Wild Western #14 (1951)

Several years ago, the Krug family settled into Blackton County. They were: Papa Krug, an old drunk; Blanche the daughter who dreamed of living in high society; and three brothers Vic, Don and Dick who were card dealing, foul mouthed drunks. Their father had married to a rich woman and after she dropped dead, they squandered her fortune. After the Krug boys got in trouble back east they were forced to flee west where they ran out of money and lived in their decapitated home. With no money and a lack of desire to get an honest living leaves the Krug family wondering what to do next, they then side with an outlaw named Markley and his posse. Salvation comes when a stage coach pulls in and the riders ask if they can stay the night to ride out a storm that has come through the area. The Krug family decides to take them in for the night, and when they notice that a number of crates the Krug boys decide to rob the stage coach riders and murder the passengers to keep it quiet. Although Blanche protests the idea, the Krug brothers decide to use their ill gotten fortune to repair their home and turn it into an inn to lure more victims to rob. Their cheap prices attract a large number of visitors, all of which never leave the property alive. Several weeks later, the Black Rider is visiting Fort Langely and meets with the captain. The captain is worried that his father has not arrived in the scheduled stage coach and tells the masked hero about the stages that have gone missing in the past few weeks. The Black Rider decides to investigate where these coaches have been disappearing to and promises the captain he will do whatever he can to try and find his father. The Black Rider follows the back trail and the first. This eventually leads them to the Krug Inn, the last place where all the coaches were seen. One of the Krug brothers tells the Black Rider that the coaches all left. However, as the Black Rider leaves the Inn he finds that there are outlaws working the horses on the ranch and finds it suspicious. He doubles back and decides to get a room for the night. Blanche is instantly smitten by the Black Rider and warns him that it is dangerous to stay and tells him that he may be murdered. The Krug brothers silence her and tell the Black Rider that he has nothing to worry about. The hero begins searching around the property and is confronted by one of the Krug brothers and Markley who deny any wrong doing. The Black Rider notices loose dirt on the property, but his questions about it are dismissed. That night while dinner is being served, the outlaws try to poison the Black Rider's meal, but he sees through this by feeding his meal to the dog, killing it. The Rider then pretends that it was an accident and pretends to retire for the night. The hero sneaks out and changes into his alter ego of Matthew Masters and gets another room for the night. Masters then slips out of his room and then slips into the room he got as the Black Rider. He then waits for someone to try and kill him. He is not disappointed when a man comes through a hidden trap door in the floor. The Black Rider fights off the man, but he dies when he falls on his own knife. Deciding that there is a way to catch the Krug family and their outlaw friends, the Black Rider wraps up the killer in a sack and changes back into Doc Masters. When the Krug family comes to investigate the noise, they find Masters and "ease" his mind and send him back to his room. Masters changes back into the Black Rider and goes out into the yard just as Blanche Krug catches her brothers burying the "Black Rider" and accuses them of being murderers. The real Black Rider appears and guns down the remaining Krug members. The Black Rider then calls the authorities who recover the bodies of all the Krug victims.