Beadle's Dime Library No. 507

# Museum Catalog Note

The Dead Straight Trail: The Romance of a Colorado Camp by George C. Jenks, serialized in this weekly dime novel, opens with a scene in a mining-town saloon where a well-dressed young drummer named Joe Grattan—nicknamed "Peachblossom"—entertains rough miners with stories. When Peachblossom departs for a moonlit stroll, he's waylaid by two footpads attempting robbery. Despite their revolvers trained upon him, Peachblossom produces hidden twin Colt revolvers from shoulder scabbards and shoots one assailant dead. The surviving robber, Red Bill, is apprehended by Dan Walker and the miners, who discover Red Bill stolen a gold dust bag from another prospector. When the miners threaten lynching, Peachblossom intervenes, claiming Red Bill as "his property" and threatening to shoot anyone who harms him. The narrative intercuts to reveal an eighteen-year-old mountain girl, Kitten, who watched Peachblossom in the saloon through a knothole and is fascinated by him. Her father, a one-eyed saloon owner, summons her as the miners depart.