As Ben Williams is leaving the Long Branch Saloon, someone shoots him multiple times. People from Dodge City who knew Williams thought highly of him. Before he died, he said the word "Elkader" a few times as Doc Adams tended him. Matt recognizes the word as the name of a Kansas town. (It is odd that Doc Adams does not seem to know what Elkader means.)
Kitty Russell had been talking to the victim before the shooting. She tells Matt that Williams was reminiscing about the past and mentioned someone named Lou Shippen from Elkader.
Matt and Chester set out for Elkader. When they arrive, they find the people of the town initially friendly, but as soon as they realize who Matt is, they suddenly become unfriendly and refuse to provide services. Lou Shippen has the entire town terrified.
Gage Clarke portrays Hinkle, the skittish Elkader telegraph operator. This is the first of twelve Gunsmoke appearances for Clarke. Clarke played two different recurring characters in the series. He played Jim Dobie, who was the owner of the Dodge House in four episodes. He also played Mr. Botkin, the president of the bank in Dodge City in six episodes.
Dennis Cross makes the first of thirteen appearances in a Gunsmoke episode. He plays the bartender in the Elkader Saloon in this story.
This is the third of eight total appearances in the series by actor Malcolm Atterbury. In this story, Atterbury runs the livery stable in Elkader.
Actor Paul Lambert portrays the villain, Lou Shippen. Lambert can often be seen playing less amiable characters in television, as well as in a few films. Lambert appears in several small and often uncredited roles in notable films like The Godfather, American Graffiti, All the President's Men, and Apocalypse Now.
The basis of this John Meston story is intriguing, but it falls apart in the details. (Les Crutchfield's screenplay closely follows Meston's original story.) The viewer is supposed to accept the fact that Lou Shippen traveled from Elkader to Dodge City to brutally kill Ben Williams for no reason. It is clear Shippen knows a U. S. Marshal has an office in Dodge, and he knows Marshal Dillon will come after him in Elkader. Shippen went so far as to warn the citizens of Elkader Matt will soon come looking for him. Why would Shippen invite this kind of scrutiny? How did Shippen expect the situation to end?
Why would the people living in Elkader allow Shippen to intimidate them so badly without trying to do something about it? At the very least, Hinkle, the telegraph operator, could send a message to another town requesting help. If Shippen is the psychopathic killer he is supposed to be, the townspeople would never know who the deranged killer might decide to kill next. Yet, there is a scene inside the saloon in Elkader where Shippen is casually playing cards with other men, and the saloon is full of people acting as if everything is normal, instead of being terrified that a psychopathic killer is sitting in their midst.
By hiding Shippen's identity throughout the story, it also masks Shippen's depravity. It is difficult for the viewer to see Shippen as a threat because the character is so abstract. The cowardly way he ambushes Williams at the beginning of the story also lessens any perceived threat he poses.
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