Gunsmoke (1955) s01e21 Episode Script

ANNOUNCER: Starring James Arness as Matt Dillon.
So many of 'em here- the spoilers and the glory hunters drew their last breath, while the night was going full blast in Dodge City.
I know.
I'm Matt Dillon, U.
S.
marshal.
Sometimes I got there too late.
And other times a second too soon.
What'll it be, young man? How much is a drink of whiskey? If you have a thin dime I reckon we can do business.
Expectin' somebody? Yes, ma'am.
Who? It don't matter.
You don't act like it doesn't matter.
Oh, some men are comin' to- To meet me.
I decided to wait here for 'em is all.
Please, ma'am, you better kindly leave me alone.
And thank you.
Friends of yours? No.
No, I guess not.
They think I tried to steal some cows.
They're gonna try and hang me.
They wouldn't listen.
I guess they're here.
Please, ma'am, you better get away.
You'd better come with me.
No.
Come on, we don't want no rumpus in here.
No.
Come on.
Lock yourself in.
Come on.
Lock it! Where's the kid belongs to that sorrel outside? In Miss Kitty's room.
Door's locked.
We're not gonna bust into a lady's room, Miss Kitty.
He's gotta come out of there sooner or later.
And we ain't in no special hurry.
Now.
Hello, Kitty.
Matt, you better get down to the Long Branch right away.
Bill Pence just rode into town with some of his men.
They're gonna have a lynching party.
Who is it? Just a youngster.
Doesn't look more'n 18.
Where is he now? In my room.
Oh, just asking.
Gotta hand it to you, marshal.
You sure got something pretty in the way of informers.
I was only saying that if I wasn't bred up to respect the privacy of a- A lady's room I would've gone up and drug him out.
Real considerate of you, Pence.
But I can wait.
Does your boss know what you're doing? I'm foreman of the outfit, marshal.
Emmett Bowers don't question how I handle things.
I do.
Stay out of this.
You can come out now, it's the marshal.
How do I know that? You can begin by taking my word for it.
Don't make me come through this door for you.
It's all right, it's Marshal Dillon.
You can come out.
Come on.
Downstairs.
I told you.
You're just makin' trouble for yourself, marshal.
You know me, Pence.
You know I don't stand for lynching.
If I have to kill you to stop it, I will.
Yeah, I think you would.
He's one of them slippery mavericks.
Coddle him, and he'll bite your back.
I come on him tryin' to cut out some of Bower's- I'm takin' him to jail.
You wanna make charges against him legally, you know where to find him.
Evenin', marshal.
Mr.
Bowers.
Wanna see me? I do.
Look, marshal, what you call a lynchin' wasn't that at all.
What was it? A hangin'.
Oh? You know what I mean.
Pence and my riders spotted that young fella tryin' to run off with a bunch of my cattle.
That's cattle-thievin', marshal.
A hangin' offense.
I've already said my peace on that subject to your foreman here.
It still goes.
I'm not gonna argue this with you, gentlemen.
What are you gonna do about that thief? I haven't decided that yet, Mr.
Bowers.
But I'll tell you what he told me.
I'm not interested in what he told you.
Well, you listen anyway.
He said he didn't steal any of your cattle, and what's more, he wasn't going to.
Are you gonna believe me or a thievin' kid? I don't know who to believe yet.
Let's get out of here.
I'll be mighty interested in how you decide this, marshal.
So will every other cattleman hereabouts.
I'll see you later, Chester.
I'm not, uh, going anywhere.
I'll see you later.
Come on out of there.
Sit down.
Want some coffee? You still say your name is Steve Elser? I got no reason to lie about my name, marshal.
Where are you from? Cimarron country.
Oklahoma.
You're a long way from home.
I had to get out, or I'd have killed my father.
Or he'd have killed me.
Now what kind of talk is that? He got took with drink till he wouldn't go to sleep without a bottle under his head.
I see.
My ma kept sayin' he wasn't to blame, and she was right, he wasn't.
