Devil’s Hindmost | Gunsmoke (01-06-57)

Summary

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Old Time Radio Westerns – Gunsmoke: "Devil’s Hindmost"

Host: Andrew Rhynes | Original Air Date: January 6, 1957 | Episode Date: February 1, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of the Old Time Radio Westerns features a digitally restored broadcast of the classic Gunsmoke radio drama, "Devil’s Hindmost." In this compelling tale set in Dodge City, Marshal Matt Dillon finds himself at the center of a tragic domestic conflict when Buck Webber, a troubled farmer, spirals into jealousy and rage after his wife, Rancy, leaves him and begins working at a saloon. Themes of pride, kindness, alienation, and the destructive consequences of unchecked anger drive this tense and ultimately tragic story.

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Key Discussion Points & Plot Breakdown

1. Chester’s Literary Musings and Human Nature

• [05:02] Chester (Buck Webber) reflects on human nature after reading Shakespeare at Doc’s suggestion. He marvels at the timelessness of human flaws:
  • “He sure does call the turn on the way people act. The things going on over there in Europe...it’s just the same as what folks are doing here in Dodge.”
  • This conversation sets up the episode’s meditation on the unchanging nature of human passions and frailty.

2. Buck’s Jealousy and Rancy’s Departure

• [05:45 – 08:38]
  • Buck is thrown out of the Long Branch Saloon, seeking confrontation with his wife Rancy, who has left him and started working there.
  • Buck’s resentment and denial:
    • “She meant it, Marshall. And I ain’t even to let her do it.” [06:08]
    • “With that tin horn gambler hanging around her, she won’t. I’m going back there and kill that no good.” [07:09]
  • Matt intervenes, choosing to temporarily jail Buck to prevent violence.

3. Insights from Kitty and Rancy

• [10:29 – 13:37]
  • Matt visits the Long Branch, confiding in saloon owner Kitty about the situation.
  • Kitty describes Rancy’s difficult marriage:
    • “Seven years of drudgery make a woman a slave and work her to death. Never a decent word.” [12:23]
  • Rancy explains her choice and desires:
    • “All I ask is just a little kindness and all a reason to laugh once in a while.” [13:26]

4. Frisco Bates’ Intentions

• [14:05 – 14:51]
  • Matt confronts gambler Frisco Bates about his relationship with Rancy.
  • Frisco admits he's asked Rancy to leave with him and marry him.
    • “There are other women around. Not like Rancy. She’s out of place here...I’ve asked Rancy to go away with me, Marshall. I’ve asked her to marry me.” [14:33 – 14:37]

5. Morning After – Buck’s Resolve

• [16:53 – 18:58]
  • After a night in jail, Buck discusses his future with Matt, insisting Rancy should return to him.
    • “Any woman’s liable to get out of hand once in a while and start thinking. Fancy I get her back out there in the farm for a week or two. She’ll come to her senses.” [18:17 – 18:34]
  • Matt argues for Rancy’s autonomy:
    • “It’s her own business. She’s a grown woman.” [18:10]

6. Doc and Chester on Civilization

• [19:34 – 20:46]
  • Doc and Chester bemoan the slow improvement of human nature in Dodge.
    • Doc: “They’re all for themselves. And the devil takes the hindmost. That’s what. Human nature doesn’t change, man.” [20:32–20:42]
    • Matt: “Well, that’s what Chester thinks since you started him reading Shakespeare.” [20:46]

7. The Shooting at the Dodge House

• [21:07 – 22:26]
  • Gunshots are fired at the Dodge House hotel. Matt, Doc, and Chester investigate and discover Frisco Bates has been shot.

