I've seen the first six or seven episodes of "Stories of the Century" so far and in the Geronimo story there was a hint of a romance between Railroad Detective Matt Clark (Jim Davis) and his assistant Frankie Adams (Mary Castle) who generally worked undercover. That's expanded on here in a bit of a comical way when Frankie taunts Matt with a 'love letter' from Bill Hayes, a member of the Sam Bass Gang. I guess we'll have to wait to see how this relationship develops.
I like to do a little research after watching these shows just to see how close they came to the real outlaw's life that's being depicted. The general outline of this episode was fairly accurate. Bass (Don Haggerty) and his gang robbed the Union Pacific Railroad of sixty thousand dollars in gold on September 18th, 1877 at Big Springs, Nebraska. After that they strung together a series of much smaller robberies, becoming the target of a manhunt by the Pinkerton Detective Agency and a special unit of The Texas Rangers.
Sam Bass was able to elude the authorities for a long time, but eventually a member of his gang turned informant when the man's father was held by authorities and were going to deny him medical treatment. The informant's name was Jim Murphy; in this program he was called Bill Hayes, portrayed by veteran character actor Denver Pyle, with no mention of a sick father. Bass's movements were tracked to Round Rock, Texas where he was recognized and shot by a Texas Ranger. Escaping, he was later found lying in a pasture and apprehended. He died the next day in jail from his wounds.
At the closing of this story a grave stone is shown that might have been the original marker, but it was eventually replaced by a more traditional tombstone. What remains of the original stone is on display at the Round Rock Public Library in downtown Round Rock on Sam Bass Road.
I like to do a little research after watching these shows just to see how close they came to the real outlaw's life that's being depicted. The general outline of this episode was fairly accurate. Bass (Don Haggerty) and his gang robbed the Union Pacific Railroad of sixty thousand dollars in gold on September 18th, 1877 at Big Springs, Nebraska. After that they strung together a series of much smaller robberies, becoming the target of a manhunt by the Pinkerton Detective Agency and a special unit of The Texas Rangers.
Sam Bass was able to elude the authorities for a long time, but eventually a member of his gang turned informant when the man's father was held by authorities and were going to deny him medical treatment. The informant's name was Jim Murphy; in this program he was called Bill Hayes, portrayed by veteran character actor Denver Pyle, with no mention of a sick father. Bass's movements were tracked to Round Rock, Texas where he was recognized and shot by a Texas Ranger. Escaping, he was later found lying in a pasture and apprehended. He died the next day in jail from his wounds.
At the closing of this story a grave stone is shown that might have been the original marker, but it was eventually replaced by a more traditional tombstone. What remains of the original stone is on display at the Round Rock Public Library in downtown Round Rock on Sam Bass Road.
