When Sheriff Hemmet Wilkes rides into Sage Springs with the notorious outlaw Earl Meager roped to his own saddle, the whole town breathes easier for about a day. Then Meager's gang shows up. With no circuit judge willing to risk the ride through outlaw country, U.S. Marshall Curtis Brooks makes a desperate call: recruit Grandeville Drake, a broke, theatrical has-been actor, to play the most convincing judge the territory has ever seen - and use him as bait. As the stagecoach carries "Judge" Drake toward Sage Springs, nothing goes according to plan. A jilted admirer kidnaps a fellow passenger. Hired guns spring an ambush. Meager's outlaws close in from every direction. And Marshall Brooks finds himself falling for a woman he's sworn to protect - while the real judge might be sitting closer than anyone on that stagecoach realizes. CIRCUIT JUDGE is a classic Western screenplay of disguise, nerve, and frontier justice from the pen of Verland T Whipple - a fast-moving tale of outlaws, decoys, and a lawman's last stand, published here for the first time. A complete, unproduced Western screenplayIncludes a full plot synopsis in the back matterClassic frontier justice, mistaken identity, and a satisfying reveal