Latest / Gunsmoke | Old Time Radio / Gunsmoke - "Brush at Elkader Reused Script" (Old Time Radio, 1958)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: On November 16th, 1958, CBS Radio returned to a Gunsmoke
- 0:05Speaker 1: story first heard three years earlier, episode 345, Brush at Elkader.
- 0:12Speaker 1: William Conrad stars as Marshal Matt Dillon, with Parley Bear
- 0:16Speaker 1: as Chester, Georgia Ellis as Kitty, and Howard McNear as Doc,
- 0:21Speaker 1: John Meston wrote the script, and Norman MacDonald produced. After
- 0:26Speaker 1: Ben Williams is murdered, Dillon follows the trail from Dodge
- 0:30Speaker 1: City to El Cater, seeking Lou Shippen in a town
- 0:33Speaker 1: where bringing a suspect to justice meets determined resistance. The
- 0:37Speaker 1: supporting company also includes Lawrence Dobkin and James Westerfield. From
- 0:42Speaker 1: the long-running radio Gunsmoke, here is Brush at El Cater.
- 0:47Speaker 1: Now back to the golden age of radio.
- 1:00Speaker 2: Around Dodge City and in the territory on west, there's
- 1:04Speaker 2: just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers,
- 1:07Speaker 2: and that's with a U.S. Marshal and the smell of
- 1:10Speaker 2: gun smoke. Gunsmoke, starring William Conrad. The story of the
- 1:34Speaker 2: violent that moved west with young America. And the story
- 1:37Speaker 2: of a man who moved with it.
- 1:40Speaker 3: I'm that man. Matt Dillon, United States Marshal. The first
- 1:44Speaker 3: man they look for and the last they.
- 1:46Speaker 4: Want to meet.
- 1:48Speaker 3: It's a chancy job, and it makes a man watchful.
- 2:00Speaker 5: Dodge had been real quiet all that week.
- 2:09Speaker 6: No new herds had come up the trail. No buffalo
- 2:12Speaker 6: hunters had drifted in off the prairie. No ox trains
- 2:16Speaker 6: had arrived back from the Santa Fe. And the town
- 2:20Speaker 6: just sat there like a plain girl with a party
- 2:22Speaker 6: waiting to dance. But there was no dancing for Dutch.
- 2:27Speaker 6: Not till Friday night there wasn't. I'd gone out to
- 2:31Speaker 6: see a rancher friend that afternoon. It was near midnight
- 2:34Speaker 6: when I got back, rode up the front street. Saw
- 2:38Speaker 6: the small crowd that had gathered opposite the long branch.
- 2:42Speaker 6: I dismounted and walked over it. At the center of
- 2:44Speaker 6: the crowd I found Doc and Chester crouched over a
- 2:47Speaker 6: man sprawled in the dust. A man somebody had put
- 2:51Speaker 6: a bullet in.
- 2:54Speaker 7: It's Ben Williams, Mr.
- 2:57Speaker 8: Dillon.
- 2:57Speaker 6: Who did it, Chester?
- 2:59Speaker 8: Nobody don't know.
- 3:00Speaker 7: He rode off too fast.
- 3:02Speaker 6: Anybody see it?
- 3:03Speaker 8: Miss Kitty did.
- 3:04Speaker 7: She's standing over there by the long branch now.
- 3:10Speaker 6: He's dead. There wasn't much I could do for him.
- 3:14Speaker 8: Nice fellow like Ben Williams. Never hurt nobody.
- 3:18Speaker 6: He bled to death somewhere inside. Was he conscious at all, Doc? Well,
- 3:22Speaker 6: he was until a few minutes ago.
- 3:24Speaker 9: I'd been working on him for half an hour, Matt.
- 3:26Speaker 9: I had to leave him here in the street. I
- 3:27Speaker 9: didn't dare move him.
- 3:28Speaker 6: Did he say anything about who shot him or why? Well,
- 3:33Speaker 6: do you know somebody called El Cater? El Cater? That's
- 3:38Speaker 6: a town, Doc, not a person.
