The Buffalo Hunter | Gunsmoke (10-24-53)

Summary

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Old Time Radio Westerns: Gunsmoke – “The Buffalo Hunter” (10-24-53)

Host: Andrew Rhynes
Podcast Release Date: July 30, 2026
Original Air Date: October 24, 1953
Episode: The Buffalo Hunter

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Main Theme & Purpose

This episode of Gunsmoke, as featured on Old Time Radio Westerns, centers on Marshal Matt Dillon as he investigates the mysterious and grisly death of a buffalo skinner named Billy. The story plunges listeners into the harsh and violent world of buffalo hunters, where greed, brutality, and the relentless push westward clash with the landscape and its people. Through restored audio, the drama captures both the atmospheric texture of the prairie and the human cost of its exploitation.

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Key Discussion Points and Plot Breakdown

1. Buffalo Hunters Arrive in Dodge City

• [04:59] Chester draws Marshal Dillon’s attention to a newly arrived wagon loaded with buffalo hides and a gathering crowd.
• The buffalo hunting crew, led by the callous Gatliff, is questioned about an injured member.
• First indications of trouble: The crew’s skinner, Billy, has been badly, and Gatliff is indifferent to his fate.

2. Examining Billy’s Death

• [05:54]–[08:14] Initial explanation is that Billy “burned himself” with molten lead used for bullet-making. Gatliff insists it was an accident, showing no intention of paying for his burial.
  • Notable Quote:
    “He caused me trouble enough. I don’t want to hear no more about him, ever.” – Gatliff [07:34]
• Dillon and Chester sense the explanation doesn’t add up, suspecting the possibility of murder.
  • “Somebody could have pushed him down into it.” – Matt Dillon [08:11]

3. Suspicion and Motivation

• [08:47]–[11:32] Dillon talks to Toby, a member of the hunting crew, in the saloon.
• Toby’s backstory on Gatliff reveals greed as a motive—Gatliff may have killed Billy to avoid paying owed wages (estimated at $700–$800).
  • “He killed Billy so’s he wouldn’t have to pay him his wages due.” – Toby [10:56]
• Toby admits fear but intends to return to work for Gatliff, “sleeping with one eye open.”

4. Murder at the Nester Camp

• [12:19] A few days later, there is a stabbing at a nearby nester camp. Matt Dillon and Chester investigate.
• Yorkie Kelly, a boy living with the Arapahos, is the lone witness:
  • Identifies the killer by “funny eyes… they had spots in them,” confirming Gatliff as the murderer [13:09].
  • “I hope you catch him.” – Yorkie Kelly [13:34]
• Dillon resolves to hunt Gatliff down.

5. Tracking Gatliff Onto the Prairie

• [15:42]–[19:39] Dillon and Chester seek out buffalo hunters on the prairie for Gatliff’s whereabouts.
  • They meet Tom Mercer, another hunter, who reports the devastation of buffalo herds and the bleak future of hunting.
  • [19:13] Finally, a hide-buyer’s agent points them to Gatliff’s camp, only a couple of miles south.

6. Confronting Violence and Consequence

• [20:09] Dillon and Chester find Toby, wounded and near death, who reveals that Gatliff “went local” and shot him after realizing someone might be after him.
• Gatliff is last seen “going hunting,” seemingly unhinged [20:56].

7. Final Standoff and Resolution

• [21:31]–[24:03] Dillon tracks Gatliff to a hollow filled with the carnage of freshly killed buffalo.
• Gatliff, wounded, sends out shots as a feeble signal for help. Chester and Dillon find him dead, victim of an Indian attack and tortured for his violent acts against both men and buffalo.
  • Notable Moment:
    “Into their unbelievably savage torture of him had gone all the hatred and desperation of a race being slowly starved and driven from their homeland… For all of his evil, Gatliff had died harder than any man I’d ever seen.” – Matt Dillon [24:06]
• The episode ends on a somber note, with the violence and its consequences left unspoken between Dillon and Chester.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Buffalo Hunters’ Morality:
  “A man's greedy, Marshall. He’s downright wicked about money.” – Toby [09:37]

• On Motive for Murder:
  “He’d been out four months. He must owe Billy seven, eight hundred dollars.” – Toby [11:03]

• On Gatliff’s Fate:
  “But they’d finally got themselves a buffalo hunter… For all of his evil, Gatliff had died harder than any man I’d ever seen.” – Matt Dillon [24:06]

• Theme of Frontier Justice:
  “There was nothing I could do and I tried to forget about it.” – Matt Dillon, on the limitations of law [11:46]

