Gunsmoke (1955–1975): Season 16, Episode 7 - Snow Train: Part 2 - full transcript

Announcer: Gunsmoke, starring
James Arness as Matt Dillon.

Can't you see what I'm talking
about, Doc? Don't you understand?

Coming up onto
Mile High Turn, folks.

Prettiest view in nine states.

You see, that law
feller didn't have to...

Hush up and look at the view.

Look out ahead!

We hit something!

You all right?

It's nice of you to care.

Help! Doctor!



Festus, stay here.

I think I got one.

Hold your fire. Put the guns up.

Yes, sir.

The Indians aren't attacking.

I don't want anybody
firing unless they do.

Marshal, the tracks
ahead have been blocked.

I know it.

- Doc, how is she?
- I don't know yet.

You'll be making a big mistake

if you don't get those
trees off the track.

The will stay!

Anybody leaving
train will be killed.

Are you about, uh, six
months along maybe?



Yeah, just about that, Doctor.

Doctor, I... I lost
my other baby.

If they're aboard
this train, I'll find 'em.

You have my word on it.

- The men will hang?
- They'll be charged with murder.

If they're found guilty,
they'll be punished.

We will talk to others.

- What do they want?
- They got some scalpin' on their minds...

Now just sit down and be calm
and I'll try to explain it to you.

Now, these are
Sioux Indians out here.

Now, they claim that two men
sold 'em poisoned whiskey.

Three of their braves are
dead and five of 'em are blind.

What's that got to
do with us, Marshal?

Well, they claim that the two
men got on this train in Denver.

They don't know who they are.

What do you mean,
don't know who they are?

They want us to
turn 'em over to 'em.

Yeah, but how do we
know they're telling the truth?

Maybe they just
wanna board the train,

do some robbin', get
hold of the women.

All right, that's enough now.

I'm not gonna turn 'em over
even if I knew who the men were.

But I'll tell you one thing.

All of you folks are gonna
have some explaining to do

about where you were just
before you got on this train.

But you're not settling
for any standoff?

What you're really saying
is we're trapped here.

I'm not sure you know what it
means to be stranded up in this country

this time of year, Marshal.

When the sun goes down,
so does the temperature.

Drop of 40, 50 degrees during
a single night is not unusual.

We're just gonna have
to make the best of it.

They're getting guns.

I hope you're not
planning on using those.

Just keeping 'em handy in
case we need them, Doctor.

Give me that gun!

Festus!

Aah! Aah!

What's happening?

All right, everybody get down.

Stay down.

What'd he say, Matthew?

Gave us until morning to
turn over those two men.

I once spent three
nights up here, Marshal,

a rock slide
blocking the tracks.

The doctor took
off two of my toes.

We can get along
without that kind of talk.

There'll be help.

When the train doesn't come in
time, there'll be help, won't there?

Mister, they call
this a snow train.

A two-day delay is not unusual.

Ask questions in Dodge, Marshal?

You better start
asking right now.

And then what?

And kick their worthless
souls right out of this train.

Festus, here. Take this.

There's over a hundred
Indians out there.

If I don't make it, you're gonna
need every gun you can get.

Marshal, it's gonna be like
daylight out on that snow.

I know it. I plan to be long
gone before the moon comes up.

Now who else wants to speak up?

Mr. Wickes here
can vouch for me.

That's very true. We're
narrowing it down.

Narrowing what down?

Simply trying to identify the guilty
men by process of elimination.

All right, what are you
gonna do if you find 'em?

Turn 'em over to the Indians?

I'll tell you this, Marshal.

If it comes down to them
or us, it ain't no choice at all.

Well, we've got a
choice, and I'm taking it.

So happens up here at the next
relay station there's a telegraph.

I figure I can get there
in four or five hours.

If I can, I can be back here
by morning with soldiers.

How you gonna get off this
train without them seeing you?

Well, we just have to
divert the Indians' attention

for a few seconds while
I jump off the back end.

