Dad-Blamed Luck: Have Gun, Will Travel (July 3, 1960)

“Dad-Blamed Luck” is an episode of Have Gun, Will Travel, the old-time radio show, first broadcast July 3, 1960. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Paladin accepts a job from Jamie Howard to help recover a gold mine near Columbia that Howard claims was stolen from him. On the ride to Columbia, Howard reveals he's gambled away the gold samples he showed Paladin as proof, and admits that the local sheriff—who is in league with the mine's current owner—was the one who ran him off the claim. Their arrival in town takes an unexpected turn when the sheriff arrests them both for horse theft, a crime Howard apparently committed without telling Paladin.

San Francisco in 1875 and the road to Columbia, California, near Yankee Hill in the Gold Country

Characters: Paladin, Jamie Howard, Sheriff Farrell

Listen for: Paladin's frustration grows as Jamie Howard reveals one deception after another—first losing the gold to poker, then hiding that the sheriff is his enemy, and finally admitting to stealing the sheriff's horse. The tension builds as they ride into town and are immediately arrested.

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.