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Major Timestamps

• [03:05] Introduction of Gunsmoke and Dodge City
• [04:59] Arrival of buffalo hunters with injured skinner
• [05:56] Gatliff questioned on Billy’s injury
• [09:05] Dillon’s talk with Toby reveals suspicion and greed
• [12:19] Stabbing at nester camp; Yorkie Kelly’s eyewitness account
• [15:42] Dillon and Chester join buffalo camp to inquire about Gatliff
• [19:13] Hide-buyer agent directs them to Gatliff’s camp
• [20:09] Discovery of wounded Toby
• [21:31] Locating Gatliff among slaughtered buffalo
• [24:03] The grim denouement and aftermath

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Tone, Style, and Atmosphere

True to the original Gunsmoke style, the episode is marked by understated, hard-edged dialogue, a sense of bleakness and inevitability, and an unromanticized portrayal of violence. The restored audio deepens the atmospheric immersion—hooves, wind, and the haunting echoes of the prairie underscore a story about injustice and the high human cost of westward expansion.

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Summary

“The Buffalo Hunter” is a compelling, somber portrait of violence—both personal and environmental—in the Old West. Through Marshal Dillon’s eyes, listeners witness the unraveling of brutal men driven by greed and the consequences that eventually catch up to them. The episode’s moral ambiguity, chilling finale, and respect for both law and the underlying grief of a changing land make it a standout chapter in the Gunsmoke anthology.

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For more classic radio westerns, digitally restored, stay tuned to Old Time Radio Westerns!

Transcript

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[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 October 24, 1953 and the title is the Buffalo Hunter. Hope you enjoy and again, thanks for listening.

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[Matt Dillon]

Around Dodge City and in the territory on west, there's just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers and that's with a U.S. marshal. And the smell of gun smoke.

[Narrator]

Gunsmoke. The story of the violence that moved west with young America. The story of a man who moved with it. Matt Dillon, United States Marshal. Take it easy, Mom. You know your young folks are going to eat when you give them sugar crinkles for breakfast. Yes, boys and girls love sugar crinkles. And no wonder. It's the sugar rice treat that's just right sweet. Makes breakfast more fun than a circus. Now the reason sugar crinkles suit young folks to a T is this. Some sugar coated cereals they've tried seem too sweet. Others don't seem sweet enough. But when they dip their first spoonful of sugar crinkles.

[Toby]

Mmm.

[Narrator]

They've discovered a sugar coated cereal that's just right sweet. And say those young folks of yours love to dip into the pack and eat sugar crinkles as a snack too. So better get several packages. And now, Gun Smoke. Starring William Conrad.

[Chester]

Mr. Dillon, look at those men down there by the jail.

[Matt Dillon]

That's quite a crowd.

[Chester]

Well now, what's so curious about a wagon load of buffalo hide to wonder

[Matt Dillon]

maybe they got a white one?

[Chester]

Chester, they must have something mighty interesting.

[Toby]

Yeah.

[Matt Dillon]

This your wagon, mister?

[Cook]

Nope. It's Gatlus I skin for.

[Matt Dillon]

What's the crowd for?

[Cook]

Just curious. The other skinner got hurt and we brought him into the dock.

[Matt Dillon]

Oh, what happened? Is he hurt bad?

[Cook]

Bad enough. Gatliff didn't see any sense in bringing him into town at all. Me and the cook, we made him though.

[Matt Dillon]

What?

[Cook]

Oh, here's Gatliff now.

[Matt Dillon]

Chester, go up to Doc's and see what you can find out, huh?

[Tom Mercer]

Yes, sir. How?

[Cook]

Easy, Gatliff.

[Toby]

Eh? Doc'll take care of everything, Toby.

[Cook]

Never mind that. How is he?

[Toby]

He's dead. Let's drive these hides on down the shed, huh?

[Cook]

Come on.

[Matt Dillon]

Just a minute, Gatleff.

[Toby]

Some other time, Marshal.

[Matt Dillon]

I'm busy. So am I. But I want to talk to you anyway.

[Toby]

You and the cook go get these hides unloaded, Toby. I'll be right along.

[Cook]

Okay.

[Toby]

Now where you are, Marshall.

[Matt Dillon]

What happened to your skinner, Billy?

[Toby]

He hurt his self, that's all.

[Matt Dillon]

He's dead, isn't he?

[Yorkie Kelly]

Yeah.

[Toby]

Yeah, he's dead. He got hurt and he died. That's all.

