The Peace Officer: Gunsmoke (August 18, 1957)

“The Peace Officer” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast August 18, 1957. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Marshal Matt Dillon is asked by the Tascosa Citizens Committee to help find a new sheriff to replace the corrupt Clegg Rollins, the current lawman who has become a liability to the town. When Dillon agrees to return to Dodge City to find a suitable candidate, Rollins makes veiled threats about the dangers of the prairie journey and attempts to bribe him to abandon the mission.

Dodge City and Tascosa, in the American frontier territory during the Old West

Characters: Matt Dillon, US Marshal, Clegg Rollins, Sheriff of Tascosa, Chester, Kitty, Doc, Stella Hartney, a saloon girl

Listen for: The tension between Dillon and the corrupt Sheriff Rollins, and the unexpected appearance of Stella Hartney on the prairie who claims to need Dillon's protection

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.