Boy's Cinema (1930-31)

Every Tuesday BOY'S CINEMA ^ Helen Clayton became an outlaw to get even with a crook—and Jim Logan, a resourceful Texas Ranger, was sent to arrest her for a murder she had not committed. A splendid drama of the West, starring Buck Jones and Carmelita Geraghty. Burned Out! IN Lorado Vnlley, Texas, one of the most fertile areas of rolling plain and wooded hollow in the cattle country of the J,one Star .State, the name of Matt Taylor was hated and feared by all decent ranchers. Avaricious and imscrupulons, he had persuaded the wilder and coerced the weaker of the settlers to join forces witti him, so that he liad become the head t.f a liiige cattle syndicate and an absolute tyrant. Bnt this was not enough to &at.c his greed : he wanted the w hole of the Valley to himself, and he had de- cided uiion drastic measures {o secure it Time and again he hud interviewed and threatened the few who dared to hohl out against his insolent demands. Now, considering himself to be above the kiw', he projiosed to obtain by force what he could not obtain by 'tunning or intimidation. lie chuckled in a manner ugly to liear as he looked down through the dusty panes of a window of his office over the Syndicate Saloon in the little towji of Bellington. A dozen of his hirelings were riding out into the valley to attach to the front doors of ranch-houses copies of an idtinnatuin which he had drawn up in this form: "Be out of Lorado Valley by 5 o'clock or be smoked out. "Last warning. "Matt Taylor." "By morning," lie said triumphantly, movitig back to his desk and addressing Ed Ixiiining, who was seated beside it tugging nervously at his moustache, and Siim Lanning, who was standing liy the door as though he would like to escape, "there won't be a rancher left in the valley ! Every acre of grazing land will belong to us !" :Mii%-^. lie dropped into his chair and glanced across at Ed Lanning. Ed and his brother Sam had been the last to fall in line with Taylor's demands, and their ranch—now absorbed by the syndicate- was one of the largest. '■ I know it's pretty strong medicine, Lanning," he said, "but it's the only way we oan get rid oT these mangy homesteaders. There's only room for one rancli in Lorado Valley—and that's oar Syndicate outfit." "Don't you think you're going a bit too far, Matt?" ventured Ed Lanning. "There is such a thing as the law, and. though you may be sheriff around here, and owner of most of the town, there ore swch people as the Texas Rangers, and " "What's the matter with you?" broke in Taylor liarshly. "You getting yellow-? I don't want any welshers trailin' with ine. I'm after big stakes, and I want men I oan depend on. It ain't too late for you Ijanning brothers to go over to the other side^if you want to !" Ed Lanning's hand slid from liis moustache to his throat, which it caressed almost tas though it were in danger. He smiled feebly at the narrow- eyed but - otherwise good-looking HELP THE NEWSAGENT. Have you ever thought how difficult ■t IS for a newsagent to order just the right number of copies of any particular paper each week ? You can make his task much easier if you place a regular order with him. You will not only help him to order cor- rectly and avoid waste,but will make sure of getting your copy regularly each week. seliemer, and he liked not at all the malevolent twi.^t of those thick lips be- ■:mm^ neath the fiery red mous- tache, the glint iti those dark eyes that glared at him. "Why, we're with you. Matt, what- ever you think best," he managed to say. "Sure," added his brother hastily, lest he, too, should be suspected of dis- loyalty. "Haven't we always done what you've asked ot us? " "Then you can help tonight, dei;ir friends." taunted Taylor, "Wo shall need all the boys, I guess—and there may be trouble with the Clayton crowd," He dismissed the two with a wave of his hand, and they were glad lo go. But that night they were doomed to take part in a lawless raid that, sickened them. Taylor's men had attached the notices* to ranch-house doors—mostly with ttio aid of knives, to give added significance to the threat—but not one of those who were warned had abandoned their property by nightfall, and at nightfall 'J'aylor and all his men rode out of Bellington, carrying lanterns and flaming torches. Six ranchers tliere remained in Lorado Valley who had defied Matt Taylor, | and all save the Claytons had small holdings. One after another they were smoked out—which is to say that their barns and outbuildings and bunk-hous'es were burnerl to the ground and their ranch-houses set on fire. | Two of the six showed fight, but \ ;igainst overwhelming numbers bowe<l to tlie inevitable. At the M-Bar-M, the smallest ranch in the district, old Martin Spearman and his wife wck; deserted by their outfit as the horsemen came rifling tluough the dark in a long procession, illuminated by the torches and lanterns they carried. The outfit was hardly to be blamed, for alreadv in three different directions September 19tU, 1931.