[Matt Dillon]

When did he get hurt?

[Toby]

Last night.

[Matt Dillon]

Then why didn't you bring him in last night?

[Toby]

Them other fellas, the cook and Toby, they figured he was done for anyway. They didn't want to bother, I guess.

[Matt Dillon]

What happened to him, Gadlev? How did he get hurt?

[Toby]

I don't rightly know, Marshall. He was alone in camp, and when we got there, he'd gone and burned himself. Burned?

[Matt Dillon]

With what? Hot lead.

[Toby]

Marshall spilled it all over him.

[Matt Dillon]

Lead for bullets?

[Toby]

Yeah, that's it. He was cooking up lead in a fry pan. That was one of Billy's chores, to make my bullets. He always was a mite clumsy. He sure messed hisself up this time.

[Matt Dillon]

That must have been a lot of lead.

[Toby]

50, 60 pounds, I reckon.

[Chester]

Mr. Gatlin, that man of yours ducks all through with him. He said you can bury him now.

[Toby]

Oh, no. I ain't paying for no burial. He's just a skinner I hired. I don't even know his last name.

[Matt Dillon]

You're his boss, aren't you? You brought him in here.

[Toby]

He's just a bum who worked for me. Well, hold it, Chester.

[Matt Dillon]

All right, got love. We'll take care of him.

[Toby]

He caused me trouble enough. I don't want to hear no more about him, ever.

[Matt Dillon]

What about the scanner, Chester? Tell me.

[Chester]

It was terrible, Mr. Dillon. Doc said he don't know how he lived as long as he did.

[Matt Dillon]

Did he talk to Doc?

[Chester]

Oh, goodness. Know the poor fella.

[Matt Dillon]

How do you suppose it happened, Chester?

[Chester]

Why, a hot lead. Had a whole panful of it. That told me.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah, but what man's gonna pick up 50 or 60 pounds of molten lead and spill it all over him?

[Chester]

Oh, well, he. I hadn't thought of that.

[Matt Dillon]

Because there's another way it could have happened.

[Chester]

How's that?

[Matt Dillon]

Somebody could have pushed him down into it.

[Narrator]

Oh, my.

[Chester]

Who?

[Matt Dillon]

I don't know. Gatliff. Or maybe his skinner, Toby. I wonder where Toby went.

[Chester]

He probably went over to the Isle of Organza to drink up his wages.

[Matt Dillon]

Oh, all right, Chester, Go do something about burying that man, huh?

[Tom Mercer]

Yes, sir.

[Chester]

I'll tend to it.

[Matt Dillon]

Hello, Toby. Oh, hello, Marshall. Sam, send out a bottle of rye and another glass, huh? Sure, Marshall. I'll buy you a drink.

[Cook]

You will? Well, sure, Marshall. Sure.

[Matt Dillon]

Well, Toby, here's to your friend Billy.

[Cook]

He was no friend of mine. But he died a bad death, altering to him.

[Matt Dillon]

Tell me something, Toby. How did he and Gatliff get on?

[Cook]

You notice Gatliff's eyes, Marshall?

[Matt Dillon]

I did.

[Cook]

He's got powder specks shot into them? They look like turkey eggs.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah.

[Cook]

You don't get on with a man like that.

[Matt Dillon]

How come I've never seen him in Dodge before?

[Cook]

A man's greedy, Marshall. He's downright wicked about money. He figures he can save time, make more money by selling his hides to buy agents on the prairie. He gets less out there, but he can kill and sell more that way.

[Matt Dillon]

Well, he came in with a load of hides today.

[Cook]

Just cause we made him come in with Billy.

[Matt Dillon]

Tell me about the accident, Toby. Huh?

[Cook]

Well. Oh, thanks. Billy was melting lead in a fry pan. And the way I figured, he must have tripped somehow, fallen smack into it. When we rode in, we found him rolling around on the ground. That's all I know.

[Matt Dillon]

When who rode in?

[Cook]

Me and the cook.

[Matt Dillon]

Where was Gatla?

[Cook]

Oh, he went in just ahead of us.

[Matt Dillon]

How long ahead of you?

[Cook]

Not long. Maybe 20 minutes.

[Matt Dillon]

Then he found Billy first, is that it?

[Cook]

Yeah, so he did. I hadn't thought of that before, Marshall. So that's why you've been asking so many questions.

[Matt Dillon]

Well, I wasn't sure, Toby, but I expect you're telling the truth. The cook would back up your story

[Cook]

and sure I'm telling the truth. So that's what happened. Gatloof killed him. He murdered him.

