"Gunsmoke" was a television program which ran on the CBS television network from 1955 to 1975. It was a one-half hour program from 1955 to 1961 and a one-hour program from 1961 to 1975. This episode is one-hour long. The regular characters are Matt Dillon, the Marshall or Sheriff of the town of Dodge City, Kansas. Miss Kitty Russell runs a saloon, Chester Goode and Festus Haggen are Matt's deputies, and Doc Adams is the town doctor. The show was set in the 1870's to 1880's. This episode is titled "Once a Haggen" and was first broadcast on February 1, 1964. Gamblers in Miss Kitty's saloon play Poker and one wins a large pot. The winning gambler is later murdered in his hotel room for the money he has won. Festus's friend Bucko Taos becomes a suspect when one of his coat buttons is found at the crime scene. The program shows poker players with currency notes and stacks of Morgan silver dollars on a saloon table. One player wears a vest with Mexican silver pesos as buttons. The coins are Mexican pesos of the variety minted from 1957 to 1967. Later one of players has a stack of smaller coins with the top coin actually a San Francisco Golden Gate Exposition token. The Golden Gate Exposition ran from 1939 to 1940.

Chester enters Miss Kitty's saloon.

Several men are playing poker for money.

The currency notes are imitations of United States currency of the period. The large silver coins are real United States Morgan silver dollars. These coins were minted from 1878 to 1904 and again in 1921.

One man, only known as the gambler or a "dude Easterner", has won almost every other player's money.

Fickett is player who does not like Bucko. Bucko wants to stay in the game and offers to bet "buttons". Bucko: "What im talking about is money buttons, Mexican dollars, pure silver, just as good as anybody's money."
Fickett: "Am I to assume that you plan to disrobe in order to stay in the game?"

The coins are Mexican pesos of the type minted between 1957 and 1967 and were 10 per cent silver.

Silver, 34 mm, 16.0 gm
This type was minted from 1957 to 1967 and was mostly copper with 10 per cent silver.

The winning gambler shows his cards.

He was holding a Poker "Full House", two aces and three queens. The other men have no more money to bet and end the game. The winning gambler begins picking up his money.

The Morgan silver dollars are there and above and to the left of them is a stack of smaller coins. The top smaller coin shows the reverse of a San Francisco Golden Gate Exposition token upside down.
The Golden Gate Exposition ran from 1939 to 1940.

A San Francisco Golden Gate Exposition China Clipper token:

Brass, 31 mm, 10.52 gm
Obverse:
Golden Gate Bridge, sunset, fair building
GOLDEN GATE INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION / PATENTED C110010
1939 / SAN FRANCISCO BAY
Reverse:
Airplane, Golden Gate Bridge
CHINA CLIPPER / Compass letters 'W', 'N', 'E', 'S' around edge / L-50-lC

For more about this token please visit: San Francisco Golden Gate Exposition

The winning gambler returns to his hotel room and later the hotel keeper sends for Matt Dillon. Matt and his deputy Chester arrive at the hotel and enter the gambler's room.

The gambler has been murdered. Matt finds the gambler's wallet.

They find that the cash is gone. Matt then finds a large button on the floor.

Matt looks at both sides of the button.

The front side of the button shows the reverse of the Mexican peso.

The back side of the button shows the obverse of the Mexican peso. Matt then goes to Bucko's cabin to question him.

Bucko tells Matt that he can not read. Matt notices that Bucko's vest is missing a button.

Matt arrests Bucko and lodges him in the town jail. Bucko and Festus tell Matt that they spent the night with an old man named "Pop".

Pop tells Matt that Festus was with him but not Bucko.

Bucko is convicted and receives the usual sentence. Matt is not convinced of his guilt.

Festus' girlfriend April goes to see Pop and flirts with him. He eventually tells her that both Festus and Bucko were with him. Matt arrives to question Pop again.

Pop admits to lying and Matt revisits the dead gambler's hotel room.

He finds more money hidden in the room heater.

Festus visits the jail while Chester is watching the prisoner. Festus pulls out a gun, orders Chester to release Bucko, and locks Chester in a cell. The two men leave but are immediately met by a lynch mob.

Chester manages to open the cell lock and finds Matt.

Matt and Chester stop the lynching and the real killer attempts to draw a gun.

There is no trial this time as the man is dead.

James Arness as Matt Dillon
Amanda Blake as Kitty Russell
Dennis Weaver as Chester Goode
Ken Curtis as Festus Haggen
Milburn Stone as Doc Adams
Slim Pickens as Bucko Taos
Elizabeth MacRae as April
Kenneth Tobey as Fickett
Roy Barcroft as Pop
William Bryant as Gambler
Director: Andrew V. McLaglen
Writers: Les Crutchfield