FORGOTTEN BOOK: OUTLAW GUNS

 Outlaw Guns by "Murray Leinster" (Will F. Jenkins) (originally published as "Wanted -- Dead or Alive," a four-part serial in Triple X Magazine, #57-60 [February-May 1929;  published in book form as   Wanted Dead or Alive!, Quarter Books, 1949; slightly abridged as Outlaw Guns, Star Books, 1950)

"Right now, ma'am," said Slim quietly, "my brother's dead and his name is listed as a rustler.  I'm being hunted and my name's being used by a murderer.  I ain't going to stand for it, ma'am.  Maybe I'll get killed and maybe I won't.  but I ain't going to stand for that."

With that, you know just what kind of western you have here.  Gun-blazing justice will prevail and God help the owlhoots who stand in Slim's way.

Slim Galway is a trick-rider in a wildwest show that had great success in Europe but the show eventually bogged down in failure in South Africa, leaving him stranded.  there, he got a telegram: "Your brother Buck killed today resisting posse which caught him blotting brands for Ned Howe.  Will you sell your interest in Lazy B and for how much?"  Twelve hours later, Buck was on his way back home.

Slim and Buck had combined their money to buy the Lazy B.  Buck ran the ranch while Slim went off to a wildwest show.  Even when the ranch did not make any money, the two resisted selling it.  Instead they rented it to the Ned Howe's neighboring Circle K ranch and Buck became the foreman for the combined spreads.  Slim knew that Buck would never stoop to rustling.  Somehow Buck was framed and then murdered.  And Slim was determined to clear his brother's name.

Six weeks later Slim was on the train to Las Almas -- the nearest town to the Lazy B -- when an easterner from New York warned him that a gangster from Chicago was going to kill him.  Warned, slim was able to outdraw the Chicago and toss the gangster's body from the train.  By why would anyone want Slim dead?

In Las Alamas. Fulton, the local banker told Slim that both Buck and Ned Howe were killed when a posse caught them trying to rustle cattle.   Howe's Circle K went to a niece, Benny Howe, who had just arrived to take over the spread.  Fulton suspected that both Slim and Benny Howe would end up selling their properties.  Las Alamas itself had changed.  Someone had poured money into a local election that had Getty, a local incompetent, elected sheriff; now the town became wide-open haven for saloons, gambling, and the such.  Eastern gangster began arriving, keeping more or less to themselves.  It's a sure bet that crooked money is being made, but how?  What has attracted gangsters from all over the country to Las Alamas?  Why was it so important to get rid of Buck Galway and Ned Howe.  what was so important bout the Lazy B and the Circle K that people were willing to kill for it?

Things begin to heat up rapidly.  Slim discovers that the Circle K has hired a new foreman who claimed to be Slim Galway.  All the old Circle K hands have been forced out, except for one named Swede, who is murdered when he realizes that the new foreman is a ringer.  Buck is accused of murder and finds there is a $5000 reward on his head, dead or alive.  Benny Howe realizes that something fishy is going on and is kidnapped and held captive until Slim rescues her.

Along the way, Slim is joined by a motley crew, including the easterner who had warned him while on the train -- a man known only as New York, a gangster fleeing retribution from the city.  There's also Hank Pace and his three young sons, not very bright squatters with dreams of becoming feared outlaws; believing Slim to be a desperado, they are eager to join his "gang."  And there's a dance hall girl who is out to avenge her wronged sister.  And a telegraph operator who knew too much to remain alive...

Through it all is Slim, forced to act an outlaw, while trying to remain decent.  (He and the Paces rob a store of supplies, then Slim quietly sneaks back alone and pays for the stuff they have taken.)  Not only does he have to contend with Sheriff Getty's gang of thieves, he has to deal with a town driven by the thought of the $6000 reward, and with the unknown group of eastern gangsters.  All without knowing why people are out to get him and what the end game is.

And even though the girl has the unlikely name of Benny, and even though Slim finds himself attracted to her, he must remain a gentleman.  That's the code of the West.

One final note.  Although this is a flat-out western, with guns and six-shooters, and horses and posses and all the genre fixings, it evidently takes place in the 1920s.  The eastern gangsters ride big, fancy cars.  And, for a little lagniappe, there are machine guns.

Leinster is best known for his science fiction; because of his lo-o-ong career he was known as the "Dean of Science Fiction Writers."  But he also wrote in many other fields and a good number of his stories were westerns -- well-plotted, entertaining, and satisfying action-oriented tales.  His westerns may have not gotten the acclaim that his science fiction did, but this one kept me eagerly turning the pages.