Latest / Gunsmoke | Old Time Radio / Gunsmoke - "Line Trouble" (Old Time Radio, 1960)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: For CBS Radio's Gunsmoke, Marion Clark supplied the script and
- 0:04Speaker 1: Norman McDonald served as producer and director. First heard June 26, 1960,
- 0:12Speaker 1: Line Trouble is episode 429 with William Conrad as Marshal
- 0:17Speaker 1: Matt Dillon and Parley Bear as Chester. Reports that a
- 0:22Speaker 1: newly installed telegraph line west of Dodge City has been
- 0:25Speaker 1: cut bring Dillon and Chester to Army soldiers repairing the
- 0:29Speaker 1: wire and holding a Kiowa man named Small Hawk. Dillon
- 0:34Speaker 1: knows Small Hawk is peaceable and takes responsibility for him
- 0:39Speaker 1: while he works to settle the misunderstanding and learn whether
- 0:42Speaker 1: the damaged line points to a larger cause. From Dodge City, Gunsmoke.
- 0:48Speaker 1: And now, our story begins.
- 1:02Speaker 2: Around Dodge City and in the territory on west, there's
- 1:05Speaker 2: just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers,
- 1:08Speaker 2: and that's with a U.S. Marshal and the smell of
- 1:10Speaker 2: gun smoke. Gun smoke. Gunsmoke, starring William Conrad. The story
- 1:34Speaker 2: of the violence that moved west with young America. And
- 1:38Speaker 2: the story of a man who moved with it.
- 1:40Speaker 3: I'm that man. Matt Dillon, United States Marshal. The first
- 1:45Speaker 3: man they look for and the last they want to meet.
- 1:49Speaker 3: It's a chancy job. And it makes a man watchful.
- 1:52Speaker 3: And a little lonely.
- 2:04Speaker 4: Barkeep.
- 2:07Speaker 3: Barkeep. What do you have?
- 2:11Speaker 5: I was told I'd find the marshal in this place.
- 2:14Speaker 3: Well, I... I don't rightly see him here now.
- 2:18Speaker 5: At his office, they said he'd be here.
- 2:20Speaker 4: Well, he ain't.
- 2:21Speaker 5: A man should be able to find the marshal.
- 2:24Speaker 3: Now, listen, mister, it ain't up to me.
- 2:27Speaker 4: Miss Kitty?
- 2:28Speaker 5: Yes, Sam?
- 2:31Speaker 3: This man's uncommon anxious to see the marshal.
- 2:33Speaker 4: You know where he is?
- 2:34Speaker 6: Well, no, Sam, I don't. Have you tried his office, mister?
- 2:37Speaker 5: Of course I've tried his office. They told me he
- 2:40Speaker 5: was headed here.
- 2:41Speaker 7: Well, he may be, but I haven't seen him until now.
- 2:45Speaker 6: Hey, Matt.
- 2:46Speaker 3: Ah, hello, Kitty.
- 2:47Speaker 5: Hey.
- 2:49Speaker 3: And, Marshal?
- 2:50Speaker 6: Matt, the man's waiting to see you.
- 2:51Speaker 3: Ah, is that so?
- 2:52Speaker 5: Are you the Marshal?
- 2:54Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm the Marshal, Matt Dillon.
- 2:55Speaker 5: My name is Foss, Marshal, Jasper Foss.
- 2:57Speaker 3: All right, Mr. Foss, what can I do for you?
- 3:00Speaker 5: I figured you'd ought to know about the telegraph line.
- 3:04Speaker 3: What telegraph line?
- 3:05Speaker 5: Why, the one just strung out west of town.
- 3:07Speaker 3: What about it?
- 3:08Speaker 5: Somebody's cut it, that's what about it.
- 3:11Speaker 3: Well, how do you know?
- 3:12Speaker 5: I was riding past. That's all I know. About a
- 3:15Speaker 5: mile or a mile and a half out.
- 3:16Speaker 3: Did you see anybody?
- 3:17Speaker 5: Oh, nobody I could recognize. I seen a horse. I
- 3:21Speaker 5: tailed it in the distance. I couldn't tell no more
- 3:24Speaker 5: than that.
- 3:24Speaker 3: When was this?
