Beadle's Dime Library No. 429

# Catalog Note

"All Wool, and a Yard Wide" by William R. Eyster opens with a stagecoach halt at Red Bend for repairs. Among the passengers is "Governor" Egbert Shaw, a well-dressed, skilled gunfighter known throughout the region for his competence and popularity. Inside the station, an elderly, sickly man traveling with his young daughter Leona discusses enlisting Shaw's protection for their journey to Bad Man's Bar, where they possess significant wealth. A lanky drifter named Tommy Tough intrudes seeking passage, prompting Leona to intervene when her father displays signs of mental disturbance and attempts to gamble with the stranger. Tough gracefully withdraws. The father subsequently suffers a physical collapse, which Shaw witnesses through a window and responds to with assistance. Shaw inquires about the cause of the disturbance, learning only that necessity has compelled their dangerous journey. The story establishes themes of hidden wealth, danger on frontier roads, and moral character tested through circumstance.