Gunsmoke (1955) s04e23 Episode Script

Starring James Arness as Matt Dillon.
No, now you put your finger, this finger right up there on that string there.
- Right, right here.
- Yeah, that's it.
Yeah, now try that.
Oh, that was wonderful.
Good.
I'm glad you found it.
Well, Mr.
Dillon, it ain't too easy to put your fingers where they belong, even though you know where they go.
Now just try that whole thing all over again just one time, Miss Kitty.
Well, I might as well.
Anybody who hasn't been driven out of here yet isn't gonna leave, I guess.
- Is that right, right here? Yeah.
That's it.
The green grove Is gone from the hill Maggie Where once The daisies sprung But I love you the same As of old Maggie When you And I Were young Oh, that was wonderful.
Kitty, you know, you could sell out this place and buy a half interest in the opera house.
Well, now I'll tell you something, Mr.
Dillon, a little more practice and Miss Kitty could be every bit as good as Lillie Langtry.
Well, I don't know whether the Jersey Lillie would like that or not, but I thank you anyhow.
Just a little practice, see? Let me hold that.
- Hello, Billy.
- Evening, Marshal.
- Howdy, Chester.
Miss Kitty.
- How are you, Billy? - Billy, why don't you sit down? - Much obliged, Marshal.
What's the matter, Billy? Well, it's that woman Frogmouth Kate.
Whenever I come to town, she won't give me a minute's peace.
Oh, well, maybe that's 'cause she's sweet on you, Billy.
Sweet on me? Look at her.
She' s old enough to be my ma.
She would have had to marry awful young, Billy.
Well, anyway, she looks old enough.
No wonder, too.
The way she drinks all the time.
Billy! Billy, baby, why didn't you tell me you was here? Give me a chance to catch my breath first.
You can catch your breath with me, honey boy.
Kate, take it easy, will you? Oh, sure, I'll take it easy, baby doll.
We'll both take it easy - once we get to St.
Louis.
- I ain't going to St.
Louis with you - and no place else.
- Sure you are, Billy lover.
I bring you.
Got enough money saved now.
Another week Kate, take it easy before I bust your head open.
Ain't he cute, Marshal? - Treats me just like a man ought to.
- For the love of Mike.
Come on, lover, I'll buy you a drink.
I'll buy my own drink.
Sure is a caution.
Billy lover, wait for me.
Now, Kate, you stay away from me.
- Aw, come on.
- Keep your hands off me.
Get away, Kate! If you ask me, she's the one that's the caution.
Well, things seem pretty quiet around here.
Guess I'll head for bed.
- Yeah.
- Good night.
Good night, Matt.
Kate, oughta pick on somebody her own age.
She's not gonna get anywhere with that boy.
Well, I wouldn't bet on that, Miss Kitty.
Mr.
Dillon! Mr.
Dillon, wake up! Who is it? It's me Chester.
Open the door, will you? Mr.
Dillon! - Mr.
Dillon.
- Yeah, yeah, I'm coming.
Mr.
Dillon, you better come quick.
- There's been a shooting.
- Who got shot? Frogmouth Kate.
- Frogmouth Kate? - Yeah, over at Ma Torvet's place.
Me and Doc was watching them play a poker game down at the Long Branch.
Somebody come to get him.
He went all over there, and I come up here to get you.
Yeah, sure would be nice to get a good night's sleep sometime.
- Yeah.
- Is it fixing to rain? I just think a little thundershower is all.
How is she, Doc? She's bad, real bad.
Is there any chance of talking to her? Good heavens.
She hasn't been conscious at all.
Now what about later? Well, I wouldn't count on it.
Ma, how'd this happen? The shot woke me up, Marshal.
And I grabbed my bathrobe, and I came running down, and she was here laying on the floor.
And that window there, it was standing wide open.
You got any idea who might have done it? I'm coming to that, Marshal.
I went to the window and I looked out, and there was a fella standing under the trees.
And when I started yelling for somebody to grab him, he lit out.
Did you recognize him at all? Well, it looked like that young fella Billy Daunt.
Billy Daunt? Are you sure? No, no, I ain't sure.
I just said it looked like him.
I'm afraid she's right, Matt.
It did look like Billy.
I was just getting home, and I heard Ma yelling, and just then, Billy came running out from behind the house and headed straight down Front Street.
I saw him in a flash of lightning.
Well, if there were any tracks there, the rain's washed 'em out by now.
Matt.
Oh, I don't understand all this.
He had no real reason to kill her.
It was the money she saved.
