Gunsmoke : Season 11

Matt has to get Dodge City back from outlaws.

Woodley and Cantwell get into a fight over splitting up the money they earned from trapping and gambling. Matt breaks it up and they go their separate ways for the night. As Cantwell is walking down an alley, Claude and Ab Benteen, the sons of a local rancher, rob and kill him. Woodley is accused, tried, and sentenced to hang in a month. During this time, Ab's conscience is bothering him and drives him to drink heavily. In a drunken stupor he draws on a cowboy in the Long Branch and

Sam and Frank Band, and two of their friends, arrive in the small town of Greenwood, OK expecting to quench their thirst with whiskey and find only soda pop available. Not being overly smart or long on manners, they shoot up the small general store/sheriff's office. Thad, sheriff Greenwood's son and deputy, talks his father into issuing an arrest warrant for the men, just before he dies of a heart attack. After catching up with the four vandals in Dodge, Matt has to explain to Thad t

Matt is riding along when he's confronted by Miguel Samando, a bandito who wants to kill the ""famous Matt Dillon."" Miguel isn't as fast as he thinks he is and is killed. Immediately thereafter another rider shows up, but this time is Matt's old ex-lawman friend Jack Pinto. Jack has decided to give up law enforcement and head to California to make his fortune. They drape Miguel over his horse and head for Dodge. Festus notices a rough looking character ride into Dodge and stop at th

Jeb Crater and his prospecting partner Sholo are camping when Stretch Morgan rides up. Jeb invites him to share a cup of coffee and is impressed with his prowess with a gun. Explaining that they've finally struck it rich, Jeb hires Stretch as a bodyguard. Arriving in Dodge, Jeb tells everyone he's going to throw a party at the Long Branch. After bathing, Jeb and Stretch hide the gold pouches in the ground under the bath tub (Jeb doesn't trust banks), not telling Sholo because he migh

Jayce McCaw deals unfairly with a Pawnee Indian family and winds up killing the father, shooting Kioga (the son), and leaving the daughter unprotected in the wilderness. When he gets into Dodge he near strangles Howie, the Dodge House desk clerk, just to get a woman's name. Kioga, still wounded, tracks him to Dodge and shows up in Mr. Bodkin's bank wanting to cash in a gold nugget for money. He's taken up to Doc's for treatment and Matt leaves him the $110.00 Mr. Bodkin redeemed the

Turner's called in from the range to talk to his boss, Chris Thornton. Upon his arrival Thornton tells him he knows his name is really Luke Frazer. He tells Thornton he'll be gone by sundown, but Thornton has different ideas. He shows Luke a wanted poster of Otto Fry, the man who killed Thornton's son. He tells Luke he'll give him a thousand acres as a place of his own if he'll track down Fry and kill him; he can even keep the $600 reward! Frazer heads out looking for Fry and lands i

Jim Forbes returns from serving three years in prison for ""swindling"" the folks of Dodge. He had ran out of money mining for gold, salted the mine (planted high grade quartz ore in it), and borrowed funds from the townspeople to continue mining. Now, backed by money provided by his sister, he's reopened the mine in order to prove to the people of Dodge that there is gold in it, and to pay them back. Once locals Jason Holt and Clint Fisher find out that Forbes has some money in the

Murdering sidewinder Del Ordman heads to Dodge to kill the marshal for killing his brother, but Matt had to go out-of-town and asked Festus to keep an eye on things. As Matt's leaving, Malachi Harper, a buffalo bone scavenger, arrives in town. He finds a letter waiting for him informing him that his brother Ethan, a well-to-do businessman from Baltimore, is coming through Dodge on his way to San Francisco. Malachi hasn't seen his brother in 35 years but wrote him once and told him th

Frank and Edmund Dano arrive home after six years in prison for rustling cattle. Considering Frank the bad seed of the family, and the evil influence that got the younger Edmund sent to prison, Mr. Dano gives him a not-to-warm reception. Frank wants to leave, but because his mother is ailing with a bad heart, he stays at her request. As the situation deteriorates between Frank and his father, Edmund offers to tell their parents that it was he who was mixed up with the rustling and th

Judd Print and his two boys, Verlyn and Coy, have met Wade Bonney, his 12 year old son Homer, and his gravely ill wife on the trail and traveled together for a few days. After Mrs. Bonney dies, Judd shoots Wade in the back and steals all of his valuables. Verlyn knows what happened, but Coy doesn't because he was off looking for Homer at the time. From a hilltop Homer had witnessed the murder. Hiding, and refusing to come down for fear of being killed himself, he is left there to die

Gorman, Mandee, Keys, and Torreon break out of Leavenworth Territorial Prison and abduct Matt while he's on his nightly rounds. A note is found on the telegraph office door from Gorman explaining that they've got Matt and he won't be harmed if they get to the Mexican border unmolested. The instructions in the note call for the Dodge telegrapher to wire all towns south, between Dodge and the Oklahoma border, and inform all peace officers to stay out of their way or they'll kill Matt.

