Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 475

# The Black Hand by Albert W. Aitken

This serial installment opens with the disappearance of eighteen-year-old Miss Evangeline Carrickford, heiress daughter of wealthy railroad magnate Emanuel Carrickford. She vanishes from her locked Fifth Avenue bedroom the night of May 1st, with windows secured and no apparent exit—no sign of elopement, as her suitors await her formal debut. Police investigators find no clues. Her father offers a $1,000 reward and posts handbills across New York.

Among those reading the reward notice in West Street is a Chinese laborer who smiles knowingly and mutters he will "catchee gal." The narrative then shifts to the Palisades wilderness across the Hudson River from Manhattan, where a Chinaman traveling northward from Closter station toward Tappantown encounters a dilapidated house. Inside, two hardened criminals—Bill "the Conk," recognizable to police in multiple cities, and a stout associate—await developments.