The Night of the Poisonous Posey - Recap

Jim and Artie ride into the town of Justice, Nevada, population 132. Artie is enthused to be on vacation and far away from the maddening throng. The townspeople immediately lasso them and Sheriff Blayne Cord tells them to dismount. The agents have no choice and do so, and Jim asks if Cord has them confused with someone else. A townsman identifies them as road agents and the agents are taken to a gallows. Cord declares sentence on them and Jim uses a hidden sleeve gun to fire a flare bullet. The agents use the distraction to take a knife from one of their hangmen, cut themselves free, and take their guns.



Puzzled, Cord tells them that they’re poor sports. He finally explains that it’s all part of the town celebration. A marching band comes out and banners are strung out. Cord says that it should have been obvious they were playacting, and reads a declaration saying that since they have hired him, they’ve declared Law and Order Week in Justice, Nevada. Jim and Artie were the first riders to come in since the ruling, and receive the key to the city. Artie tries to give an acceptance speech and the townspeople quickly leave.

The two agents decide to spend some time in town to take in the celebration. As they go to the Justice is Blind Hotel, they bump into a Spaniard. He apologizes and leaves, but both men admit that they seem to know him from somewhere. After they check in, Artie settles in for a nap. Jim comes in and sees a tarantula on his friend’s pillow. When Artie wakes up, Jim tells him not to move until he’s ready. He draws his gun, tells Artie to roll off the bed, and shoots the tarantula. They both realize that the tarantula is the trademark of a Latin American killer, Gallito... the man they bumped into earlier.



Artie looks outside and sees pallbearers bringing a coffin down the street. The pallbearers include Gallito as well as Cyril the arsonist, Snakes Tolliver, Little Pinto, Sergei, and Brutus the Bonebreaker. Artie notes that Irish Mantell, the Seattle Fire Kid, and Ascot Sam are the only major criminals absent. They agree to investigate what would bring major criminals to a funeral in Justice, and Jim goes to the telegraph office to send a wire to Washington. At the telegraph office, he discovers that Cord is also the telegraph operator. Brutus comes in and shoots the battery bottles. He apologizes, claiming he dropped his gun, and gives his name as Robert Jones of Kenosha. Cord insists on Brutus and Jim both giving up their guns until the end of the celebration. Both men give up their weapons, and Cord tells Jim that the nearest telegram is 40 miles away.



Artie goes to their horses and discovers that the deputy sheriff, Sam, is impounding their horses because no livestock are allowed on the streets during the celebration. Jim asks to speak to the mayor, but realizes that Cord is also the mayor. Cord gives them receipts for their horses and takes Artie’s gun, and goes on his way.

At the funeral parlor, the killers gather and wait. Jim is passing and notices the black wreath on the door. He comes inside to pay his respects, placing the wreath on the coffin. Gallito approaches him and Jim claims that the departed was a friend. He asks for a look at the corpse, but Gallito says that the coffin is sealed. As Jim tries to leave, a panel seals off the door. Brutus knows that he was sending a telegram to Washington and asks why. Jim readily tells them that he’s a Secret Service agent and was wiring his office for reinforcements. They assume that he’s joking, and point out that he left paper flowers. Jim admits that it was a superficial relationship, and they take him to the coffin to show him the “corpse.” Inside are iced bottles of champagne. Brutus explains that they’re holding a board meeting, and the chairman will want to decide on Jim personally. Jim tries to make a break for it, but discovers that one of the doors is bricked over. They finally capture Jim and promise him that at least he won’t die immediately.



A bell rings and the criminals escort Jim through another door into an empty room. They sit down and a table slides out from a hidden panel. The chairman comes in: Lucrece Posey, an attractive woman. She refuses to answer Jim’s questions and introduces the assembled criminals. Jim realizes that they’re holding a summit of world crime, and Lucrece admits that holding it in Justice during Law and Order Week appealed to her sense of irony. As she calls the meeting to order, she discovers that someone has left her a gift-wrapped gavel. Snakes, an explosive expert, takes credit for it. Lucrece starts to use it and then gives it to Snakes to call the meeting to order. When he refuses, Lucrece tells Brutus to use his iron bonecrusher glove. He smashes the gavel on the table and it explodes. Snakes denies any involvement, but Lucrece scratches him with a poisoned ring and he quickly dies.

