Penny Dreadfuls, 1865 · page 204 of 204
Rose Mortimer; Or, The Ballet-Girl's Revenge — page 204: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Red Ralph: Or, The Daughter of Night This is an **illustration with accompanying prose text** from a Victorian penny dreadful serial (No. 2). The engraving depicts a mounted highwayman in a top hat on a rearing horse, leaping over a gravel pit at night under a moon, while other figures on horseback appear in the background. The prose describes a robbery in preparation: two robbers set a rope trap across a road to stop a nobleman's carriage, conceal themselves with crape masks, and successfully halt an approaching chocolate-colored coach, causing one of the leading horses to stumble. The text emphasizes suspenseful, sensational action typical of the genre.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SPECIMEN OF “RED RALPH. = Published for the LONDON ROMANCE. ‘COMPANY in Penny Weekly Numbe i. age RED RALPH; On, if if i Hh WN i ibs ou) ; i Mina’ Ws i Nh hy i] THE DAUG ile IR Hi | a ify att il Wb tN i ne Ness 2” a. Ul . OF N1GoT. HTEF® my ph iM ‘i of ih is) ii i [THE LEAP OVER THE GRAVEL-I'IT. | Then, at a spot where some trees cast a deep shadow upon the ground, they came to a halt. “ Tlere’s something on the road,” said Ralph after he had listened a moment or two attentively. ‘* I hear the sound of wheels.” ““It must be his lordship’s carriage, as this is the time you say heis expected. Let us prepare for him.” ‘‘ Have you the rope?” “Yes.” As he spoke Rann alighted from his horse, and producing a thin but yery strone cord fastened one end to a tree near which they had halted, and cairy- img it across the road attached the other end to a tree cn the opposite side. Wo. Y —— + — No. 2, and a highiy-finished Engraving, presented with No. 1. nn _ Ilaving done this one robber crossed the road, and took up his position there in the shade, leaving his comrade where he was, that is to say about eight feet from the rope on the opposite side to London. Thus, in perfect silence, they waited for the traveller, their faces concealed by black crape masks. The sounds of wheels were now distinetly audible. A dark chocolate-coloired travelling coach came in view, drawn by four torses, the postboys on the leaders Joudly cracking their whips. But the rope stretched aeross the road brought them to a sudden stop. One of the leaders blundered stumbled and fell. over it. the other a ‘““ Saved from the G : ,) > t a? ano ComiGeboc com ee