Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 510

This issue of Beadle and Adams' Dime Novel (No. 51, May 1887) features the opening chapters of "The Pride of Bitteropolis," a western adventure serial by Albert W. Aiken, author of "The Two Detectives" and other frontier tales.

The story follows Bad Bill Jackson, a muscular newcomer to the Colorado mining camp of Bitteropolis, who establishes himself as the camp's toughest fighter through several victories in saloon brawls. Jackson arrives with his daughter Polly and brazenly declares that any suitor must defeat him first. When the landlord mentions Cool Colorado—a half-breed detective, reputedly the son of Wild Bill, working a nearby claim—Jackson boasts he can defeat anyone. Cool Colorado subsequently enters the saloon, remaining calm despite Jackson's aggressive provocations and insults. Jackson challenges him, but Colorado refuses to be drawn into a barroom brawl, explaining he avoids fighting merely for display.