Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 744

# Museum Catalog Note

This issue of Beadle and Adams (Vol. LVI, No. 144, January 25, 1893) features the opening installment of "Major Hold-up Shows His Hand: A Romance of the Twin Lodes of Silverado" by Joseph E. Badger, Jr. In Chapter I, "Jolly Dick Blue," the saturnine stagecoach driver transports a charming stranger named Samuel Singleton ("Sweepstakes Sam") toward the mining town of Silverado. Dick warns Sam of dangerous factional warfare between two rival mining operations—the Sure Thing, owned by Herman Gillespie, and the Daisy Belle, operated by Abner Howland and his son Jasper. Dick maintains neutrality by threatening to cause a fatal accident if either gang forces him to choose sides. As they approach a perilous mountain passage called "The Flume," a steep, narrow descent with sheer drops, Dick prepares his team with safety chains while discussing the mining conflict ahead.