- All the men in the neighborhood love Bess, the daughter of the Mayor of Rockville, but she treats them coldly. Among this number is Jack Dayton, a son of Old Ireland known as the "No-Gun-Man" and Lesparre, leader of the Coyote gang. Lesparre brings his gang to town, holds up the bartender, secures all the whiskey they want, then robs the bank belonging to the Mayor, who offers $5,000 reward for the return of the stolen property. Jack's great desire is to get enough money to send to his mother in Ireland, to pay for the cottage in which she lives; so he starts after the bandits unarmed, although he is urged to take a gun. In the meantime, Lesparre has also kidnapped Bess and taken her to a place in the hills known as Coyote Hole. When Jack learns of this, he redoubles his efforts. He allows himself to be captured by the bandits, and on being taken before the chief, tells him he wishes to join the gang, and the chief finally consents. As soon as everyone is asleep, Jack enters the room in which Bess is imprisoned, and helps her to escape. He then wraps his blanket about him again and goes to sleep. In the morning the loss of the girl is discovered and Jack is suspected, and is locked in the room in which Bess was imprisoned. He finds the money and papers hidden in the bed, watches his chance, attacks the two men who are guarding him, defeats them after a desperate fight and escapes with the money. He reaches the railroad and climbs on a passing freight train. The gang follows closely, and after a fight, Jack throws Lesparre off the train, He finally reaches Rock River, is acclaimed a hero, returns the money and papers to the Mayor, and receives the girl in exchange.—Moving Picture World synopsis
- "The Tornado mostly followed pulp Western formula -- bad guys hold up a town, take a girl hostage, and the hero rides to the rescue. But there were a couple of twists that made it seem more personal than the usual cowboy fare. Ford's Jack Dayton ... is known as "the No-Gun Man" because he faces the villains unarmed, anticipating the character played by James Stewart in George Marshall's 1939 Western comedy classic Destry Rides Again. Dayton is an immigrant who uses the reward money to bring over his mother (Jean Hathaway) from Ireland, a prototypically Fordian situation if there ever was one."
-- quoted from "Searching for John Ford" by Joseph McBride
deliberately padded to meet IMDB's 10 line synopsis minimum rule
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