BIG JIM

by MARSHALL GROVER

If the killers had their way, the bride would soon be a widow!

The most powerful man in the territory coveted beautiful Selma Garfield. With her wedding to Nathan Page only a few days distant, Big Jim Rand rode into San Rafael and discovered that the bridegroom was an old army acquaintance. Naturally, the big man stayed to play bodyguard to Nathan, who had been threatened with violent death by the XL bunch, the minions of the power-hungry Kane Magnus. Naturally, there had to be a fight to the finish, with the rock walls of Trinidad Canyon echoing to the gun-thunder.

At showdown time … the big man needed a miracle!

Was this to be the last ride of Big Jim Rand? The killers awaited him dead ahead. Another of them rode directly behind him, covering his back. And, inside the disused shack, a desperate woman risked her life to give Jim a fighting chance of survival.

Big Jim had become the target for the professional assassins because his quarry, the elusive and badly scared Jenner, had posted a bounty on him. As well as the professionals, a trio of inept amateurs invited themselves to the ruckus, injecting humor into an otherwise grim situation.

Two could play the same game … and end up face to face!

Big Jim used to be Sergeant Rand of the 11th Cavalry. Now, as a civilian, he was on the trail of his brother's killer. When he rides into the town of Frankston in Northwestern Kansas, he soon finds himself on the trail of a gang of merciless desperadoes. For a disguise, those outlaws were using the uniform of the U.S. Army. The big man decided upon an equally unique disguise, and penetrated the lair of the lawless in a suit of sober black; he toted a Bible in one hand, a long-barreled Colt .45 in the other. And, as ever, aided (or hampered) by his Mexican sidekick, Benito Espina, they take on the duplicitous gang.

Io Reach The Bridge ... the Killers Had To Get Past Big Jim!

Beyond that bridge was the west bank of the Rio Colorado — beyond that the Utah border, and safety for the six gunmen who had looted the Delandro bank and ended the career of a veteran lawman. Between the outlaws and that bridge stood Kell Garrard, gambler, man-hunter, son of the murdered sheriff, and Hurst, the dead sheriff's loyal deputy, and grinning Benito Espina, who was never really loyal to anybody.

And last, but never the least, the tall, tough and formidable Jim Rand, the relentless avenger whose deadly gun-skill was destined to increase the odds against escape.

INTO ORTEGA VALLEY HE RODE ... TO BECOME A TARGET!

Like a black cloud, the threat of sudden death hung over Ortega, implacable; malevolent; ominous. The distraught mother of an executed killer had put a curse on the jury that convicted him. All twelve would die, she vowed.

Three had already died, when Big Jim Rand arrived, tagged by the insolent, itchy-fingered Benito Espina. Was the curse working? The tough ex-sergeant of the 11th Cavalry refused to believe in witchcraft. With no regard for the danger that threatened him, he stayed to challenge a cunning conspiracy to fight and win in a conflict of hard fists and blazing .45s.

Introducing Big Jim Rand.

The bullet that killed Chris Rand sounded the death-knell to one career and started another for the tall, tough and relentless Jim Rand—the man they called Big Jim.

To strife-torn Libertad, a trouble town on the Arizona/Mexico border, came Big Jim, hunting his brother's killer. It was inevitable that he should become involved in the struggle for power in Libertad. The conflict between Sheriff Luke Hillary, who had lost the use of his gun-arm, and the Block B outfit, the ten trigger-happy hellions led by the fearsome Old Man Burdette.

And never far behind Big Jim—was that pocket-picking little Mexcian, Benito Espino. The Mex sided with Big Jim in the final hectic showdown, and a strange alliance was born.

They came for diamonds—but found hot lead!

Leather-tough Big Jim Rand, ex 11th Cavalry sergeant, and reputed fast-gun, is on the train bound for Moredo. His traveling companions include wealthy Mexican ranchers and their womenfolk carrying a fortune in jewels, supposedly locked safely in the caboose.

But Big Jim's hunt for the man who murdered his brother is interrupted when twelve desperadoes make a play to steal the jewels. To his utter surprise, Big Jim sees the killer taking an active part in the holdup.

To reach his objective, the man-hunter declares war on all twelve of the raiders—and the consequences are violent.

Along a strange trail they faced new danger.

Big Jim Rand didn't plan on becoming the guest of honor at a shotgun wedding but that was what the roughneck Gillery brothers had in mind when they kidnapped him and his sidekick—Benito

And if that wasn't enough for the pair, outlaw Pete Holbrook and his cut-throat crew were closing in on the Gillery ranch, preparing to kidnap or even murder the high-spirited Lucy Rose, sister of the hard-boiled Gillerys.

With Big Jim and Benito caught in the middle of another dangerous intrigue, another crisis that could only end in a gunsmoke showdown…

A woman died. A hell-house burned to the ground.

Big Jim and Benito find themselves embroiled in another suspense-filled adventure when his quest to find his brother's murderer brings Big Jim to Cadiz City—the town wherein violence smoldered and flared bright.

Sarina Hale's legacy, all that her mother had to bequeath her, was a powder-keg with a naked fuse—the sealed diary of the woman who once operated the town's rowdiest house of entertainment.

Many a man coveted that book, fearful that their past sins were recorded between the leather-bound covers. To keep his guilt a secret, one was prepared to kill—and this was the man who would have to face Big Jim in mortal combat…

The tall avenger becomes…a One Man Jury.

Alvarez County looked to be pretty peaceful territory but Big Jim Rand and his sawn-off Mexican sidekick were soon locking horns with three belligerent defenders of the peace.

Big Jim was befriended by the beautiful and unpredictable Ruth Harnett and her father, the old hellion who had begun wreaking havoc with the Talbot Stage Line, fast-earning notoriety as The Laughing Ghost.

Here, Big Jim had to appoint himself judge, prosecutor and jury to challenge and defeat a quartet of deadly desperadoes…

Violence! Counterfeiters! Man-Hunter!

Tascosa, New Mexico, a town in which many a man played a double game, watching, waiting for an explosion of violence that would signify the end of a lawless intrigue.

Into that hell-town, hunting a back-shooting killer, and a gang of counterfeiters, rode Big Jim and his partner, Bentio Espina–the busiest pickpocket north of the Rio Grande.

Add to this battle of wits were the smiling, unscrupulous Mace Carrick, and Rowenstock, the shrewd and implacable lawman, and Shelly, the undercover gun, who, in the moment of crisis, had good cause to be grateful to Big Jim's intervention…

As the net of intrigue tightened Clay Morrow was trapped.

Clay Morrow should have stayed in his hometown of Ellistown, where life passed unhurriedly and the sound of gunfire hardly ever heard. But his rebellious instincts compelled him to ride out in search of a new identity and wild adventure.

In the blink of an eye, Clay was soon in more adventure, more trouble, more danger than he could handle. His trail crossed that of a desperate man who conspired to attack and loot and army supply wagon.

In that moment of crisis, Clay was thrown together with a veteran man-hunter, the astute and courageous Jim Rand, and his buck-toothed bravado from south of the border…