Beadle's Dime Novels No. 170: The Border Avengers

About this issue

This issue of Beadle's Dime Novels (No. 170, February 1888) contains "The Border Avengers; or, The White Prophetess of the Delawares" by Edward Willett. The frontier narrative opens in northwestern Virginia near present-day Wheeling around 1775. Genteel Colonel Lee, traveling with his wife and fifteen-year-old daughter Annie, stops at settler Wetzel's cabin en route to Fort Henry. Lee discusses impending colonial revolution with his host while warning of Indian dangers. After leaving his family behind, Lee learns the fort is crowded with refugees fleeing Indian raids. Upon returning to Wetzel's cabin at dawn, he discovers it burned. Martin Wetzel finds his father's charred remains in the ruins; his mother and siblings are missing, presumed captured. Martin vows vengeance against the raiders. The narrative establishes a revenge plot centered on frontier violence and captivity.