The Trial: Frontier Gentleman (April 13, 1958)

“The Trial” is an episode of Frontier Gentleman, the old-time radio show, first broadcast April 13, 1958. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

A tough frontier gunman named George McKeown is accused of murdering Jack Furlong in Fort Benton, Montana, based on a witness who claims to have seen him arguing with the victim shortly before the shooting. With no lawyer willing to defend him due to local politics and family connections to the judge, McKeown reluctantly accepts help from J.B. Kendall, a reporter for the London Times who believes in his innocence and volunteers to defend him at trial.

Fort Benton, Montana, at a newspaper office and saloon during a murder trial

Characters: J.B. Kendall, George McKeown, Mr. Warren, Marshall O'Connor, Judge Barry, Clint Wallace, Jack Furlong

Listen for: The tension between McKeown's volatile temperament and Kendall's reasoned defense strategy; testimony from the mule skinner witness; Judge Barry's impartiality given his family connections to the victim.

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.