Original subtitles

Sorry, Mr. Nelson.

Can't have you sleeping on the job like that, Howie.

Just resting my eyes.

Now, you can go back to sleep, Howie.

Goodnight, Mr. Nelson.

Matthew?

Matthew, it's nigh on time to get some breakfast vittles.

I can smell coffee clean down the street yonder.

Flapjacks a floatin' in syrup

and ham biscuits 'n mush.

Festus.

Morning, Matthew.

I'm trying to get some sleep here.

Well, a cup of coffee and a good breakfast

will perk you right up,

I guarantee it will.

I'm not hungry just sleepy.

Well Matthew it's purt nigh eight o'clock in the morning.

That means I've only been asleep about three hours.

I didn't get back from Ellsworth

till five o'clock this morning.

Oh Matt, I thought...

- What's the matter, you sick, Matt? - No, I'm not just sleepy.

Well, I was gonna ask you to breakfast.

Funny thing, Doc, I was just talking to Matthew

- about us getting... - I'm just talking to Matthew about it.

Well, can't you see the poor man's

trying to get hisself some sleep?

Just listen, if you think you're gonna

stick me for breakfast you got another thing coming.

Well, if you think I'm gonna go over yonder

to Delmonico's and sit and listen to you

saucer and blow and slurp your blamed coffee,

you got another thing...

Matthew, I thought you were fixing to get

yourself some more sleep.

I know when I'm licked.

Let's go get some breakfast.

Marshal, there's been a killing over at the Dodge House.

- Jeb Nelson, he's been shot. - When?

Well, I don't know they just found him.

Just go away you have no business here.

- Will you please go away? - No!

- Let us through, ladies. - Oh, thank goodness.

He came in about one o'clock this morning, Marshal.

That's the last time I saw him.

Matt, it's close range. There's powder burns here.

How long you think he might've been dead, Doc?

Well, I'd say several hours.

Howie, did you hear anything at all?

Not a sound.

- I'd best get back to the desk, Marshal. - All right, I'll talk to you later.

Festus, get these folks out of here, will ya?

All right now folks don't stand here gawking.

Go on back downstairs. Go on, get!

Doc, you know, he was a drummer

and he spent most of his time out of town.

He never came back till the end of each month.

Meaning what?

Well, it could've been a crime of passion.

- Passion? - Sure, a jealous husband or something.

Oh, for heaven's sake, Burke, will you let Matt do the detective work.

Get out of here, will ya! Get out!

Well, he's got over $80 on him, Doc,

that rules out robbery.

Old Jeb. Been around here 15 years or so.

Never hurt anybody.

Here it is, Matt.

Thirty caliber rifle bullet.

Yep, you'd think anybody fired a.30 caliber weapon

at one o'clock in the morning, they'd wake up half the town, wouldn't ya?

You'd sure think so.

Yet we know the shot couldn't have been muffled

by a pillow or something, because...

man had powder burns on his coat.

Well, he wasn't after money.

- Could it have been something else? - Well, I don't know, Doc.

I don't think his room was searched.

Something on his person, maybe?

I don't know, Doc.

I've been over him very carefully two or three times.

It doesn't look to me like the body was even searched.

Well... just a senseless killing, huh?

But why Nelson?

We find out who we might find out why, Doc.

- Haines, you calling it a night, are you? - It's almost 11 o'clock, Festus.

If I don't get home before 12, the wife starts worrying.

Well, Mr. Haines, it appears to me that

worrying wives is something husbands have got to put up with.

- Goodnight! - Goodnight.

Luke?

He's got shot in the back.

Matthew!

Matthew!

It's Luke.

You know where the shot came from?

No Matthew, we never even heard no shot.

- Doc? - Yeah.

- What's going on? - What do you mean?

Is this the same man that killed Nelson?

Now, why would you ask me a thing like that, Burke?

Well, you're the one that dug the bullets out of each man.

Are they the same caliber?

That's none of your business.

Doc, there's been two men killed here

right under our noses!

- Folks have got a right to know! - Yeah.

It's almost like there's a mad man turned loose!

Burke, for heaven's sakes! Shut up, Burke!

What are you trying to do here, start a panic?

What caliber did you take out of Haines?

Burke, let me tell you something

Matt and I are the only two people who know about this,

and if Matt wants you to know, he'll tell you.

I'm just trying...

