Beadle's Dime Library No. 620

# The Great Detective's Shadow Guard

This issue features the opening of "The Great Detective's Shadow Guard" by Albert W. Aiken, author of Joe Phenix pulp serials. The story follows Joseph Phenix, a renowned Manhattan private detective now operating in Wall Street, who receives an anonymous letter with a hundred-dollar check signed by broker George F. Jones. The sender requests a disguised meeting at Broadway and Fiftieth Street at two o'clock.

Phenix and his assistant Tony Western debate whether it's a trap—possibly chloroform-related kidnapping—or a legitimate consultation from a wealthy client seeking secrecy. After verification that the check is genuine, Phenix dons a rural-clergy disguise complete with wig and revolvers, then keeps the appointment. A shabby hack delivers the mysterious client: Abraham Engleburt, one of Wall Street's greatest "money-kings," reputedly worth twenty million dollars. Engleburt, appearing as a fox-faced gentleman in dark business suit, compliments Phenix's disguise and begins his confidential request, which remains unrevealed in this excerpt.