8. Confrontation and Tragic Twist

• [22:26 – 24:47]
  • Matt confronts Buck, who tries to feign innocence but ultimately admits to waiting outside Frisco’s window and firing when he saw a shadow.
  • The twist: It was not Frisco, but Rancy who was in the room, and Buck has killed his wife.
    • Matt: “It was Rancy who lit that lamp tonight. It was her shadow on the blind.” [24:06]
    • Matt: “She’s dead. And juries don’t have much sympathy for men who kill women. You’re gonna hang, Buck, just as sure as shoot.” [24:06 – 24:47]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Jealousy and Pride:

  • Buck: “Old Town’s talking behind my back.” [08:18]
  • Matt: “A funeral wouldn’t give ’em any less to talk about.” [08:21]

• On Kindness and Hardship:

  • Rancy: “I’m not a bad woman, Marshall...All I ask is just a little kindness and all a reason to laugh once in a while.” [13:26]
  • Matt: “Sometimes a little too much to expect though.” [13:39]

• On Human Nature:

  • Doc: “They’re all for themselves. And the devil take the hindmost. That’s what. Human nature doesn’t change, man.” [20:32–20:42]
  • Matt: “Well, that’s what Chester thinks since you started him reading Shakespeare.” [20:46]

• The Tragic Realization:

  • Matt: “It was Rancy who lit that lamp tonight. It was her shadow on the blind.” [24:06]
  • “She’s dead. And juries don’t have much sympathy for men who kill women. You’re gonna hang, Buck, just as sure as shoot.” [24:47]

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Segment Timestamps

• Chester discusses Shakespeare and human nature: [05:02–05:52]
• Buck’s drunken rage and threat: [06:06–08:38]
• Kitty and Rancy share the hardships of marriage: [10:29–13:37]
• Frisco’s intentions and Matt’s warning: [14:05–14:51]
• Buck’s resolution and Matt’s appeal: [16:53–18:58]
• Doc’s philosophy about Dodge and human nature: [19:34–20:46]
• Gunshots and investigation: [21:07–22:26]
• Buck’s confession and tragic reveal: [22:26–24:47]

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Episode Tone and Themes

Gunsmoke: “Devil’s Hindmost” is permeated with classic Western grit and existential melancholy. The dialogue is naturalistic, alternating between darkly comic banter and tragic resignation. The story underscores the timelessness of human flaws—jealousy, pride, the longing for kindness—while demonstrating, through its final tragedy, how violence and distrust can ruin lives.

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For listeners who missed the episode:
This restoration of Gunsmoke’s “Devil’s Hindmost” offers a deeply human story of small-town jealousy gone awry, the dangers of pride, and the cost of misunderstanding—delivered with the genre’s characteristic blend of suspense, moral reckoning, and memorable radio craft.

Transcript

[Parent 1]

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[Parent 2]

Really?

[Parent 1]

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[Child]

Yeah, really. Look at these listings from dealers.

[Parent 1]

Wow, your search can really get that specific.

[Child]

Really?

[Parent 1]

And you just put in your info and boom. Car's in your budget.

[Buck Webber]

Mom needs a second.

[Parent 1]

Honey, you can really have it delivered.

[Parent 2]

Really? Or I can pick it up at the dealership. One sec, sweetie.

[Matt Dillon]

Mommy's buying a car.

[Child]

Mommy, look.

[Parent 1]

I think kid is walking up the slide again.

[Parent 2]

Really?

[Child]

Autotrader, Buy your car online.

[Parent 2]

Really?

[Child]

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[Narrator]

Welcome to the Old Time Radio Westerns. I'm your host, Andrew Rines, and let's get into this episode. This episode is going to be Gunsmoke. Original air date is just January 6, 1957 and the title is Devil's Hindmost.

[Parent 2]

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[Janice]

Hello. I'm here during the lunch rush with Janice, who owns her own food truck.

[Parent 1]

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[Janice]

Janice traded up to Geico Commercial Auto Insurance for her food truck business. We're here where she needs us most.

[Kitty]

They sure are.

[Janice]

We make it so easy for her to save with customized coverage that grows with her business. Sorry, I just get so emotional talking about saving folks money.

[Parent 1]

Not this onion I'm chopping.

[Janice]

It's just so beautiful. Oh, yeah, nice.

[Narrator]

The onion.

[Announcer]

Get a commercial auto insurance quote [e-mail] and see how much you could save.

