What is Chester?
He says "I work for Marshall Dillon", and Dillon pays him a salary, but he doesn't seem to be a deputy. He doesn't wear a badge or carry a gun. He must just be a professional sidekick.
shareChester wasn't an official deputy, no. He did odd jobs, primarily for Dillon, but he'd occasionally discuss other jobs. However, most people considered him something like a deputy, as he often accompanied Dillon to apprehend criminals, watched the jail when there were prisoners, and occasionally Dillon asked him to escort someone to jail.
Dennis Weaver and Don Knotts passed away on consecutive days in 2006, and at the time I considered their passing the mark of the two most famous deputies in television history.
True, Chester does the job of a deputy, even though he doesn't seem to be officially on the books as one. Maybe the government won't allocate any budget to hire a deputy formally, so Dillon just pays him out of his own pocket to be his assistant. That would explain the lack of a badge. Chester's habit of going unarmed around town (he often has a rifle when they're in the field on a case) is just his personal choice.
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