The Boughten Bride: Gunsmoke (July 12, 1952)

“The Boughten Bride” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast July 12, 1952. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Marshal Dillon learns that a stagecoach carrying gold and a young woman named Jane has been stopped by a robber who kidnaps the girl. Her fiancé, a wealthy New York businessman named Carter, demands Dillon recover her immediately. After Dillon and Chester fail to track the kidnapper through rain-washed country, Carter threatens to have the marshal fired and make good on his vendetta.

Dodge City and the surrounding prairie territory

Characters: Matt Dillon, United States Marshal, Chester, Robert P. Carter, Jim the stage driver, Big Kate

Listen for: The revelation of why Jane was truly taken and what leverage Carter holds over her father

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.