Gunsmoke: Old West Stories

Originally Aired: May 10, 1959 Gunsmoke #370, "Dowagers Visit," finds Marshal Matt Dillon facing an unusual challenge when Mrs. Junius Chamberlain, widow of a late senator, arrives in Dodge City demanding his help. The formidable dowager is searching for her runaway grandson, Junius Chamberlain III, who has left Yale College to seek adventure out West. When Matt refuses to organize an official search party for a young man who hasn't broken any laws, Mrs. Chamberlain decides to take matters into her own hands, vowing to stay in Dodge until she finds the boy herself. She begins canvassing the town like a determined Pinkerton detective, questioning everyone from bartenders to business owners. Meanwhile, a young drifter appears in the Long Branch trying to join a poker game, offering a solid gold watch fob as his stake. When the other players doubt its authenticity, Kitty Russell confirms the valuable piece is genuine gold. The situation grows more complicated when Mrs. Chamberlain confronts Kitty at the Long Branch with a description of her missing grandson, little suspecting that the young man she seeks may be closer than she realizes.

Originally Aired: April 26, 1959 Gunsmoke #368, "The Badge," finds Marshal Matt Dillon ambushed on a lonely trail by two outlaws, Rack and Augy. The simple-minded Augy shoots Dillon and becomes obsessed with claiming the marshal's badge for himself, believing it will make people think he's important. However, the cunning Rack has other plans. Rather than killing Dillon, Rack decides to keep the wounded marshal alive as insurance, reasoning that no lawman will risk harming their own U.S. Marshal as the outlaws make their way to the border with stolen holdup money. Rack crudely digs the bullet from Dillon's shoulder and promises Augy he can have the badge once they cross into safety. As Dillon recovers in an abandoned shack, he begins working on the weak-willed Augy, subtly playing on the outlaw's resentment of Rack's dominance and the beating he's endured. Meanwhile, back in Dodge City, Doc Adams, Chester, and Kitty Russell grow concerned when Matt fails to return from his trip to Larnage as expected. The episode builds tension as the wounded marshal attempts to manipulate the volatile relationship between his captors while they continue their dangerous flight toward the border.

Originally Aired: April 12, 1959 In Gunsmoke #366, "Chester's Mistake," Chester Proudfoot returns to Dodge City after visiting family, feeling good about his trip until Marshal Matt Dillon reminds him about an important errand he forgot. Chester was supposed to pick up papers in Dalhart on his way back through the panhandle, but all the fun with his relatives made the task slip his mind completely. When Matt arranges for Joe Freeze to retrieve the papers instead, Chester's pride takes a hit, and his embarrassment deepens when he learns the whole town is talking about his forgetfulness. Stung by being the subject of mockery at the Long Branch Saloon, where Lud and others laugh at his simple duties like making coffee and cleaning lamps, Chester begins to question his worth as the marshal's deputy. He seeks reassurance first from Doc Adams, desperately asking what Matt really thinks about having him around for help. Chester's insecurity grows as he realizes his mistake has made him look foolish, leaving him wondering if he's truly useful to Marshal Dillon or just someone for the town to laugh at.

Originally Aired: March 29, 1959 Gunsmoke #364, "Lauries Suitor," tensions flare in Dodge City when young Laurie Benson finds herself caught between two very different men. Andy Scott, a well-mannered Easterner on a graduation trip from Philadelphia, has been courting Laurie and even discusses marriage with Miss Kitty. But ranch hand Rad Dawson has other ideas. After seeing Andy with Laurie at the Long Branch, Rad warns the young man to stay away, threatening violence if Andy doesn't back off. Despite his partner Bone's teasing about his sudden concern for personal grooming, Rad makes his intentions clear: Laurie's evenings now belong to him alone. Frightened that Andy's stubborn refusal to be intimidated will lead to bloodshed, Laurie turns to Marshal Matt Dillon for help. She pleads with him to intervene and prevent a confrontation between the two men. Matt sympathizes but warns Laurie that matters of the heart aren't exactly his department, and he can't guarantee either man will listen to reason. As Rad continues his nightly visits to town with the loyal but bemused Bone in tow, the stage is set for a dangerous showdown.

