Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 840 — page 16: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

16 **T do not promise to do anything of the kind, but have oc forgotten the declaration of Dead- wood Dick?” Not a soul had thought of it in this connec- tion, **Great jumpin’!” the fellow cried, and he jumped to express his feelings, ‘‘I never thort of et! That’s. et, fellers, sure’s you ar’ borned!” ** I may nog be right,” the lady went on, ** but as I wasan actor in the scenes of that night I have not forgotten the declaration, you see.” *“*That’s et! that’s et! Dollars to buttons that’s jest ther secret of ther bull business, But, how has et been done? And whar has he put his victims after be has made cold meat of ’em?”’ * Why, sir, do you look upon Deadwood Dick as a butcher?” **'We reckon as how he has gonein ter that line, ef he is carryin’ out bis programme accord- in’ to ther way he threatened,’ ** Yas, an’ et may be healthy fer a good many fellers I could name ter light out about now,” another man chipped in, This raised a laugh, but from that moment it was noticed that others were missing from their accustomed places, And this state of things existed till the fol- lowing morning. At an early hour men were found at work on the square before the hotel, putting up a platform, This, naturally, created a good deal of com- ment, and a great crowd gathered around, eager to learn what it meant and by whose orders it was being done. Neither point could they ascertain, though 4 plied the workmen with eager questions, hey simply stated that they were working for pay, and were obeying orders, and that was as far as they knew or anything about it. In an hour the excitement had become in- tense. No work was being done anywhere in camp, but everybody was out eager to see what eo to take place. Curiosity was at fever ea Finally one man in the crowd could stand it no wee and rushing w to one of the work- menu with,.weapon drawn, he demanded to know for whom he was MA eras His ruse was successful, for, the life of the man being threatened, he gave away that part of the secret, The man who bad ordered the platform built was Comstock Jones, A howl went up, and seeing that gentleman on the hotel piazza the crowd made a rush for him, “We want ter know an’ we're bound ter know what this hyer means!” cried the leader, ‘You'd best open yer head, Mister Man, an’ let us into ther secret!” The capitalist stood up and motioned the crowd to silence, when he addressed them with a few wo “You are eager to know, I see, gentlemen,” he said, “‘and sol will no longer hold you in suspense, Here, take this poster and put it up on that board the workmen have erected, and you will find that it will tell its own story.” He tossed a roll of paper to them as he spoke, and catching it, the leader rushed off toward the platform with a cheer, calling for hammer and tacks as he went, and in a little tims the placard was published to the view of one and all, and it was as follows: ‘* PUBLIC NOTICE, ** At ten o’clock sharp, from this platform, I shall assume authority over this camp, at which time I will present to your notice Captain Crusher and those rascals who have been his as- sociates in crime. Drapwoop DIcK, JR.” CHAPTER XVI. EXPOSE AND FINDING, ” THAT was the last that was seen of Comstock Jones, and it needed no prophet to reveal to the crowd that he and Deadwood Dick were one and the same! Before ten o’clock the platform was done, and when the appointed time came round every man, woman and child in the place was out to see and hear, and everywhere was suppressed excitement, Precisely at ten a handsome man of thirty or so came forth from the hotel, with Elma St, James upon his arm and Patsy O’Glory follow- ing close behind. The trio proceeded straight to the platform and mounted, and the crowd broke forth in one long and ringivg cheer, As soon as he could make bimseif heard, Dead wood Dick said: Deadwood Dick, Jr,’s, Clutch. ‘* Citizens of Big Nug, by right of authority as a United States Marsha), [ assume the gov- ernment of this camp for the present, Law and order must prevail, and Iam here to maintain them,” Another wild and rousing cheer, ‘*Before I proceed further, let me introduce my wife, Mrs, Bristol, whois also well known es Kodak Kate,” Cheering again, | “And one of my ablest detectives, Dolan ord and Dick waved his hand toward Patsy ‘Glory. Hardy snatched off his disguise and putit in his pocket promptly. ‘* I’m glad to auch it,” he declared, Dick allowed the crowd to cheer again, this time enough to satisfy them, when he raised his hand for silence. ‘Now, citizens, attend me,” he said, ‘* By this poster I bave pledged myself to present an, a Crusher to you at this time, I will now make good my promise. We shall have to wait a few minutes,’ Dick took a whistle from his pocket and blew a signal blast, . That done, he waited, and ere long a company of men was seen coming down from the upper end of the gulch, As they urew nearer, it was seen that some half a dozen or so of the party were armed, but the great majority were prisoners, and foremost among these was Mayor Timothy Gibson! ' Besides him were John Hartz, Boley Bone, the Snyders, and others; not necessary to men- tion the names of all. ! If there had been excitement before, what was to be said of this? The crowd let itself lodse, Dick’s aides marched the prisoners around and up on the platform, the mayor and Hartz looking crestfallen enough. “* This,” said Dick, indicating the mayor, “is Captain Crusher the real, while this otber,” meaning Hartz, ‘‘ is the pseudo-Captain Crusher, They did not work togetber, and the one had no knowledgeof the other, ‘* Your mayor here has been his own robber, and what stealing has been done in the camp he has been the author of. But Mr. Hartz was the Captain Crusher of Dismal Canyon, making interest upon your mayor’s reputation. Each bad a nice little scheme of his own, ‘‘My wife and I came here upon a matter of private