Gunsmoke (1955) s02e27 Episode Script

ANNOUNCER: Starring James Arness as Matt Dillon.
Hey, why don't we just sit down here just a little while? Okay.
Gonna take it easy, and watch the street.
You look better sittin' down than standin' up anyway.
Well, I tell ya, Doc, it feels better, that's for sure.
Well, now, you had kind of a rough attack of the ague, there.
You're gettin' over it pretty fast.
Ah, I still feel all raveled out, Doc.
Yeah? And boy I feel short-tempered too.
Oh, well.
Fever, ague always leaves anybody short-tempered and out of sorts.
I wish I could get over that roaring in my ears.
Well, that's the quinine I gave you.
That's what did that.
Marshal Dillon? Yeah.
You don't know me, marshal, but I've seen you around lots of times.
My name's Jake Buley.
I seen him too.
Hello, Doc.
Yeah, hello there.
I've met Chester too.
He's a friend of yours? Yeah, he sure is.
What can I do for ya? Well, I, uh- I thought you might be in the market for a good horse, marshal.
Well, it'd have to be a real good one.
That's what I do, ride around the country lookin' for extra good horses.
Don't make much profit off of 'em, but keeps me from workin' steady.
Well, I don't often buy horses, Buley.
Not even good ones.
Do you like buckskins? Yeah.
I got a good one down at the stable.
It ain't no ordinary animal, marshal I'm a little under the weather tonight, Buley.
If I feel better in the morning I'll go down and take a look at him.
Oh, fine, fine.
Say, Buley, do you, uh-? Do you do pretty good going around the country that way? Well, not too bad.
And without cheatin' nobody too much either.
Well, I'll look for you tomorrow, marshal.
All right.
Well, Doc, I think I'll go on in and try to get some sleep.
Yeah.
Yes, it'll do you good.
Do you good.
Now, tell you what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna go down to Long Branch and have myself a little drink before I turn in.
Good.
Have one for me, will you? I'll do it.
Goodnight.
Goodnight.
Evening, Kitty.
Oh, Doc, I'm glad you're here.
Get him out of here, will ya? Who? Chester.
W-why? Because that's Nita Tucker he's drinkin' with.
She's pretty.
Oh, Doc, listen to me, she's also Ned Pickard's girl.
The gambler? Gambler, yes, and he can use a gun too and he's drunk tonight.
He's the most jealous man I know.
He and Chester have already tied into each other about her.
Well, he's not here now.
He went outside, but he'll be back and when he comes in here and finds Chester drinkin' with her there's gonna be plenty of trouble.
I tried to tell him.
Pickard's gonna kill him.
This is serious, Doc.
Well, now, all right, I'll do what I can but you stay here 'cause if that Pickard comes back, uh- Well, I guess you'd better get Matt.
I sure will.
All right.
Yeah.
Evening, Chester.
Oh, hello, Doc.
Nita, I think that we got just the price for one more beer.
No, Chester, now, Ned's gonna be back any minute.
Oh, well, he don't own ya, does he, huh? You don't know what he can be like.
Oh, who cares? I told you before, I ain't afraid of him.
But I am.
Chester, I want to talk to you.
Later, Doc.
No, right now, I- And you just won't listen to nobody, will ya? Just a minute, Pickard.
I ain't after you, Doc.
Now- Just leave him be, Doc.
Well, he's drunk.
Not so drunk I'll let a man steal my girl.
Oh, now, Ned, please- Shut up.
I'll tend to you later.
Why don't you quit bullyin' her anyway? Why, you- Just a minute, here.
I'll buy everybody a drink.
No, you won't.
That's enough, Ned.
What? You're making a fool of yourself.
Look, Dobie, you go run the Dodge House this saloon ain't none of your business.
Everything in Dodge is my business.
Now, hadn't you better go and sober up? Sure.
Soon as I put a hole in Chester, here.
Hold it.
What are you doing here? Looks to me like I'm stoppin' a fight.
I ain't gonna fight you.
All right, then give me your gun.
Sure.
I ain't that drunk.
Chester.
Lock him up.
Now, wait, marshal.
Chester wasn't even armed.
All right, take him out the back way and down the alley.
Yeah.
Ain't gonna be no fight, might as well go to bed.
Y-you can't put me in jail, I ain't done nothin'.
Mister, I'm doin' you a favor puttin' ya in jail.
The marshal's right, Ned.
All right.
Wait till I get sober.
Wait till tomorrow, you'll see what I'll do to you.
You're not gonna do anything to anybody.
