Where do you think you're going? Just over to the Sunflower Restaurant for some breakfast.
Is that where the marshal is? No, he- He's takin' the day off.
Shootin' turkeys.
I shoulda knowed better than to ask you.
You wanna tell me the rest? Well, I don't know just how.
You gotta make allowances for people like the Stoners.
Why? Tsk.
Well, 'cause they stood alone against the prairie for so long.
When people start crowding in on 'em, it's well, just the end of the world for 'em.
What do you want, Barrett? She's got an old rawhider runnin' around nailin' 'em up all over town.
So that's what she meant, huh? Well, what do ya want? I don't mind you knowin', this interests me.
I'll remember that.
I wonder how long a man can hold together knowin' every gunfighter, every dead-broke puncher, just plain scum, is fussin' with the idea of collectin' the money on his head.
You gettin' in line? Maybe, when it begins to look you ain't holdin' together so good.
Thanks for the warning.
I do you one better, marshal.
When I'm ready, you won't get it in the back.
Maybe you'd better be movin' along.
Just make sure you don't get bushwhacked before my turn.
I got use for that money.
What's wrong with now? Oh not now marshal.
Matt, you gotta make that woman take it back.
Make her print somethin' saying the reward is all off.
Yeah.
Do you think she'd do it? I'll go around and tear down the rest of them posters, Mr.
Dillon.
Tsk.
Nah, don't do that, Chester.
Too many of the wrong kind of people have seen that already.
A whole army of 'em.
You goin' on your rounds tonight, like always? Like always.
It's just that old rusty Remington that you keep in your desk.
Put it back, Chester.
Sorry, Chester.
Man has to kill his own snakes.
I been drinkin' with some other drummers and we made a bet about the reward.
If I hadn't been drinkin', marshal, I never would have Well, what's the matter? Haven't you got room in your jail for him? Well, what do you want me to charge him with? Loitering? Well, he made a brag in public he was gonna kill ya, and somebody just tried it.
Yeah, but that'd be pretty hard to prove, Doc, unless he was carrying a rifle.
That sounded like a Winchester to me.
Besides, I don't think they're tryin' to kill me, anyway.
Wha-? That's just Barrett and some of those Double Bar boys tryin' to see how long it's gonna take me to come loose at the seams.
And that Barrett's waiting.
I see.
Well, Matt, I don't know if there's anything I can do.
Let me- Ah.
Doc, that's not why I came up here.
I just thought a good look at that vinegar face of yours might raise my spirits.
I'll see you later.
Whiskey, marshal? No thanks, Sam.
Maybe later.
Your health, marshal while it lasts.
I locked the door out back.
At least nobody's gonna come up on you that way.
Thanks, Chester.
Tsk.
You're real settling to my nerves.
Wouldn't it be better, as long as you're not doin' nothin', to do it inside? Now, Chester, I can't dig a hole and hide in it.
No, I- I reckon not.
Gun! He's just a clodhopper.
A young one, at that.
Well, he's still breathin', Chester.
Take care of his horse.
I'll get him up to Doc's.
Who are ya, son? What's your name? Name don't matter.
You tried to kill me.
Why? For the reward.
Thousand dollars.
We needed that money, needed it bad.
Who needed it? I I seen ya standin' there.
Went and got my horse.
Almost killed ya.
Sorry.
Real sorry I did that, marshal.
You don't know what happens to a man, needin' money so bad- Tsk.
Probably never shot anything but rabbits before in his whole life.
What in the world are you waitin' for, Matt? Why don't you throw that murderin', black-hearted old crone in jail, where she belongs? That wouldn't make her call off the reward, Doc.
Come in.
Thought you were someone come for the reward money.
Mrs.
Stoner, please put an end to this thing you've done.
What's the matter? The marshal gettin' scared? Well, a man can't enjoy knowing somebody may shoot him down any minute.
So he is getting scared.
Good.
But even worse for a man like Matt Dillon is the idea that he might have to shoot somebody down any minute.
It shouldn't bother a killer like him.
He's not a killer.
Your husband made him do it.
It was needless.
It was as needless as what happened today.
Get out of here.
Do you know who you hired this afternoon? Don't matter.
Except I wish he'd been a better shot.
A skinny young sodbuster from out on the prairie.
