Gunsmoke (1955) s02e29 Episode Script

Gunsmoke.
Starring James Arness as Matt Dillon.
I knew a man once who brought his blind old mother to live with him.
And inside of a week he gave her a pair of his cast-off shoes and put her out in the yard making soap in a big black kettle.
I remember at the time thinking that man was plum mean.
But I've met meaner since.
Since I took this job, that is.
Matt Dillon, U.
S.
marshal.
Halt! Wake up, woman! Now, you sit there.
Don't you move.
Hey, you! Hey.
Where's the marshal's office? Why? What do you want him for? I'll tell him that.
Where's his office? Well, I'm leaning on it.
Ain't no use in you going in there now, though.
What? I said there's no need for you to go in there now.
Marshal Dillon won't be back for three or four hours.
I can't wait that long.
Well, I work for him.
My name's Chester Goode.
Well, now, that's fine.
I'm Sam Rickers, Chester.
I got me a homestead I'm proving up a couple miles West of here.
Yeah? Did you run into trouble, did you, Rickers? Trouble? Oh, no.
Not me.
I want to show you something over there in my wagon.
Come on.
Got to see it to believe it.
Hey, Letty, just don't sit there like you were stuffed.
That ain't the marshal, Sam.
Of course, it ain't.
This is Chester.
He works for him.
Well, the marshal ain't here right now, ma'am.
But Chester can take care of everything.
Can't you, Chester? Well, you just tell me what it is, I might.
You're gonna be real surprised.
Hurry up, Sam.
Get it over with.
Give him the surprise you're so pleased, he- You shut up, Letty! You'll get nothing out of this.
I don't want nothing out of it.
There.
Take a look at that.
Well, sworn to goodness.
Where'd you get him? Came riding into my place last night around supper time.
I guess he didn't figure on finding a fellow like me there.
Well, mister, you must be facing a whirlwind to have shot down Bob Hulburt.
Part luck, I guess.
I didn't hold him in here for nothing, Chester.
Yeah, yeah.
I know, I know.
Well, you'll have to wait till Mr.
Dillon gets back.
He- He'll take care of you.
So long as I know it's coming.
Yeah, well, I reckon we better get him up to Doc Adams.
Ha-ha.
Ain't it a little late for that? Well, there's got to be an autopsy.
Well, whatever you say.
Well, it's the law.
Especially in a case like this.
When will the marshal let me know about everything? Well, he'll let you know.
By golly, it's 4:00 right now, Chester.
Well, I left a note for him, Doc.
He ought to come up here when gets back.
Well, he'll be pretty surprised.
I'll tell you that.
Well, yeah, he will be that- Wait.
What- What is that? Is that him? Sounds like him.
Mr.
Dillon.
Come on in here.
What's all this about? Did somebody really kill Bob Hulburt? Yeah, they sure did.
It was a fellow named Sam Rickers.
Sam Rickers? That homesteader? Yeah, that's him.
Kind of hard to believe, ain't it? He never seemed like the kind of man that would take on an outlaw like Bob Hulburt.
Well, there was a thousand dollars reward on him, you know.
Well, maybe that's what gave him the courage, yeah? Well, Bob Hulburt's a good bad mad now.
You can take him out and plant him on Boot Hill any time you feel like it.
Well, that doesn't sound much like an autopsy report, Doc.
Well, what's there to report? He was wanted dead or alive and he got shot.
Doesn't make any difference how.
Well, how did he get shot? Got shot twice in the chest- -and once in the back.
In the back? And I can't tell you which one was first either.
Mr.
Dillon, didn't you say that you knew him at one time.
Yeah, some years ago, Chester.
This was his first time in Dodge, though.
And his last time too.
Looks like Sam Rickers is too tough for him.
I don't know, Doc.
That may be like saying that John Wilkes Booth was too tough for Lincoln.
Now, what do you- Oh, you mean if he got shot in the back first.