Chester? Yes.
Get him out of here.
All right, I'll follow ya.
Next time you won't be so lucky, Chester.
Oh, Pickard, you'll forget all about it in the mornin'.
Sure, I'll forget, when you're in your grave.
Well, now that you're here I recommend a drink.
For you, not me, I'm goin' to bed.
Goodnight, Doc.
Night, Kitty.
Night, Doc.
Night, ma'am.
Good thing you came when you did, marshal.
Yeah.
Kitty figured there might be trouble around here tonight.
Well, I'm all on the side of law and order in this town, and you know that.
Well, I guess as many times as they've shot up your hotel, you'd have to be, huh? That's right.
And you know something, marshal? This Ned can be one of the meanest.
Well, I'll just keep him in jail till he gets over it.
Yes, well, you can't keep him there forever.
Oh.
Chester.
What happened? You hurt? Oh, no.
No, I'm all right, I- Did he try to get away from you or something? Huh? Did he try to get away from you? No.
He's dead, marshal.
He's dead? Here's his gun.
It's been fired.
Did he jump you or? Uh, no.
No, he didn't jump me.
Well, what'd you shoot him for? Well, I didn't shoot him.
Well, it sure looks like you did, Chester.
Well, I don't care what it looks like.
I didn't shoot him.
I-I got hit.
Somebody was hidin' behind this barrel here and they just jumped out and hit me.
Well, you ain't bleeding nowhere.
Well, I don't care whether I'm bleedin' or not, I got hit right back there just as plain as anything.
I didn't shoot him.
I heard the shot but I just couldn't do nothin'.
Who was he? Well I-I didn't see him, I don't know who he was.
He- I heard a noise and I started to turn around and just as I did somebody hit me just like that: That's all.
I never had any use for him.
You all know that.
But, Chester, I can't hold with murder.
Mr.
Dobie, I didn't kill him.
He threatened to get you tomorrow.
You could've killed him while you had the chance.
I got hit, I tell ya.
I got hit just as plain as anything.
Mr.
Dillon, you believe me, don't ya? That's gonna be awful hard to prove, Chester.
There's not- There's not a mark on you.
Well, then you just let Doc look at me 'cause he can tell you that I got hit.
My goodness, I wouldn't just shoot anybody like that.
Come on, let's get you up to Doc's.
Dobie, you stay here and look after the body till we get back.
Now, just because Chester's a friend of yours You know me better than that.
Here, hold that there, Matt.
Now, let me see.
Yeah, that's fine.
It's-it's right there, Doc- Well, now, just get your hand away there, let me see.
Well, what in the world did you get hit with? Well, I don't know, Doc.
I didn't even see him.
Well, might've been the edge of his hand or somethin'.
It's not swollen, the skin's not broken- Well, it's bruised or somethin', ain't it? I can't see anything.
Well, it must've done something to it, Doc.
Now, you just wasn't hit very hard.
Well, it was hard enough that it knocked me clean off my feet.
I was plumb swimmy-headed for a full minute.
It- It was long enough for him to pick up the gun and shoot Ned Pickard, that's how hard it was.
Did you have your hat on? Well, I thought maybe the hat might've cushioned the blow or somethin'.
I don't know, Doc, there's not a mark on him.
I just don't understand this at all, Chester.
Doc, are you tryin' to tell me that you can't testify that I got hit? You wouldn't want me to get on a witness stand and lie for you, would you, Chester? Well, no, I-I wouldn't want you to do that.
Of course not.
Well, it's just too bad Jim Dobie had to be there, that's all.
Dillon? Well, Chester, Dobie's always liked you but I'm afraid he's convinced you did this.
He's liable to testify against you.
Well, I don't see how he could, Mr.
Dillon.
He didn't even seen it.
No.
Unfortunately, nobody saw it.
Well, I- I guess I got myself in a pretty fix, didn't I? Well, now, don't let's give up too easy, huh? Mr.
Dillon, you don't think that I did this, do ya? Chester, if you say you didn't do it, that's good enough for me.
But it looks bad.
It looks real bad.
Doc? Well, Chester, I-I- I wouldn't worry about it.
Well, I can't help but worry about it.
If we don't find out who done it I'm the one that's gonna have to stand trial, it's not you.
And it sure don't look too good.
You'd be worried too if you was in my shoes.
Come on, let's go back to the office, huh? Well, uh- Are you gonna put me in jail, are ya? No.
No, I'm not gonna put you in jail, Chester.
But you'll have to stay around the office for a few days.