[Matt Dillon]

Any idea why he would?

[Cook]

Sure I do. He killed Billy so's he wouldn't have to pay him his wages due. He'd been out four months. He must owe Billy seven, eight hundred dollars.

[Matt Dillon]

Uh huh. Are you going back out on the prairie with him?

[Cook]

I ain't afraid of him. But I'll be sleeping with one eye open from now on.

[Matt Dillon]

And if you let on you're suspicious, he'll sure try to kill you.

[Cook]

Not me. He can do his killing on somebody else. You.

[Matt Dillon]

You'll be leaving in the morning, I suppose, huh?

[Cook]

About dawn, I reckon. Soon as Gatliff hires new Skinner.

[Matt Dillon]

Well, the bottle's yours, Toby. And good luck.

[Cook]

I sure do thank you, Marshall.

[Matt Dillon]

Later in the day, Chester and a couple of other men buried Billy out on the hill. As Toby said, he died a bad death. And it was made worse by the man who had done it to him, going scot free. But there was nothing I could do and I tried to forget about it. They left Dodge next morning and things were peaceful enough for a few days. Until one night word came that there'd been a knifing in a nester camp across the river. We rode over to see what it was about.

[Chester]

He was knifed in the back, Mr. Dillon.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah, but nobody saw it happen, Justin?

[Toby]

No, sir.

[Chester]

Looks like somebody got clean away with murder.

[Cook]

What?

[Chester]

Well, here's Yorkie Kelly. How are you, Yorkie?

[Yorkie]

Hello.

[Matt Dillon]

What are you doing here, Yorkie?

[Yorkie]

I came looking for berries. It's a good thing I did.

[Matt Dillon]

Oh, what do you mean?

[Yorkie]

I saw that man get stabbed.

[Cook]

What?

[Matt Dillon]

You did?

[Yorkie]

I heard them arguing and I sneaked up just after he'd done it. They were all alone.

[Matt Dillon]

Well, who did it, Yorkie? Did you recognize him?

[Yorkie]

I never saw him before.

[Matt Dillon]

Well, what did he look like?

[Yorkie]

He was big, dirty looking. He had a buckskin shirt.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah.

[Cook]

What?

[Matt Dillon]

Anything else?

[Yorkie]

He had funny eyes, Marshall. They had spots in them.

[Matt Dillon]

Oh. Chester Gadworth.

[Chester]

Well, how in the world could you ever sneak up close enough to see his eyes, Yorkie?

[Yorkie]

I live with the arapahorse.

[Chester]

Yeah, by golly, that's right.

[Yorkie]

You know who did it, Marshall?

[Matt Dillon]

Well, I do now, Yorkie, thanks to you.

[Yorkie]

I hope you catch him. I gotta get back. Moss. Grimit's waiting for me.

[Matt Dillon]

So long, Yorkie.

[Chester]

I guess it was gatliff all right, Mr. Dillon.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah.

[Chester]

Seems like a dangerous kind of a man to be running loose.

[Matt Dillon]

I got him now, Chester. As soon as I find him.

[Chester]

Oh, I hope so, Mr. Dylan. I certainly do hope so,

[Yorkie Kelly]

Mother.

[Narrator]

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[Yorkie Kelly]

for your breakfast or a snack you love sugar crinkles. Sugar crinkles. Crinkles can't be beat. Sugar ice cream. That's just right.

[Sleep Number Announcer]

Sweet with milk.

[Yorkie Kelly]

But a breakfast joy as a snack from the pack. Oh, boy. Can't be beat just right. Sweet sugar crinkles. Good to eat.

[Narrator]

Now back to gun smoke.

[Matt Dillon]

Since Gatliff would figure nobody had seen him, it wasn't likely that he'd run. And anyway, there wasn't much sense in trying to track him down in the dark. So Chester and I didn't start out until the next morning ordinarily a man could ride into the prairie and disappear. But with Gatliff, it was a little different. At least we knew he'd be somewhere around buffalo. It was late afternoon before we reached good hunting grounds and almost dark when we spotted the first hunters camp.

[Yorkie Kelly]

Come on over to the fire, stranger.

[Matt Dillon]

Well, thank you.

[Tom Mercer]

Sup will be ready soon.

[Yorkie Kelly]

Hey, clerk, throw some more tongue in that stew pot.

[Chester]

You don't like buffalo tongue?

[Tom Mercer]

You'll go mighty hungry in this camp.

