Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 795

Kit Bandy in Red Ruin: The Young Whirlwind of the Hills

This western serial by Oll Coomes features Frank "Little Fury" Fewry, a young scout guarding the Colorado mining settlement of Red Ruin. The narrative opens with Frank descending a mountain trail where he encounters Old Tom Rattler, a weathered trapper who mentions Kit Bandy, a renowned eccentric mountain detective. Back in camp, miner John Walworth asks Frank to travel to Leadville to escort his daughter Florence to Red Ruin—a reunion after fifteen years. Frank agrees and departs before dawn. That morning, Walworth is found murdered, his skull crushed by a bludgeon. Three days later, the stage carrying Florence approaches Red Ruin. On the journey, Florence learns of her father's death through Tac Barnes, Walworth's partner. Nearing the camp, the stage is held up by Old Soaker, a vagrant who had been mocked in Red Ruin's saloon, though he brandishes only his fingers rather than actual weapons.