All right, all right.
He had himself a quarter section of sandhills.
It was no good for farming nohow.
But he never gave up trying to farm it, never.
Not till Go on, Steve.
Not till one day a bunch of Texas cow drivers ripped over the place with a million longhorns almost.
That was tough.
When my pa stood his ground, one of them high-rolling, mouth-almighty Texans lamed him with a ball in his leg.
That's when my old man started with the bottle.
Started beatin' up on me.
Any more questions? Sit down, Steve.
How about those cattle of Emmett Bowers'? You admit you set out to steal 'em? Ah, I'd have never done it, marshal.
But I got to thinkin' about them gunslingin' Texans, and what a joke it would have been to sneak out some cows right from under some cattlemen's noses.
Oh.
Well- Well, shucks, I wouldn't have knowed what to do next if I had them stoled.
You just wanted to show those Texans somethin', huh? Them and all their kind.
What are you gonna do now? I mean, if I turn you loose.
I don't know.
Hove around somewhere, I guess.
I'm gonna let you out of here on only one condition.
I'm gonna give you a week to find a job.
If you don't, Steve, I'll have to ask you to get out of this territory.
Evenin', Matt.
Hello, Doc.
I've been meaning to drop by all day and talk to you about that boy you turned loose.
They sure had me steppin' today, and I'm tired.
Mind if we sit down? All right.
Yeah, Doc, keepin' people alive can be a full-time job.
And then some.
Hm.
Yeah, well, considering it that way, I suppose you and me are both practici'' a kind of preventive medicine.
What did you have in mind about young Elser? You turned him loose.
That's your particular brand of preventive medicine.
I just wanna say that I approve highly.
I hope it works.
And it's worth the chance.
I guess we've all had a little help somewhere along the line.
Yeah.
Sure.
Or else there'd be nothin' but thieves and spoilers crawlin' these prairies.
And you know what I'm thinkin'? I'll bet you had somebody give you the right push once.
At least try to.
Maybe.
Else you wouldn't be so set on helpin' that boy.
Mr.
Dillon.
You better step into the Long Branch fast.
What's the matter? Elser.
You're a fine one to call me deep.
You was all ready to do murder.
Shut up and get out of here.
Go on, why don't you? Shoot me down.
It's all right, I got no gun.
You're just aski'' for it, boy.
I'm walkin' around free.
That's what's eatin' you, ain't it? You can't stand to think the law can be as big as you.
That marshal put you in your place.
He knows you're nothin' but a mouthy, yellow-striped- Go on.
Hit me again.
Go on! All right, Pence.
You heard him.
I ain't gonna take talk like that from no cow thief.
And I didn't come to Dodge to get kicked around.
Not no more by nobody.
Get up.
From here in, marshal what happens to that half-weaned maverick is purely your responsibility.
All right, everybody Mr.
Elser's buying.
His apologies for acting like a pit cock, with nothing to back him up.
You got an awful short memory.
Supposed to be out lookin' for a job.
Maybe I ought to be lookin' for a gun and learnin' how to use it.
You start packin' a gun, I'll throw you in the Arkansas with it.
You're the only friend I got, marshal.
And I'm givin' you a chance to make good, but it's not gonna last forever.
Now get out of here and start doin' something about it.
Matt I'm afraid for that die-hard, and you.
I thought you were taken with him.
Well, I- I know, but- Now, I- Uh, what, Kitty? Well, now I just know what I saw in his face when he was riding Pence.
It's almost like he wants something horrible to happen.
Don't trust him too far, Matt.
You waitin' for somebody, Doc? You.
Well, I had to go over to Fort Warren, to that government business.
On the way back, I stopped to see some ranchers about getting a wrangling job for Elser.
Any luck? Bowers got to all of 'em, huh? Every one.
Things are gonna get worse before they get better.
You know Ben Hander? You know, for one reason or another, I've thrown Hander in jail at least a dozen times.
He's an embarrassing failure in his own eyes.
Just misses by a cut or two of being a bad man.
