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Bronco Season 4 Episodes
Season 4 Episode Guide
18 Episodes 1961 - 1962
Episode 1
The Cousin from Atlanta
Mon, Oct 16, 196160 mins
Sheriff Bronco of Silver City decides to change from his lucky stetson to a new black one to meet his young cousin Amanda from Atlanta who is arriving on the stage for a vacation. He has obtained the help of the local school teacher Gail Summers to help him prepare for his little cousin including the purchase of a doll. At the same time young Tommy Dancer arrives in town looking for respect for his prowess with his six shooter. In the saloon a grizzled miner, Jake, recognizes him as one of two men who cheated him out of a stake in a poker game in Taos. Jake prods Dancer who kills him but Bronco can't arrest him based on witnesses. Bronco and Gail meet the stage but his little cousin is now a beautiful young woman who came out west for excitement - more than Bronco wants her to experience. When a party with other young people at the minster's house is boring, Amanda leaves with George Ardmore but ends up with Dancer in a saloon. Bronco sends her back to the hotel but he has suspicions about Dancer and another man in town for the big July 4 celebration with big monetary prizes.
Episode 2
Prince of Darkness
Mon, Nov 6, 196160 mins
Bronco and Col. Bart Traver meet with Shakespearian actor Edwin Booth on a train during a short stopover. He and his troupe are on the way to Virginia City, Nevada for an engagement. Col. Traver reveals that President Grant has sent him to request Booth's help with uncovering and stopping a group hoping to overthrow the federal government by playing on the sympathies of southerners to get their support. Edwin has always been a strong supporter of the Union although ten years earlier his younger brother John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln. They want him to pretend to hate the Union and support the Confederacy while in Virginia City to attract the attention of the traitors they are after. Bronco will act as his friend and body guard. Booth, although tired of the pain his name has caused him due to his brother, reluctantly agrees to help them. In Virginia City tempers run high among the people there. Booth's comments eventually leads to the hoped connection but before that happens other dangers must be confronted.
Episode 3
One Came Back
Mon, Nov 27, 196160 mins
At Angel City the stage ends its run. Four passengers, three men and a lady, were expecting the line to continue on to a Mexican town but that stage doesn't leave for a day or two. The leader of the group, Jeremy Clay, goes to check on the stages while the lady, Vicky Norton, decides to check into the hotel to freshen up. Bronco seeing her try to get her suitcase offers to help when a drunk bothers them. Bronco takes care of the drunk and then helps her with her suitcase to her room. Jeremy Clay enters the hotel asking the clerk for food and Vicky's room number. A man enters telling him to raise his hands. He is followed by the other two men Peter Clay and Harvey Barnett who distract him long enough for Jeremy to shoot and kill the man who is a Pinkerton man. The four are outlaws but they empty the man's wallet so it appears he was robbing them. With no stage available the sheriff tells them a guide can take them through a pass to arrive quicker suggesting Bronco for the job. Bronco is persuaded but he faces problems of multiple types.
Episode 4
The Equalizer
Mon, Dec 18, 196160 mins
Three men ride into a valley from different directions for a meeting. Bronco arrives first to meet U.S. Marshal John Heyes who requested him. In short time Butch Cassidy and then Billy Doolin, both well known outlaws, arrive. Heyes has asked them there to agree to a truce between themselves and their gangs for three days in the town of Painted Rock for the wedding of Butch's niece Ella Cassidy to Billy's brother Bob. The men reluctantly agree with the understanding that Bronco will be there and have the final authority. In Painted Rock Sheriff Steve Gage is meeting with the town mayor and saloon owner Jim Morgan about the issue. They stand to make money from it but the Sheriff is quite reluctant to have the outlaw gangs in town. Bronco arrives to inform the Sheriff he will be in charge of controlling the situation. During the meeting, Toothy Thompson, a seedy local is listening from his jail cell. Knowing the outlaws he offers his help after being released. Unknown to Bronco, Toothy has his own issues to settle with both gangs and others decide to take advantage of the situation.
