Author Archive: Retro

U.S. Marshal Dan Doran (

Lane Cartwright arrives and is immediately arrested for being the mysterious Phantom Bandit. Cleared by the Sheriff he later finds a dead man and is arrested again. This time they are sure they have the Phantom but at his hearing the real Phantom strikes and Lane heads out after him.

The setting is WWII and Hans Beckman has arrived from Germany with a mission of destroying horses before they can be sold to the government. He kidnaps and replaces his twin brother as ranch foreman, but Tom Cameron suspects something is wrong and with sidekick Fuzzy sets out to learn the truth.

Sandy Doyle, gambler and political chief of a small border town, seeks to gain control of the Bar-X Ranch, owned by Rufe Rickson, to further some undercover activities of his own. He counts on Rickson’s inability to stay away from gambling as the means to his ultimate success. Government investigator Oliver Shea and his assistant, Dan Haggerty, start a fight in Doyle’s place when they see Rickson being cheated and are invited to the Bar-X where Oliver and Helen Rickson, Rufe’s daughter, discover interest in each other and Dan finds himself pursued by Bell, the ranch cook. Sheriff Larson brings the prize money for the $5,000 race of the Rodeo Association, and that night it is stolen from her safe. The next day, Doyle says it was paid to him by Rickson for a gambling debt. Realizing that she must be free in order to prove her father’s innocence, and that now her horse, Snowy, [...]

The Hurley’s own a lumber mill and want to harvest all the timber in the valley. They kill the Forester and substitute their brother Dusty in his place. Dusty then says all the trees are infected and must be cut down. But Rex Allen is suspicious and writes to the Forestry Department.

Tolen is after the Harkins ranch where his men have found gold. After they kill Harkins, Dorothy and Dick step in and discover that the gold actually washes down from Tolen’s own ranch. When Harkins’ brother arrives to take over they test Tolen by having the brother offer to swap ranches.

Billy the Kid learns that someone in Red Rock is impersonating him, causing a warrant to be issued for his arrest. On the way there he and Fuzzy Jones witness a hold-up by a gang of outlaws led by Kate Shelly and Billy decides to join the gang in order to clear his name. Kate sends Billy to rob the stagecoach and then has the sheriff tipped off so that Billy will be caught. Billy captures two of Kate’s gang and learns about the tip-off, and tells Kate he couldn’t pull off the robbery because the sheriff had been informed. Kate gives Billy the assignment of helping her rob the Red Rock Bank and,this time, Billy tells the Sheriff but he also warns Kate not to go through with the robbery because he knows she will be caught. But Kate, suspicious of Billy, has him imprisoned and rides on over to Red Rock to rob [...]

Hayden is after the rancher’s land. He lends them money and then to stop repayment, he has his henchmen rob the stage of the anxiously awaited money. But Billy and Fuzzy recover the letters before they are burned, and Billy, reading the letters, comes to believe the towns leading citizen Hayden is the culprit.

Despite past friendliness, cattle ranchers Tom and Jim Bledsoe, father and son, fence off their range to prevent its use by neighboring sheep ranchers Tug Wilson and Buck Rankin, suggesting that they hope to end their recent loss of cattle. Rankin (not Rankins) shoots Tug, who is unaware of Rankin’s lawless activities, in an argument and Jim is accused of murder and also stampeding the sheep. Believing Jim is guilty, Tug’s daughter, Ruth, aids Buck in capturing Jim, but he escapes. Ruth gets help from Sheriff Hank Bosley, and a sheepherder, Sanchez, reveals Rankin’s responsibility for both the rustling of Bledsoe’s cattle and the killing of Wilson.