This episode is very unique for me in many ways. I was a very sick child in the hospital in NY when I first saw it. It stayed with me for years. James Arness had visited me in the hospital at the request of my parents who had gotten Dennis Weaver to arrange it. In later years I became a boxer, and wanted to see this episode again somehow. I finally got the DVD and it was amazing. In a radio interview with me James Arness told me Chuck Connors accidentally landed a real punch in rehearsal and dropped Jim. What was more amazing was that Royal Dano played two very wonderful characters with Chuck Connors on the Rifleman, as Mr. Abe Lincoln and a disfigured civil war veteran. In both episodes Chuck was extremely protective and loving of Royal's character. I wondered if they ever spoke about this Gunsmoke episode where Chuck brutalized him. I tried to reach Johnny Crawfor to ask him but was unsuccessful. I wondered if Chuck and Royal were friends.