The Outlaw Reforms

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Bill, squatter, while playing it the side of the hill, accidentally discovers silver. Just at this time, Tex, foreman of the Diamond Ranch, comes along and realizes the valuable find that the boy has made, and hastens to file a claim for the land. Bill rushes home to show the bright, shining article to his father, who also realizes the value of the discovery and sends a sample to the assay office in Washington. Meanwhile, two months elapse and Bill's mother dies. As they are burying her on the hillside, Tex shoots the old man from ambush and steals the silver claim from the boy. Several years elapse, and the boy, embittered by the hardships of his life, has become an outlaw, and we see him first leading several horses that he has stolen from the Indians. He takes particular delight in spreading terror and eluding capture just for the sheer pleasure it gives him. Hard pressed by the Indians and pursued by the sheriff, he points the arrow of the advancing band of Indians after the sheriff, then, with dare-devil effrontery, he helps the sheriff drive them off and makes him an ally. In a spirit of bravado, he holds up a stagecoach merely to ask for a chew of tobacco and, later, while pursued by his arch enemy, Tex. and a posse, he succeeds in lassoing Tex and makes him his prisoner, after he has taken his station at the foot of the hills on the lookout for the outlaw. After a series of exciting adventures he again shows his good nature by going to the defense of the stagecoach when it is attacked by the Indians. Mary, the sheriff's daughter, is the only passenger in the coach, and when he receives a slight wound, she dresses it. This is the first touch of a woman's hand that he has known since the death of his mother, and it has a most wonderful effect on the outlaw. This is really the beginning of the end of his wild career. He finally accepts a job and starts wooing Mary, ultimately marrying her. During the wedding celebration, Tex, returning for his revenge, encounters Bill and, in a rough and tumble fight, accidentally shoots himself. The story is cleverly worked out during which time the spectator is treated to a series of dare-deviltry, sensational riding and hair-breadth escapes, with the interest cleverly sustained from beginning to end.