From the moment Jim Reed drove the Concord stage into the wild, wide-open town of Outpost, he was in constant danger. In the stage were two men — one dead and the other dying. The dying man was quickly carried to the doctor’s office where he lived long enough to tell the doctor what had happened. The dead man was Johnny Drennan, a cowhand who worked for Brad Gulistan, one of Outpost’s largest ranchers. Reed identified Johnny Drennan as one of the outlaws who had shot up the stage. Immediately Harry Wright, owner of the large Slash W ranch, accused Brad Gulistan of secretly leading the outlaws terrorizing Outpost with rustlings and killings. Gulistan, in turn, hotly accused Wright of trying to start a range war with his wild talk, insisted that Johnny could not have been involved with outlaws, and accused Reed of not telling a straight story.