Beadle's Pocket Novels No. 165: Wild Nat, the Gulch Terror

About this issue

Wild Nat, the Gulch Terror by W. J. Hamilton, published by Beadle and Adams (1872), is a frontier adventure serial featuring "The Border Huntress," a skilled markswoman named Elsie (Silver Star) who operates in the western foothills. When a wounded Pawnee named Matonah stumbles into her camp, shot by Curtis Melvin, Elsie extracts the bullet using surgical precision with her bowie knife. She and her companion Elbert Spencer identify the assassin through Melvin's bullet mark—two crossed daggers. They signal border men to assemble, including the distinctive scout Long-armed Dan, whose extraordinary arm length makes him recognizable along the frontier. As search parties scatter to track Melvin through the hills, Dan follows the fresh trail with experienced expertise. The narrative emphasizes frontier gunmanship, tracking skills, and violent revenge culture among border communities engaged in territorial disputes with Hudson Bay fur traders.