Word of Honor: Gunsmoke (July 7, 1957)

“Word of Honor” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast July 7, 1957. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

When Doc is mysteriously called away for two days to treat a gunshot victim, Matt and Chester grow concerned. Doc eventually reveals he was sworn to secrecy by the men who summoned him, but admits the young man he tried to save died from a bullet wound to the spine. Now a desperate situation unfolds as criminals holding a man named Hank for ransom demand twenty thousand dollars, with Doc caught between his oath of silence and his duty to help bring murderers to justice.

Dodge City and the surrounding territory in the American West

Characters: Matt Dillon, Chester, Doc, Jake, Hank

Listen for: The tension between Doc's sworn word of honor and the need to stop killers; the desperate ransom situation involving Hank and the hidden money at Brandy Bend.

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.