Ralph Compton Shotgun Charlie (A Ralph Compton Western)

SHOTGUN CHARLIE (prequel to THE HUNTED!)Big for his age, young and impressionable drifter Charlie Chilton is taken in by the gruff leader of a gang of small-time crooks and ne'er do wells who sees something of himself in kindly, wayward Charlie. But Grady Haskell, ambitious ruffian with a shady past, soon joins the gang, convincing Charlie's friends to pursue a big score. Charlie fails to thwart the crime and the heist turns bloody. As the only gang member caught alive, Big Charlie will soon swing for the crimes.
He makes a daring escape, determined to track down Haskell and the gang and prove his innocence. Hot on Charlie's heels, a mysterious marshal and a posse of angry townsmen track him into the High Sierras, far to the north. Weaponless and with a vicious winter storm closing in, Big Charlie must find the killers and thieves before the seething posse turns vigilante and hangs him high.