It’s time for a fun story about some dumb brothers.
Zodi Plays: Call of Juarez Gunslinger [8] The Coffeyville Incident
Video Length: 12:25
In this episode, Dwight incites Silas to tell them all the story of the Dalton gang, a gang of three brothers (and some minor other dudes) who were fairly successful, if lowkey, train robbers. But before Silas can tell his story, good ole Ben speaks up. He was there when the boys tried to show the world how great they were, so he tells us HIS version of the story. The Dalton’s where a bunch of idiots that tried to rob two banks on the same street right next to each other in the town they were born and raised and currently lived, where everyone recognized them by sight even with disguises on. The town gathered up it’s guns and went in guns blazing, kicking down the door and gunning them all down. But Dwight interrupts as it ends, saying that his dime novels tell a much more elaborate tale. Silas was there, with the rangers that were trying to stop the robbery. After shooting into the bank a bit, the grizzled bounty hunter snuck behind the bank, got onto the roof, and ambushed the men inside, taking the barn from a surprising angle, until he finally gets to the same room the Dalton’s where hiding in Ben’s story, kicking the door down, and shooting the brothers to pieces.
Of course, once all that’s said and done, Silas says his story is far different from all of those, and we start the level over for a third time. This entire sequence is one of my favorite, and in terms of sheer play, this is mechanically probably my favorite level. The first story from Ben is simple, has very few enemies (it in fact has the realistic number of gang members in the Dalton Gang) and ends quickly, but decisively, in two Concentration gun fights that feel pretty cool. Dwight’s, in a way that I honestly have difficulty describing, FEELS like an action movie. Giving you then quickshooters helps sell this experience, his narration makes it feel a lot more pumped up and exciting, and the ambushing the gang from the roof top entrance has this real feel of adventure. It genuinely feels like a pumped up version of Ben’s original story, to make it work better for a novel. And then we get Silas’s version of the story. It’s more drawn out, with the Dalton’s escaping the bank. We get the idea that this town is full of family feuds just waiting to erupt into chaos and the Dalton’s tipped over a barrel of explosives in robbing this bank.
After shooting his way through town, it ends with a climactic battle against Emmett Dalton, the youngest of the Daltons, wielding a cruel and powerful shotgun. He’s protecting his brothers escape, and he does a good job of it. The other two get away, but Silas takes him out. Of course, the audience points out…Emmett SURVIVED the fighting. Got shot 23 times and lived, and Greaves just points out that clearly, someone had to put those holes in him. It was me. And that’s patently ridiculous of cour-wait no the real Emmett Dalton did actually survive 23 gunshot wounds during this misguided robbery. More on that below the cut.
So yeah, that’s the episode! It’s really fun to play, and is kind of like the quintessential level for me, and it does some real fun stuff with the narrative. Next episode does some fun stuff with it too, so I hope to see you guys there for the next one.
So, the Dalton brothers. Minor train robbers who’s leader was certain, absolutely CERTAIN, that if he just mustered up the cajonnes to do it, he could outmatch Jessie James. Given Jessie James is a literal living breathing legend, that’s a lofty claim. But one day, he decided to do it. They’d match, or exceed, the great James. He once robbed two banks in the same town in broad daylight, but they’d one up him! They’d rob two banks RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER.
The boys got in and told the bank teller they were robbing it. The teller said that the safe was on a 45 minute lock timer and thus could not be opened. The Dalton brothers…proceeded to shrug and waited 45 minutes, during which the teller got word out that the Dalton boys were robbing the banks. Basically everyone in town with a gun got theirs and just kinda waited outside the bank. Eventually the Dalton’s left…upon which the entire town opened fire. Basically everyone was killed in the fire fight, though Emmett managed to run away the most, getting shot in the shoulder, hips, legs, and finally some buckshot slamming into his back. By the end of the day he was covered in 23 bullet wounds, and given the state of medicine at the time miraculously survived. He’d later go on to be an actor and house retailor, gaining relatively good wealth off both that, and stories of that faithful day he and his brothers kinda became the dumbest people in the west.
Of course, I kid on that dumbest part. While yes, what they did was INCREDIBLY stupid, they didn’t have much of a choice. Two of the brothers had been acting as Sheriff’s, but they were receiving heavy abuse from the ranger in charge of them, for little to no pay that arrived either late, or not at all. Of course the brothers would turn to robbery. Their plan was to rob the two banks in Coffeyville and escape to some other state, to live in luxury. But in the end, the brothers were slain. So it goes.