Episode Details

Originally Aired: August 14, 1960

Gunsmoke #436, "The Noose,"

Marshal Matt Dillon and Chester encounter a strange little man named Cloyd hanging a noose from a tree outside Dodge City. Cloyd calmly explains he's testing the rope for a hanging - one he plans to carry out himself. He's been following a man across the country, waiting to hear him confess to a killing before stringing him up. Matt warns Cloyd that only the law hangs men, but the peculiar drifter insists he made a deathbed promise to someone in a coffin, and he intends to keep it. Despite the marshal's warnings, Cloyd continues wearing the noose around town, drawing suspicious stares and occasional rough treatment from spooked citizens.

When a man named Creel arrives at the Dodge House hotel, Cloyd's patient vigil intensifies. He shadows Creel's every move, politely but persistently haunting the saloons and businesses his target frequents. As Matt discusses the situation with Doc and Kitty, everyone wonders whether the mild-mannered Cloyd will actually follow through on his dark promise, or if he's just harmlessly obsessed. The tension builds as Cloyd waits for Creel to speak the words that will seal his fate.