Bloody Hands: The Marshal Breaks

Gunsmoke: Old West Stories

In one of the most psychologically powerful episodes of Gunsmoke, Marshal Matt Dillon confronts the personal cost of his badge after capturing the brutal outlaw Jack Brand. The victory comes at a steep price—three men lie dead, and Matt’s conscience begins to unravel under the weight of so much bloodshed.

Despite Chester and Doc’s efforts to reassure him, Matt becomes haunted by the violence he’s been forced to carry out. Even Brand, locked in a cell, mocks him as a man who kills without feeling. Then Joe Stanger—an old acquaintance of Brand’s—arrives in town and begins goading Matt, daring him to draw, calling him a killer to his face. When Matt doesn’t respond, Stanger leaves, smug in his belief that the legendary lawman has lost his nerve.

Matt, overwhelmed by guilt and self-doubt, submits his resignation to the War Department and walks away from his duties as Marshal. For the first time in years, he experiences peace—until Chester rides out to tell him that Stanger has returned and murdered a saloon girl in cold blood.

Now, Matt must make a choice: hold to his vow of peace, or stop the killer no one else is willing—or able—to face. In a gut-wrenching decision, he straps on his gun one last time, knowing that some men are born to carry the burden others cannot.

A standout story in the Gunsmoke canon, Bloody Hands explores the moral toll of justice, and the tragic reality that peace sometimes comes only through force.

Keywords: "Gunsmoke Bloody Hands episode," "April 1955 Gunsmoke radio," "Matt Dillon resignation episode," "Jack Brand and Joe Stanger," "Marshal’s conscience crisis," "Chester and Matt Gunsmoke," "John Meston Western radio drama."

Cast: William Conrad (Matt Dillon), Parley Baer (Chester), Georgia Ellis (Kitty), Howard McNear (Doc), Lawrence Dobkin.