Black Rider #22 (1954)

As the Sierra Freight heads down the line toward Leadville, the passengers are unaware that the engineering compartment is being attacked by outlaws seeking to rob the money head for the Leadville Bank. One of the outlaws warns his allies not to go back and harm the passengers or face his wrath, but the others decide to tempt fate to loot the people on board. When one of the bandits tries to steal the gold necklace off the neck of a young woman aboard the train, she tries to stop him, telling him that it was a gift from her fiancee. However he tries to take it and the leader of the bandits opens fire on him. He flees the scene with his surviving companions following after him, just as the Black Rider arrives and gets the train back under control. Checking on the passengers he finds that the woman was hit by a bullet that passed through the body of her mugger, the Black Rider then rushes her to the office of his alter ego Dr. Matthew Masters for immediate medical attention. As Masters, the Black Rider patches the woman up and when she comes around she introduces herself as Laurie Vance. She explains that she traveled west to marry her fiancee Dan Royal and asks if Masters has ever heard of him. Matthew says he has not, while secretly crumpling up and throwing away a wanted poster offering a reward for Royal's capture, dead or alive. Masters tells Marie that he has to go out and get supplies, but really changes into the Black Rider and sends Marie Lathrop to keep an eye on Laurie while he is gone. The Black Rider racks down Dan Royal and his gang camping out. When Dan goes out to find game, the Black Rider ropes him up and confronts him over his crimes, telling him that he does not deserve his wife. The Black Rider gives him a chance to redeem himself by returning the stolen gold and telling everything to the sheriff, the Black Rider warns him if he fails to do so, he will go after him. Sure enough, Dan complies with the Black Rider's demands and when his former gang rides into town to retake their stolen loot, Dan helps the Black Rider run the gang down. In the aftermath of the battle the Black Rider tells Dan that he managed to get him a probationary pardon. Later, reunited with his bride-to-be, Dan thanks Matthew Masters for his help and tells the doctor that he plans on naming his first born after the physician.