
Original Air Date: August 12, 1956Host: Andrew RhynesShow: GunsmokePhone: (707) 98 OTRDW (6-8739) Stars:• William Conrad (Matt Dillion)• Parley Baer (Chester)• Georgia Ellis (Kitty)• Howard McNear (Doc) Special Guests:• Joseph Kearns• Vic Perrin• Lawre...
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Chester
Yeah, finance.
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Chester
That's cool.
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Carvana Customer
Car from their Carvana vending machine tomorrow. Financed, right?
Chester
That's what they said.
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Carvana Customer
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Chester
Foreign.
Andrew Rines
Welcome to the Old Time Radio Westerns. I'm your host Andrew Rines and let's get into this episode. This episode is going to be Gunsmoke. Original air date is August 12, 1956 and the title is Snake Bite.
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LM Cigarettes Announcer
Gun Smoke brought to you by L m the modern cigarette that lets you get full exciting flavor through the modern miracle of the pure white miracle. Tip. Live Modern Smoke. L m around Dodge City and in the territory on west, there's just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers. And that's where the U.S. marshal and the smell of gun smoke. Gunsmoke, starring William Conrad, the Transcribe star. The story of the violence that moved west with young America and the story of a man who moved with it.
Matt Dillon
I'm that man, Matt Dillon, United States Marshal, the first man they look for and the last they want to meet. It's a chancy job, and it makes a man watchful and a little lonely.
Chester
We kindly cooled up after all that hot weather, didn't it, Mr. Dillon, huh? Sure turned out to be a pretty nice day. Yeah.
Matt Dillon
Gotta make some man lazy, though.
Chester
Hey, look at there. That little old dog out on his feet there. He sure is playful, ain't he?
Matt Dillon
Oh, yeah, but he had any sense he'd go lie down in the shade somewhere.
Chester
Well, he's just a puff. Oh, now he barely them horses beat. He's gonna get kicked.
Matt Dillon
Well, he's gotta learn sometimes.
Chester
Go on. Go on, scat. Go on, get away from here, you mut. You going to make that fell mad. Go on. Oh, I'll fix you. Hey. Why, he shot him. Well, what a mean, miserable thing to do. That little old Pup wasn't hurting nothing.
Matt Dillon
No, he sure wasn't.
Chester
Hey, that's the marshal. Well, what do you want?
Matt Dillon
Get on off those horses.
Chester
What?
Matt Dillon
Do it right now. All right. Now.
Chester
What's your trouble, marshal?
Matt Dillon
I'll take your gun, mister.
Chester
No, you won't.
Matt Dillon
I'm not even gonna argue with it. Then I'll make a move. Here, Chester. Hold it.
Chester
Yes, sir.
Matt Dillon
All right, I'll take yours too.
Chester
Sure, Marshall. I ain't gonna try nothing.
Matt Dillon
Hold up, now.
Chester
What's this all about, anyway?
Matt Dillon
What's your name, mister?
Chester
Walt Gorman. Mm.
Matt Dillon
Now, what's yours? Eekes.
Chester
Judd Hicks.
Matt Dillon
All right. I don't allow shooting and dodge. Well, ain't no reason to take our guns. I ought to bend them across your heads. Come on, sister.
Chester
Hey, wait a minute. When do we get them guns back?
Matt Dillon
Tomorrow noon, when you leave town.
Chester
But we ain't figuring on leaving. Oh, never mind him, Vix. He can't run us out. My golly, you are too, Mr. Dillon.
Matt Dillon
I will, Chester.
Chester
Look at that poor little dog. I wonder whose tea is.
Matt Dillon
I don't know. Probably belongs to some kid around here.
Chester
I'll carry it around back to jail. Maybe the kid will want to bury it himself.
Matt Dillon
Yeah, why don't you do that?
Chester
Adam Gorman sure is a mean one.
Matt Dillon
Well, I can get mean too, Chester. I got a feeling I may have to before I'm through with him.
Chester
Why don't you Live modern Live modern Live, live, live modern Change to L and M.
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Matt Dillon
Today your big red letter day and.
