Beadle's New Dime Novels: Alone on the Plains

This is a catalog of Beadle and Adams' "Dime" publications—inexpensive mass-market handbooks and entertainment for young people and families. The cover features the beginning of Alone on the Plains: The Outlaws' Plot by Edward Willett. The narrative follows a caravan led by Walter Bligh crossing the western plains toward Mexican territory with valuable cargo. The guide William Beeler and clerk Simon Leonard, aided by three teamsters, have conspired to seize the goods and money aboard. They coerce young orphan Charlie Simbell into complicity through threats. South of the Arkansas River, during a night encampment, the conspirators overwhelm the sleeping Bligh and bind him. Leonard proposes abandoning Bligh alone on the barren plains rather than murdering him outright—ostensibly to avoid bloodshed and legal consequence, though Leonard harbors personal resentment toward Bligh stemming from an incident in St. Louis. The narrative establishes Bligh as physically strong and defiant despite capture.