The New York Shark by Brander Halliday

This Beadle and Adams publication from 1897 presents "The New York Sharp: Shadow Swipes' Swoop" by Ben D. Halliday, a serialized mystery. The story opens at Mulligan's Ark, an east side New York tenement where residents lament the impending pauper's burial of the recently deceased James Thompson. A sixteen-year-old local named Stubby Swipes Norton encounters undertaker Abram Mayfield, who arrives with one hundred dollars to provide Thompson an elegant funeral—instructions sent by a mysterious Mrs. Gray. Intrigued by this unexplained generosity toward the penniless young man, Swipes later encounters a belligerent one-handed man who claims he too will arrange Thompson's burial. The appearance of multiple parties offering to finance Thompson's funeral suggests a hidden mystery. Swipes resolves to investigate further, suspecting criminal involvement and determined to observe the funeral proceedings.