[Purchasing Manager]

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[Announcer]

Gun smoke. Around Dodge City and in the territory on west, there's just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers, and that's with a U.S. marshal and the smell of gun smoke. Gun smoke. Starring William Conrad. The story of the violence that moved west with young America. And the story of a man who moved with it.

[Matt Dillon]

I'm that man. Matt Dillon, United States Marshal. The first man they look for and the last they want to meet. It's a chancy job, and it makes a man watchful and a little lone.

[Buck Webber]

You know, Mr. Dylan, it's pretty doggone funny when you stop to think about it.

[Matt Dillon]

What is, Chester?

[Buck Webber]

Life is.

[Matt Dillon]

No. You been reading another book?

[Buck Webber]

Well, yes, sir, I have. It's one Doc lent me. It was wrote by some fellow named Shakespeare. Did you ever hear of him, Mr. Dillon?

[Matt Dillon]

Shakespeare?

[Buck Webber]

Yes, sir. Pretty well known in his day. I guess he died, though, quite a while back, according to Doc.

[Matt Dillon]

Oh, yeah, yeah, so I understand.

[Buck Webber]

Joseph, he don't use English too good. He's one of them foreigners, so it makes it kind of hard to follow him, you know. But I'll Say one thing, Mr. Dillon, he sure does call the turn on the way people act.

[Matt Dillon]

Is that so?

[Buck Webber]

Why, the things that was going on over there in Europe and all them cities in the olden days, it's just the same as what modern folks are doing here in Dodge right now.

[Matt Dillon]

You don't say.

[Buck Webber]

Why, they were scheming and plotting and lying to one another just the same as now.

[Matt Dillon]

Then at least things aren't getting any worse, huh?

[Buck Webber]

Every time a person turned around, somebody was killing somebody. Seemed like used swords and knives mostly. And it appears they didn't have no guns to speak of back Then wait a minute. Don't come back here again unless you're sober. Well, that's Buck Weber, Mr. Dillon.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah.

[Buck Webber]

Come on back here.

[Matt Dillon]

I'll show you.

[Buck Webber]

If I'll come back here doing this.

[Matt Dillon]

Hello, Buck.

[Buck Webber]

Marshall.

[Matt Dillon]

What seems to be the trouble?

[Buck Webber]

Trouble, Marshall? No trouble at all.

[Matt Dillon]

No? If Sam Noonan was to throw me out of the long branch, I'd call it trouble.

[Buck Webber]

He didn't have no cause to.

[Matt Dillon]

They must have thought he did. Sam's a pretty fair man.

[Buck Webber]

Ordinarily. I wasn't doing nothing. I just wanted to see. Ranci was all Rancid.

[Matt Dillon]

What's she doing in there?

[Buck Webber]

She's working. What do you think a woman would be doing in there?

[Matt Dillon]

Your wife's working on the Long branch.

[Buck Webber]

Three days ago she took some of her things and come into town. She said she was leaving the farm. She was leaving me. Wouldn't come back no more.

[Matt Dillon]

Oh, Buck, you know how a woman is. She'll say a lot of things when she's mad.

[Buck Webber]

Now, Rancy, she ain't like that. She meant it, Marshall. And I ain't even to let her do it.

[Matt Dillon]

I'll give her some rope. She'll cool off in a few days maybe.

[Buck Webber]

No. With that tin horn gambler hanging around her, she won't. I'm going back there and kill that no good.

[Matt Dillon]

Wait a minute, Buck. Wait a minute. Now, Sam told you to stay out. And from the shape you're in, I think maybe he's right.

[Buck Webber]

What do you mean, the shape? I mean.

[Matt Dillon]

Well, you had a little too much to drink, I think. Come on, let's take a walk, huh?

[Buck Webber]

I want to walk.

[Matt Dillon]

Take his other arm, Chester. Yes, sir.

[Buck Webber]

I want to go back there and talk to ranch.

[Matt Dillon]

Come on. Come on. It'll keep.

[Buck Webber]

It'll keep all right. That slick talking gambler hanging around, filling her full of lies.

[Matt Dillon]

Which gambler? What do you mean?

[Buck Webber]

That Frisco Bates. You've been in there every night since you started talking soft to her. Trying to give her doubts about her rightful place in the world.

