Cavalcade: Gunsmoke (January 31, 1953)

“Cavalcade” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast January 31, 1953. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

A deputy sheriff from Virginia arrives in Dodge City with a warrant for two men accused of murder. When Marshal Dillon sees a photograph of one suspect, he recognizes him as Doc Adams, the town's trusted physician. Doc reveals he killed a man named Roger Borregard in self-defense during a duel seventeen years ago, fleeing Virginia to escape justice. Now Dillon faces a moral dilemma: Doc is his friend and an honest man, but the law demands his arrest.

Dodge City, Kansas, and the surrounding territory, transitioning from frontier town toward civilization

Characters: Matt Dillon, Chester, Ed Hunter, Doc Adams, Miss Kelly, Roger Borregard

Listen for: Doc Adams's account of the duel in Virginia, his flight across the country, and Marshal Dillon's internal conflict between loyalty to his friend and duty to enforce the law

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.