A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1880 — all 16 pages of painted-cover fiction magazines that launched science fiction, horror, and hardboiled crime, free to page through at ComicBooks.com.

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A complete issue · 16 pages · 1880

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 174

1880 · Free to read

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About this issue

This pulp serial by Charles Morris follows Bob Rockett, a street orphan and leader of a gang of vagrant boys living in New York's tenement district during October. The narrative opens with Rockett entertaining his companions—Joe, Paul, and others—with the story of how he trapped a street performer's monkey in his coat pocket near Fulton Ferry, leading to a chaotic encounter with the organ-grinder. When a rough laborer named Rusty Mike kicks Rockett on the street, the humiliated boy takes out his anger on Joe, prompting Paul to intervene. A fierce fight erupts between Rockett and Paul, drawing crowds of onlookers until a policeman's approach scatters the combatants. The fragmentary conclusion suggests involvement in criminal activity or theft, with references to planning illicit "work" for the evening.

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