Horse Deal: Gunsmoke (March 26, 1955)

“Horse Deal” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast March 26, 1955. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

A stranger named Disha arrives in Dodge with horses to sell, claiming they were stolen from him on the Canadian River. Rancher Emmett Bowers nearly shoots Disha, accusing him of being a horse thief after recognizing one of the animals bearing Bowers' own brand. Marshal Dillon discovers Disha has registration papers for the horses and learns that a man named Vic Lowry sold them to Bowers, raising the question of who the real thief is.

Dodge City and the surrounding Kansas territory

Characters: Matt Dillon, Emmett Bowers, Disha, Vic Lowry

Listen for: The dispute over horse ownership and the identity of the actual thief; Bowers' threat of vigilante justice and Dillon's determination to uphold 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.