The Mortgage: Gunsmoke (October 24, 1952)

“The Mortgage” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast October 24, 1952. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Marshal Matt Dillon must serve a foreclosure notice on Ed Blake, a struggling farmer who borrowed $420 from wealthy banker Caleb Andrews and cannot repay it. As Dillon and Chester ride out to deliver the devastating order, the marshal grapples with the moral weight of his duty to enforce the law against a hardworking family facing ruin.

Dodge City and the Blake farm in Ford County, Kansas, during Indian summer

Characters: Matt Dillon, Chester, Caleb Andrews, Ed Blake, Martha Blake, Jimmy Blake, Kitty, Clem the banker

Listen for: The tension between Dillon's sworn duty to uphold the law and his personal sympathy for the Blake family; Caleb Andrews' ruthlessness in demanding immediate foreclosure; the moral debate about justice and compassion.

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.