A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1894 — 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 · 1894

Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 871

1894 · Free to read

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About this issue

This issue contains "The Unknown Ferret's Arizona Ally" by Colonel Prentiss Ingraham, beginning a serialized detective narrative. The story opens in New York City where a young man named New York Nat witnesses a murder attempt—three men throw a drunk man off a pier. Nat dives in and rescues him, then follows the conspirators. The narrative introduces the "Boy Police League," a secret band of youths aged twelve to twenty from various walks of life (messenger boys, clerks, bootblacks, newsboys) who operate from a haunted mansion. Led by Nat as captain and a masked female member called "the Queen," they investigate crimes—counterfeiting, kidnapping, and grave-robbing—while remaining unknown to official police. They send anonymous tips to the Secret Service chief and accumulate reward money, intending eventually to prove their value and gain legitimate police positions.

Browse this issue page by page

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