Tom Mix Western #61

Tom Mix tangles with his dimwitted sidekick Saddlehead over a riddle about fruits in "Fruit Nutty!" — a quick burst of frontier wordplay humor that proves sometimes the joke lands better than the logic. Meanwhile, Pinto Pete shares his own tale of a ranch hand who took a very literal approach to a coat rack at Judge Farrel's party.

When a prize bull is struck and killed at the railroad station, rustlers seize the opportunity to weaponize the tragedy—coating the dead animal with phosphorous to create a ghostly phantom that terrifies ranch hands into abandoning their herds. Tom Mix must see through the supernatural hoax to track down the rustlers behind the scheme and recover the stolen cattle before the deception can be used again.

This issue contains three separate stories. Here are the synopses: **"Very Thoughtful!"** — Saddlehead arrives at the Mayor's house for dinner bearing gifts to show his appreciation, but his well-intentioned gesture lands with an unfortunate punchline. **"Horses Around!"** — Pinto Pete recounts a bizarre afternoon at the race track that left him saddled with an unusual predicament. **"Lost in the Night" (Chapter One)** — When two local boys discover stolen rifles buried on Tom Mix's ranch while playing, Tom realizes the bandits behind the arsenal robbery have been hiding right under the Sheriff's nose—but before he can fully investigate, his new hand Joe Turner reveals himself as part of the operation, leaving Tom in serious danger.

Jeeter accepts an invitation to manage the Prairie Nine baseball team, but his talking horse Preposterous is skeptical—especially after hearing tall tales about Jeeter's glory days as a pitcher, batter, and even a one-man football team. When Jeeter's recent firing from farm work (thanks to an ill-advised scheme involving radio, cows, and a butter-filled bathtub) leaves him desperate, he decides to take the job, leading to a battle of wits between the boastful manager and his wisecracking equine sidekick.

A case of twisted logic lands Saddlehead in hot water when he tries to convince Kress that people grow downwards—and the "proof" he offers is even sillier than the claim itself. This half-page humor tale from 1953 proves that sometimes the shortest arguments make the longest laughs.