Tom's Aunt Nancy begs him to defend his cousin---Abram Thomas, aka The Canary Kid, who's been charged with murder. Tom is reluctant, considering his past experiences with the Canary, until Aunt Nancy tells him that Canary's gang is holding a judge hostage and threatening to kill him if their leader isn't freed. Tom agrees to defend Canary, despite the judge's bias---and Canary's further shenanigans.
—rbecker28