- 3:25Speaker 5: Oh, an hour ago, maybe. I figured you'd want to
- 3:28Speaker 5: take a look around.
- 3:29Speaker 3: Yeah. Thanks, Mr.
- 3:30Speaker 6: Foss.
- 3:30Speaker 3: I guess I'd better.
- 3:43Speaker 6: Mr.
- 3:44Speaker 5: Dillon, you reckon that fellow knows what he was talking about?
- 3:47Speaker 3: Well, I don't know yet, Chester.
- 3:52Speaker 5: I swear we rode most of the mile already. There
- 3:55Speaker 5: ain't been no break.
- 3:57Speaker 3: I guess we can make it a little farther. Yeah, sure, Earl.
- 4:00Speaker 3: We can make it. We can make it, all right.
- 4:02Speaker 5: But I'm just wondering if it's worth all this cracking
- 4:04Speaker 5: around in the hot sun. You know, a man's brain
- 4:07Speaker 5: can get addled by too much, Earl. Yeah.
- 4:11Speaker 3: Sometimes it doesn't take too much sun. How's that? Never mind, Chester.
- 4:23Speaker 3: Look up there, the head of you.
- 4:25Speaker 5: Well, I do, sir. Looks like them army fellows are
- 4:29Speaker 5: out riding their cells.
- 4:32Speaker 3: So working on the line. All right, come on.
- 4:35Speaker 7: Morning.
- 4:36Speaker 8: Can you tell me where the lieutenant is?
- 4:38Speaker 3: Oh, I see him.
- 4:52Speaker 4: Ah, Lieutenant.
- 4:54Speaker 3: Are you having trouble with the line? Well, it's been cut.
- 5:01Speaker 6: Mr.
- 5:01Speaker 5: Dillon?
- 5:02Speaker 6: Yeah.
- 5:02Speaker 5: I can't hear.
- 5:04Speaker 3: Yeah, I see him. You holding that man for it, Lieutenant?
- 5:09Speaker 4: He's under guard.
- 5:10Speaker 3: Yeah, I see he is. You mind if I talk
- 5:11Speaker 3: to him? Well, he's my prisoner. Well, I'm the U.S.
- 5:15Speaker 3: Marshal from Dodge. Oh, well, in that case, I suppose
- 5:19Speaker 3: it wouldn't do any harm. No, I guess not. All right, Chester.
- 5:26Speaker 8: You hold my horse, huh? Yes, sir.
- 5:34Speaker 3: Hello, Small Hawk.
- 5:36Speaker 4: Small Hawk is dishonored before his old friend.
- 5:40Speaker 3: Sorry to see you like this.
- 5:42Speaker 4: The Marshal will have them set Small Hawk free.
- 5:45Speaker 3: I don't know if I can do that. Did you
- 5:50Speaker 3: cut the wire?
- 5:52Speaker 4: It was cut by my knife.
- 5:54Speaker 3: And they have a right to hold you.
- 5:56Speaker 4: They have no right to send a wire across the land.
- 5:58Speaker 3: Oh, why not? Wire doesn't hurt you.
- 6:02Speaker 4: It is bad magic. It carries bad sounds across the
- 6:06Speaker 4: land of my people.
- 6:08Speaker 3: It can be good magic, too, Smallhawk.
- 6:10Speaker 4: A white man makes no good magic for my people.
- 6:14Speaker 3: I wouldn't be too sure. White soldiers will shoot, Smallhawk?
- 6:19Speaker 3: I don't think you need worry about that. Yeah.
- 6:23Speaker 4: Small hawk, not afraid.
- 6:25Speaker 3: No, I know that. But just the same, I think
- 6:28Speaker 3: I'll ride along when I take you to the fort. Now,
- 6:40Speaker 3: this is an unusual request, Marshal Dillon. Yes, Colonel, I
- 6:44Speaker 3: know it is. But I think it might do some
- 6:45Speaker 3: good in our dealings with the Indians. I don't know.
- 6:49Speaker 3: The Army hasn't found it wise to be too lenient.
