A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1882 — 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 · 1882

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 262

1882 · Free to read

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 262 — page 2 of 16 — 2 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 262 — page 3 of 16 — 3 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 262 — page 4 of 16 — 4 / 16

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Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 262 — page 16 of 16 — 16 / 16

About this issue

"The Young Sleuths: Rollicking Mike's Hot Trail" by Charles Morris appears in this August 1882 Beadle and Adams weekly (5 cents). The story follows Mickey Malone, a street-smart newsboy and bootblack in Philadelphia, and his younger, more innocent partner Joe Joram. In Chapter 1, Mickey sells newspapers and shines boots while skillfully evading a man attempting to pass counterfeit currency. When the man pays for shoe-shining with a fake coin, Mickey pursues and bites his calf, recovering payment. The boys pool earnings from a month of streetwork. In Chapter 2, they head toward an oyster saloon for a celebratory dinner, but Mickey notices the counterfeit-coin man passing by with another gentleman. Abandoning oysters for pursuit, Mickey resolves to track and outmaneuver his adversary before the man can "get even" with him, suggesting an emerging mystery-detection plot.

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