Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 840

# Catalog Note

Deadwood Dick, Jr.'s Clutch: Crushing Captain Crusher by Edward L. Wheeler, serialized in this Beadle and Adams dime novel (Vol. XII, No. 98, August 1888). The western outlaw serial depicts two prospectors, Rod Sage and Dick Seller, meeting atop a mountain chasm where an outlaw named Captain Crusher has claimed territory. Seller explains his brother was killed by Crusher a week prior after attempting to cross a fallen tree spanning the gorge—Crusher uses a cocked revolver as a "death-line" warning. Sage offers assistance, and Sage provocatively destroys Crusher's warning weapon with gunfire, declaring war. The narrative then shifts to Big Nug mining camp, where Mayor Timothy Gibson and hotel manager John Hartz discuss the outlaw's depredations. Gibson suggests hiring the legendary detective Deadwood Dick to pursue Crusher, while Hartz worries the rogue may strike again.