Chester
Start to live the modern way Live, live, live modern Get L and M today it hey, Mr. John, guess what?
Matt Dillon
Now what?
Chester
Justin, you know who that little raggedy dog belonged to? There wasn't no kid at all. It was an old fellow called Pony Thompson.
Matt Dillon
Pony Thompson?
Chester
Yes, sir. He come in here a while ago. He heard we had him. He's out back now burying him.
Matt Dillon
I never heard of Pony Thompson.
Chester
Neither did I. He's a real nice old fellow, though. Oh, kindly. Funny looking. He looks at you from under them scraggly eyebrows like a old gray wolf. But that's him. You'll see.
Matt Dillon
Hello, Mr. Thompson?
Chester
No, I ain't no mister. Pony's good enough. This is Marshall Dylan. How do, Marshall?
Matt Dillon
I'm sorry about your dog.
Chester
Well, I shouldn't have brung him. Town's bad enough for humans.
Matt Dillon
Where you from, Pony? I haven't seen you in Dodge before.
Chester
I don't seek out no town. But once a year I move around on the prairie, Marshal. Sometimes I go into the mountains. I just can't stand four walls and a roof. It's like being in jail.
Matt Dillon
What are you doing here?
Chester
Now, once a year, I get drunk. What? That's why I come to town, to do it. I figure if I gotta get drunk, I gotta be cooped up in some saloon. You know, just walking down your street there, I feel kinda hog tied. My goodness, Marshall.
Matt Dillon
Yep.
Chester
Who shot my dog?
Matt Dillon
A couple of men who just rode into town.
Chester
I'll have to know their names.
Matt Dillon
You want them to pay you for the dog?
Chester
No, taint money I'm after.
Matt Dillon
I didn't think.
Chester
You know, I got a heavy old rifle down at the stable at my gatherings. I figured to go kind of beat them half to death with it.
Matt Dillon
Now, that wouldn't help you, Pony.
Chester
You. You ain't gonna tell me their names?
Matt Dillon
No, Pony, I'm not. Where you going?
Chester
I can't get drunk less than I start drinking, can I?
Matt Dillon
No.
Chester
I'll find out who shot my dog. Don't you worry.
Kenny
Your friend Pony Thompson's doing pretty well at the bar over there, Matt. That's his second bottle he's working on.
Matt Dillon
He sure keeps to himself, doesn't he?
Kenny
Man who drinks alone is usually peaceful anyway.
Matt Dillon
Yeah.
Chester
Now hurry it up, bartender. We ain't got all night.
Kenny
Now, who's that pair just came in? Well, you know him, Matt.
Matt Dillon
Yeah. One of them's the man who shot Pony's dog I was telling you about.
Kenny
He looks like the kind. I know what Sam wants.
Chester
Hey, kitty.
Kenny
I better go see. I'll be right back.
Matt Dillon
Yeah, sure, Kenny.
Chester
Hey, look at this. She's pretty. Hey, girly. Buy you a drink?
Kenny
No, thanks. What do you want, Sam?
Matt Dillon
Never mind about him.
Chester
Come on, have a drink.
Kenny
I said no.
Chester
I said yes. Come on, girly. Loosen up.
Kenny
Now, tell me something, mister. You have to be awful brave to shoot puppy dogs.
Chester
What?
Kenny
Must take a real man to do that, huh?
Matt Dillon
I just ought to slap your face in for you. I wouldn't try that gun.
Chester
It's a marshal. Now what?
Matt Dillon
You get out of here and you take Hicks with you. You sure like having your own way in this here town, don't you? I sure do. Now you get moving.
Chester
Come on, Gorman. We don't want no trouble. All right. I sure am getting a belly full of that.
Kenny
What a hero.
Matt Dillon
Yeah, but you know, Kitty, I wish you hadn't mentioned the dog.
Chester
Oh, I'm sorry.
Kenny
Sorry, Matt. I. I forgot.
Chester
Hey. Evening, Marshall.
Matt Dillon
Ah, hello, Pony.
Chester
So that that feller's name was Gorman, huh? Got a mean face, too, ain't he?
