Fear and Loathing of Butch Cavendish

Butch Cavendish, scorn of my childhood.

The Gunsmoke gang. Marshal Matt Dillon (front) was next to God in my book, and Miss Kitty was dern purdy. However, her employment of Butch Cavendish (left, who now went by the name of Sam Noonan, bartender) years after he messed with the Lone Ranger is unforgivable.

So, I'm on the phone last night with the Wolf Woman talking about the old days of TV and I chatter on about one of the most evil people I remember as a small boy: Butch Cavendish. The name still strikes terror in my heart. Butch and his gang ambushed the Texas Rangers group to which the Lone Ranger belonged before he donned his famous mask. He was wounded by the Cavendish gang and was the sole survivor of the attack. I can remember my disgust of Butch. And then what do I find after a little research today? Miss Kitty hires the guy as the bartender, name now Sam, in the series Gunsmoke. I guess the human resources people at the Long Branch Saloon didn't check the background of this hire. I now wonder if either Butch or Sam (both portrayed by actor Glenn Strange) shot buffalo in the Old West. That would really traumatize me.