Gunsmoke: Old West Stories

Originally Aired: August 11, 1957 In Gunsmoke #279, “Jayhawkers,” Marshal Matt Dillon rides out with a Texas trail herd to help ease tensions between Kansans and bitter cattlemen—only to find himself embroiled in a deadly ambush by marauding Jayhawkers. When a trusted drover is murdered and suspicion falls on a newcomer named Studer, Dillon’s instincts prove true. As violen...

Originally Aired: August 4, 1957 In Gunsmoke #278, “Big Hands,” Marshal Matt Dillon encounters a murder mystery when a homesteader’s wife brings her husband’s body into Dodge, claiming he was shot by a stranger with massive shoulders. As Dillon investigates, the description leads him to Bull Logan, a drifter with a criminal past. But when the widow inexplicably denies recog...

Originally Aired: July 28, 1957 In Gunsmoke #277, “Cow Doctor,” Doc Adams is lured out to the homestead of Ben Pitcher under false pretenses—only to find he's been summoned not for a man, but to treat a cow. Doc does his duty, but the deception proves costly when his absence leads to a woman’s death back in Dodge. Enraged, Pitcher turns violent and stabs Doc, who barely sur...

Originally Aired: July 21, 1957 In Gunsmoke #276, “Kitty Caught,” a routine morning turns to horror when Kitty is taken hostage during a bank robbery by the infamous Carp brothers. With her life hanging in the balance, Marshal Dillon and Chester set out on a desperate and agonizingly cautious pursuit—knowing one wrong move could get Kitty killed. A tense standoff unfolds at a rem...

Originally Aired: July 14, 1957 In Gunsmoke #275, “Bloody Hands,” Marshal Matt Dillon brings in notorious outlaw Jack Brand, killing three of his gang in a brutal shootout. But the bloodshed haunts him, and when another killer, Joe Stanger, provokes him to a showdown, Dillon hesitates—and resigns. For a brief moment, he tries to live a peaceful life, free from violence. But when...

Originally Aired: July 7, 1957 In Gunsmoke #274, “Word of Honor,” Doc Adams returns to Dodge after disappearing for two days—summoned by outlaws to save a dying boy. But when the boy dies, Doc finds himself sworn to secrecy under threat of death. The victim turns out to be Hank Worth, the son of a powerful rancher, and Marshal Dillon is under pressure to find the killer fast. As...

Originally Aired: June 30, 1957 In Gunsmoke #273, “The Buffalo Hunter,” Marshal Matt Dillon investigates the suspicious death of a buffalo skinner who suffered a horrifying accident—being doused in molten lead. As Dillon digs deeper, he uncovers the greed and cruelty of the man responsible: the ruthless hunter Gatliff. But justice is a long ride across the prairie, and when Gatli...

Originally Aired: June 23, 1957 In Gunsmoke #272, “Home Surgery,” Marshal Matt Dillon and Chester come across a desperate teenage girl named Tara Hortree whose father lies dying from blood poisoning after a horse accident. With no doctor for miles and the only man who promised help suspiciously missing, Dillon is forced to attempt a brutal, risky operation himself—amputating the...

Originally Aired: June 16, 1957 In Gunsmoke #271, “Summer Night,” the dusty trails of Dodge are left in silence as a wagon train rolls west—leaving behind something unexpected: a newborn baby. When Marshal Dillon finds the infant abandoned at Doc’s office, a quiet search begins for the mother. But the woman who returns may not be who she claims to be. As truths unravel in t...

Originally Aired: June 9, 1957 In Gunsmoke #270, “Dodge Podge,” a troubled father’s rage blinds him to the truth. Leif Sutter is determined to mold his son Packy into a hardened cattleman, forbidding him from fraternizing with the gentle, educated sheepherder Jason Roe. When Packy disappears, Sutter’s obsession spirals into deadly vengeance. Despite Marshal Dillon’s w...

Originally Aired: June 2, 1957 In Gunsmoke #269, “Ben Tolliver’s Stud,” a drifting horseman’s pride—and a stolen stud—ignite a deadly conflict. When Ben Tolliver flees his abusive employer, Jake Creed, with a horse he believes he's earned, Creed vows revenge. Marshal Dillon tries to keep the peace, but pride and cruelty escalate matters. As tensions build and a...

Originally Aired: May 26, 1957 In Gunsmoke #268, “Pal,” a stray dog poisoned and half-dead sets off a chain of chaos in Dodge City. When Chester rescues the animal—dubbed Pal—he unwittingly becomes entangled in the twisted marriage of Spiny Murphy and his brutal wife, Mal. As the dog recovers, tensions rise, secrets surface, and violence looms on the horizon. Marshal Matt D...

