Matts Decision

Kitty Accused

Originally Aired: June 12, 1960 Gunsmoke #427, "Kitty Accused," finds Kitty Russell facing an unwelcome complication on what should be a simple stagecoach trip to Fort Learned. After a late night at the Long Branch, Kitty prepares to visit her friend Sally, who has just had a baby. Marshal Matt Dillon sees her off, but the journey takes a troubling turn when Arnie Grimes and his bitter wife Hattie board the same stage. Arnie has been making persistent unwanted advances toward Kitty around Dodge City, much to his wife's fury, and Hattie makes no secret of her resentment toward the saloon owner she sees as a threat to her marriage. As the uncomfortable journey progresses, tensions mount inside the cramped stagecoach. Arnie continues his inappropriate attention despite Kitty's clear rejections and Hattie's sharp rebukes. The situation grows increasingly volatile as Hattie's jealousy and Arnie's obsession collide, trapping Kitty in the middle of a dangerous domestic conflict with nowhere to escape on the long road to Fort Learned.

Fabulous Silver Extender

Originally Aired: June 5, 1960 Gunsmoke #426, "Fabulous Silver Extender," finds Chester holding down the fort while Matt Dillon transports a prisoner to Have City. Into the marshal's absence walks the nervous Professor Albert Cramston, a self-proclaimed metallurgical researcher who claims the San Francisco silver syndicate has put a price on his head. Eight hired killers are supposedly tracking him down for ten thousand dollars, though he can't identify any of them. Chester promises to keep watch, but the real mystery begins when local shopkeepers Wilbert and Durgum notice the peculiar professor borrowing dimes at the Long Branch saloon, then mysteriously returning with silver dollars to repay them. Following Cramston to Wilbert's recently sold shop, the curious pair discovers him working with strange machinery by lantern light. When they attempt to apprehend him as suspicious, Chester intervenes, forcing an uneasy introduction between the frightened professor and the would-be captors. Cramston, satisfied they aren't foreign agents or syndicate killers, prepares to reveal his closely guarded secret to the three men, provided they're willing to die to protect it for the good of their country.

Bad Seed

Originally Aired: May 29, 1960 Gunsmoke #425, "Bad Seed," finds Marshal Matt Dillon on his way back to Dodge from Fort Larnard when an unexpected visitor enters his camp. A young woman named Trudy Trent, claiming to be starving and desperate, begs the marshal not to send her back to her father. She paints a dark picture of life with her Pa, describing him as a violent drunk who mistreats her terribly. Despite her pleas and increasingly inappropriate advances, Matt insists on taking her home the next morning. When they arrive at the ramshackle Trent farm, Matt meets Asa Trent, a slovenly drunk who alternates between professing affection for his daughter and threatening the marshal. The tension at supper is thick as Trudy recounts disturbing incidents from her past, including a Christmas when her drunken father accidentally set her on fire. Convinced that the girl's situation is genuinely dire, Matt agrees to take Trudy back to Dodge with him despite Asa's threats and warnings. But as Matt settles into the barn loft for the night, he senses something isn't quite right about the whole situation.

Marryin Bertha

Originally Aired: May 22, 1960 Gunsmoke #424, "Marryin Bertha," Marshal Matt Dillon finds himself dealing with an unusual problem when his deputy Chester Proudfoot confesses to a reckless mistake. Suffering from spring fever and feeling romantic, Chester has been writing letters to lonely women advertising in St. Louis newspapers, stretching the truth about himself and even sending one woman Matt's photograph instead of his own. Now a widow named Corinne Gatesley has arrived in Dodge expecting to marry Chester, and the panicked deputy begs Matt to impersonate him and send her away. When Matt meets the imposing Mrs. Gatesley, a woman taller than Chester and built like the Marshal himself, he discovers Chester's letters promised her he had money coming his way. The situation turns dangerous when Doc Adams recognizes Matt's description of the woman. She may actually be Bertha Hoskowitz, a woman once suspected of marrying and murdering several men for their money in St. Louis, though authorities could never prove it. With Chester having foolishly promised wealth he doesn't have, Matt realizes the deputy may have made himself the target of a cold-blooded killer.

Tall Trapper

Originally Aired: May 15, 1960 Gunsmoke #423, "Tall Trapper," presents Marshal Matt Dillon with a puzzling murder case when Doc Adams discovers a woman beaten to death in a covered wagon east of Dodge. The victim, Cassie Riley, had been traveling west with her husband Riley in hopes the dry climate would improve her failing health. When Doc arrives to treat her, he finds she's already dead from a brutal beating. Riley tells Doc and Matt about a mysterious trapper who shared their camp for two nights, eyeing Cassie the whole time, making him the obvious suspect. The case takes an unusual turn when Matt and Chester ride out to the murder scene and discover the body has been moved to a Pawnee burial platform high on wooden poles. There they encounter Ben, a laconic trapper raised by the Pawnees who admits to burying Cassie in the traditional elevated grave. Though Ben denies killing her and could have easily shot Matt and Chester before they drew on him, the evidence looks damning. As Matt brings Ben to jail and confronts the grieving Riley with his wife's suspected killer, the truth behind Cassie's death remains murky.