Thrilling Days of Yesteryear: Almost the Truth—The Lawyer's Cut

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Riders of Death Valley – Chapter 11: The Fatal Blast

 
OUR STORY SO FAR:  While Kirby, Davis and Gordon are celebrating Jim Benton’s reported death, Benton and his Riders return to Panamint.  Hiding their horses in Jackson’s livery stable, they go to Kirby’s saloon and force Gordon to admit the killing of Lafe Hogan.

Gordon, about to implicate Kirby and his associates, is killed by a shot from outside.

Pandemonium breaks loose, Wolf and his pack rush in, Jim shoots out the lights and he and Tombstone race to Jackson’s barn.  They find Jackson lying on the floor and…

Okay, a couple of things:

1) Kirby (James Blaine), Davis (Monte Blue) and Gordon (William Hall) did not “celebrate” Benton’s (Dick Foran) alleged death.  They did have a few drinks, but it was probably five o’clock somewhere.

2) Gordon cannot implicate Kirby and his associates…because he has just the one associate: Davis. 

 3) I apologize for not knowing that the livery stable guy (Slim Whitaker) actually had a name in “Jackson.” (I think I called him “Slim” last week because of the actor.)

And now that that’s out of the way, you’ll no doubt recall that Jim and Tombstone (Buck Jones) were ambushed in the barn by three more no-goodniks on the payroll of Joseph Kirby—the actors are not identified at the IMDb but the characters are Green, Fisk and Berry—and during the ensuing display of fierce fisticuffs, a lantern is carelessly knocked over, setting the structure ablaze.  (Damn it, we can’t have nice things…)


If you think our heroes are going to perish in a fiery stable hell, then you are at the wrong blog, friends and neighbors.  Jim manages to get Tombstone out of the burning livery and across the street to some steps…where their compadres Pancho (Leo Carrillo), Borax Bill (Guinn “Big Boy” Williams) and Tex (Glenn Strange) join them.

PANCHO: Did you know the barn was on fire?
JIM: Where do you think we’ve been?
(An identified man runs up to the group)
MAN: Hey!  There’s a lot of horses movin’ around in the corral in the back of the barn—give me a hand!
PANCHO: Sure, I’ll give you my hand—let’s went!
(Pancho and the others rush off)
TOMBSTONE: Hey, Jim…I got a great idea…
JIM: What now?
TOMBSTONE: Let’s start that fight all over again…
JIM: Listen, Tomb…if you’re that rested up, we’ve got other work to do…
TOMBSTONE: Work?
JIM: Yeah…let’s round up the boys and get back to the mine as quick as we can…

In the meantime, Davis, Kirby and Kirby’s hired gun Wolf Reade (Charles Bickford) commiserate in the back office of Kirby’s Y’all Come Back Saloon…


KIRBY (to Wolf): Why didn’t you plug Benton…while you had a good chance?
DAVIS: Well, I did my part…I saved all our necks when I shot Gordon…

“And that entitles me to the last cookie for dessert…”

DAVIS: …then Wolf lets Benton get away!
WOLF: Aw, stop whimpering like a coupla coyote pups…you got nothing to worry about…my men will get Benton…

There is then a quick cut to a shot of Jim and the remaining Riders hauling ass and elbows on horseback out of town as Wolf’s second-in-command, Butch (Lon Chaney, Jr.) and his co-henchie Trigger (Jack Rockwell) run up.  Butch asks a passerby if that was Jim and his gang riding out of the town, and receives an answer in the affirmative.  The gentleman also tells the two goons that Fisk, Berry and Green were in the barn when it went up like a Roman candle.  (I guess this means Kirby needs to start worrying.)

BUTCH (entering Kirby’s office): Wolf!  Benton wiped out the men you had planted in the barn!  He set fire to her and hightailed out of town!
KIRBY: You gotta get Benton, Wolf…if it’s the last thing you do!
WOLF: I’ll get ‘em…now listen…just plant some other charge on Benton that he’ll have a hard time getting out of!  Now it’s up to you two to see Judge Knox and swear out a warrant!  Butch, take Trigger and Rusty…see Haskell at Mud Lake…tell him I want six of his best men!

