Texas Cowboys: Gunsmoke (July 12, 1954)

“Texas Cowboys” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast July 12, 1954. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

A Texas trail boss named Tully brings a dying man to Doc Adams in Dodge City, but the man turns out to be dead—shot in the back. When Marshal Dillon investigates, Tully refuses to name the killer, claiming the seventeen Texas cowboys under his command won't talk. Dillon threatens to shut down all of Dodge City's saloons and gambling establishments to keep the frustrated cowboys from causing trouble in town.

Dodge City, Kansas and a nearby cattle camp; a trail herd of Texas longhorns has arrived in the territory

Characters: Matt Dillon, Chester, Doc Adams, Tully, Bud Cowan, Ken Talley

Listen for: The tension between Texas cowboys and Kansas law, and Dillon's clever strategy to control the town by cutting off the cowboys' entertainment

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.