A complete, restored issue of Penny Dreadfuls from 1877 — all 16 pages of cheap serialized Victorian sensation fiction — crime, horror, and lurid melodrama, free to page through at ComicBooks.com.

← Back to Penny Dreadfuls All exhibitions

Home › Exhibition › Penny Dreadfuls › Read

A complete issue · 16 pages · 1877

Beadle's Half Dime Library

1877 · Free to read

Beadle's Half Dime Library — page 2 of 16 — 2 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library — page 3 of 16 — 3 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library — page 4 of 16 — 4 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library — page 5 of 16 — 5 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library — page 6 of 16 — 6 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library — page 7 of 16 — 7 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library — page 8 of 16 — 8 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library — page 9 of 16 — 9 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library — page 10 of 16 — 10 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library — page 11 of 16 — 11 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library — page 12 of 16 — 12 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library — page 13 of 16 — 13 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library — page 14 of 16 — 14 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library — page 15 of 16 — 15 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library — page 16 of 16 — 16 / 16

About this issue

This serialized western adventure by Joseph E. Badger opens amid a harrowing disaster in the Shicha-chetish pass. An emigrant wagon train encounters a sudden, catastrophic storm called the "pouderee"—a violent tornado with snow, hail, and rockfall. Five prairie schooners and a light spring wagon struggle to escape. When young Frank Maynard pursues the runaway democrat wagon carrying Ada Dixon and the beloved Minnie Warren through the narrowing pass, he faces an impossible chase against both the storm and terrain. As the vehicle hurtles toward what appears to be a ravine hidden by tree-tops, Maynard attempts desperately to prevent disaster, but his revolver misfires. The narrative cuts away as the animals plunge toward death. Chapter II begins cryptically with "The dogs are h[owling]."

In this issue

“Yellowstone Jack; Trappers of the Enchanted Ground” by Joseph E. Badger · serial · p.1

Browse this issue page by page

Each page has its own page — the cartoon, who’s in it, and what the satire means.