There is some historical context for this particular episode, like many of the shows in the first season.
The southern third of the state of Illinois is known as Little Egypt because it is bordered by two major rivers. This episode, more than likely, was inspired by the "Bloody Williamson" gang wars in the 20s between Charlie Birger's gang and the Shelton Brothers' gang. In real life, the mayor of a small town called West City, near Marion, had ties to the Sheltons. Charlie Birger sent his men first to bomb the mayor's house, and later shoot him dead.
However, the city of Moraine depicted in the episode is nowhere near the real "Little Egypt". In real life, Moraine is a Chicago suburb. On the show, it was 100 miles away according to the dialogue. In reality, the events where the episode took place were about 400 miles from Chicago. The "carrier pigeons" that Allison used to communicate with Ness would have taken a couple of days to fly from Williamson County to Chicago. Just an instance where creative license and a lack of knowledge of geography would spoil an otherwise good episode.
The southern third of the state of Illinois is known as Little Egypt because it is bordered by two major rivers. This episode, more than likely, was inspired by the "Bloody Williamson" gang wars in the 20s between Charlie Birger's gang and the Shelton Brothers' gang. In real life, the mayor of a small town called West City, near Marion, had ties to the Sheltons. Charlie Birger sent his men first to bomb the mayor's house, and later shoot him dead.
However, the city of Moraine depicted in the episode is nowhere near the real "Little Egypt". In real life, Moraine is a Chicago suburb. On the show, it was 100 miles away according to the dialogue. In reality, the events where the episode took place were about 400 miles from Chicago. The "carrier pigeons" that Allison used to communicate with Ness would have taken a couple of days to fly from Williamson County to Chicago. Just an instance where creative license and a lack of knowledge of geography would spoil an otherwise good episode.