- 6:51Speaker 3: Are you not telling me that the Army believes the
- 6:53Speaker 3: only good Indian is a dead Indian? No, no, Marshal,
- 6:56Speaker 3: certainly not. But I know this man, Colonel. Small Hawk
- 7:00Speaker 3: is not a troublemaker. He cut the wire. He cut
- 7:03Speaker 3: it out of fear. It's been cut several times. Small
- 7:07Speaker 3: Hawk says he cut it only once, and I believe him. Well,
- 7:13Speaker 3: what do you want me to do? I'd like you
- 7:16Speaker 3: to release Small Hawk to me, Colonel Hooper. How can
- 7:19Speaker 3: I be sure he won't go right out and cut.
- 7:20Speaker 5: The wire again?
- 7:21Speaker 3: Because I'll be responsible for it. You have a lot
- 7:24Speaker 3: of confidence in this Indian, Marshal. Yes, I have. Well,
- 7:29Speaker 3: what do you base it on? Taking away his fear.
- 7:32Speaker 3: How do you propose to do that? I think I
- 7:34Speaker 3: can show him that the wire isn't bad magic. Then
- 7:37Speaker 3: he'll leave it alone.
- 7:40Speaker 5: All right, Marshal Dillon.
- 7:42Speaker 3: I'll release him to you. Thank you. But remember this.
- 7:45Speaker 3: We're all in for serious trouble if he touches that
- 7:47Speaker 3: wire again. Yeah. So is Small Hawk.
- 7:52Speaker 7: It's right down at the end of the block, Small Hawk.
- 8:09Speaker 4: Marshal is Small Hawk's friend.
- 8:11Speaker 3: Well, sure I am.
- 8:13Speaker 4: If it were not so, I would not walk with him.
- 8:15Speaker 3: I know that.
- 8:16Speaker 4: Small Hawk would not go to House of White Man's magic.
- 8:20Speaker 3: I want to show you it can be good magic,
- 8:22Speaker 3: Small Hawk. Now, here we are. Let's go in. Hank? Howdy, Marshal. Uh, Hank,
- 8:36Speaker 3: you got a man out at the Western Station to
- 8:38Speaker 3: take messages off a new line? Yeah, Marshal, sure we have.
- 8:42Speaker 3: Any way of getting a message to the Indian encampment
- 8:44Speaker 3: on the river?
- 8:45Speaker 5: Well, our man out there says there's usually a couple
- 8:48Speaker 5: of Braves standing around watching him. He could tell it
- 8:50Speaker 5: to them, I guess. Why?
- 8:52Speaker 3: Because my friend wants to send a telegram.
- 8:55Speaker 4: Small Hawk does not trust bad magic.
- 8:58Speaker 3: You trust me, don't you?
- 8:59Speaker 5: Yeah.
- 8:59Speaker 3: All right, then listen to me. Now, they took your
- 9:02Speaker 3: horse at the fort, didn't they?
- 9:03Speaker 4: Soldiers took horse? Yeah. So you got a long walk home.
- 9:08Speaker 4: Small Hawk will walk with his head high.
- 9:10Speaker 3: Yeah, but it would be even higher if you were
- 9:12Speaker 3: on horseback. Now, what if the wire carried word to
- 9:15Speaker 3: your son to bring you a horse?
- 9:18Speaker 4: There is that magic in the wire?
- 9:20Speaker 3: Yeah, there's that magic.
- 9:22Speaker 4: Small Hawk will see if horse comes.
- 9:24Speaker 3: Oh, that's fair enough. Now, you tell me your son's name.
- 9:27Speaker 4: Brown Wing.
- 9:29Speaker 3: All right, Hank, you tell your man to get a
- 9:30Speaker 3: message to Brown Wing to bring a horse to the
- 9:33Speaker 3: road port just outside Dodge. Tell him his father will
- 9:36Speaker 3: be waiting. All right, Marshal, there's just one thing. Yeah,
- 9:40Speaker 3: what's that? Who's going to pay for it, you or
- 9:43Speaker 3: the Indians? The government ought to pay for it.
- 9:46Speaker 5: Now, Marshal, that kind of money ain't easy to collect.
- 9:48Speaker 3: Yeah, I know that better than you. All right, I'll
- 9:51Speaker 3: pay for it, Hank. Come on, small heart. We'd better
- 9:54Speaker 3: get you started out to meet your horse.
- 9:56Speaker 8: Thanks for the beer, Matt.
- 10:17Speaker 3: That's all right, Kitty. I think you're worth buying a
- 10:20Speaker 3: beer for once in a while.
