Banty, the Denver Bootblack

# Banty, the Denver Bootblack; or, Doc Derringer, the Dark-Lantern Detective

By Edward Lytton Wheeler (author of the Deadwood Dick novels), this serial depicts a conspiracy in Denver, Colorado. Lloyd Lindsay, a young man of respectable appearance, arrives at the mansion of wealthy pawnbroker Henry Wylton on a stormy night, revolver in hand. Lindsay demands his wife and infant child, revealing that Wylton had falsely imprisoned him on bigamy charges a year prior using forged marriage documents to separate him from Wylton's daughter Hazel, whom he had legally married in Chicago. Meanwhile, in an upstairs bedroom, the ill Hazel discovers her child missing from the cradle and realizes she has been kept sedated. Armed with a dagger and revolver, she confronts the attending physician Dr. La Forge, demands information about her stolen baby, and stabs him when he refuses to cooperate. She then flees downstairs toward the parlor, recognizing Lindsay's voice.