Stories of the Century
(1954-55) Produced for TV syndication by Republic Pictures, using the impressive Republic stock footage library. Many were directed by ace serial director William Witney.
Jim Davis portrayed the role of fictitious Southwestern Railroad detective Matt Clark, who pursues real life outlaws. Davis also did narration for each episode. Mary Castle co-starred in twenty-six episodes as Clarkâs attractive assistant, Frankie Adams. Castle left the program and was replaced by Kristine Miller who appeared in fourteen episodes as Margaret Jones, or "Jonesy."
Available in Mpeg2, Mpeg4 and 1920*1080 Mp4 digital formats.
Apache Kid 1/9/1955
A young Indian who has been trained as a scout for the Army betrays the men who befriended him and goes on a killing rampage.
Augustine Chacon 1/9/1955
The murders of two Texas Rangers bring Matt and Margaret into Mexico where they trail Chacon's girlfriend Felicia to achieve their goal.
Belle Starr 1/23/1954
When a herd of U.S. Cavalry horses is stolen, Matt is sent to investigate. He learns that the outlaws are led by a woman with a fancy plumed hat.
Ben Thompson 7/8/1954
Ben Thompson was a Texan gambler and gunman. Sauve when sober, savage when drunk. He often payed his debts with lead instead of gold.
Bill Longley 5/20/1954
Bill Longley has been serving a sentence for robbery and murder when he escapes from prison. Since his loot is from the railroad, Matt is sent in to track him down.
Billy the Kid 1/30/1954
Over a thousand head of cattle have been stolen from the railroad stockyards. Matt and Frankie pursue the leader of this gang of cattle thieves, Billy the Kid.
Black Bart 5/6/1954
A notorious gentleman outlaw always rides alone on his robbery and murder missions. Matt is sent to bring in the dangerous dandy.
Black Jack Ketchum 6/24/1954
Black Jack decides they will lay low at the Cullen ranch, where the widow and son of a gang member still live.
Black Jack wants to involve the boy in an effort to extort 60 thousand dollars from an oil company executive.
Burt Alvord 6/24/1954
A train is robbed and money stolen. Matt Clark and Margaret Jones investigate. And then a shipment of dynamite is also reported missing.
Cattle Kate 2/28/1954
Matt poses as a crooked trail boss in an attempt to get a confession from Cattle Kate, a notorious Wyoming cattle rustler suspected of murder.
Cherokee Bill 2/1/1955
Crawford Goldsby, aka Cherokee Bill, is expelled from Carlisle Indian College. While returning to Oklahoma by train, he kills a deputy. Matt and Jonesy capture Bill, and he's sentenced to 48 years at hard labor. Cherokee Bill escapes and joins up with the Cook Gang.
Chief Crazy Horse 4/30/1954
Crazy Horse continues to thwart the Army's efforts to catch him. When his daughter becomes ill, Crazy Horse's wife brings her to see the doctor at an Army fort.
Crazy Horse kills the doctor and the child dies.
Clay Allison 7/15/1954
Two Confederate soldiers, Clay Allison and his brother John, terrorize the Southwest trying to get revenge for the defeat of the South by the Yankees
The Dalton Gang 3/18/1954
The Dalton Brothers started out as lawmen, but when one of them is killed in the line of duty, the other four turn outlaw. Matt and Frankie foil the gang's
attempt at robbing a stagecoach of its gold shipment, and the detectives lay a trap for the outlaws.
Doc Holliday 3/25/1954
Doc Holliday leads a double life both on the side of the law and outside the law. Matt attempts to put an end Doc's two fisted, two faced career.
The Doolin Gang 6/10/1954
Frankie poses as the widow of one of Bill Doolin's slain men. While keeping him a little confused, she works on picking up enough information to bring the gang in.
Frank and Jesse James 2/7/1954
Starring Lee Van Cleef as Jesse James. After their younger brother Archie is accidentally killed by detectives, the James Gang go on a train and bank robbing spree. Matt and Frankie work undercover in order to smoke out the criminals.
Geronimo 2/14/1954
The Apache chief Geronimo leads a raid on a rail depot in search of guns and provisions, and one of his braves is captured.
Matt joins Frankie on a wagon train
in order to transport the prisoner back to Tuscon. Geronimo attacks the wagon train and rescues the prisoner.
Harry Tracy 5/27/1954
When his own friends can't stand his brutality and needless killings any longer, one of his own gang tips off Matt Clark as to Harry Tracy's whereabouts.
