Nettie Sitton

Originally Aired: May 1, 1960 Gunsmoke #421, "Nettie Sitton," Marshal Matt Dillon and Chester find themselves in desperate circumstances after a renegade Ute ambush leaves Matt badly wounded with a bullet in his leg. Fevered and unable to ride, Matt must be dragged through the wilderness by Chester toward what appears to be an abandoned cabin. However, the cabin is anything but abandoned. They're met by Nettie Sitton, a hardened frontier woman wielding a shotgun, who immediately demands their money and guns in exchange for shelter. Nettie is no ordinary settler. She's a woman who's buried four husbands and twenty children, and she makes it clear that a couple of strangers don't faze her one bit. Despite her rough exterior and mercenary demands, she removes the bullet from Matt's leg and allows them to recover in her cabin. As Matt fights fever and Chester stands exhausted watch, the threat of the renegade Utes lingers nearby, and the marshal and his deputy must rely on this formidable woman's grudging hospitality to survive.