Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 810

# Catalog Note

The Gentleman Tramp, by J.C. Cowdrick, serialized in this January 31, 1898 issue, is a detective fiction romance combining Broadway Billy's investigative work with a melodramatic love story. Billy, a young detective with his team Happy Harry and Silent Seth, reunites with his childhood acquaintance Dennis "Chinny Chips" Keyton, now a locomotive engineer. Billy accepts a ride on Keyton's train, the Flyer, to travel to Roseford, where he has been summoned by a wealthy widow, Mrs. Rohnwald, on mysterious business. The narrative shifts to reveal a shabby tramp approaching Roseford—secretly Robert Rohnwald, the widow's son, disguised and returning after seven years of exile following his father's curse. He intends to investigate whether his former love Carlotta married Gustav or remained faithful, and whether his father left him the family estate, Woodlawn Manor. Station agent Peter Goodluck observes the tramp's arrival with disdain.