Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 699

This Beadle and Adams dime novel from December 16, 1890, contains "Playing the Fool on Big Stakes," a Western romance by Lieutenant A. K. Sims set on Rio Grande ranches. The story follows Simple Sim Satterlee, a skilled broncho-breaker employed by cattle baron Giles Huntington, who demonstrates his expertise by taming a wild horse for spectators. The narrative then shifts to a confrontation between Taylor Wingate, Huntington's foreman and betrothed to Huntington's daughter Mildred, and Charles Irwin, a neighboring ranch owner and county sheriff pressing unwanted romantic attentions on the young lady. Their dispute escalates from heated words to violence, with Wingate wielding a stock-whip against Irwin's pistol and knife in a brutal physical struggle.