[Matt Dillon]

She must have had a few doubts already, Buck, or she wouldn't have left.

[Buck Webber]

You carry on the way she is with that Frisco Bates. Everybody laughing at me. I'm going back there and kill her. Wait.

[Matt Dillon]

No, you're not. No, you're not. Now, come on. That's it. That's it.

[Buck Webber]

Old Town talking behind my back.

[Matt Dillon]

Well, a funeral wouldn't give him any less to talk about.

[Buck Webber]

You know, you take me to jail, Marshall?

[Matt Dillon]

Just for tonight, Buck. It's the only way to keep you out of trouble.

[Buck Webber]

Whose side are you on anyhow? Mine or that? No good gamblers.

[Matt Dillon]

Maybe neither one.

[Announcer]

Buck.

[Matt Dillon]

There's another side to it.

[Buck Webber]

No.

[Matt Dillon]

Your wife's.

[Announcer]

Do you think you should leave politics to the politicians? Well, I'm sure some politicians would like this. But tell me, are you the sort of guy who thinks taxes are too high? Do you like the way your city is kept up? Do you think there should be more parks, perhaps a lot more sand, Lots for baseball or football? You say you do or don't like the foreign aid program? Well, our government was designed to give you a voice. You'd be surprised at how influential a letter or a wire is to your congressman or senator. You should protect your right to be heard by voting. As the Athenian Pericles said. We do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics minds his own business. We say he has no business here at all. Unquote. Take an interest in politics, it is your business. This is one definition in our dictionary of freedom sa.

[Kitty]

Good to see you, man.

[Matt Dillon]

Hello, Kitty.

[Kitty]

Thought you might be going to pass us up this evening.

[Matt Dillon]

That's hard to break the habit.

[Announcer]

Kitty.

[Matt Dillon]

I understand Ranci Weber's working here now.

[Kitty]

That's right, Matt. She started three nights ago.

[Buck Webber]

She around?

[Kitty]

She'll be back in a minute. Right now she's crying. Oh, her husband came in drunk and mad a while ago and started abusing me.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah, I know. I just locked him up for the night.

[Kitty]

I'm glad you did, Matt. Buck Webber could be real mean if he got started.

[Matt Dillon]

I'm afraid he's already started. Kidding? What about this Frisco Bates?

[Kitty]

So that's it. I told Ramsay the talk would get around.

[Matt Dillon]

Anything to it?

[Kitty]

I don't think so. Not really.

[Matt Dillon]

Buck's got the idea there is.

[Kitty]

Well, he's a touchy one, Matt. He's awful hard to figure.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah, I know.

[Kitty]

I hated to see Ramsay start here, but she told me she'd left him. She didn't have a cent to her name. I thought she might be better off here than some of the other places. At least I can sort of look after her. I'm sorry, Kitty. I shouldn't have acted like that. Oh, good evening, Marcia.

[Matt Dillon]

How are you, Ranci?

[Kitty]

Oh, if you two will excuse me, I better look after a couple of things.

[Buck Webber]

Yeah.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah, sure, Kitty.

[Kitty]

I guess you're probably kind of surprised to find me working in a place like this.

[Matt Dillon]

No, no, I already heard about it. I saw your husband a little while ago.

[Kitty]

Oh?

[Matt Dillon]

You sure you Know what you're doing, Ramsay?

[Buck Webber]

I'm sure, Marshall, that's an easy life to get into.

[Matt Dillon]

But it's rough to get out of those farming. And I'm afraid Buck's gonna cause you trouble.

[Kitty]

He's caused me trouble for seven years.

[Matt Dillon]

Is that so?

[Kitty]

Seven years of drudgery make a woman a slave and work her to death. Never a decent word.

[Matt Dillon]

You know, some of the easy ways work out hard too, Ransie.

[Kitty]

I take my chances. But Buck might as well get it through his head right now. I'm not going back.

[Buck Webber]

Not ever.

[Matt Dillon]

I doubt if Buck's gonna see it that way.

[Kitty]

He has to. What can he do about it?

