Beadle's Dime Novels No. 38: The Wrong Man

About this issue

This issue contains two serialized stories by Henry J. Thomas. The lead story is "Laughing Eyes: A Tale of the Natchez Fort," a historical romance set during the French colonial period. The heroine, a French girl of beauty and grace, captivates both Indigenous warriors and French courtiers. The narrative emphasizes stirring incidents and character studies, centering dramatic tension around the female protagonist navigating frontier society. The second serial, "The Wrong Man: A Tale of the Early Settlements," opens in the early Ohio frontier during westward emigration. A skilled western hunter pursuing a deer falls awkwardly before a Connecticut peddler. Their ensuing dialogue contrasts the laconic, irritable frontiersman with the garrulous Yankee trader, who launches into extended tall tales about his father's legendary marksmanship and a snow-storm adventure in Connecticut—exaggerated narratives delivered with provincial dialect and comedic intent. The excerpt emphasizes frontier characterization and humor through regional types.