Dead-Eye Western Comics #7

In this tale from Dead-Eye Western Comics, an oldtimer recalls the arrival of Doc Brown—a selfless physician who set up his office in a rough frontier town and proved willing to treat anyone, regardless of wealth or background. Through acts of mercy during emergencies and epidemics, Doc gradually wins over even the roughest residents, eventually earning enough respect to court Antonia, the banker's daughter. But on his wedding day, Doc faces a choice that will test just how deeply his commitment to healing runs.

When European immigrants Berne and Greta Bryman establish their farm in 1856 Missouri, they're hopeful for a fresh start—until a ruthless band of raiders burns out their neighbors and a cowardly local named Bill Slater begins extorting protection money. After Berne refuses and Slater seeks revenge by tipping off the raiders to a gold shipment, the ambitious farmer finds his home destroyed and his family in danger. Facing ruin but undeterred, Berne rallies his fellow settlers to take a stand against Duke Short's murderous gang once and for all.

Judge Bowers and his young associate Clarence arrive in the raw frontier town of Hope, Arkansas, where the Judge's convenient heart trouble keeps him from honest labor—leaving Clarence to bankroll their schemes with his wages. When a crooked poker game yields enough seed money, Judge Bowers hatches an ambitious land swindle, purchasing cheap prairie acreage and orchestrating the construction of a false town called Arcadia to lure wealthy settlers from the East with false promises of railroad connections and miraculous harvests. As eager buyers pour in and the con tightens, Judge Bowers arranges for hired hands to move the hastily built structures away under cover of darkness—but the scheme begins to strain under its own weight.

In 1891 Denver, Bill Stratton's obsession with finding gold keeps pulling him away from his contracting business, despite the pleas of his friend Mike Waters—dreams of nuggets at Chalk River prove too powerful to resist. After selling his company and squandering his savings on fruitless prospecting, Stratton is reduced to odd jobs while the town's hecklers mock his failed pursuits. When Mike offers him work and eventually stakes him with a hundred dollars to outfit one final expedition, Stratton sets out for unexplored territory near Cripple Creek, convinced this time he's truly on the trail of something big.

Bill Lappyn, a pint-sized English fireman hungry for real adventure, sails to Nevada in 1893 to work the dangerous spur-line railway that hauls payroll to the lead mines—but his first days in Colson bring him face-to-face with Jack Castell, a local bully whose gang has marked the payroll train for robbery. When Castell and his outlaws set up an ambush in the wilderness, Bill takes his post as cow-catcher lookout and prepares to defend the strongbox with nothing but his wits, his marksmanship medals, and his outsized courage.

A young lieutenant's first encounter with the legendary Cheyenne Dog Soldiers ends in tragedy, spurring him to join General Eugene A. Carr's punitive expedition across the Nebraska frontier in the summer of 1869. Working with chief scout Bill Cody, he devises a daring plan to draw out the Dog Soldiers and their cunning leader Tall Bull—offering himself and a small band as bait. When the trap springs and the Dog Soldiers charge, the lieutenant must hold his ground against overwhelming odds in a desperate fight along the Republican River.