Gunsmoke (1955) s01e24 Episode Script

Gunsmoke,.
.
starring James Arness as Matt Dillon.
There's a reason that I walk out here to Boot Hill now and then away from the raucous music of the deadfalls, the saloons, the honky-tonks of Dodge.
I'm Matt Dillon, United States marshal.
Those lying dead here remind me that it's a day-to-day job to keep people alive, to save 'em from themselves.
It's a job that won't let me forget.
Doc Adams can spout all he wants about 'cute bellyaches, but That poor fellow there's hotter than a Dutch oven with the biscuits burnin'.
I'm gettin' skittery.
If it was somethin' maggoty they ate, why's Doc got 'em all bunched-up in here like a-? Like a pest house? Stay here.
I'll be right back.
But, Kitty, I- This one just died.
You was callin' this acute food poisonin', Doc.
What made you change your mind so sudden? Well, the symptoms, Mr.
Matthews.
I mean the first symptoms of each patient.
Stomach cramps, slight nausea, mild headache.
Okay, go ahead, gentlemen.
Doc, what about these symptoms that made you change your mind? Well, the first symptoms changed suddenly, to high fever, violent nausea and languid pulse.
Everything that goes with typhoid.
Typhoid? Are ya sure? No, sir.
No.
But I will be, when one of 'em dies.
All of 'em, maybe.
Then you shoulda waited for it to happen, before turnin' the jail into a hospital, and sneakin' them Long Branch women in here.
Now just a minute, gentlemen.
It already has happened.
Otto Richter's dead, Doc.
Doc.
Well, as near as I can tell, Otto Richter died of typhoid.
Well, asowner of the Dodge House, and head of the merchants' association, Ioffer every cooperation herewith.
Uh, that is within reason.
Oh, thank you very much.
What's the next move, doctor? Discover the common source of infection, something that applies to every case.
Well, that should give you something to, uh To shoot at.
Hold on, Mr.
Hannah.
Don't get ahead of me.
First step is to isolate everybody who comes down with it, just as I've been doing here.
If that doesn't work, well, quarantine the whole town.
What? Yes, sir.
Even if it means the governor callin' out the troops.
Oh, now hold on, you can't do that, Doc.
Not to Dodge.
The trail herds are gonna start rolling in next month.
Yes, and we need that business.
Now Doc only found out about this typhoid bug, gentlemen.
We don't want it to sound as though he invented it.
I've got everything I own invested in my gamblin' house.
I need Texas cowhands with six months' pay in their jeans to keep goin'.
Well, now hold on, gentlemen.
Now, no use to get riled.
Doctor, have you got any idea at all how it started? Well, flies, contaminated water, bad food, rotten sanitation.
You name it.
Who knows? But you're a doctor.
You must have some kind of an answer.
Well, Mr.
Hannah, so far, I've only found one small thing to work on.
Ten days ago, those five men back there had a meeting to discuss that- That German picnic that they, uh- Oh.
They have every year here, the "Germania Walking in Pleasure Society.
" And they all had dinner together at Bedino's cafe.
Well, that's it, then.
Now we're gettin' someplace.
I always suspected Bedino was poisonin' half of Dodge with that sheep rot he calls chili.
Not so fast, now.
Lotta people eat there very day.
Nothin's happened to them, so far.
Keep outta this, marshal.
The Doc's got a point.
Close up Bedino's.
Run him outta town.
No typhoid.
I'll pay him a little visit tonight and ask him to shut down for a while.
You're not gonna pay anybody a visit, Matthews.
Nobody's gonna do anything without a court order, or unless Doc here says so.
Well, I- I dunno, Matt.
Maybe we oughta close down Bedino's for a day or two till I can look it over, and see if there's anything wrong.
I'll have a court order drawn up and have it all ready for ya, marshal.
Now, gentlemen, remember this, and not a word about this to anyone.
The whole future of Dodge may depend on this.