Matt Dillon
Now, look here, Pony.
Chester
Don't you worry. I ain't going to follow him, Marshall. No, sir. Rebob, I got me this here bottle to finish. Yeah, I'm going to get drunk, too. Night, remember?
Kenny
Well, I guess it doesn't matter after all. Matter?
Matt Dillon
I hope not, Kitty, but I'm not so sure.
Chester
Side meat, fried potatoes, Harmony gritson, sorghum and a cup of lye. Matt, there was a mighty poor breakfast, if I do say so.
Matt Dillon
Well, then I'm glad I didn't preach it to you.
LM Cigarettes Announcer
Doc.
Chester
If you ever treated me to breakfast, I'd be so dumbfounded I couldn't complain. Dylan. Mr. Dunn. What's Chester at the stable door there. You too, Doc. Hurried out. Me? What's he got, a sick horse in there?
Matt Dillon
He's got something, Doc. He looks pretty worried.
Chester
Chester's always worried. If it isn't money, it's women. Ma Strinick went to the office looking for you.
Matt Dillon
Now, what's the trouble, Jesse?
Chester
There's been a killing.
Matt Dillon
What?
Chester
That fellow, Walt Gorman, he got his throat cut in here. Moss found him laying in one of the straws. Pony Thompson done it.
Matt Dillon
How do you know?
Chester
Well, he was right in there with him and still is. We tied him up with a rope. Of course, he was passed out drunk when Moss found him. Did he come too fast enough when we swooshed some water on him. How could he kill a man when he was passed out? I don't know, Doc, but he was all spattered with blood. And the knife was laying there, right there by his hand. There he is. Marshall. Marshall, make him turn me loose. That's Gorman under the saddle blanket back there. I'll take a look, but I don't know how much good you do. Oh, please get me loose. Marshall, please. I just can't stand this.
Matt Dillon
All right, on time.
Chester
I didn't chill nobody. The knife's in that board right next to you, Mr. John.
Matt Dillon
Bonnie, is this your knife?
Chester
Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure it's mine. I didn't use it on nobody. It was laying right by his hand. Well, then somebody put it there. Gorman's Dead all right, Matt. Four or five hours. He took a knife in his back and then had his throat cut there. Well, I wouldn't do a thing like that, Marshall.
Matt Dillon
I wouldn't have thought so, it's true.
Chester
Oh, sure, I found him later, after you left the long branch. But I only swore at him a little for shooting my poor pup.
Matt Dillon
I'm gonna have to lock you up.
Chester
Oh, no, please, Marshall, don't do that. Please don't.
Matt Dillon
I got no choice, I tell you.
Chester
I'll just go crazy. You put me in jail. I told you how I am. Just.
Matt Dillon
Or take him down. Down.
Kenny
Come on, Pony.
Chester
Let's get going. Oh, please don't. Not J. You should have thought about that before you killed Gman. Now, come on. I'd rather get shot. I'd rather die. You ain't going to die. Now walk along. Hello, Marshall.
Matt Dillon
I've been waiting for you. Hello, Hicks.
Chester
I seen Chester a while ago taking Pony Thompson into the jail here.
Matt Dillon
He'll tell you what happened.
Chester
He sure did. I didn't want to see Gorman, not after what that old man did to him.
Matt Dillon
Come out into the office.
Chester
Chester. What's the matter?
Matt Dillon
What's the matter? You sick or something?
Chester
He hit me. What?
Matt Dillon
Where's Pony Thompson?
Chester
That's what I'm telling you. He hit me with that stool in there. You mean he got away? I turned my back to go out of that cell. That's all I remember.
Matt Dillon
And he's been gone about 20 minutes.
Chester
Well, let's find him. Standing around here is doing no good.
Matt Dillon
We'll find him, Hicks.
Chester
How about. I know where he went.
Matt Dillon
You know where?
Chester
Well, in the stable there. He was mumbling about a hideout he knows down by the Arkansas somewhere.
Matt Dillon
You feel up to riding, Joseph?
