Big Girl Lost

Originally Aired: September 21, 1958 Gunsmoke #337, "Big Girl Lost," Marshal Matt Dillon finds himself caught in a delicate situation when Philip Locke, an aristocratic visitor from Philadelphia, arrives in Dodge City searching for his former fiancée, Laura Simmons. Laura had written her mother claiming she was teaching school in Dodge, but she never appeared at the schoolhouse. Matt discovers that Laura is actually working as a saloon girl at the Long Branch, having fled Philadelphia after Philip's wealthy family called off their wedding upon learning her father was a riverboat captain. Desperate to keep her current circumstances hidden, Laura hides at Ma Smalley's boarding house while Matt tries to discourage Locke's search. The situation escalates when the frustrated Locke threatens Matt, claiming he's hired a gunman named Pete Dulan to force the marshal's cooperation. Unable to hide forever, Laura makes a difficult decision about confronting her past. She returns to face Philip at the Long Branch, meeting him in her saloon girl dress and forcing him to see the truth about her life in Dodge. Philip's reaction reveals the limits of his devotion as he struggles to reconcile his feelings for Laura with his family's rigid social expectations and his own shallow values.