A young man that was meant to go on livin', but needed that terrible money.
For his family, maybe.
Nobody knows.
Nobody even knows his name.
You're a dance-hall woman, ain't ya? You wouldn't know nothin' about marriage being sacred or holy.
Why you nasty old hypocrite- What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.
No man.
Look at you.
Just look at you standin' there with that boy's blood on your hands, and you dare to look down at me.
You- Can I sell you a drink tonight, marshal? Yeah, Sam.
Give me a rye whiskey.
Yeah.
You need that drink, don't you, marshal? You ain't afraid to let people see your hand shake, tryin' to get it to your mouth? You don't mind if I have one too, do you? You know, I wouldn't blame ya none if you was getting a little skittery.
I know I'd be pure outta my head by now.
The waitin'.
Sittin' with your back to the wall.
Jumpin' across alleys.
Wishin' you had eyes in the back of your head.
And what happened today, marshal.
What happened today, that would have unstrung me good.
What are ya waitin' for? Oh, I'm through waitin'.
I think you're about ready for me.
Right now.
Why didn't ya blast him, marshal? You had the right.
It wouldn't have been me doin' it, Sam.
It would've been Mrs.
Stoner.
One killing's enough for her in one day.
Now you get your man, and get him outta here.
Don't let me find anybody from the Double Bar in town tomorrow.
Barrett's shot didn't go wild enough.
Looks like Mrs.
Stoner's got herself another killing anyway.
I'll get Doc.
Mr.
Dillon, look who's comin'.
Marshall, I- I come to make you a deal.
Why? It's none of your business.
Maybe you heard about that innocent man that got shot in the Long Branch last night.
What do I care about a drunken, no-good cowboy? And you don't even care about the youngster I had to shoot yesterday? Mrs.
Stoner, you're just downright heartless, that's all.
Now that's enough, Chester.
You find out who he was, that young nester, I mean? Nope.
Don't matter.
Don't even know why I'm askin'.
What's this deal you wanted to tell me about? I'll withdraw that reward if you get outta Dodge.
Leave the country and don't never come back.
It's beginning to bother you, isn't it? All this blood that's being spilled, and more to come? Never mind that.
Are you gonna do it? Mrs.
Stoner, I hate killing.
I hate killing as much as you hated to lose your husband.
But I'm not leaving.
You'll just kill more men if you stay, till one of 'em gets you.
You're the only one that can stop that.
Well, I ain't gonna stop it, and don't blame me.
I give you your chance to get out, and you wouldn't take it.
You lookin' for me, ma'am? I don't wanna bother you if you're busy, marshal.
I just drove into town, and I'm looking for my boy.
Oh? You'd know him if you saw him.
He's- He's a tall, blue-eyed boy, kinda thin.
He's gonna get hisself into trouble, unless I don't stop him.
Big trouble.
Now, what's he plannin' to do, ma'am? Shamed to tell you this, but He took his rifle when he left home yesterday morning.
He's heard the talk about that thousand dollars.
The reward for your killing.
Believe me, marshal, he doesn't know what he's doin'.
I-I gotta stop him.
Find him.
He's only doin' it because we're about to starve out there.
Him, and me and my little girl.
Look, ma'am, I'm afraid to tell you this, but- Wait.
I want you to understand good why he reckoned he had to do it.
My husband was killed a month ago.
Shot.
And since then, we've been near starvin' to death.
My boy tried, but we ain't makin' it.
Answer me somethin': What's your name? Mrs.
Reeves.
My man was Jake Reeves.
Did you know him? No.
No, I- I didn't.
But I think my husband knew him.
Didn't he, marshal? He did? That's what he told me, Mrs.
Reeves.
Sorry.
Perhaps if you told me your name? I'm notvery proud of my name right now, Mrs.
Reeves.
Marshal, the lowest thing you've been thinking about me- I'm even lower.
But would you do something for me? I think so.
Like as you know, there's an envelope with something in it at Dodge House.
It'll be there, w-with your name on it.
You know what to do with it.
I know.
I'm going home now.
Goodbye, Mrs.
Reeves.
Been a pleasure, ma'am.
I don't understand much what she was sayin'.
Would you like to come into my office, ma'am? I'll try and explain it to you.
I'll try and explain a lot of things.