This issue of the Adams weekly publication (May 8, 1889) features the opening chapters of "The Marked Man of Arona," a Western serial by Captain Howard Holmes, author of the "Denver Duke" and "Richard Redfire" novels.
The story is set in San Satano, Arizona, a lawless border town populated by Americans, Mexicans, and Indians. The protagonist is Juarez the One-Eyed, a wiry, dangerous man of mixed descent who operates a fraudulent lottery scheme called the "San Satano Wheel of Fortune." He manipulates the drawing through predetermined winners and accomplices.
In Chapter II, Juarez learns that Sonora Si, the legitimate holder of the winning ticket numbered 2727, has died—found tied to a horse in Black Vulture Valley. Captain Burt reports Si's purse was lost in the desert. This allows Juarez, Colonel Centipede (an Arizona mine owner), and Burt to claim the twenty-thousand-dollar prize for themselves, keeping Si's five-hundred-dollar share. The drawing is scheduled for the next day before a massive crowd gathering in town.
About this artifact
- Date
- May 8, 1889
- Rights
- Public domain — free to view, share, and reuse.
- Restoration
- Digitally restored and hosted by comicbooks.com.
Part of our mission to preserve and restore the public-domain heritage of the medium.