Rattling Dick

About this issue

This dime novel by Harry Hazard follows Ben Durk, a gaunt fifty-year-old miner known as "Old Traps," who is arrested in Diamond Gulch after Shasta Dick accuses him of stealing one hundred ounces of gold dust. The miners organize themselves into a makeshift court, where witnesses Calvin Peaslee (a self-styled doctor) and John Smith (a half-breed Shoshonie) testify that they saw Durk leaving Shasta Dick's cabin at midnight carrying a canvas bag and pick-axe, later burying something. Durk maintains his innocence but claims no memory of the alleged theft. He is convicted and sentenced to twenty-nine lashes and banishment. The following morning, Shasta Dick confesses he hid the gold himself while drunk and had forgotten. The miners debate whether Peaslee and Smith lied, though both maintain their testimony. The matter remains unresolved whether Durk actually buried anything, or has fled unjustly.