Kid Colt Outlaw #67
The Snake Tattoo!
Kid Colt is surrounded by a group of lawmen who have come to arrest him for gunning down Jack Robinson at the Granada stage depot. Kid Colt insists that he hasn’t been in Granada in over two years and refuses to take the fall for a crime he did not commit. When it looks like Kid Colt is stuck someone starts shooting at the assembled lawmen allowing Kid Colt to make a run for it. He’s joined by another man who says that he and his partner know that Kid Colt didn’t kill Jack Robinson and offers to help. The man leads Kid Colt into an underground tunnel and there, does one last test to make sure that Kid Colt wasn’t responsible for the death of Robinson. He has Kid Colt roll up his sleeves and confirms that the Kid does not have any tattoos on his arm. His savior reveals that he is Les Robinson, the son of the murdered man and he says that the person responsible for killing his father had a snake tattoo on his arm. Once they have navigated the underground tunnel to freedom, Kid Colt thanks Les for his help and begins planning to clear his name.
The following morning, Kid Colt pays a visit to an old friend near Granada who paints a fake snake tattoo on his arm which the Kid hopes will draw out the real killer. Showing up at the local saloon, a man approaches Kid Colt and mistakes him for the real killer, a man named Kimball. He starts berating “Kimball” for not listening to orders and staying out of town. He learns that this man was responsible for the gold theft that resulted in the murder of Jack Robinson. He tells the Kid to meet with the rest of the gang at Farley’s Barn where they are going to divide up the loot.
The following day, the real Kimball arrives at the meet up with the other gang members to divide up the stolen gold. Kimball is berated for not following orders and he insists that he didn’t show up at the saloon the day before. That’s when Kid Colt gets the drop on them and is surprised how much Kimball looks like him. Still, the outlaw easily subdues the outlaws and turns them over to the sheriff, clearing his name in the process.
Recurring Characters
Kid Colt, Steel
The Plundered Stage!
Kid Colt witnesses as the fourth Buscadero Stage to be robbed rolls into town riddled with bullets. The owner of the company has another stage to run to Dorado but doesn’t have any drivers left. That’s when a man named Cass Lorenzo and Kid Colt volunteer to drive the stage. Within twenty minutes the pair on the trail with Lorenzo ridding the reins and Kid Colt riding shotgun. When a gang of outlaws start gunning for their stage. Kid Colt starts driving them off and gets annoyed when Lorenzo disobeys orders and stops the coach so they can join the gunfight. After they drive off the outlaws, Kid Colt decides that Lorenzo needs a thrashing for disobeying orders but as the pair struggle, Lorenzo’s hat falls off and Kid Colt realizes for the first time that Cass Lorenzo is actually a woman. She tells him her full name is Carla Lorenzo, the daughter of John Lorenzo, the owner of the stagecoach company. She says she couldn’t sit by and let her father’s business fail. She figures between the two of them will allow them to prevent the coach from being robbed. As they finish the run, she says that if her father’s business Harvey Cole, the man who runs the bank, will likely take over the business. When they complete the run, John Lorenzo tells his daughter and Kid Colt that all of their contracts were canceled and their business is doomed to fail. Kid Colt tells them to hang tight as he has an idea.
The following day, Kid Colt returns to the coach office and tells John that he managed to get the company a deal to ship gold ore from Black River to Pine Bluff. Carla is glad to hear it and insists that she ride the coach with Kid Colt again. The Kid agrees as long as Carla agrees to follow orders this time. She promises that she will. When they are attacked by the outlaws again, Kid Colt convinces Carla to abandon the couch, telling her to trust him. Sure enough, when the outlaws search the coach they find no gold and they report their failure to Harvey Cole. Cole is furious as this delays his plans to take over the stagecoach company by now. That’s when Kid Colt bursts in with Cassie and the sheriff. They have heard the whole thing and arrest Cole and his men. When Carla offers Kid Colt a share in the company, the Kid declines figuring that driving the stages will be a dull job now that the danger is over.
Recurring Characters
Kid Colt
The Missing Witness!
Kid Colt is crossing a bridge when a bullet slices through the rope supports sending Kid Colt and his horse falling into the raging river below. Another rider happens to be passing by and helps pull Kid Colt out of the rive. His savior turns out to be Johnny Costa. Costa admits that while he is wanted by the law, he didn’t send Kid Colt falling into the water just to save his life. Kid Colt asks why Johnny escaped the law when he was to be executed. Johnny says he is innocent and he escaped in order to find the missing witness that will clear his name of any wrongdoing, Kid Colt. He reminds Kid Colt of a day two months previously in the town of Los Palos when he walked in on a man who murdered the owner of Boswell’s Hardware Store. Kid Colt remembers seeing Johnny Costa unconscious on the floor. Although Kid Colt revived Costa and the pair cleared out of town, Costa was eventually picked up by the law as the only suspect in the killing. He asks Kid Colt to come back with him to Los Palos to clear his name.
At that moment the man who attempted to kill Kid Colt reports back to his boss, Gantry to tell him of his failure. Gantry was the man who really killed old man Boswell and needs to silence Kid Colt before he can talk. Unfortunately, at this point, Kid Colt and Johnny Costa arrive at the sheriff’s office and convince him that Costa didn’t murder Boswell. The sheriff suggests that they put on a new trial in the hopes of drawing out the real killer. Sure enough, when Kid Colt is called to the stand during the trial, Gantry and his men try to assassinate. However, Kid Colt, Johnny, and the sheriff were waiting for just such a stunt and quickly disarm the men. Kid Colt then says Gantry was the killer and he is found guilty of murder, clearing Johnny Costa of all wrongdoing.
Recurring Characters
Kid Colt, Steel
The Dude!
Kid Colt is riding through Apache territory when he sees an unarmed man making his way through riding on a donkey pulling a cart full of his belongings. Kid Colt thinks this man won’t last long on such a dangerous trail and spots an Apache raiding party paying close attention to the man. When they try to attack, Kid Colt drives them away. Approaching the man, he learns that he is Elbert Smith a traveling reporter for the New York Daily Press. Completely ignorant to the danger he was just in, Elbert loves this land but hardly understands why people call it the wild west. When the Kid shows him the arrows stuck on the back of the reporter’s cart, Elbert dismisses this as the Apache playing a prank on him by using his cart for target practice.
Realizing that Elbert is in over his head, Kid Colt decides to tag along to make sure that the reporter gets to his destination in one piece. Along the way, he saves Elbert from a big timber rattler and a stampede of buffalo. The whole time, Elbert remains blissfully ignorant to the danger that he has been in. They soon arrive in the town of Buzzard Gulch a rough and tumble town. While Elbert looks for a telegraph to send a story back home, they happen upon a duel in progress. Elbert decides that the men can talk it out instead of engaging in a gunfight and gets between the two men. As Kid Colt expects, the two outlaws don’t take kindly to Elbert’s interference forcing Kid Colt to step in and shoot the guns out of the duelist’s hands. When they finally get to the telegraph office, Kid Colt is shocked when Elbert reports back to his editors to say he has not found anything more exciting than the Bronx Zoo and is taking the next train home.
Recurring Characters
Kid Colt, Steel