Doc? Hm? CouldKitty orOlive get this bug, or whatever ya call it, from them men? Well, Chester, in the latest medical textbooks I got from St.
Louis, there are eight scrawny paragraphs on typhoid fever.
Oh.
Though, seems that people don't give it to each other with contact.
Has to be a common source of infection.
That's what we gotta find.
Well, I gotta see about buryin' Richter.
Yeah.
Well, it's a good thing he doesn't have any kin around, askin' a lot of questions anyway.
Yes, sir.
Nothin' in the wide word that'll start a panic faster than that one little word, "plague.
" Oh, my gracious, I've never seen such a mess.
Yeah.
See if you can get that lamp lit, Chester.
Bedino.
That ain't gonna work, Mr.
Dillon.
It's busted too bad.
Never mind, Chester.
I can see all I need to see, right from here.
Who is it? Bedino.
Well, I guess Matthews meant what he said.
Yeah.
Let's go.
I'm tellin' you again, marshal.
You're wastin' your time.
You killed a man, and you're gonna stand trial for it.
You won't find no jury in these parts to convict me.
Not when they know the truth.
Bedino shouldn't have stood up against me and my boys.
Bedino? Be- You k- Why, you murderin' Jack fool.
Matt, I had questions to ask Bedino: what those men ate, where he got the food, and a lot of other things, and now- I'll- I'll never know.
All right, Matthews.
Inside.
You can't put me back there with them.
Get movin'.
Lock this up.
Oh, Mrs.
Saur.
Mrs.
Saur.
I- I came all the way from- From Log Creek.
He stopped the wagon.
Somebody said you- You was here.
Yes.
Here.
Maybe you'd better lie down over here.
Now.
There you are.
Sick.
I- I feel so weak.
What's wrong with me, Doctor? Well, you, uh You have a little fever, Mrs.
Saur.
You- Uh, get my bag, Chester.
In the back? Yeah, yes.
Now, listen to me, Mrs.
Saur, and tell me: Have you eaten any food lately at Bedino's Restaurant on Front Street? I- I ain't been to Dodge for two months.
Oh.
You- You rest there.
I'll- I'll get you some medicine.
What about her, Doc? Matt, looks like it was just a coincidence that those men had dinner together at Bedino's.
Well, Matthews did a good night's work.
Killed a man for no reason at all.
Hm.
He had seven days raw But he was slow On the draw And we laid him out under The daisies We laid him out un- Whoa.
We laid him out under Doc.
You're drunk.
You are an excellent diagnostician.
Now, this isn't like you, Doc.
Oh, Matt.
Don't you preach to me.
Here.
Why don't you hook that on old little usual.
Well.
Bugs got two more today.
And I gotta cut two more notches on my stethoscope.
That's all the more reason for you to stay sober.
And you know what else? Just two more death certificates due.
And do you know what my brilliant diagnostic appraisal will be? "Intestinal complications," if you please.
All right.
Easy, Doc.
You wanna know something else, Matt? I just came from a meeting.
Mr.
Bradley, and a very select group of civic-minded, public-spirited citizens of this town.
And you know what they said?! Tell me inside, Doc.
Do you know what they said to me?! Do you know what those worthy gentlemen said, Matt? Well, I'll tell ya what they said! They threatened to lynch me.
Called me a liar in public print.
Threatened to run me outta town if I so much as mention the typhoid epidemic.
Doc.
And I forgot to tell ya, Mr.
Bradley sent his wife and family to Topeka.
Now, Doc, I want you to listen to me.
I want you to listen to somethin' I'm gonna tell you.
I'll read you what one eminent British authority had to say on the subject of typhoid fever.
"It seems that the sewers of London were leaking into the Thames.
" Bugs in the water caused the typhoid, so they blew up the sewer.
We haven't got any sewers.
But we could blow up a cesspool.
We could blow up the whole town! Now, Doc, get a hold of yourself.
