A complete, restored issue of Pulp Fiction from 1890 — all 16 pages of painted-cover fiction magazines that launched science fiction, horror, and hardboiled crime, free to page through at ComicBooks.com.

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A complete issue · 16 pages · 1890

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 653

1890 · Free to read

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 653 — page 2 of 16 — 2 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 653 — page 3 of 16 — 3 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 653 — page 4 of 16 — 4 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 653 — page 5 of 16 — 5 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 653 — page 6 of 16 — 6 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 653 — page 7 of 16 — 7 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 653 — page 8 of 16 — 8 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 653 — page 9 of 16 — 9 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 653 — page 10 of 16 — 10 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 653 — page 11 of 16 — 11 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 653 — page 12 of 16 — 12 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 653 — page 13 of 16 — 13 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 653 — page 14 of 16 — 14 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 653 — page 15 of 16 — 15 / 16

Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 653 — page 16 of 16 — 16 / 16

About this issue

This issue of Beadle's Weekly (No. 653, January 2, 1890) features the beginning of "Gathering the Guilty Gang" by T. C. Harbaugh, a detective/crime serial. The story opens in a New York pawnshop where the one-eyed proprietor Mordecai Moses receives mysterious visits: first an unknown woman redeeming a pawn ticket for a small package, then the street urchin Billy Bantam (the "Boy Beagle") pawning a distinctive gold cross entwined with a silver serpent set with emeralds. Billy returns the fifty-dollar advance to an ailing man called Colonel Poynter, who sends a telegram to detective Lemuel Lynx in New Orleans reading "They are here; but my hand is dead, and I can't hold on long." Poynter reveals to Billy that he was poisoned while pursuing thieves who stole estate documents and falsely accused him of fraud. Billy then visits a girl named Nanice, confiding details of Poynter's struggle for vindication before the poisoned man dies.

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Each page has its own page — the cartoon, who’s in it, and what the satire means.