[Matt Dillon]

Thanks, mister.

[Tom Mercer]

Hey, you're a lawman.

[Matt Dillon]

Matt Dillon, a U.S. marshal. My name's Tom Mercer, and this is Chester Proudfoot.

[Chester]

Mr. Mercer.

[Yorkie]

Howdy.

[Tom Mercer]

Dress up will take a little longer yet. Anyway, my skinners won't be in for a while. Sit down.

[Matt Dillon]

Oh, thank you,

[Tom Mercer]

pal.

[Matt Dillon]

How you doing?

[Tom Mercer]

Oh, fair, Marshall, fair. I killed over 100 today.

[Matt Dillon]

Been here long?

[Tom Mercer]

About a month. I'll move on a couple of weeks. I don't know, Marshall. I figure this whole Southern herd's gonna be clean wiped out for a long next year. I'm going to Dakota.

[Matt Dillon]

Too many hunters. Maybe that's just it.

[Tom Mercer]

That's it exactly.

[Matt Dillon]

Have you seen any in the last day or two?

[Tom Mercer]

Just who are you looking for, Marshall?

[Matt Dillon]

Fella by the name of Gatliff. A big man. Speckled eyes.

[Tom Mercer]

What's he done?

[Matt Dillon]

You know him?

[Tom Mercer]

No, I don't. Nobody's come near us in over a week.

[Matt Dillon]

You're not much help then. Except for that stew the cook's making.

[Tom Mercer]

You'll like that. We're having dried apples too.

[Chester]

I mighty near eat a buffalo raw. The entire beast.

[Tom Mercer]

You must be part Injun. Well, I've seen one of them eat a whole liver raw. Yes, he got propped up against a tree and ate every bit of it. Then went sound asleep right there in the sun. He was sure some sight.

[Chester]

Where'd you ever get that close to an Indian?

[Tom Mercer]

Oh, Indians ain't all as bad.

[Matt Dillon]

No, that's true. But they're gonna get real hungry when the herd's gone.

[Tom Mercer]

I assume, Marshall. That's surely so. That's what makes them mad.

[Matt Dillon]

Well, don't you think that's reason enough?

[Tom Mercer]

Fella told me a couple of weeks ago he run into a bunch wester here. He was looking for scalps all right too. Oh, here comes my skinners. Now we can get outside of some of that stew. Don't you ever feed this man?

[Matt Dillon]

Only when he works, Mercer.

[Chester]

Oh, no, Mr. Dillon.

[Matt Dillon]

We spent the night in Tom Mercer's camp. And at dawn, just after breakfast, we said goodbye and rode on west

[Tom Mercer]

in

[Matt Dillon]

the Next two days we met plenty of hunters. But we didn't find gatleths. About noon of the third day, we cut the trail of a wagon train and fixed that of a hide buyer's agent who had come out into the prairie to do business on the spot. An hour or two later we saw him. A long string of ox drawn wagons piled high with hides. There was a man on horseback leading the train. We rode up to him.

[Yorkie Kelly]

Hello there.

[Matt Dillon]

That's quite a load you got, mister.

[Yorkie Kelly]

10,000 so far. What are you doing way out here, Marshall?

[Matt Dillon]

I'm looking for a hunter by the name of Gatlow. You know him?

[Yorkie Kelly]

Sure do. Just picked up a load from his rick early this morning. Is he in trouble? Yeah.

[Matt Dillon]

Where is he?

[Yorkie Kelly]

Straight south, couple of miles. Can't tell you exactly. He moves around a lot.

[Matt Dillon]

That's close enough for us. Thanks a lot, mister.

[Yorkie Kelly]

Sure. Marshall. How do you like him anyways?

[Chester]

There's an empty rick. That must be it.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah, but he's moved his camp not

[Chester]

far if it just this morning.

[Matt Dillon]

Chester. What's that up there? Where at it looks like a man. Come on.

[Yorkie Kelly]

Fell.

[Chester]

Mr. Dylan. It's that skinner of his.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah. Get some water, Chester. Toby. Toby. Toby, can you hear me? He's been shot. Chester.

[Chester]

Here's the water.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah. Toby, it's marshall dillon.

[Cook]

Give me a drink.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah.

[Cook]

Here. He shot me, Marshall.

[Matt Dillon]

Well, what happened? Where's the rest of the crew?

[Cook]

He run off. Took his wagon and the horses. He went kind of crazy when he found out that that's why he shot me.

[Matt Dillon]

Where is he now?