Now, sit down here, and straighten up.
Straighten up? All right.
You should be able tounderstand better than anybody, Matt.
You couldn't live with yourself either, doin'half a job.
I know, Doc.
But- Look, now I want you to listen to an idea that struck me.
Now, I've made a list of everybody down with the fever, so far.
So have I! German settlers, all of 'em, or of German descent.
Well, so are my two Linlard, Kiln.
All right.
The first five men who had dinner down there at Bedino's.
They were making arrangements for that annual German picnic of theirs.
I know about the pic- There's a chance that all of 'em were there, from all around Dodge.
Matt, maybe that's- Maybe that's the common factor.
Maybe you've hit it.
All right.
Where do we go from here? To your jail, and fast.
Come on.
Mm.
What kind of, uh, food did ya have there, Mr.
Burkleman? Schlachtfest.
What's that? German for "pork feast.
" Every year, we eat nothing but pork at the picnic.
Cooked all kinds of ways.
Well, who did the cooking for you, this year? Franz Pelzer.
Fran- The blacksmith? Mm-hmm.
Well, thank you very much, Mr.
Burkleman.
Thank you.
What is this, doctor? What is he saying to me, marshal? Well, you heard him, Pelzer.
Ja, I heard, und I don't like it! Now, hold on.
Just a minute.
Let's try bei'' neighborly, huh? Nobody can say that my cooking makes people sick.
Come.
Back in Pilsen, I was a chef.
No woman can cook so good as me.
Is that pork? Ja.
Where'd you get it? At, uh, Peter Schraf's hog farm.
Freshly killed.
I was there.
With my own hands I dressed it.
You haven't been feeling a little feverish, lately.
Have you? I know what you think.
Never before have I felt so good.
Ha.
I eat more sausage than everybody else put together.
Sir, you probably did.
Sure, sure.
Und I spiced everything just right, und taste it.
Do I look sick? Maybe you'd like to overlook me.
Heh.
No.
No, you look fine, and, uh that suggests a very interesting possibility.
What do you mean by that? Let's be friends.
Everybody is Franz Pelzer's friend.
All right.
Let's show you what I think of your cookin'.
Franz, how would you like to cook me a batch of that sausage tomorrow.
Right there on your own stove.
This is a joke, ja? No, dead serious.
I'll even go out to Schraf's farm and get the pork myself.
Sure, sure.
But I don't understand.
Well, I'm not sure I do either.
Tsk.
I'll be here tomorrow around noon.
Eh.
Oh, you, uh You won't mind, I know, if Marshal Dillon brings a young lady along as guest.
If you're interested in knowin' if Kitty can cook, you can find out tomorrow.
Well, I was under the impression that Pelzer was gonna do the cookin'.
He is.
For me.
Kitty's gonna cook for you.
Doc I, uh- I don't suppose you would tell me what you got in mind, would you? When you go out after a gunslinger, you keep your plans to yourself, don't ya? That way you don't have anyone questionin' your methods.
Tsk.
You ready, Mr.
Pelzer? Ja, ja, sure, sure.
All right.
Kitty? Yeah.
Thank you.
Well, I'm sorry, folks, but this has to be kind of a private schlachtfest.
Eh, you ready, Matt? Now, hold on, Doc.
We're not gonna go through with this.
The matter? You afraid of Kitty's cookin'? I'm afraid that whatever you've got planned is liable to cost us a doctor.
And we can't afford to lose one.
Gentlemen, won't you please explain? Yeah, I don't know what all the fuss is about.
This sausage of Mr.
Pelzer's is the best- Here, what're you doin'? W-well, Doc, ya had enough there for the whole of Dodge.
Oh, shut up! Why did y-? Oh Kitty, would you take him for a walk? Get outta here, Chester.
Well, wish I knew what it was that I did was wrong.
Mr.
Pelzer, you too.
I'm sorry.