That's exactly what I mean.
What the matter? Well, I'll tell you one thing: Sam Rickers isn't going to collect any 1000 dollars reward for this.
He might hang for it, though.
What? I don't know who that is.
But it's not Bob Hulburt.
Are you sure? You bet I'm sure.
Well, look at that place, would you? You'd think Rickers would prove it up better than that.
Well, he's never been a particularly enterprising man that I know of, Chester.
Not, uh, lately, anyway.
You know, I just can't get over him murdering a man and then trying to collect a reward for it.
He must have seen us coming.
Yeah.
Chester.
Well, marshal, I didn't expect you so soon.
How are you, ma'am? Say hello, Letty.
Say hello to the marshal.
Hello, marshal.
Nice to see you, Mrs.
Rickers.
Letty, marshal.
"Mrs.
" makes me feel kind of old.
All right, Letty.
Now, stop trying to fool people.
You know how old she is? Please, Sam.
Why, she's going on- Rickers.
I came here about that man you brought into Dodge this morning.
That man? That's the most valuable man I ever run into, marshal Why, out of him I going to build me a whole new place here.
I'm going to get me some cattle, some hogs and- I don't know what all.
I've just been talking to Letty about what all I'm gonna buy.
Ain't I, Letty? I wish you wouldn't tell- I wish you wouldn't take- I don't want no part of it.
Hey, that's enough.
You interfering with a man and his wife, marshal? What kind of man are you anyway? Now, let me tell you something.
In the first place, you're not gonna collect any reward.
What? The man you shot wasn't Bob Hulburt.
What do you mean? I recognized him as soon as he rode in here.
You've got wanted posters all over.
I'd know him anywhere.
Yeah, well, it may have looked like him.
But it wasn't him.
Sam You shut up, Letty.
But that makes it murder.
Letty, maybe you better explain what's happened.
No, I'll tell you.
I can tell it better.
Well, it was like this: We were in the cabin there about supper time and, uh, I- I happened to be looking out this window.
And I- I seen him coming.
I yelled at Letty and when he got close we both recognized him.
I went and I got my gun and I came out here and I told him- I said, "You keep moving.
We don't want no outlaws around here.
" And he started to pull for his gun and I shot him.
I had to! It was self defense.
He would have killed me.
Ain't that right, Letty? That's the way it happened, ain't it? That's right, marshal.
That's what happened.
You know, there's something you haven't explained to me yet.
What's that? How did he happen to take a bullet in the back? Well, the first shot knocked him off his horse and he rolling around on the ground there and I shot him a couple more times.
One of them must have hit him in the back.
You saw it, Letty.
I saw it.
Letty, would you swear to all this in court? I'd swear to it, marshal.
You're the only witness, you know.
That's the truth, marshal.
It was self defense.
Why should I be lying? I don't know.
I don't even know who you've shot yet.
It was some outlaw and you know it.
Or else why would he have drawn to me like that? Taking quite a chance, weren't you? Bucking a man you thought was Bob Hulburt? I ain't afraid of no man, marshal.
No man at all.
Don't ride your luck too hard, Rickers.
It might throw you some day.
Come on, Chester.
Honest to goodness.
Drink your beer, Matt.
Honest, I don't think I better after that.
You're gonna have to pay for it anyhow.
Oh, that's all right.
What's money to a rich marshal? Oh, now, Mr.
Dillon.
You could be rich if you wanted to be.
Yeah, I suppose so.
I could, uh, turn bounty hunter like Sam Rickers.
Is there anything you can do about him? No, I'm afraid not, Kitty.
I talked to Judge Brookings about it and he said there's no point even bringing him to trial.
Unless I can prove that the man was shot in the back.
Well, maybe he didn't.
Well Are you Marshal Dillon? Yes, sir.
My name's Catlin from San Antonio.
Well, is there something I can do for you? Yes.
Maybe you can explain that to me.
