Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 99

About this issue

This issue of Fireside Companion (Vol. VIII, No. 99, July 28, 1880) features "The Giant Rifleman: Wild Life in the Fangher Regions" by Oll Coomes, author of "Death-Notch" and "Dakota Dan." The serial opens with a prologue set in Michigan's forests, where a group of lumbermen, their wives, and children are peacefully fishing from canoes near the Bull-rush dam when a Chippewa swimmer warns them to flee. Before they can escape, saboteurs cut the dam's locks, releasing a catastrophic flood that drowns the entire party. Chapter One shifts to a log raft on Michigan's Black River, where Captain Randolph Spencer and four raftsmen—Josh Myers, Jack, Zeke Morris, and Abe Brannon—play cards in their tent. During their game, a mysterious shot penetrates the tent, tearing through the captain's card and wounding Morris. Investigation reveals a copper bullet, suggesting the shooter comes from the northern copper regions rather than from rival French-Canadian lumbermen. The identity and motive of the mysterious rifleman remain unrevealed.