Don't Fence Me In (1945)

Roy, the proprietor of a dude ranch where Gabby is working as a hired hand. Dale is a photojournalist working for "Spread" magazine sent from New York to investigate a long-dead highwayman by the name of "Wildcat" Kelly. After finding out, by snooping around the ranch, that Gabby is in fact "Wildcat" Kelly, she publishes her findings in the magazine and Gabby is shot. Word is put out that Gabby died of the gunshot and a funeral is arranged. During the lying in state, Dale hides near the casket and photographs all the mourners as they pass by the casket. After the ceremony, Gabby reviews all the photos and picks out the man he saw shot him. By means of a description of the kill supplied to the local sheriff the suspected killer is traced to a local nightclub called the Westward Ho. Roy and the Sons of the Pioneers get a job entertaining at the club to try to locate and build a case against the gunman. By having Gabby make an appearance at the club and scaring the gunman into going to his boss, they find that he was working for the club's owner, one Henry Bennett. Bennett sends his gunman away until things quiet down. Later a gunshot is heard and Bennett announces that his assistant (the gunman) has been killed with what is discovered to be "Wildcat" Kelly's gun. The police seal off the club and discover Gabby hiding in one of the rooms. The final resolution comes about that Bennett a.k.a. Benson had claimed the reward for "Wildcat" Kelly through illicit means and had killed a man who could connect him to the wrongfully obtained reward. Bennett then had the man's body buried in the coffin which had contained a sandbag in place of "Wildcat's" body. "Wildcat" Kelly, never having been killed in the first place, was only trying to avoid being prosecuted for past crimes by means of faking his own death. In the end, Gabby is found innocent and Bennett convicted of murder and his club ceased and sold at auction and thereafter bought by Roy.