Incident of the Druid Curse Jan 8, 1960
Incident at Red River Station Jan 15, 1960
Incident of the Devil and His Due Jan 22, 1960
Incident of the Wanted Painter Jan 29, 1960
The first one has a truly bizarre premise: An archeologist has heard rumors that Druids, (a religious cult from pre-Christian England), built a Stonehedge-like monument somewhere in Texas. (!?!) and he and one of his identical twin daughters is in search of it when they come across Mr. Favor's herd. Gil allows them to come along with them since they are going in the same direction and the daughter, (Luana Patton), is pretty. Some of the less reliable drovers, led by Claude Akins, think she's pretty, too and that causes problems which worsen when they overhear the professor, (Bryon Folger), describing the 'value' of such a monument to Favor. In Akins' simple mind, that means there must be gold there so he and his associates kidnap the professor and his daughter to force them to take them to the holy place. The arrival of the other twin turns the tide. It was entertaining enough but can you imagine being a writer and pitching this story to the producers?
The Incident at Red River Station is a smallpox epidemic Favor and a drover find a body and touch it before realizing that that was the cause of death. They go to a near bye town for a doctor, (James Dunn), but find he's being held in quarantine at the point of a gun with smallpox patients. The town boss, Robert F. Simon, (who always plays garrulous, authorization types), is treating people by bleeding them and putting pouches of herbs around their necks. He doesn't believe in the vaccinations the doctor wants to do. The drover, (Stanley Clements), points out he was vaccinated back east 8 years ago and shows a vertical scratch to prove it. But he catches the disease anyway - and dies of it, seeming to prove that Simon is right and the doctor is wrong. Favor does not catch it, even though he's not been vaccinated. The doctor says that vaccinations lose their effectiveness over 8 years and have to be redone periodically. Also, he thinks Favor may be one of those lucky people who are naturally immune to it. The theme of this episode is as relevant today as it was then - and in the 19th century.
The Devil and His Due depends on who the devil is. Favor is in search of a way across some mountains, (doesn't he know the route?) and rides to a nearby farmhouse to inquire the best way to get his herd across them when he hears a shot. A bandit group led by Neville Brand has tried to recruit a former member for a and shot him when he refused to join them. They hide and then knock out Favor, (why didn't they shoot him? Because he's got to be in the next episode!), who has his gun out. He shakes it off just as the man's wife and son arrive from town and they accuse him of shooting their husband/father. He winds up under arrest but the sheriff is dubious and lets him run his herd - but deputizes Rowdy to keep track of his whereabouts!
In another weird plot, the drovers find a dead man still riding in the saddle with several paintings made by an artist they later locate. The dead man is part of an ex-confederate guerrilla group run by a former Southern hero (Robert Lowery), apparently a combination of Forrest and Quantrill who was Favor's CO during the war. (The drovers are virtually all ex-confederates.) Lowery is in jail, scheduled to hang and the artist, (Arthur Franz), has made a painting of the village where he's being held that will allow the guerrillas to make a plan to free him. Favor takes the position that the war is over and Lowery's gang needs to turn the page. If their leader has violated the law, he needs to be punished. Not all of his men agree. Lowery's band seems kind of meek, both in numbers, (there are 5-6 of them), and in spirit, (they are rather easily persuaded to give up and file into a prison cell at the end).
The first one has a truly bizarre premise: An archeologist has heard rumors that Druids, (a religious cult from pre-Christian England), built a Stonehedge-like monument somewhere in Texas. (!?!) and he and one of his identical twin daughters is in search of it when they come across Mr. Favor's herd. Gil allows them to come along with them since they are going in the same direction and the daughter, (Luana Patton), is pretty. Some of the less reliable drovers, led by Claude Akins, think she's pretty, too and that causes problems which worsen when they overhear the professor, (Bryon Folger), describing the 'value' of such a monument to Favor. In Akins' simple mind, that means there must be gold there so he and his associates kidnap the professor and his daughter to force them to take them to the holy place. The arrival of the other twin turns the tide. It was entertaining enough but can you imagine being a writer and pitching this story to the producers?
The Incident at Red River Station is a smallpox epidemic Favor and a drover find a body and touch it before realizing that that was the cause of death. They go to a near bye town for a doctor, (James Dunn), but find he's being held in quarantine at the point of a gun with smallpox patients. The town boss, Robert F. Simon, (who always plays garrulous, authorization types), is treating people by bleeding them and putting pouches of herbs around their necks. He doesn't believe in the vaccinations the doctor wants to do. The drover, (Stanley Clements), points out he was vaccinated back east 8 years ago and shows a vertical scratch to prove it. But he catches the disease anyway - and dies of it, seeming to prove that Simon is right and the doctor is wrong. Favor does not catch it, even though he's not been vaccinated. The doctor says that vaccinations lose their effectiveness over 8 years and have to be redone periodically. Also, he thinks Favor may be one of those lucky people who are naturally immune to it. The theme of this episode is as relevant today as it was then - and in the 19th century.
The Devil and His Due depends on who the devil is. Favor is in search of a way across some mountains, (doesn't he know the route?) and rides to a nearby farmhouse to inquire the best way to get his herd across them when he hears a shot. A bandit group led by Neville Brand has tried to recruit a former member for a and shot him when he refused to join them. They hide and then knock out Favor, (why didn't they shoot him? Because he's got to be in the next episode!), who has his gun out. He shakes it off just as the man's wife and son arrive from town and they accuse him of shooting their husband/father. He winds up under arrest but the sheriff is dubious and lets him run his herd - but deputizes Rowdy to keep track of his whereabouts!
In another weird plot, the drovers find a dead man still riding in the saddle with several paintings made by an artist they later locate. The dead man is part of an ex-confederate guerrilla group run by a former Southern hero (Robert Lowery), apparently a combination of Forrest and Quantrill who was Favor's CO during the war. (The drovers are virtually all ex-confederates.) Lowery is in jail, scheduled to hang and the artist, (Arthur Franz), has made a painting of the village where he's being held that will allow the guerrillas to make a plan to free him. Favor takes the position that the war is over and Lowery's gang needs to turn the page. If their leader has violated the law, he needs to be punished. Not all of his men agree. Lowery's band seems kind of meek, both in numbers, (there are 5-6 of them), and in spirit, (they are rather easily persuaded to give up and file into a prison cell at the end).
