Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box

# Museum Catalog Note

Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box (Street & Smith, No. 119, March 1896) by W. B. Lawson presents a narrative of deception and counter-deception in Cripple Creek. Felipe Ortego, "the Spanish Don," a professional faro dealer and poker player known as the King of the Silver Box, manipulates young bank cashier Joe Evans through gambling losses, coercing him into delivering a woman impersonating Miss Bicknell—niece of Evans's bank president—to a specified address. The Don's scheme involves preventing the real Miss Bicknell's arrival by telegram while forcing Evans into complicity. Meanwhile, Bertie Wade (Diamond Dick, Jr.) and his partner Handsome Harry overhear the Don's telephone plot and devise a counter-scheme. Evans is blackmailed with exposure as a defaulter unless he cooperates; the narrative alternates between the Don's manipulation and the detectives' intervention plans.