Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 472

This August 10, 1886 issue of Street & Smith's New York Detective Library features "Black Jack's Big Boom," by Jo Pierce. The story follows Joseph "Jaunty Joe" Baldwin, a slight but muscular young horse-tamer and jockey known for riding at Long Island racecourses. Hired by farmer Job Perkins to break the wild, dangerous stallion Black Jack—who previously broke a man's ribs—Joe faces competition from Jasper Banker, a gambling sportsman who arrives with Professor Jean Lacour, claiming to be a French horse trainer. Perkins awards the job to Joe, the first to request it, angering Banker, whose plan to profit from Black Jack's racing potential now appears threatened. Banker and Joe recognize each other from turf circles; their antagonism is immediate and hostile.