Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 447

About this issue

"The Knife Detective" by Albert W. Aiken is a serialized detective mystery set thirty years prior to publication, centered on the Old Bowery Theater in New York. Actor Nat Clinton witnesses a stabbing in the audience during his benefit performance. From his position on stage, Clinton observes the attacker—a swarthy man with small, fine features—escape through the crowd after fatally wounding a middle-aged victim. Clinton assists police captain Murphy in recording the dying man's statement. The victim reveals he recently returned to New York from California with money, suspecting the wealthy Beekman family orchestrated his murder after they drove him west years earlier. The victim mentions a young daughter left behind a decade prior and claims to have seen his attacker on the same train from San Francisco. As the victim weakens, Clinton prepares to examine arrested suspects to identify the killer.