Oh, well, all right.
Gonna be enough talk around about this as it is.
I tell ya what.
Tomorrow morning I'll go down and talk to Nita Tucker.
What for? Well, maybe she can give me some idea of who had it in for Ned Pickard.
It's not much to go on but it's all we got.
Oh, well, I guess it is.
Well, Doc Yeah.
Hello, marshal.
Doctor find out anything? Nothin' visible.
Did you put Chester in jail? I'm lookin' for Nita Tucker, have you seen her? Now, look here, marshal, I feel just as bad as anybody does about this.
But just because Chester works for you is no reason he can murder a man and go free.
I'll be responsible for Chester, Dobie.
He gets away it'll cause trouble.
Give Dodge a worse name than ever.
You're pretty sure Chester's guilty aren't you? Yes, I am.
That's why I don't like him not being in jail.
I asked you if you'd seen Nita Tucker.
Well, I saw her having breakfast with Kitty just a little while ago.
But that child has nothing to do with it.
Everybody knows how she hated Ned.
But I'll stand up for her, she's a good girl.
Then there's nothing to worry about, is there? Well, good morning, Matt.
Come on and sit down, have some coffee.
Well, no thanks, Kitty, uh.
Nita, I'm sure sorry about Ned Pickard.
It sounds terrible, marshal, but I'm not very sorry.
Ned didn't treat women very well, Matt.
Yeah, well, of course that's not exactly a reason for murder, is it? Oh, look, marshal, now, you're not thinking I had anything to do with that, are you? Well, Chester says he didn't do it either.
Tell me something, Nita, do you know anybody who might've had it in for Ned Pickard? A man like that makes enemies, marshal.
Lots of them.
Anybody in particular? No, not that I know of.
Look, marshal, I'd like to help.
I mean, if Chester didn't do it, it isn't right he should- Well, whatever's going to happen to him.
No, it sure isn't.
Well- Looks pretty bad for Chester, doesn't it? You bet it does.
Well, I gotta go.
I'll see you later.
All right.
Hey, marshal.
Oh, hello, Buley.
I, uh, heard about Chester.
I'm awful sorry about it.
Yeah.
He seemed like such a nice fella, it sure is too bad.
Yes, it is.
You know, uh, people are wondering why you don't lock him up, marshal.
Oh? Not me, I understand, but Jim Dobie's been talking about it ever since it happened to anybody who will listen.
Yeah, I know.
Well, that's what I wanted to tell you, marshal.
There's gonna be trouble about it and I don't like that kind of trouble.
How come you're so interested in this, Buley? Chester that good a friend of yours? Just that I don't like to see no trouble start, that's all.
Well, if any trouble starts I'll handle it all right.
Oh, I know you will.
I know you will, marshal.
I just wanted to tell you what the talk is.
Say, you-you wanna take a look at that buckskin today? No, thanks, not today.
Okay, maybe tomorrow.
I'll be around.
Chester, what do you want me to do? It's been over a week, we haven't turned up a single clue.
I gotta fill out a report.
But them's murder charges ain't they, Mr.
Dillon? Chester, it's just a formality.
Now, quit worryin', will ya? Some formality.
Somebody killed him, wasn't me.
All them people out there are just as free and as happy as they can be.
They don't understand what they got, I guess.
They just don't realize.
Take some innocent man and you lock him away for the rest of his life some place where he can't see nothin', or hear nothin', or do nothin'.
It just don't seem fair to me, Mr.
Dillon.
Chester, listen to me.
We're not giving up.
We're gonna keep looking until we find the answer.
Do you understand? Yeah, yeah.
What do you expect me to do anyway? Oh, nothin', Mr.
Dillon, nothin'.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry too, Chester.
Well, I- I guess I'll go on out and look around the town.
I'll be back later.
Well, hey there, Matt.
What are you shopping for? Not a thing.
I just got tired of sittin' around the office, thought I'd got out and take a walk.
Well, where's Jonas? He's out in back looking for some hats for me.
Now, don't tell me you girls are gonna buy all that stuff you got stacked up there.
We are just as soon as we pick out some hats.
She means she is.
I'm only watching.
Well, now, isn't that an awful lot of stuff just for one girl? Not for me.
Not this time.
What do you mean? Matt, when does a girl buy everything new, all she wants? Well, now, that's something I wouldn't now.
When she gets married, of course.
Married? You gettin' married, Nita? Next Saturday, marshal.
Well, that's-that's fine.
Who's the lucky groom? Jake Buley.
