Deadwood Dick Library No. 13

About this issue

This publication contains the opening installments of "Buckhorn Bill and the Moonshiners," a frontier adventure serial illustrated with detailed character descriptions and action sequences. The narrative begins with sixteen-year-old Bill Burnham and his fourteen-year-old sister Maolin riding across Dakota prairie to locate their father. They are ambushed by masked ruffians of the "Press-Gang"—a criminal organization forcing reluctant members into service under threat of death. The gang's captain reveals that Phil Burnham, the children's father, has been an associate for over a year but has betrayed and deserted them. When Bill refuses to reveal his father's location, the captain executes Maolin before Bill is rescued by a mysterious horseman. The narrative jumps two years forward, finding eighteen-year-old Buckhorn Bill—named for a decorative hunting horn he carries—crouching in prairie grass observing Sioux warriors moving through a ravine. He escapes gunfire while investigating mysterious activities in the region. The text showcases period frontier dialect and action-adventure conventions typical of early pulp serialization.