- 3:40Speaker 9: Oh, I kept trying to say something about it. All
- 3:43Speaker 9: I could make out was the name. I didn't want
- 3:45Speaker 9: him talking anyway.
- 3:46Speaker 6: As I recall, Williams came from up around old Kidder,
- 3:48Speaker 6: didn't he, Chester?
- 3:49Speaker 8: Well, he had a little ranch up there one time.
- 3:51Speaker 6: Yeah. Ben Williams was a good man.
- 3:54Speaker 10: Yeah.
- 3:57Speaker 6: Chester. Yes, sir? I'm going over and talk to Kidder.
- 3:59Speaker 6: You find me a fresh horse and saddle one of
- 4:01Speaker 6: your own. We're going to be riding out of here
- 4:03Speaker 6: in a few minutes.
- 4:03Speaker 11: Yes, sir.
- 4:04Speaker 6: I'll hurry, Mr.
- 4:04Speaker 8: Jones.
- 4:05Speaker 6: I hope you'll get him, Matt.
- 4:07Speaker 8: Yes, sir.
- 4:13Speaker 11: Ben didn't deserve that. Not being killed that way.
- 4:17Speaker 6: He didn't deserve being killed at all, Kitty. Oh, of
- 4:20Speaker 6: course he didn't. How'd it happen?
- 4:23Speaker 11: Well, Ben and I were having a drink inside, and
- 4:27Speaker 11: we heard a couple of shots in the street here,
- 4:29Speaker 11: and then somebody yelled for Ben to come out.
- 4:31Speaker 6: The man who killed him?
- 4:32Speaker 11: It must have been. Ben didn't want to go, but
- 4:34Speaker 11: I guess he figured he had to. I got by
- 4:37Speaker 11: the window and I could see Shippen out there.
- 4:39Speaker 6: Sitting on his horse. Shippen?
- 4:40Speaker 11: Blue Shippen. That's what Ben said when he heard him yell.
- 4:43Speaker 10: Uh-huh.
- 4:44Speaker 6: And then what happened? Well, Ben walked out into.
- 4:48Speaker 11: The street right up to him. Shippen must have been
- 4:51Speaker 11: holding a gun in his lap. He shot Ben twice
- 4:54Speaker 11: without saying a word and then rode off. He murdered him, Matt.
- 4:57Speaker 6: Can you tell me what Shippen looked like, Kitty?
- 5:00Speaker 5: It was too dark.
- 5:01Speaker 11: I don't even know what color his horse was.
- 5:03Speaker 7: Uh-huh.
- 5:05Speaker 6: That's not going to make him very easy to find.
- 5:08Speaker 11: But you'll find him, Max. You'll find him.
- 5:13Speaker 12: All I had to go on was the name of
- 5:24Speaker 12: the place.
- 5:26Speaker 6: The place was Elkater. A little sunburnt town a hundred
- 5:30Speaker 6: miles to the north. There was a saloon there, and
- 5:34Speaker 6: a restaurant, and a hotel, and a stable, and miraculously
- 5:40Speaker 6: a telegraph office. But even so, Elkater didn't add up
- 5:43Speaker 6: to much. It was still the crossroads of nothing. It
- 5:48Speaker 6: was none of the second day when we rode up
- 5:51Speaker 6: the almost deserted main street, hot and saddle-weary and hungry.
- 6:02Speaker 7: Where are we going first, Mr.
- 6:03Speaker 8: Jones?
- 6:04Speaker 6: Yeah, we'll put our horses in the stable, Chester, and
- 6:06Speaker 6: we'll take a look around. I've already seen all I
- 6:09Speaker 6: want through this place.
- 6:11Speaker 8: Except maybe the.
- 6:12Speaker 7: Inside of that wreck, eh?
- 6:14Speaker 6: You know, I've been thinking, Chester.
- 6:17Speaker 8: Maybe we'll stop there first? No.
- 6:19Speaker 5: No.
- 6:20Speaker 6: I've been thinking about Lou Shippen.
