Lash LaRue Western #2

Wagonwheels has finally shed his reputation as an insufferable braggart—or so he claims when the townsfolk of Hopelessville try to dodge him yet again. But this reformed gunslinger's declaration of change comes with a twist that proves old habits die hard in the frontier.

Roving Marshal Lash LaRue discovers a miner's hat blown down from Stone Mountain and decides to return it—only to stumble upon a ruthless gang of outlaws who've murdered the mine owner and stolen his silver shipment. Shot and left for dead, Lash must play possum and outmaneuver a crew of six gunhands intent on keeping their crime hidden before the real bloodbath begins.

Molasses Mouth tackles a math problem with wildly questionable logic in this one-page western humor tale from 1949. When challenged to prove that five can fit into one, he delivers a punchline that's equal parts confident and completely wrong—measuring arithmetic prowess against footwear. It's the kind of frontier foolishness that makes this early Lash LaRue Western installment a quick, silly read.

Lash LaRue, a roving marshal, arrives in Hedge City to keep an eye on the troublemaker Biff Calhoun, only to find himself tangled up in a scheme involving a stolen safe combination and a series of misadventures sparked by his nearsighted friend Squinty. When Calhoun makes his move to rob the Lazy K Ranch, Lash must track down the culprit and untangle the chaos before the real criminal slips away.

Saddlehead's twisted logic leads him to insist he was once a twin—because when his uncle saw a picture of him at age two, there must have been two of him! This lighthearted western tall tale plays out the absurd reasoning of a befuddled cowpoke who's convinced his own childhood arithmetic adds up, no matter how little sense it makes to everyone around him.

When Dusty reluctantly heads into town for a much-needed haircut and shave on the boss's orders, he runs into a barber with a peculiar business philosophy—and an overeager apprentice who's fresh out of barber college. What should be a quick trip to get neat turns into a comedic ordeal as Dusty navigates the hazards of questionable technique and well-meaning but chaotic assistance.

When a band of robbers strikes near Cactus Junction, Lash LaRue is called in to track them down—but the trail leads him back to Ulster Gulch, where nothing is quite as it seems. The roving marshal discovers that the criminals have found the perfect hideout: the town jail itself, operating under the control of a secret mastermind pulling the strings from the shadows. Now Lash must uncover the truth before the culprits slip through his fingers once again.