Beadle's Dime Library No. 236

This May 2, 1883 issue of Champion Sam presents a serialized romance by Col. Thomas Hoyer Monstery titled "The Monarchs of the Show," set during the Civil War in New York. The narrative opens at a concert saloon called "The Waterbury," where acrobat Signor Carlo (stage name for Charley Chase) performs wire-walking while tossing cannonballs. His wire, tampered with by acid, snaps, killing him before his young son Sammy—costumed as Cupid and billed as "Master O, Prince of the Wire." A doctor examines the wire and suspects sabotage by Carlo's professional rival Nichols, now performing in Boston. Though the coroner dismisses this, ruling it accidental death, Sammy vows revenge. Stage carpenter Steve adopts the traumatized child. Months later, when Nichols returns to perform, Steve warns him away from Sammy, accusing him of tampering with the wire. Nichols violently strikes Steve unconscious, the installment ending mid-confrontation.