TIMELINE: Wednesday, April 26 – Friday, May 5, 1876[1]

Some time before: Snopes leaves the employ of John and Daisy Haskell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[2]

Some time before: Bart Maverick meets Mitchell in a poker game in Dodge City, Kansas.[2]

Some time before: Bret and Bart Maverick meet Adelaide.[2]

Shortly before: Henrique Fillipe and Daisy Haskell begin a clandestine romantic relationship.[2]

Shortly before: Fillipe kills John Haskell and dumps the body into a mine shaft on his ranch. He and Daisy begin their plan to kill a stand-in for Haskell and pin the killing on a fictional jewel thief.[2]

Wednesday, April 26, 1876:[1] In New Mexico Territory,[2] traveling down the Rio Chama[1] on horseback, Bret and Bart Maverick[2] reach the Rio Grande[1] and decide to part ways. Bret takes the northern trail for Clayton while Bart takes the southern route for Santa Fe.[2]

Thursday, April 27, 1876:[1] Bart arrives in Santa Fe, takes a room at the Barker House, and meets Daisy Haskell while exploring the town. Daisy recruits Bart to pose as her husband, John Haskell, and escort her to Laramie, Wyoming Territory.[1]

Friday, April 28, 1876:[1] Bart and Daisy board the stage bound for Laramie from the Fillipe Ranch. Fillipe drops a half a ton of rock into the mine shaft to hide Haskell's body. Bart, Daisy and the other stage passengers arrive in Las Vegas, New Mexico Territory, Bart and Daisy take a suite[2] at the Exchange Hotel.[1]

Saturday, April 29, 1876:[1] Bart and Daisy's stagecoach is attacked by a band of Comanche and Mitchell is killed. The stage arrives[2] at Loma Parda[1] where Bart and Daisy take accommodations at the Lake Hotel.[2]

Sunday, April 30, 1876:[1] Bret arrives in Clayton and reunites with Adelaide. Bart and Daisy arrive in Cimarron and take rooms[2] at the St. James Hotel.[1] There, Snopes recognizes Daisy and attempts to blackmail her to keep her secret that the man she is traveling with is not her husband. Daisy kills Snopes in self-defense. Bart demands she tell him why she hired him to pose as her husband, but she convinces him to wait until they reach La Mesa the next day.[2]

Monday, May 1, 1876:[1] Bart and Daisy arrive in La Mesa[2] and check into the La Mesa Hotel.[2] Bart replaces the two bullets in Daisy's jeweled-encrusted derringer with blanks. That evening, Daisy holds Bart at gunpoint while she prepares their hotel room to look as though a thief had broken in and killed her husband. She shoots at Bart and, believing he's dead, completes the scene that her real husband, John Haskell, has just been killed. Daisy sends a telegram to Fillipe to join her in La Mesa for John Haskell's funeral.[2]

Tuesday, May 2, 1876:[1] Bart, the sheriff and the undertaker prepare the setting of John Haskell's death to convince Fillipe and Daisy that Bart is dead. The sheriff learns that Fillipe will arrive in La Mesa the next day.[2]

Wednesday, May 3, 1876:[1] Fillipe arrives in La Mesa to join Daisy and view Bart's body at the funeral parlor. Bart performs as his own corpse to convince them Daisy has killed him. John Haskell's funeral is held late in the afternoon. That night, believing they are safe, Fillipe and Daisy discuss what they have done. Bart, hiding in the shadows of their hotel room, overhears their entire plan and reveals his presence. Daisy faints and Fillipe tries to jump Bart, but Bart knocks him out. The sheriff takes custody of Fillipe and Daisy for the murder of John Haskell.[2]

Thursday, May 4, 1876:[1] The sheriff leaves La Mesa to escort Fillipe and Daisy back to Santa Fe to face murder charges. Bart buys a stage ticket for Laramie, Wyoming Territory.[2] Brother Bret travels from Clayton to La Mesa.[1]

Friday, May 5, 1876:[1] Bart boards the stagecoach, bound for Laramie, and discovers Brother Bret is already aboard the same stage. Together, they ride north, telling each other of the long stories of their past week.[2]

Shortly afterwards: In Santa Fe, Fillipe and Daisy are tried for the murder of John Haskell and the attempted murder of Bart Maverick.[2]

RATIONALE

"John Haskell was buried on a late Wednesday afternoon of May, 1876." Bart Maverick's narration gives us a great clue, providing the day of the week, month and year of a key date in the story.[1] But with five Wednesdays to choose from in May of 1876, how can we determine the correct one?

The best clue lies in the episode "The Misfortune Teller," which takes place in Medicine Bow, Wyoming Territory, in May[3] of 1876,[1] only about 55 miles northwest of Laramie. Assuming travel time for Bret and Bart Maverick to arrive in Laramie, and for certain events to transpire before the opening of "The Misfortune Teller," we set the funeral of John Haskell at the earliest possible date, giving us the date of May 3, 1876 for "The Jeweled Gun."[1]