Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 453

This issue contains the opening installment of "Sleuth Against Sleuth" by Capt. Howard Holmes, a serial adventure spanning two continents. Grant Thurston and his daughter Medora arrive exhausted at the remote mining camp of Silver Deck in the Colorado mountains, fleeing pursuers across "two worlds." Thurston, revealed to bear the Russian prison number 772, is hunted by forces including the relentless American detective Captain Coldgrip. Mark Million, the camp's boss miner, recognizes Thurston as the former inmate and agrees to shelter them, though the miner harbors his own mysterious antagonism toward Coldgrip. The narrative establishes a tense refuge threatened by pursuit, introducing also Coral, a striking woman of the camp who questions the newcomers' sudden arrival. The setup suggests international espionage and criminal conspiracy across empires.