Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 215

# Parson Jim, King of the Cowboys

This pulp western serial by Captain Frederick Whittaker, titled "Parson Jim, King of the Cowboys; or, The Gentle Shepherd's Big Clean Out," opens in the rough Colorado cattle town of Muleville in 1878. The narrative introduces the town through Judge Boanerges "Bo" Brown's Fourth of July speech praising its lawlessness and violence, interrupted by gunfire that kills three men.

A pale, delicate young man named James Arthur arrives by stagecoat, a divinity student sent West for his health. Hotel proprietor Joab Appleby and Judge Brown mockingly interrogate him, ridiculing both his frail appearance and his mention of coming to Colorado to save his life. When Arthur refuses to disclose his money and appeals for decent treatment, he stands up to their bullying despite being unarmed and sickly. The story positions Arthur as an unlikely protagonist entering this violent frontier society.