Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 842

# Catalog Note

"Black Bill at Barefoot Bar" by Albert W. Aiken is a serialized mystery-adventure. A dark-faced stranger from Montana, known as Teton Tom, arrives in New London, Connecticut, carrying a charred letter fragment that references plans to murder "the son" and conceal "the old woman." Intercepting a young Harvard student named George Haven whose horse has been deliberately lamed, Teton Tom suspects foul play and follows him along a lonely road. Two assassins attack Haven with a lasso, planning to chloroform and dispose of him without visible marks. Teton Tom intervenes with drawn revolvers, forcing the attackers to flee into the woods. Haven survives the encounter unharmed but bewildered, unable to explain why anyone would attempt his murder. The narrative blends Western frontier elements—lariats, desperadoes, frontier justice—with New England setting and suggests a complex conspiracy linking Haven's family to Montana.