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It was dusk when Todd Duncan sighted the man and his camp at a small oasis on the edge of the desert. Duncan, on his way to New Mexico to find work, knew better than to barge into a stranger's camp. After riding in and dismounting, he decided to make coffee before waking the stranger. When he called to the man, there was no response, so he walked over to find the man dead from a gunshot wound. It is then that he finds himself surrounded by Sheriff Matt Berryhill and his posse, their guns drawn. He identifies the dead man as Jerry Swindin, who had been shot during an attempt to rob the express office. Assuming that Duncan is Swindin's partner, young Parton, who had shot and killed the express agent, the sheriff wastes no time arresting him, despite the fact the he claims his name is Todd Duncan and has letters to prove it. When they arrive at the jailhouse, Jeremiah Parton, an old man claiming to be a preacher and being held as an accomplice to the robbery, identifies Duncan as his son in the hopes that his son will have enough time to escape before the truth is discovered. The trial is set for the next day, with Preacher Parton as the key witness. Duncan isn't sure how fair a trial it will be, especially after learning that the judge is the murdered man's brother-in-law. It may not matter, though, because emotions are running high and there's a mob forming with talk of a lynching... Read more...