Episode 5
The Harrigan
Mon, Dec 25, 196160 mins
Deputy Bronco is riding ahead of a wagon carrying a gold shipment when five masked men ride up, shoot Bronco's horse sending him to cover, and then turn their fire on the driver and guard. One of the holdup men is severely wounded so the leader of the gang kills him. Bronco seeing this is forced to run. After walking nine dry miles to town, Bronco hits the saloon for a drink of water and relays his story to an agitated Sheriff Wallace. A second deputy Terrence Harrigan was supposed to be following the wagon but is missing. When he arrives, he says a man followed him so he tried to lead him away. The hot-headed Wallace fires Harrington and then Bronco when Bronco tries to support Harrigan. Bronco heads for Carson City while a drunk Harrigan gets kicked out of town by Wallace. He is found by a local called Gambler who takes him to the Miller ranch where he finds the love of his life and himself in the holdup gang. He decides to bring in Bronco to help catch the gang for the $15,000 reward but love causes Harrington to stray.
Episode 6
Beginner's Luck
Mon, Jan 1, 196260 mins
Bronco runs a herd of horses he broke into the corral at the Matt Wigram ranch as Wigram had shook hands on a deal the year before to buy them. Wigram was not home but visiting his neighboring rancher Jim Gant. Gant is putting up a fence effectively blocking in Wigram due to homesteaders on property he used to use. Bronco rides over to the meeting between Wigram and Gant. Wigram is facing bankruptcy so when Gant refuses to help, he lashes out at Bronco telling him to remove his horses. At the same time Martha Gant sends lunch to her husband Jim and his hand Railroad with their son Lew. Lew is fed up with ranch life feeling his father does not understand him. After Bronco and Wigram leave, he tells his father he is leaving home which does not surprise his father who gives his okay. Lew heads for town where everyone thinks of him as a boy but he proves his ability not only in poker but in gunfight provoked by one of the players. Seeing this Wigram decides to have Lew killed to draw in his father. Bronco, friends with Lew's sister, tries to advise Lew but with limited results.
Episode 7
Ride the Whirlwind
Mon, Jan 15, 196260 mins
While Sheriff Ben Lockwood and his deputy Johnny Davis are in the office, a man enters with a message from Dr. Miles Gillis. These messages have been arriving periodically via prisoners released from prison. They were locked up with Gillis who is a Northern doctor jailed for treason for treating Confederate soldiers during the war. He is now returning to his home town after his release. Four men whom he threatened at his trial fear he plans revenge. Sheriff Lockwood has sent a message for his previous deputy Bronco Layne who is also friends with Gillis after being treated by him. Bronco believes the doctor when he says he's forgiven everyone. However, when an inebriated Lockwood receives a midnight visit from Gillis telling him all four men will die, Bronco becomes concerned. After a shot is fired while Gillis is in the street, they decide to put a 24 hour watch on him. Soon one of them dies followed by more of them.
Episode 8
A Sure Thing
Mon, Jan 22, 196260 mins
Bronco and two friends are fired near the end of a cattle drive. They decide to take their pay and invest it in cattle. While they take $500 to enter a rodeo, Bronco takes the rest to the town of Splendid in the Valley the two cowboys heard about that has not sold a cow in years but has great grazing. In the town Bronco heads to the saloon to find someone interested in selling cattle. He is told two of the biggest ranchers are in a poker game there. He sets in thinking the bets are 10 and 20 cents when they are in reality $10 and $20 but he is winning. Dutch Vandervort is short on money so he gives an IOU to Bronco for 1000 head at $3 a head. Dutch loses so Bronco wins 1000 head of cattle. However, after being shot at, he learns Poole, the other player, controls the only access out of the valley but he won't let anyone move cattle. Poole is trying to force the other small ranchers to sell out to him. Dutch tells Bronco he will charge 50 cents a day for grazing rights so he will own the herd again in six days. After threatening to shoot the herd on Dutch's property, Bronco gains time to plan a scheme to move the cattle.
Episode 9
Trail of Hatred
Mon, Feb 5, 196260 mins
Army scout Bronco is called into Col. Cummings office while the patrol he is to scout for is preparing to leave. While Bronco would like to know the purpose of the patrol, Cummings wants him to meet the young officer who will be commanding the patrol. Lt. Steve Powell enters the office in time to hear Cummings agree to provide Bronco the details he wants. They are headed into a swamp to find, capture, and return with Dr. Dana Powell who deserted the Army ten years earlier after stealing a $50,000 payroll. Powell is well known for his actions and the Lt. is his son who wants to clear the family name by arresting his father. Sgt. Prouty likes to say patrols only attract jail birds and green recruits to volunteer for them but Private Moreno who has a desk job volunteers. He tells Sgt. Prouty he knows the purpose of the mission. Lt. Powell is reluctant to listen to the experienced Bronco as they wade into the swamp on foot. Danger is all around them as Dr. Powell lives with the Indians and Cathy Foreman, the daughter of a dead missionary.