Originally Aired: March 15, 1959 Gunsmoke #362, "Incident at Indian Ford," finds Marshal Matt Dillon and Chester returning from Hayes City when they encounter a small cavalry detachment camped by the river. Led by the inexperienced Lieutenant Dick and seasoned Sergeant Cromwell, the patrol has just ransomed Mary Tabor from the Arapahoe Indians in exchange for a wagon full of trade goods, including guns and ammunition. The nervous lieutenant insists hostile Arapahoe have been following them for three days, waiting for a chance to recapture the woman. However, when Dillon scouts the perimeter, he discovers evidence of only a single Indian tracker, not a war party. The situation grows more complex when Dillon speaks with Mary Tabor herself. The young woman expresses deep shame and fear about returning to Dodge City, worried about how townspeople will judge her after her captivity, even though she insists her treatment wasn't what people assume. As tension mounts between the cautious marshal and the distrustful lieutenant, Dillon must determine the true intentions of the lone Arapahoe following them and help Mary face her uncertain homecoming.

Originally Aired: March 1, 1959 Gunsmoke #360, "Big Tom," presents Matt Dillon with a troubling situation when Doc Adams comes to him with an urgent warning. Big Tom Burr, a lovable drunk who likes to boast about his fighting days in San Francisco, has been goaded into a bare-knuckle match by Joe Brady and Hob Clay. They've brought in a professional fighter from St. Louis named Creel, who apparently defeated Tom once before in what Tom claims was a foul fight. When Tom seeks Doc's help for dizzy spells, Doc examines him and delivers grave news: Tom's health is so poor that fighting could kill him. Tom refuses to back down, explaining that he was called afraid once and has lived with that shame ever since. Matt faces the difficult challenge of stopping a fight between two grown men while protecting Tom's pride and his life. The situation becomes even more desperate as Doc reveals that Brady and Clay seem to be orchestrating something more sinister than just a simple brawl, leaving Matt to untangle their motives before Tom steps into what could be his final fight.

Originally Aired: February 15, 1959 In Gunsmoke #358, "Body Snatch," Marshal Matt Dillon hauls in a troublemaker named Joe Red after catching him digging into an Indian burial site looking for valuables. The grave robbing isn't just a criminal offense—it risks provoking a deadly Indian uprising that could endanger the entire territory. When Joe Red injures his leg during the arrest, Doc Adams is nowhere to be found, so a stranger in town, Dr. Milfred Brand from Philadelphia, steps in to treat the prisoner. The sophisticated Eastern doctor announces his intention to set up practice in Dodge City, bringing modern medical school methods to the frontier. Doc Adams welcomes the help at first, acknowledging that the growing town could use another physician. However, tensions quickly surface between the two doctors' vastly different approaches to medicine. Dr. Brand views Doc's rough-and-ready frontier methods as unprofessional and makes clear he has no intention of being anyone's assistant. Meanwhile, Chester is indignant that an outsider in a fancy city suit would dare intrude on Doc's territory, setting the stage for conflict as the old ways of the West clash with Eastern sophistication.

Originally Aired: February 1, 1959 Gunsmoke #356, "The Bobbsey Twins," introduces Harvey and Merle Finney, a pair of twin drifters who casually murder a westbound settler named Joe after he refuses to share his meager food supplies. When Joe reaches for his rifle in self-defense, the twins gun him down without remorse, then sit down to enjoy his stew while his widow Lavinda flees into the prairie in shock, where she later dies of thirst. The brothers show no real guilt over the killings, only expressing annoyance at the woman's grief and justifying their actions because it happened on a Sunday, when their father taught them not to fight or kill. Marshal Matt Dillon and Chester discover both bodies and begin investigating the senseless crime. Meanwhile, the Finney twins continue their journey toward Dodge City, and when a cowboy named Bud Grant stumbles upon their camp seeking hospitality, he innocently mentions the murdered settlers. The twins, paranoid that Grant knows too much about their crime, quickly turn their violence on him as well, revealing themselves to be cold-blooded killers who murder with disturbing ease and little provocation.

Originally Aired: January 18, 1959 Gunsmoke #354, "Kangaroo," Matt Dillon and Chester encounter a disturbing scene while returning from a Sunday ride upriver. In a cottonwood grove, they find Iris Skurlock, a wild-eyed religious fanatic, brutally whipping a young cowboy named Jim Bright who had been strung up by his wrists. Skurlock's two armed sons stand guard as the old patriarch passes judgment on the cowboy for the "sin" of riding into Dodge City on the Sabbath. When Matt orders Chester to cut Bright down, Skurlock fixes his fury specifically on Chester, repeatedly warning that Chester himself will be judged for interfering with the Lord's work. The situation escalates when one of Skurlock's own sons, Dow, is caught drinking in a saloon. The fanatical father beats the young man savagely in the street before Matt intervenes. Throughout these encounters, Skurlock continues his ominous threats against Chester, insisting that a reckoning is coming. Despite Doc's advice not to worry, Chester grows increasingly unnerved by the old man's menacing promises. His fears prove justified when Skurlock's sons ambush him at gunpoint, forcing him onto a horse to face whatever judgment their deranged father has planned.

