Aired on CBS Radio December 20, 1952. A Christmas story, told by Marshal Dillon (William Conrad, photo) to a stranger on a strange horse out on the prairie. Christmas in Dodge City. Matt Dillon, US Marshall, was riding towards Dodge City when his horse got its hoof caught in a frozen prairie dog hole and broke its leg. He had to shoot his horse. Carrying the saddle, he began his long walk to Dodge City, forty miles away. He had been walking and came upon a tall thin stranger riding from the way that he had just traveled.