You know this man? Well, I don't know no Bob Hulburt but that's my partners picture you got on there.
I'd like to know why.
Your partner? What's his name? Jake Haney.
He's been my partner for 10 years and he ain't no outlaw.
So where is he? He's supposed to meet me here.
You haven't got him locked up in jail or something? Mr.
Catlin, your partner's dead.
Dead? Yeah.
It's amazing how much they look alike, isn't it? Why, I don't believe it.
Who'd want to kill Jake Haney? He never hurt nobody.
He carried a gun, sure.
But I've done all the fighting for us when need be.
Well, I'm sorry, Mr.
Catlin.
They buried him on Boot Hill yesterday.
Who killed him, marshal? It was a mistake.
Nobody's killed by mistake.
Now who done it? It doesn't matter who it was.
You going to tell me? No, I'm not going to tell you.
Jake Haney was as honest and decent a man as I ever known.
I ain't going to let him die like this by mistake.
Mr.
Catlin, I'm- I'm sorry for what's happened.
It's a little too late to do anything about it now.
It ain't too late for me, marshal.
I'm going to find out who it was and kill him.
You better get out and tell Sam Rickers about this.
Tell him he can hide in jail if he wants to.
Well, Mr.
Dillon, I don't see why you have to protect a no good, wife beating, reward hunting bum like him.
Go on.
You get going.
He's right, Matt.
You ought to let Rickers and Catlin settle this for themselves.
Well, my job is to keep people from killing each other, Kitty.
Not to promote it.
No matter who they are? No matter who they are.
Sometimes I don't like it any better than you do.
Mr.
Dillon? You gave me a start.
Where have you been? Morning.
You spend the night at Rickers? Oh, yeah, I sure did.
Where did you sleep? They don't have much room there.
Oh, they have plenty of room.
There's lots of it.
What do you mean? Well, I didn't see hide nor hair of them.
They'd cleared out.
Cleared out? Yeah.
There wasn't a sign of them anywhere.
Well, Rickers must have had some reason for running off.
Yeah, but what? I don't know.
Uh-oh.
Catlin's found him.
He'll kill him for sure.
Well, let's get over there.
Come on.
Morning, marshal.
Morning.
Something wrong, marshal? No.
No, nothing wrong.
Mr.
Catlin, here, is staying at the Dodge House.
Same as me and my wife.
Oh, I see.
Well, that's fine.
Fine.
Thanks for the information, Mr.
Rickers.
I'll see you later.
Well, you stopped that just in time, Mr.
Dillon.
Stopped what? What information did you give him? I told him where the printing office was.
Why? He doesn't know who you are? Of course, he does.
We introduced ourselves over at the Dodge House.
Well, he don't know, Mr.
Dillon.
He really don't.
What's this all about? Catlin happens to be looking for the man who killed his partner.
He's looking for you, Rickers.
You've got to get rid of him, marshal.
You've got to get him out of Dodge.
The only people that know about this is Doc, Chester here and myself.
And you wife.
But I don't think she'll talk.
He'll find out it was me.
He's- He's bound to.
Not unless you give it away yourself.
What are you doing in town at the Dodge House anyway? Um, I'm going back tomorrow.
I'm making a loan at the bank.
Ain't you gonna do nothing about him, marshal? You just keep your mouth shut and you'll be all right.
Let's go have breakfast.
You sure ain't eating much, Mr.
Dillon.
Something bothering you? Yeah.
I'm worried about Sam Rickers, Chester.
Honest to goodness, you spend more time worrying about him.
What's it about now? This Catlin's no fool, you know.
Sooner or later he's going to figure out that Rickers is his man.
Yeah, well.
So what if he does? Well, if he does, there'll be a killing, that's what.
Where are you going? Well, I'm gonna run Catlin out of town.
Should have done it a long time ago.
If you ask me I hope he does find him.
Good enough.
Treating that wife of his the way he does.
