When Lal Hoard gets out of prison he comes to Laramie to get the revenge he vowed against Troop.  Instead of using a gun, he decides to misuse the power of the press.  He not only writes derogatory stories about Troop, he tries to extort money from Lily by threatened to print stories about her problems in Billings.  Johnny briefly becomes marshal when Hoard threatens to expose the early misdeeds of a banker on the town counsel if he doesn't vote to fire Troop.