Iron Wrist, the Swordmaster

This September 1897 issue of Beadle and Adams' dime novel contains "The Swordmaster: A Tale of Court and Camp" by Col. Thomas Hoyer Monstery. The adventure novel opens in St. Petersburg following the death of Czar Alexander. A young, fair-haired stranger in shabby Hungarian Hussar uniform and Scottish bonnet arrives on the Newsky Prospect. Police officers observe his peculiar appearance but are distracted by illegal troika racing. When a uniformed official whips the stranger for enthusiastic betting, the young man seizes the whip and pursues his assailant across the city. He defeats two police officers in combat using headbutts, then chases the fleeing official to a palace compound. There he intimidates a doorkeeper and pursues the uniformed man through magnificent halls and corridors, seeking confrontation while armed with the recovered whip.