Beadle's Dime Library No. 609: The Texas Tramp

This issue of Beadle & Adams' Dime Novels (No. 609, June 25, 1890) features "Solid Sol, the Yankee Hercules" by Captain Fred. Whittaker. In Chapter II, "A Tramp on the Range," a gaunt, six-foot-tall young stranger from New Hampshire arrives at the Mesquite Ranch in Texas seeking work as a cowboy. After eating ravenously, he trades insults with Gray Pepper, a diminutive, quick-tempered cowboy who shoots at him twice as a "joke." The stranger retaliates by disarming Pepper, seizing him, and administering a thorough spanking across his knee with such force that even the laughing cowboys become amazed at his strength. The narrative establishes Sol as a physically extraordinary figure whose gentle demeanor masks tremendous power, contrasting sharply with the brutal Texas cowboys' hostility toward the Northern newcomer.