Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 398

# Museum Catalog Note

This issue of Beadle and Adams Weekly (Vol. XVI, No. 398, March 10, 1885) features the opening installments of "The Gold King of Weird Canyon," a Western crime serial by Maj. H. B. Stoddard. The narrative follows Craig Colton, a ruthless desperado and schemer, and his lawyer partner Curt Bentley as they plot to obtain a hidden Colorado gold mine. Their plan involves pursuing Kit Barton and his newly married bride to "The Gulch," with elimination implied if necessary.

The plot turns violent when Bentley refuses to surrender a crucial torn letter containing partial clues to the mine's location. Colton stabs Bentley fatally, steals the fragmentary document, and flees to his hotel to examine it. Learning that the Bartons are departing West that evening, Colton travels to a disreputable Harlem establishment to obtain a complete disguise—gray-streaked beard, dark coat, and silk hat—rendering himself as a man of sixty to pursue his quarry unrecognized westward. The serial emphasizes action, villainy, and Western adventure themes typical of the period's pulp publications.