One Man's Law

The citizens of Trailcross, Texas lobby to have the railroad built through their town instead of through neighboring Mesa City. Railroad vice-president Russell Fletcher assures them during a town meeting that the invaluable transportation contract will be theirs if they share in the cost of the construction and if they maintain law and order in their town. Their meeting is interrupted by a group of rabblerousers who the citizens suspect were sent by Red Mathews, a Mesa City outlaw. As time passes, the raids continue and force the Trailcross citizens to desert their homes. One day, wandering cowboy Jack Summers and his pal, Nevady, are approaching Trailcross' outskirts when Nevady advises Jack to wait while he enters the town first. Knowing that two disheveled drifters will not be welcomed, Nevady charges through town announcing that Jack is a notorious bandit. His infamous reputation established, Jack is treated with cautious respect and becomes the town hero when he runs out Mathews' henchman, Frank Hudkins. Leading citizen Judge Wingate and prominent cattle rancher Stevens offer Jack the job of marshal, which he accepts after saving the lives of Joe Winters and his family by stopping the runaway horses leading their wagon. Jack then goes after Mathews and his gang, who spooked Winters' horses, and even though the gang escapes, the townspeople vow that they will support Jack and fight to win the railroad. Stevens, who has invested heavily in Mesa City and is the ringleader of Mathews' gang, orders Mathews to send Kells and Moyer, who grew up in Trailcross, to win Jack's confidence. Meanwhile, Jack flirts with Joyce Logan, a café owner who had previously been cold to him, and the next day at a town meeting, the citizens raise the funds needed for the construction. Stevens suggests that Jack, accompanied by Kells and Moyer, take the money to a bank in nearby Cedar Creek. On the way, Kells and Moyer steal the money, then escape after Jack trails them to Mesa City and identifies Stevens as their leader. Jack returns to Trailcross, where he tells a suspicious Joyce about the incident. She mistrusts Jack but agrees to keep the theft a secret so that he can locate the money before the next day's town meeting, during which the funds are to be presented to Fletcher and railroad president Pendergrast. The next day, Jack and Nevady retrieve the money from the gang in Mesa City and reach Trailcross after a fight on horseback. They capture Kells, and after Jack returns the money to Wingate, Kells confesses his involvement. Stevens shoots Kells before he is implicated, but is then trampled by a runaway stagecoach as Jack chases him. Later, after Pendergrast announces that Trailcross will be a stop on the new railroad, Joyce and Jack sneak into her café for a private celebration, while the townspeople cheer in the streets.