Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 698

This issue of Beadle and Adams (December 9, 1890) contains "Light-Heart Lute's Clean Sweep" by Jos. E. Badger, Jr., a frontier adventure serial. In Chapter I, "The Man Without a Head," miners led by the brutal "Rusty Jack" Cripps attempt to force an eccentric old prospector called "Old Crazy" to reveal the location of a gold strike he's been working. Old Crazy speaks obsessively of having lost his head and seeks it desperately. The flashily-dressed gambler "Showy Joe" Hoover intervenes with sympathy but fails to extract information. Chapter II introduces the protagonist "Light-Heart Lute," a charismatic young man with enormous strength (his giant companion Napoleon Applejohn), who rescues Old Crazy from the mob through combat skill and brute force. Lute is called "the Lad o' Luck" and promises to help resolve the mystery, while the miners grow more desperate and divided.