Gunsmoke (1955) s03e16 Episode Script

starring James Arness as Matt Dillon.
When two men lose their tempers and go gunning for each other, the law can sometimes step in and force them to call it off before anybody gets killed.
But in the face of a feud, a hundred-year-old grudge of some kind, the law's pretty helpless.
The only "calling off" in a feud is the grave.
And I have to stand by and watch.
Matt Dillon, U.
S.
Marshal.
What do you want? This your town? My town? Are you acquainted here? Well, been here a couple of months- why? I'm looking for a marshal.
Marshal who? Dillon.
Oh, you mean the marshal.
All right, the marshal.
I don't care.
Where's he at? He's got a office right across the street there.
Then that's where I'm a-goin'.
'Cause I sure want him.
You'll get yourself shot, fella, if you go after him.
Oh Ooh Oh, I'll tell ya, Doc, it's about to drive me right out of my mind! Well, confound it, if you'd hold still for a minute, Chester.
It don't ache, though.
It just every once in a while, there's just a buzzin' goes on Oh, there it is! Ooh ooh What do you think it could be, Doc? Well, how in thunder can I tell from here?! Good gracious! Go on, sit down there.
Come on, let Doc look at it, Chester.
Right there and hold still.
Well, all right.
Good heavens.
Well, what are you going to do? Well, now take it easy with that thing, Doc.
Oh, never mind.
Easy now.
Stop being such a baby.
Easy! Wait a minute.
I'll be doggone.
Is it bad, Doc? Huh? Oh, what are you going to do with that?! Oh, stop it, for heaven's sakes.
Well, be careful.
You got to hold still or I can't Now take it easy, Chester.
Doc knows what he's doing.
Yeah, but I don't.
Ooh.
Well, can you beat that.
What are you laughing at? Has the buzzing stopped? Yeah.
It's stopped? Yeah.
Well, what did you take out of there? Well Well, I'll swan Well, that's just a little old fly.
Did you get that out of my ear? He sure got the nerve, ain't he? In my ear.
You little devil.
Howdy.
How do you do? Which one of you be the what do you call 'em? The marshal? Yeah, the marshal.
What is that? Well, uh, the marshal's kind of a peace officer.
I'm agin' peace officers.
This here a jailhouse? You could call it that, yeah.
I agin' jailhouses, too.
Well, so am I, but sometimes they're necessary.
No, they ain't.
No more than the law is.
It ain't fitti'' for some folks to meddle in other folks's business.
Oh, where do they figure it that way, friend? Down in the Ozarks, maybe? It's better country than this.
And I'll thank you to call me Eben Hakes.
All right, Eben Hakes, I'm Doc Adams and this here's Chester Goode and that's the marshal you're talking to.
Man said you'd know where Joth Monger'd be livin'.
Joth Monger? Yeah, sure.
Come out here about a year ago? Brung a old mountain gal with him? His wife.
Yeah.
Well, where at are they? Well, they got a place up by Rock Creek.
About ten miles north of here.
What kind of place? Well, it's just a little shack and a patch of corn.
I'll find it.
You came a mighty long way just to see a friend, didn't you? Joth Monger ain't exactly a friend of mine.
I better get goin', it being Saturday and all.
Saturday? What's that got to do with it? Nothing, 'cept I won't kill no man on a Sunday.
Never have and I never will.
Well, for heaven's sakes, Mr.
Dillon, he's talking about killing Joth Monger.
Well, he couldn't mean it, could he, Matt? Yep.
Huh? He's too mountain simple to lie, Doc.
Well, why didn't you lock him up? 'Cause I'd just have to turn him loose again.
Well, we better get out there and tell Joth about this, before he gets there.
I reckon we better.
Hello, Mrs.
Monger.
Howdy.
How are you, ma'am? Poorly, thank ya.
Is Joth around here, Mrs.
Monger? Joth heels it into Dodge every Saturday.
Every Saturday? I never see him.
Well, iffin' he'd socialize more, you'd see him.
Joth's got his ways.
They're lonesome ways, but they're his'n.
Mrs.
Monger, you ever hear of a man by the name of Eben Hakes? Eben Hakes? iffin' you speak that name around here, Marshal, you won't be welcome.
Trouble between you, is there? Well, iffin' you call Joth being the only Monger left on earth, and Eben being the only Hakes, then I'd say there was trouble.
