Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 396

The Gilt Edge Gang by William R. Eyster opens a crime serial featuring a desperate chief of police confronting Paddy the Piper, a small Irish criminal claiming membership in a mysterious gang terrorizing New York's west side with brazen robberies. The gang, whose leader remains unknown, selects wealthy victims with uncanny precision. Despite overwhelming odds, Paddy subdues both the chief and Captain Hardy through superior combat skill, then vanishes before negotiations conclude. The gang's latest crime—trampling a man to death on Greenwich Street—prompts the chief to reconsider Paddy's offer to dismantle them.

The narrative shifts to Preston Blaine, a former Confederate major turned newspaper reporter in New York, who has become fascinated with chronicling the gang's activities and recently encountered an old acquaintance, General Hector Rawle, on Broadway. Blaine is fearless and well-regarded in journalism circles, having first theorized the crimes stemmed from an organized band rather than random roughs.