Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 904

# Museum Catalog Note

Deuce-Trey: or, The Five-Spot Sport is a serialized western story by Edward L. Wheeler, appearing in this Beadle and Adams weekly dime novel (November 20, 1884). Chapter II opens with a mysterious well-dressed stranger arriving by horseback during a severe snowstorm at the mining camp of Whoop-up. The man, who calls himself "Deuce-Trey, the Five-Spot Sport," pays one hundred dollars to stable his horse in a saloon—an unusual request that arouses curiosity. A bank cashier named Robert Terrell suspects the stranger resembles Howard Smithy, a fugitive bank robber sought in Arizona for stealing sixty thousand dollars. A reward poster for Smithy hangs in the saloon. The Chinese cook, Chin Shang, secretly passes a note to the Five-Spot Sport requesting a private meeting. The narrative interweaves mystery, mining-camp color, and the gradual revelation that the newcomer's identity remains uncertain to those around him.