I see.
A feud, huh? iffin' both families were whittled down to just them two, I'd call it a feud.
How'd this feud get started, anyway? It's a family matter.
Where you be seeing Eben Hakes, anyway? Well, he was in Dodge, asking about Joth.
iffin' he was asking, he'll find him, and that's bad.
Well, that's why I rode out here.
iffin' Joth knew about him, I wouldn't worry.
Joth's a better shot than Eben Hakes any day.
Well, the law doesn't recognize a feud as a justification for murder, ma'am.
Now whichever one of those men kills the other one, he's going to hang for it.
Marshal, iffin' you start meddling, they'll shoot you.
But it's Joth I'm worried about.
He'll be drunk soon as it's dark.
We'll find him, ma'am.
You'd better.
He'll be getting killed iffin' you don't.
Good-bye, ma'am.
Bye.
Bye, Mrs.
Monger.
Bye.
Hello, Hakes.
Joth Monger's place over that way, ain't it, Marshal? Yep.
Good.
Wait a minute, Hakes.
You don't care whether you hang or not, do you? Hang? For shootin' a Monger? For shooting anybody.
Didn't you ever hear of murder? Marshal, you're gettin' downright contrary.
Where's your horse? I got no horse.
You trying to say that that you walked clear from the Ozarks? I'd walk anywhere to get me a Monger.
Well, forever more.
Maybe I ought to just throw you into jail after all.
Now you are being meddlesome.
I gotta get over to that there house.
Now don't you fret about the old woman, Marshal.
I don't aim to shoot her.
Mr.
Dillon? Huh? Maybe you oughta just let 'em shoot each other and have done with it.
I'm tempted, Chester.
I don't see how you're gonna stop 'em.
Neither do I.
Evening, Matt.
Hello, Kitty.
You looking for somebody? Yeah, but I don't see him anywhere.
Chester will be along in a minute.
Let's sit down, huh? Fine.
Thank you.
It's almost midnight.
Where have you been? I've been out looking for Joth Monger.
Oh, what's he done? Well, he hasn't done anything yet, but Chester and I have been in and out of every saloon in Dodge.
We've been looking for him all night.
How come you tried the Long Branch last? I figured this place to be too high-class for a man like Joth.
Well, I'll bet you a dollar, he's sitting right out back.
Huh? He sits out there every Saturday night, Matt.
Buys a bottle of cheap whiskey at the bar and takes it outside and drinks it- all alone- with his rifle in one hand and the bottle in the other.
Never bothers anybody.
Just sits there all by himself.
Well, I'll be darned.
No wonder I've never seen him around.
Evening, Miss Kitty.
Chester.
No luck, Mr.
Dillon.
Kitty says he might be out in back, Chester.
Out back? Yeah.
Would you go take a look? Well, all right, I'll What what would he be doing out there? Drinking.
Oh.
What's this all about, Matt? Well, it's a feud, Kitty.
A feud? It's been a long time since I heard of a feud in Dodge.
Well, this one kind of got transplanted from the Ozarks.
The only person I know from the Ozarks is Joth.
Yeah, well, the other half arrived today.
And on foot, too.
He walked?! Yeah.
He's quite a traveling man.
His name is Eben Hakes.
He's after Joth, huh? Yeah; he's pretty convincing about it, too.
Well, what are you going to do about it? Besides getting caught in the middle? He was out there, all right.
Course I made him leave his rifle and his whiskey out back.
Hello, Joth.
Say what you're gonna say, Marshal.
I don't care to be cooped up in this place very long.
All right.
Eben Hakes is looking for you.
Course he is.
The Mongers and the Hakes been looking for one another nigh on to 40 years.
Most of 'em got found, too.
How drunk are you? Mm 'bout as drunk as I always am this time Saturday night.
Uh-oh, look out.
Look out! I got you caught like a bear up a tree, Joth.
Put that rifle down, Hakes.
Doggone.
And I ain't even got my weapon.
Go on, I said put it down.
Now you're standing in the way, Marshal.
Yeah.
And I'm going to stay here.
Well, then I'm just a-gonna have to shoot you first.
You touch that hammer, I'm gonna kill you.
Wait, wait, wait a minute.
I just thought of something.
I surely wish all you folks would stop meddling in this.
It's after midnight, Hakes.
I said that it's after midnight.
