A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1887 — 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 · 1887

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 583

1887 · Free to read

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About this issue

This Beadle and Adams dime novel from 1887 features "Wrestling Rex; or, Five Points Phil and the Birds of Prey" by Jo Pierce of the New York Detective Force. The narrative follows Rex Peters, a sixteen-year-old orphan and amateur wrestler living in a Sixth Ward tenement, and his encounter with mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of his neighbor Mrs. Austin. When an impostor posing as a policeman gains access to the deceased woman's room and steals papers from her trunk—potentially containing information about her orphaned daughter Ella's relatives—Rex seeks help from his friend Phil, the quick-witted "Five Points Phil," known for detective work. Together they investigate the case, discovering clues suggesting the thief may have accessed the room via rooftops. The narrative combines street-level New York detail with mystery and action elements typical of the period.

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Each page has its own page — the cartoon, who’s in it, and what the satire means.