Kid Colt Outlaw #66
Showdown in Cheyenne!
Kid Colt is walking past a home where he overhears an argument over money. A young man named Johnny Kirk has come to borrow money from a family friend. When he refuses, Johnny pulls his guns and demands the money, saying he’ll take it by force if he has to. Kid Colt comes rushing into the home and tells the boy that he doesn’t have to ruin his life over money. Since Kid Colt got the drop on him, Johnny decides to leave empty-handed. Once the boy is gone, Kid Colt asks what’s going on. The family friend explains that Johnny owes a large debt to Jangles Ross, a local crook. Hearing this, Kid Colt thinks there might be some way he can help.
Meanwhile, Johnny Kirk returns to Jangles Ross and tells him that he was unable to raise the money he owes the mobster. Jangles warns Johnny that if he doesn’t pay back the five hundred dollars he owes by tomorrow. With no other options, Johnny offers to bring ten heads of his father's prized cattle. Jangles accepts this offer but says he won’t know if this will square Johnny with him until after he gets a look at the cattle. As Johnny leaves town, Kid Colt points him out his friend Dusty. Dusty knows the Kirk family and owes Johnny’s father a big favor and agrees to help Kid Colt set Johnny straight. They follow Johnny back to the family farm where they watch him rustle ten of his father’s own cows and bring them to Jangles to sell. Unfortunately, Johnny isn’t able to get more than three hundred dollars for the cows and still owes Ross another two hundred dollars. Jangles then convinces Johnny to use the three hundred dollars he made at the gambling tables, saying he could win back all the money he owes.
When Johnny goes to the Yellow Dust Casino that night, not only does Johnny lose the money he had, but his debt has doubled what it was before. Watching from nearby are Kid Colt and Dusty and both men notice how Jangles undercut the deck, actively cheating, to make sure Johnny continues to owe him money. Things at the table get heated when Johnny starts insinuating that Jangles is cheating. Jangle tells the boy that if he thinks he’s cheating to prove it. That’s when Kid Colt intervenes with guns blazing. When Jangles backs off, Kid Colt tells Jangles to give the boy a chance to pay him off. Ross agrees to allow Johnny more time, but warns Kid Colt that he will join Kirk on boot-hill if the kid fails to pay. Johnny doesn’t like Kid Colt meddling in his affairs either.
Later, Johnny’s father gives his son a deed for a mortgage, saying that they need five thousand dollars to buy some spring stock. Johnny takes this to Jangles who gladly cashes it. Johnny takes the four thousand dollars he has left and loses it all at the gambling tables. That’s when Kid Colt comes in and accuses Jangles of cheating. After disarming Jangle’s bodyguards, Kid Colt demands that Ross play him for the spread, fair and square. Kid Colt wins, Jangles doesn’t feel so bad since he has the cattle plus the deed to the Kirk ranch. That’s when Kid Colt reveals that he stole the cattle back and that the deed in his possession is a clever forgery. Johnny thanks Kid Colt for teaching him a hard lesson and when Jangles tries to pull a gun on them, Dusty is on hand to shoot the gun out of his hand.
Recurring Characters
Kid Colt
The Gun Nobody Wanted
Hearing somebody shouting in an alley, Kid Colt goes to investigate and sees a man lying on the ground and another fleeing the scene. He rushes to the man on the ground and asks what happened. The man tells Kid Colt that he is blind and asks for the Kid’s help to get to a doctor. That’s when Kid Colt spots a gun laying on the ground. The blind man says that he’s never used a gun in his life and it could be it was dropped by the man who attacked him. Kid Colt gets the blind man to the doctor where he is expected to recover. However, the doctor wonders who would try and hurt Josh Carver, as the elderly blind man doesn’t have an enemy in the world. Kid Colt figures the man who tried to kill Josh was using the gun he found earlier. The doctor tells Kid Colt that he has a huge job ahead of him as nobody will admit to owning the gun that shot Josh Carver.
Still, Kid Colt wants to catch the culprit, Kid Colt goes to the local newspaper and has them run message to the man who attempted to kll Carver. It tells the shooter to surrender as Kid Colt will not rest until he is found and brought to justice. Kid Colt then goes around town and begins leaving the gun he found in various places. He puts it on a card table on top of all the chips and later, hidden in a pile of ham sandwiches that are for sale at the local saloon. In the latter location, one of the patrons — a man named Hutch — begins to choke on his meal and goes out for some fresh air. Witnessing this, Kid Colt decides to keep a closer eye on Hutch.