What difference it make? Well, it it's Sunday.
Don't you understand? Sunday? Yeah, don't you remember? Well, of all the goll-blame luck.
Oh, stop looking so troubled, Joth.
I won't shoot no man on a Sunday.
Even a Monger.
You ought to know that.
Why, sure.
That's right.
Just guess I wasn't thinking.
A doggone shame it took me so long to find you today.
Well, you travel a long way to get here, Eben.
I got plumb tired out waiting for you to come back home, Joth.
I was coming.
I was gonna take the time and come this summer.
I know.
Your old lady told me about it today.
I see'd 'er out there at the house scratchin' around.
Sure is a sorry place you got there, Joth.
Well, a fella can make a small crop sometime, Eben.
It's hard fight with a short stick.
Didn't see no hogs.
Where's your hogs at, Joth? Well, I'm gonna get some right soon.
Oh.
You know, speaking of hogs you remember the day you killed one of mine back home? The day you was hiding out in the ridge? Missed me, killed the hog.
Oh, I never will live that'n down.
It got dark that day, waiting for you.
I couldn't see good enough to tell you from the hog.
Mm.
Say, Eben, how is things back home? Oh, there's been a lot of changes since you left, Joth.
Some good, some bad.
Say, you know something? I got me a little bottle of corn liquor out back.
It's most empty now, but maybe we can get another one and set out there fer a spell, and kinda get soured on the cob.
Hmm? What say, Eben? Might as well.
Can't do no shootin' till Monday comes.
Where you getting this here bottle? Feller there sells it.
I'll show you.
I'm a-gonna have to ask you to give me the loan of some money, Joth.
I didn't bring none with me this here trip.
Why, sure.
Sure, I will.
Well if that don't beat all.
Kinda looks like the feud's off, don't it? No.
Midnight tomorrow, they'll be stalking each other all over again.
Well, you gonna let 'em? No, I'm gonna have to throw 'em in jail tomorrow.
It's the only way I know of to keep 'em from killing each other.
You can't keep 'em in jail forever, though, can you? You sure can't.
Kinda like trying to stop it from raining, huh? Mm, yeah.
What makes you think they's still out back of the Long Branch? Well, I saw 'em on the way back from breakfast.
And they was still setting there a-drinkin'? No, they were passed out or asleep.
I don't know, but anyway, I figure we can wake 'em up and walk 'em back to jail.
I'm sure not gonna carry 'em.
No.
Where in the world they get to? Well, I don't know.
I should have tied 'em up, I guess.
Looky here at these bottles, would you? They sure know how to chamber their liquor.
Look at this.
Huh? Blood.
Somebody got hurt pretty bad here.
Well, you know I bet it was Hakes.
Joth Monger had a knife, remember? Yeah.
I guess that Sunday business didn't mean much to them after all.
Well, if he killed him, though, the body ought to be around here somewheres.
Not necessarily, Chester.
What do you mean? Well, I can't imagine somebody killing a man and then leaving the body around for everybody to find it.
Well, no, but Joth Monger don't do things like an ordinary man.
Yeah.
Sure doesn't.
Look, check the alley, will ya? I'm going inside and look around, and see if anybody knows anything.
Yeah.
Oh, hello, Matt.
Hello, Doc.
What's on your mind? You, uh, been operating on somebody? Oh, no.
No.
Well, uh, sewing somebody up maybe? Nope.
Haven't even been sewing anybody- What are you talking about? Well, it's this Eben Hakes, Doc.
I'm afraid Joth Monger's gone and knifed him.
Well, my golly, Matt, if he'd have come to me, I would have told you first off, you know that.
Well, I know you would, Doc.
It's, well, it's just that you were my last hope.
Chester and I have been looking all over town all morning.
We haven't found a thing.
Oh, gosh, maybe Joth buried him or threw him in the river or something.
Yeah, well, that's happened before around here.
Well, I sure wish I could help you.
Yeah, well, thanks, Doc.
Guess the only thing left for me to do now is ride out there and see if he's gone home.
Well, now, if he's killed somebody and gone home, you better walk mighty easy when you get out there.
I'll remember that, Doc.
Thanks.
Seems quiet enough, don't it? Well, Mrs.
Monger wouldn't be working around on Sunday.
Maybe they seen us coming.
Could be.
Come on.
Hello, Mrs.
