Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 956

This 1896 Beadle and Adams dime novel serializes "A Story of the Willy-Wally Wipe-Out" by Wm. Perry Brown. The narrative follows Dot, the Dodger, a sixteen-year-old criminal gang leader operating from an East Side tenement who specializes in coordinating street thieves and informants. When Gopher Pete, his associate, arrives with a chamois bag containing fifty thousand dollars' worth of stolen diamonds from a recent heist at the Fourth National Bank, they begin divvying the spoils. A hidden observer—apparently a young shadower—witnesses their transaction. Kate Clower, Dot's female associate, arrives with warning that the diamonds' theft has been discovered and Brooklyn Bob, a famous young detective, has been hired for recovery. During the resulting altercation between Dot, Pete, and Kate, the hidden figure steals the diamonds and marks the packing case with a double-B signature. Dot and Pete, realizing Brooklyn Bob has the stones, resolve to recover them by any means necessary.