The Executioner: Gunsmoke (April 15, 1956)

“The Executioner” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast April 15, 1956. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

Listen to Gunsmoke free, live around the clock: every episode, in the order it first aired. No sign-up.

What happens

Marshal Matt Dillon encounters Tom Clegg, a young gunslinger who has built a fearsome reputation across New Mexico by practicing relentlessly with his pistol. When Clegg provokes and kills Abe Curry at a ranch outside Dodge City, Dillon faces pressure from Abe's brother Morgan to stop the killer before he murders again, but the Marshal insists he can only act when Clegg breaks the law.

Dodge City and the surrounding Kansas and New Mexico territory, primarily at a ranch outside town and in Dodge City itself

Characters: Matt Dillon, Tom Clegg, Morgan Curry, Abe Curry

Listen for: The confrontation between Clegg and Abe Curry at the ranch, and Dillon's explanation of why he cannot pursue Clegg despite Morgan's pleas for justice

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.