Beadle's Dime Library No. 317

About this issue

This issue contains the opening installment of "Frank Lightfoot, the Miner Detective," a serial mystery set in the Colorado mining camps. The prologue establishes the central crime: brothers Will and Tom Courtright quarrel over a woman named Edna, whom Tom has secretly married. Will, consumed by jealous rage, threatens his brother with a drawn revolver. A drunken tramp witnesses heated argument and later observes gunshots and screams at the brothers' cabin; the building subsequently burns. An inquest determines two bodies—a man and woman—bear bullet wounds. The tramp's testimony leads a vigilante court to declare Will Courtright a murderer and arsonist, placing a bounty on his head. Will kneels at the grave vowing revenge. Chapter One shifts to Independence City's Fourth of July celebration, establishing the story's broader setting. The narrative combines frontier melodrama with detective elements, featuring accusations of murder, circumstantial evidence, and an accused man presumably fleeing justice.