That's why he killed her.
She kept it in a box under a mattress.
It's gone.
I've already looked for it.
That's just awful hard to believe.
Billy seemed like such a pleasant fella and all.
Yeah, well, we better get started looking.
You're gonna have a tough time in the rain.
Yeah, we'll find him.
Luke! Hey, Luke! Luke? Luke! - Who is it? - It's Matt Dillon.
What are you doing out here, Marshal? We're looking for Billy Daunt, Luke.
Is he still riding for you? He was.
He ain't anymore.
What happened to him? Why, the darn fool kid, I don't know what got into him.
I've never seen him like this before.
Come riding in here just before daybreak, all spooked up like as if the devil himself was after him.
Said he's lighting out.
Wanted to take my saddle horse.
When I told him he couldn't, he picked up a running iron and knocked me down with it.
He's gone, huh? Yeah, he took the horse and rode out.
- Which way did he head out? - West.
Rode around the corner of the barn there.
Hadn't oughta be too much trouble picking up his trail.
That rain we had last night washed out the ground pretty good.
Well, yeah, except he's got a five or six-hour head start on us.
Yeah, and he's got a good horse.
- Take care of that eye.
- Sure, sure.
Good luck, Marshal.
Think Billy stopped to make camp last night, Mr.
Dillon? Well, if he did, its up ahead somewhere.
Well, seems to me like he had stopped and rest his horse once in a while.
It's better for us if he doesn't, Chester.
Can't keep up that pace forever.
Well, if he rode all night, he must be pretty far ahead of us by now.
We couldn't help that.
You can't track very well in the dark.
Tracks lead right to that cabin, Mr.
Dillon.
Yeah, that horse looks like he's been rode might hard, too.
Better get your rifle out.
- Is he in there? - No.
Well, this is Luke's horse, all right.
It's his brand down there.
Mr.
Dillon, look here.
This horse has gone lame.
Yeah, rode him right into the ground, looks like.
Took his saddle off of him.
He must have stole another horse and rode off.
Well, it looks to me like he's on foot, Chester.
See these tracks? There's two sets of boot prints there.
Yeah, he's got somebody with him all right.
Let's water the horses before we move on.
When do you think he left, Mr.
Dillon? Well, I'd say it was about sunup according to the looks of these tracks here.
Well, he won't get too far, not on foot he won't.
No, not unless he finds another horse, but that's probably why he took that saddle along.
I just can't imagine anybody riding a horse until it goes lame.
I tell you, I'm just about to lose all sympathy for that boy.
Well, he's running, Chester.
A man starts to run, he loses all the sense he ever had.
Well, he sure enough done that, all right.
Frame of mind he's in now, it's hard to tell what he's gonna do next.
What do you mean? Well, he's scared.
He's scared stiff.
A scared man is the most dangerous man in the world.
Well, I just can't understand what gets into people to make 'em do what he did.
Well, maybe it doesn't get into 'em, Chester.
Maybe it's always there just that most people don't ever turn it loose.
Let's get going, huh? - How do, ma'am? - Who are you? - You a lawman? - My name's Dillon.
I'm the marshal over at Dodge City.
We're looking for a fella that escaped the other day.
You seen any strangers around here? You're too late, Marshal.
- He's gone.
- What do you mean? Take a look over there.
By that fence there.
Go on, look.
Both of you.
Killed with a knife.
A knife? Your husband, ma'am? Yes.
The boy did it? Yes.
Well, I'm sorry.
But if it's any comfort to you, we'll find him.
It don't matter now, Marshal.
No, I guess not.
There was somebody traveling with him carrying his saddle.
That wasn't your husband, was it? No.
It were Clabe.
Clabe? Lives yonder, across the ridge.
He were pert near dead when they got here.
I got 'em inside there.
Been trying to fix him up.
Clabe's pert near And that's too old to be used like an animal.
- Who are these men? - It's all right, Clabe.
It's Marshal Dillon from Dodge City.
They're after the boy.
Poor fella.
We've known him for 10 years.
Ever since we've been here.
He ain't never brought a hurt to a living thing in his whole life.
How do you feel, Clabe? Can you talk a little? I'll be all right, Marshal.
Just wore out, that's all.
in this weather.
Fast, too.
Made me walk fast.
I ain't used to that no more.
Huh? I doubt if I could do that myself.
Comes a day a man's gotta admit he's getting old, Marshal.
You're not too old to be a lot of help around here, Clabe.
How long ago did the boy leave here? Two, three hours, I reckon.
He took our mule.