[Matt Dillon]

Well, he could try to harm you, maybe in some way.

[Kitty]

Let him. It won't be the first time. There's nothing Buck likes better than hitting a woman. Unless maybe it's a young one.

[Matt Dillon]

Well, right now he seems to want to hit a fella named Frisco Bates.

[Kitty]

Mr. Bates? He's just been kind to me, that's all.

[Matt Dillon]

Uh huh. You know, men like him are new to you, Ratsy. They can cause a lot of trouble sometimes just by being kind.

[Kitty]

I'm not a bad woman, Marshall. At least I don't think I am. All I ask is just a little kindness and all a reason to laugh once in a while.

[Buck Webber]

Is that too much not to ask?

[Matt Dillon]

No. Sometimes a little too much to expect though.

[Buck Webber]

Are you going to monopolize this young lady all evening, Marshall?

[Matt Dillon]

Oh, how are you, Frisco? Ranci, you better go see what it was a kitty wanted, huh?

[Buck Webber]

What kitty?

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah.

[Kitty]

All right, Marshall. You Excuse me, Mr. Bates.

[Buck Webber]

Certainly.

[Matt Dillon]

Is this a policy of the law.

[Buck Webber]

In Dodge City, Marshall? Interfering in people's personal affairs?

[Matt Dillon]

Sometimes, yeah. At least when their personal affairs seem to be heading toward a killing.

[Buck Webber]

You mean Ranci's husband?

[Matt Dillon]

I suppose he came around looking for you, didn't he?

[Buck Webber]

The way he's been treating her, I may go looking for him.

[Matt Dillon]

Why her, Frisco? There are other women around. Not like Ranci. She's out of place here. She's not the kind to be working here, you know it.

[Buck Webber]

Maybe she won't be long. I've asked Ranci to go away with me, Marshall. I've asked her to marry me.

[Matt Dillon]

Does that surprise you?

[Buck Webber]

A little bit.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah, it surprised me too.

[Buck Webber]

But that's the way it is.

[Matt Dillon]

Francie agree to it?

[Buck Webber]

Not yet, but she will. Buck Webber won't have a thing to say about it.

[Matt Dillon]

He wants. I wouldn't count on that if I were you.

[Announcer]

Many a child has been warned by his parents that if he digs too deep a hole in the flower bed, he's liable to fall through to China. Well, apparently this little tale had its origin in our American folklore many years ago. And it all started when Captain Wentworth bumped into the great Sam Patch in the middle of the China Seas. The captain said, why, Sam, how did you get here? I thought you were drowned near the Canadian border. Sam replied, I didn't get here at all. I dove right through in that there a Niagara dive. I went so deep I thought it was just as short to come up the other side. So I came out here in the China Seas. Now you just turn your ship around and I'll race you back to Boston. And if I don't beat you, then my name's not Sam Patch. Folklore belongs to every nation's legendary past. And I guess we Americans have our share of some tall tales.

[Buck Webber]

Sam.

[Matt Dillon]

Morning, Buck.

[Buck Webber]

Marshall.

[Matt Dillon]

Did you sleep all right?

[Buck Webber]

Horrible.

[Matt Dillon]

Well, I hope you slept off some of those crazy notions you had last night.

[Announcer]

Maybe.

[Matt Dillon]

All right, come on out. I got your belongings out here in the office, Buck. There's no charge against you. You're free to leave. Glad to hear that anyway.

[Buck Webber]

Morning, Buck.

[Matt Dillon]

Stuff's there on the table, Buck.

[Buck Webber]

Thanks. I get my gun back, Chester. I'll get it. There you are, buddy.

[Matt Dillon]

What are your plans?

[Buck Webber]

Well, I reckon I better ride back out home, take care of the chores. Stocks used to be in fade a couple hours earlier than this.

[Matt Dillon]

Not what I meant, Buck. What about Ranci?

[Buck Webber]

I ain't rightly made up my mind yet, Marshall.

[Matt Dillon]

Leave her alone, will you? Give her a chance to use her own judgment.

[Buck Webber]

Don't seem like she's got much of that from the folks she's took up.

