Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 338

# Catalog Note

This April 15, 1885 issue features the serialized Western story "Jack Sand, the Boss of the Town" by Philip S. Warne. The narrative is set in Cony Flat's Crystal Palace saloon, where dealer Billy Bucklew is caught cheating at faro by the dapper stranger Jack Sand. After Bucklew denies the accusation, Sand calls him out; Bucklew draws his cocked revolver and fires, but Sand returns fire with lethal accuracy from his chair, killing Bucklew with a shot to the forehead.

Rather than face a lynch mob, Sand appeals to the assembled miners' self-interest, convincing them to investigate the cheating scheme. Saloon proprietor Captain Plunkett and the town's most respected woman, Nobody's Nell, oversee the examination. Sand demonstrates how Bucklew manipulated a doctored faro box and trimmed cards using the "slipping" trick. Though initially vindicated, Sand overplays his hand by continuing to expose the captain's complicity, beginning to alienate the crowd.