The meeting begins and Lucrece draws a gun to shoot Jim. Before she can shoot, a tap-dancing Ascot Sam arrives: actually Artie in disguise. Lucrece tells him to sit down so they can finish their business. When she aims at Jim, Artie suggests that she stop and explains that they’re facing Jim West. He starts to attack Jim, claiming he sent him to prison, and Lucrece gives him a brief stay of execution. She explains that she plans to merge all criminal organizations beneath her command. Lucrece plans to put the six gathered men in command of six super-cartels. Jim starts flirting with her but Lucrece is unimpressed. She wants to know who tipped him off, and Jim agrees in return for a quick, painless death. He gets up and dramatically walks around, and finally pauses behind “Ascot Sam.” Artie secretly slips him a vial, and Jim throws it to the ground. He makes a break for the door, but Brutus stuns him by throwing his iron glove. Lucrece has Sergei and Pinto take him away. Artie offers to help, but Lucrece tells him to stay and receive a report on what he missed.



The two killers take Jim to the town’s icehouse and dump him down a ramp. They go inside to finish him off, and Pinto gets an idea about how to take care of Jim for good.

As Brutus exercises, Artie makes conversation and suggests that Lucrece should take steps to find out who the fink is. As they talk, Artie secretly slips one of Gallito’s tarantulas into Brutus’ glove. When Brutus starts to put it on, Artie “reveals” the tarantula. Brutus makes the natural conclusion and figures w the fink is. Gallito comes in and Brutus quickly kills him with one iron-clad punch.



Pinto ties Jim up to the ice ramp and fastens two ice blocks up by a single rope. He places a lamp in the proper position to slowly burn through the rope. When it breaks in about 45 minutes, Jim will be crushed. Pinto leaves but promises to come back later.

Artie talks to Sergei privately about the fink and Lucrece’s seeming reluctance to pursue the matter. He secretly plants a bit of a fiery chemical on the man’s saddle. When Sergei picks it up, it bursts into flames and the Russian goes to find Cyril.

Jim starts to cut his bonds free using a nail jutting out on the ice ramp.

Lucrece calls another meeting and asks where Gallito and Cyril are. When she learns that they both had “accidents,” she starts to tell them to act peaceably. However, the real Ascot Sam arrives and everyone turns to Artie. He tries to bluff it out, but Lucrece knows that Ascot Sam has a bullet scar in his shoulder. When Ascot Sam shows them the scar, they surround a sheepish Artie.



Jim manages to cut himself free just in time and jumps up on top of the ramp just as the ice blocks slam together. Artie is tossed down the ramp and Jim frees him just as Pinto comes in and opens fire. The two unarmed agents duck down behind the ice blocks. A game of cat-and-mouse ensues, until Jim ties his knife to a broom and uses it as a makeshift spear to kill their pursuer.

As the agents leave the ice house, Brutus opens fire on them with a rifle. They split up to get to the funeral parlor, and Brutus goes after Jim. When Cord comes out, Jim tells him to keep his head down and takes his gun. The sheriff objects until he realizes that someone is shooting real bullets at them. Jim discovers that Cord’s gun has blanks. A three-man band comes down the street and Jim uses them as cover to get across the street and gets the drop on Brutus. He bluffs and says he can’t miss, and Brutus falls for it. However, when he hands his rifle over, Brutus hits him and the two men fight. The killer falls on his own discarded rifle and is shot to death. Sergei tries to ride Jim down and kill him with a sword. Jim avoids his first attack, tosses a wire over a banner, and brings it down on Sergei, who falls off his horse and breaks his neck.



Jim gets to the funeral parlor and finds Lucrece waiting for him, wearing a dress. He tells her that all of her men are gone and she tries to flirt with him. Lucrece asks to do a few last-minute things and he agrees, and she goes through a false door. It closes behind her and the funeral parlor organ pipes rotate, firing bullets. Jim goes prone as the bullets hit the walls above him until the ammo is gone. He runs outside and finds Artie, who has just seen Lucrece leave town aboard the stagecoach. In fact, he helped her aboard, unaware that she was wearing a dress. When he realizes his mistake, Artie mounts up and rides after her.

Later on the Wanderer, Artie meets Jim and explains that it took him five hours on horseback to catch up to the stagecoach and capture Lucrece. He takes heart when Jim suggests he might get a commendation. A telegraph messages comes in ordering them to ride to their next assignment... six hours away. Artie collapses in agony.



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