Written by WALTER BLACK Directed by EZRA STONE Guest Cast KATHIE BROWNE as Billie Lou ELLEN CORBY as Ma Sweet LENNIE WEINRIB as Bud Sweet ROBERT BEECHER as Abel Sweet MICHAEL MASTERS as West Sweet HARRY SWOGER as Carter WALTER WOOLF KING as Doctor DEANNA LUND as Cherry KAY MICHAELS as Jenny DONNA ANDERS as 1st Hostess PAT DENNIE as 2nd Hostess

The Sweet Gang

While guarding a mine payroll wagon, Reese and Erik are forced into retreat by the Sweet family's attempt to rob it.  Back in Laredo, Carter, the mine owner, lambastes Captain Parmalee because Chad and Joe beat up eight miners who called Reese and Erik cowards.  Carter insists that the two stay in jail until they pay for the damages to the saloon.  He's forced to back down when the Captain tells him that at $40 a month Chad and Joe will be in jail for five months during which time there will be no one to aid in the delivery of the mine payroll.  When the Captain goes to let the boys out of lockup, he finds an empty cell and a note telling him they were sorry but they needed a drink real bad.  Parmalee finds Chad in a lady's boudoir in a farewell embrace.  (She's getting married the next day.)  He snares Joe when he brings in two lady friends to join the party.  The rest of the plot is so simple it can be told in pictures.

The Angry Mine Owner

A Chad Interlude

Interrupted by the Captain

Duty Calls

Erik gets an idea.

Deliver the payroll in the sick wagon.

Reese hard at work

Reinforcements arrive

Erik looks for an alternate route to the mine.

and finds a damsel in distress

with an unpleasant family.

Ma Sweet brings a ransom note, $1000 for Erik

Erik bides his time with Billy Lou

Reese gets sick from the sick wagon

Diagnosed with measles

Leaving Joe, Chad & the Captain to trap the Sweet Gang

The Sweet Gang stops the sick wagon

Threatening to kill Erik

The boys play with the money

The Rangers claim the money is inflected with plague

The Sweet boys are stunned.

A fight ensues.

Erik sneezes - in this story the first sign of measles.  Joe & Chad snicker

Until they also get sick leaving only Reese well enough to party hearty

NiteOwl Review:  This episode is sillier than most.  The scenes with Erik and the Sweet Family are mean Beverly Hillbillies in Texas.  The Sweet Gang were clearly villains who couldn't possibly have posed a threat to Rangers who in groups of two, three or four in previous episodes have held off entire Indian war parties, bands of Yaquis, Mexican bandits, cattle rustlers, bank robbers, French soldiers, etc.  And we had to wonder, if the miners could come into Laredo to drink and fight with the Rangers, why didn't the mine owners just pay them there instead of transporting large sums of cash to the mine.  Robert Wolders' fans might like this episode as his part is larger than usual.
 
 

TO EPISODE THIRTY-NINE

Laredo 2nd Year Episode List

Laredo 1st Year Episode List

To Laredo Home Page

To William Smith Fan Site

To Peter Brown Fan Site

Contact us at:  laredofans@williamsmith.org