Can't get himself thrown in jail for very long and just can't quite get himself killed either.
You tryin' to tell me that out of all Dodge, Elser had to pick Hander for a sidekick? I am.
Hold it.
I'm in a hurry, Doc.
Drop that kid, Matt.
He's poisoned driftwood.
When it comes to people and gettin' his way with 'em, he can see around corners.
First Kitty, then you.
Even me.
Now that Hander.
The time and the place made him what he is.
Somebody owes him something.
We were talkin' the other night about crossroads.
Yeah? Well now, it's none of my business how it was in your case but don't let it give you a blind spot.
You through? Yep.
'Cept to say, preventive medicine's all right sometimes.
But sometimes you gotta use surgery.
Hello, marshal.
You found a job yet? No.
I ain't.
You been lookin'? It's no use, marshal.
First man I asked said nobody'd hire me.
Lay off him, huh? Kid ain't done nothin'.
'Course I ain't.
But it don't seem to keep people from tryin' to kick me around.
You think that's what I'm doing? Everybody is.
And don't you think it makes me ashamed nobody'll trust me? You're gonna get a job.
I'm gonna find you one right here in Dodge tomorrow.
But I- I told you.
People will trust you as soon as you prove they can.
No, they won't.
And I ain't gonna give 'em a chance to turn me down.
You take a job by tomorrow night or get out.
Listen, you can't do that.
You give him a whole week before.
I've changed my mind since he met you.
What's that got to do with it? Up to now you've been nothin' but a tinhorn.
With this kid around to butter you up, you might decide to take yourself serious.
I can handle my own.
You can't do anything but spell trouble.
And I'm gonna keep Elser clean.
I'll make out all right.
I always do.
Oh yeah.
You were doin' just fine when you came in here runnin' from Pence.
You're not doin' much better now.
Still gotta make a respectable citizen out of me, huh? You don't see so good, do you? The only way you get respect around here is to shoot up a saloon or hurrah some poor sodbuster off his land.
You've got till tomorrow night.
About this boy, Elser.
If you vouch for him, I give him a chance on one of my freighters.
Kind of early in the day, marshal.
Ben Hander, marshal.
Just Hander by himself? Just him was enough.
Must've been crazy to think he could get away with holding up the express office like this.
He get any money? Not a cent.
Bill Pence and some fellas come running across the street.
Hander got scared and lit out.
They went after him.
Well, that might hurt some, but you're not gonna die.
Hander's holed up in the livery stable.
I suppose you come to take over.
As usual, marshal.
No way out.
Unless they wanna get shot up.
They? You figure it out.
All right, Hander, come on out of there.
You've already made your play for Elser's benefit.
It's all over now.
Better stay where you are, marshal.
Don't be a fool.
That clerk you shot isn't hurt bad.
If you try to run now, you'll die for it.
You sure I didn't kill him? I'm waitin' for you, Hander.
Sure.
Sure, marshal, I'm comin'.
Better follow me, kid.
So you decided to start yourself a gang, eh, Hander? With that? Marshal Elser didn't have nothin' to do with the robbery.
The clerk will tell you that.
Look, he ain't even totin' a gun.
Baby Face was waitin' here with your horses.
All ready for you to hightail out.
Nobody can prove that.
Now look here, marshal, you're not gonna listen - Shut up.
You got a stage going east out of Dodge at 12:00.
Get out of this territory.
Chester, get Hander's gun.
Yes, sir.
Nobody's runnin' me out.
Nobody's kickin' me around no more.
I been puttin' off this time, but now I'm glad it's here.
And I'm gonna begin with you, Pence.
Hold it.
Drop that gun, Elser.
I don't need no help from you.
I don't need nobody! Don't shoot! He's mine.
You're no different from all the others.
Always houndin' me.
Well, you tried real good, Mr.
Dillon.
I mean, tryin' to help him.
It was too late to help him, Chester.
It was too late from the beginning.
I should have known that.
Take care of him, will you? All right, Hander.