I know exactly what you're trying to do

just stop trying so hard, Burke.

Just be calm and maybe everybody else

in town will do the same thing.

Set a good example.

Here's what you can do for me:

go tell Percy Krump

that he can take the body out of my office.

He's here just come in, Matthew.

All right Matt, there you are.

Thirty caliber.

Well, there's lots of them in Dodge.

That don't mean the same fella killed them both.

Well, the fact that nobody heard the shot,

including you, makes for a reasonable assumption.

Newly, do you know of any way that

a man can fire off a rifle without making a sound?

No, sir, but it is possible that

somebody could put together some sort

of a gadget that would muffle the explosion.

It'd have to homemade nobody I know manufactures one.

Doc, you knew both these men well

can you think of any possible connection between them?

No, none that I can think of.

You know, Burke might be right at that.

We just might be dealing with a mad man here

who's just gonna kill anybody at random.

I don't think so.

Well, do you see any connection between

Haines and Nelson?

No, no, but that killer had to have a reason.

Now, Nelson, for instance, he comes into town

only a few days a month.

He always goes to Long Branch

and he always closes it up at night.

The killer could've made a point of finding that out.

Well, how did he get into Nelson's room?

Well, the lock wasn't forced,

the door wasn't jammed open.

So, he either had to get in one of two ways.

Either Nelson let him in or he had a key.

Heavens, Howie should've seen him.

Doc, old Howie sleeps at that desk half the night.

I'll tell you something else, this Haines had a pattern too.

He used to gamble down at the Long Branch,

played poker there several nights a week,

and he always quit around 11 o'clock.

Now, the killer could just as well

have known about that too.

Well, Matt I can give you something.

The bullet entered Haines' body from a high angle.

Now, the shot had to be fired from somewhere

at a level above the street.

Like a rooftop.

Or a second story window maybe.

Festus, I want you to go out and round up

some men that we know we can trust

like Lathrop, Halligan, Burke, Potter, maybe Saxbe.

Well, Matthew, Old Halligan, he's got the argues something fierce.

He can't even hardly get out of bed.

And you know Mr. Potter's got that there bad sick girl

that can't be left by her own self.

Well, ask him if he can get somebody

to take care of her while he's out,

and then round up some other good men.

We'll get everybody we can.

One more thing, spread the word around town

until further notice we're under curfew.

I want everybody off the streets by 10 o'clock.

- All right, Matthew. - You bet.

Matt, if he intends to kill again

that's sure not gonna stop him.

All we can do is try, Doc.

Now, remember stop anybody you see on the street.

Anything you see out of the ordinary,

let me know right away.

All right, let's go.

I'm sorry I'm late, marshal.

No, I'm glad you made it. Burke, take Mr. Potter with you.

Yes, sir.

You see anyone we don't know, get ready to use your gun.

Take it easy, Burke.

Shoot an innocent bystander

the marshal's gonna have your head.

Potter aren't you scared?

Of course I'm scared.

That don't prove he's gonna try it again tonight.

Well, he killed two nights in a row

what's so different about tonight?

A lot.

Think he don't know about all us deputies.

Maybe he does, but you know if he's crazy

that ain't gonna stop him from trying.

You know, the thing that puzzles me most

is we got no guarantee that he's a stranger.

What do you mean?

Well, he knew enough about Nelson and Haines

to be ready for them.

You know I was thinking what if he,

what if he's living right here in Dodge?

What if he's one of us?

Oh Burke, why don't you shut up.

Don't be so blamed jumpity.

I'm sorry, Festus.

I've never seen Dodge so quiet.

That there is a pure old-dee fact,

I ain't neither.

Kinda spooky, ain't it?

You think he'll try again?

I mean, with all these armed men, it'd be too risky.

Maybe he'll just move on.

I don't know, Mr. Price.

I got me a sure kinda ticklety feeling

that ain't gonna be the way it is.

I'm gonna do me some more looking around.

You make blame sure that all these doors is locked.

Sure thing, Festus.

Evening, marshal.

Mr. Meeker. It's 10 o'clock curfew tonight.

Yeah, I heard but I just sent a telegraph over to Hayes

I gotta wait for an answer.

How long will that take?

Oh, half hour or so.

All right, I'll send somebody by

to see that you get home all right.

Marshal, I've been walking home from this job

every night, by myself, for the last 18 years.

I'm no schoolgirl that needs escorting.