Originally Aired: January 4, 1959 In Gunsmoke #352, "The Coward," Marshal Matt Dillon faces a deadly threat when a young cowboy named Jack Massey is shot in the back while sitting in Dillon's chair at the marshal's office. The victim, wearing a hat similar to Matt's and matching his build, was clearly mistaken for the lawman himself. Doc Adams and Chester quickly realize someone is hunting Matt the coward's way, shooting from behind rather than facing him in a fair fight. As word spreads through Dodge City that someone wants the marshal dead, the situation grows more dangerous and unpredictable. The tension escalates when gambler Said Evie, a man Matt once publicly humiliated in Santa Fe for being a coward, approaches with information about overhearing a murder plot. Soon Matt encounters Matt Swan, a drunk and desperate man hoping to make a name for himself by killing the marshal. As glory hunters and would-be assassins emerge from the shadows, Dillon must navigate a deadly game where any dark alley or deserted building could conceal his killer, and where the real assassin hides among the opportunists seeking fame through murder.

Originally Aired: December 21, 1958 Gunsmoke #350, "Where'd They Go," finds Marshal Matt Dillon and Chester facing an unusual dilemma when storekeeper Wilbur Jonas reports a robbery at his general store. Though the bandit wore a mask, Jonas insists he recognized homesteader Clint Dodie as the culprit. Despite the five-hour head start and an approaching blizzard, Matt decides to ride out the next morning to bring Dodie in. When they arrive at Dodie's homestead, they find him with his pregnant wife Madora, who insists her husband hasn't left the place in two days. What begins as a routine arrest quickly becomes complicated when Dodie points out the hardship his absence will cause. With a storm bearing down and Madora in her condition, Matt agrees to help chop firewood and repair the cabin's chinkin before taking Dodie to jail. As the marshal and Chester work alongside their prisoner, the simple act of decency raises questions about duty, justice, and whether Wilbur Jonas might have fingered the wrong man. The bitter wind and approaching blizzard mirror the moral complexity of enforcing the law in harsh frontier conditions.

Originally Aired: December 7, 1958 Gunsmoke #348, "The Grass Asp," presents Matt Dillon with a dangerous situation when a stray bullet from celebrating cowboys strikes Melodia Bastian, wife of local farmer Red Bastian. The shot comes from a group of Lazy T trail drivers whooping through Dodge City's streets, firing their guns in the air. While Doc Adams fights to save Melodia's life, Red vows vengeance against whoever pulled the trigger, making it clear he'll use gun law himself if Marshal Dillon doesn't act fast enough. Trail boss Carl Willard insists none of his men are responsible, claiming they only fired into the air and that the riders he's worked with for years wouldn't lie to him. But Red refuses to accept this explanation, especially when his wife lies unconscious in Doc's office. Despite Willard's cooperation in allowing Dillon to question every man in his outfit, the investigation hits a wall of silence. With Red threatening to come back to town wearing a gun and the cowboys preparing to defend themselves, Matt finds himself racing against time to uncover the truth before frontier justice turns deadly.

Originally Aired: November 23, 1958 Gunsmoke #346, "The Correspondent," brings an unwelcome visitor to Dodge City. Reed Norton, a cynical newspaper correspondent from St. Louis, arrives determined to write the "real story" of the West, not the romanticized accounts he believes dominate the press. Having been hazed by cavalrymen at the Rosebud, Norton is convinced that Western lawmen are all swagger and tall tales. He confronts Matt Dillon about a recent stage holdup, criticizing the marshal for not immediately capturing the bandits, one of whom was badly wounded. Despite Matt's explanations about cold trails and prairie winds, Norton spreads word around town that Dillon is sitting idle while criminals go free. When Joe Porter reports being shot at near the abandoned Hutchinson cabin, Matt and Chester ride out to investigate, with Norton stubbornly tracking along behind them. Though annoyed by the correspondent's interference and sharp tongue, Matt allows him to join the expedition, warning him to stay quiet and out of the way. As darkness falls, the three men approach the cabin on foot, where the wounded holdup men may be holed up. Norton is about to discover whether frontier justice lives up to his cynical expectations or proves more dangerous than any story he's written.