Lawless Land

Ranger Jeff Hayden receives a note from his friend Jim, the sheriff of a small town, asking for his help. Jeff arrives too late, however, getting there just moments after Jim is shot in the back in the dark. Clay Wheeler, a prominent local citizen, gets himself elected sheriff on the spot by declaring that a band of notorious cattle rustlers are behind the murder, and he begins organizing a posse. Jeff reveals that he is a ranger and is just about to take over when Ortego, a friend of Clay, brings news that Doc Tatum has also been found shot in the back. Ortego adds that a note was found beside Doc stating that he did not know the identity of Jim's killer. Jeff mulls over the situation and, the next day, finds out from store owner Lafe that Doc and Jim were friends of the late father of Letty Winston, whose substantial inheritance has been slowly and underhandedly taken over by Clay. On a hunch, Jeff goes to Letty's ranch, which is now secretly owned by Clay, and drops hints to Clay that he has found clues that will shortly lead him to the killer. Clay and Ortego devise a scheme to discredit Jeff in Letty's eyes by setting him up in a compromising position with Ortego's dancer girl friend, Lolita. Clay and Ortego tell Letty that Jeff, whom she was beginning to like, is romancing Lolita, after which Clay finds Jeff and tells him that Lolita has information about the killer. Jeff notices that the shopping list Clay leaves for Lafe is written in the same handwriting as the note found by Doc's body, and then he goes to Lolita's room in the saloon. Jeff springs the trap Ortego has planned, and later foils him again when Clay and Ortego plan to ambush Jeff at a distant cabin. Jeff soon captures Ortego and makes him admit that Clay got Doc drunk once and had him substitute poison for medicine when Letty's father was ill, so that Clay would be able to obtain his ranch and Letty with it. Jeff rushes to the ranch, where Letty pensively awaits her marriage the next day to Clay. She refuses to believe Jeff's story, however, and Jeff is chased off by Clay's men. When he returns to town, he discovers that sleepy Lafe has let Ortego escape, and so, the next morning, Jeff, Lafe and their bartender pal, Bill, storm the ranch to capture Clay and free Letty. They stop the wedding in the nick of time, and after Jeff shoots Clay when he tries to use Ortego as a hostage, Jeff makes Ortego tell the truth to Letty. She finally believes that Clay murdered her father, then killed Jim and Doc in order to cover his evil deeds, and she happily agrees to continue the wedding with Jeff as the bridegroom.