Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 617

About this issue

This issue of Beadle and Adams, dated May 2, 1889, presents "The Raiders and Red Riders of the Rio" by Colonel Prentiss Ingraham, featuring Ralph, "the Death-Shot Scout." The narrative follows a prairie fire sequence where the scout systematically harries a bandit band led by Don Ramon with rifle shots. When lightning ignites the prairie grass, the scout—astride his blood-bay mustang Comanche—flees alongside buffalo, deer, and wild animals toward timber safety. Pursued by outlaws, he dramatically leaps a thirty-foot ravine on horseback to escape. The scout then reaches Clear Water Stockade, where Colonel Linville briefs him: his daughter Kate, originally delayed by Indian attacks on a wagon train, is traveling under cavalry escort with Lieutenant Merwin and four troopers, coinciding dangerously with both Comanche activity and Don Ramon's movements.