Episode 10
Rendezvous with a Miracle
Mon, Feb 12, 196260 mins
Once a broken wheel is fixed the passengers, two nuns and Valerie Ames, prepare to get on board as they suddenly hear a series of shots. The Rico Cardido band is wanted in the area alarming them but the shots are from Marshal Hank Barton. He wants to catch the stage after telling the relay station to tell his deputy, Bronco Layne, he found what he is after. Bronco comes across the stagecoach that went over a cliff and finds only one surviving passenger - the young woman who switched clothes with one of the dead nuns she was riding with. He takes her to the nearby mission, where she meets the man they both were looking for, Mike Bestor, a wanted desperado's former associate, now helping the mission's sisters and children. The phony nun is only interested in the money he has hidden, but Bestor is grateful to the mission's nuns and wants to give it back. Also, the gang leader Bestor broke with wants to get the money and get his revenge.
Episode 11
Destinies West
Mon, Feb 26, 196260 mins
Bronco is working undercover with the Army to seek out the identity of a former Confederate guerrilla who is still at large and find out what has happened to a large cache of stolen Union gold. He is chasing a man, Colton, suspected as a member of the gang when he is shot. Bronco stops to help him but Colton knocks him out. Bronco traces him back to Dodge City where he dies as he exits a saloon with no money. On the stage to an Army post he meets a beautiful nun who is going to New Orleans. At the Army Post he reports to Colonel Welch and Major Creighton. They decide he should go to the guerrilla's hometown of Bonnetville to look for the guerrilla and the gold bullion which is slowly being converted to cash. There he spots the nun in a saloon dealing cards. He becomes involved with her as she could be an escaped Confederate spy who helped steal the money. Bronco wins her trust and uses it to infiltrate their ring and get close to the truth.
Episode 12
The Last Letter
Mon, Mar 5, 196260 mins
Bronco arrives in Laredo, Texas from Mexico in April, 1865, with the Mexican Ramon Solado where he greets several "reconstructed rebels" some of whom he has known from the past. They are there at his request. He is met by Captain Grey from the U.S. Army who is concerned about Solado who is known as a criminal but Bronco assures him he can trust Solado. Grey sends a wire to release wagons loaded with farm implements to Bronco plus he hands Bronco a letter to open on the trail during their first camp and to be destroyed upon reading it. When he and his rebels pickup the wagons, the Army personnel are wearing arm bands in mourning due to President Lincoln's assassination. Bronco is consigned to lead the group of ex-Confederates in delivering a shipment of a million dollars in gold to Benito Juarez, at Lincoln's request, to be used to overthrow the French puppet emperor Maximilian. On the way, Bronco has to deal with hostile Comanches as well as untrustworthy members of his group and a female stowaway running from the law.
Episode 13
One Evening in Abilene
Mon, Mar 19, 196260 mins
Bronco is in Sweetwater, Texas, for the Fourth of July celebration. He has been asked by the local law to officiate at the last contest of the celebration. Two men will ride a circuit on horseback shooting at tin can targets. The two final competitors are Tod Chapman and Clay Ferraday. They split the prize money when Tod wins the race but Clay hits all the targets. Watching this race is Donna Coe with her father Jack Coe. She has returned from Abilene with the body of her fiancé who was killed by Marshal Wild Bill Hickok. The Coe's are southern sympathizers from Kentucky while Hickok hates southerners. Donna wants revenge and she believes Clay Ferraday is the guy to provide it by killing Hickok. She has her father arrange for Tod and Clay to join Bronco's cattle drive to Abilene. Bronco is onto Donna's plan but Clay won't listen to him or Tod. Clay wears his love of the south conspicuously versus Bronco who does not and accepts the war is over. The drive and the arrival in Abilene prove the hostility is not dead in war torn Kansas.