He thinks he's dying.
He's asked for you.

I can't go that far.

Why not?

I work the trains.

Confidence man.

Regardless of that...

you go over there and you do
what any decent man would do.

We're gonna get caught.

Sure as we're sitting here,
we're gonna get caught.

We will if you keep
talking like that.

I wonder about the marshal.

Could he have gotten through?

Mr. Coleman. How's your wife?

Well, the doctor says all right.

He's not saying much about
the baby's chances, though.

Oh, I'm sure everything's
gonna be fine.

Don't you worry.

Thank you, ma'am.

Ma'am.

What?

He called me ma'am.

What should he call you?

There's a way of saying ma'am
to a woman that doesn't remind her

another year's gone by.

Today, in fact.

What?

My birthday.

Oh.

You, uh, thought
I'd forgotten, huh?

No, I wanted you to pick
it out yourself in Dodge.

Diamond ring.

What's wrong with
a plain gold band?

Only if you'd, uh... marry me.

Well, here we all are.

Not knowing whether
that marshal's dead or not.

Not knowing whether
the sun's rising

is going to be warming our
dead bodies in the morning.

Now, you just hold
on there, Mister.

Marshal Dillon told you
to hush that kinda talk.

Oh, come now, Deputy.

You saying we can't even
talk among ourselves?

I ain't saying that at all.

Thank you, Deputy.

I'm not sure what point
I'm trying to make here.

But we've got about
two hours till first light.

It seems to me essential
we examine our alternatives.

Tell me, Mr., uh...
Billy. Only name I got.

Well, Mr. Billy, you seem
to be the type of man

who knows about
this country we're in.

I think we should hear from you.

Yeah.

Well, come day,

we could all just go rushing
out there with guns and fight.

Now, that's one thing.

I'm willing to fight.

- So is Bud here.
- You bet.

Well, that's just what
they'll be expecting.

They'll have both sides
of the train covered.

And whoever isn't just
gunned down'll be...

Well, if them Sioux live
up to their reputations.

Whoever's left alive'll
wish they hadn't been.

You must be
exaggerating, Mr. Billy.

You can ask that deputy
standing right there.

Looks like he's accustomed to
bedding down on hard ground.

The only thing I got to say is that
Marshal Dillon's gonna get back,

and when he gets back, he's
gonna do all the deciding around here.

If he gets back.

That's a pretty big if.

Let's find 'em
and throw 'em off.

Well, what are we,
animals? Acting like this?

Why, we're not even sure the
men those Indians are looking for

are really on this train.

We only have the
word of those savages.

Mister...

if you got any more
of your blabbering to do

to get these folks all worked
up, just keep it to yourself.

Is that right, Deputy?

Just one more peep out of you
and I'm gonna slap some irons on you

and put you under
arrest. You hear me?

I think you're exceeding
your authority, Deputy.

First they break the windows
so we freeze to death.

Now we don't even have a stove.

All right, everybody,
just be easy now.

Stay calm.

You're the one that's
gonna stay calm.

Foreman, get his gun.

Don't do it, Clay. Stop him.

Stop him? Those Indians
are still takin' scalps.

Has he got handcuffs?

Chain him to the seat.

Mr. Wickes, you're putting
yourself outside the law.

Maybe so, ma'am, but
disarming a deputy marshal

calls for a jail term or a fine.

Now, that surely
wasn't necessary.

It certainly wasn't.

I don't like it any better
than you do, ma'am,

but when a group of
people are facing death,

they have a right to
determine their own fate.

Now, perhaps the two men the Indians
are accusing are not aboard this train.

Fine, well, and good.

We'll all go down together.

But I propose we decide among
ourselves that they are aboard here.

Now, let's have a show of hands.

I agree.

You've got your wife
to think about, brother.

That makes three.

I consider this as
valid as a court of law.

As Mr. Wickes says, people do
have a right to determine their own fate.

