The Peace Officer: Gunsmoke (September 4, 1960)

“The Peace Officer” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast September 4, 1960. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Matt Dillon arrives in Tascosa to hire a new sheriff for the town, as requested by the citizens committee. The current sheriff, Clegg Rawlins, was brought in to clean up the lawless town but has since become a tyrant himself. Rawlins confronts Dillon in his room, attempting to persuade him to abandon his mission through flattery and veiled threats.

Tascosa, a frontier town in the territory, and Dodge City

Characters: Matt Dillon, Clegg Rawlins, Kitty, Doc, Bartender

Listen for: Dillon's showdown with the corrupt sheriff Rawlins, and the tension between the marshal's duty and Rawlins' increasingly direct warnings about the dangerous ride back to Dodge.

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.