Arc 5:  The Iron Claw Gang

Written by Dashiell Hammett (writer), Alex Raymond (artist)

Strips: 389 - 472

Dates: 04/22/1935 - 07/27/1935

[AR05] - A prominent banker named Shaw was killed in a heist and his grown son, Philip, kidnapped. The perpetrators were the Iron Claw Gang, "oil crooks before they were general bandits". They were after the location of four great Texas oil wells as yet unworked but thought to be worth millions. Complicating matters is a) the dead man's will demanded that the son be married within 3 months of the elder's death, and b) Philip had always been camera-shy so there was no photo identifying him.