A Matter of Ethics: Have Gun, Will Travel (February 1, 1959)

“A Matter of Ethics” is an episode of Have Gun, Will Travel, the old-time radio show, first broadcast February 1, 1959. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Paladin is hired by a murderer named Holgate to protect him from being lynched when he's taken to stand trial in a Wyoming town. Holgate killed the son of a prominent citizen named Max Bender in a drunken saloon argument, and the Bender family is determined to see mob justice rather than allow a fair trial. Paladin must escort his client to court and keep him alive long enough to face legal proceedings.

San Francisco in 1875, then a train journey to a small Wyoming town named after Max Bender.

Characters: Paladin, Holgate, Sheriff, Max Bender, Miss Bender, Boy messenger

Listen for: Paladin's practical philosophy about law and order, his negotiation of his fee, and his confrontation with the Bender family who want vengeance rather than justice.

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.