I want to talk to Mr.
Dillon alone.
But, doctor, would you please- Come on, Mr.
Pelzer.
All right, Doc.
Isn't it about time you let me in on this? Well, till you interfered, I was conductin' a scientific experiment.
Well, what are you gonna do now? I- I'm gonna eat that food Kitty cooked for you, as long as Chester had to go and help himself to the food Mr.
Pelzer cooked.
Now, wait a minute.
You mean to tell me that whatever you thought was gonna happen to you is gonna happen to Chester now? If I'm right, Matt, nothin' gonna happen to me at all.
Chester's gonna come down with typhoid.
Mm-hm.
Tsk.
I thought it was somethin' like that.
First I thought it was the food those people ate at that picnic.
But when that big hunk of a blacksmith said he ate more than anybody else, and still walkin' around, well, I just hit on a wild hunch.
Go on.
Nothin' like it in medical literature that I know of, but.
.
Maybe Pelzer carries that bug around with him.
What? Yeah.
People eat the food he prepares typhoid.
Why doesn't he get it then? I don't know.
Maybe he's immune or somethin'.
I see.
So if, uh, Chester comes down with it, why, you'll know what caused the epidemic, then, huh? Simple as that.
Only Chester has to get sick, maybe die, to prove my point.
You sure your throat isn't sore, Chester? What? I said it feels fine.
Never felt better in my life, Doc.
Honest.
Well You're sound as a new dollar.
Do you hear that, Mr.
Dillon? Now maybe you'll stop drivin' me over here, every day.
Well, I just don't want to see anything happen to you, Chester, for some reason.
Well, I don't know, but it seems to me that you both are pretty darned sure that somethin's gonna happen.
Well, want to have another look at you, tomorrow.
Why? 'Cause Doc says so.
Mr.
Dillon.
Mr.
Dillon, come here, quick.
Chris Dawson and his family.
He said that anybody stayed in Dodge with this plague goin' on didn't have the sense of a goose.
Looks like the panic's on.
How'd anybody'd get ahold of Mr.
Bradley, Doc? Tell him to make some kind of a public announcement.
Is there anything that I can do? Nah, you've done more than your share already, Chester.
Well, yeah.
I have? Well, I I'm thinkin' I'll go in and have a glass of water.
I don't know why I've been feelin' so thirsty all mornin'.
Look at 'em run.
Like a bunch of sheep.
Well, that Looks like that puts me right back where I started.
Hey, wait a minute.
Did you hear what Chester just said? Hm? What'd he say? That he was thirsty! By golly, Matt.
Ohhh, Mr.
Dillon, I guess you fellas are gonna be right, after all.
I, heh, feel so dizzy I'm- I'm plumb swimming here.
Enjoy me, heaven.
There's that public announcement you wanted.
Special edition.
Well, says there, and I'm quoting an ignorant, bumbling, cow-town doctor, name of Adams.
That's me.
The epidemic in Dodge is over.
Anybody who leaves town on account of it is a darned fool.
What about Pelzer? Well, as long as he doesn't touch any food that people put in their mouths, we haven't got anything to worry about.
Did you make that clear to him? Threw such a scare into him, he swore off cookin' for himself.
Can you tell anything yet, Doc? No.
No, not yet.
Welcome back, Chester.
You, uh You left us kinda sudden.
Well I tell ya, it's sure good to be back.
You better lie down.
You bet.
You're gonna be pretty weak for the next couple days.
Well, I can't understand it.
I- I was feelin' fine this mornin', and then, just, all of a sudden, it What happened, anyway? Lotta things happened, Chester.
And it wasn't this mornin'.
It was five days ago.
Five? Well, I need a drink.
And, Kitty, I'm prescribin' the same thing for you.
Matt? No, I don't think so, Doc.
I've been waitin' for this.
All right.
Doc.
Kitty.
Yeah? Thanks.
Thank Chester.