Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 941

This Beadle & Adams weekly from August 6, 1895 contains "Brick" Larry's Big Boom" by J.C. Cowdrick, author of "Broadway Billy" novels. The story opens with Loony Larry (Larry O'Keen), a recent Irish immigrant from Limerick, pining over Kitty Callaway, a flower vendor on Broadway, while resenting her flirtation with a cable-car conductor named Nelson. After encountering Horace Murphy, a detective based at Bowling Green, Larry mentions sailing six months ago from Queenstown aboard the steamship Atlantic. Murphy becomes interested, as he's just been hired to locate a missing passenger, Lawrence Brannagan, who sailed on that same ship and never reached his destination. Larry reveals he met Brannagan during boarding but never saw him again after departure, sparking Murphy's investigation into possible foul play and a substantial inheritance.