This "Stories of the Century" episode is a blend of fact and fiction as most of the stories were. The opening scene when the four surviving Dalton Brothers throw down their deputy badges didn't actually happen immediately after Frank Dalton died in a gunfight. Bob, Emmett and Grat Dalton continued as lawmen for a time in present day Oklahoma while older brother Bill had political ambitions in California. Eventually Bill hooked up with his brothers after they were all implicated in a train robbery and murder.
This episode focuses on the Dalton's last desperate attempt to rob not one, but two banks in their former home town of Coffeyville, Kansas. The story doesn't mention that their selection of Coffeyville had partly a revenge motive as the family was never treated with respect when they lived there. The actual robbery attempt involved Bob (Myron Healey), Grat (Fess Parker) and Emmett Dalton (Robert Bray) and two non-family gang members, Dick Broadwell and Bill Tower. When someone from the town recognized one of the Dalton's, the citizens mobilized and engaged the gang in a fierce battle that left all but Emmett dead.
The gimmick mentioned in the story regarding the safe's time lock was actually true. It was a hoax that bought the bank employees and the town's citizens some time to prepare their defense. Eventually Emmett Dalton stood trial and was sentenced to life in prison, though he was pardoned after fifteen years. He spent some time staging re-enactments of the Coffeyville robbery, wrote some screen plays, and he was also credited as a writer for the 1940 film "When the Daltons Rode".
As usual, the actions of Matt Clark (Jim Davis) and Frankie Adams (Mary Castle) are part of the story leading to the defeat of the Dalton's, just as they were with every other outlaw featured in these "Stories of the Century". This 'fly on the wall' approach earned the series it's 1954 Emmy as best Western/Adventure Series.
This episode focuses on the Dalton's last desperate attempt to rob not one, but two banks in their former home town of Coffeyville, Kansas. The story doesn't mention that their selection of Coffeyville had partly a revenge motive as the family was never treated with respect when they lived there. The actual robbery attempt involved Bob (Myron Healey), Grat (Fess Parker) and Emmett Dalton (Robert Bray) and two non-family gang members, Dick Broadwell and Bill Tower. When someone from the town recognized one of the Dalton's, the citizens mobilized and engaged the gang in a fierce battle that left all but Emmett dead.
The gimmick mentioned in the story regarding the safe's time lock was actually true. It was a hoax that bought the bank employees and the town's citizens some time to prepare their defense. Eventually Emmett Dalton stood trial and was sentenced to life in prison, though he was pardoned after fifteen years. He spent some time staging re-enactments of the Coffeyville robbery, wrote some screen plays, and he was also credited as a writer for the 1940 film "When the Daltons Rode".
As usual, the actions of Matt Clark (Jim Davis) and Frankie Adams (Mary Castle) are part of the story leading to the defeat of the Dalton's, just as they were with every other outlaw featured in these "Stories of the Century". This 'fly on the wall' approach earned the series it's 1954 Emmy as best Western/Adventure Series.
