Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1011

# Skeleton Gorge

This serialized Western, authored by Ed. L. Wheeler (creator of the Deadwood Dick novels), opens with Chapter I introducing the geography and outlaws of Skeleton Gorge—a treacherous canyon named after an actual skeleton wedged between boulders, home to two rival outlaw camps at Hard Luck and Bald Eagle. Mayors Hud Miller and Buck Dalton learn via Mat Baldwin that the detective Deadwood Dick is coming to the region to gather evidence against local outlaws. They wager a pound of gold dust over who will capture him first, agreeing that "Deadwood Dick must never get out of Skeleton Gorge alive."

Chapter II depicts an absurdly comic scene: a shabby man astride a bucking Government mule tears through town, unable to dismount as the animal threatens to kick him. After extracting himself by rolling away, the stranger sells the mule to Dalton for five dollars. Miller, suspicious this may be Deadwood Dick in disguise, detains him for questioning.