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Square Deal Sanderson (William S. Hart) is in pursuit of a horse thief, but someone else shoots the varmint before Sanderson can offer him a "square deal." When he looks through the dead man's effects, he finds a letter from the deceased's sister, Mary Bransford (Ann Little), begging him to come help save her New Mexico ranch from town boss Alva Dale (Frank Whitson). Sanderson decides to help the girl out, and upon his arrival, she just assumes he is her brother. Dale is a hard one to overcome -- he has Sanderson arrested and poisons a watering hole, killing three thousand head of steer and three cowboys. But Sanderson is up to the challenge. He breaks out of jail, saves Mary from Dale's advances and brings the badmen to justice. Finally, Mary figures out that Sanderson is not her brother, adding a belated romantic note to the scenario. This story began life as a Charles Alden Seltzer short in Argosy magazine.