A complete, restored issue of Penny Dreadfuls from 1896 — all 16 pages of cheap serialized Victorian sensation fiction — crime, horror, and lurid melodrama, free to page through at ComicBooks.com.

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A complete issue · 16 pages · 1896

Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box

1896 · Free to read

Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box — page 2 of 16 — 2 / 16

Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box — page 3 of 16 — 3 / 16

Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box — page 4 of 16 — 4 / 16

Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box — page 5 of 16 — 5 / 16

Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box — page 6 of 16 — 6 / 16

Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box — page 7 of 16 — 7 / 16

Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box — page 8 of 16 — 8 / 16

Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box — page 9 of 16 — 9 / 16

Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box — page 10 of 16 — 10 / 16

Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box — page 11 of 16 — 11 / 16

Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box — page 12 of 16 — 12 / 16

Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box — page 13 of 16 — 13 / 16

Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box — page 14 of 16 — 14 / 16

Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box — page 15 of 16 — 15 / 16

Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box — page 16 of 16 — 16 / 16

About this issue

Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box (Street & Smith, No. 119, March 1896) by W. B. Lawson presents a narrative of deception and counter-deception in Cripple Creek. Felipe Ortego, "the Spanish Don," a professional faro dealer and poker player known as the King of the Silver Box, manipulates young bank cashier Joe Evans through gambling losses, coercing him into delivering a woman impersonating Miss Bicknell—niece of Evans's bank president—to a specified address. The Don's scheme involves preventing the real Miss Bicknell's arrival by telegram while forcing Evans into complicity. Meanwhile, Bertie Wade (Diamond Dick, Jr.) and his partner Handsome Harry overhear the Don's telephone plot and devise a counter-scheme. Evans is blackmailed with exposure as a defaulter unless he cooperates; the narrative alternates between the Don's manipulation and the detectives' intervention plans.

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