Black Rider #23
Black Rider
The Black Rider is after the remnants of an outlaw gang, chasing them into a ghost town, there the outlaws ambush the Black Rider. The Black Rider pretends to get shot and plays possum, tricking the outlaws into coming close enough for him to shoot at them. He guns them all down except for one man named Ormond who has been uneasy about the entire conflict. Cornering Ormond the Black Rider easily subdues him and chastises him for being an outlaw when his son grows up without a father in Leadville. He shames Ormond and tells him to man up and go back home and raise his son properly, but the disgraced Ormond leaves -- the Black Rider calling him a coward.
Riding back to Leadville, the Black Rider stops by the nearby school house just as class lets out for the day. He witnesses the school kids picking on Juddy Ormond for not having a father. The Black Rider interrupts the bullying to tell Juddy that he crossed paths with his father in Silver City, claiming that his father just took out a gang of outlaws and promised to come home and bring Juddy his own horse. Talking to Juddy in private, the Black Rider asks the boy to write a letter to his father that he promises he will bring to him. The boy writes about how much he misses and loves his father and gives it to the hero.
The Black Rider then tracks down Ormond to a run down rooming house in another town and forces him to read the letter written by his son. Ormond is even more ashamed than ever and can't bring himself to face his son due to his criminal past and that he agreed to pull a stage coach robbery with an outlaw named Drummond. The Black Rider tells him that if he doesn't return home to his son it will kill the boy for sure. Later that night during the coach robbery, Ormond has a change of heart and when the Black Rider arrives the pair wipe out the gang.
Later, the Black Rider helps Ormond obtain a pony which he brings to his son and the two are happily reunited, Ormond promising to turn over a new leaf.
Recurring Characters
Black Rider
Satan
Black Rider
Bulldog Barnes and his gang rob a stage outside of Leadville, but when he orders Lanny Kimball to kill everyone aboard the coach, Lanny refuses to be party to murder. Bulldog guns down Kimball and he and his men flee just as the Black Rider arrives. Learning what happened from the survivors, the Black Rider takes Lanny's unconscious body and takes him to the Lathrop ranch where he tells Marie to bring the injured man to the medical practice of his alter-ego Matthew Masters.
The Black Rider races back to Leadville where he changes into his other identity just moments before Marie arrives and asks him to return to her family ranch. There Matthew and Marie perform the delicate surgery to remove the bullets from Lanny's shoulder. The next day the sheriff comes in to arrest Lanny, but Masters sends him away, refusing to release a wounded man under his care. Coming out of his coma, Lanny overhears Masters defending him and sending the sheriff away and thanks the doctor for his help.
A few weeks later while Lanny is still healing and Masters is away from the Lathrop ranch, one of Bulldog's men pays a visit pretending to be a friend coming to see how Lanny is doing. The man talks privately with Lanny and tells him that Bulldog is willing to forgive his insubordination is Lanny agrees to help them ambush the Black Rider. Lanny refuses to help and sends the man away and then tells Marie he has to leave. The next day Marie tells Matthew Masters what happened the night before and expresses concern for Lanny's well being.
Masters slips away and changes into the Black Rider and finds Lanny hiding out in town waiting to ambush Bulldog and his gang. Not wishing the boy to risk his life, the Black Rider knocks him out and wipes out the Bulldog gang on his own. In the aftermath of the battle, the Black Rider helps clear Lanny of any trouble with the law and helps him get a job as a ranch hand on the Lathrop ranch.
Recurring Characters
Black Rider
Jim Lathrop
Marie Lathrop
Satan
Two-Gun Kid
Stopping at a local post office to get his mail the Two-Gun Kid finds a letter from his friend little Billy Lawson asking him to come to their ranch for help. When Two-Gun arrives it's just as Billy's grandfather is being roughed up by a local named Simms. The Kid interrupts and sends them packing.
Thanking Two-Gun for his help the elder Lawson shows him the source of all the trouble: a prized horse that Billy intends to ride in an upcoming horse race offering a $3000 grand prize. Simms believes that his horse is going to win and has been trying to frighten off any competition he may have to face. They ask the Two-Gun Kid to keep an eye on the horse while they go into town for the night to look after Billy's aunt. The Kid agrees to help opting to sleep in the barn with the horse to insure that nothing happens to it.
Meanwhile, Simms and his men come up with a plan to kill the horse so it can't run in the race the following morning. Simms sends his men back to the Lawson ranch where they throw an oil filled lantern into the barn causing a massive fire. Awoken by the sudden inferno, the Kid mounts the horse and races through the flames and bursts out of the door with guns blazing shooting down Simms and his men, saving the horses life. The next day Billy runs the horse in the race and wins the award money which his grandfather desperately needs, but before Billy can thank Two-Gun for his help, the hero has already ridden back out into the range.
Recurring Characters
Two-Gun Kid
Cyclone
Black Rider
Ben Owen has been shot outside of town, his body is brought to the medical practice of Dr. Matthew Masters who declares him dead from a gunshot wound to the chest. The men who brought him tell Masters he was shot outside of Devil's Spit and his gun was still holstered, suggesting that Owen was shot by somebody he knew. They only evidence as to the identity of the killer was a single black glove that was left on Ben's chest. After the men leave, Masters changes into the Black Rider and goes to speak to Owen's widow in order to find out who could have killed her husband. She tells him the only man who could have hated her husband was Maynard Murrel who was sentenced and hung five years earlier thanks to a jury verdict that Ben participated in. When the Black Rider shows her the glove found at the murder scene she does not recognize it.
Meanwhile, at the home of Judge Elmer Higgins, Maynard Murrel appears before the judge who sentenced him to death. Higgins is surprised that Murrel is still alive and is shot dead. The body is found moments later by the Black Rider who had come to learn more about Murrel and he finds another trademark black glove at the scene. The Black Rider is surprised by the sudden arrival of Jim Lathrop who also became interested in the situation after hearing Ben Owen was shot. The Rider learns from Jim that Judge Higgins was the one who sentenced Murrel to hang.
As they leave the judge's house a local tells them that the entire town is under siege by the apparent ghost of Maynard Murrel. The Black Rider tracks Murrel to the Golden Angel Saloon where he is keeping people hostage with a bomb. The Black Rider subdues Murrel and tosses the bomb outside a window where it harmlessly explodes. However, Murrel struggles free and escapes. Curious if this is the real Murrel, the Black Rider goes to the local graveyard and digs up his grave to find it empty. The Black Rider and Jim are shot at by Murrel but they send him fleeing again.
They then question the caretaker of the graveyard who explains that five years ago when he was instructed to bury Murrel, Murrel wasn't dead. Murrel then forced him to bury an empty coffin and keep the existence of his survival a secret. Just then, Murrel bursts into the room intending kill the grounds keeper, but the Black Rider is a faster draw and shoots Murrel, killing him for good. They then bury Murrel in his grave, marking it as the only man in Leadville history who has died twice.
Recurring Characters
Black Rider
Jim Lathrop
Satan