You two boys
disagreeing with us?

Billy?

I'll have to think
on it some more.

How do you make
your living, mister?

Yeah, who are you?

Son, that ain't none
of your business.

You two ladies have a choice.

No.

Mae.

I think the truth should
be told. That's all.

Miss?

The vote is still overwhelming.

What happens when
you come up with two men

that can't account for
their time or their business?

I don't believe those two men
deserve to be aboard this train.

All right.

Let's get on with it.

"I had fainted,
unless I believed

to see the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living.

Wait on the Lord,
be of good courage,

and he shall
strengthen thine heart.

Wait, I say, on the Lord."

Easing a man's mind
sometimes can be the...

the difference
between life and death.

I just felt immoral
reading those psalms.

Except you weren't.

Far from it.

You know...

I don't know how
to say this, but...

if we get back to Dodge,

I'll just board another train.

And I'll just go on.

Do what I've always done.

I guess I'm just a little man.

Just a very little man.

But when you
are small, I mean...

I don't mean physically.
I mean just small.

Well, you just do
what you can. I mean...

to live is the thing, isn't it?

Well, I never judge anybody.

Thank you.

For what you've done.

The name's Dillon.

I'm a U.S. Marshal.

The snow train was
attacked by Indians

20 miles down the track.

Get on the key. We
gotta get help out there.

Marshal, I can't.
The line's dead.

I just been sitting here
hoping it'd get patched up.

What are the chances?

Well, not very good.

Last I heard there was
a blizzard coming in.

Lines are probably down.

Ain't likely it'll get fixed
up before tomorrow.

Tomorrow's gonna be too late.

Way too late.

Sure don't understand this.

They're after a couple of
men that sold 'em bad whiskey.

So that's what this is about.

I got a wire here from Cheyenne.

Come in yesterday
when the lines was still up.

It... It's got the names of two men on
that train you're supposed to pick up.

You gotta give me your horse.

My horse?

Marshal, I live 11
miles from here.

At least you're safe, mister.

Those 25 people on
that train are gonna die

unless I can do something.

All right, Marshal.

But it don't look like to me you're in
any shape to go over that pass again.

I'll make it.

You might need this.

Thank you.

Good luck.

You say what's in that jug is
homemade, but that's not the question.

It didn't poison you, did it?

Seems to me you
might do a little selling

on the side at the
Stone Ridge Reservation.

I make it for the train
crew and that's all.

I think I can bear
that statement out.

All right, all right,
let's not get emotional.

We haven't heard from you.

Gonna be hearing from the
marshal when he gets back.

Billy?

Oh, I've traded whiskey with
the Indians from time to time.

Except not in this case.

Can you prove that?

Nope, I can't.

Been working a claim
up beyond Boulder.

My partner bought me out for
the price of a ticket to St. Louis.

Spend the rest of my days there.

My sister, she runs a
boardin' house there.

Sure ain't nailin'
anything down, old timer.

All kinda loose.

Kinda life I lead, son.

Well, now.

I don't believe we've
heard from you two.

Well, his name's Al. Mine's Bud.

Just traveling into
Dodge. Looking for work.

Where you've been, I believe,
is what we're more interested in.

We hunted some.

I mean, we worked a ranch
here and there for stake money.

Sure ain't nailin' anything
down, young timer.

Kinda loose.

You boys board
the train at Denver?

That's right.

Working at a ranch near there?

- That's ri...
- No, we...

You are traveling together.

Listen, we ain't hardly
old enough to drink,

let alone sell whiskey.

I mean, if you're
traveling together,

you must know where you
been and what you been doing.

Workin' ranches.

Your answer too?

Yeah, sure.

Minute ago you said no.

You boys better get
together with the facts.

Or the lack of 'em.

We've been doing
a lot of things.

I think you two should be more
specific if a vote is to be taken here.

You'll be voting yourself right
into jail, is what you'll be doing.

