Beadle's Dime Library No. 868

The Race-Course Detective by George C. Jenks

This serial adventure opens at Brighton Beach race track in early spring, where stable hand Jim Rodney awaits Simon Stroker, a heavyset man of commanding presence, regarding a valuable black mare named Fury. The animal proves dangerously temperamental, breaking loose and nearly trampling Stroker before he regains control. Stroker expresses concern about recent losses in his stable.

The narrative then shifts to a Manhattan law office where attorney Emil Lenz reads the will of William Slater to Mathew Slater (guardian) and his sixteen-year-old niece Ruth Slater. The will grants Ruth a Fifth Avenue house, furniture, stocks and bonds valued at $500,000, and $100,000 in cash held in a safe deposit vault—with Emil Lenz, not Mathew, named executor. The revelation visibly disturbs Mathew, who had controlled these assets for ten years. After Ruth leaves, Mathew's Quaker mannerisms drop, revealing suppressed resentment toward the will.