Episode Details

Originally Aired: October 5, 1958

Gunsmoke #339, "Tag You're It," begins when Matt Dillon encounters an old acquaintance on the streets of Dodge City. Carl Killian, a man Dillon once worked cattle with years ago, has arrived in town, and the marshal immediately recognizes the danger. Killian has become a notorious hired gun, goading his victims into drawing first so he can claim self-defense. Though Killian denies the accusations with cold detachment, his reputation precedes him, and Dillon knows his presence means someone in Dodge is marked for death. The tension escalates when a young man named Tex Barto comes to Dillon's office, convinced that Killian followed him from Pueblo to carry out a contract killing. As paranoia grips the town and citizens begin locking themselves indoors, Dillon faces an impossible situation: he has no legal grounds to arrest Killian, who hasn't committed any crime in Dodge. The marshal must navigate the dangerous game between his duty to uphold the law and his knowledge that his old friend has become a killer for hire, all while the question looms over who Killian's real target might be.