The Fresh of Frisco; or, The Heiress of Buenaventura

About this issue

This May 1901 issue features "The Fresh of Frisco; or, The Heiress of Buenaventura," a serialized adventure tale by Albert W. Aiken. Chapter One depicts a vigilante court at Kern Bar mining camp in 1859 Southern California, where the notorious gunslinger Jackson Blake—nickname "the Fresh of Frisco"—is warned out of town. Despite his reputation as a gambler and desperado, Blake claims he sought redemption; the judge banishes him within the hour. Chapter Two shifts to the California coast, where a Scottish ship captain transports an orphaned heiress toward Santa Barbara. She is the granddaughter of Michael Buenaventura (actually a man named Scott), a cattle king who died years earlier after hiding a treasure in the mountains during the Mexican-American War. Her rival for the inheritance is Alexander Black, an unscrupulous mining-camp alcalde. The captain warns her of danger ahead as her ship approaches shore under cover of darkness.