- 6:22Speaker 7: Oh.
- 6:23Speaker 6: Yeah, I finally remembered. I've seen his name.
- 6:27Speaker 8: Yeah? Where?
- 6:29Speaker 6: He's wanted over in Wichita.
- 6:31Speaker 10: Oh.
- 6:32Speaker 6: I can't remember his description. That's easy.
- 6:37Speaker 7: All you got to do now is tell him that
- 6:39Speaker 7: for us.
- 6:39Speaker 6: Yeah.
- 6:41Speaker 7: Ain't there nobody here at this table?
- 6:45Speaker 6: It doesn't look like.
- 6:49Speaker 4: It.
- 6:50Speaker 8: Oh, here comes somebody.
- 6:55Speaker 6: Yeah.
- 6:58Speaker 11: Howdy.
- 6:58Speaker 8: Hello.
- 6:58Speaker 6: Hello. So you got room for a couple of horses, mister?
- 7:02Speaker 5: I reckon.
- 7:03Speaker 6: We've had a hard ride.
- 7:04Speaker 8: Hey, wait a minute. What?
- 7:08Speaker 7: Where'd you make this hard ride?
- 7:09Speaker 6: Where are you from?
- 7:11Speaker 8: Dodge.
- 7:14Speaker 6: You're the marshal. Yeah, that's right.
- 7:18Speaker 9: I thought marshals always traveled alone.
- 7:22Speaker 6: Sometimes they do. Well, I tell you, marshal, I got
- 7:25Speaker 6: a little mixed up.
- 7:26Speaker 9: I've been asleep.
- 7:27Speaker 6: You see, you woke me and I plump forgot. Forgot what?
- 7:30Speaker 6: I can't keep your horses here. There ain't no room.
- 7:32Speaker 7: You just said you could.
- 7:34Speaker 8: The stable's all full.
- 7:35Speaker 10: And I got no corral.
- 7:38Speaker 6: I can see some empty stalls through the door there. Oh,
- 7:41Speaker 6: them spoke first. What is it, mister? Everything was fine
- 7:44Speaker 6: until I told you that I was a marshal. I
- 7:46Speaker 6: can't help it if the stable's full. Now, these horses
- 7:48Speaker 6: are going in there, mister, and you're going to feed them.
- 7:50Speaker 8: No.
- 7:51Speaker 6: We're going to be back directly to see that they're
- 7:52Speaker 6: all right. You believe me, they better be.
- 7:56Speaker 10: These sure don't look like much of a hotel.
- 8:13Speaker 6: You don't have much choice.
- 8:14Speaker 8: I ain't sure about what it does to sleep outdoors.
- 8:23Speaker 6: Morning, gentlemen.
- 8:24Speaker 8: Hello.
- 8:24Speaker 6: We're looking for a room. You mean two rooms. All right,
- 8:30Speaker 6: two rooms. Of course, one room.
- 8:33Speaker 8: Would be cheaper.
- 8:34Speaker 6: And noisier. My friend here snores.
- 8:36Speaker 7: Oh, you always say that, but I never heard me snore.
- 8:40Speaker 6: If I ever thought you were lying awake snoring, I'd
- 8:42Speaker 6: ram a gun barrel down your throat. Now, now, gentlemen, please.
- 8:45Speaker 8: You don't mean it, do you, Mr. Dillon? Dillon?
- 8:50Speaker 6: Marshal Dillon?
- 8:52Speaker 8: Yeah.
- 8:52Speaker 6: Is something wrong? No, no, no. You've been expecting me.
- 8:57Speaker 6: Is that right?
- 8:58Speaker 7: Yes.
- 8:59Speaker 8: I never heard of you before.
- 9:00Speaker 6: All right, that's one line. Now, you told me another one.
- 9:02Speaker 6: Have you ever heard of Lou Shippen? Shippen?
- 9:04Speaker 8: No, no, no. Not around here.
- 9:06Speaker 7: I never heard of him.
- 9:06Speaker 6: Sure. All right, let's see the rooms.