[Matt Dillon]

With the last few days. It's her own business. She's a grown woman.

[Buck Webber]

She's a married woman too. She hadn't ought to be carrying on the way she is.

[Matt Dillon]

She hasn't done anything wrong.

[Buck Webber]

I ain't saying she is. I got nothing against Ranci. Any woman's liable to get out of hand once in a while and start thinking. Fancy I get her back out there in the farm for a week or two. She'll come to her senses.

[Matt Dillon]

Uh huh.

[Buck Webber]

It's that Frisco that's causing all the trouble. Trying to turn her head.

[Matt Dillon]

As far as I can see, all he's doing is treating her with a little respect.

[Buck Webber]

A matter of opinion, Marshall. Well, if the law's got no more dealings with me, I'll be getting on no Dealings, Buck?

[Matt Dillon]

Not right now, anyway.

[Buck Webber]

Good. That fellow was born under a bad star, Mr. Dillon.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah, you may be right, Chester.

[Buck Webber]

He lives mad and he's gonna die mad. You just wait.

[Matt Dillon]

That's about all I can do, Chester.

[Buck Webber]

You know, Matt, the best time of day is at night. I always look forward to it.

[Matt Dillon]

Oh, why so, Doc?

[Buck Webber]

Because after dark, this flea bit town doesn't look so goddamn ugly, that's why.

[Matt Dillon]

I see.

[Buck Webber]

If a man puts his mind to it, he can even imagine he's someplace else.

[Matt Dillon]

Seems to me if a man really wanted to, he could pull up stakes and be someplace else.

[Buck Webber]

I don't know about that. Couple of years out on this blasted prairie leaves a man uncivilized for the rest of his life.

[Matt Dillon]

Doc, you were born uncivilized.

[Buck Webber]

Oh, in medical school I was regarded as a lad of culture and refinement.

[Matt Dillon]

Medical school? I always thought you had veterinary training.

[Buck Webber]

I'd have been better off ahead. There's more animals around here than people. And that's not counting the people that are animals or just the same as anyone.

[Matt Dillon]

Oh, they're improving a little bit, year by year.

[Buck Webber]

Oh, yeah, sure, they're improving. They're all for themselves. And the devil take the hindmost. That's what. Human nature doesn't change, man.

[Matt Dillon]

Well, that's what Chester thinks since you started him reading Shakespeare.

[Buck Webber]

It won't do him any harm.

[Announcer]

Come on, Doc.

[Matt Dillon]

It's over back at the Dodge House. You think?

[Kitty]

Yeah.

[Buck Webber]

You say civilized, huh? Sure.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah.

[Buck Webber]

Improve. Enough people shooting each other all the time and bullets flying around.

[Announcer]

Come out over this way. Nobody dying in their beds.

[Buck Webber]

Oh, yes, there's some over here, Mr. Dillon. Somebody fired through the wind in the Frisco Bates room. They must have been hiding out here in the dark somewhere.

[Matt Dillon]

All right, come on. We can get them through the back door.

[Buck Webber]

Yes.

[Matt Dillon]

Will you stand back, please? Stand away from the door, will you? All right, go on then, Doc. Justin.

[Announcer]

Good.

[Buck Webber]

It's the first room, Mr. Dunn. Right here at the corner. Quietly for Mr. Dillon.

[Matt Dillon]

Well, good Lord, Matt. Yeah. All right, take over, will you? Document. I got some dealings with a man.

[Buck Webber]

I don't hear nobody inside.

[Matt Dillon]

Well, there's one way to find out. All right. Hold it, Buck.

[Buck Webber]

Why, Marshall, I thought I heard somebody knock.

[Announcer]

You did?

[Matt Dillon]

Been doing some shooting, huh?

[Buck Webber]

No, I was just cleaning my gun. Sit down, Marshall. I'll clear this stuff off.

[Matt Dillon]

Never mind, Buck. Let's have a look at that pistol.

[Buck Webber]

What for?

[Matt Dillon]

There have been three shots fired here.

[Buck Webber]

Oh, yeah, I forgot there was a coyote bothering around this Morning.