A gang of outlaws (Dove Baily, Coley Martin, Harve Kane, Hank Wheeler, and siblings Eddie and Allie Sommers) are being chased by two posses for robbing the railroad of $20,000 and shooting three employees. Matt manages to shoot one of them in the shoulder before they get away. A couple days later Doc finds Allie in his office with a bullet wound in her shoulder. Matt suspects she may have been one of the gang members, but says nothing. She tells Matt that she was separated from a wag

Thad goes to the marshal's office to get Festus (Matt's out-of-town) and tells him there's a problem at the Long Branch. When they get there, Kitty tells them she got rid of the two brothers that were drunk and disorderly. As her and Sam are closing up, Sam takes a crate of empty bottles to the cellar and Kitty goes up to her room. Waiting there is Richard Strom, one of the brothers, who gags her and starts beating her. A window breaks in the struggle and brings Festus, Thad and Sam

Kitty inherits a gold mine from a friend who passed away. She wanted Matt to accompany her to the town of Pickaxe to register and transfer the deed, but he had to go out-of-town on business. A bit miffed, she decides to make the trip alone. After the stage drops her off in the middle of the prairie by a pile of crates and barrels, she waits in the hot sun for the freight driver from Pickaxe. He is not helpful; she has to put her own luggage in the wagon and climb up on her own. When

Holly and Walker, two bounty hunters, come across a dead sheriff and his prisoner. The prisoner, John Drago, is still alive, but badly injured from his horse throwing him. Holly finds a wanted poster in the sheriff's pocket indicating the reward for Drago, dead or alive, from the Mexican authorities is thirty-thousand dollars. They take Drago into Dodge for medical treatment. Doc and Matt insist on keeping Drago under guard in a hotel room until he's fit to ride. Local farmer Austin

Festus sees Lambert, Emery and Sweet Billy Haggen on a farm outside of Dodge, grabs a well bucket, puts it over his head and starts running off into the fields for fear of getting his ear shot off; not the whole ear, just the little hangy-down part (refer to episode #364 ""Eliab's Aim"" for details). Sweet Billy shoots the bucket, they catch up to Festus, and then explain that the only reason they're there is to find Sweet Billy a wife. Festus reluctantly agrees to help and starts li

Les McConnell, posing as a gun salesman, is the front-man for the Stark Gang. He's gone into Sedalia, Missouri as the advanced scout for a bank heist. The gang rides in and robs the bank, killing the bank manager. They get away and later decide to hit the bank in Dodge, even though McConnell advises against messing with Marshal Dillon. The leader, Jim Stark, dismisses the warning and sets the gang's path toward Dodge. McConnell goes in ahead of the gang to check things out. The bank

After the Stark Gang robs the bank in Dodge, front-man Les McConnell sets several buildings on fire to prevent a posse from pursuing the gang. Matt leaves most of the men in town to battle the flames and takes only Festus and a handful of others to pursue the gang. The gang stops at Mr. Early's ranch and gets fresh horses. When Matt and his men arrive Early tries to obstruct them and send them on a false trail, but one of Matt's men finds the real trail. With very tired horses, they

Doc Brown's medicine show comes to Dodge. One of his main attractions is Sandy, a young man quite quick and agile with pistols. His problem is that his arrogance rivals his abilities. This is demonstrated by his insistence on pushing Festus into a gunfight, which Sandy loses. With a bullet wound in his side, Matt out of town, Doc Brown accusing Festus of murder by drawing down on Sandy while he was drunk, and not wanting to have to put Matt in the position of arresting his friend whe

Jason rides up to Jed Woodard's homestead and asks if he can water his horse. While he's doing that Jed notices a guitar strapped to Jason's horse. He takes it out and starts fooling with it. Jason is very possessive about the instrument and each time he asks Jed to give it to him Jed abuses it a little more. Finally, he's knocking it against a sharp piece of wood and is on the verge of puncturing it. Jason will take no more, draws his knife, and stabs Jed in the chest. He digs a gra

Spellman, Travers and Aikens are robbing a stage when the guard shoots Spellman in the leg, resulting in Travers killing the guard and wounding the driver. Being wounded himself, Spellman has a difficult time keeping up with Travers and Aikens and is left to fend for himself. When the stage gets to Dodge the robbery is reported to Matt who takes off after the criminals, leaving Festus in charge in town. Doc is feeling really bad because he thought the driver would live, but died from

Paul Wiley and his gang get into a shootout with Matt and some of the townsfolk after robbing the bank in Dodge. During the shootout Mrs. Ayers and her young boy are shot down in the street. Wounded in the leg, Wiley ducks into the church. He finds Rev. Porter, his fiancée Phyllis, and Mrs. Howell there and sends Phyllis for a doctor. Matt sends posses out in a couple directions because the gang scattered. Festus figures out that Wiley may have doubled back towards Dodge. He sends h

An Indian woman asks for help in seeing that her father isn't killed for a crime he didn't commit. When Thad offers to help the girl the laws of her tribe could bring more trouble. Thad tries to see Gray horse, and is accused of attacking an Indian. The Indian agent arrests Thad. Sara and Two Bears talk about what will happen after her father dies. As time nears for John Two Bears to die Matt & Thad learn that Gray Horse took the horses.

Ed's gang robs the bank in Dodge City and kills a customer. During their escape Billy, Ed's younger brother, is wounded and arrested. Matt took off after the gang but lost them. That evening, while dinning with Kitty, Thad introduces his friend, Will Taylor, to Matt. It's apparent that he idolizes the marshal and offers to help in any way he can. Later that night the four outlaws return to Dodge, one of them becoming deceased in a failed attempt to break Billy out of jail. The next m