[Cook]

I don't know, Marshall. He shot me and then he said he was going hunting. He's going local now.

[Matt Dillon]

Take it. Take it easy, Toby. Take it easy. You're gonna be all right.

[Cook]

I could hear him shooting that sharps a long time. And then he stopped.

[Matt Dillon]

Where was he? Which way, Toby?

[Cook]

Off behind me there. I could hear him.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah. Chester, stay with him, huh? I'm going after Gatlf.

[Tom Mercer]

All right.

[Matt Dillon]

You. Off in the direction Toby had indicated, there lay a large isolated hollow surrounded by low ridges. When I reached it, I dismounted and crawled up to where I could look down into it. There was no sign of Gatliff. But lying on the prairie floor were the bodies of countless fresh killed buffalo. It was a strange sight. The old bulls and the cows and the little calves lying there blackening the prairie grass. I got up and stood looking at it for a long time. And then suddenly, out in the middle, I thought I saw a slight movement. And a second later there Came the familiar boom of a Sharps 50. And I dropped behind the range and waited. And then Chester rode up.

[Chester]

Did you find him, Mr. Dillon? Yeah, I thought I'd better come along.

[Matt Dillon]

You see, Toby's dead. Is that it?

[Chester]

Yes, sir.

[Matt Dillon]

All right. Well, Gatla's down there in the middle of the hollow, but we can't get anywhere near him as long as he's got that Sharps rifle. He's killed a small herd of buffalo in there, and now he's lying out in the center of him.

[Chester]

Well, that's the darndest thing I ever heard of, Mr. Dylan. He must have gone crazy just like Toby said.

[Yorkie Kelly]

Yeah.

[Chester]

What's he shooting at now, Mr. Dillon? The way he's spacing them shots.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah, that's a signal for help.

[Bubba Wallace]

Chester.

[Matt Dillon]

Come on.

[Chester]

Say, maybe it's just a trap.

[Matt Dillon]

Be ready to take cover behind one of these animals. It might be.

[Chester]

Sounds like he's been hurt.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah, just keep your head up.

[Chester]

There he is, behind that big bull.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah, I see him.

[Tom Mercer]

Wow.

[Chester]

Mr. Dillon, he. He's all.

[Matt Dillon]

There have been horses in here, Chester. Indians.

[Chester]

Oh, my goodness.

[Matt Dillon]

Come on. That was his last effort, Chester. He's dead now, Mr. Dillon.

[Chester]

That's awful.

[Matt Dillon]

Yeah. Come on, Chester. Let's get out of here. I don't know how the Indians caught Gadliff. He'd gone a little mad, and maybe that made it easy for him. But they'd finally got themselves a buffalo hunter. And into their unbelievably savage torture of him had gone all the hatred and desperation of a race being slowly starved and driven from their homeland. And then they'd put him there, surrounded by his own bloody slaughter. And they'd gone off with a gesture of contempt, leaving his rifle and his ammunition by his side. And having seen what they did to him, I'll never know how he managed to fire even one of those shots. For all of his evil, Gatliff had died harder than any man I'd ever seen. Chester and I rode back to Dodge, and it was never mentioned between us again.

[Narrator]

In just a moment, we'll tell you about next week's adventure on Gunsmoke. You know, what you are tomorrow depends on what you eat today. So, mother, be sure that the big and little Indians at your house always eat a good breakfast. And tell me, what could be better for breakfast than Post Toasties. Post toasties, you know, are the heap good corn flakes. The best thing that's happened to corn since the Indians discovered it. But all of the talking in the world couldn't tell you how downright delicious Post Toasties are. You have to taste those crackling crisp flakes. Yes, you have to taste that sweet kernel corn flavor toasted. Then you'll know how perfectly wonderful breakfast can be. Put Post Toasties in your shopping list right now, Mother. Just watch how your whole tribe goes for him. Remember, Post Toasties are the heap good cornflakes. Gunsmoke under the direction of Norman Macdonald, stars William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. marshal. Tonight's story was written especially for Gunsmoke by John Meston with music composed and conducted by Rex Corey. Featured in the cast were Tom Tully, John Dainer, Richard Beals, Jack Edwards and Louis Jean Height. Harley Bear is Chester Ken Peters speaking. Join us again next week as Matt Dillon, U.S. marshal, meets a killer at a stage station during his fight to bring law and order out of the wild violence of the west in Gunsmoke. Listen next week at this time when Gunsmoke will be brought to you by Post Toasties. The Heat Good Cornflakes.

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[Andrew Rines]

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