OVERLOOKED TELEVISION: COWBOY G-MEN

Pat Gallagher and Stoney Crockett are a pair of Treasury Department agents working in the American West in this 1952-3 syndicated series.  Russell Hayden (who played William Boyd's sidekick Lucky Jenkins in about a zillion Hopalong Cassidy oaters) played Gallagher and former child actor Jackie Coogan (The Kid, Peck's Bad Boy, Oliver Twist, Circus Days; later known for playing Uncle Fester) was Crockett.  Cowboy G-Men was based on a story by producer Henry B. Donovan.  The series lasted for 39 episodes.

"Silver Fraud" aired on March 14, 1953.  Gallagher and Crockett are sent to the mining town of Bodee where the silver sent to the Treasury Department was found to contain a great deal of lead.  Soon bullets are flying.  As Crockett remarks, "Somebody's always shooting at us!"  And as Gallagher tells him, "You'll get used to it."

Cowboy G-Men employed a lot of character actors whose resumes are peppered with roles as 'Henchman," and who appeared on many television shows in the 50s (and were also were able to labnd a few recurring roles).  This episode features Paul Kearst (who had a recurring role on Casey Jones), Bob Wilke (his recurring role was as Captain Mendoza on Zorro), Brad Johnson (best known as Lofty Craig on Annie Oakley), the ubiquitous Harry Lauter (Clay Mason on Tales of Texas Rangers, Atlasande on Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, and Jim Herrick on Waterfront), John Cason, and Riley Hill.  (Five of these supporting players appeared (in various roles) on more than one episode of Cowboy G-Men:  Wilke, Hill, and Lauter were in two episodes apiece, while Johnson appeared in five episodes and Cason appeared in ten.)

"Silver Fraud" was written by Buckley Angell and Tod Ballard.  Angell was an active writer of television westerns.  Ballard was Willis Todhunter Ballard, a cousin of Rex Stout and a popular writer of western and mystery novels; he wrrote four episodes for this series.  (Another well-known western novelist who contributed to this series was William R. Cox.)

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wn4iFXidew