Gunsmoke: Old West Stories

Originally Aired: June 3, 1956 In Gunsmoke #217, “The Pacifist,” a drifter named Harden Hook arrives in Dodge, poor and half-starved, carrying only a haunted past. Once a violent Missouri raider, Hook swore never to kill again after a single, shameful act during the Kansas border wars. But old enemies Sutters and Hoagler track him down and stir up the brother of a man Hook killed, hopi...

Originally Aired: May 27, 1956 In Gunsmoke #216, “Man Hunter,” a stranger comes to Dodge on the trail of a quiet ranch hand—revealing him as Ike Abbott, wanted for a murder committed twelve years earlier in Arizona. As Marshal Dillon weighs friendship, law, and the specter of bounty hunting, he confronts Ben Quillen, a deputy with a badge for hire and no qualms about killing for...

Originally Aired: May 20, 1956 In Gunsmoke #215, “Buffalo Man,” Marshal Dillon and Chester stumble into a brutal world on the buffalo range, where a headless corpse and a camp ruled by violent hunter Ben Siple set off a chain of danger and abuse. Captured and tied up, Dillon and Chester’s only hope is Abby, a battered woman trapped in Siple’s camp, who risks everything to h...

Originally Aired: May 13, 1956 In Gunsmoke #214, “Cows and Cribs,” Marshal Dillon confronts the harsh choices faced by desperate settlers on the edge of Dodge. When the Thorpe family is struck by spotted fever, their orphaned baby’s fate hangs in the balance—and a neighbor, Mrs. Nadler, wishes to adopt the child despite her own family’s poverty. As Marshal Dillon inve...

Originally Aired: May 6, 1956 In Gunsmoke #213, “The Photographer,” Dodge City is unsettled by the arrival of Professor Jacobi, an ambitious eastern photographer determined to capture the “real” violence of the West—no matter the cost. When a harmless town character known as Old Toad is found scalped and murdered, suspicion falls on the local tribes, but Matt Dillon s...

Originally Aired: April 29, 1956 In Gunsmoke #212, “Doc’s Reward,” the aftermath of a deadly shooting puts Doc Adams at the center of Dodge City’s suspicion and the crosshairs of a vengeful stranger. After Doc kills an outlaw named Miles Brando in self-defense, rumors swirl and Brando’s brother Nate arrives in Dodge, intent on revenge and convinced Doc acted only for...

Originally Aired: April 22, 1956 In Gunsmoke #211, “Indian Crazy,” a terrified couple new to the frontier seeks Marshal Matt Dillon’s assurance that Comanche raids are just rumors. When violence does strike, only Mrs. Jallop is found dead—scalped and hastily buried—while her husband vanishes, and suspicion falls on the surrounding tribes. But as Matt follows the track...

Originally Aired: April 15, 1956 In Gunsmoke #210, “The Executioner,” Marshal Matt Dillon faces the moral cost of frontier justice when a notorious gunman named Tom Clegg rides into Dodge, bringing a trail of dead men and a reputation built on quick draws and provoked duels. After Clegg kills Abe Curry in a “fair” fight, Abe’s brother Morgan refuses to carry a gun for...

Originally Aired: April 8, 1956 In Gunsmoke #209, “Widow’s Mite,” Marshal Matt Dillon is drawn into the tragic aftermath of a robbery gone wrong, where suspicion and greed linger long after the gunfire. When outlaw Zach Morton is killed, Dodge City’s gossip mill insists his grieving widow Ada knows the whereabouts of the stolen money. As Matt investigates, he crosses paths...

Originally Aired: April 1, 1956 In Gunsmoke #208, “How to Sell a Ranch,” Matt Dillon tries to protect an eccentric old rancher, Tup Claver, from being swindled out of his land by a slick city buyer. When a too-generous offer is made, the deal spins into a battle of wits, bluff, and frontier ingenuity. As money, deeds, and tempers fly, Tup proves he’s no easy mark—thanks to...

Originally Aired: March 25, 1956 In Gunsmoke #207, “Hanging Man,” the apparent suicide of a respected businessman soon points to murder, and Marshal Matt Dillon’s suspicions fall on a desperate love triangle. When gambler Mel Tucker becomes the prime suspect—and his lover, Cora Bell, seems tangled in the case—Matt is forced to let Tucker go for lack of evidence. But w...

Originally Aired: March 18, 1956 In Gunsmoke #206, “The Man Who Would Be Marshal,” Emmett Egan, a former Union officer turned cattleman, arrives in Dodge City determined to take Matt Dillon’s job as Marshal—believing law work is just another kind of command. Dillon, weary of the constant danger, gives Egan a week to see the truth for himself. What starts as an exercise in a...