- 10:23Speaker 6: I'm surprised you have to order it like us ordinary people.
- 10:27Speaker 5: Oh?
- 10:27Speaker 3: Because what does that mean?
- 10:29Speaker 6: Why, from what Chester's been telling me, you've been working
- 10:32Speaker 6: magic tricks with the telegraph line.
- 10:35Speaker 5: Oh.
- 10:36Speaker 3: Chester thinks that's pretty funny, does he?
- 10:39Speaker 6: No, it's not exactly funny, Matt.
- 10:42Speaker 1: He was really pretty impressed.
- 10:44Speaker 6: Oh.
- 10:45Speaker 3: Well, I hope it worked, that's all.
- 10:47Speaker 6: I'm surprised you could talk that starchy colonel into letting
- 10:50Speaker 6: Small Hawk go.
- 10:51Speaker 3: Oh, you know the colonel?
- 10:53Speaker 6: No, I met him once. I never figured him to
- 10:56Speaker 6: give anybody any kind of.
- 10:57Speaker 4: Chance, much less an Indian.
- 11:00Speaker 3: Maybe he wants to be able to say, I told
- 11:03Speaker 3: you so. He'd enjoy that.
- 11:05Speaker 6: I know that much.
- 11:06Speaker 5: Oh, hello, Marshal.
- 11:08Speaker 3: How are you, boss?
- 11:10Speaker 5: Found I was right about that wire, didn't you?
- 11:14Speaker 4: Yeah?
- 11:15Speaker 3: Yeah, you were right.
- 11:17Speaker 5: I've been wanting to talk to you about that.
- 11:20Speaker 8: I'll see you later.
- 11:20Speaker 3: No, there's no need for you to leave, Kitty.
- 11:22Speaker 6: I want to see Sam.
- 11:23Speaker 3: Oh, all right. Well, uh, what's on your mind today, Mr.
- 11:30Speaker 4: Forrest?
- 11:30Speaker 5: Well, I just wanted to tell you you ought to
- 11:33Speaker 5: be keeping an eye on things. Oh?
- 11:37Speaker 3: What happens to be my job?
- 11:38Speaker 5: Well, sometimes doing a good job ain't enough, Marshal. Sometimes
- 11:43Speaker 5: a man can get fooled, even so.
- 11:44Speaker 3: Is that so? Yes, sir.
- 11:47Speaker 5: Now, I done a good job. All my life I
- 11:50Speaker 5: done a good job, but it weren't enough. You gotta
- 11:52Speaker 5: remember that now. It weren't enough.
- 11:54Speaker 3: What happened to you?
- 11:55Speaker 5: Why, they let me go, Marshal Dillon. Said I wasn't
- 11:58Speaker 5: good enough no more.
- 12:00Speaker 3: Said I was too old.
- 12:01Speaker 5: Put in some young greenhorn that won't even know as
- 12:04Speaker 5: much as I've already forgot.
- 12:06Speaker 6: Uh-huh.
- 12:07Speaker 5: They just turned me out overnight like I was an old,
- 12:10Speaker 5: broke-down horse.
- 12:12Speaker 3: I'm sorry about that, Mr. Close. Well, they had.
- 12:15Speaker 5: No right to do a thing like that. I'm a
- 12:17Speaker 5: better man than that young fella, Marshal Dillon. And I'm
- 12:20Speaker 5: going to show him about, too.
- 12:21Speaker 3: Yeah, you do that, Mr. Voss. Well, I ain't going
- 12:26Speaker 3: to be getting back to the office.
- 12:27Speaker 5: Oh, yeah, you go tend to your job, Marshal. And
- 12:30Speaker 5: watch out for that Indian.
- 12:32Speaker 3: Oh, you leave that to me, huh? Don't you worry
- 12:35Speaker 3: about it?
- 12:35Speaker 5: Oh, I ain't worrying about him, Marshal Dillon. No, not
- 12:39Speaker 5: at all. A seven or a three, Matt. You gotta
- 12:53Speaker 5: come up with a seven or a three. Yeah.
- 12:54Speaker 6: Yeah.
- 12:56Speaker 3: Well, let me see here, Matt.
- 12:59Speaker 6: Um.
- 13:00Speaker 5: Good. You have to go to the boneyard.
