History
Howard Dull was a jewel thief who lived during the days of the American Frontier. He lived in the East and crafted the alter ego of the Cobra, stumping authorities as they did not know what he looked like. He managed to avoid revealing his identity, although the authorities soon determined that the Cobra has a love of books. Eventually, the Cobra stole the priceless Ghengis Jewels and fled to the American West. Authorities in the east sent out a warning to law enforcement and the owners of the jewels sent an insurance detective named Jack Steintin out to locate the jewels. The Cobra fled to Baltimore and hid out there for at time with the help of a confederate. However, when the authorities were getting too close, he tried to kill the confederate and fled. Unknown to the Cobra, Steintin managed to learn where he was going before the man he had betrayed died.
The Cobra hid out in a up-and-coming community, and stashed his jewels in a hollowed out copy of H.G. Wells "Outline of History" and stashed it in the local library run by Miss Kingsley. As fate would have it, the gunslinging hero Two-Gun Kid rode into town and borrowed the book so that he could educate his sidekick Rusty Rudolph with it. While Two-Gun and Rusty discovered the jewels, Steintin arrived in town and convinced Miss Kingsley to help him smoke out the Cobra. To this end, they faked a kidnapping and pegged it on the Cobra, leaving a demand that the jewels be returned or Kingsley would be murdered.
While the sheriff and a posse rode out in to the bush to look for the Cobra. Two-Gun however was convinced that the Cobra -- as an easterner -- would hide out somewhere in town so as not to get lost. This was overheard by Herman Dull himself who introduced himself to Two-Gun and Rusty as an insurance agent who was hunting down the jewels. With their aid they managed to track down Steintin and Kingsley to a nearby stable. There was a brief scuffle until Miss Kingsley convinced Two-Gun to stand down. Two-Gun then revealed that he knew that Dull was the Cobra the whole time because nobody else knew that the jewels were stolen from the library.
The Cobra then grabbed Miss Kingsley and threatened to shoot her unless the Kid tossed him the book containing the jewels. Two-Gun did just that and as the Cobra was busy grabbing for the book, shot the Cobra dead. The jewels were then turned over to Steintin who returned them to their rightful owners.[1]Paraphernalia
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References
- ↑ Western winners #6