Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 648

This issue of Deadwood Dick magazine presents the beginning of a serial titled "A Race for a Ruthless Rogue" by Ed. L. Wheeler. The story centers on Deadwood Dick, a renowned detective, who is engaged by Malcolm Edwards, a wealthy Brazilian businessman newly returned to New York. Edwards seeks Dick's help locating his daughter Evelyn and a man named Mora Monk, whom Edwards believes has mesmerized his daughter and caused her to elope with her quarter-million-dollar inheritance. Edwards describes Monk as a mysterious, well-dressed man of less than thirty years who frequents society despite having no apparent occupation. The narrative follows Dick as he investigates Monk's former lodgings on Macdougal Street, where he encounters Mrs. O'Malley, the Irish landlady, whom he pressures for information about Monk's whereabouts. The mystery concerns whether Monk is genuinely a mesmerist controlling Evelyn against her will or whether she has willingly left with him.