Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 553

# "The Branded Brig" by Col. Prentiss Ingraham

This serial installment opens a mystery involving Lola Rutledge, a beautiful young woman imprisoned and condemned to hang for her husband Peter's murder. Convicted on circumstantial evidence—she was found holding a bloodstained knife as her dying husband said "She can tell you"—Lola maintains her innocence privately while accepting her legal fate with stoic dignity. Captain Ezra Vail, a wealthy childhood acquaintance, visits offering escape and financial aid in exchange for marriage; she refuses violently. Her sister Ethel then arrives veiled, having recovered from brain-fever caused by the trial's shock. Ethel believes Lola innocent and reveals her husband Captain Monte (away at sea) instructed her to save Lola or comfort her final hours. The sisters agree that Ethel and Roland will raise Lola's hidden children as their own, concealing the children's parentage and their mother's execution. Lola provides a sealed confession and will to her sister as executors.