PART 7

The Clean Shave Gang

 

The Arizona sun blazed down on the weathered cheek of Father Domingo Gutierrez as he stood before the gallows outside Yuma, Arizona. Behind him, three-dozen orphans from the Sangre de Cristo Orphanage watched in horror as the scene unfolded. Brother Ignacio Jimenez had only moments to live before he dangled from a noose for a robbery he didn’t commit. He knew he was innocent. They knew it. But the law didn’t. And the law didn’t care.

The sun scurried behind a cloud. Father Domingo frowned. Suddenly, he sprang into action. Shrugging aside his brown robes and yanking off his white collar, he drew a Colt pistol from his belt.

“Padre Domingo?” one orphan called to him. “You have a pistol?”

“The name’s not Domingo,” the man growled back. “It’s Crowley, Dan Crowley. And I’ve come for you, Ignacio,” he called out.

He turned toward the orphans, eyes flashing.

“Dead-Eye Dan stands for justice. Who will stand with me?”

DEAD~EYE DAN AND THE ORPHANS OF SANGRE DE CRISTO