Frankly, Deputy, I wish I were in a
nice, warm cell in Dodge this very moment.

Look, we don't have to
answer any more questions.

'Course you don't.

You're entitled to silence.

What was the name of the
ranch you boys were working at?

It's crazy what's going on here.

Look, maybe... maybe me and Al
will vote for, uh, the gambler there.

Not 'cause he's guilty, but
maybe we just don't like him.

I'm going in to stay by my wife.

You got a vote
here too, young man.

Lot to lose, a wife with child.

Well, I'm not pointing
a finger at anybody.

I know how that boy feels.

I'm sure we all do.

But if any of us are
gonna get out of here alive,

we've got to keep going.

None of us are above suspicion.

Here, now. Now, just be quiet.

- What's happened? What's happened?
- No, no, no, no, no.

We have to keep you
warm. Nothing's happened.

Ada. Ada.

Gonna lose the baby...

No, nothing like that. No.

She's having cramps. That's not
unusual under these circumstances.

Don't you worry.

Don't you worry.

I have made so many mistakes.

Well, if you can
admit that at your age,

you're way ahead of
a lot of us older folks.

She wanted us to
settle on some land.

Have sons.

Watch them grow with the land.

I was looking for
something else.

Now I don't even
know what it was.

My father, he... he wanted me
to stay with the land he worked.

Almost 40 years he worked
that land to make it pay.

I just... just walked
away from it.

Then he was gone.

Took some years to
know what he meant.

Way he was always saying

a man that was
buried on his own land

had the peace of knowing he was
leaving more behind than just his bones.

Sounds like your
father was a smart man.

I wish there was some
way we could be born smart.

No, that wouldn't be very good.

Life wouldn't be
very interesting.

It's the mistakes we make...

it's the low points.

They make us feel
good when we're right.

Doctor?

What in thunder's
going on in there?

- Nothing.
- Well, listen to it.

Well, they're just arguing if
the marshal's coming back.

Don't leave her, Doctor. Please.

I don't know what
you're so upset about.

Everyone else has accounted
for their whereabouts...

You're crazy, Wickes.

Do you really think
that my brother and me

would be carting a pregnant woman around
an Indian reservation selling whiskey?

No one is accusing you, mister.

We're just trying to find out your
whereabouts before you boarded the train.

Mr. Wickes, why
don't you stop all this?

Why don't you leave
Mr. Coleman here alone?

I'm not about to leave anyone
alone till I find out who's guilty.

I'm not about to die for someone
else. Are you, Reverend?

Oh, I don't wanna die at all,

but I believe what you're
trying to do here is wrong.

You know what I believe?

I believe we're
running out of time.

They're coming.

Billy, help me get loose here!

Now, the way I see it, there
are only two men aboard this train

who can't account
for their whereabouts.

And I'm not about to
die to save their hides.

Now, don't you think it's about
time you two ceased your lyin'?

- We told the truth.
- You can't pin this on us.

We had nothin' to do with it.

The morning I boarded
the train in Denver,

I saw you and your friend drive a wagon
into the livery at the railroad depot,

and there you sold
that horse and wagon.

All right. All right,
we lied. We lied.

But we had to. We're
on the run from the Army.

It's true. We're
deserters. Army deserters.

We couldn't tell anybody,
or they'd arrest us.

You gotta believe us. We didn't
sell no whiskey to no Indians.

What about the wagon?

We sold it. We stole it so we
could get train fare back home again.

- We don't believe ya!
- Oh, please. Please.

Get some water. Quickly.

Get your guns out, everybody.

Get your heads down.

Please! Please!

We're deserters!

Army deserters!

There they are!

They're all yours!

Hold your fire,
or I'll kill the chief!

All right, you boys,
back to the train.

All of you.

It was our lives
or theirs, Marshal.

Yeah, except I know who
the men are, and it's not them.

Now, get back in the
car with the others.

All right, go on.