- 9:10Speaker 7: Well, I'm sorry, Marshal. I made a mistake. I forgot.
- 9:14Speaker 7: There's a lot of people coming in tonight, and our
- 9:17Speaker 7: room's all taken.
- 9:17Speaker 6: A lot of people coming in from where?
- 9:19Speaker 8: Yeah, that's true, Marshal.
- 9:21Speaker 7: I forgot all about it.
- 9:22Speaker 6: Well, you just go on forgetting about it, and I'll
- 9:23Speaker 6: throw me a couple of keys before I lose my temper.
- 9:26Speaker 6: We're here, and we're staying.
- 9:41Speaker 7: I swear I'm beginning to feel like a frothy dog, Mr.
- 9:43Speaker 8: Dillon.
- 9:44Speaker 6: Like a what?
- 9:45Speaker 7: You know, one of them flavoring dogs that runs around
- 9:48Speaker 7: biting people and making them sick.
- 9:49Speaker 5: Oh.
- 9:50Speaker 8: I've never been treated.
- 9:51Speaker 7: So bad before in my whole life.
- 9:53Speaker 6: It's Louis Shippen, Chester.
- 9:55Speaker 8: Hmm?
- 9:56Speaker 6: He's here somewhere. My guess is he's told everybody in
- 10:01Speaker 6: town that they've got to get us to move on.
- 10:03Speaker 7: Well, why would they care?
- 10:05Speaker 6: He's a killer, Chester. They know it and they're afraid of.
- 10:11Speaker 5: Him.
- 10:14Speaker 6: Hello? Want something? Yeah, I want to send a telegram.
- 10:20Speaker 8: I do. Where to?
- 10:22Speaker 6: Wichita. Here, I wrote it out at the hotel.
- 10:28Speaker 8: Sheriff Wichita. Sheriff.
- 10:32Speaker 6: Just send it, will you? I have to read it,
- 10:35Speaker 6: don't I? Need full description of Lou Shippen. Now, what's
- 10:42Speaker 6: the matter?
- 10:44Speaker 8: Nothing.
- 10:45Speaker 6: Nothing at all, that's all. Send to me in Elkater
- 10:49Speaker 6: at once, Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal. Look, mister. It's Hinkle, Marshal. Mr.
- 10:56Speaker 8: Hinkle.
- 10:56Speaker 6: All right, Mr.
- 10:57Speaker 3: Hinkle.
- 10:57Speaker 6: Now, are you going to send that or am I
- 10:58Speaker 6: going to have trouble with you, too?
- 11:00Speaker 8: Trouble?
- 11:00Speaker 6: Now, I know Lou Shippen's got this town scared to
- 11:03Speaker 6: death of him. And maybe it's about time I made
- 11:05Speaker 6: some of your people scared of me. I might as
- 11:06Speaker 6: well start with you, Mr. Hinkle. Now, Marshal, I don't
- 11:10Speaker 6: want any trouble. I'll send you a telegram as soon
- 11:13Speaker 6: as the line's free. Come on, Chester.
- 11:24Speaker 8: Shouldn't we wait to make sure he's really going to
- 11:26Speaker 8: send it, Mr.
- 11:26Speaker 6: Dillon? He's not going to send it, Chester, and there's
- 11:29Speaker 6: no way I can make him send it.
- 11:30Speaker 8: Why not?
- 11:31Speaker 6: I don't know Mark's code. He can send anything he wanted.
- 11:35Speaker 8: Mr.
- 11:35Speaker 10: Dillon, this town scares me.
- 11:37Speaker 7: Any man here might be loose shipping just waiting for
- 11:40Speaker 7: an easy chance to shoot you in the back.
- 11:42Speaker 6: I got an idea how I can smoke him out, Chester.
- 11:45Speaker 6: I'm going to have to tell a few lies to
- 11:47Speaker 6: do it. All right, now let's get.
- 11:52Speaker 5: Something to eat, huh?
- 12:06Speaker 7: Now I know what's wrong with this town, Mr.
- 12:08Speaker 8: Jones.