I know Mr. Meeker, but I'm sending somebody over anyway

and not only that, I want you to lock this door and pull the shades.

Marshal, I've got...

Mr. Meeker, just do like I tell you.

Festus.

It's almost 11 o'clock

better get over to the telegraph office

and tell Meeker it's time to close up.

And make sure he gets home.

He may argue with you.

I'll fetch him, Matthew.

Henry?

Henry.

Matt, it came from a high angle

that's all I can tell you.

Yeah, and another.30 caliber bullet.

How well did you know Meeker, Doc?

Well, about as well as anybody in town.

Served on a jury with him a month or so ago,

the Crowley trial.

Was either Haines or Nelson on the jury?

No, no, now if you're thinking revenge killing, Matt,

you're barking up the wrong tree I'll tell you that.

Because, Crowley, all he did was just

break up the Bull's Head Saloon.

The judge fined him $20 and released him.

That's hardly a motive for a murder.

Yeah, maybe not, but Doc, these are not just random killings.

There's gotta be some connection between them somewhere,

we just haven't found it yet.

Trying to tie it to juries.

You've got a tremendous job.

Good heavens, I've served on juries.

Just about everybody in town.

Anybody else that's been in town, any length of time,

can say the same thing.

Wait a minute, maybe you got something right there.

Length of time.

Maybe there's a connection between the victims.

What do you mean?

Well, look at it.

Meeker, Haines, and Nelson.

All three of them well along in years,

and all three of them longtime citizens of Dodge.

Long as you or I.

Meeker longer, maybe.

That's not much to go on, but it's a start.

Marshal, searched every inch of this town

and found nothing suspicious.

Talked to boarding houses, hotels,

checked horses stabled at the livery through their owners.

Seems every stranger in town has got a reason for being here.

Yeah, well I guess I never expected anything different.

- Mr. Saxbe tell you anything? - Not a thing.

Went into the barn and somebody hit him, that's all he remembered.

Newly, look, I want you to go down to the courthouse,

get the clerk down there to give you the court records

for every major trial going back 20 years.

Make sure he gives you a list of jurors on each trial.

That's a lot of paperwork.

Well, we may not have much time to do it either.

All right.

This is rough on the eyes, trying to read this faded writing.

Here's something.

No, just Meeker.

Hey listen to this.

April 1859, list of the jurors,

the first three names...

Henry Meeker, Jeb Nelson, and Haines.

Who was the defendant?

Kinda hard to make it out.

Willis Connors.

Guilty of murder, sentenced to 20 years.

Who else was on that jury?

Donald Walsh.

Walsh, I think, yeah, he died in a fire back about '68.

Quint Asper.

He was a blacksmith here.

He went to California about 10 years ago.

Chester Goode.

He used to work for me here.

He's before your time.

He left, I think, right after the trial.

Gordon Smith.

He's been dead a long time.

Take a look at this one.

Oh come in, Matt.

Doc.

Well, I think we found a link.

Link?

Yeah, Newly and I just spent most of the day

looking over court records.

Meeker, Haines, and Nelson...

all three of them served on the same jury 15 years ago.

Man named Willis Connors was given 20 years for murder.

That bring anything back to your mind?

Well, sure does.

I was on that jury too.

Think you're being a little presumptuous, though.

So were eight other men.

Yeah, and all eight of those men

either dead or moved away from Dodge years ago.

Doc, the way I see it, you're next.

Now, Matt, Connors was a drifter, you know,

he killed a farmer outside of town.

Nobody knew why.

A bunch of cowboys came by looking for water, you see,

and they heard shots and rode in and found him

with a gun in his hand.

Caught him red-handed.

Yeah, I was away at the time,

but I remember them talking about the trial.

Didn't he threaten one of the jurors or something?

Threaten?

Good heavens, he rushed the jury box and said he'd see us all dead.

Took about five men to subdue him.

The thing that bothers me was the sentence.

If it was out and out murder, why wasn't he hanged?

Well, Matt, to tell you the truth,

I think I'm responsible for that.

You, why?

Just no question at all about him being guilty,

he was caught with the gun in his hand,

standing over the victim,

there was sign of a struggle

but you know, when he came to trial,

he didn't seem to have the mental capacity to testify,

he just kept saying, "He hurt me, he hurt me."

