Pirates of the Prairie (1942)

In one of his better early Westerns Tim Holt as Deputy Marshal Larry Durant is sent to Spencerville where a gang of vigilantes has been terrorizing the citizenry Going undercover as a gunsmith Larry quickly learns that the leader of the vigilantes John Spencer John Elliott is an honest man who only seeks to establish law and order The real brains behind the crimes meanwhile are revealed to be Spencers brotherinlaw Lou Harmon Roy Barcroft and his chief henchman Leighton Charles King who speculate in the coming of the railroad by forcing the townspeople to relinquish their land