Beadle's Dime Library No. 725: Dick Talbot in No Man's Camp

About this issue

This September 1892 New York Weekly issue features "Dick Talbot in No Man's Camp" by Albert W. Aiken, a frontier mining-camp adventure serial. Chapter I opens with the assassination of Donald Maxwell, a young mine owner, shot near midnight outside a saloon. A well-dressed stranger, Dick Talbot, arrives at the scene and is arrested by Marshal Black MacGregor after the dying Maxwell accuses him. Chapter II shifts to investigating the crime: Talbot argues his innocence, pointing to wound placement that suggests ambush, while the marshal remains skeptical. Doc Reddy, a disreputable Irish physician, examines Maxwell's body, confirming the bullet entered from the side, supporting Talbot's claim of an unseen assailant. Talbot strategically requests inspection of his weapons for powder residue—standard pulp adventure fare mixing frontier justice, detective reasoning, and implied serial mysteries.