- 13:02Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 13:02Speaker 5: Go ahead.
- 13:03Speaker 4: Draw.
- 13:04Speaker 3: All right. I'm drawing, Doc.
- 13:06Speaker 5: Go right ahead. Take another. Oh, I must say, Matthew,
- 13:09Speaker 5: you don't play dominoes any better than you play checkers.
- 13:12Speaker 3: You're talking pretty big for a man who just won
- 13:14Speaker 3: his first game this week.
- 13:15Speaker 5: Well, it's not whether I win or not, Matt. It's
- 13:17Speaker 5: just that I make the moves better.
- 13:20Speaker 3: I hope you don't figure like that about your patients.
- 13:23Speaker 3: About my patients? Well, it doesn't matter whether you cure
- 13:25Speaker 3: them or not. So you make a few moves.
- 13:27Speaker 5: Oh, don't you worry about my patients. I'll take care
- 13:30Speaker 5: of them. Oh, how's your Indian getting along?
- 13:33Speaker 3: Oh, fine, I guess. I think I finally got it
- 13:35Speaker 3: through his head that the telegraph wire wasn't strung up
- 13:38Speaker 3: there just to work some black magic. You were lucky. Yeah, Doc,
- 13:42Speaker 3: I guess I was. But Small Hawk is mighty pleased. Oh,
- 13:45Speaker 3: you've seen him? No, but he had the agent out
- 13:47Speaker 3: at the other end send me a message back.
- 13:49Speaker 5: Oh, is that so? What did he say?
- 13:51Speaker 3: Just one word.
- 13:52Speaker 6: Good.
- 13:54Speaker 5: Well, the telegraph company isn't going to make much money
- 13:56Speaker 5: out of him at that rate.
- 13:57Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe not, but it'll save them money having him
- 13:59Speaker 3: leave their lines alone.
- 14:00Speaker 6: Mr.
- 14:01Speaker 3: Dillon? Oh, hold on.
- 14:03Speaker 5: Yes, Chester?
- 14:04Speaker 3: Lots of trouble.
- 14:05Speaker 5: Mr. Dillon, you know that fellow Ted Creel?
- 14:07Speaker 3: Yeah, I know him. What's he done? Well, he ain't
- 14:10Speaker 3: done nothing, Mr. Dillon.
- 14:11Speaker 5: He just come in from out west of town.
- 14:13Speaker 3: Well, no law against that. Well, of course not, Mr.
- 14:16Speaker 5: Dillon, but he told me he seen a troop of
- 14:18Speaker 5: cowboys from the fort.
- 14:19Speaker 3: What about it?
- 14:21Speaker 5: They had an Indian with him, all tied up like
- 14:23Speaker 5: he was a prisoner.
- 14:24Speaker 6: Oh.
- 14:25Speaker 3: Did Creel know who he was?
- 14:27Speaker 5: He thought he was that fellow Smallhawk, Mr. Jones.
- 14:29Speaker 3: Yeah, I was afraid he might... All right, Chester, get
- 14:33Speaker 3: the horses.
- 14:34Speaker 5: Yes, sir. Sounds like your magic might not have worked
- 14:40Speaker 5: after all, man.
- 14:43Speaker 3: Yeah, Doc, it does. This is very regrettable, Marshal. Yeah.
- 15:00Speaker 3: My superiors will want a full explanation. I'd like one, too. Well,
- 15:04Speaker 3: you might. You gave me a word you'd be responsible
- 15:07Speaker 3: for that Indian. My word still goes, Colonel. A little
- 15:11Speaker 3: late now.
- 15:12Speaker 4: You're not sure he cut your wire this time.
- 15:15Speaker 3: My men picked him up right near the break. I'd
- 15:17Speaker 3: still like to know what he has to say. He's
- 15:20Speaker 3: right in here. Guard.
- 15:22Speaker 5: Yes, sir.
- 15:23Speaker 3: The Marshal has permission to see the prisoner. Yes, sir.
- 15:26Speaker 4: I'll be in my office when you're finished.
- 15:27Speaker 3: Thank you, Colonel.
- 15:37Speaker 4: Well, Smallhawk, it is, as I said, bad magic that
- 15:43Speaker 4: you cut the wire. The Marshal will believe.
- 15:48Speaker 3: We've never doubted each other, Smallhawk.