- 12:09Speaker 4: Oh, what?
- 12:09Speaker 8: The way they eat.
- 12:11Speaker 7: That restaurant puts out the mustiest smelling beef stew I
- 12:14Speaker 7: ever smelled.
- 12:15Speaker 6: Oh, it's goat stew, Chester.
- 12:17Speaker 8: Goat! I need a drink.
- 12:21Speaker 6: Here's the place to get it.
- 12:22Speaker 8: Bartender.
- 12:23Speaker 5: Oh, Marshal Dillon. Word gets around fast, doesn't it?
- 12:49Speaker 6: El Cato's a small town. Small and scared. I don't
- 12:54Speaker 6: know what you mean. You don't know Lou Shippen either,
- 12:56Speaker 6: I suppose. Lou Shippen.
- 13:00Speaker 5: No?
- 13:01Speaker 6: No, I don't know him. Well, he might be one
- 13:03Speaker 6: of those men sitting at that table behind me there.
- 13:07Speaker 6: You better do your drinking someplace else, Michael. There isn't
- 13:11Speaker 6: any other place. Now, you fetch us a bottle of
- 13:13Speaker 6: rye or I'm going to come back there and do
- 13:14Speaker 6: it myself. I aim to have a drink. All right. Chester,
- 13:25Speaker 6: one of those men gave him a go-ahead to sign.
- 13:26Speaker 6: Did you see who it was?
- 13:28Speaker 8: No, I was watching the bartender.
- 13:30Speaker 6: One of them flew shipping.
- 13:31Speaker 8: Yeah, but there's six of them to choose from.
- 13:34Speaker 5: Andrew, you men hear it.
- 13:37Speaker 8: It's the telegraph operator. Yeah. Mr.
- 13:40Speaker 6: Henkel. Yes? Come over here. What do you want me for?
- 13:50Speaker 6: I want to buy you a drink. Bring a glass
- 13:53Speaker 6: for Mr. Hinkle, bartender.
- 13:58Speaker 8: I don't want a drink, Mark.
- 13:59Speaker 6: That's what you came in here for, wasn't it? I
- 14:03Speaker 6: don't need a drink. There's Shippen.
- 14:09Speaker 8: There's going to be a fight.
- 14:10Speaker 6: No, you can stay here, Mr.
- 14:11Speaker 5: Hinkle.
- 14:14Speaker 6: You tell him it's all right to drink with me, Shippen.
- 14:21Speaker 6: Six of you men sitting there, and one of you
- 14:23Speaker 6: is Lou Shippen. And by 10 o'clock tonight, I'm going
- 14:26Speaker 6: to know which one. Isn't that right, Mr.
- 14:29Speaker 5: Hinkley?
- 14:30Speaker 8: No, I.
- 14:32Speaker 6: I didn't send that telegram. Now, that's the truth. I
- 14:35Speaker 6: didn't send it. You sent it. I stood there and
- 14:37Speaker 6: watched you.
- 14:37Speaker 5: No, but I didn't.
- 14:38Speaker 6: You sent my telegram, all right, and we're going to
- 14:40Speaker 6: have an answer by 10 o'clock tonight.
- 14:42Speaker 8: You're lying.
- 14:43Speaker 7: That isn't true.
- 14:43Speaker 6: I'd be wasting my time here if it wasn't true. Now,
- 14:48Speaker 6: you drink up. Drink up, Mr.
- 14:51Speaker 8: Hinkle.
- 14:57Speaker 6: I'll be over about ten, Mr. Hinkle. I'm coming with you. Now,
- 15:03Speaker 6: what's the matter? You afraid of shipping? All right, come on.
- 15:09Speaker 6: But I'm not going to wait around your office with you.
- 15:14Speaker 8: You've got to.
- 15:15Speaker 6: Help me, Marshall.
- 15:16Speaker 8: He'll kill me now.
- 15:18Speaker 6: Those lies you told. All right, which one is he?
