Jonah Hex # 2 - Bullets of Silver, Cross of Gold

In Alamogordo, New Mexico, two bandits named Santiago and Tenner disrupt a piñata party killing everyone in the town square. They then raid a small church, assaulting the local priest and stealing a cross made out of gold. Santiago shoots the priest and the two ride off. The priest, still alive, manages to find his niece who has been nursing a recovering Jonah Hex. Upon hearing what has happened, Hex agrees to retrieve the cross. Alma insists on coming with him and proves her value by a showy display of her knife-wielding talents.

The two travel together for six days until they come to the mining town of Silverton. They meet the town elder, a Georgian named Branson Ironside. Ironside has already captured Santiago and Tenner and is holding them prisoner inside the town jail. His distaste for Jonah Hex's chosen occupation is made abundantly clear.

That night, Hex and Alma rent a room at the town hotel. Hex instructs Alma to use her female wiles to distract anyone who might be watching from afar, allowing him the opportunity to sneak out. He breaks into a general store and steals a supply of dynamite, then begins planting it at strategic positions throughout the town. When he returns to the hotel, he finds Ironside and his men waiting for him.

Branson Ironside drags Jonah outside, and plans on killing him as an example to the others. He has no tolerance for bandits or bounty hunters. Jonah withdraws his revolver and fires a shot past Ironside igniting one of the hidden sticks of dynamite. The explosion kills Branson and starts a chain reaction by igniting the other piles of dynamite that he has planted throughout the thoroughfare.

During the chaos, Santiago and Tenner manage to break out of jail. Taking advantage of the carnage, they make for the silver mines which gave the town its name. Other miners begin panicking and follow suit hoping to secure as much silver as possible. As throngs of people begin pushing past each other into the mines, the entire shaft collapses on top of them. Witnessing the incident from a safe distance Alma exclaims, "Those poor people...", to which Jonah replies, "Not so poor... they're buried in silver".