[Matt Dillon]

There were three shots fired in town tonight back at the Dodge house.

[Buck Webber]

It's so.

[Matt Dillon]

And a half a dozen people saw you running away from there right afterwards, Buck.

[Buck Webber]

Why? I ain't been out of the house since dark. Huh?

[Matt Dillon]

And somebody's been riding one of your horses pretty hard.

[Buck Webber]

Still leathered. You don't say, boy. I figured.

[Matt Dillon]

Buck, you waited outside Frisco's window till you saw the lamp lit and a shadow on the blind. Then you fired through the window and ran for your horse. That about the way it was?

[Buck Webber]

Yeah, just about.

[Matt Dillon]

Then you're under arrest for murder.

[Buck Webber]

There won't nothing come of it. Marshall, when a man's wife's being bothered, there's an unwritten code.

[Matt Dillon]

There's no code about killing from ambush.

[Buck Webber]

Well, he had it coming to him. The jury will see it that way. He was trying to get her to run away with him. Everybody in town knew about it.

[Matt Dillon]

They didn't know she'd made up her mind not to do it. What do you mean? She told Kitty tonight. And she went over to tell Frisco, but he wasn't in. The clerk of the Dodge house gave her the key to Frisco's room so she could go back and wait for him.

[Buck Webber]

What are you saying, Marshall?

[Matt Dillon]

It was Rancy who lit that lamp tonight. It was her shadow on the blind.

[Buck Webber]

And I.

[Matt Dillon]

That's right, Buck. She's dead. And juries don't have much sympathy for men who kill women. You're gonna hang, Buck, just as sure as shoot.

[Announcer]

How well do you know the history of your Marine Corps? For example, did you know that the Marines were the first American troops to be decorated with a forager, one of France's highest decorations of honor? In June 1918, the German army was in possession of Belleau Wood, a highly strategic point on the way to Paris. And unless the wood was secured by the Allies, Paris would soon fall. Two regiments of the American 2nd Division, the 5th and 6th Marines, were deployed to the south of Belleau Wood and ordered to drive the German troops back. Although greatly outnumbered, the the Marines attacked again and again. And within three weeks, Belleau Wood was.

[Buck Webber]

Secured for the Allies.

[Announcer]

After Belleau Wood, the Marines continued their valiant fight. And to them, the grateful French government awarded the Croix de Guerre with two palms and a gold star. And the first American troops to be so honored, the forager. Thus, another page was added to the history of your United States Marine Corps.

[Buck Webber]

Sam.

[Announcer]

Gun smoke produced and directed by norman McDonald stars william conrad as matt dillon, us marshal featured in the cast were parley bear as chester, howard mcnear as doc and georgia ellis as kitty. George walsh speaking. Join us again next week for another specially transcribed story on gun smoke. This is the united states armed forces radio and television service.

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[Parent 2]

This is the story of the One as an H Vac technician, he and his digital multimeter are in high demand. So when a noisy office H Vac turns out to be a failing blower motor, he doesn't break a sweat. With Grainger's easy to use website and product information, he selects the product he needs to keep everything humming right along. Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickranger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.

[Buck Webber]

Foreign.

[Narrator]

This has been a presentation of otrwesterns.com and we hope you enjoyed. Please take some time to like and rate our shows in your favorite podcast application. Follow us on Facebook by going to otrwesterns.com Facebook subscribe to our YouTube channel by going to otrwesterns.Com YouTube and send us an email podcasttrwesterns.com you can call and leave us a voicemail 707-986-8739 this episode is copyright under the Attribution Non Commercial Share Like Copyright for more information, go to otrwesterns.com copyright have a great day and thanks for listening. Back in the Old west, folks didn't run to the pharmacy every time trouble hit. They relied on the know how and natural remedies. Kind of like how Tonto always seems to have a special mixture ready for whatever came next. If you want to learn how to do that today, check out the Beginner's Guide to Herbal Remedies, Easy steps for teas, tinctures and salves. Even if you've never tried herbs before, visit otrwesterns.comherbs to learn more again otrwesterns.com herbs.