Originally Aired: March 11, 1956 In Gunsmoke #205, “Bringing Down Father,” Dodge City is rocked by murder and betrayal when a young cattleman named Andy Gilden accuses trail boss Harley Burke of shooting an unarmed man. As Matt Dillon investigates, the truth behind the killing and a $20,000 cattle sale is tangled in pride, hate, and a son’s desperate need to prove himself. With s...

Originally Aired: March 4, 1956 In Gunsmoke #204, “The Hunter,” legendary frontiersman Jace Murdock—known as “Longarm”—returns to Dodge City, a relic of the buffalo-hunting days, hardened and reckless as ever. Ignoring warnings and driven by pride, Murdock sets out for a forbidden buffalo hunt in Indian territory, taking a young Blackfoot skinner called Golden C...

Originally Aired: February 26, 1956 In Gunsmoke #203, “Who Lives by the Sword,” Dodge City is shaken by the arrival of notorious gunman Joe Delk—a man who kills for reputation and whose swagger turns deadly when a young man tries to stand up to him. Marshal Matt Dillon faces Delk not with a gun, but with his fists, shaking the outlaw’s nerve and setting him on a path of sel...

Originally Aired: February 19, 1956 In Gunsmoke #202, “The New Hotel,” Enoch Mills, a proud cattle rancher, sets out to challenge the Dodge City status quo by building a first-class hotel—much to the ire of his longtime rival, hotel owner Jim Dobey. When sabotage and arson strike, suspicion and tempers flare, and Marshal Matt Dillon is drawn into a bitter feud that escalates beyo...

Originally Aired: February 12, 1956 In Gunsmoke #201, “Kitty’s Outlaw,” a stranger named Cole Yankton rides into Dodge, drawing Marshal Dillon’s suspicion—and stirring up memories for Kitty Russell. While Cole claims to be a simple horse trader, his presence unsettles Kitty, who knows him from her past in New Orleans. When a bank robbery implicates Cole, Matt and Ches...

Originally Aired: February 5, 1956 In Gunsmoke #200, “Legal Revenge,” Marshal Matt Dillon is drawn into a tangled web of violence and secrets when Doc brings word of trouble at the Tebbs homestead—a sod hut on the lonely prairie. A wounded man, Ben Tebbs, claims a knife wound was accidental, but his terrified state and a six-gun hidden under the blanket suggest otherwise. As Matt...

Originally Aired: January 29, 1956 In Gunsmoke #199, “Bureaucrat,” Dodge City is thrown into turmoil when a government man named Rex Propter arrives from Washington to “fix” the frontier. Armed with strict rules and city-bred theories, Propter clashes with Marshal Dillon over how to handle the wild town. As new signs and gun control laws backfire, an accidental killing and...

Originally Aired: January 22, 1956 In Gunsmoke #198, “Romeo,” Dodge City faces open war as two rival cattle barons, Jake Worth and Emmett Bowers, let their hatred threaten to tear the prairie apart—over the forbidden romance between their children, Andy and Judy. As Matt Dillon tries to keep the peace, the young lovers risk everything to run away together. With Doc and Chester&rs...

Originally Aired: January 15, 1956 In Gunsmoke #197, “How to Cure a Friend,” Marshal Matt Dillon faces one of his hardest tests when his old friend Nick Search—a smooth-talking gambler with a quick draw and a shadowy past—arrives in Dodge. As rumors swirl and suspicions mount, Matt is forced to confront the truth about Nick’s crooked ways. When a high-stakes poker gam...

Originally Aired: January 8, 1956 In Gunsmoke #196, “Doc’s Revenge,” a ghost from Doc Adams’s past rides into Dodge, stirring up decades-old hatred and a thirst for vengeance. When Doc arms himself with his Civil War pistol and threatens to kill Clem Maddow—a man tied to tragedy and heartbreak—Marshal Dillon is forced to confront his friend and keep a murder fro...

Originally Aired: January 1, 1956 In Gunsmoke #195, “Puckett’s New Year,” aging buffalo hunter Ira Puckett survives a deadly blizzard only to face the greatest challenge of his life: helplessness. Abandoned on the prairie by his partner, crippled by frostbite, and forced to confront his fading independence, Puckett struggles to adapt to a new life in Dodge. When pride drives him...

Originally Aired: December 25, 1955 In Gunsmoke #194, “Twelfth Night,” the holiday season brings two mountain men—and a generations-old feud—to the snowy streets of Dodge. Eben Hakes arrives from the Ozarks, determined to settle the last score with his rival Joth Monger, vowing never to kill on a Sunday. As Marshal Dillon tries to prevent bloodshed, a tense standoff is brok...

Originally Aired: December 18, 1955 In Gunsmoke #193, “Scared Kid,” a young cowboy named Gil Barden is pushed to the brink after a public run-in with a notorious bully, Henry Gant. When Gant is found shot in the back, all eyes turn to Gil, who flees Dodge in terror—triggering a desperate manhunt across the prairie. As Marshal Matt Dillon tracks the frightened boy, a trail of unin...