But he won't get very far on it.
Why not? 'Cause that mule's too old.
Five, six miles maybe.
It just quits.
What happened? Was your husband trying to stop the boy? Was that it? No, he got mad when he seen what happened to Clabe here.
That boy knifed him without even giving him a chance.
He's crazy, wild, killing crazy.
And scared, too, Marshal.
I never seen nobody in my whole life scared as that boy is.
Yeah, I know.
What I can't understand is the part about killing him with a knife.
It doesn't make sense.
Well, that's all he had.
That's why.
- He didn't have a gun? - No, just a knife.
When he first came to your place, he didn't have a gun then? No, sir, he didn't.
He took our rifle.
But it won't do him any good.
Weren't any shells for it.
We'd run out.
Well, I sure can't understand him being unarmed.
I mean, Kate was killed with a pistol.
I can't see him throwing it away.
I guess we'll just have to find that out when we catch him.
Ma'am, if you'll show us where you'd like the grave, we'll help you with your husband.
That's kind of you, Marshal.
I want you to know I ain't unfeeling.
He was my man.
But out here, a body can't afford to have feelings.
Just living is hard enough.
Get your hands up, both of you.
That gun's not gonna do you any good, Billy.
It isn't even loaded.
It's been a long trail, but it's over for you.
You ain't taking me, Marshal, not unless you shoot me.
Get your rope out, Chester.
I'll cut you, Marshal.
- Drop the knife, Billy.
- Don't come near me.
I'll cut you.
I said drop it.
You'll never get me back.
Not alive you won't, never.
I didn't kill her, and I ain't going back.
You can drag me, but I ain't walking.
Don't tell me what you're gonna do.
I'm tired of fooling around with you.
You're gonna ride back, and you're either gonna go sitting up in the saddle or tied across it.
Now get up.
Hello, Mrs.
Torvet.
Mr.
Dillon.
Hello, Chester.
How's the prisoner this morning? He's just about the same.
Still won't eat.
Still says that he didn't kill Kate.
Yeah, well, looks like maybe he didn't.
What? - That's Billy's six-shooter.
- Where'd you get it? - Over at the gunsmith's.
- Amos Green? Yep, Billy brought it in there two days before Kate was killed.
Something was wrong with the cylinder, I guess.
It's been in there ever since.
Well, Mr.
Dillon, that's probably the reason he didn't have no gun out there at Clabe's place or at Luke's place.
But if he didn't have one out there, he couldn't have very well had one the night Kate was killed.
Kind of looks that way, doesn't it? Why don't you put that in the safe? Yeah.
Yes, sir.
Billy, I'd like to talk to you.
Billy, I want you to tell me again what happened that night.
I told you 10 times already.
I didn't kill her.
I want to hear it again, the whole story.
Now what's the use? It might help, Billy.
All right.
I took her to the rooming house and left her.
And I stood out front for a few minutes, trying to decide whether to go to the stable and get some sleep or go to the Long Branch and get in a poker game.
Yeah, and what did you decide? I cut around the side of the rooming house and started for the stable.
When I got to the trees, I heard this shot.
I was trying to figure out where it come from, when Ma Torvet shoved open Kate's window and started screaming for somebody to stop me, that I'd killed Kate.
I started running and then I got scared.
Are you sure that Ma Torvet opened that window? She told me it was already open when she came into the room.
I don't care what she said, Marshal.
She opened it.
I seen her.
He's right, Marshal.
She said that she had to talk to you and see you.
Billy's telling the truth.
I opened the window.
Why? My conscience has been killing me inside.
Couldn't let Billy take the blame any longer.
I see.
Well, suppose you tell us what happened, Ma.
It was the money she saved.
I knew where it was, and I knew how much.
That night I couldn't sleep thinking of it.
I went to her room to get it.
I didn't know she'd come in.
She caught me.
It was her gun laying on the dresser.
I picked it up and fired, before I even thought, and then I seen Billy outside.
I thought I could lay the blame on him.
I'd thought he'd run away and wouldn't be caught.
Here's the money, Marshal.
That's what caused it all.
You see? I told you I didn't kill her.
I'm glad it's over.
It's been on my conscience too long.
Well, you know now, Marshal.
So you can let me out of here.
I'm afraid it's not quite that easy, Billy.
You're forgetting something.
There's a new grave about 40 miles west of here.
I dug it.
And the man in it is there because you murdered him.
You and Ma Torvet here.
If only you hadn't run, Billy.
If only you hadn't gotten scared.
I'm sorry for you.
Real sorry.