Well, this isn’t a positive sign for the local economy.  Reade is hiring out-of-town goons.  As Butch and Trigger rush out of the office to do Wolf’s bidding, Reade snarls at Kirby and Davis: “We’ll get him this time…”

A scene shift reveals that it is now daylight, and we’re back at the Lost Aztec Mine…where co-owner Mary Morgan (Jean Brooks), the undeclared sweetheart of Jim Benton, is supervising the drones that are working hard to make her and Jim filthy, stinking rich.  She consults with an assistant foreman named “Salty,” played by B-western/serial veteran Edmund Cobb, because Noah Beery, Jr.—who appeared earlier in this serial as “Smokey”—has vanished without a trace.  (I’m not making this up, by the way.  Glenn Strange has more screen time in this than Noah, and he doesn’t even get to pose for that group picture I put up before every chapter write-up.)


SALTY: We’ll be pullin’ plenty of high-grade ore out of that tunnel before Jim and the boys get back…
MARY: Well…I wish they’d get back soon
SALTY: You ain’t thinking they won’t…?
MARY: They won’t…unless Jim can clear himself of that murder charge
SALTY: Aw, he will, all right…and then all his troubles will be hog-tied…

I think I just found a new e-mail closing.  “May all your troubles be hog-tied…”

MARY: Not all of them, Salty…we gotta get enough ore into Panamint to buy off Kirby’s note…
SALTY: Shucks…we can do that in a month with the way the men are workin’ now…
MARY: Yeah…if Blake doesn’t stir up any more trouble…

Blake!  That vichyssoise  Apparently Kirby has once again infiltrated the human resource rolls of JimMar Mining with his own men (you’ll recall similar troubles with “Buck Hansen” in Chapters 8 and 9), and their sworn duty is to interfere with the company by keeping them from mining enough ore to pay off the note.  (Also, too: they’ve been taking unauthorized work breaks and there are some boxes of staples missing.)

MARY (getting up); Salty, I’m gonna fire him…
SALTY: You can’t!
MARY: Why?!!

“He’s already had his three-month evaluation…if you let him go now, it’ll have to be for cause.”

SALTY: Because he’s got a heap of friends among the men…we don’t want them all to quit…

Oh, I seriously doubt Blake has that many friends.  As if it were scripted, a group of men ride up on the mine shaft lift…and one of them explains to Mary that they’re on another work break because they’ve had a meeting with the odious Blake, played by Don Rowan.

MARY: What’s the meaning of this, Blake?
BLAKE: It means I’m quittin’!  I’m all through, see?  Unless Benton gives me and the rest of the boys here twice as much dough as we’re gettin’ now!
MINER: He’s right!  Lower the lift…more men want to come up!
MARY: Hold it!  Now wait a minute, men…the least you can do is wait until Jim gets back!  And as for you, Blake…
BLAKE: Just a minute!  (To the group) Listen, men…we’re fools to be workin’ for this kind of money…what about the ore we took out of this mine?!!

Blake and Company would appear to be examples of what many of my conservative Facebook chums describe as “union agitators.”  But we’ll not have to mix with their kind for much longer (the agitators, I mean, not my chums) because Jim and the others have come riding up, and Mary runs over to meet them.  They’ll take care of this Bolshevist insurrection, I’ll bet!


BLAKE: All you gotta do is stick with me!  I know things you men don’t know!  All you gotta do is put a little pressure on Benton and he’ll give in!  And unless Benton…
JIM (interrupting him): Unless Benton what?
BLAKE: Listen…we’re takin’ a lot of high-grade ore out of here and we ain’t gettin’ our share…
JIM: You’re being paid a salary to do a job…that’s all you’re entitled to…

“So get back there and start greeting Walmart shoppers, ya goldbrick…”

BLAKE: Yeah? Well, when Kirby gets control of this mine…
JIM: Oh—so Kirby sent you down here, huh?  (To the rest of the group) Men…if I can prove that Joe Kirby sent this man down here to break up this camp and get control of this mine—will you go back to work?  (The men murmur in agreement)  All right…every man that sticks with me will get a bonus as soon we get out of debt…now come clean, Blake—who sent ya?

Blake has no desire to “come clean”…and instead, throws a punch at Benton, signaling the start of another brawl between management and labor.  Now, fistfights in Universal serials are a pretty dreary affair as a rule (they weren’t as well-choreographed as Republic’s, nor one-guy-against-six-men as in Columbia’s) but this one is punctuated by amusing color commentary from Tombstone, who’s watching from the sidelines.  (“What is this—a Holy Roller meeting?” he asks at one point.)  After a spirited donnybrook, the troublemaker is subdued and made to look foolish in front of his friends.

