Ben Tolliver's Stud: Gunsmoke (July 23, 1955)

“Ben Tolliver's Stud” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast July 23, 1955. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

When a young woman named Nancy Creed rushes to Marshal Dillon, she warns that her father plans to shoot a man named Ben Tolliver, who allegedly stole one of the family's prized stud horses. Dillon tracks down Tolliver at the Long Branch Saloon to hear his side of the story before violence erupts.

Dodge City, Kansas and the surrounding territory; the Marshal's office and the Long Branch Saloon

Characters: Matt Dillon, Chester Proudfoot, Nancy Creed, Ben Tolliver

Listen for: A dispute over a stolen horse that masks deeper issues of unpaid wages and resentment between employer and employee.

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.