- 15:22Speaker 6: I can't tell you. Why not? He's a devil with
- 15:25Speaker 6: a gun. He could kill you and then where would
- 15:28Speaker 6: I be? All right, it doesn't matter. I'll find him later.
- 15:32Speaker 6: But I didn't send any telegram. There ain't gonna be
- 15:35Speaker 6: an answer. It doesn't matter, Mr.
- 15:36Speaker 4: Hinkle.
- 15:37Speaker 8: What are you gonna do?
- 15:38Speaker 6: Well, the one thing I'm gonna see here in your
- 15:40Speaker 6: office tonight and let you stay there. That's all you
- 15:43Speaker 6: gotta worry about. I'll handle the rest.
- 15:47Speaker 13: Mr. Dillon?
- 16:06Speaker 6: Yeah, what?
- 16:08Speaker 8: Must be close to half past nine, ain't it?
- 16:10Speaker 6: Yeah, just about. Can you see Mr.
- 16:12Speaker 8: Hinkle?
- 16:14Speaker 6: Yeah, he's in there all right. Pretty fidgety, too.
- 16:18Speaker 8: I don't blame him. He knows Lou Shippen's going to
- 16:21Speaker 8: come after him. But he don't know we're laying out
- 16:23Speaker 8: here waiting.
- 16:24Speaker 6: No, he doesn't.
- 16:26Speaker 8: Maybe Shippen will figure you was lying and stay away.
- 16:29Speaker 6: No, he can't take the chance, Chester. He's got to come.
- 16:31Speaker 8: You sure are stuck. If you don't, we won't never
- 16:35Speaker 8: find him, either. He's heading for the telegraph office.
- 16:50Speaker 5: Yeah. You stay here.
- 16:55Speaker 6: Hold it, Chippin.
- 16:57Speaker 13: He was.
- 17:03Speaker 8: Going to shoot Mr. Hinkle. Yeah. You think he killed him?
- 17:06Speaker 6: I don't know. Watch him now. So you're Lou Shippen, huh?
- 17:22Speaker 6: You outsmarted me, Marshal. You was lying about.
- 17:27Speaker 8: about Hinkle sending that telegram.
- 17:30Speaker 6: Yeah. I had no way of knowing it was you.
- 17:33Speaker 6: Why did you kill Ben Williams, Shippen? I never liked him.
- 17:41Speaker 6: You killed him because you didn't like him.
- 17:45Speaker 8: Good reason as any to kill a man. Oh, my goodness.
- 17:48Speaker 6: Why don't you stay here and I'll cater? Why don't
- 17:50Speaker 6: you ride on?
- 17:51Speaker 5: Here's my home, Marshal.
- 17:55Speaker 6: Nobody's going to push.
- 17:56Speaker 8: Me out of it.
- 18:00Speaker 6: Except you. You pushed me all the way out, Marshal.
- 18:15Speaker 8: I swear I never heard nothing like him, Mr. Dillon. Well,
- 18:18Speaker 8: he must have been plum crazy.
- 18:21Speaker 6: He's probably killed a lot of people we don't even
- 18:23Speaker 6: know about, Chester. Now, for no better reason.
- 18:27Speaker 8: Then it's a good thing he's dead.
- 18:29Speaker 6: Yeah, I guess so. I guess it is. I guess
- 18:33Speaker 6: it is.
- 18:57Speaker 4: Produced and directed by Norman McDonald, stars William Conrad as
- 19:02Speaker 4: Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal.
- 19:03Speaker 8: The story was.
- 19:04Speaker 4: Specially written for Gunsmoke by John Meston. Featured in the
- 19:07Speaker 4: cast were Lawrence Dobkin, Vic Perrin, James Westerfield, Harry Bartell,
- 19:11Speaker 4: and Ben White. Harley Bear as Chester, Howard McNair as Doc,
- 19:16Speaker 4: and Georgia.
- 19:17Speaker 6: Ellis as Kitty.
- 19:18Speaker 1: Our time in Dodge City ends with Gunsmoke, Brush at Elkater.
- 19:22Speaker 1: Follow Gunsmoke for more classic broadcasts.