Johnny Come Lately

In 1906, Tom Richards, a drifter, arrives in the small town of Plattsville. He sits reading a book in the town square when newspaper proprietor Vinnie McLeod speaks to him and offers her help. This chance encounter sets Richards on a path into local journalism and town intrigue.

Vinnie McLeod goes to meet the wealthy, corrupt mayor Dougherty, who also owns a rival newspaper. The meeting reveals Dougherty's clout over the town's press and foreshadows the power struggle to come. It establishes the corrosive relationship between the two men and the town's media landscape.

Richards is brought before the town courtroom on a vagrancy charge. The scene presents him as an outsider challenging a corrupt system and the local press establishment. Mrs. McLeod re-encounters him here and begins to guide his path.

After the hearing, Mrs. McLeod offers Richards a job as a journalist to escape imprisonment. He accepts the opportunity, stepping into the role of reformer who will shake up the town’s newspapers. This marks the start of his campaign against Dougherty’s influence.

Richards requests to close the Shield and Banner for three days to redesign and relaunch it with an attack on Dougherty. The plan signals a bold break with the old order and demonstrates his commitment to ethical reporting. This newsroom move triggers Dougherty’s counteractions.

Dougherty offers Richards a job paying three times more, but Richards declines due to his morals. He refuses to sell out to the corrupt mayor, reinforcing his principled stance. The moment highlights the ethical core of his character.

Dougherty's two hired guns shoot Mrs. McLeod in the hand in an attempted act of intimidation. Richards, having anticipated trouble and armed himself, chases the attackers and shoots one of them. The violence heightens the stakes of the power struggle.

Mrs. McLeod's niece begins to fall for Richards, but she realizes her true feelings lie with Dougherty's son, not with Richards. The romantic triangle underscores how loyalties extend beyond politics and newspapers. The town's personal entanglements mirror its political tensions.

Gashouse Mary, an eccentric benefactor modeled on Mae West, redirects funds usually channeled through Dougherty to Richards for the town’s orphanage. Her alliance shifts the balance of power and adds a flamboyant ally to the reform cause.

Mary taunts Dougherty and ends up jailed on a bail of $1,500. Her bold move highlights the high-stakes confrontation between reform-minded figures and the corrupt elite. The incident intensifies the town’s dichotomy of risk and reward.

The entire town parades by holding an effigy of Dougherty on a gibbet, signaling a dramatic public rebuke of the corrupt mayor. The spectacle rattles Dougherty and reinforces the townspeople's appetite for accountability. Place: Plattsville.

Richards and Dougherty Jr. engage in a street brawl as tensions boil over. Richards is arrested and taken away in a horse-drawn black Maria, but the townsfolk storm the jail and release him. The surge of popular support demonstrates the community’s readiness to back reform.

In the end, Dougherty Sr. meets with Mrs. McLeod and Richards and agrees to leave town for the sake of his son and her niece. He also returns the mortgage on Mrs. McLeod’s property. Richards, for his part, decides to move on, ending the campaign but leaving its impact on the town.