Wild Western #51

The Town Without Law!

Staying overnight in a hotel, the Ringo Kid discovers that someone broke into his room and stole his wallet. Going downstairs into the saloon below he demands to know who took his wallet. When people grow tense, the Kid warns them if anyone moves against him they’ll be eating lead. Since nobody is taking ownership over the theft, the Kid decides to take the money he lost off the pot of a card table, saying they’ll all pay for the thief not speaking up. When the men at the table try to fight back, Ringo manages to draw his guns and fire a warning shot. That’s when the sheriff arrives and tells the Kid that he’s under arrest. The Kid insists that he was just taking back what’s his, but the sheriff insists.

Instead of a trial by jury, the sheriff accepts the word of the three card players and sentences the Kid to sixty days in jail. Adding insult to injury, the sheriff takes the last of the Kid’s money, saying that it’ll pay for the damages. While stewing in his cell, the Ringo Kid is visited by a kid who comes up to his cell window. The boy says his father is in the cell next to him but it has no window. His father has been trying to dig to the cell occupied by the Ringo Kid. If the Kid helps his father dig the boy can deal with the bars in Ringo’s windows. The Kid takes a knife from the boy to help him dig and tells the kid to get his horse from the stable and find some weapons. With the knife the Ringo Kid helps the boy’s father finish a hole that he had been toiling with for months using a tin can. When the boy returns with Arab he uses the horse to pull the bars off the window allowing the Ringo Kid and his father to escape.

Once they all get to safety, the man tells Ringo that he was locked up on trumped-up rustling charges. He goes on to say that the current sheriff, Ram Sinclair is a criminal who took over as the law after he captured the real sheriff. The Ringo Kid agrees to help the man and his son free the real sheriff so law and order can be returned to the town. The man then takes Ringo to the abandoned Spanish fort where Sheriff Todd is being held prisoner. There, the Ringo Kid easily takes down the few guards on watch and frees the sheriff.

In the morning Ram Sinclair learns that their prisoners have escaped and tells his men that they are going to the fort to make sure they don’t free the real sheriff. However, once they walk outside the Ringo Kid, his cellmate and the sheriff are waiting for them with guns drawn. With the outlaws disarmed, the crooks are quickly swarmed by the townsfolk and their reign of terror comes to an end.

Recurring Characters

Ringo Kid, Arab

The Looters

A rainstorm has forced Kid Colt to take shelter in a line shack, however respite from the rain is interrupted when some masked men come barging in and order him to keep his hands on the table. When the Kid springs to his feet his is pistol-whipped from behind by one of the men who slipped in through the open window. When Kid Colt wakes up he discovers that the men robbed him of everything except his money belt. Going outside to check on his horse, he discovers that it is still tied up but the men stole his saddle and gear. Bringing his horse inside where it’s dry, the Kid Colt can’t figure why the thieves would only steal his guns and horse harness.

The next day the storm has cleared and so Kid Colt rides into the town of Anvil to buy new supplies. Inside, he discovers a man buying the exact same things that were taken from him. As it turns out, the man buying the new gear —Frisco Gaines — was also robbed and is looking to get even with the thieves. Once they both buy new gear and load up their horses the pair exchange stories. Frisco figures that their gear was sold to a bucket shop and the pair look around town to see if they can find their stolen stuff. Eventually, Kid Colt spots his saddle on another horse and decides to go into the nearby saloon and find out who owns it. When they find the man who owns the horse, he insists that he paid for it in Battle Ridge and paid good money for it. When the man and his friends start becoming aggressive, the Kid is faster at the draw and urges them to calm down because he can prove that the saddle was his. Lifting up the stirrup flap, the Kid shows that the saddle has been marked with his initials. This enrages the man who paid two months’ worth of wages for the saddle and wants to accompany Kid Colt to Battle Ridge to settle accounts as well.

At that moment, in Cheyenne City, Blackie Luce has just got a telegraph warning him that Kid Colt is coming and tells the telegraph operator to send a message back to Anvil saying he’ll handle it. Outside, he tells his men that Kid Colt and two other men are coming to confront them and to get ready to deal with them in Battle Ridge. Meanwhile, Kid Colt and his allies arrive at the shop where the stolen saddle was bought. When they confront the men running the store they dry to draw their guns. Kid Colt is faster at the draw and his shots cause the shelf behind them to fall over, as it does so Frisco sees his gun belt tumble out of it. With the shopkeeper’s surrender, Kid Colt and Frisco are able to find the rest of their gear. When Blackie Luce and his men arrive to stop them, Kid Colt and Frisco toss saddles in their way and are able to draw their own weapons and shoot the guns out of the outlaw’s hands. With the crooks turned over to the sheriff, who promises to return the stolen goods to their proper owners, Kid Colt and his new friends ride out of town.

Recurring Characters

Kid Colt, Steel