Hang Him High — Lewis B. Patten

Here are two short novels by Lewis B. Patten, written at the height of his powers, collected now
for the first time in book form. Dance-Hall Gal is the story of young Tom Otis. Since he was old
enough to ride herd, he worked on his father s Anchor Ranch. When his father died suddenly, he
inherited Anchor. It was then that Will Geier of the Adams City bank informed Tom that there
was a lien on the ranch because of a $10,000 note owed to the bank by Tom s father. Geier
successfully prevents Tom from rounding up any Anchor cattle to sell in order to pay the note,
and arranges for the ranch to be sold at auction. It is a narrow corner in which to be, and Tom
discovers that his only ally appears to be Lily Street, a singer in the Colorado Saloon.
In Hang Him High, after ten years away, some of that time riding with an outlaw gang, Lew Moffit
returns to the family ranch outside the town of Kennebeck. Lew s mother died when he was born.
His father was later hanged, charged with robbery and murder, and then his brother Jess was
hanged, convicted of rustling. The man behind these hangings was John Kennebeck, the powerful
rancher after whom the town is named. The scaffold on which Lew s father and older brother
were hanged is still standing in Kennebeck, kept there by John Kennebeck, waiting for Lew Moffit,
should he ever return. It is in this shadow that Lew has to fight to make good a conflict that only
increases when it becomes obvious to Lew that Kennebeck was behind what amounted to the
legal murders of both his father and brother and will not stop until Lew, the last of the Moffits,
meets the same fate.