Chester
You bet I do. And I'm coming, too. I'll shoot that old devil on sight.
Matt Dillon
It's a good thing I took your gun, Hicks. But you're coming with us. All right. Just to make sure you don't find another one.
Chester
Why don't you live modern? Live modern Live, live, live modern Change to L and M.
LM Cigarettes Announcer
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Matt Dillon
Today your big red letter day and.
Chester
Start to live the modern way. Live, live, live. Modern. Get l M it. Well, it's breaking day, Mr. Dillon. We can get moving again directly. We could be 30 miles from here by now. Well, you can't track a man in the dark, Hakes. We done the best we could. Blackest night I ever seen. Marshall, I want you to give me a gun today.
Matt Dillon
You're awful anxious to shoot him down, aren't you, Higgs?
Chester
It's to keep him from shooting me. Probably armed by now. Oh, sure he is. There's lots of guns laying along the banks of the Arkansas. I'm cold. I'm gonna walk around a little and stretch my legs. Don't you get lost. Sonny, why don't you try keeping quiet? Your voice itches, my ears.
Matt Dillon
Exterminism. How long were you and Gorman partners? About a year. Why? I just wondered.
Chester
You gonna let me have a gun today?
Matt Dillon
I wouldn't trust you with a buggy.
Chester
Now, you got no cause to say that.
Matt Dillon
I want Pawnee Thompson alive. He'd be no good to me dead.
Chester
What do you mean?
Matt Dillon
I didn't get a chance to talk to him, for one thing.
Chester
Hey, Mr. Dillon. Yeah, what? There's a little old cave right up here. Go crawl in it. Maybe it'll fall on you. He sure bothers me.
Matt Dillon
You kind of bother him.
Chester
I ain't done nothing to him. Mr. Dunn, come here, quick.
Matt Dillon
What?
Chester
Yeah. What is it, Chester? There's a man in this cave. It's old Pony Thompson.
Matt Dillon
Oh. Drag him out.
Chester
I. I did. He's dead. Mr. Dylan. Huh? Yes, sir.
Matt Dillon
Make a torch out of some of those dry weeds, Chester. I can't see much here.
Chester
Yes, sir. What is it, Marshall? Somebody kill him?
Matt Dillon
I don't know, Hakes. Just stay out of the way.
Chester
Garnet, you treat me like I was dirt. I've had enough of that.
Matt Dillon
Come on, Chester.
LM Cigarettes Announcer
Hurry up.
Chester
Yes, sir. I got it. Here, let me get lit.
Matt Dillon
I don't feel blood anywhere.
Chester
Yeah. Ain't gonna burn long, though.
Matt Dillon
Hold it near his head.
Chester
I don't see nothing.
Matt Dillon
No, wait a minute. Hold it closer.
Chester
Huh?
Matt Dillon
Down here.
Chester
There ain't a mark on him.
Matt Dillon
Yes, there is. See those two little punctures on his neck there?
Chester
Yes, sir.
Matt Dillon
All right, Chester. Well, I guess Pawnee meant what he said about not liking jail.
Chester
What do you mean?
Matt Dillon
He'd been sitting right down there in front of his cave for about eight hours. Now, he could have hollered for help, but he didn't.
Chester
Help for what?
Matt Dillon
There was a rattlesnake in that cave.
Chester
That's what them marks on his neck was. He got bit.
Matt Dillon
Rather than face jail, he stayed in there and died.
Chester
Don't get to feeling so sorry for him. He stuck Gorman in the back and cut his throat, didn't he?
Matt Dillon
Yeah, Hicks. That's exactly what happened to Gorman.
Chester
What are you looking at me like that for?
Matt Dillon
Chester?
Chester
Yes, sir.
Matt Dillon
Did you tell Hicks that Gorman got knifed in the back?
Chester
No, sir. All I said was he got his.
Matt Dillon
Throat cut and poor old Pony Thompson died from nothing. I don't know why you killed your partner, and I don't much care. But we'll find out after we get Pony buried properly.
Chester
Now look here, Marsh.
Matt Dillon
And you'll dig the grave, Hicks, and you'll dig it deep. The old man deserves that much from you.
