Stagecoach Outlaws

When three masked outlaws hold up a Red River stagecoach and try to kidnap passenger Linda Bowen, cowboy Billy Carson rides to her rescue. Billy shoots and kills one outlaw and chases off the other two. Impressed, Linda and her father Jed, the owner of the stage line, later offer Billy a job protecting their beleagured coaches, but he declines, not wanting to be tied down. Meanwhile, the surviving outlaws, Joe Slade and Vic Dawson, report their botched kidnapping to their boss, saloon owner Steve Kirby. Unknown to Jed and Linda, Steve wants to force Jed to sell the stage line to him so that he can exploit the growing mining operations in the area. To that end, Kirby orders Vic and Joe to break bank robber Matt Brawley out of jail in nearby Cherokee, hoping not only that he will join the gang, but share his hidden loot as well. Before Joe and Vic arrive in Cherokee, however, Brawley overwhelms slow-witted Fuzzy Jones, who is temporarily in charge of the jail, frees himself and locks Fuzzy in his cell. When Joe and Vic show up at the jail, they assume that Fuzzy is Brawley and break him out. Fearful of what the outlaws would do if they knew the truth, Fuzzy decides to impersonate Brawley and rides with Joe and Vic to Red River. There, Fuzzy is spotted by Billy, an old friend, but pretends not to know him. After Billy brawls with Vic in Kirby's saloon, he overhears Fuzzy introducing himself to Kirby as Brawley and becomes concerned. Billy follows Fuzzy, Vic and Joe to a ghost town hotel, where the outlaws drill Fuzzy about his hidden money. Just then, Billy rings the front desk bell, and while Joe and Vic search for a possible intruder, Billy is able to speak briefly to Fuzzy, who reveals his plight. Vic and Joe then tell Fuzzy they will cut him in on a lucrative proposition if he joins their gang and shares his loot. As Billy tries to eavesdrop on their conversation, he is taken by surprise by Vic, but manages to escape after a fight. In Red River, meanwhile, Kirby tells Linda that he wants to buy the stage line, but she informs him that her father will never sell. When Billy shows up and questions Kirby's interest in the troubled line, Kirby shoves Billy, provoking a fight. Jed stops the brawl, and afterward, Billy offers to protect the upcoming payroll shipment. The next day, Billy, wearing a serape and painted moustache, transports the payroll in a cart, while Jed's stagecoach, which Joe and Vic force a terrified Fuzzy to rob, carries a strongbox filled with lead washers. After Kirby learns about Billy's trick, Brawley shows up in Red River, demanding to see his impersonator. Billy overhears Brawley's threats and rides to the ghost town to warn Fuzzy. Billy arrives at the same time that Fuzzy is sneaking out of the hotel, and the two join forces against Joe and Vic, who have kidnapped Linda. While Fuzzy leads Brawley and Joe on a frantic chase, Billy fights with Vic in the hotel. Fuzzy and his pursuers finally return to the hotel, where Fuzzy hogties Brawley, frees Linda and helps Billy overwhelm Joe and Vic. In Red River, the arrested Vic is about to implicate Kirby as his boss when Kirby shoots him through an open window. Billy, in turn, shoots Kirby, thereby ending Jed's troubles. Later, Billy bids farewell to Jed and Linda, while Fuzzy leads Brawley back to jail.