Henry Plummer 5/13/1954
Henry Plummer, a Montana lawman, is really the head of a criminal organization that controls the whole territory. Matt and Frankie work undercover to smoke out Plummer and his gang.
Jack Slade 3/4/1955
A man helps his criminal efforts by getting a job with the Pony Express. Working there he can get information on shipments of cash and gold. When the information leads him to a shipment of railroad gold, Matt and Jonesy are sent to investigate.
Jim Courtright 2/22/1955
Jim Courtright, a former marshal, now runs an extortion and protection racket in Texas. After the murder of a railroad employee, Matt and Jonesy
travel to Fort Worth. Jonesy goes undercover as a bartender to gather information.
Joaquin Murietta 4/16/1954
Joaquin Murietta, a California bandit, has been robbing and killing railroad crews. Matt and Frankie set a trap for the outlaw.
Johnny Ringo 3/11/1954
When a company's payroll of $10,000 in silver dollars is stolen from the Southwest Railroad, Matt is sent to investigate.
John Wesley Hardin 4/9/1954
By the time John Wesley Hardin was 25, he had killed forty men. He was a respected lawyer, but couldn't resist the outlaw's life.
When he cheats an Indian tribe out of some money and kills two of their representatives, the tribe stops all cattle drives across their land.
Kate Bender 1/23/1955
Kate Bender lives on the Old Stage Road, where she and her brother prey on stranded travelers. When the son of the president of the railroad goes missing, Matt and Jonesy are sent to investigate.
L.H. Musgrove 3/11/1955
L.H. Musgrave steals a herd of horses from a railroad stockyard. He wants to use the herd as collateral in order to buy ranch land in Colorado.
Matt tracks the stolen herd, while Jonesy investigates a murder at the railroad telegraph office.
Little Britches 6/17/1954
In order to be with her outlaw lover in Oklahoma, a girl turns outlaw.
Milt Sharp 6/17/1954
Matt and Margaret investigate the kidnapping of banker Penrose from a stagecoach. They immediately suspect noted bandit Milt Sharp who recently escaped from a Nevada prison
Nate Champion 2/6/1955
Nate Champion, a notorious cattle rustler, has been run out of Colorado. He travels to Wyoming, where a rich man hires him to stock his cattle ranch.
Nate begins stealing from the Great Western Cattle Co., and since this is the oufit that supplies beef to the railroad workers, Matt and Jonesy are called
in to investigate.
Quantrill and His Raiders 2/21/1954
Matt is assigned to obtain information about Quantrill, the guerrilla band leader who claims to be for the Confederate Army.
Rube Burrows 2/15/1954
Rube Burrows, aka The Alabama Wolf, made his reputation as the first man to successfully rob a train singlehanded. When he steals 30 thousand dollars in a daring robbery of the Southwest Railroad, Matt and Jonesy go after him.
Sam Bass 3/4/1954
Sam Bass, a notorious stage and railroad bandit, steals gold coins from a train that's carrying Frankie as a passenger. She overhears Sam and his gang discuss their getaway plans. Matt and Frankie round up the gang, but Sam escapes. Frankie uses her feminine wiles on one of the captured men to get information on Sam's whereabouts.
Sontag and Evans 2/8/1955
John Sontag and Chris Evans were two San Joaquin Valley farmers who waged a bloody war of vengeance against the railroads. Matt and Jonesy are sent in to stop them.
Tiburcio Vasquez 4/23/1954
After Americans caused the death of his sister, Tiburcio Vasquez takes to the vengeance trail and kills Americans at every opportunity.
Tom Bell 1/16/1955
While trying to help a mother find her long lost doctor son, Matt and Jonesy come upon the trail of a notorious gunman.
Tom Horn 7/1/1954
Tom Horn, who has made a career out of battling cattle rustlers, is hired by some ranch owners to keep the homesteaders in line. He decides to play both
sides against the middle, and steal cattle for himself.
The Wild Bunch of Wyoming 6/3/1954
Butch Cassidy steals 150 thousand in bank notes. When he uses some of these notes to pay a railroad freight bill, Matt and Frankie look into it. They catch up to Butch and his gang in San Antonio, but the oulaw escapes. Matt and Frankie follow him to South America.
The Younger Brothers 4/2/1954
Matt is trying to prove the Younger Brothers took part in a bank robbery. In order to get some information, Frankie pretends to be a country cousin from Virginia when she pays a visit to the Younger Brothers' home.
