James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837 – August 2, 1876)

“Wild Bill” Hickok, one of the greatest gunfighters of the
American West, was murdered in Deadwood, South Dakota
while  playing poker when Jack McCall walked up behind
Hickok,drew his Colt Model 1873 revolver and shot Hickok
in the back of the head at point-blank range, killing him
instantly.

McCall was hanged in a public execution in
Yankton, at age 24.

Colt Model 1873 revolver.

The poker hand purportedly held by Hickok at his demise.

Cast members from left: Howard McNear (Dr. Charles
Adams) Parley Baer as Chester, William Conrad
(U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon) and Georgia Ellis as Kitty
Russell.

Gunsmoke is a western radio series, which was developed for radio
by John Meston and Norman Macdonnell. The series ran for nine seasons and was broadcast by CBS. The first episode of the series originally aired on April 26, 1952, and the final first-run episode aired
on June 11, 1961..During the series, a total of 480 original episodes
were broadcast, including shows with re-used or adapted scripts. A television version of the series debuted in 1955.

"Gunsmoke" sound effect artists Ray Kemper &Tom Hanley 
with Director Norm McDonnel.       

  William Conrad
(September 27, 1920 – February 11, 1994)
     
    
   

Conrad continued as Dillon after the TV show had
already started, and played the role until 1961. He
was considered for the role of Dillon on the TV show,
but the creators and producers decided, in the end,
to go for Arness in his place. It’s rumored that his 
weight was a factor behind his not being cast. 
         

It was the Earp brothers against the Clanton-McLaury gang
in a legendary shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone,
Arizona. It was a 30-second gunfight that is generally
regarded as the most famous shootout in the history
of the American Wild West.

Tombstone in 1881

Dennis Weaver as Chester Goode on Gunsmoke — Old Chester was
part of the Gunsmoke cast from 1955-1964 on CBS television.

One of Chester’s most noticeable features is his stiff right leg — the cause
of which is never explicitly stated, though it’s implied that he was injured
during the Civil War. In an interview conducted four years before his death,
Dennis revealed that he invented the character’s disability during his
audition. 

From left: Dennis Weaver, Amanda Blake, and Melburn Stone.  

James Arness (James King Aurness) starred as U.S. Marshal Matt
Dillon. 

William Dennis Weaver (June 4, 1924 – February 24, 2006)

Black Bart (Charles Earl Boles)
(b. 1829; d. after February 28, 1888)

Authorities almost catch the California bandit and infamous
stagecoach robber called Black Bart; he manages to make
a quick getaway, but drops an incriminating clue that eventually
sends him to prison.

Black Bart was born probably in the state of New York around
1830. As a young man, he abandoned his family for the gold
fields of California, but he failed to strike it rich as a miner and
turned to a life of crime.

By the mid-1850s, stagecoaches and Wells Fargo wagons transported
much of the huge output of gold from California. Often traveling in
isolated areas, the Wells Fargo wagons and stagecoaches quickly
became favorite targets for bandits; over the course of about 15
years, the company lost more than $415,000 in gold to outlaw
robbers.

It is believed that Boles committed his first stagecoach robbery in
July 1875.