- 15:50Speaker 4: The Marshal speaks true.
- 15:51Speaker 3: All right. Now, how about the wire?
- 15:54Speaker 4: Small Hawk did not cut it.
- 15:57Speaker 3: Did any of your tribesmen cut it?
- 15:59Speaker 4: The braves of my tribe believe the good magic of
- 16:01Speaker 4: the wire, as the Marshal taught us.
- 16:04Speaker 3: Then you're telling me that no Indian had anything to
- 16:06Speaker 3: do with this latest break.
- 16:08Speaker 4: That is what Small Hawk says. You believe?
- 16:15Speaker 3: Yes, I believe.
- 16:16Speaker 4: The marshal will release me?
- 16:19Speaker 3: I can't do it this time, Small Hawk. At least
- 16:21Speaker 3: not yet. But I'll tell you something. If there's any
- 16:23Speaker 3: way of tracking down the man who did cut that wire,
- 16:26Speaker 3: you'll be out of here soon.
- 16:46Speaker 5: I'll tell you something, Mr.
- 16:47Speaker 6: Jones.
- 16:47Speaker 3: Yeah? What's that, Chester?
- 16:50Speaker 5: That folks back in Dodge was wondering whether it was
- 16:53Speaker 5: worth it stringing that line way out west here when
- 16:55Speaker 5: it first went up, and I'm about to agree with it.
- 16:59Speaker 3: I don't know. Of course, there's been a lot of trouble, but...
- 17:02Speaker 3: There sure has.
- 17:04Speaker 5: Now, with all this cutting going on, it looks like
- 17:06Speaker 5: we've got Indian trouble all over again.
- 17:09Speaker 3: Oh, maybe not. Right over there looks like the place.
- 17:39Speaker 5: I think there sure has been a lot of horses
- 17:40Speaker 5: around here.
- 17:41Speaker 3: I hope they haven't trampled all the tracks. Looks like
- 17:44Speaker 3: they tried. Uh-huh.
- 17:51Speaker 5: You finding anything, Mr.
- 17:53Speaker 4: Dillon?
- 17:54Speaker 3: I can't be sure yet. This might be a lead. Uh-huh.
- 18:07Speaker 3: Looks like this might be something, Chester.
- 18:09Speaker 5: There ain't much to choose from in all them tracks.
- 18:11Speaker 3: Yeah, but these seem to lead out by themselves, though.
- 18:15Speaker 3: Let's follow them for a while, huh?
- 18:17Speaker 5: Well, them tracks don't look like they was made by
- 18:19Speaker 5: no Indian pony, Mr. Dillon.
- 18:21Speaker 3: No, Chester, they don't. All right, come on.
- 18:32Speaker 5: Mr. Dillon?
- 18:33Speaker 6: Uh-huh?
- 18:34Speaker 5: They're just going across the country aimless-like.
- 18:37Speaker 3: Not quite. How's that? I don't know if you can see,
- 18:40Speaker 3: we're a lot closer to Dodge than we were back
- 18:43Speaker 3: there at the telegraph line.
- 18:45Speaker 5: Well, that's right. I guess you're right. Them tracks didn't
- 18:48Speaker 5: start off to Dodge, though, did they?
- 18:50Speaker 6: No.
- 18:51Speaker 5: Like somebody was laying a false trail on purpose?
- 18:55Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the way it looks to me, Chester. Wait
- 19:01Speaker 3: a minute, look. They're heading off toward that shack over there.
- 19:05Speaker 6: Yeah.
- 19:05Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 19:20Speaker 5: It don't look like much of a place to live,
- 19:22Speaker 5: half fallen down that way. Reckon anybody's here, Mr.
- 19:25Speaker 3: Jones? I don't know, but we'll find out.
- 19:27Speaker 4: Well, there's no Well, there's no need.
- 19:50Speaker 3: For pounding, Marshal. Hello, Mr.
- 19:52Speaker 4: Foss.
- 19:53Speaker 3: Didn't know you lived out here. Oh, uh, this is
- 19:56Speaker 3: Chester Proudfoot. Glad to meet you, Mr.
- 19:58Speaker 6: Foss.
- 19:59Speaker 5: Proudfoot. What brings you out this way, Marshal?
