This Gunsmoke episode explores the dark consequences of poverty and family dysfunction when a strange, yellow-haired young man named Budge appears in Dodge City with an urgent request—Marshal Matt Dillon must arrest his own father for murder. The trail leads to the desolate homestead of the Groat family on Potato Road, where Paul, his wife Ma, and Budge struggle with desperation that has festered into something far more dangerous than a simple killing. What begins as a murder investigation quickly becomes a hostage situation when Ma Groat tricks Matt and Chester into a potato cellar prison, revealing a twisted family plot to rob the Dodge City bank with the marshal already dead and buried.

Episode Highlights & Quotes

"We got a plan, Marshall. We got a real fine plan and it was all my thinking. We are going to rob a bank Marshall right there in Dodge... and you see how we're going to do it. There won't be nobody to stop us. 'cause we will we'll already have you dead." – Ma Groat revealing the deadly plot

"Blaming her, it'd be like, well, blaming the night for being dark... She's had it too rough, Chester, she doesn't know what she's doing anymore." – Marshal Dillon's compassionate understanding of Ma Groat's desperation

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When 28-year-old nightclub organist Laura Barclay is found strangled in her apartment with every door and window locked from the inside, it appears to be an unsolvable crime. The talented organist from the Blue Fox cocktail lounge lived quietly, collecting photographs of theatrical performers and wearing her prized collection of diamond rings valued at $4,000—rings that mysteriously vanished from the crime scene.

The breakthrough comes when detectives discover unusually large fingerprints inside an old garbage chute. Through ten days of methodical detective work, Friday and Romero connect a series of burglaries using the same unconventional method.

"Every door and window in the place is locked. Looks like a tough one, Joe. Whoever did it must have come in through the keyhole." - Sergeant Ben Romero at the crime scene.

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This gripping Gunsmoke episode takes listeners on a journey through the tension between criminal greed and Marshal Matt Dillon's patient detective work. When Dillon awakens during a stagecoach holdup to find a shotgun in his face, two masked bandits rob the stage—and when a passenger resists with a derringer, he's murdered by the outlaw called Charlie. Despite being unarmed and outgunned, the marshal carefully observes the criminals, particularly noting the distinctive voice of the man with the shotgun, Jeremo.

Back in Dodge, Dillon spots Jeremo in town and begins surveillance, discovering the outlaw has an injured partner hiding on the prairie. When a cowboy named Bird discovers Charlie's body and the buried loot, Dillon cleverly conceals the money's recovery, knowing Jeremo will suspect his former partner of stealing it. This powerful episode explores how distrust and paranoia destroy criminal partnerships when the marshal springs his trap at Kelly's stable.

Episode Highlights & Quotes

"You might as well have been wearing snow shoes with cowbells tied on them." – Marshal Dillon to Chester about his obvious tracking skills

"Under the circumstances it was murder and was honey." – Marshal Dillon making clear that killing the passenger wasn't justified self-defense

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