The Lynching: Gunsmoke (August 16, 1952)

“The Lynching” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast August 16, 1952. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Marshal Matt Dillon arrives in Dodge City to find that a suspected murderer named Billy Saxon has been lynched by a mob led by Cam Powell, whose brother Joe was killed. Dillon is troubled by the mob justice and determines to investigate the circumstances of Joe Powell's death and bring those responsible for the lynching to account.

Dodge City, Kansas

Characters: Matt Dillon, Chester, Cam Powell, Billy Saxon, Rice, Preacher, Kitty

Listen for: The moral conflict between frontier vigilante justice and the rule of law, as Dillon grapples with a town that took matters into its own hands.

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.