Zane Grey's Stories of the West #30
"Dude Rancher" delivers a gripping Western showdown in Zane Grey's Stories of the West #30 (1956), where lawman Elfego Baca stands alone against a mob of eighty angry cowboys after arresting cowboy McCarty. Written by Gaylord Du Bois and illustrated by Albert Micale, the story captures the tense standoff as Baca holds the line in a mud-plastered jacal, enduring a thirty-three-hour siege. The cover by Albert Micale perfectly frames the moment’s intensity, making this a standout in the series.
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Elfego Baca makes citizen's arrest of cowboy McCarty for shooting up the place, locks him in the jail at Frisco, New Mexico. foreman Perham of the Slaughter ranch where McCarty is a hand, demands his release. Baca refuses. A mob of eighty cowboys and ranchers ride on the little Latin-American settlement. Baca insists on taking the prisoner to the county seat in Soccoro, the mob lays siege a mud-plastered jacal, or shack, where Baca takes refuge. The thirty-three hour siege of bullets leaves Baca unharmed. Baca is twice acquitted of the shooting incident, and becomes a well-known lawyer.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).