Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 793

# Museum Catalog Note

This 1893 Beadle and Adams dime novel, Kate Scott, the Police Spy by Albert W. Aiken, follows Virginia Auchinclose, a newly graduated heiress to a five-million-dollar fortune, and her school friend Pauline Birdseye. Returning home to Pine-Tree Hall in Morrisania after boarding school, their carriage experiences multiple delays. On a dark road near midnight, two tramps attempt to rob the girls at knifepoint, demanding their jewelry and money. A mysterious, well-dressed young man with a foreign appearance intervenes, using his cane to disarm the thieves and save the girls' property. He disappears into the darkness before offering his name. Upon arrival at the mansion, Virginia finds her uncle absent, replaced by family lawyer Judge Daniel Colamore, whose solemn demeanor and the servants' strange manner suggest some unexpected development.