Episode 14
Until Kingdom Come
Mon, Mar 26, 196260 mins
Bronco is waiting on the U.S.A. side of the Rio Grande as Count Jacques da Tremaine rows a beautiful woman and a young boy across while being chased by three Mexican men in a second boat. When he sees the woman and boy being shot at, he fires to give them time to come ashore. He has a buckboard waiting for them. The Mexicans make the U.S.A. side themselves and continue firing at Bronco and the others. Luckily, Sheriff Lacey, nearby, comes up behind the Mexicans and disarms them. The leader of the Mexicans, Juan Rodriguez, says he has a warrant for the couple in Mexico but Sheriff Lacey says it is not valid in the U.S.A. Watching this from a nearby hilltop is Josh Glendon. Bronco takes the woman, Duchess Eugenia, and her ward, Prince Philip, to shelter at the ranch of Mrs. Kelly, a widow. He is astonished to learn that the boy is the son of the late Emperor of Mexico. Glendon who knows Lacey from earlier days and Rodriguez are all after the pair but for different reasons.
Episode 15
Moment of Doubt
Mon, Apr 2, 196260 mins
Captain Bronco Layne is court-martialed by the Army in Washington D.C. for improper behavior. His punishment is to be kicked out of the Army and banned from future office in the government. After the court-martial he meets with Hammond Craig with whom he served in the rebel army. Craig offers the broke Bronco a loan but Bronco refuses it saying he didn't want to be indebted. He has decided to New Orleans for a new start. Afterwards, he secretly meets with the Colonel who court-martialed him. He gives Bronco $5000 dollars and further explains the secret mission he is on that has already taken the lives of two agents. He is to infiltrate an organization that has been killing top government officials hoping to topple the government. His only contact is the boot black Dorso at a New Orleans hotel. After losing his money to appear broke, contact is made with him by the organization. His first job is pulling a bank job but then he must kill his close friend Craig.
Episode 16
A Town That Lived and Died
Mon, Apr 9, 196260 mins
While playing cards a young boy tells Bronco a woman is looking for him. He leaves the game following the boy to the hotel where a beautiful woman tells him she wants to hire him for $10 a day and meals to guide her to a ghost town with which he is familiar. She is an author writing about the history of ghost towns. Bronco accepts the job but as they ride into the burned out town he finds himself surrounded by three men with guns - one of which is Sheriff Frank Sutton. Another is Van Dix who was a major in the U.S. Army during the Civil War. Another group of men are building a gallows near the one standing building - the church - where they take Bronco. They are planning a trial and a hanging for Bronco for his part in the burning of the town and stealing a gold shipment for the rebels. Bronco admits working for the south but denies he got the gold or burned the town. In flashbacks the group recalls the details.
Episode 17
The Immovable Object
Mon, Apr 16, 196260 mins
Bronco is taking two wagons of Army supplies to the U.S. Army Engineering camp plus transporting the reporter Emmett Dawson, from the New York Chronicle. The Army has moved all the settlers out of a basin and is damming the river running into it to build a lake to provide a water supply. However, one stubborn old farmer, Tom Christopher, refuses to move from his land. Dawson meets Christopher when Bronco tries to get permission to cross his land but fails. Christopher claims the Army attacked their home the night before shooting up his house. Neither Bronco, the Army, or even eventually the Governor can persuade him to move. Dawson's story makes the man into a hero and turns sentiment against those trying to evict him, but someone else is trying to force the old man and his granddaughter out through more unscrupulous means. Bronco assigned to diplomatically protect Christopher and his granddaughter finds himself in the middle.
Episode 18
Then the Mountains
Mon, Apr 30, 196260 mins
Bronco leads a wagon train of ex-Confederates from Virginia on their way to Oregon. They are at Fort Bridger trying to buy six horses from a horse trader. Bronco makes him an offer that he accepts that seems too good to be true. Meanwhile, Jonathan Hawley, a member of wagon train, is trying to trade a brooch at the Army sutler while Private Frankie Benton watches. Benton has been losing at cards but against the advise of the sutler, he returns to play. The small wagon train runs into an Army patrol led by Lieutenant Ames looking for a deserter charged with robbing and murdering the sutler. The encounter arouses bad feelings especially for the rebels but Bronco gives his word they haven't seen the deserter. Complicating matters the Yankee deserter, Private Benton, is found stowed away in one of the wagons. Also, an outlaw group in the area led by a man who wants revenge on Bronco, whom he blames for his war time court-martial, attacks to steal back the horses Bronco purchased. It is only the start of problems for the group and Bronco.