Now, I kinda coupled that with the fact

that the victim had been a bully,

kind of a troublemaker.

And I just couldn't make myself believe

that he was responsible for his actions at the time.

Well, all right, so he wasn't hanged

he was given 20 years.

That's about the size of it.

See, that still doesn't do us any good.

Not unless he was pardoned or escaped.

Well, you can check on that.

I already have.

I got off a telegraph to Leavenworth. Should hear by tomorrow.

Well, Matt I'll give you the logic that I may be next

but let me tell you something,

I'm not gonna sit here in this office

for the rest of my life with the shades pulled down.

Doc, I just can't take a chance on anything happening to you.

I'm gonna send you off to Hayes tonight with Newly.

Oh no you're not.

No, sir.

Doc, he's killed three nights in a row.

Now, if he follows his pattern,

tonight you're next.

Well, if you send me to Hayes, he'll follow me...

or wait for me here.

Oh, no Matt, no we got to flush him out some way,

and the only way I know is to give him a target.

You?

You said it yourself.

Doc, listen to me, the man's killed three people

on three consecutive nights,

two of them at long range.

That means that Connors, if it is Connors,

does a deadly shot with a rifle.

You try to set yourself up as a target,

you're gonna wind up as victim number four.

Well Matt, set up or not, he's gonna try again,

we know that.

I just figure my chances are better if we kinda know what he's up to.

And anyway, I'm too danged old

to sit around and wait for somebody to kill me.

I want to get it settled right now.

By golly, I'll lock you up if I have to.

On what charge?

Fool stubbornness.

If that doesn't work, I'll think of something else.

Matt, if you don't help me

I'm gonna do this myself.

All right.

But if we're gonna do it, let's do it right.

Newly, it's past nine o'clock.

Doc, get away from that window.

Don't make yourself a target yet.

Well, it's this dang waiting, Newly, that's getting me.

I know. And I don't blame you.

But, let's do it the way the marshal laid it out.

All right.

You sit down in that chair at 10 o'clock and not before.

All right.

Now, we got about a half an hour more.

Why don't you go in the backroom in there and lie down.

Well fine, man's out to kill me

and you want me to go to sleep.

That's good.

I just want you to do what you normally do.

Let whoever it is out there know you're home,

but kinda keep moving around a little bit.

It's time, Doc.

There it is.

It would've been just like the others: right through the heart.

Thank the good lord for blacksmiths.

You betcha. Doc, you oughta buy old Herschel a drink

for building that iron plate for you.

I was just thinking the same thing, Festus.

There it is.

Well, I'm sorry he got away, Doc

but at least one of us winged him.

I wonder how bad he's hurt.

Not bad enough, I'm afraid.

Marshal!

Marshal, how's Doc Adams?

He'll be well before we know it.

You got any idea who it could be?

We're gonna know just as soon as we can.

But three men have been shot.

- You gotta do something soon. - Lucky he didn't kill me.

Look, boys, best thing we can do

is stay with the plans we made out.

Now, get back to your patrols.

Alright, Marshal.

Ain't no sign of him no place, Matthew.

We've looked in every nook and cranny of this town

all the storehouses, and the backrooms, everywhere.

He's nowhere to be found.

Marshal, this just arrived.

Willis Connors died in prison three years ago.

Connors? You figured he was the killer.

That's right, Festus.

Puts us right back where we started.

Don't you know you're supposed to be dying?

I'm tired of dying.

- Doc, I thought I told you... - I know what you told me!

That's when we were looking for Connors

and Connors is dead now.

Could be anybody else.

That still doesn't alter the fact

there's a killer loose in Dodge and he's looking for you.

All right, well I've told you

if you think I'm gonna spend the rest of my life hiding in corners,

well I won't do that!

Four men that served on the same jury.

That could be a coincidence.

It could be something else the four of us had in common

besides that trial.

Well, I'll tell you there's only one we're gonna find out.

When he kills again.

You just can't stay put, can you?

Doc, doggone it you shouldn't have come here.

By now everybody in town will know you're healthy, including the killer.

Well, I heard a man had been shot,

I'm a doctor, you know.

Well, right through the heart just like the others.

Festus, get some of these boys,

get him over to Percy Krump's, will you?

Burke, Potter, Pike, come on over here.

Get hold of him, now.

All right, the rest of you folks, break it up.

It's all over now.

Okay, got it?

- Yeah, I got it. - Go on, go on.

