Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 221

About this issue

This issue of Beadle and Adams' weekly contains "Sugar-Coated Sam; or, The Black Gowns of Grim Gulch," a Deadwood Dick episode by Edward L. Wheeler. The narrative follows the founding of Grim Gulch, a mining town established by four prospectors—Sugar-Coated Sam (the leader), McDuff, Hans, and Snapp—after gold and silver discoveries. Sam organizes the town, stakes out fifty lots, and forms the Sugar-Coated Mining Company. When stampeding miners and settlers arrive, Sam maintains firm pricing. Among the newcomers is "Sure-Pop," a stylish sixteen-year-old girl in fashionable attire and masculine dress who unsuccessfully attempts to gamble or negotiate for land. Also arriving is William Henry Shakespeare, a self-proclaimed poet and would-be newspaper publisher fleeing a lynch mob, who settles in camp with minimal funds. The narrative establishes the town's chaotic early development amid gold fever and frontier character types.