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. 537

1887 · Free to read

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 537 — page 2 of 16 — 2 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 537 — page 3 of 16 — 3 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 537 — page 4 of 16 — 4 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 537 — page 5 of 16 — 5 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 537 — page 6 of 16 — 6 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 537 — page 7 of 16 — 7 / 16

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Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 537 — page 9 of 16 — 9 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 537 — page 10 of 16 — 10 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 537 — page 11 of 16 — 11 / 16

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Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 537 — page 15 of 16 — 15 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 537 — page 16 of 16 — 16 / 16

About this issue

This issue of Beadle and Adams' weekly dime novel publication presents "Against Desperate Odds: A Tale of Idaho" by John W. Osbon, serialized under the heading "Old Buckeye, the Sierra Shadow." The story opens with Major Cool, a skilled gunfighter, ambushed by masked road-agents on a wilderness trail near a rushing river. Cool recognizes them as agents of High-Card Hank, a faro king operating from Chispa Canyon, rather than the notorious Captain Trackless. Cool draws hidden revolvers and kills two of his attackers before riding toward the canyon's lights. The narrative then shifts to the House of Gold, High-Card Hank's gambling establishment in Chispa Canyon, where the deformed giant Red Joaquin attempts to auction a captive girl to miners. High-Card Hank, a mysterious dapper gambler who rose to prominence three months prior by bankrupting the previous proprietor, intervenes on behalf of the girl. After a tense confrontation, Joaquin and Hank reach a temporary truce, though both are established as exceptionally dangerous men within the isolated gold camp community.

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