Asked as to who he’s stooging for, Blake admits that he’s on Kirby’s payroll.  “On your way!” orders Jim as he grabs him by the back of the collar and aims him for the exits.  (“Adios!” adds Pancho, while Borax chimes in with “Vamoose!”)  Tombstone tells the rest of the crowd that what Jim said about the bonuses still goes, and they head back to their menial mining tasks.  Jim then instructs Pancho and Tex to round up the rest of Blake’s friends and order them to clear out, prompting Pancho to again refer to the malcontents as “alligators,” because he secretly wants to be Leo Gorcey.


JIM: Hey, Salty… (Salty walks over)  How are things down below?
SALTY: Fine…we’ve uncovered a vein in the old Aztec that’ll run…better than fifteen hunnerd to the ton…
JIM: Say—that’s rich ore…if we had some more miners we’d soon pay off that debt…
TOMBSTONE: Wait a minute, Jim—what’s the matter with Johnson?  He’s not running a full crew…
JIM: Hey…that’s a good idea, Tomb…let’s go…

So Tombstone, Jim and Mary ride off to meet with this mysterious “Johnson”…and as they stop at a ridge to decide which trail is the best to follow, they’re spotted from below by Butch, Trigger and Rusty (Ethan Laidlaw).  Butch orders his fellow henchies to duck back down where the trail narrows in order for them to ambush our heroes when they come a-ridin’ by.  As the bad dudes hide, they stir up a cloud of dust that does not escape the notice of Jim Benton, CSI Panamint.  Tombstone suggests that he take a look, and he’s able to sneak up on those rough men—he then doubles back to give Jim the skinny:


JIM: Who was it?
TOMBSTONE: Aw, Butch and a couple of Wolf’s gang—they’re layin’ for us!  (Handing a shotgun to Mary) Can you handle a cannon?

“Sure…but why are you giving me this shotgun?”

JIM: What’s the big idea?
TOMBSTONE: Get down off your horse…you’ll find out!  You better, too, Miss…

Miss?  You forget her name already, old timer?  A scene shift finds Butch and the others waiting for our heroes to ride by, as Mary walks up to them bold as brass with the shotgun.  They pay no attention to Mary (well, she’s a girl) but are puzzled when three horses go by sans riders.  “There are the horses,” observes Butch.  “Where are the riders?”


Tombstone and Jim are right above them.  “Right behind you, mi amigos!” gloats Tomb, as he jumps down to disarm the men.  Our heroes put the baddies on their horses, and tell them “never you mind!” when Butch asks where they’re taking them.

Back at the mine, Tex, Pancho and Borax Bill are digging around a section as Pancho brags about his knowledge of gold.  When Borax expresses skepticism that Pancho knows so much, his friend explains that he dug a lot of it back in Mexico.  “Then why didn’t you stay there, then?” scoffs Bill.

Pancho dismisses his ignorant friend, telling him “All you know about the gold is what you got in your tooths!”  (Oh, funny Pancho.)

SALTY: You think that’s good ore…wait till you see what we take out of this new vein we’re opening up—here’s a sample…
BORAX (after striking it with a pickaxe) Don’t none of it look too good to me…

The four men look up to see Tomb, Jim and Mary ride in with the captured Butch, Trigger and Rusty—or “the three wolves coming” as Pancho describes them.  “Let’s went!” enthuses Borax.


PANCHO: Well!  You catch all that Wolf’s gang, huh?  Now we’re gonna have a big hangin’ fiesta…
JIM: Not yet, Pancho…we’re gonna put ‘em in the icebox, let cool ‘em off a little bit… (To Tex) Keep ‘em well-guarded…
PANCHO: Ha ha!  Didn’t I told you we were gonna catch you sometime, eh, Butch?
BUTCH (angrily): Aw, shut up, or I’ll…

Take them away, they bore me.  Well, just because Butch and the others were foolish enough to get themselves captured doesn’t mean that trouble isn’t still far away.  It’s in the form of Wolf Reade, who, with Davis, Dirk (Roy Barcroft) and a few other nameless thugs come riding up close to the mining camp.  They are stopped by henchman Pete (Dick Alexander), apparently out on a mission to see if he could locate any relatives under rocks.