Originally Aired: May 19, 1957 In Gunsmoke #267 , “One Night Stand,” a smooth-talking stranger named Ben Argo arrives in Dodge City with a heavy pair of saddlebags and a tale of gold struck at the Gold Hill diggings. But Marshal Matt Dillon isn’t convinced. As Argo insists on securing his fortune in the local storekeeper’s safe, two shady men from Gold Hill turn up asking q...

Originally Aired: May 12, 1957 In Gunsmoke #266 , “Sheep Dog,” a poker game turns deadly when young Orland Barkas shoots an unarmed man in cold blood. As Marshal Matt Dillon struggles to find the boy and bring him in for trial, he faces pressure from all sides—townsfolk hungry for mob justice, a father blinded by loyalty, and a community ready to take the law into its own hands....

Originally Aired: May 5, 1957 In Gunsmoke #265 , “How to Kill a Friend,” Marshal Matt Dillon faces more than just another hired gun—he faces a ghost from his own past. When two crooked gamblers return to Dodge with a gunman in tow, Dillon is stunned to discover it’s Tope Marlin, a man he once rode the range with, now soured by betrayal and hate. Tope has one job: kill Dillo...

Originally Aired: April 28, 1957 In Gunsmoke #264 , “Medicine Man,” Hart Finney rolls into Dodge City with his wife and a wagon full of “muscle, bone, blood, and nerve tonic,” hoping to make a few sales before heading out. But when saloon-owner Grant Medford suddenly claims the land Finney’s using, Marshal Dillon finds himself caught in a legal tangle—and a mora...

Originally Aired: May 12, 1957 In Gunsmoke #266 , “Sheep Dog,” Marshal Matt Dillon is caught between justice and heartbreak when Orlin Barker, the son of an old friend, shoots an unarmed man during a drunken poker game. As the boy disappears into the prairie, rumors and resentment swell in Dodge, spurred on by mob leader Riff Kelso. While Matt tries to keep law and order, Jeb Barker mu...

Originally Aired: April 21, 1957 In Gunsmoke #263 , “Bear Trap,” Dodge City's aging liveryman Andy Weaver is known for his tall tales—but when ex-convict Hod Logan returns with a grudge, Andy’s life is suddenly in real danger. As Marshal Matt Dillon tries to anticipate Logan’s next move, a more sinister plot unfolds: a nighttime robbery with murder on the agenda. What...

Originally Aired: April 14, 1957 In Gunsmoke #262 , “Saludos,” Marshal Matt Dillon must track down a brutal killer after a young half-Indian woman named Sochi rides sixty miles with a bullet wound to reach Dodge City. Her husband has been murdered in cold blood by a white stranger, and though she cannot describe the man, she’s certain she’ll recognize him. With only three s...

Originally Aired: April 7, 1957 In Gunsmoke #261, “Rock Bottom,” Van Tover’s quiet ranch life is shattered when a deadly figure from his past returns to Dodge after twelve years. Once a quick-tempered gunman, Van gave up his weapons to raise a family—until Largo Greeland, a vengeful gunslinger with a grudge, tracks him down. Torn between protecting his loved ones and confro...

Originally Aired: March 31, 1957 In Gunsmoke #260, “Chicken Smith,” a quiet, unassuming hen farmer becomes the unlikely center of a deadly love triangle. When Chicken Smith's young, restless wife Ellie begins sneaking into town for secret meetings with the menacing saloon owner Pragg Looner, tensions boil over. A brutal street fight and rising suspicions set the stage for a midnight co...

Originally Aired: March 24, 1957 In Gunsmoke #259, “Saddle Sore Sal,” a fiery young woman named Sally Burkoff rides into Dodge from the panhandle with vengeance in her sights. After being swindled out of her family’s savings by a slick cattle trader, Sally attempts frontier justice with a single-shot rifle. But Marshal Dillon intervenes, and with a bit of creative con-artistry fr...

Originally Aired: March 17, 1957 In Gunsmoke #258, “Spring Freshet,” Marshal Matt Dillon walks into a saloon hold-up and finds himself unarmed and outnumbered, with Kitty taken hostage by a pair of wanted outlaws. As Dodge City reels under the tension, Matt plays a high-stakes bluff involving sacks of what might—or might not—be gunpowder. With lives hanging in the balance a...

Originally Aired: March 10, 1957 In Gunsmoke #257, “Grebb Hassle,” U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon faces a tangled homecoming when Elvin Greb returns to Dodge after two years of exile. Though claiming reform, Elvin quickly reveals his true colors, acting as a lookout in a botched bank robbery that ends in his death. But the trouble is just beginning—his younger brother Billy, caught bet...

Originally Aired: March 3, 1957 In Gunsmoke #256, “Colleen So Green,” a soft-spoken Southern belle named Colleen Tawney arrives in Dodge City with a tale of orphanhood and stolen savings. Wide-eyed and helpless, she quickly enchants the men of Dodge—Doc, Chester, Bull Rieger, and even the suspicious Marshal Dillon. But behind the green eyes and fluttered lashes lies a con artist...