Jake Buley? I guess everybody's kind of surprised.
Yeah.
Marshal, would-would you come to the wedding? I'd be awful pleased.
Oh, sure, sure, of course I'll come.
Really, will you? Of course I will.
Oh, thanks.
It'll mean a lot to me.
Nita, this is as far as I'm gonna carry 'em.
Oh, thanks, Mr.
Jonas.
You know, I haven't bought a new hat in over a year.
She's so excited.
Kitty.
Hm? How long has this been goin' on between Nita and Jake Buley? Oh, a month-or-so, I guess, why? Well, I thought she was Ned Pickard's girl.
Well, he thought so too but she's been meetin' Buley on the sly.
Pickard never found out about it and he sure can't stop him now.
Huh.
No, I guess he can't.
Well, as bad as it is for Chester, I'm-I'm glad Pickard got shot.
Well, yeah, but it could've been handled a different way.
Kitty, I'm gonna tell you a secret.
What is this secret? That's what I want you to call it when you tell Nita.
Tell Nita what? You tell her that I'm gonna let Chester leave Dodge tonight.
Run away.
Why? You tell her that I'm gonna take him out of town tonight, and after he gets away, I'm gonna come back and arrest Jake Buley.
Buley? Do you think Buley killed Pickard? Well, I don't know, he could have.
He had good enough reason.
But I'm gonna find out tonight.
But, Matt, if-if Nita tells Buley that you're after him, won't he wonder why Chester's runnin' away? Yeah.
Look, you tell her that I've got a witness but that he's out of town for a few days.
And that the way this Jim Dobie has been talkin', I'm afraid they might get up a lynch mob before my witness gets back.
Well, this could ruin her one chance to be happy.
She wouldn't be happy with a murderer, would she? Well, I'll do it, Matt, as soon as we leave here.
Good.
Now, look, you tell her that Chester will be down at Moss Grimmick's stable, about midnight, with me.
Right.
All right.
Well, must be half-past midnight already.
Yeah.
Don't guess there's any use waitin' any longer.
No, I guess not.
I was hopin' he'd come into the stable.
We'd have had a better chance of gettin' him that way without some citizen pickin' up a stray bullet.
Yeah.
Yeah, I know.
Well, it's me he's after, Chester.
I'll ride out first.
Well, I'll cover you as best that I can, Mr.
Dillon.
Chester, he doesn't know which direction we're gonna be taking so he's liable to be right outside the stable.
You're not gonna be able to cover me much.
You're riskin' your life just to keep me out of jail, ain't ya? I'm catchin' a murdered, Chester.
That's just part of it, Mr.
Dillon.
You're doin' a lot more than just catchin' a murderer, a lot more.
Now, look, you stay back in the shadows, will ya? When I get outside I'm gonna turn around and I'm gonna holler back at ya.
So as Buley will know it's me.
Well, ain't there no other way we can catch him, Mr.
Dillon? I mean, I-I don't know what I'd do if anything happened.
Chester, come on, hurry up.
Drop it, gringo! Oh, don't kill me, please.
Nita.
You hurt bad? I don't know.
Ooh.
I don't think anything's broken, but we better up to the doctor right away.
Mr.
Dillon, she tried to shoot you.
No.
No, it was Jake.
I followed him here.
I tried to stop him.
Where is he? I tried to stop him, but I couldn't.
Nita, tell me, where is he? He's- He's still in that rain barrel at the end of the alley.
He ran down there and hid, told me to shut up.
Chester.
Yeah.
Stay here with her.
Yeah.
And keep down.
You're trapped, Buley.
I'm gonna start filling that barrel full of holes.
I'm not taking any chances, Buley.
Here it comes.
Don't shoot.
Don't shoot.
All right, then get your hands up and keep 'em up high.
They're up.
Throw the gun down.
You're making a big mistake, marshal, shootin' a woman like that.
Get out of the barrel.
All right, get goin'.
I told you not to do it.
I told you.
Don't believe her, marshal.
She made me do it.
It was all her idea, she's to blame, marshal.
Chester.
Yeah.
Lock him up.
Yes, sir.
Now, listen to me, marshal- You know what I think of a man who tries to hide behind a woman? All right, Buley, let's go, and you better walk straight too.
Too bad you wasn't killed.
Jake Move.
I guess you won't be coming to the wedding after all, will you, marshal? No, Nita, I guess I won't.
You think you can walk? I'll try.
Good girl.
I guess it's best I found out now what kind of a man Jake is.
Yeah.
Oh.