Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 69

"The Sharpshooter; or, The Boy Detective of the Black Ranch" by Edward L. Wheeler appears in this 1878 Beadle and Adams half-dime library (No. 69). The narrative opens in snowy Dakota Territory near a frontier settlement adjacent to a military fort. A turkey shoot competition attracts trappers, settlers, soldiers under Acting Captain Bass, and locals. Jay Toleman, the reckless, wealthy son of a trader, wins successive shots with exceptional marksmanship until a massive seventy-five-pound gobbler is introduced—a bird that has survived five previous shoots. When other shooters, including Toleman, fail to hit it, a mysterious young stranger mounted on a white mustang appears, armed with a distinctive gold-plated, diamond-sighted Remington rifle. Calling himself "Gold Rifle," he boasts he can shoot the gobbler standing on his head, accepting Toleman's fifty-dollar wager and mortgaging his rifle as stakes. The text breaks before the shot's outcome.