Fingered: Gunsmoke (November 21, 1952)

“Fingered” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast November 21, 1952. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Jim Cobbitt, a lonely homesteader, marries Lila, an educated woman from back east who has come to Dodge City to be his bride. Marshal Dillon arranges a small wedding celebration at the marshal's office, but tensions arise when Jim's rival Hank Loos, who lost his land claim to Jim years ago, confronts him with dark accusations about Jim's first wife who disappeared. After the wedding, Jim insists on leaving that night for his remote homestead despite the marshal's warnings about Indians in the territory.

Dodge City, Kansas and the surrounding prairie territories in the American West

Characters: Matt Dillon, Chester, Jim Cobbitt, Hank Loos, Lila Cobbitt, The Preacher, Si

Listen for: Hank Loos's sinister insinuations about Jim's first wife; Lila's growing unease about the harsh frontier life she's chosen; the marshal's concerns about the couple traveling at night through Indian territory

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.