Kid Colt then mails the gun to Hutch at the hotel he is staying at and he panics and runs up to his room, leaving the gun behind. Kid Colt manages to recover the gun and then place it in Hutch’s room before he gets up to his room. Kid Colt confronts him and Hutch admits that he shot Josh Craver but it was a mistake, as he was waiting for someone else and didn’t expect the blind man to come down that alley. However, Hutch wants no witnesses to know he shot Carver and tries to shoot Kid Colt, however, the Kid had enough forethought to make sure the gun was unloaded before he started leaving it around.
Recurring Characters
Kid Colt, Steel
The Road to Ruin
Kid Colt spots two young men rustling cattle that belong to the Square Y Ranch and confronts them. When he confirms that the youths are stealing them, Kid Colt pretends that they stumbled on his territory and that he had his own plans for the Square Y cattle. Sure enough, the young men want to be outlaws and ask Kid Colt to cut them in on his plan. However, Kid Colt says that he’s not going to work with some greenhorns and flashes his guns to scare them off. With the situation under control, Kid Colt returns the cattle to the Circle Y ranch. When the owners ask the Kid where he found them, he tells them that the cows had wandered over to Condor Pass. The ranch owner tells Kid Colt that one of his neighbors has come to visit and maybe he can help her out. Agreeing to meet with the woman, Kid Colt learns how her sons left yesterday and had gotten the idea that they could become professional outlaws. Kid Colt agrees to look for the boys and teach them to stay on the straight and narrow.
Kid Colt tracks the boys down and finds them as they are spying on a gold panner and plotting to jump him that evening. Before the boys strike, Kid Colt switches place with the gold panner. When the kids try to rob him, Kid Colt whirls around and shoots the guns out of their hands. He puts the fear of God into the kids who high-tail it out of there.
The following morning, the boys are in the town of La Vista and plotting to rob the bank a few moments before closing time unaware that Kid Colt is nearby listening in on their plans. These boys aren’t the only ones planning on knocking over the bank as elsewhere in town an actual gang of crooks is plotting to do the same thing. When the real gangsters try to rob the bank, Kid Colt shoves past the two boys and easily subdues the outlaws. In order to keep them out of trouble, Kid Colt tells the sheriff that the boys helped him out and deserve the reward for doing so. In the aftermath of the robbery, the kids thank Kid Colt for steering them away from a life of crime.
Recurring Characters
Kid Colt, Steel
Beyond the Law!
In Sundown, Kid Colt is in the local general store when members of Hammer Kane’s gang come in to shut the place down. However, the shop keeper refuses and Kid Colt doesn’t like how they are treating him either and tosses them out of the store. As Kid Colt and the shopowner turn the men over to the sheriff, Hammer Kane comes barging in and demands that the sheriff release his men. When the sheriff explains how the men are being arrested for destruction of property and disorderly conduct, Hammer goes to the law books and reads off a new city ordinance say that his men had every right to try and shut down the store because it is operating within one hundred yards of a gambling establishment. As a matter of fact, Hammer Kane just bought a property three doors down and turning it into a gambling hall. His hands tied, the sheriff is forced to let the two men go.
The following morning, two of Hammer Kane’s men are forcing some cattlemen to pay a toll to move their herd through town. Kid Colt intervenes once again. Hammer Kane arrives and is fed up with Kid Colt interfering with his operations and challenges the Kid to a duel at Duane’s Stable. Kid Colt agrees. Later that day, Hammer Kane tries to get Kid Colt arrested by pointing out that Duane’s Stable is on the site of an old sanctuary for traders and it is illegal for anyone with a weapon to step foot in the area. The sheriff admits that this would be the case until they moved Duane’s Stable out of the sanctuary zone. With that, Hammer Kane is forced to duel Kid Colt. Sure enough, the Kid easily disarms Hammer Kane with his shots and the sheriff reveals that a lot of the locals have started talking and he is going to jail for illegal activities.
Recurring Characters
Kid Colt