Ought to be horse whipped.
Just kills your appetite.
Let's go on back out to the place and forget about this, Sam.
He'd find me.
They'll tell him.
I know they will.
They want to get rid of me.
They hate me.
No, Sam.
They won't tell him.
Get out of my way.
It was self defense, marshal.
Pure and simple.
I said, "It was self defense.
" I went in there to talk to him.
I wanted to tell him right out that I made a mistake about his partner.
I wanted him to know I didn't mean any wrong in doing it.
Don't you think that was right, marshal? Catlin's dead, Rickers.
I had to.
As soon as I said that he went for his gun.
I had to kill him, marshal.
Yeah, Letty saw it.
Ask her.
Tell him what happened, Letty Please, Sam Tell him what I said.
I don't want to talk.
I don't want to talk at all.
I'll whoop you good.
It's all right, Letty.
He's not hurt.
You knocked him out.
Letty, he's no good.
He's no good at all.
You don't have to do what he says.
Don't I? You're afraid of him, aren't you? He's my husband.
No woman needs a husband like that.
I married him, marshal.
Letty, listen to me.
Maybe he was different when you married him.
But the way he is now, he doesn't deserve a wife.
He's no good, and you know it.
But if you go along with him- If you lie for him you're just as bad as he is.
No, don't say that.
I ain't like him.
Yes, you are.
If you lie for him you're just as bad.
No- You think about it.
You think about it real hard.
Mr.
Dillon, are you sure you don't want a hot cup of coffee? It wouldn't hurt you none.
Nope.
Well, it's awful good.
No thanks.
It's real coffee.
I've been adding to it for about a week now.
Go on over to Doc's and see if he's through with Catlin yet, will you? What for? Well, if he is we'll hire a couple of men and bury him.
Oh, yeah, that's right.
He didn't have no friends here, did he? Buried the only friend he had.
Oh, yeah.
That Rickers, what a down right, no good, miserable man he is.
Hello, Letty.
Come on in.
Chester will fix you a cup of coffee.
I- I didn't come for that.
I can't stand it no more, marshal.
I can't tell no more lies for him.
Well, you don't have to, Letty.
We won't let him hurt you anymore.
I ain't even as scared no more.
I hate him.
He's a coward.
And I hate him.
Where is he now? I don't know.
I've come away from him.
Letty, do you want to tell me what's happened? That first man, Sam thought he was that outlaw.
He looked like him.
So he made me go out and talk to him while he sneaked around the side of the house.
I didn't know he was going to do that.
He had shot him in the back, marshal.
And then he had run up, turned him over and shot him twice more.
Like killing a hog.
Makes me sick to think about it.
And what about Catlin? Did Sam kill him the same way? Of course, he did.
He had his gun out and he just stood there- What are you doing here, Letty? Leave her be.
No, marshal, I'll tell him.
I ain't afraid.
Not no more.
You've been talking.
You've been talking about things.
I hate you, Sam Rickers.
You're nothing but a killer.
The worst kind of killer.
Don't listen to her.
She's lying! She's nothing but a cheap lying woman! I ain't lying! I seen you do it.
Like killing hogs, it was.
Wait till I get you alone! Talking about your husband-! I don't care if you are my husband! You're a coward, Sam! A terrible coward! Letty! Why did you kill that man in the hotel! He tried to kill me.
Yeah.
He would have.
Yeah, and for no reason.
You couldn't have testified against him.
He forgot your his wife.
I'm gonna forget it too.
I'm gonna forget I ever was.
I told the truth about him.
Like you said.
And it made me hate him, talking the truth about him.
Made me hate him worse than I ever did.
Letty, I'll take you back to your hotel now.
No.
I ain't even gonna bury him.
Well, we'll bury him.
I'm going out and I'm gonna burn the place down.
Then I'm leaving here for good.
I'm going now.
Well, you better get Doc again.
Yeah.