New Nick Carter Weekly, No. 31

TRIM'S ELECTRIC MACHINE; OR, THE MAN WHO HAD CHARGE OF THE OFFICE This serial installment features Farmer Josiah Hatgood from Berlin, Vermont, arriving at New York's Grand Central Depot in June with a traveling bag and green umbrella, on his first visit to the city. Warned by newspapers about confidence schemes, Hatgood mistakes ordinary citizens for swindlers: he rebuffs a polite stranger and violently strikes an Italian man seeking directions, believing him a bunco partner. Arrested and brought to the police station, Hatgood provokes the sergeant's suspicion by refusing to open his bag. When forced, it reveals approximately a peck of stones broken from a ledge—his mysterious purpose still undisclosed. The narrative, attributed to the author of "Nick Carter," emphasizes Hatgood's rural suspicions and urban misadventures as he pursues an unnamed objective in the city.