Brand of Fear

Anne Lamont, a schoolteacher, arrives in the small town of Oreville, Arizona, having been hired by her guardian, Marshal Black Jack Flint. She is welcomed by mine owner Frank Martin and his chief trouble-shooter Jimmy Wakely. In private, Anne asks Black Jack about her father and mother, who both died when she was very young. Later, when outlaw Tom Slade and his henchman, Butch Keeler, talk with blacksmith Cal Derringer and discover that he runs several illegal activities outside of Oreville, Slade informs him that they are going to become partners. Jimmy's pal "Cannonball" is working in Nick's Café serving Jimmy and Anne, when Slade attempts to flirt with Anne and Keeler starts a brawl with Jimmy. After Jimmy whips him soundly, Black Jack orders Keeler and Slade to leave town. Slade draws a gun but the marshal shoots him first. Keeler's attempt to escape results in a gunfight on the town's main street during which Keeler is shot. Later the wounded Slade tells Derringer that Black Jack is actually Jack Lamont, a Texas outlaw framed for the murder of a federal officer twenty years earlier. Derringer then smothers Slade to death and tells Black Jack what Slade told him. Black Jack admits that the story is true, but asks Derringer not to reveal to Anne that she is really his daughter. Derringer assures him that his secret is safe with him. Preparations for the opening of school proceed, but Martin is concerned about Anne's safety and also asks Jimmy to keep an eye on a valuable payroll shipment due on the next stage. Jimmy and Cannonball are riding guard on the stage when Derringer and his gang attack it, but Jimmy foils the holdup and takes Jed, one of the gang, prisoner. When Derringer tries to blackmail Black Jack into releasing Jed, Black Jack draws his gun intending to kill him. Before the marshal pulls the trigger, Derringer informs him that he has written a letter detailing Black Jack's history and has left instructions that, if anything happens to him, the letter is to be sent to the authorities. That night, Jimmy and Anne are out walking when they see Jed escaping. Jimmy goes after him and recaptures him. Meanwhile, Derringer has decided to silence Jed and shoots him from a rooftop. After some of the citizens demand to know how Jed could have escaped, Black Jack offers to resign, but Jimmy defends him and persuades the others to retain him. Later, when Derringer learns that an ore shipment is in the express office waiting to be transferred to a bank, he and two henchmen make plans to take it. Black Jack tells Anne that he is worried about her safety and asks her to return East. Just then, Derringer stages his raid with his gang, but Jimmy and Cannonball ride after them. Jimmy shoots one of them, and Cannonball follows the dead man's horse back to Derringer's corral. Upset by this latest robbery, Martin accepts Black Jack's resignation. When Jimmy, Cannonball and Martin confront Derringer, he claims that he was not involved in the robbery and that he had earlier sold the horse. However, Jimmy still suspects him and he and Cannonball conspire to trap him. When Black Jack visits Derringer to demand the return of the ore, he tells him that he intends to make a citizen's arrest, even if it means that Anne will find out about his past. However, after one of Derringer's men pistol whips Black Jack, Jimmy and Cannonball throw a smoke bomb into Derringer's barn. Thinking that the barn is on fire, Derringer rushes to remove the hidden loot. Jimmy then discovers the letter Derringer has prepared and realizes that he has been blackmailing the marshal. When Derringer and his men try to escape, a fistfight breaks out. Black Jack recovers and, just as Derringer is about to shoot Jimmy, shoots the outlaw. With his dying breath, Derringer confesses that Slade told him that Black Jack was innocent of the federal officer's murder and that Slade had committed the crime. Later, Black Jack is able to tell a happy Anne that he is her father and resumes his job as marshal.