Gold Rifle, the Sharpshooter; or, The Boy Detective of the Black Ranch

This 1897 *Beadle and Adams* pulp serial by Edward L. Wheeler features "Gold Rifle, the Sharpshooter; Or, the Boy Detective of the Black Ranch." The narrative opens with a Christmas turkey shoot at a frontier settlement in Dakota near Fort Maynard. Young Jay Toleman, the arrogant son of the trading-post proprietor, dominates the competition until a mysterious stranger on a white mustang arrives carrying a remarkable gold-plated rifle with a diamond sight. When even Toleman fails to hit a massive seventy-five-pound gobbler that has survived five previous shoots, the stranger—immediately dubbed "Gold Rifle"—wagers his rifle and performs a spectacular feat: balancing on his head while firing the rifle, cleanly decapitating the bird. The story introduces three suspicious onlookers—Jacob Toleman, Omerhaun the gunsmith, and Boover Legree—who recognize the boy sharpshooter with evident hatred.