Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 105

Dan Brown of Denver: or, The Rocky Mountain Detective

This installment presents the opening chapters of a serialized Western adventure by Jos. E. Badger Jr. The story centers on a stagecoach robbery in the Rocky Mountains orchestrated by the mysterious outlaw Captain Moonshine and his twenty-strong gang. Among the passengers are a Denver stock-raiser and vigilante named Jack Gill with his new bride, a Boston gentleman named Horace Treville, and a St. Louis criminal lawyer, Ezra Blackwood, escorting his ward Rachel Trowbridge to visit relatives near Granada, Colorado. Captain Moonshine—a masked, long-haired figure in buckskin—interrogates the passengers, revealing particular interest in Rachel Trowbridge, claiming he is her secret protector against unspecified enemies threatening her life. The narrative establishes the outlaw's notoriety for daring robberies and murders throughout the region, while hinting at a complex backstory connecting him to the young woman.