The Trial: Justice Corrupted

Gunsmoke: Old West Stories

In this riveting episode of Gunsmoke, Marshal Matt Dillon watches as the frontier legal system is twisted into a weapon of injustice. When Homer Tisdale, a starving homesteader, is accused of stealing a handful of potatoes, Matt refuses to jail him. But days later, Homer is charged with a far worse crime—robbing the stage office and murdering Charlie Reynolds.

Despite his protests of innocence, Homer is swiftly put on trial before the newly arrived Judge Stokes, a man whose interest in whiskey far outweighs his interest in the law. With two supposed eyewitnesses—storekeeper Van Walcott and stage agent Jay Buford—testifying against him, the outcome seems inevitable. But the true injustice unfolds when Homer’s court-appointed lawyer refuses to mount any defense at all.

As Matt investigates, he realizes that the real criminals are the very men accusing Homer. Walcott, Buford, and Judge Stokes are all part of a conspiracy to steal $10,000 from the stage office—and pin the crime on a man too poor and powerless to fight back. In a dramatic climax, Matt corners the conspirators, exposing their plot and arresting the corrupt judge in a rare act of frontier justice.

This episode is a gripping examination of power, corruption, and the resilience of one man standing against a broken system.

Keywords: "Gunsmoke The Trial episode," "March 1955 Gunsmoke radio," "Matt Dillon vs corrupt Judge Stokes," "Homer Tisdale framed for murder," "Dodge City stage office robbery," "John Meston Gunsmoke scripts," "classic Western radio drama."

Cast: William Conrad, Parley Baer, Howard McNear, Georgia Ellis, Lawrence Dobkin, Vic Perrin, John Dehner, Harry Bartell.