A quick Wikipedia search reveals that this episode was pretty close to the mark for the real life Ellen Liddy Watson, referred to in the story as Ella by Frankie Adams (Mary Castle), and better known on the Wyoming range as Cattle Kate. Her husband Jim Averell was a businessman with political aspirations and they both ran afoul of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association for refusing to sell a larger rancher a portion of their range land that had a river flowing along side of it. They were also repeatedly denied their own registered brand by the Association, making it difficult to identify and sell their cattle legally.
As this episode suggests, the size of Cattle Kate's (Jean Parker) herd was called into question and she was accused of cattle rustling. A vigilante posse arrested Kate and Averell (James Seay) and even though a bystander rode for help, it arrived too late. Cattle Kate and Jim Averell were hung and both died.
This event was one of many that eventually led to the infamous Johnson County War (not mentioned in the episode), the subject of a number of motion pictures. The 1953 Western "The Red Head From Wyoming" starring Maureen O'Hara is loosely based on the story of Cattle Kate and Jim Averell, with an even more highly fictionalized version produced in 1980. You might be familiar with that one, it was called "Heaven's Gate".
As this episode suggests, the size of Cattle Kate's (Jean Parker) herd was called into question and she was accused of cattle rustling. A vigilante posse arrested Kate and Averell (James Seay) and even though a bystander rode for help, it arrived too late. Cattle Kate and Jim Averell were hung and both died.
This event was one of many that eventually led to the infamous Johnson County War (not mentioned in the episode), the subject of a number of motion pictures. The 1953 Western "The Red Head From Wyoming" starring Maureen O'Hara is loosely based on the story of Cattle Kate and Jim Averell, with an even more highly fictionalized version produced in 1980. You might be familiar with that one, it was called "Heaven's Gate".
