The Republic Three Mesquiteers series western Santa Fe Stampede stars John Wayne as Stony Brooke, Ray "Crash" Corrigan as Tucson Smith, and Max Terhune as Lullaby Joslin. The plot finds our heroic trio butting heads and exchanging gunfire with a gang of crooked politicians. Head crook LeRoy Mason frames Wayne for the murder of William Farnum, but Big John proves his innocence with the help of his fellow mesquiteers. A startling moment occurs when two mischievous kids are killed in a runaway buckboard. As western historian Don Miller has observed, "Rough treatment of children was a near-taboo in westerns." In other words, Santa Fe Stampede isn't your usual run-of-the-mill Three Mesquiteers opus.