Wild West Weekly, No. 642

# Catalog Note

Wild West Weekly No. 642 (February 5, 1915) features "Young Wild West at the Flooded Trenches; or, Saving a Belgian Town" by An Old Scout. The story places the dime-novel protagonist and his traveling Wild West show company—including his sweetheart Arietta Murdock, partners Cheyenne Charlie and Jim Hart with their wives, and Hop Wah, a Chinese servant—in wartime Belgium during World War I. Having obtained military passes, including from the German Kaiser, the neutral Americans arrive at the untouched town of Soree near Namur. They lodge at an inn run by Julian Merseman, a disabled former Belgian soldier whose son fights at the front. The narrative emphasizes their humanitarian neutrality while providing period details of Belgian civilian life amid the broader European conflict. Hop Wah's comic relief involves smuggling alcohol. The story concludes mid-scene.