Homer Jones.

He was in here alone must've happened

about an hour after the place was closed.

Bull was home asleep.

Well, it kind of breaks the pattern.

Homer wasn't even in town during the Connors trial.

You know, come to think of it,

I served on a jury once with Homer

three or four years ago.

Who else was on the jury?

Gosh, Matt I've served on so dang many juries,

I just can't remember.

Well, who was it was on trial?

It was some cowboy, a drifter,

but I can't think of his name.

But it makes no sense anyway, Matt,

because he was acquitted.

Lack of evidence.

And that's the only jury you ever served on with Homer?

I believe it was.

Well, that leaves us right up a blind alley again.

I'm gonna have Newly check the records again, just the same.

Wouldn't do any good, Matt, because the case was dismissed.

He'd no reason to hold a grudge against anybody here.

I know, Doc, but it's the only thing we got to go on.

Festus, I want you to go back to the office with Doc

and stay with him.

What, what's this?

That killer's still loose, Doc,

and he knows you're alive now.

Don't let him out of your sight.

Wait a minute!

Wait, are you talking about 24 hours a day?

I'm talking about however long it takes.

Well, now just, no sir, wait a minute I can't stand that!

I won't!

Having to live in the same town with you is bad enough

but having to look at you 24 hours a day

I can't take that.

All right, you ornery old scudder,

you ain't no oil painting your own self.

Find anything?

Nothing much.

I found something here,

but I don't think it's gonna lead anywhere.

Well, did you get anything to eat?

I went over to Delmonico's a couple of hours ago.

There's a letter on the desk over there

I found it underneath the door when I got back.

It's from the killer.

"Dr. Adams is still alive and I've been injured.

You have interfered with my plans.

Be on the street tonight at 11 o'clock

alone, or others will die."

Five minutes of nine.

Well, you can't do what that letter says.

You go out on the street and he'll kill you.

Doesn't look to me like I got much choice.

This may be the last chance we get.

That's no chance at all.

What else can I do?

Let him go after Doc or anybody else he wants to?

Well, wait a minute, let's do some thinking on this.

Why don't you and Festus and myself,

the three of us,

we go on out there and if he gets one of us

the others will get him.

It's no good, Newly.

He says alone.

And he's just crazy enough go through it

if I don't follow his instructions.

What guarantee do we have he won't keep on killing anyway?

Well, none.

Except that he says right in this letter

that he'll definitely go on killing if we don't do what he says.

Maybe at random.

I don't like it any better than you do.

But I have to go through with it, there's no other choice.

What else did you find?

Well, nothing much, I'm afraid.

The name of the cowboy that was acquitted at the trial

was Jeff Wright.

He was accused of attacking a 15-year-old girl,

but it really doesn't help.

Doc and Nelson served on the jury,

but not Meeker or Haines.

There's no way of tying them together?

No way that I know of,

but I haven't finished reading the transcript here.

Puts us right back where we started.

Now, wait a minute.

Haines and Meeker testified at the trial.

Mm hm, but that doesn't really mean anything, does it?

The cowboy was acquitted.

All right, but witnesses said they saw

the attacker running away

but they couldn't positively identify him.

I think it does tie together.

Well, it's almost 10:30.

Are we gonna make it?

You bet we are, Doc.

I just hope I did the right thing in showing you that letter.

You did just fine.

And I'll tell you Ma Smalley and them other ladies done just fine too.

They're already done sewing everything.

All right, let's go.

Potter!

Potter?

Potter, I'm here!

Don't pay any attention to him! He's not Dillon!

I am!

I'm here!

Neither one of them are,

I'm Matt Dillon!

Don't be a fool, Potter!

- Give it up! - I'm the marshal!

No, he's not the marshal!

No here, I am!

- Potter! - I'm the marshal!

I'm Matt Dillon!

- I am! - Listen to me, I'm here!

Potter, why?

It's been five years since your daughter was attacked.

Five years.

She never knew me...

till... just last Sunday.

Just before she died.

None of you cared.

None of you.

You let him go.

All of you... let him go.

The man...

The man who killed my baby.

Burke, get some of the boys, get him out of here.

I don't guess I'll ever know who arranged for this.

Well, no.

No, I guess you probably never will, Matt.

You might want to thank these two fellas here, though.

Ben, Alex, you done her just right.

Appreciate it, men.