Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 378

# Nabob Ned; or, The Secret of Slab City

By Edward L. Wheeler (author of Deadwood Dick and Denver Doll novels), this dime novel serial appeared October 21, 1884, in Beadle and Adams' weekly publication.

The story concerns Slab City, a mining settlement twenty miles from Heron station in Montana Territory. John Smith founded the town on speculation but perpetrates a fraud—he plants gold samples throughout the gulch to attract prospectors. When discovered, angry miners lynch him. Nabob Ned, Smith's educated Eastern cashier, assumes control of the property. A prospective renter, Scotty Shannon, discovers Smith's corpse still moving and demands his money back. The body repeatedly resurfaces until re-buried deeper. Gold proves genuinely present; the camp booms. Meanwhile, Ned, a dapper small man of dandyish appearance, gambles at the Bung-Eye Hotel. A confrontation develops between Ned and Pedro Sperra, a dark-complexioned Mexican card player, over accusations of cheating. The narrative remains incomplete in this excerpt.