I know who the men are.

They will be punished.

We... didn't know
the... whiskey was bad.

Brother and me...

bought it from somebody else.

We never wanted...

- Matt, you all right?
- Yeah, fine, Doc.

- Well, wait a minute. What's that?
- It's all right. Never mind.

Everything's all right.

Will the train be moving?

It'll be moving.

I love you, Ada.

I... love you very much.

Scott, you don't
have to tell me that.

Yes, I do.

It's something I want
you to remember.

Where's this Scott Coleman?

He's in the baggage
car with his wife, I think.

Hold on just a minute, mister.

You're just about to see the inside of
that warm jail you been talking about.

My brother and I
bought that whiskey...

We... thought we could make some
money selling it on the reservation.

We... didn't know it
could hurt anybody.

My... My brother's dead.

You... you can kill me,

but please let
the train move on.

There are innocent people.

My wife, baby.

Tell your father that I'm
sorry for what's happened.

I'm sad for his dead warriors.

But this man is my prisoner.

The other man he sought is dead.

There's a woman on
the train carrying a baby

that needs attention in Dodge.

If you try to take
this man from me,

there will be more bloodshed.

Tell your father I think
the Sioux have more honor

than to let innocent
people suffer.

My father says...

as the sun melts the snow,

so too melts the
anger in the Sioux.

You are man of honor.

Take your people.

And go. In peace.

You're gonna be all right, Ada.

Isn't she, Doc?

I think so.

Doc?

You know something, Doc?

Between you and that preacher,
I got a feeling I'm gonna make it.

You bet you will.

Got through, Marshal.

He'll send the wire onto Dodge.

Tracks are clear,
Marshal. Steam's up.

All right, why don't you go on and
tell the passengers we'll be moving on?

Yes, sir.

I ain't gonna have a bit
of trouble firing, Matthew,

if Hap there can run the engine.

All right, I'll go and tell
Doc we're just about ready.

Be underway again in a
matter of minutes, folks.

Well, soon be in Dodge.

Picking out that ring.

I don't think so, Clay.

I'll be going on to St. Louis.

Alone.

Alone?

Well now, look, Donna,
I know you're upset,

but that's understandable.

You'll feel better
when we get in Dodge.

No. No, Clay. I won't.

It's those boys, isn't it?

All right, maybe we were wrong.

But we had to do something.

I thought I knew you.

And then I saw the look
on your face and the others'

when you threw
them off the train.

I'm sorry.

Yeah. So am I.

Anything I can get
for ya, Reverend?

Oh, no, no, no. Thank you.

I should think in your line of
work you'd know that by heart.

Yeah, I see what you mean.

Well, I did hear it said
once that a man could read

this particular book
for his whole life and...

still find something new on
every page every time he opens it.

Like this for instance. I was
just reading in, uh, Matthew.

"In as much as ye have done it unto
one of the least of these my brethren,

ye have done it unto me."

You make a valid
point, Reverend.

I mean, we were about one minute
away from being skinned alive.

Now, you think about that.

Don't remind me.

How much stockade time
you think we'll be putting in?

Well, Marshal giving us the right
to turn ourselves in'll make it easier.

But I don't care
how much time it is.

Nothing'll ever scare
me from here on in.

I have a feeling of deep shame.

Well, you needn't, ma'am.

It all seems so unreal.

I think you say things
you just don't mean

because it's so hard
to collect your thoughts.

Well, don't you even
think about 'em, ma'am.

I've seen plenty of like
situations in my lifetime.

The animal just
comes out in a man.

We're all of the animal
breed, you might say.

And it don't seem likely that
the nature of things'll be changing

any time soon.

Peg your pardon, ma'am.

We'll be leaving any
minute, Mr. Wickes.

Fine. You might ask Mr. Foreman
if he'd like to continue our game.

We had no choice,
Marshal. None at all.

You had a choice, mister.

And you made it.

♪♪

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