Scared Kid: Gunsmoke (December 18, 1955)

“Scared Kid” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast December 18, 1955. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

When young Gil Varden gets into a fight with Henry Gant over a girl named Ida Stewart at the saloon, Marshal Dillon separates them. That night, Henry Gant is found shot in the back, and all evidence points to Gil as the killer. Marshal Dillon and Chester pursue Gil, discovering he's stolen a team of horses from a wagon and left a man dead in its wake.

Dodge City and the surrounding territory, including a saloon, Marshal's office, open prairie, and a stranded wagon

Characters: Matt Dillon, Gil Varden, Ida Stewart, Henry Gant, Doc, Chester, Country Woman

Listen for: The tension between young Gil's hot temper and Marshal Dillon's attempts to keep the peace; the escalating violence that follows a simple saloon quarrel; the mystery of why Gil is fleeing and what desperation drives him to steal and leave death in his wake.

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.