Beadle's Pocket Library No. 1

About this issue

This January 1884 Beadle and Adams weekly dime novel features "Deadwood Dick, the Prince of the Road; or, The Black Rider of the Black Hills" by Edward L. Wheeler, author of the Rosebud Rob and Sierra Sam series. The installment opens on the plains between Cheyenne and the Black Hills as a wagon train halts for noon rest. The group includes Fearless Frank, a twenty-year-old youth in distinctive scarlet buckskin who recently joined offering his services as hunter and guide; Geoffrey Walsingham Nix, a mysterious humpbacked old man with multiple weapons; and Charity Joe, an irascible but skilled guide commanding the four prairie schooners. As miners and companions gather around the campfire roasting venison, Frank and Nix discuss threats from outlaws and hostile Native Americans in the region, debating whether the group will reach their destination safely. The narrative establishes the frontier setting, introduces the principal characters, and initiates the adventure narrative.