- 20:03Speaker 3: That's that telegraph line you're so interested in.
- 20:06Speaker 5: I'm glad to see you're on the job. Oh, not
- 20:09Speaker 5: that it'll do you any good. I was always on
- 20:11Speaker 5: the job myself, I remember that.
- 20:13Speaker 3: Yeah, you told me. I, uh, see you've been out
- 20:17Speaker 3: looking it over out there.
- 20:19Speaker 5: Looking what over?
- 20:20Speaker 3: The line.
- 20:21Speaker 5: What makes you say that?
- 20:23Speaker 3: Well, we followed your tracks here. My tracks? You want
- 20:27Speaker 3: to tell me how you happened to be out there?
- 20:30Speaker 5: I told you the other day. I was riding past.
- 20:33Speaker 3: You were talking about the other break in the line
- 20:34Speaker 3: that day, Mr.
- 20:35Speaker 4: Foss.
- 20:35Speaker 3: This one was a mile or so away. Are you
- 20:38Speaker 3: sure about that? Yeah, I'm sure.
- 20:41Speaker 5: Well, I'll tell you, Marshal, it... It's only right that
- 20:44Speaker 5: I've been keeping track of that line.
- 20:45Speaker 3: Oh, how's that?
- 20:47Speaker 5: That I was near 25 years sending messages out over
- 20:50Speaker 5: lines just like them. I got an interest in them,
- 20:53Speaker 5: you might say.
- 20:54Speaker 3: That's what your job was, sending messages?
- 20:57Speaker 5: I had a mighty nice touch on the key. A
- 21:00Speaker 5: mighty nice touch. These greenhorns can come close to it.
- 21:04Speaker 3: The telegraph people were the ones who took away your
- 21:06Speaker 3: job then.
- 21:07Speaker 5: Them was the ones, all right. A man with a
- 21:10Speaker 5: touch like mine.
- 21:11Speaker 3: I guess you would have an interest in the line, Mr. Foss.
- 21:14Speaker 3: You might even have an interest in seeing that it
- 21:16Speaker 3: didn't go through. Well, now, Marshal, I.
- 21:18Speaker 5: Don't even know what you're talking about.
- 21:20Speaker 3: I think you've been cutting that wire right regular. I
- 21:22Speaker 3: think you figured it was a way to get back
- 21:24Speaker 3: at the people who cost you your job.
- 21:26Speaker 5: Now, you hold on a minute, Marshal. What about that Indian?
- 21:30Speaker 5: He was the one that cut it. He said so.
- 21:32Speaker 3: He cut it once, Mr. Foss, and he admitted it.
- 21:34Speaker 3: But you did it the other times, didn't you? I said,
- 21:39Speaker 3: didn't you? You know, don't you, Marshal? Yeah. Yeah, I know. Well,
- 21:48Speaker 3: I figured it'd be all right.
- 21:50Speaker 5: We already had the Indian.
- 21:53Speaker 3: It wouldn't matter anymore. It mattered to the Indian.
- 21:56Speaker 5: I guess you're right. Will you be taking me in, Marshal?
- 22:01Speaker 3: Yeah. A man has to do his job.
- 22:04Speaker 5: I always believed in a man doing his job.
- 22:07Speaker 3: But, Marshal.
- 22:09Speaker 5: Climbing around them lines and all.
- 22:11Speaker 3: Yeah, Mr.
- 22:11Speaker 6: Horst.
- 22:12Speaker 5: I showed him I wasn't so old, didn't I?
- 22:17Speaker 3: Yeah, you showed him. All right, sign him up a horse, Chester.
- 22:22Speaker 3: Let's get back to town.
- 22:45Speaker 2: Gunsmoke. Produced and directed in Hollywood by Norman McDonald, stars
- 22:50Speaker 2: William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S.
- 22:53Speaker 5: Marshal.
- 22:54Speaker 2: The story was specially written for Gunsmoke by Marion Clark,
- 22:57Speaker 2: with editorial supervision by John Meston. Carly Bear is Chester,
- 23:01Speaker 2: Howard McNair is Doc, and Georgia Ellis is Kitty.
- 23:05Speaker 1: Our visit to Dodge City concludes with Gunsmoke Line Trouble.
- 23:09Speaker 1: Follow Gunsmoke for more classic broadcasts.