THE BUBBLY SPRINGS GANG

Pictured, l to r:
Billy the Kid, Jim Dalton, Sam Bass, Cole Younger, Ben Thompson,
Black Bart, Belle Starr, Jesse James, and Robert Clay Allison
Or so they claimed.....
(Bret Maverick is seated in front.)

In the 'Maverick' episode "Full House", Bret Maverick won a diamond stickpin off a gambler named Foxy Smith. However, it turned out that stickpin served as Foxy's identification for a gang of outlaws in Bubbly Springs, Colorado, who had never seen Foxy Smith before. So when they saw Maverick wearing it when he came into town, they assumed he was Foxy Smith.

Those gathered at the hotel awaiting Foxy's arrival were:

Cole Younger
Jesse James
Frank James
Sam Bass
Jim Dalton
Billy the Kid
Black Bart
Ben Thompson
Robert Clay Allison
and
Belle Starr

At least, that's who they claimed to be.

Hoo ah! Hoo ah!

That's the sound of me, working on a splain gang.

Sorry about that, Chief......

Just about every one of those famous real-world outlaws (with the possible exception of Allison) has been portrayed on TV in the past. Inner Toob just featured Ben Thompson this past Tuesday with his appearances on 'Bat Masterson' and 'The Life And Legend Of Wyatt Earp'. So each of them has recastaways to splain away. Rather than plodding through each character to find reasons why they should be considered the real deal vs. all of those other portrayals with quantum leaping for one and an evil twin for another, 'tis better to splain away all of these outlaws in one lump sum.

So I propose using the Famous Impostor Syndrome, "FIS", to write them all off as counterfeit.

I think a mass outbreak of inmates from an asylum fits the bill nicely, all of them suffering from the delusion that they're all infamous outlaws of the Old West. And as I mentioned in the "As Seen On TV" spotlight on Allison, "Bubbly Springs" makes for just the right kind of name for an insane asylum.

Foxy Smith probably enticed them to break out of the asylum so that he could meet them at the local hotel. He probably figured that with such complete conviction that they were the actual outlaws, these nutjobs would be just as good in the situation as the originals. And he wouldn't have to worry too much about splitting the proceeds with them either - all Foxy would have to do was contact the asylum and tell them where they could find their escaped inmates. (They'd probably have all followed Foxy's suggestion to meet him at some other location to divide up the loot.)

Although they escaped at the end of the episode, a posse was hot on their trail. So it wouldn't have been too long before each of these "famous outlaws" were back in their padded cells at the Bubbly Springs Asylum.

And a "Full House" of recastaways was safely splained away....

Pictured l to r:
Billy the Kid, Black Bart, Frank James, Sam Bass, Jim Dalton, Cole Younger

BCnU!