Love of Money

Originally Aired: February 5, 1961 Gunsmoke #461, "Love of Money," brings a troubled old friend to Matt Dillon's door. Nate Tatum, a US Marshal from Oklahoma Territory, arrives in Dodge on his way to California after quitting his job. He confesses to Matt that he's running scared, convinced that enemies from his past have hired a stranger to gun him down. Despite his years of facing danger head-on, it's the threat of a bullet in the back that haunts him. After drinks at the Long Branch with Matt and Kitty, Nate meets Bonnie Van Diemen, a woman working to stake her way to California while waiting for her gambler boyfriend to arrive from Abilene. When Nate walks Bonnie home that evening, his premonition proves tragically accurate. Matt finds himself investigating his friend's murder with few leads and mounting frustration. Bonnie becomes his only connection to the crime, leading to her brief stay in the town jail despite her protests of innocence. When Miles Cody, Bonnie's gambler, finally arrives in Dodge, he finds his girl behind bars and the marshal determined to find whoever put a bullet in Nate Tatum's back.