Monger.
You go away, Marshal.
Just wait a minute now.
If'n you don't want to get shot, you'll do what I say.
She wasn't none too friendly, was she? No.
You see anything? Uh-uh.
Let's try this one.
On, no, Mr.
Dillon, don't go looking in them windows.
If he's there, he'll blow your head off.
He's already killed one man.
Well, I'll be doggone.
What is it? Will you look in there? But I don't understand none of this at all.
Neither do I.
Did you see the bandage on Joth's hand? He's the one that got cut.
Yeah.
Huh.
Well, I don't guess you got much of a case, do you? Everybody being alive and well and all.
Except for one thing.
It's still Sunday and I'm still gonna arrest those two.
Now look, Marshal, I done told you once Joth! Now hold it right there.
Chester, get those rifles.
Yeah.
I'll take them.
He busted in, Joth.
He busted right past the woman.
I never hear'd of any man coming into another man's place that-a-way.
Well, if had any upbringing, he wouldn't.
Is this the kind of people they got in Kansas, Joth? Never mind about that.
Now suppose you tell me what's going on here.
We're eating our meal, that's what.
Now, Joth, how come your wife told me I was gonna get shot? Well, you said you gonna put 'em in jail, Marshal.
How'd you know that? Well, you told Eben you was gonna.
Yeah, I said if he killed anybody.
Well, I ain't killed nobody.
Why, just 'cause it's Sunday? Oh, that.
What happened to you, Joth? Oh, I was showing a few tricks with my knife, but I got a bit liquored up and grabbed it wrong.
Bled a lot, too.
Now, look, you fellas finish your dinner, then I'm gonna take you back into Dodge.
I'm gonna throw both of you in jail.
Now wait a minute, Marshal.
You can't do that.
It for their own protection, Mrs.
Monger.
Tell him, Joth.
Feud's off, Marshal.
What?! Tell him.
Go on, tell him.
We stopped it last night.
Now what are you telling me? It's true.
We got to talking about old times and everything.
And you know what we found out? No, what'd you find out? You tell him, Eben.
Well, Marshal this here feud got started a long time ago.
What happened was, my grandpa stole Joth's grandpa's gal and married up with her.
So, Joth's grandpa just naturally up and started a feud, right then and there.
But you ain't told him what we found out, Eben.
Oh.
Well, we hadn't thought it out ever before, but last night, we got to figurin' that if'n my grandpa hadn't done that, well, then Joth here woulda been me.
Well, don't you see? Otherwise, my grandma woulda married up with Joth's grandpa.
And I'd have been Joth.
So any side you look at it from, we're kinda kinfolk-like.
Well, you mean, any side you look at it from last night.
I mean, I seen them bottles out there behind the Long Branch.
Oh, it was them bottles that finally helped us figure it out, Chester.
Hm.
Well, I, uh, I guess it doesn't make much difference how it happened as long as the feud's off.
It ain't only off, Eben's gonna stay on here with us.
Him and me's gonna work this place together.
Well, I'll be doggone.
And what's more I'm gonna give him a share of it come Christmas.
Come Christmas? T'ain't far off.
T'ain't far off? Well, Christmas has done passed, Christmas has.
No.
January six.
Well, now since when did Christmas get to be January sixth? You folks don't understand.
You see, back in the Ozarks, we do our Christmas celebratin' Oh, yeah, yeah, that's that, what do you call it, uh, 12th Night? Uh-huh.
We call it Christmas.
Yeah, and if you only knew- works real good for us, too.
Well, there's no reason why it shouldn't, ma'am.
I hear it's a fine old custom.
Well, 12th Night's the only night we allow any drinking around here, ain't it, Joth? Uh-huh.
Say, maybe you and Chester'd come out and celebrate with us? Well, if'n they got a taste for kraut and sour pickles and cornbread and coffee, they'll come.
Ain't there gonna be no chitlins, woman? Well, if'n you hadn't asked, I was keeping 'em for a surprise.
What say, Marshal? Well, uh, sure, sure.
How about you, Chester? Oh, I'll be here, don't you worry; thank ya.
All right, folks, well, we'll see you then.
Right, Marshal.
Bye now.
Bye.
Oh, Sadie.
You know, Mr.
Dillon, I just thinking What's that? Thanks to these good people here, we gonna get us two Christmases this year.