Beadle's Pocket Library No. 370

About this issue

This issue features "The Giant Miner of the Gulch" by Maj. H. B. Stoddard, a western melodrama serialized across multiple chapters. The narrative opens with the murder of an elderly man in a remote cabin—shot between the eyes by an intruder—followed by a search for a girl by a group of criminals led by a captain. A gigantic man called Hercules, standing six feet two with tremendous strength and a missing left eye, is left to ambush the girl when she returns. She arrives seeking medicine but is attacked by Hercules. However, a mysterious young rescuer with striking feminine features and golden hair—remarkably resembling the girl as if they were twins—intervenes, striking Hercules unconscious with a lavender-gloved hand. The girl, discovering her father's corpse, swears vengeance. The rescuer, dressed flamboyantly in claret velvet with gold accents, later challenges the recovering Hercules to hand-to-hand combat after removing his weapons, creating a tense confrontation in darkness.