The Cover Up: Gunsmoke (June 12, 1954)

“The Cover Up” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast June 12, 1954. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Marshal Matt Dillon encounters Barnaby Hoffer, a drunk farmer with a cavalry pistol who threatens to kill Art Long. When Dillon disarms Hoffer, a fight erupts and Hoffer pulls a knife, wounding Art Long. Days later, Art Long is found shot dead in his cabin, and suspicion falls on Hoffer—but then Hoffer himself is discovered dying from a shotgun blast, leaving the marshal to investigate who really committed the murders.

Dodge City and the surrounding frontier, including cabins in the countryside.

Characters: Matt Dillon, Kitty, Chester, Barnaby Hoffer, Art Long, Doc, Sam Baxton

Listen for: The mystery of who actually killed Art Long, since Hoffer was blamed but then became a victim himself. The tension between the respectable rancher Sam Baxton and the struggling nesters.

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.