Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 420

# Museum Catalog Note

A Man of Honor by Major Daniel Boone Dumont is a domestic melodrama serialized in this November 1886 issue of the Beadle & Adams weekly dime novel. Set in Cincinnati, it follows Josiah Holcomb, a respectable family man whose wife believes him a produce dealer with legitimate river commerce to New Orleans. His associate, Jim Hannafin, visits Mrs. Holcomb to expose that Holcomb is actually a professional gambler and card sharp running a rigged faro bank in Cairo. Hannafin produces a letter from Holcomb himself confirming the deception and proposing criminal schemes. Mrs. Holcomb reads the revelation, realizes their entire marriage was fraudulent, and departures with her children and servants, leaving a farewell letter declaring she cannot remain the wife of a gambler. Upon returning home, Holcomb discovers her absence and reads her letter with devastating emotion.