Ringo Kid #18
A Badge to Die For!
In the town of Cross Creek, Sheriff Jim Langtry is gunned down by a pair of outlaws. Before they can kill him, the Ringo Kid gets in the way, ordering them to stand down. When the two outlaws draw, the Kid shoots the guns out of their hands and tells them to get packing. When the locals try to run for Langtry's aid, the Kid shames them as they didn't stand ground with him, and demands to know where the sheriff's deputies were when trouble started. The Kid then takes Jim to the town doctor who tells Ringo that he will pull through, but will never be able to do his job ever again. The Kid wonders if the locals will look after Langtry in his forced retirement but learns that he won't be able to support himself and that the people of the town always hid behind his badge and never did anything to help him out, allowing him to waste away the best years of his life looking after the town.
Ringo decides to do something to make sure that Jim lives comfortably during his retirement and goes out into the town to try and collect donations for him. However nobody is willing to donate and the Kid reminds them that Jim Langtry gave up his life to protect them and that they will soon come to regret taking advantage of his kindness. Sure enough, the town soon becomes overrun by outlaws, and the Ringo Kid decides to leave them to loot the town to gather up a nest egg for Langtry. As the Kid planned the outlaws begin looting the town until he is satisfied that the locals have learned their lesson and goes out to put a stop to it. The Kid quickly rounds up all the outlaws and gathers the stolen loot. He then presents it to the townspeople and tells them to either take it or use it to make sure that Jim has a good life he deserves in retirement and the people agree, and start building Jim a new home.
Recurring Characters
Ringo Kid
Arab
Ringo Kid
The Ringo Kid is riding past a waterfall when he notices a logger and a bunch of logs go over the falls. Rushing to the man's rescue, Ringo manages to pull the man out of the raging river before he can drown. The man turns out to be Jim Abbott a local logger. He explains to the Kid that his log jam was chained up and the chains must have broken, yet another incident in a series of bad luck that is driving him out of business. They return to Jim's home where a man named Croft and his friend tell Jim's wife Mary that Jim died on the river and offer to buy the property for a "fair" price. When Jim and Ringo arrive, they tell the men to scram. After they left, Jim says if he cannot cut his quota of lumber he has not choice but to sell his ranch to Croft.
The Kid goes looking around the camp and finds the broken chains and notes that someone deliberately cut them. Going down river he crosses paths with some Native Americans who are panning for gold. They tell him that the river is filled with it. Realizing this is the reason why Croft is after the property, the Kid is knocked out before he can get the chance to warn Jim about this recent development.
When the Kid comes around he rushes to the part of the river where Jim is working and finds him about to be confronted by Croft and his minion. The Kid shoots the chains that hold Croft's log stationary and leaves both the outlaws to flow down river far away from the land. The Ringo Kid then tells Jim about the gold, making him more than wealthy enough to keep his property.
Recurring Characters
Ringo Kid
Arab
Ringo Kid
The Ringo Kid is riding across the range and comes across a wanted poster for a young man named Frisco Durand. Incidentally enough, Durand gets the drop on him, thinking that Ringo is after the reward on his head. Frisco tries to steal the Kid's horse, and Ringo tries to talk sense into him. He gets Frisco to stand down when Ringo points out that he does not have any bullets in his gun. They set up camp and Frisco confides in the Ringo Kid, telling him that his life started going bad after his parents died. He continued to get deeper and deeper into trouble. The Ringo Kid tells the boy that erasing poor decisions in life is harder and that going straight is a challenge.
The pair are suddenly ambushed by some lawmen who take both into custody, including Ringo for the simple fact of being caught with Frisco. It is too late to take them into town, but Frisco warns the lawmen that he had just broken free from Luke Friday and his gang and they are hunting for him. They take cover in a nearby line shack unaware that Luke Friday and his gang have spotted them and followed them. Soon the gang begins shooting into the cabin. They find themselves pinned in and when two of the lawmen are gunned down while trying to make a break for it the sheriff is forced to give Frisco a gun to help them shoot. Deciding to take a proactive stance on his life, Frisco then climbs out of a window and charges of Luke and his gang, gunning them all down in revenge. Impressed by the boys shooting skills, the sheriff offers him a job as a deputy.
Recurring Characters
Ringo Kid
Arab
Duel by Showdown!
The Ringo Kid is suddenly confronted by Ben Rathburn who is goaded into drawing on the Kid by some locals. Realizing that Ben is sick somehow, the Kid draws and shoots the guns out of his hands. Suddenly Ben collapses on the ground and when the men try to take him, the Kid refuses to let them. When they draw, they also get the guns shot out of their hands by the Kid who insists on taking Ben to a doctor, dunking them into water barrels when they try to stop him.
Taking Ben back to his hotel room, the Ringo Kid nurses him back to health and learns that he was at the local saloon and accepted a free drink from one of the men when suddenly he felt like he had no control over what he was doing. Suddenly a man comes into the room and tells Ben that he has to leave on a stage in an hour, as he signed off on working on building a railroad. However Ben does not recall when he signed a contract, but winking at Ben, the Ringo Kid tells him he did. Ben plays along and accompanies the man.
Ben is brought to Harlo a railroad agent who tells Ben that the contract he signed also agreed that he would give up half of his wages. Suddenly the Ringo Kid bursts in, telling Harlo he knows that he has been drugging people and tricking them into signing the contracts. Suddenly the sheriff and a representative from the railroad arrive and thank the Kid for stopping Harlo from forcing people into working at practical slavery.
Recurring Characters
Ringo Kid
Arab
