Trapped Traders

Originally Aired: December 19, 1938 The Lone Ranger #920, "Trapped Traders," finds trapper Hank Baxter and his three sons—Greg, Phil, and Ray—making their way through the mountains after a successful season, their pack horses loaded with valuable beaver pelts. Their fears about former partner Chris and the notorious outlaw Reno Ryan prove well-founded when Reno's gang ambushes them on the trail. Despite Reno's offer to let them go if they surrender their furs peacefully, Hank recognizes the lie and realizes the outlaws plan to kill them regardless. The Baxters take cover behind rocks and refuse to give up the pelts they worked all winter to obtain, even as Greg suffers a bullet wound. Twenty-four hours into the standoff, the Lone Ranger and Tonto hear gunfire in the distance and investigate. They discover the desperate situation: the Baxters pinned down behind inadequate cover with Reno's superior force firing down on them from the hill above. The masked rider quickly assesses that the trappers cannot escape across the open ground without being slaughtered, and facing Reno Ryan—the worst killer in the district—they can expect no mercy.