LM Cigarettes Announcer
In a moment, our star, William Conrad. In a recent study, a noted traffic expert estimates that inadequate highways and resultant traffic jams cost the American economy billions of dollars every year and suggests that the cost of modernizing our roads would quickly be regained in time saved. Discussing motor accidents, this same expert suggests that legislation may be needed to curb the speed of our powerful automobiles before they ever leave the factories. This is a controversial question on which the experts disagree. But all traffic experts agree on one thing. Common sense cannot be legislated into the automobile driver. He has to learn it by himself. Anger, bravado and the spirit of competition often are expressed on the highway by excessive speeding, disregard of traffic signs and signals and other risky maneuvers. Psychologists sum it up by saying that careless drivers are emotionally immature. Put more bluntly, it means that careless driving is kid stuff. This has been a CBS Radio public service announcement.
Matt Dillon
You know, when a high plains woman was looking for a husband, Callahan's used to laugh and say she's throwing a wide loop. Well, next week a woman catches her man right enough, but with a.50 caliber rifle. And that was the West.
LM Cigarettes Announcer
Gunsmoke, produced and directed by Norman MacDonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. marshal. Our story was specially written for Gunsmoke by John Meston, with music composed and conducted by Rex Corey, sound patterns by Tom Hanley and Bill James. Featured in the cast were Joseph Kearns, Vic Parron and Lawrence Dobkin. Harley Bear As Chester, Howard McNear as Doc and Georgia Ellis as Kitty. Join us again next week for another specially transcribed story on gun smoke.
Chester
Sam.
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Andrew Rines
This has been a presentation of otrwesterns.com and we hope you enjoyed. Please take some time to like and rate our shows in your favorite podcast application. Follow us on Facebook by going to otrwesterns.com Facebook subscribe to our YouTube channel by going to otrwesterns.Com YouTube and send us an email podcasttrwesterns.com youm can call and leave us a voicemail. 707-986-8739 this episode is copyright under the Attribution Non Commercial Share Like Copyright. For more information go to otrwesterns.com/copyright. Have a great day and thanks for listening.
Host: Andrew Rhynes
Date Released: August 29, 2025
This episode of "Old Time Radio Westerns" features the classic Gunsmoke radio drama “Snakebite.” Digitally restored for crispness and clarity, the story unfolds in Dodge City as Marshal Matt Dillon confronts not just lawbreakers, but the boundaries between justice, vengeance, and the cruelty of life out West. The episode explores the tragic chain of events triggered by a seemingly simple act of cruelty, revealing how easily violence on the frontier could spiral out of control, ending in deadly consequences.
[06:04–08:45]
[11:00–12:49]
[13:11–15:38]
[16:32–18:20]
[19:06–20:03]
[23:29–25:03]
[25:24–25:46]
| Timestamp | Segment | |-------------|----------------------------------------------| | 06:04–08:45 | Shooting of the puppy, confrontation begins | | 11:00–12:49 | Introduction of Pony Thompson | | 14:11 | Kitty confronts Gorman in the saloon | | 16:32–17:58 | Discovery of Gorman’s murder | | 23:29–25:03 | Discovery of Pony’s body in the cave | | 25:24–25:47 | Matt exposes Hicks as the real killer |
The episode maintains the gruff, gritty, and morally complex tone characteristic of classic Western radio dramas. Justice is not always clean or easy; even the most obvious villains may be victims, and small cruelties can set off tragedies. The dialogue is brisk, laced with dark humor, and reflective of the period’s stoic sensibility.
“Snakebite” is a rich, suspenseful episode that exemplifies how Gunsmoke used frontier crime to pose deeper ethical dilemmas. Through nuanced storytelling, it shows just how quickly violence can propagate on the edge of civilization, and how even a misunderstood drifter like Pony Thompson can become a casualty of others’ brutality.
For listeners:
If you enjoy classic Western storytelling, this digitally restored drama, with its vivid soundscape and gripping performances, offers a powerful immersion into the American frontier's harsh realities and the uncertain pursuit of justice.