WOLF: Whadja find out?
PETE: Haskell claims Butch, Trigger and Rusty never got to his place…
WOLF: They must have!
PETE: I don’t think so…I rode back by the funeral range and found Rusty’s hat…near Big Rock… (As Wolf examines the hat) There were a lot of horses millin’ around there, and I picked up Butch’s gun, too!
WOLF: Maybe they ran into some of Benton’s riders…
DAVIS: You’ll likely find them over at his camp…as prisoners
WOLF: Well, they won’t be there long…come on!


The bad guy contingent rides off in the direction of the mining camp, and in the next scene we see Salty carrying a keg of gunpowder towards one of the mining caves.  He asks Borax to take it the rest of the way, prompting Bill to reply “Whaddya think we are, pack mules?”  (“No…your ears are shorter.”)  Salty explains that he and another man (also carrying a powder keg) have got more work to do at another section of the mine, and so Bill and Tex carry the two kegs into a tunnel.  Inside the cave, two other miners are digging with pickaxes; Tex tells them it’s deep enough and Bill opens one of the powder kegs with his foot.  When Tex takes a shovel to open the second keg, Bill demonstrates his foot technique again.

Out of sight on a nearby ridge, Wolf and the outlaws ride up…

WOLF: All right, Davis…take your deputies and serve that warrant on Benton…that’ll bring them out in the open…
DAVIS: What are you gonna do?
WOLF: When you’re arguin’, we’ll sneak up and open fire…
DAVIS: Well…give me a chance to get in the clear before you start your battle…
WOLF: Don’t be afraid

I sort of get the feeling he’s not being sincere with that.  The two teams split up, one in the direction of Benton and Company, the other toward a stockade that’s holding Butch, Trigger and Rusty…and that’s being guarded by Salty (I guess this is the other work he had to do).  With established footage of Salty being a proper guard, the scene then shifts to Jim and Mary as they head toward the cave into which Tex and Bill carried the powder.  Mary spots Davis and a pair of deputies riding up in the distance.

MARY: I wonder what Davis wants?
JIM: You better go in and tell the boys to come out and be ready for trouble… (He walks over to where Davis and his men are pulling up on their horses) Hello, Davis…what’s on your mind?
DAVIS: Benton…in the name of the law, I arrest you in the matter of…
JIM: Wait a minute!  On whose authority are you making this arrest?
DAVIS: I have the authority as a deputy marshal of Panamint…sworn in by the town marshal! These two men are my deputies…
JIM: Ah hah…aren’t you aware that the town marshal’s authority does not extend beyond the city limits?

While inside the mine…

MARY: Davis and some men just rode up…Jim wants you…
BORAX: Davis?
TEX: What does that hombre want?
BORAX: Trouble!  Time’s a-wastin’!

You tell ‘em, Snuffy!  Mary, Borax, Tex and the other two men race out of the mine and rush over to help Jim…

JIM: I’ll give you just three minutes to get off of here…
DAVIS: You’ll regret this, Benton!  There’s still law in this country!

“The best that money can buy!”

JIM: That’s what I intend to prove before I’m through—now go on!


Davis and the deputies ride off “into the clear,” and that’s when Reade and his men make their move.  There is a lot of shooting, and one thing I can’t quite figure out in this serial is why so many shots fired never hit anybody or cut them down.  (You’d think an innocent bystander would take a slug even if the men weren’t all poor marksmen.)  During the shootout, a careless Salty is too engrossed in missing the bad guys with his rifle to notice that Butch has grabbed him through the wooden fence; he knocks out the sentry, and he along with Trigger and Rusty make a break for it.  “I knew Wolf would show up!” burbles Butch.  (“Wolf is my friend!”)

As the massive exchange of gunfire continues, Jim directs Mary to duck back into the cave…a move that does not go unnoticed by Butch and Trigger, who give chase as the two enter the cave.  Jim tells Mary they need to head for the exit because he’s out of ammo and “they’re right behind us!”  Indeed they are—Butch tells Trigger: “The light’s behind us…so he can see us better’n we can see him…”

Jim and Mary wait until Butch and Trigger reach a certain part of the cave, then Jim attempts to take on both men in a manly display of fighting.  We’re pretty much at the end of the chapter this week, so I probably don’t need to tell you what happens: there’s fighting, a gunshot knocks a torch off the wall and it lands on the powder…


…and we pretty much wait for the place to blow up real good while Jim continues fighting.

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