Episode
Gunsmoke: Letter of the Law
Overview
A rich landowner seizes the chance to get a little more acreage when he discovers that a homesteader has failed to file the paperwork to make his quarter section his own.
Details
- Series
- Gunsmoke
- Season
- Season 4
- Episode
- Episode 5
- Air date
- 1958-10-11
- Runtime
- 26 min
Episode context
Letter of the Law is Episode 5 in Season 4 of Gunsmoke. It aired on 1958-10-11. The runtime is 26 min.
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Episode 4: Monopoly
Two murders result when an unscrupulous Eastern businessman named Ivy hires a psychotic killer to help him establish undisputed control of Dodge City's freight shipment business.
Episode 6: Thoroughbreds
Matt and Chester, out of water while riding back to Dodge, come upon a man with two fine horses who is not very trusting. When they meet him later in Dodge, he is much different: friendly and spending money freely.
More episodes from this season
Episode 3: Gunsmuggler
Matt believes white smugglers supplied the guns that a band of Pawnee used to attack local ranchers.
Episode 7: Stage Hold-Up
A stagecoach on which Matt and Chester are riding is robbed and another passenger is murdered. Matt utilizes a ruse to incriminate the thieves when a "cowboy" appears and offers to show him where one of the thieves may be buried.
Episode 2: The Patsy
Matt doubts the veracity of Long Branch hostess Holly Fanshaw's claim that she saw trail drover Fly Hoyt murder young Dave Thorp. His suspicions increase further when Hoyt voluntarily returns to Dodge in order to clear his name.
Episode 8: Lost Rifle
Matt refuses to arrest his friend Ben Tiple without more evidence, when the man he has been feuding with is found shot in the back.
Episode 1: Matt for Murder
Matt resigns as Marshall after Tom Samples accuses Matt of killing an innocent man;however, Doc and Matt's old friend Wild Bill Hickok come up with a plan that might clear Matt of this erroneous charge of murder.
Episode 9: Land Deal
When a stranger leading some immigrants planning on settling outside of Dodge wants Matt to give him a badge to avert trouble, Matt gets suspicious and rides out to their camp to see what is really up.
Episode 10: Lynching Man
After mild-mannered Hank Blenis is "lynched" by the two men who stole his horse, self-righteous Charlie Drain decides to take the law into his own hands and is led tragically astray by the culprits.
Episode 11: How to Kill a Friend
Two gamblers find Matt incorruptible and attempt to intimidate him by hiring gunman Toque Morlan. The two are ironically unaware that Morlan was Matt's close friend until a long-ago attack by a mob left Morlan scarred and harboring a bitter grudge against lawmen.
Episode 12: Grass
White men pretending to be Indians attack greenhorn Harry Pope at night, and he kills one of them. Now the dead man's friends want revenge.
Episode 13: The Cast
When Doc arrives too late to save his patient, her husband, a good friend of Matt's, blames Doc for her death.