Barton Boy: A Witness Too Young to Die

Originally Aired: October 1, 1955 When a train robbery leaves baggage clerk Ed Barton dead and his young son Billy gravely wounded, Marshal Dillon launches an urgent investigation into one of the coldest killings Dodge has seen. The strongbox is missing, the killer vanished, and the only witness is a ten-year-old boy with a bullet graze and a broken heart. As Matt shelters Billy in the jail for his protection, the boy’s memory of the killer’s voice becomes the key to unlocking the mystery. But time is running out—the murderer is still in Dodge, and he knows Billy survived. While Matt interrogates half the town, suspicion slowly builds toward a familiar figure: Laura, Ed’s fiancée, now rekindling a romance with a shadowy man named Taggart. In a devastating twist, a poisoned slice of cake reveals Laura’s complicity. As the law closes in, Taggart is gunned down during a desperate escape, and Laura confronts Matt in a tense showdown, gun in hand. But justice prevails, and Billy, the boy who couldn’t forget a voice, brings the killers to light. A gripping tale of betrayal, innocence, and revenge, Barton Boy is Gunsmoke at its most heart-wrenching and suspenseful. Keywords: “Gunsmoke Barton Boy episode,” “Ed Barton train robbery,” “Billy Barton witness story,” “Matt Dillon protects child,” “Taggart and Laura murder plot,” “poisoned cake Gunsmoke,” “Gunsmoke 1955 radio western,” “John Meston script,” “revenge and justice in Dodge” Cast: William Conrad (Matt Dillon), Parley Baer (Chester), Howard McNear (Doc), Georgia Ellis (Kitty), Virginia Christine (Laura), Richard Fields (Taggart), Lawrence Dobkin (Ed Barton), with special appearances by the Gunsmoke radio company.