Beadle's Dime Novels No. 135: The Cherokee Chief

About this issue

This issue contains two romantic serials featuring frontier encounters and colonial politics. "The Maidens of Idaho" by James L. Bowen depicts early American settlement with tales of captivity and rescue, evoking pioneers Boone and Kenton defending frontier communities against Indian hostilities in Ohio and Kentucky. "Salqueh, the Cherokee: or The White Rose of the Saluda," set in 1756 South Carolina, follows William Crawley's family living near Cherokee territory during the French and Indian War. The narrative centers on Salqueh, a proud Cherokee chief, who declares his passionate love for Hester Crawley and offers his support for Cherokee neutrality toward the English if she will marry him. Hester refuses, declaring her betrothal to Warren Stafford, an English settler. Stafford arrives and insults Salqueh, spurring tension between the rival suitors as larger colonial conflicts threaten the region.