Sticky ropes

"Sticky ropes" by W. C. Tuttle is a Western novel written in the early 20th century. It follows newly elected sheriff “Dusty” Corbett as he vows to bring down the shadowy Sticky Rope gang, a crew that marks its crimes with syrup-smeared lariats. With his sardonic deputy Weary Willis, Dusty faces rustlers, ambushes, and saloon politics around Calumet and the Cross-Anchor ranch. Rival foreman Jack Bonn, the visiting Ramseys, and rancher’s daughter Stella Magruder complicate his hunt. The opening of the story finds Dusty waking in a corral after being drugged and discovering his horse stolen, a sticky-rope tag left at the hitch rack. He publicly defies the gang, gets shot at that night, and then rides to the Cross-Anchor, where a fiery visit ends in a fistfight with Bonn and young Ramsey and the taming of a notorious gray outlaw horse. On his return via Bald Butte he’s ambushed; Weary’s horse is killed, and later Palo Huston—Snag Shirey’s hand—is found dying and raving about “Sticky Ropes” before an inquest rules his death an accidental fall after a nonfatal .38 wound. Dusty quietly tests Bonn’s background by wire, trades barbs with Shirey, and keeps probing. When Stella reports a large rustle under way, Dusty pursues, blunders into an ambush, is knocked out and branded with a sticky rope, and wakes to find Stella missing. He rallies help—sending Shorty to fetch Bonn and Shirey and heading to town for Weary and guns—as the opening section closes.

Summary written by Project Gutenberg, by machine.