detective work which had no connection with this | -usiness till it came upon us after our arrival, This has been buta side issue from our main purpose, and the two cases have merged into one ina remarkable manner, We came here to find a lost boy, one Harry Baker. And, we have found him, too,” The mayor starteJ, paled, and looked at Dick wap Pip ‘‘One Martha Baker traveled all the way from an Kastern city to engage my service, Dick went on. ‘‘ She had been deserted by her busband, who took their only child with him, and that cbild hus fallen heir to a vast estate in the Old World. The woman’s name was Batton, before she married, and she had two brothers, Robert and James, These brothers had taken it upon themselves to search for the lost heir, but she wearied of waiting for them and came and engeged me, ‘** These brothers, it seems, tvere on the right track at last, though, for they came here as Dick and John Seller, and here met their death at the hends of Captain Crusher of Dismal Canyon. My wife here secured papers from the body of Dick Seller supporting all I say, and giving us further valuable information. Poor fellows! they came to an untimely end on the very eve of success, Martha Baker’s hus- band you have known as Timothy Gibson. His true name is Charles Baker, And the boy, Harry, you have known ¢s thechild of these miserable beings, the Snyders, So much for this, The boy will be restored to his mother, | and will come in for his rights, to the defeat of the father, who had another diabolical scheme in mind, : “As an outlaw, your rascally mayor has done deeds that will send him to prison fora longer term of years than he is likely to sur- ‘* And now for the secret of Dismal Canyon. Your citizen Hartz, and a companion, discovered a great deposit of gold over there in a locked-in guich, access to which was gained from the cellar of the gaming saloon here, which disclosed a cavern when Hartz and his companion were digging one night to bury some money. They explored, and the result was the finding of the gulch and its treasure, ‘‘Wurther exploration revealed the exit by way of the canyon, and there they rigged up an electrical contrivance to warn them of the ap- proach of any person from that direction, A tube from a watch-shanty below had orders to pick off any man who attempted to cross the tree. By daylight I would not have dared at- tempt it, but by night I did cross, and so ex- pores the place, finally following our friend artz out through the saloon.” Hartz was amazed at this information. ‘** Regarding tl:e matter of the bombs and the words upon the smoke clouds, thut was a trick performed by Wat Gooper, to frightan away the pretending Captain Crusher, who was a mystery to him and the mayor and their gang. The cone and its message was thrown by an aide of Hartz’s, for he suspected the mayor of being the real Captain Crusher. When the mayor said he bad sent for me, he lied, for that was something he did not dare to do; but, he had to appear innocent, so he gave it out that he had done so, as he and Hartz had = stints! The sport cannot deny bis part in what | charge, for here be is in these pictures my wife secured of Dismal Canyon, You can see him with a rifte in band, looking up, It was he who tried to kill Wat Cooper when he was on the tree,” The crowd stood spellbound while Dick talked, but the moment he stopped a cry was raised for the lynching of the rascals, Dick motioned silence, ‘* That shall not be,” he said, firmly. “ You are men of borse sense, and you know what the law is. You must aid me in upholding it, or I must deal against you with it, These pemoners are mine, and sball be taken to the State capital for trial. Your business will be to appear as witnesses and see that they get what ap | de- serve. In my declaration, you remember, [ said only evil-doers need fear me; 1 am the friend of honest men, every time, Itis true that nearly all of you tried to hang me, but I hold only your leaders responsible for that, I have just been told that the poor girl who was skot by Hartz is dead, You must do your nicest in the way of a funeral for her, my friends.” Dick said more, but enough for our purpose, The prisoners were dealt with to the full sever- ity of the law, and suffered accordingly, some to the death, It was a good riddance, Bristol and his aids returned home, after havy- ing filled their mission, taking the boy Harry with them, and there he was restored to the arms of his waiting motber, who recognized him positively by marks on his body and peculiari- ties which she bad made known to no one, Bristol beard from her in after days, that she ad been able tosecure the boy his rights, thanks to excellent proofs the t detective had pro- vided for her ere he had allowed her to depart. Deadwood Dick never did things by halves! NEXT HALF-DIME, No. 841, IS Prince Charlie, the Gat's-Paw Sport. BY MARMADUKE DEY. A capital city-life story, in which a messenger boy is the hero of a bright romance. The boy, through his honesty and pluck, is involved in an affair which leads to strange adventure and important results and the charming story evolves the admirable lesson that, in the end, no matter how hard the struggle may be, pluck and honesty win. BEADLE’S HALF-DIME LIBRARY. 8385 Dick Doom’s Big Maul. By Col. P. Ingrabam. 836 Sharper Stoke’s Double Deal. By Wm. G. [atten 887 The Big Four of the Bowery. By Jo Pierce, 888 Poker Pete’a Double Dodges or, The Close Call. By Wim. R. Eyster. 839 Broadway Billy's Big Boom; or, Cornering Counterfeit Crooks. By J.C. Cowdrick, : 840 Deadwood Dick’s Clutch ; or, Crushing Captain Crusher, By Edward L Wheeler. 841 Prince Charlie, the Cat’s-Paw Sport. duke Dey. 842 The Actor Detective In Chicago; or, Dick Doom’s Flush Hand. By Col. Prentiss Ingraham. A New lasue Every Tuesday. The Half- Dime Library ia for sale by all newsdealers, five cents per copy, or sent by mail on receipt of six cents each. BEADLE AND ADAMAS, Publishers, 98 William Street, New York. By Marma-