Wild West Tech Season 3 Episodes

Episode 1

Revenge Tech

Tue, Sep 13, 2005

In the west revenge was handled by the person wanting revenge as the law or absence of law left no other recourse and revenge acts were usually ignored by the law. Methods of revenge range from beatings to death. The Reno gang in Indiana beat and turned over to the law two men who copied their new crime of robbing railroads. "Liver eating" Johnson ate the livers of the Crow Indians he killed in revenge for the murder of his pregnant wife. After over 40 killings, the Crow tribe made peace with him by making him a member of their tribe. Jim Riley used his six shooters to take revenge for the shooting of his lone friend, the marshal, resulting in several dead in Newton, Kansas. Although the marshal survived, his brother had a gun and knife duel to the death for both men with the man who shot th e marshal. A up and coming gunslinger wanted revenge for the killing of a relative by a man who was considered too crazy to fight in the civil war. After a day of befriending each other the gunslinger was shot and killed himself over dinner with the man. A company enforcer was shot by an employee who was an outlaw but survives. The outlaw was hung for the crime but survived when friends cut him down. This resulted in the tortured death of the outlaw by shooting the fingers off before the enforcer killed him. A man poisons a wedding cake for revenge but was hung himself in revenge for the poisonings. Finally, a woman changed to life as a man to kill the man who murdered her husband. Although she finally wounded him, he died from yellow fever.

Episode 2

Freak Show II

Tue, Sep 20, 2005

Continues the "Freak Show Tech" episode, showing how technology could turn deformed and handicapped people into entertainment, creating the hideously famous freak shows.

Episode 3

The Unexplained

Tue, Sep 27, 2005

This show talks about unexplained happenings in the old west. It starts with sightings of saucer shaped objects in the sky along with bright lights. The sightings were common and in some cases ball lightening is thought to be involved. There were also reports of different objects raining from the sky. This included frogs, smooth pebbles, nails, and fish. Water spouts and tornadoes are believed involved. Cases were reported of people dying, being buried, dug up, and found to be alive. This led to the creation of special caskets for those afraid of being buried alive. Other stories involved strange animals including the Thunderbird. The Native Americans have considered the Thunderbird a major part of their spiritual history and it often tops their Totem poles, etc. The flapping of its wings creates thunder. Other animals discussed include the Windigo and Big Foot. Windigos were human cannibals who lost their soul.Some people were tried in court for this in Canada. One historical person with a great interest in them was Theodore Roosevelt. In some cases it is thought that bears and cougars were mistaken for these phantom animals. The show concludes with tales of communications between the spirit world and the living.

Episode 4

Massacres 2

Tue, Oct 4, 2005

Episode 5

Bounty Hunters

Tue, Oct 11, 2005

The show discusses several men who worked as bounty hunters and the outlaws they pursued. Many of the bounty hunters started as cowboys and often worked as lawmen or private detectives. Doggedness was often a trademark of the successful bounty hunter. A person could make one or two years normal wages with one bounty. Bounty hunters often practiced kidnapping as they took outlaws across state lines without extradition. Over time several technical changes helped them in their job. Railroads early on allowed bounty hunters to travel fast but they usually had to resort to horses at the end. Shotguns and sawed off shotguns both became valuable weapons due to their usefulness for different purposes. By the end of the 1800's major technical changes including common ammo for guns, telephones, automatic weapons, pump shotguns, and ultimately cars gave law enforcement and bounty hunters a major edge.

Episode 6

Vices

Tue, Oct 18, 2005

Shows how technology helped many vices in the Old West, not only legal, but also easy to get.

Episode 7

Grim Reaper

Tue, Nov 1, 2005

The show discusses causes of death in the west which was a constant companion. The show opens with the Binder Inn in Kansas which was the site of up to 25 murders. A group of people pretending to be a family ran a store which killed travelers. People traveling west often were not heard from for weeks, months, years, or never due to the lack of communications and the few people there. Joe "Bunko" Kelly of Portland Oregan shanghaied sailors for ships in the late 1800's and many were killed. He provided a crew of 25 for a ship from men dead from drinking formaldehyde they took for alcohol. In 1831 the advent of the mechanical reaper was one of many advances that were dangerous and often lead to death or injury. The 1896 intentional crashing of two locomotives in Texas lead to 2 killed and two dozen injured. The primary cause of death for cowboys was being dragged to death by horses. It is estimated that one of seventeen die on the Oregon Trail. Feuds were common leading to many deaths such as the cattle versus sheep issue in Arizona.

Episode 8

Gadgets

Tue, Nov 8, 2005

Takes a look at some of the cutting edge gadgets in the West, from syringes to mouse traps, from lie detectors to condoms.