The Kentucky Tolmans: Gunsmoke (August 9, 1952)

“The Kentucky Tolmans” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast August 9, 1952. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Marshal Dillon jails a drunken mountain man named Pappy Tolman to protect him from someone trying to kill him, but discovers that Pappy's daughter Hannah may be harboring knowledge of a dangerous escaped murderer with connections to her family.

Dodge City and the surrounding Kansas hills and mountains

Characters: Matt Dillon, United States Marshal, Chester, Hannah Tolman, Pappy Tolman, Vic Tolman, Jed Tolman

Listen for: The clash between Marshal Dillon's duty to uphold the law and the mountain code of family loyalty; Hannah's fierce independence and her protective devotion to 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.