Beadle's Dime Library No. 278

This serialized Western romance, "Hercules Goldspur, the Man of the Velvet Hand; or, The Poker Queen's Deep Game" by Captain Howard Holmes, is set in the mining town of You-Bet, Idaho. Cold-Deck Carl arrives from Mariposa claiming to locate a girl named Zoe for a mysterious colonel; Carl stops a train with an explosive device to intercept his employer. After learning Zoe now works in the local saloon under Hercules Goldspur's protection, Carl's colonel is shot dead by an unseen marksman. Carl then encounters Lola, a dark-skinned "poker queen" brought to You-Bet by Pigmy Pete, who challenges Carl to a card game. The narrative establishes competing female characters—the sultry Lola and the virtuous Zoe—against a backdrop of frontier violence, gambling, and schemes for "big money" staked in Idaho.